There is love...

I started this yesterday and didn't finish so I finish it up tonight...we worked on setting up for Andy and Autumn's wedding...for those that don't know who that is...Autumn is Jay's sister...and she has Andy in her phone as Jay's friend...and now look they are getting married!   With that said I add in yesterday's writing...

So this morning at my kitchen table I look around and it appears that perhaps wedding has thrown up in my kitchen...but it is a good throw up!!    I think of the bride and groom to be...Autumn and Andy...two very special people who have decided to tie the knot...get hitched...ball and chain...several different phrases are used to describe this union of man and woman...to which I hear one little "Peanut" say, "How tum?"     Well not really sure...maybe it is all how we look at it...just as in life...it's all in your perspective...if you are thinking you are going to have a lousy day...more than likely you will.  

I came across a writing for and I start to say newly married coupe but I realize actually it is one that should be read for newbies...10...25...50 and beyond...

THE ART OF MARRIAGE

 

 

In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say

"I Love You"

at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is speaking words of appreciation and

demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere

in which each can grow.

It is not only marrying the right partner--

it is being the right partner.

W.A. Peterson

 

 

May the bride and groom to be not lose sight of that which brought them together...as for all of us.  Why is that we love each other...I have always asked the shepherd why he loves me...and he always answers because you're you...and the other day I asked and started laughing and told him...after 30 plus years...you still haven't figured it out yet...he does use the John Wayne line quite often something about half the world being women...why am I the one who stirs his blood or some such thing...I THINK that is supposed to be a compliment...but then again!

 

I guess the point I am trying to make or am I really is that I am praying for a new young couple as there are more coming...that God would bless their union and that even though life is not always "rosey" it is a special gift to be cherished however long you have it.

 

I know many of us will be missing Jay Bird at the wedding as we do most days!   I think of Andy and Autumn...meeting each other at "coffee" because of Jay...and I wonder what advice he would give...NO I don't think we better go there!   But I do remember his and Heather's wedding and though I am sure days he thought why are we doing that...I do remember it being a celebration...and so I know when there is laughter...we will think of Jay...

I think of a song from our wedding and so I put it in here...Autumn and Andy ONCE IN A BLUE MOON!   May God be with you as you take your vows and remember the love that first brought you together...and look through the eyes of love...I remember some advice that we received in our wedding counseling...Pastor Jones said Marriage isn't 50/50 it is each giving 100/100...

There is Love...sung at our wedding by Rick Nunley...but I share these words with the Bride and Groom...

My calendar at work made me smile as well...

"Marriage is not merely sharing the fettuccine, but sharing the burden of finding the fettuccine restaurant in the first place."    Calvin Trillin US columnist"

So...I had played with this pic...sometime or other...but no ANDY NO "HOLDING"...had told them it would be a good announcement pic!!!

Well I better get to bed....the shepherd and I are cooking for the big event!!   Would appreciate some extra prayers that all turns out...it will all be good...So sweet dreams as the clock strikes twelve...I think I am turning into a ................

lyp



This ain't my first rodeo...oh guess it is!

So yesterday was my Flex Friday...a Firecracker and Company one!    It was on the plan to go to the Chris Young concert...so Lance and Tyler showed up early in the day so Lance could do some sheep "stuff"...since I didn't help I just call it stuff.   However, he and Ty seemed to not have a lot of problem moving Ott across the yard...

We were treated to some fajitas made by the shepherd...with homemade salsa as well...mighty tasty and might add made a delicious supper tonight as well....anyway back to the day...

We were later joined by Heather, Izzy, and Izzy's Amy...sometimes Jake's Amy...but I think I'll just claim her as my Amy as well as I have claimed Tyler as one of my kids too...my kids have some special friends.   While the girls were finishing getting ready...the guys went out to shoot a bit...I played with my Photoshop and so I include the before and after...

