Green Beans in the Garden ~ Clean Clothes on the Line

*Is anyone singing the song from the West Ladies along with me right now?*

I harvested our first batch of green beans from the garden yesterday. It was a beautiful sun-filled day (as it seems today is going to be as well) and although a bit on the hot side, I still enjoyed being out in the garden picking beans! The children normally help but they were all three busy yesterday (helping grandparents, swimming...you know, the normal business of *summer*).

As the jars washed in the dishwasher (the glorious helper that it is), I snapped beans!

After the jars were washed and still hot, I filled them with green beans, salt and hot water. If you have never canned before I highly recommend the West Ladies Canning DVD! :) It's great!

I got a couple loads of clean clothes out on the clotheslines! I love the cost of drying your clothes by sunshine and the breeze (*free*)!

The first batch of beans only gave me 6 jars full...but there will be more to come!

Now they just need to be wiped down, rings taken off and taken to the basement!

Winnie, Stella, and Ruthie were *quite* the helpers ;) ...

Winnie eventually moved so she could lay in the sun (it must be chilly in the house at only 83*!)...

 Have you been harvesting anything from your gardens recently? Have you started any canning/freezing? I would love to hear about it! :)

Have a great weekend ahead!

Warmly,
Katy

      

Audra's Dedication

This past weekend, my sister and her family dedicated Audra. They promised to raise her in the fear and admonition of the Lord. It was a lovely service. Afterwards, we all got together for a picnic. (El's face in the photo above makes me giggle! And isn't Dinah so cute in her glasses? She wears them *all* the time so she can be like her big sister!)

Lunchtime...

Jaxson's picture of a TARDIS (from Dr. Who)...

Hugs and high-fives for Uncle Chris...

That Audra smile is just *too* sweet...

I suppose it is necessary for me to tell you what happened that day...before lunch, I was changing Audra in the living room. She was happy and smiling. I picked her up, lifted her over my head in the air....she's smiling the whole time and then *all of a sudden* (I didn't even SEE it) I feel warm goo-eyness on my face and in my mouth! Oooo, it was awful! It was regurgitated breastmilk (as my sister nurses Audra)! I had to put the baby down and get some paper towels quickly! I had to wipe it out of my mouth and off my face. It was all I could do not to gag! Audra was still smiling and chipper! Hahaha! All our family and friends got quite the chuckle out of it all! It will be a funny memory for years to come! :)

I hope you are enjoying your week! Thank-you for sharing in some of my memories with me! :)

Cheerfully,
Katy

The Light of the Gospel

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

~ 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 (emphasis mine)

Do you notice today that many "ministries" water down the gospel (ahem, Joel Osteen)? What about churches that are basically a huge concert? Bands, lights, sound affects and more...? Is that about true worship and gospel-proclaiming or entertainment? It can really bring God's people to despair. How can people be so flippant and careless about their worship of the Creator?

It saddens me greatly...however, as I study the Scriptures, I am encouraged more and more to know that true followers of Christ will hold to the truth in love and that with all that is going on in the world today, it is just purifying the *true* church more and more! That is a beautiful thing.

I continually read and reread the Scriptures I posted at the top of this post, in my Bible. It's so encouraging to me, truly. It pushes me on to share the gospel and love others with grace and truth. I will not water it down...I will let light shine in the darkness. If you keep reading in 2 Corinthians, you will find *more* to encourage you. I'm skipping ahead to verses 16-18...but really hope you will read all the verses in between in your own time as well. It will encourage you ~ I promise! :)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

The terrible things going on in the world, the wasting away of our bodies, people pretending to play "church"...they are enough to make me want to cry (and maybe it is necessary to do so sometimes) *but* I will *not* lose heart...despite all these things ~ we must proclaim Christ and Him crucified. We must stand for truth. We must shine light in the darkness (even if people are blinded to it). All this evil is but for a moment and eternal glory is awaiting us! Be encouraged friends! :o)

At home...

