Posted in Prayer

Please pray for the Drews family.  Marsha is a blogging buddy of mine and a frequent commentor here.  She and her husband and family are greatly in need of prayer as their little three-year-old son Christian passed away last Tuesday.  This is heart-wrenching news, and the thoughts and prayers of my family are with these dear folks in this time of great sorrow.  May they find comfort and peace in the arms of their Lord, the same arms that now hold their precious little boy.

Posted in Family Life

I am writing this on the eve of our much-anticipated week-long family vacation.  The children are too excited to settle down for sleep.  After a very long, rather busy summer (my husband worked some very long hours for the last few months in order to catch up from a tough winter financially speaking) we are greatly in need of a time of rest and refreshment.  Martha's Vineyard, my family's ancestral home, is a beautiful destination if you don't mind the crowds.  We plan to spend plenty of time on the beach, which is one of my favorite places, and we will visit with extended family as well.

So, the car is packed, the ferry reservations are made (yes, you have to have reservations on the ferry to even get onto the island), and I'm exhausted.  Boy, do I need a vacation!

Posted in Miscellaneous Matters

I love making jams and jellies.  There's something very satisfying about taking something you get for free (in the case of the above photo, raspberries picked in our backyard) and making something delicious out of it.  My husband loves to eat jams and jellies, so it's a win-win relationship.  I know it seems like a simple thing, and some people might find it silly, but I really do find great delight in seeing all those lovely rows of jewel-colored canning jars filled with the fruit (pardon the pun) of my labors.  There they are, lined up so neatly on my kitchen shelves.  It's a pretty sight.

I taught myself to can from reading (that's how I teach myself to do most things I want to learn) a book on canning and just diving in.  I vaguely remember my mother canning vegetables from our garden when I was growing up, but I never helped her with it, so I learned on my own several years ago.  It has become one of my favorite hobbies.  (It's also very useful and almost necessary for an avid gardener.)

I've often asked myself what it is about canning (and making jellies in particular) that I like so much.  I'm not sure of the answer, I just know I find it relaxing and enjoyable.  I know, I know, I'm a little bit strange.

So, that's my completely useless, not-so-very-interesting post for this week.  Incidentally, much of my creative energy has gone into making jelly and jam lately, so I don't have much left for this blog.  Sorry.  I'm also preparing for a much-needed and highly anticipated family vacation which is coming up next week, and since packing for seven people to go away for a week is hard work, time is at a premium these days. 

I shall return in a couple of days with something slightly more worth your while (I hope).

 

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
   and to you shall vows be performed.
O you who hear prayer,
   to you shall all flesh come.
When iniquities prevail against me,
   you atone for our transgressions.

 

 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
   to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
   the holiness of your temple!

 

 

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
   O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
   and of the farthest seas;
the one who by his strength established the mountains,
   being girded with might;
who stills the roaring of the seas,
   the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples,
so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.

 

 

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

 

 

You visit the earth and water it;
   you greatly enrich it;
 the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
   for so you have prepared it.

 

 

You water its furrows abundantly,
   settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
   and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
   your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

 

 

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
   the hills gird themselves with joy,
 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
   the valleys deck themselves with grain,

 

 

they shout and sing together for joy.

 

Psalm 65

Posted in Church Life

It has been some time since I shared an update on our church situation.  I know there are several of you who have been praying and waiting with interest to know how things are going.  For those unaware, several months ago, my husband and I, along with a small number of other families, felt led of the Lord to start a small fellowship, a family-integrated, reformed church.  We knew from the start that it would be some time before it actually looked like the church we believe the Lord wants to raise up in our local area (reformed, family-integrated churches are very few and far between in the New England region), and so many of the things we chose to do (having “interim” elders for a short time, meeting in homes) were intended to be temporary.  We had such hope for what God would do with our little group.  We also had a sweet sense of unity and fellowship.  That being the case, it was very difficult to experience the time of testing that would come a few short months later.  When two of the families in our small group broke away within three months (for different reasons), it brought us such sadness.  What we had planned and expected did not come to pass.  In fact, being the eternal pessimist that I am, I came to believe for a time that all our hopes and vision for our family to be a part of a true covenant community had been completely dashed.  My husband held firm in his belief that God has a work He wants to do, and that He is going to allow us to be at least a small part of that.  I clung to my husband’s hope, as I had very little of my own left.

