Summer Is Here

And it is hot and muggy out. I walked out of church this afternoon, and it felt like I was walking into an oven. It was even worse when we all piled into the van. The air conditioning doesn't work, so you can imagine how lovely that felt:)

So today after church and lunch, I was walking around our garden and I stopped off at the grape vines and blackberry bushes, and I found our first ripe black berry, which I promptly ate, and it was delicious. Thanks to the help of some birds, our black berries have sprung up EVERYWHERE. We have them in the pine trees, in the far back corner by our house, in the tree in the front yard... and waaayyy more than what we had down by the grapes. Hopefully some black berry jam will be in order this year:-) we don't usually have that many grow, but I think we are in for a bumper crop this year!

My sister who is right below me graduated last night:-) I will have some pictures up of that once my sister in law puts them on facebook and I can hijack them from there.
It was a lovely ceremony, and afterwards we all ( my family that is) when out to dinner at Cracker Barrel, and I discovered I like fried okra. So does my nephew "Biscuit" who was sitting next to me, and ate about half of my serving.

Today at church I helped in the sound booth running sound. It is interesting to see what makes people sound good and makes them sound horrible with all the EQs and such. It sounded good though.

After church there was a missions meeting at my church ( my dad is the missions director) and we mainly discussed the upcoming Ukraine trip, which I will be going on, in October. I can't wait! Next week we are having a skype meeting with some members of the church in the Ukraine. I've never attended any of these meetings, so I'm excited about it.

There is also a slight chance that I'll accompany my sister Anna to Mozambique Africa. Anna is going to the Ukraine as well, and will be traveling from there to Africa, as it will be cheaper then flying from the states. I went to Africa in 2008, and would love to go again. I miss the kids there. But I am also in great anticipation of the upcoming Ukraine trip, as this will be my first excursion to Europe, and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for us there!!!

Well, this has just become a lot of ramblings, so I shall sign off now:)
Cheerio!!!

Chickens

So last month we got some chickens. We hadn't had chickens in AGES. Years ago we got rid of all of them because we were going to get goats. We never did get goats though.
However, my sister Anna and I had been wanting to get chickens again, and someone we know had a bucn they were getting rid of, so we got some .

So my brothers and I spent days cleaning out the old chicken coop. I almost wish I had before and after pictures to show off of the coop. It hadn't been used since last year when we had ducks in there. So the grass had grown up waist high, weeds were everywhere, and it was not a pretty sight. We pulled out the old grass and weeds, dug up the old dirt, discovered food dishes that had some how or other gotten buried, pulled out the old falling apart shelter and brought in two new ones, leveled it out, and now it looks as if it never saw a blade of grass inside. I was rather proud of all our work :-)
So now we have ten chickens. And yes, we named all of them. They are Phee, Tillie, Millie, Flossie, Clementine, Trixie, Merl, Martha, Addy, and Magnolia (however we think Magnolia is a rooster, so if that turns out to be the case, his name will be General, or dinner, as that is what he will inevitable end up being)

Here are some pictures that my brother took and put on the computer (yay! I didn't have too!!!)

Flossy

Millie

Millie (I think)

Merl

Tillie (notice the Tiller behind the pen:-) lol, we were planting the garden

Martha and Phee

Addy

Thats all the ones we have pictures of. I must say I like having chickens again. We got them as Chicks, so none of them are fully grown yet, and by October we should be having fresh eggs:-)

Next on the agenda will be figuring out where to put a dozen ducks that my siblings are getting in a week to raise for 4H.

The Little Things...

I had a list of "little things'' running through my head. A pointless list of things I love and hate. So I came to the decision while I was eating dinner, that I would write a blog post about it. A pointless one, so you needn't feel obligated to read it, though I will probably announce on facebook that I have a new post up.

Things I Absolutely Cannot Stand:

• That people seem to feel the absurd urge to punctuate each sentence with "Just Sayin' ". This in my opinion displays a rather diminutive vocabulary. If the best you can do is the afore mentioned verbiage, I would recommend a Thesaurus to add to your reading list, post-haste.
• The word "Incling" I don't know what it is about this word, all I know is that it makes my skin crawl. Uhgg..
  
• The perfect alignment of little weeds growing where we planted the lettuce in the garden. I'm thinking that Burpees may have possibly mistaken what seeds went in which package. All though I don't know who in their right mind would purchase weed plants (and no, I'm not referring to the Marijuana type. California this is not)
• When I lose my keys, and then realize that they weren't lost, I just couldn't see them right in front of my nose.
  
• Library fines. Particularely large ones that I had paid, but they never updated it in their systems, so it always tells me I have one.
  
• When people try to prove me wrong when I know I'm right. (and no, I'm not referring to the age of the earth)
• The fact that my beloved camera has bit the dust, with no explanation as to how or why.
• The 25 cents I know is in the bottom of my pocket, but all I can seem to pull out is nickels.
• The fact that society has chosen to cheapen women by marketing clothing that shows more skin than actual material.
• When my sheets eat my socks and I always have a mismatched pairs.
• When people speed down the road at 1:3o in the morning with their radios turned ALL THE WAY UP!!!

