Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Melanie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:59:02 +0000

Hey guys, some of you may be familiar with Jeff & Kate Estes of Hands and Hearts history kits and their awesome blog but we didn’t meet them until last year when they reached out to help us deal with the financial aftermath of our little Katie’s heart problem. Their love and good counsel was a critically important part of God’s provision for us. Well, they knew how to reach out to us because of what they have been through.

Their absolutely adorable 3yo, Noah is suffering from the terrible and usually terminal mitochondria disease and spends at least half his time in the hospital. They have struggled and struggled since Jeff was laid off in 2006 and their Hands & Hearts business was stopped temporarily by the CPSIA regulations this spring. They are a fine, Christian family who endured a series of blows that would have taken down any family and now they have got to make some changes to keep going. When their fellow Christian publishers heard what was going on, we all jumped in to try to help. Check out this incredible way you can bless the Estes family and get nearly 10X your donation back in gifts from Christian publishers: Amazing Homeschool Deal

Five Kernels of Corn

Melanie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:52:16 +0000

Thanksgiving at our house finds us gathered around the table with five kernels of corn alone on each plate. A child rises and reads the poem, Five Kernels of Corn. We pray and thank the Lord for his bountiful provision for us. As we pile into the feast, the topic of conversation is the blessings of God of the past year. This year we have much to be thankful for!

Five Kernels of Corn

by Hezekiah Butterworth

‘Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,

The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o’er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!

“Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!”
So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill,
And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still.”
Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring,
The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing,
The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow,
And the pleasant pines sing, and arbutuses blow.
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!”

O Bradford of Austerfield hast on thy way,
The west winds are blowing o’er Provincetown Bay,
The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill,
And new graves have furrowed Precisioners’ Hill!”
Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come,
The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm,
And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone,
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn!

“The raven’s gift eat and be humble and pray,
A new light is breaking and Truth leads your way;
One taper a thousand shall kindle; rejoice
That to you has been given the wilderness voice!”
O Bradford of Austerfield, daring the wave,
And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave,
Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born,
And the festal world sings the “Five Kernels of Corn.”
Five Kernels of Corn!
Five Kernels of Corn!
The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn!
To the Thanksgiving Feast bring Five Kernels of Corn!

Raising Real Men » boys

Bearing One Another’s Burdens

Five Kernels of Corn