Pampoen Sop/ Pumpkin Soup, serves at least 10!

Actually I call it "Goldilocks Soup" for my children and it cured then of not liking pumpkin. They know it is pumpkin now but still like it. Here is my recipe.


Wash and then bake a very large pumpkin in the oven on a tray. Do it well ahead of time so that you do not burn your fingers when you peal the skin off later. It should not be so well done that it collapses, rather just soft enough to eat but still fairly firm.


In the mean while peal 5 onions and 3 or more garlic cloves. Using a very big pot, start to fry your onion in olive oil alongside spices of your choice, use in generous quantities. I use something like 3 tablespoons of very mild curry, a teaspoon of ginger, three teaspoons of garlic salt ( I would not use as much ordinary salt) and then some mixed herbs ( about 3 tablespoons, fresh herbs would be nicer, but i am not that good in the garden, maybe one day!) Sometimes I use bay leaves (4-6)) and turmeric (1teaspoon) and Cinnamon (3 teaspoons) too. Don't let your spices burn! Add garlic and then 2 kg's of bacon. (We seldom eat bacon as it has preservative in so when we do it is a very special treat.) Cook until done.


Add a kettle of boiled water (about 1.7 litres) and all your pumpkin (minus pips and skin) and a bag of red lentils, 375 grams or double if you want extra protein. Cook until your lentils are soft, making sure there is enough liquid to prevent burning. (I don't usually need to add more for 375 grams of lentils) Also to prevent burning turn the temperature down once it is boiling and stir regularly.


We always burn our tongues in our eagerness to try it - so add a dash of fresh orange juice or a dash of milk to help cool it down. Of course cream would be nice but we never have it handy!


And yes, we can almost eat all of it in one meal, if my parents eat with us, it is all gone! Serve with a salad alongside it, if you like. But we usually just finish off with a lovely fresh fruit salad, for dessert. Yummy and healthy! Don't ask me how to do it in small quantities... just give some away to someone else if you want to try the recipe or save it for later. It does fine in the fridge, although I can only vouch for overnight as ours never lasts longer than breakfast the next day. I have tried to freeze it but personally prefer it fresh!
Enjoy!
Dis lekker, ne?
I have subsequently started a cooking blog, see http://quiverfullcooking.blogspot.com/

My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness 2

Jonathan's baptism was very moving. People kept congratulating me but I felt really embarrassed by this (perhaps it was just a cultural way of being happy for me that I did not understand, I still find I miss things along the way, so maybe?) Anyway one thought that has come of it was that, "you have no grandchildren in Christianity!" No credit should be mine, it is by God's good kindness and grace that my son, Jonathan, has this gift of eternal life and eternal peace. Life in all it's fullness right now as he enjoys the best of life with the greatest happiness possible and only possible through belief in Jesus Christ.

Baptism is a picture/symbol of the old life dead, in the grave ( under the water) and new life with Christ symbolised as you are raised up out of the water. In itself Baptism holds no power at all, it is just a symbolic act that Jesus of Nazareth who is God, asked his followers to do something like 2000 years ago.

You can see Jonathan's testimony at his new blog and I will give you a link as soon as he is ready! He had some friends from other churches join us for this service and some some people came for afternoon tea too. It was a very good day....thank you to all who came and participated in this special occasion!

A couple were also baptised. She was from a Catholic background but had not met Jesus and was introduced to the Lord by her husband to be, when she was about 13/14. Another young man was from the Middle East and has had his family cut ties since he has come to faith. Pray for his safety and God's provision for him as he has no financial support from family now as he studies in Australia.

Here is Jonathan being baptised. My heart is indeed filled with thankfulness!

My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness 1

In recent months we have seen Jonathan walking around with with sermons plugged into his brain in every spare moment he can get...being our computer /technology expert, he has figured out how to down load what he wants and has proceeded to listen to all of John Pipers sermons from last year, many of John MacArthur's, and some from Al Martin and some from Timothy Keller, NY. At one stage he was averaging 3 a day. Above he uses ear muffs to block out our noisy family sounds, as he listens to a sermon but he still manages to share chocolate biscuits with his littlest brother!

Jonathan has chosen without any direct influence from us, to profess his faith through baptism on Sunday, 14th February. He has written out the story of his faith on his own as well, and it has totally blown me away. He is thinking of starting his own blog, so maybe he will share it with the world one day. He has chosen the following to be his song of rejoicing on Sunday, it tells a lot of how he feels about life!

Success for me is measured by one's desire to love...how I rejoice to see this young man's heart full of love for God and others! And I pray my son would know God's peace and joy throughout his life!

My Heart Is Filled with thankfulness:By Stuart Townend and Keith Getty
(Here it is sung on utube for you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V9ypGcMt3M )

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me with His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With pow'r upon my heart

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace
Whose every thought is love
For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King
So I will give my life my all
To love and follow Him

Invictus.

Douglas took me to see Invictus, a South African movie tonight. I realised half way through that the sides of my face were wet, I had my head tilted back and had been aching to death for my people, crying for the country I have not seen in nearly 16 years, my home. (I have loved New Zealand and now Australia and love these people too, but I think Kaapstad will always be home to me. ) As I left South Africa I prayed, " Lord let me never forget the mothers and children who hurt in this land." I have never forgotten them. And to see the heartaches again is enough to make me weep.

