Urgent Prayer Needed for the United States

 

Something has been brought to my attention which I feel I need to desperately get out to you as well.  I subscribe to the Franklin Graham newsletter and every so often I receive information of great importance and what I received yesterday alarmed me and I felt very strongly that I needed to post so that all of you, along with me, could be in prayer about it.  

The Biden Administration wants to pass what they call the "Equality Act" and it's a clear and dangerous threat to our country.  Here are the points that Franklin Graham points out if this bill is passed:

*The Equality Act designates schools, churches, and healthcare organizations as "public accommodations."  With this, schools, churches, and hospitals could be forced to accept the government's beliefs and mandates about sexual orientation and gender identity.  It will threaten everyday speech where people can be fined or lose their jobs for using the wrong name or pronouns.

*The Equality Act will legislate that we allow boys in girls' sports, boys in girls' locker rooms, men in women's shelters, and men in women's prisons.  It will force teachers and students to publicly pretend that a biological male is a female.  Schools will be encouraged or mandated to instruct first, second, and third graders that they can choose to be a boy or girl, or neither, or both, making biological sex (and science) a relic of the past.

*The Equality Act will use the force of law across all 50 states to strip Christian and other religious ministries of their right to hire people of shared faith to pursue a shared mission.  

*The Equality Act will strip health professionals of their rights of conscience.  It will force doctors and medical professionals who long to do no harm to engage in gender transition treatments such as hormone-blocking, cross-sex hormones, or surgery.  

*The Equality Act will be a tool used by the government to deny or threaten accreditation to religious colleges and universities if they do not satisfy the demands of the secular Left to apply sexual orientation and gender identity to dorms, sports, places of privacy, and even teachings.  The Act could be used as a weapon to threaten availability of federal student loans and grants to students.

Franklin Graham states that these are just a few examples.  What he is asking (and because I'm passing this along, so am I) is that people of faith NEED to PRAY NOW!  Gone are the complacent days of thinking that the government will do the right thing because obviously they are going out of their way to be extremely opposed to the American people.  I feel in my heart that the American people don't want this but we have to be on our knees to God and pray for His intervention in this and His mercy.  This is so very serious.  Any of us who have children and/or grandchildren should do everything we can to make sure this is stopped dead in it's tracks.  We all need to show up now in big ways to let them know we oppose this.

PLEASE..........pray.   And PLEASE.......contact your representatives in the U.S. House and Senate and even President Biden himself.  Just go on-line if you need information on how to contact these people.  Tell them to emphatically vote NO to the Equality Act.  Our future depends on us speaking up and speaking out - now is the time to be bold and courageous.  Having said this, do ALL of this in love - don't be harsh, speak calmly, be respectful. 

Thank you SO much for your time, help, and attention to all of this.  

February Newsletter

Our next finished puzzle.  : )

I know we have a week left in February, but I will send this out now thinking that next week will be on the busier side for me and then we'll be into March!!!  Can you believe it?  Spring is right around the corner.  Here in Minnesota, Spring can sometimes take it's own sweet time.  Our Easter for the last two years found us hunkering down under blizzards.......so we really can't go by what the calendar tells us.

We just came out of frigid temps and now we're looking forward to some thawing taking place this weekend into next week - it will be wonderful to get out for walks again.  : )

I hope this is finding all of you doing okay.  Thank you for being so patient with me in my comings and goings and now coming back again.......I'm looking forward to it and hoping you enjoy what I have to share.  : )  

Not too much difference in the format but with every newsletter I hope to share some recipes and anything food related, a little about what I've been doing here for us and others, any tips that I might have read about or heard about through others, Bible verses from my morning readings, maybe little ideas for families, and a few questions for you, as readers, that you might be able to answer as a help to me and others who are reading!!!  : )

So let's get going, shall we?

EVERYTHING FOOD

With cold weather, my first thought is to warm up the house by cooking and baking and then, of course, the thing that goes along with that is making the house smell wonderful.  I do have our tried and true favorites, our go-to's that I cook quite often but every so often I think it's important to try new recipes if for nothing else than to get out of the cooking rut!  I'm going to share 3 recipes with you today - 1 of them is an old stand-by and 2 are new and absolutely loved.  I'll give you the new first:

COPYCAT OLIVE GARDEN ALFREDO SAUCE

1 package Penne pasta or Fettucine pasta

1 stick of butter (yes......one stick....it gets better, read on.......)

1 clove of garlic, minced (we love garlic so I think I used 2 or 3 cloves)

1 pint of heavy whipping cream (yep)

1 cup of Parmesan cheese, fresh and grated 

2 Tablespoons of cream cheese (Mmmmmm..........)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Make pasta and set aside.  In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic.  Saute' for 2 minutes.  Add cream and cream cheese.  Heat until bubbly but not boiling.  Add Parmesan cheese and mix until cheese melts.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Either add pasta to the sauce or pour sauce over pasta.  Enjoy!!!!

