Passionate Homemaking

As you may have noticed I didn’t post anything in regards to day 3…well, Aaron was down and out for the day with a bad cold so we stayed home and I made some marionberry jam with my SIL Autumn. But the team did have a wonderful time of outreach in downtown Portland distributing care bags and flip flops to the homeless. It was a huge success, so I have heard.

Today, day 4, we served at four different Pregnancy Resource Centers around Portland.

We completed various projects from cleaning carpets, flours, dusting, moping, to sorting and organizing baby clothes and cleaning baby furniture donations. We had a blast! I have been so blessed at how well Karis has been doing this week. What a joy it has been to serve others together as a family, even with little ones…it is possible!

My family served at the headquarters location and packaged baby bottles for their baby bottle drives. These bottles get distributed and people are encouraged to collect loose change around the house to store in the bottle and donate. They informed me that it was quite fun and the staff there was greatly blessed by their service.

Just so you know…PRC are always in need of diapers! So if you happen upon a sale, consider donating them to your local PRC for the needy mothers that come through. They also accept good condition clothing and baby furniture. A great way to pass on your baby’s used goods and serve someone in need. Pregnancy Resource Centers are doing a great work that is worth getting behind. Another powerful way to serve this ministry is through prayer!

Thank you for your prayers! We are having a wonderful time! It is a true joy getting behind ministries that are living out the gospel in practical ways. This will not be the end of the needs…volunteering as a family is a wonderful opportunity to learn how to serve together and further the gospel in a simple and yet powerful way.

Anna, age 3, has been faithfully serving alongside her mother all week! It can be done…even with toddlers! This has been such a blessing to see.

God has been blessing and multiplying the labors of our hands and we are exceeding the expectations of those we are serving. Praise the Lord! Today we were serving at a local park in Wood Village on the outskirts of Portland. This was an extensive project of pulling up grass and weeds that were growing alongside and overcoming a bark trail around the park.

It wasn’t an easy task, but the Lord supplied the grace and gave the team the extra strength and energy for the work.  We had another part of our group laying down new bark chips in the playground area to protect the children while they play. The man (Chuck) who was directing the project was extremely impressed by the hard work the team put it. He kept saying again and again what a huge help it was and that we were serving in a much needed way in our city.

I guess volunteers are becoming harder and harder to come by. This is unfortunate…what better way to be a light than being willing to get dirty and serve our community in this simple way? Chuck was passionate about taking care of the earth, and although our worldview may be different, there is a lesson to be learned that God has called us as believers to lead the way in being good stewards of the earth He has entrusted to our care.We were able to give this man a basket of goodies, a gospel tract, and to explain the reason why we were here was because we were Christians. Please pray for Chuck’s salvation. Along the way others walking the path also asked what we were doing and we were able to share why we were serving.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) the team is off to serve the homeless in downtown Portland! Pray the Lord would really direct them to the right people and open the hearts of the lost to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Please also pray for my husband Aaron who has come down with a sinus infection today and it is taking him down. Thanks so much!

What a full and yet productive day we had on Monday at Shepherd’s Door, a ministry dedicated to serving homeless women and children by providing basic needs, housing, food, training in life skills and schooling to help get them off the streets.

This is a Christian organization and they have a wonderful vision of imparting the gospel through meeting these practical needs but also in meeting the ultimate need of the gospel of Jesus Christ. IT was a great delight to tour their facility and see the good work that is going on. They house forty women at a time and provide children’s programs at the same time to enable the mother’s to attend school, get their GED, etc. while their children are also learning and such.

As a team, we were able to do some serious weeding throughout the grounds of their facility (and trust me, there was alot!). We cleaned gutters and sprayed moss on the roof, in addition to sanitizing and wiping down all their playground equipment. We had a great team for the first day!

My mother & mother-in-law with Karis - everyone is helping!

Please continue to pray for perseverance among the team…especially for all the younger folks. May we all continue to give our very best and not grow weary in well doing! We are off today to serve in cleaning up a local park!

I honestly have been having a hard time with meal planning lately…it has been getting me sick to my stomach to figure out what to eat. It’s not helping that I am getting tired of all my healthy recipes (which specifically frugal to stay in budget), and tired of my CSA (too much greens and nothing else, and bitter greens at that!). Maybe I can blame it on my pregnancy? That probably won’t work. What’s a girl to do? I am thankful for all the other menu ideas posted on Organizing Junkie…maybe doing some excavating will help me out! Just want you to know that I am not perfect in this whole natural eating pursuit…I have my breakdowns.

We are busy all week serving in local mission & service opportunities which we are really excited about, so we will have picnic lunches each day. I don’t have lunch meat, so I am trying to think of packable cold foods. Love any suggestions! Other than that, our menu is pretty simple.

Monday
Prep: soak bread, soak oatmeal, cook black beans for dinner, thaw chicken, make egg salad mix Mon night for Tues lunch

Breakfast: Kefir Smoothie, toast
Lunch: Leftover pizza
Dinner: Southwest Chicken Salad

Tuesday
Prep: bake homemade bread

Breakfast: Oatmeal, raisins, coconut flakes, almonds
Lunch:  Egg Salad Sandwiches, fruit
Dinner: Nachos (chili, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, etc)

Wednesday (we are home this day for a rest)
Prep: soak bulgur, soak lentils for Thursday, thaw cod, thaw chicken for Thurs lunch (make Wed night)

Breakfast: Smoothie, muffin or toast
Lunch: Tomato Soup, grilled cheese sandwiches
Dinner: Cod with Italian Crumb Topping, brown rice, Salad

Thursday
Prep: cook lentils

Breakfast: Breakfast Bulgur
Lunch: Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwiches
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Lentils

Friday
Prep: soak pancake batter for Sat

Breakfast: Fruit Salad, yogurt, homemade granola
Lunch:  Peanut Butter & Jelly, celery & carrot sticks
Dinner: Homemade Pizza, Salad

Saturday

Breakfast: Pancakes, oranges (this is our standard Saturday breakfast! It’s so good!)
Lunch:  ?
Dinner: Final dinner together with team from our outreach

Sunday

Breakfast: Homemade Granola(quick and easy breakfast on the run to church!)

