Tuesday, January 24, 2012
"Unless You Become Like One Of These...."
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Catching Up
So, after Christmas was over, and cabin fever had set it, I went on a re-organize and clean out campaign that has lifted me up out of my winter doldrums. I pulled apart my pantry and completely cleaned it out and reorganized it; I cleaned out and spiffed up the spare bedroom (ready and available for you to come and see us now), and cleaned out many of the closets and drawers in the house, all of which made me feel a little less like I am living on an island surrounded by snow and mud. Why that is... I don't know... I only know it made me feel better to get everything in order. Spring cleaning is all fine and wonderful, but for me a little winter organizing has really done the trick.
In addition to the winter organizing, the chickens were signed up for an "Extreme Home makeover"... (I guess the show is called "Extreme Makeover Home Edition".... one of my favorite shows) and were given an upgrade... at least for now, since the walls of the chicken house that we were able to purchase late last summer, are still buried under snow, and awaiting the right time and Steve's greater mobility for the final coup raising. So we have upgraded the chickies into temporary housing; from the little dog house to the broken water tank that we used last year for a seed house. I think I will write an article on how to reuse an old water tank... I already have two for my list. Steve turned a couple of old crates into nesting boxes, placed them into the old tank along with some lovely straw, then we all repositioned the chain link fence....placed the chickies inside and with in 24 hours, we had our first egg... Hurray! Homegrown eggs are a lovely sight to behold... I'm sure those of you who have chickens would agree. As soon as the new housing was in place for the chickens, Eddie chanted... "move that bus"... which made us laugh... thus my link above to "Extreme Makeover..."
As for other events.... lets see...Nathan and Himilce are moving to North Carolina, from Phoenix, in fact Himilce and babies are there already, while Nathan finishes his last several weeks of work in Phoenix. He is staying with my Dad as he finishes up, and family and furnishings have been sent ahead. I am happy that Himilce will have another season of living close to her family... although, I feel very sad to have them go... isn't that funny, they live 12 hours from me, and I am all torn up about them moving.... its just that even though they were that far from us, they still felt "close" to us.... as opposed to living in North Carolina, which is "far". But I do entrust their lives and ours in the Lord's hand. He directs all of our steps. My precious little grandson Ezra celebrated his first birthday (what a precious little bug he is. I miss him so much), and also Eddie and my Dad, who share the same birthday, and Russ who is just four days after them. Those are my big events for January; that along with every day living and keeping up with life, we keep pressing in close to the Lord who strengthens us in difficult days and refreshes us as we carry on. Steve is coming along very well, and has been graduated to a boot and a cane, so is feeling more like his old self, and capable of more and more all the time. He still has therapy 2 days a week, and has had to deal with a few issues such as a torn rotator cuff, a few broken pins, and some scar tissue problems, but all in all he is thankful to be more mobile, and I am too. Hope you are all doing well this winter. I am off now to catch up on your news.
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| Chickies upgrade into old water tank |
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| Some nesting boxes and a roost |
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| First Egg! Let's Celebrate |
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| Eddie was impressed when I showed him the difference between the pale, nutrient depleted, store bought egg on the right and the bea-u-tiful orange yoked egg laid by our own hens on left. |
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| Fried rice for dinner.... the best way to divide up one egg between us. :) |
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| Believe it or not, I tidy up this disaster every other week... this time I really cleaned it out and have spoken dire threats to those who would mess it up again. |
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| Pulled everything out. |
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| Ahhhhh |
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| Looks so much better doesn't it? |
Have a great Week
Blessings
Sunday, January 1, 2012
About Where Your Treasure Is
The dictionary defines treasure as wealth, rich materials or valuable things; anything or person greatly valued or highly prized. The Bible has many references to the word "treasure", and refers to it as silver, gold, spices, fine oil, armor, holy vessels, wisdom, knowledge and the Holy Spirit. It speaks of ill-gotten treasure, treasure on earth and treasure in heaven, treasure in our hearts, treasure in the ground, hidden treasure and found treasure. Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to His people as His treasure or His treasured possession. I love to think of God treasuring us. In the New Testament, God gave us His most precious treasure, His Son Jesus so we could become a part of His eternal treasure chest. Then He placed His Holy Spirit in us so that we could be transformed from chunks of coal into diamonds.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:19; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I think of treasure as something I delight in. When I sat down and consciously thought about the things I delight in, most of my list was a list of eternal things and had to do with relationships and friendships. A few things were material things, such as teacups, antiques, books and art, little things, beautiful things. I hope to make this blog a scrapbook of treasure. not the kind of treasure that the world esteems, that can be stolen, or destroyed, but the kind of treasure that God esteems and the kind of treasure that delights my heart as well. Life is full of things we do, things we want, places we go. To me, those are just vehicles to assist us in life... When they take preeminence, we have misplaced the very best of what God wanted to give to us. We can enjoy those things and even pursue them in one way or another, but to me, the core of life... the important things, the eternal treasures are the only things that give us true joy... true happiness. Those are the treasures I desire to pursue.
