This past weekend we celebrated with a baby shower for the upcoming new niece coming into our family in the next few weeks. We are literally over-the-moon excited to welcome her! My kids have given name suggestions that are a combination of all the nieces' names joined together. I don't know why they wouldn't want to use one of those!
Having not sewed for the longest time, it probably wasn't the wisest idea to make a blanket. I shouldn't have done that, but I did. I knew something would probably go wrong and it did. I was so close to running out and buying something adorable, but after taking out 100 stitches, I finally finished - of course, the day before. It turned out ok, a cute little blanket made of pink and grey squares in a whole bunch of different patterns. She ended up getting multiple homemade blankets that day but each one was so different that it was fine.
We finally heard from our son overseas. He had been out of touch for a long time and we sure hoped he was ok. He had been out in the rural villages participating in 87 different cataract surgeries which he said was amazing. Now he's working in another hospital near a river infested with crocodiles and hippos where black mambas are known to live. He's super excited! He feels his desire to be a doctor continues to be confirmed over and over. I still find that amazing and hard to believe, but I can see it. Today my daughter will hand in a story to a writing contest called "The Lemonade-Kitten-Africa Miracle Story". She wrote an amazing story about our whole summer where the kids put all the lemonade stand and kitten money into a little jar that slowly added up to over $600! We don't know how it happened, but we're convinced God multiplied the money all summer long and contributed to his going to Africa.
Meanwhile, the farm is slowly being put to sleep for the winter. My husband "hilled up" the vines which we weren't able to do last fall because it was too wet. The dirt gets piled up around the base of the vines and protects them from the cold. It actually makes the vineyard look so nice and clean. I'm not sorry to see them go to bed. It was a lot of work this summer. My modelling hand career is well over thanks to the vines. We actually have a guy coming by this week who plans on buying the grapes, so Lord willing, we'll have a buyer for next year - first partial crop. If we actually sell something next year it will have all been worth it.
Now we move on to fixing the multitude of vehicles that are down. That'll be the project for the winter. I don't know if we'll get to any house projects right now. We are just trying to get the farm in working order and get rid of things that are taking up space in the shop.
Yesterday I threw away a ton of things I'd been storing for a LOOOONG time in our storage room, just because I couldn't part with them for whatever reason. However, after realizing they were no good to me or to anyone, I just threw them out. Very freeing. It'll create more space to store what actually needs to be stored as opposed to storing for no purpose. It felt really good, though I have a long ways to go. It's harder and harder to do it in the cold and yesterday was warm, so I took advantage of it.
I continue to count my blessings, though there are many moments in the day where life is hard either because of kids or just the amount of laundry, but all you have to do is read the news and everything is quickly put in perspective. Regular life with not as much drama can be a blessing. I'm enjoying that!
Wednesday 30 October 2019
Wednesday 23 October 2019
The Dress
I'm not sure if we'll ever put flooring in our house. Instead, we've discussed paving it. At least that's what my 9 year old asked this week. That's right. Pavement. And why not?! After voting the other night, we came home and in our house - IN OUR HOUSE - each boy and girl had either a bike, a scooter, a plasma car or roller blades all riding around the house at the same time. Oh, and a skate board. Absolutely crazy. It is no wonder we need to live in an old house with no flooring. The day we get new stuff, it will all be destroyed in a matter of minutes. So we stick with the old for a little while longer!
Speaking of sticking with the old. We were able to go out to this lovely golf course for an awards dinner this past week. I had no idea how to dress or what to wear. My husband told me "formal". I don't do formal very often, except at weddings. I have been fortunate enough to be in a few weddings over my lifetime and I've kept the dresses if they're able to be reworn. One dress stands above them all and I have worn this one dress countless times. It is long to the floor, an off-white, flowy material with a beautiful neckline that could honestly be a wedding dress itself. It is timeless and beautiful and I always feel great in it. But the funny thing about this dress is it is now 20 years old. I'm not even kidding. But you would never know it. The only thing I needed was an updated pair of shoes. So off I went to the thrift store and amazingly, (well I actually somehow knew I would find a pair in my EXACT size) and bought a fantastic pair of leather shoes in a great brand for literally $5. New, they would have been over $100. Love that. I even had a beautiful scarf that I had from before that I used around my shoulders as my cover and I was good to go. I knew I was wearing a VERY OLD dress, my husband knew, but no one else knew. I'm quite convinced God has kept this dress for me in perfect condition without a stain or a rip for just this type of occasion. I absolutely love it every time I wear it.
