This is how I got woke up this morning........i heard some little feet scuffing down the hallway, i told her to climb up and get on dad's pillow, she said,"i want you to lift me up, so she proceeds to feel her way around to my side, she snuggles in, gets the cover on, she lays her hand on my shoulder and says, "i luv u so much!!" and then she's out until 10 or so. What a sweet way to start a morning!!!!
Our cleaning day today and school work too!!! Kate is here, as Dave had some work away to do. Kate is helping Micah with math.......we'll just leave it at that!!! :)
Much to do as yet today. We have gathered a 5 gallon bucket of green beans and more to pick, I have pans of tomatoes to get into salsa again. I made alot yesterday too. We are snacking on a garden watermelon, very tasty!!
Ok.....better go and get busy making hamburger buns for our yummy burgers tonight piled with garden tomatoes!!
Can you believe Terry and I went out to eat last night??? I think the last time was our anniversary last Nov. Its not because HE does not want to, probably more of, time and planning and $$. To be honest, I do not like to eat out often, it takes the excitement out of it! We went to a Mexican restaurant that I had wanted to go to. I got a Taco salad, the "light portion." :) Terry got way more than he could eat and then we got a phone call and the children thought it was only fair if we brought some Blue Bell home because THEY did not get to go. I just had coffee while they were all getting "fat." The exciting news is before Terry and I went out to eat we went to this ranch/western store and ordered two sets of bunk beds for the girls room. You see Hosanna has been sleeping on a baby bed mattress since she was a baby and now she is 7 and obviously way tooo long!!!!! This has been a prayer for a looonnnng time and Terry has been able to scrape enough up to get them. Actually they let us pay half and we'll pay the rest when they get in, they are being built. They are a black distressed paint look, twin over twin and they have big square poles on each corner, and are solid wood. The girls room will be changed to a more western/southwest look. If we ever get the kitchen/dinning add on done, that will be the look there too. Not any more progress on it, but they are hoping to get the roof on before winter. The sides are up with the Build Block. We'll probably have to board the windows in until we have resources to get the windows but if I can just get some more space, I'll be thrilled, even if its concrete floors and a wall!!!! One thing about our house, it has character and adventure with projects that are under construction as rescources are available!!
This week is falling into a busy week as well. The Tulsa State Fair is this weekend. Bethany will be showing the dairy goats on Friday. She'll go up on Thursday to get them ready. On Saturday she has plans to go to a big sale where she hopes to find that Boer buck she needs very soon for breeding. The Boer show at the fair on Saturday went ok. She placed 4th in one class and 2nd in another class. The Boer competition is so stiff and soooo many goats in the classes. We were happy she got anything, so many did not!!
I am here with Siah and Mercy, the rest (not the guys) are over at the neighbors riding horses. Great weather for trail rides. Did I ever tell you I use to be a cow gal? I rode in barrels and poles in my teen days. My dad would haul me all over, from show to show. It was fun, alot of memories, so horses are a part of my past. We've had horses here on our little farm but decided to forgo them as not much you can get OUT of them like goats, cows and raising chickens for meat.
As I finished up reading in the book of Haggai, I read a verse that did not have to do with sorrow and grieving but was one of those as I have mentioned in previous posts on encouraging our older sons as they prepare for their futures.
Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and thepomegranate, andthe olive tree,hath not brought forth:from this daywill I blessyou. Haggai 2:19
First, a question to our sons, " is the seed yet in the barn?" Are you preparing? Are you seeking daily in prayer, reading the scriptures, seeking to bring your thoughts captive, keeping the covenant with your eyes? In doing all these things, you are putting seed in the barn. As you hear teaching from your father and as you serve others in your family, your putting seed in your barn. Right now is a time for you to gather in wisdom, understanding of how you will lead your family. The scripture says there is fruit to be had, and it will come in due time. Its like you sow now of keeping yourselves pure, awaiting for your bride and the blessing will come, the reaping. Quite a bit to meditate upon, so "is the seed in the barn yet?" Oh, and the picture goes well with this thought!!!!!
