Gifting by use of Heritage Skills

A heritage skill that i have been given by my mother and grandmother is crochet, and i am very grateful for it.  I love having it.  In addition to having a great (and cheap) hobby for relaxation, crocheting is a great source of homemade and often very appreciated gifts.  Not to mention, again, cheap.

Right now, my crocheting hobby is very cheap.  Over the past two years, i have accumulated an entire chest full of free yarn.  Two different people gifted me with entire trash bags filled with old, unused yarn...one a friend, and one a freecycle member.  This makes it very easy for me to give inexpensive, unique, heartfelt, hand made gifts that cost me nothing but my heart, thoughts, and labor.  A labor i love.

This weekend, i had a one-year old's birthday party to attend.  While i love this particular one-year-old, i had a hard time deciding what i should give him for a gift.  One-year-olds are tricky like that.  I started looking and came upon a crochet project i have never done before - a teddy bear.

I found that pattern at Mielke's Fiber Arts.  This particular pattern calls for regular worsted weight yarn and a size G hook.  But the finish product is only about 4 inches tall.  Wanting a little bit more size, i decided to use two strands of yarn (two different shades of brown) and a size N hook.  My variation made my teddy bear about 7 inches tall, instead of 4 inches, which seemed a little better size for a four-year-old boy.  Being without traditional stuffing, i used a t-shirt, cut into tiny pieces, to stuff my little bear.  An altogether cost-free product that took me two to three hours from start to finish.

I really like this pattern because it's very flexible, easy to understand, and easy to personalize.  All the parts can be different colors if you want the patchwork effect - or whatever you want to do.  And the arms and legs are attached by a kind of crocheted "hinge" that allows movement, floppiness, or the ability to arrange it on a shelf like i did, sitting down like a very well-behaved teddy bear. Altogether, a very cute project that i really enjoyed.

Check out Mielke's.  Their pictures are better than mine. 

A Few of My Favorite Things

• Incubating chicks -- i started a new hatch on Friday.  Twenty-four new eggs.

• Broody hens incubating chicks -- i have a new broody hen, who is safe in the brooder, and i gave her seven eggs on Friday night.  She took to the move immediately and never protested.  What a relief!

I have a hunch i won't see those eggs for even a second until they hatch.  She's a very determined and steadfast mother hen.

• Sassafrass -- This morning, i went sassafrass root hunting.  Since it grows a little more heartily than the weeds here, there was lots to be found.  Grand fun.  Grand smell.  I'm going to try some tea this year i think.  If it tastes as good as it smells......yum!

• Cold weather.  It was 40 degrees this morning.  I had to get out my long sleeved t-shirt winter clothes so i could go outside and take care of my animals.  Cool weather makes me want to do stuff.  I love it.  Let me clarify.  I love Texas' cool weather.  I do not love the cold weather of the northerly states.  That's just too much of nice thing - to the point of torture.

• Breezy days.  Crocheting for the holidays.  The freedom to bake bread.  Leaves all over the ground, camouflaging my yard in loveliness.  Chickens scratching and frolicking all day.  I love the autumn.

• Favorite thing #1:  My most wonderful Gun-Slingin' Super Hero, who will get up on a 40 degree Saturday morning to get me kolaches and cappuccino from town.  And do it with a smile and a kiss.  There is no more wonderful husbandly super hero in the land.  I declare it.

In love, in a political way

On a rare political note, this morning i got to see a video of the House Minority Leader, John Boehner, in his Weekly Republican Address, and i fell in love . . . in a political way.

Then i did some searching and found his speech to the House, which he gave in March, before they voted on the health care bill.  And i fell in love again.

I like him because he doesn't seem to mind telling the truth in clear, succinct words, and because he seems to understand the meaning of the word, "representative."  So i thought i would share.  I don't consider myself a Republican, or anything else with an official name.  I simply believe in the original Constitution of the United States - and in the right to vote in officials who support my Christian World View.  Nuff said.

Also, Tuesday is election day.  If you haven't already, i hope you'll get to studying your local sample ballots and learn about who you're voting for in every level of government.  It's important.  If we don't vote, how will they know how to represent us?

