September 3, 2009

All Quiet On The Cragford Front!  I am home alone.  Not sure that I like it that much but such is life. Sarah and Olivia have gone to meet our daughter Amanda and drop off little Evan.  He is now staying with us from time to time.  Having him in daycare while she works just breaks my heart and hers so we are doing what we can to help. He is a treasure.  So precious and smart as a whip. I reckon every Granny says that though, don’t they, but he really is!!  They say that too I suppose. ;-) 

 I am now 46 years and 1 day old.  Amazing how I still feel 22.  But believe me when I look in the mirror I see 46 years and 1 day.  Not that I am complaining mind you.  Each and every day of these years I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord has watched over me and been with me.  I may not have been with him the whole time but He has faithfully been there and no matter how long eternity really is, I will still not have enough time to thank Him. 

Today has been a day – Erin has left for a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama with her fiancé and his family.  They will be gone until Monday and I am missing her already.  She will have a great time I know and it is nice for her to be able to spend this time with them.  Last week our family went on a five day camping trip to West Point Lake. It is an incredibly beautiful place and we had such a good time.  Paul worked for weeks getting all of our bicycles ready, so that we could ride.  The campground is very wooded and flat and he and I rode and rode and rode.  Only a couple of times did I have to call for the truck to come and get me.  There was one little incline that I just could not get up but coming down it led to many of the peninsulas there at the park.  This place is also well known for its wildlife and we certainly got to enjoy that.  Each and every day we were blessed with many deer all around us.  We saw a doe and her twin babies on several occasions too and that was quite a treat.

A raccoon decided to visit us on the last evening but we were not as happy to see him.  Rabies is very active this year and since ‘coons are often carriers we shooed him away repeatedly.  Other wildlife we enjoyed were Cranes, Herons, wild Turkey and Canadian Geese.  It was lovely.  We did get rained on quite a bit, but that helped to keep the heat down a bit and when it wasn’t raining we floated around in the water.  The bottom was pure clay and so the girls had fun getting handfuls and painting one another from time to time which of course, would end in a clay battle, which sent me back to shore on more than one occasion.  :-o 

Let’s see, since the last time I wrote we have had 4 birthdays in our family.  August 10 was Erin’s and she turned 20.  Her request was tires for her truck so we all pitched in on that.  Olivia, our youngest child, turned 18 on the 26^th.  Oh, did I mention that she is our youngest!!!!!!!!!!!  Like a splash of cold water that was!  Just kidding, she has become quite a young woman and even though I am a bit sad to know that we no longer have any little ones, she will always be our baby.   Our grandson Evan had his second birthday in August too.  Amanda and Jeremy had a lovely birthday party for him complete with hamburgers and hot dogs and lots of good conversation.  Paul made Evan a wooden rocking horse like the one we have here at our house.  Everytime he comes over, he loves to hop on it and rock away so now he can do that at his home as well.

And as I mentioned before, my birthday was yesterday.  It was such a sweet day. Paul made me a lovely 2 foot tall, six sided birdhouse.  It is beautiful!!  He is going to mount it on a cedar post out in the garden and I can’t wait.  I have wanted one for a long time and as soon as he gets it put up I will take a picture to share with you.  For my birthday, all the girls took off work and stayed home.  We didn’t really do anything – my choice – but just having them all here doing their own activity was so nice.  They made me chicken divan for supper and Haley made her special sugar free cheesecake that I love so much.  The older I get the more true it becomes – the gifts are nice and so sweet, but just having my family around me is what makes me the happiest.  I cannot imagine any woman being more blessed.

Our summer is coming to a close here in Alabama.  I think most of the country has had a fairly strange summer this year – reckon the weather didn’t know about global warming – it has been really cool and wet.  This morning I went out in the garden, which is woefully covered in weeds and it was so cool that I thought I might need a shawl.  I tied up some of the tomato plants that have become so big their stakes are too short.  Yesterday I picked enough peppers to fill a picnic basket and they are waiting to be cut and put in the dehydrator or freezer.  I have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and collards to set out and turnip, kale, mustard and rape seeds to sow.  I think tomorrow, if it is not raining I will work out there some more. 

Paul and I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about things that are changing and how we are going to do things differently.  With our country in the state it is in – financially and spiritually we are pondering on what the Lord has planned.  Paul also got word this week that his company is enacting new policy that will allow homosexuals to have benefits for their partners and that they are discouraging prayer at meetings.  Mmmmm, the winds of change seem to be blowing in from the general direction of the dump because they absolutely stink!  

On the home front two of our girls are getting married in the next few months and that brings some very real changes for us here at home. This week we got word that a very precious and Godly man we have known for many years was killed in a horrendous motorcycle accident.  It just broke our hearts but it reminded us how quickly events can occur that we were not expecting and brought us so clearly back to remembrance that time is short. Yes, God’s plan is in place and He has it all mapped out but we need to make 100% sure that we are where we are supposed to be in that plan and on that map.

The other day when I was cleaning some things up outside, my hands got filthy as you can imagine.  I came in when I was done and washed my hands and proceeded to work on putting supper in the oven.  When I got done, I sat down to read a paper and realized that I had dirt all over the hem of my dress.  As I had washed things off with a hose, the mud must have splashed onto my dress and I wasn’t even paying attention to it.  But when I sat down and refocused my attention, there it was – yuck!  It is time for us to re-focus and check those things we haven’t been looked at lately. 

I pray that you are at peace with God as these days get darker.  It is the most important task for you to accomplish.  Keep us in your prayers as we do you. 

In Christ!

Angie

Just Thinking – July 23, 2008

I have to tell you from the beginning that as I wrote the words “Just Thinking” above I had to chuckle.  There has been a LOT of thinking going on around here this summer and it has been some life-changing stuff!  It has been over a month since I last wrote you and much has occurred.

I will start with the biggest news – we now have TWO daughters engaged to be married.  Erin was the first to receive her ring from her young man, Andy.  They have been courting for about 7 months.  Then one evening about 3 weeks ago as they took a walk out in the herb garden, Andy dropped down on bended knee under the Kiwi Arbor and asked Erin to be his wife.  A few moments later they came inside and with tears streaming down her face she held her hand out to me to see the ring of promise.  Paul and I are so happy to know that this wonderful, Godly young man will lead our daughter and be her husband and father to her children. The date is still not quite set but that is coming soon. Andy has a home for them and some acreage so they are working now on getting it ready. 

Now remember that I said TWO daughters?  Sam and Haley are planning for their wedding in May.  They have been courting for over a year and to be honest we all knew that Sam had already chosen Haley to be his bride, but it was not made official until about two weeks ago.  Sam’s family was going on vacation to Gulf Shores and asked if Haley could join them. We know the standards of the family so we felt safe in sending her on the trip.  The last night of their vacation, as they were leaving the beach, Sam turned around, dropped down on his knees and pulled a box from his pocket.  A few moments later, I received a call from a sobbing Haley.  Right there on the beach, Sam had asked her to marry him and she had said yes!  Paul and I already knew that this was the plan so we were prepared.  Sam is an incredible young man and while we already feel like family, we can’t wait for it to be official. 

As I have said before, both Sam and Andy are young men of incredible Christian character.  It has long been our prayer that the Lord would send husbands for the girls who were as firm in their faith as we have taught our daughters to be and indeed they are. 

It is such a blessing to know that their homes will be focused on God in every way and their children will be raised as Godly seed for the Lord.  Can a parent ask for anything more?!

Sarah and Olivia are really enjoying the whole process of planning for the weddings.  Of course, they were all initiated in getting ready for Amanda and Jeremy’s wedding here back in March.  It has been so intriguing to watch the girls make their decisions about how they want to do things so that it will be about God and not about the “production”. 

I look forward to the coming months and being able to share it all with you.  We will certainly learn a great deal together.

While this has really been the focus of our summer so far, life has continued to go along for the most part as always.  Being summer time, the majority of our days is spent in tasks pertaining to the garden; either weeding (falling terribly behind on that) or harvesting or re-planting or canning.  I never begrudge the process but sometimes I admit that I hope we will have a day of rain so that I can do something else. ;-)  And Praise the Lord we have had days of rain!!!!!!!  Yes, Yes!  Rain has come on a regular basis and the plants show their appreciation.  Everything here is lush and green and growing prolifically.  This evening after supper (we had breakfast with grits, bacon, eggs and biscuits –yum!)  Paul, Olivia and I went for a walk.  We usually walk up the road and then come back through the woods on the trail.  It is about a mile total and such a pleasant walk it is.  Anyway, while we were walking it was so nice to see all the vegetation bursting with flowers and seeds.  It was only two years ago that we were suffering under one of the worst draughts in our lifetime.  As we walked there was mountain mint, bee balm, wild muscadine, blackberries, poke berries – well, to many things to list – all growing in profusion.  An herbalists dream for sure.

Olivia took her new dog Charlie on the walk with us.  She has wanted a dog for many years but the rule here has been that they could not get a dog until they could pay for its feed and care.  So she has been diligently searching for one since she got her job at the first of the year.   She has always wanted a border collie that she could train to herd the sheep and goats.  Well, she has Charlie now.  Not a border collie, but when he was brought into the vet clinic where she worked, he stole her heart.  He is a tri-colored registered Sheltie. He is really a very good dog and he is as devoted to her as she is to him.  There is no doubt that this was the animal God had for Olivia and we are so thankful that she has him. 