I decided I wasn't taking my camera so made the gang gather around before heading out...well my son seems to always be "Fahting" around...giving me a hard time.   Miss Isabel had her tennies on here as it turns out her other boots are getting too little...her and Oppy have confirmed this so probably know changing their minds...but they were a cute pair of boots...even though she found some more...had a hard time finding any her size...so she ended up getting some similar to La La's...

And so off we head for the rodeo..we take in Chili's and then off we go to the Colorado State Fair!   Walking towards the rodeo we come across Kristy buying some fair food...to which she was meeting with her folks and friends and they were all coming back with a wide selection...After hanging out a bit...we headed for the rodeo...while the rest of the group had mostly came to see Chris Young...One little Firecracker wanted to see the rodeo...so since her and Oppy and I were going to not go down in the arena for the concert we took off to find seats.

Well I am sometimes one of those with the mindset that well if you have seen one rodeo you have seen them all but it hits me as Izzy is so fascinated by the calf roping...that this actually is her first rodeo and I realize that this is part of the beauty of  having children and grandchildren...that you begin to see things through their eyes...that this is all new and not something that we have come to take for granted that oh yeah I have seen a rodeo before.   I loved how she explained to me what they were doing and how she would fix her eyes on the big screen and then find the live show...and then clap along.   She also was fascinated by the barrel racers...and the bull riding actually only had one rider stay on the whole time...but she would watch each one.  She loved watching those horses and later when they cleared out the rodeo for the concert wanted to know what they did with the horses...She did like those horses.   Lance asked her if she was going to get a horse and she said that her mom said no and he said well you could keep it at Ahma's and she says oh yeah I forgot...

We then set back and started watching the concert...granted it might be hard for any concerts to follow since her first concert was George Strait and Reba...so maybe that is why she fell asleep for part of the show...but she did stay awake for Oppy's song before she fell asleep..."Getting you Home" even though Ty had different words of something of getting chew home...

So I held one little sleeping Firecracker for a portion and then towards the end of the concert she popped up and was ready to go...and so the guys headed north and we loaded the girls home with us...entertaining stories all in their own...I won't go into detail of piggy back rides...misplaced items...McDonalds drive through or having to stop along the road for a pitstop...

And so there at the top of this is all of their boots including Izzy's new boots...and then one little Firecracker had clothes spread about...from her little tiny Levi's and bling belt to her cute little socks...Was a fun night...thinking of making memories of music with my granddaughter as my mom did with hers...

I think of some of the songs by Chris Young...and though many's favorite color might be neon...one that I like...maybe because it makes me think of conversations we all have...but one of my picks was "The Man I Want To Be"...even though he did look a little different with no cowboy hat on...

Well off to bed...going to do some wedding shopping tomorrow...

lyp

Shepherd Update

A big day...the shepherd wore jeans today!   With his knee and the heat he has been in shorts since knee surgery (Well I guess he did put some on for the sheep show)...you don't realize how used to something you get with someone...and then they change...he is now doing chores all on his own...unless I go and help him some!  

We have been walking and right after surgery was quite unusual for us...I was the one walking faster...well now as we go around the "field block" he has picked up the pace and must say we get around much faster than if I were leading!!!

Tonight we did get to see a couple deer!   No skunks so happy about that.   There have been bird tracks and it looks like these birds walk a long way...WHY if you were a bird would you walk that far?   Also think possibly coon tracks...not sure what a skunk foot print looks like...

Anyway the Doc had told  him he would be "rocking" by September 1.  That is a good thing...will be cooking for the Sheridan/Lorenson wedding!   Should be Fun...Citing...and I did try to convince the bride and groom that it would be safe!!!!

The doctor did say he would be swimming...(Jeannie I do have video)...but here is one shepherd and one little firecracker in the redneck pool...

lyp

I'm not a rock...

What a beautiful day at my kitchen table...a gentle breeze comes through my open windows letting in a coolness from the outside that has been absent.   A blessing this coolness and my gentle chimes seem to sing a melody to the day!  

I had a relaxing morning and so I spent some time at my table...after the shepherd and I (somewhat easily I might add...another thank you...) of getting a ram moved over.   Oh moving this particular ram was not a problem...it was more OTT being the problem...I am afraid of Ott...and I do not even know him and so I had informed the shepherd WE were not going in the pen with him.   Yes I had to remind him of this a couple times but the old shepherd being the old shepherd...opened this gate and then this one and before one knew it the ram we needed was where he was supposed to be and the others were not.   Patience...and I think of yesterday's God Calling from A.J. Russell that seemed to call me back again today.

 Stones of the Way

"I am here. No distance separates Me. In the Spirit-Kingdom we measure not by earth's miles. A false word, a fear-inspired failure, a harsh criticism, these are the distances between a soul and Me. Your training must be severe, that your work for Me be unhindered.

You seek My Presence and they who seek shall find. It is not a question of human searching, so much as human consciousness, unconditional surrender to My Will in the small, as in the big things of life. This it is that makes My Guidance possible.

You know the difference between taking a glad, loving, joy-springing child with you along a way, when the child anticipates each direction, accepts naturally each decision as to each turning - and the child who resists, and rebellious, has to be forced, even though in its quieter moments it may say, "Yes. I do want to go with you. I cannot be left alone, but I hate this way."

It is not the way, but the loving rejoicing in the way and the guidance, that matters with My disciples. You are ready for the guidance but you do not rejoice as you should, both of you,

in the little daily stones of the way."

I think oh am I that child?   You know the one that whines and moans and says ARE WE THERE YET?   WHY DO WE HAVE TO DO THAT FOR!!!   I don't want to go that way...just let me sit here and cry about it!    So I pray let me rejoice in the little daily stones of the way!

And I share part of a song that came to me this morning at my table...in thinking of my own strength...or perhaps lack thereof..."I'm not a rock...I'm simply clay...Placed in the Potter's Hands I lay...He molds me each and every day...shaping me along the way."   I had this beautiful visual of seeing pottery in hands and how just the forming is such a beautiful thing...and I think of just the right amount of water...water for our souls...

I think of rain...and praying for a rainy night.   I smile as I think of our ride to Salida yesterday to meet up with my brother and family.   Some of my favoritest people!!   But I turn on the radio and we are losing a station so I flip to the cd and it brings a smile to my heart because it reminds me of time with one little Firecracker.   As she stayed with us last week...I had let her hear Oppy and I's song by Eddie Rabbit...I love a rainy night.   Well in the pasture she was sitting up by us and she proceeds to play Ahma and Oppy's song over and over as we snapped our fingers...yes we can snap every finger...if you don't believe either of us...just ask us!!!    And I love that I have yet another special memory with that song!!   Snap along if you want...and put up a prayer for some rain!!!

And I breathe in the air here in my kitchen...and it is a combination because we have boxes of Olathe sweet corn and some western slope peaches that we carried home with us yesterday...for trade of some Rocky Ford melons...tomatoes...and chili's and onions.    We met up with Shane and Jo...after they had went on a "little hike" as my "sister" Jo calls them.   They have been working on climbing fourteeners!!   Yes FOURTEENERS are those "hills" that are 14,000 FEET!   I laugh at a conversation with a Texas relative who asked what a fourteener was...and then talking of not caring much for being so high he tells me, " It was so much work that we pushed all the big mountains out of Texas and just kept a few little ones just for beauty."    Ahhh you Texans...just come to Colorado and play in ours!!  

Clothes hanging on the line and thinking I should get to shucking....as I know how sweet that is this winter.   So I will go about singing...I'm not a rock...and then remembering that those little stones along the way are just that merely little stones...And I listen and hear...Be still...and I go to find the scripture of this...and I find the following link...

http://www.gospelchapel.com/Devotion/Isaiah/13.htm

This pic was taken from going to "lunch" the other day...yes this is the road we were on...probably another blog within itself!   Have a good one...the corn is calling...even though it has ears...ahhh shucks you know you laughed!!!

lyp

Happy Birthday Hoopee

Today is my dad's birthday.   He would have been 75 years old.  I can't even imagine my dad being 75 years old...he probably wouldn't have liked being that old anyway.   He died when he was 51....the age I am going to be this year...and I think I am not that old...I posted a song earlier for my dad...Don't worry be happy.   He did like that song.   He actually liked all sorts of songs and I loved dancing with him.   We would "jitterbug" and probably my favorite to dance with him was "Good Hearted Woman".   

