Robb and I have been making a practice of having people over.  We usually have one or two families over each week.  The other evenings have other things going on, so it keeps us busy.  But in such a good way!

It’s brought it fresh to our attention how many different people we know.  Different backgrounds, different lifestyles, different viewpoints, etc.

How interesting it is to sit, talk and eat with each.  It gives us new ways to think about things,  a chance to see the world in a slightly different light, an opportunity to stretch ourselves.

It offers awareness of things going on beyond our little circle.  Sometimes of struggles and challenges that are heavy burdens we can help bear or at least lift up in prayer, or perhaps blessings that we can share in rejoicing over.

Sometimes discussions with others cause us to examine ourselves and make some changes.  Other times it causes us to only hold more firmly to a specific conviction.   Sometimes experiences are great examples of good for our children.  Others are opportunities for some guidance and great conversation with our children!

When Robb and I were discussing it the other day and enjoying remembering the different meals with so many, we felt thankful for each one.   We used to socialize only with people who were just like us.

It was easier, yes, and there is something to be said about relaxing and receiving encouragement with like-minded people.  But I think if that’s all we did, it would lack the depth that a wider circle brings.

We tend as humans to be creatures of habit as it is!   A variety of friends keeps us sharp.  It helps us color outside the lines of the box we tend to live in.

What about you?

Tags: family, worldview

You probably have some basic recipes that you use often.  I thought I’d share some of mine.  These are not meal recipes, but “springboard” recipes - stuff that I use to complete meals.  I have them taped to the inside of my baking cupboard door, for instant access, although they are mostly memorized now.

Basic Dough
I use this for pizza crust, rolls, breadsticks, Monkey Bread (yum!) etc.

4 t yeast
3 T sugar
1 1/2 cup warm water

Stir together.  Then add:
2 T oil
1 t salt
4 c flour

Mix well.  Use as desired.
(For a fuller flavor, you can allow to rise for 10 minutes then continue, but I don’t.  Fast and easy baking is more my style.)

For breadsticks, roll out to 1 inch thickness on greased baking sheet.  Score with pizza cutter.  You may sprinkle with parm cheese, salt, garlic, etc or cinnamon and sugar. Or just leave plain.  OR cut into strips, dip into melted butter and place in greased baking dish.

For pizza crust, roll onto greased baking sheet.

For rolls, divide into balls and place in greased baking dish or sheet.  OR roll into “snakes” and tie into knots for knot rolls.

Let rise in warm place.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

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Flax Mix
I use this in baking recipes, like muffins, quick breads and cookies in place of egg.  It’s great if you are out of eggs, or just want more healthy yumminess.  Most people are very surprised to learn the finished baking goodie has flax in it.
This makes 1 1/4 cup flax mix.  It will keep in fridge for a couple days.

1/4 cup flax
1 cup water

Blend flax in blender till mealy.  Add water and blend about 2 more minutes till foamy.

1/4 cup of flax stuff = 1 egg
1 cup = 4 eggs

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Creamy Sauce
I use this for casseroles (in place of canned “cream of” soups) or with pastas.  It’s very basic, so it’s just a building block.  Get creative.

Melt 1/2 c butter in saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup flour and blend in till smooth.  Add 2 cups milk and constantly stir till thickened.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it.

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White Sauce
Similar to above, only a bit nicer.  Drizzle over pastas, poultry, seafood, or vegetables.

Melt 3 T butter in saucepan.  Add 2 T flour, salt and 2 t prepared mustard.

Add 2 cups broth or milk, OR 1/2 cup white wine and 1 1/2 cup broth.

Stir in 1 cup sour cream, and gently heat.

Sprinkle with parsley or green onion.

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Lemon Butter Sauce
This is soooo good.  It turns basic pasta (any type), vegetables, or chicken into a gourmet meal.

1 stick butter
3 T lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 t parsley
salt and pepper

Bring to boil, simmer 30 seconds.  Sprinkle with green onion, if desired.

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So, do you have any basic recipes you can’t live without?  Send me an email!

Tags: health, meals, simplicity

“If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18

This verse was brought to me in a fresh way recently.  I’ve written about peace before, as I explored the many ways it is misunderstood and redefined.

It was made evident again that peace comes through submission to God’s authority, His “commands” as the verse states.  That was good for me to dwell on.

But what is peace?  Do we think of peace as uneventful or unchanging?  I was challenged to rethink the idea of peace, as it relates to a river.

Fresh, moving water, rushing over and through rocks, over cliffs, meandering through a forest and then swirling with heart-pounding waves.

It is active.  Moving.  Sometimes exciting, at other times tranquil, but always changing.

Otherwise, we become more like a stagnant pond.  Eew.  That is not peace, but perhaps something like selfishness, doubt, fear, worry, pride, bondage…

Peace is sometimes like the gurgling forest brooks, and at other times more like white-water rapids.

The point is, when we are fully submitted to God’s will and plan for us, fully obedient in our relationship to Him, His peace will be ever fresh, moving and active.

So, get up.  There is much to do.  May His peace be with you and wash over you!

Tags: Christianity, spirituality, worldview

Yesterday someone asked me how we got to drinking raw milk.  (How’s that for sloppy handling of the english language? Heh heh.)

I paused and stuttered around, realizing that I couldn’t remember.  (You do lose brain cells with every child you grow and birth.  It’s a known fact.)  So, I asked Robb later on that day and we prodded and probed the dusty corners of our collective memories.

Was it through my natural health studies?  Hmmm, no.  When did I begin studying natural health anyways?  Was it before or after I began learning about healthy eating habits?  Ummm, and wasn’t that when Cruiz had a vaccine reaction, leading me to research vaccinations?  And when we quit going to our pediatrician for well-baby check-ups?