• Mosquitoes.

I could go into more, but that is all for now.

Little Things That I Love:

• Gardens
• Rubber boots. Seriously, I love them. And I don't care if I look like a dork marching around in them with a too big t-shirt and an old pair of over sized shorts at 7 in the morning. I'll change out of what I slept in when I'm good and ready.
  
• My neices and nephews.
• My car, Max.
• Throw blankets on a cold day, with a good book.
• The Fair!!!!!!!!!
• A good book.
• Spearmint gum
• my guitars, Eulalie, Benny, Tuck, Marty, and Jolene.
• The fact that I named all of the guitars that I play ( even though only Benny, Marty and Eulalie are truly mine)
• My Bible.
• The New Testament (especially Paul's letters)
• Celtic music
• Rolled down windows, as opposed to Air Conditioning.
• The 1940's
• going barefoot

Ahhh. There are way more, but I'm sure I've lost you by now if you actually read this hole thing.

But, as you can see, the good far out-weighs the bad.
Good evening all :D

Pruning

I have been thinking, that as we walk as Christians, its like taking care of a plant. A flowering, or fruit-bearing plant. These two types of plants need plenty of water, sunlight, weeding, and pruning. So many of us fail to grow spiritually because we aren't willing to do what I call a "Spiritual Pruning". A spiritual pruning is a rather simple concept. If you don't prune yourself (i.e. get rid of the stuff thats keeping you from your full potential in God) you can't expect growth, or to see fruit produced from your labor, or lack thereof. We can read our Bibles and go to church all we want, but if we are allowing things that don't belong into our lives, and don't get rid of them, all of our Bible-reading and church-going is in vain.

I think of it like a show I recently saw on TLC called "Hoarding: Buried Alive" which was a documentary of people who were compulsive hoarders. They would collect things, and wouldn't be able to stop collecting or to get rid of things. It got to the point where they couldn't even walk through their own homes because it was so full of junk. Their hoarding drove a wedge between them and their families, to the point where their own children couldn't stand to come to their parents homes because it was unsafe, unsanitary, and smelly.
These people who were compulsive hoarders generally had good intentions. They saw something that they knew could be useful, so they picked it up and brought it home, that way when someone needed something, they could give it to them. The problem was, this habit overcame their desire to give, it became a desire to stock. They saw something that they might decide they need one day, and that if they didn't get it right then, then it would be a waste because they had an opportunity to get that item and they passed it up.

There were other people where their hoarding got to the point where they wouldn't throw actual garbage away. For years, they would not throw away carryout containers, rotting food, paper plates kitty litter (used kitty litter). and their houses would be condemned by the city.

A lot of times we become so attached to our junk, that we panic at the thought of losing it. We become complacent and set up housekeeping in our issues, because we know it well, and we feel safe there. we loose sight of the fact that the God who created us has more for us then our stuff can offer. All we have to do is get rid of the bad in order to receive the good. And we can't do this on our own. We need to recognize that we have problems, and allow God to take them away. We have to make room for God to move into our lives.

These Hoarders on the tv show realized they had a problem. So they contacted psycologists to get help. And in the end, they were able to get their homes cleaned up, and there children and spouses were able to move back into the space where the junk had taken over the parents/spouses life.

Compulsive hoarding is a mental illness. So once they got help it didn't mean they were miraculously healed. They have to learn ways to deal with their problem. They have to learn how to get rid of the bad, and have to constantly be on the lookout for their behavior, and to learn to recognize what makes them want to start collecting things, so they can squelch it.

Its the same with pruning. A good gardener takes care of their flowers and plants, by pulling away the dead leaves, flower, and buds, which in turn allows new whole and alive and better things to take their place. But if you don't do this, the plant will eventually whither away and die.

If we let our issues take over our lives, we will loose sight of God and will whither away.

Long Overdue

I realize my last post written nearly a month ago. I didn't mean for that to happen, it just did.
I did have plenty of opportunity to write, I just didn't. I had been enjoying beautiful weather, planning music set lists for the HUB (our churches weekly dinner and service where my sister and I have lead worship for the past 4 weeks. Filling in for people) baby sitting, taking nieces and nephew fishing, anxiously awaiting the arrival of another nephew (to be born tomorrow around 7:30 a.m. my SIL has to get a c-section) cooking, painting the youth room, running events at church, flea market shopping, cleaning, reading, playing my guitar, discovered that they have ALL of the Little House on the Prairie episodes on Youtube (which has consumed way too much of my time), hiking, bowling, job searching, discovering I like country music (well, some of it anyway) practicing the song Boondocks (by Little Big Town), Dr's appointments, having food poisoning and or the flu, baking bread, ... However, I DID have plenty of time to write. I just haven't.

