Martha....Who Me??

You all remember the story of two sisters in the Bible. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. Luke 10:38-39.

You remember how Martha was the hostess with the mostest! She was busy with every detail in the kitchen to serve company, while her not so helpful sister sat in the floor of the living room listening to Jesus. I have often referred to myself as being a "Martha" in almost a boastful way. The scripture gives us direction for what is the most important. The scripture tends to sing Mary's praises, but honestly Martha appeals more to most women's perfection tendencies. This author does a beautiful job, in a humurous way of redirecting women's thinking towards putting first things first. She states that the Living Room Intimacy Mary enjoyed with Jesus will never come out of the "busyness" of Martha's Kitchen.....ouch! This author points out that, while the world applauds achievement, God desires companionship. The world clamors, "Do More! Be all that you can be!" But our Father whispers, "Be still and know that I am God."

I could include so much more from this book, but you might just want to get a copy and read it too. I am not completely finished reading it, but I have enjoyed every word of it. I have found that it may just be that if I would sit more often at the feet of Jesus ...the busyness of life would be much easier. The author puts it this way - "when we put work before worship, we put the cart before the horse. The cart is important; so is the horse. But the horse must come first, or we end up pulling the cart ourselves.....we then grow frustrated and weary, and can nearly break under the pressure of service". She says, "when we take time to hear His voice--God provides the horsepower we need to pull the heaviest load".

Mooving Along

I just had to add a picture of some of the Jersey cows. I believe this picture was taken last spring, but the cows remind me of fall, as well. The dairy has been our primary livelihood for almost 30 years. It has been BD's dream come true. The farm requires constant, ongoing work, but it has always been exactly what BD loved to do.... and he is good at it. The day will come when we will no longer be able to operate this farm. That will be a sad day for our family, but we all understand reality. We have cared well for these cows and they have taken care of us. We have been blessed to have shared these years in the country and reared our children and now grandchildren in this environment. It is a place to escape the rush of the world, while staying very busy operating it. I used to spend the fall mornings bottling calves....many calves.........all very hungry....it was a hassle as they knocked the bottles out of my hand, licked my clothes, and slung mud, but the task really gives you a chance to be alone and think. Yes, country life has its disadvantages, but there are many blessings, if one just chooses to look around.

Someday, I will share some of the more humorous events around here....like the day I drove about 10 miles down the interstate before I realized I was dragging our "old wire gate" behind me; or maybe the first time I was left alone to milk the cows and one of the cows fell in the milking pit with me; or one of the many times I walked out of my rubber boots in deep manure & mud......maybe even the time I pulled BD on the old WD45 Allis Chalmers to the neighbors for repair, with no regard for the speed I was traveling................oh, the memories. Rudy, Katie, and their spouses were here this past weekend, and we had some side-splitting laughter recounting some of these memories...........OH THE MEMORIES!

Awe.......Autumn

This picture is very meaningful to our family. Katie took the picture last fall while my brother-in-law & sister-in-law were here to visit. Jack & Marion live in Iowa, and Marion fell in love with all of the Oklahoma fall foliage. Since retiring from teaching as an art teacher, she has developed her art skills via watercolor paintings. Much to my surprise, I received a water color painting for Christmas..........yes, Marion captured this scene in a special painting for me. This may just look like a dusty old road to you, but it has long been the road home for our family. Katie appropriately named the picture, "The Road Home". Rudy liked the comfort of the picture & painting of our road home and is now using the picture as his screen saver on his computer. I have attempted to capture the same picture with each new season.

I love the fall weather. Okay, I am rushing it a little bit, but I start to feel cozy and begin to crave homemade stew or taco soup. The days are getting shorter and the livestock seem to be enjoying the slightly cooler evenings. Fin & Feather will hold their annual arts and crafts show soon, and the fall fairs with livestock shows will begin. These events and changing of the trees and weather stir up feelings within me, filled with warm memories from my younger days here on the farm with our kids. Ahhh...........I love it! Autumn is Awesome!

Something to Ponder!

