Actually, it’s none of the three if it’s a store bought mix. After you follow and hopefully tweak, my recipe for hot chocolate (which I’ll show you how to turn to pudding), you’ll never use a mix again.
You begin with 1/2 to 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa in a sauce pan (amount depends on how dark you like it). Hershey’s is fine, but I prefer bulk cocoa from Sprouts. Stir in about half as much sugar (if 1/2 cup of cocoa, then 1/4 cup of sugar). I use organic evaporated cane juice and/or organic coconut sugar. Next add about 1 scant teaspoon of sea salt (or a little less if you’re using regular salt) and stir all together.
Stir in any workable (depends on what’s on hand) combination of milk, cream, half-n-half, evaporated milk, or even powdered milk. I recommend about 4 cups of whole milk, one cup of half-n-half, and a half cup of heavy whipping cream. You can double this without any complaints by using water to stretch the recipe, even half whole milk and half water makes a delicious outcome. You can also hold the whipping cream and have it on top (recipe following near the end of the post).
As the cocoa tends to adhere to itself, and be a bit mix-resistant, I find the pictured potato masher works well to solve this problem.
On medium heat, heat to steaming, stirring frequently, then taste test for sweetness and chocolatey-ness. I like mine a little bitter, but still at this point I add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey. Note: you can make this with white sugar (not as healthy) or sweeten entirely with honey. Just take it slowly with honey, as it’s easy to get too much.
Tip: butter or oil in your measuring cup will cause the honey to slide right out, or you can just eyeball it and pour it right out of the honey jug.
Now it’s time to add your choice of either vanilla (homemade is best-see the net for ideas/recipes) or almond flavoring.
Now taste test again. If it seems to be lacking, you might try coffee, orange flavoring, nutmeg, cinnamon, or some combination thereof. For coffee flavoring you can simply stir in a little Taster’s Choice instant, or, as I show in the picture, put some regular ground (I use about a tablespoon) in a tea ball and let it steep a bit. This is really delicious!
Note: A fine mesh tea strainer for your coffee infusion gives a better result than does the pictured tea ball, as it eliminates most of the coffee dregs.
AND NOW AND YAY FOR PUDDING!
Per my kids’ request, I turned the above into pudding by simply:
Adding butter and peanut butter and coconut and walnuts: a tablespoon of butter, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of organic unsweetened flake coconut, chopped walnuts on top upon serving;
Then . . . thicken by simply sprinkling organic whole wheat flour over the top and stirring it in. Since I don’t measure and got a bit too much, I added more milk. How much flour did I use? About 4 tablespoons I think.
However, start slowly as your flour, especially if it’s white flour, will thicken differently than did mine. Also, if you’re using cornstarch, just follow the directions on the box which will tell you the ratios between corn starch and flour.
I have stopped using cornstarch for two reasons: first, I was out of it and found out by accident that I liked the taste of whole wheat flour, and that it didn’t tend to lump as does cornstarch at times; second, I am leery of corn products which don’t staunchly proclaim their non-GMO status.
So, back to your pudding. Stir almost constantly to avoid sticking and scorching–a very disappointing outcome–and let it boil and bubble a bit to cook your thickener.
Now for taste testing, at which time other humans will miraculously appear: If it doesn’t really thrill the taster(s), try more vanilla or almond flavoring. Or perhaps orange (I like this VERY much, my family not so much). Or maybe any combination. You can take a bit out for yourself and be your own guinea pig before flavoring the entire batch.
Also, if you have stick-tending cookware, just create a makeshift double boiler by tucking your pan into a larger pan, with water in the bottom pan.
Now for some really good news: Eat this pudding in beautiful bowls with perhaps an English Digestive or some ripe strawberries and you’ve got a meal. No kidding.
I have also used the leftover pudding or hot chocolate (make sure you keep a bit back) to wake up the child of the day. What is the child of the day? That’s for another post.
One last thought: Leave the cocoa out entirely, for a lovely orange vanilla pudding, or, and this is one of my very favorites, use crushed pineapple and vanilla for your flavorings, and put toasted pecans on top. Oh my!
The bottom line is that pudding is lovely and brilliant and you should go make some.
AND NOW FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM!!!
Put your bowl and mixing beaters in the freezer and your heavy whipping cream in the back of the fridge (where it’s coldest) for at least 15 minutes.
