I had a great birthday dinner out with three of my best friends here. Rich set it up so that there was a big bouquet of roses and stargazers (the flowers he used to get me when we were dating and which were in our wedding bouquets), a lovely card and a blow torch at the table waiting for me. I'm going to be making creme brulee soon.

The posole I made last week became two other meals. We used it in quesadillas on Saturday (because we had so many leftovers) and then as the filling in omelets on Sunday morning. Which were delicious. We have a few duplicates this week because of schedule shifts and having a ton left over. This Sunday was our church picnic, so basically everyone filled up there and we ate snack tray at home while watching movies.

Our apricot tree did not have any freezing or other problems this year, so it is loaded down and we are starting to eat lots of apricots. We'll be sick of them soon, but we're happy about it for now.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Posole Omelets, Milk
  Dinner: Popcorn, Veggie Tray and Apricots


• Monday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Cinnamon Sugar, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Beef Machacas, Black Beans, Indian Fry Bread, Chocolate Pudding Pie


• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Strawberry Yogurt Muffins, Hard Boiled Eggs, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Ham and White Beans with Cornbread


• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs and Leftover Cornbread, Iced Tea
  Dinner: Roasted Steelhead with White Wine Sauce, Garlic Pasta & Steamed Green Beans


• Thursday
  Breakfast: Baked French Toast Filled with Apricots, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Picnic Chicken, Barbecue Beans, Grilled Corn, Lemonade


• Friday
  Breakfast: Ful with Harissa, Green Chile Sauce and Bread, Mint Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Torteggas, Fruit Plate


• Saturday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Hot Sauce and Tortillas, Apricots, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Cajun Venison Picante with Rice, Scallions and Hot Pepper Vinegar

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Family, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen

We are back home for good. We spent the last part of last week mostly recovering from all the travel and family stuff. Thank God we are finally finished with school. Well, the children are. I still have some grading to do.

This week, we are trying to be more on track for our regular life. With half the summer gone and Rich having taken so much time off, our plan to take some vacation time to work on our yard and home is pretty much dead. So, one more year of unfinished projects. We're doing what we can and we'll see where we get before the freezes hit and there isn't much that can be done outside or in the ground (our window wells).

I did do a little menu planning last week, but didn't think it was all that necessary to post anything about it. Again, we were mostly in recovery mode. So, here is this week's plan. My birthday is Tuesday, and I'm going out to dinner with a few of my friends, but I'm making sure there is dinner for the family while I'm gone.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Craisins, Water
  Dinner: Brandy Braised Beef, Rice Pilaf, Buttered Peas, Peach Crumble
• Monday
  Breakfast: Spelt Pancakes with Maple Syrup, Coffee
  Dinner: Tender and Crisp Chicken with Sweet Tomatoes, Hard Rolls
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Baked Blackberry Lemon Oatmeal, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Cuban Pork, Quick and Dirty Mexican Rice, Black Beans
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Ta'ameya, Hummus, Khoubz Araby (Pita Bread), Veggies
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Strawberry Yogurt Muffins, Hard Boiled Eggs, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Posole with Leftover Pork
• Friday
  Breakfast: Vegetable Hash with Poached Eggs, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Torteggas, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Waffles, Bacon, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Picnic Chicken, Cool and Creamy Potato and Pea Salad, Cowboy Beans, Grilled Corn, Lemonade

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Family, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Menu Plans, Tales from the Kitchen

September 28, 1947 - July 1, 2012

My father in law, Stephen, finished the race this Sunday, July 1. Rich and I were privileged to be there with him as he passed from this world to the next. It was the first time for either of us to walk with someone all the way from life to death. It was hard. It was humbling. It was beautiful. The only comparison we could come up with was childbirth. We were helping birth a life from the temporal to the eternal.

As of Thursday, there was no doubt in any of our minds that Steve would be gone by the end of the weekend. On Friday, he gathered us and the children to him to make sure he could say his goodbyes and we all were able to tell him that we loved him. On Saturday, he called his wife to him to tell her how much he loved her and that he thought it was his day to leave. Alexander sat vigil with me during the day on Saturday, and it was precious to behold. As valuable and sweet as that was, I am still glad he was not there while his grandfather was actively dying. He was in the room with Rich and Steve and I and I pulled out my prayer book for us to pray the litany of the dying. My sweet son grabbed hold of that book and prayed it with me as fervently as I've ever seen him pray.

