Thanksgiving Dinner

 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. 

Psalm 95:2-3

Main ingredients for the kale salad

Cooked quinoa

The salad is assembled with the steamed kale, the cooked quinoa, the cranberries, pumpkin seeds and dressing

Mashed cauliflower

Cauliflower with shredded cheese ready for the oven

Baked cauliflower and cheese ready to eat

Rosemary, garlic roasted chicken

Pumpkin mousse pie filling put into springform pan

After releasing the spring, it was obvious that the mousse did not set. We ate it anyway and it was good ;-)

Dinner assembled

The Thanksgiving Dinner was a success. It was the first time I've tried three of the dishes: the kale salad with quinoa and cranberries, the mashed cauliflower and cheese bake and the pumpkin pie mousse.  Everything was quite delicious and you can find all the recipes at my post here.  I could not eat the main part of my chicken so I wll save it for tomorrow's lunch. Needless to say there is a lot of mousse pie left. I would recommend making the pie when you have company because it is very, very filling.

The only problem with the dinner was when we went to eat the pumpkin mousse pie I discovered it wasn't set properly.

After reflection I realized that my little package of gelatin had about 1 teaspoon of gelatin rather than the 2 tablespoons required.  That would explain why it wasn't set properly! Nonetheless the filling was so good. I also ended up having to make my own graham wafer pie crust as there were none today in the grocery store. It was the first time I've made it and it was relatively simple.

If you are in Canada, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you had a moment or two to reflect on those things for which you can give thanks. We are so blessed here in this country.  For my blogging friends who live elsewhere, I am thankful for you and the time you take to share with me through your writings and your comments.

Spinach - Asparagus- Fennel Juice

I haven't posted my juice recipe for a day or two but I have continued to juice my produce as a way of getting more vegetables into my diet.

Today I had a wonderful juice with spinach as the primary ingredient.

I used about 3 x the spinach pictured here (under the cucumber), left over asparagus which was starting to go soft, left over fennel, one a half tomatoes, one left over from a sandwich and a bit of English cucumber.

Spinach is very good for you which I'm sure you already know.  Spinach contains calcium, folic acid, vitamins K and A, and iron. Spinach is also rich in vitamin C, fiber and carotenoids as well as lutein and bioflavanoids. The calcium of course helps to strengthen the bones.  Vitamins A and C help to control cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancer. Folic acid helps to lower the blood of homocysteine levels.  Homeocysteine is a protein that damages the arteries so spinach is good for your heart.  If you are older, the flavenoids will help protect against age related memory loss and the lutein will help prevent cataracts as well as age related macular degeneration which is a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

Asparagus is packed with nutrients like folic acid, potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, thiamine and rutin, a compound that strengthens capillary walls. Asparagus has no fat, does not contain cholesterol and is low in sodium.

Tomatoes are actually a fruit and not a vegetable though I still call it a vegetable.  One of the greatest benefits of eating tomatoes is the high lycopene content.  Lycopene is a vital anti-oxidant that helps in the fight against cancerous cell formation as well as other kinds of health complications and diseases. Tomatoes are also especially good as source of Vitamins A and C.

I was able to add my left over fennel to the juice.  If you missed my information about the health benefits of fennel, please click and  read here.

This juice was delicious!

Mom's Friend, Jean

In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.

John Churton Collins

Mom has a good friend with the same given name "Jean".  They have been friends for many years now.  Jean was actually the pastor's wife at the little church where I went to Sunday School as a child. Her husband was a school bus driver who pastored the small church where I was allowed to attend on Sundays and during the week even though my family were not Christian.

I loved that church. I loved going to Sunday School and learning scripture verses. I especially enjoyed Christmas and the re-enactment of the biblical story of Jesus' birth. Jean's son would faithfully arrive at our  home several times each week to take my siblings and I to church services and functions.  Once or twice a year, my mother would attend church too and "pretend" she was a Christian. We laugh about it years later when mom realized she wasn't fooling anyone but herself.  Yet everyone was so gracious and loving toward her.

