Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Stay Close To Home




Today is a day to stay close to home. I went out to do my chores this morning and nearly froze in the goat shed. I checked the temperature when I came back in. The wind chill was 4 degrees. No wonder, I was cold. I took my camera with me this morning. I have so many pictures of my animals and my farm that you would think I would not take anymore. I guess I just get carried away.

In the first picture, Cookies-N-Cream (or Cooks for short) and Grace (the brown lamb in the back) were coming into the shed to greet me. They love this cold weather. I was watching Cooks and Ashley Wilkes (the ram) playing king of the mountain this morning. Instead of knocking one another off, they would go onto the pile of frozen compost and leap high into the air trying to out do one another. In this picture the white you see on Cooks nose is snow. He must have been going down under the snow to eat some grass. We give them extra hay when it is this cold out.

The next picture is of Sunshine and Grace. I was trying take a picture of the chickens sticking right by the coop door. You can see them behind the sheep. The sheep heard me out there and came out to see what I was doing. =)

The last picture is taken during one of the snow squalls we have had today. You can see a little bird sitting on the buggy wheel. The birds have been really hungry. I am trying to get a good picture of one of the cardinals that have been hanging around. They are such a beautiful splash of color against the snow. I had left sunflower heads to dry on a bench on my front porch. I was going to try and rig up a pole to put them on for the birds. Well, the birds have found them on the bench. I looked out the window on my door earlier and there were 2 titmice and a beautiful male cardinal stealing seeds.

With it being so cold and having lots of little snows for over a week now, it is nice to sit inside and enjoy the fire. God has been so good to us. Besides giving us a way to live in heaven with Him which is an awesome thing when you think about it, He gave us beautiful things in His nature to watch and see.

When I want to cuddle up in a chair with some knitting or something because it is too cold to be outside, it reminds me to stay cuddled up to the Lord each day to find true peace and contentment when the world likes a cold place. I hate to read the news. There are so many vile and evil things going on in our world and it is only getting worse. There are heartaches as well. We just heard about children in an orphanage in Columbia. There are so many hurting people in the world. Praise the Lord, we have Him to run to. If we stay close to Him, we will also hear of ways to reach out and help those around us. Sometimes it is with prayer, other times it is money or food or clothing. Be aware of needs around you. God may be asking you to be His hands to help someone.

4 comments:

LadySnow said...

Titus and Elisabeth are definitely excited to see all the snow..and that it isn't going to melt away real fast. Isn't it sad about conditions in other parts of the world. One thing Hubby was told is that the "public" schools in Columbia have 12-13 foot fences around them. They aren't there to keep the children in but to keep the cults out. It isn't unusual for a child to be abducted from the school yard for a cultic sacrifice. It is so sad. Well..hope to call you soon...no signs yet, but you never know!

Anonymous said...

We live in North Dakota and my 4 children love the snow and cold more than I. I agree we as Christians are not helped by filling our minds on all the things that are on the news or in newspapers. Let us keep our focus on the GOOD NEWS-the Bible!
-Anna

Kristi said...

We finally got snow!! It came and it went within just a few hours today. It wasn't a nice blanket like yours, but it was such a blessing to see the children having fun. :)

~Kristi

Tina Leigh said...

You keep right on showing those pictures of your farm & the animals! For southern gals like me....well I dont get to see things like that here. It is beautiful at your place & you have a way of life that is different from many folks....I love it!!!