I've moved!

Moving is a tough thing and moving your blog site isn't always a simple matter, but I have actually made the move to http://heidi.astitch.biz/. I invite you to come on over, change your bookmark to the new site and join in on my thoughts. See you there!

Ducks

I like to have my ducks in a row.


The problem is that I can't find any.

The Bible according to a 4 year old

I spend a lot of time picking up around here after little ones that "just don't get it" when it comes to putting away what they take out or cleaning up after themselves. I know that it's just how it is at this point in their little lives, but I have to admit that it is very frustrating at times. So in training my children to clean and pick-up the house, I want them to know that this is life. Sometimes we have to clean up after another person's mess...and we can do it cheerfully. The cheerful part is just as much training for me as for them.

Yesterday my 4 year old son was given the assignment of cleaning up the boots, coats, hats and mittens that the 22 month old had strewn around while the rest of us were assigned other jobs. He became quite exasperated and shouted, "The Bible says 'the one who smashes something has to pick it up!!'"

I began dreaming about this. What if this was how it was? My housekeeping would be so much easier! I'd have time I didn't know what to do with!

Now, if I could only find that verse...

Baby Wrapping

A couple posts ago I mentioned getting some material for doing the baby wrap when our new one arrives. I had a question from someone regarding what that is.

I'm new to the concept myself, but it sounds wonderful to be able to use a long length of material to wrap your baby to yourself in various ways: on your back, side or front. It all sounds very intriguing for a mother with three other children who needs about 20 hands.

My favorite site so far on this topic is http://www.mamatoto.org/. Here they tell you what type and amount of material you need, along with many pictures and diagrams for the different types of wraps. There are tons of people making baby carriers/wraps out there, but let's just say they aren't giving them away.

So, when baby arrives and if I like this "wrap thing", I'll post about it with pictures.

A Cello Rondo

I thought that this recording was pretty neat. It seems like a legistical nightmare to have one person record 37 parts on a cello and be able to put it together to sound this good. It's worth checking out...

Just what the doctor ordered

Last weekend started out with my husband bringing me home this gorgeous bouquet. I had spent the day packing and cleaning in preparation for heading down to visit his parents and my mother. My daughter wanted to bring them with, saying that she would gladly hold them, but it was really nice to come home to a clean house and red roses on the table after the weekend.

Traveling is quite an ordeal with three small children and since we don't go often, I try to make it memorable. I pack travel toys and food up to gazoo. The children are "helping" me pack all day and are waiting in the vehicle 1/2 hour before we are going to leave, asking for their containers of fish crackers.

We made it to our destination on Friday evening and my husband did the daunting task of unpacking. He was so gracious to just laugh at me bringing a tote of boots, snow pants, hats and mittens in addition to everything else. There was a dusting of snow at our place before we left and I thought, "Well, just in case there's snow this weekend and the children want to play outside..."

Keith stayed with his parents on Saturday to help them with some projects while I took the children to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul and met my mother. Keith calls it a 5-floor indoor playground and it kind of is. Yet, there are tons of educational exhibits there. If the public schools can bring students there for field trips during the school year, I can count it as a school day as well. They learned about occupations, machines, turtles, literature/play acting, cultural diversity, etc. Very educational. I was grateful for the opportunity to see my mother and also appreciated her help as three children going in three different directions can be challenging. A good day was had by all and my 22 month old was sleeping before we left the parking ramp.

On the way home, I stopped at S.R. Harris, a huge discount fabric warehouse that was overflowing with people. Try to picture floor to 20 foot ceiling bolts of material and then wanting the one on the bottom of the heap. What I was thinking in bringing three tired children there I'm not sure, but they behaved fairly well considering. I was able to find some fun pieces of material and thankfully I was able to nab a young kid employee to fish out the desired bolts. I would have given up trying if it was left to me. I want to try using a "baby wrap" when this new one is born in January. Another attempt at trying to figure out how to do multiple things at once... If the wrapping concept doesn't work for me, I have material for a couple dresses. A win-win situation.

It was a good weekend, but I was tired and the children were apparently tired afterward. This week has been tough so far. I was at wits end yesterday, feeling like a complete failure as a mother. There are parenting styles out there that I don't want to emulate, but I could see those poor coping skills coming out of me over and over. Very frustrating.

So today I get this email from a special friend, "Want to come over for chicken, corn, noodle soup today?" We talked as we dealt with children and I came home very refreshed. The children all took a nap and I went in my room, lit a candle, started some relaxing music and sewed...in the quiet.

I feel like a new person. It was just what the Doctor of all doctors ordered, and I was blessed.

Clean teeth

I have this "thing" about having clean teeth. I think I inherited it from my father. I remember being on a family vacation and he would stand outside the van, flossing his teeth with the side mirror.

Yesterday I decided it was time to buy everyone in the house a new toothbrush. Last night everyone tore open their packages according to their favorite color. Our youngest got what was left over since he doesn't really care yet.

This new fangled thing has a texture on the opposite side from the bristles that massages your cheeks when you brush your molars. I didn't realize this until after I opened it. It's kind of a weird feeling. Of course the toothbrush manufacturers have to come up with something new and exciting. Another new gimmick, but it didn't seem to cost that much more than the "plain Jane".

You never realize how bad your previous toothbrush was until you get a new one. Despite the cheek massage, I could feel the plaque coming off my teeth. It was SO GREAT! Even this morning, there are no fuzzies! OK, OK...more than you wanted to know...

Tested by fire

Living in the "north country", fire is even more significant in our lives in the winter than the summer. We use propane for a lot of our appliances, so that flicker from the pilot light becomes quite important...especially when it goes out in the water heater and halfway through the shower, that soothing flow turns cold! Now that it is getting cooler outside, we are getting to use our newly installed gas fireplace. I tell you, it is SO fun. It makes getting up in the morning tolerable as I sit in front of that flame of warmth. Yesterday was the day to fire up the outdoor wood burning stove. This heats water that goes through tubes in our concrete floor for radiant heat in our home and shop. Mmmmm...just cozy. Now the children can hardly wait for the snow to fly.

For us, fire is comforting because it is contained and we utilize it for our benefit.

God uses fire for a variety of reasons, but all for His glory. God used fire and brimstone to totally disintegrate Sodom and Gomorrah. God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. He led the children of Isreal in the desert by a pillar of fire at night. God used fire to lap up Elijah's sacrifice, the water, the altar and the stones to prove His dominion in front of the false prophets of Baal.

Jesus sat around a fire at times to prepare food and also just as a meeting place. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and was symbolized by a tongue of fire on each of their heads. Jesus spoke of hell as an everlasting place of torment and fire.

So many ways that God has used fire. So many ways that we don't fully understand.

Let's just take a moment to focus on this verse:

1 Cor 3:10-13
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
KJV

Our motives, our longings, our inner drives...our heart...will be tested by fire at the end of the age when we stand before God. Was the foundation on Jesus Christ?

Did we witness out of a sense of duty or out of a pure heart aching for the lost?
Did we argue a point in Scripture because of an honest conviction revealed through His Word, or out of fear that our world would crumble if we were wrong?
Did we train our children to fear the Lord, or to fear what other's think?
Did we stand on tradition or truth?
Did we walk in legalism or obedience?
Did we walk in true humility or false humility?
Was our service to others for the praise of God, or the praise of men?
Did we REALLY love God, or did we just try to convince ourselves that we did?

God knows the truth. In most instances, we know the truth in our hearts. One of my most frequent prayers to my Father is, "Lord, please keep me from deception and keep my family from deception". You may, or may not agree to even pray such a thing, but the ache in my heart to *know my own heart* is strong. It is that drive within me that keeps me searching, yearning, wanting more, willing to change in order to draw closer to the Truth and the Originator of Truth and willing to stand in the midst of societal pressure.

