Blessings!

   Well, we finally met the Landlords...well have of them anyway:P

   Last weekend we received an email from his lovely wife letting us know that he would be arriving the next day (Sunday)~! It's not easy finding a day in the fall up here in Oregon, that is dry let alone sunny:P So, it's important to check the weather daily to see if there will be a window of time. They did and he was on his way.

   I want to share a wonderful thing here quickly. I was blessed to see the title of the email that she sent..."Greetings!! From your landlords wife!" It was wonderful to see that she acknowledged that she belonged to her husband:) Not as a possession but rather as his helpmeet, his adoring wife! Something not to be ashamed of in the least. It was truly refreshing:)

   Back to the visit:)

   He showed up Sunday morning around 10:30am. I had not been feeling well the night before and so had not slept well. This meant sleeping in just a tad the next day;P Miss Sarah was the only one dressed so she greeted him first while Miss Mary-Ann and I got dressed. Shame on me for being so lazy that day:P

   I went out to meet him and my what a blessing. He was very sweet and pleasant. For all of my silly conserns about things, it was wasted as he had no real expectations of us and so the fellowship was quite sweet and encouraging:) He spent time speaking with our Miss Sarah while she helped him at one point which she enjoyed greatly. She has since shared some little stories that he shared with her about himself.:)

   I had the blessed opportunity to correspond with his lovely bride and get to know her a bit better. I am looking very forward to getting to meet her in person. Perhaps Spring:) Lord willing:)

   We sent him home a few days later with some homemade soaps, peaches, pearbutter and oatmeal cookies which I've been told he ate half of on his ride home:P

   We have truly been blessed by the Father in our moving her. He has given us godly landlords, plenty of room for our homesteading needs and the sweet fellowship of this past week:) How could we ask for more?

   I know they read our blog now and again so I want to say...Brother and Sister...thank you for your sweetness and your encouragment here. You are truly a God breathed blessing in our lives.

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Blessings!

   Well, it's always something. Just as Miss Mary-Ann and I were arriving home from our class, there was Miss Sarah sitting at the front porch. She had gone out to feed the animals and found one of our whethers laying oddly in the pen. Closer inspection showed he was dying so she gathered him up and came to the front of the house to wait for us. He died just as we had arrived. Poor little thing. And our poor Miss Sarah. It seems she's always the one that is on hand at these times. Perhaps the Good Lord has given her this gift of comforting the dying animals we have.

   We were all saddened by Pi's passing but we expected it. Well, at least I did. I had been giving him injections for what i suspected was pneumonia. This was positively revealed at his passing this morning. I had hoped the medicines were working but it was already too late by the time I had figured out what it was. Such is farm life.

   This winter is supposed to be colder than last year and much wetter so we've decided to sell off the goats for this year and look into purchasing bred does in the Spring. We'll see. In the meantime, the ones we have, both Nigerians and Nubians, need to be sold.

   We will still have our chickens and ducks and rabbits. Of course the inside animals too but Brother Craig and I thought we would maybe take a break from the larger animals for a bit. It will be easier for us to afford wintering if we aren't feeding goats as well. It's a very difficult decision to make but we feel it's the best thing to do for this year.

   The Lord has brought us this far and we know He will walk us further on as we endeavor to do His Will in our lives. Times are going to get tougher before they get better so we are sure that the Lord is guiding us to make these changes for now. It will be better financially if we are able to cut back in a few ways and feeding the goats while they are not producing anyway is not a sound thing to do. One day, we won't have to pay for the feed, but until we are able to grow our own it's choices and decisions that need to be made:)

   Well, that's the haps for this day. We still have plenty of chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for meat and eventually the rabbits will be a good source for meat:)

   Now to pray for our Sarah as she needs a bit of uplifting this evening. God is so good! I know He has another wonderful adventure in store for us. I can't wait to see what it will be:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

All of us have prayers we raise up to heaven that "seem" to appear go unanswered as of yet...... some of us have been praying for something for days, months and yes even years....... does God not hear us? This quote is for you.........and me. :)  ~ gloria ~

" God's timing is not ours to command.  If we do not start the fire with the first strike of our match, we must try again.  God does hear our prayer, but He may not answer it at the precise time we have appointed in our own minds.  Instead, He will reveal Himself to our seeking hearts, though not necessarily when and where we may expect.  Therefore we have a need for perseverence and steadfast determination in our life of prayer.

  In the old days of flint, steel and brimstone matches, people had to strike the match again and again, perhaps even dozens of  times, before they could get a spark to light their fire, and they were very thankful they finally succeeded.  Should we not exercise the same kind of perverence and hope regarding heavenly things?  When it comes to faith, we have more certainty of success than we could ever have had with flint and steel for we have God's promises as a foundation.

