Joel's Journey: This and That......

Friday, January 30, 2009

This and That......

Well....not much here. We did school today, like I made it through all that we are SUPPOSED to do! It's funny when you do accomplish the goal, it feels so uplifting, like a new day, a fresh start! Since this happened on Friday, I hope I can carry over the enthusiasm until Monday. We did a little project this morning that demonstrated our sin nature, ha do we really need a demonstration of it???? I sat a treat, some candy in front of the children and told them "not to touch it nor eat it!!!" I said that several times and just waited. In that wait, the natural man, the natural inclinations came forth from some, the smaller ones voiced it with, "why, I"m gonna eat it," and whine after whine because they wanted it and they had been told NO! The older ones really did not say anything but I asked them if in their heart something welled up and they wanted it, like they really wanted it? So all that to prove that even though our sinful nature tempts us to sin we must obey the Lord, and it shows that we need a Savior, as I was hitting this home to the younger ones. His word will not return void is my prayer.

Tonight.......David and Kate are coming over, having dinner with us and then......Ping Pong Tournaments!!!!! We have not played in a long time, so Dave and Kate have an advantage!!!
We'll probably get some Blitz in too with two decks! The weekend looks to be nice weather and I think Elijah is renting a tractor to move those 3 loads of dirt around he had hauled out in the pasture, cook some hamburgers and just do farm work.

Please continue to pray for the Lockwood family. Jaynee is having a different pregnancy and there are serious complications......but nothing too difficult for the Lord. I know tehy are grateful for every petition offered on their behalf!

Ok, I have a question. I am experimenting with making a dark rye bread and the recipe calls for "Bakers Carmel." I tried improvising and burning sugar as they suggested, but even then the dough is not as dark as the picture. Anyone ever found this stuff to purchase without ordering it on-line? Or do you have a recipe that is tried and produces a dark loaf of bread?

Have a fun weekend and be blessed as you spend it with those you love the most.....your family!!!!

2 comments:

LJR said...: I used to make bread a lot. I had a good one for dark rye. I haven't made bread in ages, but it sounds good now. I was going to email but I will post it here so others can see and make it if they wish.

Dark German Rye Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups rye flour
2 cups water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 tablespoon caraway seed
1 tablespoon salt
1/3 cup molasses
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Your favorite cooking oil

* In a big bowl combine combine all-purpose flour, salt, cocoa, yeast, and caraway seed.

*Heat and stir molasses, butter, sugar, 2 cups water and 2 Tablespoons oil until warm (about 110 deg if you have a themometor, i never used one you just want it warm not hot)

*Add dry mixture and beat at low speed with a mixer for about a min. Make sure you scrap the sides well.

*Then with your hands stir stir in enough rye flour to make a soft dough. Knead on floured surface about 5 mins until its smooth

*Cover it and let it rest 20 mins.

*Punch the dough down a split in half

* Shape into two Shape into 2 round loaves on greased baking sheets.

*Brush with oil and split the tops with a knife

*Cover and let rise until doubled, it takes about a hour or a little less if its warm

*Bake a 400 for 25-30 mins and cool on a rack; January 30, 2009 at 9:02 PM
LJR said...: Thanks for the sweet blog comment. I couldn't agree with you more.

Hey if you use my directions for bread let me know how it comes out, its been ages since made it. I should give it a try again soon. I found it yummy. The cocoa powder is what gets it so dark, the molasses helps too. Who whould have thought coccoa powder in bread!; January 31, 2009 at 8:58 AM

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Joel's Story

Joel, our 11th of 13 and a twin of Josiah, at age 3 was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, on December 6th, 2006. Joel had three perfect years of health and he and Josiah celebrated their 3rd birthday Sept. 13th, 2006. The first of Oct. Joel started having unexplained fevers for a few days and would return to active play. After the fourth round of fevers we took him to our family Dr. which they said his iron was low, so we treated that for a few weeks and took him back only to have his hemo. showing lower than before. We were referred to a hematologists and saw him a few weeks with blood checks twice a week. At a visit on Dec. 4th we showed the Dr. the bumps, (which were tumors but we did not know at the time) on Joel's head and he was very concerned and we were told we needed to admit him immediately and start extensive tests the following day. Joel went through rigorous testing and then the dreaded results were given. Joel was at a stage IV the most extensive stage, but we were hopeful that the Lord would use the means of Chemotherapy treatments to restore Joel's body. Joel endured 8 1/2 days in the hospital, came home for Christmas, and returned for his second round of chemo Jan. 3, 2007. Joel had a seizure that night after midnight and went into a coma due to a tumor bleeding in his head area and causing his brain to swell. After tests the following days, the Dr. declared Joel "brain dead" and took us to court to force us to take Joel off life support, as we did not agree with the medical field's definition of death. Our family sought to stand with the scripture, "life is in the blood,"and until Joel's heart quit beating naturally, he was living. We were making arrangements to bring him home and on January 23, 2007 his little heart stopped beating and he went to be with the Lord Jesus in heaven. Our lives are changed forever. God is faithful in the midst of this trial and we look with great hope to be with him someday.