I am willing, as much as I can be willing at this point in my life, to go through the test of God's fire. I can stand in fear of what God may allow me to go through in the future, but I am learning that God gives the grace to go through each test of fire at that time, and not before. Each circumstance can be used for His glory and as preparation for something to come, but the ultimate gift of grace to walk through the fire, comes as the flames start to lick our feet.

I trust Him, His purposes and His love for me. I know that it is for His glory.

Therefore I can rest even when I don't totally understand the purpose behind the fire.

This post was inspired by the "Carnival of Beauty". This time, it is topic is "Fire" and is hosted by Lindsey at Just Enjoy the Journey. Please stop by Lindsey's blog for all the submissions on this topic that will be listed on Wednesday...and check out her blog in general. It is one of my daily reads.

He had to "fix" something...

Willing to suffer

There is a family that comes to our church when they are in the area. Previously, they were missionaries in Africa and have adopted two African children. During the sermon discussion time during one visit, the man spoke up to add to the discussion and in doing so, he made the following statement: "I have come to notice a difference between people of Africa and those of America. People in Africa are not afraid of suffering. It is a part of everyone's life there. It's just accepted as they don't have the medical advances that we do, the living standards, etc. But they are very frightened of death. They are keenly aware of the spiritual realm and those that don't know Jesus are terrified of death. Americans on the other hand have no real fear of death, whether they are saved or not. Americans are terrified of suffering and will do anything to avoid it."

This fits in well with what Donna Kaufman discussed in her second session of the women's retreat that I attended. Read the synopsis of her first session, as well as links to her website here. Again, I will try to summarize her valuable thoughts below.

We. will. suffer. Life is difficult at times and it is through these difficulties that we are drawn to the Father. The fact is that some sorrows go on and on without any apparent end in this lifetime

*Despite the fact that we will suffer, can we rest in the midst of these struggles?*

Psalms 55
To the chief Musician on Neg'-i-noth, Mas'-chil, A Psalm of David.
Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.
Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;
Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.
Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.
God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.
He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant.
The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.
KJV

David poured out his heart to God and so should we. Even if we are not dealing with a situation well, God is there with us. It is part of His grace to draw us close and be near even when we are coping poorly.

*God is OK with our struggling. We don't need to have it all "together" before we can come and sit on His lap. God is there to hold our hand DURING the process.*

We need to be willing to embrace the struggles in our lives. It's not that we go looking for suffering and struggles, but when they inevitably come, we need to embrace it as a time of growth. There are waiting times in life...commas as another put it...when there is intense uncertainty, discomfort and agony. We need to work through these times in order to be transformed and for redemption to occur. The analogy of a cocoon is helpful here. The caterpillar willingly entered into a phase of life in which it is cold, tight and upside down...anything but comfortable. But the caterpillar had to go through this in order to be transformed.

In agonizing times, we want to run from suffering and struggles. We get busy with tasks/activities and turn to "happy" things to avoid the pain. Busyism, shopism, materialism, best parentism, self-protectionism, cleanism...just to name a few. :) We can't hear the Father when we are covering the pain with any "ism".

*We rarely allow God to let us go into the cocoon and therefore miss out on the transformation/redemption that God wants us to receive.*

In Mark 15, we read the account of Jesus enduring excruciatingly dark, agonizing pain and suffering, but He knew that He had to go through this in order to be transformed and resurrected into a new body.

We tend to get the idea that to suffer "well" is to be at total peace without any struggle, but Jesus didn't. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did three key things:

1. Jesus collected his friends around him. He wanted others to walk alongside Him. Admittedly, the disciples were poor companions. They kept falling asleep. In this we must realize that people will fail us sometimes, but it is not wrong to ask a chosen one or two to join with us in praying through a difficult time.
2. Jesus went to the Father. In Hebrews 4, we are told to cease from our own works (i.e. fear, worry, self-ability, etc.). God promises His presence in the midst of our agony. We are not necessarily sinning with our emotions during a battle. Jesus expressed deep emotion and wrestled with what laid ahead to the point of sweating blood.
3. Jesus stayed in the presence of the Father as long as needed. He waited until He was totally surrendered to the Father's will.

THEN we can move forward in the midst of suffering with the peace and knowledge that "It's OK. The Father is with me." We NEED the darkness of suffering in order to reach God's rest. His grace allows us to rest well and to obey Him well. The presence of the Father brings transformation.

Other Scripture to look at regarding suffering:
Psalm 94
Psalm 56
Isaiah 41
Exodus 3

Nuggets of gold from Donna Kauffman

I'm finally getting a chance to post. Actually, I'm taking the time. I have a list of other things that need to get done, but I honestly need a break from these things more than getting them done at the moment!

A couple weekends ago, I attended the Borderland Ladies Retreat in International Falls, MN. This is the 4th year that I have been there, and it is wonderful. The ladies that put this retreat together go all out to make us feel special and pampered in the midst of putting together excellent speakers who inspire and encourage us in our walk as wives, mothers, and children of God.

This year was no exception. I'm going to focus on Donna Kauffman's first session in this post which mainly addressed "Decluttering our Hearts". By the way, Donna has a set of excellent books that can be found at Treasures Books. I would also highly recommend seeing if she can speak at your women's retreat or similar setting.

Our hearts are full of clutter. Each room of our heart is full of stuff: needing to be tended, cared for and cleaned...and cleaned out. There is a room for our husband, one for our children, the cleanliness of our homes, a room for fears, one full of clutter of worry and angry thoughts, another for errands we need to remember, yet another for special activities we're involved in...the list goes on and on. Imagine a room for each relationship, set of emotions and practical life. There is so much going on in these rooms and we think that we need to keep everything organized and clean in order to feel in control.

**It is terrifying for us to truly trust the Father.** Instead of trusting Him, we feel compelled to take control of every part of our lives...including our husbands and our children.

With all of this clutter, it is very difficult to quiet ourselves, allowing us to hear our Father and rest in His arms. We feel suffocated, trying to do good and yearning to be holy and perfect, and feeling like we need to work harder to get there.

When the room of fear and worry (or anger, or jealously, or, or, or...) is not all neat and tidy, those emotions come to the surface, maybe for the umteenth time and we can think, "Am I even saved?", "Will I ever get over this?", "Will God reject me because I can't get over this?" We become weary of the battle of our hearts.

We need to clean house, so that we can rest and trust in the One Who created us and loves us. We need to trust that God's grace WILL cover us when we fail over and over and over again as we run to His lap. We are accepted by Him and He desires to hold and affirm us.

Cry out to Him!

Ps 141:1

LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

KJV

Know that He will never leave you and will walk with you through the battle. Allow unredeemed memories and past hurts to come to the surface in order to deal with them with the Father. Truth alone doesn't necessarily bring resolution. We need to bring it to the Father's lap and walk through it with Him.

In order to keep ourselves feeling "safe", we often put these strongholds ahead of God:

1. Stronghold of control- "If I can have everything nice and in order, with everyone doing things my way, I'll be OK."
2. Stronghold of contempt- "I'm worthless. I'm one big sin."
3. Stronghold of criticism- "I'll look better if I criticize others."

We need to replace the stronghold of control with trust in God, the stronghold of contempt with the Father's love and the stronghold of criticism with the Father's comforting presence.

**Delight in the peace and rest of leaving everything in the Father's capable hands.**

Our job as wives and mothers is to love our husbands, teach our children to know God (not to please others) and to know Him ourselves. We need to get rid of the rest of the clutter in our hearts. (I will interject my personal thoughts here: Some may argue that we are to love and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ and be witnesses of Christ to the unsaved around us in addition to the above. I agree. BUT, I believe that these things will come about in our lives as we focus on our families and draw closer to His heart. Then those actions of love and evangelism will flow out of our love for Him and our close relationship to Him rather than a "works" mentality, which clutters up another room in our hearts. I hope I'm making sense.)

Receive the Father's heart that delights in us just as we are, quiets us with His love and rejoices over us with singing.

