End of season adventures

Memories are so wonderful,
Pictures are such an amazing treat.
I'll let these pictures express for themselves,

how we enjoyed being together.

These were taken in and around Riding Mountain

I'm in a dark valley, praying for hope.
The enemy is on the move.
Joy is a fading memory.
God where are you?

Please pull me out, help me up.
Cast all opposition away from me.
The days are hard the nights seem endless,
I'm surrounded.
Help me to be like David your mighty worrier, full of hope and faith.
I want to know you and be a woman after your own heart.

I feel paralyzed......

I almost forgot about our new Ducklings.


Pepper and Sunshine




And we are expecting bunnies any day now!

This summer has been full of Gods love,
The sunshine and rain.
The market, the vegetables.
The friends, The flowers.
The outdoors, the wildlife.
The work, the rest
Not to mention the honey and chickens!
All an amazing display of Gods never ending love for
His children.

My prayer is that we learn to live like the birds of the air..

Said the Robin to the Sparrow, I'd really like to know why these anxious human being rush about and worry so. Said the Sparrow to the Robin, friend I think that it must be, That they have no heavenly Father, which who cares for you and me....Phil Keaggy

How great is our God,
That He chose to send His son,
so that we can have life with Him!




The summer isn't even over.
I am so grateful,
We still get to take part in our favorite festival,
Have another day at the market and
Our family has the opportunity to have a student from Germany stay with us for five months!

We've been back for a while now but haven't had a chance to sit down.
The canoe trip was wonderful, just Kevin and I, a tent, a cooler of yummy food ie. brie, smoked white fish, tomatoes, a baguette, fruit, etc. some cards, fishing supplies, a hassock (a camping potty), some earring making supplies and it all fit into our wonderful canoe.
We are lacking in pictures because the extra camera batteries went missing, I still haven't found them.

Kevin taking the canoe off the van.

The scenery.


Me in the front taking it all in.


More recently........

I've started to sell bread in town, so every second day I spend 5 hours making bread.
The business has pulled me away from family and housework, I've consulted my Husband and he has encouraged me to keep at it.
So now God I lift it all up to you, you know my struggles and my fears, please hold me up in this time. I find myself lost most days between who I was and who God is refining me to be. This does actually feel like a desert in the mist of war sometimes, I know what the truth is but somehow it doesn't penetrate. I don't ask why, I just say help.

So God got me off the couch today, I feel so much better.
I thought that my first trimester was going to be a dark hole.
I wasn't able to get my house work, yard work, gardening... really the smallest task was a huge challenge.
God set me free and today I spent most of it outside. Lunch and supper were served outside and even a little sitting around the fire after all the work was over.
We planted, cleaned, my husband tilled the garden, started to build a shed and the children picked up loose bits that had made there way across the yard.
I feel alive again, and the sun was shining!
My husband and I even get to go on an early 10th anniversary outing.
we are going on a canoe trip for the weekend... you can't do that here in December, so we will celebrate early.
(I will also be 8 months with babe by then)

I cleaned out the front garden and finished the planting.

We put the chickens in the chicken tractor, one got away on us, but after some time running after it through the bushes, a friend came over and suggested a fishing net.....
My husband caught her in half a minute.
One was just to chicken to come out of her cozy pen.
They seemed to have enjoyed it. They didn't fight to go back into there pens either.

Great chicken day.


Kevin tilled the garden, hopefully now i can get some planting done now that its dry.(dryer!)

Kevin dug up the rhubarb, so that it could be moved to the big garden.
Some of the children all sat around a large bowl chopping up the cut down part of the rhubarb.

Kevin stopped at the greenhouse and picked up some Impatients.
I planted them under the Kitchen window so we could all see them.

Mabelle and Aoife sharing a bowl of peanuts relaxing on the swing.

My hard working husband, working on his shed.

For the final picture and caption, I'm adding this beautiful Iris, God is so good!
I will rejoice and be glad that He is King!

I just wanted to share this with others...


WHICH CAMP DO I BELONG TO?

1 Corinthians 1:2, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord..."

Did you know that the early Christians were referred to as those who "call upon the name of the Lord"? You can read more references in Acts 9:14, 21 and 2 Timothy 2:22.

Do you think God's people have this testimony today? Is it such a normal habit of our lives to call upon the Lord that the ungodly see this as our habitual characteristic? Do our neighbors know us as people who call upon the name of the Lord? How many times during the day do we acknowledge the Lord and call upon His name?

It started in the beginning. While the generations of Cain were going after material pursuits and worldly business another godly line was born to Adam and Eve. Genesis 4:25-26 says, "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." History says that Enos was the first of eight preachers of righteousness, of whom Noah was the eighth.

This new generation began to call upon the name of the Lord in prayer, thanksgiving. and worship. This is when they began public worship. They became known as people who called upon the Lord.

It is this way of life that distinguishes us as the people of God from the heathen. The ungodly do not call upon the Lord. The godly do. This decides which camp we belong to.

Recently I was challenged by reading Jeremiah 10:25, "Pour thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name." This Scripture is talking about families-not churches, but families. Therefore we had better take notice because it relates to us. It is convicting to realize that families who do not gather together to call upon the name of the Lord are equated with the heathen! Ouch!

How many "Christian" families are actually heathen families? They do not gather together for prayer and worship from one day to the next.. Life is too busy. The program is chock full from morning 'till night. So what distinguishes us from the worldly?

I too find that life is busy from morning until night. Therefore, we have to make times to call upon the Lord. If we don't, it doesn't happen. We have established in our home Morning and Evening devotions where we come together as a family to read the Word and call upon the Lord. We don't allow any interruption to interfere with his habit. For if we do not do it, we cannot confess we are the people of God. God's people call upon His name.

What does this word "call" mean? It is not a mumbling prayer or a quick "God bless our family today" and go on our merry way. The Hebrew word is qara which means, "to cry out, call out loudly, to roar, to summon God's aid."

When we call upon the Lord we show our dependence upon Him. We know we cannot make it in our own strength, as the previous verse, verse 23 says, "the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." We need God to show us the way.

The morals of our nation a deteriorating fast! We stand guilty before God for the murder of 50 million babies since Roe v. Wade. Atheism, immorality and homosexuality, are rife. It may not be long before our nation's financial resources fail. How can we go blindly on while our nation goes down the road of wickedness? Do we not have any heart to cry out to God. The hour is urgent for families to come together and to pray, night and morning. God has promised that when we humble ourselves and cry out to Him that He will hear us and save our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Will we as families pay the sacrifice to see God's deliverance or will we go blindly on our merry way? (Romans 10:13)

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Above Rubies, www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

"Oh Father, please save me from living like the heathen. Please help us as a family to make specific times to call upon your name for our own salvation and the salvation of this nation. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:

We will be known as a family that calls upon the name of the Lord.

Life... God has blessed us once again.
For the next eight months I will be looking forward to meeting our new gift.
All of the other children are so thrilled to have another friend.
The thought of going through all the ups and downs is sometimes overwhelming.
When I was young and before I knew Christ, He had put on my heart to raise up an army to change the world. So my prayer is that our little McQuades become those world changers for Him.
I discovered that trampolines aren't as scary as they used to be.
I put the young ones to bed, and went outside with my Husband to look at the freshly tilled Gardens. On the walk back to the house I hopped on the trampoline and Kevin joined me, then all of a sudden two little's came running towards us and joined our late night jump. I guess we weren't being very quiet! We enjoyed a couple of minutes then off to bed for the little's.
I'm now waiting to hear from our oldest on return from Malaysia. Sitting in Tokyo on her own for 8 hours.... I hope I get a note soon.
We will see her tomorrow. I'm so distracted with being pregnant and tired as well as thinking about Des, that i can't seen to get motivated to do my chores.
I'm sure they'll be there tomorrow!
God is good. I'm thankful for our situation and for His goodness in it all!

