NEW ARRIVALS IN THE BARNYARD!

News from the front porch!

LIFE goes on!

Early Friday around 5:00ish AM I went to the barn and behold...2 new baby lambs! Unexpected for sure and surprising yes.

I was very pleasantly surprised because Mary and Martha have 'lambed' in late February and early March...not in January.

However, as a testimony to God's goodness and how very much He wants to get involved and 'get all in our business' is amazing!

On Wednesday afternoon I was rushing around after school and trying to get out the door in time to go to church...I felt a strong urging to put Mary and Mary in the barn. This means they are in a stall and safe and secure, warm and ready....however, my first reaction to this urging was "in January?'.


Anyway, so I did...this means more work...food, water must be carried and set up and then there's the cleaning out of the stall.

Thursday was a hectic day and an evening the Preacher and I had a lot of soul searching talking about stuff going on in our lives; our families, our church, the world. We sat, talked and just took comfort in each other's company knowing that God was in control and His plan would unfold. So, no trip to the barn...I knew everyone had enough provisions for another day.

I usually DON'T make daily trips to the barn at 5:00 AM BEFORE school...but there again felt a strong urging....as if a voice saying, "come, I want to show you something'. Friday morning was cold, damp and rainy...not my favorite time to visit the barn. As a matter of fact, it is conditions like that that cause me to question why I do have these critters in the first place!

Anyway, I rounded the corner of the barn and there they were! Two little lambs...Mary's little twin boys! As you can see from the picture one is a little tiny thing. He is Judah....the larger almost all white guy is Levi.

Now, why would the God in Heaven who is very busy watching over trillions of people, not counting animals, etc., take the time to speak to me about lambs? I told the Preacher that God really wants to get 'all in our business' big time! What matters to us matters to Him. This is just a small matter...but nevertheless important to me...God knows how sad I would have been if the lambs had been born outside in the rain and cold without shelter and covering. Coyotes are always a concern around here...although the Great Pyrenese...Daisy Mae is doing a good job of guardingso no coyotes lately. Someday I'll tell the story of Daisy Mae.... but back to lambs.....

Now, I have had gentle nudging before about checking on things, HAVE NOT heeded the leading and had adverse outcomes....Afterwards, wringing my hands and thinking, ' I felt like I should have....(fill in the blank')...and missed out, messed up.

So, this has been a reminder of God's care and provision...He loves me...He really does! It reminds me that He wants for me to walk and talk with Him in such a way, that I can say with confidence..." Here am I God, speak to me"!

As a proud barnyard 'grannie' I am going to post some pictures. I have a newfangled camera..Flip camera..a mini video thingee.....I will attempt to load it so if you get a 'show of the barn' good... if not, you may just get a still digital picture clip. Whichever it is...oohhh and ahhhh and marvel at God's creations.

So from my front porch to wherever you are..a big babaaaabaaa..and be blessed and 'open up your heart, listen to what He wants to speak in your life"!

DUCKS WALKING ON WATER!

Shivery greetings from the front porch!

History was made on the farm! Ducks walking on the water.....the first time since we have been here when the POND froze over! Unbelievable....to quote Joe kinda..sorta."there is several inches of frozen global warming in my pond, in the water buckets, in the water troughs, in the chicken watering tubs...in the dogs water, etc." you get the idea.

Come back tomorrow....new arrivals on the farm! Pictures to share too...so until then stay warm...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

COLD, COLD GREETINGS FROM THE FRONT PORCH! IT IS COLD!


But on to warmer thoughts.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

January 8, 1978 Joseph Glen Gabbard arrived in the Gabbard family. It was a very cold, snowy day and that entire winter was very cold and snowy...much like the weather right now....but just as it did then...it will again thaw and warm into ...Spring and Spring will come!

It is God's promise. Be encouraged and be of good cheer...Genesis 8:22..."while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease'. This certainly applies to the earth BUT on my journey I realized this has spiritual signifance...at least to me. There is a time to plant and a time you must wait to enjoy the harvest.

Do you ever feel that there are times of 'coldness'...where is God? We cry, " God, I feel so alone and far away, no covering, no shelter"...BUT HE is always near. Then there are times of heat, the presence of God is so awesome and real it feels like we will be consumed! A time also when that heat will melt away all the dross in our life.

Winter, I am entering the winter of my life. When I was young in the hills of Kentucky running and playing.. I was in the spring of my life....seems just moments ago...

Then married and a young mother in the midst of the summer of my life, busy planting and growing young lives for the Kingdom. Fall quickly came and a time to see grandkids born and grow and children developing their own place in this world. Fall is such a beautiful time...both in the natural and spiritual. I have seen beautiful, wonderful, glorious color splashed all through the lives of my children and grandchildren! Beautiful!

Winter...it is not my favorite time of the year by any means!! However, God in His wisdom has set all this in motion....both in the earth and in our own life cycle. Am I sad? No, I realize I have had the gift of the 3 seasons, enjoying the beauty, the bounty and the blessings they have brought me.

Winter is a time for me and perhaps most to look to Him as never before...realize even when it seems there is little or no life that under the ground, in our foundation, so to speak, He is working and we still have purpose for His Kingdom. Just as the gnarled tree, twisted and tattered, bent and burdened with the ice and snow winter brings, we are still productive for the Kingdom and for the next generation.

Where are you today in your season? Wherever, rejoice, be glad, glance back and smile at the memories of beauty and bounty you have enjoyed...but don't be sad at what has been lost, opportunities, relationships, materials, possessions, youth..does it really matter now? Who said what, did what, he said, she said. that's a road to nowhere that has a deadend.....

Instead take a firm hold on the NOW, enjoy it for the NOW, embrace it for the NOW, let it envelope you for the NOW. The NOW quickly becomes the past... SO above all, trust God wherever you are.

It seems no matter what season we are in, there are times when we are in pain, in sorrow, in misery. That's life and that's the season. All seasons have good and bad, hard, difficult times, yet fun, enjoyable, hilarious, wonderful times.

If you are suffering, beaten down, tired, lonely, confused, know that 'this too shall pass'...and like I heard last night at a prayer meeting, ..God can use your PROBLEMS to bring Glory to His Kingdom and to work a work in you. Interesting.

All this comes in each season...each one of us must work out our own salvation and develop that relationship with the Lord that will sustain us. But in the Winter....those extra things such as weeds, 'prettiness' which is superficial, dies and is gone. Ironic, that in this season no matter how we try we cannot keep the winter from arriving. It comes. So all that appears to be left is bareness..ugliness, oldness. We are standing exposed before God and all mandkind. No amount of make-up, treatments, botox can really help. The beauty God desires and wants to see is inward. Hmmm, 'man is always looking on the outward'...so glad my God is looking on the inside. Or are we? Looking inside He can see and ask, "How much have you grown?? That will be the test.

So during our seasons, we must allow the roots to grow deeper, allow the seasonal prunings..the cutting away of those things that have gotten out of control in our lives. We are cut back , all the unnecessary, extra, superficial, stuff is taken and burned-as it should be!

However, the evidence is there as to who/what we really are. The type of tree (person) we are is evident. What we have produced thru the years stands on record. Rotten, tree-rotten fruit. Imature tree-imature fruit. Lack of nutrients (WORD)very little useful fruit. You get the pictures. HMM, we are known by our fruit, can't fool God. He is the untimate fruit inspector after all. It is known. It has been established. That cannot be taken away. But even more significant is our roots. Interesting..the part man cannot see...but God sees. After all the 'type of roots determines the fruits'.

Our lifeline, our foundation, where we get our strength, our nourishment-our roots. By the time winter arrives we should have deep, strong roots. Faith should be anchored...that no winter storms will overtake us, destroy us....we should stand firm and steady.......until the time appointed by God, when the fullness of our seasons have come and the shell we live in is broken and the seeds from that shell are scattered onto the earth. Then and only then they can fall to the ground and the cycle can continue until Genesis 8:22, ...."while the earth remains.

Then and only then can we fly, fly, fly into the eternal place, the destiny He has prepared. What a promise! Hold steady, stay strong, be ready, press in...whatever it takes!

So until the next meeting here on the front porch....be rooted and grounded as never before in HIM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A hearty welcome to 2010 and all of you from the front porch! Most of us are so glad for the 'new beginning'. A friend commented that it's just 'turning the page on a calendar'. True, but there is something new, fresh and exciting about beginning a new year-especially if the one we just survived was so difficult.

I am embarking on a 21 day journey-a spiritual seeking and searching to perhaps help me make sense of some of the events that 'went down' in 2009. Difficult questions, difficult times, difficult situations-difficult. A year ago if someone would have given me a heads up about some of the difficult situations that I would find myself in-I would never have believed it. But, nevertheless, here I am.

Preacher is doing a sermon series on "A New Year and A New You". Good stuff. We can't change other people. But we can change ourselves. It's not easy. I'm finding that out in just this first day of the journey. Old routines, old habits, old mindsets. We are such creatures of comfort and habit.

I'm believing for a 'breakthrough or breakout' which ever comes first.

So, as I look into 2010 I feel it is a time to 'press in'. Press into the Lord and His presence, protection and power. Press into Him just as the woman with the issue of blood did and touch Him. Press into the Word.

So from the front porch, Happy Blessed New Year. And by the way enjoy the little snowfall we had a few days ago. There's s'no'w place like home.