Homemade Greek Yogurt

Here is how I make Greek Yogurt

What you will need to make 1 quart Greek Yogurt:

1st Half

Items needed:

Double Boiler (or 2 pans, one smaller then the other to put inside the other)
Favorite Plain Yogurt - 4 TBSP's
2 Quarts Milk
Thermometer (meat or candy is fine but should be a cooking Thermometer)
Bowl
Ice
Towels
Cooler (not really really needed but helpful)

Make sure and have your bowl ready with water and ice in it off to the side.  This will make it easier to start cooling the milk

Put water into the bottom pan of your double boiler.  Put on stove over high heat

Add Milk to the second pan
Cook to 180 degrees

After the milk gets to 180 degrees take out and immediately put pan into ice bath.
Stir and keep in the ice bath until the milk cools down to between 110 and 115 degrees
Once it gets down between 110 and 115 degrees take out of the ice bath
Add the 4 TBSP's of favorite yogurt
Stir well

Put a lid on your pan with the milk and wrap in towels
Put into the cooler
Leave in the cooler at least 5 hours but up to over night.

I like to leave mine overnight it is easier to do.

After first half is done and you have let it sit for at least 5 hours

2nd Half

Items needed:

Bowl
Pasta Strainer
Cheesecloth

Set up your bowl with the pasta strainer in the bowl and the cheesecloth in the strainer.

After your yogurt has set for at least 5 hours unwrap and pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth.

Put this into the frig for 6 to 8 hours.  You will have about 1 quart of whey drip off leaving you a thick creamy wonderful Greek yogurt.  You can eat plain, add stevia and fruit or vanilla, pretty much anything.  I love to use it for smoothies.

Put the yogurt into a container and take your whey and put into a quart jar.  DO not throw it out.  You can do so many things with it.  You can drink it for a high protein drink (small amounts like a shot) and most importantly you can use it for lacto fermentation of veggies and fruits.  This makes for nice food that has good bacteria in it.

Enjoy!

Day 3 - Miracle Samuel

Today I am thankful for the miracle of Samuel Graysen Alexander.  Not only is he such a sweet little boy but he had a very rough start.  About 12 hours after I had Samuel, he started to spit up green bile.  The hospital did an xray on him to see if they could determine what the issue was.  After about 6 hours of no one looking into it, I marched to the nurses station and told them, either someone looked at those x-rays and let me know what was happening or I was walking out with my baby.  Within 30 minutes the head nurse from the NICU came up and told us what they could.  Samuel had a perforated bowel at some point while I was pregnant.  They were certain he either still had the hole in his bowels or he had some type of twist in his intestines.  We were told he had a 90% chance of going into surgery within the next 12 hours.  First they had to run some tests. 

Walking back into the NICU with our 3rd child felt like death.  Just having to walk through the door to the familiar sounds of the beep and cat like cries from tiny babies.  They immediately took him off of all feedings, he could not nurse or be bottle fed.  They put a tube down into his stomach to try and remove as much of the bile as they could.  Then we saw the x-ray.  There were calcium deposits all over his chest cavity and down into his scrotum.  Some were tiny little specks and others were the size of peas.  The did tests on his upper and lower gi tract and found nothing.  Then through a series of other tests on a daily basis to try and narrow it down.  He had a sonogram of his brain, blood tests for infections, etc.  They finally did genetic testing for cystic fibrosis.  We would not get those results for 6 weeks. 

During all this, the shootings at Fort Hood happened and it was crazy at the hospital.  People saying they wanted to just be there to end up on TV.  I was there because my baby was sick and you want to be on TV.  It made me so mad.  Then after a few days, I think day 4, no more green bile showed up.  They kept the tube down in his belly a little longer.  On day 5 the tube was taking out and they allowed him 10 cc's of milk.  He was so happy to eat and to suck.  Poor thing.  Final on day 7, they could tell he would do fine on the feedings and since they could not find any problems and he was starting to have bowel movements they decided he could go home.  But our release date was dependent on the surgeons, most of who were busy with all the victims of the Fort Hood shooting.  So we waited.  

After about 6 hours of waiting for them to review his file, we got to take him home.  It was amazing.  During all this time we prayed hard, we asked friends to pray, we posted information on Facebook and we feel God truly worked a miracle in Samuel.  Thank God for the protection he provided.  Not only after he was born but while I was pregnant.  This could have been fatal to him in the womb, but it was not. 

Six weeks later, the Dr. called.  No Cystic Fibrosis. 

Happy birthday my sweet wonderful little boy.  We are so blessed to have you!

Jeremy - Great Converstions

Jeremy has been asking so many good questions recently.  Some simply but good and that need to be reviewed.

