Pet Spider

We have had this spider living outside our window for probably 6-8 weeks now.  We have really enjoyed watching her spin her web, eating, growing, and just living her life.  It has been a wonderful photo opportunity, with her right outside our window.  I thought I might share some of the better pictures. I think she is so beautiful. Such bright, wonderful, colors.

A bit of good news on Mamma's leg. She is in physical therapy twice a week, and it is doing wonders! She is now walking without  cane. She has a limp, and it still hurts, but there is so much improvement. Thank you all for your prayers, they are so appreciated!

~K

Wordy Wednesday

Much of Christianities problem today is that we forget that we are in a race. We need to lay aside excess. LET US RUN! -Shannon Hurley


Hebrews 12:1-2

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Musical Teusday

I was reminded that i forgot to put anything musical in my Musical Monday.

This hymn is so amazing and inspirational, and the story behind it is even more so. Whenever I am going through a difficult time, the Lord gently reminds me that he is watching over me, by putting this song back in my head.

Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them. One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle's reply was simple: "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" was the outcome of that experience.

—Civilla Martin

His eye is on the sparrow.

Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for Heav'n and home?
When Jesus is my portion,
My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Refrain:
I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Verse 2:
"Let not your heart be troubled,"
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fear;
Though by the path He leads me
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Verse 3:
Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He cares for me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
I hope this helps y'all get through your week!

~K

Musical monday

We have had a very busy last few days.  Saturday we went to the Lacayo's house to help them butcher their meat chickens.  I was very excited, because I have never had the chance to butcher something before.  We got out there around 11:00 and set up.  Mrs. Lacayo was so kind and patient while teaching us how to gut the chicken. I don't think that I can ever look at a chicken the same way again, not in a bad icky way, but when you have, plucked and gutted something, it looks a lot different.   We had a lot of fun Saturday. We ate bar-b-q, and I brought peanut butter cookies, and we just enjoyed each other's fellowship. I am so grateful that we are blessed with their friendship.

 On Saturday I ate several things with gluten in them to test and see how my body would react.  The good news is that we think gluten might be one of my health problems. The bad news is that it REALLY made me sick.  I don't think that gluten caused my problems, but I do think that, if my stomach was already weak, it aggravated it even more.

Today we got an update on Mamma's leg.  The Dr. said that, as muscles heal they tighten, so she has to stretch out the muscle, even though it hurts. She is also starting physical therapy tomorrow.  She is going to be OK, it will just take time for the pain to go away. Thank you all for your prayers. We are praying that things will be back to normal soon.

~K

Wordy Wednesday

At the beginning of the year I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to R.C. Sproul Jr. preach at the event center downtown.  He is such a powerful preacher, and made many wonderful points.



If anything defines what it means to be a child,
it is trusting, without understanding or control.
~R.C. Sproul Jr.

Mark 10:13-16

 

¹³ Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” ¹⁶ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.


~K

Musical Monday

    Today we finally got to start teaching piano! I was so excited to start teaching again. We have one family, the Lacayo's, that we are teaching so far, but I hope to get more students soon.  We met Mrs. Lacayo at the San Antonio Independent Film Festival, at the beginning of this year, and our families clicked instantly .  We have so enjoyed getting to know her and her family. You can follow  her blog here. She is a wonderful woman whom I thoroughly enjoy fellowshiping with.
    We have been planning on starting piano with them since February/March time frame, but something kept preventing it, and today we finally got to start.
  I cannot express how much I love teaching children, anything! They are so expressive, they will tell you whether they understand or not, they don't fake, or pretend. I love the look in their eyes when they finally get something right after they have tried for so long. It makes me want to jump up and down for joy with them, and I almost do...... It just makes me happy. That is part of the reason why I am so excited about home-schooling my own children. To be able to enjoy that every day... The thought just makes me giddy with excitement.   
As for and update on Momma, she is doing much better. She is able to put a little bit of weight on her leg, and is only on Advil every so often for the pain.  I am so thankful that Denielle and I are able to drive, with her in the car, so we are not stuck at the house. That drives all three of us girls crazy!  I am also so grateful that we are able to be as helpful as we can.
  I am so very grateful for the Lord's wonderful grace at this time in our lives. He has shown His will in everything.

