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Imagine my surprise when one of my bloggy friends asked me if I would consider reviewing her book. My love for my chickens assured her that I would enjoy her book~  and that I did.
Peggy Frezon is an author of a memoir Dieting With My Dog. She is an award -winning author and pet columnist, she is a regular contributor to Guidepost and Angels on Earth magazines, a staff writer at Be the Change for Animals. She is also a blog friend with a wonderful blog~ Peggy's Pet Place. 


This book is the story of her mother's life ( Luanne) and is dedicated to her. It was Luanne's dream to live a simple life. Much like our dream when we built Farming On Faith. They built their own home and learned to live off the land ~ filling their land with all sorts of critters. I couldn't help but laugh along the way while imaging some of the same things we faced building our own home. I loved hearing all the tales of the animals she adopted and helped along the way.

They soon realize that homesteading is not without its challenges for sure~ as Peggy put it so well.

• The dog has separation anxiety.
• The goose is afraid of water.
• There is a fox in the pigpen.
• There are raccoons in the hen house.
• And the truck has slide into the pond.

Not only can I not listen to the news without hearing about the drought but I can't walk across my yard without hearing the crunching under my feet. It is taking all the water we can muster to keep our garden~ new trees and flowers alive.

Here are the new statistics from the USDA and the United States Drought Monitor:



I don't know about you but after hearing the gloom and doom long enough I get tired of it. I just hate laying down and declaring~ whoa is me. What can we do?

Well it is true that it will be bad news for consumers. First ~ I say PRAY for rain. I am rejoicing that we had a good rainfall last night. Second of all let us not forget that God is on the throne. Then ~ get moving!

There are not many foods that will not be impacted due to excessive heat and drought conditions. The wheat crops have failed. Milk production is down ~ meat prices will rise because of increasing feed cost and fruit and vegetables will go up because of smaller than normal harvest.

I did not just restate the facts to depress you. We have time to prepare for this. You know like God warned Joseph to prepare for the coming drought in the land. There are things we can do to prepare ahead. Much of what is on the shelves is from 2011 harvest. Start stock piling now. While meat and dairy products will start rising within the next couple of months~ many other increases won't reach the store until next year. (2012 harvest)


Here are some places to begin~

Load up on fresh produce when you find a good deal~ freezing or canning until next year.
Stock pile on cheese and butter when it is on sale. It will freeze just fine.
Meat prices are experiencing a temporary dip right now~ Fill your freezer.
Freeze a good supply of flour.
Stock pile now canned goods from the 2011 harvest.
Combine sales and coupons to stock pile a supply of cereal, pasta, oatmeal and dried non-perishables.


What to stock pile~

Good Morning Blog Friends~
I have been so bad about blogging lately. The purpose of my blog has always been to point others to my Lord and Saviour with all the little mundane issues of life thrown in for good measure. I have just been dry lately~ like a juice box sucked in with no air left inside. I think all the life has been sucked right out of me. Do you ever feel like that?

I heard a message this morning and the teacher said sometimes God test His people to see if they are what they say they are. You know like when you go buy a new sofa and you sit on it and try it out. Sometimes it is easy when hard times come one at a time~ well not easy~ but do-able. Yet~ when  trials and tests come right after another you can't do anything but realize that without God you are nothing. I am confessing~ I am nothing without God.


The new school supplies have hit the isles~ my smarty pants husband has gone back full force getting a new school year ready~ but I am not ready for this school year. Last year the year started with the sudden death of my father~ led by one trial after another. I finished up the school year with the wedding of my baby girl. Don't get me wrong~ we love Jacob but I grieved so hard when another daughter moved clear across the country.  I have spent all summer ~ stay-cationing and trying to restore myself in God's Word. BUT ~ I am confessing I am still not ready to gear up for another year. Sigh**** But ready or not here it comes.

This school year is starting with the news our new son-in-love will be deploying to war.  This momma feels a little sucker punched. Please add him to your prayer list~ as well as all our men and women that are serving our country. Funny how it gets more personal when it is our loved one that is  heading to war. Somehow we forget that every person fighting is someones' loved one. Hannah has decided to come home until he returns next summer.

The basement is almost finished ~ so Hannah will have her own little apartment. We are happy she has decided to return home. We already have plans to head to the Amish bulk store to stock up for Jacob's monthly care packages.

Do you ever fuss at God? Well mine is more like grumbling maybe.  Like~ asking why? Or maybe it goes more like this~ "God you said you will never place more on me than I can handle~ are you sure you are paying attention? Because this looks like more than I can handle."

 Much like Mary and Martha did when they fussed at God for not being soon enough to heal Lazarus~ I fuss too. Healing does begin when we realize God does receive our fussing.