The night was amazing. I learned the awards were named the Ruby Awards after a young farm wife named Ruby Quaker who lived in this area almost 200 years ago. She was such a go-getter and so industrious in the community, keeping the books for the farm, raising children, starting up a general goods store, and then at just 34, was one of the key founders for the local chamber of commerce, so naturally the awards are named in her honour. The awards were for all people in the community who take initiative like this amazing woman did. Students were awarded, businesses, key figures...it was actually such an inspiring night. I wished I had known her! For the last 3 years I've driven up and down Quaker Street that has been named after her family without even knowing it. Quite the lady, quite the family.
Back to the dress. Almost as soon as I walked in, I was waiting for my husband as we went to check to make sure which room we were supposed to be in, so I was standing on my own. I was observing what other women were wearing and wondered if I was over-dressed. It seemed to me like casual is the new formal and I was feeling a little silly, though my husband had assured me that I looked perfectly suited to the occasion. While I was standing there, a woman walked up to me and said, "I LOVE your dress!" Ha! I almost had to laugh. Then, when the evening was over, another lady came up to me and told me, "I absolutely love your outfit! Gorgeous!" Ha ha again! At first, I felt, "They're just saying that because they know it's an old dress and they feel sorry for me!" How ridiculous is that?! There is no way they could have known, so that was feedback from heaven itself. I was so glad I wore that dress and so glad I didn't spend extra money on something new when all along I still had something just perfect. The two compliments had me walking on cloud 9. My next task is to write my friend who got married so long ago and tell her I still use her dress from her wedding. She'll never believe it.
Speaking of sticking with the old. We were able to go out to this lovely golf course for an awards dinner this past week. I had no idea how to dress or what to wear. My husband told me "formal". I don't do formal very often, except at weddings. I have been fortunate enough to be in a few weddings over my lifetime and I've kept the dresses if they're able to be reworn. One dress stands above them all and I have worn this one dress countless times. It is long to the floor, an off-white, flowy material with a beautiful neckline that could honestly be a wedding dress itself. It is timeless and beautiful and I always feel great in it. But the funny thing about this dress is it is now 20 years old. I'm not even kidding. But you would never know it. The only thing I needed was an updated pair of shoes. So off I went to the thrift store and amazingly, (well I actually somehow knew I would find a pair in my EXACT size) and bought a fantastic pair of leather shoes in a great brand for literally $5. New, they would have been over $100. Love that. I even had a beautiful scarf that I had from before that I used around my shoulders as my cover and I was good to go. I knew I was wearing a VERY OLD dress, my husband knew, but no one else knew. I'm quite convinced God has kept this dress for me in perfect condition without a stain or a rip for just this type of occasion. I absolutely love it every time I wear it.
The night was amazing. I learned the awards were named the Ruby Awards after a young farm wife named Ruby Quaker who lived in this area almost 200 years ago. She was such a go-getter and so industrious in the community, keeping the books for the farm, raising children, starting up a general goods store, and then at just 34, was one of the key founders for the local chamber of commerce, so naturally the awards are named in her honour. The awards were for all people in the community who take initiative like this amazing woman did. Students were awarded, businesses, key figures...it was actually such an inspiring night. I wished I had known her! For the last 3 years I've driven up and down Quaker Street that has been named after her family without even knowing it. Quite the lady, quite the family.
Back to the dress. Almost as soon as I walked in, I was waiting for my husband as we went to check to make sure which room we were supposed to be in, so I was standing on my own. I was observing what other women were wearing and wondered if I was over-dressed. It seemed to me like casual is the new formal and I was feeling a little silly, though my husband had assured me that I looked perfectly suited to the occasion. While I was standing there, a woman walked up to me and said, "I LOVE your dress!" Ha! I almost had to laugh. Then, when the evening was over, another lady came up to me and told me, "I absolutely love your outfit! Gorgeous!" Ha ha again! At first, I felt, "They're just saying that because they know it's an old dress and they feel sorry for me!" How ridiculous is that?! There is no way they could have known, so that was feedback from heaven itself. I was so glad I wore that dress and so glad I didn't spend extra money on something new when all along I still had something just perfect. The two compliments had me walking on cloud 9. My next task is to write my friend who got married so long ago and tell her I still use her dress from her wedding. She'll never believe it.
