Thanksgiving Evening at Reunion--To Be a Pilgrim

My sister Joella had suggested that on Thanksgiving evening all the school age children have a presentation about the First Thanksgiving, which came under the title, "To Be a Pilgrim." Each child shared a little bit of history about his choice of character in the First Thanksgiving story. I had lost my camera along the way somewhere, and only have a few pictures of that most interesting evening. Candace and the other girls made cute white paper Pilgrim caps and capes for the girls, and the boys had various costumes.

Here the boys are getting ready. One was Governor Bradford. Gabey was naughty Francis Billington.  Jonathan Bradford, wearing a coonskin, was the son of Samoset. Danny Morley and Jonathan Bradford were all Indians. My Danny was an Indian brave who chased the turkey for the Thanksgiving feast. (see Jonathan in the feedsack turkey costume below)

Rose represented Rose Standish, who perished from falling into icy water from the Mayflower ship in January of that awful first year in America. Charity Bradford had quite a little history about Priscilla Alden. I was amazed at how much work the other families had put into this lovely presentation.

Then the younsters sang patriotic songs together, "Land of the pilgrim's pride..." and "O beautiful for pilgrim feet...."

Kezia's girls quoted the 100th Psalm. 

My mom and Dad sang a cute little song, "Side by Side."

Then different family groups shared a song or two each. Gabriel's family sang a beautiful rendition based on Psalm 100.

Elon and Fain's family sang a new song they had learned.

Elon led in singing a couple familiar Thanksgiving hymns, and Fain slipped up to try to play Dad's bass fiddle. 

He did a great job!

Strangers and pilgrims we are on this earth. 

Flawed and faulted, not one of us worthy of others looking unto for their salvation.

Ceasing to look to ourselves or to others,

we pilgrims follow the only Perfect Leader, Shepherd, King and Priest. 

And as we journey, we sing.

And the songs we sing have such a way of lifting our spirits,

and lifting our sights above this world of sin and pain 

to Christ, and the City to which we travel.

Thanksgiving Day at Family Reunion

This year most of my family (50 of us) were able to get together for a family reunion in Missouri near my Mom and Dad.
Coming from a thousand miles either direction, most of us arrived within minutes of each other! It was so hilarious! Our crew actually caught up with Elon's big van in which our dear daughter from Penn View was also riding.
It seemed there was no end of hugs going around no matter how blear-eyed some of us were from many long hours of travel. 


It seems that some of the pictures I put on this blog did not come through well, but hopefully these ones will be okay.
Thanksgiving morning Carrie had asked to be in charge of breakfast, and she made a huge batch of cinnamon rolls at the cafeteria while Fain and Susanna made scrambled eggs and sausage.

Each family contributed a tablecloth and centerpieces and/or decor. 

I couldn't help getting a little picture outside this window where the plaque says, "Count Your Blessings."
Outside my mother is hugging her youngest son-in-law upon the arrival of Kezia's family.
My mom has always treated her sons-in-law and daughters-in-law as special blessings.
I have rarely heard a critical word from her lips about any of the in-laws.
This is one of my blessings--having a mother who loves and accepts her in-laws.

We thanked God over and over for the BEAUTIFUL sunny, warm day! The children could play outside most of the daylight hours.

Across from the cafeteria was this lovely stone chapel that was available for our use, and which we made good use of in the evening

A big volleyball game going on.

Girl cousins.

Mom and Dad's second great-grandbaby took center of attention. Nearly everybody had to take a turn holding her, and she did great!

This is Jed (Elon's son) and Rosalie's baby.

Here Joella's Laura is holding her while Kezia's little Josiah is checking his new cousin out. 

Kezia and Joella check food at the stove.

The girls slice pies and pumpkin rolls and other desserts that are beginning to arrive.You can see Carrie's autumn "tree" with twinkly lights behind the fall leaves. She ordered those lights from Amazon to decorate her room, and they were a big hit with us ladies and girls.

