Thursday 29 May 2014

Visitors, Fridges and Skid Steers

Well, it wasn't the overwhelming numbers I was hoping for, but I still had a few come over the last two days and I still feel they were the exact right ones.  It was a group effort preparing for these ladies (even one Dad came!) We had coffee and tea ready to go, scones were made, the house was tidied and the yard looked great - everyone had really pulled together.  Even if no one had showed up, I think it was a great two days, just modeling for the kids what hospitality can look like, but more importantly, purposeful hospitality.

The ones who came really wanted to be here.  They were so excited to come and see the animals and still marveled that they'd been invited when I didn't really know them.   One lady, a grandma who watches her grandchild, said, No one has anyone over anymore.  It just isn't done." When I stop to think why the others didn't come, I can only think they were uncomfortable with the idea of showing up to someone's house that they'd never been to and that they didn't personally know.  One of the ladies who came described to me where she lived, very close to me actually.  Suddenly it occurred to me, I knew exactly which house it was! I drive by her place all the time and every time I drive by I was always think to myself, "I want to meet the person that lives there."  Why is that?  You know how you can tell, or at least you think you can tell, a little about a person just by the style of their clothes?  Well, in this case, I would drive by her house and I had always admired the way she decorated her house on the outside!  From the paint colour to her hanging pots in the summer to her Christmas lighting and vintage knick knacks in the winter, I thought to myself, "That owner is neat.  I love how she puts things together."  Then I also remember thinking, "How will I meet that person?  I'll never be able to just run into them."  I knew I would literally have to stop in one day and just introduce myself.  Well, now I don't have to!  Once I figured out that the owner of that house was now at my house, I told her how I had always wanted to meet her and compliment her on her unique style.  She was flattered and humbled.  I found out she had a business doing that kind of decor, which makes sense!  She's a great ad for her own business!  So, I think it was really neat that the one person in my town that I wanted to meet was one of the only women who came that day.  Providence?  We exchanged numbers and had a great conversation about many things including how I came to homeschool, etc.  The conversations over the two days were "salted" with all things spiritual or church which led to one lady wondering where I went to church and seemed interesting in attending as she said she was looking for a church!  I made sure all of them knew when more baby animals were coming so that they had another excuse to come by, ideally allowing me to pursue even more conversations.  On top of that we are hosting a Christian concert in July hopefully on our farm, so I invited them to that, too.

All in all, it was a good two days.  I will probably attempt another program next Spring, too - I can't get the other ladies out of my mind, so I pray I'll have more opportunities in the future.  It's good for the kids to also see things don't always go as we think they'll go, but that God is still sovereign.

Meanwhile, Renaissance Man and our oldest boy is on his way to pick up a fridge.  I'm praying they'll make it in time!  Our fridge died this week and so instead of buying new which we've always done, we decided to see if we could buy a used one on-line.  The ad said, "First come first serve".  That's nuts!  So, they have to be there by 7am in order to get the awesome deal.  It is an awesome deal!!!!  But they left a little late, so we'll have to see if a miracle happens....that's what I'm praying for!

As well, we're putting an offer, a very low offer, on a skid steer.  We felt it was a real need for us to have on the farm in order to prep all the things we need prepped for winter.  If it wasn't a need, we prayed God would stop it as He promises to supply all our needs.  We get confused between what is a need sometimes and what is a want. In this case, we moved ahead with the offer and are asking God to show us, in our weakness, if this truly is a need.  Shortly after making the offer, RM got a small contract which would pay for more than half of the skid steer.  This was a contract out of nowhere!  We now are waiting to see if the owner of the skid steer will accept the crazy offer.  More prayer......We've never been more dependent on God as at this time in our lives.  This is a good thing.  We ask for His wisdom, His mercy and yes, for a skid steer and a fridge!

Tuesday 27 May 2014

Hospitality With a Purpose

I'm really hoping the weather holds out for today - it's calling for thundershowers.....so far so good, but it's only 6 am!  Around 10 am a small group of ladies and their toddlers will be descending upon our farm.  I don't know a single one of their names and I've barely had a conversation with any of them.  So why have them over?  I blame my parents!  Let me explain.....

I come from a line of missionaries, both my parents and my mom's parents were missionaries in Africa. My mom's parents were "lifers" in that they spent most of their married life overseas.  After my grandfather died, my grandmother went back on her own, though her youngest son was with her as a missionary pilot.  He remained overseas with his family until his children were grown.  My parents were there for a 3 year stint in Zambia which was where I was born.  Upon their return to Canada my dad, who was a pharmacist by profession, quit his job and wanted to join an organization which at the time was called Campus Crusade for Christ.  He and my mom were passionate about sharing their faith and I've heard him describe his decision this way,  "We wanted to reach maximum people in the shortest amount of time."  Crusade fit the bill.  It was an extremely strong organization that did reach who knows how many for Christ - very strong evangelism focus.

This was the type of home I was raised in.  My parents carried tracts with them wherever we went and regularly handed them out.  I remember being on holidays once in the Okanagan in B.C. one summer picking up peaches or something like that and we were about to go, but mom wasn't getting in the car.  I looked out the window and there she was standing with the farmer's wife (or whoever she was), sharing "The Four Laws" with her, a tract that walked through the gospel message.  That book title has since then been changed to something else and, not unlike all tracts, has been criticized for painting a rosy picture of Christianity (God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life - Law One), but I actually think as long as the presenter explains what that means, it can still be a very effective tool for sharing our faith as so often we don't know what to say!

Every year we attended a summer training week.  When I was small, I was in "child care", but as I grew they put us in what was called "Junior Staff Training".  It was really neat.  We did everything from sailboat trips up the coast of British Columbia where we lived at the time to canoe trips down the Yukon.   That whole time it was no simple vacation.  They were intentionally training us to share our faith.  Just like the adults, we were expected to memorize The Four Laws tract as well as have a 2 minute testimony on how we came to faith. Then when we went on these trips, we brought the Jesus film which is an incredible film put out by Crusade depicting the life of Jesus almost directly from Luke.  That film has been made into so many languages I've lost count.  Many have received Christ directly related to seeing the film.  So we would make stops on our trips, pull out the film and set it up wherever we could and hope people would come.

