Then I Thought of Home

Sometimes things happen that put everything else in its place. Something like that is happening now. Amy Weilbaker, a beautiful young wife and mother is fighting for her life. I remember one of our elders having a prayer for a member of our church, this member had cancer and it was serious. Our elder stood and looked at us as a church and said. I am going to have to get down on my knees and pray this prayer. I am desperate for this prayer to be answered. He asked us to join him. It was a Sunday night and we were a very small group, but we went to our knees and our elder took us to God in prayer for our brother. God heard our prayer, the man we prayed for  still worships in that same church today. I know those of you who know me have heard me say this before but it is so powerful to me. In Mark 1:30 we're told that Peter's mother-in-law was sick and they told Jesus. The thought of them telling Jesus moves me every time. We all need someone to tell Jesus for us....

Enjoying Sunday afternoon by making this weeks menu and grocery list. I've got two new breakfast recipes to try and 3or 4 new supper ones. Looks like it'll be the same ole hat for dinners but we'll be starting and ending the day in a creative way. Whats on your list this week?

Sunday is one of my favorite things. Its a day like no other. Everyday of the week is a gift but I think of Sunday as being the big gift sitting on the table with all the other days around it and you have to open the little ones before you get the big one. I like to think of all that will be going on today. I like to think of all the houses where moms, or grandma's are getting up early to prepare Sunday dinner. None of the kids even know how much work they put into it but they know they look forward to it every week.  Maybe they have a game of some sort or shopping, or the simple Sunday afternoon drive or a nap on the couch. Every one celebrates Sunday in a different way.  God is good like that. He gives us what He knows are bodies and souls are crying for after a week of toil. He gives us a day of rest and reflection. A day of choices. A day to remember Him or a day to go on like usual. He told us w...

I agree with Anne Shirley from, "Anne of Green Gables,"  she said, "I'm so thankful for friendship. It beautifies life so much." Isn't that true?. You know what I'm talking about. When you meet that person and you click. You just know you are friends to the end. That's how it was with Joycee.  I was 21 when we met, I won't say how old she was, but she is 15 years older than me. lol.   We were kindred spirits right from the start. How do I know?  The first time we ever went to their house for supper we were cleaning up the dishes and Mark and Jerry had gone outside to look around the farm, Joycee looked at me and said,"I'm tired I need to lay down."   So there we were,  her on one couch me on the other. kicked back relaxing, talking like we had been friends since high school. That's the only time I ever went to anyones house for supper and laid on their couch.  She has been there for me through everything even earning...

I've got so much to tell you. I'm so excited. I don't even know how to tell the story, so I guess I'll just start talking, (or typing as the case may be). Mark has been looking for land for a couple of years now. He wanted to build more poultry barns. I wasn't to interested. In the beginning I was just plain flat against it and then I moved to I didn't care one way or the other. He would go and look at places, but nothing ever seemed right. Most of the time I  didn't even go look. I figured what ever he did would be okay with me. Then one day he comes in and tells me about a place he had told me about before, I never was interested before but this time I just felt something come over me and I said, "Lets go see it."  We got in the truck and went and the rest is history.  From the very first it felt right. It feels like my heart is there . If you know me you know I'm not a real big  house person. What I mean by that is I don't get real exci...

When I went to bed last night I was so excited to think about pumpkin bread with pumpkin butter and coffee for breakfast. I knew I had the makings of a great morning ahead.  Then I thought about cherry stuffed french toast, that's Texas toast stuffed with a cream cheese filling and topped with a cherry glaze.The kids love it. .But the thinking didn't stop there, I was on a roll,  I thought, cream cheese and pumpkin bread go great together... it's fall..I wonder if I can use the pumpkin bread, stuff it with a cream cheese filling and have some sort of pumpkin stuffed french toast? I have no idea what to top it with. Mark and kids may scream but I've got to try it, after all...... the kitchen is mine. I'll talk to you later, I've got to run.  I"m off to create!

Tim came in and said it smelled amazing in here. I was mixing up some pumpkin bread and was surprised he could already smell it. I thought boy this is going to be some good bread. I got it all poured evenly in the pans  and I  just plain felt happy inside about how pretty it looked. I turned opened the oven door and there sat last nights tater tots.  That's what Tim had been smelling. The pre-heating of the oven was baking  them again...In  the words of Gomer Pyle, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

This is what I'm talking about!   Grief and sorrow, sorrow and grief.

