Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Building a House.....


pictures taken at David and Kate's house


I want to give an exhortation particularly to Caleb, Daniel and Elijah. I read a verse Monday morning, and it immediately prompted my thinking and desire to share it with the three eldest sons yet it is applicable to all our sons and daughters.

Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me?
saith the Lord:
or what is my place of rest?
Acts 7:48-49

What house will ye build for the Lord, Caleb, Daniel and Elijah? At young ages you three trusted Christ to save you from your sin and now as young men, we are grateful for your desire to pursue the Lord. I feel you have already purposed in your hearts to follow the Lord but along the way its always good to receive exhortations to keep keeping on, to not loose sight of the vision, to run the race, to be on guard to the prowling's and cunning's of the enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy in ways that at first may not seem so obvious nevertheless detrimental to a young man steps. I know you are making preparations for your futures with diligent work, saving money and looking wisely at options for land and investments. So what kind of house will ye build for the Lord?? First your house will need a solid foundation, and being builders you know this to be true. In your hearts now and being a single young man, you have the foundation of saving grace, you have Christ as your only hope and Savior from your sin. But as you think about your future families, Lord willing, you must build your homes on sure foundation of Christ. You must gather the materials and that would be searching and reading of the scriptures, finding truths that will show you the plan or blueprint for a godly marriage and family. Truths that show you this would be marrying a godly, growing, young lady that desires to love her husband, love children and be a keeper of the home, one that has a meek and quiet spirit, one who desires modesty and one that her husband safely trusts in so that he has no need of spoil. One that understands that the covenant of marriage is only broken by death. As the Lord provides your bride the structure will begin for your own house. Your commitment to your bride will be a great responsibility of love, selflessness, humility, provision, protection, washing her with the word, leading and guiding your house according to the scriptures. The scripture says except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Sure, my question was, "what house will ye build me?" but really He is the Builder/Architect who has the Plans and you will be the contractor who carries out the plans under His supervision and direction of the truth of the scriptures. As the Lord starts filling your home with pleasant and precious riches, with children, which is in the Master plan because he says to be fruitful and multiply you will then continue to build your house with mighty arrows whom Lord willing will become heirs of the faith of you, their father as you train and prepare them for their journey in this life. The Scripture must always be what you use to build with. The world will offer materials that might grant a structure that looks good and can bring enjoyments and pleasures but remember your building a house for the Lord, one that will last for generations to come. You know what it is like to get cheap stuff to build with, its not worth it in the long run. Since you all have walked close to the gates of eternity with your little brother Joel, I pray he will always be a "forget-me-not" of how short our lives can be and how we need to build with materials that will last throughout eternity, and that his life will cause you to have eternal perspectives, that all you build needs to be for His kingdom and not for our own pleasures that last for only a moment in this life. As you seek to build your house, may all the angles, planes, and measurements line up according to his Word. Your father has sought to build his/our house according to the scriptures. I think we will both say heartily that our structure is not perfect, it can and will always need repairs, but he continues to build upward and on Christ and his truths. I would like to do some re-model, maybe do some things differently and that is where we pray you all will take the hammer/mantle and do "more" than us, make even a more sure structure. I hope you will mediate upon this question and as you do, you will gain wisdom and understanding of the plans for building your house unto the Lord.

What house will ye build me?

Remember he is the Builder, your the contractor and make sure you use His materials!!!! I love you and look so forward to what you and the Lord will build together for His glory!!

David and Katelyn extended wonderful hospitality last evening. Then we got some volley-ball in at their house. Terry and I headed home after a few games with some of the "littles" but the rest stayed on and sounds like and from looking at videos on cell phones it was pretty crazy....having races in the living room on rolling chairs!!!! Dave, don't you know how destructive the Morris crew can be????? Great time!!!

We have some good news with provision of being able to expand our cow pasture. A neighbor widow lady about a mile away is going to let us put our cows on her 40 acres for free!!! She just ask that we mow her yard area. This is such good news. We can now hopefully get some more cows and some steers to feed out. They can even ride the 4-wheeler over and check on them.

Tonight we had a lot of garden food for dinner. Red potatoes, green beans, squash, purple hull peas, tomatoes and cucumbers!!! I did fix a roast to go with it....guys have to have MEAT!!!

Big volley-ball game tonight. Bringing in the "Nay's" alas/ the Naylors!!!

Dannie heads out in the morning....so sad, its been a great time with her!! We"ll re-group, clean and I need to get some grocery shopping in and we"ll gear up for the next group, Terry's folks!!!

Have a fun evening yourselves!!!





Finally....a winner!!!!

Yea.... for Denise !!!!!

the winner


the answer to the question of what two things we got
at the auction, the same but not alike was

refrigerators

We got two at the auction
Now we have a total of 4!!!!

Denise, e-mail me your address at
13blessings@sbcglobal

Great playing everyone!!!











Monday, June 29, 2009

A Girley Day !! (and clues.....)







Clue #3 your warm, but its not, yours is running too but you will not have to catch it!! (Time will be extended until 6 pm central time...come on!!!!

Clue # 2 These are the coolest items!!!

******Ok....a clue ...."even though they are the same, yet not a like, they are the same color." We'll see how that clue goes, stay tuned for more if you all do not get with it!!!! *******

****I forgot I wanted to play a little game**** We went to an auction over the weekend and we got two somethings...they are the same but not alike, can you guess what it is??? The first one to guess will receive a little gift****** Oh and Dave and Kate can not play, they were there and I think they might have told the Wilson's so you'll have to zip your lips too!!!! I'll announce the winner tomorrow Tuesday, the 30th, at 5 pm central time


It was "girls" day out! First we went to some thrift and re-sale stores and we found several things! Next we went to a Tea Room and had a wonderful, refreshing meal and we likely were way tooooo loud and rowdy! Mercy thought this way major big girl stuff. She was prancing around with her hat on and was making us smile with her little self!! I enjoyed being with the girls and I am sure Terry manhandled the guys here while we were out!

Now its down to business as we are back! It's corn pickin' time. They are out picking and I am making preparations to cut it off the cob, blanch it and then freeze it. Hope to get alot in the freezer.

I am thankful Dave and Kate are having us over for dinner tonight. Danielle and Besh are making desert to take over.

Busy days ahead......Danielle is heading out Wed. and Terry's folks are comin' in on Thursday and then we Lord willing we have a big 4th planned with alot of friends. Remember the red blanket that Joel had on him in many of the pictures when he was in ICU, it had "I Love Joel" on it, the family that made it for him is hosting a big 4th party. Dave and Kate are going to go with us.....its sure to be a "wild" time with them around!!!

Gotta git to the corn........





Friday, June 26, 2009

Beach Party Recipes.....









Here are two I wanted to share and a few more pictures :)

Fresh Peach Mango Salsa

1 1/2 c. chopped tomatoes
3/4 c. chopped fresh peaches
1/2 c. chopped red onion
1/2 c. chopped sweet yellow pepper
1/2 c. chopped, peeled mango
2 Tb. chopped seeded jalapeno pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. minced fresh cilantro (we used dried)

Combine first 9 ingred. Cover and refrig. until serving. Serve with tortilla chips


Tropical Lime Chicken

Salsa:

1/2 c. pineapple tidbits
1 med. kiwi, peeled and chopped
1/4 c. chopped sweet red pepper
1 Tb. lime juice
1 Tb. white wine vinegar
1 Tb. honey
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Chicken:

3 Tb. plus 1 1/2 tsp. lime juice
1 Tb. canola oil
1 tsp. grated lime peel
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 boneless chicken breast halves
1 c. cooked couscous

In small bowl, combine salsa ingred; cover and refrig. until serving

In large resealable bag, combine lime juice, oil, lime peel, salt and pepper; add chicken. Seal bag, coat and refrig 2-4 hours, turning occasionally. Drain and discard marinade. The recipe called for broiling the chicken for 5-6 min. until juices run clear, but I wanted to grill the chicken outside so we did. Cook couscous according to package directions and pour into a 9x13 dish, lay cooked chicken on couscous and spoon salsa on top of chicken. I did not heat the salsa on the chicken, we just ate it and boy is it yummy!!!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Country Swimming..




