The "Pearable"

Peeling pears... if it weren't for the fact that this gravity driven bomb, disguised as a fruit had landed in my sister's eye during our "shake down" of the tree, I might be more inclined to enjoy my skin shedding profession of the week... but then again maybe not. For the first season since planting our many fruit trees, the precious pear decided to bless us with an over abundance of it's glorious beauties, some reaching the size of softballs, (like the one that gave Leah a swollen eye). The single most important thing you need to know about pears is they take time to soften and sweeten- however they do this after they have been picked. We let ours set for about a week and sat down with our bushels in the living room, many bowls of lemon water, compost buckets and peeled. It may sound rather "apeeling" (yeah I couldn't help myself there) but it's a tedious job especially if you didn't get out there in early spring to spray the tree with borax (as our Indian friend, Brother John informed us during our visit to WV a couple of weeks ago). You see, a store bought pear is a beautiful thing, it's smooth and virtually blemish free. These pears have been protected from the hazards of the "bite" of  pestilence... i.e. bug. Come next spring, we'll be out there with the borax to spray our trees, but this year we are dealing with what we have, thankful to have a bountiful harvest of anything.

An interesting fact about pears is that if one is bit by a bug, it usually doesn't rot in that spot like you might think, but rather, forms a hard almost callous in that spot and continues growing. This callous can sometimes go as deep as the core and you have to remove it before they are canned. This makes for a lot of bumps in the road while peeling and slows the process drastically. But on we trod, all hands on deck, with Matt, mom, and Leah all joining in on the fun. Once they are peeled, they also have to be cored, then canned. We're doing several different things with them including spiced pears and fermented pear salsa. The latter got Matt a little excited, I heard him say, "you mean I can eat chips and salsa and get the 'good for my gut' food in me?" Yes Matt, you can have your cake and eat it to. We have all noticed a vast improvement in our health and digestive systems since starting to ferment some of our garden foods, only... Matt isn't a huge pickle fan (which are the easiest to ferment) and the last batch of fermenting we prepared was peppers. Poor Matt also has a difficult time with spicy things but is trying for the sake of his gut and being thankful for the things that come from the garden. Thus the several evenings of pears commenced.

 Allow me a moment if I take the time to point out the symbolism I found in the pear process... I like to think of myself as one of these pears- going along in life, trying to grow, to become a big, beautiful, soft, sweet pear. Only, I'm not protected, some how the gardener either didn't know how or failed in his job to protect me from those bugs. Like the world does, they bit me. But the tree I was connected to (my mom, sister and the Lord) was strong, so I still grew, but I had to callous over those bites and move on, keep growing. Once I was ready to be harvested, the Lord, having fired the gardener that was supposed to protect me against these dangers before they came, stepped in as the Master gardener and pulled me from the tree where I rested (this happened to me out in Oklahoma where I lived for 4 years). Not only did I rest while there, I was ripening, the sugars where building; I was sweetening, softening. Then came time for the peeling, this was hard work and sometimes painful because God had to go in and take out all of those calloused spots where I had healed over the pain in order to remove them. All the while I was placed in the sweet lemon water to keep from going bad before I was ready for the next steps in life, to transform and move on to something far greater. You see, God can take that pear with all of those holes, still dice it up and make a beautiful jar of spiced pears out of it!

Before concluding, I'd like to point out something I said earlier- this coming the spring, I'm going to do my best to see to it that those bugs never take a bite out of my baby pears. Dear friends- that is how our Heavenly Father is. So many times we look at our lives and we say, "if that bad thing hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't have learned that lesson, or become this or that." etc.. But no! Yes, God can make something beautiful out of anything, he's the Master Carpenter! But His perfect will is that those "bites", those bad things, never happen in the first place. He is a good, loving Father; He only wants the best for His children and we must see to it that we do the same for our own children, to protect them from the "bites" of the world, so that they may grow up to be healthy, beautiful whole... just as God intended them to be.

Until next time, remember, Jesus is that beautiful Light that expels all darkness...

Love for you all,

~Michelle

The Tale of the Broken Budget and It's Cautionary Lesson

The Broken Budget... He Needs a Doctor

So, Michelle and I share our finances. Financially, we are very much  a married couple. We make budget decisions together and decide whether we can afford the latest remodel or need to put it off for awhile. Michelle is an amazing book keeper. If we need to scale back on fun or food, we make those  cuts. When the car needs to be fixed and we just can’t afford it, we will look on YouTube to see if the fix is in anyway possible for two yellow headed semi-city girls to give it a whirl. Sometimes the credit card is the only option, but it is ALWAYS ALWAYS a last resort. Our mom taught us that you go without, eat rice and beans, rather than carry a balance on a credit card. “Owe no man anything but to love him.”

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law- Romans 13:8

Here is a fictional account of a married couple as seen through the eyes of the current government debt ceiling debate.

Wife: “Honey, our debt is just spinning out of control. I know we’ve been talking about it for years, but our spending has been exceeding our income by an average of $998 a month for the past five years. (American Federal Income Verses Expenditures Out of Control)  We keep putting all of our extra spending on credit cards and that home equity line is maxed out. We now owe more on our house than what we have in it, and oh, we are 2 months behind in our mortgage payments. Now, I say we start by cutting out eating out at nice restaurants and start eating rice, beans, and potatoes for awhile. I figure we can save close to $500 a month by doing this. What do you think?”(average couple food expenditures )

Husband: “NO WAY! I don’t cook and you don’t cook so how would we do this? Plus, I work hard and I deserve to dine out whenever and wherever I want to. We’ll have to do something else.”

Wife: “Okay, you’re right, I hate cooking and eating out is so much more relaxing. Okay, so how about we downsize our home. Even if we take a hit and sell, we could move to a smaller home and cut our mortgage payment to a ¼ of what it is now! That would solve all of our problems!” 