For more menu ideas, visit Organizing Junkie.

I am completely wiped out! We took a quick day and overnight trip to the beach, Thursday and Friday, to participate in a family reunion on my dad’s side. Once again, Karis decided not to sleep well, but all in all we had a wonderful time of fellowship with our family. Most of them are not walking with the Lord, so it provided a sweet opportunity to extend the love of Christ to them. The beach, sun, lots of talking, two late nights (one driving home late), etc. has put me down for the day. I was amazed how exhausted my body was after returning home.

In all the years past of family reunions, it was a real chore to attend and hang out with my relatives, due to the vast differences of families and the way we were raised. We have alot of family weaknesses and challenges that run in the family (depression, obsession with appearance and body figure among the girls, desire to be successful, etc). The Lord changed my heart this time around and we were able to come with a real heart of compassion and love this time…and I am amazed at the difference in experiences. Praise the Lord!

Now we look forward to our week long mission outreach to our city this next week with other families (young and old alike). We will be serving Monday-Saturday at different local ministries. Serving the homeless, cleaning up local park, completing service projects for widows, etc. With this in mind, I am not sure how much time I will be able to devote to blogging this week, but we would greatly appreciate your prayers for our team.

Please pray for:
- team unity
- servant’s hearts
- protection as we travel around the city
- opportunities to speak His name!
- that God may be glorified over all!

Thank you so much! Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

On the counter: toothbrush holder, toothpaste dispenser, soap dispenser - that’s all!

Welcome back for further simplifying tips for every room of your house…last week, we discussed the kitchen, and today, we enter the bathroom! Normally this room is piled high with various body, hair and facial products. I have been there! Items that just make this room look so cluttered. How can you simplify? Preparing for this post got me extra motivated to get more organized in the bathroom - I even pulled out a few items that needed to go! Remember every little baby step you take to simplify your life will open up time to focus on the important things - investing in family and the lives of others!

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Thanks to my sweet SIL Autumn Edmonds for sharing this wonderful post on Kombucha for us! I just recently completed my first batch of the drink and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a wonderfully refreshing drink for summer especially! Pleasantly fizzy and sweet! Fermenting for seven days works great for us. As Autumn mentions at the end there has been some debate over the safety of consuming this product as a pregnant or nursing mother. Her cousin, a nurse, assured us that drinking this beverage in moderation during pregnancy or nursing is perfectly safe. We have mushrooms to share for any of our local friends, just send me an e-mail.

Want to be groove with the hippies, save money and offer a helping hand to your liver? Tired of your drink’s main ingredient being high fructose corn syrup? Now you have a healthy and hip alternative, equipped with a great name. Let me introduce you to Kombucha.

Wonderfully fizzy and slightly sweet tasting, Kombucha is a great way to improve your health. The Kombucha culture, often referred to as a “mushroom”, is a probiotic colony of friendly yeast and bacteria. It acts on sugar and tea to produce acetic, lactic and glucuronic acid. Kombucha is great for detoxification, boosting metabolism and assisting digestion. It is rich with antioxidants and amino acids, namely L-threonine (supports healthy protein balance). Kombacha is loaded with enzymes and healthy bacteria thought to enhance the digestive process. It has been used to prevent post-meal heartburn, acid reflux and has even been used as a cure for cancer.

Kombucha is very simple and inexpensive. It costs about 50 cents a gallon to make, compared with about $3 for a 16 ounce Kombucha drink at your local health food store. I make mine with black mango tea from Trader Joes. Try to stay away from non-organic teas, they contain fluoride.

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Wow! We had a wild weekend at our church camp out. It was very fun and lively, full of fellowship, food, Frisbee, basketball, swimming, and the like, but we greatly lacked sleep! Saturday night Karis decided not to go to bed till 2:30am, and we tried everything! I felt so bad for our nearby campers. It was refreshing to come home and all of us get at least 10 hours of sleep last night (Karis got 12 hours)! Praise the Lord! I guess Karis just missed her home! That being said, we are a little behind today…unpacking, cleaning up, and planning out the week, so here is my late menu plan.

Here are a few pictures from our camping trip:

My dad and Karis

Karis and Auntie Brooke (my sister) - she loved the water!

Karis getting into all our bad food for the weekend!

Aaron and my brothers - Dan & Sam around the campfire

Aaron leading worship Sunday morning

Now on to the menu…

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I am always on the look out for good nutritious foods to add to our list, especially meatless to incorporate twice a week in our menu plan! I am excited to see Kimi & Stephanie leading the way in collecting recipes to share with others in the way of stretching the food budget and still get the most nutrition out of our dollar. This week the focus is dinners.

Here are a few of my keepers that I have been trying over the last few weeks…black bean wraps & lentil w/rice casserole. Not amazingly exciting…but for a stretcher meal, these work well! I have found fresh herbs are the key to spicing up beans and lentils! Have fun doing some experimenting!

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I want to express my appreciation for all my wonderful supportive readers and your lovely comments and congrats to our recent family news! It has meant so much to us, especially as I don’t even know many of you…what a special blessing! I will be sure to keep you posted as the pregnancy progresses…but for now…I need to go take a nap!