WIT Conference

Thanks to blogger's new and improved website (finally!), I am now pleased to present to you a post that should have been up two weeks ago.

It was the 11th of August when Faith and I took to the road (I, with my newly acquired drivers license!) and left our homeland of Michigan for a conference in Indiana.

 The WIT conference was held at the beautiful and serene (except when the train went thundering by early in the morning) Verity campus.

 The messages were thought provoking, and life changing in many various ways.  More complex than I can summarize for you with the limited number of words at my disposal.

 

If I had to pick one of my favorite aspects of the conference, it would have to be how they gave you time to reflect after the sessions, sometimes with your small table group, and other times alone.

We made many new friends,

Both Human and animal:)

My very sweet table group,

and Faith's group of girls.

These are the 9 girls that we smashed into one room.  Very cozy!!

Faith and I are very glad that we were able to attend this conference, and are thankful to God for all we learned there.
~Chs

Harvesting Garlic

(Dear readers, I apologize for the lack of post recently. I have been having a battle with Blogger on whether I can upload pictures or not. I have finally persuaded it to see my point of view, and therefore now present you with the post that should have been up 5 days ago, complete with pictures!)

One of my favorite types of produce to harvest from the garden are the vegetables that you plant in the spring (or in this case last fall), completely forget about all summer, then in early fall discover that they are ready to harvest! Onions, potatoes, carrots, and garlic, are all part of this delightful category.

The other day (okay about a week or so ago;) we decided it was about time to harvest our garlic, and so set about the congenial task.

We laid them out on a screen (up out of the way of mischievous puppies) to dry for a few days.

When they were sufficiently dry, Mother brushed off all the dirt, and I set about to braid them.

Once done, we had 6 beautiful braids of healthy garlic, about 66 heads in all. That should take us a whole year, of Chicken soup, garlic broth, pickles etc...!!
~Chs

Nearness to Christ

"Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease unless they are in a state of nearness to Christ, for when they are away from Him, the lose their peace. The nearer to Him, the nearer they are to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to Him, the fuller their heart is, not only of peace, but also of life, vigor, and joy, for these all depend on constant communion with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us."
~C. H. Spurgeon

Garden Photos

Though the tomatoes are not quite ripening by the dozens yet (due to this gorgeous, yet early cool weather) our garden is still a place of beautiful harvest. The other day I was outside picking some vegetables, fruits, flowers etc. and since I had my camera with me, I also came away with many pictures which Faith suggested I share with you all. So let me show you our garden.

In the back half of the garden, broccoli and kale, beans and onions, tomatoes and peppers all coincide in harmony.


This year we "strung" our tomatoes and they seem to have enjoyed it, because they are healthy and so bushy that it is difficult to walk between rows!

Smattered here and there at the end of rows are bright beautiful flowers, just enough to lend a splash of color to the green.

Some of the flowers were planted purposely by humans, but all the sunflowers were volunteers.

The front 12 rows of the garden house cucumbers (both pickling and slicing)...

Lettuce (which is actually sprinkled in and out all around the garden)...

4 rows of very healthy corn (which we now realize is not near enough for a family of 7)...

Big, fat, orange carrots (which are rather too large in diameter, if you ask me:)...

and rows and rows of bush beans (some of which decided that they were really pole beans:).

Our vegetable garden is along the west side of our yard which is lined with a chain link fence, and clambering and climbing all along the fence is a grape vine. The picture above, is of our faithful and steadfast "Grapevine Guardian" Garter snake.

The "Vegetable Garden" is just one out of four of our official gardens. Right behind our fence lies the sprawling Squash and Pumpkin patch, which is hedged in by potatoes.

Our Butternut Squash have taken a while to set on (the picture is of one of our volunteer squash plants in the compost/weed pile) so we are hoping for enough warm weather that they will ripen in time.

Last but not least (besides our Strawberry patch of course) is the melon patch. We have never succeeded with melons, in fact our watermelons have never gotten bigger than 4-6 inches in diameter and were always green, and our cantaloupes never came at all.

We were overjoyed this year to find our melons actually growing, and while we don't have near as many melons as could be reasonably expected from the number of plants we have, there is one beautiful watermelon which has exceeded our expectations, and is currently as large as any melon seen in the store! There are also about a half dozen-or-so cantaloupes around the size of a softball.
I think that gardens, almost more than anything teaches you patience, reliance, and trust on God's providence. Because you can only do so much to the plants. The harvest... That is up to God.
~Chs

Meditate at eventide

“Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.”

Genesis 24:63

Very admirable was his occupation. If those who spend so many hours in idle company, light reading, and useless pastimes, could learn wisdom, they would find more profitable society and more interesting engagements in meditation than in the vanities which now have such charms for them. We should all know more, live nearer to God, and grow in grace, if we were more alone. Meditation chews the cud and extracts the real nutriment from the mental food gathered elsewhere. When Jesus is the theme, meditation is sweet indeed. Isaac found Rebecca while engaged in private musings; many others have found their best beloved there.

Very admirable was the choice of place. In the field we have a study hung round with texts for thought. From the cedar to the hyssop, from the soaring eagle down to the chirping grasshopper, from the blue expanse of heaven to a drop of dew, all things are full of teaching, and when the eye is divinely opened, that teaching flashes upon the mind far more vividly than from written books. Our little rooms are neither so healthy, so suggestive, so agreeable, or so inspiring as the fields. Let us count nothing common or unclean, but feel that all created things point to their Maker, and the field will at once be hallowed.

Very admirable was the season. The season of sunset as it draws a veil over the day, befits that repose of the soul when earthborn cares yield to the joys of heavenly communion. The glory of the setting sun excites our wonder, and the solemnity of approaching night awakens our awe. If the business of this day will permit it, it will be well, dear reader, if you can spare an hour to walk in the field at eventide, but if not, the Lord is in the town too, and will meet with thee in thy chamber or in the crowded street. Let thy heart go forth to meet him.

~C. H. Spurgeon

A Miniscule Marvel

Last week we received a call from our neighbors to come and see something that was in their Garage. So we headed down, with anticipation, speculating the whole way what the creature could be.

Our delight and wonder was great when we found a tiny, beautiful, baby humming bird resting in a shoe box in their Garage. Of all the young creatures that we have come in contact with and tried to help, this was most definitely the smallest.

It would drink sugar water eagerly from a syringe, and squeaked loudly. But though it would try to beat it's little wings, it could not actually fly. So we counseled our neighbors to take it on their porch and watch it, until it seemed ready to be released.

Sure enough, later that evening we received a call saying that they had released the hummingbird and had seen/heard an adult hummingbird feeding it! We were very grateful for the chance to see one of the smaller parts of God's creation.
~Chs

The First of August

The first of August is a very special day at our house. Namely Dad's Birthday!!

This year (due to some huge renovating projects) we had to put off our celebration until the evening, after Mom and Dad went out for dinner.

Josh and Theresa were able to come over to join in the festivities, which included gift giving and Birthday pie. Dad loves Bolthouse drinks, so we gave him a variety of those as well as some chocolates and cookies to snack on while studying.

Daddy loves pies of all shapes and sizes and since we had cake quite a bit recently, Charity and I made him a chocolate peanut butter pie, and a peach berry mix pie, both duly enjoyed.
We are very blessed to have Paul Sauve as our father/husband. Thank you Daddy for doing your utmost to follow God and lead your family.
~Chs