I ran across a quote today that I found rather comical.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it into a fruit salad.
-Unknown

I hope you all are having a great Monday!
~K

Mysterious ways.

Well this week has been crazy!
     We left to go camping on Monday, and were going to stay there through Saturday. Unfortunately Wednesday night, Momma was cooking and walked straight into Denielle's pocket knife, and stabbed herself in the leg. I ran to get Aunt Shannon out of the shower, D_ was BALLING, she felt SO incredibly bad!  She got herself under control, and went over to the next campsite over to ask the ladies that were staying there to help out.  Momma Aunt Shannon and D_ rushed off to the ER in Uvalde, while Taylor and I stayed to  cover things up, because it was supposed to rain. 
    The two ladies that were next door were SO incredibly sweet.  When Aunt Shannon called and said that we needed to pack everything up so we could leave that night, they stayed and helped us out. Things were being thrown in all kinds of boxes, and by the time Aunt Shannon got there we had one tent down and most of the stuff packed away. Aunt Shannon decided to put whatever was  not packed in the remaining tent, put the rain cover on, and leave for our house. Daddy drove to Uvalde to get Momma and D_ from the hospital to take her home.
   We took our van and went on our way, and discovered that we had no gas. The closest gas station was 14 mile away, and we had a 10 mile DTE in the van.  Aunt Shannon and Taylor were FREAKING out. "we're not going to make it and we'll be stuck here in the middle of nowhere." And they weren't kidding, there were no lights and no people to help us out.  The Lord was so gracious to us and we found a gas pump for truckers. It had no store, just the pumps, and the awning was REALLY tall. We didn't really care what it was. We were just so thankful that there was gas. So after that lovely adventure we left to go home. Thankfully we made it home around 1:00,  without any more drama.
    Daddy took off of work on Thursday and we went to finish packing things up at the campsite. It didn't take us very long, and we were in a hurry to get home, because there were some pretty threatening rain clouds. The rain held out till we were on our way home, and as they say, when it rains, it pours. So when we got back to the house we unloaded the back of the truck, and waited for the lightning to subside a bit before we did the van.
  We got things unloaded from the van and just focused on the food for that day.  We didn't get to the garage until today, we were catching up on laundry and housework, but with five of us work went quickly. It drives Momma crazy when she cant help, but under the circumstances, she had no choice. 
     Aunt Shannon and Taylor left today, they will be back to help out in a week or two, but the had to go home for a while to take care of their own house, and get things together.
   I praise the Lord for the kind people from our church offering to help us out. I know that we will be just fine, and that the Lord will be with us in all of this.
~K

Wordy Wednesday

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.
~C.S. Lewis

A day at the Zoo

 When I tell people that I volunteer at the zoo, here in San Antonio, they tend to say, " Oh, that is so cool!" or " That has to be SO much fun!"  You might come here and think it is a magical wonderland, and the people that work here are so lucky.  And in some ways, you would be right.
   I am so blessed to be able to "work" there, and I learn wonderful things about God's creation every day.  But it's not all roses and wild flowers.  Howard Ashman said this. "But behind that fair facade, I'm afraid she's rather odd." I think it describes the zoo perfectly. It is a wonderful, enchanting place yes, but in the background, lives a strange, kind, friendly, and slightly dysfunctional family.  A family that helps each other, laughs, fights and ,in the end, works together to bring a mechanical giant to its feet every day, and today was no different.
      The jobs here aren't as romantic as they might seem. Today was a perfect example of this.
    Denielle and I got to the zoo at 8:40 or so this morning, signed ourselves in and went to help out at the butterfly house, until Laurie, our boss, came at 10:00  to tell us what she wanted us to do today. So she gave us our list of tasks and went on with her busy day. 
   Our first job was to go over to the flamingo exhibit, because the bird keepers were going to be clipping their wings at 10:30. It was our job to explain to the guests what was going on, and to keep them out of harms way.  It was really neat to watch the clipping, and who knew that they clipped flamingo's wings with shrub trimmers and household scissors? 
   After our flamingo excursion we went to paint a giant canvas fish. Yes I said fish....blue fin tuna to be exact. This thing is probably 6-7 feet long and 3-4 feet high/wide.  We use it on our seafood awareness cart, and he needed a few touch-ups in his paint. Ok a lot of touch-ups. The only problem we had, was that he was originally  painted with spray paint, which we no longer have, so we had to make do with good, old fashion paint. We eventually got him to where he looked like new. Well as new as the poor guy was going to get, he's a little bit old and tattered.
    I took lunch, and then went back near the butterfly house. Laurie had asked that one of us clean out the dead plants and leaves, and there was a lot to do. I filled 10 big garbage bags with dead foliage. When I was cleaning and clipping, I found myself thinking that this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I sent in my volunteer application. Sure I got dirty, but it looked a lot better by the time I was done, and a bit of dirt never bothered me. My Mamma always said "God made the dirt and the Dirt don't hurt." Besides, there is nothing quite as satisfactory as taking a shower  after a long day of good, hard work, where you got your hands a bit dirty. I love it!
    If there is one thing that I have learned working here, its that the more the staff trusts you, the more arduous the tasks become, but at the same time the "special jobs", like we had today,  are all the more wonderful. 
 Even though there are sticklers and bees, and bumps, and the ever present heat, I love my place in this family, and whenever I am not there, I can't wait to go back.

