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Fun Food For School

It’s hard to believe, but most public schools have started by now. Many homeschooling families are rolling out the desks and chalkboards too so they can get a jump on the school year. It will feel good to take a break in early fall, knowing that many weeks of school have been accomplished!

I know I already posted about school lunch ideas, but I found some cute things on Family fun’s website and thought I’d share them with you today.

Here are some peanut butter & jelly Blossoms. They’re sandwiches cut into flower shapes. Cute.

Cupcakes are all the rage right now, and take a look at this combo of a cupcake and a couple of chocolate graham crackers! Even a high schooler would think that was cool!

This cupcake looks adorable and is super simple. I believe that’s a Good and Plenty serving as the chalk!


This is the meat and cheese! Can you believe it? The instructions are below.

For each pencil, cut off one end of a cheese stick so that it’s flat. Use a paring knife or apple corer to cut a 3/4-inch circle out of the bologna.

Dab one end of the circle into the mustard, then attach it to the flat end of the cheese stick.
Snap off the end of a Bugle so that its edges are even, and gently press it onto the other end of the cheese stick. Slide half a raisin onto the Bugle for the pencil tip, and you’ve got a snack that’s just write!

Leave it to Family Fun to create such great ideas to make lunch that much adventure!

Enjoy!

Christian Life

Five Things You Need To Know

One night while in Kentucky, I saw the 10:00 news. They have a segment entitled, “Five things you should know before you go to bed tonight.” The stories were ridiculous. One “thing” they shared was about a woman attacking a McDonald’s worker at the drive through window (she got out of her car!) because she couldn’t get chicken McNuggets at that time of the morning! Another story was about a man who thought he had cancer, then come to find out he had a pea plant growing in his lung! Let me tell you, I slept so much better knowing those important facts!

Though the stories were definitely nothing I needed to know, I did like the title of that segment. It made me think about five things everyone really needs to know before they go to bed. What would those five things be? Here’s my list:

  1. God loves you and sent His Son to die for you so you could have fellowship with Him and a home in heaven!
  2. This world has nothing to offer you that is lasting or fulfilling. Satan is a liar and will try to make you believe otherwise, but only Jesus can satisfy your soul.
  3. The Word of God is absolute Truth and has the power to change your life if you’ll read it and live it.
  4. There is nothing too hard for God. He is all-powerful and able to do more than we could ask or think. You need to surrender to Him all that’s burdening your heart.
  5. Jesus is coming soon and you need to be ready. Trust Him as your Savior if you haven’t done that. Live for Him, tell others about Him, and look for Him in the eastern skies!

Now, you can go to bed and sleep! 🙂

With my love,

Cooking

What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

I’m freezing! With summer temperatures at 90 degrees, I’m certainly not talking about the weather. I’ve been freezing food this past weekend. My mom has had some real issues with back pain, and I prayed about what I could do to help her and my dad. Food seems to be the greatest need. Though my dad is very efficient in every other area, cooking is not a skill he enjoys! I’m headed to Kentucky today with a cooler full of food that I prepared on Saturday and froze in individual servings for them.

I made…

Lasagna
(I put it in small servings after baking)

Countryside Chicken Bake and cooked apples
Oatmeal, pecan, chocolate chip cookies


Sloppy Joe meat, Taco meat, & Banana Bread

I also cooked fresh green beans and put them in individual serving sizes. And I fried up a batch of bacon so all my dad would have to do is warm it for breakfast or BLTs.

If I worked outside the home, I would definitely do this type of cooking/freezing each weekend. Everything I did is completely cooked to simplify it for my dad, but you could get the dish ready up to the point of baking it, then freeze it.

To make up the lasagna, tacos and Sloppy Joes, I followed this game plan from Robin Miller on The Food Network. You make up one big pan of meat, then add different ingredients for the Sloppy Joes and Tacos.
I’ve made this Beef meal before and it’s all very good. The reviews written on the recipes are very critical, but as with any recipe you use, adjust it to what your family likes. I will say that it is a little soupy, so you might want to reduce the amount of liquid from the tomatoes, maybe drain one or two cans before adding them to thicken it up, or add some tomato paste to do the same thing. All in all it’s a great plan and will provide you with many meals in one cooking time. I was in the kitchen the better part of the day making all that, but it was well worth the time! Now, I can spend time visiting my parents instead of being in the kitchen!

What was cooking in your kitchen this week?

With love,

Christian Life

Protection from No-see-ums!

Pests! They are so annoying. How dare they ruin a summer day! Bees, wasps, and flies would all be under the category of pests, but have you heard of the No-see-ums? They are tiny insects that you cannot see. Not only do you not see them, but you can’t even feel the bite at the time. It’s the next day that you find welts that itch like crazy. My poor dad has fought a battle with them the last couple of summers. He’s done all he can to ward them off, including wearing rubber bands around his pant legs and sleeves, and wearing bug spray. Still, he will invariably come in only to discover a new bite. He’s under attack every time he steps out the door! I told him that those bugs sound an alarm when they see him coming out the door…”Hey, everyone, here comes supper!”

There are times that he’ll make a quick dash out the door to do a little job without taking any of his protective measures. The results are an even greater number of bites that show themselves later in the form of huge red welts. No fun!

How many of you would say that right now you, too, feel under attack? Oh, maybe not by No-see-ums bugs, but by another enemy that we cannot see who is as a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I Peter 5:8 We would be foolish not to be very aware that he is there, waiting to pounce.

We must spray on the repellent – the Word of God – to be armed and ready. We must always be on the alert, taking precautionary measures – walking in fellowship with the Lord, reading His Word daily and being in much prayer. It’s on the days we think we can make a quick dash out, and fail to do those very things, that we are attacked even greater.

This whole illustration came to my mind yesterday while my dad was talking to me on the phone about those pesty No-see-ums. I have a couple Christian friends for whom I am very burdened right now. They are doing things they would never have considered a month or two ago. They didn’t see their own guard being let down, but it was, and WHAM! The greatest deceiver attacked them. How my heart is hurting for them, but I know that “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” I John 4:4 Victory can be theirs, but there may be a scar, because we pay when we choose to sin.

No-see-ums are reminders to you and me. We must protect ourselves at all times and be on the lookout for the attack that our enemy, the devil, is sure to make. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. I Cor. 10:12

Spray on some bug spray before you go outside, but even more importantly, take the measures necessary to fight off Satan’s attacks! You might not see him, but he’s looking for you. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I Cor. 15:57

Under His feathers,

Christian growth

Smuggle It In

This has been an extremely busy week with revival, but it’s been a great one! Last night’s message was about the authority of the Word of God. Brother Jerry reminded us of the need to memorize Scripture.

His message reminded me of a comment one of my readers left me one day when I spoke about this. She said, “I read a story not so long ago about a North Korean pastor who risks his life to share the gospel. Here is an excerpt: Pastor Bae has introduced the gospel to many North Koreans to Christ, he has a simple but effective way to smuggle the Bible into the country—by memorization. North Koreans copy the Bible repeatedly in order to memorize. This way they can smuggle the Bible back into the country in the safest place of all, their heart. If a Bible is found in their home they risk imprisonment or even death. Thank God for these people, and his Word that lives forever.”

Is that not powerful? So, how are you doing? Could you smuggle a portion of Scripture somewhere because it’s in your heart? May the Lord help us to love His Word enough and realize the power it holds so that we will take a disciplined approach to memorizing and reviewing it!

What are you working on memorizing? I’m plugging along in the book of Philippians. To God be the glory. For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phil 2:13

Thanking God for the power of the Word,