And the doctor said...

"That bump on your arm that's been bugging you for months and won't go away and doesn't seem to heal is a form of skin cancer. Not the malignant, metasticizing kind...but we ought to treat it right away."

It's a sobering thing to be told you have cancer - even a mild form of it. I didn't catch the name the doctor mentioned, but I think it might be a pre-cancerous condition that can spread to squamous cell carcinoma.

At any rate, my doctor used liquid nitrogen to freeze four spots off of my arms. It stung a little, but that's a small price to pay to rid my body of cells that could prove to be much more dangerous in the long run.

I reminded my doc that both my mother and my grandmother died of cancer. He has ordered a few tests.

Meanwhile, it is good to know that my days are numbered, and that I won't die one millisecond before my God has ordained is my time of death. Not only that, but "how precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints". My faith gives me peace.

Seven Daily Rungs

While surfing the net this morning, I followed a link to "A Holy Experience", a blog by Ann Voscamp. This woman has a way with words, and I highly recommend stopping by. I am adding her blog to my links.

In the daily grind of life, when we're feeling a touch "Crazy", it's good to remind ourselves that our walk through this world IS truly a holy experience. Taking a step back from the craziness and fleeing into the arms of Jesus makes complete sense. It gives new life, and hope, and the strength to go on. Ann (without an e!) explains this brilliantly.

The month of August is fast approaching, and I am furiously working at yard work and barn chores, in order to complete these before the end of July. I have two days.

Why the rush? Because August has been, for 25 years, my preparation time for the homeschooling year. I take four weeks to plan, to photocopy, to prepare all of my curriculum for all of the children I happen to be teaching for the following year. Interspersed in all this planning time is a getaway with the children, and a couple of days' camping with my dear friend Darlene. By the end of the month, I am ready (I think!) for another year of reading, writing and arithmetic.

All of this planning is meaningless without purpose. My purpose is to glorify God, and to raise my children to glorify Him. So, the books we read, the methods we employ, the practical skills we learn, must all be chosen with this purpose in mind: Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all to the glory of God!

Ann Voscamp addresses this succinctly, writing:

How do we know everyday what is a worthwhile investment of our time and what will burn up, straw at the end of time? How do we cultivate not simply well-trained minds, but nurture holisitic, well-lived lives? How do we work everyday towards raising up children, who are not merely academic automatons, but exuberant, soul-healthy, worshipers of God, committed to meaningful, eternal Kingdom work? How do we set our ladders against the right wall, and make the opportunity of today count for eternity?

Simply put, how do we make our way through a day?

Ann writes, "Everyday, we endeavor to scale Seven Daily Rungs.

I urge you to follow the link and read the post, but in a nutshell, here are the seven daily rungs:

First Rung ~ Listening: a way of the Spirit (Scripture reading, prayer and memorization)
Second Rung ~Love: a way of sacrificing (that which is at the the heart of everything we do)
Third Rung ~ Labor: a way of serving (farm work, household chores, creativity, ministries, volunteer work)
Fourth Rung ~ Loveliness: a way of seeing (Poetry, Nature, Music and Art)
Fifth Rung ~ Literature: a way of seeking (discovery through great books)
Sixth Rung ~ Language: a way of speaking (narrations, Latin/Greek, grammar, writing)
Seventh Rung ~ Logic: a way of scaffolding (ideas, reasoning, science, mathematics, discussing)

At the end of the day, Ann and her family sit together and evaluate:

As the sun sets in the west, we ring the farm table, and pause to reflect on the shadow of the seven daily rungs.

Hands to ears, we ask of the first rung: Did we listen to our Lord today?
Hands over hearts, we question the second rung: Did we love Jesus by loving others?

Then, holding fingers high, we mark off the five remaining rungs:
Labor: Whom did we serve today?
Loveliness: What did we see today?
Literature: What did we seek and discover in good books today?
Language: How did use we speak, written and orally, today?
Logic: How did we scaffold into new ideas and understanding today?

With God's help, I plan to incorporate climbing the seven daily rungs in our family's homeschool this year.

We did it!

We moved the shed that I have been wanting to move for quite some time. I failed to take pictures, and I am too tired to really explain it all, but for posterity's sake I wanted to record the achievement.