It was a natural transition for me, once I had decided to make Christ a priority in my own life at the age of 18, to follow in my parent's footsteps.  I went to school in London, ON and quickly looked to see if they had a Crusade group on campus.  They did.  I walked up and told them who I was, using my parent's names as some leverage as by this point my parents were fairly high up in the Crusade hierarchy!  They were so excited!  I guess they knew who my parents were!  I was immediately embraced and that became my spiritual family while I attended school.  I was immediately put into a Bible Study and it wasn't long after that I was leading studies and mentoring other young girls in the early years of university.  I was often taken out to share my faith, sent out two by two and met with several people each year that would say after we sat down with them, "Did I have a sign over my head?  How did you know I was just thinking about these things???" So I actually found that kind of evangelism oddly effective, though the other groups on campus would say, "We do relationship or friendship evangelism."  They thought Crusade's tactics were too aggressive.  I found that to be an excuse for not sharing their faith. Crusade people actually saw people accepting Christ on a regular basis and always had a way to disciple the new believers.  So there was a funny tension between the 3 Christian groups on Campus, though Crusade was by far the largest of the 3 and in fact was the largest group or club on campus.  Interesting fact?

Crusade also always held evangelical meetings drawing people in by holding debates against an evolutionist or even holding events that drew crowds and then sharing what Christianity was all about.  Again, to some it was a bait and switch, but I don't think it was.  The campus is rife with people searching and Crusade merely wanted to make sure all students were aware that Christianity made the most sense.  The leaders of Campus Crusade had a burden for the lost students.  I was a part of every single event that went on and even went on March Break events to the beach in Florida where again, the whole point was to share our faith with the thousands of lost students.  I did end up having a conversation with several people on the beach and they were always so open to talking about where they were at.  This atmosphere of evangelism had me start to carry tracts with me wherever I went and sure enough I started to use them, too!  I would find myself on a train traveling home and not unlike my parents, I would pray, "Lord, who do you want me to sit by on the train on the way home."  Sure enough, I would find myself beside some hurting young girl who needed to hear the gospel message.  I would give her the tract, share my story and pray for the best as we parted.

I have seen people come to Christ in my life as a result of conversations I've had with them.  It is an amazing thing to see a life transformed.  I witnessed this in my home many times as I grew up.  My parents never had any one over just for fun.  They were always very intentional with their hospitiality.  One thing they hosted was called and EWAP (Entertainment With A Purpose).  They would bring in a high profile businessman, athlete or someone others knew that had accepted Christ.  They would then provide an awesome dinner and then have the man or woman or even sometimes a couple share their faith story.  It was never a surprise to the guests.  They had been told exactly what would happen and many accepted Christ at these events, too!

By now you are getting the picture.  When we moved to this area and I didn't know anyone, I immediately wanted to connect, but how?  So I did what I have always done, I went to the library and signed up for their baby programs.  It is an awesome way to meet new moms in the area as so many go and so many have no friends and are looking for friendships, too.  After I went to the first one, I really didn't meet too many people as yes, they want friends, but it seems the art of making friends is lost!  No one knows how to start a conversation any more.  At the last program, I had an idea.  I was going to invite them back to my farm for a "field trip".  They could meet the animals and hang out by the playground with the kids.  I would provide coffee and tea and we could have a nice time of fellowship.  I invited both groups of women as I went to two programs last spring.  It was funny to see their reactions both this year and last year - the ladies looked at me like I had two heads!  Who would do that?  Who would invite people to their home not knowing any of them?  Well, like I said, I blame my parents.  I long for these women to know the hope I have.  I'm willing to stick my neck out and look a little strange I suppose in the name of ultimately sharing my story of faith and hopefully getting a chance to bring some of these moms into the Kingdom one day.

Back to the thundershowers.....it's on rain or shine, but they are less likely to come if it rains, but if they don't come, I have another group hopefully coming tomorrow, too.  There's always another program to go to, too! I'm already praying, "What will I say?  How will I bring Christ into the conversation?  Will it be appropriate to even bring it up?"  I know friendship evangelism can work, so I don't want to dismiss that as a true way to share my faith, but what if this is the only chance I get?  Last year, it came up so naturally as a few ladies came from church, too, and I was able to say, "This is my friend from church...." which led into a whole long conversation about church, why I go, where I go, etc.  So I must leave my fears or concerns with the Lord and trust Him for the results.  I'm only expected to be faithful and do what He's placed on my heart to do. My kids are sweet and behind this whole event.  My second son is our landscaper.  He mowed and trimmed the whole property and even set up little kid chairs with Mom chairs interspersed in a sweet little circle.  My oldest daughter (though her intentions aren't completely innocent as she LOVES to bake) will be making scones for the ladies.  My husband will be quickly fixing up the playground and may even get me a bit of fresh sand for the sandbox.  The house will be quickly tidied in case it becomes an indoor event....So we're all in on this.  Use us, Lord!  Use our family!  May we be a testimony to these women and may you get the glory as you draw them to yourself........Amen.

Friday 23 May 2014

Not Just Obeying, But Keeping

Well, if it isn't the baby, it's the dog.  There must be a raccoon or skunk running around in front of his crate because around 3:45 am today, he started barking.....then it stops.....then it starts.  It's enough to make me wish I owned a shotgun.  Probably shouldn't say that, but it's true!  At 5 am, I gave up, took a shower, made some coffee and here I am!  At least it is getting light out earlier and everything is beautiful and green.  Where we live on the Niagara Escarpment, it gives the impression you are high up in the mountains and out our front window the view is breathtaking in the morning as the sun comes up right before my eyes....so beautiful.

Beans and rice is going swimmingly except for a little gas here and there!  Last night it was lentil vegetable/tomato stew.  A very simple recipe that had a few strips of bacon as a starter, again, just for a little more flavour.  Typically I would use a whole pack, but last night, half a pack, sauteed with onions.  Then I added every leftover vegetable I could find in the fridge which included celery, cauliflower, frozen peas...there wasn't a lot leftover!  Then after cooking that for a bit to soften it, I added 2 cups of lentils, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes and filled the rest of the large pot with water.  To the water I added salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and curry powder....just kind of guessing amounts.  It simmered for an hour or so and then I turned it down to low for a bit.  It was awesome!  Everyone had second bowls.

Tonight?  Not sure, but it'll be leftover soup for lunch and perhaps more chick peas for a snack with vegetables and hummus.  No one is starving yet!  Next week will be more of a challenge as anyone can do a week, but a month?

My second son is our bread maker.  We finally purchased a mill and are now milling our own flour.  I really thought that was going to be a way harder deal than it is.  It literally only takes a few minutes.  A friend or two have passed on their favourite recipes and we're sticking with what they know.  So far so good!  I also bought some pre-milled flour ages ago in massive quantities, so again, no more buying bread until that flour is all used up - that'll save us a lot, too as so often I buy in bulk, but get so easily tempted to get the store bought bread in a pinch.  Meanwhile the flour I bought with good intentions just sits there getting moldy.  Not good.

Today will be a busy day as our oldest daughter is off to a photography tradeshow while the older boys and their dad will head off to the final Bible Quizzing tournament where they will meet up with her later.  They have memorized the entire book of Romans!  It absolutely boggles my mind.  It is a two day tournament.  Is it bad to say that I'll be glad when it is over?  No joke, they still get in trouble for only focusing on memorizing.  How am I supposed to get after them for that?  Stop memorizing and do your school - all you do is memorize Scripture!  Doesn't sound right, does it?

We've been going through Kevin Swanson's book on Proverbs.  It seems all this memorizing will bode them well in the future.  He makes an interesting distinction in Proverbs 3:1 where the Bible says, "My son, forget not my law, but let your heart keep my commandments:  For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to you."  He talks about how the word "keep" is different than the word "obey" while most people think it means the same thing.  It in fact does not.  He says, "To keep the commandment is to pay attention to them, to take them into account, or to care enough for the commandments to incorporate them into your life." Obeying can be done with a good heart, but it can also be done with a cold heart.  If you are keeping them, then you are truly loving them.  Have you heard the illustration where the mother asks her son to sit down instead of jumping around the room?  He responds to her, after many scoldings, "Fine.  I'll sit down, but inside I'm standing up!"  That's what I mean by obeying on the outside, but inside having a cold heart.  That boy is not keeping the commandments, just obeying.

A great starting point to keeping the commandments is to know them at the very least.  I'm so grateful for all the memorizing they've done as that is how they will begin to keep God's commands.  Putting it into practice? That is a whole other matter, but for now the groundwork is being laid as they learn what the commandments are.  Hopefully the keeping part will follow.......


Thursday 22 May 2014

Rice and Beans....for a month?????

Another rough week with that same sick baby!  He keeps getting what appears to be a virus, but this last time it was more than likely bacterial and ended up on antibiotics.  This does not make for much writing or sleeping.  Hopefully these meds get him well once and for all.

Kids will be up soon, so can't write much, but still have a few things on my mind.

The "trade-up" with the Porsche is not going to go through after all which was a big disappointment, but it means we'll get more cash for the car, so perhaps it isn't a bad thing.  However, we were really hoping to have a skid steer on our property as soon as this week to start getting some things done that we were hoping to get done.  Is it a "no" to one of our answers to prayer?  I don't think so.  I think God is going to answer in a way that is better than we think.

Renaissance Man is now working on the 3rd Porsche which he has zero experience on - a 928.  He he is completely winging it and learning on the fly, but he's a quick learner so I have no doubt that he'll miraculously get this one running as well.  He's been asked to fix someone's Boxter which would be SUPER COOL  for the boys, but we haven't heard back.  My husband, a Porsche mechanic, who knew?  It is still a really neat way for him to make some extra cash on the side.

We've ordered meat birds (chickens) and pigs will be coming shortly.  We'll be able to sell a lot of that meat which isn't a huge money maker for us, but it really helps to put meat in the freezer for our own consumption.

On the topic of meat, we usually have it every single dinner almost without fail.  It is one area that is hard for RM or any of us to compromise on.  Even if times are tough, I still have been buying it, just on sale or super cheap cuts of meat.  Many weeks ago though, I bought large bags of beans, chick peas and lentils.  This was with the hopes of  trying to cut costs for the odd snack or add to the odd meal, but it hasn't been happening like I thought.  Meanwhile, the cost of meat is soaring!  Even on sale, to get the amount of meat that we need to satisfy our family is no small bill.  It occurred to me, much to my children's unhappiness, I should really use up what I have purchased and lay low on the meat for a bit.  Oh my.  The look on my children's faces was absolute dread!  Beans for dinner?????  For how long?!!!  I was suggesting the completely horrific amount of time such as a year!  They nearly died!  Then I said, ok, a month.  Hmmm....not so sure.  Then I said, how about a month with meat once a week.  Now I was getting a little buy-in.  RM was sold.  He loves meat, but he knows it is expensive, so he was happy to give it a try.

So the challenge is on - beans for a month with some meat on the weekend or perhaps a trace amount just to add flavour (like a few pieces of bacon) once in a while during the week.

