Geneva

I hesitate to make this story “instagrammable”, lest it lose any of its preciousness, but at the same time I think some stories can only grow in value if they are shared. 

This is our dear neighbor, Geneva, “Gege” if you ask Boaz. Years ago, when Justin and I were first married I left a note in Geneva’s mailbox telling whoever lived there that I loved their house and if they ever wanted to sell it to please call me first. A few weeks later someone told me they spotted an oxygen supplier van in the driveway. “Oh good, perhaps whoever lives there won’t live much longer”, I said without much care. That night I was so broken over my careless words. Did I value a cute house over someone’s life? What is wrong with me? I went face down before the Lord in tears. “Lord, my heart is sick. If there is someone in that house that could be loved on by me, open that door.” 

Months later a friend at church, Rick Roper, approached me and said that he had been supplying oxygen at a ladies house when he saw a paper with our name on it. He told her he knew us. He told me that she was a nice lady and that I should walk up to her back door and meet her (door opened!)

The first day I visited her I learned about her life. She lived there alone with no family. Her lung cancer was in the worst state it could be in with no hope for a cure. Her only son passed away when he was only a teenager. It was hard to take it in. 

I went back home to process all that I had learned from the kind lady that I so carelessly talked about. I found myself, again, on my knees in tears before the Lord and I had one of very few seemingly audible conversations with Him. “Lord, why me? You know I already feel heavy for people. How will I bear this burden?” I heard His response: “Yes, your burden will be very heavy for her, but my burden is always light. I suggest you take on mine.” 

From that point on I went to visit Geneva when the Lord told me to- I can’t explain it- I would be pulling out to go to town and the Lord would have me take a left to her house instead. We started visiting when Boaz was just months old and have visited her every 2 weeks since and spent some holidays and birthdays with her.

Was it a burden? Not in any way! We truly grew to love her like family and looked forward to every visit!  She is so joyful and generous, and many people can attest that she is absolutely hilarious! I never had to coax Boaz into a visit with her, he loved visiting her from start. Justin too, even when I had Jack and was not leaving the house as much, he wanted to take Boaz to Gege’s house so he could also spend time with her. There was only one time I remember that I started to feel heavy. I was up at the Turntime barn working on an event. Geneva had had a long day and she was feeling down. She came up to the farm store (to generously drop off a check for the Ropers during their cancer season) and I could tell she was feeling heavier than normal and needed prayer. “Lord, I’m also feeling heavy today and I don’t feel I have much to offer. Please send Rob (my pastor) in here to pray for her. He was at the farm for the event. Maybe 10 seconds later Rob walked in the store to buy a t-shirt (I just can’t make this stuff up) and we were able to pray over her.

Geneva’s friendship blessed us more than we could have blessed her.  A couple of months ago Geneva told us it was time for her to move to a retirement community near to family to be better taken care of. She offered us her house--did we want it? Of course we did! We not only did we still love the house, but now it had immeasurable meaning. She took a little longer than she was planning to to move, but move she did just a few weeks ago. We were there her last night visiting, hearing stories, letting out some tears that our dear friend would lo longer be 5 minutes away. Two weeks ago we had a contract for her house in our email inbox. Had it been there just weeks earlier, we would have signed it. But, in those two weeks we made some hard decisions and we realized we were not in a place to buy a house. I am so sad we will not be raising our family in that special house, but we gained something more special out of it in our friendship with Gege and a lesson is learning to walk with the Lord.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”. Matthew 11:29

Desiring God Conference 2013

I'm so excited to be going to the Desiring God Conference this year! It will be in Minneapolis, MN and I leave next week!

A few reasons I'm excited:

1. It's all about C.S. Lewis. This is why I'm going. C.S. Lewis's books truly changed my life. Truly. I'm giddy to spend a whole weekend learning and talking and listening about his life and writings. 

2. I have listened to John Piper's voice so much I feel like I know him. I'm excited to be able to meet John Piper and hear him talk about C.S. Lewis.

3. Randy Alcorn (another great author) will be teaching

4. I like airports.

5. Free sky miles and a free place to stay!

6. Time with my brother Joseph

7. Shane and Shane are doing the music. Seriously, could this get any better? I couldn't have put this together better myself.

8. From reading about the other people attending, it looks like they all care a lot about coffee and C.S.Lewis; I will fit right in.

The only thing that doesn't excite me is being away from home. Justin and I are, without a doubt, homebodys. We love to be home. Even though I will just be gone for a long weekend, I will dearly miss my husband, my cabin, my puppy, and my chickens.

An early fall day!

