Bread

This is why I love making my own bread. I really would like to purchase wheat berries and grind with a grinder, but unfortunately, it is way too expensive for us right now. But I do buy my wheat flour organic from a co-op. So, today was a yummy day and the house smells so delicious. 2 loaves of wheat for sandwiches, 2 cinnamon loaves for breakfast toast or french toast and sticky buns...for my husband who loves them.

THE BREAD BECKERS BREAD & ROLLS


1-1/2 cups hot water
1 cup cold milk
(The resulting temperature will be lukewarm so as not to kill the yeast)
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
3 eggs

4-1/2 tsp. instant yeast
6 to 7 1/4 cups freshly milled flour
1 Tbs. salt

Combine water, milk, oil, honey and eggs in the bowl of the Electrolux Assistent. Add yeast and about 5 cups of the flour. Mix on medium speed until well blended. Add the salt. Continue to mix adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Bring the Assistent's arm into the center and out a few times between each addition of four. When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl enough flour has been added. Lock the roller about 1/2" from the side of the bowl (or more if you double or triple the recipe). Turn the speed to high and allow to knead 8-10 minutes, or until the dough, forms a smooth ball . Let rise until double. With a single or double batch, you may let the dough rise in the bowl. With a triple recipe, turn the dough out onto a floured surface to let rise.

After rising, form into loaves or other shapes using any of the variations that follow.

I like to braid my loaves. To braid, divide the dough for one loaf into three pieces and roll into ropes. Braid, tucking the ends under. Place in greased loaf pan. Let rise until at least double in size. Bake loaves at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Recipe makes 3 medium size loaves or about 30 dinner rolls. (this is from the recipe itself, not something I do.)


*Note: One package of yeast is about 2-1/2 tsp. of yeast. With instant yeast you do not need to sprinkle the yeast over the liquids. You may add it with the flour.

**Now with this recipe I do add about 1/2 cup of gluten as well. To make all that I did today, I doubled the recipe. The bread freezes really well too. I just wrap it up in a plastic bag. I also do it all by hand and no mixers. It is great exercise. :)

I hope this helps encourage you to make your own and enjoy every single bite, it really does taste so much better.

God bless and enjoy!!

We are Moving!!!

Okay, so I have been busy. We have decided a long time ago that we wouldn't go into debt, so we are working on getting out of debt. With that has come the the decision to rent intstead of buy a home. In all honesty I hope to one day live in a small farm house and live out in the country, but until God provides that one, I will live where He has us.

We live in a ginormous house about 45 minutes outside of Tucson. Though it served its purpose (extremely low rent) the communte for my love is more than we can stand anymore. It takes him at least 45-65 min to get to work and home. So rather than wasting that precious time on the road we have decided to move closer to work so that his commute is less.

Living in the city has its challenges, especially in Tucson. There are a lot of older properties, smaller homes and no garages. I think we have spent the last 2 months on the weekends looking for homes. We did find one and we were all set, but then the landlord changed some money items on us and it just didn't feel right, so we had to cancel that one. I loved the house, it was small especially for a growing family, but the character and charm was so awesome...oh well. I will have one of my own one day. We saw ugly ones and nice ones and are really trying to stay on budget.

Then last night, the very last house that we decided to look at was at the highest end of our budget. I told Bret that we are doing a "House Hunters" and out of all the houses we saw over the weekend and yesterday we were to pick. Well, the last house was perfect for us. I fell in love with the floor plan, the bedrooms were a great size, there's a fireplace and the yard has a fenced pool (amazing how many people don't have fences around their pools and don't want to get one either...). There are huge Mesquite trees, the kitchen is nice and open, and the whole house has a great feel to it.

