I LEARNT A COUPLE VALUABLE LESSONS

August 9, 2015 darling downs 13 Comments

The other night my friend rang me and asked my husband and myself to go to a Trivia Night. Now as far as I was concerned we don’t do Trivia Nights, we don’t enjoy them. So I told my friend that we couldn’t come, that it wasn’t our thing.

When I got off the phone from my friend and was talking to my husband he said that if we had a baby sitter we would go.

I was amazed I didn’t realise that he enjoyed Trivia Nights, after all these years of marriage there was something that I didn’t know about it, I had assumed something else.

So what did I learn from this:

Don’t decide not to do something on my own;
Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to enjoy yourself.

So as No 1 says I should never have said no to my friend, I should have asked my husband first. I usually do this and when I don’t it is because we are “one” and I know what he would say. Basically we are normally so tuned into each other that I couldn’t get it wrong.

Well I definitely got it wrong this time.

My other lesson was that when you step out and do something that is not always comfortable for you to do, you can have a great time.

As my husband said we don’t have to go to the Trivia Night to answer questions, this wasn’t the main reason. We have to go to the Trivia Night to spend time with people we like. To enjoy our time together of fun and fellowship.

We did go to that Trivia Night because we were able to take the children and we had a wonderful time. Our table came equal third, we didn’t win and we didn’t come last, but again that doesn’t matter.

What mattered most was that we spent time with our friends and actually got to know them better along with the others on our table.

This night was truly a blessing.

PS. It was also pretty cool that when we got to the round on “The Bible” our No 2 daughter was able to answer most of the questions. Just as well she has been reading up. She was so thrilled.

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #43

August 9, 2015 darling downs 26 Comments

Hi there and welcome to another Good Morning Mondays. August has arrived and with it the rain. We haven’t had much rain this winter but it is making up for it and now we have mud.

August is what we call the dirty month. Everything is wet and muddy and slippery, but we are thankful for the rain and I am trying hard to be thankful for the mud also. I am glad that I have good gum boots to wear around outside.

This past week has been good. We went to town Monday, to pay bills and grocery shop. Monday night my husband said that it was time we took a holiday and he declared Tuesday a holiday. This actually meant that he stayed home and gelled out. He milked the cow and did the chores but he was able to catch up on a bit of needed rest.

Then it was wet and cold on Wednesday too so he decided that it would be another good day to take it easy. This is wonderful and the children love it when he is home to spend time with them and do things with them. So none of us dislike his holidays.

He has been incubating eggs with our No 2 daughter and they have done a great job. We have 10 chickens in the box near the wood stove. They are so cute, noisy!!, but cute. They will only be inside until they can jump out of the box, then it’s outside in a bird cage with a lamp and cover to keep them warm.
We have a heap of puppies here at the moment and they are really cute. Here is photo of the two different types. The big one is a staghound and the little one is a jack russell cross. They get on really well but it is quite amusing how the little ones are willing to take on the big ones. The big dogs are so easy going and great with the children, we are still training them to not chase the chickens, and they will learn that very shortly (if they know what is good for them).

The cats are taking it easy out the front (away from the dogs).

So with my husband’s holidays my week has been a bit different and I must admit I am all out of whack. Late nights have crept back and mornings are so difficult.

So I have decided to take a couple of weeks to get my routine back in order. No 2 daughter is only home for another week and then she is going skiing for a week. So it will be No 2 son and me home for a week by ourselves. I am looking forward to spending time with him. I will definitely miss our daughter and I am trying not to dwell on that too much (or I will cry), and I am praying that she will have a great time with the others.

So for the next couple of weeks I will not be able to read too many posts. I didn’t start this linkup to not read them and I do enjoy reading all that you write, but I am just struggling at the moment.

So once my routine is back in order so will my reading and commenting on your posts. So I am going to apologise in advance for this and hope that you will all understand. Please continue to link up and share the love around with each other. Thank you also for your friendship to me, I really do value this.

