Bible Reading – A Brilliant Plan

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Sandy Manning

My youngest daughter and I are involved in a large homeschool co-op that meets on Fridays for 10 weeks in the Fall and 10 in the Spring.  I have the privilege and fun of teaching 7th – 12th graders a class called Current Events and Biblical Worldview.  I spend a lot of time stressing the importance of developing a Biblical worldview and that they must deliberately endeavor to do this by reading/studying God’s Word daily.  I emphasize to them that if you don’t do this, by default you will embrace the world’s values, ideas and behaviors. I recently learned a brilliant plan to read the Bible.

In the past I have done a couple of Bible studies by Beth Moore and enjoyed them very much.  Lately, I have come to realize though, that the best Bible study is to well, read the Bible!  I recently heard John MacArthur give a Bible reading plan that I wish I had heard many years ago.  He suggested reading the Old Testament straight through by reading about 15 minutes a day.  For the New Testament he said to choose one book and read it daily for a month.  Longer books could be broken up by reading seven chapters of it for a month then the next month read the next seven and so on.  Doing this it would take 2-1/2 years to go through the whole Bible.  I don’t remember how many times that means you would read the O.T. in that amount of time.  He said that this way, over the course of a month, you really get to know that book.  In fact, people ask him why he still reads the King James version and he said that if he got a new Bible, he would be lost as he can see in his mind exactly where on the page a certain chapter of a book is because he has read it so many times.  I think this plan is brilliant.  How often have you read a passage and then later can’t remember what it was about?  I think that is a common experience. This method gets God’s Word firmly fixed in your mind so the Lord can use it “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Tim. 3:16)

I receive no benefit for promoting John MacArthur, but a book that is very helpful for understanding the Scripture is one by him called The MacArthur Bible Handbook. This has a survey of each book of the Bible, outlines, maps and more. Some of this is also in his study Bible which I also really like and recommend.  His study Bible has lots and lots of notes in it from his decades of study.  While the notes people like him put in their study Bibles are not inspired like the Scripture, his are scholarly and accurate so you don’t end up with a wildly wrong interpretation.  He is one Bible teacher that has remained a faithful student of the Word of God for a very long time so you don’t have to worry that he will lead you off in a wrong direction.  It is important to rightly observe the passage of Scripture (what does it say, what are the facts such as is done in the Bible Handbook mentioned above), then rightly interpret the Scripture (what does it mean)  and then finally apply the Scripture in your own life.

One thing I do when I am reading a book for a month is to listen to it some days.  At www.biblegateway.com there is an audio Bible which is what I use.  One thing to do for proper interpretation is to compare Scripture with Scripture and not take verses out of context.  Another helpful resource to do this is The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. If you are interested, read the description of the book at the link.

So my favorite Bible study would be to study the Bible yourself by consistently reading it through and allow God to make His word a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.

 

 

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A Bridal Shower Memory/Idea

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Sandy Manning

Thirty-two years ago I had the privilege of being treated to a number of  bridal showers. Each was special and most appreciated.  I want to tell about one that was a bit different and unique to me. The hostess, Cathy Hill who threw me the shower, was friends with my Mom and I babysat her children for years. She gave me a kitchen shower. Her husband owned a big grocery store in town so she even had a shopping cart integrated into the decorations.

Everyone was asked to bring a recipe with a pantry ingredient(s) and a prep tool and/or baking/serving dish used for the recipe. I have those recipes in my recipe box even now and I still make some. One of my Mom’s friends gave me a recipe for Chicken Divan and a casserole dish to bake it in. I have made this recipe a lot and being the firstborn that I am, I always baked it in that dish until my family grew too large and I had to put it into something bigger!

I just realized that I always used broken up saltine crackers instead of the bread crumbs. You can sub fresh broccoli that you have steamed and it can be cut up instead of spears.  I wouldn’t use chopped broccoli though. Using a rotisserie chicken is a terrific shortcut and also adds extra flavor.

