Back To Business

It's back to work for me around here today.  Good, hard work....the kind that leaves you coming up for a great big breath of fresh air as the July heat pours sweat down your back.  Am I back to 100%????  I suppose that's a rhetorical question as my 100% may be another's 10% it's hard to figure out just exactly what that may be.  So I'm done trying and just back to tending what needs done around here.  In the meantime, I THANK GOD I'm able to 'do' again.  And I will praise Him for the good times and the hard times of the last couple of months.  Thank the Lord He is enough, because I will never be on my own! 


In the meantime around here, I see some readjusting taking place.  Most of the harvest has come to an end.  There's been much learned and the garden served to be plentiful.  I'm on to nurture the tomato plants that are still making, keep some water on the melons, and the rest is over for the summer.  Time to research and plan for my next planting.  I do believe it will be sweet potatoes and cabbage, along with whatever other vegetables I find suitable to thrive and make at this time of the year. 


The chickens...oh the chickens.  I pulled another deceased foul from the chicken house today.  And of course, this happened AFTER my husband left for work, by only about 30 minutes.  Lesson learned....no more Sexlinks around here.  I'm curious to know if it's just a less hardy breed or just not meant to be raised in such a hot climate as ours.  Either way, every chicken we've lost has been of this breed only and the Rhode Island Red's continue to thrive.  I'm excited for them to start laying eggs!  It will be wonderful to have fresh eggs every day!  Just last week I scrambled eggs for the whole family for breakfast.....at the tune of a WHOLE DOZEN!  So yes, it will also be practical as well as enjoyable.


This round of planting, my very first garden, dies down to it's final fruits and I'm left turning the thoughts and lessons learned around in my heart.  That is a post for another day.  Today, I take care of what is mine to care for and I thank God that He's blessed us as He has.....even when I'm unsure of why things happen the way they do.  Thoughts of what is next on the agenda around here are exciting!  I see myself planning for the fall and some of the things I'm most excited to and ready to take on are.....


~Soap making
~Homemade cleaners
~Natural bath and body products
~A fall garden
~Baking our own bread
~A huge harvest of pears from my father in law to preserve
~Grandma's homemade Apple Butter to preserve
~A great big bunch of apples from Pennsylvania to make Apples for pie with Grandma's recipe


And of course and never the least.....loving and raising my children the way the Lord intends.  Like I've said before....not because I'm a great Mom.  But because without His grace, I would never even be good enough to take on such an awesome charge. 

 On another note, our vacation was absolutely amazing.  All of us, from baby Cass to Daddy had the time of our lives!  This was our first ever family vacation and we have memories to cherish forever!  Perhaps the greatest is just being together.  And knowing that we don't need the world's fancies to be complete.  Just each other and most of all, that perfect grace I mentioned before.  I thank God for my husband, these children, our families, and everyone in between.  So let me take a moment to share some pictures of our time in Branson!

A week in pictures!

So much to share, so little time to do so this last week or so!  I've come to the conclusion that this time of year can be as busy, if not busier, than the holiday season!  I've had many moments this last week that I wish I could blog about but haven't found the time to do so.  However, my Mom has insisted that I share pictures!  So as not to be disobedient to Mom, I had to take the time today to share a few glimpses of what's gone on in our lives!

I promise to post on the garden and chickens very soon, hopefully tonight after the daylight is gone and the children are in bed!  I also plan to FINALLY figure out how to get this blog looking how I want it to!  I guess that can be one positive in the fact that I'll be in bed for awhile after my surgery next week!  I can catch up on my reading and get my blog up to my expectations!  But as for now, we hope you enjoy these moments we captured for you.....

A good view of two of our Walker dogs, and of course our little Freckles....kissing someone as always!

Gracie and I had a wonderful time at a Tea we attended last Saturday!  She loved being a part of this and we were able to share tea, brunch, fellowship, and a wonderful comedian/actress that was able to make us laugh about the daily life we live as Christian women!  Gracie especially loved all of her outrageous costumes!