Sarah keeps on keeping on.  She and I have been doing some baking and making deliveries in our community and in Anniston.  God has really blessed our efforts and in turn we have been able to bless two groups with some of our proceeds from the sales. Erin and Olivia have been great at helping as well and Haley is our cheerleader and dish-washer when we get behind.  I have to say that these girls can bake some incredible things.  Paul is always content to be our taster and let us know if we have done a good job, too!

Our farm is doing great – animals are abounding and getting fatter on this good grass.  We had an inordinate amount of chicks hatched this year and they are getting mature now.  Today we found the first dime size egg from these young ones so soon they will be laying and filling our nests.  That is a blessing with all the baking going on.  Paul is preparing to build a second chicken tractor for us and that will house some of them in the garden.  We will begin butchering the young roosters as soon as the mornings are chilly.  Although I have to say we have had some very cool mornings this summer.  Strange indeed considering there is so much talk of global warming.  I reckon they forgot to tell the Lord about it because I can’t remember a cooler summer than this one has been.  Of course, it is just like God to prove our human wise men wrong, isn’t it?!

Time for me to close and get ready for bed.  Paul is sitting beside me working on his message for Sunday.  It must be flowing from the spirit ‘cause his fingers are going 90 to nothing. Much Love!!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The end of another busy week has come and I am relaxing this morning.  Our son Jacob and his family will be coming any time now for the weekend.  His car needs some repairs so Paul will be working with him today to get it done and they are spending the night and will be with us for church tomorrow morning.  As I am typing this everyone is still sleeping peacefully.  It is a still and quiet time in the house.

The last month has been one of activity and blessing.  I suppose the highlight of it all was this past week when we were blessed with a visit from my brother Allen and his family from Texas. Allen’s sweet wife, Sherry and daughter Emily are a joy to be around and I am so thankful that he has such a precious family. As a tremendous bonus, my eldest brother Duke and his wife Terry, who live about an hour away, were able to join us and we had such a lovely time together.  We cooked out, talked a lot about gardening and chickens and all that is happening in our world today and we also spent a good deal of time sharing about our family tree.  For many years I have been working on putting down on paper our family tree and this was the first time I was able to share with them – actually print off for them – a copy of my research.  I realize now that there was much that didn’t print but sent them home with an inch and a half stack of paper showing our family going back to the 1500’s. 

They are the two eldest of my siblings and have so much more knowledge than I do about our grandparents that I relished all the memories they shared.  Allen told me how our grandmother always had a large diaper pin on her dress, “just in case she needed it” and Duke told me that she loved to eat avocados.  Silly though it may seem, it was like gold to me.  I didn’t realize until she died that she had been alive all those years in a nursing home.  It broke my heart when I was told she was dying and by then it was too late for me to know this woman who was my father’s mother.  I have such vague and cloudy memories of her from when I was a toddler, but seeing her through my brother’s eyes is a blessing. So many things they shared with me – I cherish it all. 

As most of you, a large part our time has really been spent in the garden.  We are picking beans now and the ever-bearing strawberries are coming in still.  I have also started harvesting the onions and squash.  We had our first red tomato last week and many more are beginning to turn color.  I love it when the garden begins to produce.  My canners, jars, lids and tools are all ready to go and we look forward to restocking our pantry with the jeweled colors of summer. 

We have had one problem this year and I can hardly believe it – lots of rain.  We had two straight weeks of rain and that caused us to lose some of our first plantings but we are back on track I think.  It is funny as I write that – the clouds are building and we are expecting another fairly big storm.  Paul is outside now trying to get his workshop cleaned up enough so that they can pull Jacob’s car in to work on it.  If not then they can bring it into the big garage. 

Anyway, back to the garden.  I did notice yesterday that the squash bugs are laying their golden eggs on the squash again.  I need to shoo the guinea out there and get him to eating those little buggers.  Our friends from North Alabama came by on Wednesday to pick up a lamb and they brought us a box full of baby guineas and a batch of quail.  They are all doing wonderfully and growing quickly.  We have an adult guinea already that was given to us and it is happily snaking on insects and meandering around with the ducks and geese. 

Noon –

It is now noon and the house is alive with activity. Jacob, Naomi and the girls are all here as well as another friend who has come for the afternoon.  Paul and Jacob are in the workshop/garage covered in grease working on Jacob’s car.  Slow process mainly due to have to get things that are very tight off.  But the Lord is helping them each step of the way.  We are having ham and turkey sandwiches for lunch and everyone is in the kitchen munching away.  I love the sound of chatting and laughing as it rolls out from in there.  Such joy!

It is still fairly gray outside and we have had some intermittent spots of rain.  Not to complain though – every drop is appreciated.  I harvested a few cabbages and onions earlier to go into our stir-fry tonight.  One of Paul’s favorite meals – stir-fry with chicken and lots of veggies.  Healthy, easy and fairly inexpensive.  Olivia is making bagels today and we are all excited about that.  They are so good!!  I have a Chocolate Cake cooling on the racks but just realized that I don’t have any powdered sugar.  Time to dig out the “no powdered sugar” icing recipe.

5:31 –

Hi Again!  Jacob and Paul are finally beginning the process of putting things back on the car.  It has taken then all day to remove all the bad and hopefully they will not have as much difficulty putting on the good.  Paul looks like a greasy mess and Jacob is just a bit better.  I am stir-frying for supper and am at the stage right now where the cabbage is steaming in the wok.  Most of the other items are cooked and just waiting for everything to be mixed back in and the sauce to be made.

The sun has finally come out at 5:30 and the grandbabies are out of the pool and napping before supper.  Little Nicole was so played out she had a tummy ache.  Her mommy rubbed her tummy and she was fast asleep within minutes and then Natalie climbed right up beside her on the couch and went out like a light. 

Okay – back from the wok – veggies are all in heating.  Did I mention that today – for the first time in MANY years, I sat down at the dining room table and colored in a coloring book?  Yes, I know – have someone catch you in case you faint. I bought one of those oversized coloring books for the little girls and while they were out swimming, Naomi, Sarah and I looked through it and saw that the pages were so beautiful we just couldn’t resist.  It was nice to sit there and chat and just color.  Of course, that was interrupted regularly by making runs out to the garage to see if the fellas needed anything.  But I have to admit – I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I suppose I better close this mini-series.  Typing hit and miss all day must have added up.

Praying that you are all well and happy and feeling the joy of the Lord.  The days are getting darker.  Our enemies are threatening to nuclear strike, our leaders are turning away from God and a pandemic has been declared! I know – those last three sentences are kind of out of position, but you know – the truth is that we can be Well, Happy and Feeling the Joy of the Lord even amidst all the chaos and fear because this is NOT our home!!!  We are children of the ONE True God and He has all of it in His Hands.  Our rest is in Him. 

When the headlines in the news shout doom and destruction and when your friends betray you and speak lies against you and when all the love and care you have shown others is thrown back in your face – Praise the Lord!!  We are partakers in the Lord’s suffering and great is our reward. 

Much Love!!

Angie

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Just to describe the weather here today, I have a lovely waterfall right off the deck.  It is actually coming from the rainbarrel, which is full to the brim, but because of the heavy rain we are having it is flowing out – correction – gushing out like Niagara Falls.  The ducks are not complaining in the least though.  They are standing just out of danger waiting for a salmon or trout to come flopping out and honestly, by the looks of things I would not be a bit surprised! ;-)  The wind has been blowing so hard I have checked several times to see if the trees are uprooted but Praise the Lord everything is still holding on to terra-firma.   

We have had an abundance of wild weather in the last week to 10 days accompanied by many radio sirens and warnings.  Here in the South, it is a normal part of our spring and summer weather.  I reckon it is just one aspect of the blessing of these long growing seasons and lush forests. As you probably know, lightening adds nitrogen to the soil and so we welcome a bit of lightening from time to time.  The rains wash some of the pollen from the plants and sky and so that is important, especially for those who suffer with asthma and allergies.  The plants need the clean rain water so much more than watering from a hosepipe. And really, if you think about it, high winds help to bring down dead trees and limbs that might otherwise cause damage when folks are out and about.  Of course, we pray that no one is injured or suffers property damage when these trees do come down.

Ah, I see that the trees are back in their upright positions and my hanging plants on the porch have stopped flying sideways.  The worst of the storm must be passed us now.  We have another just coming into the state from Mississippi but that will take a few hours to arrive here.  There are little streams all through the garden now and baby ponds abound for the ducks and geese.  We are still having a nice drizzle of rain.  The sky looks gray but the green of the trees, grass and plants is absolutely glowing.  Beautifully clean looking! Yep, just checked the radar and we are a few hours away from the next big line of storms.

I just realized that I had not updated the “Just Thinking” since mid April. We have had quite a bit of trouble with Earthlink lately and have not been able to keep the site updated due to their technical problems, but hopefully all of that is fixed. 

Let’s see – where to begin.  We just had our spring Homestead Hollow event.  This one was a bit strange and it was all due to the weather.  Friday was a bit rainy but then cleared up and we had a fairly nice day.  Of course, there were lots of school groups that came through and sometimes that can be difficult, but this time we were very pleased.  They were well behaved, quiet and I was amazed at all the really interesting questions they asked.  Saturday was a little stormy and they held the gate opening for an hour.  It is not a problem for us because we are safe and dry in the cabin but I know that the vendors really suffer on weekends like this.  When the gates did open we had a fairly large crowd and it was a lovely day all the way ‘round.  Paul sheared at 11:00 and someone said they thought it was the largest crowd ever.  That is nice.  When we first began doing the shearing program, Paul sheared and talked at the same time – not easy for him at all.  Now I do the talking while he shears.  I think that takes the load off of him so he can concentrate and when someone asks a specific question on the shearing itself, he will stop and respond.  It works and apparently is drawing bigger crowds every year.

