A Calf Rescue

After some extremely cold temperatures this week, a lot of ice, snow, and utility companies working around the clock, here is a story of how our community comes together when someone, or even a baby calf is in need.  

Jenny rode with my sister and her children to view some beautiful scenery around the area, and just happened to drive down a road we do not travel as often.  

They saw a calf in a pond swimming in circles trying to keep it's head above the water, when they decided to go and try to get help.  

Another gentleman had arrived right before and my sister decided to call our uncle, a prominent farmer in the area, who they knew would know what to do.  He arrived along with several other men and a lady neighbor as well.  

The story now begins to get exciting, or nerve-wracking, whichever you prefer.  A friend brought his tractor over and my uncle hoisted himself upon the end of the front end loader, where the spear for feeding round bales of hay is.  

Take note of exactly how he is sitting atop the loader with only the spear, which comes to a point on the very end, to hold him when he stands.  A point my aunt was none to happy about, to say the least. :/  I will add here, my uncle will be 71 this year, so she had a little reason to worry.

They now drive off into the pond, and my uncle takes a lariat rope to attempt to lasso the poor calf and pull it to safety before it drowns.  It is still circling the area where it fell through, and by this time is going under every now and then, trying to keep it's head up. 

I must say this is the most impressive move from the entire endeavor!  My uncle only took two tries to lasso the calf!  I do believe that is pretty amazing, with it mostly under water and continuously moving!  He is the true hero of this story!  Yeah, Foster, or as we call him, Uncle Bo!!!

As he is struggling to pull this 200, now 250 lb. or so soaking wet calf out of the water, Clifton must get out of the tractor and climb around to help him pull.  

They finally succeed, but just as they get this calf out of the water, the ice breaks and it goes back in!  Agh!  Poor thing...The men on the bank throw another rope to tie to the first and pull the calf the rest of the way out of the water.  Success, so far...

All this time Jenny has been photographing the entire endeavor, and now, she and my two nieces run over to rub it and try to get it warm.  A lady neighbor had blankets in her car and my sister had one, so they bundled it up and kept on rubbing, as Jenny blew on its nose to keep it from icing over.  What a sweet picture!  It was a little heifer calf, which is a girl, for you non-farmers. :) 

Success!  Only now, during the excitement, the tractor had died in the pond as water was very close to the engine, which could be bad; they enlisted the help of another friend and neighbor who brought his backhoe down to pull the tractor out of the pond.  

Oh, the drama of farm living!  Now, Uncle Bo and Clifton must wait to be pulled out.  My uncle said he was freezing!  It had been in the teens that morning!  Brrrrrrrrrr...

The story has a great ending!  The calf belonged to a friend and now is at the vocational school in a heated stall for the Ag. students to work with and learn from.  The tractor was taken to our local tractor company, but was ok.  A line had collapsed, keeping the water from entering the engine, which would have been devastating financially.  

The lady friend had called our local radio station, and they asked for Jenny to send some pics in.  She did, they put it on their morning fax, somehow Channel 9 news saw it and wanted to interview Jenny, the photographer, and our uncle.  That was exciting!  Everything went great, and they were on the news!  The reporters did a superb job in editing and putting together the story!  It was wonderful! 

A pic has been circulating on facebook and instagram, and all we can say is what an exciting adventure it was, as they went on a drive to view and photograph the beautiful winter scenery and happened to be at the right place at the right time.  

What joy is in the making of another memory!

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

Always Giving Thanks

My eldest bought me this wonderful devotional for Christmas, and I have so loved reading the wise words from Ann Voskamp.  She has encouraged me greatly.  

I would not have literally taken "always giving thanks for all things" seriously or given them real meaning, or taken up the pen to put words to paper if she had not encouraged me, us, to do so.  

Some do not care for her writing style, and that's ok, we all have different likes, but I can almost hear her genuine love and care and sincerity, in her writings as she urges us on.  

You do not even have to read her writings or her books, just pick up a pen and paper, a nice journal, and begin writing all the things you are grateful for.  This is a great way to teach children about gratefulness as well.  Let them have their own journal, and watch the joys that abound.  When you begin to get down, or sad, write; it may mean you haven't said, "Thank You," or written in awhile. 

God does something to our hearts when we are grateful.  

Ann says, "Joy is always possible."  As long as thanks is possible, yes, as long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.  

Thank you for showing me what I have overlooked for way too long, and have taken for granted so many of the blessings, the good and the very hard; thank you, Ann, and thank You, Father, for this eucharisteo experience.  It is possible to give thanks in all things.

"Always giving thanks for all things 

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, 

even the Father."

Eph. 5:20

On this beautiful, cold, snowy day, I pray you will say "Thank You," to the One who gives us the very air we breathe, and surrender all to Him.  He so desires and deserves all we are.  

Love and blessings to you this day.

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Endless Grace

The last few days have been icy, cold, and snowy.  We have been some of the fortunate ones. Our power was only off in the early morning hours, so far...  We poured extra drinking water, closed doors so the fire can heat the main space better, and brought out the trusty camping stove.  Haven't had to use it yet. 

I don't mind the power being off for a bit, but yes, a few days makes things a bit more difficult.  I'm not quite sure we could have survived in our grandparents or great-grandparents days.  They were amazing.  

The oil lamps have been pulled out as well.   We are as prepared as one can be in this day.  Laundry, dishes, cleaning caught up.  Just keeping animals fed, watered, and closing chickens up every evening.  Jamin and my dad had to cut a few trees off of fences or pull them out of the road just so he could get home.

       

Our major drawback is the Dad has to be at work since he works for the utilities company.  So, over the 3 days so far, he came in for 2 hours sleep yesterday, and 4 hours sleep today, and went right back to work.  All of those men should be praised greatly!  They are not only working around the clock, but working out in this cold!                     Thank you all utility workers!  We are grateful for your dedication!   

Are we grateful enough?  In all things?  I forget to write, as I keep counting, and I see my new bracelet with my one word, focus, and it reminds me to continue seeking what is important.  I'm coming up on 4000 gifts!  4000 written, counted gifts!  Oh, how many I have missed to write!  Focus...Focus...Focus...How distracted I become, even as I sit down to type.  

As we stay in the comfort of our warm homes, those men all out working and all into and through the night, yes, we are grateful again, and again.  We thank their families, because they are sacrificing too, husbands gone, daddies unavailable for a time.
               Thank you, and again, thank you.

What beauty is displayed in God's glory.  How amazed I continue to be with the artistry of our heavenly Father. 

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God,

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to day pours forth speech, 

And night to night reveals knowledge.

Psalm 19:1-2

Endless Grace

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him,

strengthened in the faith as you were taught,

and overflowing with thankfulness...

and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.

Col. 2:6-7, 10

Remember, I'm always looking forward to hearing from you!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Are We Willing to Stand?

How do we focus on the good, on what is good, when there is so much evil in this world?  I wish I had the answer.  I wish it was easy.  

With ISIS, the lion seeking who it may devour, on the prowl, and the beheadings, the burning alive.  My heart just aches.  To see the names of the 21 marched down to the edge of the ocean, the Christians, the ones who chose Christ, to follow Him, just tears my heart apart.  

The tears want to come, the sadness burns, and our prayers turn toward their families, that God has a plan, He always has a plan.  Bless them, somehow, bless them Lord.  Help their focus to be on You, to remain on You, and strengthen their resolve.  

Strengthen our resolve to remain focused on all You.  

Preparing ahead for this cold we are now enduring.  The wood is piled high, we have water, and a camp stove if needed, I believe we can survive.  Layers, Jamin says just wear more layers!  Love his way of thinking.  

We stay in the Word, in the One Word that matters, the Dad reads, so much wisdom in listening, in hearing the Word read.  So much wisdom from a man who has listened, who imparts wisdom to us.  We read Romans this month.  January we read the Proverbs, and oh, the wisdom to garner!  This February we chose to learn from Paul, and he tells us, 
                       "the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."  Rom. 8:26  

and, "we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."  Rom. 8:28

So, we just try to stay warm, keep the fire going, do what we do, and while my mother-in-law recovers with rehab in the nursing home, and the ice breaks trees and Steve has to be out all night and a couple hours of sleep and out again, we keep on, with the trusting, with the faith, with knowing God is good, through.it.all.

He is good.  That is faith.  That is to trust.  We know He holds us, even when all seems to be falling apart all over the world, we know and trust and believe that what He says is true.  We go on.  Even with snow, and cold, and ice, Jamin goes to school and work, Jenny goes on to coach swim, and the Dad continues to take calls and send out guys to fix power lines, to cut fallen trees that had way too much weight on them to be able to stand, and that's what we must do.  

Continue to stand, to not bend under the weight.  To not break.  Those 21 Egyptian Christians did not break, they paid the ultimate price of not bending or bowing to evil, they stood to the end, an end we pray we will not see on the soil of our great America, our once great America.  

Will we cease to be great?  To fall?  To bend to those who want a power over us that is not God's?  Or, is God ready to allow a judgement on us for leaving Him?

We have overcome.  We, who trust in His goodness, in His Word, in His way, we have already overcome.  We are the overcomers.  

                                  "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death."  
         Rev. 12:11  

As we focus on Who has made us overcomers, trust Him, love Him, give and surrender all to Him.  And as you are trying to stay warm in this season of winter, read His Words, listen to one another as you gather around the One Word that matters, around the Bread of Life, the life-giving Bread.

I would love to hear from you, as an encourager or as a friend.  

Oh, and tell me what you have done to stay warm or if your power has been off, what you are doing to make the best of it.  It can be a fun time as you gather together.  

Candles?  Stories?  Games?  Reading?  Resting?  I'd love to hear!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

THE One Word?

Focus...Focus...what exactly does this mean?  How do I focus my eye sight without the tools and machines to test how I see?  How do I use "My One Word" in my life?  One Word.  What is One Word to live by?  
                        The Word.                            
                                       God's Word.  
                                                    God's Holy inspired Scriptures, written for our benefit.  Written to show us how to live, how to survive in this place we call home, in this world of Earth and America and Tennessee and inside the building we reside in, the one we call home.  He shows us through His Word, the inerrant Scriptures.  He shows us where to place our focus, how to adjust our sites, how to fine tune the lenses through which we see life.  God's Word is The One Word which we use to change our focus and see through His eyes.

"A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course 

to victory."  

Sometimes the path is narrow, 
sometimes tis hidden, 
by troubles, doubts, fears, or regrets. 
We must focus our eyes on the path, 
peer through the clouds, 
and look to His Word to carry us on, 
give us strength, 
guide our feet and bring us closer to Him.

"Spending time with God puts everything else in perspective." 

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face;

now I know in part, 

but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known."

1 Cor. 13:12

We focus on our behavior, but God focuses on our hearts.  We forget God made us in His image, and we set our sights on what we can do; our focus remains on me, on I, instead of focusing on the change God desires for us to become more like Him.  We are so easily entangled in everything the world throws our way, and when our focus begins to get blurry, we must look to His Word, readjust our sights, and allow God to make the change in our hearts we so need.   

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."

Col. 3:2

"Therefore be imitators of God,

as beloved children."

Eph. 5:1

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody