Gleanings of Wheat

Got this from here after seeing a picture of it. Hello yummy. 1 cup sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup HERSHEY'®S Cocoa 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon baking powder Dash salt 1/2 cup nonfat milk 1/4 cup frozen egg substitute, thawed 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup boiling water Whipped Topping (recipe follows) 1 can (20 ounces) lower calorie cherry pie filling, chilled 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of two 9-inch round pans with wax paper. 2. Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add milk, egg substitute, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. (Batter will be thin.) Pour into prepared pans. 3. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Carefully remove wax paper. Cool completely. 4. To assemble dessert, place one cake layer on serving plate. Spr...

I found this over at Rebecca's this morning - she posted it about 10 days ago and I missed it then. Love it. Happy Thanksgiving! What Shall I Render to My God What shall I render to my God For all His mercy’s store? I’ll take the gifts He hath bestowed, And humbly ask for more. The sacred cup of saving grace I will with thanks receive, And all His promises embrace, And to His glory live. My vows I will to His great Name Before His people pay, And all I have, and all I am, Upon His altar lay. Thy lawful servant, Lord, I owe To Thee whate’er is mine, Born in Thy family below, And by redemption thine. Thy hands created me, Thy hands From sin have set me free, The mercy that hath loosed my bands Hath bound me fast to Thee. The God of all redeeming grace My God I will proclaim, Offer the sacrifice of praise, And call upon His Name. Praise Him, ye saints, the God of love, Who hath my sins forgiven, Till, gathered to the church above, We sing the song...

It is no secret to the people who know me IRL that I generally don't enjoy Christmas. Until today I would have told you I hated it, in fact. I'm not going to try and explain why, b/c that's not really what this post is about and frankly I can't explain it well enough to bother trying. This semester I started an internship that requires me to work on site three days a week - it is the first time in about three years that I've been surrounded by unbelieving coworkers, and it's been a bit of an adjustment. Not to say I don't enjoy the work, or the people, it is just a major shift from working in a Christian bookstore. Anyway, with Thanksgiving upon us (Happy Thanksgiving everyone in the US!) and Black Friday just around the bend - I've been faced with the fact that Christmas is just weeks away. If you've read my posts this month you see that I'm trying to be more intentional about being thankful, and I've been thinking lately that while I m...

I've loved VT since I discovered them when I was 16, now that I have kids it is socially acceptable for me to watch them, but honestly I'd watch them even if my kids didn't want to. At least - I'd watch the older ones. The post Jonah era often lacks something, in my opinion. Anyway, here are a few lyrical samples of why I love the Veggies. Thankfulness I thank God for this day, For the sun in the sky, For my mom and my dad, For my piece of apple pie! For our home on the ground, For His love that's all around, That's why I say thanks every day! Because a thankful heart is a happy heart! I'm glad for what I have, Thats an easy way to start! For the love that He shares, 'Cause He listens to my prayers, That's why I say thanks every day! God is bigger You were lying in your bed, You were feeling kind of sleepy, But you couldn't close your eyes because the room was getting creepy. Were those eyeballs in the closet? Was that G...

The days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: (Jer. 31:31)

Today my kids and I played at the park after school - we haven't done that in a couple months, so it was a nice treat for all involved - and while we were there my almost 7 year old and I sat on the swings for most of the time. After running through the normal "what'd you do today" conversation I mentioned that next week he only has school for two days. The little girl next to him pipes up and says "that's because it is Thanksgiving!" before running off to play with her friends. I asked my son what he was thankful for and the first thing out of his mouth was, "I'm thankful for you, Mom." Go ahead, say it with me, "Aww, he's so cute." After that though he told me he was thankful for "everything," the swing he was playing on, the pizza he had for lunch, the whole world. Then he told me he wanted to go to Africa and visit the "Indians" - I can only suppose he means the tribal communities. So very out of the...

On Sunday my pastor had post it notes in the bulletin (go listen to the sermon , it'll make more sense) for us to write things that we were thankful for on. Today he emailed us all what was written. It was a nice reminder of the things God has done in the lives of my church family. I am Thankful For: My Family the women that serve so faithfully with our children, for their prayers and care in helping shepherd the kids the people in this church the life and people that God has given me. For God’s precious gift of Jesus! For my family and friends always coming through God allowing me to have a house This church my family and friends going to bed The church Everything I’ve been through this past year Prayer and for my prayerful church family My house and family Letting me go to Northland Camp For my Family The birth of our daughter God bringing us back to Calvary because we (our family) have been blessed by the good teaching That God gave my older son a job Chu...

4 6oz fresh sockeye fillets 1/2 c melted butter Blackened seasoning Brush fillets on both sides with 1/4 c butter and sprinkle evenly with seasoning. Drizzle one side of each fillet of 1/2 of remaining butter. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook salmon butter side down for 2 to 5 minutes. Turn fillets, drizzle with remaining butter, and continue cooking till fish is easily flaked with a fork.

