Boy Scouts Love President Trump's Speech at National Jamboree, Shout "We Love Trump!" and "USA! USA! USA!"

During President Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts, that huge crowd applauded constantly, chanted " We love Trump! We love Trump! We love Trump!" and "USA! USA! USA!", and they "boo'ed" when he mentioned "his opponent".

Here's a sample quote:

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  "Your lives will have meaning and purpose and joy. You will become leaders, and you will inspire others to achieve the dreams they once thought were totally impossible, things that you said could never, ever happen are already happening for you. And if you do these things -- and if you refuse to give in to doubt or to fear -- then you will help to make America great again. You will be proud of yourself, be proud of the uniform you wear, and be proud of the country you love." (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!  

And just in case the Fake News starts getting it wrong, there were only two times the audience boo'ed. One when he mentioned Hillary:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "We won Florida.  We won South Carolina.  We won North Carolina.  We won Pennsylvania.  (Applause.)
We won and won.  So when they said, there is no way to victory, there is no way to 270.  I went to Maine four times because it’s one vote, and we won.  But we won -- one vote.  I went there because I kept hearing we're at 269.  But then Wisconsin came in.  Many, many years -- Michigan came in.
And we worked hard there.  My opponent didn't work hard there because she was told -- 

AUDIENCE:  Booo!

THE PRESIDENT:  "She was told she was going to win Michigan....."

and then when President Trump was telling the story of William Levitt, and teased them with a cliff-hanger:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: " I won’t go any more than that because you’re Boy Scouts, so I’m not going to tell you what he did."

AUDIENCE: Booo -- 

THE PRESIDENT: "Should I tell you? Should I tell you?"

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Final real news: The audience loved the speech and the President ALL THE WAY THROUGH:

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So I have to tell you what we did, in all fairness, is an unbelievable tribute to you and all of the other millions and millions of people that came out and voted for Make America Great Again.  (Applause.) 

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

The President ended his speech with a blessing:

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  "And I just want to end by saying very importantly:  God bless you.  God bless the Boy Scouts.  God bless the United States of America.
Go out.  Have a great time in life.  Compete and go out and show me that there is nobody -- nobody -- like a Boy Scout."

President Trump and The Deplorables: "Hope, and a Future"

President Donald John Trump is doing the Lord's work in bringing "Hope, and a Future" to ordinary Americans, and he laid out that vision last night in his first speech to the joint Houses of Congress.

President Trump laid out a concrete vision and showed us how to reach for it. By tagging America's 250th birthday - and by not calling it the "Semi-quincentennial - President Trump just gave a future to the descendants of our nation's founding people.

For a decade or more, struggling Americans have recited Jeremiah 29:11 and made it our by-word. We have written it on the walls of Food Banks, have spoken it over children's ministries, have memorized it and repeated it while trying to pay the bills:

 "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And our Father God heard the prayers of the ordinary people across the great, vast expanse of our nation, and sent us a new Cyrus to point the way back home. All the Deplorables whose life expectancy has been dropping, have reasons to live again.

President Trump told us we can speak again about our hopes for our children, and for ourselves, and our families, and communities - and assured us he will clear the path so that we can work with our own hands to bring our own dreams to life. Here are excerpts from his speech:

"Each American generation passes the torch of truth, liberty and justice –- in an unbroken chain all the way down to the present. ...

"The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colors and creeds -– families who just wanted a fair shot for their children, and a fair hearing for their concerns.....

".. I am not going to let America and its great companies and workers, be taken advantage of anymore. ..

"The time has come for a new program of national rebuilding. ..  ... This effort will be guided by two core principles:  Buy American, and Hire American. ...

"Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed.  Every problem can be solved.  And every hurting family can find healing, and hope.

"Our citizens deserve this, and so much more –- so why not join forces to finally get it done?  

"Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a great school, and to have access to a high-paying job.

"My job is not to represent the world.  My job is to represent the United States of America.

"We want peace, wherever peace can be found.  America is friends today with former enemies.  Some of our closest allies, decades ago, fought on the opposite side of these World Wars.  This history should give us all faith in the possibilities for a better world.

"Hopefully, the 250th year for America will see a world that is more peaceful, more just and more free.

"On our 100th anniversary, in 1876, citizens from across our Nation came to Philadelphia to celebrate America’s centennial.  At that celebration, the country’s builders and artists and inventors showed off their creations. Alexander Graham Bell displayed his telephone for the first time. Remington unveiled the first typewriter.  An early attempt was made at electric light. Thomas Edison showed an automatic telegraph and an electric pen. 

"Imagine the wonders our country could know in America’s 250th year.

"Think of the marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our people. Cures to illnesses that have always plagued us are not too much to hope. American footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream. Millions lifted from welfare to work is not too much to expect. And streets where mothers are safe from fear — schools where children learn in peace — and jobs where Americans prosper and grow — are not too much to ask. ....

"We are one people, with one destiny.

"We all bleed the same blood.

"We all salute the same flag.

"And we are all made by the same God.

"And when we fulfill this vision; when we celebrate our 250 years of glorious freedom, we will look back on tonight as when this new chapter of American Greatness began.

"The time for small thinking is over.  The time for trivial fights is behind us.

"We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts.

"The bravery to express the hopes that stir our souls.

"And the confidence to turn those hopes and dreams to action. ....

"Believe in yourselves.

"Believe in your future.

"And believe, once more, in America.

"Thank you, God bless you, and God Bless these United States."

 ~   ~     ~  

Thank you Father God for sending President Trump to lead us, and to give us a new vision. Americans, we have a new and blessed chance!  Isaiah 51:1  :

 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
    and who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
    and to the quarry from which you were hewn;" 

Thanksgiving: Boundless Blessing

My husband never lets me say the blessing over meals, because I pray like a little kid: there are sooooooo many wonderful things to appreciate and tell God about that my prayers just keep going and going.  Paul points out that our Preacher friends don't even pray long over meals because they want to eat while the food it hot! LOL!

