Whew... Another long day. I got off from Doc's early, but it's almost six and i just got back from Mr. Reid's. What a place... :o) We unloaded some steel I got from Jim Denson, and proceeded to try and cut four legs for a welding table. Reid has this crazy old hacksaw with a motor kind of machine, and it probably worked great in it's day, and it worked alright after some fiddling, but it's been broken, changed over from gears to a motor and belts, the handles are gone so you have to use a wrench to tighten anything up, there's no room to work, walk, or do anything, but it'll be alright in the end.

God has been so gracious this week, to continually provide in His Own way and His Own Timing. How precious is the Word of God! I must go. 

I was busy at Doc's today, baling hay. It was hot, but the AC'd cab of Doc's big tractor was nice. Jake tedded the hay once more this morning, then started raking just before lunch. We had a little mishap with the rake - a bracket came loose after shearing a bolt, but two new bolts fixed it up just fine. After lunch Jake went back to raking and as soon as he came up with a thick enough winrow, I started the big baler. It ran great, and I didn't have any real trouble getting the bale tension and size right. We got 327 bales, with only five re-bales (one's that busted b/c of too much tension, that had to be baled again).  We brought 151 home for the cows and Ches, Gene Curtis got 5, Bob got 54, and Jim Shelton got 105.

I'll be back in the shop tomorrow, and I'll probably try to figure out this old welder too. Maybe I'll have time to go see Reid again; that would be nice. There's a lot of logistics that I don't have figured out yet though about the welding - where to weld, where do I store...

I'm so thankful that the Lord is keeping the days full, with work waiting to be done. Thursday I worked on the table and chairs again! Oooh they are looking fantastic; I need to put up some more pictures. I stained the table and chairs and they really look nice. Now they need corner brackets in wood on the chairs, then those need staining, then the whole outfit needs two coats of polyurethane, in a satin sheen.

Friday I was at Doc's again and the day went well. Jim came over early and helped us cut a dead pine tree. Then we hauled the logs to Jim's house, and Jim gave me Doc's old welder! The thing is like 50 some odd years old, but I took it to Reid's house that afternoon, jury rigged the wiring a little, and it works! So, it needs some cleaning and help with the wiring on it, but I think it will work to learn on anyway. Daddy was asking me about welding stainless steel today, for milking tanks and such - that would be interesting! Friday night we went to Jacob Larios' concert, and it was good - the music was incredible;...

It's been another good day, for God is an awesome provider in the midst of anything. There is a sweet smelling savor in these days going up before our God, for the prayers of the Saints are being lifted up! Take courage brothers and sisters, for our God is great indeed! God cares of the smallest things... I've always wanted to try my hand at welding, even have the equipment to use occaisionally in the shop or around the farm. And somehow in it all God is filling some extra time with the opportunity to learn a bit of welding, and Doc has even offered to buy me the equipment... I am overwhelmed. The day was quiet and slow at Doc's as it often is: we cleaned up some limbs from a bit of high wind last night, and I worked on a gutter that was having some trouble. Then we spent a couple of hours of at Reid's house; I welded scrap while Doc, Reid and Melissa (Reid's daughter) chatted nearby.

It is the greatest comfort though, to simply know that our God is justice, mercy, and that He does not change! What a Savior we have... I'm tired,...

Whew, it feels like it's been two days today... But good because of all that got done. I got me teeth fixed! They picked and poked and cleaned and squirted water on me, and sucked it back out, but all in all it went quickly, with little to no pain, and they fixed up the bond on my front tooth better than ever. I caught up with Jonathan on the phone, and he's managing to stay ahead with his physics class - I don't know how he does it! But the afternoon and evening was a lot of fun: I made a list and rode to Peach State Lumber! It took me awhile just trying to run all the figures and deal with random width hardwood as opposed to pieces of wood just the size I needed. But I got a good deal on plenty of 5/4 Beech to fix my Mom's rocker, hard maple for two to three windsor chairs, and enough white pine for one seat and the bending jigs for three styles of chairs! I looked for wood for me and Anna's plates and such, but with the money I was already spending nothing really just jumped...

Milking comes early! I cleaned up manure and hauled water around while Daddy did the milking today. Maggie is still giving an incredible amount, right about 4 gallons a day, even though we're drying her up in about three weeks. I was looking out at the big pasture, and it's nice to have sold Rose, our mare's four year old filly. It was sad to see her go in a way, and yet the pastures are all but gone, and since Rose had never been truly broken for riding, and since she had a bit of a mean streak, it was good in the end to see her go. And we have baby chick's coming today, hopefully!

I had a good day at work today. I worked in the garden this morning, then cleaned up the car and truck for Doc. Mrs. Hill has relatives coming over tomorrow for lunch, so she needed a clean car. Jim Denson stopped by as well and tried to explain some way to fix the dam on Doc's lake (it's leaking in the middle of the dam), but I'm not sure if Jim's idea was a good one or not... And Buddy Huddleston stopped...

It's been good to be in the house of the Lord! God gave Pastor Johnston a wonderful message today, in the series he has begun on "Losing the Savor of our Salt." I wish everyone in this day could hear what he spoke on, as he compared the integrity, the oneness of Daniel in the Bible, to the duplicity of mind in our culture today. The word integrity has little punch today, it's a bit overused even, but Pastor's comparison with duplicity, people who act one way to people in public, and who are different on the inside in there own personal life, was a powerful comparison. It is so good to feel the encouragement of the saints! Mrs. Paula, Brian and Kelly Kheun, the Meyers, Mrs. Warrack, Mr. and Mrs. Chipman, Richard Zolnik - the Lord is good!

The Sunday School class was powerful too, as Mr. Kefauver summarized the first few chapters of the Hiding Place. What an incredible family the ten Booms were! And yet, they just did what they had always done, in helping people before, then during, the Holocaust. God truly does use everyday, normal Christians to prevail in time of great distress! And as...

It's a hot Saturday in Georgia, and we've been working in the garden. My grandparents just stopped by and I got to show them the progress I've made in the shop. I'm so thankful for people, and they're encouragement in my life. Grandma Warrack is one, and I was thankful to hear her encouragement this morning. Mr. Robert's and Mr. Willard too, at church the other night, we're helpful in pointing me to God's point of view, and waiting on Him. But the garden is hanging in there; it's hot and so very dry - I lost one of my Beech trees I'm growing in a pot for me and Anna's house one day, but the other one is fine and coming back out from the late frost. It's hard to know which direction to go in the shop, as usual; they're are so many projects waiting! But, that's far better than piddling around with naught to do.

We had a nice afternoon as a family; all seven of us rode to Wildhorse Park and played some tennis. We were short a person to have an even number of players! Just thinking about my family reminds me of God's incredible...