We've all been working at the last corner of our property that needs to be tidied up and organized. Everything else is fine. However, just behind the barn was a little patch (maybe 30 square feet) full of burdocks and thistles and twigs and branches and stones and old tools and duck bones (THAT'S where the predators take the poor ducks to dispatch them! - we never knew!) and old fencing.

We all raked and dug and picked up and put away and carried all sorts of things. It's been really hot working out there, so I was determined that today would be the day. I didn't want to have to spend another day at this miserable job.

Just about everything was ready when we came in for supper. After supper, Rick decided that he and Daniel had to go and dump the truck. We begged him to wait until the building was moved, but he would have none of it. He needed to dump in the daylight, which was fast fading.

So, we called Jared - it's a handy thing having a son who is 6'7" - and then Linda and Heather and Elena and Tiana and I hooked a couple of ropes to the building, and we P-U-L-L-E-D! It moved!! We pulled some more, and lifted a bit, and with much huffing and puffing, we got it where we want it.

Now we have to put the tarp on it, but that's a job for Rick. My part's done. YEAH!!

A blessing and a curse...

The kids and I were cleaning up the back yard by the barn today, and Daniel (18) was dismantling our old Husquvarna lawn mower. Once he had taken the engine and mower deck off of it, he wanted to put it in another part of the lawn. Little brother Christopher came to the rescue. Critter sat on the tractor, steering it, while Daniel pushed it.

It took about two seconds before it became an adventure. Daniel RAN. Critter hung on for dear life, steering and laughing while his brother pushed the lawn mower as fast as he could.

What a picture I have in my mind of those few moments (I wish I had my camera handy). This is one of the blessings of homeschooling. My 18 year old son took joy in making his brother, nearly 10 years younger, laugh with joy! Not many 18 year old young men would want to spend a few moments entertaining a little brother. They'd likely rather be out with their friends, or glued to something electronic. Yet in a homeschooling family, they have time to develop relationships with every member of the family. These relationships will last a lifetime.

Rick came home after that with (literally) tons of bread waste. Unfortunately, the bread was in plastic bags, not having been sorted and put into the bins separately from the plastic, which goes to the landfill.

We all were called out to do our part, sorting through the ton of bread. We emptied bag after bag of breads, rolls, cakes, cookies, buns, bagels, etc., putting them into a bin (to be taken to cattle) and putting the plastic into a separate garbage bin. It was a messy job.

The worst part was the reaction I had. Celiac disease is a dreadful thing sometimes. Gluten is normally absorbed in the intestines, causing rashes or bloating or pain, along with many other symptoms. However, gluten can also be absorbed through the skin. The literature warns us never to use shampoo or other skin care products that have wheat/gluten in them. We cannot use stickers on our children's skin, or they may have a reaction.

I should have thought about that when Rick asked us to help him, but I didn't. After working merrily away for 40 minutes or so, I noticed the skin on my forearms was itchy. I ignored that for a bit, but it persisted, becoming more and more sensitive, burning and itching. My fingernails were also hurting, around the nail on both sides. I finally couldn't take it any more, and rushed inside to wash up.

Now, I sit here with a bloated stomach, itchy arms, and painful gas. Mind you, I didn't ingest any of the wheat. But the long exposure of wheat to the skin of my hands and forearms has given me intestinal pain.

Sigh.

I write all this, not to complain, but to explain to those who read my blog how very careful they must be, if they are feeding celiacs, or even eating wheat or gluten in the surrounding area. It's a terrible thing. It takes very little (only a crumb) to cause a painful reaction.

It's a curse, I guess. But thankfully, I know that when this life is over, there'll be no more rashes, no more bloating, no more gas or passing wind, no more canker sores, no more migraine headaches. I'll be rid of my celiac disease, just like I'll be rid of my sin nature. And THAT'S a blessing I can look forward to with much anticipation.

Living Grace

I was blessed today by the words of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preaching a sermon called "The End of the Age".

Dr. Lloyd-Jones made the point that this world is NOT our home. We're just camping out. We're sojourners here, on our way to eternity. This life will be over in the blink of an eye, and then what will we do? We'll find ourselves standing before an utterly holy God.


