“The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein!”
Psalm 24:1
The whole Earth is the Lord’s, and on His earth, the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath! It’s the happiest day of the week when we worship, rest, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love it, and we have celebrated in different ways over the years.
This year in our family we have been celebrating the coming of the Lord’s Day most Saturday nights, (as life permits!) with a fun family dinner.
Last week we decided to have a “Moroccan Feast Night” and it was truly educational and interesting! We tried entirely unfamiliar food and played Moroccan music while we ate.
Our new idea is to theme some future Saturday dinners according to other nations of the world. After all, over all the Earth, Jesus Christ is Lord!
I’ll let you know how we go!
09/09/23
Mysterious Morocco
There are 38 million people in this Northern African nation, and Moroccans are predominately of Berber (North African indigenous) and Arabic descent. Apparently, Moroccans like to drink green tea with mint, and sweetened with sugar.
For our Sabbath dinner entree we ate Harira (Spiced Moroccan Vegetable Soup With Chickpeas, Cilantro, and Lemon) which I served with fresh individual scone-dough cheese, tomato and herb mini-pizzas straight from the oven, followed by Moroccan Beef and Vegetable Pot-Roast served with warm herby flatbread. We decided unanimously that Moroccan cuisine is delicious!
We played a variety of Moroccan music, which was unlike anything we had heard before, and we asked the Lord to bless the people of Morocco with the Gospel.
16/09/23
Nibbling Norway
What do Fiscksuppe, Kneipbrot, Kjottkker med Brunsaus, Klubb, Rodkal, Rommegrot, og Pepperkaker have in common? I’ll tell you. We ate them all for dinner!
Norway is a land known best for its fjords, the Northern Lights, and its Polar Bears, Arctic Foxes, and Reindeer. Norway has a population of 6 million people.
When researching Norwegian foods for Sabbath dinner, I did note that sautéed reindeer meat served as a stew and boiled or steamed sheep’s head were among the listed favourite traditional dishes but, perhaps unsurprisingly, I decided to go in a slightly different direction with my meal-planning on this occasion!
We played Greig, (a Norwegian composer), as we ate. The family agreed that the fish soup was delicious. We also agreed that my klubb was not so delicious. (That may have been my fault rather than the klubb’s fault!) We enjoyed the meatballs, vegetables, home-made warm Molasses bread with butter, and the Norwegian pudding and bikkis. The house smelled deliciously cinnamon-y as we prayed for the people of Norway, and the children felt sure that Norway must always smell like Christmas!
23/09/23
Gobbling Greece!
Greece is considered to be the Cradle of Western Civilisation, includes an archipelago of about 6000 islands, and is home to nearly 11 million people, about 80% of whom consider themselves to be Greek Orthodox. It is a beautiful, mountainous nation: an inspiring testimony to its Creator!
Because the Apostle Paul wrote so much that is useful to us from cities in Greece such as Corinth, Philippi, and Thessalonica, and because the children have learned quite a bit about Greece in our Classical Studies, I think we all agreed that Greece was an interesting nation to think about and to pray for, and there was certainly plenty to discuss! We played Greek music of various types, but Zorba the Greek may have featured multiple times.
For dinner, we began with individual layered Greek Dip tasting plates, served with warm olive-oil-and-oregano-brushed flat bread. The dip was a combination of homemade tzatziki with lemon zest and a beetroot hummus, served with finely diced cucumber and tomato, kalamata olive segments, red onion, and a herb and garlic infused olive oil drizzle. Main course consisted of lamb chops infused with a homemade Greek rub and served with lemon and oregano gravy, crispy roasted potatoes, and spinach and feta Spanakopita, served with individual Greek Salads. Dessert was baked warm Greek cinnamon, honey, and crushed pistachio doughnuts, served with vanilla ice cream: yummy!
The girls and I just had so much fun preparing this meal for our family, and we reflected, as we always do, just what a blessing it is to us to have this opportunity. We hope to continue our tradition for many years to come! Praise God for His goodness!
30/09/23
Inspiring Italy
Italy is a nation of 60.5 million people living in 301,277 square kilometres.
Our children, like many others, know a lot more about the way that Romans lived two millennia ago than about the way that they live today, which made Italy the perfect nation for us to talk about and pray for tonight as we celebrated the end of the school term!
We enjoyed minestrone con pizzette, followed by lasagne con pane all’aglio e insalata, and then folletto al cioceolata con finite creme al mascarpone.
We also played Italian folk music and imagined ourselves forming a piano accordion evangelistic band… before quickly deciding that might be best left to the professionals!
It was a lot of fun!
14/10/23
Cambodian Cuisine
Benjamin did our research about Cambodia for this week’s Sabbath dinner. Although there were lots of interesting facts, I think that the children’s favourite was that many Cambodians believe that counting the chirps of a gecko will predict whether they will soon be married!
Cambodia is a developing country and 80% of the population are Buddhist. Missionary work in Cambodia will be on our family prayer list each day this week.
For Sabbath Dinner, we enjoyed an entree of Pork Prahok with Cucumber, then Cambodian Fish Curry for our Main Course, followed by Coconut Glutinous Rich with Mango for dessert.
Caitie did not feel adventurous, but she had a try of each thing. Daddy thoroughly enjoyed both savoury courses, but was not a fan of the dessert. I am thankful for the blessing of the vast variety of foods to try, from the many places in God’s world!
