I believe my LORD knows best. Even if I'm not perfect and my family is not perfect, he has a very special plan for us. As he perfects us, he also purifies us and readies us for the good works he has prepared in advance for us to complete. This morning I received some good old fashioned encouragement from Haggai. Basically, "Get busy with My agenda instead of working and working on your skewed priority list...you've been there, done that and it has yielded little. Are you ready to get down to business and get some serious work done? Work that will glorify Me? And my relieved answer is "YES!" I've been seriously struggling with a myriad of distractions, I have been there and done that and I'm so grateful that He's been watching and is ready to pull me out of me self dug pit and put me back on the road to doing what He has for me to do.

That said, I would like to formally announce....Gary and I believe that we are called to adopt a down's syndrome child. Please pray for us as we are growing in faith and trying raise the money that the adoption requires. Our first step is to finish the upstairs so we can complete a home study. Gary estimates the upstairs project to take $10,000. We have been buying things for that project as God provides the deals and the money. Recently, Gary was blessed to find a double sink counter top for $35 along the highway. It's beautiful and just what we were looking for!
I will be installing a funds thermometer on our family blog so that we can track the progress being made. We are at the end of the heirloom tomato season and getting set to replant the greenhouse with winter crops. We will be offering gourmet lettuces, radishes, carrots, cabbage, parsnips, as well as some other little known winter eats....YUM! :) :)

We are also in the midst of compiling a book of recipes. We are asking for recipes from all friends and family...we would LOVE to have your favorites!!! Please include a small blurb explaining where you acquired the recipe and why you like it or describe the finished food. (think Taste of Home) It makes everything much more interesting. :) We are very interested in recipes that feature nourishing, old-fashioned goodness instead of processed foods such as Velveeta or canned soups. That is not to say that a recipe that includes some processed foods will not be included...everyone needs a time saver processed food fix every now and again! ;) Of course, all proceeds will be used to further the adoption process.
Thank-you in advance for your prayers...that is our biggest need. Only our precious Father could accomplish all the steps already taken toward this goal He has given. We live to glorify Him by His grace.

Promises

Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40 What do we give up in the name of unbelief? The question that has been on my mind for a long time was again asked with burning intensity yesterday. My sis and her husband were talking about the experiences they were blessed with in Honduras and as they spoke I realized anew....I know so little about the power that I could be living in because I am His. It's just like this, if it's mine, I want it. I don't want to be ineffective in this life. Join me in asking God to reveal His glory, purge unbelief, and renew our minds. I ask, in your Name, teach me Father. In John 14 you tell us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. I pray that you would teach me this thing that is such a mystery to me now. Help me to know you more deeply. Take me, do with me whatever you will...I give you my resources, my time, my family, my friends, my priorities. Nothing is mine anyway, if I claim it and try to hold on to it it becomes ugly and twisted. I stand before you with my hands open and I plead with you to teach me. I love you, my Father, and I want to be always abiding in you. Thank you for your goodness to me.

Just a few thoughts...My sweet sis and her hubby will be home in the morning, hopefully. I haven't got any details of the trip but it certainly sounds as if the Lord had lots in store for each of them. He is so good to His children. There are so many things to write about...my struggle with pride is the most glaring at the moment. I wish, no, let me just change that to: I pray,no I BELIEVE that as I grow in Him that ugly will be made to look like Him right along with the rest of me. I am also praying for the tomatoes. The have all the symptoms of a blight...I know that my Father knows what is best. I'll be asking Him to guide my research this afternoon. May he bless you this day. Praise Him for His care over us.

Eager Expectation!