A Commendatory Prayer for a Sick Person at the point of Departure

O ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of just men made perfect, after they are delivered from their earthly prisons; We humbly commend the soul of this thy servant, our dear brother, into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator, and most merciful Saviour; beseeching thee, that it may be precious in thy sight. Wash it, we pray thee, in the blood of that immaculate Lamb, that was slain to take away the sins of the world; that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted, through the lusts of the flesh or the wiles of Satan, being purged and done away, it may be presented pure and without spot before thee; through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen.

LITANY FOR THE DYING.

O GOD the Father;
Have mercy upon the soul of thy servant.
O God the Son;
Have mercy upon the soul of thy servant.
O God the Holy Ghost;
Have mercy upon the soul of thy servant.
O holy Trinity, one God;
Have mercy upon the soul of thy servant.

From all evil, from all sin, from all tribulation;
Good Lord, deliver him.
By thy holy Incarnation, by thy Cross and Passion, by thy precious Death and Burial;
Good Lord, deliver him.
By thy glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost;
Good Lord, deliver him.

We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God;
That it may please thee to deliver the soul of thy servant from the power of the evil one, and from eternal death;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee mercifully to pardon all his sins.
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to grant him a place of refreshment and everlasting blessedness;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.
That it may please thee to give him joy and gladness in thy kingdom, with thy saints in light;
We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world;
Have mercy upon him.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world;
Have mercy upon him.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world;
Grant him thy peace.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

OUR Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Let us pray.

O SOVEREIGN Lord, who desirest not the death of a sinner; We beseech thee to loose the spirit of this thy servant from every bond, and set him free from all evil; that he may rest with all thy saints in the eternal habitations; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

All night long, Rich and I held vigil with Steve along with a childhood friend of his. We told funny stories, laughed, prayed, sang, cried. We cheered him on, as we knew he was so close to that finish line. We held Steve and cared for him as his body held on to life and as life passed from him. It was the first all nighter I have had since college. We let Steve's friend take a rest at around 4:30 a.m., and Rich tried to let me sleep a little at around 5:30, but I couldn't. So, we each took turns not really sleeping and got about 20 minutes or so while the other kept watch. Steve gave me his last smile. Rich said something that made me laugh, and Steve turned toward me and just beamed. We prayed for his death to be peaceful and quiet and, at the end, it was. He was at peace with God and with his family. I was sending an e-mail to a priest we are friends with to ask him to pray as Steve was at that moment passing from this life to the next and two minutes later, Rich, who had been nodding off at his father's bedside jerked awake and told me that he thought his father was gone. We checked, and he was, so we called his mother and friend into the room. I would not have traded the experience for the world. I just wish it hadn't come so soon.

In the morning, we looked up the lectionary readings for the day and found that all of the readings had to do with God's desire for us to live and conquering death so that we might rise with Him. It was heartening to look at the first reading and find these words from Wisdom 1:13 - 14 and 2:23

"God did not make death,
nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For He fashioned all things that they might have being...

For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of His own nature He made him."

When Steve died, Rich took up the prayer book to pray the commendation for the soul departing and for the soul which has departed.

DEPART, O Christian soul, out of this world,
In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created thee.
In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed thee.
In the Name of the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth thee.
May thy rest be this day in peace, and thy dwellingplace in the Paradise of God.

A Commendatory Prayer when the Soul is Departed.

INTO thy hands, O merciful Saviour, we commend the soul of thy servant, now departed from the body. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee, a sheep of thine own fold, a lamb of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of thy mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

Steve held on through July as a final act of love to his wife, so that she could be better taken care of here. We are so thankful for hospice and that he was able to take his final days at home with his family there. His battle with cancer was only 34 days. Though we are grieving the loss of a beloved father, grandpa, husband, brother and friend, we rejoice that he has run into the arms of his Lord and we know God rushed to embrace this son of His, who finished strong. May his memory be eternal!



In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise; upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, the poor man, may you have eternal rest

Labels: Faith and Morality, Family, Prayer Requests