Gratitude Post

I have so much to be thankful for. I find that everywhere I look I see the fingerprints of God. I am choosing to be more aware of things to be grateful for and be quick to thank Him for those things. Here is just a bit of my life.....

 My daughter and I continue to process food for the winter. This is a picture of just of some of the  jars of applesauce that we put up. We used Golden Delicious apples for making our sauce because we don't have to add any sugar at all.

There are still a few tomatoes and green peppers hanging on but the gardens are pretty well done for the season. I need to get outside and get the gardens prepped for the long, cold, snowy winter.

I am very grateful for the work of my hands in supplying food for my family.

 This is the last little bit of my breakfast. I was so thankful looking at my plate of food that the Lord provided for me, I started tearing up a bit. Honest I did. What a bounty was provided for me!

It consisted of two eggs from our own "girls" that spend all afternoon and evening running around the yard chasing after bugs. Because they are free to roam and get table scraps (veggies, leftover kefir, raw milk and other tasty treats) they lay very dark yellow yolked eggs. I had organic Japanese Mustard Greens, Chipotle cheese, and fresh tomatoes mixed in two eggs. I added a slice of homemade grain free chocolate bread. Yummy!

My grandson called me to come quickly outside to see a rainbow around the sun! I thought he was kidding me. I had never seen such a thing but I went with my camera in hand.

You can see the sun just below the bottom of the picture and part of the rainbow that went all around the sun. It was a lot brighter than the picture shows. I don't have a very fancy camera so I wasn't even sure it would show up.

I might have missed that blessing if I had not been notified of it. Someone said they are called Sun Dogs.

I have been preparing for winter in other ways too. This huge pile of organic kale was offered to me by my brother in law. I ate a bit of dinner that evening but dehydrated the rest for making soup in the winter. All this kale fit into a small bag once it was dried and crushed into flakes. What a blessing this kale is to me! You have no idea how much I love kale!

I layered about half of my herbs in the dehydrator now. I will try to winter through the live plants as long as I can but will have the dried ones as back-up with the fresh herbs are gone.

I held a week old baby boy a couple of evening ago. He smelled so good. So tiny. So precious. Where have my babies gone? Why has time gone by so fast? When did I become a grandma EIGHT times? Each baby is a precious gift. I am thankful for getting to hold baby Cole. The experience brought back wonderful memories.

The leaves are really starting to turn colors now. I picked up a couple of bright red and orange leaves on my way back from the mailbox. I stuck them on my refrigerator to enjoy for a few days until the dry out and get too brittle. I have started to dig my wool socks and sweaters out of the back of my drawers. It won't be long and I will be wearing them for sure!

I still hope to hang sheets out on the line a few more times before the weather changes too cold. A friend told me that she always puts a couple sets of line-dried sheets in big plastic bags to keep that fresh smell inside. It would really be a blessing to put them on the beds in the middle of bitter cold weather and sniff that fresh air fragrance when we lay our heads on the pillows at night.

It's time to pull out the Leek & Potato Soup, Lentil Soup and Turnip Soup recipes that we enjoy so much in the winter time. I love making soup on the top of our wood stove. Add some homemade bread and oo la la! What a delight that is!

I think it is time to make myself a cup of tea and then it will be time to start preparing dinner. I think we will be having homemade pizza tonight. I am anxious to try a new recipe. This grain-free way of eating is going really well for me. And it's working.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Solitude and Silence

I wanted to post about my trip the moment I got home. But truthfully, I wanted to first unpack my suitcase, talk with Husband a bit, and just sort of take it easy. I knew that tomorrow would be back to my usual life so I just wanted to soak in the last little bit of the day in my memories.

And of course, because of the homesteading lifestyle we chose to live, I had a cow to milk, milk to process, eggs to wash, muddy floors to mop, a bed to make and the challenge of trying to find the kitchen counters. Apparently the "maid" didn't show up even once while I was gone. LOL

I started my day with devotions, of course. I first journaled this: "I am home now. The house is a wreck. I see work every place I look. Dirty dishes, laundry, unmade bed, so many, many things out of place. It's a panic-type feeling looking around the house. Especially after my weekend of prayer, peace, ah...... I need to read some Scripture and pray so that I can start my morning routine out in the barn first. Then I can shower, dress and start my day here in the house. I need to wash windows inside and out before the cold weather starts. So much to do - so much to do!"

And then, quiet as a whisper, in my heart, God said to me "Instead of finding fault with your life and always asking 'why' you should be willing to ACCEPT EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE OF LIFE IN AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE! If you truly believe, Laurie, that your affairs are in My hands, every event, no matter how joyous, mundane or tragic, it should be taken as part of My perfect plan for your life."

OK, Lord. Thanks for the attitude adjustment. You are right - I know... die to self, die to self! *smile*

So here is my story... better late than never, right?

This is the beautiful little cabin that the Lord provided for me for my Solitude and Silence Retreat. It was in a very serene and secluded place. I felt like I was the only one in the entire world - Just Jesus and me. What a delightful, peaceful, incredible experience!

It had everything that my heart desired. I love little log cabins. I love screen porches! Just look at this beautiful porch. I spent many hours in either the wicker rocking chairs or the little picnic table, reading praying, searching for what God wanted to tell me. He surprised me time and after time with little gifts of love. For example, I love drinking coffee in my tall coffee cup. Guess what was in the cupboard? Yep, a tall coffee cup. I love cooking with stainless steel pans instead of Teflon. Guess what? Yep, one little stainless sauce pan and one stainless steel frying pan. I consider myself a "foodie" and avoid things like grains, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, etc. as many of you know. I had taken a few almond flour pancakes with me. The syrup in the cupboard was listed corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as the first two ingredients. No syrup for me.... There was a jar of peach jelly in the refrigerator (no preservatives, only peaches and sugar) were the ingredients on the label. I spread a tiny bit on my pancakes and smiled. He went to great lengths to get me there to shower me with His grace and mercy and lovingkindess!

 

This is the incredible view out the back of the screened in porch. The little cabin sits up on a hill and looks down over a creek, in the little valley below. It reminds me of the view out my own little screen house. The weather was perfect - not too hot and not too cold to enjoy sitting out there a lot. I was reminded of His goodness in the lush, green woods. Even the birds declare His goodness!

 Even the cabin's supporting beams declare His glory!!!!

I had no idea why the Lord brought me to this place. I had been feeling that He wanted to tell me something but my life was too busy to hear Him. (He knows me so well.) I sat in silence for the first day and night. I woke in silence the next morning and remained silent all the second day. No worship music, no creating art, nor hand-quilting, nothing that would drown out His voice or distract me from Him. I read my devotional book, and wept as I prayed for my precious family, for dear friends, the lost and unloved, and my country. I journaled, searched the Scriptures, rested, repeated the process. Over and over again I kept asking, "OK, I am here. I am trying my best to listen. What do You want to tell me?" I only felt His great love for me.

 As I silently ate my dinner the second evening, five deer came out of the woods and grazed outside the kitchen window. Immediately the verse "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God." Psalm 42:1 came to my mind. I watched them for a long time. They would look up at me and go back to grazing. What a blessing! What a gift of love!

I finished my dinner, did up the dishes and sat back to read The Word and journal some more. Again, only silence from Abba Father. But still the love remained strong. At times, I felt I could hardly breathe deep because His presence was so strong. Lovely, lovely time.

I woke the next morning (day 3) and wrote in my journal, "I am sitting here thinking how slow time is in this place. It is a restful pace that gives one plenty of time to read, pray, sleep and ponder. I am so grateful for this time....

I am so thankful that I came to this beautiful place. My heart is content here and my spiritual love-tank is being filled to overflowing so that I can go home and serve again. This time it will not be in my own strength but from the fresh filling God has given me. I can't wait for Bible study!!!

Well, enough rambling for now. I need to grab a cup of that delightful smelling coffee, open my Bible, devotional book and see where You take me this morning. (Wishing Husband was here to have coffee with me. I miss him.)"

During devotions He finally spoke to my heart!!!! Here is my journal post....

"Wow, Lord! You really showed up this morning! So much so that I had a good cry of happy tears of joy. I finally figured out why You wanted to take me away to this place. You wanted to tell me fresh and anew HOW EVERY MUCH YOU LOVE ME!!!! That's it! Nothing new and profound - just the simple basic truth of how much I mean to You.

I stepped outside for just a minute or two (it's cold out this morning and I am still in my pajamas) and as I was scanning the beautiful view, God whispered to me,

 "ALL THIS IS FOR YOU! -

Every blade of grass, every tree, this cabin, the deer... all this is for you! I knew you would be here today, Laurie, so I created it all for your pleasure."

The pressure is off my shoulders now - my wondering what He wanted to tell me or show me. Oh my! Was He wanting me to serve in Africa???? This truth of how much He loves me will sustain me through any trial the world has to bring. He love me! He loves me! Oh how He loves me!!!!!

Then I heard "Laurie, do you know what a joy it is to live in your heart? Do you realize that I have looked on you and loved you for all eternity? Before the world was created, before you came into being, I knew you and had a plan for your life. In my book your days were all written. The days that were ordained for you, Laurie, when as yet there was not one of them. I knit you together in your mother's womb, carefully choosing what you would look like. How precious are My thoughts to you, Laurie! You are My beloved. You are My delight and My delight is in you! All this for you. All this for you."

*insert tears here - lots of tears* 

I went inside, turned on the worship music and danced before the Lord. Just Abba and I. Round and round we went. It was a precious time I will never forget. And I felt that now I was free to just rest, have fun and soak in the gift.

 

 I gathered my things and set my art quilt up. I am so glad I brought it, though I was willing to lay it aside for Him. I set it up outside on the screened porch. Tiny beads and tiny stitches in remembrance of Him.

I memorized the 23 Psalm here. I always "sort of knew it" but now I can quote it word for word. I am sure God will use that memorized Scripture many times in my life.

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the quiet waters. He restores my soul. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows! Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of Lord forever"... and ever and ever and ever! AMEN!

A tiny beaded cross in the center of each square. Every time I look at it I will think "All this for you!"

I sat here one last time, before I packed my bags to go home. I must have said THANK YOU a trillion times. And you know..... I think I heard Him say, "You are most welcome. It was My pleasure!"

And you know what? He means it.

He loves YOU that much too - and desires a deep, abiding personal relationship with the Savior. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

What I received on my retreat is available for anyone who loves the Lord, has asked Him to be Lord and Savior, and is filled with the Holy Spirit. ALL THIS IS FOR YOU TOO!

Blessings,

Retreat of Solitude

I am planning a Solitude Retreat soon. When I get back, I will post all about it. I am so excited to go and be alone with God for a few days. Please pray for me that my ears of my heart will be open.

Breathe Deeply

Time stands still for me, for just a brief moment....

Outside the window of my tiny grandson's home, the cars continue to whiz by. I hear the sounds of children hurrying to get home after a day at school. There is a sound of an emergency vehicle in the distance and all the world seems to going by at a very fast pace.

But at this precious moment of quiet, and an acute awareness of perhaps grasping at the hem of my Savior's robe,  I breathe deeply, allowing my senses of touch and smell to fill my heart with joy!


He smells so good in my arms, this precious baby sleeping against my face. He lies quietly, belly full of his Mama's milk, clean diaper and heavy eyelids, this grandson of mine. At times like this I simply enjoy smelling the sweet baby-smell of this child who came from his mother's womb, who came from mine. Seems like it was yesterday that cradled HER in my arms. Where has the time gone?


