B is for Beavers!

Welcome to blogging through the alphabet. Amanda and I are having a hoot with this series. Join us won't you?  Today we are at letter B.

I have to admit, beavers wasn't my idea, it was completely my son's.

He is all into Canada this year and beavers are an animal we just finished learning about.

I thought I'd start off with a simple primer on beavers, it certainly doesn't tell you everything, but it's a good intro anyways.

We learned some interesting facts about beavers

1. The sound of running water makes them build a dam.  This is why, if a culvert is running water and a beaver is anywhere nearby, they will keep building a dam as often as you tear it down.
2. They do not use their tails to carry mud.   They carry stones and mud in their very capable front paws.
3. Their tails are used as an early warning device for family members and other animals that live near the pond.  They sometimes slap the water for fun, and their tails are a fat resevoir to help them over the winter.
4. Their latin name is Castor Canadensis
5. They are North Americas largest rodent, weighing 40-60 lbs, and are clumsy on land, preferring to stay close to water for quick getaways. 
6. They compensate for their poor eyesight with an excellent sense of smell and hearing.
7. Beavers do not hibernate, in fact they build stash piles of wood under the water to hold them over the winter. 
8. They have a double layered coat, which is part of the reason they were hunted so extensively when Canada was forming as a nation.  Beaver skin hats and coats were guaranteed to keep the wearer warm. 
9. Vegetarians, with webbed feet that are strong swimmers.  Warm coats, large animals, beavers are an important part of Canada.
10. Beavers are a symbol of Canada.   The fur-trade was an important part of colonial North America bringing in people from all over to exploit this natural resource.  It brought in money for the developing colonies, which fed a range of other businesses, all helping with the growth of our nation.    They are seen as a hard-working animal and as such are placed on our nickel. 

Feel free to link up your family friendly posts using the letter B this week.   

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Rules:  

1. Linking time is Tuesday through Saturday.   
2. Family friendly posts on a variety of topics.  If you aren't sure, ask one of us.
3. If it isn't family friendly, it will be removed. :)
4. Linking back to us would be great.   Grabbing the button above might be the easiest way or you could link to this post.
5. If you need a hashtag, you might want to use #abcblogging
6. Visiting and commenting on others is always a great social thing to do.  Let's other people know you are reading them, and encourages them to read and hopefully share your great posts.
7. HAVE FUN.   That's the point you know?   Have fun and share what's on your mind.

An InLinkz Link-up

Playbook Blog Tour... it's on this week.

Did you know that Raincoast books and I are working together to promote a new book?

YEAH I KNOW.. first blog tour I've ever done and it's on a great new book by Kwame Alexander.

Anyways, here is who is doing what on which day this week.  As you might notice, my turn is coming up on Friday.

Anyways, I hope you'll come back and see what I have to say about The Playbook.

Hymn Study: Precious Lord, Take My Hand

I wasn't aware of some controversy around this song until I started researching it. 

The controversy makes sense. There are two men bearing a similar name, living around the same time. Thomas Dorsey the big band musician and Thomas Andrew Dorsey musician. I depended on Snopes to help wind my way through this quagmire. 

AND EVEN SO.. I still don't really get it.  ALL I really understand is that Thomas Dorsey (white guy, big band) didn't write this song.  Thomas Andrew Dorsey (black guy, jazz player) DID write the song.  The fellow who wrote it did have his wife and son die, and through his grief at the loss of both wrote this song Precious Lord. 

It's important to get the names straight.   

This is a story that comes from a place of extreme grief.  Knowing that you were performing, doing the Lord's work, while at home your wife is dying, giving birth to your son, and having your son die the next day.  

Pouring out your grief before the Lord in song....and struggling to come back to him in the aftermath.    In the midst of despair, a friend visited Dorsey and arranged for him to be left alone in a music room with a piano. "It was quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained windows," Dorsey recalled. For the first time in many days, he sat at a piano using his fingers to browse the keys. Soon, the young artist experienced a personal revival: "I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played before, and words [for "Precious Lord"] came into my head—they just seemed to fall into place."  (source)

 Dorsey was raised in a Baptist home, but turned away from the Lord to pursue playing jazz and blues music.  Severe illness brought him back to the Lord.  Over his life time he composed over 1,000 songs, 200 of which were gospel songs.   To learn more, read this page.   He died in 1993 and is known as the "architect of modern gospel music".

