Did you know...

Did you know that the word "holiday" was originally a simplified version of the words "holy" and "day."

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Here is a picture of my nephews Jonathan and Taylor posing for the picture in their form of being "scared." We went to a museum that had these "stuffed" animals everywhere. It was a cool place to explore. But alas, this post is not about nephews or animals. That will be another topic for another post.

At church I have the responsibility of providing a "music moment" to the women each week. This can be in various forms as to understanding music theory better, learning to express feelings through music or backgrounds regarding songs. This past week I found a great article regarding the background to the hymn "Prayer of Thanksgiving" or also known as "We Gather Together." To me this was really interesting as music takes on more meaning when I understand the situation that assisted in creating the song. So here is the story to "We Gather Together:"

A Hymn's Long Journey Home
The surprising origins of "We Gather Together," a Thanksgiving standard.

BY MELANIE KIRKPATRICK
Tuesday, November 22, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST

Its mention of God makes it verboten in schools today. But not too many years ago this was the season when teachers would lead their students in the great ecumenical Thanksgiving hymn, "We Gather Together to Ask the Lord's Blessing." It's a singable melody, and the stirring lyrics speak directly of the Pilgrims' experience in overcoming religious persecution.

Or do they? With the exception of Native Americans, we're all the descendants of those who came to the New World from somewhere else. So too, it turns out, did "We Gather Together," whose origins are Dutch and speak of religious persecution that predates the first Thanksgiving. It's appropriate that a hymn we sing to celebrate a quintessentially American holiday is, like most of us, a transplant.

The melody can be traced back to 1597 and is probably older than that. It started out as a folk song, whose secular lyrics set a decidedly nonreligious tone. "Wilder dan wilt, wie sal mij temmen," the song began, or "Wilder than wild, who will tame me?" Folk melodies have a way of wanting to be sung--think "Greensleeves," which has numerous sets of lyrics associated with it--and "Wilder dan wilt" was no exception.

Its transformation into the hymn about overcoming religious oppression began on Jan. 24, 1597. That was the date of the Battle of Turnhout, in which Prince Maurice of Orange defeated the Spanish occupiers of a town in what is now the Netherlands. It appears likely that Dutch Protestants--who were forbidden from practicing their religion under the Catholic King Philip II of Spain--celebrated the victory by borrowing the familiar folk melody and giving it new words. Hence "Wilt heden nu treden" or, loosely translated, "We gather together"--a phrase that itself connoted a heretofore forbidden act: Dutch Protestants joining together in worship. Its first appearance in print was in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs, "Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck."

It's tantalizing to think that the English Pilgrims--in exile in Holland, the only place in Europe where they could worship freely--might have been familiar with "Wilt heden nu treden." There's no record that they were, but the circumstantial evidence is strong. Some of them spoke Dutch, attended Dutch churches and even became Dutch citizens. "It's possible, I'd even go so far as to say it's probable, that the Pilgrims knew the tune," says John Kemp of Plimouth Plantation, the living-history museum of 17th-century America.

But to the Pilgrim mindset, "We Gather Together" would have been a secular song. It wasn't the direct word of the Bible, which meant they would not have sung it at church. The Pilgrims, like the Dutch Calvinists, sang only Psalms in worship and then without musical accompaniment or even harmony, which they considered "man glorifying in man's art," says Mr. Kemp. They saw any song except a Psalm as a violation of the commandment against idolatry.

So how did "We Gather Together" get from a 17th-century Dutch songbook to 20th-century American churches and schoolrooms?

One answer is Dutch settlers, who brought it with them to the New World, perhaps as early as the 1620s. The hymn stayed alive in the Dutch-American community throughout the centuries, says Emily Brink of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Mich. In 1937, when the Christian Reformed Church in North America--a denomination that began with Dutch immigrants who sang only Psalms--made the then-controversial decision to permit hymns to be sung at church, "We Gather Together" was chosen as the opening hymn in the first hymnal.

Another answer has to do with a Viennese choirmaster by the name of Eduard Kremser, whose arrangement of "We Gather Together" was published in Leipzig, Germany, in 1877. Enter Theodore Baker, an American scholar studying in Leipzig. Baker translated the hymn into English in 1894 as a "prayer of Thanksgiving" to be sung by a choir.

From there it was an easy step to congregational singing. According to the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, which maintains a database of popular hymns, "We Gather Together's" first appearance in an American hymnal was in 1903. Over the next three decades it showed up in an assortment of hymnals in the Northeast and Midwest and in school songbooks. Its "big break" came in 1935, says Carl Daw, executive director of the Hymn Society, when it was added to the national hymnal of the Methodist-Episcopal Church.

