The following is an excerpt from Streams in the Desert 1 by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman:

October 29-

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver (Malachi 3:3)

Our Father, who seeks to perfect His saints in holiness, knows the value of the refiner's fire. It is with the most precious metals that the assayer takes the most pains, and subjects them to the hot fire, because such fires melt metal, and only the molten mass releases its alloy or takes perfectly its new form in the mold. The old refiner never leaves his crucible, but sits down by it, lest there should be one excessive degree of heat to mar the metal. But as soon as he skims from the surface the last of the dross, and sees his own face reflected, he puts out the fire. - Arthur T. Pierson

He sat by a fire of seven-fold heat,

As He watched by the precious ore,

And closer He bent with a searching gaze

As He heated it more and more.

He knew He had ore that could stand the test,

And He wanted the finest gold

To mould as a crown for the King to wear,

Set with gems with price untold.

So He laid our gold in the burning fire,

Tho' we fain would have said Him "Nay",

And He watched the dross that we had not seen,

And it melted and passed away.

And the gold grew brighter and yet more bright,

But our eyes were so dim with tears,

We saw but the fire-not the Master's hand,

And questioned with anxious fears.

Yet our gold shown out with a richer glow,

As it mirrored a Form above,

That bent o'er the fire, tho' unseen by us,

With a look of ineffable love.

Can we think that it pleases His loving heart

To cause us a moment's pain?

Ah, no! but He saw through the present cross

The bliss of eternal gain.

So He waited there with a watchful eye,

With a love that is strong and sure,

And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat,

Than was needed to make it pure.

Thanksgiving Feast At School

My kids have attended Trinity Lutheran School in beautiful Paso Robles, CA. since they were in kindergarten. My daughter is now in 8th grade and my son is in 7th grade. I have loved this school and will miss it when they are both off to High School (not too long now)! The school has a wonderful tradition of eating a Thanksgiving feast together before they break for the Thanksgiving holiday. The parents arrange the whole thing and prepare all the food. Centerpieces made by the elementary classes are proudly displayed on the tables. The teachers sit at tables in the center of the parish hall and are served by parents. The kids sit in their family groups; one family group per table.

The family groups are a neat idea that the school does also. A family group is a group of about 8 students from K through 8th grade. The eighth grader (or sometimes 7th grader) is the group leader. The last Friday of each month during the school year is "family group" day and they stay together and do activities, games and crafts. This allows the younger students to develop bonds with older students and gives older students experience in leadership and mentoring. This year both my kids are leaders of their own family groups.

Another tradition of the school is that the 3rd and 4th graders begin the festivities with square dancing for the school. It is great fun and the parents love it! I remember when my kids did the square dancing, what good memories!

School is out for an entire week! Yay!

Have a great Turkey Day!

Blessings!

First tournament this season

Well, the first tournament of this season for the Knockouts soccer team was a quick one! It turned out to be a single elimination tournament and the team the Knockouts played first was the only team that had beaten them during the regular season...the dreaded Los Osos team... Rats!!! The Knockouts played a super game but lost 0-2 :( It was a very short day.

The positive note is that this tournament has no bearing on who goes on to play for Paso Robles, that will be decided next weekend.Sooooo...

GO KNOCKOUTS!!!

Last game of regular season

Today was the Knockouts last game of their regular season. They played a Templeton team and won 4-2. Their record for the season is 6 wins, 2 ties, 1 loss. The only loss of the season was at Los Osos. Now on to the tournaments! Tournaments are exciting but also tiring with sometimes 3 games in a day. Time for them to show what they have learned all season. The Knockouts are going into the tournaments with one of the best records in the league but we will see how the other teams have improved since they have played them!

Go Knockouts!

Letters to Dad

Dear Dad,

I hope you are fine. I really miss our "quiet time" together :). I'm looking forward to catching up when you get home. Hee Hee! Better watch out..I mean...see you soon!

Your Loving Son,

Wyatt

Dear Dad,

How are you? I suppose I am OK. I am glad to be home but I'm kind of sore and have to wear this ridiculous t-shirt. At least Mom gave me the Ray Azbill Phesant Hunt shirt. Good times...anyway, I get to sleep inside for a while, I kind of like that and I get my pills wrapped in cheese so that is nice. Have a good week!

Your favorite dog,

Molly

Knockouts still undefeated

Brooke's team, The Knockouts, with KO written on their faces won their game last night 6-1. It was a fun, action-packed game to watch under the lights a Barney Schwartz Park. The team lost their streak of not being scored on but responded with a barrage of unanswered goals! This Saturday we go to Templeton to play one of their teams. Go Knockouts!