Lyrics: 

Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light:

Refrain

Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

When my way grows drear,

Precious Lord, linger near,
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call,
Hold my hand lest I fall:

Refrain

When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold my hand:

Exploring the World Starting with Canada.

Week Four of the Virtual Curriculum Fair which is hosted by Susan.  This week is all about exploring the world, history, geography, and science.

This year we are making a focus of using Canada to study
geography, art and history.

We have a spine that we are using for the history portion, and around it we are doing art, watching videos, reading books, and learning geographic terms for the various sites we see along the way.   Science in learning about animals, rocks, minerals etc (like the beaver we'll be studying this coming Tuesday).

I still have a goal of traveling across Canada with him, going east one year and then west the next. But until we can do that... we'll visit our fine country through books, video and study.

How about you?   What do you want to see with your children?

To that end I have found some excellent resources for broadening our study on Canada.

Mrs. Nelson's Study on Canada.   Make a tour guide and vacation your way through Canada.  :)

About Education will walk you through how to do a unit study on Canada.

ABC Teach has a variety of free and pay worksheets for learning about Canada.

The Eric Institute of Education Services is a government site that is searchable for documents related to a wide variety of information.  I found a ton of documents on First Nations people.

EdHelper.com has small unit studies on six of the Canadian Provinces.

I am looking forward to showing him the beauty of Canada's National Parks.

Link to Learning helps grade six students understand more about Canada's Trading Partners.

If you haven't discovered it yet, the Canadian Geographic Resource Centre is a really great resource.

I'll be using these Interesting Courses from SchoolhouseTeachers as well.

You might find some help here about understanding the Canadian Electoral System.


If you come to visit you might see some of the amazing animals that call Canada home.

And if you want to see more of Ontario, Check out the field trips we have gone on.  HERE and HERE.   It's good to learn about Canada in a variety of ways you know?  :)

Let's keep the history, science and geography alive with our children eh?  

Please visit my fellow homeschool bloggers who are talking about Exploring Our World this week:

Note: all links will be LIVE by Monday 1/23 at noon EST.
Notebooking Our Way through History by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Studying the Where and How by Michele@Family, Faith and Fridays
The History of Our Mysterious Struggle With History by Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Social Science, Science and Exploring our World - Our Path by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Learning History Through Fiction by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset
History in Our Homeschool by Amanda H @ Hopkins Homeschool
Exploring Our World Through History And Science by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
Bringing History to Life! by Yvie @ Gypsy Road
History, Living Books and the Imagination by Sarah @ Delivering Grace
Exploring our world comes in many different forms. by Kim @ Good Sweet Love
Bible, History and Geography by Lizzy @ Peaches At Home
Beyond the Books - Social Studies and Science by Shecki @ Greatly Blessed
Exploring the World with Living Books by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
High School History & Science without Textbooks by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Exploring the World Starting with Canada by Annette @ A Net in Time
Visit The World Through Video by Lori H @ At Home: where life happens
Nature Study is Our Favorite Way to Do Science by HillaryM @ Walking Fruitfully
What A Wonderful World by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
The Time we got Lost in the Woods by Dana Hanley @ Roscommon Acres

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Sermon: On Whom Do You Rely?

This is the Official Closing Service of Bethel Reformed Church. 

Pastor preached an excellent sermon at the closing service, you really should listen to it and not just read my sermon notes.    A difficult service, but a great sermon.

 Hymns

A mighty fortress
Amazing Grace
Guide me, o my great redeemer
Oh Lord my God.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 text vv8-10

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Sermon

 

My Sermon Notes:  

Today we come to close the Bethel Reformed Church in Exeter.

It's easy to struggle with the question of why, why did God let this happen?

Sometimes it's easy to see things that didn't go as they should have, but when push comes to shove, it's all in God's providence, and we can't always know why.

In our reading today, Paul writes to the Corinthian church talking to them about the suffering he has gone through.  And not always knowing the why, but being able to see the result.

Paul writes to them ...letting them know that he suffers.  Suffering was him.  Beaten, accused,  misrepresented,  imprisoned,  sometimes nigh unto to death.  It was not easy for him.