When we arrived on Sunday morning, we were greeted with the news that they were not opening the gates.  The storms that were headed that way were expected to be tornadic and so they wanted to give everyone time to pack up and get loaded before the worst hit.  It took us about 2 hours to get everything done and the cabin cleaned and locked up and then we helped some of the venders that were near us.  One elderly oriental couple especially needed some assistance.  The mud was everywhere from all the people and now the cars and trucks coming in and these two folks were walking back and forth carrying all these things.  After about 45 minutes, we had them loaded, for the most part, and their tent down and packed so we hugged and said good-bye.

As we were driving out we decided to take a little side trip to the new Bass Pro Shop in Leeds, Alabama.  It was not exactly on our way home, but not too far out and we had not been yet.  There is another Bass Pro Shop in Prattville, AL and we have been there several times and it is incredible.  As you might already know, our family loves to fish and camp and this store is a great place for getting supplies for both.  It is always fun to go into one of these places because it is like being in a natural history museum.  They have large aquariums full of fish and this one actually has a trout stream with live trout swimming in it.  Paul got some new fishing flies and Olivia bought herself a nice new tent.  The other girls bought a few things and I just enjoyed the scenery.  On our way home, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch – mmmmmm – and we were home by 2:00.  So while I was sorry for those folks who needed good sales at the Hollow, I was happy to be home so early and still have a voice and not be exhausted. 

Besides getting ready for this event, we have been mainly busy with our garden and farm activities.  Seems that every day has a list of chores outside and the list grows as the day wears on but that is a good thing.  Each season has its own tasks and beauties and planting the garden belongs to this one.  This morning before the storms hit we had several things to get done.  Erin and Olivia are off on Wednesday so they are here to help.  Erin got the grass cut and oh, I LOVE that smell. She also picked all the strawberry beds for me.  I have enough to make a couple more batches of jam this afternoon.  Our beds are bearing very well this year and my strawberry jam supply was in great need of restocking so we are well on our way.  I cut asparagus and picked sugar snap peas.  Then while Erin was finishing up the grass, Sarah, Olivia and I hilled up all the potatoes.  We have quite a few rows and so that was a fairly large task, but we were able to get done before the rain began.  This year we are growing Kennebec, Yukon Gold, German Butter, Purple Fingerling and Irish Potatoes. Our family loves potatoes – can you tell? I will add more on our garden on the Garden Diary page so check that out if you like.

This week, I am going to be sewing.  I have fabric for a couple of new shirts for Paul and a new dress and apron for myself.  Sometimes I am a bit slow to get that done and then I realize it has been more than a year since I have made myself a new dress.  One of my dresses is over 10 years old and I wear it all the time.  I do believe that not using a dryer and using good quality fabric helps to make the garments last longer.  Our aprons are the things that wear out the quickest, but they tend to get a lot of abuse.  They are used for everything from being a hand towel to an egg basket to wiping off dusty tables to swatting at bugs.  I don’t know how women do without aprons. 

All of the children are doing well.  Jacob got word a few weeks back that his schedule was changing at work and instead of working Wednesday through Sunday, he now has Monday through Friday with weekends off.  That was quite a wonderful bit of news!  Naomi has started another little garden at their house – so far, peppers and cucumbers and tomatoes.  They have a disadvantage because their yard is heavily shaded but there is a little area at the back of the house that gets sun.  So we are praying for the Lord to bless their efforts and help those plants to grow and produce well.

Last month we were asked to come to Natalie and Nicole’s school to do a program for their Spring event.  It was fun and nice to be with them.  We took some of the babies from here on the farm: a lamb, gosling, duckling, bunny.  Each class came to us and we talked about life on the farm and I showed how to spin wool and then the children were able to pet the animals. Some of the children had never seen or felt baby animals so this was special for them.  Our little Natalie is finishing up the 3rd grade and is going to have her tonsils out the first part of June.  She has really suffered with strep throat so hopefully this will bring some much needed relief.  She is a brave little thing and she is handling this so well. Nicole is completing Kindergarten and has done so very well.  Makes a Granny and Papaw proud!

Amanda and Jeremy are enjoying married life and are also growing their first garden.  She emailed me a picture the other day of their first ripe strawberry.  How exciting!!  They were able to come to Homestead Hollow on Saturday and spend a few hours with us.  It was so nice to have them there and little Evan was as precious as ever.  He sat in my lap and helped me spin J and tugged at his Papaw’s beard quite a bit.  He is a cutie!!

We are hoping to go to their house with the big tiller and till up a big garden spot for them.  They want to grow as much as possible and they have a really nice clear spot.

Haley is working hard and reaping blessings at her job.  She called this morning, all excited, because she submitted an article to our local newspaper about the gardens we all built there for the residents and it was in the paper with all the pictures.  I will have to have Paul stop and pick us up a couple of papers.  She is also the head of a Relay for Life team which is raising money for Cancer research, so that is occupying a lot of spare time too.  She is in her element though when doing this sort of thing – Haley is a born promoter and I am blessed immensely that she serves so many with this gift she has.  A little side note – one of her hobbies is making little cornshuck dolls and that seems to be becoming quite a little business for her.  Who would have ever thought that these little dolls would be so special but they are and Haley is becoming quite the artist in making them. 

Sewing, sewing, sewing – Sarah is sewing away.  I realized the other day that she has now had her sewing business for three years!  Isn’t that incredible?!!  Not many folks can say that they have had a successful international, home-based business that is growing even in these hard economic times.  God has blessed her in every way as she has committed herself to being a “keeper at home”.  For a little while she worked outside the home at Tractor Supply and the Lord blessed her there and promoted her to a leadership position and now we realize that this was to show Sarah that she could choose – success in the world’s eyes or success in God’s eyes.  I praise God daily for her commitment to doing it God’s way. I also thank Him that she is able to meet her financial needs through this business. He is a good God!!

Erin is busy as a beaver lately with all her activities.  Her job as groomer at the Vet Clinic is taking off – lots of folks wanting their little doggies looking good for the summer.  She has become quite proficient at it and I have to say that she must have the patience of Job in doing that.  Seems like every day she comes home and tells me that some dog bit her.  But she enjoys the work.  Did I mention the last time, that the Vet gave her a little Yorkie – Giselle. She is the cutest thing, but she is a nervous wreck.  This little dog is so cute that she was intended for the show ring but because she is so skittish she could not compete.  The doctor gave her to Erin and now they are constant companions.  Paul calls her “Tinkle” because she seems to walk on her tiptoes – the dog, not Erin. Of course, she is also “Tinkle” for another reason which I am not happy about.  Let’s just say that the carpet cleaner is getting a lot of use.  We are waiting for a couple of Erin’s hives to come back with new swarms in them.  She has sent them off to a man who is catching swarms for her and so we hope to end the summer with at least six hives of bees. 

After her graduation last year, Olivia was destined to go through that post-high-school fog that we all tend to go through.  She did but very quickly the Lord moved her right on through and I am so glad!!!  She began working at the Vet clinic as well and now she is looking at Vet Tech school.  The doctor is supposed to check the materials for her and make sure that it is a good school and if she approves then Olivia will start as soon as possible.  Olivia loves animals and I think this will be a very good area for her to work in.  There have been several times when we asked the Lord to clarify to her what He wanted her to do and He has been so faithful to do that.  It is hard sometimes for the youngest child to find their own place and what a joy it is to Paul and I to see her coming to that special place of her own.

Well, I reckon I need to close this.  You would not believe how long it takes me to write one of these.  I have a lot of new pictures to post and hopefully Earthlink will co-operate and let me get those online. 

I pray you are having a blessed day!

Angie

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Finally the sun is shining!  Our sun has been evasive since Sunday, but it is beaming now.  I had hoped to write here last week, but things here on the farm got pretty active and there wasn’t a moment to spare.  Live is springing up all over the place and so are opportunities for the Lord.  What a joy it is to be about the Father’s business!!

This past Sunday was Resurrection Sunday and it was a lovely day.  We began our observance on Friday night, Good Friday.  Our newly married daughter Amanda and her new husband Jeremy came to spend the evening along with several others.  Our fellowship was as satisfying as our supper: Barbeque chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and green beans.  Following supper we all took a nice walk to the fish pond and enjoyed a little fly fishing and lovely sunset.  On the way back we decided to walk around one of the fields instead of along the road. It was already fairly dark and we had to carefully pick our way.  We had hoped the sky would be clear so that we could use Paul’s new telescope and see the stars.  Slowly they came out along with a beautiful Saturn!  If you have not seen Saturn through a telescope, I hope you get the opportunity – it is an incredible sight.  Around 8:00, we had our Lord’s Supper and Worship time.  It is always more meaningful to me during the Holy Week and to be surrounded by people we love – the Lord’s presence was indeed tangible.

