Home Sweet Home

So I am cheating and putting this post on all my blogs. So you only need to visit one today if you follow all of mine.
I think this is a fun time of year! I love seeing how everyone else decorates for Christmas, and I love the cold clear air when I go out doors! It was really a lot of fun seeing my Nebraska Branch Anderson Clansmen last week. The guys got their limit of deer at the ranch Micah works for.
He and Nicole have a really nice 4 bedroom home on two levels. The basement has a huge living area, and two of the bedrooms. There are three bathrooms, and a nice open living area. Tons of cupboards and cabinets and closets. The place is really nice, and the guys had a wonderful time hunting. I got a bad spell with my Cellulitis, and so I really did not enjoy the time as much as I could have had that not happened. I got chilled the first afternoon, and it took me two heated blankets to get warmed back up. Then the leg got bad.

Here is a little information about cellulitis: I got the info from the linked title....
Cellulitis Index



Our Cellulitis Main Article provides a comprehensive look at the who, what, when and how of Cellulitis



Definition of Cellulitis MRSA Slideshow Cellulitis: An acute spreading bacterial infection below the surface of the skin characterized by redness (erythema), warmth, swelling, and pain. Cellulitis can also cause fever, chills, and "swollen glands" (enlarged lymph nodes). Cellulitis is a clinical diagnosis based on the spreading involvement of skin and subcutaneous tissues with erythema, swelling, and local tenderness, accompanied by fever and malaise.

Cellulitis commonly appears in areas where there is a break in the skin from an abrasion, a cut, or a skin ulcer. It can also be due to local trauma, such as an animal bite. Only rarely is cellulitis due to the bacteremic spread of infection -- bacteria arriving from a distant source via the bloodstream.

What does cellulitis look like?



Risk factors for cellulitis include diabetes and impairment of the immune system (from, for example, HIV/AIDS or immunosuppressant drugs). Cellulitis is not contagious because it is an infection of the skin's deeper layers, the dermis and subcutaneous tissue, and the skin's top layer (the epidermis) provides a cover over the infection.

The main bacterium that causes cellulitis is Staph (Staphylococcus aureus) and Strep (Group A Streptococcus) is next most common. Cellulitis can be caused by many other types of bacteria. In children under six, H. flu (Hemophilus influenzae) can cause cellulitis, especially on the face, arms, and upper torso. Cellulitis from a dog or cat bite or scratch may be caused by the Pasturella multocida bacteria. Cellulitis after an injury from a saltwater fish or shellfish can be due to the Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. These same bacteria can also cause cellulitis after a skin injury on the farm, especially while working with pigs or poultry.

Antibiotics such as derivatives of penicillin that are effective against the staph germ are used to treat cellulitis. If other bacteria, as determined by culture tests, turn out to be the cause, or if patients are allergic to penicillin, other appropriate antibiotics are substituted.


Last Editorial Review: 1/25/2008

Common Misspellings: cellutitis, celluitis, cellulitist, cellolitus, cellulitous, celulitis, cellulitus

Micaiah and Nicolae are so very adorable, and Micah and Nicole are a greats host and hostess so if you go see them you will have a wonderful time! Now Kristi and I will be heading next to see Mark and Jordan and Caedmon! I can hardly wait.

gifts

On December 1, I ordered gifts for my men (6 sons and one husband) from Scotland. I went to town to babysit three of my grand babies yesterday, and got an email stating that the FedEx man had to no deliver my package because I was not here to sign for it. I could not believe how fast that package arrived! I am still amazed! It was redelivered today, and I am very pleased with the gifts! I think they will really like them! I also finished the transaction on another gift today, and hope it does not arrive quite as soon as the Scotland ones did! It is coming from somewhere in the USA, so I am sure it will not get here before I get back (or so I hope!)And If it does come I hope my housesitter does not read on it where it came from or what it is... Oh well so much for trying to keep things a secret in December.
I am hoping to go up to Old St Charles shopping next week If anyone wants to go with me, let me know.

