Salvation

    Before we get into a bible study about our walk with the Lord I would like to take a moment and write about one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. The decision to accept Christ.
  After all what good is a bible study about staying close to God if you don't know Him in the first place?

   The salvation message has been told many different ways, but the simplest way that I have found to put it is this:

       When God first created us, we were made in His image. We loved like He did. We were created to love and be loved. And only when we have this will we live happy, healthy lives. Because God loves us the way He does, He wants us to have a choice. He wants us to choose to love Him just as He chose to love us.
    That's why He left the temptation of sin in the Garden of Eden. Before Adam and Eve sinned the world was perfect. There was no sickness, no pain, no hardship or suffering of any kind. God came down every day in the cool of the day to walk with His children. All was as it should be.
    But when Adam and Eve chose to sin against God a wedge was driven between God and man. Causing mankind from then on to be separated from walking with God the way it was intended. And because of their sin, they were forced to take the best of their flocks and sacrifice them in order to be washed clean.

  Romans 6 :23 says  "For the wages of sin is death..."

  Death is the punishment for sin, and now Adam and Eve had to sacrifice an unblemished animal on a regular basis to pay for their sins. But, they could no longer walk with God the way they had before, they were separated from Him.
   This saddened Adam and Eve as well as God. And so, years later, He sent His Son to earth in order to make a way for us to walk with Him during our time on earth as well as spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

   Romans 6:23  "....but the gift of God, is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

  "The gift of God.." He loved us so much that He chose to pay the price once and for all. When Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, He was paying off the debt we owed because of our sin. And thus making a way for us to once again be at peace with God.
   But He still didn't want to force it upon us, we still have a choice.

    Acts 16:31 says  " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

   Romans 10:9   "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

   It's simple, all you have to do is confess to God that you are a sinner, ask for His forgiveness and accept His gift of eternal life. 

   If you have never done this, I urge you to do so now. It is of the utmost importance. And I promise it will change your life for the better. c :
 If you have any questions, message me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to help. c ;
  
    Below are two songs that I have found tell the salvation message very well, I was going to just post one but they are slightly different. They have both brought me to tears.

           

Fundraising for Italy

          As many of you know I am planning a trip to Italy in the Spring of next year. And as most of you probably know trips to Italy are not cheap. c ;
   So I would like to ask for prayers.
  The way I see it: If it is in God's will for me to go, than He will provide the way. Thus far He's provided a good group of people to go with, whom we trust. The peace my parents have about letting me go. And a way to earn the money needed to fund the trip. Now comes my part.
   I ask God before every decision and make sure I'm staying in His will, and put forth the effort to raise the money and prepare myself to go.
   So when you pray, pray that I stay in God's will, and stay optimistic. c ;


   The group I am going with is doing a lot of fundraisers to help all the kids who want to go earn up the money. One of which is a Spirit Night at the Chick-Fil-A in Moody on Thursday June 30th. Those of us going on the trip will be helping serve, cleaning up after the customers, ect. All the customers have to do is come and order dinner with a voucher, which we will be giving out before hand.
      If any of you are interested in going in order to support us, let me know and I will get a voucher for you.
   I am excited about this, because it will give those of us going a chance to earn money for the trip and get to know each other better. c ;


  There will be more group oriented fund-raisers in the future, but as for my own efforts in raising money, not only for the trip but also to contribute to my family and share the things we make with all of you, I have a handful of good ideas. Some of which have already been implemented, just never advertised on a blog. c ;




    Along with my family I have made many homemade products, and while we are not pros, I have found that organic, homegrown fruits, vegetables, and herbs are the best when they are fresh. Not only are they good to have around when your preparing dinner. But the growing process is fun too.
   It's like your working with God to create something beautiful, only He does most of the work. He created the seed, the soil, the water and the sun. All we do is plant it, nurture and protect it and watch Him provide all it's basic needs. And when it's done growing we are able to enjoy them in many different ways, through taste, sight, touch and smell.

