Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Neat Shots Here on the Homestead

We recently were able to have one of the girls' friends over on a stop over on her way to a missions trip, she requested a quick photo shoot by our resident photography artist, our youngest daughter Rebecca. : )

I hope you will enjoy the photos HERE.

Note the old, old, Ford "Jubilee" edition tractor!

Blessings to All... The Last Child in the Woods, ~Amelia

P.S. I'm getting ready to go try my hand in the "Little Town" today to do some simple shopping.

P.S.S. EDIT. 5.3.11 Please feel free to see the link for David Wilkerson's last blog at my Vision for a Godly Home blog. Please pray for the Wilkerson Family. Brother Wilkerson will be sorely missed, a huge loss for us still on this earth.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Do Not Run!

Byran, Mr. B's right hand man tells us that if we see the mountain lion on our property we are to look he or she in the eye and DO NOT RUN. Look it in the eye and stare it down. DO NOT RUN.

The other evening, it had been somewhat of an emotional tiring day...You know how it is some days. Some days are just like that. I'm walking along in my nice billowy black and white checked romantically long and I reiterate billowy seersucker skirt. Now to go with my romantic billowy skirt I adorn my feet with pink trekkers. Yes they are wonderful, they are my walking shoes when I want tennies without the bulk as when I'm wearing a skirt.

So I'm enjoying the feel of the breeze and the evening light as Charlie dog and I cruise pass the woods in my pink trekkers. It was wonderful, pools of light filtering into the forest there to my right, it almost had a jungle effect. Just over the barbed wire fence is our Forest Cathedral Ranch, our homestead, two totally different worlds divided by a barbed wire fence.

But what do I hear? A rustle in the woods! Charlie dog's ears perk up! He runs into the woods and what do I do? Do I stand strong? Do I look at this rustling creature (the thing) in the eye?

NO. I RUN!

As I was running I was thinking that I was in better shape than I thought! (Kind of a nice thought!) God sure works in mysterious ways! But I then thought of Byran's wise words.

DO NOT RUN.

I'm seeing flashes of black and white seersucker and pink trekker straps in a jumble as I look down at the ground running. I realized the "thing" is probably running after me and that I should NOT be RUNNING. I turn around jogging backwards and no lion or "thing". I had not even a tiny can of pepper spray with me, let alone Byran's shotgun. There was no Charlie dog in sight. I alternated walking quickly, a bit on the panicked side, forwards and backwards back to our home calling for my beloved Charlie dog madly clapping my hands.

Finally as I huffed and puffed turning to face the woods as I was walking backwards there ....Charlie finally came running after me...*relief*

My buddy Charlie and I walked on kind of like the clip of Andy Griffith and Opie, yep, me in my billowy skirt and...Charlie dog. (I know, Andy Griffith definitely does not wear skirts! Horrors!)

Do I dare mention that even Charlie dog kept turning around and looking in back of us? It was almost as if he too suspected something coming after us!

I could hear the voices of my four daughters gardening in the front of the house as my trekker clad feet and Charlie's paws quickly carried us.

There were the girls, hubs working on the garden that evening.

We were to later see two bunnies scampering about, having the best time ever, yes sirrie, two little cotton tails. I couldn't help but wonder if those two sweet little bunnies were what made the ruckus in the woods.

Since? We've seen a mother deer and it's fawn nursing, is that not the sweetest? We've seen our new little neighbor, a turtle in the pond along with two snakes one morning...

Pictures in the theatre of my mind of Marianna driving the riding lawn mower we call, "Alvin" after Alvin York. Rebecca in the back her legs hanging over the wagon and it's the sweetest thing ever. Those girls are so loving it all...How could a person not?

Even today, it was only Charlie and I who ventured down the barbed fence trail next to the forest, the two tiny schitzus and poodle purposely stay back. Interesting. I wonder if they sense something in the forest? For a week or so the two schitzus and toy poodle will not go down by the forest unless it's a huge group of folks.

So far we've had a nice time with the girls' friends coming over, delightful, and yes, we did manage a twilight walk with hubs, our girls and their visitors and four doglets. (To me the twilight hour was on the edge knowing the "thing" could be watching us as it grew dark). Charlie the wonder dog did bolt out to the ranch in back of us towards a herd of wild baby piglets. You must know Charlie has been known to run circles around the neighbor bull! We also had a scare with Guisseppe the older Schitzu with cataracts... he mosies along and the poor little fella can't see well. I about had a tissy when we got back home in the dark and no Guisseppe. Hubs and I were about to hop into his little car to roam the beaten trail with headlights on and here comes Guisseppe roaming up out of the darkness after we about had a cow of our own calling for the older little gent.

The two suburban guys were fascinated...One of them? His parents were both doctors in a city, now passed away. The only country he knows is a camp he had attended as a boy...So it was great seeing him enjoy things, things other than synthetic fancy cars and such. Real beauty. God's creation.

The two young men shared how tranquil it is and how they were ministered to by it all. Mission accomplished. God's mission that is.

