Finding My Way Home

It's a wonderful life

I love the movie It's a wonderful life.  How a bout you?   I love the love story, faith, how people help one another out.   What made me and my best friend Janet laugh was how much the price of a home was.  In the movie they talked about a home costing $5000.00 !!  For some people that is just a monthly payment not the total price of a new home!!

What happened to those days??  When a neighbor cared and help out a neighbor??  When you broke down (cars) people would help.  Where you would share you blessing more, like the extra in your garden.  Where people really respected each other.  When it was safer for children to be children.  What do we have for the kids today?  On t.v we have sex, drugs, drinking violence , porn.  Do you know that some underwear adds would have been porn back then??  What happened???  We need to go back to stronger values , to what is really important.  God , family , friends, others.

Bring back the good old days......

God Bless, mj

Our eyes were opened

Hubby and I talked last night about the girls and how spoiled they are.  How it came about was we had the roof repair man come over to look at the leak.  He asked why we wanted to build a large house at our ranch.  I told him the home that is there  is only 1082 square feet and this house we live in is feeling smaller to us because we would like the grand babies to have a room just for them.  How many square feet is this house he asked?  1500 square feet.  He said his family of 4 live in a 865 square foot home.  ( I feel bad for looking at a 4200 square foot home). 

Then our daughter Shayna drove up, he asked if that was her truck? I looked at him and said yes.  He just looked at me.  He then asked if Kristi will be getting her own car?  I said yes ,as soon as we can find the truck we are looking for.  Then the girls started talking about what kind of 2 horse trailer they want because our 4 horse is to much from them to  haul just 2 horse or pigs.  The man asked me if we were going to buy them a 2 horse trailer?  I said yes.  He then had a look on his face that said they are spoiled.

It really open my eyes!!  They are really spoiled!!  Most children in a family do not each get their own trucks or a horse trailer.  They would use mom and dads.  They will share a horse trailer though. We do need a two horse trailer, it is not just for them.  When we go to horse shows it is a waste of gas to haul a huge 4 horse trailer with just an Arabian and a pony.

So last night we talked and it was really an eye opener for us both to see that our children have never wanted for anything.  My husband has worked very hard to give us what we need and more.  But we realize we need to change some things.  To see it through some ones else's eyes was the opener.   We are going to change some things.    I am not bragging or anything like that just sharing my growing some more.  It was just a real eye opener.  I mean a real eye opener !! 

God Bless, mj

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to my beautiful sister and her wonderful family on the birth of their new little one... Greyson!
He is adorable and healthy and my sister is AMAZING!! :)

Also,
Congratulations to my winner!

#36 CHALLICE!!!!!!!!
I will contact you about your prize!!! :)
Have a wonderful weekend my friends!
My Cup Runneth Over...

Goat Farm Visit

Yeaaaaaaa  Field Trip yesterday to a goat farm. 

 I found a Dwarf Nigerian goat raiser on the internet and contacted her to see if we could visit her operations and see how she did everything. Deborah was very gracious to us as she gave us a tour. If you are in central Illinois you might want to check out Antiquity Oaks Nigerians for your goats.  Besides Nigerians she raises a couple Nubian goats, heritage chickens, geese, turkeys, sheep, and ducks. She also has guard llamas, an Anatolian guard dog, some horses she is fostering, an English shepherd dog for the sheep, and a couple rabbits which we did not get a chance to ask about. She has had pigs also in the past.

These are the bucks housed separately.  Deborah fed them and they were just gobbling it down jumping all over each other. Bucks are stinky so they are not housed with the does. Plus if you housed them together all the time they would just breed, breed and breed constantly.

A beautiful doe.

More does and a Nubian wether with grandson N.

More of them. They were all different sizes and colors and personalities. No pics of the littlest ones though.

Watch geese parading for us.

We got lots of ideas for a milking area,  fencing,  protection, and housing. We sampled some of Deborah's goat's milk and cheese. The milk was very white and creamy with no goatee taste at all, Yummy!

Blessings.

Unaswered Prayer?

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 ~~

The Joy Giver

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

Anyone heard from Glenda?

Just wondering if anyone had heard from Glenda lately?  You can PM me, if you would, and let me know how she is?

Thanks,

Rhonda

Do you have your seed catalogs yet?

Sitting here at my computer, my toes turning blue, I hear the sweet peeps of baby chicks.  It's a wonderful springtime sound.  But I know it's not spring.  It's not even Christmas.  And the only reason they're down in the basement  is because it got so cold in the coop,, Mama couldn't keep them warm anymore.  We only have 4 of 14 left.

Last Monday, guess what came in the mail?   Yep, my first seed catalog.  Nope, it's not too early.  My Johnny's catalog came and I've already made out my order.  Then yesterday, my Nichol's catalog came, so I'm comparing prices, etc. Looks to me like the prices have gone up again.  I saved some seeds from last year's plants, but cabbage, carrots, beets, these are hard to save seeds from.  Need to give them two years and I have a hard time  doing that.

I suppose I should keep my mind on finishing Christmas gifts.  But the sun is shining, the chicks are peeping, my seed catalogs are sitting on the table.  Ahh...hope springs eternal.  If it weren't for all of the frost on the windows and my blue toes, I could just about think it's spring!

Prize 3 in the giveaway

My first try at ZIPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am in a swap online, and my swap partner has specifically requested throw pillows for her living room couch.  We made a deal that if I make the pillow covers, she will buy the inserts for them if I make them a standard size.  That way the shipping won't be so costly.  I hope she loves them!!!  The fabric was on her wish list, so I think she will. 

And the bonus is, zippers are not that hard!!  I am thinking of  buying some smaller zippers and making some wristlets and makeup bags sometime soon!!

Here is a pic:

And here is a close up of the fabric: