Simple, cheap and healthy, that’s the way I like recipes. This was taken from AllRecipes.com Since it’s rained so much, I have a lot of free, fresh, organic mint growing around my house. I need to take advantage of all of it and make a salad.
1 cucumber, sliced
1 cup sliced celery
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Place the cucumber, celery, garbanzo beans, carrots, raisins, and mint in a large bowl, and toss with the olive oil and red wine vinegar to coat. Serve immediately.

Taken from Our Daily Bread.org or if you would like to check out the author, David Roper’s blog, you could do that too @ E-musings.
This would be hard for American Christians to truly take to heart and have as their life goal:
As long as we have the light of day,
we must work—
not to conquer,
acquire,
accumulate,
and retire,
but to make visible the invisible Christ by touching people with His love.
We can then be confident that our “labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
—David Roper
What a prayer to dare to pray . . .
Dear Heavenly Father, Help me to make visible the invisible Christ by touching others lives with His love.
In the holy name of Jesus, Amen.

Here’s a Bible story you don’t hear very much. After the children of Israel came into the Promised Land. They worshiped the false gods in the land. This angered God so He left the occupants in the land instead of helping remove them so the Israelites would full occupy all the land. When the Israelites would end up in servitude to a king they would cry out to God and God would come to their aid. In one God used a man named Ehud. This story has some entertaining details (=
Taken from Heartlight, Judges 3 (KJV):
15 But when the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. 17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 18 It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he said, “Keep silence.” And all who attended him left him. 20 Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. 22 The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly; and the refuse came out. 23 Then Ehud went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.
24 When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked; and they said, “He is only relieving himself in the cool room.” 25 They waited until they became anxious; but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead.
26 Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah. 27 It came about when he had arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them. 28 He said to them, “Pursue them, for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross. 29 They struck down at that time about ten thousand Moabites, all robust and valiant men; and no one escaped. 30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land was undisturbed for eighty years.

Here’s a fun, healthy cause to join. It’s called Tulsa Million Miles. Basically, people in the Tulsa area pull together in 2009 and put in time walking/running and then record it on the website. You can even record details to help you lose weight.

Here’s a website that shows pictures of old items that you can buy. It’s called Antiques and More

National Day of Prayer~Thursday, May 7th . . . PRAY, PRAY, PRAY

Next Thursday, May 7, is the National Day of Prayer. Here’s a prayer that was prayer before the Kansas Senate in 1996. It’s famous and all over the internet. I found a copy at HelpSaveAmerica.com:
Contact Pastor Joe Wright via email at [email protected] or via the original Prayer site:
http://centralcc.org/NewsNow/JoeArticles/JoeRepentancePrayer.html
“Prayer of Repentance”
by Pastor Joe Wright before the Kansas Senate
KANSAS SENATE OPENING PRAYER
January 23, 1996 by Pastor Joe Wright
When Minister Joe Wright of Central Christian Church was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
The Prayer of Repentance
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek
your direction and guidance.
We know your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that’s exactly
what we’ve done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it
enlightenment.
Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some
wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of
Kansas, and who have been ordained by you, to govern this great state.
Grant them your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your son, the living savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
This was the text of the original prayer delivered January 23, 1996 by Pastor
Joe Wright to the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka.

Here’s a Psalm I can turn into a prayer for my family =)
Psalm 112 (King James Version)
Psalm 112
1Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
4Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
6Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
8His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
9He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.
10The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

This is a math site which can help your kids do good in math. It’s called IXL.com