Easter Project

TIE -dyed Easter Eggs

Yuck ~ Blowing Eggs

Blown.....

Tie dyeing eggs with old silk ties

All tied up

Wrapped again and ready to boil

Unwrapping - what will it look like?

Look at this one!

How about this one?

Wow!

Look what we did!!

For detailed instructions click this link:

Our Best Bites

Easter

At the Easter Sunrise service,

we were reminded of newness and freshness

that comes with each new day

each sunrise

each spring

 the resurrection of Jesus

and a life committed to Him.

And that everything He gives us is by His power

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us. 

  (Ephesians 3:20)

And here's a picture of
something that He's given me that is

more than I could ever think or imagine

Beautiful Cousins,

Hannah (6), Brenna (7), Addie (12) and Harrison (11)

Harrison and Hannah are ours,

but when their Mimi and Papaw left for Guatemala

eleven years ago,

I promised to love and take care of them all.

And they all call me Nana.

Thank you Mimi for the honor.

They are so precious.

Praying for Rain

My neighbor says we haven't had rain since September. 

The howling winds and dry tinder box of grass have spread fires across more than one million acres in Texas.

This afternoon's skies were streaked with a smokey haze from some distant inferno.

Texans have lost homes, barns, cattle, sheep, goats, deer, quail,and fences.

Recovery will be long and slow.

Most of our 450 acres is thigh high dead dry grass,

tumble weeds, and leftover sunflower stalks.

I've been out there,

singing rain songs.

"It's beginning to rain, rain, rain,

Hear the voice of the Father.

If you're thirsty and dry,

Just look to the sky,

It's beginning to rain."

(I get far away so human ears don't have to hear me!)

Snyder folks are meeting daily at the courthouse,

 uniting in prayer for rain. 

Prayers are for our own repentance as well as our country's.

Prayers remind the Father that this is His creation,

and His creation needs help.

"Have mercy on us, O, God"

Several in the group bring open umbrellas as an act of faith.

Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;

it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.

 He gives showers of rain to men,

and plants of the field to everyone

Zechariah 10:1

Yesterday evening we could see some storm clouds

and could smell the freshness.

We talked to the clouds,

"Come on Rain.  Come on Down."

Not yet.  Not yesterday.  Not today.

But it's coming.

Sewing Machines and Pianos

My 93 years young neighbor, Dena Faye,

knows exactly what we are doing while we are at home.

Mowing, cleaning, re-organizing, filing, paying bills, repairing stuff, getting ready to go again...

She traveled with her pipe fitter hubby in the 70's and 80's

following him and the 8 X 35 trailer from job to job.

She says she traveled all over the nation without a roadmap!

And her sewing machine AND her PIANO went along, too.

The thought of a piano in a travel trailer is so funny to me.

We have a 38 ft 5th wheel with 4 slide-outs -

which makes it pretty roomy,

and my man is pretty tolerant of the toys I bring along 

(lots of books, beads for jewelry, art supplies)

 but he has drawn the line on a sewing machine

 - and a piano?

Can you hear him laughing?

Pray and Watch

Lunch with a county commissioners:

Concern about the local fires

A visit with a city councilman

Talk about the fires

Visit to the fire station's open house

Talk about the fires

Driving her to a reported fire

And more talk about the fires

"The city council is going to proclaim

a day of prayer for rain

Maybe they should proclaim everyday

a day of prayer until it rains

Maybe they should declare a day of repentance

You call the station every time you hear a siren?

It might be my precinct

What did they say?

Lady, it's an ambulance

You should see the big trucks the forest service brought

Have you seen the helicopters?

I've seen a lot of pictures and reports on facebook

 It went all around the Eicke's house

But Eddie plowed a fire break and saved it

The Chandlers had to evacuate

Their house is ok

Our fire burned right between my place and Bill's

We never left

Fought it with shovels and water hoses

The county boys bladed around us

I have CRP on 3 sides and across the road

What should I do?

CRP is the worst.

Mow as close as you can

Short grass isn't so bad

Who's bringing all this food and water to the station?

The community has been great support

There are 9 fires going right now

Yes, we are tired

Most of us were out all night

Did you hear the radio just now?

That driver can see three fires

He wants to know which one to go to

Remember Elijah?

He prayed until it rained

And he kept sending his servant to watch for clouds

Remember?

We should pray

We should pray until it rains

Pray and watch for clouds

Pray and watch

Pray and Watch"

Cycles

I think after today, my blog posts are changing directions-

hopefully a little lighter

But along the same lines as the last few days,

I want to visit RECOVERY.

We stopped in Galveston for lunch

on our way home from Louisiana

Houses and shops had fresh paint

Most everything was clean and new

We ate at the highly recommended Mosquito Cafe

(sorry - no mosquitoes on the menu!)

