Lassoed in Texas Series by Mary Connealy

I love to read! I could shout that from the rooftops and really enjoy myself, but I'll keep it down to a subdued roar in my head. My favorite genre is Christian mystery/suspense, but I also love Christian historical fiction, Christian romance, Christian fantasy, etc. Ok, so I love all types of writing and read almost all types of Christian fiction, but my favorite books are mystery/suspense novels. I do tend to stick with Christian authors because I enjoy books more when I'm not trying to stuff my ears with cotton or covering up my eyes...LOL! I do branch out and read some mainstream authors, but always enjoy my return to Christian authors and the wholesomeness of their novels. I do also read more serious books for spiritual growth, becoming a better parent, being a better wife, etc. but I love reading fiction. Today, I'm not actually going to chat about a mystery book (don't worry, I'll cover some of those soon) I'm going to chat about a Christian historical series I just finished reading. One thing I do enjoy in any book I read is a little bit of humor mixed in amongst the plot, or a lot of humor as is the case with this series titled Lassoed in Texas by Mary Connealy.

I truly hope that there are more books coming in this series because I had the most enjoyable time chuckling, sniffing, chortling, giggling, and just plain belly-laughing my way through all three books. Each book focuses on a different lady (or group of ladies) yet they all overlap so you continually learn more about the previous book's characters as well, another thing I really like. So, be sure to read them in order so they make the most sense. Each of the ladies is unique in her own special way, often dealing with bitter pasts and obstacles in the present, but each also struggles with many of the same issues I do in trying to walk uprightly with God during times and circumstances that make it difficult to remain upright. These books are set on the Texas frontier and I shudder at how hard life was back during the settler days. I am way too attached to my coffee maker, gas oven, washing machine, and microwave...not to mention my indoor shower and toilet!! If you enjoy reading about the settler's frontier life and strong women & men that seek to walk with God with a little (or a lot) of humor mixed in, then run and check out these books by Mary Connealy. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

What We've Been Doing This Winter

I promised pictures to explain what we've been up to this past winter, so here they are. We were blessed to have the boys play basketball with a small country school in the area. We homeschool so they aren't able to play for our local public junior high, but the little country school was thrilled to have the 2 boys join them for the season. We enjoyed watching the boys play, but we were awfully glad to be done sitting on bleachers at the end of the season!

Here's our Big Boy Levi, he dominated at the center position against most teams...until he broke his foot in a game! He was side-lined for 4 weeks until the doctor cleared him for play. Levi was not very happy about this development at all, but it taught him great patience and he learned a lot about the game of basketball sitting on the bench watching and discussing it with the coaches. Overall, he would have much rather been playing the game though! LOL!

Jonah enjoys playing basketball and really plays with all his heart. He is the team encourager, always building up the other kids on the team, except when he's frustrated, then he gets a little chippy. This was his first year playing for the school and he adjusted well moving over from the city recreational league which he's too old for now. He'll continue to improve over the next couple seasons as his coordination catches up with his growth.

MY OH MY!! HOW TIME FLIES!!

I can't believe that it's been over a year and a half since I last posted. I guess I got sidetracked a bit! LOL! We've been busy with growing boys that are busy in several categories. The pictures included below I'm sure will clue you into what we've been doing the past year. Lots of fun stuff along with the ordinary...Birthdays, Braces, Football, Basketball, and Baseball!!


Levi's Winning Awana Car



Levi's 13th Birthday...on my!!


Jonah's 12th Birthday...my baby!

Jonah's New Bike

Jonah's Fall Flag Football

WOW! It's Been Awhile!

I can hardly believe that it's been almost a month since I last blogged. This past month has just flown by and we've been running, running, running! We've spent several weekends at the cabin while trying to catch up on house work and paper work at home during the week. We head out in a couple days to go to our nephew's wedding, I feel old! This little guy (not so little anymore, as he's 6' 4 " tall) was only 6 months old at my wedding....EEEEKKKKK! It's hard to believe he's old enough to get married. We'll also see his sister who's married and just had her second child 6 months ago, she was our flower girl. Oh well, time marches on.

Here's some recent pictures of the fire and how close it came to some of the cabins in our little subdivision, neither of the houses is ours, we can't get a good picture of our cabin from the lake.



While we were at the cabin last weekend, we were treated to the site of dual helicopters circling, dipping into the lake, and then dumping on a nearby ridge. We are still unsure as to whether there was a fire or not, it seemed to be more of a training exercise, plus we didn't see any smoke. But, it was fascinating watching them.

Every time we're at the lake, we see people jumping off this rock at one end of the lake. The boys have always thought it looked like fun. Well, this time they were brave enough to join their cousins and they all jumped off the rock. I did ok watching them, I was just glad they went for the lower rock rather than the much higher one that some older teens and adults jump off, although I'm sure it's just a matter of time & maturity! LOL! Jonah thought it looked a little too high from the very top of the rock so he found a bit lower ledge that he could climb down to and jumped from there. I was proud that he faced his fear and took the plunge...it only took once and then back up he went to jump several more times. The first two pictures are Levi jumping and the third is Jonah jumping.

