Beautiful

Is this echinacea? What a beautiful Creator we can thank for this sunset! The colors aren't showing up as pink as they actually were, but it's still so colorful!

The riding arena Open gate to the arena Jasper, the affable, asthmatic Appaloosa Inside the barn Flicka, an older mare The old dump truck in the barn New and old vehicles Bunny, scratching her neck on the concrete pillar The old wagon

This is the flower of a plant that grows prolifically in the Appalachians. Although the flower is beautiful, and lightens the dark forests of the mountains, it is also poisonous.  Point of the story?  If you are lost in the Appalachian mountains, don't eat the Rhododendron plant. 

1 umbrella - two different people  Ross is excited about the umbrella ! Beth is not. 

Now I'm sitting on the counter in the big kitchen, eating mini oranges and baby carrots, looking out the window at the Wellness Secret's flashing "Open" sign. Last Sabbath, I went exploring in the 30 + acres of land behind the church in Decatur, Arkansas. It was a glorious, huge afternoon. The mildly crazy breeze blew pieces of cloud across a deep blue sky, occasionally dimming the majestic sunlight that lit up the grassy field and just barely budding trees. I tramped happily across the field past the pond, and the empty blue Bud Lite bottle, and found a little gulley and found a place to sit on a tree was growing parallel to the ground. I waited there for a while, listening to the wind blowing over head, and almost mistook the place for heaven, it was so peaceful and alive. Then, the faint sounds of a giddy electronic device playing "Pop Goes the Weasel" drifted into my ears, and I realized that I wasn't in heaven yet. The invisible ice cream truck se...

"Can you pray for my prayer requests, Stefani? I'm afraid that my prayers are an abomination to God." As I listened to my friend, I was reminded of the times in my own experience that I have thought the same things. When the mind dwells upon self, it is turned away from Christ, the source of strength and life. Hence it is Satan's constant effort to keep the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus prevent the union and communion of the soul with Christ. The pleasures of the world, life's cares and perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your own faults and imperfections--to any or all of these he will seek to divert the mind. Do not be misled by his devices. Many who are really conscientious, and who desire to live for God, he too often leads to dwell upon their own faults and weaknesses, and thus by separating them from Christ he hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shal...

Valentine's Day again. This day was not what most of the western world thought it was. It was war. 6:00 pm. The sunset's afterglow is almost gone. The New Mexico wind picks up as I hunch my shoulders against the cold. My bag is full of books, and the weight aches. My feet are beginning to slow after 5 days of fast walking, yet a force from within pushes me forward to the next trailer. The dust, the trash, the chicken wire fence, the rotting porch all add the darkening gloom of the place. My hand, stained with dried blood from where the dry skin cracked open, resolutely reaches out to the door and knocks. I think of Jesus, knocking at the door of my heart and waiting eagerly for an answer, as I hear sounds of life inside the dingy trailer. Suddenly, the door opens and a red-headed, shirtless, tattooed man is standing there. My automatic canvasser kicks in and I begin cheerfully, and attempt to hand him a book. Pause. He stands there unmoving, "I'm not intereste...

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? Isaiah 43:13 Before the canvassing day begins, God is. There is no one that can turn back the work that He is doing, and no one know the extent to which it reaches. How can I wake up in the morning and worry about the people I will meet, or whether or not I can do my canvass well today? God has been working while I was asleep!  Driving to territory, yesterday morning, I was a bit worried. Danella had just given more training on working businesses, and it rebuked me. In all the many weeks I have canvassed, I had never heard the training she gave. For some reason, I thought that the best canvassers were the ones who covered territory the fastest, and met their partner quickly, so that the leader could move them and they would cover more territory. Not so, I learned. The best canvassers are the ones who stretch their territory, and talk to as...

College Senior Photos This is Beth. I've known her for a while, now, through canvassing, and at school. She graduates this year, and can you guess what degree she will have?  Yep, it's education. Secondary, to be precise.  We are very similar in our out-of-the-box, independent, unconventional, and confident ways, which means that we work alright together up until a certain point, and then we just can't deal with the other one's independent spirit. : )   I have always appreciated her deep insights into life, and the way that she sees every event as a divine appointment. She is a beautiful girl on the inside and out, and genuinely cares for everyone she meets. The spirit of Jesus' love is strong in her. 

Senior Photos Sarah Payne - class of 2013  I love her down-to-earth, cheerful attitude. She's also a selfless servant - the kind who will do good wherever she goes. 

...Then make a new blog! I'm pretty sure this is my 5th or 6th new blog. Unfortunately, with all the other ones, I either made them using an email address that expired if I didn't check it every 3 weeks, or I forgot my password and my username, or something else happened. Not a very good track record, I'm afraid. But, you know, the definition of courage is "going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm". (according to....someone. I forgot who famous said that. It wasn't me, so don't worry, plagiarist police) Then again, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing in the same way over and over again, expecting different results... So I'm either courageous, or I'm insane. You pick. I titled this blog "Beautiful", because I want to have a place to share the beautiful things I find in life, and because I have a secret bent towards minimalism. I realize that because of the title, I might not have too many male r...