"Country Songs"

This little girl is a singer.  I found this out about two months ago and I wait for each note that she will sing.  Her daddy can usually get her started by starting to sing "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" - usally by the time he gets to the next part she is singing "Bible tells me so"...
it is in perfect pitch in her sweet little girl voice.
And I think to myself, if someday she is a world known singer...
singing her heart out for Jesus,
I hope they will use this picture on her title album...
and call it " Country Songs "
by: Jordyn Noel Harren.

Good Night

It is time for bed and he asks me if he can tell me a story...
of course you can sweet child...
There once was a shark named Conner Dallas Harren.
Along came two fishermens in a boat.
They put a big piece of ham on a hook and dropped it over the side of the boat.
The shark bit on the piece of ham.
He pulled the two fishermens into the water with him and they swam off all together.
Happily ever after.
The end.

Then I told him a story about a little boy who's parents let him visit his grandma and papa.
He asks if he can tell me another story...
of course you can sweet child.

There once was a grandma.
She came home one day and she said to papa "WHERE IS CONNER DALLAS HARREN?"
Papa said  "I DON'T KNOW, LET'S GO SEE IF WE CAN FIND HIM."
So, they looked in the bedroom and there was their little boy.
And he said "HERE I AM GRANDMA, I AM TRYING NOT TO BE AFRAID OF MY DREAMS, WILL YOU LAY DOWN BY ME SO THE DREAMS DON'T BOTHER ME?"
And gramma said '"YES, I WILL"
So Conner Dallas Harren and Grandma went to sleep.

And in the real story - his gramma prays with him and kisses him goodnight,

he turns to his side and immediately falls asleep.
The End.

AS IT SHOULD BE

As it was...
Last year our whole family met up at Emma Krumbee's for their fall festival in October of 2011.  It was a beautiful cold fall day... and it worked! Everyone had a wonderful time together.  We talked then and decided it would be a good idea to get together each fall just for a day.  We would try to pick  one of the different areas around Minnesota.  There are many places that have activities going on for this beautiful time of year.   It seems fall is our whole family's favorite season.
As it is...
 It is hard when your children get older, they have homes, have jobs, husbands, husbands families, and now all have children of their own also.  Some work week-ends, some are on the fire department and work always, some have parents far away, some live far away but we decided we would try to make this work and we picked out a date to meet again this year.
So it was...
October 21st or 22nd depending on the weather.  The week-end before was magnificent - couldn't have asked for a more beautiful fall.  The 21st was cold and windy, the 22nd was to be a little better with not so much wind.

...

October 22nd we meet in Eden Valley, Mn at the Amazin' Farm.
Emily and her family came for Foley, Mn. they were the first to arrive and had things figured out for the rest of us.
Lindsey and Josh from Blaine, swung through Mpls, Mn and picked up
Lacey and her family.
Curt, mom, Jeff and myself traveled up from Arlington, Mn (my home from almost birth - I started in Gaylord, then to GI, then to Arlington - several short stints to Willmar, Mankato, and Winthrop and then yes, back to Arlington).
So we went...
It ended up to be a kinda cold, a little windy, beautiful, very wonderful day!
I will let the pictures speak for themselves (taken by K photography)

all is well with my soul
as it should be.............

No Matter what...

When I was searching for hope I found these also.
They made me smile thinking of our first born grandbaby...
thinking of how cute she was and how lovely she would be one day...
I remember most dedicating her to Christ in prayer and at church...
knowing that no matter what, no matter how lonesome I "feel" He is always there holding my hand and holding my baby girl who is now 8 years old.
Again, I thank you Jesus for this feeling I sometimes get of hopelessness as it helps me to dig deep in all you have for me, it helps me to come back to you. 

and I know no matter what, no matter where, no matter how, you will let me sit with You and JaciAnna in the palm of your hand.

HOPE

Today I was filled with thoughts that were not what you want to think.  Sometimes it fills me, all the things in the world that are going wrong, all the people with their big money trying to take away the few rights that we have left, all the fear that sets in when you don't let your mind be filled with the things of Christ,
when the junk wants to rule you and you forget that He has already won the Victory and we are living our life for Him.  I would name it as fear I think.  A fear that I feel for the next generation...
for families,
for health,
for freedom,
freedom of worship,
freedom to choose what we want for our health,
freedom to know the truth and decide for ourselves...
The list could go on and on and soon I am consumed...
Then it comes to me like the innocence of a child in a room full of lions...
If I am indeed living my life for Christ and I realize that life is not about me, but about HIm living in me...
then I have won also.
I take some breaths and reach over to see if I can find a book to read, something to fill my mind with Christ and His Victory, Christ and His Love.
and this is what I find...

