That All May Know Ministries Blog

We are very excited about our upcoming adoption.  We are in the very beginning stages (literally just filled out the intial application) and are trusting in the Lord each step along the way.  My wife and I have started a new blog about our adoption process.  Our desire for this blog is that Christians will keep up with it and pray for us.  Prayer is a very powerful weapon in the Christian's arsenal and we will need lots of it during this process.  Even in the beginning stages we have been asking for much wisdom from the Lord about the decisions that we have already had to make.  Our new blog can be accessed at www.thespiritofadoption.org.

There are several ways that you can follow our blog.

1. You can simply access the web address www.thespiritofadoption.org from time to time to see our lastest blog posts.
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3. The easiest way to follow the blog is to sign up for the Email subscription.  By signing up for this, you will receive each blog post directly into your inbox everytime we update the blog.  Click here to sign up via email subscription.

Check it out and let us know what you think.  We appreciate your prayers.

 

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We are excited about the New Year and all that the Lord has in store for us. However, we don't want to forget this special time of year where we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because of God’s sacrificial gift, we are able to have a relationship with Him. We count it a privilege to serve our Lord.

We hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and we thank you for all the love, support, and prayers.

God Bless,

Jeffrey, Deanna, and Aaron

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I hope your turkey's come out wonderful! Don't throw anything away because you can use it to make some amazing Turkey Soup...just what you need on a cool Black Friday! Enjoy!

Keep all the scraps from the turkey i.e. juices, gravy, bones, turkey insides, onions, apples, etc. The steps to preparing a good soup are:

• Prepare the stock (broth)
• Prepare the soup

Turkey Stock (Broth) The nice thing about a stock is that anything can be used; the ends and skins of vegetables, bones, etc. You don’t want to use old rotten stuff, just stuff that you would normally throw away like the skin of an onion or the end of a carrot. Here are the basic ingredients for preparing a stock.

• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic
• Celery
• Turkey Bones
• Left over gravy
• Any of the left over vegetables
• Whole Peppercorn
• 2 cups of turkey or chicken broth
• Water
• Olive Oil

Pull all the good meat off the turkey bones and set aside. (The good turkey meat will be used for the soup.) Rough cut the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots. Keep all the ends and peels in a separate bowl. Throw in the olive oil and let it get hot. Throw in the onions and let them cook until they are slightly caramelized. Then throw in the garlic. After the onions and garlic and caramelized, throw in the celery and carrots. Let those cook for a few minutes. Once those have cook for just 2 or 3 minutes, throw in about ½ cup of chicken/turkey broth. Stir together and then add the bones, peels, ends, leftover gravy, and leftover vegetables. Stir and let those cook for just a few minutes. Then, add the remainder of chicken/turkey broth and enough water to completely cover everything. Let that comes to a boil and then add a half handful of peppercorn. Turn the heat down so that is at a slight simmer. Let the stock simmer for atleast 3 to 4 hours, if not more. The idea is to reduce the stock by a 1/4 . So if the liquid comes up to the top, you want to let it simmer until the liquid only comes 3/4 of the way up. Once the stock is finish, you will want to strain the liquid through a fine strainer or china cap if you have one. A regular strainer will work. You may have to fish out little pieces if they slip though the holes. Set the liquid aside and discard all the bones, vegetables, etc. Turkey Soup This soup is not based on measurements. If you like an ingredient, add a little more or less. But I will put some quantities just for guidance. It also depends on how much you want to make. Here is what you will need for the soup:

• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 small shallots
• 2 cups of chicken (or of the Turkey Stock)
• Vegetables of your liking, cooked (I usually use carrots, peas, corn, and onions; You can use fresh veggies which is always better or you can cheat like I do since I am lazy and use half of a family size of frozen mixed vegetables)
• Leftover turkey
• Egg noodles or bowtie pasta
• ½ cup of Heavy Cream
• Turkey Stock
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a little olive oil in the bottom of the pot. Chop garlic and shallots and throw them in. Let them caramelize so that the bottom of the pan has a few little brown spots (don’t burn them). Then throw in a cup or so of your chicken broth or turkey stock and scrape the bottom so the brown spots come up. Now throw in the cooked veggies and stir them around. Add the turkey and mix it well letting it get nice and hot. Now pour enough of the Turkey stock so there is atleast 2 parts turkey stock to one part ingredients. Let all this come to a boil. When it reaches a boil, add in the heavy cream and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy.