Zeph 3:17
The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
KJV

May you be blessed as you mediate on His love and acceptance of you today.

I'm coming back...really

Things have been a bit crazy around here the last week or so. I was at a wonderful women's retreat this last weekend and I plan to sit down and process some of the things that were spoken of there here on this blog. Hopefully you will be blessed by it as well.

I hope to get back into blogging the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Until then, thank you for stopping by and God bless...

ABC's for life

This was on the wall of a friend's house and they graciously wrote it out for me to have in my home. It's on the side of my refrigerator facing the kitchen sink, so I can easily look over and read one as I'm rinsing dishes. I thought you might enjoy it as well.

Accept life's circumstances you find yourself in. God knows the details of your life and His grace is sufficient to meet your need.

Begin the day with God. As soon as you get out of bed, turn your thoughts heavenward. Thank God for a new day and the strength to arise.

Count your blessings. They are innumerable. Praise God that you have work to do, even if it may seem to overwhelm you. It would be worse to not be able to work at all.

Do your best and leave the rest. Whether God has given you one, two, or five talents. He only asks that we do our best with what He has given us.

Eat healthful foods, including lots of raw (and cooked) fruits and vegetables. We all know that too much sugar and too many fats are not good for our bodies.

Flee temptation. Whether you struggle with wrong eating habits, wrong thinking patterns, or harmful reading material, go to God for strength to overcome that which would drag you down.

Get medical or nutritional help if your condition merits it. Physical problems make hard to maintain emotional stability.

Heart-to-heart talks with a spouse or friend can be a source of strength and encouragement. Although the situation may not change, sharing with another can change our outlook toward the situation.

Invite friends, happy thoughts, and God's Spirit into your life. Discourage negative thoughts and self-pity.

Just be yourself. Your strengths and weaknesses can make a beautiful pattern if given to the Master Weaver.

Keep your focus on Jesus. "Look to self, you'll be depressed. Look to others, you'll be distressed. Look to Christ and you'll be blessed."

Lean hard on the Lord. When everything you try fails to lift your spirits, just keep walking by faith. Trust that the Lord is walking beside you in the vale, and will lead you into the sunshine again.

Memorize Scripture. Saturate your mind with God's Word and His precious promises.

Notice and appreciate small blessings- a letter in the mail, a bird singing, a flower blooming, a smile from a family member.

Overcoming depression is not something that happens overnight. Each victory will help you another to win.

Pray without ceasing. Have a prayerful attitude as you go about your work and converse with the Lord.

Quietly and earnestly fall on you knees in prayer. Be honest with God and tell Him exactly how you are struggling and that you desire to overcome.

Reach out to others. It helps to get our minds off ourselves, and be interested in the feelings and experiences of others.

Sing a song, not only with your voice, but with your mind and heart also. Singing, like praying, helps even though we do not feel like doing it.

Take a walk. Walk briskly and breathe deeply. Tilt your face to the sky and drink in the sunshine and the beauty of the heavens.

Use time wisely. Tackle a job even if you don't feel like it. We don't always need to be accomplishing great tasks, but to just keep moving forward and getting something done.

Value friendship with family members and little children. Invest time in worthwhile projects or hobbies with them and you will be greatly rewarded.

Watch out for attitudes and thought patterns that feed depression. Refuse to let those thoughts govern your life.

Xamine your life before God. Pride and hidden rebellion can be hard to detect, but are sins that easily beset us.

Yield and surrender every part of your life to God- your will, mind, body, soul, thoughts, desires and circumstances. The more we surrender, the greater our peace.

Zealously follow after God and His ways, not allowing your heart to become languid and cold.

Homemade Bread

Yes, I make my own bread...sometimes. Now, just because I make bread doesn't mean that you have to make your own bread. In fact, it has NOTHING to do with whether you are a good mother or not, as I'm finding out via the blogging world that some insinuate. You may actually be a better mother for not making your own bread and giving your children store-bought bread and canned soup...especially if that means that you are spending that extra time with your children.

I just like to make food from scratch, but life sometimes doesn't allow for that. Therefore, there are times that I buy bread. In fact, the other weekend, our family was going to get together with another family and roast brats over the fire. My husband was talking on the phone to the other Mr. and said that we could bring some of our store-bought bread over as we didn't have buns. He proceeded to jokingly start giving my husband a hard time that we were "slipping" in buying store bread. Just then my husband heard his wife telling him that they only had store bread to contribute too! Got 'im!

But today, I was able to get a batch of bread made. I'm finally pleased with the product after years of frustration over crumbly bread. It's such a great feeling. I used dough enhancer and follow all the recipe's tips for "better consistency", but to no avail. I would make the loaves, yet inside I was wishing I had the stuff from the store that you can see through.

Now, I followed the advice of a friend and I have a secret ingredient to share with those of you that want to take the plunge of making your own bread, or have been frustrated with your bread-making results. I have tried this ingredient now with probably 10 batches of bread and they have all consistently worked beautifully.

Here it is...

Are you ready??




Potato flakes.

There. The secret is out.

For once, I can cut thin slices of whole wheat bread without it crumbling to bits. No more sandwiches that have to have 1" slices of bread so it doesn't fall apart with each bite...but when you have such a large sandwich, you can't fit it in your mouth anyway. It's like a dream come true, I tell you!

Just add 3/4-1 cup of potato flakes in with your flour for a 5-6 loaf batch and it works like a charm.

Happy baking!

Always wanting more

I know that I'm kind of late getting into this discussion, but there is quit a hubbub about this article. Two articles were written, one by a man and the other by a woman, regarding career women. There are quite a few people talking about it with a wide variety of opinions. If you are interested in reading what other bloggers and their commenters are saying, I know of three: here, here, and here.

As I have been pondering this, various things have come to mind. A verse came to remembrance today that I think relates to this whole issue.

Gen 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat.
KJV

I have a notation in my Bible above this verse, "We as women are always wanting more- more wisdom, more knowledge, more things." Eve desired more and it cost her...deeply. So wanting more is nothing new. It was around with the first lady on earth.

I painfully know that this is true for me. I am always wanting more and frustrated with myself over my discontentment. One commenter mentioned how they know of many housewives that are pushing and pushing for their husbands to the brink of exhaustion to bring home more money so that they can have more of what they want. Ouch.

On the other hand, there are others out there commenting that women want it all. They want the perfect family, with a homemade meal on the table, to have their children involved in every activity under the sun, every gadget and gizmo, and have a very "fulfilling" career outside the home. The argument is that women can't have it all and something needs to give. Of course there are others that say that women should be able to have it all.

I appreciated what Spunky had to say about her heart, focus and goals being towards home both before, during and after her children have left home. Some say they can do this while having a full-time career, but I know that I can't.

In Molly's post, and in subsequent comments, it is clear that it isn't popular in conservative Christian circles to mention that you aren't feeling 100% fulfilled as a SAHM (Stay at home mother). There was a sense of relief by some commenters that it's OK to even say such a thing. Being a SAHM IS hard and doesn't always feel fulfilling. If you allow your thoughts to go down that hole, you can feel down-right trapped. But if you acknowledge that your role is a God-given one and challenge yourself in developing the "art" of homemaking (and homeschooling, if you have decided to do that), it is very fulfilling and takes much creativity and effort.

One other point that was brought up that caught my eye was that we shouldn't try to fit into a man-made idea of what a woman's role is. We need to follow what God calls each of us to do. OK. It sounds good and there is definitely an element of truth there. My first red-flag is that God would never call us to do something that goes against His Word. God does call women to be keepers at home. Granted there is a wide spectrum of opinions regarding what that entails, but caution is needed, that is for sure. It would be quite easy for someone to have an unGodly desire and twist it to say, "God called me to this."

When I was working in my favorite position at an occupational therapist, was I 100% fulfilled? No. Even then I wanted more. I loved that job and it still holds warm, fuzzy feelings for me, but was it my all-in-all? Absolutely not. I still wanted to be married, to have a family, live out in the boondocks and be self-sufficient.

There are sacrifices for goals. Just a few months ago, my husband and I seriously discussed my taking a part-time therapist position. It was good money and we reasoned that it would be good for me to maintain my therapy skills and help us in some other goals we have. But the many details for it to work, just didn't and in our hearts, we realized that it was not God's plan, at least for the time-being with situations as they are. It was after this realization, that I was talking to a well-meaning, professional lady who works in public education. She encouraged me to consider a part-time job so that it was easier for me to homeschool as I would get "out" a bit. I thought of this much during my wrestling over the job option and could tell her with confidence that having a job outside the home would NOT make it easier for me. I would just be heaping on more responsibility on myself and my husband that we didn't need. All of a sudden there would be babysitter scheduling, what to do if the children were sick, planning meals when I'm gone, trying to have a meal on the table for supper after working all day, trying to schedule homeschooling into a shorter week... No, it wouldn't make things easier. It would make things harder. There are sacrifices to make and seasons of life to realize and embrace.

It seems that this notion of women always wanting more is not a totally bad thing...if it is desiring more of God and what He wants. It is the wanting of more of God, a deeper relationship with Him, a more consistent Christian walk, a deeper understanding of Scripture, a more intimate worship of Him throughout my day, wanting to love Him more by practically loving my family more...it is in not being satisfied with my walk with the Lord that keeps me yearning and growing in Him.

There is a dichotomy of contentment and discontent in this life. We are never going to "have it all" or "do it all" in this life. If we try, we will either do justice to nothing that we do, or worse, we will fail miserably. Learning to be content with things of this world is a very valuable skill...and one that I have much to learn. Holy discontentment is what keeps us longing for heaven. To learn to be content regarding things of this world and discontent with our walk with Christ is a life-long process, but well worth the efforts.

I feel like these thoughts are not well organized and are quite disjointed, but I hope that you are able to grasp a bit of what I'm trying to convey. Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

It's a love/hate thing

My husband and I were blissfully married in November of 1999. We were settling in to married life and for my birthday in January, I mentioned that I would like to go to the animal shelter and look at puppies. Of course we found the cutest black furball which they had determined was half German Shepherd and half Samoyed (you know, the sled dog breed). They warned of of how much exercise this dog would need and invited us back for the puppy social. We never went, by the way.

We affectionately called her, Grizzly. She just looked like a grizzly bear. She would crawl under the couch and you couldn't find her because she is totally coal black. The only thing going for us was that her eyes would reflect light. If she was curled up with her head down, forget finding her under there.

She stayed in a very comfy "kennel" in the garage and we got our first tastes of being rudely awakened by a very lonely dog. Thankfully for her, we ended up moving to a 160 acre farm a few months later and eventually she learned to stay on our property and therefore could be off the dreaded cable line.

She really does look like a grizzly bear, which is helpful if a stranger sees her from a distance. The watchdog in her is basically useless the closer the stranger comes. She just sees another person that she can cheerfully greet onto our property.

With her black, thick fur, she relishes 40 below temperatures. It is a rare instance in which you will find her in her dog house...maybe during a sleet storm. She can usually be found in the dead of winter sleeping on top of the snow and it doesn't melt under her.

When we got our first set of kittens, she loved them uncontrollably. They hissed and swung at her nose with sharp claws. Grizzly wouldn't give up. Then we saw it one day... the cat sleeping on Grizzly out on the grass. Of course the cat wouldn't have stayed there if he would have known that anyone was watching, but alas, Grizzly's affection won out and they were friends.

This happens every time we get kittens. Grizzly is just a bit overbearing and they want to show her who is boss. Oh reeeeaaaaly.

So today, this is what I found...




Yep, they are licking each other in complete dog/cat affection. Grizzly won out again.

God's Face

This afternoon my children were begging to walk down the gravel road to pick rosehips. I finally conceeded. When we arrived at the spot where the rosehips were ripe, I told them to stay there and I would walk up around the bend and get our mail. When I returned, my 5 year old daughter started in on her usual chatter.

"God was watching over us while you were gone and keeping us safe, wasn't He Mommy?" (I was only moments away mind you, but I have often told them about safety regarding strangers.)

"Yes."

"God was watching over you while you were getting the mail, wasn't He Mommy?"

"Yes."

"God is watching over everybody all over the place at the same time, isn't He Mommy?"

"Yes."

"God has a BIIIIIIG face, doesn't He Mommy?"

"Uhhhh...........yes."

Busy Days

Days have been filled to overflowing here lately. Hence, my poorly updated blog.

I have zucchini coming out my ears, so I have been canning and freezing it. I have shredded, sliced and cubed zucchini in the freezer and canned squash as well as another experiment: pineapple zucchini. I got these recipes in the comments section of this post. The zucchini crisp listed below is pretty good I think. We've had it twice now. I just canned pineapple zucchini. The person who gave the recipe said that you can't tell the difference between this and regular crushed pineapple in recipes. We'll see, but my daughter licked the pot after it simmered and she said it tasted like pineapple. (Mom, can you email me your pineapple bar recipe??)

Zucchini Crisp My Way
Topping:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 oz. (5/8 cup) butter or margarine

Filling:6 to 8 cups zucchini, peeled and cubed
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. Prepare the pastry topping by combining the flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in the butter or margarine until crumbly. Set aside.

In a medium-sized pot, cook the zucchini in lemon juice until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the sugar, nutmeg and the teaspoon of cinnamon. Simmer for about a minute then add a half cup of the saved pastry topping. Simmer until this thickens stirring constantly. Let cool a bit. Pour the zucchini mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the topping over the zucchini. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Zucchini Pineapple
1 gallon ground zucchini, green or yellow
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
2 1/2 cups sugar
46 ounce can unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tsp. pineapple extract

Mix together all ingredients except extract; simmer 20 minutes. Add extract and stir well. Fill hot jars according to manufacturer's directions. Process in hot water bath 20 minutes. Makes 9 pints.

My husband graciously helped me can 38 quarts of peaches and I have canned and froze green beans and broccoli. The tomatoes have started ripening. I can hardly wait to dehydrate some of the roma's for sun-dried tomatoes. I have some scrumptious recipes that call for them.

I'm getting revved up to have a regular school schedule. We've been trying to establish a routine, so within a couple weeks we'll be ready for how the next year will go. My struggle at this time is figuring out how to do school with a 20 month old wanting to destroy the house. I'm toying with alternative schedules, and trying to have multiple containers with activities to occupy his time. I've gotten some good ideas here, here and here.

In addition to a school schedule, we've been desperately trying to get into a chore schedule. My older two have their list of chores and are expected to know their chores and do them fairly independently. My "house destroyer" helps me with my chore list. He adores filling the washer and dryer and helping carry folded clothes to various rooms with me. Now that we've been doing it for a month or so, it's finally becoming more tolerable. Less-thandesirablee attitudes have surfaced more than once in the children and adults in this house. It's amazing how "work" brings it up from the depths of the Adamic nature. I appreciated what a friend told me that she tells her children, "Work is a major part of life. It would be better if you decided that you were going to like it. Otherwise life is going to be quite miserable for you."

Also, our farmette has started. We added on a lean-to on our shop for a "barn" this spring. We are now proud owners of 6 rabbits and 4 kittens. We got two male and two female kittens, so hopefully we can get some to stick around. We were proud to see that one of the females got a mouse already today. That's their job. They have to earn their keep. Talk is that we may get a pig next spring. I'm not sure what to think about that yet, but the bacon sounds good.

Off to pick more zucchini...

Heaven

I can hardly wait to be in Heaven. What a glorious place to be; worshipping Jesus with the saints that have gone before and the throngs of angels; bowing to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords saying "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!!" over and over again. Can you see it?

