Baby Chicks!

Promise of Abundance to Come...

My other car is a white horse...

~~Revelation 19:14~~

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY.......

49YRS OF LEARNING TO STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES :)

"Passover Dinner"....of Sorts!

(Is licking the bowl Kosher?!?)

Happy Holy Week, Y'All! My youngest and I are still up near Atlanta with my dear MIL as she undergoes chemo for lung CA. I decorated the table with various things found around the house and in storage in the garage. We had Matzo Ball Soup from a mix that I found in the pantry, salad, honeyed carrots, relish tray. Not too extravagant, but the fellowship was sweet :) I simply read Hebrews 10:19-25 as a devotional reading before we prayed and ate...

It was my first time making Matzo Ball Soup. The balls are the texture of half noodle/half bread. Next year, if the LORD wills and I shall live, and He doesn't "collect me" first, I would like to prepare way ahead of time for this very special week's activities, foods, decorations, and celebration in general. Our family has been in transition for years now, not really knowing what to do, other than we KNEW we didn't want to do the "bunny" thing anymore! We've had to try and replace the Easter-type trappings (no pun intended ;), with more Bible-oriented activities. To our dismay, there just wasn't much Biblical going on out "there"---including the churches!....egghunts?!?...So...we tried having older family members stand at "stations" around the property, ready to ask an age-appropriate, Bible-based question, taken from the Holy Week events, to each child as they take turns going around. At the end of the round, having their checklist of stations checked off, they were given a unique "treasure map" which led to a goodie bag containing treats and toys for their enjoyment. I think important celebrations should be FUN for children!!! But NOT at the expense of losing the meaning of the occasion.

This past year, some very good friends of ours began to attend a Messianic Congregation in the area. They invited us to their home last year for a Passover seder-type dinner. We LOVED the focus on the Lamb of God, and how the celebrations of the OT pointed to Christ. In this day and age when it seems the "church" is becoming more and more like the world, many, like our family, seem to be turning to the groups who are focusing on who/what we are in Christ, and worshiping Him as the Redeemed, rather than trying to "reach out" to the unsaved/unchurched by trying to attract them and make them feel comfortable in our worship/sacred assemblies. Don't get me wrong. There's a definite command to "Go" to the world, and preach the Gospel--but we're NOT told to bring the unsaved in. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Pastors are for the flock. Evangelists are for the lost. IMHO, there should be more "family business" going on during church gatherings, rather than "tip-toeing" around trying not to offend the lost or prodigals! On the contrary, we should be being fed, exhorted, rebuked, taught, encouraged, strengthened, prayed for, annointed, etc. when we get together--edified and built-up, so that we can LIVE being salt and light out in the world the rest of the time! We are "living epistles", hopefully "adorning the Gospel" with our lives as "neighbors".

OK. I'm done with my birthday rant now. Hope you all have a great day!...I take comfort in remembering that the LORD is faithful! Jesus said, "I will build my church."

Holy Week 2011

Palm Sunday dinner at Don's mom's. It's really different from what I'm used to in recent years (7-15 people at everything...), but Hosannah and I are privileged to be able to be here for her during this cancer treatment period----and she's doing much better the past 2 rounds...Maybe the next will be the last one.

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I got tears in my eyes at the stores as I couldn't find anything for Palm or Resurrection Sunday--next to nothing at the "Christian" Bookstore either! I want to take the time in the coming year to really prepare for Holy Week next year....More on that later :) Hope you all have a wonderful time of fellowship with friends, family, and most of all, the LORD during this very special season when we celebrate God's provision of the perfect Lamb--Jesus, to take away the sins of the world! Hosannah!!

***********HI PEEPS!!**********

Came home for 1 week and tried to get as much done as possible. Just returned to help with Mother-in-Law continuing chemo for a couple of weeks (4/3), then home for another week (4/17), before coming back for another planned round (5/2)...If all goes as planned.

Here are a few pix of how home looked when I left...

Here are the guys trying (later, successful :) to get the old tractor tires off using all kinds of means....

Some irises I'm hoping bloom this year---I've watered with dregs from bottom of koi pond. They look a whole lot healthier this year. I also took the mulch that had accumulated on top of the roots off. Apparently, they don't like that....That's a long stemmed yellow rose bush in the front right...

You can barely see the 6 cages containing tiny tomato plants to the right and 6 tiny pepper plants to the left (orange flags) in this garden not too far up from my back door...Managed to salvage them from some seedlings which I had tried to grow the last time I left home. (See earlier post!!) My 15yr old did pretty well :) If they live, we'll show updates!

I learned that you DON'T "prune" pear trees, as they get a bacterial disease called "Fire Blight" on the new, succulent growth which can kill the entire plant. The pineapple pear just above and to the left of this garden got this disease this spring. I pinched off the affected tips/pears and removed them from the area. I didn't get all of them however, I hope it was good enough. I learned from my Rodale's gardening book, that you must spray with dormant oil in the early spring in areas where this is a probem...I'm documenting all of these facts inside my gardening book under each season for each crop, hoping not to repeat the same problems next year...There's a LOT to learn. We lost our 2 goat kids also at about 8wks. Still trying to put all of the pieces together on that one :(

These are baby pears on the bigger tree closer to the house. I believe they are Asian pears, as they do not get soft until they begin to rot. You pick them when they just begin to take on a yellowish/green color, and the flesh just gives a little near the stem. They are more round-shaped.

This is a view from the back, west side of the house looking toward our little pond and the lane beyond which leads up to our oldest son's and his wife's home :)

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Of course I miss home and family and friends, but I am so privileged to be able to have the flexibility to come and help care for my Mother in Law who has been sooooo wonderful to her kids all these years!! We begin round 4 of chemo tomorrow. While she gets her treatment, my 9yr old and I work on school in the atrium lobby of the building, or get a flavored Kurig coffee or hot chocolate in the oncology waiting room and look through the various home/travel/gardening magazines for about 1 1/2hrs.

Today, my sweet husband is 49. Swwweeeet :)

?
Why is it that we,
in the very kingdom of grace,
surrounded by angels,
and preceded by saints,
nevertheless, can do so little,
and, instead of mounting with wings like eagles,
grovel in the dust,
and do but sin, and confess sin alternately?
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Is it that the power of God is not within us?
Is it literally that we are not able to perform God's commandments?
God forbid.
We are able.
We have that given us which makes us able.
We do have a power within us to do what we are commanded to do.
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What is it we lack?
The power?
No; the will.
What we lack is the simple, earnest, sincere inclination and aim to use what God has given us, and what we have in us. (John Henry Newman)

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Put another way: We don't know what we are, nor what is the battle that is raging...For surely, if we did comprehend these things, we would act! Open our eyes, LORD!