Post-Turkey Day Stock and Soup

Thanksgiving was a fun time.  Our friends and their baby boy joined us and we made an obscene amount of food for only four of us! We are grateful for a lot this year.  Matt lost his job but was only jobless for four weeks before finding a new job for a small company that he really enjoys! The whole experience has been the best bad thing to ever happen to us.  I am thankful that God knows exactly what we need exactly when we need it and always provides.

 This post is about thanksgiving leftovers.  Due to the loss of my sanity over the past few weeks with finals, it is severely delayed, but don't leave yet. The tastiness can be enjoyed year round.

First - make homemade stock.  I've had several people express shock and admiration over the fact that I make my own stock.  But the secret is that there is no set recipe, you can make it very easily with things you usually have in your pantry and fridge, you can make a lot at one time, it freezes well, and it just tastes better.  

Here's how I make it:  Whether you're using a turkey or chicken, clean as much meat and fat off the bones as you can.  Or if you don't feel like it - then don't!  While the stock cooks all the extra meat will fall right off the bones and you can fish it out later.  Throw the bones (I really don't like to use the word carcass...ugh) into a large stock pot or crock pot.  If you have a turkey and it is too big, you may need to get it into pieces.  I'm sure there is a technical way to do this, or you can just be like me and hack and rip at it and work out some energy.  The bones of a chicken usually fit perfectly, and using a rotisserie chicken eliminates cooking the bird.

Now, at this point you could literally just fill the pot with water and some salt and let it go.  But, because you want loads of flavor you can add any or all of these ingredients:

Onion (about 1)

Leek (about 1)

Celery (about 2 stalks)

Carrots (about 2)

Whole peppercorns (about 1/2 tbs)

1-2 bay leaves

Kosher salt  (just a light sprinkling. Go low sodium!)

The amounts really do not matter! Use what you have!  Use enough for good flavor but not so much that you won't have any room for water.

Because you're just sucking all the flavor out of everything, you don't need to worry about peeling stuff or even throwing out the ends! In this batch I just threw in some boiling onions that I had in the freezer.  And speaking of the freezer, I'm going to share a tip that makes throwing some stock together even easier.  This is courtesy of my dear friend Ashley, we're such a good team!   Get a gallon freezer bag and label it "stock," when you have any of the above veggies that are at the end of their fridge life, or you have ends/peels/scraps throw them in the bag in the freezer.  When you have bones to make stock you can pull the veggies straight out of the bag and throw them in the pot!!  Genius or what?

After this, fill up the pot with water.  If doing it on the stove, bring it to a boil and then simmer, covered, for at least 3-4 hours but really as long as you want.  The longer the better. You can also put your crock pot on low and let it go for 24 hours.  By the way, your home will smell very very yummy.

When it's done.  Remove the large chunks with tongs and then pour the rest through a sieve and into a large bowl.  Go through the solids and dig out any extra meat that came off!  Allow to cool.  I often just stick it straight into the fridge without the lid on.  When my mom makes stock in the winter and it's cold out, she puts the bowl out on the porch!  Here in Texas, we rely on the fridge... Anyway, once it sits for a while the fat will rise to the top and harden.  You can then skim it off and throw it away or if you're feeling really fancy you can use it as a starter for some gravy.  

After that, bag up the stock (I use quart size freezer bags of 2-3 cups of stock).  Lay them flat in your freezer.  Once they are frozen they will be perfectly stackable!  This batch made about 8 cups of stock and I had enough bones from a turkey to make three batches!  I ended up throwing some bones and leftover veggies into a bag in the freezer for making more stock at a later date.  I have lots of stock.  Must make soup.

Speaking of soup, I have to brag on my husband.  He came up with this Turkey Tortilla Soup - inspired by a soup at Chuy's, our favorite Tex-Mex place.  This was seriously some of the best soup I've had in a long time.  

Turkey Tortilla Soup  (or make it with chicken) - 4-5 servings

Drizzle of olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 cloves garlic, chopped  (The chunks of garlic really added something extra!)

1 serrano pepper, chopped   (For less spice, remove all or some seeds)

3 cups stock

1- 1 1/2 cups chopped turkey

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

Tortilla chips

Brown onion and garlic in large sauce pan in olive oil.  Throw in serrano for last 30 seconds then add all other ingredients through lime.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer one hour, covered.  Garnish with cilantro and avocado and serve with tortilla chips.

Christmas on Your Thanksgiving Table: Spiced Cranberry Sauce

My mom, the Kitchen Goddess, puts together an awesome Thanksgiving spread.  One dish that we never did without was her cranberry sauce.  I think cranberry sauce tends to get a bad wrap, something that most people really think is just ok and a traditional dish to have.  I never hear anyone getting really excited about it.

But....I get really really excited about this cranberry sauce.  It's special.  It throws you into the holiday season.  It tastes like Christmas. It smells like Christmas.  It makes your whole house smell divine while it cooks.  It is excellent with turkey.  It is fantastic to eat like jam on fresh biscuits or rolls.  If you enjoy cranberry sauce, or you have always wanted to enjoy cranberry sauce, or you're a skeptic - please try this dish.

