Horses and Late Summer Days

I went up to the barn a few days ago, and took a whole bunch of pictures with my horses and the trees, barn, etc. It was one of those photo-shoots that really tells you that it's late Summer. Here's some of the pictures.

Look how tall Max is!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Day in Town

Last week was our town festival, so we went down there with some friends for the day. It was pretty fun, and crowded, which being in crowded places every now and again is fun. =) My friend wouldn't leave the camera alone! =D
Here ya go!

Home Videos

What Do Sisters do For Fun???

Too Fast To Live, Too Strong To Die

That comes into play with my cat. He's still hangin' in there!

Love you, Lemon!

B.E.S.T. F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

Best friends are some of the best things on earth. You're family should DEFINITELY be one of them, but God has something special to say in the Bible about best friends who are your family in Christ:
Proverbs 18:24:
"A man that has friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 27:6:
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
Proverbs 27:17:
"Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
I Samuel 18:1:
"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10:
"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up."

Those are to mention a few. Scream this to your best friend:
"Thank you for being there!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Here are some funny, good quotes I found on Google...I'm not sure who wrote them, so all credit goes to the authors!

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”
“A friend is someone who, upon seeing another friend in immense pain, would rather be the one experiencing the pain than to have to watch their friend suffer.”
“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.”
“If friends were flowers, I'd pick you” < I love this one! It's so cute!
“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one” (Not completely true, but the "what, you too?" sure is!)
“A friend is a hand that is always holding yours, no matter how close or far apart you may be. A friend is someone who is always there and will always, always care. A friend is a feeling of forever in the heart.”
“Friends aren't jumper cables. You don't throw them into the trunk and pull them out for emergencies.”
And here's what I say:
God is your best, BEST friend. We should NEVER forget that. He's been gracious enough to place another person for you and you only on this world that is your earthly best friend, but never, ever, forget that Christ is the ULTIMATE friend!

God's Grace

This just hit me the other day.
In the hallway next to mom and dad's bedroom, mom has these three framed pictures with each of mine, Nathan's and Rebekah's names on it. Underneath, it has the meaning of the name, and a scripture verse. Here's what mine says:

Hannah

Gracious, Kind

"The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and abounding in mercy."

Psalm 145:8

Boy oh boy is that true! I was thinking about how our names are supposed to mean something, and I realized mine means "gracious", just how gracious God has been towards me. I DON'T DESERVE IT! It really makes me want to cry. Why is He so gracious towards me????? I'm such a sinner. For the past few weeks, I've been going through a "why-did-God-choose-me?" mode, and "I'm-so-horrible,-why-me?". I mean....it just doesn't seem right. Our pastor has been doing a sermon series on the Trinity's work in our salvation, and the only answer for "why" as to why the Father chose us is that HE LOVED US FROM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, and WE are His chosen people! Those of us who are saved from before the world are HIS, those He was willing to send his Son to DIE for. 

I'm telling you right now that Psalm 145:8 is my life verse. I don't deserve His graciousness, yet He gives it to me. I'll always look at my name differently now. "Hannah" means "God is Gracious", and THAT IS THE TRUTH! Especially for me. 

The Lord is so, so so so sooooo good....it's really unbelievable. 

God. Is. Gracious.

-Han

Update on Lemon

Weeelll...he's...not better, for sure, but really not worse. Just, sorta the same. He's taken to hiding in small, strange places, like here between the wall and toilet in the boy's bathroom. He's not eating or drinking, so we're having to force-feed him, and he sleeps all the time. He's very, very skinny. Just now he's walked into the kitchen; he walks very slow, and only takes a few steps at a time, and then lays down.
Oh sigh....we're not sure what to do.

Please be praying for him.

-Han

9/11

I know that I'm a little late in posting this.
   It's been 9 years since the World Trade Center collapsed, and I still remember watching it on the news. At the time, I didn't understand. I was scared because mom and dad were scared. What was happening? ...Our country was being attacked. Now, at that very spot, a mosque is being built. A history note: when Muslims build a mosque, it's a sign of religious domination. There's a mosque built in Jerusalem, and now one being built on the site of the WTC. This is NOT right!
In the weeks that followed the fall of the Twin Towers, people swarmed into churches and began praying earnestly...it didn't stay that way. In time, they all fell back. Wasn't this a red flag to our nation? It was, and no one listened. 9/11 was one of the biggest disasters in the history of our nation, a wake-up call to America, and we didn't listen. Once can only ask....what's next? If we didn't wake up with that alarm, what alarm will He use next?
   For the lost, this is terrifying, but we as Christians have complete trust in Christ, so we don't have to be afraid. We know that everything is in HIS hands, and that NOTHING is out of His control. NOTHING!!!! Isn't that a major comfort to us? We are all in His hands!

May God bless you and keep you!

In Christ,
-Hannah

He Always Answers

It never fails. He always answers. Every time I ask Him, He answers.
As you know, Lemon has been very sick. He's only gotten worse, and when mom had talked to the vet, all they said was that eventually, he'll get more and more weak, and his heart will give out.
 Saturday morning, mom let him outside, and he never came back. We figured he had gone off to die. We were very sad, and Sunday evening, we searched all of our property to see if we could find him. We spent at least an hour and a half searching for him. I had been praying so hard the night before. I wanted my cat. We looked all over. After a while, we finally gave up. Nathan and I had seen vultures circling the long, over-grown driveway near our pasture, so we decided to have one more look. After we got to the bend in the driveway...we smelled a rotting carcass. We were confused. Surely just after a day there wouldn't be a smell? But, we wanted to see. We followed the smell into the woods, and to our dread, found the half-eaten body of a fawn. We gagged, got closer, took a look, glanced around, and realized we were in a coyote kill zone. There were piles of fur, gnawed up bones, and the ground was trampled smooth. Now we diced to skedaddle! It was rather...scary. But thank goodness it WASN'T our cat! We finally gave up, and decided to spend the rest of the evening out on the back deck and build a fire. My uncle and aunt came over. It was Sunday evening, we were all tired, and this was good. We talked on and off about Lemon, the things he did, etc. Finally, it got dark, and we had spent two hours or so out there. We were all talking, it was pitch-black, save for the fire, and my uncle and aunt were getting ready to go home. Suddenly, from below the deck, out of the darkness, came a loud meow. We jumped up. Figuring it was another orange cat that had been hanging around the house, I told Nathan to switch on the light for the deck. He did. It was Lemon. He was laying in the grass, too weak to go any further. I shouted and shot of the deck, flying down the stairs and running up to him. He was meowing, but was so, so weak. I picked him up and started crying. My poor baby. We thought for sure that he would die last night. He was so weak and was making a pitiful noise. We cried for a long time over him, and then put him on Nathan's bed.
I'm so happy to say that this morning, he's still alive and doing much better! He ate some food, drank water, and was very responsive to us. Yes, he'll probably not live much longer, but at least he's home. God answered my prayer as He always does. It's amazing. Every time, He answers.

Also. On a more sad note, Jenna died last night. :( She'd been acting very sick, and when I went to feed them this morning, she didn't come out. We buried her beside the coop. Poor Jenna. :(

Love you!

In Christ,
-Han