Birthday at Lazy 5 Ranch

Turning 27 in about 2 hours here=) But today we went to celebrate at the Lazy 5 Ranch. Had a great time, it is always such a blessing to be with wonderful people and see God's beautiful creation.

Eland - type of Antelope

G. M.

J.J. and A.J.

Don't' remember what these are, but love the baby=)

Grandpa Giraffe - check out those wrinkles!

Cuteness Z=)

Strong like OX...

Mama Llama

Here's a few photos from today's adventures.

Monkey H.G.

Mi Amor

What a good daddy=)

Cute Family J.

B.R.

   Hope you enjoyed the photos, have a fabulous day!
Blessings to you! If you want a beautiful and inspirational song I just heard this one today and LOVE it. John Waller- Bless us and Keep us

Doing things WITH God

I have heard it said and agree it is best to do things with God rather than for God.
This is the essence of the "Mary Martha" story. The best thing we can do is to find out what God is doing and join Him in that work.
Read Luke 10:38-42
There are many layers of lessons in this story, I am merely highlighting one.=) 
You notice at the end Jesus says to Martha, " Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
Many have interpreted this to mean we shouldn't be busy serving and just sit with Jesus all day. I challenge you that perhaps it is because Mary chose to be with Him when Martha was serving Him.
In other words, many of us after being getting saved strive to do everything possible to serve Jesus. He gave His life for us, so we work and work and work to try and please Him and Father God. When in fact He doesn't love us anymore today than before we were saved. So if you are reading this and are not yet saved, God loves you too!!!! Whoo hoo! The favor with God will change as we learn to be obedient to Him, but not His love. I strove to get God's attention and love because I couldn't feel Him tangibly like it seemed so many of my friends did. But the reality is that He was with me all the time. Which He has shown me.
What God desires is a relationship with His creation, you and me. And the thing that will never be taken from us are the times and things that we do with God, not necessarily for Him. God has works He has written in the Volume I perfect will for your life and mine. Jesus did what He saw the Father doing. Jesus had visions, we can have visions. Lord sanctify our hearts and minds and imaginations in Jesus' name. We can ask Abba what He is doing and join Him in what He shows us or tells us, then we are doing it with Him. There are times God leads us with the still small voice, thoughts, impressions, feelings, and more and when we follow we are joining Him too.
Feeling example:
One day while I was at Morningstar Church when they were having Break Out meetings my right ear began to get VERY warm. A few moments later a family of 4 walked in front of me and I just knew what I was experiencing was for 1 of them. I followed them and tapped the Dad on the shoulder and asked if anyone was having ear troubles. He said, "Yes, my ear has been in pain for a few days." So I prayed with the family and agreed for his healing and voila! Holy Spirit healed his ear with us.

Impression and Thought Example:
I was praying with a dear friend of mine who had been experiencing EXTREME pain during her monthly visit. So much so that she would actually scream in pain. She knew it was demonic and had prayed about it, but it was still happening. So we sat down and asked God to show us what was going on. We both got the same picture in our minds' eye. So we asked for further revelation and got what each meant. We prayed it through, and then I thought of a man's name. It is an unusual name and I didn't think she knew anyone by that name so I ignored it. We prayed through some other things and I said, "Lord is there anything else?" The name came back to my head. I thought, well I suppose I better give it a shot. I asked her if she knew anyone named _________. Her eyes got real big and she told me a story related to this person that was VERY significant. We broke off ungodly souls between her and her family and the gentlemen and we both felt something tangible happen in the room. She felt a weight lift off of her, and she hasn't ever had any episodes again. Praise You Father for revealing to us the keys for her healing!!!!

Both instances are examples of joining with God. So let us do that today!!! Father what are You doing?

Funny Chicken Story

This happened over last Christmas (my first Christmas with my husband's family- who have a little farm)...
I REALLY wanted to pet a chicken, so...

With my chicken hat on, I open the gate...

I squat down out front and patiently wait...

They are not coming out, for I am too near...

So I wait, and wait, for them to appear.

