February Flying By

It is interesting how in this life time exists yet is hard to grasp or understand the passing of it.  For example, it seems like it was just days ago that Christmas was here, and yet it at the same time it seems an eon ago!  Perhaps that is just another clue to show the essence of the eternal spirit within all mankind--creatures, (in the sense that man was created by God) creatures passing through the sphere and influence of time and space but designed for something greater--eternity with their Creator!

And as we live out our days here under the sun, we should focus all our skill, thought and energy to glorifying God; and working through His processes of sanctification strive to become better vessels for His use and more effective ambassadors for Christ.  Our Aim and Goal must be to gain for Christ greater glory or all our efforts are in vain.  It is the eternal that is of consequence.

As the Scripture enjoins us-- "whatever you do, do all for the Glory of God!"

How have you been living in accordance with the calling you have received?  What has God been doing in your life that you can praise Him for?  He truly delights to delight His children, and it is our privilege to return praise to Him for his glorious works in our lives!

We have had much to be thankful for this past month, with various events in which we have clearly seen the hand of God--over and over we have given Him praise for His sovereignty when circumstances and events were and are out of our control.  Through the hope we have in Christ and with the knowledge of His promises we can find (at least a little!) Joy in the midst of trials and Peace in the midst of heartache!

At the beginning of the month Jonathan had the opportunity to travel to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, and while driving down after picking up a couple of friends in Illinois experienced a disabling vehicle failure! (timing belt shredded).  But by the grace of God they were able to have another car brought from southern IL and continued on their way without loss of good spirits and a cheerful outlook.  Having lost about 7.5 hours while in Missouri, getting towed to a repair shop and waiting for the next car, they continued driving on into Texas a couple of hours past midnight before stopping for a couple hours rest at a hotel.  But while they were stopped in that town they discovered that the truck of the the car had popped open and they had lost a suitcase!  Once again however they were able to praise God that it was a bag with only clothes and not expensive camera equipment!  After safely arriving (finally!) at San Antonio and parking in a budget lot one of the car windows was broken out an someone stole another bag of clothes from the back seat.... Thankfully the insurance covered the damage.

It was a trip that they won't soon forget!  Even through the trials and testings they had a great time and were edified by the speakers at the festival and came back with a stronger friendship.

Meanwhile the van was stranded in Missouri and Jonathan would be stuck at Illinois on his return north.  So we at home made plans to pick him up and tried to figure out how to retrieve the van.  God directed us to a Christian shipping company which was able to make the arrangements necessary to have the van transported back to Michigan for about the same cost as we could have driven a truck down to bring it back on a trailer.

So now we are praising God for safe return of the boy, the van and even some more snow!

February has a reputation in Michigan of being snowy and sunny....this year we are not getting a lot of either, but are thankful for the special beauty when the two combine!

One day in particular was especially pretty this month: it started out a bit cold (a few degrees below zero) which produces gorgeous hoarfrost and a frozen fog...

Later on when the sun was shining in full force you might have thought it was summer by the shadows!

The icicles were dripping merrily:

 And the snow provided a backdrop for one of my favorite photos:

At some point we did get quite a few inches of snow...I can't actually remember if all this snow stuff happened in the same week or what but wanted to put the pictures up anyway :-)

Another celebration we had was of another year of Mom's life and the goodness of God to her!  Jonathan was still in Texas on her Birthday so we waited on grilling the porterhouse steak and fried up some ham steaks instead :-)

The rest of the meal was also delicious: fried/steamed sweet potatoes with onions and Parmesan cheese, steamed broccoli, and fried mushrooms!

With homemade (and Dadmade :-) carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for desert!

The queen for a day coming to dinner with her faithful knightly escort:

A few presents and then naps all around :-)  

On the "to do" list, now that we have the van back, one of my next projects is to pull the heads off and see what damage has been done to the valves etc...

Another project has been a pickup truck makeover; from this:

Edit: Found this picture which is a bit better :-)

For this purpose please ignore my buddy's first deer and notice the topper...
this was the only 'before' picture that I could find of the truck....

To this:

While we were considering driving down to pick up the van from Missouri I got on a bit of a trailer craze, and "happened to find" (God's doing again) a gooseneck trailer project for a good deal...it even came with the hitch!