What makes this dish so Christmas-like?  Oranges, cloves, and candied ginger!  Heaven.  Here's the full list of goods:

Cranberries, sugar, oranges, crystallized ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves

What is cardamom? I'm glad you asked.  Cardamom is used in many Indian dishes as well as Scandinavian dishes, which is why my mother cooks with it, being Danish and all.  It is the secret ingredient to her pancakes.  It is also a common spice in the popular and tasty Chai tea.  Cardamom  is an expensive spice, but oh so tasty and a little goes a long way.  It pairs very well with the "fall spices" like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and it makes people stop and wonder what magic you have infused your dish with.  For these reasons I highly recommend the splurge.  If you choose not to use it, you could add some nutmeg to the sauce for the good fall spice flavor.

Crystallized, or candied, ginger is another addition you don't want to skip out on.  (You could do ground ginger...but again, not really the same.) If you have trouble finding it, check the bulk sections of your local grocery stores, especially places like Whole Foods or Sprouts.  Chop it up finely.

Set aside your measured spices and then zest two whole oranges.  And here is what makes this cranberry sauce so incredibly aromatic and flavorful!

1 tsp Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1 tsp cardamom, 2 tbsp crystallized ginger, and orange zest of 2 oranges!

Measure out three cups of sugar and set that aside. Peel the two oranges that you just zested and chop them up.  Use a sharp knife to trim off as much white pith as you can.  Take two more oranges and squeeze the juice into a two-cup measuring cup.  Add water to the juice to total 2 cups of liquid. 

The prepped ingredients.  Your kitchen will already smell super yummy.

Combine all ingredients, except cranberries, into a large saucepan.

Bring to a boil.  Throw in the cranberries!

Bring it back to a boil.  Keep stirring until cranberries begin to pop.

Now the intoxicating smells will waft throughout your home to bring joy and delight to all!  Put the lid on and turn down the heat to low.  Simmer for about an hour.  If you happened to use frozen cranberries, as I did today, then take the lid off for the last 10 minutes since they will be juicier. 

Bonus: While you're waiting and cleaning up, go ahead and throw some of those orange peels into your garbage disposal while you run it for a fresh smelling sink. 

Here's the best part. After an hour, taste it!...Then taste it again...and maybe again.  Add any extra sugar or spices that your heart may desire.  (This is a pretty sweet sauce!)  When you are satisfied, take it off the heat and allow to cool before transferring to containers and moving it to the fridge.  It will have a thickened, syrupy consistency and will set in the fridge to become more jam-like.  You should make it at least a day before Thanksgiving for it to set and all the flavors to mingle together in glory. 

Here it is the next day after it has had time to set!

 Enjoy, friends!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
4 cups cranberries, washed and picked over
3 cups sugar

4 oranges - and this is what you do with them:
2 cups liquid: Juice from 2 oranges + water = 2 cups
Zest from 2 oranges
Orange sections from the 2 zested oranges, chopped

2 tbsp crystallized (candied) ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Directions:
Combine all ingredients, except cranberries, into a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil. Add cranberries and continue to stir until berries begin to pop and it is back to a boil.  Put the lid on and allow to simmer for about an hour. **  Taste and add sugar if desired.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Chill until ready to serve.  This is best to make one day before serving.

**UPDATE - I've found that this recipe followed exactly can occasionally make some fairly runny sauce.  To increase the consistency to a more jelly-like texture, remove the lid around the one hour mark and allow to simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.  This makes it about the consistency of fruit preserves.   Increase the time without the lid on even more if you like it really thick or you're using frozen cranberries.  Expect it to stiffen a little more once it's been chilled as well.

Fall in Texas - Lost and Found

Fall in Austin is really more like Spring #2.  The temperature becomes more tolerable so you get back outside, rainfall increases (hopefully!) and if it does then the grass greens up and wildflowers bloom.  We might get a few days of cool crisp real fall-like weather, but not much until later in November or even December.  The weather is gorgeous here, but we do miss real fall and the trees changing colors.  So yesterday we went with some buddies of ours to find fall!

Lost Maples, west of San Antonio, is one of the few areas that has numerous maple trees in the area.  Maple trees mean fall colors!  We had a fun 3.5 hour road trip down and back and a 4.6 mile hike through the park.  We were famished after the hike and found a delicious small-town BBQ restaurant as soon as we were done.  We love Texas Hill Country and Texas BBQ.

Halfway through the hike we had a steep climb up the side of a mountain.  Yes there are mountains in central Texas - or very big hills!  When we got to the top I was thrilled to see a view not unlike back home in areas of the Appalachian mountains.  That is part of our trail to the right of the river - really steep climb!

The maples were just beginning to turn pretty colors.  In another week they should be looking really great!

Hubs has enjoyed working on his photography skills!

I love fall!

Tough Stuff: Joblessness

It's the season for thankfulness. This year we're thankful for something that we never really thought we would experience much less be thankful for - joblessness. Hubs lost his job three weeks ago, and I don't work because I am in school pretty much full time. So we very suddenly found ourselves completely and utterly jobless.

Our first response? Anger, fear, panic, shock..... We were humbled. We filed for unemployment. We cut spending. We hunkered down and prepared for months of financial uncertainty. Our earthly security had been stripped away and we were left with each other and God (and thankfully, a savings account). What an opportunity to experience God as our true source of security and hope! It turned out to be a surprising gift.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. - James 1:2-4

It was a beautiful thing to see my husband grab onto God as his life preserver. There has been more prayer and scripture reading in our house than ever before. This experience has brought us closer together and closer to God over night.

For us, the loss of this job was actually a relief - because it had been a truly miserable one. The new freedom and time Hubs had to focus on God, work through issues, and find God's path for future employment has been so special and priceless. We have had a difficult couple of years in this area of his job. We had been praying and searching for what felt like endless months for where he belonged, and God had seemed silent. The past few weeks we have rejoiced in God's discipline, grace, mercy, and love. We are seeing job opportunities shape up far more quickly than we anticipated. God does not always work on our time line. Oh wait....make that never....He never works on our time line! His timing is perfect.

The following verses of James are just as special:

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. - James 1:5-8

In praying for wisdom, we have found humbleness. While leaning on God wholeheartedly and believing Him to be a God that delivers the impossible, he has acted even beyond our expectations. But, in order for God to really work in our lives, we first had to let go of pride and earthly security - even if it meant He had to physically remove it from us.

Thank you to everyone who has been so encouraging to us during this time! We appreciate you. I hope that this encourages someone else who is going through difficult times. Let go and give God a chance. He can be trusted.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.

For he will be like a tree planted by water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. - Jeremiah 17:7-8

Choosing NFP

I hope you all enjoyed my little mental break post about freezer breakfast sandwiches.  Back to the juicy stuff. More people, by far, have viewed these posts than any other so you all are either really curious about my personal life or this is hitting home. Maybe both!

Moving right along then - the day we decided that I should go off of birth control, I sat down to have a talk with God.  There were about a billion reasons why this frightened the bejeebies out of me. Just to name a few:

• As I mentioned before, I was about to start an intense two year program that I had just spent over a year trying to get into.  A baby would make it extremely difficult or impossible to get through the program.  
• I liked birth control. I loved it.  It was easy and the negative parts of my period had lessened or disappeared!  I didn't want to go back to that.
• All the other options for delaying pregnancy - (barrier methods such as condoms amd diaphragms) sounded distinctly more unpleasant.  And Natural Family Planning (NFP)? Yeah right - that never works!

And then I found myself saying to God, "I just don't trust you!!"  

Oh.......  Have you had this moment?  When you listen to your own words and hear how foolish you sound?  When you look at yourself and you look at God and you are immediately humbled?  Praise God for his patience and grace.

It was clear to me almost instantaneously that this was not an area of my life that I trusted God - and it's a really important area.  I trusted a pill or a stupid flexible ring thing more than my Creator and Lord and Savior.  I liked having that part of my life controlled by me.  It occurred to me that birth control is maybe a sneaky way that the enemy has captured us and tempted us.  Our culture is becoming more and more convinced that sex is a primal human need that we can't live without, we have a right to it because we just might die without it, and we should do everything we can to be sure that it has no consequences. How devious... and ridiculous.  I suddenly wanted to be rid of birth control as soon as possible.

Important side note here:  If you face real challenges with your fertility or menstrual cycles, then the use of hormonal contraception may be very valuable to you as a treatment for a real condition. I am in no way trying to undermine such use.

I also took a practical look at birth control.  I like to make healthy and natural choices, and there's really nothing either healthy or natural about hormonal birth control.  You have an increased risk of blood clots, stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, and certain types of cancer.  And it essentially causes you to be infertile and can decrease your libido.  Changing your body through man-made chemicals to cause yourself to be infertile when you are only wanting to delay pregnancy seemed a bit extreme to me when I thought about it.  Fertility is a gift never to be taken for granted.  I'm all for embracing my womanhood and not squashing it.  The feminist movement shouts from the mountaintops that contraception and abortion gives women freedom - I now believe that that culture is overwhelmed with deception and shackles.  I am asserting myself as a woman who stands against it because it has become evident that while they are shouting from the mountaintops we are keeping silent to avoid the discomfort and conflict.

So Why NFP?
First, NFP is foundational to the Catholic beliefs and a lot of the information out there is from them, which is why I will reference them.  However, NFP should not be discarded simply because you're not Catholic.  There's good stuff here for everybody.  We researched NFP and have been practicing it for over a year now.  We have combined NFP with barrier methods during fertile days and we have done NFP only (which is abstaining during fertile days).  The Catholic church strongly discourages the use of barrier methods.  The problem with those methods for us Christians is that they both reduce the mutual pleasure during sex and prevent pregnancy. Since it interferes with both of the two purposes of sex designed by God, they can interrupt the union that God desires us to have.  To clarify, I don't at all believe personally that using these methods is wrong, but it's something to evaluate as a Christian couple.  It's up to you!  If I haven't said it yet and if it isn't obvious, it's very important that you openly discuss these issues and make decisions together!

