H.O.P.E.

Helping Overcome Poverties Existences
That's what we're talking about here. That's what we are trying to do in a small sorta way.
We are wanting to help, yet it will take you too, that is if you will. If the Lord leads.

We have been making bags of all sorts and wanting to sell them. We are hoping to be able to give to the people who are in need some of what we get. We need to cover our costs and then go from there as the Lord leads. We have come up with three or four different styles and choices of colors.
My daughter is trying to get approved to sell at the training camps where she was located when she was on the World Race.( This is an eleven month mission trip to eleven countries. This is where Skype comes in real handy and is a much need to stay in touch if possible and sane).
We also would like to be able to give those in need of food and water this season coming up, along with a bible. I have been asking the Lord who is He wanting us to give His word to and I am waiting for His direction.
Anyway, So this last week end my daughter was a 'sew-n-sew'. She went to town. When she wants to do something and makes up her mind to do it, she does good. As God said, "very good".

 We had a good time, Can you tell?

Things to think about

Saturday afternoon, I went to a soil composting class at Growcology. It was very informative.
 I have been throwing my kitchen scrapes in my compost for ever, it seems like. But I haven't been able to get my husband to allow me to save ALL the yard cuttings and weeds that have been hoed. I can't even get him to let me have the Jacaranda leaves from the neighbors tree that fall all over my driveway.

Well at this class of soil composting, the things I learned I really have to think about. I need to some how get him to let me put all of it in my compost pile. I have a very big pile of dirt that has been breaking down over the last two years and we have used some of it for various things we have planted, but the quality is probably not all that great.
I found out that I have way too much penicillin in my pile. That means I have to much citrus and when it molds and breaks down there is penicillin in there that kills everything.  :(
I some how need to enrich the pile of compost now.
I went to the Growcology class and we had hands on composting. We put the greens in and then the browns, and water and mixed, and repeated this several times until the frames were full and then learned another method.
The next method was sheet mulching. Where you just chop up the exiting weeds and wet it down . Put horse manure on it lightly and wet. Put newspaper on next thick and over lapping and wet. Then some more manure and wet. But this time the layer of manure was about an inch thick. Then wood chips or shavings and wet. Then manure and water, wood chips water, etc. About six or seven layers of theses elements. This helps to build up the soil and at the same time  slow or eliminate the weeds. In about six month with moisture but no turning the soil, it is good to plant in.
With about 120 people and all of us doing this , in no time we had a 25- 50 foot long fence line prepared for trees to be planted in.
At the end we were treated to a vermi-compost instruction. Just what I was in need of. I  have ordered my worms as of last week and so excited about the fertilizer that I will be producing from my own home. Just from my garbage. Anyone, anywhere, who really wants to provide minerals for their plants of any kind can do this. Even if they live in an apartment it can be done.
 Anyway I have some things to think about, wouldn't you say?

Punkin's Plot

     So today we went to the nursery and picked out some plants to plant. Since our heirloom seeds haven't arrived yet .

     We had done our home work and found out that raspberry plants DO NOT do well in the heat of our town. We need to be on the coast or in a different state altogether.
     Plan "B" came into play. While we were at the nursery this afternoon, we looked at all the wonderful flowers and veggie plants and came up with these for starters.

     We went to work as soon as we got home and added our amendments to our soil. We had planned out the direction of which way she wanted the plants to go and we went to town.
    
     Oh did I mention plan "B"? Instead of raspberries that she had her heart set on , she decided to plant corn. She said that she wanted to plant corn for 'me'. How Sweet !!! She is the best.

     Anyway, we worked together well and she learned a few things about planting trans-plants. I really think that this is a lesson that she will remember for ever.

     Did I happen to say that this was our own little field trip? Well it was. We walked pulling our little red wagon. We got our plants as well as new garden gloves and there was three of us that went, for the whopping low cost of $21.00. We didn't have to pay traveling costs or parking fees or is it just a one day adventure. This may be one of the best field trips with a triple win win situation. Would that be a win win win situation?

     Any way, we finished  planting the last of the flowers before she had to leave for the weekend.
I believe she would have stayed all weekend if she knew others wouldn't miss her.

     I will plant the rest sometime this weekend , if it doesn't rain the whole time. But I have to remember to go to my 'Growcology' class tomorrow afternoon. Soil/ Composting is the subject. I'll let you know what I find out if you want. Just let me know.

So have you started your summer garden yet? What are you growing this year?

large lizards that freak out my daughter

Out of the mouths of Babes

Okay, so last Thursday I was at a meeting from our homeschool and there was a speaker. Norm Wakefield, from, Spirit of Elijah Ministries. What a great evening of courage. I had to purchase a book he wrote called, 'Equipped to Love , Building Idolatry-free Relationships'.
  Well I have been reading it slowly and trying to take in as much as possible with little bites.
Each day I am tempted with tons of hatred to believe.
I am reminded that I am human and fail miserable, yet I have grace from my Savior who also reminds me to continue to Love, with out expectations.
 I so want to Love others the way Jesus loves. I so want to see how much one is capable of truly loving others. I am ready to keep the heart open to the work the Lord is doing in me. I can see results in small ways already.
Others I think can too, but do not realize it yet.
My death dream is to have something said about how much I loved everyone. If I died today, it wouldn't. I don't do so well, but I want to.
Doesn't that seem crazy. I mean If I was able to love others unconditionally then I wouldn't even think about it, would I? I so want to love like Jesus does.

Tomorrow I am going to my Thursday Summer Bible group,; Well the one that I was going to last summer and we get together sometimes when our regular Women's Bible Study has a break.
So tomorrow we will get together and have intercessory pray for someone or some thing, as well as bring one scripture about God's power that brings hope for that person or thing. This gathering will be themed 'Scriptures of Hope'.
Mind you I have been praying about this since I got the notice. I have searched scriptures and thought about who and or what. Today I mentioned to Punkin that I still didn't know who I should pray for and what bible verse I should bring.

Out of the mouths of babes.

 "I do!"
So I inquired, "You do, what and who?"
" My dad. Pray that he would stop being the fool who builds his house on the sand and that he would build his house on the rock".

aw
aw
aw
"Okay"
 So I got a 3x5 card and wrote it down and the verse is Matthew 7:24-27.
Wow, Out of the Mouths of Babes.

I have been praying off and on for this guy for years and yet I do not like him, But God is showing me how to Love him.

Another Bed...

Today we began another bed. Raised that is. For a new garden plot. This is going to be for Punkin and her dreams of flowers and Raspberries.

We, Punkin and I have discussed the place of this here garden last week and we even designed our gardens on paper. She want flowers and berries. I don't know if we can grow the berries she wants but she is going to learn about them anyway. We will let you know later if we can.

''Trusty''

workin' it

 So Papa and I got out our trusty ole' rotor tiller and began to break up the fallow ground. After we hoed of course. The chickens got greens again today.

We worked the soil and sifted a bit. All after we measured how big to go. 4'x6'...
We put corner supports on even though we have stakes at the corners that are driven into the ground and nailed to the frame. Just a little extra support.

We are very proud of the new bed and are hoping that Punkin will be also.

Can you imagine flowers and berries in there?
How beautiful.....

Warm weather...

         I love this time of year when the weather is just warming up for the day and then at dusk it is all chilly again. I love that when I sit in my house this time of year I am chilled to the bone, until I open the windows and let the warmth from the great out doors comes in. It totally is like "So that is what is out there".
        I love that I can go out and sit in the sun and be so comfortable and not get overheated with a sun burn. Although this week I did get a sun burn.
         I love when I can start placing seedlings out durning the day to get going in the garden.
             That is not quite what we did this week tough.
I actually Planted CARROT seeds in my raised bed, on Wednesday. Whoohoo..  We dug around a bit and stirred the soil up a bit and sifted the dirt a bit and planted a 2'x3' area with carrot seeds. I am so excited about this years crops. I so have big dreams about what is going to happen here this season.
            I will implement what I learn from Growcology, every other Saturday, and bring it on. Right here in my own backyard.
    My last post was some photos of the Growcology garden. It is here in town and it is what I would like my garden to somewhat look like.          Although they at Growcology have much more space, I know I can get pretty close to the same idea.

This week we also started Spinach seeds in seed starter pots. That is for Punkin to tend to durning the week. I will have to make sure it is taken care of over the week ends when she is not around. Not a problem though.

Also this week in this warm weather we were able to go out and sit an observe, our chickens for a science project. Kind of neat to see what a child see's as to what I see. Totally two different views. It is all okay though. All good.

I have seen total growth in these past few weeks here at everestranch. We have shared some really deep thoughts about what makes us ,us.I have heard some things that are not real comforting but glad I was trusted enough to be told. I have felt emotions so deep that I had to turn away from them and keep silent. I have been totally blessed to be loved and learn more about how to love than ever before.        
           I love the way the good Lord does stuff and how He shows me after the fact what He has done.

