Sunday, August 31, 2008

Guess who's back?

We have a new (sort of) resident on the farm as of this morning....tune in tomorrow to find out who's back :)

Friday, August 29, 2008

Experiencing a "thorn"?

Then you need to read Elisabeth Elliot's short devotional for today!
Author: Elisabeth Elliot
Source: A Lamp For My Feet
Scripture Reference: Psalm 61:2 2 Corinthians 12:9 Mark 14:34-36

Immunity--No. Grace--Yes.

Someone asked last week, "When Jim died was your walk with the Lord close enough that His love and comfort and presence were sufficient at all times--or did grief and sorrow at times overtake and overwhelm you?"

My answer is yes to both questions. It is not an either-or matter. The psalmist, overwhelmed, prayed, "Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I" (Ps 61:2 AV).

Paul, plagued by a thorn, besought the Lord three times to remove it.

Jesus, "horror-stricken and desperately depressed," prayed "O My Father--if it be possible..." (Mk 14:34,36).

Of none of these--the psalmist, the apostle, the Lord--could it be said that his walk with God was not close enough. There was human suffering and divine sufficiency. This is the story of our life. The promise is "My grace is sufficient" (2 Cor 12:9 AV), not "My grace will abolish your thorns."

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Are we a threat?

Please see my comments on this article at the end...
Homeschoolers Threaten Our Cultural Comfort
Sonny Scott
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Ms.

You see them at the grocery, or in a discount store.

It's a big family by today's standards - "just like stair steps," as the old folks say. Freshly scrubbed boys with neatly trimmed hair and girls with braids, in clean but unfashionable clothes follow mom through the store as she fills her no-frills shopping list.

There's no begging for gimcracks, no fretting, and no threats from mom. The older watch the younger, freeing mom to go peacefully about her task.

You are looking at some of the estimated 2 million children being home schooled in the U.S., and the number is growing. Their reputation for academic achievement has caused colleges to begin aggressively recruiting them. Savings to the taxpayers in instructional costs are conservatively estimated at $4 billion, and some place the figure as high as $9 billion. When you consider that these families pay taxes to support public schools, but demand nothing from them, it seems quite a deal for the public.

Home schooling parents are usually better educated than the norm, and are more likely to attend worship services. Their motives are many and varied. Some fear contagion from the anti-clericalism, coarse speech, suggestive behavior and hedonistic values that characterize secular schools. Others are concerned for their children's safety. Some want their children to be challenged beyond the minimal competencies of the public schools. Concern for a theistic world view largely permeates the movement.

Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in California.

Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?

Methinks American middle-class people are uncomfortable around the homeschooled for the same reason the alcoholic is uneasy around the teetotaler.

Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto Caesar the things that Caesar's be, but they draw the line at their children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.

Just as the jealous Chaldeans schemed to bring the wrath of the king upon the Hebrew eunuchs, we are happy to sic the state's bureaucrats on these "trouble makers." Their implicit rejection of America's most venerated idol, Materialism, (a.k.a. "Individualism") spurs us to heat the furnace and feed the lions.

Young families must make the decision: Will junior go to day care and day school, or will mom stay home and raise him? The rationalizations begin. "A family just can't make it on one income." (Our parents did.) "It just costs so much to raise a child nowadays." (Yeah, if you buy brand-name clothing, pre-prepared food, join every club and activity, and spend half the cost of a house on the daughter's wedding, it does.) And so, the decision is made. We give up the bulk of our waking hours with our children, as well as the formation of their minds, philosophies, and attitudes, to strangers. We compensate by getting a boat to take them to the river, a van to carry them to Little League, a 2,800-square-foot house, an ATV, a zero-turn Cub Cadet, and a fund to finance a brand-name college education. And most significantly, we claim "our right" to pursue a career for our own "self-fulfillment."

Deep down, however, we know that our generation has eaten its seed corn. We lack the discipline and the vision to deny ourselves in the hope of something enduring and worthy for our posterity. We are tired from working extra jobs, and the looming depression threatens our 401k's. Credit cards are nearly maxed, and it costs a $100 to fuel the Suburban.

Now the kid is raising h... again, demanding the latest Play Station as his price for doing his school work ... and there goes that modest young woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn't you just love to wipe that serene look right off her smug face?

