A Place For Peace & Restoration

Every morning before I do my devotions I work out on my deck when the weather permits and inside in the winter months. Here are some pictures of the view off my deck. It is my place of Peace & Restoration. I put on worship music, set a timer and GO FOR IT! It is such a wonderful time of worship and prayer that I hardly realize that I'm exercising. :o)

HE PLUCKS ME OUT OF THE DESERT

If you have a personal relationship with the God of this Universe "Jesus Christ" then you probably know what it is like to go through times when you just can't seem to connect with God or due to the pain that this fallen world may have inflicted on you sometimes you may even feel dead inside. I know I have. It is called "The Desert" and even though I now know that it is a place of growth it is not a fun place to be.

I have a promise bible that I read from each morning before I work on my bible study. It is called "The Complete Personalized Promise Bible" by James Riddle. It lists every promise in the bible from Genesis to Revelation. It is called "personalized" because after each scripture it gives a declaration of faith which helps you to apply its meaning to your own life. I am enjoying it!...........................This was one mornings devotion that I really liked, It showed me how my loving Father looked for me and pulled me out of the desert place.

Deuteronomy 32:10-13 AMP

He found him in the desert land, in the howling void of the wilderness; He kept circling around him, He scanned him (penetratingly), He kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions. So the Lord alone led him; there was no foreign god with Him. He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the fields; and He made him suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock.

The Declaration Of Faith

My heavenly father found me in a desert place and pulled me from a barren wilderness. He encompassed me and drew me unto Himself so that I may find refuge in His arms. He keeps watch over me with an unfailing devotion and guards me as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up her nest and hovers over her young, He spreads His wings about me and bears me up in His pinions. The Lord alone is my direction. He leads me and guides me in my way. He makes me to ride upon the high places of the earth. He bids to eat from His abundance. He gives me honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag. He is my Lord and my Savior. He continually watches over me so that I may enjoy the fullness of every good thing that life has to offer.

(Isaiah 43: 19-21; Psalm 17:8; 27:11; 34:10; 91:1-4; 103:1-5; Genesis 28:10-22; 2 Peter 1:3)

Someone's in the kitchen with Grammy someones in the kitchen I know

Ok, I won't sing..........The girls had fun making (and eating) "French Muffins" from their French cookbook " Ratatouille".

Jayda, Portia & Paris

Paris is the littlest and always wants to get on the counter to help with the cooking.

The Secret Garden

We will be having a wedding here this summer for my Niece, Laura.

This gives me a really good excuse to finally get "The Secret Garden" finished.

This is just the beginning I have work a little here and there for years but have never finished the project and it has become totally filled in with weeds. As you can see I have recruited some help (I bribed them with cash). Hey! whatever it takes.

We have tons of weeds to pull and dig. Then flowers to plant. The reason I named this spot the secret garden is because there is a path that goes through the scrub oak and comes out at the other end. When you go in it feels like you are in the forest. It is also near the swing set/play house and the trampoline where the kids play. I think it will make a great place to hide and pretend.

Open My Eyes

I found this prayer today on another blog that I have been following. I'm "Ghana" Adopt , the woman there, Laurel has a whole bunch of kids, some biological some are adopted. She is also a believer in Christ and I have found it interesting to watch and read about her journey. Her prayer was for her kids and I just changed some of the wordings to fit my family and situation.

Lord ...

Open my eyes ... to see life through the eyes of my beautiful Grand Children. Help me to see life through their eyes. Help me to see what they see ... when they look at me ... and Papa ... and all of our family. Give me a clear vision of their needs, and help me to meet each of those individual needs.

Lord ...

Open my ears ... to hear what they hear. Help me to hear their fears. Help me to know the secrets that lie deep inside. Help me to pull them close and know how to comfort them when they are afraid.

Lord ...

Open my heart ... to feel what they feel. Help me to understand what makes their little hearts tick. Help me to feel their insecurities and give me wisdom in how to instill a sound self-esteem a strong sense of family and to know who they are in Christ Jesus.

Lord ...

Open my mind ... help me to know them more deeply. Help me to know when to speak, and when to keep silent. Help me to know when to encourage them to speak, and when it is okay for them to just sit in silence in my arms.

Lord ...

Help me to see my Grand Children, as you see them.

Help me to hear my Grand Children, as you hear them.

Help me to understand my Grand Children, as you understand them.

Help me to know my Grand Children, as you know them.

Lord ...

Thank you for Portia

Thank you for Paris

Thank you for Jaren

Thank you for Jansen

Thank you for Jayda

Lord ...

You see them,
and you love them.

You hear them,
and you know their secrets,
and you love them.

You understand them,
and you know the hurts and the dreams they hide in their hearts,
and you love them.

You know them.
You created them.
You love them.

Thank you Lord.

A Happy Place

Sorry this post is a bit like me this week, all over the place. LOL
This is my new happy place.........There are rules here. No winning, gripping, *itching, yelling or complaining. If you are not happy you may not come in to my happy place.

He doesn't look very happy

If you zoom in on this picture you can see he is grinning......:o) I told him about my rule

Hay and water, what else does a goat need?

another goat........this one crys all the time, she is lonely! :o(

Kids love animals!

