My Valentine

There was once a good King, how ruled justly over His Kingdom, and all that He had made. He admired beautiful sunsets, heard the wind praising Him as it blew through the trees, and reveled in the majesty of the mountains as they towered over the plains. The great King also watched His people as they went about their daily lives. He saw babies being born, and farmers tending their fields.

Sadly though, the King did not see people following the laws He had given them. People were worshiping idols instead of their one true King. They did not keep the Sabbath holy, and were not respecting the name of the King. Marriage was not treated as the sacred sacrament it was meant to be. Murder had become the norm among the people. Stealing was common among the market, and the sacred temple was treated as a den of thieves.

The King realized something had to be done. The punishment for sin, breaking one or more of the Commandments, was punishable by death without exception. Yet the King loved His people, and wanted to give them a chance at Redemption. The King thought about this, and realized there was only one thing to do. He would send His Son to earth, to teach the people how to live in peace, how to follow God's laws, and how to live forever in Heaven with Him.

The King's Son of course deserved to arrive in the highest palace, with robes of finest silk. He should be welcomed with palms and blankets before His feet, with people bowing before Him. But the King was a very wise King, and knew His Son needed to live humbly, to be a King for all people, from the shepherds to the richest wise men. So the day came, and the King's Son was born in a stable, in the cold, to two poor people in a foreign land.

The Son grew in favor with the King, and very soon He was teaching the Rabbis, and performing miracles. He cured the sick, told the lame to walk, and even raised the dead. His knowledge of sacred Scripture was mind-boggling. He had a group of followers, but nowhere to lay His head. He roamed the land, healing and teaching as He went. He told them they were to love the King, and to worship nothing else. They were to love their neighbor as themselves, the most important Commandment.

People soon realized this Son had a lot of power, as if He was the King himself. They soon grew fearful of Him, thinking He would take over their positions of power. The people decided to crucify the Son. They arrested Him, and tortured Him, before nailing Him to a Cross. The Son had been given a heart full of nothing but love, so before He died, He forgave his tormentors.

You would think the story ends here, but the King is an amazing King. After His Son died, He was in the grave for three days. The He rose from the dead. He was alive again! With this Resurrection, he offered all of the people forgiveness of sins, and life eternal in Heaven, exactly what His Father, the King, wanted all along. All the people had to do was believe in the Son, and ask Him into their hearts, where He can still live today. The Son is named Jesus, and for all of this that He has done for me, He is my Valentine!

Hiking pictures

We took the dogs out today to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. They love going to the state park and hike, it is puppy Disneyland. Here are the photos we took:
A small pine tree:

Peaceful stream

A downed tree

A fallen tree with moss and mushrooms

Ferns

Hiking Pictures 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from our day at the state park!

Josh hit this tree and said it sounded hollow:



It was!


My favorite photo:


hornet nest:


Sweet Pea found this stick in the water to be very dangerous:



I hope you enjoyed your day at the state park. Get out and hike!!

God Bless,
Chela

Lesson Learned

I went into town today to order my son's class ring. Afterwards, lunch sounded like a great idea. Although it could very well have been just in my head 'hey, we're in town, and there is a fast food place. Gee, you're hungry!' Regardless, I stopped in to grab a bite before heading home.

As soon as I walked in, I noticed a friend of mine, Frank. I should have been happy; this gentleman is really nice, and I haven't seen him in a while. Still, he would want to talk, and I wasn't feeling very social really. Still, I plastered on a smile, and made some small talk during lunch. Towards the end of my meal, Frank mentioned that he should be heading home. Here it comes, he's subtly asking for me to give him a ride.

Frank has a very hard time getting around. He relies on a cane, but even with that, walking is incredibly difficult for him. I thought perhaps he was born with spina bifida, but he was actually run over by a cow when he was younger. (He volunteered this, I didn't ask)

I thought about the situation, and realized I was acting incredibly selfishly. It brightened Frank's day to see me, and chat for a bit. It would take maybe 10 minutes to drive him home, and the rest of the afternoon was mine. I bowed my head, and asked for Our Lord's forgiveness. 'I'm sorry Father, please forgive my attitude. Please allow me to be cheerful to do Your will, and to help Frank. Thank You for bringing me here today.'

