Spring on the Ranch--Complete with Birthdays

Having finished cleaning the fridge and completing more entries in the children's report cards in the middle of final days of school, I am sitting down for a breather, so I will share some pictures of 

days in May on the ranch.

Hannah's birthday is one of the first things we do in May.

She wanted several guests to come, including some of the Haggerty children, especially Elizabeth who is her size although a bit older. Some of the children ate out on the deck.

Of course, Hannah received lots of gifts, and Grandpa likes to get a picture of the birthday child with their gifts, so I snap one, too.

I think the gift that got the most attention was from Carrie and Rose--

a set of tiny dolls, accessories, and doll clothes they had sewed themselves years ago when they were younger.

Our friend Barbara O'Maley (whom Hannah has always loved and often invites to her birthday party)

just admired and admired those darling doll clothes.

Carrie's birthday was different. She just wanted family, and here she is with her strawberry fluff pie and candles.

Thankfully Sam could eat with us that night before heading to the fire station.

We won't tell who forgot to pierce the potatoes with a fork before baking them, but one of them exploded all over the kitchen, ending up on the ceiling as well as the floor!

The rhubarb that Jonathan's mother gave us starts for has flourished! Rose has especially taken an interest in caring for our edible perennials.

We had two rhubarb desserts already this spring!

And the peppermint is also flourishing! Rose has made gallons of peppermint tea already, and yesterday put mint leaves in ice cube cartons to freeze. And was that ever cute!

As long as Timmy is nearby, our sweet dog Bess isn't bothered by the chicks--

nor does she bother them.

Friends who come out to our ranchette enjoy bottlefeeding the calves.

 We're so happy to share a bit of country with folk who live in the city but love a taste of country.

Rose got Timmy to till up a section of ground for a garden.

I love watching the chickens come to contentedly peck around in the freshly turned earth.

A few dandelions are smiling up at the sun.

Wild Bear or Dried Up Worm--How God Treats the Weak

Last week, Jonathan was at a job site near a stream in town with Sam and Samuel when Sam saw a bear! In fact, it was three bears!

Jonathan took several pictures, and this was the best one, but it only shows two of the bears.

That was pretty exciting. The guys definitely kept their distance from this mama bear sitting in the pool with her yearling cubs nearby.

But our kids get almost as excited about small, helpless creatures as they do over big wild bears. 

Like toads, for example.

You wouldn't believe where Rose found this one!

Inside one of her plant pots!

She had left her window open one day and apparently a friendly (or was it scared?)

toad from the window well found itself a home in her plant pot!

I just had to get a picture of this funny guest!

And then there are worms. The kids LOVE to find worms as we dig up our raised beds to plant seeds. 

But this day last week, they come into the kitchen bringing a poor, dried-up-but-still-alive worm that they hoped to revive by running some water over it in the kitchen sink.

Yeah, my children do things like that because they have tender hearts toward small, helpless creatures like dried up worms.

Here Rose is "planting" the worm back into the raised bed they had just dug up and planted.

And I immediately thought of that verse in Isaiah, "Fear not, thou worm, Jacob."

Somehow, my children's tender hearts towards a poor, helpless creature reminded me of God's heart toward His people.

"'Fear not, you worm Jacob...I will help you,' says the Lord and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."
Earlier in the chapter God had been promising to make Israel's enemies ashamed.
"Those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.
Fear not, you worm!"

An Out-of-the-Box Mother's Day

Last weekend we had an out-of-the-box Mother's Day which I wouldn't have missed for anything!
An outdoor Mother's Day worship time high up in the mountains!

Our friends the Russells were finally able to get away from the chores, truck driving, and work on the Nebraska ranches to come for just a couple days in the Colorado mountains before the summer rush of work on the ranches leaves them unable to take a vacation, and this time it happened to land over Mother's Day weekend.

Here is a beautiful scene of mountains and antelope and trees about to bud as we drove to our unique Mother's Day destination.

To be honest, at first I secretly missed the joy of attending a church service where mothers are honored and graced with flowers or other pretty memento,

 (it's the one service of the year which is usually practical and encouraging specifically for mothers).

