Grandma Lucas's 79th Birthday

Last weekend was Grandma Lucas's 79th birthday, and we had invited the whole clan who lives in the area

out to our place for her birthday party.

What a lot of cleaning, mopping, decorating and dusting!

If I waited till everything was perfect, I would never have anyone out.

You have to decide that relationships are worth more than the notion that everything about your house has to be perfect before showing hospitality.

(Not even the roast has to be perfect. This was an arm roast, but it turned out looking rather weird!)

The children helped a lot that day.

We set out pink paper plates with heart-shaped candies--enough for 20 people.

I had two extra little tables set up, one in the livingroom.

Esther made this beautiful cake, Grandma's favorite, a Tropical Orange one,

 with rosettes of Grandma's favorite color--lavendar.

We sang her happy birthday, and I tried to find ice cream to match the cake,

but we only had mint chocolate chip!

Oh well, I said things didn't have to be perfect!

We had a lot of fun. Here Jonathan is making some sort of point just as I snap the picture!

There were enough puppies to go around for every last cousin!

What a ball they had with those roly-poly balls of fur!

We really appreciated all the family coming out all this way to the party,
and for Jon and Esther taking Uncle George and Irina back home on the snowy roads so Sam or I wouldn't have to.
One of our gifts to Grandma was a box that we said was full of 20 "pets." She must have been a little leary!
Here is the clue we gave her:

"Inside this box are twenty pets.
These are the best that you can get.
You need not feed or water these
Or keep them from climbing Christmas trees.

They are not big, they are not tall.
You will not put them on your wall;

They do not bark or meow or moo
Or cluck or cockadoodle-doo.

We bought them with our hard-earned cash,
So do not put them in the trash!
But if you want to share them with friends,
These pets can be shipped to the earth's ends.

So open this box so big and stout,
But don't let these useful pets get out!"
*****
Well, Grandma opened the big box, only to find another!
She found six boxes inside each other, and finally there was this little tiny box-
and inside was a booklet of 20 postage stamps--
each with a different pet pictured on it!
Have you seen them at your post office?
Aunt Irina especially got a big kick out of watching Grandma open one box after another to find these "pets"!

The Stuck Steer

Recently Danny came running to tell us that the steer had gotten stuck in the fence over at the neighbor's.

The children could not get it out, and Jonathan, who happened to still be home that morning, went over to see what was the matter.

He came pounding back through the pasture and over the  fence, running for his angle grinder.

The steer had gotten through our fence, apparently hankering for the neighbor's hay and the fellowship of the other steers and horses,  pushed his head through a hoop on the fence gate and couldn't get it back out. 

How or why he would push his head through there in such a low spot as to get him on his knees

is beyond our fathoming!

There were plenty of other places the steer could have put his head through without getting stuck like that.

But the man at the place where Jonathan is putting in a modular home said he had a steer that did exactly the same thing one time!

These gates have these loops at the bottom, and the steers like to duck their heads to try to get under the fence or the gate, and they often go for the corners, too.

This steer had twisted the gates around and bent the bars something crazy in its crazed efforts to get free!

And its snoot was right in the manure. Yuck!

What a mess he got himself into, trying to go where he was not supposed to go!

Jonathan worked and worked with the angle grinder, cutting the metal,

with the sparks flying, having to stop and try from different angles to keep from cutting into the hide of the steer!

The steer would jerk and heave at times, trying to get himself loose, but Timmy and Rose and Jonathan were calm and treated him gently and he seemed to know they were trying to help!
He lay still most of the time, even with the grinder roaring and the sparks flying.
 

What a picture of the mercy and help of the Lord when we get ourselves into trouble--
all over hankering for the greener" grass (or hay) on the other side of the fence!

We can poke our noses into many places that are not our business to be, and get stuck and can't get out.

The Lord has every right to let us stay stuck.
He could stand there and mock our unfortunate bad luck,
and make fun of our humiliation.
He could just let us stay on our knees for a good long time just to punish us.
But the Lord isn't into treating people that way.
Just like the kind-hearted rancher and his tender-hearted children,
the Lord rushes to our help and does what only He can do when we are helplessly and hopelessly stuck!

Sometimes it takes a while.
Sometimes we just have to wait on God in ongoing discomfort and uncomfortable circumstances, knees bent and noses in the dirt, because things don't get fixed instantly.
The grinder grinds, and the sparks fly, and our ears and hearts get singed in the process.
 
But finally the metal breaks and the steer is free!
And the Lord in His mercy frees us from our predicament and our low time.
There goes the steer, back toward where he belongs--on the right side of the fence!

We owe our neighbor a fence panel now, and we also bought new fencing and have some of it put up.

Now the steer feeds peacefully at his own haystack

beside his own pasture friends, the horse and second steer--and sometimes doves!

