It’s been awhile since we’ve had a general update here from the farm, so here you go!  As winter approaches our family is settling in for the long cold.  Already temperatures are dipping to 16 below celcius.  Hmm, how do I get one of those degree symbols here on my blog?  Ah well.  Our late fall efforts to dig our own well have been put on hold until the Spring.  Sadly, the motor kept getting iced up, pipe was breaking, glue was failing to set.  Well drilling is really a warm weather sport.  Currently we’re suffering from a wee bit of a bug.  Hopefully after the sick situation settles down we’ll be celebrating Rose’s weaning with a party for her!  She’s been weaned for approximately two weeks - she’s a big girl now and so looking forward to her special celebration.  Remember when Abraham had a feast for Isaac when he weaned (Check Genesis for details)?  Yep, that’s where our family tradition stems from.  Her exuberance is so sweet, and weaning has been easier for her than I thought, I’m so proud of her :).

Well, some of you know that DH had what appeared to be a mini-stroke at the end of September.  Today we had an appointment with the stroke center at the University of Alberta hospital.  They’ve deemed that it wasn’t a stroke, but more likely a migraine.  I have my doubts - but that’s an entirely different post.  In any case they have recommended that DH still stay on baby Asprin (which is all they’d likely do if it has been a mini stroke), and keep the MRI appt for November 9th.

What they DID find in the bloodwork is very high cholesterol; a shocker since DH weighs 145 lbs. soaking wet and is a strong, active man.  Appearances can be deceiving!

So, if you have any advice about natural, effective techniques to lower cholesterol, I’m all ears!  We have 3 - 6 months to get it down.

If you’re led to pray, we sure would appreciate it :).

Taysir (Tass) Saada grew up a Palestinian refugee. Tossed by the winds of change, his family suffered mistreatment and ridicule in a culture that equates land ownership with honor. His family’s treatment as second-class citizens and the lack of control over their own destiny provided the fuel for young Taysir’s rebellion against authority and his hatred towards the Jewish people from a young age. This volatile combination propelled him into the ranks of a Palestinian liberation movement - Fatah - at a young age. He was soon engaged in guerilla tactics against the Israeli Armed Forces, served as a sniper, and under his own initiative attempted an assassination of a Jordanian prince. As a personal vendetta he casually tossed grenades into the homes of Christians when notified of their presence. Taysir Saada was a man filled with rage.

Once an Arafat Man is Saada’s story. Recounted in first person, past tense, the early parts of his life sound like a quick recitation. Like many autobiographies by those who are not authors by calling, the prose can be pedestrian at times, intense moments lacking in suspense and emotion. However, the events Saada recalls are not those he is proud of, his new life is a far cry from his violent years as a youth. His reluctance to magnify the emotions and intensity of those experiences is understandable.

Being sorely ignorant of the background of current tensions in the Middle East, the first portion of the book served to fill in yawning chasms in my understanding of the situation. As I’m not a military or political aficionado, I moved through these pages slowly, despite the down to earth writing style.

After his father’s manipulations to extricate Taysir from his involvement in Fatah and a brief fallow period, Taysir made his way to America, married, and entered the hospitality industry. He soon adopted the nickname “Tass,” easier for American tongues to pronounce. In his mid-forties Tass came to know Jesus as his Lord in a dramatic, instantaneous conversion experience, the likes of which I’ve never read.

While the first parts of the book read slowly, I was spellbound by the changes God worked in Saada’s life following his new birth. I was able to see God reaching into this man’s life, into his heart and changing him, dissolving his rage, kindling his love and igniting a passion to see Jews, Muslims, and Christians reconciled under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Once a highly trained guerilla under the command of Yasser Arafat, Saada transformed into a spiritual warrior under the command of God most high.

After experiencing God’s radical grace and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus/Yasooa/Yeshua, a work was begun in Tass Saada. This work is broad, deep, and a part of it is expressed through this book. By reading of God’s work through the Holy Spirit in this man’s life I was encouraged, educated and led to examine the scriptures pertaining to the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael in a new light.

This vibrant, relevant understanding comes from the collision of God’s word with a life spent in service in the hot-spots: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank. Saada knows what he’s talking about; he’s been there, experienced life as a Palestinian refugee and returned as a believer in Christ to re-examine, to seek answers, to find a way.

While Once an Arafat Man is vitally important reading for believers who are ignorant of the struggle over the Holy Land, anyone with a heart for peace in the Middle East should read Saada’s work. The combination of first-hand experience, wisdom of years, and a new, reflective perspective provide illuminating insight and hope for the future.

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Publisher Info:

Title: Once an Arafat Man - The True Story of How a PLO Sniper Found a New Life
Author: Tass Saada and Dean Merrill
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers (September 17, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1414323611
ISBN-13: 978-1414323619

Wow, there must be some mighty prayer warriors reading this blog!  Thanks so much for all of your prayers for our families illness.  We’re all well on the road to recovery.  My sore throat dissipated, the dizzy spells are over, and I never developed the stuffy/runny nose or cough!  Praise the Lord!

Larry never developed the cough, and his nose has dried up.  Rose still has a stuffy nose, little cough, but is on the mend.  Sarah is just a bit sniffly, and Kaelynn is doing much better as well.

Thanks again for praying for us and for your kind advice!