Actually, we won't be standing. We'll fall on our knees, worshipping.

And if not that, then we'll bow the knee anyway. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It's amazing to me that I can sit in my own living room and listen to one of the great preachers, long since gone on to glory, expounding a passage of Scripture that impacts me today.

Don't miss it!

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies - worth reading!

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Did the fruit flies beat you to the fruit bowl? Once they settle in, these uninvited guests know how to overstay their welcome. Here are a few quick, easy and environmentally friendly ways to rid your home of those pesky fruit flies.

Steps

1. Remove the food source and breeding areas. Fruit flies have a life-cycle of 10 days, giving them plenty of time to punish you for leaving moist, fermenting, organic material in which they may lay eggs. Most fly trap ideas only serve to illustrate the flies' progress in taking over your home, and some will themselves provide a breeding ground. Sanitation is the only effective resolution. Address these frequent problem spots:
   
   • Wash all dishes. Clear the drains.
     
   • Launder the dishrags, or at least wash them thoroughly with soap, rinse them well and wring them dry before hanging them up (don't leave them in the sink).
     
   • Store trash in a covered bin.
     
   • Do not toss food garbage into waste-paper baskets.
     
   • Cover your fruit bowl or store fruit you wish to keep in the refrigerator. Also, raisins, dates and prunes are favorite attractants.
     
   • Discard all overripe fruit.
     
   • Clean opened containers of fruit juice, fermented or vinegar products, for example ketchup, siracha or cooking wine. Seal them well. Keep these in the refrigerator if possible.
     
   • Wipe up crumbs and spills from your cabinets, counter and floor.
     
   • Take out all trash
     
   • Do your laundry.
     
   • Clean the seals of your refrigerator door, the top and under the fridge, especially clean the evaporation pan if it has one.
     
   • Clean under and around your dishwasher and stove.
     
   • Dump mop water, clean the pail, launder the mop rag.
     
   • Remove damp lint from the laundry room.
     
   • Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
     
   • Do not use manure, beer or rank water for fertilizer near the house.
     
   • Use screens for your doors and windows.
     
   
   
2. Make a bowl trap:
   
   • Put a piece of old skinless fruit and some wine, or some balsamic in a bowl (think like the flies: what do you want for dinner?).
     
   • Cover the bowl tightly (no wrinkles) with plastic wrap.
     
   • Poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (if the holes are too big they will fly back out).
     
   
   
3. Make a plastic zip lock bag trap:
   
   • Place a few slices of an apple inside a zip lock bag
     
   • Leave an inch open to allow pests to enter. The little pests will soon be on and surrounding the apple.
     
   • Zip the bag closed and crush each one with your fingertips.
     
   
   
4. Make a funnel trap:
   
   • Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
     
   • Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
     
   • Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
     
   • Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
     
   • Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
     
   • Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.
     
   
   
5. Make a soda bottle trap:
   
   • Remove the lid and label from a clean, empty plastic two-liter soda bottle.
     
   • Carefully remove the upper third of the bottle by cutting along its circumference at approximately where the top of the label used to be.
     
   • Put an attractive liquid such as orange juice or cider vinegar in the cup-shaped part of the now-severed bottle.
     
   • Turn the cone upside-down and insert it into the cup-shaped bottom part of the bottle. Seal the seam at the top of the bottle with duct tape.
     
   • Fruit flies find their way into the bottle, but they can't get back out. After most flies are trapped inside, simply seal the bottle in a plastic shopping bag and throw out.
     
   
   
6. Make an oven trap:
   
   • Remove all available food from kitchen. Clean the dishes, place open items in ziplock bags or the fridge.
     
   • Open the door of your oven and place a piece of fruit (banana or kiwi peels) in there overnight.
     
   • Wake up early the next morning and quietly close the oven door.
     
   • Turn on the oven to 400ºF/200ºC for about 10-15 minutes and majority of your fruit flies will be gone.
     
   • Clean the oven thoroughly.
     
   
   
7. Make a glass trap:
   
   • Put a piece of fruit in a glass.
     
   • Cover the glass tightly with plastic wrap and secure to the glass.
     
   • Put a small hole in the plastic. The fruit flies go in and can't get out.
     