Let me share a little of my "treasure" with you as I tell you about my life. This is Steve, my hubby. We are High school Sweet Hearts and Life Long Friends. He is my "knight in shining armor". We celebrated 33 years of marriage when this picture was taken in November 2012.
We have 7 children. These are our first 4 when they were little munchkins.
And this is all of us a few years later.
Raising our family, and our home life has been the center of who we are. We homeschooled our first four children all the way through school. Our work and business has most often been in and through our home. We have lived a country life most of our married life, having livestock, chickens, and gardens much of that time. We love wholesome "real" food, and have become interested in the permaculture aspect of raising food in the last few years. Most of our children have been pursuing permaculture and an agricultural lifestyle as well as they have grown and are settling into their own homes; we have had the delight of sharing ideas and knowledge with each other. The world is changing, and so many things are difficult. Yet the blessings that are sifted out of it are our family and friends; and to say that our children are our best friends is to us, the greatest success of a lifestyle that is centered around home.Welcome to our little world.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:19; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. I think of treasure as something I delight in. When I sat down and consciously thought about the things I delight in, most of my list was a list of eternal things and had to do with relationships and friendships. A few things were material things, such as teacups, antiques, books and art, little things, beautiful things. I hope to make this blog a scrapbook of treasure. not the kind of treasure that the world esteems, that can be stolen, or destroyed, but the kind of treasure that God esteems and the kind of treasure that delights my heart as well. Life is full of things we do, things we want, places we go. To me, those are just vehicles to assist us in life... When they take preeminence, we have misplaced the very best of what God wanted to give to us. We can enjoy those things and even pursue them in one way or another, but to me, the core of life... the important things, the eternal treasures are the only things that give us true joy... true happiness. Those are the treasures I desire to pursue.
Let me share a little of my "treasure" with you as I tell you about my life. This is Steve, my hubby. We are High school Sweet Hearts and Life Long Friends. He is my "knight in shining armor". We celebrated 33 years of marriage when this picture was taken in November 2012.
We have 7 children. These are our first 4 when they were little munchkins.
And this is all of us a few years later.
Our first four children are 2 years apart, starting with Nathan, then Luke, then the girls; who are twins. Elizabeth is on the left and Marie is on the right.
In 2006 we grew a little larger. We adopted 3 children from Russia. They are siblings. Their names are Russell, Olga and Eddie. They were 15, 14, and 10 years old (respectively) when we adopted them. This is all of us at the train station in Russia after our first visit to see them. The little girl that Steve has his arm around is a friend of Olga's, and the lady next to Steve was one of our precious aides in the adoption process.
These 3 pictures are taken 3 years later.
Laughter... its my favorite.
Our first four kids grew up and some of them got married.... and started having their own little munchkins. Our oldest son Nathan and his wife Himilce and their little boys Elon and Asher are with us here.
Elizabeth and Benjamin got married a few years after Nathan and Himilce got married. From left to right, back to front. Our second son Luke (24 years old), our daughter Marie, (22 years old), my husband Steve, myself, our daughter Elizabeth, (22 years old), her husband Benjamin (26 years old), Kathy, Dad, our son Nathan (26 years old), bottom left, our daughter Olga (15 years old), Mom (Steve's Mom), our son Eddie, (11 years old), our grandson Elon (6 months old), our daughter in law Himilce (26 years old), and our son, Russell (16 years old).
At Elizabeth's wedding, Marie got to know Jon better. Jon is Benjamin's brother. Benjamin is Elizabeth's husband. Less than a year later, Marie and Jon got married. Life is interesting and beautiful isn't it?
Marie and Jon were the next to have a baby. Here he is little Zane and I. He was born a month after little Asher (Nathan and Himilce's second),
Elizabeth and Benjamin had our fourth grandson 7 months after little Zane was born, and almost a year after that, came little Ezra, Marie and Jon's second(are you loosing track of them all yet?). Here we all are together (almost all of us. Jon could not be in this picture, nor could Russell, but it was the closest thing to having all of us together since Jon and Marie's wedding). Nathan and Himilce and their family live in North Carolina now, Luke lives in Oregon, Elizabeth and Benjamin and Marie and Jon and their families all live in Florida... right next door to each other. Russell is in the Navy but lives most of the time in California, Olga lives in Phoenix, and Eddie is still home with us right here in Colorado.