Joyful Heart Renewal Ministriesis a website with a lot of interesting reading I have linked the Christmas section for you. Go and enjoy reading the articles there. Have a wonderful Christmas Season!

It snowed

Well, It snowed on Saturday night and again last night, so we have snow on the ground. I need to go out with a jug of warm water for the doggies in a few minutes. It is 30 degrees according to the AOL window on my computer. VRRRR! I guess now I am glad the chickens are no more since we do not have the big hen house yet finished. No needing to help them out! (BUT I am gearing to have everything ready by March so I can order new fowls.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful we only had missing Gramma, John, John's family,Micah and Micah's family We also had Phil missing, I have no idea where he missed getting the Thanksgiving MEMO everyone else got it.....

~First Sunday of Advent~

~First Sunday of Advent~






This is the first Sunday of Advent! Light your first candle! Call me for the tune for MY Lord What a Morning I will sing it for you!



Advent Wreath Meditations
~First Sunday of Advent (November 30, 2008)





But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come . . . in the evening, or at midnight, or at dawn. Keep awake. (Mark 13:24-26, 32, 33, 35, 37, NRSV)

Such amazing things happen in the sky to herald the return of the Son of Man:
. . . Jesus, coming in the clouds
. . . the sun grows dark
. . . the moon doesn't shine
. . . and stars fall from the heavens


So different from that first coming more than 2000 years ago:
. . . with angels singing of God's glory and peace on earth
. . . with the single star guiding the way to the manger
. . . with shepherds and wisemen -- rich and poor -- coming to worship.

And so we watch, and wait, and stay alert, waiting again for the coming of Jesus.
And we light a single candle in preparation for that glorious day.

[Light the first candle on the Advent wreath.]

. . . And even if the sun should grow dark
. . . even if the moon refuses to shine
. . . even if the stars should fall from the
sky…


. . . we will have Jesus, the Light of the World, to shine brightly in our hearts, lighting our way.

All: Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

"My Lord, What a Morning," 719, The United Methodist Hymnal


My Lord, what a morning; my Lord, what a morning;
Oh, my Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall.
You'll hear the trumpet sound, to wake the nations underground,
Looking to my God's right hand, when the stars begin to fall.
My Lord, what a morning; my Lord, what a morning;
Oh, my Lord, what a morning, when the stars begin to fall.

(Traditional African-American spiritual)

OR "Shine, Jesus, Shine," stanza 1, 2173, The Faith We Sing

I got this from Planning Helps~Advent Wreath Meditations

Welcome to the Christmas Season 2008!

How the Pilgrims Got their Name

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson


It wasn't until 1840 that the term "Pilgrim" came to refer to the early Mayflower settlers.

The Pilgrims (though they weren't called that at the time) originated with the members of a Separatist congregation from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, whose pastors were Richard Clifton and John Robinson.1 This congregation suffered difficult persecution in England because they dissented from the state Church of England. William Bradford, one of the original Mayflower emigrants, wrote that

"[The church members] were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapt up in prison, others had their houses besett and watcht night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were faine to flie and leave their howses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood... Yet, seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, but a joynt consent, they resolved to goe into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men...."2

The congregation moved to Holland in 1607 where religious freedom was greater. Some
They settled in Amsterdam for a year, but then moved to Leiden, Holland, where they lived for a dozen years. But life was difficult for these expatriates. As foreigners they were deprived of a chance at the best jobs, and struggled to maintain even a low standard of living. Times were tough. But what caused them to move were their teenagers. They had religious freedom, but

"Many of their children … by the great licentiousness of youth in that countrie, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawne away by evill examples into extravagante and dangerous courses."3

They were losing their young people and struggling at the bottom of the economic scale. If they returned to England they faced severe persecution and imprisonment. So in 1620 many from the congregation decided to emigrate to America, to the New World. Three groups came on the Mayflower:

1. Saints -- members of the Separatist Leiden congregation,
2. Strangers -- members of the Church of England who were emigrating for economic reasons, and
3. Crew Members -- seamen aboard the Mayflower, some of whom were contracted to work in the Plymouth Colony for a year or longer.

