…make it to the end of the week without grocery shopping.

As the weather starts to cool here, we have had a few of those annoying realities hit the budget simultaneously- refilling the propane tank for winter and the last of the high summer electric bills. ARGGGH Add to that yarn shopping for holiday gifts, the outrageous increase in home owner’s insurance and current gasoline prices and the bank account is stretched pretty thin. So the challenge is to find a way to make the paltry staples in the pantry last until Friday when I can shop for groceries again. It will be an exercise in kitchen creativity, so wish me luck.

Tonight’s menu – Red beans and brown rice with multigrain bread. This is a good stick-to-the-ribs kind of meal. Nice and filling but nutritious and high in comfort food points too. The leftover beans will be recycled into chili later in the week. I always keep dried beans on hand for just such an emergency. It’s a good thing my family actually likes them.

For the rest of the week, I have to think up three meals a day with the following ingredients – potatoes, pasta, brown rice, two chicken breasts, dried black beans, dried baby limas, dried lentils, garbanzo beans, broccoli, meatballs, green beans, corn, corn meal, pasta flour, cream of mushroom soup, eggs, oatmeal, grits,various bread products (loaf bread, bagels, English muffins) and cheese (cheddar, colby-jack, baby Swiss and Parmesan). This should be a week for inventing new recipes. If any of them actually tastes good, I will share them later in the week. Wish me luck.

Here in the southern US, we are experiencing an oppressive drought. I have never seen such a dry spring and summer here. Some major cities have very real concerns about having no water at all. We are constantly praying for the blessing of rain. Some states have even held state-wide prayer days and prayer weeks.

But sometimes when we are so heavily focused on the thing we need or think we need, we forget to notice the blessings that we do have. And while our need for rain is very real, God has still blessed us in countless ways. Because of the very dry spring, we had an abundance of squash this year. Normally, the plants are stunted by powdery mildew. This year because it was so dry, powdery mildew wasn’t a problem. I had plenty for my family and to share with others. Because of the dryness, most of the plants didn’t produce very well. Tomatoes especially suffered. However, even though they were small, the tomatoes that we did have were some of the best tasting that we have ever produced. I never lacked for fresh produce this summer.

We have also not had to cut the grass very much this year, which is a great blessing for us since the riding lawn mower isn’t working. It takes a while to mow 3 acres with a push mower. We have also had fewer insects this summer – most notably mosquitoes and Japanese beetles (though the drop in Japanese beetle population my have more to do with the chickens fondness for the larvae than the dry weather – either way I am thankful). During the summer, I normally try to avoid being outdoors at dusk, if at all possible, because of mosquitoes. They seem to have a particular fondness for me. Not having mosquitoes to worry about means that I do not feel the need to slather myself or my children with pesticides and I don’t have to be concerned about things like West Nile Virus. It also means that I could enjoy the cool of the early evenings once again. One of my favorite things to do it sit on the porch swing and knit or read while the kids are playing in the yard and supper is cooking. I find it a very peaceful and meditative time.

The dry spring and summer has also provided more than the usual number of opportunities for star gazing since the night skies have been unusually clear. My kids are even learning to use a telescope. Seeing the majesty of the universe helps to reinforce the magnificence of God to me. I am still amazed that there are people who can see photographs of the universe and still insist that it was created by accident. Silly, silly people.

In addition to the dry summer, we have also had a very hot summer. This has forced us to stay indoors more than usual. While it didn’t help utility costs, the unexpected blessing is that it has given my family the opportunity for wonderful bonding time through family game nights and story time. It has also allowed us more opportunities for family Bible study. Because I am having to learn my computer coding skills as I go along, I sought the help of my family with preparing this month’s Bible Quiz. I am thrilled to report that my husband and kids provided all the questions so that I could concentrate on getting the coding correct – which was a challenge in itself. My 6 year old even came up with one of the better questions – see if you can guess which one. Ironically, I didn’t realize he had been listening the night that we read that particular passage from Exodus. Funny what will stick in the mind of a child.

None of these is a huge blessing – these are just little unexpected things with which God has blessed my life. He has given me so many blessings that I couldn’t begin to name the all. God has filled our lives with so many blessings that sometimes we don’t even see them. Take a few moments each day to look beyond your needs and see the thousands of tiny blessings that God has placed in your life. Do you have a place to live, clothing to wear, food in your pantry – then you are blessed far more than many people in the world. Take a little time to recognize these abundant blessings.

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This Month’s Contest

Leave a comment on this post and share an unexpected blessing. Five names will be chosen at random to receive a CD of a Favorite Hymns from Tabitha’s Heart & Hands and an assortment of tea to enjoy on these crisp autumn evenings. If you mention the contest on your blog or website and include a link back to my website, I will add your name into the drawing an additional time. If you have more than one blog or website, I will enter your name once for each time you mention the contest and link to my website. You have until midnight on November 22nd- Thanksgiving Day – to enter. The winners names will be chosen at random on Friday, 23 November and will be posted on this blog and on the Tabitha’s Heart & Hands website. Each winner will then have one week to contact me via email to provide me with a snail mail address.

I am still loving my Indigo Ripples skirt. After two days of wear – including a trip to the doctor’s office where the youngest insisted on sitting in my lap, I am happy to report that it is the most comfortable article of clothing that I own with the possible exception of my slouchiest sweat pants. Fortunately, it looks SOO much better.

I started on a shell to wear with the skirt – Soliel in Victorian Pink Cotton Fleece – but I don’t think I am going to like the two pieces together even though I am going to adore this top.

Pink Soliel

I am also working diligently on a design for a pair of socks. I hope to have the finished socks ready to show you on Wednesday – so that I can count them as my SAM4 KAL socks for October as well as my Sockdown socks. Here’s hoping. After a couple of trips to the frog pond they are now moving along nicely.

Here is a sneak peak. Some of you may recognize this as the pair that was supposed to be Dublin Bay. However, the lace panel of the Dublin sparked another idea. You will have to wait to see any more.

Prizes in the mail
Originally uploaded by tabitha.web

Just a quick note to let all those who won prizes in last month’s Tabitha’s Heart contests know that the prizes were mailed Thursday (18 October 2007). Here is the very nice postal worker who helped me get everything weighed and packaged and shipped. He also helped me get one package ready for shipping to Ghana. Very nice and helpful man – should have asked him his name. I wasn’t aware that the government actually hired helpful people.

I would really appreciate an email to let me know when the packages arrive. I am working very diligently on the October/November contests. They should be posted very soon so keep checking back.

Wednesday Bible class continues to be a wild adventure. Last week, I spent as much time answering questions about the Babylonian’s warfare techniques as I did talking about the final fall of Judah. One of my young men was positively fascinated by the idea of fighting a war without the use of gun powder. I am always glad when the kids ask questions but sometimes they take us away from the point of the class. And sometimes I wonder whether the kids are really that curious or they are playing the ever popular distract-the-teacher game.

One of the things I was asked was how did the Babylonians get into the city of Jerusalem if there was a huge, thick wall around it. I talked to them a little bit about warfare tools like battering rams and siege mounds but they really didn’t follow what I was talking about. So I told them that I would bring some additional materials next week after I had a chance to do a little research since the topic of ancient warfare isn’t my strongest subject. So last night after searching through history books, enlisting the aid of my friend Mr. Google and raiding the kids toy box, I came up with a couple of visual aids to help them understand how a siege mound works.

Siege mound model

Here is a link my mock-Jerusalem complete with simulated siege mound without the dirt that would have been added to the top (I am an adventurous teacher but I am not an idiot). It is actually rather fascinating to think that there are still siege mounds in existence today that were built by the Assyrians when they conquered Israel. There is a photo of the mound that was built at Lachish here. I am glad I didn’t have to try to build one of these while people were shooting at me. You know the people on the inside of that wall didn’t just sit idly by while the enemy build a ramp over their city wall.

After we finished the discussion of the siege of Jerusalem, we finally made it back to Babylon. We discussed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and consequent madness and then went on the Belshazzar’s feast and the handwriting on the wall. The fall of Babylon is one of the more interesting battles in world history as well as one of the great examples of prophecy fulfilled in the Bible. In Jeremiah 50 – 51, we are told about the fall of Jerusalem. It is prophesied that the Medes would conquer Babylon and that the city would be caught by surprise. But included in these prophesies is the seemingly odd statement made in verse 38 of Jeremiah 50 – “A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols”. Now this verse doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you know the method by which the Persian army gained entrance into the city of Babylon. You see, the city of Babylon was protected by not one but two very thick walls but it was also unusual in that the Euphrates River flowed under these walls and into the heart of the city. The Medo-Persian army used this knowledge to their advantage. The built a canal to divert the Euphrates River from its normal course and then entered the city by going under the wall in the trench that had previously contained the Euphrates River catching the city totally off guard. Strike up another point for the providence of God. This is really a fascinating study and if you would like to know more about God’s prophecies fulfilled read this terrific article called Babylon:A Test Case in Prophecy (Part 1) . Babylon:A Test Case in Prophecy (Part 2)

PS There would have been additional photos in this post but Blogger is being a major pain. So what is new