Monday I/we finally got home from my grandparent’s house. Though I did have a wonderful time visiting with them and with the rest of the family, I am glad to be back home where everything is familiar! Between both Levi and I, the total number of pictures taken is 1,344, so I won’t even begin to come close to posting them all. LOL!

My new flower header image was taken (by me) out back at Gran and Pap’s house. I have no clue what kind of flower it even is, but it looks neat with those curly things in the middle and the spiky edges!

Pap and Levi picked a good many of the black raspberries, and we got to have Raspberry Shortcake twice! Yummy!

This is where Gran and Pap attend church – Old Furnace Church of the Brethren (and where Levi & I went Sunday morning…). Levi, Gran, and I went there to clean up (vacuum, dust, clean the bathrooms, straighten up, etc) and we (of course!) took the camera along to get some good snapshots!

That picture there in the middle is Levi and I and our cousins Angela and Amy. Amy’s on the left, and Angie is between me and Levi. We haven’t been able to get a picture with us all together for several years, so we decided to get one while we were all there together!

We spent Thursday with our Aunt Mel, and that evening Levi, my cousin Kyle, and Uncle Wayne went on a bike ride. The trail was 16 miles long, I think, but it was a gradual downhill ride, so you really didn’t have to pedal your bike too much. Aunt Mel and I were the “check-pointers” and kept checking up on them at different locations to make sure they got there alright.

It wasn’t near as hot during the day there as it is here.. I guess being up in the mountains kinda cools things off a bit.

Seeing how there’s just about 200-300 pictures for everyday, you can imagine how hard it is to just pick out a few to post. Saturday we went on the same bike trail (16 miles long), only this time both Aunt Mel and I went along. It was pretty easy riding, and beautiful scenery along the trail.

All in all, we had a good trip, though I did miss everybody! I’m so glad to be home again, and I’m sure Mom & Dad are glad to have us back, since they had to do all the animal chores while we were gone.

I was walking in the hen house the other day with Levi because we were going to clean the roost, and I noticed this small yellow thing plastered to the floor. The hens have been sitting on this nest of eggs for a couple weeks now, so I recognized the shape, form, and what it was. A dead chick. The very first chick to be born in the hen house by hens sitting on a next, and it was dead.

I was terribly disappointed, so I thought up this idea to move the hen into the turkey building (brooder house) with food & water and her nest of eggs, so she’d be undisturbed by the other hens and if the eggs did hatch, they wouldn’t been in danger of falling from the nest to the floor. So, I followed through and took her over, and – bad hen – she never ever sat on the nest. She apparently didn’t like her new surroundings, and showed that by sitting on the roost instead of her nest.

After a while I had to move her back to the hen house, and now there’s several different hens getting to sit on the nest at different times. I hope there wasn’t just one good egg and the rest of them duds! But, just in case, I’m keeping a closer watch on them.

This (2nd picture) is a really, really tiny turtle that I saw one day floating in the barnyard pond. You can see how small he is by the size of the leaf floating beside him! I believe he is an Eastern Painted Turtle, because we caught a large sized version that looked like him last year.

Gabriel didn’t really know I was taking that picture of him, because his mind, at the time, was on frogs. He was actually barking because when he shows up all the frogs dive under (and generally with loud splashes) and it makes Gabe mad because he wants to catch one!

I don’t know how often I’ll be able to post in the coming week (after Monday) due to the fact that Levi & I will be heading up to visit with our grandparents for a week (which means the only internet we’ll have is [10hrs of] dialup!). We’re taking the camera though, so I’m sure we’ll have tons of pictures by the time we get back, especially since Levi & I both like to take pictures!

I reckon I’ll see ya’ll when I get back! Arefay eyay ellway!

I thought ya’ll might enjoy this quick tutorial for The GIMP on how I make the “glow” around my text in Scripture Wallpapers and/or the Scripture tags. It’s a simple little trick and it doesn’t require many steps to complete.

1) Open GIMP & create a 640×480 image.

2) Set your foreground color (foreground is on top, background color is the one behind it) to #4682b4

3) Then click the “Fill Bucket” icon , then click on your image to change the background color of the image to your foreground color.

4) Create your text layer by clicking on the “A” (text) icon, then clicking on your image to create your text. Type in “A Godly Maiden” and set your font size to 44, and set the font to black (#000000) (you can change the text color below where you change the font).