Our new son-in-law is very much interested in gardening and so we sent him home loaded with plants and information.  I love that he is finding this to be a good use of his time.  It is one thing to teach folks a skill, but when they come to you with a hunger on their own – now that is rewarding!  Amanda said that he is so excited about it all.  This is one hobby that will reward them for the rest of their lives and provide their family with tax-free income in the produce they grow and also give them healthy food that they don’t have to worry about being recalled. ;-)  So when you are gardening in your own plot, please say a little prayer for Jeremy and Amanda’s too.

On Saturday, Paul and I went for a long trek into the woods. We were heading out mainly to identify the wild plants that grow in our woods and on our creek bank, but also just to enjoy the morning.  Walking in the woods is one of our favorite things to do and God has blessed us with plenty to explore.  I do love that man!!  He is my best friend and we have such a wonderful time together.  Sometimes we are just chatting on and on about everything and then sometimes we are just walking in silence – soaking in all the beauty around us.  I am always amazed at how we seem to settle on the same thought at the same time and one of us will speak exactly what the other one is thinking.  My life with Paul has been one of peace and security and blessing.  I thank God every day for him!

While we were walking, Erin had to work until noon and Sarah, Olivia and Haley all went to Talladega to get some fencing at Tractor Supply.  Olivia is in search of her own dog.  She wants a long hair Border Collie that she can train for Agility.  The vet that she works for is going to set up an area at the clinic and work with her to train it. So she now has the pen ready and is looking for just the right animal.  I don’t know much about it but I do know that she has to find one that is registered and very young.  Having a Border Collie will help with herding our animals and having Luna, Erin’s Great Pyrenees for their protection gives us the perfect package. I pray Olivia finds just the one for her.

Our Resurrection Sunday was glorious!  Our son Jacob and his family joined us for our morning service.  It is so precious to celebrate this day with our family and our homechurch family.  God is good indeed! Paul's message was outstanding and God truly used him to speak to our heart in so many ways.  Following the service we had a delicious lunch of ham, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, green beans and deviled eggs.  For dessert we had banana pudding and Haley's incredible German Chocolate cake.  YUM!!  We sat around and visited for awhile and then we all went to the pond for fishing.  Paul said that the brim must being going "on bed" and about 3:00 they started biting everything that we threw in the water.  Naomi actually got a bite on just a hook with no bait.  By about 5:30, our basket was loaded with fish and we headed home to get them cleaned.  Erin and Olivia had to go in to the clinic to feed the dogs and cats that were there for the weekend.  When they got back Erin and Andy went back out fishing and caught 22 more.  So they came home and cleaned them for their supper.  It was a fish feast!  God truly blessed our day with love and fun and joy.

Speaking of blessings, our garden is beginning to produce and our brooder is loaded with chicks.  The gosling (our weakest one died) is nestled in and bonding with the ducklings. Praise the Lord!  He/She is a cutie.  We are trying to handle it all the time so when it is full grown hopefully, it will not be aggressive as geese sometimes are.  It is an African Grey and so cute!  The ducklings are all growing quickly as well.  They are beginning to change from that fluffy yellow to white now.  Our two adult males are eager for them to come out of the pen – they are hoping that some are girls! :-p - we are too!

This week has been busy with the nursing home.  One of the projects that Haley planned for her residents was to have a garden for them.  This was something that I encouraged her in because of the joy it brings to folks.  A couple of weeks ago, Sarah and I spent the afternoon with Haley moving some of the landscape shrubs to open up areas for garden spots around their patio and lawn area.  That had to be done first.  So this week we are putting in the garden.  The local concrete place donated a dump truck load of topsoil and someone donated the money to buy the wood for making raised beds.  Yesterday, Paul, Sarah and I went over about 4:00 and began building the beds and filling them with soil.  Whew!  Now that was some work.  Each bed needed about 15 wheelbarrows of soil and there were three beds.  Paul also brought his chainsaw and we did some serious pruning on several of their trees.  A large planting bed is in the middle of their patio and has a lovely Dogwood growing in the center.  Well, it has never been pruned and was so large that it shaded underneath so not much could grow in the bed.  We took out some of the poorly placed limbs and opened it up to allow light into the bed. 

A couple of local businesses have donated some vegetable plants and seeds and today, Sarah and I will be heading over to begin the planting with the residents.  The State inspectors are there this week so I am not sure how much help the staff will be, but we will bring as many residents outside as can come and planting will begin.  We are going to turn the large bed around the dogwood into an herb garden.  This morning I spent about an hour digging in my herb garden, dividing and potting many of the herbs.  We will be planting Rosemary, parsley, lemon balm, thyme, oregano and mint.  The mint will go into pots so that it will not take over.  I still have to get some Hosta, Showy Sedum and Lamb’s Ear to plant in the area as border for the tree.  We are taking pictures of the entire process and will add them to the site.  Our desire is to really help bring back some memories for these precious folks of former days.  Many of them were farmers and the rest at least had gardens.  This is a very rural county and nearly everyone has a garden of some type.  I am also hoping we can get a couple of blueberry bushes there as well.  They can eat from its fruit for a long, long time. 

Erin is busy with a project too.  She is in the process of getting four more hives of bees.  This morning a friend came and picked up two of her hives to take them for catching swarms.  Hopefully within a couple of weeks they will have taken and be on their way home. Another gentleman will be splitting his hives soon and she hopes to get two of those.  This will greatly increase her production and perhaps will give her some profit finally from her honey.  Beekeeping is for expensive to get started in than other farm projects, but if you stay with it, eventually it pays off. 

Part 2 – It is now Thursday morning.  Yesterday afternoon, we went to the nursing home around 1:00 and were there until almost 6:00.  It was wonderful!  I wish you could have been there with us. So many of the residents came out and enjoyed our “garden day”.  Some were actually able to help weed the large planter under the dogwood.  One gentleman was able to get out on the lawn and help plant the raised beds.  He was one that had been a farmer all his life and his health was still where he could walk on his own.  He was actually digging holes, placing plants and watering them in.  Sarah worked with him and you could tell that he was having a ball!  I have lots of pictures and will post them. 

It is beautiful out today and perhaps our soil is dry enough that I can get out and start hilling the potatoes that are up.  I also have many new plants to get in the ground if it is dry.  I reckon I better post this before more activities of the day get me too busy.  I pray that you are well, happy and blessed.  Please remember that Paul, myself and the girls pray for each of you who read this site and we ask the Lord for His blessing on you as you walk in His Light and in His Truth and we ask His conviction on you if you are walking in your own way and with your own agenda.  Nothing of our own will bring peace – only what is of Him!!

Much love –

Angie

March 30, 2009

Glory!  Our God Reigns!!!!  He is worthy of every breath of praise that we can offer and when we can speak no more, He is worthy of every tear of joy.  There are so many things that we can be grateful for as children of the Most High God and for me to begin listing them would be like trying to take down a mountain with a spoon.  I think of the song that says:

Oh for a thousand tongues to sing

            my great Redeemer's praise,

            the glories of my God and King,

            the triumphs of his grace!

That is exactly how I feel this morning!!

I want to share with you some of the precious moments of this past weekend.  Many of you have written for weeks and indeed months of how you were praying for our Homesteader’s Weekend to be a success.  How do we express our appreciation?  You will never know this side of heaven how those prayers were felt and answered beautifully.

Our family has been working since October of last year in preparation for this particular event.  But the vision was given to Paul and me many, many years ago for this to be a reality in the life of our family.  By January 1^st of this year we hit the ground running with the actual physical work that had to be done here on the farm.  Each and every weekend was spent in construction of the showers, outhouses, barn completion, etc.  There were many times when we thought our bodies just could not go one more day, but we pressed on.  Erin’s young man, Andy, was a faithful worker as well.  He gave up many evenings and weekends to be an extra pair of hands and muscles getting things done.  It is hard when you do not have others to pitch in, but we had the most important help and that was our Father in heaven.  He kept us going. 

Each week Paul would work on his message for church on Sunday and get right back outside to finish some project that had to be done.  These last couple of weeks, many of you wrote to ask if things were okay because the Homechurch message was delayed or missing, but please know that it was only a result of trying to finish.  It takes Paul up to four hours to get the message online each week and sometimes his hands were too tired to write.  But thankfully, God blessed even in that as he was able to reach back into our archives and pull from the years of messages the Lord had given and find on that was pertinent for the day. 

We feel that our work has really been a labor of love because due to what was done we can now host families who want to come and camp and visit with us.  The infrastructure for that is in place and campsites are ready.  Sometimes the start up of a project is the hardest part and we breath a sigh of relief that this is now done.

On Wednesday we had a really bleak forecast weather wise.  One report said that they had never seen such a long forecast of severe weather lasting from Wednesday through Saturday night.  Of course, this was exactly the amount of time we had our event scheduled for.  Paul had taken the entire week off work so that everything could be ready and by the time we were finished with outside things Wednesday, it was beginning to rain.  One of our families was coming in from Louisiana Wednesday night (Hi, Rebecca and Robert!!!) and so we just prayed that anything severe would hold off until they were safely here.  They arrived about 8:30 or 9:00 and came in for a bite to eat and a visit and when Robert started putting up the tent it was drizzling rain.  There was nothing severe until about 6:00 the next morning and they were safely back on the porch waiting with us for breakfast as it blew through.  About 30 minutes of good wind and rain while we had eggs and muffins. 