God bless you all, may we all be blessings to others this week.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A Mountain Lion. A Baby Deer...Ballet Shoes.

Yes, a Mountain Lion, Cougar whatever you would like to call it. Some call it a Panther. Our oldest daughter Lea, saw the creature last week mid morning. Wow. Mr. B had just told the girls there was a Panther in the area and his ranch hand tells us there are more than one....enough of them.

Lea was strolling-tootling along whatever sounds good and she heard a pig's squeal, most likely a wild pig, and a scuffle was heard in the woods next to us....then. Then. Then Lea sees the back of a muscular very large cat, a lioness type animal walking away. Not a bob-cat mind you, but a very large lioness type of animal.

Lea comes in in her white sunglasses and pink feminine t-shirt and nonchalantly tells us what she saw. Never underestimate us girls for our toughness at times. It's strange; hurt our feelings? We get pretty upset. A mountain lion? We are amused. ; )

The next day, Mr. B's right hand man came over with a hunting gun for us to borrow, it was funny in a way. He's a tough guy but a softie on the inside, he proudly carries photos of his grandbabies and wife in his cell phone. He tells us he likes the house here, he's a nice guy, a hoot in his dryness. He looked over at my formal table and my little butler statue holding apple shaped salt and pepper shakers next to an unhung Thomas Kinkade picture. He had been telling us to shoot the lion if it came on our property and call him so he could see it. Our dining set was bought for a price of a mere single chair from one of my husband's clients, it's a beautiful Ernest Hemingway table set that had been sitting at a doctor's ranch, I presume not used? As Mr. B's right hand man studied the table, the butler statue and the surroundings I know what he was thinking in the theatre of his mind...(It's funny) He looked back around at us with serious soldier eyes and dryly says, "You're living in the country now."

I could have said, "Yes, we've lived here before", but instead Marianna and I smiled Southern Bellish and nodded our heads. : )

That day my mind was filled with thoughts from the old movies, "Giant" and "The Snows of Kilamanjaro". Thoughts of the characters Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner played in those movies were very vivid that day in the theatre of my mind.


Our Home Whispers an Interesting Story

I later walked through the house in the dining and den and it really does speak a funny story. A fancy dining table covered in a green table cloth with a hunting gun on top it. My Baby Becca's (She's 17 but still my baby) her ballet pointe shoes in the corner (she takes from a Holy Spirit filled ballet teacher in a blatantly Christian studio) the shoes laying atop a laptop on the rustic floor next to my grandfather's old Wurlitzer piano that survived a fire years ago in the 40s....

The Lord sure has a sense of humor...Yes He does. : ) I wonder what He must think when He sees what is in the theatre of people's minds, the preconceived notions and what He knows to be true and truth, the real story behind the scenes....

A Baby Deer.

Speaking of creatures...Speaking of my baby Becca. She was jogging on the property several days ago, What did she see? A wobbling long legged little creature coming towards her. It was a baby deer! He suddenly stopped and Becca walked slowly towards it, the little creature was frightened and ran into the forest. Is that not the sweetest thing?

The Great Divide

I've noticed lately, there are two kinds of people that come to this house and our sweet land here. One kind walks in and gapes and smiles from ear to ear loving this land, this place....One young lady told her friend how wonderful it was here....She shares how wonderful of a feeling it is, how life stops in such a good way here. Another youngish man smiles ear to ear telling us similar sentiments.


...But in-between the sweet, uplifting comments and sweet souls and kindred spirits there tends to be a mountain lion.
They look at us with disdain for various reasons, maybe they have a pet habit or rather unrepented sin of manipulation and control. Their many times velvet claws are quiet and smooth. They would like for us to abandon our principles and convictions in so many ways. They can be worse than a mountain lion or any snake... Evil I tell you. Evil. It's amazing how some think they can be in other's business, their cowardly hearts so full of insecurities and many times a love of the worldly, seeming to hate the sweet things of the Lord as they speak of church in the next breath.

I read this, this morning in my devotional, Streams in the Desert

An excerpt:

Cowardice
will come and say, "You must retreat to the world's ways of acting. It is too difficult for you to continue living the part of a Christian. Abandon your principles." Yet no matter how much Satan may pressure me to follow his course, I cannot, for I am a child of God. The Lord's divine decree has commanded me to go from "Strength to strength" (Ps. 84:7) Therefore I will, and neither death nor hell will turn me from my course. And if for a season He calls me to "stand firm," I will acknowledge it as time to renew my strength for greater strides in the future.




I'm enjoying God's creation but do hope to get into the swing of things and get settled a bit better. Looking forward to sweet fellowship with new friends and getting together with old ones. We have several friends who live in this very area, it's been fun for the girls and us too, touring a friend's vegetable garden seeing their sweet cow. Girls meeting up with their nice friends here, riding together to events. Neat. Very neat. I like it. : )


Pray for us as we settle, still working on our well water, the satellite internet is glitchy so I'm not online quite as much so perhaps that may explain my extended absences.

Miss everyone. A hug.

~The Last Child in the Woods... ~Amelia