Batch of Soap

For the first time in probably a year, and maybe more, I made soap. Only this time I used a new recipe and acquired the proper equipment. It’s just amazing how much easier a project can be done with the right tools.
And Mom volunteered to help me, which was fun. Mom measured everything because she is a conscientious cook.
And Anna wore goggles around the lye because she is accident prone in the kitchen.

We melted shortening and mixed lye powder with fresh Amish cow milk, and used a lot of different oils including safflower, canola, olive, castor, and essential tea-tree and eucalyptus perfume oils. 

I believe the batch turned out well, as you may guess by our smiles. Tomorrow we shall cut it into bars and wrap them up to ripen for four weeks.

Domestic Newsflash

I’m sitting across from a luscious double chocolate brownie who is winking at me. I’ve been saving up for this rare treat all day. I knew there was a free sweet or pastry on my Panera card, so I redeemed it on my way home from helping my little friend with her schoolwork this afternoon. Now that it’s really here, and I’m all washed up in my pink plaid pajama pants and pink shirt with black butterflies, smelling delightfully like tea tree and mint and witch hazel, I can’t make up my mind to really eat it.
It was wonderful of God to create woman, and even spunkier to make her girlish.
The silk and satin and singing of the King and I is extremely satisfying to us, so is a cool room with windows flung open for the night air to push our maroon curtains around, so is Tila-tilo tea from Spain-grown linden blossoms, also purple finger-nail polish, and very long skirts that swirl just right, and wildflowers, and what about cuddly kittens or a scarf assortment?
Or a new hairstyle? My dad said to me- ‘Girls cut their hair and then laugh about it.’ Why do we find it amusing to feel new and look stylish?

The poetry of Autumn air has set upon Kentucky. Puffy clouds race across the skies, woods blaze in flashy, dying colors, flocks of blackbirds make their noisy rounds, and wild gray squirrels bury acorns in the wet clover-covered ground.
A grand festival is anticipated in Glendale (the little town where the train runs through.) Thousands will be there Saturday. Everything craftsy and tasty will be for the taking from local friends and cooks. Great caldrons of chili are sold by the cup-full, and slabs of peanut-brittle by the bag; there will be all things wood and wool and yarn and steel for art and use.
Though it is an annual experience and only about ten miles away, I haven’t been to the October Fest in years, so I am excited to be helping some friends at their booth. I’ll pull on my sensible new pair of rain-boots, take a jacket with me, and perhaps throw on a hat very early in the morning.

Every day would be a dull and colorless event if we failed to appreciate the homey things that keep life meaningful. Jesus honored small, familiar things by using them to teach us of high and holy matters: the kingdom of heaven is like a woman sweeping her house, a hearer and doer of the good Word is like a construction worker, spiritual nourishment is like tending a plant, God’s provision is like a glorious daisy, false prophets are like a diseased fruit tree, your Father in heaven is like a daddy who gives the best gifts ever, faith is like a tiny seed, devotion to God is like a secret in your closet, Jesus’ redemption is like a wise doctor, His joy for the church is like a happy man at his own wedding, preaching to lost souls is like helping a sheep who is hurt, living in the end times is like predicting the weather, etc. etc. etc.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

A thought that happened in my morning.....

Jesus was upset that the Pharisees and scribes made religion a burden. Loving God is not a burden, it is being truly free.

Jesus said everyone who asks of God will receive, who seek God will find Him, and who knocks it will be opened unto. Our Father knows how to give good gifts and will give the Holy Spirit to whoever asks.

Jesus does not want us to carry the weight of being perfectly holy and purely blameless alone. He said to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us. Solomon taught us that we are really only strong and secure when we lean on Jesus, for He will lead us out of the wilderness.

Jesus, help us to choose weakness instead of relying on our own strengths.

What the Lord Sayeth by George MacDonald

Trust my father, saith the eldest-born;

I did trust him ere the earth began;

not to know him is to be forlorn;

not to love him is- not to be man.

He that knows him loves him altogether;

with my father I am so content

that through all this dreary human weather

I am working, waiting, confident.

He is with me; I am not alone;

life is bliss, because I am his child;

down in Hades will I lay the stone

whence shall rise to Heaven his city piled.

Heaken, brothers, pray you, to my story!

hear me, sister; hearken, child, to me;

our one father is a perfect glory;

he is light, and there is none but he.

Come then with me; I will lead the way;

all of you, sore-hearted, heavy-shod,

come to father, yours and mine, I pray;

little ones, I pray you, come to God!