1lb raw shrimp, peeled & deveined 1 16oz package of rice 1/3c butter 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1/4c fresh chopped parsley 2 tbsp lemon juice salt & pepper to taste Prepare rice per package instructions. In large skillet, heat butter over medium-low heat. Add shrimp & garlic, then saute turning frequently until shrimp is just about to turn pink, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the parsley, lemon juice, and salt. Stir well. Serve over fresh, hot rice with steamed snow peas.

“Outside of Christ we are slaves, the best of us are all slaves. In Christ, the lowest of all is a free man and a king.” - Richard Sibbes, Glorious Freedom, 28 From here . Today I'm thankful for this truth! Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:9-11) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:...

Confession time? I used to be a huge Angelina Jolie fan...that pesky Tomb Raider movie did it, mainly b/c I loved the video game in high school...when Notes from My Travels came out I purchased it in part b/c she wrote it and in part b/c I had heard she was getting involved with UNHCR and relief work. Honestly, aside some rough times in middle school I never really had to worry about not having a home or food. I remember reading her book shortly before I got pregnant with my daughter and being shocked at how little some people had...sure I knew poverty like that existed , but somehow it never really hit home for me until then. These people weren't just out there, they were real people with real names and real (often heart breaking) stories. Though her book wasn't written from the perspective of a Christian, I got brief sense of God's heart for the destitute because of that book. A couple years later as my home crumbled and my heart broke I read the book of Ruth for th...

I'm moments away from heading out to my church's annual Thanksgiving dinner. I look forward to this every year, there's always great food and plenty of fellowship to be had. This year, Lord willing, we will have plenty of visitors as well as new members that haven't been able to do this with us yet. I pray in the midst of all the fun and food we, as a body, would be mindful to give thanks for God's grace. I'm so glad God has brought me into this church family! *To see thankfulness posts from other people check out Rebecca's site.

Recently I realized that my Google Reader LOST the RSS feed to one of my favorite blogs. I don't know how long I've missed reading posts, and I can't fathom why it didn't occur to me to look into it. I guess this might be the reason one blog slipped through the cracks could be this: Maybe? No? Ok, then. This morning as I read a post I realized just how blessed I've been by a number of bloggers. It has occurred to me that I may/ probably will never meet these men and women until we're in heaven, and yet through the technology that we have access to I can peak into their lives and learn from them and see how God is moving in their lives. It is an amazing thing. Re the image: I've actually unsubscribed to some blogs in the past b/c it was just to time consuming keeping up with them all, and I think I'm at that point again. PS: Thanks, Rebecca , for investing the time in putting together the Thankfulness round ups. It has been wonderful.

Today I'm particularly thankful for my mom. Though we don't see eye to eye on a great many things (what two sinners ever do?) I like to think she's generally happy with how I turned out. :P My mom was (is) a single mom, and now that I've been doing the single mom thing for a few years I'm beginning to realize just how difficult it can be to find that balance. Mom had to be both parents, in addition to going to school and working, and I know that isn't exactly easy...especially when I hit that pesky stage of life from age 11 to 18. I'm thankful she was willing to open her home when my kids and I needed a place to go, and I pray that God would continue to bless her for the patience and kindness she's afforded me.

On Sunday my pastor was continuing our study in Luke and preached a sermon entitled " Watch Yourselves " on about how we ought to live in light of the glorious promise of Christ's return. Today I'm thankful that this good news is true and faithful, our King is coming - how should that impact me today?

Do you ever wish you could do big things for God? Do you ever feel like what you can contribute (monetarily or otherwise) isn't that great, and so you don't get involved? Me too. Yesterday I joined in and watched brothers and sisters in Christ raise $30,000 in 18 hours in order to build a school . There were some bigger gifts (and praise God for them!) but I want to show you the total of the gifts that were $30 or less. The total raised as of 1:10pm Central time today was $33,385.00 - that's insane. Amazing. Awesome. Inspiringly insane. Of that about $5350 was from gifts of $30 or less . Roughly 1/6th of what was raised came from people giving $30 or less. That's huge, guys. HUGE. God can do big things with a lot of people who are willing to do what they can - even if it is only $5. God does big things through people like me and you every day.

Today I'm working from home while listening to a couple Newsboys albums I picked up on Amazon. This morning my alarm played Keith & Kristyn Getty's " Hear the call of the kingdom " when it went off. While I was getting the kids ready I had Sovereign Grace's "Christ the Lord is Born Today" from their Savior album in my head. I'm surrounded by music, even in my dreams there is music. It is a wonderful thing.

Go read this post & then do something about it if you're able to. And remember even a couple dollars - when it comes from your necessity - is a great gift in the eyes of God. Luke 21:1-4

Both kids and one of the dogs camped out in bed with me (on a twin bed) last night, today I can't turn my head to the right b/c I slept funny. Still, I had a bed to sleep on. There have been times when I didn't have a bed to sleep on and there are countless people around the world who currently don't have a bed to sleep on, so today in spite of the pain, I'm very thankful to have a bed.

