The Adventures of the Reese's Pieces Gang

Today I want to focus on many blessings that the Lord has been showering upon our family and me personally. I'll start with some general blessings then expound on some spiritual blessings and lessons that the Lord has been teaching me.

On Saturday, I was able to pick up a little over 6 gallons of raw milk and 1 1/2 gallons of cream from pastured cows. My picture today is of the final stages of the butter making process. We allow the cream to sit out for most the day then we take turns shaking it until the butter separates from the buttermilk. In this picture you'll see my almost gallon of buttermilk which will be used for biscuits, pancakes, and bread this week, two 1/2 cup portions of butter, and the blob of butter that needed to be put into 1/2 cup servings. I use my Measure-All cup to pack the butter into while squeezing out as much buttermilk as I can. I then wrap my 1/2 cup blob's in saran wrap, write the date on them with a sharpie marker, then put them into a zipper type freezer bag. These last months in the freezer. I pull them out for fresh use or for baking. This blob of butter ended up giving me 6 cups of organic raw butter. That is equal to about $13-21 dollars since most organic butter sells for $5-$7 per pound. The milk and butter are a huge blessing! Plus I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours visiting with my friend who milks the cows!

When we left the "farm" with our car loaded with milk & cream we headed to another friends house who had some canning jars for me. As we brought the cases down from her attic I was overwhelmed with excitement to find that she was giving me 14 cases of jars, most of them 2 qt PLUS a box of lids and seals! A brand new case of jars runs for around $15. Once again the Lord showered us with goods that will meet our families needs!

I've also been blessed with fresh farm eggs for FREE the past few weeks which has been wonderful! My friend with the chickens also has ducks, geese & turkey's. She has given us goose eggs on more than one occassion which are Samuels favorite eggs to use for his omelet!

A few days ago I was able to meet my new pastors wife via email. We've been corresponding about the move, the church, and other things. I found out that the week we will be moving to New Holstein is the week of our new churches Vacation Bible School. I'm so excited that the kids will be able to get to know the children from our new church right away! God is so good!!

Yesterday Elizabeth and I went to our churches Mother Daughter Brunch. My heart was blessed by the message which I will write more about at the end of this post. Then we went into "town" for our trip to get the milk, canning jars, groceries, and lumber for another chicken pen. While we were shopping I decided to look at some tops and skirts. I desperately needed some clothes that weren't too tight or too big. I've only lost about 28 pounds so many of my shirts are still snug. I know tight fitting shirts are the "popular" style. However, I do NOT feel that they are modest nor do they honor the Lord or my husband. So as Elizabeth and I were looking at shirts I noticed a clearance rack. I usually NEVER find clothes for myself on a clearance rack. There were some REALLY cute reversible skirts that I decided to try on. Not only did they fit but I was also able to find a top to match each on. Because the skirts are reversible I got 6 new church outfits for just $42. It was so nice to wear something that wasn't horribly baggie and frumpy to church today. PLUS I found new tops to wear with my favorite Capri's. Now I'm all set as far as my wardrobe goes for Camp and the summer in general.

The Lord has been teaching me a lot this week about my attitudes regarding my home, packing, scheduling my days, and discipling the children. Yesterday at the ladies brunch one of my dear friends spoke on the impact studying Mary & Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, has impacted her life over this past year and a half. I found her challenge to be very applicable and convicting to the internal struggles I find myself facing these days. I have a tendency to be very "Martha" with my days, I'm often in a rush going from this to that, praying on a whim, reading scripture rushed, listening to the Christian radio with only a portion of my attention, all of which tends to leave me feeling frustrated and STRESSED! The speaker pointed out that it wasn't what Martha was doing that was wrong but that she was "cumbered about" or consumed with and stressed about so many things that she wasn't willing to listen to or be taught by Christ. That little statement hit me between the eye's like the rock that struck Goliath. I realized that I have been cumbered about rather than casting all my cares upon Him who cares for me. I have been doing the good things rather than seeking to live for the Greatest Master. I had to ask God to forgive me once again for my selfishness and lack of willingness to just trust God with each day and all that it entails.

I can honestly say that after yielding my fears and expectations about these next few weeks to the Lord that I am at peace about everything that needs to be done. I have renewed my commitment to seek to walk faithfully, communing daily with the Lord and teaching my children how to walk in His grace day by day. I pray that our busy weeks will be a time that we will reflect back on and be able to see many things that God taught us and ways in which He was magnified through this time of pressure.