After we moved away from that small town and the "little church" as I like to call it, the pastor and his wife Jean moved to Alberta, the province next door.  A few years later he died of a heart attack.  His wife and only daughter, the youngest of the children,  have been living together ever since. I've never seen them since I was a child but my mother and Jean have kept in touch over the years, especially after mom became a Christian and a widow herself.

I wanted a pink brooch for Jean but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. This pin was the closest I could come to finding what I wanted. I think the addition of the pearls matches nicely with the winter white pashmina shawl.


Through the years the two women have remained firm friends, seeking each other out for heart to heart conversations and for prayer for family and health needs.Jean is about 10 years older than mom.   Mom's health has steadily declined in recent years and not too long ago mom asked me to help her buy something for her friend, Jean. Of course I readily agreed.

A friend loves at all times.

Proverbs 17:17

After some reflection of Jean's age and limited needs, I decided upon a nice shawl and pin which Jean could wear to church.  She could also wear the shawl around the house if she feels a child.  Since I was buying a gift for mom's friend. I also bought something similar for mom.  She can wear them when she attends church services at the residence where she now lives.

You can't really tell but the shawl does match with graduated rose and plum colours which are picked up in the crystals.

My mother and Jean enjoying a long and wonderful friendship has been a comfort to me.  Over the years they have confided in one another and prayed with one another through many health episodes and other challenges.  As Jean advances in age and increasingly gets sick herself, my thoughts turn to her and her daughter and I offer prayers for their needs too.

In this year's Thanksgiving remembrance, 
I give thanks for my mom's enduring friendship which has not only blessed my mother,
but the entire family.

What are you most thankful for this year?

Thanksgiving Goodies

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the most High.

Psalm 50:14

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and we celebrate Thanksgiving on Monday, October 10, 2011.  I was wondering what to make that would be healthy.

Most of my lovely readers know that I've been trying to eat healthier and find different and fun recipes for using vegetables and other healthy foods. Creative and interesting ways of eating these foods means I will be more likely to eat them.

In my family we tend to eat turkey for the Thanksgiving meal. This year we will have a stuffed chicken. For dessert we will probably have pumpkin pie or maybe a pumpkin mousse pie.  For mashed potatoes I thought I would  make mashed cauliflower (mock mashed potatos) for a change and I'd like to try this new recipe for kale salad. I haven't cooked the dinner yet and probably won't until Monday so I am having to use other photos (with proper credit given). I wanted to share the recipes with you in case you want to use any of them.

The first recipe comes from nutritionist, Julie Daniluk, host of Healthy Gourmet, a reality cooking show.  The other recipes I picked up here and there.  Ms. Daniluk's  first book, Meals that Heal Inflammation is soon to be published and I understand it will advise on allergy free foods that both taste great and help the body's healing process.

THANKGIVING KALE SALAD

Photo credit: Julie Daniluk and Chatelaine magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (yields 4 cooked cups)
2 1/2 cups water, divided
8 cups kale (yields 4 steamed cups), stems removed, cut into ribbons
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries (juice-sweetened)

Dressing:
1/4 cup pumpkin seed butter (use almond butter if you can't find pumpkin)
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt (reduce if needed)

Directions:

1. Place quinoa and 1.5 cups of water into a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat for five minutes, then fluff with a fork. Let cool.

2. Place kale and 1 cup water in a large pot and steam for two minutes. Drain well.

3. Place cooked quinoa into kale pot. Add seeds and berries. Mix well to combine.

4. Mix all dressing ingredients together in a bowl and add to pot.

5. Combine well. Serve warm immediately or chill and serve.

Makes nine cups.

Modifications:  Since there will only be two of us for Thanksgiving dinner, I will quarter this recipe. I also plan to use almond butter rather than pumpkin seed butter as that is what I could find at the shop yesterday.

For my readers in Africa or for those who don't have quinoa readily available you could use cous cous, bulgar wheat, cracked wheat, or barley.  For the pumpkin seed butter you could substitute smooth peanut butter in the dressing recipe and use any kind of seeds (pumpkin, sliced almonds, peanuts, cashews, etc.) in the salad itself.

CAULIFLOWER "MASHED" POTATOES 

1 head cauliflower
1/8 skim milk
Salt & pepper
Optional seasonings: Ranch dressing, garlic, cheddar cheese, chili powder.
 
