Frosty Trees

The trees are white with frost. I took this a day or two after the last cold spell. The weather was warm and the sky was rather misty all day. The amazing thing about the frost is that it was close to sundown and it was still on everything! Usually the sun melts it through the day.
I figured I would post this pic today because it is cold here again. It got down to 7 degrees today/tonight, not including the wind chill. Brrr! It is supposed to warm up after the weekend though. We will spend a lot of time hanging around the fireplace until then. We will also let the water run continuously(it is actually more like a trickle than running) until it warms up to avoid a repeat of the broken pump incident. We prefer having running water at our home.

Oops! I didn't mean to

Oops! I didn't mean to send the pic of the big & small potato chips. I had a FFS moment (Fat Finger Syndrom) & hit the wrong button on my phone.

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Definition Of Gossip - The Principal - Part 1

Gossip is any information shared about a person or event that does not edify the person hearing the information AND the person or event being spoken about.
I have been pondering the concept of gossip a lot again lately. Several friends and I used a similar definition many years ago attempting to define a moral standard, or principal, to govern the conversations we shared in and out of the group. To illustrate this I will share events from my life and convert them into mini conversations that are edifying and contrasting them with conversations that I consider to be gossip. I do not claim to be any sort of authority on gossip but do attempt to live a pure life for God. It is so easy to talk about what we know (our friends and families lives?) without considering or realizing the effect our words may have on the hearer and those being talked about, and how the things we say may be misunderstood, or used with negative or evil intent by the hearer, or shared again for entertainment.

We Are Home!!!

The pump is repaired. The pipes are no longer frozen. We have running water again! Yayee!
Thank you, Rob and Jackie, for putting up with us...I mean putting us up...while our pipes were frozen.
Thank you, Rob and Bob and Bash, for working so hard on our pump and pipes and other things involved in getting our water flowing freely again.
You all are great! Thanks!
We are very happy to be home.

You are Loved

We think that we have to take what is broken and make it perfect again. God thinks in an entirely different way. He took what was perfect (His Son) and through His brokenness brought us healing. Because of this, our brokenness can bring healing to others too, and in the process, it can also heal us. You are loved just as you are, brokenness and all. -Isaihah 53:5

This is another facebook status I borrowed from a friend. I love this! I used to really struggle with wanting to skip the growth process and be healed and struggle-free "right now." My aunt shared a story that helped me a lot about a cracked water pot that wished it were perfect like the pot its owner carried in his other hand while gathering water. She shared that the cracked pot dripped while being carried and as a result watered the flowers growing along the path. I eventually realized that the experience of the trip itself is more valuable than just arriving at your destination. Relax and enjoy the ride!

Trust In The Lord

You can ask the Lord because He will not give you a wrong answer.
You can wait upon the Lord because His timing is always perfect.
You can trust in the Lord because He makes no mistakes.
You can hope in the Lord because He holds your future.
You can rest in the Lord because He is in control of your life.
You can lean upon the Lord because He is completely faithful.

I recently borrowed that from a friends facebook status. The photo is of a tree across the street from our home.

We are still working on our frozen water situation. The pump has been repaired, new (and working) heat tape has been attached, and the pipes are still thawing. My brother and sister in law offered to let us stay in their big house until we have running water again. My brother, his father, and Bash have been working on my pipes and pump. Yayee for awesome family!!! Thank you, God, for providing the funds and help to get this job done. We are very blessed!

Snow!

View of my back yard from my livingroom window. Beautiful!

Frozen Pipes

Saturday night the temperature outdoors got down to five degrees before I went to bed. The thought ran through my mind that I should leave the water running (just a trickle) during the night to avoid the freezing of our pipes. I did not listen and did not leave the water running and as a result have frozen pipes and no running water in our home. We have plenty of snow and a woodburning stove with a flat top so we can create plenty of melted snow/water to flush the toilet. We also have bottled water to drink. Cleaning will have to wait until the pipes thaw. Hopefully it will not be long, but if it is there are always paper plates, plastic silverware, laundromats, and awesome friends who will allow us to shower at their homes until our pipes are freeflowing again. Thanks ya'all!

Happy 2010!

The boyz and I headed wayyy up north to celebrate the new year with good friends. It was great!
We had a lot of super yummy homemade pizza. The boyz went bank surfing three times! (Bank surfing is a bunch of kids on a handful of sleds being whipped from snow bank to snow bank behind an ATV. Fun!)
We always enjoy our visits up north with them and wish we could do it more often.
I forgot to take pictures. The only picture I have is of the counter heaped with many pizza slices. Yum!