Once I start thinking about it, though,  I become more aware that we are immersed constantly in blessings and grace God has given us. His blessings are thicker than the air we breathe - and we breathe them in with every rich breath, which itself comes from Him.

God's grace pours out continually, the stuff that holds the universe together right here within and surrounding and flowing through us.

The smallest particles of matter explode like popcorn unable to hold the vastness of God's blessing within them.

Counting our blessings is about the future. Every blessing looks forward into a Light that Shines, and has Shone, and will Shine continuously for ever and ever and ever.  Counting our blessings is one of the ways we see this beautiful future, and know how very Good it shall be, thanks to the First blessing: God's gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who gave us all a way to step into this wide-open universe made wholly of blessing. Even better: Who lets us share all of this blessing, Who gave us a way to bring others along, to show them the door that is built just for them.

So on this Thanksgiving Day, one of the best in my life, even in looking back, I look forward, remembering God's absolute promises to hold covenant with the descendants of those who love Him "down to a thousand generations", and ultimately, that unto Him "every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear", so that none are left behind.

Counting my blessings, in an endless list that wanders from the Oklahoma prairie through the Trump White House to tiny house churches in China, from a Georgia cotton field to the big beautiful cities of Texas, across the vast expanse of the internet to the light of shooting stars, along an ancient path with a prayer cast forward, from my great great grandparents' graves to my parents' tables to my grandbabies' cribs, an endless sphere of goodness and wonder that starts and ends at home.  

Home!

Thank you Jesus, Thank you Father God.

Ten Years Ago, Four American Heroes Gave Their All

My son Ethan Arguello posted this on July 29th, the 10th Anniversary of the deaths of four of his fellow Marines who gave their lives for American liberty. I've posted about these heroes before - part of their story is here. Their mothers, widows, sisters still grieve, and so do their brothers in arms:

"To the ones who gave it all.

"10 years ago....
Ten years ago today something happened that would have a greater impact on my life than I could ever imagine.

"While in Iraq, our platoon and company were split up into three neighboring towns. We were comfortable working here. We knew there were terrorists all around us and from what I remember, moral was high. Exercising, patrolling and sleeping had become a way of life. We relieved an army striker unit that had been in that area of operation for at least several months and reported no U.S. casualties but a known presence of terrorists. On a regular quiet day, we got a call of an attack on one of our positions, QRF was sent out. What seemed like an eternity of time to pass before their return, they returned with bad news. Jose Mata put his arm over my shoulder and told me the news, the news that we could never change. It was news that we couldn't share with anyone else until their families were notified. Together we sat that evening mostly in silence around the rest of the platoon who was not completely aware of what had just happened. A long last couple months we would spend in that country, without four of our brothers. The next day, in tremendous mental pain,HNFMF Chadwick Kenyon told me that he had spent the last minutes with Christian Williams partiality conscious in the back of the MedEvac vehicle. Sgt. Williams, Cpl. Baucus, LCpl. Butterfield and LCpl. Hanson, would have never chosen anyone else to go before them. They were men of honor, loyalty, respect and dignity, who any of us would have done the same for them. With nothing negative to say about these men by anybody, it makes us wonder, why them? I've attempted to understand why they were called before me and our other Marines and never have an answer just a thought that, they wouldn't have wanted it to be us.

"Only the good die young" is a saying that has held strong in my mind every time I think of them. Our Marines stood up to the evil group of terrorists that killed our citizens on September 11, 2001. They did this without the concern of their own safety. They did this for me and you. I and the other Marines of 3rd LAR Delta Company witnessed these Heroes, on many occasions, both in training and in combat give their unselfish 100% at everything they did.

"A big thank you to the families who raised these young warriors to be our protectors. Their character and discipline exemplified the ethics and values that I want my children to one day carry.

"To the Marines who gave it all, that we now call our heroes. We love you, we remember you, we mourn for you and will always honor you.

"Godspeed, USMC"

        ~ Ethan Arguello

The Most Deadly Marriage Crisis

Unfortunately, the legality of same sex marriage won't reduce the number of people who run around on their spouse, the number of women who date married men, the number of people who lie to their spouse, the number of people who over-spend and hide the bills from their spouse, the number of people who refuse to love their inlaws, the number of stepparents who put their own children before their stepchildren, the number of divorcing women who try to destroy their spouse financially, the number of parents who manipulate their children to sabotage the other parent, the number of people who refuse to forgive their spouse....

The marriage crisis we face in America is not about "who" is getting married, it is about how married people follow our vows to put the well-being of our spouse on an equal footing with our own for our entire life, even if the marriage itself fails.

*Art:  "Samson and Delilah", painted by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni in 1766

Why Printed Books Will Always Matter: The Armenian Genocide

I learned about the Armenian Genocide - or one of its  precursors "The Hamidian Massacres" or "The Adana Massacre" - when I was in third grade.

There was an old abandoned house on the block - one of those older than the homes around it, that had either been a rent house until it became too decrepit to rent out, or whose elderly owner had died with no local heirs to help keep it up or care about its gradual decay. Windows were broken out, and someone had taken the front door, leaving it wide open, airy, well-lit with sunshine... and perfect for neighborhood children to explore.

I don't remember whether I wandered through it with a friend or alone. It was empty except for a half-filled box of trinkets, cracked dishes.... and one very old book.

Even back then, I read everything I could get my hands on. This book was old... I want to say the copyright date was 1909, but it could have been Bliss's ""Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities. A Reign of Terror" published in 1896.  I don't think it was the  one known as the "Blue Book", Viscount Bryce's definitive "Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-1916", published in 1916.