Here are a few of the products we've made:



  Apple Preserves
 
    This delicious fruit makes makes a sweet and savory jam that is perfect to spread on toast or bagels.
    We were given a lot of apples in the weeks after the storm and decided to make preserves so that they didn't all go bad. So we didn't actually grow these apples ourselves but they are delicious!

   We were able to make two types of these preserves, green apple and red apple. There is only a slight difference in color and taste, although I prefer the red. c ;
 





Bread and Butter Pickles



   The pickles were my older brothers idea. Since he loves Bread and Butter Pickles and we had an overflow of cucumbers in our garden, we decided to try it. And I must say it was easy and fun to make them, although as soon as I broke the vinegar out my little sister walked in the kitchen holding her nose and said "What is that awful smell?!"
    But, aside from the initial smell, they are very good.
    You can use these pickles just like any others, on sandwiches, in saleds or just when you want a crunchy snack. Only you can be assured that they are completely homegrown and homemade. c ;






    Blackberry Jam   
                             
        Last year we made I don't even know how many jars of Blackberry Jam. We ended up giving them away to family and friends and still have some jars leftover, unopened. We are going to start our Blackberry picking in a week or two and after that we will have lots of blackberries to jam.
  They are very good, especially if you love blackberries but don't like the bitter taste they sometimes leave in your mouth. The jamming process makes them nice and sweet.
  I will be sure to let you know when we have jars of jam ready.
                                                  



        



         Jarred Honey

   We do not have this specific product yet, but the bees are busy making it as I write this. When it is ready, which should be soon, we will be jarring them (  just like at the left ) only possible without the comb.
  I've tasted honey straight from the comb, nothing tastes better. It's the perfect thing to add to your tea to use as an alternative to sugar. It helps cure soar throats in the winter, provides a nice topping for pancakes, and if you mix it with butter you get the most delicious concoction in the world. Honey is a favorite in our house but we can't eat it all, so we'll share it with you!













      That's all we have as far as canned goods for now. These are some of the things I would like to sell in order to start earning up for the trip to Italy. So if you are interested in any of these products please let me know by leaving me a comment or sending me a message and I will try and get it to you as soon as possible. c :
  As of right now the prices are $8.00 for the large jars and $6.00 for the small ones. However prices may change in the future, if they do I'll be sure to let you know. c ;

   And even if you can't purchase any of these items ( or any of the others which I have yet to blog about ) I thank you for your prayers and support. They mean far more to me than money ever will. c ;

Garden Renovation: Before

        Gardens have been a thing of beauty for us to enjoy since the beginning of time. They are mentioned in the bible (the first place man lived was in a garden) and many other historical documents.
  We can bask in there shade in the hot weather, enjoy the fruits they produce, smell their sweet aromas and marvel at what a beautiful site they are.
   I've always wanted to have a big, luscious, beautiful garden. Full of the things we need to cook with ( I love to cook ) as well as plants we can use for decoration, ect. But I never knew how much work they really are. That is until we started our own a few years ago.
   As of now we have two gardens, they were planted earlier in the spring, but ours has not done so well. Jesse's however is colossal, his plants are as big as Charlene ( if you look to the right side of the screen you'll see some pictures of his garden ). So I'm hoping to replant a few of the plants that died, take better care of them, do some excavating and give you tips and hints on what works best for a home garden while I'm at it. Here are some "before" pictures of the garden:

This is the bench and stool set that will hopefully be replaced when this whole ordeal is over with. It was beautiful in it's day but I think now it's time for it to go. c ;

This is the pathway that will go behind the garden to the left of the bench.

   

And this is the one to the right. These pathways will make it easy to reach the plants on the back side of the garden.

                                                                                    

This is the garden on the left side of the bench (which is centered between these two soon to be raised beds).

And this is the one on the right. I found it a good choice to hoe the ground before bringing in the soil. Making sure that I get all the roots of the plants up as well. That way the grass and\or weeds will not continue to grow up through the soil and become a problem later.

