Canyon Area

This was what I had looked forward to for months.

As we started the decent
Shane turned toward me and said

"three eights of a mile, are you okay with that?"
I smirk. What does he think I am?

Guess he forgot to add the part that it dropped 600 feet in that three eights of a mile!!

And I didn't think about the three eights of a mile hike back up!
I nearly died!

No relief from the heat anywhere.

That poor guy sure needs his hooves trimmed. Any volunteers?

From the upper falls, the color was just unreal.

The crew all made it and are still smiling!


another canyon view.
The only part that was disappointing was the visitors center for the canyon. They had a video on the park and in the video the speaker was talking about microscopic life living in the acidic and extremely hot conditions of the pools. "Scientists" say that this life form was identical to the life form that we evolved from. Then he had the nerve to say "isn't it ironic that our earlier life form can survive in these hostile conditions

but our modern form cannot."
All I could think was "what "educated" person wrote this?????"

Would all the decendents of an acid dwelling worm

please raise your hand?

......didn't think so.

Do yourself a favor if you visit the Park ~spend that

fifteen minutes on something worthwile.
When God said he hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise....truer words were never spoken. And if this is how a smart man explains himself.......... Lord, keep me stupid.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Absolutely beautiful!

These rocks looked like books stacked in the mountain.

Know how to keep everyone quiet at the end of a long trip?

Suckers!!!

Outside the Engineers Office at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Mammoth Hot Springs.

Soap

Titanic

When cross the lines of forty North

And fifty-fourteen West

There rolls a wild and greedy sea

With death upon it's crest.

No stone or wreath from human hands

Will ever mark the spot.

where fifteen hundred men went down,

but Manhood perished not!

Old ocean takes but little heed

Of human tears and woe

No shafts adorn the ocean graves,

Nor weeping willows grow.

Nor is there need of marble slab

To keep in mind the spot

Where noble men went down to death,

But Manhood perished not!

Those men who looked on death and smiled,

And trod the crumbling deck.

Have saved much more than precious lives

From out that awful wreck.

Thou countless joys and hopes and fears

Were shattered at a breath.

T'was something that the name of Man

Did not go down to death.

'T'is not and easy thing to die,

E'en in open air

twelve hundred miles from home and friends,

In a shroud of black despair.

A wreath to crown the brow of man

And hide a former blot

Will ever blossom o'er the waves

where Manhood perished not.

~Harvey F. Thew

Can you guess what we did? Finally! We visited the Titanic exhibit. It was long over due. Last spring we studied a little of the Titanic with the intent of visiting the museum as one of our final activities. When Zac had his accident we never finished school. There is a confession from a homeschooling mom for you! So have been finishing it up in bits and pieces. They wouldn't let me take pictures. But it was fun anyway. The children were really excited because the book we studied from was actually on display ( an older copy) at the museum. They had replica's of the bed chambers, everyone with out exception mentioned how the first class was treated like royalty and the second and third class, well......not so much. At the beginning they gave us each a ticket with a real passengers name on it, it told what class we traveled and who we traveled with. Then at the end we got to look on a wall that listed those who survived and perished in each class. I did not survive. Cody and his wife both perished. In fact I think Bethany and Shane were the only two who survived the trip. It was a sobering experience to witness so many lives lost from so many different walks of life..... but all was not lost, the poem above we memorized and it is a testimony to the true character of men at that time.

The rich and poor meet together:

The Lord is maker of them all.

Green

Sometimes I wonder if God's favorite color is green.....................

Why?

I am in the process of finishing up a chuckar hatch for a farmer up the road. We hatch and sell chicks all spring from our birds and then hatch special order chicks ( they supply their own eggs) during the summer. On a normal year we average from three hundred to four hundred chicks of various breeds. Not a large amount by any means but enough. Enough to know when things are going well and when they are not. I do not make a very good baby sitter during the hatching process. I can do the incubation but when it comes to hatching ~ well, I'm claustrophobic.
It just about kills me to sit and watch a baby chick try to struggle out of that tight... tight...so confining .......... ugggg, I'm going to hyperventilate just thinking about it......egg.