Add a tablespoon or two of sweetener (your choice) and a bit of salt to your whipping cream (and flavoring if that sounds good to you–vanilla almost always works) and just mix away until peaks form. They don’t have to be stiff as there is reportedly such a thing as whipping the cream too long and causing it to begin softening.
If you like, you can forget the pudding or hot chocolate and can make whipped cream all by itself for dessert. Simply serve it with a bit of nutmeg on top, and perhaps a pecan, or some berries, or all by its own marvelous self. People will love it! Everyone wants all the whipped cream they can get.
Homemade whipped cream is also, in my opinion, much better with cake or brownies, than is vanilla ice cream. I know most people disagree, but you can tuck that thought away and try it some time.
We make domino, card, and board games enticing, and being snowed in during late May palatable, simply by adding hot chocolate or pudding to the evening.
Would a skinny hot chocolate packet or a pudding mix do the same thing? Not even close.
Scriptures for a Healthy Pregnancy and Birth, compliments of John Parker
Why Speak, Decree, and Declare God’s Word?
Because speaking the Word brings God’s power and authority to bear on a physical problem!
Hebrews 4:12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing, and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (the soul) and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow, of the deepest parts of our nature. . . . . .
Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void without producing any effect, (useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
2 Timothy 3:16 Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action).
Scripture begins with God speaking words in Genesis (the very beginning of the story). God speaks, and creation, as we know it, comes into being. God’s powerful speaking continues through the Old Testament. Then, we encounter Jesus in the New Testament. He displays for us the same powerful use of words.
What gives us the right to speak God’s Word over our personal situation?
Galatians 3:29 And if you belong to Christ (are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed), then you are Abraham’s offspring and spiritual heirs according to promise.
Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. 17 And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him; . . . . . .
Over and over again, the Bible makes it clear that once you believe, you must confess, or speak, the thing that you believe. Speaking God’s Word over your situation sends reverberations throughout the Heavens and the spiritual realm, sort of like radar waves. The Word goes out, then comes back, having accomplished that for which it was intended. Speaking/Decreeing/Declaring also activates your faith and sets it in motion, and that brings manifestation from the spiritual to the physical, as well as strengthening your spirit.
The scriptures below have been modified in a few cases, and personalized in most cases, to make them feel more intimate and relevant for you. This is not blasphemous in any way, it’s just personalizing God’s Word to you so that you can Decree it over yourself and your child.
How do we speak God’s Word over our personal situation?
Deuteronomy 30:19 I (God) call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your children (descendants) may live.
These blessings and the curses are spiritual laws, and one or the other of these two spiritual laws will be activated by whatever you say. There is no third choice.
The first words you speak over any situation usually determine the outcome of that situation, so take care that you speak life (blessing), i.e. in the case of a bad report.
With that in mind;
The Word must be spoken out loud, with boldness and confidence.
The Word must be spoken from the heart; it should never just be recited like some formula that will make God do what you want him to do.
The Word you speak must be believed with all your might and all your faith.
You must never forget that these are God’s words you are speaking, that they are ALIVE, (for God is His Word), and that they will accomplish that which they are sent to do.
These scriptures will be helpful to meditate on as part of the wonderful, exhilarating, exhausting, fantastic, joyful miracle of bringing a child into the world!
Print them out, or write them on note cards to focus on as part of your daily devotions. Bring them along to the place where you will be delivering – nothing will help you more than clinging to the truth of God’s Word! May it bring peace of mind, encouragement, and strength to you!
Job 22:22-30 I receive the law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in my heart. 23 I return to the Almighty and submit and humble myself before Him, I will be built up; because I put away unrighteousness far from my tents, 24 I lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook considering them of little worth, 25 I make the Almighty my gold and the Lord my precious silver treasure, 26 Then I will have delight in the Almighty, and I will lift up my face to God. 27 I will make my prayer to Him, and He will hear me, and I will pay my vows. 28; I shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for meand the light of God’s favor shall shine upon my ways. 29 When they make me low, I will say, there is a lifting up; and since I am a humble person, God lifts up and saves me. 30 He will even deliver the one for whom I intercede who is not innocent; yes, the one for whom I intercede will be delivered through the cleanness of my hands.
