Thank You, Dear Chris
(First posted on Facebook, after the recent death of our friend, Chris Lane.) I’d been waiting. Perhaps some of you have been wondering — because you’re so wonderful and have been so kind to pray for our puppy. But I’d been tentative to give another update. After all, there’s not really anything new to report […]
A Call to Beauty
Somehow she knew, that sweet Girl of mine. My heart has been heavy, with the sadness of our sick puppy and the loss of our one and a half month old calf, exactly one week ago today. We don’t know why he died, just found him by the creek bank. His mama bawled off and […]
Lesson Learned from a Restive Retriever
(Thinking of this, posted several months back in our church — The Vine of the Mountains — newsletter. Prancer just celebrated her 1st birthday, and we REJOICE!) “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (Ps. 16:6 — NIV) Unlike our Pyrenees prisoner, whose restlessness landed him behind […]
Lessons Learned from a Pyrenees Prisoner
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight…” (Jeremiah 15:16 — ESV) Our Great Pyrenees has traded open pastureland for a confined space measured in yards rather than acres. We drive by where Finley is now a prisoner, and he just looks at us through the fence as […]
Naked and Afraid
“… the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ And he answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid’” (Genesis 3:9, 10 — NIV). Confession — I watch a show called Naked and Afraid, though I don’t know why. I’m not comfortable being […]
Kindness Spelled ‘K-O-R-T-N-E-Y’
(Note: This first appeared in our local paper, The Mountaineer) Canton resident Kortney Messer hasn’t allowed tragedy to steer her from her passion. When her father, Jason Messer, was struck and killed on September 1, 2017 while riding in a wagon train on Labor Day weekend, she faced a choice — to allow loss to […]
Taste and See!
“Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8a — NIV). The other day I witnessed something peculiar, yet profoundly analogous to a particular struggle of mine. As I sat on my porch swing reading, I heard the familiar sound of a hummingbird. Looking up, I discovered it right before me, only feet away, […]
A Mess of Bunchems and Berries
Allie loves the movie Tangled, but this word took on whole new meaning recently. While at Bible study, the children gathered. Some played with Legos and blocks, while Allie decided upon deceivingly cute Bunchems — colorful little doodads that, bunched together, create all sorts of fun shapes. If, however, said manipulatives find their way into […]
Divinity in Veterans
Today, Allie delivered three bouquets to sweet women at Autumn Care. One held a baby doll and struggled to find her words, but she had beautiful eyes behind her thick glasses. The others were asleep, so we were extra quiet upon entering their rooms. Their eyes never even opened. After our nursing home visit, we […]
Fly Away Full
We’d been having problems. In particular, pond problems — and it was proving to be no small matter. An expert in the creating and maintaining of ponds came. His analysis of ours and a plan to fix it made our jaws drop. At a minimum, he estimated it would cost $26,000 — to solve the […]