God is so faithful, isn’t He? Not only has He provided us some wonderful friends in a foreign land, but He’s also given them the same desire for a home church. We LOVE Don and Gina and their children!

We are in the beginning stages of establishing a home fellowship and feel we have so much for the Lord to teach us.  Our desire is to throw out all our preconceived ideas about what church is supposed to be like and instead rely totally on scripture as a model.  This is a lot more difficult than it sounds when you find out that a lot of what you thought was important in a church has little or no scriptural basis! (so where DID it come from?)  Once again we can see how God’s timing is always purposeful and perfect!  How awesome to have two families move to the same area within a few months of each other who have so many of the same goals!

The adults are outnumbered 2 to 1 by children, and we like that very much!

Our children seem to tolerate each other pretty well.

Here’s Gina and her little sprout, Abby.  Gina can do anything.  Like sew, milk cows, build stanchions, and butcher all manner of animals.  Maybe if I don’t aggravate her too much, she’ll teach me a thing or three.   She is  so sweet!

Happy Birthday, Katharina!!!!!!!!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for three years with such a darling, wonderful little girl!

Kate informed me as I put her down for a nap just a few moments ago that she would never be two again.  Oh, it hit me like a ton of bricks!  Did I enjoy her enough?  Did I do all I could to show her Christ’s love through me?  Did I pray for her enough?  How I long for less regrets at birthday number four!

We celebrated yesterday, since Mamaw and Papaw had to leave last night.  We started the day off with her favorite breakfast.  Biscuits and gravy, of course, being a southern gal!  We have a tradition of putting candles in their breakfast.  You just can’t blow out candles too many times, you know!

In the afternoon we went to the park for cake and ice cream.  Lots of sweet memories….

See, I really was there!

Here is the well known “everyone line up in front of the cake” picture:

And the “opening presents” pictures:

What a day!!!!!!

]]> http://firstfruitsfarmne.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/our-baby-girl-is-3-today/feed/ firstfruitsfarmne http://firstfruitsfarmne.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/their-wish-is-his-command/ http://firstfruitsfarmne.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/their-wish-is-his-command/#comments Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:39:36 +0000 firstfruitsfarmne http://firstfruitsfarmne.wordpress.com/?p=307

My sweet Daddy came to pick up my mom and to stay for a week himself.  He pulled into the driveway in his tiny Ford Escort and had the backseat crammed full of goodies, one of which was a jeep for Kate.  Do you think she was excited?

He and Mom also produced a pool for Kate’s upcoming birthday, which everyone enjoyed.  Even me.

Water straight from the well was a little chilly for Katharina!

Dad also put new tires and tubes on all the girls’ bikes and taught Lauren to ride a two wheeler.  Way to go Laurie!

Next on his grandbaby spoiling mission was assembling an old swing set stored in the barn.

Caleb thinks it’s just for him!

Being Daddy’s little girl, as well, I got my share of spoiling, too.  In the back of that car was also a computer chair and a lamp for my living room.  I have to be extremely careful what I say in front of my parents.  If they think you want something, they will oblige.  I also got almost an entire honey - do list wiped out.  I think Josh is relieved!

Much more wonderful than all the gifts and service were sweet times of fellowship.  Every evening we watched Andy Griffith season one.  One of my favorite sounds is my daddy’s laughter.

Too cute. Head over to Kevin and Lydia’s and laugh with me!

My mother has been here for two weeks now.  Sigh…..  I don’t know how I’m ever going to let her go.  She always ministers to our family in HUGE ways every time she comes.

When she comes, she comes to serve.  Her motto is, “I want to do the things you never have time to do.”  So she has organized every closet in my house, finished unpacking everything from our move, made curtains, mended, cleaned out an enormous junk room, made biscuits almost every morning, scrubbed places I would never scrub, taken over the laundry, and smiled all the while!  (Not to mention kissed grandbabies until they’re rotten!)

My mama has always been so supportive and excited about our growing family.  She is a great example to me of an older woman encouraging and assisting a younger one.  I love you, Mama!

OK, I know some of you are shaking your head or rolling your eyes at how very spoiled and American my title is! As if people haven’t survived without it for thousands of years. I have been spoiled my entire life with air conditioning. My husband, however, grew up without it and thinks we could do without.

Nebraska is much different than Tennessee in regard to summer heat. In Tennessee, you roast a full six months out of the year, not as much from high temperatures as from the sauna-like humidity. Here, you have a few weeks of intense heat, usually in August, where triple digits are likely. That’s quite a difference. It may technically get hotter here, but it is brief compared to the south. So far, we’ve only had three or four days in the 90s. Even those days have cool evenings.

So far so good, I guess. I’m of the opinion that we should turn on the ancient old window unit in the living room on days that it reaches, say, 95 outside, at least during the hottest part of the day. We certainly can’t afford to keep it running much more than that. (We’re not even sure the old thing works!)

I am learning a few things I thought you might find interesting or humorous.

