Guns & Ammo aka Christmas 2014

My inlaws & nephew came up a few days before Christmas for some skeet shooting & present opening.

It was a beautiful day & we had loads of fun.

Yes, all boys wear camo. All the time.

Shooting lessons for little boys.

So, the boys are cute & all but just look at this view

I live in the most beautiful place...

Ooo! Time for presents!

Ammo is a very popular gift around here (go figure).

Merry Christmas blessings!

Fall

Before we get too far into winter (and hopefully feet & feet of snow...) I thought I would share some of my pics of the last few weeks of fall...

Gorgeous rainbow across the street.

The amazingly beautiful view from my barnyard.

look! We have piggies again! I love having piggies again. We couldn't have them in CA because our wretched landlord decided after we had lived there a year that we couldn't have piggies. Just because. He said so. :(

Happy happy happy.

Beautiful fall colors.

Blessings.

18

So I'm a little late but better late than never, right?

Yep. Yep. Right.

My second born turned 18 a few days ago (Okay. Okay. A month ago. Sheesh.)

In our house we have a few birthday traditions.

The birthday person gets to choose breakfast & dinner (we don't do much for lunch).

And we try to do a birthday activity that is fun for the whole family.

This year? Shooting skeet.

Yeah, we are one of those families.

Since I am majorly late, I'll just post some pics of our day.

What did the birthday boy get you ask?

A totally awesome .223 with a scope & bipod. (I want one).

The birthday boy at breakfast.

It was the last free burn day of the season so what better excuse to have a bonfire?

I have no idea who these ginormous grown people are. I have small children. Little children. Yup yup.

The family that shoots together...has fun :)

Sigh. Where does the time go?

Blessings.

Faith

As a part of this weeks Awana assignment my 2 children in high school were to write a 300 (or more) word essay on what Faith means to them. 

After much protesting, whining & proclaiming that they "couldn't!" they "didn't know how" & "I can't write a paper. I don't know what to say!" they came up with some insightful words.

So to bless you today I've decided to share their words here.

(names have been changed to protect the innocent)

Enjoy!

How To Live By Faith 

by Hxxxxx Sxxxxx

For one to live by faith first one has to trust in God. After all that's where the the word faith comes from and in order for one to trust in someone, one has to believe in them and to believe in them you have to have faith. You have to have faith even when you feel like there's nothing left to believe or put your faith in.  I guess that's how I look at it because yes you will go through times when your faith is shaken and tested but just as you're about to give up you see something in front of you that comes from your faith. Hope. You see hope that comes from Jesus because He gave you that hope so that we could have faith to believe in Him and that's where this verse comes in:

 Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the substance for things hoped for the evidence of things not seen"

That verse talks about faith and hope being the evidence for things we can't see. It takes a lot of faith in our God to trust that He will pull us through the hard times especially when we don't know what will happen.  It's hard to have faith when bad things happen and when the bad things  happen hurt us more than anyone could ever understand but, lucky for us, there is someone who understands. God does.  He's there the whole time looking down on us saying, "just have faith in Me, just keep believing I'll pull you through." Just hold on and that's all you have to do. Just have faith that He will be there and just as you're about to fall because you can't go any farther, He'll be there to pull you back up again and you will know it because you kept your faith strong. Even when it was shaken and even when you were tempted to give up you didn't because you saw hope which gave you faith to believe and that's what kept you going. That's what keeps me going when I feel like giving up and when my faith is shaken I look around me for hope and I find it.  That gives me faith to keep going through everything I face. Through every hard time. Through every temptation I face I have faith that God will pull me through. That He'll be there when I cry out to say that my faith is low, that I'm not sure if I can keep going. Faith is a powerful thing and it can move mountains and heal your broken heart if you let it. That's how I look at faith and without it I don't even want to think about where I would be now because it's helped me through more hard times then I could ever say. It would take a whole book to say how many times I've felt like giving up and then God came in with my faith to say, "Look. There's still hope."

My Essay On How A Christian Lives By Faith

by Wxxxx Sxxxxx

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Hebrews 11:1

 This is a pivotal verse in the faith driven Christian walk, faith is what makes up the Christian faith. Faith is how we are saved in Christ Jesus.  Christianity is not a works driven religion. Faith is what makes our religion, not works, just as the phrase the "Christian faith" implies.

Faith.

'State wholly and steadfastly in God. Faith lies at the very heart of Christianity, and its importance for today’s Christian is clear from the fact that Protestantism was born through the rediscovery of the great words' “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17 kjv). This definition is from Logos bible software.

Faith is key to my life and my walk with God.It gives me strength in difficult times, it helps me resist temptations,with faith I can be of good cheer as Paul would put it.  Faith helps me in difficult times where without faith it would be ever so easy to become depressed and mad at God or to give in to temptations.  Often faith in times of trial and temptations is what sets you apart from non believers and makes people notice and wonder what is different about you, which can lead to you being able to share with them the gospel of Christ Jesus, in whom you have the faith that sets you apart.In the last few years of my life, faith is what has kept me happy and not always sad and discouraged which is surely how I would have been without my faith in my Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, the risen son of God. I am at a loss for words for how important and wonderful faith is for the Christian walk.

Blessings.

Helloooooooooo

So, yeah. It's been a coon's age since I blogged.

Well, 2 months actually.

(not technically sure exactly how long a coon's age is...)

But! I have reasons.

No really,

First my computer died. Sigh.

Yes. My beloved "Pinky" gave up the ghost. And all of my files, & photos, & downloads, & links & passwords & everything.

It sucketh. Verily.

And then...we moved. The longest, hardest, saddest, happiest, most painfully exhausting move ever.

We moved home.

Back to our tiny little abused homestead in Southern Oregon.

Which needed to be cleaned & painted from top to bottom of every room. Every barn. It seems like every square inch of every acre. Sigh.

We couldn't bring up anything or anyone without first tearing down whatever was left of where it used to go & rebuilding/refencing/resomething before we could actually do anything with it.

It was really obnoxious.

And tiring.

And saying goodbye to our California friends was the most gut wrenching heart stomping experience ever. I can't tell you how much I cried.

But, at last. We are here.

And sort of kind of mostly maybe unpacked...

It's been a lovely crisp, cool, beautiful fall here.

We wear sweatshirts & use down blankets & have fires...it's awesome.

And the beauty here...oh my the beauty here.

It' s good for my soul.

I just look & look & look & my eyes drink it all in.

We are still (and will be for a very long time) redoing fencing & repairing barns & replacing pipes & painting & whatever else we can get to before everything freezes.

It's going to be awhile before our homestead is back to what it was.

But we will get it back.

We will.

And tomorrow we have a very special birthday coming.

Somebody is turning 18... (nope, not me)

Stay tuned.

Blessings.

Depression...a diary of

You don't want to get out of bed in the morning.
You don't want to make breakfast or do anything.
But you force yourself to phone it in.
You do just enough laundry to keep everyone in clean underwear.
You keep enough semi-prepped food that your kids can get themselves snacks that sort of qualify as meals.
They won't win any nutrition awards but nobody will starve.
Your houseplants die because you can't dig up enough 'want to' to water them.
You don't plant a garden.
You don't plant any flowers.
Your house is a dry desert of I-just-don't-care-ness.
And you hate it.
But you can't force yourself to change it.
You can't will yourself out of your depressed state of mind to actually do anything.
Some days are better than others.
Some days you feel great.
Everything is good & you laugh & have fun & bake & clean & it feels like you have broken free.
You think God has finally delivered you.
And then for no reason you just crash & burn.
You find yourself just ready to burst into tears.
Or so angry you want to scream.
For no reason.
And you can't seem to control any of it.
And you hate it. You hate you. You just want to snap out of it but you can't.
So you pray. You pray & you beg God to help you. But He doesn't.
And you wonder why He hates you?
You know you are unworthy.
You know you deserve punishment.
But why has God forsaken you? Why has He left you? Why won't He help you?
And you wonder what to do?
Do you give up? Do you give in? Do you just retreat to your bed & stop trying?
Do you keep fighting? Do you keep struggling & forcing your way through every. single. day?
Why?
What's the point?
It's just the same thing every day.
It never changes.
Why not just give up? Why keep struggling?
Why won't you heal me Lord?
Why won't you save me from myself? Why won't you save me from my crazy?



What is the answer you ask? How does it end? That depends. On the person. On the day.
And the place.
Some people seek medical help & get answers with prescription medication.
Some folks find healing with herbs & homeopathy.
Some find a change of diet does wonders.
Some need a change of climate or elevation or amount of daylight.
The Lord grants His complete healing to some.
Others just continue to struggle through good years & bad.
Some give up.


Depression is ugly. Depression is lonely. Depression is no respecter of persons.
It doesn't care about your age or education or socio-economic status.
It just creeps in & sets up camp.

If you know someone who struggles with depression don't assume you understand. Or know 'how it feels'. Or know how to fix them.
Because you might. But you might not.
And the most important thing you can do?
Pray.
And love them.
Even when they are unlovable.

Blessings.

Frogger

We have a little friend who lives under the water trough in the milk goat pen.

We think he may be one of the tadpoles we raised & released last year.

He's a happy little guy.

He especially likes it when the trough is filling.

It's a happy place for a frog. Lots of cool fresh water to swim in.

A safe, cool, muddy hole under the trough to live in.


The little boys love having him around. They go out & watch him & laugh.

The only ones who don't seem sure about the situation are the goats...

Remember: Frogs are friends. Not food.

:)

Blessings.

The Greatest Generation

On Thursday our family had the privilege of attending a military honors service for a World War 2 veteran from our church.

Dan served in the Army and fought at the Battle of the Bulge.

Look at him there in uniform ~ wasn't he handsome?

Here is his beautiful wife of 72 years ~ 72 years people ~ and his daughter & granddaughter.

Prepping for the 21 gun salute.

Adorable little boys  :)

The beautiful widow.

A kiss from a son.

Great grandma love.

We have the incredible honor of having still another World War 2 veteran at our church. Here he comes to pay his respects.

Ready for the ceremony.

Two members of the greatest generation.

 The salute.

The folding of the flag.

The presentation of the flag.

Taps.

  During the playing of taps every former member of the military saluted. I loved that.

Two members of the greatest generation sharing stories.

It was an honor to know this man & to hear his stories & to be able to thank him for what he did for our country & for the world.

There are not many World War 2 veterans left. If you have the privilege of meeting one - talk to them! Ask questions. Learn from them. And most of all THANK them.

Blessings.