Here are some benefits to NFP only:

• It's as natural and organic as you can get!
• It's pretty much free!  You only pay up front costs of a digital basal thermometer, book, class, or maybe an online membership or app for charting.  
• It's also freeing.  I can just be me.  It is so incredibly empowering to take charge of your own body and not just pop a pill.  Because nothing is wrong with me!  Man, I feel like a woman! (sorry, had to do it)  God ended up allowing me to keep control, but first I had to give HIM control and have faith.
• Time with your Hunny is better.  Yes, there is less of it.  Yes, it is an adjustment and it is difficult, especially for the guys (My Hunny jokes that it is the "No Fun Policy!").  But it's never taken for granted, there's nothing plastic involved or weird side effects from your birth control, and it's in it's purest form.  It's a great way to keep anticipation and excitement in your marriage.  It's like having a little honeymoon every month.  And, there are other fun ways to be intimate...I'll leave it at that. Sorry mom!
• If you would like to have children in the future, charting can reveal issues with your cycle that may affect your fertility. Likewise, it can be reassuring to see the green light for whenever you're ready.  You can go ahead and start working on trying to straighten an issues out, which may simply be a change in diet or an added supplement.  There likely won't be any big surprises when it comes time for you to try to conceive.
• When it is time for you to try to conceive...just do it! (But be sure to read up on post-baby charting because it gets squirrely or pretty much impossible while breastfeeding.)
• It can bring you closer to God and each other.  When you keep the principles of patience and self-control in that aspect of your life, as we should in all areas of our lives, it is humbling and God will honor it.  I have also been blessed that my cycle has not fallen back into the discomfort that it was before I started the pill!  What an answer to prayer.  

If you just can't wait to get started, here are some basics:
The Symptothermal Method of NFP involves taking daily observations on a chart of your basal body temperature, cervical fluid (or "mucus", but eww, who wants to use that word?), and you may check cervical firmness and position.  Since you observe all of these signs, it is more effective than other methods of NFP that have you observing only temps or only fluids.  Similar to remembering to take a pill at the same time every day, you need to take your temperature at the same time every morning before getting out of bed.  Your body temperature will shift an average of 0.4 degrees after ovulation and then decline again before your period if you are not pregnant.

To learn the ins and outs, we actually went to classes with the Couple to Couple League, a Catholic organization.  This was partly because I wanted to meet people that actually use it and can vouch for it working and partly because I just learn better that way and it was pretty important that I get it right!  Yeah, it was a little weird and awkward, especially when we found ourselves watching the videos in their living room with their teenage children wandering around!  Don't worry, that's not a normal occurrence.  Anyway, the class was still very helpful, and it's spread out over a few months so that they can look over your first charts and answer any questions.  They give very straightforward, specific, and conservative rules to follow as well as providing you with everything you need to get started with your fee for the class- 99% effectiveness with perfect use.

Another popular book and website for learning and charting is Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  This is from a non-religious viewpoint and is also the Symptothermal Method.

I'm praying that I have cleared up some misconceptions about the use of NFP and have encouraged you!  

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. - Gen 2:24

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. - 1 Cor 6:19

Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches

I was blessed to grow up in a home with a mother who loved to cook and was amazing at it.  She would go to the store multiple times a week on her way home, get fresh ingredients, come home and cook us up homemade from-scratch dinners on a regular basis.  Nothing was ever frozen and we rarely ate anything out of a box mix (except for maybe macaroni and cheese and brownies! Yum..) I wanted to do that for my family just like my mom did for us!

Then I grew up!!  Need I say more?  I realized that my mother is a kitchen goddess. So I still like to cook fresh homemade meals and I try to about once per week, but really... I like for meals to take up less of my time.  I grew up and I discovered the miracle that is the freezer.  So I'm always excited to find new meals that freeze well that can be pulled out, warmed up, and eaten in a jiffy.

My Bestie had her baby at a birthing center last month.  You get to eat food there if you want!  So when she was in labor at the center her husband called and said, "The only thing my wife wants is cornbread. Can you help us out with that?"  So cute.  So I whipped up a batch of corn muffins so that they were easy for her to grab and hold as needed and they worked out perfectly.  After baby was born I decided to supply them with some breakfasts since their church had dinner covered.  I wanted to again provide them something that could be easily grabbed but was delicious and filling.  So I made pumpkin muffins and breakfast sandwiches!  The beauty of them both is that they can be individually wrapped, put in a freezer bag, and when you're ready to grab one they can be heated up in about a minute and be eaten with one hand.  Perfect for the brand new mommy and daddy!

I used this pumpkin muffin reicpe,  but in half of the muffins I added chocolate chips and chopped pecans! Yum!

