Crumbs - A Short Funny Moment

I'm sweeping the dinning room floor. Aaron suddenly materializes close by, but instead of running through as usual, stops and looks at my work in progress with a bit of thoughtfulness and confusion. I am pulled from my thoughts as I notice him, and give him a curious glance. Sometimes I can see a glimpse of the future person my siblings might become, and it intrigues me to no end.

"Where do the crumbs come from?" Aaron suddenly asks as he examines my pile. The "crumbs", as it happened, was actually dirt that had been drug into the house.

Thankfully he was asking a question to which I have a ready answer. "Well, some of them come from outside, when someone walks in the house with shoes on. They fall off the shoes and get on the floor."

He frowns, and watches for a moment longer as I continue to sweep. I can tell he is thinking about it in great length.

Finally he asks, as if it were the simplest solution in the world, "Then why don't they just take off their shoes at the door and the crumbs won't come?"

Five sarcastic replies pop into my head at once, one of them being, You finally get it! After all those reminders!

I giggle inwardly, but I don't say any of them. Instead I nicely explain that sometimes, he and others forget to take off their shoes. He realizes this and nods understandingly, like the little man he is, and then runs off.

I melt into giggles, both at his four-year-old smartness, and at my sarcastic thoughts.

**************

I still laugh about it, even though it's been awhile. But then, I really do love to answer his questions about the world. Things like the solar system, or the global flood, or the way windmills work :)

I love to teach, and I've so grateful that God has given all of us the ability to teach. Helping others learn about Him and the super complex world He's given us is one of the best things we can do. I can't wait to do it as a mother :)

(And one thing I've learned is that you really don't realize how complex a thing is until you try to teach it, lol.)

~Lindsey

Goals to Aspire to, Things to Remember.

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.

Be kindly affectioned towards one another in all brotherly kindness. In honor, preferring one another.

Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant prayer.

Distributing to the necessity of the saints; given to hospitality.

Bless those that persecute you; bless, and curse not.

Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Be of one mind toward one another. Mind not high things, but condensed to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Recompense no man evil for evil. Prove things honest in the sight of all men.

If it be possible, with as much that lieth within you, live peaceably with all men.

~Romans 12, verses 9 to 18

I am trying to memorize this passage right now. Very good things to have floating around in your minds all day, so I encourage you to try it too! It's challenging, but worthwhile! I particularly love the last verse.

I've had a lot of people on my mind for the last few weeks. Friends, friends of friends, family...I just wanted to let you know that I love all of you and care more deeply than you may know. Everyone has trials in life, everyone passes through times of cold and emptiness. But don't give up, please don't give up! Don't live your life without purpose. You have people who love you, one of them being me, but I know so many others who are praying for you and think of you often.

So just keep trying, and remember.

Prayers for you all! 

Love,

Lindsey

Summer in the Vineyard

Here in the vineyard of my Lord,

I love to live and labor. 

And be obedient to my God 

until my dying hour. 

I love to see the lilies grow,

and view them all a-standing

 in the right in the place while here below,

just as the Lord commanded.

This song sums up the feelings I've had this past summer. It's one of my favorites.

Many of you know this already, but church is a big part of my life.

Our church is simple, we try to follow as closely to the Bible as possible.  The weekly assembly of Christians at that old wooden building just on the edge of Hinton ...the gathering together of people you care for, people who have the same essential beliefs as you, people who look at the world more or less the same way you do.

It means so much to me.

(Free internet pictures are great!)

I love to see lilies grow---all of them, young and old, maybe at different stages in their Christian maturity. But standing in the right place, worshiping God as he designed, never-mind what has been in their past or what is going on in their life.

It's interesting, I've heard jokes about "being the preacher's kid" and all that...but I think it gives me insight that no one else has. Insight into the importance of truth...and I'm so thankful. So extremely grateful that the Lord has seen fit to put me into a place in life that I can learn and grow and see things from this point of view.

Church is one of the few places that I feel completely safe and loved. And not just my local church, Rocky Fork. I have felt many of the same feelings at the churches we have visited over the years---there's a connection, a brotherly love in all those places, even though I don't know half of them. Being with others who share important beliefs and desire to worship the Lord warms my heart.

I mentioned in the last post how my summers have taken on a whole new light; and this is how. Our summers are filled with traveling to church meetings, some only an hour or two away, some nine or ten. Dad's an Elder, and when other sister churches invite him to preach for him, we normally go. We pack up half of our stuff in order to stay at someone's house, worship with them on the weekend, and drive back home in time to meet with our local church. It's amazing. I love it.