 

The Lord, in a very short time, showed Himself faithful yet again, and I now have a renewed hope, though it looks slightly different than it formerly did.  What God is doing is so much bigger and sweeter than what I thought He would.  You see, though our vision was clear, our timing was a little off.  God’s timing, on the other hand, is always perfect, if we would only trust Him to bring His will to pass when it is right for Him to do so.  We are now a part of a fellowship group made up of most of the families from the original group, along with several others whose friendship and fellowship have so greatly blessed our family in recent months.  We now meet regularly with a number of likeminded families who have the same passion for the Word of God, as well as a spirit of maturity and an appreciation for one another’s unique gifts and convictions.

 

So, even though what we have for a church situation now isn’t what I thought it would be when we embarked on this (somewhat scary) journey almost ten months ago, it is, in fact, better.  We have learned many extremely important and valuable lessons through the last few months.  The Lord has been refining us and stretching us in ways we would not have expected.  Some of the refining and stretching has been quite painful.  Perhaps that is why I have for so long put off sharing some of these things here.  I have now finally come to a point where I can honestly thank God for the difficulties, the hurts, the betrayals, the uncertainties.  I am beginning to come to an understanding of the fact that all these things have been blessings because they were for our benefit, to shape and mold us into what He wants us to be.

 

Our convictions haven’t wavered.  We believe wholeheartedly in the family-integrated church model.  We believe in the doctrines of the reformed faith.  We believe in the importance of matching our orthopraxy with our orthodoxy.  And we are passionately continuing to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, trusting in His covenant promises for them.  We are looking with great hope toward the future generations, those yet to be.  What we do now will have an impact on those who come after us, which is one of the main reasons we made the step of faith we did when it came to how we “do church”.

 

I am again at a point of excited anticipation for what God is doing in raising up a community of likeminded Believers for which our family to be a part.  He is so good and faithful, and I have seen Him answer so many prayers in the past, why would I have any reason to doubt what He will do in this?

Posted in Miscellaneous Matters

Just ask Herrick Kimball, aka The Deliberate Agrarian:

Early on, as I learned about the wonders of using compost in the garden, I was discouraged by the fact that it takes so long to make the stuff. It can take up to a year for a pile of organic materials (i.e. weeds, kitchen scraps, & animal manure) to decompose into compost....I didn’t expect to be around in a year....I believed what the Biblical prognosticators prognosticated. Never would I have dreamed that I would remain here on this earth as long as I have. It’s a wonder I even took time to plant any seeds in the garden back then.
....

Now, half a century old, I’m a little bit more discerning. The hyper-dispensationalist beliefs of my younger days have been supplanted by the more orthodox postmillenial doctrines held by the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and the Reformers before them.
....

Whatever the outcome, I am absolutely certain of one thing: Postmillenialists are theologically predisposed to making better compost than their dispensationalist brethren. There is just no question about it.

I foundthis post very entertaining.  I am linking to it here mainly for my husband's benefit.  *Following is a little aside to KayinMaine's husband: Honey, follow this link and read the whole post.  You'll definitely appreciate it. 

(There's some really good tips on sifting compost near the end of the post, so if you have a garden, it's worth reading through the entire post, even if you happen to be of the dispensationalist persuasion.)

Posted in Miscellaneous Matters

Sometimes, it’s the little things in life that bring us the most joy.  It is important, especially when in the midst of trials or difficulties, to focus on the little blessings (as well as the big ones) God gives each and every day.  When we “count our blessings”, we will truly be able to, as the song says, “see what God has done” for us.   As I tend to be a pessimistic person, I am often guilty of focusing on what is going wrong, when I really should be looking for the good things and thanking God for them.  I need to focus instead on things like:

 

An afternoon of sunshine after weeks of dreary, gray, drizzly weather

Hearing my daughter ask her big brother “Are you my friend?” to which he replies “Yes, I’m your friend.”

The taste of fresh blueberries on cereal

The dimples in my baby boy’s knees

How fresh and sweet my little girls smell after their bath

Watching my boys work on a project by their father’s side

A row of newly canned jars of jam

The smell of earth and growing things as I work in the garden

The feeling of a little hand in mine

The twinkle in my husband’s eye

My little boy, proud to be his father’s son, bragging how his daddy is the best cabinetmaker in the whole world and how he can build anything (which is, of course, quite true)

The quiet that falls over the house after the children have gone to sleep

A green, thick, freshly mowed yard

Chocolate

A cool swim on a hot day (haven’t had much of those this summer, but I can still be grateful for the ones I have had)

Listening to my husband read the Bible

Sunset over the mountains

A phone call from a friend

 

How about you? What little things can you be grateful for?  Please leave a comment and share how you are counting your blessings.

