When Seth was born, Tammy immediately and joyfully exclaimed, "Thank you God, thank you God, thank you God!!" I know she felt the same way this afternoon.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconcilliation. . .
. . We implore you on Chirst's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Tammy's grandparents gave their lives to Christ at a revival preached by a pastor from India; a fact which Tammy recently discovered while reviewing old photo's with her father. It was very poignant that Pastor Abraham was able to be in attendance to continue this link with Christians from across the globe.

NIKKI'S PUPPIES

Thursday Night, Nikki had 5 lovely adorable puppies, 3 girls and 2 boys. Mom and pups are all doing very well. Nikki was eager to herd cows with Keith and I Saturday morning. I don't generally have that desire a day after giving birth.

FENCEBUILDING

We have been needing to subdivide one of our big pastures for a long time, but needed a willing crew.

Joel, Josiah, John, and Justin Mosher provided the crew.

A special thanks to Justin, who was the only true volunteer :-).

Testing the Fence!

AN HONEST DAY'S WORK, A JOB WELL DONE.

Thanks Guys!!

GIRLS LOVE HORSES

Or at least that seems to be a definite trend. Joy and Anna are spending some time each week with the Brady Family, learning about horse riding and care.

Anna hefting a saddle.

And adjusting it, under Connie's watchful eye.

Joy and her "war horse".

Happy Trails . . .

While we waited for the Cowgirls, Glory created her own thrilling experience on the rope swing,

and enjoyed posing for the camera.

PASTOR ABRAHAM VISITING THIS SUNDAY

We will once again be blessed to have Pastor Abraham with us this Sunday, June 14th.
We will be meeting for worship at 2:00pm and anticipate Abraham joining us about 3:00pm to preach one of his very edifying and entertaining messages.

If you've never heard him speak, I highly recommend it. It is very moving to hear about the persecution and poverty our brothers and sisters in India endure, and to contrast that with testimonies of God's faithfulness and mighty power. We will be having a potluck supper afterwards and invite you to join us for all or part of the afternoon/evening. This event will be at our home.

WOW! I STILL GET GOOSEBUMPS WHEN I LOOK AT THAT MAN!

This picture was taken 27 years ago, about a week before our wedding, and although we've gotten older things really haven't changed much. We headed out this last weekend to celebrate our anniversary, and as we did then, we

1.) Drove a Honda Civic.
2.) Made our destination a cabin in the Ozarks.
(in each instance because we both liked the area and got a good deal.)
3.) Spent a lot of time hiking, reading a book together, and delighting in each other's company.
4.) Ended up with bug bites from the underbrush.

In our bedroom hangs a sign that says simply:
Love, Cherish, Honor

I can't think of a better way to spend 27 years.

PIONEER WOMAN I'M NOT

After recently viewing some of the "Pioneer Woman's" beautiful photographs of working cattle, I was inspired.
(click here to see her fantastic art)

I was holding a sorting gate for our guys as they worked the new calves; the sun was setting, it was a perfect bucolic setting, so I sent Anna in for my camera. After getting the camera, I realized I couldn't move from my important job assignment of manning the gate, so was limited in my ability to take a good photo. I shot about 3 not so great pictures and then my CF card was full. (Someone took the big CF cards to Seattle with them.)

I realized then that I can't begin to aspire to be the "Pioneer Woman. " I'm just a mom on a farm with really great kids and a wonderful husband. And I'm very, very content.

I also recommend Ree Drummond's fantastic recipes. Our newest favorite is "Eggs in a Hole"

AN AFTERNOON AT THE "LIGHTHOUSE"

I don't know if you remember the "Best Job In the World" contest last year, involving a caretaking job in Australia, but we had the best "babysitting" job in the world last week. And we got to bring the whole family!

Not only are the Light children delightful, intelligent, well-mannered, and hospitable . . .

. . . but they have a really great pool, which we enjoyed to the fullest!

Thanks to Jenna, Clarrisa, Rebecca, Meredith, and Matthew for sharing their day with us!

SEATTLE TRIP UPDATE - LOCAL SCENERY

Well, so far everything has been going smoothly and been fairly enjoyable out in Seattle, although I miss all the family and friends. Last Sunday, after visiting a church in Federal Way, I stopped at a park for lunch and took a couple of photos of the birds there:

This is one of several Wilson's Warblers that were flitting around. There aren't quite as many warblers out west, but it's nice to have a few species at least.

This American Robin is a little more commonly seen though.

Next I drove up north of the city to feed cats for the other student from our lab that's working out at Boeing. (He was at a conference in Boston for the week) While I was up north, I stopped at a small park with a good overlook of the Seattle skyline.

The Space Needle is the most unique feature of the skyline. It isn't quite as tall compared to the other buildings as these pictures make it seem, as the center of the city is a bit further south than the Space Needle.

Mount Ranier is the other feature that always grabs your attention. It really catches you by surprise if you're not used to seeing a HUGE mountain looming over the landscape. The peak is somewhere around 14,000 feet and Seattle is at sea level!

FAMILY TRADITIONS

Like many families, we traditionally make a gingerbread house or two sometime during the holidays.

Our daughter Amy's in-laws, the Hobbs, make some incredible architectural creations during that same period. We've seen cottages, castles, and cathedrals complete with flying buttresses.

Like all families, they have the dilemma of what to do with these mostly inedible artifacts when the New Year rolls around. Being very resourceful, the Hobbs have created a second family tradition: "the Gingerbread Massacre."

Click here to see video footage of this rare combination of talent: the culinary sharpshooter.

SEATTLE TRIP UPDATE - THE REST OF THE ROCKIES

After passing through Yellowstone, we spent the night in Livingston MT and the next morning we hit the road, stopping shortly at the Missouri Headwaters State Park.

This is what the Missouri River looks like when it is first formed by the confluence of the Madison and Jefferson Rivers. We were also told that the river was running very high because of all the melting snow in the mountains.

We took several scenic routes rather than staying on the interstate, and at one point we took a Forest Service road a few miles up one valley and then got out to hike up to one of the smaller peaks.

And here's the view we got from the top.

The trees at the top of the ridge had been hit by a fire somewhat recently. We got a good look at a somewhat rare Three-toed Woodpecker which is usually seen near newly dead forests.

I experimented with some slow shutter speeds and the mountain stream.

This tree made a great bridge across the stream.

The rocks made a nice picture.

We spent Friday night in Coeur D'Alene ID, and then drove across WA on Saturday. Again, we took a scenic route through the Cascades rather than taking the more traveled route.

I got the tripod out at one point to try some HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography, and this is one of the resulting images.

Here's another HDR shot.

The scenery was gorgeous and the lighting was nearly perfect.

Although we were driving into the sun for much of the time, which made photos hard.

Well, that's all the photos of the trip. I'm hoping to find some good places to get some good shots of Mt. Ranier and the Seattle skyline sometime soon.