Thirst sent me to the fridge to grab a carbonated beverage as we headed out for the evening church service.  That carbonation quenched the parched feeling in my mouth and was refreshing me until…the car lurched forward like a frog jumping at a fly.  The liquid that was just trickling into my mouth also lurched – right into the back of my throat, causing me to swallow it in such a way that coughing and sputtering followed for hours afterwards!  It just didn’t go down the right way and made me choke!

Later in the evening something else made me choke!  I was looking at some posts on Instagram.  Someone I follow said they got so inspired when they read this post by Joel Osteen:

I’m sorry, but I wrote that quote with the crossed out application, because I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I’m endorsing what he said!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How sweet all that sounds. How “syrupy.” Our flesh loves that kind of talk, but hold on a minute!  If you could read that and swallow those words without “choking,” can I sweetly say, you need to check that against the Scriptures!  Where do you read in the Bible that you should celebrate yourself?  Where are we commanded to give ourselves a compliment? Or where are we told to keep ourselves encouraged (other than encouraging ourselves in the Lord)?  Let’s help this go down much easier by weighing this against the Word of God.  It says:

Happy Monday!  I trust you had a wonderful weekend.  Mine was a blessing!  Details later.  Let’s move on to food, shall we?  

I am always reminding myself  and others that Sunday dinner at home is possible and it doesn’t have to be stressful!  I made a Sunday dinner where the meat – a Pork Tenderloin was cooked completely before I left for church.  Then all I had to do was warm it up when we got home. Talk about easy! 

I also finally found a freezer biscuit that can be made ahead of time and frozen, then popped into the oven in a frozen state. How great that is for a Sunday dinner!   

To make the Hot Crash Potatoes really easy for Sunday, I boiled them before church and set them in a bowl, then finished them off while the biscuits were in the oven.  Another really easy step for Sunday dinner!

Found the recipe for the biscuits Here.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp, baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 tbl. sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg (beaten)

Directions
1 Mix together flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar, & salt.
2 Cut in shortening.
3 Beat milk & egg together & add to mixture.
4 Knead for a short time, just until dough form a good ball. Probably about 8 or 9 times. Not much!
5 Roll out dough and cut biscuits.
6 Freeze on a cookie sheet then remove and store in a
freezer bag. Keep frozen until needed.
7 DO NOT THAW BEFORE BAKING.
8 Remove required number of biscuits from freezer & bake in oven at 425° for about 20 minutes or until done.

I LOVE my first cup of coffee in the morning.  Just thinking about it helps motivate me to get up!  Steaming, hot, bubbly.  It’s de-lish!!  I’ve never been a fan of a glass of coffee with big ol’ ice cubes floating around in it like life preservers in the backyard pool.  Bleeech!

However, on one recent sweltering day, I had had my usual one cup of coffee, but needed a pick-me-up.  So, I filled a glass with crushed ice.  Then I added the amount of flavored (Peppermint Mocha) cream that I would add to a normal cup.  I also added a little less than a tablespoon of chocolate sauce beore adding the coffee.  I stirred it to combine the flavors and was blown away with the way this stuff tasted!  It was every bit as good as any iced drink I’ve tried at Starbucks!  No special ingredients – just leftover coffee and my normal cream.  You don’t have to add the chocolate sauce, but if you want it to be like a little treat or dessert, you really should!  The glass full of crushed ice really made it refreshing.

If you need a little something to refresh you this afternoon and you still have some of this morning’s coffee in the pot, make yourself a Crushed Iced Coffee!  You’ll have enough caffeine to freshen up your Friday and get you through the day!

What kind of iced drink do you enjoy?  Do you make it at home?

Be refreshed,

Not long after the ceremonial moving of the graduation tassel from the right side to the left of the cap, most graduates have one goal in mind – find a job.  It’s time for them to take all they’ve learned in the gaining of their education and put it into good use!  Oh, the accountant may have to flip a few burgers before he finds a place that will take on a rookie, and the school teacher may have to work in a day care before she finds a position, but they’ll get busy working until there’s an opening elsewhere.

The is a true test of maturity, isn’t it?  In the same way, after a person receives Christ as their Savior, they begin to take in the Word of God.  They gain a little education about the Bible and all they have in Christ.  Not long after, it’s time to take the next step in maturity – they need to get a job…in the church!  Sadly, however, there are many well educated folks sitting in pews who have stuffed themselves with knowledge, but aren’t using it to work for the Lord.  They’re wasting all that the Lord has taught them when they won’t go looking for a job to do!

Tell me, friend, are you busy serving the Lord in your local church?  Don’t think it’s beneath you to work in the nursery, help with Vacation Bible Club, or clean the kitchen after a fellowship.  Get busy doing something and let the Lord open other doors for you.  If teaching is your gift, use it!  If serving is your love, do it!  There are many job openings waiting to be filled in your church.  Hang your graduation tassel on the mirror of the car and go apply for a position!  It’s time to be mature and get to work!

With love,

A Peek Into My Life This Week

If you’ve followed along for the last six weeks, you’ve seen the progression of pictures from our new ladies’ ministry, Apples of Gold. Yesterday was the last of our six lessons.  What a great time we had as we learned about Hospitality.

It was my goal to teach how to prepare a meal ahead of time so that having guests on Sunday after church is do-able.  I shared recipes that can be made and frozen –

As I was encouraging the ladies to do as much ahead as possible so that they can make their guests know they planned for them, I opened the refrigerator door to pull out the Chocolate sauce for dessert.  As the door opened, a decorative glass decanter with faux apples inside came crashing down, hitting the door and breaking into lots of little sharp pieces.  I was stunned, not even knowing what happened or how.  Then, everyone stepped into motion to help pick up the bigger pieces of glass.  Thankful that my husband and son-in-law were at home, I beckoned for their help so that the ladies could go into the living room and have our book lesson.  The men were gracious to clean up all the remains of glass while we sat down to discuss hospitality. 

My first words were, “Sometimes the best laid plans fall through and you have to roll with the punches!”  It was a good lesson for all of us.  Being hospitable doesn’t mean that disasters won’t happen.  But when they do, you can’t let it upset you.  You count your blessings instead.

So if your roast burns when you have guests, or the rolls don’t rise, or the jello doesn’t set, you move on with a smile and know that it’s okay!  Make the best of it and don’t let it get you ruffled.

Since this was our last class  I’ve made two collages, first of the ladies and some of our times together.

 I don’t have pictures of the folks who helped behind the scenes, like our secretary, who made the copies of the recipes for all the ladies, and helped with other printed materials.  Thank you, Jane.

We had child-care workers – Hannah Groce and Bev Yoder, who met the moms and little ones at the church and took care of them for three hours while their mommies were having a blast, laughing, and eating yummy foods learning helpful things.  Thank you, both so much!

There were some who contributed gifts of crocheted dish cloths and fresh flowers for our tables.  We love you, Ellie and Hope!  Thank you!

This next collage is some of the food we enjoyed!  Wow.  Maybe the next class should be a fitness program!

What a special blessing this class has been for all of us.  I thank the Lord for the lessons He has taught us and for the relationships that were built during these six weeks.  I’m praying that in the early fall we’ll be able to do this again.  BCBC members, will you pray about being a mentor or a student?

In your exploits of showing hospitality have you had any “disasters”?  

With love from my country porch,