Being Used by God...
Posted on July 20, 2008 at 12:51 AM by ~Melissa - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Our pastor had an interesting sermon today. And considering his past week, I imagine he has been dwelling on the good and bad parts of life and how do we take all of that and live. While we often say we trust God, are we willing to be uncomfortable if in the end we understand the plan? He talked about betrayal and how Judas betrayed Jesus, yet the plan wasn't to take Jesus and murder Him, it was God's plan that Jesus GIVE it up and save us. He also talked about how we have the choice to make each day... each hour, each minute to live for God. Are those always easy decisions? Are we willing to give up self daily... hourly, each moment to live for God?
Much to ponder on when in the midst of cleaning up a house fire I see ultimately many things happening... of one big thing is my tiredness of the situation. Yesterday we heard back from the owner of the cleaning company and he wishes to come out on Monday with the crew leader who led out on the job to see what was done and what improvements can be done. The insurance adjuster will not be there... he told Dh he had made it perfectly clear what he expects done and he will not pay until the work is done. The owner does not want this on his reputation, considering he has an insurance company that recommends him and this adjuster works for 3 companies and he would lose a lot of business.
The owner told Dh that he will see what needs to be done and they will clean as long as it takes to get the house clean, even if that means starting over. My heart just sank... another week of cleaners??? I just want to get on with my life! The peas will be ready to can or freeze just about the time we get our replacement stove...maybe some sooner, but we can eat those. Tuesday is the day the stove arrives.
Dh and I have talked over our hopes and expectations for the summer and GONE... they are all gone. My garden is a mess, even though it is producing items, it is far less than expected due to rain, flooding and lack of time to keep on top of weeds. I can replant another crop for fall if I get it done in the next two weeks... I could replant beans, peas, lettuce, summer squash, etc. But will that happen?... likely not. Mulberries went by with no canning (no stove/oven). Raspberries are almost gone. Strawberries... no stove. My jelly canning is way behind and my only hope is... using juice from the store, which is a mite bit cheaper than regular jelly, but still... not a huge savings and not fresh fruit.
My time to get caught up on school is gone! The girls were to finish up one month's work of school over the 3 months of summer. That didn't and won't happen. In some ways, I can see here where that is OK. I just had to give up on my plan for the summer. My one daughter got a volunteer job in the kitchen at camp and is doing ok, but the work is hard and she is not used to the long hours, she got sick for a couple days, but has seemed to bounce back. Work is good, it builds character and I've never been upset to lay aside studies for good honest work. Perhaps God allowed this opportunity to come at just a time so that it might ease my own discomfort with giving up my plan for school for the summer.
Here, I come back to the current situation. I consider why are we going through this uncomfortable situation. Why the fire? Why the clean up? Why the problems with the cleaners. Am I willing to trust God’s plans? Oh how I do not want to see the cleaners come again on Monday. It seems my life has been on hold the last two weeks and another day is ultimately gone for any sort of plans of our own. Is that selfishness? Perhaps. I wonder why as does Steve as to why we have to be the ones to point out the problems to the boss? The insurance adjuster says he doesn’t want it to happen again, as does the cleaner company boss. Why did it have to happen to us? Why not someone else? The insurance adjuster says we are such honest people, and yet I hardly feel worthy of being called that. What makes us more honest than others? I guess I don’t completely understand.
I know that I hate confrontation. It just makes me physically ill. Headaches, back aches, etc. My ailment this time…. Bad breath! UGH! Nothing is helping to get it to go away. Is that so I don’t talk??? LOL. Let my husband do the talking, eh? Fine with me!!! After hearing the sermon, I was confronted with the fact that often times our lives are simply a seed planted to others. God is asking at this moment for our lives to be an open book to others. Are we willing? Yes, Lord, we are willing to be used by you. I found when confronted by the sermon that thoughts of wanting to duck out of the meeting on Monday are quite high. They don’t really need me there. I could just go shopping at … 8 AM in the morning! Ha! Not likely to happen, either. I realized I was dragging my feet. This is uncomfortable! Dh also realized he likely will miss overtime on Monday because of the meeting, but he didn’t want me to be alone. So sweet. I’ve got a husband willing to hold my hand through all of this and he is not enjoying it either. He says we have nothing to be ashamed of, we did not lie. The house is not soot free as it should have been left. The insurance adjuster verified that the job was done poorly as we did not know what to expect and the fact that he refused to pay for paint because cleaning was not done well… surely testifies to the poor job.
