Take My Life and Let It Be
Frances R. Havergal, 1874

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.

Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.

Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee;
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Timeless Truths

Desire to Serve God Continues

Jim Elliot had a rich heritage, he had the priviledge of growing up in a godly home with parents that obviously trained him and all of his siblings to have a heart to love the Lord and to serve him. It appears to me that Jim was a young man that had set his heart and affections for the Lord at a very young age. As I read this book I am just amazed that at such a young age he was so desiourous to know the Lord and to serve him with his whole life.

Jim seemed to always know that his main purpose in life was to bring the gospel to a people that had never heard the gospel before.

I was so impressed with his wisdom for such a young man. In his college years where he attended Wheaton College he often wrote home to his parents.

One such letter on Janurary 27 he shared how he had such a burden for the high school group of young people and how important it was to give guidance in what he called the reckless years.
This really spoke to my heart. He reminds us how when they were young the biggest problems was perhaps a broken window or an apple fight.

I will quote Jim " A year's patient, prayerful shepherding will bring most of that flock home with Little Bo Peep's lambs, dragging their tails behind them. " " It takes a while for revelry to turn to reverence, and much repetition of truth to eventually turn young zeal into habitual channels for good. Take care that well-doing does not become a weariness. It is after ye have done the will of
God' that you have most need of patience." The last sentence really encouraged me.

One of my greatest desires is to see all of my children living for the Lord , loving him and following his will for their lives.

I look back on my life and see how God was always working in my life. I did not receive the Lord until I was 29 years old and I often wish that I had known the Lord at a younger age. I wonder what would my life be like now? Well there is no sense to think of the what ifs. God in his soverence knew when would be the best time in my life to reveal himself personally to me, how so very blessed I am!

God Bless, Kathy

A Desire to Serve God

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged anything and as I was talking to my daughter Rebecca I told her how I would like to journal some of the things that God has been doing in my life and how he has been speaking to my heart. She suggested that I just write these things on my blog. So I thought that I would give it a try.

This past semester Rebecca was able to take a missions class and one of the books that she was required to read was Through the Gates of Splendor. I had watched the movie The End of the Spear which retold the story of the five men who loved the Lord so much and wanted the Wadoni people to know of the Lord Jesus that they were willing to risks their lives to reach them.

I had heard of Jim Elliot but I really did not know too much about him or these men so I decided to also read the book. The book was so good it really captured my heart and made me desire to have a closer walk with the Lord myself.

After I finished the book I looked online to see if there were any other books that I could read to learn more about these men and I came across a book written by Elisabeth Elliot (Jim Elliots wife) Shadow of the Almighty The life and Testament of Jim Elliot . This book has been such an encouragement. Much that is written in this book was taken directly from letters that Jim had written to his parents, siblings, friends and a small diary that he always kept with him.

I am currently reading this book (when mommy gets a few minutes to read :) and I am going to write some of the things that the Lord used to speak to my heart.

God Bless, Kathy

Quilting Projects

I have finally finished my wall hanging!
It was a lot of fun I really enjoyed learning
the different aspects of quilting on this smaller
project.

When I began this project I thought oh I will just machine quilt, no problem,
but the teacher said, "no I am going to have you hand quilt."
I really enjoyed the hand quilting it worked out good at night when I
finally had a little time to just sit and unwind.
Now I do not know if I would like to hand quilt a large quilt, but I can appreciate
why hand quilted quilts are so much money :)

I had some fabric left over so I decided to make a throw pillow to match.
This pattern is quite easy once put together and a good size to hand
quilt again.


If you have some fabric left over this would be a great project to begin with!
God Bless, Kathy

Some More Great Savings!

I went to our local Walgreen with coupons in hand and I was able to get some great deals last week !

I bought 2 Gillette Gamer mens razors for .04 each! They were on clearance and I had a 4.00 coupon for each of them.

I also bought 2 packages of FriXion erase-able pens for .19 each package.

My best deal was for the FriXion erase-able highlighters. They were on sale for 1.19 each pkg and Walgreen had a 1.00 off coupon so they came out to .19 cents each same as above for the pens. What made this deal even better was the package had a 4.50 rebate on the back if I bought 3 of them. So I have the rebate in the mail and I will actually make money on this deal :)

Trying to be frugal sure is fun :) It does take some time and planning though but some times the rewards can be worth the work.

Money Saving Mom or Living Rich with Coupons are a great place to start for some ideas on some great tips.

Frugality It is so much fun!

Well one of the things that I have been trying to learn is shopping more wisely. Last week at Shoprite (our local grocery store) I did very well I was so excited!