But then Mom Lucas and Mom Russell were worshiping with their entire families plus one extra in the open air, roughing it in the mountains over the weekend, and loving it.

(Yeah, I know, I'm a conundrum, one of those complex beings of the feminine gender, something akin to the mother of John Piper, whom he paid tribute to in this outstanding article last weekend:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-happiest-woman-i-have-ever-known

Jonathan suggested that we worship at a particular spot on Limber Grove Trail, one of our favorite places in Colorado, and one we wanted to share with the Russells. So here we are on our way there, crossing a board bridge across a stream by beaver dams.

Sam and Isaac having a discussion as we started out.
(There were three Samuels in this group--our Sam, our nephew Samuel, and Sam Russell.)

The Russells also have a Tim, and here our Timmy and their Sam and their Tim further away are exploring by the dam.

The children were soon well ahead of us adults as we climbed a hairpin curve on the trail.

When we were about to cross this rocky mountainside, we knew we were almost there.

And in fairly short order, here we were, at our destination, at Limber Grove, a spot where the twisted and gnarled Limber Pines are around 1000 years old! 

First Jonathan gathered everyone around for the photo shoot you saw at the top of this post.
I couldn't help getting a snap of him getting the camera ready for a timed shot so that we could all be in the photo.

Then we began to sing.  Jonathan Russell, (yes, he has the same first name as my hubby) began "How Great Thou Art!"
We sang all four verses, and it was soooo appropriate, singing it right out there on the mountainside.
"When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,


"Then sings my soul, my Savior, God to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee,
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!"


I had brought along a little book of stories behind hymns, and Jonathan read the story of the author who wrote "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The author used to be involved in alcohol, but went one night with his gang to hear George Whitefield preach, intending to mock and pity the Methodists, but was later converted. He had been impressed by their happiness!
Later he became a minister and preached in several denominations including a Calvinist Methodist church, (boy, I wonder what that was like??), a Congregational, and another kind of church.
We sang that song next, and I thought it was so appropriate, sitting on these huge boulders, to be singing as Samuel did in Bible days when he set up a rock of remembrance,
"Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I've come,
And I hope by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home."

We sang "The Lord's Our Rock, in Him we hide, a shelter in the time of storm,"
and "O Safe to the Rock that is Higher than I."
Then Jonathan read a devotional printed off from DesiringGod, asking the probing question, "Who are we willing to disappoint?"
Or to put it another way, "Who are UNwilling to disappoint?"

Every time we say yes to something, we must say no to something else, and sometimes our choice will disappoint people.
The question is not who are we unwilling to love,
but who are we unwilling to disappoint?

John Piper, the author of the devotional, brought out how Mary was willing to disappoint Martha who was anxious and frustrated about serving and pleasing people,
but Mary was unwilling to disappoint Christ.
Mary pleased Christ despite what her sister thought of her, and despite what people who were looking on superficially thought of her.
 It was a most unusual and blessed Mother's Day!

Mothers Day--Ten Things My Mother Taught Me to Love (expanded to 13 plus)

A couple days ago I realized I didn't have a Mothers Day card to send my mother, so--I made one myself.

I didn't have a lot of time, but guess what,
there should always be time for one's mother.
The thought came into my mind about some of the things my mother taught me to love--the first 6 of which you can see here on the card I made for her.

7. To love my husband
8. To love my children

9. To love others, especially missionaries
10. To love little things (like violets, postage stamps, and babies)


11. To love simple birthday gifts (like dishcloths and homemade hot pads for the kitchen)

12. To love books (especially old ones!)

13. To love the Cross of Christ

14. To love poetry

15. To love one another (Mom has never, ever taken sides to pit any of us family members against one another.
Nor has she ever taken sides against a son-in-law or daughter-in-law. She has treated the in-laws who married her sons and daughters as if they were totally part of the family. She even keeps in touch with some of the relatives of the in-laws!
And the list could go on.
Thanks, Mom, for all the good things you taught us!