What do I fix for dinner?

In an earlier blog post, I talked about how we are making changes in our diet. Obviously, it is a process, not a destination.  

For me, it all starts with menu planning. I looked at several different types of planners, but couldn't find one that fit all my needs, so I created my own. I've been using it for over a year and really like the fact that it gives me a set structure. It's easier for me to resist going out to eat if I have done a menu plan and have shopped for it. I always fill it out in pencil as I doubt the meals for the week ever end up exactly as written/predicted. I created a column for each mealtime, but rarely fill-in breakfast. As you can see there's a column for Notes (I remind myself when I need to thaw something) and then a column for my grocery list.  

Another thing that is a plus for me is that I like change. In fact, I get really bored eating and making the same things all the time, so I'm always looking for new things. I use Feedly to follow a variety of food bloggers so I've got lots of "new" things to chose from. I follow some whose recipes are "healthy/clean/," some who focus on specific cooking methods (crockpot/Instant Pot) or categories of food (vegetarian/baking) and others that have a mix of everything. In any event, I always review the ingredients and nutritional information, if provided, and make changes based upon our tastes (nothing too spicy), cost of ingredients and fat/sugar content. 

You'll also see a few non-food-related blogs, but that's a story for another day. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Nicole at PreventionRD.com
• Gina at Skinnytaste.com
• Kate and CookieandKate.com
• Sonja and Alex at ACoupleCooks.com
• Karen at 365daysofcrockpot.com

I use CopyMeThat to save my recipes which allows me to add website recipes with just a couple of clicks. It also allows me to add in my own recipes so all of our "old favorites" are in there, as well. I've been told that the app is no longer available on the Apple store (trying to work out an issue with copyright), but I use it on my Android (still available on Google Play Store) and there is still a PC version. It has more features than I use, but I'm very happy with the ease of use. The picture may be too small, but it shows that I have over 1400 recipes! One of my favorite things is that you can give each recipe a star rating and indicate whether you've made it or not.

So, you ask, what have we been eating lately? Here's a couple of pictures from the last week or so. I'm NOT a food blogger so the pictures aren't anything special!  

Crustless Asparagus Quiche and Spinach Salad

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya with Slaw

Chicken Lo Mein

Happy to help with recipes and links if you want more. Healthy eating is a great way to "get your wellness on."


  

Special Time at the Same Time

Last fall, when the O'Neils (Shannon's parents) were in town, we had the first "simultaneous one-on-one date for each child."  Daniel and Shannon are very intentional about giving each of their children "special time" with them and by including both sets of grandparents all four of the kids can have special time at the same time (STST.)

  

Sunday afternoon was STST2.  Little M was ours for the afternoon and there's nothing that makes him happier than to have someone's undivided attention.  We live across the street from Sunnyvale Heritage Park and orchard.  There are quite a few pieces of old orchard machinery (cultivators, pickers, etc.) on display.  He loves machines, so it was the perfect afternoon walk.  

A went with her dad to Filoli, a Historic House and Garden, which is open to the public. According to her it was like a castle. 

J and his mom went to the Lego store to check out the new items.  I didn't hear if they were just window shopping or if he had some Christmas cash to spend.  

M went to a Stanford swim meet with Shannon's parents. Their grandparent names are Papa and Oma.  

So much fun . . . can't wait to schedule STST3!

 

He Prayed for Me

The gospels make it clear that Jesus prayed.  How often and when did Jesus pray?  Steve Shirley answers that question on his Jesus Alive website:

The Bible tells us in (1 Th 5:17) to "pray without ceasing." While I don't believe this literally means to never stop praying, I would say that Jesus probably came closer to never stopping than any person who has ever lived on this planet. He was continually in a prayer mode. He is shown to pray: alone (Matt 14:23) (Mark 1:35) (Luke 9:18) (Luke 22:39-41), in public (John 11:41-42) (John 12:27-30), before meals (Matt 26:26) (Mark 8:6) (Luke 24:30) (John 6:11), before important decisions (Luke 6:12-13), before healing (Mark 7:34-35), after healing (Luke 5:16), to do the Father's will (Matt 26:36-44), among other things. He also taught on the importance of prayer (Matt 21:22) (Mark 11:24-26) (Matt 7:7-11) (Luke 11:9-13) (John 14:13-14) (John 15:7,16) (John 16:23-24) (Matt 5:44)(Luke 6:27-28) (Matt 6:5-15: including the Lord's Prayer) (Luke 11:2-4) (Matt 18:19-20).

