It's been a while. Right now the computer we were using is down, so I'm blogging at my parents' house.
The last 2 weekends we have worked on electricity. The downstairs is nearly done. This process is very time consuming. I know the whole family will enjoy the benefits, though.
The doors are also ready to hang. I spoke to the man who donated them, and he thinks the hinges we bought are not sturdy enough. I'm thinking he's right, b/c they are steel. We hadn't even thought about that. It sure is good to have " a multitude of counselors".
My dad fixed one of the double windows for the house. There is a second one he needs to repair, but there's time,b/c we have 2 windows we have to retrofit. Anyway, it looks nice, and will go to live in the classroom. Thanks, Dad!
We are still packing and purging for the move. 'da Dad and I went and worked at the storage unit, reorganizing and boxing those things up. I want that done before we move the things we have ready at the trailer. Otherwise, it will be a mess when it comes moving day!( No thank you!) So, that is one of the priorities this week.
Yesterday was a really good day at church. The pastor has been teaching out of John 7. He pointed out some cultural things that really added to my understanding of what was going on while Jesus was talking. I really was challenged when he spoke about Christians having rivers of life gushing our of their hearts. WOW! Can God use me like that, to bless others? Do others know that the Power of Christ and HIs resurrection are living in me? Not b/c of something I have done, how good I am,etc., but just b/c I am willing to lay down what I want and embrace Him and His will? I want to be like the apostles, their life was so different, that the people noted that they were but common, unlearned men, but they had been with Jesus. I want to be that kind of vessel. How about you?
God is just so good. I could not bear many things, if I wasn't firmly convinced of His love for me and my family. He is the rock which I cling to. There is no other real hope.
This morning I was reading Psalm 23-26. I have prayed a lot lately that Jesus would hold onto me, b/c I was climbing up on uneven ground (usually a bad attitude, or a pity-party) and I would be sure to stumble (say or do hurtful things to my loved ones or anyone else in my path :p). In Psalm 25 or 26 it says that God had set his foot on an even place. *sigh* That is just wonderful. Thank you Jesus.
Well, you all have a blessed day.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Memories
The other day I was thinking about some things we had lost in the fire. Then, the Lord pointed out to me that we have a lot of new memories made since then.
The day of the fire was an absolute whirlwind. We were ministered to almost immediately. (Maybe now would be a good time to share that. *SIGH*, here we go.)
Gypsygirl came downstairs from her room and said, "Daddy,there's a fire in Farmerboy's (not actual name ;) room." Of course, we bolted upstairs and sure enough, there was fire climbing up one of the walls! I ran and grabbed Nae Nae out of the bed , woke Farmerboy up and told him to take his wool blanket and try to put the fire out. I will never forget the look of horror on his face.
'da Dad told me to get the other children out of the house, so they all grabbed a blanket and went outside. I ran to our roon picked up Bunny,wrapped her in a blanket, grabbed our quilt and the telephone. When I got outside, I could see that the fire was actually on the exterior wall of his room. There was nothing 'da Dad and Farmerboy could possibly do. I called 911. When they asked for our address I just went blank. We had a rural route number, and they wanted our new E-911 number, which we had received about a week or 2 previous and I didn't have it memorized. So, I described it the best I could. It took 30-45 minutes after that call for them to find us. Anyway, 'da Dad came out and told us to go to the van. He ran back in and grabbed some clothes and my dayrunner,and no one went back in after that point.
After the firecrews showed up 'da Dad sent us to the neigbor's. He had been on a trip and the children had been doing his chores,so we had access to his house. Farmerboy started a fire(in the wood stove) for us and then he and 'da Dad went back over. I sat ther watching our house burn down, trying to comfort our children, and keep bunny asleep (yes, she had slept through all of this!). I started praying. I just told the Lord that it was allin HIs hands now,that we could do nothing for ourselves. I just had peace, God was going to take care of it. Oh, it hurt,to see all the work my husband, father,son,cousin,friends had put into it go up in smoke. I just knew God was sufficient. I thought about all the stuff we were losing. Heirlooms, years of homeschool books,on and on......I did cry, but after that I was just totally numb.
I made 3 calls. One was 911, then once we got to the van I called, by cell phone, my neice and my parents. That was about 3-4am. I called those people b/c I figured all of our friends,family, and church would find out. I was right.
