Be Ye Separate

Get Real!

Blessings! 

   Ever heard the term "get real"? Well, I figured this was the right time to share how we "get real":P

   Every year, folks everywhere, during the festive holiday season, from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years, take pictures of the events that surround them. As we all enjoy sharing our special moments with our families and friends, the perfect pictures are sought and bought (or generated on our trusty, all encompassing computers) so that we might send these to our loved ones. Memories of family times together. Moments that we'll never see again.

   Babies first Christmas, the last time the matriarch or patriarch was with us all before passing on to Glory, when all the family was finally together for the first time in years and the list goes on. For us, we not only seek that perfect picture to share but we seek to share the real us. After all, it's not the staunch poses, capturing the exact moment that everyone is looking in the right direction, children behaving, babies content, it's the chaos in between those pictures that leave us with the lasting impression of that holiday past:)

   Our first picture above is the one folks seek to share...however, in THIS family, the following picture is the one that will appear on next years Christmas Cards...We believe in "getting real":P

Have a very blessed New Year ahead!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

A Very Happy and Blessed New Year!

Blessings!

   Well, 2009 is finally here! God is so good! Our past year has been filled with wonderful adventures, trials and tribulations, blessings and abundance:) All of which have shown us God's powerful presence here in our lives.

   With 2008 behind us we are face with new adventures, trials, tribulations, blessings and abundance of a different sort and I can't wait to find out what they will be and to learn where I will grow next:)

   I pray that each of you is having a very blessed first day of your new year!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

The Boy Without A Name

   Long, long ago there was a boy who worked at an inn. We know not his name; but we will tell you a story about him. He was the boy-of-all-work. It was his task to look after the cattle, and to do odd jobs at the inn. There came a time when thee was a great stir at this inn, for the little town was full of pilgrims, and the inn was overcrowded. A number of folk wanted lodgings, and they sought for them, and found them not. Amongst these was a tired woman and a man with a troubled look. The stable boy heard them pleading with the landlord. The landlord was kind but firm, and said, "I should like to take you into the inn, but it is quite impossible. I have already turned many away." The man and the woman pleaded, but to no avail. The lad of the inn heard the eager request and the firm refusal, and his heart was strangely stirred. He slipped away from them and said to himself, "They will find their way to the stable. I will make it sweet and clean for them." So he ran speedily and made everything as tidy as possible, and put clean, fresh, sweet-smelling hay in the manger, and then went back to the inn, for there was much work for him to do there.

   Some time after he slipped out of hte inn and beheld a strange light in the wind-swept shed. There he saw the two tired pilgrims, and, O wonder of wonders, a babe ~ lying in a manger in the warm, fresh, sweet-smelling hay. All was clean, tidy and homely, and the man and the woman and the child looked so happy. The boy was so merry and said, "I put the hay there on which the baby sleeps. No one knows; it is better when nobody knows." Back again he ran to his work, and whistled for sheer joy as he bustled about, answering the quick calls of the many people at the inn. Night fell ~ a clear night, full of stars. The boy slipped out of the inn and ran to the stable. He said, "I should just like one more peep before I go to sleep." Amazement fell upon him. There were, O wonder of wonders, shepherds kneeling, and they were all gazing with joyous astonishment at the babe lying in the manger. They spoke of the heavenly light, of the song of angels, of tidings of great joy to all people. No one noticed the boy of he inn, for he hid himself in the darkness. But he saw all, and as he lay down to rest he said, "I placed the hay there for the wonderful child. No one knows; it is better when nobody knows."

   The next day the boy of the inn was busy ~ all the world seemed calling for him, for the inn was crowded, and the pilgrims needed so many things. He had no time during the day to go to the manger, but as he ran to and fro on his errand he saw the vision of a babe, lying on clean, fresh, sweet-smelling hay. He was so glad that he had brought the hay, that he had placed it in the manger, and that the child slept sweetly in this soft bed. He longed to see the babe again, but not until night was he able. Then swiftly he ran, and, O wonder of wonders, he saw kingly pilgrims, swarthy of face, kneeling in lowly adoration before the manger. They talked of a star they had seen in the East, of long journeys over burning sands, and of the wondrous joy which was theirs in worshipping the babe. They brought forth beautiful gifts ~ gold, frankincense and myrrh ~ and these, they said, were gifts for the babe. The strange light in the stable made the precious jewels flash with heavenly splendour. The little boy kneeled in the shadows, and worshipped and rejoiced, and said, "What beautiful gifts!...but mine was first, for I came before the shepherds and the distant travellers, and tidied the stable, and brought the present of clean, fresh, sweet-smelling hay. I am glad that I was the first to bring a gift, and that love led me to make a warm bed for the kingly babe. No one knows, it is better when nobody knows." And no man or woman or child would ever have known had not an angel told me this Christmas-tide the story; but even he did not mention the name of hte dear boy, but always called him "the boy without a name."

I pray you enjoy this as much as we have over the years:)

Would that I would strive to be a "boy without a name".:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Another Beautiful Day!

Blessings!

   Another beautiful day the Lord has made! We awoke to a fresh blanket of snow this morning. It feels like such a lazy day since we only had to run to the barn to feed and break out the water troughs for the animals. Then inside to do some cleaning and chatting and getting some handwork done. Lazy lazy lazy:P

   Chains are required to go out on the highway until tomorrow at least. Probably until Monday, or so they say:P In Oregon we live by a 10/10 rule...if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes or drive 10 miles:P This seems true no matter what time of year or what weather we are having at any particular moment:P

   I really need to do some banking but just don't want to deal with that today. I don't want to have to put chains on the car or drive on the roads with the rest of humanity. I want to stay put, in a nice warm house, baking and sipping coffee and putting the finishing touches on those horrible bedrooms:P

   Our Miss Mary-Ann is still with her brother and his wife helping to take care of her niece. We had planned on trading the girls out and letting Miss Sarah take her place until Sunday but due to the terrible road conditions we are just going to wait it out and pick Miss Mary-Ann up on Sunday instead.

   Brother Craig's surgery has been postponed pending further blood tests as his last tests came back showing a bleeding issue. Well, he's been on low dose aspirin for his blood pressure for the last two years. The doctor told us that wouldn't make a difference, yet here we are with a clotting issue? ugh! I don't know, maybe it's just me, but if it didn't make a difference then  what would be the point of taking it to thin the blood for high blood pressure?:s

   Anyway, it's been postponed for now. He just had his new bloodwork done this morning after not taking the low dose aspirin for the last few days so we'll see if that changes things. If it doesn't then he'll be seeing a blood specialist to get things fixed so surgery can happen. Instead of Monday surgery we will see the surgeon on Tuesday to reset the dates. We are praying that it can happen before the first of the year so we avoid the new deductibles for the insurance:P Ya'll know how that is...right now it would be paid 100% vs. 70%. Yep...Before the first of the year would be perfect:)

   I wonder that the Lord didn't change things for us so that we would have a nice Christmas together before the surgery instead of Christmas in the hospital? He works so many things for our good, perhaps this was one more blessing He decided we could have:) If things show well on the new tests they will try to schedule surgery for the day after Christmas, or the Monday following. We'll see!:)

   Well, I'm going to go enjoy the warm fire and a cup of coffee with my sweet husband and Miss Sarah while we watch it snow, snow, snow:) Yep, still coming down! This one is supposed to give us at least another 4 inches today. Who knows...maybe we WILL have a white Christmas after all:)

   Have a very blessed and warm day in the Lord!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Look Familiar?

Blessings!

   Yesterday morning we awoke to a blanket of snow. How beautiful! This was the scene from the front door...It snowed most of the day in light flurries making a fine powder. Definitely no snowman material:P

What better motivation than this to spend the day inside and warm and dry! Speaking of dry...we also had no water as the pipes in the pumphouse had frozen:P After getting a heater set up out there to warm things up, we finally had running water around noon:) Last night we left the taps dribbling so we wouldn't have more issues with that...thankfully it worked!

Anyway, we were motivated to stay inside. The outside being so clean and fresh, beautiful and organized...not so on the inside:P

Since we had the unexpected time to just be home we decided to get some things done. One of which was swapping bedrooms with our daughter Miss Mary-Ann.

This is what it was looking like...keep in mind that things always get worse before they get better:P Miss Mary-Ann's room first...

Notice the poor cat. Spot always gets nervous during moves and even though we aren't actually "moving" she THINKS we are and was constantly in the way, making tons of noise, grabbing us as we walked past her with an armful of things etc. Poor pesky thing:P

Now for our room...

I suppose I'm looking for a little understanding and comfort...please...someone...tell me that you've had things look this bad before:P That your bedroom above all else (especially when expecting company or just too busy to put something away just yet) gets used as the "catchall" for STUFF:P In fact, that box on the dresser marked "chocolate" still has my crystal breakables from when we MOVED HERE!:P

I haven't taken pictures of the debris in the front rooms yet. I'm not sure that I can get in there far enough to actually TAKE the pictures:D

I know that when the switch is finished we'll have everything in it's place and the chaos will have disappeared. I know there is a light at the end of this tunnel. And I must say, I am so thankful it's not summer because all of this would be left as is for weeks at a time while we took care of the outside tasks and would be too tired to finish up in the house! God provided us a way to get this done in a timely fashion and the motivation of the snow, husbands surgery and Christmas just a week away, is just the beginning:)

Oh, and in the midst of this we've had our beautiful granddaughter Little Miss Shea with us:) She's visiting at her Auntie's house just down the road from us. Auntie Ursaula had the day off and wanted her for a night. I have to say that I was feeling very selfish but I overcame and let her go:P

I must say I am so thankful that my girls are willing and able when it comes to these things. Not only do they help me with the heavy things that I cannot do but they turn easily to the needs of the baby as well. She's been such a joy to have here (I'm having baby withdrawal) and no trouble at all. She will be back with us today unless the roads become clear enough in which case, her papa will come get her or Auntie Ursaula will take her back home along with our Miss Mary-Ann who will stay to help Kristina (Shea's mamma) who is still recovering from gall bladder surgery.

Okay, back to the task at hand. Thank you Lord for this mess, showing me Your abundant provision :)

Have a very blessed day!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

P.S. I'll take pictures of the finished rooms (hopefully tonight) and share them with ya'll:)