Life

Jesus Never Fails

August 18, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · 3 Comments

Several weeks ago, I remember sitting on my bed one morning crying out to the Lord for wisdom. A big decision lay in front of me, either choice likely to change my future. The unrest in my heart was tremendous, and all I could pray was “Lord, which way do I take?” I remember hearing a bird singing outside—one of those beautiful short melodies—and remember the disappointed feeling that washed over me as I realized I couldn’t enjoy it in that moment. I love God’s nature, I do, but at that moment the darkness was so deep that I couldn’t appreciate it the way I would have liked to.

Can you relate? I’m sure you probably can. And while situations like that aren’t fun, they’re also often a great way for the Lord to draw us closer to Him. That time was an intense time of Bible study and prayer for me, and He proved Himself faithful once again. Praise the Lord!

Photo Challenge Finale (days 6 and 7), Snow, and This Week’s Plans

August 7, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

Whew! Busy, busy times. Between a full-on weekend last weekend (often not to bed until 11 or so), getting sick for the good part of last week, and a few other things that needed to be done, I decided to take a break. I’m sure I needed it, but in many ways I always hate taking breaks because it’s often really hard to get started again.

However, this time it hasn’t been that bad to get back in the groove. Yes, I did miss posting the last two posts of the photo challenge, even though I did take pictures each of those days. I finally have time today to get this post up—yay!

New Calf! (Photo Challenge day 5)

July 28, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

Today, finally, the event we’ve all been waiting for happened: Our cow had her calf. Phew! Can’t wait for the real milk to come in in about three days, and hopefully it’ll taste good—the milk at the end off her last lactation had a bitter note to it. Of course, in the convening three days we may try making colostrum Yorkshire pudding (which is delicious!), or that baked custard with cardamom in it that Mom discovered the second-to-last time the cow calved. For tonight, though, Mama and calf are staying together, and Mr. Calf has figured out pretty quickly where the yummy stuff to fill his tummy comes from!

All of us were out there to see the calf born. Thankfully, Chessie didn’t seem to mind too much, and it provided a great “science-in-action” demonstration! I’ll spare you the pictures of the birth. 🙂

4 Things I’m Thankful For (Photo Challenge day 4)

July 27, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

After signing off about 11:12 last night, I decided that I’d try to get today’s post up in a little better time. Not only should it send properly in the email tonight (yesterday’s posted too late for that to happen then), but I should be able to get to bed earlier. Yes, should, not will–even if I am completely ready for bed at 9:30 it often ends up being 10 at least before I settle down. Don’t know why.

Anyway, today I thought it would be fun to do a “thankful” post. Now, I realize all of the posts in the challenge so far are basically thankful posts…but today, I wanted to share a few of the things that I’m particularly thankful for right now.

Bicycles and Siblings (Photo Challenge day 3)

July 26, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · 2 Comments

Today, several of my brothers went to a friend’s birthday party. This afternoon while they waited to go pick the boys up again, my two youngest brothers were outside playing so I got to snap a few pictures of them. I love looking back at pictures like this—moments in time. Even if they aren’t the best quality, they’re things that “will never be quite the same again” (to quote one of my favorite songs, We Have This Moment).

These guys are growing up so fast. It’s so fun to watch them grow up, but sad, too. It’s sad that soon they’ll be too old to ask for a goodnight hug and kiss from me—nothing melts a big sister’s heart more than that! These guys are so precious.

Toys! (Photo Challenge day 2)

July 25, 2016 by Esther Filbrun · 5 Comments

Little sister came out to my room this morning as everyone else was doing school. She doesn’t do it often these days—it’s currently winter, and although the weather belies that fact, it is chilly outside most of the time so she doesn’t have many chances to escape the house. However, today it was warm enough to have the doors open and out she came!

She doesn’t say much, but today she announced something similar to “Toys!” and proceeded to dump the contents of the cardboard box I use as a toybox on the floor. Usually she asks me to get it out for her, and generally only pulls a few things out before rediscovering the books and forgetting about the other animals and blocks. However, she played for forty-five minutes or so, both discussing the different books with me and playing with the animals. She seemed to enjoy herself.