Our other folks started arriving around 8:00 and by then the rain was over.  One by one they drove in and began setting up tents and one family brought their camper. No severe weather, no downpour, no wind – just a softly overcast day.   Everyone was finished and in the house for orientation, devotional and muffins by 9:00.  Afterward we broke and headed for classes.  On Thursday we had classes on Appropriate Technology, Raising Chickens, Candle Dipping, Blacksmithing and Basket making.  Each family made a Rocket Stove and we also began the first part of cheesemaking which would last for the three days.  The men made nails and “S” hooks during their blacksmithing class and the ladies make a bread basket.

For lunch we had Chicken Noodle Soup and Cheese Biscuits.  For supper – BBQ sandwiches with potato salad, green beans, squash casserole and peach cobbler and fig crumble for dessert.  YUM!! Rebecca also blessed us with several loaves of zucchini bread and blueberry bread.  That made for great snacking all day long.

By the evening, the weather was perfect.  We all gathered on the porch and sang hymns and worship songs into the night.  Paul shared a bit on our theme scripture for the weekend: Amos 9:13-15.  It was a precious time in the Lord and truly set the tone for the weekend.  Around 3:00 Paul had begun the fire in the woodstove that would heat the water for the shower house and following our evening devotions the showers were hot and ready.  We had about 12 folks go through the showers and everyone had plenty of hot water.  It was a success and a great relief to myself, Paul and all the campers!!!! 

During the night there was a threat of severe weather and we told our campers that if things got bad or the weather alert radio went off we would get them all camped out in the house.  But as proved to be the case the entire weekend, all we got was some rain and short spurts of stiff wind.  Those in the tents had some leaks but nothing to send them running.  We did a little rearranging of our classes so the morning classes were inside and the afternoon classes were outside.  This way, any lingering showers could be gone before folks had to stand outside.   

We proceeded to the day’s classes which were: Cheesemaking (the next step in the process), Basic Woodworking, Using the Lathe and Scroll Saw, , Homestead Pantry, Make Your Own Toiletries and Cleaning Supplies.  The weather was clear before 10:00 and the sun began to peak through the clouds.  After lunch we progressed with Herb Workshop, Raising Rabbits, Soap Making, and a trek through the woods to identify some wild plants that were growing near our creek bank. It turned out to be a beautiful day! 

Our meals for the day were Breakfast – Breakfast Casserole, Biscuits, Grits and Fruit. Lunch was Beef Vegetable Soup and Cornbread and for supper we had Sarah’s excellent Chicken Pot Pie and Salad with Chocolate Cake for dessert.  With the passing of the clouds by dark the sky was a blanket of stars and the men got the campfire going outside.  Everyone pulled up their camp chairs and we all sat around the circle and sang.  Paul and Ray (Hi, Ray and Charlene!!) played guitars while we worshipped the Lord in song.  Our daughter Haley blessed us with a couple of songs and then the Acker Family (Hi, Guys!!!) sang for us in four-part harmony.  Oh, I wish you could have been here to hear them.  Then one by one we went around the circle and shared testimonies and “why we are here” stories.  There was much laughter and quite a few tears as well as each precious person told their heart.  Later I thought I wished I had recorded it all so that we could play it back again, but no, the Lord was orchestrating the whole thing and that was what we wanted. During this time, our son Jacob and his beautiful wife Naomi arrived with our granddaughter’s Natalie and Nicole.  They spent the rest of the weekend with us and were able to join in with the remainder of the classes. 

The next morning, we were greeted once again with some early rain, but it was gone as soon as we needed it to be.  Following breakfast and morning devotion we separated into Sewing class and Beekeeping class.  Both classes took the entire morning and there was much to learn.  We broke for lunch and then headed to the barn for Goats, Sheep and Livestock Guardian Dog classes.  Followed by the Gardening class and finally butchering which Paul did in the barn.  Our meals for Saturday were: Breakfast, pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. And as all good thrifty homestead minded folks do, we had leftovers for our lunch: Chicken Noodle soup, Vegetable Soup, Chicken Pot Pie and BBQ sandwiches.  When classes were over for the day and we were gathering back together for our final meeting, the girls had prepared what we call a heavy snack.  Really it is more of a meal, but we wanted to make sure tummies were full before everyone hit the road.  So we had sausage balls, turkey wraps, fruit salad, Salsa and chips, potato salad and peach cobbler and cake.  So you can see no one went away looking for a restaurant.  J

Over the next few weeks we hope to be adding some of the reports from the families who came to Homesteader’s Weekend.  I will be trying to change out the pictures we post and Sarah is going to see about putting a slide show up on “You Tube” so that we can share even more pictures.  We will let you know when that is done. 

We are already planning for our next event and will post information as soon as it is available.

Thanks for the prayers!!

Angie

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Lovely, lovely, lovely!  That is the best way I can describe the day outside.  There is a pair of bluebirds nesting in the birdhouse just outside our bedroom window.  We have a flock of robins that seem to love our yard – hopefully, they will save a few worms for our garden and just eat the grubs. ;-)  I have one bird feeder that is being emptied every 2 days – apparently the menu is a hit.  I love Spring and all the birds that come with it!! 

Yesterday was a busy day and one that brought an unexpected answer to a long time dream of mine.  We have the most wonderful little antique shop just up the road in Lineville.  The proprietor, Cathy, is such a gentle soul and in many ways a kindred spirit.  She called this past week to tell me that she had something new in the shop that I might be interested in.  She also mentioned that starting Friday, yesterday, everything in the shop was at least 10% off.  So when I was done with my banking yesterday I went to “The Emporium” and in the first little section of the store – there it was with a large sign “Hold till Angie Burrell sees this” attached to the wheel.  It was a 5 foot tall, 5 foot long Great Wheel.  The number of spinning wheels I have seen in my life has been many, but this wheel is probably the most well preserved and beautiful of them all.  It is solid oak and Paul believes it is at least 125 if not 150 years old.  The iron work on it is all hand smithed and even the nails in the great wheel itself are square headed and homemade.  I couldn’t wait for Paul to see it!  The only problem was that the pieces that held the spindle to the “mother of all” were broken.  But it was evident that these pieces were just pegged in place and so very easy to replace. 

It was several hours later that Paul was back in town and could meet me at the store to see it.  My intention was, if he approved, to put it on layaway.  Yes, it might take 6 months to pay it off, but someday I would have it in my home to use.  When Paul arrived and saw the wheel, I knew he was pleased.  As it turns out, the two pieces that were broken were actually boot leather pieces that had been cut to fit – a simple repair with some old leather to replace it.  Indeed the entire thing was carefully crafted and excellent construction.  There was no wobble to any of it and even the huge Great wheel itself turned true.  Paul said it was the finest wheel he had seen and we definitely needed to get it.  So I prepared to write a small check to place it on layaway.  The Paul told me that we were going to buy it right now and he would load it in the car.  A couple of men in the store helped him carry it – thankfully the wheel separated from the base so it was easy to load. 

To be honest, I really felt kinda sick about the whole thing.  There are so many other things we need to get but when he hugged me and told me how much he wanted me to have it, I felt a bit better.  We have different events here and one of the new ones will be “Sheep Day”, which will be shearing, preparing the fleece, spinning and weaving demonstrations.  So this wheel, not only will be put to use regularly for spinning wool, but it will also be a good demonstration of this type of wheel.  Many folks ask us how these wheels work and many have these Great Wheels that have been passed down in their family, so it will be used well.  When we got home with it, Paul quickly replaced the leather pieces and we got the wheel spinning.  I spun out the first spindle of yard during the evening and this morning moved it to the niddy-noddy to set.  My spindle is ready for the next batch.  The “dance” involved in spinning on these big wheels is simple and I look forward to gaining more expertise, but I have to say that it truly brought a warmth to my heart as I felt such a connection with women throughout history who have used these wheels to clothe their family.  The image of all those fathers who went to the forest to cut a tree so that they could construct their wives a wheel really hit me as I saw Paul carving that leather and placing it firmly in the notch to hold the spindle.  The tip end of the spindle is very sharp and as I spun, the yarn flicks off the end with each rotation essentially sharpening it more and more.  Paul mentioned that the iron could have come from an old wagon that was no longer usable.  The entire experience brings such deep appreciation for God and for His wisdom in giving men the ability to construct these things and for the women who made use of every thing they had and fretted not that they had to make it themselves.  

Ah, the concept!

I have much to share with you but I must get going.  So many have written, concerned because our site has been quiet the last couple of weeks.  Thank you for loving us and for your prayers.  We are fine but diligently working to prepare for Homesteader’s Weekend.  The Lord has blessed each day and we are making fine progress.  There are still tasks to finish but we are feeling peace that our efforts to prepare are coming along and when our first folks arrive we know that everything will be ready.  I hope to share more this evening or tomorrow but will close for now.  I just had to tell you about the Great Wheel!!

Much Love!!

Angie

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Can it possibly be that it is now March?  When I think of all that we have done since Christmas, I can believe it, but then I wonder how time can go by so quickly.  But praise the Lord that each day that passes by brings us closer to our Lord’s return and to the Glory of Heaven. 

It has been a month since I wrote anything on this page and I have had many emails from folks wanting to know how things are here and if we are well.  We are indeed well and busy and rejoicing daily over God’s immense blessing to our family.  Paul and I regularly stop and spend time in awe and wander at the things that the Lord has done for us.  There is no question that it is out of His tremendous love for us that He blesses us, because we are wholly unworthy.  It is only through the acceptance of Jesus that we can come before Him and it is through that precious, innocent blood that was shed that made it possible for us to be adopted as His children and therefore partakers of all that He has.

