8 hours

Tirzah and I moments before seeing him!!

I don't think I have ever spent a more lovely 8 hour span of time in all my life!  What a gift it was to be with him!  Thank you for covering us in your prayers.

Needless to say, Daniel was incredibly handsome!  He had lost a few pounds, most definitely, but he reminded me of what he looked like during his pre-football days.   Just lean and good lookin!!  We spent the time just being together and breathing in one another's presence.  Tirzah was an absolute doll and blessed her Daddy by remembering him!  She was all smiles for him and had much to tell him throughout the day.  Just look at her in the picture above... she couldn't keep from staring at him like: "this is my Daddy!"

One of the largest aspects of our time together: eating.

In the first hour alone Daniel ate:

A jumbo smoothie from Smoothie King
at least 1 dozen cookies
at least 1 dozen biscotti
1/3 of a very large Challah loaf
4 Krispie Kreme donuts...

He for sure slowed down after that initial hour, but he kept plugging through all the day long.  "Just keep a steady flow" were his exact words!  By dinner time, he could hardly eat much of the Italian Pork Stew and afterwords, he felt so sick her contemplated making himself feel better (you know what I mean??), but after resting a few minutes while giving Tirzah her bottle, he felt much better and was able to down a whole box of Reese's Pieces on the way back to base!

This is from the field... his ongoing list of all the food he wanted to eat on this 8 hour pass:

Kirspy Kreme, ice cream, Oreos, Fawn's meals, gummies, Dunkin Donuts, Doritos, Swedish Fish, cranberry walnut cookies, cranberry orange biscotti, Reese's Pieces, bananas, Red Vines, Hit cookies, homemade pizza, breadsticks from Little Ceasar's, burritos with grilled steak, hamburgers, pot pie, waffles, Nutter bar


We did what we could to check off the list and then all of a sudden it was time to have him back on post.  And so begins the second phase of Ranger School: the Mountains.  Daniel's prayer requests for this phase were:
* Conditions for his patrols: the instructor and his peer's attitudes (under hunger and lack of sleep they are hard to motivate)
* Physical protection as this phase is more physically demanding with wearing the ruck sack all the day long and climbing mountains every day
* Trusting in the Lord's plan... recycle or not
* To focus on this phase

Grace like rain is falling now, falling constantly and quietly, yet falling still.

There is grace for today and He will not let anything our way which we can not handle.

The grace I have gathered this morn, much like the manna that needed to be gathered every day, every morning:

Shelter in the raging winds

A warm bed to share with my husband

Electricity

Courage for Tirzah with her swollen lip after a big fall

Running warmth through the faucet

A baby girl

Rice and beans

Grace, healing, and hope for my two Mama-friends

Excitement for the arrival of Greg and Marlene tomorrow afternoon!

What goodness have you gathered this morn that will nourish you through the rest of the day?

This week we will be nourished by the Lord's grace and by the friendship and presence of Daniel's parents!  They arrive tomorrow and will stay with us until Sunday. 

 We are so thankful for their visit!  We will nourish ourselves, all gathered around the table, with the following meals:

Monday: Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin, rice, green salad

Tuesday: Leftover Spring Vegetable and Lentil Soup, grilled cheese, salad

Wednesday: Roasted vegetables served over whole grains (either barley or wheat berries)

Thursday: Country-style pork ribs in the crockpot (see below), cast-iron cornbread, salad, and a vegetable

Friday: Fish (perhaps tacos or a new recipe with capers and lemons?)

Saturday: homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and homemade pizza night for dinner

Sunday: Venison chili

Country-style pork ribs (I found this recipe while at Greg and Marlene's and have used it twice: both times with delicious success.  Most definitely a crowd pleaser, and a meat-lover pleaser!)

4 lbs of boneless country-style pork spareribs

Prebake ribs in a single layer of a baking dash at 450 for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile combine: 1 1/2 C bbq sauce

1/2 c apricot-pinapple jam (they do indeed sell the 2 flavors together!  Who knew?!)

