Friday, 02 June 2006

I finally sort of slowed down today. Went to lunch with Nancy. We decided to eat at Chili’s. They officially opened yesterday. We both had soup and salad. Food was good and so was the conversation. Sue came by for a few minutes to drop off tickets to the high school graduation. Her daughter graduated tonight.

After lunch I went to Tractor Supply to take back those bales of wood shavings I purchased before we knew we could use sand in Clyde’s stall. The store would only issue me store credit which was okay with me but the guy who was taking care of me was new at that process and had trouble getting that task accomplished for me. He called for help on the phone 4 times and finally asked someone to come up front. Then I needed to make a deposit at two different banks and stop by the post office to mail packages. I had three graduation cards to mail and three letters with pictures. Now these aren’t just letters they are actually printouts (2 months worth) of my Xanga to send to a great Aunt of mine who doesn’t do the computer and to my friend who is currently in training at a missions school in Cyprus. Only four stops to make that should have been simple in a town that only takes 10 minutes to get across and it took me an hour to do those four errands! Nancy and I didn’t get through having lunch until 2PM so it was 3pm by the time I got home.

Mom got off early today. Her boss told everyone to go home at 3:30PM today. She told him she had to have 8 hrs to make monthly expenses. He said “don’t worry, I’m paying ya!” So Mom came by to visit for about an hour. After she left I decided to “snooze” on the couch. Did that for about an hour then went up to check on Clyde. Curtis (my farrier) was supposed to shoe him today.

On the way to see Clyde I got to see a hawk sitting high atop a telephone pole. He was so beautiful and majestic. I just love to see hawk or deer, well any wildlife. I count it a blessing from the Lord because it delights my heart so much. It was a very nice gift of God to let me see him!

I get to the horses and Clyde is out. But I told Curtis he could turn him loose after he had shoes. I grab a bucket put a little feed in it to mix up the Bute, tote the iodine mixture I’m supposed to put on his feet and grab a halter and head down in the pasture where they are.

It was a beautiful sight to see Clyde grazing with the others like he’s supposed too! Now I don’t know why I thought Clyde would take his medicine with oats when he’s been deprived of fresh green grass for three weeks! He took one nibble and didn’t eat anymore! I went ahead and painted his soles with the lovely purple liquid getting it all over me of course. And being curious creatures that they are my other two were trying to get their noses in the bucket!! I turned Clyde loose and let him continue grazing and walked back to the truck.

Have a good one! 

Thursday, 01 June 2006

Yesterday was a very full day. I was late getting home from the office. It was about 1PM. I forgot that Doyle’s brother was coming over after being at my niece’s high school graduation in Plano Tuesday night. We went to lunch. We got home around 2:30PM. I needed to go take care of Clyde. The water in the trough we put in his stall was really looking nasty so decided to empty and refill it. That is an ordeal. There is no water source close to the covered shelter we have the stall in. I took three hoses to reach the trough. I had to get a hose that was close to the house. It was partially pinned under the wheel of a car. I pulled on it and wasn’t paying attention where I was. When the hose gave way I fell backwards into Teresa’s little girls wadding pool butt first!! I totally soaked my mid-section. I had to finish what I was doing wet!! Sopping wet!! At first I was so mad!! Then I decided I was taking things too seriously and should lighten up and just laugh at myself.

I get home with about 45 minutes to spend trying to figure out what I was going to do for worship at church. Cat had asked me to come to the scrapbook store so she could leave early for a meeting. It had been so long since she had originally showed me how to do things I went early (around 5PM). I was so nervous about leading worship at church I pulled some blunders in closing the store. I counted the money but left it in the register instead of putting it in the bank bag and in the safe….I don’t know what I was thinking. I also left the keys that operate the register still stuck in the register! I apologized to Cat. I told her I had a lot on my mind and wasn’t thinking straight. I told her it shouldn’t happen again. She wasn’t mad but I felt bad that I didn’t do it right. I got home with about 15 minutes to spare before leaving to go to church. I was so nervous I was nearly sick! I hate this feeling!! I guess it's good though cause it keeps me relying on God instead of myself. Worship went well by the way. It usually does. I'll be glad when I can trust God enough I don't get so worked up!!

Today was actually my first “official work day” at the scrapbook store. Today started what Cat calls “kids kamp”. She has some type of art project for the kids to do every week on Thursday all through the summer. “Graduation” is August 3^rd. Today the kids made mini clipboards. Of course they don’t make the clipboard but decorate it. Some of the kids are young enough they need help. The class is 2-4PM each week and costs $15. I think it’s a great thing to offer them. Cat is also going to be expanding the store. The guy who had a shoe store next door got busted for selling drugs out of his store. Looks like Cat is going to get his additional space. She is so excited as that gives more room for product and more cropping space. She plans to have 16 – 6ft tables so each cropper can have their own table. That should be cool! She’s hoping to have it ready by the “sleigh ride of stores” which will be the second week in July. Not sure it will happen that fast. It would be great if it could be ready by then!

After the store closed it took Cat and I about 30 minutes to do the usual closing routine. I still had to go take care of Clyde and be back in town in time for a bible study I signed up for at church. It’s a Beth Moore Study called “A Heart Like His”. A study on King David. I didn’t realize when I chose to do this study that I would be working Thursdays at the store. Thursday will be long days for me for a couple of months as the study is 10 weeks! Hopefully though when Clyde gets his shoes on he can be released to the pasture again. Hope he isn’t a problem to catch. He’s being very skittish in the stall. Don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe he has “cabin fever”. He’s been stalled for three weeks!

Tomorrow all I have to do is go to work so maybe I can let my hair down just a little. I do have a luncheon date with the Elder’s wife…her name is Nancy. I have chosen to connect with her on a weekly basis as I want someone in my life to help me in my walk with the Lord. Someone who will challenge me, confront me when necessary, encourage and pray for me. She is very willing to do that and I’m very glad. I think this is the only way I’m going to progress in my walk with God.

As usual it’s late and I need to hit the hay! I’ll leave you with a couple of pics!

