Too Long

I'm not doing a good job of keeping this blog updated lately, which is a real shame because we've had plenty to talk about.


Whether it's the new Warre hive that Elizabeth Ann has, or it be her new Janome treadle sewing machine, our venture with sprouting seeds to eat, new tools, Kilner canning jars, the list goes on and on. We've recently started purchasing real cows milk from a different source, their breed is Holstein. Needless to say, I'm not impressed with the milk or the cream. The flavor is not there that is in Guernsey. I'll leave it at that. These people considered my recommendation and I hope they pursue it.
Apparently the couple have been doing their dairy operation for about a year. From what I understand they are doing it the right way. Grass fed cows, no antibiotics, growth-hormone, etc. I'm eager to see what becomes of their operation, from all appearances it is working very well for them.


We have some cheese making materials like rennet that we are looking forward to using, but.......


we are, of course, waiting till the Guernsey's show up.






We have several long lists of things that need to happen in sequential order, but the point of the lists are two main priorities. The first is to get the Back To Eden garden established, and the second is to prepare the garage for woodworking machines. Slowly but surely the processes is steadily gaining speed.


Later today I expect to be picking up some gates that will able me to dump loads of chips in the back field. That will be a real game changer. I'm ready for it to happen, it's been a long time coming.
Our aspiration is to Can three years of food from this years garden. It's a lofty goal, but with the world looking the way it is, who knows what will happen and when?


So


Once the back field is established, or at least brushhogged, then we can get a garden shed back there and empty our garage of our gardening utensils.


Speaking of "later today", I'll also be picking up the insulation for our attic over the garage. This should help us abundantly to insulate the rest of the house, being as the attic is all one room. This will also assist in keeping the garage a more consistent temperature and humidity.


I'm eager to receive my woodworking machines, but I have to be prudent. These are serious machines that I could potentially own for a decade or more and that will take up a sizeable amount of the garage. I need to know for certain that the garage is insulated and secured sufficiently so that I won't be exposing the machines to excess exposure.


Ordering the machines depends on how rapidly we are able to get the back field ready.


And once the gardening clutter of the garage is organized into the garden shed, obviously the garage will be organized and clean, I can order the machines that ultimately are intended to help me build my workbench that will help me to build these hand planes. These machines I expect will teach me more about accuracy and fine measurement than I ever thought I could learn. Very good lessons that I hunger to learn.

Are You Amish?

This is a question that Elizabeth and I get asked frequently when we go out in public. We don't take offense from it. We know that many people around the country are not familiar with the other anabaptist groups and are also unaware of the various differences between the multitude of Amish communities.
















It's easy to see how someone unfamiliar with anabaptists would directly associate us with the Amish.
But here is something I perceive that many people don't know about the "plain folk", that is, we identify ourselves by the way we dress. It's a way of saying, "I belong to this or that community".


When a multitude of plain communities are living side-by-side it is a way to prevent awkward situations but also to preserve a communities distinct identity amongst the mass of plain folk. Just attend an auction and you'll quickly see how many different groups are present.



What kind of awkward situation could potentially arise?





Well consider this.


The Old German Baptist Brethren practice the "holy kiss", also known as "the salute". It stems from several verses in the New Testament that we understand to be a command.
The Biblical references are:

Romans 16:16, 1st Corinthians 16:20, 2nd Corinthians 13:12
"Greet one another with a holy kiss."

1st Thessalonians 5:26
"Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss."

1st Peter 5:14
"Greet one another with a kiss of love."



Now from what I understand and have seen there are some Amish communities that don't observe this. So if an OGBB man mistook an Amish man as a fellow of his community, you can imagine the awkward fall-out from trying to "greet him".



This is just one simple example.