Philippians 4:6-7 I am not anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, I present my requests to You my God. And Your peace, which transcends all my understanding, will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 1:16 For it was in You Lord that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through You, by Your service and intervention, and in and for You. So it is with my unborn child, who is created perfectly, in Your image, by You.
Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things I hope for, being the proof of things I do not see and the conviction of their reality, my faith perceives as real fact what is not revealed to my senses. I have faith that my baby is healthy, strong, perfectly formed, and flawless in every way.
Psalm 29:11 The Lord gives unyielding and impenetrable strength to me, for I am one of His people; the Lord blesses me with peace. I receive His peace about my baby.
Psalm 55:22 I cast all my burdens on the Lord, releasing the weight of them, and He sustains me; He will never allow me to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail), for I am the consistently righteous.
Psalm 91:1-16 I dwell in the secret place of the Most High; I shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty, Whose power no foe can withstand. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I confidently trust! 3 For then He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4 Then He will cover me with His pinions, and under His wings shall I trust and find refuge; His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. 5 I shall not be afraid of the terror of the night, nor of the arrow (the evil plots and slanders of the wicked) that flies by day, 6 Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me or my baby or our family. 8 Only a spectator shall I be, I will be inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High as I witness the reward of the wicked. 9 Because I have made the Lord my refuge, and the Most High my dwelling place, 10 There shall no evil befall me or my unborn child, nor any plague or calamity come near my home. 11 For He gives His angels especial charge over me and my baby, to accompany and defend and preserve me in all my ways of obedience and service. 12 They shall bear me up on their hands, lest I dash my foot against a stone. 13 I shall tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent shall I trample underfoot. 14 Because I have set my love upon Him, therefore will He deliver me; He will set me on high, because I know and understand His name, and I have a personal knowledge of His mercy, love, and kindness – I trust and rely on Him, knowing He will never forsake me, no, never. 15 I call upon the Lord, and He answers me; He is with me in trouble, He delivers me and honors me. 16 With long life He satisfies me, and He shows me His salvation.
Isaiah 26:3 You will guard me and my baby and keep us both in perfect and constant peace and health, for my mind, both its inclination and its character, is stayed on You, because I commit myself to You, I lean on You, and I hope confidently in You. 4 I trust in You Lord, I commit myself to You, lean on You, and hope confidently in You forever; for the Lord my God is an everlasting Rock, the Rock of Ages.
John 14:27 Your peace You leave with me; Your own peace You give and bequeath to me. Not as the world gives do You give to me. I will not let my heart be troubled, neither will I let it be afraid, for you are with me and my child. I will not allow myself to be agitated or disturbed; and I will not permit myself to be fearful, intimidated, cowardly, or unsettled by any doctor or nurse or midwife or medical report.
Faith and fear cannot dwell in the same place. So let Him in to push fear out!
Romans 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. For all things originate with Him and come from Him; my unborn child comes from Him – all things live through Him; my unborn child lives through Him – all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him. To God be glory forever! Amen (so be it).
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect, free, large, full gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all that gives light, in the shining of Whom there can be no variation, rising, or setting or shadow cast by His turning as in an eclipse. My baby is good, my baby is perfect, because this child comes from the Father of all light.
Psalms 139:12-17 Even the darkness hides nothing from You Lord, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. 13 For You did form the inward parts of my baby; You knit my child together in my womb. 14 I confess and praise You, for You are fearful and wonderful, and for the awful wonder of the birth of my child! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. 15 The frame of this little one was not hidden from You when it was being formed in secret; perfectly, intricately and curiously wrought as if embroidered with various colors in the depths of the earth, a region of darkness and mystery. 16 Your eyes saw the unformed substance of my unborn child, and in Your book all the days of its life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Jeremiah 1:5 Before You formed this child in my womb You knew and approved of it as Your chosen instrument, and before its birth You have separated and set this child apart, consecrating it;
Isaiah 66:9 The Lord will not bring me to the moment of birth without causing me to bring forth a healthy and perfect child. My God, Who causes to bring forth will not shut my womb.
It is God’s will for you to conceive and give birth to a healthy wonderful child. Read and confess these scriptures until faith drops into your heart. You will know when it does, just like one knows when they are pregnant. The Bible says that everything is like a seed, everything after its own kind.
