Great is Thy Faithfulness

This photo was taken early in the morning out our front door in Amishland.  We are ever so thankful that we are as blessed as we are and that God is faithful to protect us and provide our every need.  Sometimes I feel so unworthy of all His goodness and mercy, but He still pours it out on our family, we are so very thankful.  Just when the beef was getting low on the shelf, I was thinkin…if a cow should go down among the Amish farms, I would like to let them all know that we are in need of some beef to butcher.  No sooner than my next thought, while we were butchering chickens, no less, our neighbor said one of his cows just went down due to an injury to it’s foot.  I looked at the other Amish ladies who were so kind to give of their week two days to help us with our chickens, I could hardly bear to ask for another days help.  Mark mentions that we could get a half of Enos Lee’s cow which is raised organic.  He said this in their company, and I said, “Maybe we better pass this one on because the week is too full for everyone.”  Without a hesitation, the Amish women looked over at me and said, “No, no, no.  You need the meat.  This is an emergency, we will help you.  We will come in a couple days and we will help you butcher your beef.  Even if we have to work during the night, we will come to help you.” Wow, that is unreal.  I hated to pray for meat, when I know so many are starving in the world, how could I ask for something like that.  But God cares even for the little things.   Our Father knows what we need, even before we ask.  That is the miracle of His mercies.  What’s more is that they are new each morning!  Even though I hated to bother them with more work, they were more than willing to help no matter what the cost on their part.  That is community life at it’s richest!

Here is our washhouse in progress.  Mark hooked up the hot and cold water for the beef butcher day.  Enos put the cow down the day before, gutted and skinned it.  The next morning they sawed the animal in half, we took one half and Enos took the other for his family.  Around 9 am in the morning, a week ago last Friday, Harry’s wife Edna Mae and her two big girls came driving in on the buggy.  Ezra next.  Then Martha and Elvesta.  They came ready to work and was it cold.  We were all glad for the hot water.  Touching and carving the meat off the cold bones makes for red cold fingers.  We would have to dip our fingers in the warm water often to get the numbness out.  Our washhouse is not yet insulated, so we are working with what we have for now and I am thankful we can do it out here and not in my kitchen.  We carved off all the meat before dinner (lunch) and came in to warm ourselves by the coal stove.  It was so cozy in there with everyone huddled by the dancing flicker of warm flames.  Edna Mae brought the casserole this time.  It was an underground ham which is one of our favorites.  It consists of hamburger and cheese sauce on the bottom, covered with mashed potatoes.  Very good.  The desserts this time were so delicious as well.  Elvesta made some kind of raised donut casserole and Martha brought some apple dumplings.  As usual, it is a fun meal to share in the company of your butchering buddies.  After the meal we were back to work.  Ezra and Mark ground up all the meat that was salted and peppered and Martha ran the ground beef through the sausage stuffer.  It is a hand cranked stuffer that you can shove into each wide mouth quart jar and fill so nicely.  It makes it so you do not have to remove the air bubbles with your hand.  After the meat was all filled into around 70 quart jars, we filled about 5 pressure canners with the jars and started to time them.  They put sticky notes by each of the canners so I would remember what time to turn the burners off.  That was handy.  Then they left.  It was such a blessing to have them over for the day.  Not only for the help, but the fellowship is so sweet when you can work together.

Mark helped me load and reload the canners until the job was complete.  We saved all the bones for making marrow broth the next day.  The kids helped the next morning to wash all the grease of the jars, the canners, and put the jars on the shelf.  My shelves are overflowing, thank the Lord for all his abundant blessings.  I could never do any of this without the help of community.  Even though the Amish had me sitting there to help, somehow, the extra movement caused my bad foot to swell up pretty bad.  I ended up where I could not walk for a few days afterward.  I still did more than I normally do, so that made a difference.  I just kept my foot up because none of my braces would fit the swelled up foot and ankle.  After a couple days of resting, I was able to get my brace on again, so that was a blessing.

After the beef bones were cooked down in a big kettle in the washhouse all day, the children helped me strain it into jars to can for bone marrow broth.  It is white with marrow.  There are good health benefits to that bone broth, so we are glad to have about 30 pints of it on our shelf.

Mikey was straining it.  Molly was wiping the rims off.  Junior was putting the fresh lids on and Megan was screwing the rings on tight.  Team work every time!  The next day I made soup with two jars of marrow broth, lots of veggies, some chicken, and some dumplings.  Oh, that was so comforting on a cold afternoon.

After all the canning was done, I managed to squeeze in some sewing.  I made two pair of broad fall pants for the little boys.  They were so thankful for new pants that were made just for them.  As I was hand sewing buttons in my chair with my foot up for Mikey’s pants, Junior said, “can you make my pants quick before you sew the buttons on Mikey’s pants so I can have mine first?”, with tears in his eyes.  Well, we don’t like to cater to whiners, so I said, “No.  I will do one thing at a time and as soon as I finish Mikey’s pants, I will make your pants when I can.  If you can be patient and stop crying, I will make you a pair.  If you do not stop your crying, I will wait all the longer.”  He stopped his fussing, so the next morning, I worked on his pants and finished them in about 2 hours.  He gave me a great big hug and said, “Thank you so much Mom! I love these pants.  They are the best ever!”  All good things come to those who are patient.  And grateful.  I try to show the same mercies every morning and faithfulness to my children that I am shown by my Father in Heaven.  I want to make and provide good things to my children, just like My Heavenly Father does for me.  It is a blessing to be a child of God.

God is always faithful.  And His Mercies are new each morning.  What a blessing!