Unforgettable weekend

Some unforgettable young men;

 and unforgettable young ladies;

 Some unforgettable dads;

 and unforgettable moms

 and totally unforgettable children EVERYWHERE; 

 all met at Crystal Springs Baptist Camp last weekend and we were there too!

 Mr. Kevin Swanson was the speaker and he, too, was unforgettable.  How he encouraged us parents to keep our nose to the grindstone of parenting with ETERNAL results always in our minds.



This is a view of the lake.

 This is where we stayed.

 There was outside fun,

 and in-door fellowship,

 and lots of wonderful places to explore. 

The campground has changed a LOT in the 20 years since we camped there last but it is still a hallowed spot where God is felt in the stillness and the quiet beauty of the countryside.  I loved my time there with my family--it was just PERFECT!

I wonder if we'll ever go again?  ;)

July highlights

July has been a busy month of haying for the guys and working in town for us girls.  In between making lunches for everyone, we've been trying to get caught up with the garden.  Cora and I both are disappointed with how it has turned out this year.  It looks as though many of the seeds must have rotted in the very wet Spring as many of the rows have spots with nothing growing.  We are thankful, though, for the many volunteer tomatoes from last year so at least we ought to have an abundant tomato harvest.  The absence of garden pictures in our blogs this Summer indicates our disappointment in how it is producing.

One can't work constantly, though, so I'm thankful for Sabbaths.  Today was a lazy day at home but 2 weeks ago we had some excitement in our lives.  The little town of Robinson was celebrating it's 100th birthday so we went up to help them celebrate.  They had a wonderful parade with something for everyone.

I don't speak of it often but I truly do love horses. I guess the reason that's such a big secret is that in 2002 my favorite horse, Gabe, the one that the children all loved, got West Nile.  The vet came and treated our Gabe.  He showed Robert how to give the treatments and we all stood out in the dark, after Robert got home at night, holding the lantern for the process.  It ended up that all 3 of the children got bit by infected mosquitoes and got West Nile too.

It was a nightmare week for us and it ended with Gabe's death.  I remember crying my heart out as Robert loaded Gabe's body in the tractor bucket and hauled him out to the pasture.  He dug a big hole for Gabe in the side of a hill and we buried him there.  All the way back to the house, I wept and I promised myself that I would never love another horse again as long as I lived.   Then I went into the house to my 3 sick children and tried to comfort them somehow.

 I've never given my heart to a horse since then but I do love their beauty, the way that they carry themselves, and yes, even the way that they smell.  I wonder, if I would do some BT on Gabe's death, could I possibly ever truly love another horse????????????  I know that I love to watch these magnificent creatures work together as a team and I'm very thankful to those who bring them to parades for us to admire! 

This little guy was filling his hat with candy that the folks on the floats were throwing out. 

Do you recognize these folks?  We've been staying away from parades (as far as I'm concerned) because we always got so much candy.  Even with using sparingly afterwards, we'd end up with colds 2 weeks later.  I never imagined that we'd be collecting any now but Andrew had a bag tucked away in his camcorder bag so we came home with some anyway.  I guess larger bodies can handle it better as nobody has had any sniffles yet. 

I thought that this couple was so cute together.  They had matching shirts and she was riding by her man just as proud as she could be.  Oh, how I love being part of the farm community! 

 This young lady had her pony all dressed up for the parade. 

 There were lots of family farms who had floats.

 The guys liked this cool rig.

 After the parade, we took our picnic lunch to the park and watched them set up the bouncing palace for the little people to jump in.

 This looked like a good inexpensive idea for fun.  It was just a large piece of plastic on the side of the hill.  An adult had a garden hose running on it and the children were sliding down with great squeals of delight.

 As we ate our picnic lunch, the trucks and tractors started pulling in for the tractor pull.

 Cora snapped this of me.  I'm going to look at this picture next Winter and remember how roasting it was that day.  My goodness was it HOT out!!!!!!!!!!

I got this one of Cora in return.  The guys were over looking at the trucks and tractors.

Here they are.  These guys are real die-hards as they sat out there almost 5 hours in that wretched heat.  I guess that goes to show that you can tune out the heat when you're really interested in something.

When I couldn't handle the heat anymore, I went under the tent.  You couldn't see much from there but it sure was a lot cooler.  I got a couple of great shots for my newest photo fancy which is catching parents with their children bonding.  These 2 were inseparable all afternoon.

These 2 were great buddies too.

At 6:00 Cora and I went over to the rodeo arena and watched the cowboy rodeo.  We didn't know anybody but started cheering for this cowboy with the paint because his mother was sitting beside Cora.  I'm sorry that all of these photos have the corralling in them, but that's how it was. 
This was a ranch rodeo and there were 6 different ranches that supplied teams.

One fun event we've seen at the Mandan rodeo.  The team of 4 men has to get the steer in the stock trailer.  This one was VERY ornery as you can see he had 3 of the cowboy's ropes on him before they got him in.  Man do they ever have brakes when you want them to move.

These pictures got mixed up but here is another team who went through the parade.

Here is one of Jacob's favorite entries in the parade.  He sure loves them loud hot rods.







My big purchase for the month was a juicer that Dr. Mercola recommended for getting more greens into my diet! 










Here Cora snapped me opening the box. 








This is a photo of the pulp that came out the first time I made juice.  It was apple/carrot juice and it was wonderful.  The children all enjoyed the juice and I took the pulp; added peanut butter and coconut oil; stirred it up; and had it for breakfast!  YUM!  I've liked all of the juice that I've made so far except broccoli juice.  Maybe it'll grow on me.

Here we are after Sabbath feast last week.  Cora surprised us by making doughnuts. You know, as much as I love going away for fellowship, the sweetest fellowship is right here at home.  How I love my precious family!

The only other bit of news that we have is that we had an unexpected guest for lunch yesterday.  Chris S. called us yesterday and said that he was in Napoleon.  Seeing as it was lunch time, we invited him to come out and join us for lunch. 

You may recall him bringing his family here when the baby goats were small and sharing with us about the John Birch Society?  We've been spending some time reading the literature that he left us on Sabbaths and we are very impressed with the organization.  Well, when he asked us this time if we'd like to join, we were ready.  After lunch, we filled out the paperwork and are now members.

We visited a little bit and before Chris left he said, "You guys have been Birchers all along, you just didn't know it!"  OH, SO THAT'S WHAT WE ARE!

I'm excited to be part of a network of others who see hope for our country in getting back to the Constitution that our country was founded on.  Who knows what kind of wonderful people we're going to meet now.  Who knows what kind of interesting meetings we're going to attend......  I know that you all know the answer to those questions.  God knows.  OH HOW I LOVE KNOWING THAT MY LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER HAS A PLAN FOR MY LIFE.  The song that I used to sing when my voice was a wee little girl's voice is ringing through my mind now, "AND ALL I HAVE TO DO IS FOLLOW!"

Have a great week everyone!

Dawn

You're the only Jesus

Hi everyone,
 I am so excited as I just played two games of crochet (not sure how to spell it but I think that everyone knows that I mean whomping those little balls through the wickets) with my family before my foot started to ache.  WOW--this is so wonderful as I recall sitting here watching them playing a few weeks ago wishing that I could play with them.  PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS HEALING WAYS!!!!!!
I've been wanting to post about Prairie Days but have been wrapped up with our radionics class.  I'll start out by posting the song that I sang for the group.  Keep in mind that I was weak from cancer so it's not how I would have liked for it to sound.  I don't like to sing when I'm weak, but the Lord urged me to share, so I did.  I can only hope that it was a blessing to those who were listening! 
After I listened to this recording, I decided that it wasn't as bad as it seemed to me so I decided to share it here.  I urge you to go to my son, Andrew's, blog to see the skit that we did about gossip and the boy's Andy and Barny rendition.  That was such a hoot!  Prairie Days was again a special time spent with those we love the most--fellow home schoolers!
Best wishes for a wonderful Sabbath,
Dawn

Unspeakable delights

How can a day get any better than this?  Many goals came into fruition for me this day!!!!!!!!

