I thought to try something new. Note that rabbit can be exchanged for chicken very easily in this recipe eh?
Ingredients: 1.5 lbs of rabbit, boneless, cut into bite-sized pieces. 1 tbsp olive oil Lemon Pepper Seasoning 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp thyme (or two or three fresh sprigs) 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning 8 oz angel hair pasta Directions: 1. Get pot boiling for pasta 2. In a large measuring cup mix together honey, lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, apple cider vinegar and lemon pepper seasoning. Mix well and let set. 3. Season rabbit with lemon pepper seasoning, be generous. Cook rabbit in a large skillet with the 1 tbsp olive oil until 90% done. 4. Add the mixture that you set aside. Let heat through while the angel hair pasta is cooking. 5. Once the pasta is cooked through (about five minutes to cook through) add it to the cooking rabbit and mix well. 6. This meal is best served warm but I will suggest that you let it sit covered for 5 minutes before serving, giving the sauce time to flavour the pasta well. Verdict: Me: I LOVE THIS DISH.. so glad I took a chance with it. :) Hubby: I wish I were feeling better...the bit I tasted was good but I can't eat more. The Lad: One moderate serving followed by a much larger serving. "I like this mom, can you make it again please? It was really good!"
This book is gorgeous, filled with lovely images and text that flows easily from the tongue. Once Upon a Time Storybook Bible is a book filled with bible stories from the Old and New Testaments, biblical references, and points to take home.
Book Synopsis: The Once Upon a Time Storybook Bible highlights powerful and
inspiring stories from the Bible. It is beautifully illustrated with wonderful artwork by Omar Aranda. Some of the stories include: Adam and Eve, Ruth and Naomi, The battle of Jericho, The Blind Man, Lazarus, Wake up and Jesus in Jerusalem. Each story is told in a way to encourage children to get excited about reading the tales of real heroes of the Bible. 33 chapters, most from the Old Testament, a few from the New. Each story is about 3 pages long.
My Thoughts: What I liked: Once Upon A Time Storybook Bible is a GORGEOUS book, I kid you not. The pictures are superb! They have so much detail and colour in them. They don't look babyish, they look like something you'd see in a book of quality that you like to have around for a while.
Each story starts with a bible verse, and closes with the biblical reference. Good things that eh?
The happily ever after section. I liked this part. Pulling out a moral for children to apply to their lives or to think about. That's a good thing don't you think?
Concerns: Frequently the bible verse at the start of each story had no connection to the story that I could readily discern.
I dislike the "once upon a time" aspect of this book. The stories, even though they aren't complete, (how many stories in bible story books are?) are still based on the bible. The bible is reality and not just about telling a story to teach a moral. Putting bible stories on the same level as fairytales is encouraging children to just see them as another story with a simple truth to take from it and not God in action. If using this book, I was suggest care in how you explain that God's word is reality, and perhaps even read the full story directly from the Bible to them to help them understand that bible story books only give a shortened version of the whole story.
Once Upon A Time Storybook Bible Illustrator: Omar Aranda Publisher: Zonderkidz Age: 5 to 8 Style: Hardcover, storybook Size: Oversized a bit bigger than 11 x 8 33 chapters. Pages: 144 Reviewed for: BookLookBloggers. Where can you get it? Amazon.ca: Once Upon a Time Storybook Bible
It's been a pretty good week with some up and downs.... but when I reflect back.. mostly up! AND THAT is a very good thing. :)
Monday: Started out like a typical day though everyone was act ing tired and math was a frustration, and then English grammar was a frustration and... well let's just say that we tossed English out the window and planned things out a bit differently to make the rest of the day a success. We ran out to Gramma's where the lad finished his schooling and then indulged his latest love.. CACTI!!! Check out what he picked up with Gramma:
If you see that little red nub on the side of the cactus...he's already trying to graft it on to another cactus. He's been reading, researching and sussing out all the things he wants to try with his cacti and apparently next week we are going to go cacti hunting in Kitchener. :) I have to admit... I love hearing his enthusiasm for his cacti... it gives one a break from minecraft and pokemon talk I must say. :) Tuesday: A stay at home day... we had plans to go out Wednesday to a play so stayed home to get some work done at home. One of the things we worked on was our Art Achieve Lesson. We are working on making a totem pole. You'll have to wait for the review though... coming up in a couple of weeks.
The lad also worked on his Digital Savvy course (also a review coming up).
