Encouraging Deep Roots

One of my favorite cookbooks is More With Less by Doris Janzen Longacre. This recipe is out of it and the children love it. Pakistani Kima First saute 1 cup chopped onion and 3 cloves of minced garlic in 3 tablespoons of butter. Add 1 lb. of ground beef. Cook until browned. Add 1 Tablespoon curry powder, 1 1/2 tsp. salt and a dash of pepper, tumeric, cinnamon and ginger. Add 2 diced potatoes, 1 14 1/2 oz. can of diced tomatoes and 1 cup of frozen peas. Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

I love our small group. We meet twice a month on a Sunday night and it's just such a neat group of people. We have all ages from a 30 year old, single guy to a 75 year old widow. However, it seems that we are able to cross all these differences and just have wonderful times of fellowship, sharing and prayer. We have a general format that we follow each time we meet: we will start with a game, singing or just general discussion and then do a devotional or Bible study, sharing and pray and then eat and fellowship. Here are some pictures from last night's group. Dan sharing about prayer. Juanita - she has to be the sweetest person I've ever met! Robin sharing a prayer concern. Brian & Lisa listening intently. Nathan eating snacks (of course!)

I buckled down this week and worked hard at not using all my extra points and I exercised quite a bit. It paid off in results! I lost a total of 3 lbs. this week for a total weight loss of.............. 15 lbs. When I can see the results, it certainly keeps me motivated. So I'm going to keep plugging away. I'll check in again with you next week.

We went blueberry picking this morning at an orchard we go to every year. We ended up with 20 lbs. of blueberries in about an hour and 15 minutes for much cheaper than we would of got them in the store. Rows of berries. Mmmmm, they were very juicy and sweet. The bushes were loaded with them and there were only about 5 other people picking. Dan tolerates this task every year. I think he'd rather be doing almost anything else but he's always a good sport and comes along. I honestly wouldn't make him come but he loves spending time with the family. Emily was the first one done. Stephen has the same attitude about this task as his father. LOL! Nathan just plugs along until it's finished. The fruit of our labor!

My mother made me this dress and brought it with her when she visited. It's very cute. I actually will need to take it in a bit in the hip area but other than that it fits great. Thanks Mom!

We bought family passes to our town pool this summer and spent a couple hours this afternoon there. It's a very strange pool in that it's a giant circle. All around the circumference it's a wading pool and then it gets deeper as it gets to the middle. The deepest part is only 5 feet but if you're hot, that's all you need! Emily enjoyed herself immensely. Nathan entertaining Emily. The boys swam a bit. However, they didn't last too long. It's a bit boring for them. Emily, on the other hand, didn't want to leave. What are ways you are staying cool this summer?