Friday, July 27, 2012

Smores Cam!

As promised, here's the "Smores Cam"!


You can see my full post from this last Sunday here!

What'd I tell ya?  Hilarious!  The excitement is palatable (no pun intended...well okay it was intended!).


Enjoy!


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Therapy

Psalm 23
The Lord in my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He has plans for me and my family.  He is always prepared.  We have all we need.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
 He provides peace and rest.  "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10  I rest in the knowledge that He is providing.

He leads me beside the still waters.
He knows my limitations.  He does not belittle me.  He will not endanger me.  He does not force me beyond my strength and abilities.  He knows how to nourish and refresh me.

He restores my soul;
After life squeezes the juice out of me, leaving only the pulp, I feel no enthusiasm.  But Genesis 2:7 tells me He breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul.  So now too, God is still willing to breathe new life and breath into my soul.  I was lost, but now I'm found.  I become frustrated, but He gives me peace.



He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
 I am like a sheep with no internal compass, my vision is limited, and I am defenseless.  But like the shepherd, He knows the way.  "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
He alone is found to be true, therefore He is the way, which in turn preserves my life.
"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:6

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me;
I become caught up in fear, uncertainty, disappointment, and rejection.  But these deathly shadows do not last long!  "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.  In these times, if I stop and think of His glory and power, I realize I have nothing to fear.  Uncertainty evaporates.  Disappointment is crushed by my Rock.  And any rejection is healed by the knowledge that Jesus was rejected by the proud.  So I see my children and am reminded what Jesus said, "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:4 



Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Jesus is my protector (rod), and my rescuer (staff).  The business of a shepherd sometimes called for heroic efforts to protect and save his sheep.  The dedication of my Shepherd instills great confidence in me.  "He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD is your keeper" Psalm 121: 3-5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
 He provides for me despite the multitude of dangers surrounding me.  The table is spread and everything I need is provided for me as though I were royalty.  How comforting and humbling is that?!  
"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28



You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
One of the things we can expect is that we will be battered around in this life.  We can expect to suffer along with Him, 1 Peter 4:13.  These are times when the Shepherd attends to each one of us on a personal basis.  Our personal physician.  If I keep my eyes and faith in the Proven One, I will find healing.
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15
"...and He calls His sheep by name and leads them out." John 10:3
   He revives me with abundant refreshment.  I am known, precious, and worthy.



Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; 
 Despite all the uncertainty and insanity, I am assured I am precious (Mat.10:31), that ALL things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Nothing can separate us from the love of God and our gift of salvation (Rom. 8:31-39).

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
There's no place like home.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Summer Excitement

There have been so many things going on this Summer, that I haven't found much time to completely relax.  The best part of this Summer was my Sister's visit with her son and hubby, who flew out from Texas!


They braved the flight, well, hubby did (he hates flying, and that's putting it mildly) just to spend about four and a half days with us.  The cousins got to play with each other for the first time in their lives!

 Aren't they adorable!?  Here they are making bird feeders out of pine cones and peanut butter rolled in bird seed.

And here, we went to a cattle watering trough to catch tadpoles for the garden.


The sieve barely worked because they saw it coming.  So we resorted to plucking them straight out of the water by hand once they surfaced.  Aren't they cute baby toads?  Friends of the garden.

In the middle of our week, a storm rolled through!  Yay!  They loved our weather, it was an improvement over their humid Texas heat.  It was a great reprieve from our own dry heat too!  Best of all, our temperatures are almost always a good 10 degrees cooler than the lower elevations.

Here my sister is taking a picture she so aptly called, "The Smores Cam."  When she sends me the picture, I'll show you how it turned out...hilarious!

Flocking like ducks to a pond!

Marshmallows on the ends of mesquite branches we harvested.
And let me tell you, the boys went to sleep the moment their heads hit the pillow, I kid you not!
So much excitement!

My sister on the left and me on the right.
Our time together was way too short!
But we did our best to talk them into moving up on the mountain and join in on our homesteading!
Who knows.  You never can tell what amazing things are in our futures!
For now, they went back home to resume their lives...

...and the tadpoles found their new home...

...overlooking the toad house and garden!

A good time was had by all!