Hope you enjoy these videos.

Chicken Housing Bliss and Happy Splinters

I have splinters in my fingers, soreness in my shoulders, pain in my butt muscles gluteas maximus fanny, and satisfaction in my heart.

I believe i've mentioned our chicken management issues lately.  In addition to the numbers i've mentioned, i should also tell you that my younger chickens have not figured out where to go to sleep, and i have spent nearly every evening for the past couple of months moving between 12 and 33 chicks from some unsafe, unsheltered place where they insist on sleeping, to some place safe.  This is an evening ritual which quickly grows old.

Also it has a solution.

Once a chicken recognizes a certain place as home, he or she will go back to that place to sleep.  Happily, one can teach a chicken where home is by locking it into "home" for about a week.  After that, she will go home at dusk unless something happens to sort of reset her "home" button.

I want all the chickens to see the coop as home, but i don't want to lock the adult chickens, who have a well established home understanding, into "home" for a week, with 33 youngsters.  That seems cruel to everyone involved.

Thus, i have been pondering.

Since we plan to have a new batch of chicks about every ten weeks for the foreseeable future, it seems wise to come up with some better a plan.

Thus i have pondered further.

Then it came to me.  Praise God that He cares about how i house my chickens!

To make this post more interesting, i have drawn you a picture.

This is an overhead rendition of the layout of our coop.  I needed to find a way to make a roomy enclosure (so not just a cage) in which to house chicks 24/7 for a solid week - but still not cramp the style of those pushy grown-up chickens.

Then the fantastic realization struck me!  The very best thing to do without compromising the space allotted for the adults, was to use the area under the roosting bars!

Eureka!

The area under the roosts is completely wasted space, and when the chickens do use it, they generally get pooped on by other chickens.  And that's never good.

So this morning, i got up and got to work.

I put a "poop board" under the roosts to act as a roof for the babies, and then, inspired by my curtains (lovely curtains), i made four separate panels of framed chicken wire that can all be moved around independently just by lifting.  SO nice!  They're not attached to anything, and that makes clean up and rearrangement much simpler.

Now, i am not a carpenter.  I may be many things, but carpenter is really not one of them.  I am however, resourceful, somewhat stubborn, and determined.  The following pictures reflect all of these things - and the fact that i used almost entirely previously well-used materials.

The good news:  it's all completely functional.  And that was the point.  Chickens aren't particularly picky about appearances.

And they're in it!

There are now 57 chickens in my little coop (most of them tiny), and tomorrow, i won't have to put them back!  That's a successful day.

Many good things come from what a man says. And the work of his hands rewards him.

~ Proverbs 12:14 ~

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. 

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

~  Philipians 4:6 ~

Handy Shortcuts and the Mysteries of Blogger

Before i started writing this post, i had to go and look to see what my blog looks like right now.  I couldn't remember in what state i had left it.  I have spent a large portion of today attempting to discern the mysteries of blogger code and the "easy" methods in place to help you do whatever you want.  I have used two programs i had previously never heard of, learned a couple of new computer skills, and still have not succeeded in affecting the appearance of my blog.

Perseverance.  I must persevere.

Additionally, at the end of our food supply before pay day, i have discovered a couple of handy shortcuts for tastier food when supplies are minimal.

Handy shortcut #1:

A can of spam can season a couple of pots of beans pretty nicely.

Handy shortcut #2:

After i nicely seasoned a pot of beans using Handy shortcut #1, i managed to scorch it, making it inedible to humans and very appetizing to some very lucky dogs.  That was my chosen side for this evening's meals, and not wanting to start over with the beans, i looked for something different.

In my cabinet, i found some Ramen Noodles and a can of cream of mushroom soup.  Just wait a minute; it turned out pretty good.  I prepared the noodles as directed, but drained off most of the water before adding the seasoning/bouillon flavor packet.  Then i drained the seasoned broth into a separate container, leaving the noodles mostly dry.  To the noodles (two packages), i added one can of cream of mushroom soup.  I stirred this together with the noodles, adding broth as needed to thin it out.  I piled the noodles on the plate and topped them with pan fried pork steak.  It wasn't gourmet, but it was a nice change.

