Bread Baking with Boopski

Recall the title of this Blog...

Bread and Other Provisions

Going back to the first post, you may recall the story of baking bread at my house.  I won't repeat all of it (check out the first posts) but let it be said today was such a tender moment and will become a sweet memory for me.

Boopski (Lucas) and I embarked on a bread baking adventure.  I know from experience that he LOVES to help in the kitchen.  He has helped me cook and also clean up.  Sometimes "help" is a misnomer, but that's another story...

Since I bake most of my bread by grinding my own wheat and grains it is a little more involved than some other bread baking may be, but I know it is a healthy alternative and I love doing it.  It is a hobby of sorts.

Here is a partial chronology of our adventures in photographs.

just to prove we do start with the whole grain

and the mixing begins

sometimes baking with boopski is messy

but I enjoy sharing my love of creating yummy bread with Lucas

ok, he isn't perfect---it seems tossing the cleaned up mess onto the floor is acceptable

and the forming of the loaves begins

he is also a pretty good photographer, I must say....

my mom was watching this "creative" process and helping to record it with pics

first we roll the dough

then comes the fun part

we fold it up,

 and pick it up

 and toss it on the counter to pop any air bubbles.

He watched all of this ONCE and had it down pat!

more cleaning up

let it rise

and

ta da...about 2 hours from start to finish

4 loaves of freshly baked bread!

There is something inate in his little personality that seemed to just thrive in this baking environment.  I know some kids are wired for such things and others are not.  Jacob LOVED it, Isaac not so much.  He just never really had a huge interest in working in the kitchen.  Not bad, just not his personality.  

A few things really took me off guard today.  

One being the intense passion he had for helping every step of the way without waivering.  I didn't know if he would stick with it.  Another thing was how quickly he learned what to do.  I formed ONE loaf and the rest he did himself.  And finally this one almost took my breath away:

After it was all baked, he kept trying to tell me something.  Of course the language barrier can be frustrating at a moment like this.  But I got a few words and realize he was talking about our friends.  He could see that we had FOUR loaves of bread.  Out of the blue he said he wanted to be sure to share some of this bread with our friends. 

In my first posts I mentioned how I always give away at least one loaf of bread as sort of an "offering" because when I got my bread making equipment back in 2004, Jacob was dying.  And he did not have the energy to help.  I was hoping he would enjoy helping me bake because he was such a chef.  He just did not have the energy by the time the equipment arrived.  Since he had such a generous heart, I made a sort of vow that I would always give away at least one loaf of bread everytime I baked bread in honor of Jacob and his sweet heart of generosity.

It is uncanny how Lucas was so insistent that we share some of this with our friends.  How do I begin to explain that?

A friend of mine mentioned a while back the words Restoration and Redemption.  I cannot even believe how the Lord is orchestrating such details in our lives.  He is restoring things I thought were long since gone. 

The Lord is certainly offering Provisions we never could have asked for or imagined before we ever met this boy.  All we did was step out in Faith.  We had no clue...really we are not that smart.   We could not have taken all these ingredients and baked Bread without the hand of Jesus kneeding us and molding us and His Provision.  It blows me away actually.

and to end the day...and this post....a sweet picture of grandma and Lucas: