Wyoming

Far up in Wyoming, near the Montana border, there is a small town named Shell. And near that town, is a working guest ranch called "The Hideout" It is run by the Flitners. It is also the most beautiful part of Wyoming.

My family and I just spent the last weekend up there visiting my oldest brother and his wife. It was a great time! On Saturday, we were able to visit an airplane graveyard. A huge field of old airplanes. Passenger, bomber, carrier. Anyway, lots and lots of airplanes! We got to climb around in them, and sit in the pilots chairs, and investigate every corner we wanted to poke our noses into. That was probably one of the funnest (is that a word?) afternoons in my lifetime. Including the rain.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and were able to eat lunch with the minister and his wife. I think we stressed the poor people in that restaurant out, but they did very well with the 20 people who crowded in. Then we traveled back to Shell in time for a bonfire Sunday evening. That was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend!!! We had a wonderful hostess, and I enjoyed talking with and just being around my family and my brother's family. :)

And now I'm home! :)
God Bless!

Book Review: To Save A Soul. By Nona King

Para Sedi and Munwar Meek are just finishing up a fight with some mercenaries at a tavern, when they get the offer of a job. Being warriors hasn't been helping to fill their purses recently, so without knowing what the job will be, they agree to travel to the small city of Pomeroy to find out what the job entails.

On the way to Pomeroy, they meet an irresistible little Sylvan. Henry Sidgwick. Once they get to the city, they find that the job involves a fifteen year old girl who has disappeared. Everyone believes she is dead. They agree to take the job, and get started immediately.

Para soon finds a compatriot in the city. The brother of the chief suspect, he is a priest, and has had one attempt on his life since the disappearance of the girl.

Can the four of them find the truth before it's too late for the fifteen-year-old Alicia Pomeroy? And can they solve the mystery without disturbing the fragile peace between the two main families of Pomeroy?

To find out, you'll have to read this book. Nona King creates characters that will make you laugh. With scenes that will make shivers chase each other up your spine.

Socorro, New Mexico

Leaving town on Friday evening around 5:00, the group started out for a land far away. OK, it was Mexico. We reached Leadville around midnight if I remember right. I probably don't because I had been asleep for a while. I have found that in Leadville, at midnight, it's cold. Even in June. Leadville is the highest town in Colorado. After we got loaded back up, we headed on down the road. The vans were quiet, since most people were sleeping with the murmur of the drivers and the few people who couldn't sleep. We reached Alamosa in time to find that the Wal Mart was the only store open at that ungodly hour. After hurrying through Wal Mart, and trying to keep the group partway together, we finally all got loaded to get on down the road. By the time breakfast came around, we were in Socorro, New Mexico. That town has interested me for a while now. I learned once that in Spanish "Socorro" means "Help" I had to wonder who would name a town help. Finally my curiosity overcame me. So I googled it. (Hard thing that. ;)) And I found that Socorro actually was a town that was a huge help to the first expedition of explorers coming north from Mexico. The town was a Pueblo Indian village, and showing no fear of the strangers, the Indians told the explorers what lay ahead. And then gave them a large gift of corn. The leader of the expedition renamed the village Socorro because of the aid the Pueblo Indians gave them. There is no part of that village now standing, but if you go to the Eastern edge of Socorro county, you can find the ruins of the three large Pueblo's that were a sign of the might and power of the Pueblo Indians. Now that my curiosity has been satisfied, I thought I would let y'all know about it too. As for the rest of the adventures going to Mexico, I think I'll let them wait for later. :) God Bless!

Book Review: Emma, by Jane Austin

Emma is the spoiled youngest daughter of a indulgent father. A headstrong girl, she has much to learn of the world she thinks she knows so well.

Mr. Knightley is a neighbor who has known Emma and her family for at least as long as she has been alive. Sixteen years older than her, he's one of the only friends she has who can see her faults.

The characters in this Jane Austin classic show up in true style. Harriet, the daughter of no-one-knows-who; Mrs. Weston, the true friend, and one-time governess for Emma; Miss Bates, the fast talking, lovable, annoying friend who loves with all her heart, and is the friend of all; Mr. Elton, the village parson...

Emma is a girl who thinks she has a gift for match-making. In a fit of generosity, she makes Harriet Smith, a Parlour Boarder at the school in Highbury, her special friend, and protege. Thinking that Mr. Elton is lonely, she decides that Harriet would be much better off married to him, than to the simple farmer she would have loved without any qualms.

Through a hilarious turn of events, Emma learns of her mistake on a snowy carriage ride with Mr. Elton himself. In hopes of turning Harriet's thoughts away from that dismal failure, Emma starts plotting to help Harriet fall in love with Mrs. Weston's step-son.

When this too falls through, Emma finally finds the truth about herself, and Harriet. About true love, and her real feelings considering certain people in her life. Just when she feels her last chance of happiness has disappeared; the one who can make her dreams come true, appears and shows her the truth about himself as well.

Oh, and if you're wondering how Harriet came out of this disastrous relationship, she had a happy ending as well.

Jane Austen is well known as a talented author and a young woman who could read people very well. She has shown this skill in this book. Emma is often called "Jane Austen's finest masterpiece" And with her startling observations into human nature, Austin shows that anyone can grow, and achieve success. If you've never read this book, I suggest that you do. If nothing else, it will make you laugh at the scrapes Emma get's herself and all her friends into.

Book Review: High On A Mountain

When Ailean MachLachlainn was a young boy he dreamed of being the hero he couldn't be in real life. Fighting for his fathers approval, he struggled with the people of his dreams, and was victorious. But victory came to him only in the annual game of camanachd that his clan played against the Cambeuls. When he fought with Latharn Cambeul, and won the game for his clan.

Marriage wasn't a part of his plan till after he won battles, and the honor and admiration of his clansmen. But life didn't happen like it did in his dreams. Before long, love and cares came to him. He found himself with a wife named Muirne and child named Coinneach-og. A part of the croft to till on his own. And an enemy who still stalked his footsteps in the form of Latharn Cambeul. The man who had loved Muirne before Ailean had even met her

Then Bonnie Prince Charlie visited Scotland. He came to take back his father's throne. Owing to the loyalties of his clan, Ailean was able to do what he'd always dreamed of doing.

But can war and fighting ever be the same in real life as it is in the imagination? After much pain, loss, and hardship, Ailean returns home. But finds that he has lost everything that ever mattered to him.

In the midst of loss can Ailean find anything worth living for? Can he learn to live and love again? Can he survive the ever growing threat of Latharn, who still hates him with a bitterness that is destroying his life? And most of all, can Ailean find the peace that always came to him...High on a Mountain?

This book will keep you in it's grasp. You will laugh and cry with the people as they come alive, and tell you their story for themselves. Tommie Lyn writes with an effect of bringing the story and all the characters into your life, till you become one of them. And their victories and defeats are your own.

I am giving away a free copy of this book to one person who comments on this post. Don't miss out. This one is definitely a keeper!

Acceptance

Have you ever felt like apart from your family, there is no one who truly understands who you are, and what you stand for? Like there are people out there snickering behind your back because of what you believe? I have people who are always trying to convince me I'm wrong in my beliefs, I need to change to meet their standards. Sometimes God helps me see through these problems, and see there are other people out there with similar beliefs and standards. This last weekend was one of those times.

My sister, Beka and I traveled to Kansas on Friday for a small Homeschool Alumni Reunion. I met lots of people who believe much the same as I do. People who struggle with some of the same things I do. And these young adults accepted me just the way I am. They didn't try to change me or the way I feel about things. We enjoyed each others company for a few days and now are firm friends.

I guess my point is: Acceptance is very important in life. I'm not saying to tolerate sin, or accept it. I'm saying that we need to accept people and their beliefs. Arguing with them probably won't change their minds, but it might ruin any chance of you ever being able to be a true friend for them. Lot's of people would rather argue than go through the strain of just praying for other people. But what would God want us to do with the people who believe so differently than us? What did Jesus do with the Publicans and sinners? What did he do with US?

God Bless!

Isaac

A rough story from our sermon this morning.

How many times have you heard the story of Abraham on Mount Moriah? Ready to give his only son to God. Have you ever thought of it from Isaac's point of view?

He wakes up one morning to his dad shaking him awake. It's early, and he wonders if they are under attack. Instead, his dad loads up some donkeys and servants, and tells him they are going on a journey. Would you be worried? Maybe asking what was going on? But no, Isaac trusts his dad, and he trusts his God. He does ask his dad one thing. He says the have the fire and the wood, but no sacrifice. His dad has anything but reassuring answer. "God will provide the sacrifice."
Does Isaac worry now? No. He just keeps walking. Finally they get to where they can see the range of mountains ahead of them. His dad takes the wood off the donkeys and puts it on him. Then he takes the fire in his hand, and telling the servant that they will return after they are done sacrificing, he starts off into the mountains. Isaac follows. There is still no sacrifice. The sun must have been hot.
Finally, they stop on the top of one of the mountains. Mount Moriah. Isaac looks around, right over the next hill is a large city. Salem, of the Jebusites. But here it is lonely, deserted. There is still no sacrifice.
Laying the wood in a altar, he looks around. It's a barren place, scrub brush covers much of the ground, and still there is no sacrifice.
The wood is layed, the fire ready, and Abraham turns to him.
"Come my son, I will tie you up. For God has commanded that I sacrifice you to him."
What thoughts flashed through Isaac's mind? Did he think of yelling for help from the nearby city? Did he think of tackling his father and getting away from this madman? No. He let his father tie him up, and lay him on the altar. He trusted his father, but more, he trusted God. Seconds later, Abraham raises the knife over Isaac's chest. He starts the plunge, but a voice stops him.
"Abraham! Abraham! Do not touch the boy. For I know that you serve me. Take the ram that is caught in that thicket, and sacrifice him instead of the boy."
Can you imagine the relief Isaac must have felt? Obedience does not mean that you enjoy what is happening. Abraham untied him, they sacrificed the lamb together, and then traveled to the servants and then on toward home.

Abraham demostrated a love for God unheard of during those times. But Isaac showed a trust that has worked it's way down through history to us. If we can show that trust toward God, that even if he asks us to die, we'll be ready to obey, we will have succeeded in obedience.
God Bless!