Early May Blessings :)

It's Friday morning and I'm sitting in bed wrapped in blankets enjoying an apple bake for breakfast.  Hubby left  a while a go for work.  It felt so special to send him off to work with a fresh veggie juice and a hot lunch prepared this morning.
Two loaves of bread are baking in the oven.  (Weren't cooked well enough last night so going in for another baking now!)

This week has been full of blessings.  The weather has warmed up just enough not to need the wood heater running.  Which is wonderful as we haven't been able to collect any firewood just yet. :)
It's also been a fantastic week in the kitchen.  Recently I've been seriously obsessed with food.  Needless to say, we've been eating well!  Don't ask me what we've been eating though, as unless I've instantly photographed it I've totally forgotten!  Yesterday morning though, instead of cooking I cleaned house.  Ever since the day I saw a live rat in the laundry I've avoided it like the plague.  Yesterday, I finally worked up the courage to clean, vaccum and mop the laundry.  It sure looks a stack load nicer!  :)

Ever since the November floods I might have mentioned on here, our toilet stopped flushing properly.  The words: stinky, embarrassing, humiliating etc all fit how I felt about it.  Especially when people visited!  The February flooding only made the situation worse.  Thankfully our landlords decided that enough was enough and it had to be dealt with.  (the septic tank was over full) After a couple days of working at it between Ben, Robyn and Richard the drainage pipe was finally found and the tank miraculously started draining.  I was asleep when it happened and when I heard Richard's voice I stumbled out to the front door and promptly gave them a fright!  On hearing the good news I instantly went and gave the toilet a good cleaning.. My heart overflows with thankfulness now to have a toilet that flushes properly!

Yesterday Mum called me up and said that my little sister wanted to come over to do some cooking.  We'd been discussing it and she was keen on learning some of my gluten free cooking tricks.  We got into it and made fried rice, enchiladas (gluten free and bean free!), two loaves of bread and after she left I made up an apple bake too.  Despite the fact that cooking makes heaps of dirty dishes, I was really thankful that she happily washed up all the dirty dishes leaving me with a clean kitchen last night!!  It took less than five minutes to spot clean the kitchen last night.  I'd been struggling with keeping the kitchen clean this week but I'm really thankful for the morale boost that she gave me!

One last thing I'm thankful for.. yesterday I was able to wash all the dirty clothes from the week, fold and put them away.  Our draws are full of fresh clean smelling clothes.  :)  (it just means that today there'll be a lot less work and I can focus on making the cake for Dad's birthday tomorrow!)

My heart is overflowing with the thankfulness for the Lord's blessings this week.  For once, I'm not stressed about a Friday!  What are some of the things that God has blessed you with this week?

PS also thanking God for being able to sleep better this week!

2000 words

Gluten free and bean free enchiladas - it was an experiment

Another gluten free focaccia rising in front of the fireplace :)

PS I'm not around here much atm as I'm on a cooking roll.. maybe one of these days I'll put up some more photos of the different creations I've been experimenting with.

Lest We Forget

Mid morning today I realised that today is Anzac day here in Australia. I hadn't realized as my husband is currently working six day weeks despite whatever holidays there might be.

As a child I'd never thought much about World War 2.  Mum took us to Anzac parade once and I never really grasped the significance until this last year.  You see, I married a German.  Recently I asked my Mum if my grandma had been alive during the war.  My family is Croatian/Serbian.  My mothers mother grew up in Croatia.  It was a shock to think that my funny, cheeky and stubborn grandmother had been a teenager through that war! I was talking to my Dad about it the other day and he told me the story of how he'd received his name.  Dad's father was only a schoolboy when the war began.  But he was convinced that he was big enough to march with the resistance carrying a rifle.  Unbeknownst to him a German soldier had trained his rifle on him.  Grandpa's uncle was an adult and a soldier also marching.  Quickly noticing the danger that his young nephew was in, he shot the German. My grandpa turned to his uncle and vowed to him that he would name his first son after him in gratitude for his life.

All of a sudden the war became a reality to me in knowing that it touched my grandparents.  That old woman that I hug and say 'I love you' to had lived through those horrific days.

As I've thought about it.. it really presents a fascinating picture.  In 2010 I stood on the same platform in Munich, Germany where Hitler presented his speeches.  It's an incredible place!  The area has the capacity for thousands to stand.  Hitler was not a German.  From what I've read and heard he was part Austrian and part Jew.  If he'd been serious about ridding the world of Jews he should have STARTED with himself!  Somehow I don't think there would have been a WW2 if he'd been that intelligent!  But I'm rambling here!