And at the door was an 8 ft line marking

the Hurricane Ike (2008) high water mark

Galveston has a history of hurricane survival

The worst was 1900 when an estimated 8,000 were killed

(The deadliest natural disaster ever to hit the U.S. -

My grandma said that we had a relative

who survived in an attic with a goat)

The next was Hurricane Carla in 1961

(500,000 people were evacuated and only 43 lives lost but it caused $2 billion in damages) 

I remember seeing that devastation on a family trip

We get a little magazine, Texas Co-op Power, from our electric company.

This month's edition had an article about Galveston.

(and a picture of the Mosquito Cafe high water mark)

I love this quote from the article:

"Longtime residents know well the stages of life

on their beloved island:

growth and prosperity

devastation and despair

determination and renewal...

No one would wish for a hurricane,

but with hurricanes come a cleansing

and each cleansing brings new ideas

and new development."

Can I say this?

That'll preach!

So it is with life.

I've had a few of my own life cycles.

The cycles just have different names

We read and discussed Ecclesiastes 3

on the deck Sunday morning:

 There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

The Galveston article says:

"And the cycle spins anew"

2 Mamas, 2 Sons, 1 God

Two Mamas

Same God

Same Town

Same Fervent Prayers

Same Day

Two Sons

One walking on dangereous ground in Afganastan

One walking on dangererous grounds of

teenage self discovery

One son steps on a land mine in a desolate country

The other son rolls his car on a desolate country road

The land mine didn't detonate

The car ejected the driver

One son stepped onto solid ground

and the other son stepped into eternity

Two Mamas

One mama is praising God with

song, dances, tambourine, and banners

The other mama, in the strong arms of God, 

 is weeping, acheing, questioning.

She buries her precious son today

along with all the hopes and dreams she had for him.

Julie we praise God with you

And Jennifer we hurt with you

(Rejoice with those who rejoice

and mourn with those who mourn

Romans 12:15)

You are both good mamas

Two Sons

Patrick we rejoice that God has spared your life.

Tyler we miss you but rejoice that you are

rockin' the streets of gold on your new drums.

(If we live, we live to the Lord;

and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So, whether we live or die,

we belong to the Lord.

Romans 14:8)

Same God

This side of heaven, we will never understand.

but then it probably won't matter to us.

Scripture tells us that

He is a good and just God

that His lovingkindness endures forever

That his mercy is unending

and that

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever

Two Mamas, Two Sons, Same God

Evenings and Mornings

A second home did not even make the top one million things in my bucket list, and the story of how we came to buy it is a bit long, but we're hooked on it. It had been terribly neglected. We partnered with daughter and son-in-law, and we've all worked hard to put the love back in it.  We just call it Dove Creek.

Last week, I was there alone working on it.  I watered trees and shrubs and grass and cactus.  I cleaned up after the busted winter pipe flood, recent carpenters and the javelinas. And I picked up leaves and sticks.

 I crawled out of bed early every morning to be on the deck with coffee in hand while the sun was coming up.  I was there with the turkey, squirrels, deer, cardinals, hummingbirds and a million other birds welcoming the new day.  Is morning God's way of saying He hasn't given up on us?  Is it his way of giving us a brand new start?

Evenings found me and my tired muscles back on the deck usually with neighbors, Lee and Sally.

With God's creation of each day, scripture says,  "And on the ____ day God created the ____________ and there was evening and there was morning". It's there six times. He worked on His creation - then it was evening and then it was morning.  And He created again.

To me, the evenings of our lives are like the times when we are weary, sad, depressed, sick, tired, or just sick and tired of being sick and tired.  But God says, "Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning."  (Psalm 30:5)  Mornings are the joy and hope of newness and a fresh start - and maybe a chance to start over.

After a few days, I decided that I needed some company.  So I threw out a blanket invitation to girlfriends: I know it's last minute - but come if you can.  I had four takers.  We laughed, we cried, we encouraged, we told stories, we ate, and we drove the 20 miles into town and shopped a little.  Ok - we shopped a lot.  Oh, and we sat on the deck.  We helped the sun come up.  We said goodbye to the day.  And we had Church on the Deck.

Sunday afternoon, we divided the leftovers, loaded our treasures and went our separate ways.

I didn't know if I could get my sleep deprived, aching body home.  But then I turned down the county road to my little house on the prairie and saw the sun blazing in the west.

...and there was evening...

Beauty from Brokenness

If you've ever stayed awake at night

wondering what a cactus would look like
after a javelina attack,

here's your answer:

The cactus garden is one of the things we love about this place,
the first thing you see after driving down
 the narrow lane to the house.

