Just a Thought...

An online friend of mine was being criticized the other day for having online friends whom she'd never met, and may never meet (this side of heaven, anyway). When we got talking about it (online!), it got me thinking...


I have been so incredibly blessed by some people whom I've never met, and will probably never meet this side of eternity, through online sermons, lectures and blogs. I have also been blessed beyond words by online friendships God has placed in my life. I have friends for whom I pray, and who pray for me - and I don't just mean that we give each other a mention on our knees before God. I mean true, burdened prayer. Folks who've not experienced the kind of bond that can exist outside of the normal face-to-face meetings may wonder at how genuine, how helpful, how real such bonds can be. In many ways, I don't blame them - I'd have been rather skeptical myself, had I not been blessed with such things in my life.


My friend, the other day, was being warned by her friends that, 'you  may not even like them if you met them in real life'. This made me think of my dear friend, Mr Spurgeon. You see, I am blessed by the words of this man again and again. His words are an encouragement to me. They warm my heart, make me see more of the beauty of my Saviour. They make me love Him more; hate my sin more.


But the truth is: I have never, and will never, meet him on this side of eternity. Had I been alive at the same time as he was, and had I met him 'in real life', I may not have liked him that much (I'm quite sure he wouldn't have been too 'taken' with me...), but the truth remains - through his words, whether on the page, or on the screen, he is a great source of blessing and encouragement to me.


So, the next time any of you are questioned about the possibility of online friendships being true, worthwhile or 'real', maybe you ought to think of some godly writer who 'being dead yet speaketh'. In eternity, when we do finally meet, there will be no sin, and no possibility of us not liking each other, and we will rejoice that God used the one to bless the other.


And to those of you who have been an encouragement to me over the past year or so; and to those of you who have truly become dear friends, and who are ever before me in my prayers.... even if it's God's will that we never meet here on earth, it is true that both emotionally and spiritually, y'all have been a great blessing in my life.


And if God wills it that we do get to meet here.... I do pray we like each other too ;)

You Needing a Laugh?

Those of you who follow Homeschool on the Croft on Facebook will already know that we were without internet from Saturday morning until this morning.


We almost had to call 999 for our kids. After all, Saturday night had been set as a plan-the-next-holiday-to-America evening for DR and, er, someone else. And when America is on some people's minds, well, it aint the time for the internet to be dying on us.


If you follow Homeschool over on FB, you will also know that last Wednesday evening was designated split-your-sides-over-Anne's-fashion-twenty-years-ago night. 


I seriously can't believe I'm doing this, but I don't want my blog readers to be disadvantaged in any way. Just cos y'all don't do Facebook, it doesn't mean you ought not to risk dying laughing at me.


Okay, are you guys ready for this? In the following video, at 16 seconds, I'm the one wrapping the parcel. I seriously am not going to comment on the hair, nor on the fashion. 


Not. one. word.


And then at around 1:24, I am coming up the escalator.


I really oughtn't be doing this to myself. But if you need to feel good about yourself, or if you really, really need a good laugh, have a watch.

Spurgeon's Daily Reading for Yesterday

Do any of you read Spurgeon's Morning and Evening? (It's online too.) No matter how many times I read it, I never tire of the wonderful warm and encouraging word this man of God has for my soul. Surely, he is one who, 'being dead, yet speaketh'.


Yesterday (Jan 11th), he was speaking on, "I have prayed for thee" - Jesus' words to the beloved disciple, Peter. How glad I am that Peter was a disciple. How thankful I am that God's Word didn't give us an account of perfect men who never put a food, or word, wrong. And how merciful God was to Peter, in his sin, his pride, his fall. Merciful. And kind. And tender.


Oh the tenderness of our Saviour!


Here is what Spurgeon had to say yesterday:

How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never-ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is advocating our cause, and by His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the word of comfort addressed to Peter - "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but"... but what? ... "But go and pray for yourself" - that would have been good advice but it is not so written. Neither does he say, "But I will keep you watchful, and so you shall be preserved." That were a great blessing. No, it is, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." We little know what we owe to our Saviour's prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us, how we shall praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mishcief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank Him because He never held His peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names upon His breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had forestalled him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy outruns malice. Mark, He does not say, 'Satan has sifted you, and therefore I will pray', but 'Satan hath desired to have you.' He checks Satan even in his very desire, and nips it in the bud. He does not say, "But I have desired to pray for you." No, but "I have prayed for you: I have done it already; I have gone to court and entered a counterplea even before an accusation is made." O Jesus, what a comfort it is that thou hast pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined their mines, and unmasked their ambushes. Here is a matter for joy, gratitude, hope and confidence.

