Singing of Spring

Spring, spring, it's a WONDERFUL thing!!!

Spring danced into our year with a burst of color. Like a fairy who spreads delight wherever she walks, spring has showered us with blessings. Wildflowers blanket our hills with beauty. The softness and cuddles of new puppies bring the joy of new life. Fresh swirls of wind make you want to close your eyes and stay in their softness forever. Sunlight . . . warm and enveloping, teases you as you stand at the sink . . . brings an ache to be outside. Peach and nectarine orchards ablaze with pink and snowy blooms whisper a promise of fruit in the summer. The garden beckons, the flowers call, the beauty surrounding us at this time is all a tribute to our awesome and mighty God, the Creator. We cannot enjoy nature in the way it is meant to be enjoyed unless we are finding our delight first in Him. He is the giver of all good things, He is the one that all creation praises.


A week or so ago, I took the little girls out to take pictures in the flowers. Here are a 'few'. :-)























Some experimental self portraits. :-)






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Some springtime photos of our animals:

My boy . . .

New puppies!

Poetry

Music Mission

~

Oh the fierce delight of playing
When the soul's too strained for praying
While the mighty spirit's slaying
Every feeble thing.

Hurling through the passion's thunder
Storms of music burst asunder,
Drowning agonies thereunder,
Seize the soul with raptured wonder
At their might

Everything stands still and listens,
And the life with new power glistens,
Sweeps the soul in glad submission
To it's rest.

~Oswald Chambers

A few weeks ago, Jeremy and I rummaged through piles of books at a local sale. Having begun to read "My Utmost for His Highest' for the first time this year, the book 'Abandoned to God-The Life Story of Oswald Chambers' caught my eye. As I've delved into the story of his life, Oswald Chambers has convicted me by his absolute faith and trust in his Lord. No anxiety could shake this confidence, causing unequaled joy to bubble over from his life. Chamber's gifts in music, art, and philosophy made him finely tuned to his surroundings. He was alive, truly alive. This was a man who lived for his passion-the Lord.

Reading this book has opened my eyes to so many things. God has used it mightily in my life, convicting my heart but also filling me with joy and wonder at the reality of the God we serve.

This poem caught me, and I felt compelled to share it. :-)

Valentines Day

After enjoying a great day up at Sierra Summit skiing and boarding with friends, we came home to a lovely surprise! Dad had ordered beautiful bouquets for both Mom and I for Valentines Day. This was my first Valentines Bouquet, and I was elated! :-) Mom eagerly divided hers up and placed them all over the house, spreading the beauty for all of us to enjoy. I decided to be selfish and set my bouquet in my room. ;-) They lasted for the rest of the month and gave me joy every time I saw them. Thank-you Dad!


Skiing . . .

Then home to flowers! Peruvian Lilly's for me . . . (above) and a bouquet of tulips and iris's for Mom. (below)

How to throw a ball

Accuracy depends on the movement of your entire body during your throw. :-) Jacob demonstrates this below.

The Chef Arrives

Chef Pierre amazed us again with a dinner he prepared and served to the three business partners of Mangini Assoc. Inc. and their wives. My parents have wanted to invite Dad’s business partners over for quite some time, and after experiencing Chef Pierre for themselves, felt this was the perfect thing! The Chef brought along his experienced assistants to help, and I was able to join the team making four of us in the kitchen. Lots of laughter and picking at the delicious scraps made ‘behind the scenes’ a lot of fun! The evening turned out very well, thanks to the trusty dishwashers, (smile) Leah’s meat braising, a beautiful table, cozy atmosphere and of course, fabulous food. After the guests had departed, we all relaxed in laughter watching “Ratatouille”. Nothing could’ve been more relevant!





Putting together the new stove just in time!

Bringing it in
The Chef prepares for action

Preparation . . . the amount of prep needed for a dinner such as this is amazing!


Yummy garlic

The table in waiting . . .

Mr. and Mrs. Mike Tellian, Mr. and Mrs. Chris McLain, and Mr. and Mrs. Scott Parish


Chop, chop, chop!