On this day however, I noticed that one of the chicks really was having a hard time, "Oh" I uttered with out thinking "He's not going to make it" Bethany, right at my side asked who and why. "That little guy there, his membrane is too dry, see how white it is, he'll never push through that."


"Mom, help him!" she replied.


I couldn't. He was one of the first to hatch and the incubator cannot be opened until the very end. If it is opened too soon all of the moist hot air rushes out and cold air in, killing the fragile chicks inside. Nope, this little guy was on his own, I couldn't risk fifty other eggs just for one.

I shrug and try to lead her away but she is persistent. "Mom, that's cruel! You cannot leave him!" As the tears swell in her eyes I feel a lump in my throat. Stupid I know, we were talking about a bird no bigger than the end of my thumb, and shortly there would be so many she would never have noticed, if I had just kept my mouth shut. "I'm sorry, honey." And once again we have a talk of how death is simply a part, a very important part, of life.

Her distress is common among us mortals. Isn't it?

I can't count the number of times that I have heard
" If your God is real/good/all powerful/ fill in your own excuse.... Why does he let bad things happen to good people?"
The answer is simple, we are not good.

"There is none righteous, no not one." declares my real/ good/powerful God. "All our righteousness is as filthy rags."
The truth is we do not deserve the GOOD things that happen to us, it's not the bad that we should be fussing over.

When God created the world he created everything "good" and wonderful. He said so. He then created Man and gave all his "good" and wonderful creation to him as a gift. It was now man's dominion. To till, to dress, to keep and enjoy. Man, however, was about the face his first battle. ~And fail.

When Adam sinned against God, by default he handed this world ( government, principalities, leadership) over to Satan.

"as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

When my children were little I taught them the song "This is my father's world" I often thought that we should change it to "This was my father's world" For while we can see traces of beauty. Some of the glory, some of the peace. This is in fact a fallen world, corrupt and doomed for failure. This old world is a has-been. Traces of it's once glorious state are all that is left to us. When we feel the warm sun on our face or hear the musical tone of a child's laughter they are but mere whispers... urging us on, saying " take heart, my child, press forward, for the best is yet to come."

So what do we do with the bad? When a child dies, a spouse flees, the job is lost? How do we give thanks for that? With Zachary's recent accident fresh in my mind, I must stop for serious reflection before I write this. What if? What if my son had not been spared to me? Could I give thanks? We are commanded to give thanks for all things. Could I? The thought is almost too painful. The best I could come up with is......... I hope so. I hope that my relationship with my Saviour is deeper than lip service. Then again I also hope I never have to find out.
I imagine myself crying out as the father of the son who had the dumb spirit "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." I believe that you will work all for good but please remember I am but dust and cannot do it on my own.

It is so easy to look at life from our perspective, our limited vision. The apostle Paul puts it as "seeing through a glass darkly" . We in our flesh want a little genie in the sky to grant our every wish, but it cannot be.
Our view from the outside of the incubator was one that pained us, my daughter thought there was a "simple fix" but I knew it had to be. Likewise, with our Saviour, He feels and shares our pain. He keeps a close eye on us, knowing what needs to happen for our good. He promises to be there to hold us up but he does not promise to take it away.

There is appointed a time for everyone of us to return to the dust. There is growth in tribulation. EVERYTHING has a purpose. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes glorious....but always.....always for good.
What more could we ask for?

Father's Day

My mother in law asked me the other day if Shane was surprised about his father's day gift? Yes, he loved it and was totally surprised. He has been cut in hours so that he is only working 4 days a week so we picked it up the Thursday before father's day. When he came home we were all hiding in the living room and jumped out and yelled " HAPPY FATHER"S DAY!!"

He was also showered with homemade cards and kisses from the girls. The boys asked him why he never reads my blog....he claimed he did. The boys started laughing and said " Dad, if you did this wouldn't have been a surprise." ...I guess he figures he lives it so he doesn't have to read it.

Beets

I must have blinked.... I went from a cold wet spring to bringing in my first cooker of beets today. I sure missed my little gals. Their daddy took them all boating at Island Park today and you know, canning and cooking becomes work when they are not here to share it with me.

Her children rise up...