It is a brilliant movie in terms of giving you a feel for the country and what it has been through, a feel for who Mr Mandela is and what he did for the country. ( yes, he was a terrorist, and if you debate it, even America had him on their terrorist list until fairly recently, but he learnt to be gracious and kind and taught our land to forgive in a gentle sort of way. He certainly has dignity and poise and despite his suffering and hardship came through doing his best for all his countrymen. The movie may not be the best in terms of acting but I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Be warned ahead of time, they do unexpectedly use the f word once and the s word a few times, which was unnecessary and very disappointing, but no violence. Mandela also flirts with someone which seems to me, uncharacteristic.)

The movie is based on a poem that President Mandela (Tata, or father) supposedly loved, by William Ernest Henley, "Invictus", meaning unconquerable. What do you make of it? How is it different or the same as Elizabeth Elliot's quote I posted recently? (It isn't the problems which determine our destiny. It's how we respond.) I think it is trying to say the same sort of thing but from a humanistic point of view. I like the poem, as it gives understanding as to how others live. A question Mr Mandela asked Pienaar, the captain of the 'boks' rugby team is, 'what motivates you?' And the theme plays on through the movie. How good to know the one true living God, and to be motivated by my love for God! I pray He will use me to touch the lives of many people in many ways yet!

Here is the poem:

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley; 1849-1903

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

This image is from the following web site, which makes interesting reading: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3634426/How-Nelson-Mandela-won-the-rugby-World-Cup.html

Something that really struck me tonight was that Mandela was put into jail before I was born and released in the year my oldest daughter was born.

Suffering, can we make a difference?

When we talk of our personal sufferings it is most times nothing compared to this famous picture that I have seen many times. The story behind the picture is found here http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm . Ii is a very sad story, both for the child in the photograph and the photographer behind the photograph.

Can we make a difference to this type of suffering? Can we help when others suffer? What is the point of trying when the problem is so big? Should we as Christians be doing more? If so, Who? What? How? When? Where?

I am not writing my opinions yet? Give me yours first....leave a comment

In the meanwhile take a look at this blog, Kisses from Katy, that I stumbled across today, it is very moving.
http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/


Erica and Emma's comments: 8th February 2010
( They are 7 and 10 years old) They saw the photograph accidentally, I don't think I would have chosen for them to see it, but it has been a good talking point with lots of questions as we went through the story. They were teary. "Did she die? Where was she going? Is she a baby? How far away was the food centre?" (I think she must have been about about Tim's age, maybe 6? Maybe a bit younger.) This little one shows amazing resilience to get as far as she has in her condition?

Most of my girls questions were about the photographer though. They asked the questions the whole world asked, " Why didn't he just pick her up and take her to help? Why didn't he help her? Why? Why didn't he help her?" Emma was insistent on this question, " Why didn't all the people who saw the photograph help? Why was it too late?"

I explained that the photographer had seen hundreds of traumatic sufferings. That he could not possibly have helped all the people he had seen suffering on his own. (He was wrong not to help but we are just as guilty of not helping. At least he was trying to tell the world a story, to get us to help....) Emma asked if she could go to Africa one day to help? "Yes," I said, but I also explained to her that even if she did do that for every one person she helped there would be another hundred and more dying that she could not help on her own. (And that is the reality of Africa....it is a bottomless pit of need! Or is it? If every Christian was doing their part properly, could we fight poverty? Are we wiling to change our luxurious lifestyles to do that? Ouch it hurts to think like that!)

In the end I explained that the photographer took his own life because he felt so guilty for not helping enough. As Christians we are free of guilt when we ask for forgiveness - even though we make mistakes, big mistakes like letting a little one starve. (And we do this every day. We turn our backs on memories of photographs like this) I recon if we can look at a photograph like that and not be moved into some practical action, we have more of a problem than that photographer did! We are guilty. As Christians, never to the point of suicide, for our guilt brings us to repentance and total forgiveness in Christ. But let us be motivated to do something now to help. Let us let this one photograph change the direction of our lives!

Books to read on Suffering

Suffering comes to everyone one way or another. Some have it harder than others. Sometimes our circumstances are blamed unfairly. But at the end of the day God has allowed us to be, like Job, in a difficult situation. Unless we suffer, many of us as humans seem unable to draw really close to God. It is in suffering that we find our total dependence on our Creator.

There are three books I can highly recommend you read on the subject of suffering. A Path of Suffering, by Elizabeth Elliot. Trusting God even when Life Hurts, by Jerry Bridges, and Tragedy to Triumph, A Christian Response to Trials and Suffering by Frank Retief. Elizabeth Elliot as we know lost her husband in the missionary context. Jerry Bridges lost his mother as a boy, Frank Retief was pastoring a church that faced a mass massacre in South Africa near the end of apartheid (my sister was there on the night it happened.) These authors all know what suffering is about as they write and yet they all love and trust our Lord dearly.

These books are well worth the effort of tracking them down and spending money on, they will change your life and encourage you! Koorong for you Ozzies has the first two and Amazon UK and USA has the latter second hand and very cheap, it is out of print.

Zadza/Pap recipes

http://www.chirundu.com/sadza-recipe-south-african-mielie-pap-nshima-zambia-ugali-2009-08/comment-page-1/#comment-173

Actually here is my recipe for porridge for a big family. Pour a boiled kettle of water into your pot/saucepan. Add about a cup of maize meal/mealie meal into a bowl of milk and then add to water and stir so you do not get lumps. You can ad more milk and mealie meal if you find it too thin. Leave it to simmer.