I found the memory book where I recorded all my engagement events.  I was hoping to find a picture that I could post here but the quality was too poor.  I looked through the list of gifts I received and who gave them to me.  Part of the gift one lady gave me was a bunch of canned goods with the labels removed! So I had to open it and then decide what to do with it!  I don’t know if that is a good idea or not really.

This recipe from the shower hostess is one that is wonderful. When I introduced this to my in-laws, they loved it and made it often. Some in my family do not like cranberries so I always make this for them on Thanksgiving.

There is something special to me having those recipe cards in people’s handwriting.  I would certainly ask people to do that. You could provide a recipe card with their shower invitation. These days, one could also pass on favorite food-blog information to a new bride. Recently I gave a bridal gift to one of the dental hygienist’s that we have gone to for so many years we have become friends.  I got her a darling Flirty Apron and gave her favorite family recipes picked by each of our four children she has watched grow up. I added a personal comment on each about the child who chose each recipe.

Back to my kitchen shower a minute.  One darling decoration on the food table was an arrangement and in it were two little dolls made out of baby socks.  One was a bride and one a bridesmaid.  I decided to use these as ornaments on my Christmas tree and have done so every year since we married.  I have no idea how to make them.  Sure wish I did though. You can get a glimpse of them, albeit from a bad angle, in this picture.

It is funny looking back to realize how perfect that shower was for me.  I didn’t realize then, of course, how much I would love to cook for our family and love all the small appliances, dishes, and even the smallest kitchen tool as I now do.  All these years later, it is so special to take out something I received many, many years ago and remember the people who were then a significant part of my life.

Bridal showers aren’t a common event for me these days.  Not too many of our children’s friends are getting married yet but I look forward to the day I might get to throw a kitchen pantry shower for someone.  Just don’t think I’ll be able to incorporate a shopping cart into the decor!

 

 

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Blogging

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Sandy Manning

It is already another Friday that I am joining Kelly’s Korner with her “Show Us Your Life” link about blogging advice.  This week has really flown by since we are spending it with family in Nashville.

Now why would anyone want advice from someone who still has a July banner on their blog?  Since we are with family we never get to see, that is waiting until I get home.  Anyway, I am brand new to writing a blog but I have been reading many blogs over the past two to three years and one piece of advice I would give and will try to follow on this blog, is to not make the blog entries too long.  Some blogs I go to have long posts and for some reason those interest me less or  I tend to skim over much of it even if it is well written with good content.  I find it less true if there are pictures throughout the entry but still, blog posts just seem to need to be shorter than longer.

I’d love feedback.  Agree or disagree?  Is it just a personal preference?

 

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Yes, I know it is August but…..

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Sandy Manning

In case you are just finding yourself here for the first time, I do realize we have come to a new month.  I have a new banner for August in the works but we are visiting with my husband’s family in Nashville and that is getting all of my attention for the moment!

We had banana pudding for dessert tonight and as soon as I can get to it, I will post the recipe.  It is fabulous!  It is so great we have had it three times in as many weeks.  And that is coming from someone who isn’t a huge banana pudding person.

Be back soon……

 

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Child of the Week

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Sandy Manning

I’m joining “Show us Your Life” at Kelly’s Korner again this week where she is asking people to share their parenting advice.  Every parent deals with sibling rivalry and some studies say it is the one thing that most drives parents crazy!  I have a great idea for you!  If your children are too young for this, print this and put it in a place to refer back to in a couple of years.  It is seriously that good!

Our two oldest children are boys.  They are now 25 and 23.  They are 23 months apart. They had a love/hate relationship growing up!  They would argue about everything and anything.  At lunch they would argue about who got the pointy end of a banana I would cut into two pieces.  Totally serious!  We had two melamine plates that were alike.  Exactly. Oh except for that little brown spot on the edge over which they would argue about who got the “spotty” plate.  They would argue about who got to hold “Daddy’s watch hand.”  Yes, the hand he wore his watch on.  They (now add their younger by 2-1/2 years sister) also would argue about who sat where during our read aloud time or while watching TV. Apparently there was just something super special about our love seat!  I remember seating being a big issue!  Before air bags in the front seat came along, they would argue about who got to sit in the front. They would also argue about who got to drink the “sips” from an empty soda can after I poured the soda in a cup. Anyone with children knows how they compete and fuss with each other over e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g and we got very tired of managing disputes like this.  It can be so draining!

