Pray for Jacob

This morning Jacob accidentally grabbed the shoulder of a cow with the grapple fork.  We started working on her right away with the machine and, being I was busy, I didn't have a look.  It nagged me, though, so I had Jacob take me out to see how she was doing.  When I saw the wound, I gasped and had him speed me to the house to call the vet.

 After I described it to him, he was sure that she would need stitches.  When he said that, we went out to try get her into the barn but found her in the lake!!!  NO KIDDING!  Well, we had to get her out and nobody else volunteered, so I put garbage bags on my legs and walked in the lake and chased her out the other side.

Then she wouldn't go into the barn so the vet decided to stun her.  I just got a report that the surgery is complete and she has a 50/50 chance of pulling through.  PLEASE pray for the cow to make it so that Jacob only has a vet bill to pay as it is NOT his cow.  He is VERY upset--please send him your prayers too.

I'm wet, cold, tired, and grumpy but Sabbath is here.  My house is a mess, the cooking isn't done, but the Sabbath is here and it couldn't come at a better time.  PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS!

Dawn

Focus

All right, I admit that I am just as easily persuaded to be glum as the next person when 6 newborn calves die in one week.  It's not that the cows didn't have lots of nice, dry straw to calve in.  Oh no, there were 2 big round bales spread out for them but they had to go and drop their calves right in the slop.  We can't watch constantly and it only takes an hour or so in 0 degree weather; with snow or rain coming down on top of you, when your mother drops you in the slop (mixture of melted snow; the soil; and manure), to snuff out your little life.

It was just too cold for too long for their little bodies to be able to snap out of it.   Although one went in the shower with Robert; one slept with Cora on the kitchen floor; and they all got cayenne pepper down their throat and BodyTalk from me, they died.  There is something terrible about death at the beginning of one's life!  So I admit that we have all been depressed all last week!
One thing about it, though, is I have changed my mind a LITTLE bit about 4 wheelers.  One home school family that we know lost their dad (Jim S.) to one of them PLUS a friend of mine will be crippled for life because of one.  Jacob's friend, Jacob Long, died at the age of 13 from a 4 wheeler accident and they have just given me the creeps for almost a decade since Jim's death. 
Still, the other night at 4:00 AM when Andrew banged on our bedroom wall from OUTSIDE that there was a new calf that needed to be dealt with, I didn't turn down his offer of a ride.  I literally haven't felt comfortable on them for years, so I swallowed hard.  Still, when there is slop a foot deep EVERYWHERE, it beat walking in the dark.  Andrew has always been a careful driver and I clung on to the back rack for dear life as it rocked back and forth in the moving slurry under the wheels. 
THAT was when I began to see why farmers have been buying those things like candy even though they are many times lethal when not handled with mature hands OR when a deer hits you.  So this morning, when it was time to get the bulls out of the herd and turn them into the bull pen, I found myself riding on the back of it with Cora as the driver.  She's a very good driver, too, but I sure didn't think that I'd find myself driving it.
As God continually works against my fears, He puts me in situations where I must rely on Him or walk in the muck.  When we were all finished, Robert came back with it and I realized that he meant for me to drive it.  Did you ever have a moment when your heart starts beating like mad and you just know that you will DIE if you have to do the thing that you fear? 
A quick prayer later found me slowly crawling my way back to the road going a very fast 4 mph.  Robert told everyone later that he wondered if I'd kill it but I did NOT!  I even got it up to 9mph on the road on the way back to the farm--so there.  Andrew even got a picture of me on his new wheels to prove that I conquered my fear--for today anyway.

As long as the camera was out, I decided to show you a bit of our mess.  This is in the yard sloping down towards the Quonset.  You can see the most of the water has drained off here and deep tracks are the reminders of the mess that just recently was here.

Just a few feet away, in the tractor ruts, are puddles of water still standing.

A few feet further South is the replacement Heifer pen.  These are the best of the girl calves that were born last year and we wanted to keep back for breeding.  They are one year old now and they will get bred this Summer so that their first calf will come into the world one year from now when they are 2 years old.  Robert bedded these down almost every day as they had no shelter from the storms.  There's not enough barn space for them but, when the wind was out of the North, we'd open the gate and let them get out of the wind be standing beside the barn.  It is VERY hard on me to see animals suffer like they have been suffering these past 2 weeks!
On my way back to the house, I took this picture of my front flower bed.  If you look closely, you can see little shoots of green starting to poke through the cold earth.

Here is my South flowerbed.  You may recall that it got away from us last year, after the tulips bloomed, and we just mowed it off.  I had an idea the other night of putting black plastic down between the tulips on the right and the irises on the left.  We can plant into the ground by cutting holes in the black plastic and the plastic will provide a week barrier.  We're going to try it in the garden this year so that's what gave me the idea to try it out front.

Heading back to the house, I saw my new wheels all full of mud.  We went to Mandan yesterday to spend some time with Robert's parents and things were sloppy on the way home--SURPRISE, SURPRISE!  This color of vehicle really seems to work well for us as it hides a LOT of mud which certainly comes in handy this time of year!

