This is our journal of what we pray is our sojourn of life (Hebrews 11:8-10) along the narrow way (Matthew 7:14), even the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16), submitting to the Bible as a light unto both (Psalms 119:105). It is our prayer that these documented moments in our earthly time benefit whom God might choose to edify, but ultimately that God glorifies Himself through them.

Category: fellowship (Page 2 of 7)

Community Singing – April 2018

Two Lord’s days ago, we were able to gather together to record our next set of Psalms so that we may learn God’s word in this way, and that His praises might be in our hearts more and more! The psalter we use is from Crown & Covenant, and we’re thankful to have these available.

And so, here are the latest:

(If you would like to save any of the files locally to your computer, you can right click on Download and click Save As in the popup menu.)

Psalms 66A-68E

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

Psalms 22F-24C

Psalms 25A-27F

Psalms 28A-31G

Psalms 32A-34D

Psalms 35A-37F

Psalms 38B-40F

Psalms 41A-44F

Psalms 45A-49C

Psalms 50A-53

Psalms 54A-59B

Psalms 60A-65B

We pray God glorifies Himself through these things, that He edifies His Church through them, and that He writes His law on our hearts that we might not sin against Him!

— David

March 2018 Community Work Day: Chicken Tractor Retrofit, Curtains & Pecan Shelling

Chicken Tractor Retrofit

Back in December, 2005, just a few months after we arrived here in Texas, we built a chicken tractor to house our chickens, the original process which you can see here.

Well, fast forward 12 1/2 years, and while it has served us well, it had also begun to fall apart, with uprights rotting, etc.

Given that this was the only real overnight housing for our main flock of chickens, I felt a retrofit really needed to be accomplished in one day. I figured there was no way I would be able to do that myself, and so I requested March 2018’s community work day, and this past Wednesday, we men began the process with haste…

The plan was to pull it all apart, replicate the siding, the front frame, the lower section in the back, and the upper “penthouse” section, and then put the sections back in place, and then the siding pieces. This would allow for not having to re-design things, and allow for using the same roofing and chicken wire pieces without having to re-do those.

But first, we had to pull all of the staples to get the chicken wire pieces off. Everyone got to participate in that, and it actually took a little while:

Removing Chicken Wire from Chicken Tractor

Here, the roof, siding, and lower back section (which you can see on the ground upside down on the right) are removed, with the front frame and penthouse section still in place:

Chicken Tractor Roof, Siding, Back Section Removed

Here you can see the back section center right, upside down, and a youngin’ sitting on the back door:

More Chicken Tractor Roof, Siding, Back Section Removed

Still working on the penthouse section:

Working to Remove Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section

Here on the left, you can see the penthouse section removed:

Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section Removed

And here, the new front framing and new uprights are in place:

New Chicken Tractor Front Frame & Uprights

And here’s the new penthouse section, guarded well by a couple of smiling gents…would you trust these fellers? 😉

New Chicken Tractor Penthouse Section

Skipping forward a little, here we are with the back and penthouse sections in place, and the new siding installed:

New Chicken Tractor Back & Penthouse Sections & Siding Installed

And here’s the front view:

Front View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together

And from another angle. I was really hoping to get to this point so we would at least be able to box them in for the night, and thanks to the Lord and the guys, we were able to! But, we did pray the Lord would grant the chickens safety through the night, being they were a little more exposed with the chicken wire not put back:

Another View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together

Here’s looking in the back. I decided to use the same nest-box structure as it was still in fairly good shape:

Back View of Chicken Tractor Put Back Together & Nesting Boxes

And here’s how we attached the roofing tin:

Inside View of Chicken Tractor Roofing Tin

And just a metal flashing piece to cover the roof apex:

Chicken Tractor Roof Apex Flashing Covering

Here’s the smattering of the old pieces and new left-overs all over…quite the war zone! 🙂

Chicken Tractor Pieces & Leftovers

Well, the next day, after God did graciously grant the chickens’ safety through the night, I went ahead and stapled on all of the chicken wire pieces, and they all fit very nicely! Good job to the chicken tractor retrofit crew! Now all we need is some paint:

Retrofit Chicken Tractor with Chicken Wire Stapled Back On

Hopefully a little more so now! 🙂

Happy Chickens

Curtains & Pecan Shelling

Over on the ladies side of things, they graciously helped Sue make some new curtains:

Shelled Pecans

And did some of the pecan shelling from the pecans the Lord granted us from our trees last year, which is something of a time-consuming process. The lady who did this got quite a bit of them done!

New Window Curtains

We are very thankful to God for His graces and mercies in allowing us to be a part of this fellowship. We thank Him for the people here, and we always pray we do these things in love and service for each other out of love and service to Him!

And thanks to the folks for all of the help! May God bless each of you and your households with an abundance of His graces, and temporal, spiritual and eternal blessings!

— David

Summer Kitchen – Update III – External Siding, Community Work Day & Acorns

This past Wednesday was our first-Wednesday community work day, and this month it was at our place. The men worked on our summer kitchen, and the women and children washed house windows, shelled pecans, collected acorns, and sewed aprons and dresses!