Littlest cousins Aaron and Josiah have to share a toy.

It was good to hear the rich singing of many voices in four part harmony singing the meal blessing before Thanksgiving meal.

There was turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, salads and desserts.

We were so thankful for lots of room.

In the afternoon, we ladies took a long walk around the campground, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, and watching the youngsters playing games. Then we got together and made these Thanksgiving turkey fruit kabobs that Regina had seen on Pinterest.

They turned out soo cute!

More pictures coming!

"Instead Let There Be Thanksgiving!"

 "Instead let there be thanksgiving." Eph. 5:4
It was either Danny or Hannah who asked the question a few days ago as Black Friday shopping was being discussed. Should the boys go to Bass Pro after Thanksgiving in Missouri or not? Would it be worth the long trip, the waits in line, etc?
And then my littlest child asked, "Why do people go shopping right away for more stuff the day after we are supposed to be thankful for what we have?"

Good question! Leave it to the little ones to come up with something like that!
"Instead, let there be thanksgiving."
Instead of covetousness.

Instead of filthiness.

Instead of sexual immorality and impurity.

Instead of foolish talk and crude joking which are out of place for the saints.

Instead let there be thanksgiving.

This is not original with me.

It is from Ephesians 5, and regardless what version you are using, you find that thanksgiving is the antidote to a great many bad things.

It's hard not to covet when you go into Walmart, or Hobby Lobby, or gift shops loaded with all sorts of wonderful things the advertisers and realtors want you to buy.
I really have a hard time at Hobby Lobby, my favorite store. I go in to buy Thanksgiving plates for the reunion, and there are so many delightful, glorious, beautiful, rustic, country, simple, pretty, adorable, oh-I just-love-that kind of things.
Instead, let there be thanksgiving.
Look at all the things I don't need to buy!

It may at times be hard to be content with your own first husband or wife--when you look around and see better, nicer, better-looking, kinder, more understanding, more spiritual, (or less super-spiritual) ones, ones who lead better (or are less controlling), and you are grumpy (or just plain absent and neglectful and silent) about the one you have.
Instead  let there be thanksgiving.
It may be hard to be content with kindness, good humor, leveling, caring, trying to understand the other person instead of dwelling on the shallow and foolish and even crude.

It's hard to speak thankful words when your tendency (in order to protect your fragile self) is to be foolish and silly and brash and brazen and negative and cynical.

But--

instead!

Instead, let us give thanks!

Here is a great article along this line.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/fill-your-wandering-heart-with-thankfulness

"No trouble is too tangled for God to untie. No path is too twisted for him to straighten. No heart is too shattered for him to gather up and put back together." Scott Hubbard

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-is-bigger-than-your-problems

Rosie Loses Her Wallet and Drivers' Permit

Last evening, Rose discovered she was missing her wallet, which contained her driver's permit, a fishing license and some money.

She needed the driver's permit to help drive on the trip to the family reunion in Missouri for Thanksgiving!

The last she remembered having it was when she put it in her jacket pocket on Sunday afternoon when several of the older children and cousin Samuel went walking and exploring on the prairie at Turkey Track Ranch, an area of State Trust Land about half an hour away.

After looking all through the car they had driven and in all coat pockets, she determined that it must have fallen out somewhere in those thousands of acres of prairie.

Danny had been with her and the boys, and he thought he could help me figure out where they had walked.

Danny and Hannah and I set out this morning, hoping to find that wallet with permit and money. 

We even took one dog along, hoping she might nose it out somewhere along the path.

 I could envision finding it along the trail and calling Rose elatedly. 

"We found it! No need to gather info and fill out paper work and stand in line at the DMV office.

Found your money, too!"

But no such thing happened.

Danny said they had set out away from the trail through the prairie toward some cattle watering troughs, and he had no idea exactly where they had gone. We did find a gully they had run down, and a truck path later on that he recognized.

It wasn't long before I realized this search was probably going to be futile. But we kept going till we got to the watering tank and the corrals. We checked all along the fence, all around the trough and well and muddy area. 

