What Is Your Dream ?

Do you have a dream ? What is the one dream that you hold onto no matter what ? What one dream stands out more then any other dream you have? By this I mean your hope, the dream you have for something in the future. Something you have set your sights upon. What is that one hope/dream that stands out above all the others, the one you will not let go but hold onto dearly no matter what happens in your life ?

For me it is owning a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse or mare or even a foal that is a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner. I do not want just any Gypsy Cobb it has to be a black and white one or a tri-colored one. They are absolutely beautiful. The steeds/stallions are so gorgeous in their lines and form. They are a proud breed of horse flesh. " The Lion King " was one of the most well known Gypsy Cobb/Vanner's that I have had the pleasure of viewing, via the Internet ,God rest his soul. He passed away on March 15, 2008. He was a remarkable specimen of his kind. The Gypsy Cobb has such beautiful feathering on it's legs and their manes flow gloriously as does their tale when they are in motion. God is the Master Artist in all things. All of His creations are beautiful in their own way.

My children and I have a love for horses. I do because I grew up raising them. We owned Quarter horses, Leopard Appaloosa, American Saddle bred/Arabian cross and my dear " Old Nell" God rest her soul, she was half Tennessee Walker and American Quarter Horse. Nell was special. She was a big 18 hands tall, a beautiful brownish red and white pinto. She was awesome. From the day we got her when I was 10 years old and she was 5 years old, we became instant friends. She was my constant companion. I rode her everyday, mostly bareback. She would stand and let me pull myself up on her for a ride. My Dad often said to me, " Nancy Jean that old mare would let you do anything and she would do anything for you." This was true. I could crawl under her. I could lay down and she would never step on me. I could fall asleep on her back and she would never let me fall. I used to have a rock garden that was my spot when I was young. It was in Nell's pen down in the woods. I would sit there and watch the wildlife and just enjoy being in the nature God had created. One thing all my family knew was that " Old Nell" and my dog,Sam, were always with me in my rock garden. They stayed with me as long as I stayed in the rock garden. I would sing sometimes aloud or just sit quietly. Sometimes I whistled back to the birds as they were nearby chirping. Yes, I can do many bird calls as I did practice doing so. I had many opportunities , growing up on a 600 acre farm, to practice my animal calls. Which to this day I still enjoy making noises and doing animal sounds.

This is something that has carried over into my children, especially my son. He is also an imitator of animal and bird calls. He enjoys making sounds just as I did when I was growing up. He is as hyperactive as I ever was also. Sometimes it annoys his sister when he makes the sounds but I tell her to let him make the noises because it is fun to him. It is one way that he releases stress, I know this from my own experiences growing up. Plus it is just fun to be able to make all these neat bird calls, animal calls and sounds from just yourself, not using any other device except the voice that God has given one to use.

My daughter, Elizabeth, can make sounds also but she does not do it often unless she is in the mood to do so. She likes mainly to do voices of people in different accents and some animal or bird sounds. While Zak and I are a bit more wild and untamed in our repertoire of noises, sounds and calls. We do get exuberant sometimes.

Thankfully our neighbors do not mind as they are used to it, especially after living here for 35 years they are used to me and my ways. I am a very emotional person and everyone here knows this. We all look out for each other. In fact that is one of the things my neighbor boy, who recently got married to another neighbors daughter, said to me. He said," I like it her, Nancy, because we can shout if we fell like it or just be loud and no one thinks anything about it. Because we are all used to being able to praise the Lord aloud , make joyful noises, sing and just be oneself. We do not have to worry about what others think of us." That is awesome to be able to have the relationship with friends and neighbors that we understand each other and know that no one here things odd about the others as we are too closely the same in the aspect that we can holler aloud if we want to and no one things anything about it. It is nice to know that if you feel like praising the Lord at the top of your lungs you are free to do so without infringing on someone else.

I got side tracked when I started talking about sounds. It is so easy to go off on a different tangent from where one first starts as things just crop up along the way that can take us on another course away from what we started upon. Now back to dreams/hopes.

In my Senior autograph book, which my dad signed some 27 years ago, he wrote, Set your goals/dreams/hopes high but not too high that you can not reach them. Always sing your way through life and you will make it. First and foremost from the age of 4 I was trained to be a singer. I love to sing. I only sing for the Lord though. My voice is a blessing, a gift from Him and it is to be used to serve Him and His purpose. I knew this from an early age. My dream then was to become a singer so that I could make a profit to provide a living for me. But that dream was for selfish reasons and it would have taken me from the path God had set my feet upon, so long ago, to follow. I do not use my voice for profit. I use it to sing praises for and to the Lord. Without Him in my life my voice would be worthless for my voice was given to me to praise Him and to share His message and His Love with others. This voice that I have been blest with in singing is truly His voice that has been lent to me to do His work. My Dad,s dream for me was to go into the music field and use my voice. I feel I have let my dad down because I do not do what He wanted me to do with my voice. But I followed the Father God's plan for me in using my voice for Him. It does not profit me in this world but it profits the Lord in reaching His children and those He wants to become his children. I am blest as both my children can sing. God has blest them with beautiful voices and they both sing with me in Church. No you will never hear of our names in the big league or out on the radio or on song tracks, although there is one cassette tape of my family and I singing that was recorded in a studio, but it is not widely spread or known for reasons that God knows of. Profit for us is not to be gain, except to be gained for the Lord's work and given back into his work,in the gifts and talents He blesses us with. It is for His glory, not our own. It is for His profit and gain, not our own. We are nothing without God, people. Give God the praise, the honor, and the glory due Him in all things and in all ways.

My dream that I hold onto is the Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse. But the dream that I am living is in service to the Lord. That is what goal/hope/dream that I set for myself when I read what my Dad wrote in my Senior autograph book, was to serve the Lord and sing for the Lord. And yes, I am living that dream to use my voice to bring honor and glory to and for the Lord, for it is He who has gifted me in the ways He chose to for His service. I am teaching my children of Him and how to use their gifts and talents to serve the Lord. Elizabeth is a very blest artist and Zak is our little botanist. God is wonderful and He is awesome. I know the dreams that my children have now. As they age and grow I wonder how the dreams they have now will change and what dreams/hopes they will realize and bring to fruit along the way. I know that whatever they set in their mind and heart to do, they will accomplish, for with God all things are possible. He will provide the means, the way to bring His work to fruition within us.

The Wonder of Growing Things

How many of you have ever watched a sweet potato vine grow? By this I mean have you ever taken a sweet potato, placed it in a container of water with only the tip of the sweet potato sticking out of the water. No dirt whatsoever within the container but only the sweet potato and the water. It will grow.

I have taken the time to do this, over the years, from time to time. My daughter Elizabeth's Grandma Alice, God rest her soul, one time did this with the sweet potato. She placed the sweet potato in one of those old glass battery cases, the ones that are quite the antique now. Then she filled it with water and placed it in a sunny spot within a dry sink, her husband had made her. That sweet potato grew wonderfully well. It had such glorious vines and leaves upon it. The only nurture that it received was in keeping it watered. Once the water level dropped she always filled it back up. The sweet potato vine prospered.

I had forgotten about the sweet potato vines growing in just water for quite some time . I just put it out of my mind. My Dad grows his sweet potatoes in the ground, of his garden, so they will bear more sweet potatoes whereas if you grow them only in water it is merely for a decorative purpose. I just needed to make that distinction so you would know that sweet potatoes can grow in more than one way.

I home school my children as I have often mentioned before. I had bought some sweet potatoes and had used all except one. This one was starting to sprout as my son , Zak, noticed and brought to my attention. It brought to mind the sweet potato that Elizabeth's Grandma Alice had grown years ago in the water. So I got a mason quart jar, placed the sweet potato in it, then filled the jar with water. The sweet potato is about 2 inches above the top of the jar.

Zak, of course, wanted to know why I was doing this on that day. I explained to him about the sweet potato and that it would grow vines and roots. The roots I explained would grow within the water inside the jar while the vines would grow from the top of the sweet potato and grow down. He was curious as Zak is my little botanist. He has a love for growing plants of any type.

