Comfort Food~"Buttery, Buttery Garlic Bread Sticks"

No, that's not the original title for this recipe, but after making some changes, it seems more appropriate. Now these are not some fancy yeast-based breadsticks, so, if that's important to you, read no more. This is just a "put-it-together-quickly" recipe that tastes simply delicious! I've served it the past two nights with very different meals (beef roast and spaghetti and meatballs), and it's been a hit both times. Even my "don't-care-for-bread-too-much" children have asked for seconds! (Can you believe I actually have children who don't care for bread?)

3 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 T. dried parsley

1 T. baking powder

1 c. milk ( I used 1-1/2 c. the second time and liked that better)

1/2 c. butter (the original calls for margarine)

1 more tsp. garlic powder (to be mixed with melted butter)

1/2 tsp. salt (to be mixed with melted butter)

Mix flour, salt, garlic powder, parsley, and baking powder together. Add milk, and stir well. Knead about 5-6 times in bowl, and then put on floured surface. Roll out with a rolling pin to make a rectangle to fit into a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in the 9x13 at about 375 degrees. Mix the garlic powder and salt into the melted butter, and then fit your dough into the pan. Cut the dough in half with a pizza cutter and then each half in half, etc. until you have a lot of narrow strips of dough. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. They'll be slightly brown and crispy when done.

~My changes:

I actually mixed the additional amounts of salt and garlic powder in with more melted butter and brushed the top of the dough with it before baking. I then sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on top. Finally, I brushed more melted butter over the finished breadsticks. Note, too, that I added more milk than stated and found the dough easier to work with and not as dry.

~This recipe from the "Hillbilly Housewife" blog.

Our Ebenezer Box

" Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us."

(1 Samuel 7: 12)

I posted some time ago a link to an article explaining a family thanksgiving tradition. The author shared that her family would decorate a box, paste an appropriate Scripture verse on the front, and inside leave notes of thanks to God throughout the year. These notes cames in many forms...post-its, envelopes, scraps, etc. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the family would then gather for a special time to read through these praises, remembering God's faithfulness throughout the year. Finally, they would burn the notes and sing a hymn of praise.

We love this idea and decided we would begin this tradition. We decorated an empty oatmeal canister, and the children chose a verse related to giving thanks..."Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:15) We decided to call this our "Ebenezer" box, reflecting the memorial stone that Samuel set as a reminder of God's help, for this, though a simple box, would hold many reminders of how "hath the LORD helped us" throughout the year.

We're looking forward to having this wonderful written record of God's mercies, and I'm hoping we'll have to make several boxes to hold all of our notes of gratitude! We'll most likely go through our notes on Thanksgiving, and instead of burning the notes, I'll copy them and make treasured scrapbook pages from them. I'm always regretful at the end of the year that I don't remember all of the mercies God has shown us, and this is a wonderful way to capture at least some of them and make them available for generations to come, that they, too, can rejoice in God's faithfulness and be encouraged in their walks with Him.

Love,
Queen Mom

(Go here for original article. )

Be Inspired

My Reaches Up inspires me...I do wish I had his youthful brain cells and that I had started memorizing God's Word when I was younger in such large passages as he is doing at 6 years old. It's never too late, though! We hope you'll be inspired to hide more of God's Word in your hearts as you watch him recite all of James Chapter 1. To God be the glory!

Weekly Rewind 11/09-11/15/08

Both Mountain Man and I thought this past week was a bit exhausting, but we're not really sure why. For me, it might have something to do with approaching my third trimester, and for my Beloved, well, his driving schedule alone would make me tired! Once again, it's wonderful to reflect on the mercies God has shown us throughout the week.

~This past week, we were especially blessed to have Daddy home Mon. thru Wed. So, we found ourselves easing our way back into lessons. This is the most challenging time of year for me to keep everything on schedule. Between the Mountain Man rendezvous events, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, there always seems to be some reason that we aren't able to consistently stay on track. And when Daddy's home, being with him is the priority. Thank you, Lord, for those interruptions in our schedules that remind us to submit our plans to You and rest in Your provision.

~Tuesday night found us enjoying dinner at my favorite restaurant, The Melting Pot. We were supposed to go for our anniversary this year, so we were just a bit late, but it was wonderful! For those of you not familiar with this place, The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant, and to enjoy the four course meal (you can choose other options), you really should allow yourselves about three hours. It's quite expensive and quite the treat. Thank you, Lord, for the gift of delicious food and for those special nights out with my Beloved.