I read one more that I am going to pray for Siah and for Joel's story and life. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame...... (Obadiah v.18) I am praying that Siah would be saved soon in his life and he would be "fire" for the Lord all his days and even though Joel is no longer here, I am praying that his little life would continue to be a "flame" ever burning and glowing of how precious life is and that the Lord would grant his story to go forth and be a flame for Him!!!
Our fall garden is doing really, really well!!! We have sooo many tomatoes and they are actually bigger now, I am making salsa today! The plants are like 7 1/2 feet tall!!! We are eating fresh green beans. Terry picked one row and provided so many, he still had several more rows to pick. The squash is going crazy as well. Thankful for the extra provision!!!
Oh, taste and see the Lord is good, his Word is so filling and rich.......may you taste it too!!!
One of the names of God is Counselor. He knows very well our needs. He knows the heights we will experience and the depths because in reality He orders our steps. The Lord, in these 2 1/2 years has given and guided me to soooo many scriptures. They are all different ones, yet they have a thread, a truth woven into all of them. He is in control, He is God and all that He does is good and right! One of the things I am learning, not having "learnt" it yet, is that God wants me to "thinkhigher." When anyone faces a trial, it is as though there is not a darker, nor lower place to be and our natural man seems to absorb in all the darkness and trial and we succumb so much that it then affects how we go about our lives, how we live daily, how we think! You see some times people when experiencing a trial or after one feel like they need counsel. But really they need Jesus, in the Cross or if they know him, they need Him as their Counselor. I am so thankful that He has been my Counselor, and that through scriptures over these 2 1/2 years, He is continually calling me to "think higher." He speaks and says, His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, that very scripture calls us think "higher." He tells us to set not our affections on things of this world, again we are called to "think higher."To look to the unseen, for a city not built with hands, for rewards in faithfulness, to invest in things that will not rust, all these truths should cause us to "think higher." For me, Joel being there, is definitely helping me to "think higher." But alot of times I have to say, I "think" about the former and how it was when Joel was here. I read a scripture today and it really spoke to my heart.
who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your own eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
Haggai 2:3
You see, sometimes I think back to the "former" and "think" to myself that what we had was so right, so good, we were all together in our house, on our little farm, it was all "perfect." I think back to the former and remember our house in all of her first glory, like the verse says. What I do is compare the former to the now. If I "think," so to speak lower, I am thinking in my mind that I will not find now with equal delight and pleasure of what I thought we had. It seems like I am thinking, "God messed up, this is nothing compared to what I use to have." But what I need to do is think "higher," thoughts. I need to see the now as, even better and if for no other reason, it is because God himself has worked this plan for our family, for our house. There is no answer to the question above in the verses, I guess those people could not "think higher" either about the temple that once was and now needed finishing and they were weary, they were comparing the glory that use to be and so longed for that same glory. It is as if the Lord knows we will question and compare the former and the now. He is Omniscient, He discerns our thoughts. So in verse, 4- 5, He tells us to be strong, to work, He is with us, His Spirit remains among us. I need to "think" that the Lord is fully able to grant and give a "glory" even now. That He can give me delight and joys and pleasures even though Joel is not here with us. In verse 9,it says, the glory for this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. I can not answer if our house, the former, was not giving God all the glory it could have, but I am confident that in the now, God will get the glory, not because of anything of us or about us, but its because His plans are being carried out in and through a death. That is what He desires, for His glory to be manifested and our good comes from all His workings and plans. So, I want to "think higher" for the now and rest peacefully that it is better than the former. It will be an exercise of my spirit, heart and mind for sure!! Do you see how through scriptures, He is our Counselor?
Since Anna's BD was squeezed in between the Dairy Show at the first of the week and the Boer show tomorrow, and it all happened at the State Fair, I thought that would be a fun theme. And I had thought of this before I decided a few weeks ago that anyone over 16 will just get a nice dinner, dessert and a gift!!! So unless I change my mind, which I could this is the last theme party for anyone over 16!!! SO........Anna's party was a A State Fair Party!! I got her 17 balloons and later we let them go "UP" to Joel!! We had a yummy meal, roast, sweet potato casserole, purple hull peas, rolls and Anna had cheesecake for her dessert!! Dave and Kate joined in on the party and he was low key since my dad was here :O It was a great day for Anna!!
I got grocery shopping behind me and all unloaded. Bethany and a crew went to take the Boer goats, get settled, wash, dry and they will not be home until later this evening! This morning most everyone, (cept me) went to a Wild life Expo that is only about 20 minutes away at the Lazy E arena. This is a major Micah and Andrew thing. Now, I have to make bread for our lunches tomorrow, fix chili for our dinner when we get in form the fair/show. I am looking forward to next week being our normal routine of school and being home!! I'll have to tell you I bought a couple of Sam's pizza's for tonight, I could not bring myself to do more cooking after shopping and what I already have to do!!
well, I better go..... as always I say thank you for keeping up with us, it is soooo encouraging to know that Joel is not too far from your thoughts when you come here!!
Once upon a time, in the far away place of Oklahoma, from whence we once lived, a sweet little baby girl was born, Anna Ruth! All pink an rosie and with golden fuzzies atop her beautiful head, she was ushered into her tiny little palace in the city where dwelled the King, speaking of the father, the Queen, speaking of the mother and amongst the court were three adventerous brothers and one sister of whom desired to embellish her new sister with hugs and kisses! The sweet princess Anna was most pleased to be held, enjoyed her nourishing times with the Queen, speaking of the mother, and was "swung" in a swing with delight until she would go to sleep. And this I say was the ONLY way this little sweet baby would sleep. The days ahead were of happiness and adventure. Now upon the arrival of the age of 10 months, the Palace was tossed into shambles because of the weariness of the Queen, speaking of the mother who had for these 10 months desired this little sweet baby Anna to sleep through the night. The King, speaking of the father and the Queen, speaking of the mother slipped away to a conference which held books and tapes and all sorts of wonderful and valuable treasures. As the Queen, speaking of the mother, was strolling and beholding the merchandise, the King, speaking of the father came with gifts in his hand to bear to the Queen. Looking upon the treasuries, the Queen, speaking of the mother could not begin to fathom why the King had bought some tapes on "Parenting!!" But as the King, speaking of the father said "we needed some Royal Guidance!" Settling back in to the Palace days, the Queen, speaking of the mother decided to try these treasuries out on her sweet daughter, Anna. For three nights you could hear echoes of a sad little girl throughout the palace hallways as she now was being trained to sleep through the night. Upon the 4th evening of this most notable training, this sweet little girl, layed in her comfy bed and had sweet dreams and slept soundly the whole night. Now throughout the palace the king, speaking of the father, the Queen, speaking of the mother, the three adventurous brothers and the sister who embellished her sweet Anna with kisses and hugs slept "happily ever after!!"
Anna is 17 today!! They are all growing up on me!!! I am so grateful to Anna, her spirit of serving is prominent if your around her for any time. She continually makes and serves the guys wonderful desserts. She has been doing laundry since she was 6 years old! She also enjoys being with her younger siblings. If you do not know this about her, "she loves cows too!!!" The pictures at the top are of her and our cows!!! I am grateful too for her diligence to spend time with the Lord. Each morning she reads, but not only that, she digs into more than the scriptures, she is searching and looking in other resources for valuable truths.
She is our our princess with "golden hair," but more than that she is a princess of the Great King. She is seeking the Lord, preparing and preserving her heart for the "Prince Charming" that the Lord has for her.
Happy Birthday Anna!!!
She gets a special treat, her grandfather, Paps came for the party today!!!!!