My January 1 post highlighted Jim Elliff's preferred method for reading the Bible.  He recommends saturating or immersing yourself in one book by reading and re-reading it numerous times.  I chose the Gospel of John and am reading it through each week.  I've found John 17 to be one of my favorite chapters. My NKJV divides this chapter into three sections:  Jesus Prays for Himself, Jesus Prays for His Disciples and Jesus Prays for All Believers.

John 17:20-21 speaks to me on a very personal level. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."  It's not like I had never read those two verses before; but, for some reason, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the wonder of what it says.  Jesus prayed for ME!  Even then he knew everything about me, and he knew the plans he had for me.  

As Steve Shirley mentioned, Jesus was always in "prayer" mode.  I am not even close to "always" in prayer mode, more like "occasionally" or "reluctantly" in prayer mode.  There's so much I need to learn about praying and following Jesus' example is John 17 is a great place to start.

There's chemicals in them thar products!

It's not quite the "good news" that Mark Twain's famous quote, “there’s gold in them thar hills,” alludes to, rather it’s “bad news” about the chemical 1,4 dioxane (dioxane) that is found in a variety of personal care and cleaning products.  Read about this scary chemical and then “ditch” products that contain it and “switch” to something safer.  I’m all about “ditching” the toxins in my home to reduce the chemical load on my body.  So, it only makes sense that I should be concerned about a product that comes into contact with my skin—the largest organ in the body. 

The thing is if you pull out your personal care and cleaning products and look at the ingredient list, it’s unlikely you will find dioxane on the list. This is because it’s not an intentionally-added ingredient, but rather it’s a contaminant that’s created when certain common ingredients are mixed together. According to the MadeSafe website, Dioxane is an expected contaminant from a process called ethoxylation, which happens when ethylene oxide is added to other ingredients to make them less harsh.  A good example of this is sodium lauryl sulfate (our old friend from my Jan. 11 post), which is harsh on skin.  It’s often ethoxylated to convert it to sodium laureth sulfate and dioxane is created in the process. 

Dioxane is most often found in products that suds, like shampoos, shower gels, dish soaps, and laundry detergents. Although,1,4-dioxane has also been found in toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, and hair dyes. 

Dioxane is listed as a known or probable carcinogen by several scientific agencies, including appearing on California’s Prop 65 list as linked to cancer, as a known animal carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program, and as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA. In addition to showing up in the products we use on a daily basis, the EPA says it is also present in groundwater. It’s on the EPA’s list of top ten chemicals for evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act, but they admit it may take them up to five years to evaluate these substances.  This is one bad chemical!

How do you tell if you’re using it, if it’s not on the list of ingredients?  Again here’s what the MadeSafe site says: 

Read labels on products like shampoo, bubble bath, liquid soaps, and laundry detergents to avoid 1,4-dioxane. Remember it won’t appear on the ingredient list; however, you can avoid the chemicals that are commonly contaminated with it:

o    Sodium laureth sulfate

o    PEG compounds (usually listed as “PEG” followed by a number)

o    Chemicals that end in “eth” (denotes ethoxylation), like ceteareth and oleth

 
New York is banning the sale of household cleaning and personal care products containing more than 2 ppm of 1,4-dioxane at the end of 2022. The state is the first in the US to set a maximum contaminant limit in products for 1,4-dioxane, which the US Environmental Protection Agency says is a likely human carcinogen and does not readily biodegrade in the environment. The law, signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Dec. 9, 2019, further tightens the limit to 1 ppm on Dec. 31, 2023. The law also prevents the sale in New York of cosmetics with more than 10 ppm of 1,4-dioxane as of the end of 2022.

If you want to “ditch dioxane” and other toxins and “switch” to Young Living products that are safe for you and your family, I'd love to help you. The Thieves line of cleaning and personal care products would be a great place to start. Let me know if you'd like a sample or would like to learn more. 

More details available in the links below:

ww.newsday.com/long-island/environment/1-4-dioxane-household-products-1.28968339

https://www.sproutsanfrancisco.com/get-educated/chemical-14-dioxane-found-household-products/

https://cen.acs.org/environment/persistent-pollutants/New-York-restricts-14-dioxane/97/web/2019/12

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredients/726331-1,4-DIOXANE

Lost Art of Thank You Notes

We love our daughter-in-law, Shannon, for many, many reasons.  She's an amazing Christian, wife and mother.  We are also blessed to know her parents and her siblings.  In fact, although her parents live in Oregon, with two daughters in the Bay area and a son in Santa Monica, they spend quite a bit of time in California.  We always find time to see them when they are in town, whether or not our grandkids are involved.

