Bella video

Ivan measured her and she's 13 hands. He estimates she'll grow to 15 hands. A hand is four inches.

In her corral

This video is right when we put her in her new home. She's saying, "What's going on? What is this place? Where am I?" She can stay here till the other horses come back.

I spoke with Ivan yesterday. Our son did some work for him so I got to stop and say hi too. He has his horse at Rush Rancho. Rush Rancho! He told me he goes there every day and brushed his horse just that afternoon. I asked him if he is special friends with them and he said yes. Oh dear. I really just blurted it out, but he's so lucky to be friends with them. He knows everyone. Rush Rancho is where we were driving by one day and saw the horse whisperer. It's laid out in nice, neat squares. Ivan said they're expecting two more horses and will not have any corrals available, but he will talk to them. It doesn't sound promising, but I know God has a good plan for Bella. She can be where she is till the end of summer. James 1:17 says, “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.”

Look at me. I'm not stressed. Everything will work out and God knows how. I only have to figure it out and go one step at a time. One step at a time is okay. Plenty of people have a horse and don't have their own land. Right? Right. Okay.

Added note: My lower back has been sore for a week for no apparent reason. My sister emails and says I need a support belt. Yeah, like I'm going to wear a big, black belt with my cowgirl boots and jeans. She just wants me to look like a dork is all. I'm not bitin'. She says she's growing out her hair now too.

Polishing and refining

I'm very refined, for sure.

I've got my actual memorizing done so I figured I'd work now on modulating my voice and deciding which hand motions to keep, plus I'm checking myself to see that I don't pace too much as I talk. My husband is looking through the window making faces at me, thank you very much, but I only have the first few seconds to show here. There's a skirt problem.

Windy, windy

Today you have the choice of reading or listening. I give you fair warning. You can read it in 60 seconds, but I yammered on for seven minutes - don't know how that happened. Haha! I said 'um' too much and I enthusiastically banged on my table a couple times, didn't even realize it, so I apologize that one of them is too loud (you hear it at 22 seconds). Onwards and upwards.

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It's duperly windy today! The men have gone to do laundry and go to Wal-mart. Hey, I've noticed on Wal-Mart's site they spell their name on the home page both with and without a hyphen. So what's up with that? Are they schizoid? Do they want a hyphen in there or not? It's easier to type without a hyphen, yet I notice the AP spells it with the hyphen.

I have the trailie alllll to myself. Ooooh. I'm home alone! I haven't been exercising for a week so that's a must. Must exercise after I write this. I'd rather do a couple hours of exercise per day than have take an Ibuprofen in the evening because I'm all achy-breaky.

At the Christmas dinner I spoke at length with a fella who has long grey hair that he wears in a pony tail. It looks really good. I've seen him before. I've noticed him on account of the hair, but have never spoken to him. I'm glad I stayed. I wanted to go home because I was so uncomfortable, but if I wait long enough usually the uncomfortableness will go away or at least lessen and it did. Besides, to grow spiritually a lot of times you have to go outside of your comfort zone. He's married like 35 years. He's 55 and got married when he was only 17 and wife, 15. I didn't ask any whys and wherefores about that! He likes photography like I do. He has three kids and three grandkids and I met one of the grands. He was a nice little boy. The wife was home preparing an extensive Christmas meal for 18 guests that included prime rib. I haven't met her. He said he really wants to go on his bike, he's a Harley man, and travel far and wide, but his wife doesn't. He asked me about Alaska and our travels and I sputtered a bit about our travels, but I am rarely wanting to talk about our travels because, well, isn't it quite dull listening to other people talk about where they've been and what they've done? Sometimes I think so. He didn't leave though, so I guess I wasn't boring enough to kill him. We got up sometimes to serve in the food line. Sadly, I have to report, the turnout for the free Christmas meal was dismal.

