Pictures Taken April 1st 2009

Our yard as I saw it this morning.

(No Joke!)

Spring!

Sometimes when life gets extra busy, I lose sight of the cross. I rush around doing the things that need doing, praying as I go and asking for help which God gives so graciously, but I forget to thank Him for the cross. I forget to remember the cross, what it means, what He did for me, what the salvation of my soul cost my Lord. I need to remember, I need to thank Him. When I remember, it puts life into perspective and pushes everything back into it's place. The Lord Jesus Christ is what this life is about and He has the preeminence in all things.

Yes, my dear Grandmother is here and we are pleased to have her. Yet I will not paint a rosy picture of life here because it is not easy, but we did not take her in because it would be easy. There are things far more important than our own comforts, taking care of our own is one of them. By ministering to her we can glorify God and that is what I long to do.

Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks. Our house is very small, so my Dad and Mom had to move into the living room when they gave their room to my Grandma.

Here my Dad and Michael move our "sideboard" out of the living room to make room for the bed.

I painted two of these cabinets for the bathroom. Later we painted the wall you see behind me, white.

Here is the finished living room/bedroom.

Remember Brittany's purse that she was crocheting? Here is the finished product!

Matthew 13 (who is now taller than I am!) and Ashely 8. Matt broke his finger while playing basketball and it refuses to heal. He has been through multiple casts and now splints, I am not sure what the doctors will decide to do for him.

Out side, I see signs of spring! A couple of robins, some grass peaking up and some flowers in our flower garden showing their little stems. Spring is so exciting!

I am busy painting cabinets today....

So I have to make this quick, but I wanted to bring to your attention that one of the guys we go out witnessing with, Steve, has written a couple of great posts on his Street-Preaching Journal ....check it out!


Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
(Proverbs 3:5-10)

A Prayer in Poem

For the Wanderer

Thou who makest intercession,

Give to us to share

In that holy intercession;

Deepen prayer.

Some have chosen dust and ashes,

Fruit of poison tree;

Let them have nor peace nor pleasure,

Wanting Thee.

Let Thy fiery Law arrest them;

Let They love constrain,

Till they turn, repentant, humbly,

Home again.

Keep Thine own alert, courageous;

Strengthen them to stand

Till Thou comest, or we meet them,

In Thy land.

--Amy Carmichael

Has it really been...

....Yes, it has been, eleven, days since I last posted and I apologize, but (thankfully) this absence is not without good reason. Two reasons, to be exact. The first is that God has been speaking to me about spending too much time on the computer, not so much on the writing posts part, but the checking this persons blog and oh look I should check out that one and there's another one that looks good, you know, that kind of thing. So I have tried to spend less time on the computer, more or less.

Secondly, my Grandma is coming to live with us next Saturday. This bit of news did not take us completely by surprise, since we have been discussing the possibility, but the sudden setting of a date in the very near future was a surprise. My Dad and Mom are giving their bedroom to her and are moving into the living room. This means a great many changes must be made and quickly! Several pieces of furniture have to move out of the house and other things moved in, shelves and a closet need to be quickly constructed. We are busy, busy, busy and my Mom and I are quite enjoying the chance to deep clean the house. There is still SO much to do and very little time to do it!

This is going to be a stretching time in our lives, giving up of comforts, conveniences and so called rights, but it will be a good time. Think of all the lessons God can teach us through a time like this! I am looking forward to it and yet shrink back from it. My flesh does not like change, but I long to grow in closer fellowship with my Lord. I know that this situation is in His plan and will and that it is very right to care for our own, so I thank God for this opportunity.



Tonight I am meditating on these verses:

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? for you only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before you; for your judgments are made manifest.
(Revelation 15:3-4)

It is March...

...and I am very happy and ready for spring! Even though our weather does not seem to know the difference, as the temperature continues to hover around zero...oh well I guess I will have to keep waiting, but it is coming, soon... I hope, ...it should be soon, ...but we are up north and we have had blizzards in March...ah, be quiet mind, don't think about that, spring is on the way!

We had my four nieces and nephews over this weekend. Since a cold is going around it was more of a "quiet" time, (that is in comparison with other times :-). We played games, read stories, cooked and crocheted. They really enjoyed it when I read "Old Yeller" to them and would beg for more. Yesterday morning when I woke up, the first thing Ashley asked was, "When can you read 'Old Yeller?"

