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Showing posts from October, 2011

How to Open a Pomegranate

Pomegranates are a great source of vitamin C, B5, fiber and they are also antioxidants and anti-viral.  But they are a pain to open!  Every time I've eaten a pomegranate it's a struggle to pick out all those little encased seeds.  Well I just learned an old Indian method to open one and I wanted to share it with you. It's a cinch! How to Open a Pomegranate Score the pomegranate crossways and wedge open with your knife. Break the halfs into quarters and then one at a time over a medium size bowl, hold each quarter, skin side up in the palm of one hand and hit the skin all over with the flat side of a wooden spoon with the other hand.  The seeds will fall out of the pods and into the bowl - all of them!  This method has taken the dread out of pomegranates for me.  I am off to make a pomegranate smoothie for my family now!

Courageous

My husband and I went to see the movie, "Courageous" this afternoon and it has to be the Kendrick brothers' best work yet. I think it's a movie that is life changing and I would like to see more like it.  The Lord sure has given these men an amazing gift of movie making. Every film they have done is intelligently written, has wit, humor, heart and good story telling. The story in their latest movie moves at a good pace and there is never a time when I was bored. In fact, I couldn't believe it was over two hours, it went by so fast.  And even though it was a drama, it was not so heavy that it was a downer at all.  They put truly hilarious comic relief steadily throughout the movie and we lauged out throughout the film.  But we also cried.  A lot.  There were only 5 other people in the theater with us (it was an early matinee) and sniffling and eye rubbing was abundant among us all. I'm not going to give away the plot or story line, but I will say that it&#

Making Greeting Cards

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I enjoy making my own greeting cards. It is much more economical for one thing.  Prices for greeting cards baffle me.  Some cost as much as $5 and $6 dollars and when you're on a tight budget, that is quite an extravagance.  Years ago when our family was young and our budget extremely tight, I decided to make my own.  The advantages include saying exactly what I want to and making it special to the person I'm giving it to. And every time I make one, it cost literally pennies and I'm saving money. I have different books that I use as references.  Some have quotes, some have scriptures by category.  And I sometimes reference websites such as Bluemountain.com for inspiration. I also use my own original poetry. The variety of ways to construct a greeting card are endless.  There are many books on the subject at the library to assist with learning techniques.  But a few scraps of pretty paper and some basic art supplies are all that's really needed to turn out pretty,

Cherishing the Love of My Husband

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I am going to ooze all over my blog today because of my loving husband.  Only my husband could make steadiness sexy and quiet strength an aphrodisiac. I am so in love with my husband. Is he perfect? Um, no.  But am I? (Even more of a no!)  But we have joy and love and hope and strength through holy matrimony. We just celebrated another wedding anniversary and he presented me with sweet gifts. I had a bad cold that week and during the days prior, was unable to think clearly much less prepare for our special day.  I pleaded with him to postpone everything till next week, but he persisted with his romantic pursuit of me.  He presented me with the sweetest card, a dozen beautiful roses and some thoughtful gifts. What a wonderful man.  I am so blessed. I write this to encourage every woman reading this.  I could have easily pushed my husband away with many gripes along our journey together.  There have been many things I could have torn my house down over.  But ladies, sweetly being m

Denominations vs. Bible Believing

I am a Bible believer.  I have no loyalty to any denomination.  The difference between a Bible believer and those who hold to a denomination is that denominations are loyal to titles and ideas of men and Bible believers are loyal to Jesus Christ and him alone. I find it difficult to understand why anyone would choose to identify themselves with a denomination.  Is not Christ alone sufficient?  Jesus Christ and his Word are enough for me.  This does not mean that I interpret the Bible my own way.  It means I believe every word of my Bible and do not seek to interpret my own way.  The Holy Ghost helps aid in scripture understanding to a believer and unity among believers testifies of that.  Divisions in the church are always the result of a human being and their particular, private interpretation of the Bible.  And therein lies the problem.  Scripture is clear on this point:    2 Peter 1:19-21 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as un

Love Your Children

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In Titus 2:4   we read, "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children ". Why does God find it necessary to have the young women taught to love their husbands and children? Doesn't loving them come naturally? Obviously it's easy for anyone to show and feel love when they're pleased. It's when we're dis pleased that it's difficult.   Loving our husbands and children properly is an ongoing learning process and the evidence of love is found in works and actions.  Those who had this modeled for them by mothers and grandmothers are way ahead.  If you don't have these ready-made role models, I encourage you to find a lady in your church or homeschool group who you admire and then seek to learn from her.  Today I'm listing my Top Ten most important things a mother can do to love her children. 1. Love their father.   It sounds obvious, but our children are aware that a big part of l

Reverence Your Husband

Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. The older my kids get, the more clearly I see how extraordinary God's direction in this verse is.  I have growing boys and they act like emerging bulls at times, which is to be expected. But never does my husband's authority and goodwill with them become so apparent and effective as when those little bulls arise.  Young bulls need  a solid foundation that only a loving father can provide.  It is amazing how important it is for them to absolutely know that Dad is the captain of his ship and his word is not only final, but that mom respects and honors him. We were watching a Tim Tebow video recently and something he said really stuck with me. He said something to the effect of "I'm not perfect, but every time I succeed I get closer to excellence."  Isn't that a neat way to look at practicing at something