Our son and his friend were victims of random Christmas kindness this year. As they held the sign out front to entice people to come in and eat, a couple in a pick-up truck stopped and gave them a Christmas card. They opened it and found twenty dollars inside! They were so happy and excited and they split it 50/50. My son thought it belonged to the church and he was going to give it, but the other mom told the kids to keep it. I thought that was awful nice. I'll encourage him to tithe it, but I know he'll do it even without me telling him. Did you know, the Bible talks more on the topic of giving than about heaven and hell. I've haven't double checked it out, but that is what my pastor says. Money is important to people and you really tell a lot about someone depending on how they feel about and how they manage their money. And. You know the tithe is ten percent. Ifns you should tithe ten dollars, but you only tithe one you might want to say, "Well, I gave my one dollar and that's something." However, truth be told, yeah, you gave $1.00, but, now you've stolen $9.00 from God. Now that's something to think about.

Shoe shine man

I've had a tummy ache all day. Didn't do homeschooling or go to dance. I mostly lay around like a blob.

Our son shines boots for income. We're proud of his entrepreneurship. Sometimes people give him generous tips. He's tried several things. You may remember, once he went trailer to trailer asking if people wanted him to walk their dogs and some people slammed their door in his face and some acted like they had rocks in their head when he explained what he would do for them. You'd think they'd understand he's just kid who's trying to make some money. I was right proud that he didn't fold up. He kept pluggin' along till he found out people like to get their cowboy boots shined here in New Mexico. He earned nine dollars today. He's thrilled.

So I did a little research on shoe shining just for the ducks of it. I found a quality video I want to share. Such sage advice here, especially about bondage. It's a guy in Alabama, age 69, who shines shoes.

Ofra Haza

Today my teacher shared a CD with me. On it is a song by an artist named Ofra Haza. She died in 2000 at only 42 years old. She was a vastly popular Israeli singer who started out doing folk songs and also did pop. She came from a very poor family and was much loved by her country. She was multilingual.

It took me two hours of research to find the English words to this song. She's singing in Hebrew and I found the words all over the Web in Hebrew. That didn't help me at all! The words are from the Old Testament from Song of Solomon, 8:6-7. The music CD has better sound and is more beautiful because it has a little bit of echo. The video's not bad though. You can feel her music. It's an a capella which means voice only, no instruments. I had to look up "a capella" also.

I'm going on the 13th, probably, to a meeting of an organization called Christians United for Israel. Not that that has anything to do with this, but it popped into my head just now and I think I have not mentioned it.

Okay, here's the vid. Take your mind off things for a minute, step outside yourself and listen. It's only three minutes.

Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
as a seal upon thine arm;
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is cruel as the grave;
the flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
a very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it;
if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
he would utterly be condemned.

Why did I do all those sit-ups!

I remember when Jackie Onassis died. She was such a dedicated mom and she delighted in grandmotherhood. When she got cancer (she was only 64) I read an article about her in a glossy magazine where she said, "Why did I do all those sit-ups?" It made me laugh out loud. It was so genuine and was such a silly thing. Exactly the sort of thing I may have thought of if I was her. The sit-ups kept her beautiful, vibrant, in excellent shape. Why did Jackie do all those sit-ups? Because she was driven to. Because she couldn't stop.

Like Jackie did her sit-ups, I do my praying, and I've experienced an epiphany this week. It's as if I've been dog paddling in prayer all these years and suddenly I'm gliding through glassy waters doing a beautiful side stroke! You might think dog paddle prayers are lame but they're not. With the dog paddle prayer you can pray very far, for a very long time. It's easy. Anyone can do it. It can be a life saving prayer and swimming stroke.

I travailed in it for years, entirely satisfied. But now! I can pray out loud for a full 30 minutes. I've done it this week. I practiced it at church and accomplished it with the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I can quote verses from my Bible from memory too. They come to my mind now. Get out of town, you say. No, really! As a quiet woman, I am happy I can do more than silent or only memorized prayer. Moses complained to God that he wasn't qualified to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt because he was slow of tongue and slow of thought, but Jehovah boomed, "Who hath made man's mouth? Have not I, the Lord, made man's mouth?" Well, I suppose He did.

Praying for lost souls, revival, and the election this past week I feel I've gotten the absolutely wrong reply that I sought from the Lord, yet personally my prayer life has grown exponentially. That's something! It's huge, for me anyway. The Lord is more far seeing than I am. He has a plan. We know this. So I will continue to pray knowing the answer is always going to be one of three: Yes, No, or Not Now. I am driven to pray. I cannot stop.

I have a short video I made. It's how I'm thinking today. As my little sister put it so succinctly this morning, Welp, I guess we shall see how Obama proceeds to jack everything up now. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Sa-RAH! Sa-RAH!

I'm alive!

I survived. I know without a doubt, I could never work with children as a regular job.

On Monday I was freaking out. Tonight, I'm chilling. Just ate a whole package of graham crackers. You have to do that for yourself once in awhile, eh? And tomorrow? Tomorrow I shall dance. Just for myself!

Here is the sum total of my week. The product. The outcome. You are the first to see it. Tomorrow I will deliver it. I waver between confidence and knee-knocking, teeth-chattering. (I notice the sound is not even on YouTube but it's fine on CD and on my computer. I wonder if I should delete and re-upload it, but it took so long to upload.)

A vid

What's your cardboard testimony? I got this from sweet Devina.

Return of the removed vids

This is a lil' gal playing bagpipes in front of the Visitor's Center in Nova Scotia. It was the best visitor center stop of the year.


This one promises to become a Top Ten at YouTube. Eighteen seconds of blurred cement ending with a shot of my lens cover blowing in the breeze. I accidently pushed the Record button as I walked towards her to give her a tip. I know how much effort goes into practicing an instrument and perfecting a song and how much courage it takes to play in front of people so I really wanted to tip her. I think it made her day. It bought her a lunch at least! Her folks should be proud!

802

I haven't laughed so much since 1988 - Will Smith's "Parents Just Don't Understand". I admit, I had to look up fustigating in the dictionary for this one...


Up in Vermont this is how we do
We got one area code and it's 802
802
802

Green Mountain State where we roll on skis
Don't mess with our cows or we'll break your knees
State of Vermont where we make Ben and Jerry's
Sweet like syrup and our streets aren't scary

Cell phone service is questionable
Farmer's Market is our biggest festival
We got out of staters creepin' when the leaves are changing
Our eggs are jumpin' cause our chickens are free ranging

State capitol might be 200 years old but our dome is so bling in that it's plated with gold
MHS: our mascot is a Solon
Saturday night we don't go drinking, we go bowling

802 (4x)

We got seven different places to buy a pizza slice
But don't go to Village 'cause that dude ain't nice
Cross off Angeleno's 'cause their pie is overpriced
What about Girasole's - yeeah, that'll suffice

Hippies always loiter when on city steps
We got to First in Fitness and do mad reps
One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four
Here comes X10 knocking at your door

Mud season makes the roads real slow
Go hunting with our compound bow
We got creamiest milk in the 50 states
We go on picnics and dine on paper plates

Rednecks in jail we are always hatin'
We cruise into town and we start fustigatin'
I like my Cabot's cheddar extra sharp
Our roofs have leaks so we patch it with a tarp

802 (4x)

Got the biggest snow plows in the USA
Yeah we made it legal it's okay to be gay
Our official shoe is the Birkenstock
The only thing we hustlin' is the granite rock

Up in V-T this is how we do
We got one area code and it's 802

Will this work

My little S2IS takes movies. I dropped it on the asphalt today and it bounced a couple/three times, much to my chagrin, but she's still workin'! Yay! Canon makes sturdy cameras.

And I tried uploading a short vid just for the ducks of it. Not a great video, but I think it worked. Videos might be fun!

Water is water falling pretty much anywhere, unless you're there to hear the roar with your own ears, feel the mist in your face, and see the massive amount of H20 pass by you with your own two eyes.

In 1912 there was a small boat accident and a seven year old boy went right over the falls. One of the Maid of the Mist tour boats picked him up. Alive. His 17 year old sister survived too. She was picked up before going over the falls. The driver of the boat died.

The falls are worth seeing. Everyone should see them once in their life. So let it be written, so let it be done! But it's extremely touristy here. Four days is a-plenty. I'm grateful that we were here and able to do a couple of the "touristy" things to boot. When I was a child we would have been able to see the falls only. Still, the falls alone, on their own, are quite a feast.