Sunday, December 15, 2013

Christmas time is here....

Christmas 2013....it is almost here.  I must say that I am kind of numb and yet looking forward to the day with slight...really slight excitement.  This sounds sad, but really it isn't.  I think Christmas, as I have always known it, is changing, as all things, traditions and events seem to do throughout ones life. 

I no longer get excited about the gifts or the work for "the" Christmas.  My children are older.  My daughter is now 29 and my son is 16.  There isn't the element of surprising them on Christmas morning.  The Currier & Ives picture is gone; burned and buried. 

I have always tried to "include" Jesus in "our" Christmas celebrations, but it has not been completely about HIM!  Gifts...material things...the smells...the tastes...the music...  Such an American thing.  (Sometimes just being an American leads to sin...)  :( 

Jesus please forgive me....  

I listen to my 29 year old daughter and I just hang my head in shame.  She isn't doing anything wrong.  She is the epitome of my own quote..."Whatever a parent does in moderation the child will do in excess."  She is worried that her daughter doesn't have a red Christmassy dress to wear on Christmas.  So...not...important!!!  She is upset that she doesn't have the money to buy her husband a gift for Christmas.  So...not...important!!!  My advice to her was concentrate on the true meaning of why CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!!!  I told her to spend time with her family, without complaining...make cookies and then eat them.  Make a snow family and then be one.  Make homemade decorations and display them.  Play Christmas Hymns and sing them.   Serve those less fortunate--be Jesus.  Do Christmas!!! Praise God for sending us HIS SON!!!

I am taking my own advice...Yes, Christmas is changing here at the Beale Bungalow. 







Thursday, October 10, 2013

Blah.......

This is one bleak, gray, wet day! 




Yep...out front looks bleak, gray and wet.....




Out back looks bleak, gray and wet, too!!!   It has been raining for two straight days now and I think I need to see some sunshine...  :)

Today is the type of day that I have a hard time getting started, especially since I am in a funk kind of a mood.  I once again am experiencing *failure* feelings.  Aish....I am ready to make a brain off button!  :)

It is strange how I read all the books on child rearing, child training, child education and I can't seem to experience the successes that these books seem to communicate.  I am so glad that I have stopped reading them, but when I read something that I really enjoy and believe in it is hard for me to forget their words.  Books are a good thing and a bad thing too. 

I am now 53 and having these *failure* feelings, so I doubt that they will ever go away.  Oh well....when the sun comes out soon ... I think I will feel better and type more positively.

:)

  
 
 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Making Progress....

Yeah!!!  I am beginning to feel that I am making progress in my goal for painting the inside of the Beale Bungalow!!!  :) 

Today, I put my kitchen back together and it looks so much better since I am able to store many appliances in my laundry/storage/pantry/mud room.  I actually did not want to cook in it tonight, but of course, I did.  Anyway....

I am so very tired, but I am going to continue on painting and cleaning.  Sleep comes easily to me at night now.  I am  too tired to think, so off to dreamland I go as soon as my head hits my pillow.  The funny thing is...I still wake up tired.  :(   I know that when my painting is done...that will probably change...hopefully....prayerfully...

So, some pictures.  First--my laundry/storage/pantry/mud room. 

BEFORE:





 
 
 
Yes, it was so sad...  I just lost interest in really cleaning.  Plus there was black dust coating the walls which made
 painting extremely difficult.  I had to cut in three times just to cover the unwashable black dust!  It was a mess.  :(  
 
AFTER:                                                                                              
       




 
 
Nice and clean.  I am going to make curtains for this room and the kitchen, but that will be after I finish all my painting.  Did you notice how I hung all my mops and brooms?  PINTEREST.COM!!  We had a straight rake that broke and I cleaned it--hung it--and filled it with brooms, mops, fan dusters, my Webster and such.  I am happy!!
 
The kitchen was next.  Going up and down the ladders has pulled all my posterior leg muscles, but today I am resting and they are feeling better.  Anyway..
 
BEFORE:
 
 
 
I don't have many before pictures, but take my word for it...it was a dirty mess.  Black dust!! 

AFTER:





Nice and clean.  Once again...I will be making new curtains for the kitchen, but after all the painting is done.  It is so nice to have cleanliness and order in part of my home.  I just sit and look at it and sigh with complete satisfaction!!  I despise painting, but it does look nice when it is done!  :)

I know that I have three rooms and a hallway to go, but I am only concentrating on the next room.  That would be the dining room.  I am going to pick up the paint tomorrow and hopefully get started.  Reality will be just buying the paint and prepping the room.  I can paint on Friday and Saturday.  Two rooms in one week....SWEET! 

My son is going on a Youth Discipleship Retreat this weekend, so I can get a lot of work done.  My husband is going to be doing the lawn...hopefully, but will probably be inside helping me....

We, as a family, went out to eat with our grandson this past Tuesday evening.  He is going to be sixteen this month and travels the rails of Italy by himself.  He and some of his buddies went to Rome (which is an hour and a half from Naples by rail) and they noticed that the train was packed.  They didn't know what was going on and so they decided to follow the crowd.  The crowd went to Vatican City...it was then that the boys noticed the white smoke and knew there was a new pope.  He was there when the new pope spoke.  He said that he is Catholic, but thought it was cool to be there listening to the new head of the Catholic Church.  He has story after story like this.  He just attracts adventure!  It was so much fun listening and sharing a meal with him.  He returns to Italy this Saturday.... 

Well...that is it...   :)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Tuesday is somewhat gray....

My oh my...it is a gray morning.  Not one ray of sunshine anywhere!  I have much to do today, but when it is gray...all I want to  do is curl up with a good book and read.  But, alas this is not to be, at least not this week. 

Yesterday was a sunny cool day and I loved it.  No sweating!  No asthma!  Just a beautiful day inside and out!  Oh well, there is nothing I can do about the gray, so I will just continue to work my plan.  :)

Yesterday was a wonderfully busy day.  I vacuumed, mopped, did laundry, cooked a delicious roast beef dinner, cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen...Seth did all the dusting and was taught how I clean a bathroom.  (I am beginning to train him on how to properly, well at least the way I do it, clean a home.  Bathroom now...laundry next.)  Anyway, by the time my husband was home....the house was clean, laundry basically done and the smell coming from the crockpot was amazing.  He was so glad to be home.

I made a flourless gravy that my guys seem to enjoy.  I put squash in the crockpot with my roast.  I cooked everything for 4 hours on high.  Removed the roast and allowed to set.  Took what was in the crockpot and ran it through my Vita-Mix with a little extra water and about 1/4 cup of milk and wahlah!!!  A delicious gravy that even my son enjoyed.  A beef drippings, squash and onions.  I didn't even need to season it!  I think this would qualify for a Paleo Diet that so many of my friends are on.  It was great!!!

Well, time for work! 

Friday, August 2, 2013

I no longer have a very dirty white front door.....

Today is the second day of August.  The summer is almost over!   I am usually not a fan of summer.  I don't like the heat and humidity.  I don't like the bouts with asthma.  I don't like the listlessness that I seem to experience during the non-schooling months.  BUT....this summer is different.  I have been busy...very busy.  Much is getting done and for a service person...productiveness is so very important!  I do believe that productiveness to a service person, such as myself, equates ....  life! 

Being depressed for so long causes unproductiveness which in turn causes more depression which causes more unprod....   Well, you get the idea.  If I am not being productive then I feel worthless and that is not a good feeling at all.   So, this summer, thanks to my step-daughter's visit, productivity is at an all time high and I am truly loving it!

This does not mean that I have not had any frustrations in my so called productivity, by no means, but I am happy that I finally have some energy and am back to doing what I love.  Homemaking....

This week's project has been my front door.  It has been a chore.  But...it is finally painted.  It was a dirty job and it is no where near perfect, but it is clean and fresh!



The door was born in 1946 and getting the old paint off was hard.  I never could get it all off...



Ugly....



Messy....



Pitted...



More pittedness....



Even more pittednesses....



After being spackled, sanded, vacuumed, primed and painted with two coats of paint....I finally have my gray door!  Like I said...it isn't perfect, but it is fresh and clean and prayerfully welcoming.  :)

I still have to razor blade the paint off the windows, wash the windows and buy a new door knocker (or paint the old one black)...but it is basically done. 

I was planning on doing this job in two days....LOL...it took me four!  Every project is taking me twice as long as I had expected!!  Therefore, I am only shooting for one project a week.  This way I will not be rushed nor disappointed.  I am hoping to have most things done before homeschooling lessons begin.  Then I will begin the schooling and Christmas chores....it is never ending, is it?  Sigh....

Yet, my rooms are decluttered, my bathroom and front door are painted, and three windows have new curtains.  Next.. The Laundry Room!!!  :)








Saturday, July 27, 2013

Curtains, curtains, curtains...

Today I finished a project!!!!  I finished my bedroom curtains!  Simple, but new, fresh and clean! 



Yes, they are simple, but I like them.  I like them so much that my entire house is going to be done in these simple panel curtains.  Different colors and patterns, of course, but in this primitive style.  I have three rooms already done...

Here is my painted and clean bathroom.



I have yet to make my shower curtain, but the monochromatic color scheme makes my bathroom look a bit larger than it is.  I have other material I am going to make for curtains here, too.  A colorful floral, but this curtain will do for now!  :)

My computer room was in complete disarray prior to my step daughter's visit.



It has since been decluttered and rearranged a bit.  I also made the primitive curtains out of some material that I already had....I think it looks much better.



Tons of paper, books and junk went out the front door in trash bags for the dump and boxes to a home school book store to be sold.   The room actually has an echo!  :)

There is still much to do around the house, but I do believe a nice large dent has been made.  I was hoping to get the entire inside of the house painted by September, but I don't know.  Painting takes time....lots of time.  We will see....

My husband and my son has worked hard this morning mowing and edging the lawn.  It was nice a cool this morning so it wasn't so unbearable for them.  The house has been vacuumed and I am getting ready to cut up some peppers from my garden.  I am hoping to get to BJ's today and maybe to Home Depot.  Tomorrow is the LORD's Day and I plan on getting some must needed rest! 

Have a great day!








Friday, July 26, 2013

Friday morning ponderings....

I am sitting here at my dining room table sipping on a hot cup of coffee once again.  Every morning starts the same way...sitting at my dining room table sipping on a hot cup of coffee.  Sigh...

For the past few days I have been hand sewing my bedroom curtains while watching The Hobbit and all three other Peter Jackson "Ring" series.  I am about to start the Star Wars series...I am down to the hemming of the curtains.  My fingers are so sore, but I have enjoyed the process of my ancestral mother's tasks.  I don't think I have done a great job, but I like what I see so far. 

Yesterday was so gray until about 5 p.m.  Then the sun came out and the world was bright and beautiful.  The rains have terribly affected my yellow squash plants.  I am pulling them all today.  My corn isn't up to snuff either.  It is sad looking actually.  The sweet potatoes are ready to be pulled I think...They are very small.  I have gotten a few green bell peppers as deformed as they can be.  I am going to pull my garden as soon as I can and then compost it, cover it with black plastic and let it rest for the fall.  Obviously my soil is in need of replenishing and rest....a new kind of R and R!  :)

Sometimes I wonder if gardening is really worth it.  It takes up so much time and I have not been able to give it my time for the past few years.  This year is because of all the work inside the house.  Next year will be all the work outside the house...Lord Willing....  My survival does not depend on my garden, at least not yet.  Therefore, everything else takes priority.  Sad, but true.  I am terribly disappointed in my gardens and my so called gardening skills.  I look at a friend's garden on line and just cringe at the thought of mine.  Oh well, maybe someday.

I am beginning to wonder if everything I do is kind of worthless.  In one area of Christendom  I am right on target...or at least aiming in the right direction.  In another area of Christendom I am totally off the mark.  I sure wish there was a happy medium.  I know there must be...somewhere. 

Is it wrong to want a nice clean living environment?  Nothing fancy...just a clean homey dwelling to call "home"?  Jesus had no place to lay his head.  Is it wrong to support people from afar through prayer and small financial gifts?  Jesus was in full time God and God alone kind of work.  Is my little world for His Glory or my reputation?  Would I look back and turn into salt, too?  (Sitting here at my dining room table can be...well...thought provoking.)

Anyway, another day that the LORD has given me...hemming and shopping are on the agenda for today. 

Sighing....

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Me oh My......

I am sitting here at my dining room table making a shopping list and sipping on a hot cup of coffee while the washer and dryer are laboring on their first loads of the day.  There is much to be done...

For the past several weeks I have battled a sinus infection, right ear infection, bronchitis, depression and feeling totally overwhelmed.  I have wanted to declutter my home for a couple of years now.  I have also wanted the rooms of my little bungalow to have a fresh coat of paint.  The problem with all these wants?  I have to do them all by myself!  No help, hence the overwhelmed feeling leading to depression.

We received a call from my husband's eldest daughter, Susan; she and her husband and three daughters wish to come and visit and stay at our place.  Yikes!!! 

Depression, I believe, causes dirt, dust and yuck to accumulate.   It also causes nasty films to appear on bathroom walls, sinks, toilets, tubs and floors, as well as, every window in a home.  Corners become a catch all for every tracked in leaf, pine needle or freshly mowed grass!  Dust bunnies become full grown brown camouflaged RABBITS and they multiply....quickly!  Doors become so smudged and dirty that one cannot really remember the original color.  Yep...depression is a dirty business!

Cure for the depression nasties....A visit that includes a beautiful young granddaughter adopted from China and THE set of familial longed for twin cuties that one has never personally met.  Yep...that will get one's depressed hinny off the couch and into frantic action!!!  :)

While I was sick...the bathroom got painted, curtains got made, the impassable computer room was decluttered and scrubbed until it shined.  As I was healing from all my ailments...each room suffered the same fate of an unexpected visit!  Walls, woodwork and floors washed.  Ceilings, furniture, knick knacks dusted.  Windows cleaned.  Doors scrubbed.  My little bungalow is almost ready for all the pink that will be flooding my home this Wednesday!

Yesterday was clean my son's room day.   Oy Vay!!!  I have never seen so much dust!  No wonder he wakes up with a stuffy nose!  After debriding his floors, window and behind every piece of furniture--I do believe that his room was and is painted with a lighter color than what I have been seeing for the last year or so!  We packed up all his prized possessions and put them (temporarily) in the attic.  Legos and 18 month olds do not go well together.  I must say that I am amazed that I do not like the sparseness of his room.  All that makes my son's room reflect my son is gone....I would rather have the Legos, Nerf guns, sports paraphernalia covering his room....It communicates life!  My son's life!  So, I am not going to moan when everything comes back down from the holding space between me and the sky.  I kind of miss it!!!

Today is errand day...Good Will, Moore's Expression, Dollar store, BJ's and Walmart.  Well, at least I will be out of the house!  

Here I am running around trying to make my little world clean, fresh and orderly....the world around me seems to be falling apart.    Egypt, Syria, and even the streets of my own country seems to be joining the chaotic party!  I was sort of wandering what would cause turmoil in America----and of course, it would be a racial issue.  Sigh...Governments are falling and the disgruntled of USA are flooding the streets over a media frenzied racially charged murder case that ended in a not guilty verdict.  We are so.....American!  

Babies are being killed everyday in abortion clinics and there is no real outcry!   Our sports figures, celebrities, and government officials are paid so much money that it is sickening while our military, teachers, firemen, policemen, and other public servants are barely hanging on with no relief in sight.  Our country (and world for that matter) is going down and going down fast!!!  Come Lord Jesus, Come!

While our privileged are being pampered....our poor are praying.  Praying for food...to make it to the end of the month...for jobs....   This may not be such a bad thing though....at least they are looking for God to supply their needs.  I do believe the harvest IS ripe, not only in the USA, but also the world.  Watch closely....times like these are just what satan is looking for in order to bring out the Antichrist.  What better place to start but in America!  The richest, most spoiled and pampered country in all the world!  

Sigh....     

Thursday, June 6, 2013

The Good News...




There are times when living the gospel is hard. 

When your husband isn't perfect.
When your daughter messes up her life and thus yours.
When your son can't read and he is fifteen.
When your house is a mess and no matter how hard you work it still looks the same.
When your weight goes up more than down.
When your purpose seems so mundane that it hurts to wake up in the morning.
When children lie, disrespect and then challenge you about it.
When friends lose it right in front of you.
When you have to stick to your guns even though you don't want to.

Yes, the gospel is hard, but I believe Jesus said it would be.   Luke 14:28....Jesus talks about counting the cost.  The gospel cost God the Father His Son...the gospel cost Jesus His very flesh, and separation from the Father...the gospel cost the weeping of the angels (I assume) witnessing their King being beaten and tortured.  Count the cost...

The gospel is the good news.  The good news is Jesus.  Jesus is the exact replication of God the Father on Earth and God is all righteous LOVE.  Therefore, the good news is being able to be like Jesus and speak in love..."Father, forgive them for they know not what they do"....

I know that the good news is the difference between a Christ less and a Christ filled eternity, but it is even so much more.
It is being empowered to glorify God, in the Name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit to live out this good news kind of love as one already walking on the streets of gold....here on earth.  That is really really good news!!!

Being able to love that imperfect husband, daughter, and son.  Being able to love the work that God has given you...no matter how mundane it is.  Being able to love sinful children and friends and stick to your guns---IN CHRIST!!!  It is all good news, but it does come with a cost.

Dying to self....over and over again...and then stop taking about what it is that is causing this death...It is Gods' not yours anymore...if you are living in the good news. 

Enduring until the end...patience, deference, consistency...over and over again...and then stop fretting over what is being endured.  It is Gods' not yours anymore...if you are living in the good news.

Loving sinners...saved or unsaved...it doesn't matter....over and over again...praying not prying over their sinful or frustrated behavior.  They are Gods'.  The battles belong to the LORD...not you...if you are living in the good news.

Being consistent...even when you are tired, frustrated, disappointed...being steadfast for the sake of training your children, because they are Gods' first and then yours...if you are living the good news.

Am I living the good news?  This radical...upside down lifestyle that has the USA and other nations in an uproar kind of good news?  Let's face it...the only reason we, as believers aren't shacking up, aborting, abusing our family and friends is Jesus and the Good News! 

It seems to me that living "RADICALLY" for God, in the Name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit...is hard, in the flesh, but supernatural in the Spirit.  That is the Great News!  Followers of Jesus the Messiah can and do live on a different plane than the unbelievers.  We act differently.  We talk differently.  We dress differently.  We sing differently.  We love differently!  Not as the world does, but as the Messiah did and still does!  Even more Good News...Jesus STILL LOVES US and sits at the right hand of the Father...interceding for us...in Love.

When people have died and returned to life, by the will of the Father...they all speak of two things.  Number one...A bright clean white light and Number two an all encompassing LOVE!  God IS LOVE!  Hence, because we are His--we, too, can love this miraculous way of life right here on this fallen terrestrial ball we call earth! 

I believe I am writing this for my benefit, because this is really hard for me.  I am so full of MYself that I can stop the flow of heavenly love by my own sin...this distresses me greatly.  Being raised in a home where everyone fought and looked out for number one and number one only--and if this was done in the most sarcastic and degrading way...it was praised!  I was truly filled with all manner of selfish self love one could imagine....BUT ....I am no longer that person.  I am a new creation!  I have a new spirit, a new identity and a new home....therefore. a new way to live....The Good News Way!

It is sad how I seem to forget this divine truth!  Why?  Oh my!  Why would I forget this life giving truth when God has given me everything and everybody?  Why do I constantly go back to my cesspool of self as a dog returns to his vomit?...when I should be dwelling and backstroking in the "I will never thirst" water every minute of every day?  

SIN...plain and simple.  My sin.  My sin is familiar...believe it or not...even comfortable.  It justifies my behavior.  It soothes my temper.  It creates an escape from what ails me!  LIES....all LIES!  satan is the father of LIES!  I am choosing a fallen angel of disgrace and depravity over the only true and living Saviour and King.  Stupidity seems to be a gifting given to all who follow the fallen one.

The Good News...the Gospel....The Holy Begotten Son of God...has freed you and me from our sin!  We can live in love.  I am not talking Hollywood romance novel movie going kind of love...that is lust...there is a difference!  But the Love that comes from the Father.  The love that grows when we grow in Messiah...  The love that turned the world upside down with only 1 God/Man and 12 obedient disciples!  

We are not sinless..even if we are in Messiah, but we are saved to live beyond this sinful unregenerated flesh and live in the Good News...which is divine LOVE.  Yes, we do live on a different plane, and LOVE is the soil in which we are planted and grow. 

1 Corinthians 13
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.




\o/





Monday, June 3, 2013

Radical Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat....




Monday.  Today is Monday.  The day after Sunday.  Am I going to live Radically for God the day after Sunday?  Hmmm....

We have started a new series at church; Radical, by David Platt. I did a little research on Pastor Platt and he is a very intelligent young man.  He holds two undergraduate degrees and three advanced degrees.  He is married and the father of three children--all with biblical names.  I believe his passion is making true disciples for Jesus GLOBALLY.  He travels greatly--practicing what he teaches others so eloquently to do.

My notes from Sunday School are scribbled on a page in my bible.

 
This page of scribbled handwriting has some pretty powerful teaching from a very passionate pastor.   The one statement that Pastor Platt said that convicted me to the very core of my being was this..."Our love for Jesus should make our love for everything and everyone else look like hate."  Ponder that statement for a minute or two.   It sounds sort of oximoronic, but it isn't, if thought about through the circulatory system of faith. 

Our love for our Messiah and King should be so great...so visible...so prominent...that the love we have for everyone and everything else seems like hate in comparison.  WOW!!  Do I love and live this way?  Do you? 

I remember several years ago a bible study was very popular in the Baptist churches.  It was called..Experiencing God.  One of the principles brought out in this study was this...each church needs to monitor who God is bringing into the fellowship.  The skills and strengths of these new members are a sign from God in the way He wills the church to go.  

Example--My church.  A few years back, well actually several years now...we started getting new members.  After a major divine weeding out...we were left with a group of men with construction skills.  I don't mean just able to fix a leaky faucet skill, but a general contractor, electricians, engineers, men with tools and equipment that the average Joe does not have in his garage type of men.  Well, one day a lady in our church noticed that a brick wall was separating from part of our building.  The inspector said that 27 tons of roof, walls, brick, windows, plaster, wood and metal could have come down on our heads!  The sanctuary could have killed us all!

To make a very long story short I am going to fast forward a few years.  We now have a beautiful sanctuary and some other improvements done by these men...members of our church that God brought to JRCC.  There are so many stories and testimonies of how God miraculously provided money, cranes, workers, supplies through these men and the community our church is in....ALL DEBT FREE!! 

God brought these skilled men--our church was falling down--these men, called by God, rebuilt our church!  Amazing!!!

Now, I wrote all this to get to my point about David Platt's book and teachings.  If you were to look at www.cbd.com and look at the new books and bible studies...you will notice where God is leading and what He is doing with His Church.  The Christian world is being led into a deeper, more expressive relationship with the Father.  (David Platt's: Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me;  Francis Chen's: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Multiply...just to name a few.)

There is a great many books being published about the end times.  The Harbinger comes to mind, plus many books by Joel Rosenberg and others.  Even though some may just be novels--the message is loud and clear.

Another area of literary influx is our Jewish Roots of Christianity.  These books are causing us to focus on Jerusalem...the Jews...Israel...the Middle East.   The beginning place and the ending place of linear time. 