Wednesday 9 October 2019
The Year of Jubilee 2019
I have officially entered my "year of Jubilee". I've written about the signficance of numbers in the Bible before. The number "40" carried a lot of significance for me when I turned 40, 10 years ago. It was amazing to see all the instances of that number in the Bible and all the times people, including Jesus, went through a period of 40 years of 40 days, for some kind of ministry that lay ahead for them. I packed a LOT of life in the last years years, including 2 babies, a house build, a farm rebuild, a host of children raised into adulthood, a host of children half-raised, friendships formed, new and old.....so much life.
The number "50" is also significant in the Bible. It represents the "year of Jubilee" which is considered the end of seven cycles of seven. Seven is also considered signficant as that is the year a slave owner lets his slaves free in the Bible as well. According to something I read online about it, it is called the "Year of Release" and one website said it "deals largely with land, property and property rights. According to Leviticus, slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the merices of the God would be particularly manifest." Wow - that's what I want in my "Year of Jubilee"! Freedom from slavery! All debts forgiven! The mercies of God manifest in my life. Amen.
It is actually the most amazing chapter to read. God writes out some really specific commands about this 50th year. Leviticus 25 :8-13 says this "‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
As I did with my 40th year, I am committing my 50th year in a really particular way, consecrating it in a way. I love how the Bible has it written, "Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you." There's my life verse for this year. By faith, I'm proclaiming freedom and liberty throughout our land, our home, my children. This is my prayer, what I long for.
Of course, I am not Jewish and so I'm not exactly planning to set aside this whole year and not sow or reap, but the Jews, on the other hand were commanded to do that. It's interesting to read the Lord's command to not sow or reap because He then imagines what they would wonder after such a command and in verse 20 says, "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?'" His response is what I appreciate the most, verse 21, "I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yeild enough for three years." The principle in these verses that I take away is the importance of obedience and faith. God has called us to pursue Him in all aspects of our life, not just being 100% debt-free. He then knows that we want to know how life will look if we do everything He asks of us..."you may ask"....Yes, I "may ask" for sure! I want to know will we have the freedom we long for? Will we be taken care of always? Is following Christ worth the cost?! "Of course," I can almost hear the Lord speaking to me. "I will send you such a blessing......" It doesn't mean it will be wiping away my mortgage. I actually don't know what it will look like, but I know following Christ and His commands will always bring spritiual blessings that cannot be counted.
This gets restated in vs. 18, "Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety."
That would be a great blessing, to "life safely in the land" and that the "land will yield its fruit" and that we will be abel to life here and "eat your fill". Interesting to note that it is supposed to be in this next year that we should see our first crop from the vines. Anyway, I won't stop praying for freedom and I never will. I know freedom is impossible with man's way of thinking. The phrase in verse 41 is my favourite, "Then they and their children are to be released...."
39 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40 They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
I am committed to freedom and the entire reason I started this blog in the first place. The last 5 five years have been challenging in the pursuit of that goal. We had 2 years of almost no work, followed by the miracle of a job, followed by the hours in that job increasing to almost levels we couldn't handle. As I've written before, all the work helped make up for the years of no income, but we weren't making fantastic progress on the debt side of things. Now that things have settled down and the hours are more manageable we are well on our way again to being super agressive. We are living below our means very purposefully in order to be so aggressive. I actually really prefer this way of living. I was reminded of the phrase Dave Ramsey says all the time, "Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else." That's what I want, so we are currently living like no one else with that great goal in mind.
I do not know what this year will hold. It may end up looking like just another regular year, I don't know. But, I'm asking God, by faith as I stated before, that it could be the most amazing year, a true "Year of Jubilee", a year of freedom, a year of release, of His safety, of "such a blessing", of His mercies in new ways. That may sound pretty bold, I admit. I think God can handle it.
The number "50" is also significant in the Bible. It represents the "year of Jubilee" which is considered the end of seven cycles of seven. Seven is also considered signficant as that is the year a slave owner lets his slaves free in the Bible as well. According to something I read online about it, it is called the "Year of Release" and one website said it "deals largely with land, property and property rights. According to Leviticus, slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the merices of the God would be particularly manifest." Wow - that's what I want in my "Year of Jubilee"! Freedom from slavery! All debts forgiven! The mercies of God manifest in my life. Amen.