1 T soy sauce

After removing the ribs from the oven, place on layer of ribs in the slow-cooker.  Pour 1/3 of sauce on top. Place another layer of ribs and then another of sauce... so on!

Cook on low for 8 hours

And this is our homemade bbq sauce: we just usually kind of wing it (Daniel is the pro), and it is delicious as well!

1 onion chopped

2 garlic cloves minced

Dash of paprika and chili powder

Dash of dried parsley

1 C ketchup

1/2 of a beer bottle

4 T Worchestire (forgive my spelling...) Sauce

4 T cider vinegar

2 T mustard

Sautee onion and garlic in a sauce pan over medium heat until translucent.  Add the remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat about 30 minutes.  

Last week I began "bulk baking" and I am loving it!  I would truly recommend it to anyone.  It takes a little more preparation and time at the beginning, but it is well worth the effort!  This past week I made a double batch of Blueberry Crumb Muffins on Tuesday and was able to pull out muffins for a quick and easy breakfast on Sunday morning.  I baked Oatmeal Raisin cookies that were frozen as dough-balls on Wednesday for a mid-week treat for my husband that is a sweet-tooth at heart.  Friday we baked (actually Daniel baked) a full batch of Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies. We ate 1/3 and the rest are in the freezer for a quick treat during the visit.  Truly, I LOVE stocking the freezer now-a-days and just reaching in to pull out a delicious treat.

This week, with the cooking prowess of Marlene, we will be baking:

2 loaves of sandwich bread (was able to check that off this morning)

2 loaves of gingerbread (will have that awaiting their arrival tomorrow afternoon, with a cup of hot tea and some fresh yogurt for on top.  This is how we were greeted at Michael and Danae's house for Christmas and how it blessed us!)

2 batches of Cranberry Walnut Cookies

Be nourished today with His lavish grace.

Taste and see the He is good!

Mashing Bananas

Well I have been trying these past two days to wake up earlier so as to have a few moments with a cup of coffee and the Word before Little One wakes up.  Yesterday, somehow my 6:30 wake up turned into a 7:19 wake up.  And this morning, Tirzah started peeping at 6:28, just moments before the alarm.  Most mornings I wake up with Daniel and see him out the door at 5... perhaps I will have to make that my new wake up time if I want to get a fresh and quiet start to my day!  I do have the blessing of these quiet moments when she is sleeping soundly during her naps.  But there is just something about curling up and welcoming the dawn in a quiet, peaceful sort of way.

Singing good morning to Tirzah at 6:50, we began our day with the normal nursing breakfast.  And then... we shared a banana!! Yesterday afternoon Daniel and I fed her a little bit of banana, using the spoon Great Grandmom gave her (it was "Papa's" or Greg's spoon too!).  This morning we mashed it up together, Tirzah sitting so lady-like on the floor next to me in her pink pajamas.  And she liked it!  Her first real helping of solid food!  Well then we had to run an errand up to the Winn-Dixie to return an item.  In exchange, we bought her first groceries: Organic Rice Cereal.  I about cried in the aisle.  So many of you have told me: "They grow so fast!"  I think I got a realization of that this morning in Aisle 8.

I just whipped up my first batch of Chocolate Espresso Bread dough from the book Renee gave us.  From the looks of the dough, this might have to be a weekly treat at the Shear household.  I am going to make muffins with it tomorrow morning in preparation for some company calls throughout the day.  If all goes well, in the future I might use the muffins as little house-warming gifts.  I think the muffins would look beautiful in little treat bags tied up with the beloved raffia.  We'll just have to see!

Later today I am going to bake one of Daniel's favorite treats: Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies.  Here's the recipe if you would like to try:

Oven to 375

3/4 C shortening

3/4 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

2 eggs

2 t vanilla

Beat shortening and sugars until creamy.  Add the eggs and vanilla.

Combine and add into the sugar mixture:

1 C flour

1 t soda

2 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

Stir in:

2 3/4 C oats

1 C dried cranberries

1 C chopped walnuts

Drop onto baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown