The Babies of Summer...

Sweet Baby Faces!  They're everywhere!

First peachick of the spring, growing into his fluffy peeps!

 

 

And purring fuzzballs charming everyone...

 

 

 

And then there's the baby goat kids...

 

 

Impossible to hold still, leaping and bounding their joy.

 

 

Oops, wrong end... let's try that again.

 

 

And again...

 

 

Almost had it.

 

 

Too close...

 

 

Ahhh....just right!  Sweet little goat babies!

 

 

Mama Dove, what are you hiding under your downy fluff?

 

 

 

 

Precious, little ones...

 

And our most favorite baby face of all???

 

 

Sweet Aubree Claire, bathing beauty extraordinaire!

 

 

 

Sometimes the smallest are simply the sweetest!

 

May your summer days be gracing you with the most adorable of joys...

          Love and Hugs,

                              Jane

 

Freedom Day

Celebrating on the farm...

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 4th of July... Independence Day... Freedom Celebration

 

We can't help but celebrate these gifts with gratitude for the men and women, past and present, who guard our freedoms with their very lives.  For some these freedoms were not free...they have given their cherished tomorrows for our todays.  Bless you each one...

 

These thoughts temper the day of festivity with a solemnness.  My mind wanders to the many freedoms lost around the world.  The fight for independence still rages on, this I know.  And my heart remembers a battle not so distant, a personal struggle, our journey with the beast of cancer.  The fight was ultimately for her freedom...

Caught in the grip of cancer tight, anguish fed the fear... hearts ached as we watched mom's world shrink, enslaved to a disease that battled furious for her very life. 

Such a vicious disease.  Pancreatic cancer binds freedom from a soul in so many ways...

* diets change

* pain closes in

* treatment choices map the days

* fatigue and nausea obscure the joy

* weakness ties the body to bed

Hearts grow sore.  Freedoms diminish.  Life revolves around the sickness that won't let go.

And we struggle with the chains.  We fight the ever-tightening noose.   How to live a life free.

Unfettered.

Unhindered.

Free...

As our nation celebrates the gift of Freedom, our Independence Day, I struggle anew with the journey.   Soul cries unfair.  Our Freedoms were taken the day mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.

 

Firecrackers explode with noise and beauty, lighting the heavens and my gaze shifts up...

the Heart follows.

There is a Freedom, this my soul knows.  He speaks quiet to shattered dreams.  Lifts up the fallen countenance and reminds again... and again...

There is only Freedom in the One who surrendered Himself to our chains, to our fetters. 

A True Freedom in the Grace and Blessed Mercy of the Cross.  In the Unfailing Love of God.

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

look at the earth beneath:

the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment...

But my Salvation will last forever,

my righteousness will never fail."

                             ~  Isaiah 51:6

 

In this life, freedom is such a transient thing.  There are no perfect answers for our struggles, for the paths our journeys take.  

 

Mom's Freedom came, whole and complete, the moment she closed her eyes here in our presence and opened them to the glorious wonders of Life Eternal with the One who loves her tender and will never fail her.  Or us.

 

I don't know how this works.  This Freedom.  But I know it does.  always.  work.

We can celebrate our Independence no matter the circumstances that bind.  It is a glorious gift born of sacrifice great.  And it is balm to hearts sore this day.

Graced by Freedom to Celebrate with Joy,
                                                      Always,  Jane

Super Moon Shenanigans

Have you seen her yet?

 

Lurking over the horizon, all hazy and otherwordly...

 

 

She defies the ordinary and casts a wicked gleam over the night realm.

 

 

Scientists have named her the Super Moon.  The phenomenon occurs about once a year when the moon rolls closest to earth in its eliptical orbit.  This results in a "Super" large viewing of the moon from earth... 

 

And she is a beauty.  Perhaps you've seen her dancing over the evening sky.  Beguiling beams of light streaking night with day.  And perhaps she is the one to blame for all the mayhem on the farm!  For something is amiss!

 

Yesterday morning while I was doing chores I noticed Miss Peacock playing hide-n-seek in the bed of the pick-up...

 

 

Up with her head, then ducked down, daring me to come see...

 

And this is what I found!

 

 

An egg!

 

Laid in the dirty, old bed of the pick-up!  In June!  Something very peculiar going on around the farm indeed.  Our peas generally nest in early spring, which is February or March around here.  So an egg in June is just down-right strange.  And then to drop it in the old pick-up... Maybe that Super Moon is messing with the order of things!

 

Then today when I got home from running errands, I noticed someone's goats out along the road...

 

 

And I thought... boy, they sure look a lot like our cashmeres.  And then I slammed on the brakes and realized... They Are Our Cashmeres!!!

 

And they knew they were in trouble... they actually beat me back to the pasture gate... which, of course they couldn't get thru because it was locked.

 

After they were safely tucked away in their "time-out" corners... I walked the fence line and found the tiniest of breaks near the creek.  Uh-huh.  They are nothing if not persistent.  So, fence fixed.  Goats in time-out.  I walked back to the house and noticed the apple tree.

 

 

Stripped to the bark...

 

By these little hoodlums

 

 

who don't appear to be feeling any remorse.