It is actually the most amazing chapter to read. God writes out some really specific commands about this 50th year. Leviticus 25 :8-13 says this "‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
As I did with my 40th year, I am committing my 50th year in a really particular way, consecrating it in a way. I love how the Bible has it written, "Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you." There's my life verse for this year. By faith, I'm proclaiming freedom and liberty throughout our land, our home, my children. This is my prayer, what I long for.
Of course, I am not Jewish and so I'm not exactly planning to set aside this whole year and not sow or reap, but the Jews, on the other hand were commanded to do that. It's interesting to read the Lord's command to not sow or reap because He then imagines what they would wonder after such a command and in verse 20 says, "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?'" His response is what I appreciate the most, verse 21, "I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yeild enough for three years." The principle in these verses that I take away is the importance of obedience and faith. God has called us to pursue Him in all aspects of our life, not just being 100% debt-free. He then knows that we want to know how life will look if we do everything He asks of us..."you may ask"....Yes, I "may ask" for sure! I want to know will we have the freedom we long for? Will we be taken care of always? Is following Christ worth the cost?! "Of course," I can almost hear the Lord speaking to me. "I will send you such a blessing......" It doesn't mean it will be wiping away my mortgage. I actually don't know what it will look like, but I know following Christ and His commands will always bring spritiual blessings that cannot be counted.
This gets restated in vs. 18, "Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety."
That would be a great blessing, to "life safely in the land" and that the "land will yield its fruit" and that we will be abel to life here and "eat your fill". Interesting to note that it is supposed to be in this next year that we should see our first crop from the vines. Anyway, I won't stop praying for freedom and I never will. I know freedom is impossible with man's way of thinking. The phrase in verse 41 is my favourite, "Then they and their children are to be released...."
39 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40 They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
I am committed to freedom and the entire reason I started this blog in the first place. The last 5 five years have been challenging in the pursuit of that goal. We had 2 years of almost no work, followed by the miracle of a job, followed by the hours in that job increasing to almost levels we couldn't handle. As I've written before, all the work helped make up for the years of no income, but we weren't making fantastic progress on the debt side of things. Now that things have settled down and the hours are more manageable we are well on our way again to being super agressive. We are living below our means very purposefully in order to be so aggressive. I actually really prefer this way of living. I was reminded of the phrase Dave Ramsey says all the time, "Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else." That's what I want, so we are currently living like no one else with that great goal in mind.
I do not know what this year will hold. It may end up looking like just another regular year, I don't know. But, I'm asking God, by faith as I stated before, that it could be the most amazing year, a true "Year of Jubilee", a year of freedom, a year of release, of His safety, of "such a blessing", of His mercies in new ways. That may sound pretty bold, I admit. I think God can handle it.
Monday 7 October 2019
Glad They Didn't Listen To Me
I was caught completely off-guard this weekend. I wasn't expecting a thing. I had been VERY specific on what I wanted to do with this gigantic birthday coming up - nothing! I couldn't get my head around celebrating. Not because I don't love birthdays or aging. I just couldn't picture everyone going to so much work to plan something. I also always get so emotional and cry for hours. I couldn't picture that either. I told everyone if they knew of something being planned to SHUT IT DOWN. I was told everyone was being obedient. But they weren't, at all.
Instead my sister planned an overnight with me. That should have been my first clue, but she assured me there were no surprises. I believed her. There wasn't. We had a lovely night away and a spa treatment the next morning. All good. Had a great time. But then she got us checked out and in the car on our way home by noon. No shopping, no lunch...that seemed odd to me, but she seemed to have to go visit her son out that way, so fine. As we pulled up the street I saw the cars and thought at first there was an emergency at our house or maybe a kid event I'd forgotten about, but then it hit me like a ton of bricks and my first words out of my mouth were, "What have you done?!" The tears immediately started. I didn't even know whose cars they were or who was there, I was just so overwhelmed. I just kept saying, "You didn't listen to me!"
After a few minutes of my ungrateful ramblings, I eventually stumbled out of the car. I still couldn't see who was there through all my tears. Can't say I didn't warn them?! As I walked slowly up the steps I greeted each person one by one. I was in absolute shock. They had invited a small group of people from my past life that I hadn't seen in over 30 years. People I had hung out with when I was in highschool, university, first years of marriage....each time I went to a new person, my mouth would open in awe, "You're here?!" "You?!!" "No way!" It was truly the coolest experience. Some people had driven a couple hours to come. I still had a headache, but it became one of the most amazing experiences.
