Work and Rest

This was a busy weekend in our house and was filled with some new experiences, some necessary tasks and some sweet fellowship. We began the weekend by pulling all the weeds in the easement that goes around our front yard. Not the most thrilling way to start the weekend but a much needed task that was far overdue. Amazing that although it was hard work what a feeling of accomplishment that Robert, James and I felt when the task was complete. How nice it is now to pull into our driveway and not see three foot mammoths as our first greeting. As I was picking up the many piles I was thinking about Adam and Eve and how things were before the fall. What it must have been like to never have to pull any weeds and to just enjoy the sweetness of the garden. But alas no there is sin and therefore we must continue to work at the ground in order to enjoy the beauty.

So with our weeds carefully in the trash we set off for our next adventure to pick up our first Bountiful Basket. I recently joined a fruit and vegetable co-op and Saturday was our first pick up. What fun it was to pick up not only two baskets full of fruits and veggies but also a 32 pound box of fresh peaches. Wow did that ever fill up my counter space! Next Robert and I set about the task of processing the peaches. Having never canned before it was a new adventure in every sense of the word and boy was I ever glad for his help in the process. I would say for our first try we did fairly well...we managed to can 9 jars of jam, 6 jars of sliced peaches, plus I made a peach coffeecake, a peach cobbler and we flash froze two gallon sized bags of sliced peaches for smoothies. Boy were we ever whipped last night but what an awesome feeling to have done work that will bring joy to our tummies and nutrition as well. I am so thankful for all of the canning advice that I have received over the last couple of weeks from some very sweet friends who assured me that I could indeed master this skill. I'm happy to say that I feel I have and I'm excited to see what else we can "put up" for winter in the next few weeks. Robert says apples should definitely be next!!

Today was our day of rest as we travelled to Phoenix to our new church home. For a little over a month we have been visiting a family integrated church in Gilbert. We have felt the conviction for quite some time that we needed to worship together as a family and we were longing for like-minded fellowship. After the homeschool conference Robert especially felt that it was time to order our lives around the convictions that the Lord has placed on us and since there is no FIC church in our area we headed for the Valley. To our delight we have found a group of people at Heritage of Faith that are such a blessing to all of us. And the Lord provided an added bonus in the fact that some friends of ours who live in Phoenix have also begun to attend the same church. We have been so enjoying getting to know these families and not only worshipping but having time each week to truly get to know them during their weekly lunch fellowship time. Today we had a chance to meet with the elders at a question and answer session to find out a bit more about the vision of the church. We were both pleased to hear that their vision lines up so well with what we have purposed to do with our family. They are very focused on fathers leading and discipling their children and assisting them to do this in the most effective way possible. We feel as though the Lord has answered our prayer regarding a church home and we see in our children such a peace as they are beginning to make new friends.

Another blessing is the travel time that it takes to get to church. While this might seem like a hardship, it is really a blessed time of fellowship for Robert and me. We are able to really focus on each other for several hours each Sunday. We have time to share what touched us about the message as well as talk about hopes and dreams for the future. It allows us to have a true Sabbath, as we are not concerned with what is waiting to "do" at home after church since it truly does take up most of our day. We are excited to see how the Lord will use us through this church and we are so thankful for His provision.