When they were about 5, 7 and 9 years old, I read an idea somewhere that I adapted into what we called, for many years, “Child of the Week.”  This is brilliant and I would have used it when they were even younger if only I had the idea!

This is about how old the kids were when we started this.

In rotating order, one of the children is Child of the Week.   We took their individual pictures and hung the one who was child of the week on the fridge.  We probably did this so my husband and I would remember who it was that week! When we had disputes as stated above, the Child of the Week would get to choose or have the privilege.  We also felt it was important that responsibilities were attached and not just privileges.  It is important that children are not encouraged to be self-centered.  If this was just about “getting their way” even if just for the week, it allows them to see themselves as the center of the universe. This kind of thinking is something we as parents try to train out of our children so we think it is very important for responsibilities to attached.  So for instance the Child of the Week was also the designee to empty the wastebaskets throughout the house each week, dust the breakfast room chairs and often be the go-to person for any job I wanted help with.  Any jobs could be assigned.  You could also let them pick where to eat out or what pizza toppings to put on a pizza.  Use your own creativity and needs to fit your family. Another benefit to this plan was that the younger children weren’t always muscled or manipulated by the elder to get his way. It leveled the playing field so to speak for them. It is quite typical for the firstborn to be bossy and controlling with their younger siblings and it is good for some of that to be prevented.

My eldest son would look months in advance to see who would be Child of the Week at Christmas!  That is just how he rolled!  Our second son asked once if I knew who held the record for having the most children. My husband recalled reading in Guinness World records that a woman had 69 children in her lifetime. My son thought for a moment and said, “Wow, just think how long it would take to be child of the week!” Sadly, our youngest never got to be part of this as there is too big an age gap. Now she says she is child of the year!

This is  a great technique to add to your parenting and a simple way to eliminate some of the sibling rivalry that is guaranteed to happen in every family!

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Relatively speaking

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Sandy Manning

The official high today in Dallas, TX was 106 degrees.  Relatively low humidity though.  Woo Hoo!  R.e.l.a.t.i.v.e.l.y…..

Especially if this is you in a big hot mascot costume!  This is my son.  No, not the boy, but the prairie dog mascot.  I’m totally not kidding.  I am serious.  He looks more like his father!

There is a minor league baseball game in our town tonight.  As of 8:00 p.m. it is still over 100 degrees.  Surely this is one of the more awful jobs to have in this heat!  Minor league baseball + big furry mascot costume + Texas summer = I die at the thought!  He is tougher than I would ever be!

Note:  Lest you think my son the prairie dog is a mean mascot punching this poor boy, let me explain that the boy came in a little closer than he was instructed and they did make contact but the boy wasn’t hurt and he actually thought this was pretty cool.  And how about the perfect timing of the photographer?!  The boy was given this picture too.

My son would love to tell you:  please do not pull the mascot’s tail; yes, it is hot inside there and no, there is no type of cooling system and please do not punch the mascot – it hurts!  That is my public service announcement for today on behalf of mascots everywhere!

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Show Us Your Life – Marriage Advice

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Sandy Manning

I’m joining Kelly’s Korner today where she is asking her readers to share their best marriage advice.  My husband and I are less than two months from our 32nd anniversary.  My best advice to anyone is to covenant never to let divorce be an option.   I think most people could find a reason to consider divorce at some point as marriage ebbs and flows (of course I understand there can be issues like infidelity and physical violence that present special consideration)  and no one ever finds the “perfect” mate.  Your spouse didn’t find a perfect mate either! If you choose never to consider divorce, you then push through difficulties and dry times and you find the sweetness that comes with years of togetherness.  My husband knew me when I was young, when I had blond hair that didn’t need highlighting, when I was pregnant and lost pregnancies.  I remember his parents and I was there when both of his parents faced tough illnesses that eventually took their lives.  We shared all of the years of our children growing up and watching some of them launching into adulthood. Together we have gone through our own health issues, financial issues, job issues, moving and moving and moving!  We have had many special anniversaries together.  We look forward to becoming parents-in-law and having grandchildren. We have promised that our children will never have to be shuffled between parents who no longer live together or have to choose who to spend holidays with.  Even though they are getting older, divorce never gets easier for them.

