Texas Peaceful Acres Farm

An Act of Love

12/3/2019

Our church is doing a fundraiser for a Winter VBS. In Texas each Independent School District (ISD) pretty much sets it's own vacation dates. Our ISD has a very long Winter break well into the New Year. So a few ladies decided to offer a Winter VBS for the kids during their vacation. We have a very small church on a very small budget.

The fundraiser is a very unique Christmas photo shoot. Guess who sorta volunteered to shoot the pics? Our daughter is a professional photographer and she taught me enough that I'm dangerous!

I pulled my Nikon D80 out of mothballs and snapped 4 pics and it proceeded to die! Not only was I extremely sad because my Nikon was dead but in 3 days, I was suppose to shoot pics! I didn't stress too much over it....many people have some kind of digital camera today....but I was used to shooting a Nikon and I love my lenses. So, that night I went to church and mentioned it to a friend and she said....

"oh I have a camera you can use. My daughter is a professional photographer and she gave it to me to learn how to use, but I've never had it out of the bag. I have no idea what kind it is, but you are welcome to come by and get it."

To God be the glory! It was a Nikon and I did a little happy dance!

Jehovah Jireh! God our Provider!

I've been shooting pics every Sunday afternoon for 4 Sundays. Then I spend a few hours each week editing and sending them by email...in East Texas high speed internet....leaves a lot to be desired! The Lord keeps reminding me to serve with gladness and joy.

It's been fun....but I'm pooped after standing on my feet all day and doing squats. After I come home and edit them during the week, I'm filled with joy and you might hear me telling a few adults in the pics....keep your eyes on ME! heheehee...never fails...they have ADHD!

Not only was this the best $20 people spent for a fundraiser....they got awesome pics!

Here are a few. Don't ya just love the Texas touch!!! :)

Humbly His,
Diane

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Bread Making...YUM!

11/30/2019

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I've been a real food foodie for a very long time. I first began my healing journey in 1993 after a terrible car accident that left me with torn cartilage in both wrist, 8 surgeries on my arms/hands in 6 years, severe stomach pains from the NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) which ate holes in my gut, severe PTSD anxiety about getting in a car again, allergic reactions to all opioid Rx and a jury trial to sue State Farm.

I'm pretty sure after my last surgery, Good Friday, 1999 and a 2 day trial in Baltimore City with 12 of my peers (all black males) against MY insurance Co since the driver at fault was uninsured (which by the way I won!)....that's when EBV and Lyme & Co. came out of remission. Hey, why wouldn't they....they are both very opportunistic!

I remember starting out slowly with simple things like making our bread from fresh ground wheat, keeping sourdough starter, buying bulk beans, grains, rice. I worked my way up to juicing and cooking everything from scratch. I haven't started grinding wheat again...but I probably will since it's cost effective. But for now, buying bulk bags from Bread Topia works in Nowhere Texas!

In the late 90's I started taking cooking classes from a country "neighbor", Gloria McAdams who taught bead making and plant based cooking. She told me that juicing cabbage would heal my gut. When I saw incredible healing....that's when my interest was peaked to eat plants. She was/is a Seventh Day Adventist so is a plant based eater. It was my earliest exposure to eating just plants. I had a lot of opposition from my family, but here we are making a full circle with WFPB eating!

It's kinda funny, Gloria is now my country "neighbor" in Texas too!

Who knew...God was the creator of Tie-Dye!!! Juicing is so beautiful!

I use a clay oven to get a nice crusty bread.

I use the no knead recipe on Bread Topia. Einkorn Whole Wheat Flour is the only NON Hybridized wheat! It's thought to be an ancient original wheat!!! It is absolutely our favorite and makes a very light and almost white type of bread!

We love sweet potato flat bread called Roti! It's so simple to mix a cup of sweet potato and flour. Roll them out and then cook them until they puff!

You can start making simple changes in your diet to begin seeing big changes!

Blessings for Health!
Diane

Hubs finally fixed my S L O W internet connection in The Shepherd's Studio...SO, I should be able to be more active here!

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My Ongoing Health Crisis

11/27/2019

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If you've known me for any number of years, you know that I've battled for my health...practically my entire life. I believe the enemy knew God would choose me and he tried to take me out early and often.