First of all, my uncle brought my aunt into my Bismarck office for her session.  While they were there, he told me that my dad's house is sold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  True, it would have been nice to hear it from my dad, but that would take a down right miracle as my dad has only called me once in my life.  I am so glad that the waiting is over and my childhood home will have new owners soon!!!!!!!!!!  It's been bothering me thinking of it sitting empty

After this I went over to the Kelly Inn and fell in love with the State Room.  This will be the site for our radionics course coming up soon.  It is just perfect--it will seat 60 comfortably and has a huge screen on the wall for Mr. Kelly to use as he teaches our class.  Isn't it awesome that the Lord sent us to the Kelly Inn when the instructor is Mr. Kelly???  Is that cool, or what?

After doing my shopping at Sam's, I headed for home.  The weather was perfect and I actually drove in sunlight.  The cattle are grazing all over many hillsides and I was just oh so happy.  Then, when I came in the house, here was this brand new Kelly WorkStation that Robert had ordered recently.  It is just so beautiful as I ponder all the blessings that it will mean for our farm. 

I just dedicated it to the Lord and felt so happy that I just HAD to write and share that today was one of the happiest days of my life. 

Lastly, but not least, my cousin Kristi (who was here last Summer with her son) just emailed me that they are definitely planning on coming out to our farm and will join us at Prairie Days this year.  Some of her menfolk will shoot with our men in the Appleseed Shoot on Friday, June 17th, which is the first day of Prairie Days.  Perhaps I will even shoot too as Kristi seemed interested in giving it a whirl.  Talk about an exciting, unforgettable day!!!!!!!!!

Best get supper ready for the boys and me,

Dawn

Tagged again

Cora's blogging friend, Grace, sent me an email saying that she had just tagged me. I'm not sure if my opinion is all that important in these areas, but seeing as a blog is a chance to voice your opinion, I decided to do it.


#1- What song are you currently listening to a lot?
My new CD of piano solos called, "Piano Classics" by Aubrey Hilliard. It's wonderful!


#2- What books are you currently reading?
"The Bible" by God
"The Sedona Method" by Hale Dwoskin
"One Touch Healing" by Mildred Carter
"The Pearl Box," by Sylvia Rogers
Module 4/7 by Dr. John Veltheim

#3-Do you sing a lot?
I sing almost constantly without even realizing it. Before my mother died, she commented several times that I am like my grandmother in this.


#4-Sweet or salty?
I'm giving up the salt because it is not allowed on my Constitutional diet! I try to raise a sweet savor to the Lord constantly as did the incense in the temple of old.

#5-What is your favorite hobby?
playing piano duets with my beautiful daughter, Cora.


#6-What books have you read at least 3 times?
Except for the Bible, I am not able to recall time for such a luxury. However, I have watched the movies, "The Inheritance," "The Railway Children," and "Anne of Green Gables" at least that many times.

#7-What sites do you always visit when you get on the Internet?
Mine and my children's blogs; and South Central Grain where we find our local weather forecasts

#8-What was the last things you bought?
new socks for Cora


#9- What do you get the most bothered by?
When people don't take my good advice.

#10-Favorite earliest memory?
Being an angel in the Christmas program.


#11-What do you do to change your mood?
Begin praising God and soon the gloomies leave.

#12-What was the last meal you ate?
baby carrots; rice and sausage casserole; goat's milk; and chocolate cake.


#13-Do you want to learn another language?
Some day I would like to learn Hebrew, but it is not very high on my list of priorities at this time

#14-Five things you can’t live without
1. God's forgiveness
2. A quiet place to get away to
3. Growing plants and raising animals
4. Communion with fellow believers
5. Air

#15- Find the closest book to you, and flip to page 54.what is the first sentence in the 2nd paragraph?
"God is willing to be your shield and protector when you have times of unhealthy fear so that you can be comforted and return to a state of peace.

#16-What is something you would like to say right now?
I wish that everyone on the earth would learn the joy of resting on the Sabbath--the seventh day of the week

#17-What are you looking forward to?
I can hardly wait until it's warm enough to plant my potatoes and onions!

#18-Tag 8 bloggers that you would like to learn more about.
Well, I'll just say that I would love to hear from ALL of you readers. If you have the desire to let others know your answers to these questions, just copy this onto your blog and insert your answers. Please send me a comment to let me know that you did the tag and I'll come over to your place and read your thoughts. Until then, it's time to get out to the barn.

