"If we're to encounter the divine Presence,we must enter the interior sanctuary of our heart and, like Jesus in the temple, become indignant over what we find."

Larry Crabb, "Jesus Mean and Wild"
Water Brook Press

Our Silver Wedding Anniversary Month!!

1984~2009

This photo was taken in 1983 as an engagement photo about 9mos. before our wedding!

We are hoping to have a potluck cookout on July 4th this year to celebrate, with a cake and photo history during dessert...I'll try to post some of the pix here over the next month or so...

Evening Out Ensemble...

I did finish this skirt and covering in time to wear it out to the recognition dinner last night, but to my chagrin, instead of wearing it, I decided it was time to get back on the Nordic Trac!!! LOL

Maybe I can wear it at a future time,...say in 15lbs. less or so :) The material is like swimwear fabric and NOT very forgiving...It did turn out lovely though, don't you think?

The top is a cream colored 2-piece set with pearl embellishments....

The idea that I had of making Indian sari-like pleats on one side of the skirt (on the right in photo) did work, but they didn't show up in this shot. I just pleated the material over where I had made the seam, and then proceeded to turn down the material at the waist and create a casing for the elastic waistband....If I had not made the pleats, and just gathered the skirt with a plain elastic waistline, it would have fit OK...I ended up wearing a standby outfit instead that worked well anyway. Glad I had it to fall back on at the last minute!! We had a nice evening. Hubby had been there for 5yrs service.

It was held in an old opera style theater/auditorium in downtown, and had been renovated at some point in the past. The architecture was lovely....huge dome ceiling and painted plaster detailing all around...It was, in fact , the same building where my oldest son was featured as the annual representative for pediatric heart surgery patients when he was 5yrs old.....

Here are some shots I found of this building on Flickr.com:

Well, better run and finish packing for our camping weekend! I'm looking forward to posting some about that upon my return....Via Con Dios!

What's In the Crate???

A little billy!!...."Gruff", I think. Now Goatie will not be so lonely. They seem to be getting along well so far, it helps that he is young yet...
Well, tonight we are scheduled to attend a recognition dinner for Hubby's work. I am trying to come up with an outfit to wear...must finish a skirt out of material that I found on clearance at Wal-Mart the other night....Hoping it turns out. A little exotic, but hey, it's a facet of my personality...Will try to post pix later...
This weekend our church is sponsoring a camp with Colin and Nancy Campbell as the guest speakers....It's supposed to be a family camp, but due to some "technical" difficulties with our 16yr old, it looks like it will be just the 2 younger children and myself. I'm hoping to find another dad to "adopt" my youngest son for the weekend, because their are separate dorms for the men and women...I'm trying REAL hard to "roll with the punches" with all of this right now...The theme for the camp is Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..."

I'm TRYING! I'm TRYING!

Up! Up! The Day is Breaking--Paul Gerhardt

This poem was included in my little devotional (Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston---far and away my favorite devotional book...)for this morning:

Commit thy way to God,

The weight that makes thee faint;

Worlds are to Him no load,

To Him breathe thy complaint.

Up! Up! The day is breaking

Say to thy cares, good-night!

Thy troubles from thee shaking,

Like dreams in day's fresh light.

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My Mother-in-Law is coming today...better get to the chores! Busy, busy weekend...But, just another thought before I go:

**************************************************

My personal prayer for today is that I could be more like a small child...trusting her Father to know and do what is best...

I am so like a young child really, in the way that I know so little of "the big picture", and therefore cannot make proper judgements---but I so easily forget this and go barrelling into the day, wrecking havoc with my ignorant, though well-meaning gusto.

"Lifting Up the Heart to God"--H.L. Sidney Lear

It is a good thing

to have fixed seasons

for lifting up the heart

to God,

not merely the appointed hours of prayer, but a momentary act

before and after meals, beginning any occupation, entering into society, leaving the house, etc.

Especially it is a help to make such brief acts after having said or done anything either wrong or foolish,

after any trifling vexation or disappointment,

when the spirit feels, it may be, wounded and desolate,

or when one's vanity is annoyed at having been guilty

of some little folly or unseemliness.

Sometimes we are more really troubled and sore at trifles of this sort than at far weightier things.

But if all such things were met with a momentary uplifting of the heart

to God,

all these little frailties and worries would tend to mold the character

more and more

to

God's

pattern,

and they would assuredly

lose their sting;

for he who thinks much of God

will daily think less

of himself.

