Good things are happening.. we are encouraged.  When we got the call from Wendell's doctor that his diabetes was out of control, I knew there was something more than that wrong.  For he was eating everything I was eating and my blood sugars were normal and his were flying high.. ridiculously high.  So I called for a new endocrinologist .. his other one moved to Chicago.  They started out by saying that the earliest appointment would be some time in January 2012.. ugh.  I explained his dilemma to her and she agreed he needed seen sooner than that, and then gave him a cancelled appointment for today.  They told me the average time to get his old charts has been weeks..but to try to get them if we could before his visit.  So I called his PCP for records.. she called me back within an hour and told me I could pick them up, and that she'd been able to retrieve his old records from his endocrinologist also, those that were said to take weeks to obtain.  I had everything ready for today 2 hours after I'd called for the appointment.
It was such an encouraging appointment.  The one thing that the PA caught right away was that hubby was and has been giving himself his insulin in his anterior thigh multiple times per day for years, and all that tissue is scarred and useless for absorption of insulin.  
Bottom line.. split the insulin dosage into 3 equal doses per day and change the injection site.   
Lunch glucose was 113
Supper was a beautiful normal 87
Looks like it's working just fine.  AMEN and thank YOU LORD!!!!! 

Sister trip part 2

It seemed to take us forever to find Hankey Church Cemetery. 

The GPS would work a lot better if I used the right city for the location.  Duh.. but we finally got there.

This Hankey Cemetery in Murrysville PA.  These markers belong

to family.. my mother's family.  Michael and Catherine Best. 

Michael's father Wilhelm Best was our immigrant ancestor.

Michael fought in the Revolutionary War

Many stones, including those of the Bests, are damaged by acid rain.

Interesting marker, no one we knew.. but it has a hand on the

front with a finger pointing Heavenward.

Another interesting marker looks like a tree trunk.  Some of

these folks names sound familiar.. I think this one was Ludwig or

Ludwick.. it just rings a bell..

Sister trip

What a great day Jane and I had on Tuesday.  It was a fun "sister trip" to our old home town New Kensington.  Jane needed some work done on some shoes, so we decided to expand our trip and visit the Plum Creek Cemetery and also the Hankey Church Cemetery.  Lunch was great!  Thanks, Jane, for a wonderful day.



Leila Grace Binder was my mother's sister. 

She married Edward Binder and died of colon cancer-

she was only 50 yr old when she left this world.  I don't know

where Uncle Ed is buried, but I don't think here at Plum Creek.

Right next to Aunt Gracie's marker is one for their baby daughter,

Beryl Jean who died at 1 day old.  Very heartbreaking.

This marker is also for my mother's sister, Vida Marie Leah, and

her husband, Joseph Leah. 

Ruth Hartge Menk was married to my mother's cousin,

David John Menk.

Clyde Menk was only 23 when he died.  He was a very

troubled soul and took his own life.

Ninnie Connor Menk was David and Clyde's mother,

and the sister to my grandmother Best, (my mother's mother)

And Yes, her name was Ninnie.

Clyde Menk was Aunt Ninnie's husband.

Uncle Georgie, my mother's brother was injured severely

during WW2.  He never married.

This is the marker for my maternal grandparents, Clarence and Mamie Best.



It's been a few days since my last post.. in that time, I have weighed in and lost a total of 22# - YIPPEE!
Charlie has brought me a watermelon that weighs 50#
I bought 2 bags of MacIntosh apples and have made a beautiful apple pie tonite.. YUMMEE!!!
It's raining.. looks like it's mighty heavy in Beaver Falls.. I saw a note from LS that said they could actually tube down the street!  That's a good bit of water.
Wendell is now scheduled to see the new endocrinologist on Wednesday.  They originally said there were no open appts till Jan 2012.. and then when I explained his blood sugars were dangerously high, she put him in a spot where someone cancelled.  Everything fell into place like clockwork- Thank you Lord for watching over us and providing for us yet again.
Looking forward to the Valentines visit this weekend.. spaghetti is on the menu for Friday night. 

The east wind doth blow



and it's cold- don't you know..


A day to stay warm here- inside.


I'll put soup on to cook,


Curl up with a book,


Or watch leaves, out the window, collide..

