The week that was.... that's all I got.

I won't say I have been busy because the older I get the more I know that all of us are busy in our lives, that is why it is called life and not death.  I have come to realize that life is for the living, I know that is a big cliche, though I know that in death I won't be laying in a grave resting for eternity. I am sure that God has big plans for my afterlife and it won't be a peaceful layabout time of rest.

We had a nice day at Church with lots of visitor and had a assembling of 30 praising the Lord. Poppie, the girls and I went to pick huckleberries and wild craft.  We had gone out to check on the harvesting we intended to do on Saturday after the Bountiful Baskets and the Farmer's Market (both had been a successful endeavor).  We found that our regular patch is not quite ripe but the lower side of the road we don't usually pick is ready.  We arrived at the huckleberry patch ready to unfold our plan of leaving Poppie and Lady Jay at the huckleberry patch and the Ladies and I would go harvest, yarrow, St. John's wart, and Arnica.  Well who should be parked at the place we were to park but Lady and Sweetie.  We stayed and visited and checked out the huckleberries.  I didn't pick any berries because I was there on an herb hunt but talked as Lady picked.  Poppie and Yogie picked away as well.  I finally left the pickers, to there work,  and Booboo and I went down farther and harvested yarrow, the best patch I know where is, and some chamomile.  I didn't go low enough to harvest the arnica and the St. John's wart but when we left Poppie drove out that way so the Ladies and I harvested those then.  Booboo and I took our harvest back and joined the group.  Poppie had picked close to a gallon altogether, so nice first pickings.  Lady had gotten a nice first harvest as well.  We had missed Lady's text to bring burger stuff and had brought a picnic lunch instead.  They grilled there burgers and the Ladies roasted there hot dogs on their coals.  Poppie didn't eat as it was to hot and he is not a good eater in the hot.  It was the hottest day of this year, good to be at the top of a mountain, it was 104 in the valley.  Before long we each went on our separate ways to our homes.  We, as I said before wild crafted, and then stopped at the river so the Ladies could have a swim in the river, we didn't stay as long as they would have liked but a short time was better than no time for their dip.

Yesterday, I photographed some of my wild crafted herbs and listed two of my balms on Etsy to officially get Belle and My revamped store up and running.  I then made up some dandelion coconut goat milk lemon/lemongrass soap.  It is my first herb soap from wild crafting, I love that term it really does embrace the act of harvesting the herbs (weeds) that the Lord has provided.

Genesis 1:29-31King James Version (KJV)

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

 I also love the when man fell for unbelief and eating of the fruit of the tree of good and evil (knowledge) that God gave us the weeds and herbs as a blessing against some of the curse.

 Genesis 3:18 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field


I praise God that he is so good to us.  Though we disobeyed he gave us a way to redemption and blessed us with the gift of his son, his first fruit, he sent his only begotten son to die on the Cross, and rise from the dead overcoming death, and who so ever believes on him will have eternal life.  God so loves us, yes, us the tiny insignificant human race, that he gave all so that we may live in-eternity with him.  Christ Jesus would rather go to hell for us than live in heaven without us, imagine that.... unimaginable in so many ways..... tomorrow.  

Camping get away.... and back for a nice Sunday at Church.

We had a great time getting away camping.  We went up high in the woods with Lady and Sweetie.  We cooked one night and they cooked one night.  It was wonderful to get to share our meals, and a great two full days of camping.  There was not one firework to be heard which was really nice.  The Ladies forged the creek and got on "the big rock" that they have been fishing on since they could walk. They could not forge back all alone so I broke my shoe given them the anchor of my arm to traverse the stream back to safety.

I think that a great time was had by all.  The time was so nice to just be able to set with no place to be not demands to attend to.  But alas our time away was gone and we all went our separate ways and came back to the real world. The Ladies joined Mokie and family to set of fun kids fireworks last night.  I couldn't seem to stay awake and settled into a big arm chair to rest.  Poppie watered his garden and picked me a plethora of juniper berries for a new concoction I am working on.  

