A Friend Indeed...

A few weeks ago our goose lost her life long companion. 

Geese are social creatures & they mate for life so I was concerned how she would adjust.

She's no spring chicken. She is 10 years old ~ which sounds ancient for a farm animal but geese can actually live into their 40's. 

Who knew?

So we've been watching & waiting to see how she gets along on her own.

She's really doing quite well & has even bonded with another member of the farmyard.

I'll give you 3 guesses as to who?

Actually forget it. You will NEVER guess.

Yes. That is our Boer buck.

They are buddies now & we see them sitting like this quite often.

I'm guessing geese don't have a real strong sense of smell...

:)

Blessings.

Jeepers, Creepers, where'd you get those Peepers?

Last spring we raised some Bantam Buff Cochins for the little boys.

Of course, they begged & sobbed & cajoled to be able to keep a rooster & raise their own chicks this year.

I am not fond of roosters.

They are typically mean, pushy, rude bullies.

But, being the push over that I am, of course I said 'yes'.

And their little rooster ~ even though he was hand raised & held every day~ once he became 'a man' he turned into a mean, pushy, rude bully.

But he's still around & a few weeks ago our little hen starting setting on a clutch of eggs.

And on Sunday, they started to hatch!

See the eggshell under her?

And LOOK! a brand new little peeper!

So, he may be a rude nasty bully but he makes pretty babies.

Aren't they adorable? Happy sigh.

And now, cue the orchestra:

We have the sweetest little fluffy orange bantam hen. She let's the boys pick her up & carry her around & she never pecks or scratches.

We have had her for, omygosh, 10 years now.

And every single summer she goes all broody & sits & sits & sits on her nest. Her empty nest of nothing because I don't keep roosters.

So this year, this year because we have the rude nasty bully of a rooster & because our young little hen was setting on her nest of happy little chicky eggs....I did something.

I 'borrowed' 2 happy little chicky eggs from the young orange hen & slipped them under the old orange hen who was setting away on her empty nest.

And something wonderful happened.

Isn't she adorable? See her fluffy little whiskers? And look close there, to the left under her feathers...

See????

Peepers.

Happy little peepers & a happy happy Little Orange Hen.

:)

Blessings.

Puppy Love

After years of asking, pleading, begging & cajoling (not to mention some well placed marketing on the part of our chiropractors receptionist) we have a new member of the family.

Give a big welcome to Toby. Also known as Tobias Velociraptor Santos. And sometimes even Toby Wan Kenobi. Very, very rarely he is referred to as "you  little wretch" but we won't talk about that...

Look at that face! Isn't he the cutest?

He's a 9 week old Jack Russel & his fur is soooooooo soft.

We are having sooooo much fun. It has been a long time since we have had a puppy.

Look at that belly. You know  you want to rub it.

It's sad tho you know...

poor little guy...

he just get's so little attention from everyone...

;)

Blessings.

Biblical Forgiveness

I wrote this for a Ladies get together at our church & wanted to share it here. Some details have been changed for privacy.

1 Corinthians 5:9–13 (NKJV) — 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

I know this isn’t exactly light hearted stuff but the Lord has put this on my heart so here we go.  I want to talk about Biblical Forgiveness. What ‘we’ as believers & as a church are called to do in certain situations.

As believers we are to extend grace. We are to forgive & to love.

 But sometimes, I think we get so worried about NOT being judgmental that we forget that there are times, there are situations where we are instructed by God NOT to extend the hand of fellowship. And we even go so far as to unfairly judge other believers whom we feel are being judgmental & harsh when truly they are simply following Gods word.

Some of you may recall praying for my friend & her marriage last year. She was a close friend of mine. I thought of her like a sister. I have stayed in her home more than once. She meant a great deal to me. A year ago she admitted that she was having an affair. She was fairly open about it & our close circle of friends began to pray fervently & to try to listen & to give wise council. She played along for several months but 1 by 1 those of us who questioned how she could continue on her path (as a professing believer) were cut off.  She went on to divorce her husband of 22 years. Move in with her boyfriend. And at this time her 6 children ~ages 18 down to 6~ are shuttled back & forth between their father’s house & the house she shares with her boyfriend. And she still professes to be a believer.

