Mephibosheth comes to mind.

Fence work. My husband and I stretched wire this weekend for our new area for the horses. It's long, tiresome, back breaking, on-your-feet kind of work. There isn't much talking happening, and probably for good reason, the more tired we get!

The brain will think of the strangest things when you are exhausted, or maybe your mind is just empty enough that the Spirit of God is able to visit and whisper.

At some point over the weekend, the word Mephibosheth came into my mind. I smiled. It's a funny sort of word. Oh, I knew he was a character out of the bible, didn't know if I was even pronouncing it right, but it wouldn't go away. I'm clipping wire to fence and the word Mephibosheth keeps coming to mind.

I asked my husband if he knew who Mephibosheth was and explained that the name was playing over and over in my head. I suggested that perhaps I should find out who he is.

Mephibosheth: Son of Jonathan (friend of David's), Grandson of Saul (NOT a friend of David's), dropped by his nurse while fleeing in fear from David after the death of Saul and Jonathan, and crippled. I thought about why this was important. Being crippled made him "less than perfect", maybe even "useless" to some. As son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul, he would have been the rightful heir to the throne, but he feared that David would kill him to protect the position.

What did David do instead? He looked for an heir. "And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" (2 Sam 9:1) "Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God unto him?" (ver 3)

Wow. Is that not a picture of God? He seeks us, as rightful heirs to the kindom, to show us the kindness of God for Jesus' sake.

Oh, it gets better. Mephibosheth was a cripple. What could he give to David? What did he have that David needed? What could he do for David? Not much. Yet it wasn't about what he could DO, but who he KNEW. It was because of what Jonathan had ALREADY done.

I love this!

Then when David had Mephibosheth brought to him, all Mephibosheth could do was fall at his feet. He was in no shape to defend himself, fight, or run. So he only surrendered to what he thought was a vengeful king.

David, however told him to fear not and then restored him to him his position as "son" and heir, and offered him food at the table continually.

How beautiful a picture of grace.

I continue to be blessed and humbled by the revelation of God's love and grace and mercy, hidden in the most unlikely places, in a little story in the Old Testament, about a man with a funny little name.

Mephibosheth comes to mind.

Spring Has Sprung!

....  even though the temps are supposed to be in the 30's tonight.  Record breaking lows!  But the cooler temps and the frequent rains have made for a beautiful spring.

Flowers are blooming, baby animals everywhere, warm days, slicked off horses.  Life is good.

Keep Manhattan, just gimme that country life...

You know springtime is right around the corner when the days are getting longer, the chickens are laying, horses are shedding, flowers are bloomin', days are warm and nights are cool -- okay, well that can be kinda dicey in Texas..  Oh that Texas weather!

The fence is coming along sloooooowly, however we have one horse at the house while we are treating ocular fungal keratitis.  I think we've turned the corner with it and he's coming along ..  hallelujah!  In the meantime he's getting just a bit sassy being penned up and having all this personal attention.

We sure enjoy him ..  and can't wait to have to other two home.   Sooooooooon.

Happy End of the World Day!

There has been much discussion about the Mayans, the end of the world, zombies, etc.

Did anyone really believe that today would be the end of the world .. well, I'm sure there were some.

The fact is, nobody really knows if this is THEIR last day on earth.  Would it change the way we lived today if we knew it was our last?

A Day at the Races

Nothing moves me more than a moving horse.  Gracefully performing "dance" moves in dressage, figure eights and sliding stops in reining, or blasting out of the gate and barreling toward the finish line on a dirt track!  A perfectly designed horse, performing what it was perfectly designed to do .. a thing of beauty.

A spur-of-the-moment decision landed Steve and I at the Sam Houston Race Park , and to my great pleasure they were running the 2-year-old Quarter Horse time trials.  Many of these colts and fillies had never started, so it was alot of fun to guess who the better horses were.  We soooo stank at it!

I loved them all, of course, and left there filled with awe at the power of these babies .. all beautiful and fabulously fit! Running their hearts out on the track, then calmly standing for photos in the winner's circle

Good fun, Good eats, Good time!

What a lovely day!



Family and Friends

Shannon, Pat, Aimee, Julie

A photo snapped on 3/22/12.

Uncle Pat.  There are few other two word phrases that can make instant smiles appear on the faces of my beautiful daughters.... well, maybe "ICE CREAM" or "NEW PUPPY" .. but you get the point.

We were so blessed last week with a visit from Uncle Pat.  He had flown to AZ to drive back to Florida with his girlfriend and made a brief stop in the Piney Woods of Texas, and our little piece of heaven on earth.

As usual, it was a time full of laughter and fun ..

Thank you, Pat and Aimee, for taking time on your trip to enjoy a day with us.

We love you both!

Food for Thought Friday

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run
than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." 

~ Helen Keller

You've got to go out on a limb sometimes because that's where the fruit is.

~Will Rogers

I didn't want to hurt them.  I only wanted to kill them.

~David Berkowitz



Wordless Wednesday

The Goose's Acre

The hustle and bustle of The Woodlands.  Love it ............. NOT.