Finally, a brave hen emerges...

Oh boy! My energy surges!

But alas, the chicken was too fast.  At least my Beloved was there, to comfort my loss and give me some care=)

But, a day or so later I did get to HOLD a chicken!!! Which was so great, she was so soft. Sadly, the reason I got to hold her is because I witnessed the neighbor's dog attacking her and ran outside to save her and she had gone into shock. So I picked her up and brought her inside. We spoke life over her, and live she did=) Hurray!!! Sorry I didn't think to get pictures of her=(
Hope I made you smile=)

Gettin' Ready

Well, after the very strange hail storm a couple days ago I am really motivated to be prepared to leave in disaster or stay in disaster. Before I continue let me say, whatever we do (preparedness-wise) we do by faith, not fear. My faith is not in the stuff, but in Yahweh Jireh - the Lord our Provider... the one who made me and takes care of the sparrows. I was not given a spirit of fear, but power love and a sound mind.
So when struggling with fear, let us go further into God's love and who Jesus is, who Holy Spirit is. Today I was reading in Matthew about Jesus healing ALL the sick who came to Him. The compassion that He walked with. I tell you, friends, the more time we spend with Jesus the more perfect love casts out fear.
Brad McClendon spoke at Church Sunday a REALLY good message. Today is the last free day to watch it on http://morningstartv.com if you are interested. He starts about an hour into the service. He was talking about how he used to read the bible to get something, an answer, or such... But he asked the Lord to deliver him so that he can read the Bible to be with Jesus and find out who He is. I love that. Let's get to know Jesus.
My friend was given the task of reading Leviticus and Deuteronomy while at IHOP in Kansas City and seeing how each rule represented the love of God! She saw amazing things in the scripture she never noticed before.
Anyways... ha ha, the tangents... So my point is, when preparing, which is wisdom- unless God has specifically told you not to prepare, let us do so in faith and love, not fear. Hurray! Exciting times ahead.

I am making a list of what I would need to go and stay and getting it together. I already have a nice backpack I used for hiking that I will turn into our "go" bag.
I am using the options from http://www.zebgear.com/catalog/zeb-gear-products/be-prepared-to-leave-gear/zeb-gear-go-bags/build-your-own-go-bag to help design what I need.

I'm also going to get food grade 55 gallon barrels. There is a guy on craigslist.org (in the Charlotte, NC area) selling them for $22 a piece if you buy 3 or more. That is cheaper than anything else I have found online. To store things in, and rain.

We have also started a garden on our porch. =)
Bren found a video on how to make a rocket oven from adobe bricks How to Make Your Own Rocket Stove...
Although, I really like the idea of a solar oven. This is a how to make video also. Solar Oven from cardboard and AL

Spending time listening to the LORD would be very good, b/c only He knows what you need=)Aw, for shalom=)
Shalom to you!

Our Story Part III -first date and the Christmas Party

...but, I convinced myself to start walking down the stairs. I smiled cheerfully, hoping he didn't feel my mixed feelings, and gave him a hug. We got in my car and headed to Best China.
The 2 things I noted from this date, my first official date of my life (excluding school dances), was that Bren ministered to the waiter before I did, and he prayed that the Lord would give me the desires of my heart. Of course I was thinking, and you think that's you buddy boy, don't you...=)
We came home and I flipped out and emotionally told my roommates I knew who my husband was and I cried from distress. It doesn't really make a lot of sense friends, but that is the thing about fear, it usually isn't in line with reason.
We continued hanging out weekly, but didn't have anymore official dates the next couple weeks. Then the Morningstar Staff Christmas Party rolls around. Bren had recently become staff for this ministry but I was hoping he was not going to be there since he wasn't terribly social. I asked a friend of mine to take me as his "date" so I could go and dance. I love to dance. =) And he said sure, and picked me and my roommate D.B. up to go.
We arrive and behold, Bren is there. He comes over to me smiling and excited saying, "I didn't know you were staff."
I said, "Oh, I'm not, I just came as [so - in so]'s date" - I said "date" as I physically made the quotations signal... That didn't seem to help. I could' ve just punched him in the gut and it would have been better. Oh, his face showed such hurt=(
Now, dear reader, keep in mind that I knew it was the wrong thing to do to ask my friend to take me. Inherently I do not think it is wrong to take friends out as a date, but I knew when I asked my friend it was not the right thing to do...

