Salsa part I

It's that time of year again. Salsa time! Two weeks ago we were making salsa. The first day we were peeling, cutting and cooking down the tomatoes. On the second day we were adding green peppers, onions, garlic, etc.. Thus "Salsa part I" and "Salsa part II" (Salsa part II coming soon.) :) So here are pictures from the first day. I really enjoy making salsa. I love the smells, the cutting up of different things and looking at it all mixed together. It's really fun!

The tomatoes.The tomatoes cooking. Mommy put them in the pan and then transfered them to the sink to cool.The tomatoes cooling. I peeled them after they were cool and put the in the bucket to be cut.The compost bucket where I put the peels/skins. An icky sight, but the compost after it decomposes is very helpful!Tomatoes peeled and ready to be cut by Leah.Leah cutting the tomatoes.And more cutting.Starting to fill the tomato pan.All done for day one!

Thought Provoking Quote

As Edward Payson, Elizabeth Prentiss' father, came to the end of his life, due to tuberculosis, he was "...confined to his bed. He called groups of young people to his bedroom, where he gave them fatherly advice and spiritual counsel. His calm acceptance of his illness and death were remarkable: "O what a blessed thing it is to lose one's will. Since I have lost my will I have found happiness. There can be no such thing as disappointment to me, for I have no desires but that God's will might be accomplished. Christians might avoid much trouble if they would only believe what they profess, viz. [example], that God is able to make them happy without anything but Himself. They imagine that if is such a dear friend were to die, or such and such a blessing removed, they should be miserable, whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case, God has been depriving me of one blessing after another, but as every one was removed He has come in and filled up its place, and now, when I am a cripple and unable to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before or expected to be, and if I had believed this twenty years ago I might have been spared much anxiety."

~From:"Elizabeth Prentiss, 'More Love To Thee,' " by: Sharon James

First time coffee grinding!

I've gotten into the habit of drinking a cup (that's right, just one) of coffee in the morning while I have my prayer time. Mom and Dad bought me actual coffee beans when they got groceries the last two times. I'd never had beans before so it was a new experience to grind them. Perhaps it is strange to you that I'm posting about coffee beans, but I had a really fun time with them and I just had to share it. So here is my new and fun experience with coffee beans. :)

Behold the beans.The flavor.Looking in the grinder.All ground up.The label, so I don't forget what kind it is when it's in the freezer.Hello yummy coffee grounds in the pretty clear container waiting to be used.My faithful one cup coffee maker. Well, actually it's my sisters but I use it. :) Thank you Leah!Water in the grounds making the coffee.Steam rising from the cup and coffee drops going into the cup. Waiting for the coffee to be done.Done brewing.The cup of coffee, complete with French Vanilla coffee creamer and sugar. It was so good!

Baby-sitting

Last week V and V came over and I was able to watch them for a few hours. :) It was so much fun, they are such sweet, pleasant girls. Here are some pictures from the day. I hope and pray the Lord allows me the joy and pleasure of being a stay at home wife and mom someday. What a glorious occupation!

Big V and little V's shoes next to mine. They have just little tiny feet.Big V loved playing Barbies.Little V liked putting the coin in the register and watching it come out in the drawer. :)Big V's "Mommy and Baby" Barbies all dressed up.A pretty sparkle-y Barbie dress.Big V's mommy Barbie and little V's baby Barbie. As you can see they are standing on the rebounder, they loved to bounce on it while they were here.Little V liked to draw while here sister played with Babries.They both loved the swings they giggled and giggled when I pushed them. It was so fun to listen to them!We also had fun playing Bad-mitten, they couldn't it the birdie, but they didn't care. :) It was fun anyway.The slide and the "park" (a.k.a. a sandbox) in my backyard was also very entertaining.They really liked to play "music" on the piano, too. :) Big V kept telling me, "Listen, I learned this song once." She was so cute.

New Book

I've finished reading "A Woman's Call to Prayer," by Elizabeth George. I highly recommend this book to those of you ladies who have a desire to pray but don't know where to start. It truly showed me how to do what I need to do in order to make my desire to pray a reality. It was so good. Please, pick it up!

