oodilalee!

Well we are about to finalize our first "real" job, and it's a pretty big one too! It's exciting to finally be moving in the right direction, although we have a LONG way to go before we'll be completely self-sufficient! It's very exciting though, and please be praying that it goes well and that we can line up many more jobs soon!


On another note, for all those who are coming to the Bird Farm of Love for Christmas, can you let me know when you are arriving/departing so that I can plan accordingly?


That's about it.

Peace, love and we had over a hundred cows stampede our yard a couple days ago.

be ye

thankful.

for all things.


there are always some kooky delightful moments whenever families get together. it's a good thing too because most days are so drab that we forget how wonderful the zany times can be.
throw in a few butt-smacks, well-placed sarcastic digs, corny jokes where everyone groans and a long day full of good food, and life just doesn't get much better.

all this holiday is making me feel nostalgic about this coming Christmas. which is weird, because it hasn't happened yet. I just feel like it's going to be one to be nostalgic about for the rest of our lives, like the signal of an end to an era, a grand dynasty... and it's making me sort of melancholy and wistful for the past that it's going to be.

illogical, perhaps, but quite true.

I'm nostalgic for the future, and contented with the present.

this is a good life, to be sure, but for some reason the future seems like it's going to be even better.


what is this? could it be a sign of optimism... from ME?
to be sure.
a strange thing, but a good thing.


here's to a nostalgic-worthy tomorrow!

cut the red wire?

Sometimes I forget that I have a band that people listen to, until things like this happen.

Weird.

-A-

A true blessing

Nathanael...

After reading your dream I was so overcome with joy and delight that I feel any words of gratitude would fall short...So in return I give you the gift of the picture below...Enjoy

set your sails...

Next week we'll be mailing about 100 boutiques in the U.S. with our winter catalog of shirt designs. Andy's been slaving all week (with my intense spurring) to pump out lots of new designs and I must say I'm pretty excited about it all. The designs are looking good, the catalog is looking good and I'm hoping that we'll get at least a 10% response... but 50% would be great too... or 75%.... aiming high - indeed.

It would be really great to have some income.

If anyone wants a copy of a the catalog, I'm sure we could work something out and offer our wholesale rates to our dearest friends and family... :)

Just think... you could look like this (minus the obnoxious necklace:

It's pretty great - n'est pas?

*sigh*

[from the Hster]

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. (the election that is)

I voted for the first time - but I'm not telling anyone who I voted for. That's why they put you in a private little booth - for secrecy.

But I will tell you that 1/2 of the offices I voted for won.

And I thought McCain's concession speech was very gracious. And Obama's acceptance speech was starkly emotionless. Does that guy ever get even a little angry or delighted? Seriously.

And I wish Andy would let me get a new puppy like Obama is letting his kids. *sigh*


And in sum....... come, Lord Jesus, come.

Run back to the start...

[by the female Bird]

The new Copeland album is out - produced by Aaron Sprinkle. It's really good. And I forgot about Aaron Sprinkle until now - he's really good too.


It's been a difficult journey lately. Life's been a floating bubble.

I think I've actually decided for myself that I don't need happiness or purpose... so why ask for it if I don't need it? As if I know what's best for myself. I realized recently that I've stopped asking God for anything... I've decided that realizing He is good is enough, and I need not see, comprehend or experience His goodness. What a sad cheat.

I'm starting to remember that He has given me desires, dreams, even passions... I've forgotten most of them because I've pushed them all far far away from my heart, but I believe that they will soon find me once again.

Not to be dramatic but... ever since the accident, I've felt more useless and purposeless than ever. I keep asking myself, "why would He save and preserve me? why didn't He take me home?" But why have I not been asking Him these questions? Why have I not been asking Him for guidance, for good, for provision, for joy?

To say I've become passive is a major understatement. Perhaps if I don't care about anything or anyone, nothing will ever disappoint (...and I will never disappoint). I haven't pursued anything. And I haven't turned around to see my own Pursuer... But I've been pursued.

Is it pride that keeps us from asking God for the abundance He promised?

Friendly Arctic Printing

We wanted to put a post up here to show you all the work we have been doing over the past few months...The picture above is an attempt at a panoramic shot of the print shop...After a few months of buying equipment, working on promotional materials, setting up all the book keeping and putting together our website we are just about ready to take on new customers. Our web address is www.friendlyarctic.com we would love to hear your feedback...We also want to ask that you all be praying for us as we are going out to find customers. This is a totally new thing for both of us and we're both a bit nervous about it. We have faith the the Lord will provide for us with the business, but it's still scary for us to be out on a limb waiting for things to come together.
-A-

on the mend...