Cook cauliflower until fork tender. Place cauliflower (in pieces), skim milk, salt and pepper in blender. Whip until smooth. Pour cauliflower into small baking dish. Sprinkle with seasoning to taste. A few shakes of Ranch dressing powder,  or add garlic, salt and pepper, cheddar cheese, or a dash of chili powder. Serve hot/warm.

PUMPKIN MOUSSE PIE

1 graham wafer pie crust
2 tbsp. gelatin powder
1 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1 can (19 oz). pumpkin pie filling
1 cup walnuts
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg

Sprinkle gelatin in 1/2 water.  Boil remaining water, add to gelatin and stir until dissolved. In a separate bowl, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin pie filling, walnuts, mascarpone, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, stir well.   If you don't have mascarpone cheese you can use creme fraiche or cream cheese beaten with heavy whipping cream (about 3 parts cream cheese and 1 part whipping cream). Perhaps you could even use thick, plain yogurt. I think I will look use the yogurt myself.  Add gelatin. fold in whipped cream until combined and pour mousse into the ready made graham wafer pie crust. Gently shake the pie pan to release the air bubble and smooth out the surface.


 I hope  you enjoy these Thanksgiving meal recipes.
 It is a good time to reflect on all the many blessings we have at this time of year, especially the things we may take for granted.  For example, parents or loved one, a job or some means of financial support, shelter, food, the ability to walk, see, hear, etc. I am thankful for all these things and more especially since my ability to walk has been recently restricted.

Check out my post tomorrow to read one more thing for which I give thanks.

One Foot Forward & Two Steps Back

I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 40:1

After having about two days of little to no inflammation and my right leg feeling almost perfectly better, I was feeling rather hopeful about being able to walk again soon. Perhaps I overdid it. I don't know but it does appear that way. Because today I was in excruciating pain.

We are fully into the Fall season here but have had a lot of rain already. I love to walk outside when it isn't raining and enjoy the Fall colours.

The pain started up again on Thursday night while I tried to sleep. It slowly got worse. Yesterday I walked about 18 city blocks and for 7 of those I was carrying heavy bags of groceries. Did that aggravate my leg pain?  In retrospect, probably "yes".

I especially like to see all the leaves on the ground.  The moment I stepped off the city bus, I was captivated by this red leaf amongst all the golden ones.

My acupuncture doctor said I should be taking it easy and go slowly, very slowly with my activities. I told her that until one tries something and realizes it was too much, how is one to know that it was too much? I said that it is only normal to do things when you start to heal.  She thought I was making excuses. She said the healing takes time and that as long as I am moving forward (with healing) then we are going in the right direction.

I had to capture the red maple leaf up close. This is the leaf that is on Canada's flag.  Isn't it pretty?

I do totally agree that healing takes time but I figure I have given it a lot of time already (about 7 weeks) and so I thought we were kind of getting to the end of the healing process. My acupuncturist shared with me that she herself had similar leg issues which took a year to get better and she is a healthy person with no previous illnesses, as well as a Tai Chi instructor. I thought "wow!".  If it took her that long, it is going to take me even more time!  Here I thought I was nearing the finish line of therapy. That's a laugh.  I guess I have to take it easier than I thought.

I'm learning that I don't have a lot of patience. I am raring to do things and move normally.  I've been praying a lot for myself and especially as I get my treatments.  The scripture verse at the top tells me I need to be patient and expectant.  When my body says slow down.  I must listen.

Are you a patient person or an impatient one?
How do you deal with inconveniences like what I'm dealing with?

I like the wild English garden look in this photo. I don't know the name of the flowers.

I took some photos that brightened my day. It won't be long before there are no more beautiful flowers to photograph here. Hopefully, I've taken enough of them so I can share them now and then during our long, rainy winter.

I take this time to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving as we celebrate Thanksgiving here on Monday, October 11, 2011 this year.  If I am up to it on Monday, I will make a small dinner.   I won't be making a large turkey. Instead I will make roasted chicken, mashed cauliflower (or mock mashed potatoes), kale salad and pumpkin pie. I'll post the recipes later. Have a blessed holiday.

Today's Juice

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.’