Here is a picture of my hopeless entryway.  I really despise the word, "Hopeless," as with God all things are possible, but it has been a hopeless task trying to keep it clean this Spring.  Mud, milk pails, and manure are everywhere and constantly coming in.  I keep putting essential oils out there, when the scent is more than I can bear, and so we limp along.  Can you believe that I have clients walk in the house through that mess?  Fortunately the only ones who come here to the house are farm wives themselves, or they grew up on farms, so they understand.

Now for the good news, when we were picking out some flowers for my in-laws yesterday, I simply could not resist bringing a bouquet home for us.  "We've had such a terrible week," I said to Robert, "WE need some flowers too," and so I did.
That brings me to the title of this blog post: we can always choose which things we're going to focus on, can't we?  The old, sad Dawn would be out cleaning that entryway right now (not like I haven't every week since we moved here).  All of the pain of shingles on the brain, though, has taught me that I need to find ways to delight myself in this sloppy, messy, sinful world.  Writing just happens to be one of the things that brings me delight so I am very happily typing away instead.  GOOD FOR ME!
Just so that you, too, can have delight in God's wonderful creation, I'm sharing a picture of my lovely Spring bouquet sitting on the table right now.  It has a huge Gerbara daisy on the top; 2 lovely roses;  tons and tons of daisies, and one yellow carnation which is almost like having yellow daisies.  I hope that you will enjoy them too!

Here I am holding the first flowers of the year--HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

ANYTHING?

OK, I know that this may seem as though I've flipped but I really think that I made a wonderful discovery yesterday.  You see, while the children and Robert played, "Scotland Yard," I read the next chapter in the book that Elizabeth blessed me with called, "THE PEARL BOX."  The subtitle reads: Breaking the bondage of disease through Biblical tools for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. 
  THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE BOOK AND I URGE EVERY CHRISTIAN TO BUY IT AND START USING IT FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY!  It's self-explanatory and there are many insights about recovering from illness that I have not read anywhere else.  The most awesome part is that the author, Sylvia Rogers, shows how to use Scripture to break the patterns of illness!!

So I was reading along and found this healing pearl:  LET THE WEAK SAY, "I AM STRONG."  Sylvia explains that when we think we are strong, we are deceiving ourselves but when we admit that we are weak, then God can come in and strengthen us for ANY personal battle that we are facing. 

  At this point, the author shared the story about a man who was trying to quit smoking.  He had tried many times to quit, but without success.  He met a pastor who offered to help him.  The man assumed that the pastor was going to tell him again to JUST STOP.  However, the pastor gave him permission to smoke as he wished with the condition that each time he thought of a cigarette; bought a pack; lit up; or took a puff, he was to proclaim out loud, "I AM FREE OF SMOKING!"   The man agreed to give it a try and had completely quit smoking within a few weeks!

"WOW" I thought, "I wonder if that would work for my battle with over-eating?" 

As I pondered this, though, I could see that it wouldn't work in exactly the same way as one cannot just stop eating forever.  I was almost ready to move on in my thinking when an interesting thought ran through my mind, "What if I stopped denying myself food?"  You know, "I can't have sesame seeds or MSG because I go anaphylactic." "I can't have strawberries and grapes because they're cooling."  "I can't have starches because they make my body store fat.".............................."

  I next heard the verse, "Behold I have come to give them life and life abundant."

"What in the world are you saying to me, Lord?" I asked.

Every once in awhile I actually hear Him speaking to me and this was one of those times.  "Dawn," He said, "you're so into protecting yourself through removing foods that may make you sick that you totally have missed that I gave you food to nourish AND to give you delight in this world." 

"DELIGHT IN FOOD?"  HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  "What are you saying, Lord?"

"I'm saying that I want you to be able to enjoy any (clean) foods that you want to eat! I want you to ENJOY life."

"EAT ANYTHING?"

"Dawn, when you get so wrapped up in protecting yourself from food, you totally miss the blessing that I intended food to be to you mortals.  PLUS when you deny yourself a piece of bread because of the starches, it only makes you want it more.  It puts me, GOD, in the position of the bad guy for giving you the bread which is meant to be a blessing.  In this way, you have made the BREAD your god in that IT is more important to you than I am!!!!!!!!"

I was trembling with excitement and I let these thoughts sort through my mind for a few moments.  "Are you saying, Lord, that I can eat anything that I want?"

"ANYTHING--as long as you are thankful for it.  By doing this, you WILL break the hold that food has on you.  Because you are sinful, you WANT what you think you cannot have.  By making it available to yourself, You WILL break the hold that food has had on your mind through the many years of dieting."

WOW--IT WORKED.  Almost immediately after this, Cora asked me to pop some popcorn.  Now, if you know me at all, you know how much I love to pop popcorn AND to eat popcorn.  Since I've been following THE NEW ME DIET, though, I have felt guilty for enjoying it's crunchiness.  However last night when I looked at the large bowl of fresh popcorn, I told myself, "I can eat all of the popcorn that I want."  As a result, "I only ate 3 pieces" and was overjoyed knowing that I could eat the whole bowl if I had wanted to. 

