The Blessing of a Window and Homemade Hummus

Greetings sisters in Christ!
Spring is in full swing here at our little off grid homestead and we're still working hard getting projects done.  One such project is that we had a window in our bedroom that was covered by metal on the outside.  At the time we were setting this place up and brother Jim was putting the roof and porch on, we decided to just tin over the one window on the end of our bedroom.  (You can read how we set up our homestead HERE.)



Just the other day brother Jim said we should look into opening it for better air flow so that's what he did today!  He had to cut the metal away from the window and frame it.


What a blessing that is because it lets in more light and lots more air.  Tomorrow brother Jim is going into our utility cabin, the little one by the house, and putting in some shelves for me so that I have like a pantry area again for my food storage.  I'm excited because I have piles of stuff in there just waiting to be organized:-)

As a treat for brother Jim's hard work, I made some hummus dip the old fashioned way with lots less calories.

I took one can of chickpeas, dumped them in the bowl, added some cumin, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and began mashing it all up.


See that wooden tool there?  I found that at a thrift store for .25 cents and it's been the best tool ever for mashing things or smashing down cabbage for making kraut.

I then cut up an avocado and mashed it in with just a bit of water to make it all creamy.



It turned out great and it goes well with some bean chips we found at the discount food store.  I don't have measurements because I just toss in spices and we're pretty simple, not looking for complex tastes. 

One of our favorite quick meals is a healthy chip with some sort of dip.  (Salsa, hummus, refried beans, tuna mixed with avacado and tomato, things like that.)  Meals don't need to be complex, just make sure they are healthy and you're good to go.

This afternoon I walked down the road to our guest cabin and thought I'd show you what we did a few days ago.  Brother Jim wanted to make a driveway, straight on, to the guest cabin so that's what we did. He cut the trees, I followed behind helping haul brush out of the way and then clipped the small undergrowth.  Here's a before and after shot...



The woods are really filling in this spring and soon they will be dense with undergrowth below and leaves above.  It's been so peaceful here and so resting to the soul to be out from the world. It's been giving me time to let go of much and reconnect with our Father.  It's hard on the road because you're always ready for battle but when you get away from the world, just like Jesus did, it's so easy to let all that go and remember that your life is for the Father, not the lost world. I have to be very careful not to let my flesh become too comfortable as, Lord willing, we will be back on the road at some point soon.  There's a time for everything as Solomon says in one of my favorite books:


1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

It's time for me to sign off and I leave you with this pretty flower I saw while walking down our road.


Love to you sisters,
Sister deb

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