Giving Hope ~ Resources

For my community,
sharing some hope and some helps
for you.

Below are resources
to help your body, mind, and spirit
right here, right now.

Come back if you need to.
There are several links.

A friend, right in the thick of it all,
posted this truth as her status today,
""Though You have made me see troubles, 
many and bitter, 
You will restore my life again; 
from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up."
Psalm 71:20

Allow that truth
to sink down deep into the spirit...
into the marrow of the bones...
into every crevice of the mind...

You will restore my life again; 
from the depths of the earth You will again bring me up...

Meade County 4-H Leader, Tacy Langemeir,
has collected courage-giving notes from 4H clubs and leaders all over the country
Click this link here to be filled with support and hope by just reading a few:

Well Wishes For Ranch Families
Pour in From Across The Country

*

 Beth Moore has a message.

It is from 2011,

about going through life storms,

but it is even more relevant for those
enduring the aftermath of real, physical storms.
Watch her videos here.

Wrecked But Not Ruined Part 1

Wrecked But Not Ruined Part 2

Wrecked But Not Ruined Part 3

Wrecked But Not Ruined Part 4

Wrecked But Not Ruined Part 5

{Each segment of her teaching is about 15-20 minutes of the first part of the program,
although the entire program is 30 minutes. So, you could break it up over a few days.
Each message is good on it's own.  She brings it to a strengthening and confidence building close.}

*

The effects of this storm on our mental, emotional, physical health is very, very real.
Do pay attention to what is happening in your own body and mind,
as well as those that you love.
Below is a resource to help know
what is normal reaction, coping tips, and reactions to take seriously, especially as time goes by.

It is from the SDSU Extension Western SD Beef facebook page:


The SDSU Extension also has this great spot:
iGrow Blizzard Resources

And for those moved to give, 

the SD Stockgrowers, SD Cattlemen, and SD Sheepgrowers have established

a Rancher Relief Fund.

Below is one way that you can donate to it online.

You may also mail checks to 

Rancher Relief

PO Box 231

Rapid City, SD  57709

Donate to Rancher Relief Fund at Razoo

South Dakota Summer~Savoring Seasons

Savoring the Seasons.

Instead of fighting or dreading or resisting.

It takes a conscience shift in the mind to do it.

This season is haying season.

Fortunately this haying season is green.

Others have been brown.

This year:  plump, lush, green windrows.

Alfalfa blooms.

Grass.

The old cliche ~ "Make hay while the sun shines."

Is in full swing here in Meade County.

An old hay cutter overlooks my favorite hayfield.

To the east of my kitchen.

My kids love to sit in the seat.

And play in the old red tool box.

The kids ride along with their dad.

In today's swather.

It's a season of hope.

Hoping for enough rain.

Enough sun.

Enough dew.

Enough time.

Hope.

For rain at the right time.

For sun at the right time.

For dew at the right time.

For enough time at the right time.

For growing.

For cutting.

For curing.

For raking.

For baling.

For stacking.

Hope for the weavels

And the grasshoppers

To not eat everything before getting to that field...or all of them.

Hope for no breakdowns.

Or few breakdowns in equipment

And in spirit.

Or that the part you need for the breakdown will be in.

Hoping that you can get fixed and back in the field.

In the right time.

Hoping that when your spirit breaks down.

You get back up and out again.

Without too much fallout.

Hope for no hail to wipe out a field or the whole place.

Hoping that a storm won't come up in the night

And blow all of the windrows

So that they they have to be pulled out of the barbed wire fence and raked back up.

Or that they didn't blow away completely.

Hope for no tornadoes.

There is beauty to savor.

Here.

On the South Dakota prairie.

Under the summer sun.

It gets to be a long season.

Long hours.

Little sleep.

Solitude.

Lots of time for thoughts.

Weariness.

Monotony.

Savoring the season is a conscious effort.

A choice.  A focus.

At times it does come effortlessly.

But often it is a method of preserving sanity.

It is haying season.

Photos and text Copyright June 2010 Jodene (Jodi) Shaw.

"...hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance."  Romans 8:24-25 NKJV

{For me, jodi, my camera is the way to savor the season and preserve my sanity.  I have said before that sometimes my best photographs come at the times that my mind is at it's worst.  But picking up the camera and going out to find some beauty, calms my mind and spirit, and brings me back to God and His creation and even moves me to worship Him and hear from Him.  I don't always see and feel day-to-day what my camera shows.  But it is the camera that is my tool that helps me intentionally find something beautiful to enjoy.  To feast my eyes upon.  And that changes my heart and mind and focus.}

Spring Hope.
(Written 4/7/2009 after spring blizzard. Remember, not so long ago. . . )

The robins are here this morning. On my deck, in my few sparse juniper branches that refuse to be crushed by the snow, in my cottonwood tree. Their orange breast against the blue sky evokes a glimmer deep in my core--

Beyond the tree I see a black baby calf dancing in figure-eights around his blizzard-weary mama; his tail flying straight behind him. If he could speak, I imagine he would be saying, "Mama! Mama! The sun! The sun! Do you see the sun? And the blue sky? Blue! That is what blue is! Wow! It's amazing!!" It is the first time this 3-day old baby has seen a blue sky, has seen the sun. He has only known white and gray, cold and wet.

And mama, slowly, deliberately chewing her cud of hay, wearily lifts her head, utters a soft shallow, "Mmm," saying "Yes, dear."

There is a glimmer again. Color. Light.

Hope.