~God's provision never ceases to excite me, whether it be large or small. Needing to repair our kitchen faucet, Mountain Man sought the advice of the experts at Lowe's. Unfortunately, they advised him to call Moen, the manufacturer of our faucet, and talk with them directly. I say unfortunately because Moen said they would get back to him in 1-1/2 hours.....well, my Beloved is just waiting in town for their call, so he knows which part to buy. Moen did call Mountain Man back, explained the faucet was still under warranty, and told him they would be sending out the replacement parts for FREE. Thank you, Lord, for the many ways you supply our needs. May we never take for granted the provision of Your loving Hand.

~Our children and I had fun Saturday evening baking (Queen Mom's part) and decorating (our children's part) cookies for our Sunday fellowship meal. Here's a picture of their creations...

I love the icing recipe we used...3 T. whole milk, 1 T. cream cheese, softened, and 1-1/2 c. confectioner's sugar. Thank you, Lord, for the treasure of homemade treats, and the opportunities to make memories together.

~We had the honor of having the Pastor of our overseeing church in Phoenix, AZ, stay with us this weekend. He was a delightful guest and blessed us with a couple of wonderful reads before he left, Is Christianity Good for the World? (a written debate between an athiest and a Christian) and a collection of readings for Advent, the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Epiphany! Yippee! I was thrilled, especially, to receive this collection of readings since we're learning more about Yuletide this year. His sermon about unity in the Body of Christ was especially encouraging and convicting. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to serve your Body, for the ability to practice hospitality, and for the many ways we can build up our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We hope you, too, are able to reflect on your past week with thanks to the LORD!

Love,

Queen Mom for all of us

The Sabbath~"Just Too Busy"

"Many people see the Sabbath, or Lord's Day, as an infringement of their personal liberty--a day that God has taken from them instead of a gift that He has given to them for rest, worship, and celebration. The modern world, they argue, is too complex to set apart a whole day for rest and worship. There is too much that we need to do and too much that we want to do to give up one day in seven for God. We are just too busy."

~from Celebrating the Sabbath by Bruce Ray

"...Praying Always For You"

As the Littles and I were doing our "Kitchen Sparkle" last week, I came up with an idea for more consistently remembering to pray for other family members and friends. While I do record prayer requests, I can easily get slack about praying for everyone and doing it diligently. I also wanted to encourage the children to pray for others on their own, independently of our prayer time together.

The refrigerator seemed like the perfect spot to display a reminder to pray for our family and friends. I decided we would focus on one family each week and made a title of "Remember to pray for...," using card stock, scrapbooking scissors, and magnet tape. I put a Scripture under the title that reminds us to pray for one another, such as Colossians 1:3, "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you." I'll periodically change the Scripture, as there are many to choose from.I then listed various Scriptures to pray when thinking of the family pictured. There are so many possibilities, but here are just a few of the ones I listed...

~that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding (Col. 1:19)

~that the Lord would make you increase and abound in love toward one another, and all men (1 Thess. 3:13)

~that the Lord would stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God...(1 Thess. 3:13)
(I'll change these occasionally as well, using Scriptures I've noted in my Bible study time or using others from the Nave's Topical Bible.)

I've been amazed at how often I look at the picture posted and pray these Scriptures for the particular family. Think about how many times a Mom is in the kitchen, opening and closing the refrigerator door! If we don't have a picture of a particular family member or friend, I'll just type up the name in a pretty font and slip it inside the photo holder. I do remind the children to remember to look at the family and pray for them at least once at day.

Of course, we pray the standing requests for good health or salvation or other specific petitions for that family, but having these Scriptures in front of us reminds us of just how much richer and more specific our prayers can be, and I know I would love to have someone praying, for example, that God would make me or my husband or my children "perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." (Heb. 13:21)

Love to you all...we're praying for you!

Queen Mom

Little Bit's First Shower...

...a hair-raising experience!

Sanctification-Part 4~Practically Applying What We've Learned

At the closing of his chapter on sanctification, Ryle explains some practical applications of what we've studied thus far.

