Woke up this morning not feeling so hot. A bit of time with a heating pad and some pain meds and I was good to go! I decided to dig into my livingroom and rearrange. Oh my goodness!!!!

We have a small livingroom, a giant desk, an extra chair for the dog and a "new" entertainment center that I love, but that takes up space, so.....rearranging is a bit of a trick!

We've worked all day and I ended up going through some stuff, moving some to the bedroom, and there are a couple of things I'm still not sure where they are going, but I do like it. Sometimes, just doing a bit of changing helps ones mood.

My niece is preparing for her August wedding and the aunts held a shower for her today. I gave her the bridal blessing bag that I had knit for her. It came out beautifully and I think she was genuinely touched by it's purpose. We had a fun time with family and friends. Unfortunately, a complicated family situation kept one aunt from attending. I can begin to go into specifics, but if you read this, please say a prayer. The situation is getting dire and we all need wisdom and strength.
My J and his friend, M, when we went out for pizza. The boys worked hard in the hog building today, trying to get all the junk on the bottom cleaned up before we get pigs, so we all got to go out for pizza.
My little Bubba, he just keeps getting bigger!! He was a big help today and is currently getting very sleepy in our easy chair.

This is how I spent my Saturday!! My beautiful niece, Baby I, came to spend the day while Mom and Dad worked for the Iowa Corn 250 at the Iowa Speedway. There is nothing so wonderful as holding a sleeping 2-month old!!
Big brother enjoyed playing the Wii. He's a fabulous bowler and bowled a 159. He's just turning 5 in a month!! Mom needs to sign him up for a league.
After her bottle, she was being silly. What a joy!!

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
²⁸ "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

I wish that my sister-in-law would give herself over to the Lord. She is carrying a tremendous burden and refuses to lay the burden down. She needs the Lord, but, is instead, hanging on to a tiny little boy, hoping that he will bring her the salvation that her heart is so desperately longing for!

Isaiah 28:1-29 (NIV)
¹ Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley-- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!
² See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.
³ That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.
⁴ That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest-- as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it.
⁵ In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.
⁶ He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
⁷ And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.
⁸ All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.
⁹ "Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?
¹⁰ For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there."
¹¹ Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,
¹² to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"-- but they would not listen.
¹³ So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there-- so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.
¹⁴ Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
¹⁵ You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."
¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.
¹⁸ Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.
¹⁹ As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through." The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.
²⁰ The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.
²¹ The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon-- to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
²² Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.
²³ Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
²⁴ When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
²⁵ When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
²⁶ His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.
²⁷ Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick.
²⁸ Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it.
²⁹ All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture.

The waters around parts of Iowa are beginning to recede, sadness and hardship remain. Many, many people are deeply affected by what has taken place.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

We live in a land filled with sin, immorality, pride, greed and unfortunately, Christians have sat back for far to long and just let it happen. We didn't want to step on toes, we didn't want to offend and now, here we sit. People are being led to believe that their sin is okay, they can do what they want, they don't have to answer to God or anyone else. Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Lord, we need boldness--boldness to come against sin, heresy, and the lies of the devil. We need repentance, to be on our faces before You. Lord, guide us, change us, mold us, makes us fully yours.

We had more rain last night! 2.3 inches. The basement flooded again, but went down quickly and only dumped the dog food, which, of course, went all over the basement! This morning was spent cleaning it all up. Our favorite 3-year-old came and spent the day (so mommy could get some work done) and he even put on some rubber boots and helped push the dog food into a pile.

Our state convention has been postponed until July 11 & 12 due to the flooding going on all over our state. It's gotten quite bad.

There is a spiritual battle going on! The chaff is being sifted from the wheat and ungodly motives and division are being exposed.

As situations that were once difficult continue to just become more complicated, more and more of Satan's tricks continue to be shown for what they are.

In our tiny homeschool group, someone has risen up to cause strife and division. She was called on it the other night. Her tactics, sweetness and light, divide and conquer, reach out to people, but don't reach out to others and then use that against people; go to those "higher up" and try to circumvent the leadership.

Then, a meeting last night to strategize about the upcoming Republican convention and I'm totally taken aback by what I have to hear about our state party. Shocked about what I hear regarding the McCain campaign's tactics.

People are walking away from true faith, from the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, turning to man, tradition, idolatry. Sin is the root of all of it! Greed, pride, living by feelings, rather than the truth! The Lord has had me in 1 & 2 Peter and 1 & 2 Timothy. So much to be said for what is going on in my life and in the world in general.

2 Timothy 3:12-17 (NIV)

¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Looking south towards the river.














Coming up to the river.














Rushing under the bridge.




























The cornfield across the road from the river to the north, about 1/4 mile from the river.

Our basement this morning. We woke up to strong winds and rain. We debated whether or not to go to church-hubby hadn't had a chance to do chores because of the torential rain, so we decided to stay home. Probably a good thing, the basement really started flooding about 9:30, halfway through our church service. If we hadn't of been home to get the sump pump going, it really would have been a mess.

The rivers are beginning to catch up to their 1993 records. It's been quite a year, weather-wise.

All day yesterday the weather folks kept warning us about the upcoming storms predicted for the night time hours. Well, I don't think it was quite a devastating as it could have been, it did wake us up at about 1:00 am to lots of lightening and some massive winds. We turned on the tv and watched the ongoing weather coverage. A small tornado hit a small town not far from here and did some damage. The winds certainly made a huge mess out of our yard and the sheep pen in the back yard, that's the big tree that came down. It did a bit of structural damage to our machine shed, but nothing that can't be fixed.

The storms made for a short night of sleep, so I ended up going back to bed for a couple of hours this morning. I'm actually enjoying an afternoon to myself. Hubby is trucking, J had to work, and S is babysitting for my best friend's kids--she's at the homeschool conference. The first one that I haven't been to in 12 years. On one hand, it's very freeing, on the other, just sad. I miss the fellowship of so many truly committed believers seeking to follow God's will in their lives and raise up godly children in a world that is so focused on itself.

So, I'm off to watch a movie and begin a special project for my niece. Pics to come later.