Aristotle

I read the quote earlier this week on someone's blog and I liked it because it is the habits of excellence in regards to healthy eating and living that I am trying to achieve right now.

One of those habits is to make sure I get my greens. In my most recent juicing experiment I used

- one bunch of kale with the ends of the stalks removed
- 2 or 3 cauliflower florets
- 1 small green pepper
- 1/3 of a carrot for sweetener

There wasn't a whole lot of juice from juicing a whole bunch of kale. I used 3 or 4 times what you see in the top photo. I didn't quite use enough carrot to cut the bitterness but it wasn't that bad especially as there wasn't a full glass of it. You can see the juice is very dark and green and I like the foam on top. For the nutritional benefits of kale, read here.

Macro Flowers, October 7, 2011

If you've been following my blog posts on macro flowers you will know that I often take photos as I go on short walks in my neighbourhood.  I don't have a big garden and I don't seem to have a green thumb either. It's probably because I spend so little time cultivating what I plant.  Some day I hope to take up gardening a little more seriously.  In the meantime, I'm fortunate that I live in a city of avid gardeners and I don't have to go far to enjoy flowering plants.

In one of my walks, I took these photos of the delightful little bush with small, white flowers. I was enthralled by the centre of the flower which if you examine it closely looks a lot like the daisies I featured in this post.

My hand wasn't steady enough for the first macro shot.

This shot is a little better. At least you can make out the intricate pattern. Isn't it lovely?

Hummus & Veg

Yesterday (Wednesday)  I made some vegetable juice for lunch and had a pasta stir fry with lots of vegetables and shrimp for dinner. It was great but I was so full.  Today that juice really worked on me to cleanse my system.  So today I made juice again but I reversed the order of meals and opted to have juice for dinner.  Instead of my usual and savoured coffee, I had several cups of green tea.

I had my regular lunch and tonight I had a green juice instead of the fennel I talked about yesterday. I made spinach juice with some cauliflower and a small amount of apple for sweetner. I also added some water and some green powder (full of spirulina and such like). It was good with the apple otherwise it would have tasted like alfalfa (I know what tastes like as mom used to make a health potion when I was a child and it had alfalfa powder in it).

My spinach - cauliflower and apple juice.

Yesterday I boiled up some chick peas to have on hand for when I want to make hummus.  So tonight I made hummus and had that with some veggies, whole wheat pita warmed up in the oven and of course my green juice.

I was feeling very tired today. It seems that almost everyone I speak with near or far has some kind of early cold bug. I got mine last week. My acupuncture doctor even told me today that her pup has a "doggy cold". I didn't know dogs get a cold but she says it is phlegm in his chest and she is treating him like she treats her human patients.  Giving him herbs to expel the mucus.

I suppose it is the change of weather and seasons that is making people sick. Hopefully the greens will help me keep my immune system strong. I noticed I got over the little cold I had last week and it hardly bothered me at all.

A sample of my dinner.

Hummus is a popular dish that originated in the Middle East. It is a spread, dip, or paste made of chickpeas and tahini that is usually eaten with pita or any other flat bread, often during breakfast. It has a texture and consistency similar with peanut butter. This Middle Eastern favorite is widely used in countries like Syria, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Lebanon. Its popularity is rooted not only from its delicious taste but also from its great nutritional value.


The nutritional benefits of hummus can be gleaned from each of its ingredients. The primary ingredient, chickpeas are very healthy because they do not contain any cholesterol or saturated fats. They are also rich in protein. This makes hummus a favorite among vegetarians. Chickpeas are also known to be effective in preventing build up of cholesterol in the blood vessels. Apart from that, it can maintain correct blood sugar levels. So chickpeas are a perfect food for my health issues.  Olive oil is a healthy fat and can help regulate cholesterol and protect the heart from various diseases. Garlic and lemon juice are great antioxidants and help strengthen the immune system and help fight bacteria and viruses. Tahini is full of fat and calories but you don't need much if you use it in your hummus.  I don't generally use tahini in my hummus because it is just one more ingredient I have to have on hand and I wouldn't use it very often.  My recipe for hummus is therefore, "tahini free".