We have been hard at work on all the preparations for Homesteader’s Weekend.  Our barn is 90% complete.  One partial wall we still need to finish near the chicken area, but we were able to complete the stalls, the rabbit’s back wall, the feed area and paint the entire barn over the last couple of weeks.  Paul was also able to get the windows put in place in the loft.  Not as easy as we thought, because when they built the loft evidently the window openings they left were just a fraction too small.  So he used the SawsAll and had to modify them.  But all the windows are now in and even the pulley above the door is mounted for bringing up hay bales for storage.  This past Saturday he got the sink mounted down there and will finish up the drain for it this week.  It will be so handy for many tasks. 

The showers are next.  It will be a simple two stall building with water tanks and a woodstove to heat the water.  Paul has been pondering on the design for months now and has it all planned out.  I am so thankful that he has the ability to figure these things.  My idea was a lottery to see who gets to shower in the house each day!! ;-)  But this is going to be a good design and I might even have to shower out there once he gets it done. 

We finished the outhouses (composting toilets) a couple of weeks ago.  All that is left on them is painting the outside and doing a little landscaping.  Yes, I said landscaping!!  You know that I cannot have an outhouse without some flowers.  I have already put some hollyhock seeds out and will add comfrey as well.  It needs to be pretty as well as functional, don’t you think.  I was at Lowe’s one day and they had a large rack of wallpaper border for $1 so I bought a couple.  When I brought it home and told Paul I had gotten the border for decorating the stalls in the outhouse, the look on his face was priceless!  I may have to put it up just to see that look one more time.  We have too much fun.

Sarah has been hard at work on filling orders for her business.  The Lord is so faithful in supplying her needs and we are all amazed at His timing.  Recently she has spent a lot of time working on the new sections of the homesteader’s syllabus for our upcoming event.  I don’t think folks realize the amount of time it takes to put together all the information that we draw from in doing these classes.  It is such a sense of satisfaction when one is completed and ready to be put to use.  I believe this is another return on our investment of homeschooling the girls – they are able to research and develop these documents and put together comprehensive reports.  It truly is a joy to see the fruit of the labor.

Erin and Olivia are still working hard at the vet clinic.  Erin is the groomer and she is really enjoying the work.  She groomed our little Yorkie, Judah and he is precious.  He looked like an old mop when she took him into the bathroom and when she brought him out he looked like a little schnauzer.  The cut was adorable and made keeping him neat and clean so much easier.  As a reward for her good work, the Vet gave her a little Yorkie of her own.  Her name is Gizelle and she is about 3 years old.  The story is that she was destined to be a show dog, but because she is so shy she couldn’t handle being around a lot of people.  I must admit that I can see the potential in her to win awards – so graceful and perfectly shaped, but she shivers whenever Erin is not around.  Whenever Erin walks into the room she lights up with joy and dances around.  I am thankful that the Lord saw fit to bless her with this little one to care for.  Of course, she has her Great Pyraneese, Luna who is our guardian dog for the livestock.  Luna is a huge bear of a dog and we all enjoy her.  One day when we were working on painting the barn, I was waiting for a section to dry and I spent about 30 minutes playing fetch with Luna until we were both exhausted and sat down in the grass.  She is like a huge teddy bear.  I do believe that she would turn into a raging bull if anything got after the animals, though.

Olivia has really bloomed in her job at the vet.  She is a general helper in every sense of the word, from doing dentals on the animals to painting the new kennel, to answering telephones.  It took a few weeks for her to get over not being able to be home, but the co-workers are very nice and having Erin there helps too.  Olivia has not been able to continue with her woodworking lately since the workshop has been in the process of being renovated, but that is almost done and she can get back to making things.  One of the classes for Homesteader’s Weekend in working on the scroll saw and Olivia will be teaching that.  Last night she got almost giddy talking about all the options on things she could have her students make.  I love seeing that!!!  We are planning on how to let her get a border collie.  She has wanted one for so long but she must have a pen set up for it.

I cannot believe that we are going to have yet, another dog but I have always said that if they can pay for it and pay for the feed and care then they can have it.  So there ya go.

The last time I wrote you, I shared about Haley’s new job. Many of you have been diligent to pray for her and we so appreciate it.  I can now share with you – one month into her new position – that it was everything we hoped for.  Since she was a tiny thing her heart has always been drawn to the elderly and when she was given a position many years ago in the nursing home where we lived then, we knew that her ministry was to them.  When we moved here to Clay County, she did not pursue the same course because years of working for a company that was motivated solely by profit, her heart had become heavily burdened and she needed something different.  She took a position with a non-profit missions organization.  While she loved the concept and meeting the internationals that came through, it was evident that the direction of the facility was not something she could support so we prayed again for God to reveal His will.  As is often the case, God began to move mountains for her, and she was given the position she is in now. 

If I ever needed confirmation on this, it came yesterday afternoon.  Haley called a little after lunchtime to share with me what her morning had been.  She told me of a gentleman who is a resident, who had essentially made up his mind that there was no hope for a life for him and that he would sit in his chair and silently pass his days until he died.  He didn’t want to participate in anything. His problems were physical inability not mental.  He is in his early sixties.  She spent several hours with him and by the end of the conversation; he had accepted a daily job there in the facility and was planning some of the activities which he would be in charge of for the other residents.  She was over the moon with joy.  When I hung up the phone I just cried out to God with thankfulness that His mercy and His plan is perfect and that He watches over it to perform it. Haley wants to be at home and be a homemaker, wife and mother.  It is her heart’s desire and one day the Lord will bring that to pass.  Until that time, He is working in and through her and there is no greater joy in this Momma’s heart than to know that.

Our desire to honor the Word, which tells us that women are to be Keepers At Home, has always caused us a bit of unsettledness when the girls have outside jobs, but the Lord has blessed us in that they have been places where the girls are comfortable.  They are all able to wear their plain clothing and headcoverings without any fear of persecution or attack.  And they are free to share Christ at any time with no hindrance from their employers or co-workers.  This gives them the opportunity to witness and minister in fairly safe environments and when the Lord joins them in marriage to their husband, they will be able to transition home with no difficulty.

As far as the farm and garden go, things are doing very well.  As I said above, the barn is almost complete and that has been quite a load off.  One area we are trying to work on is rainwater.  Our chicken pen is on the down sloping side of the barn and whenever it rained a lot, it would be flooded.  We trenched around it, through it, beside it and still have a problem, but one solution has helped a lot – gutters.  Paul put a gutter along the entire west side of the barn and now all that water that used to flood into the pen goes into a pipe and into a nice big rain barrel.  He piped the end of the gutter around the back of the barn and placed the barrel inside the center of the barn so that the water is right there to draw from for watering the animals.  The next step is to elevate the barrel some for gravity flow and a spigot to be added so that buckets don’t have to be lifted inside to fill them.  We also have plans for more guttering and another rain barrel on the east side of the barn but that can wait as there is no drain problem there. The drought a year before last really made us all painfully aware of how much we need to prepare for the possibility of future water shortages.  Of course, a rain barrel is useless if there is no rain, but catching every bit possible when it does rain makes sense.

We have weighed the cost of having a well dug and right now that is just not part of our budget.  Another consideration is that wells in some areas are being shut down because the local governments are trying to keep control of the water table.  I am not sure how that works but it is happening and to dig a well and then not be able to access it would be hard.  We are blessed that there are many streams, lakes, ponds, etc in our area and if worse comes to worse we can always go to them.  Of course, our Father God has made water come from rocks before when His children were thirsty and I have no doubt whatsoever that He can and will do it again if necessary.

Our garden is doing well – beginning to wake from the winter sleep.  I have collards that are still producing and we have already planted onions, lettuce, sweet peas, cabbage and carrots.  Tonight we are expecting another freeze but then for the next week or so we will have relatively warm temps so tomorrow I will be putting out more cabbage, broccoli and lettuce.  My seedlings under the grow lights are just doing excellent.  I have quite a few flats of plants ready to go out as soon as the temps are right.  I will be starting more soon and having them ready the moment I can get them planted. Finally I have been able to get them growing stock instead of being so leggy.  Putting them within four inches of the lights is the key.  They need to be so close.  Another thing I have been diligent with is putting them out on the deck on days that it is nice and warm.  Having that time out there in natural light, wind and humidity seems to have made them much healthier. 

Our cold frame is functioning well.  I have four kinds of lettuce growing in there and the only problem seems to be the ants.  They like the warmth and humidity and seem to know that I can’t poison them there.  So my regular battle with them includes boiling water and daily stirring them up.  I hope that by disturbing their bed they will get the hint to move out.  Hasn’t worked yet but I am cooking lots of them. In the raised beds and around the bamboo teepee the Sugar Snap peas are coming up very well and the onions are holding their own.  I need to get some straw to put around them in case we have a severe freeze, but last night it got down in the teens and they are still there so we will see.  On two of the raised beds we mounted hoops for hoop houses.  I must get some more plastic for the second one – didn’t have enough.  It is working very well – I pull the plastic down at night and pull it off in the morning or when it rains.  I am hopeful that this is going to enable me to get some things planted before the last frost this year.  With our economy falling and the food quality and prices getting worse, every day matters in the garden.  It saddens me greatly to see our nation putting its trust in a man and a man who mocks God at that.  But we all knew that sound judgment and righteousness would dwindle in the last days and that even the very elect would be deceived didn’t we?!!  I am thankful that we know the man who truly gives hope.  He and He alone is our source.  His Name is Jesus Christ and He is the only Saviour!!