I had someone tell me once that she can't dwell on thoughts of heaven too much because there was a time in her life when she did and it just made her discontent with where God had her now and what God had her doing in this life. That did give me pause to think. Is there something to the saying that "one can be too heavenly minded to be any earthly good"? I just don't think so. To long to be Home with Jesus keeps my focus on Him. It helps to keep my perspective right. There is a precious balance between being content with where God has us for the time-being and a discontentment because we are not at home with Jesus. This world ISN'T my home. I AM just passing through. I am part of the Kingdom of God and I am currently living in a foreign land.

How Beautiful Heaven Must Be

We read of a place that's called Heaven,

It's made for the pure and the free;

These truths in God's Word He hath given,

How beautiful Heaven must be.

Chorus:

How beautiful Heaven must be,

Sweet home of the happy and free;

Fair haven of rest for the weary,

How beautiful Heaven must be.

In Heaven no drooping nor pining,

No wishing for elsewhere to be;

God's light is forever there shining,

How beautiful Heaven must be.

Chorus

Pure waters of life there are flowing,

And all who will drink may be free;

Rare jewels of splendor are glowing,

How beautiful Heaven must be.

Chorus.

The angels so sweetly are singing,

Up there by the beautiful sea;

Sweet chords from their gold harps are ringing,

How beautiful Heaven must be.

Chorus.

by A.S. Bridgewater

Public Domain

And then there is this hymn that is so precious as well.

My Saviour First of All

When my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,

When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;

I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,

And His smile will be the first to welcome me.

Chorus:

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,

As redeemed by His side I shall stand;

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,

by the print of the nails in His hand.

Oh, the soul thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face,

And the luster of His kindly beaming eye;

How my full heart will praise him for the mercy, love, and grace,

That prepares for me a mansion in the sky.

Chorus

Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,

And Our parting at the river I recall;

To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home,

But I long to meet my Saviour first of all.

Chorus

Thro' the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white,

He will lead me where no tears shall ever fall;

In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight;

But I long to meet my Saviour first of all.

Chorus

Fanny Crosby

Public Domain

My favorite part about this hymn is the fact that even though heaven will be wonderful to see, along with reuniting with loved ones, the main joy and longing will be to see Jesus, our precious Saviour.

Hmmm..."How beautiful heaven must be..."

God's peace versus the world's peace

A few days ago I came across this verse in my quiet time with the Lord, as I'm going through the book of John.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid.
KJV

So, there's true peace from the Lord and false peace from the world. I had heard this before and even acknowledged it, but a light bulb went off in my head. It spurred my curiosity.

So how do we know when we are feeling true peace versus false peace? Gotta love the PC Study Bible. Here's a couple commentaries on this verse.

John 14:25-27
The world's gifts concern only the body and time; Christ's
gifts enrich the soul for eternity: the world gives lying vanities, and that
which will cheat us; Christ gives substantial blessings, which will never fail
us: the world gives and takes; Christ gives a good part that shall never be
taken away.
The peace which Christ gives is infinitely more valuable than
that which the world gives. The world's peace begins in ignorance, consists with
sin, and ends in endless troubles; Christ's peace begins in grace, consists with
no allowed sin, and ends at length in everlasting peace. As is the difference
between a killing lethargy and a reviving refreshing sleep, such is the
difference between Christ's peace and the world's.(from Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database.
Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

"A killing lethargy" reminded me of when some say that those in overt sin eventually seer their conscience, accepting the world's peace as a substitute for the real thing.

John 14:27
1. Not as the objects which men commonly pursue-pleasure, fame,
wealth. They leave care, anxiety, remorse. They do not meet the desires of the
immortal mind, and they are incapable of affording that peace which the soul
needs.

2. Not as the men of the world give. They salute you with empty
and flattering words, but their professed friendship is often reigned and has no
sincerity. You cannot be sure that they are sincere, but I am.

3. Not as systems of philosophy and false religion give. They profess to give peace, but it is not real. It does not still the voice of conscience; it does not take away sin; it does not reconcile the soul to God.

4. My peace is such as meets all the wants of the soul, silences the alarms of conscience, is fixed and sure amid all external changes, and will abide in the hour of death and forever. How desirable, in a world of anxiety and care, to possess this peace! and how should all who have it not, seek that which the world can neither give nor take away! (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

To have such peace with the Lord, that you are ready to die, without fear or thinking "Am I truly in right standing with God?"

Many questions arise for me.

How do we relate to one that is not walking with the Lord (they may be of another religion all together) and says that they are at peace?

How do we explain to someone that has never experienced the peace of Christ, what it is like?

What about the one that apparently did walk with the Lord and is now walking in overt, Biblically-stated sin and claims that they are "at peace"?

I suppose the analysis of deception is relevant here. A person that is deceived doesn't know they are deceived because they are deceived.

Phil 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

KJV

In some ways, this verse makes it even more "sticky". It passes all understanding. We can't put words around it and package it with a bow. It is much deeper than that.

So when we are to "let the peace of God rule in [our] hearts" (Col 3:15a), how do we know if we are experiencing true, Godly peace? It passes all understanding. It's like trying to explain to someone how you knew when you had met your spouse and you were going to spend the rest of your life with them.

"I just knew." (with a huge smile)

The singles that you are talking to give you blank stares or say, "Yea, right. Now tell us really how you knew!"

"No. Honestly. I just KNEW."

"Ok, Ok. Now tell us the nuts and bolts of how you knew."

"That's all I can tell you. I just knew." (another huge smile)

How do I know when I'm at peace with God? I just know...with a deep, restful, beyond understanding knowing. And it seems that the longer that the "Lord and I walk through the fields together", my spirit is more and more sensitive as to whether I am at peace with Him. He is faithful to lead and guide, bringing me back to an ever deeper closeness with Himself, when I have begun to drift or made a decision that was not His best.

He is SO good. There is no better feeling on earth than being at complete peace with God our Father.

Sewing modest clothing

I have seen post after post from women that are frustrated at trying to purchase decent clothing for themselves and their children, specially their daughters. We have become a culture that wants to flaunt our bodies. In the process, clothing designers have moved that philosophy down to even our children...and people are buying them.

It is sad that at 4 and 5 years of age, my husband and I are having to teach our children to look away and guard their eyes when there are those walking around stores in little more than bikinis. It is a skill that they will need to utilize for the rest of their lives. "Oh, be careful little eyes what you see..."

I understand that there are different perspectives on what is modest, but I am simply presenting here a few ideas that we have incorporated.

Though this post has the potential to get into quite a debate, my heart is to share that it is possible to sew modest dresses for your daughters and yourselves (I'm talking to women here although I'm sure there's men out there that may want to tackle such a project as well.) if that is on your heart. I am here to say, "Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! You! Can! Do! It!"

I haven't been sewing clothes for too long. Maybe 5 years or so. In that amount of time I have learned tons. In fact I just learned how to put in an invisible zipper. Hint: you need a special foot on your sewing machine that makes it really easy. For the most part, follow the pattern, and you will learn basic techniques that transfer to most sewing projects. Of course there's always tricks to the trade as they say, but you can do quite well without them.

When I was in high school, I made a quilt and some other smaller projects in home economics class. I will never forget what I was taught there: use lots of pins and a good sewer will be a good riper. I don't see myself as a great sewer yet, but I have done my fair share of ripping out seams and pins are my friends even though it takes me a bit longer. The finished product is much more satisfying for me.

Here is a jean jumper dress that I made some time ago. It is starting to get worn-looking, but my daughter loves it. I put daisy buttons on for fun. I can find shirts to wear underneath at Walmart or garage sales. I also have had her wear pants as she is quite an active child! I know some make pantaloons. I have considered that, but now that my daughter is 5, she likes the thin sweatpants that I find cheap. I just got a pattern at Walmart or JoAnn Fabric and lengthened the skirt.



Here is a dress that I recently made. I got the pattern here. They do a great job and I've been more than happy with their products.


