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Community Singing – February 2013

February 28, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 1 Comment

After our last fellowship time of recording Psalms from the psalter we use, we recorded the next set earlier this month, again so those who might be trying to learn them as well might have something to help them if needed.

And here is the next set:

Psalms 22F-24C

Listen

Download

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

Psalms 19A-22E

We are eternally grateful to the Lord for His word and the opportunity to sing it, learn it this way, and sing together in praise of His gloriousness, His mighty works, and His protecting hand. We again pray He glorifies Himself through this, and that He benefits and strengthens His Church through it.

— David

A House – Update XXI – The Bedroom

February 19, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 7 Comments

In continuing with our house we’re working on, back in the fall, I was hoping to be able to start working on finishing the bedroom so that we could be at least sleeping in there for the winter, with maybe even a small wood burner in place that we plan to have in there. But, resources didn’t really allow for that to come about, although we are grateful to the Lord for allowing us start to make some progress on the bedroom.

I believe it was back in the fall when I was able to get the insulation required for the walls, and here it all is installed:

This is the south wall:

And the west wall:

The north wall:

And the east wall:

And then, just this last community work day (which are the first Wednesdays of each month), the men came over to help put up the ceiling material, which was next on the agenda. I spent some time trying to price out the best deal that also might look kind of nice, and that could be installed fairly quickly; and so, I decided to go with what’s called “rough shod” plywood, which is a less expensive form of “T1-11”-looking siding.

It took three of us on ladders, with two helping below to hand us the plywood and screws (I decided on tan-colored Deck Mate screws, so that they would hopefully hold better than nails and would also blend in color-wise).

Here is the first row done. We decided to starting in the middle and work our way toward each side, in hopes any error in the squareness of the room would show less than if we started on one side, which might cause gaps between sheets and between sheets and walls to become cumulative as we went along. It’s actually kind of hard work holding up that sheet while trying to place it properly:

And here is the ceiling after the day’s work, facing southeast. You can see that we got everything done except that last row to the left:

And facing southwest:

And then one of the men graciously offered his time on the next Lord’s Day community visitation day to help me put up the last row (which included much smaller pieces width-wise, so just the two of us were able to handle it):

Much gratitude to the community work day ceiling crew!

And then it was time for the community work day fellowship meal. Everyone says “hello”, by the way: 🙂

We are once again very thankful to God for granting progress on the house. He’s gracious and merciful in allowing it to continue, and for allowing us the fellowship of the brethren here, in general, in serving one another. It is Sue and my prayer that she and I especially (and of course all of us) grow more in servanthood to Christ and His people.

— David

Pebbles Pork Chop Party

February 10, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

In our last round of pig breeding, we decided to keep, raise and eat the offspring of our sow Pebbles, and breed her again because she had a good disposition and because we had a soft-spot for her, given she was the lone piglet from the difficult birth her mother had, and we had bottle-raised her on goat milk ourselves. But, as the piglets eventually turned into decent-sized pigs, and with the possible difficulty of finding a large enough mate for Pebbles, I decided to change the plans and revert back to the old way of doing things, where we process the mother as well and keep an offspring to continue the pork perpetuation.

Here is Pebbles and most of her offspring before taking Pebbles in (she’s on the left, one female had already gone to Michael and his family as a next breeder for them):

And this is Pebbles next to the offspring we are keeping for the next round of breeding, which we decided to call Lulu. We decided to keep her because she has more of the Duroc characteristics:

Our Sow Pebbles and Our Next Breeding Mother Lulu

With these previous blog posts, you can follow Pebbles’ interesting story from the beginning:
Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Piglet “Pebbles”
Animal Update – Pebbles and Fred
Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Piglets of 2012

And so, we took Pebbles and two of the males in to the butcher (two other of the offspring also went to the Michael and family).

Once getting the meat back, we wanted to continue to practice preserving without canning or freezing, so we had some strips of meat cut from one of the younger pig’s hams, and put them in the salt brine:

And then I hung them in the meat dryer:

Then, it was time for the Pebbles Pork Chop Party fellowship meal! We held it on a Lord’s Day fellowship time, so every household contributed to the meal.

