A Great New Billboard in Our Town!

 We were grocery shopping the other day in Brownwood (where we go to shop since our town is very tiny) and saw this new billboard. It reads "War Veterans of Iraq & Afghanistan: THANK YOU!" and is signed "Citizens of Brown County, TX". I don't know who put it up but we certainly concur!

Old Easter: The Ever-New Story of Jesus' Resurrection from the Dead

Today is Easter for the Orthodox Church, which still uses the old Julian calendar to calculate the date for the church year.  The denomination I grew up in celebrated every Sunday as a little Easter, and in truth, every day is the "Now" of the Resurrection.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, is risen from the grave. He lives!

Here is a portion of the true story that was recorded by some of the people who enountered Jesus after He returned to life. This is the 20th Chapter of John, from the wonderful "The Message" translation, that is faithful to the original and yet in our own American English language. May the Holy Spirit give you a new comprehension of the Truth as you read in Jesus' name!

Resurrection!

20 ^1-2 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”

^3-10 Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
^11-13 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”
^13-14 “They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
¹⁵ Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
¹⁶ Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
¹⁷ Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.

To Believe

^19-20 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.

^20-21 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”
^22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
^24-25 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.”
But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”
²⁶ Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.”
²⁷ Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.”
²⁸ Thomas said, “My Master! My God!”
²⁹ Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”
^30-31 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.



*The painting is by Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes, titled "He is Risen: the First Easter", painted in 1893-1896.

Goodbye HFCS! How To Make A Small Batch of Homemade Tomato Ketchup in a Crockpot

 We are not unduly careful about what we eat: we prefer fresh, real foods but do not insist on organic; we trust our bodies to balance our diets, rather than following elaborate prescriptive eating plans; we don't buy food processed in China, but are ok with Mexican tomatoes during the winter months (from a locavore perspective, Mexico is closer to us than California LOL!)...

Still, my husband Paul has had a growing concern about the pervasiveness of High Fructose Corn Syrup in processed foods. We've started avoiding those things that have this ingredient.  Ketchup is a bit of a problem, since most brands contain HFCS and we like our ketchup!

I'd never made it myself since most recipes are for huge batches, calling for bushels of fresh tomatoes. Not only the investment, but what if we didn't like that particular recipe? DIY is foolish if it is wasteful!  So I was pretty excited to find this simple, small batch version on Instructables.com.

The original recipe is from Instructables member Scoochmaroo. Her basic recipe is very good as it stands. I made a few adjustments - mostly, to allow it to be cooked in a crockpot, so that I wouldn't need to stand over the stove and watch it.  My recipe is below.

 

Easy Small Batch Crockpot Tomato Ketchup

2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste (total of 12 ounces tomato paste)
1/2 cup white vinegar
3 teaspoons molasses
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in a small crockpot* and cook on low for 4 hours. To cook on top of the stove, add one cup of water to the recipe, bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, on very low heat for an hour or two, stirring every 15 minutes, until thickened. Cool, pour into a clean, sterile container, and refrigerate.

*I have a small "Crockette" that I used for this. If using a larger crockpot, I would probably double the recipe, just to give it enough bulk to cook properly.

 This recipe makes about 3 cups of ketchup (depending on how much water you add). It can be used immediately. The vinegar will preserve it, refrigerated, for a couple of weeks. I will just keep the ingredients on hand, and once a month or so will pop a batch into the slow cooker while we go about our business for the day.

We had this with our burgers tonight, and Paul said "That is some good ketchup!"  YAY! I won't even have to fiddle with the spice mix. 

It doesn't taste like "homemade ketchup", it tastes like plain old ordinary ketchup - which is, after all, what we really want on our salty french fries!

Enjoy!

The Empty Seats in the Courtroom

I had wanted my first blog post from my new computer to be a Thank You to my sweet son Nicolas and my sweet daughter-in-love Lani for presenting me with a new Dell Laptop and having my photos recovered from the old crashed hard drive. I don't think they agree with my politics but they like my recipes and the good normal life things I write about. Nick and Lani, I love you both. I promise to write some fun stuff soon.

