Making things New.

A bride prepared
Her Lover calling
And from the throne
You can hear Him say...

My dwelling place
Will be with you
For I am yours
And you are mine
Every tear you cry,
I will wipe away.
No more death, mourning, crying or pain
For these have passed
And I my Love,
Am making things new.,

In Christ.

We just started a new Bible Study. The first meeting, we were handed out a paper "Who I am in Christ". I've seen those lists before... lots of times. Always thought "sure, sure". I believed it all.

I was reading over this one today. I don't believe most of it.

God, teach me. I want to know who I am in you.

Failures and Dreams.

Seeking the King above all.

That's my goal. My hope. My dream.
Oh, how I fail...

Trusting Jesus with everything.

That's my goal. My hope. My dream.
Oh, how I fail...

Right now, today, I feel as if I will always follow. Always give all. Always trust. But tomorrow. Tomorrow all my ideals may collapse.

The most wonderful part? He is faithful. Even through all my failures. All my brokeness.

My husband and I are working (at times it seems so slowly!) at becoming foster parents. Even to write the words, I feel my heart begin to beat faster. My mind screams this is what I'm suppose to do! I know that God put this inside me.

He also told me, oh, so clearly, "walk slowly, following my steps."

I lose trust so quickly! My mind says, "NOW!" God says, "Wait."
I want what I want. Right this minute.
God is more concerned with my heart than my status or paperwork.

Oh, Jesus, I want to follow your lead.

There is a little boy, right now, who I want to raise. I want him in my home. I want to be telling him stories about Jesus and kissing him goodnight. He's all ready two. I don't want to wait until he is three. But I might have to.

I cry out to God... "Please, Jesus, please let him come to me!"
And God says, "Please, daughter, please, trust me."

Am I willing? Can I surrender? Again. And again. And again.

My knees are sore from praying. But is this but a lesson for the future? For I know that if this child comes to me then I will be on my knees praying for the next fifty years or so... Am I willing to begin now?

Sugaring.

I have this strange compulsion. Well, it's not THAT strange but most people don't seem to have it. Simply put: If it can be produced on my land, I want to utilize it.

So, when my husband mentioned wanting to make Maple Syrup again (He used to when he was a teenager) I jumped at the idea!

Since we're incredibly short on money right now (farming isn't doing so great nor is electricity, the two things we're invested in!) my amazing brilliant husband built his own evaporator. (i.e. pan to boil down the sap in)

It IS possible to just boil it down on the stove but it's incredibly... uhm... sticky. And it's a long process because it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. (But I'd probably do it if we didn't have an evaporator. Because I'm crazy like that.)

For those of you who don't know how Maple Syrup is made... a hole is drilled in the side of the tree and a small spout is hammered in. You then place some kind of container under the spout (using hanging on the tree with a little hook that is connected to the spout) to catch the sap that will run.

Although the "typical" is to use buckets... anything really can work. As my husband shows...



Sugaring takes place when it's still freezing at night but warm during the day. (i.e. spring) Ideal is 20's at night and 40's during the day.

The sap is then collected and boiled in a stainless steel pan (to prevent darkening).

A long long time later you have syrup!

Being an Aunt to Foster Kids.

I love my nieces and nephews. Adore them, actually.
There is nothing more I'd rather do than curl up on the floor with ten kids crawling all over me, reading Moo-Baa-LaLaLa.

I especially love being an Aunt to all my siblings Foster children. I love it that I can tell them stories about Jesus. I love it that I can settle them down when they're aggitated, kiss them when they're hurting and hold them when they're naughty and need be surrounded.

Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to be a part of these children's lives. Thank you for providing me with all the children that my heart longs for.