CandyFoote

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Honesty is a fruit of a Spirit-filled life. Loving our neighbor as our self prohibits our being dishonest with him.

The story is told of a farmer who delivered a pound of butter to the baker each week. In turn, he would purchase a loaf of bread from the baker. The baker noticed that the pound of butter seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. One day he confronted the farmer about the apparent problem.

“Well,” asked the baker, “how do you know you are giving me a pound of butter if you have no scales?”

The farmer answered, “I always use your loaf of bread, which is labeled one pound, as a balance.”

Verse 12 of our Scripture reading teaches us to do to others as we would have them do to us. Verses 18–20 remind us that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. Our daily conduct should reflect an attitude of putting others first. Let us always be sure to be honest in all our dealings.

Daily Devotion 338

Traveling home from the distant town of Jinotega late one afternoon, we were all tired. The road was bad, the vehicle was crowded, and it was one of those times when it would have felt really good to have been at home NOW instead of traveling another two or three hours. Jinotega is situated in a valley, among the beautiful rugged

mountains of Nicaragua. Naturally, the road is a genuine mountain road, winding through the hills and hollows. As we rounded a curve, to our right unfolded one of the most beautiful sunsets one could ever hope to see. Out across a valley, behind a distant mountain, the sun was setting in full grandeur, like a golden ball of fire. Being from the western plains, we viewed the awesome scene with something like a holy emotion.

We say the elderly are in the sunset of life, but in reality, none of us, whether middle aged or young, know just where our “sun” is positioned on the horizon. The apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:20 whether by life or death his desire was to magnify Christ.

There is a feeling akin to a holy awe that comes over us when we take a tiny infant into our arms for the first time. The miracle of life is awesome. Is it any less awesome to stand by the still form of a loved one who has won the battle and gone to meet his Maker and his Savior? There is rejoicing in heaven over one soul that is saved, but what must take place when one saved soul returns to the God who gave it, having magnified the name of Christ first by his life, and then again by death?

The Pig Farmers of Pure Water Hollow

I think you can now officially call us "pig farmers"! This is the 4th set of piglets we've had from our two sows and this time it all went by the book. We noticed that our boar Rufus was trying to breed our sows, Nellie and Sally, about 3 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days ago. (The books say a pig's gestation time is 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days.) I had projected a due date of December 5th back in September, so on Wednesday, December 3rd, we led Sally and Nellie down from the pig lot to the barn to get ready for giving birth. They are each 2 years and 3 months old now, and they have become old hands at giving birth. We put several bales of straw in their stalls and made them comfortable. I am so glad we moved them when we did, because the piglets came a day early (which was within the margin of error). When they gave birth in July, they surprised us and caught us off guard. We lost several of the piglets in those litters, partly because of poor planning, I think. But this time it felt like we knew what we were doing; I felt like a professional pig farmer!

In Sally’s stall Christina exclaimed, "Here comes one!" I looked over at Sally and Christina for just a moment and then trained my flashlight back on Nellie. I couldn’t believe that the beam revealed another piglet for Nellie! It must have come out just a second or two after Sally’s. This scene was repeated again about 5 minutes later. Christina delivered another piglet of Sally’s and I took a picture and then looked back at Nellie. This time my flashlight found two brand new piglets still attached by the umbilical cords to Nellie! They must have come, back to back, at nearly the same time Sally had pushed hers out!

All together, I witnessed Nellie giving birth to the last 6 of hers and the last 5 of Sally’s. I got home at about 4:30 and the last piglet was born at about 7:00. When Matthew had gone to check on the pigs earlier this afternoon at about 2:00, Nellie had already given birth to two piglets with one of them still attached by the cord. He flew down to the house on his 4-wheeler to let everyone else in on the news and then raced back up the hollow. Erica, Christina, Simon and Lisa with Timothy in her arms, arrived at the barn shortly thereafter. They were on hand to see Nellie deliver her next several and Sally’s first 9. Sometime around 4:00 Timothy declared he had had enough of standing around in a cold barn, so Erica and Simon took their screaming brother back to the house. Lisa stayed a couple of more hours and Christina did not leave until it was clear that all the piglets were born and safe.