And now that I have that long spiel over with, I will tell you I meant to write on Monday. I had it all planned out, the title and everything. It was to be called "As My Bread is Rising" and I was going to write it as my bread was rising cause I did a lot of baking that day. However I didn't get my baking started until later then I had planned, as I was washing and cleaning the kitchen, and doing the dishes, and waiting for my turn to use the mixer. The kitchen was busy. So in reality I didn't get started baking until about 1 o'clock, as opposed to when I wanted to start around 10:30. And then I first made crackers to go with dinner (creamed chicken over pot pie crackers-- yummy!!!) which took a long time cause the cracker dough is stiff and crumbly. and hard to roll out thing. then I made 6 loaves of bread. And during this time a friend stopped by with the movie "Star Wars" insisting we watch it. (Sorry John, but I wasn't a fan of it...) and in return we made him watch Cranford (one of my favorite movies ever, its much like Pride and Prejudice in the way its written and such, set in 1842)
So you see why I never got around to posting. Yesterday my friend Naomi came over so I didn't post then either.

Well, it is getting late and I'm still in my pj's, so I best be going now. And on this note, I will tell you I'm "planning" to post pictures sometime soon. I'm hoping to go to my brothers house to put some pictures on his computer and post from there, because ours takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to load pictures on.
Farewell :-)

Ponderings

I have had many things on my mind of late. Some good. Some disappointing, some hopeful, some joyful. In all of these pondering moments, its interesting to see how God works things out, both in the way I see things, and they way I deal with things.
For instance, I recently became aware of a past Christian recording artist who wrote beautiful songs for God and about God, who has chosen to lead a shall we say, ulterior lifestyle. Not one that is how God designed for us to live at all. My immediate thought once I heard this was to completely boycott everything that this person had done while they were serving God. But then as I was thinking that, I wondered what made me think that. God doesn't love this person any less. And if we are to live in the image of God, then shouldn't our actions, no matter how big or small, should represent Him in some way. Should we turn away from someone just because of a mistake? did God turn away from me when I have sinned? While I in no way shape or form condone the way this person is now living, rather than try to forget that they ever existed, I should be praying that they see God now more than ever. Cause once they see God, then they will see the error of their ways. Not with everyone judging them. Cause when everyone tells you that you are wrong, its so easy to just ignore them. Cause so often we speak not out of love, but out of our own so-called self righteousness, whether we realize it or not. So often we speak of the speck in someone else's eye, rather than the log in our own. No one likes to admit that they made a mistake, yet when someone else fails, fingers start pointing and tongues start wagging. Its no wonder why Christians can be the worst models for Christ. We can be just as judgmental and hypocritical as anyone else. And the sad thing is, we often are. Instead of choosing a higher standard of living, we often settle into what is easy. We go along with the crowd.

I'm not saying that I have over come all of these tendency's, because I know that I haven't. Its always a struggle to stay away from certain conversations, or to blurt out what I'm thinking, or to start problems, and more often then not, I find myself doing these very things. I think every Christian daily find themselves in situations that would be so easy to go with the flow, rather than standing for what is right... Its like trying to walk up stream in a river. So many times you are so tired of doing the opposite that you just want to relax and be swept away. But the difference is made when we choose to keep trudging forward without falling. And trust me, people will start noticing you as you keep yourself from situations that could tear others down. They will notice that you aren't laughing at so and so like everyone else, or that you aren't gossiping are talking behind peoples backs. And I believe that thats the kind of person most people want to be friends with... People who they know will stand by them. They know they won't be judged. The rewards of living a life walking upstream can be so rewarding.
Tiring, exhausting maybe, but so fulfilling and worth it.
Be blessed~

Musicals.

I love musicals. Old ones. I don't like the High school musical (which I sat thru and had to endure whilst baby sitting, uhg...) But I LOVE the old ones. They are so much cleaner than any movie, even children's movies that are now playing in theatres, plus, there is actual GOOD singing. Here are some of my favorites:

Every year in August we pull St. Fair out, because our county fair is in August,
And this movie gets us "In the mood". Well, we are usually
completely excited months in advance before the fair, I should say that this movie
just hightens our excitement ;)

Another favorite, all though my family members don't share my same zeal
for Fiddler on the Roof. I actually saw a high school put on this production
about a year ago, and it was awesome! Yente made the show, in my opinion.

Tootie is my favorite. Plus "Meet Me in St. Louis" is a fun song to belt out
at the top of your longs :D

All though My Fair Lady is EXTREMELY long, it is great.
''Jist you waoit 'enry ' iggins...''

I love the songs in this one... 'nuff said.

Actually, Brigadoon kinda gives me the creeps now that I think about it.

This is one of my all time favorites, all though I decided I don't really care for Gene Kelly.
I guess its the way he comes across on screen...seems sorta...Stuck up.
Lina Lamont more than makes up for my dislike of Gene Kelly though:-)

I haven't seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in ages... its at my sisters house... Still a favorite though:-)
My sister Anna and I are going to be house sitting tonight, and are most likely going to
take this over to watch... We'll actually be able to watch what we want
without little brothers complaining about it. Its either this one or the long Pride and Prejudice.

There you have it :-) I highly recommend each and every one of these, so if you are bored and decide to pick up a movie or something, I would check and see if they have any of these!