Page 66 of 95

Susan’s Musin’s – Journey Into a Proper View of Christian Childlessness

August 16, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 6 Comments

While growing up it never occurred to me that I might be sitting here at the age of 49 with no children, or grandchildren for that matter. I always imagined I would get married in my early 20’s and start having children very soon afterward like most everyone else at that time. But I experienced “special bulletins” and “technical difficulties” over many years, and my life screen never got back to its regularly scheduled programming. Somehow the blueprint I had drawn up for my life early on had gotten some coffee stains on it or something. The word “give” had been smudged out of the word “caregiver” (give or take an “e”) at the top of the blueprint objectives, and off I went on a quest for a great “career” instead of what I should have been doing all along according to God’s word. Over time, I became a bit numb and suppressed my innate maternal desires.

Thankfully, the Lord brought my wonderful and godly husband into my life at age 38; and just a few weeks after I turned 40, the Lord brought us together in marriage–the first for both of us late bloomers.

My husband and I, Lord willing, will celebrate our 9th anniversary next week. Early on in our marriage, I thought the Lord might grant us to have a child; but it never happened. Before we got married, my husband and I had sat down for “the talk” and both agreed we were fine if the Lord brought us children or if we never had any. Looking back, I think I truly did feel that way but was secretly assuming and hoping that God would send us at least one child.

During the past several years in learning about God’s sovereignty, I began to study the Bible with regard to this subject. God was gracious to point out to me that throughout the Bible it was He and only He who opened and closed wombs, and that it is He and only He who opens and closes wombs today. After all these years of agrarianism and gardening, reciting 1 Cor. 3:6, where Paul said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase,” it didn’t click that this applies to ALL provision from God, spiritual and temporal. There is no promise from God that He will provide what we want. It is His decision alone, for His glory. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” – Romans 11:36. That should have shut me up right there, but my flesh was still asking why.

Note to self: Don’t ask why unless you are prepared for the answer. My mind wandered back through all those years of sewing seeds of sin and unrighteousness, my selfishness, and my oblivion to God’s sovereignty and ways. I realized that God has actually been MORE than gracious to me in protecting me from myself and all of the things that could and should have happened along the trajectory of the path I was walking. It is not mine to question the “whys” and “why nots” of God.

It was not until I started learning in the Bible about God’s intended role for women in being godly helpmeets to their husbands (Genesis 2:18-25) and godly mothers to their children (Psalm 127:1-5), the roles for which we were created, that repentance and regret hit me HARD. I had wasted and sinned away all those precious child-bearing and rearing years in selfish pursuits, with nothing of spiritual value to show for it. I had offended God infinitely with my sin. I had put the spotlight on myself as the victim through my eyes, but God now allowed me to see myself through His eyes. It’s embarrassing and shameful to look back and see all my “boo-hoos” and “why mes” and what a rebellious sinner I was (and still am, but I pray Christ in His faithfulness is still working to conform me into His image). I am eternally grateful to God for His forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I pray that God, in His mercy in showing me my sin and extending forgiveness, brings glory to Himself, and moreover that He glorifies Himself through me in whatever way He pleases.

It would be untruthful if I said my flesh does not still yearn to love, nurture and rear a child with my husband in the way of the Lord, bringing glory to Him; but now Dave and I can TRULY say in this regard that we want what the Lord wants for whatever reason He in His infinite counsel has for us. We know there are adoption and foster care agencies out there tied to worldly systems, but we choose to trust in God completely for all provision, including this. And it has also been encouraging to see all of the faith-building situations in our lifestyle that have translated into maturing our trust in this area.

I pray God may use my journey into a proper view of childlessness to help someone who may be struggling with the same issue. Now, this blog post could have read a little differently, in that, I could have grown up living in obedience to God’s word and been married at a young age with no known impediment to having children, yet my womb could still have been closed. But the conclusion I pray would have been the same: that God, with all of His attributes, is sovereign, which needs to be enough, regardless of the situation.

I’ve purposely tried to stay more objective and less emotional with this post because it truly is not about me. I was/am not seeking pity or encouraging words, but I wrote this in case God might see fit to use it for His glory, and I pray He blesses it to the spiritual benefit of the reader.

