baby steps

My little girl is learning to walk at just 10 months old. This is how she taught herself. She pushes an old wooden children's chair around on our kitchen floor. It's sturdy enough that she can't easily pull it over on top of herself. She is no longer using the chair and is venturing about 4-5 steps on her own. She's getting so big!

I woke up and its winter!

Had to post a few pics of the yard this morning! It's way prettier in person!

got the travelin' bug...

Not a REAL bug. I have just been reminiscing lately of all the fun little trips we've had and dreaming of all the ones we COULD do in the future. I get a bit antsy every now and then to do some traveling and get beyond my town limits. This time I want to go to Pepin, WI (I think that's the place) to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder home up there. Anyone been there? Any other recommendations for a not too far trip. (How 'bout Jennifer's house? -Soon I hope!)

Anyway, all this reminiscing made me want to post a pic from our last trip to Tennessee. The boys were snake hunting in the smokies. LOL No luck! But they looked so serious with their dinosaur-snake-wrangler-sticks from the Creation Museum in KY. It was a nice trip if I do say so myself.

Talk to you all later!

watch this skit!

We Joust!

The kids are putting on a Medevial times Dinner Party tonight as a part of their schooling. We learned a bit about the government, food, and customs of the period and they will be presenting facts to their guests. They will also be doing a joust for entertainment. Right now they are practicing!

Neato Hay Fort!

The kids used leftover straw bales from our outdoor festival (discount outdoor seating!) to make a fort. It's neat. I am especially enthusiastic because I helped them make it. :-) We hope to keep it and put a tarp over the entrance to have a warm outdoor spot when it snows. In the spring we'll use the straw as mulch in the garden. Cool huh?

Great Spelling Game

Here's a great game idea I picked up from scholastic books' website:
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/home.htm
You make a "board" out of chalk on the ground outside and then put the letters of the alphabet, one in each box, and have the kids spell out vocabulary words by hopping letter to letter. We tried it a few different ways with different sets of rules and found that what worked best for us was for me to call out a child's name and then call out a word for them to spell. As they hopped on the correct letters of the word I'd call out the letter name. If they hopped on a wrong letter I would remain silent - that way they and all other children playing would still only hear the word and then the correct spelling of it no matter how many wrong letters the hopping child stepped on.
This was easy and fun for all of us! We allowed one hop outside the "board" if the letters were so far apart that it couldn't be hopped to easily. Even my 3 year old got good practice, but especially my 6 and 8 year olds. We will definately do this again. I may even make one on cardboard or poster board to do inside when it's yucky out. Maybe I'll even make a smaller version for pointing out the spellings.
Anything that makes Spelling fun is a winner in my book. My oldest HATES spelling and he definately needs the practice. Ok...now go try it! :-)

My husband

I changed my playlist temporarily for my stud muffin! :-)

Brotherly Love

So precious! The other day my oldest son (8yrs) picked up my youngest daughter (8months) and was bouncing her around and hugging her. I noticed she had a huge grin on her face and told him, "She has such a happy smile on her face when you hold her." To which he replied sweetly, "It's because she can feel my love". Awwwwwww...

A movie worth seeing again...

knock-knock jokes

Recently we've endured a few bouts of vandals damaging our mailbox. The first time they blew it up and this last time they smashed it unrecognizably. My six year old son was particularly confused by these acts and even became quite angry at what he called "These bad boys" who were doing this to our property without cause. That morning as he stared out the front window at where our mailbox used to be he asked me what we should do about this? I thought a minute and answered, "Well honey, I think that the best thing we could do right now is pray for the boys that did this so they could not be like this any longer". He contemplated that for a second or two and then replied,"Or we could just tell them some knock-knock jokes!" LOL ... he has such a great sense of humor he probably thinks that would fix 'em for sure! :-)

Interactive Bible Study!!!