This had a very strong impact on our circle of friends & still continues to. Many of those who are still friendly with her question those of us who have chosen to not continue in friendship. Just recently we were accused of lacking in grace.  But, I ask you, what does the Bible say?

1 Corinthians 5:11 (NKJV) — 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

That’s pretty clear. Not fun & not easy but clear.

Some have argued that we should continue to reach out in love & grace in hopes of winning the sinner back.

If the person who has fallen expresses repentance & asks for forgiveness absolutely we should extend grace.

 But if there is NO repentance there is no reconciliation.

And if the person, by their actions, words or deeds is determined to NOT be a believer we also extend grace & do not expect the same behavior as we expect from a believer.

But for those professing belief, calling upon the Lords name & expressing NO repentance we are “not even to eat with such a person”

But, you say, how then can they receive the Lords love? How then can they seek forgiveness? That is between them & the Lord. They do not require us to intercede.

After all, if there is no consequence to their sin why would they choose to stop it?

In today’s world all that was once seen as sin, universally, is now seen as normal. Everybody lives together outside of marriage.  Having a baby out of wedlock is no big deal.  Abortion is a ‘choice’. Divorce just ‘happens’. If you aren’t happy move on.

And as much as we don’t want to admit it: much of that acceptance is because we as a church  stopped following God’s plan & started extending grace in an unbiblical manner.

Now please understand I am not saying we are to hate anybody. Or that we are to be mean to anybody or that we withhold kindness from anybody. But we are to withhold our special brand of Christian fellowship from anybody who is continuing in sin. We are to reserve that for other believers who are in good standing with the Lord and the fellowship.

We are to teach our children that God’s plan is the best plan. Not just because ‘we’ say so but because it is so.

Even when everybody on TV is living together. Even when our family or friends or people we knew in school or even people we might go to church with are living together or having sex outside of marriage or ‘experimenting with alternative lifestyles’ or whatever socially acceptable sin you want to name.

We are called to hold ourselves apart. To be in the world but not of it. Which is not always easy to do. But I encourage you, I encourage all of us, to strive to follow the Lord’s plan. To strive to extend grace to those who need it but not to compromise ourselves & our testimony by confusing outright non-repentant sin with a need for grace.

And I encourage all of us especially to not become so caught up in extending grace to the obvious sinner that we forget to encourage & congratulate those who have worked hard to follow God’s plan.

 The young couples who save themselves for their wedding day. The young girls who choose to dress modestly. The young people who stay in the church & ground themselves in God’s word.  Those who chose to forgo an easier life & instead follow the lords leading into missions.

We need to be sure that they get grace & love & encouragement from us even more than those who are fallen.

Often we hear "it's okay whatever someone does as long as they love the Lord."

Have you heard that one before?

 Is it okay whatever someone does as long as they love the Lord?

Can you show me that in the Bible? Anywhere? No. You cannot because it is not in there.

And it is NOT okay to do whatever you want as long as you say you love the Lord.

 But for too long, too many Christians have let that slide in the name of grace.

 And that is how situations like my friends come into being. She was raised in a Christian family where everyone is a professing believer but no one  has ever told her it’s not okay to have sex outside of marriage.

 It’s not okay to move your children in & play house with someone you are not married to.

Standing up for what we believe is never easy.

 And it is usually not fun.

 But if we don’t stand up for our beliefs what is going to stop our children from falling down for someone elses?

I close with this thought, when people stop believing in God (and His Word) they do not believe in nothing, rather, they believe in anything.

Many of the examples of my life and yours would say that they believe in the Bible.

 Hebrews 4:11-12 says, “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.  For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

 It is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that must be counted on to deal with the unrepentant and rebellious while we keep ourselves pure.

Blessings.

