Friday, 21 November 2014

Ginger Pumpkin Soup Gluten Free Dairy Free

Foodie Friday


One of the things that I love about cold winter evenings is a bowl of hot full bodied soup.  A soup  that warms you from the inside and fills the house with memories of childhood and long leisurely evenings and this soup ticks all the boxes.

Ingredients
  • 4 large carrots
  • 2 cups cubed pumpkin
  • 5 cups of vegetable broth
  • 1 large leek chopped
  • 2 cups chopped cauliflower
  • 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • Salt and Pepper to taste



Directions
  1. Sauté the leek in a teaspoon of coconut oil
  2. Put all of the vegetables together in the pot with the leeks, add the vegetable broth and spices.
  3. Cook until the vegetables are cooked and then blend everything in the pot.
  4. Add Salt and Pepper to taste.


From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder


©2013-2014 twosnydergirls

Monday, 17 November 2014

Cry out in lamination


Psalm 22 is proof that God wants us to cry out in lamination.  That in our crying out we acknowledge the presence of God and open ourselves to experience God in a real way.

God is the knot at the end of our despair and the platform from which we will rise up again.

Let your family hear your lamination, teach your children and grandchildren to call upon God in their moments of despair, given them the knowledge that they are not alone.

Psalm 22
Living Bible Translation My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why do you refuse to help me or even to listen to my groans? 2 Day and night I keep on weeping, crying for your help, but there is no reply— 3-4 for you are holy.The praises of our fathers surrounded your throne; they trusted you and you delivered them. 5 You heard their cries for help and saved them; they were never disappointed when they sought your aid.6 But I am a worm, not a man, scorned and despised by my own people and by all mankind. 7 Everyone who sees me mocks and sneers and shrugs. 8 “Is this the one who rolled his burden on the Lord?” they laugh. “Is this the one who claims the Lord delights in him? We’ll believe it when we see God rescue him!”9-11 Lord, how you have helped me before![a] You took me safely from my mother’s womb and brought me through the years of infancy. I have depended upon you since birth; you have always been my God. Don’t leave me now, for trouble is near and no one else can possibly help.12 I am surrounded by fearsome enemies, strong as the giant bulls from Bashan. 13 They come at me with open jaws, like roaring lions attacking their prey. 14 My strength has drained away like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart melts like wax; 15 my strength has dried up like sun-baked clay; my tongue sticks to my mouth, for you have laid me in the dust of death. 16 The enemy, this gang of evil men, circles me like a pack of dogs; they have pierced my hands and feet. 17 I can count every bone in my body. See these men of evil gloat and stare; 18 they divide my clothes among themselves by a toss of the dice.19 O Lord, don’t stay away. O God my Strength, hurry to my aid. 20 Rescue me from death; spare my precious life from all these evil men.[b] 21 Save me from these lions’ jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen. Yes, God will answer me and rescue me.22 I will praise you to all my brothers; I will stand up before the congregation and testify of the wonderful things you have done. 23 “Praise the Lord, each one of you who fears him,” I will say. “Each of you[c] must fear and reverence his name. Let all Israel sing his praises, 24 for he has not despised my cries of deep despair; he has not turned and walked away. When I cried to him, he heard and came.”25 Yes, I will stand and praise you[d] before all the people. I will publicly fulfill my vows in the presence of all who reverence your name.26 The poor[e] shall eat and be satisfied; all who seek the Lord shall find him and shall praise his name. Their hearts shall rejoice with everlasting joy. 27 The whole earth shall see it and return to the Lord; the people of every nation shall worship him.
28 For the Lord is King and rules the nations. 29 Both proud and humble together, all who are mortal—born to die—shall worship him. 30 Our children too shall serve him, for they shall hear from us about the wonders of the Lord; 31 generations yet unborn shall hear of all the miracles he did for us
Dedicated to Aunt Elaine who is making her way to heaven.
Grandma Snyder
©2013-2014 twosnydergirls 

Sunday, 16 November 2014

God's song


My most vivid childhood memories feature music.  The congregational singing that I knew in my childish soul to be the sound of angels singing.  

Learning the words of Jesus loves me and singing with all that I have, knowing that God loves me, that we are God’s angels on earth, reflecting his love for all who will see.

Memories of my mother sitting beside my bed teaching me the words to Rock of Ages and then after Sunday dinner making space for me on the piano bench to sing with my father as she plays the hymn on the piano.

And it is music that carries me through times of trial and struggle.  It is music that connects me to the ongoing music of God’s creation.

God’s Song

It is this song in it’s many variations that creates the yearning in us to belong to seek out our place in God’s creation.  There is a piece of this song in each of us unique and necessary to the overall harmony and balance of creation.

Yet as a Christian I have avoided the creation story specifically the story of the garden of Eden.  I have struggle to find God's unconditional love for me, God's song in the traditional garden story.

As a woman the story of the Garden of Eden is a story of guilt, and shame so I avoided it until the Sunday that Juanita Laverty introduced our small Mennonite congregation to “The Blessing Seed”.  And the words of Caitlin Matthews breathed new life, new meaning into this story and positioned the Garden of Eden within God’s forgiving love, within the God's song.

“In the beginning, God sang everything alive”


This children’s book has become one of my spiritual go to books.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2014 twosnydergirls