I'm calling this a casserole though it isn't really....
This is something I make frequently and I change it all time time. Most of the time I take some rice, seasonings, and chicken bouillon and toss it in a casserole dish in the oven. I am the ONLY one who eats it in this house and I make it when I feel stressy in my head. Today I reworked it a bit to see if it would appeal to others in the house, and it was a bit hit and miss. Take your crock pot. Add 900 ml of chicken bouillon. Add some brown rice (2 cups) and some leftover soup mix (with lentils, brown rice etc in it). Add a small flat package of chicken hearts (about a pound or so). Put in some seasonings
Costco no salt seasoning
salt
pepper
2 bay leaves
garlic powder
Cover and set on low, making a point of stirring it off and on throughout the day.
It's done in about 7 hours. Pop the lid off. At this point it is done if you want it to be. :)
I decided to play around with it a bit though. I heated up some cream soup in a large fry pan I have. Then put the chicken/rice mix into the soup (removing the bay leaves). Added a whack of fine grated cheddar cheese and some more salt and pepper. Mixed it all together and heat through. My son's opinion: I like it better this way mom. :) So.. WOOT WOOT.. success. :)
Today the Lord God has a word against the mountains of Israel, and I have to admit, upon first reading I am quite confused. Normally when God speaks out to someone or some region it is a word of judgement upon them.
But God seems to do a flip here.
Saying to them... because the nations around you have spoken out against, therefore I will heap dismay upon their heads.
6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations.7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach.
The Lord's word to Israel is that he wants them to be fruitful and multiply. That he will be an aid to them. 8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home.9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.10 And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.11 And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful.
Just as he aids them though, they need to know that he will allow them to walked on, to be a land inhabited by others, to be a land and people possessed by others. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.12 I will let people walk on you, even my people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children.13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,’14 therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the Lord God.15 And I will not let you hear anymore the
reproach of the nations, and you shall no longer bear the disgrace of
the peoples and no longer cause your nation to stumble, declares the
Lord God.”
I admittedly find these verses hard to follow. Perhaps I am missing something in them. It's like on one hand God is lifting them up, and on the other he is disciplining them. What do you see reader? Cause seriously I feel like I am totally missing something here.
In the end God will not let his people be a reproach to the nations and they will know that HE is God. HE is the Lord. That's what I get out of this passage. YOU?
My son has a love affair with frogs and toads for as far back as I can remember. He is particularly fond of toads, but is totally loving it that our small pond out back is host to 4 different frogs. Ergo when I was contemplating what to do for the letter f...I automatically thought about frogs.
I thought about talking about the common frogs we have in the backyard... and was fully intending to research the life out of them...until I ran into this one small fact...
Frogs, frogs, frogs, Canada has frogs. LOTS AND LOTS OF FROGS. Including this funny fact. We are host to two small populations of TAILED frogs. Can you believe it? A frog that has a tail.. and CANADA has TWO populations of slightly different types of them. I was stoked!! I just LOVE learning new things... don't you? Anyways, on to this amazing little critter.
The Tailed Frog is a remarkable little frog, unique to B.C. in Canada. It is a
small frog, 2.5 to 3 centimetres from nose to rump.....Tailed Frogs have vertical pupils, no external
tympanum (the round "ear" visible on other frogs), and are voiceless. (source) Originally this little frog was simple called the tailed frog, but in the year 2000, it was split into two species. The first, the coastal species
is called the Pacific Tailed Frog(Ascaphus truei). The second is called the Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog (Ascaphus montanus).
Both of these frogs live in very small areas of British Columbia, as well as in select area of the United States. They live in fast flowing streams. Their population densities are low and believed to be declining since so few of the rivers in the areas they reside are suitable for reproduction.
These two frogs are very close in colouration and needs, they can't handle temperatures above 20 Celsius. Cold fast flowing, small streaming with an abundance of small micro-climates are just what these frogs need.
They are a long lived frog, juveniles staying close to home but 4-7 year old frogs dispersing widely from their point of birth. A long incubation period for the eggs, combined with reproducing every other year, and the loss of old growth forests is contributing to their decline.
Both sub-species are protected under the British Columbia Wildlife act, making it illegal to own, trap or kill any member of the species.