Bethany has turned out to be quite the cook. She keeps the boys in sweets and contributes a lot to my meals. It is really a blessing to me. It has not gone unnoticed by the other members of the family either, here's proof. We had a dinner party planned for the the 4th. I had a ton of cooking to do the day before. After getting the bulk of it done, I called Bethany in from her play to hep me put the finishing touches on and to make the Tiramisu. She honestly had not been in the kitchen five minutes when Zachary walked in, breathing deep, he sighs and wraps his arms around his little sister saying "glad we've got you around here to keep us all fed...smells good sis." and with out even a sideways glance at me he walks out. There I stood, in the same place I had stood for three hours, dripping sweat and thinking I'd kill him. However, one look at her face all flushed with pleasure and grinning from ear to ear.................. I forgave him. After all, isn't that what we want for our children? To out shine us? To stand on our shoulders and reach higher than we ever could? Well, Bethany's tiramisu was amazing, in a few days you'll have to check her blog. I think I talked her into printing the recipe. And Zachary did get an earful, to witch he replied "I know you can cook too mom..." Enjoy the Tiramisu, make sure you use goats milk and strawberries fresh from the garden.

Happy Fourth of July!!

What a beautiful weekend!! Sunshine and blue skies. I was in heaven. We had such a perfect time of fellowship with each other. Boating and fishing. A wonderful meal out by the fire pit, followed by Cody and David treating us to an awesome firework display. My daughters are budding botanists and entomologists. They, like their brothers, take a great delight in God's creation. One of them took this picture. Grace says when she grows up she wants to farm bumblebees with her husband.....

I'll bet they are hard to brand.

Grace listens intently to her daddy.

Chef David carves the watermelon... okay, so the man doesn't cook BUT if there is a sharp knife involved you can get him to do anything! By the way, when I asked how he got the hole in his shirt, he replied "from flexing my muscles..." . love ya, son.

Sneaking down a flowery walk, I spied two fair maidens....

Rire Reservoir.
Soaking in the sunshine.

Bethany and Cody hanging on for dear life. Well, Bethany was.

Cody said it wasn't wild enough.
That boy, out fishes everybody!

I think my favorite part of the whole day was late that night after the food and the fireworks. Sparklers were lit for the younger one. As they danced in and out of the trees and around the back side of the garden the only thing you could see was the sparklers fluttering along like giant fireflies. The only thing to be heard was their silvery laughter.
There is no movie or symphony in the world that would compare.
It was perfect.

Zachary

I told Zachary that he love his dad more than me.... On mother's day he busted himself all to pieces and the Friday before Father's day he had his last surgery. So he was in great shape to celebrate.
Boy, it has been a rough go with him. All of the skin around the cut died and we had to go to therapy seven days a week for three weeks. The therapists reminded me of vultures as they sat there with scalpels and tweezers picking at his arm ~removing all the dead until it bled. Bleeding is good, I was told because that means there is life. Also, he ( like all the others) builds too much scar tissue and locked up all of his tendons so we had to stretch and bend like crazy just so he could regain use of his fingers.

That is all behind us now, and we are looking forward to the rest of the summer. He still has nerve damage on the surface of his arm ~he has no feeling ~ but that still may heal and if not it is not so tragic.
He asked the doctor if he could get back on his bike. He was told not until the stitches were removed in two weeks.

What a blessing just to see him smiling and happy. Ah, it does my heart good!

A Matter of the Will

David had the afternoon off. He and Cody decided to go fishing down on the river, the water has been turned down and there was sure to be plenty of fish in some of the quieter pockets. They disappeared ~ spending the entire afternoon basking in God's handiwork. Now, with so many hunters in our home we have a firm rule that they are not to kill anything that they do not plan on eating. The only exception being pocket gophers, skunks, starlings etc. I am not as heartless as I appear.

The problem is that no one in our family is particularly fond of trout. Especially if it has been frozen. So to counteract this problem they fry the fish as soon as they get home. Cody has it down to a science and not only produces a fish that we can tolerate but that we actually can enjoy...... every one except Bethany. She curls her nose,whines and disappears every time a basket of fish passes through our kitchen. The one time her father made her try a bit of perch, it was so painful to watch the rest of us were gaging for her.