Paul suffered....and in that suffering was comforted.
And through that comfort is now able to comfort others.

Paul didn't say what his suffering in Asia was, just that it was beyond them, it was so bad they wanted to die.   They were so burdened and suffering that death was welcome.  It seemed the end was right there waiting.

But God delivered them.

Many now struggle.  Some with the church closing.  Loss of community hurts and burdens. 

See like Paul did.   God was working.  
God was teaching them to rely on him, he the God who raises the dead.   Rely on me God says.

God....
He pushed Paul to see who he should really rely on.
God...
And this is the God who raises the dead.
The God who brought Christ back from the dead.


God brought them through that time of difficulty.
God can bring any of us through this.

It teaches us to rely on him more.

So that we can set our hopes on him, knowing he will deliver us again.

The God we rely on.....is the God that raises the dead.

This God will not abandon us.   In our sufferings he will always be with us.

So ask yourself this.
Just who do you rely on?


For those who answer their reliance is on God.
Know that God's work in you has not ended.
God's work in the church has not ended.
He will do things we can't even imagine as of yet. 

A Week of Change

So this has been a week of change.

1. January 14, 2017 was the official closing of our church.  Hubby is currently jobless, so we are working on living on severance as he looks for new work.  
2. Toilets needed to be repaired thus necessitating a change in schooling on two days. 

But we still got school and life lived eh?

Monday:
The lad again worked like mad to get all his schooling done before heading out to London and Gramma's for the afternoon.   He's currently working on building a pikachu for his dad.  It's proving to be a bit tougher than the other one that he made so no pictures available yet.

I had a physical and I'm in good shape apparently (other than the obvious weight loss needed)

Tuesday
oh.. what did we do then?   (usually I write these up as the week passes).... OH!  right we made a human skeleton!  :)   We are using God's design to study the human body and currently are learning about bones.   We also did our other schooling.

We had a lot of fun building this skeleton and reading through the bone section of the booklet.  Currently the skeleton is buried in with snake...

Wednesday:
We would normally go to the foodbank but we had a "closing interview" that we needed to be home for so... we stayed home and got some schooling done.  We did math differently today.   Studied probabilities with the game of Sudoku.   Got other schooling done as well.   The lad was so good, doing some art on his own while we finished up the interview.

Thursday
Had an unexpected trip to London, decided to take along all my young stock and sell them to the pet store. Variable weather can play havoc with rabbits, so figured it was better to get them into a brick and mortar building.   Hubby needed to pick up some wax rings in order to fix the toilets.   Plans were made to fix the toilets on Friday.

Friday
Big job today: Fixing the toilets. They needed my help to move them in and out of the house   We still need to fix the downstairs toilet but that's not a terribly pressing issue so we'll attack that issue next week.  BUT my lad really helped his dad well, enough to say "I don't want to be a plumber mom", but that still leaves a variety of the trades open.  One of my goals is that he will pick up a trade as that will help him throughout his adult life.   Still in consideration is: carpentry, electrician (which currently he thinks would be neat), construction, painter etc... actually a whole lot of ideas are open to him yet, but plumber...not so much.  :)

 We also made an automaton which worked!   It was rather cool.   Had plans to do art but that didn't work out timewise.   But the automaton worked!!!

Saturday:
Big day... grading for orange belt in karate!

Here he is showing he knows his katas.  Sorry for blurriness at the end camera went wonky.

As you can see, success!  Not that there was any doubt, as no grading if Sensei doesn't think you can do it.  :)

Reviews:

Fatal Frost.
The Kindness Club.
Art Series: Zentangle - anything is possible one stroke at a time

Homeschooling and more:

STEM: Popcorn Robot
Question of the Day: How Do They Make Pudding Cups?
Field Trip: Bird Kingdom
A is for Sidney Altman
Practical Math
Recipe: Spaghetti Casserole 

Faith:

God's Chooses to Weaken Egypt
Egypt: Alas the day
Discipline, Protection, Promise
And They Shall Know...
Refine: seeing God as Lord more clearly
Hymn Study: Praise Ye the Lord, The Almighty

 Linking up with the following folks

 

 

Review: Fatal Frost

Nancy Mehl has brought up a book filled with law enforcement personnel and an extremely nasty cartell.   Three friends are stuck in the middle of a bit mess up.

