Algebra and Chili--How are They Related?

If you were wondering how algebra is related to chili, it probably isn't. But both algebra and chili are related to the mom of the house. She has to help teach her son algebra and math, and she has to make chili for dinner--and quite a few other chores, too!

But about the time the mom of the house starts getting frustrated with algebra and tired of chopping vegetables for chili or borsch (since all three of her oldest girls are gone right now), things happen to people around her that make her think algebra is a piece of cake and chopping vegetables for chili is a high privilege.

She could be dead right now, mangled in the accident a week ago that took the lives of both husband and wife that we were acquainted with. She could be dead like the mother who was hit by a car in town the day before that, for whom prayer was requested in church this morning by another lady who knew this victim.

 The mom of our house could have been shot by the man just down the road from the church this morning, who tried to shoot his wife and instead shot his son who jumped between them, then shot his daughter-in-law, and then shot himself. 

She could have been stabbed like another young woman was.

All these tragedies were prayed about in church this morning. It was a heavy morning at church, and we got out late, after many tears and hankies and tissues and sober prayers.

 I come home to a pleasant and loving home. I come home to a husband, who, after the children had left the house this morning, and I asked what he and I should do for the next few minutes until time to leave for church, said, "I just want to hug on you!"

Loads of laundry to wash, piles of ironing to do, muddy floors to sweep and mop, carpets to vacuum, dishes to wash, meals to cook, eggs to gather, windows to wash, van to clean, yards to tidy--but what is there to complain about?

It's true my kidneys were hurting today, and I was ill and in pain, drinking cup after cup of hot, distilled water with lemon, or camomile tea, and rubbing on rosemary and thyme and lemon essential oils, but I have been given the gift of life, the gift of a loving husband and home, the gift of healthy children, and so much more.

Helping my school children every day is a privilege.

Chopping and sauteing vegetables is a joy.

While God gives the gift of life on earth, may we be found faithful in doing the duties He has planned for us rather than spending our lives in unthankfulness and grudging.

Grandma Lucas's 83rd Birthday

 Last week, Grandma Lucas celebrated her 83rd birthday. We took supper in, along with this poem, and gifts that went along with the poem. As the poem was read, different children presented her with a little gift that went along with that stanza--from packages of yeast and chocolate chips to a box of encouragement cards and potting soil. 

 

 Our grandma is an Everything,

You name it, she has been that thing.

Say, Laundry Woman, that is she,

Hanging up clothes quick as can be,    

Washing the towels and the socks and the hose,

Scrubbing the spots right out of the clothes,

Then hanging each piece on the Amish-style lines

Out in the warm Colorado sunshine.

She dries them, irons them, hangs them up right

To be ready for wearing by day or by night.

Our grandma has spent nearly eighty years plus

Doing laundry for family and others of us.

Say Baker Woman, and that she sure is,

At baking muffins and bread she's a whiz,

Cookies and casseroles she knows how to make,

And certainly anybody's cute birthday cake!

Say "Cook," and you've got one the best of the batch,

Her scalloped potatoes are so hard to match.

Her ham and her chicken are hot on the plate

While her own homemade pies on the counters do wait.

Everyone gathers when whirly doughnuts she fries,

Spreading mint frosting with great, hungry eyes.

She's famed for her Christmas treats, more than one,

But especially the favorite, fresh sticky buns!

When funerals or potlucks need food by and by,

She's bringing in salad or jello or pie.

Say "Cleaning Lady" and you've got one of the best,

But now she's over eighty and has earned her rest.

She's cleaned at the church many times just for free,

Weeded the church flower gardens pretty as could be.

And she still vacuums and wipes crumbs and dusts,

And keeps all her kitchen from going to rust.

Say "Seamstress," and there's her sewing machine,

Making dress after dress and mending torn seams.

"Bargain Hunter's" a name that she wears o'er and o'er,

Finding best deals at the grocery store.

Say "Gardener," and she's had a garden for years.

Her lettuce and green beans deserved many cheers.

Gladioli and pansies grew everywhere

While rhubarb thrived under her knowledgable care.

Whether beets to be pickled or roses to pick,

Grandma was one to handle it quick.

She canned many jars of sweet jams and jellies

To put on her bread to fill hungry bellies,

And froze many cartons of applesauce sweet

And apricots, too, plums, and peaches to eat.

But her favorite of all was the sweetest, fresh berries,

Which she'd turn into pies with which to make merry.

Strawberries were her favorite, so red and so sweet,

And all over her kitchen, these berries you'd meet--

On toaster cover and wall hanging strawberries would smile

With more in the cupboards on her dishes in style!

Say "Lady of Mercy" and you've got one right here

Who chose many bouquets to bring the sick cheer,

While she wrote many notes and sent many cards

And cared about those for whom life was hard.

She was Sunday School secretary and treasurer, too,

Keeping records up to date, always faithful and true.

Say "Mother" and "Grandmother," and now she's Great-grand.

She's been "Painter" and "Driver" and good "Helping Hand."

She's "Nurse" and "Companion," "Good Wife" and "Friend."

The names for our Grandma have really no end.

But one I will end with, is one that we sing,

She's been bought by our Savior. She's a "Daughter of the King."

If All God Had Was Wounded Men

I was touched recently as I read in Jeremiah. I found a little nugget right in the middle of some verses of judgment. God was saying to Israel about the Chaldeans, "For though you had defeated the whole army....and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire." Jer. 37:10

God was saying that even if the Jewish people prided themselves in winning over the Chaldeans, and all that were left of the Chaldeans were wounded men, God would raise up those wounded Chaldeans to still complete the judgment He had decided against Israel.

But I was glued to that phrase "though...there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up..."

 There is not one of us who has not been wounded in some way, at some time, and perhaps there are still wounds in our lives that we battle against. Not many of us are strong or glorious or otherwise all that great and mighty. But even if all that we are is wounded, God is able to raise us up to do His will. God can accomplish mighty things through weak and wounded people. If He could raise up and use wounded Chaldeans, can He not raise up and use wounded Christians?

                                ********************************************

A tremendous article to read--Following Jesus is easy or hard depending on how you look at it. 

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/laboring-a-few-days-for-christ

Is following Jesus easy or hard? 

He Neither Slumbers Nor Sleeps

 Last night, Jonathan and I were both beat and went to bed a little early. And even though we were both overwhelmed with another blow we have been in the middle of, I went right to sleep.  I slept all night and woke up amazingly refreshed.

 

Only days ago, on Sunday, acquaintances of ours who had attended marriage enrichment classes together with us last year, were killed on their way to church. 

The driver of the vehicle that hit them had run through a stop sign, and the force of the impact sent both vehicles spinning, with our acquaintances' vehicle spinning into the path of another oncoming vehicle.

Hit by two vehicles, the wife died on scene, and the husband only a couple hours later at the hospital.

Although it was a tragedy, the daughter felt, as I did, too, that it was merciful that the two could both go together!

It was the same Sunday that, when Jonathan left with some of the children to attend an event about the spiritual foundations of our country,

I watched him as he left, and wondered, "Will he come back to me?" 

He came back, but this couple didn't. 

Yet mercy was shown to both of us--to us in life, to them in death.

"Behold, He Who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

 When we sleep, God is awake. While we sleep, He is watching. While we sleep, He is working out His purposes.

And those purposes are always full of mercy.

Behold, how he loved them!

Yesterday morning I noticed this little scene by our front window--Jonathan watching while our two middle girls loaded their last luggage into the vehicle and pulled out on another mission of mercy. They had a nine or ten hour trip ahead of them, and would be gone over a week. 

I had hopped out of bed early to make sure to hug them goodbye, and Jonathan did so, too. 

And then I watched this. And no, my photo is not that great with the bright reflection of the morning sun, but I didn't want to disturb the reverie of a father who is seeing his sweet, precious daughters leave home for a short time.

I don't know what was on his mind, but I know he was watching his daughters as they backed out the drive and headed down the road with several goodbye honks. 

And all I could of was the verse, "Behold, how He loved him!"

I know this daddy loves his daughters.

I know he prays for them.

And so do I.

We don't always know how much we love them until suddenly they are gone.

We have their jobs and chores to do, and their animals to take care of.

But, not being able to go with them, our hearts go with them everywhere they go.

It reminds me of the love of the heavenly Father who, because He is Spirit, can go with us everywhere we go. "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

Pregnancy Test--Positive!

Before anyone gets too excited, let me hasten to inform you that the pregnancy test was for our half-Jersey, half Angus little cow who has been faithfully giving a gallon and a half of milk every day for months.

Back last summer, a neighbor had offered to let our cow and calf run with the bull in the neighbor's pasture back in the summer for a couple months, but when we brought our cow back home, we never did know if the cow was bred for sure.

 Carrie especially, who has been the daily milker of the cow and the main maker of cheese and all things dairy, needed to know whether and when to dry this cow up.

If she is expecting a calf, you are supposed to dry her up and stop milking a couple months before the birth so that the energy and nutrition will be going into a healthy calf rather than milk for the ranch family.

Sooo--Carrie did some research on how to find out if a cow is expecting--without having to pay mega bucks to a vet.

She ordered a cow pregnancy test online, and then researched how to manage the test.

Because if you know anything about cows, they are probably not going to stand still and just do what you want them to do in order to get the test working (details dispensed with).

Nothing on a ranch that is associated with cows, horses, goats, and chickens happens by magic, although some things happen by accident or mistake, and other things happen when you are not looking.  

(Today I was looking by accident and saw just how FAT our cow was! Who needs a pregnancy test anyway?)

But a month ago was one time we really did need to know whether the cow should be dried up, because if not, we would happily go on milking her and making butter and ice cream from her wonderful cream. 

Well, as you can see by the first picture on here, after Carrie came back into the house with her little glass vial successfully filled with enough cow liquid to do the test, everyone crowds around to watch how to do this. 

Carrie puts a certain number of drops of something into the vial, and then we have to wait ten minutes. It is very important that you set a timer and not read the results too soon or too late. 

The stuff Carrie put into the vial reacts with the liquid and the color changes if the cow is pregnant. 

And you are supposed to be able to tell about how far along the cow is,

by comparing the color of yellow, blue, or green to the chart of colors.

Well, we waited and compared and discussed and decided.

Yes, the cow is pregnant.

And yes, she will probably have her calf in two to three months. 

So, yes, we must dry her up. 

And so we await another one of God's little new miracles--a new baby calf on the ranch.

Three Crosses Through the Frost

Three new crosses went up recently on the outside of a church building that used to belong to the Jehovah's Witnesses and now belongs to an evangelical fellowship. On a frosty Sunday morning, Jonathan and I couldn't help noticing the three newly-fastened, beautiful crosses--and the three trees standing just opposite them.

 It was a frosty morning, cold in every way, but our hearts were warm with the thought of three trees, and three crosses, and especially the middle cross, and Him Who died on it.

He loved us while we were yet sinners, when our hearts were yet hard, stubborn, cold, and frosty toward Him.

 We come to Him with cold hearts and sinful souls, and He comes to us with forgiveness and peace.

                                                       You just have to come--just as you are. 

Repent and believe.

He will warm your coldness, soften the hardness, and straighten the crookedness. For with God nothing shall be impossible.

And He will fill your heart with His love and peace.