Well it's certainly been an unusual week for us.

For those of you who don't already know - last Saturday Andy and I were horseback riding and the horse I was on reared, fell backwards and landed on top of me. He weighs somewhere between 1500-2000 lbs and yet I came out of it nothing more than a bruised kidney and a couple fractured ribs... oh, and I was very sore all over my body. But not paralyzed. Nothing major broken. And I'm alive.

All in all, I have to say that I'm absolutely blown away by God's miraculous mercy throughout all of this. I don't want to be dramatic about it, but I am acutely aware of how that accident could have ended up, and I am humbled by His gentle sparing of my life and health. Now that my general muscles have mostly healed, I am able to walk around my home with little more than chest pain. And now I'm able to bear the pain (which is SO much less than at the beginning) without taking those crazy narcotics I was on all week. So now I can move fairly easily AND think clearly without feeling like I'm laying in a boat on very tumultuous waters.

Can't say that I'm used to sitting on the couch all day every day (nor is Andy - who has been devotedly at my side, taking care of me like the grand husband that he is)... also cant say I'm used to taking any notice of my ribs in the least - now I'm constantly aware of them... but these are hardly large burdens to bare considering what happened.

So - in sum - I'm great! I'm alive (and again, not to be dramatic but, I'm unusually thankful to be alive). I'm walking (although much like a hobbly old lady - now I know what I have to look forward to). And I have fabulous odds for a perfect recovery (considering that Andy wont let me do anything for myself and my mother is constantly reminding me to "Rest, rest, rest!").

It's been an odd week, to be sure. But it's been a good one too.

Here's to breathing deeply without wincing, and many more adventures on horseback to come!

Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam

First off - something shocking happened a few minutes ago.

The phone rang. We both stared at it for a minute and Andy finally decided to answer it. All I heard was "Okay... nuqjatlh? What is it? ...Okay..." Click. He hung up. He informed me that a man informed him that he had a delivery for us and that it was, amazingly enough, two million dollar checks. But he hung up on the man! How could he???

The phone rang again. I decided to answer it this time and get to the bottom of the matter. "nuqneH", I said. A difficult-to-understand man (of some foreign ethnicity I am assuming), informed me that he had a delivery for us from Las Vegas, Nevada. I said kindly, "but we aren't expecting any deliveries," and he replied "it is from the lottery and you have won 5 million dollars and a Rolls-Royce." I said, "no," to which he said "you play the lottery" and I said "no, we do not." He said, "well you have won and I have a delivery for you," but I responded firmly "no, thank you, we don't want those things." There was a long pause and he said, incredulously, "why not?". My reply was, again firmly, that "we don't play the lottery," to which he asked "you never play _____ [some name of some lottery ticket]?" and I said, "No, thank you, goodbye." Click. I hung up. What I should have said was, "Hab SoSlI' Quch!"

I wonder if I did the right thing? I mean, 5 million bucks? What a total bummer... maybe Corky (the previous tenant) played and won and never claimed his prize? Or maybe if I had given this strange man my address, bank account and social securities numbers I could be totally loaded right now? I guess I'll never know...

On a lighter note - well, not really - I'm not even registered to vote but I'm having a major crisis about who I would vote for if I were going to... I don't like either of them, and I really don't feel supportive of either on more than 50% of their standpoints, so I don't see how I could make a final decision... I hate to say it, though, but I feel like I might vote for Obama (if I were actually voting that is) simply for my general Democratic or "liberal" leanings... and yet I hate to think that I would vote for him because I just don't like him much at all... Oh, I dont know! What ever will I do about my non-existent potential voting decision??? Oh, gefilte fish!

On a much lighter note - or is it? - Andy, in response to Nathanael's McCain/Borg insinuation, would like to contribute this small gift to the political discussion... just some food for thought. He likes to call it "Barack-Oklingon" but I personally like to say "nuqDaq ' oH puchpa' ' e '" everytime I see it!

Translation.

the goings on...

Major updates:
1) Andy got hissed at by a snake. Literally. It stuck it's head in the air and hissed at him. (I'm jealous that I missed it - I've always wanted to hear a snake hiss!)

2) I'm going to attempt making a Pot Roast today.