I opened it and started reading explicit, bloody accounts of unimaginable torture inflicted on innocent old men, little children, mothers, by Turkish soldiers in the name of their muslim religion. All because the Armenians were Christians.

I didn't take the book, I just stayed there and read for half an hour or so.

I didn't hear anything else about Armenia until I was grown.

Despite the herculean effort that America made through the American Committee for Relief in the Near East, efforts that are credited with literally saving the Armenian people from extinction, and which served as the model for all relief agencies that have been created since, despite that, Armenia was ignored in public school history classes.  The progressive agenda was already busy in our textbooks, deleting events and adding agendas even in the 60s.

Today, a hundred years later, the cultural descendants of the perpetrators deny those events. Events that look horribly identical to massacres happening right now in the same places, inflicted by people who claim the same reasons and use the same tactics and methods. They deny both the old atrocities and the new ones, and they convince some. Our own President is willing to acede to their fiction.

Over time, I've learned much more from that brief encounter with a book I never saw again. It taught me that a written record can be proof to fly in the face of deceit. It taught me to look for accounts printed within a few years of events, because those are the most accurate. It taught me that the printed word can survive even attempts to stamp out knowledge. It taught me that there was a great deal about the world I would have to learn for myself if I wanted to know what things were really like. And it was a powerful object lesson in the truth of that other "old book" that so many deny and try to destroy.

So thank God for that printed copy of that old book. A copy that can't be edited or deleted or removed from a search engine.  I hope we will remember that we still need printed history books, if only to witness the truth to generations to come. Like the Lord God told Isaiah:

"Go now, and write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribing it in a book, so that for times to come it may be an everlasting witness" Isaiah 30:8

* The Image is a poster used in one of the many fund raising drives the American Committee for Relief in the Near East. Wikipedia says this about their work: "From 1915 to 1930, Near East Relief saved the lives of over a million refugees, including 132,000 orphans who were cared for and educated in Near East Relief orphanages. Near East Relief also mobilized the American people to raise over $116 million for direct relief. Nearly 1,000 U.S. citizens volunteered to travel overseas. Near East Relief workers built hundreds of orphanages, vocational schools, and food distribution centers. Overseas relief workers were responsible for the direct care of orphans and refugees, including the organization of vast feeding and educational programs. Thousands of Americans volunteered throughout the U.S. by donating money or supplies and hosting special events to benefit Near East Relief's work."

Homemade Egg Noodles And Chicken or Turkey

I shared the text recipe for this several years ago on this blog, and now here is video to go along with it.

This time I made it using my own home-canned turkey! Enjoy!  :-)

Black-eyed Peas with Sausage

This is an old favorite that I often made for supper year round when the kids were home. It is an easy dish to make after work. May God bless you and yours, and all of us, and may God Bless America again in 2015.

Christmas Recipe Challenge & Our Chex Mix Recipe

Hopefully, over the week the comments thread on this video will fill up with tasty family favorites! Do you have a You Tube channel? Make a video  and come share in the comments on You Tube!  Watch til the end to find out how to take part. Maybe your name will be drawn for the "Christmas with Martha Stewart Living" book give away! :-)

UPDATED: An American Son, An American Sign: Standing Up Against Negotiating With Terrorists

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little."                                                                                                                                 ~ Edmund Burke.