The new parents both have a love affair with bacon - so bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits it was!

To make 12:
12 Thomas' English Muffins - I used the original
1 dozen eggs
2 packages Hormel uncured bacon - or get cured, whatever floats your boat.  You will have some left over, so load up a few with extra bacon or make some extras.
12 slices white sharp cheddar - or other tasty cheese of choice
salt and pepper

Slice all the english muffins in half and lay the bottoms out on a rack with a paper towel underneath to catch crumbs.

Fry up the bacon,  pat off the grease on a paper towel, break each strip in half and place three half strips on each muffin bottom.

Fry the eggs a few at a time and break each yolk with the tip of a knife.  Salt and pepper the eggs.  When they're good and ready, flip them over.

Place a cheese slice on each egg.  Let the cheese start to melt.  Cook the egg until set (no runny center for these....like in this picture.  I got flip happy).

Place the eggs on top of the bacon.  Allow to cool.

You guessed it. Top them with muffin tops!

Wrap each individually in plastic wrap.  This is when you'll know if you didn't let them cook all the way through because the yolk will explode out when you press on the sandwich.  Live and learn.  Place them in labeled freezer bags and stick them in your freezer.

When you're ready to eat them just unwrap and microwave for 60-90 seconds!  These are really tasty - way better than fast food breakfast, and healthier for sure! I need to make some for myself with early morning clinicals starting soon.

Life & The Pill

Warning: this post may be a sticky and uncomfortable read.  Bear with me, all I ask is that you take this as my own understanding and look into this subject on your own.

As I pondered the use of hormonal birth control I first had to question - do I truly believe life begins at conception?  A life that should be protected?  If life maybe doesn't start until further along in a pregnancy, then I really don't have anything to worry about with birth control.  When I examined human fetal development I could only come up with one logical answer - yes, of course life begins at conception!

You began when one unique egg from your mother joined with one unique sperm from your father.  At that precise moment your 46 chromosomes and unique DNA came into existence and your cells began dividing.  At that moment you were a developing human being.  An infant is also a developing human, as is a five year old, and a ten year old.  If anything had happened in your mother's womb to disrupt your growth when you were developmentally a zygote, then you would have never been born, or you may have been born with disabilities.  And no, you would not have simply been born at a later date, that would have been it for you, because you are the product of that one egg and that one sperm.  This is pure science.  It can be debated all day long, but the truth is crazy clear!  This is an area that people of any religious or non-religious affiliation can agree on.

The life issue is much more about when this life has value than if life exists or not, and maybe this is where our Christian principles come into play.  The most beautiful verses are in Psalm 139:
For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, 
when as yet there was not one of them. - Ps. 139:13-16

 Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10

As believers and Christ-followers we are to cherish life.  I have found while volunteering at APRC that every life is a gift no matter the circumstances.  Women's lives have been changed for the better by meeting the Lord of life, but also by giving life to their children despite difficulties.  I have seen countless women move from despair to joy and gladness.  Life is valuable, even the tiniest new life.  Those who have suffered a miscarriage are painfully aware of this.  They are parents and always will be.

With that question answered, I went to figure out what the deal with contraception was.  The answers I found were that certain methods are not always successful at preventing ovulation or preventing fertilization, and when those goals fail it may be successful at preventing implantation of a fertilized egg (a zygote, a newly formed developing human being with his or her own DNA).  This is why you may occasionally hear the pill being referred to as an "abortifacient," or a substance that induces abortion.  Randy Alcorn is a Christian author who has very extensively researched this - initially with the intent and hope to show that the pill was safe and did not cause early abortions, but finding the opposite. Here is an outline of his findings:
Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?

This website clearly outlines which methods of contraception might cause an early abortion.
Can Birth Control Cause an Abortion?

The bottom line is that certain methods of birth control, including the pill, the ring, and the patch have the potential to end the life of a child in the very early stages of development.  (The IUD is the worst offender because it does nothing to prevent ovulation.)  You would never know if this happened.  Once I had this information, I knew I had to do something with it.  Not to do anything would make me a hypocrite, would endanger the children I hoped to have, and would set me at odds with my God.  Again, I'm just bringing you through my own development of convictions and beliefs and hoping that you take some time to consider your own and open the discussion with others if you haven't.

I went to my sweet husband and explained to him what I had discovered.  I expected him to fight the idea of going off birth control, he being much less "ready" than I for children.  In fact, I sort of wanted him to fight it and tell me to quit worrying so much.  I didn't really want to do this.  Instead he calmly said, "Well, I think we know what we need to do."

And then began a few days of crying out to God in total fear.  More on that next time! I think I've given you enough to chew on.

How I Came to Question the Pill

I first want to say that the purpose of these posts is simply to bring the issue of birth control to the surface.  My goal is simply to share my personal experience and understanding of the subject and to encourage you to do your own research and soul searching.  More than 99% of women who have ever had intercourse have used at least one method of contraception.  Let's discuss!  