Freshly made hummus to snack on

Love

Enjoying the 'Mountain'

As winter is passing into spring, there has been many opportunities to enjoy our mountain. One gray afternoon, Simon poked his head in the door and announced that he was going to go climb the mountain. I was sitting on the computer and the wild urge came upon me to go with him! So off we hiked. The view was fantastic since the horizon was clear, and the rain didn't catch us until we were almost down. We enjoyed some thoughtful conversation while we sat on the rocks together and our hike together created some priceless together time.

It's been fun to take the children up a little ways also. Here's Jacob doing some rock climbing. :-)

If you look closely, you can see Simon near the top of the picture. He's a much faster hiker than I. ;-)



As I passed this tree I couldn't resist taking some pictures. The bark was stuffed full of acorns! I wonder why?

Announcing

For the Common Good

This is a blog started by my Dad to publish his thoughts and writings.

May God bless this blog and use it for His glory! I love you Dad.

In Celebration Of . . .

The birth of Kaylee, the McCracken family hosted a dance! What fun it was to get out all our costumes, but a little deflating to find we only had about half the clothes we thought we did . . . :-) Ah well, it was a lovely evening with a Scottish flair, beautiful costumes, and plenty of room to dance! We learned several new dances, one being the 'Lizzy-Darcy' dance from Pride and Prejudice. Because they used music off of You Tube, we even had the pleasure of their conversation! :-) The other new dance was a Scottish one which we never quite perfected but had a blast in the meantime. A big thank-you to Mr. McCracken, whose patience and skill in calling enabled us to have such a great time.
As the evening drew to a close, Mr. McCracken put on some toe-tapping music and, thanks to the leading of Maci and her father Mr. Davis, we filled the floor with polka dancers. I've never had the experience of dancing the polka, but a worthy experience it was and one I would gladly repeat if given the opportunity. :-)




Doing the polka

My fellow photographer. The pews on the stage provided a great height for pictures. :-)



Mrs. Clark . . . choir director, musician, teacher, inspiration. She helped us keep to the beat by clapping while we were learning a new dance.


Good times
Happy Birthday Kaylee! :-)

Connor decided to try the dance a new way. :-)


:-)

Blog Changes

Our blog is under 'construction' at the moment . . . we'll have everything back to the new normal soon! :-)

Update!

Just an update my back issue. The MRI results proved that I have degenerative disc disease. It has affected 3 of my 5 lower vertebrae. They have quite a lot of bone calcification around them and because of degeneration of the soft tissue it is pushing the nerve into my spinal column. That is what must be causing the pain. The good news is that it can be repaired! There is an option to having surgury now and it is quite phenomenal. The Chiro I'm going to has this wonderful "machine" called the DRX9000. It is a table that lays you back and separates at the lower back stretching the vertebrae so the lymphatic fluid can rehydrate the discs. It takes 25-45mins a "stretch" and the only uncomfortable thing about it is the harness they put you in to keep you in the same position while you are being stretched. After just one treatment today, my pain level has drastically been reduced tonight, compared to last night at this time! These treatments will be quite extensive going in every day for 4 days a week, for 2 months. Each treatment lasts about 1and 1/2 hours each day by the time they put ice packs on afterwards and give the deep muscle massage.

I am so thrilled for the opportunity to "get better", to actually have no pain when this is all through! I am so grateful to God for the timing of the whole thing, the availability of help, and for my wonderful husband in "affording" this for me!

If anyone has long time back issues that seem hopeless, this very well could be your answer. I want to tell everyone about it! It is painless, non invasive, and it doesn't "alter" your body like surgery would. Dr. Hooper is truly a blessing and I would recommend him to anyone. I have a DVD for anyone who would like more education on it.

Prayer Request

To our readers: If the Lord brings us to mind, please pray for Mom. She has been in bed with agonizing back pain for the past five days or so. The pain was so wrenching she could hardly turn over in bed yesterday, but was able to stand and even walk a little today. Dad drove her in to visit Dr. Hooper, a chiropractor in Fresno, who scheduled her for an MRI on Saturday. Watching your Mom endure such a trial is an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone. She has so sweetly waited this out, and is an inspiration to me! Thank-you so much for your prayers.

Meanwhile, this has given me a deeper opportunity to discover what being a Mom is about!