Susan

A Mulching We Will Go – Update I

August 5, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 1 Comment

I have come to believe that about the only way to semi-win the temporal war of the weeds around here is to mulch them. Cutting them with a lawn mower endlessly just isn’t a long-term solution. Applying the mulch under the north lean-to of our barn has worked really well, and the mulch we get from the landfill has a lot of fine compost dust, which seems to really kill plant-type material (I have found that you have to be careful not to get it on leaves of plants you want to keep, because it seems to cause them to wither and even die); and so I am hoping, Lord willing, to mulch just about everywhere around buildings, the garden areas, etc. where I would like to control the weeds.

When we started adding heavy layers of mulch to the gardens, I had made a mulch carrier for our truck. With the way I originally built it, I had to heave all of the mulch over the sides. Someone asked why I didn’t have a removable back for it. Wow, brilliant! And so, I changed the carrier to have that.

Here it is with the removable back in place. I used latches that don’t spin and key hooks to keep them latched, which was a little cheaper way to go instead of using twisting latches:

Truck Bed Mulch Carrier with Removable Back

Here is the back door swung open;

Truck Bed Mulch Carrier with Removable Back Swung Open

And then completely removed. It works pretty well, and is less messy on my person, especially when it’s windy:

Truck Bed Mulch Carrier with Removable Back Removed

With the new carrier ready, for this round, I thought I’d continue north of the barn, filling in the whole area from where we left off last time to the water berm about 20 feet away. Here it is before the mulch, before being mowed:

Mulch Area with Weeds Before Mowing and Mulching

And here is the same area, two and a half months later, after laying down about a three to four inch layer. I picked the weeds one time, and it’s holding pretty well. It has to be weeded, but the weeds often come out fairly easily, and it seems over time, fewer and fewer weeds appear:

Mulch Area with Few Weeds After Mulching

Again, this whole mulching idea seems to work pretty well. We’re thankful to the Lord for this idea and the resources to implement it, and we pray God by His Spirit keep the gardens of our hearts weed-free.

— David

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Piglets of 2012

July 26, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

It’s been over a year since we did our last animal update on our pig Pebbles. As you can imagine, she has grown up quite a bit; and so, it was time to continue our normal cycle and get her a mate. We bought a medium-sized male from Mr. Bunker, and of course, had to call him Bamm-Bamm.

Here are Pebbles (left) and Bamm-Bamm (right) back in May:

And again, Bamm-Bamm (left) and Pebbles (right):

We thought, based on “action” we saw from the two that she was about ready to give birth late-April or so, but it ended up two estrus cycles past that.

And by God’s graces and mercies, she successfully gave birth! — a litter of nine, with two dead, and one little guy that just could never get walking properly, and he died as well.

After last year’s difficulties with Pebble’s mother’s delivery, we were really praying this one would go more smoothly; and the Lord was gracious in granting that to be so; and we are very thankful!

Here they are not too long after being born:

And here is a video of the journey of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, from meeting last December to piglets in June (it’s a little long, but to me, kind of fun to see the progression). Bamm-Bamm has since been “processed” as our food provisions:

We are very grateful to God for granting these new piggies to be born, for the safe delivery for Pebbles, and for the meat from Bamm-Bamm we have been able to store away.

— David

A House – Update XVIII – Porch Roof – Update I

July 12, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 2 Comments

With the metal completed on the main roof of the house, it was on to finishing the porch roof.

Here is the beginning of one side, with the #30 tar paper (asphalt felt) in place:

And a completed side:

Here are the beginnings of the hip corner. The person helping us just used a metal blade on a circular saw to make the cuts (with face protection in place!):

House Porch Roof Metal Hip Roof Complete

And then the hip corner complete:

This is the upper flashing on the right porch side, the top part of the flashing to go underneath the siding, and includes fitted foam underneath. The bottom drip edge we did like we did for the main roof:

Here is the hip ridge cap installed. It too has special angle-cut fitted foam under it:

House Porch Roof Metal Hip Roof Ridge Cap

And here is what it looks like against the corner of the house:

House Porch Roof Metal Hip Roof Ridge Cap Corner Against the House

And here it all is with the metal, flashing and hip ridge caps in place, and with the fascia plates painted:

We are very thankful to the Lord for Him granting continued progress on the house.

