Coram Deo

Thanksgiving Memories

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year.  Up until last year holidays were always big family affairs.  We were blessed to live so close to our families and we have really missed getting together with everyone.

But God has been merciful to us.  He could have moved us anywhere, but he put us here.  We are blessed to be in a church that feels like family.  And in our church is another family whose relatives are far away.  Interestingly enough, they share our name.  They are also Elliotts.  We invited them to spend the holiday with us and it made the day so special.  Holidays just aren't the same when you're alone, and this gave us a chance to get to know them a lot better. 

We read Deut. 8:6-18 together, and we made scrolls with scripture or poetry and handed them out to all the readers.  Then we took turns reading them after the meal.  We talked about things we were thankful for, ate lots of great food, played a few games of volleyball, and visited well into the evening. 

It was a special time of celebration and thanksgiving and we were very blessed by the friends God brought to us.

Oh, and I forgot to take one single picture. 

Happy Birthday Hailey!

I can hardly believe Hailey is 10.  It has been such a joy to watch her grow. 

It was my turn to do the birthday outing this year, so after the family breakfast we headed out. 

We got her ears pierced and then went to Boerne to look in the antique shops.  A girl after my own heart!

We had ice cream sodas at the old fashioned ice cream parlor and shared a long talk about what God has been doing in our respective lives this past year and what it means to be a godly young woman.

The birthday blessing

Kirstyn gave Hailey her old Elsie Dinsmore books (unread!) Hailey was thrilled

She has wanted a fancy tea cup for a very long time

Another Costco dessert.  We picked it up on our way home

It seems just yesterday she was a tiny babe in my arms.  I am blessed to be her mother. 

Dinner Time! or, Pictures of Dead Chickens

Over the past couple of weeks we have participated in the slaughter of over 100 chickens.  Our house was last, and by the time we got here we were getting pretty good at it. 

Mike developed his signature technique of artery severance so that the birds bleed out more completely.  He made a small incision in the side of the neck and located the carotid artery, the he came from behind the artery and severed the whole thing.  This eliminated the Did I Get It? guesswork. 

He also decided that we would pull the heads off (postmortem) ala' Joel Salatin.  That job fell to Chance, who took a few tries to master it, but was ultimately able to remove the heads with one good jerk.  He was initially surprised at how well attached the heads were.  Nikkae laughingly reminded him that they are, well,  heads... they don't just roll off!

We left 10 of ours to fatten up a little more.  We hope to get them to roaster size, although I noticed this morning that one of them is having trouble getting around and we don't want to lose them to heart attacks.  I'm going to feed some liver for the next couple of days and see what happens.

They are yummy though!  I even used one to make Hailey's birthday pot pie.  They have a definite flavor, not like grocery store chicken.

So, with no further ado, here are the pictures.

Hailey bringing the next "victim"

Mike made the "killing cones", here they are full

Our teacher, Tonya

Success!

Ezra got too tired to maintain himself, so he was parked by the tree

Here we are at our house

The ladies chicken butchering society

Donning the gloves

See that face?  It pretty much sums up the job :)

My Birthday Plate

Here is a picture of the plate Eli bought me for my birthday.  It is hanging on the wall now, but in this shot I put it on a counter top plate holder. 

The plate works perfectly with the colors in the house, and Eli chose it all by himself.  He was so cutely adamant that THIS WAS THE ONE. 

It is my favorite plate, don't you love it?!?

Ethan is 5!

On November 7 Ethan completed his 5th revolution around the sun.  This is the second birthday we have been blessed to share with Ethan, although it feels like he has always been a part of our family. 

Following our tradition we all went to breakfast.  We found a new place out in Canyon Lake where the portions were big and the prices were low.  Daddy had taken him to Home Depot the Saturday before for his birthday outing, where they made picture frames together.  I really need to post a picture of that!

He wanted orange chicken and apple pie from Costco.  So, even though I was blessed with these awesome new pie dishes, I bought a pie from Costco. 

I don't have a lot of pictures because I had chosen the night before to play with the camera settings and I was having a lot of trouble getting pictures that weren't nothing but a blur. 

Here is Ethan getting his birthday blessing from Daddy.

Happy Birthday Ethan, we love you!

MMM, Fall

I love Fall.  Even the abbreviated, halfway falls that I was blessed with in CA and now in TX.  I love the brisk mornings, putting on a sweater at night, cold noses peeking out of warm blankets, apples that don't cost $3 per pound, and children wanting to play wonderful games of imagination outside for hours on end, as opposed to the forced hour when the weather is warmer.