Saturday, 13 May 2006

Sorry I didn’t post last night. It was 11:30PM when we got in from the rodeo and I was just beat. Hope you can forgive me for waiting until today to finish my trail riding story.

Let’s see. I left off at us riding to meet the trail ride since we were so late getting there. As old as my horse is now and as many years as we’ve done this thing you would think (that’s what I get for thinking!!) that this would be a “no-brainer”. Well not to him!! As the hundreds of horses ride towards us Blue starts getting nervous! He thinks they are all after him!! OMG!! He starts prancing, turning sideways, etc. (only those of you with horses might be able to picture this incident). Anyway, Vanessa, Leslie and I blend into the mass of horses and find our place. Of the 10 years we’ve been doing this I’ve never been this close to the front of the ride before. We met up with some friends and ride and visit with them. I begin to notice that everytime Vanessa gets ahead of me with her horse Valentine (which is my horse’s best bud) Blue starts freaking out. Doing all that stuff I mentioned up above, prancing, throwing his head, turning sides, backing up!! But if I rode ahead of her he was fine.

I brought my camera to take pictures (of course) and (of course) I wanted some of me! I tried giving the camera to Vanessa. She rides ahead of us (bad idea) to try to get a picture and my “wonderful horse that I love with all my heart” goes psycho! I am getting totally frustrated and embarrassed because I am being the very person I always want to avoid at one of these events!!! I guess I must have made some pretty harsh judgements against some people about not being able to “control” their horse because I was finding myself in that same position!! I was wearing spurs that day and nudged him in the sides to get him to quit going sideways and backwards and he started “crow-hopping”. Now would that be great to get dumped from my horse in front of all these other riders? I don’t think so!!! For those of you who do not know what “crow-hopping” is. It’s a mini buck. The kind that relates “ I don’t like what we are doing and I’m protesting, not because I want to hurt you but to warn you how serious I am that I don’t want to do what you’re asking me!” If you have ever seen a bird hop, it’s kind of like that. I believe that’s where the term came from.

I told Vanessa just to forget it and give the camera back to me. A bit later I think “my horse isn’t all that attached to Leslie's horse, I’ll give the camera to her to take a few”. My horse may not be all that attached to Zebe (Leslie’s horse) but he does live in the same pasture as him and once again I have a fight on my hands except this time my “intelligent horse” (you do realize when I’m using positive comments about him that I’m being facetious!) decides to start backing up and he backs himself straight into a barbed wire fence! I am very fortunate that he didn’t unload me right there! I finally get him lined back out (going in the right direction) and Vanessa says “Blue’s bleeding really bad!” Oh, that’s just GREAT!!! I’m in the middle of no where with nothing to even doctor him with!! I snap back “Well, there’s nothing I can do about it!”. Bless her heart…it wasn’t her fault. I was so angry and frustrated with my steed by this point that I think I might have sold him on the spot if anyone had offered me money! I stop and dismount to see how bad it is. Thankfully I do have a water bottle with me to wash off some blood. It did really look bad as you’ll see from the photos a little later. But was able to wash enough to tell it wasn’t as bad as the blood was making it look and it was already clotting (good thing). So I get back on and continue the ride.

The ride makes a stop halfway to our destination with drinks and port-a-potties. I get a better chance to wash off a little more of the blood so he doesn’t look like I don’t care about him. If I had one I had at least a dozen people ask “did you know your horse is bleeding?” I know they are just trying to help because things can happen to our horses that we might not be aware of when we are riding them so it’s a horseman's friendly gesture to point out anything that maybe wrong. But after about the 20^th time I wanted to carry a sign that said “yes, I know my horse is bleeding”. The fact is he wasn’t bleeding anymore but they couldn’t tell that. While we were stopped we got a preview of rodeo right at the rest stop. Yep. Some guy’s horse started bucking (not just crow-hopping) and he got dumped! He was okay, the horse nearly caused some injury to some others when he took off in a sea of horses and riders on foot. One lady did get knocked down but have heard she was okay. It’s very rare to attend this event and not have at least one incident!

We arrive in Millsap around noon. This is where all the riders are feed a chuckwagon BBQ lunch with all the fixings. Vanessa and Leslie aren’t big on BBQ and this was where we planned to get out of the ride. The ride continues into Mineral Wells after lunch which is another 7 miles or so. We load up horses and head to town to eat Mexican Food at El Paseo which is close to Cat’s scrapbook store. As we sit down to eat we are at a window were we can see out and notice a DPS trooper arresting someone! Come to find out the guy who has a store next to Cat which is a tennis shoe store called “Foot Gear” had been selling drugs out of there and the narcs were there. Drugs were confiscated and the manager arrested! Actually lots of people knew that was taking place in that store. Law enforcement had been watching for sometime. Now how interesting is that?! Cat is hoping to get the guys space so she can expand her store. I hope that comes together for her.

After lunch we head home for a little siesta time! It’s 3 hours before we have to be back downtown for the parade. The parade went off without a hitch or any incidents. Afterwards because it was 5:45PM Doyle took me home so I could get to church on time since I had to lead worship. He and the girls took the horses home.

 

See our DPS escort down this small county road? Here we are still at the very front of the trail ride.

 

 

 

  

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the buffalo we saw along the way. Don't you like the brown and white horse?! He's beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

Left to right. Preston (Leslie's brother) his horse is borrowed. He is just learning to ride. He's much better at playing golf!! Leslie is next to him on her horse Zebe and then Vanessa on her other horse Valentine (the appaloosa.)

Do you realize how hard it is to turn around from the back of a horse and take a picture?!! The down side is I'm having to shoot toward the east which it's still morning so I'm shooting into the sunlight!

 

  

Here's at least one pic before my horse went nuts. You can already tell he's trying to go sideways as Leslie and I are rubbing legs together!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the result of my horse's stupidness!! I did not use very nice names for him that day!! Yes, I was not speaking very Christ-like! All that blood came from one little gash about the middle of his butt cheek. 

Here we are in Millsap. I was trying to find something that had the town's name on it and this building was all I saw. A train came through not long after I crossed the tracks. See Blue's ear in the bottom left of the photo?

I'll post some pics of the parade tomorrow.