— David

Turnips & Wheat 2012 – Update II

July 5, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 7 Comments

Since our last update on our turnips and wheat, the turnips basically dried out; but we are grateful to the Lord for what He granted in them in being able to feed our pigs with them.

But the wheat continued on its process. Here is what the wheat field looked like back in April. You can see how high it had grown in the second picture:

2012 Wheat Crop More Wheat Heads in April

Fast forward a little over a month, and here is what it looked like. A beautiful gift from God!

And then it was time! The harvest! This is something we had been looking forward to basically since we moved here — being able to harvest a crop. There is also much to learn spiritually from the wheat harvest, the wheat being the saints of God.

First was to cut it and tie it into sheaves. I tried using a scythe for reaping (God harvesting the souls of His people); but it ended up leaving the wheat on the ground in somewhat of a chaotic fashion (which could just have been a lack of technique); and we found that having all of the heads together in one place is better for the threshing process; and so Sue used a sickle, which worked well. We tied them using weeds or twine. The whole time out there are got “Bringing in the Sheaves” stuck in my head:

And then stacked them into stooks to dry (God gathering His saints together):

Gathering the 2012 Wheat Sheaves into Stooks

Once ready, it was time to begin the threshing process (God breaking down the carnal, selfish man of His chosen with trials and chastisements). We laid out a tarp, and borrowed some flails from one of the folks here. He attached some chains on the end of closet dowels — we thought the loose, heavier chains might do well with the flailing:

And here is Sue and myself flailing away. It’s something of a violent process (sometimes God needs to be a little “violent” in the breaking down of our pride):

And then it was time to winnow the wheat, separating the chaff from the wheat berries (God further refining the souls of His children). We used a garbage can lid, which didn’t work too badly:

After several hours of work, here is the finished product — the mostly cleaned wheat berries (God’s gathered in, sanctified people):

We were thankful to be able to go through the process of hand-harvesting and processing the wheat.

It happened though that a fellow from town we know had an old grain combine that he wanted us to have to use, if we wanted, and he had a backup one for spare parts. After the Bunkers got done using it, and graciously going through all of the headaches and replacing of parts needed to finish their fields, it was our turn to use.

The “combine” is a machine that does all of the processing we described above all at one time. Of course, it’s much faster, but you also have to maintain it (which causes dependence on the world), you don’t get the experience needed to learn how to harvest wheat by hand should the mechanized methods be no longer available one day, you don’t think about the spiritual aspects of the harvesting process because you’re not intimately involved, and you don’t get the benefits (spiritual and temporal) of performing work in God’s way, all of which are why we wanted to process at least some of the wheat by hand.

Still, I wanted to be able to make sure to get all of the wheat harvested and stored before we lost the crop from being in the field too long; and so I decided we would use the combine on the rest of the field. And here it is a-harvesting:

Harvesting the 2012 Wheat Crop with a Combine

And a completed row:

Completed Row of Harvesting the 2012 Wheat Crop with a Combine

You can see the difference in amounts between the picture above of the hand-harvested in the bucket vs. what the combine collected after just a couple of hours. I can understand the temptation of the carnal man that caused him to desire and then over time find and eventually implement, through industrialism, what appeared to be easier ways to do things, and how easily it can be to get sucked into the industrial trap, which actually leads to slavery — you become dependent on the industrial machine (as a system), and then MUST do things the worldly way to survive). This is something we try to remember and keep in perspective, even if we use something like a combine for now:

Combine Bin Full of Harvested 2012 Wheat Crop

With the combine’s grain bin full, with the help of some of the men, we unloaded it into sacks for storage:

And used rebar ties to tie them off:

Here is the first haul from that first bin:

And here is the final stack of wheat sacks:

2012 Wheat Crop Stored in Sacks in the Barn

If you’ve never seen a combine in action, it is pretty amazing the amount of “work” it does, when it’s working and not broken down:

We are so very thankful to the Lord for His granting of a wheat harvest — our first real crop, besides the turnips this year as well. We thank Him for the lessons He teaches us in His word and through work, and we pray He leads us into work that is worship unto him. We pray He thresh and winnow us in purity, and that He help us through that when He does; and we pray we will be presented to His Son one day, a “cleaned” and holy bride.

