The Ranch

The Ranch

 

Deserted  falling apart

Our dilapidated ranch house awaited our arrival for years

Aging ungracefully  with broken windows

And cupboards hanging loosely by a single hinge

Our mother’s death  had called us home

To see to our last work of corporal of mercy

The look on my brother’s face spoke of an  absence  in our lives

Did these ghostly structures keeping vigil over the Missouri River

Also need a work of mercy

In the kitchen a box of pancake mix still awaiting a call to breakfast from Grandfather  –

Dusty, cobwebbed  and ignored  even by the mice

A slightly crooked icon of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Watching over this slow decay

By the door a holy water font  yearns for a drop from the great river below the badlands

A sign of the cross

A  lifetime of prayer :  rain for the crops, health for the cattle

Safety for all of us who toiled here

“Look. There’s one  of Mom’s  checkered blouses  in the closet.”

Its only companion  the high-pitched whistle of the North  Dakota wind

Moving the window curtain like a boy shrugging his shoulders

Finally stepping off the porch a rabbit startled us and soundlessly ran off alone in the tall weeds

On the way home we dodged oil patch rigs on the road –  service trucks

Massive pot holes

“We’ll get through this,”  he offers back in town

Deserted  and falling apart  I confidently mumble “I know”

Then  signal left and turn right

 

-Eddy Grim

 

A tribute to Mary Francis Grim Kuschel, beloved mother and grandmother.

What’s For Dinner Tonight?

This post is for my friends Tabitha and Cindy. I finally found a healthy, flavorful, filling, Daniel-Fast friendly recipe worth sharing! It’s from The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory. The kids gobbled it up, and trust me, the times are rare where the whole family enjoys my cooking! Somehow I have never tasted this flavor combination before and I’m already thinking of making it again next week.

Tuscan Villa Bean Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup celery

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour*

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

2 bay leaves

1 whole clove

1/4 teaspoon pepper**

4 cans (15 ounces each) vegetable broth

1 can (15 ounces) green baby lima beans, drained and rinsed***

1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed***

1 can (15 ounces) red beans, drained and rinsed***

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups cooked barley

1 large potato, unpeeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup packed chopped spinach leaves

1. Heat oil in large soup pot over medium heat; saute onions, celery, and garlic for 2-3 minutes or until onions are tender.

2. Add vegetable broth, beans, and tomato paste to pot; heat to boiling, stirring to prevent sticking.

3. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes.

4. Add barley, potato, carrots, and spinach and simmer 10 more minutes until all ingredients are well heated.

5. Discard bay leaves before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

*I omitted pastry flour

**I was super-generous with the black pepper and it added a touch of spice to the soup which I loved! If you don’t like spicy, stick to the suggested amount.

***I really dislike lima beans, don’t like chickpeas unless they are a part of hummus, and didn’t have red beans! So I substituted a can of cannelini (great northern white) beans and a can of black beans instead and it rocked. I really recommend doing it this way!  I also thew in some leftover Italian Sausage I had (for the kids). They loved it.

Retrieving

While tucking in my 3-year-old for her nap today, in-between tickles and kisses and drinks and stern ‘now you settle downs’ I’m certain I heard God speak to me. Only I couldn’t quiet the noise in my head and in the room long enough to really think on why he is speaking, and why he said what he did. Of all the things I pray about, dream about, and sometimes worry about, he chooses not to answer my questions or prayers but instead to sear a picture of his love in my mind. For me to retrieve later on.

Because as I look at G, and again was overwhelmed at how much I love this blond, blue-eyed little girl, I saw in her face my own image. I love her because she came from me, she grew within me, she looks like me, imitates my actions and speech, and I have invested my entire life into her. She is made in my image, in a sense.

When God looks at us, he sees his own image. After all, we are created in his image. He didn’t fashion us into a creative body of an animal, with stripes and wild colors and fur. We resemble our creator, we have his DNA, his features, his capacity for all things Spirit-inspired. He invested his most precious possession to us. He gave himself in the form of Christ, he sacrificed greatly, like we know many parents do.

Not to be confused with being equal to God. We cannot be. Yet we are made in his image. And his heart pounds wildly with love for us. He loves us! He loves to look at our faces. He knows our weaknesses, yet he loves us in spite of them.

While my husband is away for yet another 48 hrs, I have a strong sense that the Lord is here taking care of us. He sent someone our way to finally investigate the scurrying in our roof, and I’m thrilled to know the bats(!) will soon be evicted. Living smack in the middle of a gigantic, humid, oak forest we battle a new critter each year. Just like my 3-year-old delights us with spontaneous displays of affection, God chose to interrupt my ordinary life and thoughts today with a beautiful picture of his love. And just like any good father, took care of a practical need too.

‘GCB’- ABC’s New Anti-Christian Program

Time to take some action. I’ve been on a letter-writing spree lately, from Senators to Broadcasting Stations. If you consider yourself pro-family, please take a couple of minutes to read this article. After you have read it, I strongly encourage you to voice your complaint to ABC.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/03/08/abc-owes-christian-women-apology-for-gcb/

Here is the contact information for ABC: http://abc.go.com/site/contact-us

Here is what I had to say, in 500 characters:

“I am aware of a program you are airing called “Good Christian Bitches.” Is it your intent to shock the American public and thereby increase your ratings? Do you feel our society needs more “Bitches” to look up to as role models for how a young woman should behave? Not to mention the offense and anti-Christian message you are propagating. Do we need an increase in doubleminded, hypocritical, shallow individuals? Please remove this broadcast. It’s anti-American and anti-family. Aim for quality.”

3 Must-See Films

Last Sunday my husband preached on Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” We learned the difference from willfully ignorant, rejecting knowledge; and being uninformed.

Recently we’ve made significant efforts to change our diets, and this is a result of not wanting to be willfully ignorant of what we put in our bodies.

“For the LORD grants wisdom!
From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.

Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair,
and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will fill you with joy.

Wise choices will watch over you.
Understanding will keep you safe.” Proverbs 2:6-7,9-11 NLT.

Here are 3 Must-See Documentaries for those who want more knowledge and understanding about the food we eat…

1. The Beautiful Truth

2. Food Matters

3. Forks over Knives

All available through Netflix, YouTube, or your local library. We did a one-month free trial on Netflix in order to see all of them!

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

What Makes You Happy?

A new outfit makes me happy. For about 3 days. Lasting happiness, we’ll call it joy, comes in another fashion (pun intended). Contentment is a beautiful world. Godliness with contentment is great gain, the Bible says. I’ll compare it to eating junk food when you’re really hungry for a meal. Fills the gap in your tummy for a while, but doesn’t satisfy. Nothing is like a feast of delicious, fresh, whole foods (can you tell its dinner time and I’m getting hungry??). Something superficial like new clothes feels good for a short while, but is fleeting. It does not produce lasting happiness, joy, and contentment.

I don’t know when I first realized this. But the desires of my heart are changing.

As a new mom, almost 9 years ago, I could not STAND to be at home for the whole day, with my baby, not having anything to ‘do’. That was my prevailing attitude up until recently. But somewhere in the last 6 months or so, a very interesting phenomena has occurred. I WANT to be at home with my kids! Instead of finding excuses to go into town, I found myself looking for excuses to stay home.

This is really weird, folks. I’m not depressed or feeling anti-social. I’ve realized that being home, providing a constant, steady, variety of activities for my kids as we home school, is enough for me. That in conjunction with time to work out, church on Sunday, a day off with my family to have fun, and a hot date with my husband AT LEAST once a month. Throw in a trip to the NW once a year and I’m a happy clam.

This might sound contradicting to my previous post about longing for adventure. YES, I still long for adventure. But God is so good! He puts desires in our hearts, and then delights to give them to us. He knows that desire for adventure is in there, its part of my DNA. But for today, he has graciously given me a new desire, to live a full, quiet, life at home raising my children and enjoying my awesome husband. I’m constantly researching and learning new things from permaculture gardening to sprouting grains to making yogurt to sterling silver jewelry to blogging!

I’m going to challenge you now. For us as women, living in a culture that values strong, career-minded, independent, feministic women, it requires a radical transformation of the mind to embrace this biblical teaching.

“…train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” Titus 2:4,5.

God, in his infinite and perfect goodness, will be so gracious to you as to give you a desire for this, if you are willing, and brave enough, to ask.

Defying Windmills

The order of knight-errantry

Because the world is no longer in such a state, however, “the order of knight-errantry was instituted to defend maidens, to protect widows, and to rescue orphans and distressed persons,” the knight continues.

Each of the ten quotes below is worthy of its own essay. Yet when my eyes fell upon this one, I couldn’t help but see the stunning correlation between the quest of Don Quixote and the compelling character and heart of God. I began to search the scriptures regarding injustice, true religion, and justice. The world never ceases to give birth to new cases of injustice, unimaginable horrors being repeated time and time again. It is nauseating, and should cause us to cry out for the return of Christ. Yet here we are, as the salt and light of the earth, during this time of war, famine, and pain. As Don Quixote took it upon himself to ride out into the world to defend maidens, to protect widows, and to rescue orphans and distressed  persons, so must we practice what the bible calls true religion…’religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food

with the hungry

and to provide the poor

wanderer with shelter-

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

–Isaiah 58:6-9

The Lord works righteousness and justice for the oppressed. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne, love an faithfulness go before him. Let those who love the Lord hate evil.

This is the character and heart of God to which I was drawn, reflected in the story of Man of la Mancha. The world did not recognize or understand Jesus Christ, yet he embodies what we all long for: to see justice served. I know I’m not the only one whose heart breaks reading the reports of what is happening in Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Many stories are not even reported, only witnessed by the victims, the humanitarian workers and missionaries in close proximity.

Jesus Christ came once to save the world. He will come again, but he will come as a judge. He came once as the sacrificial Lamb, but he will come again as the Lion. Be forewarned, the Lord will take up the case of the poor and exploited. He will plunder those who plunder them. He will punish as our sins deserve. God can not be mocked, a man reaps what he sows. I love the Word of God. It is not polite, or gentle, or politically correct. Sin cannot be tolerated by a holy God.

He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. The Lord’s patience means salvation. He will have mercy on anyone who cries out to him. Let’s pray for the oppressed nations, the orphans, the widows, the aliens. Let’s also pray for their oppressors.

I want to share with you an inspiring story of a group of women who have just completed an awesome journey together!

Global Campaign to Combat Injustices Affecting Women and Children

ATLANTA, Nov. 15, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ — In an effort to raise awareness and funds to combat oppression, slavery, exploitation and global trafficking, The Freedom Climb will unite 47 women from around the world who have volunteered to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.  The event was chosen as a symbol for the challenging climb that marginalized women face while climbing out of oppression and into freedom.

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-friends/index.html#/v/1453517495001/climbing-for-freedom/?playlist_id=86912

http://www.novelguide.com/donquixote/toptenquotes.html