But my first blog post on this new computer is not just gratefulness for these grown children whose lives are now bearing the fruit that was only a promise when they were born as tiny, tiny infants. So small their little hands could curl around their mothers' little fingers. So beautiful. And so much beauty and wonder and joy we have known from having them in our lives all these years as they have grown and matured and loved and become people who've exceeded their parents' happiest dreams. 

It is also a post of grief for the abortion-murdered children whose mothers will never know the joy of an adult son or daughter.  Who have been seduced into submitting to the murder of their futures by the murder of their babies.

The empty seats in the photo above are real. They are places reserved for news reporters who no longer care what is happening outside their own doors.
 
As I write, people who call themselves journalists and reporters and editors have decided they prefer to allow the Holocaust of the Unborn to continue than to mention the name of Kermit Gosnell.  They are sitting at their desks with their fingers in their ears singing "la la la la la la la" to drown out the sound of the evidence being presented in this trial.
 
People who make decisions about what stories to cover and how to report them for nearly every major news outlet in the United States have almost uniformly rejected the Trial of Two Centuries as "local news". They have chosen to continue to take the role of sycophants in a modern sacrifice of the first born.  USA Today's Kirsten Powers is one of the lone voices raised against the travesty of failure by newspaper, television and internet general media to cover this story. Mollie Hemingway, of "(The Press Doesn't ) Get Religion", has been a bulldog in confronting people at news desks with this.

The photo above is a picture of the courtroom in which the Kermit Gosnell Trial is being held. The Press are damned by their own absence. May God have mercy on their souls, because their sin of omission will not disappear just because they pretend it isn't there.

Just like little babies do not disappear just because some people pretend they don't exist.

My Chex Mix Recipe

She shows up after weeks of silence, only to post a Chex Party Mix recipe... during Lent?!?!?! 

Blogging is light right now for reasons previously given (I am still sharing a computer and focusing on creative ventures). This post goes back to why I started this blog originally. It was a good way to share my recipes when the kids called to ask "how do you make your.....?". When I posted them on Facebook, they rapidly disappeared.... but here on the blog, it is easy to find the recipe again in a jiffy.

When Ethan called tonight to ask how I make my party mix, which is only a little different from the "official" version (and still different from the real Original Version), I remembered I have never posted this recipe on here..... soooo here you go, Ethan! :-)

CHEX MIX

3    cups Corn Chex® cereal
3    cups Rice Chex® cereal
3    cups Wheat Chex® cereal
1    cup peanuts or mixed nuts (sometimes I add pecans when I have them - toast them first)
1    cup bite-size pretzels or pretzel sticks
1 1/4 stick (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) butter or margarine
5    tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2     teaspoons salt
1    teaspoon garlic powder
1    teaspoon onion powder

You need a big pan to bake this in. If you don't have one, one of those disposable foil turkey roasters from the grocery store is good. Just rinse it out and save it to use over and over again.  If I am making a double batch, I make two separate batches instead of trying to mix it all together. It just works better that way.

Heat oven to 250°F. In large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, and pretzels. Set aside.

Put butter in ungreased large roasting pan, and melt butter in oven. Stir in seasonings.

Pour cereal and pretzels into the pan and stir it, bringing the bottom pieces to the top over and over, for about 3 minutes until all the pieces are evenly coated.

Place in the oven and Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring a couple of times every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and taste a (cooled) piece. If it needs a little more salt, sprinkle the salt shaker over it while it is still warm & stir it once or twice to distribute.

Let it sit out until completely cool before covering it or putting it away.  Store in airtight container.

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A blessed Lent, and a Joyous Easter to all and sundry! God bless you and yours this year!

Joining the NRA. Because We Don't Have A Marine Sentry Post of Our Own.

This is a picture of the Marine Corps Sentry Post behind the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, where President Franklin Roosevelt spent much of his time. Aside from the "Servants Quarters" and this Marine Sentry post, it is very much a typical example of a modest American home of the era.

What does this have to do with the National Rifle Association? Well, it is like this: we love our Marines (and we are SO PROUD of the two in our family), but unlike the President, Congress and assorted very wealthy actors, we don't have one stationed full time on the property to protect us. And our modest little American home is no one's "servant's quarters".

 I like knowing that if I ever needed or wanted to, I could choose to learn to shoot and purchase the weapon of my own free choice, and have the capacity to protect my ownself and those around me. And I have always felt very safe knowing that any or all of my neighbors may make that choice for themselves as well.

Without having to get permission from anyone. Especially not from people who are supposed to be servants of my freedom, but who seem to have forgotten that I am not their serf (and God bless you, Joshua Boston, for telling the truth so eloquently. Ooorah!) .(PS Dear Veterans, please see this post about how much we need you here now that you are home again)


So, thanks Mark Levin for the link and the nudge to join the NRA. Right now is as good a time as any. No organization is perfect, but the NRA is a more reliable protector of the US Constitution & the liberties it spells out for us as individuals, than most of the people in Washington are.

Talk to your congresspeople (there are links in my sidebar to sites that will help you id who they are and how to contact them).  We are so grateful to have Governor Rick Perry and our State Representative Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, who are faithful to the best purposes of government in promoting genuine liberty for individuals to make our OWN decisions.

But one of the most powerful ways to make our voices heard right now is to join the NRA. Because the news media doesn't report on how many people are writing our Senators. But the media - and Congress - always notice how many new members the NRA has.

Stand With Hobby Lobby Against Forced Abortion Funding

Yes, Virginia, there are still courageous American companies out there. People who are willing to risk their money for their faith. In a profoundly patriotic move, Hobby Lobby is standing up against President Obama's demand that this company pay for abortions & abortifacent drugs for its employees despite Hobby Lobby's stated mission of "Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with Biblical principles."

Hobby Lobby CEO David Green issued a letter that is printed on the LifeNews.com site, outlining the situation, and announcing his intent to stand up against oppression at the risk of millions of dollars in daily fines for refusing to comply with this unGodly and illegal administrative rule. That's right - it isn't even a part of the actual law, but a lousy bureaucratic directive that President Obama is happily supporting and specifically targeting religious people to try to force us all to bend to his will instead of God's. As Mr Green states in his letter "The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief."

People of faith and those who understand abortion is murder are showing our support. Today has been Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day, and there are still a few hours left. I shopped at HobbyLobby.com because we do not have a local store.  I bought a nice set of Bombay calligraphy inks that I have been wanting. There's a $2 shipping special, and I found a coupon on the Online Shopping Home Page for 40% off the highest priced eligible item.

For whom will they come next?

Maybe next will be mandated birth control pills for teen girls - pills which increase the incidence of cancer and stroke, and can interfere with fertility in later life.  I have never taken the pill - effective, safe, cheap and easy birth control is available at every grocery store and in every convenience store on every corner in the country.  And condoms protect against venereal diseases (sexually transmitted diseases aka STDs) such as HPV (genital warts), Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, and gonorrhea.

Birth Control Pills and Abortion won't protect you against  these diseases or the permanent sterility they often cause, but condoms can help keep you from catching them (abstinence and monogamy are the two best methods of prevention).

Condoms CAN and DO prevent pregnancy, prevent VD, don't have side effects, are inexpensive and available to every woman and man in America - no prescription or insurance needed. Condoms are forbidden by some religions, including the Catholic Church, but they are so cheap that it would not be a hardship on anyone to buy their own.

Why don't President Obama, the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius and Planned Parenthood tell you these truths about "birth control"?

For whom will they come next?



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