— David

Garden – Spring 2012 – Update I

June 28, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 5 Comments

After our garlic was harvested this year, I had planned to replant those beds with black-eyed peas we had harvested from Mr. Bunker’s field a couple of years ago, because late spring is about the time to start planting them, and they work well in the heat.

But, the garden beds needed to be prepared with some new soil. We’ve recently started using mulch for actual garden beds, but, even though the mulch we get has composted dirt in it, it also has too many larger wood chips; and so, other folks around here have been sifting their mulch to remove those larger chips; and I decided to follow suit.

Here is the mulch sifter I put together with scrap stuff I had laying around:

And here I am doing the sifting:

Here, you can see the results in the raised bed; and the left-over wood chips can be used for walkway covering:

And here are the black-eyed peas growing after being planted!

So, going around the horn, here is how the garden now looks….

This is the okra:

And the green beans (in the front bed) and the squash and zucchini (in the bed in back):

And the tomatoes (in the front bed) and the carrots (in the bed in back). Usually, our carrots do really well; but for some reason this year, not too many grew. I did try planting a little scarcely, because usually the carrots are very packed and smaller; and I ended up trying to replant a couple of times too; but it just wasn’t to be this year:

Now, in that previous blog post above about the new mulch gardening, one of the folks here had already tried planting in their mulch-gardening area with some success; so I thought I’d give it a whirl too, to see if anything might grow. I planted some more of the black-eyed peas in half a row as a test case, and lo and behold they started growing!

With those results, I went ahead and planted the whole area:

And here, if you look closely (you probably have to click the image), many of them have started to grow too:

Here is some of the produce the Lord has graciously granted:

Instead of pressure canning it, we’ve wanted to try to use the more healthy preservation method of lacto-fermentation. Here is some squash and zucchini in a brine solution, with some mesquite tree leaves that are supposed to help keep the vegetables crunchier:

And here is our lacto-fermenting section in the camper. We initially put the jars down in the root cellar, but the lacto-fermenting process actually needs a warmer environment to process correctly. Also, the vegetables would float in the brine. And so, we figure with the combination of the cooler temperatures of the root cellar, and the floating vegetables, they started to mold on top. Well, we picked off the moldy pieces from off the top, brought them into our very warm camper, tried weighing the vegetables down but didn’t find a good way to do that, and instead began to turn the jars upside down and then back right side up every 12 hours, burping them at the same time (to release the gas build-up from the lacto-fermenting process):

Once again, we are very thankful to God for the provisions from the garden He has granted, and for the processes He built into His creation to preserve the produce without man-made methods of preservation (like canning, which destroys nutrients, or freezing, which causes dependence on the world for electricity and freezers).

— David

Garlic 2012 – Update I

June 20, 2012 / David & Susan Sifford / 0 Comments

As the the garlic-growing season went on, it became apparent it was time to pull the garlic. Last year, I believe I waited a little too long, and some plants started to wither; and so, this year, we tried to get them a little earlier. But to me, with some of the leaves yellowing, and a couple of the plants starting to lay over, it was time to get harvesting.

Here is the garlic haul for this year:

And here are the plants drying. We let them dry for about a week, although we had to roll them all up and get them out of the rain a couple of times:

After the drying, it was time to tie them up and get them hanging for the curing process. I think we might have ended up with at least a little more than we used for planting. Some of last year’s garlic ended up being rotten and dried by this year; and so, I’m hoping pulling them a little earlier will help against that:

We are grateful to the Lord for granting the garlic He did, and we pray for a granting of the health benefits from it that can come with garlic.

— David

The Sifford Sojournal

Page 66 of 95

Susan’s Musin’s – Journey Into a Proper View of Christian Childlessness

A Mulching We Will Go – Update I

Providence’s Perpetuation Provisions: New Piglets of 2012

A House – Update XVIII – Porch Roof – Update I

Turnips & Wheat 2012 – Update II

Garden – Spring 2012 – Update I

Garlic 2012 – Update I

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