Unseasonably Warm

For those of you who live outside of Minnesota, these pictures may not appear all that odd, but for us, it has been extremely warm for October in Minnesota. The kids and I took some time in the afternoon to enjoy the nearby lake, warm air and sunshine. This is good for all of us.

Twelve Years Ago

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth. Psalm 115:1

I Love Good Theology

As a teenager, I was not mature, but growing up in a good church and with good theology presented to me in confirmation and through my parents helped me to recognize when something was not quite right. I recognized something was not right at a youth camp that I attended with a youth group in high school. The special speaker at the camp gave a week long Bible study on the Blessings of obedience and Curses of disobedience laid out for the people of God, the Israelites, in Deuteronomy 28. The main thesis was, "Obey God and you will be blessed. Disobey God and you will be cursed." Jesus Christ was never mentioned except for perhaps during an altar call to invite people to be saved. At least that much was preached, which is a wonderful conclusion to an otherwise empty message . What should have brought us to realize our totally sinful nature and our utter depravity thus bringing us to the rich mercy offered to us in Christ, was instead a moralistic, hopeless teaching for Christian youth that completely missed the mark.

Yesterday I heard Dr. R.C.Sproul teach on the theme of blessings and curses in the Old Testament and how Jesus took the curse that was due us because of our disobedience. Dr. Sproul explained Galatians 3:13 which states, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree' )" There is a biblical theology that is understood through studying the whole book of the Bible, and can be completely missed through moralistic or legalistic preaching. Without a Christocentric, cross-centered, biblical theology, our "Christianity" has no hope. We will continue to go on living in condemnation and legalism and hopelessness. Let us return to Christ.

I encourage you to listen to this rich teaching and be blessed: http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/renewing-your-mind/player/blessing-or-curse-223619.html

A full rainbow appeared in the sky during the sunrise this morning. This is looking out past our neighbor's house towards the west. Peter John noticed it out the window just as we were about to eat breakfast, and we all made our way out into the chilly morning to praise God for it. The kids snapped the photographs.

The Garden

It has been a productive year...not quite as much as last year, but I am still grateful. We had a raspberry bumper crop, and now the cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans have been steadily flowing from the garden, to my counter, and into glass jars for canning. I have been canning pretty much anything I can get my hands on. So far, I have pickled beets, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, three-bean salad, canned whole tomatoes, and peaches. I also froze a lot of rhubarb and green beans. Today I have been trying to strain the juice from these bags of chokecherries that Ethan and the two oldest kids picked in North Dakota. The juice takes a long time to strain in the jelly bag because it is very pulpy. I finally finished this evening and have about a gallon of juice that I placed into the freezer until I can pick up some Sure-Jell and sugar to make jelly and syrup.

The carrots do not seem to be growing, so I am not sure if any will come out of the ground this year. Much to my children's delight, one of the zucchini plants died. The other one sort of died, but then revived, and has since produced one zucchini. Another zucchini is growing, so we will see what we can squeeze out of that sick plant. The tomatoes have spotted leaf fungus again, but according to my neighbor, Harley, this fungus gets into the soil and will never go away. The only way to get rid of it is to rotate crops, but because I have a smallish garden, there is not room to move the tomatoes to another location. I still have gotten many, many roma tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes, despite the dead leaves. Praise the LORD for that. God is good, and He will provide.

School's Starting!

I have four very bright children who are (sort of) eager to begin school. One of my kids was thanking God tonight for school, but when it was bedtime, the anxiety started setting in as well as the complaints. I tried to give some motherly exhortation, but I am afraid I was a bit short because I wanted this child to go to sleep rather than talking and keeping the others up. We will see how it goes. As I grow and mature, I am realizing more and more the need for a strong relationship with God through prayer.

As I prepare for homeschooling again in this town, I realize that my expectations for what would be this year are quite different from God's plans. I honestly thought we would have moved by now and we would be starting our lives in a new ministry. But as always, our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and I am peacefully embracing God's will for staying put at the moment and beginning another year homeschooling here. I am content with the fact that God is in control. The biggest perk of being here is the School of Choice that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. We had our mom's meeting last week, and I began to be so excited for the material that the teachers and I will be covering both in school and in homeschool. One of the fun lessons will be a missionary biography presented by the co-op teacher every three weeks that will correspond with the historical time period we will be studying. Adoniram Judson is the first missionary, an amazing persevering Christian man in Burma whose story has brought me to tears after hearing John Piper speak about his life. How Few There Are Who Die So Hard is a very honest look at a man who persevered through tremendous suffering for the sake of the Gospel in Burma. Our teacher will use this missionary to correspond with the time period of the Civil War at the beginning of our American History unit this year. We will cover the Civil War to present times in history this year. I especially look forward to all the wonderful material on WWII, a favorite topic of my husband's, who was a history major in college. This is the fun stuff, the facts, that our kids LOVE.

The basics that require practice and rote memory do not appeal to my kids, and we struggle through them. Math facts, spelling, and handwriting are sometimes a "teeth pulling" experience. I pray for great creativity and perseverance in teaching these subjects this year. I am grateful that God has provided some great materials for these subjects. Just last week, I received two free handwriting books, one for Peter and one for Gretchen. These were some things I really needed. Now I am praying for another need, that I trust God will provide in His special way. Let's roll!

Look At 'Em Beans!

I finally got the beans blanched and frozen today. This will not be the last day of doing that this summer. Amy was my wonderful helper!