Okay, our top three posts were…For the Woman who is Dissatisfied with life! by Ifeoma at Purposeful and Meaningful How Chronic Illness Affects Relationships by Crystal at Tidbits of Experience The Great Eight by Michele at Living Our Days

Thank you everyone for linking up. This link up is such a valuable resource on just about anything. I love that we have farming posts and recipes and sewing and prepping and then especially the devotional posts. There is something for everyone and this is only because of all of you who take the time to share your wisdom.

This coming week I need to organise some clothes and make some more for our daughter so she has enough for skiing. I need to help her pack as well.

We will definitely be doing school also and the afternoons still seem to be working well for us. We didn’t have music lessons this week and the results for their exams aren’t through yet so we have to wait another few days. The children still have another eisteddfod in September so there will be lots of work to do for that, but they enjoy it.

Our next grand baby is due next month, I think it is only 5 weeks now (am I right No 1 daughter??). This is very exciting and I am looking forward to the phone call that means we get to look after the girls. This is such a blessing to us to be able to help out when we can.

I am working on the beanies for the granddaughters at the moment so they can take them skiing and I should have them finished early in the week.

Righto, I hope you are all going well and I would still love to hear from you and I will reply to all comments that I get.

Remember to think about others and care for others and love others, even if they are annoying or ungrateful. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. We aren’t just called to love the lovable.

Luke 6:27-36 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

I hope you all have a great week and that God is blessing you in all that you do.

Love to you all my friends. xxxx

Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”

An InLinkz Link-up

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Diaries of the Heart

THERE’S A STORM BREWING

August 9, 2015 darling downs 26 Comments

I feel there is a storm brewing, not in the sky but in me. Like storm clouds build and then roll in, so I feel menopause is building and rolling in on me.

When storms start brewing the clouds build, the sky darkens, then the lightning and thunder can start way before the storm front is actually upon us, then when it is upon us the rain starts to fall.

That is how I feel at the moment, the storm clouds and thunder and lightning are starting and the rain hasn’t reached me yet.

I am in that time of life, the beginning of the end of my child bearing years. For the most part I am accepting of my place in life and with our beautiful granddaughters there are still babies in our life.

But like when storms approach there is the urge to bury ourselves under the blankets on our bed and cover our ears until it passes.

I must admit this is a tempting feeling and at times I just want to stay under the covers until it all passes.

But there is the other sides of storms the excitement of watching it roll in and seeing the lightning light up the sky. Then it is the rain coming that often pours down in buckets and in summer washes the heat away and brings a freshness to the air.

I want to be like this, standing on the edge of the storm, bracing myself for it’s coming. I want to stand on the front veranda of my life and face it full on, watching the lightning light up my life and bring me into the freshness and newness of a new period of my journey towards Heaven.

I am only on the beginning of this transition. I don’t have medical proof but the signs are starting to show. The added weight gain, the occasional hot flushes, the sometimes extreme weariness.

The storm is brewing in my life, ladies and I am praying that I can face it full on, with my reliance on God, not on myself.

Psalms 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 42:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. For the help of His countenance.

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Kitchen Diary

BANANA COCONUT BERRY MUFFINS

August 9, 2015 darling downs 13 Comments

I really like this muffin recipe, you can add anything you really like to the basic mixture and change it about as much as you want.

I had some bananas in the freezer (they were on special) and some blueberries, what a great combination. I mixed it up with a bit of coconut cream and they were just delicious and so moist.

Ingredients

3 cups self raising flour
2 cups sugar
2 bananas
1 cup berries
1 can coconut cream (400 ml)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups cold water

Mix dry ingredients and then add banana and berries and wet ingredients. Mix until combine. (You may need to add more water).

Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees celcius) for approx 20 mins. Check with a skewer to see if cooked.

These muffins are lovely and moist and a great snack idea.

Enjoy!!

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Aquaponics

AQUAPONICS UPDATE #6

August 9, 2015 darling downs 10 Comments

Our aquaponics system has been up and running for about 9 months now and it continues to improve. The fish are getting bigger so the manure output is enlarging, which then makes the vegetables grow better and quicker.

