I enjoy looking back ten years and twenty years and finding photos in the archives. These are funny ones in how they match! 😀

Alice 2013. Nathan 2003.

I never realized what you could do with the stuff! Here is my latest projects with it:

Vanilla extract! You get the beans and use them for stuff like homemade ice cream. It makes those little tiny black specs and tastes really good – especially with my homemade butterscotch sauce. Then you put the used beans in vodka! After a couple weeks it’s vanilla extract – the expensive kind! A tiny bottle costs around $20, and the picture above is 10+ bottles. It tastes wonderful. The fudge Jill made with it had a delicious, distinct flavor. No, there isn’t anymore left.

Following on the heels of the extract theme, I decided to pick some mint leaves from our tiny garden and use them the same way. This makes a drink very similar to a mint julep – just add some sugar syrup and ice. Jill loves it, and it functions pretty much the same as it did in 1952.

On the left is my first attempt at limoncello. It’s the zest of two lemons. After this picture was taken, I then filtered out the zest and combined with sugar syrup to taste. It’s about the same process as the mint julep, and also tastes amazing. Very lemony.

All of these projects out of one $18 bottle of vodka!

Some photos from the collection, including, but not limited to, double batch cinnamon rolls, cinnamon roll BREAD, cooking on the tiny cast iron stove, a picnic feast for a tiny one. 😀

And Little Mushrooms photo shoot. Just this cutie growing out back amid the moss. Photography by Ben. 🙂

I enjoy looking back through the photo collection 🙂 What was happening 10 years ago mid-Sepbember? How about 20 years ago? And the winners are….

Pop and Alice with a smiley snuggle.

This lovely portrait of the Murphy family, by Alice.

And Pumpkin Nate, with side-pistol, admiring Finny the Fish! 😛

As Any Mother to the Savior

Poem mentioned in ‘The Shaping of the Christian Family’ by Elisabeth Elliot. She mentions the possible source to be Martha Snell Nicholson, but it came to E.E in a card from her mother, that she would later memorize

As Thou didst walk the lanes of Galilee,

So, loving Savior , walk with her for me.

For since the years have passed and she is grown,

I cannot follow; she must walk alone.

Be Thou my feet that I have had to stay,

For Thou canst comrade her on every way;

Be Thou my voice when sinful things allure,

Pleading with her to choose those which endure

Be Thou my hand that would keep hers in mine,

And all things else that mothers must resign.

When she was little, I could walk and guide,

But now I pray that Thou be at her side.

And as Thy blessed mother folded Thee,

So, loving Saviour, fold my girl for me.

I know some of you have daughters who have moved on from being directly under your care and supervision. Perhaps they have married, moved away, etc. I hope this will encourage you to entrust they to the care of our Heavenly Father.

You do your best to equip them, and then when they are off on their own pray that they put on the full armor of God! 😛 And that you don’t get pulverized for posting their dress-up photos. 😛

What a treat to have Pennsylvania relatives come up to visit. It had been 6 years since we were last together! Seemed like we picked up right where we left off. Funny to see that the photos of 6 years ago show us playing with bows and arrows and being handed weapons by Uncle Ben! 😀

Here we are in 2017.

And in 2023. 🙂

A nice visit full of outdoor exploring, games, skits, eating, talking, and shooting each other with arrows! 😛

We’ve been enjoying our first tiny garden this year. Cukes, bush beans, carrots and potatoes!

We have actually have harvested a nice bunch of beans. And tonight’s little variety plate gave us joy, even if it was a tiny sampling. 🙂

We were pleased by this variety pack. Checked on the carrots and ‘taters, they need more time. Pretty much like Jeffy from Family Circus. 😀

And this bonus mushroom was not in our garden, but I found on the side of the road. Big guy! See my foot for size. Anyone able to tell us about it?

I’ve been enjoying this read: The Shaping of the Christian Family – How My Parents Nurtured My Faith, by Elisabeth Elliot. She mentions this poem that her mother had, called “Doe the Nexte Thynge”. Maybe someone can explain the extra silent E…. meanwhile please enjoy the poem! Elliot described it as a poem that ” Mother found greatly comforting and fortifying in all kinds of circumstances, especially the kind that would tend toward the paralysis that self-pity brings”.

From an old English parsonage down by the sea
There came in the twilight a message to me;
Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,
Hath, it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.
And on through the doors the quiet words ring
Like a low inspiration: “DOE THE NEXTE THYNGE.”

Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, doe the nexte thynge.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, doe the nexte thynge

Looking for Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering, be thy demeanor;
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing.
Then, as He beckons thee, doe the nexte thynge.