We really need to take heed to what God is allowing the publishers to publish.  We need to be Bereans and stay in His Word...checking out if what these authors are writing about line up with His Truth.  What is God telling us?  I know that the Bible is the Holy Word of God.  I am not saying that any of these books are on this Divine Level....but....are these authors the Biblical Prophets of our time?  Are they not calling God's people to a deeper relationship with the Creator of All?  Are they not a sign from God that time, as we know it, is coming to an end?  Are we writing the very Word of God on our hearts and doorposts?  Are we heeding the warnings of these published prophets to ready the next generation for hard times that will end with a new heaven and a new earth?

Are we loving the Holy Trinity so deeply that every other love we have appears as hate in comparison?

This sounds like Isaiah or Jeremiah shouting from the steps of the temple, "Turn back to God!!!  or suffer the consequences!"  Platt, Chen, Piper, Stott, Keller, et al., are shouting "Love God NOW!!!! Before it is too late!  Serve as a disciple NOW!! Before it is too late!!  Tell your world about Jesus!  NOW!! Before it is too late!!  Live for Him and Him alone....Before it is too late!!"  There seems to be the same message being pumped through the arteries of God's Church, His Bride!  Are we listening?

I have seen, just since this Sunday, so many areas of hypocrisy in my attitude, my thoughts, my love for God, and it has only been 23 hours since I heard the Sunday School message!  So, I am going to ask myself this question everyday, probably several times a day..."Is my love for Jesus making my love for everything and everyone else look like hate?"  

Several scripture verses come to mind...Genesis 22:2, Leviticus 19:18, Joshua 22:5, Proverbs 10:12,  Micah 6:8-the list is endless.  Now, I sort of understand why "the greatest of these is love"...We are to love God with a love that only He can give us.  Quite simple if you think about it.

I found myself praying to God last night while I was sitting outside at my old gray friend..."Father--help me to FEAR you.  Break my heart for what breaks Yours.  Release me from the American Hollywood type of selfish, self seeking, self glorifying type of love.  I want to know true love...the love of You, Father.  Please fill me up with the Love that does Your Will-even if it means staying silent.  Fill me up with the Love that presses on and through difficult relationships.  Fill me with the Love that calls out from the temple steps!  Fill me with the Love that pleases you even if it alienates me from others.  Fill me with the Love that chases prejudices, hatereds, expectations and sins from my heart, soul and mind.  Help me to number my days.  Help me to have such a reverent fear for You and Your Love that I will die to self and consider it gain!"  

\o/ 












Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Gardens, fabric and new curriculums...




I am loving this weather!  Sitting outside and humming hymns seems to be my favorite past time as of late.  Oh, I am still cleaning house, gardening and schooling my son, but I do love sitting and praising God my way; humming hymns, singing a few, too!!!

Things are going fairly well here at the Beale Bungalow.  My garden is in---FINALLY!!



This weekend, my husband, son and I put together the "covered wagons" for my garden.  I call them that because when the vines fill the fencing--it looks just like a green covered wagon!  I now have three and I am so pleased. 

The first one will have trombocini (an Italian zucchini that looks like a trombone).  The second one will have green beans and the third will have Lima beans.  I do believe they will be a beautiful and tasty site when everything comes in!  There are two raised beds of organic corn-one raised bed of sweet potatoes and the final bed has tomatoes and cucumbers.  I have planted three green bell pepper plants since this picture was taken.  I can't wait to watch everything sprout and grow.

I have already had to replant some corn---SQUIRRELS!!  So, organic blood meal went down around the perimeter of the two corn beds.  Soon, I will be hanging some old pie tins I have to hopefully scare off some critters--be they the scurrying kind or the winged kind.  When the garden is young like this I do believe the squirrels and birds work in tandem with each other.  :)

I have washed the material for my bedroom curtains I am getting ready to make.  I have actually been putting this off because I do not have a pattern.  I just want to make panels--primitive panels.  Here is the material below.