Is it any wonder we hate her so?

And the most important question....is that a bad thing....to threaten our "cultural comfort"? Perhaps we are just willing to lay our lives down as we feel our Father calls us to do! And do you think they realize how hard this is....to have well behaved children, to be serene in, perhaps, difficult circumstances, to do without so many things so that Mom can stay home with the children, to give up the "normal" American lifestyle and face the displeasure and sometimes even persecution of strangers, friends and even family? Friends and family who are willing to sacrifice your children on the alters of money, easy lifestyle and "being normal".

Perhaps our "cultural comfort" needs more than threatening!

Blessings!

Doodle

Also known as Elijah. My fiery child, my passionate child, my creative child. He loves creation, studies it, revels in it. He's also known as being a little strange quirky. He has a tender heart, easily bruised...he's the baby of my four boys but he can hold his own, quite loudly, against his brothers if need be. He makes friends wherever he goes. Never meets a stranger and has no problem holding a conversation.... with anyone....anytime..... anywhere...even if he's alone!?

Elijah comes up with "interesting" ideas. Ideas that make a Mama's heart quake. I thought pictures might say it best...we'll start with that tender heart and move on to.....stranger things.



Elijah found two banty chicks roaming the garden without their mama. He was worried that one of our cats would consider them tasty morsels. We gave mama a day to find the babies (while Elijah diligently watched to make sure they were safe) and then he "rescued" them.

They are now residing happily in the equipment shed in a brooder (instead of his room, which was his original idea). Elijah is tenderly caring for them until they are big enough to be turned loose....where they most likely will return to the garden and peck ALL of my tomatoes. It's what bantys and chickens do. Seriously. I am allowing him to raise more of the very birds that create my biggest gardening nightmare...others deal with tomato worms, squash bugs, Japanese beetles....I have chickens. Chickens LOVE red things. My tomatoes and hot peppers are red. I'm just saying.

Recently, Elijah saved his allowance and purchased a BOAT. If you call it a toy, a raft, a float...you will be quickly corrected. This is a BOAT. Never mind that you BLOW IT UP. Never mind that it cost $7. IT IS A BOAT!

Elijah wanted to take this boat out onto our pond. I said sure, just take one of the older boys with you. Off they went. Then he came home. Like this....



Isn't it just amazing? Evidently, Elijah stepped out of the boat onto the "shore". I think I've mentioned that we have been enduring a 10 year drought. Our pond is down several feet. According to Elijah, the mud along the shore has turned into quick sand and it sucked him right down to his knees. It required him to use his hands to get out...which were quickly sucked in up to his elbows. Josiah spent an hour hosing his brother off so he would be clean enough to make it to the shower. Did I mention that pond scum stinks? A LOT!

Then there was the day that I couldn't find Elijah....I had called and called. So, of course, we thought he must be outside and we called and searched. No Elijah. Then that panic, truly only known to a mama, set in. Back in the house to look again, I open the door to a bedroom, which was dark and as my eyes adjusted I saw a strange shape on the bed. I flipped on the lights and...... I saw this....



Elijah. Laying in the BOAT. With a pillow. Wearing headphones. Listening to an old Bill Cosby CD. In the dark. Don't feel left out dear readers....I don't understand either! Once I made sure he was breathing and began to slip out of the room, he quietly called and asked me to be sure to turn the lights back off. I don't think he ever moved or opened his eyes...definitely quirky!

I also have to say that he gives THE best hugs in the world! Can melt my heart with those big brown eyes. Loves our Father with all of his heart. And makes us all laugh....a lot. He fills our lives with joy. We love him immensely. I thank my Father that He allowed me to have this "late in life" baby that turned into a wonderful boy who drives me to distraction while simultaneously melting my heart.

Watch out world....in a few short years he's headed your way.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Senseless murders!

Heart breaking....how we, as a nation, must cause our Father to weep. Watch...it's hard.....and pray for parents, pray for these little ones, pray for the election this fall, pray for our leaders, and pray for Father to have mercy on us!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Citrus Sensation!

*UPDATE*


I'm posting one of the comments here - for those who like to hear what others think!