So, we are hoping to move in 2 weeks, so from an almost 3000 sq ft home to a nice 2400, I am excited to downsize and get rid of so much stuff. It is amazing how much stuff you really don't touch. :)

The pictures above are the backyard, can you see why I would fall in love. It is right across from a high school so we can take the kids over and kick and throw the ball on the football field, I can run the track and do the stadium. And it is at the base of the Catalina Mountains which are beautiful. I will keep you posted, but as of now we are moving March 10...I hope.

So, no more writing for now, time to load up some more boxes... :) God bless.

Videos Posted by Frankie Shealy- WOW!!!!

This was really great, enjoy...

Sick Kids...

Okay so having a large family is fun, but also not so fun. I mean who would have thought that all 4 girls would get sick at the same time!! Uh, not me. So for the sake of my sanity I will return in a few days. Though everyone is on the mend, I need a moment to collect myself from the insanity. One venti ice coffee and some sno balls....

Keep posted though, got a great giveaway along with perhaps the beginning reveal of my new blog. Hang tight.

My Other Side

Going with an wonderful, inspirational little note I read about going with your dreams, I decided to also start another blog. It isn't nearly done, I won't even reveal the name, though I will say it is so cute! I am hoping it will run off into a little business for the girls and I together. This little encouraging note I got had one little part that really struck my heart, "When did I stop dreaming big?" How will my girls dream big if I don't. Even if it fails miserably, we all need dreams and I thank the Lord that he gave us creativity and drive so that we can use it to bless others and glorify him. Doesn't he get all the glory when we dream and it comes to fruition, he did give us the talents and means to make it happen.

So, I will be working on it, no one knows, I didn't even tell my husband yet. He is a numbers guy, wants to know the bottom line, so that is what I am working on right now...the bottom line. But I will say, this will be the lowest bottom line yet!! I am so excited, can you tell. I will be back with more, later.

Have a blessed day! Oh, don't forget to dream big!

Sewing Fun

A fun elastic waist skirt.

I really love sewing. So I have made it a point this year to learn new sewing skills and sew more! I have been having a lot of fun. I will be making a purchase of 2 new patterns, one a bag that I want to use as a diaper bag and the other a cute dress for the girls. So this one skirt is for Emma and I am hoping to make one for Lauren. I am wanting to get a cute white shirt and then use the polka dot fabric as a bow or flower on the white shirt for embellishing. I will let you know how the whole outfit turns out.

So my challenge is this, remember your passions and do them. I think it is great for kids to see our own passions and perhaps they will develop them for themselves as passion. Creativity is wonderful and to use it for your family and others is such a blessing. Plus a good release. So find your creative niche and go for it.

What I read right after my post.... God is good.

