Where I've Been.... and ~Believing God~

Greetings and holykisses!
I know some of you think I fell right off the face of the earth; but .... I'm still here!!!

Thankyou for your emails and inquiries; -- they really meant alot to me!
Also for thee encouragement to get back to blogging and catching up with eachother!
Yall know when it rains here, our internet just will not work.

The sun has been shining the last couple days now and I had so much fun puttering in the potting shed today. Even Urinah Mariah picked posies with me. -- The garden is becoming less muddy and I didn't lose either boot when I walked across it today. Yay!
Last weekend our Tony came home and he and Trent shared a burger with us.
Love my 3 guys so much and I'm really thankful for some much needed family time all together!
Most of you know we had some horrible storms recently in Arkansas.
The rain and lightning is one thing.... but those wall clouds that were going over were pretty scary.

On Easter sunday we were leaving church and walking across the parking lot to the Xterra when the sirens started going off. We headed for home in a hurry and for the next several days it seemed like it was storm after storm and the rain was unreal!

Easter night, we drove to a nearby town and rented the movie Secretariat. While at Hastings, the sirens started going off again. We went outdoors to find another wall cloud over us and the weather man again was talking about rotation and informed everyone to seek shelter. Once again we were flying down the highway trying to get home. But we made it and all was well.

I wish I could show you a picture I have on my cellphone but for some reason I can't seem to get it sent to my email address. If you're a friend of mine on facebook, you can see it there. Anyways; it's a picture kind of like the one above only you can tell it's storming and it's raining like crazy. Look at the picture above and settle your eyes on the center of the post in the middle. Do you see the cross? It's much more noticeable when it was raining.... but it just blesses my socks off. Remember the story in Exodus 12- the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts? This is God's reminder to me of His protection.

It rained for days here.
I'm not complaining mind you. But it's a fact that our garden was underwater for literally days.
My friend Maxi has a rain gauge and she said we got almost 10 inches. Our pond overflowed, and it looked like a river across our back pasture.

When it wasn't lightning, I enjoyed going for walks and splashing through all the water.
To walk through the woods and hear the creek was .... amazing! Rushing waters.... and everything smelled so good; especially afterwards!
I've wondered how all the water will affect my garden, and today I noticed seedlings still hanging on. They must beable to hold their breath a long time. -- I'm so thankful to see them!! Even tomato seedlings are holding their own! The "Snow Queen" Hydrangea that I planted in memory of my Mom has a few black spots on the leaves ; and has me abit worried but... time will tell. I need to practice "patience;" .... just like she told me!
While I've been away, we had another calf born. I had to include this picture today for my friend Cora. Check out his chocolate brown eyes Miss Cora! Are you melting?
This is a little bullcalf born to a first time heifer named: Penninah. (I think I spelled her name wrong.) It's an old testament name. Penninah kept hiding this little guy in the blackberry briars after she calved. So for the next 6 months we'll call him "Blackberry." (Good name Char!!!) Unfortunately we won't be able to keep him. We sell all our bull calves.
Here is another bull calf out of our big bull "Brother John."
Is he not fat as a tick! We've been so happy with all the calves out of Brother John. I've shown you pictures of Brother John before. He's from the Subiaco Abbey. You know: "Holy cows?" ;D
While I was at the pond this morning I had to take a picture for Janie of the puddleducks.
Here they are Janie!
Hairdoo and Hairspray. (Heidi: "Hairspray" stuck!) I just love when my blogger friends name all our new critters for us. lol Yall do a fine job!!!
I took Gertrude's pic this morning and she was givin me the evil eye. We're expecting her to calve any time now. She seriously cocked her head at me as I approached her. I better check on her before dark tonight. It's been a long time since I've caught one in the act of calving and I'd really like to watch one again. I never tire of seeing babies born. I'm such a sap and usually cry every time. Can't help it; ...the miracle of birth!
Remember my dear goat friend Lydia?
Well.... Lydia isn't with us anymore.
We had her almost 11 years.
Myguy buried her out in the back pasture next to my old horse Laredo.
I don't know if I'll get another goat again or not. I love em; I truly do.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I know there will never be another Lydiagoat again.
Everyone loved her; even that goofy hen.
I snapped this photo today of this old washtub. Notice it's no longer in the garden but setting on tiles out in the grass. With all that rain, it would have been a goner if it hadn't been for my Strongheart Trent. Two of it's legs were sinking in the mud and it was starting to leeeeean badly. It's a thousand wonders the legs didn't buckle all together. And get this: Trent carried it out of the garden all by himself. Do you have any idea how heavy that thang must be?!! Of all things; it was still corked! No kidding; the plug was still in it so imagine the weight of that soil with all the rain we had. Trent got a crescent wrench and got the plug out and it drained for soooooooooooo long. What can I say.... he's my hero. Again!!!!
What do yall think of these ole bottles? I've been collecting and saving them to make a bottle tree. I know several of you out there who already have one and .... can I just confess I've been eyeballing them like a mad woman. Who knew bottle trees could be so beautiful in a garden?! I've been googling lots of pics and think I know how I want to build mine. I really want to cut a cedar tree for the pole and if it has enough small limbs, I'll use those but if not... it will be rebar time! It sure takes a long time to gather up enough bottles. Don't think the thought hasn't crossed my mind to go bottle shopping at a liquor store. lol
Momma's peonies are in full bloom right now! I'm hoping they hold off long enough for me to take some blooms to her grave for Mother's day. She would have loved that.
The pink ones are my favorites.
You just can't imagine how special these flowers are to me.
They ooze my AngelMother every time I look at them.
Remember I told yall, that we sold her trailer this past month?
Well, this was her mailbox. The man who purchased the house, cut the mailbox down so he could get one of the decks moved or something.