UPDATE 6/4/14  -  A group of Vets from the American Patriots III% (AP3%) and friends are planning to join Ethan in a protest at 5:00 pm Thursday, June 5th, outside the gate at the Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot. See Facebook Group "America's One Voice" for more details.
~~~~~~~~
Original Post: When I first heard that Bowe Bergdahl had been released, I was really happy. I was very uneasy to learn that he had been traded for five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Prison. Then, my son Ethan filled me in on some of the facts, and I understood that this is not a time to rejoice.  (Pat at SIGIS has a roundup of info on the troubling details)

Ethan Arguello is a former Marine, a veteran who served in Iraq. I have written before about him, and his brothers in arms who were killed in support of liberty there.

Ethan sees this trade, this ransom, as a betrayal of our military, of the good men and women who gave their lives and their bodies for America, and of the Gold Star families we honor for the terrible sacrifices of loss they live with every day.

So for the past two days, and continuing for the rest of this week, Ethan is standing out on the road holding a sign, protesting against abandoning our 200 year old policy against ransom. His hand lettered sign reads "AMERICANS Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists".

Here is what he told me about it:
"Mother, to be honest with you, I'm angered by this just as much as I am and was with my fellow Marines deaths. I'm mourning for every Gold Star parent, the fact that we captured their child's killers then released them is disgusting.  Most of my hurt in my heart is for the parents (Gold Star) of the brave ones that step up to protect others."

Later on, he added this:  "I will continue to be an American in accordance with our Constitution and the ideals of our founding fathers.  Even though Americans are becoming non American, I will continue.  I believe in the enabling of every deserving person to succeed in every effort that they shall embark on.  If they are productive members of society, they will represent the the average hard working American that pulled their own weight and managed their own responsibilities as done before in history.  "

If you happen to be driving along Highway 278 in Bluffton, South Carolina, look for him there.

He said he is getting great support, lots of honks and people yelling their approval. Thank you to the nice lady who brought him a bottle of cold water! People are glad to know they are not the only ones angry about this  - and people who didn't know the hard truth (like me at first), are becoming angry when they find out what has really happened here.

And some pics taken from cars are starting to show up on Facebook and Instagram, with great comments, so he is getting a little "viral" coverage.

There isn't a lot one man can do in the face of something like this. But there is always something. And Ethan is Doing Something on his own, without waiting on anyone else. He is standing up for what he believes, not hanging about to see if anyone else is willing to stand with him.

And that is the kind of courage that makes America, America.

My sons are all three very fine men, and they continually amaze and impress me. Pride in my children is something they have earned by their own actions and lives. Every once in a while, they will each do something that takes my breath away. And that is how I feel right now.

I'm very proud of my American Son today.

A Prayer for Josie Cunningham: Updated With Rejoicing!

A heart-stopping story of a woman who is so lost that she eagerly seeks attention for her planned murder of an innocent:  http://liveactionnews.org/wannabe-celebrity-josie-cunningham-planning-an-abortion-so-she-can-get-on-a-reality-show/

Father God, please send Your angels to change Josie Cunningham's mind and save her from murdering her baby. Is there a Solomon in her life who can intervene in time? Please send signs and wonders and true friends to open her eyes to the truth, her ears to the sound of true love for the beautiful and lovely person she can be if only she will repent and turn to You.   If in the hardness of her heart she proceeds, please take her little one into Heaven without suffering.  Father, please surround her children with true love from other places, that evil cannot touch or damage them, that they may grow up whole and healthy and know Your blessing of redemption. We ask all this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who was also threatened as an infant by evil that killed other babies for worldly gain, and Who taught "let the little children come to me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven", in Jesus name we ask for the lives of these little ones, and an intervention to stop this woman from the terrible sin she is planning, that she may have forgiveness and mercy, and the joy of new life in Christ. Amen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE April 28, 2014:  Thank you Father God for answered prayers. Thank you Lord Jesus that Josie's little one "leapt in her womb", just as Elizabeth's baby John did to greet you when Mary visited during her expectency with You. Please protect and bless this child all of his life. May his life and work be to Your Glory! In Jesus name, Amen!
    From The Mirror, click through to read the whole wonderful article!

 "... Josie travelled to London the night before her appointment but spent frightening ­sleepless hours watching videos of abortions close to the 24-week legal limit.
"She says: “I’d had so many angry tweets from people telling me to look at pictures of foetuses at 18 or 19 weeks and to understand what I was doing.
"“I was so stubborn I just ignored them. But as I lay awake the night before the appointment, I cracked. I felt the baby kicking again and I couldn’t stop myself from looking on my phone. What I saw horrified me.
"“They looked like fully formed babies and I read there have been 66 cases where aborted foetuses have come out alive because their mothers left the decision so late. I lay in bed and sobbed. Doubts crept in.”
"Josie left for her appointment at the north London clinic on Thursday. But feeling her baby move that morning was the final straw.
"“I tried to put it to the back of my mind because I was determined I’d made the right decision. But suddenly none of that mattered any more,” she said. “I told the driver to take me back to the hotel. As soon as I realised I was going to keep the baby, I felt happy – like a weight lifted.”" 

What a great day! God is Good! May all mothers feel the joy of their children yet to be and welcome them, despite anything to the contrary. May all mothers love their babies and want them, even before they have conceived, that they never be tempted to harm. May all know the Love of our Father in Heaven, that such Great and Eternal Love will lead them through the storms here below. In Jesus Name, Amen!

January Update on My Winter Garden: Things Learned So Far

 I had a lot of fun planting my first "winter garden" this year. Then, Paul got sick. But God was so good that He watered my garden for me with nice regular rains for two months!  As a result, much of what I planted came up. I was able to harvest radishes and several messes of turnip greens!   With turnips, plant them thickly, then when you thin them, just snip the roots off and they are lovely tender turnip greens. All those little weeds you see around the turnips in the picture are just winter annual things like chickweed and henbit - they are edible too, if you want to fiddle with them.

I just scattered all my seeds down the rows in rather wide swaths.  But I learned that I can't cultivate the rows if I don't plant the seeds precisely. So come Spring, I'll use a seeder and put them down One At A Time. Then I can wheel the cultivator through the rows and take care of most weeds while they are tiny.

