Angels and breastmilk......

Often times in life the most shocking traumas are followed by an outpouring of God's love, through the hands of perfect strangers.  I was blessed to witness such an event today.
Last night, a dear friend of mine lived through every mother's worst nightmare.  Her home, her sacred sanctuary, was broken into.  She arose to investigate, and was visciously stabbed repeatedly.  Her infant son, thankfully, slept soundly in the bed she had just vacated.  Although she lost dangerous amounts of blood, she survived and is in recovery now.
Her most pressing thought, upon awakening this morning, was the care and feeding of her son.  He is nursed exclusively, and she couldn't handle the thought of putting him on formula while she recovered.  She could not relax, or sleep, until she knew that her son would be taken care of.  Sadly, I did not have milk on hand to provide for her, so I called a few of the ladies I have met recently.  It was at this point that God took over, and provided for her! Within a few hours of the call I made, deliveries began coming to her door.  In total, by the end of the day, she had received over 100 ounces of frozen breast milk... the exact amount that she will need to tide her son through her recovery period.  We also had the phone numbers of three generous women who have offered to provide more if she needs it.  Wow. I was completely humbled and awed by this experience.  All in all, we received milk and love and blessings from ten women who were complete strangers to either of us. They walked in and out of that door today like angels.... God's own messengers of personal and intimate love.

Being a Helper to My Husband

The topic of being a helper to my husband has been weighing heavily on my mind these past few days.   Laura, at www.heavenlyhomemakers.com, is posting a fantastic series about it, and it has really encouraged and challenged me. So I began to think of all the ways that i am a helper to my husband, and all the ways I need to improve on this. Some of the ways I help him are:

-First and foremost, I try at all times to show respect to my husband.  I NEVER intentionally speak disrespectfully to him, and I am learning how to moderate my tone and words so that I never injure him unintentionally or while "teasing".  I also encourage Gabriel to think and speak respectfully to him by always praising Ash while he is at work.  We frequently speak of Daddy during the day with such phrases as, "Don't we have such a great Daddy, who works hard all day long for us?", "Eat your vegetables so you grow up big and strong like your Daddy," "We love to wash Daddy's clothes for him- let me show you the way that he likes his shirts folded- just so."

-I try to always have a hot, nourishing meal ready for Ash when he gets home from work.  I work really hard to update my meal plan to include foods that he enjoys.  This winter, he has really been craving thick soups, stews, and hearty meals with a lot of meat and other protein; thus I have made sure to include meat in every meal.  I have also been cooking (almost) everything from scratch with healthy, whole foods.  This has been a blessing to our Ash, myself, the boys and our wallet!

-When Ash arrives home from work, I know that he needs a little time to unwind and relax.  I try my best to never jump on him with problems that arose during the day.  I save any concerns until after he has had time to eat and wind down.  I also NEVER reserve discipline for Ash to deal out when he comes home.  That would make the boys fear their Daddy's arrival with dread anticipation.  Instead, I train and discipline them myself during the day, so that they greet him with reckless abandon and wild joy.

Ways I need to improve:

-Ash craves a place of peace and comfort when he comes home from his stressful, busy day.  To be a better helpmeet, I need to keep the house picked up and uncluttered when he arrives home from work.  Also, I need to work some cleaning time into our weekends so that the house doesn't become so messy every weekend.
-I have a poor morning habit of sleeping in while Ash gets ready for work.  To be a better helpmeet, I need to set an alarm every morning to rise and prepare coffee and breakfast for Ash.  I also need to lay out his lunch the night before, or prepare it in the morning.  This way, he will be able to focus on his job and not his empty stomach:-(
-Like most men, Ash appreciates beauty and grace.  I have fallen into the all-too-common trap of frumpy motherhood.  To be a better helpmeet, I need to strive to regain feminine beauty and grace in my appearance.  I truly enjoy feeling feminine and pretty, so helping him in this aspect will benefit me as well!

Please help me in my endeavor by asking me occasionally how I am doing in my challenges.  It helps me to be held accountable:-)
You can encourage me and others by posting how you are a helpmeet to your husband, and ways that you want to challenge yourself to become a better helpmeet to him...

Help Haiti and Purchase a Home-made Craft!

There is a beautiful way that you can help out the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti....

The website Etsy has set up a storefront called "Craft for Hope"

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/crafthope

Thousands of generous crafters have donated their pre-made items to this storefront; therefore, when you purchase an item from this store, 100% of the profit goes towards Doctors Without Borders for their relief work in Haiti.

What an elegant method of helping!!!

Please consider taking a look- there are hundreds of lovely, useful home-made items that are perfect for gifting.

Give-away

Instead of posting tonight, Ash and I spent some quality time together listening to a fantastic podcast by Pastor Mark Driscoll, and making some plans for 2010. I have some great thoughts stirring for new posts, so if you have any preferences, let me know! I am considering:
-Eating locally
-Humanely raised meats
-Making do with what we have
-Meal planning
-Planning and intentions for 2010

However, I wanted to direct your attention to a great blog, called progressive pioneer. She is a home-maker mama like myself, and she is currently hosting a give-away for some fantastic healthful beauty products. You can check out her website at:
www.progressivepioneer.com

Blessings on you and your family,

Jennifer

Special Meals

Sometimes I have found that the emotional and social satisfaction of a meal outweighs its financial burden... Tonight was one such meal for our family.  I have decided that every Sunday will be our "special meal" night- to celebrate God's provision to our family.