Have a great week everyone,

Dawn

What do you do if? Part 2

Q. What do you do if there's a blizzard outside and everyone else in the house is busy except you?

A. You draw up plans for a brand new house that maybe SOME DAY you'll build. I'm not holding my breath, as this is the second house that Robert has designed for here, but it sure is fun to dream a little. We were all putting our thoughts into it and didn't realize that it was getting very late. The guys were looking at brand new pool tables on this computer while Cora and I were looking at brand new grand pianos on hers--what a bunch of dreamers.

As a result there's not enough time left for me to go outside and help with chores as I need to do a distance session at 9:00. I need to finish supper dishes yet too but I wanted to share this little forward that a friend sent over today. Some people have the knack of saying a lot with just a few words, but that isn't me. :)

I hope that you'll enjoy this thought and I hope that you all are staying warm in a house with ELECTRICITY!!! Many people around here have been without it for a few days already. We're so thankful that ours only flickered a little bit on Saturday--even if it was when I was in the shower. THAT WAS INTERESTING!!!

Keep warm everyone.

Dawn

WITHOUT GOD….our week would be:

“Sinday”,
“Mournday”,
“Tearday”,
“Wasteday”,
“Thirstday”,
“Fightday”,
“Shatterday”, ….

Without God – makes one WEAK!

The Lord IS at work--even if it hurts sometimes

WOW--so much has happened since I wrote last. Cora wrote about our skating party--the first time we all were together on the ice. I can't recall if she mentioned, though, that I fell AFTER I TOOK MY SKATES OFF AND WAS USING MY BARN BOOTS. My feet had gotten sore from the skates, but we were having so much fun that I didn't want to quit. It's like it didn't register that I could fall without being on skates. I madly had gone after the puck and turned quickly when it didn't go as far as I thought it was going. When I turned, I lost my balance and fell on my right knee VERY hard. I've been laid up ever since and have missed 3 chores--poor Clara. The first night I hardly slept and stayed on the couch doing Access until the pain diminished enough for me to doze. Even soaking didn't help all that much.

Yesterday I could see that I needed some help so I called my new BodyTalk practitioner, Tone-Lise, and she did a fantastic session for me! She's only a year ahead of me in BT but has been working at a clinic where they paid for her classes (I assume) so she's way ahead of me. It was the first time that she'd done a session on the phone so she was glad to have that new experience.

During my session it came up that I needed a resource person that she knows who does Reiki. Tone-Lise said that I would really like her and this woman helped me by volunteering her right knee energy to my aching body part. Tone-Lise tuned in to her energy and got her permission to help me so I'm like, "Wow--it is so great to be a part of the body of Christ." Of course, I'd do it for anyone else on earth too. :) Who knows, maybe someday I'll meet this woman. If not, then I remind myself that she was in my life only for a reason (instead of a season or a lifetime.)

Lots of other things have happened too. Dad's back in the hospital so we're trying to figure out why. I did a distance session on him from here at home yesterday and he told Russell last night that he still wants Russell to come home for Christmas. I am praying that dad is out of the hospital so that Russell and LV have a home to come back to for Christmas and we all don't have to spend it in the hospital. I guess if that's the Lord's will, though, somehow we'll get through that too.

Today I have a very special friend, and her daughter, coming over to our farm for BT sessions. I am so excited to have her come as she's someone who has prayed for me for years to get well--even back in miscarriage days. She was one of the winners of my free session offer on my blogiversary. She has seen big progress in one area of her life already from that free session, so I rejoice that I can now bless her in return for all of her years of support and friendship.

Well, I'm going to try limping out to the barn this morning so I'd best get dressed instead of staying in my nightgown like I did all day yesterday. It's just that my knee didn't bend enough to put my long johns on (I was on too much pain anyway) and I wasn't about to go out in the cold without something on my legs. Praise God for BodyTalk as the pain is about 1,000ths of what it was yesterday at this time. Can you tell that Jacob is working on the left side of the decimal point in Math these days? :)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our skating party. Robert, with his great big papa heart, drove the 9030 the 5 miles up there to clear the ice off in a "BIG" way. Andrew had gotten the measurements online and had measured baling twine so that we could mark off the rink with it to the official size. Here he is filling his papa in on what his wishes were.

