Asking for Support

Hi Everyone-

Our church has been blessed with the opportunity to help a pastor and his wife minister to a local community in a remote part of Alaska at the end of August. I greatly desire to go help in this endeavor and to use some of the skills God has allowed me to learn to be of service. Here is where I need your help - the trip costs about $1,400.00. If you feel you could help me raise the support to take this trip, I would be so thankful!! You can go about this in one of two ways; first, you could send a donation to my paypal account at matermaus@gmail.com OR you can send a check to our church, Christ Church Spokane, 228 E. Gordon Avenue, Spokane, WA 99207. If you send a check to the church in my name, that amount is tax deductible.

If you cannot help monetarily, please pray, both for this pastor and his wife and also that I might be able to raise the needed support money.

Thanks so much!!

Amy

Kamut bread recipe

Kamut Bread

4 1/2 cups water at 110 degrees
1 cup honey
1 cup melted coconut oil (melted on low and then removed from heat)
4 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons dough enhancer
6 cups Kamut flour
2 Tablespoons yeast
Approx 6 more cups flour or until sides of kitchen mixer clear.

Knead for 7-12 minutes on medium speed. Makes 5 - 2 lb loaves. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes after rising.

Recommending a book I have never read

I am going to recommend a book I havent even read because there are several girls in our church, including one of my daughters, who have absolutely loved it. It is called, "Joyfully At Home" by Jasmine Baucham. If you have older girls, buy this book!!

On other fronts, like plugs away here. Kids out of the home are having major struggles (I had a friend who used to say, "Sin and Suffering - they go together." )

Here we are getting ready for farming season, watching the lambs and new calf grow, getting ready to build our hugelkultur garden beds, learning to spin wool, etc....

Lastly, I am greatly enjoying listening to sermons by Paul Washer. He is hard hitting and not afraid to offend people in their wishy washy existence. Many of his sermons are available on Sermon Audio - check them out!!

Family Menu

Lord willing I will get back to more regular posting soon but anyway, here is the menu for this week:

Maus Family Menu -
2/14/2011

Monday:
Breakfast-Cream of wheat
Lunch -Fried rice (shredded carrots, celery, onions, sweet peppers, liquid aminos, honey, garlic, salt and pepper, scrambled eggs)
Dinner -Baked chicken, Potatoes, Spinach


Tuesday:
Breakfast-Sourdough Apple Bread
Lunch- Tuna Sandwiches, Oranges
Dinner -Chicken pot pie, muffins


Wednesday:
Breakfast -Oatmeal
Lunch -Bean and Ham Soup
Dinner -Cod, Green beans, Rice

Thursday:
Breakfast -Sourdough Coffee Cake
Lunch -Tortillas, Black beans, Eggs, Salsa
Dinner -Spaghetti, Italian Bread, Corn

Friday: -
Breakfast -Muffins (cranberry)
Lunch -Peanut butter honey sandwiches, popcorn
Dinner -Grilled Pizza

Saturday:
Breakfast -Pancakes
Lunch -Macaroni and cheese
Dinner -Teriyaki, scones

Sunday:
Breakfast -Peanut butter granola
Lunch/Dinner -Meatball Stew, Cornbread, Pudding

This Week's Menu

I have had some folks ask for a copy of our weekly menu. I plan the week's menu on Sunday afternoons and post it on the wall so the kids can see what is coming up and we can all start thinking about what will need to be done for each meal ahead of time. I hope to post each week's menu from now on, Lord willing...

So, here you go:

Maus Family Menu -
2/7/2011

Monday:
Breakfast-Cream of wheat
Lunch -Fried rice (shredded carrots, celery, onions, sweet peppers, liquid aminos, honey, garlic, salt and pepper, scrambled eggs)
Dinner -Sausage Potato casserole, spinach


Tuesday:
Breakfast-Muffins (blackberry, almond)
Lunch- Tuna Sandwiches, Popcorn, Fruit
Dinner -Enchiladas, Ice cream and cookies (Raven's Birthday Dinner)


Wednesday:
Breakfast -Pumpkin bread
Lunch -Bean and Chorizo Soup
Dinner -Mahi Mahi, Delicata Squash, Broccoli

Thursday:
Breakfast -Oatmeal
Lunch -Tortillas, Refried beans, Cheese, Salsa
Dinner -Sweet potato soup, Pumpernickel bread

Friday: -
Breakfast -Muffins (cranberry)
Lunch -Peanut butter honey sandwiches, cookies
Dinner -Pizza

Saturday:
Breakfast -Pancakes
Lunch -Macaroni and cheese
Dinner -Barbecue Pork, Sauerkraut, Corn

Sunday:
Breakfast -Peanut butter granola
Lunch/Dinner -Church Potluck

January is planning month....

Here is my month to month plan for this year:

January - Planning

February - Clean, Organize, Sell off surplus (house)

March - Make summer clothing

April - Clean, Organize, Sell off surplus (outside)

May - Garden/Farm

June - Garden/Farm

July - Garden/Farm

August - Make winter clothes, Winter gear, blankets, Gather/purchase wood

September - Canning, Drying, Freezing

October - Canning, Drying, Freezing

November - Holidays

December - Holidays


During January we have made the yearly farm plan, outlined the garden plan, figured out what craft items I want to work on, what house projects we want to finish, etc... then we post these month by month schedules on the wall so we can be reminded daily of what our goals are.

More organization tips coming up...

Lila Tueller designs

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-giveaway-time-again.html


Check out this fabric giveaway!!

Master Grocery List

God has given me a gift for being pretty organized. I do my grocery shopping once per month, mostly from a whole food supplier. I thought some might benefit from this master list - I make sure to order what I need from this list each month so we have a steady supply of ingredients on hand.

Here you go:


Master Grocery List:


Frozen fruit: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, peaches

Frozen veggies: spinach, broccoli, corn, green beans, mixed veggies, hot peppers, sweet peppers, zucchini

Grains: Oats, Soft white wheat, Hard white wheat, Hard Red Wheat, Rye, Spelt, Rice, Kamut, Barley, Durum Wheat

Flours: White wheat, White Spelt, Cornmeal, Masa

Canned goods: Tomato paste, Tomato sauce, Tomatoes, Tuna, Pumpkin

Spices: as needed

Baking supplies: Baking powder, Baking soda, salt, yeast, cocoa, chocolate chips, Dough Enhancer, Lemon Juice, Cream of Tartar, Corn starch

Flavor extracts: Vanilla, others as needed

Oils: Coconut, Palm Oil Shortening, Olive, Safflower

Condiments: Vinegar, Liquid Aminos

Sweeteners: Rapadura, Honey, Stevia

Nuts: Hazelnuts, Walnuts, Cashews, Pecans, Brazil Nuts, Peanuts, Peanut butter, Pistachios

Dried Fruit: Apples, Coconut, Raisins, Cherries

Drinks: Tea, Coffee, Chai

Cleaning Supplies: Bac Out, All Purpose cleaner, Soy Lube, Soy degreaser, Laundry Detergent, Non Chlorine Bleach, Bathtub Scrub, Toilet Bowl cleaner, White Vinegar, Dishwashing Soap

Paper goods: Toilet paper, Tissue, Diapers, Training Pants, Feminine Products, Trash bags, Storage bags, napkins, baby wipes

Produce: Whats in season

Toiletry items: Shampoo, Conditioner, Progesterone Cream, Deodorant, Hair spray, Air Freshener, Bubble bath, tooth cleaner

Supplements: Thytrophin, Symplex M and F, Blue Ice Royal

Beans: Kidney, Great Northern, Black, Pinto

Seeds: Sprouts

Essential Oils: As needed

Medicines: Echinacea Herbal, Throat Coat, Herba Tussin

Dairy: Butter, cheese

Farm: Alfalfa, Milk filters, Sea 90, Kelp, DE, Seeds, plants, fish fertilizer

Household items: Band aids, lightbulbs, matches, firestarters, tape, glue, pencils, pens, paper, envelopes, wood chips

Meat: Fish, chicken, beef (ground and roast), lamb, pork sausage, pork large cuts, turkey, turkey bacon, bison

Dogs: Chicken, pork bones

Healing Illness

Recently, our two littlest ones, ages 2 and almost 4 became sick - fever, lethargy, vomiting, etc... Now that we are over the illness, I told Steve that I thought I should post my thoughts on dealing with illness, both in ourselves and our children.

