Skunks, Snakes and Sugar in the tank...

As Jasper raced up the stairs the other night after a last potty before bed, Matt followed behind with a big sigh and an intense "shew, that was close!" I thought maybe he had tripped on the steps but when he came into the kitchen I saw the look on his face and I asked what was wrong. "Jasper just chased a skunk and ran into a cloud of spray!" Sure enough I smelled my beautiful girl and she stink, stank, stunk!

 It wasn't as bad as if she had been sprayed directly, but the stench filled the entire back yard so that we had to close the windows because it was beginning to fill up our house. Matt is not one to cause alarm, so when he saw the skunk running away, he just called Jasper, gathered the rest of the four legged crew and came back inside. There was no shouting for help, or yelling at Jasper. In fact, if it hadn't been for the stench and the look on Matt's face, it might have been several minutes before we heard the whole story... as for Leah, she tends to have a flare for the dramatic...

The last time I heard Leah scream was when the pear landed in her eye... that is, until two nights ago when the loudest, most blood curdling cry came from her voice and it said one word, "MATT!"

It was actually guttural in sound, and to be honest the first thing that came to my mind was that an arm had fallen off, a dog had died, the end of the world was upon us- I had no clue. Matt and I dropped the bricks that we were unloading out of his truck and ran to see if we could somehow soften the blow of whatever this life altering event was. Then I heard, "it's a snake, a snake!" Now around here we have a very different cry for "snake". When Leah or my mom come upon them, it's a high pitch, girly type of sound that instantly alerts the hero to grab a shovel and come as soon as possible, just not at the speed of light as Leah's scream seemed to require. Fortunately there was a shovel close by but Matt only managed to mam the poor thing before it squirmed it's way into a massive pile of rubble from the old retaining wall we recently tore down. Not seeing where the snake went, and not willing to give up the hunt to save the damsel in distress from the creature that represents Satan's first triumph over woman (and man for that matter), Matt moved the entire pile for fifteen minutes chunk by chunk until the serpent was uncovered. I delivered the first blow chopping the devil icon in half, only to watch it's front slither away before Matt landed the death blow removing his head from the rest of his body.



     To Matt's disappointment, Leah was not there to see our heroism as she had taken the dogs back upstairs, but my mom watched from inside of the basement and if there is anyone Matt wants to look like the hero in front of, it's mom. Luckily, there are few better ways to look like a hero in her eyes than ending the life of one of those slippery creatures. I would just as soon let them live and take care the the bugs and varmints around here, like whatever it is that keeps getting into our wheat we have stored in the back of Uncle Jac's '52 Chevy pick-up in the shed.

 

We saw a bunny hop in there the other day, so Matt is in the process of building a no kill trap (although I can't promise what he's going to do with them after he catches them...). Our schedule has been so busy we haven't had the time to finish shucking the rest of our wheat. It's dry, but I don't know how much we will have left after the bunnies have had their way with them! It's the little things that weigh on my mind as I close my eyes before falling asleep. "We really need to build a mechanism to help us shuck the wheat; I need to go to Lowe's tomorrow to pick-up concrete; what kind of wood should we use to build those forms?; is it going to rain because my Jeep is out and the top is off; did I send an invoice to that client, we start their visits tomorrow!; we HAVE to can the tomatoes we picked tomorrow or they will start to rot; I really want to start writing a novel; I wish so-and-so knew how much God has a simple plan for their life and if they could just see it, all of their problems would be wrapped in His hands; God, please soften the heart of so-and-so, that they might see that beautiful plan you have for them..." and boom, I'm out like a light.

     My mom reminded me the other day of the time she got up to drive to work (as secretary of a mechanic shop) only to find that our Ford Festiva wouldn't go above 25 mph.

She called into work and while this particular shop usually only worked on expensive foreign cars, they told her to bring it in if it could make it. Since she only had a 12 min commute at the time, she chanced it. Upon inspection, they discovered that someone had put sugar in her tank. I have no idea who would do something like this, but we think it was just some punk kids, since friends/neighbors of ours actually had their car window broken too. How much like our lives this story seems to be though. I like to think of our minds like that gas tank.
 The world dumps all of this sugar in us and at first we think it's sweet. but little do we realize that it's slowing us down. They say that we only use 10% to 20% of our brain power. I don't think that's actually a quantifiable fact, but I do believe the idea of it has merit. Think about that; if we could tap into the other 80% to 90 % or even half- just imagine the things that we could accomplish. Sadly, when we are abused, lied to or cheated by bad people we lose even more of that relatively small amount of brainpower that we had. In the case of the Festiva, they flushed the lines, put in a new gas tank and away we went. How amazing would it be if that could happen with us! Go into the shop, flush our minds, and away we go! With Jesus, it is that easy. 1st Commandment: Think, I "Love God".   He renews our minds everyday!

There really are no dull moments around here and I guess we like to keep it that way.

As always, remember, Jesus is that beautiful Light that expels all darkness.

Until next time, thanks for the visit!

Love Yall,

~ Michelle

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 beauty in writing and wood...

I remember a time when I had hours in my day to sit down and write; short stories, poems, journals, songs, sermons, teachings. You name it, nothing fulfilled me more than the creative outlet of either typed or hand written words. I love the authenticity of looking back years down the road, running my fingers over the slight indentations of a page and almost being transported back in time to the very moment I penned them. At the same time, I love the swiftness in which my thoughts can travel from my brain, to my fingers, the keyboard and onto a screen in front of me. I love the "click, click, click" that I feel and hear with every letter typed. While I still journal occasionally at night before I go to sleep or in the morning before I start my day- I find my eyelids so heavy from exhaustion that creativity has been replaced by a swift jotting down of a few thoughts, days events or things the Lord has spoken to me. 