The various ways in which subtle differences of standards are applied would include, but are certainly not limited to:

Colors of materials used, both jean material and shirt/dress material
Buttons vs Pins or hook & eyes
Cuts of a pattern, especially for dresses
Length of dresses
Tightness of jeans
Hat brim width
Hat color
Mustache or no mustache
Hair cut-for men
Beard length-some groups trim, others don't
Covering style-for women




Elizabeth and I are much less restricted in our freedom of dress. I strongly believe that an individual should be able to dress as they desire as long as they are modest and not following the fashions of
"the world".

The few things that Elizabeth and I are consistent with would include:

Her covering-we are happy with it and see no reason to change it. It fulfills its purpose and is attractive. It is not a typical anabaptist covering but we feel strongly that it is more Biblical than what is typically seen. We often have brethren bring this up in conversation. We try not to "beat them over the head with it". I don't need to tell them something that they can see for themselves. Many of them agree with us but don't want to be "the nail that sticks up that get's hammered back down". Being contrary is antithetical to the foundation of many anabaptist beliefs. We are starting fresh, without a heritage, so we have no family to worry about offending.



My hat-It's a simple straw hat, but I'm happy with it. I'd like to learn someday to make one for myself. Isn't that the homesteader tendency? When I leave the house I have it with me 99.99% of the time. I do remove it during prayer, meeting, and worship in accordance with 1st Corinthians 11.



My beard-It's simple to me. I just let it grow. I maintain it as proper hygiene determines and that's about the extent of it. I do have a mustache and always will, I do trim it. A man has to eat. I have wondered though, if I didn't, would it grow as long as my beard? Makes me chuckle.

The mustache is my red-flag to the Amish and Mennonites that I am not part of their community. The Amish strictly hold that no man is to ever have a mustache in their community. Interestingly I held myself to this standard before I learned that there were some "Brethren" communities that did the same thing as me. I'm not Amish and I don't pretend to be. That being said, people still mistake us. For me the entire beard issue comes down to a simple precept.

God created nature, "work with nature, not against it". What a waste of time and money shaving is. Not only that, but the early Christians taught that a man that shaved his face was effeminate, in other words, that he was trying to look like a woman! To me, shaving your beard is akin to telling God that he designed your body incorrectly, that you know better than him. He's our creator, I'll trust his judgment on the issue.






All of this to say, No, we are not Amish. But from the outside looking-in it can certainly appear this way. We describe ourselves as anabaptist and feel that this is an adequate way of identifying ourselves. There will be a time when we are horse-and-buggy, if the Lord tarries, and even then we will still have a separate identity from the Amish. For one, we would not believe that our buggies would need to be black or our farm wagons John Deere Green. Our freedom in Christ allows us to be free of such legalism.

An individual can be plain (or as I prefer, simple) and still "fulfill their identity" while simultaneously cultivating a culture of cohesion. The Amish disagree with this idea. That's why we could not join them with a clean conscience.


There are many different dynamics to this that Elizabeth and I are so accustomed to that we no longer are cognizant of all the vantages. Some of the small details we skip over unawares and other larger details we take for granted to be self-evident.


All that to say, if you have questions-just ask. Email us privately or message us on here and we'll be content to answer anything.


Shalom

News!

Ok, so I thought that I would be posting a whole bunch about raising Abigail and so on, then the Holy Day came and of course threw everything off track.

Well, here's all of the life changing news from our world.

First, our cursed truck sold! Woo Hoo! Now we can really start our lives afresh.
This means I can now start building my woodworking bench for plane making.
It also means we have the capitol for starting our Back To Eden garden, I'm excited.
We've got our seeds all selected, now it's time to order them.

The truck really was holding us back from doing many things.

Anyway, on to better things!

Elizabeth Ann was gifted a Warre Bee Hive! The game of life is really on.
I've assembled it, We'll try to add photos soon.
She was also given a new dress with an apron, it looks great.

In other news, she's also started a new sewing project. We have photos of that too!

I personally have several blog postings that are ready to publish as soon as I get a few more pictures.

I'm praying you all have a very happy, healthy, and restful Sabbath this evening.
We are meeting a family here in our own town, a rare treat for fellowship!

In the name of Yeshua ha Mashiach (Yeshua the Messiah)

Michael McCartan

Pain

I learned something tonight that hurt me terribly.

A great friend in my youth, a person though younger than me by atleast five years, always seemed more grounded and wiser than me, has left the flock and has also become a part of the homosexual agenda, it appears that he cohabitates with a man that he seems to be in a relationship with.

This struck me with shock.

The last I had known about my friend was that he was attending college in St. Louis to become a youth pastor. He had many connections and friends doing what they could to support him, let alone a home church that was very happy for him.

I'm not certain what happened between then, a number of years ago, and now.

When we spent time together I wondered to myself what his family would look like in the future. What kind of spectacular wife he would have. How much more accomplished his children would be than even him. These things won't happen. That hurts. I counted him as an altruistic friend that was always benevolent.

Like I said, I'm not sure what happened between then and now, as we haven't been in touch for a while. I always expected him to come back to town, but he hasn't. He's still in St. Louis. I know he has many more people in his life who's opinion's and feeling's matter much more than mine, however I can't shake the hurt. In a youth group that didn't always look to the light, he was a reliable leader that knew holy from unholy.

I can't condone sin. But I do love my brother in Christ, even as a sinner. We are all sinners and fall short of the grace of Yah. But He has mercy and has afforded us salvation through Yeshua.
I will always have love in my heart for this friend of mine.

I had been thinking about the topic of homosexuality and if I wanted to address it on this blog. Many people think ( especially in this "modern" age) that to reject sin is to reject the sinner. What some people don't consider is that it is possible for ourselves to be rejected by the sinner. When I learned of my friends decision, it compelled me to post this blog. I pray that my words are not abrasive and that although they may be received with dissuasion from this individual, that he will still consider my love and appreciation for the place he took in my life while we were young.

I've not been active on my FB for what has been several years so this has only now come to my attention. As it has come to my attention, and the technology we have today is a new thing, I am struggling with what I should do about a friendship I felt in my heart. Should I remove him as a friend and send a clear message? Or do I keep him and continue to pray for him? Granted if I am to say anything about my hurt, he is prone to take me off of his list of friends. I believe I have made a decision but I will wait on it for a week or less, depending on correspondence over the course of this week.

At the end of the day, I know this: Yah would not accept it, and He would chastise him for his immorality.

I don't feel it's my place to chastise said friend. Though maybe that's me being weak as a Christian.

My hurt comes from seeing that in this world that a great holy leader has been lost, and that in the world to come I won't see him at the gate. From all appearances his heart is not repentant. Though he does still have a vast amount of content on his page with regards to his church. Some people have responded to him in less than holy ways, albeit those same people are not what I would consider followers of Yeshua as of today.

I know that this individual is intimately familiar with the Word of God and that what I am about to write is nothing new to him. But to have a clean conscience I have to write it anyway.

Leviticus 18:22 KJV

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

or more clearly from the NLT

Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

And here is a more vivid illustration from an outspoken Paul.
Romans 1:18-32 NLT

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.* 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

 

 

 

Also,

 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (NLT)

 

1 Timothy 1:8-10 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine ... (ESV)

 

 

These verses are not written in hate. They are holy scripture. I do not hate my brother for losing his private fight with temptation. The Word says that if we hate our brother, he have not the love of the messiah. In fact that verse, 1st John 3:15 equates hate to being a murderer. I love my brother, and that is why I petition his choice.

 

 

 

I can't help but battle at the same time with a commandment that I am not fully versed in, that of shunning. I know that it is scriptural, through and through, but not having examples of holy shunning makes it a little difficult to follow a safe path with it.

 

Here are the verses regarding shunning. A topic I have avoided till present and may be able to better elloquate in the future, but certainly not at present.

 

I was going to just quote 1st Corinthians 5:11-13. But after reading the chapter, the entirety should really be read.

 

From Matthew 18:15-17 NIV

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

 

The Word of God truly is clear on the matter.