Trip to the pumpkin patch

Last Sunday we went to pick out pumpkins at our local pumpkin patch. The place is called River K Pumpkin Patch. It is always set up really well with a corn maze and hay rides (real wagon and mules) and fun displays. Many school classes go there for field trips in October. The pumpkins this year are excellent and they are reasonably priced. It was a beautiful sunny day and we saw lots of friends there. The kids and I enjoyed the visit and we picked out monsterous pumpkins to carve out. The whole process of carving pumpkins is rather tedious but we had fun and roasted the seeds in the oven to snack on. Yum!

Blessings!

Redneck Skeet Shooting

I cannot resist a good redneck joke!

FINALLY - Rain!

In the second week of October a storm finally brought rain to our despairingly dry hills. There really was quite a downpour that dumped several inches of rain in one day. Here in my corner of Monterey county there has not been good rainfall for several years and much of our hills are almost bare dirt. The rain was very refreshing.

The rain brought about the beginnings of newly sprouted seeds that had been waiting in the dry earth for water to reach them. It was only 2 days from the rain that a tinge of green could already be seen. It is a joyful thing to see life return again.

The rain also brought about the end for an old sentinel that had been standing alone for many years on a portion of our property. An old carcass of a large oak tree that could no longer stand the heavy winds and rain returned to the earth it sprouted up from probably many, many years ago after a much needed rain. I have often wondered how old it must be and what or who might have past by it during it's long years. I will miss the "old dead oak" because in the time that I have known it, it was the favorite perch for red-tailed hawks. The tall tree's leafless branches were a perfect look-out.

I am hoping for a continued good rainfall going into the winter so in the spring, maybe we will have wildflowers bloom this year.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8

John 11:25 - Jesus said to her,"I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."

Blessings!

Fallish things

Nothing says "Fall is here" like the leaves turning shades of yellow, orange and brown. We don't have many native trees or shrubs around this area that display pretty fall colors. The predominant tree is the Blue Oak, their leaves just turn brown and drop but not until December or January. We have a few trees and bushes in our yard that were planted by the previous owners that have nice fall color. One of those is a pomegranate bush. It's leaves turn yellow just as the pomegranates are ready to pick in mid-October. I had never made jelly before but decided to try when the bush produced buckets and buckets of fruit. I enjoyed making the jelly but I discovered why jars of pomegranate jelly are always so small. It takes a lot of pomegranates and a lot of work squeezing those pomegranates to get enough juice to make any jelly! Some years the bush has a lot and some years it has almost none, I don't know why. I have put the recipe that I use here, it was given to me by a lady who is really good at all that canning stuff.

Also, in the Fall, just in time for Halloween, the tarantulas appear and are seen all over the place around here. The ones that are out and about are the males searching for females. The females are rarely seen because they stay in burrows. They are interesting spiders and I just give then a wide berth and leave them alone. Then they are gone and not seen again until the next Fall.

Have a happy Fall season!

Blessings!

The late season junior hunt is over and Brooke and Dad had a good time. They worked hard to find a buck for her first hunt but it just didn't work out. They had some exciting chases and almost got a shot at one that would have been a dandy but it just wasn't meant to be this year. On the last morning she was able to get this doe. One shot at 90 yards, very nice. I got to go with them that morning and watched from the truck. It was very exciting and an important day for dad to have our oldest go hunting with him for the first time. Brooke enjoyed the time (except for getting up early) with dad. She enjoyed the target practicing and then finally being successful in her hunt. The truth be told, I am glad she got a doe, I did not really want to be BBQing deer chops from a buck that was in the middle of the rut anyway! The doe will be nice.
I am very proud of her! Yeah Brooke!
The land where they had this hunt is at Fort Hunter Ligget Military Base. They have a very carefully managed wildlife program and year after year have extremely healthy Blacktail deer and Tule elk population. Some of the reasons for the wonderful animal population is the controlled burns that curb overgrowth and encourage growth of nutritious plants and grasses that would otherwise be choked out. The deer also rub in the ash left by a burn and it helps control parasitic insects in their fur. Keeping the buck/doe ratio at the right balance and overall number is critical to a healthy deer population. Too many deer = starvation and sickness. Much of the money collected from license and tag fees paid by hunters goes back to the conservation and preservation of our beautiful natural California habitat. It is true that the best conservation tool is a rifle in the hands of an conciensious and ethical hunter.

Blessings!