You've got to check this out guys! A great ministry (NoGreaterJoy) is having interactive Bible studies every Sunday afternoon from 2-4pm (CST) with Mike Pearl. I only caught the end of it today but it was great! I'm definately going to be back. I had to share this with you all! The link is: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-church-at-cane-creek

Make time for it!!! You can also check the ministry out at www.nogreaterjoy.org ! The church is called : The Church at Cane Creek

Be blessed today! :-)

this is so FUN!

make sure to pause the playlist first!!!

great song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGHILmOHptY
make sure to pause the playlist at the bottom first or there will be audio conflict.

My Prairie Princess

I had to share a photo of my little princess in her prairie dress. :-)

A SUPER easy way to outreach...

I just wanted to share with you all a very EASY way to contribute to a worthy outreach. For those of you who shop at Christian Book Distributors (cbd.com) if you go first to www.likepreciousfaith.org and click on one of the many CBD advertisements to get to the site it puts a "tag" on it that lets them know how you got to CBD's site. If you then make any purchase they send a portion of the proceeds to Like Precious Faith who either sends it directly to pastors in need in India and Kenya or uses it to ship them items off of their NEEDS lists. You also can go to www.likepreciousfaith.org to look at the profiles of the different pastors and what their needs actually are. Good to know!

What have you got to offer?

This morning in church the pastor was teaching from John 12.

3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

He talked of how great a sacrifice of worship this was from her. That it seemed insurmountable considering how costly the oil was. He likened it's worth to about $40,ooo. Whether or not that is completely accurate is irrelevant. The others present must have been confused - knowing how much money that oil could have been traded for. Then the pastor asked one of those rhetorical questions that pastors often ask from the pulpit with the intention of making you think. "What do you have to offer as a sacrifice worship to the Lord? What do you have of great value that you could simply lay at His feet and surrender to Him?"

All I could think of to answer within myself was : My children. Truly, as a mother, all I have to offer to my Lord in this life is my kids. I do not manage the finances of my home - nor do I have the luxury at present of a lot of time to spend in "ministry". What I do have however is a high-calling to raise children who fear Him, love Him, and serve Him. I heard it said once,"The only thing you can take with you to heaven is your kids". How utterly true that is. The investment of training up children in the way they should go is an investment with eternal returns.

Be blessed and encouraged today mothers.

Obama's Inverted American Dream

Well, I normally don't get into anything political on my blog. It just isn't what I typically want to focus my writing on. However, I am feeling quite impressed to do so given the current Presidential election and the respective candidates' campaigns. My husband and I are quite interested in politics and have enjoyed discussing all things political throughout our marriage. We almost always see "eye-to-eye" regarding the political world and I have his blessing in writing about political issues here on my blog if that is my wish.

To preface what I really want to focus this post on, I want to say that we are not directly affiliated with ANY political party. While we almost always lean toward Republican with our votes, we are very leery of designating ourselves as "Republicans" because we feel that partisanship has changed so much over time. We also will ABSOLUTELY NOT vote for someone on the basis of partisanship alone. We always focus our vote on values, priorities, and what we feel to be the option with the most integrity - not just because a person is a member of a particular party.

All that being said I want to highlight some of the aspects of Senator Obama's proposed "CHANGE" that have us concerned as American small business owners aside from the moral or ethical issues. First I will cite what we read that raised our concerns.

To quote his website (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#small-business):

Raise the Minimum Wage: Barack Obama will raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs.

Expand Paid Sick Days: Barack Obama will require that employers provide seven paid sick days per year.

Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees. Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover more purposes as well, including allowing workers to take leave for elder care needs; allowing parents up to 24 hours of leave each year to participate in their children's academic activities at school; allowing leave to be taken for purposes of caring for individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and expanding FMLA to cover leave for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.

Support Small Business

Provide Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Up Companies: Barack Obama will eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama will also support small business owners by providing a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.

Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators: Barack Obama will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies. Obama will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.