Here's my story - Matt and I were engaged on the 4th of July, 2009 and got married on a beautiful snowy day that December.  

We were cute! :)

As I said before, we saved sex for marriage.  When we were discussing marriage and during our engagement we had very real conversations about how we wanted to wait several years to have children, but if the Lord had other plans for us and we became pregnant sooner than planned that we were prepared to accept that blessing and love that child.  If you had asked if we were "ready" for children, we would have said, "No, not yet!"  Are you ever really ready for that? But we were committed to loving any child that would come from our union, at any time, from day 1 of our marriage. Because, as should be common knowledge, the only method of birth control that is 100% is abstinence. We need to consider the choices we make with the same seriousness as the consequences they can have.  I think it's wise to accept in advance every possible outcome that goes along with that decision.

That being said, we had been in a long-distance relationship and engagement for over a year and very much wanted to get used to being around each other, married, 24/7.  We knew it would be a big adjustment enough without the added stress of a first child early in our marriage.  So one of the first orders of business for me when we got engaged was to set up an appointment for birth control.  I'm good at routines and taking a pill at the same time every day seemed like an easy thing for me to do so I went with that and started it immediately.  I wanted my body to have time to adjust and I wanted the routine to be ingrained in me before the craziness of the wedding.  No honeymoon babies for us, please!

Before I started taking birth control, I had lengthy, uncomfortable periods and pretty severe...um...monthly psychological distress we'll call it.  These symptoms were almost immediately relieved when I started taking the pill. Then we got married, and after several months I started trusting the pill to work and to keep me from getting pregnant before we were "ready."  At some point I transitioned to the Nuva Ring which was even better - no more daily pill taking!   I loved it.  Hormonal birth control was one of the best things that had ever happened to me and women in general.  Thank God for birth control!

Last spring (2011), I was working only part time and waiting to start the OTA program.  I decided to spend more of my free time doing good for others and I started volunteering at the Austin Pregnancy Resource Center.  I will probably spend another whole entry on this fantastic organization because I have such a huge heart for it.  Essentially, it is a Christian organization that provides entirely free services for women facing unplanned pregnancies.  Services include ultrasounds (truly lifesaving tools!), materials like clothes/diapers/formula, written resources, referrals, and spiritual counsel.  They really love on these women, offer them hope, and share the gospel with many.  Volunteering there opened my eyes to the issue of life and I began doing my own research and discovered the massive ugly reality that is present in our country.  I won't go into detail here but I'll provide you some resources so you can see for yourself.  This is not an issue to push aside as too controversial and uncomfortable to discuss.  It's also not an issue that only those of faith should be concerned about.  It's a human issue, not just a faith issue.  (Side note: we do have a presidential election coming up in which the life issue is HUGE.  Please take some time to consider where you truly stand, research the candidates, and go vote!)

One day I was talking about these issues to a dear friend who was about to enter a pharmacy residency.  She said to me these words, "If you are ok with birth control, then you have to be ok with the Morning After Pill, because they do basically the same thing."  She then went on to explain that they both could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus by altering the uterine lining.  (There is some debate over whether or not the Morning After Pill is capable of this or not, but the pill's website continues to state that it does).  I did the only thing I could do with those words, I stuffed them way into the back of mind and told them to stay there!  I didn't want to deal with them! But of course they didn't stay there.  Over the next few months I asked myself the very important questions: Do I believe that life begins at conception or at some later point?  Where do I really stand on the life issue? What's the truth about these pills and what's God's truth in this? This is personal now, because now we're talking about the lives of my own children.  So I went on a personal and scientific quest searching for answers!

I'll share what I found in the next post.  Here are some valuable resources about the life issue.

LifeSiteNews
Secular Pro Life Group
US Abortion Statistics
National Right to Life
Fetal Development
Why Pro-Life?

Tough Stuff: Birth Control

I told you we were going to tackle some hard subjects.  I'll stay true to my promise even though I'm nervous about it.  This fun, challenging, awkward topic is for all the dating, engaged, married couples out there and those who ever wish to be.  When you're dating there's lots of talk about saving sex for marriage.  When you're married there's lots of talk about when you're going to have kids and how you're going to raise them.  One thing that is rarely talked about is birth control.  If you're thinking, "Ok, what is there to talk about?" then you're in good company.  When I was considering marriage, my choice of birth control was a minor concern compared to everything else.  I would go on the pill, obviously.  Not even a question. After all, birth control is one of the greatest things that's ever happened for women right?

By the way, my husband and I did save sex for marriage.  Easy? Not really.  Doable?  Absolutely, with self-control, patience, boundaries, and the Lord.  Did our relationship or our marriage suffer for it? Not even a little bit, quite the opposite.  This is somewhat off topic - but just to give you context for my story and a little boost of encouragement for the daters or prospective daters.

