Painting the Church

This was an email that we received from our pastor, Pastor Quentin, and we truly did get rather a giggle from it ~ I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did – rather a play on words, here.

There was a Scottish painter named  Smokey Macgregor who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often thinned down his paint to make it go a wee bit further.

As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the Baptist Church decided to do a big restoration job on the outside of one of their biggest buildings..

Smokey put in a bid, and, because his price was so low, he got the job.

So he set about erecting the scaffolding and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine..

Well, Smokey was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, the sky opened, and the rain poured down washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Smokey clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded by telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint..

Smokey was no fool. He knew this was a judgement from the Almighty, so he got down on his knees and cried:

“Oh, God, Oh God, forgive me; what should I do?”

And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke..

“Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!”

Not a Bad Day’s Work, Eh?

This is the end result well, nearly the end result of our productive day collecting firewood – it’s going to keep us warm twice more – once when we stack it into the shed and then, finally, in the combustion fire. My son and husband went out to an abandoned farmhouse (with permission from the farmer) to cut firewood, and they came back with a trailer load of firewood. The wood that they cut is fallen wood – there are no trees felled during their wood-cutting expeditions.

After they arrived home, we had lunch, and then my husband put the wood through the sawbench, which saves using the chainsaw, and it is cheaper and quicker to run. He only has to sharpen the saw blade about every six to eight trailer loads, whereas the chainsaw needs to be sharpened every load. This is about a week and a half’s firewood for our home.

I think that the men folk have done an excellent day’s work, don’t you think? Praise our heavenly Father, for we are going to be warm this winter.

Ye Ol’ Farmhouse

While my husband was chatting to one of our local farmers, the farmer said that he had another farm near us, and there was LOTS of dry firewood to cut. My husband and son went out to the old farm, and these were the first photos that my son took. In the first photo, you can see the dry stone wall – around here there are many of these old dry stone walls, and they have such character. In the next photo, this is ye ol’ farmhouse, which I find rather sad really, as the pigeons have overrun the house.

In these photos you can see the old chimney and probably the tack room – aren’t they gorgeous? If you look carefully at the photo on the right, you can even see the old door.

These are the old stables and the stable window, which I thought was ever so rustic.

Mind you, my son also had to load the trailer, but he took fifty-five photos while they were out cutting wood. I can see why, as it was extremely hard choosing which photos to post to my blog. They were only gone for about an hour and a half, and they have a full trailer load of wood – my husband ♥♥♥ his new chainsaw. I feel so blessed to be living in this area with all of the history associated with it. Praise God, for we definitely won’t be going cold this winter!

Praise You God…

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4: 8

• ...for you are mighty to save, you keep us sheltered beneath your everlasting arms, and you carry us when the going becomes too tough for us to go it alone. I praise you that your love for us is boundless.
  

• …that you have strengthened us during the past week – knowing that you are there for us makes life so much easier.

• …for my husband who has been a tower of strength, even with his worn-out knee. He has cut firewood and been teaching our son how to milk the goats.

• …for patient goats, who will stand still (with enough oats!) while my son perfects his technique in milking them.

• …for my daughter, who has done more than her fair share of cooking and helping out around our home.

• …for friends – blogging friends, internet friends and IRL friends who make life much more valuable simply by their presence in it. The comments that you leave on my blog make me feel loved. ♥

• …for support organisations, such as the HSLDA and ROHUS - May their work be blessed by our Almighty God, as they seek to return Dominic Johannson to the loving arms of his parents, and as they seek to stop the implementation of draconian homeschooling laws in Sweden.

• …for granted travelling mercies during the last week. Even when we had a flat tyre, it was able to be repaired, and we are having light truck tyres put onto the car this week in an attempt to prevent further punctures.

Thank you, Jennifer for hosting Praise each week. Care to participate in this Meme, please visit Jennifer, and don’t forget to leave a comment – she loves visitors.

What a Day!

The Start of our Day

This sunrise was the start of our day, and my daughter took the photo just before breakfast this morning. In our home, we arise at 6:45 a.m., and then we have our morning devotions.

Today has been a really busy day, as we had to travel to Port Pirie so that my husband could have x-rays taken of his knee, and I had a CT scan taken of my back. We then went op-shopping ane we had some really good finds – my daughter found a skirt, two blouses and ten books, my son found a brand new polo shirt and a T-shirt, and my husband found three skirts, one blouse and a dressy summer top for me. All of the women’s summer clothing was on sale for $1.00 per item, so for all of my daughter’s clothing and mine, it cost $6.00, and that included my daughter’s books, too.

Next stop was to buy a new chainsaw, as ours died the other day – I really can’t complain, as we bought it fifteen years ago, and it was a Stihl 009 – the baby of chainsaws. The new chainsaw is a larger model, a Farm Boss MS290, but still a Stihl, as they are so reliable. My husband is so happy with it – he couldn’t wait to try it out tonight – you know, boys never grow up, they just play with more expensive toys! It was either buy a new chainsaw or an air conditioner, and the amount that this chainsaw cost wouldn’t even cover our first year’s power bill for an air conditioner.

On the way home, we dropped in to see friends and they invited us to stay for lunch. We usually see these friends every Friday when we go shopping and have afternoon tea with them, and they sometimes come out for dinner with us.

This old Run-Down Farmhouse is on the way Home

After leaving our friends, we did our grocery shopping, and on the way home, we took the photo above. I often wonder what sort of lives these people lived when they lived here – did they know of God, perhaps spend time with Him in prayer, have a personal relationship with Him? There are many old run-down farmhouses in this area, and it makes you wonder why they were abandoned, doesn’t it?

Next we decided to check the mail, as our mailbox is a three kilometre drive from our home. After leaving the mailbox, the mudflaps dragged on the ground, and my husband said, “I think we have a flat tyre.” Sure enough, the tyre was dead flat, and I’m sure that the last thing that the poor guy felt like doing was changing the car tyre on the dirt road. Nevertheless, he did, and we have now decided that we are going to put light truck tyres onto the back of the car. This is two punctures in two weeks, and the light truck tyres are puncture resistant, so next week they’ll be put on. Imagine the problems if my husband wasn’t with me, and I had to change the tyre??? I can’t even lift the spare tyre, let alone jack the car up!

In the middle of all this, our children did most of their school work in the car, although my son did some of his last night. I praise God that tomorrow is Saturday, and I can sleep in. What a Day!