Anticipation...fulfilled/continuing

Just a quick stroll outside today....

These tulips are very cheerful!...they make me smile when I go outside .... or come inside....they are right at our front door!

How do think this little lamb will do at the county fair? A grand champion?...well, in our books any how! We will also have two other little lambs that we will be proud of....only because they are the first three lambs that were born right here in our little sheep shed!

These are our grapes...hopefully they will be full of plump fruit in the fall! We like to make our own grape juice - have actually become rather grape juice snobs....The juice is really good made w/ several types of grapes - and we enjoy it hot - like hot apple cider  - when we are making it!

And back inside, these pepper plants are coming along nicely! Zachary is in charge of them/planted them/eats them like candy! He would sometimes prefer them to a cookie! Hopefully they will transplant well, when it gets dry enough to move them outside! He is hoping to have LOTS of peppers!

Hope you have a glorious day in the Lord!



Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

Song of Songs 2:10



I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and He does not want me to be spiritually asleep while nature is all around me awaking from her winter's rest. He bids me "Arise," as well He might, for I have been lying long enough among the weeds of worldliness. He is risen, and I am risen in Him; so why should I still cleave to the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I want to rise to Him.

He calls me by the sweet title "my love" and counts me "beautiful"; this is a good argument for my rising. If He has exalted me and thinks me fair, how can I linger in the tents of wickedness and make my friends in the wrong company? He bids me "Come away"; further and further from everything selfish, groveling, worldly, sinful, He calls me; yes, from the outwardly religious world that doesn't know Him and has no sympathy with the mystery of godliness. "Come away" has no harsh sound to my ear, and what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin?

My Lord, I want desperately to come away, but I am held among the thorns and cannot escape from them as I wish. I would, if it were possible, close my eyes and ears and heart to sin. You call me to Yourself by saying, "Come away," and this is indeed a melodious call. To come to You is to come home from exile, to reach the shore out of the raging storm, to finally rest after hard labor, to reach the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.

But, Lord, how can a stone rise; how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? Please raise me; draw me by Your grace. Send Your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until one day I will leave life and time behind me and come away indeed.

Taken from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening and edited by Alistair Begg



Just wanted to share these great thoughts! These devotions have been a great blessing to me! Just in case you've never had the privilege of hearing Alistair preach, you may want to listen to some of his sermons! They are very good.

Just today...

Four of my sweet littles are playing legos on the dining room table....

Also in my dining room stands this...

Which is a new addition our family! My sweet friend, who needed to move it out of her home, gave it to me. I think it is beautiful. I love the wavy glass look, the latches, the tongue and groove oak, the chipped paint inside, the solidness of it!... She was told that it is from the 1860ish time period, and that seems to be confirmed by any who've seen it. I'd been looking for a china hutch, but in my home, there isn't much wall space. We have an abundance of windows - for which we are grateful - but that makes finding such pieces of furninture a bit of a challenge. Amazingly, this hutch fit perfectly! Thank you dear friend!

"What He Must Be..."

photo

Gregg, having read thru this book already, has begun a morning study w/ our oldest 5 children going thru Voddie Baucham's book, What He Must Be: ...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter.  It's a great book that plants the seeds for a multi-generational outlook, as well as preparing daughters and sons for the roles that they will likely assume in the future. It encourages purposefulness and raising the bar when evaluating a suitor.  It also opens the door for some great conversations with your children! It allows them to voice concerns or thoughts that they've had - but just haven't "come up".  We certainly recommend it!

Lord's Gym

On Friday afternoons, after Tea Time, most of the family heads to the Lord's Gym.  (Gregg, Benj, and Em are employed til after 4:30, so they join us then!)  This is a very interesting place. A church actually meets here, but on Fridays, it is joined by others in the community and is the 3rd largest food distribution place in Clark County.  Beginning at 3:30, produce and bread is handed out to needy families/people. The twins manage the potato and onion bin, James works w/ the fruit, Grace hands out bread, and Z works where ever he is needed in this room. Sarah, Rachel, and Joshua head to the kitchen to help prepare food for the dinner that is served at 6pm.  I must mention that we do NOTHING but show up to help. The work actually begins in the morning and by the time we get there, we are just extra hands. The meal begins w/ prayer, and the gospel is presented at the end of the meal.  During the meal, we help serve the food, gather the trays, (which need to be washed and reused) and begin cleaning the preparation dishes. At this point, we take our family home for a dinner together - pizza/movie night. But the Lord's Gym is still opened! They hand out frozen and canned food after dinner!
It is a ministry that we've enjoyed participating in. For many years, we wanted to do something that our entire family could do together, and this fits the bill well for now. One friend that we met grew up in Scotland. Our children love to visit w/ him. There are many Russian folks there that don't speak English. Benjamin likes the opportunity to try to communicate w/ them, and they appreciate his effort. We've really benefited from participating in this local ministry and have been able to see God working in a way that we've not witnessed first hand before.
What's going on in your neck of the woods?

(I did have some pictures that Eman - our Scottish friend took, but haven't been able to upload them - will try to post them later!)

About Sour Dough

I recently posted a picture of our sourdough bread. Thought I'd give a bit more info about how we got our starter....

Actually, it's quite easy to catch your own sour dough starter. Mix about 1 cup of water and 2 cups of flour in a non metal bowl, cover loosely w/ a light towel (and possibly a rubber band) and sit the bowl outside on your porch. (The towel is just to keep critters out...it isn't necessary!) (I use this container, bought at my local Cash and Carry.) Check it every day or so, and if you begin to see bubbles, you've caught something! I would add a cup of water and about 1.5-2 cups of flour to feed it. If your container gets too full, pour some out and then feed it. I actually caught my yeast in my kitchen....don't know what that says about my kitchen...maybe I should've left that part out! I believe that if you use some rye flour in the beginning, the yeast seems to like it a bit better, and you may catch something more quickly. When my starter was starting, I used strictly freshly milled whole wheat flour.

 When you are sure you have a good bubbly mixture bring it inside and use it/refrigerate it. If you like the way it smells, you will like the flavor. There are numerous recipes on the internet calling for sourdough starter. You can see if something looks interesting and give it a try. We sort of wing it w/ recipes - We've made homemade bread most of my married life, so I have a feel for what I need to add. When we make waffles, I just pour some starter in a bowl (can be metal at this point - just not for the starter you are saving!) add a couple of eggs, a bit of salt, sugar, milk and flour til it has the consistency I want. Then I feed the remainder w/ 3 cups of water, 1 Tablespoon of salt, and 7 cups of flour. You may have to adjust your amounts recognizing that I am cooking for a family of 12. I may keep larger amts on hand than you would have to.

 I have no experience w/ storing the starter. Ours is continually on the kitchen counter because we use it and feed it just about every day. I think when you use it, you feed the remainder and let it sit out for a day before refrigerating it. Make certain after feeding it that you have a container large enough for it to rise...it takes hours for it to finish rising, so don't be fooled if in an hour, it hasn't increased in volume. When it flattens off, it  is time to go in the refrigerator - I think.....

I would like to recommend a book called Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day. I was able to check it out from our library. It has a recipe for a general dough. This dough can sit in your refrigerator for some time and is relatively ready to be used. The longer it is in your fridge, the more of a sour tendency it has (even though it was made using commercial yeast) This is a convenient and unintimidating way to have homemade bread.

Anticipation