First off, I made the roasted chick peas for a snack again and they forgot how much they loved it.  Then that first night night I made a delicious bean dish (I always use pinto for no particular reason).  I had soaked the beans the night before and cooked them the next afternoon.  Then I heated some oil with garlic and onion just as if I was going to add meat, but instead I added beans and green peppers.  I added all sorts of spices like salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin, then at the very end when the beans were getting super mushy I added some light cheese (still watching our waist lines).  I had cooked some brown rice and put it in the bottom of a casserole dish.  To this I added the beans and put a trace amount of cheese on top of that.  I put it all in the oven to broil for a couple of minutes and voila, a yummy rice and bean dish.  On the table I added some shredded lettuce, tomatoes and red pepper, as well as sour cream and I heard all sorts of "This is actually good!"  My spoiled children....how pathetic!

The next night I made what was called Barbeque Beans.  Same type of thing where it starts out cooking with onions and garlic.  I added broccoli, though the recipe asked for collard greens.  I figured any greens were good.  Then I threw in a few small pieces of chopped up sausage.  Now remember, normally I would cut up anywhere from 8-12 sausages for our family.  This time I only used four, so that was a big change for me!  I then threw in all the leftover rice and beans from the night before as well as an extra cup or two of cooked beans.  To this I added a bowl of bbq sauce (about a cup) mixed with water, molasses, tomato paste, a bit of salt and put it all over the rice/bean dish.  It was almost completely devoured.  I'm thinking everyone is ok with rice and beans!  Tonight, not sure, but I know there are a ton of good bean recipes out there, so I'm not too worried.

One other funny note.  I continue to cut our children's hair, except my oldest daughter's.  Her's is so thick, I just don't think I could do it without making a major mistake.  To prove this, I did my middle daughter's hair and needless to say, it got quite a bit shorter than planned in the name of making it even!  Oops.  That same day I looked in the mirror and knew I needed a cut super badly, but didn't want to go, so the next thing you know I started chopping my own hair with no particular plan.  Within a few minutes I had cut off the parts that needed to be trimmed and had even layered it to some extent!  It didn't look too bad!  No one has said, "Uh, did you cut your own hair????"  So I know it can't be that obvious!  Now, the question of the hour.....can I highlight my own hair????  I guess I better stick to one thing at a time.....(though I could always ask Renaissance Man - he's done my hair before!)

The journey continues, God continues to provide amazingly and we continue to howl at all the funny ideas I come up with to cut costs........

Tuesday 13 May 2014

What Do We Have?

We cannot underestimate the power of prayer.  I'm always so amazed at how God comes through in such amazing ways.  I'm now reading the next book written by the woman who wrote Left to Tell (Immacule Illibagiza).  She survived the Rwanda genocide and is certain she was spared to tell others, thus the name of the book!  Her next book continues her journey of faith and prayer and how God helped her time and time again as she recovered from the horrible things she went through.

Along the same lines of the book, Brother Andrew, she was really specific and counted on God for very practical things whenever she found herself in a situation that seemed impossible.  One example was her wedding.  At that time, she was giving all of the money she made at her job away to her aunts and cousins. Once she got engaged, a Rwandan ceremony was expected and several hundred guests were immediately expected to be invited.  She knew she had no money and it was not expected of the groom's side to pay anything, though he had offered.  She took it to the Lord in prayer, every single detail, and just said, "I am your child.  This is your wedding.  Please help me come up with the money to pay for it."  It wasn't that day or even the day after, but several weeks before the wedding, everything came into place, pretty much all on one day.  Perfect strangers paid for her wedding dress.  Her entire office did a collection that paid for most other things.  An old friend offered to host and have the whole event catered by him.  All of her bridesmaids paid for all their dresses (I guess that was unusual).  Someone else paid for the chairs and benches to be made.  The list of answers to prayer went on and on.   Everytime I read something like that  it is so inspiring - we just don't think in our heads to pray that way, to be specific and to be practical.

But that is what we did again last night.  We continue to come before the Lord about our practical needs. We know winter is coming (I hate to even think about it right now as Spring is barely here and I'm already dreading the cold to come!) and we are not prepared for it yet.  We cannot go through another winter the way we did this past season.  I've described it like living in an unheated cabin.  Yes, we had heat for sure, but at such a cost.  We were not only heating our home, but also the whole outdoors as the walls were not insulated that well all around the house.  I've explained all this before.  What I'm trying to communicate is we are relying on God for our practical needs for the winter coming up.  I do not know what he's going to do and that is partly why I'm recording this in writing.  I really believe He is going to provide in some way, I just do not know what that will look like.  Perhaps it won't be in the form of insulation, perhaps it will just be that there will be enough money to pay the crazy bills, but I don't think He wants us to waste our money by heating the outdoors.

Each child prayed for a very specific thing.  Because we are human, I'm sure we think certain wants are needs, so we prayed about that, too, identifying the fact that we even need the Lord's wisdom in helping us see what is a need and what is a want, but I think God knows our hearts.  We just want to be warm and right now all the siding is ripped off around certain sections of our house making for a very leaky home.  We would love it if we could cover up the mess so as to not bring the neighbourhood down and keep the warm, expensive air in!  Siding would not only clean up the outside of the house, but also provide extra insulation, so we brought that before the Lord, too.  The needs are extensive. but God is good.  Perhaps, if we don't receive the answers we think we need, it is God's way of teaching contentment and even a greater level of trust and faith.  I can handle that.  I always look at the alternative - fussing and pouting?  That never goes over well.  There are 8 little people (and not-so-little) watching our every move and our every reaction.  This is how their faith will also develop, so it keeps us on our toes making sure we have godly reactions even to what appears like unanswered prayer.

What do we do in the meantime?  We always ask ourselves the question that the prophet asked the widow who had no money to pay her husband's debtors, "What do you have?"  "Nothing," she said.  So he asked her again, "What do you have?"  "A little oil."  That was what he was waiting for.  Perhaps he already knew what she had, but he wanted it to come from her. Perhaps he wanted her to be in on the miracle.  In fact, that is exactly what happened.  She was in on the miracle.  She was able to use what she had in her own home to make up the money to pay the debts.  She and her children went out and gathered jars from the neighbours and then God did the rest.  Renaissance Man and I ask ourselves this question on a regular basis, "What do we have?"  We've got the skills and talents God has given us and multiple resources in our children as well as on the farm here with our animals and our land.  We continue to ask God to help us use what we have to the best of our abilities and then we leave the rest up to God.  It's such a good place to be.