I also love fall foods.  A great fall food is baked apples (speaking of lower apple prices).  We finished off our meal of chicken-fried deer loin, salad, and spoon bread with some very yummy baked apples the other night.  I had some leftover wassail in the fridge, not enough for everyone to have even the tiniest of cups, so it was just sitting there.  I cored the apples and stuffed them the a butter/brown sugar mixture, thickened the wassail with a little cornstarch and poured it in the bottom of a baking dish and set the apples in it.  About 40 min later I put the apples in bowls and spooned some sauce over the top.  I meant to put a dollop of creme fraiche on top, but I forgot.  I could have made it healthier, I just didn't want to.  But man, it was good!  And it made the whole house smell so warm and inviting. 

In the Image of God?

The Church of England has come out with the opinion that the compassionate thing for Christians to do would just be to let some babies die.  It is just too expensive to keep them alive, and they often live worthless lives of disability anyway. 

This is just the logical next step when Darwinism and Marxism are embraced.  If inconvenient babies can be killed in the womb, why not expensive, unhealthy babies after birth?   If man crawled from the sludge and life means nothing, then why preserve it? If we exist to serve the state, then why not end life when our usefulness has expired. 

Some countries already allow euthanasia, and there has already been a lot written about how many people believe the old and infirm have an obligation to end their life.  And "being a burden" on their families is of growing concern to the elderly and soon to be elderly.  The founder of a "suicide clinic" in Switzerland wants to open a chain of them around the world to give everyone a real choice.

Because apart form God, there is no innate value to human life.  Apart from God, it makes sense that we, the workers and thinkers, should make decisions regarding the worth of life.  It makes sense that science should make and destroy life in order to make life better for the people already here.  I mean, if life means nothing then our obligation extends no further than ourselves.

And then I hear people all around me banging the drum for "healthcare for all".  It's our right, they say, for the government to provide health care for everyone.  Like England.  They have health care for everyone and they are finding that preserving life is just too doggone expensive.  And Holland, they have healthcare for all and they won't even treat babies born at less than 25 weeks gestation.  Let's not forget, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

And speaking of young babies, governmental expense and quality of life, there is a young couple in our church that had a baby boy last February.  He was born at 23 weeks gestation and they had an uphill battle to get the hospital to treat him.  But they did treat him, and after several months he came home.  He doesn't appear to have any neurological or physical problems.  There were many close calls, but God has healed this little boy.  We know another young couple whose first child was born at 24 weeks gestation.  Their little boy has some severe handicaps.  Both of these families feel immensely blessed by their little boys.  Both of these boys have life given by God for His own glory and purposes.  And, both of these couples lacked insurance and yet refused government aid to pay their bills.  They relied instead on the generosity of God's people, the work of thier hands, and the mercy of God himself.  Both of them will be paying bills for years to come.  But God has been faithful and their needs are met.

And I'm just gonna leave you with that.

A Life Uncommon

"Don't worry mother
It'll be alright
And don't worry sister
Say your prayers and sleep tight
And it'll be fine
Lover of mine
It'll be just fine

And lend your voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength
To that which you wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And you shall lead
A life uncommon

I've heard your anguish
I've heard your hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary
But we aren't worn out
Set down your chains
Until only faith remains
Set down your chains

And lend your voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength
To that which you wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And we shall lead
A life uncommon

There are plenty of people
Who pray for peace
But if praying were enough
It would've come to be
Let your words enslave no one
And the heavens will hush themselves
To hear our voices ring our clear
With sounds of freedom
Sounds of freedom

Come on you unbelievers
Move out of the way
There is a new army coming
And we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live

And lend our voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength
To that which we wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And we shall lead...

And lend our voices only
To sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength
To that which we wish
To be free from
Fill your lives
With love and bravery
And we shall lead
A life uncommon"

Jewel is a pop singer I guess, and I don't know much about her or her other songs, but I really like this one.  It resonate with me. 

How often do we "lend our strength to that which we wish to be free from"? 

May He fill my life with love for God and his people, and the courage to trust him in all things.  May He continue to be merciful to me, revealing and removing my chains.  May I be known as His disciple by my uncommon love, my uncommon joy, and my uncommon peace.