Well, it just so happened that as the other children were sitting down to their afternoon feast ~Bethany walked into the kitchen. Of course there was some good natured bantering to follow.. "Oh, Beth, you are just in time I will get you a plate!" Again the nose curl ( sometimes I wish the Lord wouldn't have installed that muscle on her face or mine for that matter.)

"No Way!" she said and proceeded out of the kitchen. "Wait, would you do it for a quarter?"

Now, this young lady has had her eye on a bag of beads at Porter's for ages and has been saving money to purchase them for just as long. "No, not for a quarter..." but she stopped walking and was clearly waiting for a counter offer. By the time it was all said and done a seventy-five cent bribe had been produced and Bethany now sat facing her piece of fish. The only requirement was that she could not gag ~for that is very unlady like and well, nasty.

As I sat watching her calmly eat her fish and even smiling at and chatting with her brothers, I was amazed at the restraint of a persons soul when the motivation is strong enough.

Oh, that I could discipline the members of my body to be so obedient. What is my motivation.... to Glorify God... that should be the highest motivation of all. So why do I fail so often? Because of my flesh, it seeks to not only glorify me but also satisfy me. The war within the human body is more deadly and profound than any war without. The objective more costly. I war against one who has decades of practice and I'm not talking about Satan and his demons. I'm talking about me. From the cradle we go forth speaking lies, lusting and satisfying our flesh.

Only one can save us from ourselves. Praise God that he has. If I but let Christ reign in me, the battle will be short. If I but let Christ do the leading, I will never lose my way.

For what the law could not do,

in that it was weak through the flesh,

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,

and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

That the righteousness of the law might

be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,

but after the spirit.

General

Introducing the newest member of our livestock protection program.. General, full brother (just different litter) to Chief. I think we should have named him Puddles for that is his main occupation at the moment....

Moe again

Moe and her babe enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine.

An Abundance of Rain

Get thee up, eat and drink;

for there is a sound of abundance of rain.......

What a spring we have had. Rain and more rain, rainbows every night and everything is so green and pretty. Well, except the corral....it looks like March. Yuck!! The storms too, have just been beautiful to watch ~ I guess there has to be some trade off right?

Look Out Mount

Chores were done and there was still three hours until dinner so we decided to go check the dry farms. It was hot and the breeze would feel good......

I love this time of year, I often wish it could be like this always. Shane says I would tire of it, and maybe so but I'd sure like a chance to find out.

What a beautiful view from up here.

The Snake. We have been blessed with an abundance of water.

Oh, here we go again. Two weekends in a row we've been chased by storm clouds. This one looks a little more serious than last week, though.

Heading for the shed as fast as a dirt bike will take you.

PLEASE make sure you slow down for the corners!

Just for the record ~we beat it. It was an amazing storm. Wind and lightning. Fun to watch, just not to be caught in.

~O sing unto the Lord a new song;

for he hath done marvellous things
Psalm 98:1

What a Nut!

If there is anything I have learned from raising goats it's that ~I have not learned anything about raising goats. Last November, Nutmeg gave birth to two little doelings. They were so cute and I was so excited because that meant Winter milk!! In March, after milking her all winter, I decided to let her dry up. The other girls had freshened so I had plenty of milk and maybe she would come back in to heat and we could have milk next winter too.

Last week I received a call from a lady looking for dairy doelings and ended up selling Nutmeg's two daughters. She was a little sad to see them go and that night I noticed her bag was really full. The next day she was worse, and looking miserable. I can be so heartless..."Serves you right lady for letting those gals nurse so long. Seven months old and they were still nursing~ shame on you!"

Monday, she was in terrible shape, sluggish and hanging out in the barn. Great! she's getting mastitis on me... what a goat! I went to the house for the meds and a bucket so I could milk her out. I got side tracked ( Never!) and ended up going out there about an hour after I intended to. Finding her.......and him. The poor gal was bagging up and sick because she was in labor. I was so stunned.
Nutty shouldn't have been pregnant. She would have come in to heat when her babies were two months old AND in the dead of winter. Dairy Goats do not do that....well, obviously they do BUT normally they do not do that.
Needless to say I am no longer disgusted with my little gal. Now I am impressed. Over the winter she had single handily (hoofedly?) raised two babies, gave her human family a half gallon a day and grew another baby besides. What a woman!
I wonder how many times in the coarse of my life I misjudge the actions of others... How many times have I rolled my eyes and judged another soul when the battle they are fighting may not be so obvious? How much better would it be to lend a helping hand instead of shooting a fiery dart?
Through out the bible, servant's of God pray for him to open the eyes of his people. That too should be my constant prayer. Let me see life through your eyes, Lord. Give me holy vision that my judgement might be perfect. Remove my blinders and let me see as you see.

