February 27, 2009 by Debbie.

I had already posted another entry yesterday. It was so boring I didn’t even want to read it again so I deleted it. Then this morning the Max Lucado devotion came through and it is so…. so… so… well, here read it for yourself.

Week of February 27

*”Treat Me As I Treat My Neighbor.”*
/by Max Lucado/

Are you aware that this is what you are saying to your Father? Give me what I give them. Grant me the same peace I grant others. Let me enjoy the same tolerance I offer. God will treat you the way you treat others.

In any given Christian community there are two groups: those who are contagious in their joy and those who are cranky in their faith. They’ve accepted Christ and are seeking him, but their balloon has no helium. One is grateful, the other is grumpy. Both are saved. Both are heaven bound. But one sees the rainbow and the other sees the rain.

Could this principle explain the difference? Could it be that they are experiencing the same joy they have given their offenders? One says, “I forgive you,” and feels forgiven. The other says, “I’m ticked off,” and lives ticked off at the world.

It’s as if God sends you to the market to purchase your neighbor’s groceries saying, “Whatever you get your neighbor, get also for yourself. For whatever you give him is what you receive.”

Let’s take this a step further. Suppose your neighbor’s trash blows into your yard. You mention the mess to him, and he says he’ll get to it sometime next week. You inform him that you’ve got company coming and couldn’t he get out of that chair and do some work? He tells you not to be so picky, that the garbage fertilizes your garden. You’re just about to walk across the lawn to have a talk when God reminds you, “Time to go to the market and buy your neighbor’s groceries.” So you grumble and mumble your way to the store, and then it hits you, “I’ll get even with the old bum.” You go straight to the skim milk. Then you make a beeline to the anchovies and sardines. You march right past the double-chocolate ice cream and head toward the okra and rice. You make a final stop in the day-old bread section and pick up a crusty loaf with green spots on the edge.

Chuckling, you drive back to the house and drop the sack in the lap of your lazy, good-for-nothing neighbor. “Have a good dinner.” And you walk away.

All your brilliant scheming left you hungry, so you go to your refrigerator to fix a sandwich, but guess what you find. Your pantry is full of what you gave your enemy. All you have to eat is exactly what you just bought. We get what we give.

Some of you have been eating sardines for a long time. Your diet ain’t gonna change until you change. You look around at other Christians. They aren’t as sour as you are. They’re enjoying the delicacies of God, and you’re stuck with okra and anchovies on moldy bread. You’ve always wondered why they look so happy and you feel so cranky. Maybe now you know. Could it be God is giving you exactly what you’re giving someone else?

Great House of God <http://www.crosswalkmail.com/hgftdybkd_yhpzjqqvwjq.html>From
The Great House of God <http://www.crosswalkmail.com/aqzwqylrw_yhpzjqqvwjq.html>
© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001) Max Lucado

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February 22, 2009 by Debbie.

This youtube is fantastic -Louis Armstrong, What a Wonderful World

I’ve been reading in Matt. 5 this week, what we refer to as the Beattiutdes. What I saw in Matt. 5 was so beautiful, especially from The Message. Here’s just a couple of my favorites  -

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who your are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”

My husband is the perfectionist in our home but there are some areas where I tend to obsess. Like quilting. I want to do it RIGHT (aka PERFECT). I’ve ripped out pieces so much that I’ve worn out the fabric, which drives me nuttier as I don’t like any waste. This perfectionism drives my quilting friend, Diana, nuts. I’ll bring a finished quilt in to show her and I will point out all the flaws. All she sees is all the rights and the beauty. I just typed - “Yes, I want to learn how to quilt right.” And then I realized that’s not a true statement and had to backtrack. The truth is I want to quilt right, right NOW. In learning how to quilt right I would acknowledge the flaws and focus on the rights and beauty of what I’d created.

 ”You’re blessed when you work up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”

The name, BeAttidues, always bothered me. It should be called the Be-Live-Its. Attitude makes it sound like a mood outside of what is really you. A good friend, who was also a physcologist, said that if you feel an emotion long enough it becomes part of your charactor. Someone who is choosing to be constantly angry will become an angry person. The other side is someone who is choosing to be constantly happy or joyful will become joyful. It BECOMES part of you same as the food you eat becomes part of you.

“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,” you’ll find yourselves cared for. “

This one is probably my favorite for now. Who doesn’t want to be cared for? I grew up in a Leave It to Beaver mentality. My Mom was definitely not a June Cleaver (she seldom wore pearls while cleaning house) but 99% of the people we knew were two parent families, the same two parents all the kids started with; Dad worked and Mom stayed home and took care of the house and kids. Day care was unheard of and babysitting seldom heard at all.