And now that I've finished that one, I'm starting on the book about Elizabeth Prentiss (shown below). I really enjoyed reading Elizabeth's book "Stepping Heavenward" and I hope that as I read through this book that I will learn a little about her and grow toward the Lord as a result. I'll keep you posted. :) No pun intended.

Like a River Glorious

Song
By: Frances R. Havergal

1) Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest;
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

2) Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the Spirit there.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest;
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

3) Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love.
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest;
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Story
1876
...I will extend peace to her like a river... Isaiah 66:12

In 1876, while vacationing in the south of Wales, Frances Havergal caught a severe cold and suffered inflammation of the lungs. Told she might die, her response was: "If I am really going, it is too good to be true." Her friends were amazed at how peacefully she faced the prospect of dying. That same year, she wrote the hymn:

Like a river glorious, is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, groweth, deep all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Three years later, while meeting some boys to talk with them about the Lord, she ran into cold, wet weather and became chilled. As her fever grew worse, her family became alarmed. It gradually became apparent that Frances, 42, was dying. On Whitsunday, as one of her doctors left the room, he said, "Goodbye, I shall not see you again."
"Then you really think I'm going?" asked Frances.
"Yes."
"Today?"
"Probably."
"Beautiful," said Frances. "Too good to be true."
Soon aferward she looked up smiling and said, "Splendid to be so near the gates of heaven!" She asked her brother to sing some hymns to her, then he said to her, "You have talked and written a great deal about the King, and you will soon see Him in His beauty."
"It's splendid!" she replied. "I thought He would have left me here a long while; but He is so good to take me now."
A little later she whispered, "Come, Lord Jesus, come and fetch me."
A terrible rush of convulsions seized her, and when they ceased, the nurse gently laid her back on her pillows. Frances' sister later wrote: "Then she looked up steadfastly, as if she saw the Lord. Surely nothing less heavenly could have reflected such a glorious radiance upon her face. For ten minutes we watched that almost visible meeting with her King, and her countenance was so glad, as if she were already talking to Him! Then she tried to sing, but after one sweet, hight note "HE-," her voice failed and her brother commended her soul into the Redeemer's hands."

Interesting surprise

While publishing a comment this afternoon I found out that the people at ESV.org wrote a post on their website/blog about a post I had written and they linked to my site! Very interesting. I hadn't heard anything about it until the comment. To see my link on their blog visit here. Also, this evening I went to the site/blog and found out that they had a link to my dad's site right below the post they'd written about my site because he had written a little thing about their link to my site. :) Did you get that? Anyway, visit it and check it out.

Wait

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate...
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? You say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers. I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming Your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign.
Or even a 'no', to which I'll resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting... for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine...
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But oh, the loss, if I lost what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know Me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still... wait."

~Russell Kelfer

Memorize with me!

Hello everyone. I was crocheting this morning and memorizing James and I was struck with a thought. What if we memorized James together? Wouldn't that be great! Talk about helping each other along in the Christian walk?! So I'll write out the first chapter of James in the ESV and you can either print it, or use your own copy if you have one or whatever you want and memorize it with me! The easiest way I've found to memorize is to read one verse, or part of a verse if it's longer, out loud once. Then read it to yourself two times. Then try to say it without looking. Then check to see if you got it right. If you did, keep saying it over and over again. If you didn't get it quite right, fix it and then say it over and over. Every time you add a verse you do the same thing, but when you say them to yourself without looking start from the first verse that you learned and say to the last one. For example: if you're memorizing verse five, you look at it, say it out loud, then to yourself, then see if you can do it with out looking, if you can say from verse one to verse five over and over again. Just so you keep them all fresh in your mind. Another way to memorize and keep things fresh in your mind is to write it out on paper. You can either write it over and over, (not writing over and over at one sitting but different times throughout the day. ;) ) or write it on a sheet of paper to carry around in your pocket to look at during the day. It's really quite fun! I'm really enjoying it. I've gotten up to verse 12 in chapter one. So do it with me! Not only is it productive, fun, and a good idea, :) you're hiding God's word in your heart, to be used in temptation, in witnessing, in encouraging, etc.. So come on. I've divided the verses in paragraphs as they are in my Bible. It's sometimes easier to memorize one paragraph a day and then refresh it the next day as you memorize the next paragraph! It doesn't matter how you memorize it, just do it! And P.S. keep me up-dating on your progress, I'd love to hear how your doing and I'm sure it wouldn't just be an encouragement for me to keep going, but for others who are memorizing things too! Leave me a comment any time. :)

