At Home in Georgia

July 20

Each Little Thought

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7a

What were you thinking about just before you began reading this? What have you been thinking about the past few days? What do you think about most of the time?

What you are is a product of what you’ve been thinking about. Take some time today to watch your thought life. Do you meditate upon the law of the Lord day and night? Do you think about the things mentioned in Philippians 4:8? Is God serious when the Bible tells us what we are supposed to fill our minds with? Did you ever know God to not mean what He says? God says we must think about these things if we want to be fruitful.

A little thought does not seem so bad. But each little thought is another brick in the wall of the stronghold we are building in our minds for either God or Satan. The stronghold of God is a mighty fortress of protection against the storms of life. But Satan’s strongholds lock us in a dungeon of guilt, shame, and misery. He will take us captive whenever he wants to. When he says “hate” we will hate. When he says “overeat” we will overeat. When he says “complain” we will complain. When he says “fear man” we will fear man. In what ways does Satan have you chained?

To repent means to change our thinking. Today, pay close attention to what you think about. Ask yourself, “What kind of person thinks thoughts like that?” With God’s help, pull down those Satanic strongholds in your mind, and build strongholds for God. Perhaps it will take several days or months until you’re done. But do not give up. The strongholds that took many years or generations to erect may take time to pull down. He that perseveres and patiently brings forth fruit unto perfection will be blessed

by God and saved eternally.

Philip Cohen, Summersville, MO

Your mind is the gateway to your heart.

Bible Reading: Philippians 4

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Acts 21:15–40

Psalms 31—33

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Phone: 877-488-0901

E-Mail: [cs@vision-publishers.com]

If it wasn't for me...

Do you ever find yourself saying, "If it wasn't for me________would never get done!" (fill in the blank)? Be honest now:P I don't do it as often as I once used to but I did find myself doing just that the last week:P

It was a couple of days of things just being so busy and sometimes feeling like we were taking two steps forward and one step back:P It began with, "What would you all do if I wasn't here to sweep up your mess on the mudroom floor?" It progressed with things like, "How would you folks survive if I wasn't here to close the cupboard doors?" "What will you do when I'm not here anymore to, pick up the dirty towels off the bathroom floor...rinse the dishes before stacking them, clean out the muddy drop in the bathroom sink, replace the soap in the dish etc!?!" Then the last one that got me thinking harder than anything was..."Am I the only one who knows how to replace the toilet paper and actually put it ON the dispenser?":P

All this to say, I had become a class one nag and self oppointed doitall:P I got to thinking about how much God has done for me because I didn't do it first or do it for myself and blah blah blah. Hearing yourself yet?:P

I wondered how many times God has said to me "Am I the only one that sees you dragging your feet, not praying enough, worrying too much etc?" What would you do if I wasn't here to help you through your trials, pick you up when you are down, hold you when you are shattered etc etc etc?"

My answer? I would be lost. Completely and utterly lost. I would be desparate, desolate, alone and forgotten. How much He does for me and how often I take it for granted.

What would my family do? Perhaps they would be lost, desparate, desolate, alone and forgotten. All or some of each? Who knows. I know one thing for sure. They wouldn't feel my love or know my guidance. Teaching them as I go along, helping them to become not so much independant but reliant on God's provision. They've been given the gift of someone who loves them enough to do these things (even if it comes with a complaint now and then) for and with them.

I will never be complaint free but I do try to let them know that there are lots of things that I couldn't do without THEM either:) My sweet husband and children will often turn my frown upside down by turning my words around. They will jump on it and say "What would we do if you weren't here to________" or they will do something with a lot of fanfare to make sure I know they are doing it and, with a mischevious little grin, say "What would you do if______":P

I love my family and I know they love me. Better yet GOD loves my family and I know He loves me!

Daily Devotion 201

July 19

Worries or Peace?

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

Where will the money come from for the next payment? How can I get this business paid off more quickly? Where will our next meal come from? Where will we get the money for the shoes we need so badly? How can I make more money so I can buy the truck I want so badly? Where can I invest my money to make sure it increases? What can I do with all my riches, so I can keep them? After all, a fire could burn up all our things, or someone could steal them, or . . . The list could go on.

Being overly concerned about any of these things should tell us we are not trusting God as we ought. God does not have our total devotion, which He deserves.

If God has our total devotion, material things will not matter so much. We can be poor and still serve God with a whole heart. If the Lord has blessed us with riches, we can use them to bring honor and glory to God by sharing with the needy instead of hoarding it to ourselves.

The key is found in verse 33 of our reading. “But rather seek ye first the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” If we put God first in everything, He will supply all our needs.