Tomorrow, i am looking forward to our monthly(ish) community ladies' coffee, in which many of the ladies in my subdivision(ish) get together at someone's house and have...coffee.  You guessed it.  It's really quite enjoyable, and about the only time i get to see any of the ladies in my neighborhood.  I learn all sorts of things at these meetings.

Besides that, i plan to muse over the mysteries of blogger while i do some sewing for a friend.

Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

~ Galatians 6:9 ~

The Use of Sarcasm and Exaggeration

Today was such an exciting day!

I spent countless hours remodeling my blog only to find it still wanting for improvement.

Then i took a nap.

After i woke up, i experimented with some crafting and then discovered that our kitchen had been taken over by flies in plague proportions.  Flies everywhere!  Flies!

So my GSSH put up some fly paper, and now most of the flies are dead or dying while stuck to fly paper.  Sorry flies.

That was my very awesome crazy stupendous exciting eventful day!


There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.  A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.  A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild.  A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.  A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.  A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away.  A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.  A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Perhaps there is also a time to be bored, within that resting.  A time to kill flies?  I'm not sure.  But i'm sure that i can be thankful for living in peace....peace enough that i have time to be bored.

Remodeling and Suggestions for Change?

Hello Friends,

I am about to do some remodeling here on Humble Ambitions, so if you check in for updates and find cotton candy stripes covered with purple polka dots, or the print of the post has turned to neon green, please bear with me.  I'm working on it.  I promise not to leave it like that.

It seems the template i'm using is now badly outdated, so for ease of technology (ease later, not so much now), i am going to change out a few things.

Hopefully we'll be back to some state of normal in about 24 hours.

Thanks for stopping by, even though this is a very short and anticlimactic post.  If you do, however, have some complaint or frustration, or suggestion as to the design of this blog, this would be the time to shout it out, and i'll see what i can do.

Here's your inspirational scripture for the day:

Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.  Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.  Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.  Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.  Romans 12:9-12


Beth

Easy Saturday

I feel like i got a lot done today, and at the same time, i had a pretty easy day.

Nice.  A twofer.

In addition to using my pressure cooker/canner to cook down bones to feed to the dogs, and watching helping GSSH clean up the front yard a bit, i've been doing some mental and written organizing.

Chicken organizing.

Lemme splain.

Because i went a little nuts with my incubator when i got it...willy nilly producing tiny chickens without regard for how i would house them when they turned into flighty winged pigs, we are bit overrun right now.

I have 23 adults, one 10-weeker, twelve 8-weekers, and twenty-one 5-weekers.  Are you adding that up?  That's fifty-seven chickens.  And they grow up.  And want to be fed!

Therefore, i had to unplug the incubator and get a brain about myself before bringing more cute little fuzzy eggs with feet into this world.  The incubator has been unplugged in the corner of the living room for weeks now, which is very sad, and today i figured out when i can use it again.

As sad as it is, very much of the reason we have chickens is so we can eat them.  So, i sat down with a couple of calendars and couple of pads of paper and a couple of different colored pens and eventually my computer calendar, and figured out how often i can incubate chicks with our current accommodations for housing, and how that works out for the filling of our freezer and pantry with edibles.

Happily, we settled (i settled, and he approved) a plan to incubate every ten weeks.  This will allow us to process about 100-120 chickens for food each year, which will go a very long way toward our food sovereignty goals.  If we can get those rabbits reproducing soon, we may plausibly produce more than 50% of our own meat in 2011.  Wouldn't that be grand?!

And healthy.

And think how much chicken and rabbit stock i could put away if we do that!  Groovy!

After i color-coded my calendar and settled all my dates and got happy about being able to produce that much meat, i let my left brain get plum out of control, and i made a spreadsheet of my adult chickens and their respective i.d. numbers and identifying details.  It was a grand evening!

Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit."  How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog -- it's here a little while, then it's gone.  What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that."  Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.  Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
James 4:13-17


I almost forgot.  When can i incubate again?  Happily, i need to set eggs this very next weekend, according to my calendar.  And if the Lord wills, i will do it and follow this plan.