OH!!! And we made a brain! I know that sounds weird, but the lad and I have been learning about the central nervous system and I thought it would be good to make a plasticine model of the brain and then we'd label it another day.
I can't say today was the easiest day... I actually disappeared for a needed few hours in afternoon to take a break from the angst of the morning. We did some good things together, but it took working through angst to get there. :) I managed to power through three reviews though, had a couple of conversations with friends, and got my mind back in order again. Good to do that eh?
Wednesday we did minimal schooling.. writing a story, working on math, Canada history and Veritas Press lessons... then off to London. We went to see the Musical "Little Women". I enjoyed myself!
Thursday: A good day today. Working through schooling, having fun relaxing in the afternoon, and at night...the success of Bridge Busting night at Cadets! The lad came in first for best looking bridge, and came in fourth of the boys for bridge weight holding. His bridge held 150 lbs.
Friday: We had co-op in the morning with lots of YAY!! The children like the class I am teaching, and woot woot.. they love how Hubby is teaching gym. AND I brought a bunch of books down with me and ended up selling some of it. Would have loved to have sold more but hey.. a wee bit here and there .. it all works eh? I'll slowly winnow it down.
I came home completely tired so I napped off and on in the afternoon sitting in my comfy chair. So here it is 1030 and I'm feeling tiredly awake. :)
Saturday: I'm supposed to go to a rabbit club meeting but currently am feeling like I don't wanna go. We'll see what happens in the morning.
Thinking about the word enough and I'm brought back to mind these words from the Ezekiel Study that I am doing. 4 As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east,5 the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Filled the temple. That's what God's glory did. It FILLED the place.
Do you think that was enough?
It should be I think...but so many people don't see the enoughness of God. They don't see the filling that he does.
They look to so many other things to fill themselves up with, things like... money, people, relationships, stuff and so much more.
But I've observed in the people I see (and in myself as well) that when I look to anything OTHER THAN God for satisfaction, for that feeling that I have enough, nothing truly gives me that feeling. That feeling of enough.
I see myself raising my boy and seeing how I am fairly sure that I fail him...and then seeing how God uses me to meet the needs he has, the training that he requires, and I realize that, in God I am (along with his dad), enough to lead him to making right choices for God. Still, seeing my enoughness in God, his enoughness in me, to meet that tasks that he sets before me... I still often feel the failure and the want.
It's a tough one sometimes, to believe my claim, that he is enough....Cause I know it as a surety that he is, but sometimes.. I want to trust my own abilities more than his enoughness.
Oh, that I might learn more surely.. that God is Alone is Enough.
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This is a five minute Friday post. the word prompt is brought to us by Miss Kate. Today the word is Enough..
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.
Today I have a book from my own collection. 1-2-3 Draw, a neat coil bound book that teaches the student how to draw a variety of objects.
One of the things I like about this book is how it LIES FLAT. Oh heavens, too many art books don't which means you need to weight down the book in order to use it effectively. Having a coil ring art book makes it easy to display if showing a classroom or to lie flat as you learn. Five sections to choose from including: wild animals, dinosaurs, farm animals, knights/castles and vehicles.
It's a book of simple line drawings, walking the student through a series of circles and lines to help them accomplish their drawings. Learning the technique for one animal, object or person will help them learn how to do it for others.
Followed by inspiration on how to put it all together. Each section ended with a picture of how you might put it all together.
Not only that, as you learned to draw an animal, object or item, you were given a brief spot of information about it.
All in all a good book to learn how to draw different things. The only thing my son and I dislike is that some of the animals are a bit disproportionate (legs being too long for the body), but that is easy enough to fix eh? :)
1-2-3 Draw: Super Fun Stuff Author: Freddie Levin Publisher: Peel Productions, Inc.
I read these first few words " Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing east.2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east."
And I got to thinking... Ezekiel has just been showed through this marvellous building. Being ledthrough, seeing these massive columns, all the measurements being taken... and then he is led to the east gate and the GLORY of the God of Israel was coming. What an culmination of the experience eh? I imagine him coming to that gateway and seeing God's glory rising up like one of those gorgeous sunrises that you get. I can just imagine who Ezekiel might have felt. (let's read on eh?)
And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.3 And the vision I saw was just like the vision that I had seen when he came to destroy the city, and just like the vision that I had seen by the Chebar canal. And I fell on my face.4 As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east,5 the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Wow oh wow...I'd be shaking in my boots. The glory of the Lord sounding like (what I would imagine) Niagara Falls... All the watery noise rushing and pushing and swirling around. BUT.. with that sound comes the vision of God when he came to destroy the city like when he was by the Chebar canal... oh... I would fall on my face as well. Knowing God's glory and his ability to do justice and reign down destruction on his people's enemies.