Hopefully when we are through this little pathway that you see at the bottom of the picture as well as the two pathways behind the beds and the area in front of the bench will have stones. We will have a new bench or perhaps table, there will be raised beds on both sides of the new bench and the sides of the house will be pressure washed.
c ;

This is the only raised bed that has not yet been established. But when were done we hope to have maybe some blueberries in this one.

      I would have pictures of the other three raised beds which are already established and have growing plants in them but my computer wouldn't let me, so, I'll try and get those later. I know it looks bad but we'll have fun working on it and when we are all done, it'll be beautiful c ;

      

   

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.......

       As we slowly get back to normal around here, I'm finding it sometimes difficult to keep my focus straight. With all the emotions, difficulties, chaos and hum drum that has been going on, it's hard to remember the little things. For example I often find myself scolding one of my younger siblings for not cleaning up after themselves or neglecting my responsibilities as the oldest daughter, instead of speaking to those around me with love and making sure that I hold others needs above my own.
    It's easy to think selfishly, especially when your at home with just your family. I mean, how many of us can say that we have suffered from "cabin fever" or just gotten so tired of the everyday routine?
    In reality however when we look past our selfish thoughts and desires, we find that every day things that we do at home with our family can be some of the best things that we'll ever do.

     There are two main things that we need to remember as christian men and women weather we are in the position of a mother, father, sister, brother, daughter or son.
    The first, is that we must love each other with an agape love. Agape is one of the Greek words for love. It means to love unconditionally. We must also remember that love is a choice, so we have to choose to love unconditionally, just as the Father has done for us.
  This means regardless of our circumstances, regardless of wether or not we are getting love back or being treated poorly. We love because it is a commandment from our Heavenly Father, not because we feels like loving. It also means that we forgive when those we love have wronged us, we must have a tendency of mercy rather than judgement, just like the Father.

      Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.  Matthew 22:36-40


  The second thing we must do is remember that we do not work for men. Whatever we do, wether it be going to a job every day or staying home with your family, we do it for the Glory of God specifically.

          Colossians 3:23    And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men...


    These are things that many of us have already learned many times throughout our lives. But It's good to examine ourselves on a regular basis, and reconsider how we act. So that we make sure we are striving to be like Jesus.



  On a different note, I thought I should tell you that bible studies have started up again. We will be having them every Sunday night again just like before. At least until further notice that is. The Travers ( the family who's father was our bible study leader when we did them at the Cedar House) have graciously allowed us all into their home. ( Which is where it first started by the way c ; )
   On the first night, after we all sat through a very good lesson by Mr. Travers in which we saw a very funny illustration with a strawberry, I went outside to help Charlene with a few different things. While I was out there one of the little ones asked me to take them on a walk. And I'm glad she did because other wise I would have went back inside to talk more and may have missed realizing what I did. As I held her and walked down the driveway and back, we saw fire flies dancing on the lawn and little ones trying to catch them, heard a Whipper Will in the distance and felt the warm air all around us. All the things you experience in summer time.     
   But as I looked back towards the house and saw everyone there with smiles on their faces, the little ones laughing and playing, the girls talking about the past weeks and some of the others playing instruments. I remember feeling just the way I did at the Cedar House, our Safe Haven. We hadn't lost it after all, because it doesn't matter what building were in, it only matters that were all together. I only wish that Mr. Lee could still be with us.


  Also, Mr Liverett ( Mrs. Crawford's father ) has been sent back to the hospital a few times over the past week due to more chest pains. ( The first came the morning of the storm when he did have a heart attack but later recoverd. )  I think I heard that he will be released tomorrow, I don't have many details right now. But keep the Liveretts and Crawfords in your prayers.

Update on the Lees

    My family and I had the privilege of having dinner with the Lee' last night and I wanted to take a moment to share with you how their doing.


        They are living in a big, beautiful house which suits them well. This is where they will stay until the Retreat Center is finished and they can move back here to the Valley. Which will be around August. And I think they will live there in the Retreat Center until their house is rebuilt.

   I can't tell you how glad I am that they are all okay and so well taken care of. Every time I see their smiling faces, I am reminded just how real God is. He is working in so many peoples lives now more than ever.