The lovely larger pots of flowers were a Mother's Day gift from my parents....Don's Mom sent some $ to help purchase "Billy the Kid"!...lol
Puppy’s Mothers’ Day Fun!
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Mimi and Grampie came to celebrate Mother’s Day at our house yesterday. We had a very nice visit and dinner. Mom brought shrimp ettouffe, jello blocks and strawberry/ruhbarb cobbler! I contributed the salad, garlic bread, corn on the cob, coffee and iced tea…
Mimi had been feeling sorry for puppy "having to sleep on the hard concrete flooring in his screenporch", so she brought him a cushy dog bed….Was he ever proud of it:

He was so happy that he proceeded to tear it to shreds while the rest of us enjoyed our visit----BAD DOGGIE! 

Later, we snagged some of the young folks to help take a stack washer/dryer that Hubby had aquired,up to the doublewide and unload it into the laundry room…(Glad to finally have that out of the driveway!)
Then we finished up our afternoon watching a storm system come through while sitting on our front porch—one of my favorite pasttimes. Our youngest son felt festive and got out his violin to play a tune while little sister danced a happy jig. Oh, these are the days……

Let's Make Rose Petal Jam!

Turkish recipe from the Middle East Cookbook that my Sweetie gave to me last year...

Behind the doublewide at the top of our property....I noticed the bush blooming profusely, and was thusly inspired :)

We are still working on some "cosmetics" of the doublewide, and are hoping to rent to a country-loving family...It has a super view....

***Since these roses are not particularly aromatic, I will add natural rose essence before putting in jars...

We stopped by to feed "Goatie" some new oak leaves and enjoy the late afternoon view...and rest from our trek to collect roses.

After trimming the colored part of the petals off, we rinsed them to remove any "creatures" :)

Then, drained and layered them with sugar...

Covered overnight to "ripen".

Pool Cover Fun!

Isn't this a lovely picture? It came with some information about Biblical Harps that I received several years ago from Jerusalem, Isreal....This is Shoshannah, the harp maker's wife. I would LOVE to play the harp....Maybe in heaven? I would like to look into the possibility of our youngest daughter learning to play. It would go well with son's violin. If it is too costly, we may also consider the flute :)

Well, I'd better get my teeth brushed and head back outside to the garden to do some trimming of shrubs that have already bloomed and are growing like crazy!! Yesterday we got the pool cover out of the pool area behind the garden (through 2 garden gates!!) and out into the side yard to hose off for storage. My 13yr old son was the "boss" of this job...Soon I will get out the Clorox Clean-up to scrub the deck and fencing...The pool is almost ready for the season. The 2 younger children swam yesterday already!! (72 degree water ;$ ) I'll post some pix of that later today, LORD willing :)

Things are looking much more lush around here now that things have grown out! My husband and the younger children cleaned the garden pond out Saturday...unfortunately we lost a baby koi in the process...he jumped out in all of the "excitement", and was not found on the grass until it was too late :(
We enjoyed some snowpeas in our salad from the garden, and look forward to cooking up a pot of those radishes--they are a lot like turnips, and we will eat them much better that way!

Hello!

I can't believe it's already Tuesday! Here are some snapshots of what's been going on around here over the weekend...

My younger children found this little guy around the above ground pool, calling to a potential mate!...They can really get going with that croak thing!

Next, we have a peek into the tree trimming job that my husband undertook with our youngest son. A neighbor friend and our youngest daughter are also helping...This big old tree hangs over the Secret Garden, and occasionally drops a limb as many have died from the past drought....We thought it would be a good idea to get some down before our Ladies' Fellowship on Saturday...

Our 16yr old spotted this Daddy Rattler while cruising on his 4-wheeler near our home!...Well, ofcourse he had to race home and get his younger brother's Ninja sword and go back and "dispatch it"!...You moms out there DON'T want to know how he got the thing to strike so he could reach the neck!! (Keep praying Moms, we never know WHAT our children are going to face throughout their day!!)

Here is my wonderful husband playing with our 1yr old Labweiller, Xerxes. The puppy has settled down quite a bit, and is actually enjoyable to be with now!

Well, better go get things done around here so we can take our trip to violin lesson and visit with my parents. I'll pick up a few groceries while I am out, as I can't just "run to the store" very easily from here, and try to make the most of every trip out. Before I go, a word of encouragement:

"Where there is prayer, there is peace; and God, who makes every duty possible, knows, helps, and cares." Anthony W. Thorold

Good morning from stormy Thousand Hills Farm!

