And more trouble

I wonder sometimes why The Lord allows such problems.
My mother, sister, and I are now stuck at an O’Reilly’s Automotive with engine trouble on the family van, and Daddy’s trying to find us after taking the work van to try to get tires (not completed yet).
And we’re here now with crippled vehicles, 1/2 hour from home, exhausted, with more work than we can handle pressing on us each day, and chores still waiting at home.

And what’s the reason?

A satanic attack, maybe? A trial from The Lord?

A Trouble

The story of yesterday – told shortly because I have fallen victim to one of those ever-so-often splitting headaches and am still trying to trudge through the day’s work.

As Carra and I made it home yesterday evening and tended the herd and our little garden, Mama called us up – very anxious – and talked to Carra.
All I could hear was, “Oh no!!” and, “Do you want us to come pick you up?”
Carra was on the phone sometime before I finally found out that the work van – already a not-too-reliable vehicle and packed to the hips with tools and other things I know in general as “junk” ( 🙂 ) – had blown a flat on a busy part of I-77 and Daddy hadn’t been able to pull the van off the road far enough.
They were changing the tire anyway – thank Jesus for whoever came up with the idea for spares! – and we prayed (and sent word to friends who also prayed!) and Mama told us to go on with chores (and I wonder go easily she thought we could do that with her scared and crying over a half hour away?).

But Jesus is so good.
This is what I was trying to say yesterday; that if we trust Him for everything, even in to most simple things in life He will protect us and guide us.
If our minds are stayed on Him.

If we get all caught up with ourselves, our individuality, our personal “rights”, then there is no room in our hearts for Jesus – even if we believe in Him – and no room in our lives for His Guidance and Protection, as He knows we feel we can “handle” the situation without Him – even if we don’t confess that.

Well, back to work with me.
Praying you all enjoy this Thursday – and hopefully without a headache!! 🙂

Five Minute Friday

Five-Minute-Friday.

A blog idea where you pick a subject and write about it for five minutes.

Simple, huh?

I got the idea from my dear sister, Carra, and have decided to try to implement it onto my blog – some, if not most Fridays…we’ll see how it goes! 🙂

My first topic for Five-Minute-Friday is the one who gave me the idea, my sister, Carra. 🙂

So, here are my five-minute thoughts about my sister, Carra. 🙂

These are out-of-order, as you can see, but I decided to leave them they way they are.

The added-in thoughts are in italics.

Enjoy!

• Loves to crochet. {She has crocheted some of the most beautiful work I’ve ever seen. I think, if she were back in France in the 18th century, someone would track her down and pay her some very fine fortune to make lace for the Versailles – sounds silly, but I really mean it!}
• Loves to help others – even to a fault at times. {Sweet Carra, before you protest, you must confess, helping has gotten you into some…well….. 😀 }
• Is out going – she drags me to things that are really very good for us, but that I’d otherwise shun if not for her willingness to try something new. {Like…ahem…that small ruminant convention up in western NC. I would have never gone if not for K. Thanks, sissy!}
• Loves to cook – Oh! does she love to cook! {Cakes, sweets, main dishes, side dishes, dessert dishes – anything that’s difficult and complicated is game for her!}
• Decorates cakes. {Lovely. And someone’s birthday is coming up…time to start thinking and having fun with sugar and color again!}
• Can figure math in her head like a whiz. 🙂 I don’t even try to compete (unless I have a calculator! 🙂
• Will drive us places, even if she doesn’t particularly want to drive, because she knows I don’t like to drive. {Isn’t she so sweet – but you should tell me when you don’t want to drive more, sissy! I’ll drive for you.}
• Is very giving; she’ll give her time, her effort, her things, her work to others with so much love. {Crocheted afgahns, blankets, tablecoths (and these aren’t cheap gifts if you were to buy them!}
• Loves farming. I think that’s her truest love in life (apart from her service to her Savior!) is her farming. She loves working with the goats, dreams of farming a cattle dairy with hundreds of cows, loves the hard, hot work, the quiet days.
• Loves to read. {When she has a good book you can hardly tear her from it!}
• Loves to write poems.
• Loves to play music. {Piano, Violin, and singing; she has a beautiful singing voice.}
• Loves to meet new people.
• Loves. {She loves to just love people; her family and friends, people in need. One day this gift will be used, sissy! Just trust Jesus for it!} 

And that’s one of my two very dear sisters in a five-minute nutshell. 🙂

 Love you bunches, K!

