No time to blog.............maybe..............

I had every intention of catching up this blog on life at Calico Acres Farm  aka  Smith  Soup. Instead, I decided Daniel needed a haircut more at the moment than I needed to write. Ok.  SO I opened up my blog and after several days of internet being out and in , mostly out............ I saw that I had missed a LOT of blog posts from so many of you and so instead of writing, I read. OH  MY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I missed a LOT of life dear friends, a lot that I will be praying and praising God with you over!!  So, since it's 12:30 AM and it is now Sunday which is my earliest morning of any week, I am not going to write  much now either. Let me share that  we are on DAY NINETEEN of no black outs for Jael!!!!! Esther is definitely feeling the usual first trimester  symptoms of a pregnancy, Joshua is in Germany on military assignment for 6 weeks, Caleb and Tiffany are slowly but surely recovering from the disappointment of a 10 week -along miscarriage and Gideon's broken foot is healing. Sopheak did her finger prints at USCIS for her Change of Status from fiance visa recipient to Permanent Legal Resident! To take total advantage of a flukey 80 degree vacation from winter, we had  a back yard BBQ to celebrate son-in-law Jon's 28th birthday. YES!!!!   80 degrees in late January , in Oklahoma. Last week we had snow. There is still a snow pile here or there in northern exposed areas even today (or a puddle where that snow pile stood yesterday perhaps!!)  What fun to grill outdoors while comfortably wearing shorts  (or in my case, only a long sleeved shirt with no jacket!) and to just hang out on the deck watching the kids toast marshmallows! The pinata we did for Jon's party was definitely a "summer " thing too, but in Oklahoma, one learns that seasons are more like  lots of spices mixed in a  single jar rather than several jars sitting side by side. In all of that God has been faithful and we have been very mindful of it! The song that probably most accompanies my thoughts this week is "More like Falling in Love"  or  "Oh How I  Love Jesus!"  There is a whole separate post about WHY those two songs, but if you have heard "Falling in Love"  you know its about cutting past religion  and being in  a relationship with Jesus..."Caught up called out...." and what I want, what I  HAVE, what I strive to nurture is "more like falling in love  than something to believe in, more like losing my heart  than pledging  my allegiance"  The God Who sent His only begotten Son LOVES  ME. He  delights over me with singing, calls me the "Apple of His eye" and adopted me as his own so I could always run to  Him as  my Abba Father! There are some who deny that one can have a relationship with Jesus because that isn't "scriptural" but I am here to tell you, my relationship with Jesus is REAL  and I have no "religion" by name but  as a born again child of God, I do desire to practice what HE calls "true religion". I will never hesitate to encourage each of you in that pursuit either! Let me leave you with Hebrews 10 : 23-25  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,  not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Spur someone on today toward love and good deeds, meet together with other believers, worship our God  and Father in Spirit and in Truth. Have a totally blessed Sunday!