The Butterflies Dance

What beautiful creations that Lord has made!

Scones and a Cup of Coffee

Ah, scones and a good cup of coffee... does it get much better? Rather than tell you about these delicious scones and deprive you of it's goodness while enjoying them all by myself I will share the recipe. Although not sharing sounds yummier right now. Ha!

Wood Family Scones (I am not sure where we actually found the recipe):

Igredients -

1 3/4 cups All- Purpose Flour

4 tsp. Baking powder

1/4 cup white sugar

1/8 tsp. Salt

5 tbsp. Butter

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 tbsp. milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Mix in butter until it is in pea sized lumps. Stir in sliced almonds. Mix together 1/2 cup of milk and sour cream in measuring cup. Pour all at once into the dry ingredients, and stir gently until well blended. Overworking the dough makes the scones less yummy.

With floured hands pat scone dough into balls 2 -3 inches across, depending on what size you want. Place into a greased baking sheet, and flatten lightly. Let the scones barely touch each other. Whisk together the egg and 1 tbsp. of milk. Brush the tops of the snoces with the egg wash. Let them rest for about 10 minutes. Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are golden brown. Then you can decorate with some chocolate and sliced almonds. Grab a couple, pour yourself a cup of coffee and ENJOY!

To God be the glory.

Bethany Joy

Training Update:

I haven't been able to do very much horse training lately. Something I hope to fix soon. Between studying, work, and plain ol' life I haven't had much spare time! No worries, my horses have great memories and very forgiving spirits. haha!
The most recent thing with the horses has been grooming. In the winter Promise has a 4inch coat and Miracle turns a very dark brown. Now they have lost almost all signs of winter. Miracle has a striking golden bay coat and prances around the pasture with pride. I do believe he thinks he has a rich owner (shhh! nobody pop his bubble..thats dangerous). haha!
Promise is every bit the diva she was formerly named. She loves her mud baths too. If you get the chance to see her not mud covered you will find yourself looking upon a black beauty! She has a very slick coat that shimmers in the sun and makes me think I will have quite a bit of fun with photography this year. :-) Anyways, thats all the update I have for now!

Ah, Life

At this point, life is simply a jumbled mix but you know what? I am not worried about it because of this one simpe verse....
 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Lessons From Bekah: Light

As many of you know, Bekah is an amazing photographer. She sees the world in a totally different light. Bekah got her first "real" camera for her graduation and named it Flash. Being Bekah's buddy in many things I wanted to find out what was so fascinating about this funny thing Bekah called photography. I never would have thought that I'd go from the tripod (my nickname) to actually being the photographer but Bekah has taught me a lot. It is funny how contagious passion is!
Before learning about the wonderful world of photography I loved looking and watching the world around me. The trees dancing, the creek trickling, the children giggling, the horses waving manes, the light.. Oh the light! How I have learned to love it so dearly! I don't believe I have ever been so aware of how beautiful light is... the way it dances on the water, the way it trickles through the trees...now I know why  God tells us to be a light... because it is simply irresistible! Something beautiful attracts everyone.

Duck Days: Momma Duck

I remember being little and wanting three things... A horse, a little lamb, and a duckling...I wanted to keep them all together in a stall and they would all be best of friends. Well God has blessed us with a whole herd of sheep and lambs and one of which I am bottle feeding (Sophia is her name). Nine ducklings, all of which are adorable. And two beautiful horses. However, none of them get along too well so I don't think they will be sharing a stall any time soon.
Anyways, I am "momma duck" now. Our older ducks despise people holding them and so did my little ducklings for a while but just recently they have decided to call me their mother and start following me around. I now have a little mob of ducklings following me everywhere I go. As a mother duck I have to teach my little ducklings to swim (quite a funny thing to watch). Luckily I don't have to get too wet while teaching them. I have started putting them in bowls of warm water and letting them play. I finally put them in deep water (they have to stretch pretty far to reach the bottom and stay above water). They freaked out a little at first but then they settled down and started having some real fun.

Horse Training: Updates

Its been a while since I updated you on my horses. We'll start with Miracle.
I rode him for the first time sucsessfully since October. It was great! We started with the simple "walk and don't kill the rider" then we moved onto some fun "thinking" work at a trot and kept that up for a little while. The whole ride lasted about 15 minutes or so which is a great start for my boy!
The flies have been horrible this year but I finally found something that has been working. "Endure" is what it is called and it killed almost all the flies and other little bugs on contact. I was pretty satisfied! Plus, it is sweat proof! Miracle is sweats like crazy so that has made the search for a good fly spray even harder. If you'd like a natural fly spray and don't have problems with the sweaty horses (like for goats or cows) then Vinagar of the Four Theives works amazing!

Promise- Ah, my dear sweet heart! She has learned to back out of my way during feeding time. She used to be very pushy and would fight me for the food but thanks to God she has improved greatly and her heart is almost in my hands! What a wonderful feeling it is to know that such a beautiful creature trust me with so much? The lessons I have learned while training these two horses are amazing. I am sure I will continue to learn more along this amazing adveture.

Newness...

Newness...I am not quite sure if it is even a word but it is the perfect description of my life right now. So much new all around me! Bekah is now Mrs. Yohn, I am studying to get my drivers permit (something I've been putting off), getting ready to graduate in the next year or so.... Does every one's life fly by so quickly? Like a blossoming flower one day and gone the next. The Bible said it perfectly(Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever). Luckily, death has no power over the Lord's people.