Lowell Brenneman, Cullman, AL

True peace and contentment are found only in Jesus.

Bible Reading: Luke 12:13–34

One Year Bible Reading Plan:

Acts 21:1–14

Psalms 28—30

Used by Permission of Vision Publishers

PO Box 190, Harrisonburg, VA 22803

Phone: 877-488-0901

E-Mail: [cs@vision-publishers.com]

Canning Projects

I am canning more sockeye salmon tonight. This brings us up to 33 pints. I have enough fish to do another batch of 14 pints tomorrow night.

There are a few good sales at the stores this week. I am trying to decide if the prices are low enough that I should buy some to preserve - can or freeze. They have red or black plums for $1.79/lb, green or red grapes for $0.99/lb, zucchini for $0.99/lb, and green beans for $1.98/lb. I would like to make Rod some plum jam. Also, I have been wanting to try making some plum sauce - the kind at the chinese restaurant is so yummy! I'm on the lookout for more good sales as they come up. I would love to get pears again and can them. We just finished up a couple jars from 2 years ago and they were GREAT!

The blueberries should be getting ripe now and this weekend I will have to go find some. With those I will make jam, pie filling and maybe just can them by themselves. I could freeze them too, but I'm trying to can more and free up the freezer space :o) My red currents are just starting to ripen, so I'll need to think about what I want to do with them.

Banned Books

I was not tagged for this meme either but it sounded interesting so I decided to do it too:) (Like so many others who found it just as interesting):)

As I understand it you need to mark or bold the books you've read. so here goes:)

#1 The Bible
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran (interesting and scarey)
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
#11 Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
#12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker
#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (interesting and misguided)
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Capital by Karl Marx
#37 Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair (very political in nature but makes you think)
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#58 Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Both in Russian and in English)
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (both volumes with my grandmother)
#75 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Émile by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Émile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I did not correct the incomplete titles but those that read them would know anyway:)

That was a walk in history for me:) Some read in school as required reading, some because of curiosity and some because it touched my family in one way or another. (And I adore Ray Bradbury. I met him at a college lecture and who later allowed me to participate in a local radio production from the Theatre in the Round, of Dandelion Wine. He also signed my copy of the script at the time):)

75 Cost Saving Tips....

Good Cheap Food

1. Buy raw ingredients instead of prepackaged foods. If you don’t know how to cook, learn. You’ll save on food bills, and your body will thank you for it in the long run.

2. Buy in bulk from a local health food store, or place bulk orders directly with mail-order companies. If you can’t meet their minimum order size, go in on an order with another family, or organize a larger food buying club.

3. Avoid the middleman and buy directly from farmers. Look for farm stands, community supported agriculture programs and farmers markets.

4. Eat fruits and vegetables in season, when they are least expensive. (Once, we found organic watermelon for three cents a pound!) Stock up when they’re cheap and freeze or can any excess for later use.

5. Keep up with what’s in your refrigerator and make sure nothing spoils. Once a week, make soup or casseroles to use up vegetables and other leftovers.

6. Calculate the price of food per pound when you visit supermarkets. Doing the math will help you spot good deals.

How to Avoid Rent

8. Find a live-in elder care position and help someone stay out of a nursing home. There’s always someone desperate for reliable help, and often there are no qualifications needed other than compassion.

9. Help renovate a house in exchange for lodging. This is how we came into our current home.

Piggies on The Homestead and other chat

We have a bred sow coming to the homestead tomorrow afternoon and I'm hardly ready for her. She is due within the month, so we'll work on a suitable section of the barn for her, ready for piglets. Hmmm....how many piglets might we have here soon?

Our Miss Kitty came up from the barn Tuesday to eat, as she usually does. She weaned her Easter morning kittens a while back, and has been looking just this side of side-splitting the past couple of weeks, so we've been watching her to see when she might drop her newest litter of kittens. Well, after her meal, she stretched out, lounging in the sunshine of the front steps, and all of a sudden one of the youngers came running in -- "Miss Kitty pooped on the porch". Gee...nice. Upon walking outside, the comment changed, though, to "Miss Kitty didn't poop poop...she pooped out a kitten" complete with lots of eeeewwwwws and a couple of awww, gross.

See the benefits of living on a homestead and homeschooling? Yeah...neither did I. I think we need some new lessons in how babies, baby kitties at least, are born.

