Rain & Lady

We have had a total of 1 inch and 3 tenths so far at our house!  We are praising God for the rain we have had, and asking for more to keep the grass growing.   Remember how I said that our feed bin had stayed full?  Well, right before we got a bit of rain, it went empty.  God knew that we wouldn't need any more because we would be growing grass from the rain.  Praise Him for keeping it full as long as He did!!!

A side note on all the beautiful thunder storms we have been having. Our dog, Lady, hates all the noise rain storms make.  She just sits there and shivers.  Hates them.  Right now she is ready to pop her puppies out at any time!  So we had a scared, scared pregnant momma everyone was comforting while the thunder was going on.  Unfortunately she doesn't share our joy of rain..... 

Yes, our dog should be having puppies soon.  Anytime now.  She is so big right now!  HUGE!  All she has to do is come up to one of us and we will sit there and rub her tummy for hours on end.  Yeah, she's spoiled.  We are really excited though.  We are in need of a good male dog to keep the headquarters "secure". *ahem*  We also have some friends who live out in Edgewood near some lots that nobody owns and those lots are notorious for having...interesting....characters out there.  We need another good "Hank Head of Security" dog for them as well.  Plus the owner of the father wants a dog for his daughter.  We need her to have 3 puppies.  She only had 1 puppy last time!  That was the fattest pup you ever did see. 

Alright, we are hosting church at our house tomorrow so I need to get going.  Goodnight!

Rebecca

A Stone

Drop a stone into the water-
In a moment it is gone.
But there are a hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on.

Say an unking word this moment-
In a moment it is gone
But there are a hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on.

Say a word of cheer and splendor-
In a moment it is gone
But there are a hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on....



Anonymous
*Taken from the magazine"Seeing the Everyday.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

My Dear Sister turned 18 this past Thursday!  I can't believe she is that old.  I want to think of her as just 8 of something.  When I look at her though, I see the lovely (she truly is beautiful!) young lady that has matured so much this past year or so. 

She has grown in so many different areas.  Her personality has strengthened into a young woman of sweet disposition.  She is a friend who is willing to encourage you to keep growing in the Lord.  She is a sister who is seeking to put others first.  She is a daughter who is becoming a great help and comfort to our parents.  She is a Princess of the Lord who seeks Him first above all.   Seeks His help and advice out in all areas of her life. 

When you first meet her, she might not say much.  She is a bit shy at the first meeting.  After she gets to know you- you can't keep her quiet!!!!  She loves having wonderful conversations with friends about important things in life.   She enjoys having a bunch of friends to have to chat with.

The wonderful day started out with Breakfast in Bed.  the family tradition we all enjoy.  We try to have at least one gift there, so we gave her the ones from us kiddos. 

(Don't you love the curlers!!!)

We then started getting ready for a wonderful Birthday Tea with her friends.

Here is the table spread with all the homemade goodies!

This is the Strawberry Soup Sarah made.  (it is a cool soup, really good!)

You can't have a tea without scones

Sarah made three different types of Curd. They were all yummy!

Princess Sarah

Sarah and I

Sarah wasn't sure what the posing was about....

...so she smiled...

Then got the hang of it.

Mom had fun and started "fainting", so Sarah ran to get...

A fan.

Sarah, for the past many, many years, has always had rain on her birthday.  For some reason, this year she didn't.  We were all very bummed, but forgave her anyway. 

She did have a beautiful sunset that my camera hardly gives justice to...

Happy, Happy Birthday, Sarah!  You are a Princess of God's, and a delight to our family.  How boring we would all be without you!!!

I love you,

Rebecca

Happy 11th Birthday Caleb!

 My little brother turned 11 today!  Can you believe it!  11!!  I can still remember going to see him in the hospital.  Mom being gone a lot during the 56 days he was in the hospital.  (you can read more of his story at Mom's Blog!)   I remember lugging him around while playing games with friends.  At times it was great, and at others he was just a bother. :)  He used to call me "Bom".  We think it was a combination of "Becca" and "mom". :D  I thought that was so sweet.  I hated it when he quit calling me that. 

Here are some pictures of his day.  To read it go to Sarah's Blog.

We had fun wrapping his gifts- even if it wasn't fancy wrapping paper!

Lady was not sure what to make of all this racket.  She just kept getting "under foot".

