Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Home Again, Home Again

I love being what I call a "part-time missionary" but sometimes that service seems long and home seems so far away.  I was at the mission this last time for two months and my husband didn't get to go with me (though he did get to visit one weekend and I came home one weekend) so when it was time to come home last week I could hardly wait.  I've been busy, but it's a good kind of busy.  When I've been away for a while I want to "nest" when I come home.  I've cleaned out drawers and closets and pantries.  I've shopped and replenished canned goods and done some dehydrating.  Dehydrating is one of the easiest ways to store food and takes little effort.  This week I've dehydrated 18 bags of soup vegetables and some squash.


You can dehydrate frozen vegetables so I buy them when they're on sale - in this case Kroger had them $1.00 a bag.  The soup vegetables have onions, celery, carrots, peas, green beans, potatoes.  I can throw some of these in the crock pot this winter, along with some chicken broth and canned chicken and have a wonderful soup.  Or I can add beef broth and cooked hamburger and tomatoes.  The squash can be added to soup, rehydrated and then simmered with a little butter and onion or made into a squash casserole.

I want to do some canning but that will happen later when I'm not so tired from the time away from home.  Soup is my husband's favorite thing to be canned because when I'm not home he can just open up a jar and have a home cooked meal.  Since he hunts venison is our meat of choice for soup so next time I make venison soup we'll have one meal and I'll can the rest.

In the evenings I've been stitching.  I'm not fast but doing a little every day makes for some progress - I'm like the tortoise I suppose, slow but steady.  I finished this one I showed last time I posted...


I think I'll make this into a small bag to hang on a doorknob somewhere.  And then I started some Christmas, to make me think cool in the awful heat!




These are destined to be ornaments.....and hopefully before it's time to hang them on the tree.  :)

Today I'm off to see two of my siblings to celebrate Mother's birthday.  She would have been 91 today and I baked her favorite cake - Coca Cola Cake, with lots of pecans.  Our 4th sibling, who planned to come, made an unexpected trip to the hospital last night and this morning had his 30 something stent inserted.  Prayers for him would be appreciated.


22 comments:

Sparky said...

welcome home and back...and look at what you are doing ...all so darn productive even in the heat...x

BarbCarol said...

I am glad you are home! Let my cousin know I am praying for him.

marly said...

Glad you're home safely. Thank goodness for stents. Wishing him a speedy recovery. I did not know you could dehydrate frozen veggies. Maybe because I don't have a dehydrator but it sounds like a good investment. And I didn't know about canning soup!

Robin in Virginia said...

Welcome home! Your finishes look good; congratulations. Prayers for your sibling.

Robin in Virginia

Gail said...

Welcome home.

What do you do at the mission, if I may ask? I think it's ministering to the needs of others, or I would guess that.

I am sure Hubby is more than glad to see you, too.

Ray and Jeanne said...

Welcome home! Sounds like you are staying mighty busy since you returned. Enjoy your time with your siblings. Prayers for all of you. ~Jeanne

Barb said...

Glad to hear you are safely back home. You have some great ornaments!!

Needled Mom said...

Welcome home. I'm sure it feels great to be back. Sending prayers for your brother.

Julie Fukuda said...

Yes, home is where the heart is ... welcome back. Your stitchery is so neat and precise. It will be fun to see how you are going to use it.
Prayers are on the way for your brother.

butterfly said...

Welcome home , lovely stitching , and prayers for your son.

Irene said...

Bentornata! Sei la mia ricamatrice prefertita :)

Manuela said...

Welcome home!
Wonderful stitching.
Greetings, Manuela

Vickie said...

Welcome home Marlene! What a good feeling.
I am praying for your brother.

Jeanie said...

Glad you are home! Thank you for your service for the Lord. And thanks for the dehydrating idea..... cooking for one can be a challenge and this looks like a great idea for me.

Kyle said...

Welcome home. Youve been so generous with your time this summer. Enjoy some good stitching.

Farm Quilter said...

Praying for your brother! I love to dehydrate fruits and vegetables, but I never thought to do that with frozen vegetables! Wonderful idea, thank you! How do you can the soup? When I make soup I end up putting the extra in quart canning jars and putting them in the freezer, but I would love to make them shelf-stable since the freezer is valuable space!!

Carol said...

So glad you are home again, Marlene. I do the same thing as you when I've been gone too long--I just love nesting and was cleaning out drawers and closets just yesterday after being away so much this summer.

Lovely stitching and I enjoyed reading about the dehydrating--never knew you could do that with frozen vegetables!

Enjoy your weekend with your family and I do hope your brother recovers quickly... Have a piece of Coca Cola Cake for me--yum!!

Анна Гончарова said...

Очень красивые вышивки!

Brigitte said...

Glad that you are home again. I always have the same feeling when coming home from a long trip, and it's always a good feeling.
Great new stitching projects and nice ornaments. And you are so right - slow and steady leads to the goal as well.

tink's mom said...

Glad your home safe and sound from your summer of helping others. My prayers are with your family for your brother's recovery.

Adrienne said...

It's always good to be back home again. We just returned from most of a week away and I don't want to leave. I am taking my little trailer and heading to a girlfriends' campout in a few days and it will be fun. Right now I don't want to go - I just want to hunker down and start preparing for Fall!
~Adrienne~

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

Glad you are home. Don't overdo! Busy lady.

I love your dehydrated veggies. I have never thought of dehydrating frozen veggies. Great idea.

Prayers for your brother. Hope all is well.

I love your Christmas stitching.