Easter Daffodils on the Table on the Ranch

It's Easter weekend, and today we had quail egg buckwheat pancakes with homemade syrup for breakfast!

Jonathan had bought a little bunch of daffodil buds, which started to bloom literally overnight!

Just like the poor old sorrowful tomb of Joseph of Arimathea opened up overnight and blossomed forth the Risen Christ!

Just like a life that is hard and closed and just a mess-

can overnight be straightened out and made into something beautiful through the forgiveness and grace of Christ!

Here behind the daffodils is the orchid that Crystal brought home one day when she knew I was having a rough day.

We hit the ground running as soon as we got home from missions convention.

Always a lot to unpack, clean, animals to catch up on taking care of, and of course, school to do,

Spanish to learn,

 (Negatives and  question words were one of the lessons this week, and Rose and Timmy had to write the words in mixed up order and then match each other's words!)

 There are instruments to practice,

meals to make. 

It's funny, since being away and being ministered to with some very delicious meals, it makes me realize how important a good, hearty, delicious meal is...

...how much it means to the family to have a healthy, attractive meal served with love and cheer.

(That is my nephew Samuel Morley getting a serving of barbecued ribs. He has come to stay with us a while and work for Jonathan.)

Is there a reason Jesus chose a meal time to share some of His most meaningful,
His most intimate,
and His most  powerful words to His disciples?

Like, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you;
not as the world gives give I unto you;

let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid."

Missions Convention in South Dakota

Last week, our family traveled to Mitchell, SD, for the Arms Around the World Missions Convention and we had a WONDERFUL time meeting more of God's beautiful people.

I love this picture Jonathan took of us girls practicing one evening (most lights off to save electricity).

Cozy.

And then would you believe it? We forgot three pieces of our music! (And that was just ONE thing that went wrong on this trip!)

Another thing that went wrong was that I had printed a number of photos of our missions trips to make an all-new missions display, and those photos completely disappeared!

I couldn't find hide or hair of them no matter where or how long I looked! I finally had to order more photos. But that was okay, because this display board we'd bought last year for IHC (and then Jonathan got bitten by the dog and couldn't go) was much larger than our old display, so I needed larger photos. Plus, this display has felt-ish type background, and Jonathan bought some spray adhesive to try.

Here I am, after sticky-ing up my fingers dreadfully with the spray, trying to place the sticky photos on this display in just the right spot at just the right time before the adhesive dries too much. If it is too wet, the photo will never come off, and if it is too dry, the photo won't stick at all.
Next time, I think I will use glue dots!!

About the time I am finishing up the display and Jonathan has helped me print off the captions and get those on the display, an emergency is happening in the bathroom--namely, Danny cannot get out!

There the poor boy was, stuck in there with a door knob that refused to work.It has been giving us trouble for a long time, but always if you twisted and jiggled just right, it would always open. This time, he was stuck to stay!
This is the night just before we leave at 6 in the morning for the convention, and a kid can't get out of the bathroom!!! Jonathan and Timmy work and work on the knob, but no matter what they did, the latch gismo would not give way.

After about 30 minutes, Jonathan had taken off his side of the knob out and was having to yank and twist and pry and pull on the inside of the latch to try to pull the latch sideways, and STILL the latch would not move. Finally, Danny thought to get his knife out of his pocket and slide it in the crackof the doorway up by the correct side of the triangular latch,and FINALLY the latch gave, and he got out!
We can always expect strange things to happen before we do anything related to missions.
It's just a given.  In Mitchell, a friend we talked to said he and his wife call it "Devil dust."
He said they had to learn to not let the "devil dust," as distracting as it is, set them against each other or cause them to waver in what they needed to do.

I loved these "Sticky Statements" at a service station along the way.
"I'm not bossy...I just have better ideas!"
"Young at heart--Slightly older in other places!"

A huge pile of corn at North Platte, Nebraska. (That is where something else went wrong--I left my purse in the restroom of Burger King, and we didn't find out till we were 35 minutes down the road!)

