Thanksgiving

Thankful for life today. Family, home, work, friends, and the favor of God toward us, all of us, through Jesus the Christ. There are many unanswered questions, many looming problems, much suffering which soon will be answered, resolved, relieved.

My song, "For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is in Him."

He says, "Be still and know that I AM God.

Hope For Today

Let's say you are the president-elect trying to prepare yourself to lead the world's nations into a new era of responsible, thrifty, caring, sustainable global communities. Where would you find hope? Outside yourself is my first guess. Experts? Brilliant people? Remember the definition of insanity...continuing to do the same thing while expecting different results. Hmmmm....

Shiny yellow and brown leaves cover the ground. Downpour yesterday and sunshine today confirm that the trees in my little acre have lost 90% of their leaves. Earlier Dave cut up some smaller logs for our wood stove. Then football beckoned. As I stack the freshly cut wood, motorcycles rumble by, probably from the Harley shop a couple miles up the road. (One summer we counted 86 motorcycles in one group passing our house on the way to the Interstate.) I've had my share of muffler burns. Even now our old 1976 Honda 550 4-cylinder is in the shop getting road worthy. Two gas stations four miles away are having a price war. Today $2.07/gallon. Then I cleaned out several buckets we collected rain water in this past summer. We're still experimenting with that. This week Dave will "mow" the yard again - sucking up the leaves, shredding them with the blade then dropping back down. We'll get the garden bed ready for winter. Our little harvest is over. We're still considering a baby-sized green house. These are some of our efforts in transition for what we think lies ahead.

Yesterday I spent time with Janis and the girls. Many hugs and kisses; much talking - Grace explained how the heart (with her hand over her chest) is where love and happiness come from and I explained how the heart also keeps you alive; one book reading - Dora helped Troll be nice; a little eating - pumpkin pie for the first time (definitely with whipped cream); and some shopping. Violet chose a cardboard book about Baby Jesus and the story of His birth with a little yellow button that when you press it plays Silent Night. We were only half way home when Janis told Violet to "quit pressing the button" and Violet..."It started by itself." (The button was only an ON button, not an ON/OFF.) I'm sure she went to sleep that night with the book under her pillow and her finger on the button.

The girls have no idea how difficult life may become. They find love and happiness now in family and faith.

LESSON: The Creator who is Author of our life is Source of our hope.

NYTimes DOT EARTH blogger, Kevin C. Revkin writes

"The stick, perhaps the most versatile plaything in history, was chosen along with the baby doll and skateboard by the people at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y.

...so basic, so unmanufactured, can be a springboard for the imagination, a link to the nonhuman world, and a reason to get outdoors.

Reusable. Recyclable. Renewable."

HBD to Janis

In a tiny, rural, Wisconsin dairy town, population 200, in my in-laws rented farmhouse my husband and mom-in-law helped me deliver my second baby girl... a classic natural childbirth delivery. Janis came a couple weeks early so I already had a doctor's checkup scheduled for the next day. We kept the appointment. Shortly after I joined the pregnant moms in the waiting room with my one day old baby, my distraught OB came streaming into the room, spotted me, and with her shaky, clammy hands snatched the baby away! Apparently I was the next patient to be seen. The doctor did all the "right" stuff - birth certificate, silver nitrate, PKU, weigh in, and general check up. Janis was perfect.

Now thirty-five years later Janis has two girls of her own, both quite perfect. Happy Birthday to you.

CORNBREAD BIRTHDAY CAKE

1 1/4 c soymilk

1 tbs + 1 tsp white vinegar

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour

2 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbs baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Grease an 8" square or round cake pan, or line with parchment paper. Combine soymilk and vinegar. Let stand while you mix the dry ingredients. When the oven reaches temperature, pour the soured soymilk into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly, and don't overmix. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. When done, the top will be golden and a toothpick inserted in center will come out clean. Let stand to cool before cutting.

Buying and Selling in Our Changing Economy

Greenpa posted an illustration of what's happening between buyers and sellers. "Here, from The Financial Post, is a nice clear story about why this stuff matters; immediately.
The credit crisis is spilling over into the grain industry as international buyers find themselves unable to come up with payment, forcing sellers to shoulder often substantial losses.Before cargoes can be loaded at port, buyers typically must produce proof they are good for the money. But more deals are falling through as sellers decide they don't trust the financial institution named in the buyer's letter of credit, analysts said."There's all kinds of stuff stacked up on docks right now that can't be shipped because people can't get letters of credit," said Bill Gary, president of Commodity Information Systems in Oklahoma City. "The problem is not demand, and it's not supply because we have plenty of supply. It's finding anyone who can come up with the credit to buy."
This whole "letter of credit" thing is a little obtuse if you're not a financial freak; but basically both ends of the shipping business are now refusing to trust each other - as they always have- that the money for the ship, and the money for the cargo, is actually there."