Psalm 113:9He gives me a family, making me a happy mother. Praise the LORD!
John 10:10 Lord Jesus, You came that I and my baby might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly.
Genesis 1:28God You have blessed me, and commanded me that I be fruitful and multiply. I claim and receive by my faith Your promise that Your Word will not return to You without accomplishing that for which You sent it.
Exodus 15:2Lord You are my Strength and my Song, and You are my Salvation; You are my God, and I praise You, my father’s God, and I exalt You.
Deuteronomy 7:13-14God loves me, He blesses me, and He multiplies me; He blesses the fruit of my body and the fruit of my land, my grain, my new wine, and my oil, the increase of my cattle and the young of my flock in the land which He swore to my fathers to give me. 14 I am blessed above all people; for I will never be barren . . . . . .
Deuteronomy 28:1-4, 6, 11 I listen diligently to the voice of the Lord my God, being watchful to do all His commandments which He commands me, and the Lord my God has set my high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon my and overtake me, for I heed the voice of the Lord my God. 3 Blessed shall I be in the city and blessed shall I be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of my body . . . . . 6 Blessed shall I be when I come in and blessed shall I be when I go out. I fully obey the Lord my God and carefully keep all his commands that He gives me, and the LORD my God will set me high above all the nations of the world. I will experience all these blessings for I obey the LORD my God: 11 And the Lord shall make me have a surplus of prosperity, through the fruit of my body, which is my unborn child . . . . .
2 Samuel 22:32.3332 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except my God? 33 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. Lord, You make the way of our baby’s delivery perfect. You cause my body to be strong and work perfectly in order to glorify yourself in the delivery of our child.
Psalm 18:6 . . . . . When it seems like I am closed in, I call upon the Lord and cry to my God; He hears my voice out of His temple (His heavenly dwelling place), and my cry comes before Him, into His very ears. Lord, I call to you for any help I need during my pregnancy and my labor and my delivery, no matter the situation. I call on You and you hear my call.
Psalm 46:1-3GOD is our Refuge and Strength, mighty and impenetrable to temptation, a very present and well-proved help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains be shaken into the midst of the seas, 3 Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling and tumult. Selah, (pause, and calmly think of that! Thank you for being with us during labor and delivery. We will not fear.
Psalm 84:11-12 For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows present grace and favor and future glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from me, for I walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) am I, for I trust in You, leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving! I believe and receive by my faith in You a healthy pregnancy, an easy birth, and a healthy, perfect, flawless baby.
Psalm 119:165 -173 I have great peace for I love Your law; nothing shall offend me or make me stumble. 166 I am hope and wait eagerly for Your salvation, O Lord, and I do Your commandments. 167 I keep Your testimonies, hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them; I love them exceedingly! 168 I observe Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are fully known before You. 169 Let my cry and supplication come near before You, O Lord; give me understanding (discernment and comprehension) according to Your word of assurance and promise. 170 Let my supplication come before You; deliver me according to Your word! 171 My lips shall pour forth praise with thanksgiving and renewed trust when You teach me Your statutes. 172 My tongue shall sing praise for the fulfillment of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteous. 173 Let Your hand be ready to help me in my pregnancy and the birth of my child, for I have chosen Your precepts.
Psalm 127:3-5Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of our youth. 5 Happy, blessed, and fortunate are we, for our quiver will be filled with them!
Psalm 128:3 As a wife I shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of our home; our children shall be like olive plants round about our table.
Proverbs 14:30 A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body . . . . , my mind and my heart are calm and not disturbed; they are life and health to my body and to body of the child I carry within me.
Isaiah 40:30-31Even youths shall faint and be weary, and selected young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; 31 But I wait for the Lord, and I, who expect, look for, and hope in Him shall change and renew my strength and power; I shall lift my wings and mount up close to God, as eagles mount up to the sun; I shall run and not be weary, I shall walk and not faint or become tired. Lord, You will renew my strength during delivery. My strength will not wear out because it is from You and my hope is in You.
Fight fear with all you have. Remember, the presence of fear does not mean danger, it just indicates the presence of fear. We are the ones, (with the help of the devil), who make the connection to danger.
