homemaking 101

Recently, a blog I like Girl Talk has been doing a feature on homemaking. Right now the series is focusing on what Moms of teenagers and teenagers can be doing to cultivate this attitude of homemaking into their lives which doesn't directly affect me; since I am no longer a teen (totally told someone my age and told her I was 25... oops, I'm 26, the ages are just starting to bleed into each other. What's the difference between 25 and 26? Not as big as I thought 15 and 16 were... anyway, that is another topic...) and not yet (Lord willing) a mother.

But it's been fun to read about and gain some insight in different ways a mother can be encouraging her little ones.

The way that these ladies present homemaking gets me excited for homemaking and even in the mood to try some of the tips out now (blueberry pie, anyone?). Along with this series, my best friend Kelli is starting to get into sewing... totally something I've been wanting to cultivate in my own life. Insert drooling face here... sewing, crocheting, quilting....

Yet, I am aware that homemaking has to be more than just my physical attitude. How do I view the home? How has the home being cultivated in my mind?

Luckily, I've had some examples of living life and sharing Jesus from the home; for example, Living life with your neighbors and sharing more than just a casual greeting with them.

The ladies over at Girl Talk get me excited with quotes like,

"We as women have a unique task: to change the world by devoting ourselves to home life."

and

"Homemaking is a career that demands considerable expertise, may encompass decades of our lives, and has the potential to spread the gospel to our families, churches, communities, and future generations."

Wow, that makes doing laundry and washing dishes sound so purposeful and exciting... I encourage you, ladies to read into the series, now. Keep updated with it daily.

It's never too late or too early to start using the building you live in to be so much more than just a pile of bricks. Instead, your home can be a foreshadowing of Home for so many of us weary travellers.

Wow, I'm so excited to start adapting this; I think I'll go mop my floors or something. :D

Cooking Craze

I can't get enough of cooking right now. It's actually been this way for awhile. I've had so much fun experimenting with new recipes, baking (ohhh I love baking) and learning new things from my roommates. Kristine and I have been on a fun kick of trying new things out....

These are Kristine's cookies made from almond meal... they didn't turn out exactly how we thought.



Sometimes we like our recipes.... sometimes we don't.



Hey Rebecca Schupbach! I made your Irish bread and it was yummy!! Thanks for your recipe.


But this is not a post about any of the above though... this is a post (and recipe) for life-changing pie. It looks gnarly but believe me, this pie is absolutely yummers!! (That would be yummy aka delicious.)


Okay, this pie is a combination of two recipes and people I look up to... Pie Crust is from Grandma Icenogle (and yes, Kristine, I said Icenogle... my roommate loves that last name. Hey Grandma, maybe we have Icenogle cousin that Kristine can marry.)
The 2nd woman who introduced the filling recipe to me; the blueberries in all their awesomeness is The Pioneer Woman.... get her recipe and more here.
Start with about two quarts blueberries. Yum!

Coat them in sugar

a dash of nutmeg

and flour if you don't want juicy insides of the pie. (but who would ever choose that?)

I did not use the flour.
Before you start the crust, go ahead and heat your oven to

400 degrees F.

For the crust... mix 2 cups SIFTED flour

with 1 1/2 tsp. salt

and 1/2 c Canola oil

and 1/4 c. cold cream (not cold cream but cream that is cold... just fyi)

Combine those four ingredients.
Stir until mixed. Make the dough into two balls (i used my hands for this part so sorry... no pictures).

Place one in between two sheets of wax paper and roll flat with a rolling pin.

Repeat with the 2nd ball.

Coat your little pie tin with a little butter.

And because my hands were covered in dough grease I didn't get any pictures of the process BUT put the first rolled out ball on the bottom.

Put in the filling and cover with the 2nd rolled out ball.

Be careful to make air vents so that the steam can escape.... then bake for 35 minutes!! Or until your crust is golden and yummy!

You may be wondering why my pie slightly resembles Quasimodo... it's because I didn't sift my flour. I don't have a sifter and to be perfectly honest, I was multi-tasking and talking to my Dad, so I didn't even notice it said sift... but again, wouldn't have made much of a difference because I don't have a sifter.

Ahh, golden crust. And cute little misshapen star... is it sad that my tattoo was the inspiration for my pie crust?

Or that I just admitted that to you?

Yum!

I love my heart shaped le creuset.

I have to try some... it just looks so yummy and juicy! (yay, no extra flour)

Yummers!

Going, going, gone....

gone!

artsy fartsy picture....

Sweet Little Reminders

God keeps nudging me with thoughts of how blessed I am and how the things that "weigh" me down in this world are so temporal. One way that he does this is through the blessings of stories and hearts willing to share those stories.

Through Jamie K's blog I found Angie Smith's blog. http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/

She tells the beautiful story of what she went through when she miscarried (her daughter was sick) nine months ago. She's so open and vulnerable.

One thing occured to me, if I do not have the strength and grace to go through the daily struggles and "small" obstacles that life presents, how will I ever be able to praise God and turn to Him for strength if I am asked to walk through something bigger?

I cannot cultivate a heart that trusts and leans on the LORD in big obstacles if I cannot trust Him in the small ones...

Oh Lord, forgive me for my unbelief. Grow my heart to be forever leaning on and trusting You. Perhaps the way is unknown to me Lord, but You... You are never unknown to me. Through all the things you have asked me to walk through, Abba, You have always been with me. Immanuel.

Expectations

I was wondering... how do you get rid of expectations?

I find that my hardest struggles often come from my expectations... I say to myself, well, this is nice and all but it's not how i expected it to happen.

Ugh! Why can't I just be pleased with my situation, my job, my life... and even though things happen differently than I was expecting, why does that matter?

Why are expectations so tricky? I get what I want but it's not what I expected. Blast! I am troublesome, aren't I?

This is coming from my previous realization I just had. I decided to move back to the states and join staff here because I wanted to get a lot of teaching from older staff members. I wanted to soak up their life lessons, meet with older women, hear their stories and struggles so that I could encourage them, my own heart and (Lord willing) future generations of staff after me. I wanted to learn and be surrounded with teachers who I could gleen from (glean? gleen?).

And here I am... but it feels different and looks different... than what? Than my expectations. Argh! This shouldn't even be a big deal... but it is... was. I'm getting over it.

Why do you think this is? Any thoughts?