Ingredients for hummus

- chick peas cooked
- liquid from the stored chick peas
- one small red pepper
- cloves of garlic to taste
- lemon juice to taste
- olive oil not too much, just enough to make it a bit smooth
- a bit of salt to taste


Whip all this up in a blender or food processor. I add the olive oil slowly at the end so I don't add too much and I add the salt at the end too.  Perhaps you don't even want or need any salt in your hummus. Taste it first and see.  I added the red pepper because I like red peppers and it adds a slightly deeper colour.

I boil up dried chick peas most of the time rather than buy them canned. After I cook them I store them in the refrigerator in a covered container with a bit of water.  I use some of that water in the hummus mixture when I process them.

My hummus was all right but I rushed to make it so I can have dinner before 8 p.m. and I need to work on getting the right balance of garlic and lemon juice.  The consistency was perfect and went well with my warmed up pita.


Try it and let me know how you like it :-)

Healthy Juicing

There was a time when I was a juicer, always making juice fresh from vegetables and fruits. Somehow I got out of the habit and I've been meaning to get back to it. At least now and then it would be nice to have freshly made juice with no additives or preservatives.

I reconstructed this after I made my drink, lol. So the tomatos, the carrot and the apple are a bit bigger than what I actually used. But you can see how small the beets are.

Wednesday I made up my own concoction consisting of:

- 2 small to medium tomatoes
- 2 small beets (or a medium one)
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 small carrot
- 1 small apple
- 2 stalks/leaves of kale

After I drank this I was very full as that is a lot of veggies to eat and an apple on top of it!  Even though the beet was very small the juice was a beautiful, deep red colour and tasted delicious.

Sorry I didn't think to take a photo before I drank it!

Beets are very good for you. They have:

• Vitamins: Beetroots are a good source of folic acid and vitamin C. It also contains small amounts of vitamins B1, B2, B3, and vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene.
  
• Minerals: Rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium. Also, smaller amounts of iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium.
  
• Amino Acids: While raw beets are mostly water and carbohydrate, they also contain small amounts of all the amino acids (protein).
  
• Calories: One 2" (5cm) beetroot contains 35 calories.
  
• Antioxidants: Its carotenoids and flavanoids can help reduce the oxidation of LDL cholesterol which could lead to damaged artery walls and ultimately heart attacks and strokes. 

Kale is also a nutrition packed vegetable. Kale contains beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin (a carotenoid similar to lutein), calcium and fiber. A sulfur-containing phytonutrient in kale called sulforaphane is believed to have powerful anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-microbial properties and is released when the leaves are chopped or chewed, or blended. 

Kale also contains powerful antioxidants that help protect against certain cancers such as ovarian cancer. Kale is an excellent green to use for detox smoothies as it has cleansing properties. The nutrients in kale help protect against cataracts while promoting healthy lungs, cardiovascular health and boosts the immune system. Kale has anti-inflammatory properties making it an excellent food for those with rheumatoid arthritis.

Since I have a few health issues, I look for ways to eat kale and beets and more veggies in general.  For about a year now I've been doing well eating kale in soups and stir frys. I've been wanting to use it in juicing too.  As for beets, I really don't eat them that often as they take too much time to cook and they stain the pots. Even the smaller ones need a lot of cooking and I try to conserve the electrical energy due to the high cost of electricity.  This is why juicing is a good alternative. The beets don't  need to be cooked in advance. They just go into my juicer after washing.

All the other produce is good for you too. Next time I'm going to make kale, apple and fennel juice. I'm not a big fan of fennel but I try to eat it now and then.  I'm especially heartened to learn that fennel has so many wonderful benefits.

I used fennel late last week in a dish with pork and other veggies. This left over fennel needs to be used soon so into the juicer it will go.

Fennel contains many minerals and vitamins: vitamin C, fibers, manganese, potasium, magnesium, calcium, iron, vitamin B3 etc. The vitamin C from the bulb of the plant is antibacterian and very useful to the immune system. The fennel bulb is an important source of fibers which help reduce the cholesterol level. Also, the fibers from this herb can prevent intestinal cancer owing to the fact that they can eliminate toxins and cancerous substances from intestines. The herb is rich in potassium - an essential mineral which helps decrease the high blood pressure that can cause a heart attack.
All these benefits certainly make it much more enticing to eat and juicing will make it even easier.