Isaiah 41:10 I fear not. There is nothing to fear, for You are with me; I will not look around me in terror and be dismayed, for You are my God. You will strengthen and harden me to difficulties and to childbirth, yes, You will help me; yes, You will hold me up and retain me with Your victorious right hand of rightness and justice.
Isaiah 43:2 When I pass through the waters, You will be with me, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm me. When I walk through the fire, I will not be burned or scorched, nor will the flame kindle upon me. Lord, thank you for not leaving me alone. Thank you for being with our baby as it passes through the waters in my womb.
Isaiah 51:12 You, even You, are He who comforts me. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for always being my comfort. You always bring the comfort I need.
Isaiah 54:13 And all my children shall be disciples, taught by the Lord and obedient to His will, and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of my children.
Romans 4:19-21 He (Abraham) did not weaken in faith when he considered the utter impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s deadened womb. 20 No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, 21 Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised. Lord I give you praise and glory. I grow strong, and empowered by faith. I am fully satisfied and assured that You are able and mighty to keep Your word and to do what You have promised; that this child will be healthy and strong, and that this will be a blessed and healthy pregnancy and birth.
Philippians 4:13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me, I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency. Lord, I confess I can do this through You. It is You who gives me strength.
Hebrews 11:11 Because of faith also Sarah herself received physical power to conceive, carry to term, and bear a child, even when she was long past the age for it, because she considered God Who had given her the promise to be reliable and trustworthy and true to His word. God you are reliable. You are trustworthy. I have faith in you that my child is perfect in every way. I have faith that this pregnancy is healthy and that I will carry this child till You say it is time for its birth. I have faith that this will be a natural birth.
God’s promise is for a healthy full-term pregnancy and delivery. Believe Him for it. Stand your ground in faith.
Psalms 22:9-10 You are He Who will take this child from my womb; You will be the hope and the trust of my baby when it is on its mothers breast. 10 This child will be upon You from its very birth; from its mother’s womb You will be the God of my child. 11 You will be not far from me and my baby when trouble is near and there is none to help.
Jesus loves infants and children!
Isaiah 59:1Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened at all, it will save me; nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear me. Lord I believe that you hear me. I ask you in Jesus’ name for a healthy baby, and an easy natural birth. I believe I receive these in Jesus’ name, and give You the glory and honor for it.
Isaiah 40:10-11 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. 11 He feeds His flock like a shepherd; I belong to His flock. He gathers me in His arm as a lamb, He carries me in His bosom and gently leads me and my baby.
Psalm 71:6 Lord I lean on you for Your help have during birth; It is You Who will pull my child from my womb, and You will be its benefactor from that day. I praise you continually.
1 John 5:14-15And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which I have in You: I am sure that if I ask anything, or make any request according to Your will (in agreement with Your own plan), You listen to and hear me. 15 And since I positively know that You listen to me in whatever I ask, I also know with settled and absolute knowledge that I have granted to me (as my present possession) the requests I make of You. Lord I pray to You for a healthy and perfect baby. I pray for a full-term, natural birth. I pray for an easy delivery. I believe I receive these requests with all my heart.
Philippians 1:6I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who formed this child in me will continue that work right up to the time I give birth, developing my baby and perfecting it, and bringing it to full completion in me.
Psalm 90:17 The beauty, and delightfulness, and favor of the Lord my God is upon me; to confirm and establish the work of my hands and my womb – yes, the work of my womb, confirm and establish it.
Psalm 138:8The Lord will perfect that which concerns me, which is my unborn child; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever–forsake not the works of Your own hands.2
Thessalonians 3:3The Lord is faithful, and He strengthens me and my baby and sets us on a firm foundation and guard us from the evil one.
Psalm 37:23 -24 My steps are directed and established by the Lord, for He delights in my way and He busies Himself with my every step. 24 Though I fall, I shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps my hand in support and upholds me.
1 Samuel 1:27For this child I pray, for its health and perfection in every way, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him.
Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and makes me to walk, not to stand still in terror, but to walk and make spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble, suffering, or responsibility! I receive Your strength Lord for this pregnancy and birth.
Psalm 63:1-8 O GOD, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my inner self thirsts for You, my flesh longs for and is faint for You, in a dry and weary land where no water is. 2 I have looked upon You in the sanctuary to see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips praise You. 4 I bless You while I live; I lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My whole being is satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth praises You with joyful lips 6 I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches. 7 For You are my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I rejoice. 8 My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me and my unborn baby.