Here is the most recent dress, hot off the press. This type takes longer because you are basically making two dresses; a regular dress with a jumper over the top. But, I really like them, so every once in awhile I do it.

I hope that your are encouraged to give sewing a try if you are frustrated with what is out in clothing stores. Like I mentioned, I'm not the best seamstress out there, but if someone has questions, I'd be happy to try to help you.

"Praise the Lord!" and flowers

My 5 year old daughter absolutely LOVES flowers. She is bringing me flowers at least a couple times a day. I enjoy it so much. When I'm driving home, I often stop to pick up the mail on our main road. While I'm walking across the road, she jumps out to pick a couple flowers that are in the ditch. She knows where every flower is on our property and she is the first to notice any new ones that sprout up. She must be my mother and grandmother's heir!

In the last few weeks we have really noticed our need for rain around here. The lawn looks ratty because we are afraid we'll kill it totally if we mow. In some ways it's pretty. The daisies have started blooming in the grass again. So last week my children were in their rooms for nap time. My daughter doesn't take a nap so often anymore, but she needs to rest so that mommy can rest. After 20 minutes or so, she comes out of her room with a bouquet of flowers for me.

"Did you go out your window to get these?" (Her window is only 2' off the ground. Great for fire escaping. Not so great for "fun" escapes.)

"Yes! And mommy look at this one! It's so pretty. I got it out of the garden and this one I got in the grass by the trees and this one was growing by the house...."

What could I say? They WERE pretty.

She also loves the garden. She is forever saying, "Mom! Come out here! I have to show you something!" So I go out and she jumps in excitement at the zucchini, the peas or the broccoli.

Being the dramatist that she is, the same day she went through her window to get me flowers, she came out of her room again and said, "Praise the Lord, it's going to rain! Mom, I looked out my window and it's dark over our house and PRAISE THE LORD it's going to rain!"

And you know, she was right. After weeks of not a drop of rain, we got a gully washer. The thunder woke my 18 month old from his nap and my other son woke up so everyone was awake and watching the wonderful, nourishing rain. My 18 month old went about crazy. He's a slow one for talking, but he was screeching and pointing for me to follow him to the window. When I complied, he would climb up the couch and up into the window sill to screech and point some more. If I walked away, the sequence started all over again until I followed him back to the window.

There's no doubt about it. Praise the Lord for His love for us in the big and the little things of this life!

Ps 34:1-3

I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall
continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the
humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let
us exalt his name together.

KJV

Companion Planting

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about building our raised bed gardens. Since then the majority of the garden has gone hog wild and it has been so much fun to watch those plants grow! I had heard about companion planting before, but had never tried to implement it. Well, this spring I had ordered a couple books on companion planting, but this book is by far my favorite. Sally Jean Cunningham has done an excellent job of writing a fun, informative and inspiring book called Great Garden Companions. I devoured it and tried to incorporate most of her ideas. There are going to be some changes next year, but overall I'm thrilled with how my garden is growing. Hopefully we will have trellises inbetween the boxes for viney crops and flowers to grow on next year to utilize space better and give it an added flare of fun. And, I'm going to try starting my flowers for the boxes from seed to save some money, for a homeschool educational project and just for fun.

My pictures do not really show it well, but it may give you a bit of an idea of how things are going. Even though my boxes are 4' x 48', it is divided into 4' x 8' sections. This section has broccoli, cauliflower, asters and marigolds. We just picked our first head of broccoli for supper last night and I'm going to have to get much of it cut and in the freezer tomorrow.

This one is quite hard to see, but there are peas growing up a wire trellis on the north side of the section, then a watermelon plant that is taking over with onions, asters, zinnias, marigolds and my daughter's geranium. Oh, and there were radishes interspersed too. You can see the soaker hose coming out the end of the box. That has saved me MUCH time in watering!
Here are my tomatoes with basil peaking up between the plants. In the past we have used cattle panels for trellising up the tomatoes, but it just didn't happen this year. They are sturdy, and work wonderfully. You just stack the panels 3 high with about 1' inbetween layers and use 2x4's or something for a frame. They are a bit hard to explain, but really quite simple. I'll have a picture next year! You can see white PVC piping at the base of the plants. I't 6' pipe that is cut in 6'-8' lengths. I use those around the new scrawny plants when I first put them in the ground. That way they are protected from the wind. I haven't figured out how to start tomato plants from seed without them being scrawny and leggy, but they seem to take off just fine once they are in the ground and they've always produced for me. I hear that some people have problems with cutworm, but I've never had that problem when using these around the base of the plants.
And here is the "3 sisters". It's kind of silly to plant corn in raised bed gardens. I'm going to have to stand on a ladder to reach the corn, but I just HAD to try it! You plant corn seeds in a 2' circle. When they come up a bit, plant pole beans just outside the corn. Then plant squash inbetween. The pole beans are growing up the corn and the squash is a ground cover for weeds. It works beautifully, but the squash really needs more room than a 4' x 8' section. It's going over the sides and into my potatoes and broccoli. Oh well. Next year those trellises between the boxes will really help.
So there you have a brief overview of some companion planting techniques. I hope it's helpful for anyone that may be considering such a venture. It is tons of fun, but you have to get over the fact that it's not a traditional way of gardening. It's cheerful to have all the flowers in amongst the vegetables and there's good reason for having them, but for those that have never seen such a technique, it may take some getting used to.

Happy gardening!

The "Lost Forty"

Yesterday we took an excursion to a little known treasure of a state park. The "Lost Forty" is 144 acres of land that was surveyed incorrectly years ago. The team of surveyors at the time apparently didn't want to go out in the cold rain of November and thought that a nearby lake was larger than it was. Hence the 144 acres was never logged. Because of that, it is a rare look into what this area looked like before the loggers came. 350 year old red and white pines tower above you as you meander on the walking trail. A couple of the trees my husband and I could barely touch hands around the trunk.

The children just loved it! Sincer there wasn't anyone around, we let them run down the paths as long as they stayed in sight. We had a regular homeschool field trip, learning to identify the trees, what happens to trees when a forest fire goes through (a fire went through part of the area years ago and you can tell which way the fire was heading by the marks on the base of the tree trunk) and the history of the area. Of course pictures don't do justice to the magnificence of the area, but I had to try!

We were the only ones there when we first arrived and by the time we left, only one other vehicle was there, but we never saw them, and a van was pulling up. It was amazing to us that on a national holiday, no one was really there. Yet, you really could get lost getting to the Lost Forty, with lots of gravel roads. It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, yet what a special middle-of-nowhere place it is!

Ps 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the
firmament sheweth his handywork.
KJV

Blogs of Beauty

Sallie at A Gracious Home is again hosting the Blogs of Beauty Awards. Nominations are open until July 9th. This is a great way to get the word out about your favorite blogs by Christian women and find out about other wonderfully gifted and God-fearing ladies in bloggerland.

Have fun nominating and browsing!

Times have changed

My husband's mother is quite the technology tackler. She had Web TV for emailing for a few years. Then she was getting frustrated with that. She tried a laptop and now has a pretty high-tech deskstop with a 19" monitor. I won't tell you how old she is, but suffice it to say that she has some years under her belt and most her age have never understood what the world wide web is.
We got her a web cam a few months ago so we could see each other when we talked as we live about 3 1/2 hours from each other. It took a bit of practice, but she is doing great.

A couple days ago, my husband was talking to her over the internet and she got a phone call. I had to chuckle when I heard her say, "I'm on the web cam with my son...yea, I'll call you back later."

Twenty years ago, I don't think very many people would have had a clue what that was, and most of her relatives and friends her age probably still don't.

Then the conversation went to my husband walking her through doing a web search for a new part for her dishwasher.

"Now type this in the Google box."
"Now do you see this?"
"Click there."
"Scroll down."
"Now which model do you have?"
"Is that the part you need?"

They found the part and he had her save the page on her favorites.

I thought it was all pretty amazing.