Where did I find my information? Frogwatch. Canadian BioDiversity. Image. Sararegistry for Rocky tailed. Sararegistry for coastal. Wikipedia. British Columbia Frogwatch. Now just so you know.. Canada has a WHOLE whack of other frogs. From Spadefoots, spring peepers, tree frogs, bullfrogs, leopard and green frogs, pickerel frogs, cricket and chorus frogs, and so many more. Check them out eh? It's a fascinating wet world to explore. :) You can find out more here.
_________ So Now that you know MY "F" word for the week, what is yours? Want to join us? Rules for linking up:
1.Your post must be family friendly
2.Your post must relate to the letter of the week,
specifically focusing on the letter.
3.Your post must be published during the week of
the link up. Unless you receive permission from us.
4.Your post must include a link back to either me or Amanda at Hopkins Homeschool. Heck, we even have fun little buttons you can grab as you can see above.
5.Please, please, please share the love! Visit a
few of the other posts, share or comment on them. Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you!
6. Use the hashtag #abcblogging when you share the love!
If you do not follow these rules, we have the right to
remove your link from the link up. We want this to be fun for everyone!
1 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still. 2 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Search me and try me, Master today! Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now, as in thy presence humbly I bow. 3 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Wounded and weary, help me I pray! Power, all power, surely is thine! Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! 4 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Hold o'er my being absolute sway. Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see Christ only, always, living in me! United Methodist Hymnal, 1989
Written by Adelaide A. Pollard, a woman who wrote hymns, but we can't be sure how many as she seldom signed them. Her devotion was to furthering the cause of God, not to seeking recognition for her own work.
This particular hymn was inspired by the prayer of an elderly woman who asked God to simply “Just have your own way with us”.
"As Adelaide left the prayer meeting that night the phrase from that
prayer, “Have Thine own way”, rang in her mind. On the way home she
formed the lyrics in her mind and before going to bed that night, she
wrote the words on paper." (source)
The tanbible includes this tidbit "Upon
returning home that evening, Miss Pollard mediated on the story of the
potter, found in Jeremiah 18:3-4.
Then
I went to the potter’s house, and behold, he wrought a work on the
wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of
the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the
potter to make it."
Some hymnals have altered verse two to say
2 Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Search me and try me, Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now,
as in thy presence humbly I bow.
The reason for that change being found here. Personally I think she's meaning how our hearts are changed from being dark with sin to be being white with the light of being cleansed by God's work in our lives.
We continue our study in Ezekiel, the last time we met was about Showers of Blessing. You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.
Today the Lord has a word against Mount Seir.
I wondered where this was so thought I would do a bit of research on it. This image comes from right here.
Mount Seir was located in the mountainous region for the descendants of Esau. Genesis 36:8 tells us this is where Esau made his home.
The descendants of Esau were called Edomites.
"The name Edom is a Hebrew baby name. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Edom
is: An alternative name of the Old Testament character Esau. Red, a
reference to either the red skin or the red earth of Eden from which the
Old Testament Adam was created in Genesis 2." (source)
God is speaking out against The Edomites today. Why?
cherished perpetual enmity
gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity
I read that word cherished and it made me quake inside. I watched a show the other day and the bad person in the show was one who cherished the pain and destruction of others. LOVED watched it,this character did. All over a small wrong done to them a long time ago.
Cherishing such hatred. I don't understand it. Why couldn't they just let it go?
Kicking a man when he is down. That is basically what the Edomites (those who dwelled on Mount Seir) did. They saw the Israel had been punished, and instead of being satisfied by that, allowed the sword to be brought against them. Whether they attacked them or allowed them to be attacked isn't immediately apparent to me in this passage.
Therefore, since they like bloodshed so much, God is going to prepare them for a time of bloodshed.
As he says: I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go.8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall.
God end purpose? Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Isn't that always his purpose though? For people to know that HE is the Lord.
The people of Mount Seir knew that Israel belonged to the Lord and none the less said "These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them’—although the Lord was there—"
Their envy and jealousy will be their downfall, they will learn the folly of putting themselves above the Lord, wanting to claim his people and their land for their own. They will "know that I am the Lord" says God.
God heard it all you know, their reviling of the people, their reviling of him, that joy at Israel's destruction. He saw how they magnified themselves (built themselves up). It caused the Lord's displeasure.
And so God will make them a desolate place, all of Mount Seir and Edom. For the purpose of teaching that God is the Lord.
It makes me wonder you know, how long the Lord will withhold his judgement on so many people in the world today. All those who see themselves above the Lord and above the Lord's people.
It also makes me feel small. There are so many times that I can (and do) elevate myself, seeing the results of my actions, and putting it out that I DID THIS. When in actuality, it was the Lord doing it, just using me in the process. I need to remember that more often.
This week has felt very odd to me. Nothing seemed to go the way I wanted it to all because we did things differently this week due my body not being happy with me. I've felt frustrated too often this week. BUT TODAY.. ah..glorious sunshine and .. it was JUST GOOD. :) And that is indeed a marvellous thing. :)
Monday I KNOW I KNOW.. you are expecting me to say.. off to gramma's today only... we didn't. That nasty bug that ran through my system over the past couple of weeks.... decided that it was Going to FIGHT ME HARD on leaving my system once and for all.. so we didn't go to London. Thoughts were.. we'd go on Tuesday. The lad worked hard on his schooling, getting done by 130. We played Settlers of Catan with me wrapped up in a cuddle blanket.... I still managed to win though. :) Finished up a human body experiment. Turned out way better than I thought it would...but in honesty was rather gross to deal with. The lad wouldn't touch it so I helped him out.
Tuesday. The bathroom remained my friend today. No trip to London. The lad was learning about exponents today in Math. Doing well but occasionally getting confused. Played Settlers of Catan again. Hubby won today. I took pictures of almost all the for sale stuff today and will be busy putting them up on the for sale site for London homeschoolers.
Wednesday. BUSY BUSY BUSY at the foodbank with a cup of hot chocolate at a friends afterwards. The lad played with her cat, taught it to do a high five. Surprised the lad when we got home and said "you're done for the day". Thing is...he worked hard at the foodbank, was good spirited and helpful. That's worth something in my book. He whooped and promptly gathered up some boxes and made a cat playhouse. (little did he know that he was still learning!). :) We played Saboteur today. Lad had karate.
Thursday: This morning we managed to do some schooling. Since we didn't go to London on Monday, we decided to head off there today. We had fun pokemon going in Victoria Park... what fun we caught some new pokemon.
I dropped a bunny and some books off in London for sale. It is SO Good to sell some of our old schooling books and some review books. SUCH a good thing. Helps our pocketbook too you know? :)
We headed home in time for supper and for the lad to go to Cadets. Friday: We had plans to make a cloud, but that ended up not happening. The lad has been totally into doing his research on the CN Tower. We've been learning so much about this Canadian Icon. You can find his report here. We also worked on one of our STEM projects...today the lad had a satisfaction... a robotic hand that worked!
Saturday: I rushed around this morning putting together another book order for a lady to pick up. Then we headed out for the Health Fair in Lucan. WOOT WOOT the lady who makes the skin cream my lad uses for his occasional eczema was there so we were able to buy a big tub of it. We had thought we'd need to go to London to sell some books but some young children needed a nap so that didn't happen. Perhaps Monday. :)
The construction of the CN Tower (Canadian national tower) was finished in 1975 and held the world record for tallest freestanding structure until 2010, But it is still the tallest freestanding tower in the western hemisphere, The tallest tower and 6th tallest freestanding structure world wide, It is 1,815.3 feet tall and over 2,000,000 people visit it each year, It is one of the modern wonders of the world. It has a sky pod where visitors can stand on a glass sheet that is 348 meters above the ground, The 2.5 inch thick glass can hold the equivalent weight of 36 moose, From the skypod you can see 100 miles on a clear day. The CN tower is almost completely vertical it is off by 1.1 inches.
It is able the withstand a earthquake of of 8.5 of the richter scale and winds of 270 miles per hour, Though they don't get many earthquakes there. There is a restaurant in the CN tower that rotates, It takes 72 minuets to rotate completely. The last piece of the tower has put in place on April 2 1975, They used a helicopter with a crane to put it on, In the process the helicopter got caught on the tower with only 30 minuets of fuel left, Workers were able to free it and it safely landed with 17 minutes of fuel left in its tank. You can learn more by going here.
You'll be able to find me RIGHT HERE. Right on the crew blog eh!
I'm talking about why it's important to talk about the philosophers of old. Studying them helps us learn how people think, and to glean truth from untruth, so we can see the connecting points to God.