Have a good one!   

  

Thursday, 11 May 2006

I promised I would tell the trail ride story so here goes. As usual I didn’t get to bed early. I think it was midnight. I heard Vanessa’s alarm at 5:15AM! UGH!! I had planned to get up around 5:50AM but I couldn’t go back to sleep so got up at 5:45AM. It didn’t take me long to get ready. Vanessa on the other hand took a shower and washed her hair. For a trail ride??!! What’s the point??!! Well, I guess when you’re young like her you have people you want to impress. I on the other hand could care less!! We leave the house at 6:15AM and arrive at the horses at 6:30AM. The trail ride started at 8AM and where we start is 20 minutes from Mineral Wells. Since the grass has been growing it has been increasing difficult to catch the horses. Wednesday morning was no exception. We were going to pen them overnight but storms were forecasted and I didn’t want to risk it getting bad and them having no shelter.

Now my horses have been feed twice a day for 10 years as we never had them at a place that was more than 10 acres. So when my horses see a bucket they generally come. The problem is that horses are herd animals and if just one of them decides to take off running they all go together! Leslie’s horse doesn’t care if you have a bucket or not. He was our problem Wednesday morning.

As Vanessa and I arrived and began hooking up the trailer we saw Leslie making her way in the pasture to catch someone! One thing I’ve learned is when catching a horse you don’t want more than one person going as they definitely know something is up then!! Just as I got the trailer hooked up Leslie comes up from the pasture with my horse who is whinnying for his buddy (Valentine). I go to meet Leslie. Bear in mind it’s now about 6:45AM and I’m not very awake yet. I should have grabbed another halter so when I got to her I could take Blue and she could go after someone else. So we both walk back to the trailer but she leaves the bucket where we met. Blue in the meantime is still whinnying for his buddy and Valentine is whinnying back. He finally heads our way but promptly stops at the bucket that has feed in it. Vanessa grabs Valentine. Now we have two out of three. Leslie heads back down in the pasture while Vanessa and I tack up. I notice Zebe coming up about halfway out of the pasture two different times but just about the time you think he’ll come the rest of the way he heads back down in the pasture. I feel for Leslie….been there done that many times. I decided to ride Blue after Zebe. My first instinct was to chase him because we were all in a hurry and frustrated by now. Then I thought better of it and knew that would only aggravate and already volatile situation. I just ride up to Zebe and he lets me get close enough on horseback I can nearly touch him. I get off Blue and he takes off (of course). Now picture this. I have on tight blue jeans and it’s a stretch for me to get my foot in the stirrup with jeans that are skin tight! Blue is 15.1 hands which calculates to 61 inches or 5ft one inch tall! A front came through making it a brisk and the excitement of what we were doing and my excitable horse and I’m thinking now that you may have gotten the picture of me trying to get my leg up high enough to get my foot in the stirrup and then raise my fat butt up that high into the saddle! Okay you can quit laughing now!! I do this a couple of times and every time Zebe turns away from me. I start praying. Cause I really need to catch this horse. I’m realizing we are running out of time to get to the trail ride on time. I choose to remain calm and ask God to help me. I decide to see if Zebe will just follow me and Blue to the trailer. Well, he does until we get nearly there and all of a sudden he decides he’s more interested in grass than following me. In the meantime, Vanessa comes charging in the pasture….thankfully not towards us but toward Leslie and picks her up to take her back to the trailer but Zebe is watching Vanessa. They get out of sight and once again I’m able to get close enough to Zebe I can rub his head and he lets me. I decided to try one more time getting off Blue to see if I can get a rein around his neck. Thankfully, my reins are attached to the bridle with snaps so they are easily removed. I remove one and put it around Zebe’s neck and walk both horses back to the trailer. It’s 7:30AM now. And we are still 15 minutes from Mineral Wells were we have to pick up Doyle to take us to the ride. I tell Leslie to just load Zebe in the trailer. She can tack up once we are there and while Doyle is checking us in.

We pickup Doyle and head to Weatherford. There is no way we are going to be able to get there by start time. Because we know the trail route we find a spot down the road where we can meet up with the rest of the group. We get unloaded, Leslie tacks up and Doyle heads to the starting point to show our horse papers and register us.

I'll continue this story tomorrow. Hope ya’ll stay tuned.

Here’s a few pics for you.

This is pretty far off but this is a view of the trail ride as me, Vanessa and Leslie ride to meet them. We are riding in the median between the divided highway 180 West looking toward the East (Weatherford).

 

 

 

 

Mine and Blue's view of the trail ride once we join them heading back to the west. We are coming up on the place where we will cross the highway to head toward Millsap on Old Millsap Road.

 

We are stopped waiting for all the riders to gather up so we don't have any straglers while crossing the highway as the state troopers stop all traffic until every rider is across.

Enough for tonight. I'll share more tomorrow!!

Have a good one! 

 

 

Sunday, 09 April 2006

Wow, another full weekend! I cropped most of the day Saturday. It started at 10AM. I cropped until 4:30PM then went home to let dogs out before I went to DriveSafe. After DriveSafe I went back to the scrapbook store. I wasn’t going to originally as the crop was supposed to be over at 10PM but Cathy told me the ladies there wanted to stay later so come on back. They only stayed an hour longer. They all went home by 11:30PM. I stayed and helped Cat clean up. I didn’t do all that much I was so busy trying to pack up my stuff. After I got home Vanessa was still up (surprise). She was on the computer on her webpage through “MySpace” http://www.myspace.com/na_nessa . I had been trying to setup a webpage on MySpace but was getting very frustrated. Several of the kids from church are on this blog site. I’m one of those who do better by you showing me how to do something instead of reading instructions. Vanessa told me she would help me the next time we could make connections. So I took advantage of her being available and I made myself available! Come to find out I wasn’t even on “MySpace”. What I thought was “MySpace” was a blog site by MSN called MY MSN Space. No wonder I couldn’t find anyone including my daughter!! Anyway she has me started. I don’t know if I want to continue it or not. I have enough trouble keeping up with Xanga much less learning another websites ways of doing things! Don’t misunderstand, I’m NOT LEAVING XANGA. Just wanted a way to keep up with some of our other kids. I will probably keep both sites similar so don’t feel obligate to visit both. As far as I’m concerned, Xanga will be my main site for now. If you’re interested MYSpace web address is http://www.myspace.com/miss_spunky91 . Look familiar!