This morning we got up bright and early and went to join our Church family for a wonderful day of worshiping the Lord.  The grands didn't come this week, all home with their individual families.  The sermon was very good.  I can say without a doubt that the Lord speaks to me every Sunday.  The Preacher is a good Baptist Preacher and I was not raised Baptist, and will probably never be a conventional Baptist by any good Baptists standards but I am at home in this Church.  I can say I don't always agree with all of the idiosyncrasies that the Preacher would like me to believe in.  He has said on many occasion he thinks that the older a person gets that harder they are to change.  He also says you should train up a child in the way that he should go and he will not depart from it.  I was raised up Church of Christ and I have departed as much as I will ever be able to I suppose.  I want so much for my girls to go to a local church that we had to choose a different Church to go to or go out of town.  I did not want to go out of town.  We found another New Testament Church, IE the Lighthouse Baptist Church and have come to belong.  NO, much to the dismay of the Preacher we have not ask to become members, and never will, I believe that God and God alone adds you to his Church and I feel he has added me along time ago and that I/we are to assemble ourselves at the local church.  We belong and feels we are members though by their belief we are not.  I have prayed and prayed on the differences many a time with God and he has for some reason lead us to this Church and wants us there.  WE are happy and probably a thorn in the Preachers side or maybe we are just a challenge for him to work on, either way I have promised that I will not be offended by any of the answers to the challenge we are to the Preacher.  WE are at home by Gods blessing and we shall stay a belonging part of a Church that doesn't see us as member.  I was reading a Max Lucado that I checked out at the Library.  He said Christian life (not salvation) is about 3 B's.  Baptism, Bible reading and Belonging to a local Church.  I was reading this to my Booboo and she said "no, Mom, it is 4 B's" Believing, Baptism, Bible reading and Belonging.  She is right and being trained up in Salvation and Christianity, that is enough for me, and God wants it that way........tomorrow.   

Another great day, I am a blessed person....

Had a nice day.  I worked until 1:30 and came home and made homemade ice cream.  Fresh cows milk, fresh eggs and fresh strawberries what could be better.  We took the ice cream to Church for an ice cream social.  I took Buga, Cubbie, M, Booboo and Yogie.  There were two other kids there so there were 7 kids and 6 adults, not bad for a Tuesday night.  The Preacher really focused on the kids in his message, they were all really interacting with him.  I love that he takes the time to make the kids apart of the message, they really are our future and our countries future.  The lesson was on our country and on the boundaries that we all should have and how to abide by them and live in them and not be to much in a hurry to go on to new boundaries in our lives.  I think they were all engage in his words.  We had a great social afterwards, ice cream for all and I am not sure that all didn't eat many more bowls than truly necessary.  A wonderful fellowship was had by all.

I am going again close with the sentence I quoted in paraphrase this morning. Jesus would rather go to hell for you than live in heaven without you.  How wondrous that truly is...tomorrow.

The cool of the morning is my favorite time of the day....

I can't say that I have always been a morning person and surely I can say that there was a time in my life that I was distinctly not a morning person.  I can say that with age, as with most things, I have embraced things that take age to truly appreciate and the glory of the morning is one of them.  I regularly awake at around 5:30. I can't say that I always get up then because it is the perfect time to read my Bible, read a book, draw or contemplate the day to come.  It is always the coolest crispest time of the day even on a day that promises to be hot beyond reason.  Did I say I don't like it when it is over 85 tops.  The house is always quiet and peaceful at sunrise, well sometimes prior to sunrise depending on the time of year.  There are no littles running a muck, come to think on it maybe that is why so many of them aren't early risers God had a plan that us aged could have the tranquility of morning....??  I set here and the only sound that breaks the peace is the click of my keys and the train horn sounding as it pass by in the background of my day.  My Ladies are diligently reading their books and that is a wondrous thing in this day of so many electronics in their lives that most children no longer know what a real book is.  Oh, it is the thing they have to do at school because the teacher makes them I forgot.  The joy of reading is fast becoming an old persons endeavor, sad.

I have to be off to work soon, and have chili peppers awaiting my return so that I can can them.  We have ice cream to make and oh so many other little things will come up but for now I can bask in the glory of silence and the cool air of the morning.

I pray the your day is blessed with a cool God given morning.  I pray that the things you have to do are many but not overpowering. Most of all I pray that the Lord Jesus is master of your life. Nothing compares to a life serving the one who laid down his life for us.  I read a sentence last night, and I will paraphrase.  The Lord Jesus would rather go to hell for you than live in Heaven without you.  Nothing can compare to that if you think on it.  He suffered and died for you and me, What God would do that? only one, and he is the only way that you and I can get to go to heaven.... tomorrow.