I heard from both of my brothers this past week – what a treat!!  One lives in Texas and one here in Alabama.  These are my two eldest siblings and they are more precious to me than they know.  Allen and his wife Sherry have built a lovely new home and along with their beautiful and very smart daughter, Emily, are now raising chickens and a garden. I suppose that it would be too close to heaven if they were able to live nearby so that is why the Lord has them so far away.  But I must admit that I do talk to Father God quite a bit about why that had to be and I regularly repent for questioning Him on this issue.  It is a joy to me to see that Allen has made a decision for get back to basics more.  I am not sure why except that I firmly believe that there is great joy to be found in working the land and providing food for your family in this way.  God created a garden for man to dwell in and it seems that this brings a fulfillment that no other earthly activity can. 

My other brother, John (we call him Duke) called and we talked about chickens. He kept them years ago and is ready to get some more.  Farm fresh eggs are worth the effort.  Duke and Terry have always had land – garden, horses, goats, etc, as a matter of fact, it is Duke’s having animals that inspired me to want them to a great degree.  My first tiller was an old one that Duke brought me.  With a little work it ran well and I used it for many, many years.  The food that was produced from the gardens that tiller dug – well, let me just say that it truly put food on our table.  I cry now thinking about how God provides our needs through people that really have no idea how much things like that mean.  I am sure at the time, that he just thought he would see if we could use it, but he was answering a prayer that all these years later remains clear evidence to me that our Father God cares for me.

Well, I have been writing this off and on the entire day and now it is time for my sweetie to come home.  I want to end this little note by saying how very thankful I am for each and every moment we have been given.  Our home is in heaven and our time on this earth is limited, but being able to be in a place where we can reach out to one another and proclaim Jesus Christ is a blessing we all take too much for granted.  Having the trials and burdens of this world to deal with every day reminds us of the Hope of Heaven and when we finally get there – OH WHAT JOY!!!  But until that glorious day arrives we must be about our Father’s business – each of us doing as the Lord has called us to do.

Don’t be overwhelmed with fear or distress.  Don’t allow the devil to render you useless to the Kingdom of God.  Being a light means sometimes that we have to have the heat along with it. The fire is what purifies us. Be thankful for the fire!

Much Love –

Angie

Monday, February 02, 2009

Good Morning!!!  I love Monday mornings, don’t you?!!  There is such possibility waiting on Monday morning.  What will the coming week bring?  A new beginning.

It is very cloudy and we are expecting a day of rain, but Sarah and I were able to catch just a glimmer of time and we went for a nice long walk through the woods.  It was a little over a mile and a good stretch of the legs to get our blood pumping.  There were deer tracks everywhere – I imagine they are breathing a sigh of relief now that hunting season is over.  Birds were constantly flitting across the path and landing on the broom straw all around us.  Rabbit tobacco was abounding and I will be harvesting as much as I can.  It is really excellent for respiratory problems and mouth ulcers.

Today as I said, is rainy so all the laundry will hang inside to dry.  The woodstove is a continual blessing for multiple reasons and drying clothes is one of those.  My friend Barbara has a dehydrator rack that is suspended over her woodstove for drying foods, herbs and such and of course, I have added that to my “Sweetie, please?!” list.  We have a solar dehydrator for outside and an electric one inside, but to have one that is inside and requires to sun or electricity – sounds good to me! 

Haley started her new job this morning at the nursing home.  I am thankful for the Lord’s provision in this.  There are many benefits to the position but most importantly she will truly be able to share the truth of God’s Word and be His arms extended to those precious elderly residents and their families.  Please pray for her as the Lord lays it on your heart.  

Erin and Olivia are in full swing with their new jobs at the Vet Clinic.  Erin as I shared before is the new groomer and has really impressed me with all she has learned.  Our little Yorkie, Judah is looking spiffy lately.  She gave him a schnauzer cut and he is just adorable.  Friday, Olivia stopped by the pet store and bought him a sweater (Mom is rolling her eyes :-P) because he was freezing.  He stays under the covers or under the woodstove as much as possible.  Olivia has become quite a snuggle bug when she is home.  She realizes that being an adult is not all its cracked up to be and being gone all day at a job is not as fun as expected.  I am glad that all the girls desire to be home. 

Sarah has had an answer to prayer recently.  With the other girls all working outside the home it is very quiet here with just the two of us during the day.  Sarah has her sewing and I am usually doing housework or making something.  A few weeks ago, she and Paul and I had a long discussion about whether she wanted to get a job outside the home and whether that was God’s Will.  So many people – even those who proclaim Christ – think it is better for women to work away from home.  (I am not sure what Bible they are reading, but it is not the same one we read.)  To work outside the home out of necessity is one thing, but if the Lord has provided an income from home or you are a wife and mother, then the Word is clear.  Anyway, we had prayer together and asked the Lord for a clear answer for her.  The orders for her sewing business had dwindled over the last couple of months and little Darius started going to Head-Start so that income was gone.  The very next day after we prayed, she received two orders for dresses.  Each day after that she began receiving orders on a regular basis and it has not stopped.  God spoke loud and clear.  Such peace it brings when we know that we are in our Father’s Will. 

On the gardening front – my seedlings are coming up!!  I have an entire flat of cabbage.  YUM!!  We have Yukon gold seed potatoes ready to cut as well as sweet potatoes and Red Pontiacs. The end of this week I will be putting out English Peas and more onions.  Yesterday afternoon I pulled my little garden cart over to one of the strawberry beds and began pulling the vetch that we had allowed to grow in there over the winter.  Vetch is an excellent nitrogen fixer and deserves its place until ready to plant your crop.  I was also able to share a couple of bags of strawberry crowns with one of our church families so that they can have fresh strawberries as well.  She in turn brought me a bag full of cuttings from antique roses she is discovering on her farm.  I also put them out yesterday and this lovely rain will help them get started.

Paul has almost finished the outhouses.  They just lack toilet seats and doors.  These are not true outhouses but composting toilets.  In Alabama it is illegal to have true outhouses.

We will not be using the compost from them on the gardens but perhaps up around the fruit trees.  I am still not comfortable with that but we will see.  It will have to be broken down VERY well for me to have peace about it.  Paul’s plan is to use sawdust and wood ashes for composting it.  I think this will work well.  Once he gets this project done, which will be this week, he will start on the shower houses.  The Lord has blessed us and provided 4 gas water heater tanks and they will be used for water storage for the shower houses.  The water will be heated by wood with a “hot water on demand” heater as backup.  I believe that over time we will not only be able to have Homesteader Weekend a couple of times a year but also be able to offer families a place to come for personal retreats and learning.  God’s will be done in it all.

Today my thoughts are deeply moved by memories.  My Daddy died on this date 33 years ago.  I was 12 years old.  My world was shaken and turned upside down.  My sister Tracy died almost 5 years ago and today would have been her 28^th wedding anniversary. She was 18 months older than me.  So you can see I am thinking a lot about the past and more about the future.  They are both in heaven because they had accepted Jesus as Lord of their lives and loved Him deeply.  One day I will see them again in person although I feel them everyday. 

Let me close my little post today with a scripture that has been much on my heart:  Matthew 20:33 “They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”  That is my prayer this week.  .  You know that Paul and I feel that the fruit we bear is a clear indication of where each person is in their walk.  Have you been bearing good fruit or has your fruit been bruised and scarred.  Is your fruit healthy and able to nourish those who see it or is it bringing compromise and spiritual weakness.  I encourage you to meditate on this scripture this week.  Let it be your prayer.  We all have areas where we are not seeing clearly.  Even Moses had times of poor judgment, but the Lord opened his eyes and clarified to him what was true.  Let go of your stubbornness and determination that you are right.  The only time we are right is when we are hidden with Christ in God.  We must decrease and He must increase.  Our plan is not important – HIS plan is and it is the only one that will succeed.  He did not come into this world to make it where we could be everyone’s buddy.  To serve Him, means that you will be ostracized by the world.  If you are obeying Him and doing what He says, then you will find yourself more and more alone. 

Father, open our eyes, so that we may see the truth. 

Much love,

Angie

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

OOOOh, it is cold outside – about 18 degrees at the moment.  I realize that some folks experience real cold, below freezing temps on a regular basis in January, but for us Alabamians, 18 is artic. J  The woodstove has been chugging along diligently trying to keep this house warm and cozy and for the most part it has done a great job.  Our home has two heat pumps and we decided several months ago to use them as little as possible this winter due to the incredible cost of running them.  Last month alone we cut our power bill by almost $200 by only using the woodstove and a gas heater in the girl’s end of the house.  I can hear the gasps at cutting it $200 but you can only imagine what the bill was before that.  Ah, for the days when homes were built for the seasons and the floor plans were designed to make full use of the warmth of a woodstove.

In the last week we have had two milestones here in our family.  The first one was last Thursday – Paul’s Birthday.  It was a wonderful time for us.  To celebrate this man who has been such a blessing to so many people.  He has no idea how many lives he has touched and what he means to us all.  Of course, he had to work, but when he got home we had his favorite meal of red beans and rice and fried pork chops.  Haley made him her fabulous German Chocolate Cake.  (Julie, she used that lovely coconut you sent and oooooh was it good!)  We gave him pegboard for his new shop, a router guide for his new router he got at Christmas, a 30 gallon steel barrel which he is converting into a woodstove for his shop, 2 new pair of broadfalls, a new pair of Carhart overalls, and each of the girls memorized a chapter in Psalms for him.  He was teary at that.  But it was a lovely time.

