Temple Tuesdays: Pizza!

After trying this pizza--made for a Sunday lunch by my sweetheart sister-in-law--my husband said (between mouthfuls) "you can throw this in the rotation!...". A very high compliment from him.

I attempt to schedule meal planning, and having things "in the rotation" that I know get a five star rating from the husband makes my life a lot easier(thanks Amanda!).

First, let me say: it's all about the crust! You can't skip that part!

You can find the crust recipe here.

Adjustments I made to the crust recipe:

Instead of dissolving sugar in the water I used honey. About 2 Tablespoons. I also added some extra spices (oregano, basil, some garlic powder, fresh cracked black pepper). The leftover dough I rolled into breadsticks and topped with cheese-a major hit!

Toppings:Use any you like!

Favorites around here are: alfredo sauce as the base topped with farmer's market chicken, red onion, tomato, spinach and mozzarella cheese. And a tomato sauce base with raw milk mozzarella cheese and tomato slices.

What's in the Sauce?:

Alfredo Sauce: Melt 1/2 stick Organic Unsalted Butter, and brown 3 tablespoons of whole wheat flour. Add 2 cups milk(from a grass-fed cow of course!), stir until thickened. Chop 2 cloves garlic, stir into thickened sauce. Spoon onto un-cooked crust and add toppings!

Tomato Sauce: We love the Organic Olive Oil and Basil Tomato sauce by Bertolli. Spread around on un-cooked crust until you reach your desired thickness(I use a lot! We are a saucy kind of family) and add toppings.

Pictures from my first time making them:

They didn't last long!

Thank you Jesus for taste buds!

He is Beautiful, That is Enough.

I feel like I've been walking around all day with a back pack full of bricks. I hurt. Many levels. Weighed down. Many questions, not a lot of answers.

I don't have a lot of words worth sharing today.

Even so, giving thanks today because He is beautiful in the midst of ugly...

#47 First day that felt like fall

#48 delighting in the discovery of different types of mushrooms in the backyard with Selah

#49 Baby wearing the outfit that was made by my Grandmom for my now 16 year-old sister, that making Grandmom smile

#50 learning to crochet

#51 little sisters that teach me how to be a better big one

#52 text love from friends

#53 that God doesn't remove me from the fire until the dross is drawn out

#54 He holds me so gently

#55 He restores my soul

#56 He is my light, my strength, my song

#57 He is a Word worth sharing... that He would grace me with Himself to share. To have. Wonder upon wonder.

I love you, O LORD, my strength.

Temple Tuesdays: Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

I have a serious sweet tooth. A lot of them, actually.

But several years ago my mother posted on the refrigerator: Sugar causes insulin spikes which causes the body to store fat.

To be honest, that did not often deter me from my dessert, but it did begin to scratch at the back of my mind like fingernails down a chalk board after I had my second daughter and the pounds didn't drop off as quickly as I would have liked.

And I sincerely want to honor God with my body, and be as healthy and fit for His service as long as He lets me live on this earth.

Avoiding fatigue and "brain fog" caused by sugar is just another bonus!

But never eating a sweet treat seemed nearly impossible since there is nearly always some sort of sugar in the house.

I needed alternate options!!

"Temple Tuesdays" is designed to share some of the healthy sweet treat recipes that are tried, tested, and loved by my whole family(and there are a lot of us!).

I can't think of a time when I have ever not been in the mood for ice cream. I love it! It probably has something to do with the fact that it is steaming hot here(SouthEast Texas) about 10 months of out the year.

Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream:

4 cups Raw Milk (there are so many reasons why raw milk from grass fed cows is the healthiest, I wouldn't use this recipe without raw milk!)

1 Can Organic Coconut Milk (13.5 fl oz)

1/2 Cup Organic Maple Syrup

1/4 teaspoon Organic Vanilla Extract

1/4 cup Natural Unsweetened Cocoa

2 egg yolks from Organic Eggs from the Farmer's Market (yes, the egg yolk is raw. This is an optional step, but one I consider to be very healthy. HOWEVER, I would NOT use raw eggs from the store, not even organic ones: click here to read why)

Directions: Add all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. The cocoa will separate out a little, but it blends in the ice cream mixer.

