Thursday, October 20, 2011

Mama, this one's for you!

I remember being young(!)-er at home and there was sometimes things that my parents would do, that I said I wouldn't do or I would do differently, or at least I thought this at the time.  Some of them revolved around food :), surprise, surprise.  While my Mom did lots all the cooking, she always had to be pretty conservative and efficient with the food. Not much went to waste, and even waste meant that the dog was fed.

Yesterday I started a quest to make my first ever turkey soup.  I've done chicken noodle, but don't really remember having to go through such a process.  I decided to attempt as real to true homemade turkey soup could come. I don't really remember exactly how Mom made it, I never really watched closely at what went into the food.  While I could have asked my Mom how to do it, I decided to google a recipe and see what I came up with.  Well, what do you know, I found a recipe with Eastern European roots. Basically the same thing as my Mama and Grandma's have been doing for years, naturally, as we are all Eastern European descent.

So, yesterday, I threw everything into my big soup stock pot (one of my aunt's gave us as a shower gift), the turkey bone, water, and veggies with peppercorns. Let it boil for 6 hrs and put it in the garage overnight (just like Mom always did, flavour is amazing the day after!). So, today, I brought it in the house, sifted everything from the broth, veggies/meat/bones, everything out.  As you can see I wanted to save as much broth as I could, so I put it in colanders with bowl beneath. Then came the dirty work, the thing I said I'd NEVER do when I was in my own kitchen.  I'd watch my Mom pick that chicken or turkey right apart, right down to the bone, saving every little piece of meat, even the meat of the neck, YUCK! Her hands were greasy, ugh,  I was always disgusted with it.  I would say at the time in my head, "at my house, we would eat what was easily accessible off that bird and the rest was going in the garbage", there was no way I was gonna pick those things clean.

Well, never ever say Never.




It wasn't as bad a process as I thought.  I picked and sifted. I was pretty determined to make this soup true to recipe and the smell of it simmering yesterday had me even more determined. Today we'll throw the actual meat, fresh carrots and noodles back in the pot, add a few more seasonings and TASTE!!

I'm delighted to try it, hopefully early this afternoon!!!

Thanks Mom for showing us to not be wasteful, every good gift is a gift from God, even if you have to feed your kids neck meat ;).
(no, i didn't put the neck meat in the soup :/ feed it to the stray cats out back ;)...all the cat lovers just balked, I'm kidding!!)

love you Mom.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Squirmy Worms

I watched some John Piper today, with anything I've read from Piper, I've agreed with, he is a sound man of God.

I really don't want to open a can of worms here, but I couldn't agree with him more on this topic.  I've had conversations with those who work and those who don't work.  On the work side, I get a lot of worries about Finances.  How are we going to manage on only one income???  It is a legitimate concern, I feel especially for those who live in expensive markets (Winnipeg vs. small town)

This was definitely a concern for Quinn and I when Caden was in the womb.  We were surprised with Caden, it wasn't 'our' plan, but we decided while he was still in womb, I would stay at home (not working away-from-home) for the first 5 years-ish of the child's life and then maybe work part-time depending on the needs of the kids.  Kids before job always.  We were no where near our financial goals before we wanted to start having kids.  We lived in a 1BR apartment, had too much debt (we thought), and at least I was anxious, about 'All-the- work' kids are, didn't feel ready for it.  Financially on Quinn's wage, we would have to really, really tighten our budget.  Quinn was just out of college and only worked at his sales job for 1 year, which is a short-time in a sales career.

But we felt it was right, that was what kids needed, our kids needed.  Surely our parents would help financially if we were in a serious bind (we hoped :).

We trusted and we prayed.  If God calls you to something, He Will Provide.  We might not be able to see how it will happen, but He does.  In the last 3 years we've seen it time and time again in our lives.  A house? Do you really need a house or is it a societal demand, a cultural pressure, you're looked down on if you live in an apartment with your kids?  How much money do you really need, what kind of lifestyle do you think you need? Is society ruling you or do you want God to direct your life? We were willing to take on 2 kids in an apartment, God provided us with a house and parents willing to help. Will we need the help, what does the future really hold that He put us here?? Who knows, just trusting.  Don't get me wrong, we've made our own decisions in this ride, which probably weren't what God wanted, mistakes happen, God gives Grace.

This is my response to the 'Financial' question.  Don't discount God, like my good friend said when I was hesitant for financial reasons to go on a missions trip:  "Just Go, God has lots of money" ;)

We gotta stop believing we have all the control.


What to do...

The past week-ish I've been pondering, how can we make a difference this Halloween?  Probably should be something I could have earnestly prayed about in the last week, but that's another post about struggling in prayer life (bump in road).
Although, I know this topic has been on my mind for a reason, I'm glad its there.  I recently read this article, liked what the author had to say and the verses he imparted (1 Corinth 13:10). It IS Another day we can glorify God, and do the Will of God.  I like the idea of handing out candy (hello, kids are coming to YOU!!) and handing out something more edifying than candy, with the candy.  Our church has a ton of kids programs, so I ran it past Quinn about a little card with all the kids programs, times and dates, info listed.  Talking to the church about that.  So, I think its something I'll continue to pray about.  This is the first year as a family we'll have kids at our door, as previous apartment dwellers, we did not get kids, but now in a residential house, we have the opportunity.  Also not sure how many kids will come by, haven't seen a lot of young children on our street, but the quantity is not an issue.  Oh, and also this is a quality opportunity to meet more neighbors, parents often walk around with their kids, right?

What to do...