Its even one of those nice ones that fold flat!

 So now I have another fun project to work on.  I've built another trailer from a camper frame in the past and learned a lot from that so I think that I can turn this into a pretty nice little gooseneck.   I've been kinda wanting one for awhile to increase my hauling capacity without needing to upgrade the pickup--even with 1 ton and overload springs, a half-ton pickup can only do so much.  With the gooseneck to put the tongue weight closer to the truck axles it will spread the load more, even putting some weight on the front axle of the truck, allowing me to (hopefully) at least double or triple my hauling capacity over my previous single axle bumper type trailer even though this one is only a couple of feet longer.

And speaking of projects, Mom finished the quilt she was making for Jonathan while he was away in Texas! Here's a couple of quick pictures:

A very tired guy, but very happy! You can see the quilt Mom made me hanging in the background

This pattern is called 'King David's Crown'

And lastly for a quick animal update: 

 If you look closely you will see our flock of "free range" wild turkeys in the back ground :-)  At times there are upwards of 50 birds that hang out in the neighboring fields gleaning what they can.

And now to Him who is able to even more than we ask or think, to Him be all power glory and majesty now and forever. Amen.

Grace and Peace be y'all's in abundance,

Matthew

Winter's Back Folks!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

 Issued by The National Weather Service

Grand Rapids, MI

Thu, Jan 31, 2013, 9:11 AM EST

LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST FRIDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS HAS ISSUED A LAKE EFFECT SNOW ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST FRIDAY.

HAZARDOUS WEATHER...

* POTENTIAL FOR 2 TO 5 INCHES OF TOTAL SNOW THROUGH 1 PM FRIDAY.

* WEST WINDS GUSTING TO 30 MPH WILL CREATE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW.

* WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES AS COLD AS 10 BELOW ZERO TONIGHT AND FRIDAY NIGHT.

Back to Winter -- Yeah!!

The Second Thaw

We know to expect it--the sloppy, sometimes dangerously icy, roads; the MUD, the rain and the fog....  But usually we only get it once per January!  This year we've had two January thaws: one in the first third of the month and now this one that started Sunday night.

We are thankful for the moisture, however it takes considerably more work to be thankful for the recurring freeze thaw cycles!  Most of us Michaganders would infinitely prefer to just keep the freeze part until it's ready to be permanently thawed.  Then there are those of us who would prefer that the temperatures stayed well above freezing all year; and again there are those of me who would prefer that from the middle of November until first of March the temperature averaged 5 or 10 degrees and came with 2 feet of snow! :-)  (I can hear it now--"Go North, young man, go NORTH!)  Although after the last couple of years with disappointing snowfall totals and much warmer than average temperatures, I've mentioned several times that we might just as well move South--then we'd at least miss half of the mud, and not be out much for cold and snow.   Someday I'm going to make it to northern Minnesota, or North Dakota or something to experience what real cold and snow are so I can share it with those complaining about 25 degrees :-)

The other night it did get cold enough for us to have some unusual Northern Lights!  We typically have northern lights every night (the city of Charlotte is a just a couple of miles to the Northeast!), but this was a little different.  The lights from the industrial complex were putting on a real show:

We're not sure what caused this...it only lasted for maybe a couple of hours.  Perhaps the right combination of ice crystals in the atmosphere, or something like that?

Anyway it was a good night for picture taking because we got some nice shots of the house too!  So if you happened to come to PotterVilla this winter here's what you'd have seen: 

A few nights later we got a couple of interesting pictures of the moon....

How could a person look at the beauty of creation, or the people around them and not see the hand of God? As Paul said in the book of Romans: "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (emphasis mine)

For my part, as the song says: "I'm so glad, I'm a part of the family of God!"

There's another old hymn too part of which goes like this:

Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;

It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,

And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

--Worship The King; Robert Grant

Part of God's care for us lately has been in the stockpiling of wood for next year. Grandpa's farm has had the blight of the emerald ash borer for a couple of years and he is up to his ears in dead and dying ash trees. Back last week I was able to take three days and devote that time to getting the wood from Grampa's low ground while it was still frozen and solid. In that time we were able to cut and haul three loads of wood home (totaling about 9 1/2 face cords) and one load of logs to a friend with a sawmill. When things work that well and smoothly, I can feel God smiling on us! Now the big blocks are stacked up waiting to be split and re-stacked to dry a little before providing us with lovely heat next winter.

