Joy

I'm proofreading "The Expositor's Bible 14: The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther". Ran across some interesting quotes....

"People who cannot feel strong religious gladness have never known the heartache of deep religious grief." He's referring to the Jews as they return to Jerusalem after having been captives in Babylon for 70 years. I like this quote because it is true in my own life. As a result of mercury toxicity, I went through a deep depression last year. I have known deep spiritual grief. I feel more keenly now the spiritual joy that comes my way.

"There is no reason why religion should wear any other [than the sunniest] aspect to the devout soul. It should be happy; for is it not the worship of a happy God?" He's speaking of Judaism, but Christianity sprang from the Jews, did it not? It applies to us as well.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Beautiful Womanhood

Have you ever sat and watched today's society walk by? Oh my! Sometimes we just have to avert our eyes (too often) and pray for these poor souls.

Making Home Blog

Several times I have observed a man, young or not-so, turn and look at a girl's derrière. That, if nothing else, convinces me that my daughter and I should not wear form-fitting pants. We wear jeans. They're still the best for working and riding. But they're not tight and there's certainly nothing written on the backside! (As a young woman, I did wear them tight and I have repented.)

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

There are quite a few websites about being feminine and being modest. I just love reading the articles and looking at the pictures that inspire me to set an example to other Christians and to the world by how I present myself.

Ladies Against Feminism

Being a ranching family, we like to dress like the cowboys and cowgirls that we are. One item I have adopted is gauchos. It's basically a full split skirt. They've become popular in the western wear catalogs, but they're not cheap! About $50, but I found a pattern in the costume section of Butterick. Cost of very nice material is only about $20.

Noble Womanhood

There are plenty of modest shirts and blouses in the western wear catalogs nowadays. And for a brick and mortar store, Baskin's is a very good place to find pretty ones on clearance. I make it a point to ONLY buy clothing on sale or clearance. Oh, Tractor Supply is another good one, believe it or not.

Biblical Womanhood

These sites are all great, but I have special circumstances, so I pick and choose the things I can use, then ask the Lord to give me ideas for things like my chronic illness, wheat allergies, etc. He gives me such creative ideas! Just as every person is different, so every home is different, being made up of so many different individuals. I have learned to relax and follow God's unique plan for our home, which doesn't look just like anyone else's.

In Timely Fashion (I like the hairstyle tutorials!)

Sunday

Because we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday here, then leaving Friday to celebrate with my family on Saturday, we'll be busy the first three days of this week. Therefore, Rowdy decided to give the kids a little treat. He has taken Tana fishing on one of our ponds and put Dalton in a deer-hunting spot nearby. Such a good daddy!

Yesterday we bucked about 25 young bulls and the kids got to ride horses. I'm so thankful they're big enough to saddle their own horses, since I can no longer do it for them.

Birth Verse

This is a cool link that Rachel gave us.

What's your birth verse?

Kyria Galatians 3:27 NIV
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Rowdy: Daniel 6:27 NIV
He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Dalton: Matthew 11:29 NIV
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Tana: Genesis 9:12 NIV
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
(speaking of the rainbow.)

Jeremiah 29:11

Are you familiar with this verse? "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." It was the basis for Sunday's sermon.

It has always bothered me when someone expounds on a verse, but not its context. Here's the context for Jer. 29:11. Nebuchadnezzar had taken captive all the elders, princes, etc. and the king of Jerusalem and his queen. Took 'em all to Babylon. God told Jeremiah to write them a letter and tell them to basically settle in - build houses, plant gardens, get married, etc. God said, pray for the peace of the city in which you find yourselves, because its peace will be your peace.

Here's the warning: Don't let your prophets tell you that God's fixin' to destroy Babylon for what it did to you. If they say that, they're false prophets. This is My Word to you: After 70 years, I will bring you back to Jerusalem. THEN He says verse 11. But that's not all. He then says, "Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

Heavy stuff, isn't it? There's more, but I just wanted to share what it said to me this week. I've been dealing with chronic Lyme disease for 12 years now. Recently a good Christian friend told me to claim certain Scriptures on healing, mainly "by His stripes ye are healed." [Emphasis mine.] Meaning that as Christians we should never accept illness as God's will, but should pray and believe that God wants us to be healthy.

