Honoring Others

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor, preferring one another."

~Romans 12:10

Have you ever noticed how practical Romans 12 is? I have always enjoyed it - but now, instead of simply reading it and saying, "oh, that's a nice verse...", I am marching through the chapter and applying one verse to each day. There is just so much 'meat' in this chapter, that I think it needs to be pondered.

But more than pondering, are we actually putting into practice what we read? Are we being doers of the Word, and not just hearers? Remember that simply reading a chapter out of the Bible does no one any good if that's as far as it goes. We need to be actively doing what we read.

Today's verse, Romans 12:10, is something that everyone can relate to. Are you being kind and affectionate to those you're around? Are you honoring others?

Everyone?

Sure, it's easy to be nice to those who you like and are easy to get along with - but the real test is when you're around someone that rubs you the wrong way.

Being in a family of seven gives me that advantage of being around people who, well, aren't always nice and agreeable. Every one of my siblings are great and wonderful and I love them.....but I think we all agree that occasionally we get irritated with our siblings. There's friction.

And that's the perfect place to practice honoring others!

The end of the verse says we are to be "preferring one another." This means we need to be putting others needs and wants before our own. Is this easy? Absolutely not! But it's also necessary to the building of our character.

How are you honoring others today?

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Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

I made these little cookies last week and everyone loved them! I thought I'd share the recipe with you. They are very easy to make, and very very chocolatey. (Which is good for me, since I LOVE chocolate and could eat it several times a week. Mmmmm!!!)

Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

3/4 C. sugar

1/3 C. cocoa powder

1/2 C. brown sugar

1 1/2 C. dried cranberries (craisins)

1 C. chocolate chips

1 3/4 C. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all together in a mixing bowl. Mix thouroughly until everything is combined.

Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on greased baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake at 375* for 13-15 minutes. Do not overbake.

Of course, the true test of any recipe is if the taste testers are pleased. (I have many taste testers in my family........)

Isaac decides to try one.....

The smile of approval!!

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Farm Update

Last week the boys unloaded our huge load of hay we bought for the year! Goats and horses eat a LOT of food.....

A hay bale mid tumble - thrown by Jonathan at the top.

Isaac loved playing on the hay bales!

Jonathan discovered a "secret message" crumpled up inside one of the hay bales! It turned out to be a letter about pro-life. Hmmmm. How did that get stuck in there?

Crazy Daisy and Pearl pose for a picture.

This Jonathan's horse, Shiloh. He is very well trained already and has grown quite a bit since he got him!

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Isaac

Isaac does pretty good for family devotions - he has his own little Bible that he likes to "read" while we read ours! It's very cute. Here he sits with Jonathan, seriously pondering the Word.

"This is getting a little boring, though...."

Isaac loves to help with everything!

"What's there to smile about? There's famine, sickness, pestilence!"

He's not terribly photogenic, as you can see. We have to catch his smile "in action" - he doesn't pose for cameras!

Ashley and Amanda, he loves this toy for bathtime that you gave him! Bathtoys with soap on them are fun to suck on.

He loves to wear hats......


......and can occasionally get crabby......

....but his sweet side makes up for the sour!

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Planting the Garden

We started planting onion sets in our garden today - Isaac cried most of the time and threw dirt at people - but the rest of us enjoyed being outside!

He started out very cheerful as we made our way down to the garden. He LOVES his stroller and pushes it everywhere. Today, it was laden with potatoes, tomato plants, and onions!

Isaac loves to wear his cowboy hat! He was very insistent that I wear my hat too - I didn't post pictures of that, since it is not an attractive hat at all!!!

Jonathan workes at building up our valleys.

That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

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Whew...I'm Back!

It's been several weeks since I last posted ~ can you believe it? I promised to post when we came back from our trip to China.....and here I am. I know, I've been way too infrequent with my blogging, but now that we're back, and life is settling down a bit, maybe (I said maybe) I'll have more time for this blog!

For one thing, China was so much fun! I had second thoughts about going before we left, but I am ever so glad I went. It was a great experience, not something I'll probably get to do again. Since I was present for David's "gotcha day", I wanted to be there for Isaac's, too. And I'm glad I was.......!

Did you miss out on our trip? If you visit my sister Courtney's blog, (click here), you can go back and see all the pictures and posts she did while we were in China. And of course, she's got plenty of pictures of our new little cutie pie now that he's home!

This week we will be planting our garden. I am really looking forward to this - winter has been long and cold, and I'm ready to get back out into the sunshine again. I know Isaac will be SUCH a help with planting - won't he have fun with all those seeds? :)

Here is Isaac......the cutest little brother!


Our two goats, Pearl and Daisy, are pregnant (at least, we're hoping they are), and are due to give birth early June. I can't wait to see what they have! Of course, we're hoping for girls - but the verdict is still out on if we'll be able to keep one or not. We get about a quart of milk from Pearl each morning, and hope that she will be a better milker this year! I recently tried my hand at making buttermilk from our milk, which was very good. We made buttermilk pancakes and biscuits out of it!

Pictures will be coming soon, so don't give up hope on this blog!

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