It is Finished...

Now, I don't claim to understand what God must have felt like to finish the creation of the world. No not at all. But, the satisfaction of putting yourself so deeply into a project and pushing yourself to keep at it, to not give in to temptation to do a little less, to finish with the knowledge that you've done the best you were able to do....it had to be a little taste of that great accomplishment.

Thursday morning, I felt that. I finished my daughters high school transcript. Now for some that start this record keeping process early (like before high school!), the process may not be as painful as say... mine was for waiting until the end to figure out how to compile it all together. That is not completely true. I had a plan in the beginning, but it changed each year. My record keeping also changed as I progressed through the past four years and I had to meld it all together to make sense... to be similar in format so that the information made sense to one reading it. I found that people get confused over homeschooler's transcripts, because they are different anyways... and to give them one that had differences within itself... well, I didn't want to do that. The feeling of having it done... completely done was like none other. It was better than finishing that first research paper I had to do in high school. It was better than organizing all the bills and creating a budget. It was simply done and all I could do was smile.

I've come upon a new plan for the coming girls. It is easy to change without creating a bunch of work. I have a new recording program that keeps track of grades, hours, activities, etc. It is fairly easy to change your grading scale, to include weighted grading, to rearrange assignments for courses, etc. So, should I change my mind down the road... I have a program that is ready to work with me.

I praise God for helping me to accomplish this goal. (so does my daughter!) I praise God for standing by my side when I felt so drained and totally exhausted from this project. I simply... Praise God!

Warmly, ~Melissa

My Sabbath...

Last night Sabbath began with a meal of crockpot chili and cornbread. We were all at the table and enjoyed a nice meal together. I like meals that are mostly one course... they are so much more simpler and "I" enjoy them more, rather than being pressed to finish several dishes at once and rush them to the table before anything gets cold. This was one of those meals! After supper things got cleaned up and the older kids played games with Dad while I watched Jonah (veggie tales) with my little one.

We're currently bottle feeding 4 lambs. So that puts a little rush on Sabbath mornings. I had prepared cinnamon rolls the day before, so a quick breakfast to help us out the door.

I was asked to also teach the youth class in Sabbath school for a gal who would be gone for the day. They are studying the Great Controversy study book. Basically it goes through the themes of the Great Controversy, but uses Bible texts to make the points. Some quotes from the Great Controversy are given between verses to read to make the point more clear. We had a good study. It was focusing on the Sabbath and points that commandment keepers are part of God's followers. It also pointed out that things have not changed... Jesus didn't come to change laws but to fulfill them and teach us how to live with them.

My daughter Chelsea had been asking more about the end times and was a good study. I only had three in the class and when talking about Sabbath was made for man and not man for Sabbath, I asked them to try to explain that... and they all stammered and their immediate thought was Sabbath was not for our enjoyment, it was made for keeping. Oh, No, girls... You've all got that wrong! I spent a while trying to talk to them about that. That the Sabbath was made for US... God doesn't need us to worship on Sabbath or to come to church on Sabbath... that was what the verse was trying to say... God made the Sabbath for us... to help us rest, to give us time to commune with our Saviour, our Creator... because that is what we were created to do and if we leave no time to do that, we live a lopsided life that never feels right. We need time to commune with Jesus... an entire day to feel no pressures of work pulling at us... to rest in Him!

Afterwards we ventured down to the sanctuary and participated in church. Our sermon was based on the theme of the end times as well. It identified several verses through the times of what made God's people... God's people. The elder ended it in an interesting manner of reading the Impressive Dream... the one about the narrow road. As he read it, he paused with each step along that road... each burden that was laid off... each item that was removed to make the path easier to travel... until you see the wall stained with blood, realizing others have gone this path as well. It is not an easy path to travel, but it is one worth traveling! It really touched my heart to hear this as some days... or years, I have felt that I am just hanging by a thread to keep going. The criticims we take, the trials we bear, the struggles we face each day...not to mention the reality that we are not perfect! The sermon was short, but to the point and it made it's point deep in my heart. I praise God for that.

After church we headed home and the girls checked on the sheep while I warmed up lunch. We had haystacks. The Pastor's son joined us for lunch... he is dating our oldest daughter. Their dates consist more of visiting each other at their homes (with family around) or seeing each other at church. We also had strawberry pretzel salad that my daughter made. And dessert was some peanut butter blossom cookies (with the chocolate stars in the middle).

I played two games with Megan, while the other kids talked on the couch. I then took little Paige upstairs and we relaxed until she finally fell asleep. The older girls kept tabs on the sheep... we had our daughter's sheep lamb... three ewe lambs, she is so excited. Another two in labor. Just after Sabbath we checked the one as she wasn't progressing. She had triplets, all needed pulling and all three died. One of the triplet lambs appeared sickly and none had a heart rate at all, so three were all stillborn. Poor mama. The other mama we are still waiting on.


