Edge of the Forest...

A New Day...

Went to see Nancy Campbell!!

We just got back from hearing Nancy Campbell of Above Rubies speak!

Nancy was very good, her message was wonderful. Gave me much food for thought, which we have been discussing here until late into the night.

Friends Kate and Mark came around, and Mark and Neil were treated to dinner cooked by their two youngest boys, P & B, and our two girls, while Kate and I went out to hear Nancy.

I must say the experience was, for us, slightly spoiled by a long period of enforced 'worship' in the style of the church which hosted the event. I personally don't think this was wise. I was not comfortable with the style of worship, and would think twice about going to see any speaker at this church again. It was a very protracted time, and not very beneficial, at least for me.

However, Nancy more than made up for it.  What a remarkable lady - they are so far from home here in the wet and windy UK, and travelling around - they were delayed in their trip from Gloucester - but what an inspirational lady! 

We came back to find the house relatively peaceful, everyone had eaten pizza and pasta a la kids, and enjoyed themselves playing board games afterwards, and Neil and Mark seemed quite relaxed! So time for bed now, just looked at the time and it's very late!

a dad gum war zone around here is what it looks like

Yesterday, to my horror, I found 3 dead chickens in their pen.  This morning hubby found 6.  We have thought and thought and looked and checked over the chicken yard high and low. No signs of entry whatsoever.  The only clue is that hubby says he's smelled the faintest hint of a skunk late at night and early in the morning for a few days.  So we started looking at how a skunk might could get in.  There was a small space around the top between the roof and the top of the coop wall that we boarded up.  The only chickens that have been killed are the little bitty bantam Mille Fleurs.  We only have 3 hens and 2 roosters left.  Only 1 of those is from the new batch we hatched last spring.  I'm sad and so mad I could cry and then cuss.  11 chickens total dead within a few days.  I don't think a dinner out on the town is gonna make me feel any better. 

Horses ....

There always seems to be a dilemma!

Finally having got H sorted out - must take some photos of her on JJ they are the best! - we now have a problem with the pony she has just left behind and who is supposed to be Boo's new ride. His COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder - asthma to you and me) has taken a turn for the worse, and he is not a happy person, he is struggling to breathe a lot of the time .. so sad, he is such a little hero, he has been so good for H ... poor Boo is not having much luck.

We had sold her little pony, who is actually the only one we own, the rest are on loan, at the weekend, but they have changed their minds, so she has had separation anxiety for no good reason, and now this.

Poor kid. Still. God is in control of all ... our failing economy, our troubled world, even down to the coughing of a little girl's pony. So it will be OK. We just need to be still and know .....

Happiness

It had to happen sooner or later.......

Day before yesterday I had some chickens get out of their gate and I caught all but 2.  Hubby had to work late and it was after dark before he made it home and went down there to see what he could do.   He couldn't catch them without waking up all the others who had already roosted for the night so we waited to try together yesterday morning after light.  (You know where this story is heading.) 

Sadly something had gotten to the 2 hens before we did and killed them and we found them in the pasture.  Not a good way to start the day out here in the country yesterday.   I'd been sad and mopey all day afterwards and felt to blame for the fate of my sweet hens.  ~~~~~~~changing the subject real quick:

The weather has been so nice.  I've not been running the air conditioner much at all.  Yesterday I didn't have to turn it on and I've even worn houseshoes inside instead of going barefooted as usual. 

Other than doing some wash and hanging it out to dry it was a quiet day of reading for me.  I can hardly believe October is here!  This month is my mother's, oldest daughter's and grandson's Birthday month.  I'm also anxiously looking forward to a big annual flea market and craft fair thats fast approaching!

My hubby  called on his way home from work yesterday afternoon and might've picked up on my mood though I really did try to hide it.  Then again he'd already seen me cry a little in the pasture.    He told me to get dressed and that we were going to drive to our favorite seafood restauraunt for supper.  I said, "Really?" kinda feeling my frown try to turn upside down just a bit.  We hung up and I did cry some final tears in the shower for my red and white hens and let the water wash them down the drain.  Once we were out and driving to the restaurant on the lake I began feeling almost 100% better.  It's a long but not too long drive over there and I love it when we are in the SUV or pick up truck together.  I have a captive audience.  So does he.  The conversation about this and that, who remembers... was just what I needed.  By the time I was finishing off that delicious seafood platter I wasn't even thinking about.......hmmm....well, I lost my train of thought I guess. 

By the way!  Go here for a nice Christmas giveaway contest! 

Wow...

You guys are the best... I mean Really!
500 of you came by my site yesterday.  That is amazing... and let me tell you I KNOW that there were prayers going up. Not only for me, but for my family. I have chills thinking about what happens when we obey and pray!

So - Can anyone explain this Bail Out Package to me?!

What I'm not understanding is - how does it help (be it in the US or here in the UK) to allow banks and financial institutions to mess up royally, and then say, OK, no worries, we'll just clean up the mess and life will go on as normal, the tax payer will foot the bill.

Is that not like, generations to come of poor, everyday, working folk, paying for the greedy whizz kids to gamble with impunity?

People seem to have such short memories. What happens when this is all cleared up, and a new generation of bankers and such, who cannot remember today (like the generation we have now, who did not remember the 1930s) decide to do it all again? If they are even interested in a lesson from history, it will just tell them, go ahead, gamble, get rich, every man for himself. The governments will catch you if you fall.

I don't get it. Anyone care to explain? (Please be polite!)

Here it is, I felt I had to blog this entry:

This was the largest re-enlistment ceremony ever held in military history.   The ceremony was held on the 4th of July, 2008 at Al Faw Palace, Baghdad, Iraq . General David Petraeus officiated. This amazing story was ignored by the 'mainstream' media.

Overwhelmed...

Yes, I believe that is the perfect term... overwhelmed...
Just a bit of insight... we had to go to the doctor for Shannon yesterday.  He has a swollen, red, hot forearm.  A bad infection, from who knows where has set up in his arm, from his wrist to his elbow.  He was given a shot and two prescriptions.  If the infection does not go down, he has to go to the ER.  All of this with no insurance, no job, no income... all on top of the list of things that already has happened.
I am not trying to be a whiner.  I am just a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  I'll be alright... I just need to have a little time to pray and maybe cry too.  Love to you, friends.