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"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls for he has no one to help him up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 New King James Version

Matt and I were talking about friendship. He said, "you would probably be surprised at how many people don't really know how to be a friend." and that really mede me think. Think and we continued to talk about it.

Friendship is so interesting.

Everyone wants, craves and desires it... and yet how many people do you suppose really, really know how to be a true friend? Not just the friend that's fun for a time, not just the people that always have people over to their house. A REAL, TRUE friend. Knows how to give and take. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever felt warn out and like "why am I doing all the work here!?"

From the time I was very little I remember my mom telling me how very important it was to know how to be a true friend where it's a give and take relationship, not just one sided. I have always remembered what she told me about her experiences in friendships that were one sided and how they never work. You have to be willing to give and take. I have always tried very hard to live that out. Not always doing the best job of it I'm sure, but trying.

For a long time I knew this, but it was hard to always act on it. By "act on it" I mean to just give those people up in my life that weren't good friends. I wanted that friendship bad enough that I didn't mind that I was the only one giving and that that person wasn't actually going to help make me a better person and be there through thick and thin.

Then I met my future husband. He was a very true, giving, wonderful friend who fast became my best friend for quite a few months. Then I knew I wanted him in my life forever:) This was a man that called me, I didn't always have to call him. (I know, I know, he did like me cause I was a girl too) He went out of his way to show me he cared about my day to day life, my work, my family, who I was. He would show up on my door and surprise me, driving THREE hours each way to do so. And really before all of that we had great, long talks that made both of us think and made us each strive to be a better person. He was one of my first true friends in every sense of the word.

After that I think I started to really see my friendships in a new light. "is this working, is this giving and taking?" And when life got busier and busier I realized I didn't have time to wait and see if it would change or work.

I have been blessed to find a few really good, true friends in the last few years. These people have taught me a lot and made me think and want to be a better person, to grow in the LORD together.

I feel like it's sad for some woman who don't really know how to be a good friend because when a healthy friendship is present it's such a huge and amazing blessing! I am so glad that my mother taught me what I needed to know as a young girl and for a wonderful husband that came along and signed up to be my best friend for the rest of my life:)

What are your thoughts? Have you learned this lesson the hard way, or did someone teach you?

A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Prov 18:24 New King James Version

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Pretty calves....

Ever get caught in a picture with a mouth full of food???

My muddy boy! He had rolled in mud. Lots of it. This is after I brushed him a lot.

Pretty new toes!

back to the pasture

Here we are a little drugged up, before and durning the trimming. He has to have a little sedative before his trimming. He gets a little.... impatient and won't hold his foot up. If I worked with him more and picked up his feet now and then this wouldn't be an issue. Sooooo, he gets drugs:)

It's a HORSE, of corse!

This is Henry. He's my horse that my daddy so kindly takes such good care of for me. He's a good little horsey! I had a hoof trimming app last week for this big boy. I had told the guy I work for that I have a hoof trimming app to get to after work and he looks at me and says, "you mean you're going to get your nails done??" Very puzzled. I said, "do I look like the type to get my nails done!?" "No, that's why I was a little confused! But there are some woman that get that done every two weeks or something *said w/ slight distain* " Yeah... And I would call my own nails hoofs?? I'm a little goofy, but not that goofy!!!

My canned sauerkraut!

My canned salsa. It's SOO good. The only problem, I had 15 of these 2 cup jars.... and we have 3 of them left. I canned them on Sep 8th! We do love our salsa. Next year I hope do to more and much bigger jars:)

This is an amazing cranberry cake that I try to make at least once every Fall. It's got this topping that's amazing also - I'm sure that's because it's half and half, butter and sugar!!! :-o

Mozzarella Cheese making..

Have to have rennet tablets..

and citric acid

get ready!!

it'll start to get thick and kind of gooey and curdled

THEN is starts to look like Mozzarella! The whey and cheese start to separate

then you drain off the whey and squeeeeeze it.

then you microwave it for a few min and a half and squeeze it some more

Microwave again and, again, squeeze!

again, squeeze and strech

Then it looks like this!

I made two smaller balls and then this is the cheese in cold water, cooling.

Later we shredded it and....

Had PIZZA!!!

"Eat Cheese or Die"

Making Feta Cheese

This is after I've done the heating up of the milk and then let it sit over night. All curdled!

Then I put it in a cheese cloth and let the whey drain off for a few hours. I actually left it for a long while and still had to squeeze some more whey out.

After it's drained I put the curd into a bowl. Put a little salt w/ it and I added garlic and a little garlic salt. So my feta will be garlic feta.