As Spurgeon says here, how little we know of what we are kept from because of the prayers of our Saviour, our eternal intercessor. 

"Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." (Ps 110; Hebrews 5:6)

The last (added, I believe) verse of the hymn Amazing Grace says,

When we've been there ten thousand years,

bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

than when we first begun.

Praise God this is so! For we will never run out of reasons for which to praise our Saviour.

Back Chatting with Patrice. It's Been a While

Well, Patrice, I have missed our weekly chats so much. Now that life has returned to some level of normality, hopefully I'll be back with you each week, and I'm delighted to be joining yourself and the other ladies today.


We were just having a laugh here just now: The Builder was asking the kids what LOL stood for, and Catherine was telling the story of a lady who texted her daughter to let her know her great aunt had passed away. The text read:

Auntie Marie has passed away. Lol x

Her daughter phoned her that evening and asked her to read out the text she'd sent her earlier on. Mum read it: Auntie Marie has passed away. Lots of love x


Just shows you.... Make sure you know your abbreviations. It could be a matter of life and death!


So to today's questions:


1. How often do you wear a skirt or dress?


Well, as y'all know, my favoured attire is...

... though believe it or not, I wore a skirt to town today. Flat brown boots, and a knee length skirt. Er, no, not these boots. Town is not worthy of them.

I wear a skirt or dress to church, so that's twice on Sunday, and to our midweek meeting. Apart from that, I have to be honest my skirts don't get too much of an airing. Much to my mother's horror. Sorry Mum... 

2. Did you feel unmotivated after Christmas and New Year?

Well, our holidays were so busy - that wonderful busy-ness that comes from being blessed with a home, family and friends, and visiting and food aplenty. Blessings indeed. We began our 'real life' yesterday, and so far - a long 48 hours later - I feel totally motivated. (I'm glad I'm not answering this on Friday!) 

I tend to get spurned on to 'better things' at the beginning of each term, and have to fight to keep it up as the term goes on. So for now, I'm feeling pretty motivated.

Now all I need is to reacquaint myself and the treadmill. 

Patrice, quick - ask the next question. Quiiiiick!

3. What was the last thing that made you say "Wow"?

The other day, I saw an incredible wave crashing over the Butt, and definitely said "Wow!". (And yes, I called the kids to see it too. And they obliged :)

The waves the other day made the waves in this photo seem like something a child would make in the bath. I love the way it all seems to happen in slow motion. The best of the wave the other day was that the sea was coming in towards the Butt, but the wind was from the North, so it was pushing the sea spray in the opposite direction. It was fabulous to watch. 

Was my answer predictable?! (At least it wasn't a sunset....wrong time of year for that!)

4. Do you shop with a list, or do you 'wing it'?

Oh dear. Me and my lists. I faithfully write a list before I head off to town every single week. 

And one of two things happens:

a) I may leave the list on the kitchen worktop. This is a very common occurrence. 

b) I may reach the last aisle in Tesco and remember... The List. I go sporghail (sorry, no English word.... just imagine some very elegant searching in a very neat and tidy handbag... ahem) in my sack bag, only to give up and hope the essentials were all remembered. Of course, the essentials always include these essential items that others may not class as essential. Essentially, they consist of chocolate. Other essentials may be overlooked, but one's sanity and well-being is too important to be forgotten. Anyone else find this??

Fortunately we have a couple of local shops here in Ness (where would we be without them!) for my inevitable 'forgets'. I ought to make a New Year resolution to do with lists, or essentials, or something ...

'A' New Year resolution, Anne?? Plural, methinks. Plural.

5. What questions would you like me to ask on our Chat?

Oh, Patrice, you know my imagination is rubbish! Have we spoken about holidays - in the past, in the future, or in our imagination? New Year resolutions? What you love most about where you live? What you'd change about where you live?!

Thankfully, we've got lots of company today, so ask the others... they'll have good ideas.

It's been so good being back with you on the porch - well, inside, I know - but we still like to call it the porch, don't we? I hope y'all have a great week, and have the joy of the Lord, the peace that passes understanding and a greater love for our Saviour than we've ever had before.