 This is the Persimmon tree to the west of our house. I've been going out to check it several times a day  to no avail. There aren't many hanging in the tree so there aren't many falling. I remember reading about Laura Ingalls not knowing what persimmons were when she and her husband moved to Missouri from South Dakota. I guess they're more  a treat of the eastern half of the mid-west.   I heard a man compare a persimmon to a person. He said the persimmon is pretty on the tree but it's no good until  it falls. It has to mature, it matures when it goes through a frost, falls to the ground, maybe even gets bruised, you might have to knock a few ants off of it before you can even eat it. That's when a persimmon is the best, that's when it's at its sweetest.  I think there is truth in that comparison and I never go to the persimmon tree or make a persimmon pudding that I don't think of that story and how in the end I want to be like a per...

While I was studying today, I had a  thought and then of course I thought I had to share it with you..  You are never so young that you can't go right and never so old that you can't still go wrong.   It looks like no matter how old we get, we're gonna have to keep a watch on ourselves.   1 Timothy 4:16 "Watch your life and doctrine closely."

The last few days the mornings have been beautiful. When I get up the first thing I do is look out the window. I don't know why, some people read the paper or check their phone to get the feel of the day, but I look out the window. Right out my front  window is a soybean field and a cornfield, for the last few days there has been a fog or really a mist in the air right over them. Then I say, 'Could the morning be anymore beautiful?'   Today there is no mist, it's clear out and I still found myself saying, "could the morning be anymore beautiful?" I know if I woke to the sound of rain on the roof or saw the sky lighting up in a storm I would want to go back to sleep and think what a beautiful morning to sleep. Then there is the winter morning, you know how the snow is on the trees, and when you look out and you know if you open the door the world will be silent. I'm going to take my coffee and go out into the morning. I'll set on the porch and take i...

Meet the youngest member of our family, Foxey.  She is a Sheba Imu. She looks a lot like a fox only she is much fatter and has a curly tail.  We got Foxey about 2 1/2 years ago.  Our two youngest girls, Jessica and Olivia have always been very close, so when Jess got her first boyfriend Liv was lost. I had the crazy idea of getting a dog, sort of replace Jess with a dog.  With that said the search was on. Olivia searched the web and found Foxey. We sent to Missouri to get her and went to the Louisville airport to pick her up. You have no idea how huge that was for us. I mean, we don't order dogs on the computer and we certainly were not the kind of people to travel to Louisville Ky to pick up a dog at the airport.  But as they say, "the things you do for your kids."   Fox has certainly earned her place in this family.  When Lucas was home from school this weekend he set up skype for us. He said the main reason he wanted to was so he could ca...

  Isn't there just something wonderful about sons?  There is something wonderful about daughters too I treasure all of the things about my kids but I was reminded of my sons specialness this weekend. Lucas is always so good to me. When we are out he takes care of me. He  wants to make sure I get what I want even if it means he has to wait for me. He wants me to be happy. Now, this doesn't mean he is above asking me to make a pizza at midnight or anything like that it just means he thinks of me too. I am proud of the man he is. I remember when I first realized he was a man. We thought someone was down at the  chicken houses messing around with stuff. It was late at night and we were all in the kitchen and Mark said he was going down there, he went out the door and Lucas went with him. He went right out the door behind his dad to see what was going on. I just stood there speechless.  Something major had just happened. Up unti...

Well here we are. I've wanted to blog for the longest while but I just never seemed to be able to get it up and going, tonight with the help of our son, Lucas and Tim our son in heart I have finally became a blogger...  I love my family and our life. I love the things that happen to us and around us. Its not big stuff, its the same things that are happening in your life. The things that make me smile are probably the same things that make you smile.I've often thought of Laura Ingalls Wilder and how we all love to read  her adventures .  Then I thought of all the other little girls that made that same sort of trip across the country in a covered wagon, all those little girls that grew up on the praire. They all had stories too. Some of them maybe even more exciting than Laura's, the only difference is Laura wrote hers down. Because she wrote them down countless people have made the journey  out of the Big Woods and int...