*There are 2 secrets to making this soup taste really good. Number 1 is ‘Turkey preparation.” If the turkey is juicy and flavorful, the soup will also be flavorful. Number 2 is the Stock preparation. This is the base of the soup. If you take time to make a good stock, then the soup will taste very good. If the stock is done well, sometimes you won’t even have to add salt and pepper to taste when finishing the soup.

Here we are enjoying turkey soup with some friends last year. This is good comfort food that you will want to share with friends and family!

We want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Last year, we made a Turkey that came out wonderfully and we wanted to share it with you. This recipe is not for the faint of heart. It is not difficult, but there is a process. Make sure you allot enough time to carry out each step. However, in the end, it is well worth it. So have fun and enjoy it. Tomorrow, I will post my famous Turkey Soup recipe so make sure you save all the leftovers, bones and all! :)

The first thing you want to do is ‘Brine’ the Turkey. This is done one day in advance of Thanksgiving Day. You are going to brine the Turkey for at least 6 hours up to 24 hours. Brine is much like marinating meat, i.e. steak, pork, chicken, etc.

Brining the Turkey

Use a very large pot, bowl, bucket, etc. whatever will allow you to submerge the Turkey in liquid. I used a mop bucket. (Don’t worry, I bought it brand new just for this use.)

• Add 2 cups of cooled vegetable stock (broth) and enough water to your apparatus so the Turkey will be submerged (Don’t add Turkey yet)
  
• Add 2 or 3 cups of Salt, Kosher, regular, or sea salt. (I used sea salt)
  
• Add 1 to 2 cups of sugar; regular or brown (I used regular) Now you want to stir in the salt and sugar until it is dissolved. Then:
  
• Add 2 purple onions; quartered
  
• Add 1 whole garlic bulb (probably 7 to 10 cloves)
  
• Add approx. 1/8 cup of whole peppercorns
  
• Add a handful of garlic pepper
  
• Add 2 tbls. cummin
  
• Add several sprigs of rosemary (fresh)
  
• Add several sprigs of thyme (fresh)
  
• Add several sprigs of Basil (fresh) If you can’t get these fresh, you can use the dry stuff. 

Make sure that mixture is completely cooled before you submerge the turkey, or else the turkey will begin to cook. Stir mixture and then submerge turkey in the mixture. Make sure the turkey stays fully submerged. So if it floats, you can put cans or coke bottles on top to keep it submerged. Keep submerged for at least 6 hours, up to 24 hrs. Overnight is the best. If you don’t have room in the refrigerator, you can substitute the water with ice water and place it in a cool place; covered.

Roasting the Turkey

You want to start preparing your turkey, depending on the size, 3 to 4 hrs. in advance. A 14 lb. turkey should take between 2 and 2 ½ hrs. total cooking time. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. You want to take your turkey out of the brine and wash it off. After the turkey has been thoroughly rinsed off, place in a shallow baking pan, on a rack. Now you want to prepare the aromatic mixture that will go in the cavity of the turkey. Here is what you will need:

• 1 apple; quartered
  
• ½ purple onion; quartered
  
• 5 -6 garlic cloves
  
• ½ lemon
  
• 2 sprigs rosemary
  
• 2 sprigs thyme
  
• 2 basil leaves
  
• 1 ½ cups water
  

Take rosemary, thyme and basil and stuff them in the turkey cavity. Take remainder of ingredients and place them in a dish, along with the water, and microwave for 5 min. While these are cooking in the microwave, coat turkey with canola or vegetable oil. When the 5 minutes are up, take the dish out of the microwave and stuff the ingredients that are in the bowl into the cavity of the turkey. Before you place the turkey in the oven, you need to make a triangle out of tin foil, that will cover only the breast area of the turkey. This is so that the breast does not dry out before the dark meat is done. Form the tin foil onto the breast and then take it off and lay it to the side. This is done so that you do not have to later fold the foil over the turkey when it is hot. Go ahead and add 2 cups of chicken broth to the shallow pan to prevent burning. Now place turkey in the oven that is set at 500 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pull turkey out of the oven and turn oven down to 350 degrees. If you have a digital thermometer that will alert you when it reaches a certain temperature, you want to stick this into the fattest part of the breast and set the thermometer to alert you when it reaches a temperature of 161 degrees. If you do not have this kind of thermometer, then for a 14-16 lb. turkey, you want to let it cook for approx. 1 ½ -2 hours. Be sure to check with a regular thermometer, to see if the meat has reached an internal temperature of 161 degrees, making sure you are placing the thermometer in the fattest part of the breast. Once your turkey reaches 161 degrees, you will want to pull the turkey from the oven and set it someplace where you can let it rest, fully covered with tin foil, for 15 – 20 minutes. This is because the turkey will continue to cook and if you immediately cut into it, all the juices will pour out. So if your turkey came with a pop-up thermometer, first of all, don’t pay any attention to it and secondly, don’t pull it out before or after the turkey is done. Wait until you go to carve the turkey to pull it out. You want to be sure the turkey rests for 15-20 minutes.

Gravy

Some of this you will be able to prepare while your turkey is in the oven. Here is what you will need:

• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 large shallot
  
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 stick butter
  
• ½ cup flour
  
• turkey drippings
  
• 2 tbls. olive oil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Chop garlic and shallot and set aside. In small sauté pan, melt butter and add flour. Add flour a little bit at a time, till consistency becomes almost like a thick paste. You will also notice a nutty, almond smell. This is called a roux. This is to thicken sauces. In large pot or sauté pan, add 2 tbls. olive oil and sauté garlic and shallots till they begin to caramelize in bottom of pan. One they are caramelized, add 1 cup chicken broth. Let this simmer for a few minutes. Take all of turkey drippings and add to pan. If this is not going to be enough gravy, then add the second cup of chicken broth, or as much as is needed. Bring sauce to a boil. Then add roux, a little bit at a time, (Do not add all of it at once) continually stirring, until you reach the correct thickness. This has been obtained when you place a spoon in the gravy and when you pull it out, the gravy coats the spoon. Put gravy in blender and puree till smooth. If gravy is as thick as you like it, you are ready to serve. If you would like it thicker, return it to the pot, bring to a boil and add any remaining roux, until you reach your desired thickness. Add salt and pepper to taste. Next...pour gravy on turkey and enjoy! We sure did!!

Many people ask how they can pray better for missionaries. As I was reading in my personal devotions this morning, the following passage jumped out at me. This is not only how to pray for us as Missionaries but how we can pray for our fellow Christians in general.

Paul writes in the book of Colossians in chapter 1 verses 9-10:

9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

He starts by saying that they “do not cease to pray” for the saints and faithful brethren at Colosse. He goes on to say that they are praying for and desiring that that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We may know the direction that God wants us to go. We may know that God wants us to be a preacher, a missionary, serve in a ministry, etc. but are we “filled with the knowledge of his will” having all wisdom and spiritual understanding to daily walk the road that He wants us to walk.

Paul goes on to explain just what the knowledge of His will, all wisdom, and spiritual understanding is for.

“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

1. That we may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Do we walk worthy and please the Lord in all we do? Is our focus more on pleasing men then pleasing the Lord? So much of what we do many times in the ministry or in life is done because of what others may think about us. It is done for the pleasing of man instead of the pleasing of our Lord.
2. Being Fruitful in every good work. If we are filled with the knowledge of His will, all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and we are walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, then we can be fruitful in every good work. When are works are done to man or for self gain, they are in vain. May we be fruitful in every good work.
3. Increasing in the knowledge of God. This should be our daily desire. We have been put on this earth to serve and glorify our God. He has sacrificed His life, the life of His only begotten Son to give us salvation from the bondage of sin. He is our Savior. We should desire to increase in the knowledge of God.
   

