Joel

I have now read the Joel book of the Bible. Much of the chapter was referring to some type of locust issue and using that as an allegory for what will happen during Gods wrath. I am finding that much of the text I am reading covers the same issues, it is good to be reading what I am reading.

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Hosea

I have now read the Hosea book of the Bible. There was a fair amount of talk about being adulterous and prostituting of Israel. I really hope that I can and do love and serve God and my wife the way that I need to, the way that the Bible asks us to.

Thanksgiving was yesterday and things went really well. Amanda's parents came over and we had a big meal prepared and had some good company. We have two more events to go through, both of which are making Amanda somewhat anxious. Not without reason, but anxious.

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Daniel

I just finished reading the Book of Daniel. I really liked the person Daniel was and the things he was entrusted to do. Not many people gain the confidence of kings and God the way Daniel did. The visions or dreams were a bit abstract as is the pattern in the Bible, but with time I will better be able to understand some of the meanings.

I am finding that I usually have to remind myself to focus on reading the words on the pages. I can let my mind wander onto other things in my day and life. Its better to focus on just reading the Bible when I have set down to do so.

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Ezekiel

I finally got back to my Bible reading goal and finished another book, Ezekiel. I found the book interesting as it told about some of Gods issues with how things were going and described some fascinating destroyer thing that was going to roam around. I found it interesting how God spoke directly to Ezekiel in the way he did and the description of the temple. 

It was good to get back to reading the Bible again, plenty of what I see on the web nowadays says to be reading the Book daily. I had gotten away from that for some reason, all I have to do is dedicate some portion of my day to reading the Book. 

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Goals

I found some time to do some reading yesterday. The book is about how choosing your words will change your life. The book is written by Joyce Meyer and has a very strong Biblical influence. Among the many things I gleaned from my efforts lately was that I need to have a set of goals. I know that I have already talked about being a wish maker on my blog. However, I need to set some goals and am taking the time to do so.

#1. Improve relations with my wife.
While I never want to plateau my relationship with my wife, I should always be learning, doing, and listening. Amanda has her own background and challenges and it is my job as a husband to be aware of her needs and wants.

#2. Commit to some type of career.
We have already decided that Amanda is going to be a stay at home mom and wife. Along with that we want to home school Sophia or very carefully pick a school for her. I want to be a teacher which gives us the chance to move somewhere and start new. I also have the USPS possibility if something opens up. Farming can happen, but to many things about farming are against Amanda and my relationship.

#3. Set up my property for some horsing.
Equestrian type of things were a big deal to Amanda and she wants that for Sophia also. A pony has been requested within a certain number of years, and more horses will follow after that.

#4. Read something other than my phone or laptop everyday.
All the marriage and other helpful websites I go to say that I should be reading the Bible or are strongly influenced by the Bible. I still haven't finished my Bible ambition from a couple of years ago so I need to work towards that goal. The more time I take to read intelligent things, the better off I should be.

#5. Work off our debts.
Currently we have five debts, including the house. the smallest debt is my truck, then her student loan, my student loan, her car and our house. The truck will be sold off once and if we move to a new job and location. The house can be sold for some profit which can be put towards the purchase of another residence. If things work out well, I can have all my money from farming in the bank to pay off our debts and be pulling in an income that we learn to live from.

#6. Find the balance between home and work life.
Being a farmer I have a unique situation that many other husbands don't have. Some days I have to work until dark, some days it rains and I get to stay in with my wife. I get to eat nearly all my meals with my family and have slow times where we can get away for a couple of days. Sometimes I don't get to quit or leave at a certain time, some days I have to be around for things to all go well. This uncertainty doesn't sit well with my spouse, so I must find other consistent predicable work.

#7. Take everything more seriously.
I have responsibilities now that I didn't have as few as four years ago. The things I do take the time for or involve myself in need to be done with a concerted effort. That is the best way to care for my family that I have started.

#8. Beard
The Amish grow beards to show their commitment to their wives and family. Those folks on Duck Dynasty have beards for likely the same reason. I am going to give my face some time to see what I got.

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Our home, Her birthday

Today is my wife's birthday and as such I thought I would describe improvements she has made to our house. The latest detail she has headed was painting the big rooms downstairs. I moved into the place and it had a fairly unremarkable paint of coat everywhere. Now the dining room is a bright warm yellow, with a set of shelves holding some flowers and other niceties. She also recently found an older style kitchen hutch to paint up and start holding and storing things in.  Storage space has always been an issue, even though we have a nice food pantry. Amanda is also going to paint the dining table we have to match the hutch. I also should mention the four chairs she bought and painted to go with our new decor. She wasn't able to get quite the color she wanted, but they turned out pretty good after a coat of paint and will be even better once we get some pads to sit on while dining with them.

The living room has turned out just as great. She picked out a darker grey than what she wanted, but with an extra lamp the room turned out quite nice. The china cabinet was moved to the dining room while both bookcases are now in the office. We now have a rug downstairs also helps bring some good color to the room.

We were talking the other day and thinking about how rundown our home was when I first had my chance at it. Dingy old floor, dingy old wall, second or third hand furniture. Now everything is much nicer and presentable. Makes me really appreciate the woman I have and the job she is doing as a stay at home mom and wife. Everything about me is better because she is in my life.

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