....for the LORD seeth not as man seeth;

for man looketh on the outward appearance,

but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Trip to the Charcoal Kilns

We had worked so hard yesterday that we decided to take the afternoon and go for a quick ride somewhere close to home. The charcoal Kilns were on our list of places we wanted to visit this summer so we headed out. Saddling up. Helmets? check. Picnic? check. Wait is that rain???? Oh well, it will keep the dust down.

Zachary, because of his broken arm had to give up the idea of his dirt bike and ride in the granny wagon with mom. From that cheesy smile I'm a guessing he is not so sure he can trust my driving anymore than his.

These things were amazing 800 cords of wood turned into charcoal on a weekly basis.. and Berry forever fighting his shoe laces.

Wind blown but beautiful at the entrance to one of the kilns.

" Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?"

....... Okay, so it wasn't anything wonderful like that, just the top hole where they stuffed the wood in. But it was still pretty neat.

Beautiful scenery, wonderful company. Just truly a peaceful and refreshing day.

Thank you, Lord.

Grace's Picture

We spent all day, Saturday, cleaning the barn and corral. At the end of the day Moe rewarded us with a big thank you. A sweet little buckling. Grace was beside me the whole time practicing her midwife skills..yet as he hit the ground she popped out my camera and quickly became photographer. "Mom, I need one of these for my birthday!" I had to wait until I was thirty-five before I got my first digital camera, she is six.......my, how times have changed.

Milk

And thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food,

for the food of thy household,

and for the maintenance for thy maidens.

We use our goats milk for everything. Drinking, cooking, and we even make our own ice cream, cream cheese and yogurt. Last year I tried all summer to learn how to make hard cheese. The only thing I managed to produce was something that was of a bouncy ball consistency and ~well, about as flavourful.... I'm going to try it again ~I think the family is begging for prayers here. I'll let you know how it goes.

Keeping Secrets

Shhhhh! Can you keep a secret? Should you? Okay, I'll tell you...... For Fathers day this year we want to honor Shane with a special gift. A recliner! I hate recliners. They are big and cumbersome and in my not-so-very-humble-at-times opinion....ugly.

My man, however, works hard to provide for us and at the end of a long day would like to come home and relax a bit before dinner. Yes, in a recliner. I have been saving for several months and decided I had enough that I could go put one on layaway and have it picked up in time for Father's day.

So, one day a few weeks back we took a holiday from school and went to "try on" some chairs.. Papa is a big, strong man so the chair had to have a wide comfortable seat. He is also tall so the back rest had to be tall too, tall enough that when he leaned back his head was supported without him slouching. The girls wanted to be able to cuddle with him in it so we needed one that the foot rest was as wide as the entire chair ~not one that just lifted out of the middle.

I wanted one that wouldn't consume my entire living room... and on and on the list went.

The seven of us had set out to try the patience of even the most sainted salesman.

We had tried several stores but none seemed to fit all that we wanted. Finally, when we stopped at Oak Ridge in Rigby we found "THE CHAIR" and a smart salesman... he sent us back to the recliner room and left us alone. Rows upon Rows of chairs to choose from and finally the one! Every requirement was met and now all that was left was.........what color?................... The sales man had peeked around the corner when he heard us declare we had found the perfect chair, but he retreated fast when the color debate began. Cream was certainly out,~ mom put her judicial foot down promptly on that one but the others were beautiful ~slate blue and sage green,light brown and a burgundy...just enough choices to split the vote. There was a lot of elbowing and good natured extortion going on as each tried to get the other to convert to his way of thinking. Finally,there were barely enough votes for the sage colored one to skim by. Then we looked at the price tag...."Oh! How in the world did we get to this decision and never once look at the price tag???" "We can't pay that children I'm sorry...."