Something valuable had been lost but we were completely unable to find it.

 Finally I said we were just going to go on out the truck tracks to the road we could see in the distance.

The faraway distance--probably at least a mile or mile and a half.

Then it would be another mile or two back to the car.

We were tired of the prickers and sharp weed seeds that kept getting stuck in our socks and shoes, so we were going to stay on the path this time.

Somewhere out there was something valuable that had been lost, but we simply couldn't retrieve it.

As we headed toward the faraway road, we could finally lift our eyes from looking downward, hoping to find the lost wallet. 

Finally we were able to look up at the sunny sky and the singing birds and the prairie dogs in the distance,

I couldn't help thinking about how we all have a story of something we've lost.

Something valuable.

A happy childhood. 

Innocence.

 Years spent wandering in some wilderness.

Years spent in rebellion.

Years spent in spiritual anguish.

Virginity.

Important relationships.

A marriage.

A good reputation.

Friends.

Financial security.

The list could go on. 

Maybe we even go to the trouble to try to find it again, to see if God will restore the years the locusts have eaten. 

We may think we see it somewhere up ahead as we scramble along...that shining item up there ahead of us--

only to find it is an empty bullet shell.

There are a lot of things that we simply can't find again.

They won't return to us.

Somewhere out in the wilderness of our past they lie hidden and buried and lost and gone forever.

But that doesn't mean we have to walk around in circles forever, 

wandering through prickly grass and dry sagebrush and cacti where despair and anger and bitterness and silence hang on with prickly clutches.

There comes a time when you have to let go of your fond hope of finding what you've lost,

you have to purposely reject some of the memories that haunt you,

and you must just resolutely start trudging down the plain path set before you.

There is work to be done, places to go, and people to be with and love. 

There is a plain path to walk in,

and a way home to heaven.

It may be narrow, and it may be long, but you can lift your eyes to behold your destination rather than the dirt at your feet.

You can look up and watch one prairie bird after another take wing and soar above you singing their November song. 

You leave behind the little black wallet with the driver's permit and the fishing license and the one hundred dollars.

It was valuable, but you have to leave it behind in some unknown place and go on.

"This one thing I do," the apostle Paul wrote. "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

-Phillippians 3:13

"You will find that it is necessary to let things go, simply for the reason that they are heavy."

--quote I copied in my journal

Shelling Indian Corn--and How a Seed Corn Produced Much Fruit

It's amazing what the children will come up with!

 Rose and Timmy raised a little crop of Indian corn, and now they are shelling the kernels and grinding them and...

 turning that Indian corn into delicious cornmeal muffins to eat alongside chili on a cold day like yesterday!

"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
Rose planted Indian corn this year, and the plants brought forth much fruit.
But the seed corn had to die first.

Sometimes death is death.

Sometimes death is a living sacrifice.

We die daily.

Don't think that you aren't being a martyr just because you aren't being beaten to death

or shot or hung or burned at the stake like some of our brothers and sisters in Christ have been.

If you are presenting yourself a living sacrifice,

if you have forsaken all to follow Christ,

if your own desires and ambitions and plans are on the ash heap

and Christ is your all in all, 

then you are as dead as William Tyndale and John Huss and Lady Jane Grey.

When you look for God's smile of approval before you look for the smile of anyone else,

you might lose some smiles and gain some cold shoulders,

but down the road there will be fruit.

Here is a link to a sweet little devotional by one of my favorite bloggers because she is down to earth.

https://christyfitzwater.com/a-pre-holiday-meditation/ 

Fluffy Sand for Milk Cows--and How Not to Become Weary in Well Doing

This summer, while visiting friends, we got a trailer load of hay for a very good price.

While there we also visited a nearby Non-GMO dairy farm.

It is not organic, but they do make sure all their feed is certified non-GMO.

With 1500 head of dairy cows, (and the overseer told us that is a small dairy!) they use up tons of feed every day.