If your going to be outside, this is about the only comfortable place to be....water!! And we just got this tank at the auction they went to last weekend. It is sooo hot here, been at 100* all week. When its that hot outside and you come into a house with only a few window units it even makes it feel cool. Danielle is enduring the warmness in the house so maybe its not too bad. The living room stays around 78-80*, the boys room about 74* and the hallway and other bedrooms are the warmest, 84-85* My dad and Shirley better wait for a "cool" spell before a visit:) Its gonna be alright!!!

I am regaining energy from the Beach Party, I took a mini nap, which I rarely do because I think it caught up with me. Tonight we are having a garden meal, red potatoes, corn on the cob, fresh green beans & squash and I guess I'll have to give the guys some meat, so I plan to make some BBQ meatballs!! And we'll have some onions, cucumbers on the side chilled!!

The guys have been around here this week , a few small jobs but next week they have a build block house they hope to start on. A lot of bids out, just waiting on confirmation.

We are having fun with Danielle, I think we do not shock her too much anymore, we'll have to work on that!!





ALOT of Beach Party pictures!!!

If you have a beach party, go ahead and get the five tons of sand, it brought the beach to our farm as we celebrated Bethany's 20th Birthday!!!! We had sooo much fun, alot of work, but the work was out weighed by the "ton" of fun!!!! Here's how it went. We ate first and we did that inside as the heat and flies, our Beach menu was Cowabunga Burgers, Hang Loose Hot dogs, Ocean View Chips, Fresh Peach Mango Salsa, Tropical Lime Chicken over Couscous, Green tea and then Katelyn brought Tropical Trail mix and for dessert Bethany wanted Shellicious Cheesecake. I'll post some of these recipes later! Next we went outside and hit the beach for the real fun!! We took pictures and then played some games. One game I called "High Tide," three teams and they had to pass a pie tin over the head with water and at the end see who had the most water left in it, Beach towel toss was tossing a water balloon back and forth on beach towels and taking steps back to see who could toss the farthest, Rock toss is where I had names on rocks and each person had to throw their rock and see who get get closest to the big rock, the little ones threw rings on a pole in the swimming pool, Coconut Roll is where folks rolled a coconut with their nose to the finish line...not easy! Hoola Hoop ball, the little ones were trying to throw balls through the hoop and of course it proceeds to people jumping through hoops. (we always deteroriate) And the funniest one to see was the Beach Bum relay where I had items you had to put on and go back to next in line and they had to put on, you know how it goes, as you can see in the pics, it was hilarious! Then we had to have a good ole balloon fight but that did not go as well, Danielle's camera was in the way, but its ok!! They played volley ball and then after that is when we served beverages from the Tiki Hut the guys made for me. I like this part the best!! We had two blenders going and I had everything pre-measured so it was fairly easy. We served Sunny Slush, Tropical Slush, and Watermelon/Strawberry Slush!! We had to give Dannie a hard time as she wanted to try one that had rum extract,( my favorite one) and we told her she had to be 21!! We sat around in the evening under the tiki torches and talked for a while and then back inside for coffee and the cheesecake and on the cheesecake, we made the shells with a mold and swirling the chocolates together, I thought some of them looked soo real!!! The pineapple tree was two pineapples with a dow rod running through the middle and then the greenery on top. It was a great party, one I hope our children remember and it will bring special memories to them in their futures. You know that's why I do all this, I want "home and family and siblings" to be a wonderful time and memory for them!

Enough.....now enjoy the pictures........


























Fresh Peach Mango Salsa

Tropical Lime Chicken

We made the shells on the cheesecake with molds, I thought that was fun!!