Mary's Dream...(fictional, but so true of today)

"I had a dream, Joseph. I don't understand it, not really, but I think it was about a birthday celebration for our Son. I think that was what it was all about. The people had been preparing for it for about 6 weeks . They had decorated the house and bought new clothes. They'd gone shopping many times and bought elaborate gifts. It was peculiar though, because the presents wern't for our Son. They wrapped them in beautiful paper and tied them with lovely bows and stacked them under a tree. Yes, a tree Joseph, right in their house! They'd decorated the tree also. The branches were full of glowing balls and sparkling ornaments. There was a figure on the top of the tree. It looked like an angel might look. Oh, it was beautiful. Everyone was laughing and happy. They were all excited about the gifts. They gave the gifts to each other, Joseph, not to our Son. I don't think they even knew Him. They never mentioned His name. Doesn't it seem odd for people to go to all that trouble to celebrate somebody's birthday if they don't even know Him? I had the strangest feeling that if our Son had gone to this celebration He would have been intruding. Everything was so beautiful, Joseph, and everyone was so gay, but it made me want to cry. How sad for Jesus--not to be wanted at His own birthday party. I'm glad it was only a dream.

 How terrible, Joseph, if it had been real."

I found this little story in our family book of Christmas stories when we pulled out the decorations the other day. I have always known how sad it was that people do not recognize Him when it is really Him we are celebrating....but looking at it from a drawn back point of view relay made it vividly obvious to me how truly sad it is.

 Have a merry CHRISTmas, and remember to keep Him at the center of your celebration as well as everything you do!

Thanksgiving

We came down to Tucson on wed. night because my grandparents and aunts and uncles on my Mom's side all live down here. We went to my Uncle's house last night and had a huge dinner...:) However, I did not feel well, so I could not eat very much at all. This morning, we went to my aunt's house for a pancake breakfast that was super super good. We are at her house right now, and will leave tonight. She has one of those dart games and I was soooo bad at first....but....practice makes perfect :) Will post pics later.... My aunt has a goldfish pond in her front yard, and she has a great blue heron fishing for her goldfish in it right now. The heron is HUGE!!!! So neat. We are having so much fun and got to see our cousins who we have not seen in 2-3 years. Mom and Dad and my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jerry and the girls all got to go hiking in Sabino Canyon yesterday morning. Mom took our labrador, Annie, and she found out you cannot take dogs on the trail.....so.....she turned around and walked the 4 miles back to my grandparent's house where we are staying......so much fun!!!

Wow....it's been a while!!!!!

My lands!!!! I have not been on blogs in ever so long! OK...For a quickish update on happenings...

 We went to Fort Worth in October for the World Miniature Horse Show. My Mom and sisters all got to show, and my mom's horse did super well. She won reserve in all her classes and even won one of them!!!

The people standing by Mom are a father/daughter team who now own Design!

After we got home from worlds, Mom went to Mexico for a week with a friend who was/is going through cancer treatment. The day she got home from Mexico, Lisa went to Oregon to stay with the same lady,(she lives in Oregon), and is still there!! I really miss her and we hope to see her on Monday!!!!

We had a baby horse born while we were in TX!! SOOOO cute!

This weekend, we have our fall church picnic, and then we hopefully get to go to Tucson to be with family over Thanksgiving!!!



 Mom bought a juicer, and we have been making carrot/lemon juice like crazy :) At first, we just made carrot/apple juice, and it made me gag every time I drank it, but the carrot/lemon is not too bad!

My sister's pony... just a cute picture:)

OK.. I think I have completed my update.. now I have to go practice my piano before going to bed ;)

Fun Photos!!!

 We have had sooo much fun lately between Lisa's piano recital, water day, and just hanging out with friends!

One of our friends has been living with us and he loves horses...so last Saturday, we all went riding at another friend's house.I wanted to put pics of that on here, but I think they are still all on Lisa's computer:)

My baby girl:)

Three of my siblings!!!

Trying to get taller???

You make us laugh Adam!!!!!

Me and Cherry

We have an absolute blast surfing!!!!

Goofy Mom

Beautiful Mia!!!

Dave

A overdue update...!!!

 Lisa is having her senior piano recital on the 25th! She is excited, but kinda nervous I think :) I took the pictures of her, (she made the invitation and did the editing), and she took the two of me and Jessie. Just some more recent pics of us three...:)

We are going to Texas in October for the World Horse Show and Mom and Jessie are taking their two horses. We are SOOOOO excited!!!!!! Also, Family Camp is coming up the end of September, and we have our church's Water Day this Saturday. We have a few fun, but busy weeks coming up!!!!

Mom's Blog!

Check out my Mom's and our ranch's blog at Iamranch.blogspot.com! There are fun videos of us and our animals...and more! Including our newest horse surfing video.

Gardening!!! And More

To get started, I just copied this post from my other blog!!

Finally...Pictures of my garden... I have watermelon and basil galore!!! It is kinda funny. We eat it all the time and give it to friends and neighbors...totally awesome!!!!

I have started milking my goat and the milk is  the best ever! We have a flat open pan filled with it in the refrigerator right now that we are skimming the cream off of in order to make whipped cream and butter!!!

Corn......

 Basil!!!!

These are pictures of me and friends with Scriptures that Mom printed out at Costco and hung around the kitchen cabinets for my birthday. They turned out really neat...the first two are from the camp out we did recently!

 After swimming in the lake, Dad took pics of us!

 Our "survivors shelter"...it turned out pretty neat!

To see more pictures from the camp out, check out Lisa's blog at

 atruefocus.blogspot.com

Moving...

Hey, I just jumped over here because my Mom had to use my Google account for her blog...long story!!

Question for you experienced blogging people...I cannot for the life of me get a picture on my profile.. when you click edit profile, there is no download photo button or anything of the sort ...help please!!!!

Another question..when on this computer, I cannot follow anyone or even see their followers.. the "followers" section is blank.... any tips??

TTYL
Anna