Are you the Luke 13 woman too?

Yeah, I know...you cringed when you read that. Wait, who? What woman? Is she important? What was her name again...?

Do you remember the woman in Luke 13?
No? Neither did I. I had always read over it thinking it wasn't important...because, yeah I'll be honest, I wanted to get to the good stuff. But, this IS the good stuff. 

I mean here is this woman who had probably been in the synagogue for a long time. The rabbis know her, they have seen her every week, maybe every day. Yet, no one had healed her or been able yet. 
Then there is the woman in Luke 8 who just touched Jesus' clothing(look her up later. Powerful stuff!) 
Doesn't really seem like a big deal at first. But...then I went to a women's retreat this past weekend. WOW!! I feel like these stories were explained to me in terms I could understand. And it was SO powerful in my life. I'll explain(a bit.) 

You see...I'm the secret keeper. No, it's not an official title. Some of you may know what I mean and I hurt for you, I pray the healing power of Jesus name over you. 
The secret keeper isn't told (usually) to keep it. They just do, they feel unworthy, unimportant and sometimes even unloved. Have you ever felt that way? I've always heard we all feel like this, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. *HINT* I was wrong. Really wrong. You see, Jesus cares for us-deeply, passionately and honestly. It's a love that we cannot understand. We just aren't wired to understand it. (Ephesians 3:19)

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here.  

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” 17 As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
-Luke 13:10-17 

Did you get that? Cause just reading it, I admit...I didn't get it. 

It seems like I was focusing on the wrong part of the story. He's telling these guys that they are hypocrites because they do work and unbind their animals on the sabbath, yet they cannot even see that this woman is worthy of the same treatment.  Yet, I didn't see it. 

She has probably been in the church/synagogue a long time. Jesus says 'She's one of ours, a daughter of Abraham.' She's been bent over for EIGHTEEN YEARS!! Can you imagine? The Bible doesn't say exactly how she was bent over, but she may have been looking at the floor for years. Maybe she heard about this Jesus and was there like the woman in Luke 8. Maybe it was just chance. Maybe she had nowhere else to go having spent all her money on healers and physicans.   Maybe she knew all the feet and voices that passed her by, never seeing a kind face look her way. These are a lot of maybes, but we really don't know and it's not for us to know. But, it does say that she had an infirmity, some translations say demon. 
Satan wants to bend us over ourselves. So that we cannot do God's kingdom work. 


Are you bound and bent over? Does satan have you fooled into thinking that you can't be healed? That you aren't worthy? That you don't matter? That nobody loves you and you aren't important to anyone??

LIES! ALL LIES. SATAN IS THE AUTHOR OF LIES. 

Don't listen to Him. 

I was bent over thinking it was my fault, that I somehow was to blame for someone else's abuse. 

I'm not. 

That I was some how responsible for someone's actions toward me. 

I'm not. 

 I was fooled and tricked and bent over myself with hatred, guilt, shame and regret. I don't have the power to change the past (There are a few things I'd like to fix in my life...) But, Jesus has the power, and wants to, heal us for the future. He wants to give us a future and a hope.

I'm not claiming that for my future anymore. 

See, Jesus, in His mercy calls this woman by name. We don't know it, but He does. We don't need to know everything. We just need to let him do a healing work in us. Maybe it's physical, maybe it's spiritual, or maybe, like mine, it's emotional. These chains keep us from seeing Jesus' face. 
When this woman is healed the very first thing that she sees is Jesus face. How amazing is that? Can you imagine? I can't even. I mean, you are bent over for 18 years! Nobody has healed you, then this man calls you over to him by your name. And heals you, just like that. And you look up into his sweet, sweet face. We need to seek His face. 

All things are for the Glory of the one who made us. All things are for the Glory of God, The most high, He who is worthy to be praised, He who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

He cares deeply about YOU!

In the same way he calls this woman by name. He calls you, He wants to know you, wants you to come to Him. But, He always lets us choose. 





14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.
-Ephesians 3:19


Versions stated in this post are Revised Standard Version. I encourage you to read more than one translation and find one that makes sense to you. Read your Bible and check that these things I say (or anyone says) about Jesus are true. Don't just believe something because someone tells you to believe. Investigate, pray, read, and speak to Our Father. He longs to hear from you. He longs to know you. He longs to have a relationship with you. If you don't know what this means. I will be glad to talk to you or find someone that you know in your community to speak with about Jesus. 

