It seems like its been a while since I have posted anything of real interest - that's how my life is. Sometimes I have interesting things to write, other times my mind is blank. But isn't that the story of everyone's life?

My camera broke last Sunday. I don't think it will be hard to fix. The button that you push to take pictures fell off and is lost. I imagine it will just be a matter of replacing the button to repair it. I wonder how long it will take me to do that. In the meanwhile, my daughters will let me borrow their cameras so I can continue to post pictures. I told them that cabbage is finally back down in price, so I intend to start some sauerkraut this week, and post pictures of it. Like I'm not weird enough already. I'm not ready to do that just now, so the pictures will have to wait.

My echinacea is coming up. I bought eight roots, and only five have sprouted. But I consider that to be a minor victory in my gardening adventures. If I can transplant them to the main garden and have them live, they will reseed, and I'll have plenty in a few years. The plants are also called purple coneflower, and are very pretty in their own right. I hope in a year or two to be able to dig the roots of my established plants for medicinal purposes. Echinacea is good for building the immune system, and is supposed to shorten illness. I have a recipe for a tincture using the roots. I have wanted to do this for years, and in Maryland I had a couple of plants just about ready when we moved. Since then, I haven't had any success getting the plants started. I just want to be able to say that I've done this. It's what comes from reading too many books - first you get ideas, then you start thinking....... Weird, right?

It looks like I will finally be planting the garden this weekend. The weather will be nice, and we only have one ball practice on Saturday. Eric plans to work on a chicken coop - we need it. We had heard of a coop that someone wanted to get rid of, and we hoped to get it. But that fell through, so he has to build one quickly. The birds are getting big, and they are pretty. When I bought the birds, there were four "unidentified" as far as what type. They are dark birds, and their true feathers are coming in darker than the feathers of my reds. They are pretty birds, I must say. The bantams have white feathers, and I am sure one is a rooster. I don't know how that's going to work out.

I stopped by Lowe's yesterday to pick up a raspberry plant. I had planted two last year, but one died, so I wanted to replace it. While I was there, I found black raspberries. We had these in Maryland, and they are delicious. They have a richer flavor than red raspberries, but are different from blackberries. Their canes will grow long and arch over. These will root where ever they touch the ground, so I hope to have a large patch in a few years.

Worry

I have a hard time with worry. My mind runs all the time, and I guess it's because I have a naturally melancholy nature the it seems to run to all the things that could go wrong, as opposed to all that could go right. While I do believe that melancholy people are bright and gifted (at least that is what all the personality books say - and being of a melancholy nature, this assessment suits me fine, because at least it gives some virtue to being a gloomy gus all the time), it can make relationships with those of a different nature strained. But I believe I have found a key to overcome worry. The answer is prayer combined with a right focus. I woke up a few days ago with such a strong impression of prayer that I immediately wrote down what was on my mind. It was:
-have a purpose, an aim in prayer
-be specific
-know what you want to happen
-be bold
-have faith.
This is written just as I recorded it in my journal. Later, while having my devotions, I finished Proverbs then applied the very "specific" method of study known as "just open the bible anywhere and start reading". I opened it to the book of Philippians. I have spent a good deal of time in Philippians lately, which might be why my bible fell open there. I have primarily been studying the first chapter, but that day I read through the entire book. God reminded me that the victory to worrisome thoughts is prayer. Instead of fretting, I should rejoice because the Lord is near. I am to show moderation (don't go to any extreme). Mostly, I am to pray about everything. Everything! And after I pray, instead of worrying about what might happen, what others could do, or think, I am to focus my thoughts on whatever is true, just, honest, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy. If I do this, I will have the peace of God on my life.

I know these things. I have been taught this as a Christian for years. Just this week, God has made it personal for me again. So the question is: will I apply what I know? Is this one of the commands that Jesus told us to keep in order to receive answered prayer? I think it is. And it's interesting, because after waking to my "prayer revelation", and studying this passage in Philippians, I found my ancient copy of John R. Rice's book on prayer (I spend several frustrating days looking for it after our last revival - and then yesterday I just glanced at one of the shelves in the schoolroom, and there it was.) When I applied the same study method to this book as I did to my bible study, the book fell open to a portion where Dr. Rice writes of being very specific in prayer. Curious, hmmmmm.

So, looking forward to answered prayers, I leave you this day with the hope that your day will be blessed.