The Power of a Woman's Words to her friends.

Once again, I'm a bit late getting this up. Last week was school vacation here so I wasn't on my "normal" routine. Last week's chapter was on how our words affect our friends and also the importance of having Godly friends to encourage and to be encouraged by.

One quote that I really liked from the book was this:

"Jesus could very well have come to earth and lived
in solitude. And yet He chose to be in relationship with
people. He ministered to the masses, but also chose 12 men
with whom He nurtured a spiritually intimate relationship.
Likewise, I believe that God has designed women to develop
godly friendships and encourage each other with our words. We
are much like coals or cinders that die out alone, but burst into
flame when brought together and stirred."

One verse that she shared is Isaiah 50:4 "The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to [him who is] weary." This really spoke to me because it is so easy to get caught up in my own life and to forget how desperately we all need to be encouraged and how that an encouraging word can lift someone up and help them to press on.

As part of this chapter Mrs. Jaynes also dealt with 3 areas of speech that can damage relationships, cause hurt and can hinder (and in some cases halt) spiritual growth. These three areas are gossip, slander and deceit. In Romans 1: 28-32 Paul describes gossip and slander as marks of a depraved mind. It is so important to guard our hearts and minds so that we don't give any place to such depravity in our lives. Likewise, in Proverbs 20:23 Deceit or "divers weights" are described as "an abomination unto the Lord" Proverbs 12: 22 also says "Lying lips [are] an abomination to the LORD, But those who deal truthfully [are] His delight."

It's easy to read these verses and see how awful gossip, slander and deceit are but unfortunately it is also easy to let these slip into our conversations if we are not continually on guard and prayerfully seeking God's guidance in everything we say.

In Job 40:4 a simple solution is found "Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth" we are to, if need be, literally place our hand over our mouths to keep from speaking wrong. Just the image of placing a hand over my mouth when I'm tempted to say something I shouldn't is a good reminder for me.

"A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word
[spoken] in due season, how good [it is]!"
~Proverbs 15:23

"Ointment and perfume delight the heart, And the
sweetness of a man's friend [gives delight] by hearty counsel."
~Proverbs 27:9

Small blessings amid sickness

Let me start by saying that last Friday evening I attended a ladies fellowship at church. One of the ladies shared her testimony, it was such an encouragement and blessing; you see, this lady came to accept Christ as her Savior late in life and not only experienced many trials before her salvation but a little over a year ago was literally run over by an SUV while walking to work. It is a miracle that she is alive today, yet she shared how that even during her recovery she found much to be grateful for. God definitely knew that I would need the reminder to be grateful, even in times of trial. While nothing as devastating as being run over happened, this week certainly took a different turn for us.

Monday night my husband and I both came down with a stomach bug; just as we were starting to feel better our two oldest children came down with the same bug Wednesday night. As I was going thru this week there were several blessings that God gave to once again show his perfect timing and provision. I thought I would share some of these small blessings:

1) While both my husband and I were sick the older two children were huge helpers. They understood that we weren't feeling well and really helped out with Keira and also with doing little tasks for us.

2) The kids played well together and didn't really get at each other.

3) Keira napped exceptionally well allowing us to get extra rest.

4) Wednesday night Hailey showed symptoms of being sick but Ethan was still acting fine. I was praying for wisdom as to whether to keep him home or not on Thursday. At 5AM on Thursday he began showing symptoms, thus giving a clear answer to my prayer (and preventing him from getting sick at school)

5) My husband and I seemed to have opposite bursts of energy which helped with switching off taking care of the kids.

6) Keira did not get the stomach bug.

7) This week was pretty empty. I did have to reschedule a lunch/playdate but other than that my week was free (which is very rare).

8) One of my other prayers was that the kids would be sick at the same time so that we could be done with the bug quicker (rather than having it slowly move from person to person) they both got sick within hours of each other and are both almost back to normal.

These may sound silly to some but it truly was amazing to me to see God moving in this situation, as small as it is in the whole scheme of things.

End of January/Beginning of February craftiness.