And God does not punish us with starvation after fixing our mess-ups.

He feeds us on green pastures and still waters--repairs the fence,

and life on the ranch goes on.

Cherish the Treasure- and the Free Valentine Balloon!

The day after Valentine's Day, I took the advice of Justin and Melanie Stanton on Facebook

and did my Valentine's Day shopping the day after,

and guess what?

While I was in the grocery store, an announcement was made over the loudspeaker that there were FREE Valentine balloons

as long as the supply lasted!

So when I got up front, I saw a crowd starting to collect around the strings from the floating balloons, and I got this gorgeous balloon marked $6.99.

I also got some other things [like chocolate peanut butter candies] at 50% off.

Valentine's Day evening, we decorated the table with this 98 cent tablecloth and pink plates.

Jonathan adores bacon-wrapped jalapenos and loves shrimp,

and Carrie's employer at the restaurant had sent a bag of shrimp home with her one day because they were not the kind of shrimp they had wanted for the restaurant.

So we had this luscious meal for Valentine's Day.

Rose had made Black Forest Cheesecake which is so utterly easy you need to ask her for the recipe.

It basically just takes cream cheese, sour cream, whipped topping [we used whipping cream as topping gives me a headache and has junk in it], sugar, and cocoa. You layer a white layer with half the mixture, then mix cocoa in the second half for the top.

And top it with cherries, and it is heavenly!

Around Valentines Day, I read an excerpt Ann Voskamp had shared in her blog from a book by Gary Thomas called 

Cherish: The One Word That Changes Everything for Your Marriage.

Gary wrote how he and his wife discovered a promise they had made on their wedding day--and forgotten about.

The promise to cherish each other.

They hadn't just promised to love each other,

but to cherish each other.

"Love speaks of sacrifice, commitment, service, selflessness—all essential elements if a marriage is going to go the distance.
But cherish speaks of delight and adoration."

Gary wrote, "I don’t want my wife to think we live in the same house because the Bible says I can’t leave her; I want my wife to be cherished, to know she is “my dove, my perfect one, the only one” and that I would never want to be with anyone else.
A pastor asked seven men, “How many of your wives love you?”
Every hand went up.
He then asked, “How many of your wives like you?”
Every hand went down.
Each one of these men felt loved; none felt cherished...


"There’s a certain delight when you truly cherish someone you live with."

One way to distinguish “cherish” from “love,” he wrote,  "is to consider the ballet. A ballerina has to be strong, athletic, and balanced. The moves are physically demanding. But those skillsets aren’t all that different from that of an NFL linebacker, who also must be strong, athletic and know how to stay on his feet. What sets the ballerina apart is the grace, the beauty, and the poetry.
Love is the athletic strength of marriage—unquestionably the supporting spiritual foundation of any union.

Cherish is the grace, the poetry, and the beauty of enjoyment. It takes your marriage to another level and makes it not only beautiful to dance, but beautiful for others to watch.
Just as 1 Corinthians 13 celebrates love, so the Song of Songs celebrates cherish:
Love is about being gracious and altruistic. “Love is patient, love is kind.” (1 Cor. 13:4)
Cherish is about being enthusiastic and enthralled. “How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice.” (Song of Songs 4:10)
Love tends to be quiet and understated. “ does not envy, it does not boast.” (1 Cor. 13:4)
Cherish boasts boldly and loudly: “My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.” (Song of Songs 5:10)


Love thinks about others with selflessness. “Love is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking.” (1 Cor. 13:4-5)
Cherish thinks about its beloved with praise. “Your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.” (Song of Songs 2:14)
Love doesn’t want the worst for someone: “Love does not delight in evil.” (1 Cor. 13:6)
Cherish celebrates the best in someone: “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful!” (Song of Songs 1:15)

 Love puts up with a lot: “ always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Cor. 13:7)
Cherish enjoys a lot. “His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.” (Song of Songs 5:16)
Love is about commitment. “Love endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:7-8; ESV)
Cherish is about delight and passion. “Your name is like perfume poured out.” (Song of Songs 1:3)

Those were wonderful thoughts from Gary Thomas, and I for sure want to get this book sometime.

Our Friend Comes to Christ This President's Day Weekend

Sunday morning there was a wonderful answer to prayer!

Our friend that we picked up that morning to take to Sunday School responded to the invitation and went up front to pray.

Afterward she was sitting on the floor and laughing and saying, "I never felt like this before!" 

"I bawled like a baby," she told me yesterday, as I brought her out to our place to ride horse for the afternoon, and she felt "at peace with herself," she said.

When I asked her what the Lord did for her, she said, "I don't know! I don't really know!"

And I told her she didn't need to understand, she just needed to believe.

