relationships – Page 23

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Home School, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom, Womanhood

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 2

Posted on August 23, 2011January 20, 2015 by Katharine

I look out my window and see dead trees, grass that’s brown and crunchy like Wheaties, cat dish always needing water . . . with all the heat we’ve had, isn’t it hilarious to read these old posts! Enjoy!

DAY OFF #2

Repairmen of streets, wires, and buildings will get our roads safe and everyone back in their places eventually.

In the meantime, we play in the snow.

The day begins with Dad shoveling snow and bleary-eyed offspring wandering into the kitchen to ask, “What is that noise?” We so seldom have the pleasure.

Now our snowman stands watch. Our cars are decorated with snow objects. Lots of hot cocoa has slipped away. I enjoyed the crazy antics of our two home-bound adult kids, playing in the snow as if they were grade-schoolers. How thankful I am for the snow! Realizing they can still find joy in each other’s company is bliss to this mom.

ALSO (here comes the fun part) THEY CAN PUT ON AND REMOVE THEIR OWN WRAPS!

THEY CAN HEAT THEIR OWN WATER AND STIR UP THEIR OWN HOT COCOA!

THEY CAN HANG ALL THEIR WET THINGS TO DRY!

THEY REMEMBER TO SHUT THE DOOR!

THEY THINK ABOUT NOT TRACKING THE HOUSE WITH SNOW AND MUD!

I get all the same fun as when they were younger, with none of the work.

Another amazing thing: No one grumbles today that the Internet is “down-ish”. We all have decided to do traditional snow-day fun and forget about the rest of the world. I love it. Board games, non-electric musical instruments, laundry hanging on wooden racks by the wood stove, homemade food, and wild birds have risen to the top of our most-selected interests list and everyone is content.

And I wonder: How is it in other homes? I hope you and yours enjoy a great day, today. I pray God grant you peace and contentment.

And snow.

Believe it or not!, Home School, Husbands, Wisdom

Postaday Challenge – January Favorites – 1

Posted on August 21, 2011January 20, 2015 by Katharine

Sleighing

They recommend we repost something from January. I think I’ll do that for this week. Since the temperature jumps far above 100 degrees almost every day, for us, I have chuckled, reading past entries about snow days, and hope you enjoy them, too. And remember: the special effects folks at WordPress were sprinkling snow all over the place on our blogs, as we read them. 🙂

SNOW AND ICE AND SLUSH, OH MY!

Whew! What a treat this blast of winter has been!

We returned last night from visiting our Texas granddaughter for her birthday, to find our world quite cold and bleak. Now our fires are rebuilt, house is re-warmed, chick water is thawed, and icy crud on the car is knocked off. We literally had to plow our way through winter precipitation along a three-hour drive.

That took four hours.

I was surprised and blessed at how excited our passengers were. Our twenty-something offspring, home on winter break, were like little children as they recalled rare snow days from their past and giggled in excitement over the frightening but beautiful scenes around us.

We all learned much about snow tires, black ice, legalities, and travel safety in snow-slush-ice. My husband, born in Iowa and raised in northern Missouri, practiced every safety tip he knew, as he drove us home. Since we were experiencing his expertise first hand, he used it for an old-time, teachable moment, in hopes the rest of us could somehow be safer one day, should we have to drive in such conditions.

We probably won’t drive anywhere today, though. When universities and government buildings close, it’s time to stay home.

Instead, we will build a snowman. The snow will be perfect and it is deep, from our southern viewpoint: six inches. We will make snow angels and have at least one good snowball fight, although, YES, we’re all adults. We’ll have a huge breakfast with meat, and I’ll cook chili for lunch. Of course, we need more hot cocoa mix, so I’ll stir that up, too.

It’ll be a family day off. Why not join us?

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Scripture, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Supernormal Children

Posted on August 16, 2011April 7, 2015 by Katharine

My husband and I have been keeping a couple of sweet kids for a week, while their parents take an anniversary trip. It has been a most enjoyable and profitable experience.