The association with Thanksgiving helped popularize the hymn, and the country's experience with war also contributed to its spread. "By World War I, we started to see ourselves in this hymn," says Michael Hawn, professor of sacred music at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology. Even more so in World War II, when "the wicked oppressing" would have resonated with a public engaged in the fight against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. "People take stock of themselves at Thanksgiving," he says. "We've all survived some turbulent times."

"We Gather Together" has all the elements that make a hymn great, says Prof. Hawn. Its melody is accessible, it has a catchy "incipit" or opening phrase, and it has a message that unfolds through the stanzas and carries the congregation with it to an uplifting conclusion: "O, Lord, make us free!"

On Thanksgiving Day, that's a sentiment that all Americans, wherever we are gathered, can share.
Ms. Kirkpatrick is the associate editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

Oh Christmas Tree...

I have FINALLY finished putting up my Christmas tree! This was a fun project to work on all week, as I tried to figure out what to place on my first Christmas tree. I purchased a 7 foot lighted palm tree in the summer, and have been counting down the days till I could put it up. I wanted to have something up this Christmas that reminded me of Arizona.

I had a lot of ideas as I was planning on putting it together. I don't have the ornaments that were given to me while growing up because they are still in Arizona with my parents. I am going to let my mom and dad hang them on their fabulous tree this year. I also was originally going to place my rubber chicken on the top, wearing a Santa's hat and having a red bell in his mouth. It would have been a tree topper everyone would have remembered. But I miscalculated the height of my apartment. I thought I had an 8 foot ceiling, but after I put my tree up realized that it was shorter. The rubber chicken would not fit. I will have to wait till I move into a taller place. I finally decided to decorate it with red and silver ornaments with a splash of gingerbread cookie ornaments. I originally thought to place just a hula skirt on the bottom, but after doing this discovered that it just didn't look right. I added a snow blanket, and it was just the touch it needed. It looks so pretty and I wish I could have captured it the way it looks when they are the only lights turned on. But I can't figure out how to turn my flash off my camera. (I would have a picture with me in it as well, but don't know how to set the camera to do this either.)

My mom sent me a package when my sister drove up at the end of summer. My mom gave me a present early in case I couldn't make it home to Arizona for Christmas this year. The wrapping that she chose for it matches my decor perfectly:) I have been really good not to peek. Although it I am really curious as to what she may have given to me this year. Doesn't the present looks like a package that floated onto a desert island.

Blessings

I received this picture of the "Dog Prayer" and thought it was great. It made me think about how we all of many things to be grateful for and should express it in some way. I love how the dog shows more intensity in their prayers than some of us do. Today I am grateful for a warm home, running car, good food, clouds in the sky, comforting music, ability to pray, the scriptures, supportive family and friends, a great family dog (whom I miss right now), heating pads, heating blankets, BLANKETS, awesome Christmas decorations, and advance medical care.

So today acknowledge several of your blessings to a loved one:)

"Lick it Aunt Kathryn! Lick it!"

This week my sister, Sarah, and her family are staying with me. It's been a week full of laughs, talking and making good memories. Sarah has 3 cute boys, that are full of fun ideas and energy. Yesterday I went with Sarah and the boys to Salt Lake City for fun. For lunch we stopped at Wendy's and were eating the food in the car. One of her boy's, Jonathan, who is 6, ordered a small chocolate frosty. I was handing it to him, and he began to get it all over him. I took it back to help him clean it up and Jonathan noticed that the frosty was dripping down the sides. He began to scream "lick it Kathryn, lick it!" I just began to laugh and asked him if his Aunt Jen put him up to this. Sorry Jen, I didn't lick it, I wiped it with a napkin:) I feel the boys feel sorry for their Aunt Kathryn, as all the "good" foods make her sick (pizza, ice cream, chocolate, etc).

Side note: my sister, Jen and I are currently in a contest to see who can stick to their medical diet and exercise program the longest. The first person to slip provides the other one with a nice cash award. Enjoy the picture Jen:)

Sugar...the other white stuff

On my online Crohn's support group, there was a discussion occurring as to how eliminating sugar from their diet really decreased negative Crohn's symptoms. One person directed us to a website that had some interesting information regarding sugar. I'm sure some of this information was stretched out of proportion, but I figure it could help those of you out there who are trying to cut back or not gain too much weight this holiday season. Like they say, moderation in all things.

146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health

By Nancy Appleton, Ph.D.
Author of LICK THE SUGAR HABIT and LICK THE SUGAR HABIT SUGAR COUNTER.