He loves us, Oh how He loves us. How He loves us ALL. 

Cleaning beeswax

 I LOVE having bees on site. They are amazing creatures. They pollenate my vegetables, fruits, and flowers. All for the sake of making beautiful amber honey for themselves- that I steal. HA! You can see some of my butternut squash that I've over wintered here in this first photo as well. So yummy.

So what do you do with the weird over growths of burr comb? I had to scrape a lot off when I put my packages in and they went crazy before I got another box on. I used quite a lot of it when I caught a swarm this summer. I rub the beeswax on empty frames so that the bees can get going faster and just move the wax around. It's worth it. 

I put a folded over piece of (market) cheesecloth into my double boiler. All the junk stays in the cheese cloth and most* of the wax will leak through. I think I will try another method for getting the beeswax next year though. This works, but it takes awhile.

When I poured the liquid in the silicone trays I noticed it was an odd color. I let them cool and it separated the wax to the top and the pollen on the bottom. So, now I have a bit of pollen in this as well. I poured the pollen into an old salsa jar and froze it to use in the spring for the bees to get started into brooding faster.

I'm going to use this to make some cosmetics later, so look for those posts at a later date. Zero Waste cosmetics, well as close as I can get to it anyways. One step at a time towards a better life! 

Seasonal Eating

I've been working on a lot of areas in our lives and sharing them with you. Today I want to talk about our food. Do you know where the food you eat comes from? Are you eating something in a plastic bag that is filled with yucky chemicals? I really hope that you aren't.
We started on this crazy journey by eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup from our diets, then I eliminated palm oil (We only had one slip up there, DH bought PB with palm oil in it. I talked to him about it and he understands.) I'm not going to go into why these are bad for your body and there is conflicting thoughts here, but I think that the less processed food we eat, as a whole, we are better off.
Then I starting doing a whole foods diet. Where everything was whole before I processed it in my kitchen. For example, if we want potato fries I use a potato, chop it up and bake it in the oven in some oil. Sometimes I make them spicy or add a flavoring to them to change it up. Sort of at the same time we began making the switch from boxed foods that were being marketed as healthy, to foods that I make from scratch. They are always fresher and taste much better, in our opinion anyways.
I realize that not everyone has the time to do all of these things, but if you could just do a little bit to make your diet better you would feel better, sleep better, even have better sex because your body will be getting energy and oxygen to the blood that you can use. (Trust me...)


Now the next thing that I want to tackle in our kitchen is seasonal eating.

Here is a link to a site that explains a little bit about why you should eat seasonally.

Below, this is taken from the site mentioned above and I did NOT create this list, but it is a good starting point to think about. Just because something isn't on this list doesn't mean you can't eat it. But you will figure out what is in season in your area and what isn't as you go along. I've been trying to do this a little bit, but DH doesn't want to give up certain things. I'm working on alternatives for things right now. Since we are no longer by the ocean, sea food is old and really expensive by the time it gets to us. That's not acceptable in my book. So, I'm purchasing lake fish that are native to the area, like crappie, bass, catfish, perch, sunfish, walleye and trout.For replacing something like oysters I'm growing salsify, which tastes like oysters but doesn't have the texture or consistency so it's good in soups and stews.

On to the list!

• In spring, focus on tender, leafy vegetables that represent the fresh new growth of this season. The greening that occurs in springtime should be represented by greens on your plate, including Swiss chard, spinach, Romaine lettuce, fresh parsley, and basil.
• In summer, stick with light, cooling foods in the tradition of traditional Chinese medicine. These foods include fruits like strawberries, apple, pear, and plum; vegetables like summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and corn; and spices and seasonings like peppermint and cilantro.
• In fall, turn toward the more warming, autumn harvest foods, including carrot, sweet potato, onions, and garlic. Also emphasize the more warming spices and seasonings including ginger, peppercorns, and mustard seeds.
• In winter, turn even more exclusively toward warming foods. Remember the principle that foods taking longer to grow are generally more warming than foods that grow quickly. All of the animal foods fall into the warming category including fish, chicken, beef, and lamb. So do most of the root vegetables, including carrot, potato, onions and garlic. Eggs also fit in here, as do corn and nuts.

