Food is love

One of the ways that I show love to others is through food. I have always loved to make a tasty, nutritious meal for my family. I get immense pleasure out of sitting at the table looking around knowing that, because of my efforts, my family is getting the nourishment that they need, and they are enjoying it. :-)

I love to read about nutrition, watch DVDs about nutrition, talk about nutrition. I'll share my resources or buy people their own. I believe what our government tells us is nutritious is a lie and is making us all sicker and sicker. I try to combat that where I can. I've encouraged others to find a source for and drink only raw milk. I believe it's more important to consume grass-fed beef than organic vegetables. I fret over the kinds (and amounts - it should be more than you've been led to believe) of fats that we are told to eat. I will buy loved ones (and beg them to eat) jars of coconut oil, bottles of essential fatty acids, good butter, nuts.

There is a children's book called Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendack. It is brilliant. The little boy in the story, Max, says he will eat his mom up. She sends him to bed without his dinner. Max, in his room, begins to imagine himself as King of the Wild Things. The Wild Things say they love him so much that they will eat him up. Max says NO! to them. He goes back to his mother, his room, and a hot plate of food. :-) (There's more to the book. Go to the library right now and read it. Right now. :-) You'll be glad you did.)

Food is love. The modern notion that people shouldn't eat for "emotional" needs is false. Food heals, body and soul. Jesus said, "Take, eat."

The disciples loved him so much that they wanted to eat him up. Don't we say about babies that we love them so much that we could just eat them up? "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8.

But some people don't accept food as gifts of love.

There are some aspects in which food is not love. If I feed my child fast food all the time, I do not love them. (Go watch Super-size Me). If I feed my child white, bleached, processed white sugar all the time, or worse, corn syrup, I do not love them. But then these examples aren't real food anyway. Feeding them stuff that isn't really food is really despising my child.

"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?" Luke 11:11

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?" Matt. 7:9

If someone were to bring me food, say a sandwich, and it had been made with, oh, say, moldy cheese, that would not say "love" to me either. Would it to you? It would hurt me deeply and I would not trust that person toward me anymore.

So feed your child, your loved ones, real, nutritious food and love them.

These Beautiful Words

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 5.

Norms & Nobility by David Hicks

Can we humanize the young by giving them a humanistic education? Can a child memorize endless passages of Shakespeare or Goethe and still turn out to be a beast? The answer to both questions is yes, because the intention of the learner, not the content of his lessons, is alone critical to the moral efficacy of education. The learner must want to be changed by his studies. He must read Shakespeare as a Christian reads his Bible. 'Whenever the prince picks up a book," advised Erasmus(1965), "he should do so not with the idea of gaining pleasure but of bettering himself by his reading. He who really wants to be better can easily find the means of becoming better., A great part of goodness is the desire to be good.' The greatest part of education is instilling in the young the desire to be good: a desire that sharpens and shapes their understanding, that motivates and sustains their curiosity, and that imbues their studies with transcendent value. To the pagan dictum that virtue is the fruit of learning, the Christian added, 'And learning is the fruit of virtue,' thereby interjecting a mystical element into the already complex relation between knowledge and responsibility. p. 98.

Thoughts for the day

The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Prov. 15:4

Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife. Prov. 21:19

Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Prov. 4:24

Do not accuse a man for no reason--when he has done you no harm. Prov. 3:30

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: (among them are:) a heart that devises wicked schemes, and a man who stirs up dissension among his brothers. Prov. 6:16-19

My two older girls are together in Chicago this weekend. I hope they are having a fabulous time. :-)

Bryna is upstairs practicing her piano - and waiting for her piano teacher to arrive.

Jared is at work with his dad. Walt and his associate, Chuck, are in an old building that Chuck is renovating. Walt said that Jared has measured every inch of that building! Jared is then entering all of this data into his Sketchup program and "building" the building and "renovating" it on his computer program. Jared wants to be the general contractor for this project in the worst way! I can see my son as an architect some day.

He stayed up until about 11:30 last night (knowing he was getting up at the crack of dawn to go into work with Walt) just to tell me all of his plans for this building. We found some old blueprints in the basement - blueprints we rejected before the blueprints that we finally chose of the house we built in Indiana. We had fun talking about the house we built - Bryna was there too. Jared's memories of that house were vivid (Of course. I think he remembers every building he's ever been in.), but Bryna's were sketchy. She's was 4 when we moved from there. Jared had such good memories of that house. :o) I told him maybe we'll build again. He asked excitedly if he could draw the blueprints. I told him we would probably find a way for him to apprentice with an architect to draw them. That got his juices flowing.

Well, this is getting long...and isn't the post I had in mind when I came down to the basement and sat down on the couch with my Mac! I think I'll start a separate post...

I love this guy!

Jillian graduates! :-)

Although as Jillian has said, she feels like high school graduations are over-rated. She has said that she's not done, that she is just moving from one educational environment to another, but to think one is done with one's education at 18 is silly. We tend to agree. :-)

Jillian has finished her last exam, a Greek one, as a high school student. Although because she is such an amazing hard-working, smart-thinking fiend, she requested to do an "independent study" with her Latin teacher during the summer.

Jillian has chosen to attend the University of Dallas in Texas to study History and Classics (with an emphasis in Greek). She received a full-tuition scholarship and some additional departmental scholarships, so the price is right. :-) As we've seen on the UD facebook page she is one of 20 National Merit scholars in their incoming freshman class.

We are thankful to God for His blessings upon our Jillian Grace.

One of the things that attracted Jillian to UD was its core curriculum. It was designed by a woman (who is in her 90's! and still teaching!) named Louise Cowan (who co-wrote Invitation to the Classics), and who was just named one of the "20 Most Brilliant Christian Professors" by an online journal, The College Crunch. UD's core is incredibly thorough and demanding. Jillian is looking forward to the challenge. She is also looking forward to studying in Rome for the spring semester of her sophomore year. :-)

Jillian, we are so very proud of you!!