Photo Sunday

 Sometimes it's just fun to study the photo and see how it makes you feel. Sunday is the day of rest and we pray you enjoy some photos of things from our weekly routine( taken from various weeks and months)  If you'd like to know more about certain photos just comment and we'll do our best to share what the photo is of and why we took it.  Many blessings for your new week.

So many blessings and changes. Hello from MT, I know.....

it's been a long time since our last post. Yes this blog has been inactive for some time now and we've most likely lost subscribers and pray they find us once again.

Where to begin, I'd say the beginning, right?  Since our last post we've had a lot of changes, ALL are blessings, even those that challenge us. Our focus has always been on our faith, we, sadly took the wide path for many years to avoid, well.... uncomfortable situations and we've been convicted for those situations and how we may have handled them. First we forgot our grounding rod, our center,  our faith that our savior is always there. The world wants to convince us that we can control the things around us, when in faith we know we can not and need prayer and supplication and a strong personal relationship with God. There is no aspect of our lives that He is not interested in, and longs for us to come to Him in prayer, seek His counsel, love and protection. While some may know some of the things that happened in our lives, the ONLY one who knows all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly is God, our savior.

Many things have made us the family we are now, there has been health issues with our daughter, my Mom. Job stressors, a new job for me( outside the home and farm), worldly family issues, accidents, death, money issues and alike. We all have them to a degree or another but it's how you deal with these circumstances that make you who you are. Sadly we admit that our reactions to some of these circumstances was not what it should have been and there has been a ripple effect. Some circumstances came to us with the ripples already in place and we floundered to make sense of this and all the while we should have been turning in prayer to God before reacting at all. When we face challenges, it's an opportunity for spiritual growth, a refining of sorts. We failed some and then we've had other areas that have been such blessings to our life and family.

We'd like to begin sharing our blessings, as well as our struggles. Our prayer is that it will be a blessing to others or at the very least a comfort. Sometimes, the world can make us feel so alone and isolated, when in fact multitudes feel the very same way, and may be facing similar challenges or have blessings to share that they feel no one else would be interested in hearing.

I will share that in re-reading some previous posts, where we were on our path, shows through and this blog will be different, one of encouragement, praise, sharing, comfort, love, interest and some challenges to you the readers as well.

Okay let's share some of our life in the last two years away in pictures( if I can remember how)

                                            God's promise to us all

Cortney's still catching beautiful shots

The passing of our first and beloved, Angel 

Montana storms, fierce and beautiful

A new addition, Cocoa

Yes, we're still gardening, although we've downsized

Still canning, dehydrating and cold storage in the cellar. 

Cortney's hair, it's darker and has more body now

Our granddaughter's plus we also have several adopted grandkids too

New hobby, spinning wool

The last two sheep we own. Snicker( brown) and Doodle

Mike's finally blacksmithing, one of his pieces created for me.

Still producing our own hay, better now with sprinkler irrigation

My love ( Mike), of almost 34 yrs.( this month)

Our new registered Nubian buck, Meeko

A doe who comes back year after year to have her fawns, twins in 2017

Blessings come in red, also yellow( pear crop was wonderful)

Another amazing Montana sky

A cold winter's flight, taken by Cortney

My Christmas gift, Mike made me a drum carder!

Mike with a nice lake trout, on an away trip.

A forged copper Rose, made by Mike

The loss of a dear friend of Cortney's, Erin, due to cancer.

The loss of a wonderful neighbor, dear friend, adopted Mom and spiritual mentor, Shoney we miss you.

There are many, more photos and stories to share, our prayer is that you'll be back to read and share them.

Blessings for your new week.

Just enjoying some new finds!!!

I'm fairly new to facebook, but have found some beautiful Fall pictures on there and would like to share them here for everyone to enjoy! Fall is my favorite time of the year!

 

We also have made some progress on the shop and would like to share it with you all :o)

 

 Making the cuts around the doors and windows slows things down somewhat but for the most part it goes pretty fast, once you get your first sheet leveled and set, then it's just a mater of keeping the following sheets level. This is the front of the shop( North side)

 Yes, I think Mike is to high on the ladder too*gulp* He actually built these type of buildings for a little over a year and he climbs and walks on it like a monkey, makes me a nervous wreck! 

 Once it's all closed in and when the three phase power hooked in( in week or so) we'll begin getting electrical outlets and switches installed and once it's all wired we'll begin insulation and sheeting. Of course this is all on a pay as we go basis and we have all winter*wink*  Mike also will be hooking up his coal/ wood stoker it will set a little off center( toward the right of the above picture) He and a friend built this stoker and it's set up with duct work so he can run across the ceiling to get heat even across the whole shop. I'll get pictures of it, it's quite the stoker!

 Windows are in, Mike changed from four windows across the back( South wall) to just two, but larger than he's originally planned. There is a window on the West end also.  You can see what's left of the garden, the sunflowers are still going strong!

 There is also a walk in door in the back, for our convience :o)

 Mike is cutting a sheet for above the 16 ft garage door and he's using the neatest tool( or so I think*wink*)  It's an electric metal shear and let me tell you it works great!  You do have to be extremely careful of the cut edges as they are razor sharp, my fingers can tell you too!

 

The electric shear cuts a smooth line, with little to no jagged edges. He purchased this through Harbor Freight and it was something like $40 and worth every penny in not having to cut the metal by hand, IMHO that is*wink*   We'll share more pictures as we continue to make headway! The plan is to get the remaining back wall all done before this next weekend, then Mike has a crew showing up to help with the roof. I refuse to help with that, the sheets are 18ft long and I DON'T do ladders, at least more than 3-4 ft high, LOL!!! It's not heights that bother me it's unstable ladders*wink* I've helped roof every house we've owned, as long as I can be on the roof or on the ground I'm good! LOL!!!   The roof is the only portion of this shop that I will not have help with, everything else I've been Mike's right handed woman*wink*

Blessings for your weekend, we're planning on actually taking tomorrow off and just relaxing a bit, sounds like heaven to my ears. :o)