May we pray for one another, as Paul and Timothy did for the saints at Colosse, that we will be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

While at youth camp, the main speaker in the mornings told of how when he was first starting off in the ministry that he asked an older preacher for some advice, any advice for the ministry.  The preacher said I will tell it to you in a poem. 

The first stanza is:

 

Today is Deanna and my 8th Anniversary.  I want to wish my forever sweetheart a wonderful 8th anniversary.  Deanna is truly the one God has for me and I love her with all my heart.  I am blessed to have her as a wife.  I look forward to spending the rest of my life with such a wonderful woman.  There are still days that I am around her that I get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach as when we were dating.  Honey, I love you and may the next 8 years be better then the first. 

8 Years Later and she is still as beautiful as ever!  
(That guy she is with could use some work though!) 

When you are learning a language, you learn to humble yourself while people correct you.  In fact, I am constantly asking people to correct me because I know that that is the best way to learn.  I guess it is ok until your 6 year old son begins to correct you.  Aaron, like myself, is learning Spanish.  He has been in school this year and has really learned a lot of Spanish.  I picked him up from school yesterday and it was one of those days where when you walk outside, you immediately start sweating.  So I told him in Spanish, "I am dying from the heat."  He said, "Daddy, you don't say it that way, this is how you say it."  After he told me, I was humbled to realize that...he was right!  :)  Out of the mouth of babes! 

After a long and arduous process, Deanna, Aaron and I have finally received our residence cards.  I was the first one to receive mine after much difficulties, however, Deanna and Aaron still did not receive theirs.  After many trips to downtown Madrid and shuffling through the right and wrong information, all 3 of us have our cards.  What a relief to finally have them.  The nice thing is that we won’t have to renew them for another 1 ½ years.  Thank you for your prayers through all of this.  We really saw God work during this process. 

Now, please pray that my in-laws will have a much smoother process.  So far, their process has been very smooth with little to no problems at all.   

Here is a post from Deanna's personal blog that I wanted to share:

I

just want to brag a little on my son and praise the Lord for what He is doing in his heart. Last week after school, he said, "Mommy, today I was talking with some of my friends in school about God and my friend Pau told me that he didn't believe in God. He said that he believes in reincarnation (these kids are 6!). Then my other friend, Alejandro said that he believed in God but when I was explaining to him about trusting in Jesus as your Saviour to go to Heaven, he said he didn't understand. And my other friend Juanjo said that his Daddy believed in God." At this point I gave him a big hug and told him I was so proud of him for telling his friends about Jesus. I told him we would have to pray that the Lord would work in their hearts. A few moments later he said, "I thought I had to wait until I was bigger to tell others about Jesus, because I was too scared, but I did it!!"

The picture above is of Aaron with his friend Pau. Please pray for his mother, Maribel, as the Lord is allowing me to build a friendship with her. The other day she invited me over for a cup of coffee and when she asked about why we had come to Spain, I had a chance to explain a little of why we are here. Please pray that this door of friendship would stay open, so that I would continue to have more opportunities to share Christ with her. Here is a picture of Aaron with his teacher, Marta (in the pink sweater holding Aaron's hand) and his friend Juanjo.

Then a couple of days ago he came home from school and told me about a conversation he had with his teacher at school...

Aaron: Do you know who created the trees and the animals?

Marta (his teacher): Well, they just reproduced themselves. No one created them.

Aaron: I know who created everything.

Marta: oh yeah? Who? Aaron: God did!! A long time ago He created everything! It says so in the Bible!

At this point, Aaron told me, "Mommy, she acted like she really didn't believe me! I think she believes in evolution! I told him that she probably does and then Aaron said, "Yeah well, you can't make a monkey out of me!!" jeje Then he told me that he was sad that his teacher didn't believe in God. I am so grateful that he has a tender heart for the Lord and a desire to tell others about Him. I pray that he never loses that desire, but that it will only grow."