One of the things that Shannon's mom taught her was that handwritten thank you notes are the best way to let the gift giver know you loved and appreciated the gift and their thoughtfulness.  So, Shannon has made thank you notes a priority for her children, as well.  Before they could read and write, the note would include a picture they drew with "mom" adding in their words of thanks.

We received a hand-written thank you note from each of our grandchildren.  We gave Little M a set of stamps with their own stamp pad.  Our thank you note was a page of fire truck, dump truck, car, etc. stamps with a handwritten note from "mom" on the back. All four of them are precious.

Shaking It Up

When Bible Study Fellowship ended for the summer last May, several people in our small group decided to start a book club.  At first we thought we would just have it during the summer, stopping when BSF started in the fall.  However, we found that we needed to allow a couple of months per book, so we have been reading/meeting to discuss about every 2-3 months.  

One of the first books we read is on my all-time favorite list:  Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee.  This month we met to discuss David Platt's book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream."  

To a person we found it extremely convicting, but NO, we're not all selling everything we have to become missionaries in the Himalayas.  We did agree, however, that we need to begin to "act that way wherever we live."  The quote in the photo above came after this paragraph in Chapter 2:

Fundamentally, the gospel is the revelation of who God is, who we are and how we can be reconciled to him. Yet in the American dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tenency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accommodate our assumptions and our desires.

If you've never read the book, I encourage you to read it.  It will shake up the way you look at the gospel, your faith and the church.  Afterall, "shaking it up" is good for us.  

You Are What You Eat, so WE HAD TO CHANGE!

As most of you know we spent eight years as missionaries living in El Salvador and working with Good News in Action (GNIA) and Vida Nueva Baptist Church.  Our primary responsibility was to help facilitate the 8-12 GNIA mission trips each year. Not quite half of the trips were in El Salvador, but the rest required us to travel to one of the other countries where teams of Salvadoran missionaries, sent out from our church, planted VidaNueva churches. 

In any given year we would be away from home in El Salvador for a total of 6-7 weeks, traveling to Managua, Nicaragua, Guatemala City, Guatemala, San Jose, Costa Rica, Bogota, Colombia and San Pedro Sula, Honduras for a week at a time. We would join teams being sent from churches in the states and spend the week as the liaison between our missionaries and the church teams. 

Especially during the mission trips, fast food was on the menu almost every day; twice a day most of the time.  Although we tried, even when we were at home in El Salvador it wasn't easy to eat healthily. Pupusas (the national dish of ES) are delicious, but not really healthy.  The Salvadorans have a very carb driven diet which includes, pupusas, rice, beans, tortillas, bread, more pupusas and more bread.

  

Now that we're back in the states, we're both trying to eat healthier--not necessarily be on a diet, but working to develop healthy eating habits that will serve us well now and in the future. These are the habits we're working on:

• Eating "less" white foods (white bread, white pasta, white rice, etc.) and substituting  whole-grain varieties in their place.
• Eating lean meats (chicken, turkey, pork and beef), increasing the amount of fish/seafood and even having a vegetarian lunch or dinner from time to time
• Using only good oils, mostly olive oil, and completely avoiding fried foods.
• Eliminating sugar except for special occasions.
• Getting the day off to a great start with a nutritionally-dense breakfast.
• Having our biggest meal of the day at lunch.
• Leaving snack foods, junk foods, and most processed food in the store where they belong.
• Using fresh fruits and vegetables more than canned or frozen. Making organic choices especially when it comes to produce on the "dirty":list.  Using Thieves Fruit/Veggie Soak on all our produce.
• Eating at home almost all of the time so we have control over the portions, cooking methods and quality/freshness of our food.
• Taking supplements that support our health: vitamin B, C and D/calcium, recommended by our primary care physician,multigreens, and a probiotic.  
• Water, water, water, and more water, as it's so easy to pick up useless calories in drinks.  The exception is 2 ounces per day of Ningxia Red, a wolfberry-based drink from Young Living.

I spend time each weekend menu planning otherwise it is easy to fall into the same trap of swinging by "fill in the blank" to pick up something to eat. We added two small raised-bed planters to our back patio last summer and harvested our own tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and zucchini.  Our winter crops are lettuce, kale, cauliflower, beets and carrots.  In addition, we've joined the community garden in Sunnyvale which allows us to share in the work and the harvest.