I will share a brief story with you about my son. He is 9 now. When he was smaller we went to the store and into the gardening section of the department store. Zak started to cry. I asked him what was wrong. He said he felt bad for the plants as they were being mistreated at the store. I had him show me what he meant. He took me to the display of potted plants that had caused him the distress he felt. The plants were all jammed in together and some had torn and smashed leaves and stems. Some even had broken branches on them and the flowers were wilted on some. He said to me ," Momma these people are not nice to the plants. They treat them mean. Why do they do that ? God made these plants. I do not like for the plants to be treated so meanly".

I was amazed at the empathy that my little child had towards the plants. It touched me greatly to see how much my son cared. I was raised on a farm, a working farm so I always had a love for plants and animals. To see this in my son truly blest my heart. I explained to him about the plants in the store and why they looked as they did. That they were mass produced for the purpose of selling them for profit. They were packed into trucks and shipped across the country and the conditions in which they are shipped are not always good for the plants. He understood what I was telling him. I always explain to my children, if I am capable of doing so, any question that they bring to me. If I do not know the answer I tell them so and then I will go and do research, with them, to find the answer if I do not know the answer.

Now back to the sweet potato vine. I put the sweet potato in the water about two months ago. It started growing right away. It has prospered. I had to move it from my kitchen counter to a metal bookshelf that I have in my living room. The bookshelf is near an east facing window so the sweet potato vine gets plenty of sunshine. I also have to refill the jar with water every morning as the sweet potato drinks that much water every night. The roots almost fill the inside of the jar with the sweet potato itself. The vines are now close to 6 to 7 feet long, green and leafy. They are trailing and trying to vine around the book shelf. Zak is amazed at how much the sweet potato vines grow each day. Sometimes he will go in the other room after looking at the vines only to return about an hour later to discover that the vines have grown since he left the room. I do not add any fertilizer to the water it is water straight from the tap, yet the vine flourishes. It is a blessing to see the joy that this sweet potato vine brings to my son's face and heart. It is teaching him some of science and the way of growing things. Yet it also teaches him a more valuable lesson.

The sweet potato is much like us. Think about it for a moment. How, you say, can a sweet potato be like us ? This is how. The sweet potato would not have continued to grow without getting the water and nutrients from the water to make it grow just as we, when we give our life to the Lord, can not grow unless we are getting the Word, the message, the Love, the forgiveness of the Lord, the leading of the Lord and His presence in our daily lives. We need the Lord in our life, daily in order to grow in Him. We can not spiritually grow in the Lord without being immersed in His Word just as the sweet potato could not continue to grow without being immersed in the water. Without the water , the sweet potato would eventually rot away, just as we, when we give our life to the Lord, without the continued immersion in His Word and ways we would rot in the corruption of this world. e have to be daily immersed in the Lord in order to grow in and with the Lord.

We have to be fed daily of the Lord in order to grow in the Lord, just as the sweet potato vine needs that daily drink of water to get the nutrients it needs to grow. Think about it. How many times have you stopped reading your Bible daily and things start to go wrong, you feel distanced from the Lord ? You start to wonder why things are going as they are ? You do not have the peace and joy that you once had in the Lord ? You feel somewhat drained, maybe even a bit depressed ? What happened ? You stopped immersing yourself in the Lord and in His Word. You do not have that daily feed to keep you going strong. You need to pick up your Bible, the Word of the Lord, and get immersed in it daily. Feed the hunger that comes from and can only be fed by the Lord. Get immersed in the Lord and watch the growth that can only come from being fed of and by the Lord.

Now do you see how that sweet potato vine and us are so much alike. Without being immersed in the one thing we need we cannot continue to grow. The sweet potato needs the water. We need the Lord.

Quiet Time

Today has been a very quiet day for the most part. My two children are visiting their Dad for the weekend and I am home alone. I say alone meaning by myself although my daughter called me this morning to check on me and my neighbors have called to talk also. It is nice to live in the country as I have some nice neighbors which I do say we all watch out for one another. This is good. It is a blessing from the Lord, for certain.

I did receive one call from a friend and neighbor, today, who asked me for some pictures. They had met someone and needed the pictures I had to see if the person they had recently met was the same person that I had the pictures of. I pray it is not but if it is God will take care of the situation in the long run. As God knows all things and it is best left in His hands as He can do more about the situation than I can. He is far more capable of handling it as I , in being human, tend to go off on my own directive, which is not always a good thing. This time I am leaving it in God's hands.