Recently a thought occurred to me, what if I simply made time to write. I know there are many people out there that are following us on Facebook, You Tube and Isaiah 58 Ministries' blog that would love a more down to earth, intimate look into what makes us tick. So what if I made the time to give them that? Yeah, a few people might enjoy it (and I hope you do!) but more than that, I am bursting at the seems to share all of the exciting things that God is doing in my family and in me. I may shun technology, but I am very excited about this opportunity to share my life with you, dear readers; be you friend, family or stranger... 

Welcome to the life of The Carpenter's Daughters. 

Our friends/neighbors down the street had a tree come down this year; not just any tree, a black walnut. While they have a large back yard where this massive mess can hide, they still want it removed and we promised to help take care of it months ago... then summer hit and our schedule skyrocketed, placing the tree removal on the back burner. Matt confided in me some time ago that the real reason he wasn't as motivated to take care of it was because he just couldn't abide the idea of such beautiful, valuable wood meeting it's end in our wood burning stove. Since then he's been trying to figure out a way to create his own saw mill. You see, Matt grew up listening to This Old House and New Yankee Workshop reruns on his walk-man every night before sleep- this is not a joke. The kid had a passion for wood; he still does in fact. He took wood shop in high school and built some pretty amazing things, but his family discouraged this creative outlet in Matt so he shoved it to the side. When most of us were excited about getting toy catalogs in the mail, Matt hungrily flipped through ones selling saw mills. Of course he never bought one, but it's been a desire since he was a child- fast forward twenty+ years and we're going to try to make that dream a reality. 

A lot of people see the projects that we take on- a 3,000 mile bike trip, massive garden, home remodeling, starting up a business and they ask us, "so what is your next big thing?" I always reply, "as the Lord leads" but today I can say we have a few things rolling around as solid desires we'd like to see to fruition soon- starting with what we can do now. We want to start milling our own wood, not only to save money on projects, but so that Matt can fulfill the calling that God has laid on his heart to be a carpenter. What an odd path to veer on... and yet it fits. I don't know if it will work out and be successful but I do know it's a beautiful thing. 

My mom came to me the other day with an exciting revelation about how all of your problems go away when you think about Jesus. Not just for a moment or a few hours, but all day, everyday. And why not? He's right there with you, speaking to you, leading you... It's hard to be self centered and consumed by the world's burdens when you are thinking about Jesus. Meditating on him during your everyday activities, not just when you are sad, upset, or praying before a meal. So I did- and what vision came to me but Jesus the carpenter. Not Jesus on the cross- that image is sealed upon my heart, but rather Jesus, the everyday man. What he was doing with his time, while he was being prepared for the greatest ministry of all time. So I was hungry for research. I know my Bible, so I know there isn't much in there during this time in his life other than the fact that he was a carpenter. Matthew 13:55 tells us "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?" and Mark 6:3 says almost the same thing, note though how instead of being called the son of a carpenter, it says rather "Isn't this the carpenter? ..." Some people say that at this point Joseph, his earthly father, had probably passed away and that Jesus was essentially the man of the house, thus taking the title for himself. I am no scholar and will not presume to decide that debate, but either way, he makes a striking study. This man, who knew he was the Son of God, being humble enough to take such a lowly position. There is also some debate as to what kind of carpentry work Jesus was doing. The original Greek word for carpenter was "tekton" which means craftsman, builder, carpenter, mason. Thus, he could have been a builder of any kind. However, the most common held belief is that he was a local carpenter that would have made tools like plows, furniture, homes etc... He also could have been a combination of mason and carpenter. I find both beautiful. The image that conjures in my mind of our Lord and Savior spending hours working with his hands, with only his thoughts and communication with His Heavenly Father to keep Him company takes my breath away. He truly is the Son of the real Carpenter, the real Craftsman, the One who created us all. And just as he took on this earthly body, to become like us, God sent him to become the son of another craftsman, that he might feel what it is like for an earthly man to create something. This is an imitation of his Father in Heaven who created and crafted all that we see and are.

I am not a parent, but I can see the tenderness of a son wanting to do the same things that his father does. That is why God created us the way He did, so that we might imitate Him- that we might fill the earth and subdue it. Genesis 1:28  "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Take the earth in our hands and create! As husband and wife come together and create! That is how we imitate our Father in Heaven. For some reason I always felt that when I grew up I wanted to marry a carpenter; how strange, who specifies what they want a future spouse to do? I now know why, whether I end up with one or not isn't the point, the point is that without knowing it, I was being a classic daughter, wanting to marry someone just like her dad. Not my earthly father- but my Heavenly Father, how special.

Herein lies the title of this new blogging experience from me to you. I hope you will continue to join me on my journey- my family's journey. I promise it will be fun and exciting! There is never a dull moment around here- just yesterday Matt tore down a retaining wall that had been half crumbled for 50+ years so that we can rebuild it. Today, he and I drove to the Fairfield Menards and bought two skids of retaining wall block- only, when the fork lift placed the first skid of 216 blocks on Matt's flatbed Dodge Ram, the shocks sank about six inches. The fellas there suggested we come back, to pickup the second skid... saying in a slight country accent "I've got me an F250, of course it ain't a Dodge, but it barely hauls a skid of concrete..." The day before, I was digging up the flower bed behind our house to move all the plants so that we might create a place to dry the wood that we mill, I thought to myself, I need to start a blog about all this stuff, it's so exciting! I really want to give you a glimpse into what it's like on our side of the fence, day to day, real feel kind of a deal. So kick back, grab some tea and join us... There is much, much more to come! 

Until next time, think about Jesus, he is that beautiful light that expels all darkness.

Love for you all,

~ Michelle