It has been a very busy few weeks, much is happening in every way.
At Home On The Farm
We are finally finished waiting for new babies. The last cow calved but the calf died, it was a beautiful HUGE heifer and it just took too long for her to make her way out. Shalom’s ducklings have finished hatching and they follow him around the house. I chuckle and ask him “Are you my mother?” and tell him that at least he’s got his ducks all in a row. It’s so much fun, and he loves caring for them. It was a family event to take them for their first swim last Shabbat – everyone was thrilled to watch the ducklings do what comes so naturally for them. It was such a wonder to see how perfectly HaShem has given each animal natural instincts. What an awesome Father He is! Miriam has been sewing up a storm. In one week she has made herself a dress, she has made me one for my birthday and she made herself a skirt for the FFA banquet we attended last night for her awards. Eliezar and Miriam went down south earlier this week to make their final lamb purchases of the season – a new ram, the last choice ewe lamb and Miriam’s FFA project lamb. Sarah has her dance recital next week and she’s busy preparing for that. DH has been busy with several jobs and enjoying the people he’s been working with. As for me, I finally got my sourdough bread right and in the process of troubleshooting with the sourdough I was able to perfect my regular bread recipe. What a delight for me – and for the rest of the family as well. I have often been thankful that this year is a Sabbath rest for our garden because I do not know when, or how, I would be able to keep up with it. 
I’m in between trips to Seattle with my Grandfather for various reasons, next week we start another round of day trips. Getting old is hard, but I’ve decided that it’s only for the tough. Watching someone you love deteriorate is not easy. My in-laws are struggling with their new limitations as well. It’s not easy when, all of the sudden, you can’t walk as far as you once could, climb the ladder, carry those boxes, or do the yard work. Our family is blessd that my in-laws living next door, my dad lives here part-time and preparing for my Grandfather to move in with us in the near future as well. But some days it doesn’t feel so “nice”. It takes work, but it warms my heart to look out the window and see my children volunteering to help their grandparents or their great-grandfather. It’s hard to watch the ones you love grow old.
A Family Vision
Aside from what has been going on by way of our business these days, there has been a concept that has been developing over the years that just hasn’t yet found the right words. It is a concept that is foreign to us, the way we were raised, and to the world in which we live. We have not found any families who implement these practices into their daily lives and so we’ve been floundering around for some time now as we’ve been struggling to nail down just how to explain this concept as we work to implement it. However, now the words are beginning to come and at the same time I am noticing that there are several “things” that have happened in the past month that have pointed us toward others who are following the same leading, some have been doing so for some time now. This has been a tremendous blessing to DH and myself! I do intend to write about that soon, but I still haven’t had time to write about this past Passover. So I’ve decided to give a few links to some sites and articles that I have truly enjoyed with the full intention of coming back as soon as I find time and sharing about this family vision that we’re finally beginning to find the words for.
- Where Have All The Daughters Gone? I truly appreciated this blog entry over at FourShrops, a blog which I have recently discovered. It blessed my heart to read this entry and share it with DH so much so that I wanted to share it with my readers as well.
- Virtuous Daughters This is a new blog by a remarkable young lady, Samantha. Our paths crossed via e-mail and I was privileged to get to know her a little. Samantha is a wise young woman who is living out the same kind of vision and dedication that we have been trying to explain and instill in our daughters. Her website states: “Virtuous Daughers is a ministry mainly geared for those of us women that are single, especially in regards to us still living at home.”
- Return of the Daughters – I wanted to buy this DVD when it first came out but I didn’t want to spend DH’s hard earned money on something that hadn’t been tested by others so I could read/hear reviews. I have now purchased a copy for our family. This video did a wonderful job of explaining parts of the concept that has been forming in the hearts and minds of our family for the past several years. Miriam told me that she thoroughly enjoyed the video and DH expressed that he, too, felt that this was a wonderful explanation of part of what we’ve been trying to find words for. I was blessed that it wasn’t just me who was excited with the video. Even Shalom expressed his approval – a 12 year old boy watching a documentary-style video about womanhood.
While it may seem that these three items are all related to daughters, in reality they have to do with a vision for the whole family. These three resources all touch on the greater vision that has been developing in our family and I’m thrilled to have come across them.
Family Bible Study
And we’ve enjoyed the “ah-ha!” moments we’ve had this week alone with studies and conversations related to the Cherubim that guard the way to the tree of life (in Gen. 3:24, I believe it is), the meaning of the word “Bless” and it’s fullness, and the concept behind the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” in Scripture. It’s been absolutely wonderful to see the light eminate from our children’s eyes as we discuss the things we’ve read/heard in light of the Scripture and investigate the possibilities behind those potential new understandings. We are excitedly gearing up toward Shavuot and anticipating wonderful things in the near future.
My goal is to share a bit about our family vision and a about our “ah-ha!” moments in other posts soon. But for now, this quick little peek will have to be enough.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on “this family vision”
It struck a chord deep in my heart and I want to hear it more often.
I checked into the links you offered and they were great.
I say “YES!” to this family vision. It is something that we have struggled to keep in the forefront of our children’s lives… though not very successfully. Hopefully, it is not too late to return to this theme of raising children to have a heart for loving to build a home and raising a godly seed.
Debbie
Shalom Debbie ~
I knew this entry would be one you appreciated.
We struggle keeping everything in focus too and often times feel like miserable failures. But we can’t let the Adversary lead us like that.
One thing I’ve heard often lately, and I want to pass along to you, is to pray for the hearts of the fathers to turn toward their children. This is tremendous! Scripture speaks of not provoking our children to wrath and if our hearts are toward our children, I don’t think wrath will result very often, if at all. This is something that is very necessary today, I think.
May you be blessed, my friend ~
Lisa