I've used your new shampoo bar twice now and I love it. It smells divine and you're not exaggerating about the lather. I have very oily hair that is fine and straight as sticks. I have gone two days without shampooing and tomorrow it will be three. This will be the longest that I've gone ever. My hair goes flat and limp as soon as it gets oily. It's also long and down to my hips. I just wash and rinse and dry. It feels great. You need to make a bubble bath with this scent. It would be so relaxing after a hard days work of slopping hogs, feeding broiler and layers, working in the garden and making hay. I am looking forward to your working hands soap. My hands look awful after two days of canning peaches.

God Bless- Laura in Knoxville



Introducing my new Citrus Sensation Gourmet Shampoo Bars!! They are up and available on my website!



I've been using mine for about a week now and absolutely love it! It is filled with Grapefruit and Sweet Orange essential oils and I added just a touch of Lemon and Lime. I lived in Florida for many years and the scent reminds me of the orange grove we used to visit for fresh juice! Yummy!

Although all hair types can safely use this bar, it is especially lovely for those of us with oily hair. The citrus essential oils do a wonderful job of cleansing without drying! Elijah, who has normal hair, has also been using this bar and really enjoying it. It has definitely not been drying to his hair. Too many fine oils I think! I swirled the bars with paprika because I want them to be lovely to look at and I thought a bit of color was in order.

This bar will provide the same thick, rich, lather as my Rosemary and Lavender shampoo bar. I really need to soap up one of the boys and take a picture...you won't believe how thick it lathers! I can pretty much guarantee that would be Elijah - can't imagine either of my teenagers agreeing to have their wet, lathered heads paraded before everyone on the Internet!

You can read a recent review of my other shampoo bar here. I promise....we've never met and I didn't pay her to be so nice! However, it is apparent that she is one highly intelligent and gifted lady and we should all be reading her blog ;)

I'll be posting another new soap later this week...it is called Working Hands and is for all of us who work with our hands and need a little help keeping them clean. I'm also working on another shampoo bar for those struggling with dandruff....I'm really excited about this one! I hope to have it done sometime this fall.

I've been busy making soap and the curing rack is filling up....more good things to come!

Friday, August 22, 2008

For the first time ever!

Peaches!! We have two small peach trees. We have never had peaches. Peaches bloom early and it seems that we always have a frost that kills the blooms...or perhaps it is because they had never been pruned. Last winter, when the boys and I were pruning the apple trees in the little orchard, we also pruned the peach trees. OH MY! We had a ton of blooms and then we noticed little peaches. They have been a topic of conversation and we have watched with great interest to see if they would really make it to adult "peach hood".

I sent Elijah down to see if he found any ready to pick



...he came back with this......a big, beautiful bowl of peaches!

It may not show in the picture but this is one of my biggest stainless steel bowls. It's huge!

They were small but oh, my goodness, the flavor! And they were freestone! We ate some, took some to Mom and she enjoyed them and then froze the rest for winter!

We then decided to go back down there and check on the rest of the peaches...the trees were still loaded but not quite ready to pick. We checked it frequently and just the other day we picked. All four of us spent about 20 minutes cleaning off both trees. LOTS and LOTS of peaches!

There was one peach with a "nose" that delighted Elijah. The picture isn't great but you get the idea!



As you can see....we brought home quite a bit.



Mom took one basket and processed them for the freezer. Peach cobbler on a snowy day this winter! Yummy! I took the other basket. Mom came over and we enjoyed chatting for a couple of hours while we peeled them for freezer jam.

I see how, in the past, women encouraged and enjoyed each other over canning bees, quilting bees, shucking bees etc. We've lost, as women, an important part of life. I wish there was a way to get that back. I'm so glad I can experience it with Mom.

I took the peaches that we peeled and made freezer jam. Although we will all enjoy it, I did this especially for Jeremy....this is one of his favorite fruits. Out of one basket, I was able to make 13 pints of freezer jam. And boy is it good! I've given some away and tucked the rest into the freezer with a "one jar a month" limitation for the boys. Otherwise. we'd be through all of the freezer jam (all varieties) by Christmas!!

Isn't it pretty?!



We have decided that we definitely need to plant more peach trees...and I think we have figured out exactly where to put them! We'll be looking to do that this fall....hopefully in a few years we can increase our harvest. It will also be interesting next year to see if the yield was due to the weather or due to the fact that they were finally pruned! We will definitely be pruning again this fall!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Love comes in many shapes...