God came into the temple and his glory completely filled it. Remember how big the temple was? God's glory filled it.
God's message comes to Ezekiel: 6 While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple,7 and he said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoring and by the dead bodies of their kings at their high places,8 by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them. They have defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger.9 Now let them put away their whoring and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. 10 “As for you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the plan.11 And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its
exits and its entrances, that is, its whole design; and make known to
them as well all its statutes and its whole design and all its laws, and
write it down in their sight, so that they may observe all its laws and all its statutes and carry them out.12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.
God is done with it. He has corrected the poor behaviour of his people. His desire is for Israel to put aside their worship of false gods and all their abominations. His plan is to dwell in their midst forever (presumably in the temple). To that end, Ezekiel is to describe the temple to the Israelites. God doesn't just simply say they are to build it, he says "if they are ashamed"... then Ezekiel is to let them know the design of the temple, along with all the statutes and laws. They need to know the law of the temple, to know that this is a most holy building on the top of the mountain. I can't say I understand it all. This is not the temple found in Jerusalem. This a huge place, and it's all predicated on the shame of the Israelites for the abominations they committed and false worship they engaged in. God's intention is clear. He will live in the midst of his people.
Just like now eh? Jesus comes to live in our hearts when we are aware of our need for him, when we are ashamed of the wrongs we have done, the abominations we have committed against God. When we confess our sins to him, God comes to dwell within us.
IT IS THE MOST AWESOME THING. To think that God dwells within us. Calling us to remember him, calling us to know him, letting us know right from wrong.
God himself. Lord of all. Comes and dwells within us when we see the shame of our sin.
Reading through a chapter every three weeks, this study is from "The Prayer Saturated Family". You can read the rest of the series here. This week we are doing chapter Three
"Sacred Moments".
The building of a family prayer altar. What this means is gathering as a family at a regular time to pray. How and when this will happen will be a matter of prayer between you and God, together with your family. To set aside intentional time for group prayer, particularly as families, but if no family then with friends and neighbours. I don't know. I struggle with this concept. Let me clear though. Not the concept of praying together as a family, but more the act of calling it an altar. I struggle with the concept thinking of how it can so easily be twisted. We pray as a family every _____ OR ELSE. I fail to see what is wrong with just praying together as a family over meal-times, adding in the concerns of the family, neighbourhood, land and world? Why does it need to be a time set apart? Isn't prayer time, at any time, a time set apart for God? As I read some of the examples in the book I didn't see them as "family prayer altar" times. I simply saw them as times that people prayed. Prayer as they walked, prayer as they drove to work or school, prayer on a couch over something important. It was simply prayer, intentional prayer and spur of the moment prayer. Just plainly, people praying together. WHY does it need to have the label of "altar" attached to it? Prayer can be useful in so many ways....it is GOOD to attach importance to it, and have significance attached to how we pray, and to see the value in praying together. It is good to see how prayer was used at altars in the past, as a prayer of thankfulness for God's actions, as a way to keep our fervor for the Lord alive,and as a way of fellowshipping with each other. Prayer is a sign of our faithfulness to God... and should not be discounted or trivialized. But neither...and this is my concern.. that if you place it "on an altar".. that it will be lofty for folks to attain on their own. Prayer is talking with God, receiving his pardon and forgiveness, a time to bring concerns before him and to thank him for his love shown to us in a mirade of ways. It is good to be reminded to intentionally pray. I know that some families don't pray together (and sometimes we (my family) lack in this ourselves). This chapter is a call to be mindful of the need to pray more as a family. To intentionally do so. That is what I can take away you know....that need to intentionally pray as a family... to talk with God, thanking him, remembering his actions, knowing and seeing his power at work. Good this. If you want to follow along, you can find copies via Amazon Affiliate links: Amazon.ca: The Prayer-Saturated Family: How to Change the Atmosphere in Your Home through Prayer Amazon.com: The Prayer-Saturated Family: How to Change the Atmosphere in Your Home through Prayer
Today our reading is from Ezekiel 42. Ezekiel sees The Temple's Chambers.
