Tag-Archive for ◊ food ◊

What Does Sacrifice Mean to You?
Author: Judy Conway
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World War II, images of different aspects of t...
Image via Wikipedia

What does the word  “sacrifice” conjure up in your mind?  What Does Sacrifice Mean to You?

To our military personnel sacrifice is giving up their personal lives to fight for our country. It means leaving spouses, children, family members and friends, and sometimes it means never coming back. That is truly an enormous sacrifice.

The spouses of these individuals are faced with the burdens of maintaining a household and the needs of their children single handed.  Although my husband did not go into the military, I was divorced and left to be a single mother for two beautiful daughters.  I know first-hand what this entails.  It is not an easy task.

It seems recently there has been a lot of mention on TV programs about World War II and those that lost their lives.  Mention has been made of all of the medals they won and what heroes they are.  But what a void remains in our hearts for those that never returned home.

I was barely born during World War II, but I do remember the Viet Nam War.  I remember holding my breath as my husband’s draft number came within two of the cut off.  Our daughters were just babies. I lived in fear of losing him.

We do not even have to relate the sacrifice to war.  How many people serving our communities as police officers, firemen/women have lost their lives to save the lives of others?  Sacrifice is a daily part of our lives.

Another sacrifice that was brought to my mind was those who lost their lives under the cruel rule of Adolph Hitler.  Lisa Kudrow was on the TV show, “Who Do You Think You Are”, and traced her ancestors.  She learned the fate of those who were stripped of their clothing, executed and pushed into the pit of destruction.  Imagine if you were a child who had escaped and were watching this from a distance.  The horror of seeing your parents or family members lose their lives in this fashion is incomprehensible for sure. There was a joyful discovery in locating her father’s family members who are still alive.  This brought tears of joy to my heart.

We are faced with various degrees of sacrifice in our lives.  With the economy the way it is many families have been faced with losing their homes, cars and other possessions just to have money enough to buy food and feed their children.

Single mothers go without food themselves so that they children will have food to eat.  Homeless people go without shelter, food, clothing never losing sight of the hope of finding assistance.

As parents we sacrifice our desires to fulfill the needs and wants of our children.  These are joyful sacrifices, as far as I am concerned.  We are truly blessed to have these children, if only for a short time.

With Easter approaching my thoughts and heart are awakened thinking about the supreme sacrifice that God made for us.  Sending his son Jesus to show us the way and then Jesus’ supreme sacrifice of dying on the cross to save us from our sins.  I am sure you will agree that Jesus’ sacrifice can never be duplicated.  I am forever grateful for Jesus and the cross at Calvary.

As a final thought, I recently heard it said that the greatest gift of love is not what someone is willing to give, but what they are willing to give up …. This is a true sacrifice.

I hope that your sacrifices will be few and your lives absent of want and filled with His many blessings.  Ultimately, I hope you will never have to ask, “What Does Sacrifice Mean to Me.”

 

Judy Conway
Email: judyconwaymarketing@gmail.com
http://fullservicemarketingtools.com
http://homebusinessinatlanta.com
Skype ID: judy.conway

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In the Absence of Money We Can Pray for Haiti!
Author: Judy Conway
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Map of Haiti with Port-au-Prince shown
Image via Wikipedia

Primarily our blogging efforts are for creating traffic to our websites, sharing personal notes, and overall social activities.  There are those times when I use mine to share what is on my heart.  This is one of those times.

I know that the world is aware of the total devastation that the country of Haiti has suffered as a result of the recent earthquake.  Without actually being there it is truly difficult to imagine what those people are feeling.

Just think what it would be like to all of a sudden have your world, your possessions (few as they are in Haiti), your children, your parents, family members, food, water, limbs, etc. ripped from under you.  Just the thought of this horrific occurrence brings tears to my heart.

I realize that with our economy the way it is, some of us are having difficulty meeting our expenses and would find it hard to give for the relief cause for Haiti.  I was in the grocery store the other day and they asked me if I wanted to “round up” my bill for the Haiti Relief program.  I said yes, of course.  I looked at the register screen and was sad to see it was only four cents.  But even that meager amount, when coupled with other people’s four cents will add up and make a difference.  I am retired and on social security and find it a challenge to make ends meet.  This brought to my mind the story in the Bible of the widow’s mite.  (Mark 12:41-44) God will honor your giving, no matter how small it may be. He knows what is in our hearts.

The Haitian people need everything.  Perhaps a look in your closet will reveal clothes that you are no longer using.  Maybe your children have grown out of some of their clothes. There are organizations that are collecting clothing items to send to Haiti.  Whatever you can give, I know will be appreciated.