Each table was decorated differently!  Gracie chose this table for us!  What good taste my baby girl has, I thought it was one of the most beautiful of them all!

What a treat!  Baby girl won the prize at our table!  She was so happy!

And to continue a wonderful day, the girls and I enjoyed pedicures together!

Matching toenails!  We wanted something different than the everyday pink or red and then Alaina had the great idea of adding the Zebra stripes!  We may just have to make this a tradition in our family!

Me and my two favorite girls!  We are blessed with such wonderful children and have the most beautiful, smart, sweet daughters we could ever ask for!

At the ball park with Daddy!

TBall practice!  If only I knew what exactly he was thinking about when I took this picture!

Soccer awards!  Aiden did so awesome in this and we all enjoyed it so much that we were sad to see the season end!  Soccer ends and TBall begins!  This Upward league was AMAZING!  Such an uplifting, organized, and spiritual way to have these kids thrive in athletics!

Our toothless soccer star!

Our first EVER harvested veggies from our garden!  We have beautiful radishes and we were so excited!

Our beautiful Gracie and Aunt Gena enjoying my mothers day gift!  Aiden picked this bench out for me and I don't think he could have done a better job!  It's perfect and I LOVE it!  The middle is a cooler so it's also a great way to relax out by the garden, which just happen to be my favorite view of all!

And I have a chicken house!!!!  Great job to my husband, from me....and the chickens!  :)  This turned out great!  We still have to add the roof, but this will have to do for now until he's in from work again!  And I LOVE how he used the tree trunks in the frame.  I've requested the same for my outdoor kitchen!

Tommy setting the chickens up in my new chicken house!!!!

And a final mothers day surprise.....Suzie gave birth to 7 absolutely perfect, healthy puppies that night!  She's proven to be a good, strong, protective Mama over these pups!  This was just a great addition to a great week....well, 7 great additions I should say!  Thank God for a healthy litter and healthy Mama dog!

 In the hustle and bustle of all of these activities in our lives, I just want to take a moment to thank God for every circumstance, opportunity, and challenge that has weaved it's way into our family!  We serve an awesome God that has freely given an abundance of love, joy, and peace for us to enjoy.  But if you're like me, I often forget to slow down and do just that!  I pray this post finds you all in a moment that you can close your eyes and be still long enough to feel our Lord working in your hearts!

God Bless!

Jennifer

Gains and losses on the homestead this last week

What busy days we have had this past week!  So much has taken place I'm not even sure where to begin.  We've added new additions to the life out here on our hill, and sadly we've lost a few little ones too!  We've had good times and some sad times.  Lots of peace, and moments of anxiousness.  But at the end of each day we've been able to thank the Lord for His provisions and protection.

It wasn't until several days after the tornado devastation of last week that I realized that God clearly spared my husband from being right in the middle of these storms.  An unbeliever would say Tommy got lucky, but we clearly see that God isn't done with my husband and this family!  Any other hitch, my husband drives the exact route of these storms home from work.  And this devastation took place on the exact day and time that he was supposed to be there, in the middle of the storms.  Fortunately, it was one of those deals where he had been scheduled to leave work early to attend a class in Houston.  Thank you God for looking out for my husband.  I'm not talking about a 'maybe' here, I'm telling you that any other hitch, the day and time were exact....there would have been no way for him to be ahead of or behind these tornados, he would most likely have been pulled over on the side of the road seeking shelter.  What little faith we have when facing life's daily trials.  No matter what has happened, my husband and family are alive and well and our home is still our home!

Now onto life here at the house......



How far I have come with our cows!  Me and this here handsome white bull have no problems at all, and I've recently been informed that I should be afraid of him.  After a little contemplation I've decided that's just silly, I'll continue to be aware of and respect him, but white bull and I are doin' fine!  This is a huge step from how I use to let the larger cows intimidate me.  And trust me, they KNOW!  I'm living, walking, talking proof that a cow CAN and WILL bully an unknowing Northern girl if given the chance and the right personality of cow!