Alas, if our children lose the crown of life, it will be but a small consolation that they have won the laurels of literature or art. Many who ought to know better think themselves superlatively blessed in their children if they become rich, if they marry well, if they strike out into profitable enterprises in trade, or if they attain eminence in the profession which they have espoused. Their parents will go to their beds rejoicing, and awake perfectly satisfied, though their boys are hastening down to hell, if they are also making money by the bushel. They have no greater joy than that their children are having their portion in this life, and laying up treasure where rust corrupts it. Though neither their sons nor daughters show my signs of the new birth, give no evidence of being rich towards God, manifest no traces of electing love or redeeming grace, or the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, yet there are parents who are content with their condition.


From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "The Parent's and Pastor's Joy," delivered December 21, 1873

Wonder what I did wrong?  I actually had a quart and a pint of peaches that didn't seal..  I suppose I shouldn't even care, these are only 2 of the hundreds of jars that I've canned this year.  It's okay.  We shall have peaches for breakfast for the next 4-5 days!  Yum!
Wendell bought supper last night and dessert too.. he stopped at DQ and got a quart of vanilla ice cream with the idea that we'd top it with some of that peach jam ... it was delicious.

I really enjoy canning season.. though my family would probably say it's never ending for me.. but at the end of summer when all the produce comes in, it's time to hit the canner hard.  I'm so thankful we have all kinds of ways to preserve foods.

Today was a canning day and I'm so exhausted.  Wendell offered to make the trip to Long John Silverfish to get supper .. what a guy!  Or maybe he realizes he was going to get a sandwich if he didn't do something quick.. :)

Today I started with about a half bushel of tomatoes that Charlie left here 2 days ago.  Yesterday was shopping day, and they held very nicely.  9 quarts of stewed tomatoes and 4 pints.. Wendell and I want the pints, but these other tomatoes go to JJ and Keith.  Charlie says he has enough for this season, but more tomatoes are coming.  If they arrive here, I'll can juice.

I bought concord grapes yesterday at the Freedom Market near us.  This morning I made them into jelly- 10  half pints and 2 half pints of sugar free.  There was still juice left, so I made 2 pints more of the sugar free stuff.  Sure tasted good on the spoon .. mmmmmm

I also bought our 3rd half bushel of peaches yesterday.  They are just so amazingly delicious.  So I made 3 pints and 6 quarter pints of SF peach jam for us.  With so many peaches remaining, I processed 19 pints of SF peach slices and 2 quarts.  WOW!  It is no wonder my feet and back ache.

Canning is great- I highly recommend it.  In the winter, we'll not have to run to the store every week for supplies.. it's right on the pantry shelf.  I'm looking for a shelf unit, by the way- somewhere to put all the canned stuff.

I think the sense of accomplishment is the best part of canning.  I stand back and look at the bounty of delicious foods that are now safe to put on the shelves.. and smile.

Next will be more grapes and APPLES!!!!!   Apple butter, applesauce, and dried apples are fabulous!!  I want to try canning apples for pie making- SF, of course!  

Gotta take a rest....  

Wilhelmus a` Brakel (1635-1711), a Dutch pastor and theologian, wrote a devotionally-focused systematic theology for his congregation. The Christian’s Reasonable Service was first published in 1700, but was only translated into English in 1992. For all of last year and the first part of this year, I read a portion of his work each day in conjunction with my personal devotions as I worked through the four volume set. This work lifted my soul day-by-day, and I highly recommend it to you for daily reading as well. For Christians who know they should be reading more and better books but struggle to read, this is a great place to start.




Here’s a sampling of the chapter on Spiritual Joy (Vol. 2, pp. 445-467) where we are exhorted to use the means God has given to attain joy:



“Continually exercise faith in Christ, reflect upon truths pertaining to the atonement and God’s way in which he leads man to salvation, and put your trust in Jesus, leaning upon him. To entrust yourself to Him, without seeing Him or apart from any feeling, is the way that leads to joy (1 Peter 1:8).



Secondly, continue to read and acknowledge the Word to be what it really is: the Word of God. Acknowledge that it addresses itself at that particular moment to you. Search for the promises, deem them to be unbreakable, and when you apply them to your soul as such, you will experience joy (Psalm 119:50).



Thirdly, pray much, and acquaint yourself with the Lord, by praying to Him, communing with Him, making request to Him, and laying before Him all that you lack and desire, especially your desire for joy (Psalm 51:8, Psalm 90:14).



Fourthly, engage much in holy contemplation and meditation. Reflect on who and what you are, the ways the Lord has led you hitherto, and upon your former mourning, seeking, and tears. Reflect upon the comforts and deliverances which the Lord has frequently given you, upon the benefits of the covenant of grace (each individually), and upon future glory and all that the soul will forever enjoy there (Psalm 104:34).