Over the weekend, my sweet husband helped me rePlant it.
We got all the stickers off and I gave it a fresh coat of white paint. Woops; I now see I forgot to take the tape off the flag. lol Ohwell. I'm still trying to decide what to do with thee inside. I'm thinking maybe the birds should have it. Either a birdhouse or feeder. Any ideas? I've already planted zinnias and morning glory at the base of it. Now again.... I wait. Patiently.
I love this last picture.
If you only knew how many times I've driven past this stop sign.
It's not far from our house, and no....-
no... I didn't paint on it! Do yall really think I'd do such a thing? The only time I've ever taken spray paint to public property was a bridge in town. I know it could have been considered breaking the law... but someone had painted a curse word on the bridge you had to go over to get to the cemetery. Every time I drove over it; it just ticked me off. If you can read... you couldn't help seeing ... hearing the bad word in your head. And I kept thinking every time there was a funeral at the cemetery, all those people were having to go past that ugly word. So I took a can of white spray paint and covered it up one day. But other than that... I swear... -- I mean I promise... I've not spray painted public property. Someone else sprayed this sign. I must say.... I'd be lyin if I didn't say I'm kinda glad they did.

For the last 6 weeks I've been going through the workbook Believing God, by Beth Moore with a friend. So many questions I've had. I still do, but.... my faith grows more and more with every day. Just this last week, if you have the workbook; turn to page 105. In it, I read about Christ being my Pass Over (1 Corinthians 5:7) It went on to "Recall the specific instructions for sprinkling the blood on the doorframes in Exodus 12." In the margin we were to draw a door frame. Then we were to mark where we thought the blood would have been. Next we were to go back to our illustration of the doorframe and draw a cross within it. --- Do you see what I saw? The cross imprint in the wood on our porch frame. Go back up and click on that picture and enlarge it. Gives me goosebumps. --There are so many things God been doing in my life to reveal Himself to me.

I wonder who wrote on our STOP sign.
When they wrote it were they thinking of the song from Journey; Don't Stop Believing? Maybe.
But I'm thinking of the MOST HIGH GOD.
-with all my heart.

I believe.
Lea