When it's rough on the lake, the boys don't like the knee board or wake board so they tube! I'm not sure who has more fun...the boys riding in the tube or their Dad driving the boat trying to flip them out of the tube! LOL! After a long day of play, Jonah sacks out on the back seat with our chocolate lab, Cabela.

There's always a ton of animals along the lake. One night we were kept awake by the large herd of elk that moved in around our cabin to munch on the grass just after dark. They spent the whole night around our cabin and in the draw that's behind, they didn't just spend the whole night eating they also "talked" to one another the whole time! It wasn't the most peaceful night spent at the cabin, but it was neat to listen to them "talk." These pictures are of some mountain sheep that were down along the edge of the lake getting a drink and enjoying the green bushes alongside. It's always fun to stop and watch them a bit.

Although the fires have burned lots of area and blackened most of the hillsides around our cabin, the smoke has made for some absolutely beautiful sunsets. Here's one to share with you all...

Well, I think that about catches it up for the past 3+ weeks. Have a great day!

Our Cabin Still Stands!

YEAH! Just wanted to update a bit, our cabin still stands, yeah! I have included some pictures of the back burn that was done by our little subdivision that has so far saved all the homes in. I tried to place the yellow pointing finger to where our cabin is located as best I could. These are not my pictures and when I increase the size to try and see things, it all gets really fuzzy, but I did the best I could. We still cannot get in to our cabin, in fact not only have they shut the road down to our cabin, but they also shut the waterway down so we're doubly locked out! The fire is now up over 11,000 acres burned, quite a jump in the past couple days. Thankfully it's growing on the opposite edge from our subdivision burning deeper into wilderness area.


This week will probably be a quiet week as Levi is off to Bible camp and Jonah leaves Thursday to go to a 4 day Diabetes Camp. So, my hope is to clean more on the house!

Cabin and Fire!

We just spent the last 3 days at our cabin on Holter Lake outside of Helena enjoying the hot temperatures combined with cool lake water and lots of water play.
Here’s Jonah wakeboarding…


And here are pictures of our cabin…


Sunsets at the cabin are always gorgeous, but even more so right now. Here are a couple sunsets to share...

About the fire...

The fire is going strong and we were notified last evening of a recommended evacuation of the subdivision where our cabin is located. Although we were already home we are praying hard that our cabin still stands. Though it was built with mostly reclaimed materials, so the material cost was low, it has uncountable sweat equity invested in it…along with our hearts! Prayers for rain and good fire-team management are greatly appreciated. Here are some pictures of the fire as it crested a ridge about 5 miles from us (as the crow flies, about 50 or so miles in terrain to cover.) After just 3 days the fire is now approximately 2 miles from our cabin (as the crow flies, about 20 miles terrain) and is moving at an alarming rate. Our state has the policy of not fighting naturally started fires (like lightening caused) in wilderness areas and in the tinder-dry times like now, it causes the loss of a lot of land. I won’t comment on this policy other than to say I’ve never really been in favor of this policy and at the moment it’s especially loathsome to me as we contemplate the reality of losing our cabin.

As we contemplate losing something that we worked so diligently on and is precious to us, we also have come to the acceptance that is not truly "our cabin", but rather it is God's. He blessed us with the finances, the materials, and the ability to build it and it is His. Yes, we are praying that our little cabin is spared, but we accept that He is with us whether the answer to our prayer is yes or the answer is no. If we will give Him praise for blessing us with beautiful sunsets, we will give Him praise for sustaining us through loss. And loss has been felt deeply over the course of the past couple years, but that is for another post at another time.

I cannot help but be reminded of the works we are to be doing on this earth for the Lord's sake and that one day they too will be tested by fire. May the work we do for God withstand His fire better than our wood and concrete cabin will withstand this earth's fire.

1 Corinthians 3: 10 - 13 says...

"According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work."

Church Picnic - Hot, Hot, HOT!!

It was a fun, wet, and extremely HOT! What better place in 100 degree weather to have a church picnic than on the banks of the Yellowstone River. Even hubby felt hot enough, he and a friend decided to cool off by sitting in the river! LOL! I won't laugh too loudly though because my sister and I soon followed and joined them.



Here's Levi (blond), my nephew Keith (dark), and friend Zach (Blond with shirt on) heading out to do a little "tubin'!"


Jonah's favorite activity at the church picnic is the big sandy mudhole that's available for all to play in! He carted along his whole Tonka construction outfit and built all kinds of bridges and tunnels to play on. He followed it up with a little tubin' of his own, just to clean off!