Excerpt from the Pilgrimage of the Heart by Catherine Martin. Week 5 Day 4

The substance of your devotion – But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11

What qualities are essential to the pilgrim if he or she would enjoy intimacy with God? He or she needs a heart fixed on God and knowing Him. Have you resolved in your heart to know God? (YES!!!!)

The intimacy of your relationship with God is what determines this quality of devotion. Your intimacy with God is a gift of His grace and rests wholly on Him as the Giver of Himself. Yet He does promise that those who seek Him will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13) The substance of David’s devotion is joy and love for God. These two qualities are the foundation of a rich inner life with God. They grow from within as you spend time with Him. They are not of this world and cannot be manufactured on demand. They are supernatural and come from the presence of God in your life. The earliest followers of Jesus looked into His eyes and sensed His compassion, forgiveness, and love, their lives were forever changed. Out of their dynamic relationships with Jesus, they developed a passionate and ardent love for Him.

Think about the last six months of your life. Describe your devotional life with God. What do you desire in your relationship with the Lord?

Excerpt from my personal journal - My devotional life the past six months (until recently) have been non-existent. Or at least what I perceived as “my time with the Lord”. I would be embarrassed if people knew that – I talked to God and very sporadically read my Bible but I did not devote time to Him. I have been crying out for quite sometime now for God to increase my love for Him, my passion, my longing, my yearning for Him and He has seemed eerily silent. I’ve asked Him to change my heart. Make me hungry and thirsty for Him. To burden my heart for the lost, to give me a passion to intercede – a hunger for His word – renew my desire to worship and take me deeper in worship – all has seemingly fallen on deaf ears – I say seemingly because that’s just how I’ve “felt”. STUCK!! BUT, I know God does hear and answer – I know His word is true – He can not lie, that His promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus – so the problem isn’t with Him – it’s with me! BUT God is doing something as I ran across a book at Wal-Mart that almost leaped off the shelf to me called “Six Secrets to a Powerful Quiet Time – Discovering Radical Intimacy with God” that was in January and it has encourage me to “try again” where my spending time with God is concerned. I’ve had my ups and downs with this too but I have been more consistent in my “time with Him” since I began using these devotional books.

To answer the question “What do I desire in my relationship with God?” I desire to know Him as Abraham, David, Elijah, Isaiah, John and Paul knew Him. I want to be award of His presence all the time. I want to talk to Him as a friend and Him talk back to me – I want my time with Him to be something I look forward too and can’t live without. I want to know His heart that I might do His will – accomplish His purposes in me. That people when they look at me or remember me will associate me as a “lover of God.” God I want to know You – I must know You!

Have a good one

Friday, 07 April 2006

It’s finally Friday!!! Again the winds were atrocious today gusting up to 50MPH! and dust was flying in the air. It was almost hard to breathe! It’s 10PM and the wind is still blustery! Definitely a “bad hair day”! LOL

I recently went online and finally changed my address on my Driver’s License. I received it today and discovered the zip code was incorrect. Since I did it online I don’t know if I made the mistake or they did. Anyway the instructions that came with my new license said to contact the local office which I did. They said they could correct it there. I was getting ready to go down there when mother called to see if I was home so she could bring my tools back (the pruning shears, hack saw and gloves). So I waited for her before I left. She had just come from the doctor’s office having her first visit with her new family physician. She said she likes him. She grabbed some lunch and ate it while she was here. She went to a drama tonight put on by Community Christian School. The drama was “The Diary of Anne Frank”. The junior high kids were the performers in this production and was held at our church. I’m curious to hear how it went. It sold out pretty fast.

Tomorrow I will be cropping at the scrapbook store. I should have already been getting my stuff together and here I am making my post instead! I really need to have a plan if I want to get anything done tomorrow!!

In my quiet time (my time I spend with God) as I was reading my devotional book “Pilgrimage of the Heart” by Catherine Martin I got an idea that I want to try. It is very hard to have “quiet” in my house. Even when everyone is asleep there are still computers running, air conditioner/heater running, refrigerator running. Then there’s the pets who once they know I’m up want attention. They either want in or want out. If their out, they want in and if their in they want out!! I got the idea to get up a little earlier to get ready for work and go to the church to have my quiet time until it is time to be at work. It is very quiet there and if I want to talk out loud to God or sing to Him I don’t have to worry about disturbing anyone! It seems like a splendid idea but it will be a little bit of a challenge for me but I think it is doable. The following excerpt from that book is what sparked this idea:

Find a quiet place and talk with your Lord. Tell Him everything on your heart. Lay your requests before Him. Ask Him the questions that no one can seem to answer. Don’t be afraid to dream big dreams and ask the Lord for the impossible. Perhaps that dream deep in your heart was placed there by the Lord. If it’s His dream, He will make it live. Maybe He will change your heart. Lay before Him the sin that keeps nagging at your heart. Remember God’s word says “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

As you talk with the Lord, keep your Bible open. Sometimes He will bring a verse to mind. Turn to that verse, and think long and hard about what it says. Ask the Lord to speak to you from His Word. Turn to God’s promises as you talk with Him, and read them out loud. Keep your journal open to write any insights, ideas, or prayers as you sit with the Lord. Thank God that He hears when you speak and actually delights in your company. He loves to be with you.

I did just that. I began to ask God for the impossible. I want 100 acres!! Not 20 but 100! And I didn’t stop there! I want a 3 bd, 2ba house with a porch and a barn. I want a creek through the property. I want several trees for shade and a clearing for baling hay. I want a stock tank. I want some flat ground and some hills and most importantly I don’t want any grass burrs or briars!!!! And I don’t want any trashy trailer house neighbors! (I don’t mind neighbors just don’t want junkie ones!) Now that is asking the impossible! What have I got to lose?! “You have not because you ask not or you ask amiss” (James 4:2)

After I asked God for the above, a couple of scriptures came to mind. The first Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. When I looked it up here’s the next verse after it. “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. Is that cool or what?!! The next scripture that came to my mind was Matt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Land or no land, horses or no horses, I’m going to keep following after God with all that is within me. If He chooses to give me my dream of a place in the country, that’s GREAT!!! I will be so thankful!! And if He says “no” I trust He knows best and has something better for me!

