Provoked to Love

Today is Valentine's Day and "love" is in the air. This morning as I read my personal devotions I studied the scriptures that spoke of love. There were many! so much truth and wisdom and admonition concerning love!

I recently began to learn to knit and crochet. I am fascinated by the weaving of the fibers into patterns. It is a work of art and results in an object of beauty. So, when I read Colossians 2:2, I couldn't help but smile.

My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself.

As soon as I read this my heart quickened and I said, "Yes, Lord!" This is what I want for my children, the people I love, and the people I encounter as I journey through life. Encouraged! Knit together with love! Complete understanding of God's secret plan with is Christ! What a goal! What a purpose for love!

As if that weren't enough of a blessing, I read further and found more treasures. In Hebrews 10: 23&24

Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.

That is how the New Living Translation reads. The King James Version says ...

Hbr 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

The New International Version....

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Stir up! Stimulate! Excite! Spur! Outburts! PROVOKE!! Provoke to love!!

Now, my smiles were being seasoned with tears. I sat for a few moments understanding that all of my life has been a wonderful knitting together of love and because of the love that surrounded me, I had been PROVOKED to love! It was no great thing I had done, no special quality of my own, instead it was because I had been provoked to love that has found me here in this place of tremendous love!

BEGIN AGAIN in 2010!!

We are looking forward to the possibilites of a New Year and New Beginnings!! Our motto is "BEGIN AGAIN in 2010"!! I believe with all of my heart that 2010 will be a year of New Beginnings, Healing and Restoration!!

The number 10 is symbollic for Divine (and Perfect) Order! Isn't that encouraging? I am ready to Begin Again in 2010!! And to see some DIVINE ORDER in my life and in this world!!

Another year in our lives has come and gone. It had its highlights and low points, struggles and victories, rejoicings and regrets. Whatever your year held, it is no more. Now, we have the opportunity to BEGIN AGAIN in 2010!!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of our goals for the New Year is to focus on Scripture Memorization, I am very excited about this! I think this scripture will be our first to memorize!

Homestead Blessings - The West Ladies

One of my favorite Christmas Presents this year was bought with my Christmas money from my Grandmother and Mother. A series of videos from Franklin Springs.

http://www.franklinsprings.com/films/hsbsixpack/

I have enjoyed these videos so much that I wanted to share them with my friends and give them my recommendation. They deal with candle making, soap making, canning, gardening, cooking, herbs, etc...

I also have enjoyed visiting their web page as well. They really are a delightful family, a Mom and her three daughters living out a life that many of us dream of.

http://www.homestead-blessings.com/

One thing that I found particularly interesting was the Hand Milling of Soap. My husband wants to try the pickled eggs. One of my boys wants to try the 'easiest potato bed' they demonstrated. The girls really want to try the candle dipping. They've encouraged me to try again with my herb gardening next year. Really cool videos!

Forever Thankful!

November of 2009 found us standing before a judge once again and finalizing the adoption of three of our children. Now, in the eyes of the Lord and the Law, we are a Forever Family, and we are forever thankful!

With seven adoptions accomplished, the big question was, "Are you finished?" Henry stated firmly that he was very sure we were. I stated that I was only going to say, I'd obey the Lord. He grinned at me and I grinned at him. We know how the Lord works. But, surely, these seven from heaven would complete our family. After all, seven is symbollic in the Scriptures as completion.

We have had many foster children, 45 to be exact, and while some were only infants when they left us or only with us a very short time, we developed some very long lasting and close relationships with a number of our foster children. A few have grown up, married and started families of their own. We have had the honor of meeting some of these precious little ones that are grandchildren in love.

One of these very special former foster children is now 12 years old and the birth brother of two of our adopted sons. We have tried hard to stay in contact but last year we were told that he had been adopted. I decided to try once again to contact him as we love him very much and he was in our home many years.

What a shock and wonderful surprise to find out that he is available for adoption and we could be considered as an adoptive resource. We are thrilled beyond measure and praying diligently for the Lord's will to be done in his life and ours.

It will be a slow process, the transition will need to be gradual. He has autism and does not need any sudden changes in his routine. However, it appears that the Lord was not seeing us complete (as the #7 indicates), instead He appears to be seeing the New Year as a time for NEW Beginnings (which is what the #8 signifies).

We'll keep you updated and would so appreciate your prayers!

FUNNEL VISION

Nope, that's no typo, I meant what I said.... FUNNEL VISION .
I woke up this morning a little weary, feeling like I'd never get everything done that I needed to get done. Ya' know?

Nothing was terribly wrong, I just felt like I had about 5,000 too many things to do and felt convinced that no matter how hard I tried, it just wouldn't be enough. My head was hurting, the children were wanting breakfast, my brain was frozen or muddled or overheated or something...and I just couldn't think straight. I was considering an outright pity party, wishing I could go back to bed and starting to feel very aggravated at everything and everyone around me. Being honest here.

I pulled out a box of cereal that I keep stuck away for just such mornings. The big boys passed out the bowls and poured the milk while I tried to gather myself, my thoughts and my attitude! I started piddlin' in the kitchen, organizing this and that when I decided to put some things in storage containers that needed to be done. It was that kind of mindless activity that you can do when you really don't want to do anything at all.

