Back to the Ranch

What a great weekend! 

Sometimes it seems like the weekend is filled with one activity after another.  This one was blissfully relaxing.

Saturday we returned to beautiful Calicinto Ranch, one of our favorite places on earth. 

 

We went there with our church family from Convergence and we had a blast, in spite of the tarantulas.  Right, Dina?

What I really loved about the day, beside the horses, the great food, the beautiful blue skies, the wonderful Pirelli family, the hay rides

 and all the other fun, was the opportunity to spend extra time with family, our church family. 

Sundays are great.  We get together,  chat over a cup of coffee, worship and learn together, but it's a brief period of time and then we're gone - off doing our own thing, busy with our lives.

Spending this time together, creating shared memories, was a great opportunity to draw our family closer together. 

Thanks Pastor Norb, aka Sheriff Norb, for providing us with this opportunity to be together.  It was a much-needed break.

The petting zoo was a huge hit. 

For these suburban kids, it took a while to figure out which end of the chicken they should grab!

This is me with my cowgirl Rachel and my mom.  There is no place on earth that Rachel would rather be than at Calicinto Ranch, riding a horse.  She has adopted the Pirelli's as her second family.

I have to give a special shout-out to Erick and Mariesa.  Thanks Erick for providing many of these pictures.  Erick and Mariesa are my personal heroes. 

These three boys are the reason why.  Take a good long look at these boys.  They are Sam, Harrison and Zack.  They are twelve years old.  Erick and Mariesa are the fearless junior high leaders at our church.

Pray for Erick and Mariesa.

It was a great weekend.  God is good.

Right Steve?   Steve...

Is God A Democrat?

Or a Republican?

That was the question our son asked on Election Day, this year.

It's no wonder he would ask.  With all the rhetoric and the dispersions being cast back and forth, it makes one wonder where God really is in this big, beautiful mess we call democracy.

We've removed God from our schools, but he's everywhere in the political process.  Politicians love to throw in little bits of Scripture or "God bless America"'s when they feel it's to their political advantage.

So, where does that leave God?  Democrat or Republican?

As we have been studying the names of God in our weekly Bible study, the name Melek Ha-Goyim "The King of the Nations" was introduced.  He is God over all nations.  All powers, authorities, and rulers bow to him.  He answers to nobody.

"...and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.  From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.  His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us."  Acts 17:25-27

However you feel about the outcome of the elections - whether you are elated or disgusted,  let us be reminded that we can't place our total faith in any political party.  They can and will disappoint us.  While it's imperative to keep doing our part keeping the wheels of democracy moving, we cannot forget the "purpose of the nations" in our individual lives.

Seek after God.  Feel your way toward him.  Find him.  He is not far from any one of us.

Republican or Democrat.

Sugar Rush

This morning, my children woke up from a sugar coma and went to school.  Halloween is over and the holiday season officially kicks into full gear.

This is a pumpkin that Rachel carved last week in anticipation of next year's mission trip to Africa.  Actually, she said that our youth pastor Chris carved most of it, but she got to take it home.  Pretty cool, huh?

Last night we went over to our friend's, the Grams, for a little trick-or-treating.  Sam and Harrison went door-to-door.  Rachel dressed up but decided she would just stroll through the neighborhood with mom and dad, commenting on all the cute little kids and their costumes and trying to keep up with two boys jacked up on sugar.

Harrison was a little bit scary, Rachel was a little bit country and Sam went retro with the classic ghost sheet costume, inspired by a viewing of It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  Rachel asked him what he would do if somebody gave him a rock.  I think he was hoping they would!

It was a beautiful night and the air was crisp.  We hit the mother lode of neighborhoods, with lots of young families, super cute little kids and houses handing out handfuls of candy.   It didn't take long for the boys to fill up their pillowcases until they were almost too heavy to carry.

When we got home, Yoda greeted us on our doorstep.  We discovered something this year.  My son-in-law-to-be, let's just call him Daniel, has a secret hidden talent.  He is an amazing pumpkin carver.  This is his creation.

 
This pumpkin amazing is not, hmm?  Yeesssssss.

Ashley and Daniel spent the evening at home, watching The Village and handing out candy to the handful of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood.  Ashley recently went on the wagon.  Or off the wagon, the candy wagon, that is.  She's had a problem for years.  Ashley is a candy addict.  This is hard for a mother to admit about her child, but it's true.   She decided (probably due to an impending wedding) that she would cut out sugar completely!  Yikes!

She has had migraines and serious withdrawal from her sugar habit, but she is sticking to her guns and is starting to feel much better for it.

Well, we arrived home last night and dumped this on the kitchen table.

Let me warn you now.  This next picture is not pretty.  If you've never seen an addict in the throes of withdrawal, avert your eyes.  If there are children in the room, they should leave now.

Okay, I've warned you.

It was sad.  She has a crazed look in her eyes.  Sam was in bed, so he had no idea what was happening to his dear sister (or his beloved candy).  Somebody help this woman!

Well, we pulled Ashley away before any real damage was done, and did the drug sweep through the candy.  Daniel pulled out two suspicious looking candy bars that he figured he should keep himself and examine thoroughly.  I know he's just looking out for the kids.  What a nice guy!

Ashley decided that next to eating candy, she loved to sort candy.  YES!  You read that right.  Every year, she would sort and re-sort her candy endlessly, organizing it into categories and colors.  Must be a girl thing, because my sister and I did the same thing when we were kids.  I think Daniel was a bit baffled by the sorting thing, but it made Ashley feel better and prevented her from diving in and eating the candy, so he humored her and helped with the sorting.

There's Ashley, still sugar free, and organized.  Now, that's love!