We ended the Sabbath with a reading from the book, Guide's favorite Sabbath stories. I had chosen that before Sabbath, little did I know that our Sabbath school and church service would both talk about Sabbath keepers and here I had chosen a story of someone who had chosen to keep his Sabbath. I love it when things happen that way... without planning it!

Warmly, ~Melissa

Warmth, Love, and Wood Stoves...

As winter weather continues, I am thankful for our wood stove. This is what heats our entire house. It is not a great picture and I am sorry for that. The stove pipe goes up and outside through the wall about 2 feet over my head. This is a soapstone stove. We purchased it shortly after moving into our home. We found that within 2 years it had paid for itself by saving us that much money on our LP gas. I am sure it is saving us bundles this year as we haven't turned on the heat in the middle of the night like we did the past couple years... we either get up and stoke the stove, or we wake up in a COLD house! LOL. I think 56 is the coldest I've seen it in the morning, most of the time it is around 62 and it warms up within an hour or so. We're all accustomed to wearing warm slippers and wearing sweaters, sweatshirts and throwing a blanket over our lap until things warm up.

In the early morning hours, it is a common sight to see my girls sitting near the stove doing their schoolwork. It is a favorite place to warm up after being outside in the cold. Wet boots and mittens get dried near the stove. Dh bought me soapstone boot driers last winter and they are wonderful pieces of stone. I take them upstairs with me and stick my feet on them to keep myself a little bit cozier. They heat up quickly by laying on top of our stove. The heat stays in the stones for quite some time... an hour or more. He got me two sets so one can be warming while I am using the other. Dh uses the stones to dry his boots if they ever get wet. They also work wonderful as bedwarmers. Just warm up both pairs, wrap in a towel and lay near your feet... Ahhhh!

The wood stove is also wonderful for warming up cold lambs. Nice and warm, it seems to warm them up in no time. We put them in a laundry basket and set near the stove. Last year we had a selenium deficiency and the lambs struggled for the first 3 days or so to just get up... they were like newborn babies, not lambs. We had over 25 lambs in assorted laundry baskets around the wood stove. Can you imagine the sight? Well you can, I found a picture from last year. The blue basket shows new lambs... they were always close to the fire. They got moved further away as they were able to maintain their body temperature.

It is obvious that a wood stove will warm your house, but it also helps to warm your heart as well. We have 6 in our family and our house is quite large. The wood stove helps to keep us "together" in the winter months. Everyone gathers in the living room for warmth and we benefit also by being together! Friends that visit during the winter love the warmth from the stove as well. We've been told our home is so "homey". Our house isn't the most beautifully decorated, or the classiest. But it is home.

Warmly, ~Melissa

Winter Birds...

My daughter caught this picture of two birds sitting on a branch near the house. Winter can seem so glum at times. Especially come late January and February and still being in the thick of winter. I have read at many blogs where they are getting wild flowers and new grass, some even starting their gardens. But that is not here. Oh, it has brought a longing in our hearts for warmer weather that is for sure. I ask myself, "Can I be content...HERE?"


Yesterday we had yet another blizzard warning. We got a few more inches on top of our snow. Today that snow is blowing around with high COLD winds, bringing drifts that are tall, hard and firm. I was to go to a board meeting tonight, so I ventured down the lane to check the roads. At the end of our lane was a drift about one foot deep and probably as long as my van. Normally if it was puffy snow, I wouldn't think a thing of it. I got out of my van and walked on the snow, quite firm; it held me up. I wasn't as sure that it would hold my van up. We've had snow like that before and it is likely that I would crush through and bring my van to it's belly in snow and I would be stuck. I backed up our lane and didn't opt to leave. The wind was bitter cold and the snow still blowing drifts onto the road and around our mailbox.

Back at the house, I debated, but decided not to go to the board meeting. Sure it would be nice to get out, however, it was nice to stay in as well. Our home is cozy warm. My girls were home with me. School got done in a timely manner so no fussing over schoolwork. Two of the girls went out and played in the snow. We have no hills, but dh builds a snow hill for them every winter with the snow he plows and Megan took Paige down several times with the sled. Then they started to dig a cave into another part of the snow hill. Paige would not go in the snow cave as the dogs climbed on top of the hill and I think she thought they'd fall in on top of her. I've been working on my oldest's transcript, and had some quiet peace while the little one napped to work on that. Tonight, I made sugar cookies with Paige. She was all smiles and enjoyed sharing her cookies with her sisters.

All in all it was a nice peaceful day. I enjoy winter days when we are snowed in. For some reason it is peaceful to my soul to know that I don't have to go out; I don't have to rush in this busy world we live in. The girls also were not rushing and running to and fro. They have had an enjoyable evening together. No grumbles that I've heard all night. I'm thinking it brought peace to them as well.

As we look outside the weather can seem dreadful, but there is peace in knowing that God's hand is there watching over us. We see the birds out in the snow and smile at His wonderous creation. Winter can be boring just staring at the walls, but those two little birds brought a little happiness to our day. Sometimes we also need to look around at the details of our days to see the blessings God has given us this day. My day may not have been wonderfully spectacular, but it was a GOOD day!

Warmly,
~Melissa

Shasta

We have a new puppy in our home. Actually, she has been here for a few months. We got her back in October. Shasta is an English Shepherd. She is a herd dog and we got her for working with our sheep. When our dog Boomer was around, we just loved him. He was the best farm dog. But, we decided if we ever lost Boomer, we would get a herd dog. Boomer passed away this past year and we put our name in for an English Shepherd. We purchased her from a gal whom we had sold sheep to a few years ago.

Shasta loves the snow. We were tentative about leaving her outside, but the gal we bought her from said... the dogs get too hot inside in the winter with all their hair. But a puppy? We still watched the weather and how she does and we have had an extremely cold winter, yet she is loving being outside. On these below freezing days, she is outside just running around and playing, not even hinting that she may be a tad cold. So, now we have relaxed and realized she is a true outside dog... meant for our winter weather!


English Shepherds begin to show their herding instincts early on. Around 6 months to a year they actually begin to work with you, rather than just playing with their herding instincts. Shasta is still young and still playing while she works, but sometimes she has been helpful. Dh finds her a great help when he wants to feed the sheep, he loads the hay on the tractor and opens the gate. Shasta keeps the sheep inside the field, not letting them run out the gate, as they wish to do. Here are three pictures of her at work. The one picture you will notice the sheep watching her and some starting to run from her. The second picture, is one of the momma ewes protecting their herd of sheep... stomping at Shasta. She is not afraid of the sheep when they do this, she is a quick little thing and just backs up, scoots around and comes at a different angle until the sheep start to obey.


I think she will be a great dog to work with the sheep, once she learns a few more commands. It will take a little time, but Dh is very pleased with her progress at this time.

Quiet Sabbath...sort of...*Ü*

This morning, I decided to stay home from church. I sent the girls with Paige. She woke up in such a happy mood and saw us all dressed up (yes, I was dressed and ready for church). She asked me, "Where are we going?" I said, "We are going to church." But by the time everyone was ready, I realized that I did not have lunch ready and the girls had invited guests and I have also been so tired lately that a nice restful morning seemed so inviting. So, I decided to stay home.

We are in the midst of lambing season and staying home was not necessarily a bad thing. While we are having a much better lambing year than last year, we've still have a few trials that seem to come. I praise God that not all these trials hit us the first year... or we'd have run fast from raising sheep! Each year a different trial has seemed to hit us. One year it was hoof rot with the lambs, another year a momma ewe prolapsed, another year we had our first lamb to pull, and another year toxemia. I could not tell you all the trials, but each one we learned more of how to care for our sheep and it was not necessarily overwhelming as God allowed us time to go through each trial. Last year was by far the worst... we experienced selenium deficiency... it was a horrible year, very exhausting, but it's very trials have been a blessing to our family down the road. This year, we had our first sheep with a back injury. The treatment did not work, rather it killed her. That was sad, she passed away this afternoon, she hemorrhaged as the medication which was to induce labor, caused hemorrhaging instead. We ended up losing her lambs (unborn) as well. We wonder if the back injury isn't due to these full to term mommas walking on ice and slipping. We got ice last month and it hasn't been warm enough to melt and run-off the field where they eat their hay. We have a new herd dog (still puppy) who enjoys chasing the sheep on this ice. It is hard on these full-term mommas!

Anyways, my Sabbath was sweet. This morning it was quiet and I read my devotions. I then listened to a tape from Restoration International in the Applied Parenting Series. I gained insight into leading your child to prayer and study in the Bible. While I have done this, I wondered if there were some better ways. I got some new ideas to try out. I found it interesting that the very topic I had been praying over... was the topic on the tape that I popped into the player. (I didn't look at a the topic, I just was on that tape in the series).

After that, the girls arrived home with their friends and we had a nice dinner together. This afternoon, the girls and their friends have been listening to music and just talking with their friends. It has been nice. Beings I am the only adult at home, it is rather quiet for me. I enjoyed a little time on the computer and just some quiet thinking time.

The sun is now down and the house is getting noisier. The kids downstairs are playing Wii. They are contemplating going bowling, although they want to wait until 9pm when the black lights come on and everything starts to glow. Well, I'd better go downstairs and find something for this gang to eat.

Warmly, ~Melissa