Morning Tea

I am a blessed woman to have a husband that has always worked at home.  One of the special joys that it brings is time for starting our day together with a cup of tea.  We usually discuss what we need to do that day, spend some time reading a short devotional and praying for our kids and whatever other needs are pressing that day.


A few years ago we were seeing a alternative health practitioner who suggested that DH drink at least 8 different teas a day for his health - my eyes bugged out as I thought - ARE YOU NUTS??? Who has time to drink 8 cups of tea a day.  I LIKE tea and I don't drink that much plus the idea of having to remember the multiple kinds and I was about ready to give up until one day I had an idea.  I'm sure this isn't new to some of you but it was to me! I put all the tea bags in one tea pot and we were done in 1 large cup of tea.  I had been buying organic boxes of tea bags at the health food store - at 8 bags a day it was getting ridiculously expensive.  I knew some of them where things I could grow at home eventually but I had too much on my plate to figure it all out at the time. I'm giving myself until these herbs run out to figure out growing my own!


So I went on line and ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs.  I went a little nuts and it still was cheaper by far than all those organic boxes of tea I used to buy.  They had great customer service and had my package here in record time considering it had to cross the border.

I used the labels from the bags the herbs came in to decorate the jars.

I bought:

1lb Parsley Leaf organic

1lb Ginger Root organic

1lb Milk Thistle Seed organic

1lb Dandelion Root organic

1lb Turmeric Root powder organic

1lb Echinacea Purpurea Herb organic

1lb Raspberry Leaf organic

1lb Rosemary Leaf organic

1lb Peppermint Leaf organic

1lb Elder Berries organic

1lb Eyebright organic

1lb Alfalfa sprouting seed organic

1lb Broccoli sprouting seed organic

1lb Lavender Flowers organic

1lb Mullein Leaf organic

1lb Oatstraw organic

1lb Rosehips organic

Ahh by the way- 1 pound of mullein leaves is a LOT of mullein!  This whole buying by the pound and not by eye-balling the bag gets me every time!   some of the things I bought are for other purposes than tea but I'll let you know about that later.

I mixed 1 cup of each of the herbs I wanted and put it all in one jar - ready for making tea with just one scoop.  Everything is good so far.

Brewing this tea was another thing.  I tried filtering it through cheese cloth - it worked but was very messy.  I thought about sewing individual re-usable tea bags but dismissed the idea as too labour intensive.   I tried my whole collection of tea balls - some of which are really cute but it always left a little pile a debris in the bottom of my cup.  Fussy huh?

One day while out for a date with DH I came across a RED Bodum.  Hey - I wonder if THAT would work?  Well it does and splendidly!  If you've never seen one before you put the tea leaves in the bottom and pour boiling water over them.  Then you place the top on with the plunger up.  After it steeps for awhile press the plunger to the bottom and pour the tea.

Now I can pour my lovely herbal tea out of my RED Bodum into my huge RED mug and I am a happy girl every morning drinking tea with DH.

 These are the little habits that make each day special.  We both drink ours with stevia for a sweetener and he ruins his by putting milk in it.

Healing - Amazing God!

Today begins the last step before we can put our house on the market - the financing. Our MONEY-LADY called before 9am this morning to get a few last details before she sends it off to the lenders to see who bites. I hope they think we TASTE-GOOD!

I am all over the place today. I should go grocery shopping but I'm waiting for THE phone call. I should clean up but I am tired of cleaning! I decided instead to go out and take care of the chickens early this morning, take the dog for a walk, have a CUP-OF-TEA and then GET-GOING whether I feel like it or not.

Before I do I am nearly busting with NEWS-OF-ANOTHER-SORT. We have been praying for years about moving but we have been praying with equal or perhaps more passionate fervency for God to heal my DH of Muscular Dystrophy. Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a genetic degenerative muscle wasting disease. He was officially diagnosed about 6 years ago and it helped to make some sense of the things that had happened over his lifetime. He has always been unable to lift his right arm above his head but in the past few years he has also had an increasingly difficult time walking up and down stairs, stepping off curbs and walking on uneven ground. Running has not been possible for many years. You never realize how inaccessible the world is until you are faced with a disability. I could start a PERSONAL-CRUSADE for hand railings and elevators!

BUT GOD. Everything changes when God gets involved! BIG NEWS FLASH - We went to a healing service last weekend and DH received a partial healing!!!  He went for a jog around the church (last time was over 6 years ago!) he is climbing stairs without hauling himself up with his arms, he can get up from a crouched position by himself without holding on to anything!!!  There is still more healing needed but we are both OVER-THE-MOON with JOY!

It immediately reminded me of the Bible passage in Mark 8:22-25

22They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"  24He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."  25Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

We want to see more than trees - we want to see PEOPLE! I'll keep you posted.