Next update from last summer including pics!

Below is the next letter in my series of updates last summer. I'm looking back on on this with y'all and am again totally amazed at what God is doing in our lives. Within 3 years I lost a job I loved, Joshua graduated and left for college, my parents both went to be with the Lord, Scott retired from the Air Force, Noah graduated and left for college, as well as lots of sickness and stress. Here we are today.....Joshua has a restored relationship with the Lord~ an AMAZING MIRACLE. He is growing in the Lord daily and totally sold out. We are so excited to watch this transition from a life of self pleasure to a life for his CREATOR! Noah, finishing his 2nd year of college, heading out on a 7 week missions trip over seas.....growing daily in the Lord and full of excitement. Scott working at job he loves and enjoying the property God has blessed us with. God provided a church and friends that embraced us and encouraged us immediately and we feel totally at home there. Scout is doing well and it's hard to believe he is 13 years old this summer. Freckles will be 15 this summer and still going strong. We have added a new 'outside' dog to the family....Snow. I'll include a picture at the bottom of this post. So much to be thankful for. I ask the Lord often to pull back the curtains of heaven and let Daddy and Mom peek at what is going on. 

Hi all - 

We just walked in the house from meeting our neighbor across the street. His name is Bill and it was such a joy to meet him and get a feel for the property around here. He has 17 acres and raises longhorn cattle, emus, miniature horses, donkeys, chickens....he has dogs and cats too. There are about 75 canadian geese that travel around these properties, and we've seen up to a dozen on our pond lately. Yesterday and today there was a great blue heron on our pond and he shared information about those with us too. Although we didn't get to meet his wife Bobbie, he shared lots of information about his property with us and introduced us to this new way of life. 

He introduced us to many of the animals and shared stories about their births, geneology, and ways of life. He frequently sees deer around as well as wild hogs (razorbacks). Our neighbor to the north of us apparently sees many of these hogs. Bill's longhorns chase the hogs away when they come in his pasture. 

We had a lovely visit and are thankful for the opportunity to get to know him. He is a retired police officer from Garland Texas. 

We are settled in for the most part by now, as far as the house goes. Still no pictures on the walls, but everything else mostly in place. Enjoying the large kitchen, the patio and the pond a lot. The fishing in the pond was excellent for the first two weeks or so, but it has become covered with moss over a large part. We are working on aerating it and using fish safe treatments to get rid of it. We'll have to wait until Josh and Noah come back to see if there is significant improvement. They each caught many fish when they were here. 

Noah was with us when we first moved in. He was a huge help getting our things from Little Rock to Texas, and moving them around the the right locations. After he had to go to Fayetteville to Summer School Josh came. He and Scott were able to clear the island in the middle of the pond which was so overgrown you couldn't walk out there very much. He was also helpful with the design for the loft in the barn with Scott. I'll attach pics if my computer will allow. 

Scott's sister Amy, and her children blessed us a couple of weeks ago in a big way. They live in Dallas, but made a trip up here for one night in order to bless us. In fact her words were to be a blessing not a burden. Well, that is an understatement. She brought all the food for the main two meals so that we weren't concerned with that part of the visit. They all chipped in and helped on the property....clearing out weeds and overgrown areas, cleaning around the pond, sweeping and in general just cleaning up. The previous owner had left several areas in really bad shape but after their visit it was much improved. 

Scott bought a small used four wheeler to get around the property and it has been enjoyed by all the visitors as well as himself, Josh and Noah. He also bought a riding lawn mower and has put that to good use already several times. 

Scott's step-sister's husband Stephen and his mother came for a day visit last weekend too. We enjoyed sharing the property with them and Stephen helped Scott clear some of the moss from the pond to improve the fishing conditions too. 

My sister Betsy and her daughter Bep came last weekend for a couple of nights too. We enjoyed their visit so much and look forward to more. Bep got her driver's license today! MeMe and PawPaw would be so proud, wouldn't they? 

Josh and Noah are both in Fayetteville now. It can get pretty lonely if I let it, but trying to keep busy. Scout has completely adjusted and has gone from being a sissy dog, or lap dog to a POND DOG! He seems to think I enjoy hosing him off after he gets in the pond and is full of mucky moss on his hair. So much for poodle grooming at $30 a pop, hugh? 

Freckles has taken a little longer to get adjusted. Just in the last few days has she branched out to the pasture some and tonight even followed us across the street. She seems to be loosing weight and I am going to start supplementing with some canned food to see if that helps. It didn't keep her from climbing the tree across the street when Bill's dogs came out though. She was pretty quick on her feet then. 

Would love to hear from you all.....Don't let out of sight be out of mind! 

Margie 

Thanks for reading....More to come! I want to fill you in on some of the precious people God has put in our lives this past year.  (Below~ We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies when we arrived in Paris TX last June! Paris France gave the town of Paris this gift many years ago. It's a favorite photo spot for those visiting the area. Scout after one of his excursions in the pond! YUCK!)