This reminds me of the joke about the 90+ year old couple who goes to an attorney seeking a divorce.  He says, “Well OK but let me ask you, why now after 68 years of marriage?  The couple answers, “We were waiting for the kids to die off!”

Don’t be like them!  Make it work. The sweetness of a lifetime together is so worth it!

 

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I Love Claude

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Sandy Manning

This post is going to be unique (for me).  I depend on recipes when I cook.  I don’t create recipes, I follow them. I always say the strength of my cooking is the recipes I find!  So this is the ONE and only time I am going to share a recipe that is not exact in measurements.

I am not a native Texan but I got this BBQ brisket recipe from someone who is.  The first time I had it, I loved it and now this is the brisket recipe I always use.

Brisket can be purchased whole vacuum packed or trimmed.  It costs less per pound for the whole, untrimmed but you do have to do more work “cleaning” it after it is cooked. There is some fat on the trimmed, but it isn’t hard to remove.

My friend, Brandi, uses Claude’s BBQ Brisket Marinade Sauce to bake the brisket in. This is the only marinade I have ever used and since I am a firstborn, I will probably never use another one because I don’t like to change things up much. I know there are other brisket marinades in the market but if you live somewhere that doesn’t sell Claude’s and you would like to try it, I did some research for you. I went to their website where it can be ordered but you have to buy a lot and the shipping is expensive. It can be purchased at Amazon in a smaller quantity and it qualifies for free shipping (click on the link above). I have no idea what makes one brisket marinade different from another so it is up to you to decide what to try!

Take a baking pan/dish large enough to hold your brisket. I spray it with baking spray to make clean up easier.  Just cover the bottom of the dish with marinade and put the brisket in the dish.  Then pour the marinade over the brisket.  For a 5 or 6 pound brisket, I use about a half a bottle or maybe slightly more.  Cover tightly with foil and bake at 225 degrees.  I usually put it in the oven before I go to bed and let it go 10 or so hours.  It needs a good eight hours cooking time but can go up to 11. Or you could put it in the oven early in the morning and let it go all day.  This will make your house smell so good you won’t believe it!

Remove the meat and trim off the fat.  Don’t throw away the marinade in the pan!  Pour it into a fat separator.  You won’t need all of it so whatever is left has fulfilled its purpose on earth and can be dumped.

Next, if you don’t have an electric knife, go out and buy one right now before you slice this!  It is so much easier!  Anyway, whatever electric knife or knife you choose to use, slice the brisket thinly and against the grain.  You can put the meat back into the empty baking dish.

You could stop at this point and serve the meat as is with a bit of the marinade over it.  It is delicious !  You could also have it this way for dinner and then continue to put BBQ sauce on the rest to serve later.

To make BBQ sauce gather this cast of characters:

Brown sugar, catsup, cider vinegar, marinade from pan in fat separator, mustard, black pepper

Here is what I do to make the BBQ sauce (you can certainly just use a jar of sauce you like instead if you wish). Here is where the “exact” measurements don’t come in!  The amounts I give are starting points.  Taste and adjust until you are happy with the result.  For instance, I like the sauce a bit sweet so I might add more brown sugar than you would prefer. The amount of sauce you make will vary with the amount of meat you cook.  In the pictures below, I cooked about 8 or 9 pounds.

In a mixing bowl, dump in a bunch of catsup (2 cups), brown sugar ( 1 cup), cider vinegar (1/2 cup), marinade (1/2 cup), a squirt of mustard, a good bit of pepper and mix it well with a whisk.  Then take a piece of the meat, dip it in the sauce and taste it.  Add the ingredients a bit at a time, tasting it with the meat until you get it to the point you like it.  I usually hate recipes given like this, but I love the result enough to mess with it!

Pour the BBQ sauce over the meat and mix it together.  I usually make the meat quite “saucy” but you could leave it drier and serve sauce on the side.  Cover and heat at 300 degrees to warm through.  Again, this temperature and warming time you can vary. Serve on buns and enjoy!

The day I made this, I set aside enough to have for dinner without any BBQ sauce.  The rest I put into a couple containers and froze it for later this summer when we have a family reunion in Nashville.  Makes for an easy meal at the time share with 14+ people!

So now you know how to BBQ a brisket from a transplanted Texan!

 

 

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Golden Birthday

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Sandy Manning

This was my golden birthday.  July 18, 1976.  What is a golden birthday? I turned 18 on the 18th and that is what makes it my golden birthday.  Your birthday is “golden” when your age is the same as the date you were born.  We did some cool things to celebrate my kids’ golden birthdays which I will write about at a later time.

It is hard to see but my cake is in the shape of an 18 with flowers all over it.  My Mom is a fabulous cake decorator and always made our cakes. Since she is in northern Michigan by the beach and I am in Texas (it’s only 100 degrees or better here!), it would be a little hard for her to make me a cake so now she sends me beautiful hand painted cards.  This birthday cake would have been Salad Dressing Cake with Mock Whipped Cream Frosting. I have recipe links below.

Here is one of my paper napkins (barely able to see it in the photo above) and it reflects that the American Bicentennial was exactly two weeks prior to my birthday.

What does it all mean that I actually have one of these?! And that I knew right where it was?!

Click the links below for the recipes:

Salad Dressing Cake

Mock Whipped Cream Frosting

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The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Sandy Manning

Almost twelve years ago my husband surprised me with a trip to New York City for our 20th Anniversary. I didn’t know where we were going though I could tell we were flying east from Michigan where we had left our children with my parents. This was before 9/11 so I didn’t look at signs or at my ticket and I plugged my ears when announcements were made so I literally did not know where we were heading and no one needed to be suspicious about any of this!  I didn’t know where we were heading until I could see we were flying along Manhattan Island from the north and recognized NYC.

We went to see Les Miserables, ate at Carnegie Deli, looked all around Times Square where we saw the new ABC studio that was about to open, walked and walked a bazillion miles and rode a tandem bicycle around Central Park.  I loved the park but hated the bike ride which if I were to explain why, would reveal a number of things about my personality but I’ll just leave it at that for now!  Here is my husband looking all happy on the evil bike. That is because he was in the front, he had all the control, he could see where we were going…..

One of the cool things we did was to take a Circle Line boat trip which began at 42nd Street and went all the way around Manhattan. Here we are looking so cute!

Near the end of the trip, we came down the Hudson River and went under the Washington Bridge which connects Manhattan to New Jersey.  The boat driver pointed out a tiny red lighthouse under one edge of the huge bridge.

I suddenly remembered a book about this from my childhood!  I am a book lover so of course once our boat trip was over, I went in search of a bookstore and indeed found The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.  I could say that I bought it for my kids, which is partially true, but I loved the memory it sparked and that I got to actually see something from a book I remembered so well from my childhood.  So now I keep these photos stuffed in the back of the book.

This book is still available for purchase and if you ever visit NYC, you can see the lighthouse.  You can also Google the Little Red Lighthouse and then click on images and see lots of great pictures and read the marker on the lighthouse.

As I launch this blog that I have thought about writing for a couple of years, I have to say that I feel a bit like that tiny lighthouse in the vast blog world of successful, creative writers not unlike the scale of the Great Gray Bridge.  But my hope is that the wisdom and experience I have gained as an older woman might be shared to encourage, inspire and provide resources to help other women become wise wives and mothers in their own homes.  I would like to be as a “lighthouse” to shine a light in the right direction and also warn of potential dangers along the way.

I look forward to hearing from my readers!

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge

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