Old picture I know but I couldn't load pictures for a while. Us enjoying the mild winter. Thank you God for that.

Ahh Picture posting is back. Here is Aoife at the Above rubies retreat.
The retreat was refreshing and encouraging.
I recommend all women young and aged to come next year. God sure knows how to touch a daughters heart.

May is here. God is good!

Today is full of surprises, We have acquired 5 laying hens! We are now starting to see God answer our prayers for our sustainability dream. Our children are so excited they can't contain it! God please help us to raise these chicken and please make them good at what you made them to do.
Love you!

May,........ transition month

The Lord has been really changing, stirring and revealing Himself lately.
After today we cannot look back. I don't want to be a pillar of salt.
I want to chase after God in all he has for us.
Pray meditate on Gods word and believe, have faith to believe.
All I need is you, all I need is you.
Bless you oh my Father. You are so good to me.

Spring is officially here, thank you God for that. I pray that my garden is successful and that the mosquitoes hibernate in hell forever. Unless they actually have a purpose Lord please take them out of my yard. Thank you for all that you are doing please give me strength to accept it all and to receive your love. Help me to love my Husband and children as you do and help our family to love others more than ourselves. xoxoxoxoxoxo

Today is the greatest...until tomorrow!

So sweet the sound of the outdoors. My husband , son and friend are off the a nearby provincial park to go for a hike. The two younger girls are running out in the yard with the puppies and momma dog. To believe that God sends us such blessings. I'm praying that my heart will recive the blessing and not let it go by.
My son will be off on the train to visit with his cousin in two days. What an experience for him!
My oldest is off at work, saving up for her independence.
My baby is off to sleep.
And here I am typing out my thoughts...just to get motivated to serve my family( and feed my need for order) and clean my house!

The thought of a life without my Lord is painful.
My life is in your hands..........

Gods grace

Gods grace......
I recieve.
Gods grace.
Lord help me.........
to receive your grace.

Family night

Prep.
Aoife, enjoying her plain apple
Father and son
The girls


We at the McQuade house had a wonderful Family night. We had a cook off..Theme.. Pioneer food. Zebadiah and Mabelle made Saskatoon pudding, Sarah and I made chicken pie and Zeb also made biscuits, Desirae made candy apples and Dad was the judge, so was Aoife she seemed to eat it all up.. Aoife had a plain apple(in case you were wondering). We all passed our test for deliciousness, visual appeal and well we don't really know when candy apples started up but we all thought they were a great treat.
It was fun a night, God is so good to give us family.
Kevin and I went out on a date today, we had brunch together (no children) at the League for life Respect life week fund raiser. It was so encouraging. Micheal Coran was a great speeker and wise man of faith. If not for families none of us would be here. We even became members, and bought our children souvenir valentines gifts. They all are recieveing pins that have 10 week (in utero) old feet or hands. Takes you breath away.....

Its now February usually the longest (yet shortest) month for us up here in the north. I've been longing to make changes in my life and I know it starts with me and I know all comes in Gods timing, I'm just longing.....

Well the mid winter cabin fever doesn't look like it has a chance this year.
We've actually been getting to know some of our neighbors, turns out that they like to do 'coffee'.
This Christmas was better than it has been, not as many quarrels.
We are back to schooling only one or two minor setbacks. We had puppies. Eight in total one passed so now we are learning about puppy parenting x 7.
I've been realizing that My fathers death has had a bigger affect on me than I thought. I had to admit it to myself and now I guess is when God can start the healing process with me, Now that I'm able to go there( a bit). Many things have been unraveling in my faith walk thanks to many wonderful sisters and mother in Christ. Time to get a move on and stop stalling growth.
I dream of the day that I can groove with God instead of being so fearful and stubborn. He is so faithful. xo