Completely Clean

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

John 13:10 (ESV)

~~~

“It may encourage you to call to mind the people who were praised. They were not cherubim and seraphim, but men, and notably they were men filled with weakness. There was Peter, who a few minutes afterward was brash and presumptuous. But it is not necessary to name them one by one, for they all forsook their Master and fled in His hour of peril. Not one among them was more than a mere child in grace. They had little about them that was apostolic except their commission. They were very evidently men who had the same passions that we do, yet their Lord declared them to be clean, and clean they were.

This is nourishment for those souls who are hungering for righteousness and worrying because they feel so much of the burden of indwelling sin: cleanliness before the Lord is not destroyed by our sins and weaknesses or prevented by our inward temptations. We stand in the righteousness of Another. No amount of personal weakness, spiritual anxiety, soul conflict, or mental agony can mar our acceptance in the Beloved. We may be weak infants or wandering sheep, and for both reasons we may be very far from what we wish to be. But, as God sees us, we are viewed as washed in the blood of Jesus, and we, even we, are ‘clean every whit.’

What a forcible expression, ‘clean every whit’—every inch, from every point of view, in all respects, and to the uttermost degree! Dear friend, if you are a believer, this fact is true even for you. Do not hesitate to drink of it, for it is water out of your own well, given to you in the covenant of grace. Do not think that it is presumptuous to believe this statement, as marvelous as it it is. You are dealing with a wonderful Savior, who only does wonderful things. Therefore, do not stand back on account of the greatness of the blessing, but rather believe even more readily because the message is so similar to every thing the Lord says or does.”

Charles Spurgeon

Joy In Christ’s Presence, 167-168

Fixing my eyes...

My heart seems to be a little overwhelmed lately. It seems that an impending birth always makes me remember all the things I don't get done in a day because I am too tired or too lazy. I know all the work that needs to be done and I am called to work and serve and I am not guaranteed a break but I want one. I want to curl up in my chair, in my room, in quiet and just sit and read or do nothing. But with 4 little people who need me, I just can't do that. Then I go through the spiral of having my poor me attitude or just an attitude all day long. Who wants to be around that??? Not me.

So, today I am using my blog to rant because I need to vocalize my heart. Though I don't want it to be my heart. I just want to wake up and be a joyful mother, I don't want to have to fight through all the muck and yuck, I don't always want to see my short comings, my failings, and be reminded of the sad state I truly am in, without my Lord.

How does one overcome such gloom. Well for me it is readjusting my eyes. Remembering all the wonderful blessings in my life, the goodness, the kindess, the joy. Focusing on the happy moments, not just all the things I need to fix in myself. I know, I don't need to fix it myself, I have God to help, but don't you sometimes just want to be all worked on and done?? Done so you can see yourself on the outside and inside, just like you envision yourself in your mind. I have such a beautiful picture in my mind of what I am like...but at this moment I am far from it.

For a moment I will have mine and by the end of the day I will be fine, but right now everything seems overwhelming and unsurmountable. So I will have chocolate and cup of coffee and take a deep breath. I think writing things out will help of all I want to accomplish, and my so called schedule, well let me tell you something about that. I love it, but it is also my demise, I feel awful when I don't accomplish everything on it, then I feel like a failure and feel so rushed and stressed the minute I wake up. I want to cook and clean, sew and type, surf a little, and read to my little people, I want to be available to help and I feel that with all I want to accomplish I don't have any time for myself.

Do I need time for myself? Is that biblical? Am I supposed to expect that, or am I in constant servitude and how do I overcome that desire?? So many questions, I guess I should go and get on my knees. Have a blessed day. Sorry for the ranting. :)

A "down" computer...

Technology is wonderful. But tell me what happens when you have a delicious hot cup of coffee, a 19 month old who loves to explore and a chair that wasn't pushed in when you left the desk with the laptop and coffee together.

You get for a completely fried hard drive with nothing being able to be saved. All my documents, pictures, and anything everything...gone. Oh well, nothing I can do, it is all the Lord's and he had bigger plans than I did. So, oh well.

But it is nice to have a new one back...hard drive that is. Now that I am working with Lauren on her little newsletter, the new Microsoft definitley is a lot nicer with templates for that. By tomorrow she should be done. I am helping her type till we get all the kinks worked out, but she is telling me what she wants to say. It is a lot of fun to sit with her. I enjoy it a lot.

Life has been moving smoothly otherwise. We are officially 29 weeks and moving right along. If she comes when everyone else did then she will be here in about 7 weeks. I can't wait. We have her crib, a new chair and dresser. This weekend we will be pulling out the clothes and seeing what new items we may need.

Mady this past weeekend got a really bad bug. She literally threw up for 24 hours. It was so pititful and awful. To see her so tired and her body hanging and then to get sick...oh my heart was so broken. I am ever so thankful for my husband who really took care of her because to hold her with my belly and contractions was not an easy task. He took over. He is such an amazing man. Now she is just lingering with some diaharrea but is on the mend and I am so thankful to have my little fireball back.

Life is moving fast and time is going...I need to take a minute to just enjoy the moments. I feel sometimes that I get into a rut of thinking only about me and my pitiful self that my servitude is gone. I am thankful that God brings me back to where I need to be and gently reminds me of it.

I pray you all have a blessed week.