Brittany had brought some yarn and a crochet hook with her and asked if I could help her make a purse. I showed her how, then gave it back to her to do. Soon, she began complaining that it was "too hard" and asked if I could 'help' her. I explained that doing it for her was not helping her and if she did it herself she would learn patience, it would build character. She then settled down to work at it and proceeded to persevere at it for hours on Saturday and most of the day Sunday! She finished it and I was able to help her sew the ends together, it turned out beautiful! I asked her if she remembered what I told her, she did. Then I asked if it had built character, she said "yes".

Not yet finished but looking good

For the past few weeks that the children have been here, Devin has spent hours outside, standing still as he holds bird food in his outstretched hand. He has chickadees come to eat food out of his hand, this is so much fun for him and my Mom finally got a picture! And this is a child which has been "diagnosed" with "ADHD"?!

Matthew enjoyed playing scrabble with Michael and I. He was hit the hardest with the cold, but we had some good games with him, despite his condition.

On Saturday I did some more sewing, the jumper is coming along nicely.

And finally, here are the four of us "girls" wearing the aprons that a kind friend sent. Thank you Brenda!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well. Remember to keep praising our dear Lord Jesus in and for all things!

Miscellaneous Musings

Today turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, just perfect for...cleaning our the garage! Not the most fun thing to do, but very necessary when your garage looks like ours, I will kindly spare you the details. :-)

Our back yard.

This is "Joyce" my cat and I.

These pictures were actually not taken today, but the day was a lot like this!

I am looking forward to the fast approaching time when I will be able to start my vegetables indoors. Up here we cannot plant outdoors until June. I like to start my seedlings, eleven to fourteen weeks early, in order to give them a good start and hope for produce more quickly.

I am finally sewing the jumper I had cut out long ago and am really enjoying it! The fabric is a type of blue denim and the pattern has four pleats, which I absolutely love. I will have to look for more patterns with pleats or make some up myself, I don't think it would be too hard to add pleats to a regular dress or skirt pattern. Anyone with experience have suggestions?

We were at the abortion clinic again on Monday where seven mothers went into the building to destroy the lives of their babies. One girl was probably just fourteen or fifteen and seemed very scared, but her mother was with her and so she did not stop to talk with us. How can a mother do that to her daughter? Perhaps it was for rape or incest, but killing the innocent child does not take away the pain and trauma, it only makes it much, much worse. The adults in that girls life will have to give an account of their actions before The Judge of all the earth some day, that thought alone should cause them to tremble.

We went to the UMD again for a couple of hours. My Mom had a good conversation with a young atheist who, after hearing the gospel, accepted a Gospel of John saying that he will read it and consider what he had been told!

One guy walking by, began to curse and swear at Josh and Michael and then at our Lord Jesus. Josh answered with, "God bless you." and Michael with, "Thank you for the blessing!"

Another guy walking by spit at Josh and Michael. These things really are blessings!

"Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11-12

And:

"But I say unto you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to them who hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you." Luke 6:27-28

My Grandma is now in physical therapy and is slowly recovering. This is a hard time for her as she cannot remember things very well because of the trauma from the operation. It is frustrating to her, as I am sure it would be to anyone. Thank you so much for praying and please do continue to pray for her salvation.

Colossians chapter One has been a great blessing to me lately, what a packed chapter! One thing I keep thinking about is verse eleven: "Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness."

It is one thing to learn patience, another to learn longsuffering, but "patience and longsuffering with joyfulness"?! Wow! I need to be abiding in Christ Jesus so that He can produce this fruit in me. In Him all fullness dwells, He is the one I want to be around. Since we become like who we hang around, I want to 'hang around' Jesus, to be in fellowship with Him all throughout the day. I must confess that my thoughts often wander to less important things, then I realize with a start that it has been several hours since I consciously spoke with my dearest friend. Oh why, do I do this? I love to be near Him and I love talking to Him and yet I find my mind wandering. Oh, may He draw me closer to Himself! How patient He is with me, what a kind and compassionate Savior. "Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14

Thank you Lord Jesus.

I have been training my dog Abby, here are some pictures and a video! I am using a "tug" which is a piece of burlap type material used to build drive and focus. As you can see, Abby thinks that this is all a game and to a point, it is at this time. Eventually we will get into more advanced training.