Monday, April 19, 2010

House Building

Due to a camera malfunction, the pictures we took of some of the middle steps have been lost. I will try to track down some from our PS133 Friends. For now, here are some of the pictures we have taken of our house building endeavors over the last month. Enjoy!


Putting in our foundation was an interesting process. About half way through it snowed five inches! Missouri weather always keeps you guessing.








Here is our subfloor going in (yes there is snow on the ground).





We are trying to clear a spot in front of the house to plant a small garden this year. To do this we have to take a few fallen trees and turn them into rounds and put them in the woodshed (that we haven't built yet) to season for later use.







Our water storage system has been a blessing for life on the old homestead.
Our temporary staircase enables us to reach the loft without having to take time to build the stairs right now.




Here is our roof, nearly completed. We can hardly wait to finish this project so that we can start sleeping in the house.




My wonderful husband built an adjustable grill over the firepit to make outdoor cooking easier.






Here are a half dozen each tomato and cabbage plants, given to us by a wonderful family here. We look forward to planting them in the area pictured above.







So far, this is our redneck chicken coop. Thanks to the Jefferson City pick up day, we will soon be building a bigger coop. We were able to find some corrugated plastic roofing to top our pallet coop construction. The chickens are going to love it!








The truck received an upgrade to help with the construction efforts. The lumber rack has really been a great help in transporting our materials.








One of our first projects was a mailbox installed in the turnaround area at the top of the easement.





Well, that's all for now. We hope to have the house liveable soon. Stay tuned!
My Family
(Wife Speaking)

Friday, April 16, 2010

The Substance of the Shadow

Three points of interest as Old Testament law relates to New Testament principles:

1. Clean and unclean animals- a clean animal must split the hoof and chew the cud; missing one or the other makes the animal unclean; a true Christian is revealed by both action and attitude, to falter in either word or deed reveals the true path you trod.(writings of John Bunion)

2. Crop regulations-no one was to plant more than one crop in their field. perhaps so that one person could not be the end all be all of food production but that each member of the community was to be mutually dependant on one another, and each one indispensable to the rest; we are all given understanding in different areas for the reason of promoting mutual edification. There is no one anothering that goes on in the modern pastor led church. One pastor serves broccoli one serves spinach, both have valid insights but when they think they ought to be the sole nutrient provider they go the way of the cults. every brother in the body of believers ought to be learning from God and through His word then sharing that insight with the body. imagine a "church" entirely made up of qualified elders meeting on the grounds of love and respect, striving for mutual edification, expecting to both give and receive teaching.

3.The Sabbath rest- perhaps it is best to go straight from scripture on this one: EXO20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it; Matt 12:5-8 have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. & Heb 4:9-11 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
The Sabbath gave us rest from labor, Christ gives us rest from the ever-present burden of sin, yeshua mesheaha is the substance of the shadow. and if we are in Him the shadow is of little effect, yet even He said that the rest from labor is for your benefit. and in Prov. 23:4 Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease!


husband speaking

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Identity Theft

While driving down the road for supplies, my wife and I were talking, as we often do, and she mentioned something that struck me as wrong. She said, "People always say once you become a mother you lose your identity." I contemplated this premise for awhile, trying to understand the basis for the concept. A couple of days later I called attention to the statement made. I said, "I understand that things change in a man and a woman when they become parents, so much so that it seems their identity is warped into their role in the family - their identity must die that their role may be filled." But I disagree with this conclusion of events. My wife and I are very different people from the young couple who took their vows a few years ago, but did a change of life events result in the death of what was? No.

When a man and a woman, two separate entities, enter into a covenant relationship before and with God, they begin to make the transition from being two to being one flesh (a single, cohesive unit in mind, body and spirit). The former does not die; it develops. A caterpillar does not die when it goes into its chrysalis; it changes and develops that its purpose may be fulfilled. Many today wish to remain separate yet joined together as with a band. Well that's kind of like gluing wings on a caterpillar. It looks awfully funny and it can't hope to fly. You need the change, the growth and development to fulfill your purpose and it must start with marriage when you start to become a single unit. Having children is yet another stage of development designed not to kill and replace that which is, but to enhance, grow and develop you that you may fulfill your purpose.

When you have children, they look to you for the example of how to operate as a single unit. Your values, conversations, habits, strengths and frailties forge the character image of this single entity designed to grow and develop as you have. But when certain elements are missing the wrong image is forged. When you see brokenness in the home, you'll have brokenness in the character. If children cannot see man and woman operating as one flesh, they will lack the concept and will likely never grow beyond self and reach their full potential, which is a binary, multifaceted being able to reproduce in a singularity the express image of their complexity.

I may be rambling at this point and probably lost you long ago, so I'll leave it at this. Marriage and children are events in one's life designed to develop one's personality and character, not destroy it.

Husband Speaking

FINALLY!!! Soon has arrived...

For all those who have been asking when we would update the blog and kept hearing the same answer, "Soon," soon has finally arrived. And we have so much to share with you!

Since we last updated we have completed the floor, the first floor walls, and now the floor of the loft. Next on our project list is to waterproof the work we have already completed before we are blessed with more rain. :) Then it's on to the roof! We are excited to be making progress and thank the Lord for every day that we are able to work on our new home.

Other than home construction, we have been able to take care of some of the other tasks related to moving (changing over our licenses and all to Missouri). The rain sometimes forces us to get other things done, and for that we are grateful. It is nice to finally have all of that taken care of.

We were also blessed recently to find a cheaper source for clean drinking and wash water until we get the well dug. And with the addition of a few washtubs, we are now able to bathe in our home and more easily wash dishes and laundry. This is truly a blessing for us (I'm sure our PS133 friends will appreciate this as well).

Bernard is still not walking yet, but remains close to that milestone. She is enjoying having more room and better weather to play. Meanwhile, McGee LOVES helping Mama and Daddy with the house and chasing the chickens (in a loving and gentle way of course) whenever her help is not needed.

All in all, we are enjoying a simpler, though still quite busy, lifestyle in the woods with our family. The Lord has been teaching us alot about loving each other and working together and Husband has been teaching me alot as well (to include house building, driving in less than fabulous conditions, fire building, etc). It has been an interesting, exciting, very busy and productive month.

On that note - we are headed to our home away from home (the local Lowe's store) for more supplies to get started on our next round of projects. Thanks for checking in on us! Until next time, which may or may not be "Soon,"

My Family
(Wife Speaking)