Taming the Beast

I've been leading up to this day for quite some time.

It's really quite a day.

In June, when we conducted our long-awaited summer slaughter, and i started collecting chicken feet, i thought about this day.

Also, in June, when we ordered our All American Pressure Canner, from the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, i thought about this day.

Even way back then, the very first time i ever turned a chicken into dinner, i was thinking about this day.

Drumroll  please.

Today, i canned chicken stock.  I know some of you are wondering why that's all bold and underlined, but it's important....really.


Here's how.


(For those of you who just checked out because i'm giving directions about chicken stock, please stick with me; there's a story in here too.  Thanks!)

I started with 15 chicken feet, 8 chicken necks, and 8 chicken gizzards.  These were frozen in June, and i started thawing them on Tuesday.

I'm taking some cues from a fellow who calls himself "Frugal Squirrel," who wrote this tutorial on making chicken stock.  As usual, i'm taking cues, not necessarily directions.  I'm just doing kind of the same thing with what i have.

I spread out all my feet, gizzards, and necks in a small roasting pan, and then i piled on some chopped celery i had in the freezer, along with about half(ish) an onion, and quite a few cloves of garlic, which you will see in the next photo.

I roasted all of this in the oven, for about 2 hours (ish) at 300 degrees.  Until it looked all yummy, like this.  Oh, and it smelled SO good.  I should do this every day, just for the smell.

Then i poured the contents into my favorite stock pot and added some water.

I put my stock pot on a small burner on my stove, on the absolute lowest setting, and let it cook for a solid 24 hours, and a little more, until the chicken feet were a little less obvious, and the concoction looked a little less like a witch's cauldron.

I don't want to leave all these bones and meat in the liquid.  I just cooked all the goodness out of them.  Some folks use cheesecloth to make sure to get all the tiny little bone pieces out of this, but i don't have cheesecloth.  So, i used my three nested screen colanders, to make sure i got every little bit of solids out of my stock.

Here's the mess on top.

And the goodness left beneath.  This was sometime yesterday, when i decided not to tackle the canner in the afternoon, so i covered this bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Here's what it looked like this morning, after i spooned it out of the bowl, and back into my clean stock pot.  See all that gelatinousness?  That's the good stuff.  It's gelatinous because of the nutrients that were leached out of the bones while it was simmering.  Nice, eh?  It is also recommended that you skim the fat off at this point, but there was so little fat in mine, that i was having trouble getting just fat and not stock, so i decided to leave it.  Next, i just cooked it down, until it was liquidy and boiling again, and then i was ready to start canning.

Since i've never used a pressure canner before, i practiced with just water before i put my precious product inside.  I thought i had it all figured out, but after i put that lid on, it became clear that something was wrong.

This beast huffed and puffed and steamed and screamed for an hour and a half but never got up to the pressure it was supposed to.  So, near tears (somehow i had really worked myself up about this), i turned it off and started making desperate pleas to people on the internet to tell me what to do.  After a lot of reading, asking questions, crying, and a phone call to the customer service of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, i gained courage and began again.  As it turns out, i had the lid crooked.  It happens.

The second try went much much better.  It reached the appropriate pressure in a short 20 minutes, and it wasn't long before i removed my three little jars from the canner.  Unhappily, one of the jars did not seal, and i had to re-do it after dinner.  

But i was not to be conquered this day, and i am now the happy owner of three properly cured and sealed pint jars of chicken stock.

Altogether in my canning "pantry", i have now collected these three pints of chicken stock, one quart of canned peaches, and 3 jars of Christmas Butter, one of which i am in the process of eating.  

Small beginnings, i suppose.  But i've gained something bigger this year:  experience and knowledge.  

The next time i have an inkling and a reason to use my pressure canner, i will just rock and roll, and not hesitate or fear.  I will also put the lid on straight.  

And the next time i have odd chicken pieces that can be used to make valuable chicken stock, i will not hesitate - but eagerly save the pieces, knowing their value.  

