News Update

Hey Everybody!

This is basically just a news update. We don't like to wait so long before updating the blog. We've just been busy and tired. Jose' has been working long hours to meet a deadline on a job. I have been trying to plan my parents 50th anniversary party. My sister and her family helped. My sister-in-law and brother helped. But since I'm unemployed right now and they are busy and/or live out-of-town, I was responsible for a lot of the details. I'm not good at stuff like that. I was so glad to see my sister and her family drive up as I was attempting to decorate. They just started setting out vases and spreading tablecloths and made it seem so easy! It was this past Sunday even though today is their actual anniversary. They seemed to enjoy it and I'm very thankful for all the family and friends who came.

Recently I've noticed that a lot of friends and family members are experiencing change of some sort. It's like we're being stretched. But while changes like these are usually for the best, they can still be painful to some degree. Fenelon says"...God wants you to grow a little at a time and not burst into instant maturity. You must endure the painful process of change. There is much more at work here than your instant maturity. God wants to build a relationship with you that is based on faith and trust and not on glamorous miracles..." Jesus says "...take up your cross daily..." I'm so glad that God is faithful to complete the good work He has begun in each of us.

KDR

OUR YARD

Greetings! Today was such a nice day. I can tell that Fall is coming. The nice thing is....days are a bit cooler and the landscape is still nice and green.

It seems as though we have a regular visitor to our bird feeders and bird bath. One day Denise and I were leaving to go somewhere and she noticed the squirrel on the tree. He didn't move. Maybe he thought that we couldn't see him. So I went in and got the camera. For a while there he would come up on our porch.....that's where we keep the bird food. Then Denise put out food for him on the porch. Now she puts out food at the base of the tree (you see in the picture) for the squirrel and some doves that also frequent the feeders. For some reason the doves like to eat off the ground. As of now we have 1 bird house, 2 feeders and a bird bath. It's nice having the visitors.

I don't know if you remember the sunflowers we grew this year. I put some pics on a previous post. Anyways.......once they got so big and started to buckle over....I cut the heads off and the seeds became food. That was nice to be able to do that. We'll probably grow them now for that purpose.

Here are our Cuban Oregano and Garlic plants we got earlier this year when we went to Daytona Florida. As you can see they never made it into the ground or a planter. They are tough plants to thrive where they have. I tried to move them one day and discovered that roots had passed from the pot into the ground. We just left them there. Hope they make it through the winter.

We found a pretty rose bush at Marvin's several months ago. I thought it was the coolest color. It's been slow this year. But when it puts out a bloom.....it's beautiful. This (above photo) is my version of an artistic shot.

Here's another photo of the rose in the bird bath. As you can see we have another vine at the base that has never made it into the ground. It's a sweet potato vine. Nice green and purple colors.
Of course.....our Alabama bird feeder. We love to see the little Nuthatches sitting amid the food.
That's our little yard in a nutshell.

AN UPDATE

Cleo is doing well. She's adjusting to life with the other animals. I have noticed a difference in her than the other goats. She's been a loner. Unlike the other goats.....she spends most of her time grazing by herself. I have seen her a time or two with the horses. We hope to get a couple more pygmy goats. I'd like to find a male and another female.

I really enjoy Cleo. She finds me when I walk down to the barn. While I feed the other animals she'll help herself to the horse feed or corn (that I drop on purpose). We hope to have her a place fenced in really soon. I've already prepared a small building for her to use as a shelter. All that is left is to put up a new fence and an entrance gate. Hopefully that will happen soon.

The other day Aaron (Denise's dad) and I went to Steele Alabama to set some head stones (grave markers) on some of his relatives graves. On our way back we stopped at the feed store and someone gave me a goat. They said he was a pygmy goat. George (the goat) does look like a pygmy, but he's much bigger (atleast 3 times bigger than Cleo). By the way....the name George was given by the family I got him from. He's pretty feisty and likable. I've noticed that he's a loner as well. The only bad thing about George is that he's been cut (neutered). Why? I don't know. The previous owner chose to do so. We'll see how George works out.

I know it's a bit overwhelming for Cleo and George. I don't know where Cleo came from but I do George. He was an only goat amidst 2 horses. A childhood pet for 2 grandchildren who had no interest in him anymore. He's smart enough to know who feeds him. He'll come up to me as well. Of course I'll have to keep an eye on him........I've averted many attempt to 'butt' me by George. I'll get a photo of him soon. -JGR

I Tim. 3:1-7

I Tim. 3:1-7 "But mark this; There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their ways into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. ...so also these men oppose the truth..."

It is easy to read these verses and think how awful people like this are or even that we know of someone like this. But the revealing thing for me was how easy it would be to become someone like this. I've had hard truths revealed to me through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And by hard words from a friend. I wrestled with them at times but, finally, the grace of God working in me allowed me to acknowledge these hard truths and repent. But if we don't acknowledge the truth, or if we do but continue in a sin, then I think we would be in danger of becoming just like the people described. I believe that one way we have a form of godliness but deny the power is by claiming to be a Christian and doing all the outward things a Christian should do, but also cling to a pet sin. We have the form but we're denying God's power to deliver us when we confess and repent. Or if God tells us to do something and we don't. We're denying God's power to take care of us. I say "we" but at some point in my life, I've had the form but denied the power in both these ways.

Oh, and about hard words from others, maybe these ones aren't speaking in love when they really should be; but maybe sometimes we require a harsh word to penetrate a hard head or hard heart. John the Baptist called the religious leaders a brood of vipers, maybe it took that for some of them to acknowledge the truth and believe in Jesus. Because some of them did. I think I required a hard word when I received one and I'm very thankful for it and for the people who had the guts or the tough love to deliver it. But even when the Holy Spirit gently reveals something to me it is still just as painful as a hard word from a person. It is my hope and prayer that "through the pain will our spirits gain."

KDR