Bren went back to his seat and I went to mine. I confided in a leader at my table and his wife and told them I did a bad thing and he told me to calm down and it wasn't that big a deal.
I glanced back to see Bren... he was gone.
Oh, no... I tried to push it out of my head, said a little prayer for him and "participated" in the games.
About 30 minutes later I got a tap on my shoulder, it was him! I smiled, as if everything was right as rain (Oh drama person that I am), hello=)
"Could we talk outside for a minute?" -Bren
I agreed and went outside.
He then asked me if I disliked him, but using a much stronger word.
I felt so bad, "No, no, I don't dislike you. It's just that my whole life if a man liked me or pursued me I would run, or avoid, or push away until they changed their mind. It isn't as much you as it is you being a man that likes me that is the problem..."
We were out there for probably another hour and a half and essentially he told me he loved me. Yes, dear friends, he said, "I love you"! After being on 1 date with me! But I had a peace inside of me, Holy Spirit telling me everything was going to be alright during the whole thing. Bren said he hadn't changed his mind about pursuing me, I told him I felt the Holy Spirit leading me to him, but did NOT have the feelings to go with it. He said that was fine...!?
I went back inside and he went home. I went to my guy friend and D.B. crying because I had hurt Bren, and he said it would be fine. We went home and I kept crying because I wanted to face my fears, but it was so hard. I went inside with D.B. and cried some more because I knew who my husband was.
As I was going to sleep I complained to the Lord: he is just doing this because You told him to! He doesn't even think I'm pretty or beautiful, he didn't say a word about it on our first date...! Read Part IV
Read Part I

Wisconsin Recall? Money Now...

I'm not sure why, but somehow I got on a "Bold Progressive" mailing list and I received an e-mail about a victory in Wisconsin. I looked at it and saw it was something against budget cuts in the school system. $425,000 had been raised for this campaign.
Beloved people of the United States of America, we NEED budget cuts, or we are TOAST. If we keep spending the way we are spending and don't turn things around there will be a collapse of our entire economy. The education of our children should NOT be the governments job and expense. That $425,000 could have been used towards the actual school system in Wisconsin-  instead of attacking the people that are trying to save our country from economic destruction. There is a SERIOUS problem.
One of the Senators for my state is downright scared at the numbers that have been disclosed to him. If we want our children to be educated, we can invest in the schools as we can. If we pull together we can get through. Public School is not bad, but it started with the COMMUNITY coming together to pay the town school teacher to teach their children. This is our responsibility, not the government's.
These 5 or 6 Republicans in Wisconsin fighting to keep America afloat are NOT saying education is not important. They are looking at the grave situation at hand and trying to make a better USA for our children.


Here is the article by Mick Mulvaney:

"Telling the Truth

What is Washington doing with our money?  This is one of the most basic – and important – questions that folks have asked me since I have been in Congress.  It’s also one of the most difficult to answer.
  Of course, we always hear a lot of quick answers:  “They’re wasting it!” or “They’re throwing it away on earmarks!” or “They’re giving it away to other countries.”  And to a certain extent, every one of those statements is true. 

But those explanations don’t come close to telling the whole story.  That’s because the federal government has gotten so big that it literally spends more money than any person can comprehend.
  Consider this, if you were to spend a million dollars every single day – from the birth of Christ until today – you still would not have spent one trillion dollars.  (In fact, you would still have almost $300 billion left over.)  This year, the federal government will spend about one trillion every 120 days. 

More discouragingly, the country has fourteen times that amount in national debt.  It’s an absolutely obscene amount of money.  But this still doesn’t explain what the government is doing with all the money.  It only explains how much money is being spent.
  To explain where all the money is going, it’s easier to at least start the conversation if you take the numbers down to something that makes more sense.  For example, if our nation was just one family, then, as a family, we made around $43,000 last year.  But we spent $69,000.  That means we had to put $26,000 on the credit card.  And the big problem with the credit card is this: its balance is $284,000.
  Using that example, if Washington were to save all the money that was wasted last year (wouldn’t that be nice!) out of next year’s budget, we would save about $1,300.  That’s nothing to turn your nose up at, but it’s a far cry from the $26,000 we need to save for a balanced budget.

•   How about all the earmarks?  Suppose we were to eliminate all funding for earmarks – something else I completely agree with.  Some reports estimated that Congress spent $16.5 billion on earmarks last year.  That saves us $330 out of the family budget example.  Still a long, long way to go before we make up the $26,000 that we borrowed. 

As for all the money we give away to other countries: using our family budget example, eliminating all Foreign Aid would only save us about $920.

But my favorite example is the $35 million that Congress cut from our own budgets this year.  Yes, it was a 5% cut for us, and it is important to lead by example, but that $35 million represents less than one dollar out of the $26,000 we need to save.

So right now, after taking out all waste, earmarks, and foreign assistance, we have cut the amount we borrowed down from $26,000 to about $23,449.  As you can see, digging ourselves out of this spending hole will not be easy.
  Both parties like to talk about saving taxpayer dollars, but when it comes down to actually reducing what we’ve been borrowing, the “quick fixes” that are thrown around don’t even come close.  The fact is that we are past the point of just saying no to bad programs and wasteful spending.  At this point, we have to say no to some good programs too. In fact, we probably have to start saying no to everything, at least a little."

 
Father, give us wisdom in Jesus' name.

Redemption for Mama Squirrel

I have a nice little porch and backyard that I LOVE! Thank You Lord!
And I was sitting out there in December and noticed a big squirrel carrying twigs and small branches up a tree. And then going and getting more, she kept getting stuck on other branches since she had them horizontally in her mouth. It was quite entertaining - almost as entertaining as My Squirrel-i-gig.

I noticed it looked lie quite the unstable place she was making her nest so I prayed God would protect her and their nest. 2 maybe 3 seconds later it all came tumbling down! I thought, well Lord, that was kind of the opposite of what I prayed. But my husband said God was answering my prayer because that wasn't a good spot for them.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I heard some rustling between my fence and my neighbors fence. I got up on a chair to look over and I saw a nest and a bunch of baby squirrels in it!!!!! They were so cute. I noticed some red fabric in there and didn't think anything of it. (I am a fabric Queen by the way=)

And today, after being gone about 5 days I went to check on them and the Mama squirrel has made a very tight nest! I looked closer and saw that the red fabric was a rectangle fleece piece that I had embroidered the word SHALOM onto!!! I hadn't even realized it was missing! I had put it on my porch and she used it for her nest. What delight!!! That makes me happy it had such a good use, keepin' the babies warm.
Hurray!! Sorry I don't have a picture of the baby squirrels, I hope to get one soon.
So the point is, even though exactly what I prayed for didn't happen, the best thing did. God knows our hearts and answers them too. Mama Squirrel and her babies would not have been safe where she was building, but she ended up having a VERY safe spot to birth her babies with SHALOM=)

Worms for our Garden!

So we are officially composting in our backyard! I made my own worm inn based off of Rainbow Worm Inn.  Except I just put a tie at the bottom.
The red worms just came today. My hubby ordered 2 lbs! Did you know that you can put paper towel inserts, paper egg cartons and cardboard into your compost?? I am very excited about our in home recycling. Plus, since we are having a vegetable garden this year, we can feed our plants without having to buy more stuff at the store.

The start to our garden=)

I also found out that too much citrus is not good for the acidity of the worm castings. But egg shells help to bring your ph to balance! What a new thing I have discovered. But I am super excited about the recycling aspect of this! Let's save the planet, one family at a time! Amazing.