Matthew 18:1-5 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
Mark 10:13-16 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Luke 18:15-16 . . . . . Jesus said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
According to God’s Word, our seed is blessed, and our womb is fruitful.
Exodus 23:25 ,26 I serve the Lord my God; He blesses my bread and water, and He takes sickness from my being. 26 I will never, ever, lose my young by miscarriage, or be barren in the land; He will fulfill the number of my days and the number of days of my children.
Psalm 112:1-2 Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Blessed, happy, fortunate, and to be envied am I, for I fear, revere, and worship the Lord, and I delight greatly in His commandments. 2 My offspring shall be mighty upon earth; I am the generation of the upright, my children shall be blessed.
Genesis 49:25 You are the God of my father, Who will help me, You are the Almighty, Who blesses me with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
Luke 1:42 Blessed, favored of God, above all other women am I! And blessed, favored of God, is the Fruit of my womb!
God is still in the MIRACLE BUSINESS and God still desires GODLY OFFSPRING from His couples. This area of your life is supremely important to God!
Malachi 2:14-15 . . . . . The Lord was witness to the covenant made at our marriage between us; we deal honestly and reliably with each other; we are faithful to each other. We are each the lifetime companion of the other, and we are each the mate of the other under our covenant made by our marriage vows. 15 God has made us one flesh. The One has made us, and He preserves our spirit alive. And why did God make us two one? Because He seeks godly offspring from our union. By this we know our child will be born healthy, and strong, and perfect, and that this pregnancy will be flawless, and the birth of our child will be easy and quick. Amen
American Kate, aka Hannah Katherine Parker, has a blog that will do your heart good–encouraging you, building up your faith, and obliterating anxiety–all through the pen of a ready writer. And by “ready” I mean able, amazing, anointed! Try it, you’ll like it:
One of the many beauties of home education is the time to read, and to share great books. When I bought John Eldredge’sBeautiful Outlawfor my son Benjamin, I wasn’t worried about his not reading it. Even if he didn’t read it, someone at our house would. This I knew from experience.
Not only did Benjamin read the book, and quote from it often, he urged me to read it. I don’t think I’m unique in liking to pick my own books, and being somewhat resistant when people insist I read something. But since Benjamin is not the insistent sort, and because I know John Eldredge can be trusted, I picked up the book.
I would breeze through it, job done. Wrong. I savored this book–reading a bit and smiling and stopping to consider. As I neared the book’s end, I slowed down. I didn’t want this journey with John Eldredge and Jesus to end.
What a privilege to, if you will, have a conversation with a free thinker. A radically Christian radical.
When a book speaks to an 18-year-old young man as well as to his mother, there’s something going on. When I love a book, yet can’t quite bring myself to part with it, there’s something going on. And when a book changes and clarifies my thinking in a way that electrifies my joy in Christ, well, I just have to rave.
They’re the books my junior high principal used to entice non-reading boys, and they worked like nothing else. They’re the books beginning with cliffhanger action, getting more exciting with each page, and ending satisfactorily every time (the boy and the girl have an understanding). They’re Jubal Sackett, Sitka, Last of the Breed, and Sackett. That’s right, they’re Louis L’Amourwesterns (well, a few of his books, including Last of the Breed, aren’t westerns, but they’re still great books).
By “great” I mean, for starters, they have heroes worth remembering. I remember, for instance, the Sacketts. There are certain arroyos, canyons, and long vistas that take me back to a reading moment, and I say, “Look, I think Tell Sackett’s down there in that gulch.” And there’s no doubt he’s about to do the right thing. Not the easy thing, but the right thing.
So, no, these books aren’t Putlizer winners, they don’t have endorsements on the back telling us how “poignant” they are. We won’t impress our “intellectual” acquaintances by stacking them about our living room. And if we do try stacking them, they won’t remain stacked as do all the “right” books and the “must-reads”. Rather, they will be read!
Every freeschooled bookwyrm has turn-on books. Hannah, for instance, began her love affair with books by reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Secret Garden. Her only Louis L’Amour book was The Last of the Breed. Our other three bookwyrms have read, as have their parents, every Louis L’Amour (as far as we know) more than once. Of course, bookwyms read almost all genres–anything and everything worthwhile, and some books not so worthwhile.