I will soon be getting some new neighbors. My friend and neighbor, Sid , died last year at the age of 86. He was a dear sweet older gentleman whom I had the pleasure of talking with often, about gardening and the Lord. He was always a gentleman, no wayward words from him in anyway. He tended to like women but with me he treated me as his daughter and friend. He did not treat me like others. He respected me and even asked me for advise which I found to be an honor as he did not ask the advice of ladies often. His other half Genie was a sweetheart. She was in her 70's and when Sid died she moved back to Michigan. She attended Church with me sometimes. Sid's children are down this weekend packing up Sid's place as it sold last week. I have been keeping an eye on the place, for them, since Sid's death last year. It was not hard to do but a blessing to do so for I reaped many benefits in the doing. His children allowed me to get the produce from the fruit trees and berry vines and bushes since I was watching the place plus the fresh asparagus.

I love asparagus. And asparagus is one of the things Sid and I talked about how best to grow them. He stopped by my garden one day about two months before he died and asked me the best way to make asparagus beds. I told him to make the bed base out of horse manure and layer the dirt over it then place the asparagus in before covering the asparagus over. Sid did this and his asparagus has produced so well. This spring and summer it bore so well I have an abundance of it that I froze. Sid did not get to enjoy his asparagus I realized but I got the benefit of it. I have been blest by Sid even after his death. I pray he has found peace with the Lord.

Back to his children. They called me today to let me know they were packing thins up. To let me know that the new family would be moving in. It seems it will be a large family. I am praying they are good neighbors. I have lived here for 35 years, since I was 10. yes I am 45 now. I was raised on the 600 acres around me that used to be my family farm, yet I only live on 1.15 acres of what used to be our farm. it is all that is still in our family as my Dad had to sell out when his health began to fail and my siblings went in the different directions of their own lives and families. I have such fond memories around here. I grew up here. Most of the area has not changed much in these 35 years since we first moved here. Except the selling of our farm and the moving away of my parents and siblings. I stayed.

I was blest by another neighbor two weekends ago when he and his wife came down to spend the weekend at their weekend place. I watch their place while they are gone. They live in another state and come to spend the weekends here but are in the process of moving here permanently. My friend and neighbor and his wife told me that if I ever moved from this place they would sell their place and move away as they enjoyed having me as a neighbor, they said to me you and your children are good people. I felt good about this but it is not me it is the Lord. I try to live my life for the Lord and do as He would have me to do. I try to treat others nicely and help out when I can if I am able. I am nothing without my God for I am only what He allows me to be. If I did not have the Lord in my life I would have nothing. It is not me it is the Lord that others see and know. I am but His humble servant. I am a willing vessel for Him to use to do His work with and through. I love my Lord and Saviour and no one nor no thing is worth losing Him over.

It has cost me people in my life, to stay true to the Lord. I am married but I do not a husband who stands beside me, I have not seen my husband in almost 3 years, God knows of it all and I rest assured in His knowing. The Lord did say that we would suffer persecutions, lose loved ones, and suffer when we chose to serve Him. But it is all worth it to be the Lord's. I would rather lose all of my worldly possessions, which aren't much, than to lose my God, the Lord Jesus Christ. For I know that the Lord is my all and that worldly goods, belongings,
possessions,whatever you want to give them the name of, can not compare to the Lord and what He has to offer each one of us.

Life is to be lived. But what is the quality of life if we spend it serving sin , the world and the devil ? It is nothing for in the next life when one is judged the reward one receives for the wages of sin is death, hell, the eternal lake of fire. Ask yourself is sin, love of the world,money and worldly things worth eternal damnation, eternal separation from the Lord ? For me it is not. I would rather have Jesus than anything or anyone this world could afford today. Jesus, I will choose the best which is Jesus.

