Songs of Thanksgiving

"From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor,

and they will not be disdained."

~ Jeremiah 30:19

1. I'm so thankful for Brenda of "Faded Rose Vintage" She's such a good encourager! She's been sharing some interesting verses on laughing and positivity from the Bible with me --  Psalm 2:4; Psalm 59: 8 and Philippians 4:8. 

2. I listened to Dr. Charles Swindoll this morning on YouTube and suddenly realized after reading Psalm 103:8-12, just how overwhelmingly blessed I am that God does not treat me as my sins deserve nor does he repay me according to my iniquities and that as far as the east is from the west he has removed my transgressions from me. Thank you, Lord! 

I have to remember that if I'm being dragged through the mud-pit of condemnation and hit over the head with mud-slung guilt, it isn't coming from the Lord, but from the other guy down under. 

Here's a verse for a Daughter of the King! = "Who (He does!) redeems my life from the pit and CROWNS me with love and compassion!" (Psalm 103:4) It's his GRACE that does that! 

3. My sleep lab last Saturday evening was an interesting experience and it's ironic how people come together sometimes. 👼 My technician, a young man, bearing the same first name as  our son with a similar middle name as my hubbin's middle name (never did catch his surname), lived in a small town in Johnson County, KS nearly the same time we lived there. His brother had the same kindergarten teacher as our son and we sat and reminisced about the people we knew in common while he wired me up. I'm thankful for his patience with me and I'm thankful that God brought us together because it was sure fun visiting with him. God bless him! 

4. Part of my childhood and adult diet has been called the "eliminate and substitute". The first thing I remember having to eliminate was chili. I was allergic to something in the chili powder spice that my mother used, because anytime I ate it, I didn't know which end would erupt first. After one particularly bad episode with additional shaking and turning pale, I eliminated chili from my diet.

I also had to eliminate some raw cruciferous vegetables such as Brussel sprouts, cabbage, onions, sesame seeds and sourdough bread on doctor's orders. I could eat the vegetables cooked with no problem, but raw, oh my, they painfully tore up my gut. 

 Soy margarine was next on the list. It makes me wheeze. It's good to train a child when they are young to eat healthy and when he is older, he will be able to choose wisely because that's what he is used to eating. In this case, I had to eliminate margarine and substitute real cow's butter. Oil and creamer powder made with soy were also eliminated and I substituted olive and corn oils for the soy and real liquid milk and/or powder for the creamer. In the last year or so, I read in the Allergy & Asthma newsletter that we get that they have discovered by a medical study that margarine can be a trigger for asthma symptoms. Yeah, I could have told them that! 😁

After that, our household has become pork-free, mushroom-free and low sodium (150 mg or lower per serving is considered low-sodium. You have to read the food labels). I miss my pork-chops to some degree and occasionally will have Hebrew-brand kosher hotdogs, but I really miss eating my favorite stuffed mushrooms from our local Chinese restaurant and mushrooms on my vegie pizza. Mushrooms make my toes tingle and too much sodium makes my legs swell, my lungs wheeze and my hands go numb. 

The hardest thing of all will be eliminating the refined sugar. No, I'm not diabetic. I have a yucky skin condition. We've been reading labels and refined sugar is in almost everything! Refined sugar is cane or beet white sugar, brown sugar, molasses and corn syrup. Substitution in this case is a little stevia, fruit or honey, so I'm on the hunt for products and recipes. 

I'm thankful for the foods I can eat! 

5. And I'm thankful for allowable substitutions! I watched a YouTube video this summer and found an iced tea base that I can make up and have on hand in my refrigerator to drink. Here's how I make it: 

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SUGAR-FREE AMERICAN ICE TEA 

You can use any type or flavor of tea, but make sure all the tea flavors/bags are the same unless you like mixed drinks. 😀 Afterwards, I add my used tea solids to my flower pots as compost.

To make unsweetened tea:

You will need two pint-sized (16 oz.) clean mason jars with lids and a gallon sized pitcher. Carefully pour hot boiled water into both jars and insert into each jar of water, either 3 tablespoons instant tea or 6 individual sized tea bags or 2 family size tea bags. Clip the tea tags together with a clothespin so they don't fall down into the water and then push the tea down into the water until the bags are wet, and screw on lids, letting the tags hang outside of the jar. Let both jars cool on the kitchen counter and then place in the refrigerator until you need to make more tea. Shake jars before pouring into the pitcher (I pour the tea through a strainer). Add more water as needed to the pitcher to fill it to the top and stir to mix. Two jars of tea base make 1 gallon of tea. Pour over the top of ice cubes to drink from a tall glass and enjoy!

To make stevia sweetened tea:

Make like above, but also add 10 envelopes each of stevia (green packets) to each jar. I began with 13 envelopes of stevia, but it was too sweet for me and by experimenting, I decided 10 envelopes was the right amount. If you only have loose stevia, use 1/3 to 1/2 cup of stevia to the gallon pitcher and stir to dissolve.  I keep my pitcher of tea in the refrigerator so that my tea doesn't ferment or become watered down from melting ice cubes. Enjoy!  

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