And i suspect that some time this winter, i will retrieve one of these precious little jars and prepare some of the best soup we've ever had.  And then, i'll really want to make more.

Today was a really good day.  Though it doesn't look like i have much to show for it, i can feel it.  I have tamed a beast.

How's that for canning melodrama?

Do not despise these small beginnings, 

for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin . . .  Zechariah 4:10

Not about Chicken Stock

I thought i was going to talk about chicken stock today, but alas, my stock is in the fridge, and my pressure canner is still being considered.  It is obviously going to require some courage to use it.  I don't want to mess anything up.  I didn't get to the pressure canner stage until this afternoon, and while i was re-reading the manual, i decided that pressure canning could wait until a fresh start first thing in the morning.

In the mean time, i made pear cobbler, sweetened with corn syrup, and it used up every last bit of my flour.  That's kind of nice.  That i had enough flour for a really big cobbler, that is.

When i was thinking, the other day about being thankful for what we do have instead of being wistful for what we don't, i stumbled over this blog entry, at the Livesay's blog, whose writer was thinking something similar.  Having grown weary of hearing family members (as i understand it) complain about having "nothing to eat," the the parental figures in this home instituted an "eat down," in which they are eating all the food in the house, until they really do have nothing to eat.  I'm not sure what they're going to do at that point.  I'm guessing they'll go shopping.  But in any event, i'm digging the idea and the purpose.

This brings me to a conversation i had today, about the importance of keeping things in perspective.  Well, it was about more than that, but, the point i'm sharing with you is this scripture.  Living in a materialistic society, as most of us do, it's so important to remember the words in Proverbs 15:13-17.  This whole passage seems to be getting at our hearts and how we're truly fed.

A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, 

but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken. 

The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge, 

but the mouth of fools feeds on folly.  

All the days of the afflicted are bad, 

but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. 

Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, 

than great treasure and turmoil with it. 

Better is a dish of vegetables 

[i.e. bowl of Ramen noodles] where love is 

than a fattened ox

[i.e. grilled steak with a big salad and a stuffed baked potato and some really good dessert that i can't think of right now because i had pear cobbler with love] 

served with hatred.

Of Survival Skills and Thankfulness

As i've mentioned, there are things i've been meaning/wanting to do that i haven't been doing.

Things like using all those chicken feet in my freezer to make chicken stock.

Things like learning to use my monumentally expensive pressure canner....to can things like chicken stock.

Today, i became thankful for our recent "misfortune" of losing grocery money.  Because when we're in a predicament, my wheels start turning, and i start thinking about how to make something from nothing things they're not normally made from.  I think that's called resourcefulness.

For example, i read just last week about how the fat skimmed off of chicken stock before it's canned, can be refrigerated and used in place of butter in things like rice and mashed potatoes.  And i thought, "i haven't made my chicken stock yet.  I should do that."

Or for another example, while evaluating our supplies, i noted that we had just about enough sugar to sweeten the same amount of tea that we have tea bags to make.  But my husband has a sweet tooth.  I also noted that i have fruit, unreasonable amounts of corn syrup (which i use about once a year to make caramel popcorn), and enough flour to make dough for a large cobbler.  Ding!  Surely corn syrup can be used to sweeten fruit for cobbler, right?  We're going to find out!

I am really enjoying this.

Today, i started making chicken stock, and i'll share that later.  But let's just say that the wonderful smell in my house is enough to brighten anyone's day, several times over.  I know it has brightened mine.

When i was looking in our hurricane storage - which is not nearly as much fun to get into if you're not having a hurricane, i decided to pull out a couple of small items for filler.  I also found two MREs left over from Hurricane Ike.  FEMA, or someone like that, was handing them out at the time, but it turned out that we never actually ate them.  And since MREs don't actually last forever, i decided to put them into the meal rotation this week for fun.  And since i imagined that not all of my readers have ever eaten a real MRE (i never had before today), i thought i would share, with pictures.

My chosen MRE meal was #21, Chili and Macaroni.