As I calmed down and went around my fully decorated house with tables of food and drinks, I was so touched by what my daughters and sisters had pulled off. It became such a great day. I could never have organized it and would never have known to ask for it or plan it, but if I could have it would have been something just like this. My sister had each woman there say a short word that made them think of me and if only I had a recording of the thoughtful words that were said. I told them later that so many don't get to hear those words because they are often said at a funeral and the person who is gone never gets to hear them! I was so blessed to hear such kind things while still alive!
Am I still mad that they didn't listen to me, no I'm so glad they didn't listen to me. The real day is yet to come later this week, but now I won't live in stress and fear about any surprise....I've already had my socks knocked off.
Instead my sister planned an overnight with me. That should have been my first clue, but she assured me there were no surprises. I believed her. There wasn't. We had a lovely night away and a spa treatment the next morning. All good. Had a great time. But then she got us checked out and in the car on our way home by noon. No shopping, no lunch...that seemed odd to me, but she seemed to have to go visit her son out that way, so fine. As we pulled up the street I saw the cars and thought at first there was an emergency at our house or maybe a kid event I'd forgotten about, but then it hit me like a ton of bricks and my first words out of my mouth were, "What have you done?!" The tears immediately started. I didn't even know whose cars they were or who was there, I was just so overwhelmed. I just kept saying, "You didn't listen to me!"
After a few minutes of my ungrateful ramblings, I eventually stumbled out of the car. I still couldn't see who was there through all my tears. Can't say I didn't warn them?! As I walked slowly up the steps I greeted each person one by one. I was in absolute shock. They had invited a small group of people from my past life that I hadn't seen in over 30 years. People I had hung out with when I was in highschool, university, first years of marriage....each time I went to a new person, my mouth would open in awe, "You're here?!" "You?!!" "No way!" It was truly the coolest experience. Some people had driven a couple hours to come. I still had a headache, but it became one of the most amazing experiences.
As I calmed down and went around my fully decorated house with tables of food and drinks, I was so touched by what my daughters and sisters had pulled off. It became such a great day. I could never have organized it and would never have known to ask for it or plan it, but if I could have it would have been something just like this. My sister had each woman there say a short word that made them think of me and if only I had a recording of the thoughtful words that were said. I told them later that so many don't get to hear those words because they are often said at a funeral and the person who is gone never gets to hear them! I was so blessed to hear such kind things while still alive!
Am I still mad that they didn't listen to me, no I'm so glad they didn't listen to me. The real day is yet to come later this week, but now I won't live in stress and fear about any surprise....I've already had my socks knocked off.
Thursday 3 October 2019
Gazelle Intensity....again
I'm always amazed when we make these decisions to buckle down how we seem to get little nudges of encouragment to stay on the path. We seem to go in cycles. We go "gazelle intensity", which I'm sure the expression comes from Prov. 6:5 where Solomon writes, "Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler." We are the gazelles, who run high speed, running away from the hunter. We go "gazelle intense" depriving ourselves of EVERYTHING and this is a good thing when you know it isn't long term. You can do anything short term when you have a goal. But then, like a tired gazelle, we get slow down because it's hard to keep that up for a long time. Then we get side-tracked by expenses for kids or a birthday or some kind of distraction and then somehow we become less intense. We are always frugal in comparison to most, but the intensity goes down a notch or two.
I kind of like gazelle intensity. I always feel like we make such huge strides when we're super hard core. Just like when we started living like this several years ago, we had to get all the kids on board, we had to get the younger kids on board this time. We tend to have to repeat what we taught the older kids to the younger set. That's the other reason I don't mind so much. It's just like reading the books I read with the older kids that I loved so much. The younger ones were there when I read them the first time, but they were babies! So I get to read them again to these little people and I enjoy that. It's the same way with our frugal living. The younger ones missed all the memos the first time round, so we are re-teaching them what we are about, why we do what we do.
Restaurants are one of my favourite places to be. We really don't go out very much, but there was a time there before my son left when we were hitting fast food a lot because we were driving so much all over Ontario getting him vaccinated, buying things for overseas, meeting people he needed to meet, etc. We spent way more than we wanted to. Then, we justified family dinners out because it was our last month together, or whatever - it added up. I've been ok with cutting all that out. Even the kids have been fine with it. But, deep down, I do love a great meal out. Well, a funny thing happened this week. With my husband's new job, there are a few new perks which I'm super happy about. He has to be out in the community being the friendly college guy. So next week he has to go to a gorgeous golf club for a fancy dinner and guess who he gets to take? Me! Yay! The amazing thing about going to this particular place is that just this summer he went to this club for a different college event and he came home raving about it. He said he wanted to take me so badly just so I could see it. Well, we knew that was never going to happen....but it has. I always say this, but is it coincidence? See, I just can't ever say that. I always see these amazing blessings, because that is what they are, as little reminders from the Lord that He sees me. He knows even my pathetic little desires like going out for dinner. Gazelle intensity is a spiritual exercise as much as it is a financial exercise and I believe, in God's goodness, it is His way of telling me to stay the course.