5) Make sure your text layer is selected (Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Layers OR CTRL+L)

6) With the text layer selected, go to Layer > Transparency > Alpha To Selection.

7) Layer > New Layer (name it Glow), don’t bother the width & height, but make sure the Layer Fill Type is set to Transparency.

8) Open the Layers Dialog (CTRL+L OR Step 5) and drag the new “Glow” layer below the original text layer.

9) Now go to Select > Grow. Enter about 4 pixels. (This is how big the glow behind the text is going to be).

10) Fill with White, which should already be your background color, but if not, you can set it. (Step 2) Once white is your background color, press CTRL+.   (in other words. CTRL + Period)

11) Select > None.

12) Now go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur. This is where you customize the blur effect. It helps if the “preview” is on. For this example I’m setting the horizontal and vertical settings to “8.0″ without touching the rest of the settings.

13) Click OK. You should now have a blur effect behind your text!  And you can still go back and change the color of the text if you’d like! Below is a picture of my image turned out by using this.

The other day I was walking over to the dog pen to switch the ducks (let Jack out and put Lighty away) and I noticed this little furry creature shivering on the ground. So I quickly let the duck out and hurried over to investigate it and see what it was.

My first impression was that it was a baby rabbit – after all, since we used to have rabbits I ought to recognize one when I see it! So, I called Levi over and told him that I found a baby rabbit, and Gabriel heard the “rabbit” part and took off running, trying to find it! Levi said he thought it looked like a baby chipmunk, and when Mom got down there she said it looked like a baby squirrel.

So, when Dad got home, he confirmed my idea that it was a baby rabbit. In hopes that the mamma rabbit would come back for the little guy, we left him in the dog pen (only we moved him under the metal overhang because it was supposed to rain) and put a liitle bit of hay underneath him. He was so little… he didn’t even have his eyes open yet.

Well, the next morning I found him right where I left him… the mamma either didn’t come back for him or couldn’t find him after all that rain. He was so cold though by that time that he didn’t make it long after that.

Everybody is probably wondering by now what “string of pearls” I’m talking about. Yesterday, June 11th, was the one-year mark for having my string of pearls. I got to watch my Pearls grow from little bitty size to full grown, not to mention all the fun along the way of bringing them up. My “String of Pearls” were my pearl guinea keets that I got 1 year ago yesterday.

Looking back on the pictures of how they used to look like, I’m surprised I could tell them apart! It’s kind of hard to believe I’ve actually had those little things for a whole year already, but now that I don’t have to worry about them wandering off, it’s been a lot funner (is that a word? ) to have them!

This evening at the farm we had two very interesting little happenings. Though of course, we always tend to have something interesting going on around here (like, for example, I saw this year’s first black snake today and it escaped! I didn’t get to catch it ).

We all were down by the waterhole, checking on the bullfrogs (and those very large tadpoles we’ve been seeing), when Dad noticed this rather large bullfrog sitting in a shallow spot, and it seemingly couldn’t swim down very deep, and it looked like it had something in it’s mouth. So Levi and I gathered around looking at it, and sure enough, it did look like it had something in it’s mouth!

After looking at it for a minute, Dad asked me to catch him so we could see what it was, so I grabbed him real quick like, and jerked him up out of the water and stared in disbelief at what I saw hanging out of his mouth……..small frog legs! That thing was eating another little frog! I must’ve squeezed it around the stomach or something because he suddenly spit out the other little froggy, and it was one of those sticky little tree frogs! I could not believe that that bullfrog was actually eating (or trying to, in the process of) a tree frog!

The tree frog was still alive, too. Levi stuck it on a tree so it could regain it’s sanity after just being rescued from the mouth of that frog-eating bullfrog! Thus ends the story of “Sticky Jonah”.

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“Splotchy Chip” was a bit more humourful. We’ve known for some time that there’s been something living underneath the barn, because Gabriel has been stalking around the barn, & sniffing in every single crack there was to be found. Just recently we found out that it’s a rabbit. Well, now that Gabriel has seen the rabbit go under the barn, he now knows the meaning of “rabbit” and goes on the prowl as soon as you happen to say that word (whether directed at him or anyone in general) or any other word that sounds like “rabbit”… such as “grab it” or “habit” for example.