My receipt said that I saved a total of $170.00 after sale prices and coupons. I had quite a few many which were doubled. Love those .75 cent coupons :)

In the picture up top I was able to get the 4 tubes of toothpaste for free, I received 12 boxes of Smart taste Pasta for free, 4 Snuggles dryer sheets for free, 4 bags of No Yokes egg noodles for free, 1 dozen eggs for free too, in the end I spent a total of $51.00.

There are many websites that I like to frequent for deal ideas and coupons here are a few.
Couponmom.com
Living Rich with Coupons
Money Saving Mom

This year I thought I would learn a little more so I purchased a book from Coupon Mom .
She had a lot of good ideas which have helped me.

I know that there are a lot of young ladies that frequent my daughter Rebecca's blog and I must say that learning this important skill while you are still young can be such a blessing to you in the future. What husband would not be happy if his wife was frugal and spent his hard earned money wisely. :)

I hope to continue to keep learning more tips in my Frugal journey ;)

Baby Quilt Project

Here is my first baby quilt top that I decided to make for a

dear sister in Christ in our church who is due any minute. :)

I found this free pattern on line at Claudia's Quilt Shoppe

It was written for Absolute Beginners!

The quilt had 5 , 9 patch squares and 4 snow ball squares

I decided to sew the backing to the front along the edge and to turn it right side out.

I had pinned the batting to the back of the front piece.

I also decided to tie the quilt.

I used 6 strands of floss and tied every 4" or so.

I really enjoyed making this quilt.

I would encourage any one who is new to quilting to give this one a try.

God Bless, Kathy

My Version of Julia Child's Beuf Bourguignon!

One of the many things that I enjoy learning is cooking. Of course I do cook everyday for our family of ten but I would like to learn how to cook some new dishes.

So off to the library I went and I took out the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

My husband loves beef stew but I never knew how to make a good beef stew so I found this recipe "Beauf Bourguignon" from Julia's cook book. This book is very thorough and I think that I will have to start saving up for a copy of my own.


I have to add that I did not use the 3 cups of red wine that Julia used in the recipe. I replaced this with 2 cups of red grape juice and 1 cup of water. So if this changes the recipe too much and it does not qualify to be called Beuf Bourguignon well than so be it :)

I decided to make it last Saturday and rewarmed it for our Sunday lunch after church. This worked out wonderfully! As a matter of fact Julia states in her book that it tasted better the next day and I think I must agree!

I found a site with the full recipe and directions if you want to give a try for your self!

Here are a few photos of the process. I hope you will give it a try I am sure you and your family will enjoy it.

Free photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

My dear husband bought me a brand new sewing machine this past christmas so I decided to take a quilting class at our local high school. I have been working on a wall hanging and learning a lot of different techniques.

I also found some curtains this past summer at a tag sale and I had to cut them and adjust them to fit our basement windows. I made up a little smile box that you can see some of the photo's.

The picture of my quilt is in progress and when I have it finished I will let you all know.

God Bless, Kathy

(Of course the photos are taken by my wonderful daughter Rebecca the photographer! :)

This digital scrapbook created with Smilebox

I have a question for you all...

(image courtesy of Gasoline Alley Antiques)

I volunteered for our annual Ladies banquet coming up and I was asked if I had any ideas for some party favors.

The theme is going to be picnics. There will be the checkered table clothes and mason jars with cut flowers for the center pieces.

Sounds so cute! I was thinking of making pin wheels. What do you all think of that? Does this go with the picnic theme?

Does any one have any other ideas? I appreciate any suggestions.

Have a wonderful day! God Bless, Kathy

I'm Just a Country Girl at Heart!

Hi my name is Kathy and I am a wife to my wonderful husband Doug with whom I have been in love with for the last 28 years and a mother to eight wonderful children which I have the privilege of raising for the King the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have been homeschooling for the last 14 years and it has been a growing experience and the old saying that you are always learning is so true!

My daughter Rebecca and I racked our brains on what to name my new blog. I have always desired to live in the country and the things that I really wanted to blog about, were about all of the many things that I have always admired about country living and about the many skills that I wanted to learn.

I will be 47 this year and I realized that there is still so much that I want to learn and do. Life is passing by and I thought I need to get moving :)

I always loved watching Little House on the Prairie! I loved the idea of baking bread, quilting, sewing, gardening and cooking a good home cooked meal. I always dreamed of having my own fruit orchard.( Hmmm. Apples wouldn't that be wonderful!) I love making apple pie and apple sauce how much more rewarding it would be to just go out and pick our own apples :)

Well the Lord has me living in the suburbs so this is were I must be content :) But I still can learn new things .

So I want to invite you to come along and follow me in my journey of a life time of learning!

My daughter is working on designing a title picture and decorations for my blog, which hopefully will be up very soon!