So, the Red Cross came and talked to us. One of the volunteers had been through a fire also, so she had some good counsel to give. After that, my parents,brother , auntie, and our friends started showing up. One sister brought me a gift (tea,goodies) and a cup that said"The mighty oak tree was once just a nut that held it's ground." I love that. We received so much love and encouragement from frirnds, family,neighbors, and yes, strangers.
This seems so inadequate. I just can't say enough about God's goodness to us, and how He used and still uses people, especially His people to meet our needs and to push along. There are so many time we would have just given up, if hadn't been for friends loving us enough to give us a nudge.
Back to the ranch...........new memories.....
-my dad fixing up a place for us to sleep the first night, and buying us stuff for breakfast the next morning
-special people who donated our new beds ( not mentioning more,you know who you are)
-quilts from others (one from Costa Rica)
I could go on, and on. The point is, we still can have memories, they're just different ones.
Also, we worked on painting the exterior doors yesterday. All the children had a hand in it, some literally. Bunny, 5 minutes into the operation stuck her hands into the paint pan! Thankfully, Lionheart caught her just in time! Red, Belle, and Nae Nae did the "X" and triangle parts of the doors with a brush, and then, Ms.Petite, Lionheart,Gypsygirl,and I did the rest with rollers. We went with a medium gree color called "Summer Ivy" from WM colorplace. They look really nice. We bought 9 lite windows to put in the doors.
After that we worked on the garden. It is coming up very nicely. The children found and harvested our first zucchini. That will probably be part of lunch today.
When 'da Dad got there we started measuring for the downstairs wiring and planning for heat registers upstairs. The plan is to work on electrical this weekend. I'm very excited.
Need to go. Have a blessed day!
Mark 1-3 Wonderful Grace
The day of the fire was an absolute whirlwind. We were ministered to almost immediately. (Maybe now would be a good time to share that. *SIGH*, here we go.)
Gypsygirl came downstairs from her room and said, "Daddy,there's a fire in Farmerboy's (not actual name ;) room." Of course, we bolted upstairs and sure enough, there was fire climbing up one of the walls! I ran and grabbed Nae Nae out of the bed , woke Farmerboy up and told him to take his wool blanket and try to put the fire out. I will never forget the look of horror on his face.
'da Dad told me to get the other children out of the house, so they all grabbed a blanket and went outside. I ran to our roon picked up Bunny,wrapped her in a blanket, grabbed our quilt and the telephone. When I got outside, I could see that the fire was actually on the exterior wall of his room. There was nothing 'da Dad and Farmerboy could possibly do. I called 911. When they asked for our address I just went blank. We had a rural route number, and they wanted our new E-911 number, which we had received about a week or 2 previous and I didn't have it memorized. So, I described it the best I could. It took 30-45 minutes after that call for them to find us. Anyway, 'da Dad came out and told us to go to the van. He ran back in and grabbed some clothes and my dayrunner,and no one went back in after that point.
After the firecrews showed up 'da Dad sent us to the neigbor's. He had been on a trip and the children had been doing his chores,so we had access to his house. Farmerboy started a fire(in the wood stove) for us and then he and 'da Dad went back over. I sat ther watching our house burn down, trying to comfort our children, and keep bunny asleep (yes, she had slept through all of this!). I started praying. I just told the Lord that it was allin HIs hands now,that we could do nothing for ourselves. I just had peace, God was going to take care of it. Oh, it hurt,to see all the work my husband, father,son,cousin,friends had put into it go up in smoke. I just knew God was sufficient. I thought about all the stuff we were losing. Heirlooms, years of homeschool books,on and on......I did cry, but after that I was just totally numb.
I made 3 calls. One was 911, then once we got to the van I called, by cell phone, my neice and my parents. That was about 3-4am. I called those people b/c I figured all of our friends,family, and church would find out. I was right.
So, the Red Cross came and talked to us. One of the volunteers had been through a fire also, so she had some good counsel to give. After that, my parents,brother , auntie, and our friends started showing up. One sister brought me a gift (tea,goodies) and a cup that said"The mighty oak tree was once just a nut that held it's ground." I love that. We received so much love and encouragement from frirnds, family,neighbors, and yes, strangers.
This seems so inadequate. I just can't say enough about God's goodness to us, and how He used and still uses people, especially His people to meet our needs and to push along. There are so many time we would have just given up, if hadn't been for friends loving us enough to give us a nudge.
Back to the ranch...........new memories.....
-my dad fixing up a place for us to sleep the first night, and buying us stuff for breakfast the next morning
-special people who donated our new beds ( not mentioning more,you know who you are)
-quilts from others (one from Costa Rica)
I could go on, and on. The point is, we still can have memories, they're just different ones.
