Long, but fruitful day...

I really never went to bed last night, I did crawl under the covers for about an hour at # am. Joshua's flight got canceled due to mechanical problems, so Pastor Paul had to get him on another flight. He originally was going on Northwest at 6 in the morning, but he ended up getting on a Delta flight at 8 am. The original route was from St Louis to St Paul to Kalispell. His final flight went from St Louis to Salt Lake to Kalispell. Last time he checked in he and Pastor Paul were heading to get lunch before going to Libby. He took a really big bag, so he could fit his rod in. Did I mention Pati and Paul will be spoiling him? Well tomorrow is his 20th birthday. I have no doubt he will have a great day! Fishing in Montana on your birthday, could life get any better? Hopefully he will take some time to work on his praise music too. The conference I think begins tomorrow night. Joshua comes back home on the 7th. Kristi is in at church working on getting stuff ready for her mission trip to Liberia.
Here are some interesting facts about Liberia (I cannot attest to the total truth and accuracy of this information, so I should call it information, not facts)
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. Liberia, which means "Land of the Free," was founded as an independent nation by the American Colonization Society, with support of the American government, for free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans. Since 1989 it has witnessed two civil wars, the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed the country's economy.

Here is a link for more information if you are interested: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/6618.htm
Rained a lot today. Puddles everywhere. The trees started to bud before that freezing spell last month, but they are now once again starting to look alive. The grass is greening too. Abijah's Garden has lots of pretty yellow pansies blooming today. Micah and Nicole's dog is a border collie. He is an old style body type. Really very pretty. He is still trying to get adjusted to his new home. HE is driving our two Aussies crazy now. Terry is in Denver tonight. The rest of my household have gone to church for Youth group (called Big River) and the elementary group (called Spring) I think we should call an adult group at this church Ocean
The horses are looking better now that we found some alfalfa and other grass hay for them.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has put thoughts of the forever in man's mind, yet man cannot understand the work God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (New Life Version)

We finally got our survey in hand!

Nicole and Micah are now living with us until their house is ready. It is fun having them here. Micaiah is doing so many fun new cute things every day. She is quite the little chatter box. She loves standing at the screen door and visiting with the doggies. And she loves riding her little pony, Chocolate Chip Isaiah and Noah were out to "camp the night" and had a lot of fun with Micaiah.
The biggest news is that We finally got the survey, and as soon as Terry gets home we can sign the paper work. Micah and Nicole will then be able to get their house started. The horses are thin after a very hard winter with hay really hard to find, and good hay impossible to find. Praying for a really early first cutting for these Missouri farmers. We neeed some good hay last month...
But God is good! He helped us find some alfalfa in Farmington, and finally found a guy that has grass hay for us that will last all summer ~ though it is poor quality, at least it is feed.
Kristi is getting ready for her Mission trip to Liberia the end of MAy. She will be gone all of June and part of July. Joshua is leaving tomorrow morning (or I guess now it is THIS morning) for a trip to Montana wherehe will be leading worship for a Family Conference. He gets back next week. William is just working on his school work. I just finished a great study by Beth Moore, The Patriarchs. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot!

Frank

Our old dog dies this week
Frank came to us in an interesting way. His owner bought him to use for breeding purposes. He then had to go away for a time, and asked his parents to take care of his pup whiles he was away ~I think he was in Desert Storm~ When he returned home, his parents had done the nice thing and gotten his dog neutered for him! He had been with them for over a year, and they spoiled him rotten. They let him sleep on their living room couch, and fed him T - bone steaks. He was super fat, and neutered, and very spoiled. His owner decided to give him away, so our son Micah wanted him and got him. He was a registered Australian Shepherd, our kind of dog! We had raised them since I was a child. His name was Frank. He was a red almost solid, but he did have some gold markings. He was very beautiful.and very big and very sweet. He was an excellent cow dog. Was a natural herder. He just loved little things of all sorts. Especially little children. Once he saved a little orphan kitten he found in a haystack down in the meadow. He brought her to the house and kept her between his paws all night until My dh got up to go to work. He then offered the kitten to him, basically asking him to take care of the kitten. He used to feed all the little pups we raised. He would drag his own bowl of food over to their pen and try to get it in their pen so they could eat it. He protected all things little and all things he thought were vulnerable. Like my mother. He used to try to protect her, and help her up the stairs etc. Frank came to us in 1992 when he was 2 years old, and he died this weekend at the ripe old age of 17. We will miss Frank! He was a good dog.

Update on our property...

We have our well in and paid for. Micah and Nicole and their baby Micaiah will be setting up their home on our land soon! It looks like they will be there before we get there. They have a loan and will be getting their foundation poured very soon. We have 4 quarter horses and 3 Shetlands on the land now, and we are hoping to sell a couple of the horses to buy cattle and sheep. The property is getting re-surveyed, hopefully the job will be done on Friday, so then Micah and Nicole can proceed with their plans. Matthew and Chandra lost a baby in early January, and we buried the baby on the property under an oak tree. The baby they named Abijah Saul, (God is my Father- Child I longed for) and we will be calling the fenced in garden we are making Abijah's Garden, and have named the tree Allon Bacuth (oak of weeping). Noah picked out a little stone maker with a scripture verse on it for the garden, and the boys helped me plant some flowers last week in the garden. Then the frost killed the plants, and I will need to replant if they do not revive.
I must get tubs of supplemental nutrients for the horses as they have been used to full feed grazing, and are not doing so well on just hay. WE are needing to find someone with alfalfa hay for sale too.

I have designed the house we want. We think we will be doing a berm home, and the one I have designed has plenty of room for all of our family and guests. We will be saving for each step as we go. Our next step on the house will be the foundation ( walls for three sides). That will have to wait though until we get the entire property fenced in, which has to wait until we get the survey finished. Stay tuned! We hope to add pictures soon.

Praising God and starting over again!

After being married for over 32 years, my husband and I are totally debt free and own 13 acres of land in Missouri. Tomorrow we will begin all over again. Our land is virgin land, and we will begin clearing the land and getting it ready to support our animals, a few crops, and two or three homes. Our son Micah and his wife will be living on the land with us. Another son and his family might join us too. It was difficult saying good bye to our farm in Louisburg, but God knows what is good and right, and we will continue to turn to Him for direction in what we need to do. First we will get the electric set up and drill a well and do the septic system. Then we will begin building fences and framing our home.