I leave you with a picture of today's vegetarian lunch--low-fat crustless asparagus quiche and green salad with lettuce (fresh from our garden), cucumbers, grapes and toasted pumpkin seeds topped with homemade Dijon Vinaigrette.  Delicious!

Fun in the Snow

Last Wednesday we were at Daniel's house the night before they left for their ski trip; I'm always surprised at the amount of packing it takes to get their family of six ready to go. I can't even imagine how long the list must be, when, in addition, to all the regular "stuff," there is ski equipment for five, skiwear for six and food/snacks for six. Stephen helped Daniel get the Thule storage box mounted on the car.  

Thursday afternoon they drove to the Kirkwood Mountain Resort which, because it is southwest of Lake Tahoe, is about an hour closer for them.  The lodge is basically on the mountain which makes it easier for them.

Friday morning, Daniel, M, J and A hit the slopes.  Shannon and little M stayed at the condo and he got his first taste of playing in the snow.

In the afternoon, Shannon was able to ski with M and J, while Daniel watched the two youngest.

Sometime on Saturday, Shannon found time to bake Daniel's favorite birthday treat, lemon bars!  I'm so happy that they are able to find spend family time together doing one of their favorite things.  Wish I could have been there to get some "live-action" shots.

 

First week in John

I have my new Notetaking Bible and Pigma Micron Markers in hand.  I read through the book of John last week without taking any notes. In the past, I’ve always used a pencil to take notes in my Bible, feeling like I could rephrase, correct errors or even move a comment to make room for something new. 

The idea of adding something “permanent” is a bit daunting.  I think I feel pressure to be sure my notes are meaningful, relevant, concise and helpful to an “older me” who reads them.  I'm afraid to say that I believe that is a symptom of my notes/comments NOT being Spirit-led.  

I'm going to try to let go of my perfectionist attitude and let the Spirit lead me as I read, making notes that are important to me, not overthinking and judging each comment as to its worthiness. I plan to date my notes so, if my “future self” decides to read them, I may be able to see how much I’ve learned and how far I've come.  The second reading of John starts this week . . . . . looking forward to seeing what the week brings. 

Do we have to have bubbles?

For some reason, we are enamored with soap bubbles . . . . perhaps it all started with the little wands and bottles of soap that produced the bubbles we tried to catch as kids.  Maybe it’s the product advertising . . . a sink full of bubbles has to be helping get those dishes clean or a bathtub full of bubble bath must be more relaxing than a regular bath.

For the most part, we love bubbles in our products.  Not enough suds in the sink—add some more dishwashing liquid.  Unfortunately, most people think sudsy, bubbly, foamy = clean.  Truthfully, bubbles have nothing to do with clean.  This article explains the science behind the statement.  If you think about it, we’ve accepted the fact that bubbles aren't always good/needed, i.e., in dishwashers and high-efficiency washers.  If our dishes and clothes are getting washed in a low-suds environment, then, maybe, just maybe, bubbles aren’t necessary.

Now I’m not entirely against bubbles, they are great fun to entertain my grandchildren, but I don't want them in my personal care and cleaning products.  If fact, the article above plainly stated that bubbles come from the chemicals commercial and soap manufacturers add to their products.  This is what it says:  Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS), an accepted contraction of sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) is an anionic detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, etc.). SLES is an inexpensive and very effective foaming agent.

The problem with having SLS/SLES in my personal care and cleaning products is that it can irritate eyes, skin, and lungs, especially with long-term use. In addition, SLES may also be contaminated with a substance called 1,4-dioxane, which is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals. This contamination occurs during the manufacturing process.  You can read this article if you want to learn more about the controversy around this chemical.


Many people argue that irritation comes with “long-term” use and since most personal care and cleaning products are applied/used and then typically rinsed off with water, there shouldn't be a problem.  For me the BIG question is:

Why, if there are products that don’t contain SLS/SLES and these products perform at the same or higher standards, would you not opt to avoid this chemical?