The boys are both very good on skates. When they reminded me that they learned the basics on their roller blades, I told them that they should thank me. They looked at me strangely then and I said, "I'm the one whose toes you ran over when you were learning to roller blade in the kitchen all of those years ago." I sure wouldn't put my toes in their path these days. :) This is Jacob getting ready for the big game. Oh yes, we ALL won because we all got some much needed exercise and lots of fresh air and laughter.

OOOOOOPS. Robert said later that, when he got close to the reeds, he heard the ice cracking but it all happened so fast that he couldn't get out of there on time. We were ALL thankful that it didn't happen in the middle of the pond although it's only about 4 feet thick. We figure that the reeds kept the ice from forming as thickly as it did elsewhere.

We skated several hours and then tried pulling it out with Andrew's pickup. No go, we just spun so we went home and ate lunch. The guys went back after lunch (my knee was aching something awful) and they took the other 9030 back up. They didn't have any trouble pulling it out with that tractor, so that was a relief. There was no damage done to the tractor and we learned the dangers of going close to the reeds. It was a good thing that Robert had left a bank of snow nearby as he walked on it to get out of the tractor. It wouldn't have been much fun walking in the ice-cold water to get out of there and back in again to pull it out. The Lord always provides for us--even when we mess up. :)

Now I have some exciting news that brought smiles to every one's face around here. Last night, Brian Geiger called. He's the papa of the wonderful Geiger family that we spent the day with at the zoo last summer. Brain said that they're planning a New Year's Eve party and WE'RE INVITED!!!!!! OH FOR FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! I can just hear the prayers around here for the next week, "And, OH GOD, please let the weather be good on New Year's Eve day..." I agree!

Blessings of peace,

Dawn

Zoo pictures at last

Well, I am FINALLY getting time to post pictures of our trip to the zoo in Bismarck last week Sabbath. We had been antsy to get out of here so we called the Geiger family and asked if we might visit them. Lisa said that she was taking the children to the zoo as it was a free day. We agreed to meet them there around 3:00, but first Robert treated us to a meal at our favorite restaurant up there, THE GOLDEN CORRAL.

Talk about a feast! It's so neat that everybody gets to eat everything they want as they serve almost EVERYTHING at The Golden Corral. I keep asking on the comment card for cheesecake though. For some reason, that is the one thing that they don't serve that I would really enjoy. Of course they have this WONDERFUL banana cream pudding that is simply unforgettable, so that makes up for it. :) I recommend it highly!

By the way, I do have Andrew's permission to post "His" pictures. Being everything is cool there, you can enjoy them as much as I am enjoying sharing them. I'm not sure why the computer keeps changing the picture and word location. I'm doing something wrong but I'm hoping that it'll post properly. Sorry if it doesn't--I'll have to wait until Andrew gets home to fix it if it's a mess.

Anyway, when we got to the zoo, the Geigers weren't there yet so we pocked around by the gate waiting. This is Jacob and I having fun together.

The monkeys were a favorite of the Geiger/Bornemann bunch. The father took it upon himself to do tricks while the little baby hung onto his mama delighting everyone as she moved around as easily as if it wasn't there. I've seen many home school mothers do the same thing. :)

Talk about stalking.

This guy was a big crowd pleaser...........

especially when he went over to his buddy, the white Bengal tiger, and put his "arms" around him. They played together just like I have seen our barnyard cats do many times--amazing.

I have always loved watching the otters at the Bismarck zoo. They are so much fun that I think I could watch them all day.

This little guy was so adorable as he picked up the Cheerios or corn kernels that people had thrown into his home for him. I think it's so neat that he eats with his hands as all of our animals around here just lean over; stick their heads down; and eat. I could have watched him for hours and many people were able to lean over and pet him.

Well, that's the animal part of the zoo excursion. Certainly when you go to the zoo, one does tend to focus on the animals. However, the most pleasant part of the day ended up being the humans that the Lord brought along to bless our day. Here Moses and Jacob get caught up with each other. Robert noticed that Moses' belt was lighter than it used to be. He must have gotten tired of carrying along half of the shop on his hips. :) I happened to notice, though, that his little brother, Justice, had a huge clip on his belt with about 50 rubber bands so it's nice to see that somebody is carrying on Moses' tradition. :)

Jubilee Geiger has always been one of my favorite little people. I can recall about 2 years ago she came walking into the Geiger kitchen on one of our visits there. She picked herself up a glass; walked to the frig; got herself a drink; smiled sweetly at me and said, "Hello, Mrs. Bornemann, how are you?" This was when she was about 7 years old. She's the "Spittin' image" of her pretty mama and she loves animals too! Here she's feeding the doe alfalfa pellets that Lisa had brought along for the purpose.

Here some of the young people visited when us parents tuckered out. It's so neat to see how home schooled young adults mix with their younger siblings and even care for the baby.

Cora and her good friend, Miranda Geiger visiting...

while the mothers, Lisa and I, rest after a couple miles of walking.....

and the boys of all sizes got tired of waiting for us and took off running as fast as they could. Isn't it amazing how much energy boys have?

Here Molly Geiger stopped us to take a few pictures of the group. Molly is always so

light-hearted and cheerful--it's easy to smile for her. Andrew took her picture as she took one of us. :)


Andrew snapped this one of all of us Geiger and Bornemann ladies walking.
Poor Robert as Mr. Geiger was working and all of the boys were far ahead of us.

His smile tells me that he didn't mind the company TOO MUCH! :)


This is a picture of me and my sweetie walking over the footbridge.

I have ALWAYS loved footbridges and, for some unknown reason, I think that they are wonderfully romantic. Maybe it's because it was on the footbridge that Gilbert proposed to Anne in my all time favorite movie (probably the reason that I was willing to take another look at living in the country) ANNE OF GREEN GABLES.

Now, as much as I love spending time with my husband and family, they were not the highlight of the day for me. I'm sure that they wouldn't even mind my saying so. My precious Heavenly Father knows how I have been aching to see my dear, old friend, Terry Gunia. Terry and I were young home school moms together; we taught Bible School together; we field-tripped together; we worshipped together; we learned together and taught together; and what's more--we were NEIGHBORS FOR 5 YEARS!!!

Well, our family was in the Discovery Center at the zoo when Robert took me by the shoulders and turned me in a different direction from the one I was facing. I thought it was kind of a strange thing to do but then it was that I saw my dear friend, Terry. I was stupefied with joy and stared at her unable to move! When she saw me, though, the 10 feet between us was gone in a millisecond. Oh for joy to be in Terry's warm embrace again and I am shedding tears of joy now as I recall that moment. I think it was Andrew who caught this picture of us meeting after nearly 6 years of being apart. Thanks Andrew and Thanks Lord for this moment of joy.

After we calmed down a little bit, we talked to Terry about what's been happening in her life since we moved out of her neighborhood. I just couldn't bear to part with her so I invited her to walk with us, which she did. For 2 full hours I was with this "Bestest of friends" as Terry used to call us when we lived together over in the beautiful foothills north of Linton. Oh, how I have missed my friend!

I learned through visiting that I wasn't the only one who almost died. Last winter Terry had to have back surgery and they hit the wrong spot in her back when they were doing the spinal tap. From complications she almost died and she was in the hospital 12 days over Christmas last year.

Listening to her story about the loneliness she endured then, we agreed that we should take up the tradition I learned in my youth of singing carols around that time of year for those so unfortunate ones to be in the hospital during the time of year when everyone is focusing on the gifts that they will receive. God only knows where that will end up.

In case you ever read this Terry, I want you to know that I have always loved you. You are a fantastic friend, teacher, neighbor. You always brought out the best in me and I pray that we can pick up where we left off. In my opinion, God brought us together at the zoo to show us both that we were destined to be friends!!!!

Terry, do you remember the pillow that you gave me once? It's still on my couch and I think of you so often when I see it. For one thing, I LOVE hunter green and the flowers are so lovely too. But the best part about this pillow is the words which read,

A FRIEND IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF.

Thank you, Terry, for being my friend and I just pray that you are as blessed as I am by our friendship which has spanned decades!

Thanks to all of you other friends out there too. Each one of you has blessed my life in unspeakable ways and I love you all. Just in case I haven't told you lately, you are special to me and I hope that some day we will meet again as I met dear Terry at the zoo.

I LOVE YOU ALL

Dawn