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.