I was only 18 months when I swallowed a bottle of furniture polish my sister opened for me. :/ Of course I don't blame her anymore than I do for my broken left foot when I was 8. Those are my earliest memories as a child....being rushed to the ER and having my stomach pumped out. Before age 2 I fell into barbed wire and split my chinny chin chin open and had stitches. Age 2 I fell off the back of the sofa onto a floor with a concrete foundation playing cowboys and Indians with my sister and broke my arm (do you see the pattern...keep reading), then proceeded to fall down the steps in that same house with that same cast on my arm...all the way down! (no she didn't push me!) I was around 2 when Mom left my sister (her again!) in the car and ran into the house for something....Mary put the car in neutral and jumped out (she was only 3!) and I was in the back seat as the car rolled into the street! Thank the Lord we had a whole lot less people living on this earth back then! In third grade my sister and I were playing cowboys and Indians again....you'd of thought I would have learned my lesson when I was 2!....but I didn't and she chased me around a tree and I broke my left foot and multiple toes.

When I was 13 I found a lump under my right arm, the size of an egg. I showed my mom and of course we all know what she thought. Cancer. I was very sick. We spent 4-6 months going from doctor to doctor. I'm sure it was then that my dislike (that's putting it mildly) for doctors began. I heard repeatedly....it's all in her head. Right. I missed a good quarter of school. The kids in school voted on who was sicker, me or Mary Ellen Ruffing. They voted me. In 11th grade Mary Ellen Ruffing died of Leukemia. :( If that doesn't put life's gravity into perspective I don't know what does.

Thankfully Mom wasn't a quitter and she finally took me to an old doctor in town. He knew immediately what was wrong. I had the Epstein-Barr Virus....mono...herpes virus....just like chicken pox/shingles. I remember him telling Mom that I could of picked it up off a glass in the cafeteria....it's a very contagious virus. In fact nearly 90-95% of the population has the virus. It never leaves the body. For some it stays dormant and for others it is very opportunistic and comes out of dormancy to attack...yet again. And again!

Of course in all this I also was infected with tick borne disease; Lyme, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis and Bartonella. Healing from that seems like it was a piece of cake compared to other things I've battled. But of course we know it wasn't....it took years, but by God's grace I did heal.

This summer, I began searching for health reasons why I'd often feel EVERY nerve in my body vibrate. I'd ask Hubs if he could feel the bed vibrating....he said no, he didn't put the quarter in! ;) The worst was when it was just my brain vibrating. Disturbing. It would wake me at night. Vibrating. I thought maybe I was developing MS. Something had to be wrong....you don't just feel all your nerves vibrate. I searched and found that EBV affects the nervous system among many others...it's also the reason for the horrible rash on my chest this past year.

The lightbulb went on! CLICK!!!! EBV!!!! I had it when I was 13 and was tested positive again in college when it was reactivated and I had to drop out of a semester.

EBV had reared its ugly head during my very stressful year in 2016 (Hubs had 3 surgeries in 4 months, we had our daughter's wedding, and I packed and purged and said good bye to all I ever knew in Maryland as we drove to Texas and Hubs retired) and it has pretty much stayed active since. Especially last year when I went off the WFPB diet (whole food plant based). I gave it an opportunity to attack and it did!

I've gone to 5 primary care providers here in Texas trying to find someone I can work with. FIVE! I FINALLY found one!!! I saw on the internet that she wrote an article on EBV! FINALLY someone to address the root of my problems! She listened to me and knew immediately that I had EBV and it was active. After 2 weeks on an anti-viral I was back to my old self!

My head is clear, no more brain fog, no vibrating, no rashes, no aches and pains, lots of energy! I'm so grateful that I found Zana! She is very much my tribe! A little weird but passionate about helping people.

I'm working HARD to keep my immune system up. I take a slew of supplements everyday. It gets a bit cumbersome but necessary.

The plan now is that every time I travel and am under a lot of stress, and am exposed to sickness, start the anti-viral ASAP and it should lessen the severity of the illness....and hopefully no more pneumonia and upper respiratory infections! And hopefully I can bounce back much quicker!

I believe eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet will give my body all the antioxidants and phyto-nutrients to assist in keeping me in prime condition. I do believe the year of experimenting with meat, dairy, etc set me back and made me vulnerable.

