redeemed

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. -- Hebrews 12: 11

I don't think anyone ever fully understands how hard it is to be a parent who must discipline and train their children until they have their own. I know I didn't! Your entire heart and soul is wrapped up is wrapped up in this tiny human that seems to insist on doing the opposite of what you say - and you have to teach them to obey! It's a tough job. And moms, we do the brunt of the work as the adult who is home all day with our little blessings. Tough, tough work. But we can persevere.

I'm not a good disciplinarian or trainer. I'm hotheaded, I get frustrated and impatient and I lose heart. Daily. Sometimes hourly! But God is faithful to forgive me in my sins. My children hear my apologies and learn of God's grace. We move on, we try harder, we inevitably make mistakes and start all over again.

God knows how hard it is to train and discipline. He has to deal with us! And He knows we'll make it. Our children will be a harvest of righteousness. They will be a light to their generation. They will carry the Kingdom of God forward.

Today, parents, do not lose heart. God knows this is hard work and He gives us the grace to complete the task at hand.

I've never been a huge pumpkin person. Pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie was about as far as I got. But this year, I decided to try using more from our pumpkins than just the seeds. Turning fresh pumpkin into pumpkin puree was much easier than I thought it would be.

This site was a huge help. I found that when I cooked the small pie pumpkins, this method worked perfectly. But then I tried to do some larger pumpkins and found that I needed to turn the heat down a bit in the oven. The skins were burning before the inside was tender. Once the pumpkin was cooked and a bit cooled, peeling the meat off the pumpkin skin was so easy. I used a spoon and just scraped it off. I also found that I didn't need to puree the meat. Mashing it with a fork did a fine job at getting the pumpkin to a nice consistency.

So then I decided to make pumpkin soup. I'd had squash soup before and loved it, so why not pumpkin soup, right? But I had no idea there were so many varieties of pumpkin soup! Most of them included heavy cream or milk. This wouldn't work because I wanted to make the soup available for Alyssa - no milk products allowed. So. I just decided to wing it. It was just pumpkin soup right? How can you mess that up?

I had 4 cups of pumpkin and 4 cups of fresh chicken stock from dinner the evening before. To make the soup, first I finely chopped half an onion and two cloves of garlic to saute in a bit of olive oil. I turned the heat down pretty low while they were cooking because I wanted them nice and soft. Then I added the pumpkin and chicken stock. Mashed that all together and let it come to a simmer.

Then it was time for seasonings. I decided to sprinkle in some chili powder and cinnamon with salt and pepper. After that cooked for a bit, I tasted it to see if I was on the right track. Eureka! The cinnamon and chili powder was perfect together. I added it a little more of both as well as some allspice and a bit more salt. To sweeten it, I added a blub of fresh maple syrup and stirred. Then it just simmered away until my friend and her adorable boys arrived. Everyone loved it! Well, except Alyssa. :-)

Happy birthday to my Alyssa. She is a sweet, happy, funny girl and I'm so blessed to be her mom!

- Homemade,whole wheat toast topped with peanut butter and sliced banana. No one else in my house appreciates such delicacies.

- The crisp yellow leaves that cover my front yard.

- How a pot of simmering water, cinnamon sticks and cloves can make my whole house smell fantastic. It adds some moisture to the air and has to be better than canned air fresheners - although I do love my Febreze Pumpkin Harvest.