Here is where the smart salesman came in. ~We had been in his store debating for over an hour, there was no way he was putting up with all of that and still loosing the sale..... "Ma'am, they go on sale for 40% off next Tuesday..I can give you that deal today if you like. We have to order you a chair, these are floor models, so it won't be here before the sale starts anyway."

Sold!

I payed my down payment and told him I would pick it up a few days before Father's Day.

Finally! We were back in the truck. As I buckled my seat belt I overheard Gracie say " I can't wait to tell daddy what we bought him tonight..."

Instantly there were five other distressed voices..."Gracie, you can't tell dad ~ it's a secret!"

I agreed with them until she turned to me with those clear blue eyes so full of trust " Momma! We can't keep secrets from daddy, that's a sin." At that moment, like so many times before, I knew why Christ told us that to enter into heaven we must become as a little child.

When is it in our lives that sin quits being black and white and starts to turn grey? Why at some point do we begin to worry about others feelings and forget about God's? How is it that we loose that simplicity of mind and life becomes complicated?

"Grace, this isn't a bad secret..."I began. After six children you'd think I'd have this one down by now but it always stumps me. "It isn't really a secret at all.."

"Then why can't I tell him?"

"Because...well, we want it to be a special surprise and he won't be surprised if you tell him. Kind of like Christmas ~I don't tell you what I buy you."

"Yes, but you tell daddy!" She exclaims.

Here, David takes over.."Grace, I tell you what. If daddy comes home and says "Gracie, did you buy me a green recliner today?" you can tell the truth and say "yes, daddy I did." BUT ...do you remember when David was anointed king and he didn't tell anyone at first but just went back to work? Well, the chair is like that~we don't want dad to know for a while so if dad doesn't ask then you can't tell him for six more weeks okay?"

She looked him over out of the corner of her eye, it was obvious she was seeing us for the first time as we really were ~ WE were all a bunch o' liars!

"Okay." she finally replies "But if he asks I'm telling."

That night when dad got home, Grace, true to her nature came bouncing through the house and right up into her papa's lap. He planted a kiss on her forehead and gave her a big squeeze. "How did my little girl do with her school today?" I knew she was going to tell him, and to be honest I wouldn't have mind if she did. "Oh, we didn't do much school today, just Bible and then momma gave us a holiday......" they both turned to look at me.

I shrug. "We need one every now and then..."

Dad still had his eyebrow raised but said " I guess you do, every now and then."

With that Grace fluttered off to join her sister at play and I gave a sigh of relief. Or was it? My daughter had just learned to use the "grey". It was almost enough to ruin the whole thing for me.

Child like faith ~ perfect obedience.....it's what I long for and here, I just took hers from her. I felt terrible.

I guess I could use that as a daily reminder... sin is sin ~there is never an in between....I wonder if they make that chair in grey..........

Patience

With nothing but the garlic and peas up, I sit staring at my garden. Waiting.......... waiting...... I am by no means wishing my summer away but Oh, the flavor of corn and tomatoes....... mmmmm. How would it have been before the fall of Adam and Eve to have everything ready and waiting all the time...and with out the weeds!

Zachary

Zachary shows much improvement today. Even got a smile!

Zig don't Zag

Zachary was coming around the left corner, crossed the road and went down the embankment. He was laying at the base of the curved tree that you see in the upper right hand corner.

Landing Safely

Zachary was laying between the stump and the tree to the right. The paramedics had to cut some of the branches to get him out.

Lest Thou Should Fall

For he shall give his angels charge over

thee to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands...........

I received the best present for mothers day today. My son Zachary, ran his motorcycle off the road and down a deep embankment, smashing into a stump and throwing him self over the handle bars with the bike falling on top of him. He stopped a few feet from the canal that runs behind our house and at some point his helmet flew off. He rode to the hospital in the back of an ambulance with all his clothes cut off. His right wrist has a compound fracture with damage in the growth plate, his left eye is swelled shut and when the doctor pried it open it is bloody and bruised on the eye ball it's self. His chest, neck and chin have road rash, the rest of his body covered in bruises and right now as I type he has been in surgery for over two hours.

So, why was this the best mothers day present?

Because he lives. MY SON LIVES!