***WHAT ALL THIS SAYS TO ME is he wants to make it EVEN HARDER to be a small business owner in America. You see, people often assume that owning a business means you can "have your cake and eat it too". We hear the gripes of our employees all the time on how things are so "unfair". They see our nice (OLD) home in the country and say "Gee, wish I could have that". They see our two work vehicles and our (USED) mini-van and say "Must be nice to afford 3 cars". They know that we have 4 children and assume that we must have great health insurance never guessing that in truth we have had a very hard time finding ANY insurance that will cover my pregnancies or that is anywhere near affordable so we just pay out-of-pocket for the births and ask for as little intervention as possible to keep the payments down. What the gripers don't account for is the fact that my husband worked himself weary getting to where we are. He worked 2-3 jobs from high school on; doing the hard stuff that others didn't want to do, keeping himself out of trouble and making smart financial choices instead of wasting his money. He went without the "nicer" things that others demand and kept himself focused. We attribute all of his success to the favor of God on his life. The "CHANGE" proposed by Sen. Obama is mandating that we make things more "fair" for our employees. Pay them more for the same half-hearted mediocre work. Let them have even more excuses for calling in. Forget production. Forget that they already abuse the laws in place to protect them. Forget that it is already next to impossible to fire a bad employee - or that they are so empowered to cry "unfair" and create a lawsuit. We own a house-framing business. In the construction world things often work very differently from the typical corporation. We can't have half of our crew leave early on a crane day to attend a PTA meeting. That would cost us a LOT of extra money. We can't afford to pay our employees while they are sick or on vacation. We already have issues with them calling in (or not even bothering to call in at all) when they aren't really sick (just hung over) or demanding their checks earlier and earlier in the week. We have other friends who own small businesses and it is the same for them. What these changes will force us to do is fire the employees off of the payroll and sub-contract them out for each individual job. Now what would THAT do to the economy Sen. Obama? We don't want to have to do that - but short of absolving the business altogether we don't see any other option if things go that direction. We already make less than some of our better employees; this is all creating what I call An INVERTED AMERICAN DREAM. It used to be that in this Land of Opportunity anyone with the determination to succeed could rise above any circumstances and fulfill their definition of success. Now it's as if everyone wants a slice of the pie handed to them on a silver platter. It doesn't matter what it is as long as no one else gets a bigger one. We do not begrudge anyone having their hard work pay-off for them but it does bother us if the ones who have worked hard with integrity are forced to hand it over without question. In this INVERTED AMERICAN DREAM society proposed by Sen. Obama the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is dictating the running of a business, of all businesses. We feel that if some business owner is a scrooge then no one should choose to work for him and thereby demonstrate their free will. If the guy can't make his money than he'd have to change his policies to make his business a more friendly work environment. In contrast, a good business owner should be able to make his benefits appealing to the employees and generate for himself more laborers and therefore more business. When it's forced at the business owner from Washington the employees demand the benefits without even earning them and it constrains the entire work environment. The employees "reign" over the employer. The employers hands are almost completely tied in promoting the better employees over the less motivated. It just seems so back wards. I understand that there are pretty crummy bosses out there. I feel that these proposed changes though will only punish the hard-working good bosses and further drive out the small businesses. The aforementioned "small business" helps that Sen. Obama has on his website is just further proof that he feels the Federal Government should have even more jurisdiction in the life of the business owner. NEWSFLASH: Most people seek to become business owners to attain a greater level of freedom, not the other way around.

Do not misunderstand. My husband and I know Whom we rely on. We are not at all worried. We have our hope secured in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our trust for all things is in him. However, we live in a country where, for the time being, we have the privilege of using our vote to convey our opinions and our priorities. I simply felt it necessary to "vent" about mine here. Thanks.

What do I want for my birthday?