If you think about this Austrian/Jew.. we can easily deduce that he was a very convincing speaker because before too long he had the Germans convinced that he was the man for them. He began his work with pulling Germany out of the post World War 1 economic crisis.  I tend to think that the people would have appreciated this and been keen on what else he had to offer them. In the small amount of time I've spent reading about Hitler, he appears to have been an excellent con man.  An illegitimate son, a man who refused to pay his taxes and ended up in jail for five years.  It is clear that he was not a good character.  (Not that anyone needs convincing of that now!)

History has clearly shown Hitler to be an evil man.  I would go so far as to say that I believe that the agencies of darkness, aka Satan was directing Hitler.  The more I think on that line.. I'm convinced that although Hitler is dead and World War 2 is history that it's really not over.  The men that fought against Hitler were fighting for the freedom and lives of their country and families.  Those men valued life.

World War 2 is history but there is another war being fought.  As I think of those noble men who gave their lives for their country and families I wonder if we're doing any better when we devalue life now.  As we say that women should have the right to have their babies murdered while they are still growing inside of their mothers.  What would those men say?!  We say, 'Lest we Forget' but we have forgotten.  On worldometres.info they state that 13,308,560 babies have been aborted so far this year.. Btw, it's only April at the moment!  That means that 13,308,560 babies that the World Health Organisation has known about and reported.  No one knows how many more babies have been aborted this year than that.  These babies have been killed.  The soldiers in WW2 for the most part had the choice to go to war and were armed.  They weren't just stood in a row and killed and yet we allow our babies to be killed.  Abortion is simply a term for murder.

The more I think about it all, there is even a wider application in our lives today than all those babies.  It was Satan directing Hitler, and all the other dictators who died with their hands stained with innocent blood.  It is Satan once again at the root of abortion.

What is it that we mean when we say 'Lest We Forget'?  On the surface the average person is referring to those soldiers who died for our freedom.  But I think of what Jesus said in Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.."  Jesus came to give us freedom from sin.

Wouldn't it have been silly if when the Allies came in to help the European countries in distress due to Germany, they had said 'Go away, we can do this on our own!"?  Yet how often do we forget Him. Forget that He is fighting for us.

Lest We Forget the giver of our Deliverer!

PS I realise that for some this might be a controversial post but these are my beliefs and I'm happy to back them up further.  (and I wasn't too worried about the historical aspect of Hitler, if you think he was wonderful.. feel free to continue being delusional!!)

Giving Thanks on a Friday

Hey!

Can you believe it?!  It’s already March?!  I know, I find it shocking! 

Just been thinking of writing a quick note up here. It’s Friday evening and I’m enjoying relaxing curled up in my bed.

Last week Monday Ben left the car for as we had a parcel to pick up.  I drove into town to pick up my order of sorghum flour.  On the way back I stopped in at the orchard to see my darling.  I finally found up near the top of the rows.  Climbing out of the 4WD I was filled with an awe of the open spaces and the trees.  Ben was cutting suckers off the olive trees (suckers are the shoots that come out near the base of the tree).  Walking up and down the rows holding hands in between the cutting off the suckers it was a beautiful time.  It was an amazing moment.  I ended staying with him until he finished for the day.  I hope to one day be able to do that again soon.

Last week my Dad brought my wedding dress back from where it was left at my sisters after the wedding.  It's been wonderful having the dress hanging in our bedroom.  Somehow it makes our marriage feel so much more real even though next week we've been married for five months!

The dish on the right I made while attending pottery classes with my sisters and Mum. We've been blessed with a good harvest of tomatoes as can be seen in the dish. :) The zucchini sitting a top was the first zucchini we picked and the cucumber below it was the last of our cucumbers.  I've tried planting more cucumber seedlings and have lost each plant!  So frustrating!

This week has been a quiet, typical week.  With each day slowly passing.  There's honestly been not much to write about!  Apart from the snake I saw the other day which scared me something terrible!  We believe we have a black snake living under the house.  If you saw me ever leaving the house you'd laugh!  I always look left and right before stepping onto the first step!  To be honest, I think I'm far less careful in crossing a road!