Seriously, this was SO good and really quick to pull together.  If you've read any of my past posts, you will know that I'm a believer in getting all ingredients ready before cooking or baking.  Be a sous chef and measure out everything, cut up everything, etc.  Then when you're ready to cook all you need to do is follow directions and add things as directed.  I've had this recipe in my box for quite a while and I decided to try it when I found myself having two leftover salmon patties in the fridge and didn't want to just heat them up again.  So once I had the sauce and pasta, I crumbled the salmon patties into it and added about a cup of frozen (thawed) peas at the end to warm up.  Well.......we thought it was very good - as good as you would get at, well, Olive Garden!!!!  : )  I hope you will give it a try and tell me what you think.

Served with steamed broccoli on the side.  *Important note - this does not reheat well at all - the butter and cream separates and isn't very appetizing.  So, you might want to wait for a company night to prepare it.  : )

The next recipe is for Buttermilk Biscuits.  If you remember in a past post, I showed you the label for the canned biscuits in the supermarket that we all know and love.  Well I won't buy those again but have found this recipe that is SO much better and they take very little time to prepare.  Really worth it!  I'm totally sorry that I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.  Here's the recipe:

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed

3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment.  In a food processor whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until combined.  Add in the cold butter cubes until you have small pea-sized pieces.  Pour the buttermilk in and pulse until it comes together.  Scoop dough out onto floured surface and gently work it with your hands.  Pat into a rectangle, fold it into thirds.  Turn the dough, and flatten into a rectangle, fold into thirds and repeat this process two more times.  Pat the dough into a 1/2-inch rectangle (measure this) and using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut the biscuits out, gathering leftovers and cutting out as many biscuits as you can without working the dough too much.  Arrange on baking sheet (touching each other) and brush the tops with a little buttermilk.

Bake at 450 for about 15-17 minutes or till lightly golden brown.  Remove and allow to cool for a couple of minutes and serve!!!!!  Really....these are so good and worth making them from scratch.  Again, this comes together quickly (even though it might not seem like it).  : )

The next recipe is one I'm pretty sure I've shared with you in the past, but I wanted to share again, mostly for it's simplicity.  This is my go-to when I don't want to spend a lot of time.  It's healthy, quick, and very tasty.  It's also a great way to use up bits and pieces that we all put away in the fridge and wonder how in the world we'll use them!  The options are endless.  It's my........

FRITTATA

Melt a stick of butter in an OVEN PROOF skillet.  This is where the fun comes in.  Add chopped onions and saute'; add minced garlic and saute'; add pretty much anything you have on hand - I usually add quite a bit of spinach and cook till wilted.  I have added halved cherry tomatoes.  I have added leftover cooked broccoli.  I think you get the picture.  : )  I also try to add turmeric to a lot of my egg dishes, chicken dishes, seafood dishes, etc., so I will sprinkle that on everything along with a little salt and pepper.  Then scramble however many eggs you want and pour that over everything and stir until ALMOST set.  I add a bit of shredded cheese on top and then pop everything into a 375-degree oven for about 8-10 minutes.  Serve and enjoy.  : )  Again, so quick, easy, and tasty.

I serve this with whole-grain toast and either grapefruit or orange slices on the side and I always serve milk to drink.

I try to say how important meal planning is to me.  I just can't wing it.  I need to know every day what it is that I will be making because every recipe takes some time to prepare and if something is going on that day I need to plan accordingly.  It's a very rare day that we rely on take-out.  So here is my way of planning my menus every week and thus create the grocery list that goes with it:

I pull from the cupboard everything I need - my recipe box, my kitchen notebook, my menu from the week before, paper, pen, calculator..........

I like making it a relaxing time.  A time to think about what to serve.  Good nutrition is very important and that takes time to decide what goes with what.  I pour myself a cup of hot coffee, put on classical music, and get to work!

*First, I check my "running list" - this is a list of things that I've written down throughout the week where I've noticed that we're either running low on or have run out.  I add those to the grocery list first so I don't forget them.

*Next, I check last week's menu to see if there was a meal that I didn't get around to making either because I chose to eat up leftovers or whatever reason and I write those meals down in order to make them from the food that we already bought last week.

*Now I go through recipes (old and new) and I look at the calendar to see what we have going on and plan around those recipes that I've chosen depending on how long they take, etc.

*I go to the pantry and look at the inventory to see what I'll need for the meals planned.

*Lastly, I calculate the cost and try to stay within our grocery budget.  I've been doing this for so long that I have a good idea how much everything costs.  Last week, our total bill at the grocery store came to $97.00 and I calculated $96.00!  Not bad!!!  LOL  : )

I encourage you, if you don't already, to plan your meals.  In the long run it saves time (so you don't have to run to the store for forgotten ingredients) and it saves money (so you're not just grabbing whatever looks good while you're in the store).  I actually find it fun to do - reading up on good nutrition, looking for new recipes, anticipating the old favorites and just generally feeling organized about it all.