When we let the chickens free-range in the afternoons/evenings, you can almost hear them cry out "Freedom!" when we open the door! (Think that scene from Braveheart). They aren't very polite about it either...they push and shove to try to get out as fast as possible...

Stella took a nap on my oil-painting things...

I saw a craft that I wanted to try and it turned out beautifully! You buy cheap, transparent plastic beads and melt them in a dish in the oven to make sun catchers!

Chris drilled a small hole in it and hung it using fishing line!

I would like to find more beads with other colors (blues, yellows, etc). But my Walmart only carries these colors. I may have to look somewhere online. :) I don't want to pay an arm and a leg though! :)

I could have had them melt longer...but I thought this looked fun! I may try other designs once I get some more beads too! It's really easy and fun! You can find the instructions for them HERE.

I hope you found encouragement here today...as well as enjoyed the photos I shared. I pray your week ahead is lovely! Thanks for visiting!

Warmly,
Katy

"Don't ever take a fence down...

...until you know why it was put up."

~Robert Frost

Ok, I must admit that the quote I used above has a *much* deeper meaning than what I am using it for here...but it works! :) 

We have lived here over 14 years. In all that time, there was an ugly wire fence between our yard and the neighbor's yard. Their house is on the other side of their property...but this fence was right near our home. It was *ugly*. I despised it. No matter how much I tried to plant things and use flowers to brighten the outside of our home...that ugly fence was always still there. (I was always glad, though, that foliage and trees helped hide it in the summer.) We never asked our neighbors if we could take it down because, frankly, we were too scared to (our neighbors are elderly and *not* scary....but for some reason, we were too nervous to just go and ask them if we could take it down). 

Fast forward to recently...my aunt gave us some of her hand-me-down decorative fencing. My mom brought it to us and said maybe we could put it in front of the ugly fence to help hide it a bit....

Still bummed because I just despised that ugly wire fence, the boys told me I should just go ask our neighbors if we could take the ugly fence down....but alas, I said that I just "couldn't"...so, Xavier (the almost 12-year-old boy that he is) ran over and asked the neighbors *for* me!! When he came back with their reply, I couldn't decide whether to leap with joy or fall over in shock!!! Apparently, the ugly fence was on *OUR* property and we could take it down whenever we wanted to!!! It was there from previous owners (way back when)! Oh the excitement....(and regret!!! We could have taken this horrid fence down years ago!!). 

So, while I did some mowing, the boys got to work...

Yay, yay, yay! No more ugly fence! Now I have a pretty fence between the trees that naturally line the property line and my lovely hosta growing in front of it!

I am just over-the-moon about it! Funny how such little things can make such a *big* difference! :)

 It's kind of difficult to see the decorative fencing now...but that's okay with me. The pictures don't do it justice...it just looks *so* much nicer now!

From a distance...

I am *quite* full of smiles about it. I'm telling ya...little things can just be *great* things sometimes! And...I just have to add, after a summer of not-so-great weather (lots of rain), we are now enjoying some absolutely gorgeous days! Super comfy temperatures, sunshine and a breeze! It is just grand and does *so* much to lift the spirits! Thanks for stopping by to share in my bit of joy today! :o)

Cheerfully,
Katy

Frog Fun ~ A Recent Finish

Although I am more of a knitter...it's fun to crochet things too. Things whip up a lot quicker when you crochet them rather than knit! I made this hat for our friends' newest arrival. I am hoping it will fit the little guy this winter. The pattern said 3-6 months...but it seems a bit big...so we'll see. The pattern was just for the green hat and eyes. I made up the nostrils, smile and tongue on my own.

I am working on crocheting a mouse hat now. I may put it in my shop at some point...or gift it to someone. We'll see! :) I always have intentions of selling items I make...and then usually end up deciding to gift it instead!

What have projects have you been working on lately? I am linking up with Keep Calm Craft On from Frontier Dreams! :) Have a great Tuesday friends!

Kindly,
Katy