I am not perfect. I am far from it. I falter and sometimes I fall. But the Lord is always right there waiting with open arms to lift me from the miry pit into which I fall. He helps me when I despair. It is His arms that hold me to His bosom when no other arms ever will. I rely upon my Lord for He is always with me, He will never leave me nor forsake me just as He will never leave nor forsake anyone. It is we , who walk away from Him, not He who walks away from us. We are the ones at fault. We turn our back on Him. He is just waiting for us to turn around and come home to Him.

I know where my home is. I look forward to going home one day. But while I am still on this earth I know that my Father has work for me to do. Work I shall, til He comes to take me home. I have my children to teach and I have His songs to sing, His praises to proclaim and His Love to share. His Word is within my heart and His name is upon my lips. His praises, His name is sweeter than honey, Jesus. Yahweh,Yeshuah, my Lord and Saviour, my God. In Him is my strength and my fortress, my shield and my buckler, my strong tower, a very present help in time of trouble, the Great I Am.

I am going to do something I have not done in quite some time. I am going to paint again. I am going to draw again and I am going to start doing the gifts the Lord has blest me with again. I have put of for too long the talents and gifts the Lord has blest me with and I must use those gifts, those talents for Him. I sing for Him,as always I have, in the churches He sends me to. I pray for those He sends for me to pray for, as this is the service He has called me to do directly is prayer and singing. But I must do more for my Lord for I have let my sorrow still hold me back. I must release the sorrow and get over my loss, God knows of the loss I speak of, for the Lord wants me. He has work for me to do and I must be about my Father's business.

How about you? Are you tending to the Father's business ? God is each one of our people's Father for He is God. Without Him we would not exist, we would not be. Tend to the Lord's business while yet you still can. Lay up your treasures in heaven for their your heart will be also. My treasure is in Heaven, it is the Lord. Where is your treasure ?

Nuture and Admonition Of The Lord

Last night I went to a singing that was held at the elementary schools gymnasium where I attended elementary school. It was a Gospel singing as those are the only singing's I attend anymore. Just being in the school brought back memories. There were 4 groups of singers and a few individual/solo singers who sang also.

I went because my Brother, Jim, was singing with a group that I have known some of them since I was little.I wanted to listen to them and share in praising god through listening to them sing His praises, which I did. I grew up knowing them, except for 3 members of the group who are recent additions to the group, which I was introduced to them last night. The group is headed by my district Magistrate. I have known him since I was little. He used to work with my Dad when I was little. A dear Sister in Christ whom I love to sing and who is like a member of my own family, I grew up with her being around. This lady has been gifted with an awesome voice and she also plays the piano and keyboard. She sings beautifully. They were the last group to sing at this singing. I will share more about them in a bit.

One group consisted of 5 men who sang and played their instruments. They were truly gifted of the Lord. These guys were not afraid to show they loved the Lord. They praised Him in song , in word and in deed. You could tell that they loved the Lord. The one song they sang that has an awesome message in it is a song sung by Doyle Lawson, " Eternity Has Two ". The song says this life has many choices but eternity has two. That is so true. Eternity , the choices, Heaven or hell, Jesus or the devil. Which choice have you made in where to spend eternity ? Have you chosen Heaven ? Or have you chosen hell ? This is a question each person needs to ask them self. Where have you chosen to spend eternity ?

Think on this wise.... Do you have children ? How do you live your life before your children ? Whom have you taught your children to serve ? Have you taught them of Jesus ? Have you lived a life before / in front of your children to let them know the right way to live for God/Jesus ? Have you read the Bible to them ? Have you prayed in front of them and with them ? Do you answer your child's questions about the Lord with good godly answers and advice ? Have you made promises to God and broken those promises ? Have your children known you made promises to God and have your children seen you break those promises to God ?

What exactly are you teaching your children ? If you are not and have not taught them of the Lord and if you have not lived a life before them that is befitting of Christ, in a sense, you are teaching your children how choose hell over Heaven. You are teaching your children to serve the world, the devil and teaching them to reject the Lord. By not teaching them of the Lord and His ways you are teaching your child how to go to hell. Do you want your child to spend eternity in Hell and the lake of fire ? Do you want to spend eternity in hell and the lake of fire ? I don't want my children to. So I am teaching them of the Lord Jesus and His ways. I love my children, I care where their souls will spend eternity.