Believe me, this has caused conflict in my heart, not just recently, but many times over the years. Do I not have enough faith? Am I lacking something essential to my Christianity? Here's the answer God gave me this week. This is not an answer for all time, just an answer for where I find myself right now. If we never suffered adversity, we would never become strong. There is too much in the Bible telling us to expect suffering, even embrace it, for me to be able to believe the health/wealth and prosperity doctrine.

I was taking advantage of a teaching moment with my son and God showed me it applied to me as well. Because we live in a wealthy nation, lacking for nothing, my children sometimes feel we are unjust when we deny them some material possession. So I was telling him that we should not follow the culture and indulge ourselves in every desire we encounter. I said, if we never disciplined ourselves, if we indulged our every want, we would be weaklings, soft and useless to God's kingdom. God said to me, "That's your answer." My suffering has made me much stronger in character. Just as a body builder lifts weights that strain his muscles, the weight I carry builds my spiritual muscles when I practice certain disciplines in the face of my adversity.

Okay, end of lesson for today. May God richly reward you as you seek Him, for He promises you WILL find Him when you seek with all your heart.

Me

I will deign to post a picture of myself, but be advised this is the only authorized picture in existence. Tana has ambushed me on numerous occasions, but those are contraband and as such, have been confiscated.

Persons of Interest

Taking you back to the merry month of May, these are pictures that Tana took (who else).

This is Ma. She's Rowdy's mother, but everybody calls her Ma. Not just family. Everybody.
LaMerle's b'day is Nov. 10, same as Becca's.






This is Ethan. His mom, Holly, is Rowdy's sister. Ethan is 8 months older than Dalton. His b'day is March 24, same as Timmy, three days before mine.






Caleb is Ethan's younger brother. His b'day is May 29, same as Mum & Dad's anniversary, which is also the anniv. of Nicky and Donna. Nicky is LaMerle's brother.

Caleb's full name is Caleb Scott Gibbs. We have some good friends whose son is Caleb Scott Jones. Both boys have the same b'day, although Jones is older. Fascinating, eh?!


Sean, here, is Rowdy's boss at Tyson. He dropped by to watch us buck bulls. Sorry, I don't know his b'day, but Nicole (his wife) and I have accused Rowdy and Sean of being brothers. They are a lot alike and are very good friends.

Birthdays

At the risk of being called a copycat (see Four Mile Farm), Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law, Kris, and my "niblings" Dietrich and Sophie!

This is the most recent picture I have of Kris. And you can see oodles of pictures of the twins on Halcyon's blog. Just click on my link to Halcymouse.

Bucking Bulls

I thought y'all might enjoy seeing some of our bucking bulls in action. We were trying out some of our young ones with a bucking dummy.



Yes, this one is jumping backwards!









Tana took all these pictures.









Look at the height on this one!

Cowboy gathering

In October, we went to Linden, TX to Michael Martin Murphy's first Pineywoods Cowboy Gathering. We saw Carin Mari and her brothers, known as Pony Express. They're from Colorado and they were great! We also saw Red Steagall, Don Edwards, John Schaffner, and Waddie Mitchell. Oh, and the Gimballs put on a Texas Swing dance late that night. Wonderful music! MMM didn't perform on Friday, but Rowdy did get to talk to him.



Rowdy took a Dutch Oven cooking class from John Schaffner, something he's always wanted to learn more about.








Of course, they just used canned goods and powdered milk and such. We, being the good homesteaders that we are (wink), will be cooking from scratch.

Not only that, but since Tana and I are allergic to wheat, we have the added challenge of cooking and baking gluten-free.




Here's Rowdy enjoying the fruits of his labor, Cherry Chocolate Dump Cake. It involved a boxed cake mix, canned cherries, and a can of coke. I won't bother with the recipe since that's not how I recommend cooking!

Children

When I get a new digital camera (probably for Christmas), I'll be able to put current pic's up. In the meantime, you, dear Reader, will have to put up with older ones.

This is Dalton on his roping horse, Stonewall Jackson, or Jack for short. It's a January pic, so it's not too outdated. Dalton is about to turn 13.


This is Montana. She's 11 and we call her Tana. Her Aunt Rach took this pic when Tana was visiting there in Sept. She's making soap.

In the Beginning

Well, everybody else in my family has a blog, so I thought I'd bow to the peer pressure and start one too. Soooo, I'll post something tomorrow. ;-)