The New Year is Indeed Looking Bright!

The New Year always holds such promises of hope and excitement. Fresh beginnings and the fulfillment of dreams is always my wish for my kids. I set my own goals for the year, but they are fluid and easily attainable, provided I actually apply myself. But my hopes for my kids are more important. I want for them what we all want… happiness and all their dreams come true. I pray for them every day.

This week I heard from two of the three not living at home. WHoo hooo!! Aaron has been struggling for the past year and a half with a severe health issue and a financial setback. The health issue was addressed and he is recovering beautifully. He started a fantastic new job this week. It will help him put his life back together. I am so grateful my Heavenly Father hears prayers. This young man has so much to give the world and he got a little side tracked, as most of us do. Now the world will stand in awe to have him back in it full force! Bless you son.

Ben also called this week to tell us he’s thinking he’d like to transfer to Russellville campus (Arkansas Tech) next semester and finish his degree there. He’s at Fayetteville U of A right now and making a great go of it, but he is not in his comfort zone. The move itself was traumatic, this being the first time Ben had ever been away from home. The Tech campus is closer to home and both he and his roommate are considering the move so they can keep rooming together. Great teamwork if you ask me.

Kelly completed a series of tests this week that give her a full scholarship to a local community college. She is beyond happy and releaved. Her plan to fund tuition is not a cramped as originally conceived. Her college dream really can be a reality. I’m so proud of her.

I’m so proud of all of them. Life is hard and the challenges insurmountable at times, but we try to equip them to face them head on and not back down. My babies are beautiful people and strong souls.

I love you all. (That’s my mom with them. She is the glue.)

Thank you for sharing my little piece of heaven because it wouldn’t be heaven without them.

Love,
Jeannene

End of Summer Stuff

Whew! Long time since the last post. After our exceptional vacation we’ve been so busy. One of our things this summer was to make a decent senior picture for Kelly. This involved evaluating the weather, the time of day, the shade, angle of the sun, the location and Lord knows what else. We have this down to a semi-science by now. Lots of locations with several props in these.
Be warned. Excessive pictures follow.

After all the lake pictures we thought we needed some good ole Arkansas woods content.

Great lighting this day.

With some sturdy trees…

And lots of underbrush…

Cooper, of course, is our ever present helper, companion, best bud. We don’t do anything without that little guy. We loooovvve Cooper.

And… in the midst of summer bloom, I had to get some of that vibrancy on film.

This was just the bottom of the photo mountain. Take a gander at this sampling.

Lots of props… Have to have one with her gun… a real country girl.

We can’t forget the girl with her guitar either. Have to say she looks like a natural and of course there are ton of these.

With another close up. She hates my close ups, but I love ’em and I’m the one with the camera. Call me the camera boss.

Not to be forgotten… a vehicle as a backdrop.

More guitar shots. Love the late day light with her on this pasture.

Great smile!

Have to a ‘come hither’ shot to counter the ‘leaving’ shot.

And another one of those cursed close ups. I didn’t touch these up, the light is funky, but I love that smile.

The last backdrop is our old tractor. Finally found a decent use for the old guy. She really dresses him up!

One last shot.

After flicking through all these, do you have any idea of my pain? An hour and a half of juggling the light and a prop here and there started taking its toll on my pleasant demeanor. Somewhere in these hundreds of shots is a perfect senior picture – Kelly’s call. I love them all.

Thanks for sharing in another small tidbit of my little piece of heaven. You can see it around my girl. All shot on our farm.

Love,
Jeannene

More pictures

Family Weekend Fun

This weekend we enjoyed a visit from our son and his new family. I can’t tell you how much we looked forward to this visit. Me and the kids planned food and activities. It all paid off in trumps too. We out did ourselves when you stop to think about it. We had so much fun, we almost collapsed in exhaustion. Stick around and I’ll give you the rundown.

The kids arrived Friday evening. Our son is engaged and his fiancée has two little girls. They live in the city and haven’t experienced the joys of a small country farm. The kittens found themselves in little hands right away. Those cats weren’t fast enough to escape. The girls are fast. I can’t tell you how many times they slip through my fingers. (Or maybe I’m just too old to move quickly.)

After a quick bite to eat we all moved out to the horses. The evening air had cooled wonderfully, thank goodness.

As most little girls their age, they held a fascination with horses. To get them accustomed to them, we pulled out some feed and showed them how to hand feed them. That is an experience for little hands.
Here is girl two…

Then girl one ….