Sandbox

When we built our house, we had to haul in sand for under the cement slab. Needless to say, the front of our house turned into an excellent sandbox.

Now that we are planning on putting a patio on the front, we thought we better build a regular one for them, so last week we put one together. The children all helped my husband with bringing screws and support boards.

Today they were burying themselves up to their rib cage in the sand.

Like father, like son

Last night after supper, my husband said with a smile as he often does, "That was great, honey. Thank you!" Then, as he had projects to attend to right away, he got up from the table and headed outside.

Fifteen seconds later, my 4 year old son said as he was leaving the table to follow after his dad, "That was great, honey. Thank you!"

I smiled. My daughter giggled. It was so cute.

Sick and praising the Lord

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. I have been sick much.

Yes, we are expecting baby #4 in our house around the end of January and we are all very excited!

Despite times when I have felt too awful to get out of bed and having the flu over the weekend, God has been with me through it all. I admit to having to remind myself of that fact.

I have been blessed with friends that have come to help me cook and clean at times. My wonderful hubby has burnt the candle at both ends to keep up with work and cleaning the house. On Monday, a special friend came unexpectedly, folded my huge pile of laundry and brought lunch. I almost cried.

Today, praise the Lord, I am able to function!

Ps 34:1

I will bless the LORD at all times:

his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

KJV

Backrubs

Yes, my husband gives me wonderful backrubs. But if I am craving a backrub in the middle of the day when he is at work, I've found a tolerable option:

Just lay on the floor and your children will crawl all over you like a jungle gym.

It kind of works.

Raised Bed Gardens

So what have we been doing the last couple weeks in addition to many other tasks? Building and planting our garden.

I've had this thing about wanting to use raised bed gardens for some time. Yep, there is quite an initial investment of time and money, but weeding is easy, there is no problem with drainage, moisture is better controlled, you can do concentrated gardening to maximize your space and crowd out weeds, etc.

When we lived at our previous residence, we made 4' x 8' and 4' x 16' raised bed gardens. We had grass around all of them, so we had to trim, which was NOT fun. Experience is worth gold. This time, we put plastic down when we seeded our lawn so grass did not grow under the garden area. Then we hauled in road gravel (class 5) on top of the plastic. No more trimming!! We discussed many options for how to build the 4' x 48' boxes. We checked into the cost of plywood, 2" x 6" tongue 'n groove boards, brick and plastic lumber. In the end, we went with the 2" x 6" treated tongue 'n groove boards because they were strong, would last a long time and were within our budget.

(Plastic lumber was VERY appealing, but it's quite expensive, we would have had to pre-drill all of our holes for assembly and getting the pallets off the semi was going to be challenging.)

So here is the initial stage of framing up the first box after the Class 5 was put down over the black plastic.


Because we used treated lumber, we had to line the boxes. We ordered custom-sized 19 mil plastic. I had called the Extension office about any dangers of using treated lumber. They said that in all their studies, if the boxes are lined with plastic, there is no leaching from the wood to the plants.

You will notice here that we also covered up the cross braces of wood with plastic. We took a shovel to punch holes in the bottom of the beds through the plastic for drainage. Because of their height and our experience with raised beds before, I'm happy with this set-up as it will allow some drainage, but will also maintain some moisture in the boxes. Then we filled them up with compost manure from a farmer friend.



So now we have 3- 4' x 48' raised garden beds that are about 20" tall. There is almost 5' between boxes so that our lawn mower with trailer will fit inbetween when I need to haul in mulch or compost. This picture was taken this morning. The box closest on the picture was planted about 2 weeks ago. Overall, the plants are doing well. I think that the soil has a bit too much nitrogen. I didn't take the time to test the soil. It was getting late in the season and I just wanted to get plants in the ground. Some things are growing like hot cakes and others aren't doing so great. I plan to test the soil for next year and also am thinking that the soil will just naturally compost itself more by next year as well.

The initial couple years of compost manure takes diligence to get rid of weeds, but after that, it's very easy to keep ahead of them and with raised beds, you don't have to battle quack grass! Sure, premium black dirt without weed seeds would be ideal, but we got what was available to us and it will work fine. Because there were a lot of weed seeds to contend with, and for other reasons, I was behind on weeding. I am SO thankful that family who came to visit this weekend helped me get a handle on the weeds.

I also am trying companion planting this year. I think I'll write more about that in another post.

May you be blessed today as you draw closer to Him!

My precious bouquet

Here is the very sweet bouquet that my daughter and son brought in this morning. God knew that I needed it today. God is so good!

"Oh yes, He cares, I know He cares...!"

Matt 6:28-29
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
KJV

My heart is heavy

Today my heart aches.

Last night I found out that an acquaintance is at the last stages of cancer. Her battle is almost over. Despite the fact that this person hurt me in the past, I am grateful that today I have no ill feelings toward her. I only feel compassion. It is truly a gift from the Lord.

I called a special friend of mine to find out if she knew and if she wanted to come with me to visit this ailing lady. I was stunned by what I heard over the phone. My friend had been hurt by this lady. I don't know all the details, but I do know that I sensed deep anger and pain from my friend. She felt that she had been taken advantage of and despite her attempts at getting what she felt she deserved, the issue had not been resolved.

After her explanation of their minimal correspondence over the last year she said, "...so, no, I don't think that I'll go down to visit her."

Bitterness.

The thought of bitterness being so deep that someone would refuse to visit another that is close to death overwhelms me. My heart aches with the thought of her standing before the Lord on judgment day, having to account for her unforgiveness. And for what reason? Because something that she thought she had a right to has been withheld.

Am I holding such bitterness in my heart? Am I willing to give up what I think I have a right to for God's higher purposes? Am I trying to make another miserable to get "revenge" for how I have been hurt? I causes me to examine my heart...again.

I am praying that my friend will change her mind. Will you please pray with me for this friend?

Field Day

Last Friday was a milestone for my daughter. She was finally old enough to participate in Field Day. Our church hosts the track and field activities for homeschool families in our area. Families come from quite a distance to participate in this end-of-the-year event. In fact, that's one of the things that I appreciate about it...it's a family day. About 200 participants are registered with boy's events on one side of the church and girl's on the other. Then it's lunch time. Picnic baskets and blankets come out and everyone sits down with their family and enjoys the chance to be refreshed in the shade. (It was really hot for this cool weather gal.) Then in the afternoon, the girls and boys switch sides to complete the rest of the events.

Yes, there's competition, but I honestly don't think that that is the main focus of the day. Good Sportsmanship ribbons are available for everyone. The children are encouraged to do their best and just have fun. Despite this, my daughter was tickled to get 3rd place in the 100 yard dash. I was proud of her for trying her best in the other events that she participated in and I was proud that she took her ribbon status well. She wasn't gloating or anything. She was simply excited.

I know it's kind of hard to see the running 5 year olds for this 50 yard dash event, but my daughter is on the right side with Daddy at the end of the race cheering her on.

It was such a fun day.

Where do I want to be?

Yes, I'm still here. This last week has been a bit of a blur of activity and I want to write much about it, but first I want to write a synopsis of the message that we heard last night at church campout by Rick Rhodes, the guest speaker. Interestingly enough, this is the second time in a few months that my husband and I have heard similar messages on this passage/subject by two totally different preachers. It would seem that God is wanting to instill this message deep in our hearts, so that we do not faint and lose heart.

Rick explained that when he knows where he wants to get to via driving, he stays on the road, no matter what that road is like. If there is a detour because of road repair, he had better stay on the detour. If he decides to get off that road because it is too busy with semi-trucks and holiday traffickers, and heads off on a side road, that road may eventually become less than desirable with curves and poor pavement. So, he turns off on another road. Eventually, he is lost.

If you know where you want to go, you will stay on the road that you need to in order to get you there, even if it's bumpy, curvy, gravel or muddy. You will endure the hardship and discomfort, because you know the goal of where you want to be.