U.S. Marshal Mercy Brennan is recovering from being shot when her absentee father returns into her life.  In the investigation of a case, her father, unknown to Mercy, puts her into danger with St. Louis' most powerful cartel.

Enter, ex-boyfriend Deputy U.S. Marshal Mark St. Laurent and childhood friend Tally (also in law enforcement).   Their job: Protect Mercy.

 Mercy doesn't become of the desperateness of their situation until they are trapped in a cabin by a severe winter storm.   Will Mercy, Mark and Tally survive?    Will they stop the cartel?

 My thoughts: 
You know what I appreciated about this book?

There was no boyfriend/girlfriend interplay.   Was there love shown?   Yes, three good friends working together to keep each other alive and evidence safe.   Working to keep people safe and the cartel shut down.  Fighting against their frailties for the good of others.   Seeing doors opened in their lives to the truth of who God is.

Was there human drama and possibilities for in the future?  Sure...but that wasn't the focus of the book. It made for a good book in my mind.

Fatal Frost
Author: Nancy Mehl
Publisher: Bethany House
Pages: 298
Type: Christian fiction, mystery
Series: Defenders of Justice, book 1

Reviewed for: Nuts about Books.

 Amazon.ca: Fatal Frost (Defenders of Justice Book #1)





lkjlj
Amazon.com: Fatal Frost (Defenders of Justice)

Review: The Kindness Club

Meet Chloe, a girl with a good heart having to make a fresh start in a new home and a new school.

Trying to make the best of it.  Her best friend left behind, and wanting desperately to make some new friends.

What is a girl to do?

She's to think positive, that young lady is.  "I have the best friends at my new school, I have the best friends at my new school".  

Chloe, finds herself in a science with Mr. Dibble, and he assigns her, along with Lucy and Theo a science experiment.  They are to come up with an hypothesis, test it out and report back to the class.  They have two weeks to complete the project and thus the Kindness Club is born.

Chloe is also invited to join the "It Girls" club, a club only for the cool girls of the school.

Chloe has more new friends than she bargained for and soon finds herself "worried about upsetting all her new friends".   As events unfold in the book, she truly learns how importance kindness is.

My thoughts: 
I actually thought I wouldn't like this book when I started reading it, but I did.   It was neat to see the affect the kindness had on a wide range of people.   Such an interesting assignment Mr. Dibble gave to his students.  A great way to put thought into action.  

Now do I think upper elementary/middle school students will like it?   My son was intrigued by the idea and thought it would be interesting to try something like that. He was even coming up with ideas he thought would be neat to try out.  When I asked if he wanted to read it, he said "it's a good book for girls".  :)   He likes the idea, but sees it as a girls book.

I think if the cover was changed, it might appeal to him more.

The Kindness Club : Chloe on the Bright Side

By: Courtney Sheinmel
Size: 7.19 x 8.53
224 pages
Ages 8-12 years


Published by: Bloomsbury USA

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

STEM: PopCan Robot

Fridays are our do it differently days, learning happens we just have fun doing everything differently.   One of the things we do is do some sort of STEM activity.

We had SO MUCH FUN putting this fellow together.  OH MY OH MY.

To make this fellow you need the 4M kit and one popcan...that's it.

Add to that some laughs.
Lots of questions.
Scissors.
and a wish for a coverup for a can.



On to the joy and wonder of making a tin can robot.

One of the things I like about 4M kits is they are very clear about what the kit does and does not contain.   In this case we need to supply two batteries and one popcan.

The box is a nice size to store on a shelf, recyclable, and easy to open. .. HEY>> it's good to know that stuff.. I've gotten kits before that opening them is a pain in the ... well you know... but easy to open bags with all parts conveniently grouped.

The back of the box clearly indicates the parts contained which is a great help to know if it's age appropriate or not.


OH.. I almost forgot... we did need to supply our own screwdriver.

 As you can see the instructions are clearly labeled, with colour markers to help with placement and understanding.   The lad found it very easy to understand and rarely needed my assistance.    It's great to see his confidence building more all the time.

 This fellow currently resides in my son's room and makes regular circuits up and down the floor during our night time reading.

You gotta admit, he is rather cute don't you think?   :)

As you can see.. he works!  We learned he works on smooth floors best, with couches working as well... but the carpet... never got him to like that.  We do wonder, what if we put traction on the wheels.. would that work better but we haven't test that theorem out yet.

And the cat is well....unimpressed.

Others in this series
Salt Water Spider.
Solar Oven.
Sand Art.
Spy Case.
Practical Math.
Light Up Planetarium.
PopCan Robot.

God's Chooses to Weaken Egypt

²⁰ In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ²¹ “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it has not been bound up, to heal it by binding it with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²² Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³ I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them through the countries. ²⁴ And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a man mortally wounded. ²⁵ I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt. ²⁶ And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

I have to admit, i don't get what's going on here. 

We already learned from the previous 19 verses that God was going to execute judgement against Egypt for her treatment of Israel.   So when they talk in this section about breaking Egypt's good arm and also breaking her broken arm again, I don't get it.

I understand the end result of what God wants.  He wants Egypt to see that he is the Lord.  That none of their 'gods' is God ONLY he is.

I guess the point is, when I stop and think about it some more is this.   God could have just let Babylon come in and fight and eventually defeat Egypt.

What God did though is he weakened Egypt.   He weakened her in such a way that Pharaoh was groaning about it.  

It tells me that God strengthens those he will strengthen and weakens those he will weaken.
God is Lord.
It is very apparent to me in these verses, God is Lord.  

He used a nation that was evil in the sight of God to discipline another nation that had treated his people badly.  In that process he weakened Egypt so that Babylon could wreak devastation upon her.

Refine: seeing God as Lord more clearly

As soon as I saw the word refine this chorus popped into my head.

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master

Ready to do Your will

You know what refining does right?

If you work at a refinery you are busy taking all the unwanted materials out of another material.  Making it clean, pure, just that one material.

As believers we are constantly being refined by the Lord God.  

Drawn in to be more like him, more able to see HIM, more able to see our separation, more able to turn away from our sin, more able to recognize God as the Lord of everything.

Can we say the process is easy?

No.. it's hard.

It's VERY hard at times.

Seeing how much we have left to chip away, not us doing the chipping, but the Lord himself.
Knowing he does so with care for our very selves.

Giving us life circumstances that challenge us, break us, wound us, and up lift us, helping us to challenge each other, helping us to see the joy that it is to be more like the one who loves us deeply.

Ah... this is good... to see that love and care he takes for us.

Remember that..

Remember it when you are being refined.  It's only for our own good.

AND

It is done by one who loves us deeply.

And that matters.

--------------

This is a five minute friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate.  Today the word is REFINE.  What is Five Minute Friday?  Well it's a party of a group of like minded folks who gather on Friday to do a five minute free write around a singular word.  AND THEN we take the time to offer up encouragement to each other on this writing journey.  It's fun, though it's not always easy, but it is always good.   Come join us won't you?  You are always welcome.

Question of the Day: How Do They Make Pudding Cups?

The lad and I have the joy of talking about all kinds of different things, not that long ago this questions came up:  just how do they make pudding cups?

I found this video to explain that process (even if it is with tapioca pudding which my lad would rather not have).  :)

This of course led me to wonder.... can one do this at home?

So I found this recipe Homemade Chocolate Pudding Snack Packs.   Look good don't they?   Oh oh.. and here's another one that I want to try (looks easier with less chance to muck it up). 

Anyways, there we go with a quick answer to "how do they make pudding cups".

Field Trip: Bird Kingdom

On January 5, the lads and I took in the Bird Kingdom.   I managed to find a fantastic deal through groupon plus had an additional 10$ off coupon which.... WOOT WOOT  saved us the price of parking (which by the by.. tad expensive).

BUT the Bird Kingdom was a lovely place to visit and I am so glad we were able to go.

The Bird Kingdom is divided into different sections. Each area with it's own speciality.

The first area was devoted to the daredevils of the Niagara Falls.   We had fun posing in a barrel.

We had a chance to read various exploits, and learned about one lady who went over the falls in a barrel with her pet toy dog.   The dog survived, the lady sadly did not.

The reptile area.

My son was able to have a bird sit on his arm.  A nice big parrot.   We weren't allowed to take pictures of him with the bird.  It was a money grab, but what the lad wanted was to hold the bird and he could.  He said it was neat!