 I also learned that most things will not live through the winter, so I better limit plantings to those things I can harvest before the arctic air comes in and it gets down to 12 degrees!  Turnip greens I harvested. Turnips? Not so much. Unless they are still alive under their poor bedraggled and dehydrated dead tops - will report back on that in a couple of months!

 I used scallop shells I collected when we lived on the coast for row markers. Just punched a hole in them with a nail, wrote on them with a Sharpie, and wired them to a stick.  They look cute. People can't tell what they are from the street so they ask me about them LOL

Another almost-miracle was when I came home from the hospital and discovered my Saffron Crocus blooming! I planted those bulbs about 5 years ago, and they have never bloomed, not once. This year, three of them popped up their pretty little heads. Naturally, I quickly took my tweezers and collected the stamens. So now I have home-grown Saffron, nine whole threads of it! :-)

The deer always travel through my garden spot, even though we live in town. So I had planned to put up a barrier of plastic Deer Netting to keep them out.  But these are not deer tracks.  It is a tiny town, and most people let their dogs run around so we know most of the neighborhood pets. I thought at first there must be a new dog because there aren't any that large that come through. But then my neighbor looked at the tracks and told me it was a BOBCAT! The way to tell the difference in that cat tracks never have toenails showing, while dog (or coyote or wolf)  footprints always show toenails, since they cannot retract their claws like cats do.  That is one big bobcat!  They are common in this vicinity, but I never dreamed of them following the deer down Main Street!

My son Nick and grandson came a day early for Thanksgiving, and set T Posts around the perimeter of the garden. My grandson is 14, and is just beginning to get his muscles. He is going to have the same powerful arms that his dad and his uncles Nick and Ethan have. He made short work of pounding the posts into the ground. It made me proud to watch them work together so comfortably.

 The posts are spaced far enough apart that Daddy's tractor will still be able to fit between them. When spring comes, I'll attach the black plastic netting to them before the deer get used to finding tasty morsels inside. This is a very inexpensive solve. We can't afford to fence the whole area permanently, and these are nearly invisible from the street until we wrap them. The plastic netting can be replaced annually. And, if we want to enclose more area, these T posts are easy to remove. Well, they are if you are Nick. It was great fun watching him one-handedly pull up some that had been staking trees - posts I had not even been able to budge with all my weight behind it!

Onion plants are in at the local produce market, so I will buy them next time I am in town, and will go ahead and put them out in a portion of the garden I left for them. I LOVE growing onions. They are so rewarding, since we cook with onions every day: it feels good to raise somethng that is a real "staple" for the table.  We plant the little skinny plants, not the hard bulbs, and this far South we MUST have "Short Day Onions", because we do not get the length of daylight hours they have up North. Onions are very dependent on hours of daylight to make their bulbs. If we plant the regular onions listed in most seed catalogs, they might make good green scallions, but would never make bulbs.

Our winter is moving along pretty much as the Almanac predicted: cold and wet. So other than the onions, I probably won't put anything else out until March. Then I will plant more turnips, mustard, lettuces, etc. The seed catalogues are coming in and I'm having such fun reading them and plotting what to buy.  Right now is the pleasant winter day-dreaming time in the garden and I am enjoying every moment of it!

Taste of Summer: Hand Cranked Mango Ice Cream

 The grandkids and I made a tiny batch of ice cream when they were here - they wanted to test drive my little garage sale find of an ice cream maker that has a bowl you put in the deep freeze, with a handle on top to turn the paddles. It works great! Very speedy and not much effort required. The only trouble is that it doesn't hold much, so it is only useful for a couple of servings.

The recipe I used was a keeper for sure: Mango Ice Cream! YUM!  Our church had a picnic gathering on Wednesday evening for Independence Day and I made a large batch to take. It was a big hit.

This recipe is for a half gallon (2 quarts), but you can divide it by four and make as little as 2 pints successfully. It is smooth, creamy, rich - and makes Husband-King Paul swoon! :-)

Mango Ice Cream

4 ripe mangoes
3 cups sugar
Juice of 2 large limes (4 tablespoons)
4 cups whole milk
10 egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Peel and cube the mangoes into small pieces and place in a glass or ceramic bowl (not a metal one - the acids would react). Squeeze the limes into the bowl with the mangoes, add 1 cup of sugar and stir. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about an hour.

Separate the eggs and freeze the whites to use later for meringue. I used the fresh country eggs we buy locally, and the rich yolks are wonderful in ice cream.

Stir the yolks and 2 cups of sugar together in a mixing bowl.

Pour the milk into a large pan and "scald" it - this means to get it hot but not simmering or boiling. It should just be steaming.

Whisking constantly (or use an electric mixer), pour the hot milk into the eggs. Be sure to whisk the eggs without stopping so they won't turn into scrambled eggs! It helps to have two people at this step. Or use your stand mixer if you have one. 

Whisk all of the milk into the eggs, then pour it all back into the pan, and keep stirring over medium heat for 4 minutes, until it has thickened slightly. Stir constantly and don't allow it to boil.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

When cool, combine with the fruit mixture and the whipping cream. Chill overnight and freeze in an ice cream freezer. When well-frozen, remove the ice cream to a storage container and place in the deep freeze for several hours until frozen hard. It may need to be stirred once or twice during that time.

My little ice cream freezer only does a quart at a time so it took two rounds of cranking to get it all made. Since the custard was chilled, it only took me about 15 minutes of churning per quart. I used one bag of ice and about half a box of rock salt: keep adding more ice and salt as it melts down. The salt makes the ice colder, thus it freezes faster.

I worked outside in the cool of the morning and it was really nice: lovely memories of "helping" Nandy freeze the ice cream when we were kids, and anticipation of the upcoming 4th of July events made the time go by in a dreamy hour. Would that all mornings could start so sweetly!

"...Those Who Went West Have Seen Him": A Memorial Day Story

Memorial Day is nearly 150 years old. During each of those years, families and towns have new reason for remembrance, have new graves to tend on "Decoration Day". American freedom is bought dearly by men and women who gladly stand up and push back against threats to liberty.

In our household, we remember these men of the 3rd LAR,seven Marines and their Navy medic, who served with my son, Sgt Ethan D Arguello, and paid for our freedom with their lives in 2006 in Iraq:
Seaman Chadwick T. Kenyon
Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus
Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield
Cpl. Adam A. Galvez
Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson
Lance Cpl. Shane P. Harris
Lance Cpl. Randy L. Newman
Sgt. Christian B. Williams

I've written about them before. In many ways, their stories are unique, and each brave member of the US Military has their own story to tell. At the same time, there is a kind of courage that is renewed with each generation of Americans, and these men shared that courage with those of older times and other wars who, like them, gave their all for God and country, for liberty and freedom.

The story below, "The Beloved Captain", is the second of Donald Hankey's stories I've shared here. It was published in 1917, painting the heroism Hankey witnessed during The Great War, as WWI was then known.When I read it, the story didn't seem like something from a hundred years ago, but instead, it sounded like the kinds of things I was hearing people say about Doc Kenyon, Adam Galvez, Tony Butterfield, Jason Hanson, Randy Newman, Phillip Baucus, Chris Williams, and Shane Harris. 

The man who wrote this story, Donald Hankey, is himself numbered with them. He was killed in action in 1916, in the battle of the Somme. May God bless us to meet them all in the joy of the Resurrection at the end of all strife, and the final, victorious coming of the Lord.


The Beloved Captain

"He came In the early days, when we were still at recruit drills under the hot September sun. Tall, erect, smiling: so we first saw him, and so he remained to the end. At the start he knew as little of soldiering as
we did. He used to watch us being drilled by the sergeant; but his manner of watching was peculiarly his own. He never looked bored. He was learning just as much as we were, in fact more. He was learning his job, and from the first he saw that his job was more than to give the correct orders. His job was to lead us. So he watched, and noted many things, and never found the time hang heavy on his hands. He watched our evolutions, so as to learn the correct orders; he watched for the right manner of command, the manner which secured the most prompt response to an order; and he watched every one of us for our individual characteristics.

"We were his men. Already he took an almost paternal interest in us. He noted the men who tried hard, but were naturally slow and awkward. He distinguished them from those who were inattentive and bored. He marked down the keen and efficient amongst us. Most of all he studied those who were subject to moods, who were sulky one day and willing the next. These were the ones who were to turn the scale. If only he could get these on his side, the battle would be won.

"For a few days he just watched. Then he started work. He picked out some of the most awkward ones, and, accompanied by a corporal, marched them away by themselves. Ingenuously he explained that he did not know much himself yet; but he thought that they might get on better If they drilled by themselves a bit, and that if he helped them, and they helped him, ey would son learn. His confidence was Infectious. He looked at them, and they looked at him, and the men pulled themselves together and determined to do their best. Their best surprised themselves. His patience was inexhaustible. His simplicity could not fail to be understood. His keenness and optimism carried all with them. Very soon the awkward squad found themselves awkward no longer; and soon after that they ceased to be a squad, and went back to the platoon.

"Then he started to drill the platoon, with the sergeant standing by to point out his mistakes. Of course he made mistakes, and when that happened he never minded admitting It. He would explain what mistakes he
had made, and try again. The result was that we began to take almost as much interest and pride in his progress as he did in ours. We were his men, and he was our leader. We felt that he was a credit to us, and
we resolved to be a credit to him. There was a bond of mutual confidence and affection between us, which grew stronger and stronger as the months passed. He had a smile for almost everyone; but we thought that he had a different smile for us. We looked for it, and were never disappointed.

"On parade, as long as we were trying, his smile encouraged us. Off parade, if we passed him and saluted, his eyes looked straight into our own, and his smile greeted us. It was a wonderful thing, that smile of his. It was something worth living for, and worth working for. It bucked one up when one was bored or tired. It seemed to make one look at things from a different point of view, a finer point of view, his point of view.
There was nothing feeble or weak about It. It was not monotonous like the smile of " Sunny Jim." It meant something. It meant that we were his men, and that he was proud of us, and sure that we were going to do jolly well” better than any of the other platoons. And it made us determine that we would. When we failed him, when he was disappointed in us, he did not smile. He did not rage or curse. He just looked disappointed, and that made us feel far more savage with ourselves than any amount of swearing would have done. He made us feel that we were not playing the game by him. It was not what he said. He was never very good at talking. It was just how he looked. And his look of displeasure and disappointment was a thing that we would do anything to avoid. The fact was that he had won his way into our affections. We loved him. And there isn't anything stronger than love, when all's said and done.

"He was good to look on. He was big and tall, and held himself upright. His eyes looked his own height. He moved with the grace of an athlete. His skin was tanned by a wholesome outdoor life, and his eyes were clear and wide open. Physically he was a prince among men. We used to notice, as we marched along the road and passed other officers, that they always looked pleased to see him. They greeted him with a cordiality which was reserved for him. Even the general seemed to have singled him out, and cast an eye of special approval upon him.

"Somehow, gentle though he was, he was never familiar. He had a kind of innate nobility which marked him out as above us. He was not democratic. He was rather the justification for aristocracy. We all knew
instinctively that he was our superior - a man of finer temper than ourselves, a "toff" in his own right. I suppose that that was why he could be so humble without loss of dignity. For he was humble too, if that is the right word, and I think it is. No trouble of ours was too small for him to attend to. When we started route marches, for instance, and our feet were blistered and sore, as they often were at first, you would have thought that they were his own feet from the trouble he took.

"Of course after the march there was always an inspection of feet. That is the routine. But with him it was no mere routine. He came into our rooms, and if anyone had a sore foot he would kneel down on the floor and
look at it as carefully as if he had been a doctor. Then he would prescribe, and the remedies were ready at hand, being borne by the sergeant. If a blister had to be lanced he would very likely lance it himself there and then, so as to make sure that it was done with a clean needle and that no dirt was allowed to get in. There was no affectation about this, no striving after effect. It was simply that he felt that our feet were pretty important, and that he knew that we were pretty careless. So he thought it best at the start to see to the matter himself. Nevertheless, there was in our eyes something almost religious about this care for our feet. It seemed to have a touch of the Christ about it, and we loved and honored him the more.