Here is a personal testimony--last year my husband noticed that his tongue felt like it had been burned.  I'm sure we've all had that feeling; however, he couldn't remember eating or drinking anything hot enough to cause the problem. The pain progressed until his tongue felt like it was on fire and he could tell that the surface was swollen.  A trip to the ENT revealed he had glossitis--an inflammation of the tongue.  The doctor determined to let it run its course, deciding it was from a virus, not an infection.  He told my husband to avoid irritants such as spicy food and toothpaste that contains SLS/SLES! Cue the end of his Colgate habit and welcome to Thieves Whitening Toothpaste.  This natural toothpaste is formulated without fluoride, SLS, parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, synthetic perfumes or dyes, toxic ingredients, or artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Click here to see the informational product brochure.

Rest assured that Young Living does not use SLS/SLES in any of their products so if you’re interested in “ditching” the potential toxins and “switching” to safer products, please contact me. The bubbles just aren’t worth it!

I can't believe he's turning 40!

You can probably tell that this isn't going to be about my grandkids; instead, it's about my firstborn, Daniel!  He turns 40 years old on Saturday, January 11--in just two days.  I sure wish I could say that I was a young 22 when he was born, but that's just not the case. 

There are some moments/memories that stay with you forever and giving birth is one of them.  As first birth stories go, it was better than most--with only about 7 hours of labor. This was in the days when sonograms were only used for diagnostic purposes and not planning-the-baby shower/gifts/nursery-purposes.  Like a scene from "Call the Midwife" they announced, "you have a son" and our whole world changed.   He was a skinny 7 lbs, 7 oz. and 21 inches long with blue eyes, a little blond hair and a ruddy complexion.  Except for the weight, he can still be described the same way.

Fast forward past the toddler years, elementary, middle and high school, past an incredible number of sports competitions (mostly cross country, track and swim meets), past his going all the way to California to college (more cross country and track meets), past meeting the love of his life, getting married, settling down in the Bay area of California and then giving us four beautiful blue-eyed, blond grandchildren and here we are 40 years later. 

We celebrated last night because they headed north to Kirkland for a weekend of skiing with his family--his favorite thing to do.  We're so proud of the man of God, husband and father he's become and so fortunate to live less than 2 miles away.  Even if California is ridiculously expensive compared to Kansas City, there's no place we would rather be!  

Happy, happy 40th birthday, Daniel!

Back to BSF

Today was the first Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) of 2020 and the start of the second half of the BSF year.  As you can see from the photo, we are studying Acts and selected letters of the Apostles.  Acts is the primary focus of the study, but as topics/timelines/characters coincide we pause Acts to study another book.  In November we spent two weeks studying 1 and 2nd Peter before going back to Acts 13.  For the past two weeks, we've been in Hebrews--oh my, that book is so deep!  One of my favorite passages from this week's lesson is from Chapter 7:  

15 And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest 16 who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. 

Oh, to know the power of His endless life.

On a similar topic, in my first blog post of 2020, I talked about changing things up by not signing up for a "read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year" reading plan as I have done for the past 5+ years.  As I mentioned I'm using Jim Elliff's article "My Preferred Way to Read the Bible,"  as the foundation for my personal study this year.  He recommends focusing on one book and reading it over and over--I've decided to read the Gospel of John, I'll read it through each week (about 4-5 chapters per day) for a month or two. Here's what he says about this saturation/immersion method:

Smaller books may be read completely through each day, but longer books can be read in a week. But the key is reading it as many times as possible, saturating yourself in it.  You may do this for several months reading it through as many as 50 times. Do you think you will know something about the book by then?

One of the most exciting things about starting the study was buying a new notetaking New King James Bible and new pens. Amazon is supposed to deliver the pens tomorrow so I'll be ready to use them on Thursday, at the latest.  Again, here is his good advice (IMO) about marking and notetaking in your Bible:  

It was the renowned pastor, Charles Spurgeon, who said, “A well-marked Bible is the sign of a well-fed soul.” It is best to use pens that are acid free, small tipped, and do not bleed through the page.  It is usually best not to highlight a Bible with a felt-tip marker. Once that is done, your ability to do more is limited. Plus, as you read a few times through the passage, you will keep on highlighting by underlining and may find so many meaningful verses that you underline them all!  This isn’t a good plan. Instead, use the pens to carefully circle repeated or important words or phrases instead of whole verses. If you wish to remember a verse, just circle the number. Draw lines to other words or concepts. Use other symbols if you wish. Write notes in the margin . . . . I suggest holding back a bit as you first read because you will see it so differently as you continue to read and study the book.

My journey in John's gospel will be underway by the next time I blog! 