It was the first time we knew they were anywhere around.
One neighbor caught them on his game camera.
Another's cactus was attacked, too.

Last summer there were a few broken paddles on it,
and I said to the kids,
"Be on the lookout -
I think we've had pirates. 
how do I know we've had pirates?
Because they attacked our cactus."

Hannah confirmed my suspicions,
"Oh, no Nana, - not pirates.
It was the BOYS  - with sticks."

But this attack was different.
It was near destruction.

Reminds me of the enemy of our soul
working us over.

Be self‑controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a snortn' javelina
 looking for someone to devour. 
 ( 1 Peter 3:5  MV - my version)
 

And when we leave the gate open

or when there is no gate

that hairy, stinkin', enemy with tusks comes in to

try to kill, steal, destroy and shred everything precious to us.

 

But God.

(I love the But God's)

But God in his tender mercy and grace,

when we are ready, lovingly comes in.

He cleans our wounds

and picks up the broken pieces of our lives.

Most of the time,

He sends Jesus with skin on

to clean up our mess,

to patch our wounds,

to hug and encourage.

And sometimes, they get some of the ugly stuff on them.

And sometimes they get stickers in their gloves.

Then the Light of the World shines down from above,

And we begin to see and feel new growth.

Growing a new cactus is easy -

just lay a broken cactus paddle on the ground

(not even fertile ground) 

and it will grow roots.

It's a great cactus,

so I laid some of the borken pieces in barren spots

 in great hopes of having new cactus someday.

When we yield to God's healing power,

our broken-ness may take root in someone else's dry hard ground

 and grow into a strong woman or man someday.

The Bible does not say that

everything happens for a reason, but

 "that all things work together to good

 for them that love the Lord

and are called to His purpose (Romans 8:28)

And what is that purpose?

To be restored to our former glory -

to glorify the One who planted us here in the first place.

"And the God of all grace,

who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,

after you have suffered a little while,

will himself restore you

 and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

(1 Peter 5:10)

Soccer Nana

The kids had 4 soccer games yesterday and I volunteered to help while mom and dad worked a charity event.  

 It was 96 in the shade, except there wasn't any shade.

Little sister was bored during Buddy's game, and practiced her photo skills with my camera.

and posed for pictures

and ate blue stuff from the concessions

and took more pictures of such interesting things

(That's my earring!)

I got so caught up in the game while she was playing that I forgot all about pictures.

The pink pirates were just too darling all dressed up for the game.

They have pony tails, pink, black & zebra ribbons,

and silver/pink shoes.

It's all about the outfit!

The coach ran the field with them,

jumping, swinging his arms, doing handstands.

Encouraging all the way.

Stay in the middle

Get closer to the ball

Hannah throw the ball in

Kick it Gracie, Kick it

Get the ball Morgan

What do you mean you don't want to play?

Go to the goal.

Kick it, kick it

Ohhhhhhhhhhh

I'm going to have a heart attack

Hannah played her best game ever.

The older boys games are more serious.

Our team was short some players and out sized by the opponent.

(Dad says those guys are already shaving!)

Harrison was bruised and battered,

but he had some great heat shots

(or whatever you call it when they hit the ball with their head)

I just didn't get a picture of it.

We were a little late to Harrison's first game ever

when he was four.

but when he saw us on the sidelines,

He left his team

and came over to plant a big juicy kiss right on my lips.

Hi, Nana

Near heat stroke and all

It's so worth the effort to be there.

Thank you God for grandchildren.

Spring

Spring is beginning to peek out of the bleakness,
 here in West Texas.

The old timers say that
 "spring is not here until the mesquites put out."

Judging from the mesquite trees - spring is here. 

But, nothing says spring in Texas like bluebonnets,
They mostly grow to our south - in the hill country.

We try to make a wildflower pilgrimage
 to the hill country every spring.

And every trip for years I have bought a one pound bag of bluebonnet seeds to sprinkle in my part of the desert. 

 Is that optimism or what?

I have a few blooms every year and usually fuss at the man on the mower about cutting them too soon and not having ripe seeds.  This year, it looks like the mower threw all the seeds up against the barn - but at least they got some rainwater run off there.  And Ted has watered those little plants for me.

The ground is dry and hard.

The grass is still brittle.

But the bluebonnets are in bloom.

That's how we are as believers, followers, and servants of Christ.

Some of us scatter seeds of His truth - truth of his love, forgiveness, salvation, promises, provision, health, healing, and victory. 

 Some of us come along and keep those seeds watered. 

 But only God can bring the growth. 

I may never see blooms from the seeds I've scattered and watered this side of heaven.

But that's ok - I'll just keep on scattering.....

 

" I (Apostel Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,

but God who causes the growth"

(1 Cor 4:6-7)