Beginnings of a Garden

Before

Prepping

Tomatoes and a pepper plant

Still have to find onions somewhere, and will hopefully plant the carrots tomorrow.  Have one more box to deal with, too.  That is for another post, though.  :-)

Dad, Samson, and I Go on Vacation

Pipestone National Monument...

Ready to go!

We made it.

Lots of pretty falling and moving water at Pipestone National Monument.

This is "Leaping Rock."

More than the usual walk!

Well...you can read the sign.

Do you see it?

Phew!  That was a long walk!

Good TV

So I'm done working in the garden for today and have decided to watch a bit of "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." (thank you, Netflix).  They don't make TV shows like they used to - something a family actually can watch together!

Down on the Farm

Woohoo!  I have caught up to today!

Spring has sprung at the farm.  Here there's nothing but fun.



Four of nine calves

Some bright white on this baby.

Practicing for a cow pie throwing contest?

Just a few of the beautiful irises Mom has all over in front of the house.

Last of the lilacs

Samson likes playing fetch at the farm.

Easter Buckets

Justin and entourage weren't able to come to my house on Easter, so I gave the girls their Easter buckets (versus baskets) the following Friday.  I think they liked them.  :-)

Ooo!  M&Ms!

What else is in here?

An Easter Puppet Show

More Easter Fun

Yes, Lutherans have strange traditions.  Actually, I just have family kind enough to help me with some things I couldn't do myself and that was the best day for it since everyone was there.

Nothing says Easter like Dad on the roof.

Do not try this home!  (Note: The pruner is on Dad's foot.  Who needs hands?)

Sawing to pieces the branches that had been hanging on the roof.

Fun at Auntie's House

Justin, Trisha, and the girls came to visit the last Saturday in March, helped around the yard, and helped move my friend Kim's furniture and some boxes into my garage and basement for storage.  Busy day!

Samson that morning had dug up a nest of baby bunnies.  Four bunnies scattered in four directions.  I caught three and put them outside the fence so he couldn't get them.  The last bunny was dumb enough to fall into a window well.  I tried to find it, but couldn't quite reach to the bottom...and never did see the bunny through the leaves, but did find a snake.  At that point, I called in reinforcements.

Aww!  Tiny bunny!

Eventually, things turned to just hanging out and playing.  Bubble time!

Blowing bubbles

Yea! Bubbles!

The lost art of sidewalk chalk drawings.  :-)

Nikki and Ivy Art

Working on the Garden Beds

More evidence that I can work hard when I'm able and feel like it.  :-)

Before/In process

Working hard

Done-ish

Two of the beds are pretty low on dirt, so I will be buying some of that garden soil one sees advertised this time of year.  Then I will be able to plant my tomatoes and whatever else I'm inclined to plant!  :-)

So out of order!

Here I am trying to catch up on all the pictures I've wanted to share over the last couple months.  I figured now was a good time since I forced myself to be on vacation and actually left my work computer at home.  (That was so hard!!)  I keep finding things that were before the pictures I already posted, so things are getting very out of order.  This is getting confusing, but I'm doing it anyway.  Be forewarned (unless you are reading posts in the wrong order, then you will be a whole different kind of confused), I am about to jump back to March and then back to Easter and should be able to keep moving forward from there.  "Should" being the operative word in that sentence.

Singing in Church on Easter

This is the praise team for the traditional, 8:00 service.

This is the praise team for the contemporary, 10:30 service.
We have a piano, 4 guitars, two types of drums, a keyboard (not in the shot), and 5 vocalists (sometimes 7).

Just some pretty pictures

Mom ran amok with my camera on Easter at church...



Calvary Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE

 


Baptism of Jesus - one many stained glass windows at Calvary



For those who don't know - this is a tulip.

Surprise in the garden bed...

Squirrels find my raised garden/flower beds a great place to store the black walnuts and other treasures they collect.  I think they forgot to dig this one back up (or maybe buried it a bit too deep).  Mom found it while working on my garden beds when she and Dad visited for Easter.

What an acorn looks like when it starts growing into a tree...

Is there a creator in the house?