   There were three Lee children who were trapped and hurt badly the night of the storm. Tiffany, Emily and Jacob. I'm happy to tell you that they are all doing much better.

This is Tiffany Lee who was pinned under the piano. She's been using a wheel chair and walker ever since the storm, but recently has been able to walk on her own a lot more. Her and Emily have both been attending therapy lessons and are getting better every day. c :

This is Emily, the other girl who was under the piano. She too had been using a wheelchair and walker since the storm but is now walking on her own again. ( I apologize for the bad quality )

This is Bethany Lee, she was one of the oldest who were able to get out unharmed.

And Abby, she was also able to climb out unharmed.

   Each one of these girls have been an encouragement and example to me before and after the storm. I hate that they have had everything taken away from them but I'm glad that, even when we have nothing left, we still have our Savior.

Some of the girls chatting. Over in the back is a girl names Lindsey Schultz. I only recently met her, but she is wonderful. c :

Mr. Schultz, Mrs. Lee and Momma.

 From left to right : Jordan Lee ( He's the one you saw in the interview ) Jesse ( my brother ), Josh and Jacob Lee. Jacob, who was also trapped, is doing much better as well. He had some nerve damage to his face I believe, but I don't think it's anything time won't heal. c ;

 

This piano was given to the Lee's at a benefit concert in Tennessee a few weeks ago. Some Christian Artists ( Chris Tomlin, Chris August, Brandon Heath and some others ) used the piano during the concert which was a concert to raise money for the Lee's. And afterwards they announced that they were giving it to Emily Lee, because she is the one of the girls who plays the piano well. And because their piano was not in the best condition after the storm.

 There were more pictures that I wanted to post but because of complications with this computer, I can't yet. But I'll try to later on.
  I sincerely hope that everyone who has read about and been touched by the Lee's story gets to meet them one day. They really are an incredible family.
   As we talked to them last night, they mentioned their father many times. Mostly with smiles but sometimes with tears. I hate that they have to suffer such a loss. But they know that this does not mean they will never see him again. It only means that they will be separated from him for a short time.
   Mr. Lee truly was an amazing man, he was selfless to the end and loved his family very much. He gave his children a gift that is priceless. He taught them about the Lord and showed them how to follow Him.


  I will have more information on the Lee's and other families soon. In fact in just a few weeks we are going to try to have everyone over to help us pick and jam blackberries. And there will be lots of pictures of that I assure you. c ;

Thank you for reading. c :


Oh and I was finally able to write my first post of my new blog :  http://psalm24-1.blogspot.com/                                                                        

Update

      I've seen many recovery efforts in the Valley lately. People are steady working and building. And if you look past all the broken trees, limbs and remaining piles of ruble, you can see that things are beginning to look new again. A few places even have whole walls up.
   When we were at the meeting at Alpha Ranch this past weekend, the forester who came down said that in 2 to 3 years, everything will look fairly normal again. And of course we will never forget what happened, or the lives lost in the storm. But I can't help but be excited about the future now. Ever since the storm, things have all been kind of one big blur. It's not as bad now as it was in the weeks just after the storm. But still it doesn't seem like it should be early June already. Before we know it we'll all be enjoying the cool weather again and celebrating the holidays (which is my favorite time of year), thanking God that He has brought us to where we are.


    Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of the progress going on in the Valley yet. But as soon as I do they'll be posted. However I did come across a few things in the Valley that I thought were worth talking about.....

We saw this cross as we were coming home one day, it was no where near any ones house.....

.......so I have no idea who put it there, but I'm glad they did.

These are just a few pictures of some of the damage. This particular house is right across the road from us, it had a huge tree fallen on it.

This was a metal building which I believe was used to store donations that would be given away to those in need. This was an outreach that one of the churches was working on building up.

A stretch of road that is now unrecognizable, I still can't remember what used to be here.

This is the place where some of the Isbells lost their lives.

It was hard to make out the names from so far away but I believe the names from left to right are : Ronnie, Tammi and Leah Isbell.

This is the Boyd's house, the one we stayed in the night of the storm. Thankfully they did not receive much damage, a tree fell on the back of their house. I remember sitting on the front porch the morning after and, for a short time before they cut it all off, we almost had to sit under the branches on one side of the porch.

The Retreat Center. The only building left standing on the Lee's property, and it is in the process of being restored right now, so that they have somewhere to live temporarily while a house is being built. This is also the building all the Lee's went to when they were pulled or climbed out of the rubble. It protected the injured and unharmed while the rain fell outside and the cold wind swept through until 2:00 a.m. when medical help was finally able to get to them.

These are the trucks that are hauling tree limbs, branches, trunks and whatever else needs to be taken away. On the side of the truck in big letters it says Disaster Relief. These trucks have been down our road a few times, they've taken just about all of our debris.

This is the Debris Site, where they take all the debris after they pick it up and then burn it. Earlier today my Father was called out to this sight with the rest of the fire department. The flames had gotten out of hand and they could no longer control it. We are under an "Outdoor Burning Ban" but the people doing this are an exception. However, if it gets out of hand too much and catches the forest behind it on fire it could spread fast. Pray that doesn't happen.

One of the many officials at the meeting showing us a map of the Valley.

               Now that you have seen everything going on in the Valley, let me show a little bit of what we've been doing here at home. We've been unusually busy here, baking, cooking, gardening and so much more.....

Cinnamon Rolls   c ;

Steven called these Mom's Gone Mad desert....why? I have no idea.........

......but they were delicious.  c :

and Charlie....mostly watched.....

......that is until he was captured......

.....and dressed like a baby....

......and put in a stroller. But he enjoyed being "babied" and after a long day of watching......and being babied..........

......he fell asleep in Charlene's room, where he willingly slept all night long.

The makings of Rosewater. They all thought I was crazy when they saw me "cooking a rock",

 but the result was delicious.

Blackberries, which, soon, we'll be picking and jamming. You'll get to see plenty pictures of that. c ;

 Mine and Charlene's creations....

Fruit Salad, which was gone about five seconds after I took the picture.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Two of the cookies have graduation decorations on them, Charlene had the idea of putting them on my cookies. One day she came up to me and gave me a big hug and said "Chelsey, I don't want you to leave." I was getting ready to go somewhere at the time and I said. "I won't be gone for long."  She then informed me that she meant she didn't want me to leave for college, and I told her that I didn't know if I was going to college. She then said "If you do go, how long will you be gone?" "Two to three years." I replied. And she said " Two or three years? That's too long! Couldn't you just do college at home?"

We had a bit of a scare while we were baking, a snake crawled up in the yard. But luckily the dogs didn't even see it and it just slithered away.

They decided to sing to me.  c :

This is Charlene's tent.....

...complete with popcorn, a lantern......

....and a campfire.

By the way, this tripod flashlight is the same one we used the night of the storm. Since the men had to take all the flashlights to assist search and rescue efforts, this is the only one we were left with in the basement. And I think Steven found it in his bag after the men left.

The ingredients for Bread and Butter pickles.

Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles. Their really good. And the Cucumbers came right out of Jesse's garden c ;

Charlene, trying to catch chickens.

Why? You ask........

....just for the fun of it!

Over the weekend, a friend of mine gave me her fish tank, something I've been wanting for a long time. ( Not hers, just a fish tank c ; ) Complete with a filter, foliage, rocks, decorations and 5 live fish. Thanks Katy. c ;

It lights up the room at night and with the sound of the water swishing out of the filter and the blue reflections on the wall, it makes you feel like your under the ocean. c :

         Before I end this post, there is something I realized in my story about the storm that I was wrong about. I know I got some of the details mixed up, it was hard to remember what order things happened in. But when I said that Mr. Smith came and brought blankets the night of the storm, I meant Mr. Beason. The Beason's are another family that we met through the Cedar House.



   Because of problems with our computer, I don't have my other blog ready just yet. I'm lucky I was even able to post this. But I will have it ready in a few more days hopefully. And just to give you a heads up as to what I'll be posting about first, I'm starting off in Italy. c ;