Christina actually delivered all but one of Sally’s piglets. As each one came out, Christina made sure their airways were clear and she wiped them off and made sure they found a teat to nurse on. So, after 5 hours of birthing, Nellie had 13 adorable piglets nursing and Sally had 14 beautiful, healthy little piglets nursing.

Matthew and I did not leave until 9:30 because it was important to winterize the barn as much as possible. We stapled up feed sacks over all the cracks in the wallboards and over all the windows. By the time we were leaving, ice had formed on the metal gates in the barnyard, the mud in the road had become a frozen crunch, and a heavy frost was covering the hillsides. The low tonight is forecasted to be 18 degrees and the high tomorrow just above freezing. Tomorrow night the weather man says will also be 18 degrees and the 10 day forecast shows below freezing lows for the next 10 nights! The first week of life for these piglets will be a very cold one! Their first four nights are predicted to be 18, 18, 21, and 15 degrees with the highs only in the 30s!

This is the most piglets we have had to date, and if they all survive it will mean a substantial amount of possible cash. If we can sell 25 of the piglets in January for the going price of $40 each, it would mean $1000 in our pocket in just 5 or 6 weeks! If we sell them at a bargain basement price of $25 each, it would still be $625. And that would still leave 2 of them for us to raise as market hogs which we would either put in the freezer or sell for around $100 each live, or have processed and sell the packaged pork for a substantial profit. I really can't believe we have 27 piglets! From what I've read, Hampshire pigs usually do not have litters this large.

a different christmas poem

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

'What are you doing?' I asked without fear,
'Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!'

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light

Then he sighed and he said 'Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.'
'It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,'
Then he sighed, 'That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.'

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue.. an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.'
' So go back inside,' he said, 'harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.'

'But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
'Give you money,' I asked, 'or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son.'

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
'Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.'
-------------
Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

Brrr, is it ever cold........

Hello everyone. I was busy wrapping a present for David's bank's annual Christmas dinner and gift exchange and didn't get to the library as early as I had hoped, so it will be a quick note tonight.

After a very mild fall, we have settled into a cold spell. Thank you, Lord, for our woodstove.

I talked to Maria on the phone today. She is loving being with her friends in Bozeman and spent most of her day doing her Christmas shopping. Tonight there will be a get together at the home of one of the Montana Bible College instructors. That will give her an opportunity to see even more of her friends and acquaintances, so she was looking forward to it.

Since her car is in the shop, she has mine. She mentioned that she feels embarrassed driving a car with a Bowtech sticker in the window. Must be the redneck connotation. Heh, heh!

We have a busy weekend coming up. We will attend the dinner tomorrow night. On Saturday, we will drive to the town of Fairfield, an hour away, for an arts and crafts show. We'll take our Montana Christmas ornaments and pray for a profitable and enjoyable day.

On Sunday, David and I will facilitate a morning Sunday school class. We will show a video and follow up with some questions.

When time allows I have been baking breads for holiday giving: challah braids, pumpernickle and Italian olive bread. Most people don't want too many sweets for the holidays, so breads are well received.

My 2009 Goal List

Several years ago our pastor had a sermon about making goals for the new year and not just making them and writing them down, but to pray about them daily. Keep them in your heart, reread them daily or at the least, weekly. Keeping them in mind by reading them often, praying over them, etc. means that in a year, when you look back at your list, you will have accomplished alot more on your list that you ever would have without it!

Here are the items I break my goals into each year, with at least 5 items under each.

2. Spend more one on one time with Noah baking cookies, playing with play doh, etc.

Now I must admit I have an item or two that doesn't fit into these catergories, so I will call them Miscellaneous:

The Aleph Bet

Several weeks ago Mother Dear was finishing a review for a magazine, and put in the CD to one product called The Aleph Bet Story by Sarah And David. As you may have guessed or already know we get the name for our set of letters in English, the Alphabet, as a derivative from the name of the Hebrew set of letters: The Aleph Bet. I’ve also been just confused at how people learn different languages, but the confusion is lessening, I think. Within the last week especially we’ve really been looking into and listening to the Hebrew Aleph Bet, and it is quite fun.