Anyways, I am seeing things and learning things in this situation. I am learning so much about myself, about our family and about how Satan wants so much to make our lives miserable often convincing our thoughts in selfish and vain ways. I also am increasing in awareness of God’s mercy, his wisdom and unending resources to pull from upsetting situations and circumstances and being able to create so much opportunity for growth out of them. Amazing!
Warmly, ~Melissa
*** I Found It!! I Finally Found an Area Rug! ***
Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 01:08 by ~Rebekah~ - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
It's Called Garden Border and it fits my Country Kitchen ((with roosters)) REAL Well. I have to find one to fit underneath our new kitchen table that will still be big enough when guests are seated. It's slightly pricey, but will last a lifetime if taken care of properly. I should say it's pricey for US. While it fits within our budget, it's slightly over what we had planned to pay for it. However, alot of the 8 x 11's we've been looking for have been over a thousand dollars. That price just ISN'T an option! The price of this rug fits between what we had planned to pay and what we absolutely will NOT pay. In my opinion, it's the most affordable for the quality. So we're going to give it a month and if we STILL think it's what we want, and it's still available, we will purchase it. My hopes of waiting till fall is that they will clearance it off slightly because it's floral.
Photo blog & GOOT
Posted on Sat-19-Jul-2008 at 10:39 by Ashley - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
This week the boys have been sick. Samuel is lots better. He seemed to have an ear infection and be teething, and I panicked and gave him lots of echinacia when his ear began draining gunk out of it (he told us it hurt frequently) and put a drop of colodial silver in it as well. He never complained after that.
Elijah has been coughing, and we put GOOT on his feet in a desperate attempt to help him. He'd been coughing for half an hour, we applied the GOOT, he was much improved for about 2 hours. We marveled. We took the socks off. Shortly thereafter he began to cough again, painfully. So we put socks on him last night with more GOOT and put it on Samuel as well. I didn't wake up to hear Samuel cough once. Hooray! Our house does smell like an Italian restaurant and I crave garlic bread, though!!!!
Samuel, my sick one. Holding cheese sticks he could never bring himself to eat!
He fell asleep like this. The weight of the pillow must have felt good???
I canned 18 pints of new potatoes despite the boys been sick.
Elijah sleeping . . .
Elijah playing with our cat. The kitty was flipping his tail around and playing with him - they both really enjoyed it!
Jonathan made Elijah his first fort while Samuel was asleep. Elijah just crawled right through it! We were a bit suprised, since Samuel was VERY cautious about stuff like this at Elijah's age. However, Elijah has certainly proved over and over that he is not his brother! He was fearless and Jonathan was thrilled that he enjoyed it!!!
I went and picked blackberries Thursday night. It was very warm. I can stand the heat when I'm not pregnant, but it was obvious to me this time that I was! LOL It was 92 degrees when I started and 87 when I stopped, but I picked 10# of blackberries. And it was SO WORTH IT when I got home! (I had two boxes but only one is pictured below.)
Elijah loved them!
Samuel and Daddy enjoyed them . . . .
And the stains came out of the carpet and off of Purple Boy!
So all's well that ends well . . . at least when it came to our blackberries!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
~Ashley~
Freezing Sweet Corn w/pics
Posted on Sat-19-Jul-2008 at 10:16 by Ashley - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
I bought 12 dozen ears of corn and Jonathan and I put them up yesterday. Here's how it all goes down. You get about one trash bag of corn husks per box of 4 dozen.
You throw the mainly de-silked ears in a big pot of boiling water. Stick the lid on for 5-6 minutes.
Take 'em out, put them in cool water in the sink.