Monday 12 May 2014

Staying on Track

Back to school this week.  The house will now get a little more regularly maintained as part of our daily morning routine, but hopefully with a little more enforcement on my behalf.  There were a couple of drop in visitors over the weekend that weren't entirely planned for.  It was very easy to pick up a few things without the massive cleanup that is often required.

My children and husband were very good to me on Mother's Day.  I even had a Mother's Day Eve!  That couldn't have made me happier!  Renaissance Man had gone out for a few last minute items for breakfast the night before and picked up some sushi from the grocery store - one of my favourite things!  Then in the morning, coffee in bed, another one of my favourite things, followed by an awesome breakfast, made by the oldest daughter, and then some sweet things to open, most of which were in desperate need in the kitchen. You know what I mean....ripped up tea towels were finally replaced!  That's what I had asked for!

The first Porsche got delivered, but it seems with every car venture there has to be some adventure.  The boys and RM went up and dropped it off.  The owner of the car then dropped them off at the train station, but after he left they found out no trains ran at that stop on the weekends!  They ended up having to walk over 10km to the next station.  I don't know how they did it.  RM's feet are still suffering.  Fortunately it was warm, otherwise I would have had to drive the hour and a half to come get them.  They made it and the car is gone and there is more money in the bank!

I always ask RM if he thought it was worth it.  He always answers yes.  Even if it seems like it was a small amount of money for all the work that went into it, he believes the boys learned sooooo much as did he!  He also feels it is the Biblical principle of little by little in action.

It goes back to our little family motto - We've declared war on spare time.  Every spare moment RM had, he was working on the car.  He never sits around idly wondering what to do with his time.  It is often determined for him.  That is good though!

On a completely different note, we're both getting better at recognizing how fear used to paralyze us and really how our reactions to simple events in our lives that would have normally turned our day for the worse are now being reeled back in and not being allowed to determine our day.  It was all habit.

Quick example - after delivering the Porsche, not even 24 hours later, he gets a text saying, "Not good news."  It appears the car overheated after a full day of driving it by the owner.  RM wasn't entirely surprised as he had suggested replacing the water pump, but the guy didn't want to spend more money.  But now he's an hour and a half away and this will not be an easy fix!  It could have been a simple coolant replacement, too, so the guy is going to try a couple of things before he has it towed back down here again, but what a pain in the neck!  RM just wanted to be free of this thing (though it could make us more money!).  He immediately felt a darkness come over him.  He wonders if it is sometimes like the spirit that was sent to vex Saul when he was king over Israel, as that is how he describes how these things make him feel.  But we've both had the epiphany that we cannot let ourselves be ruled by any spirit of fear and so right in front of all of us, he said, "This is a test.  I'm not going to let it bother me.  Whatever comes of this I'll deal with it."  That was it.  Interestingly, I immediately felt better, too.  It's that oneness problem of marriage!  When he feels heavily burdened by something, so do I.  It's really very clever of Satan to vex one of the spouses in a marriage as it is a two for one deal!  He can get both of us by just hitting one of us with an issue!  UNLESS, we recognize what is going on, and that is exactly what we are determining to do.

Another quick example.  Mother's Day.  My parents live within an hour of us.  His parents live 10 minutes from us.  We were seeing my parents for lunch and I thought we would see his parents for dessert that night. But RM didn't communicate that to his parents so it appeared they were not in the loop and it looked like we were bad children!  Immediately I felt this element of panic welling up in me as I hate to be perceived as a bad daughter-in-law!  But I saw what was happening in my spirit and I stopped right then and there, took my thoughts captive and we calmly came up with plan B to call them again and invite them over as soon as we could get in touch with them.  That's exactly what ended up happening and no one lost any sleep over the whole thing.  Even in the event that I was misunderstood, I knew I needed to leave even that in the Lord's hands.  I couldn't take on defending myself as well as the bad feelings that were entering into me.  Often, if I don't deal with these negative feelings of fear right away, it can cause tension with RM (remember, that "oneness" thing again!) and I didn't want that to happen.

These are simple examples, but I feel major breakthroughs in our lives.  Earlier this week, I was re-reminded again of the story of Joseph and how he got thrown in the well by his brothers and then into slavery.  It wasn't long after that that he was serving in Pharoah's court in one of his highest positions, but then the Potiphar disaster and back in prison he goes.  He wasn't there any short amount of time either - several years!  I'm pretty sure Joseph was put there to learn some major life lessons and God wasn't about to take him out until he learned them, including humility.  I shared that with RM.  We are where we are to learn a bunch of life lessons, including humility as well as dealing with fear like I mentioned above.  How we fight learning these lessons.  We just want them to be learned already!  But, whatever it takes, Lord.  We'll stay in our prison, learning our lessons for as long as it takes. Am I super happy about it?  Not exactly, if I'm entirely honest.  I somehow doubt Joseph loved being in prison either, but it is another opportunity to take my thoughts captive, not only of fear, but of frustration in being here.  Accepting where we are and knowing God is in on that plan, (it is no surprise to him) gives me a much more positive outlook on a daily basis and helps me see His constant blessings in our lives.  Any other perspective immediately clouds my perception of life and all becomes dark.

Our passage from Hebrews 10 yesterday confirmed all that once again.  The writer of Hebrews tries to encourage his readers to reflect on the past when they first were saved.  Back then when there was so much persecution, they "joyfully accepted" it, including the "plundering of their property".  They knew that they had a "better possessions and an abiding one" than just the things of this world.  But they had forgotten, which is why the author took up his pen to write.  "Therefore do not throw away your confidence."  It's almost implied that they were about to throw away their confidence in the Lord.  There is a "great reward" for enduring.  What I like most in this passage is that it acknowledges that we even have need for endurance! Running the race is not easy.  "For you have need of endurance."  But God knows we need to know there is an end and there is!  Heaven, eternal rewards.  May I not be like those who "shrink back and are destroyed, but instead my I be like "those who have faith and preserve their souls."   Having an eternal mindset will actually preserve my soul!  It is a much greater thing than just getting through from day to day.

