Asher Acres

He's Coming for a Pure Bride

2012-01-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

Every little (and not so little) girl dreams of her wedding day. She plans the colors, the attendants, the food, every detail that she can think of. To a young girl, her wedding is essentially the beginning of "real" life. Up to the wedding however, a girl keeps herself pure. Her desire is to present a pure bride to the bridegroom. Excellent, right?

Until I was married I realized that I had the wrong focus the whole time. While keeping myself pure in mind and pure in body for my future husband was all good, my focus should not have been to give my husband a pure bride, but to give God a pure bride.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16

Married ladies and single girls alike. It's not too late to be that pure bride of Christ! If you don't feel that you are the purest bride (for we want the best for our King!), turn away from sin and come to His saving forgiveness.

Single girls, refocus your attention to remaining pure from your future husband, to your current heavenly father. Your future husband will be thankful to receive not only a bride pure of body, but one that is pure in Christ.

When you become that pure bride of Jesus, this is the beginning of true life in Christ.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:7-9

Who's ready for the wedding?!?!

~Bethany~

Till Death Do Us Part

2012-01-05T17:22:00.000-08:00

It's a new year. And, it's official. On December 23, 2011my best friend Mr. Daniel Schrock took my hand in marriage, making me the happiest girl in the world, and.....Mrs. Schrock! :) The whole wedding, ceremony, reception, moments leading up to it, and every moment since has been completely wonderful. Publicly I'd like to thank my wonderful parents and family as well as Daniel's parents and family for helping with everything. There were also numerous friends who helped make everything go so smoothly! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Now I don't have the professional pictures back yet and I will share them once I receive them. I'm going to share some sneak peaks though of pictures taken with Abigail's camera.

We loaded all the wedding supplies into a trailer and hauled them all away to the church. You can see my dress hanging in there. :)

The kitchen. Yes we spent some time in there. :)

The tables were beautiful! Each table had a ribbon down the middle with center pieces of real pine boughs, holly berries, pine cones, one big candle in the middle, and three little candles scattered in the greenery. Abigail did a TON of work on these!

The girls spent a bunch of time on the head table and it looked fabulous!

When the lady who did my hair put on the veil she started crying. Hmmmm....

Waiting.....waiting.....waiting....watching veggie tales because the nursery had nothing better in it......

Me waiting. Can't you see frustration and anxiousness written all over my face? I was totally ready to walk down the isle NOW.

Me and my adorable junior bridesmaid, aka my sister Elizabeth.

L-R bridesmaids - Rebekah, Elizabeth, Rachel

Family photo before the wedding!!!

My wonderful parents.

My parents put together my bouquet and this was probably less than an hour before the ceremony started. :D

My superfantabulous husband!

Isn't he handsome?

Well, I'll share more when I get them. Until then, may God bless you in this new year!

True Love

2011-12-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're all ready for a nice mushy gooshy wedding update at about this point, right? I mean it has been how long since I've posted anything here.

But yes, we are now only 17 days away from the 'Big Day' and I can hardly wait! It has been super busy here, finding dresses, shoes, decorations, food for 300, and so much more! Yet we are getting so close and I'm so thankful for a wonderful family has has been amazing through this whole experience. :) Mom is getting the food, Abigail is overseeing the decoration, I am looking over the little details of the wedding (scripture, vows, bulletins, attendants for everything, music, etc) and it has been fun!

I was priviledged to visit Daniel over Thanksgiving in North Carolina. Let's just say....it was beautiful there. I left Michigan when it was 28*F, dead and brown. I arrived in NC where it was 75*F, sunny, and green. Well....at least MI has season....:) Anyway, it was a wonderful time and we were thankful for the few days that we had together.

Getting to the real point of this post however. I have had several showers in the past month and at the first one all the ladies were asked to write down a piece of advice for the bride and groom to keep. Later that afternoon I was going through them all and found them all very precious and something I will probably keep forever. However, there was one that especially stuck out.

This note was from a sweet middle aged friend of the family. She and her husband have two children in their young teens. She wrote:

"Have coca dates together and take time to snuggle with each other. Take time for a silent I love you to share between you ~ three quick hand squeezes, I LOVE YOU.

The woman's husband is dying of cancer.

When I saw this I knew THAT was the love that I want. I think it's a love that comes from God, and a love that grows from patience, an unselfish love. It also reminded me that time is short and we should make it sweet.

So I encourage each one of you, if you have someone in your life to love (and it doesn't have to be a spouse, fiance, boyfriend, etc), to love them to the fullest today. You never know how much time you have with them. Life is short, so love with an unselfish and everlasting love.

In Christ,

~Bethany~

P.S. Please keep that family in your prayers!

Pictures and National Convention!!!

2011-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I got our engagement pictures taken by my friend, Rebecca. I think she did a fantastic job. It was freezing that morning, below 32*.

Daniel went back to base in NC and will see him again over Thanksgiving.

That's the wedding news for now. :)

Other than that, I'm at the FFA National Convention!!!! I am actually sitting in a social media workshop right now learning about the importance of advocating agriculture through social media. Interesting how a blog, facebook, twitter, or youtube can make such an impact on an uneducated individual!

This week I'm going to be with fellow state officers all week, meeting tons of new people (there were 55,000 FFA members who attended last year), and competing in Marketing. It should be a fantastic week!

~Bethany~

And He Shall Give You the Desire of Your Heart

2011-09-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

Have any of you noticed the verse I have on the picture of my blog?

Delight thyself also in the LORD, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:4-5)

I told my friend Jenna at the beginning of the new year (2011) that this was going to be my theme verse for the year. How much that was true, I didn't even know.

In April, I met through a friend and began communicating with an amazing young man named Daniel Schrock. Daniel is in the Marine Corps and was then stationed in Afghanistan serving our country. I didn't know a thing about this young man but when one of the first questions he asked me was if I could share my testimony with him, I knew that God had sent me something pretty special.

Daniel and I began talking on the phone and skype every day unless he was out on a mission. We asked each other every question that you can think of. "What do you think a church's standards should be on alcohol?"(honestly, this was the first thing we ever talked about on the phone, yes welcome to the life of Bethany :D) "How many children do you want someday?" "What does commitment mean to you?" "Opinion on debt?" Etc. You get the picture. :) We talked about favorite foods, hobbies, everything.

On August 25, Daniel came back to his home in Ohio for a 3 week post-deployment leave. Over the previous 3 weeks he had been traveling from Afghanistan to North Carolina (where he is stationed). The next morning he came to Michigan to meet me in person. Within an hour of him arriving, we were on the tractor moving the baler from the hay field and cutting down branches that had fallen in a storm. I knew, this was a man I could work with for the rest of my life.

Only a few days into his leave, he was asked to partake in recruiters assistance in his hometown in Ohio. So once the paperwork was all done, he was given another whole month to be on leave! You can only imagine how excited we were!!!!! Over his weeks at home, we realized that even though we'd never met in person, we had already met in heart and were completely comfortable with each other and.....loved each other.

On September 25, 2011 Daniel Schrock asked me to become his wife. I gladly told him YES! We are looking forward to starting a life together soon, as in December 23, 2011. :) Daniel will be going back to North Carolina in just two weeks and I will be going to visit him over Thanksgiving. Then he will be coming back for the wedding. We covet your prayers, being apart will be difficult!

My greatest desire and goal was first, that I could serve God to my highest potential and second, to be a good and virtuous wife and mother. I'll be working on the virtuous part but God has given me the opportunity to serve as a wife. May I be the best that I can be.

So to summarize this for your brain to wrap it's fingers around (do brains have fingers?), I am engaged to Daniel Levi Schrock and we will be married on December 23, 2011. May God receive the glory for the work that He has done in us!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Bethany & Daniel

From the Doors of the Orphanage: About Me

2011-09-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, my sister Rachel has started up a blog. It's somewhat still under construction, but go ahead and check it out! :)

From the Doors of the Orphanage: About Me: Hi everybody my name is Rachel Schreur. I am 15 years old and I live on a farm. I have 5 other siblings, their names are Bethany 18.Abigail1...

~Bethany~

9/11 - A day That Shall Live on in Infamy

2011-09-11T04:56:00.000-07:00

It was ten years ago today. I was only seven years old but I still remember exactly where I was when I received the news of the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center and plane that went down in Pennsylvania. I was homeschooled and my three younger sisters and I were sitting at the table learning Spanish. We were learning colors and the color Verde was on the agenda. Suddenly the phone rang and my mom answered the phone. Just by the look on her face I knew something terrible had happened. She sat down and told us exactly what had happened. It was a hard thing to process for my 7 year old brain but I slowly took it all in. Then we turned on the radio and listened to the surprise, panic, and disbelief that was heard all across the nation. Though I understood this was pretty deep stuff we were talking about, I wasn't too worried about it. My small world wasn't affected, and every day life went on. That afternoon I went to a friend's house with a bunch of girls my age and it seemed like we were all on the same page. We prayed for the victim’s families, but we played and had fun the rest of the day.

What really had happened didn't sink in with me until the evening of the September 11. Because my family didn't have television, we went to a friends house to watch footage of the attack. I sat there, awed by what had happened. An anger rose in me. Who could do such a thing? Then I saw raw film of individuals jumping from high stories of the World Trade Center, choosing that route of death rather than being burned alive. My parents told me to look away, but I couldn't. No, not possible. How could I?

It was bedtime that night when my anger turned quickly to fear. I now knew that the victims had not had a choice and they had been killed. It was possible to happen to me too. How could I sleep knowing that at any moment a plane could come crashing into my house? Of course logic was not coming quickly to my young mind, so I was terrified. I fell asleep crying that night, and for several nights after that I had trouble falling asleep.

I now look back at that day which deeply affected my life. It was one of those days that many individuals, because of their fear and pain, want to forget. But how can we forget those who died? How can we forget those who continue to fight for our country? How can we forget the deep sacrifices that have been made for us?

Don't give up America. Don't put the bad times behind you. Don't try to block out what has happened. Stand up for what is right. Support the fight for freedom. Let us come together as a nation and grow stronger. Yes, it has been ten long years, but let us NEVER forget.

~Bethany~

Life's a Dance

2011-09-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, guess what I'm doing. I'm coming out of my hermiting habits and joining the ranks of humanity again. :D After taking the summer off of blogging (it wasn't really a conscience decision, just kinda happened) I'm ready to get back at it. I will take time to finish my series on women in the home, but for now I'll quick update you on how my life has been expanding.

You see....I'm now kinda like one of those um...uh.... old people/college students. Yep, after graduating from homeschool in June, I'm now taking classes full time at a local community college. I was advised by someone that my freshman year of college along with State Officer obligations, I would be busier than I ever would have thought possible. I'm quickly finding that to be impossible. While things may speed up here in a bit, I will tell you, last year was about 150x busier. I have a Algebra class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00-12:50, an English class at 6:00-9:15 P.M. on Tuesday, and Communication (2:00-5:00) and Poli-Sci (6:00-9:15) on Thursdays. Nothing on Fridays. Just throwin' it out there....I was gone from 7:45-4:00 every school day last year plus had meetings probably 1-2 times a week after school. Ya, that was busy. :D So now I'm adjusting and trying to figure out how I'm going to make it through this year. I think I have some ideas......but they are currently under construction.

Going backward a little, the 2011 Calhoun County fair brought many highlights and excitements. You see....this year I decided to run for the fair queen. Ya, I know, you probably never expected it from me.....lol. Anyway, I went for it regardless and had a blast doing it.

I was privileged to be named the 2011 Calhoun County fair queen. Wow. I was NOT expecting this. My first time running with many girls who have run over and over. It was a shocker for me. Cool side note, 4 of the 6 teens on court have been homeschooled. :)

Monday I showed my dairy goats and won my showmanship class (Senior). Rebekah won intermediate, and Elizabeth won Junior!!! After goats, I showed my starter calf. This year is my second year showing calves and I really enjoy it. I wasn't expecting it in the least, but I won senior showmanship! That was one of those highlights of the year! I also won my market class as well. Pretty cool!

Elizabeth joined me in showing swine this year and we had loads of fun. 2011 was her first year in 4-H so she was pretty excited. She went in there and did her thing, placing 4th in Jr. Swine Showmanship. Yep, I was pretty much proud of her all the way through. :D I also competed in showmanship but placed 8th. :/ Ahh well....

Market classes went well....my individual placed 1st in her class and my pen went 1st as well. Kinda fun.

I'm trying to keep this brief enough, but on Saturday we competed in Show of Champions (you compete in this if you win showmanship). Because I won in starter calves, Abigail (who got 2nd in goat showmanship) got bumped up so Abigail, Rebekah, Elizabeth, and I all competed. Guess what?!?! Elizabeth got Reserve Champion Jr. Showman!!! Well I got Reserve Champion Sr. Champion but not quite as big a deal. Anyway, fun times!!

Trying to think of anything else really exciting that I want to share. I'm going to do my best to keep up with this again. Keep me going folks!

Oh, and you know what? I kinda missed everyone here.....:/

~Bethany~

LIfe has continued....

2011-05-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

I was looking at my blog this morning and realized (with horror) that is has been nearly two whole months since I have posted anything. Most of March and all of April has come and gone with complete silence from me. I'm sorry. However it has been a busy two months and I have appreciated the break. I'll go back to March where I left off for a brief update on life here.

State Convention in March was amazing. On the first morning, my ag issues team was given the chance to compete at state which was one of my goals for leadership contests. Unfortunately we didn't make it out of the first round, though there was nothing to be ashamed of, as our performance was flawless. I was just so thankful for how far we had come and so stinkin' proud of my whole team. That evening, I was up on stage and received the state winner in ag-entrepeneurship. It was pretty much the perfect end to the perfect day. The next day, I received my proficiency awards, silver in dairy production, gold in ag sales, and state winner in specialty livestock production. My goats were finally paying off....:) That evening I went up on stage with my parents for Star in Ag-Business. I was one of three state finalists in that area. After hearing my SAE beside the others (girls who owned a lawn mowing business and a poultry processing business) I felt I didn't have a chance. I was astonished when I heard my name called as the state winner in Ag-Business. What an honor! 10 minutes later I was standing behind stage waiting to hear the state officer slate called. 'Sentinal', 'Reporter', 'Treasurer', 'Secretary', 'President'. My name was not called. I had not been slated. My emotions went on a high right then and there. Named a state winner, then not being slated. Ouch. I still had a chance though, and though my tears and prayers I lifted my head up and headed off to a dance with several hundred others FFA members. :) The next day, it was time to choose state vice presidents (kind of like a representative for each region of the state). I gave my speech and was honored to be named the 2011-2012 Region 1 State Vice-President. I can't wait for the year ahead! So I'll just say it again, State convention....was amazing. :)

Hearing my officer announcement :)

Receiving my proficiency for ag sales

Winning the state proficiency in specialty livestock production.

Gold State Degree recipients

Winning the Star in Agri-Business

the 2011-2012 State Officer Team

Just about a week later I was off to another competition...this time non-FFA related, though through the ag program at center. This was the regional competition fro Envirothon, some competition having to do with the environment. Honestly, I'm not sure why I was thrown on the team, I'm not an environmental type of person. I was allowed to do the 'sustainable ag' portion of the contest though and so it was pretty fun. Anyway, my amazing team placed 2nd so we automatically moved on to state! That competition is actually coming up in the second week of May! I'm kinda excited about it! If nothing else, I get to spend some quality time with friends. :)

The first week of April I got my fair pigs! Yay!!! They look super duper awesome and I can't wait to show them at fair! I actually bought gilts this year which is a first for me as I've always shown barrows. I'm excited about it though! Elizabeth is joining me showing pigs this year and she bought a barrow. He's pretty nice too. :) I also got my starter calf, he's an adorable little guy. White face and almost all black. Spunky as can be too. I actually led him around the other day and he did quite well.

