Proud of You!

Found this video made by a 15yo girl, very moving............

Grossly belated "Thank You For What You Do!", "Proud of You!", and "I Love and Miss You!" goes out to my older brother, a company commander, Lt. Col., currently serving in Balad, Iraq. You are an inspiration to me.

XOXO
P

a little inspiration for us all.........

read this today......loved it......thought i'd share

I heard the Lord say to me that His people have no clue how to treat prayer.
He said we are not completely accepting His Words on prayer. We are
treating our prayers like the world treats playing the LOTTO.

When people play the LOTTO, especially when the money is higher than normal,
they all want to buy a chance to win. They will drive out of state and go
out of their way to get at least one chance to win. They will even share in
the purchase of a ticket just to get a piece of the prize. He said that we
are not true believers when we pray we know there is a "prize" we even know
where to go to "buy the prize". We pray and we try to line it up with the
Word of God. We take a chance, but when we pray and we "we do not get the
prize" we say, it was not HIS will. He said to me, do you and the rest of
my people not know I say you are My children????

Children of God do not need to treat prayer as a "chance" to "win the
prize". My children have an INHERITANCE. My children do not need to take
a chance at their prayers being answered but they need to stay and wait for
their inheritance. They need to know that just as if one of their very own
family members died today and they saw their will written out with the
specific inheritance for them on that paper, they need to know I have
written one for each one of My children.

I have planned each one of your inheritances from before you were born. I
have always had one for you and you are entitled to it. You do not have to
pray and give up. Trust that when you are seeking me and asking for wisdom
and guidance, I will give it!!! I will give you that. I am putting your
prayers into alignment to pray for your inheritance. I am putting it in
you. Keep seeking and pray it through. Do not give up. Do not stop and
treat it like a chance. This is not by chance. This is My plan for you.

I do not want you to receive the inheritance without preparing you. When a
person wins the Lotto, they are not ready for it. They do not know how to
invest it. They do not treasure it. They do not have the wisdom for it.

I am GOD and I will not let My children be that foolish. I will give you
each specific inheritances. I have stored up for you treasures. Different
treasures. Godly treasures. I am preparing you now. Now is the time that
I am developing your character. Now is the time I am strengthening you.
Now is the time I am developing relationships to be used in ministries. I
am giving wisdom to you. I am giving you more inside of you to use when you
receive the inheritance I have planned to give you.

You will see the miracles. You will see your prayers answered. You will
see the harvest come in. You will see healings. You will see total
deliverances. You will have the financial breakthroughs. You will see dead
things resurrected. You will be in the REVIVAL!!! AND YOU WILL KNOW HOW TO
HANDLE IT ALL!!!! You will know how to handle this because where you are
now is in the middle of My hands. You are in the middle of MY WILL. You
are not doing anything wrong.

You have not missed anything. I am your God and you are MINE. My child
stay in My Word, sit at My feet. I am loving this time, I am pulling you
closer. Come closer and I am going to keep preparing you.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

We've been roller-skating, 4 wheeling, sewing, playing ball, working with calves, celebrating a birthday, playing more ball, etc...

Our 4-H club always has a party the last meeting of the year so we went to the skating rink. Of course the kiddos loved it. We don't ever go skating unless invited. I remember when I was little, mom would drop us off every Saturday morning and we were there until noon.
(I say we when reflecting back on my childhood because I have a twin sister and most always we did everything together.) We skated every week. Ahhhhhhh, those were the days.

The girls play softball on Monday nights and then, again, this weekend we were in a tournament. We finished 3rd place (out of 7 teams) in our first tournament a couple weeks ago and took 6th place (out of 11 teams) this weekend. We are improving in all areas except at bat. I know, I know, that's where it counts. We've come a LONG way and will continue to get better.
As we were still at the ballpark on Sunday, we got to talking about making bags for a fundraiser. Here's one I put together today. There are things I'd do differently, things I'd add, etc... so this one is mine. You can't see it perfectly but it has a baseball (softballs are a bright yellow/green with red stitches) print and chenille sides and bottom. It'll work for me and it makes me glad that I'm not in the totebag business. It wasn't as exciting as I'd thought it'd be to put together. But, it did turn out nice and 'cute' to the eye.

I heard Man of Mine pull in the drive late morning last week driving the dump truck. He informs me he has a load of wood shavings to use around the place. Later
that evening, in he comes with another load. So......they've been dug in, hauled around in the wagon, drove over, carried in the back door, but not yet 'used'. One day, my friends, one day. Here are the kids with Man of Mine on top of the pile.

The girls gave their calves their first bath and they did GREAT!! I will be giving them another one this week as the girls are now at 4-H camp for the next 3 days. I was surprised at how well the calves took it. We did find that we needed to treat for 'buggies' but that's an easy fix. We had a fun afternoon together however, we all 3 were sunburned.

Yes, my baby boy turned 5 this past week. He celebrated at the ballpark with the girls' ballteam and loved his gifts of a dodgeram pickup hauling a horse trailer with 3 horses, a card game, a set of walkie talkies, and a handheld radio. He could go to Kindygarden, but with Mama being a former Kindy/1st grade teacher, I chose to keep him out a year. He'll do 1/2 day preschool 5 days/wk next year and then go to regular school the following year. I can't imagine having him in my class as young as he is. Man of Mine thinks it's just because I've spoiled him but he is just a babe. He's a cute little babe, too if I do say so myself.

