John 10:9

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! Daniel is putting in so many hours at the office, I am so proud of his amazing dedication and determination to find solutions for our family. It's amazing to married to someone so selfless as to wake up every morning at 4:30am and not get home some days until after dark. It's been a little harder on me and the kids, but I know that the Lord's hand working us through this time in our lives and He will bring us around to normalcy soon. But right now He is working in our lives and teaching us to trust Him with it all. I am amazed once again at the Lord's ability to orchestrate events that should have nothing to do with each other to work together for good. For the last couple of weeks we have been seeking wise counsel for the businesses future success and we have been given an assortment of people to guide us through the economic changes. We were introduced to a CFO that works independently with small companies to help with projections and banking prospects, this lead us to the head loan officer and personal friend of someone else we know, this lead us eventually to a new CPA all three of whom just happened to either know each other or want to work together. Se here we are almost out of options and the Lord directs these people to our door. They could really care less about who we are, they all just wanted to network and we happen to bring them together with our needs. AMAZING! None of these people are believers, and yet they are being used by God to speak to Daniel and I and our employees in a very special way. Who knows the outcome of anything at this point, but we are just not worried when each day we are surrounded by miracles. Isn't it funny how we have to be uncomfortable to really pay attention to what God is doing in our lives? At least I find that in my life.
My parents are going through a lot of the same thing as us, and in every aspect have been blessed during a seemingly hopeless time. My mom did break her arm in two places last week, but is recovering fine. They were totally out of work last week and just today received two calls about more work than they could probably handle on their own. They have had such attitudes of calm and faith during a time of the unknown, it was such a testimony to Daniel and I. There are more stories like this, Its just that this is a public blog! But to not give away names and details, it has been a lesson in life to see the people in my life, that I care for, struggle and just choose to trust the Lord.

John 10:9
I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved , and will go in and out and find pasture.

Are we dead yet?

Sometimes it's so hard to see through what God is doing. It feels like most people I know are going through such change in their lives. I don't think that's what Obama supporters meant by "Change", but at least I know in my heart God will take care of us. Some of the the things that have brought me comfort are some amazing words from the bible. I am studying John and we were reading about Lazarus. I guess I never paid attention to how long Lazarus was dead, before Jesus came back to raise him up from the grave. 4 DAYS! I though to myself, Mary and Martha must have thought that since Jesus hadn't come when they ask him, that Jesus' answer to their plea for the life of their brother, that his death was the answer. And yet, after he had died, they prepared his body for the grave and then put him in a tomb, had a group of mourners for days, and THEN JESUS CAME and RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD. For me this has been pivotal in living in faith lately. Although our request seem to lay dead and all our plans and jobs and life seem quite literally dead, they are only dead to us. Death has no hold over Christ. Not death of the body nor of what we hold dear. He may take His time to answer, but we will get an answer and whether it is a resurrection of what we thought we lost or a direct change in our plans, He hasn't forgotten or just decided to walk away to do other things. He has a plan that holds greater blessing than we could imagine. I look back on my life and see each "death" of my plans and hopes becoming resurrected or redirected, both for my ultimate blessing and His glory. How hard it is to let go of my wishes and not stand in the way of His glory. I think I try blocking all the paths I'm so afraid of and miss each message He wants me to learn. He is ever faithful and has never wavered in that for me or Martha and Mary in their time of great need and grief. He wept when he saw their mourning for the loss of Lazarus and He was troubled when he saw their grief. I know that He weeps alongside me and understands my pain, even when He has the plan prepared for me. Just the knowledge that Jesus grieves with me in my sadness because He loves me that much makes me grateful for all things. Of course this post is weeks past the initial shock and disappointment and anger ect ect... But I know that He knew that and that's why he left Lazarus dead for 4 days. I'm sounding presumptuous, but I believe that He foreknew me that well...

Update for February

Well its been a busy couple of weeks, Noah broke his finger and is wearing a splint until next week. He will be fine and no surgery necessary! He's just bummed he can't ride his bike for three weeks. This hasn't kept him from being active however, we already had to trade in the plaster brace for a full fiberglass, that he hopefully will not destroy by Friday.

I've been stumped this week on how to get Graham interested in learning letters and numbers. he's memorized all breeds and colors of horses, so I know if he's interested he could do it. I'm getting creative, but any ideas would help!