James chapter one:

1)James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.
2)Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3)for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4)And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5)If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6)But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7)For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8)he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9)Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10)and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11)For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12)Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13)Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14)But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15)Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16)Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17)Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18)Of his own will he brought us froth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19)Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20)for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21)Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22)But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23)For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24)For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25)But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
26)If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27)Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Memory and a blanket

Yesterday we went to a book store and Dad bought me anther Bible. I love my other Bible, (A MacArthur study Bible NKJV) but I wanted a smaller one that I could take around with me so I wasn't taking my big study Bible every where. So Dad bought me a small ESV Bible. And I love it!!! I also started crocheting a blanket that I'd forgotten about. :) So as I'm crocheting my blanket I'm going to start memorizing the book of James again. Last year I had memorized all of chapter 1 and half way through chapter 2. But, sadly, I let it slip. So I'm picking it up again and instead of memorizing it in the NKJV again I'm going to memorize it in the ESV!! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait!! I'll keep ya'll up-dated.

In Acceptance Lieth Peace

"He said, "I will forget the dying faces;

The empty places,
They shall be filled again.
O voices moaning deep within me, cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:

Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, "I will crowd action upon action
The strife of faction
Shall stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire of Manhood cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavor lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot?
Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit;
I am defeated.
God hath depleted
My life of its rich gain.
O futile murmuring, why will ye not cease?"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God to-morrow
Will to His son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word, not vain.
For in Acceptance lieth peace."

~Amy Carmichael

Apology and keeping me accountable

Hello family and friends. I've been convicted about my blog as of late and I must make an apology. I am sorry for not keeping the focus of my blog on Christ and what He has done, on His many, many attributes, on Who He is and what He deserves. I should be helping you grow by sharing what God has been doing and teaching me in my life (which I must say is quite a bit) and helpful quotes and verses that push us all toward our goal ... Christ! I ask you to forgive me for failing to be a proper sister in Christ to you all and I ask ... plead with you, if at any time you come to my blog and you see again just simple fluff of every day life and not Christ centered, helpful things, please leave me a comment, keep me accountable, tell me it's time to get my focus on Christ and keep Him at the center of all my blogging. Please! I know, since we all have the same goal, to bring glory and honor to Christ, and to help brothers and sisters in Christ grow, that you will have no problem speaking up and telling me I'm heading off the track. I thank you in advance for your helpful, yet admonishing comments, letting me know I'm drifting!

~: : 4th of July : :~

For the fourth my family and I went to C and Katya's house. (Click on Katya's name to see her 4th pictures). They also had Katya's family down, her Aunt, her Aunt's family and Katya's Grandma. It was so much fun to just sit and fellowship, eat, then go to church and after church enjoy the fireworks. These pictures do nothing to show how amazingly fun it was, but maybe you can get an idea!

Katya's kitchen. Very full of yummy things!Lots and lots of different size cupcakes (there were more cupcakes, but I didn't get them in the picture.) :) They are not finished yet.Now they are finished. So pretty.M&M's for the cupcakes.
Some of the fellowship.More fellowship as we observe football game from the sidelines.The football game.Little G was taken with puppy Kida.
Little berries to decorate the inside of the napkin/silverware box.Tie around the glass that held the silverware in the box.Raspberries frozen in the ice-ring to keep the iced-tea cool.My name in Katya's pretty handwriting on my cup label.
``*`` Fireworks!!! ``*``