Ok - back to birth control.    Few people know this, but Matt and I now practice Natural Family Planning (a.k.a "NFP").  This is the part where those who do know this about me have laughed and said, "Ok...well, good luck with that."  This is because the common belief about NFP is that it doesn't work and you will inevitably experience an unplanned pregnancy.  After having practiced NFP for over a year now with no oopsie babies, I can confidently say that NFP does work. NFP (specifically the Sympto-Thermal Method) has a 99% effectiveness rate with perfect use.  This is the same effectiveness rate as the perfect use of the pill.  "Perfect use" means that you must follow the rules, which is a bit harder with NFP than your typical method and I'll get to that later.

No, we are not Catholic.  We are bible-believing Protestant Christians.  And, as I'll share with you, our faith has only a partial impact on this decision that we've made.  I believe birth control is an issue that everyone should do their own research and informed decision making on.

We started NFP last August despite the fact that I was about to start an intense two-year program for Occupational Therapy Assisting.  A baby would put a serious wrench in our plans.  Yet we felt so certain of our decision that we did it, despite how crazy it seemed to others and even to ourselves.  Next blog I'll share more about how we came to our decision.

Changeable Seasonal Wreath

One of my first Pinterest discoveries was this wreath.  It's simply burlap strips wrapped around a styrofoam form.  Three loops are placed on the wreath for you to connect different decor to it, so you can change it throughout the year!  Genius idea.  (My input on her tutorial is that painting the form black is an unnecessary step - white is fine!)  

I have a new love for felt flowers. My first wreath was for the spring.  Tutorial for the spring pom pom flowers.  These flowers were really easy and all you need is felt, something round for tracing, scissors, and a hot glue gun.

I switched up the flowers over the summer for the 4th of July!  These flowers were prettier, made a bigger statement, and were a really big hit.  They were also very easy.  Same materials required.  Tutorial here.  The only thing I did differently was hot glue these little gems in the center instead of a button.

I'm so excited that it's fall. I absolutely love fall decorations.  Maybe even a tiny bit more than I love Christmas decorations!  Here's my fall wreath and  Here's my inspiration blog.  I did change a few more things on these!  See below.

First of all I needed bigger flowers than this tutorial made.  So using a 12 inch long piece of felt, I drew out 4 big petals - roughly 1 3/4 inch high and 3in wide.  

I found it easiest to line the top of the petals with the ruler and to mark the width of them about halfway up from the bottom.  This got me the most evenly shaped petals.  Do slightly less than 3in to get the nice slopes on each end, you can see my dot is just shy of reaching the 9in mark on the ruler.  See my random dot in the middle there?  Am I really confusing you yet?  I am not skilled enough to cut evenly without a line so I draw it all out with a pen.  To avoid the pen marks on your flower, just cut right below the line.

To do the center part I used the same system but made them about 1 1/2 inches in both height and width and I used the shorter end of my felt sheet, so only about 8 inches long. 

  
If you don't have any sewing skills like me then the next part is tricky. If you have needle and thread skills then this next part is cake.  Weave your near matching colored thread in and out along the bottom.  Keep it pulled tight and then stitch together the ends so that it becomes a circle and completes your flower!  You really want the smaller piece pulled together tight so you have somewhere to stick your button or whatever you want to put in the middle.  If you have no needle and thread skills like me, I found it easiest to use a doubled up piece of thread that was only a little longer than the piece of felt I was working on.  Don't make it too long or it will become a knotted nightmare.

Weaving the thread, but keep it scrunched up tighter than this!

After you make your big petals and your smaller petals, you can either stitch them together or use hot glue like I did.  I want to use needle and thread as little as possible.  Here are the three pieces you'll be putting together.  Notice how a hole in the middle of the the larger flower is fine, but you want to minimize it as much as possible in the smaller flower that will be on top.  Just keep stitching it up like crazy!  It can be a mess, just cover up your crazy stitches with a cute button!  

To finish it, hot glue or stitch a clip onto the back that you can clip onto your wreath.  Using clips lets you move them around easily and put them on whatever you want!

The Views, The Pubs, and the Mountain Goats

December 5th will be our 3 year wedding anniversary!  We decided to take a celebratory trip early and escape to the mountains of Colorado for a few days at the end of the summer before life got hectic again.  I LOVE mountains.  It sounded like the perfect spot in the middle of the August heat.  100 degrees in Austin, 60-70 degrees in the mountains of Colorado. Yes, please!  I am admittedly NOT a skier, but maybe after this trip I'd be just a little more open to heading back up there in the winter.

The most beautiful area I have ever been to is Switzerland.  There were so many spots where I literally felt as if I was in a photoshopped magazine picture. A place that couldn't even be real in my dreams.  The colors were vibrant and the views were so stunning that I could find no flaws in them.  I love finding little gems of spots like this because they make me feel so close to God and his creation!  I imagine that when Jesus comes to redeem the world and create a New Heavens and New Earth that every inch will surpass spots such as these in their beauty.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Revelation 21:10

What a glorious day it will be!  Meanwhile, I love to find spots on Earth now that give me a taste of the coming kingdom.  We found a few of those spots in the Colorado Rockies.

