Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

I didn't mean to take that long of a break between posting. However, I had a huge, miserable outbreak on my hand again. Please keep praying. Snow and ice kept us busy, we had to drive to Spokane to get me to a doctor so I could be referred to a decent dermatologist (I will see one this week), and that doesn't take into account preparations for the Nativity Feast, and a semi-impromptu family trip. We had already planned to take an anniversary trip, but instead of leaving the kids at home with friends to look after them, we planned a trip to their godparents, and visited with them, and other friends and family, then left the kids there so Rich and I could get away, came back for a couple days and headed home. We're on our 20th year of marriage now, which is a pretty respectable start.

We're still feasting, but Friday this week will bring us back to our normal pattern of abstinence in our diet. Our meals this week are kind of catch as catch can, though, as we are in the middle of phase two of our remodel and a third of our house doesn't have electricity while part of the house is being worked on, and there is stuff scattered everywhere from that room. Fortunately, the kitchen still has power, and the heat in our bedroom does, but none of the outlets are on in our room, so we are going to bed by candlelight. In the meantime, the weather, and then a family emergency at the butcher's, delayed Sir Francis Bacon's demise. He had his death sentence commuted three times. However, that meant that we were still feeding him in below zero weather, and trying to keep water to him as it froze into a giant block of ice pretty much instantly and the temperatures haven't gotten above freezing in almost two weeks. He's supposed to get it tomorrow, and we will have hams, pork shoulder roasts and cubes, bacon, cheek meat, and see if we can get the tail to roast. All the rest of the meat will be turned into ground pork, and we'll have them grind the fat for us to render into lard. Normally, this isn't how we'd handle a pig, but he was intact, since he had herniated and we didn't want to kill him in the castration, so we don't want to have to worry about a too strong flavor in the meat.

So, life isn't quite normal yet. And I wasn't able to make our 12 days of cookies like I normally do for Christmas. Actually, we haven't made any cookies. I'll see if the kids want to do that this week. Alexander returned to classes today, and we will begin school work at home next week. Normally, I start right after Epiphany, but with it being a Wednesday, and us just returning this past weekend, and the remodel going on, and the chaos we're dealing with right now, I decided that the one day of school work we'd miss this week was not that important to me. The girls begin ballet again this week, too, and we need to get Jerome started practicing for baseball with a friend who plays on a high school team, as this is the first year he actually has to try out to play.

Oh, and I can't wait for the snow to go away, but it doesn't look like it will happen until March. We don't usually get a ton of snow, but this year we've gotten at least 10 inches in the past month, and even a little bit doesn't go away here, because we live in a miserably cold place during the winter. Four seasons, they said. You'll get snow each year, they said. I hate winter. And snow and I are on a trial separation now. I never loved snow, anyway, but I liked how pretty it was, and it was fun to play a little in it with the kids. But that was when we'd get no more than a couple/few inches and it would go away after a week, at most. Now, it is as though the White Witch rules our town for six months out of the year. I don't need all four seasons, thank you very much. On the west side, we had four months of spring, three and a half months of summer, four months of fall, and about two weeks of winter. That was perfect.

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras, though this is complicated by it sometimes being I Esdras being Ezra in modern language and II Esdras being Nehemiah, and in that case, there is a III Esdras, it really depends on which translation you read).

Since I haven't posted since the third Sunday of Advent, I'll include all the readings I didn't post, if you want to try to catch up with us. To be honest, if we miss a day or 12, we just start at the readings for the day we are on, as we know we can hit it again the following year. However, if you want to do it in 12 months, there is a way to do it. I suppose you could skip the Psalm and Proverbs readings, as those are the second time around, and that would help you double/triple up readings to get them all in this week.

Dec. 20: Jeremiah 23-26, Psalms 114, Proverbs 24:35–39, Hebrews 12:28-13:25
Dec. 21: Jeremiah 27-28, Psalms 115-116, Proverbs 25:1–5, James 1
Dec. 22: Jeremiah 29-31, Psalms 117:1–16, Proverbs 25:6–11, James 2
Dec. 23: Jeremiah 32-35, Psalms 117:17–29, Proverbs 25:12–16, James 3
Dec. 24: Jeremiah 36-38, Psalms 118:1–16, Proverbs 25:17–21, James 4
Dec. 25: Jeremiah 39-41, Psalms 118:17–32, Proverbs 25:22–26, James 5
Dec. 26: Jeremiah 42-44, Psalms 118:33–48, Proverbs 25:27–31, 1 Peter 1
Dec. 27: Jeremiah 45-48, Psalms 118:49–64, Proverbs 26:1–5, 1 Peter 2
Dec. 28: Jeremiah 49-52, Psalms 118:65–80, Proverbs 26:6–9, 1 Peter 3
Dec. 29: Baruch 1-2, Psalms 118:81–96, Proverbs 26:10–13, 1 Peter 4
Dec. 30: Baruch 3-5, Psalms 118:97–112, Proverbs 26:14–17, 1 Peter 5
Dec. 31: Epistle of Jeremiah, Psalms 118:113–128, Proverbs 26:18–23, 2 Peter 1
Jan. 1: Lamentations 1, Psalms 118:129–144, Proverbs 26:24–29, 2 Peter 2
Jan. 2: Lamentations 2, Psalms 118:145–160, Proverbs 27:1–5, 2 Peter 3

• Sunday Lamentations 3, Psalms 118:161–176, Proverbs 27:6–10, I John 1:1-2:1
  Breakfast: Oatmeal and Brown Sugar, Milk and Tea
  Dinner: Leftover Ham, Toast, Cheesecake
• Monday Lamentations 4, Psalms 119-120, Proverbs 27:11–15, I John 2:2–27
  Breakfast: Fried Eggs, Crackers, Sliced Oranges, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Hot Dogs, Steam Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic and Tarragon
• Tuesday Lamentations 5, Psalms 121-122, Proverbs 27:16–20, I John 2:28-3:24
  Breakfast: Harvest Pancakes, Fruit Plate, Mint Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Meatloaf, Wild Rice Dressing, Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges, Mashed Potatoes
• Wednesday - Feast of Epiphany/Theophany Ezekiel 1-3, Psalms 123-124, Proverbs 27:21–24, I John 4:1–19
  Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Waffles with Butter, Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Thai Beef Soup with Jasmine Rice, Sliced Oranges
• Thursday Ezekiel 4-7, Psalms 125-126, Proverbs 27:25–29, I John 4:20-5:21
  Breakfast: Chilaquiles with Chorizo, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Cornbread and Sausage Gravy, Veggie Sticks, Fruit Plate
• Friday Ezekiel 8-11, Psalms 127-128, Proverbs 28:1–5, II John
  Breakfast: Slow Cooker Rice Pudding with Apples and Dried Cranberries, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Beet Gratin with Fontina and Walnuts, Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
• Saturday Ezekiel 12-14, Psalms 129-130, Proverbs 28:6–11, III John
  Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls, Bacon, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Roast Chicken Legs, Baked Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli

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.

Labels: Christmas, Church Year, Epiphany, Family, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Homesteading, House, Menu Plans, Romance and Relationship, Tales from the Kitchen