Then on Saturday, we surprised him with Jacob, Naomi and the girls and Amanda and baby Evan.  They all showed up around 3:00 and for once we actually kept the secret.  He was delighted.  They brought him a gift card to Home Depot and that is always the perfect gift. J  We had a wonderful supper of Baked Herb Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans with Apple Pie for dessert.  Then we played a card game called Spoons and then Charades.  I am not sure that it could have been any better.  .  Little Evan is walking now and he kept Amanda on the run most of the evening.  Our favorite charade I think was one that Jacob had – “Roadkill” – it was lovely to see him act that out! ;-)

Things are well here on Shepherds Hill.  Our family is going through another little hiccup of change but it is a good hiccup.  After almost a year of prayer, the Lord has finally released Erin and Haley from their former jobs and given them excellent new positions.  Erin is now the groomer at a local veterinarian clinic and Haley has taken the position of Activities Director at the local Nursing Home.  Erin has always loved working with animals and this will give her the opportunity to do that and learn a skill that she can use for the rest of her life to earn income even out of her own home.  Olivia has also started working at the Vet clinic and she is excited.  Each day she comes home and sits with me and says, “Momma, I miss being with you.”  Makes me smile, but I know that this will give her the opportunity to be out there and see what it is like away from home for awhile.  I don’t know how long the Lord will have her working outside the home, but I am glad he has the chance to be in a safe environment and earn a little money. She is still doing her woodworking and will be expanding that now that Paul’s workshop is done

Haley’s heart has always been toward ministering to the elderly and of course, there is no better place to do that than at a nursing home.  I must admit that I am looking forward to being able to visit there as well.  There are so many opportunities to share the love of Christ in a facility like this and I have missed having that since Haley changed from the other nursing home almost two years ago.  Her decision has been a hard one but as she is finishing up her other job, we realize more each day that this was definitely the Lord.

Sarah has been busy as always.  Her sewing orders slowed some during the holiday season but are beginning to pick up again.  Her focus lately has been on opening our Saturday store.  We have had this planned for so many years now and we had a short run through almost a year ago which did fairly well and since then she has been diligently working on items to sell so that we have some inventory to offer.  The entire family has been making items here and there and storing them as they are finished.  So hopefully we will have that up and running soon.  Our desire is to stock it with things that we make here on the farm and not have to purchase from other places.  Please do keep this in your prayers as the Lord leads.

I have begun my seedlings and they are up and growing.  Lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, are all developing nicely.  As soon as I am over my cold, I am going to get my cold frame ready to plant in.  Really it is ready but I need to get the soil turned just a bit and begin it heating up.  I will plant lettuces in there so that we can start having fresh salads again.

Yumm! 

Our minds are much on the upcoming Homesteader’s Weekend that we will have in March.  Paul and I spent this past Monday working outside – marking off campsites, moving fig bushes and blackberries.  Planning where individual classes will take place, etc.  He also spent some time cutting down a few dead or dying trees on our property to restock the woodpile.  Amazing how much wood a family can go through in the winter, but praise the Lord there is always more dead trees out there that need to be taken down anyway.  I remember an elderly lady saying that when people could warm themselves and cook their food without a fire they would begin to turn from God.  I don’t think I realized exactly what she was saying until the last couple of years.  How true it is.  I read this morning on the news that Russia has finally begun to send the gas supplies back to the European countries.  Those folks must be praising the Lord this morning, but I wonder if they realize that at any moment they can lose it again.  So many folks believe that living a back to basics lifestyle is just alarmism, but the reality is that when you are dependent on governments and hierarchies for your daily needs then you are at their mercy.  Let’s depend on God and use what He has provided.  It makes so much more sense, doesn’t it?

Well, I have been gone for about an hour now and am back to finish this little note.  Breakfast is done, laundry is going and Paul and Haley are off to work.  I must get busy now and so I will close.   As I close allow me to say that God is on the Throne.  No matter what is happening in this fallen world, no matter who takes the center stage for the next performance, no matter where the DOW or Nasdaq opens – God is STILL on the Throne.  Our faith does not stand in the wisdom of man but in the power of God!!

Much love!

Angie         

Happy New Year!

I pray that as you awake to the New Year that you feel a sense of peace and joy over the goodness of our God. Knowing who He is always brings calmness to my spirit no matter what is going on in the world around me.  And as you well know, there is much going on in the world today.  We have come through another holiday season with a renewed hope for the future and understanding of why things happen the way they do.  I wanted to take some time this morning to update you on the happenings here at Shepherds Hill and the Burrell Family.

This last year of 2008 and was a difficult year for us in many ways.  Satan attacked me in my body and I was at my doctor’s office quite often.  It was a hard time because we were not sure why the problems were arising but now we realize that it was a time of testing and a time of preparation. It reminded me of the “fiery darts” that Ephesians 6 tells speaks of.  I say that because none of the problems became serious – they were more like little attacks to unnerve me.  Even my falling on the steps of the deck one day ended up being a severe sprain when it could have easily been a broken ankle and I missed hitting a metal stake by just a few inches.  That stake could have gone through my arm of chest and killed me.   I had many well meaning folks write and suggest that it was because I needed to “slow down”.  I appreciate the love and desire to support that this came from, but thankfully, our Father God can speak to me in simpler ways than this.

We also were challenged repeatedly on spiritual levels and tested on whether or not we would stand firm on the Truth of God’s Word.  Now that has been difficult!  Not so much in how to respond, but in seeing the world’s philosophy of compromise and the false concept of tolerance slip into the hearts and minds of people who should have known better.  Our Lord Jesus was tempted likewise to give in to Satan’s lies and so we are thankful for His example that meekness doesn’t mean weakness and love does not mean lowering the standards to make things easier on folks to accept them.  From the depths of our spirit, we thank Him for keeping us firmly on the path even when it would be so much easier (it sometimes seems) to just give in and weaken our walk.  Matthew 7:13 tells us “. . . for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:”  It hurts our heart so much to see people that we care deeply about following that broad way and of course, to see their children following innocently along.  But we are not the Holy Spirit – we can only speak what the Lord gives us to speak and no more.  What a comfort the Word of God has been at those times.  To read how so many were deceived and led away because they wanted their flesh to have what it wanted.  And while many who stood firm ended up with great suffering, they were blessed of God and are receiving now their reward in heaven.  All efforts to make this life easy and fun and comfortable are essentially useless.  We must use this life to build our eternal life, lest we forget that Heaven is our true Home!! 

If you have kept up with our website then you probably also know that three of our daughters had car accidents this year.  THREE!  Haley was first, then Erin and finally Sarah.  We have really had to pray over these and why they occurred but I believe that God used it all to reveal some things to us.  All three were connected with work they were doing at a local organization and all three happened because they were exhausted.  The miracle is that while all of the accidents caused bruising and muscle soreness, not one bone was broken nor was there any permanent scarring. Haley’s car was not damaged.  Erin’s truck was totaled but completely covered by insurance and Sarah was driving her Daddy’s car, which was damaged but he was able to do all the repairs right here at home to make it drivable again and the repair cost was minimal.  There is cosmetic damage to it, but he still drives it everyday for work with no problems.  Olivia was in the car when Sarah’s accident occurred so she has faced this too, but thankfully she was only bruised a little.  We sat down as a family to pray and find out why these things happened and examine what the Lord was telling us all.  Of course – there were obvious corrections to be made, but there was a deeper question of when they happened and the relation to where they were.  So the Lord is providing answers on that as well and we believe that 2009 will bring a resolution there too.

Okay, enough of the recapping of the not so fun stuff – onto the good things.  We have seen such blessings and confirmation of where the Lord is leading our family that sometimes we are just overwhelmed with excitement.  2008 was a year for the “cement to harden”, you might say, on our resolve for accomplishing what the Lord has given us to do.  Our entire family is determined and dedicated to fulfilling the vision that God gave us so long ago.  Last night, New Year’s Eve, we sat around the dining table with our guests and ate shrimp and discussed our goals for the coming year.  I was surprised and encouraged with each person’s plans.  I have always been a firm believer that if you do not set some kind of goal then you are going to accomplish nothing.  Set goals folks!!

As of this time, we are hard at work preparing for the coming growing season and for the Homesteader’s Weekend that we will be holding in March.  I believe we have reservations for 21 so far so we are nearing our limit.  It is good to know that there are many who are like-minded and like-hearted and desire to come together to learn and share what the Lord is revealing to them.  The classes will be great but I am most looking forward to spending time in the evenings, just sitting around a campfire, sipping coffee and listening to the testimonies and fellowshipping with everyone.  Oooooh, I can’t wait!!!

I have much to share with you all and I want to apologize for our being lax on updating the website as regularly as we should have in the last year. One of our goals as a family is to be more diligent on that in 2009.  Pray for us and know that we pray for you.  How?  We pray over every person that hits this website, whether it be by accident or on purpose.  You are being prayed for and if you will surrender to God in every area of your life, then He will reveal Himself to you in ways that you have never imagined!!

Much Love and Happy New Year!

Angie