Brooke's busy weekend

Brooke's soccer team, the Knockouts, continue their undefeated season winning the game this weekend 2-0. It was a tough, close game; and there were no cobwebs on our goalie this time! I forgot my camera :( every girl on the team played their position well, good job Knockouts!







Brooke had a important date this weekend with Dad. He took her on her first deer hunt. It is a late season Junior hunt. It was Brooke's first trip out with Dad. She aced the hunter safety course and is practicing well on targets (see pics). At 100 yards her shot is an inch high, just right! She is shooting my 25-06 with special reloads just for her made by Dad. It seems to fit her well. Oh, they did not get anything the first trip, they saw some bucks, passed up a small one and chased a big one...a nice weekend for the first time I think! Blessings!

Good Morning!

I have always loved cats. I have had some really cool cats in my life. I do not like mornings; I find mornings rather painful. What do cats and mornings have to do with each other? See video.

The photo is of my cat, Doofus. The coolest cat around (although the name may not make it seem so). He got tagged with that name when we found him as a tiny abandoned kitten back in 1991. His beautiful blue eyes were just barely open. He has been a special member of our family for 18 years now.

Blessings!

Way to go Knockouts!!

The Knockouts continue a great season by winning their 4th game yesterday. They played against Morro Bay. The score 5-0. The Knockouts are still undefeated and have not been scored on for 12 quarters now! Their goalies are getting cobwebs on them!

Brooke is having a good season, her regular position being sweeper on defense.

Keep it up team!

Our Three Amigos

Or maybe our three stooges...I guess it really depends on the day. From right to left is Molly, Sky and Dee. They are an active pack, loving hunting and goofing off. Molly is our best hunter and probably thinks she is a person. Molly does not stoop so low as to engage in rowdy play with the other two knuckleheads. She is above all that! Sky likes to collect and chew on firewood then Dee gets in there and steals it and the chase is on! They can play keep away with a piece of firewood for hours probably. We love our pack o' labs! Quail season is coming Molly, hang on!

New Friends

We have two new friends at our house. Two young parakeets. The yellow bird is Cali and the light blue bird is Pickles. Right now they are not too sure if they like us but they are new to the house. We think they are very cute!

Go Knockouts!!

Yeah to Brooke's soccer team, the Knockouts!!! This morning they won their 3rd game 1 - 0.

They are undefeated with one tie and 2 wins. Way to go Knockouts!

The team really played well together with a lot of great plays.

Unlikely babysitters video

Enjoy this video! It is very sweet!

Blessings.

Happy Birthday Wyatt!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, smart, handsome son, Wyatt! He will be 12 on September 19th. We had an early celebration last night because of busy schedules with family. We had a great time together and Wyatt got lots of cool stuff. His favorite item being a mini fridge for his room.

Blessings and have a great week!

September happenings

September is a month of new beginnings. To me it is more significant even than the New Year. Yeah, it is fun to put a new year down on your checks in January but September really is much more significant to me in marking off the years as they tick by.

A new school year begins. My kids are sneaking up on High School and it just seems like I was taking them to kindergarten not all that long ago. They are great kids with a wonderful future. It will be in a September not too far down the road where I will sit on my couch with my morning coffee contemplating the fact they are off at college. A new September brings new challenges in a new class, new friendships, new discoveries, new difficulties. It is amazing to see them grow and to help them along.

In September here in San Miguel we get the first breath of Fall to relieve us from the baking dryness of our Summers. The moon's rising marches northward each evening as the sun's setting marches back towards the south. I have watched their perpetual dance on the horizons of my little homestead for 12 years. Since God placed them in the sky by the power of His Word they have been following His instructions. In Genesis 1:14-16 it is written,"Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater lighht to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. In Psalms 104:19 it is written, "He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting. God's creative majesty has been apparent to all who have lived on earth through the ages because of the heavens. In Psalms 97:6 it is written, "The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory." The seasons will march on and on until Christ returns.

September brings the beginning of a new AWANA club year at my church, Paso Robles Bible Church (//prbc.info/). AWANA is an organization that has been around since the 1950's. It is a ministry who's goal is to teach boys and girls the gospel of Christ. The AWANA Clubs International web site can be found at //www.awana.org/. I have been involved with AWANA when I was a kid and now I serve as director for the grades 3-6 at my church's club. It is an awesome organization!

September is the start of a new Bible study that I love. I absolutely love to study God's Word! It is endlessly fascinating and holds the words true life and peace wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ. The study that I am involved with is called Precept Upon Precept. It is from Precept Ministries International (precept.org). It is an inductive study method. I started in 2002 in Genesis. It is my goal to go through the entire Bible in my lifetime. That should keep me busy! What is inductive study? Inductive Bible Study shows you how to discover God's Truth for yourself. The concept behind the inductive study method is to get students personally, intimately involved with the subject, observing carefully for themselves. It truly is life-changing. I also truly love being with other ladies in the group and being bonded together over God's Word.