Knowledge is power!!!

"Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine thy food." Hypocrites.

Gratefully,
Diane

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Giving Thanks!

11/27/2019

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Psalm 100
A Psalm for Giving Thanks

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

This is my favorite Thanksgiving song.

I pray that no matter where you are or who you are with, that you will lift up a hymn of grateful praise to the Lord.

This has always been my very favorite holiday made special to me by my Grandmom Hamilton who was an immigrant to America is 1904. It was the first holiday they celebrated as a family after she arrived with her mother and siblings to join her father who came first to secure a job and housing. Every year Grandmom made it full of food, fun and family. I will always treasure those memories.

Bob and I are 1400 miles from our families but it doesn't stop us from giving thanks and sharing a meal with someone. We're having a fella (or 2) from our church share our table and the Lords bounty to us. We are blessed among men. Truly blessed!

As always we will list the 5 things we are most thankful for, just as the Pilgrims who survived that first year with only 5 kernels of corn.

1. I'm so thankful that God chose me in 1971 to be His daughter and for the blood of Jesus that bought my redemption.

2. I'm thankful for my family near and far.

3. I'm thankful for our 2 new grandlittles who arrived this year to bless our lives.

4. I'm thankful for my church family at Percilla Community Church and the love that abounds there.

5. I'm thankful for The Shepherd's Studio and the hands that built it! (even with it's S L O W internet connection!!!)

Blessings,
Diane

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Happy Fall Y'all

11/8/2019

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The Hired Hand and I went for our morning walk...Burrrr! It was a brisk, breezy, damp 50* and fortunately I had mittens in my pocket! I could of used a hat too and if you could of seen my lioness mane....the neighbors wished I had a hat on too...these curls of mine are totally out of control in the morning! We put in our 30 minutes more or less and called it a day. I'm already looking forward to 100+ weather in Texas again!

Since we live in a pine forest and pine trees are evergreens...well....its predominantly ever green here even in the fall. We don't get to see many leaves changing into their autumn attire like we did in Central Maryland, but there are a few.

I'm really NOT looking forward to cold weather...but that's too bad cause next week we will have some VERY cold mornings, the lowest being around 24* on Wednesday morning. Good grief Charlie Brown!!!!

Winters are so hard on me...I crave sunshine like a dog craves meat. I discovered after finally running my DNA that I actually have a mutated gene (1 among many) that causes me to crave the sun...Vitamin D. SO...I've got The Hired Hand onboard to plan a Winter vacation from our permanent vacation, to Puerto Rico! We've got a lot of Southwest points so our airfare is virtually free and renting a small house on one of the islands will be very affordable.

Now I've got something to look forward to midway before it starts to warm up again, which is about February when we can have early Spring temps. Our winter here is usually 3 months, with January being the worst (that's when I'm leaving on a jet plane!)...although to my dismay it started a tad early this year. We found a new house/dog sitter so watch out world...here we come!

Have a cuppa spice tea! Be Sweet,
Diane

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The Shepherd Who Gently Leads

10/26/2019

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I was awake at 4:15A, after 7.5 hours of good restorative sleep. I usually lay there for a few hours to pray for an hour and I've started using resistance bands laying on my back exercising arms and legs before getting up. The Hired Hand usually switches beds sometime during the night...he's my night crawler...he has been for gosh...20+ years. He never sleeps through the night and switches bedrooms so he doesn't disturb me cause he knows how much I treasure sleep. And then kindness in return, I lay there in the morning so I don't wake up the monster....Ozzie. He's a whiner and if he knows I'm awake he'll start making a bunch of noise....so I laid there for 2 hours and couldn't take it any longer and got up to face Mr Whiner. He was actually pretty good this morning and we kept quiet so The Hired Hand could sleep another hour.

As we age....it's just a dance!!!

This morning in my quiet time with The Good Shepherd, He gently guided me to a passage that caused me to be utterly broken with JOY.

I wrote about the desert I've been walking in for the past 3 years, trying desperately to find my JOY restored. Sometimes in the desert, just like the Israelites, we walk in circles hot, tired and thirsty.

We cry out....God where are you?