FREE AT LAST!  FREE AT LAST!  So the piggies were set free this week!  A few weeks of good feedin' and some pretty tame pigs and it's time for them to head back into the woods!  Maybe they'll just fatten up enough to end up on the dinner table!  I regret to tell you that I didn't capture a picture of the greatest moment of all.....all the pigs running across the pasture, Freckles a few yards behind them.....and then my husband, just trying his hardest to get ahold of that dog!  It was very entertaining!

 


Louie Louie!  We're loving this new little guy!  He is so smart, just like a grown up dog trapped in a little doggie body!  The kids love him, Gracie will stay outside all day walking him around, or just watching him for the longest time!  Beautiful dog with a great personality!  We're excited to see just how this little guy will turn out when he's grown up!  Until then, I will admit that I'm having to restrain myself from spoiling little Louie rotten!  He was named by Aiden!


Okay, now how's this for cheap entertainment?  Our kids are so grateful and appreciative of everything!  We took a short little trip this last weekend and their favorite part was easily the motel room!  Can you tell?  They're so fun!  So here's the 'before' shot.....and then 'after' all of the excitement of the short hotel stay!

And sadly, I feel I must share one of the sad moments of the week along with the good ones.  We returned from our overnight trip to a very horrible occurrence.  We had just decided to set the ducks out free by the pond when we got back home and sadly, we can't do that now.  It was sad, scary, aggravating, and all around horrible to come home to a snake in with our chicks and ducks.  By the time of the discovery, we already had one less duck and the snake was in the middle of one of our little sexlink biddies.  I'm thankful this wasn't worse than what it was, but it still shook us up a good bit.  We've worked with and nurtured these little fellas way too long to lose one to a hungry predator.  Anyhow, if you look closely you can see the snake on the right of the first picture and towards the front of the second.

So as not to end on such a sad note, I'll leave you with the latest glimpses of my very loved garden!  I'm learning that when everything gets hectic or my mind gets to full of the world or events going on....I can always find hope and stillness out here!  So this is a good final place for me to share tonight!



Look at the runners on these guys!  They're very much in need of poles to climb!  The rain got in the way of that today, but hopefully by tomorrow evening I'll be able to have them on poles!  It's neat to me how they're reaching out and wrapping around each other!




And we have 'maters!!!!!  I'm SO excited!  I can't believe how they just appear overnight!  I find myself out there several times a day just to inspect!




More of my little accomplishments!

On another note, I've enjoyed some great new things from a good friend!  I've now been using a homemade dishwasher detergent for a few weeks and am really happy with the results.  I do need to adjust my ingredients to better fit our water quality (or lack thereof), but for a cost of .014 cents a load, I'm definitely NOT complaining.  And the recipe she found explains how to go about that until I get it customized to our water supply!

Another great thing I was given was my very first homemade deodorant!  And yes, I know how unsure this may sound to many of us!  But let me be the first to tell you I am SO impressed with just how great this seems to be working!  After a few days of use (and yes, I was too chicken to try it out in public the first time) I'm finding that it really works great!  I feel so much better knowing also that I'm not covering my body with an antiperspirant.  Our bodies were meant to sweat so it really does make sense that stopping them from doing so on a daily basis would set us up for problems!

Next on the agenda is homemade laundry detergent!  I'm excited for that, and excited to make my own dishwasher detergent and deodorant after I've enjoyed and used up what I have!  If you're interested in any of this,  I believe my friend found the recipes for all on two great blogs we enjoy following.  They are Homestead Revival and Country Blossom.  And no, I'm not going to go find the exact link because I hope to see you enjoy reading and browsing these blogs as much as we have! 

Lord, how I thank you for this family, this land, the opportunities you have given us, and the beauty I see around me every day!  Please forgive me for my worries, you have been so patient and faithful to remind me that you have our lives completely and fully under control!  You are such an awesome God, a faithful God, a loving God, and MY GOD!  We love You and will follow You and ONLY You the rest of our days!



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