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We got our dining room painted and the chandelier up for Sunday Dinner!....it's been a project in the wings for 1 1/2yrs! It's so wonderful to have it done. Had my parents and sister here for dinner, and celebrated the good news of Mom's negative bone biopsy 3rd year post stem cell transplant....Praise the Lord!

The dining room used to be yellow painted panelling...we sealed everything with caulking....VOILE!, no more cracks! It really looks finished now. Looking forward to doing the living room next....)

Notice the birdhouse border that came down!...

My Sweetie is soooo wonderful!...He took 2 days of his time to do this for me...and help me to "do things RIGHT"! HA

(I was just going to slap some paint up there!)

LOVE to see a place transform....

Here was the little centerpiece that I made up from things found at the dollar store...The nail is a replica of the Roman nails probably used to crucify Jesus....We passed it around and read a little meditation about His sacrifice for our sins......Then we celebrated

HIS RESURRECTION !!

Hello All,

I suffered a little frost damage the other night, with the temps dropping into the upper 20's!...Here are a few pix:

My baby cannas...

My "popcorn" tree's leaf buds...

Several of the other bushes and trees got a little frostbite, also the little concord grape leaves, but nothing like last year---so, I'm thankful! Had to put the electric blankets back on our beds upstairs. Next year, we don't take them off until May 1st! HA

Here is our youngest helping Momma make corn muffins to go with our homemade chili last night for supper....She's wearing the prairie skirt that she made (with very little help from me!) earlier in the day. We are really excited about her beginning to make more of her own clothes! :)

Speaking about skirts, I'm rrreeeaaallllyyyy late getting the skirt made for our oldest daughter who is living in Hawaii at the moment...Her birthday is right around the corner! She loved one that I had made a couple of years ago and had never finished, so I finished it for her to wear back West on the plane at Christmastime.

Going to take our youngest son to violin practice today a couple of towns away. May stop by my parents house and say "Hi". May run into Goodwill and take a look...

The fish in the garden pond were shy about coming up for food this morning, but they probably have found much to nibble at the bottom!

It's supposed to be another blustery day, with the temps dropping into the 20's tonight!! Hope none of the baby pears get frozen :O

Friday we started to put chicken wire around the garden area that we are trying to grow vegetables and herbs in...we have spotted various bunny "signs" and do not want all of our work to be for naught!
Daddy took Friday off, and one of the things he did, was to take the 2 youngest children to the store to get some fish for the garden pond....2 baby koi and some goldfish...It was exciting to finally release them into the pond.

We spent the rest of Saturday (Daddy's Birthday :) doing various pleasant jobs...Don and the boys got the larger pigpen fixed up for piggies. That is always fun to see when they go into the bigger pen--they run and frolic! Sorry I didn't get pix. I hung several loads of laundry, as it had been raining, and more was on the way...

Good Morning Friends!

Thought I could introduce you to some of the critters who live here at Thousand Hills Farm! First, here are our 3 little pigs: Hammy, 'Tacky(he attacks everything :), and Porky. They were VERY glad to see me this morning, as their favorite thing to do is...you guessed it, EAT!

Next, we have Goatie, as we fondly call her for lack of a more creative name. She is a runaway from Who-Knows-Where (We've hung signs up for weeks, and so far, no takers...). She is a Nubian doe about 3yrs old. We hope to get her some friends soon and have a small herd, with at least one doe to milk for our own use. I would appreciate any knowhow regarding this from readers!

Here is Bob our 4yr old ferret that walked up to my husband and children while they were working in the backyard one day at our previous home....we later discovered that a college student "let him go" because she didn't want to deal with the mess! (He was just a youngster at the time, and very playful) He is SUCH a sweetie. Large Breed dog food, big crunchy bites, is his favorite diet! Both he and the dog get a peanutbutter spoon each morning as a treat :)

Last, but certainly not least, is our 1yr old "Labweiller", Xerxes! He's a sweetie, but definitely requiers regular social and physical interaction!! Body armor would have come in handy for the first 9mos. or so! Big! Strong! Sharp teeth! but not a nasty bone in his body...at least not one we've found yet :), ofcourse everyone has been a "friendly" person in his life so far...Our son found him in our woods at 8wks old.


Well, that's a beginning introduction. We have a few more "friends" to meet, but will save that for another time soon...Shalom!

Good Morning All!

And a gorgeous spring morning it is here in the Southeast USA!

This blog is just a "sharing of our lives". Bear with me as I learn how to take/post pix and document thoughts, feelings, reactions, challenges and glimpses from our little corner of the planet!

As soon as I go and care for our various animals, I will hopefully return with some current pix to share and we'll get started on our journey together...