I receive a "verse of the day" from Biblegateway.com. every morning.  Sunday morning's reminded me of the common argument regarding the existence of God.  People say, "Where's the proof?" and "Where's the evidence?"   I believe the evidence is all around us.

Paul wrote this to the Romans...
Romans 1:20For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

i.e. How can one look at the world around him and not recognize the power - the existence - of God?  When you look at a child, you have no doubt his parents exist. Why then, in observing the complexity of the world, could one not believe it was designed by one far more powerful than us?

Another moment that gives one pause on this topic...
Luke 19:39-40Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

So Jesus suggests that nature itself praises God when human beings can/do not.

David, in his psalms describes something similar.
Psalm 19:1-4
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Nature in and of itself is evidence of God.  It speaks to us in every language - even the languages of math and science (for those who take the time to read and listen).  There is not a place on Earth where that evidence cannot be seen or heard.  For all of the existence of humankind, there has been a belief in a creator god.  Can every culture, every tribe, for all of our existence, be wrong?  Is there anyone on this planet who is not struck by awe when gazing at the universe around him?  If so, that person is to be pitied.

Freedom of Religion

So the Bill of Rights says I have the right to exercise my religion as I see fit.  Let's define "exercise."

• bodily or mental exertion
• something done as for practice or training
• putting into action, use, operation, or effect

So, what activities exercise my religion?  Oh, going to church for sure, studying the Bible, prayer...but is there anything more obscure - something harder on which to put ones finger?  Hmm...

• Does spending time pondering my cross collection exercise my religion?
• Does tending to the possessions God has provided for my benefit exercise my religion?
• Does saying "no" to that one more thing so that I have a moment to deal with the struggles He allows for my education and growth exercise my religion?

No.  And the list may go on, but they are still an exercise - an exercise of my faith - not my religion.  Religion is the denomination of which you are a member - Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Non-denom even.  Faith is the basic truth you believe to your core.  People confuse these far too often and that bothers me.  I am a Christian before I am a Lutheran.  You "should" do this or that doesn't work for me.  I've been at this whole "relationship with God" thing my whole life.  I think I have it pretty well figured out and there is no one who can tell me otherwise.

Rant completed.

Role Playing the News

If you don't watch Bill O'Reilly (i.e. "The O'Reilly Factor"), you should.  Cracks me up!

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/1544024801001/what-would-hume-ask-president-obama/?playlist_id=86923

I love it!!

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/1537342209001/watters-world-goes-to-an-atheist-rally/?playlist_id=1383651764001

"Organized Religion" Rant

"If there were no sheep, there would be no organized religion"

Oh really?  This was my response...

The phrase “organized religion” annoys me. It’s bandied about so freely no one even thinks twice about what it actually means – only the connotations and stigmas that have become attached to it. What would “unorganized” religion look like – the guy on the corner ranting that the end is upon us? Would it be a flash mob? Would it even be religion? Human beings naturally seek order; our brains are wired for it. It’s how we discern patterns and why we’re able to write and read. Thus, when we find a pattern such as something we have in common, we organize. One could as easily say “organized politics” in reference to the Democratic or Republican parties, or “organized employment” in reference to unions. But, no, and somehow “organized religion” has become this scary thing that all men should fear (more than political parties and unions ?!). In such a dysfunctional, disorganized world, people naturally look for something organized to comfort them. Some look to their government, some look to their jobs, some look to their churches, and some just keep looking. The existence of “organized religion” is not incumbent upon the existence of “sheep.” (Sheep are smelly, stupid, and prone to wandering off. Who would want them anyway?!) The human being’s need to find organization and pattern predicates a tendency to find others with whom he has something in common. Therefore, even if there were no churches, no papacy, nor formal systems with which religions as we know them are organized, people would still gather together and share and express together their beliefs. Even atheists gather to express what they believe. A religion can be defined as a specific fundamental set of beliefs or practices agreed upon by a group of people. It doesn’t even have to be something regarding faith in a supreme power. This country was founded on a specific fundamental set of beliefs agreed upon by a group of people and those are set down in the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, and The Bill of Rights. Er go, The United States of America is a religion – an organized one (despite politicians’ attempts to the contrary). Tell me again. What’s wrong with organized religion?