WHEN THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know that the girls are involved in UKC obedience.  It has been Inky’s goal for some time now that her dog perform as well in the show ring as she does in practice at home.  Well that finally happened this past weekend and the results were stunning.  She qualified each time with great scores earning 4 more of the 15 doubles required for the final title she is working on with Ellie – only three more to go.  She and Ellie also made High in Trial for three of the four trials.  (That means their score was higher than anyone else out of all the classes for that judge for the day.)  This was her first high in trial at a large show.  Bebster and Chetta did well with their dogs too.  It was a weekend to remember.

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Please remember two families in your prayers.  Inky’s friend, Tommy has lost both of his grandparents on his dad’s side in the past couple weeks.  These Grandparents set a wonderful, Godly example and will be missed tremendously.

My husband’s Uncle Danny lost his wife of 48 years after taking care of her during an extended illness lasting several years.  Your prayers for Uncle Danny are appreciated. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ Verse of the Day ~

Psalm 23

1 – The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

2 – He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 – He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

4 – Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear not evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

5 – Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 – Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Each and every word of this passage has such deep meaning.  I especially enjoy meditating on the last verse.  When I dwell in the Lord, His mercy and goodness are there.  Life isn’t always what I expect or even desire, but God’s is gracious to always be present and continues to bless even when times are difficult.

I haven’t done a survey in quite some time.  I came across this one at Cami’s site and thought I would share some things about myself with you.

 Wednesday Night Survey

If someone looked ON your bed, what would they find?
Pillows and bedding

Last person you drove with?
Inky and she was driving

Where did you go today?
To a funeral for the grandfather of one of Inky’s good friends

Sleep on your back or stomach?
Side or back

Are you a cuddler?
Yes

What would someone find UNDER your bed?
Next year’s Christmas cards and the umbrella stand that came with our patio furniture set.

Something that happened today that made you angry?
Nothing

What were you doing before this survey?
Answering e-mail, which I have not done all week

What will you do after the survey?
Answer some more e-mail.

Last really funny thing you laughed at?
Some silly thing the girls said

Who was your valentine?
My husband

Do you sing?
Yes, soprano.  The Lord has developed in me an ability to have fun hitting those high notes.

Who will you see the most this weekend besides family?
Debaters (tournament weekend)  Last weekend it was dogs. 
Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
It depends

Is there something you regret and wish you could take back?
Unfortunately!

First thing you do when you wake up?
Turn off the alarm, then get the girls up.

Ever had surgery?
Appendectomy when I was 5

What do you want to be?
The wife, mother, and woman that God calls me to be.

How do you feel about the last person who posted this?
Cami is fun to blog with.

How long does it take for you to fall asleep at night?
Not long, if I am good and tired.

When you shut off your alarm clock, do you tend to fall back asleep?
I don’t set my alarm if I want extra sleep.

Does anyone like you?
My precious family.

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?
We always look forward to our state home school convention.  They bring in men and women of God who challenge us to walk closely with the Lord and our families.  BTW – I go for the conference more than the book shopping.

It's midnight, who are you texting?
I don’t text.

Who do you miss?
My parents when they are in Florida.

Who were you with last night ?
The folks at the girls’ youth group.

What's something you hate?
There are many things I don’t like, but I try to let the Lord do the hating of evil for me.

You need a new pair of jeans, what store do you go to first?
I don’t wear jeans.

How do you feel about your hair?
Hmmm.  I like it.  It is long down to my waist, ash blonde.  Used to be strawberry blonde, but the red turned white a long time ago – in my 20’s.

If you could move away, no questions asked, where would you move?
Where ever our family is.

Last person you talked to on aim?
I don't use AIM.

What's the greatest thing that happened to you today?
Hopefully, Inky and I were an encouragement to her friend’s family.

Who was the last person of the opposite sex you had a conversation with?
My husband

Where is the last place you went out to eat?
Mexican at the dog show.

What was the last beverage you consumed?
water

Thoughts at this moment?
Answering these questions

Do you bite your lips a lot?
No, but I do use Burt’s Bees Lip Balm several times a day.

Best kind of pizza?
Veggie deluxe.

Favorite drink?
Water is what I drink the most.  When I need a caffeine fix to make a long drive, I get a Dr. Pepper.

What were you doing at 11:59 PM on Friday night?
Sleeping

Can you speak another language?
Je parle un peu Francais, just what I remember from high school French class.