Anyhow, enough about that. We were all walking back up to the house, by Gabriel’s pen, after the Sticky Jonah episode, and ready to put Gabe away and head inside. Nobody’s sure where the rabbit (whom we’ve named Chocolate Chip, or Chip for short – though I prefer to call him Splotch) was hiding, but he suddenly ran out from somewhere and ran full tilt for the woods – Gabriel, of course, seeing him and taking off at full speed. Even though Gabriel didn’t have his collar on, he stopped dead in his tracks at his white flags (for his dog fencing) which are at the edge of the woods. Somehow in that short amount of time, Splotch out faked Gabe and ran – and I do mean ran – down the driveway, headed right for the barnyard gate (which, thankfully, was opened!), made a splendid turn and headed for the back of the barn, and then he must’ve jumped up in his little hole and reached safety at last.

I’m tellin’ you, I have never ever seen a rabbit run that fast. He had to be at least going 40 miles per hour, and with Gabriel right on his heels! That poor dog was so excited that he was whining the entire time he was running, all the way down the driveway. It was so hilarious! We had a hard time making him come back up from the barnyard and putting him in his pen! There never fails to be something exciting going on around here! The entertainment we get just by being outside is far better than any we might could have sitting inside in front of a TV, don’t you think?

Recently I was in a [small] discussion with a lady who was older than I on a Biblical subject, who was teaching and saying things that were contrary to sound doctrine. I replied to this lady with Scripture to refute the doctrines that she was saying, and I was told that in light of Titus 2 and 1 Timothy 5:1-2, I was not to be “teaching my elders” or even suggesting that she was in the wrong, which would be ‘correcting my elder’ – and I was not allowed to do that either.

So, let us examine Titus 2, to see what the “aged women” were to be teaching the younger women….

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

We see here that the aged women were to teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, and obedient to their own husbands. All these things that the aged women are to teach seem to be related to being a keeper of the home, do they not?

Not to mention that this was a general statement, that the aged women should be teaching the younger women these things. No where does it ever say that the younger cannot teach the elder/aged/older women!

Alright, so let’s take a look at 1 Timothy 5:1-2…

Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

I was told that I was not to “rebuke my elders” and replying with Scripture that contradicted her new views was considered rebuke, correcting, and disrespectfulness. Alright. First, let’s look at what the word “rebuke” actually means here:: to chastise, that is, (with words) to upbraid

The word “rebuke” here is different from the word “rebuke” used in Titus 1:13, 2 Timothy 4:2, Titus 2:15, and 1 Timothy 5:20. The word rebuke in 2 Timothy 4:2 means “to tax upon, that is, censure or admonish” and the word rebuke in Titus 1:13, Titus 2:15, & 1 Tim 5:20 means “convict, convince, tell a fault, rebuke, reprove, admonish”

Does this word rebuke here (in 1 Tim. 5:1) mean that we can’t admonish & reprove them [our elders] in the Lord, or tell them where they’ve erred? No. It means that we are not to chastise or upbraid them. And according to Webster’s Dictionary, the word “upbraid” means:

1. To charge with something wrong or disgraceful; to reproach; to cast in the teeth
2. To reproach; to chide.
3. To reprove with severity.

I have found no where that we, as younger Christian woman, can not correct, exhort, reprove, teach, or instruct elder/older Christian women in the Lord. With due respect, kindness, love, gentleness, yet with firmness and with the Word that is sharper than any twoedged sword.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2)

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16)

And yet others say that it is still disrespectful and rude for younger women to correct elder women, and that we should go to our male authority [husband, father] with the issue, and our male authority will get in touch with the older woman’s male authority to get the issue resolved.

What happened to the principle that if you have a problem with the person, or if the person is not teaching sound doctrine, you go directly to that person?

This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; (Titus 1:13)

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. (Luke 17:3)

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. (Matthew 18:15)

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)

I do not see anywhere in the Scriptures where we are required to “beat around the bush”, so to speak, to tell the person that what they are teaching or saying is contrary to sound doctrine.

Titus 2 and 1 Timothy 5:1-2 are both taken way out of context in order to get this “never ever correct/teach/instruct/reprove an elder” idea. If this elder woman is a Christian, as a sister in Christ it is our obligation to tell her if she does err from the truth, and try to get her back on the straight and narrow path!

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)