This Earthly House

You tell me I am getting old – but that’s not really so,
The house I live in may be worn – and that, of course, I know;
It’s been in use a good long while and weathered many a gale,
I’m therefore not surprised to find it now is somewhat frail.

You tell me I am getting old, you mix my house and me –
You’re looking at the outside – that’s all that most folks see;
The dweller in the little house is bright and young and gay –
Just starting on a life that lasts through long Eternal day.

The color’s changing on the “roof,” the “window’s” looking dim;
The “wall’s” a bit transparent, and getting rather thin;
The “foundation’s” not so steady as once it used to be,
And that is all that you observe, but it’s not really me.

I patch the old house up a bit to make it last the night,
But soon I shall be flitting to my home of endless light.
I’m going to live forever there, my life goes on, it’s grand;
How can you say, I’m getting old? You do not understand.

These few short years can’t make me old, I feel I’m in my youth!
Eternity lies just ahead, full of life and joy and truth.
We will not fret to see this house grow shabby day by day,
But look ahead to our new “Home” which never will decay.

I want to be made fit to dwell in that blest house above,
Cleansed in the precious blood of Christ, and growing still in love.
The beauty of that glorious home, no words can ever say –
‘Tis hidden from these mortal eyes, but kept for us someday!

My house is getting ready in the land beyond the sky,
It’s Architect and Builder is my Saviour on High,
But I rather think He’s leaving the furnishing to me –
So it’s “treasure up in Heaven” I must store each day you see.

By Jack Jackson Heb 10:11 (circa 1952 or 1955 Durban)

The Little Secretary

Chloe' loves to play at the computer and the calculator. She said, That she is a secretary and she is busy as a bee at her desk. The other day I came into the room using the vacuum cleaner and she said, "Poppy you need to be quite, I'm talking to the boss on the phone".

I was amazed at her conversation, when I was three I didn't know what a secretary was or even a boss although I had plenty off bossy sibblings.

She's Growing Up

Chloe let's us know that she is a big girl and not a baby. She wants to help set the table and when we are finished eating she wants to help clear the table. We hope that this is not a passing phase.





She is only three years old but has the wisdom of an older child. This could be, because she spends alot of her time around adults, except when she is in pre-school.



If she hears you talking about going somewhere, you can watch the door because she will have her bags and be ready to go.



She loves to take care of all of her dolls and stuffed animals. She is quite the little mother hen when it comes to playing dolls.

Poem ~ Dear Father,

Dear Father,

In this rented room, alone except for Thee,

I long to have a visit, and hear Thee really speak to me.

Thou knowest all the future, the present and the past,

How sweet it is to lean on Thee, to trust and just relax.


There is so much to thank Thee for, my blessings can't be numbered

For knowledge of Thy Truth and Way, for health and joys by hundreds.

For a place among the reapers, in this land so far from home,

The privilege to teach souls of the One who claimed me for His own.


From my little window, the milling throng I see,

And wonder if Thou wert here Lord, what Thy attitude would be.

I know that Thou would'st love them and gladly give Thine all,

O' give me courage to do the same, until evening shadows fall.


Today, my thoughts turn backward to twenty-one years ago,

The day I joined my companion, my small life to sow.

I thank Thee for Thy keeping, Thy forgiveness and Thy love,

And every time Thou hast given a vision of things above.


Today, afresh O' Father, I long to commit my all,

To place it upon the altar, to be consumed, what e're befall.

It seems so small, so useless, what I have to give to Thee,

But Father, pray accept it, it is my earnest plea.


Thy voice of sweet assurance has reached my longing heart,

So sweet to hear Thee whisper, "I'll help thee to do thy part.

I'll keep thee where thou goest, through joy, or pain or woe,

And no matter how deep the waters, they will never overflow."

By Doris McCrae In Morioka, Iwate Ken, Japan September 7, 1959

Two Grains Of Corn

A farmer dropped two grains of corn
In the cold, dry earth one April morn.
Together they fell in their cheerless bed,
And the earth fell lightly overhead.
"Oh, cruel fate!" cried one in fear,
"What evil chance has brought us here!
'Tis not meant that such as I
Fall in the ground to waste and die.
Within this stone a nice, dry shelf
Invites me to take care of self."

The warm sun shone and the soft rain fell;
The grain in the earth began to swell.
The wise one cried from its snug retreat,
"How prudent am I--no rain, nor heat
Can reach me here. I'm safe as at first,
While you, poor thing, look ready to burst.
You owe a duty to yourself;
There's room for two on this dry shelf.
Come out of the earth so close and wet,
Perhaps you may save yourself yet."

"Nay," cried the other one from the earth,
"Only from pain and death come birth.
Of such as we spake the Holy One,
'Except it die, it abideth alone.'
But if some seed of common grain
Die in the earth, its death is not vain
So let me yield in patient trust
To the hand that laid me in the dust."

September's fields lie brown and sere;
Now comes the full corn in the ear.
The one that died in the darksome mold
Has yielded more than a hundredfold,
While the one that cared for itself so well
Dies there in the earth--an empty shell.

.... Gladys Porteous



Father I know that all my life is portioned out for me,
And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see,
But I ask Thee for a present mind intent on pleasing Thee.

I ask Thee for a thoughtful love thru constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smile and to wipe the weeping eyes,
And a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and sympathize.

I would not have the restless will that hurries to and fro
Seeking for some great thing to do or secret thing to know,
I would be treated as a child and guided as I go.

Wherever in the world I am, in whatsoe'er estate,
I have a fellowship of heart to keep and cultivate,
And a work of lowly love to do for the Lord on whom I wait.

So I ask Thee for the daily strength to none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward things while keeping by Thy side.
Content to fill a little space...if Thou be glorified.

Source: From A Friend

Our Birthday Girl!!

It doesn't seem right that she has turned three, it feels like only a few months ago, that she was just a little baby.

She told her Granaw that she wanted a pink cake and she wanted a pony. So Granaw, was went to work to make her cake.



Chloe' and her cousin's, Logan and Lacy were here to share her birthday with her.

Trent & Amanda