Alright folks, next weekend is my birthday. My wonderful husband has asked me what do I want to do for it and I am completely out of ideas. I can't think of a single thing I want or want to do. He may or may not be out of town working on his dad's house that weekend and he may or may not be asking me to accompany him. I think that is one of the larger factors in me not knowing what to ask for. He says to not think of the circumstances surrounding my birthday and just tell him what I want but I only want to ask for something feasible, kwim? Regardless, I can't think of anything anyway. Can anyone offer some suggestions?
Thanks!

red macaw

At the fair this past week we took the kids to see a traveling magician/comedian/ animal trainer (don't ask!). He had with him 2 different Macaws. A blue/green one and a red one. I don't know how accurate he is but he said that the blue/green males are "party animals" going from mate to mate with a harem of females and coming and going a wide distance. Then he said the red males are so loyal to their one mate that even if she dies they will remain alone and grieve their companion. I lovingly looked at my husband and asked, "Did you know you were a red macaw?"

LOL...he just smiled and rolled his eyes. Pretty birdie...lol

Happy Anniversary to me and my sweetie!

We were married 4 years ago this Thursday! July 31st! It's hard to believe it's only been that long and hard to believe it's ALREADY been that long, lol. We are still so very much in love - and honey mooning thank-you-very-much and we wouldn't have it any other way! I am so blessed to be with my man! I love you Brock.

house for sale...

We are frantically fixin' and painting and packing so we can move. We want the house showable by Aug. 5 th so that means we gotta get out of here by then. :-) New carpet and 3 small boys don't mix. Anyway, if you know anyone interested in moving to the country send them this way,k?

Here are the details...

8.23 acres (including a 3 acre wooded parcel). 7 stall stable with tack room, 3/4 acre pond with fish and all other manner of pond life, brand new chicken coop with a few chickens and a fenced-in chicken run, a detached 2 car garage with workspace.

The house is an early 1970s exposed basement ranch (lives like a 2 story). There are 2 large bedrooms upstairs, with eat-in kitchen, formal dining, living room with fireplace and indoor grill and full bath upstairs. Downstairs is the family room with larger fireplace, two bedrooms (one we use as an office), a utility room (for the water softener, furnace, etc), a laundry/storage room with built-in shelves all around for storage, a "garden" room which used to be an attached garage but we converted to be like an indoor potting shed with a beautiful stamp-and-dye concrete floor.

We are pricing to sell at a STEAL for $399,999.00 because of the crummy market in this area. The sooner we sell the sooner we can obtain the lot for sale by my parents' house that we want so much.

This is all definately an adventure....

Ok - I gotta get back to packing!

P.S. The pic is of the stables.

another favorite thing...

Our anniversary is at the end of this month. I will show one of my favorite things that reminds me of this special time. It is our cake topper from our wedding. A dear friend that I went to Physical Therapy Assistant school with made it for us for free for the wedding. She made it just like us down to the dress the bride is wearing and the coral colored flowers and everything. It is so special because she made it so lovingly for us. I will always think of her when I look at it and also remember what a special and exciting time that was in my life as I prepared to marry this hunk of a man! :-)

sittin' up so nice

My little girl sits up so nice. She almost always has a cheerful smile too. I am such a happy mama.

more fun photos!

A KOOKY pic of me...

Help Wanted

It's hard to find good help in the kitchen...

hee hee LOL

these are a few of my favorite things...

I got the idea from a "cyber-friend" to occasionally post a pic of a treasured item and talk about it. Kinda like an internet show and tell. I would not consider myself materialistic by any means - it's just that you can tell so much about a person from their "stuff" preferences. So here goes...

One of my favorite things is a little country pitcher decoration that I got at a craft fair. It is hard to see but there are words on it that say "Love, like bread, is made fresh daily". It is cute - but I was thinking of it a little differently...if you catch my drift...lol, so that's why I like it. Don't worry, not all my favorite things have a sordid reasoning...:-)

Zoe

Just an updated pic of my little princess...

remembering my Noah...

