A Christmas Lullaby

Angel Eyes

Angel eyes, Angel eyes

The ways of the world are feeble,
Don't give up on sinful people

Angel eyes, Angel eyes
Many things we can live without
Your love is what life's about

Angel eyes, Angel eyes
Tell me what would we do without,
your light through angel eyes

You can move, the hearts of men
Just with a word your turning
Sins hearts to a holy burning

Eyes with love, wait so long
many souls in a dark world moan,
Are so close to the danger zone

Angel eyes, Angel eyes,
Tell me what would we do without
your light through angel eyes

Rewritten by Liz Van Cleve

Crafting a Chicken Hutch

The clanking of hammers and buzzing of saws filled our brightly colored, pre-autumn morning. Fixing fences and constructing a small hen house out of used, salvaged scraps of wood was the goal of these two young men today.

So we thought we best start them out with a hearty breakfast; Whole Wheat Apple pancakes with my home made Black Berry Syrup, fresh farm scrambled eggs and bacon was eagerly gobbled up...

Tool boxes were rummaged through...

They started with an old rabbit hutch and added side boards to it...

A mixture of curiosity and entertainment flickered about the hen house...

A little trouble with the electric saw left big slash in the cord.
Task incomplete but had to be postponed to next Saturday.

So Shane took advantage of the extra time to give attention to the goats...

Bodega Bay, 2010

A grain of sand or eternity?

For a Thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past...

And as a watch in the night

So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom

And let the beauty of the LORD be upon us:

And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it!

Psalms 90: 4,12,17

God's Love is Like a Circle

Our theme this month for BST is "LOVE MAKES EVERYTHING GROW." I planted ornamental sunflowers for all the BST kids- 40 of them. They have all sprouted and here they are all peeking out the window wishing I would take them outside. But they will have to wait till tomorrow...


I brought three of them with me last Tuesday night so some of the kids could water them with one of the little watering pots they will get with their flower at the end of the four week period. Kids love watering plants!

Tonight I constructed a new song card for next week to go with our theme. The children take turns coming up in the front and holding a song-card while we all sing the song:

GOD"S LOVE IS LIKE A CIRCLE
a circle big and round;
Whoever seen a circle,
no ending can be found.
And so the LOVE of JESUS,
goes on eternally;
Forever and forever,
I know that he loves ME!

BST IS THE PLACE TO BE!

More Like Christ!

"No matter how good or holy you may be, if you look Christ-ward...

until you see the depths of his submission to the Father...

the length of his love for souls...

the heights of his lofty purity and unworldliness...

the tenderness of his sympathy...

the richness of his communion with the Father...

his self-abnegation...

his humility...

and his unswerving faithfulness...

your soul will feel itself so immeasurably beneath Christ....

that you cannot help longing to be more like him."
C.W. Naylor

BEE BUSY FOR JESUS

Last month our theme for Bible Story Time ages 2-7, was
BEE BUSY FOR JESUS

We decorated our theme board with bees holding flowers. The kids can come up and pick a flower which has a BST song written under it that we all will sing together.

I sent them home with a paper BEE and a letter to their parents- When they brought their paper BEE back the following week, with something written that they did to BEE busy for JESUS, they got a little prize. We would read their good deeds out loud to the class and hang there bees up. Let me tell you, those little children were very busy- praying for their friends, helping with chores, sharing their toys...

At the end of the month they all received a bug observatory with their name on it...

And loaded with goodies!

Good Job all you busy little BEES!
BST IS THE PLACE TO BE!

Preserving the Plums

The morning started cool and breezy with an undertone of autumn in the air. Today, I decided, would be the day to make plum jam. Priscilla and I headed out front with flip flops on our feet and fruit buckets swinging merrily from our arms.

The branches of our tree were weighed down with the pretties tart cherry plums. No ladder was needed to fill the buckets.

I have to admit, picking plums for me was addicting. Out in the front yard of our quiet country home, the warm summer breezes blowing wisps of hair across my face, and all the birds cheerfully going about their busy day. But as much as I was enjoying the picking, I could only use so many plums and there was a LOT more work to be done.

As I worked today, my mind wandered back to the days when my kids were little. They too loved to pick fruit, but not for very long, and they certainly did not want to help out with the kitchen work. All the pitting and cutting that takes so long. My kids remember many a time when I pulled out the famous tale of the 'Little Red Hen,' and read to them how her little chicks did not want to help her either...

But when it was time to eat the bread, they were all lined up ready to have their share. But you know what that mother hen told them? She made it all by herself, and now she will eat it all by herself; and she did! I always read them the scripture about those who would not work should not eat. Reluctantly they would join in the work. Did it pay off to read them that story? Well...

They sure are good and willing helpers now! Priscilla, Felecia and I worked all day, pitting plums. Shane wasn't feeling well due to shots, but he is a hard worker around here too.

We boiled up three large pots of plums and sugar. We started at noon...

and finished a little after 7:00. I had dinner in the oven to boot.
Was it worth all that work? Well what was it that the Little Red Hen always asked when she was done baking her bread?

"Now, who will help me EAT the bread?" asked the Little Red Hen.

"I will!" "I will!" I will!" And we did. I made a batch of fresh whole wheat biscuits to go with dinner and to eat the fruit of our labor.

Oh, and just for a side note, according to my calculations of what a jar of plum preserves cost at a local grocery store, I made $80 worth of jelly today in 7 hours. That makes me worth, with the help of the girls, approximately $11.50 an hour. With the added benefits of not having to leave the home plus pesticide, preservative, and Karo syrup free jelly I'm probably even worth a lot more than that. Not bad huh!?