On April 15, I competed in ag skills contests. These are more practical contests teaching, as the name says, skills. I competed in the Marketing competition. We didn't find out how we did until a few days later (after an long agonizing weekend!) but found out that we won state! So now we are off to Nationals! Those are this fall in October. Sad part is, my two other teammates are off to college far away this fall so I have to find replacements. :( I'm working on it though and I think it will still be a fun and awesome experience. I also had my first state officer meeting!!! Woot! It was fun setting out theme for the year and everything.

Last but not least, I finished my year as a regional officer with regional camp just a week ago. I did leadership training sessions for Vice-Presidents and got to work with FFA members for two long wonderful days. It was a tiring experience but one I'll never forget. It was sad to see my year over so quickly, but good to see it handed over to other new officers.

On Asher Acres, we only have one more doe to kid. We have had a total of 22 kids, 10 does and 12 bucks. We were ahead does to bucks quite a bit until the last few does, both Sunshine and Thea had twin bucks. :p It may be a blessing however, as we wouldn't be able to freshen them next spring anyway and now this way I don't have as many kids to feed all summer.

So I think that has everyone pretty well updated. Other than school, graduation plans, finishing the school year, and finishing my year as chapter and regional officer, life is pretty much back into a pretty good routine. Hopefully I can relax for a few more weeks before school gets out. Then work, state officer stuff, showing and fair, and before I know it, college!

I'll do a post ASAP getting back on to my Role of Women topic. I just thought I'd better get everyone updated on the goings on around here. :)

Have a wonderful beginning of the week!

~Bethany~

Life at its fullest

2011-03-06T04:22:00.000-08:00

Soooo.....life is crazy. Ever know that? :D Well ok so my life is crazy. So a few weekends ago (as in, the 18th through 20th) I went through some of the awesomest interviews I've ever been through. I ran for state officer in FFA. This was one of my biggest dreams since I'd entered FFA. However, while I was up there I got sick with the flu which kinda made that a disappointment. Anyway I am still waiting to receive word on that. So our ag issues is also going on to state through a long and tedious process. So in 3 days we will be up at state convention which is when I find out about star, state officer, and compete with our contest! So yes I've been busy. Oh, and after I got home from my interviews I was sick for a whole week during which we received a lovely ice storm which took power out for nearly a week in our area. Yay! Thankfully we have a generator. So there was like no school all week which was good because I wouldn't have gone anyway. :)

Most recently, our kidding season has started! And thankfully with a bang! :) Both Missy and Dixie decided to kid on the same day, last Wednesday. Dixie kidded with twins, buck and a doe, and Missy had triplet does! Alithia kidded Friday morning with a single buck kid (silly girl, and I was sure she'd have at least twins. Thankfully he is REALLY nice.). Yesterday Gala and a yearling kidded. You see, Abigail and I are babysitting for some friends for the weekend so we haven't been home. My dad said that a yearling kidded and we have 3 yearlings that look almost identical. So hopefully none of the other ones kid before we get home so I know whose kid is whose. :D She had a single buck. Gala had triplets though, two does and a buck! Our numbers are currently standing at 6 does and 4 bucks. I think we are still waiting on 3 more for this week. After those three kid (True, Athena, and the other yearling :D) then we'll have a break for a few weeks. We have three or four more to kid in late March, two in April and one in May. They are all so spread out but whatever. Can't complain now! :)

So I have not forgotten about my Role of Women topic. I've just been crazy busy. Hopefully after State Convention I will have more time. I know I will. :) So just let me get through this week and I will get back to our original topic.

Have a blessed rest of your weekend!

~Bethany~

Role of women Part 2

2011-02-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

Part 2 sees the history of women. Over the years, what is viewed commonly as the role of women has changed as cultures and countries have changed.

Bible times/several thousand years ago:
Women were viewed as inferior to men. A son was desired, not a daughter. Now, it's not that women were looked at as slaves. They were still highly regarded by their husbands and children (Proverbs 31:28). They were the silent warriors for the family. They receive little credit but were some of the greatest people in our history.

Medieval Times:
Women were still inferior to men, but some became queens or well known individuals such as Joan of Arc or Jane Shore.

Civil War era:
These women were considered gems and something every man held close in his home. Their roles however varied depending on their life situation. Women down south were treated like queens but did very little. Women out west/in any pioneer land worked right along side their husbands clearing land and creating a new life for their families. Up north, well it was a little bit of everything. :)

WW2:
This is where women began working outside of the homes, since many of the men were gone and the ladies needed an income and jobs were available all over.

Current:
Women are generally looked at as strong and work outside of the home. Though much money is raised, very few children are.

Note: This was/is not an exact case for every individual. Just an overall view.

Because of these changes in views and culture, many of the roles change constantly. Yet the bible still holds true today and we will be looking at verses on these roles next.

~Bethany~

Happy Valentines Day!!!

2011-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some edited photos I took last night of some roses that my dad bought my mom and posted them on facebook this morning. :)

For those who are waiting......

For those who are keeping themselves pure for marriage......

For those who are fighting.......

And for those who have a wonderful relationship.....

......Have a wonderfully amazing valentines day!

~Bethany~

Role of Women Part 1

2011-02-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

So you are probably all thinking that I have once again procrastinated and am dropping the whole Role of Women topic again. :) You are all wrong. :D I have just been very busy with my Ag Issues team. Remember THIS post about our team? I was praying for rain? Well let's just say last night was our district competition and we pulled out with a victory unanimous from the judges. It was the most amazing night with my wonderful team EVER!

Our topic is:

Food Safety; What Changes With New Legislation

Anyway...getting serious.

I will start at the beginning. In Genesis.

Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 2:20-25 - "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

Several thousand years ago God created this world. We don't know when or why exactly. Have any of you ever wondered if there was another world before us? God has been around literally forever. Maybe we're not the first world He created. Perhaps we were the first one that sinned. Or, maybe there are more worlds now! We don't know any of this. Someday that's one of those first questions I'm going to ask when I get to heaven. I think when we get there someday, we will see how foolish we were here on earth.

Back to the role of women however......

So God created Man in his image. Then He created woman. Why? Because there was no help meet for the man. A helper, someone who was capable of standing beside him, helping him, and encouraging him. This was not a slave, nor was it a person who would oversee the man. She was a help meet.

So in the beginning, "the man was not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman: but the woman for the man." (1 Corinthians 11:8-9)

Christ's humble servant,

~Bethany~

The role of women....I want to hear from YOU!

2011-02-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I am finally going to address the topic of the role of women. Remember me saying I was going to do this a LONG time ago? Like last spring I think it was. Then something called summer came to my door and I got busy. :D

So now I actually have some time and I am going to go forward with this topic. I'm hoping to get some good interaction here because this is a topic which is high controversial in our world today. For right now, I want everyone to do some homework. Please post some verse references that you would like to see me address related to this topic and post any questions you have. I am hoping to start this topic sometime this week. :)

Looking forward to hearing from everyone!!

~Bethany~

Me w/ Straight Hair

2011-02-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what I look like with straight hair? lol

Well this is it. :D

~Bethany~

Living for Jesus

2011-02-02T05:01:00.000-08:00

Last night my family and I watched a movie called "Letters to God" which was based on a true story. If you haven't watched it yet, you must.

A brief summary of the movie:

A young boy of about 10 years old has a rare form of brain cancer but has tremendous faith in God. Every day he puts a letter addressed to God in the mailbox. Within a short amount of time, most of the people in the community knew about these letters to God. Young Tyler's life was a testimony of faith. Though he died, everyone who had known him became a better person for it and grew closer to God.

This got me thinking. Here is a young boy who changed his world by just spreading God's love. He was an advocate for Christ. He had cancer, was a weak in body and yet changed the world. Am I, a simple young girl doing the same? I am even healthy! I should be.

In conclusion, I was encouraged to look around me and be an advocate for Christ and help change my world. Whether it be making cookies for a neighbor, helping make dinner, read a book to a sibling, or encouraging others to come to Christ.

Let us live for Jesus!

~Bethany~

Day 30..... A motto or philosophy.

2011-01-31T19:23:00.000-08:00

If at first you don't succeed, try try again.

This is something I have had to do over and over again. I've failed more times than I care to admit but guess what....I get back up and try again.

Here's a rather amusing story that happened just recently. So yesterday Abigail and I went tubing at Echo Valley with my FFA buds. Oh my word, had loads of fun but......on the last go around I decided to get hooked onto the end of the chain of tubes which made me get airborne at the end and when I came down I kinda forget about the tube and landed on my whole right side on the snowy/icy hill. Now I am carefully limping around the house. :D Regardless....I had a blast!!!! However....when I landed on that hill I got back up and oh...I'm going back in a few weeks. And I really want to try going down that hill last again....(maybe that's called stupidity, I don't know....:D)

Well ladies and gents, this is the 30th and final day. What an amazing trip! It's been fun!

~Bethany~

Day 29....Hopes, dreams and plans I have for the next 365 days.

2011-01-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

I was holding Liberty on my lap while putting the title in and I asked her what my hopes, dreams and plans were for the next 365 days. She said to make sure that you all knew that I was going to learn how to show dogs which included her. :D She literally went crazy and barked right in my face. It was pretty funny lol.

Soooo.....besides that....

I want to learn how to play the guitar.
I want to finish school and go to college.
I want to be a FFA state officer.
I want to take a vacation out west.

And most of all...I want to grow closer to Jesus.

~Bethany~

Day 28......A Scar I Have & it's Story

2011-01-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

I was five years old. Learning how to ride a bike without training wheels. I was riding down our gravel driveway when I lost control and when flying. My knees still bare the scares. Good part of the story; regardless of the skinned and bloody knees, I got up and started riding again. I now am very proficient at riding a two wheeled bicycle.

~Bethany~

PS: The hog show yesterday was awesome! Had tons of fun!!!

Handwritten Tag

2011-01-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

1. What is your name/your Blogger name?
2. What is your blog name/URL?
3. Write "The quick brown fox jump's over the lazy dog"
4. Favorite quote
5. Your favorite song
6. Your favorite bands/singers.
7. Anything else you want to say?
8. Tag 3-5 other people.

Day 27.....A Physical Feature I Love

2011-01-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

This is really a vague question and I shall do my best to answer it though I may take several different routes to do so.

1) A Physical Feature I love about myself:
Well, I don't "love" any particular feature about myself. Though I am very thankful for many of them. :) I am thankful especially for my eyes and my hands. My eyes see things, my hands go and do them. I can see a child needing help and I can go and help them. People also tell me that my eyes are one of my best features. And my hands? Well....I just am continually amazed at how each little bone must work together. Have you every watched your hands while you are typing? So fast and so perfect. God sure knew what He was doing!

2) A Physical Feature I love about girls:
Hair. I know, really weird, right? I love seeing girls with long hair, short hair, curly hair, straight hair. I love seeing all the different styles in which they do their hair. Yeah, now you all are going to be self conscious or looking around at girls hair styles.

3) A Physical Feature I love about guys:
Guess what, I notice guys! haha, yeah I know, amazing isn't it? And that feature I like? Arms. Don't laugh. Yeah I know you are already laughing. But yes...that is what I usually notice first. You know all the romance novels and even most girls notice eyes. Blue as the sky or deep brown like chocolate. Nope, forget that. Maybe it's because it shows strength. I have no clue. Anyway...

I have just released some of the biggest Bethany secrets of all times.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

:D

~Bethany~

Day 26......A Childhood Memory

2011-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

When I was about 8 years old there was some work being done on our road on a hot summer day. This was probably the first time construction had ever been done on our little back dirt road that I could ever remember so it was a rather exciting experience. :) So I gathered my little sisters up, baked some cookies, mixed up lemonade and loaded up the cart hooked to my bike with the cookies and drinks and brought it all down to the rough, but kind men working on the roads. They wanted to pay us but I wouldn't allow it. They were pretty nice guys. :)

Oh those wonderful childhood memories! Sweet days gone by....

~Bethany~

P.S. Tonight went amazingly well. Thank you so much for your prayers!

A Prayer Request

2011-01-27T04:01:00.000-08:00

Have any of you ever watched Facing the Giants? Remember when Mr Bridges came up to Grant and told him these words.

"I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." Revelation 3:8

There were two men with fields that needed rain. They both prayed for rain, but only one went out and prepared his fields for it.

Which one are you?

God will send the rain in His time, your job is to prepare your fields for it."

Fast forward to almost the end of the movie. The football game was just about over, just a few seconds on the board with the Eagles just a few points behind. They could win if they kicked it, but all they had was David Childers who was a small kicker since their main kicker had received a broken collar bone. On top of that, it must be a 50 yard kick and they were kicking into the wind. Situation was hopeless. Grant pulled out David and asked him, "do you believe God can help you make this kick?" to which David responded "if He wanted to". What did God do, he helped that small boy make that kick 50 yards and even straight, something David rarely was able to do. Does anyone remember what Grant said to Brady as he pulled out that boy to make the kick? Brady asked him "what do you think you're doing? He can't make it." Grant said, "I'm preparing for rain".

Preparing for rain. Trusting in God to make the right decision, trusting Him to create a miracle.

That's what I'm doing right now.

I have a team who is doing something called Ag Issues. A contest in which we argue a point about some area in agriculture. Our topic this year is Food Safety. We have ever odd against us. Most people in agriculture hate hearing about food safety because it is usually directed as a barb towards them. Our team has had little help in putting this together. Nearly everyone on the team has never done this contest before. We don't have lines memorized. I'm not complaining. Everyone has worked hard but we were kind of late in putting it together. Tonight we will be presenting it for the first time. It won't be a contest but we will be judged by adults.

This may seem trivial, but so was football. I know that was just a movie, but don't we trust God anyway?

So I'm praying for rain and I'm asking if you will join me.

Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

~Bethany~

Day 25....A Recipe

2011-01-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

Scalloped Carrots Recipe

Ingredients

6 cups water
12 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 4 cups)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
Dash pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
3 slices whole wheat bread, cut into small cubes

Directions

Place 1 in. of water in a large saucepan; add carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 7-9 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain.
In another saucepan, saute onion in 1/4 cup butter. Stir in the flour, salt, mustard, celery salt and pepper until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
In a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish, layer half of the carrots, cheese and white sauce. Repeat layers. Melt remaining butter; toss with bread cubes. Sprinkle over top. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Yield: 4-6 servings.

This is truly one of my favorites! I get it once every other year......when my Grandma takes it to our family Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side of the family. :) I should really make it more often.....

~Bethany~

Day 24.....A movie no one would expect me to love

2011-01-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

This is tough. Really tough. My favorite movies are war movies, documentaries, anything with historical facts. Pretty much anything historical or historical fiction. Most people know this....so they would expect me love those!
If I say a girly movie....like Pride and Prejudice or some other chic flick....I'm a girl so you should believe it!

I'll go with Star Wars. I love them! I do honestly think I need a droid or two.....:D

So does that surprise anyone?

~Bethany~

Day 23.....A way in which I want to be remembered

2011-01-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago in church I was doodling on a piece of paper while listening to the sermon and found myself actually drawing a picture of my gravestone. I told Abigail that this was exactly what I wanted it to look like. :D Actually, while that is a rather morbid though, I am not afraid of death or even dreading it. When my visit on earth is finished I go to my Father in Heaven where I shall every day be able to see and praise my dear Savior!

Anyway...here are a few things I want to be remember for....

A girl that loved, followed, and trusted in Christ.
A help to those in need.
A witness for Jesus.
A steadfast and loyal daughter, sister, wife and mother.
Loved my country.
Rebelled against normality and strove to lead a life that pointed towards Christ.

If I can leave the world having accomplished those things I will not have failed.

~Bethany~

Day 22......A Website

2011-01-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

This isn't exactly a very informative title. :/ So...I'm going to share 2 websites!!!

#1) www.asheracres.com Asher Acres Farm site! (yeah, sorry not too exciting)

#2) http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm This is my currently favorite site. I am doing a competition called 'Ag Issues' (some of you may remember me doing this last year) and this year's topic is food safety! This a site that shows every recall which I find rather amusing. :) Check it out, if you are anything like me you will be enthralled for a rather long period of time. :D :D :D

~Bethany~

Day 21....Something I do Differently Than Anyone Else

2011-01-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

You all ready for this? I tie my shoes weird. I don't think I do, but everyone says I do. My mom says she has never seen anyone tie like I do. Hey but guess what! I taught myself how to do it! (yep, independent even way back then....:/) So anyway, I know have been banned from teaching anyone else to tie. Well not really...but know one seems to be able to learn from me. Strange indeed.

On a side note...here are some pictures Abigail and I took of our two puppies that we are keeping.

Hailee is 'Abigail's' puppy. She is going to train her and treat her as her own. The only thing that won't be hers are the puppies that she one day will produce. :)

Liberty is the one I am training. She's such a sweetheart! I'm planning on showing her this year in 4-H.

~Bethany~

Day 20.....A hobby of mine

2011-01-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

I hope I'm making it while it is still Friday......I just got home from an amazing play put on by HPA (Homeschool Performing Arts) that a good friend of mine was in. Anyway....here is the answer to my question.

A well known hobby of mine would be showing. Showing dairy goats, hogs, starter calves, steers and guess what...this year...dogs! I really enjoy showing and competing out in the ring against other kids around the state or nation.

So I'll keep this short and sweet. :)

~Bethany~

Day 19....A Talent of Mine

2011-01-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

Speaking. I can get up in front of a crowd and speak and really enjoy it. :)

Day 18.....A time When I felt Passionate and Alive.

2011-01-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

It was my first livestock judging contest. I was scared stiff. I felt so unprepared, so......scared! For those of you who don't have a clue about judging, at the state contest we had to judge 6 classes, 2 classes of sheep, 2 classes of hogs, and 2 classes of beef. Each class is 4 animals. Then we had to answer a set of questions. After the questions we had to give 3 sets of reason.....one of each specie. Reasons are an oral reasoning about why you placed the class the way you did. At my first state contest, I only had 5 weeks of practice under my belt.

So.....here I was, 15 years old and on a team with other kids who had a few years of knowledge as well as kids who have shown livestock for years. I got to the contest and headed straight for the bathroom. I didn't puke.... :) I prayed. And with that prayer I felt a peace that I would do fine. I went out into that arena and started judging and I was so excited and felt so alive! It was the most amazing experience. I went and gave my reasons with a passion. My team....won the state title. I'm not saying I was perfect. Not anywhere near that. But I had found such peace once I had given all of my talent over to God. He could make it so much better.

Ever since then, at each and every contest that I have been in (and I have been in quite a few in FFA) I have prayed before I begin. I owe each and every victory to my dear Lord Jesus.

I hope this story fits under this title. :) I'm not sure it does....but I know that with Jesus on my side I could shine and be much more alive and passionate than I ever could have been by myself.

~Bethany~

Day 17......A Favorite Piece of Art

2011-01-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

This is one of those pieces of art that just reminds me to keep close to God and pray to Him continually. It also reminds me of the legacy that has been left to me by my family. This same painting hung (and still hangs) is my grandparents house for as long as I can remember. My family has one in our dining room as well. What a beautiful piece!

~Bethany~

Day 16.......A Song That Makes Me Cry

2011-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

When I was a little girl all I wanted to do was grow up. Grow up and get married and be a wife and mother. Now I am 17 years old, technically old enough to get married, getting finished with school, getting ready to start up college, moving on to my step in life. Some days I look back at my young childhood and remember all those wonderful days. I hear other kids saying "I want to grow up" and I want to tell them, "NO! Just enjoy your life now!" However I suppose that is just a part of life.
Yesterday I put this video together to a song that makes me want to cry sometimes (and no I don't usually cry :D). "You're Gonna Miss This".

Enjoy! (and try not to cry....)

~Bethany~

Day 15.....A Person I Admire

2011-01-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

Abraham Lincoln

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.
--August 27, 1856 Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Abraham Lincoln was one of those men who was hardworking, caring, courageous, honest, and loved this country. He was a man whom as I look back through my history books I cannot help but admire this modest man who lead this country through one of it's darkest moments.

~Bethany~

Day 14......A Vacation I Would Like To Take

2011-01-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I have not been to all that many states in our fascinating country, but there is one that has been on my mind for some time....

Why? I don't really know except that it is out west, it is down south, and it is beautiful. :)

So that is one place I would really like to visit. :)

~Bethany~

Day 13......A Guilty Pleasure

2011-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, you ready for this? Abigail said it's out and out confession time. :)

My guilty pleasure.....

Scaring guys.

With snakes.

Or whatever else they are scared of.

That's all.

~Bethany~

Day 12......A Song I Want Played At My Wedding

2011-01-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about this question today seeing as how I usually don't think too much about little details like this about my wedding. I'm not sure as to what songs will be played while all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen and parents and parents and grandparents and all that are walking down. I do have other plans, like what I'm going to wear. A beautiful modest wedding dress. Yep, got it all picked out for over $900. Ok, so I'll have to find someone that can magically turn my dream into reality for cheaper than that. :D Bridesmaids? Red and white checkered shirts and jean skirts. White handkerchief around the neck. Guys similar, I'm still trying to decide if I want everyone wearing red and white checkered or not. Brown vests though for the guys. Groom though has to wear tradition. Sorry to whoever that is. :D Cowboy boots for all! Anyway....then we'll have a hog roast and some good ol' fashion dancing. I'm going to get some people who can play bluegrass for fun. The song I do have picked out however is for my first dance and that is, Forever and Ever Amen by Randy Travis.

Anyway, those are a few of my wedding plans. I don't want it to be strenuous and difficult but fun for everyone!

~Bethany~

Day 11....A recent picture of me

2011-01-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is a few more than one picture.....but here are some of my favorite senior pictures!

~Bethany~

Day 10.....A photo of me taken over 10 years ago.

2011-01-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, these are photos of me as a youngster! :)

18 months

3 years old

5 years old....first goat show!

Yep, loved goats even way back then!

~Bethany~

Day 9......A photo I took

2011-01-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos I took the other morning. It was just gorgous outside, even though it was -2*F! Oh I love winter! God's creation is beautiful!

~Bethany~

Day 8.....A Thank You Letter

2011-01-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

Day 8 is a thank you letter to someone who has changed my life.

Dear Dad and Mom,
Seventeen years and 5 months ago, I entered the world into your hands. I couldn't have asked for better parents. I know I can be difficult sometimes and not the help that I could be but still you are there for me whenever I need you. You never give up on me, you never leave me. Thank you both so much loving me with an unconditional love. You have pressed me to do what I love to do, you have encouraged me to be successful. You have helped me to become a godly girl. You have taught me about Jesus, my dear Savior. I don't think I can ever thank you enough.

I love you both!

Your daughter,
~Bethany~

Day 7......5 Things I could not live Without

2011-01-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

I'm making my post today kinda quick, because I'm going to go watch a movie called "North and South". :)

#5) Books

#4) Education/History

#3)Water

#2) FOOD!

#1) The Lord Jesus, my blessed Savior.

~Bethany~

Day 6 - A Moment I Wish I Could Relive

2011-01-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

There are many moments in my life that sometimes I wish I could go back to. Like when it was just me and Abigail running around the house, giggling about little girl things, just 5 and 6 years old. Or maybe those times that dear friends of mine would sit together and chat long hours of the night away in the haymow. Oh wait, how about that time that several of us kiddos slid down a homemade slip and slide right into a manure pile in over 100* weather. Or going to Ukraine to adopt two little girls? Or the days where our family was just about ready to move into our house and it wasn't quite finished so we slept out in a camper and did dishes in icy cold water. All of those memories that I have in the back of my mind.

Here is a special fun memory however from a long day in my life. AKA, the day my brother was born. I was honored to be woken up at 4:30 in the morning on May 21st. It was so neat to be able to watch the birth, but there was a rather big problem. Ok, he was like 4-5 weeks early and born at home. So, when he was born my mom started saying over and over "he's not breathing, he's not breathing". Mind you, he was screaming at the top of his lungs. :D However, they did end up putting him on oxygen that the midwives had and they kicked us out of the room. They sent me out to milk the goats since mom didn't have much milk and when I came in most of the kids were already awake and eating breakfast. I don't consider myself having a weak stomach, but I just could NOT get myself to eat. :) Our neighbors called having already heard about his birth and knew that he may have to go to the hospital. Mom's bedroom was still off limits and then the midwife and Dad came walking out of the room with Ben wrapped in a garbage bag. So Abigail and I gathered all the kiddos up and brought them up to the neighbors where we all headed off to a dog show like 2 hours away ( I have no clue where ). It started raining and there were tornado watches out all day. We got home at like 4:00 and no one was home and so we made supper and did chores. Dad got home and said that Ben was in the Hospital and mom was with him and they had gotten him to the hospital during the tornado watches and was brought to the ground floor and so I guess it was just all crazy. The day was what I call a zoikia but a good memory. Oh wait....this was supposed to be something I wish I could relive. Oh well....:D

The best part was hearing the words...."It's a boy". :D YAY!!!! lol

~Bethany~

Day 5.....Favorite Quote

2011-01-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

I'm actually going to just do ONE quote today. :) This is one of my favorite quotes because it rings so true today. It was spoken by a very wise man who helped to found our country, Benjamin Franklin.

“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

I think he saw what could happen in this country, and unfortunately people are realizing that they can vote themselves money. Can we make it so that we can still keep the republic of this country in place? If we work hard....like Benjamin Franklin and the other founding fathers, with a passion.

~Bethany~

Day #4....Favorite TV show

2011-01-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so we don't have Television at our house, but I do have some old TV shows that are favorites of mine! My all time favorite though is:

Schultz - "I see nothing.....!!!!!!!!!!!"

Klink - "No prisoner escapes from Stalag 13!"

Schultz,"into the cooler they go. Throw away the key. "
Carter: "Don't we get a trial or anything?"
Colonel Klink: "This is Germany. Although I do appreciate your sense of humor."

You've got to watch this if you haven't! It's absolutely hilarious!

Day 3....Favorite Book

2011-01-04T03:59:00.000-08:00

When I first heard the title of this book, I literally groaned. Another one of those books from my parents that dead set against dating. And without dating, how was I EVER going to get married? You know, married, as in finding a husband, living happily ever after? So the book sat on my bookshelf for a while collecting dust while I attempted to gain the courage to read what I thought was going to be another "thou shalt" and "thou shalt nots" book. It probably still would be sitting there if a few dear friends of mine didn't ask me to do a book study with them. So I read it. Once. It wasn't bad. Really it wasn't. This guy actually kinda had a clue as to what he was talking about. It wasn't until I started having young men seeking me out and me actually thinking about dating that I really found the truth in this book. It taught me about commitment and dedication to a relationship and about the feelings of others. I very highly recommended it!

~Bethany~

Day 2....Favorite Movie

2011-01-03T02:50:00.000-08:00

Here's two of my favorite movies(yeah I keep breaking the rules don't I?)...and and some quotes to go along with them! :)

"Just look at it, gentlemen. How calm... how peaceful it is. A strip of water between England and the continent... between the Allies and us. But beyond that peaceful horizon... a monster waits. A coiled spring of men, ships, and planes... straining to be released against us. But, gentlemen, not a single Allied soldier shall reach the shore. Whenever and wherever this invasion may come, gentlemen... I shall destroy the enemy there, at the water's edge. Believe me, gentlemen, the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive. For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day... The longest day."

Leigh Ann Touhy -
"If you so much as set foot downtown, you will be sorry. I'm in a prayer group with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA and I'm always packing."
"I said you could thank me later. It's later, Bert."
Michael Oher -
"Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too."

Day 1 - Favorite song

2011-01-02T04:35:00.000-08:00

Day one.....favorite song. This is tough, so I'm going to post a few of my favorites.

Take Your Candle - Kathy Trocolli

Have You Forgotten - Darryl Worley

And here are the words to one of my favorite hymns....

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace is probably one of the most well known hymns known to every American and others in many other countries. Do you ever stop and think about how much this song says? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. That SAVED a WRETCH like ME! Wow! God's grace is completely amazing. 'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home. Thank you Lord!

In God's grace,

~Bethany~

30 Day Challenge

2011-01-01T14:24:00.000-08:00

I am going to start an interesting journey on my blog here, starting tomorrow. This is a "30 day challenge" so if I'm faithful, it should go exactly through the month of January. :) I have joined Joshua @ A Warrior's Heart and other bloggers from cyber space in an interesting challenge. This should be fun, and I'd love to have others join me!

Day 1: A favorite song.

Day 2: A favorite movie.

Day 3: A favorite book.

Day 4: A favorite television program.

Day 5: A favorite quote.

Day 6: A moment you wish you could relive.

Day 7: Five things you couldn't possibly live without.

Day 8: A thank you letter to someone who has changed your life.

Day 9: A photo you took.

Day 10: A photo of you taken over ten years ago.

Day 11: A photo of you taken recently.

Day 12: A song that you want played at your wedding(or was played).

Day 13: A guilty pleasure.

Day 14: A vacation you would like to take.

Day 15: A person you admire.

Day 16: A song that makes you cry.

Day 17: An art piece.

Day 18: A time when you felt passionate and alive.

Day 19: A talent of yours.

Day 20: A hobby of yours.

Day 21: Something you know you do differently than most people.

Day 22: A website.

Day 23: A way in which you want to be remembered.

Day 24: A movie no one would expect you to love.

Day 25: A recipe.

Day 26: A childhood memory.

Day 27: A physical feature you love.

Day 28: A scar you have and it's story.

Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans you have for the next 365 days.

Day 30: A motto or philosophy.

It should be fun!

~Bethany~

2010.....a pure blessing

2010-12-31T14:53:00.000-08:00

The year 2010 has been filled with new things for yours truly, new shows, new fairs, new livestock, new school, new experiences, new look. It's been an amazing year and it is with meloncholy thoughts that I say goodbye to it. On top of all that, it is the end of a decade. A decade in which I've changed so much, yes from 7 years old to 17, it's been filled with many changes. 10 years ago I had just gained two little sisters. I was to gain 2 more siblings plus many "siblings" through foster care in the next 10 years. I got into 4H, FFA, found a love for agriculture, politics, God, my family. I can only hope that the next 10 years will be just as amazing! Here at the end of the year, I am reminded of these words,

"Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!"

What a beautiful song! Perhaps it wasn't a perfect year. There were times I just wanted it to be done. But God is powerful and always saw me through everything. He is a merciful and loving God and I would be nothing without Him.

Now as we look forward towards a new year I pray that I will keep my heart open to God's direction and listen to His call. And I just can't wait to see what He has for me! How exciting! :)

I think this verse will be my theme verse for the year 2011.

Psalm 37:4,7
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass ... Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.

May you all enjoy a wonderful New Years Eve and have a wonderful beginning of the year 2011!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

A Way In A Manger

2010-12-25T03:47:00.000-08:00

Last night my family went to church for the Christmas eve candlelight service and I was caught by a song that a young lady sung. I'd never heard it before, "He Made A Way In A Manger".

He Made A Way In A Manger
Longing for a Savior
A hopeless world would wait
Sin demanded justice
At a price we could not pay;
But God displayed his mercy
The greatest gift of love
When we could not reach heaven
Heaven came to us.

Chorus:
He made a way in a manger
A way to the cross
Messiah the promised
Before time had begun;
For God so loved this world
Though he knew what love would cost
He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross.

In Bethlehem a stable
Became a throne of grace
As God himself our Savior
Drew near to take our place;
His mother smiled in wonder
As shepherds stood in awe
The sacrifice of heaven
Lay sleeping in the straw.

He is the life that died our death
The precious Lord Jesus
Laid down his sweet head.

Chorus:
He made a way in a manger
A way to the cross
Messiah, the promised
Before time had begun;
For God so loved this world
Though He knew what love would cost
He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross.

Away in a manger, no crib for his bed
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

In a time where Christmas is a celebrated event spent with family and friends opening gifts and eating too much food, we must go back to when God sent His only Son to earth. Imagine what it must have been like up there in heaven, with the angels wondering where their Creator was going. Going to earth? To be a child? A human being? That lowly? Jesus was the King of Kings! He had no right down there. But He went anyway. Why? Because He loved us. God loved us so much, that He sent his Son here, He made that way through a manger, to the cross, and to our hearts. This Christmas season, let us be thankful to Him for all that He has done for us.

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Puppy pics

2010-12-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

Here's just a few pics of Abigail and I with a few of our puppies that we have right now. The puppies are 3 1/2 weeks old, so cute! The one that I'm holding is a girl and we're going to keep her....I'm rooting for the name Liberty, what do you all think? Registered name...."Give Me Liberty"....yeah anyway :D Just thought I'd share these!

Liberty and I!

Abigail and both yellow females

So, today was the last day of school for the year! We go back on the 3rd of January....so a nice wonderful over 2 weeks break! Yay!!! Trying to plan activities now for the next two weeks when we have everyone home.....hmmmmmm :) any ideas anyone? lol

~Bethany~

Since it's been forever......

2010-12-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know, it's been next to forever since I've posted anything on here. I've finally fallen into back into my regular routine of school, meetings, chores, and life. Today is a little out of the norm however....we got a snow day! So instead of the usual quiet in the house on school days there are 4 additional people that are trying to find something to do. On top of that, it's freezing cold (like 16*, realfeel of 1*). So I'm catching up on web stuff and sitting upstairs by the fire. It's 61* downstairs, so the 76* feels amazing. :) Anyway.....

I did have a tragedy happen, my laptop was infected by a horrible virus. I was told it was one of the worst viruses around and it's amazing I am able to still use it. However, I did lose a lot of my pictures, including a bunch from my D.C. trip. I was disappointed, but what can be done? Oh, and the hinges broke on this thing, so I think it may be time for a new laptop soon. I think I'll wait 'till right before college though.

Anyway, here's some recent pics .......

Last week, the homeschool group had a field trip, going to a an old one room schoolhouse and learning like children did back in the 1800s. I wasn't able to join because of school, but I thought I'd share the pictures!

The classroom full of children from grades 1-8!

Two boys intent on studying.

Jordan working hard.

Mom was "teacher" for the day.

We also did our annual cookie baking day and caroling! I don't have too many pictures of the day, but I do have a picture of some of the goodies!!!

Our family also picked out our Christmas tree at a small tree farm near our place.

It's now sitting in our living room not decorated :) We just bought the lights today, so I guess it will get decorated later this afternoon.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day!
~Bethany~

Judging results and teeth news

2010-11-21T12:55:00.000-08:00

So maybe you're all wondering how the Livestock Judging went. Well.....here are the results of our team.

Overall in Sheep/(Meat) Goats - 5th place

Overall in Hogs - 6th place

Overall in Cattle - 10th place

Overall in Oral Reasons - 4th place

Overall Team - 6th place

There were around 40 teams at the National Competition. Besides the winning team, we were the only team to place in all of the top 10 categories. We were also the only team to have 2 top 10 individuals. Both of the boys on our team did amazingly well and placed 5th and 6th individually. To say the least, we were amazing, astonished, excited, and overwhelmed.

I would like to thank the Lord for His amazing peace and calm that I felt during the whole contest. I often thought of the movie "Facing the Giants" as I knew that we were competing against teams that were judging in college. I told the Lord that I would praise Him if we won or praise Him if we lost. I thank Him so much for helping us do as well as we did. He receives the glory!

On Friday afternoon Abigail and I made the trek to Detroit so as to get our wisdom teeth pulled. The whole process of getting the teeth pulled wasn't so bad ( we were so all numbed up ) but the 2 hour ride home without meds and coming out of the numbing was awful. Let's just say I'm very glad to be on HIGH doses of vicodin. :D

Anyway, that's been my last week. I'd love to hear how life has been going for all of you!
~Bethany~

Honoring America's Veterans

2010-11-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all of the men and women who have served and given their lives for our country, the United States of America. Freedom would not be possible without any of you.

Thank you.

~Bethany~

Stuff

2010-11-08T14:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, so much has happened since I last updated and I just totally lost track of this blog. Sorry peeps! I am heading off to Lousivile for judging and then that is the end of the chapter in my life and my life will get much less complicated...soo...bare with me these next few weeks and then you can tell me I'm not a good blogger. :D

Quick update:

Nationals was amazing. Great times, great people, great sessions, great workshops, just amazing.

Elections are over! As some of you may know, I have been volunteering with several other teens for the "Fix Michigan Center" in our county. It's been an amazing opportunity to work for our country, learn more about government, and learn to talk on the phone!!!! haha. I'm sure I made well over 3000 calls during those few times I was in there. I will say that I was very pleased to see so many Republicans with this election. May they bring God glory!

I've got my senior pictures!!! But I'm not sharing those quite yet until I get them all printed off and start sharing with people........:D

So.....pretty much I've been busy with school, FFA, elections, judging and life. Thankfully here in a few weeks I will slowing down majorly. I'll be down to school and FFA. Yep, got plenty to do there too. :D

I do have a few pictures to share from yesterday however. The whole family was out cleaning up gardens and all that. Amazing what a little bit of time will do when you've got lots of willing hands! :)

Abigail weeding. :)

Fall is the best time to split plants to create more flowers!

Dad digging up and planting bulbs.

Jon and Ben cleaning up the garden.

We should have lots of pretty flowers come spring!

So that's a quick update from Asher Acres! Hope your autumn season is going wonderfully!

~Bethany~

FFA National Convention!!!

2010-10-19T02:56:00.000-07:00

I'm heading to Indianapolis for the FFA National Convention this morning! I won't be back until Friday afternoon....so it will be a week full of fun and hopefully learning! :) Have a great week everyone!

~Bethany~

Fall Fun

2010-10-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

It's the time of the year when the leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp with a morning frost, and school is well underway. However, it is also the time for the last warm days of the year and wonderful times of fun for all children. A few days ago, Abigail and I went out for a photo shoot of the children playing on the tire swing. Here's just a few of them!

Ben :)

What a beautiful picture of perfect childish innocence and freedom.

Josh!

Cute Johnny. :)

Enjoy the beautiful days that we have been given!

~Bethany~

Prayer Requests

2010-10-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to be posting prayer requests for sick people....so I'm gonna chime in here and request prayer for Abigail. If you remember back a few months, I had mono (which by the way, she gave to me). However, she still has not fully recovered from her bout with it. She has been having fevers almost every evening, lays around a ton, and just doesn't have her regular energy. Mom took her to the doctor the other day to see what was up and they said she also now has anemia. So besides having mono and trying to beat that, she is struggling with getting iron and is exhausted from anemia too. Soooo.....if you could PLEASE pray for her, that would be such a blessing!

Another prayer request that is going to remain unspoken. Our family has a potential big change facing us and we really would like to request prayer for wisdom.

Thank you all so much!

A few pics of my AmAzInG siblings:

What a boy!

My sweet and beautiful sister. :)

What a cutie!

Rachel!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

~Bethany~

2010-10-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

"For there is no friend like a sister

In calm or story weather

To cheer one on the tedious way

To fetch one if one goes astray

To lift one if one totters down

To strengthen whilst one stands."

~Chrstina Rossetti~

Psalm 100

2010-09-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

Psalm 100

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the Earth

Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endureth forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations."

....Beginning of Autumn

2010-09-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Autumn is at last upon us. As a family we went to a local orchard and picked over 230 pounds of apples. Hopefully enough for applesauce or the winter! Picking apples every year is a family tradition that I hope never ends.
Yesterday was a beautiful evening for our excursion. Note: these pictures are all courtesy of my sister. My camera batteries died. :(

Beautiful mother picking apples!

Ben's havin' fun!

Field view from the orchard.

This would be me. :)

Ok, these are my pics with her camera. I thought they just turned out so cool!

All of us kiddos!

Abigail <3 I!

Dad <3 Mom!

Youngest to oldest. Another family tradition...this picture. We have a few of the framed on our walls.

Sisters <3

May you all enjoy the blessings of fall!

~Bethany~

End of summer.....

2010-09-22T17:54:00.000-07:00


Who doesn't love a good country rodeo?

Monday evening I took several of my siblings to a rodeo about an hour away from here at a county fair. It's interesting to sit back and watch guys get thrown from crazy bulls who had only one thought in their heads.....rid themselves of the monster on their back and keep them from riding again. Thankfully there were no serious injurious and just lots of good fun.

Summer is officially over (ok...@ 11:09 pm tonight) and things are winding down into normality here. Whatever that is. My days are pretty much the same...wake up at 5:30 to do chores, leave for school at 7:45, leave school at 11:10 for Careers Center (which gets out at 2:35, but I stick around to do homework), go pick up Rebekah at 3:35 and head home (getting there at 4:00). Then chores around 4:30 or 5 and evening activity (whether is church, making phone calls for the local Republican Center, school something, or whatever else comes up. Bed around 9:30 if possible. :) Weekends....Sat. livestock judging and Sundays...church and chilin'!!!! :)

Anyway....hope everything is well! Does anyone have any ideas on posts? As you may have noticed.....I've kinda died off lately. :P

~Bethany~

In Remembrance.....

2010-09-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

....of the many men and women who were killed by attacks on our county 9 years ago......

....of those who risked their lives to save others in the attacks...

...and of those who have given their lives since then, so that we may live in a safe and free land.

You will never be forgotten in our hearts and minds.

School time!

2010-09-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

School has begun for most schools now. Life has also mildly changed for me. As in....I'm going to a public school this year. :) My parents decided that it would be the best thing for me to go to our local public school and take Algebra II, World Literature, and Chemistry. I start my classes at 8:05 A.M and get out 10:45. I then go for lunch and head straight to the Career Center. Those classes start at 11:50 and get out at 2:35. Then I have 55 minutes to hang out in town before I go pick up Rebekah from school who gets out at 3:30. She is going to a private school about 5 min. away from the Career Center so it works well for me to pick her up. I then get home right around 4:00. Then I have about an hour to relax or do homework before chores, then supper, then evening activities whatever it may be, then bed!!!! :) Best thing about this year....I'm a senior!! Last year!!! Woohoo!!! :)

Anyway....hope all of you school goers are enjoying your new school year! If you are homeschooled, have you started yet? I know the homeschooled ones here are just getting ready. :) Don't you love that relaxed schedule? :)

Blessings,
~Bethany~

Fair in Review

2010-09-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

So with well over two weeks under our belts after fair I'm finally up to doing a good long blog post on our week at Calhoun County Fair. :) What an AmAzInG week it was!!! I'll go through it day by day.

Saturday (Aug. 14) - I woke up early and went to Coldwater with a friend so do chores and get some last minute pictures printed off. I got home around 9:30 and the family was loading all of the craft/baking/etc. exhibits into the van. I gathered all of mine (on a neat little pile in my room all ready to go, I was so happy with myself :D *pats self on back) and we were off! I brought my photography exhibits, writing, goat educational exhibit, hog market records, and starter calf market records. My main photography exhibit went best of class (best of all 2nd year exhibits) and one of the 5 individual 8x10 photos did as well! I was pretty happy with that! My educational exhibit when best of class (probably because it was the only one......blah do I feel happy or what???? Neither of my market records did anything great or grand but they both got an A award so can't complain too much. :D Anyway....I left at 2:45 and headed to Branch County again where I competed in a livestock judging contest. I went 2nd overall (beat by one of my teammates). I did chores and then went home to get a few things ready for the following day, then went BACK to Branch where we loaded up the girls, cleaned pens and cleared out of that fair. Made it home late and got the last minute things around for Sunday.

Sunday (Aug. 15) - We left with the goats around 8:00 and had everyone unloaded and settled in by 9:00. We only brought around 13 so it was a nice easy number to handle. We came back home and ate a wonderful breakfast of pancakes and then after packing the last of the clothes and needed items of the week we loaded up the hogs (after some last minute clipping!) and my starter calf and we were headed off the fair! After unloading them, Abigail and I took a few of the younger ones to go watch the Fair Queen contest. Yes, there were no guys that ran this year so the queen was crowned alone. :/ Lame huh? :D Anyway....after watching that we found some friends and hung out for the afternoon, did chores and got our does ready for the show (which was Monday). I also helped a few 4H members get their animals clipped up and last minute prep things around. Went to bed kinda early so that we could get up on time for the show the next day.

My starter calf is on the far right

Monday (Aug. 16) - Abigail and I were up early to get the girls all ready, do other chores and get our hogs weighed in. I was worried mine wouldn't make weight so I beefed them up on milk and whatever else they would eat and they tipped the scales at 220 and 229 (min. weight was 220!!!!!). Whew, just barely. After seeing that done I hurried over to our camper for a bite to eat and changed into show clothes. We changed up the schedule a little bit and did all of the dairy breed classes first. After all of those were done we went into showmanship. Abigail won her age division and I won mine. As soon as I was done with my age division I had to go show my starter calf which a few dear friends had saved the day and gotten him all ready for me. So there I went in my show whites to show a STARTER CALF of all things! I was rather upset that it had to be so rushed but whatever. I didn't make the cut in showmanship, but that was okay. :) The judge said I still did very well for my first year. Anyway.....I got back to the goat show where we did overall showmanship. I won.....but barely. I'll have to work to keep this up. Note: Goats have 4 stomachs, the ruman, reticulum, abomasum and omasum. :) So after the goat show I went and chilled for about 3.7 minutes and changed into real starter calf show clothes. I then showed him in his market class where he placed.....4th or 5th. Can't remember. :P Then for the rest of that blessed day I didn't do much. Just hung out with friends and walked around the fair not doing much except talking. :)

Tuesday (Aug. 17) - We slept in and then did chores. From 10-noon Elizabeth and I had barn duty and we got the barn swept out and then she went with Dad to go watch Rachel show Buster and go around barns getting free stuff (it was kids day). I sat there in front of the barn for an hour with nothing to do but a few kids rescued me and after I got off barn duty we hung out for a while. I watched some friends show sheep, and then walked around and watched a frog jumping contest with Johnny. Around 3:00 I went to go watch Rachel but they weren't doing anything thrilling and since I was exhausted after a while, Abigail and I went back to the camper and took a nap. Then she and I went to wash our hogs for showmanship!!! We changed and then watched the little ones (Elizabeth, Johnny and Ben) show hogs in the peewee division. So cute! Abigail was in the first division of Intermediates (that age division went first so the order was Intermediates, Junior, Senior) and unfortunantly didn't make the cut. :/ Oh well, I thought she did quite well for her first attempt. :) Her hog worked VERY well with her. I didn't show until 8:30ish and I MADE THE CUT!!! Okay, so was my goal of the year. :) In the final drive for seniors there were around 12 kids. My hog was being a real problem. He was very knowledgeable of where the OUT gate was and pretty much that's where he wanted to be. However, I got him on a different route and he started working with me. We ended up 5th overall! I was STOKED! Anyway, huge day for me. :)

Wednesday (Aug. 18) - Abigail and I were up again early so as to get all of our chores done before the hogs show at 9:00. I was in the first class of market pens and with Abigail's help we placed 4th! This was my first year showing a pen and it was a new and fun experience. Later on I helped a friend show his pen. It wasn't until several hours later that we showed individuals. Mine placed 4th, Abigail's placed 8th. A few of us sat and watched the individual hog show and saw the results. What amazing hogs there are out there! Wowweee!!! Heavy boned, wide based, heavy structured, heavy, heavy muscled, and yet easy on the move. After watching the Grand/Reserve Individuals we headed back to the camper to prepare the meal for the small animal auction. I helped cut up a good couple hundred goat meat sticks. :) Then I went to go get my starter calf all cleaned up so he would be presentable at the auction. The auction started at 6:00 but I didn't sell until probably 7:30 or so. I helped with some of the goat sale things after I sold and then a whole bunch of us walked around until we could get into the grandstand free to watch the truck pulls. :) We stayed up kinda late but it was a fun night.