The "strangers" weren't non-Christians. They were probably members of the Church of England and would count themselves as Christians. But they didn't share the Separatists' refusal to be a part of what they considered to be the corrupt state church.

We ought to make a couple of distinctions here. Strictly speaking, Separatists were pious Christians who had given up on the Church of England and formed their own congregations. Puritans, on the other hand, were members of the Church of England who wanted to purify the Church from its worldliness and corruption. Instead of separating (in the early days), they formed religious societies within Anglican congregations. A number of these groups, like the Mayflower group, fled to Holland. They were the beginnings of the Congregationalist and Baptist churches that put down early roots in America.

Though the Plymouth Colony was the first Separatist colony in New England, the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony was established by royal charter in 1629. But apparently the Massachusetts Puritans had something in common with the Plymouth Separatists even before they sailed for America -- the autonomy of the local congregation and a restriction of membership to "those predestined to be God's elect."4 As time went on the churches in Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony came to resemble each other.
But the Plymouth colonists still weren't called Pilgrims, not for many years, not until 1840. At that point someone resurrected William Bradford's original phrase describing the Saints that had left Leiden to travel aboard the Mayflower to the New World. They left Leiden, he said, "that goodly & pleasante citie which had been their resting place for near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."5

Since the 1840s the Mayflower settlers have been referred to as the Pilgrims, echoing the verse from the Bible that Bradford had in mind:

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13-16, KJV).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK!

Give thanks to the Lord, ca;; on His name; make known among nations what He has done,
Psalm 105 :1
This has been an interesting year for us. So many tribulations; I will not share them all with you, and also so many blessings, many of which I will share.
We have had many babies this year. It is hard for us to praise God for the loss of our grandson, Iain, but we know that God is sovereign, and He knows what is best. So we will praise God for what ever He is doing in the loss, and we thank God for a blessing where we have yet to see one. Caedmon and Iain will have a brother, or sister in April of 2009, and we thank God for that blessing. I had a bad attack with my cellulossis in January and February, I spent almost an entire month in the hospitals, and that was difficult, and the bills were unbelievable. We are almost done paying off the bills, and we are praising God for that. We have had four little people entertaining us since January, Addie, Nehemiah, Nicolae, and Jude have been great blessings and additions to our family. Praising God for them all. And the rest of our already here grandkids have been such a blessing to both Terry and me. Relationships that looked like something for the future, did not happen, and we are sorry, but we know once again, God is in control, and knows best, so we thank Him even when we think things should have gone a different direction. We know God knows best when we do not. And then It broke my heart when Micah and Nicole, Micaiah and Nicolae got in that moving van and little gold car and drove out of the property with almost all their earthly goods. It was so hard on us (especially me) but we know God has great things in store for them, and that He is going to bless them abundantly in Nebraska. I know He is already using their gifts in His ministry in Broken Bow. Then there were some educational changes happening. We don't know why sometimes God turns us around like He does, but sometimes we just need to step back and regroup. That is what some of our children had to do this year. Jobs have changed, educational opportunities have opened and closed, and we had a huge disappointment when the man we did not support was elected to the highest office in the land. But we know God is in control, and God will bless us if we serve Him. So we must just keep on keeping on.

And finally my Dear Ones:
as in Ephesians 1:16; I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

Stand firm in your faith today!

...lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:10-12 RSV

In this week before Thanksgiving, let us not forget that Our Heavenly Father has given us the greatest gift of all: salvation though His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. All we need to do is repent of our sins and ask Him to come into our hearts and rule our lives. So simple, yet so few of us have done this simple thing. Pray today asking God to help you to lead another to Christ. We must all share the gift He has given us so freely. Ask His will to be done in your life so you can know His perfect peace, which transends all understanding! Stand firm in your faith today!

Slide shows of my "little kids"

I made the slide shows (below the blog posts) last year, and just now came across them again! How fun....

Men to the rescue!

Matthew and Joshua, Mr. N and Mr. I were out today. I had the privilege of helping the younger young men with their school work, while the older young men worked on setting some posts in the rocks for my backyard to be. IT was so nice to have them all after having to say goodbye to Nicole and her two early this morning. And tomorrow I get two more of my fine young gentle men for the day. I guess my call for a need for me on my LT Livestock page worked! LOL Unfortunately, we are now down to Three chickens, a Rhode Island Red hen, An Americana hen, and one of the little roosters, (his breed I am uncertain.)

While Terry was home this week....

Terry spent a good portion of the time he had off working on trying to keep our chickens (the ones that are left) safer. He put a door on the coop Micah made, and a little entry way for the chickens. He put up a good gate so I can easily get into the yard. He put a heat lamp in the coop, and made the yard a bit bigger. Meanwhile he also, with Joshua's help, welded the A frame for the big coop. It is 12 by 8 at the bottom. Hopefully there will be enough in the bank next pay to get the siding for it, and a window. We will then finish the back yard fence for the dogs, and turn the now dog yard into the chicken yard where they will be very very safe.

A dog came into our place in the middle of the night. We heard the dogs barking but alas did not bother to get up and find out why. WE sure should have! The dog killed all but two of our small breed chickens, and ran all the rest off. They finally ccameback in the afternoon of the next day. The dog's paw prints are all over in the back yard. It looks like he jumped up on our front screen door, and also the basement door has a paw print on it. So he is a problem. I will go lock the chickens up for the night in a few minutes...

Once the hens and roosters are safe and secure, we will start on the sheep shed. I have the blue print drawn, and look forward to getting it done before spring, so Isaac can get his lambs when they come available in the spring. Hopefully I can get some of my babydools southdowns at that time too.

If only I had a camera to take pictures for you all to see how things are progressing!

I am almost done moving into the house. I still need to get my dining room table out of storage, and still need to redo a few things, but it is getting closer.

Plans for inside the house... and out..

We have some major change plans as well as some not so major change plans for inside the house.
We are going to start in the master bedroom.When we are finished, it is our desire to have the entire house look like a turn of the century (1899-1900) style house. So we are going to replace the windows in the master bed and bath with that style of windows, remove the seam caps and fill in the seams in the walls, then we will be doing trim around doors, windows and ceiling and floors. This week I am going to go get estimates on the supplies. We have to turn two doors around so they swing out of the room instead of into it. I want to do hard wood, but that is not in the plans for about two years. So we will just keep the carpet in the bedroom, and do something else in the bathroom.

Out doors, we are going to use the trailer parts from the trailers that the double wide arrived here on to build the chicken coop.It will be an A frame, using three trailer tongues for the frame work. We have to get it built really soon, and that is going to take some welding, cement pouring, and then walls, (or are they roofs?) and hopefully we can get it finished before the snow starts to fly around here. . We got the cement mixer from John when we picked up Boomer's dog house., So other than getting the PVC pipe for the drain in the floor, and the cement and gravel, we are ready to go with this project. Hopefully I can get my diggi cam before we get started, so we can do pictures of it as we go.

I am getting 4 eggs a day, two brown and 2 green. SO I think I will make a quiche for Kristi and William today

Working on clearing the land..

John told Terry he plans to go out to the property on Monday ( I think) and Tuesday and work on weed whacking and brush hogging. Micah and Nicole will be loading their moving truck on Monday and heading out. Tuesday is my day to work on my bible study lesson, and I just devote that day to devotions and prayer etc. Sometimes I have to (well I don't mean have to in a negative, but a positive way) watch some of the grand babies. But I have told everyone that bible study lessons are my priority on Tuesdays. I am all done with my Beth Moore Study for this week, except for loading it up on my blog spot: A Woman's Heart ~ God;s Dwelling Place but I have no idea if anyone even uses it, so not so sure it matters if I load it up onto the blog. All that to say I will hopefully be able to help Micah and Nicole and John and Molly this week. We will be having the telephone line installed at the property on Wednesday, and so Terry needs to do the inside the house telephone wiring on Monday or Tuesday. He is taking a couple days vacation ( I think) this week to work on the property too. I guess things are falling into place. I looked at digi cams today at Walmart. I want to get one so I can record our progress on clearing the land. Praying for extra funds for a digi cam here.