Pour Mixture into Ice Cream Mixer. We use a Rival Ice Cream Mixer. Let it mix for 20-30 minutes, depending on desired firmness of ice cream(we rarely make it past 20 min).

Done!

Remove top to see the creamy goodness

Yum!

Serve immediately for happy mouths and healthy bodies! I will share our recipe for brownies next week!

If You are Being Really Hard on Yourself

Baby is growing up. She waves now when someone says "Hi!" or "bye-bye!". This always brings enthusiastic praise and clapping for her grand achievement. She grins her gap-toothed grin back at me and waves some more and I am filled with delight. We grin at each other and clap, clap, clap. It's some of the best time of my day, of my life. I will look at her and praise her and clap for her as long as she'll let me. She always tires of this before I do.

She is just being a child. My child. And it is a beautiful thing.

He wants to know why I ignore His clapping.

Oh LORD, I'm such a mess... I still have so much to learn, to do, to improve upon...

He says He takes great delight in me, He is singing over me filled with joy.

Not someday when I am dead and finally perfect because I am in heaven. NOW.

He is clapping, and grinning, and encouraging me NOW.

Will I look into His face and enjoy this moment with Him? He does not belittle my small achievements. "well done! Good job!" He claps, claps, claps, encouraging me to smile and clap back.

Will I believe Him that this a favorite part of His day? Will I keep it from Him?

I am just a child. His child. It is a beautiful thing.

I will look into His face and smile and clap praises back to Him.

Giving Thanks today that He loves me as I am, and always encourages me to get back up and try again...

#36 That He would ever take the time to sing to me

# 37 That He gives the Son, Emmanuel, I am never alone

#38 Micro expressions on a sweet baby face

#39 Sister love

#40 Curtain houses and the gift of imagination

#41 That He would stoop down to make me great

#42 The gift of work

#43 The gift of rest

#44 sunshine on my children's hair

#45 blue eyes

#46 That He loves me

My Jesus Story Box

She clutches it close, grins wide and bright eyed.

"And then what happens??" She is riveted, giggling in anticipation.

I tell her these tales again and again, she never tires of these stories. But she wants to know, needs to know, to double-check just one more time: " did this happen in real life?"

Yes, my sweet darling, these stories are true. 

These are my Jesus stories. These are my stones of remembrance. I keep them in a simple photo box, with His words reminding me what stones are and are not meant for, reminding me to remember.

I can forget so easily.

I don't want to.

So often I have heard and read of stories of amazing things God has done... but I rarely personally know the individual who actually had the experience of God's direction, protection, intervention, vision, or miracle in their life. I have privately asked the question "did this happen in real life?"

Last spring I co-led a women's small group at my church through Believing God by Beth Moore. In one section Beth encourages the reader to write down a timeline of notable things God has done in your life, personal stones of remembrance. This was very helpful to me in many ways. It helped me recall and recognize God's beautiful orchestration in my life. But because I am (at least) as forgetful as the Old-Testament Israelites, I wanted some 3-D reminders of God glorious works in my life. Something I would see to draw me to His feet in praise "Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I'm come..."

I actually considered stacking up huge stones. Well, having someone with muscles stack them for me, I'm not exactly known for upper body strength.

But that idea didn't seem very Baby friendly. My 11 month old is nicknamed "baby godzilla" by her adoring and ever-so-patient older sister. The description is quite accurate. I wanted to avoid a miniature Samson episode, so other options had to be explored.

In my experience all children share a certain trait, regardless of personality. Curiosity. When God commanded the Israelites to set up stones as a reminder of the awesome miracle He had just done by cutting off the flow of the river Jordan so they could cross over on dry land, I think God intended the stones to spark the natural curiosity of the Israelite children. I have chosen items in My Jesus Story Box specifically to inspire my children to ask "what do these stones mean?".

True, some things that are exposed about me in these stories are not glamorous. In fact, they are down right hideous. But He is the Main Character of these stories, I am not. And He is beautiful all the time. He is the only reason why all the stories have happy endings. I want my children to know Him more that I want to hide my weaknesses. I want them to know He is alive and active and involved in every person's life. Even mine. Even theirs. He is the same miraculous God of old, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Right now I tell Selah the 5 year-old appropriate versions of these stories, the depth of the stories will grow as she does. But I pray the Truth about God will be the common thread she holds onto from now into adulthood.