By teaching our children of the lord and living a life befitting of Christ we are establishing them on a firm foundation. We are setting their feet upon the right path, the path that leads to Jesus and Heaven. By not teaching our children of the Lord and his ways we are teaching our children to choose the world, the devil and hell. If you love your child you will care how they choose to live their life, be it for the Lord or for the devil. The Lord's way leads to Glory in Heaven, the devils way leads to hell, the lake of fire and eternal damnation. Remember that eternity has two choices. Which choice have you chosen, Heaven or Hell ? Which choice have you prepared your child to choose by the way you live your life before them, Heaven or Hell ?

The Bible, God's Word, tells us to raise a child up in the way we would have them to go. It also said to raise our children in nurture and admonition of the Lord. If we are not teaching our children of God then we are teaching our children of the devil and the world. If we are not teaching our children of the Lord , then we are failing God in what He asked of us, as parents, to do for our children, raise them up in nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:1-4

1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2) Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

3) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Proverbs 22:6
6) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.



We are responsible for what we teach our children whether we realize it or not. We will have to be judged of the Lord Jesus for the way we chose to teach and raise our children. We are accountable for all the wrongfulness and sin we have taught them just as we are accountable for all we have taught them or allowed them to be taught by others. For we as parents have the right and the authority to teach our children and it is our God given duty to do so. So how have you taught you children to choose for their eternity ? Remember Eternity has two choices, Heaven or hell and the lake of fire. Which place have you instilled the knowledge of in your child, the Lord and Heaven or the devil and hell fire in the lake of fire for eternity ?


I enjoyed the singing we went to. I got to listen to these groups sing the Lord's praises and it blest me. I also got surprised because the group my brother has been playing with intended for me to sing a few songs, which I was not aware of until my Magistrate friend announced to the audience, which I was a member of the audience , that I was going to sing. He called me up on the stage and I sang to songs with my brother, I did harmony while he sang lead. Then the dears Sister in Christ, that I love to hear sing, requested that I sing lead while she harmonized with me on a song that is dear to my heart entitled, " Make It Home ". This song is dear to my heart as I want to make it home to Heaven to be with Jesus. I do not care about a mansion or even walking on streets of gold. What I am looking forward to seeing is Jesus. I am not worthy to look upon Him but I will lay at His feet and thank Him for all that He has done for me. My life is my Lord's, it is not my own. I gave my life up to Him, I gave my will over to Him, long ago and where He leads me I will follow. There is no one nor nothing in this world worth losing the Lord Jesus/Father God over. For if we lose the Lord we have lost our very soul. I shall serve the Lord in this life and in the next, in Glory.

Praise the Lord for He is awesome and Holy of Holies. He is the Great I Am and the Love of my life is the Lord. Thank You Jesus for all that you have and daily do for me and all the blessings and even the trials. For the trials and all are working me into whom You want me to be. As silver refined in the fire so one day Your reflection You will see in me. Take me and mode me into the vessel You would have me to be. Thank You Jesus in Your precious Holy name, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Thankfulness

I am thankful to the Lord for hearing and answering prayers. I recently posted on this blog and in several prayer request about the need for rain that we had in our area of Kentucky. I know that a lot of people prayed concerning our dry , almost drought conditions. God heard those prayers . He answered them on Thursday as we had a good gentle rain all day and into the next morning. The Lord knew we needed this gentle rain so the moisture deprived ground to be able to absorb it and that is what He supplied. He knew that if He had sent a hard downpour the rain water would have just run off into the ditches. But God is awesome as He knows exactly what we need , when we need it and how we need it in order to benefit the best.

Thanks to all of you who prayed. Thanks be to God for hearing and answering those prayers and all praise, honor and glory is due Him. Thank You, Jesus.

Grape Jelly

It has been quite a while since I have posted in my Blog. I apologize to everyone for this. I have been busy with different things. I have been having some test run at the doctors due to reasons God knows of. It seems my heart has been harmed by the stress that has been dealt to me, God knows of it all and that is where it shall stay. Thanks to everyone who is and has been keeping the children and I in your prayers. God is good.