   

Doctor, doctor, give me the news...

To continue our world traveling saga:

After Texas & Oklahoma we had to check out at least a little of Louisiana.

This is across the Red River from the Boardwalk in Bossier City.

They have river boat casinos all over the place there. Who knew?

They also had a carousel. A unique carousel in that it is the only one I have ever seen with....wait for it...
a crawdad on it. There is just something special about the south...  ;)

Driving the back roads to Arkansas we passed thru some neat old towns with some neat old buildings

Arkansas was just as green & pretty as Texas.

We had to cruise Stateline Rd in Texarkana (which, apparently, is twice as nice) where 1 side of the street is Texas & 1 side Arkansas. And for even more fun~ the Texas side is dry & the Arkansas side is wet. Meaning alcohol people. Booze.

How weird is that?

Here we are on our way to graduation! (Finally right? Cha.)

I had to take this shot seeing as his was the only pair of boots in a sea of dorky loafers (men's shoe choices are seriously lacking you know?)

Here he is getting "hooded". A big ceremonial part of the process for those becoming doctors. It was rather odd but but cool at the same time :)

See? Check him out! All serious & stuff.

As each graduate went across the stage they put a up picture with a little bio about them.

And here he is!!!  Dr. David Q. Santos!

Dr. Pastor? Pastor doctor? I'll just call him Babe...

So this was funny~ when you opened up the diploma folder this was inside  :) :) :)

Afterward they had a special dinner called "A Taste of Louisiana" with all of the local specialties.

This was my plate & I actually ate (okay "tried")  everything on it. It had fried catfish, fried chicken, fries, hushpuppies, gumbo, jambalaya & etouffee. Aren't you proud of me?!!??!

I did, however, draw the line at crawdads.

They just look like giant spiders & that is just too much for me <<shudder>>.

So that concludes our tour of the South & now my handsome doctor & I are back in the West.

Blessings!

You call him "Doctor Jones", Doll...

After many years of hard work & study & reading & writing really looooong papers, my fabulous, amazing, handsome husband graduated with his DOCTORATE!!!

So we flew out to Louisiana for his graduation.

And as longs as we were there we obviously had to drive into Texas & Oklahoma & Arkansas as well. 

I mean, hello, we were there weren't we ? 

And now my grand total of how many states I have been in is up by 4 :)

For a grand total of 12.

I'm just flying thru this nation...

Anyhoo back down south.

Here he is, the man of the hour, in front of his alma mater.

Look ~ they welcomed him.

And here's his bound dissertation in the library.

So, the first night we were there you know we had to drive over the Red River (alas, neither John Wayne nor Montgomery Clift were there to greet us. Sigh.)

And it looked different than I expected. All of the states looked different than I expected. East Texas is a forest~ who knew?

"OOoooooooooklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain"

And the great state of Texas...where they drive...friendly

Look at this gorgeous building in Marshall Texas.

And this one...

and this one...

It's for sale. Who wants to buy it with me? We could renovate it & open some kind of artsy thing where folks would come & spend their money ;)

If you have ever given directions using a crawdad as a land mark....you might be in Texas...

We were in Marshall, in the crawdad encrusted building, to have dinner with my gorgeous friend Melissa & her equally gorgeous little girl (who I had to totally bribe to get her to let me hold her) Oh & our husbands were there too but this isn't about them :)

She has the most amazing Texas drawl ...even if she did accuse me of being a Yankee. (I have never been so insulted in my life.)

So the family joke has always been if I ever went to the South I would starve to death. Because I don't like sea food, I don't like bottom feeders, I don't like spicy/hot & I don't like sauces. Those are pretty much the 4 food groups of the south.

But, I decided that on this trip I would step out of my bubble (waaay out) & eat the local fare.

So at our dinner I actually ate fried green tomatoes (yum) fried cat fish (yum) & fried gator (too gristly).

Later in the week I tried even more local fare but that will have to be another blog post because I have a little bub here who desires a game of Go Fish.

Blessings.