I am posting today because I feel the need to share my story with anyone who wants to listen. I have 3 wonderful boys and then my precious daughter but I am supposed to have 4 boys. I did have a fourth boy... only he died during birth. A lot of my friends through our homeschool group know that we lost a child because of the email that got sent around that awful day but many don't know the circumstances. Many people that kinda "heard" about me and Brock (my husband) think we miscarried or had complications or something. Doctors have even treated me that way and I have to argue with them a bit to actually READ my charts.

You see, my pregnancy with Noah was very healthy. At one point I had gallbladder problems but it was totally separate from the pregnancy. Every heart beat monitoring, every ultrasound, every everything was fine and normal and perfect. On the day before Thanksgiving of 2006 even labor was very smooth and normal ... at first. They gave me an epidural, which I generally don't use but for some reason did this time, and then the nurse went to check me. I was actually joking with my husband about how he's "gotta try this epidural thingy" when I looked up at the nurse who's face got real serious all of a sudden. She wouldn't say at first & just kept fumbling for the call button. The cord was coming down ahead of the baby. I had no idea what that meant. I had had 3 quick perfect births prior and didn't know what I was heading for. They rushed me into Csection and I was in shock about it all. I remember feeling like "Wait a minute, I want a second to pray with my husband" but there wasn't time. The nurse had to keep her hand in there pushing Noah's head back so he wouldn't suffocate himself. They couldn't get me to go numb enough on my skin in the OR so they put me "under". It was like falling into a black hole. SO FAST. I was terrified, but I prayed quick "Lord, be with me". Then I woke up. I was in a labor room again. There was one nurse typing on a computer in the room. Oddly, I asked first if I had been intubated...my throat hurt bad. She said yes. Then I asked where my baby was.... she said nothing. I asked again, thinking I was too quiet. She said the doctor will be in in a minute. ??? What? Was the baby in ICU or something? Then my husband walked in crying.... that's when I knew he was gone.... All I could say was "No, no, no " and cry.

Everything after that was very ethereal....
I tried "ministering" to the hospital chaplain. She was this older lady that for some strange reason I remembered who she was. She had been a patient of mine a few years earlier who was actually mourning the loss of her teenage daughter at the time to cancer. As a physical therapy student I had massaged her and gone through exercises and my instructor "clued me in" to her story. I remember praying for her in her grief back then...now she was trying to walk me through the first stages of grief of my baby boy. It was so odd. My faith was strong those first few days. I just felt like God was close. For the first time I didn't know what God was allowing or why but I just knew He was there. I couldn't bring myself to read His Word or pray much... I was just in a state of "being still and knowing".

I felt my baby boy move and tumble in my tummy just hours before he died. They said he just "never took a breath". The doctor was stumped because his pulse-O2 was fine. His heart was beating and then it just slowly stopped. My sweet husband held his hand as he went.

I could not brng myself to hold my son. It was bad enough to feel like he was stolen from me. But I felt at the time that if I were to hold him I would scream for him to come back. I wanted to remember my boy as the kicking squirming guy inside me - I was the only one who knew him like that. I could not bear to remember him as the cold baby in my arms. This was the right decision for me. I'm not saying everyone who loses a child needs to do it this way. I know personally some ladies who needed the closure of embrassing their child. I just couldn't bear it.

We made the decision to donate his heart valves so his death might save the lives of others. We don't know if they were usable, but hope that someone else was spared the grief we endured.

I got to know the true meaning of Church in the months that followed. Mostly from our homeschool group, some family and friends came and took care of me and my family day in and day out for the next 6 weeks. People I had never even met before came as I sat in a chair in my livingroom and they cleaned and cooked for my family. They even held my toddler up so I could sit with him. The Csection really put me out of commision. It was so wonderful to meet all those generous families. I was flabbergasted. If you'd have asked me only a few weeks prior if I had someone to care for me in an emergency I'd have said "Maybe my mom". I had no idea HIS people would drive all the way from the surrounding counties just to sit with me, clean my toilet, and change my son's diapers. I didn't have time to be depressed.

On top of it all, the funeral home and cemetary did everything for FREE. People attending the funeral gave so generously though and we just could not keep that money for ourselves so we were able to send it to India to some pastors with orphans in their care. The death of our son made a few Indian orphans a little more comfortable...praise the Lord. My memories of the funeral are so powerful. My dad is a firefighter. Just about EVERY firefighter in the city came to my son's funeral. They came dressed in their uniforms. They came because they wanted to be there for my dad who'd just lost a tiny grandbaby and to represent their "brotherhood". Many also remembered me as the spunky blonde-haired kid playing hide-and-seek on the rigs. I sat in a chair as people paid their respects. It was very difficult to stand as I still had my staples in from the surgery. Most of the men shook our hands and said their "I'm sorry"s as they walked past. I mostly looked at the floor and said "Thank you". One firefighter, I will never forget, got down on his knees on the floor in front of everyone and grabbed both of my hands. He looked me right in the eyes and said so truly, "I am so sorry". It still makes me weep - his humble act of love. There were many people who felt bad for us....and then there were the ones who grieved with us, shared the pain with us...like they were taking a bit of it and feeling it themselves so it wouldn't be too big a hurt for us to feel.

7 months later I was pregnant again. We found out it was a girl. We were thrilled. It was very comforting to be full of life again when the one year mark came around of Noah's birth/death. We named her Zoe Hosanna which means life of praise. After losing our son we so wanted a daughter named life. She is a joy to us, as are our other 3 boys. We appreciate more now each little gift in our lives and realize how out of control we really are in this world.

Thanks for taking the time to share my story,
Amanda

turn over...PLEASE!

My steady man isn't having the best day. Poor guy. Our mini-van started running weird the other day and he wanted to fix it himself to try and save $. Usually, he astounds me with his ability to take anything apart, figure out how it works, repair it, and put it back together. Well, it isn't going quite like that this time. The van went from sounding off while it was running to not turning over at all. Last I checked, the man had the gas tank in his hands on the other side of the yard. (Isn't that supposed to be connected?)

I've had those kind of days before. I've certainly been like that spiritually and emotionally many times. The Good Physician (i.e. the Good Mechanic :-) ) has always been patient and loving and just. God has always spoken the most beautiful things over me amidst my times of unloveliness. His grace truly is sufficient.

I am so grateful for a husband who's staying home to fix the van when he's supposed to be doing a roofing job. So very grateful for that man! I think this calls for some chocolate chip cookies...

Africa, WI

Recently, while at a local nature preserve looking out into the vast prairie landscape my 6 y/o son asked me if we were still in Wisconsin. I replied that yes we were. He thought about it a minute and then responded with eyes wide, "It must be AFRICA, WI!"

LOL

I suppose the prairie did look much like a savanna.

HE knows...

I just wanted to post a quick praise on how the Lord knows just what we need! I was beginning to feel quite lonely for the past few days and just was aching for a friend to hang out with and talk to -without silly pretenses, ya' know? And just when I needed it one of the ladies I know from our homeschool group called to come over and talk with me. HE knew just what I needed and when! :-)

My nemesis for the summer...

Blech!

Duck Hunt!

We noticed a young family of wood ducks inhabiting our pond. While it inspires Momma to "oohhh" and "ahhhhh". It inspires the little men to hone their hunting skills! LOL

sleepy supper

My totally cute 3 y/o had a busy day with his brother and his daddy today. They went to church and then to a wolf preserve and then fishing in the pond and lots of fresh air. He asked for some cereal for supper (does that make me a bad mom? LOL!), so I said sure and when I came back into the room this is how I found him! :-) :-)

He was actually trying to drink the milk out of the bowl with his eyes shut and then he kinda leaned his head over onto the table and was out like a light! Daddy put him in a pull up and changed his clothes and everything and he just snoozed away. Precious!

