January

January was a month of cold and snow, followed by a January thaw, resulting in slushy and then icy sidewalks, followed by cold again. 

January meant life starting up again after the Christmas break. Sunday School started again, and then women's ministry and my homeschool kids. There was a birthday party for a dear friend and a baby shower for a young lady. I was invited to visit a Bible study for their monthly fellowship dinner and to share my testimony. I started practicing hospitality again and had a lovely family over for dinner.

One of the best delights in January was a new baby granddaughter. She's all sweet and squishy and tiny and adorable! It also brought news of another grandchild due in the summer.

One of the most important parts of January was starting to pray with the help of 31 Days of Praying Scripture by William Varner. I'm not quite done yet (I started late and I'm not using it every day), but it's been a huge blessing to me. I'm praying more and with more thought. God has also been using it and other circumstances to deal with some deeply rooted and sometimes hidden sins in my life, which is painful but then good.

I finished two baby blankets in January and bought yarn for a two more. I also started a blanket for a young couple getting married in May. I read a pile of books and started a pile more. I wrote several Sunday School lessons and am doing well enough that I think I'll finish this year's curriculum by the end of the February.

January was a good start to the year.

Turnips

Earlier this week I made a variation of shepherd's pie. It was actually cottage pie as I was using a ground beef/pork mix instead of ground lamb, but the only recipe that used turnips was for shepherd's pie, so that's where I started. I hadn't made either type of pie and I wanted some idea of how it should go together; also, I had turnips and carrots this week.

The recipe said that it feeds 6, but all it called for in terms of vegetables was one turnip and one parsnip, which did not seem enough.

Although I realized that I don't know how big a normal turnip is. I get my vegetables from the Odd Bunch, a company that rescues produce that isn't good enough to be sold (generally because of size, shape, or minor defects) or overstock. Since that's where my turnips came from, they might be smaller than normal. My only other knowledge of turnips is from Jan Brett's book The Turnip, and that turnip is bigger than any of the animals!

I added three turnips, one giant carrot, and three very small beets. It made enough for five servings and turned out very good.

I still don't know how big a turnip should be.

Books So Far

I've been reading regularly this year. January/February are my quiet months, so I regularly set aside time to read more. I'm also aiming at reading more nonfiction this year.

So far, I have read (or finished reading):

Fiction

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin. I really enjoy her historical fiction; this one taught me about the trials of upper-class women in Victorian London.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Bockman. It was pretty good. The concept was fairly standard: A grumpy old man is changed by the family who moved in next door. It was well-told and not too predictable.

Non-fiction

Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai. It was interesting to read what her life was really like after her earlier story in I Am Malala.

Biblical Counseling in Practice by Martha Peace. I had started it in December. It's very practical and looks at many of the challenges that women face.

Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson. I have to say, this was different, but in a good way. He looks at God, theology, and various issues, from a very unique perspective.

The Twelve Monotasks by Thatcher Wine. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this one. It's about the importance of doing one thing at a time and doing it well.

Unplug by Richard Simon. I found this one while browsing in the library. I don't have a smartphone that I carry with me (I use one primarily at home for a few apps); I prefer to use a flip phone. The book didn't quite relate to me as it was about detoxing from smartphone addiction. It was still a good look at how to keep my phone from taking over if I ever switch to it permanently.

Picture Books

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. It was a fun read; the illustrations really made the book.

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. This is short and simple: Sam and Dave are digging for something amazing and keep missing diamonds. The kids felt bad for them, but happy that the dog found a treasure (a bone)!

Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Janet Wilson. This is quite different from Robert Munsch's regular books. It's a gentle story about a father and daughter remembering her grandfather. The kids enjoyed it, although I did have to explain to some of them what a funeral is.

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein. The kids love Interrupting Chicken (this is our second story about him). The youngest ones didn't quite get the idea of "element of surprise", but they loved the elephant popping up in the story.

Cooking Lessons

I have been working on cooking a greater variety of food. I received an air fryer for Christmas, so I'm having fun with that. I also get a box of produce delivered once a week, and there are sometimes things I'm not as familiar with or that I've never cooked with (tomatillos, persimmons, squash). 

I've learned some things along the way:

Butternut squash is very good in soup. I don't generally like squash (it's a texture thing), but I like it cubed in soup. I may try roasting it and then blending it to make soup.

The carrot soup is good. I used a pile of carrots, a handful of tomatillos, half an onion, and a small red pepper, all cooked and blended together. It likely did not need the ginger, as the other spices would have been enough. It's a bit spicy, but not too bad.

Pretty much any vegetable can be turned into a stir fry if you try hard enough. I made an eggplant and choy mue stir fry with some pork strips that I had cooked in the air fryer and a couple packs of udon noodles. It was a pretty good stir fry.

Pretty much any fruit can become baked oatmeal. So far, I've made blueberry/apple, blueberry/banana, blueberry/rhubarb, plain blueberry, plain apple, and plain pear baked oatmeal. I haven't tried blueberry/pear yet.

Most leftover veggies can be made into soup. Some can be added to scrambled eggs or used to make an omelet. Other's can join a barley bowl or pasta sauce.

Most fruit makes a good smoothie. My basic "recipe" is milk, some sort of frozen fruit (or fresh, in the case of the persimmons and sometimes apples), and a frozen banana. I often add some combination of peanut butter powder, yogurt, and spinach. I might add some honey or maple syrup if I think it needs to be sweeter.

Having a mix of fruits and veggies has forced me to be creative and search out new recipes. I'm enjoying learning about new ways to cook things and trying new flavours.

On Changing the World

Once I thought that I would do great and amazing things and change the world. 

Then I thought I might do good, still amazing things, and change a smaller part of the world. 

Now I do little, ordinary things, and don't worry about changing the world. 

I encourage children to learn, to think, to know God. I encourage parents as they teach their children and come along side them as they endeavor to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. I listen to friends when they need an ear and try to reach out to know people better. I do my best to love the people around me even when I'm not sure I'm doing it right. Sometimes I share my thoughts on books and people and the world for a small readership. I write Sunday School curriculum, and I try to get students to read and write, and I edit papers for friends, and I write articles about women of church history, and I watch over children while their moms fellowship and learn and study the Word together.

Perhaps I won't change the world. Perhaps that isn't my job. What I will do is be faithful with what God has put in front of me and trust Him to change the world.

Just a Bit of Something

 In going through an old notebook, I stumbled upon this beginning of a story:

Max the Smallest Truck

Max was the smallest truck n the whole yard. Every morning the bit trucks would head out to pick up loads of dirt and gravel and rocks, and Max would wait... and wait...and wait. Every evening the big trucks would come back, dirty and tired, and talking about all the things they had seen that day, and Max would still be waiting. Every night he fell asleep sad and lonely and wondering if tomorrow would be the day. But there was never a load for a little truck.

I have no idea where I was going with this, or if I even had any idea beyond the introduction of Max. Poor Max, doomed to be forever waiting and sad.

Well, It's Something

Sunday School started again yesterday, after a 4-week break. 

My current curriculum is set up so we teach 5 lessons, and then do a review lesson. The review lessons are in a quiz format, and I break the kids into teams. The questions sometimes have a single answer, so only the team who is "up" answers; sometimes have many answers, and we go around the room with the teams taking turns getting as many answers as possible; and are sometimes turned into hangman, where each team takes turns picking a letter and guessing the answer.

Yesterday was a review week and I wasn't sure how much they would remember after the break. They did pretty well. Their main retention, though, was saved for my lesson on how to best guess letters for hangman from the last review week! They did much better this time; the man was never in danger of being hanged.

At least I have evidence that they listen to me!