Healthy Minute- First Aid Kit for Mom

As a mom, I constantly find myself playing doctor or nurse with one of my little ones. It's amazing how many times there's a cut or a scrape, a fever or a sore throat. It seems every time I turn around there's a need for a bandaid or medicine.
As a wife and woman, I sometimes need to get my husband an antacid or find myself some headache medicine. And, we're not always at home when it's needed- my purse has never been one of those small clutches!
The most aggravating thing is trying to find a med-kit that supplies all my needs for on-the-go care.
So, I've had to build my own over the years. It changes as the years go by and the children grow, but some things remain constant.
If you have a specific health problem, then always pack some of those medicines for emergency purposes- inhalers for asthma, insulin and glucose for diabetes, blood pressure or heart medicines, etc.
I thought I'd share with you the things that I find most important to keep on hand in my "Mommy Med-Kit":

• Pepto Bismol
• Pepcid Complete or Tums
• Gas X
• Benadryl
• Dramamine
• Sudafed PE Day and Night (or some day/ night version of cold medicine)
• Tylenol
• Ibuprofen
• Excedrin
• Midol or other Menstrual Cramp medicine
• Allergy Eye Drops
• Cough Drops
• Inhaler
• Sunscreen
• Insect repellent wipes
• Antiseptic (usually hydrocortizone cream and triple antibiotic ointment)
• Burn Cream (usually something with silver in it)
• Bandaids of various sizes and purposes
• Gauze Pads and/ or Roll
• Medical tape
• Elastic Bandage Wrap
• Instant cold pack compress (if I can fit it in)
• Safety Pins (big ones that you'd use for cloth diapers)
• Scissors 
• Good metal tweezers
• Tissue travel pack 
• A couple female pads and liners (tampons if you use those)

Many times you can find small travel containers or packets of most of these items. Keeping them all together in an easily organizable bag really helps. If you don't carry a large purse or diaper bag, you may want to keep something in your car- just make sure your materials won't melt in the heat.

I’ve Missed Out (song)

Cajun Crawfish Boil recipe

NOTE: This must be cooked outside!

3 containers of non-iodized salt
40 lbs crawfish (shrimp or crabs could also be substituted)
1 container Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab boil powder
6 packages of Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab boil bags
1/4 cup Zatarain's Concentrated Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab boil liquid
2 (16 oz) bottles Worchestershire Sauce
2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
Cayenne pepper- if you dare!
1 bag lemons
1 bag garlic
1 bunch celery
4 lbs small red potatoes
2 (16 oz) containers button mushrooms
2 (16 oz) packages of Kielbasa Sausage
24 Frozen Corn on the Cob

You will also need:
tanks of butane
Burner with a large pot
wooden oar
large ice chests
outside table
lots of newspapers
paper plates or crawfish platters
butter

"Purge" the crawfish with salt three times. Dump the crawfish out of their bags and into a large tub. These guys are suppose to be alive; if you come across any dead ones throw them out. Pour one container of salt on top of the crawfish and fill the tub with water. They will be fighting and pinching whatever gets near them, and they will begin to look like they're foaming at the mouth. Strain water out after about 20 minutes. Repeat two more times. This helps to clear anything out of the "mud vein".

Place pot on burner and fill with water. Your pot should come with a "colander" basket inside it- you need this! You will use this to gently lower and lift the crawfish in and out of the water without having to dump the entire pot. You will need this seasoned water to cook the veggies after you cook the crawfish. Turn your burner on high.

Add seasoning. All of the above mentioned Zatarains, the worchestershire sauce, and the vinegar (which makes the shells easier to get off). Also add the lemons, cut in half, the whole heads of garlic with the bottoms chopped off, and the celery to the pot.

After the water is at a good rolling boiling, throw the crawfish into the "colander basket" and slowly lower it into the water. The water will stop boiling when you lower the crawfish in. You need to bring it back to a boil, stirring with the oar to get them all cooked evenly. Allow them to cook until a bright red color and floating at the top. Turn burner off.