I love being a wife, a homemaker, a less than perfect housekeeper, a provider of home things for my husband. I love feeling cared for by my husband. John has always been the breadearner and I’ve always been the breadbaker. We choose this way and it works for us; I’m not saying it should or would work for anyone else.

So how do I get cared for? According to this Be-Live-It, it’s when I care for others. When I am full of care for others or when I’m NOT full of care for myself.

I’m basically a selfish person so this idea of giving away what I want to have has always baffled and aggravated me. And to be honest, it took most of my life to finally accept and try it, but when I did I found it works! Amazing how true God’s word is, especially when He told me upfront He can’t lie.

This past week in class while reading a book to one of the lower grades, I saw a little boy quietly talking to his table mate. I stopped reading and asked him if he had something he’d like to share. He said, “Yes,” and then proceeded to say the word ‘gay’  that I had just read had two different meanings. I said, “Yes, some words do mean different things. What did it mean in our reading?” His response was, “It means happy and the other meaning is ……” a frown wrinkled his forehead as he thought and thought. I just waited quietly. Finally, he finished truthfully with, “I don’t know what the other meaning is.” I just smiled at him and went on reading the story.

So, I found out what I want to be when I grow up

“..on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” Matt. 4:16b

Please pray that I can be a true light in the land of the shadow of death.

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February 18, 2009 by Debbie.

I should be embarrassed to even post these pictures cause it’s obvious I’m missing in the work, but I’m not so here goes -

Notice how methodical and detailed John’s planting is. When I plant onions I take the bunch out, stuff them in my pocket, pull out a few and shove them in the tilled soil randomly. This is the reason JOHN is the programer/wage earner in the family and I’m the ‘just get it done quickly’ person. His way pays off better than mine in the paying work world. But last year I planted all the onions and there was enough to last the whole year plus I gave away about 1/2 a bushel as well so ‘good enough’ is good enough with some things.

We’re passing down the gardening genes. Here’s pictures of grandsons Alec (the older) and Joe planting and watering container gardens.

Some misc. things -

Gina’s new sig line - “Have patience with all things, but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being.” Author Unknown Isn’t that fantastic!

Feedback from 1st. graders -

One little girl said she was 7 on her birthday that week. I said I was seven, too. The class gasped and one said, no I was much, much older than 7; I had to be AT LEAST 19!!!

A son told his mother he liked me as a sub cause even when I was angry I smiled. The mother asked if his regular teacher smiled when she was angry and he said, OHHHHHHHHHH, NO!

This made me feel good but also sad that he saw me as angry but I guess raising my voice over their chatter and saying QUIET is angry to a 1st grader. I had a great time with this class for the last 2 days. Was sad the teacher was coming back - that’s the sign of a good class and a great regular teacher.

Found a new quilt shop in Van Alstyne, not too far away. Still trying to find time to get down to see it. Best of all, it’s in an old historical house. I’ll try to remember to take my camera with me. Their website is www.alfordinn.com

Picked the first asparagus this week - earliest ever. The English peas have sprouted. The beautiful (not) green net fencing around the individual rows in the gardens have kept the guinea from dust bathing in the tilled soil - 55 acres and we have to fence every single row individually …. sigh.

I got to visit with the plumber from the Heart Throb posting last week. It was wonderful to find the same pipe leaking again (am I weird or what?) cause I knew the company would send out the same plumber and they did. He and I talked outside while he worked, about the goodness of God and how God has protected him even when he was doing some dangerous things. He and I laughed and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. God is so good!!!

Just got our Jan. electric bill - $121 - not bad for all electric home except for the gas range top. Electric oven still. We’ve been heating with wood and have used about $210 worth of wood so far this year. Last year’s electric bill with the NEW and IMPROVED furnace was $405 so you can see why I’m excited about $121. Dec.’s bill was only $135 this year; over $200+ last year.

No phone call from school this morning so I’d better get busy and start my day here - budget day and might go pickup some things in Bonham, check out the Goodwill Store again. Hope you all have a fantastic day!

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February 15, 2009 by Debbie.

What do you automatically think of when you hear the word passion?

My mind and I keep going back to Alabama’s song, If I Had You. It’s talking about the passion between a man and woman, husband and wife, but since that passion originally came from God, to me it goes much deeper than just sex, or a union of a man and a woman.  The union in itself is great but a union as a result of a great love is greater and better.

