More on Feeding the Multitude

A while ago I did a post of feeding a sort of large family. We only have 5 children each evening, but 3 are teen aged (or almost) boys and one is a 9 y.o. girl that can put away the food.

The most expensive thing out there is meat and next to that is milk...I just saw that Swiss brand was over $4 a gallon at Wallyworld today. Maybe we need to go time share on a cow.
For meat I shop at a bulk food/almost expired food store. In this area there are many large families and we have a number of stores like this. The chicken I referred to in my other post had been frozen, probably just before its expiry date. Each bird was tied like the rotisserie chicken you buy at the "clubs" so it probably came from a place like that.
I honestly don't know how I would feed this bunch if we did not have a store like this.  I do know that soups  make the meat stretch further.

Last night I made a soup with some left over ham...I had bought a bone in ham a while ago and after I baked it I sliced and froze the rest. I threw the ham (almost 2 pounds) and about 12 potatoes and 7 carrots in a big kettle. Added some chicken bouillon/broth and a bit of pepper. Cooked it till the carrots were soft. Added a few slices of American cheese and served.

Now...the biggest waste at our house is the leftovers that get shoved to the back of the fridge and when I find them...well, lets just say that green ham and eggs makes a good story, but lunch?
I try to be prepared for leftovers and if I purposely make a big pot of soup, I have a couple of quart jars ready  along with lids and rings. Fill the jars with boiling hot soup. Wipe the rims, pop on the lids and tighten the rings.  With a pot holder, flip the jars upside down (careful!!)  and let set for a few minutes. (Doing this makes the lid hot and helps seal the jar.)  After supper is cleared away. Store these quart jars in the back of your fridge...if they stay there a month they will still taste good, as long as they stay sealed.

The reason I scoop out the soup before I serve the food?  There are fewer contaminants in the food at that point than if you wait till the whole family has scooped around in the kettle and it has cooled.

If the left-overs are a surprise....put the kettle back on the burner and bring everything to a good boil...add liquid if needed...then place in the jars like explained above.

Now remember I am not an expert...these jars should stay in your fridge. If you ever open a jar and it smells "off"   don't eat it!  But this has saved me a bunch of waste and is a quick meal for one of those busy nights.

Sandwich meat is the other expensive thing. I don't pay $3 a pound for the meat I put on the supper table, why would I spend that much for a lunch box?  I have not broke them of the habit of good sandwich meat (turkey and ham)  so I only buy a pound and by Wednesday or Thurs. it is gone and they get peanut butter...that is a bit less expensive.  ( Our schools do not have a hot lunch program..well, if you don't count the mom-run program that gives us hot lunch twice a month)

Breakfast?  finally I can make oatmeal for breakfast and they all eat it...the picky eater got married :^)  (see if he reads the blog)

Use milk instead of water for cooking the oatmeal and add pancake syrup for sweetening.   Or if I'm on time, I flip pancakes...add an egg or two to the batter for some protein. And some vanilla and cinnamon for flavor.

Oh and spinach? Buy it in a big tub. I had this one for almost 3 weeks, bought it at Sa*'s Club and frying it and eating it with odd things like pizza, mix it raw with spaghetti. Some of the kids are trying it (Joe) and I like it...maybe it will catch on.
Actually the best way to eat this stuff is ...
Heat oil in a large frying pan...add some minced garlic...after that turns nice and brown...throw in the spinach and turn off the burner...it cooks very quickly..do this at the last minute.

You can do broccoli like this too...it takes a bit longer to cook and usually need to add water to help steam it a bit.

Giving Thanks

Only a tad bit late on this post. I had plans to take pictures of my
guests on Thanksgiving day and have this neat post highlighting each
person. Well I was too busy enjoying the fellowship that I almost forgot
the camera. We invited Son#1 and his wife. My parents. And then some
inmates of the Ronald M*Donald House.
Really we felt very privileged to spend our Thanksgiving with such
special people. The kids had a blast. They barely pulled out any
toys...mostly played with a tablet of paper, folded into paper
airplanes. The big boys played Chi*ese chess. We got to see an amazing
bundle of pins and hardware that were part of FX's external fixator.
Made Joseph's face turn slightly pale....his fixator was nothing
compared to that thing!
As to Thankfulness!
Thankful that there was only a "little" water in the basement on Wed.
morning and most of it was dry by Thurs evening.
Thankful for a house roof that even after 25 years...does not leak !
Thankful for the one year anniversary of Joseph's adoption.
Thankful that there are NO surgeries on the schedule...just therapy.
Thankful for a new daughter-in-law....so far the MIL role is a cinch!
Thankful for Hope who is blossoming into a young woman (moods and all)
but also the positive side...willing and able to help in the kitchen.
Thankful for oldest son who is taking on his role of husband quite well...
Thankful for Faith that livewire that gives out hugs and little notes
that say "I love you, mom and dad" She knows how to read....and
read....and read!
Thankful for Ben...who can step in and help distract or encourage a
certain younger brother when he needs it. And who is just becoming a
nice young man.
Thankful for Ezekiel...Growing up way too fast, suddenly taller than I.
Oh and that quirky sense of humor. Me: "Relax Joseph, you're too
tense"...Zeke: "more like "two tents and a sleeping bag."
And of course the patriarch of this family, what would I do without the
stabilizing influence? His common sense and trust in God, keep this
family on it's course.
...then there are
flannel sheets
Kitchen Aid mixers
sewing machines
mystery novels
chocolate brownies
toast and peanut butter
clean floors
blue skies
mail in the mailbox
e-mail from friends
comments on the blog
dreams that are not true
dreams that do come true
There is more, but my brain needs a bed. Hope you had a wonderful
Thanksgiving!