Selah also has her own story box with a couple of stones of remembrance. She loves it so much, she is actively looking for Jesus' work in her life so she can add to her box. "He loves us so much, mom! " she says. "He must have done that so we could have this story in our box!...".

I believe we are hard-wired to love stories. We are part of one, and each one of us has a part that the One and Only considered worth His very life.

What would happen if we all shared our stories, His stories, with one another? Might you consider starting your own Jesus Story Box? A place for tangible pieces of evidence of God's hand in your life? We can each witness to what we know of Him, and pass on and recall His faithfulness to our oh-so-forgetful hearts.

God spoke this to me back in April, and it has been on my heart ever since: "Stones, are also for building."

What if? What if we all built up a wall together instead of stoning each other? What if we as believers all lined up our stones of remembrance that God has given us? What God has done for us should be shouted from the mountaintops! His mercy, goodness, and work in our lives is the proper lens to view ourselves, and others, and God through. With such a massive wall of God's faithfulness surrounding us how could we struggle with faithlessness? With our forgiven sins and evidence of our redemption reaching up to the sky how could we struggle with judgement? Would not the love that completely surrounds us force our lips open in praise to Him?

"I tell you," he replied," if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

Luke 19:40

Let us build together!

"The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding"

~Nehemiah 2:20

I look forward to sharing my stories with you in the upcoming days and weeks... and I hope to hear some of yours!

Glorify the LORD with me! Let us exalt His name together!

Clay Jars and Kittens

Her cloudy eyes gaze at me, past me, lips try to curl into a smile. The smile is more a thought than actuality and even that seems to drain precious energy. She is far away from here. Here hurts so much.

It hurts her whose heart has always been to help others. Her whose strong arms had held so many babies, two of her own, twelve grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and countless others. Now I hold this glass for her, half filled with water and too heavy for her skeletal hand to steady. She sips from the straw. She thanks me, thanks me, thanks me.

I sit by her side and wish I had sat there more. I listen to her stories and feelings and thoughts and wish I had listened more. I make an unspoken commitment to sit and still more, listen more.

She has told me she is looking forward to what is ahead of her.

She is a shell of the Grandmom I've known. She is dying.

It hits me full in the face. Death is an ugly thing, an enemy. One that I am usually far-removed from. There are so many things I do not understand. His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways, they are too high for me.

I think she will see the face of Jesus soon. I wonder how I can help her to go out with joy and be lead forth in peace...

I bring her our newborn kittens. She loves kittens. All animals, really. Anything she can love on, really.

I fill her bed full with all five of them, and mama cat has to join in every so often to make sure they are all right.

Evidence of our God who loves newness, loves soft things, created the peaceful purr we enjoy. I take pictures and show her so she can see them better, more closely.

Grandmom smiles. It's a fleeting smile on her face, but lingers in her eyes. Her hands gently sweep over the soft fluff that is crawling all over her.

She jokes "if I had know we were gonna have a photo session I'd have brushed my hair...".

I smile back and look her full in those blue eyes, a couple generations older and a few shades lighter than mine "oh Grandmom, you are beautiful!!"

Her shell can not hide her real beauty, the Him in her. We are all shells.

"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."

~C.S. Lewis

She is a beautiful clay jar that has stored up and poured out His glory in her life.

"We are all tired and gonna take a nap now" she says. They rest.

I am giving thanks today not because I feel like it, but because He is so worthy of all honor and glory and praise at all times.

I believe, therefore I speak...

Giving thanks today for clay jars, other temporary things, and the unseen eternal glory that far outweighs them all...

#25 A Mom, Dad, Aunt who model pure religion by taking care of a widow in her distress

#26 Straws

#27 Four generations living in the same home

#28 Ibuprofen and sportarub salve

#29 Gray hair that is a crown of glory, attained by living a godly life

#30 Today with Grandmom

#31 Today with my girls, husband, family

#32 kittens and a sweet, patient mama cat

#33 wheelchairs

#34 that He knows I am a child, that I do not understand, and He never tires of my questions

#35 Knowing Him, real eternal life

"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

~2 Corinthians 6:4-18