If you read the last post I imagine some of you wondered how I could worship to such a ‘worldly’ song but since John and marriage are what has shown me the height, depth and width of the love of God it’s easy for me to hear Alabama sing  “There’s nothing, no there’s nothing that I couldn’t do …. if I had you.” and think of loving both John and God. First John made me feel that I could do anything, then God did/does, too. Scriptures say “First the natural, then the Spiritual” so this is no surprise to God.

It seems like one of the world’s goals is to stamp out passion in our lives. Think of what is meant by the Passion of Christ - the passion was the culmination of his whole life - “this is what I came into the world for” is how he expressed it. Passion is what drives us, focuses us, excites us, encourages us, gives us the determination to push on when it’s just not fun to push on. No wonder the devil and his little imps want to stamp that out of us!

Thanks to God’s healing I have felt more alive in that last couple of months than I have in a long time. God took away the chemical sensitivity that has held me captive for way too long. A good friend prayed for that bondage to be broken and it was. Part of the bondage was limiting where I went and that was stiffling me and thus my passion - for teaching, for sharing, for friends, for a lot of life. I found ways around the chemical sensitivity for years - friends came here, teaching classes here, sharing here (over 300 one time visitors in one year qualifies that statement!).

One of my passions is teaching. I love being able to sub-teach again. One of my second graders wanted so badly to learn how to sew that I offered to teach her here at Beulah Land. I love to watch her eyes light up when she sees all the different colors and designs in the squares for her quilt. We started out with some plain green, orange, blue and white squares and then added a couple more colors. Yesterday I had a stack of precut squares of many different colors and designs, even one with “The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” design. I heard all 3,000 verses of that song before we could go much futher but finally I had her lay out different squares to see what her quilt could look like. She has a good eye for color coordination and would jump from ‘oooooh’ to ‘ahhhhh’ each time she rearranged the squares, creating her own unique quilt.

But sewing by hand is ssssssssssllllooooowww for a seconder grader who had never held a needles until a month ago. We’ve sewn about 10 squares together (yes, I helped) but there will be 80 squares in her finished quilt so it seems like a forever project to her, sewing by hand.

Rather than let this new found passion of hers be stiffled, yesterday I carefully showed her how to sew with my Singer sewing machine. We went over the safeguards several times before her foot ever touched the foot peddle. I even had several friends praying for her finger safety. Am I the only one who has sewn a finger to the fabric, straight through the nail???? I’d like to keep it that way here at least. After practicing with some scrap fabric she sewed her first two squares together then went to the ironing board and pressed the seam open. I was so proud of her - she did both jobs exactly the way she’d been taught, even to turning the iron away from her when she was done.

Her excitement feeds mine.  She was the only one who came up after class when I subbed and had to pick up the quilt pieces I brought in with me. She wanted to touch, to see, to know how I cut them out, how I’d sew them together, etc. That’s how I knew she REALLY wanted to learn to sew. Yesterday, she saw some quilt pieces, the newest one I’m working on, and had to touch them, smoothing the fabric down. Then she saw two of my finished quilts and had to pull them out to see them, cuddle them. I told her she’d be able to do more detailed quilts like that later, too.

God has so much for us. God IS for us! Sometimes life seems dull and listless, like hand sewing a 6″ plain patchwork quilt - never ending, doing the same old thing day after day. Then one day you wake up and there’s a Singer sewing machine with your name on it, just waiting for you to zip through those plain squares so you can create a more detailed pattern. And the whole world opens up to you, possibilties you never even hoped to dream about. Passion flows into your heart and mind, and like me, you’ll find you can’t sleep much past 4 or 5:00 in the morning, just gotta get up and DO or THINK something. (OK, for you night owls, maybe it’s can’t go to sleep til 4 or 5:00 in the morning!).

I love to watch the sparks fly when starting the kindling in the wood stove. I know that soon the kindling fire will spread to the ‘real’ wood and soon the fire will warm the house - fulfilling it’s purpose. Feed those sparks that kindle your passion - your focus, your dream, you goal, your purpose in life!

“You light a fire, way down deep in my soul. The flames keep buring higher, there ain’t no control ….. and there’s nothing, no there’s nothing that I couldn’t do …. if I had you.”

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February 11, 2009 by Debbie.

Love doesn’t make the world go round - it makes it worth the ride!! I saw that on a Valentine’s card yesterday and had to borrow it since I was too cheap to buy the card.

