Work in progress

Many of you may be wondering whatever happened to the quilt that I was working on. It has not been forgotten, but I have not had a great deal of time to quilt. I decided to do machine quilting instead of hand quilting like what I had planned, and I've been enjoying it!

A work in progress:



We have had two light frosts so far, but they have not had much effect on our flower plants which are still blooming. My tomato plants are also still doing very well. We're not getting a lot of tomatoes, but enough to slice and enjoy occasionally. I've been keeping an eye on the weather so if it looks like we will have a heavy frost, I will pull the rest of the green tomatoes off of the plants and let them ripen indoors.

Leah and I have been working on arranging a couple more hymns for us to learn on our instruments, and we worked on "Come Thou Fount" yesterday. That is one of my favorite hymns along with "Be Thou My Vision". It is very difficult in today's day and age, to find music that we can sing and play in praise of our God that would be pleasing to Him. We are finding that many songs, including hymns, have lyrics that are contrary to Scripture. Thus we began our search for 'Scripture songs'. Songs in which the words are taken directly from Scripture and then put to music. Of course, then you have to find Scripture songs with good and appropriate melodies. We found one website that had a great many of these, and we printed out several of them and have been quite blessed by them. One of my favorites is taken from Psalm 86:11-12 "Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord"

Teach my Thy way, O Lord
I will walk in Thy truth.
Unite my heart to fear;
my heart to fear Thy name.
(x2)

I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, my God,
with all my heart,
and will glorify Thy name, O Lord;
Thy name forevermore.

Teach me Thy way, O Lord;
I will walk in Thy truth.
Unite my heart to fear;
My heart to fear Thy name.

That is my hearts cry to truly fear my great and awesome God and walk humbly in His perfect truth!

Another one of my favorites: "On My Bed I Remember You", which is taken from Psalm 63:6-7 (this is from the NIV version - I prefer NASB, but this is still a lovely song):

On my bed I remember You;
I think of You through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help,
I sing in the shadows of Your wings.

My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.

On my bed I remember You;
I think of You through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help,
I sing in the shadows of Your wings.
Because You are my help,
I sing in the shadows of Your wings.

There are many more that I also greatly appreciate such as Colossians 3:1-4, Ephesians 1:18-23 and Psalm 115:1-3. (I was going to post a link to the music to these songs, but the website that we found it on will not load. Sorry!) We sing Scripture songs often in our home church group, and some of the children have been able to memorize a few of them which is wonderful! Singing Scripture makes it much easier to memorize it - at least for me it does.

Not only are we working on learning songs to play on our instruments, but also to sing them. Leah and I have been working a great deal on learning to sing harmony. She generally sings the melody and I sing alto (I have a lower singing voice.) Though on a few songs, I'll sing the melody and she'll sing soprano. One of our favorites to do this way is "Seek Ye First". We sing a lot while we tend to the evening dishes and this has been a great practice time. It also makes dishes more enjoyable!

Girls Group

Girl's group went so well yesterday! Over the past year, each time we learned a about a new quality, we would make a bottle of it using old spice bottles. We would put the name of the quality, the definition of that quality and scripture verses that spoke of it on the bottle. So yesterday we did 'bottle review'. The girls took turns choosing a bottle, and then using what was written on the bottle, our Bibles, and the notes we had in our journals, we would discuss the quality.

After our excellent discussion, the girls chose one of the qualities that meant the most to them, and then wrote it on a piece of paper along with the definition, verses, etc. They also wrote how they had, and how they planned to, implement this quality in their lives. When that was completed, we let them decorate the sheets. They all did such a good job. Here is a sampling:

The rest of them:

Sibling Time

Last night Ryan and I went out to his land to remove the coil from his tractor as it needed to be replaced. We had a great time!

Removing the coil

While Ryan removed the coil, I took a few photographs:

This flower was blooming right in the middle of the driveway. The plant is an invasive
weed, but it sure has beautiful flowers.

Looking down an edge of his property. (A corn field is on
the immediate left - right on the other side of the foxtail.)

Once the coil was removed, we walked up to the pond to see how much water was in it. The last rain filled it up quite a bit!

An Evening with Friends

We had a family over for dinner the other evening and what a delightful time of fellowship we had. While the parents visited, Ryan, Leah and I had fun with the children, and meantime keeping an ear tuned to the interesting conversations. Thank you all for coming! We had a wonderful time! :)

"Lift me higher!"

Leah can fix it . . . and she did! :)

Ryan's Birthday

Happy 25th Birthday, Ryan!!!

How blessed I am to have a brother such as Ryan. His sensitivity to others, his peacemakers heart and his wisdom during our family discussions are all such blessings to me. I love you, Ryan! With each passing year may you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ "so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1:10

Girls Group

How I love Thursdays! The days that our living room is filled with young girls eager to learn and grow in their walk with Christ. Today was no different.

We made corn casserole
(I didn't take pictures during the actual making of the casserole, but here is the finished product. The oldest girl in each family is holding a container to take home.)

Made a recipe card:


Finished our Proverbs 31 study and

Cross-stitched or crocheted (depending on which project each girl was working on.)

In the Kitchen

Rainy days and baking cookies just seem to go together. While the rain pattered against the windows, the smell of freshly baked cookies filled the air.

This recipe was given to us from a lady in Nebraska. It is one of our family favorites and is simple to make.

Snickerdoodles
-1 cup shortening
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 eggs
-2 3/4 cups flour
-2 tsp. cream of tartar
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1/4 tsp. salt

Topping:
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-2 Tbsp. cinnamon

Beat eggs and add shortening and sugar. Mix until creamy. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt and add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Roll batter into balls and roll each ball in the topping mixture. Place on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Today was that time again. Menu planning! Mama and I alternate every two weeks doing the cooking so we take turns planning a two week menu. We generally do our shopping on Fridays or Saturdays and with girl's group on Thursdays, I like to have the menu and grocery list all done on Wednesday. I enjoy the menu planning part, but making the grocery list is not something that ranks up there with my favorite things to do! I then have the opportunity to learn to be one who "works with [my] hands in delight" (Proverbs 31:13). Working with delight in all tasks that are given me to do - even compiling a grocery list!

Oftentimes as I go throughout each day, I remind myself of this verse when unpleasant tasks arise. Whatever I am doing, am I delighting in it? Am I being "joyful always"? (1 Thessalonians 5:16) Am I doing my "work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men,"? (Colossians 3:23) How pleasing it would be to our Lord, and what a blessing it would be to those that we are around, if we had this attitude in ourselves!

What a Fun Day!

Girl's group has been going so well lately and we've had several more girls join us which has been wonderful. Yesterday I was so blessed by the girl's participation in our discussion on several verses in Proverbs 31 and also their answers to the questions that were asked. How I love each and everyone of these girls! They are so precious and I pray that they will grow into young ladies who desire to serve and to be obedient to the Lord.

One week this month, we planted Dutch Iris and Tulip bulbs and the girls so enjoyed this! Leah and I had prepared the soil prior to our time together, so what the girls needed to do was dig a hole and plant the bulb. Only one of the girls had planted bulbs before so this was a new experience, and unlike seeds (which they planted in the spring), bulbs need to be buried deeply. Leah had made each of the girls a measuring stick with the desired depth marked on them and the girls had fun digging and measuring their holes.

Our girls (minus one who couldn't come this day)

Getting ready to dig a hole

Planting a tulip bulb

Leah and one of the girls heading to the garden to water

Watering

After planting the bulbs we went inside for our study and then crocheted or cross-stitched (depending on which project each girl was working on.)

If you can't tell, she was thrilled to learn how to cross-stitch!

Working away on their cross-stitch and crochet projects.