Our relatives, on My Sweetheart's side of the family, were sitting around the tables on our deck the other night. It was a perfect evening- no wind, few bugs, the sun was shining, and the sound of laughter was resounding. It was the perfect ending to an almost perfect wedding weekend. My Sweetheart's niece was married on Saturday. The wedding was close to home- at the Saskatchewan Landing. The day turned out to be lovely. We were watching an ominous cloud while we were driving to the venue. Thankfully, the cloud stayed away. You see, we were a little on edge because of the wild weather that plagued Alberta mere hours before. Four of our relatives were stranded in Canmore during the flood. They missed the wedding, but fortunately made it to this neck of the woods a few days later. And they, along with my dear sisters in law, niece, brother in law, and my own dear family, were sitting outside on the deck the other night.
The barbecued supper was finished. But the conversation wasn't. We caught up on happenings since the previous year when the same relatives had made the trek here for the hometown centennial. And we made plans for next summer when My Sweetheart's Dad will turn 90. The Lord willing, we will be gathering then to celebrate my father in law.
It struck me, while we were sitting around the tables, that everyone here that night, with the exception of the spouses who had married into the family, lived on this farm. My Sweetheart's almost 89 year old father, my sisters in law, aunts and uncles, and even DS and DD, all grew up on this little plot of land. They all came 'home'. And I'm so glad they did.
Lady and the Cats
bonding on the farm!
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Techno Geek Mom
Earlier today, after DD and DS got home from school, (after DS's 2nd last day of high school), I decided that I better order those grad thank you cards and family portraits while we still looked the same.
We finally had a family portrait taken. Finally. After almost 20 years as a family. It was time. And to celebrate I'm getting it enlarged to a 20 by 30 size. It will hang on my wall behind the baby grand. That means the other pictures will have to come down; much to DD's delight and my non-delight. Their portraits have hung in that spot for years; DD with her shoulder length brown hair, baby teeth, green plaid dress with the Peter Pan collar and DS with his Bugs Bunny-ish big new front teeth and the glasses he wore to kindergarten. He was wearing a vest and tie. Along with those pictures I hung the recent individual sepia school pictures. I replaced DS's glasses and bugs bunny teeth picture a month ago with his formal cap and gown, minus the cap. It will have to come down now too. Sigh. That means I will need to find a new place to hang those treasured keepsake pictures. The hallway will likely be the new home.
And all this will happen, of course, only if I ordered the new portraits correctly. I might not have. I have the printed confirmation receipt telling me that I did; but I won't believe it until I have them in my hands.
I panicked earlier today, after DD and DS arrived home from school. It had taken me a while to get up the nerve to order portraits online- especially after it had taken me a while to download or upload or whatever it was that I had to do to get them from the disk on to my laptop.
Then, after I had picked out the poses, and everything that went with that, a note popped up on my screen. I had, apparently already used that email address on a previous order. I couldn't remember doing that. What? What do I do now?
"Relax Mom," I was told, "just get a new email account."
That had me buffaloed. "Why would I want to do that?" "I already have an email account."
"Mom, - you don't need to USE the new one..."
Oh....
So, I signed up, if that's what one does, for a new email account. Not happily either. Then I hopefully filled out everything correctly.
If you want to see that family portrait, you can see it on my profile page. That's the one we picked out. That's how our family looks now- techno geek Mom and all!
We finally had a family portrait taken. Finally. After almost 20 years as a family. It was time. And to celebrate I'm getting it enlarged to a 20 by 30 size. It will hang on my wall behind the baby grand. That means the other pictures will have to come down; much to DD's delight and my non-delight. Their portraits have hung in that spot for years; DD with her shoulder length brown hair, baby teeth, green plaid dress with the Peter Pan collar and DS with his Bugs Bunny-ish big new front teeth and the glasses he wore to kindergarten. He was wearing a vest and tie. Along with those pictures I hung the recent individual sepia school pictures. I replaced DS's glasses and bugs bunny teeth picture a month ago with his formal cap and gown, minus the cap. It will have to come down now too. Sigh. That means I will need to find a new place to hang those treasured keepsake pictures. The hallway will likely be the new home.
And all this will happen, of course, only if I ordered the new portraits correctly. I might not have. I have the printed confirmation receipt telling me that I did; but I won't believe it until I have them in my hands.
I panicked earlier today, after DD and DS arrived home from school. It had taken me a while to get up the nerve to order portraits online- especially after it had taken me a while to download or upload or whatever it was that I had to do to get them from the disk on to my laptop.
Then, after I had picked out the poses, and everything that went with that, a note popped up on my screen. I had, apparently already used that email address on a previous order. I couldn't remember doing that. What? What do I do now?
"Relax Mom," I was told, "just get a new email account."
That had me buffaloed. "Why would I want to do that?" "I already have an email account."
"Mom, - you don't need to USE the new one..."
Oh....
So, I signed up, if that's what one does, for a new email account. Not happily either. Then I hopefully filled out everything correctly.
If you want to see that family portrait, you can see it on my profile page. That's the one we picked out. That's how our family looks now- techno geek Mom and all!
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Best Father
My Dad, who has been living gloriously now for 16 years in 'human' time, was a wonderful father.
He was patient. Perhaps patience was part and parcel of being a farmer. He knew he had no control over many aspects of farming, and so left it, maybe unknowingly, in the Lord's very capable hands.
My Dad was introspective. He was humble. He was a hard worker. He was from the generation that, although didn't express it verbally, loved greatly. I always knew I was loved, but rarely heard it. I remember one time, when I was probably around 13 or 14, I was so upset because Dad would not verbalize his love for me. I was crying in my bedroom. He eventually came in. I don't remember if Mom sent him in, or if he came in of his own accord. Likely not the latter. But I questioned him. I asked him, "Do you love me?" He said, 'Yes.' I said, "well say it then. Tell me you love me." And he did. He said, "I love you." I always knew it; I guess I needed to hear it. What a blessing that was. I feel so sorry for people who grow up never hearing a father's blessing. No wonder it was such a big thing in the Old Testament. Blessings.
DD and DS have a wonderful father too. Some may think I'm biased. But I'm not. My Sweetheart is a devoted, hands-on dad. DD and DS have no doubt about their father's love. And he has verbalized that love many times. Probably daily. I'm blessed to be in this parenting team.
I realize that some of you who are reading this might have grown up without knowing your father's love. My heart grieves for you. But I want to share you about the BEST Father's love you can know. And that is the love of God. The God who loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus, no- He GAVE His Son that whosoever - YOU- loves Him will not perish but have everlasting love. His love is not condemning, but a saving love. Simply put- that is salvation! Putting your trust and faith in Jesus will save you from eternal death.
A favorite verse of mine, that I hope will encourage you if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, is found in Romans 8. The Message translation says:
"this resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children." (verses 15 & 16)
Did you get that? Did you hear "papa"? Jesus calls His Father "Abba" - Daddy! We can too. God has adopted us into His family if we accept the gift of Jesus that He so wants us to! He longs to be your Heavenly Father. His love for you is greater than any love. He is THE BEST FATHER!
He was patient. Perhaps patience was part and parcel of being a farmer. He knew he had no control over many aspects of farming, and so left it, maybe unknowingly, in the Lord's very capable hands.
My Dad was introspective. He was humble. He was a hard worker. He was from the generation that, although didn't express it verbally, loved greatly. I always knew I was loved, but rarely heard it. I remember one time, when I was probably around 13 or 14, I was so upset because Dad would not verbalize his love for me. I was crying in my bedroom. He eventually came in. I don't remember if Mom sent him in, or if he came in of his own accord. Likely not the latter. But I questioned him. I asked him, "Do you love me?" He said, 'Yes.' I said, "well say it then. Tell me you love me." And he did. He said, "I love you." I always knew it; I guess I needed to hear it. What a blessing that was. I feel so sorry for people who grow up never hearing a father's blessing. No wonder it was such a big thing in the Old Testament. Blessings.
DD and DS have a wonderful father too. Some may think I'm biased. But I'm not. My Sweetheart is a devoted, hands-on dad. DD and DS have no doubt about their father's love. And he has verbalized that love many times. Probably daily. I'm blessed to be in this parenting team.
I realize that some of you who are reading this might have grown up without knowing your father's love. My heart grieves for you. But I want to share you about the BEST Father's love you can know. And that is the love of God. The God who loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus, no- He GAVE His Son that whosoever - YOU- loves Him will not perish but have everlasting love. His love is not condemning, but a saving love. Simply put- that is salvation! Putting your trust and faith in Jesus will save you from eternal death.
A favorite verse of mine, that I hope will encourage you if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus, is found in Romans 8. The Message translation says:
"this resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is, and we know who we are: Father and children." (verses 15 & 16)
Did you get that? Did you hear "papa"? Jesus calls His Father "Abba" - Daddy! We can too. God has adopted us into His family if we accept the gift of Jesus that He so wants us to! He longs to be your Heavenly Father. His love for you is greater than any love. He is THE BEST FATHER!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Power
My Sweetheart was spraying when I got home from the city yesterday. He was spraying the lentils for weeds. A necessary evil I guess. We don't want the weeds. But we don't want the chemicals from the spray either. So he sprays. When he sprays he needs to have a water source handy. We are blessed to have water right here on the yard site. We have a water bin- it looks just like a bin that we store grain in, but the water bin has a conversion kit that makes it possible to have water put in- at the flip of a switch. And we need power for it all to work.
He had just finished filling up the sprayer, and I had just decided what I was going to make for supper, when the power guy came up to the house and said, "You'll have no power for about 2 hours."
My first thought was, "Yippee- dinner out!"
My second thought, and the thought that won out was, "Salmon sandwich supper..." A far cry from the 'yippee' thought.
I quickly grabbed the vacuum with the remaining "power- on" time- about 10 minutes to shape these farm floors up; and I yelled out to My Sweetheart to "hurry up and come in and have a shower before the power goes out and we have no water pressure!"
I was hurrying him up simply because last night was Awards Night at the school, and I wanted My Sweetheart to smell sweet and look as handsome as ever for the event.
So in the 10 or so minutes that we still had power I hurriedly vacuumed and he quickly showered. Poor DS though- he was going to jump in the shower at the exact moment the house went dark. He had a back up plan though and pretty soon he was on his way to Grandma's house for his shower.
Shortly after our salmon sandwich supper the power came back on! The power guys were putting in a new line to some of us "rural" customers and for the past week or so we had been inconvienced numerous times by having our power turned off, unexpectedly for up to 3 hours at a time. But now it's all done! We should be good!
When they had finished 'switching us over' last night they took down the power pole that had been in the middle of this yard for 60 years. Right in the middle. As farming got bigger and machinery and grain bins got bigger, it became more and more difficult to manouever combines, and tractors, and trucks around the power pole. But now it's gone and the yard has opened up!
It must have been so exciting 60 years ago for my in-laws to have power. The ice chest that had been a wedding gift for them 64 years ago would have been replaced by a refrigerator. Lanterns would have been replaced by light switches. The clothes line made way for a clothes dryer. Life was made simpler by the marvel of power.
Much in the same way that my life is made richer by the power of prayer. Every morning I tap into the Source of the Power that gets me through each day. Jesus says, "abide in me..." I abide in Him by reading His word and praying. As simple as that. My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you will welcome Jesus into your life and make HIM your power source. He WILL provide you with what you need for today.
He had just finished filling up the sprayer, and I had just decided what I was going to make for supper, when the power guy came up to the house and said, "You'll have no power for about 2 hours."
My first thought was, "Yippee- dinner out!"
My second thought, and the thought that won out was, "Salmon sandwich supper..." A far cry from the 'yippee' thought.
I quickly grabbed the vacuum with the remaining "power- on" time- about 10 minutes to shape these farm floors up; and I yelled out to My Sweetheart to "hurry up and come in and have a shower before the power goes out and we have no water pressure!"
I was hurrying him up simply because last night was Awards Night at the school, and I wanted My Sweetheart to smell sweet and look as handsome as ever for the event.
So in the 10 or so minutes that we still had power I hurriedly vacuumed and he quickly showered. Poor DS though- he was going to jump in the shower at the exact moment the house went dark. He had a back up plan though and pretty soon he was on his way to Grandma's house for his shower.
Shortly after our salmon sandwich supper the power came back on! The power guys were putting in a new line to some of us "rural" customers and for the past week or so we had been inconvienced numerous times by having our power turned off, unexpectedly for up to 3 hours at a time. But now it's all done! We should be good!
When they had finished 'switching us over' last night they took down the power pole that had been in the middle of this yard for 60 years. Right in the middle. As farming got bigger and machinery and grain bins got bigger, it became more and more difficult to manouever combines, and tractors, and trucks around the power pole. But now it's gone and the yard has opened up!
It must have been so exciting 60 years ago for my in-laws to have power. The ice chest that had been a wedding gift for them 64 years ago would have been replaced by a refrigerator. Lanterns would have been replaced by light switches. The clothes line made way for a clothes dryer. Life was made simpler by the marvel of power.
Much in the same way that my life is made richer by the power of prayer. Every morning I tap into the Source of the Power that gets me through each day. Jesus says, "abide in me..." I abide in Him by reading His word and praying. As simple as that. My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you will welcome Jesus into your life and make HIM your power source. He WILL provide you with what you need for today.
Monday, June 10, 2013
This is the Day
It's been a while since I've written anything on my blog. I determined that I would wait, since my last blog, until I had something meaningful to say. Or something that is encouraging at least.
This past week has been difficult and good.
Bitter and sweet.
Beautiful and ugly.
But through each day, mostly each very teary day, I have experienced God's goodness. His miracles. His mercies that are new. Every morning.
I have been diligent in spending at least a half hour every morning in the precious Word of God. I've been soaking up His very powerful Word. I've been blessed. Beyond measure. And I have needed that quiet time with the Lord.
My friend died a week ago. She was exactly 8 days older than me. We became friends after she joined the Friends in Faith Chorus. She was a very faithful, fun, diligent member of the chorus. And, she kept our refrigerator stocked with farm fresh eggs. Sometimes I would pop over to her place for the eggs and have a cup of tea with her in her inviting, welcoming kitchen, but most of the time she would drop the eggs off at our place on her way to town. Or she would have her husband drop the eggs off. Either way, be it him or her, we'd have a visit. Quite likely, when she was on her way to town, it would be to lend a helping hand to someone. She was like the hands of Jesus to so many people. She was an encourager.
Her funeral was on Friday. The hall was packed. She was loved by so many people.
When we got home on Friday, after the service, we decided to go to the City with DD and DS. DD's ring, that she had ordered with her well deserved tip money, was in at the jewellery store. It was a perfect excuse to head to the city and go out for supper - An "I'm finished the spraying down south" celebration supper, according to My Sweetheart. It was a quick trip there and back. When we got back home I quickly checked my emails and I very sadly opened up an email from a dear friend from my Bible College days informing me of the date and time of her son's funeral. He was the same age as DS. The tears came. Again. I thought I was all cried out when my friend died. But I wasn't. I cried for my friend's loss and her sadness. DS came upstairs and held me as I cried on his shoulder. That made me cry even harder. Here I was, crying on the shoulder of my beloved 18 year old, and my friend would be burying her 18 year old today.
Yesterday, after church, when I was reflecting on my week, I also reflected on God's love for me. And for my friends who were going through such sad times. I also was reflecting on the time, the wonderful time, spent at church. The sermon was so 'right' for where everyone was. Jesus is alive. We have hope.
I wrote a song yesterday afternoon. I had started it a year ago. The chorus was waiting for verses. The verses needed this past week to happen before they could be written.
I want to share the lyrics with you. My prayer is that you will be encouraged by them, whether you are celebrating or whether you are going through a hard time. Life is hard at times, but God is always good. Always.
This past week has been difficult and good.
Bitter and sweet.
Beautiful and ugly.
But through each day, mostly each very teary day, I have experienced God's goodness. His miracles. His mercies that are new. Every morning.
I have been diligent in spending at least a half hour every morning in the precious Word of God. I've been soaking up His very powerful Word. I've been blessed. Beyond measure. And I have needed that quiet time with the Lord.
My friend died a week ago. She was exactly 8 days older than me. We became friends after she joined the Friends in Faith Chorus. She was a very faithful, fun, diligent member of the chorus. And, she kept our refrigerator stocked with farm fresh eggs. Sometimes I would pop over to her place for the eggs and have a cup of tea with her in her inviting, welcoming kitchen, but most of the time she would drop the eggs off at our place on her way to town. Or she would have her husband drop the eggs off. Either way, be it him or her, we'd have a visit. Quite likely, when she was on her way to town, it would be to lend a helping hand to someone. She was like the hands of Jesus to so many people. She was an encourager.
Her funeral was on Friday. The hall was packed. She was loved by so many people.
When we got home on Friday, after the service, we decided to go to the City with DD and DS. DD's ring, that she had ordered with her well deserved tip money, was in at the jewellery store. It was a perfect excuse to head to the city and go out for supper - An "I'm finished the spraying down south" celebration supper, according to My Sweetheart. It was a quick trip there and back. When we got back home I quickly checked my emails and I very sadly opened up an email from a dear friend from my Bible College days informing me of the date and time of her son's funeral. He was the same age as DS. The tears came. Again. I thought I was all cried out when my friend died. But I wasn't. I cried for my friend's loss and her sadness. DS came upstairs and held me as I cried on his shoulder. That made me cry even harder. Here I was, crying on the shoulder of my beloved 18 year old, and my friend would be burying her 18 year old today.
Yesterday, after church, when I was reflecting on my week, I also reflected on God's love for me. And for my friends who were going through such sad times. I also was reflecting on the time, the wonderful time, spent at church. The sermon was so 'right' for where everyone was. Jesus is alive. We have hope.
I wrote a song yesterday afternoon. I had started it a year ago. The chorus was waiting for verses. The verses needed this past week to happen before they could be written.
I want to share the lyrics with you. My prayer is that you will be encouraged by them, whether you are celebrating or whether you are going through a hard time. Life is hard at times, but God is always good. Always.
This is the Day
copyright 2013 by Heather Arnelien
This, this, this is the day
that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and say
this is the day that the Lord has made.
My neighbor is a good man
with farming in his blood,
I know his heart is aching
he just buried his true love,
he's holding to God's promise
that he'll see his love one day,
but until that great reunion
Jesus hears him say....
This, this, this is the day
that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and say
this is the day the Lord has made.
She struggles up the stairs,
her steps are faltering,
she's faithful as she comes
to worship God and sing,
her family doesn't live here
but they came to church today.
As she held her new great grandson
I'm sure I heard her say...
This, this, this is the day
that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and say
this is the day the Lord has made.
Through good times and in bad times,
through sunshine and the rain,
when hearts are overflowing
or when lives are full of pain...
This, this, this is the day
that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and say
this is the day the Lord has made.
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