Creation Museum

We were privileged to visit the Creation Museum (free tickets too). Stayed at a wonderful motel nearby (continental breakfast and supper).Large suite for all of us $139 a night. Was a good opportunity to firm up our Creation story and see how science does support Creation.

 A bit of church history...Hope had been studying this just a few weeks ago.

 Faith was finally brave enough to stand beside one of the dinos.

 Sorry for the cheesy grin...it was a long day.

We headed west a bit to visit friends in Ind. and then headed for home...boredom overtook them and suddenly it was very quiet in the back.

New Legs

Today we finally got the long awaited new legs.

They fit wonderfully and there is a happy boy...he grew 5" in one day.

Please ignore the messy clothing room, there was people making a mess when I wasn't looking.

Heigh ho!

It's off to the city we go! We are scheduled to get new legs tomorrow!!
Please pray for safe driving and the heart of this young man...he has
great plans for those legs and none of it involves hard work or blisters.
I hope he is not disappointed.

The Fatherless....

Today I taught the adult ladies Sunday school class. Even though the lesson was on Joseph's (the one in the Bible) escape from Potiphar's wife, I decided to do a belated Orphan Sunday message. I almost backed out on Saturday, I was afraid, afterall who doesn't already know this? Then I decided, "what if, someone makes a life changing decision for one of those children, one of those 143 million?

First I did a word search on "fatherless"  Oh my! God has some tough words for people that hurt the fatherless and the weak.



OK how many people are in 143 Million? You can go here to see. Or you can figure about  1/2 of the population of the US.

There are about 500,000 children in the foster system in the US. Sometimes that number goes up to 800,000.  For those of you that live in PA. Lancaster county has about 502,000 people living there.

129,000 of those children are actually waiting to be adopted....that is equal to twice the number of people in Lancaster City.

While adoption is God's Plan B for children. We live in a broken world and the children are the ones who suffer first and there are plenty of children who are already on Plan B. God needs people whose Plan A is to follow God's lead in how we should be involved with the hurting children of this world.

There is plenty of work for everyone. First off we should be praying....

For the people that make the decisions at the government level...

For the people that are making the decision to move ahead and adopt or foster children

For those who already are in the day to day job of rearing children who were hurt in the past

The list goes on....Praying for the fatherless could be a full time job.

If you know God wants you to be involved a bit more...
And I really think all people who claim to be Christians should be involved more....there is sponsorship...There are many good organizations that have sponsorship programs, some for medical conditions, some to help the children go to school and some to just see that the children have a good meal once a day.  There are even ways that you can donate to the adoption expenses of a certain child at Reece's Rainbow Anyone that reads this blog can come up with $25 a month....even if it means beans and rice for dinner one night a week!  Just take the $25 out of the grocery money BEFORE you go to the grocery store.

Then there is Safe Families  a way to help families here in the States to stay together. An ounce of prevention and all that....

Foster care...may nearly rip your heart out some days, but it is a necessary link for survival for some children.

And most involved is adoption...I was challenged by a speaker one time....we Mennonites are grateful for our Heritage...we mention it a lot...and it has stood the test of time...most of us are not afraid to roll up our sleeves and get a job done. We have a history of helping each other and the "world" when disaster strikes most of us have sent loved ones to volunteer for cleaning up and rebuilding. And "the Mennonites" for the most part are pretty successful.... "God is helping us."

BUT!!!? why is God giving success???!!! 


Anyway....my whole point about the Heritage....if it is so great...why not share it??

People often say...but it costs so much!  And it does. No one signs any papers for free. But my husband says it is a mindset....a lot of people would not think twice about paying $20,000 for a new car...and there is nothing "wrong" with that, but you can't take a car to Heaven...
  
OK this is long enough and mostly was for me spit out the rest of my "speech"  I did not say all that I wanted this morning...there simply was not enough time. But maybe one lady went home and talked to her husband....maybe next time I will need to discuss the "Reluctant Husband" syndrome. No, this thing we speak of, does NOT make sense, if you look at it logically...but there is a verse in Proverbs about "simple things confounding the wise"

 No, these little ones are no longer orphans, but I'm not really allowed to show pictures of those that still are.

Pardon Me...

I need to brag.
This is all without ESL help and he is home a year as of Sept 24th.
Go JOE!

Five Months

It has taken 5 months to get from this.....

To this.

We started therapy last week, developed a blister on the "new skin" so
we can't do scar massage on that area. Nevertheless, we have a huge area
to work on anyway. I wish I could say we are seeing fast results....I
just read that it will take as many months to "release" a scar with
massage as it took to form the scar. We will be at this a loooong time.
Some of those scars are almost 10 years old!

Plus regaining wrist movement and strength takes determination that  some 11 y.o. boys don't always have....then mama has to have the determination....
You can see the "ulnar deviation" that he still has because of the tight tendons that are inside even after 4 months of stretching in the fixator.

Just Go Read This

I need to get to bed and can't think of all the proper wording...so do me a favor and read this at           No Greater Joy Mom