A Christmas Wish from Connie and Jim

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Welcome

Jim & Connie girl

Connie and I hope that you all are enjoying your Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Saviour,
Jesus Christ.

Below our story will be some pictures of the Bar-K-Ranch
home place and Connie girl's decorations. (smile)

Jim & Connie girl

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.

One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said.

"Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!"

So she and the children left, and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. Then another thump. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on.

They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside.

But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

Why don't they follow me? " he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?"

He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human."If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud.

Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn--and one by one the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind:

"If only I were a goose, then I could save them!"

Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"

Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought.

Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

"Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

(author unknown)

Jim & Connie girl

Before we get started I'd like to give you a little history about our home. I designed our home and drew up the blue prints about the time I became disabled in 1995. I had been told that I'd be in a wheel chair several years before and had planned this home in my mind long before we started it. I built every whip stitch of my home with the help of Thomas and Joseph Peachey, two Mennonite boys in their early teens. My sons, Jimmy, Scott, and Eric helped me a couple of days put in the insulation and metal roof after a storm blew some of the shingles off the original one... Steve Hull, Cowboy they called him, had put on the roof and helped with the frame work. Scotty and Connie helped me put down the linoleum throughout.

But other than that I did all he rest of it myself. It isn't perfect but I'm happy that the Lord allowed me to build my home: the plumbing, wiring, siding, doors, windows, sheetrock, and all the interior. It was truly exciting to build something from scratch with your own two hands and then be able to look at it and admire your labor efforts. (smile)

Just thought we might start out side. This is just outside my study window looking down the driveway. These pictures were taken in 2004. That's my son, Jimmy, grading the driveway for us.

The next picture is coming up the hill in front.

This was taken form the side porch looking over the
back yard and the fields.

And now that we've gotten chilly from being out in the cold I believe it's time to go inside and see the pretty decorations.

No better place as we come in the back door than the Kitchen. Yea, that's Connie girls utensil tree by the back door. If you look hard you will see the rolling pin close to the bottom in case I need a thumping. LOL

Some more of the Kitchen.

And now we move right on into the Living room.

This is the master bedroom looking in the double door from the living room. That tree is Connie girl's Angel tree...

This Picture is the guest bed room which my Grandson Will occupies since his daddy death.

Connie put this little tree up for me in my study.

And this was her desk but we have gotten a big corner desk for her since this was taken. Yea she had her own little tree. I believe we had 23 trees all together that year in all sizes... (smile)

And now that we've warmed up again I guess we'll leave out and go feed those horse. I sure do hope that you've enjoyed visiting with us as much as we have had sharing a little bit of out lives with you all.

May the Lord Bless You in His Love and in a very special way all thru this Christmas Holiday Season...

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updated 12/12/2009

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Jim Keeling; Webmaster