It is funny what time does...I do not have the aching in my heart every day but there are certain things...a song...a smell...something my kids or especially my nephew Ethan will say and I think of him.   Times I would like to play a game of cards with him.   I suppose most would say that we were not "rich" when I was growing up...and compared to many we were not if you were speaking of the world's wealth...but I was thinking the other day...I really never felt like I was not loved...or that I was not special from my folks.  You don't put price tags on that!

There seemed to be an abundance of Don Williams songs playing today...probably one of my dad's favorites and I do love some Don Williams...there is one song that I heard last night that always makes me think of my dad...Good old boys like me...by Don Williams.

  
It makes me think of my dad and his brothers growing up in the Quad Cities area...Moline...three boys playing in the Mississippi River...

So I came across a picture that I am not certain I am the baby in the carrier...but it is my dad and how my nephew Ethan and my Lance reminds me of him...the other is my uncle Jerry...those Lance boys...

So I pause and think of you dad and miss you...and know that all you went through I am so proud of the man that you became...Hoopee as Heather named you!   Jimmie Eldon Lance, I am blessed to have had you as my dad!   Happy Birthday!!  Love Sis

lyp

Excuse me...are you talking to me?

Perhaps I have told this story before...of Izzy and I at Arby's along with her mom and Oppy.   Her and I had sat down at a table while Oppy and Mama headed to order.   Something was said by someone up at the counter and I looked at Izzy and said, "Excuse me--are you talking to me?"   Well she started laughing so hard and just kept repeating it...so by the time the others got there we were giggling pretty hard...So tonight as her and her mom are talking to me as they are driving home from a "Shopping Day" as the Firecracker called it...I hear her tell her mom, "Excuse me, are you talking to me and Ahma?"

But this whole "ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?" has been with me all day.   I snuck down at lunch time to run to Walmart and went to the Christian bookstore.   Usually it is always really just a peaceful calm feel when I go in there.   Today was different.  It seemed so full of people and just a different "energy" (not sure what else to call it so that is what I call it...) but over in the corner section--I think they were getting videos was I believe a Grandmother, mother, kids, and a Grandpa???   That is how I pegged them...I could be wrong.   But when I get in there the mother is yelling at the kids and there is just a constant chatter...then the one that I think was the Grandmother, that seemed to be talking also,  I'm not sure to who and says come on we need to get going and without taking a breath says I have so much to do and she picks up this little tablet and yells across the store to who I think is her daughter...without missing a beat says did you see this...and she yells--"Be still and know that I am God."  Throws it down and continues talking and trying to round up the group without even a breath taken...

It just made me laugh as I think how many times do we do this?   And it is as though we say to God..."Excuse me...are You talking to me?    It makes me think of the story where the guy is stranded on the island with the waters rushing and he cries for the Lord for help.   About that time a boat comes by and they offer to take him and he says I am waiting for the Lord to save me.   Then a helicopter flies over and they throw down a ladder for help...to which he says I am waiting for the Lord to save me.   One more helicopter comes by and yet he replies the same that he is waiting for the Lord to save him!   So the floods rise and he dies.   When he meets his Maker he says...WHY?  I cried for help yet you didn't save me!   The Lord said I sent you a boat and two choppers...what more did you want!

I wonder sometimes how we can hear anything...and notice I say WE as I am talking to ME...but don't want to take all the heat myself so I put WE!!!   I seem to be getting a lot on LISTENING but I heard a guy today and he was saying to listen is one thing but do we actually DO what we hear?   Being a Christian I believe in Grace...I know that I can't earn my way to Heaven...but there also is a part that we want to do what we were created to do...