Also, we worked on painting the exterior doors yesterday. All the children had a hand in it, some literally. Bunny, 5 minutes into the operation stuck her hands into the paint pan! Thankfully, Lionheart caught her just in time! Red, Belle, and Nae Nae did the "X" and triangle parts of the doors with a brush, and then, Ms.Petite, Lionheart,Gypsygirl,and I did the rest with rollers. We went with a medium gree color called "Summer Ivy" from WM colorplace. They look really nice. We bought 9 lite windows to put in the doors.
After that we worked on the garden. It is coming up very nicely. The children found and harvested our first zucchini. That will probably be part of lunch today.
When 'da Dad got there we started measuring for the downstairs wiring and planning for heat registers upstairs. The plan is to work on electrical this weekend. I'm very excited.
Need to go. Have a blessed day!
Mark 1-3 Wonderful Grace
Friday, July 3, 2009
Clarifying
I got a call from a friend last night. Somehow she had the impression from my last post that we were, right now moving. We are preparing to make the move. We are planning to be moved before 'da Dad's birthday and our anniversary. I'm not giving a date specifically, but those who know us personally know that means soon. Sorry, if I gave the wrong picture of our situation. Praise God we have a reasonable amount of time to pack and do more work on the new house before then.
Matthew 21 Sweetest Name I Know
Matthew 21 Sweetest Name I Know
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sorting, saving, sharing, and scrapping
Well, I know we are moving. The other day, I felt the Lord impress it upon me that I need to prepare
to move. That means packing the things we can do without temporarily, throwing away, giving away,and doing some deep cleaning along the way.
Last week I began addressing the storage unit stuffed with all the house wares we were given after the fire. This place had a terrible effect on me every time I went in there. Now after 2 days of paring down, I can actually feel good about what's in there. I am planning on taking the rest of the goodies to thrift/free stores, so they can be a blessing to someone else. God has been so good to us, we want to share with others.
I haven't really started packing yet, but I got some great ideas from Ladiesagainstfeminism.com and flylady.net. I want to call a few local stores about surplus boxes today, so I need to get off here soon.
I want to share something the Lord showed me this last weekend. I never made it up home last week. I had 2 fairly "bad" fire days (remembering stuff I lost in the fire that I need,etc). When I took the elder children up to do chores, I walked into the new house. My first thought was, "Who's house is this? This is my house? I'm going to live here?" I was shocked that I had gotten my focus so much on surviving in this present state, that I forgot about the blessing to come in my new home. That's when the Holy Spirit reminded me that as Christians, we need to keep our mind on eternal things and not get so caught up in this temporal world. We are strangers here, we need to remember the lost and their fate in hell. We need to retain in our knowledge a holy God who loves us and wants a relationship with every person, through Jesus Christ His son. We need to remember heaven is our home, so, live in anticipation!
Just one more thing. Farmerboy and I were hoping to purchase new laying stock. I didn't really think we should spend $ on them, since we are trying to be extra careful with funds right now. Anyway, he noticed several weeks ago that our cochin bantam (miniature,sort of) hen was setting.
Well, when we went to work on the place yesterday, we were welcomed by 10 bantam chicks. So, again the Lord provides!
Matthew 17 I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
to move. That means packing the things we can do without temporarily, throwing away, giving away,and doing some deep cleaning along the way.
Last week I began addressing the storage unit stuffed with all the house wares we were given after the fire. This place had a terrible effect on me every time I went in there. Now after 2 days of paring down, I can actually feel good about what's in there. I am planning on taking the rest of the goodies to thrift/free stores, so they can be a blessing to someone else. God has been so good to us, we want to share with others.
I haven't really started packing yet, but I got some great ideas from Ladiesagainstfeminism.com and flylady.net. I want to call a few local stores about surplus boxes today, so I need to get off here soon.
I want to share something the Lord showed me this last weekend. I never made it up home last week. I had 2 fairly "bad" fire days (remembering stuff I lost in the fire that I need,etc). When I took the elder children up to do chores, I walked into the new house. My first thought was, "Who's house is this? This is my house? I'm going to live here?" I was shocked that I had gotten my focus so much on surviving in this present state, that I forgot about the blessing to come in my new home. That's when the Holy Spirit reminded me that as Christians, we need to keep our mind on eternal things and not get so caught up in this temporal world. We are strangers here, we need to remember the lost and their fate in hell. We need to retain in our knowledge a holy God who loves us and wants a relationship with every person, through Jesus Christ His son. We need to remember heaven is our home, so, live in anticipation!