"We knew that we should lose him. For one thing, we knew that he would be promoted. It was our great hope that some day he would command the company. Also we knew that he would be killed. He was so amazingly unselfconscious. For that reason we knew that he would be absolutely fearless. He would be so keen on the job in hand, and so anxious for his men, that he would forget about his own danger. So it proved. He was a captain when we went out to the front. Whenever there was a tiresome job
to be done, he was there in charge. If ever there were a moment of danger, he was on the spot. If there were any particular part of the line where the shells were falling faster or the bombs dropping more
thickly than in other parts, he was in it.

"It was not that he was conceited and imagined himself indispensable. It was just that he was so keen that the men should do their best, and act worthily of the regiment. He knew that fellows hated turning out at night for fatigue, when they were in a "rest camp." He knew how tiresome the long march there and back and the digging in the dark for an unknown purpose were. He knew that fellows would be inclined to grouse and shirk, so he thought that it was up to him to go and show them that he thought it was a job worth doing. And the fact that he was there put a new complexion on the matter altogether. No one would shirk if he were there. No one would grumble so much, either. What was good enough for him was good enough for us. If it were not too much trouble for him to turn out, it was not too much trouble for us.

"He knew, too, how trying to the nerves it is to sit in a trench and be shelled. He knew what a temptation there is to move a bit farther down the trench and herd together in a bunch at what seems the safest end. He
knew, too, the folly of it, and that it was not the thing to do - not done in the best regiments. So he went along to see that it did not happen, to see that the men stuck to their posts, and conquered their nerves.

"And as soon as we saw him, we forgot our own anxiety. It was: "Move a bit farther down, sir. We are all right here; but don't you go exposing of yourself." We didn't matter. We knew it then. We were just the rank
and file, bound to take risks. The company would get along all right without us. But the captain, how was the company to get on without him? To see him was to catch his point of view, to forget our personal
anxieties, and only to think of the company, and the regiment, and honor.

"There was not one of us but would gladly have died for him. We longed for the chance to show him that. We weren't heroes. We never dreamed about the Victoria Cross. But to save the captain we would have earned it ten times over, and never have cared a button whether we got it or not. We never got the chance, worse luck. It was all the other way.

"We were holding some trenches which were about as unhealthy as trenches could be. The Bosches were only a few yards away, and were well supplied with trench mortars. We hadn't got any at that time. Bombs and air torpedoes were dropping round us all day. Of course the captain was there. It seemed as if he could not keep away. A torpedo fell into the trench, and buried some of our chaps. The fellows next to them ran to dig them out. Of course he was one of the first. Then came another torpedo in the same place. That was the end.

"But he lives. Somehow he lives. And we who knew him do not forget. We feel his eyes on us. We still work for that wonderful smile of his. There are not many of the old lot left now; but I think that those who went West have seen him. When they got to the other side I think they were met. Someone said: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

"And as they knelt before that gracious pierced Figure, I reckon they saw nearby the captain's smile. Anyway, in that faith let me die, if death should come my way; and so, I think, shall I die content. "

31 Things to Do With The Grandkids (Even Teenagers) This Summer

 Summer is nearly here. Time for the Grands - even if they are "old" teens - to come and visit! Don't wait for them to invite themselves - call and ask their parents when they can come spend a few days with you.

You don't need to spend much money to entertain them. Most of the things you will do with them are so new to the kids it will be an adventure even if it is something you do daily. Even busy schedules will have a few free days or a long weekend sometime in the summer. You will be tired when they leave but you will never regret it - and they will remember the time their whole lives.

Here are some of the things we've done on school breaks or in the Summer:

Take them to church. Doesn't matter if they don't bring dress clothes - kids don't dress up for church now anyway!

Hang a porch swing for them to swing in.

 Go bowling with them!
 

 Take them to Dairy Queen for Banana Splits and Blizzards.

Give them colored pencils and paper and let them make Get Well cards or Birthday Cards.

Learn to bake together.

Eat German food!

They never get too old for Legos. Don't get rid of those plastic bricks - watch how quickly they pull them out and start building with them again.

Let them give the dogs a bath!

Let them sub at your Bunco night!

Take them volunteering with you.

Go to the Zoo!

Show them the old family pictures.

Take them with you to get an accupuncture treatment!

Let them have some free time to find their own things to do around the house.

Take them fishing!

Take them to an antique shop. Or a gift shop. But don't buy anything - just look at stuff and talk about it with them.

Try on hats!

 Introduce them to a baby donkey!

Let them drill holes in stuff.

See if Vacation Bible School needs volunteers - Two of ours come every year for a week just to go to the community Vacation Bible School. Cade and other older boys help with outdoor games for the little kids, and Bre helps by keeping the babies in the nursery.

Teach them to dance! (ok we didn't do this one but if I knew how to dance I would!)

Take them to see local talent perform at the Coffee House. 

 Show them your favorite old movies!

Take them to the flea market, or an auction.

Buy them cheap light-up sunglasses.

Take them to see their ancestor's graves.

Get them to move the wood pile for you and bite your tongue when they start chasing lizards - let them do it!

Teach them about Doodle Bugs.

 Go for a walk!

Give them lots of hugs!

They might even leave you a little love note. :-)

Holy Saturday: The Harrowing of Hell

O God, we look at the death that was,
Look at the time - unthinkable time!
When God lay dead and earth lay dark
And in all of time was nothing. Nothing!

Nothing!
The absence in which You Were.
The empty from which You Brought.
The void that only Your Voice can Fill and Shatter and Open.

And in that nothing, You Were.
And out of that nothing, You Came.
And we will the Truth of Your Death, that ever You Come.

Come, Lord Jesus!


Holy Saturday is dark, and solemn. Our Lord was still in His tomb, and those who loved him were still in anguish.

One of the most beautiful traditions around Holy Week is the understanding that Jesus also saved those who had died before He came to earth. Thus, those who longed for His coming in previous generations were also offered eternal life in Heaven. They also are a part of the "great cloud of witnesses" who surround us.

This exegesis is known as "The Harrowing of hell", and comes from at least as early as the 4th Century AD. This is yet another way of envisioning the scriptural mystery wherein Christ's resurrection saved the whole world, me, you and the little bitty babies, and the old men, and Adam and Eve, and every creature from the beginning until the end of time.


"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"  Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, Chapter 2, verse 20. 



The poem is by Tina Howard