Moving onto the land...

We will be moving onto the property in about two weeks. Micah and Nicole are moving to Nebraska to work for a ranch near Broken Bow. We are going to miss them terribly! But God is good and He will take care of them, and fill our empty hearts with something new I am sure. With the economy like it is, the financial wizards of the world have pretty much announced to the world that no banks are going to be lending any money to anyone with anything less than a perfect credit rating, so we are assuming no one will be purchasing Micah and Nicole's home. Because of this situation, we have decided to take over Micah and Nicole's house loan for them, and so we will be living there as soon as they get moved to Nebraska. We were not planning to do this this way, I really wanted my house further back on the land (this house is right on the highway) but God will provide the privacy I desire, I think if you are going to live in the country, you might as well live back into your land a ways, but this is not what is going to happen... Anyway, I wanted to live on the property, and now I will. Terry will be taking an early retirement starting in February, and he will get a non truck driving Job here in this area, so he will be home every night.

Our Heavenly Father has to be so very patient!

I am working on being patient while we work out how we will finally get onto our property. I know God has been shaking His head over some mistakes Terry and I have been making, and He has to be so patient with us. Now Micah and Nicole are selling their three acres attached to our land, anbd planning on moving to Nebraska for a ranch job there. Since the well is on our property, Terry is re-surveying our land and putting the well on their property. So we will not have a well any more, and probably never will. I am thinking of getting rid of my dog. I guess Micah is selling Micaiah's pony, and giving Peanuts away. I really have no longer a desire to finish my plans since I will be all alone there for the next 7 years. I really don't want to live there alone. Prayer for a solution to our plans would be appreciated. God is good and in His perfect timing all things will work together for good to those of us who love and serve Him. Soon, I hope!

Waiting on the Lord

Housing:

We have pretty much decided on a berm home. I think it is going to resemble a castle in the front. Right now we are staying a a trailer park, and think we might finish Micah and Nicole's basement and move in there until our house is done. Nicole said we have 5 years until they move their kids to the basement. We have a really cool idea in the oven for our house, and it will be practially free to build the outside structure. It will be very economical on heating and cooling, and a very spacious house for all our kids and their kids on holidays. It will even be big enough for all the dil's (Daughter-In-Laws) parents and siblings to join us too!

Livestock
We have pretty much decided we will first start with sheep, and I have a very diversified mini sheep operation planed.
the following breeds are interesting me at this time:


1. Babydoll Southdown and regular Southdowns

2. St Croix

3. Jacob Sheep

4. Scottish Blackface

5. Mini Cheviot

6. Icelandic

7. Finnsheep


In my next posting I will let you know why these 7 breeds are the ones I am interested in raising.

Right now we have: (Micah has) several breeds of chickens, I picked out the houdens. He has a barred rock, some Road Island Reds, and a few other breeds. I need to get more familiar with them They are laying, and he has built a little mini chicken coupe for them. I will need to get my hens and their rooster separated very soon as they are almost mature enough to need to be separated.
We have the two Shetlands left. (CocoNight died last winter) and we have two Aussies. My little Lillie, and Micah and Micaiah's Little Rella. I hope we can take them to a herding camp this fall and let them get trained. We will need them to protect and herd our little sheep flock.

PRAYER TIME:I pray for all of you, and am praying right now for Kristi and Ken and Carolyn and Joe in Liberia, Africa. Praying God does a mighty work through them, and that they return home safely on Saturday.