Have a wonderful September!

Blessings.

The cat and the parakeet

Put a caption to this picture. What could the parakeet be thinking? What could the cat be thinking?

The beautiful cat is Doofus. I have had Doofus since he was just a few weeks old; now he is 18 years old! The parakeet is my son's pet and his name is Speckles. This is a photo of their first meeting.

I should mention that all the photography on my blog is my own work or my children's.

Blessings.

The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth

I have finished reading The Hidden Hand by Mrs. Southworth and I can say that it is easily one of the best books I have ever read. The book was originally a serial in the New York Ledger and then first published in book form in 1888. It was one of Mrs. Southworth's most popular books. The E.D.E.N. in her name stands for Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte if you are wondering. I won't go into a lot about her.

There were a lot of words that I needed to look up in a dictionary to see what they meant because of the era the book was written. Even so, reading flowed nicely.

I think the book is a treasure. The characters are wonderfully memorable and the adventures, joys and tragedies of their lives and how they connect to one another made it a book I could not put down. I was drawn into the unfolding drama in a powerful way. There was a thread through the book of most of the characters faith in an Almighty God and His sovereign control over even the most disastrous events in their lives and a deep faith that He is good through it all.

I liked that very much as I have in my own life had nothing to hang onto except that I know that God is in control of everything. He is the creator and sustainer of all things and never loses track of little old me! The Hidden Hand, of course, is God's hand moving in their lives. The word Providence was used a lot.

Wayne Grudem, in his book, Systematic Theology, defines God's providence as follows: God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he (1)keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill his purposes.

There is an exchange between two of the women in the story that really touched me so I will share it here. The younger was watching her father die due to an accident and an older friend was comforting her in her grief:

pg. 217 - Then she(Clara) arose and left the room, saying to Mrs. Rocke as she went: "Oh, Mrs. Rocke, only last evening we were so happy! - But if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil?"

"Yes, my child; but remember, nothing is really evil that comes from His good hand," as she attended Clara to the door.

Now that is difficult to ponder, is it not?

Later on the father died and the author does not dwell on that for she writes, "Sweet, beautiful, and lovely as is the deathbed of a Christian, we will not linger too long beside it." pg. 222.

I don't think I have ever seen those adjectives used in a sentence with the word deathbed! But it is so true of the Christian who goes home to with their Savior!

Please read in the Bible Romans chapter 5 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

I think I will read another book by Mrs. Southworth.

Blessings

Beauty in the clouds

Have you paused for a moment lately to gaze up at the clouds? I think that in today's busy, on the go, way of life not many people stop to appreciate the natural world around them. Even in cities it is possible to pause and watch nature in the trees of your neighborhood, the birds, or the bugs. I was considering the beauty of the clouds last week and took these pictures. The pictures show the landscape of where I live and together with the clouds on that day it was beautiful. Unfortunately this is not my everyday view; I took these photos from a high point of my property. I wish I could see this out of my kitchen window each morning!

Have you ever thought about what a wonder the clouds are?I am not going to wax poetic about them but consider a cumulus cloud; they can be miles tall and the weight of them measures in the tons! I have read that the typical weight of a cumulus cloud can equal the weight of 100 elephants! But yet they float gracefully over our heads.

I love the book of Job. It has a lot of fascinating insights about the world around us. Also fascinating is that the book of Job may be the oldest writing in the Bible with the first 11 chapters of Genesis being the oldest. Some scholars estimate that the book of Job can be placed at around 2000 B.C. In Job 28:24-27 it is written,"For (God) looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder. Then He did see it, and declare it; He prepared it, yea, and stretched it out."

Here we see an Almighty God who creates the weather of the globe and sustains it all by His power.

Now it is not all that obvious to the physical senses that air and wind have weight. It was not scientifically confirmed until about 300 years ago. We know now from all of our studies of weather patterns that the global weights of air and water are in critical relationship to each other and produce our global weather patterns. The weight of the warm air rushing upwards from the earth helps buoy up the massive clouds that are formed by evaporation and transports them over the continents to drop their rain. God knows the balancing of the clouds (Job 37:16). In Job 26:8 it is written, "He bindeth up the waters in His thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them."

What neat insights into our world directly from the One who created it, given to us in His word!

So look up and wonder at the clouds!

Blessings!