I hated my door. I've hated it for 10 long years. You see, we actually live in a basement - it's a walk-out basement but it's still a basement. Whoever built this house chose to build this part and live in it while they finished the "ranch" part. They never did. My doors were old, heavy, sliding glass doors....with no lock.

Our "security" consisted of a board in the door and a battery powered alarm that would sound if someone opened it. To leave and "lock up" meant we put the board in place, went upstairs and out the door of the foyer (the ONLY room on the middle level!) and locked that with a key. Coming home meant the same thing in reverse.

The reason I hated my doors is that they were unsafe and falling apart. The track was slowly disintegrating which meant that they didn't slide well anymore. They were heavy (did I mention that?) and sometimes impossible to close. My Mom never did have the strength to open or shut them well. I struggled with them a lot.

When it rained (which hasn't been often enough!) they swelled...or something swelled....and they were even harder to close - heavier than usual....and they were really. heavy. doors.

But look at us now baby!

Love comes in many shapes

These beautiful, secure, easy to close, easy to lock, came with a peephole, came with deadbolts, gorgeous, make it look like a real home, even my Mom can use them doors, were a recent gift of love from new family who were worried about our safety and took steps to see that we were safe. Loved us enough to want us to be safe....loved us enough to want us to be able to open and close the door without pulling the muscles in our backs every day. Loved us.....just plain loved us....enough.....to care.

My Father in heaven used humans to be the hands and feet of Christ to minister to us, provide for us and love us. These doors may just look like doors to the people who will walk through them over the years but they will always be a tangible, touchable symbol, to me, of love. Love of family and love of Yahweh for us.... children of the Most High King!

Love came to us.....in the shape of doors.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Why I homeschool....

There are hundreds of reasons but here is a doozy (emphasis throughout the article is mine). NEA is showing it's true colors and as far as I am concerned they are pretty ugly....have you read? Perhaps they'd just like us to give birth and drop our babies on their doorsteps....I'm thoroughly disgusted after reading this twaddle!

Love to hear your thoughts on the subject!
The NEA Spells Out Its Policies
by Phyllis Schlafly, July 30, 2008

The nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), attracted 9,000 delegates to its annual convention in Washington, DC over the Fourth of July weekend. Delegates sported buttons with provocative slogans such as "Gay marriage causes Global Warming only because we are so hot!", "Hate is not a family value," "The 'Christian Right' is neither," and "Gay Rights are civil rights."

The delegates passed dozens of hard-hitting resolutions which now become the NEA's official policy. The resolutions authorize NEA members and employees to lobby for those goals in the halls of Congress and state capitols.

NEA resolutions cover the waterfront of all sorts of political issues that have nothing to do with improving education for schoolchildren, such as supporting statehood for the District of Columbia, a "single-payer health care plan" (i.e., government-run), gun control, ratification of the International Criminal Court Treaty, and taking steps "to change activities that contribute to global climate change."

The NEA fiercely opposes any competition for public schools, such as vouchers, tuition tax credits, parental option plans, or public support of any kind to non-public schools. The NEA strongly opposes designating English as our official language (even though this is supported by more than 80 percent of Americans).

The NEA opposes homeschooling unless kids are taught by state-licensed teachers using a state-approved curriculum. The NEA wants to bar homeschooled students from participating in any extracurricular activities in public schools (even though their parents pay school taxes, too).

The NEA wants many additional (job-creating) services and programs to be provided by public schools such as early childhood education (i.e., baby-sitting for pre-schoolers). NEA resolutions call for "programs in the public schools for children from birth through age eight," and for "mandatory kindergarten with compulsory attendance."

NEA resolutions include all the major feminist goals such as "the right to reproductive freedom" (i.e., abortion on demand); "comparable worth" (i.e., government control of wages according to feminist ideology rather than the free market); full funding for the feminist boondoggle called the Women's Educational Equity Act; and "the use of non-sexist language" (i.e., censoring out all masculine words such as husband and father).

The NEA even urges its affiliates to work for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA was declared dead by the U.S. Supreme Court 26 years ago.

The influence of the gay lobby is pervasive in dozens of NEA resolutions adopted by 2008 convention delegates. Diversity is the code word used for pro-gay indoctrination in the classroom.