21/10/23
Marvellous Mexico!
As we are getting closer, Lord willing, to our big holiday, it is possible that this might be our last Sabbath Dinner of the year!
We had Guacamole and salsa with salted corn chips for entree, followed by Enmiladas (Chicken Mole Enchiladas) with Chamionones A La Mexican and Mexican rice. We concluded our meal enjoying warm Churros with thick chocolate dipping sauce, which Caitie made for us extremely well. Caitie and Maisie are both becoming very gifted cooks, and we are blessed to be the beneficiaries of their skill.
The Lord has been extremely kind to us, and we marvel at His goodness. Everything we have and are are His good gifts. To God be the Glory!
04/05/24
Sensational Spain!
Realising that it had been some time since we last recorded our global exploits, (it’s been more than a term!) we decided that it was time to share with you again!
Our Sabbath Dinner tonight was a Spanish fiesta full of colour, paella, and flamingo music.
Several of the children study the Spanish language, so we enjoyed chatting about Spanish culture and some of the vocabulary they have learned, before we prayed, sang today’s psalm, and read our Scripture and portion of Joel Beeke’s book for today, and Daddy impressed upon us the importance of living all of life to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Amen!
11/05/24
Robust Russia
A fortnight ago our 20-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter served in the wedding party of two of their closest friends, and tonight we were excited to have the newly-weds for Sabbath dinner.
Keen to bless their friends, this same son and daughter prepared the entire menu for the evening, and they did an excellent job, serving Pelmeni Soup, Beef Stroganoff, Russian Fruit Tea, and Rugelach. (I forgot to take photos this week, so I am using pictures from the recipes!) They also played a playlist of traditional Russian music for us all. It really created a very Russian atmosphere!
Several years ago, we decided to learn some Russian as a family. For some reason, we had an idea that we might one day travel to Russia as missionaries, and so some language might be useful. We did not actually retain much of our Russian language knowledge, but we still are particularly interested in the Russian people and the progress of the Gospel in their nation.
Some interesting facts about Russia include the fact that it is home to an entire chess city, the world’s most radioactive location (Lake Karachay, where the Soviets enjoyed dumping their nuclear waste,) Russia has a greater surface area than does Pluto, and that only 4km separates the United States and Russia.
Join us this week by adding the nation of Russia to your family prayer list… and maybe play something musical from the Russian Soviet era too!
25/05/24
Exploring Ethiopia
Home to 110 million people, Ethiopia is the most populated landlocked nation on Earth,a sharing borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan. Mostly in the tropical monsoon region, Ethiopia is home to 856 bird species and 31 endemic mammals. Most of the 109 language groups of Ethiopia still do not have access to sanitation or secondary education, although 40-50% of Ethiopians now have basic levels of literacy.
On our Ethiopian night, we were blessed to have William cook for us! He prepared potato and herb samosas, followed by Door Wat, an aromatic chicken curry and injera, a fried flat-bread. For dessert, we tried mandazi, a sponge-like cardamom cake.
Ethiopian cuisine is simple, and there is quite a lot of salt in every dish! It was a blessing to have the opportunity to pray for this nation in which Coptic Christianity and Islam have been predominant for many centuries, but where many people struggle to produce the food that they need.
15/06/24
Extravagant Egypt
If you, like me, first think of the Nile river, the ancient pharaohs, and cat-worship when someone mentions Egypt, then you should have an Egyptian Sabbath dinner just like we enjoyed this week!
Thanks to the hard work and expert advice of our visiting friend Lauren, we created an interesting and unique three course Egyptian Extravagance.
Our entree consisted of a delicious Egyptian dukkah carrot salad with kalamata olives, oven-roasted almonds, and traditional preserved lemon dressing, served with freshly baked traditional bread, dukkah, and hummus, and olive oil. The main course was comprised of pita with beef kofta kebabs served with tomatoes and cucumbers, chickpea falafel, and tahini sauce. And our dessert was a delicious semolina Basbousa with pistachios, almonds, and a honey and vanilla syrup.
Egypt is a very ancient nation, and because so much of its early history is recorded infallibly in the book of Genesis, our family has had a unique insight into the desert nation through the recent 90-sermon series of Genesis at church.
We are thankful to the Lord for the blessings of family, friendship, and the fellowship that we can share with our friends through these great around-the-world Sabbath dinners!
03/08/24
Fancy France!
After a few weeks of hospital stays, viruses, and unexpected happenings, our family was back to enjoying Sabbath Dinner from around the world tonight.
With a special guest at our table, and a vague awareness that the Olympic Games is currently under way in Paris, (and was apparently prefaced by an absolutely horrible Opening Ceremony), we decided that this was the week to pray for the nation of the ancient Gauls: France.
Following an entree of seafood, citrus, and fennel soup accompanied by freshly baked miniature baguettes served with butter, we tasted a creamy tarragon and mushroom chicken, with caramelised garlic, onion, and fresh parmesan scalloped-potato ramekins, followed by French Quadruple Chocolate Treat: chocolate mousse, chocolate ice-cream, hot chocolate sauce, and a chocolate curl garnish.
William lead us in some very unusual conversation about salamanders, but we were very grateful to have such a wonderful guest, and to have a week of prayer for the spread of the Gospel in France begin!
Praise God for His kindness to us all.