Thankfully, my purse had been found and placed in the restaurant safe. But that set us back over an hour. We had very little time to change and get ready for service that evening! Crystal and Carrie were to play preludes and offertories.
Here are some of the displays from Haiti, where the speaker, former missionaries Tim and Darlene Young, had spent 23 years under Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Missions.

They had personally preserved these Haitian bugs in some kind of wax or gel.
Shiver!

We loved this replica of a Haitian house.

Can you see the Haitian lady sewing at a treadle machine?

Evening services were in Faith Missionary Church, with very good attendance, Sunday being probably well over 100. We met folk that I had known since I was a teenager, from South Dakota to Pennsylvania.
We appreciated Bro. Tim Young's speaking--a lot of personal stories and a radiant face without hype or high pressure.

 Friday and Saturday there were two missions workshops each morning, and the Bible School chapel was packed out. Jonathan was in charge of one workshop regarding Helping Hands to Missions.
Since our children have taken turns traveling with us, he would call different ones up to answer questions about the trips they were on.
Carrie and Hannah here are sharing about their time in Slovakia.

Crystal sharing about her Bible trips to Africa.

Our two youngest boys and James and Micah Albertson answering questions about their time in South Dakota native American missions last summer (mulberries, chiggers, and all).

We very  much enjoyed getting to know Pastor Tim Stafford, who has been pastoring there at Mitchell for about three years.  He has a radiant face and exudes joy and relaxation in his Christianity, and we were told that he is careful to preach the Bible rather than his own opinions.
Maybe that is one reason he can have a joyful Christianity rather than an agonized one.
Carrie on violin and Rose on mandolin playing "The Old Rugged Cross" before service one evening.

Tall Sam helping Steve Sturtevant take down the flags of different countries that had been represented in the meeting.

This was certainly a profitable and rewarding experience, despite the fact that we left some of our best music at home (I thought the girls got it and they thought I got it) and had to hastily practice different music since we didn't have the other memorized, plus enough for two songs per service instead of just one!
Thankfully I had taken my notebook of our family music we've done in the past, just in case.

On the way home, after having breakfast with the new friends I already posted about, we were able to stop briefly in Mission, SD, to see Keith and Tasbah Lavery, whose girls are friends with ours ever since last summer when we worked together on different missions projects.

The Laverys graciously had fixings for a taco salad, which was very delicious. The girls played a game while we adults talked and took a quick look at the church basement which they are struggling to finish. We wished so much we had time to help. Lord, please send willing workers!
The trip home seemed long this time, esp. when it began to pelt down snow!
It was hard to see for the last 1 1/2 hours, and the snow that packed in under our van was still melting off in chunks yesterday--four days later!
But praise God we arrived home safely.

New Lambs on a South Dakota Ranch

"They invited us for breakfast tomorrow," Jonathan said, low, to me after Sunday night service of the Arms Around the World Missionary Convention.
We were supposed to hurry off first thing in the morning to try to get home by evening--BUT--
this new rancher friend said they were in the middle of calving and lambing season at their ranch.

And his family would like to have us for breakfast!
We told him yes, and I just KNEW we weren't going to stay only an hour. We were going to keep staying and visiting because it is so HARD to leave when you are enjoying new friends on a farm full of adventure.

BUT, that was okay, because it turned out being SO FUN!
We rushed to leave Mitchell by 7:15, which turned out to be 7:30, and we drove about 20 minutes back a very  muddy road with flooded fields a-wing with hundreds of ducks and even a snowy owl.
We learned that millions of migratory birds such as cranes, ducks, geese and other birds migrate over Nebraska and South Dakota, especially along the North Platte River.

The picture above shows the flooding at the corner of our new friends' driveway, the Schulzes.
They had the nicest breakfast I have ever remembered-- scrambled eggs, venison sausages, biscuits and gravy, orange slices, and pancakes and homemade syrup!
Mrs. Schulz even made gluten-free pancakes for her husband and me, and I LOVED them, and ate two. Yum, yum.