I will say that my blood sugar levels are still more elevated than they should be despite all  my efforts at reducing sugars in the food. I guess I am one of those people that needs more drastic interventions. My doctor will likely put me on another medication when I see her in a few weeks.In the meantime, I will continue to make more changes in the diet, eat more veggies and now that my leg has improved a bit, I can exercise again. Even a bit of exercise will help a lot. I'm just reintroducing juicing and I will need to be careful there too because of the diabetes.  But I think getting more vegetables into the diet will be a good thing. I remember when I juiced before, I felt much healthier then.

Post Script:  I read afterwards that diabetics need to be careful of their sugar levels when juicing (I knew that ;-).  I also read that vegetables that grow above ground (tomatoes, kale, celery) have fewer sugars than vegetables that grow below the ground (beets, carrots) (I didn't know that).  So if you are diabetic like me, don't use too much carrot in your juice or make too many fruit juices.  Next time I will add only a small portion of carrot to my fennel, beet and kale juice and probably skip the apple. I do want to get the benefits of the carrot too but not the high sugar levels.

I Miss You

Yesterday as I lay on the table waiting for the technician to wrap my legs up in air compression "gizmos", I thought of you.

Many years have already passed since you left us for your immortal home. I think about you often but mostly now instead of grief and sadness, I thank God you are no longer here to suffer and that you aren't in pain anymore.

But now and then I think of you and I miss you. Like now. I'm alone in this room and in these rare moments of time where I just lie and try to relax, thoughts come to me unbidden. I've made a point in these moments to thank God and to praise him for everything he has done for me; for the life he has given me, for the way he has sustained me, for the joys and the tribulations, and even for my body which despite it's problems, he has given me. I'm learning to be thankful for everything. But sometimes, other thoughts do come in.  I've had a lot of time over the past month to just lie down several times a week for an hour at a time each time I get a leg treatment.  It is at these times that I think deep thoughts about many things. Yesterday I thought of you.

I thought of your daughter who has done so well despite her missing you. I tell her how much you love her and how you look down on her from Heaven. It brings her so much comfort when I say 'mommy is in Heaven and she looks down on you. She is flying around with the angels".  At that point, she always, repeats "angels?" and I say "Yes, mommy is with the angels. Some day we will see her again when we die but we have to wait. It isn't time yet." She seems to understand now. She knows you are still with us though she cannot see you. In the early years she would say "Mommy come back now." and she would cry and plead.  She thought you had been away in Heaven for too long.  It was heartbreaking to hear that. I know she is still very sad at times and I imagine that she cries at night when she is alone.  I pray for her always and show her as much love and fun as possible. We all do our parts to try and bring joy to her and keep her spirits uplifted and she seems to be happy and contented.

Right now she misses her one and only brother who has come here to live and go to university. She will be happy this weekend when she sees him because he is going to visit both her and "grandma". They will be so happy to see him.  You would be so proud of him. He has been working for years now in addition to going to college locally. Now he has decided to pursue a degree at university in the big city, he says he is determined to make me proud of him.  If you were here, he would tell you that he is determined to make you proud of him. He has a lot of talents that the Lord has given Him and so I pray for his success in life and for things to go smoothly despite the challenges of student life.

I started out by saying how much I miss you and then I got into telling you the news of your children.  I know how much you loved them and how concerned you were about their future. I just want you to know they are okay though they both miss you still. How can I blame them when I miss you still?

When I think about you I think about your ready smile and how your face lit up the entire room with your beautiful face and loving spirit. I realize now how patient you had to be to raise your children, especially one with special needs.  You did the best you could and for that I am so thankful and proud of you.