As a parent, its extremely hard to watch your child be sick, in pain or uncomfortable. In our allopathic society, at the first hint of discomfort, we tend to start popping medicine. However, God designed our bodies with the amazing ability to fight off illness, if we are generally healthy in body, soul and spirit.

When a virus or bacteria attacks us, our bodies will usually:

1. Heat up (fever). Our bodies heat up to kill the offending virus or bacteria.

2. We tend to stop eating/become lethargic/tired. This is because our bodies are concentrating their efforts on destroying the enemy, not on digestion and our normal work routine.

3. We have diarrhea, vomiting, runny noses, etc... - this is because our bodies are trying to purge the offenders.

Once our bodies have gone through this process, an amazing thing happens - immunity against that particular virus or bacteria.

If we take medicines to halt the healing efforts of the body, all of this is negated. Now, obviously there are circumstances that allopathic medicines are justified and necessary (such as when my first born son became septic at 11 months and ran a fever of 105 degrees) but I am referring here to the everyday cold, flu, allergy attack, etc...

As an aside, when a child becomes ill, I do use immune boosting herbs to help their bodies be extra strong in fighting the illness. I have to become better at not wanting to give them comfort foods that are sweet (since sugar weakens the immune system) but rather nourishing foods (broths, honeyed tea, etc...) - that is a post for another time.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts on illness...

Beer Braised Beef and Onion Soup

Beer Braised Beef and Onion Soup (serves 16)

1. Brine 2 chuck roasts for two days in 2 1/2 gallons of water and 1 1/4 cups of salt

2. The night before soup is to be served, generously sprinkle both sides of meat with salt and pepper. Sear both sides in several tablespoons of coconut oil and then place in roaster.

3. Add to roaster:

a. 2 large onions, thickly sliced
b. 6 cloves of garlic
c. 2 teaspoons of rosemary
d. 1 tablespoon of thyme
e. 3 cans of beer

4. Simmer overnight at 250 degrees. The next day, a few hours before serving, remove meat and add water as needed for proper amount of soup. Shred meat and return to roaster.

5. One half hour before serving, add:

a. 6 T. Sugar
b. 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
c. 2 cups of cream blended with 1/2 cup of flour


We made this recipe for Epiphany and it was quite good. My family loved it!!

Twenty Years

Today, Steve and I celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. There have been many ups and downs, mainly in regards to children, but through all of the crises we have grown so much closer together. Marriage is definitely something that gets so much better with time and the knowing of the other person. I pray that God will give us many more years to learn to love Him and each other more.

A Weekend to Remember...

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Steve and I went to the Coeur D'Alene Resort for Family Life's "A Weekend To Remember" conference, sponsored by Family Life. This is the second year we have attended. Steve's unit in the Air Force gives free conference and hotel tickets for those who would like to attend.

While some of Family Life's theology is a bit skewed, it was so wonderful to spend a weekend concentrating on nothing but Steve and our marriage. When you have children it is so easy to get wrapped up in nothing but raising them correctly (and in our case, their various issues) and neglecting the most important relationship in the family - that of husband and wife. I believe the same thing happens for men with their career.

I have begun to wonder if much more time was spent cultivating a good marriage relationship in front of the kids, making the marriage top priority (outside of God, of course), whether much of the child training issues wouldn't resolve themselves.

The organization, Family Life, will be sponsoring a video seminar, "The Art of Marriage" in February of 2011. One of our favorite speakers, Voddie Baucham will be featured. We are looking forward to it.

Anyway, I highly recommend this conference - its worth the time, money and effort to get away. If you look at Family Life's website, you can probably find a conference in your location.

Til next time...

Sweet Potato Soup, Spiced biscuits

I had a few requests for my sweet potato soup and spiced biscuits recipe on facebook so here it is - I made up this recipe some time ago because Steve likes sweet potatoes so much. I normally do not like them but I do in this soup.

This is what we do for our family:

Coarsely chop enough sweet potatoes to feed your family (for us this is approximately 10 lbs). Place in crock pot or roaster. Coarsely chop one onion (size again depending on your family). Add to sweet potatoes. Add water or chicken broth to just cover the potatoes. Cook until tender. Puree sweet potato mixture until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook one to two pounds of country or breakfast sausage, add to pureed mixture. Then add approximately one to two teaspoons of nutmeg and one quart of heavy cream. Combine and heat gently until ready to serve.


Spiced biscuits are easy. Take your normal biscuit recipe, quadruple the required sugar amount and add 2-6 teaspoons of apple pie spice. (When we make a batch of 48 biscuits we use 1.5 tablespoons of apple pie spice). For the liquid part of the recipe, combine half beer and half buttermilk. Let rest for about 10 minutes after mixing then form, bake and enjoy...:-)

Steve is home..

Will probably continue few postings for the next several weeks as God has blessed us all with Steve's return home from Afghanistan. We are looking forward to celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on the 1st of December and also attending Family Life's Weekend to Remember at the CDA resort in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy Fall - its beautiful here!!

Creamy Potato Soup

Creamy potato soup:

Cut an appropriate amount of red potatoes, onion and carrots for your family. Put in crock pot or roaster depending on amount. Cover with half beef broth, half milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low until veggies are tender. When tender, process the whole mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Put the creamed veggie mixture back into the empty crock pot. Add grated mozzarella, cooked country sausage and sour cream to mix. Heat, serve and enjoy!

Granddaughter!

Our first granddaughter was born last night, Karissa Danielle Maus to our oldest adopted son Daniel and his girlfriend. Karissa weighed 7 lbs and is 20 inches long- Baby, Mama and Daddy are doing well and we hope to have pictures soon. We would appreciate prayers as they realize the awesome gift God has given them and that they will pursue a right relationship with God and each other in order to raise this child in a godly manner.

Thank you...:-)

Still plugging away

I have been so mentally and physically tired since Steve left that I have been just accomplishing the everyday mundane tasks and not much else. People have been coming along side us in such a great way-the community mind set here has been so awesome and such a blessing. Things are happening and I hope to start posting more about all the building projects and our new farm, etc...

Fall is in the air and the grass is greening up... this is one of the moveable cow shelters that Micah Kuntz, Jonathan True, Luke Dahlin, Berne Launay and some of our boys built-they did a great job!!

Good days, Bad days

Steve has been deployed for a little over a week now. Some of the days have been hard struggles, some have flown by because of the amount of work that needs to be done. We have also had some real estate issues but our pastor here as been extraordinary in helping us negotiate and get the problems worked out. We should close on this property later this week, Lord willing.

The outpouring of love and support has been phenomenal - from folks nominating us for Extreme Makeover Home to families from church offering to build animal shelters, put in a woodstove and supply us with wood and help with getting our vehicles and motorhome/5th wheel winterized.

We have new farm members as of last week - a 7 year dream of mine was realized when we finally got our first flock of Navajo-Churro sheep. They are all different colors and are really cool - hopefully they will thrive here at Autumn Creek Ranch.

Eric and Lucas also started Veritas Press classes and most of the kids are enrolled in a co-op at our church, taking Omnibus, Science, Computer Science and Art classes. Even Emma is enrolled and she loves it.

We are excited that Nathan Clark George will be performing a concert here this coming Saturday - girls and I will be busy making cookies for a reception afterward.

I have some wool and corduroy fabric on the way, time to start working on some winter skirts (especially since I cannot find many of my winter clothes) - time to replace I guess.

We see God's hand in so much of what is going on around us, in strengthening our community here and in showing us that we are not an island and that we need help and support. We pray to be able to support those around us in their times of need as much as we have been shown love and support these past few months.

God is good!

Still here

Just a quick note to say I am still here - we moved about a week and a half ago to our new farm, "Autumn Creek Ranch". We had found out Steve's hardship waiver for retirement was not approved and some events have unfolded which I will post about later which has caused the file to be re-opened and we are praying fervently that the deployment will be cancelled.

Lucas and Eric start classes with Veritas Press online today and the rest of us resume on Monday, once I get book boxes unpacked...

Fall is in full swing here - temps have dropped considerably and we may see the first snow fall in a few weeks...:-)

An article entitled "A Spirited Rider" from the blog Femina

I am copying and pasting this article from the blog Femina because it is so good and because I want to read it often...

" I have a little flock of daughters. With four of them five years old and under, it should come as no surprise to you that we deal with a wholloping share of emotions at our house. Titus is so simple – just right up the middle and easy. He either disobeys, or he doesn’t. Sometimes, when he feels really complicated and deep, he fusses. There are no subtexts with this kid. He wants milk – that is why he is fussing and saying, “I want milk!” Not so complex – even a beginner parent can figure out a technique to deal with this. But girls are different, and sometimes that difference can leave a person completely bewildered. When it comes to little girls and their emotions, “A” does not necessarily cause “B.” But, when “B” is what needs to be disciplined, it can feel frustrating to have no clues as to what member of the alphabet actually caused it. Are you with me here?

One of our sweet little girls has a hilarious tendency which we refer to as her “drunk driving.” If she is tired, she becomes reckless and disobedient. Her eyes get a little glassy, she gets super rowdy, and you might find her unloading the freezer, or coloring her sheets with a marker, or some such clearly outlawed activity. Once, when she was in the midst of one of these times, I caught her on the kitchen counter getting into something. Surprise was my first response – “What are you doing?!” Her immediate response was to throw her hands up over her eyes in shame. It was at that moment I realized that she didn’t know what was causing it either! She was just as surprised as I was to find herself being so delinquent. It wasn’t any kind of deep malice that got her into those cupboards looking for chocolate chips – it was just a simple lack of control.

I was so thankful for that little glimpse into what was causing what with this little person, and it has really shaped the way we deal with all kinds of behavioral issues. Sometimes parents can discipline behaviors over and over and over like we are playing whack-a-mole. There is a sin! Get it! This can get very frustrating when it doesn’t seem to be helping anything. We think we are being so diligent! But the real problem is that the child doesn’t know what to do with it.

Say it is someone else’s birthday. Say your child wants a present too. Say they start fussing about it. Imagine then that then you say, “Don’t do that. That is bad. Don’t be a fusser. Deal with it.” How did that help anyone? The child is taught that if the feeling comes over them, they have already failed. That is bad! But what am I supposed to do with it? It doesn’t just go away by itself. Little girls need help sorting out their emotions – not so that they can wallow in them, but so they can learn to control them.

We tell our girls that their feelings are like horses- beautiful, spirited horses. But they are the riders. We tell them that God gave them this horse when they were born, and they will ride it their whole life. God also set us on a path on the top of a mountain together and told us to follow it. We can see for a long way – there are beautiful flowers, lakes, trees, and rainbows. (We are little girls after all!) This is how we “walk in the light as He is in the light, and have fellowship with one another.”

When our emotions act up, it is like the horse trying to jump the fence and run down into a yucky place full of spiders to get lost in the dark. A good rider knows what to do when the horse tries to bolt – you pull on the reigns! Turn the horse’s head! Get back on the path! We also tell them that God told us that if we see one of our little girls with her horse down in the mud puddle spitting at people who walk by, it is our job to haul them up, willing or unwilling, back to the path.The ways that this has helped me as a mother are pretty obvious, but I will share them anyway if you will bear with me.

First of all, the horses are not the problem. There is nothing wrong with the emotions. If we have a little rider who is woefully unprepared to control her horse, well then, we had better start with some pretty serious riding lessons. Talk to your daughters about how they might feel, and what you want to see when they do. Give them some practical hand holds, be a coach. Anticipate moments that might be hard, when the horse might bolt, and help them learn to anticipate it too. Take a little break to say, “Hey sweetie, we are going in this store, but we aren’t going to buy any toys today. If you start feeling like you want to fuss about it, what are we going to do?” Make a plan. Use code words. Wink. Encourage. Give lots of praise when you see her overcoming little emotional temptations. Be right there with her as she learns to recognize what is happening. Little girls can be scared out of their minds when their emotions charge off with them. They need the security of parents pulling them back.

The goal is not to cripple the horse, but equip the rider. A well controlled passionate personality is a powerful thing. That is what dangerous women are made of. But a passionate personality that is unbridled can cause a world of damage. If you see a lot of passion in your little girls, don’t be discouraged. It is just wonderful raw material. Our house is pretty near full to overflowing with this kind of raw material! But don’t treat it lightly either – runaway horses can be a very real threat to your little girls."