These children’s parents have made them behave since they were first born. It was not easy, either. The children have normal stubbornness and selfishness enough to test any mom or dad. But Mom and Dad have constantly and consistently met that test with something immoveable: the Word of God.

Therefore, the children know right from wrong. They also practice a strong grasp of mercy and overcoming, so that although the big brother may be right, he also may give in because he loves little sister, and she is much more apt to quietly point out his mistake to him, than to tattle. What an eye opener this has been!

The biggest lesson I have learned is in the area of sowing and reaping. It is the diligence and faithfulness of the parents that has formed these normal kids into such uncommon sweeties. No guessing was good enough for them; they went with the best child-rearing Manual and so far have done their best to understand and follow it. Though at times their decisions have been unpopular with friends or family, they have not backed down.

And we are enjoying a bit of their peaceful harvest.

Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Wisdom

The Doldrums

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Katharine

What Do We Do?

We’re sailing along just fine when we come to the place of great heat and no breeze.

We row and row and it’s just killing us and we cannot find any solution to that sluggish funk. Our get up and go has got up and gone.

Well, we have choices.

We can just wait. Eventually, within the Doldrums, a breeze will come, will shift, will carry us out. It can take a long time, though, and we can lose much productivity that way, can die of thirst and starvation.

We can pray. When God sends a breeze, it is His Holy Spirit. He understands. He fills us but we leak. His supply is never-ending. No prob.

We can find like-minded people who don’t mind standing next to us and shedding some of their sparkle on us. That is the hard one. People don’t stand beside people, anymore. They sit before computers. Computers don’t hug. Don’t sparkle. Don’t pray. So, the computer dependent people don’t either.

I know, I know, Paul sent out handkerchiefs, so you could send me an email.

But I need a handkerchief. I need to hold in my hand something you have held in your hand. I need to feel the warmth of your skin as you embrace me. I need to feel your breath blowing through my hair as you hold me and pray for me. I need you, physically present, if only in a physical letter.

Don’t bludgeon me with bits and bites.

Bless me.

Or we can do all three. We can wait upon the Lord and renew our strength. We can pray for new inspiration. We can call upon our friends, our fellow travelers, to stand by us.

Isn’t that how it is? Isn’t that how it was meant to be?

Blessings of Habit, Coffee-ism, Homemaking, Photos, Who's the mom here?, Wives, Womanhood

MONDAY! Whew!

Posted on August 8, 2011August 8, 2011 by Katharine

care to share a cup — Care to Share a Cup?

I just finished the most wonderful week, followed by an amazing weekend, and how exhausted I am! Does that ever happen to you?

A new friend visited me for a whole week. She stayed in our guest house and helped me with cooking and canning. One night I spent the night with her. What fun to talk like college girls until 2 in the morning! I say “like college girls” but really, we shared from the Word and from our lives like NO college girls I ever knew. I may be a bit too old for such a schedule, but it probably was for only one time, and was over too soon.

After lunch with an old friend that Friday, I caught up on shopping, found a new purse on back-to-school sale. No more BTS for me, but the sales are still a great idea.

Then it was off to our son’s house visiting with him and his lovely family, lunching on burgers and outstanding carrot cake, teasing and loving grandchildren, playing games; lengthening and strengthening the bonds we built in our son’s childhood.

Came home to view a large column of smoke rising from the woods about 4 miles from our house. Fire’s out, now, thank the Lord.

Then came Sunday, the day when we rest only from our own stuff, but highly concentrate on the Lord’s work . . . How I love the little church that has tripled in attendance since having a pastor, for a change! And how I love the one-hour drive to it, when I share my husband and he shares me with: NO ONE. Our talks have been so good.

That was yesterday, and we had a lovely visitor to grace our home for the afternoon. Made nachos and just relaxed together. So good.

Now it is just me, just this home. Such peace. Bed made. Laundry started. Cats fed. Chickens out. Headed for 105 degrees IN THE SHADE (that’s right at 40 C), today, down from the recent 110-ish week, with humidity from a brief rain last night. Air conditioner, set on 80, has run several times, already, this morning. Garden dead and tilled in. Jars of food all rinsed and stored in the basement.