Our broccoli seedlings are booming ahead and the picture below shows them in early June.

Below is a picture of them now so you can see how they have grown and there are heaps of them.
We actually have one head forming already.The cauliflower seedlings haven’t been as prolific in germination or growth, but they do take longer to get to harvest than broccoli seedlings. These are still going well though.The silverbeet seedlings continue to produce and I pick the leaves off these at least weekly and they continue to thrive.

The pat choi seedlings are growing well, although there is some yellowing of the leaves. This maybe shows they are getting quite enough nutrients at the moment.Our tomato seedling is still growing and is now flowering, although some of the bottom leaves are dying off. Hopefully it will continue to thrive as the fish grow bigger and we can harvest some lovely ripe tomatoes. This coming season we will grow our bulk tomatoes in a hot house in the dirt but we hope to grow our heirloom ones in the aquaponic system.Our english spinach continues to grow although it is very slow. I suppose this is better than it not growing at all. These seedlings look really healthy too. I grew some celery from the bottom of one in a bowl of water until it had some shoots on top and then I planted it in the gravel. It has really taken off and I have another one on my window sill that I will plant this coming weekend. I usually just pick off the stalks I want to use and I never harvest a whole plant, this keeps the whole system working better.I sprinkled some carrot seed over half a bed and it is coming up well, it will be interesting to see how this goes.
If you look closely you can see the fish at the bottom of the tank.The sweet potatoes didn’t work and I did a bit more reading up about them and it says that they don’t like a lot of water, so that is probably why they aren’t growing properly. We will put some in straw beds either in this hothouse or the other one in a month or so.

Okay that’s it for our update now, I will keep you posted.

Blessings to you all.

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Down on the Farm Diary

DOWN ON THE FARM UPDATE #5

August 5, 2015 darling downs 8 Comments

Well it is well and truly time for a “down on the farm update”. So here we go.

It has been a very tough season here on the farm. We haven’t had the rain that we usually do and when we have gotten some it has been too cold for the grass to grow. We have even taken to buying in a little hay to keep the stock going.

We had quite a few pigs and they were doing a great job digging up our paddocks so that my husband could sow them down. Now we have about 6 left after butchering 9 for the freezer. We have 3 breeding sows and 1 boar and 2 more large boars to butcher and we will be doing this in a couple of weeks with another steer. We also have 4 piglets left from the last drop and they are around 16 weeks old. We managed to sell 18 piglets which was a wonderful blessing.

Normally this time of year we wouldn’t get a tractor onto our paddocks but not this year, so my husband is going to sow down some more paddocks to oats and wheat. He is not sure whether he is going to cut it or let the stock graze on it, but he will see.

My husband sowing the first 10 acres of wheat and barley in May.

He has already sown down 10 acres to oats and wheat (see photo above) and this has been done for quite awhile and is growing nicely. This crop will be cut for hay and baled into small squares. We have found that oaten hay is a good way to feed grain to the pigs and house cows with roughage.

We have finished lambing now and are about to mark them. Then we will grow them out and sell them before Christmas. We usually keep a few ewe lambs back to keep our numbers of ewes up for breeding.

We are milking 2 house cows at the moment, once a day and are getting over 20 litres each morning. This enables me to make cheese and keeps the piglets, chickens, puppies and cats in milk. We still have 2 more dairy cows to calve too, so there will be heaps of milk around. I am going to start making butter again shortly.

We don’t have any outside vegetables growing at the moment, but the aquaponics is moving along nicely. (update to follow)

We have managed to barter an incubator from a friend and my husband is managing this now and he already has 23 eggs turning and hopefully ready to hatch in another few days. We are hoping to keep this up so that we can build up our chicken numbers. Unfortunately with the weather so cold the chickens aren’t laying too many eggs at the moment but in another month or so we should see the weather turn around.

We are starting to think about our spring garden and get some plans together. We want to build a hothouse for our tomatoes and we will need to start moving on this so it is ready in time, and we can spread the costings over a couple of months.

