Open Doors

My oldest daughter plays keyboard for her church. This week she is able to go to a worship leaders conference. She will be able to take workshop classes specically for the keyboard. I am so happy for her. She has always had a heart for worship and for missions. It seems that the Lord is leading her in the right direction. She just returned from a missions trip to Paris, France in October. I find myself watching in awe as He continues to open doors for her.

I wanted to share this video of Brenton Brown playing one of my favorite worship songs. He will be leading worship tonight at the conference my daughter is going to. I feel very blessed by the opportunities the Lord is providing for her. I love seeing the work He is doing in her life.

**Remember to turn the blog music off at the bottom before listening to the music. I amsure you will be blessed by it. :)

**Also, the words keep getting messed up in this post. I have tried to fix it several times. If it's not right this time, I am just going to leave it and apologize for the way it looks. :(

More Pictures From the River

I was able to get a few more pictures from from my sweet daughter of our afternoon at the river. I feel the need to say a few things about our river. If you live in an area where there is more water, this may look more like a creek to you. When we looked at property in Missouri two years ago, we saw water ways the realtor called "cricks" (in his funny, endearing accent) that were much larger than our river.

We live near the headwaters of this river. Our end of it is small. As it meanders through our mountains and hills on it's way to the lower elevations of our state, it grows much larger. We love it here where it starts. It is just the right depth for the younger children to play in without worrying their dear old mother too much. :-D

Me, and the love of my life.

We enjoyed a long walk up stream.

I love the reflections in the water.

The littles playing in the water.

Pleasant Days

What started out to be a sad kind of a morning turned into a very lovely day. Much was accomplished during school time. Lots of laughter and energy has filled the house. Even a pleasant nap on the couch, while the littles finished their history notebook pages, was thrown into the mix.

We celebrated another birthday on Saturday. My youngest daughter turned 11. We went to the river not too far from our home, one of our favorite places. The water was still warm enough for the kids to play in. They found an old railroad tie which they turned into a raft of sorts. They put their youngest brother on top and floated him down stream over and over. By the end of the afternoon, he had acquired a fair amount of balance and may someday be a promising surfer. It was lots of fun to watch. Of course we told them they were only allowed to go as deep as their knees. I am afraid they think that is some kind of special code for "totally drenched".

Of the hundreds of pictures my oldest daughter took that day, this is the only one I have been able to get my hands on. It is of my middle daughter. I just love all the Fall colors in the background. Hopefully, I can get a few more pictures to post this week. I think I need to have a talk with my girl....

18 Years Ago...(with a new picture)

18 years ago today, my second child was born. I can't believe how fast time goes by! It seems like just yesterday she came into the world. This picture was taken shortly after she arrived, 8 pounds, 4 ounces worth of pure wonderfulness...

Her birth was amazing to me. You see, my first child was breech and was born by cesarean. I was determined not to have another cesarean. I read everything I could get my hands on about VBAC's. My husband and I sought out the best care we could find from both a midwife and a doctor. We planned to deliver in a hospital 45 minutes away that was more friendly towards VBACs and arranged for the midwife to follow us there for support (and help along the way if needed :).

I labored most of the night alone since I did not want to go to the hospital too soon. Once my husband realized what was happening, things started moving quickly. He called the midwife to come over and his mom to take care of our son. The midwife got lost since we lived way out in the boonies, over mountainous, curvy, dirt roads with no street signs or lights. We ended up having to meet her out near the highway. I will never forget the feeling of thinking we were not going to make it and my husband telling me I did NOT need shoes to have a baby! :D

After all the commotion of getting out to the highway, meeting the midwife and being checked in the car, we were told we better get on our way to the hospital. I think that was the most eventful car ride I ever experienced. When we finally arrived in the town where the hospital was I was so thankful! On the edge of the town, there used to be a dairy farm. The smell of cows was, but probably never will again, very comforting.

We made it to the hospital just in time. She was born 20 minutes later. She has been a wonderful joy ever since!!!

Happy 18th birthday to my wonderful, talented, amazing daughter!! The picture of her below was taken on her missions trip to Paris, France two weeks ago. I am very proud of her and am so happy that she wants to serve the Lord through missions.

Monday

(My youngest daughter, almost 11 years old, photo taken by my middle daughter)

It's Monday morning, and I am feeling completely uninspired. I went back to bed early this morning after my husband left, when I should have stayed up and taken care of some things. Time to start school is fast approaching. But, first I feel the need to count my blessings:

1. Dirty dishes in the sink= we have plenty of food to eat
2. Mounds of dirty laundry= this family is well dressed
3. Piles of shoes by the front door=healthy kids going in and out and remembering to remove their shoes.
4. Remnants of my oldest daughters sewing scattered over the dining room=creative, determined girl who doesn't easily give up.
5. Hungry kids looking at me wondering what's for breakfast=I have nourishing food to give them......and here I go!

I hope you have a wonderfully blessed Monday. God is so very good to us!

Marnie

Random Stuff

It has been one crazy week. I have been taking care of the horses again. It has been so cold! One morning, the water faucets were frozen solid. Brr... I am thankful for the extra job, since I am saving for something special. But, I am happy to be done for now.

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Tonight is our first monthly women's Bible study. We are studying Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother. I am looking forward to dinner and fellowship with other like-minded Christian women. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of fellowship with other Christian women. For instance, yesterday I was feeling pretty low with some stinkin' thinkin' when a friend called. By the time I hung up the phone, I felt much better just from hearing her cheery voice. Then visiting with her and the other two ladies who came over to my house just brought a lightness. The stinky thoughts had to leave is the presence of friends. God is very good to enrich our lives with other believers!

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On a silly note...I was sitting here early this morning before the sun came up. The house was very still, quiet, and dimly lit. I kept hearing this boingy-blurp kind of sound. I could not figure out where it was coming from. It sounded like someone or something was trying to get my attention. I looked in my daughters room, nothing there. I checked both computers, no. I started to think I was just imagining it. Until...my cell phone turned off. The boingy-blurping sound was the signal that the battery was getting low. I felt pretty foolish, but laughed at myself....

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Marnie

Friday

On Monday, I posted that it was still warm here and didn't feel like Fall. The high was 90 degrees that day, I'm not sure what the low was. A lot has changed in the past few days. It looks as if Jack Frost paid us a visit last night...

This is an almond tree in my front yard covered with icicles. My husband turned the sprinkler on early this morning before he left for work. Just as the sun was coming up, my son went out to move it. He came back in loudly exclaiming, "Mama needs to know it is winter!" He was carrying a 6" icicle and a look of amazement. It was 29 degrees and the sprinkler caused a lot of icicles.

I think I am going to put on a pot of soup and bake something yummy!!

I love the Fall! Or, maybe it is really winter like my son said... :D

Have a blessed day.

Marnie