However, nestled in the corner of Waterway Avenue and the waterway, is a piece of Ireland. This is a place where I will overlook the busy-ness that IS The Woodlands, and spend a few hours enjoying the atmosphere, the food, the music, and the beer.

The Goose's Acre was a pub opened in 1886 in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland.  There it was passed down from father to son until forced to close it's doors in 2005 to make way for new development.

The current owners then purchased the Goose's Acre and moved her piece by piece to Texas.  She is truly an authentic piece of Ireland.

If I could change ANYTHING, it would be traditional Irish music at least one day a week!  But having said that .. I love her just the way she is.

Food for Thought Friday

"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you;

you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for."

~ Bob Marley

"Never let a

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED

become more important than a

PERSON TO BE LOVED."

~ Thomas Spencer Monson

"A clown can get away with murder."

~John Wayne Gacy

"Mission complete, Houston"

“Mission complete, Houston, after serving the world for over 30 years, the shuttle has earned its place in history, and it has come to a final stop.”

And with those words, Commander Chris Ferguson announced the safe arrival of  Atlantis and her crew, as well as the end of an era.

NASA's STS-135 MCC Status Report #27 reads as follows:

"Atlantis landed at 4:57 a.m. CDT Thursday, wrapping up a successful 13-day mission, ending its own 33-flight career and closing out the 30-year, 135-flight Space Shuttle Program."

Welcome home Atlantis.

... One Giant Leap for Mankind ...

At 10:56 p.m. est on July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, spoke these words to more than a billion people listening at home:

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

.. and became the first man to walk on the moon.


Ed "Buzz" Aldrin joined him on the moon's surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, and ran a few simple scientific tests.

.. and became the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the moon.

Aldrin radioed Earth: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."

Then he gave himself communion.  You wouldn't see this reported, however, because even in 1969 there was commotion from the atheists.
_________________________________

Having grown up on the Space Coast of Florida, with dad that was empoyed "out at the cape" .. I consider myelf blessed to be considered a bit of a NASA brat.

Admittedly, I cannot watch a launch without the lump in my throat and the tears clouding my vision. During the shuttle launches, I couldn't breath until the solid rocket boosters had fallen away... and will admit, unashamed, that I cried like a baby and couldn't speak for some minutes after STS-135 left the ground on July 8.  I'll be crying again as they come home tomorrow.

God Bless the crew, and everyone who made these Shuttle missions possible.

God Bless America.

Words ...

"You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me

You have knocked me off my feet again got me feeling like I'm nothing

You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard, calling me out when I'm wounded

You, pickin' on the weaker man

Well, you can take me down with just one single blow

But you don't know what you don't know"     

~Taylor Swift

Words ...  why are they so important?  Why do the words of others affect us so?
 
Proverbs 18:21 says "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.."
 
Lord, let me focus on YOUR words and be who YOU say I am.  Help me to be the person who doesn't rely on the affirmation of OTHERS, but can rise above based on YOUR love alone.
 
Give me LIFE .. through YOUR WORDS ..  ~Amen.

Oh No You Don't - You Masked Bandit!

Raccoons.  I don't care how cute they are anymore.  I hate them.

They have ripped chickens apart and pulled them through the wire.  They have ripped hardware cloth off of cages and killed all chickens inside. They get into EVERYTHING and leave NOTHING.

Everything, that is, except the big coop.  Although I find footprints and claw marks, they have been unable to rip into, open the door, or destroy the fortress that is our "Big Chicken" coop.

They were working on the banty coop, when I decided it was time for the banties to live with the big chickens .. for their own good.  Just threw them in there one night.  They have been getting along famously since, and I don't have to worry about coons ....  or do I?

Sneaky little bandits decided if they can't kill chickens at night, they'll come out before dark.  I lost two pullets last week, right at dusk as they chickens were going to roost.  As a result, I began going out about 30 minutes earlier and just hanging out until they 'put themselves to bed'.

Last night I started out and heard the commotion.  A chicken screaming, and everyone else alerting and running for cover.  Running up the hill, I lost my shoes somewhere and ran to the coop just in time to see the raccoon with Uno (the Salmon Fav hen) in it's mouth.  Effortlessly hopping over a downed tree, it started to slip into the woods with my hen's head it's mouth.

I reached down and picked up a piece of branch or something, yelled at the coon (calling it quite the foul name) and it stopped and looked at me.  I threw the piece of wood at it - and missed.  Luckily for Uno, the coon let her go and she sprinted back to me and buried herself in my bare feet.

Mr. Bandit and I stared at each other for a moment and he slipped away.  Hungry.  Little Creep.

Tonight I go out an hour early .. with my camos and the .22 .................  wish me luck.

A Stolen Life - by Jaycee Dugard

"I don't believe in hate. To me it wastes too much time. People who hate waste so much of their life hating that they miss out on all the other stuff out here." ~Jaycee Dugard.

I want to say, first of all, that I'm glad to be blogging again .. AND I'm excited to be READING again ..
I used to be an avid reader, and then my eyes started getting more and more stressed with reading. So, in May, I got GLASSES .. whoot! Although it took several weeks to get used to the progressive lenses, I just don't know what I did before .. obviously: NOT READING.

