Poem by Lady Powerscourt (1800-1836)

Lord! Let my heart still turn to Thee,
In all my hours of waking thought,
Nor let this heart e'er wish to flee,
Or think, or feel, where Thou art not.

In every hour of pain and woe,
When nought on earth this heart can cheer,
When sighs will burst and tears will flow,
Lord, hush the sigh and chase the tear.

In every dream of earthly bliss,
Do Thou, dear Jesus, present be;
Nor let a thought of happiness
On earth intrude, apart from Thee!

To my last lingering thought at night,
Do Thou, Lord Jesus, still be near;
And ere the dawn of opening light
In still small accents wake mine ear.

Whene'er I read Thy sacred word,
Bright on the page in glory shine;
And let me say, "This precious Lord
In all His full salvation's mine."

And when before the throne I kneel,
Hear from that throne of grace my prayer,
And let each hope of heaven I feel
Burn with the thought to meet Thee there.

Thus teach me, Lord, to look to Thee
In every hour of waking thought;
Nor let me ever wish to be,
Or think, or feel, where Thou art not.

Naughty Puppy

Who, me??

Happy Birthday, K!

I can hardly believe it, but K turned 12 today! She only had half of a day of school, so she helped me with her birthday cake, deciding she wanted to do the frosting and decorating. I found sprinkles in the shapes of farm animals - cows, chicks, and pigs - which I knew she would love. She was really wishing there were horses, too (of course). She stuck some miniature horse figurines from her bedroom shelf on top, assuring me that she washed them first!





Here she is in the western duds she got for her birthday.


The other day we woke up to a winter wonderland - snow covering everything. We must have about 7 inches of white stuff now. It's really beautiful, because unlike usual when the wind is blowing, it must have fallen straight down, so the trees are all nicely decorated. What a transformation! I love winter for it's beauty.


This shot was taken a while ago, before she donated her hair.

Happy Birthday, K! As I wrote on your card, may you always follow the Lord Jesus, riding the trails he has for you!

Fall 2009 - This and That

C and his dog.


The ponies, Prince and Spanky.


Cowboy, looking contemplative.

The "girls" that provide our delicious brown eggs. :o)

One of Lily's kittens, that Spanky stepped on seconds after this was taken. I think she'll be all right.

Spanky, being friendly.

Daisy, who also had a litter of kittens, but would prefer that Aunt Lily do most of the mothering.

Prince is starting to look kind of shaggy - he's growing his winter coat.

Daisy

Lily. She's a good mama.

My black-eyed Susans are looking tired and cold.

'Autumn Joy' Sedum - I love it's red color in the fall.

The Johnny Jump-Ups are still blooming away, mid-November. Awesome. In our house, we affectionately refer to them as Jackie Pop-Ups.

Back from hiatus

Well! I took a long break from blogging, but hope to get back to it now. I was rummaging around a bit in my old pictures this morning and found my school picture from kindergarten.

I laugh at the bangs. Mom used to trim them by applying a piece of Scotch tape across them and cutting along the bottom edge. She also made my little chambray sailer top. When I was a kid, I LOVED red and blue . . . and still do!

Ahhh - kindergarten. Fond memories of dear, gentle Mrs. Hauge, singing around the piano, naptime, the little cartons of milk that we all got every day, the big cardboard building bricks, and drawing life-size pictures of ourselves. Life was very uncomplicated!

J's Graduation from High School

I forgot to post about J's Grad the end of June. Oops! I posted some pictures on Facebook but forgot about my blog, so will have to remedy that, however late! :o)

The grads always have a parade - J rode on her friend's 4-wheeler.



Before the graduation ceremony we took a few family pictures . . .



. . . and a few of J and her close friends.



J was one of 6 in her class that got an award for getting marks above 90% in at least 5 classes this year. Congratulations, J!







She was pretty excited!





In the evening they had a banquet for the graduates and their parents. It was pretty nice! The decorating committee worked hard to transform the auditorium. The theme of the evening was "One Night in Paris". There was an Eiffel Tower in the entrance that you walked under, a cafe, a bridge, the Paris skyline on the walls, and a replica of the Arch of Triumph, which someone's parents worked VERY hard on! It was amazing!

A. and I at the banquet:



The Arch of Triumph:



J in front of the cafe:



The other two girls from her elementary school:



All the gals in their very colorful dresses, taken on the bridge:



It's pretty hard to believe that this chapter of her life is finished - it's gone so quickly! Soon she'll be starting a new chapter.

We love you so much, J! :o)

Hotspot Festival Parade

Today K was able to participate in a neighboring town's festival parade. K was doubtful that it would work out, so she was quite happy when it did! We were up late last night, polishing the saddle, bridle and her boots. She was up bright and early this morning, raring to go. It was a short night!

She loves her pony, Spanky. Can you tell?



He seemed a little nervous, so she led him around the school grounds where they later saddled up.



A cute little girl with pink cowboy boots wanted to know, "Could I please pet your horse?"







A little ride around the grounds to make sure everything's adjusted right.



It was a pretty short parade. We watched it near the beginning of the parade route, and then moved so we could watch it again at the end.







Smile for the camera, Spanky!