Family Blessings

Well, with my last post finished, I feel much more apt to start blogging more regularly... :)
By the way, have you ever taken time to notice how many smiley and winky faces there are in the New Testament?! We've been going through John at church, and between John and the Apostles....wow, have I gotten some smiles!!

The first Sunday in August, our family escorted Daniel down to WSU where he'll be making his new home for the next 2 years, as he finishes up Pre-Med, before going to Med School to become an osteopath. I liked this picture so much, I just had to share it...

Friday, we had our Client Appreciation Banquet, and I wanted to share some photos from it....it was SO beautiful (albeit, windy!) outside!! Samuel and Rebekah sang 'Put Your Hand Over Your Heart' (Whitney Phipps), with Josiah bringing our flag down at the end, and me accompanying them... If you haven't heard the song, look it up. It is so impactful.

It was so windy, Esther had to hold my music for me!

I don't get to dress up very often, so this was a fun evening to be able to do so. Thanks to David for all the photos.

I realized I forgot to post our 'grand finale' family reunion photos in our my July post, so here they are now... I just love my family!!

Most of the Pinkerton Clan (minus my 2 aunts' families and a cousin)

Our last official family photo for a while

I am so grateful for my amazing family. The older I get and the farther I go, I realize more and more how very, very blessed I am to not only have the amazing, Spirit-filled parents I have, but also such close friendships with my siblings. That is we all hold very dear and want to nourish into the second generation as well.

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

~ 1 Corinthians 13:13 ~

Fun-Sized Spring

Happy Spring everyone!!

Welcome to one of my 4 favorite seasons! ;P

This was pretty much today...(Except it ain't too dreadfully hot yet! ;D) 36ºF coming up! ;)

And....I have to share my favorite short joke of the day....for people like me who are fun-sized!!!

"Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out."

~ Proverbs 20:5  ~

Unemployment vs. Out of Work Explained

I've always been a Abbot and Costello fan (selectively), because my dad has always been one (& he's the best)...and well...maybe it runs in the genes....I don't know. Good humor...and good laughs...
Anyway, the following crossed my path, and I had to share it. Enjoy...and please don't count yourself as one of the "out of work"!!

COSTELLO:  I want to talk about the unemployment rate in America.
ABBOTT:  Good Subject. Terrible Times. It's 9%.
COSTELLO:  That many people are out of work?

ABBOTT:  No, that's 16%.

COSTELLO:   You just said 9%.

ABBOTT:  9% Unemployed.

COSTELLO:  Right 9% out of work.

ABBOTT:  No, that's 16%.

COSTELLO:  Okay, so it's 16% unemployed.

ABBOTT:  No, that's 9%...

COSTELLO:  WAIT A MINUTE. Is it 9% or 16%?

ABBOTT:  9% are unemployed. 16% are out of work.

COSTELLO:  If you are out of work you are unemployed.

ABBOTT:  No, you can't count the "Out of Work" as the unemployed. You have to look for work to be unemployed.

COSTELLO:  BUT THEY ARE OUT OF WORK!!!

ABBOTT:  No, you miss my point.

COSTELLO:  What point?

ABBOTT:  Someone who doesn't look for work, can't be counted with those who look for work. It wouldn't be fair.

COSTELLO:  To who?

ABBOTT:  The unemployed.

COSTELLO:  But they are ALL out of work.

ABBOTT:  No, the unemployed are actively looking for work... Those who are out of work stopped looking. They gave up. And, if you give up, you are no longer in the ranks of the unemployed.

COSTELLO:  So, if you're off the unemployment rolls, that would count as less unemployment?

ABBOTT:  Unemployment would go down. Absolutely!

COSTELLO:  The unemployment just goes down because you don't look for work?

ABBOTT:  Absolutely it goes down. That's how you get to 9%. Otherwise, it would be 16%. You don't want to read about 16% unemployment do ya?

COSTELLO:  That would be frightening.

ABBOTT:  Absolutely.

COSTELLO:  Wait, I got a question for you. That means they're two ways to bring down the unemployment number?

ABBOTT:  Two ways is correct.

COSTELLO:  Unemployment can go down if someone gets a job?

ABBOTT:  Correct.

COSTELLO:  And unemployment can also go down if you stop looking for a job?

ABBOTT:  Bingo.

