It's Here!!

The brand new, 2010, Vision Forum Catalog!

Mom was the first to look through it, then the boys, and then me (Tiffany)! I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of the boys as they poured over it!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately! We've been busy trying to prepare everything for Mom's gall bladder surgery. (She had an attack a few weeks ago, the third time in eight years, and the doctor says it's time to get it out!) As planned, she will have laparoscopic surgery rather than open surgery. This means that she will only have a few small incisions rather than one large one. Right now we are waiting on the results from the MRI to find out whether or not she has any stones outside her gall bladder and if she will have to be scoped before the surgery. We would appreciate everybody's prayers!!

Today has been rather busy, we pulled down the last of the herbs we were drying and got them safely stored away! This year we dried lavender (by the boatloads!), chamomile, sweet basil, cinnamon basil, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, peppermint, chocolate mint, chives, pineapple sage, and stevia! I also made and seal-a-mealed some meat loves for later as well as making a big batch of pie crust dough that yielded twelve crusts! School has been going quite well for the boys and I'm starting to get used to not having any school books to pull out in the morning!

I'll try harder to keep this place updated in the future! God Bless!

For the Family,

Tiffany

Fall is here!!

It seems like just yesterday we were going into spring. Where did the summer go??? Have you ever asked this same question? It seems so likely you have. We as a society have gotten so BUSY, we don't even stop to appreciate the Seasons or Family as much as we used to. Should we settle for this and accept it as a normal part of "life in the fast lane"? Should we do something to change it? I think this philosophical question should be asked by everyone. I'm presently asking myself this question. I can tell you one thing, that I don't want to be like society and lose my identity as an individual. I have gotten so busy this last summer with ALL the THINGS of life etc. that I feel I have dropped the ball and fumbled my family. I really need to work hard to get back to the place where God wants me to be. We have strived so hard to be where God whats us. As a Father I have been in trusted with many lives to Shepard and disciple. I need to regain my strength in Christ and rise to the occasion and accept my responsibility again as the leader of MY house. I need to stop and smell the delicate Roses of the family that God has given me, spend time with them and rebuild the example of Christ for those around us. I don't want to look back and reflect again and ask these same questions with out already knowing the answers. "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". I will chose to reflect on each season for Gods goodness and grace to MY family.

In Christ,
Tim

Genesis 8:21-22 KJV 21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Family day at North Star Blue Scope Steel

My work had a family day this last Sat the 19th. We took Lisa's parents through on a tour of the facility they really enjoyed themselves. The boy's entered a fishing derby with about 15 minutes left till it ended. TJ won the largest fish caught award. On his second cast he caught a 12.5 inch bass. Kaleb he didn't get a bite. He was however very excited for his brother. I think over all we all had a good time. Unfortunately Lisa didn't get a picture of the fish.

The New TEA PARTY reminder

We can not be the silent majority any longer. We need to step up and be counted. My Daughter is reading Francis A. Shaeffer's book How Should We Then Live? It's about the rise and decline of western thought and culture. Frankly, we have come way too far from the biblical model for the family and society. Here is a Quote from the book.

"...will we resist authoritarian government in all its forms regardless of the label it carries and regardless of its origin? The danger in regard to the rise of authoritarian government is that Christians will be still as long as their own religious activities, evangelism and life-styles are not disturbed.
We are not excused from speaking, just because the culture and society no longer rest as much as they once did on Christian thinking. Moreover, Christians do not need to be in the majority in order to influence society.
...If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow from within or come from outside, eventually we or our children will be the enemy of society and the state. No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes and who speak out and act upon that absolute.
...Here is a sentence to memorize: To make no decision in regard to the growth of authoritarian government is already a decision for it."

The author goes on to quote Ezekiel 33:1-11, 19.

The tea party is Sept 12th 12:00 to 3:00 in Wauseon, at Homecoming park at the pavillion. See You there...

We all need to have vision for our families, and work toward these visions.
Have a great week!!

God bless you,
Tim

Mike Rogers on National Healthcare Bill

This was sent to us from our neighbors. He is a voice of reason in Congress. We need to pray for our leaders in Congress to have Wisdom and Understanding that only the Lord can provide.

Tim

The Night was Great!!!!

We had a wonderful time the other evening sitting around our outside fire place.  We had a great relaxing time that evening.  Talking and sharing, goofing off and being a family together.  The stars were out in all there glory with the moon trying to hide behind the trees.  The smoke was rising and keeping the bugs at bay.  Hope our golden retriever was very interested in my smores.  Looking hopeful to dejected before getting a marshmellow of her own.  I thank God for nights like this they are so few and far between.

The Fire!!

Hope is hopeful!!! "Is he gonna share????"

Hope is dejected!!! " I guess not!!!"

Hope gets her treat! She was very happy!!

The Moon showing through the trees!!!!

God bless you

Tim

Split and stacked

The boy's rearranged the wood pile, while I split the wood.  We just stacked it using the "Chain Gang" method as Kaleb calls it.  It is such a blessing to have children willing to help out and do what it takes to get the job done.  I thank the Lord for giving us such a wonderful guide for life and family in his Holy Word the Bible.  We have a lot to learn and are very thankful for our Lord's patience with us, for there are many times we "don't get it"or we think our way will be easier etc.and end up flat on our faces.  We are planing on getting another load of slab wood tomorrow morning.  I hope to get it cut to length and unloaded soon, so I can get some more smaller edging pieces for our wood cook stove on Friday.  It is dinner time and I hope to have a fire in our outdoor patio fireplace later this evening.

God Bless you,
Tim

Edge trim wood cut and stacked!!

This morning the rain stopped about 11:00 am.  The boys and I with the help of Tiffy on the tractor pulling the trailer, cut and loaded and stacked the rest of the truck load of wood.  The rest of the week end we'll have to get the splitting done on the bigger stuff in between my working this weekend.  The end of my vacation is at hand.  Overall  we did get quite abit done around here.  A dent to say the least.

God bless you,
Tim

Salsa is done!!!!!

Finally Done!!  19 quarts of Mild, and 10 quarts and 7 pints of Medium.  It looks and tastes GREAT!! not that I'm partial or anything.  We thank the Lord for our abundant harvest.  Time for Tylenol and OFF to BED.  We will have to finish with the wood in the morning, Rain or Shine, there's about half of it left to cut and stack.

 

God bless you all, and to all a good night
Tim

Fall is coming soon!!!!

We have been gathering in the wood for the winter, so far we have a truck load of bigger pieces of wood that need splitting, and a truck load of smaller that just needs cut to length. We get our fire wood from a local guy that has his own sawmill. We get the edge and the trim pieces from the big logs . It is all hardwood, mostly oak and burns really well in our wood stoves. The price is very reasonable and will cut our electric costs this winter. The chain saw has been very busy the last few days, now the real work begins, the splitting.  The boy's and I will be using the axes, hatches, wedges and the Sledge, to make short work of the larger pieces, so they will be more manageable.  We will still have to get another Load of each, but for now it is enough to get stacked and put away.

We also processed about 40 pounds of peaches into peach butter and boy is it wonderful.  It is kind of like apple butter only made with peaches added with nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.  The girls got the recipe out of the "Ball Book" last year and made a small batch.  We liked it so well that we made MORE this year.

We are making salsa today with the peppers and tomatoes from our garden.  We had to buy onions because ours aren't big enough yet.  We will be  getting it started as soon as my post is done. 

 God bless you

Tim