I apologize for the multiple subject post but thought I'd catch you all up and be better staying on top of things with more scheduled posts. I'll try.

The Four H's......4-H

"I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service,
And my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and my world."

As long as I can remember I was in 4-H, and when I was younger than 8, I was at all the meetings with my older brother. My mother was our Club Leader and I was always enrolled in Clothing, Cooking, Breads, Arts & Crafts, and one very long year of Sheep.

Well, the torch has passed and now it's my kiddos' turns.

Adi is enrolled in Clothing, Poultry, Bucket Calf, Food Preservation and Child Development. Here's a sneaky peak at one of her clothing articles.

Audra is enrolled in Clothing, Bucket Calf and Poultry. Here's a sneaky peak at one of her finished projects.

Austin is just along for the ride of it all, helping out with all the projects. He helps gather eggs, feed the calves, dig in the garden and wants to sew a boy pillow really bad. He keeps saying, "I'm big enough to sew!"

I was raised in town, I couldn't get you to any of my friends' houses except the 3 who lived right on the highway. I only did 1 year of animal projects because of living in town. Now, look at me. I LOVE LIVING IN THE COUNTRY!! You couldn't give me a house in town. When I go stay with my parents, it drives me nuts....the neighbor's dog barking....constant stream of cars going by making me worry about the kids being outside by themselves....the rush rush rush of the city in general....not being able to see the complete night sky full of stars and sounds of the bullfrogs, song birds and crickets....etc, etc, etc......


I highly recommend 4-H for any and all who have access to the program. It is a wonderful way for our children to learn about and do new things that they wouldn't be exposed to otherwise. It builds self-confidence and they acquire life-skilled responsibilities.

Butterfly Kisses.......Rainbow Skies

I was just reading on one of my favorite sites NILMDTS and read where one mother has butterflies as her 'sign' from her heavenly angel.

She says, "I know others may think I'm crazy but I know you all will not. I've shared that butterflies seem to find their way around me more often now that Ethan has passed. Maybe I never noticed them, who knows. I really believe a butterfly would have been one of Ethan's favorite things. When I walk outside my house this very large yellow and black monarch comes from nowhere and flies all around making it's precence known. I normally will walk over by it and say a little prayer. I get this feeling that the Lord is sending me kisses from Ethan. I have asked God many times for him to let the butterfly kiss me. That would give me such peace - knowing this butterfly is really a way for my Heavenly Angel to send his LOVE!! So today my friend and her family were over for lunch - we were standing out front and sure enough here comes the butterfly. Now my friend Jennifer knows all about this butterfly as I have shared with her many times how it always comes around. So we smiled at each other and got back to talking. A brief moment later the very large butterfly came over and landed on my cheek, scaring the mess out of me of course. I ducked and let out a girlish scream. Then I realized it was the butterfly. Jennifer said, Awww...Ethan wanted to give his Momma kisses!"

How beautiful is that? It just tears me up and makes me want to bawl. When Adam was born 6 years ago and we lost him after 10 hours, I received a card from one of Joe's cousins. It had the most beautiful poem that allowed me to adopt butterflies as my sign for Adam, too. (i know this is a terrible pic but it's one my sis took of an actual arrangement we received for Aaron and i wanted to use it anyway)

It didn't have a title but here goes:

Little one Little one where have you gone?
Your going has darkened the brightest dawn.
Why did you leave us, so soon, soon?
Where can we look for you? Over the moon?
On butterfly wings? In the heart of a rose?
Who knows, who knows, Where a little one goes?
Where I have gone, I am not so small.
My soul is as wide as the world is tall.
I have gone to answer the call, the call
Of the One who takes care of us all.
Wherever you look, You will find me there-
In the heart of a rose, in the heart of a prayer.
On butterflies' wings, on wings of my own,
To you, I'm gone, but I'm never alone-
I'm over the moon,
I'm home.
Jim Howard

Ever since, I notice butterflies in an instant. I always put a pretend one in flower arrangements, I have one hanging on my mirror in the bathroom, I found a butterfly glass windchime with bells on his 6 feet to hang at the memory place, etc...I just love to watch them flit and flutter with so much grace.

Then, with Aaron........we had been to the memory place the day after the service and the sky was lightly clouded and it began to sprinkle. I looked up to see the brightest most perfect, beautiful full rainbow and said to my kids, "Look, Aaron has sent us a rainbow to let us know that things are going to be allright." (choking back the tears) Not 10-15 seconds later, my husband says, "No, now look, Adam and Aaron are telling us that things are going to be allright," and there was a FULL DOUBLE RAINBOW clear across the southeast sky. So right then, I knew that Aaron's 'sign' was a rainbow. (this is the original rainbow but it is faded because we didn't have a camera at the exact time so we booked it home, 5 miles, before we could snap the picture)

I have seen at least 3 if not more full double rainbows in the past year. It's amazing to me! Here is the latest one that was taken out our back patio door late March.

Isn't God good!!