Five Precious Grandsons....
and now a little Granddaughter.
Raising our family, and our home life has been the center of who we are. We homeschooled our first four children all the way through school. Our work and business has most often been in and through our home. We have lived a country life most of our married life, having livestock, chickens, and gardens much of that time. We love wholesome "real" food, and have become interested in the permaculture aspect of raising food in the last few years. Most of our children have been pursuing permaculture and an agricultural lifestyle as well as they have grown and are settling into their own homes; we have had the delight of sharing ideas and knowledge with each other. The world is changing, and so many things are difficult. Yet the blessings that are sifted out of it are our family and friends; and to say that our children are our best friends is to us, the greatest success of a lifestyle that is centered around home.Welcome to our little world.
Home Grown
Welcome to the "Home Grown" link. Here you will find a collection of posts about Farm, Ranch, and Garden
Chickens
Chicks
Chicks
My Chicken Board on Pinterest
Goats
Horses
Fruit Trees
Peaches
Apple Picking
The Garden
James and the Giant Zucchini
New Seasons
Pinto Beans
Water Tank Green House
Recipes from the garden
My "Homegrown" board on Pinterest
My Farm Board on Pinterest
Apple Picking
The Garden
James and the Giant Zucchini
New Seasons
Pinto Beans
Water Tank Green House
Recipes from the garden
My "Homegrown" board on Pinterest
My Farm Board on Pinterest
Home Cooking: Recipes
Zucchini Stratta
Orange Spice Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch
Zucchini Stratta
Saddle Bag Sandwiches
Whole Wheat Macaroni and Cheese
Main Dishes
Game Hens with Cranberry, Chipotle, Adobo Sauce
Pueblo Green Chili
Chili Relleno Casserole
Zucchini Stratta
Chili
Side Dishes
Green Beans and Cauliflower Supreme
Zucchini Potato Fritters
Creamed Corn
Valentine Potatoes
Soups
Chicken Soup For Body and Soul
Zucchini Bisque
Chili
Potato Soup
Mock French Onion Soup
Breads
Spoon Bread with Honey
Orange Spice Cinnamon Rolls
Irish Soda Bread
Whole Wheat Bread
Wholesome Banana Bread
Naan Bread
Homemade Croutons
Desserts
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Peaches and Cream Pie
Raspberry Pretzel Dessert
Chocolate Oreo Truffles
Lemon Crepe Cake
Tres Leche Cake
Garden Recipes
Zucchini Ideas
Zucchini Potato Fritters
Zucchini Stratta
Zucchini Bisque
Zucchini Relish
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Luke's Corn Salsa
Creamed Corn
Spoon Bread with Honey and Fresh Corn
Peaches and Cream Pie
Fruit Leather
Cabbage: Mock French Onion Soup
Preserving
Zucchini Strawberry Jam
Fruit Leather
Kefir
Zucchini Relish
Beverages
Kefir
Snacks
Graham Crackers
Enjoy More Recipes from
My Recipe Board on Pinterest
Homemade
Crafts and More
Welcome to the "Homemade" Link.
Here you will find a table of contents to a variety of crafts and homemade items. I have arranged the crafts into months and linked them in the month that seemed like a good place to find them. It is not necessarily the same date that they were first published in, so don't let it throw you off when you open them up under March or April, and they are dated October. Most of them have instructions with them, but not all. I hope you enjoy them, and they will inspire some ideas for you.
Here you will find a table of contents to a variety of crafts and homemade items. I have arranged the crafts into months and linked them in the month that seemed like a good place to find them. It is not necessarily the same date that they were first published in, so don't let it throw you off when you open them up under March or April, and they are dated October. Most of them have instructions with them, but not all. I hope you enjoy them, and they will inspire some ideas for you.
