What Is Your Dream ?

Do you have a dream ? What is the one dream that you hold onto no matter what ? What one dream stands out more then any other dream you have? By this I mean your hope, the dream you have for something in the future. Something you have set your sights upon. What is that one hope/dream that stands out above all the others, the one you will not let go but hold onto dearly no matter what happens in your life ?

For me it is owning a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse or mare or even a foal that is a Gypsy Cobb/Vanner. I do not want just any Gypsy Cobb it has to be a black and white one or a tri-colored one. They are absolutely beautiful. The steeds/stallions are so gorgeous in their lines and form. They are a proud breed of horse flesh. " The Lion King " was one of the most well known Gypsy Cobb/Vanner's that I have had the pleasure of viewing, via the Internet ,God rest his soul. He passed away on March 15, 2008. He was a remarkable specimen of his kind. The Gypsy Cobb has such beautiful feathering on it's legs and their manes flow gloriously as does their tale when they are in motion. God is the Master Artist in all things. All of His creations are beautiful in their own way.

My children and I have a love for horses. I do because I grew up raising them. We owned Quarter horses, Leopard Appaloosa, American Saddle bred/Arabian cross and my dear " Old Nell" God rest her soul, she was half Tennessee Walker and American Quarter Horse. Nell was special. She was a big 18 hands tall, a beautiful brownish red and white pinto. She was awesome. From the day we got her when I was 10 years old and she was 5 years old, we became instant friends. She was my constant companion. I rode her everyday, mostly bareback. She would stand and let me pull myself up on her for a ride. My Dad often said to me, " Nancy Jean that old mare would let you do anything and she would do anything for you." This was true. I could crawl under her. I could lay down and she would never step on me. I could fall asleep on her back and she would never let me fall. I used to have a rock garden that was my spot when I was young. It was in Nell's pen down in the woods. I would sit there and watch the wildlife and just enjoy being in the nature God had created. One thing all my family knew was that " Old Nell" and my dog,Sam, were always with me in my rock garden. They stayed with me as long as I stayed in the rock garden. I would sing sometimes aloud or just sit quietly. Sometimes I whistled back to the birds as they were nearby chirping. Yes, I can do many bird calls as I did practice doing so. I had many opportunities , growing up on a 600 acre farm, to practice my animal calls. Which to this day I still enjoy making noises and doing animal sounds.

This is something that has carried over into my children, especially my son. He is also an imitator of animal and bird calls. He enjoys making sounds just as I did when I was growing up. He is as hyperactive as I ever was also. Sometimes it annoys his sister when he makes the sounds but I tell her to let him make the noises because it is fun to him. It is one way that he releases stress, I know this from my own experiences growing up. Plus it is just fun to be able to make all these neat bird calls, animal calls and sounds from just yourself, not using any other device except the voice that God has given one to use.

My daughter, Elizabeth, can make sounds also but she does not do it often unless she is in the mood to do so. She likes mainly to do voices of people in different accents and some animal or bird sounds. While Zak and I are a bit more wild and untamed in our repertoire of noises, sounds and calls. We do get exuberant sometimes.

Thankfully our neighbors do not mind as they are used to it, especially after living here for 35 years they are used to me and my ways. I am a very emotional person and everyone here knows this. We all look out for each other. In fact that is one of the things my neighbor boy, who recently got married to another neighbors daughter, said to me. He said," I like it her, Nancy, because we can shout if we fell like it or just be loud and no one thinks anything about it. Because we are all used to being able to praise the Lord aloud , make joyful noises, sing and just be oneself. We do not have to worry about what others think of us." That is awesome to be able to have the relationship with friends and neighbors that we understand each other and know that no one here things odd about the others as we are too closely the same in the aspect that we can holler aloud if we want to and no one things anything about it. It is nice to know that if you feel like praising the Lord at the top of your lungs you are free to do so without infringing on someone else.

I got side tracked when I started talking about sounds. It is so easy to go off on a different tangent from where one first starts as things just crop up along the way that can take us on another course away from what we started upon. Now back to dreams/hopes.

In my Senior autograph book, which my dad signed some 27 years ago, he wrote, Set your goals/dreams/hopes high but not too high that you can not reach them. Always sing your way through life and you will make it. First and foremost from the age of 4 I was trained to be a singer. I love to sing. I only sing for the Lord though. My voice is a blessing, a gift from Him and it is to be used to serve Him and His purpose. I knew this from an early age. My dream then was to become a singer so that I could make a profit to provide a living for me. But that dream was for selfish reasons and it would have taken me from the path God had set my feet upon, so long ago, to follow. I do not use my voice for profit. I use it to sing praises for and to the Lord. Without Him in my life my voice would be worthless for my voice was given to me to praise Him and to share His message and His Love with others. This voice that I have been blest with in singing is truly His voice that has been lent to me to do His work. My Dad,s dream for me was to go into the music field and use my voice. I feel I have let my dad down because I do not do what He wanted me to do with my voice. But I followed the Father God's plan for me in using my voice for Him. It does not profit me in this world but it profits the Lord in reaching His children and those He wants to become his children. I am blest as both my children can sing. God has blest them with beautiful voices and they both sing with me in Church. No you will never hear of our names in the big league or out on the radio or on song tracks, although there is one cassette tape of my family and I singing that was recorded in a studio, but it is not widely spread or known for reasons that God knows of. Profit for us is not to be gain, except to be gained for the Lord's work and given back into his work,in the gifts and talents He blesses us with. It is for His glory, not our own. It is for His profit and gain, not our own. We are nothing without God, people. Give God the praise, the honor, and the glory due Him in all things and in all ways.

My dream that I hold onto is the Gypsy Cobb/Vanner horse. But the dream that I am living is in service to the Lord. That is what goal/hope/dream that I set for myself when I read what my Dad wrote in my Senior autograph book, was to serve the Lord and sing for the Lord. And yes, I am living that dream to use my voice to bring honor and glory to and for the Lord, for it is He who has gifted me in the ways He chose to for His service. I am teaching my children of Him and how to use their gifts and talents to serve the Lord. Elizabeth is a very blest artist and Zak is our little botanist. God is wonderful and He is awesome. I know the dreams that my children have now. As they age and grow I wonder how the dreams they have now will change and what dreams/hopes they will realize and bring to fruit along the way. I know that whatever they set in their mind and heart to do, they will accomplish, for with God all things are possible. He will provide the means, the way to bring His work to fruition within us.