We are going to put sweet potatoes in beds either in the aquaponics hothouse or the other one, not sure yet, but I am going to get some more potatoes so that I can grow slips from them shortly.

Hope all is going well on your land at the moment.

Blessings

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Diaries of the Heart

ACCEPTING THAT FREE GIFT

August 2, 2015 darling downs 23 Comments

When I was born I was adopted into a Christian home with a Dad and Mum and a brother who was 2 years older.

I was a very relaxed type of baby, I slept a lot and ate a lot, I was placid. Growing up I was probably the same, I am definitely not a perfectionist by any means, but as I have gotten older I like some things done a particular way.

My older brother was very academic and very musical, and of course I wasn’t. School was a chore and although I did learn to play music I just wasn’t gifted with any special abilities regarding it. I read music and I played it, that was it.

I felt that I was always in the shadow of my brother, schooling wise, and life wise. He was tall and skinny and I was short and dumpy. In meeting my birth mother many years later I have come to realise that my height and some of my weight issues are definitely a genetic trait.

I don’t think I ever felt that I met the mark and I felt I was always striving to please people and be better than what I was.

When we talk about the free gift of salvation that Jesus has given us I find it a hard thing to accept. Deep down I know it to be true, but the little girl in me who is always trying to be better just struggles to accept that she is good enough for any gift of that magnitude.

I am still trying to work out if I am “good” enough for that gift. I know that Jesus died for me and because of that and because I love Him and know that He is God’s son and because I have a relationship with him that I am going to heaven, but a little part of me thinks maybe not.

So when we are parenting our children, I think we need to be careful in how we raise them and how we speak to them. We need to be more verbal about how much Jesus loves them and how much He has done for them. They must be secure in His love and in our love.

Sometimes it is so easy to compare them to their siblings or other children and this is something we must be so careful about. I was told by a friend of my parents that I wasn’t as good as my brother at music because I just didn’t practice enough. Now I did practice, maybe not enough but I don’t think it would have mattered how much I practiced I would never be like him regarding music. I wasn’t given a gift of being able to play by ear, but God did bless me with many other gifts.

We must be careful how we verbalize to our children their failings and what they need to work on. Don’t make their issues a big thing in front of other people or other family members.

Don’t get me wrong, our children will still need discipline and correction, but this must be done without comparison but with love.

It is so easy to slip into “if you just did this you would be like so and so”. This just gives our children the idea they aren’t good enough.

There is nothing we can do to earn our Saviours love for us. There is no good works that we can do that gets us into Heaven. Our salvation is a big free gift wrapped up in the arms of our Lord.

Let’s not put provisos on this gift.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #42

August 2, 2015 darling downs 30 Comments

Hey there everyone, welcome to another Good Morning Mondays. What a wonderful season winter is and we have one more month to go until spring comes.

Where we live the weather is always variable even in summer, which can be quite good. We are about an hour from the coast so we often get lovely sea breezes in the evenings in summer which takes away the heat.

It has finally gotten wet here and there is heaps of water lying around. Our firebreaks look very boggy. (a firebreak is an area between our fence and the nature strip that we either plow or spray, so that there is no growth, and then it inhibits fire crossing it).

It has been cold outside and our wood stove is pumping out the heat, some days it doesn’t seem enough, but all you need to do is step outside and you know that it is warm inside.

We have had a good week and started it off with the Christianity 101 course at our church on Monday night. I think there was possibly 3 people there who were not Christian, some others who were maybe nominal and then quite a few from church who attended to support the others. It was quite an interesting evening and the discussions that we had at our table were good. Discussing God and His ways and His word is always good.

We had earlier music lessons this week because we went to Melbourne over the weekend. The children had their exams this afternoon and I am sure they are glad they are over, and I know they are looking forward to getting new pieces next week.

On Friday afternoon we headed to Melbourne to a family conference and spent the night there and all day Saturday. It is great to be together with like minded Christian people who want to have strong family relationships with God at the center. We caught up with some old and made some new friends and the children had a great time.

They had separate character training for them and character training the way they did it was fun.