THINGS I'VE BEEN DOING AROUND THE HOUSE AND FOR OTHERS

Well, I mentioned it was cold.  That's pretty typical around here in February, so indoor activities are the norm.  Which leads me to a question to all of you (including myself!) - what in-home projects do you still want/need to get done before the nice weather settles in and won't want to stay indoors to do them?  I've been trying to make a list of things - it's a short list right now so I need to begin to work on them!

*One thing that I continue to do is make cards -

this is a very relaxing project and if you feel the need to be creative and be able to bless someone else with the finished product, this is it!

*I sent Valentines to the Senior Care Center this month -

again, this is something very important for me to do - I really want to bless the elderly in this - just knowing that they have a little something to open up every month brings me joy.

Every year, my mom used to make and send Valentines out to the Veteran's home and hospital in our home state.  I know through the years she sent 100's.  Maybe that's where I get it from?!  : )

*We had a little pre-Valentine's Day evening with our son and his wife.  We had lots of sweets -

and we played games while munching.  : )  I think sometimes they think I go a little overboard but things like this are fun for me to do.  I feel it's important to celebrate when we can!

*One thing I notice every February is that my thoughts and planning are towards the outdoors.  It happens every year - 1st the seed catalogs come in the mail, then I begin to pull gardening books off the shelves, the notebooks come out, paper and pen is ready, the magazines get cut up for articles on what I would like to try (or just dream about).  This year was no different -

I also begin watching gardening shows such as P. Allen Smith or our local Prairie Yard and Garden.  I just have all kinds of plans for this year!!!!  I know I won't be able carry them all out, but the fun is in the planning.

*I have a favorite spot in our house for a cozy rainy or snowy day -

it's in our living room where my mother-in-law's vintage typewriter is, my teapot, teacup and saucer, and our chime clock over my shoulder.  It's here where I love to sit down with my Bible open and type (the old-fashioned way) Bible verses to include in cards that I send out.  

my mother-in-law used to type letters to soldiers in our military on this typewriter.  She, like my own mom, had a heart for men who served this country.  Probably because their own husbands served and they knew what a sacrifice it is.

*I don't have a Bible verse from my readings this month (I'm in Genesis now) but I did take a photo of some notes that I wrote down.  Whenever I'm listening to a pastor I need to have my Bible open and jot down anything that I want to remember and I wrote this -

my handwriting is like chicken scratch so I apologize for that, but I do like the sermon notes that I wrote down!  So true isn't it?

FAMILY TIME

If you have children/grandchildren who live away from you and the only family time you seem to keep on having is on zoom, there are games that you all can play together and make a day/evening of it!  Bring out the snacks, talk, play, and have fun "together" while playing:

*Yahtzee

*Scattergories

*Battleship

*Pictionary

*............do you have any others that you would like to share?

I do understand that this means that both sides will have to have the same game at each other's houses, but these are classic games that everyone should have anyway, right?  : )  Even our adult son and his wife (when we weren't meeting last year due to covid) "got together" and played these games.  I don't think you have to be of any certain age to enjoy a good game!  Have fun and be creative with this.

HELPFUL TIPS

Only a couple here:

*Keep drinking enough water throughout the day to hydrate!  Dehydration can lead to all kinds of physical and mental problems!

*If you are finding that your skin is dry from all the cold and that your house feels dry and lots of static electricity, put a pan or teakettle on the back burner of your stovetop to simmer and steam to keep the air moist.

QUESTIONS

*I guess I've already asked you if you have any indoor projects that you need to get done.  : )

*And I've already asked you if you know of some games we can all play on zoom.  : )

*My final question is how your cleaning is going.  I know I left off at deep cleaning our home and I was in the kitchen.  Well..........I'm still in the kitchen!!  : )  I remember in past posts telling you that I have times of "doing" and times of "thinking" - I'm in, and have been in, my time of thinking.  That means not a lot of cleaning (other than the daily upkeep) is going on right now.  My plan is to wrap up the thinking and get back to the cleaning on Monday.  For me, deep cleaning is one of those things that I need to get done before the beautiful weather sets in.

OTHER PHOTOS TO SHARE

Anniversary bouquet from February 2nd

always keep some candles burning

regrowing celery and green onions

continuing to knit prayer shawls

That's all I have for this month.  I hope you found it to be helpful in some way and enjoyable as well.  I'm looking forward to this new format of a once-a-month newsletter.  I enjoyed being back and writing and sharing.  Thank you SO much for stopping by!  God bless you in your homemaking.  It's important work.  : )  See you later!