Thursday (Aug. 19) - This was the day I had nothing to show but found myself busy all day. :) I woke up kinda late and did chores by myself. Abigail and I then had barn duty from 11:00 - 1:00 in the hog barn. I arrived a few minutes early and found a few other people with special instructions. We were busy most of the time sweeping, scooping out old shavings, playing cards, sweeping, playing some more cards and chatting with friends. :) Pretty intense. Anyway.....I had a one hour break where I went around finding out how to show different animals. We covered dogs, rabbits, poultry and cavy (yes that is guinea pigs...). I then headed back to a long 2 1/2 hour barn duty in the starter calf barn. There were two of us on barn duty but it was a friend so we occasionally swept the barn, mostly played cards and talked, and once in a while showed kids how to show calves (for show of champs). 4:30 took a LONG time to come around but we made it. :) Abigail and I then headed to do chores and eat some supper before 6:30 then headed to get our "pit crew" passes and our "Myer's Mayhem" t-shirts for the combine derby. She and I had fun hanging out with friends, watching Erik and Mrs. Myers compete in the derby (and both win their heats!) and finding out what the pit crew does. Okay, so I didn't help too much. :D Anyway, probably one of my fav. nights at the fair. The combine derby ROCKS! :)

Friday (Aug. 20) - Large Animal Auction day. The auction started at 11:00 and other than chores, we didn't do too much in the morning. We cleaned up our animals and made sure they were all looking good for the auction, ate a good breakfast, took a shower, you know, all the normal stuff. Even though the auctions started at 11:00, I didn't sell until nearly 1:30 so I just watched animals sell, hung out with friends, walked around and talked to a guy running for our state rep. (62nd district) and offered my services (more on this coming....). I FINALLY sold and my hogs went for $1.75 a pound (thank you to my buyer :)). After selling I went to help for well over an hour serving potato salad at the meal served to bidders. I love helping out, but it's much more fun when I do it with someone I know and I was standing next to a lady who was visiting with the lady on her other side the entire time. Okay....kinda boring. :p Anyway, after all that I went around figuring out how to show other animals such as halter horses, miniature horses, draft horses, dairy, and beef breeding. I watched other animals sell and helped do chores ( Abigail and I let little children milk the goats by hand and gave out "I milked a dairy goat" ribbons to those who succeeded with the milking). Around 7:00 we all headed over to the camper to eat a wonderful meal of hamburgers and all the fixin's. At 8:00 a few friends joined us to give Abigail a gift of several hundred dollars that many friends and family had donated to help cover the loss of her steer. Then two friends and I headed over to the Republican booth to talk to the guy running for state rep (same one mentioned earlier), however he wasn't there. Ok, quick funny story. We meandered over to the Democrat booth and were looking at all of the pins that they had displayed. We couldn't help but laugh at some of them and one person in our group picked one up planning to take home. He then realized that they cost money so he put it back. Meanwhile we decided to go back to the Republican booth so we started off in that direction when the lady sitting at the Democrat booth comes up right behind us and says "you know these pins cost money". We're all like "yyyeeeaaahhh.....???" She said "we don't have much money and I don't appreciate people trying to steal from us." We were all like "yeah that makes sense....". We kinda turn to walk away and she says "young man, please put back the pin." He kinda looks confused. "I saw you take that pin, it's in your left hand." He slowly points to the pin he had put back several minutes earlier. "Oh, ok. Well those cost money and our party doesn't have much money" and blah blah blah. We three turned outta there and were busting up laughing before you could say scat. I told the other two that if the lady was trying to win any votes, it wasn't working too well. :D Anyway, we went back to the Republican booth and chatted with the VERY NICE gentlemen there. Then we cleaned out some steer stalls, took care of some other chores, went through the horse barn, talked forever about everything under the sun, visited a friend's camper, saw a house fire right next to the fairgrounds (very interesting as I have never seen a house fire!) and made it back to my camper at 11:30. Fun fun! Probably another of my fav. nights.

Saturday (Aug. 21) - Last full day of fair. Everyone is slow in the morning, we all woke up late. Several people brought tack home and other unnecessary items. I cleaned out a few pens and did several other things so that we would be all ready to pack up and leave. I didn't really have breakfast and the time went quickly. I didn't get done with chores until around 11:00. I got my thank yous in to my 4H leaders, then went to go get ready for Show of Champs which started at noon. Amidst a rainy drizzle Abigail, the beginner showman, and I headed to the show arena for one of the biggest events of the week. :) We had to begin with showing goats, then went to sheep, draft horses, halter horses, beef steers, beef breeding, hogs, starter calves, dairy, dogs, poultry, cavy, rabbits, and miniature horses. After waiting FOREVER while the results were coming in, all of the contestants were called out to the middle of the arena. After introducing everyone to the audience, the beginner results were announced. Then the Intermediate. Abigail didn't get Reserve....but got Grand!!!!!! Go Abigail! Then the senior....I ended up with Reserve! I was stoked! What a great way to end our showing of the year! After getting done, Abigail and I went to get our premium checks, then watched the General Market Project auction. We knew a few kids selling items, as well as the auctioneer....a newly graduated auctioneer. This was his first auction and it was fun to listen. :) After watching the auction we went with friends to go look at some of the derby cars and paint our names on the trucks of the truck derby boys. After that, I did chores and got a few seats saved for the derby. About 10 of us all sat together and watched the derby....how awesome! It was a blast! At the end of the derby we watched the AwEsOmE fireworks. The fairground never disappoints me with the fireworks display and this year was no exception. We then went on some rides and ate some fair food right before everything shut down for the last evening. After walking around with friends, we sat by our camper talking with some other kids until about 1:30 A.M. Abigail and I finally fell asleep with that melancholy, exhausted feeling that always comes at the end of fair week.

Sunday morning we were up at 6:00 tearing down pens, cleaning barns and taking everything home. What a wonder to be home after being at the fairgrounds the whole week!

The last few weeks have been full of cleaning, canning, freezing, camping, working, chillin', and cleaning some more. :) Now with just a few days before school, life is about to settle down into a normal routine and I'm kinda looking forward to it. More news to come soon....but for now I'm going to attempt just getting this crazy book of a post up. :)

Have a great wonderful day!

~Bethany~

Fair time!

2010-08-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hello folks! It's been a little while since I last posted and fair is the reason why! Last Saturday (the 7th) I was busy bringing animals into the fair. I was at the Careers Center at 7:00 getting my steer ready to load up. I came home around noon and brought my goats (Thea', Dixie, Callie and Kit) in later in the evening. Abigail and I watched the Combine Derby and then came home and dropped. :) Mono sure does make a body exhausted.

Sunday and Monday we didn't do too much. I did chores, worked a little with my steer, hung out a little at the fair, that kind of typical stuff. Tuesday I was up bright and early on the road at 5:45. Showmanship started at 8:30 and I showed around 9:30. Unfortunately I didn't make the cut. :( The market classes didn't start until way later so I grabbed a bite to eat and then took a nap in the tack pen on a bale of hay. :D My steer took 3rd in his market class so not a bad day. Hot hot though. Like really hot. When I came home I just wanted to take a cold shower, curl up downstairs and watch a movie while eating ice cream. So that's what I did. :)

Wednesday was the goat show at 4:00 in the afternoon. I won my showmanship age division and so did Abigail. I also received Reserve Overall Showman. I got beat out by the girl in the oldest age division. :/ Our does did well placing the tops of their classes. Dixie received Overall Grand Champion Dairy Doe and Thea' went Reserve.

Now we are working on fair projects here. We are getting the camper all filled up since we are bringing it to Calhoun County fairgrounds tonight. We bring in crafts/market records on Saturday and animals on Sunday. At Branch, I have the large animal auction tomorrow and a livestock judging contest on Saturday. Soooo.....its a little busy! :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of the summer! I keep hearing all these back to school ads on the radio. yikes! Not that time of the year already!!! :)

~Bethany~

Photography!!!!

2010-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning folks!
First off I want to thank you all for the many sweet birthday and get-well-soon wishes! I'm doing much better, though still trying to take it easy to I don't overdo it and end up sick again. :) We now have a few others down with it, though they seem to not be effected quite as badly. Hopefully we'll all be better before fair so that it doesn't make our week miserable. :)

Anyway...I've been working on some of my fair projects such as photography and writing. Here are just a few pics that I am entering into the fair. I am blowing these up at 8x10s and entering them separate from my main exhibit. Let me know what you think! Love hearing from all of you!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

2010-08-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well last night my parents were on the verge of taking me to the ER because of the serious swelling of my tonsils. I wanted to wait however and get some sleep. This morning around 8:00 we headed to the doctor's officer where I found out I have Strep Throat and Mono. Yay!!! So...that means I'm gonna have to take it really easy the next few weeks (which the next few weeks also include 2 weeks of fair.) It could be lots of fun!!!

It's so easy to get discouraged at this time, but I want to share some encouragement I recieved today. This lady did not realize that I was sick, so I thought it very amazing that God keeps up our spirits by encouraging us through little things. Anyway...here's a little note she sent:

Happy Birthday Bethany...hope it is a Great day..but it will be because this is the day that the Lord has made! :)

Wow!!! Sotrue! I may want to complain, I mean I only have so many birthdays you know and 17 for goodness sakes! I only have so many teen birthdays! Wellllll, it doesn't matter! This is still a great day because the Lord made it and He's in control....Praise the Lord!

Well, I'll leave you with that thought, hope all is well with everyone!

Bethany

2010-08-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

Shivering, shaking, blankets piled a mile high. I can't stop the cold that's seeping all the way from my nose to the tip of my toes. My fingers turn white and I can't stop chattering. My fever shoots up to 102* or 103* and I turn to take a little more codeine/tylenol. I go into a serious haze for about an hour, not sleeping and not fully awake. I fall asleep, a deep sleep very much welcomed. I wake up and hour or two later. I start sweating, my shirt gets soaked. My face is red and soaked with sweat. My fever is finally leaving me. It goes down to 100*, even goes away fully, or just stays high. I have about an hour of peace, so I read, get on the internet, or just lie there. The the chills come on again. The process repeats itself. Meanwhile...my throat hurts, I can hardly swallow and it's hard to breath and talk because my tonsils are swollen. I drink lots of ice cold water and eat lots of ice cream, but it only helps momentarily.

To make a long story short...I'm sick. Like really sick. The main problem with this is that we were planning on going to lake Michigan today to celebrate my Birthday (which is tomorrow). It was a lovely day...sunny and around 85*. There was a beautiful sunset that would have been perfect for pictures....but alas it was not meant to happen. Tomorrow is my birthday and I don't have high hopes for feeling any better. I'm going early in the morning to the doctor so we can see what's up with the throat. I really want the tonsils removed...but they probably won't go for it. :/ Anyway.....

Well, so that's been my delightful day. Hope yours has been more enjoyable. :)

~Bethany~

2010-07-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm home from D.C.!!!! I left on the plane at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning and flew in at 1:10 Sun. afternoon. What an amazing week I experienced. I was challenged all week to look at myself, others and how I can change the world. Yes I've read about it, dreamed about it, hoped for it and even planned for it, but now, I'm going to TAKE ACTION! Anyway....here are a few monuments of my week! I did journal, so here they are!

7-20-10 3:45 p.m.
So this morning I took off for an adventure, yeah another one. I woke up at 3:30 @ my grandparent's home, ate a quick bowl of cereal, then drove to the Grand Rapids airport. There I got on a flight leaving @ 6:00 a.m. for Cleveland OH. I arrived around 7 and had a one hour layover. Then I got on a plane for D.C. I arrived around 9:00. Instead of waiting for WLC (Washington Leadership Conference) staff, I found my luggage and got a taxi and headed for the hotel I was staying at. When I arrived I found just one FFA person....Tino. We were both rather happy to see someone in FFA (even though we'd never met :D). After being told that check in wasn't until 1:00, he and I walked around a while and found a place to eat. It ended up being only 10:00 a.m. but we were both starved. After grabbing a bite to eat, we went back to the hotel and chatted for a while and met other members as they started coming in. I am now check in and just chillin' in my room. I've met one of my roomates.....can't remember her name. She's from Florida, seems pretty nice. Signin' off for now....
~Bethany~

P.S. There are many military personnel here. I walked up to one guy, shook his hand, and thanked him or his service. After I left, I looked back and he had a smile on his face. Thank God for our Military men and women.

Iwo Jima memorial

Lincoln memorial from a distance

WWII memorial. Each star stands for 100 soldiers who died. There are over 4000 stars.

Washington Memorial

Roosevelt Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

7-22-10
4:30 P.M.
Wow, day 3 already at WLC! I didn't write yesterday as the biggest activity was at night and we didn't get bac to the hotel until after 11:00. Quick recap on yesterday.....we went into town early and visited a few monuments. Then later in the evening we took a guided tour and saw nearly all of them. Very cool! But...I'll let the pictures tell the story. :) Today we were in OD (official dress) all morning. We took pics early and then went to the Capitol. Several people had congressional visits lined up but unfortunantly I did not. I toured the Livrary of Congress. I wanted to tour the Capitol, but I think I'll do that later if I have more time. We are back at the hotel now taking and hour break. Tonight we don't have too much....just dinner, one more community ground session, reflections, then bed! My roomies are pretty cool. One girl is from Nebraska.....Briana. She's awesome! Anyway, kinda just chillin' for now.

I'll try to keep updating! This is a very memorable experience. :)

~Bethany~

7-22-10
9:50 P.M.
I though the rest of the today was going to be kinda lame. I was wrong. The main theme of this week is...Our Purpose. Yesterday was focused on myself. Today...others and the people around me. It's amazing the changes that have happened over the last two days. This conference has made me step up to the plate and remember what I am called to do. Though it may not always be the easiest thing to do, it's what my purpose is. May God help me fulfill it.

Arlington Cemetary

7-23-10
11:56 A.M.
The day I have longed for many years has finally happened! This morning we visited Arlington Cemetery. Amazing that so many men and women have died for our country. How can I ever thank them enough? We witnessed the changing of the guards for Unknown Soldier. We had two kids pass out because of the heat, kinda scary. Anyway, it was an amazing experience and I took TONS of pics. Anyway, now I've got a few min. before our next session. I'll close here.
~B~

Natural History Museum!

