Our Little Haven

The faintest scent of wood smoke wafted through the trees and made its way to the milk barn. Its the first time I have smelled wood smoke this season and it mixed well with the smell of fall leaves carpeting the ground. My hands were cold and my nose felt that tingle that comes when the temperatures start to drop. So much on my mind...wood to bring in, fill the kindling bucket, pick the green tomatoes and give the goats some extra hay. Honestly, this kind of weather puts a little extra bounce in my step. I love the cold weather.

Our supper tonight was a simple one, a cold weather meal for us. Sweet potato pancakes. I had plans for baked dutch apple pancakes but we both wanted these instead. The wood stove was just the right temperature for making pancakes tonight.

Its a night for lamp light and quiet conversation while the copper flames shine through the glass door of the wood stove and light up the dark wooden floor. I count myself blessed to have such peace. There is no chaos in my life. There is a simple peace that has filled our lives. Maybe some of it comes from good choices along life's way. Maybe its just a mixture of learning the difference of want and need and finding contentment. I know that much of this peace in our lives comes from living by directions laid down long ago on how to live and not only trying to live by them, but WANTING to. There is a big difference.

In moments like tonight, when the world at large seems so distant to our little haven, that I long for more of a plain sort of life.

The Farm House

~Myrtle Vorst Sheppard~

Peace dwells here, and quiet security:

and love, stripped bare of selfishness,

makes homely tasks beneath this roof

true sacraments.

Here breaking of the

family bread, and story hours, and tucking

babes in bed are joyous highlights

of the day.

Within these walls a strong

man's gallant heart is fed. This is a

place apart, serene beneath the loving

hand of God:

a spot that travelers mark....

where yellow lamplight on the snow

becomes a beacon light to those who go,

uplifted, past in the dark.