Ussens waiting for everyone to gather. We do breakfast in bed and take the presents as well.  :)

 Yup, bathrobes, pj's and everything!

Caleb wanted in that BIG box!

He actually posed for me!  I asked him to for this one, and they he kept posing the rest of the time!!!!

The BIG box was..... A jump rope!  (some rocks taped to the bottom to

make it heavy is a great way to fool them..... )

He picked Cap'n Crunch for his breakfast (no, we don't usually eat cereal and usually have Monkey Bread. But some need to go against the norm. Or rather, they aren't the norm. )

Can you guess what he is getting??? 

I think he did about here.

Here's the certificate! 

We fooled him!!!!  He thought he was just getting a jump rope and not a parakeet like he was wanting and we surprised him and got him!.....

This cute little...guy/girl!  We aren't sure why he picked yellow, but he will be easy to find!  He It is a nice youngin, so hopefully we can tame him easily.  We won't know if it is a male or female until it is about a year old.  We did learn how to tell how old they are, so this one is under 4 months. 

As you can see, this first day is pretty traumatic for the poor fella.  He will get used to us.... I hope!

Happy Birthday Caleb!  You are such a Joy in our lives.  I can't imagine life without you.

Love,

Rebecca

Cute Kitty

Although we do not have this kitten anymore, :( I thought these were really cute pictures.  This is Button and this is why offices have a door. 



She was having a blast watching the ink container go back and forth.  I love how her front legs are on the stand, but her back end is sitting on the printer!  Kittens are soooo much fun!  We are down to 1 cat again. so hopefully we can get some more.  Joshua needs a new wood project, so he can build them a house to keep them out of the way of predators.  Although they have the barn, shop, lean-to's, house.....

Love,

Rebecca

God's Blessings

What an amazing year this has been.  A time of healing.  I never thought we would actually see the end of the valley we have been walking.  Yet, all I had to do was look up.  Sometimes you get to where all you are looking is where you will place your foot next.  When you really need to look up and ahead to see the Light. 

A Dear Friend of mine sent me this beautiful 2-page, front and back letter of encouraging words.  That was all that was in her letter, encouraging words.  I was so blessed by the letter, beyond comprehension.  I felt like it was a soothing balm on my soul.  I just read it and cried as she encouraged me that any trial you go through just makes you stronger, that my Savior is still there, waiting for me to sing and praise Him.  I cried as she reminded me that I need to stay strong for my family, that I need to be an example to my siblings.  Something I am afraid I have not been doing. 

Through these last couple of years, I tried staying strong.  Sure I had my down days, but I was strong.  You have to be at times.  But after the sale of the ranch fell through, I don't know what happened.  I was so weary, had been for so long I didn't think I could make it.  Then God blessed me with this letter from a friend reminding me that I was strong- through Him and Him only.  That I could make it through.  That this was just for a season- and I truly believe it is almost over.  I was so overwhelmed that someone would actually write me a 2-page letter with nothing about themselves.  It came at the perfect moment when I need that.  God knew just when I would need that perk to keep me going. 

I am still not perfect, and I covet your prayers.  I really just want to stay in bed and cry.  Usually I just get up and cry.  But life goes on and you have to keep going.  You have to put one foot in front of the other.

Although I have made it sound so sad, it truly has been a good year.  God has blessed us in sooo many ways!  My mom did a good post for that here.  We have had to feed our cows for much longer than usual because there is so little grass.  We have been feeding them twice as much as we normally do, 3 times a week.  Yet would you believe we have always had cubes in our feed bin since winter?  Yes!  Our God has kept us full of cubes so that we can help our cows and we have not had to order feed!  The gentleman who takes care of the yearlings is also feeding cubes, though not as much and not as often and he has had to refill.  I still just get that overwhelmed feeling when I think of it.

Read my Mom’s blog to hear the rest of what God is doing in our lives.  He truly has reminded us of His great Love.  Another friend of mine told me that in the Bible when it talks about Joy it also talks about it defeating satan.  When you have Joy in our Lord, where is room for him?   I have been trying to find Joy so that I do not let satan gain the victory of the moment.  It makes so much sense, when you are joyful satan doesn’t have room in your heart.  The moment you become discontent, angry, bitter, he just moves right in.  Ugh, now to go and do it!!!!

I pray that the Lord shows you His mighty Hand today!
~Rebecca