Gift Giving in God's Economy

Four steps in giving our gifts [back] to God:

1. Prepare it - 

You cannot expect God to use what you have not taken time to prepare.

2. Present it - 

Prepared gifts cannot serve their purpose if they're kept in hiding.

3. Put it down - 

Releasing our gifts back to the Lord for Him to do with as He pleases is difficult and humbling... because [often] without even knowing it, we've placed a demand on God to use our gift in a certain way.

4. Pour it out - 

The best use of our gifts is seldom what we imagined.

Prepared gifts don't work unless they're presented gifts.

#LessonsFromGideon

-Priscilla Shirer, Gideon, Your Weakness, God's Strength

week 4, pages 101-103

Gradulations!

Logan graduated from Ferris State University a couple Saturday afternoons ago.

It was a joy to be home for the celebration.

He's the eighth of the nine Cooklings to wrap up college,

the fourth of all four brothers to complete his formal education,

and the second Cookling to join the ranks of Ferris alumni.

Logan's wearing the second white hard hat from the top of the picture--
the one with the red NextStep emblem on the back.

You can tell the graduates from Logan's program, because they wore hardhats
instead of mortar boards to commencement!

These two brothers went four wheeling Saturday morning before the afternoon graduation. Although these were the only four wheelers in the parking lot when we arrived, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the other graduates spent some time four-wheeling or mud bogging, or engaged in some other such (redneck) Michigan outdoor activity over the course of the weekend.

I'm pretty proud of this guy and his hard work these past few years of intense study-- diligently applying himself in learning and developing his building and management skills. 

Logan's unique giftings and disciplined training have positioned him well for a lifetime of dedicated service and hard work. He has the knowledge and expertise to both do and manage construction work (skill in a variety of project types throughout the trade, an eye for accurate estimations, a strong work ethic), and the heart to do it well (excellent customer relations and a high standard of excellence).

Well done, Logan! 

May God richly bless you as you continue to invest and offer back to Him the talents He's entrusted to you. I'm excited to see the next steps He has for you.

to market to market

I had fun pretending to be a legit market vendor with Libby and Naomi on a recent market day.

Libby's new classy noodle packaging

pink

I managed to snag a handful of peonies from a friend's bush this week.

The small bouquet is a rich sensory experience.

Tuesday

A recent Tuesday break spread I sponsored:

citrus scones with sour cream

no bake cookies

fresh colored peppers

Michigan popcorn

Dow Gardens

Betsy invited me to join her and the boys on a quick evening stroll through Dow Gardens last Thursday. When they stopped at the House 'n Barn after dinner, Abel saw two of his uncles and asked if they wanted to go with him to the Canopy Walk.

Before you knew it, Abel had an entourage of ten adults plus his baby brother collected to go adventuring at Dow Gardens and the Canopy Walk.

Arriving within an hour of closing time is a good tip for a crowd-free visit.

divinely ordinary

Ordinary is often the disguise of the divine.

#LessonsFromGideon

-Priscilla Shirer, Gideon: Your weakness. God's strength.

soaking in sunshine

We spent a good deal of time outside Easter weekend, and took the little guys to the Whiting Forest Canopy Walk both Saturday and Monday.

Abel likes the "Ca-opy Wok," and was especially delighted to rediscover picnics when we took lunch with us to the Gardens Monday morning.

It's pretty fantastic to have the nation's longest canopy walk in our very own Midland!

Variety

Mom's been collecting a lovely set of mismatched pastel tableware which provided delightful style for recent spring holiday meals.

I had fun arranging different colors and styles for each place setting.

maple syrup tasting: which maple syrup is best?

Last month when I was home, Libby and I conducted a tasting of this year's eight batches of maple syrup. 

Libby finished over 100 pints of maple syrup this season!

(that's roughly 500 gallons of sap collected)

We used 16 spoons and recorded our tasting opinions by batch.

Depending on your taste preference, different batches of syrup may be preferable for different uses (eating on pancakes, baking, etc.). Libby posted our findings on the inside of one of the kitchen cupboards for future culinary reference.

Lilacs

I still can't believe how early lilac season is in Pennsylvania.