Be the Tree, Not the Rock...

 

The Keys to Strength and Courage

Can't Go Around It...

What a week!

We've been in a happy place, watching our 3 busy, busy grand-kids while their mom and dad took a much deserved mini-vacation-anniversary-celebration!

It's been a week full of chaos and noise, the sweetest belly laughs, complicated 5-year-old negotiations, lots of macaroni-n-cheese, and the best hugs ever.

We came home and crashed!  Lol!  There's a reason God gives babies to the young and able!

One of the recurring themes of the week was music... it was an eclectic mix to be sure.  "P" was on a Frozen kick and I think we have the soundtrack memorized ;-)  The youngest of the twins loved the nursery rhyme action songs and we had a fabulous repertoire featuring Wheels on the Bus, If You're Happy and you Know it and Going on a Bear Hunt.

It turns out that Pepaw makes a great Bear!

It was perhaps the 100th time we sang Going on a Bear Hunt that the words spoke truth and a real life application.

Here are the lyrics (for a quick refresh... you're welcome!)

Going on a Bear Hunt (adapted by Michael Rosen)

We're goin' on a bear hunt,

We're going to catch a big one,

I'm not scared

What a beautiful day!

Oh Look! It's some long, wavy grass!

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it,

Can't go around it,
Got to go through it.
(Make arm motions like you're going through
long grass and make swishing sounds.)

We're goin' on a bear hunt,

We're going to catch a big one,

I'm not scared

What a beautiful day!

Oh Look!  Squishy, Oozy Mud!

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it,

Can't go around it,

Got to go through it.
(Pretend to squish, squelch
through the thick mud.)

We're goin' on a bear hunt,

We're going to catch a big one,

I'm not scared

What a beautiful day!

Oh Look!  It's a big, wide river.

Can't go over it,

Can't go under it,

Can't go around it,

Got to go through it.
(Pretend to swim and
make splashing sounds.)

We're goin' on a bear hunt,

We're going to catch a big one,

I'm not scared

What a beautiful day!

Oh Look!  A deep, dark cave.

Can't go over it.

Can't go under it.

Can't go around it.

Got to go through it.

(Pretend to tiptoe into cave.)

Uh, oh!  It's dark in here.

I fee something,

It has lots of hair!

It has sharp teeth!

It's a bear!

Hurry back through the river.

(Make swimming, splashy sounds and motions.)
Hurry back through the mud.

(Make squishy, squelchy sounds and motions.)
Hurry back through the long grass.

(Make arm motions waving through the grass.)

Run in the house and lock the door.

Phew!  That was close!

I'm not afraid!

Leave it to a children's song to teach Big Lessons.

There are some things that we just have to Go Through... there's no going over it, no going under and surely no going around it.

The only way is going through it...

Cancer is like that.  Pancreatic cancer.  A hard journey with no way out but to go through.

And don't we all say with bravado, I'm not scared... when the truth is we're so scared we can hardly breathe.  The cancer takes us down into that dark, dark cave.  And the bear is no smiling, roaring Pepaw, reaching to tickle a giggling toddler.

The dark journey of a cancer fight can take us into the pit of fear.

And still, there's no way out but going through.

Adversity will drive us to our knees.  We can look down and shrivel under the weight of the overwhelming darkness...

Or, we can look up, to a God who promises to go before us... to walk us through the fear.  Not to remove the circumstance, but to give us strength to face it and head straight through it.

We have the perfect promise of an Almighty God who will never leave us nor fail us... He goes with us... even through the darkest of caves.  The biggest of bears bows down before the Holy One...

"Be strong and bold,

have no fear or dread of them,

because it is the Lord your God

who goes before you.

He will be with you:

He will not fail you or forsake you."

                    ~ Deuteronomy 31:6,8

We're going on a Bear Hunt, and no matter what our dark caves hold, together we will be strong and courageous, for there is a great God who goes through it with us...

And that's Grace for tonight!
My Love,
Always,
             Jane

Bear Prints...

A smile for the weekend, friends... Watch out for Bears!

Love and Hugs,
                       Jane

Standing in the Storm...

Courage in the face of the impossible... that is what the pancreatic cancer patient faces every day.  It is a storm that is constantly battering and blowing us off course.

And when the wind does not blow our way, we stop and adjust the sails.

Praying always for each one facing this fight.  You courage is lighting the way for those following behind...

Cheering you on this night!

My Love, Always,
                           Jane

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

~Cayla Mills

Focus on the Fight...

If you could find the pulse of our website and blog it would be Fighting this Cancer with everything we've got... Perhaps that is why Robin Roberts quote resonated.

"It's about focusing on the fight and not the fright."

Anyone who has received that cancer diagnosis can identify with the fright... our hearts beat hard and stomachs rebel when the overwhelming reality sinks in.  We know that kind of fright.

But to really fight, we need to get past the fright, past the crippling fear and paralyzing panic and on to the steps we need to take in order to beat this beast.

We could close this post with another favorite quote, from Theodore Roosevelt, that is so apt to our fight... when we don't know where to begin or what to do:

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Yes, ma'am... just take a breath and then take a step!

It's a good day to make a start,

My Love, Always,

               Jane

Standing Up to Cancer

Powerful words!

Standing Up to Cancer Together...

Praying for every one in the Fight tonight!

My Love, Always,

                         Jane

Crossing the Ocean takes Courage

Truth!

No matter what our "ocean" may be... it takes courage to sail away from safe shores.

Be it a cancer diagnosis, financial struggle or family strife...  Praying as we set the course and face our ocean head-on.  May courage be our companion and strength our shield this day...

My Love, Always,
                     Jane

Sunday Speaks... Words of Courage

Sunday Inspired ... Courage

Courage and Fear...

 

 

Love this quote.  It is a reminder that courage does not come easy... but it trumps fear every time. 

 

Where ever you are, my friend, what ever your journey, know that prayers are being lifted for you.  May you feel a courage rise from deep to meet your fear, no matter the circumstance, no matter the despair.  There is Promise ahead... Be En-Couraged.

 

In Grace Always,  Jane

Evil Has Been Dispatched...Hallelujah Chorus Please!

Have to admit I am just a tad jumpy today... Perhaps it is because I did not sleep well last night.  I have determined that wasps and spiders and the ensuing dreams (nightmares) do not good bed-time companions make...

Nor do snakes...

Yes, ma'am... the horrors continue.  As if wasps and spiders were not enough of a test, look who arrived at our back door steps yesterday morning.

 

Not your run-of-the-mill garden variety rat snake here.... No....

For this week of Courage Testing we provide only the best in venomous snakes.

Meet a really ticked off water mocassin stuck in a yard full of cats and peacocks.

(Hey, Mr. Scary Snake, I didn't invite you here, so don't give me the evil eye!)

 

 

 

P.S. I was taking these pictures from the top of the porch deck with my zoom lens.  Mom would have been hypervenilating about it, but I felt very safe up high.

 

Of course, I also took this picture...

 

He's right there at the bottom of the picture.

Way too close to our back porch if you ask me...

or the peacocks...

 

 

No one was happy about this evil intruder, least of all me!

I am convinced that I surely must be living in a House of Horrors, or rather a Farmstead of Horrors (doesn't have quite the same ring as House of Horrors, sticking with the dramatic because I'm feeling just a little edgy today!)  And this House of Horrors has about done me all in...

But for Courage, I wouldn't be here to write this post.  Well, actually I still could be writing this post from somewhere in Cancun on a nice, sunny beach (they don't have venomous snakes on beaches do they?), but it wouldn't be quite as horrifying if I was recounting the story from a comfy beach chair holding a fruity drink with a tiny umbrella in it.

Instead I am wearing appropriate Snake-Battle Gear, carrying Snake-Killing Weapons...

 

Rather attractive Snake-Battle Gear in a "back-woods meets Aquarius" kind of way.  And I think I struck just the right pose... nonchalant but confident.  (Of which I was feeling neither.  Did you suspect?)

 

Crickey... How did I end up here in these psychedelic boots holding a shovel contemplating a battle to the death with the most scary of evil lurkers?

 

 

Don't answer that...Let me just pretend I am courageous for a moment...

 

Breathe in... Breathe out... Steady, Aim and De-Capitate...

 

Honestly, someone needs to invent Black Flag for Snakes.  Hello?  Wouldn't it be like way better to be standing 29 feet away from the scary snake when you decide to take it out?!

 

My legs are wobbly, but my aim was right on... Evil has been Dis-patched this day and all is Safe again in our little corner of Paradise...

 

Who knew that Courage would be demanded of me twice in one week?

 

T.S. Eliot once said that...

 

"Only those who risk going too far

can possibly find out how far one can go."

 

And I doubt he was thinking of venomous snakes or wobbly legs, but it is true.  Courage is a risk.  Sometimes life requires that we reach deep down and find out just how far we can go...

 

This Happy Goat Herder just found out...with relief and gratitude anew for His Ever Protecting Hand.

 

May your day be blessed with the Grace-Breathing Courage of a Mighty God...He will take you farther than you dare to dream...

 

Love Always,

                Jane 

What Evil Lurks Beneath...

Ok... This post actually began yesterday.  But...I was suitably traumatized and spent the night reliving the horrifying events rather than writing about them.  And then this morning, before I could let you all know what transpired... more traumatizing events occurred! 