The NEA's Diversity resolution makes clear that this means teaching about "sexual orientation" and "gender identification," words that are repeated in dozens of resolutions. The NEA demands that "diversity-based curricula" even be imposed on preschoolers.

NEA convention delegates were invited to an Open Hearing by the SOGI Committee in Room 149A on July 1. In case you don't know, SOGI stands for Sexual Orientation Gender Identification.

The NEA urges its members to offer "diverse role models" by the "hiring and promotion of diverse education employees in our public schools." The NEA puts "domestic partnerships, civil unions, and marriage" on an equal footing.

The NEA wants every child (i.e., regardless of age) to have "direct and confidential access (i.e., without notification to parents) to comprehensive health (i.e., including learning how to use condoms for premarital sex), social, and psychological programs and services."

The NEA wants public schools to take over the physical and mental care of students through school clinics that provide services, diagnosis, treatment, family-planning counseling, and access to birth control methods "with instruction in their use." Family planning clinics are called on to "provide intensive counseling."

The NEA wants all sex education courses, textbooks, curricula, instructional materials and activities to include indoctrination about sexual orientation and gender identification plus warnings about homophobia.

The NEA is very generous with taxpayers' money spent on illegal aliens. The NEA not only favors amnesty for illegal alien students, but also in-state college tuition and financial aid to illegal alien college students.

The NEA is strong for "multicultural education," which the resolution makes clear does not mean studying facts about different countries and cultures. It means "the process of incorporating the values" and influencing "behavior" toward the NEA's version of "the common good," such as "reducing homophobia."

Of course, the NEA supports "global education" to teach "interdependency in sharing the world's resources." It's also no surprise that the NEA adamantly opposes any requirement that schools "schedule a moment of silence."

Will parents be silent about the radical goals of their children's teachers?

Read this article online: http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2008/july08/08-07-30.html

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Requesting prayer....

*UPDATE* I talked with Amanda's Mom today. Surgery went well - actually shorter than they thought. They did not have to put pins and a plate in her wrist. They did however use some screws that will come out weeks down the road. Amanda was in some pain after surgery but according to how she does, they will either let her come home tonight or tomorrow morning. Thanks so much to all of you who prayed!

Please be in prayer for Amanda. She is undergoing surgery at 9:00 am this morning. We are asking for wisdom for the doctors as they try to determine if her wrist needs pins or pins and a plate.

We are also asking for peace for her and her family. She has been through so much trauma from the accident....this is a difficult time for her and for her family.

Thank you, dear readers, for standing before the throne on her account.

I'll update when I know how things went.

Blessings,
Cheri

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Kansas Milkmaid Update

Had a wonderfully long phone visit with the Kansas Milkmaid this weekend. Several of you have asked about her so I thought I would share what I could.

She and the children have moved to an undisclosed location. It is undisclosed for their safety...so don't ask me! She is getting a handle, as are the children, on "normal life". She is doing what milkmaids do...she is milking and making cheese, loving and spending time with her children.

Will she write again...she is weighing that possibility. She does not want, at this time, to divulge her location so she has not figured that out.

She appreciates the prayers and well wishes and wants y'all to know that they are happy, healthy and most importantly safe.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Who will you vote for?

This is from the Hampton Roads Daily Press.
There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the prof noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked:'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.
'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again.
You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run a round and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.'
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax cuts, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc..
While we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably ignore this. But God help you when the gate slams shut!

The only thing I can add to this is a question for you......Which candidates out there are most eager to spread around the feed corn, and what might their motives be? Think about it!

The bold emphasis is mine....I encourage you to check out the Constitution Party here.

Restore the Republic!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Desiring riches?

Why not?  All the media push it. The lotteries tempt you with it....the American message is "you'll be _______ if you buy this!" (insert in the blank: prettier, sexier, happier, more successful or whatever tickles your fancy).

The answer?  Read this excellent post by The Deliberate Agrarian....one of the best I've ever read concerning Christians and the current push for wealth by the "American church system" using the prosperity gospel.

Excellent job Herrick - this is required reading for my boys today!

Our Father's Grace

I talked with Amanda yesterday! She sounded good. She is managing the pain well. They wanted to do surgery yesterday morning on her wrist but she felt led to wait through the weekend. Her family (and ours) is praying that our Father will heal her....and that the x-rays that will be taken next Monday morning will be a testimony to those doctors. Will you pray that with us please?

