A House of Prayer

I really enjoyed the post "How to build a house of prayer" by Ann Voskamp. I wanted to share the link with you too so you could be inspired as well. I have tried to have my day be filled with prayer and to share that with my family as well but this gives me new ideas and reminds me to keep working to have that continual connection with our Heavenly Father.

God is so Good!

"I praise you forever, Lord! You are the God our ancestor Jacob worshiped.

Your power is great,
and Your glory is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth.
You are king of the entire world,

and You rule with strength and power.
You make people rich and powerful and famous.

We thank You, our God, and praise You.

1 Chronicles 29:10-13

I missed recording a gratitude list online last week but that certainly didn't mean that I didn't have anything to be thank-ful for. In fact that idea is very, very far from true! There were so many things to be thank-ful for that I was to busy to write about them. :-)

One of the ways God blessed enormously has a bit of a story.....

Each fall for quite a few years now we have driven a ways South of here to glean potatoes out of the field. The first year it was just our family and we met up with an older couple that lived by the fields. We picked up around 1,000 lbs that year and hauled them home in a mini van (along with all our family!). We were pretty excited about that and we told others about it too and pretty soon others were wanting to go along. They would say: "please tell us when you go to pick potatoes, we want to go too!"

This year we had more people than ever before that wanted to go so it was a bit of a struggle to get all the schedules meshed together but Wednesday was decided on. It was mid week so several of our Men didn't get to go so we figured it might take a bit longer to pick a bunch up. But we headed off.

Dad had been in contact with the potato company to try to learn what fields they had recently harvested in (They don't mind us gleaning and in the past have been extremely helpful) but they were a little vague as to where we should go. We drove to the field that they had directed us to but it was in the process of getting tilled under and having fertilizer sprayed on it, obviously it wouldn't work to get potatoes from. The question was where to go next. We just drove for a bit, past a bunch of fields that didn't have any potatoes to glean and then Dad leading our caravan of 5 vehicles pulled over. He came back to discuss the options with me in my van and we were trying to figure out which direction to head when an empty potato truck zoomed by.

FOLLOW THAT TRUCK!

We followed him through several turns and for a mile or so and then... a potato field... with potatoes to glean! Thank you God!

Our group of 29 (3 men, several women, and lots of kids! - it was a great FIELD trip!) jumped out and started picking up potatoes. We had been their about 5 minutes and one of the workers drove up. My mother-in-law was closest and so she talked to him. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I was thinking "Oh no, for some reason they don't want us to be here and he is telling us to leave". A minute later she came running and hollering for my Dad and then I really thought so. But then she told us "He says that they accidentally dumped about 400 lbs of potatoes out in a pile and if we follow him in a 4 wheel drive vehicle we can come get them." He was in a hurry and just wanted a few of us to come so those of us who were closest jumped in the 2 trucks and followed quickly.

At the pile we were able to fill up one hundred pound sacks in just a few minutes. We found out that it was way more than 400 lbs, it was closer to 2,000 lbs. Thinking back on that situation just makes me realize how awesome God is and how good He is to His children! We not only were able to get potatoes (and were led to a field) but God blessed us with a way to get them super easily! It just amazes me with the way things were timed!

All in all from the weighing and calculating we did, we are pretty sure that the group got over 3,000 lbs. We know that in my Dad's truck we had 2,000 lbs. So for my Thanksgiving list today I have:

12.Potatoes!

13. God's perfect timing!

14. Fun times outside with friends in beautiful weather.
15. Ken's parents coming to visit.
16.Terry, my father-in-law, spending hours telling my kids Bible stories.

17. Mara, my sweet 10 year old. I can't believe how wonderfully God has blessed us to give us Mara as a daughter. She is sweet, smart, compassionate, obedient and she wants to do what is right. Thank-you God for letting us have Mara in our home and lives!
18. Ken! I thank God often for a loving and hardworking husband! I am blessed to be his wife. Ken also celebrated a birthday this past week and I am thank-ful for the years that he has been able to have and I hope their will be many more!

19. Flowers. I feel so blessed to get to work with flowers fairly often. Whenever I am around them it makes me feel so thankful that God decided to make our world a beautiful and interesting place to be. This last wedding I got to work with a couple of varieties I had never seen before and I so enjoyed seeing a new part of God's creation!

20. Getting to see the best circus ever- right in my own front yard!

21. Impromptu performance of a little fairy to keep us all laughing while the regular actors figured out their next costume.

22. A pleasant rainy Sunday afternoon where I got to listen to Sharyl, my mother-in-law, compost music while I rolled out tortillas by candlelight.

23. A pretty much completed tree house! (I'll post pictures soon)

24. Fun with friends decorating the men's bathroom at church. The first and probably last time we will ever have a "party" in the bathroom.

25. Good helpers! (Sharyl also helped but I don't have a picture of her there, I also don't have a picture of the completed wall.)

26. The blessing of a new church building and the fun we could have celebrating it's completion!

27. A sweet little Megan who choose Oven mitts over a beach ball as a door prize. :-)

28. Fun making baskets with my mom and sisters.

29. Times with family and fresh corn on the cob.

30. Miracles

Busy, Busy

We have been having lots of fun with having company for 8 days (Ken's parents), getting ready for an open house at church (tomorrow), celebrating Birthdays (Mara and Ken), picking potatoes and more. That is why I haven't been blogging but I hope to be back soon. :-)

Keren's Birthday projects

Earlier this month was my baby sister's birthday. We were graciously invited over to celebrate so before hand we were of course quite busy with projects! Here are some of the projects we worked on:

I sewed together an apron, copying the pattern of one I received from a friend. It was fun to do it in fall colors.

Mara diligently worked to write a story about a fairy named Cosmos which she then typed up, made into a book and illustrated and she dedicated it to her aunt. She even carefully colored a fairy picture to use as wrapping paper.

Jonathan pounded some flowers onto fabric to make a picture which I then helped him to put onto a box. He also made a set of cards to go inside.

Aaron also made something but just now I can't remember what. Megan made a card. Birthdays are fun! They give us great incentive for being creative. We are actually enjoyed a birthday today as well -Mara turned 10 today. I wasn't terribly creative for this birthday but Jonathan was, I will have to share about that later. We also enjoyed a home Circus tonight which I will have to post pictures of too.

But back to Keren's birthday. Keren had fun being creative for her birthday as well and we came over to a beautifully decorated back yard where supper was held. Here are a couple of pictures:

Table clothes, lights, candles, flowers and even fancy chair covers!

I never realized how elegant clover could be. :-)

What projects do you have going on?

Thinking....

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."

James 5:16

When reading through the book of James there are so many things that speak to me and encourage me or challenge me. The verse above is one that challenges me. Especially the confess your sins to one another part. I totally believe that I need to confess my sins and I do that to God on a daily basis but the confessing to one another part.... that doesn't happen so much. I think about it sometimes and then something inside me makes me feel a little scared, shy, timid, PROUD, I don't know what all but then I shrink back from sharing and asking for prayer.

This is something I want to change. That doesn't mean this blog will become this tell all place (As far as I am concerned that isn't what blogs are for, I hope to make this an encouraging and uplifting place) but in life with my family and close friends and brothers and sisters at church, I want to be open with my struggles. Be willing to admit that I have problems and failures and then ask for prayer. It says that prayer can accomplish much and I really, really believe that but why do I not make use of that prayer to the full extent?

How about you? What do you think on this verse? Does it challenge you too or is it something that you have practised and seen the benefits of?

Homemade dishwasher detergent and other natural cleaners

In our household we have slowly been making the change from normal chemical and sodium lauryl sulfate laden cleaners to those that are more natural. It has been a gradual process but we are making headway! If I were to go out and buy cleaners that don't have chemicals or SLS I would have to pay quite a bit, so I have been happy to find various recipes that allow me to make my own stuff for quite a bit less.

The latest thing that I have tried making is Dishwasher Detergent. I found the recipe over at "Blessings Overflowing". I had to go out a buy liquid Castile soap but otherwise it was normal kitchen ingredients. I found the Castile soap at our health food store (where you could buy it from a bulk container) and they had 3 different scents (scented with essential oils, not perfumes) Eucalyptus, Lavender and Peppermint. I chose peppermint and have really been enjoying it. It makes our whole kitchen area smell wonderful while the dishwasher is going. Since the soap already had a scent, I left the tea tree oil (which is good for disinfecting but also has a scent ) out of the recipe as I didn't want to get to many scents mixed together. If the Castile soap you find doesn't have peppermint oil in it, I am sure you could add it on your own if you so desired.

The recipe was very easy to mix up and it is easy to store. I decided to use an old oil jar. And what is really neat about it is that it works! I have tried my own detergent recipes in the past that have not been successful so I am very happy about that! I actually think it works quite a lot better than the Cascade that I had been using, and it smells so much better!

Other ways that we have become more natural are:

• Making my own Laundry Soap with this recipe from the Simple Dollar. This has saved me a lot of money! I also like not having to shop for detergent, whenever I need more I simply pull out the simple ingredients and make another batch. I don't necessarily think this works better than store bought stuff but it works okay and I really appreciate that it is more natural and way cheaper!
• Baking Soda for scrubbing toilets, sinks, etc. This works great and is a great deal!
• Baking Soda instead of toothpaste. I don't do this 100% of the time but I do a lot and it works just fine.
• Vinegar rinse instead of conditioner. This has been working lovely. I also have tried the No'poo method, using baking soda instead of shampoo. This work for a while but then I started having some difficulties and when I tried it again lately the baking soda really bothered my scalp. I am hoping to make this homemade "shampoo" soon and try it.
• We do also use natural Melalucca products for shower cleaning, windows, to spray on the toilet, etc. It lasts a long time but when I run out of that I will probably experiment with some homemade recipes. (Though I am pretty attached to their shower cleaner as it works very well with hard water stains!)
• For mopping I simply use warm water with vinegar.
• To avoid SLS we also don't buy soft soap but rather use bar soap for washing hands and washing up while showering.
• Currently I am still using normal dish soap but I was given this recipe and will probably try it soon:

Shred 2 bars of Octagon Soap (have you ever heard of this?) into 4 1/2 to 5 quarts water in a pot on the stove. Heat it until it dissolves. Then turn stove off and add 1 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup washing soda and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Stir. When cooled pour into sealed containers. It says it doesn't suds as much but it will get the dishes clean.

I am curious to hear any more ways to make natural cleaners, especially if they are frugal too!

What do you do at your house?

For more frugal tips visit Life as Mom.