Fifthly, be much on guard against yielding to a sinful routine in your life. Even if there are no great falls, this yielding, this drowsy carelessness, and this departing from God will readily rob us of this joy. Rather, one ought to refrain from unrighteousness, and, upon falling, arise each time again and immediately run to the fountain once more; this will time and again, quicken joyfulness. May the God of exceeding joy gladden you! Amen.”

This week..

Happy to teach Joyce the art of canning peaches.. she did very well.

We tasted the peaches the next morning at breakfast- oh, wow!!!

We also prepared dried apples

Paul in the potato field with the machete.. The weeds are about 8' high in places

As Charlie says .. "I think we over fertilized."

We picnicked inside on Sabbath evening.. it was a day of celebrating

the August birthdays.. Keith brought this masterpiece of melon and berries!

The man who is about to sail for Australia or New Zealand as a settler, is naturally anxious to know something about his future home, its climate, its employments, its inhabitants, its ways, its customs. All these are subjects of deep interest to him. You are leaving the land of your nativity, you are going to spend the rest of your life in a new hemisphere. It would be strange indeed if you did not desire information about your new abode. Now, surely if we hope to dwell forever in that 'better country, even a heavenly one', we ought to seek all the knowledge we can get about it. Before we go to our eternal home we should try to become acquainted with it.



~JC Ryle

President Obama has repeatedly called for Israel to return to the "1967 borders," but that is a falsehood—there are no 1967 borders. What the President's plan would do in reality is return Israel to the 1949 Armistice lines...the borders that Israeli statesman Abba Eban described as "Auschwitz lines." The so-called 1967 borders are simply where the armies halted at the end of the previous attempt by Arabs to commit genocide against Israel.




From 1948 to 1967, Jordan illegally occupied the Holy City of Jerusalem until it was liberated during the Six Day War. The City of David belongs to Israel by every possible right—historic, military, and most importantly—prophetic. Yet now after forty-four years of a united city, President Obama is pushing as hard as he can to once again divide Jerusalem and hand it over to Israel's most bitter enemies.



Many observers have labeled the Obama Administration as the most anti-Israel US government ever, and they are correct. From threatening to withhold vital military and economic aid to condemning the building of homes for Jews in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem, again and again President Obama and his top aides and advisers have stood against Israel and for her enemies. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in these final days leading up to the UN vote on Palestinian statehood.

Looking to the future

What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.




Romans 8:18-25 NLT

I do love canning season- it's so rewarding to look at the pantry shelf and see what I've done all summer long.. and believe me, it's plenty.  Lots and lots of pickles which I share back to Charlie.. and then beans- the canner is cooking away right now with green beans.. yummy for winter!

WOW! Canning is moving right along.. I've added pickles to the ever growing list on the right hand side of this blog.. I really have done a lot of preserving this year so far.
Charlie just brought me green beans and yellow zucchini.  The squash won't make it to the preservation list as we will eat it as fast as we bring it in.  He also brought me 12 tomatoes suitable for the window sill.. not quite ripe.  That's okay, the Z's gave us a big bowl of ripe ones, and are they good !!!! 
I've finally changed my dill pickle recipe I've used for eons.. the first batch was the last one for sure- I use fresh dill and a grape leaf or 2  with the brine.  These pickles take 2 weeks to cure.
Charlie gave me a package of Mrs. Wages pickling spices and these take 24 hours to cure and are the best ever pickles!!  They taste like a deli pickle- and Kosher to boot!!  YUM!  I bought a packet of her bread and butter pickle spices and it was so simple to make the whole batch.. and they are ready NOW.  YAY!

Yesterday's rain was soooo refreshing.  It was an all day soaky one and the plants were loving it!  I got a lot of indoor work done, though there is a pile more to do.  Today I'll continue and get the guest room cleaned up so we can actually have guests and not have them feel like they are sleeping in a storage closet.  :)  I'm slow.. things seem to pile up and then I can't unpile them for even longer.. oh, well.. I'm retired and enjoying it.  The computer room needs an overhaul and boxes of history need gone through and either saved or pitched .. sometimes these papers just have a date/name on it to be filed on the computer.. either way, the job needs to be done and I don't know as I'll wait for winter to try to muddle through.
On to the day!

Under the Law or Grace?

The Biblical doctrine of Eternal Security does not give a believer a "license for immorality." Romans 6:15 plainly teaches that the born-again believer is NO LONGER UNDER THE LAW; yet is still expected to fulfill the Law... "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." But fulfilling the Law is a result of genuine repentance and NOT a prerequisite or requirement for salvation.

Again in Romans 3:31 we read, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Just because sinners are saved without works (Romans 3:20) does not give anyone permission to sin. Opponents of Eternal Security make the mistake of placing the cart before the horse, i.e., they expect people to continually forsake their sins to guarantee salvation; but it's the other way around, we depart from our sins because we are saved and love the Lord.






~David Stewart

"Let it never surprise true Christians if they are slandered and misrepresented in this world. They must not expect to fare better than their Lord." ~ J.C. Ryle

Reformed worship..

We will not have Jesus Christ at the center of our church services if we do not have His Word at the center." "If we are not interested in the Word of God, can we really be interested in God?" Thus, in our worship services we must read, preach, pray, sing, and see in the sacraments the Word.



Our worship is biblical because of the way in which we determine what we do in worship. This is not determined by "what works" in getting vast numbers of people through the door, or what is enjoyable, or even what we may or may not like. Instead, the Bible regulates our worship.


Reformed worship is biblical because we believe God Himself gives us the particular things we are to do in public worship (the "elements" of worship). We call this the "regulative principle of worship." This means that God regulates how we are to worship Him in His Word. God is jealous for His Name to be revered and hallowed (Ex. 20:7, 34:13-14; Deut. 4:24; Matt. 6:9
Westminster Larger Catechism, Q&A 110), and when we are jealous for His glory by worshipping Him how He deserves and desires we "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28). After all, God is God, which means how He is worshipped is His right to demand.


Where do we find this principle taught in God's Word? There are many places in Scripture, but we will focus in on a few examples. In the first Commandment the one true God who has redeemed us to be a worshipping people, a "kingdom of priests" (Ex. 19:6; 1 Pet. 2:9), commands us to worship him alone:


"You shall have no other gods before Me." In the second Commandment this one true God tells us the way we are to worship Him negatively by saying how we are not to worship Him: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image" ( Deut. 4:15-19). Positively, this teaches that we are to worship God only according to His word.


We see this in the very words of the second Commandment where the "steadfast love" of the LORD is towards those who "love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:6). Intricately linked with the prohibition of images of the LORD is the language of doing what the LORD says in His word.


The book of Leviticus, as well, expresses this positive aspect as it mentions repeatedly that worship is "according to the rule" (e.g., Lev. 9:16cf. Lev. 10:1; Deut. 12:29-32). Thus, all worship not "according to Scripture," is what the Paul calls "will worship" (Col 2:23; ASV).


At the end of the Ten Commandments, this matter is stated in an unforgettable way: "If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it" (Ex. 20:25). If the ancient Israelite would think that he could improve upon the worship commanded of God by carving a more beautiful altar, he was to know that even one mark added by the hand of man to that commanded by God was a complete contamination as far as God was concerned. When men try to improve the worship of God, they ruin that worship, rather than improve it.


This Commandment is impressed upon the people of God with the injunction that the LORD is a "jealous" God. This is the language of marriage. The LORD has forsaken all others for His bride, Israel, and He loves and desires her only. When it comes to worship, then, He expects and desires Israel to respond with the same zeal for Him that He has for her.


In the familiar, yet fearful, story of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 we recall that they offered "unauthorized fire before the LORD" (v.1). In the preceding verses, we read that Aaron, Nadab and Abihu's father, had offered the first sacrifices in the liturgical life of Israel. In Aaron's case "fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering..." (Lev. 9:24), yet in Nadab and Abihu's case "fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them" (Lev. 10:2).


But this is all Old Testament teaching," you might be thinking. Yet Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). Is the solemn requirement that the Church teach all things that Christ has commanded not at the same time a solemn prohibition against teaching anything that He has not commanded? If, in the worship of God, we observe all that Christ has commanded, ought we not also to scrupulously avoid anything and everything that He has not commanded?


In Romans 1:21-25 the Apostle Paul condemns every false kind of worship invented by men. He also reveals the source of such false worship. Men become "vain in their imagination," he says. They invent what they vainly imagine to be "good ways" to worship. They worship as they will, not as God commands. But when they do this, they really "worship and serve the creature more than the Creator," says Paul, and for this reason "they are without excuse." They are without excuse because there is no excuse for departing from the rule, which says "we must not worship God in any other way than He has commanded in His Word."




Rev D Hyde

2# loss

I suppose I should have mentioned that Wendell's doctor appointment last week went well.. and he's lost another 2# !!! Atta boy Wendell.. keep up the good work!