Braxtyn is beginning to understand, yet not quite give in to, who's in charge around the house. That would be, me and Daniel. But I was encouraged to hear from her teacher at Wed. morning bible study, that she is very obedient to her teachers and very lovingly telling all the other kids what to do in class. At least she bosses in love:)

Cozette is growing and moving constantly! I'm getting very excited to meet her, but I'm also enjoying my time being pregnant. Its much easier this time with all the kids being older. The boys are so helpful and Braxtyn is so cute talking to my belly and telling every stranger we meet that she is having a baby sister.

Daniel and I planted the garden Saturday. What a big job, but such great time to spend outdoors! I'm really hoping for a good corn and bean crop this year. I have two gardens going, one with lettuce, carrots and eggplant and the other has corn, beans, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, onions, peppers, watermelon and pumpkins. I also have a few herbs, basil, cilantro and rosemary. I'm trying my best to keep the critters out. Marigolds, sunflowers, garlic and Epsom salts are just a few ingredients that are helping me out. We'll see if this all works. With all this hard work, if the critters get in I'm going to go for the full strength poison down the gopher holes this year. It'll be like Elmer Fudd and Bugs all over again. I'm just hoping I win. Our cats have survived and seem to be mousers, so that's great! Cats don't have a great survival rate out here. Our chickens are finally earning their keep. I'm getting about 6-10 eggs per day, if all else fails we could probably survive on eggs for a while:) My next project is trying to figure out how to plant and grow successfully some fresh alfalfa to supplement for my horse. Still working on the area and cost effectiveness for this one. Daniel and I are in disagreement over the work vs. payoff.

I read this great book that Doni loaned me, I'll add it my book list - Winter Haven by Athol Dickson (very intriguing and a bit scary at times, but it all works out!)

Saving money part 2 -How you save money as a farm girl!

After last posting I was thinking of funny ways I'm learning to cut costs on the ranch and I thought that you might find them amusing...

1. Give all table scraps to the chickens and pig to cut costs on animal food.

2. get a rooster to enhance egg production.

3. Trade eggs at the farmer's market for fresh veggies and fruits

4. Plant a vegetable garden to cut down on fresh food costs.

5. Use goats to eat weeds and fertilize garden

6. Use old fish your dh caught to help your garden grow.

7. keep up a yearly mulch pile to use on your garden, so you don't have to buy it.

8. Homeschooling is cheaper than most other schools, even public schools

9. Instead of buying expensive chemicals to clean your house use what your grandma did - vinegar, dish soap and baking soda.

10. Make your own fabric softener - If you want the recipe I'll send it to you.

11. Use cloth diapers as much as possible

12. Make your own decorative pillows, curtains, and maybe kids clothing??? I'm working on it:) LOL!

OK, so this is fun to me! (even my duck pond, Doni)

Want to save some money??

I thought I'd add a few things we are trying to do to save money and some things that some of you have told me about. I know its hard right now and we are all in a pinch, so here are a few things that are helping out our budget and others that I know of!

1. I re-joined with coupon sense and I am saving about %50 on my grocery bills. (ie: Fry's last week, spent $160, saved $158.00) On average I am saving about $200 per month. I am spending $22 per month for the Sunday paper coupons and Coupon sense website membership.

2. Cut off my Direct TV programming extras. Only a few cartoons and networks- saved about $25-30 per month.

3. Planning all meals and eating out only once or twice per week - when eating out, finding the "kids eat free" places. Not ordering kid's meals when eating fast food and packing the kid's drinks from home.

4. Packing at least half of DH's lunches

5. Buying mainly second hand clothing and shoes for the kids and ourselves ( I draw the line at some items):)

6. Recycling cans, aluminum went up in value

7. Discussing all "extra" purchases with your spouse on a weekly basis. It stops the emotional and impulse spending and makes you realize what is actually important to buy. (ie: buying that extra movie at the store, if you wait a few days and bring it up at your meeting, you may not find it so important)

8. If there is anything left over that month after bills, put it in a savings account, don't look at it as extra money.

9. Unplug appliances and lamps you don't use regularly, they drain electricity even when they are not on. Use a hanging line for drying clothing, we definitely have the dry weather for it!

10. Buy used, save the difference (Dugger family motto)

For more tips on dealing with the stress of the times, read John chapter 10 and just look at the precious way our saviour cares for our every need and what He did to be sure we would be cared for for eternity.