We've been to eleven states in all, I think. I have so many friends, old and young, all over the place. My closest friends (besides my siblings) are those in the faith, as well as my mentors, and quite possibly my future husband. :) The only down side to it all is having to say goodbye...

We oft-times meet both night and day,

a faithful band of soldiers.

We read, we sing, we preach and pray,

and find the Lord most precious.

But while we sing this song of love,

our hearts are deeply wounded...

Perhaps we all may meet no more, 

Here as a congregation.

This song is so bitter-sweet, and it practically reads my mind. I love singing it with my church family, both local and abroad.

But if on earth we meet no more,

we hope to meet in heaven.

Where congregations never break up, 

but dwell in sweet communion.

Where all the ransomed church of God 

shall meet no more to sever, 

With not a sorrow, sin, nor tear

But shout His praise forever. 

It is a blessing to know the Lord and his truth, because he first loved us.  We should never forget that.

Thoughtfully,
Lindsey

Looking Back A Little

Okay, you guys, summer is great. I'm sure you already know that. But my summers, in particular, have taken on a whole new light. I'll tell you more about that in the next post, but for now here's some pictures.

Sisters :)

Jonas with walkie-talkie

"Agent 5, this is Agent One-Year-Old. Break left."

(The story behind those last two pictures happened a week or two ago There was an air balloon event not far from here and they were flying right by our house. One guy came really close and shouted down to Dad, asking if he could land in our field. Dad shouted back yes. Very cool! None of us have been so close to one before.)

I've been enjoying life lately. Of course, there's great days and okay days and not-so-good days, but for the most part, I've been very thankful and happy. God is so good.

This year, like every year, has been busy with church meetings, school work, house & outdoor work,  and family fun. 2017 has also featured some life lessons and new experiences and a vision for the future.  It's exciting, yet a little scary, to think about what life could look like in a few years and can be overwhelming to think about the list of things I need to accomplish before then.

(I have like five posts in my head, but, like my stories, can't seem to find the time or the will to actually write them all down.)

See you next post!

~Lindsey

The Fire Within

(Author's note: Here's a post that I worked on a long time ago but never finished. At the moment I am typing up another post about more of my recent thoughts, but in the meantime here's this. Sorry for being absent for so long, but hey, my summer was great!)

Originally written: March 2017

I was thinking some deep thoughts about fire the other day...probably brought on by the campfire we had a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, of course, to crowd around it and snack on s'mores, shivering whenever the cold wind blew...but we always had to be careful to not get too close or else we'd be burned.

That thought set me thinking about other kinds of fire. Do you have a passion? A wish for the future? A hobby? A particular book or movie that you really like? I do, and most of the time those are good things have. But at this point I have learned that those kind of things can burn us just as much as a physical, roaring flame.

I spoke about chapters in life a few blog posts ago. I have named some of my chapters, including the one which I am about to relate. It is titled "The Fiction Obsession".

You see, about three or four years ago, I had a serious problem with writing. I've always loved to make up stories, and I still do, but at this particular episode in life, it had consumed me.

The story that I was writing at the time was all I ever thought about. I was always in a different world, always having conversations going on in my head, always rushing through the day so I could write. It messed with my schoolwork, my chores, and my family life. When I wasn't writing, I was reading a fiction book or wishing for a good movie. (Granted, our movie selection is rather small even with filtering.) 

 I'm sorry to say that I wasted a whole summer doing this. While my family spent the evenings outside, watering our gardens or playing ball, I was inside sitting at a computer, my fingers getting sore from typing.

And what do you know? In the end, I grew frustrated with discontentment and restlessness, and blaming it on the story's dullness, I trashed it. Just like the millions of others.

What I wouldn't give to have all that time back. (Not the story back...it was actually awful.) Think of it---a whole summer of learning, of growing, of loving! It was all my fault---all because I let a hobby, an ultimately useless thing, become too important. My parents had warned me of this, but I had completely pushed away their advice. 

************

Annnnnd then they put me on a fiction fast. Both reading it and writing it. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about that at the time. But guess what, it helped! 

Of course, over the years I have had to work on not falling back into it again, and learning what times are the right times to enjoy my hobbies. But for the most part, I've gotten much better at it. 

That's why you've got to involve your parents in your life, I've learned. Even if they do something you don't really like, it can really help you in the long run and give you perspective when you're older.