Being at the goat show/fair today for 10 hours, my feet hurt a bit but it has been an extraordinary Dairy Show these last two days for Bethany!!! Today she got one 4th place and in all the other classes she placed either First or Second!!!! Yesterday and today she brought home six first place ribbons and seven second place ribbons! One of the goats that placed first yesterday, placed first again today by a different judge. A lot ahead for that goat!!! I am so thankful and proud of her and her hard work she has put into our goat program. She has sought, read, researched, bred and flown them in to build her herd, and now has a incredible foundation herd. All these are young goats and if they are doing well now, Lord willing the future will hold exciting things!!!!
Dave and Kate joined in on the "adventures" today!!! In between showing we walked around, checked things out, and had our lunch we brought. Caleb, Elijah and Daniel worked today, so they did not make it up until around 4:30 or so. Bethany had finished showing by this time, so we were ready for the fun!! Before the guys arrived Dave and Jeremiah went over to the Marines booth and you could do chin ups and receive a prize for how many you did. Dave did 12, his hands were underneath, Jeremiah who is 9, did 9 and 1/2, his hands were over the top of the rail!!! I could not believe he did that many!!! So when the guys got there, Dave had to challenge them and see how many they could do!! Caleb, Daniel and Micah did 11-12. Elijah beat em' all with 16!! The top number to beat was 21. Elijah did get his name on the little board there by the booth, I guess until someone else passes him up!!! Them thar' are farm boys!!!! :) We went back over to the barn and enjoyed our BBQ I had in the crock pot on buns. Next, was the Race Cars!! They just do not go fast enough!!! Josiah sure liked riding with his dad!!! Dave treated us to some Funnel Cakes, messy but yummy!!! We strolled through and found a vehicle for me in the transportation building, like dreamin'!!!!!! Oh, well, we can dream!!! Getting late so Terry and I decided to let the younger generation have it, we took the five little ones and headed home and left the big rides to the big guys!!! It was a great day, fun, fellowship with each other and also true answers to prayer for Bethany!!!!
Home tomorrow, Anna's BD! Grocery day Friday. The Boer show is on Saturday so Bethany will take goats up Friday afternoon, wash and get them all ready!!! One thing about Dairy showing, the classes are smaller but with Boer's there can be 30-40 in one class. Oklahoma is one of the top Boer goat states for competition.
****After the "show update" in the post below, they got some MORE 1sts, 2nds and 3rds****** a REAL ANSWER TO MY PRAYERS ANYWAYS!!!!
Anna's 17th BD is tomorrow. I can not help but go back to Sept. 24th, 2006, had no clue at the time it would be Joel's last BD with Anna. The pictures above are of that evening and the family picture was taken that Sunday morning. It was our last family picture of "bliss," This particular BD party was celebrated way out in the pasture on a Sunday evening. Joel and Josiah thought it was quite the adventure! Eating out in the woods, opening presents in the woods, a campfire and singing out in the woods. I remember it so well, all of us sitting around the fire and we were singing so loud and kinda silly! It seems so "along time ago" of the way it use to be. Some of the memories are still so clear and so many are foggy, I wish I could remember every jot and tittle of him and about him. When we had the water all over the boys room the other day, I had to remove things under the bed. His suitcase was under there, still with the things in it we took to the hospital for the second round of chemo. He was so little. His passy, his nightie he had on when he had the seizure. It really is real when you see all that, he was, but now he's not. I know he lives, but I wish it was with us, right now, today!!
I read this scripture a few days ago, Turn to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that Iwill render double unto thee. (Zech. 9:12) I am a prisoner of this sorrow, the chains about me have to be rusted by now from all the tears, yet more so, I am prisoner of HOPE!! By His grace, I am seeking to turn to my Stronghold and I beseech Him for His mercy to grant double. Double grace, double joy, double blessings and whatever else that is according to His will.