We got an amazing deal through Groupon on a condo in Keystone.  We arrived on a Wednesday. Our condo was right at the bottom of one of the ski slopes.  The weather was rainy for the first few days we were there, but we loved seeing the clouds hang over the mountains.  You know you're in a beautiful place when it's still beautiful despite gross weather!

On Thursday morning we explored Breckenridge.  It's only about 20 minutes from Keystone.  We saw a gondola and when we found out it was free we didn't even stop to ask where it was going, we just jumped on!  It took us up to an adventure park where we were able to get on a ski lift and go up almost to the tree line, which is at about 11,000 feet.  When we went back down we explored the town, which has lots of sweet little shops and restaurants.  It took us forever to decide where to eat!

Speaking of places to eat, we discovered that you must go to the local pubs!  The Denver area and Summit County in the mountains have loads of microbreweries and pubs with tasty comfort food like fish and chips and bison burgers and Rocky Mountain Trout. We tried a couple of Pubs in Dillon, right next to Keystone:  Dillon Dam Brewery and Pug Ryan's.  Both were delicious.

Thursday afternoon we drove back out towards Denver to Red Rocks Park. God made the Red Rocks amphitheater acoustically perfect!  We saw Norah Jones there, a collective favorite of ours, and she was great as always.  While I listened I couldn't stop admiring the view over the Denver skyline and the horizon as it lit up as the sun went down.  Check out the link for better pictures, but...rock face!

On Friday we went to Vail which is about 40 minutes from Keystone.  If you've never been, Vail is a quaint little touristy town with lots of pedestrian streets and European-style buildings.  They have a gorgeous garden in one corner of it.  When we walked down the path out to the garden I loved this little picnic table that we spotted!

Wildflowers in the Rockies are extra bright and attract lots of wildlife, like hummingbirds!

On our last morning, we finally woke up to gorgeous blue skies!  On our way back to Denver to catch our late afternoon flight, we drove up to Mt. Evans.  This mountain has the highest paved road in North America, higher than Pikes Peak!  The drive is only open in the summer and it's quite literally a cliffhanger, but if you're in a car then you're not as crazy as the dozens of bikers that you'll see climbing to the top.  It's also one of the most convenient places to see wild mountain goats!! 

Mt. Evans is at 14,130 feet.

As I said at the beginning, we saw several of those "picture-perfect" views on our trip.  But this spot - Summit Lake on Mt. Evans - was by far our favorite.  The mountain lake was surrounded by tundra that was a beautiful fall-like reddish color.  A little oasis of perfection!

Lessons from Esther: Part 3 - How I was Convicted

To say that Esther was a courageous woman would be a massive understatement.  One of my new favorite moments from a woman in the bible is in chapter 4 of Esther.  Mordecai learns of Haman's plan to destroy the Jews throughout Persia.  Even though he knows it will put Esther at great risk, he also knows that she is their only hope, so he asks for her help.

I'm skipping a lot of really good stuff, but to cut straight to the chase, here is Esther's response. (Remember, anyone who approaches the king without a summons is facing a likely death penalty.  Esther also points out to Mordecai in vs. 14 that the king has not called on her in 30 days!)
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. - Esther 4:15-16 (emphasis mine)

This was just one little thing among several that God used recently to convict me about fasting... and the fact that I never do it!  I think if we're honest a good majority of us don't.  We have excuses about how busy we are, how we need the energy, how it's unhealthy, how we would just fail and use it as a way to lose weight, or in my case, how grumpy I get without food.  But we are expected to fast.  Early followers did it so regularly that when Jesus spoke of fasting he said, "When you fast..." (Matt 6:16) Not if, but when. He spoke of it in the same way he spoke of prayer. They go hand in hand.  Jesus himself fasted for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4).

Fortunately, we can start small.  I think the key is to make it a regular part of our worship.  So I've made a new commitment to fast for one meal per week.  Maybe eventually I can build on that, but so far I've already forgotten and found myself munching more than once!  I am not a perfect one here, for sure and for certain...

One thing I love about fasting is how it reinforces my efforts to be joyful always and pray continually.  Hunger is my cue to pray, which means that I do a lot of praying, pretty much continually.  Because hunger is on my mind, God is even more on my mind.  In order to fast, we must humble ourselves significantly and put ourselves in a vulnerable, physically weakened place. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor 12:10.  Spiritually, we soar!  It teaches us discipline and self-control that we need for a spiritually fruitful life.  God will bless any genuine effort we make to take a step of faith and humble ourselves. I have felt and experienced his joy and blessings almost immediately!  So if you're one who has lots of excuses, I challenge you to put them aside and try it!  Esther didn't hesitate to fast when she was in a bind.  In an already vulnerable position, she chose to weaken herself even further to truly let God work and speak in her life.  She even humbled herself to the threat of death.  I want to be more like her...and more like Jesus.

Here are some fasting resources for you:
Cru: Guide to Fasting and Prayer by Bill Bright
Adding Fasting to your Prayer Life - For Dummies!
Tips for Effective Fasting