Anchor Thoughts to Scripture: Gain Victory

April 16th, 2012

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I’m not allowed to think whatever I want. My thoughts are where sin begins. So control over my lips begins when I anchor my thoughts to Scripture. This means that I will take my thoughts captive and run them through Philippians 4:8.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philillians 4:8 ESV)

Anchor Thoughts to Scripture: Gain Victory

All of life must be anchoring my thoughts to Scripture, but especially when I know my thoughts are sin:

  • a complaining spirit
  • selfishness
  • wanting others to do my will (manipulation)
  • negative thoughts about someone (always becomes slander)
  • thinking of ways people have wronged me (holding a grudge)
  • not resting (striving)
  • hopelessness and despair (usually demonic or hormonal)
  • feeling like I’ll never gain victory over specific sin
  • stressing out over circumstances beyond my control
  • wanting to take matters into my own hands (not trusting God)

In each circumstance, Scripture alone can expose and disarm sin. Become aware that my mind has a doorway, and not to dwell on anything that will feed my sin. Stop, throw out the thought, and quote a Scripture that directly addresses it.

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Posted in Christian Living | No Comments »

The Best Banana Bread in the World

April 13th, 2012

best-banana-breadMy husband’s boss asks for my banana bread every year for the annual brunch, but when I arrive with two loaves, he whisks both of them off the table and hides them. When I start laughing, he says, “Oh, we have too much food anyway.” He says this every year. Because he wants it all to himself; that’s why.

This is the very first recipe I ever baked when I was a young girl, and I’ve continued to make it all these years. My mother gave me the recipe on a card, and I laminated it because I use the recipe so much.

Turn on the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two small loaf pans. Mash 3 very ripe bananas. In another larger bowl, cream together ½ cup of margarine (softened), ¾ cup of sugar, and 1 egg. Dump the banana mush into the larger bowl. Now add 3 tablespoons of milk, 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir. Divide equally into the two small loaf pans. Bake for half an hour.

If your bananas are small, you might need to add a little bit of milk to compensate. If your bananas are enormous, you might need to add some flour. If it’s your first time to make banana bread, just buy normal-sized bananas.

Don’t try to bake the two small loaves in one loaf pan. My best friend keeps asking me, “What is your secret to your yummy banana bread? Mine doesn’t taste the same, and furthermore, it doesn’t bake in half an hour. It takes way longer.” And I answer every time, “Use two small loaf pans instead of one big one.” And she says, “Oh, I don’t want to do that. I don’t have enough space in my cupboard.” The next year, like clockwork, we have the same conversation…

Some day I will buy two small loaf pans and mail them to her. When she opens the package, she will probably laugh.

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Posted in Cooking and Baking | 5 Comments »

Extracting DNA

April 12th, 2012

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My husband did an experiment with my kids the other night. We had fun extracting DNA from an onion. My 8-year-old son Nathaniel received a DNA kit as a gift, so he was eager to try one of the experiments. First we cut an onion into small pieces, and the kids mashed it in a glass measuring cup. We added half a cup of warm water. Then we added 5 ml of powdered detergent. We stirred it.

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Next we filled a bowl with hot water. We measured the temperature with a thermometer, adding cold water until it was 50 degrees Celcius. We put the measuring cup with the smashed onion bits into the hot water. Then we set the timer for 12 minutes.

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We added hot water as needed, to keep the mixture at 50 degrees, stirring from time to time. Also, we got a second bowl and filled it with ice cubes and water.

Ding. (The timer went off.) We took the mixture out of the hot water and put it into the cold water. We set the timer for 5 more minutes.extracting-dna-3

Ding. We grabbed a coffee filter and stuffed it into a funnel. Then we poured the onion mixture through the filter and funnel, and into a glass. The gunk trapped in the filter included “cell walls, cell membranes, and cytoplasmic leftovers, but not the DNA from the cell.” The DNA passed through the filter.

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We poured the DNA liquid (called supernatant) from the glass into a test tube, filling the tube halfway. We added a pinch of salt, then dripped chilled (denatured) alcohol down the side of the tube, filling the other half of the test tube. We screwed the cap onto the tube and rocked it back and forth like we were dancing with a maracas. We placed the tube in the freezer and waited at least 10 minutes, tapping our feet impatiently.

Ding. Oh my goodness! The white gloppy stuff is DNA! It feels gooey like mucous, and and it’s stringy, like it has formed chains!

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My husband also helped my kids put together a DNA chain with the plastic snap-together DNA pieces. He looked at me and said that he gives this Science Wiz DNA kit a thumbs up. The colorful instructions were easy to follow, and the experiments were fun.

extracting-dna-6Linked to Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom:

Science Sunday

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Posted in Science | 1 Comment »

Toy Trebuchet

April 10th, 2012

toy-trebuchet

Watch my children as they play with a toy trebuchet. We put together the pieces of the wooden kit before filming the launching of objects across our backyard. After all, what kid doesn’t want to build fun historical weapons of war? Take a look at how the kids squeal as we have fun with this toy trebuchet.

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Posted in History | 4 Comments »

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