This is a helpful list, but not all inclusive as I stated. But if you start growing your own garden you will soon learn when the seasons are around you. There are different regions and zones within the United States. So whats in season in the South isn't in season in the upper midwest. So, I've learned to adjust my eating. Certain things are never going to be in season in your location though. For example,  rice isn't grown in my area. Wild rice is and I try to eat that in the fall, winter and early spring as it is gathered in the fall. But, I buy a large bag of rice from the store in town when I need it. I'm still looking for someone local who collects it. 

For me I love being able to walk out to my garden and pick my salad greens in early May before most people have even started planting yet. 

It's a journey, but one I would love for you to join me on. 

Cat waste part 2

Starting off Here are my little poopers. To the left is Grayson and to the right is Calypso (We call her Caly for short.) 

I wanted to add some visual aids to the zero waste cats. The hardest part about having zero waste cats is dealing with the litter, poo and the packaging it all comes in to you. 

We can't do anything about the poo, that's a natural process. The liter and the packaging we can change!

This is a picture of the litter I used to use. I bought it in these big buckets because at least I could use the buckets for something, until they broke. Now I put the spent liter and the poo in this empty bucket. When it gets full(or close enough) I take it outside, dig a hole and cover it back up so it can compost. 

This is the liter we are using now. It's in a compostable cardboard container. I've already put one in my compost pile. I rip off the stickers and add them to the landfill waste, because it's plastic based and I try to keep that out of my gardens.

This is a picture of the compost inside. Its made from cedar and corn. It actually smells pretty good, but not like the chemical laden stuff. This is also widely available at Petsmart. (which is where I've been buying it.) It comes in 2 sizes. I buy the bigger size so I don't have to go as often. But, if I only had 1 cat I might just get the smaller one. 

That's about all there is to it. It's simple, and not too much different than what I was doing. 

We're working on going to a different food that I can recycle the bags for as well. I'm still on the search. Right now we're using Blue, because it doesn't have corn and soy products in it. 

Are you zero wasting your pets? I'd love to hear any tips that you might have for us. 

Meow!

Zero Waste-Month #3-May

Goal #1-Switch every family member over to using reusable bags

Goal Obtained. 

Goal #2- Stop using the plastic bags in the produce section.

Goal Obtained. 
I thought this would be easy, and for me it is easy. DH goes to the grocery store so infrequently. But seems to keep bringing these bags home. I take them to the recycling container when I go shopping the next time and I don't say anything about it. But, he brought 3 home this month. Although he's using his reusable bag! :) 

Goal #3 Stop junk from coming into the house

Will this ever happen?

Goal #4 Compost all paper that does come into the house.

Goal Obtained. 

Goal #5 Shop at the Co-op in town for bulk items

Goal Obtained. 

Goal #6 Switch to "ReUsies" instead of plastic storage bags. 

Goal Obtained.
What do I do with these zipper plastic bags I have now is the issue??

Goal #7 Stop using disposable head razors.

No Change.

Goal #8 Get more serious about composting.

Goal Obtained.

 Goal #9 Switch to using handkerchiefs instead of tissue.

No Change.
I am composting the tissues I am using.
Trying to finish up the boxes that are left in the house. I still need to buy DH a hankie to use.

Goal #10 Stop my trash service.

Still not feasible yet.
This may never be feasible for use because I cannot find a drop off recycle place in our area.
But, we are sending less and less to the landfill. :)

Goal #11 Make our own bread from scratch. 

DH's bread!! I'm doing sourdough.

Goal #12 Replace freezer bags with jars.

Trying to get all my jars in one place is difficult. I have some upstairs to use, but more things that I want to freeze are cooked meat (ham that I cooked and diced for something else. It's hard to break up in the jar.) and soup. The soup does well in the ice cream containers. ButI can't seem to get anymore of those. I really want to make sorbets in the summer with the extra fruits. 
I'm not freezing as much as I thought I would be though. Maybe I just don't need this as much and the jars I have will work just fine with this? 
Although, I do occasionally cut up bits of ham and freeze them. I'll probably need to freeze them on a sheet pan and then put them in the jar so I can get them out. 


Goal #13 Compost cat poop in a separate area

Goal Obtained.



Total we sent out 2 bags for recycling and 1 bag for the landfill.