We laughed at their reactions to those big lips on their little hands.

The main event followed. Horseback riding. This is my Naomi. She is an awesome saddle horse. I would trust her with a kid on her if they knew how to ride alone even. We take the appropriate precautions for novices though.

This was a work out for me as well.
But our son gets his chance to run around too.

After riding, the girls tried their hands at the giant sand pile. Their shoes were filled with sand after this. A lovely pile of the gritty stuff found its way to the porch before we entered the house. I couldn’t believe how much poured from their shoes.

No one denies a pile of sand is a kid’s delight.

The next fun thing to do before the sun settled behind the western horizon was to ride the four-wheeler. You know those aren’t too prevalent in the city.

Momma needed a ride too. He sold his motorcycle last month so this is the closest he gets to a ride.

Here is a nice picture of our son and his honey.

That was a mess of stuff to do in that short amount of time. We packed it in before eating homemade ice cream. That sounds so country. For a gal who spent most of her life in the city, I have come full circle to the simple life.

The kids drove off to their hotel only to have us call them back. C-Man heard the girls wished they could stay with us. That wasn’t any sort of a big deal to us. We had them turn around to drop the girls to spend the night here. They loved bathing in a big slipper tub and sleeping with our girl… all three of them in her bed like peas in a pod. We all got to sleep reeeallly late.

Nobody beat beat me and C-Man up the next morning. Girl one appeared the minute she heard stirring in the house. She did manage to scarf up one of the kittens first thing.

She also had first dibs on the goats that morning.

Our day could not begin without another ride on Naomi.

It was a good thing we rode early because the heat of the day only increased and stuck around until after well after sunset.

Such was the first part of the visit. We loved having those little girls running around and carrying Cooper and playing on the keyboard and snarfing homemade cookies.

Check back later for the rest of the visit. It is just too much to put in one post.

Thanks for sharing my little piece of heaven. Let me know what special people have come to visit in your life.

Love,
Jeannene

Scenes from Arkansas

We had a lovely Memorial Day. Relaxing and nonplussed C-Man, our daughter and I, oh and Cooper of course, took a small day trip to a local State Park. The weather cooperated wonderfully.

This is a small chronicle of our little trip. Warning, massive picture posting here. There are so many incredible places in this state to snap sections of natural beauty. I never tire of taking my camera with me.

This is Mount Petit Jean.

As you can see it is a giant plateau that rises above the valley about 600 feet. I realize this is only a hill when we consider the hills in the Carolina’s and those peaks out west. For us, this is mountainous and a ton of fun.

To get there, we traverse the mighty Arkansas River. After all the weather this part of the country has suffered, it is hugely swollen. All that water has churned up a ton of sediment, hence the brown color.

The second we hopped out of the car, with Cooper of course, we were mobbed by a crew of teenagers who descended upon the little fellow en masse. He loved it!

Then comes the scenery. The plateau gives us a huge vista, the river twining through the valley below. This is the southern exposure of the lookout.

Then to the north is a view of the river as it winds its way through farmland and cattle pastures.

Then there are these people with Cooper. They will be featured in quite a few of the following pictures, so brace yourselves.

Then there is a the stray little girl who just has to get her hands on Cooper. We can’t blame her.

And of course, my little girl has her moment of glory.

Our small excursion to the lookout with its short walk-ways and numerous visitors fondling little Cooper, wore him out. This is his spot in the truck. And this is Cooper – wiped out already and our little tour has only just begun!

We find a tiny sandwich shop where we can eat outside so Cooper can join us. I love eating outside.

Then we found this little treasure of picturesqueness. I’m a sucker for waterfalls and this is just downright lovely.

This is a waterfall from the water draining out of Lake Bailey.

Cooper takes it all in.

C-Man is content to stay in the shade and enjoy the view from afar.

Our next stop is the Cedar Falls. It is nestled deep in the woods and drops about 95 feet. I tried to get the bottom of the falls, but so many spring trees in full bloom bar the visuals that far down.

This is the walk way to the falls. It winds down the mountain slope at an easy grade. I love the tree cover and the plank boards beneath our feet. Wrought iron fencing protects the public from the dangers of slipping down the slope.

Love the play of light on my babies in this shot.

We did a number on ole Cooper. He sprawled the whole trip home. There is only so many strides 3in legs can bear and we put them through their paces.

That is big chunk of my piece of heaven today. I loved every second of it.

Love,
Jeannene