Even if you have never read The Revelation, you have probably heard about the symbolic beast who "causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark". Is our current global financial storm setting a stage for such a concept?

Global Economy

"We are living in interesting times. I presume that you have noticed that no progress was made by infusion of enormous amounts of cash into our banking system, and that only as the industrialized nations met and coordinated their efforts was any progress made. That, however, was minimal, and now the president has set an international meeting for November 15, after the election, for the great nations to meet and set an agenda for rules for the global economy, formalizing and authorizing what was a de facto reality in any case, that globalism had already progressed to the point where there is no such thing as a sovereign economy of a single nation, but rather a global economy to which each nation belongs. Thus, step by step, we progress into the world-state." John McCall, spiritual advisor

The Automatic Earth says, "On the international front, there are many miles of dams and dikes about to burst. Denmark joins the list of trouble with a desperate rate hike; Romania does the same. ING Groep loses another 20%, even though it got $14 billion last week. Sterling and the Euro keep plunging (which makes Europeans happy). The Yen is heading for the skies beyond infinity, which takes enormous additional amounts of credit out of the markets, a much bigger issue than you might think. The IMF announces a plan to help developing nations, but even if we were to assume that they have noble intentions -which we don't-, it is too little too late. The Fund is now talking to perhaps a dozen countries at the same time, and it can't seem to conclude any deals. It doesn't want to, it won't, and it can't. There'll be token amounts handed out, but only to countries that agree to give up what can basically be labeled their sovereignty."

"Our societies, all of them, need to spread their remaining wealth, because if they don't, they will fall apart. The poverty this crisis will unload upon our lands will make that inevitable. You either share, or you face street fighting men. Over 90% of the 'money' that makes the world go round is make believe, and it's being renditioned and disappeared at lightning speed, to never be heard from again. In a sense, that's a very healthy development. Yet, the way we are approaching it to date will not end well for many of us. Forget the Wall Street "bloodbath". Unless we change our ways real soon, we are talking real physical bloodbaths."

In a New York Times Op-Ed article on October 21, 2008, A Matter of Life and Debt by Margaret Atwood she states, "As for what will happen to us next, I have no safe answers. If fair regulations are established and credibility is restored, people will stop walking around in a daze, roll up their sleeves and start picking up the pieces. Things unconnected with money will be valued more -- friends, family, a walk in the woods. "I" will be spoken less, "we" will return, as people recognize that there is such a thing as the common good. On the other hand, if fair regulations are not established and rebuilding seems impossible, we could have social unrest on a scale we haven't seen for years. Is there any bright side to this? Perhaps we'll have some breathing room -- a chance to reevaluate our goals and to take stock of our relationship to the living planet from which we derive all our nourishment, and without which debt finally won't matter."

Now how does one interpret all this information? For me, this description of Jesus feeding five thousand hungry followers from two fish and five loaves of bread, best illustrates my view as a Christian Creationist.

"In feeding the five thousand, Jesus lifts the veil from the world of nature, and reveals the power that is constantly exercised for our good. In the production of earth's harvests God is working a miracle every day. Through natural agencies the same work is accomplished that was wrought in the feeding of the multitude. Men prepare the soil and sow the seed, but it is the life from God that causes the seed to germinate. It is God's rain and air and sunshine that cause it to put forth, 'first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' (Mark 4:28) It is God who is every day feeding millions from earth's harvest fields. Men are called upon to co-operate with God in the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf because of this they lose sight of the divine agency. Man is glorified in place of God, and His gracious gifts are perverted to selfish uses, and made a curse instead of a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He desires that our dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful kindness and to glorify Him for the working of His power and the blessing of His gifts.

After the multitude had been fed, there was an abundance of food left. But He who had all the resources of infinite power at His command said, 'Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.' Nothing was to be wasted. We should neglect nothing that will tend to benefit a human being. Let everything be gathered up that will relieve the necessity of earth's hungry ones." The Desire of Ages, E.G.White, pp. 367-68, 1898.

LESSON: It is time for us to gather up the leftovers that God has provided and share them.

The Wedding

The Wedding

Our oldest granddaughter married this October. Most of the guests were relatives, immediate relatives. Children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, cousins, in-laws too. Don't cha just love it!