The dark material is going to be a strip about six inches from the bottom of the curtain---maybe....     I painted our bedroom awhile back and now it is time to finish the room.

Some of my son's next year curriculum is here.  I was amazed at how fast I got everything.  I ordered from Eagles Wings Educational Materials and I must say that I am impressed by their service.  They even answered my email full of questions!!



These are the 'Create a notebook' Bible and History series.  It goes from 5th to 12th grade.  I figure my son falls somewhere in one of those grades.  It is hard to tell with him.  The spelling program is a program designed for dyslexics!  WooHoo!!  I have learned that it takes the average speller 50 times at looking at a word to remember it.  It takes a dyslexic 500 times at looking at a word to remember it!!!  Oh my---what my son has been going through.  He has to memorized 600 sight words prior to even beginning this programs level.  So, we have already started and he knows several of them to start off with, but we still need to return and cover some more basics that are especially for his reading (decoding) and his spelling (encoding).  I am excited about this....

Well, the house needs a vacuuming and it isn't going to get it if I stay on this here computer.  Have a wonderful day and God Bless!

\o/

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Growth in dirt and spirit....




The weather is gray with off and on rain showers.  I prefer cool sunshine with rain only occurring at night, but I noticed that my Father in Heaven did not consult me on this, therefore I must make due with His Providential Decisions.  :)

I do believe that my garden is enjoying the decisions of God because most of my seeds have responded favorably. 


                                   My corn is coming up!


                                  Here comes my onions!


Can you tell that I have not been turning my compost as I should have?  Now I don't want to disturb these beautiful potatoes!


My oregano seems to be happy and healthy.  I transplanted this from my garden to a pot.  Oregano can take over if you let it.

My flowers are doing well, too:











These are just a few of my flowering beauties.  I need to dead head several of them.  The weeds are loving all the warm rains as well, so I will be dead heading and weeding this afternoon....sigh....

Anyway, everything seems to be growing.  I still have more to plant and that, too, will be done today and probably tomorrow.  There just doesn't seem to be enough energy to get everything done in a day anymore.  Oh well....

Today--my heart seems to be in a peaceful turmoil.  Teehee...
I know...oxymoronic sounding, none the less, this is the state I find myself in.  I am content to be doing what God wants me to do, yet I also know He wants more.  I have always believed one way about something and now it is being challenged by the teachings of Dr. David Jeremiah.  I want to travel, yet today I am satisfied staying at home.  I want a strong GODLY LEADER qualities from my husband, but I am so pleased and hopeful with his recent prayer asking God to make him one.  I want my daughter home, but I am just so thankful that she is being healed and is talking with me again.  I want my son to read, read, read, and once again God has made me pleased with his reading improvement here lately.  See what I mean?  Peaceful turmoil....

There is so much to do around the Ol' Beale Bungalow that I get overwhelmed quite easily.  God has been teaching me to stick to His plan for me.  What would that be...Colossians 3:23, "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;"  Whatever God has me doing I need to do it for Him....not for me.  So, I plant, clean, do laundry, cook, homeschool, shop and so on.  This is what He has me doing "unto Him".  :)  I am not going to get bent out of shape if I can't get it all done in one day.  I am not going to get angry if the progress is slow.  I am just going to do what I have to do for Him.  (Today--that is--I may need to reread this posting daily to remind me I am doing everything for Him....)

I cannot sign off from this post without mentioning Oklahoma and the terrible situation they find themselves in because of the tornado.  My heart goes out to the people of Oklahoma, especially with the loss of so many children.  I am praying for the Comforter to permeate that entire area with His Love and Shalom.  God is still good even when tragic episodes occur.  God is still in control, too---even though we question why.  So, yes my heart aches, but I am encouraged to know that many will seek Him for answers and comfort because of the breath of His nostrils.

This, too, is a sign of the times...I do hope people see this!  God is returning---SOON!  Sooner than we think, I do believe.  Allow God in.  Allow the sacrificial blood of the One True Messiah wash over you and seal you for all eternity.  To God be the Glory!!!!

\o/