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Book Review: The Blessing - John Trent and Gary Smalley

The Blessing – John Trent, PH.D. and Gary Smalley The blessing is a means of conveying unconditional love, acceptance, and approval to our children. It can be applied to all of our relationships: spouses, extended family, friends, co-workers, church family, and classmates.

All children grow up desiring unconditional love, acceptance, and approval from their parents. If they do not receive it clearly conveyed by meaningful touch, spoken message, attaching high value, picturing a special future, and active commitment, they spend the rest of their lives seeking approval from other relationships in unproductive ways.
The book breaks down the issues that develop in the lives of children who grow up in situations where the blessing is withheld or where parents choose to make their children try to earn the blessing. It also illustrates the power of words and power of the generational curse.
The book also provides solid, practical advice on intentionally provide the blessing in relationships to …
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Free Water - Part Deux

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Our testing found that the main HVAC unit on our house in the middle of June and July was producing 10 gallons of condensation a day. I picked up a 90 gallon tank and with some help from my daughter's boyfriend, have it now catching the condensation from the main system. In theory, this tank should store 9 days of condensation from that system. If we find we need more storage (I usually shoot for 14-21 days worth), I will find a second tank and plumb them in line.


I used the same overflow configuration as on the wine barrel, it has a 6 ft garden hose coming off the top edge of the tank leading down to a female how barb screwed on to the hose containing a screened washer like used on washing machines to keep out the mosquitoes. 

I riveted aluminum window screen wire in the center of the lid to allow filling and keeping out mosquitoes and leaves.

The tank had a 1 1/4" fitting in the bottom, so I installed a ball valve and then reduced to a 1 inch Tee. On one side of the tee, I …
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Community First! Village

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For those of you who have read Awakened, you may recall in the epilogue, I discussed Community First! Village in Austin, TX - a community established to restore dignity and community to the chronically homeless in the Austin area. I had the extreme privilege to visit for a week in December and stay in one of their tiny homes in their Community Inn. I knew my readers would be keenly interested in learning more about this exciting village, so I did be best to take lots of pictures to help tell the tale.
So first off, here is the cozy tiny home that I stayed in for the week:

RUBY!
(you know like the slippers from Wizard of Oz!)
It had a full size loft bed, a twin bed on the main level, gas stovetop grill, fridge, and full bathroom with shower.







Ruby was very comfortable, and I was ever more grateful for the HVAC unit. It got pretty chilly at night in December in Austin, but the min-split unit kept the tiny house toasty warm. I was also grateful when I discovered it had a Keurig coffeemaker…
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