American History Museum

Briana and I in our room. :)

7-24-10
11:40 P.M.
My last day of WLC is coming to a close. Probably of the best, most wonderful, saddest days here. We went to a service project early in the morning and spent over an hour picking Kale, collard greens and pulling weeds. What a great thing to see so many teens working and excitedly serving the community even though it was over 100*F with the heat index.
We spent loads of time touring today. I made it to the Smithsonian and saw the American History and Natural History Museums. Very neat!

I've now said goodbye to all the friends I've made here hover hte last few days (except for my roomies). Hopefully I'll be able to stay in contact with them. Gotta git to bed now, flying home tomorrow morning! Flight leaves @ 8:00 A.M.

Over Chicago

11-25-10
I left the hotel at 6:00 a.m. My flight was scheduled to leave at 8:00 and I got check in with nearly an hour to spare. The flight however was delayed when the pilot didn't make it in on time. We finally pulled out around 9:30. With the time change of 1 hour, we landed in Chicago at 10:15. (hour and 45 min. flight) My flight from Chicago to Grand Rapids left at 11:30 and again with a 1 hour time change came in at 1:10. (40 min. flight). My awesome grandparents picked me up at the airport and brought me home. We got home around 4:00, had dinner and then did chores. I was so tired!

I am now all settled back in at home. Looking back at my experiences and remembering the great times I had there.

I'm going to settle in for a short nap here. I'm so exhausted from everything! Have a great day everyone!

~Bethany~

Goings On

2010-07-19T04:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been a LONG time since I've last posted and so much has happened!!! I guess I'll start where I last left off. :)

July 4th we had just come home from a one day show. We did okay with 2 Reserve Champions and several other decent placings. We spent the day just chillin' and then hung out with some wonderful friends that evening. What a great way to celebrate!

July 8-9 I was gone for a Regional Officer retreat called SLCRO. It was a great time to bond with my fellow officers and get our year planned out. We've got a great theme and we're totally looking forward to putting on camp next year!!!! :)

July 10 We went to another one day show in Indiana. Probably the poorest placings we received all year, but we did have fun. It was the first show that we went by ourselves, just Abigail, Elizabeth and I. What a blast!

July 16 Abigail and I competed at the State Livestock Judging contest. We left at 7:20 A.M. and headed up to Lansing where Abigail competed with her FFA team and I competed with my team from last year in 4H. Because we won FFA last year and went to Nationals, we couldn't compete again. We judged 6 classes, Market Hogs, Crossbred Breeding Gilts, Performance Angus Heifers, Market Steers, Yearling Suffolk Ewes, and Market Lambs. We had to give three sets of reasons (Market Hogs, Heifers and Market Lambs) and one set of questions (Breeding Gilts). It was rather interesting contest, so we were pretty worried that we weren't going to do so well when we were tallying up our placings. The FFA team (Abigail and 3 others) ended up 2nd in state! Way to go!!! The 4H junior team ended up 1st in state and the 4H senior team (that's me and my team) ended up 1st as well!!! So we are off to Nationals once again...this time in Louisville! We'll be competing at the end of November. As for individual placings, with my reasons and placing scores I ended up 3rd overall in state and in reasons alone I was first! I was so excited! I got a 44, 44 and 47 on those, surely one of my best days! I was also one of the top market lamb reasons, so I was thrilled. It was a much needed courage booster, so I was thankful for that.

July 18 Mom and Rachel had to work at a dog show for a fundraiser with the 4H dog club. The rest of us went to church but only stayed for Sunday School, going to shop for a camera afterward. I am now officially announcing the arrival of my new camera...

NIKON COOLPIX L110

So....that's my exciting news for the day. :) I've been wanting a nice camera for some time and when my old camera broke down and it was time to get a new one.....this is the one I bought! Anyway....

Tomorrow I will be working in the morning and then taking off for another adventure. :) I will be heading up to Grand Rapids where I will be spending the night, then getting up and heading off the airport there in GR where I will fly to Washington DC! I am going there for an FFA Leadership Conference (WLC) and will be there until the 25th. Hence the reason I bought a new camera. :) I will be taking LOADS of pictures and should have a fun post when I get back. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a great rest of your week!

Until then,

~Bethany~

2010-07-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

Independence Day! 4th of July! The day America won her freedom in 1776. Since the Declaration of Independence, Americans have been celebrating this amazing day for 234 years in a row.

Last evening our family went to a nearby town to watch a beautiful firework display. The many beautiful colors, primarily red, white, and blue filled the night sky. The deep and intense sound of fireworks rumbling, hissing and popping filled the air. We all sat huddled under our blankets in the back of the truck watching, celebrating, enjoying our country's freedom.

In all the celebrating that will happen today, do many people go back and ponder on that day 234 years ago? Or how our country was bought with a price? While watching those fireworks last night, I couldn't help but close my eyes and go back to the Revolutionary War, currently going on in 1776. I could see men fighting, hear the sound of those cannons as they hurled shells across fields. I saw the flag, ragged and torn, but still held up as the Americans stood their ground and WON! Maybe, on this day of celebrating, we don't think too much about the death and destruction, the pain and the price that was paid for our country. However, we can never forget those who have fought and are fighting to keep this country free. God bless them all!

Today, I'm going to go celebrate our freedom! Sing of God's wonders! Enjoy family and friends, and remember that day when 56 men sat down and signed our Independence, declaring the United States of American, a free nation.

Happy 4th of July!

~Bethany~

2010-06-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

Good morning! We are still here at the National show, this being our last full day. Yesterday we showed our Alpines and following are the results:

Yearling Milkers - Thea placed 11th out of 33, Dixie didn't make the cut.

2 year old milkers - Gala placed 5th out of 51, we scratched Alithia as she didn't fill up.

We placed 13th in Best 3 Senior does out of 14 (had a hard time competing with older, more mature does). Placed 5th out of 11 in Produce of Dam (Gala and Dixie out of Gatlin).

Just a few pictures from yesterday.

Abigail and me showing our yearling Alpines

Abigail showing Gala

5th place out of 51!

Bad news.....our camera broke so this is the end of pictures for the week. :( Our week is nearly finished however and we are hoping to leave early tomorrow morning. So....adios 'till then!

~Bethany~

Alpine Junior Doe Show

2010-06-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

Another update from Louisville! Today was the Junior doe show where we showed our 5 junior does. We have 1 intermediate kid, 3 senior kids and 1 dry yearling. The class size ranged from 33 to 37. Our intermediate didn't make the cut (top 20) but two of our senior kids (Alexia and Athena) did. The ended up 16th and 19th. My dry yearling (Ali) was in the biggest class and ended up making the cut and placing 11th. Very excited about that! We also competed in two group classes...Best 3 Junior Does and Junior Get-Of-Sire. In both (classes of 13 and 9) we placed 5th. Very happy with the outcome! We are just really 4 years into having quality show dairy goats and we know that we have a ways to go and are excited we've come as far as we have.

Here are just a few pics of the day!

Waiting to show our junior does!

Ali in her class.

5th place Get-of-Sire.

5th place Best 3 Junior does.

~Bethany~

ADGA National Show

2010-06-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we are here at the ADGA National show here in Louisville Kentucky and having a great time! We left at 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning and arrived around 10:45. We settled everyone in and relaxed for a while. That evening competed in the Judging and Management contest and we practiced fitting and trimming so we would be all ready for the next day and got our showmanship does ready.

Sunday morning we started showmanship at 8:00 a.m. Abigail and I were in the Intermediate II class which consisted of 35 exhibitors. The pulled out the top 10 or 12 and unfortunately none of the MI kids made the cut. Elizabeth and Ben showed in the Junior class and Elizabeth pulled out with a 3rd overall. Yay!!! Good job Lizzy! At 11:00 we started the Fitting and trimming contest. Our team (consisting of Josh, Jenna, Abigail and I) ended up with 1st overall (out of 20+ teams). We were estatic to say the least.

The last few days has been kinda laid back just doing chores and trying to stay cool. Yesterday the temps reached around 105*F, today they are supposed to be about 101*F and tomorrow 100*F. A little warmer than we are used to.

Anyway, thought I would update you all and post some pics!

~Bethany~

Abigail in showmanship.

Intermediate showmanship class II

Junior showmanship lineup.

Elizabeth and other MI kids on a fitting team!

The 'Stars n' Stripes' Fitting Team.

Getting judged.

1st place!

Aiden, Strawberries, NATIONALS!

2010-06-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of me and my steer! He's doing great and settling into life here at Asher Acres. Sometimes he gets kinda mad at me if I don't do chores RIGHT on time, or I don't take him out 2x a day. Ahh, he's so demanding. :D

We're all getting ready for the National show here. We finally finished up shaving last night around 10:00. Abigail and I decided to just go at it and get it done. Today we were working on all of our tack and getting a shopping list together. Tomorrow we go in for health papers and TB test results so we're getting pretty close! Friday we'll have to work on getting the whole camper/trailer/van ready. We're planning on going to bed around 9:00 so we can be up and on the road at 3:00 a.m. We can't get into the barn until 7:30, but it will take us about 5-6 hours to get there. We're taking our great friends, Josh and Jenna with us as well, so should be LOADS of fun!

Abigail and I are still working full force over at Harvey's Farm and the picking is great! The pickers picked over 400 pounds yesterday before 11:30. Crazy crazy! Many u-pickers have said this year is the best they've ever seen here, so we're enjoying it to the fullest! Raspberries are coming on now too, so that's always fun.

The whole family picking @ Harvey's. We all went swimming afterward in their pond.

Have a great rest of the week! I'll try to post right before we leave for Nationals and perhaps our results as we go through the week. We leave the 19th and come home the 26th.

~Bethany~

Lovin' the Farm life

2010-06-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

The latest farmin' story from Asher Acres.

I went to go pick up my steer from the Career Center today. So he's all settled in. We also decided to get a pig from them since they had a few extras so I picked out a pretty nice Duroc gilt and loaded her up along with my steer (except that she was in the back and he was in the front). We get back on the road and stopped at an moderately busy intersection and realized that the trailer divider had not been locked shut as it swung open and was making some nice loud banging noises. :P I hopped out to go close it but when I get in the trailer (forgetting to close the gate behind me) the pig ran in with my steer who began wildly kicking at her. She beelines for the open gate behind me and runs right out into the road and off the side. I'm trying to calm her down and get her back to the trailer without her going on the road or freaking out but she just keeps running, so I grabbed her ears and she immediately stopped. Finally everyone else gets out of the van and Dad took her back legs and I got her front. (Mind you, she's probably 140#s). We got her loaded up, after several people had stopped, clearly puzzled as to why there was a pig running around in the grass by the road in the city. Ahhh, life! When we got back in the van, Dad noticed the camera. Wish we'd seen it earlier! What memories.

Anyway, so I have my baby (my 1150# steer) home! Hopefully I'll get some pics up of him soon.

~Bethany~

2010-06-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let his praises ring;
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit's call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

Thank you God for your wonderful promises, especially those of your unfailing love. You are wonderful!

~Bethany~

GLOM show

2010-06-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the latest show update! We were hoping to head out of town around 4:00-4:30 and get to the show nice and early. Amazingly, didn't' happen. (yes that was sarcastic. lol) Okay, so we hit the road around 6:00 and were on the road for about a 1/2 hour and we had a tire blow. Yay!!! No, we didn't have a spare (had been meaning to get one for a while) so we had to go into town to get one. Mom and I got the trailer jacked up while Dad and Abigail headed into town. We were back on the road within and hour, so it wasn't so bad. HOWEVER, I was scheduled to help with a fitting/showing clinic at 8:00 and it at least another hour to the fairgrounds. So....that was kinda outta the picture. :P Ahh well. We managed to get there all in one piece, settle down in pens (right next to friends!!!) and get ready for the show. We got to bed around 11:00 and boy did it feel good to sleep!!!

Sat. A.M. we were up early getting our Alpine does ready for the show. They went in with Thea' placing 1st, Gala placing 2nd and Alithia placing 3rd. Gala ended up with a Reserve Champion as well, so that was exciting! We later on had 2 Recorded Grades, our yearling Honey placed 3rd and Hannah placed 2nd with another Reserve Champion! Immediately following the Senior Doe show, Abigail and I participated in a fitting contest! This was the first year and there were 3 teams that competed. We ended up with 1st! I was so excited. The team that got 2nd was our dear friends and we are heading to Nationals in just a few weeks where we will be competing as well in Fitting. It was a great warm up! After that, we went into the Junior doe show where we did decent. We didn't pull out any Grands or Reserves, but got several good placings. At the close of the Jr. doe show, we went right into Showmanship where Ben won his age division, Josh and Elizabeth placed in the top 5, and I placed in the top 5 (in our age groups). The rest of them all did quite well too. We sat up for a long time that evening with several other teens talking about lots of awesome things such as dating, where we will spend eternity, the way we were raised, some of the things we've learned in life, and all that fun stuff. It was very encouraging!

Sun. morning we went right back to it with Gala winning 3rd in Futurity, 1st in her class and Reserve Champion. Alithia placed second and our yearling Thea' also placed 1st. Our Recorded Grades didn't fill up well and didn't do as well as we'd hoped. Hannah still won her class and Honey placed 3rd. Our kids did pretty well with Kit placing 2nd, Marta 4th, Alexia 2nd, Harmony 6th and True 1st! True ended up winning Grand Champion, so that was exciting. We stayed for BIS, but didn't win.. She got beat out by a BEAUTIFUL Sannan though. We arrived home around 6:30 and were happy to be home safe and sound. So that's kinda the jist of all that!

Enjoy a few pictures!

Abigail showing Honey.

Fitting Competition!

1st place team!

Elizabeth showing her 1st doe kid for the 1st time. Beautiful Alexia. She did well and was up against some stiff competition.

Ben after winning peewee showmanship!

What a good lookin' bro.

Rachel in showmanship.

Have a wonderful day!

~Bethany~

Memorial Day and Parade

2010-05-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

I would like to begin by thanking the many men and women who have fought and are fighting for our country and sacrificing their lives for our liberty. Without the service of all of you, we would not be here today. I enjoy American history and am just amazed at the strength, honor and courage our forefathers had, to fight so long and hard for our freedom. A shout out to all those who are entering the armed forces, thank you thank you thank you! I have several cousins and friends who are joining and I am so proud and thankful for every one of them.

Our family annually participates in the town Memorial Day parade. This is a parade where there are more people participating IN the parade than watching. :) Ahh, in a small town of just barely 700, the Memorial Day parade has always been the main event of the year. It doesn't take much for us to all get excited. Anyway, here are just a few of my favorite pictures!

Abigail on Hoss. They won 1st place in the Riding Horse division.

Ben and a few of our puppies. (I'm pulling them)

The ending of the parade!!! I think it's so neat how they finish up with Abigail holding a flag on the horse. So all-American. :)

The most memorial event was not photographed, the thunderstorms. Right after we all arrived at the cemetery where they have a little service, you could see the storm clouds rolling in and feel the wind picking up. The girls decided to head right home since they had ridden their horses into town and we didn't have a trailer big enough for all three. It wasn't 10 minutes later that things started getting pretty nasty and everyone took off for their vehicles. Dad went to go tell the girls to turn around, Mom went for the car so we could have somewhere dry for all the puppies and we all stayed put hoping we wouldn't get poured on. :D It was just starting to really come down when Mom came back with a car to pick up as many as she could and Dad brought the girls/horses back. They just held out there waiting for the rain to subside. A wonderful lady/friend took some of us home while mom brought some other friends to their house. Yeah, it was kinda crazy. Anyway.....that's how that all went.

BTW, I hope to post on our latest show tomorrow.

God's blessing to you all!