Well, as far as Christmas gifts go I haven't even started on those. However, I did make two more birthday gifts.

My niece turned 8 so I wanted to do something
different and fun for her. I decided to make a little cape.
It hits just above the elbow and has a hood.
I used some fleece that I had and was pleased with how it came out.

For my nephew I made a color matching game. I crocheted two of each
color fish and personalized a canvas bag to hold them. The original
pattern said to add eyes to the fish; while this would be cute
I didn't want to risk the choking hazard so I left them off.

Better late than never :)

I realize I'm a bit late getting up the post for last week. From Friday until today has been very busy around here between a ladies fellowship, a birthday party, church dinner, super bowl with friends and a very congested/coughing 15 month old. I'm hoping that we both get more sleep tonight but from the sounds of her coughing right now, I'm not sure that will happen. One of the silver linings to the cloud is that she was very cuddly today. In general she is too busy to sit and cuddle so it was nice to just sit with her.

Last week in "The Power of a Woman's Words" I went thru the chapter on a woman's speech to her husband. Once again it was a very good chapter. I wanted to share a couple quotes that I had underlined.

"Most Bible translations render the word ezer as "helper", but the word
is packed with so much more meaning than a mere helper.
Author Carolyn Custis James reveals the following:
'Ezer appears twenty-one times in the Old Testament. Twice in
Genesis, it describes the woman (Genesis 2:18, 20). But the majority
of references (sixteen to be exact) refer to God, or Yahweh, as
the helper of his people. The remaining three references appear
in the books of the prophets, who use it to refer to military aid. If
language means anything, the ezer, in every case, is not a flunky or
junior assistant but a very strong helper' ".

Also, as a side note, for a more detailed discussion into your relationship with your husband (and a very convicting look at his wife ;) ). I would strongly recommend Stormie OMartin's book "The Power of a Praying Wife".

Our words to our children

The focus this week was on how a woman's words can affect her children. It was very encouraging. I wanted to share just a couple quotes from this chapter that really touched me.

"It is an awesome responsibility, this job called motherhood.
We have the privilege of shaping and molding an eternal soul for a very short,
very fleeting moment of time. And one of the primary ways
we accomplish this feat is with the words we speak."

"The most important traits we praise are those that exhibit
godly character....If even a sprout of these fruits peeks
through the soil, a wise mother will fertilize the
sprout with positive words in hopes of a bountiful harvest."

Mrs. Jaynes also encourages us as mothers (and really any woman who has contact with children) to pray scripture for our children. Also, to make sure and let our children know we are praying for them. One of the Scriptures she suggests is Psalm 97:10 "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." I wanted to share an example of turning a verse into a prayer for our children. Below is this verse turned into my prayer for my children.

I pray that my children will love you Lord and hate evil. That
You would preserve their souls; and that you Lord would
deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

Casserole Cozy: My experiment :)

Several months ago I began looking for a casserole cozy crochet pattern. I really wanted something that would fit my 9X13 pans to make it easier to transport them to church dinners and other potlucks. I found nothing. I did find several sewn cozies but I really wanted a crocheted one for two reasons: 1) I'm much more comfortable with my crocheting than with my sewing and 2) I have several random skeins of yarn that I am trying to find smaller projects to use them up.

When I didn't find a pattern I decided to try my hand at making up my own pattern. This pattern should work up fairly quickly but because it was trial and error it took me a few weeks (and a few sanity breaks) to finish.

I'll post the instructions but please understand: 1) This is my first time attempting to do a crochet pattern 2) I haven't tested this pattern. I did double check all the stitch counts but I can't guarantee that I didn't make a few mistakes. If you use this and find any mistakes please let me know. Enjoy :)

Crocheted Casserole Cozy
(fits 9X13 pan)

Materials needed:
Size F hook (3.75mm)
8oz medium worsted weight yarn
2 18 inch zippers
1/8 yd of duck cloth
Sewing machine and pins

Stitches & abbreviations:
CH - chain
SC - single crochet
SL ST - slip stitch
DECSC - decrease single crochet
INCSC - increase single crochet