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.
2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.
3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.
5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).
6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you loose.
7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins.
8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.
9 Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.
10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.
11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.
12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.
16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.
17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.
18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.
19. Sugar can cause premature aging.
20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.
21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.
22. Sugar contributes to obesity
23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.
24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.
25. Sugar can cause arthritis.
26. Sugar can cause asthma.
27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).
28. Sugar can cause gallstones.
29. Sugar can cause heart disease.
30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.
31. Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis.
32. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
33. Sugar can cause varicose veins.
34. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
35. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.
36. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.
37. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.
38. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
39. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol in the blood.
40. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.
41. Sugar can increase cholesterol.
42. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.
43. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
44. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)
45. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.
46. Sugar causes food allergies.
47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.
48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
49. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.
51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA
52. Sugar can change the structure of protein.
53. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
54. Sugar can cause cataracts.
55. Sugar can cause emphysema.
56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.
57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL).
58. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.
59. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.
60. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.
61. Sugar can cause a permanent altering the way the proteins act in the body.
62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.
63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.
64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.
66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.
67. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.
68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).
69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.
70. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.
71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.
72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.
73. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders..
74. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves.
75. Sugar can cause depression.
76. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.
77. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).
78. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.
79. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.
80. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.
81 High refined sugar diet reduces learning capacity.
82. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.
83. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.
84. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.
85. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.
86. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
87. Sugar can lead to the hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli.
88. Sugar can lead to dizziness.
89. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.
90. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.
91. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.
92. Sugar feeds cancer.
93. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
94. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.
95. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.
96. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.
97. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.
98. Sugar combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.
99. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.
100. Sugar is an addictive substance.
101. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.
102. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.
103. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
104. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.
105. The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.
106. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.
107. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
108. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
109. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.
110. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.
111.. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.
112. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.
113. Sugar increases the risk of polio.
114. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
115. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.
116. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.
117. Sugar may induce cell death.
118. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.
119. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.
120. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.
121. Sugar dehydrates newborns.
122. Sugar increases the estradiol in young men.
123. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.
124. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia
125. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.
126. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.
127. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.
128. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.
129. Sugar induces salt and water retention.
130. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.
131. As sugar increases in the diet of 10 years olds, there is a linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients.
132. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.
133. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.
134. Sugar causes constipation.
135. Sugar causes varicous veins.
136. Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.
137. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.
138. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.
139. Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.
140. Sugar can be a factor in asthma.
141. The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.
142. Sugar could affect central reward systems.
143. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.
144. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.
145. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.
146. Sugar can cause liver tumors.

Comfort Foods - Chili

I have had to give up a lot of my favorite comfort foods when I chose to go on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to treat my Crohn's disease. I have found new ones, but they don't compare with my favorite ones that I now only have as memories.

I recently found a Chili recipe on a SCD website. I tried it out today and it is really good. I'm passing it on. One thing I altered with the recipe was substituting 3 chicken breasts for the ground chicken. I just cooked them separately and then cut them up into small pieces. I also didn't personally add cheese to mine, but I'm sure it will taste good with it.

Chicken Chili
Serves 6 to 8
2lb ground chicken
4 onions chopped
3 bell peppers (any combination of red, yellow, or orange chopped)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
¼ tsp to ½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp to ½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp red pepper flakes
4 garlic cloves, pressed
3 cups fully cooked navy beans*
one 48 – oz can tomato juice
one 28 – oz can plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
Cheddar Cheese, grated for garnish

1. In a large pot with a lid, brown the chicken on medium – high heat until cooked through. Drain off the accumulated fat.
2. Add the onions and bell peppers to the pot and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, until soft
3. Add the salt, cumin, paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Stir to combine.
4. Add the beans, tomato juice and tomatoes
5. Stir until well combined, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes over medium – low heat
6. Remove the lid and simmer uncovered for 15 more minutes
7. Serve hot, garnish with grated cheese


*Beans, split peas, lentils, and peanuts all belong to the legumes family. To minimize the bloating gas, or discomfort you sometimes get with eating prepared legumes, you can soak them. Legumes double in bulk when soaked.
1. Put dried legumes in a large bowl and cover with water. Make sure the water level is 4 inches above the legumes because they’ll absorb the liquid, expand, and double in bulk.
2. Soak in a cool place for 8 to 10 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
3. Drain and rinse in a colander with cool, fresh water
4. Put the legumes in a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil.
5. As soon as they come to a boil, they’ll start to foam. Remove from the heat, drain, and rinse them again. At this point, they can be added to soups for further cooking. To fully cook the beans and store for future use, follow steps 6 and 7.
6. Put the beans back in your pot and cover them with fresh water again. Boil fro 30 to 45 minutes, or until they’re tender.
7. Drain and use immediately, or freeze in smaller portions for use in other recipes