~Bethany~

Columbia City Show

2010-05-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

I know it's been forever since you've heard from me last, but it's been a pretty busy week. At the last show that we went to (Van Wert) we were informed of an Indiana show about 2 hours away from us. It sounded like a good show and was within the 30 days of our health papers so we decided to go for it! It was just a one day show, but we went up the night before and stayed the night. Being a 2 hour drive, it was a smart move. :) It also had an Alpine Specialty, so it made for a 2 ring, 1 day show.

We started out with showmanship. Abigail ended up winning the senior division! Great job girl! I had a yearling who wouldn't stand well for me, so I didn't even really have a chance. Thanks Dixie. lol! Oh well!

The regular Alpine Sr. Doe Show was first. Yearlings placed 3rd and 4th, Two year olds placed 3rd and 4th, Four year old placed like 4th. Nothing great. There was a TON of competition there though and I felt like we were placed fairly (except for one of my yearlings lol). Then we went right into the Alpine Specialty Sr. Doe show and our yearlings placed 1st and 4th (or right around there), Two year olds placed 4th and 6th, Four year old placed 2nd. So we actually had two does out in the lineup.

The Alpine Specialty Jr. Doe show went so so. One of our Intermediate kids placed 3rd, but the other two were buried in the class (it was a huge class, like 16 or something). Again, one of our Senior kids placed 3rd but the other two were again buried. Oh well. In the dry yearling class, Ali won her class!!! Woohoo! She ended up winning Grand Champion!!! Okay, so it was all worth it. :) Then we went right into the Regular Alpine Jr. Doe show. Our Intermediates all got buried. Athena won the Senior class (though the other two were pretty much buried). In the yearling class, Ali won again! So we had two in the Champion lineup. Yay! Ali won Grand again so we got to wait around 'till the end again. Here comes the exciting part....ALI WON BEST IN SHOW!!!!! I was so excited!!!

So anyway, that's how that show went. Got to meet a few new people, had some fun showing our goats, had a good time hangin' out with family, learned some new showmanship techniques, all that fun stuff. :) Well, here are a few pics from the show. Enjoy!!!

Showmanship lineup!

Champion Lineup for the Alpine Specialty.

Milking out the does after the show.

Waiting for BIS.

In lineup for BIS!

My Ali girl!!!!

Have a great weekend!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Fruits of the Spirit

2010-05-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

LOVE

Romans 8:39 "Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Meaning, so even death is not an obstruction for God not to be able to show how much He would sacrifice just for the love meant for all of us.

JOY

O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

PEACE

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

PATIENCE

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

KINDNESS

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

GOODNESS

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

FAITHFULNESS

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Luke 16:10-12

GENTLENESS

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

TEMPERANCE

If you find honey, eat just enough--too much of it, and you will vomit. Proverbs 15:16

Awards!

2010-05-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was awarded the Stylish blogger Award by Amy @ AmyWegnersBlog! Thanks a bunch Amy!

The rules: State 5 random facts about yourself and award 5 other bloggers.

1: I have neon green glow in the dark retainers.

2: I love politics.

3: My favorite drink on a hot day is either cold lemonade or kefir!

4: I want to be a vet, but don't want to go to college for 10ish years. :P

5: I have never been to the hospital for myself (except for being born in the hospital).

Okay, was that random enough? :D Or you all thinking way TMI! lol!

I Award:
Ria @ Life as a Wife
Hannah @ Trusting in His Love
Rachel @ HopeJourney
Lynette Kraft @ Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground
Rebecca @ The Life of a FarmGirl

I recieved this from Tiffany over at Musings of a Missionary Girl! Thanks so much!

If you are tagged.........

1. Post about the tag

2. Pick 10 bloggers who deserve this award.

3. Leave a comment on the blogs of the people you tagged letting them know they were awarded.

4. Answer the questions along with your post.

1. Apples, Oranges or Banana's? I'm going to have to go with oranges. Though fresh apples are excellent!

2. How many siblings to you have? 7! 4 sisters and 3 brothers!

3. How old are you? I am sixteen, turn 17 in August. My, that sounds old.

4. Do you live on a: prarie, woodland, swamp, city or other? Tough to say. I live in the middle of nowhere, hold an address of a hicktown that has no town, built in the middle of a pasture, and are surrounded by on all 4 sides. Yeah, I have you confused already don't I? :D

5. Scissors or glue? Well, depends what you are using them for!!!

6. Describe your dream house? Something big...but usually I dream more about the barns and property. I LOVE barns!

7. Is your room clean? It's okay for now. I think. lol!

8. If you could be a movie character for a day who would it be? I don't know. Something from some long ago time, WW2 maybe?

9. Italy, Greece, France, Spain or England? Italy!!! Why? I don't know.

10. What denomination are you? Christian. Is that a good enough answer? Says a lot, yet for some it doesn't say enough.

11. Do you sleep with a stuffed toy [Be Honest!!!!] No way! I haven't slept with a stuffed toy in forever.

12. Gum, chocolate, or jelly beans? Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

13. What is your favorite book? Oh I don't even know where to start on that one.

14. Favorite ice cream flavor? Cookie dough or anything with chocolate!

15. If you had to eat one type of food for 2 weeks what would it be? Noodles. Vague enough, but still can be prepared in many different ways.

16. What is your favorite Olyplic sport? I don't watch much Olympic sports. I do like the ice skating tho...

17. If you woke up one morning and discovered you had turned into Miley Cyrus for the day, what would you do? I guess I would be famous. Finally! I've been waiting for so long! JK!!!

18. Describe yourself in three words. ( I told Abigail to describe me in three words and this is what she told me.....Confident, Focused, Fun.

19. What do you hate? Government controlling citizens and citizens willingly giving up their freedom.

20. If Elmo came into your room with a gun, what would you do? I'd say "and I thought you were just fake".

I tag...
The same 5 tagged above....plus the following.....

Ashley @ A Cowgirl's Dream
Adam @ One Texan's View
Kelsey @ The Narrow Way (sorry Kelsey, I hope you see this. For some reason your blog would not come up for me)

BTW, if anyone else would like these, leave a comment and let me know!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Show results and new calves!

2010-05-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!
So I'm sure a few of you may be wondering how we did at our first show of the year. We went to a Tri-State show in Ohio and competed against ~~people~~, I mean goats from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. :) I'll give you a little outline here....

Friday- We were hoping to leave around 4-5:00, but things just kept coming up so we finally pulled out of the driveway around 8:15. Yeah, a tad bit late, but oh well. We arrived at the fairgrounds around 10:00 and got everyone settled, then hit the hay.

Saturday - Abigail and I were up early shaving udders and doing chores. The show started at 8:00 a.m. with Senior Showmanship. Abigail and I both made the mistake of not scrubbing our showmanship does' hooves and didn't place as well as hoped. Rachel however got out there and got the job done and won the Intermediate division! I decided to put Elizabeth (8) in the older age division (9-11 year olds) and she ended up winning as well! Woohoo girls!
Right after showmanship, we went right into Alpines. Thea', my favorite yearling won her class with our other yearling Dixie right behind in 3rd place. In 2 year olds, Gala won her class with Alithia coming in 3rd as well. Missy, my 4 year old won her class too, so we had 3 of the 5 in the Champion line-up. We were elated when Gala won Grand Champion!   This was our first Senior Alpine Doe to win a milking leg, so that was SO exciting!
The Junior Doe show was just as exciting. We had three Intermediate kids and three Senior kids. Our Intermediate kids place 1st, 2nd and 4th. Our Senior kids placed 1st, 2nd and 5th.    I also had Ali, my dry yearling who placed 2nd in her class. In overall.....my senior kid Athena won Grand! Then we waited around for Best Doe in Show and guess what......yep she won Overall!!! Another exciting win!
The last thing we had for the day was the buck show. We only brought our buck kid that we kept this year from Gala and Presto cross. He's a beauty and showed it out in the ring winning both times in a class of at least 10! So that was all our excitement of the day. :)

Sunday - There was a little church service before the show started, a wonderful addition if you ask me. :) Again, we got right to showing but it didn't go quite as well as the day before. They still placed decent with the yearlings going 2nd and 4th. The yearlings went with Gala 2nd and Alithia 5th. Missy did win her class, and nearly won Reserve, but she missed it. :( Still, no bad placings, so I was still pretty happy. Once we got down to kids though, we did well again. Both our Intermediate and Seniors placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in their classes. Ali won her class, and we were all hoping she would win grand, but....Abigail's senior kid Callie won Grand! Ali received Reserve though, so I was still pretty happy. We waited around for Best in Show, but the Nubian dry yearling won....so we headed on home! Overall though, a great weekend!

Rachel and Rebekah in showmanship.

Elizabeth in showmanship.

Ben and Josh in showmanship.

Alpine Champion line-up on Saturday. Elizabeth has the yearling, Abigail has the 2 year old and I have the 4 year old.

Gala, our 2 year old.

Alithia, our other 2 year old!

Ali, my pretty dry yearling.

Athena, the Grand and BIS on Saturday.

Callie, Grand on Sunday!

When we came home Sunday afternoon, we found a surprise waiting our in the pasture....a beautiful heifer calf from Violet! What I didn't mention earlier, was that Fawn calved Friday morning with a bull calf, so we are now milking 3 cows/heifers. Lots of milk going through here right now. I figured it to be about 20 gallons a day (at least) which averages about to be about 140 gallons of milk a week. Yikes! :)

The family with the new heifer calf.

The bull calf is the light brown one and the heifer is the dark brown.

The heifer is about 2x the size of the bull calf. She has had a hard time getting on her feet, so we gave her some selenium tonight. Hopefully that will get her up and going!

Well, I'll close here. It's way past my bedtime. :)

~Bethany~

I've been awarded!

2010-04-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

I was awarded the 'Beautiful Blogger Award' by Abagayle M. @ For the Love of Animals.... and Amy @ AmyWegnersBlog! Thank you girls so much!!!!

The Rules:

If you choose to accept the award you must:

1) Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog

2) Copy the award and paste it to your blog

3) Tell us seven interesting facts about you

4) Pass the award to fifteen(ish) awesome bloggers you've discovered

5) Contact your nominations and let them know they've won

Seven interesting facts about me are:

1. The love of my life is Jesus Christ!

2. My family means the world to me.

3. I love AG!!!!!

4. I very much dislike shopping. :P

5. I love to eat! :D

6. My favorite season is spring!

7. I can't figure out if I want to purchase a tractor or a truck first. :D

Okay, for my nominees......

Sorry if I don't contact you, I don't have time right now. Hopefully you will see this!!! Oh, and I'm just going to do 5 tonight. If you would like this award, follow my blog and write a comment on this post and it's all yours! :)

1) Jenna @ Where the Heart Remains

2) Hannah Paige @ Trusting in His Love

3) Rebecca @ The Life of a FarmGirl

4) Emily @ 15 Smithies

5) Jenna @ Feminine Farmgirl

Thanks again girls!

~Bethany~

For the Beauty of the Earth.....

2010-04-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

Spring on Asher Acres! I love this time of the year. Fresh rains, beautiful flowers, adorable babies. Winter is fast dying away and the earth is awaking once again. As I am writing, the sun is shining its bright morning rays upon our farm and the dew is heavy upon the plants. At times like this, I can't help but marvel at the Lord's beautiful and wondrous creation. Only the King of Kings and Lord of Lords could create such beauty and tranquility.

Underneath all this beauty however, much is going on. Life is rushing past and I must occasionally stop myself and enjoy all that I have been blessed with. An awesome God, a wonderful family, a marvelous home, a sound mind and body. Oh, how I have been SO blessed!

As to what all is going on here at Asher Acres.....I'll start with the bad news. Mandie aborted. So far, she delivered one aborted fetus, however she is retaining the other for some reason. She is not dilating, so therefore we can't go in and pull it out (though we have tried several times). It's saddening and we're afraid we may have to sell her or put her down. This is the second time in a row that she has had difficult deliveries and won't dilate.

To the more enjoyable news however, we're getting ready for our first show of the season!!! We will be going to an Ohio show Friday/Saturday/Sunday. I'm taking a total of 15, six milkers (1-9 yo, 1-4 yo, 2-2 yo, 2- yearlings), one dry yearling, one buck kid, and seven doe kids. We may all be going down as a family, but that has not been decided yet. We'll see how it all works out.

May the peace that only the One True God can give, come upon you during this beautiful day. His love reigns forever!

A sister in Christ,

~Bethany~

P.S. If you were wondering anything about the pictures....I took them the other day after a rainfall. The camera I took them with was my parents Konica Minolta 35-420 mm 6.0 megapixel. I love that camera! :)

Regional Camp!

2010-04-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

FFA Regional Camp was one of those great experiences that I will never forget. As you know, I was elected Vice President of my FFA chapter and all of our officers were sent to Regional Camp. There we were taught our duties of each of our roles and did fun activities to come together as a team. I also ran for Regional officer, so that was something else to look forward to. Here are some pictures of our time there!

The 2010-2011 BACC FFA Officer Team (from top to bottom) - Parliamentarian, Historian, Sentinel, Reporter, Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President, President.

This is right after I found out my slate and the person I was slated against. Yep, I was slated PRESIDENT/VICE PRESIDENT!!! I was so excited!

Ashley and I!

The flag raising ceremony in the mornings.

Our whole team around our chapter poster.

In front of the lake on the camp.

Our chapter officers in a pyramid! Those are so much fun to make! :)

I left Wednesday after school and we got home Friday after school. I gave my speech and was elected to the Vice President position on Friday morning. It was a great time to learn more about leadership, our duties as new officers and form strong friendships.

Have a great weekend my friends! :)

~Bethany~

Emma......

2010-04-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention one very important detail yesterday.....Miss Emma. The other evening I came home from Livestock Judging and noticed that Emma was in labor. This was about 3-4 weeks early so I knew immediately that something was wrong. She delivered premature, and we're not exactly sure why. We have had three goats this year abort and we're pretty sure it's due to a toxin in the feed from last year's wet harvest. However, our heifers have all been on grass and hay this whole winter. We think it may be from her falling when we dehorned her about a week ago. However, while her bull calf was dead, but Emma did come into milk (thankfully it was close enough to her due date that the hormones were still strong enough to send her into milk) so we are now milking her. While we have had a few slight issues because of her being a first freshener (kicking, moving around a bunch, the whole nine yards) she's actually a very nice heifer. I don't have any pics of her yet, but I'll try to get some once her edema goes down. Right now, her udder is very large and hard because of it. So anyway, that's our biggest addition around here. :)

Enjoy your evening!

~Bethany~

Just livin' Life

2010-04-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks!
Yep, I'm still around. With the sun shining and life busy, there is little time for the computer and all that fun stuff.....so I've been slow on getting around to posting.

My weekend was pretty fun, starting with Friday. Abigail and I were out of the house at 6:15 on our way to an FFA contest. We have a team of five that competed in a contest called Agriculture and Natural Resources Communication (ANR Comm.). Each one of us had different practicums, News Article, Press Release, Graphic Design, Web Design, and Broadcasting. I did the Press Release, which is a paper about 250 words. Short n' sweet. :) Our topic was "Wind Power", a pretty hot topic here in Michigan. However, there's not much controversy, so that's makes it a little more difficult to write on. Anyway, our chapter brought up over 80 students, so that was pretty cool!

Saturday I got to babysit two very adorable little ones, a little girl of 4 and little one-year-old boy. They were here from 8:30 in the morning until about 5:30 at night. It was fun to have a baby in the house again! That evening, Abigail, Rachel and I went to a fondue party with a church youth group. We had meats, veggies, bread, cheeses, and fruits/chocolate! It tasted great!