Again, what an encouragement Scripture is, it acknowledges the "hard struggle".  It acknowledges we need endurance.  It reminds us that we need confidence in our faith and, once again, that there is an eternal reward coming.   That is my prayer for today.

Hebrews 10:

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 Foryou have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For,
“Yet a little while,
    and the coming one will come and will not delay;
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
    and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Thursday 8 May 2014

Empty, Swept and Put in Order - a warning

A funny thing happened.  The event we hosted came and went and yes, there was a little mess after, but not too bad.  Then Renaissance Man and I drove a couple people home and guess what happened while I was gone - the kids cleaned up - entirely and perfectly.  I walked into an awesome house after being gone about an hour and caught them red-handed.  Why is this?  The only thing I can attribute it to as that they worked hard for three days and they weren't about to let it all go down the drain that quickly!  I'm really hoping that this not-so-new idea of maintenance will now be more put into practice.  We always talked about it, but it was hard to enforce.  I should hand out tickets or something if I see an infraction.....hmmm...I'll have to think about that one.

Today, believe it or not, they are dying to get back to school as they don't want to be doing school in July.  I, however, still need to steam clean a few items, so I don't think I'll be able to teach the little ones for a couple hours, but we'll see how fast things go.  Also, I have heard the weather is finally going to get warmer, so that is encouraging.

RM will finish up on the cars today and get two of them off our property hopefully by the end of the week as I said.  He really enjoyed his car fixing venture and hopes to continue this in the future as it'll definitely help to bring in at least a little money each year.

Last night we all heard a great story from a friend who is normally a very logical type of thinker much like RM and she shared for a long time a whole host of things that had happened to her in the last couple of weeks that had made her faith grow not just leaps and bounds, but exponentially!  So much so that she described herself as a completely different person, entirely changed in every way.  Without going into all the details of her story, what struck us both was that even "logical" thinkers can experience freedom from their past habitual ways of thinking.  Even logical people can experience healing, both physical, spiritual and emotional.  Sometimes he finds himself thinking that it is only the emotional people who experience that kind of freedom.  It is so foreign to him.  You hear this all the time now, how church is for women, the songs are for women...it is one big emotional experience and most guys just don't get into the hand waving crying stuff. That is my husband.  It was right out of Hebrews last night where a bunch of believers were sitting there listening to her share her walk with the Lord.  She admitted she never usually shares like she did as she always hears the voice of the enemy telling her how worthless she is, but now that she's experienced all this freedom and peace she knows she must share and give all the glory to God.  I must add that she's been regularly fasting since September.  It is amazing to see how God has peeled back the layers of oppression in her life one by one.  She is now being used by God in so many people's lives, sharing Christ at the drop of a hat to anyone who will listen!  The Hebrews moment was how she was using the opportunity to encourage us "all the more towards love and good deeds".  That is exactly what happened!  We all felt encouraged towards love and good deeds in our own life.  We wanted to experience the joy she was experiencing, not to mention the peace that she hadn't been experiencing, but now was!  It was amazing.  That is true church, isn't it?  True fellowship?  It felt like Paul was sharing.  How I love it when there are no facades, no artificial conversations going on, but true authentic almost sermon-like conversations!  It was great.  Just like her, I give God all the glory.  He's working in people's lives!  He is alive!

The big tie-in to cleaning?  She reminded me of the story in Scripture where an unclean spirit goes out of a man, then goes seeking dry places and rest, but finds none.  Then he returns to the house from which he came and finds it "empty, swept and put in order"  (just like our house!)  But then he goes and takes with him "seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there."  The "last state of that man is worse than the first." Matt. 12: 43-45  This story gives a warning that could even apply to all that we've done this week in our home as well as to my friend.  If we go about cleaning our home, but do not change our ways in the future, in other words we are superficially clean, but our behaviours are not regenerated, than our home is truly going to be worse off than before we started.  We must have Holy Spirit regeneration in our behaviours and our attitutudes, otherwise it was all a waste.  In her case, she cannot just "will" her life to be full of peace, she must have been regenerated by Christ himself, otherwise the demons that have already been trying to lie to her about her worth will just come back to haunt her and bring even more along with them.  She is a changed person, "cleaned, swept and in order".  Because it is a legitimate transformation, Satan will no longer, though he might try, have any way in her life.  So we have a literal picture of a clean house in an actual home and a clean person - both can stay that way with the help of the Holy Spirit.  My children and I need new ways of thinking even towards the simple things of practial living.  I believe God can even be seen in these purely practical life issues.  I loved how she shared all of the things she'd been learning on the same day we'd finished cleaning.  We must be on guard for how Satan is going to try to come back with his host of demons to get us back (and her) into our old patterns.  Lord help us keep the door locked!

Wednesday 7 May 2014

God is in the House!

Two nights in a row of good sleep!  Sorry if that's just rubbing it in for those of you with young babies!

Ok, get this....you can look behind my fridge now AND my stove.  That's right.  I moved them (thought that was going to be a lot harder than it was....wasn't) and oh my....that explains why we have mice back there. I actually don't know why I haven't done that before.  I think in my head that once you put a fridge or a stove in, it's there for life.  Even if you spill something, oh well, I guess it'll just disappear!  I don't know about you, but there are certain places in the house I couldn't stand looking at, so I just avoided them.  One of those places was the sides of the fridge along the cupboards!  Every time I looked there, I wanted to burn the house down.  I could see years of accumulating dust and slime and I hated it, but I figured only cleaning ladies did places like that aaaannnd seeing as I don't have a cleaning lady......Well, I cannot tell you how much I LOVE looking at the sides of my fridge now and even the floor at the front end of each appliance....that had also been rather disgusting as the mop and vacuum can only reach so far!