So I bought a book Monday evening. A Stolen Life, by Jaycee Dugard. I finished it last night. Wow. What an amazing, brave, strong young woman.

The quote at the top of the column is a great quote, but coming from someone that was held captive for 18 years and repeatedly raped from age 11, it is an amazing testament to the strength of the human soul.  The ability to not become a victim of HATE, the power to forgive.  The power to LIVE and not let your soul be eaten away with hate and bitterness...  I don't know if I could be that person.

March 16, 2007 (In her 16th year of captivity.)

"Affirmation to counteract the negative feelings I have inside:
1.  I am a creative, positive, successful, and happy person.
2.  I can achieve anything I set my mind on.
4.  I am a strong and capable person.
6. I will have a strong and healthy body and mind.
7. Anything and everything is possible with love.
11.  I will make it a habit to be happy.
13. Today is a glorious day.
15. I make every day a positive day."  ~Jaycee Dugard

(Missing numbers are my choice,  I chose the ones that spoke to me as well.)

God forgive me .. what have I got to complain about??

2010 - Bye Bye

Looks like another year is gone.

Started out in an apartment.
Almost divorced - ha!
Moved into our new house.
Graduated a daughter from high school.
Moved offices at work - twice.
Learned how to blog!
First Thanksgiving in new house.
Buried a good friend.
First Christmas in new house.
Discovered genealogy.

Still married - *smile*
Still love the Lord.
Life is good!

Happy 2011 everyone!

Come Climb My Tree

For the last week or so I've been obsessed with researching my family tree.  I finally decided to start another blog dedicated to that pursuit.

You can find it here.

My personal posts will still go here ..  all genealogy stuff with go over there ..

Who am I ?  I'm finding out some neat things!

Goodbye Lynda ...

I've been largely absent in mind and spirit this week.

Last Friday, December 10, 2010, a dear friend and co-worker died of a massive brain hemorrhage.  She wasn't the epitome of health, in fact had many issues, and was in fact here in the hospital when she died.  They were preparing to discharge her when she collapsed.

An unlikely friendship, she and I.  She was in her 60s, I'm in my forties.  She was a Director, I am a peon.  She was a total cat person, I'm a dog person.  She was driven, hyper, a work-a-holic, I am pretty laid back and you pretty much get 40 hour a week out of me .. period.  She was Catholic, I am a non-denominational Christian.

Our friendship started more than 11 years ago and over the years we have worked together, we have shared work and personal lives, we vented about our work aggravations, we leaned on each other, supported and ragged on each other.  It was just "us"..  we could be ourselves with each other.

No matter how sick she was, or how much she hurt or didn't feel like it, there was always a smile on her face and she was always at work -- unless she was in the hospital, or they forbid her to come in.

I knew she was declining.  I knew she was sick more than she was well.  But I was caught so off guard.

I visited her on Wednesday in the hospital.. we joked and laughed about her obsessing over her husband while SHE was in the hospital ...  I didn't make it there on Thursday.  Friday morning when I arrived in my office, I had another co-worker there to tell me that "they coded Lynda this morning"..

Everything happened fast after that .. but we all knew she was gone.  Her son arrived that afternoon from Denver, they took her off the vent .. she was really gone by 7pm.

I will miss her everyday..  she was a HUGE part of my life at work.  I find peace in knowing that she knows and loves the Lord ..  but I'm selfish, and want her back.

Goodbye Lynda ..  I hope you know how much you are missed.

Gettin' My Craft On.

So, we're getting eggs every day.  Pretty eggs.  Pale blue, light green, olive green, "pink" ...   Seems a shame to just crack them and throw the shells away.  But what to do??

Apparently people who have been doing this "chicken thing" longer than I have, already know the answer.

I'm a member of an oline forum for chicken lovers called Backyard Chickens (see the "my pet made me breakfast" button to you right).  Here's what I've learned about "What to do with all those pretty egg shells".

First you blow out the yolk and let the egg dry.

Then you can paint, decorate, or just gloss those pretty eggs.  Add end caps and pretty ribbon to hang and you have homemade decorations.

Mine aren't done, but they are a start.

For more ideas, better instructions,  and pages and pages of pretty egg decorations, go here:

BYC- Gettin' Your Craft On Thread

Now, I need to go finish the ones I've started so I can have decorations (by NEXT Christmas) ....

Today a Year Ago - Thursday Blog Hop

We were living in an apartment, watching the progress on our house.  Thank GOD that is all over.  Here is the post from one year ago:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quick house update .. the plumber finally decided to do some work this week .. not much .. but at least he's working .. Here are a couple exciting shots.. :P

This is our master toilet .. :D

And shower..

Meanwhile, back at the apartment --  We wish you a Merry Christmas .. and a fun time was had by all! 

Cranberries and Popcorn

And COOKIES ....



DD12's cookies

DD17'S cookies

DH's cookies :rolleyes: :D

The best part of the night for me was when DD17 hugged me and said "It's really great to spend time with ya'll."

We've been so busy, I guess they feel somewhat neglected.


A great nite!!