I am so elated this week, that I just want to go on and on, but it is time to stop and fix dinner for my husband.

 Thanks for stopping by and being interested in my part of the world. Hope yours has been a blessing this week also.

Growcology 101

                   Today was the first day for our Growcology community gardening classes. There are eight sessions. One every other Saturday for the next couple of months.

                 We  were introduced to how the program works and the itinerary of the the course.


               We met in a hundred year old barn and listen to several people speak their spiel and seen some amazing photos of Steven Wynbrandt, from west L.A. Wow what can be done with a backyard garden when one puts their mind to accomplishing their true heart goals.

                   We will have home work. Homework?  yes homework.... We have to look up terms like Bio-Intensive? And some others also.
           We will meet again, I think on the 19th of this month.

                                                                                        

We had to be teamed up with people from the same area. Like ward 4, 5, and 6. 

Our team is named the 'Sprouts'. 

more folks

Lots of folks

                       And I am so excited about what we will all learn from this time of gardening together in the community.

Purpose...

fresh picked

love the colors

Well this morning as I was trying to keep calm for the school day. I decided to make use of my time. I made more Orange Marmalade. This time I used Blood oranges along with a couple of Navels. Boy was it a good turn out. And it didn't take long either. Three hours from the time I sliced the first orange , until last jar popped close seal.

the beginning roll...

I so did not want to be angry because my star student was late again. I tell you what, with her mommy not having to be up and about for work due to work related injuries, I am just like HELLO. SCHOOL is in SESSION.



Okay now that I got that off my chest. We started another late day and finished just the basics. Come on now how can we excel. I don't know why we try sometimes.

finished

But we finished our puzzle today, even if I am the one who did it after school hours.
                                It helped me to relax.

New Feelings

We have had a much better week  all around.
Monday turned out to be a SNOW-Day and she had a blast with her mommy.




My cold is gone , okay almost all of it. My granddaughter is so much herself and we are enjoying some warmer weather.






Today we actually got to go to my WBS. that I have missed the last two weeks. Wow was it a great feeling to be around like minded believers again.
     I haven't even be able to serve in Children's ministry due to the yuck I had. So two weeks away and I was hungry for some true fellowship.
      After we came home we had a great afternoon outside doing our school work in the warmth of the sun.
Even Punkin was glad to get back in the swing of things.
When we finished what we were going to accomplish for school today we worked on our puzzle again. We have decide to use this for brain stimulus and hand eye coronation building. Like that?  It is all part of learning we are applying to our education.

Just a little something to stay in the game of blogging:)

Refreshed

Today I was refreshed.
   I stayed home and watched church service via internet and I was refreshed.
     Then I did some of my WBS( Woman's Bible Study) and I was refreshed.
 I was even able to work on a few scrap blocks for my scrap quilt that seems to to be forever going. But it helped to refresh me.
     My daughter came by and picked me up and we went to Borders Book store, and browsed bargain books and I was refreshed.That was the first trip out of the house since the trip to the E.R. on Tuesday.
       So all in all I feel better and I am refreshed.
I am so glad that this blooming' cold yuck is almost gone. I pray my husband is not coming down with it.

Just wanted to keep updated here. Until next time,
Happy quilting, reading, and gardening.

Oh did I mention I picked up a couple of new books?
One is Herbs and Herb gardening, and the other is a slow cooker cookbook.

My Girls

My girls are the besets and them some.
 They come through just about teverytime. This week has been one of those times.
    Punkin's mom, became her teacher when I so needed the rest and my baby girl came through with fixing my husband and me dinner for two to three nights. It was great and we had a good rest of the week.          

   Tonight we finished the last of the fried chicken and corn chowder soup. Home cooking with great flavor and warmth. The best food ever.
 Yesterday, momy hand carpal tunnel surgery and my baby went with her to the doctors and was there to get her home and stay with her until some else could stay with her for the night. Punkin and baby and I had a sleep over, or so we all slept at my house anyway. Isn't that a sleep over?
 Okay, so this morning we had bananas muffins and a late start day for school. But it was all good and we even had a special time for some creativity to flow.
   We are working on helping get the word of the Lord out to the homeless.
Check out  the blog site of hopenmotion.blogspot.com for more on it.
        I love the idea. Today we made a few more bags and Punkin was able to make picture frames for gifts.
  We made get well cards yesterday for mom and we had a good time. So today she was able to let those juices flow some more.

         Well I need to continue to rest to get this ugly sickness that I have had for more than a week now. So If there is anything that I have forgotten to mention, Oh Well.
      

     Hope you are all well and good.