Not long after we married my Mum's cousin bought us a dresser/draw set and last week Dad brought it back with the wedding and Ben's suit.  This week I've gotten around to filling it with fresh clean clothes. :)  It's been a huge blessing to me and I love having it sitting in the corner of our bedroom.  Makes it feel more homey.  

Of Knights and Fair Ladies

This last week I've been thinking... in another century a man might demonstrate his love to a woman by doing some amazing act of self sacrifice or fight a battle/duel for her. (For all of you readers who've read old novels know what I'm referring to here)

I got to thinking about how the modern man does this same thing.  There's no giants for my hubby to protect me from etc.  Now, I've married a very special man.  He offers his love to me in self sacrificing himself and goes to work to provide for me and all he wants in return is for me to be his stay at home wife.  To meet him at the door every day.  To be honest I can't think of a more self sacrificing thing for a modern man to do!  Now a days men expect women to have their own careers.  But Ben gifts me with being determined to 'be the man' and bring in the sole income.  There have been days when I have been annoyed with it.  Days when I've itched for a job.  When I've said things I shouldn't have.  These times he'll look me in the eye remind me why we're doing it.

He's protecting me from my own self.  I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and struggle with constant exhaustion.  I'd always felt that people who didn't stay on top of things were lazy until I struggled with having the energy to merely keep the kitchen clean and cook myself food!  Ben's been determined that right now my priority be to work on my health even when I complain about it.  Ah, what an amazing man!  (And slowly I've been finding things that help with my energy levels)

It's time to honour our self sacrificing men, to realise that in our humble spouses and/or fathers we can still find the old chivalry that the old tales conjure up in our imaginations and daydreams.  How do you perceive chivalry? What are some ways you feel the modern man can still be chivalrous?  Do you believe that men will stand up when women behave as ladies?

a little bit of my day...

Sunday night this week my husband and I got very little sleep.  Just as we were preparing to crash for the night I got a phone call.  It was my little sister telling me that our seven year old nephew had disappeared.  Seth had been gone for three and a half hours by then.  He'd just wandered off as he daydreamed.  My Mum called the police as soon as she found out and soon there were police, CFA, SES and a dog tracker there.

At 2:30AM he was finally found and driven back up to his home by the police.  It was one scary night.  The most amazing part of the incident was hearing that once settled back in the house he was humming 'Great is the Lord'.  To our surprise, prayer requests for Seth went viral on facebook and we think around a 1000 people around the world were praying during the eight and a half hour saga.  Danica and Seth also made it onto Channel 9 the next day.  To read more about this story click here.

This morning needless to say I slept in. :D  When Ben went out to check if the creek had risen over night (we'd had a storm) the battery was dead.  Neither of us minded the excuse to go to make our once a week trip to town this morning. :)  We finally found a small cheap bookshelf for our collection of books. I dropped Ben off at work on our way home. I really enjoyed assembling the bookshelf and lining up our books on it. It was great fun racing the clock to clean up the house, prepare Ben's next lunch and get the washing on the line.  :)

It's such a lovely feeling to enjoy a clean house. :)  

Counting our blessings

Since I'm trying to make a habit about sharing God's blessings.. Here's this weeks. :)

As you may have read... Ben and my little red sportscar died due to the November floods.  After much worry and learning to trust God we finally found a 4WD we were interested in.  After about five weeks of being car-less we caught the bus to QLD to check out the 4WD we'd bought through proxy. (Ben's mechanic brother had decided it was a great vehicle for us and had bought it with our money)
Wow!  It was soo exciting to get into a car and drive and it be our own vehicle!

When we got back home from QLD Ben and I raced out to our garden to inspect it.  We were shocked and delighted to discover that we had heaps of cucumbers in our garden!  Here's a photo of the pick from that day. :)

Ben's Mum gave us a used fridge and convection oven.  We'd been using a bar fridge before and it had been driving me crazy! The freezer kept freezing itself shut and I found I had to be really careful how much I cooked or bought.. which is hard when you leave an hour out of town and enjoy cooking!  There was food that ended up being thrown out due to us running out of space!  The convection oven is also a huge blessing.  Especially when I'm busy and have bread rising in the oven and want to bake something!

Oh, and that's another thing I'm thankful for.  Being able to bake bread again.  I finally found a gluten free bread recipe I was happy to make.  Photos will be coming when I can be bothered to restart the laptop so that I can download more photos!!

God be with you. :)