This is where the funnel came in. Pouring things from very large containers to smaller containers often calls for a funnel. I pulled out the appropriate one and went about my task. After a few minutes I found myself getting good and aggravated (once again). The funnel kept clogging up, for no good reason that I could tell. I was pouring granules, there was plenty of room for them to pass through and there wasn't a moisture problem. I grew quite frustrated (having already entered into this thing frustrated to begin with) and finally tossed the funnel into the sink, determined that I would just do it without it.

This was a big mistake, oh the mess and the waste of the spilled granules. I cleaned up the work area, retrieved my funnel, took and deep breath and began again. This is when I got FUNNEL VISION!

It seems to me that one of the sweetest parts of walking with the Lord is having Him speak to You, teach you a lesson, point out a truth...at a very common place moment, doing a very common place thing. And that is just what He did. With the FUNNEL VISION, I could now easily see the problem and the solution as well as an added bonus.

Even though the funnel was ample sized and the granules could pass through undeterred...if I poured them too fast, got in a hurry, they just bottle necked and stopped the whole progress. So, that was the problem. If I slowed down JUST a BIT, the problem was instantly solved and a good steady progress was made. So, that was the solution. And the bonus? I discovered that if I angled the funnel every so slightly so that the granules hit the side of the funnel, they went down even more smoothly and quickly. So, that was the bonus.

In the very instant that I had my FUNNEL VISION, I learned a life lesson, that helped me face my day.

There is nothing that the Lord has given me to do, assigned to me, or made me responsible for that I am not equipped (by His Grace) to do. BUT, sometimes I need to step back, take a deep breath and start again. Having done that, I need to pace myself, pay attention to the timing and rhythm of the Holy Spirit in my days and as a bonus...just like the leaning funnel...I need to be flexible, take a different position and allow the Lord to deflect some of the impact of life's downpours before I have to funnel them into my own container of a 24 hour day.

So, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed, incapable or 'weary in well doing'...ask the Lord for a little FUNNEL VISION and you'll soon be back on track.

Creative Camping

This weekend we set out on a new adventure, in our own backyard nevertheless!

A family with seven children and chickens and goats and dogs (plus a parrot) does not travel much, or at least ours doesn't.

So, we decided to take advantage of a very low cost method of family vacationing and entertainment, camping. Under our particular circumstances we had to be a bit creative...therefore...CREATIVE CAMPING.

Upon considering the choice of location for this camp out, we decided there was nothing better than our own backyard. After all, there would be no noisy neighbors, we could still see about the goats and chickens and it was free (free is good). We have a pond for fishing, woods for hiking, a creek for crossing and a ready made target range. Besides, I realized, minimal packing would have to occur and this was a VERY good thing. This left more time for fun and took a load of stress off my shoulders.

The next step was the putting up of the tents. Our youngest four children had never slept in a tent before and were particularly excited. Our new tent said 'sleeps 9', but it would have been a squeeze. Glad that the two oldest boys decided to sleep in their own tents. Each of the three tents had a dog, the parrot went back in the house to his cozy cage.

In this picture you see the youngest five all snuggled up in their pajamas and holding bears...well except for Jeremiah who opted for the family parrot (Jonah) on his shoulder instead.

We were also celebrating Henry's (dh) birthday and he was glad for the opportunity to try his new Black Powder Gun (his birthday present). So target shooting was definitely on the agenda! Here you'll see the birthday boy and his seven kiddos, my oldest two preparing for their turn and me as well, trying out my new toy, a Mosin Nagant, made in 1939 (91/30).

We also had a camp fire, which we sat around and sang Christmas Carols... ,hey, that's what they wanted to sing!

We made smores, chili, hotdogs, and a huge breakfast cooked over an open fire.

We played games around the picnic table using solar lanterns and today we're finishing up my attempting to make some moccasins (we bought a kit at Hobby Lobby. The rain has moved in and we took down the tents but continued the fun and activities inside. And that, is how you manage Creative Camping.

The Lesson of the Nine Bean Soup

This morning, as I was taking an inventory of my dried beans I decided to make a Mix. We love the mixed bean soups and those bags of beans are much more expensive than individual bags. So, we looked at our assortment of beans, we had nine. I commented that this was one variety of beans per person in our family. I used one of the storage containers on wheels that I have mentioned before and we began to pour in the beans (4lbs of each variety).

1. Black-eyed Peas
2. Navy
3. Lentils
4. Green Baby Limas
5. Small Red Beans
6. Black Beans
7. Pintos
8. Green Split Peas
9. Large Limas

Because the container is clear, it was really neat seeing the layers that the beans made. It was very attractive as each bean represented different colors, shapes and sizes. I once again commented that these beans were like us, all unique and different.

Some of the children thought we should leave them like that until I pointed out the problem. Our goal was to have a mixed bean soup and if we didn't mix them up and combine them we would never have the full flavor that they could only bring together. As a matter of fact I concluded, we wouldn't even be able to experience the bottom layers of beans for a long time to come and if we weren't going to mix them up...we should have just left them separate. Talk about a teachable moment!

Our family does not consist of all the same 'variety' of people. And yet, God Himself combined us together to create a special family that holds a unique flavor, all its own. While we are each individuals, we have been put together and made into something lovely...a family!