When I read the description of the Temple's Chambers... I had this thought of a building that was much narrower and more closely built together. I picture a walk-up like when I went to Philadelphia to visit a friend, and she took me through this tall narrow building...that felt long (though I'm sure it wasn't really) but was narrow and pressing in. All the walkups looked the same, just like the temple chambers here are the same as each other.
5 Now
the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from
them than from the lower and middle chambers of the building.6 For
they were in three stories, and they had no pillars like the pillars of
the courts. Thus the upper chambers were set back from the ground more
than the lower and the middle ones........They were similar to the chambers on the north, of the same length and breadth, with the same exits and arrangements and doors,12 as were the entrances of the chambers on the south. There was an entrance at the beginning of the passage, the passage before the corresponding wall on the east as one enters them.
The purpose of the chambers. The north and south chambers are holy. They are where the priests eat the most holy offerings...the grain, the sin and the guilt offerings. It is a holy place.
13 Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers opposite the yard are the holy chambers, where the priests who approach the Lord shall eat the most holy offerings. There they shall put the most holy offerings—the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering—for the place is holy.
In fact, in this holy place, you can wear walk about clothes, you have to wear garments fit just for the holy place. This causes me to think about how I have "rabbit clothes" and then I have all my other clothes. I don't wear rabbit clothes other than when I am at home. So the part of them having to change their clothes doesn't surprise me. You only want the best things for the holy place.
14 When the priests enter the Holy Place, they shall not go out of it into the outer court without laying there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments before they go near to that which is for the people.”
Then Ezekiel saw the man measuring the exterior of the temple area. Can you imagine it was 500 cubits square? It was a large square building. and around the building was a wall, this made a separation between God's holy place and the place for everyone else, the common area. 15 Now when he h that faced east, and measured the temple area all around.16 He measured thead finished measuring the interior of the temple area, he led me out by the gate east side with the measuring reed, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around.17 He measured the north side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed all around.18 He measured the south side, 500 cubits by the measuring reed.19 Then he turned to the west side and measured, 500 cubits by the measuring reed.20 He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, 500 cubits long and 500 cubits broad, to make a separation between the holy and the common.
I'm thinking about all this and honestly...I have a hard time figuring what to learn from this, other than God is holy, we need to treat him as such. That there is to be a separation between that which is holy and that which is not. oh... Think about that. A separation between the holy and the not holy. Do you see it in your life? That awareness that God is different from EVERYTHING else in your life? Do you? Do I? Admittedly I don't always see it. I see everything around me so much more clearly than I see God sometimes. I don't always react to God with the reverence that he is due...sometimes just leaving my "rabbit clothes" on when I approach him. And yes, God wants us to be intimately familiar with him. But he also wants us to know that HE IS GOD. That's been taught over and over in Ezekiel that he wants us to know that HE IS THE LORD GOD. Remember it. Consider it in the day to day. Let it make a difference. This I should do better. Oh that the Good Lord would help me to do so.
You can read more in my Ezekiel Studies here and here.
About those who put the book together: Author Lee Ann Mancini is an adjunct professor at South Florida Bible College and Theological Seminary,she's a mom of two, and has devoted her life as a servant for Christ Jesus.
Illustrator Dan Sharp has over 30 years of illustrating for children. He attends church services in Michigan and works for a variety of companies in designing artwork.
Book Synopsis: We find the sea kids in Sunday School with Miss Linda their teacher, one of her students has autism. Today Miss Linda has a surprise for them... and Easter Egg hunt with three special eggs to find. Paul (the autistic child) was VERY eager to find one of the special eggs. The children rushed around finding eggs, One boy found two special eggs, as well as another student, but Paul did not. Young boy who found two was asked to give up one egg for Paul...We also learned of a child who was badly hurt in an accident. Through these experiences the children learn the power of prayer and how to give of themselves.
My Thoughts: There is much in this book that I had a thorough appreciation for:
The bright colourful pictures.
The biblical base and the focus on prayer.
The easy to read font.
I have to admit, I struggled with the teacher asking Jimmy (who won the two special eggs) to give up one of them to a student having a temper tantrum over not getting his own way. She claimed he should do it because "it wasn't fair for Jesus to die for us". It didn't set right for me. It might be my own depravity showing through...Love helps us do things we don't want to do. Perhaps it was a way to show love...but I query if it is truly loving to reward temper tantrums. I LOVED the answer his father gave to Jimmy. He didn't HAVE to show his love..but he could CHOOSE to do so. Jesus submitted his will to God the Father, Jimmy submitted his will to what was right to help his friend work through his disappointment.