Husband: “Honey, I love our home. It’s so nice and cozy. This is such a great neighborhood, and plus, we deserve to live in a big house. We work our 40 hrs a week! Plus, you said we owe more on it than what it’s worth, so we should probably continue living here. It would be so hard to move anyway.”

Wife: “Okay, yes, I do love this house, and we deserve to have a nice home. So, do you have any ideas to cut back our spending?”

Husband: “How about we sell our cars and get cheaper used ones?” (average american car payment Dave Ramsey style)

Wife: “Honey, are you KIDDING ME? I just got that new beamer, I LOVE IT!! I don’t care what we have to do, I’m not selling that car. We could sell your car and get an older one.”

Husband: “No way! I just got that new F250 I’ve wanted for years. Okay, car payments aside, there has got to be something else, how about clothes? We could stop shopping for new clothes and wear what we have or go to Goodwill. I hear it’s all the rage!”

Wife: “What? What??? You may be able to get away with the same suit and tie day after day but people will notice if my wardrobe doesn’t change with the seasons. No way, I need to keep my wardrobe polished and up to date. Plus, I save money by using those 25% off Macy’s coupons. Oh how I love Macy’s!”  women's professional suit prices

Wife: “Honey, I hate to bring this up now but I've got some other really bad news I've got to tell you. We have to stop sleeping together.”

Husband: “What? We were talking about a budget and now we can’t sleep together? This financial stuff is really knocking you off your rocker.”

Wife: “No, I’m serious, I just found out my new job that is run by a practicing Catholic doesn't cover free birth control. I don’t think birth control is in our budget, so we have to stop sleeping together because there is one thing we absolutely CANNOT afford, and that is to have a child right now! How awful would it be if I got pregnant? We’d be ruined! We can’t take our chances with this.”

At this point, a look of utter shock came over the husband’s face. Fear, terror, gripped him and he fell on his knees crying tears, screaming “Oh God, why have you done this to us? We've tried so hard to keep our money in your hands and now you have forsaken us by plaguing my wife with an employer who does not have birth control as part of his insurance plan! I own my own business and cannot afford to buy insurance right out. I rely on my wife and her job to make sure I can get my Viagra and her birth control. Oh Lord, what are we to do?”

Suddenly, the TV flickered, the lights went off and back on in the house. The couple heard a voice coming from the living room. Curious, they crept through the doorway from the kitchen to find that their 60 in HD TV had come on all by itself and low and behold the current president of the United States was giving a press conference. “It must be a sign,” the husband and wife both thought to themselves. They sat down together on the new leather couch, mesmerized at the soothingly deep and methodical cadence coming from the speakers.

 “Mark my words. I don’t care what the religious preference is of your employer. Making birth control free on ALL American’s insurance plans is part if my new program to save this country.”

Then, as if the president were speaking just to them, they locked eyes with this presence of a man as he proceeded to say “There are some things that are sacred in life. One of them is a person’s access to birth control. I have made it so NO one will ever have to pay a dime again to have access to these life killing… I mean saving… I mean…well, woman’s pills. You can keep spending money on clothes and eating out. Hey, keep the economy rolling. I’ll make sure you can keep those good times rolling in the sack, whether your married or not, and never again have to worry about coming up with the $10  it’s takes for a woman to have sex whenever she wants and not have to worry about a child getting in the way of your fun!”

With that, the couple’s tears turned into tears of joy.

 They had prayed and god had showed up on TV. He was a half black half white man who spoke directly to them. He promised to take care of their biggest fear in life beyond losing their home or selling a car- that of having a child. They sat down and prayed to this man, their new savior and promised to do all in their power to support  him.

They felt a cold shiver go down their backs as they saw a dark shadow sprint across the room.

“That’s weird…” they both thought but were so at peace and calm they just sat back and ignored it.

Meanwhile, outside the home a group of demonic spirits has a meet up “Did you get them to do it?” says one shady looking character to the other.

“Yup,” says another “Easy as pie. That whole ‘thou shalt have no other god before me,’ slips people’s minds so easy when money is involved…Yeah, I got them to worship a man, a president. Hey, I got them to think he was their SAVIOR….the big man downstairs will be so proud, I just got two more souls to spend eternity with us in the flames. If we’re going down, we’re taking as many of God’s children with us as possible!!!”

Just then a huge explosion went off and the couple and their beautiful home, nice new cars, fancy clothes, and fridge stocked with food, went up in flames.

“Did you cut the gas line on your way out?” said one demon to the other “Oh yeah…once they turned their backs on God and started worshiping the pres… that hedge of protection came off like a charm…”

Wife: “Honey… did the power just go off?  It’s pitch black in here. Wow, I thought I paid the electric bill, where’s air…”  It’s getting awful hot in here.

Husband: “Uhh… I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…” as the noise of screams, terror, weeping, and gnashing of teeth could be heard getting louder and louder…flames and unbearable heat causes their mouth to dry out, unquenchable thirst over takes them.

Wife: “ What about our bills? Who will pay them? We owe so many people so much…”

Husband: “Don’t worry the insurance will cover everything!”

Wife: “Hell? We deserve Heaven.”         

Husband: “We forgot to pay the ransom!” “Jesus sacrificed his life, to free us from Satan’s claim to our souls. We rejected God’s love and became consumers in the world. Jesus told us to reject the world and separate ourselves from them and follow him.”  We have gotten what we deserve.  God is fair and just.

^{Matthew 7 21} Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

²² Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?

²³ And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].

Exodus 20 ³ You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.

⁴ You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

⁵ You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God

Government Mandates Employers to Provide No Co-Pay Birth Control

NO vision or Dental Under ObamaCare