Queen's Edge Farm: A Second Chance

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

A Second Chance

I want to encourage any single women to seriously pray and answer the call that God may place on your life. Don't wait. I say this because I believe that God was calling me to mission work, primarily with the Ukraine, but I hesitated. After marrying and having children I still thought about the Ukraine, and the plethora of news programs and magazine articles that dealt with the subject actually caused me pain. I knew that I would not be able to answer this call anymore, due to my husband's unwillingness to participate.

I became involved in our church's AWANA program, which I really enjoyed as I was involved in it also as a child. I am still interested in this program, but our new church currently is not working in this ministry.

Today, I feel the call to a speaking ministry. Which I find strange, as I used to be extremely shy, but through the years and in dealing with several situations I have become stronger and better at speaking to small groups. I struggled with what I could talk to women about as I didn't have any dramatic life changing convervsion experience. I wasn't saved from alcohol or drugs, I was six years old when I accepted Christ. I am grateful for this in that I believe it kept me on a good path through my growing up years. I was fortunate to have a family rooted in the Bible. From my great grandmother, grandmother and mother I learned the importance of God's word in your daily life, and I want to relay this to women, but especially in the area of finances.

Today I had an "aha" moment. As I was thinking of how to start writing this morning, I realized that the struggles that I have went through the past 10 years has equipped me to this point.

Due to medical bills for my son, we filed bankruptcy 10 years ago. We opted for the Chapter 13 plan where you pay back your creditors in lieu of the other plan where they just wipe your debts out. Our bankruptcy attorney told me at the time that we were the first couple he knew to pay back 100% of what we owed. It was very hard, and many times during the course of paying back our creditors, I wanted to switch and just have everything wiped clean, but I knew that God held us responsible to pay back what we owed.

During this time the Tightwad Gazette books became my primary resource in getting through the five years it took to pay back everything. I learned to make pizza from scratch, sewed the majority of my brand new daughters dresses, used cloth diapers, and learned a multitude of new recipes for preparing meals at home and in baking. This journey continued on to my having another baby in 2003, and staying home with her after she was born. Learning how to live frugally during those lean years enabled me to employ these tactics in staying home on one income.

In 2005, I received my loan officer's license and began practicing and working in the mortgage industry. Honestly, I only closed one loan, but worked on hundreds of files, learned how to read and analyze a credit report, and counseled my clients on how to improve their credit in order to purchase a house in the future. Today, I no longer work in the mortgage industry, and my license is set to expire, but I received a vast education in this area that I will be able to pass on to others.

All these areas have given me a wealth of knowledge that people today, either in the church or out of, are despearately seeking. I actually have an invitation to speak at a church conference in the fall in Midland Texas to address how to get people out of debt and to work on their credit reports with them.

So, again, I want to encourage single women to answer their first calling prior to marriage, but also to encourage married women that if you failed to do so, God may unexpectedly give you a second calling and a second chance to respond.

*I wanted to clarify my post this morning. I don't want to imply that marriage is not a calling, but that if God has other plans for you, don't wait to obey. When applying to the mission field, it became apparent to me that my husband and I did not have the same relationship with God, and that because of my disobedience and delay in responding I missed out. The mission office would not accept my going to the Ukraine without my husband. I had neglected to share my calling, beliefs and the importance of my relationship with God with my then fiance. I assumed because he attended the same church that I did, that he was a dedicated Christian, and would be excited and ready to share this calling with me. After marrying, I was shocked to discover how far apart we were with regards to our relationships with God, but I had not prayed for God to show me who I was to marry, but just accepted the one that my immature mind and heart had selected. Because I basically believe that marriage is forever (with a few exceptions) make sure to pray for the spouse God has in mind for you, and make sure that you obey whatever calling God lays on your heart.

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Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.