Faith: Pathway to Success

We had mixed responses from our blog last week about our beloved "juvie". I'm sure some of the readers thought we were out of our mind especially once they smelled the stuff. I don't know how something that stinky makes such a beneficial and (I think) delicious product, but it does.

I've been thinking about how much to read there is out there. I've been wondering how useful it is to write if everyone is too busy or uninterested in reading it. Of course, I find it useful to me as it clarifies my thoughts and mind processes, so if for no other reason, it is a good thing. With that in mind, I write for myself assuming no one is reading. I hope that if someone is reading it, they can realize I am having a rather personal conversation with myself.

This week is graduation at our school, so I am a little insane. It is not that it is so hard; I have been doing this for a lot of years already, and I think I know what I am doing... It is just that I am so concerned that I get everything right; I don't want to mess something up for one of the students on their special day. I want it to be nice for them, and I want them to know how proud I am of their accomplishments. In this day and age, it is so easy for a young person to just hang it up, and many do not have the support of their parents. Anyway, I am a basket case until it is over.

That means this entry will be short and sweet. I am having gratitude for blessings we are receiving when we have a need. We have really needed a cooler of some kind for a while. Presently we use a system of 4 giant coolers (we call them caskets for obvious reasons) for which we must buy a ton of ice every week. It isn't so bad during the winter, but now that the hot weather is upon us, we are really needing to find another solution. Another farmer told us about a restaurant that was being remodeled and maybe selling their cooler, but he could never remember to ask them about it. Then we started looking around at how other people solve this issue. At the Beaver Street Market there was a "Permanent" vendor who had the back of a truck hooked up as a cooler. We thought we might be able to do that if we could find a similar set-up, so we started looking for that. Then we noticed the people with that set-up had moved their location and the cooler was just sitting there. We asked them about it, and they were anxious to sell it, and the market wanted it moved. So we arranged to have it towed down to our property today, and we are hoping it will work for us. It should be adequate in size for a couple of years anyway.

My gratitude comes in how quickly this happened once we put it out there that we needed it. Our prayers were answered so quickly. It made me wonder what I could accomplish if I truly had the faith to ask for more of the things we need. It really is an issue of faith.

There is a history written about a people who were living at the time of the Tower of Babel. They didn't want to have their language confounded, and they wanted to go to a great place when they were scattered, so they prayed that this would happen. Not only did they get what they had prayed for, but they became the greatest civilization on the earth. They were told to build barges to cross the waters to the "promised land". Can you imagine the faith necessary to crawl down into that barge? They were in the water for 344 days! I'm not sure I would have made it 34 days! I'd have been pretty sure I was going to die after a couple hours of being sea sick. I realized why it was said of them that never had a man had the faith that their prophet did. We can truly accomplish great things if we will have faith that our Father in Heaven is listening to us and desires to bless our lives. I'm beginning to realize that any success we hope to have must be preceded by faith. "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6).

We did get some food prepared this week especially the items we keep in rotation like our breads and cheese. We also have a few desserts:

pumpkin pie (carrot, cashews, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a date/almond crust)

rawky road (a base of pecans and walnuts, raisins, and coconut mixed with a yummy chocolate sauce, topped with a coconut "icing")

key lime pie (avocado, limes (their juice and zest), and agave nectar in a date/almond crust)

a few coconut cream pies (chocolate almond crust with a layer of banana topped with coconut cream: meat from 2 thai coconuts, agave nectar, and vanilla blended well and mixed with shredded dry coconut)

and a few Chocolate cheesecakes (cashew cheese, agave nectar, cacao butter, coconut oil, and vanilla over a pecan/raisin crust topped with chocolate ganache (raw cacao powder, cacao butter, and agave nectar).

Our meals this week consist of "pad thai" which is peanut sauce (almond butter mixed with ginger, lemon juice, maple syrup, nama shoyu, and garlic) atop shredded zucchini. We've also got elotes con crema (picante mayo mixed with fresh corn) to have in avocados and served with ensalada. We've also got corny chips (sprouted buckwheat, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds, flax, zucchini and tomatoes, lots of nice Mexican seasonings) and tomato salsa so we can have some great nachos. We're having cauliflower soup tonight with what looks like the last of the local cauliflower; Alicia made mashed no-taters served with marinated mushrooms. I didn't get any, but it sounded yummy. We've got everyday bread and pita chips to have with an assortment of toppings (mostly sliced tomatoes) and queso verde. We also have some queso dulce to have with celery sticks and apple slices. Of course we're having lots of fabulous salads with Ranch dressing (cashew cheese, lemon juice, cilantro, dill, basil, yummmm). Life is good...