If you know where you are going, only one way will get you there. If you don't know where you are going, anywhere will get you there.

Prov 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish:
KJV

In Genesis 13, is the passage about Abram (later to be called Abraham) and Lot. There are getting to be too many people and herds by both men to be sustained by the land, so Abram tells Lot to choose whether he wants to go to the left or the right and Abram will go the other way.

Gen 13:10
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

KJV

Lot chose the land that looked good. It looked prosperous with worldly lusts. Therefore he turned his tent toward Sodom. He simply chose to head that way.

It did not take long before Lot was living in Sodom. It became his home. He had become comfortable, even though he was very aware of the sin around him. He strongly urged the angels to stay in his home instead of in the square of the city (Genesis 19:3). He wouldn't allow his guests to be exposed to the sin in his home town. Lot went outside, shutting the door behind him, so he could talk to the evil men of the city without the angels hearing. He was ashamed and embarrassed of the behavior of his neighbors. There was an element of secrecy. Lot was even willing to give the sodomite men his daughters for the night so they wouldn't harm his guests. How did he get to this spot in life where he was living amongst such gross sin and needed to shut the door behind him in secrecy?

In Genesis 19:12, it would seem that Lot had more than just two daughters. His sons-in-law would not come with when he pleaded with them to leave Sodom before it's destruction. The angels even had to seize the hands of Lot, his wife and his two daughters on the day of their exodus. They didn't want to leave. It was their home.

It was because of the compassion of the Lord (Genesis 19:16) that God led Lot, his wife and daughters out of Sodom.

Lot lost his wife. Why did she look back and turn to a pillar of salt even after being warned to not look back? It was her home. She was comfortable there. Everything she knew, not matter how sinful, was there. Sodom was her life.

How did Lot get to such a place? What happened to bring him to this? Lot's choice to turn his tent toward Sodom. He made the initial decision to turn toward that which was not best. Despite what Lot knew (he is even called righteous in Scripture), he made a choice based on the things of this world. It was a bountiful land and very prosperous. It looked good.

When God rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, it destroyed everything, even the valley that Lot initially turned toward; the valley that had initially looked so appealing to Lot. (Genesis 19:25) And another interesting tidbit from the 1st message that we heard on this, Genesis 19:25 is the first time "fire" is used in the Bible. Also, brimstone is sulfur and sulfur burns at 9000 degrees.

Lot turned off the straight and narrow road.

Matt 7:13-14
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

KJV

Rick took time to explain that decisions are not always just right and wrong. It is the question of good, better and best. Some of the decisions that we make are not really ones of right and wrong Scripturally. We can't always pick out a verse that says, "Thou shalt not __________". It becomes a question of where are we going and what is it going to take to get us there? The decisions and answers from the Lord may be different for different people.

For instance, if I wanted to raise very competitive, award-winning, athletes in my children, I would be starting the training for that right now. I would take them outside a couple times a day for vigorous activities. Sure, I would make it fun, but other things would have to be set aside because they wouldn't fit in with my goal. I wouldn't have time to learn gourmet cooking or teach my children the science of raising animals and learning to sew. My time would be filled with my goal of training them in athletics.

If my goal is to grow close as a family, instill Biblical truths in my children and share/exemplify my love and devotion to the Lord with them, my life choices will reflect that. If my goal is to be deeply rooted in Christ, that goal will take time and energy. Some things that I used to view as important will have to be put far down on my list of priorities. Some things will be put on the altar, killed and sacrificed in order that the things that I need to focus on to achieve my goal can be accomplished.

So what is your goal? What is mine? Seek the Lord in prayer. Read His Word. Seek Godly counsel. The Lord desires to tell us the direction in which we should set our tent. Do we want to hear His instructions, or do we want to go our own way?

Broccoli Cheese Soup and Blueberry Muffins

This is one of my favorite meals to make. Friends that come over for dinner will likely have this meal at least once.

The Broccoli Cheese Soup comes from my Sue Gregg: Soups and Muffins cookbook. I purchased the cookbook set about 8 years ago and they have been used consistently ever since. She has tons of nutritional information interspersed with the recipes. She uses honey and other natural sugar ingredients instead of refined white sugar and whole wheat and other grains instead of white flour. I highly recommend the cookbook set.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Amount: 6 servings
1. Peel out edges of stalks and chop:
1 cup small broccoli florets (set aside)
4 cups broccoli stalks with remaining florets

2. (Optional for added flavor) Saute the 4 cups broccoli and onion in butter for 5 minutes:
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 onion, chopped

3. In soup pot heat broth to boiling; add vegetables and oregano, reduce heat and simmer until broccoli is tender:
7 cups Chicken broth
chopped broccoli and onion
3/4 teaspoon oregano leaves

4. While soup simmers, prepare cheese sauce for soup in small saucepan. Blend flour into butter until smooth, cooking 1 minute; gradually blend in milk, stirring with wire whisk over medium heat until thickened; blend in cheese until melted:
3 tablespoons melted butter
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup lowfat milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

5. Puree soup in blender, pour back into soup pot and blend in the cheese sauce

6. Steam the 1 cup broccoli florets about 5 minutes; add to soup just before serving

7.Season, as desired, with salt.

*I wrote this recipe out as written in the cookbook. I usually just saute all the broccoli with butter and onion and don't leave any out to steam at the end. We still like chunky soup, so I don't puree the soup all the way in the blender...just little spurts with the blender.

**Also, I use Frontier Herbs Chicken Broth Powder. It's a staple ingredient in our home. No MSG and great taste. I use a bit more of the powder than the package calls for cuz I love a very flavorful soup.

The blueberry muffin recipe comes from my grandmother. Where they live in Wisconsin there is a well-known "orchard" where there are a few acres of blueberry bushes bursting with huge blueberries each summer. It draws people from miles around.

My grandparents have the art of blueberry picking down to a science. First you take an old belt and put it around the handle of an ice cream bucket. Then fasten the end of the belt closed so you have a ice cream bucket necklace of sorts. Put it around your neck and you are ready for two-handed blueberry picking. Not only can you pick with two hands, but if you are really good, the bucket can be underneath your hands to catch the inevitable blueberry that falls inbetween your fingers. Much more efficient and less wasteful. :)

Getting as many blueberries as possible is challenging when you are trying to maintain blueberry picking etiquette. You see, picking is only open on Saturdays. There are hundreds of people there. You have to get to the "orchard" by 6:00-6:30 AM and then wait for the owners to signal that the pickers can head down the rows. After the owners relay a few directions, they give the green light. There is a wave of people, almost running, to their favorite spot from last year.

Despite the initial aggression, people are generally very kind and cheerful...almost giddy to be able to get their year's worth of blueberries in their freezer. Favorite blueberry recipes and the raving nuturitional benefits of the fruit are discussed across rows with complete strangers. These are memory making days.

Frozen Blueberry Muffins

4 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar *
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups frozen blueberries

Topping:
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Combine flour, baking powder and salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla
Stir in dry ingredients until moistened.
Fold in frozen blueberries
Fill muffin tins 2/3 full **
Combine sugar and nutmeg and sprinkle over muffins
Bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes
Cool 10 minutes before removing to wire rack
Yield 2 dozen

*I usually cut the sugar by 1/3-1/2 the amount called for in this recipe

**I really don't like to clean muffin tins, so I usually put it in a greased 9 X 13 pan, put the oven at 325 degrees and let it bake for 1 hour and 10 min. or so. I just use a toothpick to know when the middle is done.

Enjoy!!

Flowers

This past weekend we went to see family. Here are some of the beauties that I was able to take pictures of.


This hanging basket of fuscias was outside the back door.

These were planted in an old tree stump. I guess they are some new kind of daisy.

I really enjoy pansies and this one just seemed so cute. Multicolored pansies filled the large, home-made wheelbarrow.

And the tulips! They were planted in a row near the road and are a sure show-stopper! If I remember correctly, 100 bulbs were planted here.