He worked hard on this project too.

My husband has been very busy with all his spring time honey do's.

He enclosed one of the horse stalls for the baby chickens so the raccoons can't get in and kill them and Rustin enclosed a large barn yard with wire fencing for the new goat and chickens (and who knows what else, will see, (maybe something with long ears?). This is Zoie the goat, she is the newest resident at the barn. The chickens are getting big and now have feathers. When they are a little bigger I will be able to let them out in the new barn yard to scratch and peck all they want. They are fun to watch, one of the chickens got a worm and several others chased it all over trying to get her worm, it was funny! hopefully this fall these 11 chickens will give me lots of eggs.

Happy Birthday Paris

Paris turns 4
All the cousins and a couple of little girl friends made for a fun party for Paris. We grilled hotdogs and had homemade strawberry cake. We also played some games, we play pin the tail on the donkey and Aunt Jana spun everyone around till they were so dizzy that they had a hard time even finding the donkey. We had a pinata and Portia came up with a great game to play with all the treats that came out. It was a great way to keep everyone from diving for all the candy. This way everyone got plenty. Paris got a new bike, sidewalk chalk, play dough monkey, and baby alive! She had fun!

The Solution

The Solution

Let us always be very careful
When we have a legitimate concern
Remember the Lord is there to guide When in prayer to Him we turn
An evil report given
Is such a destructive force
But problems become opportunities When taken to the right source
Our Lord is the master of circumstance
He can turn it all around
As we trust and rely on Him
The right solution is found
So rather than spreading an evil report
Take your concern to God in prayer
Then follow His guiding hand
You will find "The Solution" there

Author unknown

A lot of us face painful situations in our lives, certain people that inflict deep wounds or that we may have a great burden in our hearts for their condition/situations or even their salvation. These are the pains and burdens that keep us on our knees crying out to God for an answer, "A Solution" or even deliverance from the pain. Deep inside I know that these are the things that are shaping me, creating me to be the women God wants me to be ( as painful as it may be at times). I am thankful, even though sometimes it seems that He does not here me. Once in a while he gives me a glimpse of heaven, a glimpse of His heart or just reminds me that "He Sees". This past week I was deeply hurt by someone close and in my Bible study time the Lord gave me these scriptures and reminded me that He sees my situation and He fights for me.

God's message to me

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent


I haven't been able to focus on anything else for nearly a week.

He sees me!!! He strengthens me!!! He fights for me!!!

It moves me to tears to even think about it, I am so humbled.

Thank you Jesus that you care for "ME"

A Busy Week

Wow! what a busy week I have had. I LOVE SPRING!!! It always amazes me what fresh air and sunshine will do for a person. I have so much more energy and boy once I get started I often get on a roll and before you know It have tons accomplished. I love days like that and I sure do sleep well on those nights. As I was busy through the week I walked around and took a few pictures, one day in particular I felt I had a very productive day and took most of the pictures that day. Some days I get overwhelmed with all that needs to be done and may even find myself longing for a weed free yard with perfect borders and flowerbeds that burst with color. Somewhere where the winters aren't so long and bitter. Then spring comes, and as I take a look around I take in the tranquillity of the mountains the green pastures with the horses grazing and wouldn't trade this lifestyle for anything. I am truly blessed to live in such a wonderful place.

The newest members of our family

You may remember the Aussie pup we got last fall, well she decided she liked the neighbors chickens and I had to take her back to the breeder. The girls were heart broke especially Portia. Soooooooo we now have TWO Shih Tzu pups. Max and Maggie or Maximus and Shaggy Maggie. They are cute and fun but a lot of work with the potty training.

Portia turns 9

May 2nd was Portia's birthday. She is 9 years old and ever so much the planner with high expectations on what a birthday celebration should be. I wasn't really up for a Hawaiian Luau so Portia and I had been trying to think of something to do for her birthday. We had been out in the barn cleaning stalls and the barn radio was on, we herd on the radio that the Lipizzaner Stallions were going to be in town. "Bingo" Portia's face lite up and her eyes got big and a great big grin came over her face. "THAT'S IT"! So tonight we (all 10 of us, 5 kids & 5 adults) are off to see the "World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions"

 
Portia

The kids decided they wanted to learn to iceskate this winter. Turns out to be a great way to pass the winter

Winter Fun

Jaren and Jansen

Jayda

Children Are A Blessing

As I am reflecting on my pastors message this past Sunday I had to stop and think for a moment when he asked "Who or what are we investing in?" He brought us to Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. I guess you could say that this is who I am investing in. My beautiful grand children! I love to get them together in my kitchen. We have fun cooking and baking and just spending time at "Grammy's House"

These picture were from fall but I had not had time to put them up durring the Holiday rush.
I bought a recipe book for the kids (acually I collect recipe books). This one is from the Disney kids movie "Ratatouille". All the kids had a sleep over and we made Ratatouille and Rat Pizzas!
We had fun. The night before Thanksgiving we had another sleepover and the kids all made hand print turkey shaped cut out cookies and decorated them. Here are a few pictures