I miss your laugh. I miss the way we would joke about the difficulties or bad news we would get.  We knew that God would help us and sustain us and we had to hang on to that in the storms of life through mom's illness and yours.  Our Maker gave us so much laughter and joy despite our tribulations and since you are no longer here it doesn't seem like we laugh nearly as much.  I miss the way you would call mom every day and bring her joy. You would be happy to know that mom now has help and people to look after her health.  Though she (and we) had a very rough ride of things, things seem to be calmer now. She is looking forward to things again.  I miss the way you and I got so close. I miss the holiday I wanted to take you  on to Hawaii. I really wanted you to enjoy that trip and we were so, so close to going. I imagine in Heaven, the scenery and the beauty made up for not seeing Hawaii here on earth.  I miss your hugs.  Besides me, you are the only one who really gave a good hug and didn't mind a good hug.  I miss the family celebrations we were not able to have with you. We just celebrated mom's 75th with a small dinner and cake.

I want to tell you again that I love you and that the memories of your sweet presence blesses me still.  Sis, I don't feel sad about you most days because I know there is no pain, no tears, no suffering where you are. That is just so awesome. Though I tell your daughter that you are looking down on us to bring her comfort, the truth is that I do not really believe that.  If you were looking down on us you might feel the pain or involvement in this world and that is not what Heaven is. In Heaven you do not have the concerns of this world anymore and for that I can rejoice.

Photo credit: Jonah at Missions of Hope

I know we will see each other again some day after we put off these mortal bodies. I don't know just exactly how we will relate to each other in Heaven because we will all be sons and daughters of God there.  Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be glorious. God has promised a wonderful place and I believe it.  Love sis.

Good News out of Kenya

I read this article at www.allAfrica.com news today. It is welcome news indeed.  I applaud the Kenyan government for this vision to help keep the country in food security. I hope they have the fortitude to see it through to completion and moreover, that the plan meets with success.  I've been hearing about the plan for awhile but haven't actually read anything official until now.

In my own work with farmers to help them plant and fertilizer their fields, I know that it can get very expensive for a subsistence farmer.  So I was happy to hear that part of the plan involves making seeds and fertilizers available to farmers at an affordable price. I just hope that farmers can afford the price.  Inflation has been so high in Kenya over the last two years and virtually all necessities have doubled or tripled in cost, while the Kenyan currency has lost a lot of strength on the world market.

My own photo of the Perkarra Irrigation Project near Marigat. See the fields are green in this dry and arid place.

==========

ABOUT 1.2million hectares will be irrigated in the next five years as part of the government plan to eradicate drought-related hunger in the country, President Kibaki has said.

Speaking during the official opening of the 2011 Nairobi International Trade Fair on Friday, President Kibaki said this will reduce the country's reliance on rain-fed agriculture and guarantee the country food security. "I am directing the ministry of Water and Irrigation, the ministry of Agriculture and the Treasury to put in place adequate measures that will ensure that this is achieved," Kibaki said.

He said the government is committed to support the continued growth of the agricultural sector. "We are determined to see the transformation of this sector from one that mainly focuses on subsistence to commercial and market-oriented," said Kibaki. He added that infrastructure such as transport and energy plays an important role in agriculture and therefore the government had in the last seven years embarked on an ambitious road construction progamme.

Kibaki urged crop and livestock farmers to increase their production and benefit from the enhanced access to markets and improved distribution networks. In 2010 agriculture registered a growth of about 6 percent which is the highest achieved in the country in four years. The growth was fueled by the rise in the production of tea,cereals,sugar and coffee.

He noted that Kenya's food production has declined over the last few years due to several factors like drought,escalating food and fuel prices as well as high cost of farm inputs like fertilisers. He assured Kenyans that some measures had been set in place to mitigate the impact of increasing food prices. "The government has waived import duty on maize and wheat for a period of six months with effect from July this year," Kibaki said.

He added that the government had put in places measures to ensure that key agricultural inputs are available to farmers at an affordable price. "The ministry of Agriculture has a stock of about 40,000 metric tones of assorted fertiliser and adequate seeds for the next short rains,"Kibaki said. Present at the function was Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, minister for Agriculture Sally Kosgei among others.

Kalonzo urged the participants,exhibitors and farmers to take advantage of the trade fair to enhance food security in the country as well as earn the country foreign exchange and reduce the rate of inflation. 360 exhibitors were present in the trade fair to exchange their products including China, France, South Africa, Nigeria, Sudan, Israel, Uganda among others. Kosgei urged the government to subsidise seeds and fertilisers inputs to help smallscale farmers afford the cost.

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