Wouldn't that make it a great week...

Food. I May be Becoming Obsessed

Maybe this has been common knowledge throughout the rest of the Western world, and if it has been, I don't know why nobody ever told me. Thank you to a lady from our village who told me just a couple of weeks ago that she always chopped up her carrots, leeks and turnip, bagged them and froze them.  No par-boiling; no blanching. Nothing. Just straight from the plot to the freezer. 


Today, I added another four bags of chopped turnip to the half-dozen already in the freezer. This is so handy for when I'll be making Scotch Broth with little time.


No, not with a little Thyme, but with little time.

Bags of chopped turnip, ready to throw into a pan of Scotch Broth at a later date.

And seeing as I'm talking of my vegetables (I know, you've missed hearing of them), here are some of my peeled and chopped veggies from Saturday.

All from The Plot.... yes, I did say it (and not just once): 

'It's so amazing. Ah-ma-zing!'

Well, it is!

Now, y'all will be thinking I'm obsessed with food, but I have to show you this...

Dawn's carrot cake. 

These are not the days on which to be making New Year resolutions. Unless the resolution is to eat as much cake as possible.

Of every cake I have ever eaten, this is simply the best.

The Best.

If cakes were actors, this would be Colin Firth in that scene.

If cakes were cars, this would be the Land Rover Discovery (not that there are many apparent similarities, but they are both my favourite in their respective classes).

If cakes were holidays, this carrot cake would fly me to Vancouver, take me East across Canada, through the Rockies, over the Prairies, all the way to the fishing villages of Nova Scotia.

It would then drive me south into the USA, through the New England coast, and keep driving until we reached New Jersey. There, it would allow me to wallow in the luxury of 'our seaside home' (remember it?) for a while, before heading me into Virginia....ahhhh, Virginia, land of Mr Jackson (you remember him?), into North Carolina, across the Blue Ridge Mountains..... Ahhh from where we'd head West and drive into the sunset day after day after day. 

Into the Wild West....

Er... I seem to have got slightly carried away here. Food does that to me.

And this old favourite, PW's Chocolate Sheet cake, sat on the counter on Saturday, waiting to be remembered. Even cakes aren't keen on being usurped by bigger, better ones.

'Chocolate sheet cake, I can assure you, you will not be forgotten.' 

We shall not cease to bake you. Over and over and over. If you guys have never tried it, make it. You wont regret it.

Though your waistline may...

Our Visitors. All the Way from England. That weird Country...

Remember I told y'all we were having some Sasannaich coming to stay.

Yes, remember we were gonna teach them about life in the wilds. 

So, the first thing we did was have a few round for some food.

After all, that's what we do bestest on the island.

Eat.

Some of the guys filling plates. And stomachs.

Food, 

and fellowship. What more can one ask for?

However, I did want the Sasannaich to go without them getting their hands dirty, so to speak.

I got J to do some vacuuming....

R to dry some dishes, 

and DR to mop.

DR mopping!! The floor didn't know what hit it.

(No, not because it was DR mopping, but simply because it was being mopped.)

But the best is yet to come. 

The other day, in 60mph winds, and in a windchill of -6 degrees, these hardy, intrepid folks jumped into the sea. 

Yes they did. For some inexplicable reason, they decided it would be great fun to jump into these waters in these conditions.

Give me strength! I can't bear to go into these waters above my ankles during the Summer! 

But here they are, with DR underwater.

He's alive!!

J now dives in...

then R,...

And now the incredibly brave, if somewhat mad, LJ.

Mad I tell you, mad...

And now we know that these Englishers are "a hardy, intrepid race" as well as us Scots.

Oh, hang on, these guys are Scots.... ;)

The Builder and I took a Drive...

The Builder, kind man that he is, took me for a wee drive yesterday.

When we arrived at the lighthouse, some sheep were sheltering at the wall,

and then I saw them turn round to admire the crashing waves.

These photos are taken from the other side of the lighthouse. The sun came out, and you can see my shadow is falling over the cliff.

A gull on the rock... not feeling the cold, apparently.

These photos are taken at Stoth. I loved the way the sheep looked at me, as if to ask what on earth I was doing on their patch.

I think the sheep closer to the edge is testing my nerves.

Don't do it, sheep. Don't!

And here, on our way home, was Eoropie machair with a sleet shower fast approaching.