Ground corn is mixed with various other grains.

Straw is added for fiber.

Then molasses is added from this huge container and mixed in. You can see the dark liquid drizzling in as a mixer stirs inside the huge feed container.

One of the most interesting things we were told was that every two or three days, this machine pictured below is used to fluff up the sand used for the cows' bedding.

As you can see, there are stalls for the cows to bed down in at night, and each cow seems to know which stall she belongs in.

The workers could leave the sand as it is all the time, but when the machine churns the sand up nicely every couple of days, it is sort of like you having a new mattress that hasn't been lain on for 20 years and doesn't have any spring anymore. 

Fluffed up sand for bedding literally increases milk production by approximately 4 or 5 pounds of milk a day!

He said that when "the girls are happy," they make lots of milk! 

They have everything figured out scientifically so that as much milk is produced as possible--for these cows that means around 13 -14 gallons a day. They are milked three times a day and when they don't produce more than 10 or so gallons, the cow is no longer used for milk.

Comfortable, daily rest is very necessary for the milk production in these cows.

And rest for our minds and hearts is necessary in our Christian walk to produce abundant fruit in our lives.

 I couldn't help thinking about the Lord.

He has said, "Come unto Me and rest."

He wants us to come to Him not so that we can sit around doing nothing all day, 

but so that He can refresh us for the good work of "doing good."

Every day, He fluffs up the sand of our hearts with a fresh promise, or a fresh verse, or He speaks to us from a hymn or a song,

or we are encouraged by a friend or a pastor or a mentor. 

Every day we grow weary.

Yet God wants to keep us fresh and rested so that we do not become discouraged and weary in doing good. How can this be?

Today's devotional from Desiring God about not growing weary in doing good was one of the most inspirational and encouraging messages I have read in a long time.

David Mathis writes: "Those who genuinely “do good” will be tempted soon enough to grow weary. Give yourself to doing good for others — on God’s terms, to fulfill his calling — and it’s just a matter of time before you will be tempted to tire...

When doing good gets tough — and it will — Paul does not simply say, “Don’t quit.” He says, “Do not grow weary.”
...God means for his people to give our lives, what precious little time we have, to “doing good.” ... That kind of doing doesn’t simply “overflow” or happen effortlessly. It takes intentionality and practice and planning. “Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14).

 

“Doing good” is not just for peaceful, convenient times in our life, but just as much for seasons of suffering and conflict. [italics mine.] “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19; see also 1 Peter 2:15). Are we excused from “doing good” when wronged? “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). How do we fight back against the darkness? “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."...

First, when tempted to grow weary, ask with open hands, Am I “doing good,” on God’s terms, for others’ good and not just my own? Am I serving others, or self, with my sense of calling? When resistance comes, internally or externally, we do well to ask about the nature of the opposition:

• Is this resistence a gift from God?
• Are people who manifestly love me trying to helpfully redirect me?
• Am I being opposed by those who aren’t defining “good” on God’s terms?
• In my “doing good,” am I seeking my own glory instead of God’s (John 7:18)?

Opposition presents us with the opportunity to humble ourselves and test our labors. The temptation to weariness begins as a chance to check our own hearts. As we release our grip on what we’re doing, we can test to what degree it is “good,” and whether it might be better. Are we truly serving the needs of others, or just actualizing our own selfish desires?"

For the whole article here is the link: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/dont-grow-weary-doing-good

A Woodpecker's Surprise Visit--and When God Surprises Us, Too!

"Oh, look! A woodpecker!" Rose gasped this morning as she looked out our sliding glass door.

Her announcement interrupted the quiet studies of the three younger children who were doing their school work.

Sure enough, there was our friend, Mr. Woodpecker, probably the same one that I had seen a couple weeks ago on the trunk of the tree just outside my bedroom window.

On that day he was not alone! Mrs. Woodpecker was there with him!

Mr. Downy Woodpecker had just kept darting about up and down and around the tree trunk, as well as all about in the branches.

I was able to get several pictures of him. 