Unfortunately, I have had to come to terms with myself that I’m suffering from some signs of postpartum depression.  And if I’m completely honest with myself, it seems I’m prone to depression as I experienced some after Rose was born as well.  I have a stigma associated with postpartum depression in my mind that has made it hard to be upfront with myself and my family about what has been going on emotionally for me.  I suppose I didn’t want to let on that I didn’t have it all together, wasn’t the perfect wife and mother.  I felt weak, imperfect (well of course I’m those things!  We all are, but hopefully you understand what I mean here.  Hey, anyone who knows me knows I’m NOT the perfect wife or mother, but I suppose I like to pretend on my own imagination sometimes?).  Well, the rubber hit the road, and I had to own up to it, I’ve been struggling.  To be honest though, I still feel embarrassed posting this.

I sure would appreciate your prayers and nutritional advice!  I want to avoid anti-depressants at all costs, and the symptoms are currently intermittent.  God has made it clear to me that I need to be more faithful with my vitamins and oils.  Have any of you used vitex for this with any success?  Thanks for all your love and support.

Ugh.  We are all sick here :(.  Kaelynn threw up today.  Everyone else, yes, even baby Sarah - 2 months old is SICK!  Larry and I are SICK.  Sore throats, turning into sneezing/stuffy/runny nose, coughing.  Ugh.  Kaelynn is having the hardest time, because with her tendency towards asthma this bug is affecting her breathing.  Please pray if you feel led.

Sorry I haven’t been blogging as much as usual - in case you haven’t noticed, we’re…sick!

Here are a couple of link updates for you.

Katrina is having her pick any book for under $25, open to anywhere the post office ships contest this week!  Stop by and enter before Sunday.

I have a new book review up on the Christian Children’s Book Review blog.  God is in the Window by Kimberly King.

Hope everyone is feeling better than we are!

If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be heading into the big city to raid every single Home Depot of all their eligible fence boards - or just about.  We’re looking for 1200 fence boards, enough to complete a few more buildings of the condominium that Larry has been building fences for the past couple of years.  Whew- that’s a lot of boards!

We just had the neighbour haul in three belly-dump loads full of coarse sandy gravel for the road, so that we won’t get stuck in here when it’s wet anymore.  Unfortunately, when Larry was helping him by digging a hole, he twisted his back improperly and now has some serious back pain/muscle spasm issues when he twists or lifts improperly/too much.

If our family comes to mind over the course of the day during our big trip to the city, would you consider praying for us?  For Larry’s back to stay strong and heal?  We sure would appreciate it!

My husband caught this picture of Sarah in mid-sneeze, she’s two months old now.  It’s part of a series of photos he took within seconds of each other.  Some of them were blurry with motion, and I think this one is the best.  I’m not sure what’s happening with the glare from the sun coming through the door in the background.  I’m certainly not talented enough to fix it - still sweet though.

This is the pink dress that my daughter referred to in her first blog post at Little Country Princess.

Oh, sweet Mamma love!  Patches just loves her baby - dubbed, Princess C.  The C is for cat, to differentiate her from all the other Princesses on our homestead that Kaelynn has named.  Isn’t she getting big?  She’s around the same age as Sarah - 6 weeks old.  She’s walking, going outside, eating solid food and so much more.  Sarah however, isn’t doing any of those things - well, okay she does get to go outside, but she can’t make it out on her own yet ;).

We’re at my Grandparents place in the city, so I should dig out my camera and take more baby photos of Sarah - it seems like she’s breastfeeding in most of our recent shots, and I don’t share those publicly.  (Yes, I do have my digital camera here…somewhere, and yes, I brought my computer - I’m such a geek!)

When we moved to our little homestead full time we acquired what every farm needs, cats.  5 of them.  4 males and 1 female.  One male left us suddenly (he was the shyest of the batch), but we still have all of the others.  Our female has had four batches of kittens but no survivors.  Her mothering skills have proven lacking.  The girls have so wanted kittens, but she just wouldn’t stay with them or nurse them.  My husband neutered all of the Toms with a bit of help holding the bag from me.

The day we came home with our own new baby, Patches - our female cat surprised us by bringing a new kitten into the house.  She headed straight for the box we had set up for her last time she had kittens and deposited her there.  She later insisted we move the box into the living room, and that is where it has stayed.  Mysteriously, she has transformed into an excellent mother!  She just loves her baby to pieces.  I nurse my baby in the rocking chair, and she nurses her baby in the box.  It’s just too sweet.  The baby kitten has been in the house for six days now, the longest any of her litters have lasted, so I think this one is a keeper!  Here she is ‘hugging’ her baby.

Praise God! The daughter that he entrusted to us 9 months ago is now in our arms!

Sarah (our third daughter) was born on Monday morning at 10:25 a.m. I went into labour Sunday night at around 11 p.m., but everything was fairly relaxed, and I was able to get some sleep between contractions (sometimes 9 minutes, sometimes 20) until around 5 a.m. This was definitely my most peaceful labour to date, and my quietest - this is also my first childbirth as a Christian! It was a very sweet experience, and through it I was able to share some thoughts about the Lord with my birth attendants :). Sarah is 10 lbs. and 19.5” long, so I suppose she’s a chubby girl! She looks so tiny compared to her big sisters though (8 lb. 3 oz. and 9 lb. 4 oz. at birth)! She is a great nurser! We are so thankful that God has blessed with a safe labour and delivery – we think she’s adorable of course ;). We are all sleepy-heads, but that is to be expected!

I’m so thankfull to Dr. Lidkea who delivered her at home in the water, to the doula’s Mary and Tamara, and to the RN Marg for attending our birth.  Thanks to my Mom for letting us labour and birth in her living room.  Thanks so much to my grandparents for their gracious hospitality while we’ve been waiting for our new little one, and for their first class post-partum meal preparation!  We couldn’t have done it without you all!