Day 22, Sunday, with a potluck and a donation to the snack fund

     This morning I made my donation to the church snack fund.  I didn't forget.  $5.00 gone and my concience feels better.  The church's provision of healthy snacks really is a great service before the service, so I feel good helping to keep that up and running.

     What does it mean to be "thoroughly equipped for every good work?"  Well, there's some thinking to be done meditating on that one.   Our bible lesson today was simple at church.  About the bible being the book for me, just like the children's song B-i-b-l-e. 

     Well, what struck me is the equipping aspect of the concept.  We equip ourselves for a backpacking trip, we equip ourselves before taking a baby on a vacation trip, we want to be properly equipped for an interview or whatever---just fill in the blank.   But being thoroughly equipped for every good work, wow, that deserves taking time to wrap your mind around...

     How does food affect us and our lives?  That can be answered in both a simple, practical way, and on a very philosophical level.  I'm going to think about that question, too.  I seem to have to deal with food a lot, don't I?  It's relentless, multi times daily.  It affects us, no doubt about it. 

     I keep having a recurring visual in my mind of a video I saw recently.  It showed a woman from Burkina Faso, a friend of some friends of mine.  She was showing how she makes "To," (pronounced toe) every day. 

     As she makes the toe, you can see how routine the process is for her; she never skips a beat or blurps a spill of the mix out of her kettle as she stirs and boils it over the fire she is simultaneously adjusting.

     So, what is toe?  It is an African version of corn meal mush, that's what.  First the woman, along with a friend, pounds her dried corn kernels in a hollowed log to soften and break them up a bit.  Then they take them to be ground.  Then they hike out to find firewood (a daily chore for the women and girls) this day, several miles journey.

(this is not the same mother I saw, but you can see the tedious nature of grinding and sifting corn here)

     Now, finally, they are equipped to do the task of making the meal, which includes boiling the water over her fire and adding the fresh corn meal until the consistency is just right.  She then whacks a large dolop of the toe over into a huge bowl, lets it cool just long enough to form a skin, then another dolop, and so on, until her whole family's meal has been spooned out in this same way.  Her technique allows each family member to pull their portion out of the bowl separately, already in portion sizes, without the pieces sticking together.  Tricky, huh?

     So why do I keep playing this video over and over in my brain?  Maybe my eyes have been opened just a bit more.  I've seen another mother, far away, feeding her family.  I've seen her efforts, her every day efforts, and have been challenged by them. 

     I'm grateful for what I have available for my family.  She is grateful for what she has available for her family.  Maybe that's what gets me.  Would I be?  I pray for her to have healthy food for her family.  I am glad I don't have to eat cornmeal day in and day out, every day, without reprieve.

    But, I want to be able to have been thankful, were that to be my daily allotment.  Could I be, knowing what others around the world are eating?  I don't know yet, to be honest.  I have never been tested in that way.  But I do know this truth---Godliness, with contentment, is great gain.  Praise God for this woman, patient in hardship.  Everyday hardship.  "Give us this day our daily toe."

     Our Sunday morning found more Boothies on time than usual, although a couple of Boothies hurried out the door without their breakfast.  It was another beautiful day to walk to church, and nice not to be late. 

 Breakfast menu:  life cereal and milk

Cost:  $1.38

life cereal:  1.00

half a gallon of milk:  .38

(milk was 1.50/gallon this weekend)

       A visit to my sister's place produced some nice green salad, a veggie tray of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and celery, a fruit tray with melons and pineapple, and a large round chocolate layer cake. 

       These things, along with a loaf of my bread and half a ham made a good showing for us to bring to the potluck/business meeting after church, thank you Eileen.

  Lunch menu:  potluck, our contributions from home:  loaf of bread, butter, sliced ham.  From wedding:  huge cake, salad, veggies, fruit

Cost to us:  $3.85

loaf of my potato bread:  .45

cube butter:  .40

1/2 a sliced ham:  3.00

(I'm not sure that the cake all got eaten at the potluck, but I didn't want to take any home, so we left it for others)

Supper menu:  french toast, jam, tea with milk

Cost:  $2.23

our last loaf of white fluff:   .39

14 eggs: 1.16

1 quart milk for tea:  .38

jam:  .30

Today's total spending:  $7.46