Calling Everyone with Grandchildren

I was going to call this post "Calling All Grandmas," but realized that there are almost as many names for grandmothers as there are names for grandchildren.  Whatever your name is--Grandma, Gigi, Grammy, Granny, Meemaw, Mimi or something else--I'm writing this post to you.

There's talk these days about having a "toxin-free" home. When I look back on my childhood, I know my parents never talked about nor worried about toxins in our home.  It was a simpler time--as kids, we played outside for hours, walked to our elementary school (no adults), rode our bikes with neighborhood kids and ate homemade snacks, school lunches, breakfasts and dinners around our kitchen table.  Most of our vegetables came straight out of the garden.  There was little pre-packaged or processed food in our home.

Fast forward to today and we have concerns about childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, over-medication, over-use of antibiotics, high cholesterol, air quality, pesticides in our foods, artificial colors/dyes, dangerous food allergies, impure drinking water, GMA food products--. the list goes on and on. 

Grandmas, I’ve noticed that it is our children’s generation who, as parents, are seeking wellness through natural, organic solutions.  I must admit I’ve come late to the party, thinking that “natural” is just a fad. It’s taken me time and a lot of research to get on board, but I’m all in now.  Our Creator has given each of us one body and, corporately, given us one earth.  The plants He created are powerful, and I believe we should educate ourselves and understand their wonderful properties before we look for another pill to take.  There is a place for doctors and medicines in my life, but, where possible and sensible, I focus first on prevention.    

I want my home (and yours) to be as toxin-free as possible--for me AND for my grandchildren.  I want to know that the ingredients in my cleaning products, my sunscreen, my bug spray, my shampoo, my soaps, my makeup, my skincare products, my toothpaste, my vitamins and supplements (and more) are safe and pure.  My independent research and a good friend introduced me to Young Living—this is a company I can trust to support my health, the health of my grandchildren and my future.  They have products in each of the categories I listed above (and more) that meet my toxin-free standards. I’d love to tell you about my Young Living journey, the reason I am passionate about their products and my story of how these products have changed my life.  

Are you thinking it's time to join me and start the process of becoming a toxin-free family, but have questions? Comment below or by email and I’ll do my best to answer; if I can’t, I will connect you with experts and research so you can make your own decision.  

Catching Up with Our Grandkids

We flew back to warmer California from colder Kansas City on Monday, December 30. We landed about 9:00 p.m. and Daniel was there to pick us up. He and his family had driven back from their Christmas time in Oregon the same day.

We caught up with the family and grandkids on New Year's day as they were all out in the back yard working on their raised garden beds. M was using the shovel to turn over dirt, J was taking a break, A and Little M were in the sandbox filling buckets of sand to add to the soil mix.  We took over a few of our tools to help them out. 

About five o'clock Shannon announced that she was going inside to put the "chicken pot pie" in the oven and she would be right back. A few minutes later, Stephen, making small talk, asked our 2 1/2 year-old grandson, Little M, "what's cooking?"  He answered without hesitation, "chicken pot pie!"  Guess that's proof that he listens when his mom talks.  

Bible Reading Plan

I don't know exactly how long I've been following an annual "read through the Bible" reading plan, but it's been many years. For the past two years, I've posted a daily verse from one of the plan passages.

Based on the post, entitled "My Preferred Way to Read the Bible," (thanks for sharing it on Facebook, Jan), I've decided to change things up this year. The author, Jim Elliff, wrote this post in 2013, but it's more than relevant for me today.  In it he describes "three tempting replacements for meaningful Bible reading." They are devotionalism, good books and study Bibles/commentaries.  Those items were not what I expected, but after reading the article, I agree with all three of them.  Here's one of his comments on good books:

Reading about the Bible has replaced reading and discussing the Bible itself in many scholastic settings. Is God pleased with this? I hope I can read more of the right books in my life, for there are some worthwhile ones, but I would far rather read and become a master of the Bible. And if there is a choice between the two, as often seems the case, I know which I’m choosing. 

He suggests ten simple steps to meaningful Bible reading; here is Step 1, where I'll be starting: 

1.  Saturation--So what do I mean by saturation or immersion in the Bible? Simply this: Choose a book (or two) of the Bible and soak yourself in it by reading and re-reading it numerous times.

He leaves the book choice up to the individual, although he does make several suggestions. As of today, I haven't decided where I'll start . . . . something deep and long like Genesis or something profound and short like Galatians. I'm going to pray about it and ask God to point me to the book(s) I most need to read.  

I encourage you to read the post for yourself.  In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on how what I decide as I move through the ten steps.