Down Mulberry Lane

Blessings...

Our summer has been full of blessings.  It is easy for one to get down and sometimes simply taking note of those blessings will be enough to lift you up for one more day on this tiresome old earth.  I thought I would share some of our blessings with you...

We went to campmeeting as a family and had a wonderful week together.  No horrible weather while we camped.  It was a nice spiritual retreat. 

We had a fire... Blessings... the house is getting cleaned from top to bottom and everywhere in between!   No one was hurt!  Fire went out by itself!

The stove/oven was burned up... Blessings, a new one was put in it's place.  

The hours of fire clean-up have been long... Blessings... the insurance company paid us for cleaning, which afforded us a new refrigerator which we really needed. 

Fire damage.  Caused some problems in our plans, but Dh has been talking of wanting to update the kitchen and this fire has allowed Dh the ability to make changes which feel like updates...even if they are repairs.   

My daughter sent in her application to volunteer at camp late... really late.  Someone was let go and a replacement was needed.  The late application wasn't tossed out, but instead, it was a blessing to the Camp Director who needed more staff.   She was taken on half way through the summer to finish out the camp season as a volunteer.

We had heavy and continual rains this spring which caused havoc on some of our crop.  Our corn was coming, but not the crop we had hoped for.  Blessings... God only could have done it... we are to get 30 Dozen ears of corn to replace our corn that may or may not come up.  Since seed corn is planted next to our land, the seed company wanted our corn out ASAP... the farmer put up an account for us at a local sweet corn farm to make up for what we may have lost.  The farmer just detassled our crop and says we might still get some corn from the one variety which was already tassled out.  He said, keep that for a bonus.  While many would have been upset at the inconvenience, it was a blessing for us as we were sure we lost 50% of our own sweet corn. 

Sweet Corn day one...5 dozen blanched, cut and frozen... Put away 13 quarts.  The 5 dozen I picked up was prebagged and was over 7 dozen ears of corn.  Only 4 ears were horribly bad, but the chickens and horses loved them.  The tally... 5 dozen perfectly good ears (no worm damage at all) and 2 + dozen with the top 1/2-1 inch bugged up... easy to cut off and still a whole lot of corn left. 

This year, students in our county are getting a $75 walmart card for each student in school.  Homeschoolers included.  First to be used for school supplies, second for clothing or shoes.  Very timely for two of my girls. 

Dad's surgery went well.  He seems to be sore, but recovery is good.  The pain in his legs is almost completely gone after surgery, just a few occasional spasms which are likely due to swelling in the area.  He says the only pain he has is right at the incision... where it should hurt! 

Family and friends nearby are able to care for the horses while my Dad recovers.  At the moment all seems taken care of, which is a blessing since I need to be home working with the sweet corn and a few garden items of my own to harvest. 

Growth at camp... My girls each had their own experiences this summer where God touched them personally. 

*My Megan loved some u-tubes shared at camp over several evenings talking about the skies, stars and planets.  She had recently studied the solar system the year before in science, so this was just adding to her knowledge base, yet the spiritual application was Huge on her and she is sharing it with friends and grandparents and has even got her Dad out on the telescope gazing the skies again. 

*Chelsea at campmeeting was taught about relationships during her week of youth meetings.  That always makes me nervous since I try to teach more courtship concepts than dating concepts and I was pleasantly surprised that this year dating wasn't encouraged, but rather waiting for when you are ready to marry and in the meantime... (other ideas to help them cope with not dating during their teen years).  Volunteering at camp she has been presented with three different situations in which she has had to make a vocal stand on her convictions of dating/courtship.  I was praying for her, but she stood up and said... I'm not ready.  Chelsea is my social bug and it is wonderful to see her stand on her convictions rather than being controlled by her peers.  Her peers and even the boys asking her... are impressed with her ability to not cave and just join the crowd. 

*Kate is working at camp and is having a spiritual high.  She says Jesus is so real to her right now.  She is loving sharing Jesus with the kids at camp, with other staff and just loving the realness of Jesus.  She is a hard worker... all my girls are and their ability to keep going when they are tired shows.  Kate has gotten compliments that she is one that the other staff looks up to because she just keeps going and never complains.  She can see how her raising up has made her to be someone out of the ordinary... She has been so thankful for that, not so that she can receive compliments, but that she is able to shine for Jesus in a unique way... she has always wondered why God has asked Mom and Dad to pull her out of school and homeschool her.  She is now beginning to understand that God is using her in unique ways to reach out to her peers that she might not otherwise have been able to do had she continued through school with them.  She is seeing the blessings of having been raised and schooled at home.  

NO zucchini in our garden... Blessings... Mom gave me  two large zucchini a couple days ago.  

Went to thrift shop and found an ice shaver with two motors and several ice cups for $2.50.  My Mom had a half price coupon with her, so I was able to get this special treat for Megan for just $1.25.  

Went to visit my Mother and Dad.  Gas at home was $3.92 per gallon.  Gas was only $3.64 (in their area) to refill my tank for the ride home... every little bit helps! (still 3.92 here at home!)

My mother is lonely.  She just got a new dog to keep her company.  She seemed very happy with her new companion.  Little Sophie seems to like Mom just as much.  

Paige stuck a bead up her nose.  Blessing... she was fine.  The emergency room doctor was so kind and removed it without any trauma to Paige.  She actually enjoyed meeting this doctor and stated he was now her favorite doctor.  She assured us she will never stick another bead up her nose again! 

Oh there have been many more blessings, but these are the few that I recall so late at night!  God is good to us.  I can see how Satan is working hard to break my spirit and those around us, but I see friends and family rising above that pain and heart ache.  When Satan takes away, God has replaced or given above and beyond what we ever imagined.  I sit back and smile.  I read the book of Job a few days ago and I stand in awe and wonder of his greatness.  God is truly in control! 

Warmly, ~Melissa 

Always good to count your blessings!

10:20 AM, August 4, 2008 .. Posted by safords

The Lord is good to us even in trial. It's good to remind ourselves what He has done!!

Campmeeting: Yes, I know campmeeting can be a blessing. We don't usually have time to go to Hope in BC because it is far - all the campmeetings around here mean nothing to us because we don't know the people. We do have a little one right here in our own Valley, but this year our church has opted not to participate because they didn't tell us they changed the dates and we had already scheduled the Amazing Adventures. So, the rumor in the big church that makes all the decisions is that we are snubbing them for some silly thing. Ah well, you win some you lose some. We used to go to ASI when I worked for them and that was during Hope. We have so many other advantages here with Young Disciple being so close, etc...Our pastor used to have special speakers come in for weekend seminars all the time so we had Hans Diehl here... you name them, they've been here. At Hope this year the Junior department was the least wild and that's where the girls found their friends - even up to 17 years old. They were all in the junior department because it was good and had good teaching. They all arrived late to meetings to skip the song service. My brother-in-law is a Pastor working with the Youth department. He says the kids are absolutely wild this year. My niece, Rainbow, is working at Hope's summer camp. Anyway, we were there less than 24 hours because Steve had to be at work at 7 Sunday morning. Since his brother is moving to a new Province to pastor we won't have any relatives there anymore and no place to pitch our tent so even less likely that we will go...