The enormous lack of all things in Haiti is something that has been going on for many years and will continue in the future.  This earthquake has only intensified the situation.  They will need our help for many months to come.

I personally know of people whose family members have been killed in this earthquake, while other family members are still among the missing.

If we have come to the bottom of our pockets and what we can financially contribute to Haiti there is still something that we can do.  We can make intercessory prayer on behalf of these people.  We can cry out to God for them to have the courage they need to go through these times, peace and understanding for the loses, especially for little children that have lost their parents and home and now find themselves living in the street with no food or water, and the list goes on.  We can pray that God will provide people to make great sacrifices and go to Haiti to help. We need to keep all those people who have gone to Haiti to provide their services in our prayers as well.   Whatever is on your heart can be given to God.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  Please join with me in remembering Haiti in your prayers.

Blessings,

 

Judy Conway

Email: judyconwaymarketing@gmail.com

Skype ID: judy.conway

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Are you Battling Pantry Moths?
Author: Judy Conway
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Have you ever gone to your food pantry, opened the door and had moths come out swarming around you? I have and it did not please me one bit.

 

Upon a closer look I discovered webs, and these little critters on the walls of my pantry. If that wasn’t disturbing enough, I started pulling everything out of my pantry and the moths were populating in my flour, cereals, cake mixes and items of this nature. If you look closely you will see webbing and larvae in your containers.

 

I would suggest if you find a good deal on flour or cake mixes that you store them in your freezer.  I even keep my Panko bread crumbs, nuts and dried fruits in the freezer.

Pantry moths are a common occurrence in many homes. They’re petite, mottled insects with a wingspan of about three-quarters of an inch. The female lays 100-400 eggs and upon hatching, the half-inch long, pale gray larvae hang out in the creases of food packaging. The larvae create webbed tunnel-shaped forts for themselves in your cereal, flour, powdered milk, dry pet food, nuts, dried fruit, biscuits, crackers and especially bird seed.

An untreated infestation of pantry moths produces four to six generations of fresh larvae per year. This will give you many opportunities to explore entomophagous cuisine (the fad of insect-eating). If that prospect leaves your palate dry and taut, here are some steps you can take to rid pantry moths from your cupboards.

  1. Totally empty out your closet.
  2. Vacuum all crevices and surfaces to remove eggs, larvae and any spilled contaminated food. Discard the vacuum bag or clean out the canister.
  3. Wash down your shelves and walls. Be sure to clean every nook and cranny!
  4. Go through all of your boxes/packages of food. Don’t take any chances if you suspect that there is a moth populating in the food…THROW IT OUT. It is important to get all of the infested items removed and in the trash. If you don’t all of your hard work will be for nothing.
  5. Store bird seed or dry pet food in secure containers in your garage.

 

Now you are ready to put everything back!  I took following extra steps in protecting my food:

 

Wipe all of the cans, bottles and boxes down.

 

  1. Put plastic wrap over the tops of the seasoning/spice jars and screwing the caps down over the plastic.
  2. In case of cereals or opened boxes containing grains, flours, cookies or crackers I made sure the inside bags were securely closed and put these boxes inside of Ziploc bags. (After checking for larvae, of course)
  3. I emptied my bags of flour into big glass jars and put plastic under the lids.

 

My pantry looks like Fort Knox for food!  I would rather take precautions than have to throw food away.

I came across a great remedy to keep my food closet clear of these intruders. It was suggested to wash everything down once a month or so with essential oils. Eucalyptus was recommended or if that was not available, essential oil of lavender. I tried putting 10 to 15 drops of lavender oil on a cotton balls and put these in the corners of my pantry closet on various shelves. I was elated upon checking to find the moths were gone. An added delight was the smell of lavender in my closet!!

These moths are probably coming home with you in your bags of flour, rice, grains or boxes of cereal or crackers. I’ve read several people suggesting you put these items in the freezer for a few days when you first come home to kill the larvae. If you aren’t going to use your flour over a short period of time, you might want to consider storing it in the freezer.

There is nothing worse then getting ready to bake and finding your flour infested with larvae. I hope you find this information useful.

With the cost of living increasing nowadays, even on food, it is worth taking these precautions to keep your food free of these critters. 

In closing, if you would like to find other ways of saving on your expenses, like gasoline, dental, prescriptions, eyecare and overall shopping check out an awesome home-based business.  If you are going to shop, shop smart. 

This post is written by Judy Conway                   

on December 3, 2008

http://www.200blueprint.com/r/judyconway/lcpage1.html

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