A quiet afternoon.

18 The Lord is close to everyone who prays to him,
to all who truly pray to him.
Psalm 145:18

I was a bit upset when I found out this morning that Kristi and her team are stuck in Brussels, but God shared some incites with me (see my Marylou' Place blog for the devotional) And I am feeling better now, Looking forward to getting them at the St Louis airport tomorrow afternoon now.
Instead of spending the day getting our beloved team from the airport, I decided to start typing my mom's Story. She started it last year, and I am just now starting to do her web page for her. Here is the link for it so far:Dorothy Eileen Ferguson
Micah and Nicole are spending the weekend at her folks because her Gramma is in from North Carolina, so I need to run over to the property and feed the dogs, and water and feed the chickens and check on the ponies. Sounds like there is a thunderstorm brewing outside. Guess I better go check it out! This rain is unending! Have a great day with Jesus! I will work on Mom's site again tonight, so please check back in on it, and send me pictures and or stories about her. Thanks!!1

Raining AGAIN!

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants."
Deuteronomy 32:2


It is raining again here! I am enjoying the sound of the rain on the roof, and the thunder. I am so thankful for a warm house to live in, and for all my blessings! Micah asked if I would water his new garden on Saturday morning for him. I love to watch a garden grow, and hope that The results of the teaching God is giving to me will please him as much as I am pleased with watching our garden grow. I feel so often lately that I am not blooming like I should. This rain tonight reminds me that I need to grow with each day, with each new lesson in my life. Lord, let me soak into my soul, the lessons you send my way.

Scattered thoughts this night:
Terry is thinking about going back on a sleeper; a route to Albuquerque He will find out tomorrow if he gets the bid. If h e does, he will not get to be home again on Sundays. I need to buy him a new Bible, and need to go to A Christian book store for one. The one I got him for his birthday said LARGE PRINT on the label, and I did not check it out, was just happy to get him a little bible, easy to carry with large print. Well the print is too small for him to read, and so I need to go to a Christian supply store to shop for the perfect little bible with large print. Anyone want to go with me????

Kristi, Carolyn, and Ken will be getting back to St Louis on Saturday afternoon. I am very much looking forward to seeing my Beautiful Baby again! I cannot wait to hear about the mission trip. I missed seeing things in emails this year. That was so nice last year, to get to see pictures often.

Housing:

We have pretty much decided on a berm home. I think it is going to resemble a castle in the front. Right now we are staying a a trailer park, and think we might finish Micah and Nicole's basement and move in there until our house is done. Nicole said we have 5 years until they move their kids to the basement. We have a really cool idea in the oven for our house, and it will be practically free to build the outside structure. It will be very economical on heating and cooling, and a very spacious house for all our kids and their kids on holidays. It will even be big enough for all the dil's (Daughter-In-Laws) parents and siblings to join us too!




PRAYER TIME:I pray for all of you, and am praying right now for Kristi and Ken and Carolyn and Joe in Liberia, Africa. Praying God does a mighty work through them, and that they return home safely on Saturday.

Plans still in the making

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11
I know God is in control. Sometimes I just wish I would listen better and know what He wants me to do. Sometimes I just get too wrapped up in the EARTHLY things, and do not equate where I am here on earth with What I am to do for God's Kingdom in my present circumstances. I know I am not doing what He wants right now. I think this is ridiculous on my part since he has given me every opportunity to hear Him.

Why Lord am I not listening to you right now? Help me to hear what your plans for us are. I need direction. And I am not hearing what You are saying to me. Open my ears! I love You, and want to be obedient to You!


Rambling thoughts:



We are now down to two Shetlands, and about 15 chickens of various breeds, and two Aussies. Micah and Micaiah have a little puppy, Rella, and my girl is Lillie.


Sheep will be our next venture. As soon as we get their barn built, and we have plenty of hay stored for them. These are the breeds I am considering:


1. Babydoll and regular Southdowns
I want these because they are the first sheep I was ever around, and as a little girl, I simply loved our Southdown flock. especially the old ram. He would protect me from the younger, more aggressive ram.


2. Icelandic
These sheep are so cool looking, and they are a Multi purpose, dairy meat, and wool breed. Everything all in one package.











3. Jacob
These sheep are also cool looking, with between two and three pairs of horns. They are a wool breed.














4. Mini Cheviot
This Scottish border breed is, like the babydolls, the original size of the Cheviot, and I have always like the looks of the Cheviot. They are a dual purpose breed.




5. St. Croix

This hair sheep is a meat breed. They are really going to be interesting to raise.











6. Finnsheep

they are meet sheep and are very prolific having twins and triplets and even sometimes have litters of 4 to 6. They produce a lean, succulant meat with a light delicate flavor.






7. Scottish Blackface
These are a dual purpose sheep too, and I just think they look pretty.










Still planning to get Lowline Angus when I get my cattle. I found out the reason they are called Lowlines is that in Australia, they were doing an experiment trying to see if the larger framed or the smaller framed Angus were more productive, and the larger framed herd they called Highlines and the smaller herd they called Lowlines I guess the middle sized hered were Middle line??? anyway They are actually just purebred or full blooded Angus in the smaller pakcage, actually just like the cattle we raised back in the 1960's. So like the sheep, I m wanting to raise what I did when I was a small child.

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.