It was a lovely surprise!

A little like how it feels when the Lord suddenly pays you a surprise visit like He did this morning just before Carrie called for lunch, when I had come to sit down and read the emails.

There was one from Ed and Heather Durham (under HIM in Hungary and Slovakia) about an orphan named Anna who is a new girl at Bridge of Hope girls' transition home in Slovakia, the home where Carrie, Hannah, Jonathan and I had gone two springs ago to help put in a second bathroom, prep for painting the upstairs hall, work on another bedroom, and do other needed projects.

Tears sprang to my eyes as I read about this precious girl with my same name, and saw her picture, and read that she is attending church services, Bible studies, and youth services, and now she has asked to be baptized!  I thought how precious this unwanted girl is in God's sight. There is a home that wants her! There is a God that wants her!

And as I couldn't help laying my head down on my desk to thank God for this priceless piece of news and to pray for Anna and Natasha, the girls' home director, I felt like the Lord just suddenly came for a little visit.

Like that friendly woodpecker had suddenly appeared, God came gently out of nowhere.

All of a sudden, I thought of that wonderful trip to Slovakia about 19 months ago, and the work we'd done at the transition home, and how sick I was for days. But how much we had enjoyed our time there with Natasha and the girl who was living there at the time. 

And I remembered, too, the time probably 19 years ago in Ukraine, when Natasha, the girls' home director now, who was a college student then, was sitting in the kitchen of our log home with me, telling me sadly that she didn't think she had many talents, and didn't feel like she was worth anything.
And how I had explained several Scriptures to her about the value of us women in God's sight, even if we are just a homemaker and mother.
God loves to pay surprise visits to let us know we are worth something!
He gave me a surprise visit right there today, after reading that email.
He reminded me of the small part I had to play behind the scenes in this scenario, and how that small part, along with many others, was all part of His great big plan, for the lives of those in this transition home for orphans.
His surprise visit let me know my living was not in vain.
I had just come home Saturday evening after our daughter Carrie's violin recital, (she's the violinist in the center of the picture below) and after we got home, I sat in my seat in the van after Jonathan got out.

For a moment, I felt like a nobody who was not worthy of existing.
I guess it had something to do with how much of my early life included being involved in public music ministry and missions, and how little if any I am involved in music or what is typically thought of as "missions" or "ministry" anymore.
And I said something about this sense of worthlessness to Jonathan who came to open my door. 
There had been lots of somebodies there at the recital--teacher, students, accompanists, moderator, pastor of the church, photographers.
The next day there would be somebodies at church--pastor, mission director, Kids Club teacher, pianist, etc.
I was a nobody.
But I had made myself get out of the van. Resolutely I got a little food ready to eat.
I started washing dishes at the sink thinking, "Jesus, I'm washing these dishes for You."

In those acts, there had been a little bit of dying,
and a little bit of living.
Dying to being up front or being seen or heard, or even making a difference for somebody,
and being willing to just do an ordinary kitchen duty that wasn't very exciting.
Just God noticing.
But there was a little bit of living, too.
Doing the dishes for Jesus made it something beyond doing dishes.
It was doing this duty for Him.

I wasn't being a missionary or a spectacular person or a leader or a singer or musician or Sunday school teacher or someone up front,  just doing my common, ordinary housework at home with nobody to see except family, on purpose for Jesus.
By faith. No special surprise visit from God in those moments.
Just a resolute doing of my duty and being content with just that.

 

God's surprise visit let me know my dishwashing and cooking for my family and my interest in missions and unwanted girls was not in vain.  

Right now my three daughters are gone to town to play their instruments for an invalid.
It was their idea, not mine, though I had gotten them started last year. It is an incredible satisfaction to me to see my children choosing on their own to go use their newly gained musical skills for someone who can't get out and who is suffering.
No, I'm not somebody great or somebody up front.

But when God pays you a surprise visit, you know that you are valued!
You are worth something to Him!
And your living shall not be in vain!