In a breath, I could have lost him. In fact when I look at the spot where he landed..it is only by God's grace that my son is alive let alone able to walk and talk.

The story is so full of blessing that it must be shared. Zachary had been riding alone all day. Something that will never happen again with any of my children. He decided that he didn't want to ride Andrew's smaller bike anymore, but his bigger one. Cody, overhearing him said "If you're riding that bike I am going with you..."
He tells me now "Mom, I'm glad I listened...God was telling me and if I hadn't of listened ~ we wouldn't have found him. I knew I had to go, I just didn't know why."

Every thing went fine until the return trip home and approaching a pretty sharp curve in the road, Zac, not expecting the power of the bigger bike did not slow down in time. Where he landed is unseen from the road. It would have taken a lot of precious time to simply find him if Cody had not been there.

Cody was able to reach him seconds after he hit, there was a lot of blood coming from his mouth and where the bike was on his chest, Cody feared lung damage. Running to the nearest house he called for help and Mrs. Sutton, who came out, was a nurse...... She grabbed blankets and headed for the spot.

Cody was already back there and had flagged down another car who called the ambulance. Before the ambulance could get there, however, two bikers stopped to see if they could help...they were EMT's from Rigby just out for a Sunday drive.....

Somewhere in the middle of all this someone thought to call our house, Shane left without saying a word to anyone. I realised what had happened when Andrew came in saying "Mom, I don't know where dad went but Cody and Zachary have sure been gone for a long time..." I flew out the door and jumped in the truck headed the direction I had last seen them, only to get there and remember I had left Tammy, my cerebral palsy client, at home with no adult there to watch her.

It took everything I had to tear myself away from that place, but I had to go back home, I think it helped Zachary better anyway, always the little gentleman he was so concerned about the fact that I might see his bone sticking out and he didn't want me to.

A short time later Romma came to sit with Tammy and I joined Shane at the hospital.

We prayed before they took him to surgery. Asking God to guide the doctor's hands as he repaired the damage. praying that he would give Zac comfort and peace and thanked God for this opportunity to trust him. I could barely breath as they wheeled him away for surgery and Zac said " Thanks mom, I love you...."

I had to go home and Shane stayed at the hospital, Zachary was in surgery about three and a half hours, we are told that most of this time was taken up by flushing the dirt and sticks and grime out of his arm so there would be no infection. They left two drain tubes hanging out that would have to be removed at a later time.

Monday morning, after I got Tammy and Berry(both developmentally disabled adults I care for) on the bus to their day care programs I returned to the hospital to sit with Zachary. I was amazed at how fast the swelling in his face had gone down in less than twelve hours. Though weak and tired he began wondering how long it would take for his arm to heal well enough that he could ride his bike. Holverson to the core. He was released that evening but was sent home with I.V's and the drain tubes still in place.

Tuesday, his throat was very sore from the tube they had placed in his throat while preforming the surgery. So he lived on ice cream. Later that afternoon we returned to the doctor and he pulled the drain tubes. I have never had a drain tube pulled from my body but from the sound of Zachary's screams ~ if they ever have to put one in me it will become a permanent fixture. Then we spent the next three hours at the hospital getting his I.V. changed. By the time we got home he was so wiped out and sick. He slept until noon the next day.

Wednesday afternoon I decided I was not taking him back to the hospital to remove the I.V. ~ that place is a joke and poor Zac is just not strong enough to sit there until it is convenient for them to help him. I removed it myself and he says I did alright.

He had been seen by his regular doctor and was put on an oral antibiotic and nasal spray to try to clear up a sinus issue that the cat scan picked up in the ER room.

Later that night he made a statement that caused no little stir around the house. "Everybody! I used the bathroom all by my self!!!" A sure sign that he is on the road to recovery.

He has many more Dr. appointments in the days ahead, including a small surgery in about 6 weeks to remove the pins in his wrist but my son is doing far better than I could have ever hoped for.

When Zachary was born we named him Zachary Dean. In his book is written...

Zachary

Hebrew: remembered by God

Your name was give to you as a reminder that God's eyes are always upon thee. He sees and will forever protect. Walk boldly before him.

Dean

Hebrew: A valley

This name was chosen by your father, drawn from a dear friend in his childhood. "Uncle" Dean was very caring and kind.