I have not posted in a while, but I received this e-mail today and I thought it was worth sharing. I don't know the origin of the e-mail or the writer. This is thought provoking and touched me. Don't we all need an attitude adjustment sometimes. This will make you stop and think .

A 92-year-old, large, relaxed and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair combed and face shaved properly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled genuinely when told his room was ready. As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. "I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait." "That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged .. it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away.... just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories! Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing. " Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. "Free your heart from hatred" 2. "Free your mind from worries" 3. "Live simply" 4. "Give more" 5. "Expect less".

Anniversary

This past Monday we celebrated our "41st" wedding anniversay. We had lunch at the "Olive Garden"--one of my favorite places to go and BD's least favorite, but he wanted to do it for me. Then we continued the celebration by seeing BD's cardiologist.....always a fun trip, lol...we both do really like the doctor! We then stopped by the mall and my wonderful husband bought this beautiful - "Past, Present, & Future" diamond necklace for ME. I was so pleased and thought it was beautiful. You can't really see the detail clearly here. Come Tuesday, I wore my necklace with pride and thankfulness for the blessing of a wonderful husband. Later that afternoon, I stepped outside and found multiple wasps flying all around the front door. I quickly ran for "fly spray"...we did not have any wasp spray. As I ran from the porch after spraying, I thought a wasp was on my neck and I swiftly swatted at it----catching my necklace with my little finger...it really pulled, but I checked to see that it was intact. I continued around the house, bending over to pull weeds along the way, and heading for a hoe to knock down any nest I might find. I trailed all the way around the house and suddenly felt exhausted. I came inside to rest for a few minutes........I got up and went to the bathroom mirror to remove my contact lenses..........and guess what??? My beautiful necklace was GONE from around my neck. Woe is ME..........I wanted to cry and panic struck my soul, but my grand daughter was coming in the house soon. I told BD the necklace was gone and he just looked at me....soon to join me with a flashlight, followed by Gracie. We went step by step....the same steps I had already taken around the house about three times ...fretting and praying all the while. Gracie searched right along with us....and it was getting dark. I was absolutely wilted. We all came in the house with little conversation---I was feeling so irresponsible and telling myself I did not deserve something so nice....when very calmly Gracie says, "Grandma, what were we looking for anyway?" I said, "Oh Gracie, it was that beautiful necklace that grandpa gave me YESTERDAY for our anniversary." She said, "Well I saw something sparkling out in the front.....but, I did not know what we were looking for." My sceptical response was ....really??? "Come show me"........ Low and behold............there it was laying in a crack along the concrete in front of the house. Talk about thrilled and thankful.....I grabbed Gracie and hugged and hugged and thanked her so much. You know, the necklace is just a little worldly thing....not important in the big picture of life....I even felt guilty praying about it, but thank goodness the Lord cares about every aspect of our lives. I have thanked Him for the many blessings of life and helping with the little things. We can't depend on things, but we can always depend on Him.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8

Neat Gadget

Okay, you have seen it on TV and you wanted it! How many times have you ordered something or bought it in a store only to find it is worthless? When I was in Mississippi Barb made the best fresh salsa and she used her handy dandy chopper. It worked great! Being the determined person that I am, I was having one of those things. I found this one at Linens and Things. It turns out this is not the same brand that Barb had, but IT WORKS! Anyway, you can see that it is a chopper/dicer and you can make salsa in a snap. Barb's version was a little different, but I wanted to share the recipe that Linda gave me a year or so ago. It is delicious!

Homemade Salsa

1 can Rotel (drained)

1 bunch of green onions chopped

1 large tomato chopped (or I use about 6 Roma tomatoes)

1 tsp. salt

2-3 Tbsp. lime juice or 1 1/2 fresh lime

Chopped Cilantro to taste

Very good, makes about 1/2 cup

I always make a larger batch because it goes so fast and we love it. You can vary the recipe with adding your own hot peppers and extra fresh tomatoes if you do not care for the taste of canned tomatoes mixed with the fresh tomatoes.

Enjoy!!