24 for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
26 the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
27 You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family
I kind of like gazelle intensity. I always feel like we make such huge strides when we're super hard core. Just like when we started living like this several years ago, we had to get all the kids on board, we had to get the younger kids on board this time. We tend to have to repeat what we taught the older kids to the younger set. That's the other reason I don't mind so much. It's just like reading the books I read with the older kids that I loved so much. The younger ones were there when I read them the first time, but they were babies! So I get to read them again to these little people and I enjoy that. It's the same way with our frugal living. The younger ones missed all the memos the first time round, so we are re-teaching them what we are about, why we do what we do.
Restaurants are one of my favourite places to be. We really don't go out very much, but there was a time there before my son left when we were hitting fast food a lot because we were driving so much all over Ontario getting him vaccinated, buying things for overseas, meeting people he needed to meet, etc. We spent way more than we wanted to. Then, we justified family dinners out because it was our last month together, or whatever - it added up. I've been ok with cutting all that out. Even the kids have been fine with it. But, deep down, I do love a great meal out. Well, a funny thing happened this week. With my husband's new job, there are a few new perks which I'm super happy about. He has to be out in the community being the friendly college guy. So next week he has to go to a gorgeous golf club for a fancy dinner and guess who he gets to take? Me! Yay! The amazing thing about going to this particular place is that just this summer he went to this club for a different college event and he came home raving about it. He said he wanted to take me so badly just so I could see it. Well, we knew that was never going to happen....but it has. I always say this, but is it coincidence? See, I just can't ever say that. I always see these amazing blessings, because that is what they are, as little reminders from the Lord that He sees me. He knows even my pathetic little desires like going out for dinner. Gazelle intensity is a spiritual exercise as much as it is a financial exercise and I believe, in God's goodness, it is His way of telling me to stay the course.
One of the other things that always amazes me is how clothes come into our life. That has always been a huge blessing to me. My sister is always giving us stuff from her girls and even from her own wardrobe. I am never out shopping. I honestly can't even think of a time when I went to a mall recentlyfor myself. I haven't had to as these mini shipments arrive just when I'm feeling like maybe I should pick some things up. Just this week, some more clothes were dropped off for our boys from someone I hadn't seen in months. She had no idea this would come in handy. I was in awe. I probably won't have to do much shopping for the boys either.
Another blessing has come from my neighbour. My neighbour happens to be a hairdresser - she cut my boys' hair this week. That was a big savings. I try to cut their hair. It always looks hilarious when I'm done. I'm so grateful to her for that.
All of this just in this past week reminds me that God is in control. We just have to be obedient. God takes care of the rest. One of the other verses we read with the kids was Proverbs 27:23,
"Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;24 for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
26 the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
27 You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family
and to nourish your female servants.
This is one of my favourite passages on finances in the Bible particularly because of the farming imagery. We literally had to go check out our herds when we had cows. We literally grow hay and have even had goats and goat's milk. But these are pictures of truly knowing your bank account and what your financial picture is. The images are meant to teach that when you "know the condition" of your financial picture and you "give careful attention" to it, then you will be provided for, "the lambs will provide you with clothing" (I literally get clothes dropped off) and "you will have plenty of goats' milk to feed your family and to nourish your female servants". Well, we don't plan on drinking goats' milk, but we do need food in the fridge. We also don't have female servants, but I believe it can also mean there will be enough to pay the people you owe even after you have fed yourselves.
I cling to these passages and love them so much. I take great encouragement in them. I don't feel deprived in the slightest right now. I know that anything I'm being deprived from I probably didn't need in my life anyway. I always have my son in Africa in the back of my mind, too, knowing none of the Africans have what I'm depriving myself of anyway. All this to say is God is keeping us on track with the gazelle intensity. Isn't it funny that the "gazelle" imagery is also "African" in a way? I don't know too many gazelles in Canada. Kinda cool.
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