Normally, this is a busy time of year around the farm with active lambing but we did not breed our ewe flock in the fall -- first time in eight years! Drought conditions last summer and slow sales contributed to our decision but so have high hay and supplemental grain prices. This fall looks to have soaring corn prices, among other grains and we have to make some additional flock reductions over the spring and summer months. Since some of our Jacobs took breeding matters quite seriously, we still had a few lambs born at the beginning and the end of the month. Blessed to have had easy deliveries, healthy babies and all mom's doing well. I miss having lambs here this year but know our decision to hold off was the right one.
Here in WV, the daffodils are blooming, along with the forsythia. I can detect some small blossoms on the apple trees but no blooms just yet. Weather forecast indicates a snow/rain mix by week's end. And such is the likes of Spring! My bush cherries are in bloom and some new seeding bushes need transplanting. I lost one of my mature bush cherries over the winter. :( Looks like excess water may have built up around the roots and possibly froze the poor thing solid. There are many perennials I have to divide this spring, some to share and some to transplant at the cabin. I don't have near as much shade there as I do around the house so some of my favorite one's have limited space there. My bleeding hearts are a personal favorite -- I can see a few inches of their foliage above ground now. Now if I can just complete my spring mulching....:)
I am also missing Honduras very much these days. I visit the ME website (www.mehonduras.org) frequently to see familiar faces, read up on the recent newsletters, look at the base camp (for the umteenth thousandth time) and all the while longing to return. Somewhere deep in my spirit, I know I will go back and hopefully, for a longer time period. My family thinks I'm nuts and that is OK. I would love to spend Christmas in Tegucigalpa, experiencing different "traditions" and have something other than ham or turkey! Fresh pineapple comes to mind...oh, wait! Maybe that was dessert. At any rate, I am sure anything Nubie (sp?) prepares would be a blessing. The thought of seeing Christ, in Christmas and in Honduras is an amazingly awesome thought. Your Will, Lord, Yours alone.
Praying today and thanking the Lord for another beautiful day of life. It seems easy to do today with warm sunshine, chirping birds and watching the wild turkey flocks above the pond. Why is our thankfulness always so seemingly "tied" into our own emotions rather than directed from our hearts out of adoration of our Heavenly Father? Lord, forgive me for being so shallow and relying on feelings or emotions of late in my praises to you. You alone are awesome and deserve the highest praise. My worship is to You alone and I honor you, Holy One.
Reading the Word and just hovering in the Book of Matthew recently. One particular scripture has been on my heart so much lately and I know the Lord is calling me to purge "self" even more.
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to be my disciple, let him deny himself, disregard, lose sight of and forget himself and his own interests, and take up his cross and follow Me, cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living, and, if need be, in dying also. For whoever is bent on saving his temporal life, his comfort and security here, shall lose it, eternal life; and whoever loses his life, his comfort and security here, for My sake shall find it, life everlasting." Matthew 16:24-25, Amplified Bible
Examining my own life in this light of scripture reveals to me how much of my life rests within my own interests and within myself. Oh, how this pains me to know how I failed Him in this so many times and how desperately I need His Grace! As I give Him my heart, my whole everything, my prayer is only that He give me His heart, His desires, His wants in its place. Nothing more, nothing less -- just you Jesus.
