Focal Points

I had forgotten to give Thanks.

Life is speeding up and I’m losing sight in the blur of time to “see” what I am thankful for.

The faster Sam moves, the faster time speeds by, and I’m losing my focus—it’s easy to do….

I’ve been here before, the haste and hurry of days as children grow and begin to motor toward life, faster and faster till in the spinning it all begins to blur. But I’ve learned some lessons about finding a focal point, keeping your eye on it, and you won’t have such a hard time seeing..

So as he sleeps, and I hear his steady breathing in the monitor after he hummed and cooed himself to sleep, I am sitting here giving thanks for:

--That little sing-song voice I hear in the monitor that slowly fades into rhythmic steady breathing.

--The beautiful spring day with the Lilies of the Valley’s just on the verge of blooming.

--Clean warm laundry fresh from the dryer.

--Remembrances of the Palm Sunday when I was baptized at 12 years of age and understanding when the pastor placed his wet hand on my head and told me that Jesus had washed away my sins.

--Easter is coming

--Sunshine

--The mowing is done…….for another week.

--It’s time to start planting flowers and getting the deck ready for sitting out and lolling away warm spring days and hot summer evenings with a tall glass of iced tea.

--The sounds of the mockingbird……yes he is back and chattering up a storm.

--A bluebird that comes and sits on the pillar not 5 feet from my kitchen window, so close the blue of his feathers shine iridescent in the sun—he is beautiful.

I’ve prayed for God to give me eyes to see—really see—the things of value of importance, that will “make the heart glad”, and he is......giving me sight, because He is my focal point.

What is yours?

The Rainbow

I don’t usually write about my husband on my blog.
Rog is a quiet person, and loathes attention of any kind, much less being “featured” on one of my blogs. However, he shared this story in Sunday school yesterday (a public forum, so to speak) so I am sharing it too.

We are reading the book Crazy Love in our Sunday school class, Rog is the “facilitator” (we don’t use the word teacher :)) and he shared a praise at the beginning of class when we share our prayer requests and praises.

The past few weeks the guys have been pouring A LOT of concrete. It can be a stressful thing, especially when you take into account weather complications.

The basement they have currently been working on has presented some problems and as Rog said himself, “I have been finding in the past weeks that I need to trust God more.”

As they prepared for the pour on Fri. morning, there was a 60% chance of showers. Now in some parts of the world, 60% isn’t a lot, however for Kansas in Aug. when they say 60% you sit up and pay attention. He did.

He prayed about it, and asked God to show him what to do perhaps a sign that he was with him in this decision. He went ahead and scheduled the pour for early in the morning. The trucks full of concrete arrived as the sun was coming up, and they poured the floor without incident. The clouds were around, and yes it looked like rain in the distance, it even sprinkled a little bit after they were done.

Roger shared that as he stood in the sprinkles he was aware that they had done the pour without rain, but had he really heard from God, or was he going on his own instincts. Did God really show him………..

At that moment as they dug out the cold drinks for a break, the sun came fully up over the eastern horizon, and in the west a perfect full rainbow appeared. One of the most perfect and fully formed rainbows that either of us could ever remember seeing.

He said that at that moment he knew that rainbow was his.

I have no doubt of it either, and as we looked at each other with tears in our eyes we both knew that God in his faithfulness had answered Rogers prayer.

(picture credit John Wise.com)

Fun in the Snow

Lily LOOOOVVVVEEESS to play in the snow........who am I kidding, she just loves to play! First we explored a little bit while I filled the bird feeders in anticipation of tomorrows threatened sub-zero temps and wind. BBBRRRRR!!!!

Then we played frizbee

Then we realized her mouth and nose were getting cold, so we took one last shot and came inside :)

There's no place like home..........NOT!!

We went from this:
and seeing these guys.......







to this fun. Rog won't be going anywhere for a day or two, at least till he can get a shoe on to go out and shovel snow.....

I would say I am glad to be home, but really, would you believe me?

My noisy neighbors..........

By virtue of the fact I want to get the toilet picture from front and center on my blog page I am "inspired" to write a new post.
Actually I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and intended to write about them but other things interfered.
These are my noisy neighbors. My neighbors flock of ducks and geese that graze all over the place. They stay in their own yard by virtue of the fact that I have a dog they don't like, but they are out and about all the time.
If you have ever seen than movie "Sneakers" there is a part where they are trying to help Robert Redford's character remember what he heard while being locked up in the trunk of a car to help determine where he was taken. At one point he recalls hearing something akin to a cocktail party. This of course is impossible, as he was locked in the trunk of a car while moving. However the blind guy who is a wiz at noise distinction knows exactly what he was hearing. As they get in the car and begin to retrace the trip, sure enough the noises begin to line up to what Redford remembers; the seams on the highway, the railroad tracks, crossing a bridge, then...........the cocktail party which turns out to be a huge flock of seagulls at the reservoir. Who knew that a flock of birds can sound like a cocktail party?
They can believe me. As I sit on my deck in the evening and hear them "talk" to each other as they move around the yard, I hear the conversation, and every once and awhile one of them will QUACK!QUACK!QUACK! really loud, like they are either laughing really loud above the din of conversation, or calling everyone down for getting to rowdy; either way it is actually quite comical.
I have these guys, cows that bawl when feeding time is late, and horses that get quite vocal when they are talking to the horses across the road. I don't mind any of it, actually it is comforting, sitting out on the deck drinking iced tea, reading a book, and listening to the "cocktail party" going on next door.

Kansas........

Yep, it's cold! We didn't get quite this much snow, but it is COLD! 9 degrees this morning unloading the Angel Food Truck, and 14 when I was driving home at noon after distribution. Nic always said that winters in Kansas were boring, as we ALWAYS got the cold temperatures, but not necessiarily the snow. "What good if cold weather if there isn't any snow to play in?!" That is the way it is now, bitter cold, and no snow. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one for snow and ice, but it is sort of boring. I'll be soooo glad when winter is over.

Fall Days

Fall is here, and with all the mowing I've been doing I am very aware of the changes in nature. We don't get the wonderful color of the mapels in this part of the world, but we do have some of our own color. (Can you believe I didn't eat one of these beauties)
The Neighbors apple tree.....

Heavy with apples.......


Some color in our back yard




The taaalll bluestem

What do you do with your time now........

People ask me what I do with my time now, this is just a small example of how I spend my time.........I plant flowers......


play with Lily........


plant more flowers........


watch the weather........


plant more flowers.........


watch the sunsets..........


and plant more flowers......



Of course these are not all of what I spend my time on......just some of my favorites.

New Neighbor

Spring is here, There is a new colt across the road born this morning, and I mowed my yard for the first time today!!! WELCOME SPRING!!!


This is our new neighbor! He was born sometime in the night or very early this morning. His little legs were still quite wobbley when I was watching him, but he had no trouble standing to eat. This is as close as its Mama would let me come, and I still had to zoom in. Isn't he cute!!!????

Instruction Manuels

The weather is changing, and with it a whole new set of instructions on how to cope with this season. I am equipped with some of the hardware, lawn mower, rake, hoe, lawn furniture, etc.etc. I'm just getting anxious to start using some of it. It is rainy and chilly here, cloudy. I believe the word my mother used to use is dreary. Yep, that pretty well sums it up. I told my sister the other day that I am so tired of cold weather and winter that I am actually LOOKING FORWARD to mowing my lawn--can you believe. Someone will remind me of this in the heat of August I am sure, but in the mean time I'll be reading up.

WINTER HAS ARRIVED!!!

Walk fast in snow,
In frost walk slow,
And still as you go,
Tread on your toe.
When frost and snow are both together
Sit by the fire and spare shoe leather.



As you can tell by our profile, we live in Kansas, and unless you are on another planet, never turn on your t.v. or radio, you will know that Kansas has been slammed along with Oklahoma with an ice storm of terrible proportions.
We have been fortunate, we haven't lost electricity, but travel has been limited, and sunshine has been non-existant; something I need desperatly this time of year, so I notice.
I thought I would include some of the wintery shots to make you feel warmer and grateful for whatever weather you are having right now; I hope it is NOTHING like this.

The Mist & All

I like the fall,
The mist & all.
I like the night owl's
Lonely call--
And wailing sound
Of wind around.

I like the gray
November day,
And bare, dead boughs
That coldly sway
Against my pane.
I like the rain.

I like to sit
And laugh at it--
And tend
My cozy fire a bit.
I like the fall
The mist and all.--
Dixie Willson

I love fall weather. Have you ever noticed how the shades of the seasons seem to work to warm or cool us. I used to clean a house out in the middle of the Flint Hills. I drove that 40 min. every week for 12 years. In that time, I paid attention to nature as she went through her wardrobe change with each season.
Winter brought the stark white of snow, and the remaining grass that had withstood the ice and rain, and snow, still standing made it resemble a torture device with sharp little spikes sticking out. Cold pink sunsets changed to color of the snow from white to pink, to purple, to finally the blue of night.
Spring after the burning of the tall bluestem grass was green, every shade you could imagine. So soothing, a balm to a cold body, a reminder of God's promise.
Summer turned yellow. Most of the blooming flowers were yellow, and bright orange, but as the end of summer approached, the purple and blues came out to cool that intense August heat; even the grass had a blue tint to it.
Then fall, ah, fall. Don't let anyone ever convince you that the prairie of Kansas doesn't have the colors of the forest of the NE. It is just more subtle. The colors are there, in fine lines in the blades of grass, but the orange, amber, yellows and browns, and greens are all there, hiding the quail, and doves who have spent the summer building nests in the tall bluestem.
I love the fall--can you tell?