Let the sunshine in...

I needed a "pick-me-up" so I thought I'd blog a bit. I've got the stuffy head thing going on and the body aches that go with it...blech! I also have recieved a bit of troubling mail today that is the kind to make your heart ache too. Not dredging for pity here just trying to perk myself up. I truly am thankful for all the blessings in my life and there are an unspeakable many!

Oh, and let us remember to pray for the grieving families of China's earthquakes... what a terrible and somber situation.

Smooch all your babies, hug your kiddoes real tight, tell your sweetie you love them, and Praise our Almighty Father above for our time here is temporal andeach moment is precious!

May God bless you!

Mother's Day tears...

I have to start by saying Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's out there. It certainly is a high calling. My Mother's Day was filled with lots of joy and blessings. I was very honored. There were also many bouts of tears today; both the happy kind and the sorrowful. My sweet and sensitive husband had each of the children pick me out a Mother's Day card which they presented me with this morning. He even had our "princess" give me one that "she" picked out. Then he handed me two more. One made me cry happy tears because it was addressed "to my wife" and it was a beautiful message of adoration and gratefulness. Finally, he handed me yet one more that said "To Mommy". In it he wrote: I miss you very much and I will see you soon. Love you lots, Noah. That was the name we gave our son who died minutes after his birth. He would have been about 17 months old this week had he survived. I thought of him so very much today. I weep as I write this. I doubt I can ever forget this lingering pain; I don't want it to go away to tell you the truth. I loved that boy and do and always will.

All in all it was a beautiful day. Even through the tears my sweet husband held me like he always does and we got through it all together like we always do. I am so very blessed to be a Mom. It is all I ever dreamed of and so very much more. Thank you Lord for this calling and thank you family for your faith in me and your gracious support. Thanks for making my day so grand! I love you!

don't want to forget one...

My middle boy had his birthday first actually and it didn't occur to me at the time to 'pay tribute'. He is such a fun, easy-going boy. He provides us with so much joy. He is also the one to try new things without hesitation. Like the time he tried making his own PB&J toast for breakfast. My hubby and I smelled something strange and discovered he had put the PB&J on the bread BEFORE putting it in the toaster! Happy birthday to you too buddy!

"Nana wuh nee"

I had to share this cute story of my littlest boy (cuz his birthday is coming up this week too). He was getting out of the bathtub and I was wrapping him in his new personalized bath towel that my mom got him. He began asking me who bought him the towel so we discussed how it was a gift from his Nana. He thought about it a second and then said very emphatically and matter-of-factly, "Nana wuh (loves) nee (me)". So precious! And he is so right! I had to call her and tell her right away! My baby boy is growing up way too fast! :-)

Happy Birthday Son!

It is my oldest son's birthday! They are growing up so fast. I thought I'd honor his special day with a recent pic of him catching his first fish with no help from a grown up!!! He was so excited! Happy Birthday sweetie; what a big man you're turning out to be!