   
   
8. Make a wine trap:
   
   • Put a small amount of sweet wine in a little bowl.
     
   • Take your finger tip and put a very tiny amount of dish soap on it, preferably diluted
     
   • Barely touch the surface of the wine at the center with your finger tip.
     
   • This breaks the surface tension of the wine. The fruit flies will be attracted by the scent of the wine and drown in it. Normally the surface tension of the wine would have protected them from drowning, but with it gone, as they touch the edge of the wine to drink, they will stick to it, fall in and drown.
     
   
   
9. Catch and release method
   
   • Drop a piece of fruit (preferably rotten) into a large, clean jar such as a Mason jar.
     
   • Place the jar near the greatest concentration of flies (i.e., if they're hanging around the fruit bowl, put the jar in the fruit bowl). It will take the flies a while to find the jar, but once they do, they'll hang around in there having a little rotten-fruit orgy.
     
   • Once you see a bunch of flies in there... WHAM! slam a plate down on the top of the jar. You have to be quick or they'll all fly out.
     
   • Escort the flies outside and release them--make sure they all fly out of the jar.
     
   • Repeat this process until you're finding only one or two flies in the jar at a time (release them too). The idea is that along with getting rid of the food where they were breeding, you get rid of the breeding generation. Important: This process may take several days. You must replace the piece of fruit every day because the flies will have laid eggs on it and if you let them hatch you're back where you started.
     
   
   
10. Hair dryer method
    
    • locate the general area of the fruit flies and the nearest plug. Get a hair dryer.
      
    • Plug in the hair dryer, turn it on (preferably to full heat) and put the back end of the dryer near a hovering fly. It will be sucked in and fried by the hair dryer. This is fun and highly effective! Trying to blow at them with the hot air doesn't work but sucking them in like this does.
      
    
    

Tips

• If you have a gas stove with a constant pilot light, place the trap on the warm part of the stove top. This will help spread the smell of the vinegar.
  
• Make sure your choose right type of vinegar. White vinegar does not work. Malt vinegar and red wine work, just not as well. Beer sometimes works, too. Balsamic vinegar also works well. Wine works extremely well, and a wine bottle with an inch or so left can be used without an additional funnel.
  
• You can forgo the funnel if you put a small bit of dishwashing detergent in the cup with the vinegar and stir. The fruit flies are still attracted to the vinegar smell, and the detergent traps them. The detergent actually reduces the surface tension of the liquid allowing the flies to more readily sink and drown.
  
• You can forgo the traps. Fruit flies dehydrate easily, a small draft usually does the trick.
  
• Another simple suggestion is to use a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment. The fruit flies cannot escape the suction and will die in the process of being sucked in. This is especially helpful when you get a very large "surprise" infestation.
  
• Fruity smelling dishwashing liquids (lemon, etc.) also attract fruit flies.
  
• Bourbon also works. Leave the top off of a mostly empty bottle and the bottle will act as a funnel trap.
  
• Fruit flies breed and live in warm moist places such as a garbage disposal and/or drains in the sink. Cleaning and hot water on a regular basis will combat these possibilities. You can also pour ice down the drain overnight.
  
• Hang a few of those old flypaper rolls over the area of infestation. Ugly, but effective. These are extremely poisonous though; use with caution.
  
• And get rid of all your exposed fruit! Once ripened, bananas can be stored in the refrigerator.
  
• The accumulated scum inside your sink drain is a breeding ground for fruit flies. Use a cheap bottle brush and a hot water rinse to clean out the drain every week or so. The bottle brush must be small enough to fit past the strainer grid. Also, never stick your hand into a garbage disposal!!!
  
• Tip for bartenders that constantly fight this. Cover liquor bottles that have a pour spout on them with a small sheet of cellophane. Clean bottles below the spout with an ammonia based cleaner, every other day. Wipe bar down at the end of the night with same cleaner.
  
• Fruit flies sense quick movement. Approach them very slowly with a moist paper towel on bathroom mirrors, cabinets, etc. and you'll get them every time.
  
• Leave an empty bottle of beer open and unattended, they will fly in. recap and throw away.
  
• Clorox cleaning spray. Wipe down surfaces and dead flies afterwards. Also, fumigate the room you're spraying; the smell can be somewhat overwhelming.
  
• If using fresh fruit in your trap, be sure to remove and thoroughly clean it every day - the fruit will give way to larvae surprisingly quickly. Vinegars and wines don't allow larvae to survive.
  
• After cleaning a drain or getting rid of old fruit, peppermint extract will drive them away. If you take part of a paper towel and twist it into a wick, place one end into the peppermint extract, leaving part of it on the outside. Tip the bottle to wet the wick. Set the bottle of peppermint extract on the counter or by the area that was infested. They will be gone! This works great at home, but also works in bars near the drains.
  

Things You'll Need

• One sheet of paper
  
• One glass or clear plastic cup
  
• Scotch tape/adhesive tape
  
• Cider vinegar, or other liquid bait
  
• Plastic two-liter soda bottle method:
  
  • Apple Cider
    
  • Malt
    
  • Red Wine
    
  
  
• Bottle of Clorox.
  
• Bottle of Peppermint Extract
  
• Paper towels
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Get Rid of Flies Around Your Dog's Water and Food Bowls
  
• How to Repel Bees
  
• How to Get a Mouse Out of the House
  
• How to Get Rid of Spider Webs
  
• How to Reduce House Flies in Your Kitchen
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Praise God for the Atlantic-waves!

A friend of mine sent the following Spurgeon devotional to me. It was a great encouragement, because of the great trials we have been experiencing lately.

"The Lord our God hath shewed us His glory" (Deuteronomy 5:24)

God's great design in all His works is the manifestation of His own glory. Any aim less than this were unworthy of Himself.

I have taught my children this: What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God! But how should we glorify God? By seeing Him as He really is!

But how shall the glory of God be manifested to such fallen creatures as we are? Man's eye is not single, he has ever a side glance towards his own honour, has too high an estimate of his own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the Lord.

The problem is that we fallen creatures have a great opinion of ourselves. Instead of desiring only that God be glorified, we want a little bit of it for ourselves. Didn't I do a good job singing today, we think. Wasn't it kind of me to speak to that homeless person? We want a pat on the back; we want to be recognized. Yet our chief end is to glorify GOD!

It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the reason why He bringeth His people ofttimes into straits and difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own folly and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when He comes forth to work their deliverance.

God sends trials into our lives to open our eyes. He wants us to see how foolish and weak we are, so we can understand how majestic He is. Our trials cause us to cry out for the Living God, and we worship Him when He delivers us from all evil.

I cry out for Your hand of mercy to heal me

I am weak, I need Your love to free me

Oh Lord, my rock, my strength in weakness

Come rescue me, O Lord

He whose life is one even and smooth path, will see but little of the glory of the Lord, for he has few occasions of self-emptying, and hence, but little fitness for being filled with the revelation of God. They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of tempests; but they who 'do business in great waters', these see His 'wonders in the deep'. Among the huge Atlantic-waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the littleness of man.

I know this. I have been tossed among the Atlantic-waves of loss, of poverty, of reproach. I have known what it is to be at "wit's end", to have nowhere to turn but to God Himself, because I am unable to *fix* what is wrong. And God has always welcomed me when I run to Him.

Thank God, then, if you have been led by a rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of God's greatness and loving-kindness. Your troubles have enriched you with wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as He did His servant Moses, that you might behold His glory as it passed by.

God is so good to us, to lead us into dark and dangerous waters. It's during those dark days that we learn that God will NEVER leave us, nor forsake us. We learn that He is always in control, and that He means to bless us with a greater knowledge of His grace and His provision. Without the troubles I have experienced in my life, I would not have seen His glory.

Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have been capacitated for the outshinings of His glory in His wonderful dealings with you.

How I praise You, O my God! How I marvel at your wonderful goodness to the children of men. You send the afflictions that are perfect for my soul, and your timing is always best. You don't ever leave Your children in the storm one second longer than is necessary for their growth in grace and in the knowledge of Your Beauty.

You are my hope

Your promise never fails me

And my desire is to follow you forever

Lord, glorify Your name in me. Let Your work be done in my life, so that I can shine forth with Your glory.

For You are good,
For You are good,
For You are good to me.

"Now therefore, my God, I thank You and praise Your glorious name!"