Monday Musings

Musing over this Monday, I find….

That I DO stutter as bad as I thought, but The Lord Jesus knows and I am happy for everything He gives me.
That our Jesus is wonderful and merciful beyond our imagination and His lessons are often so hard for us to learn and go through but the beauty behind it all is above our comprehension.
That I love my Jesus more than ever before.
That my family is the best ever! (All twelve of us! 😉 )
That spring is so close.
That I love yellow note paper. 🙂
That I still love my silent friend more than ever.
And that 2:20am is not a good time to go to bed!!

Goodnight everyone!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful to The Lord Jesus this Thursday for;

The warm, spring days.
The still cool, winterish evenings.
Work days with my family.
The trip in town Wednesday, looking at the houses coming up for bid next week.
My diary.
Cameras to take pictures.
Memo

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful to the Lord Jesus this week for;

His Word to read – even on my iPhone at work (despite my great dislike of ebooks in general).
Sisters and friends to talk with and pray with.
Relatively healthy goaties.
Highways to get to work on.
A sister who likes to drive.
Chapstick. (Where would we be without those nice sticks of petroleum jelly to rub on our burning lips chaffed from winter winds?)
Bluegrass Gospel music. (Happy sigh….)
Facebook.

A job finished.

Thank the Lord Jesus, He allowed us to finish our first HUD job yesterday,

October 26th 2012.

This is how the house looked when we first came….

All the patio doors you see here had to be removes, closed in, 

or replaced with new doors/windows.

Three more, which you can’t see here, had to be done the same way.

Everything up and ready to go home! 

It has been a difficult 8 weeks…but at the same time, its been 

8 weeks of togetherness, joy, and a lot of hard work for our family – 

all those things are certainly memory-makers! 🙂

We thank and praise Jesus for the opportunity we had to do this job. 

And I think we can learn much from having been here.

Even through all the struggles and pain…not to mention loss of time at home,

and a good deal of confusion…

we should learn to look more to our Lord Jesus…

to see His Hand in even the simplest things we live through during

the day-to-day. 

If we could look at things more like this…

see His Hand in our lives; and less of ourselves…

we could enjoy to the fullest the days He gives us – whether we’re doing 

what we think we ought to be doing or not.

Life is not meant to be all fun. 

Its not meant to be a game.

And its not meant to be lived for oneself.

Through each new experience we go through…

I am learning what life is really meant to be. 

Its to be lived in the Lord Himself – His Life in us, working His 

Works through us, and suffocating our flesh so that He can be glorified…

in even the littlest things that we usually would see no spiritual value in whatever.

Like the work we do for a living.

If we could trust Him like this. 

And see that life is hard…we have to work hard…we are going 

to have trials, trouble, and heartache….

But trust Him, anyways….

Then we could, like Paul, learn to be content in whatsoever state

we find ourselves in – even if the state we are in is contrary to us in every way.

We could enjoy the little things in life.

The things the Lord Jesus gives to us to enjoy and worship Him through.

The little things we pass by…

because we’re too busy with ourselves….

to busy worrying about ourselves….

We must have faith in Him, and believe HIM.

Nothing and no one else….

He alone can we put our trust in.

Then…

we can rest; in His Joy and His Peace…

in His Life.

Of Trains

The other day, on the way to work,

Carra and I past an unusual train parked on the tracks

that cross the road we take daily.

There’s many tracks going through our part of the county,

but usually you only see cargo carriers. 

It so uncommon to find trains like this that we stopped and 

took a few pictures.

They were from Georgia, SC, and Florida.

The Georgia car was actually the dining car – you could see the kitchen

through the windows. 🙂

Monday

"The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the Strength of my Life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

It snowed up in North Carolina over Sunday night.

Monday morning was the scheduled by-pass surgery for our half sister's son, Randy.

Turn the Page please…..

Friday Photos

This week has been a busy one….and mostly spent from home, too!
Up about 100 miles away in Statesville, NC. We are taking down a deck for the lumber at a home of one of our relatives. The Lord Jesus has richly blessed us with this!
I like visiting Statesville…that's actually where Carra and I were born, and where most of our closest relatives are. I'm not quite sure I'd want to live there again….its a pretty big town compared to our little place! 🙂

Turn the Page please…..