Amanda told me that after the car hit her head on, she was hit four more times from the rear.

She forwarded me pictures...the cuts and bruising were shocking. This young lady looks like someone took a baseball bat to her body!

And her car...the pictures speak for themselves...

The front of her car...

\

The back of her car....

The back of her car

The side of her car...



....thank you Father for protecting her! We know it was Your mercy and grace!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Pray for Amanda!

6:00 PM  *UPDATE* The last I heard, they are pretty sure the bladder is ok.  They don't know where the fluid in the abdomen is coming from but they aren't too worried about it.  She may actually be released tonight.  They aren't sure about operating on the wrist at this time...when...where...not known.  Thanks so much for your prayers.  Will write when I hear more.

I got a call late last night....it was Amanda's mama, Carolyn. A diabetic driver had lost consciousness and drifted across the center line...and hit Amanda head on. Amanda is very dear to our family and especially to my oldest son.

Carolyn called me from the hospital to tell me that Amanda had a severely shattered wrist which will require surgery and that there is fluid leaking into her abdomen from someplace. At first they thought her bladder had ruptured...now they don't think so. That's the last I heard.

My first thought was "Father's grace!". Grace that Amanda survived...that her injuries don't appear to be life threatening...that she was still here for us to hug and to love.

Please be praying for Amanda, she is in terrific pain. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they try to piece her shattered wrist back together and that her wrist joint would function well. It is her left wrist and Amanda is a lefty. Pray for relief from the pain...for peace for her family...for multiplied rest.

Pray for the other driver and their family...I don't know if they survived or what their condition is at this point.

Our Father is good..we KNOW this...somehow this "gift" although it appears as suffering and pain will bring good things to all involved...I KNOW He is good and only gives good things....no matter how it appears to us...pray that we will find the good in this.

Praising Him today....

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Fruit of the party!

It all arrived in 4 huge boxes! Your orders came so quick! When we got them all unpacked it looked like this before we bagged it all for delivery....



Here's the neat thing. When I talked to Brandy about doing the party, Brandy told me I would receive $15 in free stuff for buying the ingredients to the meal. I thought that was ok...some of those ingredients could come from my garden so it wasn't a problem.

I made my list...it was a long list. I thought I'd keep that list and work on it for years...turns out you get MORE than just the $15. You get FREE STUFF! And there was some special deal in July where they added $50 for the hostess in FREE STUFF!

So, I was able to make a dent in my list. How cool is that...FREE STUFF!!! My question is how come none of the women I know (I'm talkin' to y'all!) have ever invited me to a Pampered Chef party? I've done Tupperware (before I learned about plastic!), I've done Mary Kay....and I'm sure I've done other "party" things. But I have never received so much for doing a party (or had to do so little to have it!). This was SO easy. I've been missing out all these years!

I listened to all of you and got some of the things you mentioned. If it was mentioned more than once I paid special attention. I now have a FREE chopper sitting in my kitchen...and a FREE muffin pan! (I've been looking for 2 years for a non-aluminum, non-coated muffin pan!) I got some little glass bowls free for hosting the party...Elijah really liked those. The pizza stone and pizza cutter were half price for the hostess! I am just so excited!!! I can't understand why everyone isn't doing this :)

The neat thing is it really helped Brandy. She gets to earn Pampered Chef dollars to use for increasing the size of her demonstration kit. Because of her sales in her first three months - they will double her dollars and those of you who participated in the party with us helped her reach that goal! THANK YOU!!!!!

Yes, I'll still need to work on my wish list for a long time. So....have a local party with Brandy....I'll come if you'll invite me! Live in another state? Have a catalog party with Brandy...email me to let me know and I'd love to purchase something!.

Listen y'all....I'm expecting invitations!!!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Soap Update!

Just to let you know...Lavender Buds Soap and Baby's Breath Soap are done curing and available again!

Republic or Democracy?

Believe it or not most people, including many of our representatives, have it wrong!! America is NOT, nor was it ever intended to be, a democracy....it is a Republic!

