Folic Acid Tied to Lower Rate of Two Childhood Cancers

Folic Acid Tied to Lower Rate of Two Childhood Cancers
Folic acid enrichment of grain products has significantly reduced the rates of neural tube defects in infants. Now a new study suggests a further possible benefit: a reduction in rates of two types of childhood cancer.
read more here.

Indescribable is the way I feel, thank you Jesus for your Greater Love

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16

Memorial Day Weekend, a solemn time around here. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for those who have lay down their lives to protect our freedom. It is a time we contemplate the kind of life choices we make so that those that died in order for us to live, did not die in vain.

"They hover as a cloud of witness above this nation" Henry Ward Beecher

Olympic bobsledder to retire; pursues spec ops - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

United States bobsledder John Napier is leaving the sport and will try to become a member of an elite military unit.

"After Afghanistan, I had a lot of rational and irrational ideas about sport," Napier said, according to the Times Union. "I never got the taste of selflessness that I did in Afghanistan. There is not a morning that I don't wake up and miss it."
Olympic bobsledder to retire; pursues spec ops - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Comforting Creamy Century Egg with Silken Tofu Soup

Century Egg, Tofu and green bean Creamy Soup with Green Onion Pancake

If you love century egg porridge as much as I do, you will love this soup. It is very easy to make with a can of creamy Campbells chicken soup.

Century Egg (Chinese: 皮蛋; pinyin: pídàn)

Add chicken stock and water to make the soup consistency of your creamy soup base. I use more water and stock as I like it more liquid.If you like it thicker, follow the Campbell's instructions. But a thicker soup is harder to stir tofu, century egg and vegetables, so cook them separately and then mix everything up only for a minute or so.

I also recommend replacing half the water quantity with chicken stock to give that really slow cook taste. For a more watery soupy consistency, you can heat on low after mixing the condensed soup and water-stock mixture to form a creamy soup.   Then add cubed silken tofu and cubed century egg. Use any diced vegetables you have, I pick cooked green beans only because I have some left overs. The idea is to pick a fragrant vegetables, you can use kale, spinach, carrots, peas etc. But cook the vegetables first. This way, it will only take about 5 minutes to cook the soup.

Key note : be very careful as you stir the soup, very low heat, and push gently outwards away from your body with a flat spatchala. Do not push inwards towards the body, only out and lift up and out again...very gently. This way, your tofu will not break up and look like throw-up. Also, use a wok or a wide pot, it helps the tofu float better and less contact with everything else. This is an exquisite soup, the century egg really adds a depth of taste.

If you are a first timer with century eggs, you can try this soup, it takes away all the funky taste of the century egg, Century eggs are like aged cheese, it is an acquired taste. It is also alkaline and combined with any stock high in calcium or any other nutritional value, helps the body absorb the nutrition. This soup can also be made from scratch with a roux but it will take more time.

Other fabulous Century Egg dishes include :

sliced century eggs served as an hors d'oeuvre with slices of pickled ginger root adjacent jelly fish is a popular starter

A must try - Congee with century eggs : out of this world good

sliced eggs with silken tofu and pork floss drizzled with thick soy sauce

Looking into my future, in front of the therapist....

If we are diligent, we might get this thin in 50 years time. 

After 60 years of marriage, a husband and wife came for counseling.

When asked what the problem was, the wife went into a tirade listing every problem they had ever had in the years they had been married.

On and on and on: neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.

Finally, after allowing this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around the desk and after asking the wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her long and passionately as her husband watched -with a raised eyebrow.

The woman shut up and quietly sat down as though in a daze.  The therapist turned to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least 3 times a week. Can you do this?"

"Well, I can drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays, but on Fridays, I fish."

Tuna Coleslaw Onigiri

Plain Rice Balls with left over ham, cheese and spaghetti Sauce

What to do with a can of Tuna, left over coleslaw and Nori Komi Furikake ( seaweed and sesame flakes) ?

Of course, it is time for Onigiri !

Very Light  Summer Lunch. Perfect with a cup of green tea. The tangy and sweet coleslaw makes it taste like sushi. So easy to make, took less than 2 minutes with already cooked jasmine rice.

Need I say more about Obama's competence?

President Obama's budget suffered a second embarrassing defeat Wednesday, when senators voted 99-0 to reject it.
Coupled with the House's rejection in March, 414-0, that means Mr. Obama's budget has failed to win a single vote in support this year.

3 Smiling Carnations - Inspired by a Dream

3 Smiling Carnations

By Joan Greathouse

3 Smiling Carnations

Greeted me in my dream

One from each of my children

Cheerful and Pink

I stood down to their level

In order to hear them well

Their voices were meek

But their spirits were swell

Each sang a different melody

But together bore a jazzy touch

With eyes closed and ears wide

Their music melts my heart

Then they paused for a moment

And I opened my eyes

Curious, I asked

“That’s all ? Why? “

“We are the flowers of innocence”

The smallest of them declared,

"All of your Tenderness and Care,

Nurtured us to be fair”

“We want to Thank You”

said the largest of them all,

“For all of the Love and Time,

You've given us when you were called”

Then I saw the middle Carnation

All Puppy-eyed and shy

I turned to him and ask: “What’s wrong?  Pray Tell.”

A soft voice answered, “Could you please…..not yell.”

“ See we are Flowers of Innocence

But not for very long,

What we evolve to become

Depends much on what has been done.”

“The dust of Love and Patience

Ensured where greatness stems

So that someday, we will transform

To be ...Gems”

And with that, they went back singing

As freely as the Larks

As for me, I stood up.

Face to the wind

and GOD in my heart,

Resolved, 

to do my part

Beautiful Moms Quotes

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/p/shoppe_13.html

"Thank God, O women, for the quietude of your home, and that you are queen it it. Men come at eventide to the home; but all day long you are there, beautifying it, sanctifying it, adorning it, blessing it. Better be there than wear a queen's coronet. Better be there than carry the purse of a princess. It may be a very humble home. There may be no carpet on the floor. There may be no pictures on the wall. There may be no silks in the wardrobe; but, by your faith in God, and your cheerful demeanor, you may garniture that place with more splendor than the upholsterer's hand ever kindled." ---Reverend T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D

I Work For a King

"I work for a King. He has put me in charge of his home. When He comes to see how I have managed His possessions and His children, I do not want to be found wanting. I want to do my best. Everything I have is on loan from Him. I have room and board and a job to do, but it is all for Him. Therefore I want to dress my best and do my best in all my work. I also want to be creative, for this is a sincere attempt to glorify Him and His beautiful creation. How I manage my home is a form of worship to Him." --Lydia Sherman

 "A gentle and quiet spirit is not only imperishable; it is precious in the sight of God. It's also one of the hardest qualities to cultivate. Far from a sign of weakness, a gentle and quiet spirit is the sign of a woman who is strong in faith, mind and character." --Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller 

THE GOSPEL

Raising Godly Children: THE GOSPEL: Articles and Books on the Gospel

The written word of today may be the preaching of the past. Following are selections from the vast ...

Children and Secondhand Stress

Most parents worry about the dangers of secondhand smoke. But few consider the dangers of secondhand stress. If you make yourself miserable to do a special favor for your child, he might enjoy it. But if he senses your negative feelings, he might come to share them.

...it would be better for us and for our kids if we made fewer outings, got involved in fewer activities, took more breaks away from the kids, did whatever we could to get more help around the house, and make parental sanity a higher priority.
read the entire article here.

What Obama meant on gay marriage.

When the president says to support gay marriage i.e. gay rights, then said it is a state issue, this is what he meant.

For one, since the president cannot unilaterally federalize gay marriage, there's no cost in saying it would be a mistake to do so. Of course trying to do something that  a President don't have the power to do is a mistake.

In other words, The president can certainly express his opinion that Congress shouldn't federalize gay marriage. It's just his opinion, and he has no power over Congress anyways.

"He's saying it would be best for states to create gay marriage, so the Supreme Court doesn't have to.
In other words, it would be a mistake for the states to make it a national issue."

 Obama on gay marriage: The fine print : SCOTUSblog

Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency (MNA) using another digitally-altered image to depict its missile program. Only this time, the image is even more egregiously Photoshopped.

This is a real joke. Only Iran can use Star Wars photos to fool its people and get away with not paying royalty.

Busted: Iran's Jarring Photoshopped Missile Test Image

By John Hudson   |   May 4, 2012

Remember back in 2008, when Iran Photoshopped an extra missile into a photograph of its missile test? Turns out, bad habits die hard. The Atlantic Wire has caught Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency (MNA) using another digitally-altered image to depict its missile program. Only this time, the image is even more egregiously Photoshopped.
On the homepage of its website today, the image appears next to a story downplaying the threat of Iran's ballistic missile program. It's a small image but upon closer inspection, you can see that something is amiss.

read more here. 

Romney, Christie 2012 ? How exciting!

Chris Christie on being VP: Romney 'might be able to convince me' - The Hill's Ballot Box

Huffington: bin Laden ad ‘despicable’ - The Hill's Video

Looks like Huffington Post is not worshiping Obama God any more.

Huffington: bin Laden ad ‘despicable’ - The Hill's Video

McCain on Bin Laden raid: 'The thing about heroes, they don't brag' - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

McCain on Bin Laden raid: 'The thing about heroes, they don't brag' - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

What if bad fat isn’t so bad?

What if bad fat isn’t so bad?

China - no facebook, no twitter, no YouTube

No Facebook. No Twitter. No YouTube. Listing the companies that don’t have access to China’s exploding social-media space underscores just how different it is from those of many Western markets. Understanding that space is vitally important for anyone trying to engage Chinese consumers: social media is a larger phenomenon in the world’sa second-biggest economy than it is in other countries, including the United States. And it’s not indecipherable. Chinese consumers follow the same decision-making journey as their peers in other countries, and the basic rules for engaging with them effectively are reassuringly familiar.
read more here. 

Why ‘Modern Romance’ Is an Oxymoron

Why ‘Modern Romance’ Is an Oxymoron

VOICE OF TRUTH with lyrics

Today is such a profound day for me personally. We spent many hours preparing and celebrating a baby shower for a fellow church member. Then at church we heard the terrible news of 3 people we knew in the our community killed in a car crash yesterday. Still one more critically injured. Then there was a freak accident of my daughter's Sunday school  buddy, a 2 year old who had suffered from a head injury at Target. So much to be thankful for yet so much to pray for at the same time. This song  comforts me in the midst of the activities in this little community. I can just hear Him say to us " Be not afraid, for I am with You."