3) Christmas on the farm! We're so excited that most of the Johnson clan will be taking the hike to come stay on our lovely farm to celebrate Christmas and Dad's birthday! I'll be sure to have a wild Christmas-cookie-baking-festival with Melissa in preparation for the 9,000 people who will be bunking here!

4) It's starting to get chilly! Early mornings and late evenings on the farm are pretty much the most incredible times ever... the moon has been ridiculously bright (brighter than I've ever seen in my life), and giving everything a bluish glow all night long (I've had several post-midnight visits to the horses, who have surprisingly welcomed me into their herd, even when it's dark)... In the mornings everything is covered in a delicious fog that hovers around the house and fields as the sky starts to light up with dawn. Andy's started busting out the socks and thermal shirts - despite the fact that it gets up to 85 during the day :) - in an attempt to convince the weather that it is, indeed, okay to get ridiculously cold any day now. This is my favorite time of year.


Other than that : we are desperately still trying to get everything ready to get the business going... please pray for us. Things are finally coming together, but we are WAY behind schedule (we had hoped to be up and running by Sept 1st, but now it's looking like Oct 1st before we'll actually start to have business). I know everything's going to work out, but it's a little more than stressful not having an income and hoping that the business does really well when we finally do get it started. We have enough savings to survive for quite some time, but there's just something painful about watching money go out without any coming back in.... I hate money.

We've been playing a lot of Scrabble lately. It's the only game we have that works well with just 2 people - although I think we're about to start playing Yahtzee as well, just to give our life some variety - it's been a lot of fun, although sometimes it gets lonely with just the 2 of us.... well, there is always the "other woman" (ie: Andy's computer) to occupy Andy when he gets bored... I've started to turn to Charlene and Buford (ie: my piano and amp), to pass the time. I even recorded a song the other day... but don't tell anyone.

I want to make beef jerky soon.

muchlove.
HRB

a jolt to the spirit

this is Hadassah...

I've been very neglect in my pursuit of God lately. It would be easier to say, "I haven't been reading the Word as much as I should... I haven't been praying enough..." but I won't say that, because I have often frequented my life with these things, and yet stood far from God's outreaching arms.

The past couple of weeks have been a slow breaking through of my personal walls - namely "busyness", "exhaustion", "dissatisfaction", "fear", "petulance", and "disbelief" - and, ever so softly, I have begun to desire my Father's heart once more. I suppose it is largely because I have witnessed the breaking of others' around me, and have desired to shower them with a love, truth and grace that is not of my own making. I have hoped that God would use me to minister to those around me, yet I have not placed my hope in Him. Faith has become something that I have but do not use. I have not even asked Him to lead me into a desire for Him. I have not asked Him for faith. I have not asked Him for hope. Yet I have asked Him to use me to give it to others... do I think I cannot truly hold it as my own? Do I think I am, perhaps, not deserving of living it daily? Do I think that my only purpose is to give these gifts to others, but never rejoice in them as my own?

I read Colossians today. Here I was barraged with jarring reminders of the truths God has been teaching me for the past 2 years. As if to say, "have you forgotten Me already?" He directed my eyes to rest upon the very truths I already knew! The words I have wanted to say to others... I've been looking for a message of hope for my friends, yet today I was met with one for myself. I was at once encompassed with amazement and bowled over in awe at how unbelievable His truths are. They have made no sense to me, even as I spoke them with absolute certainty to others. It's as if I have discovered a blessed mystery that has been within, unbeknowst to me, and has at last been found again! I did not find anything new today, nothing about God or about my life has changed in the least... but I remembered something today, something that has rested in my heart since the day I died and received my Savior's life as my own.

It's been there all along, it's just that, for some strange reason, I have been looking for something else. Something outside of myself to change myself within. But Christ Himself is within me, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Col. 2:3). And He in me, "the hope of glory," (Col. 1:27) is already completed. There is nothing outside of myself that I should seek. There is nothing more than what I already have that can make me holy. There is no external, nor even internal that I lack or should desire. It all rests within me. Now. At present.

"For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him [Christ]," (Col. 1:19) and "in Him you have been made complete," (Col. 2:10).

I am moved deeply within my spirit. I am humbled. I am awed.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." (Col. 2:8) ..... I have been seeking truth according to myself. I have needed to prove to myself that which is truth. But here is the most ridiculous of it all...

I am the proof.... and He in me... the hope of glory.
Not my glory, but His.

