Candles?

Today I made 12 candles... hand poured, soy wax, candles. Five different flavors. Candle making is a science, and one I normally don't follow all the rules on. When I say rules, I mean there is a "melting temp", a "pouring temp", and paying attention to all the "flash points" of the different scents. Now, I did pay attention to the flash points because, well...no one wants a fire in their kitchen, right? But last week, I made 7 candles and really tried to pay attention to the melting and pouring temperatures. RESULT? Nearly flawless tops on all of my candles, and good adhesion to the sidewalls of my jars (Ball canning jars). I will admit, I paid a certain amount of attention to temps today, butnot nearly as much as last week, and my tops prove it. Some of them...I don't think I will even try to sell at the bazaar. In all my efforts to do my fun new fall/Christmas scents, I FORGOT to scent one batch of wax. And, it was after I had poured it, and set the wick...that I noticed. Thank the Lord, it hadn't set yet (except for one) and I was able to pour the wax back in, scrape that which had set, and remelt it, and add the scent. I scrubbed the jars (the good thing about soy wax, is to clean you only need hot water and soap) pulled the wicks out, and retabbed with a new wick, violla i was ready to re pour. Tonight, after coming home, I noticed...I had forgotten to empty one of the scentless candles...needless to say I have a jar of scent free wax, maybe I should save it as an in case of emergency candle. Just in case you are curious, my scents are:

Kettle Corn (yes, it smells like sugary popcorn, it's neat)
Cranberry Marmalade...one of my favorites!
Very Vanilla (usually a crowd pleaser)
Spiced Wassail, a heavy scent thrower. Makes your house smell yummy
and lastly, Home for the Holidays. I am not as crazy about this one as I thought, but it does smelly woodsy and pepperminty, maybe someone will like it. :)

This week has been a blur. Last night was my band meeting, and after the scripture and lesson time, we had a big bone fire (HUGE) thanks to my dad, and a hay ride, thanks to mom and dad. Mom and Sybil drove us around (well, mom did, sybil rode) for about 30 minutes, we had nine on the trailer with 5 bales of hay around the edges and racks up around the perimeter, so we wouldn't fall out. It was lots of fun. As we would drive by the cars, in the dark mind you, we would wave and shout "HEEEYY" and most would wave back, I am sure some thought we were crazy! It was loads of fun. We made smores, roasted hot dogs, and I made home made apple cider. Okay, so I sorta cheated. I bought pre made cider, but I also added a few things. I put the cider in the crock pots and added three sticks of cinnamon, an orange sliced in rounds and split between both pots, then also quartered an apple and added to each, topped it with about 1 tbsp of sugar per pot and let that heat up. I must say, it was pretty good. :)

We went to the corn maze on Wednesday, and didn't ever make it out the right way. But, we did make it out of where we started...it was pretty fun. The night ended in a rain shower, but we were mostly done before the rain started to fall to hard. I was glad to get to be with the youth. I realy love them, and their desire to spend time with one another. Most of all, I appreciate their seriousness and desire to press in with the Lord.

My heart is heavy tonight. I am not sure who all has seen the video I posted on my facebook account, but it is about the call to anguish by David Wilkerson. I don't know who this man is, or what he stands for, but this message is good. I realized, I have become complacent about so many things. I pray for my family, but do I get under such a burden for their souls, that I am in anguish?? God doesn't call people to be bench warmers. If I won't let Him use me, He will find someone who will let His will be accomplished in their life. I want to find an anguish for this world, to know I am doing my part, however small or great it may be. I know God loves me, I know He loves you, He is an all knowing and good God. But I know, He has so much more planned for each of us, than we can even begin to think of or imagine. He is the I AM.

Much love.

Heya!

It's FALL! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am so excited about fall. Such a wonderful time of the year!!! Spicey cented candles, fresh baked pumpkin and zuchini bread, fuzzy sweaters, beautiful leaves in my favorite colors (brown, red, orange), pumpkins, corn mazes, clear crisp mornings...need I go on?? UGH! I just love this time of year!! To me, it's the most peaceful time of the year. It is also harvest time. Harvest. Hmm...so much is entailed in that word. It's the time where a farmer reaps the benefits of the hard work he started putting in this time a year ago, all of the time spent tilling his earth, watering it to keep it moist, cultivating fertilizers into the rich soil, making even rows for good watering, finding the perfect seed. I wonder if we (and I am speaking to me) put that much effort into harvest one soul for the Lord, how much more would our results be. As this time of harvest is here, God grant me the spiritual eyes to see the crop before my eyes, and help me to be a worker of your fields.