Safe in His hands.

Grace brought me her writing assignment this morning. She refuses to use first grade paper, she wants "normal" paper for her lessons just like her older siblings. But that isn't why I'm posting today. Today at the bottom of her lesson she had drawn a picture...When I questioned her why she was drawing when there was other school work that needed to be done she replied that she had been thinking of all the ways God protects us and this was her picture of God's hand on our home.............I have to agree, that is the most important lesson we could have learned today.

Except the Lord build the house,

they labour in vain that build it:

except the Lord keep the city,

the watchman waketh but in vain.

To heal a heart..

"Christ heals with more ease than any other. Christ makes the devil go out with a word (Mark 9:25). Nay, he can cure with a look: Christ's look melted Peter into repentance; it was a healing look. If Christ doth but cast a look upon the soul he can recover it. Therefore David prays to have a look from God, 'Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me' (Psalm 119:132)."
THOMAS WATSON

Behold, her mighty Oak!

I'll share a little tid-bit about myself here, I'm solar powered.
I need heat and warmth to keep this old body moving. Winter is hard, hard, hard on me. If given the option I would curl up and sleep all winter long. For this reason I have often longed to move South... send me hurricanes and flooding, give me twisters and chiggers, I'll take what ever may come but give me Heat! I know how Sam MaGee feels. However, I will never leave, the Rockies have carved themselves too deep into the hearts of my family. But if I could, oh, if I could.

One day while watching a hunting video with my guys I listened to Will Primos with his southern drawl talk about deer feeding on "A kerns" which is southern for acorns. He was in a tree stand with the sun shining warm on his back, it was Thanksgiving day!!! Suddenly I had to have an "A kern" tree, because by all common reason, it HAD to be what was causing the sun to shine in November.

The next spring when my shipment of trees came from the U of I, nestled somewhere in the box were five little oak trees.... including the roots they were no taller than my hand and as Shane held one up for inspection he said "Woman, I hope you got a good deal on these." My boys took some good natured jabs at me and my oaks. Grace, felt sorry for me and kissed their little bare branches.

I told them that when they bury me under them, they will look up to the towering branches and with a tear in their eye cry out "Behold, her mighty Oaks." And then they will tell their children about a granny who planted an oak for them to enjoy, for the deer to feed beneath, a testimony that my thoughts were with the generations to come....

I did not plant a fast growing Poplar for my immediate gratification but a tree that would live and bless my prodigy as well. Today, four years later, my Oaks are seven foot high. They are starting to be beautiful. And, we only have forty six more years before they actually start producing "A kerns"!

My vision for my future family does not end with giving them Oak trees to sit beneath however, this vision is one that I have prayed over and struggled with for almost a decade now. I want a line of Holversons that stand before God, ever ready for the battle that lay ahead. I see a work from Him that will not end with me but carry on for generations to come. If I fail to pass my vision on to my children the day will be lost ~all my effort will be in vain.

One of my favorite movies is Pendragon. It is a low budget film, hard to watch if you are only watching it to be entertained but if you are watching it to be inspired you will not be disappointed. In it there is a comment made ~ God does not call men to futility.

Futility... God does not call men to merely survive the daily grind... To struggle with bills or health or that dryer that breaks for the 20th time... He calls us to battle! On our knees, with our swords, with our mouths and hearts and CHILDREN!!!

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:

and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;

so are children of the youth.

Happy is that man that hath his quiver full of them:

they shall not be ashamed,

but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3~5

Shelly, is nothing. I come from one of the filthiest heritages you can imagine. I, however, pray constantly that starting at me the line will change... I am preparing a people for battle who will prepare their people for battle. My constant prayer is that one day, one day, my linage will cause Satan to turn tail and run at the mention of our name.... My arrows are being formed to reach across generations and penetrate the hearts of men long after my body has returned to the dust.

So, when you see me walk totally contrary to what the world expects or accepts. Smile, for that is the way it should be. The bible tells us we cannot serve two masters.

When you see me do crazy things like planting a four inch tree that grows so slow one questions if it is still alive. Know that I do not shine for today, and unless today matters two hundred years from now or five hundred years from now if the Lord tarries, if it doesn't matter that far ahead, it is not worth the energy I'm putting into it.

Reluctance

Out through the field and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it has ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"

Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?

~Robert Frost

Fall Colors

Fall Colors are really hard to get pictures of around here... Not that we don't have them, it's just they are usually buried under a blanket of snow. Or the storm clouds stop the sun from showing off their brilliance. The Cottonwoods in the river bottoms are on fire but don't show up in the picture. I forgot to take one of the oak trees. It's okay, they need a post of their own anyway.

The Magic of a Tree

There is tree, out in the back yard that never has been broken by the wind..... but by a swing set? Now that's another story. Our neighbor tells of a small tornado that ripped through our back yard about two years before we moved in. The tornado picked up the old owners swing set and landed it right in the middle of our tree. I think it is wonderful because as the tree healed it left a huge crotch in the middle. Perfect for a youngsters hide away. With the help of twine, clothes pins, blankets and a little imagination. The tree becomes a hiding place for a tea party, a civil war brigade, persecuted Christians or simply reading a good book.

I guess I should also mention that animals have been "hunted" with rubber band guns from the hidden limbs as well. One day as I passed under it on my way to the garden I heard in Andrew's best twang "Hold it right there little lady, I've got ya in my cross hairs."

To which I respond. "Well, go ahead and shoot if you think you can run fast enough."

Again from the hidden voice in the leaves " Yes, ma'am I see here you are allowed to pass by order of the King, you may proceed." Smart boy.

Sigh, I wish I trusted myself to climb up there and spend an afternoon with them.. I guess it isn't the climb up that I fear but the trip down. If I fell, they'd just have to dig a hole right there and roll me into it.

Hearthsong sells a pulley with a bucket for an ungodly amount of money....I have always wanted them to have one but could never justify the price..... I felt a twinge of guilt when my girls created their own for free.