At church on Saturday, we watched a video and the man had long hair and a bread.  Jeremy commented on how he looked like "Jesus".  I explained to him that in all likelihood, Jesus did not have long hair.  You should have seen Jeremy's face.  He immediately asked "Well then why does every picture I see of him show him with long hair."  I told him it was a very good question and encouraged him to ask Mr. Mauldin (who was doing final comments.  So he raised him hand and asked.  Mr. Mauldin (and everyone else too) all helped him understand how that so many people believe that because he was born in Nazareth does not mean he had taken a Nazarite vow.  We even went to Numbers 6.  It reads:

1	And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2	Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the LORD;
3	he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.
4	All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
5	¶ All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
6	¶ All the days that he separateth himself unto the LORD he shall come at no dead body.
7	He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration* of his God is upon his head.
8	All the days of his separation he is holy unto the LORD.
9	¶ And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.

If Jesus was under the Nazarite vow, He would not have been able to do all the things He did simply because of the vow that has to be taken.  He would not have been able to take the little girls dead hand and tell her to rise, He would not have been drinking or handling wine, He would not have been able to Raise Lazarus.  The list could go on.  He also did not stand out in a crowd, otherwise how would he have been able to escape in the crowd from those looking for him.  

Jeremy understood and it was great to be able to review that with him.

Then today, just driving home from shopping, he starting asking what I thought it would be like when we lived with Jesus.  Would there be any fun things to do.  I told him yes there would be plenty and we started talking about all the cool things we could do.  He wanted to know if he would be able to play ball.  I told him I did not see why not.  

He also said he thought it was so strange to think that God never had a beginning.  Because everything he knows has a beginning.  He wanted to know how God could not have a beginning.  I told him we are not meant to understand the why on everything right now, but someday we will.

Then he asked me about why some of his friends get baptized when they are only 8 or 9 when we tell him it is something he needs to do as a adult.  He goes to SDA camp and they baptized many of the kids there at camp.  So we just started talking about how wonderful and serious it is to be baptized and to vow to God you will follow him above all things.  How as a child he needs to love God and learn his word, but in order to truly follow God, he (Jeremy) had to understand what God expected of him.  He had to make the choice, not because he friends were doing it, not because he was 8 or 9, not because his parents expected him to, but because God was calling him and leading him.  We also talked about how there is a time for everything and learning is just as important and he has to learn first.  It really felt like the spirit was there with us and the conversation was so wonderful.  And in that moment I had a great why to make it so simple for him to understand (thank you God!).  I told him that Jesus Christ was not baptized until he was 30 years old and wasn't he the most prepared to follow our Heavenly Father.  Even at 12 years old at the Temple doing his Fathers work.  So if anyone asks him about being baptized or committing himself to God (which I don't feel needs to be proclaimed to everyone) simply tell them about how old Jesus was and that he wanted to wait to understand completely what God expected of him.  It was a very powerful moment and Jeremy really got it.   

I am so happy that we have these conversations. 

Posting Again

I am having so much fun posting in my Satire and "Laughes" blog that I thought I would start posting here again.  The last time I posted, I posted that we were having a girl.  That was over 1 year ago.  Wow has time flown.  Jane Claire Alexander was born, and she was perfect.

Her birth was a new experience for me.  First of all, she went passed her due date.  None of mine boys did that.  Jeremy was born 3 1/2 weeks early, Zachary almost 5 weeks early and Samuel a few days early.  My boys also all ended up in the NICU.  Jeremy for just a few hours, Zachary for 1 week and Samuel for 8 days.  Jeremy just had some breathing problems.  Zachary was too early and they said he had a staph infection.  Samuel was the most serious with a rupture in  his intestines.  Luckily no operation was needed.  I also labored with the boys for a long time, over 20 hours each.

Then I move on to Jane.  My labor with her was not long, but interesting.  She was not moving right and no matter what they did she just stayed where she was.  I had a panic moment and got an epidural.  Well the lady came in to give it to me and it ended up spraying all over her face, she started saying "My eyes are numb, I can't see".  Not really what you want to hear when they are putting a huge needle in your back.  Hahaha.  But Chad told me she just stopped and took everything out.  At that point, I had moved to my right side and Jane moved down in to the perfect position.  She was born about 15 minutes later.  Total labor was less then 12 hours.

Once she was born, we went to a room and no one took her away for tests.  She was fine.  When we left the hospital, it felt like we were sneaking out with her.  Hehehehe.  Such a difference experience.

She is so beautiful, so sweet and loving and I feel like our family was completed by her.  She has so much more hair then her brothers had at this age, but still has barely any compared to hair standards.  Hahaha.  But at least she is not bald.

Things I love about here.  Pretty much everything but my most favorite is the way she pulls me in for a hug and buries her head in my neck almost every time I pick her up.  I can feel that it is a hug and she kisses my face too.

My sweet little girl is already almost 8 months old.  Where does the time go.  

Quick New Post - P.S., We are having a Girl

So I have been absent from writing on my blog for some time. I am going to try and post a little something at least once a week.

I had my long (almost 1 hour) over 35 ultrasound and I found out I was having girl. The Doctor looked from 3 different angles and zoomed in (I did not know they could do zooming in) and showed me there was "Nothing sticking up". Hahahaha. I was shocked. I had totally worked myself up for a 4th boy. I was actually surprised by my response, I started to cry. I guess I did not realize how much I wanted a little girl.

