On the nights without a moon, it feels like we are camping - so many stars it's hard see the black.
It kind of seems like we get an awesome sunrise and an awesome sunset every day. I started taking pictures but I think I can stop...I will never get tired of this view.
We have promised K a cat since the day she turned two..."as soon as we have land so it can stay outside"...that came and then so did the kitten. She named it Snowy.
It will live in the barn, well, for as long as it can survive. To say we are surrounded by wildlife is a slight understatement. There is a family of deer that inhabit our place, a flock of turkeys, turkey vultures, coyotes, bobcats, you name it, it is here. If this wee one survives, it was made to live here.
Amongst the little things that have to get done, staining our new deck...
GiGi (great-grandma) celebrated her 84th birthday last week. We had just the family over and went for a swim.
There's the birthday girl.
Blaze got in on the celebration.
Emi made her her own card..."Der GG, love Emi". I asked her if she forgot the last two letters of her name or just wanted to go by Emi and she said she couldn't remember. Oh my child! :-)
People have always tried to figure out who Em looks like - M or me. The answer? Neither! This is my Uncle...my Mom's brother.
My cousin came over the other day and said, "I have a daughter and she looks just like you!" These genes are strong. They took their glasses off and then M held up his hand and asked them how many fingers he was holding up...
Nana even brought over light up balloons...
Seriously, I watch this during my morning quiet time.
Of course, there was Em's eye surgery. After she was done, I was holding her and she fell asleep. Suddenly she felt very hot to me, so I pulled off her gown and could see a rash under her arms and on her upper thighs. The nurse and I looked at it amazed as we could visibly see it spreading across her belly and down her legs. She grabbed the phone and called the dr and I sent out a quick text and started to pray. By the time the dr got there five-ish minutes later, it was completely gone - not a sign of it. The nurse, embarrassed, looked at me for confirmation that she wasn't crazy. I, simply nodded and thought, "Okay, God, you for sure get full credit for that one!"
She had blood tears for a couple of days and since her eyes were constantly watering, she kind of had a messy face. Day one wasn't so pretty and she slept a lot, sweated a lot and made Momma feel bad for her. I just laid next to her and read to her for a long, long time.
Thankfully K got home from being with Nana (Nana took her for the night before and the day of so it wouldn't be chaos and K could have some fun while Em was out...she had a blast! Thanks Nana!). She took over the reading and Em perked up for the first time all day.
The card K made was super cute. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and little toys; she loved them!
Well, after the rain we got for those three days, we had some work to do draining the arena. They WILL turn into good helpers!
The night before Em's surgery, I was kind of stressing out. I was worried. God had already chosen to use the weather to speak to me about him being in charge of this land and him being the provider and protector and the rain we had gotten was just proof of it. I was making dinner when God said, "Look up". I said, "I know, it's raining outside, you are going to take care of the land, I know, I understood that message. I am sorry I doubted you." And He said, "No, look up." So I did. The sun blinded me. I looked to the side and saw the rain. I ran outside to find the rainbow. I first went to the other side of the house (bc I knew where it would be) and thought, that's neat and was about to go inside when I decided I wanted to see if the other end was on our property.
When I came out back I could see the rainbow making a covering over our house. It was such a promise to me that I started to cry. Immediately I thought of a verse I had prayed over the house several weeks before, found in Isaiah 4, it talks about the LORD being a canopy over the land...'and over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.' As I stood there, in the rain, crying, thanking God for his answer, for his provision, for his presence, the rainbow turned into a double rainbow - a double provision - and I immediately thought of Em. I ran inside and called for her. Em has never seen a real rainbow before because there hasn't been enough contrast between it and the sky. With the brightness of the colors and the dark background she said, "Oh!! That's a rainbow! I see it!" And God said, 'See? I got her too.' I pulled out my phone and took this panoramic. You lose the angle in the panorama, but the rainbow was sitting directly over our house!
Em was out and about after her surgery though she wasn't entirely herself. We went to take a look at tractors...
Yes, we will be buying a tractor soon. Who knew? Right? Isn't that the story of our lives right now? Who Knew? GOD!!!! He for sure didn't tell me about this one because I would have run away from it. Or laughed, and then ran away.
Thank you for your prayers and keep them coming! My Mom is doing well after her surgery to remove a nickle sized melanoma near her ear but she is sore and tired and feels pretty beat up so please keep her in your prayers too. God Bless!!
