Trade the Calories, Not the Taste

Call me crazy but, I like celery.

I like the crunchy texture and I like that I can use it to substitute for bread or chips. I also like that it has very few calories and helps keep the intestinal tract moving. And it's very inexpensive.

It can be used in place of onion in recipes.

Use it instead of high-calorie tortilla chips when dipping salsa. It's packed with veggies. You can eat as much of this as you like and still not pack on the calories. Yum!

Use it instead of bread with the same sweet salty flavor to make the always fun Ants on a Log snack with peanut butter and raisins. It's high in protein, get a fruit serving and lots of flavor.

Make a sweet sweet snack with PB-free Ants on a Snowy Log using cream cheese and raisins. You'll get a serving of calcium-rich diary, protein, and a serving of fruit too. Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too?!

I like to use it to dip my chicken cheeseball with instead of high-calorie crackers. Use it to dip tuna fish too. Oh, the possibilities!

Does anyone else like celery?

"Where Do You Work?" Asks the Young Man

Answers the middle-aged mother of three, "I stay home."

"Whew! That's a full-time job."

"Yeah. Full-time. Over time. All the time."

..........

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.

Galatians 6:9

But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

2 Thessalonians 3:13

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; fir this is his reward. Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19

The Difference a Doe Makes

In the country, the farmer can just shoot the deer. But closer to the city, you just have to put up fences or put up with him.

Two Girls & a Wet Sandbox

Sippin' Sisters

Shiphrah turned 10 months last Friday and she has really taken off. I bought her two cups which she's doing great with. She has also started crawling, officially! And she has also started using her index and thumb to pinch things, like food. Her two teeth have broken the surface and are showing very nicely. Soon she will get more comfortable using them to chew her food. She loves to play with her sisters and watch them do things. She really loves to be outside and whines when she cannot get out. If all our future children slept like Moriah, nursed like Lily and were sweet like Shiphrah, I would love to have 10 or more!

There Is No Ease

Life is a vapor

passing like morning mist

Flies like chaff in the wind,

bubbling soda fizz.

The days are evil,

easy lives don't exist.

All have their own tasks

and it's my job not his.

This life is hard

and that's just the way it is.

When grass on the other side

greener you see

Don't get angry

with bitter jealous envy.

All grass must be mowed

and weeds there yet may be.

Before the Fall there was all

life, joy, peace and ease

Find these now in Christ alone.

Don't be deceived.

Attract an Audience

Having an art show or a wine tasting?

How about some elegant violin music in the background?

It would draw a crowd for as far as the sound travels and your guests would be more inclined to stay longer if they have some formal, informal entertainment while you push your product. The solo violin is very affordable, so that you can keep your profits, and if the music is good, it makes you look good too.

I can provide what you need. Email me at andersonmusicstudio@ymail.com to get a quote or click below and comment on this post with your contact information.

Legal Not Ethical

Just because something is legal doesn't make it ethical.

Ethic, a definition: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation; a set of moral principles, the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, a guiding philosophy, a consciousness of moral importance.

Only God can determine what is good and bad. We have only come to have knowledge of good and bad through our creation after the image of God and in our experience of rebellion and disobedience. We have the infallible Word of God to understand how to apply this knowledge to our everyday encounters.

It may be legal to murder infants, sell products that are solely used for illegal drugs, or to steal three weeks of research that someone else did and pass it off as your own. But if the Bible is to be "our rule of law and morality in civil society" we must do what we can to abolish such laws and return to the principles set forth by our God and Creator who has disclosed for us those things that are right and wrong. The further our legislators get from a fear of the Lord, the more and more necessary it becomes, as a Christian to discern what is ethical, what we should accept or reject at the ballot box, in our homes and business practices, and what to do when we are the victims of unethical practices.

Happy Birthday G'Wanda!

Is It Really Black & White?

In some ethical issues it can be tough to discern the best course of action that will glorify and please God.

The sanctity of life is taken from the Ten Commandments. Life is given by God and should only be taken by God, as a consequence of the Fall. The intent of the sanctity of life is to preserve it whenever possible. That's why abortion, euthanasia, etc. are so horrendously evil.

If in an attempt to create new life while putting that very life and the existing one to sustain and develop that life at greater risk, is it really preserving life?

First Tooth

Saturday evening Jeramy spoke at a Nepali youth meeting and afterwards we went to hang out with a few of them back at Northchase apartments. During our visit I stuck my finger in Shiphrah's mouth to discover a little tiny spike on the left side! Her gums have been swollen for a few weeks now and daily I've been checking her mouth and trying to predict when it would come and on which side her first tooth would come out. You cannot see it yet, but when it's out I'll get a picture. Oh, if only they could stay small . . .

I've also been feeding her more food during the day and she has consequently been sleeping longer periods at night, and now between 10 and 12 hours! Hallelujah!

Nurture: a Definition

1. Training; upbringing.
2. Something that nourishes: food.
3. The sum of the environmental factors influencing the behavior and traits expressed by an organism.
4. To help the growth or development of.
5. To provide (someone) with moral or spiritual understanding.
6. To supply with nourishment.

Origin: from Late Latin nutritura act of nursing, from Latin nutritus, past participle nutrire to suckle, nourish.

Synonyms:

advance, cultivate, encourage, forward, further, incubate, nourish, nurse, nurture, promote,

edify, educate, illume, illuminate, illumine, inspire, nurture, advocate, back, champion,

endorse (also indorse), support, uphold; endow, finance, fund, patronize, stake, subsidize,

underwrite; abet, aid, assist; advertise, boost, plug, publicize, tout; agitate (for),campaign (for),

work (for), elevate, ennoble, enrich, ensoul, lift, uplift; better, improve, regenerate, renew,

transform; exalt, glorify, transfigure, sate, satiate, satisfy; nurse, suckle; cloy, fill, surfeit; fortify, replenish, strengthen; feed; board, cater, provision, victual

If ever I thought I were a perfectionist, all that ceased when I became a parent.

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4 ASV

Sisters with Style