God wants us to have a plan for the future (Proverbs 28:19), and not waste our time in the present. It's a hard thing to balance sometimes, because we're also not suppose to always be thinking about what happens tomorrow. There's a "happy medium" as my Dad says, and it's our job---each one of us individually---to find it.  And making sure our true fire within is the Lord, guiding us in all we do.   

************

Younglings

Jonas, the silly little munchkin, is starting to scoot and crawl his way across the house. And you know what that means.

Jonas and Aaron

It means we have to start worrying a little bit more about the legos, popcorn, and dirt that might, on occasion, be left behind in the clean up process. 

But even that isn't enough....

They caught me....

Our books, papers, and pens aren't safe either. He is quite pleased with himself, it seems. Sweet boy! :)

Sweet baby goats, too. These kids were born a few days ago. It was really cold the morning we found them, and they were really weak, but thankfully we were able to nurse them back to health. Their mama, Nyla, helped too of course. :)

"Oh give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever."

 Happy Weekend! 

~ Lindsey 

Driving, Babysitting, and Riding

"...and beginning in her sixteenth year, she..." - Future history book.

Well, not that I'll be in a future history book, but if I was, what would it say?

I was looking back at some the other posts I made on the blog and I had to laugh. It's like looking at pictures of yourself as a toddler or at an old story you wrote. I feel like I've matured a lot since then---hopefully I have. There's a few things in particular that I have gotten better at.

For example, instead of merely mowing the grass as driving practice, I have been driving to and fro on our gravel roads for some time now. In fact, a few days ago I drove on the highway for the first time---fun, but nerve wrecking. :)

I am not quite ready to get my driver's license, obviously, so I won't be doing that right away. But other things are keeping me busy.

I have been helping out our neighbors, the Pelcs, by babysitting their children---mostly on Friday mornings, but also whenever they need me. They have four little children, three girls and a boy, and I have grown so fond of them! Sometimes I refer to them as mine, lol.

The Pelcs are one of the sweetest families I know. I have really gotten along with Mrs. Pelc...she is so sweet and we have a lot in common...and for a while now I have considered her a good roll model. Both she and Mr.Pelc are home school graduates, and all together they are a good, christian family. Sadly, they are going to have to move at the end of the month. I'll really miss getting to see them, but I plan to keep in touch. I'm going to send the children birthday cards. :)

After they are gone, I have few other mini-job opportunities that may come to fruition. We'll see. :)

One thing I have been doing for fun in my spare time is writing. Well, let me correct that. I have been doing a BUNCH of research in preparation for writing. Just recently have all the pieces began to fall into place. The time period I am trying to write about is really complicated---it's the 1400s, or more specifically, the Wars of the Roses.

It's a lot of fun, but challenging. I won't be finished with it anytime soon. I also have to be careful how much time I spend on it, because I don't want to become obsessed. There was one time in my life when I was so fixed on writing a story (that I ended trashing, mind you,) that I wasted a whole summer thinking about it all the time. I don't want to do that again.

So, despite the fact that my WotR (Wars of the Roses) story is very historical, it is also partly fiction, so I am only doing it in my afternoon free time.

There was something I did a week or so ago that would (sort of) count as research.

As a birthday surprise, Mom and Dad had arranged for Chloe and I to ride horses for the first time! 

Some of our other neighbors own horses, and they were kind enough to let us come over to learn about and ride them. Mrs. Sabrina taught us a lot: how to lead a horse, how to brush, halter, and saddle them, and of course how to ride.  

My horse's name was Star. They call her sorrel because of her reddish-brown color---my favorite color horse. She was so beautiful, and the whole experience was amazing (and good for WotR research, though I wasn't thinking about that at the time, lol).

When we first got there, I was a little nervous but remembered to keep my self calm because horses, like some other animals, can sense your feelings. But I got over it quick enough. It was so much fun! I was able to mount and dismount all by myself. It was just like I had imaged it to be.

Chloe and her horse, Lyst.

I love this picture.

By the time we left, I was so in love with Star that I didn't know what to do with myself. I knew I would like horses...I had imaged talking to them, riding them, and leading them so many times before that when I actually did it, it felt something like a distant memory.

I hope to go back sometime. Maybe do some work in exchange for spending time with Star.

Well, for now, I've got to go. Work to do, lessons to learn, people to love and encourage...and "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute." See you later!

~ Lindsey