Do you see what I'm saying?  Because we're sinful, we want what is not good for us.  When, in our flesh, we decide that we WILL conquer ourselves, we are doomed to fail.  However, when we let God direct our thinking, He WILL help us to conquer our sinful natures.  Maybe this wouldn't work for you, but I urge you to give it a try.  If it doesn't, though, keep asking the Lord for what will help you to overcome temptation and be prepared to enter into a truly joyful life.

Want some popcorn?

Dawn

It's the LAW!

Here it is folks--this is what we energy practitioners have been working so hard for these past 16 months.  This very simply says that what we do is NOT massage and therefore we are NOT under the authority of the North Dakota Board of Massage.  Praise God for this victory which was made complete when the Governor signed it into law last week.  I thank each and every one of you who supported me through this trying time with your prayers and words of encouragement!!

Many of you may recall when the home school movement was threatened in the early '90s by an attempt to require all home school teachers to be certified teachers.  This threat came along the same lines.  The NDBOM said that we were doing massage without a license and that we would have to become massage therapists in order to do our energy work.  How ridiculous--I would never be strong enough to do massages all day long.  Besides that, if we had all wanted to become massage therapists, we WOULD have become massage therapists. 

Our bill simply states that we are exempt from their demands that we become massage therapists in order to continue doing our energy healing.  This is how it reads. 

Thanks again to all who showed support for me during this whole ordeal!

Dawn

A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new subsection to section 43-25-04 of the North Dakota

Century Code, relating to an exemption from massage therapy licensure for energy workers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:

SECTION 1.

A new subsection to section 43-25-04 of the North Dakota Century Code is created and enacted as follows:

Any individual practicing healing by manipulating the energy field or the flow of energy of the human

body by means other than the manipulation of the soft tissues of the human body, provided that the
individual's services are not designated or implied to be massage or massage therapy. For purposes of
this subsection, a light touch or tap is not a manipulation of the soft tissues of the human body.

Happiness IS the road

Hi everyone,

  I was going through my old emails when I found this treasure sent over from the N. family by Dawson.  WOW--I must have been too busy to read this at the time but it was certainly worth the wait.  I can REALLY relate to these sentiments so I urge you to take a few moments and let this seep into your soul.  You'll be glad you did!  Andrew adds here that, if you can't see this very well, you can click on the pictures and they will get much larger.

Dawn

Upper and lower

Hi everyone,

  Yes, I'm swamped again but I just HAD to share these 2 links with you.  I don't know about you, but I have started hundreds (ok, dozens) of exercise programs and usually end up quitting because they either take too much time; don't do what they said they would; or I was just plain too lonely. 

  Leave it to Dr. Mercola to have the solution AGAIN--don't you just love that guy?  Anyway, last month I ordered these 2 simple exercise kits from him to see if they could help this aging body to forget all that it's been through--kind of perk up the old girl.  I knew that Dr. Mercola wouldn't recommend something if it weren't truly awesome so I forked over some of my hard-earned money and dreamed again.

Well, this is IT!!!  For me anyway, this is it!  I am in love with this exercise program!!!!  It takes 15 minutes a day to do each segment--you can do 1 or 2 or all 4 if you like.  There is the upper body shaper; the complete core workout; tight thighs; and bottoms up.

 I really like that it is broken down by body areas needing work as I need to spend 70% of my exercise time working on my upper body to get that cold energy warmed up inside of me.  The best part of it, though, is that I have somebody to work out with! 

I have to tell you something funny.  I told this to Jacob earlier this week and he cracked up.  Anyway, as I was working out, I kept looking at Kathy Smith (who is no spring chicken either) and found myself thinking, "I look like her.  I look like her."  This was because I had actually forked over $13 and bought myself a pair of exercise pants seeing that it is NOT possible to do these workouts in a dress--the only bad thing about it.  So with our black exercise pants; T-shirts; white tennis shoes; and greying (sorry Kristi--BLOND)  hair, I really DID think I looked like Kathy Smith.

  So, I was all excited and kept thinking, "I look like her, I look like her, I look like her."  Then I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the bookcase glass and sighed, "Ok, I don't look like her."  Then I turned back to the laptop, where the DVD was playing, and with a great surge of exuberance I declared to myself, "BUT I WILL LOOK LIKE HER!"

  Seeing as this blog is all about sharing what hope I have found with others who are searching for hope and encouragement, I share these links.  I bought both kits and am actually seeing results with only 2 weeks of work.  I'm hardly ready to be seen in a bikini (wouldn't do that anyway), but my heart is picking up hope as warm weather approaches.  I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WANT TO LOOK GOOD THIS SUMMER!!!!

Back to Sabbath preparations.  I wish you all a wonderful Sabbath filled with the love of those you hold dear!  Here are the links to a brand new you!

Dawn

https://www.rejuvenationrehab.com/product/stay-firm-upper-body-kit-kathy-smith-dvd

https://www.rejucinationrehab.com/product/stay-firm-lower-body-kit-kathy-smith-dvd