Understanding will come in time, with instruction and obedience.

Pray that we church people will know how to help instruct her.

She said she had wanted to do that for a long time.

And really it is very simple when we come to Jesus.

Maybe we don't understand everything, but if when He says, "Come to me,"

we just come,

can it get more simple than that?

For now, yesterday, I felt a little urge from the Lord to go follow up, because it can be easy to give up without the needed fellowship or encouragement.

The girls suggested I invite her and Tim out to ride horses, as they have so wanted to come out to our place and do that!

I was so glad the children wanted to do that.
I didn't notice the little rainbow right in the middle of the picture on the gravel road,
 till I was looking at the pictures later!!

The children were absolutely being little "missionaries" this afternoon,

and it was just so precious to me to watch my kids out all afternoon with these friends,

getting an extra horse from our very kind neighbor, 

saddling up, and taking turns riding.

Tim has taught our children a lot about horses. He was out another day to help them with the horse.

Here Hannah is hanging on behind him!

It made me so happy to see our friends so happy in the country, and our own children so happy, too,

with the horses.

There they go ready to ride the trail.

Danny munches an apple while waiting for his turn.

Of course the puppies were a great hit with people who are usually cramped into a small living space in a mobile home park in the city,

and to someone who had just spent Valentines Day in the emergency room with terribly high blood pressure.

Our pastor's wife had sacrificially spent this special holiday at the ER with this lady,

but it was worth it all when her heart responded to the Lord Sunday.

The puppies love to kiss noses!

They are just too cute right now.

Meanwhile, inside, Carrie had made pies for supper--cherry and peach pie!

MMM!

After supper and evening chores, the children played a game of Colorado-opoly with Tim.

He won!

It was a blessing to watch their joy at being in the country,

joining us for Bible reading and discussion,

and we want to have them again for more horse riding!

Liberty, our missionary horse, is doing a great job of being a missionary!

Pray for our dear friends, Tim and Candy!

The Modular House's "Marriage Wall"

It's not very often that we get to go see the work that Jonathan is doing, but yesterday he wanted me to bring the children to watch a modular house being set on the foundation his work guys had prepared.

I had just a few minutes before leaving to take Carrie to work, but I got a few snaps of Sam and the work guys digging out the spots for windowwells.

So thankful for our dear, strong son Sam.

 I watch Jonathan balance cautiously but fearlessly on this narrow wall as he supervises what is going on.

At home, mostly I just see Jonathan when he comes home and crashes or is doing paperwork in the office,

so inside, I am silently proud of him when I get the chance to see him at work doing what he is so good at doing.

I admire him so much!

Here is the crane getting ready to lift some massive weights off the trailer next to it, to use for balance.

Danny remembered that they weighed 27 1/2 tons!

I had to run off again to take Carrie to work, and when I came back, the first half of the house had already been set.

This jobsite forklift toted the halves of the house into place by the crane from where they had been parked in the field.

The crane operated this huge bar with four strong straps to undergird the house half.

Here the "riggers" are getting ready to pass the straps under the house and fasten them again on the other side of the bars.

Now we are on the other side of the property.

For a while, even the workers stopped to watch, in order to not be in the way.

So now the crane begins to lift, and swing the house half into place by the first half.

The riggers help guide as the house swings slowly.

Little by little it goes into place.

Here it is, as the riggers push and pull anxiously.

Jonathan was standing by me as we watched the center wall begin to come together.

"Do you know what they call that center wall?" he asked me, in that low, gentle voice that I love so dearly.

"A marriage wall,"
he said.

And my eyes stole away from the modular house,

and peeked at my sweetheart, till his peeked back at me, 

and yeah, we shared a quick kiss right there on the spot.

We haven't stopped delighting in each other, 

despite the storms and frustrations and struggles that we, like any other couple, face.

Our children watched as the modular home's "marriage wall" came together,
and they watch our relationship as mom and dad, husband and wife,
in our Christian home.

Do they see perfect parents being angels,
or do they see imperfect parents depending on God to see us through all that comes our way?

Many weeks had gone into preparing a solid foundation and setting up the center beam for a brace underneath.
And as I hear of one niece or nephew or friend after another heading toward marriage,
I pray that God will help them to prepare a sturdy foundation,
so that when they come together in marriage,
the "marriage wall" will be tight and balanced,
level and secure,
perfectly joined in one.

May they be enabled to "leave" and "cleave,"
as these house halves traveled separately all the way from Nebraska,
but were joined in one on a prairie spot in Colorado, in sight of Pikes Peak,
ready for the clips to be clipped together,
and the bolts bolted,
and the roof cap put on to keep out the wind and the rain and the weather.

And when the babies and children come along,
may they have a safe shelter in a loving, secure, Christian home.