Dear Lord,
Help me to hope again. Help me dare to hope again.
When my hopes are dashed, help me to realize that my security is not in a place of worship or in a system of worship.  It is not in the peace of my circumstances or the prosperity of my surroundings.  It is not in the strength of the convictions inside me or in the capabilities of the people around me.
It is in You alone, Sweet Jesus, Lord, Holy One.
Should there come a day when everything I once leaned on for security lies in ruins, help me to lift up my eyes from the ashes and look to You.
May it dawn on me then that Your unfailing love, Your faithfulness and Your mercies together make up the cornerstone of hope upon which I can rebuild my life, upon which the earth can again begin to rebuild its ruins.
Amen

It is a prayer written by Ken Gire, I write it out and make a few changes for myself and find this picture in the pile I am looking through...
and suddenly my heart is flooded with a love that I know is straight from Him.
Thank-you Lord
I am free because of the Victory you

Little Boy Treasures

It seems I have so much to write about... then I run out of time, get tired, or need to change the laundry...
but,
this can't wait as I have just learned the correct and proper way to "catch a shark".
It is like this:
1.  You get a big piece of ham, or something like it.
2.  Put the ham on your hook and hang it over the side of your boat.
3.  Shut off the motor on your boat.
4.  Wait for the shark to bite on the hook that has the ham on it, when he bites just leave him pull
      your boat around until he gets tired.
5.  When he is tired out, pull him up to your boat and bring him in.
6.  Bring him home, see what he had for supper and take him into the local meat market for sausage.

And there you have it my friends...

To me the best part of catching a shark, is having a little boy to tell you about it with his eyes full of wonder as you listen to his bit of little boy treasure.

Just sayin'

Thinking of organic again...
I remember when I was younger and helping Lindsey to build up her immune system I also took some classes on natural cleaners, soaps, lotions and all that good stuff.  I can't remember a whole lot but I do remember not ever using harsh cleaners, mainly vinegar and water and I know I never used anything by Johnson and I still don't.  I learned to read labels, figured if I couldn't pronounce the word it was probably something I didn't want around my babies.

 At this time in my life I was working for an older couple. They were wonderful and I loved them as if they were my own grandparents.  The lady of the house taught me many things about cleaning.  She was getting to the point where she couldn't do everything and yet still wanted her house to be clean and look nice.  One of the things she had me do was to take a tea pot and fill it with warm water and  pour that into the window sill,  take a tooth brush and clean all the cracks, the final step was another rinse from the teapot with a little vinegar in the water.  Many times she would have me go up and clean out the attic, letting her know what was in there.  It was an important spot to her, and I could tell the things in there held many memories of things that she had done.  She was a beautiful seamstress and had sewed for many.  The little clothes were hanging in the attic with the smell of days gone by - I believe she liked to look at some of them hoping that some day someone would feel what she did - that someone would know of the love in each stitch.
One time when I was up there she had me go to the back (you had to crawl in to the space) and see what was in there.  I found a large, flat box with huge white bars in it.  I brought it out and there we sat, the two of us, talking of her love for making soap and how her mother had taught her.  It is one of my finer memories, loving the passion in her voice... taking me back to where she was and wanting to capture the simpleness and yet the hard work of the era. I felt like I was there with her and her momma...
I felt a part of something very precious.

Now it seems my youngest is interested in the natural things in life, the simpler times brought back for the sake of health.  I wonder if Lacey is the one that she was waiting for?  The one who would have truly felt what she did -
as she sat with her momma learning the fine skills of sewing and making soap?
Building hope for the future.

                                 LYE SOAP

72 oz olive oil
12 oz coconut oil
6 oz castor oil
24-28 oz cold water
12 oz lye

Mix oils and heat to 100degrees
Pour lye slowly into cold water (always pour lye into cold water, NEVER cold water into the lye)
then wait for the temp to cool to 100degrees (can use ice bath)
Pour mixtures together and blend until trace.
Pour into molds and wrap in blankets for 24 hours.
DON'T PEEK
Cut at 24-48 hours then let sit 6 weeks before using.


                             LOTION

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup beeswax (pastilles)

Combine in a jar then place jar in double boiler and heat until melted.
Cool
While cooling add:
20 drops essential oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E

Stir until cooled and bottle.


                     BODY BALM

1/4 cup shea butter
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 grated beeswax
10 drops essential oil vanilla
10 drops essential oil peppermint

stir low heat, remove, add oils and pour into a mason jar.
NOTE: 15 drops lavender is better!


                   GLYCERIN SOAP

2 cups grated soap
1 tbls almond oil
1 tsp witch hazel
1/2 tbls glycerin
2 3/4 cup distilled H2O.

Mix over low heat stirring occasionally until smooth.  Cool, blend and store.


             POWDERED LAUNDRY SOAP

2 cups of finely grated soap
1 cup of washing soda
1 cup of borax
Mix and use 2 tbls for each load

I also learned from this wonderful lady that if you eat enough garlic in the summer, it will seep out your skin and you will smell like a garlic glove, thus, the mosquito's will leave you alone?
JUST SAYIN"