It's in the quietness that I am learning to experience "the holy". This moment was truly a holy one and I fully worshiped as I held him in my arms. I worshiped The One who created him in his mother's womb, this little one, fearfully and wonderfully made.


I also pondered in my heart how trusting he was to rest so peacefully in my arms. He wasn't concerned about where his next meal would come from, or if someone would remember to meet the needs of a dry diaper and a clean sleeper. He was filled and he was satisfied. 


My Heavenly Father desires the same kind of relationship with me - trusting, resting, and filled with His grace. 


For a sweet moment in time, as I breathed deeply, I experienced "the holy". I have been blessed.

Farmers' Market and Garden Finale!

The Farmers' Market, where we sell produce is still in full swing! Our market doesn't end until November 19th, and we will still have plenty of certified organic produce to sell there - from sweet potatoes all the way to delicious salad greens! 

Here you can see a little variety of what we have to offer there. I took time to decorate our stand with autumn leaves and fall flowers.

Grandson, Braeden (who sells his own radishes) helps his Papa (Husband) sell the produce. He is quite knowledgeable in answering questions about produce and how to prepare the different things. 

 We have five different types of gourmet heritage garlic to sell now: four hard neck and one soft neck varieties. There is nothing quite like fresh garlic in one's food.

The market takes a lot of time away from my home chores. Besides helping harvest, clean, sort and pack the produce during the week, I try to fit in as much canning as I can. Of course the laundry and housework keep coming too and demand my attention.

I help homeschool three of my grandchildren one day a week - to teach art every other week, and babysit for two more, one day, every other week. I also lead women's Bible studies in my home and volunteer for Hospice. No one can say that I sit idle very long at my house!

                              

We harvested the last of our produce today. The four wheeler is loaded with peppers in all colors. I picked the last of the sweet and hot peppers so that I can dehydrate some and freeze some. I picked the last of the celery for dehydrating for my soups this winter, and enough broccoli for one more little serving. The white tubs contain the last of the white potatoes that still needed dug and one final watermelon to sneak in for one last taste of summer. 

Here is a cute picture of some of my grandsons from yesterday's events. The oldest one had his face painted at the Farmers' Market so of course, the littler ones needed theirs painted too, so this Grammy got out her paints and quickly satisfied their desire to look like tigers. We took our "tigers" to a potluck dinner with some friends and they looked pretty cute with their painted faces.


The leaves are falling like snow now. Won't be long before the winter winds start blowing and the temperatures will really drop. I am thankful for a wood pile, a pantry stuffed with ample produce to get us through until the next garden season and memories of warmer days to get us through the long, cold winter.

Until next time..... Blessings to you and yours.

Just An Ordinary Day

Another homeschool lesson, this time from Papa, on all kinds of fasteners and what they are used for. He had the boys try out all kinds of different ones and then walked around the shop looking for fasteners in the shop and how they were used like, how the shelf brackets were held on, or the door hinges, etc.

The boys love this part of the homeschooling because we do hands-on projects while their poor Mama gets stuck with math and science and reading!

Even little Jackson gets involved when he is not too tired! What a cutie pie! At this time, he just preferred to sit on Papa's lap.

It's not all fun and games though. Mama makes them crack down on the book work! They are smart! Ethan works on his math...

 While Braeden works on his subtraction. When they put their minds to it, can get their work done quickly. They love reading the most. In addition to things like math, science, history, reading and handwriting, their Mama takes them to a homeschool gym class in a nearby community with other homeschool kids on Tuesdays. Then once a week, I teach them all forms of art and/or Papa teaches life skills.

The sunset was pretty tonight. Much prettier than the picture shows. If you look closely you can see the sun beam shadows poking through the clouds going upwards.

There was rain coming on the horizon and sky was a beautiful sort of golden amber color above the clouds (which doesn't show up very well). It was breathtaking and I am glad I have this picture to remind me of the beauty.