Then the Schulz children tried to find enough boots for us all because the farm was very muddy after all this rain. Do you think these boots are big enough for Jonathan?

We got a laugh almost as big as the boots!

In these pictures you can clearly see why we needed boots!

Hannah got to wear pretty yellow boots!

Carrie and Rose took off through all the mud with Katelyn with a big bottle of milk for the new calf.

This poor little calf's mother did not want him.

He had been twice too big for a healthy birth, and the vet had to help the mom, and it had been a rough experience for her, ending up with an infection. So baby calf had to be bottle fed. He kept butting at Carrie and chasing the girls around the pen after they finished feeding it!

Then it was time to move the mama sheep and the new lambs from the lambing pens to their new spot outdoors, to make room for the next mamas to lamb.

One mama had twins, and this one just had one lamb.

Farmer Schulz was having a rough time getting the mama to go where he wanted her to go.

I just have to admit that sheep are just plain stupid--which is very humbling when you think how often God compares us people to sheep!

But, to be honest, the sheep didn't enjoy tromping through mud, either!

So the youngest Shulz girl tried to tempt the mama with some hay--while holding her skirt up out of the mud!

Then Mr. Shulz asked Rose and Carrie to get the lambs they were carrying and go up ahead of Mama Sheep to help her want to go.

Here's the whole party trying to get to the new pen through all the mud.

I thought of how Isaiah says, "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." (Isa. 40:11

God is gentle and kind with mothers, and takes good care of children.

He doesn't overtax us Christian mothers any  more than a good shepherd would overtax his mama sheep. He doesn't pressure us to do way more than we can do.

Yay! Finally, we get the mamas and lambs settled in their new pen.

And we go back for the second mama.

After being in a missions convention where there is a strong emphasis on missions, 

at a church where there is a strong emphasis on being spiritual,

I have to remind myself of what God's Word says.

In Genesis 33:13 Jacob has been urged by his brother Esau to accompany him on a hard journey. Jacob replies,"My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die.

"Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock...and the children, are able to endure."

Yes, I have thought many times that God is a good shepherd, and He cares for the life of His sheep.

And He cares when our young people are leaving our churches by the dozens, because they are being driven hard, not just one day, but day after day, Sunday after Sunday.

Some are being driven hard to be "spiritual," to attend not only three services a week or more at their local churches, but all sorts of revivals and camp meetings and volunteer opportunities and prayer meetings, and you are worldly or carnal if you don't.
Or they are being pressured to conform to their peers around them or to whatever the church leadership says, or to whatever the rest of the rebellious youth in the youth group think.
There needs to be a balance somewhere, where watchful parents can make sure the children and youth are not being overly pressured into being super-spiritual on one hand or rebellious on the other.

I think raising your children on a farm or with gardens and out in the country is a very good way to raise them. There is so  much adventure along with the work and learning of responsibility.
And God teaches us so much about Himself and His ways through stories and comparisons to animals and plants and country. 
Kids and young people need watchful, caring parents who make sure they don't get pressured or bullied beyond what they are able to bear at church, school, in family life, home life, or elsewhere. 

When they get older, they will be stronger and able to endure more. 

Lambs need lots of frolic and they need mamas who are relaxed and un-agitated.

I liked the family rules on this family's wall.

The first rule was, "Help each other."

"Pay with hugs and kisses...

Laugh at yourself.

Try new things.

Be happy. Love each other. Respect one another. Laugh out loud. (Yeah, it's not unspiritual to laugh loud.)

Know you are loved!"

We will not name the driver who got Crystal's van stuck in the mud while backing out of the driveway! That's what you get for "trying new things."

These helpful men did indeed "help each other" get unstuck while the rest of the family watched out the windows--and Mom Lucas went racing around to get a picture for her blog!!!!

Time to "laugh at yourself," but "know you are loved!"
We had so much fun here that it was very  hard to leave.