Michelle Duggar on Focus On The Family

I was so encouraged by hearing Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar on Focus On The Family. It gave me some things to really think about. We don't watch the show since we don't have pay TV, though I have read their first book and plan to read the second one too. I just love Michelle's calm spirit and how she talks of relying on the Lord for all her needs. I hear so many parents talk about the show and how it's unbelievable how great the kids are. But in thinking about it, the Duggars are using God's principles that can be followed by all parents.

#1 Love your children enough to discipline them.
#2 Love your children enough to disciple them.
#3 Love your children enough to put God first.
#4 Love your children enough to put your marriage 2nd.
#5 Love your children enough to have daily devotions with them.

This Bible verse comes to mind as I listen to the broadcast.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
"And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

Take the time to download the 2 episodes of the Duggars entitled "The Blessing Of Raising A Large Family," they are free. Even a mom of an only child can be blessed by this broadcast. They aired on July 28-29.
Just go to focusonthefamily.com then click on broadcast at the top of the page. Then go down to the calendar to click for more info. Focusonthefamily.com
Another link I found with some neat info on the Duggars was http://www.boundlessline.org/2011/07/wwtdd-episode-183.html
Let me know your thoughts on this broadcast.

The school bell is getting ready to ring!

Check out this brown egg!

That is one brown egg buddy!

I know we have seen brown eggs in the store, but NEVER that brown. I am thinking it must be chocolate flavored?

We think one of our Red Sex-links/Golden Comets/Cinnamon Queens/Red Stars (depending

on the hatchery is how they decide on the name of these chickens, we call them Golden Comets)

 

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Sandwich bread, soft inside, crusty outside, just how I like my bread!

This is the base for the White Sandwich Yeast Bread, use this as an ingredient in the bread.
From the 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes by Carol Fenster~I highly recommend this book! It has some wonderful recipes in it and you can make the recipes dairy free and egg free if needed.

So start out by taking out the cold items and letting them get to room temp. while you make the flour blend.

Carol’s Sorghum Blend

1 ½ cups sorghum flour
1 ½ cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour

Whisk the ingredients together until well blended (I used a sifter). Store tightly covered in a dark dry place. You may refrigerate or freeze the blend, but bring to room temperature before using. Makes 4 cups, you can double or triple the recipe.

I use this for any type of “Bisquick mix”

White Sandwich Yeast Bread

Everything must be at room temperature before starting.

To make the bread you need to sift the following dry items into a bowl
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
2 T sugar
2 cups potato startch (not potato flour)
1 cup Carol's Sorghum Blend (recipe above)
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp salt

Spray your bread machine paddle with cooknig spray so it stays in place after removing bread. Pour the above flour mixture into bread pan.

Then in another bowl add the liquid items
1 cup warm water (110F)
3 large egg whites (1/2 cup egg substitute) at room temperature
Whisk the liquids together and pour into bread pan.
1/4 c unsalted butter or buttery spread such as Earth Balance (dairy free) or canola oil. I use Fleishmens unsalted, it's dairy free and cheap!)
Add butter pats to the corner of the pan.
the recipe also calls for 2 tsp of cider vinegar and 1 tsp of sesame seeds, I did not have either on hand, yet it turned out fine.

Use the Gluten Free bread cycle on your machine or use normal if you don't have a gluten free setting.

Let this cool before cutting, then bag up tighlty, slice with an electric knive and store in the freezer. I made hamburger buns with this bread. I sliced it, brushed olive oil on, sprinkled with garlic salt and a bit of Italian Herbs, then grilled it oil side down, then put my hamburger on it. YUM!! I think it would be good pan fried. This is the bread I use to make my grilled cheese.

Moe

Happy/Sad day

I am fearing that Sicky Chick will pass tonight. It's been pouring

down rain and he got wet, DS found the 4 chickens standing on top of him. He said it looked as though he was having trouble breathing. I told him to go back out in the pouring rain with a towel and wrap her up in it and put her in the coop. We prayed about it and ask the Lord to go ahead and take her, since we wanted her here for selfish reasons (we fell in love with that chicken) and if she passes she won't be suffering any longer. The Bible does not say if animals have a soul or not, but I don't believe that they are capable of understanding the need for our sins to be paid by the death of Jesus or our need for a Savior, though I do believe that they know that God is their Creator.

This is our dear little Sicky Chick with her slippers on. We think she may have had Bumblefoot.

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

 So we know that our Sicky Chick is in the perfect hands. We are also rejoicing in the first egg from Xtra Crispy!!!

Our first EGG!

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" Luke 13:34

I like what Barnes' Notes on the Bible has to say about this verse. I think we need to heed this in our every day life. "We should be on our guard against crafty and unprincipled people. They often "profess" to seek our good when they are only plotting our ruin. Even those professedly coming from our enemies to caution us are often also our enemies, and are secretly plotting our ruin or endeavoring to prevent our doing good."

Yet, in the end we must remember that "The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down." Ps 146:9 AMEN to that!

This is our girl Xtra Crispy, we are pretty sure she was the egg layer, she was very worried when we took the egg away. She was searching all the nesting boxes and pacing back and forth.

Life on a chicken ranch

Well my husband finally had time and patience to separate the chickens. So we now have roosters in one area and hens in another. Along with a few that we don't know if they are boys or girls yet. There was lots of commotion, but things have settled down today. And everyone seems happy now. We are hoping for eggs to come in the end of this month or early August.

The above picture is of one of our Wyandotte chickens.
In the coming month we have 4-H, this will be the first year of showing chickens, now we just have to figure out who to show. We had a few in mind but upon closer examination we have some odd balls, one adorable rooster with 5 toes on 1 foot.....lol. Another striking Rooster (Rhode Island Red, he is gorgeous!) but his tail is not show quality. And a bunch of Wyandotte, we don't like them because they escape and you cannot catch them! lol. The kids call them "Jail Birds" because they are black & white stripped like the cartoon characters in jail. They are as sweet as can be, but are so sneaky and have huge legs that don't tire easily.

My first gluten-free & dairy-free grilled cheese

I got my bread machine from Amazon.com the other day and thought I should try it out. I made a loaf of white sandwich bread that was gluten-free, wheat-free and casein-free. My guys gobbled it up! It tasted just like bakery fresh Italian bread, crusty outside and soft chewy inside. My son told me "Mom you out did yourself."
This morning I thought I would try to make a grilled cheese and it was good. Everyone was eyeing it.