When I want convenience and order, God wants to lead a little girl's heart into security and trust. And He requires selfless love on my part to lead her there. Not only do I get to bring her up with the Lord's help, but I get to learn about His character and how different His ways are than mine just by trying to teach her something that I think I know.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Jesus' Ideas Are Better Than Mommy's
I was putting Ember to bed tonight, and I was trying to teach her about listening to Jesus. She was scared (which she says every night), so we asked "Jesus, what do you want Ember to do do when she's scared?" She got a little frustrated, saying "He's not answering!" I tried to explain different ways He speaks, and then we prayed a little bit more and decided that I would pray and tell her what I heard. I prayed out loud again, "Jesus, what do you want Ember to do when she's scared?" I was sure what I heard first was wrong, but the more I asked, the more I got the same answer with different wording. Finally I had to come clean. "Ember, I think Jesus said that when you're scared you should come to me." I envisioned her getting out of bed twenty times a night telling me she's scared. Is this what you're signing me up for, Lord? Really? I thought. Ember answered me, "No, but when I'm scared you tell me 'go to bed'" (in a harsh voice). "Yes," I said, "But sometimes... Jesus says things that we wouldn't say because Jesus has better ideas than we do. I might say "go to bed" (in a harsh voice), but Jesus would say "go see mommy." We finished talking, and I kissed her goodnight and went to finish what I was doing in the kitchen. I heard the Lord say, "she'll be less scared if she knows she can come to you." I know it seems simple, but I was bewildered. It kind of makes sense, but won't she take advantage of it? Well, she did get out of bed. Once. She came and told me that she wanted to play with Elijah when she woke up. Then we said goodnight, and she left the kitchen and went back to bed, and that was the end of it. Just to help you understand, she usually tries to get out of bed over and over and over again, and we have to actually take her back to her bed and make sure she gets in and lies down. Then she tries to talk her way out of going to sleep until we put an end to it. Tonight was totally different. Daniel pointed out later that God wants her to know she can come to us when she's afraid, partly because He wants her to know that she can come to Him when she's afraid. If she always gets a "go to bed" when she's afraid, she will transfer that to God and think that she will go to Him, and He'll say, "go away."
Thursday, December 22, 2016
My Story and The Hermeneutics of Mutuality
The past few years I have been wrestling with and studying the subject of gender equality/inequality, mainly as it relates to the Bible. The issue first hit my heart in 2013 when my husband and I were leading a house church with another married couple. We were having leadership meetings every week for general church maintenance, vision, etc. one week the topic of women teaching came up (there were many areas in which we had yet to take an official stance as a church, and this was one of them). Up to that point, the four of us had been teaching on a four week rotation, and any other member who wanted to teach could interrupt that schedule or join the rotation at any time. When the subject came up, we all decided to research it together, but in the end we turned out just as confused as we had begun. We didn't really know where to begin. We decided to just keep things the way they had been and revisit the topic at a later time, but my heart was now full of questions.
I didn't actively pursue answers right away, though, having a new baby, going to school, and co-leading two ministries at the time. Months later (although the time line is fuzzy--it might even have been a year later) a friend gave me a book on the topic, and thus begun my study. I will post a few of the books I have read below. I also want to share a 3 part series taught by Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian that I've found helpful.
I invite your questions and comments.
In the future I hope to be able to share more of my story and some of the conclusions I have come to. Thanks for reading!
Part 1 of Dr. Bilezikian's 3-part teaching on The Hermeneutics of Mutuality:
https://youtu.be/Cs2FSndc57oPart 2:
Part 3 (at the end of this video it cuts away to a lady and a man sitting at a table and talking, and I'm not sure what that's about... I'm trying to find a full recording somewhere):
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Morning Chores, unedited
Here's a bit of what our mornings are like. These videos are unedited so they are a bit long... And make me a little nauseous from the angle... Also one of them is upside down. Oops! At least it's a short one. But if you are interested, they are here!
As you probably know we are pretty new at the farming thing, but we're learning every day. We are going to start putting our chickens in the pasture again soon, but this time in a mobile coop. When they were free range before, they just went off and got eaten all the time. This way, they'll have the pasture without the danger. Right now they are in a run and they eat organic feed. I usually give them our veggie scraps, but we are starting to compost in a bucket so we can throw it on our garden. We will be buying silver grey dorkings soon, so our chicken population is about to increase 5x.
Our sheep may or may not be pregnant. They were born last year, so we aren't sure if they mated in the fall. Sometimes they mate the first year, and sometimes they don't until the second. We are going to get them tested at a vet, but I suspect they aren't pregnant. If they are, they should give birth in late March/early April.
This week we are hardening off the plants that we started inside and we will be planting them outside next week. Hardening off is basically slowly getting them accustomed to the outside. I've put some on the roof for today, and some I left inside (the ones that we have thinned).
Next I will have to get a queen bee for my new hive! I'm so excited about my bee hive. I can't wait to see them buzzing all around the flowers and trees.
Now I'm off to plant herbs and maybe build some planters. Enjoy the videos and photos!
Visit Facebook.com/markumfamilyfarm to see the videos
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Seedlings
I desperately wanted to buy fruit trees this year, but we decided to do it next year. So I've decided to grow my own seedlings in the meantime. I know nothing about growing trees from seed. But with my handy dandy "Complete Encyclopedia of Country Living" and my good friend Google, how can I go wrong? Here's my first baby. Just started
This avocado seed today.
I welcome any advice!
Pear Jam
Today I made pear jam. I had 9 pears, and I added 1 apple to get the right measurements. I have been thinking and reading a lot about farming and country living lately. I've always loved the finding out where things come from. I love taking things back to the very origin. I'm always annoyed when I look up a recipe and it includes biscuit mix (sooo, you could just say flour, butter and water?) or a can of cream of mushroom soup. That's not a recipe. Anyway, I am learning how to make things for myself. Like soap... Did you know you can make lye from ashes? Pretty cool. And I'm learning to grow things. And... Make my own jam! So here is the product. I haven't tasted it yet, but I'm pretty excited about it. 
Here is where I found the recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/spiced-pear-jam#.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Walk the Farm
Around noon today, I went to the street to turn the water back on since the temperature was above freezing. I took a walk around the farm to see how the trees were doing, and thought I'd share my walk with you.
Enjoy,
Laura
Wild Pear Tree
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Hello
Well, I've been putting off starting my blog because I want to make it super awesome! But I think that's hindering me, so I'm just going to ease into it.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about farming. We are buying a bunch of plants this weekend. Finally I will have a bunch of fruit trees! Among other things. Daniel and I have been researching since we know very little about growing fruit trees. We walked through the "orchard" (two rows of trees that were planted some years ago on the front section of the land) and I'm kind of worried that all this nice weather is going to make the trees bud, and then it'll get cold again and kill them all and we'll get no fruit. 😁
We are also going to plant some rose bushes and herbs for tea, and hopefully have enough to sell to some local tea places. I'm hoping I don't kill them all...
Besides that, our chickens are laying, our sheep are playing, and I'm making soap!
And now, some pictures.
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