The image is an Albrecht Durer engraving from 1512 AD, titled "The Harrowing of hell", from a series illustrating The Passion of Christ.  Never heard of him, you think? If you have ever seen a figurine or art featuring the "Praying Hands", you've seen his work.

Irish Soda Bread for St Patrick's Day

 
Feels like old times this week: all the grandchildren (all four are young teens or tweens) are here for Spring Break. They are having a great time doing all the old fashioned things that kids will do if given the opportunity: swinging in the porch swing, helping with yard work, finding lizards, skateboarding, walking up to the school to run (and meet their friends), playing scrabble after supper, staying up too late and being too loud and sleeping til noon.

So what if they have smart phones in hand on the porch - that doesn't stop them laughing with delight as they swing back and forth.  They took pictures with their iPod of the lizard they found, but they still moved all the firewood to a new platform first. They googled the Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary and figured out words - but they still asked to play again the next night on our 30 year old "Deluxe" turntable board. Some things they do a little differently, but much has not changed at all. We do not need to worry about our upcoming generation: the kids are alright.

With them all here for St Patrick's Day, I thought it would be fun to have a "traditional Irish Breakfast", so we had a sweet Irish Soda Bread toasted and slathered with butter (they LOVED it), canadian bacon, fried eggs (3 of them wanted runny yolks!), tomatoes, "white sausage" (we used scrapple - not quite the same I know but all I could arrange for in a pinch, so close enough), and nice hot tea with cream and sugar. They also LOVED the tea - and wanted to know if we can have it again later today.  Sure - we'll have hot tea tonight with our St Paddy's Day Baked Potato Feast (all the toppings, including taco meat, bacon, cheese, crutons.... etc etc and everyone builds their own).

Here's the recipe for a moist, sweet version of Irish Soda Bread that has raisins and caraway seed in it. It is easy and quick to put together, but it has to bake for more than an hour, so take that into consideration.

Sweet Irish Soda Bread

4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
15 ounce box of raisins(about 2 1/2 cups)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
8 ounce package of sour cream (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use shortening to generously grease a 9" round baking pan or cast iron skillet. I used Thelma's old biscuit pan - Paul said he remembers her using this his whole life. I hope every family has an heirloom biscuit pan, cornbread pan or comal that still can make us feel warm and happy when we use it just like our mom or grandmother did.

Plump the raisins by pouring one cup of boiling water over them and letting them set til cool, then drain.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and caraway seeds in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Stir the liquid mixture into flour mixture and add the raisins. Mix it just until all the flour is moistened. Do not over-work this dough - it should be soft and sticky.

Pour the dough in the prepared pan. It's going to be homely looking.  Dust with a bit of flour, then use a sharp knife to slash a cross into the top, about an inch or two deep.

Bake for one hour and 5 minutes - a little longer if you think it needs it. Turn out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool.  Serve warm, cold or toasted, with soft butter.

Not one kid thought the caraway was odd (although Paul did) - they all have eaten several pieces of it.  Definitely a keeper, and I am going to make another loaf to take to our Church's small group meeting tomorrow.

Update: Thanks to Pat @ SIGIS for the link! :-)

"A rich child often sits in a poor mothers lap."

"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him."  Pablo Casals

Are you pregnant? Thanks be to God! Congratulations! You are working with God to bring a miracle to our world: a new person, whose life will be a blessing to you and to all around him.

Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that you cannot afford to let your baby be born, and live. YES, YOU CAN.

Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that you aren't able to fulfill your own dreams and have a good life if you have your baby. YES, YOU ARE.

Don't believe anyone who tells you "you can't" when it comes to your baby. YES, YOU CAN.

Don't believe anyone who tells you "you can't be in" if you have a baby. YES YOU CAN. 

Abortion or "the morning after pill" or "a procedure" is not a choice you want to make. Don't allow your mother or aunt or grandmother or teacher or doctor to force you into it.  If you need someone to stand with you and give you courage, here are some good people who will help you:

Project Cuddle1-888-628-3353

Physicians For Life page of resources

A GREAT Christmas This Year, No Matter What

One of the most memorable Christmases in my life was in the depths of the early 1980s recession, the year my grandmother had open heart surgery right after Thanksgiving.  Between unemployment, faltering businesses, and serious health issues, everyone in the family had Big Worries and no money.

All of our gifts that year were either homemade or inexpensive. And we were together. The children were young. Confidence and hope for a good future took hold. It was Christmas.

Mema had always made the holiday dinners, but she wasn't able to that year, so Mama got to make Christmas Dinner and have it at her house. It was not something she wanted to take on permanently, but was a fun new experience, and we had a sumptuous meal.

Mema usually took care of buying any purchased gifts they gave, and Nandy often built furniture or toys in his workshop for us. But this year, he was too busy caring for Mema to make anything, so he went shopping on Christmas Eve.

Under the tree for me was a simple motto plaque. He said he thought about me immediately when he saw it. It reads:

"The Way To Happiness:
Keep your heart free from hate...
Your mind from worry...
Live simply... expect little...
Give much..."

It still hangs in our home, and it has inspired me during good times and bad for 30 years.

What were some of your best Christmases? I'll bet they weren't times when your family had the most money, but when you had the most love.

Make up your mind to make this one of those best Christmases.

Give from your heart in every way you can, and even if you don't spend a dime, Christmas will be beautiful for your children, your spouse, your family, your friends, your neighbors... and for you.

Come, Holy Spirit

"All around the circle of human doubt and despair, where men and women are going out to enlighten and uplift and comfort and strengthen their fellow-men under the perplexities and burdens of life, we hear the cry for a gospel which shall be divine, and therefore sovereign and unquestionable and sure and victorious. All through the noblest aspirations and efforts and hopes of our Age of Doubt, we feel the longing, and we hear the demand, for a new inspiration of Christian faith."  

Henry Van Dyke, as quoted in "The Friendly Year", a collection of Van Dyke's writing edited by George Sidney Webster, in 1909.

Art: Nicodemus visiting Jesus by night, painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner. Nicodemus was one of those in power who secretly came to Jesus, and, with Joseph of Aramathea, assisted in our Lord's proper burial. I love Tanner's beautiful paintings. I don't think anyone painted Christian Biblical scenes with the sense of concrete spirituality that Tanner achieved.

Henry Van Dyke and Henry Ossawa Tanner both played roles of ministry in World War I, drawn to serve by their passionate faith, and both were deeply affected by that Great War for Civilization.