Today is moving day
It's not raining. :-D

We've found a good home for Mr. Fishy but we can't quite decide what to do with Kitty. He's a sweet cat and much loved by our dibbuns, but he's an outside cat and he seems to belong more to this yard and neighborhood than he does to us. I'm concerned that if we take him with us, he'll run away.

Does anyone have any advice?

Randomness...
The hardest part of getting the house ready to move is using up the last of the food. I always seem to end up with things that I can't quite make a meal out of without having to buy something else...

In seventeen years as a military wife, I've moved ten times, and most of the times have been in the rain. Four years ago when we found out we were coming to the desert, my first thought was, "Oh good! Surely it won't rain while we're moving!" Well, it rained when we moved into the rent house. It rained when we moved into this house. And it's been raining off and on for the past week. They're not predicting rain for next week when the movers are scheduled to be here, but we'll see...

Needing some inspiration and structure in educating my younger ones, I'm thinking of using Ambleside Online next year. I think I first found this link at Cindy/Dominion family's blog.

Three of my younger children are at my mom's in Arkansas having fun. Two nights ago, Mom and Pa took them to the rodeo, arriving around 7 p.m. The boys seemed to really enjoy it, but around 9, Princess Grace laid down on the bleachers and announced, "I have had just about as much of this as I can stand!"

Our big table is lonely with a third of the family missing from it. We've taken out the two leaves and closed it up, so the six of us can sit close together.

Today we discovered in our town a little grocery store that sells locally grown organic produce, honey, and eggs. Ain't that just the way it always is? I'm not a good networker in real life. Just a couple of weeks ago, my husband came home from work and said one of his coworkers had told him that her next-door neighbor is part of a food co-op that buys real milk. Turns out the woman is a member of our homeschool group, and just happens to be the mom I talked to the most while our kids were in ballet lessons. Now why didn't I find this out two years ago? I should send my husband to the homeschool mom's meetings and ballet lessons. He'd've found that out right away. He's the kind of person who comes home from running errands and tells me about all the people he met and their life stories. Some people are just gifted that way, I guess. My mom is like that, too, but somehow I didn't get it.

Earlier this week, Rick Saenz posted on Looking forward to the unexpected. It was a needed reminder to be thankful for everything the Lord brings our way, even when it wasn't what we had planned. Sort of an expansion on Valerie's EGEATP.

Good night, and God bless y'all!
:-)

I know, I know... I'm a slacker
For updates, check out Anne's and Valerie's blogs.

Rejoice! the year upon its way
Has brought again that blessèd day,
When on the chosen of the Lord
The Holy Spirit was outpoured.

On each the fire, descending, stood
In quivering tongues’ similitude—
Tongues, that their words might ready prove,
And fire, to make them flame with love.

To all in every tongue they spoke;
Amazement in the crowd awoke,
Who mocked, as overcome with wine,
Those who were filled with power divine.

These things were done in type that day,
When Eastertide had passed away,
The number told which once set free
The captive at the jubilee.

And now, O holy God, this day
Regard us as we humbly pray,
And send us, from Thy heavenly seat,
The blessings of the Paraclete.

To God the Father, God, the Son,
And God the Spirit, praise be done;
May Christ the Lord upon us pour
The Spirit’s gift forevermore.

Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Hilary of Poitiers, 4th Century.
Music: “Aeterna Christi Munera.”

Happy Ascension Day!

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.

He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
(Psalm 110)

C.S. Lewis and community
Somewhere in one of C.S. Lewis's books, he said that Christians ought to attend the nearest church of the appropriate denomination. Well, since our goal is to live on the family's land Alabama, the closest church of the appropriate denomination is Christ Church Presbyterian, which meets just outside of Birmingham. Now, two and a half hours is a bit too far to drive, plus it's not exactly conducive to parish life, so Mike's looking for a job in the Birmingham area. I hope I'm not boring y'all with the Chronicles of the Cumbees (or maybe a better title would be "As the CumbeeClan Turns"), but for now, the two year plan is to rent, get out of debt, start saving up so we can pay cash when we build a house.

Anyone interested in working on a CREC plant in a couple of years in rural Alabama, come on down! In the mean time, here's an excellent sermon by Steve Wilkins Schlissel - Succoth: Covenant Community in Your Face.

To everything there is a season...



After nearly 22 years in the Air Force, Mike is retiring, we're selling the house and moving, hopefully to Alabama, to his father's land, to build a house and farm the land which has lain fallow for almost a century and a half. This is what we've wanted to do for ages, and it's getting exciting now that we seem to be getting so close to finally doing what we've dreamed about for so long.

So here we are, entering middle age, and starting all over in life, building a work from the ground up that, Lord willing, will last for many generations to come.

Pray for us, if you think about us. It is exciting, but it's also a bit scary!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Psalm 94

1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.

2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.

3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.

6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?

9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.

19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.

20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~