Either way, Miss Kitty seemed a bit caught off guard this time around. This is her 3rd litter...first she had only 3 and none made it to 2 weeks old; then her latest batch, our Easter kittens, numbering 5. This time, however, Miss Kitty was large enough for way way more....she had 8 total, losing one very tiny weak girl within an hour. I think she's a bit over whelmed with so many. She's a great momma, but she's just a bit weird about it all this time around. She feeds them a short while, then comes out of her 'nesting area' and sits away from them for the longest time. So far, everyone seems to be doing well, so we haven't intervened. Guess I'd have been overwhelmed had all 9 of mine come together at once, too.

We will be starting to set up a table at the local Farm Market here, I'm thinking August 1st. I spoke to the man who runs it and he has no problems at all with our selling baked goods and the like. Our market is very small....only 3 or 4 set up weekly for the most part, but it's a place to wet our feet with all of this and see how it goes. Truthfully, it won't take long for word to spread that "that Amish family with all the kids is selling baked goods" and we'll see if it's worth the time and such to get there. They are open Wednesdays & Fridays, but we'll start with Fridays I think. Well...with school starting, maybe Wednesdays would be better. We plan to sell our loaf bread, maybe some quick breads, assorted cookies and some homemade jellies. I'm not sure about pricing -- what do you think? I know folks around here jump on homebaked goodies, and loaf bread seems to be a treat to many. We thought with school starting, the cookies might go well for lunch box treats. We printed a flyer up to take along as we won't have all these things with us each time unless things go really well...

Wednesday.....already??

We are HOME!!!

First of all...a great big THANK YOU to all of you who have been praying for our family. My Uncle Wayne was larger than life...and his presence was dearly missed while we were in NY. Please continue to keep my Aunt Nina in prayer...so many days ahead....I can't imagine the feelings she must have no longer having her best friend by her side. They would have celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this October....

Also, please keep my Mom in prayer. She's dealing with her own grief and sadness. She's the only member left of her family. Standing there at the cemetary was hard....my Pap and Gram, then my Aunt Di, and now my Uncle Wayne. She's lost her parents and both of her siblings. The sadness must be overwhelming at times for her.

While our reason for going to NY was not a wonderful one, we did have a wonderful time. Got to see both of my brothers and their wives, along with my cousins. All that was missing was my Honey and my niece. Honey had to stay home to work and tend to our animals. My niece was in Lake Placid, training for the Jr World Championship games (kayaking). She's doing so well. I am so proud of her!!!! I have no doubt she will make it to her goal of competing in the Olympics in 2012!!

My Dad and brother are just the best....they drove down to pick us up...and Dad paid for ALL the gas and even two meals....what a HUGE blessing...they drove my brother's vehicle (which we used while we were there), we stayed at his home. My SIL's Mom drove us back home with my Dad. We are incredibly blessed...and I am incredibly blessed by an awesome family. Love you both!!!!

We did some fun activities while we were there too. And laughed. Oh, did we ever laugh. It was good for the soul to laugh so....

But, I sure missed my Honey!!!! It was hard being away from him so long. I missed his sweet kisses. And his big, strong man arms holding me.

But, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder...and I didn't think I could be any more fond of him...but somehow, it happened.

We are still adjusting to Honey's work schedule. He's currently working 3pm to midnight. Ugh. He was told last night that he'll be returning to the 5am to 2pm schedule soon. He is dearly missed in his position....and the boss wants him back where he needs him. It will be nice to have a normal schedule again. Not that getting up at 3:30am is normal...but it's normal for us.

We went to town today...and spent WAY too much on groceries. My goodness, have prices gone up?! We do a big monthly trip at the beginning of each month. Since we were out of town, I just now made that big trip today. I was shocked at the increases in some prices! Add in a tank full of gas (the Burb has a 35 gallon tank....)...and picking up the weedeater from the shop and you have a pretty expensive day. We'll be keeping ourselves to home....

Need to get the garden under control...and puppies sold....and buy the rest of our school books....and get stuff sold that's crowding the office and our bedroom.....much to do....never enough time to get it all done.

Had a wonderful blessing today! A friend has a new milk cow and had extra milk!!!! How happy we are to be blessed with 5 whole gallons of the good stuff!!!

That's about it for my update....way too busy...gone too long....and trying to get back in the swing of things when I'm not loving on my Honey.

4 Eggs!

When Rod was home this weekend, we got 2 eggs on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 2 on Monday and..... 4 yesterday!!

At Home in Georgia

Daily Devotion 202

If it wasn't for me...

Daily Devotion 201

Canning Projects

Banned Books

75 Cost Saving Tips....

Good Cheap Food

How to Avoid Rent

Piggies on The Homestead and other chat

Wednesday.....already??

4 Eggs!

Thank You for your Patience

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