Once again, the kids were on board, for the most part anyway.  As it was a warmer and sunnier day, I did give them a break or two to play, but we cleaned hard core until 3 pm!  Walls were washed, baseboards, stairs....even the rug was taken out and I'm steam cleaning it today.  I told you, this is hard core clean.  We're steam cleaning every piece of furniture, too, as it's been a while and the cats have made a few smells (did I mention they live outside now????)

Sure enough, the concept of character came up over and over, but instead of just yelling to clean the house, I really tried to explain how I was doing this for so many reasons - stewardship being number one, making our house clean so we can be more hospitable with much greater ease (I haven't been feeling much like having people over when I feel like my house is a pigsty), blessing my husband (he came in multiple times through the day telling me how happy he was about the house - he grew up in an immaculate home), teaching the character traits of perseverance just to mention one trait as it's been a long two days!  You get the idea.  We all feel a lot less mess under our feet and it makes people want to keep it this way.  Did children escape more than once?  Yes.  Did I have to call them back, multiple times?  Yes, but they usually came back....usually.  The little ones did a wall or two, or even a baseboard (with a toothbrush), but then I would turn around and they were gone!

In the Maxwell's book, Managers of Your Chores, which I mentioned early on in the blog, it talks about the training of the children and how we cannot assume that our children will just one day get married and know how to run a house, especially if our daughters stay home with their children.  My mom always had a list for us as we grew up each day on the kitchen table.  All of our names were on the list with a certain responsibility or chore for that day after school.  We had to do it as soon as we walked in the door.  We still joke as my mom used little abbreviations for living room (l.r.) and vacumming (vac.) or unloading the dishwasher (d.w.)and just the other day my brother asked me if I had "vacc'ed the L.R." or unloaded the "d.w." lately, just like when we grew up!  I howled!  But, all joking aside, it was a great way to model that we needed to pull our weight as well as learn to clean our own homes one day just on a smaller scale.  This is so critical for our children!  I know of many moms who wanted to "bless" their children and did everything for them, including all the cleaning, but that in fact does NOT bless them.  It makes their lives as parents much harder as they have NO idea how to keep their homes tidy and in order....no one taught them!

One neat thing happened during the day which was a small miracle.  We were busy cleaning and RM was busy finishing up programming a controller that he and a friend have been developing for a couple of years. He was supposed to be on his way around 9 am, but walked into the family room just before 9 am saying the controller had crashed....there was no way he was going to make his appointment.  He hated having to call the guy he was meeting to tell him he wouldn't make it.  He needed this controller to work!  I called the kids down in an emergency fashion, "EMERGENCY PRAYER MEETING!!  GET IN THE FAMILY ROOM NOW!!!!"  Kids came from all over the house and I explained Dad need us to pray right then and there that the controller would either get fixed or that God would intervene in some way.  Everyone prayed. RM's prayer was, "Lord, please don't let us be ashamed.  I don't think that is what you want."  After he prayed, my oldest son said, "Dad, do you believe in God?"  I thought it was a strange question.  "Yes." "Romans says, 'If you believe in God, then you will not be put to shame."  Wow.  Great verse.  Great encouragement, I thought, perhaps not what Paul was thinking when he wrote it, but it struck my son in a way that he thought of his Dad.  Off RM went to his office to call the guy he was meeting that he wouldn't be able to make it.  Then he was going to connect with his friend to see if they could get the controller working.  Not two minutes later, he walked back in, "CALL EVERYONE TO THE FAMILY ROOM!"  Down they came again!  "You'll never believe this.  I was picking up the phone to call the guy when suddenly he called me!  I was afraid he was calling to say, 'Where are you???!' but instead he said, 'There's been a problem with someone else not being able to come today to work with you.  It's not looking good to connect.  Could you make it tomorrow instead?'  'Uh, yeah, of course, tomorrow works GREAT!'"  We were in awe.  The fact HE called and RM didn't have to cancel was just like my son had said and how RM had prayed.  He was not ashamed. This guy has only cancelled one other time and that was another miracle when RM put his back out and wondered how he would finish the work for this man.  That time he also miraculously called and said, "We need you to put off coming in for a couple of weeks - would that work for you?"  "Yes!"  He didn't know RM would need two weeks to get his back in shape!  So this guy is completely being used by God to give us relief when we need it.  The one day delay had RM and his friend figure out the problem and so today he should be able to get it working on site.  A small miracle, yes, and easy to overlook as coincidence by anyone else looking in on our situation, but we know it wasn't.  The kids were able to be in on it, praise God and then get back to cleaning!

On a completely different note, Renaissance Man has two cars done and running now and hopes to have the 3rd finished soon.  We will be delivering one of them shortly to the guy who hired him to fix his Porsche and then we'll find out in the next day or two if we "trade up" for a skid steer.  Many answers to prayer along the way with the cars, too.  Really great to watch the boys' interest stay keen, even the 7 year old has been involved.

Early mornings are beautiful on the farm.  I love watching the sunrise hitting the outbuildings, glowing in a colour I can't even describe.  It's funny though, in the house, early mornings also used to make all the smudges show up on the floor!  I didn't like the early mornings on the farm then!  Now I'll be able to enjoy the early morning sunrises just a little bit more - hopefully my house will stay clean longer than a day!

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Character through Cleaning

Everyone slept through last night!  Yeah!  Makes you feel like a whole new person when you are getting sleep again.  Yesterday was great - I was amazed at how long I was able to keep the kids at it, cleaning that is.  There is more to come today!  Today it is walls, windows, door frames.....just about everywhere you see a fingerprint, which is pretty much throughout the whole house.

Surely you are doing school, too, right?  This is school.  How can you say that?  You aren't cracking a book open!  I have so many great arguments to that....Allow me to begin with an opening remark from Kevin Swanson......

