Zeus

It's now been a few weeks since we had to put Beau down, and everyone's hearts have been healing. We sent him to Heaven and told him when he got there to let Lee's mom know that we did not need anymore dogs and that we weren't ready for another of her rescue treasures. Lee's mother was well known for bringing home the ugliest, most flea bitten, mangy skinny dogs you've ever seen. Even though Lee's mother has long since passed, anytime a stray shows up on Lee's doorstep, she says her mother has sent it her way. We made it a few weeks before Lee's mother sent us Zeus and we fell in love and offered our help without even seeing him first. Beau and Lee's mom surely used all their persuasive powers!

Today we welcomed Zeus into the Apple Hill Farm family. We plan on him being a foster as we rehabilitate him, but if you've met any of us, you know that may not end up being the case! Of course, we can't keep all the wonderful dogs for ourselves, and Zeus certainly is wonderful. Zeus is a Great Pyrenees that has previously been used as a cattle guardian, and that's about all we know about him. We're unsure of his age, but hopefully as his condition improves we can at least guess it. He currently weighs 75 pounds, and our best guess is that he should be around 130. He's actually about 2 inches taller than Knox, who is between 110 and 120.

Great Pyrenees dogs have been bred since the 1600's as a livestock guardian dog.Their quiet and steadfast nature makes them excellent watch-keepers over any livestock, from goats to horses and everything in between. They are excellent with all baby animals and always laid back. However, many people assume that since they have been bred to be in the field 24/7, that they are able to forage for themselves. I feel this may have been what Zeus's original owners believed. As with any domesticated dog, these majestic guardians are not able to hunt and feed themselves, and certainly not within the confines of your pasture. They must still be fed and watered, have their coats and nails maintained, and have human counterparts. This was not what Zeus's history seems to be.

As far as we can tell, Zeus was originally a Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) for cattle. The original owners sold the herd, sold the farm (or possibly rented it out) and left Zeus behind when they moved. The next tenant fed Zeus while living there, but probably did little else to maintain his health. We're unsure how much time passed before the next tenant came along. Fortunately for Zeus, they were a volunteer at Horse Helpers of the High Country. They immediately saw he was in dire need of help and rounded up the team. Despite the fact that Horse Helpers has never rescued a dog, Amy (the director) was ready and willing. After a stay in the emergency vet that included cutting all of his hair off, IV's, and a thorough check up and blood panels, Zeus came to us at Apple Hill Farm.

We were forewarned that Zeus was not a pretty sight and that he was barely mobile. We had a stall and bed ready for him, sure that he would not be leaving the stall any time soon. As soon as Amy and her daughter got Zeus out of the car, he was up and walking, much to their delighted surprise. It didn't take him long to settle into his stall for a nap after he had lunch and was outfitted with a coat we use for our baby alpacas to keep him warm. We also set up a space heater to keep the stall warm. His second walk around the barn was amazing- he even took a few trotting steps. This is most likely the most he's moved in days, even weeks. He was eager to explore, but we took him back to the stall where he immediately settled down for another nap. Each walk and each meal seem to bring more and more life into him.

Most of the time, you look at Zeus and see a shell of a dog. But there are those moments where he suddenly looks right into your soul. Or his nose twitches at a scent on the wind.Or his ears perk at some far away sound. And you know he's in there, somewhere. Inside this shell of a dog is an amazing creature waiting to be brought back out. You can already feel the love inside of him. And we are promising to find him, deep in there, and bring him back out. And to never let Zeus disappear again.

Here are some pictures of his first day on the farm. Be warned, they are not easy to look at.

Legacies

We're working our way through Colossians at Alliance Bible Fellowship and I am loving it. Today's message centered around Colossians 1:29 to 2:5 - it's amazing what you can understand from the Bible by actually reading it! Here is what I took away from the message.

In these verses Paul speaks of how he has continuously labored with all the energy Christ has given him. And he's not laboring and striving just for people he knows, but for people he has never met. He willingly accepts his burdens, imprisonments, and torture "so that they might be encouraged in the heart and united in love" and so that they might also understand the mystery of Christ - we have all we need  in Him. Paul also suffers as he does so that no one would be deceived by false teachers. Paul surely has achieved his goals; he is still encouraging fellow believers he could never have imagined meeting hundreds of years after his death. Paul spent every ounce of himself in service to God and His people, even to the point of death by sword. How many of us can say we've left a legacy like that?

What stories and lessons do you hope to pass down to others? A story of finding true love, failed adventures, or college mishaps you hope your children don't repeat? What is the greatest moment of your life, and does it have any spiritual value?

Many of us spend hours practicing, training, reaching for and training for different goals of ours. As we're pouring ourselves into these tasks we need to ask 'Can I point to the supreme importance of Christ in this? Would others?' How much of what I'm doing and spending my energy on is for myself, and how much is for others?

It's very popular today to 'leave it all on the mat' and work til you drop - but only for yourself. If I poured myself out completely for a sporting competition, graduate school any other activity for myself, that's perfectly acceptable. But if I pour out every single ounce of myself into something for the sole purpose of others, people would tell me to take time for myself. I'm guilty of telling myself this! In the last weeks I've often wished for more time for myself. I want my personal time to relax and refresh myself. I don't want to burn myself out on something. But, if I follow Paul's example, that's just what I should do. I should give all I have for the cause of Christ. So that others may come to know Him, be unified in love and encouraged.

I should follow the example of many Christian missionaries and martyrs over the past hundred years such as David Brainerd. His life goal was 'to burn out in one continual flame for God.' And he did just that. He served faithfully as a missionary to the Native Americans until he burned himself out and succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of  28. Many would think this a waste of a very promising young missionary's life. I believe Brainerd achieved his life goal and literally left it all on the mission field.

Will I ever be able to say the same of myself?

Resurrection

Yesterday at Elevation App State we were honored to listen live to the third week of Greater from Pastor Steven Furtick. What a message. I think this third week was the most powerful for me, it really spoke to the condition of my dreams and hopes at this point in my life.

The main take-away was that you cannot experience the miracle of resurrection without death first. Sometimes God has to let our dreams die so we can experience the miracle of it being resurrected. Sometimes God births our dreams in our life and lets them live on. But sometimes He want us to know Him as more than the bringer of dreams. He wants us to know Him as the one who can resurrect a dream we thought would never live again. And sometimes He chooses one we have tucked away so deep, we've forgotten about it entirely because it's too disappointing.

I can SERIOUSLY relate to this. Over the past year, I have come so close to a few dreams being realized, only to have them fade away or even be crushed. I was so excited about continuing on into grad school at App for counseling. I had competitive GRE scores and such a desire to go. I had prayed and felt lead to apply to grad school. I kept reminding myself that just because God wanted me to apply didn't mean that I would get it, but I didn't fully take into account that He might actually lead me to apply and then I wouldn't get in. I mean, God so clearly said "Yes, take the GRE, apply to App." that I couldn't help but think that must mean I was meant to get in. Why spend $200 on taking the GRE and applying, why get me all excited if that's not what I'm meant to do? Because sometimes dreams have to die. Sometimes you have to say goodbye to something good for something greater. Needless to say if you know me, I did not get accepted into grad school. And I was crushed. I mourned for about three days. It was just such a shock - I'd never had such a big "NO" in my life.

At this point in the story, I can't give you a resurrection story about my dream. I still want to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. Sometimes it still hurts that I'm not. My landlord got into both degree programs I applied to. I have a really great friend who is few semesters ahead of me - he gets his first clients this week. I'm excited for the both of them, but I still wish I was in their shoes. Grad school would put me one step closer to my ultimate dream. And like I said, it hurts that I'm not on that path right now.

I'm still not sure what path I'm heading down. I trust that the Lord has me going in the direction I need to go. I honestly do. I have no clue where I'm going, or even the next step. But I'm trusting in Him. He may resurrect my graduate degree dream - I do get to reapply for free for fall 2013. But He may take me down a GREATER path than I can imagine.

I strongly encourage you to watch the third week of Greater - Upon Further Review - when you get the oppurtunity. As of this morning (9/24 - 8:30am) it's not up, but should be by this afternoon.

http://www.elevationchurch.org/sermons

Oh, home made cookies!

Today I went to camp after work and that was such a blessing. I still find it hard to believe that my time at camp has come to an end. I sat in on Ashley's small group with her kitchen staff and the snack shack staff. I found myself envious of her ministry. She gets to spend 9 weeks pouring into the lives of the staff and campers. My heart went out to a few of the staff tonight and I felt like I had so much advice to offer, but no time to do it. I miss being able to invest in the staff! I always felt my place at camp was more to minister to the younger girls (usually 4 or more years younger than me) than it was to give trail rides to campers. I miss it. A lot. I've been through a lot and learned a lot of lessons and feel like I have some insights to offer. And I love to help people out and give advice!

Last week when I went, I was sorely tempted by the chocolate chip cookies. This week I barely batted my eye at them. It's crazy! I LOVE...loved(?) chocolate chip cookies! And Ashley made them from scratch tonight to boot. But I think since I'm now on week three without wheat, it makes it easier to resist. Plus, last week I was experimenting with eating some wheat here and there. The more I resist, the easier it is!

I'm feeling really good being wheat free. I also find it's much easier to stay within a lower calorie range to lose weight. Where it used to be a struggle to keep my calories down and eat well, it's now super easy. My meals are all meat and veggies. Lots and lots of veggies! Gosh, I feel so much better! And I feel like I don't have to watch what I eat! The last few days of tracking meals, I haven't made a goal to keep it under a certain number of calories. I've just been eating to make myself feel satiated and having snacks at work. And again, I FEEL SO GOOD!

Experimenting

Last time I was at the store, I decided to experiment with corn tortillas. I was pretty excited that they might be a good alternative to normal wheat wraps. What a let down! They were thick, stiff, and tasted like cardboard. Ugh. I even heated them up per the instructions on the package! Hopefully I can bake them into some good chips or something. Hopefully next week or so I'll make it to Earthfare and get some almond and coconut flour! I have two recipes I really want to try - one for a biscuit and one for rolls.

I did make one oopsie today. I had corn muffin mix and used it to coat my okra before reading the ingredients. To my dismay, it included wheat flour. That being said, it was very yummy! I'll remember to check better next time!

Wheat Free

Tomorrow marks two full weeks wheat free for me. Well, mostly wheat free. After both my boss and my brother told me to try going wheat free, and after reading a few articles, I felt compelled to give it a go.  The first week I was completely wheat free. For the second week I was mostly wheat free, but experimented to see if wheat was truly a problem for me, and yes indeed it was. The second day of adding it back it really upset my stomach and I had some IBS issues - which I had not had any problems with since I cut wheat. Definitely a sign to cut it out! So, after much debate, I have decided to go almost entirely wheat free. I find the less I eat, the better I feel, and the easier it is to resist!

So, now my fridge is full of meat, fruit, and veggies! I have a few friends who are thinking about trying it out, but wonder what my meals are like.

Revamping an Old Window

My mom is constantly checking out stained glass windows and has always wanted one to hang in our living room window. The problem is, they are always very expensive - even the small one! So, being the crafty woman I am, I decided to make her one myself. We've been to countless craft shows and seen where people have taken old windows and painted them. It has long been an ambition of mine to do this, but old windows that are affordable are hard to come by! Recently, I was in a large antique store in downtown Boone and low and behold, an old window for $10! It was clearly meant to be!

This project for me was probably the cheapest Mother's Day gift I have ever or will ever purchase! I already had loads of acrylic paint on hand and lots of brushes, so I was set to go. made this project for the cost of the window.

I started by cleaning the window. Luckily, there was not much old paint on the pane itself. What was there I just decided to leave, it happened that it was right where I planned on painting anyway and didn't really interfere.

Next, I looked up some designs online. Now, I can draw pretty well myself, but I have this problem where I want everything PERFECT, so I took a shortcut and did a few google image searches to come up with what I wanted. I found the perfect flowers, birds, and font! I printed and taped these to the backside of the window. If you prefer, you can tape them to the frontside, and paint the backside. This will give you a smooth front. I didn't flip the words before printing, so I knew they would be on the front of the window, so I made everything that way for simplicity and a cohesive look. Not to mention, when painting on the back, you have to paint front to back, which is tricky.

Next, choose a good work space. My dining room table was the perfect size for the window, but I had little room for anything else! I set my table mate (a TV tray, basically) beside my chair and put my painting supplies on it.

Now the painting! I sort of winged it with the flower colors and chose what I felt would look best as I went. I began with the lighter colors first, then added darker colors. I knew that overlapping light over dark would be ugly, and like I said, I was trying to keep this easy and pretty! Rule of thumb is to usually work your way down, then you don't have to worry about getting your hands and arm in the paint. Like I ALWAYS DO. I started with the birds and moved down to the next two flowers.

Once I finished the birds and lower flowers, I turned the window around. For the words, I actually used a sharpie for the smaller words. I then went back over it with a brush.  "Home" and the heart were fairly easy to do with a paint brush, so I wasn't concerned. When I finished those two, I moved on to the last two flowers!

I actually did this project over a few weeks. I chose to start early so I had plenty of time for each layer to dry before the next color/layer was added!

Two things to note: There is a slight distance between your stencil/paper and where your brush will touch the glass, it will take a little get used to. Second, the acrylic paint doesn't go on so well with the first coat. I sort of globbed it on, then went back over again. In the future, I may be tempted to purchase a glass paint. I've used them before, and they grab a little better!