Hebrew reads right to left where as English reads from left to right so that is something quite different, and also the letters have their own names, but different sounds. Like the letter for the sound B is Bet, and to make words with vowels like “back” you don’t add another letter for the A sound. Instead you add a sign beneath the B letter. Before you can even begin all that, though, you have to know which Hebrew letters go with the sounds and names…. that’s what I’m working on.

Here is one song we found on YouTube that has been really helpful in learning the sounds and signs of the letters. There are 22 letters main letters in the Aleph Bet, which this song will show you. It’s quick, but after listening to it 20x you should be able to sing-a-long and say the letters (haha, excuse the note at the end).

There are many other, perhaps less exciting and kiddish, videos on YouTube to listen to and many websites you can look at to help you learn the sounds, signs, and names of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. We also found a few songs from the Prince of Egypt film in the original Hebrew, which was very interesting. It sounds beautiful! Mother Dear posted those on her blog.

There’s no J sound in the Hebrew Alphe Bet. Instead it’s a Y sound - like Jesus is Yeshua. Today I was looking around Facebook, and found how to translate my name into Hebrew. You can find yours here. Make sure you tell me what it is.

I Hate Balancing the Checking Accounts!!!!!!!!! UGH!

This is one of my jobs in our family as the keeper of the house and finances. I must say I really hate to balance the accounts. Thankfully, we have online banking so it isn't that hard, just a job that I honestly can't stand to do.

This week was no different, and worse than most though. We got new internet service not long ago, and since then, our bank has frozen our online account (yes we can still get to our money, write checks, etc....but we can't see our online banking at all!) because I signed in with a different IP than usual and this sent a red flag up on our account. So, another words the bank was trying to protect us, and although I do appreciate that, it is what happened afterwards that makes me upset.

There was a message on our account saying the names on the account, etc. needed to be verified, but when I called the bank, they said since Matthew is the one who set up the online account, he is the one who needs to call and verify names, etc. I said, so you mean, I can go uptown today and clear out all of my hubby's money, but I can't access online banking to see if a check I wrote cleared??? LOL She basically said yes. LOL Matthew took time out of his incredibly busy schedule to get this done yesterday. He was told our online account would be unfrozen, and our password was changed for our protection. We could sign in under the new password and then change it if we wanted to. No problem right????

Well, I tried to sign in yesterday with our new password, and it didn't work. So I waited until today and the same thing. NOTHING. I called the bank again, and of course I was told, we can't help you. You will have to have your hubby call in to deal with this. (He told them yesterday that I was able to talk to them about this, but they refused to today) So, I was told I could sign up under my own account and then deal with the banking. UGH! LIke I have time to sign up for a new online account with the same stinking information that is on the other one, just because the bank is giving me a run around and not listening to our requests.

So, I did. It took a while and I had to call the gal at the bank once to figure something out, but it is done. I was able to finally access all three of our accounts (We have our major checking account, one for online purchases, and then a savings account), balance all accounts, move some money around, etc. I couldn't pay my bills until I knew where the money situation stood!!! So, after balancing the accounts, I paid the bills and they are ready to be mailed out tomorrow morning when my mail lady comes by.

Thankfully that job is over. Now granted, if I do this every week, instead of every 3-4 weeks, I might not have had so much trouble balancing them after I finally accessed them. LOL Maybe that should be one of my new year's goals. To check balances and cleared checks once a week.

I was still suffering from a bit of a headache today (my migraine from yesterday decided to stay around a little while longer), and now after all the numbers and junk going on in my head from the finances, my headache is at full force again. Oh well, I can rest easily in knowing all bills for the month are paid (except our taxes, which will have to wait until Matthew gets paid on the 15th of this month).

Butter-Crunch Pumpkin Bars

Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt until creamy. Pour into greased 13x9 pan. Sprinkle on dry cake mix and pecans then drizzle on melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream....yumm

Daily Devotion 339

Daily Devotion 338

The Pig Farmers of Pure Water Hollow

a different christmas poem

Brrr, is it ever cold........

My 2009 Goal List

The Aleph Bet

I Hate Balancing the Checking Accounts!!!!!!!!! UGH!

Butter-Crunch Pumpkin Bars

What's in the soap pot today?

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