For I live in eager expectation and hope that I
will never do anything that causes me shame,
but that I will always be bold for Christ,
as I have been in the past, and that my life
will always honor Christ, whether I live or die.
Philippians 1:20
Paul's words offer such hope to me. Earlier in chapter one he says, in effect, 'everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News'...he goes on to explain to his brothers and sisters in Christ, ' because of my imprisionment, many of the Christians here have become more bold in telling others about Christ'. His focus is always on Jesus and His work. What does it mean to live in 'eager expectation'? I thank my gracious Father for the joy of living life in the Spirit...instead of that old feeling of walking a tightrope, scared to look down for fear of falling...holding both hands over my mouth for fear of total lack of self-control... that uneasy, barely holding on, when will my ugliness rear its' head again fear...that frantic covering of ungodliness...there is JOY! Crazy, FREE J-O-Y! When He is in control there is eager expectation...What awesome thing has He prepared for us to complete next? What opportunity will He give me to serve Him today? When that opportunity comes, I can relax in Him, knowing that He had this well under His control before I was even born. I can open my mouth and listen to His words in 'eager expectation'! I can praise Him for His love for me, because I know He has prepared me for just such a moment. I challenge myself first today...don't let satan steal your joy with self-focus. Fasten your eyes on Him, knowing that He is your saving grace. He is your all in all. He is the giver of crazy, free JOY! As my sister Ruth always said, 'I just love Him so much! Bless His sweet Name.'

the wonder of neem and a good man...

I'm just going to tap out a few lines while everyone is snoozing...I love the peace and quiet. It's a joy to be able to reflect on the week gone by and enjoy the coolness of the house. In the pics below Brenna and the puppy really are sleeping together on the floor...I just took that one a moment ago. I couldn't wait to share it. :)


What a wonderful day it was...what a wonderful week it was!!! Lavon and I taught the 3-year-olds at VBS and some of them prayed to receive Christ...Ava got to come over for a sleepover...Candace was so sweet to come in for me on Friday....the girls had a wonderful time having a sleepover a Grandma and Grandpa's house...and their mother had a great time with some very sweet girlfriends! :0) Can't wait to see those pics, Alisha!! :):) Brenna babysat for Norm and Danni's new puppy today while they went to a reunion.The puppy has had a bath with neem oil and is fluffy and sweet. Daddy, Lydia, Brenna, and the puppy all needed a nap after that!:) Neem oil has been an amazing blessing at our house. We LOVE our neem oil bath products! ONE application of oil took care of every aphid in the greenhouse! It has so many uses...today we mixed up some mean, flea killing, dog shampoo. (baby shampoo with some of the straight oil that I bought for the greenhouse) We washed up the puppy...and it worked! I also read that it is a great treatment for head-lice...ummm...hopefully we will not have to find out. :) I am continually amazed at the way my Father works things out so awesomely. I had been trusting Him for an organic insecticide, and He's showing me that this wholesome natural way of living goes a lot farther than just growing the food He provides.

Happy Father's Day to our Fearless Leader...I love you, my sweet man. :) You are so good to the girls and I...thank-you for being such a humble, godly leader in our home. All that AND a quirky sense of humor...oh, how I love life with you. Your provision and protection of our family makes it so sweet.

My Joy is the LORD...

I waited patiently for the LORD:

he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he sat my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear and put there trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:1-3

There is my life a nutshell. I am so beyond thrilled to hop onto the blogging carousel! A whole new way to give my Savior the praise he so deserves....a beautiful way to document my family's journey to holiness...a testimony of gardening by faith. Since January, we have been on a new path, consisting of adoption plans, heirloom seeds, a new hoop house, and lots of working with Jesus on our faith in our Provider.

I love the parallels that I see in my gardening and my mothering. I am inspired to keep on "working the dirt " in my children's lives as I see my Father growing my tomatoes so brilliantly, answering my desperate prayers with miracles when I don't know how to handle the black rot that is taking over the grapes that have been in my family for generations. I am filled with releif and joy in His provision in our lives and in the garden. I adore the way He works in my husband's life, to show him how much he is loved. I am enthralled as I see His hand over my childern. I am anticipating with joy to see how He is working the adoption that has been so long in coming. I love the bumps in every path that insure closer walk with Him. There is nowhere I would rather be than in the arms of my Saviour.

The man who married my husband and I, shared a suggestion that I thank God for. He asked that we would choose a particular Scripture to pray over our marriage and our lives. He suggested that we base our new marriage on Psalm 1-1-3.

Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is llike a tree planted by streams of water,

which yeilds its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

We also chose to add new Scriptures as we grow and see our lives change. Praying Scripture holds such sweetness for the beleiver, doesn't it? Praise Him! Thank you, Father for working all things for our good and for your Glory. May your glory be my first priority in all things. Thank you for being the Master Gardener in all the areas of my life. Only You, O LORD, only You.