“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” Matt 6:6

Goodnight!

Thursday, 06 April 2006

I haven’t felt good the last couple of days. Yesterday when I was helping Cathy at the store I had a nagging headache, my eyes hurt and it felt like I had a lump in the back of my throat. She gave me a couple of Advil and I started feeling much better. I did pretty good until it wore off and the pain came back. It was the same today. I talked to my friend Kelly and she said that cedar pollen was extremely high. I know cedar pollen kicks my butt!! I came home from work and took 2 advil and lay down until it kicked in. Even though the pain went away I just didn’t “feel” right! My ears are clogging up too! I don’t usually have trouble with that. The weird thing is I usually have a runny nose, sneezing and itchy eyes but I don’t seem to have those symptoms! To top things off today we had a front come through (dry of course – meaning “no rain”) bringing extremely gusty winds and kicking up the dirt so much you could see it in the air!! UGH! We NEED MORE RAIN!!

Mom called today. I can get used to this! I imagine I’ll be hearing from her everyday now! We used to talk everyday before her and my dad moved to Hawaii in 1989. She wanted to borrow my pruning shears, leather gloves and hack saw! There was a little tree growing between her A/C unit and the duplex she wanted to take down before it caused problems! I had that stuff in my truck so she came by the office.

After I laid down and started feeling better I got up and had a salad for lunch. I had intended to ride today but I really didn’t feel good. But I hadn’t been up to check on the horses in several days so decided to at least go up and make sure everyone is still standing. I stopped by the feed store I frequent and when I walked in it was empty. I was shocked. I saw people working on the building but I just figured they were remodeling. I see someone in the part that used to be the office and said “where are they?” She said “they are around there” pointing outside. She thought I meant someone else, I was talking about the former owner. I go around the side of the building and I see a man and ask “where’s the feed store?” He said “We’ll be open on Monday under blah, blah blah. (He didn’t really say that but the name it would be I just don’t remember because I was still in shock and felt pretty stupid!! Well, there is a feed store just two blocks to the east of the one I “used to use” and got feed there. I ran into my farrier (for those who don’t know this term, it is the person who shoes horses). I told him what I’d done. He said “well, I came down here the other day and there wasn’t anyone here. The doors were locked and I said ‘what the heck’, it’s the middle of the afternoon!” I felt a little better but not much. I bought my feed but I didn’t get any alfalfa cubes as I didn’t want to spend all my cash and I didn’t bring the check book (they didn’t take debit cards!).

I make my way north to the horses. I get there and the wind is really blowing like crazy. I get everyone’s feed ready. They are all down in the pasture a ways. I walk down about half way and begin to holler. Three out of four raise their heads and look at me holding a bucket of feed. I turn around and walk back to the pens. When I look back they haven’t moved but went back to grazing! I guess they are starting to get enough grass they weren’t interested in what I had! So I left them alone. Put the feed up till I’m there next time and came toward town. I was still feeling decent so stopped by the scrapbook store (this is getting to be a daily habit!). I emailed Cathy last night about the Crop on Saturday. It’s the 12 hour crop (10AM-10PM). I didn’t originally sign up because I have to work at DriveSafe Saturday night. I didn’t want to pay $20 if I couldn’t be there the whole time and not eat either! I got to thinking about it and Doyle will be a work that day so thought…I could scrapbook for 6 hours so I ask Cathy if she had room could I come for part of the day and only pay $10. She said that was fine. So that’s why I went by the store today to pay her but she wouldn’t let me because I wouldn’t let her pay me yesterday when I worked! I didn’t mind that change out!! So, unless I’m on my death bed I’m going to crop Saturday at least until about 4PM.

I got to the store around 4:30 and stayed until Cathy closed. Came home and fixed supper. Then I spent almost 2 hours ironing (my most favorite thing to do NOT!!)

That’s my day. I’m starting to feel yucky again so am going to close and try to get to bed.

Have a good one!

Wednesday, 05 April 2006

UPDATE: Mom was able to keep her email address so keep those emails coming!!! I don't have the details but she's happy!

I had a pretty good day. It was quiet in the office as Pastor is gone to a Pastors retreat. He’ll be back on Friday. I found it very interesting how the phone rarely rings when he’s gone. And it’s not that he gets a lot of calls. It’s just much quieter when he’s not there.

I was walking out of the office when Vanessa called me on my cell to see if I might want to go with her and Mom to lunch. (We can do that now that she lives here!). Vanessa didn’t have to work today. She called her new home phone and got no answer so she called me back and asked for her cell number. Found out she was getting her hair cut, a manicure and brow wax! Guess she’s getting all “gussied up” for a potential job interview! We met at Pulido’s (my favorite local Mexican food Restaurant).

Came home and let the dogs out. I was once again opened the door to disaster. Vanessa had left Kaidence out and guess what. Yep, she made a mess deluxe! This time she got in my scrapbook stuff! I had my paper carrier in the floor and she got into it! Thankfully she didn’t tear up very much paper but I had just bought a $10 paper pack of card stock that was white and black. She chewed up the corner of the pack!!! I think I can salvage most of it! She also ripped up my Ziploc bag that held my Creative Memories ovals and circles (these are cutting tools for pictures or paper). It doesn’t appear that she tore up anything of real significant value (thank you Lord). I also had a bag I brought home yesterday from grocery shopping that had pasta in it, spaghetti, egg noodles, and something else. Well she scattered that EVERYWHERE! I called Vanessa she said she would come home to clean it up and would replace what was destroyed. Let me tell you, God must have really worked something in me for me to not be upset or raging with anger. Surprisingly I wasn’t mad at all! I guess I might have felt differently if she had tore up something like before that might not be able to be replaced.