I have done this by myself, but not this quantity. So, my wonderful husband cut the corn off the cob. (Oh, and this part tends to get backed up pretty easily so after a while he had quite the pile to work on!)
Elijah woke up from his nap part-way through, so he chilled on the floor chewing on a corn cob. This whole process is not really hectic, so we were able to keep a good eye on him. Though for a while I was husking, boiling, carrying them to the sink, then bagging the cut-off corn. I was busy!
This is the end result. After 2.5 hours, we had 45 meals of the best sweet corn EVER! Each bag has 3 cups in it, which is a big deal, because in past years we've only put 2 cups per meal. But now there are more than just me and Jonathan around the table! And Elijah already shows great promise as a Champion Eater. So we increased it to 3 cups, and I tried not to think about the extra 22 meals or so we didn't have as a result. I would much rather enjoy my boys and watch them eat corn than have more corn go farther! But I also may need to buy another box of corn or two this summer yet!
Anyway, this is how we do it. 
~Ashley~
******A few more photos******
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 09:08 by Page - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link
First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who have left some awesome comments regarding our wedding photos
I had to share this photo of this beautiful gift that I received from my family - isn't this gorgeous. It is a patio rose called Lovely Bride
The next three photos were taken at my sister's home the day after our wedding. We stopped by before making our way to the beautiful little fishing village of Beer in Devon.
This photo is of our rings plus a close up photo of my rings as it is difficult to see the detail in the photo below!
I will be sharing more photos next week but these are (a) of a very beautiful village called Branscombe that we visited in Devon and (b) of a store/canteen of a well known television chef based in Axminster, Devon. These will be scenic photos and especially the ones of Branscombe will be well worth the wait as this truly is a very beautiful and picturesque village.
Have a wonderful and very blessed weekend
8 mins of What I Saw At *** Beck 08' *** You REALLY need to see this!
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 07:14 by ~Rebekah~ - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
****Please be sure to go to the bottom of the page and silence the music so you can hear this. Enjoy!
WIFD Day 4
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 04:51 by Miki - 4 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Today's schedule:
Saturday
Today's outfit:
26 Guards
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 3:05 PM by Kitty - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link
God's 26 Guards
Here's a message (taken from my inbox) that will bring you chills.
Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said ,
'I'll pray for them later?' Or has anyone ever called you and said, 'I need you to pray for me, I have this need?'
Read the following story that was sent to me and May it change the way that you may think about prayer and also the way you pray.
You will be blessed by this....
A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan ..
'While serving at a small field hospital in Africa , every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies.
This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point.
On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine, and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.
Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord.
I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident....
Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines.
He said, 'Some friends and I followed you in to the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.
At this, I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite.
The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No, sir, I was not the only person to see the guards, my friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'
At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and Interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened.
The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:
'On the night of your incident in Africa , it was morning here and I was preparing to go play
golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?' The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26
This story is an incredible example of how The Spirit of the Lord moves in behalf of those who love Him. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it. Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell. I encourage you to forward this to as many people as you know. If we all take it to heart, we can turn this world toward God once again.
As the above true story clearly illustrates, 'With God all things are possible'.
More importantly, how God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful.
Banana Waffles
Posted on Sat 19 Jul 2008 at 9:33 AM by GrandmaRosie - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Banana Waffles
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 eggs, separated
2-4 Tbsp. oil
1 1/2 cups milk
2 medium bananas, mashed
Directions
Sift first 4 ingredients into bowl and make a well in center. Combine egg yolks with remaining ingredients in bowl, beating well. Beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients, stirring until just mixed. Fold in egg whites until barely blended. Bake in waffle iron using appliance directions.
Creole Bean Soup
Posted on Sat 19 Jul 2008 at 9:32 AM by GrandmaRosie - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link
Creole Bean Soup
Ingredients
2 cups navy beans
1 ham bone
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 cups canned tomatoes
Directions
Soak beans overnight in 6 cups water in large saucepan. Add remaining ingredients except tomatoes. Simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until beans are very tender. Remove ham bone. Cut ham from bone and add to soup. Mash beans. Stir in tomatoes. Simmer until hot.
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