Pear harvest waiting to be pear butter.

Second cup of coffee sitting at ready.

Join me! Bring your best knife and I’ll share some pear butter with you–it’ll be fun!

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Health, Herbs, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom, Womanhood

Get All You Can–Can All You Get – Part 3

Posted on July 27, 2011March 27, 2018 by Katharine

romantic rose honey — Romantic Rose Honey

Cannng Failure and the Moral of the Story!

Let’s talk a moment about canning failure. Although any canned food that fails to seal is acceptable if refrigerated and eaten within 3 days, undetected failure gives you food that is spoiled. It is unusable, offensive, and poison.

Either way, we must empty the jar, clean it, and try to find and fix the problem.

If the only trouble was debris on the jar rim, or a defective flat, it is an easy fix. Refill it next time and it will work fine.

However, if that rim is the problem, the jar is useless the way it is. Unless you know someone who knows how to do the impossible job of fixing a broken jar, the best thing you can do is to get it out of your life so you can avoid those problems in the future. It’s best to place it inside a bag, break it, and throw it away, to prevent its accidental re-use.

Sisters, we are the jars.

Yes, we are the earthen vessels that God uses for storage. But instead of physical nourishment, the things stored within us are spiritual life-giving treasures.

He gives His Living Word (Rhema) to us (John 1:1-4). It is so refreshing, like fresh fruit to our bodies, satisfying thirst and energizing us, but must be handled with extreme care.

Then He sustains us with His Written Word (Logos), which is also life-giving to us, the routine staple diet every Christian needs and longs for (John 20:31).

He also desires us to contain His meat: obedience and righteousness (John 4:32, 34; Hebrews 5:12-14).

Why does God desire to store His heavenly treasures within us? So that much good can come from these treasures here on this earth. God’s ways are difficult for the unchurched to know of. As vessels, we make the Kingdom more available and more palatable to the spiritually starving.

There is much we can do to make careless people notice God favorably (Romans 10:14). You’ve heard the saying: “You are the only Bible some people will ever read.” Another Christian saying goes: “Do not force the reason for your hope upon those who don’t ask for it, but live so that they will ask.”

Oftentimes God also uses us to make His Kingdom more understandable to some who desire it but are confused (Acts 8:30-31).

He uses us to make the Kingdom more easily acceptable to others (1 Corinthians 9:19-22).

It’s that dinner invitation, soft answer, or offer of baby-sitting that can woo people to Christ who would otherwise never turn to him. We are always to be His containers.

Just like the food we pressure can, God’s treasure within us must be prepared for the process. We must be sure it is clean, pure wisdom; no dirt or bug spots allowed (James 3:17).

Sometimes we cannot receive it all at once, either, any more than a jar could receive a whole potato (John 8:31-32, 16:12-13).

Sometimes it simply “goes in” better once it’s been softened by teaching, summary, or example (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Tomorrow: The Master Potter!

Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge: Colorful

Posted on July 23, 2011July 22, 2011 by Katharine

YELLOW IS A COLOR!

daylily and lantana — Daylily and Lantana

With our still ongoing drought, these amazing souls are doing their best to bring us “colorful” although they never receive the benefits of irrigation like their veggie neighbors do. Good job, guys. But…

…several gorgeous others dropped in to give us a really good show. This one was terribly camera shy. The red wasps were NOT. I had to work quickly, dodge a bit, and get back into the house, pronto. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how many flashes of “colorful” they were willing to add to our fun, here:

I have no idea what kind of butterflies these are, except I know they are the faithful kind; they come to my lantana beds every year. Some new ones showed up this year, though:

I followed this one around a bit, and am so glad because…

…we get a glimpse of blue and red undies! Can you see it? If you click on the photo, it will zoom in for you. And, oh, look! Here is the shyest of them all:

It probably thinks it is hidden–I took several of this one zipping out of the shot.

The wasps are noticing things. Gotta run!

See ya!