I gathered up my scrapbooking stuff. I told Cathy yesterday that I would come by today to let her train me some more. I decided it if wasn’t busy I would scrapbook. It wasn’t a very good day training as it was a slow customer day. But it was a good day to just help her move some product to the sale wall and put out some new product. I got there about 2PM and stayed until 6:30PM. I enjoyed it. Gosh I have a lot to learn about the product! But I’m sure it will come the more I work around it. Cathy really wants to use me during her “Crop-a-thon” she is hosting the weekend of National Scrapbook Day in May. She is going to have the store open and the crop room available from 6PM Friday until 6PM Sunday! She is going to charge $80 which will secure your space and pay for food during that time. If people want to sleep at the store they can or stay up all night. She knows she will have several locals so she is also offering the option to come and go. Leaving your stuff there. She is counting on this to be a very big event. Business has been doing extremely well for her. I am very glad. My friend Kelly and I have been praying that she would prosper and she is!! As I was getting ready to leave today she tried to pay me but I wouldn’t let her. Mainly because she didn’t call me in and I wanted to bless her. She had a very slow day today. She was a bit miffed at me at first but I told her there would be plenty of time for that. Knowing her she’ll find a way to “pay” me even if it isn’t with “cash”. I’m not worried about it. I really just wanted to learn how to do some things and help her. I just hope I was really helpful!

Got to go to bed so I can get up in the morning for prayer at church!

Have a great one!

April 5, 2006

Helped Mom with getting things organized. Doyle went with me and probably was more help than me. He got her washer hooked up and hung her phone on the wall. There were several things we needed from Wal-mart so Mom made a list. She was still waiting on the phone company and electric company to show up. Doyle asked her “Have you checked to see if your phone is working?” She said “no”. So Doyle dialed her new number with his cell phone and it worked! She said “Oh, my gosh, I’ve been waiting on the phone guy all day. Now how am I going to get a phone book?” We told her to put the phone book on the list and we'd pick her up one. City Hall keeps a county phone directory. It isn’t SBC but it will work. Doyle and I then left for town. We stopped by the house so Doyle could get some things he had to work on stuff at her duplex. We get our shopping done and head back to the duplex. Doyle gets the dryer hooked up (the vent hose didn’t make the move). We tried to get Mom a small TV stand but were unsuccessful. She wants one that fits in the corner. She was using a dresser to sit her TV on before in her living room in Houston. Vanessa told her she needed to get a real TV stand or entertainment center. Since we didn’t find what she wanted she is going to wait until she has time to look herself. So while Doyle is getting the TV put on the dresser and hooking up her dishnetwork box, I’m unpacking her computer to get it set up. There is a dish on the duplex but the service wasn’t working. She will need to contact them to reactivate her account. We also discovered that she doesn’t have DSL service here. That’s what she used for internet in Houston. She got her service and phone together which she liked. Well, not here! DSL is available IN Mineral Wells but her duplex is five miles outside the city limits and it’s not available! She isn’t happy! When we left she was in the process of trying to at least get dial up service through SBC. They kept telling her she would have to be a new email address. She didn’t understand why. So those of my family who read this don’t send anymore emails to her email address because it is changing. I’m sure she will notify you as soon as she has all that squared away. We couldn’t stay any longer as we had leadership meeting tonight at Pastor’s house.

The pics from my ride last week.

Me and Blue taking a "grass break" (Like he doesn't have any in the pasture!)

Vanessa talking on her cell phone as we ride down the road.

My faces itches please scratch me!

Some friends we met along the way.

Me and Blue at the only Church in Oran.

Vanessa in front of the old post office.

 

Goodnight everyone!

Tuesday, 04 April 2006

I don’t know what my deal is but yesterday I kept thinking it was Tuesday and today I kept thinking it was Monday!!! I’m so confused!  I’ll try to get my head out of the fog. I’m kind of bummed. We had absolutely “perfect” weather for riding yesterday and today. Yesterday I spent helping Mom and today I felt like crap! (It’s that monthly thing!) I plan to ride probably Thursday but of course it’s supposed to be warmer and more humid. I don’t care….I’m riding anyway!!! When I was a teenager I would ride in all kinds of weather except in rain (didn’t want to be a lightning rod!). Now that I’m older I’m more particular about the weather. Geez, this getting older stuff is making a weenie out of me AGHHH!!! Of course there’s also this little issue called “responsibility” that I didn’t have as a teen. Didn’t have to worry about having a job, buying groceries, doing laundry, cooking meals (well did some of that). Anyway you know what I mean. It’s just not the same now. I have to think about others besides me! It also doesn’t help that they (the horses) are 14 miles away. That has had a much bigger impact than I thought it would. For the last 10 years the horses have been within 5-7 miles from where I lived. That definitely spoiled me. I can hardly wait until I can see them looking out my kitchen window and if I get an urge to ride I can just go out and “get ‘er done”!! That day can not come soon enough for me!!

Mom called me about 3pm today. She is so funny. I think she’s going to be very good for me…making me laugh all the time! (A merry heart does good like medicine Proverbs 17:22). She said “Where you at?” (she called me on my cell) I said home. She said “I thought you’d be riding today” (twinge of guilt). I said “I was going to but didn’t feel up to it.” She said “Well, if you’re going to be home then I want to come by and check my email.” She doesn’t have internet service yet.

After checking email she wanted to go to Wal-mart. She had made another list of things she wanted to pick up. She asked me if I felt up to going. I said “Sure”. I needed to buy groceries anyway. Vanessa picked up a few things for me but I’m not quite ready to turn her loose to buy all my groceries just yet. Boy wouldn’t that be nice to let her do that while she’s at work and then I don’t have too! That is very appealing!

Would ya’ll continue to be praying for the family of the girl who WAS missing. Even though she has been found and she is okay, she hasn’t come home so there are some things that need to be work out in relationship with her parents. I know God has a plan in the midst of all this but that doesn’t make it any less painful for the parents or for their daughter, Charis.

I always let Blue have a good rub after we are done riding. He loves for me to rub his head and scratch the places that are itchy from sweat. When he really gets into it he just starts rubbing on me! I generally just brace myself and let him go at it. He wasn't all that "itchy" today so Vanessa couldn't get a pic of him in action.