When he and his wife first started homeschooling they went to all the homeschool conferences, just like the one I went to this past weekend, and they were overwhelmed by all the choices out there.  At some point in their journey, it occurred to Kevin to go to the Bible and see what it had to say about education, so he looked in the concordance and not too much came up, but then he looked under knowledge and wisdom and sure enough - entire books were dedicated to the matter, namely Proverbs.  That's when he realized he had it all wrong.  The book of Proverbs didn't have math equations or geography, per se, but it set out all the ways to be a human being full of knowledge and wisdom.  The fact it didn't include proverbs about math and science made him start to wonder if God, who is really smart, actually found the building of character more important!  That got Kevin to thinking, if God is really smart and he made humans and if he thinks character is important enough to dedicate an entire book to teaching it, then Kevin and his wife thought they should, too.  That's what they did.  They determined to teach their children character first.

Did he throw away the math books?  Certainly not.  The way he described it is by comparing it to a house that is being built.  Character is like the studs and framing of the walls.  Math and Science is like the wall paper once the foundation is there.  If you only focus on the math programs with no character, then you will have a very flimsy wall where the wallpaper won't even stick!

That's what we are doing, at least attempting to do.  One of the ways we are doing this is by teaching them to be stewards of our home.  The character traits are endless in this one.  Perseverence, patience, faithfulness, obedience to parents, etc.,  They didn't love working as long and as hard as they did, but at least a few of the rooms in our house are looking at little better.  Don't forget, I had RM's towers in here that he was building in my house for months, not to mention the mud, grime and dust that came with them, so this is a definite necessity, not to mention, when the kids are home all day, they really are expected to contribute to the cleaning up.   It is way too much for one person, namely me.  By learning to work hard in our home, then they'll be able to work hard on anything, even math.  I'm actually starting to see this.

Living on a farm gives lots of opportunities for character development as they have to go out in all types of weather to take care of the animals.  Then, when I have a quick errand for them to run to van or something like that, they don't even flinch.  They're so used to working hard in cold awful weather, that going to the van for a quick thing is easy!  That is what is called "farm schooling" and it is really working!

At the conference I did pick up a fair amount of curriculum, so I do see that it is important to teach my children that, but never in the name of neglecting true education, which is keeping my children's hearts.

Israel Wayne was one of the main speakers this past weekend.  He spoke on worldview, which is a hot topic these days.  I never even knew that word when I was a kid.  We are always making decisions and viewing life through a lens, our worldview.  It is super critical that we make sure we are explaining to our children what a Biblical worldview is and ideally making sure they also have a Biblical worldview.  The thing I liked about this talk was not just getting our children to have a Biblical worldview, i.e., he was suggesting that instead of stuffing it down their throat, we needed to make sure that they knew what our convictions were and WHY we had those convictions.  That made me want to add in a more serious level of apologetics into our home where they know beyond a shadow of a doubt why the Bible is reliable and why it can be trusted.  It will help them to explain their faith to others and even to themselves.

We also went to a talk on money, also given by Israel Wayne.  Nothing too new, but always good to be reminded that we need to stay on track.  We were challenged to remember that NOTHING is ours, EVERYTHING is God's - including our time AND money.  We tend to think money is God's, but I can take care of everything else, but no, everything is God's.  That has helped us make more time for God in our day as sometimes we can be tempted to say we are too busy and that isn't good.  When we skimp on God, it seems we run out of time in our day.  We are stewards of everything he has given us, like the parable of the talents and we are required to do all that we can with what He has given us.

So, back to the whole idea of cleaning.  I asked my 7 year old why he thought I was having him clean all the kitchen cupboards.  "Because they're dirty?"  "Oh, there's more reasons than that!"  I said.  I went on to tell him how he would be a Dad one day and that he would have kids who would mess up his house and that he needed to be able to teach them why they needed to clean!  Always forward thinking!

By the end of tomorrow, I'm hoping to have a much cleaner home and happier kids, too.  They love a clean house!  My husband and I sat down in one of the new clean rooms and watched our 2 year old play.  Why was he having such a good time with his big brother?  Oh yeah!  He could see the floor and find the toys! He hadn't been able to do this for awhile.  And why were we having fun watching them?  Because we were able to find the couch that had been covered in who knows what for weeks during the tower contract!  How pleasant!

We read a verse that is it worse to be in a rich man's house that is full of strife, but instead better to be in a poor man's house that is full of peace (a paraphrase).  Peace is reigning (well, most of the time!) in our little farmhouse as we are seeking order, character and even cleanliness!

Monday 5 May 2014

Back in the Swing of Things....I hope!

A fresh start to a very tiring past few days.  How I appreciate the health of my kids once it has left in one of them!  The littlest had a terrible virus that kept him up all hours of the night and had him sleeping long hours in the day to make up for it for several days and nights straight.  I was a walking zombie.  My husband attempted to spell me off, but I knew that would make him a zombie, too.....all that to say, the little guy is better now and I've had a night or two of better sleep, but I was not doing any writing of any kind with the lack of sleep I was getting.


More milestones have passed - two of my children have gotten older, so now my youngest is 2 and my oldest boy is 15, so great.  It was a weekend of celebrating as my mom turned 75 and my Dad also had a birthday a few days earlier, plus my older sister will be having a birthday in a matter of days - it was non-stop.  My sister drove in from the Chicago area to surprise my mom on top of all that, so it was fun, fun, fun!


We also attended our provincial homeschooling conference as well this past weekend, AND my daughter gifted me with tickets to a Keith and Kristyn Getty concert as an early Mother's Day gift, so you can see, we fit a lot in a matter of days.  I was wasted by the end of the weekend


On that note, our home kind of fell apart during this spell of days and we're hosting an event this week, so needless to say, as part of our homeschooling today, we'll be doing some Spring Cleaning. 


I won't write more now as I'm about to get the sleepy heads all up, but hopefully we'll be back on track for early rising as of tomorrow!