Here is all of the eating goodness:

And the group communing together around the table:

Pebbles Pork Chop Party Communing Around the Table

And young Annabelle enjoying the time:

We are so very grateful to the Lord for His provisions of the pig meat, and the opportunity to gather in His name and share His beneficence together.

— David

Community Singing – January 2013

February 1, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

It’s been quite some time since we posted the recording of our first sets of Psalms we sing from our psalter, and recently we thought we’d continue on to the next set of Psalms, for those of you following along at home with your own psalter.

Psalms 19A-22E

Listen

Download

Previous Psalms singings:

Psalms 1A-12B (minus 4B)

Psalms 4B & 13-18L

We are thankful to God for His word and the opportunity to sing from it and learn it in this way, and we pray He glorifies Himself through this singing, that it might be of benefit to His Church, and that by it His word is hidden in our hearts that we might not sin against Him (Ps 119:11).

— David

A House – Update XX – Keeping a Lid On It

January 24, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

With the external windows and doors installed, and with winter coming upon us, I figured it was time to secure the various roof lines as planned, to help against any snow loads we might have and any high north winds as can often happen with those cold fronts that run through.

For roof load of the porch, I still needed to tie the rafter header board to the house, and for this I used 4×1/2 inch lag screws with a washer, drilling a 3/8 inch pilot hole into wall studs, placing them 4 feet apart or so:

Porch Roof Header Board Bolted to Wall Studs

I also added ties for the rafters to the header board. These were the less expensive ones but also had a gusset to help keep them from bending and thus hopefully keep the rafters more tightly against the header board. I used 1 1/2 inch 9 gauge exterior galvanized joint hanger nails to attach them, and for now, I decided to at least get one in place for every other rafter, hopefully to someday put on on each:

And I added some angled ties to the rafters that join at the hip rafter:

As for the winds, I used hurricane clips for the porch roof rafters, tying them to the cross posts:

Porch Roof Rafter Cross Beam Hurricane Clips

And inside, on the main roof, tying the trusses to the pony wall top plates. To make sure the tie twist was hidden in the roof area, I put them on the left side. I started by hammering one nail into the bottom part, then placed all the nails in the top part, and then finished by filling in the bottom. Also, the top part of the tie was right where the truss metal gussets are, and so I had to hold the nail with my right hand trying to bend the top of the tie back, and then hammer through the gusset with my left hand, and being right-handed, that sometimes had some quite painful results. 🙂 :

Roof Truss Hurricane Clips to Interior Wall

Hopefully these will help against most of the weather issues we might face, as the Lord wills.

We are thankful once again to God for allowing us to continue progress on the house.

— David

First Snow of 2013

January 6, 2013 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

We weren’t sure what to expect when we woke up the other morning. The weather “peeps” were calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow, depending on which way the weather system moved in the night. Well, it looks like we got about 2 inches!

I thought I’d “carpe that thar’ diem” and take a few miscellaneous videos of the morning chores and scenes around the farm:

And here are a few pictures:

Our wood pile covered in snow with the house in the background. Beautiful!

Our garden. It’s hard to believe veggies grow and flourish in the area that looks so barren now. Hmmm, I’ll have to ponder that spiritually!

Our orchard covered in snow. “To every thing there is a season”……

Augie and Gigi usually come straight up to the goat area when they are let out of the barn each morning, especially when there is a stiff north wind. They will actually take naps facing the cold breeze. They love to hang out up there:

Here is Minnie on the milking stand in the melting, muddy snow. I am very thankful for that green pad on the stand which is the only barrier between me and the wet!

Thanks for hanging out with us a little on this snowy morning! May God guide your day!

Susan

David’s Digest: The Treasure of an Unpleasing Land

December 30, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

When new people are thinking about moving here, I often talk to them about the difficulties in the carnal man with living closely-knit to other folks, but also the great spiritual benefits that can come from that, if not viewed carnally. I also mentioned it at the end of my Living in the Darkness blog post.