  May we, therefore never despair.  God's time for mercy will come -- in fact, it has already come, if our time for believing has arrived.  Ask in faith, without wavering, but never cease to petition the King simply because He has delayed His reply. Strike the match again and make sparks fly!  Yet be sure to have your tinder ready, for you will get a fire before long. "

 ~~ Charles H. Spurgeon ~~

I have been so busy this past week......from schooling the children ( there are 8 being schooled now!) and tending  the home fires... that I have not had a moment to sit and blog.... and  I also went into the city this week and that always takes a good chunk of my time ..........in the midst of the busyness,  we have also had time to sing our praises to the Lord and rest in His beautiful promises in HIS  word! As we enter into this week of Thanksgiving, I like to take time to remember those brave and faith filled souls who came from so far away to establish a colony where they could worship their God freely without being "dictated" how they should do so. They believed the Word of God was to be taught freely and not under the "banner" or "control" of some church........ oh, how I can relate to these brave souls!  My journey to the Lord was somewhat of a pilgrimage in many ways! My family travelled over many miles to arrive to a place where God could teach us and show us His ways.  So I do have a tender spot in my heart for those pilgrims who came to America searching for freedom to worship to their heart's content!

This past week we have been learning a new hymn to sing for our Bible devotions.  We recently learned the beautiful hymn:  As the Deer.... if you don't know this lovely song, you so do need to become familiar with it's beautiful melody and even more beautiful lyrics! I have been hearing my children humming and singing this lovely song........

                                                          As the Deer

                                    Music & Lyrics by Martin Nystrom

As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.

You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship You.

Chorus:

You alone are my strength , my shield; To you alone my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship You.

You're my friend and You are my Brother, even though You are a King.

I love you more than any other, so much more than anything.

Chorus:

I want You more than gold or silver, only You can satisfy.

You alone are the real joy giver, and the apple of my eye.

Chorus

Jesus really is the real JOY giver -- and the apple of my eye! He is what I long for and I need Him like my body needs water!  I long to worship Him!

I hope in this coming week ~ that you too will find time to worship the JOY giver!!

Praising Him!

gloria

November 20

Thankfulness

Giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesian 5:20

" They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.... they did not love their lives so much as to shirk from death. "  Revelation 12:11

Are we willing to compete for God's best, with the knoweldge that the best things are always achieved by the most difficult paths?  We must endure steep mountains, dense forests, and the Enemy's chariots of iron, since hardship is the  price of the victor's coronation.  Arches of triumph are made not  of rose blossoms and strands of silk but of hard blows and bloody scars. The very hardships you are enduring in your life today have been given to you by the Master, for the express purpose of enabling  you to win the crown.

Therefore do not always look ahead to your tomorrows for some ideal situation, exotic difficulty or faraway emergency in which to shine. Rise today to face circumstances in which the providence of God has placed you.  Your crown of glory is hidden in the heart of these things -- the hardships and trials pressing in on you this very hour, week and month of your life. Yet the most difficult things are not those seens and known by the world but those deep in your soul, unseen and unknown by anyone except Jesus.  It is in this secret place that you expierence a little trial that you would never dare to mention to anyone else and that is more difficut for you to bear than martyrdom. 

Beloved, your crown lies there. May God help you to overcome and wear it.

               It matters not how the battle goes,                 

               The day how long;

               Faint Not! Fight on!

               Tomorrow comes the song.

~~ L.B. Cowman, Streams in the Desert  pg. 427-428 ~~

We were first introduced to Whoopie Pies when we moved here to Missouri. I had never heard of them before. A local Amish  bakery was selling some and we were "smitten" with this "sandwich" style mini cake/cookie with filling in the middle. 

I am not sure "how" these came to be called "whoopie pies" but I figured some Amish mom had some leftover cake batter and decided to make something with it.......adding some leftover icing in the middle and perhaps one of her kids tried it and exlaimed " whoopie!!" ....

Just kidding, I really have NO idea how these came to be called Whoppie Pies, but they are fantastic. I bring these to potlucks for the kids and they are always a bit hit, and of course my kids at home love them too! They are fabulous with a big glass of milk!

This recipe makes about 4 dozen large sized pies. 

Chocolate Whoopie Pies:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup softened butter

2 eggs

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup water

1 cup cocoa

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk

Cream shortening, butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Grease baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min.  Do not overbake. Cool

Filling:

3/4 shortening or butter softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

water

Cream butter, add sugar one cup at a time... add vanilla and add as much water as desired.

Yields: about 48

You can wrap these individually in plastic wrap and they will keep overnight.

Enjoy!!

~ gloria ~