 

I don't blame my friend for looking at the world the way he does. Things have changed drastically in the last thirty years. I'm not sure how youth these days can try to stay pure with all of the evil around them. There are so few people even from my generation that are pure, not to mention the fact that more and more of the people that were pure at one point in time, have now fallen by the wayside. It hurts and it is genuinely sad. And many of these people would still call themselves saints, even though they choose to no longer "be separated" from "the world".

 

In a day of self-worship steeped in materialism and church buildings that are more entertainment centers than institutes of salvation, where is a stray sheep to turn? When the media barrages the public through a bullhorn trifecta of radio, TV, and internet-todays churches whisper from across town to turn from sin. When I look at today's generation turning from Christ, I don't judge them, I could easily be one of them. Their falling away is not their fault. I know who the liability rests on, and I know in all my soul that those same individuals would never hold themselves accountable, much less lift a finger to save said soul.

 

Today's generation has nothing to contrast materialism with, it is what they believe to be "normal", it is "their normal". Individuals of age, have it as their responsibility to enlighten today's generation that there is a choice, and that every decision they make-whether it be which shoes to wear or whom to associate with- is a decision that they have complete control over. That popularity is not the answer, but rather integrity and perseverance.

 

I'll end this with Matthew 7:15 KJV

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

 

Take heed to whom you listen. Not all in the church are saints.

Reusable Diapers

 

Diapers are gross no matter how you go about it. I'll do what I can in this post to help you out the most I can.

Elizabeth and I tried two or three different brands of diapers. We tried out two different styles. One where the pad is snapped onto the diaper and then tucked into the cloth of the diaper, sort of like a blanket (these are called pocket diapers); and another where the pad is folded and tucked into the diaper, so that it's only being held by material at the front and back of the diaper (these are diaper covers). We purchased them through Green Baby Bargains.

Green Baby Bargains has one sale a day in regards to various children's items (educational, toys, household goods, etc.). Elizabeth has purchased all of my diapers this way and have saved quite a bit of money. Do your research on what you think will work best for your family and then watch for sales while you are expecting. We started with two dozen diapers and have recently purchased a dozen more. You can make it on 24 diapers but around the six month mark, we started having to wash daily.

 Elizabeth purchased a package of Seventh Generation disposable diapers to begin with due to the meconium issue. We have heard it is hard to get out of the reusables. This was also a blessing as we were both exhausted. The other newborn issue is that she thought the diapers would fit because Abigail weighed over 8 pounds when she was born and the diapers are for 8-35 lbs. They didn't! Abigail is very tall and slim. It took about a month for her to fit and so she will be watching for a few dozen newborn diapers to add to our collection.

I'll start with pictures of the ones I dislike.

I dislike them for more than one reason. First The pad has to go between two layers, so when it's all soaked, you have to pull it out. Eww. Secondly, because it has a snap, you also have to unsnap it, even when it may be brown, double eww. And thirdly, THEY LEAK!!!, even when you double the layers, they are still likely to leak. You never have to double the other diapers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only nice thing about these diapers, is that the snaps are multi-colored. You would think that it wouldn't be that big of a help in any way, but it actually is-especially when your child needs to be changed at night. The brand is called Lulabye-Baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside of this diaper is adept at collecting random hairs in it, no matter how clean your house is. If you have a hair floating around in your house, you will find it here stuck in the material.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That yellow circle is where the pad snaps in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the male part of the snap at the top of the pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are two pads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pads stuffed into the diaper. The hole where you see the pad sticking out of is how you are able to tug the pad all the way through to the end of the diaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is one of two kinds of pads for the other type of diaper we have. This specific one is the one that I prefer. They are called Indian Prefolds. It's not too large, is relatively hands-free once the diaper has been used, and dries a bit easier than any of the other pads of this style that we have tried. You can get organic cotton ones for around $2.50 a piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This kind is guaranteed to work, albeit, it's a little larger and a bit thicker. There is an absorbent side (bamboo) and a non-absorbent side (cotton). These sometimes don't dry as well as the Indian Prefolds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diaper Safari brand!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what I was talking about when I said the pads were held by two pieces of material at the front and back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fold One.

