Thoughts On The Weekend

Friday was an odd sort of day. I started out by making a double batch of bread (5 loaves and 7 rolls). It was yummy, made with white hard wheat, which makes a milder flour than red wheat, but still has all the nutrition. The bread almost looks like white bread, it's that light. It was a Challah type bread (eggs and milk) and is very good. The recipe came from Beth Holland's Bread for Life Volume I cookbook which I received free when I purchased my mixer. I think we are going to use this bread for rolls, hamburger buns and when we want a lighter bread for friends/family or making french toast. We still like our red wheat/spelt and beet bread for sandwiches...well, that's hubby and I. The kids like the lighter bread better. My goal is to get some every day bread in the freezer so that I can take my time learning how to make some other type of breads with one and two loaf recipes and work on learning other types of bread baking, especially the ones made with sponges, starters etc.

After I did that I made chocolate chip cookies. I had some fresh milled flour left from bread making and adapted one of those recipes that is from the Urban Legend (you know...I paid $250 for this Neiman Marcus/Mrs. Field's/whoever's cookie recipe and I'm going to share it with everyone I know). Instead of brown and white sugar, I used a combo of sucanat/honey and turbinado sugar. I lessened the chocolate a little because there is so much. Honestly they are really good. If I gave you the cookie it looks dark brown and you might wonder if it was over cooked, but that's the sucanat which has a rich molasses like flavor. Now if you have in your mind that you are eating the typical chocolate chip cookie you might think, "WHAT are these?" But if you are feeling adventurous about trying a new cookie that has chocolate chips in them, you will likely enjoy them. At any rate I don't think you would know they were made with whole wheat flour. My Hubby LOVED them! And he isn't the easiest sell on healthy food! I had initially wanted to make them so he would have a treat on this extra long day for him, so I'm glad they were a hit! They have a little molasses flavor and I think you taste the walnuts in them more than you do when made with white flour, which I thought was odd. Maybe the flavors compliment themselves better. At any rate, I made lots of cookies and had dough in the freezer for later and Hubby liked them so much he raided the dough from the freezer and made some more tonight! :o)

Then Friday afternoon Hubby came home and told me there were ten cop cars surrounding our house and the neighbors. Lovely! We don't know for sure what is going on, but likely it had to do with drugs. Not what I wanted to hear when Hubby was going to be gone until after 10PM. I decided not to worry but to immediately pray and ask for God's protection and asked my folks to pray too.

While Hubby was taking a nap Friday afternoon, I noticed the interesting light through the window and went searching for a rainbow...

First I saw this...it's our neighbor's weeping birch (responsible for a lot of my itching and wheezing!) and these are a lot of the Goldfinches, House finches and other birds that eat at our feeders. When they hear us coming out or see us standing up by the window, they fly away to the protection of this tree.

Then sure enough there was a rainbow over our house, just faintly. Before this last storm came, I spent hours trimming our Mimosa tree and the rose bushes out front. Next I need to clean out some of the pots in front in which I container garden. The tulips and daffodils are shooting up, but are late. I love pansies and usually fill in the planters with those during spring.

Before I came in I noticed one of my old roses, which looked so pretty in the rain.

And last but not least, here is my handsome Hubby! He is in training to become a teacher at Phoenix University. This is stage 3 of the interviewing process and he won't know for sure until he completes it. It is like taking a college class with writing, projects, group work and presentations. Friday was the first of four. I am really proud of him, whether or not he makes the final cut! He is required to wear business/professional dress. Since our church is casual and teaching middle school is pretty informal, I rarely see him in a tie. He cleans up pretty good! :o)

Well, all that was just Friday! Saturday we slept in. It's so nice now that the kids are a little bit older, they get up and start playing whether we are awake or not. They are really pretty good about following the rules... and also good at tattle telling if someone breaks them! lol Once Saturday got going we organized our Cd's into the drawers of our new TV armoire (bought at a consignment store for a great deal!). Pics will follow for my Mom. It's really nice to be able to listen to our music again. I have a lot of Christian music from the 80s and 90s since I was either working at a Christian bookstore, or single without a lot of responsibilities at that time and could afford it. I still love the older music and enjoy listening to it. We went through toys and sorted out ones which are no longer used. And I made a spot for my knitting and for the laptop, that I am using to blog right now. Then I got started re-organizing our school supplies. Our living room is pretty humble by most people's standards but I have been working hard to make it a HOME. We have to share it for living space, dining space, play space and school space, so it has taken some work to get it just right. It was hard to rearrange to get our new furniture in here which seems so big and is in this small space, but our family is growing and we need places to sit. Now we have places for our family to sit too! We still have a lot of remodeling/reorganizing to do in our house and we'll probably get it done just in time to sell it! Isn't that how it always seems to go? That doesn't sound like much but it took all day and we were pooped. Hubby and I sat down and watched Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace which we rented. We both like a lot of WWII stories, though he likes more the technical/mechanical/warrior type stories and I love the human interest/social history stories. This was an interesting movie and I would like to see if my library has any of his writings.

Today we were all able to go back to church for the first time in a few weeks and it was so nice. We sang a hymn today which I rarely have heard in any churches. However, as a child, it was very special to me. After my brother died, I only was able to go to church a few times a year with my Grandma Hopkins. There was an older Norwegian gentleman, Louie Hanson, who led music usually with his accordion and sometimes with his wife Neva at the piano. When they called for requests, I held my hand high and asked for #3. Here it is, written more than a hundred years before I was born by Katherine Hankey 1834-1911:

1. I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory,
of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story,
because I know 'tis true;
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else can do.

Refrain:
I love to tell the story,
'twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.

2. I love to tell the story;
more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies
of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story,
it did so much for me;
and that is just the reason
I tell it now to thee.

(Refrain)

3. I love to tell the story;
'tis pleasant to repeat
what seems, each time I tell it,
more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story,
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God's own holy Word.

(Refrain)

4. I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
'twill be the old, old story
that I have loved so long.

(Refrain)

The song fit perfect in a day when testimonies were shared in the service. Verse 4 applies well... I love hearing people's testimonies and never ever tire of hearing how God works in peoples' lives!