1. Every time you open your refrigerator or freezer door, you linger for a while.

2. You are less inclined to snuggle with your children on the couch as you read. (”PLEASE try not to touch me!”)

3. A cold shower is a reward!

4. You become more in tune with the weather. Every time a cloud blocks the sun you sigh a little.

5. When the sun sets you come alive!

6. You take joy in the silliest things. Like keeping a spray bottle of water in the fridge and spraying it all over yourself. Instant bliss!

7. Chocolate chips in the pantry will melt.

8. You can get emotionally attached to strange objects. Like window fans.

9. It is much more difficult to keep modesty in check. (”Um, why can’t I wear this?”)

10. Creativity is sparked. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. Check out our new cooking porch:

We tried putting most of our heat producing appliances in an old laundry area so we could close the door and not heat the entire house. If we ever build, this will be a much more well thought out space, as we are thinking of using a wood cook stove.

Does anyone have any tips for me?

I think we should lobby for a little more honesty in advertising when it comes to state slogans. A fair and balanced approach to tourism would be much more ethical, don’t you think? I’m thinking of submitting this to the governor for consideration for those nifty little tourism booklets you find in the rest areas. So what do you think?

Then again, I may be just a little cynical after another night in the root cellar. So, how about this one?

A personal favorite of mine: Let’s call it “Child Fleeing to the Cellar.”

No children were sucked up, whirled around, or otherwise injured during their flight to the cellar. Those long, cold Nebraska winters are starting to look better and better!

Today it was a whole lot of fun!

Inspired by the system of our fore-mothers, I started an experiment today. Washing on Mondays. Only on Mondays.

I know it sounds impossible. I, too, imagined a tower of laundry overtaking my entire house. However, I found a few places to hide it. I definitely had enough clothes to pull it off. Can you imagine the feeling of putting away your last bit of laundry and knowing it’s finished for a whole week? Almost brings tears to my eyes.

The girls and I did it today. We devoted the day to our laundry and got a bit goofy as well. As the girls grow the fellowship that comes from working together grows as well. This motherhood thing just keeps getting sweeter!

Rachel told me today, “You know, Mom, if someone saw all our laundry, they’d think you had a lot of children instead of just five!” Bless her heart, I think some of my training is starting to take! Here she is imitating her mother:

Ashlynne’s favorite job is taking the clothes off the line.

And being adorable!

The clothesline is like a children magnet! All activities are moved to wherever the wash is being hung. Here I caught Rachel and Lauren working on yet another story:

Finally, Rachel wanted to strike a pose. Can anyone name the character/movie she is imitating?

Sounds like a novel, huh?

I’ve always had  some kind of morbid fascination with thunderstorms.  At least I used to.  Tennessee thunderstorms were very mild in comparison to what we have been experiencing out here.  Rarely was I ever told to “take cover in the center of your home” for a mere thunderstorm back in Tennessee.  You could sit out on your porch and watch them roll on by if you wanted to.

Last night was a new experience.  We’ve had some semi-scary storms out here before, but this one was the worst yet.  All was fairly mild around midnight.  The children’s sleep hadn’t even been disturbed, so Josh and I were about to turn in, when wham!  A gust of wind hit our house that sounded like a freight train!  (Ok, so the old windows make the wind sound even worse!)  Our emergency radio alarm starts going off and tells us to expect 70 mph winds and golf ball sized hail.  Oh, goody!  Josh and I were looking out the front door when the hail started.  It was so loud that I could barely hear Josh’s instructions to get the children.

I’ve discovered it’s a little difficult to drag five half asleep children down the stairs when your legs are nothing but jelly.  With wind that was bending large trees almost double, large hail, and rain that was coming in sideways,  the idea of trudging across the yard to the storm shelter was not very appealing.  We opted to shove them all under the stairs.  Wasn’t a very popular idea.

Things calmed down considerably.  Our power was flickering, but we managed to check the doppler.  Our hearts sank a little at the long, red line that was creeping nearer.  Joshua decided to hit the cellar before it got here.  Again, not a very popular idea.

The rain was creeping in from all sides, making it a miserable little hangout.  We got 2 inches from one thunderstorm!

Notice Caleb’s big grin.  He was rather amused by everything!  Ashlynne wanted me to take a picture of her brave smile.  We only saw it when the camera was out!

Rachel, on the other hand, was not even slightly amused by the big event.

The Lord was very gracious and we didn’t have to stay in the cave very long.

The next morning, the crop damage was apparent, though it’s hard to tell the extent of the damage from the pictures.

It looks as if everything has been sheered off  with scissors.  Our big, beautiful garden looks very humbled.  Maybe we have been, too!

Some farmers in the area have lost everything.  But, that’s farming, and everyone out here knows it.  It appears we are to have even worse weather tonight!  We’ve been told not to get too excited again unless there are reports of rotation in the area.  I guess “tornado watch, favorable conditions, and significant wind sheer” are nothing to get excited about.  The neighbors would probably chuckle at these poor southerners afraid of a violent thunderstorm!

Though the yield of the olive should fail,

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

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