What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Monday, August 07, 2006

Good gifts, bountiful provisions, and a happy spirit.

Good News #1

The smoldering heat of the last few weeks has prevented me from doing anything other than watering the garden. No weeding. No harvesting. Nothing. Today's trip to the garden was...interesting to say the least. My pepper plants had disappeared and only after a few hours of work, did they finally reappear! The soil that was brought it for my garden apparently had grass seed throughout, because grass is nearly over running my entire garden. (I have not been weeding it like I should have...) I worked diligently to pull weeds (that I could) or cut grass with scissors (huge clumps of soil would break away from the earth with some, dismanteling my precious plants!) Then I covered with newspaper and black plastic trash bags. There is SO much more to do, but much has been done. Thank goodness. We harvested three monstrous zucchini plants and several more 'normal-sized' ones. And I even was able to BRING A FEW TOMATOES IN THE HOUSE! We ate our fill and had some left over-PROGRESS!!! :-)

Good News #2

I went YARD SALING!!!!! Hip, Hip, Hurray! There was a neighborhood sale on Saturday, in an area I was a bit familiar with, so I packed up the kids and headed out. (Of course, to ENSURE that I got the car, that required me to drive Matt to the farm at o-dark thirty...) The sales were in a posh neighborhood, and with posh-often comes childlessness. SO-I didn't get as many clothes as I had hoped. I was able to find four turtlenecks for Rynnie-Roo. Four is better than none, wouldn't you say? :-) I also found a down comforter and matching pillow sham for her bed (since I don't have any twin sized blankets) and even one for Andrew, when he GETS a bed. I got a few books for Corynn, fewer for Matt, and one for me- the hardcover book 'Scarlet', the sequel to Gone With the Wind. Oh-yes. A huge bag of paper dolls (from the American Girl collection and Little House on the Prairie to Barbie and Disney characters!), a planetarium, and a WHOLE BAG full of brand new sachets, pillow covers, and other little gifts to put in baskets for .25 a piece! I love collecting little gifts to surprise people with, especially when you can bring such joy for .25!!! So you see, the PROBLEM with yard saling-you often buy things you are NOT looking for! But, truly, it was so refreshing and I got GREAT deals. I love yard saling.
SO much!

Good News #3-

A cow has died. Of course, that isn't REALLY good news. In fact, the farmer has such a hard time parting with cows, that even when they are 'scumbag cows' he keeps them on. But THAT is another story. The good news about THIS cow, is that she is going to fill up our freezer! What freezer, you may ask? The freezer we have been PLANNING to buy for four years but never could part with the money. Then Matt promised-THIS YEAR we would, but STILL we both have procrastinated. NOW-this lovely cow, has given us the motivation to ACTUALLY do it. I am already PLANNING a list of things to load it up with. So-we get our freezer and we get about 50 pounds of ground beef. Good gifts. Praise be to the Lord for his provisions above and beyond what we need.

Good News #4-

Notice anything different about my blog? Look on the right hand side of my blog and you will see I figured out how to post graphics on my blog! It took a long time (really, I am such an idiot when it comes to computers!) and I am not SURE I know exactly how I did it, but I did! Notice too, I made a list of my canning and preserving for this year. I will be adding to it as I 'put things up' for winter.


Good News #5-Best for last...

My husband is sweet and my children are sweet. I am so blessed to have such loves in my life, who openly express their love and appreciation for me. Who thank me for my work, praise me in the gates, and tell me of their love-not only with words, but with sparkling eyes, hugs and kisses, sweet smiles and whisperings in the night. The Lord has blessed me, indeed.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check my blog...we may be in your area sometime this week. Email me if you are free. ~Jen

Anonymous said...

Actually Ebensburg is about 30 minutes or so from Altoona as well. My thoughts were if it all worked out that we would ride up with him and he could go and do his "Navy stuff" while we visited with you...either at your house or if you would prefer to meet someplace. Whichever works for you. I mentioned it to him and he seemed agreeable to it so let me tell him you said Thursday works best for you and see what he can work out. I'll let you know as soon as he gets home from running a few errands. ~Jen

Pear tree cottage! said...

O! your lovely blog is like a breath of fresh air.........I love your life style and the way the earth and it's produce and you all work together.

We are simple country folks here in Australia and grandparents to eight so to see your children in the garden is wonderful.

I wish you much happiness.

I would like to visit again if that is ok! as I too love the cook books about the Amish style

Abigail said...

Ulp. Today i was going to go weed the garden, but I've been putting it off in fear of finding just what you described. No longer! I will face those weeds and utterly vanquish them.

Thanks so much for the blueberry recipes. My picking time was postponed until Thursday, so I'm even more eager to try them out.

Wendy said...

It sounds like such a delightful day...despite all of your weeds! I would love to try all of your good jam recipes, though I must admit, we dont often eat jam/jelly...but the blueberry lime jam made my mouth water :) I did not get to put my garden in, only a few tomato plants which have some tomatoes...so I am enjoying hearing about all of your successes and letting it encourage me for next year! Keep up the good work Rebecca!

Rebecca said...

LeeAnn, Thank you for stopping by and for such kind words. OF COURSE, PLEASE stop by as often as you like! And-if that is you in that photo-I LOVE the background. The dishes are lovely and the HUTCH is magnificent! Please, come again!

Abby~no vanquishing happened here. All that work and all the sweat-and still SO MUCH TO DO! Argh! As for the blueberry recipes-I am only sorry I didn't get it to you when you FIRST asked!

Wendy~that is funny-because I am trying to start eating MORE jams and jellies-we don't eat all that much either. I make them because I enjoy making them, and enjoy sharing them.

Sorry you didn't get your garden in-but isn't vacationing more fun? ;-)