 

 

 

 

Fold Two, then flip over, and

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila!

 

 

Abigail never gets diaper rash. We strictly don't use any chemicals/powders/lotions or any other "thing". We only use baby-wipes. Babies naturally have soft smooth skin, they don't need our help. Her skin is only rough on her knees now lately because she's crawling all over the house. Let nature work for you.

 

 If your child is crying there is a reason! Hunger, sleep, or wet diaper, or a need for love/security-this last one is frequent.

 

Many times your child will cry because they just want to be held.

 

 Don't listen to those people that tell you that you are spoiling your child because you hold them when they want to be. There is a time and an age when you have to expect them not to be in your hands all the time, but that time is no sooner than when they can walk and understand what you are saying, otherwise you are just fighting with nature. Touch is the language that children understand the quickest. To touch a child is to love them.

 

 

 

I never thought about one of the facts of a homestead: Raising babies!

It's all relevant I guess, another aspect of life on the farm.

Well, this may start a tick of writing more about Abigail. Raising her is beautiful, I love it. She makes us so happy and she really is much easier to raise than what we had been led to expect.

Part of homesteading is saving money everywhere we can, we figured out that it would cost about
 20$ a week to buy disposables. However our total monthly water bill for the month is only 50$ and we spend approximately 24$ a year on detergent. Recently our purchase of a dozen Diaper Safari covers and inserts cost us 118.40$ with shipping on GreenBabyBargains. If you were to three dozen, it would be around 350$. The savings are clear. Abigail will use these and so will her next sibling. I'm not sure how long they'll last after that.

 

I'm going to have to start those postings now. They're at the ends of my fingertips.
I'll space them out over the next weeks or so.

 

I pray to our heavenly Father that He bless you abundantly with peace and grace that can only come from a relationship with Yeshua our Messiah.

 

ASK QUESTIONS BELOW

Michael E McCartan



Lord and James

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure who will find this information useful but here is something you may not be familiar with.

The word that is commonly translated from both Greek and Hebrew as “Lord” is actually the Hebrew word “Yah”, as in “Yahweh”. This is interesting to me, so out of curiosity I cross-referenced this with a Bible I have that is written in Pennsylvania Deitsch. I wanted to know what the German plain-folk translated it as, to see if they felt it had a modern equivalent.
I was actually surprised to see that they didn’t translate it as anything! It was written as Yah in the Hebrew and it remained Yah in the Pennsylvania German.

 

Yah is the Hebrew name for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I’m not sure what you can do with this knowledge but I still think that it is worth knowing.

 

 

Hallelujah, meaning "Praise Yah!" or "Praise God!", is not a comment towards God himself. It is a declarative exclamation telling the worshipers of Yah to praise him! This really changes the dynamic of worship. It takes things from being as simple as simply saying "Praise God", to actually having to be more proactive and to have to think of ways in which to praise Him.
 

 

 

Another factoid; there is no such book as the book of James.

It is actually the book of Jacob, or Jakobus in Pennsylvania German, I’ve also cross referenced this with a translation to Hebrew, I can’t remember the way it was spelled but it was clearly a version of Jacob.

Why was the name changed?

Because King James was a very vain man and he wanted a book named after him. Plain and simple.

I hope this helps you in some way.

Plain Things

For those of you that are unfamiliar with plain culture and are unsure of how plain folk look at the world, there is a new periodical that might help to open your eyes.

It's called "Plain Things".

It's published every so many months by a group of anabaptist living in Kentucky.

Here is a website with information about subscribing. There is no prerequisite to subscribe. Anyone is able to.

http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/plain-things.html

I pray that Yah blesses you in all that you do and that you always keep your eyes on Him through whom we have salvation, our savior Yeshuah our Messiah.