Raccoon anyone?

We are always game to try any new food as a family. Sometimes we come up with a delicious cuisine, and this just happens to be one of those occasions. We were out Raccoon hunting with our neighbors last night, and ended up with 9 coon. We figured we wouldn't let all the good meat go to waste, and brought home some legs to eat. We used this recipe, and it turned out great. Everyone greatly enjoyed it. They did not taste at all "gamey," and were very tender. My mom called the meat like a mixture between pork and beef. For all of you to have the opportunity to try it, I figured I post the recipe here.

You first start by acquiring your coon. You skin and take off the quarters. (the rest of the coon is edible as well, but most of the meat is on the quarters, so it is simplest to just eat the quarters) Bring them home, and remove all the fat you can (you can actually do this anytime before you start cooking them), and let them soak in salt/soda brine for about 6 hours (longer is fine). Take them out of the salt brine, and put them in a pot to boil. Boil them with salt (and onion if desired) until thoroughly done.


mix together:

1-cup ketchup

½ cup cooking oil or butter

¼ cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. garlic powder (or to taste)

1 Tbsp. onion powder (or to taste)

1 Tbsp. salt

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tsp. pepper

pour over coon, and let sit until ready to grill.

Place on grill and apply sauce to meat as it is cooking.

Grill until browned as desired.

Eat with relish, forgetting the species it came from. (which is not hard considering the exquisite taste)

One-linner

If at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving!

David's Send-off

Thank you all for coming to David's send-off. Your support is a real encouragement. We had plenty of treats for everyone, thanks to the many people who were so generous and brought a variety of cookies, bars, and even milk! We estimated we had about 150-160 people present for the program, and there were a few more that either left before the program, or came after it was over.

We would especially like to thank those who shared, including Cpt. John Mueller (Navy), Pastor Les Johnson, and Bob Ebersprocher, who also presented David with a Gideon New Testament on behalf of the Gideons. A big thanks also goes to the Brown Family, Kurt, Sophia, Daniel, Sarah, Hannah, Bailey, as well as Brandon Marschner, Naomi Finney, Julia Osthus, Anna Alme, and Angela Lackey, who stayed around and helped us clean up.

We would also like to thank each and everyone who is praying for David as he prepares to embark on this new stage in his life. We pray that the Lord can bless him in this endeavor, and that David may be a bright, shinning example of Christ's love to all around him!

Just to lighten your day

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time!

Saying of the day

A little bit of powder, a little bit of paint, makes a girl seem what she aint!

"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " 08

I know this is only 07, but they way everyone is talking about it these days, one would imagine it were October 08! The small difference being there 6 people being talked about instead of 2. I have to say I still have not seen a candidate stand out yet on either side. The democrats are totally out. There is not a single democrat who has even the life issue correct. That said I don't need to go further to discuss their stands.

On the Republican side, there are quite a few who will claim to be pro-life, in fact all of the leading candidates claim to be against abortion, at least in some way. Giuliani and Romney, both, have very week anti-abortion stands. Both want to leave rape, incest and "health" of the mother loopholes for abortions to happen, which is really not outlawing it at all, as the "health" of the mother loophole is what brought us to the infanticide we are daily committing. (See their respective Issues pages: Giuliani Romney)

John McCain is a mystical subject. Presently he is touting his "pro-life" stands, (see his Issues page on abortion) but he also has long held to the rape, incest, and "life" of the mother clauses. I see him as another bomb-out for the pro-life cause. (See this interesting article by the ultra-liberal blog Think Process trying to say he is "right-winged" they bring out his flimsy anti-abortion stands) Also McCain has shown by his infamous "McCain-Feingold" bill that he has a loose interpretation of the Constitution, and with such would not appoint strict constitutionalist judges, which is crucial for the pro-life cause.

So what does all this leave us? One, nay two top tier candidates. You may know Fred Thompson, and I will next address his stands, but let me first introduce you to the newest candidate who in every way except funding is proving himself a "top-tier" candidate, Mike Huckabee.

For now I will address Fred Thompson's life stands. One thing that concerns me is his seeming lack of care for the issue. He never directly states his opinion on his issues or principles page, unlike every other Republican Presidential candidate, including Giuliani who all directly address the issue. Fred's site does briefly mention "the sanctity of life" and not appointing judges who promote a "culture of abortion." Other than this strange neglect, Thompson seems to be pretty solid on the abortion issue, and the marriage issue. Some concerns have come up more recently, including "not recalling" Terri Schiavo. A little disconcerting, especially seeing the publicity that case received. With that said, I still think I could support Thompson if he received the Republican nomination.

Now concerning Mike Huckabee, His stand on life is solid, he would support a federal gay marriage amendment, and has solid 2nd amendment stands, including holding a conceal and carry permit! Although I am not sure if marriage is a federal issue, I do appreciate his willingness to be that strong on Marriage. I greatly appreciate his boldness to support a Constitutional amendment to outlaw all abortions. I believe that abortions are prohibited by the Constitution in the first place, but because of activist judges, it is now necessary to directly state it.

With all this said, my support goes toward Mike Huckabee. I believe he has the executive experience and the proper stands on issues to lead our country in a righteous way. His leadership is phenomenal considering the strong marriage amendment and tax cuts he passed in his state while governor, even with a democratic legislature! As far as funding goes, I believe the only reason he is lacking funding is because number 1: he doesn't have excessive personal wealth, and number 2: he has not received a universal "top-tier" designation yet. I believe that he is the best man to win the election.

Go Mike Huckabee!

Update: Mike Huckabee has now passed Mitt Romney in the last two polls by Rasmussen Reports.

Who likes gun control?

I found this very humorous video clip, that I must say places the issue in a good perspective!

Rain!

"For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth..." (Is. 55:10) Sometimes I like to question God's timing of his wonderful provision of rain. Throughout the summer we had a shortage of rain, and were quite dry. Although we didn't suffer significant harm to our garden, it still was inconvenient, and many farmers did suffer crop damage. Now the Farmers are all ready to harvest their corn and soybeans, but the fields are so muddy they can't even think of driving in them. Between last night and this morning we got close to 3 inches of rain, and putting that on top of over 4 inches this last week, we are starting to wonder when the soil will get dry enough to drive on. You know, this reminds me of a Proverb, "As snow in summer and rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool." (Prov. 26:1) As it says in this verse, rain is not fitting in harvest, or so we finite humans think. For now, we just have to accept God's wonderful provision of rain, and trust His perfect timing through it all. But that still doesn't mean we can't pray for dry weather!

Send-off for David!

As I before mentioned, my brother has enlisted in the Marines. We are wanting to have a commissioning service of a sort, and you are invited to take part. It will be from 14.00.00-16.00.00 hours (ok, 2pm-4pm for those of you not used to military time) at our church, just south of Wilson. You can get directions and more information, at my family's blog, here. We would love to see you there!

Prayer Request - Update 4

John is on his way home today. It is amazing how fast his little body has recovered! We can thank the Lord for His healing touch. Continue to pray for John as his healing is not over, but be sure to thank God for his gracious healing touch as well!