I now hold fast to what I know.

The day-to-day things

So many delightful/disturbing things have happened on the farm in the last week that I hardly know where to start.

First - we saw some of neighbors wrangling a stray herd of cows... in their Chevy truck! It was a very disturbing/delightful sight, with a lot of whoopin and a-hollerin out of windows... *sigh*

Next - we saw two of our other neighbors wrangling a stray cow... on horseback! This was purely delightful... *sigh x2*

A few days later - I ran into about 25 loose cows hanging out in the yard of an abandoned house off of our driveway... it was a bit disconcerting, but mostly delightful. *sigh sigh sigh*

After that - we saw a 6-8 foot black snake crossing our driveway in the middle of the night (thankfully we were in our car)... this was not delightful in the least, but VERY disturbing. *shriek*

The Olympics are over - after many nights of excitement, patriotism (SHOCKING) and many tears from me during the inspirational Visa commercials... seriously, I've been a weepy mess for the last 2 weeks... darn good advertising those Visa folk have - so now we're enjoying Netflix and rotating between the entire collection of the James Bond movies, Freaks & Geeks marathons, Jane Austen films, and Fred/Ginger evenings... this has been entirely delightful, and almost never disturbing (except for when I'd weep at the Visa commercials and medal ceremonies). *sigh shriek sigh sigh sigh sigh*

No new pictures at present.
Come visit us.

-the Birds

Secret Project # 1

Hello Everybody...

This past week Hadassah and I took on a secret project in preparation for a large get together we hosted at our house. We knew the dining table we had would not even come close to accommodating the close to 20 people we invited, so we decided to put our arms to good use and build a table that would fit more than four people around it...Here are some pictures chronicling our adventures in the land of woodworking.


After borrowing some plans from a DIY website, we went to Lowes and bought all of the wood we needed. We had the fine chaps at Lowes cut the big pieces for us but the rest of the sawing and sanding was left up to us.


While we were at Lowes I tried to convince Hadassah that it would be much easier if I bought a power saw to cut all the wood so my arms wouldn't " fall off" while sawing all the wood. After the initial shock and look of absolute horror and fear for my safety left her face we decided that the tools pictured above would be the safe route, and thus the one we went with.


After we cut and sanded it all my faithful wife stained all the boards.


After the stain dried I went about assembling all the different parts.


We were pretty proud once it started to look like a real table.


And here is a shot of the finished table in our dining room. About an hour after I got it all set up in the dining room people started showing up for our get together. It was a good thing we had the giant table too, we used it for Dinner, board games and then Breakfast the next morning...Project# 1...Success...

God Bless

A&H

and the journey begins.

Hello. We hate blogs (or at least the word "blog"), but we've given in and we're going to have one anyway. Congratulations to the internet, you've managed to steal that much more of our souls from us.

Welcome. Enjoy. It wont be quite as great as actually living on the Friendly Arctic Farm of Love, but you can enjoy it vicariously, eh?

Allow us to introduce you.

This is our farm. It may have droopy ceilings and uneven floors, not to mention wasps and large spiders, as well as smelly closets... but we love it. It's 90 years old and comes complete with rockers and fireplaces... it's a great home. Come visit us.
These are our neighbors... quite literally.
Come visit us.


This is our driveway... at exactl 0.9 miles long, it's a good morning workout. Also comes complete with abutting creek (completely dried up at present, due to drought), a flattened and rather large snake (Andy's afraid of it so we can't take walks at present), lovely sprawling fields, an abandoned house (anyone in the market?), and... well, it's just lovely.
Come visit us.

This is our river, the Piney River... well, it's not really ours, but we do have our own private path down to it. And there's a lovely spot for swimming nearby. And so far, no snakes.
Care for a swim? Well then, come visit us.

And this is Lewa. She loves it here. (and she's gorgeous).
Lewa was so happy when she realized she had a yard - she bounded about like a Gazelle (or maybe she was mocking the goats, who are a bit frightened of her... although not too frightened to snort, sneeze and stomp at her if she doesn't maintain a healthy respect and keep away). Anyway, she's deliriously happy, after being cooped up in an apartment, as you can imagine.
Lewa would like us to communicate to you, in lieu of her quit drab typing skills (having paws and all), that she would like you to promptly come and visit us.

Thank you for spending a few moments with us.
We hope you received the not-so-subliminal message to come visit us.
Right now.
Seriously.

Thanks.