This weekend, Labor Day weekend, the children and I went to visit my parents and brothers. My parents live with my brother Bill and my brother Jim has recently moved in with Bill and my parents after he got divorced. He was married for almost 25 years so it has been hard on him but God is at work in all our lives. This weekend was the warmest weekend weather wise that we have had in quite some time. We have actually had a very mild August with most days ranging in the low to mid 80's degree wise. Normally we have temperatures in the 100's in August. So God has blest us with cooler weather however it has been very dry, almost drought conditions again this summer. We have been praying for rain but so far there is none forth coming. I do thank God for the sprinkles that we received today, though.

I am also thankful that my parents and brother Bill sent me home with some fresh produce that we picked from their garden. I did not get to have a garden this year, God knows why and that is where it will stay. One thing they sent me home with was some Concord grapes we picked from the vines on Sunday morning, before it got too hot outside. They were so beautiful in color and smelled so good. In spite of the lack of rain that we have had, the grapes were surprisingly plump and juicy. I brought two shopping bags home filled with those Concord grapes.

So today I taught the children how to make fresh grape juice and fresh homemade grape jelly. I am thankful that I am blest by God in being able to home school my children. They both had a good lesson in home economics today. We started out by picking each grape off the cluster stem and washing them. Then we drained them in a colander to get any excess water off of them. The stems I discarded in the trash but any grapes that were too ripe or smashed I put in a bucket to give to our chickens. After draining the excess water off the grapes the children helped me put the grapes in a big cold pack canner and mashed them up with a potato masher. They had fun doing this.

Next I placed that big ole' canner on the stove to heat. When the grapes started to simmer I timed it for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes was up we smashed the grapes some more with the potato masher, then simmered it for 5 more minutes. I had an old colander that I placed a piece of muslin in and filled it with some of the grapes then let it cool. After it had cooled enough to handle I set about squeezing the juice out of the grapes. First I smashed them with a wooden spoon to get as much juice out through the muslin as I could before I had to start twisting the muslin up in order to squeeze out any remaining juice. When I had squeezed out all the juice I could through the muslin squeeze technique, anyone who has ever made homemade grape juice or jelly will understand what I mean, I emptied the pulp and seeds into a mesh strainer and smashed the mess again to get any remaining juice out I could then I discarded the pulpy mess in the chicken bucket. Then I repeated the whole process with fresh grapes again about 4 or 5 more times. We ended up with 4 quarts of fresh grape juice. I probably could have gotten more out of the grapes but I have carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis in my hands and it is a bit hard to squeeze really tight sometimes. Any way I felt good about our day of juice making.

But next I wanted to make some fresh homemade grape jelly. I had told my mom when we were picking the grapes that my intent was to make grape jelly with those grapes. Once I set my mind to something that is exactly what I do, I do what I say I will. So I measured 5 cups of the fresh grape juice into a large sauce pan and added a box of Sure Jell pectin. After I mixed it in I measured out 7 cups of granulated sugar into a bowl and set it aside to add to the juice mixture later. I got my jars all washed and sterilized for the jelly and set everything up for when the jelly would be ready to pour in the jars. Then I set about the cooking process. I heated the juice until it came to a rolling boil then added the sugar and stirred it all up. I had to constantly stir, with a long handled wooden spoon, the whole time so the juice would not stick or burn. I had to get the juice back up to a rolling boil and let it boil for exactly one minute. So Elizabeth is timing the minute while I am stirring the juice/jelly mixture on the hot stove. Zak is amused by the whole process of course as he sees all this steam coming from the large sauce pan and me sweating away, toiling over it.

The minute is up and I remove the jelly from the heat, set it aside to cool just a little until the skim forms on top. After the skim formed I took a metal spoon, as this is always what my Mamaw, Grandmother and Mom had always taught me to use a metal spoon only, to skim the skim off the jelly. Once I had the skim removed and set aside in a bowl I placed the jelly jars in a metal pan of hot water. The reason this is done is so the jars will be warm not cold when the hot jelly is poured into them as pouring hot liquid into a cold glass jar will cause the jars to crack or break. The children and I ladled the jelly into the jars and carefully wiped the rims of the jars to remove any spilled jelly. Then we set the jars aside to cool a little while we cleaned up our mess. Believe me it was a mess as we had grape juice splatters everywhere, floor, counters, stove, walls you name it. I even ruined my white tee shirt, that I forgot to put an apron over when we started the whole juice/jelly making process. Oh well it was fun.