Today I'm particularly grateful for God's kindness in dealing with my church family. Sickness has been hitting families like crazy - a few weeks ago half the congregation (the half with kids I suspect - I wasn't there either) were absent from service either b/c they were sick or their family members were. Thankfully people have been recovering nicely, and I even saw church members today that I haven't seen in about a month. I'm glad things are getting back to normal, I've missed these people!

I got this on e from my BFF . Seriously? Best idea ever. When I made them I didn't have any almond bark (I don't even know what that is) so there ya go. 1 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 package white almond bark 1 package chocolate almond bark 1 Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together. 2 Roll into walnut size balls. 3 Chill for an hour. 4 Melt approximately 3/4 package of white almond bark. 5 Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip it in the melted white almond bark. 6 Allow to harden on wax paper. 7 Takes about 15 min. 8 While waiting, melt about 1/4 package of chocolate almond bark. 9 When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to the touch, decorate with drizzles of chocolate and white almond bark. 10 I just use a sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner to drizzle the almond bark.

This one comes from Alton Brown (of the Food Network)- what I love about Alton is how nerdy his shows tend to be, just my style. 2 cups whole milk 2 cups water 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 cup coarse ground cornmeal 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 4 ounces sharp Cheddar, shredded Place the milk, water, and salt into a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once the milk mixture comes to a boil, gradually add the cornmeal while continually whisking. Once all of the cornmeal has been incorporated, decrease the heat to low and cover. Remove lid and whisk frequently, every 3 to 4 minutes, to prevent grits from sticking or forming lumps; make sure to get into corners of pot when whisking. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is creamy. Remove from the heat, add the pepper and butter, and whisk to combine. Once the butter is melted, gradually whisk in the cheese a little at a time. Serve immediately ...

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it. (Isaiah 45:8)

Today's themes in my head have been these two things. 1) "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15) I'm so glad Christ came and redeemed the lost. I'm so incredibly glad that God didn't leave me to myself, or that I have to earn my way into His presence. God doesn't just put up with me, or ignore my sin, but dealt with it so finally on the Cross of Christ that I am now bid to "come boldly." Simply wonderful. 2) My best friend who lives in New York was able to fly out to visit for a few days. I just picked her up and am looking forward to being able to visit with her face to face.

Today is parent teacher conferences for both my kids. An hour a part, during dinner time, at two different schools. My almost 7 year old is teasing his sister and she is having a melt down b/c she's tired and hungry - she got up at 4am for no reason and we should have eaten 20 minutes ago. I just gave up the hopes of making a real dinner and gave them cereal. In the midst of it though, I'm glad they're here and I'm glad that they typically are happy, fed, rested, not rushed, and not grumpy. But even when they are, I'm glad God chose to bless me with them. They are my greatest treasures besides Christ.

Last night we got some frustrating news about my mom's van that she's been letting me use - it needs an insane amount of work to keep it on the road. It has been running fine until the past couple of days when it started overheating, but all the fluid levels were fine. But this morning after reading Carla's Thankfulness post I was once again reminded of how blessed we are that it is still running! I'm expecting some money in the next week or so that would allow us to get a lot of work done to mom's van, so I'm just praying it holds up until then. I was hoping to do something else (either donating it and/or buying me a used car) with the money, but if this is where the Lord has us then I know it is for the best. Also, as I was packing my son's lunch and finding my daughter's homework I was struck with how blessed we've been with the teachers they've had. The public school system isn't where I planned for them to be, but thus far they'...

There are a number of people who do Thankful November posts, and I'm officially joining their ranks. I've had a rather dry month or so spiritually, and I know a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm not reflecting on God's goodness in my life as much as I should be. So in an effort to be more intentional about this I'm going to be blogging daily for the remainder of November (at least) with things God has done/ is doing in my life that I am thankful for. If I don't post, yell at me. Day One 1. I'm thankful for coffee. I'm serious! I'm pretty much always tired, and unfortunately at this point in my life I don't have time for a nap, so coffee has become a staple in my diet. In fact, I'm drinking a cup as I type this! 2. I'm thankful for the fact that my Sunday school class is currently working though John Piper's "When I Don't Desire God." I've only managed to be for two of the sessions between my kids being...

I went to Olive Garden last week with my mom and got a little adventurous. Normally I get the Chicken Scampi or the portebello filled ravioli, this time I opted for the Venetian Apricot Chicken. It sounded weird, but ended up being one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. Luckily for me OG has the recipe on their website! Apricot Sauce: 1/2 cup chicken stock (broth) 1/2 cup apricot preserves Salt and pepper to taste Tomato Mixture: 1/2 lb roma tomatoes, cut into 1” pieces 6 basil leaves, cut into 1/2” pieces 1 tsp garlic pepper Salt to taste Garlic Herb Seasoning: 3 tsp garlic pepper 1 tsp Italian seasoning 1 bunch asparagus (remove bottom inch of stems) 1/2 lb broccoli florets 1Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts Chopped parsley to garnish Procedures COMBINE Garlic Herb Seasoning ingredients in a small mixing bowl and set aside. BLEND chicken stock and apricot preserves in a sauce pan. Add salt & pepper to tas...