Just one more thing. Farmerboy and I were hoping to purchase new laying stock. I didn't really think we should spend $ on them, since we are trying to be extra careful with funds right now. Anyway, he noticed several weeks ago that our cochin bantam (miniature,sort of) hen was setting.
Well, when we went to work on the place yesterday, we were welcomed by 10 bantam chicks. So, again the Lord provides!
Matthew 17 I Could Sing of Your Love Forever
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Busy
Today we went up home to work on the garden. We laid plastic over the empty spaces to help with weed control and water conservation. I hope it works :). The children were very helpful, and so was 'da Dad.
After that, we ate lunch. Sandwiches, chips, and carrots. By the time we get moved back home I reckon we'll be burned out on sandwiches, but it makes for less time prepping food, and more work done on the house.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting in more windows. We have 5 left to hang, then the doors (which also have windows). I think we have 19 windows, not including the doors. That's what happens when the wife (me) loves natural light. God bless my sweet man (installer) and all the helpers that cut holes for all those windows!
Now we are home and making preparations for another Lord's day. I look forward to this day all week long. Spending special time with the Lord and His people just sets the tone for the whole week. It helps me to regain focus on what lasts. Only what is done for Jesus will stand.
I hope you all have a blessed day tomorrow and find yourself refreshed to serve Him faithfully!
Matthew 10 Abide with Me
After that, we ate lunch. Sandwiches, chips, and carrots. By the time we get moved back home I reckon we'll be burned out on sandwiches, but it makes for less time prepping food, and more work done on the house.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting in more windows. We have 5 left to hang, then the doors (which also have windows). I think we have 19 windows, not including the doors. That's what happens when the wife (me) loves natural light. God bless my sweet man (installer) and all the helpers that cut holes for all those windows!
Now we are home and making preparations for another Lord's day. I look forward to this day all week long. Spending special time with the Lord and His people just sets the tone for the whole week. It helps me to regain focus on what lasts. Only what is done for Jesus will stand.
I hope you all have a blessed day tomorrow and find yourself refreshed to serve Him faithfully!
Matthew 10 Abide with Me
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Roof
Our helpers finished the roof on Monday. I haven't seen it yet, but 'da Dad has. He has resumed doing our chores at home again, since his new job takes him up that way. I am hoping to see it tomorrow, since the children and I are planning on laying the plastic on the garden and meeting him there for supper.
Thanks to all who prayed for him to get a job. He seems to like it. The hours are different than any he's ever worked before, so we are all trying to adjust.
God is good!
Matthew 4 Amazing Grace
Thanks to all who prayed for him to get a job. He seems to like it. The hours are different than any he's ever worked before, so we are all trying to adjust.
God is good!
Matthew 4 Amazing Grace
Thursday, June 11, 2009
'da Dad and Framerboy finished up the housewrap today. I was the "ground guy" for them. I got crisp. It sure is nice to have that job done.
Over the week we have installed about half of the windows, too. It really is looking more like a house all the time.
On Monday, we had some helpers come and work on the roof. They were able to put the front of the hipped roof (think pyramid shape) before a storm hit. Now, we are waiting for another clear, still day to work on that some more.
The upside to all of this rain is that the garden has miraculously come to life. Ms. Petite and Gypsygirl helped plant it Friday and Saturday of last week. Itinerant planters and waterers were: NaeNae, Belle, and Red. I couldn't have done it as quickly, nor as well, without all of their good help. It makes me wonder how I ever got anything done before.;)
I read some very encouraging poetry this morning. Maybe I'll be able to share it on here sometime.
Have a blessed day!
Psalm 3-4 He Lives
Over the week we have installed about half of the windows, too. It really is looking more like a house all the time.
On Monday, we had some helpers come and work on the roof. They were able to put the front of the hipped roof (think pyramid shape) before a storm hit. Now, we are waiting for another clear, still day to work on that some more.
The upside to all of this rain is that the garden has miraculously come to life. Ms. Petite and Gypsygirl helped plant it Friday and Saturday of last week. Itinerant planters and waterers were: NaeNae, Belle, and Red. I couldn't have done it as quickly, nor as well, without all of their good help. It makes me wonder how I ever got anything done before.;)
I read some very encouraging poetry this morning. Maybe I'll be able to share it on here sometime.
Have a blessed day!
Psalm 3-4 He Lives
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