Sunday, I attended a livestock judging competition. I haven't judged and given oral reasons since Nationals, so it's been a while. I ended up getting my two best sets of reasons, a 46 and a 47 (out of 50). I placed 3rd overall in reasons and 5th overall score. I was really excited, as it my best judging day ever.

Today I cleaned out the pole barn and we got 60 new chicks! We're working on getting ready for our first show which is coming up in a few weeks. I also have FFA Regional Camp this week, so I will be finding out the results of Regional officers and hopefully our new chapter team will become a real team. :)

Here are just a few pics I took today!

Chicks!!!

Athena, one of my fav. kids from this year.

Several of our kids getting their supper! Notice the two brown does nearest the top of the pic have their necks crossed! :D

Just one of my sweeties!

Hope you week is going well!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Steer show!

2010-04-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Many thanks to Abigail for getting a post up to keep you all updated. :)

So I now have a steer show under my belt and have found it to be a lot of fun and very educational! I think they already have me hooked. :) This was also my first show of the spring/summer ( I attended the Green and White hog show earlier this year ) and it gets me all excited for show season! Anyway, back to the steer show. I competed in judging and placed 8th. We judged Angus, Chi, and Shorthorn heifers and Herford Bulls. We also did two sets of questions. Our steers arrived around 1:30 and then we spent the afternoon and evening washing, blowing, clipping, feeding, bedding, walking and practicing showmanship. Sunday morning we were up and back at it. We had showmanship at 9:00 and I was told we did very well. I think we kinda surprised 'em!!! The judge picked out two and then told me that he could only pick two, so I would have been next. Ah well, at least I was paid a complement of sorts by the judge! My steer behaved perfectly, so that helped a ton. Mom, Abigail and Elizabeth came up and saw what was going on for a while. They had some delays so unfortunately missed showmanship. They left around 11:00. I showed in my market class around 3:00 and placed....last. It was a very competitive class and my steer is still very green. I knew he wouldn't place well, so I wasn't very surprised or disappointed. By the time we pulled out of there I was exhausted! I slept most of the way home so I would have enough energy to do chores. Ahh, it felt good to sleep in my own bed though that night!

Sooooo.......

A few things I learned about showing:
1) If you are ever going to show, learn how to fit your own steers well. You can spend a lot of money of paying people to fit them for you.
2) You need a generator. Oh, and they are really loud when you have about 5-10 of them running at once, along with a bunch of blowers.
3) You can make a really bad steer look good if he has hair. :D
4) It gets really competitive at these shows. And I don't mean just inside the show ring.
5) The youth don't care much about showmanship and worry a ton about market classes. :(
6) Just relax and have fun! Don't worry so much about how you placed. Enjoy your time and learn all you can! Thanks Mr. B for that tip! :)

So, that was my weekend! How's everyone else faring? Anyone else have a spring break last week? How did that go? Are you all glad/disappointed/okay with going back to school? It sure makes it quiet and structured around here. :) Hope all is well with each one of you!

~Bethany~

P.S. I forgot my camera, but a friend of mine should be getting me pictures. I'll post them when I get them.

Beef Expo, New Kid, and Hair!

2010-04-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! This is Bethany's sister, Abigail writing for her! She has been busy lately and has really not had a chance to "do" a blog post. So I am just going to tell you all on what has been going on lately and put up some pictures up!
This morning Bethany hit the ground runnin' early. She, along with another girl from the Careers Center got chosen to go with their steers to the Beef Expo show this week-end. They will only be showing on Sunday, but today they have a livestock judging competition there, so she is going to be doing that with a few of the kids that she did livestock judging with last year. So she will be spending the night there and showing her steer in the morning. I am hoping be going up there to watch her show tomorrow with mom. Anyway she had to be out of the house by six o'clock and so she had to get up at four o'clock to get done with milking and feeding kids.
Our First Lamancha kid was born the other day. Her mother was very small and so we where thinking that she would only have one kid. We where also HOPING that it would be a doe and tada, tada.....it was a single doe kid...yay! She is sooo cute and has kinda weird coloring it is like a silvery brown color.

Bethany's hair in a bunch of tiny braids and Elizabeth's hair before we did the braids

Elizabeth's hair all in braids! They looks really good on her!

Well, hope you all are having a GREAT week-end!

~Abigail~

Spring has Sprung!

2010-04-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

So everyone ready for a few pictures? :) We've been having some beautiful and unusual weather here in Michigan, such as 70s and 80s and sunny! Usually this time of the year if we hit 60 we are looking good. No one is complaining though, especially during spring break!!!! Over the last few days we've gotten so much done around our place, barns are clean, garden is tilled up, fences are fixed, dog kennel is finished, new animals have been added to the farm, and flower gardens cleaned up. We still have more to do, but we are getting close to having this place lookin' spic n' span! :) Anyway, here are a few pics that I've taken over the last few days.

Daffodils!!!!

Lilacs!

We got our first thunder storm on Saturday. There was a faint rainbow later....

My new fair hogs

Our starter calves. Rebekah's is on the left and mine is on the right.

Did everyone have a great Easter? We didn't do anything too special. Went to the Easter church service at church and had lunch there. Then we came home, I took a nap, we played some yard games, cleaned up a flower bed and did chores. :) It was a good day though!

My Christ be glorified,

~Bethany~

He has Risen!

2010-04-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

So our Dear Lord was placed into a sepulcher and officers were sent to guard the tomb. The sabbath was upon them and the were unable to go to the tomb before then.

¹In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. ²And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.³His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:⁴And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
⁵And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. ⁶He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. ⁸And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Can you imagine their great joy? Their Master and Lord had conquered death and was LORD OF ALL! How they must have rejoiced.

Today it is nearly 2000 years since our Lord walked on this earth and died in our stead. It has been nearly 2000 years since He rose from the dead and yet now, "...that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life." Rom. 6:4. God's forgiveness and love is still the same today as it was 2000 years ago. Praise His name!

Rejoice, for He has Risen!

~Bethany~

Good Friday

2010-04-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

Good Friday, the day that we celebrate the sacrifice our Lord gave to us, His life. It may seem like a sad event, yet we shall see that Christ, the Kind of the world, dying like the worst of criminals, has given us life! Blessed be HIs holy name!

¹¹Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
      "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?" ¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
¹⁵Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" ¹⁸For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
²¹"Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.
      "Barabbas," they answered.
²²"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
      They all answered, "Crucify him!"
²³"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
      But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
²⁵All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
²⁷Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. ³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). ³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁸Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴²"He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " ⁴⁴In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."
⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵²The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
Matthew 27:11-54

May you take today to praise God for all He has done for us.

~Bethany~

My week....

2010-03-31T04:43:00.001-07:00

Hey all!
I'm sure you are wondering where on earth I disappeared to. :D Well the fact is, I'm still right here and I've just been pretty busy. It's been a big FFA week for me, so I guess I'll take this post one day at a time. :)

Tuesday (as in, last Tuesday) - This was a crazy day, I had school to get done in the morning and I was also prepping for a 4H activity for our goat club that evening. At 11:30 I left for the Careers Center and did our normal rounds there. Right after school one of our teachers, a fellow student and I all took a nice hour and forty-five minute long ride up past Paw Paw. There we had our regional officer interviews. I am running for President, but I'll very likely be slated lower. I won't know until mid - end of April. I also have a quick testimony to share from this day. On my way to school, I was going to call a dear friend of mine and ask her to pray for me during my interview. I was nervous and hadn't ever been through an intense interview. I didn't have her number on my cell phone though, so I just started praying myself (which I had been doing anyway). I felt quite at peace during the rest of the day. The next day I got a call from that friend and said that the afternoon before she had felt God telling her to pray for me. She wasn't sure why, but she prayed anyway. Isn't God awesome?!?! Anyway, I got back home with barely any time to spare and we headed off for the 4H meeting which turned out to be a huge success! Probably one of the better meetings we've had in a long time. Finally, I think I'm starting to get it! :)

Wednesday wasn't so busy, but I when I came home in the afternoon I wrote and gave a speech in about 15 min. in front of our homeschool group for our speech day. It was about Ag Terrorism, mainly against PETA and HSUS. I had someone ask at the end if I've ever thought about going into politics. I responded with a vigorous nod. :P No, really I've always been interested in politics, especially ag related.

Thursday, Chapter Officer Interviews!!!! This was one of the more important interviews for me, for our home chapter. Our chapter is one of the largest in the state, with close to 80 members! The interviews were fun, way more fun than the Regional interviews, probably because I knew all the people interviewing me.

Friday!!! This is when I found out that I was slated President/Vice President! This is the only position where two people have a spot reserved for them, the two highest spots. I was so excited!!! You should have seen some of us, we were all acting kinda ditsy for a minute (honestly, I think I kinda surprised a few of the girls lol). Right after school we did chores and met up with some friends to go pick up our dairy starter calves. Rebekah and I are switching from selling market wethers to dairy starters this year. We went to an awesome dairy where they milk about 3000 head. I don't know why so many people target these commercial farms. They always say the animals look unhappy, are unhealthy and the farms are dirty. This place was spotless! They had one of those merry-go-round milkers and it was amazingly clean and happy those cows looked! I've never seen a small family farm with as much quality as this farm. Anyway...... so we picked up two sweet little starter calves and they are now adjusting to a new life here on Asher Acres. We also attended a friend's birthday party...happy late birthday Kassandra!

Saturday is our cleaning day here, so I got right to tackling the mess in the house. I was done right at 9:30, which is when Dad and I went to pick up a friend and headed off to an auction about 15 min. away. We were looking at a haybine, round bale feeder and a couple of hay wagons. The haybine went for way more than we wanted to spend, we missed the round bale feeder, and the hay wagons all sold for $1000 a piece (and the high bidder took them all). So, we ended up coming home with, a box of fencing staples that will probably last us a lifetime. It was still fun to get out there again though and hang out at an auction. I see why so many guys like to go weekend after weekend. :) Anyway, then we headed off to my grandpa's 84th birthday party. It was nice to see some of the family again and celebrate so many years of having such an awesome guy around. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Sunday Josh was throwing up and pretty sick, so we all stayed home from church (not wanting to spread the delightful bug). It was raining as well, so we didn't do too much during the morning. Mom, Abigail and I eventually went shopping so that was a nice diversion. :) It was kinda nice though to have a lazy day where no one does anything.

Monday, this was our voting day. We all voted on President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Reporter, and Sentinel. Then we started the waiting game, and I don't think I've ever had such a long 24 hours. :D So, I took a nap, did chores, enjoyed some nice weather and went to bed.

Tuesday......FINALLY........RESULTS! :P You should have seen us as we all came into class, we were just about ready to do, I don't know what, but we weren't sure we could stand it anymore. Finally they said them, I got Vice-President. I was hoping for President, but Vice is pretty much just as good. I'm happy, and I think we've got a GREAT lineup of officers this year. Can't wait to start working with them!

So now you are all pretty much caught up on my doings around here. I'll try to remain more faithful to my blog readers and hopefully even get a few pics up soon. Maybe I'll post some of the kids and calves soon. Just gotta git out my faithful little camera! :)

But now, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. (1 Peter 3:18)

~Bethany~

Milking test and Gatlin!

2010-03-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Milking test results are in! I did the testing yesterday, feels good to have an idea as to what we are looking at from the girls. I was pretty happy with the yearlings, especially Dixie. Honey wasn't filling up like she usually does, so that may not be very accurate on hers. Missy kidded with a single kid, so I'm actually quite happy that she's starting to up her production. Sure, 8 pounds isn't the greatest, but she started the year out with giving next to nothing. I'm very happy with Candie, Alithia and Gala. Alithia gave a whole pound less in the evening milking, so I don't know what was up with that. Hannah was just moved from her normal pen into a pen with some younger does so she's still adjusting, hense the low milk production. Usually she's over 10 pounds. Nibbles, well let's just say I weighed her milk because I could. :D She was only 2 days fresh. :P

Milking Test

Name Total Weight Days Milking # of

Freshenings

Tea' 6.1# 32 1

Honey 5.8# 35 1

Dixie 7.3# 31 1

Missy 8.2# 18 4

Candie 13.7# 23 2

Alithia 11.4# 27 2

Gala 12.7# 27 2

Hannah 7.6# 27 5

Nibbles 5.4# 2 7

And for our most recent additions.....Gatlin kidded yesterday with twins, a buck and doe. The buck came out well but I had to reposition the doe and pull her. They are doing great though!

So how was everyone's weekends? Would love to hear from you!

~Bethany~

Nibbles and Maggie!

2010-03-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you are all wondering when our next kids were coming. JK! Actually, our next three does were due the 10th and 11th. We waited, waited, and waited some more. Finally, yesterday Nibbles kidded with twins, a doe and a buck! Yeah, that was like 8 days late. :P Today Maggie kidded with another set of twins....a doe and a buck! I'm so excited about both of these (they are both mine :D) and I've been waiting 2 years for both does. Last year they both had twin bucks. Maggie's kids are both a lovely dark chamoisee. I haven't had one of those in a LONG time! Maggie was a grand total of 10 days late. Whew! That's a record I think. They were monster kids too, but she had them all by herself.

Gatlin was also due the 10th, so we're just waiting on her. Now that we have some fresh hormones in the air it looks like it won't be long. She's dropping her milk and is starting do all those funny things goats do when they are in labor. :D Hopefully she'll go tonight or tomorrow. Then it looks like we get another little break until Goldie and Thea' go. Anyway, I'm kinda rambling on. I'm sure you all want to see a pic of the newest babies.

Sorry it's not the greatest quality. The pictures don't do justice do their coloring. The two on the right are Maggie's and the two on the left are Nibbles. The white one is the buck and the light chamoisee is the doe. Obviously the one standing is the doe and the one behind her, the buck.

Oh, and for all all those southerners who are enjoying beautiful warm weather, it's finally cold again here, unfortunately after we were spoiled with several days of lovely weather in the 60's. :P

Well, that's all the news around here.

Blessings!
~Bethany~

Bagpipes!

2010-03-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Being Saint Patricks day, I thought I'd post the little bit of Irish that I like....some bagpipe music. :) Actually, it's just my favorite song played by bagpipes, Amazing Grace. It's a beautiful song and the bagpipes seem to give it more meaning. It plays a sad wail that turns into a triumphant march "when we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun".

Here are the lyrics to the beautiful song written by John Newton.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

This video is also honoring those who have served our wonderful nation. Remember them, as they have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

Blessings,
~Bethany~

Spring is Springing!

2010-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hey folks! :D

Has anyone else been having beautiful weather like we have? Today the temps reached into the upper 50s....woohooo! Haven't felt those temps in a long time. I shooed all the animals outside for a while and they enjoyed some fresh air. Hopefully this weather will stay around a while, but I'm hearing that by this weekend it's supposed to cool down, as in possibly some snow. :P Oh well, we do live in Michigan.

I got some pictures and a video of the kids playing outside. They are so cute! Our oldest one is now over a month old...can you believe it! Our youngest just left yesterday, so he's enjoying a new environment (we brought him to a local farm store where they sell them).

Okay, you all ready for this one? I got a new doe kid!!!! You may remember Top, the doe kid that I bought last spring. Last fall, she would not get bred, so I got a new doe kid in replacement. She's a lovely little thing, quite correct and really really wide throughout. I'm really looking forward to using her in our breeding program! She's got some awesome lines in her,including Autumn Acres and Kastdemurs, so I'm really excited about her! I'm thinking about naming her Jamirah. Her mother's name is Jambalaya and her grandam's name is Jamboree. What do you all think? :D

Enjoy your evening!

~Bethany~

Alrighty, I should get scooting! Enjoy your evening!