Jeremy is so happy. Zachary is happy too but does not talk about it as much as Jeremy. Samuel has no clue what is going on. I think when my belly is bigger he might get it, but for now he does not. He still stands on my belly and I try to get him to stop, but he won't.

Poor Samuel is also being weened against his will. He is very attached to me, in more then one way. When I first found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to start and the first place was getting him to sleep through the night (yes he was not sleeping through the night). Now he only nurses before naps and bed. But he is very grumpy about it. He use to come up and hit me when I told him "No nurse". He still does a little but not as much. Mostly he just cries. I know I could nurse him and the baby when she comes, but I am just not up to that.


Above is the baby at 14 weeks. Below is our baby girl at 18 weeks and 6 days.

Too busy for lots of things

I raise 3 boys at home while I work, my husband stays at home because I would not be able to accomplish anything if I did not have him here with me. This started about 1 year ago when I was pregnant with my 3rd little man, Samuel. Before then we were a 2 income family, me working from home, him as a plumber. Jeremy was going to school so I only had Zachary at home. With a 2nd one that would be at home at all times with me Chad and I agreed, one job had to go. Since we made almost the exact amount of money it came down to not money but what was best for everyone. He decided it would be nice to be at home and work on our farm and help with the kiddos and I could also be home working.

So now here is how my day goes:

Wake up at 6 am with Samuel
Try in vain to get him back to sleep for about 45 minutes
Get out of bed
Prepare coffee
Check on other boys
Turn on my computer and start transferring files
Go over homeschool lessons (I handle the homeschool)
8 am start work
eat by 9 am (if I am lucky) at my desk while working
9:30 am start homeschool (I do instructions for about 35 to 45 minutes out of the whole homeschool time, most is him doing work and me supervising)

10:30 put Samuel down for a nap
11:30 comfort Samuel back to sleep
noon done with homeschool
Working all afternoon, hopefully I eat some lunch
3:30 nap time again for Samuel
5 pm still working but in the kitchen area
Cooking dinner6 pm making sure everyone eats
6:30 still working
Clean some (I try to care about the state of my house but it is hard because no matter how much I clean there is always someone there to make it messy again. I now understand my Mom!)

7:30 pm getting Samuel ready for bed
8:30 pm done getting Samuel for bed and hopefully he is asleep
8:30ish Bible time with older kids
9 pm start transferring files for work9:30 pm still working a little but starting to shut down
until 10:30 or 11 pm trying to unwind and fall asleep (I am not one of those that just goes to sleep right away, I can't do that)

Wake up at least 4 times during the night with Samuel (he can not be trained to sleep I have tried and just given up. Why fight it makes it harder on all of us)

6 am start over again

I would love to get up early and work out! I would love to be more careful about what I eat! But right now, I am grateful for any sleep I can get and any food that makes it to my mouth and if that food is warm it is even better. For now my main source of energy in the morning is coffee. I gave it up because I thought it effect Samuel's sleeping, turns out it has nothing to do with it.

But the long and short of it is I love my family more then anything, I would do this for 100 years if I had to because it is worth it.

Everything in Perspective

So I was having a "very bad day" the other day, mad at a lot of things, frustrated with work, home people in general and I was just mad. These things happen and it seems like the whole day can be consumed.

As I do frequently, I went onto Facebook to see what people were doing, look at pictures and see if I could improve my mood. As I was doing this, I saw a post about vaccines (a whole other topic) and when I clicked on the link I was brought to this picture.


My heart instantly broke. How can a baby be alive and look like this? How strong must that baby have been? How heart broken must his parents have felt? How hopeless could they feel? How could they go on each day? Did they keep their faith? I was just breaking down, as I am now just thinking about it. Each of my children ended up in the NICU, but as hard as it was, I am sure it was nothing compared to what this family went through.

Look at his little hand, his little face, his body! All bloated and in pain. A baby, a sweet new baby that was loved from the moment the parents knew they were having him. Who was planned for, who was precious, who was a gift.

I had to go to the website and read the story. I had to know if this baby lived or died, how the parents made it, where they got their strength, how it happened, why it happened and just see. I could not help myself. So I went to the link http://iansvoice.org/ianslife.aspx. I read and I cried, I prayed and cried, I thought "How can my little frustration compare to this?" "How can I not see that these things are nothing?" "How can I not be grateful for what I have? and "How merciful God is in death and his promise of a new life?"

I had my husband come and read the story and we cried and hugged. It is hard to think about children suffering. We know that in 3rd world countries it happens and we collectively try to help. Chad and I sponsor a child in Lethoso, and have for about 4 years. But it is hard to think of a baby here in the USA, a child suffering with Cancer, or a disease or something hard to bear such as this little boy Ian. But it happens. Think about it, think on it, and put everything in perspective.

Funny how God has a way of showing you to be thankful and think of him. After I read this, my husband turned on a show for the kids. It was the Pixar Short Films. One of the short films is Boundin'. I have added it below. Watch it and learn from a simple children's film. Thank God and keep your family close. Think of how blessed you are.