I have another memory about the family pictures above, you know how it is getting pictures and especially on Sunday morning, getting ready. I told everyone they would get a mint if they did "good." I thought it was so sweet of Joel with his little hands folded together, he's trying so hard because he wanted to receive that mint!!! You can click on any pictures I post and it enlarges them, look at Joel, so sweet!!!
Again, I do not want anyone to ever feel that I am not grateful for all the prayers and thoughts that you send our way. Through comments and e-mail.....thank you sooooo much!!!! It is because of Jesus, my family and YOU that come along side and exhort my spirit and soul to keep taking one more step!
****show update!! 8:20 pm, they just finished showing 4 goats in one class, we got 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th place!!!!! Terry showed the 2nd place winner!!! And there were 13 in this class, Bethany said that was big class for a dairy class!!!!*****
Let me say first of all, that Anna did NOT take these pictures!! I did!! She was a bit under the weather and decided to stay home today hoping to feel better tomorrow as we go up and Dave and Kate go with us!!
Yeah !!!! for Bethany, she placed 1 st in her class. A class of 4 but nevertheless, she was the winner!! This is one of the does Bethany had flown in last year, bred her and this is her first freshening, that means she has had a baby and is a milk goat. Great opportunities ahead for this doe as she matures. The show was suppose to start at 11 am, but was delayed until after lunch. I arrived home around 5pm but the show is still going. It will be late because of the delay. Bethany had several more classes with younger does. I was praying that the Lord would give Bethany a reward for all her hard work that she pours into this operation and He granted it, thank you Lord!!
The little ones had to ride the FREE tractors again! Mercy could do it this year. We walked over to the building to check on Anna's photos. She got 5th place in one of the categories she entered!!! I did not count the amount of photos in that particular category, but there could have been 50 or more. The picture was one of the baseball players kneeling on the field she took when we went to a game at Bricktown Ball Park. She entered 11 photos on-line but when she took the photos down, there was a mix up on how they should be matted on black, she overlooked the size and had it wrong. As she was standing in line a woman told her she did not have the right size mat but she had two extra that she gave her, so she was only able to enter two photos that day. I know if she would have had more photos she would have done well!!This was her first year to do this and it was just an overlook of the directions. Oh, well, she entered two and received a ribbon for one, good record:)
Working on getting lunch and dinner together to take tomorrow. Better go for now!
Well....this morning started off interesting!! Over the last week or so, I would go into the boys room and smell something. At first I thought it was just boys....you know! I had Terry vacuum under the bunk beds thinking something had fossilized, decomposed or of that sort, but the smell still lingered! Today we have found the problem....we just have window units for air in some of the rooms, water had run out of the window sill, down the wall, onto the carpet and had spread about 5 feet from the wall. It was sopping! A mattress was wet partially as well. A big mess!! Really there is no way to fix this, its just ruined, so Micah and Andrew cut the carpet and took it all out, carpet and pad. I guess picture a square and 1/4 of it is gone....pretty huh???? Oh well, I am sure if Job had messengers telling him his carpet was ruined and also his Bosch Machine bowl was sat on the stove burner while still on and the bottom of it melted, he would have been thrilled verses the message he DID receive. Reality is, this is a "piece of cake" compared to Joel. I would take Joel over a nice house and everything broken any day!! So, I am saying, its all so trite compared to so many facing life threatening diseases and illnesses and so many mothers missing their toddlers because of death, like Meredith, Angie, Katie and her new baby, Jessica Kate, Ashley, Jess, these are a few I pray for every day as they grieve.......
So busy today, Bethany is swamped with getting ready to take the goats up this afternoon. I am trying to do school and then need to prepare our lunch and dinner to take to the show tomorrow. We'll be there all day and on Wednesday as well!!
The baptism went well yesterday in our pond as the church families gathered around. A little cold but it was a wonderful sight! Dave and Kate were with us all day and as always had a great time with them. The "littles" love his adventures, like reading book and stuff!!