It all seems to kind of blend and mush together now.  I don’t really know for sure what the starting point was, but it seems like it was a snowball effect.  Trying to learn about one subject ended up morphing into becoming educated on another subject.

When we moved from our typical suburban home to the five acre hobby farm home, we had just began thinking about things differently.  Stuff we had always taken for granted were suddenly being examined and reevaluated.  Little did we know what was just ahead.

Soon after we moved in, Robb approached the dairy farmer who lived only a half mile away about trading mowing services for milk.  He had always loved the taste and simplicity of pure, unadulterated milk from the bulk tank.  We were surprised to learn that many people felt strongly about drinking “raw” milk, warning us of it’s many dangers.  Robb hopped online to find a pasteurizer, or at least learn how we could heat it to a temperature that would then make it “safe for drinking”.

So that was our journey into learning about the many health benefits of unpasteurized milk, and turned us into raw milk enthusiasts.

I think it was around the same time that Cruiz developed a strange traveling rash, low grade temp and odd sounding cry after her baby checkup.  She was only four months old, and behind on all her shots.  They had tried to “catch her up” and I had resisted, opting for just the four pricks and one oral.    Within hours, she was just different.  She sounded different.  She wasn’t sleeping well, wasn’t eating well, and seemed kind of detached and strange.  Her pediatrician reassured me each of my concerned phone calls, telling me that she was fine.  That she probably had a virus.  That in no way were her strange symptoms related to the vaccinations.

So I hopped online, and did a search on her symptoms.  Now I shudder to type the above paragraph.  I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had allowed them to give her more shots.

The next well-baby visit consisted of the usual weighing and measuring.  She asked if I wanted to supplement with formula.  No.  She asked if I was giving her a multivitamin.  No.  She appeared annoyed that I had carried her in a sling instead of the car seat “bucket” and asked if I would go get so she could inspect it.  Um, NO. She asked if we had guns.  Yes.  She asked if they had trigger locks.  No.  (They were in a locked safe)  She asked if her shots were up to date.  No way.  And she didn’t want to discuss my concerns regarding the last group of shots.

As calmly as I could, I informed her I was leaving, and would not be back.  Ever.

The next question was, what was I going to do when a child ran a fever?  Had a cough?  What about Cruiz’s terrible constipation issues?  The usual doctor’s prescription of corn syrup in a bottle was becoming less and less of a real answer.  (I heard some of you moms gasp, even from here.)

So, (yes, you guessed it) I hopped on the internet.  And that was my journey into health and wellness.  The responsible and common sense way.

Which opened up to learning about whole foods and eating in a way that actually nourished our bodies.  I learned to bake bread by looking at articles, posts and pictures on the internet.  I learned to garden by reading on the internet.  I learned how to care for, raise, and get food from goats, chickens, and pigs from the internet.  I ordered books about canning, essential oils, and herbs over the internet.  I learned how to treat Cruiz’s constipation through learning and reading via the internet.

That’s not all we used the internet for.  We searched for midwives and researched home births online.  We perused home schooling styles and ordered curriculum.  We began making friends with other people who held similar interests.

And, perhaps the biggest one, we began a history study of the Klaty family which led to learning a lot more than we bargained for about the fellowship we were raised in.   On one hand we had the “Truth”, which wasn’t what we had believed it to be at all, and on the other hand we had the truth about the “Truth”, the facts that we were forced to come to terms with.  After some years of sorting through all of that, we decided it was best to move on.

So, to answer the question of how we got into drinking raw milk…

It was the internet’s fault.

Tags: farm, health, internet, raw milk, spirituality, worldview

I’ve been thinking a lot about thankfulness.  Specifically, being thankful to God for the things, people, events, etc in my life.  Mainly, because I feel really blessed right now, and I don’t want to take anything for granted.

I know too well the tendency to let gratefulness slide into somehow thinking I (or we) did it.  Pride so often rears it’s ugly head and twists the circumstances in my life into neat little boxes labeled ‘merit’.  I begin to focus on the idea that I/we had a hand in it, by making good decisions, being wise stewards, following God’s leading, etc etc.

So what about the seeming paradoxes?  I drive myself crazy by trying to reconcile truths that seem to contradict one another.  There’s God’s sovereignty vs our responsibility, blessings for righteousness vs simple mercy, rewards vs undeserved grace…

Robb shared an idea with me last week.  In our western thinking, we tend to think linear.  This equals that.  This will lead to that which means the other.  Sometimes that holds true, but sometimes it doesn’t.  Then there’s the more eastern way of thinking.  Everything is a circle, connected to everything else.  That’s also true at times, but sometimes not.

So perhaps both are true.  Everything is connected (circular) and all is working in the confines of one God (linear) creating a mixture (helix).  So it can be true that all things affect another, even while it remains true that there are firm truths and laws.

The thumbprint of the helix is found deep within the way we are made, in our DNA.  Chains running both circular and linear, a perfect double helix.  I don’t think that’s coincidence.

I’ll never be able to explain how the verses that talk about God’s omnipotence (having all power) and omniscience (having all knowledge) can coexist with the verses that teach my need for obedience, wisdom, and responsibility.

And the verses about predestination, grace and sovereignty  harmonizing with the verses about the Gospel and repentance?  Whoa.  I cannot grasp it.

So for today, I am concentrating on thankfulness.  I am brushing aside the connected truths that deal with my part in the equation, and simply resting in God’s majesty and mercy.

It’s enough for me.

Tags: presuppositions, spirituality, worldview