Why have you forsaken me?

Why did you lead me here?

This morning, I was reading some of my life verses in Isaiah; chapters 61 and 58. But God wanted me in Chapter 55....I started at verse 12.

"For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall
breaks forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall
clap their hands."

I stopped there. I already had some worship music on and began worshipping. Because if we fail to worship the rocks will cry out. I let go of some heavy burdens and just wept and sang.

Then I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to not stop. READ verse 13!

"Instead of the thorns shall grow the pine tree;
Instead of the briers shall grow the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."

It took me several times reading verse 13 before I heard the message God had for me.

You see, we bought a pine tree farm and not only does it have pines, it has waxed myrtles.

Do you see?

He has already told me on countless occasions that He has me right where He wants me. But in my desert place I have not see His hand. I've fallen on my knees countless times as I've walked the 2/10 of a mile in our forest to the mailbox....just fallen right there on the gravel crying...."why have you brought me here to just leave me? WHY? WHY would you do this? I don't think I can take much more of this place of great sadness."

Doesn't that sound like the Israelites?

But you know as I do, that He never left me. He has been here all this time. Waiting.

Trying to find our place here in RURAL East Texas has just taken 3 years.

We came back to the little church where I attended for 3 months before The Hired Hand arrived in Texas. I think as a couple we had to attend several other congregations before we could find the place God has for us both. And let's face it, I'm the one who has struggled so greatly with this sadness....being married to a melancholy left brain aspie, he's just as happy as a clam being alone...but I'm not....so really, I'm the The Who counts. Just kidding....but The Hired Hands knows, I need to find a place where my heart is filled with love, kindness and service.

This desert experience has been so I would really press into Him.

"For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their SHEPHERD,
and He will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Revelation 7:17

Isn't that just like Him? He's a gentleman. He will never force us into anything. He will gently guide us to the living water!!!

Sometimes all we need to do is get into worship and He'll speak to us. He'll show us just what He has for us...and He'll show us just where He wants us.

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Diane

Current Resume
I am now a retired FarmHer of the most amazing creatures God created; Sheep!!! I loved every day I was blessed with Shepherding them. I now am focusing on my art and gardening and allowing The Lord to use it for His Glory. I designed and we built The Shepherd's Studio (Sept 2019...complete) on our awesome 25 acre pine tree farm and have NO idea what God will do with it....but It's His to use however He chooses. I continue to be ever so excited about health issues, food and fun! Over the past 2 decades it's been my ongoing endeavor to find health and healing. I've experimented/biohacked myself with Whole Food Plant Based, Keto, Carnivore, Paleo....all of them! The way of eating that makes me feel my best and breathe freely with life long asthma, is the Whole Food Plant Based way of life...more specifically, Dr John McDougall's Starch Based Diet. We are enjoying our retirement days together seeking The Father together for whatever He has for us here in East Texas. We remain broken and poured out vessels for His purposes. We love our quiet and peaceful life here in The Piney Woods.

The Shepherd's Studio

A Life Well Lived For Yehoshua!

An Act of Love

Humbly His,
Diane

Bread Making...YUM!

Blessings for Health!
Diane

My Ongoing Health Crisis

Gratefully,
Diane

Giving Thanks!

Psalm 100
A Psalm for Giving Thanks

Blessings,
Diane

Happy Fall Y'all

Have a cuppa spice tea! Be Sweet,
Diane

The Shepherd Who Gently Leads

Diane

Archives

Categories

The Shepherd's Studio A Life Well Lived For Yehoshua!

An Act of Love

Humbly His,​Diane

Bread Making...YUM!

Blessings for Health!​Diane

My Ongoing Health Crisis

Gratefully,​Diane

Giving Thanks!

Psalm 100A Psalm for Giving Thanks

Blessings,​Diane

Happy Fall Y'all

Have a cuppa spice tea! Be Sweet,​Diane

The Shepherd Who Gently Leads

Diane

Archives

Categories

The Shepherd's Studio

A Life Well Lived For Yehoshua!

Humbly His,
Diane

Blessings for Health!
Diane

Gratefully,
Diane

Psalm 100
A Psalm for Giving Thanks

Blessings,
Diane

Have a cuppa spice tea! Be Sweet,
Diane