“Not so worthwhile” includes many recommended books, best sellers, and “must-reads” which are missing at least one of those main ingredients–worthy characters, an interesting plot, and a satisfactory ending.
Let’s stop worrying about what other people say we “should” read and let’s please ourselves with books that deliver. Like say, a real romance. Say, maybe, a Louis L’Amour.
You may think a tea cozy is a quilted teapot cover, and if so, may I recommend the knitted pineapple cozy found in Jane Brocket’s inimitable The Gentle Art of Domesticity. But I’d like to introduce the idea that a tea cozy is also a gathering of bliss wherein tea plays a part.
My first tea party was at friend’s house, and it was given in honor of our dolls, with a tiny painted metal tea set. The dolls had tea (water) and raisins, and were quite happy with their fare. After all, they got to sit at a little red wooden table in matching chairs, and be served. To this day, that is one of my all-time favorite teas cozies.
Such cozies may occur on quilts in the backyard with toddlers, peanut butter and crackers, a great book(s), and of course, tea. Tea may be nice and hot in a thermos if fall is hinting at winter, or it may be iced to be enjoyed with berries picked alongside the road as you hike to a clearing under a nice big oak tree.
Other lovely tea cozy ideas include but are not limited to:: making breakfast special with tea, history teas, tea parties on a budget, literary teas, dress-up teas, teas on the balcony amid falling snow, slumber party teas, If-I-Could-Travel-Anywhere teas, Christmas teas, and tea parties for no particular reason (I think of these as conversation teas).
The only rule for a tea party is: Conversation must be kind and intelligent. Tea is a most excellent place to teach etiquette, and in fact when the kids were small I often brought a favorite etiquette book to our gatherings, Manners Matterby Hermine Hartley.
Now if you don’t have etiquette books, tea sets, knitted tea cozies, and a variety of gourmet teas, don’t be discouraged. Have a coffee cozy (I use swiss water decaf mostly when having coffee with kids), or serve milk and cookies and call it a milk. A milk? Maybe a milk cozy. If it’s cool outside, heat the milk and add honey and maybe some cinnamon and nutmeg.
There are endless possibilities, but the bottom line is simply this: always be on the lookout for a tea cozy opportunity. Bliss!
One day, a few years back, Seth and Rebekah asked to go to the creek and “do school later”. I said they could go, paper and pencil in hand, and to bring back something they’d written–a story, a thought, a drawing, poetry.
Here is Seth’s offering:
I have a cathedral of willows over my head
The sound of the creek in my ears,
A hoodie under my back.
I will try not to fall in the creek.
Ack!
All this comfort, all this wonder,
I’ve claimed a little nook.
Yet all the while I wish I’d brought a book.
Rebekah wrote me a love letter, and some of her thoughts, as well as this “Spring Poem”:
Remember field trips–the best part of school? It didn’t matter where you went, just that you got to go outside!
Since the kids were small I have seized opportunities to go outside–school on a quilt in the back yard; school as we pulled the littlest child on the biggest quilt in the red wagon. We didn’t call it school as we ate dusty blackberries picked from the roadside to enjoy as we read Timothy Tattercoat by Maryel Chaney.
But oh, the lessons learned. Years later we didn’t call it school when we climbed and scooted and grunted our way to the top of the tallest rocks in the mountains behind our house, and stood reaching for the sky and talking of dreams.
I certainly don’t call it school when I demonstrate the ultimate in relaxation. Sometimes, no matter how enthralling the book I’ve chosen to read on my quilt atop an aspen leaf/pine needle carpet, I fall asleep in the sunrays shining through the trees. Whiling away afternoons celebrating the short but glorious Rocky Mountain summer is a lesson in, well, does it always have to be a lesson?
There is nothing difficult about any of this “schooling” – watching butterlies and humming forgotten tunes, telling stories of my childhood, experiencing my children. Perhaps more than wondering what the lesson is for my children, I should consider the message: Life is wonderful.