Chain 41
Row 1: SC in second chain from hook. SC in each stitch across (40 SC)
Row 2: CH 1 turn SC in each stitch across (40 SC)
Row 3-27: Repeat row 2
Begin working in the round. CH 1 (this counts as 1st SC) SC down side of 27 rows just completed place 3 SC in corner and work around the rest of the piece placing 3 SC in each corner. SL ST to first SC, do not turn!
CH 1, 1 SC in each stitch around for 4 rounds.
In fifth round you will again increase. CH 1 SC in each stitch placing 3 SC in each corner stitch. SL ST to first SC.
CH 1, 1 SC in each stitch around until you reach the top of your dish (for me this a total of 15 rounds from start of rounds to top of dish)
Beginning of cover:
CH 1, turn. SC across 45 stitches.
(CH 1 turn. INCSC in first SC, SC in each stitch across INCSC in last stitch.)
Continue ( ) for 6 more rows (59 stitches in last increase row)
(CH 1 turn, SC across each stitch (59 stitches))
Continue ( )until a total of 22 rows has been completed (this row count includes your starting and increasing rows)
(CH 1 turn, DECSC in first stitch. SC in each stitch across DECSC over last stitch)
Continue ( ) for 6 more rows (45 stitches in last decrease row)
Fasten off and weave in ends.
Turn cozy inside-out. Attach zippers with pins, making sure they meet up in the front center. Sew to cover and body.
To make the handles I used a 2 1/4 inch by 33 inch strip of duck cloth for each handle. I simply folded the edges into the center (along the long edge) and stitched each side down. I then pinned them to the bottom (over lapping until I had the right amount of handle on top) of the cozy and stitched thru all layers of cloth and yarn.
* I placed each handle 8 stitches in from the side edge of my SC rows on bottom. I also stitched them in a rectangle across the width of the duck cloth handle and down about 6 inches when I attached the handles so they would be well attached and sturdy.
** One thing I made sure of when placing the handles is that I had enough handle to fold over the edge and out of the way when I unzipped the cozy.

You could always skip the zippers and just make a button loop when you did your last DECSC row and attach a button to the front of the cozy body. And of course you can use whatever method you like for making handles..this is just what I came up with.

Two "original" recipes

I know there are many variations to these but this is what I came up with and both recipes were a hit here so I thought I'd share.

Baked Southwest Eggrolls
1 lb ground turkey or chicken
1 green pepper diced small
1 onion diced small
3TB olive oil, divided use
1 envelope fajita seasoning mix
2 TB water
1 can whole kernel corn, drained well
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained well
8oz Monterey Jack cheese with jalapenos
33 egg roll wrappers (you'll need 2 pkgs of wrappers)
Salsa
Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat 1 TB oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown meat. Add onion and pepper and cook for a few minutes (just until onion starts to soften). Add seasoning mix, water, corn and beans; stir together to coat and let cook. Shred cheese. Turn off heat and allow filling to cool for 15-20 minutes. Working with one egg roll wrapper at a time (keep the other wrappers covered with a damp paper towel) place 2-3 TB filling towards one point, top with about 2 tsp cheese. Wet edges of wrapper and fold up "egg roll" style. Place on greased baking sheet. Continue until all filling is used. Lightly brush rolls with olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and crispy. Serve with salsa and sour cream for dipping.


Homemade Fish Sticks
2lbs frozen mild fish (I used flounder)
1 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
3 egg whites
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups coarse corn meal
Garlic powder

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In pie plate mix flour, salt & pepper. In another pie plate place egg whites. In third pie plate mix bread crumbs, corn meal and garlic powder. Cut fish into "stick size" (the flounder fillets I got were small so simply cutting them lengthwise worked great). Pat dry. Dredge each fish piece in flour, then egg white, then bread crumb mixture. Place on lightly greased baking sheet (I used a baking stone which worked great without any oil). Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Tomorrow the kids and I are going to try making "dessert" egg rolls with bananas and chocolate chips. I found several recipes online but they all say to fry the egg rolls. We're going to try this baking method. I'll let you know how it works out.