What a week! / Menu Ideas.

Well we had a pretty eventful week. For starters our Alaskan weather is living up to one of its familiar names " the frigid north". This week we experienced tempts anywhere from -5 to -15 below zero. That was of course at night and around the Anchorage area. Where as during the day we had highs like 5 to 10 above. We are actually thankful for those temps. Other places further north are not so warm, ha ha ha... In the interior, Fairbanks and Tok had tempts from -30 to -60 below zero. Due to the extreme cold tempts our station wagon was not wanting to perform well. We had to get our second station wagon running, and that took a little work. First we had to uncover it from all the buried snow. Then we had to get the battery working, ended up buying a new one. Finally we had to air up one of the tires due to a slow leak. We tried to figure out where the leak is but have yet to find it. In a few days we may have to get the valve stem replaced and sealed. Hopefully the weather will warm up a bit and we can get our other wagon fixed and running as well.

Had a great time reading out of Mathew this week. Here are a few verses from the chapters of Mathew that we read from this week. Mathew 10 : 39:" Whoever find his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Mathew 11:28-30 28. "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.'' Mathew 12:36-37 and 48-50; 36. "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.'' 48. But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?''
49. And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!
50. "For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.''
Mathew 13:18-23 18. "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
19. "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
20. "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21. "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22. "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23. "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.''
Mathew 14: 27-33 When Jesus walks on water and calms the storm, 27. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.''
28. And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.''
29. So He said, "Come.'' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
30. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!''
31. And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?''
32. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God.''

I enjoy reading the parables that Jesus taught the disciples and others with. There is nothing more intriguing than hearing a story that has a valuable message to it. I know many, (myself included) who learn better by someone else's mistakes. Although some of the best lessons are learned from making our own mistakes, the parables are there for us to understand so we don't do exactly that.
Something about the parable of the four soils just really speaks to my heart. I think it is b/c we may know of others around us who are described as one of those soils. It is actually very saddening. I wish everyone would except the Lord and his word like the last soil mentioned. The one who received the seed and produced an abundant crop. I pray daily that my children become soil like that and ready for the harvest.

I think for many of us we can relate to Peter. His life reflected some flaws, but he certainly didn't lack motivation and desire to please the Lord. He certainly of all the disciples had a behavior many of us can understand, if not emphasize with. I consider Peter and his errors and later his faithfulness unto death, as being an example which we can learn from. Possibly even to tap into as to challenge us, to grow our faith. Learning these experiences of Peter's helps us to visualize the human aspects of our own walk w/ the Lord. Peter's own errors gave him plenty of ways to relate to others who were weak in their faith in the beginning also. Of course learning from his errors made him the successful apostle, preaching, teaching and baptizing others into the Kingdom of GOD.
After all he may have made a few mistakes, but through it all he remained obedient and "Fed the Sheep".

My menu for this week: February 11-15

Monday- Spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread.

Tuesday- Tilapia(fish) w/ rosemary and garlic seasoning and long grain and white rice w/ green beans.

Wednsday- Potato Soup w/ ham pieces and corn and cornbread w/ creamed corn inside.

Thursday- Turkey Stroganoff and egg noodles and mixed veggies and rolls (homemade croissants). (Cream of mushroom soup added to browned ground turkey and chopped onions and milk. Then mixed together w/ cooked egg noodles,( about 2-3 cups cooked noodles).

Friday- Pizza homemade of course. Made with dough from our bread machine.

Prayers for this week; may the Bible readings be more encouraging to my spirit, and a learning tool for my children, prayer for a family who are going through many struggles, that our visit and time spent w/grandma (my mom flying in from Texas) is a blessing to all of us, that our friends little boy will begin to heal from his broken hip (little Issac), the hearts and spirits of those who need to refresh their spirits with that of the Lords and that we all shed our robes of pride and embrace the garment of humility.