Summer Kitchen External Siding

It has been 6 years since our last summer kitchen update. Wow!

Over the years I have done a decent amount of the internal siding, which you can see here:

Summer Kitchen Internal Siding

More Summer Kitchen Internal Siding

You can see what the mice have done to the insulation at the top:

Still More Summer Kitchen Internal Siding

And more here. We have traps in there, but they still do the damage:

Still More Summer Kitchen Internal Siding

Even with some work on the internal siding, the external siding has been sitting unfinished, with just the OSB, for 9 years, shown in this blog update!

And then, as one might imagine, the weather has taken its toll on it. With the Lord graciously granting resources to do so, we were able to do some work on the north side with the men helping…

Here is with the old siding off:

Summer Kitchen North External Wall Removed

The mice have been busy! 🙂

Insulation Removed by Mice

Here is removing calked windows. This worked pretty well, thankfully! (I have had a previously unsuccessful attempt before 🙂 )

Removing Summer Kitchen Window

Bending the outside away was the best approach:

More of Removing Summer Kitchen Window

Here’s with the first window out and first new OSB board in place:

Summer Kitchen Window Removed, First OSB in Place

And then putting the first window back:

Summer Kitchen First Window Installed Back

Here’s with some of the tar paper up:

Summer Kitchen First Row of Tar Paper

And then all the windows and boards in place:

Summer Kitchen All Windows & OSB in Place

Here’s with tar paper on the entire side:

Summer Kitchen Tar Paper on Entire Wall

And finally, with a couple of the external siding boards in place, which is how far we got on this work day:

Summer Kitchen Two External Siding Boards in Place

Excellent! Thanks to the guys for all of the help!

Acorns

While the fellows were working on the summer kitchen, the ladies helped shell pecans and make some aprons and a dress for Sue, and the children washed house windows and collected acorns for our pig!

Here are buckets of acorns they collected!

Buckets of Acorns

Thanks to the ladies and children for all of their help too!

We are very grateful to the Lord for granting us the opportunity to be a part of the fellowship! We always pray we love Him in part by loving and serving each other, and we thank the folks here again for all of their help and willingness to serve!

— David

Community Singing – October 2017

Once again, this past Lord’s day, God graciously granted we be able to gather together to sing to Him, in prayer and praise, the Psalms from the psalter we use! And we recorded them as we try to every so often, so we can learn them better, and so they might help others to as well. Here are the latest:

(If you would like to save any of the files locally to your computer, you can right click on Download and click Save As in the popup menu.)

Psalms 60A-65B

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

Psalms 22F-24C

Psalms 25A-27F

Psalms 28A-31G

Psalms 32A-34D

Psalms 35A-37F

Psalms 38B-40F

Psalms 41A-44F

Psalms 45A-49C

Psalms 50A-53

Psalms 54A-59B

As always, we pray the Lord glorify Himself through these, and that they be prayers and praises from our hearts!

— David

Community Singing – May 2017

Last Lord’s Day we gathered together to record our next set of Psalms from the psalter we use! We thank the Lord for this continued opportunity, and to be able to sing prayers and praises to Him!

(If you would like to save any of the files locally to your computer, you can right click on Download and click Save As in the popup menu.)

Psalms 54A-59B

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 50A-53

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

Psalms 22F-24C

Psalms 25A-27F

Psalms 28A-31G

Psalms 32A-34D

Psalms 35A-37F

Psalms 38B-40F

Psalms 41A-44F

Psalms 45A-49C

We pray the Lord glorify Himself through these, and through us always in whatever way He desires!

— David

Community Singing – November 2016

God graciously allowed us to meet a couple of Lord’s Days ago to record the next set of Psalms from the psalter we use! We are always thankful to Him for His word and this means of grace to be able to learn it in song!

(If you would like to save any of the files locally to your computer, you can right click on Download and click Save As in the popup menu.)

Psalms 50A-53

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

Psalms 22F-24C

Psalms 25A-27F

Psalms 28A-31G

Psalms 32A-34D

Psalms 35A-37F

Psalms 38B-40F

Psalms 41A-44F

Psalms 45A-49C

We always pray He grant these to be true prayers and praises from our hearts, out of love for Him, with an eye to His glory!

— David

Community Singing – May 2016

This past Lord’s Day we gathered together in fellowship to record the next set of Psalms from the psalter we use! We thank the Lord for this opportunity!

(If you would like to save any of the files locally to your computer, you can right click on Download and click Save As in the popup menu.)

Psalms 45A-49C

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

Psalms 22F-24C

Psalms 25A-27F

Psalms 28A-31G

Psalms 32A-34D

Psalms 35A-37F

Psalms 38B-40F

Psalms 41A-44F

Again, thanks to the Lord for allowing us this privilege, to sing His word and to sing it together! May these be prayers and praises from our hearts, and we thank Him for His condescending ear to hear! May He write His law on our hearts that we may not sin against Him!

— David

« Older posts Newer posts »