 

Here's a profile of Valentine. He's our oldest horse (21)

This is Valentine's rump. Do you notice the shape of one of the spots? In the middle of the picture it sort of resembles a "heart shape". We named him Valentine because we purchased him just a few days before Valentines. It was later we noticed the heart shaped spot!

That's all for tonight! Have a good one!

Sunday April 2, 2006

 Sunday, 02 April 2006

The GIRL who was missing has been FOUND today safe and sound!!! Thanks to all of you who prayed. I have learned more since I initially posted. Evidently the mother and daughter argued. My guess is this was her way of “making a point” but not sure. I’m just glad she is okay and she was not any real danger!

So did everyone remember to “spring forward”!! The older I get the hard this springing forward business gets! I just wish they would live it one way or the other! Needless to say I didn’t get to bed early in fact I probably went to bed later because I wasn’t paying attention to the time. So I already was in the deficit because of that then take away another hour! UGH!! I was tired this morning!

Mom got here around 2pm Saturday with her friends who drove the U-Haul. We visited for a few minutes. I asked mother if she had the key to the duplex. She said “no she would have to call the guy who by the way she didn’t remember his name or have his phone number!!! I’m thinking “how can you not know his name…I know his first name is Andrae (sp?)” And how can you not have his phone number you’ve called and talked to him. Well, she didn’t know how to retrieve a called number from her cell phone. We looked but her phone only holds the last 10 numbers called! She had the number “somewhere” but she didn’t know where in the stuff that was packed where it was. Well, I did know (somewhat) the lady who showed us the duplex. I knew she lived in the same area so we go up there to see if we can find her. I go to where I remember her living when she was Vanessa’s cheerleading sponsor. I knock on the door and a lady comes but it isn’t her. I ask and she says yeah she used to live right next door but she moved to the next street. Well, the next street was the same street my mother was going to live. So we go over there and I knock on the door of the first duplex that I can find someone home. A young woman comes to the door and says “yeah she lives next door to me but her car isn’t here so I’m guessing she’s gone.” Well, then I get smart and tell the lady my mother is moving into the duplex next to here and we are needing to get a hold of the land lord did she have the number and would she give it to me. The answer was yes to both questions (thank you Lord!!). I get the number and give it to mother to call.

Come to find out the duplex isn’t quite ready for mother to move into. (oh great!) The landlord was going to have new carpet laid this morning. So no unpacking the U-Haul yesterday. He told mother he was coming to Mineral Wells from Arlington (about 60 miles away). Said he’d be there in about an hour. That was at 4PM. At 7PM he calls mother to say he’s finally in town for her to meet him at the duplex to go over the lease agreement, pay the rent and get the keys. So Mom stayed here with us last night.

Keannon (Vanessa’s boyfriend) offered to help get the u-haul unloaded today. He called a few of his buddies. Doyle was on duty today so he couldn’t help. I was so tired that I bowed out and came home to lay down. I didn’t feel well (you know…the monthly thing). I sort of felt guilty for not helping but not to worry there’s still plenty to do. Even though the guys unloading the truck was very helpful they just basically unloaded it without much thought or question to were it was to go! They did get her bed set up so at least she could go to sleep in her new residence. After our home group met tonight I went out to her place to see what needed to be done. I moved several boxes for her. A young Hispanic man (who spoke very little English) came to put the base boards back after having laid the carpet. He still has to come back tomorrow to put the doors back on the cabinets. Mother did discover the water was off to the toilet. Come to find out it is lose at the base! I tried to get her to come stay one more night with us but she was determined to stay in her new home. Can’t say that I blame her. She met her new duplex neighbor and come to find out I work with him at Drivesafe! Well, I’ve only see him a few times. He usually works with the day crew. Obviously the news is out at Drivesafe that I’m leaving because he said “so you’re quitting”. I said yep, tired of working two part time jobs.

I told you that our home group fed the Fire/EMS and Police departments tonight as our outreach. We cooked hamburgers. We’ve done this before and they really seem to enjoy it. There were four officers and two from dispatch who ate and 4 from the fire/EMS side. Doyle got to be a recipient since he was on duty tonight.

To tell you just how excited my mother is about being here and being a part of our church. I introduced myself to a visitor and he said I met your mother. She had already greeted the guy and she’s not even a member yet! Well I guess technically she is because all you have to do to be a member is express your desire to commit to our congregation and she said some time ago before she moved that one of the reasons she wanted to live in Mineral Wells was to attend our church! Then as we took time in our service to go over prayer requests and praise reports that people had turned in my mother literally springs to her feet and says “I have a praise report!” (I’ll have to instruct her that she is supposed to write down her praise reports…oh, well, she’s new and it’s okay!!) She said “I’m here even though I’m not moved in yet.” Pastor said “that’s good. Do you have a job yet?” She said “no”. He said “then you need to fill out a prayer request for a job”! (I loved the way he did that!! So she promptly grabbed a prayer request card from the pocket of the chair in front of her and filled one out!!

Well, need to get to bed. Guess I’ll be spending the afternoon at Mom’s to help her get things put away. She wants to re-arrange the sofa too as it was just put in the living room. She was trying to put things based on where the cable and electrical outlets were. I told her to arrange it the way she wanted it then we’d figure out how to get everything working.

I haven’t shared any scripture or thoughts lately. I am still working through the devotional….maybe not as consistent as I should but I am still going through it. All week the devotional has had me in Psalm 46 talking about the “Refuge of the Pilgrim” There has been some real meat in this. Here’s some highlights:

Excerpts from Pilgrimage of the Heart by Catherine Martin Week 4, Day 1

Have you found your refuge? Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

God has provided a hiding place for you, no matter what you are facing. Your goal is to learn about your place of refuge and how to run for cover there in the storms of life.

Day 2

Where is God in the storm? Psalm 46:4-5 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

What puts our hand once again to the plow so that we can move on in the path God has set before us? It is the discovery of God in the midst of the storm.