COSTELLO:  So there are two ways to bring unemployment down, and the easier of the two is to just stop looking for work.

ABBOTT:  Now you're thinking like an economist.

COSTELLO:  I don't even know what I just said!

And now you know why our National unemployment figures are improving!

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

~ Proverbs 13:4 ~

(In other words, "Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.")

Why We SHOOT Deer

DISCLAIMER: THIS DID NOT HAPPEN TO ME!! =)
Read, Laugh, and Learn:

I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.  The first step in this adventure was getting a deer.  I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it, and transport it home.

So, I filled the cattle feeder, and then hid down at the end with my rope.  The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.  After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up - 3 of them.  I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out  from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.

The deer just stood there and stared at me.  I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold.  The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.  I took a step towards it, and it took a step away.  I put a little tension on the rope, and then received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.

That deer EXPLODED.  The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt.  A cow or a colt in that weight range, I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.  A deer -- no chance.  That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled.

There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it.  As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rop was not nearly as good an ideas as I had originally imagined.  The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.

A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up.  It took me a few minutes to realized this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head.  At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison.  I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.

I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slowly and painfully somewhere.  At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer.  At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture to guess that the feeling was mutual.

Despite the gash in my head and several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognized that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in.  I didn't want the deer to have to suffere a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand...  kind of like a squeeze chute.  I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? 

They do!  I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when ....... I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.  Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and slide off to then let go.  A deer bites you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull.  They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly..  I tried screaming and shaking instead.  My method was ineffective.

It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.  I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.  While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.

Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprising sharp ... I learned a long time ago that, when an animal - like a horse - strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is to try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards an animal.  This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.

This was not a horse.  This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work.  In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy.  I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.  The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there isa good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head.

Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down..

Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave.  I suspect it does not recognized that the danger has passed.  What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.

I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

So, now I know why when people go deer hunting, they bring a rifle with a scope......to sort of even the odds!!

All these events are true so help me God... An Educated Farmer.

Supposedly this story is true, though Snopes sites it as "undetermined" (they have the 'rest of the story' at the very end...which is quite worth the read). ;)
Either which way, I think the moral to this story, is:

Creativity is a good thing ... but sometimes, maybe efficiency is more worth the story!

As they say, 'learn from those who come before you!'

The Atheist's Holiday

A friend forwarded this to me, and though I have heard it before, I thought it would be bring a smile to some faces. Of course, this is a fictional case, but I'll I leave it as is...

In Florida, an atheist created a case against Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair to atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge, and after listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling saying,
"Your Honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays..."

Leaning forward in his chair, the judge replied, "But you do. Your client, counselor, is woefully ignorant."
The lawyer answered, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists."
Unperturbed, the judge said, "The calendar says April 1st is April Fool's Day. Psalm 14.1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool.

Therefore, April 1st is his day.

Court is adjourned..."

As for God, His way is perfect: the Word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.  For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?  It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 

He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places.  He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.  Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and 

Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great.  Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.

~ Psalms 18:30-36 ~

Unity in Our Diversity

This year, our church is studying the book of 1st Corinthians in detail. I am thoroughly enjoying it, and am learning so much. This week's text was 1 Cor. 1:9-17, where Paul is encouraging the church body to be united, instead of causing strife over the minute differences.

Here are the highlights:
Likemindedness is caring about the core issues together


Three things we can do:
- Strive for unity in our our diversity
- Remember leaders are only human representatives
- Focus on the person of Christ

The clincher for me, though was:
Love is a testimony when 2 people who are very/greatly/significantly different, love each other.  It is not a testimony when people who have the same beliefs love each other. How often do we think about it that way?? Wow! Something to try to live out....and that is what I'm going to try to be doing.....

Pastor shared a story, that definitely made the point, and I want to share it with you:
Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!"
He said, "Nobody loves me."
I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"
He said, "Yes."
I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?"
He said, "A Christian."
I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?"
He said, "Protestant."
I said, "Me, too! What franchise?"
He said, "Baptist."
I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Baptist."
I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist."
I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?"  He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region."
I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?"
I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

Bet you weren't expecting that ending!! But, isn't that such a perfect example of how we bicker over nothing?!? That definitely wasn't a 'Salvation Issue'!! And yet, he murdered somebody!! (Of course it was a fictitious example. :p)