 

And then it gets worse.  The black raspberry bush...

 

 

Stripped clean!  Not even a leaf left, only the stake and tape holding it up.

 

But the final straw would be my beautiful rose bushes...

 

 

Nary a bloom survived the ravenous appetites of our goats on the rampage.  Dare I blame it on the Super Moon?  For this could not be normal behavior for our "sweet" herd of cashmere!

 

And the Super Moon is playing havoc with the garden as well... or perhaps I'm just a messy gardener, but the tomato plants are becoming a jungle!

 

 

 

What bounty!

 

 

Although Casey does not seem to be impressed...

 

 

Must be the work of a Super Moon!

 

May we always be blessed with the magic of Life Lived Large,

for even when ravaging pests strip us bare,

remind us that our roots run deep and our foundation is sure.

 

 

 

Soaking up the Moon Beams tonight,

     In Grace,

              Jane

 

p.s.  Thank you Stacy for the amazing Super Moon photos!  You captured it perfectly! 

 

Happy Father's Day

To all the Fathers...

 

a day to tell you how you are adored.

 

To my Daddy, my Father-in-law, my handsome Son,

and mostly for the man who still melts my heart...

 

Happy Father's Day!

 

 

For the love that spills out for your family,

you have made us feel safe, protected and

simply, always, cherished.

 

 

Love you to the moon and back!

 

Good Morning...

 

The sun peeks gently through the trees,

softly announcing a new day has arrived.

 

 

A walk in the cool of the morning...
misty bliss.

 

 

"The LORD'S lovingkindnesses

indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning:

Great is Your Faithfulness."
                             ~ Lamentations 3:22-23

 

May you feel His lovingkindnesses
sweetly through-out the day...

 

In Grace Always,

                 Jane

 

Is This What It Will Be Like?

 

You know... that glorious feeling when you finally pull into your driveway (or crunchy gravel road) and realize that you're back home... after days away and miles gone by...

 

 

 

You roll down the windows and breathe it in.  The fragrance that tickles your nose...and draws a smile.

 

 

 

 

The happy pups who delight in your arrival!

 

 

 

 

 

The soul sighs with content even as the muscles protest the long, cramped ride!  But what bliss to walk the farm, savoring the sights, the smells, the sounds... unpacking can wait as we discover all we've missed...

 

And as if on cue, we hear baby bleats from the stable!

 

 

Born just hours after we arrived home!  Our farm-sitter was one nervous girl keeping nanny watch!

 

 

 

 

Twin Girls, Healthy and Sound, Silky and Sweet

Delightful Welcome Home Gift!

 

And then as dusk lulls the babies to sleep, these tired travelers finally fall into bed... Our own bed!

A scrumptious feeling to slide between cool sheets and sink into our own comfy mattress, with pillows plumped just so...

 

 

We melted into sleep, that kind of hazy, drifting away on waves of content...

and somewhere between wake and sleep, a thought floated gentle, and I wondered

if this is what it will be like when we finish this earthly Journey

and finally arrive Home...

 

A Heavenly Home that will feel as glorious to our senses as coming home to the farm...

walking down the lane to a fragrance familiar

to be greeted with welcome that wraps us in happy

and find unexpected delight in Gifts He has prepared just for us.

 

To Fall into Rest so Perfect and Complete

we can't help but sink into Peace

 

It will be Grace Amazing

in so many ways.

 

Grateful Always for His Tender Mercies in

bringing us home safely thus far,

Filled with Hope for the Journey and HomeComing

that is yet to come,

 

In Graced Assurance,

                      Jane

 

 

Time and Love Enough

 

A Welcome Mat of beautiful Texas wildflowers dazzle the eye!

 

 

 

Ready to be headed home...And yet...

 

The leaving was hard.

 

We are not ready to say Good-bye.  But jobs, and farm and life pull at us...  Millie and Don are in a "holding" zone.  Weak, yet stable.  Content, yet facing uncertainty.

 

The hugs were long, the 'I love you's' whispered hoarse, eyes blurred wet as we set out for home.

 

We have left a "safety-net" of neighbors, family, and meals-on-wheels for Don.  He seems satisfied with the arrangements, but knows he will have struggles.  Missing Millie will be the biggest.  And yet, she is doing well in the rehab center.  The rest, attention and therapy are what she needs most right now.  Don is resigned to the fact that he just can't provide that for her at home... And so, for the first time in over 62 years, they sleep under separate roofs but just a few miles apart.

 

And for the first time in all our married years, we say Good-Bye, truly not knowing if we will see their sweet faces again in this place.  Praying for added days and months and years, but knowing, in all honesty, that God has already graced them with time and love enough for this lifetime and beyond. 

 

We have been given that gift.  Time enough.  Love enough.  And we will rest in it... even when worries gnaw and hearts ache.  Their living example of Romans 12:12 is a constant reminder of a confident Life Walk with a God who has lead them all the way, even to this, the final walk Home:

 

"Be joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

(and) faithful in prayer."

                        ~  Romans 12:12

 

  Praying moment to moment,

trusting in a God, whose Love is Ever-Present,

All- Powerful and Completely Sufficient,

 

for even this.