One day we started figuring how many times we had to handle the wood before it eventually made it to the ash pile out back...I think we got up to 15 or 16 before we quit--it was almost too discouraging to keep going! And of course some individual pieces would be handled more than that when you count in the ones that bounce out the other side of the trailer when thrown in and so on. The cost of "free" heat!

Have y'all ever heard the one about the fellow that was trying to figure out how much burning wood actually cost him? Well he started out with the chain saw, added in the cost of a pickup truck and trailer, a new back window for the pickup (the wood is supposed to stay in the back, not ride in the front seat, but some pieces seem to have a mind of their own!), gas to get to the woods and gas for the chain saw, new boots and 5 stitches in his left foot, the second new window, the repair bill for the chimney after the bottle rocket cleaning method went awry, the four sets of new trailer lights (broken from backing in to wood blocks or brush), yet another new back window....and he just about gave up cutting wood and went back to buying propane. But he just couldn't do it--because you see burning wood is free!

Until next time,

Matthew

A Snowy Day--Perfect for Afghan Pictures!

We awoke this morning to a beautiful sight--light, powdery snow covering everything in a delightful puffy coat!  

I think that winter is finally here: the weather is calling for snow and temps not higher than 25 degrees for the next week.  I love it!  

The snow is still falling and adding to the three or four inches we have already :-)  

Over at the "farm," the animals are glad for the respite from the vicious wind that has been blowing the past several days--it's still breezy today but not the 25 mph plus that we've had.

So what's a better occupation for a cold winter day than cozying up with your favorite hot drink (hot chocolate with Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream anyone?) and looking at pictures of a cozy afghan?

This an afghan pattern that Mom has made a couple of times for a special friend or two over the last few years.  We're finally getting the pictures up of one of the completed blankets :-)

 The pattern is called "The Tree of Life"

 Below each tree panel is a 'flower garden':

 This shows the blanket before the edge was attached:

 With the edge sewn on:

 And the edge its' self!  It is a very pretty bit of work on it's own and might work well for a lot of things.  (or so Mom tells me....I haven't made it past the straight knitting part, let alone pearling, so don't know much about the subject :)

So until next time we pray that your wood pile will be well filled, your hot cocoa close to hand and a nice afghan never too far out of reach!

Matthew

A Wintry Morning at PotterVilla

It is finally winter at PotterVilla!  Last night's low temperature neared the single digits, and when coupled with a rising sun makes for beauty everywhere you look.  I don't know if I could live in a place that doesn't have such wonderful days.  Ever place has its own beauty I know, but I enjoy the cold, some say frigid, temperatures (though it does make for some chilly fingers working the camera) and can't picture (pun intended?) winter without the cold and snow!  This is usually when most people from around here tell me to move north :-)

But anyway, if you came down our road this morning....

and turned in at our sign....

 These are a few of the sights you'd have seen:

Starting with the rising sun...

Looking Southeast across the road at the neighbor's fields.

I really liked the frilly, frosty fibers on this plant--do you recognize it? 

Its call the Yucca (it has a tall stem with white flowers part of the year) 

 Even common weeds (and brush piles) take on a brilliant beauty that they usually eschew...

It reminds me of what can happen in a person's life if he will only totally surrender to God...Letting the SON shine on him and in turn reflecting His character, so that the world around sees no longer the person but his savior--it is transforming; and nobody will be able to look at him or his God the same way again.

I liked the way the different textures showed up in this shot. 

We've decided that there is one time of year that having a golf course in the backyard is especially pretty! 

 And then there are those wretched Scotch Pine trees that are the bane of my existence in the summer while I'm mowing, but live for the days like this that their cones may be photographed!

  

And the lovely three sisters: Blue Spruce and very prickly, but at least they don't droop!

 Last but not least a White Pine for good measure:

That's the tour for today--hope ya'all enjoyed it, but pictures really don't do it justice...so you'll just have to wander our way, come down that road, and turn at the sign.

Until next time; May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine upon you and give you peace!

Matthew