Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Nine Week Puppies!

"Purple Ribbon"

 Blue.

"Red Boy"

Sheena.

"Runty"

Sophie.

"Pooh Bear"

These are the puppies who haven't gone to their respective homes, yet. Only the first one doesn't have a home; the others are just waiting for their owners to pick them up. The last one (in the set of pictures) is going home in a couple hours, hopefully. I know I will miss them all, but they all have great homes, and perhaps I'll get to see some of them again someday. Sarah's puppy, Jaeryn, is learning to live in the house, now. She's quite active compared to some of the others, but she's a quick learner.

Hopefully my next couple puppy updates will include pictures of the puppies who are in their new homes!

**The names in quotes are only my nicknames for them. Those without quotes are the names their owners have picked.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

A Day in the Life of Me

6:15 I hear Dad’s truck start and him opening and closing the gate as he leaves for work.

6:28am My alarm rings and I shut it off and “sleep” until 6:55. I get dressed and feed Kijah and Bella. I check the fridge and kitchen to see if anything good to eat has “appeared”. I get on my computer and check emails, read devotionals, get my Swagbuck for the day, and review my weekly assignments for college.

7:30 I go out to the barn and feed the puppies, trying to clean up the outside run before they hear me and start barking and scratching at the door. I let them out and they go ballistic outside: growling and eating, digging and chasing each other. I clean up inside the barn from last night, and let Kijah outside. Dad emails me from work and tells me about the sun being a weird color, so I go outside to try and get a picture, but it’s hidden behind too many trees.

8:30 Mom gives me a piece of toast for breakfast, and I run through my collection of harp music, making a list of songs that Hannah I will play for an event tomorrow…while fending off my toast from Kijah’s eager nose.

9:00 I send emails to puppy customers and text a friend. Sarah and I run outside quickly to take the puppies 9-week photos. They sure are getting wiggly now! It’s harder to take good pictures of puppies than you think. But finally we finish. Mom drives Hannah to babysitting, and Sarah goes next door to babysit. I trim all the puppies’ nails (128 of them!). I clean up last week’s Sunday school material, and mentally prepare for this next Sunday—could be a full church as we have Pastor Todd Sivinksty coming to preach for four evenings. 

10:00 I take a call from someone interested in a puppy and send puppy pictures to customers. I scroll through personal social networking reading posts and saving chats, and realize how tired I am again. :P I read blog posts and find the inspiration to write this one, so I turn on music and write for a while, pausing more than once to rescue Kijah’s toy from her vicious attempts to shred it.

11:15 Responsibilities remind me to prepare for Sunday School, but first I go to put laundry outside and tidy my bathroom and bedroom. I do my devotions, reading from Isaiah for my 90-day plan, and from Psalms by choice. I talk with a puppy customer. Sarah returns home, and then Hannah.

12:30 I go outside to feed the puppies and make sure they have water. I continue preparing my Sunday School lesson—finding a new memory verse, deciding how I will present the story, and printing review worksheets.

2:00 I realize I’m hungry, so I go make myself some lunch. I continue to search for a memory verse for my Sunday school class. I text another friend, read blog posts for “study breaks”, and research college details for another friend.

3:30 I go outside to bring in some apples that a friend dropped off, and then I go check on the puppies again. Then I return to my sporadic Sunday school planning. :P

5:30 Dad arrives home and we all eat dinner together. Then I return to studying listening to “Oh the Deep Deep Love of Jesus” interspersed with texting friends.

6:30 My concentration wanes as my mind chases a thousand and one ideas, and I switch playlists to help me focus better.

7:20 I phone a puppy customer to arrange visits for tomorrow. Then I clean the kitchen.

9:47 I finish my lesson plan for Sunday school, and mentally review my schedule for the next few days. Then I find or create the review worksheets for my Sunday school class.

10:12 I finish things up completely. Then I go out to the barn to put the puppies in for the night. Then I will shower, maybe read and/or write, and then go to bed sometime before midnight.

A typical day, yet not so typical. I have college assignments on school days, but I set aside one day of the week, usually Friday or Saturday, to prepare for Sunday school. It’s a break from school for me, and I do enjoy it. My routines vary daily, though the activities are fairly consistent. :) 


Thus ends the 22nd of August. Another day where the Lord supplied for our needs. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Seven Week Puppies!



Male. Nicknamed "Pooh Bear".


Female. Named Sophie. 


Female. Named Sheena.


Female. Named Jaeryn. ;)


Female. Nicknamed "Purple Ribbon". :P


Female. Named Gracie.


Male. Nicknamed "Red Boy", "Tobias", or "Mordecai".


Male. Named "Blue".


Female. Nicknamed "Runty".


Male. Nicknamed "White Ribbon". :P

Thank you to Sarah S for taking pictures for me! It was quite the challenge this time, as the puppies do not stay still for one moment. They've been nursing once a day for the last week, but this morning Kijah refused to feed them, so I think this will be their complete break from nursing. It's good because they will be going to their homes within the next two weeks. 

Here are two videos from this morning:








Saturday, August 09, 2014

The Power of the Written Word


The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: 
but the word of our God shall stand for ever. 
~Isaiah 40:8

Every experience God gives us, every person  He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see. 
~Corrie Ten Boom

Faith does not eliminate questions. But faith knows where to bring them. 
~Elisabeth Elliot

We are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly, gentleman's discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ.
~Francis A. Schaeffer

The BIBLE -- banned, burned, beloved. More widely read, more frequently attacked than any other
book in history. Generations of intellectuals have attempted to discredit it, dictators of every age have
outlawed it and executed those who read it. Yet soldiers carry it into battle believing it more powerful than their weapons. Fragments of it smuggled into solitary prison cells have transformed ruthless
killers into gentle saints.
~Charles Colson


Play is a tithe on our work. When we play, we trust God to provide for us while we take time off.
~R.C. Sproul, Jr.

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. 
~John Stonestreet quoting Frederick Buechner 

If you can be a Christian at home, you can be a Christian anywhere.
~Adrian Rodgers

…the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able to honestly pray what He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done.
~Elisabeth Elliot

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
~Mark 13:31