I drove my friend to his house, just a short jaunt up the road, and went about my day, happy to have helped my brother in Christ, and to have participated just a bit in God's work. Please help me to be a cheerful giver, and to do Your will Father. Amen

God Bless,
Chela

The Boondocks

A friend of mine on Facebook recently posted about taking a 40 mile round trip to support some friends who are bakers. She wanted to buy some of their delicious bread. I read the post, and laughed to myself about how driving 40 miles for something was such a big deal for her.

Other than a Dollar General, our town really doesn't have much. We have to run to the bigger town 20 miles away for decently (sort of) priced groceries, a hair cut, a hospital, school, fast food, and other restaurants. We make this trip about once a week. Of course ds heads there every day for school. They also have a big chain pharmacy store there if you don't care to use our two family owned ones here.

Yeah, you read that right, we don't have a hospital. It was shut down some time ago. It wasn't a good hospital when it was up and running anyway. (there are two doctor offices) We have 911, but the paramedics are 14 minutes away. The volunteer firefighters here are trained in first aid, if any of them are here and not at work elsewhere when you need them.

If you want a fancy restaurant such as Applebees, Chili's, Golden Corral, those are 45 minutes away in the bigger city. Bowling, Wal Mart, all the stores you associate with a city are there as well. Plus our church, and the zoo.

So you see why a 40 mile round trip for us is no big deal. I guess if you live in a city with everything at your fingertips, it is an adventure to go that far for some bread. I do love our town though. I love the people, the environment, the lack of crowding. There is good and bad everywhere, I suppose. But here in my town, for me, there are more goods than bad.

God Bless,
Chela

Frontier Festival

Our zoo held our annual Frontier Festival last weekend. It's a three day festival embracing the ways of early America. They have black smithing, spinning wool, Native Americans, horses, it's just a lot of fun. Friday went well, but Saturday was rained out. I took these when we went out Sunday for my son's shooting lesson with his new bow.

Here is the zoo booth, beautifully decorated with our biofacts:

One of my favorite activities with the zoo is running a table. People are so curious about what you have on display, and it's a great teaching tool. We usually have a live animal or two out as well for people to see and touch. On the table we have a Gopher Tortoise shell, (GA state reptile) an alligator hide. This was confiscated by fish and wildlife. A coyote skull facing away from you. Further down, a hawk wing, plus hawk and owl talons. Behind the shell, you can see a bit of the sea turtle skull.

On the other side of the table, we have this on display:

and this:

Those two pictures are of the same butterfly! One side looks like the blue sky, one looks like sunlight, or flowers. Great camouflage!

We flew the hawk! This is Maverick, our Red shouldered hawk. He came to us as a white fuzzy chick. How he's grown!!

Josh had never held a snake before. We remedied that. This is him holding Twiggy, our Gray Rat snake. This is Josh with his, 'what do I do now?' face

Let's Shoot!

My youngest son, Josh, had been asking relentlessly for a bow and arrow for Christmas. We shopped around, but couldn't find what we really wanted. Then I remembered we had a gentleman at the zoo who is very into the primitive ways of the Native Americans, Mr. K. He makes bows, arrows, just about everything he needs, from scratch. We watched him take a rock from the river, and make an arrow head using only a deer antler. We met with him, and picked up a bow for Josh for Christmas. A couple weeks later, at our Frontier Festival, we met with Mr. K for shooting lessons.

Josh shooting

He lost the arrow!

Found it!

I'm very grateful we were able to get Josh something he wanted so much, and the whole thing has more meaning coming from someone I've known and admired for years, who handmade this bow and arrow. Mr. K is also going to teach Josh how to make his own arrows. We're happy. :)
God Bless, Chela