A Christian Writer's Prayer

My Dear Father in Heaven,

I have the desire to kneel myself before you and, as you know, I’ve even tried. I don’t understand why the words refuse to come, so I will type them instead. 

I love you Lord and I know that Jesus Christ is your living and true son. I know that we are created after your own image and have been sent to Earth to live, learn, and grow. We are allowed to make choices based on our own free will.

I have been many places where I have felt your spirit. Whenever I see the glory of nature, whether it is at the beach as I hear the roar of the ocean and watch the waves as they crash upon the shore, or in the snow capped mountains, or the many wonderful places my husband has taken us, I KNOW YOU ARE THERE.

I have cried, being filled with the spirit of the Holy Ghost which you sent to confirm to me that you’re the GREAT I AM. I have felt your presence in a Jewish Synagogue when the Cantor sang at a cousin’s wedding; and at the LDS church whether I’m listening to a lesson or singing hymns of praise; and I’ve felt you touch my heart in other Christian churches to the point of overflowing. You constantly speak to me and I cannot deny that.

You have answered my prayers when I begged for another child to come into my life. You have answered my prayers when I asked you to guide my son in the decisions he makes in his life. And you answered the desperate prayer of a nineteen year old girl, when I begged for you to send me someone special. You sent me Lorne. He is a loving, kind, thoughtful, and devoted man. And every day, when he shows how much he loves me, I am astonished that you blessed me with someone so special (special not perfect—I’m not delusional.)

I believe in the scripture promises of Matthew 7: 7 and in Luke 11:9 - Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.

 And in  Mark 11: 23 and Matthew 21: 21 - For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be though removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Help me to live as in Proverbs 3: 5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all thine [my] heart; and lean not to thine [my] own understanding. In all thy [my] ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy [my] paths.

I know you have been the guiding force in helping me put words and ideas to paper. Luke 21: 15 - For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist.

I pray that, as in Psalms 19:14 - Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

My desire is to have my stories reach the people that they need to. My message is one of love, forgiveness, and family relationships. Please God, I claim this with all the conviction that your bible promises. If you can move mountains, heal the sick, part the sea, and help me with the littlest of problems like finding my keys, than I KNOW you can send my words to the readers who need them most.  

Fairfield Lake State Park

Last month, we went on a camping adventure to Fairfield Lake Campground.

 We camped in space 49 of Cook's Ferry. The space included electricity and water for $30  a night, which is a bit pricey, but it was a nice weekend get-a-way.

Dogs after a trek through one of the many hiking trails.  

     

 

Fishing Area

 

I think netting is cheating, but what do I know?



Fish Cleaning Station
   

Children's Playground 

Moss, mushrooms, trees, and vines. I could become rich selling hallucinogenics. 

 

Window Sticker Families

Have you ever seen stick-figure, gender family characters on the lower-left, rear windshields? Some vehicles feature children with sports equipment, or have a parental unit in a doctor or police uniform; and, sometimes, stick-figure pets are shown in the family line-up. In Texas, Lucy and I were behind a SUV whose family figures were zombies with body parts missing.

But when I was in California last March, I pulled behind this ya-hoo. I was speechless. The caption under the figures says, "Making My Family."  Does that make it any less crude?

Meet Popper

My hubby is a child and animal magnet. No mater how old or what species, they love him. So, when he told me this story I wasn't surprised that he met a new friend at work.

Every night when Lorne leaves the office, he'd see a squirrel going about his squirrel business, gathering nuts and such. They'd make eye contact, the squirrel would freeze to prevent from being noticed, and Lorne would say hello.

This went on for a while, and Lorne looked forward to seeing his little buddy when he'd head for home. On one particular evening, Popper came down his tree and stood on the dirt to say their evening goodbyes. Out of the blue, Popper began chattering up a storm, doing back flips, and bouncing straight up in the air. Lorne wondered what on earth could have made the little creature so upset. Then, he noticed the Fire-Ant hill Popper stood on when he came down to say hello.

 Photo taken before the ant incident of 2015.

Who'll Stop the Rain?

Long as I remember, the rain been comin' down

Clouds of mystery pourin' confusing on the ground.

Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun.

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain.

- Creedence Clearwater Revival 

Last weekend, Lorne spent an hour redirecting the flood waters. Here is an example of forty-feet trench he dug to protect our little garden.

This week, I thought I'd give him a hand and dig a trench to redirect some of the excess water flowing into our yard from an adjacent lot. This took me an hour: 

My trench is two-and-a-half inches deep by three feet in length.

Other than being a completely useless farmhand to my hubby, 

I will offer up the Texas soil as an excuse.

Since I have the strength of a gnat, I had to scrap the mud off of each shovel scoop. Before I began picking the clay off the shovel, I tried to push it off with my shoe. That created more problems than it solved. Within ten minutes, I no longer owned a pair of tennis shoes; they'd become Platform Soil shoes. My new mud lifts took me two inches off the ground.

Feeling like Noah

There has been so much rain, our leach field needs an overhaul. This is no exaggeration, every other day the clouds pour a half-inch of rain or more. We are lucky. Nearby cities suffered major flooding, so I have no right to complain; but, if we don't dry out soon our little piece of heaven might become a sister city of Atlantis.

Our Boxers were the first ones on the Ark.

Our First Tornado Scare

On Friday, April 24th we had our first tornado scare. It's a little (a lot) freaky to here the sirens blare their, "Take shelter NOW," warning. The news had continuous coverage and, thank heavens, our power remained on. Any room connected with exterior walls is unsafe, and since we don't have a shelter or safe room, we huddled in our hall way and prayed.

We had a little damage to our side roofing, but we were worried about some of the windows shattering by the hail that smacked into them. Lorne said he was going to make some wood-board window covers that we can slip into place for future damage control. He's looking into plans to upgrade the office into a safe room. It won't be cheep, since the walls need to be reinforced with concrete.

No tornado touch downs in our area, but the town twenty minutes away had one with punishing winds.

Here are some photos of the thunderstorm clouds, and an amazing double-rainbow that formed over our home like a scene from CBS's Under The Dome by Stephen King.

After the Storm Sunset