 

Posted in Family Life

Today my husband and I celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary.  This is truly an amazing milestone and a testimony of the grace of God in our marriage.  When we were first married, like any newlywed couple we had hopes and dreams for the future and for our family.  We had no idea what was in store for us.  The journey has had some rocky places, but by God's grace and through His awesome power, we have come this far.  What a tremendous blessing it is to be able to look back over the past 13 years and see His hand so clearly at work in our lives and home.  By HIs grace, our home will continue to be the place of peace and joy it has become.

I am so very thankful for the wonderfully godly husband the Lord has blessed me with.  He has become the man I always dreamed of being married to, and I praise the Lord for that.  I know I have mentioned this before, but the work the Lord has done in our hearts is truly a miracle.  He has given us a vision for our home and a hope for the future that far surpases anything we could have dreamed of in those early days of marriage.  And that vision continues to grow.  He who began a good work in us (and in our family) will be faithful to complete it.  What a promise!

Some of us have had to run the gauntlet for many years. What we have said has been constantly misrepresented. What we have endeavored to do has been misjudged and our motives have been misunderstood. Yet here we are, as happy as anybody out of heaven. We have not been injured by any or all the calumnies that have been heaped upon us. Our foes would have crushed us but, blessed be God, He cheered us often when we were cast down. The Lord give you, in like manner, strength of mind and courage of heart to bear the trial manfully! Then you will care no more for the laughter and the sneers of men than you do for the noise of those migratory birds high overhead, which you hear on an autumn evening as they are making their weary journey to a distant clime. Take heart, man. Fear God, and face your accusers. True courage grows strong on opposition. Never think of deserting the army of Christ. Least of all should you play the coward because the insolence of some ill-mannered bully. Let not your faith be vanquished by such scoffing.

~C. H. Spurgeon

Posted in Just for Fun

Anyone who's ever been on a camping trip with a large group of people knows there is always one in the crowd to whom calamity seems attracted.  In any group I am with, that one is me.  I always seem to be the one who is eaten up by mosquitoes, or sleeping on the wettest area of the tent, or has a spark from the fire land on my favorite sweatshirt (while wearing it).  I try to be a good sport.  After all, camping is something my family has done since I was a very little girl.  Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy being outdoors, and I don't even mind sleeping on the ground so much (unless of course I am pregnant--then's it's really no fun trying to get down at night or up in the morning).  Actually, now that I have children of my own, I really like seeing how exciting the experience is for them.  Few of them get attacked by killer mosquitoes like their mom, and most children think sleeping in a tent is an adventure.

Last weekend, some friends of ours invited us to spend the weekend at a camp near the coast.  The camp was on a lake where we could swim and there was a firepit for roasting marshmellows and nice clean bathhouses for showering.  As we prepared for the trip which we knew would be a fun experience for the children and (hopefully) a relaxing time for mom and dad, I was counting my blessings that I wouldn't have to sleep in a tent or go without a shower.  When we got there, though the accomodations were rustic, we were pleasantly surprised by what we found.  Right away the children wanted to head down to the pond for a swim, so we ladies and children changed our clothes, packed up our gear, and headed for the water.  We had a great time splashing and swimming, and the boys got to use the row boat as well.  After our swim, we headed back to the camp to prepare supper, and what did I find on my foot but a nice, friendly... leech.  Oh, it gave me such a good feeling to see that little fella clinging to my foot.  Did anyone else have any leeches anywhere on them?  Of course not!

Later in the evening, as we were roasting marshmellows on the campfire, I was being bombarded by bugs.  When most people get a mosquito or blackfly bite, it itches a little and maybe turns a bit red.  When I get one, there is a welt the size of a quarter left behind.  The bugs loved feasting on my face, and when they were through, I looked like a character in a bad comedy movie.  At least it gave everyone a good laugh.  Then, after a restless night with several wakeful children, we were ready for a new day of fun!

In truth, we really did enjoy the time of quiet and the break from the regular routine.  Aside from the bugs, leeches, and lack of sleep, I had a great time!  At least I had a nice hot shower in the morning.  And my children have a fun memory.