The best peanut butter cookies EVER!

As you may, or may not know, I have recently gone gluten free to see if it would resolve some health issues that I have. So far it is going really well and I have been able to try several different recipes. The best one by far are these peanut butter cookies. These are good for "normal" peanut butter cookies, You would never guess that they are gluten free. You have to make these, but I will warn you, you are going to have to take some to the neighbors, or you're going to have to spend some heavy time at the gym, because they are DEADLY!

Note: if you are cooking for someone with a nut allergy you can substitute sun butter for the peanut butter. Sun butter is made from sunflower seeds, and by what I have read works like peanuts. I have not tried this myself, but it should work.

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter (or sun butter)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus some for rolling the cookies in
1 egg slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking sheets.

In a large bowl mix peanut butter with 1 cup of sugar. Stir until well blended. Add the egg, baking powder, and vanilla. Stir well.  Pour additional sugar into a small bowl, measure out 1 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the sugar and place on the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough

Take a fork, stick it in the sugar and gently press down each cookie to flatten, then turn the fork 90 degrees and press again. Do so on all of the cookies, dipping in sugar occasionally to keep the fork from sticking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Take them out and let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes or so. Gently transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Servings:


Makes 24 cookies.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.  By the time I got my camera to take pictures of the finished project there were only 13 left! ;) 

~Krystin

Wordy Wednesday

A quick word to help you get through your week.

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest; and where shall we find a better sickle with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland many of the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance, for the atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and stagnant; but up yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race, who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well if the dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the hills. It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills which gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below, and assist us to mount! We sit too often like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the mountain, there to indulge in communion with the Most High.  -Charles Spurgeon

Starting Off

First of all, I want to start this blog off the right way.  I don't want to make this sound like an acceptance speech, but I want to thank the Lord, and give Him glory and praise for allowing me to do this. Technology is such a wonderful thing. Now we can reach hundreds with the gospel of Christ in a matter of seconds. I pray that He will be gloried in whatever I write. I pray that you will not trust something on here just because I said it, or because my pastor, john MC Aurthur, Paul Washer, or even (shoot me now) Charles Spurgeon said it.  If there is one thing that my parents have taught me it is that you shouldn't trust that what a person said is true, just because you think it is. You need proof, biblical proof. How do I know this...... its in the Bible.

1 Thessalonians 5:21
 Test all things; hold fast to what is good.


1 John 4:1
 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

The Bareans did this to Paul out of all people. Paul!

Acts 17:11
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

They searched the scriptures daily to find out if things were true or not, and they were called noble.  I encourage you to read your Bible daily and take a note on each chapter. Challenge yourself to read as much as possible before the end of the year.  I hope to at least be through the first four, or even the first two books of the Bible. If your pastor quotes a verse you've never heard, go home and read the chapter. You will feel much more complete if you do.

I look forward to blogging much more in the future, and please, I want to hear your comments. If you have any questions you can contact me.
~Krystin