How did Jesus respond to Mary and Martha venting their emotional heartbreak?  He did not get angry with them or punish them~ He cried with them. You see our God is touched with our humanness. When we walk that cemetery ground~ He walks with us. He cries with us. There was no judgement only tears of empathy. When we feel like life is more than we can handle~ He carries us. When our strength is all gone ~ He makes our feet as hinds' feet. When we are the weakest ~ He makes us strong! We simply have to turn it all over to Him.

I had the privilege of hearing Lisa Whelchel speak last fall. Now if you don't  know who that is ~ you are still a baby. She was a star on my favorite sit-com back in the 80's when I was a teenager. I know I prefer to call myself vintage not old.

Lisa played Blair on the Facts of Life. The problem was she spent her youth as a movie star lonely for real life friends~ which made her "needy."  She grew up not knowing how to pick "safe friends." That led to many hurtful experiences as she shares in many of her books.

She accepted Christ as her Saviour and He did a work in her life. Her story really is one to read~ I promise you that. I have read many of her books about her homeschooling journey to her book about picking safe friends. God sent her on a journey of learning to have grownup friendships.


Do you have "safe friends."  I have to admit I have a handful~ I am blessed.


                                                                                            ― S.E. Hinton

Proverbs 27:17 (KJV)

This morning I sent my Caleb and my nephew~ Coltin off to church camp. I got up at o' dark thirty to send them off. I told them I am expecting God to do great things this week and He had a special message for them and I believe it. Please pray God will work in the hearts of our teen group this week at Camp Sagmount! For the first time since our honeymoon we are home alone this week~ Bittersweet!


SO as I am wide awake I decided to read the Daily Bread this morning.


(Taken from the Daily Bread)
Dr. Deb Roy, a researcher and cognitive scientist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recorded the first 3 years of his child’s life to learn how humans acquire language. He and his wife rigged their home with recording devices, which they used to collect over 200,000 hours of audio and video footage. Amassing, condensing, and editing the recordings enabled them to hear baby sounds like “gaga” evolve into words like “water.”


The devotion went on to ask~ what if someone recorded all the communication in your home? What would the study reveal?


I want my words to not only be seasoned with kindness but I want them to be full of wisdom. It is so easy to spout off our opinions or ideas before we think. SO many times it does way more damage than good. The Bible tells us a fool utters his mind ~ before hearing all the the details. The older I get the more I realize I don't have all the answers and it is just best to go to God. My opinions don't matter~ my way doesn't matter~ so is is just best to keep my ideas to myself. We can always point people to God's Word~ it is always right and it always has the answer.

You can't see them well but we have had a momma and daddy geese raise their four babies on our pond. They have been here a couple of months. Each morning my Brian and I would watch from the porch while they taught those babies how to flap their wings and fly. It was such fun watching them play in the water. This week they took their flight away~ wish them well. Daddy Goose would not let me get close enough for a good picture~ he stood guard at all times.


After 10 days of staycationing I am back to normal routine. I sure miss my guy not being home but I enjoy getting back to a schedule. My Brian and I have a whole week alone next week to staycation again but this week is getting things put to order.

My Brian has been hard at work~ just look.

I have been so missing in action from my blog~ I have been staycationing and taking a bit of a break. We have been working in the garden~ sipping coffee on the porch and watching some old movies on the TMC. Just having a lazy summer and it sure has been nice.

This past month I have been trying to wrap up my father's affairs. It has been hard to say the least.  I loved my dad so much and 10 months after his sudden death~ it just does not feel any better. I don't think this deep hurt will ever go away. There is just something foundational that you loose when you loose a parent.

 My father had given his heart to Jesus but never got victory over his addition to the bottle. Going through his things has brought that sadness of my childhood and the broken pieces back to my memory. It was the dysfunction of this very relationship that led me to God and that broke the cycle of addiction and brokenness to my life. Jesus is the answer! He takes the broken pieces and makes them whole again. He picked my feet up out of the miry clay and placed them on the solid rock when I was just a child. Thank God for bus workers who care enough to reach the unreachable. I am so thankful that I never had to turn to addictions because I learned from the Word of God that He is able to make my paths straight. Yet~ it will always hurt because my father never had what I have.

While all my attempts to fix my dad never worked and I am so thankful that he accepted Jesus as his Saviour. Now he is whole and healed. He was a very talented man and his children loved him.

Hard times can make us miserable ~ or they can bring out the best in us.  We may or may not have chosen the circumstances that we find ourselves in or those that have shaped us into the person we are today. But I know that that we can make those circumstances better by simply aiming our attitude toward Heaven and seeking out every shred of joy that God has to give.

I don't have it all together but I am encouraged that I can walk each step knowing that God is in control of my life~ I have learned that I can trust Him.  Aren't you glad that the Bible does not say  to us, "Come unto me all ye that have it all together?"   I would be left out for sure.



 I gave my heart to Jesus 28 years ago.  I have made God the Lord over my life and it has been the most wonderful journey with my Lord. Through the hard times in life I have come to trust His divine hand. I am so thankful that it's not how we started that matters but rather how we end.