February
March
April
May
Tea Cozy 2
Blue Jean Purse
Scrapbook Board
July
Little Lamp Shade
Fourth of July Bunting
August
Decorate a Handheld Mirror
September
Preserved Autumn Leaves
October
Crocheted Purse with Beaded Strap
Little Owl Bag
Scripture Cards
Scrapbook Board
July
Little Lamp Shade
Fourth of July Bunting
August
Decorate a Handheld Mirror
September
Preserved Autumn Leaves
October
Crocheted Purse with Beaded Strap
Little Owl Bag
Scripture Cards
About "Where Your Treasure is"
The dictionary defines treasure as wealth, rich materials or valuable things; anything or person greatly valued or highly prized. The Bible has many references to the word "treasure", and refers to it as silver, gold, spices, fine oil, armor, holy vessels, wisdom, knowledge and the Holy Spirit. It speaks of ill-gotten treasure, treasure on earth and treasure in heaven, treasure in our hearts, treasure in the ground, hidden treasure and found treasure. Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to His people as His treasure or His treasured possession. I love to think of God treasuring us. In the New Testament, God gave us His most precious treasure, His Son Jesus so we could become a part of His eternal treasure chest. Then He placed His Holy Spirit in us so that we could be transformed from chunks of coal into diamonds.
Jesus said in Matthew 6:19; “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I think of treasure as something I delight in. When I sat down and consciously thought about the things I delight in, most of my list was a list of eternal things and had to do with relationships and friendships. A few things were material things, such as teacups, antiques, books and art, little things, beautiful things. I hope to make this blog a scrapbook of treasures: His kind of treasures, expressed through the "doings" and the "how to's" of the everyday life with family and friends.
Let me share a little of my "treasure" with you as I tell you about my life. This is Steve, my hubby. We are High school Sweet Hearts and Life Long Friends. He is my "knight in shining armor". We celebrated 33 years of marriage when this picture was taken in November 2012.
We have 7 children. These are our first 4 when they were little munchkins.And this is all of us a few years later.Our first four children are 2 years apart, starting with Nathan, then Luke, then the girls; who are twins. Elizabeth is on the left and Marie is on the right.
In 2006 we grew a little larger. We adopted 3 children from Russia. They are siblings. Their names are Russell, Olga and Eddie. They were 15, 14, and 10 years old (respectively) when we adopted them. This is all of us at the train station in Russia after our first visit to see them. The little girl that Steve has his arm around is a friend of Olga's, and the lady next to Steve was one of our precious aides in the adoption process.
These 3 pictures are taken 3 years later.
Laughter... its my favorite.
Our first four kids grew up and some of them got married.... and started having their own little munchkins. Our oldest son Nathan and his wife Himilce and their little boys Elon and Asher are with us here.
Elizabeth and Benjamin got married a few years after Nathan and Himilce got married. From left to right, back to front. Our second son Luke (24 years old), our daughter Marie, (22 years old), my husband Steve, myself, our daughter Elizabeth, (22 years old), her husband Benjamin (26 years old), Kathy, Dad, our son Nathan (26 years old), bottom left, our daughter Olga (15 years old), Mom (Steve's Mom), our son Eddie, (11 years old), our grandson Elon (6 months old), our daughter in law Himilce (26 years old), and our son, Russell (16 years old).
At Elizabeth's wedding, Marie got to know Jon better. Jon is Benjamin's brother. Benjamin is Elizabeth's husband. Less than a year later, Marie and Jon got married. Life is interesting and beautiful isn't it?
Marie and Jon were the next to have a baby. Here he is little Zane and I. He was born a month after little Asher (Nathan and Himilce's second),
Elizabeth and Benjamin had our fourth grandson 7 months after little Zane was born, and almost a year after that, came little Ezra, Marie and Jon's second(are you loosing track of them all yet?). Here we all are together (almost all of us. Jon could not be in this picture, nor could Russell, but it was the closest thing to having all of us together since Jon and Marie's wedding). Nathan and Himilce and their family live in North Carolina now, Luke lives in Oregon, Elizabeth and Benjamin and Marie and Jon and their families all live in Florida... right next door to each other. Russell is in the Navy but lives most of the time in California, Olga lives in Phoenix, and Eddie is still home with us right here in Colorado
Five Precious Grandsons....
and now a little Granddaughter.
Faith, Family and Home is the heart of who we are. We have established our lives through Homeschooling, homemaking, and home business as often as we were able. We have lived a country life most of our married life, having livestock, chickens, and gardens much of that time. We love wholesome "real" food, and have become interested in the permaculture aspect of raising food in the last few years. Most of our children have been pursuing a life similar to what they knew growing up, and we have had the delight of sharing ideas and knowledge with each other. To say that our children are our best friends is to us, the greatest success of a lifestyle that is centered around home. I hope that you will enjoy little aspects of "home" as you drop in and explore some of what is on this blog. Thank you for sharing our journey with us.
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