I got home and read a little bit in "Start Your New Life Today" by Joyce Meyer...And just what do you think she spoke about?   The chapter I came to "HEAR AND DO"...EXCUSE ME...ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?   It starts off...

"James 1:22 tells us, "But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrart to the Truth]."   Oh yes...as a small child my grandma Bessie called me Pen Quilly...Quilly after her grandmother that might have had a rep for arguing...It is as though I might hear something...explain why I probably shouldn't do whatever it is...and then when I have heard it being said for the umpteenth time...you know umpteenth that is a lot....(the other day I heard this advertisement for losing weight and the woman says I have lost a ton of weight!   REALLY!!   Did she lose 2000 pounds!!)...  

So perhaps I ramble...is that why I talk so much!!   Thinking surely if I am talking I don't have to listen...probably not the way it is intended to be!  However,  I got such an awesome e-mail this morning...through writing back and forth with someone that by "listening and doing" I have a new special friend who prayed the following verse for "us"...I loved that she said us  as it feels as though I am not in this boat alone...Thank you Katie!  I thought it was appropriate to put it on this mornings sunrise.   The sun appeared to be a ball of fire that the tree in front of it could not show up and as it continued to rise...it seemed to be sitting on the tree.   When I pulled up the picture...it looks like it is a ball in a hand...A song my mom and aunt used to sing...He's got the whole world in His hands...EXCUSE ME...ARE YOU TALKING TO ME!!  

I loved it...and I think of the song I heard on the way to work...a song that speaks to me...but it was as though I should share...and it seems that it may have spoke to others...Matthew West...Forgiveness...a pretty deep one that is probably one of the hardest to really do...One I am afraid to ask...EXCUSE ME...ARE YOU TALKING TO ME...

And so I wind up my day...by the way...the shepherd and I went on another walk tonight...it was getting close to dark...but have so enjoyed the walks...plus I am out to compete against some others...which actually has motivated me!   BUT tonight as we headed up the field road we were ready to make the turn when Bo took off...Tim told him to come back to which he did...so in a calmness the shepherd tells me there is a skunk right out there in the field.   So I see a stick laying there and think I will pick it up to which my husband starts laughing and says there is another one right there in the culvert...yes watching me and very close to the stick I was about to pick up.  We head off and keep Bo close by and so thankful that he chooses to listen and do...and not ignore and say EXCUSE ME...ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?  

The rest of the trip we had a pheasant hen stir out of the brush and startle me and then saw two big buck deer...and I see what a reward I get from listening...and then actually going for a walk...kind of like in this life...sure there are a few skunks along the way...but so much on the journey...and I hear a voice from the other room say today is now tomorrow...EXCUSE ME...ARE YOU TALKING TO ME!    Good Night!

lyp

AHHH Skunk!!

So the shepherd and I went for a walk tonight...almost dark actually but wanted to get it in (thanks Shonda for the encouragement!)  But decided to head down the field road...I can tell the shepherd is much better because he is back to "walking" which is almost a run for some!    It was still a little warm but we made the trek after supper.   As we were heading up the road, Bo went on point and then tore off running for the feed...to which a deer came bounding up and tore off running.   As we kept walking, across our path was a couple deer and then the one that had just popped up.   We kept walking just to the end of the road...when coming back to some feed were three more deer...these had some antlers...pretty big ones...they must be eating well off of Dick's feed!    I was thinking how cool to have such a view on our walk.   As the shepherd and I are laughing when he says we will have to tell Izzy..."Ahma got run over by a reindeer"...I am trying to think of the story to tell her because it is one she will like for sure!!

For those unfamiliar with the road...it lines up by some old cottonwoods with fields on both sides...it is just that a field road and sometimes one gets distracted by the trees and gets caught up in it all and not paying attention to what is around them...okay the one would be me as all of a sudden Bo is over off the road and Tim says Bo and tells me skunk...Well my instinct is SKUNK!   Let's get the heck out of here and start to run and tell Tim come on...as I am having visions of Bo, Tim, and I all getting sprayed!   But Tim says you are not supposed to run and it hits me that he probably couldn't run yet anyway...What a chicken I am!!  

However, this skunk theme keeps coming back...as a week or so ago Tim and I had been on a walk and I wrote in my journal:

"I think of Tim and I's walk enjoying the freshness of the morning.  Soaking up the coolness perhaps the only coolness we might see and as we are walking along talking Tim says, "Do you see that skunk?"  To which I am almost startled and say where...we stop and his eyes which are much better than mine even when both of us have on glasses--shows me the skunk.  Something I had been oblivious to before but now the head of fear has raised up and says what if he comes this way?  I just had a dream of a skunk...one that onsets fear.  I have seen the guy I work with who had to deal with a skunk...one with rabies...he had to have shots...quarantine his dogs...(a very costly and painful experience for sure.) 

So I know it is just a skunk!  But then I look back and I hear Tim say it's not even coming this way...and he with me I feel like its okay because probably by myself I would have taken up running!

But as I see this picture and thinking on it now that skunk was such a minute thing in the distance that wasn't even in my path.  Yet...he put fear in me.  That is what I sometimes think that evil does...places fear in us for something that is not even in our path...Hardly even in our view...But like the shepherd walking with me, the Lord says don't worry about it--it's not even coming this way."

Sometimes though the skunk can be disguised...last weekend Izzy and I watched Bambi...I'm not sure if she had seen it but as with me...we both liked the skunk...or should I say as I listen to Izzy repeat it, "You can call me flower if you want to."   She takes on such a sweet voice copying those as she does repeating after Thumper..."If you can't say nothing nice...don't say nothing at all."  Perhaps my favorite parts of Bambi...was kind of "funny" as the part of Bambi looking for his mom, Izzy said where is his mom and at that very moment, I get a text from Izzy's mama saying, "Izzy it's mama I love you!"   I think back on my disguise theory...how something that is something we should stay away from that the stench lingers long...is something we should stay away from yet sometimes we cannot help ourselves.....because either we are not paying attention OR do not recognize what it is and think it is something harmless.

I wondered the other day...is there a certain kinds of animals that I wonder did God really make those?   Did the devil get certain ones...because I am not sure what there purpose is other than to make us uncomfortable!   Why do we have flies, mosquito's, snakes?  And yes SKUNKS!!  Maybe they have some sort of purpose...I am not certain what...but maybe...if I were an animal what would I be?   Would I be one that really has no purpose...just here to make others lives miserable?   I did see many of them in the road...no competition for a vehicle...but they do tend to get back at others long after they are gone...I choose to not be a skunk!   What would I be...would I sacrifice to be one such as a cow that my main purpose is to "feed" others...I do not think I am the deer...just something to look at...(I guess it is eaten as well)   So many animals could have traits compared to that of us humans!  Would they be good ones?

I start to almost doze off as I write...it might be time for bed.   So I say watch out for skunks...they really aren't flowers...also a warning to make sure your dog has rabie shots...So many things one can get from a walk...on the day that I had seen the skunk...but the day before this and then I had read again in Jesus Calling at this time...

"As you LISTEN to birds calling to one another, hear also My Love call to you.  I speak to you continually: through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, scriptures.  There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you.  Your part is to be attentive to my messages, in whatever form they come.  When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence.  You can find Me not only in beauty and bird calls, but also in tragedy and faces filled with grief.  I can take the deepest sorrow and weave it into a pattern for good.

Search for Me and My messages, as you go through this day.  You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with your whole being."

And yes one of the scriptures is Jeremiah 29:13 "You will see Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart."   This is my moon verse...I think of this one whenever I see the moon as actually the moon tends to hide from us in the day...in the night...We are to have a blue moon this month (that is two full moon's in one month).    The shepherd caught a picture of the first one the other night for me...

 And so I think of all that is around me...and the lessons that the good Lord is teaching me if I choose to not be a "stinker" about it...sweet dreams!

lyp