I took some photos on our journey. The picture below was just before we arrived at our destination. The moon was so big and full, it was just beautiful.

Picture of the full moon with the car tail lights at the bottom.

Seems that every major city has a big wheel and Melbourne is no different. This picture was taken as we were driving past on the freeway.’

I was born and raised in Brisbane which is a major capital city but it didn’t take me long to love the country and living there and I must admit I find it difficult to visit the city, but the trip was well worth it.

The farm and animals seemed to be okay while we were away which is good and we have just ordered some tomato seedlings from our daughter who is going to grow a couple hundred for us to put in our hot house.

Now my husband is making plans to build this hothouse which will be portable and able to be moved each year onto new ground. I have also found a nursery where we can buy cheaper fruit trees, so next month we are hoping to get a few to add to our orchard.

With winter coming to an end and spring just around the corner there is always heaps to plan and build and think about.

Okay onto our link up.

Our top three posts this week were…

DIY Pulley System Clothes Line by The Farmer’s Wife at Grace Garden and Homestead
When His Words Hurt by Deborah at Growing in His Grace Graceful Parenting by Jennifer at Homesteading on Grace

Thank you dear friends for stopping by and linking up. I didn’t quite get all the posts read this week with being away so I do apologise. I am looking forward to seeing what you have for us this week.

This week is going to be reasonably quiet. Monday we are in town doing banking and groceries and Tuesday night is our Revelation Study.

We are hopefully going to catch up with our son-in-law, daughter and their girls sometimes this week and we are all definitely looking forward to that time.

Our children have no music lessons this weekend so we will hear about their results later in the week from their teacher. They will be looking forward to their music lessons the following week when they get some new pieces, that is always exciting and I am looking forward to having some new tunes to hum in my head..

I look forward to hearing from you all again this week and I pray that your days are blessed.

Love to you all my friends. xxxx

An InLinkz Link-up

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Diaries of the Heart

WHAT MORE COULD WE ASK FOR…

August 2, 2015 darling downs 17 Comments

We all know that raising children is hard work. It requires consistency and discipline not only of ourselves but also of our children. Children are definitely a blessing and given to us by God to raise up for His kingdom, but I must admit…

Some days I get so tired of reminding the children to pick up their clothes.

Some days I get so tired of finding odd socks outside, even though they have been told not to take them off outside.

Some days I get tired of the kitchen floor being dirty, no matter how many times I sweep it.

Some days, especially in winter I get tired of all the dust that the wood heater keeps producing.

Some days I get so tired of preparing meals and being on top of the groceries.

Some days I get tired of battling through bad attitudes with lessons.

No 2 daughter and son — No 2 daughter and no 2 son

But on the other hand…

My husband had the opportunity to catch up with an old school friend this past week.

He is about the same age as my husband (close to 50) and we think he is married, he has a partner any way.

He drives the latest model of a most expensive car, and I am sure that he doesn’t have to worry about the floor being dirty.

He doesn’t have any children. He has been working all of his life for his bank balance.

Now I am sure that he can buy himself anything he desires, I bet he even has ducted gas heating in his house, and in a worldly way, that would be great, but we don’t want to be of the world.

So although we struggle to pay our bills some months and we don’t drive a fancy car or have a fancy big house with ducted gas heating, we have so much more.

We have 4 beautiful children, 1 lovely son-in-law and 2 beautiful granddaughters.

So I have to fight battles at home with school and clothing. So I struggle to keep the floor clean and am constantly cooking to keep everyone fed.

I would rather be tired of these things than never have experienced them.

We are blessed to be able to be raising children to love the Lord and follow Him with their whole heart.

God has given us more than we could ever have asked for.

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Kitchen Diary

PORK CANNELLONI

August 2, 2015 darling downs 20 Comments

Now I know that I should have had another coloured vegetable on the plate but this cannelloni was absolutely delicious any way.

I used minced pork that I had left over from making sausages (ran out of skins) so it already have garlic and chive flavouring in it. I did add some rolled oats, we really like mince dishes with oats.