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Community Singing – December 2015

December 18, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 4 Comments

This past Lord’s Day we were able to meet to record the next set of Psalms from the psalter we use! It is always our prayer God glorify Himself in these things, and through us in whatever way He may!

(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 41A-44F

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Sue and I sing a Psalm each evening as part of our family worship. Interestingly, William our cat almost every single time if he is around, once we start singing, comes over to us from wherever he is and hops up onto the couch or Sue’s lap while we sing and just hangs out with us. It is near 100% that he joins us like this, so we thought we’d show you that fun nightly event!

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

We are always thankful to the Lord for granting us His word, and the opportunity to learn the Psalms in this manner! May these always be praises and prayers from our hearts, and we ask and thank Him for His condescending ear to hear them!

— David

Critter Corner – Texas Redheaded Centipede, Butterflies, Tree Cricket, Roadrunner, Ring-Necked Pheasant

December 13, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

We’ve had some interesting and sometimes new visitors around the homestead this 2015, so we thought we’d show you some of them…

Texas Redheaded Centipede

Ran into this fellow next to our cattle trailer. A little creepy given its size, but this was a relatively small one as they can get to be 8-9 inches, and has beautiful colors. Apparently, their bite is painful and mostly just causes localized swelling, but some people can have worse reactions:

Butterflies, Tree Cricket, Roadrunner, Ring Necked Pheasant

Here is a video of a bunch of beautiful butterflies that decided one day to be or fly around the front of the barn, a tree cricket “singing” its song, a roadrunner that had been hanging about quite a bit, and what we identified as a ring necked pheasant—a new visitor we haven’t seen before. The tree cricket is a little blurry given the video was taken at night, but it can sure vibrate those wings!

We are thankful to the Lord for allowing us to see His marvelous works in creation!

— David

Garden – Spring 2015 – Update III

December 8, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

The Lord has graciously granted our garden to continue through most of the Fall. But, our first freeze came recently, so we took some final pictures…

We kept the beans going through the Summer, even though we had to water with pond water, but they never really did much after the beans we got in the Spring. But, the okra just kept going and going!

The tomatoes have kept going too, although about the only thing actually fruiting are the cherry tomatoes:

And here’s more okra:

With the first freeze on the way, about the only thing we could cover were the tomatoes, which we did, with double blankets in some places:

Tomatoes Covered with Blankets for First Freeze

And here they are after the freeze. The double blankets worked really well! The rest of the garden plants basically were killed in the freeze.

That was about the last of trying to maintain it, with freezes coming and going, and we have had several light freeze nights, which have pretty much finished off the tomatoes. And so, this is the final garden haul from this year from just a few days ago!

We are very thankful to God for the garden provisions He granted this 2015! Lots of okra, which Sue lacto-fermented for long-term storage! Again, we are very grateful!

— David

Goat Breeding Time 2015!

December 3, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

Mid November means it’s time for our goat bucks to go to work and earn their keep! 🙂 Breeding time!

Here are all of the goats tied up for milking. We kept them here while we moved the sheds. Last year, we showed the moving of the sheds, although now I start the shack caddy inside the first goat pen and drag it into the destination pen, all the way to just about where they’re going to be set—it’s much easier that way. 🙂

Shatner’s ready!

And Rocky!

And Sue’s bringing our first customer!

And the full action of the move is in this video:

We are grateful to the Lord for granting the continued health and safety of the herd, and the opportunity once again to try to breed them. We ask He might grant what He might come Spring time, in accordance with His will!

— David

Thanksgiving 2015

November 27, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

We gathered once again this Thanksgiving to meet together in fellowship and unity of thanks to the Lord for all of His spiritual and temporal provisions!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving Gathering

We started with prayer and a couple of psalms:

Then it was meal time. A big “thank you” to the folks who gave us the turkey and dessert!

And then the children worked on some coloring crafts!

Still More Sue & Children Working on Crafts

Ruth came over and wanted to say hello! 😀

It was a very nice time together!

We pray the Lord shine His light brightly in our hearts, may He grant us the heat of His graces, and may the fire of thankfulness be ever burning in us!

Psalm 118:1-9:

1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

4 Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

5 I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.

6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.

8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

— David

A House – Update XXXVII – Final Attic Insulation

November 23, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

After a couple of years since we started putting insulation in the attic, and after last year laying down 6-8 feet insulation “fingers” coming out from the ends to plug up the gaps between the wall frames and ceiling panels, we’ve recently been able to finish laying down all of the insulation! Hopefully this will make a big difference in being able to maintain heat in the house.

And here are a couple of pictures of it all done:

And the attic access door:

My hope was to have this ready for winter, and the Lord graciously granted that it would be. Thanks to Him, and for those who help to make continued progress on the house possible!

— David

The Orchard – Fall 2015 – Pecans

November 16, 2015 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

That time of year rolled around to where any pecans that were growing were starting to break forth from the green shells in which they grow on the trees. One of our trees has some, but something appeared to get to them as the pecans were eaten out. But the other tree that had pecans was okay, and so it was time to gather them in!

Here are some of them on the tree:

And then the 2015 haul!

We are always very grateful to the Lord for the least grain of food He provides, as each one is a miracle of providence from Him!

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 44 of 93

Community Singing – December 2015

Critter Corner – Texas Redheaded Centipede, Butterflies, Tree Cricket, Roadrunner, Ring-Necked Pheasant

Garden – Spring 2015 – Update III

Goat Breeding Time 2015!

Thanksgiving 2015

A House – Update XXXVII – Final Attic Insulation

The Orchard – Fall 2015 – Pecans

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