What are you going to do tomorrow?
Take Bebster and Chetta to speech class.

Who is the best band you've seen live?
I enjoyed a gospel quartet at church.  Does that count?

Do you take care of your friends while they're sick?
Not usually, but I am the caretaker for the family.

Do you like to read?
Yes, when I get the time.

How do you feel about your first love?
Still in love with him.

Favorite colors?
Purples and Greens

Who is your favorite person to have a serious conversation with?
Usually a member of my family.

Where did you go yesterday?
I voted, then stopped by the bank, then off to the library for an hour, then took the girls to youth group.  With the price of gas, we try to combine trips.

Nickname?
None

Where do you want to go right now?
I am where I want to be.

What are you wearing?
Jumper, knit top.

What brand of digital camera do you own?
Canon

When is your birthday?
July

Who gave you your last compliment?
My husband.

Who/what last made you smile?
Inky

~ Blessings ~

SATISFACTION IN COMPLETION

Isn’t it a wonderful thing to bring a project to completion?  It is for me.  I have been working on a couple of two page scrapbook pages for several months now and finally have them all the way done.  Before this I had only done one page at a time.  It has been fun putting two coordinating pages together.  Here are the results.

First are two pics from our 4^th of July celebration with my husband’s family.

Next, you saw the first one in my last post, but I am including it again, so you can see the two pages together.  This is from Memorial Day at my parents’ home.  Included are our nieces, Chetta, and JP in the fishing pics.

I have been working steadily on the baby blanket that I am knitting.  It is about 2/3’s finished now.  I will also add some fringe when the knitting is all completed.  This is a great project to have while at piano lessons, dog classes, etc…

Verse of the Day

Here is a different kind of completion.  One that only had to be competed once, and could only be completed by the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.

~ John 19:30 ~

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”  And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

~ Blessings ~

LET IT SNOW

As I gaze upon a world of white wonder, I am amazed at how each and every crystal snowflake is uniquely and individually formed.  One single flake is a beauty to behold, while billions piled one upon another can become a menace, or a fun opportunity for play as the children create snow creatures and sled on the slippery slopes. 

As you can tell I awoke to a blanket of freshly fallen snow.  We had about eight inches fall yesterday, then a steady drizzle of rain in the evening followed by more snow.  The trees have a lovely highlight of snow contrasting with the dark shadows of the forest. 

The Bible says that snow is something to prepare for.  We do live in an area that gets plenty of cold, snowy weather.  Each year we need to think ahead to have the needed items for winter: wood to heat our home; a supply of natural gas for when we use the furnace; straw for the dogs; and winter coats, hats, and gloves to warm each of us. 

In our Spiritual lives we need to also prepare for the sparse times.  There will be times in our lives when things get tough, when we face temptations that try to overwhelm us.  It is in those times that memory verses can come flooding back to strengthen us, that our prayer time sustains us, that God’s Word carries us through. 

~ Proverbs 31:21 ~

She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet.

All activities involving the need to drive yesterday were canceled.  Wednesdays are our stay at home day too, so we have two days in a row to spend together, just our family in our toasty warm home.  It is on days like these that we can enjoy watching the flames dance in our wood burning stove with a cup of hot herbal tea gazing out over the snowy field and woods.  I pictured this when we designed our home and it is kind of fun to have a few of those days now and then.

Completing a project is always rewarding.  I have a scrapbook page that I have been working on for about three months now and finally finished it.  YEA!  It is actually a two page spread, with one page complete and the other nearly there.  Here is a picture of the completed page.  I had fun using the sewing machine for the first time.  See the flower border on the edge of the striped paper – that is stitched on.  This is a page from Memorial Day spent with family at my parents’ home.  As you can see my nieces and Chetta had a lot of fun that day.

I also started a knitting project.  We have some family friends who are expecting a baby, so I am knitting a blanket for their little one.  I started working on it Monday while the girls were at their Rally dog obedience class and then got a good bit done yesterday while we watched Flywheel. 

This was a wonderful movie made by the church who produced Facing the Giants.  I found it in our library system and have had it on hold for months.  If you have a chance to watch it, I think you will be blessed.  I actually liked it better than Facing the Giants.

Chetta has been having fun taking pictures of Tori and this one came out especially nice.

We get a monthly newsletter from Crown Financial Ministries called “MONEYMatters.”  Here are a couple quotes that caught my attention:

Most of us can do many things, but the greatest difference is made when we do fewer things very well.