Here's what was inside my packet.  Sorry the picture's kind of small and fuzzy.  There's the chili with macaroni, peach mango apple sauce, wheat snack bread, cheese jalapeno spread, kreamsicle cookies, cinnamon imperials, a packet of apple cider mix, which includes salt, red pepper flakes, lemonade mix, a wet towelette, and two pieces of gum.  Don't forget there's also the heater (flameless ration heater) and the hot drink bag, so you can heat water for your cider.

Oh!  And look, you can use the back of the Peach Mango Apple Sauce to send a note home to Mom!

For my cider, which was very good, i decided to use a coffee mug and my microwave, instead of a plastic bag.  But i did use the FRH (flameless ration heater) to heat up my chili and macaroni.  It was pretty neat.  You add maybe a couple of tablespoons of water to this bag, and it immediately heats up.  It heated up so fast that it scared me, and i stuffed it in a box before i realized i hadn't read the directions.  I had to pull it out and read and then do it right, but it worked really well.

Since i'm not in a fox hole somewhere, but instead in my own kitchen, i decided not to eat out of the little bags.  I used dishes, and i had a pretty decent meal...more than i could eat in fact.

Again, sorry for the fuzzy pictures.  This is my peach mango applesauce in the bowl, chili and macaroni, and wheat bread snack with jalapeno cheese spread on the plate.  Not bad.

The picture that didn't turn out is the kreamsicle cookies, which are sort of a hard sugar cookie with orange candies stuck in them, but they taste better than i'm describing them.  And the cinnamon imperials are basically red hots.  I don't know how nutritious red hots are, but i suppose if i were stuck in a fox hole (do they still use fox holes?  i've obviously never been at war) somewhere waiting to get shot at, i would probably appreciate a big bag of red hots to pass the time.  In my case, i'm nibbling at them two or three at a time, from a bowl on my counter.

I took the lemonade to church with me and still have quite a bit left.  I put the wet towelette in my purse, and the matches, we'll save in a drawer somewhere.  Did i tell you there were matches?  There were matches.

Anyway, i had fun checking out my MRE, which stands for Meal Ready to Eat, by the way, and i've concluded it wouldn't be that awful to survive on them for an extended period.  They're pretty good, and the flameless heater is lots of fun.

Oh, and i keep forgetting i don't like jalapenos.  So i shared that part with the dogs.  It seems like they (jalapenos, not the dogs) should taste good, and then i put them in my mouth, and they just don't.  I'm sorry.  Maybe i'll remember next time.

Hope you enjoyed my MRE!

Raging Against The Gloom

In the two years that we have lived here in this house, in the country, in the beautiful woods, i have mostly been in a beautiful state of everything-is-wonderful-and-happy-and-getting-even-better.  Well, there were moments.  When my entire flock of chickens died one by one to woodland critters that i couldn't seem to guard against, there was some definite gloom.  And i think there were some other moments, but other than the chicken thing, they were pretty easy to shake.

But the past few days, there has been an unhappy, unreasonable, sticky gloom hanging out at my house, and i'm getting ready to take it out!

Some things that aren't very fun have happened.  My dogs are ill, and that makes me sad.  And then yesterday, my husband's wallet decided to go for a walk in the grocery store parking lot with our grocery money and was kidnapped by some party that didn't see fit to return it.  That kind of stinks. But we can deal with all that stuff.  We've dealt with much much worse, for sure.

Something i know about gloom.  It can't survive the Word of God.  It also has the benefit of making me more desperate to get into the Word of God.  Silly gloom, working against itself.

I've started stapling scriptures to my wall again.  (When i lived at home with my parents, there was a period of time in which i had one whole wall of my room covered in scriptures i had read and written down on construction paper).

"...Hope in the Lord; for with the Lord, there is unfailing love and an overflowing supply of salvation."  Psalm 130:7

When i read that scripture, i remembered one of our pastors at church sharing with us that salvation also means provision, healing, peace.

Then yesterday, i sat down and watched a show on t.v. that is normally just background noise.  It was a re-run of a Christian talk-show from 1996, made in Canada ....  and the guest was talking about how God wants us to pursue our dreams - or to find out what His dreams are for us and pursue those.

And i realized that i have stopped hoping for my dreams.  Not entirely stopped.....but having some trouble maybe.  Hope is so important.  If you let go of hope..... well, i don't want to go there.

You've heard the scripture, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."  Proverbs 29:18

Other versions of that scripture read, "...the people cast off restraint."  I think that has to do with knowing your path and staying disciplined to follow and take the steps to reach your goals.

Of course, none of that can happen until you learn Psalm 37:4,

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."  

I think that means that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will insert His dreams for our lives into our hearts and make them our desires, and then He will fulfill them.

Then there's this one:  "It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools will not turn from evil to attain them." Proverbs 13:19.

If we don't believe that God wants those dreams for us, we'll never get to walking the path to get there.

So i'm working on something called a "dream board."  There's a part of me that rebels against the dream board.  It's just pictures that represent my dreams, put together so i can look at them regularly.  The overly practical side of me thinks this is just fun time and unproductive.  But in the words of Richard Roberts, who used to be my university president, in an illustrated sermon he shared with us 15 years ago or so, "what you focus on will develop."  

What are you focused on?  The set-backs?  Or the goals?

NOT Sick Cocktails

This past week, i encountered one or two possibly contagious people with random cold symptoms, one of whom i kiss on the lips from time to time.  Then yesterday, we went to spend time with family, and GSSH's mom was obviously ill and possibly running a fever, but socializing anyway.

I sometimes imagine myself to be invincible to disease and sickness, but when i get sick, i have to come to the understanding that the germs came from somewhere.

Recently, i have been catching someone's germs, seemingly every couple of weeks, so this morning when i woke up feeling like i was going to feel like my mother-in-law in a few hours, i sent GSSH to the store for my favorite sickness preventative, Airborne.  I LOVE that stuff!  Back in the old days, when i was encountering the coughing sneezing sniffling public on a daily basis, i used airborne a lot, just to stay strong and healthy.  If you're not familiar, Airborne is just a giant tablet (sometimes a powder) that you drop into your glass of water, and it fizzes like alka-seltzer, but it packs a giant vitamin and mineral, immune system strengthening, punch.  And it doesn't taste too bad.

I started mixing it though, with orange juice and plum puree.  It's really good.  And i am feeling much better.

I'm just sitting and sipping on my Not Sick Cocktails, (alcohol free, of course).

That's what i'm doing today.

Lyndsi, for slightly less wordy than usual Thursday.

Yesterday, i had the uncommon enjoyment of visiting with my Lyndsi.  Lyndsi is my first cousin's daughter, a.k.a., my first cousin once removed (that's for genealogy nerds like me).  Anyway, Lyndsi, who is very dear to my heart, left us for the Pacific Northwest a couple of years ago, and yesterday i got to hug her neck and see her smiling face for the first time in too long.

I also got to meet her fiance, Matt, who was well-liked by everyone who met him.  A great relief to us all.  

Good job, Lyndsi, bringing home such a sweet guy!

And that was slightly less wordy than usual Thursday.

Traffic Signs

Recently, i was offered a chance at an opportunity to possibly write for a much larger publication than this here Humble Ambitions.

Being a person who thinks in my heart that part of my purpose on this earth is to write things for the benefit of others, i jumped at the seeming opportunity to "expand my circle," so to speak....so i did speak.

It's funny how when i have a desire or some dream welling up inside of me - and i put it before God - and then an opportunity presents itself, i assume the opportunity is from God before i ever ask Him.  Does that make sense?

We have to be so careful to obey God in every step along the way to our dreams and desires and God's will -  because the enemy is eager to entice us to one side or the other....away from what God has for us.

I've done this before - disobeying by means of rationalizing that some opportunity must be God answering my prayers, while hearing/feeling a stern warning in my spirit.  Don't go there!

And i lived to regret it so bitterly.  I have no idea what much better thing God had for me in that particular situation.  But i do know that He wanted me to take the opportunity HE had for me, not just whatever i saw first.

