Isiah 26.4

Trust in the LORD forever, 

For in GOD the LORD, 

we have an everlasting Rock.

An Evening With the Girls

Last night our daughter and son-in-law, Maria and Eric, had an artsy function to attend. I went over to their house and had a lovely evening with our beautiful granddaughters.

The girls admired and adored their gorgeous Mom a bit before she took off to meet Eric. He had responsibilities at the event so he had gone on ahead.

 Maria looked beautiful.

Cordelia liked the idea that Momma was having a Cinderella event.

As Mom left, we headed to the  backyard for some fun!

Cordelia showed me how to pick tomatoes...only the deep red ones!

Elise was to hold the bucket and keep the little tomatoes safe.

She took her job quite seriously.

...but then...

Elise wanted to pick some as well.

Cordelia tried to keep her away, knowing that Elise wasn't careful to pick only the red ones.

Cordelia got distracted and Elise saw her chance.

 When Cordelia realized that Elise had pulled some tomatoes that were not the required deep red color,

she snatched them from Elise and buried them.

Confused, I asked why she would do that.

"Because," she said, "I don't want Momma to know Elise picked those orange ones."

She was protecting her little sister from the shame of it all.

Sweet.

Eventually, it was time for their baths.

Elise is currently not much of a bathtub fan so her's was very quick.

Cordelia loved splashing and playing, though.

Suds...funny faces...pretending she was in the ocean... 

The fun went on and on!

After bath time

I watched the "Elise" show.

It was pretty cute! 

She was in entertainment mode, trying to think of new moves to put into her act.

Is there anything cuter than a freshly scrubbed, happy little one-year-old?

 Meanwhile, I brushed out Cordy's long, lovely locks.

I couldn't believe how patient she was.

We couldn't forget bedtime snacks.

Elise had her own sippy cup but Cordy explained to me that Elise preferred

to share with Cordelia. 

 Aaaah, hug and kiss time.

And a wee bit of Netflix for Kids to wind down.

And in case you want to know, when an artistic Momma leaves 

notes for the evening, they come complete with illustrations.

It was wonderful.

Little Bighorn Battlefield

Monday of this week Mike and I left Billings and headed to Wyoming. Along the way, though, we made a stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Guess what!? I took a LOT of photos! I will try to limit myself but I need to show some of them to you.

The Little Bighorn Battlefield used to be called the Custer Battlefield. You've all heard of Custer's Last Stand, right? Well, the place where this last stand occurred can be visited still today. It is on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Mike and I have been there many times over the years. It always seemed rather ridiculous that the place was named after Custer. First of all, he was not the only general involved in that battle and his was a story of military errors and misjudgments. 

Second, the story is of a victory for the Native Americans and the site is on their reservation. The new name is much more accurate.

The Little Bighorn Battle is a disturbing story, one with no lasting victories. It is referred to a clash of cultures. The basic story, according to the literature provided at the battle site, is that the U.S. Army had ordered all Native Americans onto reservations, including one in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Native Americans lived a nomadic life and being forced to live confined must have been devastating. 

When gold was discovered in the Black Hills a lot of gold miners swarmed in to get rich, ignoring the fact that they were on a someone else's land. I am sure that is just a small part of the whole story but the result was the Native American tribes worked together to fight back. 

The battle that resulted at Little Bighorn was awful. It was certainly a victory for the Native Americans but they did not regain their life as it was before. They won that battle but not the war.

Standing there at the battlefield I always get a sense of despair and grief. It is a sad place. I stood there looking at all the markers where men died and wondered how much pain they felt, how long did they suffer? 

Out there on the prairie there is not much coverage so Custer and  his men ended up shooting their own horses to hide behind them. The misery of men and animals is still felt there, I think, because all the visitors seem to speak in hushed tones. 

I hate evil. I hate conflict. I hate hate. 

There is a feeling of hope there at the battlefield site I guess. There is now a lot of evidence of two cultures working together. There are now plaques honoring Native Americans as well. 

Native American guides show visitors around the area, even offer tours of the Crow Reservation. There is a lot of evidence of the descendants of both cultures working together to tell the story.  That's a good thing. 

   

Sunday Evening in Billings

One of the things I wanted to do in Billings was to spend some time on the Rimrocks that frame the North edge of the city. It is a great place to go for a lovely view. That tallest building was our hotel, just in case you needed to know that.

Mike was so patient as I wandered around taking photos.

There was evidence up there of many parties.

Alcohol and a cliff edge just don't seem like a good combination to me.

I came across an interesting sculpture.

Do you think it is meant to be Jesus?

Mary?

As I got closer I could read the engraving but

it only said "class of 1956".

Mike came down and took my photograph.

And I took his.

But I didn't so much appreciate it when he was 

pretending to fall or jump. 

I walked away so as not to encourage him.

Sometimes that is just all you can do.

After the Rimrocks we moved on to Lake Elmo

for a few more photo opportunities.

Lucky you!

Anyway, it was a lovely Sunday.

That's all.

Sunday Afternoon in Billings

Mike and I enjoyed a quick week-end in Billings, Montana. We didn't go to see anyone, just to be together. We had no agenda, just did what we wanted.

For church Sunday we attended a little mission congregation, Joy Lutheran Church. We didn't know anyone there but we knew they were a small congregation with an average attendance of 15. Well, let me tell you, they were 15 very friendly people!

From the moment we entered their building we were made to feel very welcome. They weren't overwhelming or anything, just kind and warm. After the service we were invited to join them at a nearby park for a picnic. We decided to go with the flow and we had a sweet time getting to know these people. They told us we were their honored guests and asked us to go through the food line first. That was really sweet because actually we were the party crashers who brought no food to the party!

Later we went back to our hotel room to rest a bit. I didn't so much feel like resting, though. I decided to go for a walk instead. I took my camera and looked for whatever caught my eye. I like beauty but sometimes I like quirky things. Hey, its my blog so I get to choose what photos I like. Here I go...