A family farm

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Ascent from Darkness - by Michael Leehan

I have just read the book Ascent from Darkness by Michael Leehan sent to me courtesy of BookSneeze. This has been a rollercoaster of an emotional ride. I do wish I had prayed before I opened the book, because I really didn't have a clue to what I was getting into. His journey is filled with darkness, and sometimes it seems overwhelming and unbelievable. I just didn't expect it to pull me down so far as I read of his tribulations. The end, however, is breathtaking and brought tears to my eyes as Michael told of his conversion to Christ. I don't cry for much, but the joy that welled up within me was tremendous. This book is incredible. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, with care, however, as it is deep and dark and frightening. The supernatural world is nothing for us to be playing around with. This book, on the other hand, may be a great help to someone who is struggling with the faith. It is a clear warning against dark powers, and it is a clear warning to believers in God to live out their faith, because there are many other people just like Michael watching and waiting for us to show that we do indeed have a light in us, of love and of hope. Read this book with care. Pray as you read it. Pray before you open it. Praise God as you finish it.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

well, it's been fun, but ...

I really haven't blogged for awhile here, but today seems like a good day just to write something. My F150 took a nosedive, blowing the #3 sparkplug, the mechanic fixed it, but it blew again the next day. The mechanic isn't giving my money back, so I have to file complaints. I'm up a crick without a paddle as far as taking them to court because the State of MI says that if the repair wasn't under warranty, the minute I drove off the premises it was all me. I can, however, file a complaint with them, and they'll investigate, and I can file a complaint with the BBB, and this mechanic already has a #4 rating with them. I don't think either will do much good.

So, I've been driving my parent's 2000 Chevy Venture mini-van, and hating every minute, but it did get me around. I hadn't vacuumed out the back of it yet, and I'd had straw in there, on top of three feed bags, so it really shouldn't have too much loose straw floating around back there. There is a package of 6 cinnamon rolls which I'm certain are going south real quick now. I left them there Thursday when Chris and I took off for St. Ignace (wonderful 4-day trip, by the way). Monday, the doggone thing overheated on me. I was 3.5 hours late for work. I stayed at work until about 8:30pm after going to Kellie's basketball game. Then we picked up Chris and were home by about 9:30. It was an awful day. I did learn that there was a little plastic piece that broke off a hose that caused it to overheat. Tuesday (yesterday), the mechanic called me and said that the head gasket had been blown. Well, that's just lovely. I gardened last night. I planted the stuff I bought over Labor Day weekend and pulled weeds. The goats were happy to eat them.

This morning, we were all up at around 5am (Luke loved it as he had been trying to get me out of bed since 4:30am - he's our German Shepherd and thinks that the earlier he can get his breakfast, the happier we'll all be). Chris and I did chores together. The abcess by one of our chicken's eye seems to be going down. We'll see. She's an older hen. I digress. I might not make it to church on Sunday as Chris has to work. However, I might be able to check out a few vehicles on Saturday and run some errands -- like grocery shopping! Ew. Grocery shopping on Saturday is probably the worst. We'll see. I may have a couple of pickups to look at as well. It's been a lot of fun trying to get our ride situation together (note the sarcasm - and if you don't read it over again until you do).