Breakfast breads are lifesavers for me. They are healthy, easy, filling, economical, versatile, and delicious. I begin with a baking mix of sorts (NEVER buy these). In other words, I mix and match flours, leavenings, dairy, nuts, spices, and dried fruits–depending on what I have on hand. All you really need to know is that something close to three cups of flour and three teaspoons of baking powder (or ONE teaspoon of baking soda) and one teaspoon of salt equals a baking mix. You can use powdered milk and then add water, instead of liquid dairy (or your liquid of choice) for a surprisingly good (sometimes superior) result.
So, whenrecently John left at 5:00 a.m. intending to pick up his breakfast on the road, and the kids were asleep, and I was hungry, I asked the question, What can I cook that will be good when the kids wake up, but delicious for me to eat ahead beforehand . Breakfast bread!
On this particular morning I had only two cups of whole wheat flour left, (usually I have flax and almond and coconut flours), one cup of quick cooking oats, some rice cereal, and about a cup of unbleached white flour (time to get groceries). I stirred these together with sea salt (always use more than the salt-stingy baking recipes call for, especially at high altitude where increased salt helps with rising), baking powder (the baking soda canister was empty and the baking soda boxes were in the laundry and bathrooms, or so I figured) so I added a third egg, figuring that would also help with the rising (always a concern at 8,000 feet above sea level).
The fruit going bad was apples, so I chopped a couple of those and added spices as though it was apple pie (if you haven’t ground your nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, cloves and allspice in the coffee grinder yet, you haven’t tasted spices–I’ll tell you a cautionary tale about this at the bottom of the post – see the P.S.).
Now for melted butter and/or coconut oil, vanilla flavoring (look into making your own–so very elegant you will be) honey and real maple syrup (molasses would have been good), evaporated milk and water (out of milk).
Finally, for the “optional” (per many recipes) ingredient which I consider essential for good breakfast bread: Nuts. In this case I used walnuts, but ordinarily I would have also added sunflower seeds, which are cheap and healthy (surprise, I was out of sunflower seeds, too).
If I had chosen crushed pineapple rather than apples, pecans would have been good, with maybe some orange juice concentrate and lemon flavoring.
A peanut butter bread is delicious (substitute for some or all of the butter). I love this with a glaze made of still more peanut butter, honey (or sweetener of choice/availability) and a drop or two of orange essential oil.
If John were home I would have made pumpkin bread to have with cream cheese, scrambled eggs and vanilla almond tea (I recommend Republic of Tea).
I always make a small bundt bread with this batter, leaving enough for a loaf pan or muffins, some of which goes into the freezer for those days when I just don’t want to cook breakfast, or for when the kids want tea party goodies.
Have your breakfast bread with coffee, tea, or milk. And joy.
P.S. The picture at the top of the post is from another day, another breakfast bread, and as you can see, I don’t always grind my spices. As for my caution: You must hammer up your cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, etc, inside a baggie or other enclosure before putting them in your coffee grinder. Ask me how I know that if you don’t do so, you will soon be buying a new coffee grinder. As for that bit of leftover spice in the coffee grinder? Not a problem – it just makes your next cup of coffee extra good.
You don’t have a bulk spice source in your town? Look on the net for bulk spice distributors. Just know that you’ll be getting LOTS of spices (great savings). I double bag mine and store them in the fridge (used often) and the freezer. And remember, bulk spice distributors also carry vanilla beans for that homemade (divine) vanilla flavoring.
Permission to Nap: Taking Time to Restore Your Spiritby Jill Murphy Long is the book to back up my thoughts about napping.
Taking a nap is one of life’s great luxuries. Like the first birds singing in spring breezes, and rivers rushing with snowmelt. And like the way everything glows in the evenings after the rain, and the rainbows–double and even triple rainbows! Those are right up there with falling stars across New Mexico skies at midnight, Oklahoma sunsets, the smell of sage in a Wyoming thunderstorm you can see coming for miles, and the sound of the wind in the Colorado pines.
Wildflowers, fat marmots, brilliant cardinals and croaking toads–these joys are available to us all. And when you add a really good story to gently fall asleep to, say Snow in Aprilby Rosamunde Pilcher, with sunshine bathing your face . . . . Let’s just call ourselves blessed. And rest.
Actually, it’s none of the three if it’s a store bought mix. After you follow and hopefully tweak, my recipe for hot chocolate (which I’ll show you how to turn to pudding), you’ll never use a mix again.
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