For example, if I think I find some inconsistencies in my human Bible teacher’s life (who teaches the truth, desires to be conformed to Christ’s image, and where I’ve seen such transformations over the years), or I’m given a simple command (like, put that down and come help me, even if I think what I’m doing is important at the moment) by an authority over me (even more so if I’ve willingly submitted myself to that authority), or I feel my favors to someone have been abused by that person, etc., assuming my perception of the situation is correct (which I need to very carefully and prayerfully consider, perhaps over an extended period of time, that it might not be), I believe God is affording me a gracious opportunity for His graces to be shown forth in

humility
meekness
forbearance and mercifulness (regardless of percentage of fault, and especially in light of Christ’s infinite forbearance and mercy toward me, my sin, my human frailties, my inconsistencies, and my countless abuses of His infinite graces and mercies)
forgivingness (my forgiving of others, even asking God to forgive them — see Gill on Matt 6:12)
obedience
faithfulness
selflessness, servanthood and sacrifice (especially in light of Christ’s [God Almighty!] infinite condescension to become a selfless servant, even to be sacrificed by His creation!)
waiting on the Lord (sometimes for years and years and years) in prayer (which, while God works it out, either in me or the other person or both, I’ve helped keep unity and not brought schism)
belief in God’s sovereign hand
etc., etc., etc., etc.

But if I find the opposite in myself coming forth, I believe God is yet again affording me a gracious opportunity to see a lack of His spiritual graces in my life; and then, if I desire to be molded in His image, I can bring these wants before Him in repentance and supplication for these graces. Either way, God is glorified in what appears to be a troubling situation by His work in a sinful worm and wretch like me; and while my carnal man fights it and causes me grief, it is mercifully to my benefit that my heart is tried whether I see any evidence of an interest in Christ or not, so I can give diligence to make my calling and election sure (2 Pet 1:10) and work out my own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12), which if my heart is not proved, I may lack the Spirit’s fruit and not know it, and then never truly seek it. (As an aside, because of the difficulties with my carnal man and complete lack of spiritual ability in myself, and that God often uses trials and afflictions to teach us, I’ve also recently started to ask God for His help as He’s helping me. 🙂 ) These opportunities are a means of God’s graces.

You just don’t get these kinds of God-given opportunities, certainly alone, but also in the loose-knit “Christianity” of today. There, you can hide; here, you cannot, which, as I’m pointing out, I believe can be a good thing, in bringing about purity and holiness, in individuals and as a group. (As a result too, with examples like the ones from above, if my heart is in order, God might grant me, in His timing, a proper and appropriate opportunity for me to speak with the other person about my perceived issues with him, and I might then find that God has been working on the other person’s heart as well!)

God also uses other means to bestow His graces, in His Word, with teaching, by His ordinances, in singing, in trials and afflictions (as I mentioned), by prayer, etc. — we need to seek Him in these and all of His means, and then we’ll find (Luke 11:9). Part of obtaining God’s graces comes from asking for them, with repentance; and again, you don’t ask for them if you don’t know you need them.

In a world of barrenness, if I find a field with a bearing Tree in it, although the field may be full of weeds, and rocks and crevices and difficulties to get to the Tree, which all seem to make the field worthless, it is my private (personal) judgment that it is worth giving up everything (including my sin and carnal reactions/views, carnal/temporal gains and reputation, etc.) to buy that field to obtain the Treasure that is in it.

It is our prayer here that Christ mold us in His image, and we thank Him for the graces, mercies and grace-filled opportunities He has granted us. May we never slumber as He knocks; may we diligently seek Him and His graces; may we see things as He sees them; like a green olive tree, may we trust in His mercies for ever and wait patiently on His name in the house of God; may we be His light, shining on a hill (a rolling one here in central Texas 🙂 ) for as long here as He wills; may we never do anything to offend Him so as to have the candlestick removed or the face of His presence hidden; and may He see us through, in His faith, all the way of our “progress,” even through Jordan, to the end. Amen.

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 61 of 93

Community Singing – February 2013

A House – Update XXI – The Bedroom

Pebbles Pork Chop Party

Community Singing – January 2013

A House – Update XX – Keeping a Lid On It

First Snow of 2013

David’s Digest: The Treasure of an Unpleasing Land

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