After we cleaned up I melted some paraffin wax to place in each jar over the jelly to seal it . Then we placed lids over the jars and set them tight and placed them in the cabinet for storage. Next I got out some fresh whole grain bread and we had grape jelly sandwiches. The children really liked the jelly, especially since they had helped make it. Elizabeth said it was better than candy, now that is a compliment. Zak loved the fresh grape juice the best though. God is good.

Just making the juice and jelly, together, brought back so many wonderful memories for me. I grew up on a family farm. I was raised to work the land, to grow our own food and to make jellies, jams, breads, can and preserve things. We even butchered our own meat and hunted for some of it. I truly miss the life I had when I was growing up. We were self sufficient because God had blest us with the means and ability to do so. We always gave the Lord the praises for all we had as we truly knew that everything came from Him. Some of my fondest memories are when my mom and family and I were making juices, jams, jellies , preserving and canning things. We shared some quality family time plus we were all learning how to do things. I thank God for what my mother and dad taught me in the way of taking care of yourself if you have to. God provides for us if we will accept what He has to offer us. I have been blest, I know, with caring parents and grandparents who cared enough to teach me of God/Jesus and how to do so many things with what God has given us. There is just something special about being able to make your own jellies, jams, juices, preparing and preserving/canning the produce that God has supplied one with in their gardens and land.

I am thankful that I have a family who cares enough to provide me with fresh produce knowing that I was not able to have my garden this year. God has blest me so much with such caring friends and family. Sister Pat and Brother Jimmy, my Pastor and his wife, have given me green beans, cucumbers and peppers this year as they knew I could not have my garden. My neighbors gave me apples and peaches and berries. It is just that the people I have given produce from my garden , the years I was able to have one, gave me produce when I was not able to have a garden. I miss not having my garden as does my son and daughter but God knew this and He placed it in the hearts of others to supply us with fresh produce. That is such a wonderful blessing to know that God cares and that so many others care as well. I am so thankful and I sing His praises always and in all ways. God is awesome.

I am just so thankful for all the wonderful memories that were brought back when the children and I made the juice and jelly today. I am thankful that I got to share this with my children and was able to teach them how to make grape juice and grape jelly. God blesses us in so many ways and with so many opportunities to make wonderful memories with our children while we are here on this earth with them. My daughter said it right when I was trying to explain how I felt when I took that first bite of fresh grape jelly on that bread," It brings back wonderful feelings and memories to you Mom of when you grew up and how things are meant to be, the way they used to be." I told her yes. That a lot of people would not know how to do many things if something happened and they had to go back to the way things used to be. But I am thankful to God that I still know and am able to teach my own children the way to take care of themselves if the need ever arises, with, in and through Jesus Christ. The good things, such as these come from the Lord . We use what God has given us and make the most of it and pass it down from generation to generation as God intends for it to be done. The good things that we teach our children of God and His ways and how we need to be prepared for the possibility of taking care of ourselves and our families, as God intends for us to, is a gift from God.

I am old fashioned in a lot of ways, I know. But I thank God for this. I would rather be old fashioned and know how to do things for my family as God intends for me to do instead of being lost to and in the world and it's ways. I rely on God not on the world or it's ways. God has never led me wrong but the world, the devil and their way will lead a person wrong every time. Remember that God has no part with this world that He is separate from it just as He has called us, His children to be separate from the world. He tells us to come out from amongst it.

The following passages of scripture are some scriptures that the Lord Jesus has laid upon my heart. I wanted to share them with you. I hope they speak to some, of what we should truly hold as important to us and that is the Lord and all that is of the Lord. That is what we should hold dear, the Lord and his Way.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18

17)Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

18)And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Romans 12:2

2)And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

James 4:4

4)Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17

15)Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16)For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17)And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Take the time to teach your children something that is good and something they will remember with fond memories and want to pass on to their children in generations to come, if the Lord so wills us to have generations to come.

May you all have a blest day and a blessed week ahead.