View your life purpose from an eternal perspective.  Then, ask God to make your life count, not only in familiar things but in new ways that you never could have imagined.

~ Blessings ~

      

Currently Watching Flywheel By Alex Kendrick, Janet Lee Dapper, Richie Hunnewell see related

Debate – Speech – Dogs – and More Debate

That about sums up our lives around here lately.

Bebster and Chetta had a speech and debate tournament two weekends ago.  The tournaments run from morning until evening on Friday and Saturday with seven rounds of debate over two days and three rounds of speech on Saturday.  Bebster did debate and Chetta did speech. 

Bebster and her teammate only won round, but came out on top of the team that finished second in the tournament.  They had one bye, and 4 of the 5 other teams that defeated them placed in the top 5 in the tournament.  They drew some tough rounds.  The good thing is that Bebster improved a lot over the weekend. 

Chetta did an interpretation from a portion of the third Millie Kieth book by Martha Finley.  She was quite nervous in her first round, but by the second round placed 2^nd in a room of 6 and in the final round with three judges received one first and one third placement. 

Last weekend there was another tournament only an hour and a half from where we live.  One of Bebster’s club teams was debating (conflict the prior weekend)  I took her up on Saturday to watch.

The speech and debate really isn’t about winning, although that is nice when it happens.  The girls want to become better prepared for sharing their faith in Christ when the opportunity arises, and this seems like a great place to learn to speak to others and in debate to learn to listen and share based on what you hear. 

~~~

A friend of ours from the dog world teaches rally obedience classes once a week and has invited the girls to come participate.  It is very different from the classic obedience style work the girls normally do with their dogs.  In this, there is a snaking path set up with cards.  Each card tells you something different to do with your dog, like circle to the left or right, stand your dog and walk around it.  You get the idea. 

Our friend thought Ellie was getting bored and that this would help get her focused on Inky better.  She hasn’t been as focused in the past year or so, and the rally does seem to be helping her.  We will see when she gets to her first dog show early next month.  The dog show we normally go to that is close is only doing obedience once this year instead of three times, so we went on-line to find some other ones to go to this spring.  We thought Ellie might also do better in the cooler weather of winter spring, than the dog days of summer. 

Inky and Ellie just have 7 more doubles of the required 15 to get her final title, the GOCH.  There are 4 opportunities at each show.  So far she has obtained 8 doubles in 12 tries, which is a pretty good record.  (I won’t bore you with the details of what a double is, but if you are interested, let me know.)

Doing all of our normal tasks involved with cooking, cleaning, and home school, we are keeping more than busy, but in a good way. 

~~~

Verse of the Day

~Proverbs 19:21~

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

I pray that it is the Lord’s purpose that we follow in all our daily activities.

~Blessings~

 IT IS OFFICIAL

I haven’t said much about the girls and their dogs lately, but the final results have come out for 2007, and all three girls have qualified for the National Jr. Obedience Invitational.  With Chetta only starting in September we didn’t think she would have much of a chance to get enough points, but she pulled out a High Scoring Jr. over her sisters at one of the trials which gave her enough points to put her in there.  This year they are only inviting the top 10 Jr. Handlers in the country so it is quite an honor to have three of those spots held by the girls.  This is Inky’s last Jr. year, so this is the only time that could happen.  It has been a lot of fun to find something that the girls can share together and an added bonus that they have been able to do so well at it. 

We have to give a huge amount of credit to my brother, the dog trainer.  While the girls put a lot of time and effort into training their dogs, he has taught them techniques that work and take the frustration out of the process (for the most part).  He has also taught them that the one of the best parts of the training is to play with your dogs and to have a great relationship with them.  That way, even though they respect you and look to you for direction, they want to work for you because they adore you, not because you are a hard task master.  Thanks Uncle P! 

Inky also qualified for the adult All Star Invitational in Utility and Open.  To do this you have to accumulate points by getting at least a 191 out of 200 score (not an easy task) and having a total for the year that places you among the top 50 handlers in the country in your class.  Way to go girls!  The big show is in June, so it will be a while before the actual competition occurs. 

Sorry I haven’t been commenting recently.  We have been passing around the flu, and it caught up with me this week.  I have a short morning and then we are off to speech and debate class this afternoon, so I hope to return tomorrow to catch up with everyone.

Verse of the day:

~2 Corinthians 1:3-5~

3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4)  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5)  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

~ Blessings ~