Whatever made me write about Courage last weekend?!   I certainly did not intend on putting it to the test so soon!

I even documented the scary moments with my camera.   However, I must warn you that these pictures are not for the squeamish, or the fearful, or the nervous... to be honest they kind of make my stomach tumble.  And I was there, so I know about stomach tumbling. And sweaty palms. And racing hearts...

Well, for goodness sakes.  What could be so dreadful out here on the farm?

Let me tell you.  There is evil out there... just lurking beneath the peaceful green pastures...

 

 

 

Well, that's not exactly true... to be more exact, evil is lurking under the eaves of the well house.  And probably has been lurking there for quite some time.  And the only reason I noticed it yesterday was because I was a good gardner and decided to water my jungle of bushes by the well house (we are in another historic drought here in north Texas, must water everything, everyday...but that's another story for another day...)

 

And so I was blissfully watering away...

 

 

when I noticed with horror...

 

 

... a wasp nest loaded with a ka-zillion humming wasps!

 

I may have momentarily been frozen with fear...

 

 

... then recovered and run for cover (just sayin')

 

And as I contemplated the situation (from the comfort of the kitchen with a glass of chocolate milk and toasted bagel slathered in cream cheese), I realized that someone was going to have to do something.  Like remove the wasp nest from the vicinity of my happy farm...

 

It then occurred to me, as I slurped the last of the chocolate milk and pondered another bagel, that I was the only someone on the farm at the moment.  Handsome farmer husband was miles and miles away on a business trip (very poor timing on his part says the unhappy and now very nervous farmer wife...)

 

Thank Heavens for Black Flag!

 

 

If this was a movie, angels would be singing, fireworks would be exploding and the heroine would be smiling...

 

I don't think I was smiling.

 

But... Black Flag can indeed send a lethal stream of foam up to 29 feet.  I know because I practiced on a big oak tree in the back yard... I wanted to be very sure of my aim.  And I wanted to be 29 feet away from that nest.  Well, actually I wanted to be 29 miles away from the nest, but that wasn't a current option...

 

And so I headed back to the nest armed with only my Courage and a can of Black Flag...

 

 

 

And that's when I noticed the Black Widow Spider just feet from the wasp nest!  Not even kidding...

 

 

 

I actually noticed a multitude of things all at once... one being that I really needed to clean the well house eaves a little more often, another was the fact that this Big Mama Spider had an equally Big Bad Nest Sack under guard.  Hello?!  Does Black Flag kill spiders too?!

 

Gonna find out pretty quick...

 

Breathe in, Breathe out.  Steady, Aim and Fire....  I'm pretty sure I emptied the entire can of Black Flag on the well house in less than 15 seconds...

 

The wasps dropped like flies with a collective thud.  The Black Widow Spider not so much.

 

She appeared somewhat stunned and a lot disoriented but she hung on.  And being more brave than smart I decided to get a close-up of her next to a penny to show my family just how Big this spider was (they always think I exaggerate such stories...I don't understand...)

 

So I scooped her off the eave (with a broom that had a Long Handle) and dropped her onto her Glamour Shots Stage...

 

 

What a HUGE spider... Right?

 

But white paper wasn't her thing and all of a sudden she came to life and scurried off in a huff.  And of course I reacted instinctively and squashed her... but gently... but still pretty hard cuz it was with my boot and all... so, lesson learned.  Black Flag is really a great product, but don't trust it on spiders, especially Black Widows.  Squashing is best.

 

And for the squeamish, this next shot may make you wince, but here she is showing off the pretty red fiddle on her belly, with her legs kind of squashed, but still you can see the trademark Black Widow tattoo, which is kind of ironic, because how many spiders are going to roll over so you can identify them before you squash them? 

 

 

 

None, so there you go... all spiders get squashed here on the farm if they are in my line of sight.  Especially Black Widows...

 

Everyone warned.

 

I feel better... And exhausted.  This Courage thing is really hard on a Farmer Wife.

 

And I haven't even gotten to the horrors of this morning.  Perhaps a brief rest and the tale will resume tomorrow.  You must stay tuned for the continuing saga of What Evil Lurks Beneath...

 

Because if you think Wasps and Spiders are dreadfully alarming then I can't imagine how you will react to the terrors ahead...  Courage don't fail me now...

 

The Courage to Saddle Up...

"Courage is being scared to death,

but saddling up anyway."

                       ~ John Wayne

 

May you find the courage to "saddle up" for whatever comes your way this week.

Praying you feel the Grace and Power that pours out in abundance whenever the testing and trials come...

 

"Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or terrified because of them,

for the Lord your God goes with you;

he will never leave you, nor forsake you."

                               ~ Deuteronomy 31:6

 

 Blessings to you this coming week,

          In Grace Always,

                          Jane