Much needed caffine
Night time reading
If you don’t have a daily devotional to read I highly recommend this one. It comes in a handy app for your phone and takes just a minute to read. I am always amazed at how it says exactly what I need to hear that day.
I have an iPad with a notepad and calender in it and I still stick sticky notes to it.
My view from the sound booth.
A couple of weeks ago my wonderful husband made the best BBQ sauce I have ever had! Seriously, this stuff is good on ANYTHING. As Texans we take our BBQ sauce very seriously and we eat it on everything. Chicken, fries, steak, burgers, crackers, or just in a bowl with a spoon. Needless to say the mass produces bottles at the grocery store just won’t do. I think this recipe with kick all of those bottled sauces butts.
Be sure to have plenty of time when you make this sauce. A good BBQ sauce is going to take you a while but it will be worth your time in the end.
Jace’s BBQ Sauce
1/4 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 strips of bacon
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp hickory smoke seasoning
4 cups chicken broth
1 package beef bouillon
1 package chicken bouillon
1 ounce sherry wine vinegar
1 cup worcestershire sauce
3 ounces soy sauce (low sodium)
2 cups ketchup
salt to taste
In a large pot cook the bacon. You are just wanting the bacon fat so after it cooks down remove the bacon. You don’t need it anymore so you can eat it. I promise I won’t tell.
Cook the onions in the bacon fat with a pinch of salt. After about a minute and a half of cooking add the garlic. Cook only until the onions are translucent.
When the onions are ready add the chicken broth with a couple of dried chilies thrown in. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half.
While this is cooking put together your dry mixture and wet mixture:
In a small bowl combine the celery salt, onion powder, ground ginger, paprika and hickory smoke seasoning.
In a large measuring cups combine the vinegar, worcestershire sauce, and low sodium soy sauce and honey.
When the liquid is reduced by half pour the wet mixture and 3 tablepoons of the dry mixture in and stir to combine.
Stir in the ketchup and taste it. Add salt as needed. And let is simmer for about 30 minutes so the flavors can come together.
This is one of my favorite photos from my Africa trip
Tonight: clean out the pantry pasta. We’ll be using celery, onions, Earl Campbell’s hot links, shrimp (for Jace) and anything else I can throw in there. I love this dish!
Tuesday: Steak and mashed potatoes with a spicy cream sauce on top.
Wednesday: pork chops and mac and cheese
Thursday: take out after praise and worship practice
Friday: date night
Happy eating!
Morning devotional on the treadmill
Weird weather
Cleaning the nasty, germ infested mics.
Valentines gift from my thoughtful husband.
This is what I looked like on safari, right?
I’m home, but my heart seems to be lingering somewhere in the gorgeous camp we stayed at in Africa. Don’t get me wrong, I’m am beyond happy to be home. I missed my family and my amazing husband more than I can even explain, but I fell in love with the amazing women I met. Both the women of Africa who it was our mission to treat like princesses, and the amazing women from all over the US who sacrificed time, money and being with their loved ones to come together in the bush of Africa and work tirelessly to make sure everything ran smoothly.
This was a trip that when I signed up for it I didn’t know that by the time it came around I would need it so desperately. As I have written about before, I wasn’t sure why God wanted me to go on this trip back when Jamie asked me. I just had this overwhelming feeling that I was supposed to go. Now I know that God had me in the palm of His hand and he knew that I would need a place to go to let my broken heart mend. I thank God for never leaving me even when I couldn’t see Him.
We ended up having a little over 500 women come to our conference. We saw many saved, many filled with the Holy Spirit and broken hearts and lives mended. These maasai women face countless struggles daily including walking miles to get firewood and water that they carry on their back along with their babies that never leave their side, dealing with the pain in seeing their husband with his possibly many other wives and daily beatings from said husband. When they came in the door you could see the pain in their beautiful eyes. Lots of spiritual, mental and even physical pain. When they left however, they had a new found hope that was amazing to see. We would have evening services and go back to camp before dark, but that didn’t stop them from praising Jesus. We would hear their beautiful praise and worship late into the night and then again as early as 4:30 in the morning. Laying in my bed and listening to them worship freely without worry of beatings and humiliation strengthened me and my faith. I dont think we know how blessed we are. Here in America we fight over petty stuff in the church like how padded the chairs are and what shade of gray the carpet is going to be, when a world away people are just happy with a tree to stand under and listen to someone tell them about God.
I am home with a newfound love for Africa that I never thought I would have. I have experienced something that will linger with me for years to come and I am praising God that he knew back in May exactly where I would be and what I would need right now.
