New Farm Animals... The Sheep

Ol' Farmer John got us five sheep this last weekend!

We all hovered, watching them climb off the trailer and start grazing in the field.

I never knew our crew would get so excited over a few sheep.

They were sheared the day we got them...  so the boys think they look naked.  I guess they do. :)

We are all looking forward to seeing them all wooly.

Here is the view of the sheep from my office window.

I'm practically pinching myself...  it is so...  blissful!

It's amazing how peaceful they are to watch.

We have already had our first spiritual lesson from watching the sheep.

Ask the boys how people are like sheep. 

This was a perfect lesson while we were studying some of the Kings of Judah and the King of Assyria this week.  It was wonderful to see the light of understanding shine in their eyes when we could use what we had learned about the sheep to illustrate human nature.

So, here we are at Green Gabled Acres with

1 cat

5 rabbits

14 chickens

5 sheep

and 5 geese

I think we are a real farm! :)

The Hydrangeas

GRACE = unmerited favor

I’ve never been so keenly aware…

Seeing His grace despite my own unworthiness.

The Israelites knew the joy of reaping what they did not sow when they entered the Promised Land…  I feel like I live there.

I have a row of big, gorgeous hydrangea bushes growing beside the garage.  Did I mention BEAUTIFUL?!  The blue blooms make my heart skip a beat.  I love them!  I can’t help but keep some in a vase on the table all the time.

Here they are…  photos have not been edited at all…  ahhhh!

As Shepard says every time we see anything beautiful or even just kinda neat as we walk around the farm, "This is God's wonderful creation!"  We find ourselves living in awe.  Sunsets and sun dapples through the trees...  Shepard reminds me that even gross bugs are part of God's wonderful creation.  I think if we just look, we could find the beauty of God's grace in a lot of things.



Shep's Latest Costume

He wanted everyone to get to see it!

He's pretty creative and never ceases amuse me... that is after I get over the shock of being confronted by Wonder Boy when I come around a corner. 

Gotta love boys!



My Dad's Birthday

We got to go to Springdale one evening last week to celebrate my Dad's birthday with him!

Josiah really enjoyed showing Grandpa how he flies helicopters on his computer game.  And Grandpa was able to give him some good pointers on how to fly!  I do believe there was a subtle science lesson or two.

Me and my Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

17th Wedding Anniversary

17 years together and it only gets BETTER and BETTER!!

Happy, happy, happy anniversary!!!

Our anniversary was the day after we got back from Florida...  so we celebrated with a dinner out at P.F. Changs!  Josiah snapped these pictures at our farm before we left.



State Signs

A new tradition!!

We LOVE traditions!!

We are hoping to get a picture of each state sign as we travel through it...  won't it be fun to see how many states we visit through the years?!



Vacation in Destin

We got to spend a week of vacation on the beach in Destin, FL!

It was fun!  A wonderful break from the normal routine.

And it was a learning curve vacation...  the boys enjoyed the beach and the ocean, but by the end of the week they preferred to just swim in the pool (which did not even have a view of the ocean!).  We're thinking we could swim in a pool without driving all the way to Florida!!  LOL. 

For our crew, beach lounging is fun for a day, but then they are ready to do something else.

They are all begging for a trip to Branson so they can go to Silver Dollar City.  :)

Here's our favorite family portraits in the sand.

Love this one of me and John!!

And here's our fun in the sun pictures.

John got to do a little snorkeling...  maybe you can get him to tell you his beached whale story! :)



The Ringbearer - Alan & Julia's Wedding

Shepard got to be the ringbearer at Alan and Julia's wedding yesterday.  He was SOOOO excited to wear his suit!!  He woke up early - before anyone else - and asked if he could just go ahead and get dressed in his suit. :) 

We played him ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" and he was groovin'!

Miss Jolene was a beautiful maid of honor!!

And Shep did a fantastic job as the ringbearer!!

And the wedding was precious!  Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Barker!



Whispering Pines

Have you ever heard a whispering pine?  I have!  Just the other evening when I was out for my walk...  that's when I love to walk... when the western sky is glowing gold, up until that magical moment when time hangs between day and night.  It caught me off guard...  the whispering.  It was so loud that I looked up and wondered if I had just heard the small, still voice of the Lord talking to me??!  I walked on and then circled back to the pines...  the ones in the picture above and listened again.  After a moment it came...  the whisper!  Most trees r~u~s~t~l~e in the wind.  But not pines... they really whisper.

And I praised the Lord for the wonderness of His creation.  (I don't think wonderness is a real word, :) but I think it captures what I mean.)  I'm not sure I would ever want to live in town again.  Maybe I really am a country girl after all.  Well, I suppose a real country girl would laugh at that... I'm not tough and I still don't like to get dirty...  but I do have a big appreciation for the peacefulness of country life!!! 

I walk on...  with the flitting butterflies, the scent of honesuckle strong along the wood edge, an occasional splash when a frog jumps in the pond and my favorites... my hand nestled in my hubby's strong hand or the sound of my boys' laughing as they run to catch up.