I am praising God today for the blessing of a free country.
We may complain and there are directions that I do not like to see our country headed, but as long as we are living in a free country I will thank God for this huge blessing!
I am grateful to the men and women who founded our nation and who blessed God in it. I am grateful to the men and women who have given their lives to protect the freedom of our country. I pray for continued freedom and I know God holds, not just our nation, but the whole world in His hands. Awesome, yes?! Yes!!
Red…White… aaaandΒ Blue! π
It seems a little strange to us to have wheat harvestΒ well behind us on July the fourth! More often than not, we are in the harvest field during this holiday. Quite often we have seen fireworks lighting up the sky in each direction while we harvested our crop! This year we have the wheat cut and we have fields that are disked. Do you think we will have an early frost? I would not be surprised!
In other news, I made tea syrup and froze it! I am so happy about this! I have not missed making tea syrup every day. It is so nice to go grab a jar out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge to start thawing while I make a pitcher of tea out of the jar that had beenΒ thawing in the fridge! I am stoked! It was definitely worth the time and effort it took to brew the tea, add sugar, and put itΒ in jars to freeze. The recipe actually said to can the syrup, but I decided toΒ just freeze it and it has been great.Β I made it one evening when I was doing a few things in the kitchen anyway. It was really easy and I didn’t think it took that much time.Β It is worth it to me, simply because it is one little thing that I don’t have to think about every day. And I have a happy husband because there is tea! He didn’t complain, but I could alwaysΒ sense some disappointmentΒ when someone had forgotten to start the tea syrup and the pitcher had run dry! It’ll all be good until the jars in the freezer are gone!
I am also celebrating because weΒ should soon have kitchen cupboards in our kitchen. There is a basement kitchenΒ that we are using and it works very well. But when it comes right down to it, I am super excited at the thought of having a kitchen where the kitchen is supposed to be. I do feel guilty sometimes. The basement kitchen has things about it that are nicer than my kitchen in our old farmhouse. And both of those kitchens are so much better than so many people all over the world have. I think I feel guilty too, because I am excited at the thought of a wonderfully, nice kitchen and it makes me see how much I don’t live out Philippians 4:11-Β Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. Oh, I am so not good at living like that. I can’t say I’ve ever been in complete and utter need. We have our needs and our trials, but I really can’t say I am in need. Unlike Paul, I can’t say either, that I have learned to beΒ content. I haven’t. And I should be. I should be. I do not know what it is like to beΒ hungry. I should lose weight. I should be so good at contentedness. AND I AM NOT. So while IΒ am very excited about working on the kitchen, I am also guilty. But, I am looking to Christ, the One who gives us strength. Nowhere else will the secret of contentment be learned. From nowhere else will it slowly creep into our lives and become part of us, so that maybe, someday I can say with Paul, “I have learned to be content.”
We are content today to work around our farm with the plan to grill hamburgers and go watch fireworks this evening! Getting to beΒ with my family is definitely aΒ circumstanceΒ that I have learned to be content in!
Picture from summer 2010..
What plans do you have today?
Our plans are to have a lazy day and that is working out just fine! A skunk in the box trap intended for raccoons has added a little stress to the day, but I think it is working out ok. I think contentment is something we have to consciously think on each day. A thankful attitude goes a long ways toward producing contentment. And I need to be reminded of this daily. God is so good and so faithful to us with so much patience as we slowly learn the lessons He has for us.
Skunks seem to like coming around your place! π How did you get rid of him?
I have frozen tea syrup before and it worked just fine:)
I have contentment issues I am ashamed to admit π Thankful that God’s grace covers all and I can always confess it and go back to Him
I’m loving my frozen tea syrup!
Why is contentment so hard?! In our summer Bible study, one of the videos showed them visiting the Amazon. One of the women living in the Amazon apologised because she did not have a house to invite them into. She just had this little thing made out of four poles and a tarp-type material over the top-no sides. Talk about feeling ashamed of myself.
Would LOVE that recipe for frozen tea syrup :o) I wonder how women in third-world countries do with contentment. Do you think they deal with it better because they don’t have the magazines and TV showing them all manner of new things?
We didn’t do anything special on the 4th. In fact I kind of forgot all about it and when I woke up and hubby was still in bed I frantically woke him up, “Aren’t you going to work???” About 2 hours later he reminded me it was a holiday :o) We celebrated having the electric back on :o)
I wonder too, if it isn’t easier to be contented when you aren’t constantly bombarded with things and options and keeping up with everyone else! π
Tea syrup: 30 family-size tea bags(1 family-size is equal to 3 regular), 14 Constant Comment tea bags, 7 qt. water, 5 pounds and 3 cups sugar,
Boil water. Turn off heat and add tea bags. Steep for 20 minutes. Add sugar and mix well. Put in quart jars an hot water bath for 12 min or do like I did and put in pint jars and freeze. 1 quart tea syrup makes 2 gallons of tea. That’s why I did pints, so the ratio would be for 1 gallon. Also, this recipe is cut in half. I didn’t have enough tea bags for a whole so I cut it in half. It was a LOT, even just doing half! So, you can double it if you want!