Chuck Baldwin is running for President...he is a strict Constitutionalist and a Christian.  He is running on the Constitution Party ticket.  Haven't heard of him?  Not seen him in the news?  And you still think we have a free and unbiased press?  Can I tell you about a bridge for sale ;) ?

Mr. Baldwin says it well:
Save The Planet? How About Saving The Republic?
By Chuck Baldwin
July 30, 2008

Yesterday, the Politico quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying, "I'm
trying to save the planet; I'm trying to save the planet." She was
responding, of course, to pressure that she and her fellow Democrats are
experiencing to suspend a congressional ban on offshore oil drilling in the
face of skyrocketing energy prices. It would be really wonderful, however,
if the liberal congresswoman could get as energized about saving our once
great republic.

Herein lies another problem: the vast majority of our politicos (from both
major parties) do not even seem to know what kind of country the United
States was designed to be. Virtually every reference made to the United
States by our civil magistrates is that we are a "democracy." That's odd;
someone should have told our Founding Fathers, because they emphatically
rejected the concept of creating a "democracy" in favor of creating a
constitutional republic.

Has anyone quoted the Pledge of Allegiance lately? Does it say, "And to the
democracy for which it stands"? Or does it say, "And to the republic for
which it stands"? Of course it says "republic."

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, a passerby asked
Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got--a republic or monarchy?"
Franklin replied, "A republic--if you can keep it."

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the sixty-four million dollar question: Can we
keep our republic? Can we keep our constitutional form of government? Can we
keep our constitutionally protected liberties?

In Federalist No. 10, James Madison ("The Father of the U.S. Constitution")
said, "[D]emocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention;
have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of
property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been
violent in their deaths."

The fear of what happens to freedom and liberty under democratic rule is
what prompted Madison and the rest of America's founders to labor so hard to
create what they did: a constitutional republic.

Under God, it is allegiance to the Constitution that has preserved our
liberties, our peace and happiness, our security, and our very way of life.
Furthermore, it is the repudiation and rejection of constitutional
government that is responsible for the manner in which these very same
blessings are currently being lost.

Someone needs to remind Rep. Pelosi that it is not her duty (nor does she
have the power) to "save the planet." And by the same token, someone needs
to remind Senators Barack Obama and John McCain that they are not
campaigning to be President of the World, but President of the United
States.

What every elected officeholder is expected and required to do is very
simple: they are required to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
of the United States of America. Period. End of story.

Our public servants are not charged with saving the snail darter or the
Spotted Owl, or saving the profits of the international bankers, or saving
Wall Street in general, or saving the perks of corporate lobbyists, or
saving Freddie and Fannie, or saving the peoples of the world from all the
bogeymen, or even saving humankind or the planet itself. What our public
servants are charged with, however, is preserving (saving) our
constitutional republic.

Of course, the problem is, the people who are charged with the preservation
of our republic are the ones who are the most responsible for its
destruction. The American people have far more to fear from Nancy Pelosi,
Barack Obama, and John McCain than they do from any foreign adversary,
because our leaders have proven that they have absolutely no fidelity to the
principles of constitutional government. They have no compunction about
eviscerating the protection of our freedoms, or about abolishing the
vanguard of our liberties. They are Machiavellian, making King George of old
look like a mere amateur.

No, I take that back. It is not our civil magistrates who are most
responsible for the destruction of our republican form of government: it is
"We the people."

At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the people to govern
themselves. We must be willing to hold our civil magistrates accountable to
the contract they made with us, which is to uphold constitutional
government. It is our duty to "throw off" any system of government that does
not secure our liberties and protect our constitution. And this we have not
done.

Christian pastors and ministers have failed us. The "Religious Right" has
failed us. College professors have failed us. High School teachers have
failed us. Newspaper editors and publishers have failed us. TV news anchors
and reporters have failed us. Parents have failed. Friends have failed. The
two major political parties have failed. As a whole, no one is talking
about, or even thinking about, the loss of constitutional government,
national independence, and sovereignty. Few seem even conscious that this is
taking place.

Worrying about which major party wins a general election is like worrying
about whether Coke or Pepsi sold more soft drinks last month. Pick your
poison. One is just as bad as the other. Neither has any fidelity to the
Constitution or to the principles of liberty, which it represents. Both John
McCain and Barack Obama are enemies to constitutional government. Both are
in the process of sacrificing our national sovereignty to global entities.
Both men lied when they took an oath to preserve and protect the
Constitution. So, why should we care which impostor wins the election?

