Jamie Dickerson on Venture's Golden Satin.
Shortly before my birthday I acquired Satin. She is here on the farm now and is doing well. She has had a period of adjustment as she searches for her place in the herd. This morning she was shivering and seemed really cold so we brought her to the barn and put a blanket on her to warm her up. Tonight she is stalled in the barn with the blanket still on her.
We had just fed the herd some hay and she didn't want to leave the hay to be led to the barn. She really tried and tried to get away from me. But when we got her into the barn she found out we were not trying to take her away from what she wanted but to give her more of it in a better place with some grain to go along with the hay.
It occurs to me that we are like that with God. God wants to lead us away from what seems like some really good things in our lives. He doesn't want to take the good away from us but he wants to give us something more and better. Yet we often balk and think we are losing out on what seems really good to us. We can't imagine that there is more and better for us when we follow God. He doesn't force us into following him as I forced Satin into the barn this morning for more hay, a warm blanket and some good tasting grain. Once there, she understood I was doing her a kindness. And once we are following God and doing his will and obeying him we find he is doing us a kindness.
The first picture is of my best friend, Donna and me celebrating my birthday. Donna is facing surgery and is in a lot of pain but she celebrated my birthday with me anyway. We have been friends since before we can remember.. Our parents took us to church and we met each other when we were still babies in our mothers' arms. My birthday was last Friday and we spent most of the day together just talking and laughing and reliving old times as well as catching up on what we had each been doing since our last visit.
The bride and groom are my grandson, Edward Zinsius and his bride Jennifer Warden. They are making their home in Dayton Ohio. This past week end Mike, Natalie and I traveled to Gatlinburg to attend their wedding. It was a good week end. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was beautiful. The groom was very handsome and everyone had a great time. The evening was filled with good food and fun as we celebrated the union of this special man and woman.
One of the fun parts of the evening was that most of the guests were thrown into the heated pool in the hotel. It is a tradition with the bride's family that the groom gets tossed into the pool during the reception.
I noticed everyone had gone to their rooms and changed into jeans and t shirts. I wondered why until I found out about the tradition. Thankfully the bride and groom had also changed into more comfortable clothes by this time. The bride also went into the pool. Almost all of the guests did as well.
This morning during the height of the snow storm here on the farm, we drove up to the back part of the farm. At night we often hear coyotes howling. It is a hair raising sound. It causes us to be concerned for our livestock. We keep enough horses in each field together to protect each other and themselves. On Sunday night we noticed the dogs had found a calf skin. It appeared to be from a small calf.
The next morning Mike went to check on our cows. All the cows and calves were accounted for so we knew we had not lost a calf. We heard a cow from the neighbor's farm bawling for her calf and we knew where the calf hide had come from. Coyotes are a recent inhabitant of our farm and county. They have multiplied since their first introduction into our region to where they are a danger to all livestock. There were a few here back in the nineties. But now, one can hear howls from all directions.
This morning we saw tracks where they had crossed the field but did not see any. Our horses shy away from a little house that sets in one of the back fields. They do not like that area and always act a little silly around there. It is our belief that coyotes must hang out around that area of the farm regularly. And my son in law has seen coyotes near the house.
All our horses even J R gets a little silly near that house. That is another clean indication they are in that area regularly.
As we were driving down from the back fields Bob captured the picture of the barn and silos during the worse of the snow storm this morning. It was a lovely picture.
May God bless and keep you in His loving care. And may He give you a good and peaceful night's sleep.
Regards,
Mary
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.
Isaiah 26: 3-4
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