In general, I attempt to cook as frugally as possible.  Money is really tight for us these days, and food is one area that I can really save money.  This makes our "special" meals all the more enjoyable!
Tonight I served roasted Cornish game hens with roasted root vegetables.  I love cooking these little birds; I find that the flavor is so much more delicate, and the flesh so much more tender than chicken.  Plus the delight of serving a whole tiny bird on each plate, surrounded by vegetables, is so much fun!
The reason I mention this is not only to pass on a delicious recipe, but to give you two great tips I used whilst cooking tonight.
1) I used my small food processor and made a paste of garlic cloves (10-12 cloves), olive oil (about 3/4 cup) and sea salt (1-2 tbps).  This paste easily sticks to meat or fish, yet disperses well in rice or pasta, thus it can be its own marinade, or the basis for a delicious sauce!!! These three ingredients are the beginnings of almost every one of my meals, so I make one weeks worth every Sunday, and keep it in a small glass container in the fridge.  This will save me time while cooking during the busy week.
2) Whole vegetables assuredly provide us with more nutrition and flavor.  However, preparation is the most time-consuming part of cooking.  When making a dish that involves multiple vegetables, take a little extra time to wash and chop double, or triple the amount needed for that night.  The extras can be sealed in a ziploc bag and kept in the fridge or the freezer, depending on your week's meal plan.  It only look me an extra 4 minutes tonight to chop triple the amount of vegetables I needed.  The extras will be used this week, saving me a lot of prep work, and losing little to no nutritional value from my veggies:-)

After dinner I made chocolate chip cookies.  After some research, and a very convincing argument from Laura at Heavenly Homemakers blog, I decided that I need a grain mill.  To afford the one I have my eye on, I plan on selling baked goods this year.  I am starting my recipe repertoire with my all-time favorite.... chocolate chip cookies.  I vow to create the perfect organic, whole grain, low-to-no sugar, chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Batch number one was a pretty basic recipe using 2 parts white flour to 1 part whole grain oats and large chocolate chips.  They turned out really well- as Ash attested to while eating his third, or was that the fourth, one! I will keep you posted!

Recipe for Cornish Game Hen with Roasted Root Vegetables
(for 2 adults)
-2 cornish game hens, thawed and rinsed
-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
-3 tsp sea salt
-1 or 2 stems fresh rosemary (or 2 tbsp dried)
-2 tbps roasted flax seeds (optional)
-total of 3 cups chopped root vegetables, use some sweet and some savory, I prefer beets, rhutabagas, carrots, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, and onions (onion is not optional) (peeling is your preference- I don't peel as I use organic vegetables and want the nutrition from the skin)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix salt, oil and rosemary in a bowl.  Rub the game hens inside and out with half of the mixture.  Place on roasting rack, and cover loosely with cover or aluminum foil.  Toss the vegetables with the other half of the mixture, and spread in a large brownie pan, or cookie sheet with sides (leave uncovered). Bake both together for 1 hour, then uncover the game hens, increase heat to 400 and bake for another 15 minutes, or until chicken is browned and tender, and vegetables are tender.  (halfway through bake time, stir vegetables to ensure even cooking.) Serve on a pretty plate and enjoy!

The span of one breath

The span of one breath is all it takes to move from thrill to mortal danger.
This truth was never more real to me than three days ago, when I almost lost my dear husband.
We recently adopted a sweet young chocolate labrador (Ruger), and Ash took her out for an evening walk.  He returned sooner than anticipated, shaken, with quite a story!  He and Ruger were quietly enjoying the suburban landscape, the silence broken only by their frosty breathing.  Suddenly out of the dusky darkness a monstrous shape charged at shocking speed towards them, crashing to a halt directly in front of Ruger, a mere five feet from Ash.  Realizing with horror that it was a female moose (seven feet tall at the shoulders and around 1200 pounds), his sensory awareness quickened to detect a calf behind the mother.  Ash instantly called Ruger to him, and tightly grasping her collar, the pair slowly backed away from the menacing mother.  After  the immediate danger had passed, they quickly returned to the safety of our home.
Being recent plantings in Alaska, we have considered moose quite a novelty, chuckling at our friend's stories of various encounters.  We ran out of doors to watch them walk down our street, and tried in vain to capture them on camera.  Having a moose in our neighborhood seemed a grand amusement.
 The reality, however, was shockingly less amusing.
So in conclusion...
always kiss your husband before he takes the dog out for a stroll...
keep your awareness around you, no matter how benign the environment appears...
teach your dog, and your children, how to calmly and immediately escape danger...
and never underestimate a moose!

Welcome to my blog...

I started this blog with dual purposes: to maintain the thread of communication with our friends and family who are spread across the States, and to share knowledge and encouragement with other women on their journey of home-making.
I will be sharing bits and pieces of our daily lives as well as information that I have found helpful, encouraging or just plain interesting.
I feel so blessed to be living out such a beautiful calling... being a helpmeet to my strong husband, being a mother to my sons, being the keeper of my home.  I hope to share some of that joy with you, as well as some of the Wisdom and Grace afforded me by our God.
I look forward to walking this journey with you!
May our Lord keep you in His grace