Gently, remove the colander basket with the oar. Set the basket on the pavement until you can dump the crawfish into a large ice chest, or you can dump them onto the table covered with newspapers.

Now, put the potatoes into the empty "colander basket" and lower them into the liquid that the crawfish were cooked in. Turn burner back on. Allow the to cook for about 5 minutes at a boil. Put mushrooms and sausage in and continue to cook for a few minutes. Turn off your burner and drop the frozen corn in there. You want to stir with your oar and allow the corn to heat up while simultaneously bringing the temperature of the pot down.

Remove the veggies and place in another ice chest or on the table with the crawfish. Enjoy!

Blessed Homeland (poem)

Gliding o'er life's fitful waters,
Heavy surges sometimes roll;
And we sigh for yonder haven,
For the homeland of the soul.

Blessed homeland, ever fair!
Sin can never enter there;
But the soul, to life awaking,
Everlasting bloom shall wear.

Oft we catch a faint reflection,
Of its bright and vernal hills;
And, though distant, how we hail it!
How each heart with rapture thrills!

To our Father, and our Savior,
To the Spirit, Three in One,
We shall sing glad songs of triumph
When our harvest work is done.

'Tis the weary pilgrim's homeland,
Where each throbbing care shall cease,
And our longings and our yearnings,
Like a wave, be hushed to peace.

—Fanny Crosby

Where Do the Dead Go? And, When Are They Judged? (video sermon)

The Curse Of Blood

A curse is a scary thing. Many people were worried about being cursed by a dead pharaoh when their tombs were excavated. Some people fear the hex of a wizard or a witch. But, the greatest and most deadly curse was placed about 2,000 years ago.
If you're familiar with your bible, you know the story of Christ's crucifixion. There was a point where Pilate was trying to free Jesus, but the people wouldn't have it.
Matthew 27:24-25- When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Bad move! These people put a blood curse on not only themselves, but their posterity. And, for almost 2,000 years no one has been as hunted, persecuted, murdered, etc. as the Jewish people. It's because of this curse.
Now, you may say that you don't believe this, but they were warned almost 3,000 years before Christ was killed.
Numbers 35:30-34- Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.
A murderer's blood must be spilled in judgement for the land to be cleansed of the blood that was shed through murder. When these people put the blood on themselves and their children they cursed their entire race to have to be killed for the innocent blood that was shed in their land.
The same blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that washed away our sin and enables us an eternity in heaven with Christ is the blood that dooms the Jewish people to pay for it's shedding by their own blood being spilled.
That's terrifying!
Can they ever remove this curse? Yes. They were told how to remove the curse around the same time they were told about the curse.
Deuteronomy 21:1-9- If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.  Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
If it's so easy then why haven't they done it yet? Well, it's not as easy as you would think.
The elders and judges of the Jewish people first have to acknowledge that Jesus was their Messiah and that their religious leaders in times past were the ones to murder Him.
Next, they have to have a priest. The Jewish priesthood hasn't existed for over 1,900 years. They are just now getting to the place where they can find sons of Levi to learn the role of the priesthood and perform it.
And, probably the most difficult will be that when they finally realize that Jesus Christ was their Messiah and they need to remove this blood curse, it will be during the Tribulation when the Anti-Christ is sitting in the third temple of Jerusalem claiming that he is their Messiah.
The leaders will have to brave the armies of the Anti-Christ with Levitical priests and a heifer and make it to the valley outside the walls of Jerusalem and accomplish this while engaged in battle for their very existence.
A curse is not an easy thing to break when the most powerful force in the entire universe is the very thing that has hexed you!
The only good thing is that the blood of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to save you from a curse that has been placed on you. The curse of sin. And, the end of that curse is outer darkness. This curse can only be broken while you are alive, and it can only be broken through accepting Christ's gift of Salvation that He provided when He shed His blood on Calvary to save your soul.