I snapped it just as Sara and I were heading out to the canning kitchen to start canning the last of tomatoes. They weren't very nice ones, and we had to cut out a lot to make enough good parts for one last batch of tomato sauce.

We kept Lydia entertained by feeding her an occasional chocolate chip. She is certainly her mother's (and Grammie's) little girl, when it comes to chocolate! She just turned one about a week ago and just cut her first tooth!

The chocolate brought a smile to her face and she kept signing "more" so I kept popping them in her mouth. She probably had 8 or so chocolate chips before she was done and now there is chocolate all over the Pack and Play!

She is such a little angel and is a real trooper. I told her that she was going to be helping when she gets a little bigger! She just grinned. I don't think she took me seriously. She was saying "Papa" tonight as we worked. I am sure that will get her lots of wonderful things in the future, by melting her Papa's heart! I call her Lydie Lou. Sweet girl!

Sara ran the kids home to put them to bed and Husband and I started in on the sauerkraut making. We got almost done before Sara got back but she did return to help make two batches, one of green cabbage and one of purple cabbage.

Here are my workers mashing the cabbage into wonderful juicy sauerkraut. It makes my mouth water just looking at this wonderful stuff!

Oh how we love homemade sauerkraut! Our work day ended about 10:15 PM. Sara went back home to her family and we went back into the house to ready ourselves for bed. Tomorrow we start the roof on the lean-to. Husband's friend, Tim, will be here at 8 AM, so my day will start early again! Better get some sleep!

Summer Wrap Up

The summer is fast fleeting. I can feel a chill in the air and have noticed that the leaves are either starting to change to the colors of autumn or they are laying brown and dry on the ground.

 It's been a good summer though and a lot has been accomplished. I thought I would spend a little time recapping what just some of the activities have been here.Of course this is just a small sampling of the activities here but with just these few, you can see how blessed we feel.

 The garden has been wonderfully fulfilling. We have struggled with either too little moisture or way too much but none the less we have were blessed with produce to eat now and in the winter.
 

Broccoli that makes my mouth water. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had a good amount of tomatoes and peppers for making salsa, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce and more. I dehydrated a lot of the peppers for use this winter in stews and casseroles.

Daisy has been providing us with plenty of milk for not only drinking but making cheese, butter, yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk and of course homemade ice cream. Yum! These are two of my grandchildren that wanted to help me milk her that morning. They live in the city but have the desire to live on a farm someday. I wish they lived closer and could visit me more often.

The chickens have been doing their part in keeping us well fed. Not only are the hens laying about two dozen eggs a day, we butchered 100 meat chickens to put into canning jars for my house and the homes of my children and their families. Chicken is good when it's canned and makes cooking so much quicker and healthier!

Don't you just love "Old Blue"? This old truck is literally falling apart so it never leaves the farm but it hauls our firewood from woods to woodpile every year. We only use in the summer to haul our wood but it starts every time! I just love this old truck. We have had it for a long, long time.

Here we are butchering some of those meat chickens. Most of the family gathered together to complete the task of providing meat for our families. Even the grandchildren helped and loved being a part of seeing where their food really comes from. It was a family affair, for sure! We enjoy working together and playing together too!

We kept the canners going all summer with various meats, fruits and vegetables. I love canning with my daughters. It makes the time go so fast and we have so much fun chatting about things from joking around to having serious conversations. Old fashioned skills help bring families closer! People need each other more this way.

 

 

 

We were blessed with a new grandson this summer (we now have 8 grandchildren!) and our gardens and animals helped feed our family and friends that gathered here to fellowship with us.

It's time to dig out the fall decorations and wool sweaters! Only 9 more days of summer remain. As much as I hate to see the hot days disappear, I look forward to hearty soups, homemade breads and pumpkin pies to frequent our table.

I look forward to the canning season being done so that I can slow down a bit. I have looked well to the ways of my household this summer and I am not afraid for the snow to arrive, just as I read in Proverbs 31: 10-31. God has blessed us and we are grateful. Very grateful indeed.