1) These reflections should wake us up to "the perilous state of many professing Christians." Remember Hebrews 12:14, "Without holiness no man shall see the LORD." When we consider that "without sanctification there is no salvation," we must acknowledge that there is an "enormous amount of so-called religion" that is "perfectly useless." We should be grieved at the thought of so many "church-goers" who are walking the "broad road that leads to destruction."

2) Our knowledge of sanctification should encourage us to "make sure work of our own condition," and not rest until knowing we are sanctified. Ryle asks us to consider, "What are our tastes and choices and likings and inclinations? This is the great telling question. It matters little what we wish, and what we hope, and what we desire to be before we die. Where are we now? What are we doing?" (emphasis mine)

3) We must remember that sanctification begins with Christ. We must come to him declaring our "utter need," and cry out to Him for "mercy and grace."

4) "If we would grow in holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began, and be ever making fresh applications to Christ." For He is "from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. 4:16) (As Matthew Henry sums up that verse....Christ is our Head and gives influence and nourishment to every member.)

Ryle admonishes us to live out our faith daily and draw fully from the promised "grace and strength which Jesus has laid up for His people." This, he states, is the "grand secret of progressive sanctification." For, "believers who seem at a standstill are generally neglecting close communion with Jesus, and so grieving the Spirit." Ryle reminds us of Christ's prayer, "Sanctify them," the last night before His crucifixion, and Christ's infinite willingness "to help everyone who by faith applies to Him for help, and desires to be made more holy." (emphasis mine)

This last statement caused me to reflect about my own and our children's desire for holiness--are we earnestly praying about it...is there a passion, a hunger about being holy because He is holy?

5) Finally, Ryle cautions us not to expect perfection here on earth. "Let us not expect too much from our own hearts here below. At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation, and discover that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. The more light we have, the more we shall see our own imperfection. Sinners we were when we began, sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on; renewed, pardoned, justified--yet sinners to the very last. Our absolute perfection is yet to come, and the expectation of it is one reason why we should long for heaven." Amen!

Of course, anyone following along with our reading of Holiness thus far knows that Ryle's statement is in no way an endorsement of being slothful in our walk with the Lord, but rather it is a frank assessment of the battle we have while still in this sinful world and in our sinful bodies.

We'll next be looking at Chapter 3 (ok...can you believe there's so much more to study...we're only now covering chapter 3!) which addresses "Holiness."

Return of the Mountain Men - Part 2

Well, folks, in dis post, I'll chronicle what we mountain men (Mountain Man, Little Big Man, and yours truly) did on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

On Friday mornin', the camp cook (guess who?) shot a couple o' praerie chickens, skinned 'em, chopped 'em up, and threw 'em in a skillet along with a slab o' wild boar sausage I had jest killed at dawn. I also added some wild herbs I found, and- hey, watch it! Ouch! Oooh! quit hittin' me with that horse whip! Yow! Ow, ow, ow...

(Editor's note: Scribe is currently undergoing a well deserved thrashing in the coal shed for that outlandish lie he just told. The truth is that Scribe used eight eggs from a carton bought at the local supermarket and a package of sausage meat he procured from a friend to make breakfast. The "herbs" he used were simply bits of parsley, garlic, and salt which he had brought along from home. I trust that Scribe will have learned his lesson from here on out, and that the reader will no longer be bothered by such nonsense.)

..Oookay, folks... just let me sit down real slow like... phew, am I sore...(sigh)... well, I best get on with da story...

After breakfast, which were perty good, if I may say so myself, we got together our powder, balls, and da like, and set off to go ta war with da injuns - okay, okay! Don't hit me again! I'll tell da truth! Truth is, we jest went off ta shoot the last fifteen targets o' da rifle walk... don't think I much like the thought o' bringin' home dead steel fer supper... (sigh)...

The shootin' was fun but challengin' (the targets ranged from 'bout 30 ta 150 yards away), and when all was done, I had twenty-three out o' thirty, Mountain man had twenty five, and Little Big Man had fifteen. Over all we brought home 'bout sixty steel figures fer supper. However, when we started ta think about things, them steelthangs didn't look to appetizin'... nooo sirr, we decided we would have something, ah, less crunchy fer lunch: meat and cheese... again. :)

Along 'bout 2:30 PM, we gathered fer da hawk an' knife contest, run by Many Scars. Little Big Man wowed everybody (what's new :)) and all but ate out ter heart o' da log. Ha! That day we did two of the contests, cuz Many Scars planned ta do da third on Saturday.

Later (afore it was dark), I went to camp, grabbed my gun, went inter da woods, found me a nice buck, aimed, and - ahh, never mind. If da editor finds I colored da facts a little, me hide won't be very comfy... Fer dinner I cooked up steaks with garlic salt an' italian seasoning (da camp cook never forgets his herbs an' seasonins). Boy, was they good! Wouldn't mind makin' dat a meal to eat at every rondy-voo.

Later dat night, we curled up in our warm wraps, made us some warm drinks, and sat 'round da fire listenin' to a friend tell stories and songs and jokes and all. Along about 8:30, we hit da sack. Only dis time, both Little Big Man and I crawled inter da same bed roll so as ta keep each other warm. It worked, but near mornin', Little Big Man scooted about an' managed to get da bag all ter himself, leavin' me with only a pile o' blankets on me head and da rest o' me body as frigid as da waters of Alaska...

Saturday mornin', we woke up an' got a fire goin'. Our friends Many Scars, Longtongue, and Pack Mule whipped up burritoes again and invited us over. We accepted (of course), and also cooked up a slab o'f bacon and brought it over as a contribution to da meal. Needless ta say, breakfast was good! The only problem was that the burritos contained a significent amount of green peppers. As a result, our sinuses were, ah, cleared (to say da least).

After dat wonderful meal, Mountain Man went off with some old timers to shoot a fusil, or flintlock fer da first time. Little Big Man and I followed along with our rifles to shoot da targets again jest fer fun.

At noon, we ate a brief lunch, and had a rest, before hurrying off to compete in the last stage of the hawk an' knife contest. In this contest, we had ta throw double turn, (which be about twice da usual distance you throw from). It was challenging, but we pulled through all right. However, it ended with a throw off between Little Big Man and the reigning state hawk and knife champion, Lazy Horse, for first place over all da camp. In da end, Little Big Man beat Lazy horse by two points! Dis was da first time at dat rondy-voo dat someone that age (Little Big Man be 11) had whopped all da camp! Huzzah!

After that, we participated in an archery contest. That were great fun! The only drawback was this: you know, the bows Little Big Man and I have ain't nearly as powerful as doze toted by da men. Sooo... the target ended up bein' a rather long distance away, and thus, to allow for distance and lack of shootin' power, Little Big Man and I had ta aim way above da target to have any hopes o' hittin' it! Ha!

Later, at de awards ceremony, da prizes were handed out. Little Big Man were awarded a brand new Bomboy throwin' knife (he done got three already), and boy was he ever happy! Hee-haw, ye should a seen his face! Huzzah!

Fer supper dat night, Pack Mule, Longtongue, Many Scars, an old timer named Hookeye, and us done got together and made a big feast! There was beans, corn bread, potatoes w/ onions, pepers and seasonin's, venison, and pheasant! Boy was it a big meal! Da only thing was that every now and then, as I ate a bit o' pheasant, I'd come across small, hard little balls in da meat. I thought nothin' o' it, thinkin' they was bones. So it was to my chagrin that I later learned those "small, hard balls" was shotgun pellets from when da bird was killed! Later that night we drank hot cider around da fire, listened ta stories and songs (again), and then, tired from da long day, went ter bed.

Next mornin' (Sunday), we commenced ter packin' up once more. It were kinda sad that the rondy-voo was over, but we were glad to be goin' home. So, after all was packed, we fired up that metel wagon we rode up in, and started fer Edgewood.

About three hours later, we got home, and after a lovin' hello to Reaches Up and da women folk, we got showers! Ha! Wasn't it good to get cleaned up! Then we sat around and talked about what we did up thar in the Capitan Mountains, and learned what had gone on while we was gone. Ahhh, it was good to be back.

Next thing we knew, we was climbin' inter our nice, comfy beds, pullin' da covers up, and.... ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz...And so ends da chronicle o' our doin's at da "Frozen Toes" rondy-voo! Until next time, dis be Scribe sayin', so long!

~Scribe

Slicin' & Dicin'

Shootin' da bow

Da Council Fire

A Mountain Man Feast!

Little Big Man grinnin' as he receives his new throwin' knife