The finch room (or at least what I call the finch room... better name probably the small bird room)....oh my... the fun we had watching the finches!   They move so fast and they made us laugh.



We moved from here past the talking bird (none of the pictures good enough to show).
Through the noctural area.

Off this took us to the main aviary... WOW... the birds we saw.  It was rather interesting to see.  The room was divided into multiple levels, starting us at the top so we could work our way down.  Feeding stations were placed throughout the room.   It was great to just take one's time and slowly walk through, checking for hidden spots where birds might be hiding.

  

I hope you enjoyed the tour through the Bird Kingdom.  It was an excellent place to see a variety of different birds and other critters too.  :)

The Bird Kingdom!
Open 9:30AM - 5:00PM Daily
 5651 River Road
Niagara Falls, Ontario
L2E 7M7

Egypt: Alas the day

Today's Devotional is based off Ezekiel 30:1-19.
 God's word against Egypt continues.

God tells the people to prepare for 

“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
³     For the day is near,
    the day of the Lord is near;
it will be a day of clouds,
    a time of doom for the nations.
⁴ A sword shall come upon Egypt,
    and anguish shall be in Cush,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
    and her wealth is carried away,
    and her foundations are torn down.

A time of hardship is coming for the people of Egypt, a time of doom and the sword, for her wealth to the carried away.

Art Series: Zentangle - anything is possible one stroke at a time

Zentangles...I had never heard that term before until I received this book.   The cover made me think of the colouring books that I enjoy doing.   I always thought those were called mandalas though, which of course led me to research that idea.

A mandala is a piece of art made in a circle. Mandala means “circle” in Sanskrit.   In Buddhist and Hindu faith systems they have spiritual significance.  Outside those circles they are just circular drawings that can used to help you relax.

A zentangle is any design made from repetitive patterns.  Does not have to be in a circle shape.

There are some people who use the words interchangeably, but mandalas are supposed to circular, zentangles can be anything.

Good to know eh?

Anyways, all that to tell you about this book I have in my hands here.  Zentangle: the inspiring and mindful drawing workbook.  This workbook has over 70 practice tiles to play around with.  It has been put together by Jane Marbaix.

Recipe: Spaghetti Casserole

On January 7th, my side of the family has our annual potluck meal.  We had a pretty good time eating, laughing and singing together.  The lad brought a friend with him.   Folks brought some good food. 

My sweet man, knowing how I hate coming up with something to make for potlucks, suggested I make Spaghetti Casserole.

It was REALLY good.  The only one in our family who wasn't keen on it was the lad.. because we told him it was much like spaghetti and meatballs but...it wasn't really spaghetti and meatballs and so offended his sense of rightness.  :)  Precision sometimes causes troubles!  

Anyways, you are probably waiting for the recipe.  It is based off this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 (26.5 ounce) cans meatless spaghetti sauce
• 1 (16 ounce) container fat-free sour cream
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and black pepper to taste 

  
Changes I made:

• used a whole medium sized onion
• Added basil, parsley, oregano and a touch of garlic to the meat mixture.  Other than the garlic, about 1 tbsp each of the dried herbs.
• Instead of sour cream used greek yogurt. 
• also guesstimated the spaghetti used as I used leftovers from during the week (had hubby cook extra when he asked)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a deep 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Stir in the spaghetti. Boil the pasta until cooked through but still firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well.
3. Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet over high heat; drain fat. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, sour cream, and 1 cup of the mozzarella. Mix in the cooked pasta. Transfer pasta mixture to prepared baking dish. Top with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in preheated oven until hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

End result:

• Came home with about a 1/3 of a large casserole dish full.   
• Requests for the recipe.
• An international student who eagerly devoured the leftovers. 
• Knowledge that hubby picked a good recipe and now I have a new recipe to add to our repertoire.
• it works well making the night before and then cooking in oven the next morning and travels very well.

Discipline, Protection, Promise

Ezekiel 29 is all about a judgement being proclaimed against Egypt.

My son and I are in the midst of reading a book about Egypt, so having this prophecy against Egypt just kinda fits.  :)    We've been brought to awareness how vast Egypt was and how poorly she treated Egypt.  We know this from the bible, but sometimes reading it in a story just brings those facts more to life, gives an awareness not previously seen.