One of the greatest lies the Enemy of our souls ever tries to tell the world and us is that God is distant, that He is not interested, and in fact, at times abandons us. When those words shout loudly outside your city walls, you need to know what is true. You need to hear it from God Himself. God does not lie. You can count on what He says. If He says it, that settles it. Then it is up to you to decide what you are going to believe is true: His word, or thoughts and feelings that are in conflict with what God says.

When everything is falling apart, God is still there, in your midst. He has not moved. And His presence makes a difference.

I’ll share more tomorrow. Don’t want to over do it!

God is MY refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble!

Have a good one!

Saturday April 1, 2006

 

Saturday April 1, 2006 

I am posting early as I have a serious prayer request and hoping that any of who see this will begin to pray fervently.

One of the members of our congregation has a 19yr old daughter that has been missing since 11:30 Thursday night. She hasn’t shown up for work. No one has seen or talked to her since Thursday. The parents needless to say are very upset. She has never done anything like this before. The police won’t write a report because the father told them his daughter and her mother had an argument so they (the police) see that as a domestic dispute. It doesn’t help that she is 19. She still lives at home. So please pray as you read this.

I spent Friday afternoon trying to get my scrapbooking stuff reorganized. Too many times when I go to a crop I end up working until the last minute and then I’m throwing stuff everywhere to get cleaned up to go home, thinking “I’ll put that where it belongs when I get home”, which I don’t! So then it’s a mess when I go crop again. I’ve got to come up with a better system!

Anyway I get to the crop about 30 minutes late. I realized after I got home from Drivesafe Thursday that I left my check there. UGH!! I wanted to go get it on my way to the crop. I say UGH because it’s 7 miles out there then back to town and 2.5 more miles to the scrapbook store but I don’t work again until next Friday and I didn’t want to wait that long.

I finally get to the crop. I only got 2 pages completely done. I got two more started. I spent some of the time shopping as Cat was having a GREAT SALE and I wasn’t sure I would be able to go by the store today with my Mom coming.

Mom called this morning. She was frustrated. It was 8AM and they were leaving Houston. She had hoped to be on the road by 7AM. She said she wished now she hadn’t let these “well meaning people” talk her out of hiring a moving company. She said it was horrible and she was so tired and hurt so bad that she couldn’t sleep. She finally got a little sleep between 3AM and 6:30AM. Last word I had was she didn’t want to unload the truck when she got here. Doyle and I are hoping to talk her out of that because that leaves Sunday which is a busy day for us and Monday I have to work the morning. Doyle is off. Keannon has to work which we were counting on his help. She has to have the U-Haul back Monday. I guess we’ll see when she gets here. If we can convince her that all she has to do is point and tell us where to put stuff she might let us go ahead.

Well I need to run a few errands. I may come back and update at a later time. Just have to see how the day goes.

Thursday, 02 February 2006

I went to the scrapbook store again today. Forgot to pay for the class I’m taking Saturday. Also wanted to see Cat as she got back from Vegas Wednesday night.

I then came home and cooked my husband lunch. I don’t typically do that but I’m working the next three nights and thought I would fix him at least one cooked meal a day. He eats out so much already. I know he gets tired of it.  This change in me is one of many that God is beginning to work in me since the retreat.

I don’t know that I’ve truly expressed to you just how deeply the messages affected me this past weekend. At the end of the session Saturday night our speaker invited anyone who wanted her “sisters” to pray for her to come up. I shot up like I had springs in my butt! I had teared up during every session. Truths piercing me to the core. I couldn’t tell you exactly what I was responding to other than I’ve been stuck for a very long time in my walk with God and in my relationship with my husband. The speaker made the statement on Saturday night. Someone has to be the healer. Someone has to be the one to take the blame. I had come to the place of having the attitude “if he doesn’t say anything I’m not going to! Why do I have to be the one?” I know that’s a crappy attitude. I just couldn’t seem to get myself out of it. I know you wondering how I could feel this way about my husband. Don’t get me wrong, he is a wonderful man and he’s human just like the rest of them. I don’t think I’ve ever told my story on here so here goes.

I married Vanessa’s biological father when I was 21. Because I was a wounded and love hungry young woman I fell “in love” with a man that my mother said had “bedroom eyes”. I didn’t really understand what she meant at the time. (yes, I was rather naïve). He swept me off my feet so much so that I gave myself to him before we got married. At that point because I knew that was wrong the only way I could justify my actions was to marry him to “make it right”. At the time it seemed like the thing to do but that is pretty ludicrous thinking. He wasn’t ready to get married but he went along with it. My parents tried to talk me out of it but I thought I knew what I was doing. There was talk that he had been with another girl during our engagement. That should have been the first red flag. The second should have been when he showed up late to rehearsal burned to a crisp from floating down the river for his bachelor’s party and being “half lit”.

We get married and begin life together. It was very tumultuous. By our second year he had managed to isolate me from my family. Not physically but by the things he would say slowing turning me against them. Using the “they don’t like me”, “they have it in for me”. By the third year I learned he was having an affair. I was devastated. I confront him and we tried to work it out. We separated for about three months. We finally said we would try one more time. Things were going pretty well we began to talk about starting a family. I know not a good idea when your relationship is on shaky ground but nonetheless we began “trying”. Within two months I was pregnant. I didn’t know for sure, just suspected when I began seeing signs that things were not as they seemed. Then one day he comes in and says he needs to talk to me. He prefaced it with “now just hear me out and don’t get upset until I finished.” He said he had been to talk to an attorney. I of course went off! He said “I haven’t done anything yet” I said “So” you’ve still thought enough about it to go talk to one and that’s just great because I think I’m pregnant! Well all of a sudden his demeanor changes and he’s all excited at the prospect of being a father! I’m still reeling from him telling me he’d talked to an attorney. Well, we tried make a go of it but I was too hurt and didn’t trust him and he didn’t give me any reason to trust him. When I confirmed I was pregnant, I left. My thoughts at that time were “You might treat me like crap but you’re not treating my baby like that!” I cared more about the unborn child I was carrying than I did about myself.

Wow! This is getting too long so I will quit for tonight and pickup tomorrow.