Fall is my favorite time of the year! Last Saturday was not technically fall, but the Lord blessed us with what felt like a perfect fall day and He filled it with family and friends that might as well be family! It doesn't get much better than that!

 I love Justin's family and my family-- so having some of both at one time fills me up!

We spent the day up at the cabin (nowhere else I'd rather be) and then took Jack and Esme to the rodeo at night. I love these kiddos so much!

Solar power bee wax melting

because my husband is always up to something

Homemade ranch!

I decidedly recently that I just don't like hidden valley ranch. Or really any ranch that I could find in the grocery store. I was telling this to a friend at school so she recommended her husband's homemade ranch recipe. This ranch is so yummy! It also makes a good supply of dry mix, so once it's made we won't have to make it for a while!

Ingredients:

15 saltines

2 cups dry minced parsley flakes

1/2 cup dry minced onion

2 tablespoons dry dill weed

1/4 cup onion salt

1/4 cup garlic salt

1/4 cup onion powder

1/4 cup garlic powder

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 cup of buttermilk

Directions to make the mix:

Put the crackers in the blender until powdered. Add parsley, minced onions, and dill weed. Blend again until powdered. Put into a bowl. Next, stir in onion salt, garlic salt, onion powder, and garlic powder. Put into a container with a tight fitting lid.

To make the ranch:

Add 1 tablespoon of mix to 1 cup of mayonnaise and 1 cup of buttermilk.

(If you like it thicker- do more mayo, if you like it thinner- do more buttermilk)

It needs to thicken over night to be at its best.

Pear Bread

This is a pear tree by our house-- producing so much fruit that the branches are tipping over! In the summertime, we have an excess of zucchini-- and one of our favorite uses is zucchini bread. Since our excess right now is of pears, I decided to try some pear bread. Now, I'm glad I used google before this blog post, because I literally thought as I was baking this that I made pear bread up. I know, I know, your grandmother probrably raised you on pear bread, and here I am thinking that I dreamed it up this morning.

Nevertheless, here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour 

1 teaspoon salt       

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder   

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs    

1 cup vegetable oil  

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract   

2 cups grated pears 

Directions:

1. Grease and flour two 8x14 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stit in pears until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

4. Bake 40 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on rack for 20 minutes (or immediately put a piping hot one in your mouth like we did).

5. Remove from pan and cool.  

Brokenness

So this quote is above our sink, a place I stand alot (#nodishwasher) and it is a very necessary quote to see that often. The quote is by Paul Tripp who, if you are married-about to get married-or could get married one day- you need to get to know him. We constantly have to go back to his book, What did you expect?, for a good dose of widsom.
Anyways, this quote constantly speaks life to me when satan is convincing the opposite. Let's be real, brokenness is all around us. From our own sin we bring into our lives, the sin of those we love around us, dysfunctional families, disobedient children, illness, etc., etc. etc, it is everywhere. To the time that I fail to display even a smig of a fruit of the Spirit toward my husband while I am in the middle of reading the book, The Fruitful Wife (how to have the fruits of the Spirit toward your husband). How does that happen?

A life lived around brokeness is not going away-- it is the state that the earth and all of us are in. So what to do about it? Well, the better question is: what is the Lord doing with it? If we see brokenness around us, is it the absense of the Lord? This is where this quote speaks truth to me: it is not a defeat of grace. It is a tool of grace in the hands of a Loving Redeemer. The brokenness around us is meant for our good, for our sanctification. It is the very tool the Lord is using to produce in us what is good.

When life does not go our way and we cannot get it right (me, everyday) it is a reminder that we do not have control of our lives. It brings us to our knees. It reminds us that it is not by works that we are saved (Ephesians 2: 8-9), but by grace and the blood of Jesus. Brokeness bring us back from our love of self and forces us to look to the Lord. Thank you Lord for the brokenness around us, so we can come face to face to our need for you. Elisabeth Elliott was having a season where nothing was going her way (she lost 2 husbands, I can only imagine). One of her friends, Amy Carmichael, told her that in big or small circumstances that are less than what she wanted, to "find in it a chance to die".

How can we can allow the brokenness around us to allow us to die a little bit more to ourselves? Well what if our life doesn't look how we pictured it?--possibly the Lord needs us to die to that life we envsioned and ask Him what He desires for our life.  If I can't be the perfect wife I was hoping I would be?--this brokeness reminds me that I need to stop relying on my own strength for this task, and accept the Lord's grace. Brokeness is not meant to condemn us, it is to lead us to the One whose "burden is light".

The brokeness around you is not a sign of defeat of grace. NO, it is a tool of grace in the hands of a loving Redeemer.

Paul Tripp: What did you expect?

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”- Spurgeon