It's a GIRL!!!!!!

I finally have a niece to post pictures of, and not only that, but I have the time to post pictures, and the pictures to post!!!

Katherine Amber Critchfield

Born at 9:12pm, December 17, 2012, to Jason and Sarah Critchfield

8 lbs, 12 oz, 22 inches long 

New Life

This morning I went over to the paddock to check on the cows and found...

A calf about 8 to 12 hours old!



 

Even though I've seen a lot of newborn animals, there's something special about each new life.

 

Beautiful Clouds

What contrast. The blue and the bright white on the clouds. The pain and heartache of life and the joy and peace of walking with the Lord through it all. Sometimes life rains when it's inconvenient, when we'd really rather have sunshine. But God is there. And it really is beautiful, the pain and the heartache.

Because hope is real.

And because there are such things as happy endings.

 

 

This crazy hope is what keeps me going

Even though I really think that I cannot go on any longer

When I'm discouraged and my hand is slipping,

That's when I cry for peace through the tears and I feel stronger.

Why blue skies alone? Why not the clouds I ask?

Why not the peace with the tears, or the joy with the pain?

Only then will we know what our Lord went through,

And only then the deepest relationship with God we gain.

 

 

Blessings

This is a song Japheth read one evening at Church and has really blessed me and I felt led to share it on my blog.

 

 

 

Blessings by Laura Story

Memories

I just thought I'd share some of my pictures that I took when I was in Ecuador earlier this year.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Looking out over Cuenca, that beautiful city.

 

Such a typical site, the bright umbrellas covering one of the many stands where people could get a bite to eat.

 

Three things about this picture I would like to mention:

1. Notice the apron that the lady on the left is wearing. It is very commonly worn by ladies selling produce. The big pockets make it a handy place to keep their money, scissors, small scales if they are selling things by the pound/kilo, etc.

2. The boy eating an ice cream cone. Probably not with ice cream in it however. They were often served with something about the consistency of whipped cream, made from eggs, fruit juices and I think cream. Very tasty, and after being put in the cone, it would be dipped in shredded coconut.

3. The prices:

One bag of tomatoes-- one dollar

One bag of limes (left)-- one dollar

One pile of plantains (left)-- one dollar

One bag of purple onions-- one dollar

One pile of bananas (center)-- one dollar

What beautiful clouds I often saw over Cuenca. One of the many things I love about that place. So many lovely clouds.

One of the dear girls at the Children's home that we visited

Beautiful hand made pottery and baskets

Te Amo. I love you. A chocolate gift from my mother.

A traditional Ecuadorian blouse.

Ah, the memories, how bitter sweet.

The joy at having been there, and the pain that I am not now.

How I left that place so beautiful

How I left those dear lovely mountains I know not how.

I hear the noise of the buses I rode,

I see the women and their children, tourists and employees,

All of them on their way somewhere,

Where exactly they go and what they do God only sees.

That dear little child just out of school,

Dropping in her quarter, venti cinco centavos, goes to the back

Her little snack, called a salchi papa,

It's a bowl of french fries, with a little hotdog atop the stack

The sight makes me hungry for the same

How did I ever, ever leave that dear city called Cuenca

But not all of me came home

Part of my heart was left behind, in a city called Cuenca.

 

Simple Secrets

Psalm 25:14 ~ The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

I found this to be an interesting thought: that those not saved really haven't a clue what we are talking about sometimes. It reminded me of a part in 1st Corinthians 1.

 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Last week was a very good week FOR me. It took a couple 'spankings' for me to finally get it into my head that GOD REALLY IS SUFFICIENT, and though we do need each other, people really aren't there for me ALL the time, and God WANTS to fill my deepest need. And He CAN!!!! Sharing that with a couple people, I found it very hard not to feel humiliated that I, at 18, am grasping such a simple fact about life. It sounded childish. That's because it is. Jesus said that if we are not like children we will not enter God's Kingdom. This simple fact, that God loves ME, and is ENOUGH for me, is foolishness- according to the world. But it is a precious, precious comfort to a child of God.

My very first blog post! On my very first blog! Yeah!!! Now, what do I write? I'll keep this first one short, I've decided, and simply welcome you to Random Mutterings of a Princess. I don't guarantee how often I will write, but I doubt they will follow a pattern in what type of a post it is. Thus the word random being in the title. God bless, and enjoy.