I have spring fever. It’s been close to 70 the last couple of days and we had a springish rain yesterday with a beautiful stormy looking sky. The storms were severe further north of us into OK and KS but were mild here comparatively. We got some much needed rain. Now I have no excuse to putting those seed potatoes and onions in the awaiting garden soil. Except for laziness.

As an old movie fans we watch mostly black & white movies and one of our favorites is Jimmy Stewart’s You Can’t Take It With You. There’s a line in there where the dance instructor says “I feel so alive, just like squirrels running in circles inside of me” (paraphrased). That’s how I feel. I’ve always been squirrely so it’s fitting but I feel like fireworks going off inside of me and I jump from idea to idea to project to project, completing some and at least making good progress on most. Today I have 3 new quilts I want to start, two I want to finish, a new quilt pattern to try and Dorothy of Yards of Fun Quilt Shop sent home a bunch of fabric for the Foster Kids Quilts. I want to do ALL of it RIGHT NOW! I’m enjoying myself so much I can’t even feel too guilty the house is messy.

I started the morning listening to the Gaither’s Colorado Red Rocks Homecoming video with my favorite song, Back Home Again (John Denver’s song).  Then I heard Conway Twitty’s Hello Darlin’ coming home from Bonham and to finish out the morning songfest, was Alabama’s If I Had You as I drove up the long driveway. It don’t get much better than that. Worship music to my soul. Let God out of his box and listen to If I Had You and tell me you don’t feel drawn to God when you listen with your heart.

Speaking of listening with your heart, if you get close to Bonham in Fannin County, stop by Yards of Fun Quilt shop - the name says it’s a quilt shop but the heart says it’s a healing place where ministry happens without any grandstand production although Dorothy & I offered to sing Diana a duet before I headed home. Wonder why she turned us down???????????

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February 7, 2009 by Debbie.

Check out John’s blog - Who? Me? Life just gets better and better here, never a dull moment. After reading his blog you’ll know why our alarm goes off at 4:00 now a days.

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February 6, 2009 by Debbie.

The end of the head/chest cold is in sight, but not close enough for me. An occasional cough still catches me off guard, no pun intended, with aggrivating results. I’m kind of tired of this, ya know? Actually, this afternoon I’m kind of tired of barnyard chuckles and chickens who won’t go in their coop for the night and chasing stinky buck goats OUT of  the coop while I’m trying to chase chickens and one mad rooster IN the coop. Yes, that’s me. The maniac with the long white pvc pipe swinging every which way and let any PETA person come within reach of my pipe and we’ll chat about animal rights.

It started as a free day …. don’t remember the last time I had one. I went in to town to shop, meaning hitting the Goodwill stores first. I had three things on my list - flannel nightgown (I’m sick of winter, too), long sleeve white shirt, jeans skirt. I came out of the first Goodwill store with a jeans jumper that actually fit and looks almost new. Next stop was the Thrift store. 9:00 and they didn’t open til 10:00. Gesh. 10:00 is so late for my morning. So on to JoAnn’s to get some thread. 9:11 and  they open at 9:00. Obviously, no one told the doors that. After pounding on the locked doors and shivering without my jacket - wind was HORRIBLE today, I gave up and went across the street to the second Goodwill Store. Tried on some things but really didn’t find anything. Back to JoAnn’s. Afterwards I figured I was this close, I’d try JC Penneys, afterall, the t shirt, skirt and jacket I was wearing were all bought at a JC Penneys, albeit 15+ years ago. The day went down hill from there. As I walked in the store I heard ‘the voice’ in my head saying “retail - at least 50% markup” and cringed. It had been over a year since the last time I’d walked into a retail clothing store and I hadn’t found anything then.  No different today. I never understood what my Mom meant when she could look around a full store and say she couldn’t find anything. NOW I know. I ran screaming wildly from the store, vowing to never return. I wondered what people were looking at.

The wind, the wind, the wind! It’s trying to blow Texas right in to Oklahoma and all through my head, from ear to ear. My brain feels like a spinning wheel that can’t settle on anything. Up here on top of the hill clothes on the line are blowing parallel to the ground. The only benefit is there will be no wrinkles left in them, if they can stay attached long enough to dry. Now I remember why I have so few ‘free’ days. Nothing frustrates me like not accomplishing much of anything in a ‘free day’. This Farmer Woman is bored and we all know idle hands are the devil’s workshop so I’m going to fix supper.

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February 1, 2009 by Debbie.

I saw this sig line on a friend’s email -
“This is the beginning of a new day.  You have been given this day to use as you will.  You can waste it or use it for good.  What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.  When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind … let it be something good.” Author unknown

Thanks, Gina!

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