It is up to the American people to enforce constitutional government. From a
Christian perspective, it is "We the people" who are the "powers that be" in
Romans chapter 13. Under our form of government, the source of authority and
the source of legitimacy reside with "We the people." We are not the slaves
of any king or despot. Our elected leaders are public servants, not private
masters. In a nutshell, they work for us. They are contracted to preserve
our liberties and our way of life. When they fail, they must answer to us.

So, when will the American people pick themselves up by the bootstraps and
start acting like free citizens and stop groveling before these imbecilic
political parties? When will we set this political house in order?

Of course, all of this demands that each of us understands constitutional
government and the principles upon which liberty rests. It also demands that
each of us be prepared to do whatever is our personal duty to preserve this
republic.

Patriotism is more than waving a flag on July 4th, or singing The National
Anthem at a ball game, or wearing a flag lapel pin on Flag Day. For an
American, real patriotism means that we are willing to preserve and protect
our constitutional republic. Remember, Franklin's answer: "A republic--if
you can keep it."

Nancy Pelosi can talk about saving the planet all she wants to: her duty,
however, is to preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution. And that
is also the job of every single American citizen. Unfortunately, most of us
are no better at doing our job than Pelosi is at doing hers.

*If you enjoyed this column and want to help me distribute these editorial
opinions to an ever-growing audience, donations may now be made by credit
card, check, or Money Order. Use this link:

http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/donate.php

(c) Chuck Baldwin

Please visit Chuck's web site at http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com

Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Big City

We made a trek to Sodom and Gomorrah the big city last Friday. Knoxville. It was heart breaking. We went for a good reason. Jeremy has worked hard for many months and saved all most of his money. He bought an Apple Macbook. We have used Apple computers since 1988...my first apple was an Apple II GS. I used it for 10 years. It did everything but the dishes.

We arrived early...the deal was to purchase a computer and get a free iPod Touch. This is essentially the iPhone without the phone part - it is like a PDA. Just think "very tiny computer I can keep in my pocket." We knew the lines might be long...plus it was tax-free days in Tennessee. Jeremy would be saving $300 (cost of the iPod Touch) plus another $150 in tax. It was worth the trip.

The Apple store is in the mall. What did I see? Skin...lots and lots of skin. Lots of very short skirts (how do they sneeze?), low pants, (zippers only 1 inch in length!), embarrassingly low tops (and they were with their mamas!), short tops...displaying all from the midriff down, disgusting logos written across bottoms and tops!....TONS of makeup - so much so that these girls don't even look real anymore...they look like robots or dolls done in bad taste. See through tops and bottoms....

*NOTE* truthfully girls/women we DON'T want to see your undergarments...

These people didn't even look happy. I saw few smiles. I saw nothing wholesome, pure, clean ...everything/everyone looked well used and worn out...from people to clothing. It was a depressing sight.

I saw little girls looking for love in all the wrong ways...where are their Daddy's who should be fulfilling that role? I saw lost people who were striving for those things and those ways of life that the enemy whispers are so important. I saw people who are desperately loved by our Father...and aren't even aware that He exists. How His heart must break...

I walked by store window after store window with no desire to enter the stores. (I confess.... I went into a kitchen store...I compared prices with Pampered Chef....Pampered Chef won!). I saw lots of "restaurants" serving fake food/fast food. No temptation there

I was happy to get the computer and leave. Jeremy was happy to get the computer and leave. I think we all were...although Elijah would have liked to visit the Marble Slab Creamery. However, I just don't want to be served my ice cream while having 4 inches of cleavage shoved in my face (or my boys faces!).

We ran a few other short errands. Traffic was awful. The roads are under construction - at least the main roads were. Detours were plentiful.

I was full of praise and gratitude..."Thank you Father that I don't have to do this everyday...that I don't have to drive here...live here...be here. Thank you Father for green fields, blue skies, rolling hills, song birds, horses hooves pounding, the lowing of cattle...good food, real food, gardens, real people, modest people...thank you for YOU...for loving me....for being who You are...Pure... Undefiled ...Holy".

We headed home....I just wanted to take a shower.
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