I almost forgot about this lesson.  But the other day, regarding this new opportunity to expand my circle, i thought i was hearing His voice say, "stop."  But i didn't want to stop, so i prayed, "please help me to obey."  I didn't want to obey because going looked so much better to me that stopping.  Today, He helped me to obey by putting a friend in my path who just asked simple questions and shared her similar experiences with me.  He softened my heart and helped me to trust Him in obedience.

I don't know what God has for me, but i know that it's better than what He asks me to pass up.  I know that for sure.

In an effort to teach children to learn to listen to the still small voice of God, i have heard of a church that teaches children to listen to the traffic lights in their spirits. When you consider this thing you want to do, is there a red light, a yellow light, or a green light?  I'm trying to learn this.  Many times, the Holy Spirit's voice is in the form of quiet spiritual road signs, warning us about what's coming up or giving direction on how to maneuver.

If we'll keep listening and following and listening some more, He'll take us where we need to go.


But the LORD still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for Him to help them.  . . . you will hear a voice say, "This is the way; turn around and walk here."   Isaiah 30:18,21

Post-it Note Tuesday

Signs of Fall

Usually, i am the flag waver at the very front of the "Autumn is Finally Here" train, but this year, i seem to be behind.  My part of the country doesn't get a lot in the way of traditional fall colors, but this year we seem to be especially behind.  A very large percentage of the blogs i read have long since announced their welcome to autumn, and now it's my turn.  I had to do a little searching, but it's my turn.  So i took a walk through my woods to share a few of my favorite things.

My very, number one, mostest ever, favorite sign of fall at my house is this unusual flower, Euonymus americanus L.  It also goes by the names American Strawberry-bush (don't eat these strawberries please), Strawberry bush, Hearts-a-burstin' (which is really fun to say, especially if you use a thick country accent), Wahoo, and Bursting heart.

Here's a somewhat blurry picture. that shows how pretty it is up against the white bark of the Eastern Hophornbeam tree.

Here's how the "heart" begins.

Here it is beginning to open up.

Here it is bursting.  It will drop its little heart pieces after a few weeks.  This very subtle little plant that lives under large trees is one of my very favorite things in the world.

Sassafrass, just about the first thing to change colors at my house every year. This year, i'm planning to dig up some roots for some seasonal sassafrass tea.  I might not drink it, but the smell is out of this world.  sometimes, i'll break a twig off the tree and just walk around sniffing it.

Along with the poison ivy.  Poison ivy is awful, but it sure is pretty!

Mulberries.  I dont' have the kind of mulberries that people eat.  But my chickens seem to love them!

Goldenrod.  I love the subtle color it adds to the landscape, though it's hard to get a really good picture.

Here's one of my very favorite weeds.  This picture is from last year, but the same weeds are blooming now. This is the Camphorweed.  When you squeeze the blossom between your fingers, it smells like camphor or menthol, and it can be used as a topical pain reliever.  Neato, huh?

Acorns.  There are so many acorns on the ground right now that when you walk, you're constantly crunching.  There's no way you could sneak up on anything.

Another major favorite of mine:  the sycamore tree.  These massive leaves start falling, and in a few weeks they will be absolutely covering parts of the forest floor.  This one is larger than my hand, but it is small in comparison to many of the leaves that will be falling soon.  I LOVE sycamore trees.

Another thing i love about the sycamore tree is how it sheds its bark in the fall.  Sycamore is one of the few types of tree that shed their bark and grow new every year.

In addition to all these beautiful plants, another sign of fall in Texas is barbecue cook-offs.  Some of GSSH's friends competed in a cook-off this weekend to raise money for children's cancer research, and my darling with the scroll saw made them a sign.  He says it's not his best work, but it's so good, i must show it off.

This picture helps you see how he achieved the illusion of flames.  The name of the cook-off team was Rogue Cookers if you can't read that.

Here it is out in the sunlight at the cook-off.  Everyone really loved it, and we got to have lots of yummy Texas barbecue while we were there visiting and admiring his sign.  Thank you, Rogue Cookers!

Now that i've gotten warmed up, i'm sure i'll have more walk-through-the-forest pictures for you in the near future.  This really is my favorite time of the year.