Wrap it in a cloth and put it into a "mold," that being a tin can:)

put the top back on (sort of) and then put a weight on it and put it in the fridge

You save some of the whey to make a brine out of, that's what that is on the left. And then my cheese ready to come out of the mold

there it is, before I take the towel off

and then after I unwrap it and am ready to cut it

All cut up and ready to go into my brine for a few days

Into this big jar and then.....

And then in the brine and ready to do it's thing. They say the longer it sits the more dry and crumbly it'll be.

My kitchen helper. Pretty boy!!!

ApPlEs, apples and more APPLES!

The guy I work with every day has access to some apple trees.

He was kind enough to get me FIVE 5 gallons pails of apples.

So what else but to take the day off and do apple things with all those apples!!

This is Q helping! He was loving the peeler!

Lots of apple sauce for Raychel's family:)

and a lot of pie filling!

The other night I tried to make cottage cheese. I did make cottage cheese. But, I have a cheese connoisseur of a husband. It wasn't just right. When it comes right down to it, it didn't taste like exactly what he's use to. That was a sad no go. I could save lots of money if I could make some of all the cheese my man eats in a week! Sour cream and Feta cheese next. I have to find rennet though. I hardly know what it is much less where to find it.

There are five of us woman that have started a freezer meal club. It has been amazingly wonderful! It's so nice to have a whole meal just ready to go when you only have an hour or two to get dinner ready and eat before leaving again. We have been VERY busy lately and it's been wonderful! The great part is that the meals are kind of a nice surprise that you didn't have to cook. If you're like me, sometimes by the time you have cooked it and spent a lot of time on it, you are tired of smelling and seeing it and don't even want to eat it anymore. It's been great.

We've been taking a "NITCH" class at church. It's to find out what your personality is and what your spiritual gifts are. This is all so that you can find where you are best suited to serve. It's been really interesting so far. Both Matt and I are doing it. It's a good, small group of people. It's a good way to get to know people you normally wouldn't talk to or meet.

Anyway. I will post some pictures of our septic soon. Once I get the "after" pictures taken. But, don't get too excited. The "after" is pretty ugly. Three septic covers, seven vent pipes sticking out, one electrical box and a LOT of mud.

Is this little girl cute, or what!?!?

It's ME:)

My mommy sends all of her children a weekly post card of funny pictures, or old pictures from when we were growing up. This was mine for the week. I have underwear on my head here. *chuckles*

This was my great coupon deal of the evening. These are regularly $1.99 They were on sale for $1.29 and I had 6 $1.00 off 1 coupons. I paid $1.78 for all of these!!! Yep, I paid less for all of these then I would have paid for one normally! Pretty sweet. I also love having three laptops that I can print them from.

This soup also looks AMAZING!

I also LOVE the pictures that go with the

recipes here...

Broccoli Soup

6-8 cups broccoli, chopped
4 medium sized potatoes, cut into chunks
1-2 leeks, sliced
1 onion (red), peeled and cut into chunks
1/3 cup heavy cream
water or stock
1 teaspoon salt
ground pepper

Place broccoli, potatoes, leeks, salt and onion in a soup pot. Fill with water (or stock) until everything is just barely covered. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until broccoli is very tender.

Puree until smooth. Add desired amount of cream. Add pepper. Adjust salt, if necessary.

Doesn't this look yummy? I haven't tried it yet, but I have everything but the actual broccoli so it'll be a cheap meal... and oh how I love soup in the Fall, oh how I love FALL:) I might also add some cheese (Matt will like it better that way, too;-) Tell me your favorite Fall soups!

The grill that my husband surprised me with. I just wanted a really simple gas grill. I was so tired of waiting for charcoal. And getting it to stay lit. Ugh. I kept taking him past them and saying, "lets just get one!" And he'd him and haw so we didn't get one. Then the other day he came home with one!!! I am thrilled that you can light it and then 30 seconds later put something on it! He's awesome!

The big Hibiscus bushes, trees... flowers..

Easily as big as your head! Matt loves these. All the City Council members were jealous and wanted us to split it up so that they could have some. They are pretty impressive.

Allium..

the pink version. It's a little bit smaller, but not much!

So big!! The funny thing is that these bloom and then die the same day. One flower that it. It only lasts about a day. The dead ones are laying all over like it was raining them!

I was impressed with my little camera and these next two pictures (click on the picture to enlarge it and you can see what I mean).. it's he pretty!? Some ppl think there isn't a GOD!?!? Are you kidding me!? So, you think this exploded out of a glob of snot? He let me take three pictures (you can see his big eye watching me) and then he was freaked out by me and hopped away (hop, is that what they do!?).

Hollyhock..

Brown Eyed Susan's