Remember you are seen of God even in the valleys and the God who see sees will never fail to uphold.

His life verse was given as Psalm 118:6,10

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them...

Praise God! Praise God, that he not only sees in the valley but that he also sees along a brier filled canal bank where no one else would have been able to...

Morning Glories

My goat Mopsey, is special, she is a morning glory. I love her for that because I too am a morning glory. Every morning when I head out the back door for milking Mopsey is standing ready at the gate. Nickering and coaxing me to hurry, she just HAAAS to get on that stand!
So, I let her out and away she goes jumping up on the stand as if she could live there forever. Mopsey, however, has an irritating habit, half way through milking she tires of standing still and jumps ship. This has happened day after day, year after year. In fact it is such a common occurrence that the first time she shows up at the gate to be let in, the boys don't even ask they just bring her back.
I don't know what it is that sets her off...maybe she hears her babies in the barn and decides that I have had my share or maybe her oats run low or are not as good as she remembered them being the day before...For what ever reason she has had enough and quits. That is why she is my morning glory.
Have you ever watched a morning glory flower? First thing in the morning ~while the rest of us are still chugging down coffee~ they are up with every ounce of energy they have blooming, but then when the heat hits and life is a little uncomfortable they wither and hide. They quit before the day is over.

How many times do I have a morning glory attitude?

When I start a project am I determined to see it through? Or when the going gets rough do I pack up and head out? When Satan attacks and sends arrows of doubt do I turn and run or dig in on my knees where I belong?
The Christian walk is not easy. It is full of trials and temptations. We will fall on a daily if not hourly basis but if we give up, remember~ Satan wins.

There should be no morning glories in Christ's service. We, like the apostle Paul should declare.."but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The prize....eternal peace.... let us press forward.

Now, Mopsey's habit would be easy enough to fix. The solution was given to me over and over by my boys..."Mother, you need to tie her....tie her mother and she won't do that!" They became so disgusted with me that I finally had to tell them my story. Now, our "Morning Glory" serves as a daily reminder.... when she jumps ship we feel the frustration and are reminded of our own failure and vow to do better. We vow to press forward.

Before ye ask him...

David turned sixteen this February. I wrote in an earlier post that he had become a man... well, a man wants a job.
We have tried through out the coarse of our children's lives to make every minute meaningful. We want them to enjoy life
(and they do) but do not want them to waste time on mindless pursuits. We have never allowed in their play life that which we wouldn't allow in their adult life....okay except for the time I dressed them up like wild Indians and let them run all over the yard....that was a history lesson~ still had a purpose!
So with this in mind how does one go about allowing a boy to "work" as a teen? Standing at the end of a counter bagging groceries or passing burgers out a window just does not fit the ideal of time spent in meaningful pursuits.
Moving pipe allows for great physical exercise and time spent with God's creation but at sixteen when the mind moves on to "preparing for the wife of his youth and his fields" the pay is too nominal to amount to much through out the summer.
I guess I should add here that, while a paying job is nice, we would have been perfectly willing to allow David to work for no wage if he would have been able to learn a skill or a trade that would have helped him as an adult. Knowledge is of higher esteem than money.

We had discussed putting in an application at Bear World ~ he has skill in working with animals, however, they take interns from the collage to do the actual work with the animals and leave the hired youth to muck stalls and pass out tickets at the gate.... again not an option.

We had reached a standstill.... is it not amazing that when we stand still ~ God moves best?
Two weeks ago, Shane traded an entertainment center for new rain gutters for our home. He had all four boys working with him at the home while he installed the entertainment center.
Last night, totally out of the blue, the gentleman stopped by and offered David a job over the summer.... He was impressed with our boys and wanted to teach David the trade, and pay him as well! In the blink of an eye our problem had been solved and we hadn't lifted a finger.

Does God want David to install rain gutters for a living? I have not a clue..but I will tell you. The machine that makes the gutters was $8,000 from that small investment this man makes a nice living and has the flexibility of being his own boss and scheduling jobs around his family life...

Today, however, I am not thinking about what David will do for a living, that decision is in far better hands anyway. Today I am working on standing still and praising God!

.......For your father knoweth what things ye have need of,
before ye ask him.