Taught

This past weekend we were blessed to have the family of family come all the way from up north to help us with some yard work and give me gardening advice. This nice couple also brought chainsaws and tree cutting equipment much to my husband's delight. That meant he'd finally have some help and guidance tackling the big fallen willow tree in our yard. I was relieved as we'd planned a lot of "events" at our house this year (a reunion, a homeschool group campout, an annual rummage sale, etc). I was happy to see that monster of a tree get dissected into more manageable chunks! What struck me as amazing in the midst of all this was watching my SIL help with all the tree debris. She grew up helping do this kind of stuff on a tree farm and, although she hasn't done it in a long time, she still knew what to do and how without being told or asked. I have never seen her work so hard at anything. It was astounding to me. I was raised in such a way that looking at that fallen tree seemed an impossible thing to conquer. Had I been given the task of researching something, passing a test, something like that...no problem. But something big and physical seemed untouchable. I would've instinctively gone to look up in a book or online how one should remove a tree and then resigned to call "professionals"...lol...while she knew just start hauling one piece at a time, one log - one branch - one anything at a time until the job was done. That said something to me. That if you equip kids with real life experience, real hands-on knowledge they won't lose it. That kind of knowledge is so incredibly valuable. For all my booksmarts and "capability" should I get lost in the woods or left alone somewhere, I'd be a gonner. Somewhere there is a balance. Teaching kids real life skills early on and also guiding them to research what you can't teach them so they'll have the confidence that they can do anything set before them. I hope someday my kids will be the type to know how to dig right in and help with any tough task. I on the other hand mostly stood by watching feeling unable to help (I was wearing the baby in a sling! :-) ). It did give me some needed courage though to tackle a few other daunting projects...

Waiter! Check please!

My creative guys decided to turn one of our outdoor seating areas into a restaurant this morning. It was cute to watch them acting out the "roles" of waiter and customers. Gotta appreciate every chance to see them cooperating and working together. Last night they teamed up and moved an enormous pile of firewood together. I was AMAZED that they were able to accomplish that. What hardworking little men-in-training! This momma sure is proud of her guys!

All dressed up

If I was gonna "brag on" my boys I just had to show a pic of my little princess all dressed up for church!

Conquerors

My little guys are rarely subdued. They are little conquerors. While this can seem tiring many times, I don't think I'd have it any other way. I love the way they want to tackle the world. It is pleasing to see the way they want to get out and experience things. My husband and I pray constantly for wisdom in guiding them through their conquests. I wanted to share this picture of them that so defines their wonderful, energetic spirit.

Bible time

Here's a darling photo of my studly man having Bible reading time with our youngest two. Notice Daddy is reading a Veggietales Bible study guide but the 2 year old is "reading" a KJV pocket Bible...LOL. Too precious!

Pig Lure = Pizza Rolls

Pizza rolls: the best kept secret in wooing a piggie back into its pen. Who knew? Seriously works though! My hubby and I decided that we'd try our hand at raising our own meat (other than chickens), so we set about learning of pigs. They seemed small enough and easy enough to try as novices. He asked around at the county fair in the swine building. We were not interested in the full-grown show pigs but figured the "pig people" would know where to obtain babies. Sure enough one of the teenagers gave a call home to his dad right there at the fair and we came home with a date of when to pick up our 3 little pigs. My hubby put them in the barn at first. They were still relatively easy to handle while they were little. We later moved them to the spot of the yard that I wanted to turn into my garden and we used them as little rototillers. That worked beautifully! They did in about a week what we would've had to rent expensive equipment to do for this particular patch of ground. We didn't use electric fence to keep them in; just a roll of fencing attached to posts all around. It worked - for awhile! The piggies got big and got VERY interested in the world outside thier pen! They were still young enough at that point to come to my voice when called. They honestly came better than any dog I'd ever had (I'm terrible with dogs mind you!). I hollered out "Here piggy piggies" and they ran right to me grunting happily. That didn't last terribly long, however. We came home one afternoon to a note on our door from a neighbor saying to call him ASAP regarding the pigs. We went out back to their yard and saw only one. We then heard a strange noise from the barn. We called the number and discovered that the 3 little pigs had gone all the way down the street to the neighbor's house via the ditch. I think they even crossed the highway. This other house is at least 1/4 mile from ours! A driver on the road had called the sheriff's department. They were about to cite us with a "Pig at large" ticket or some such thing when the neighbor talked them into just helping get the piggies home (thank heaven it was the same neighbor whose dog we'd helped return a number of times!). Anyway, this neighbor said he spent all afternoon with the deputy trying to corral our pigs in the barn. He then gave my husband some contraption to electrify the fence and swore that THAT would keep them in. He didn't make fun of us or anything (well, at least not to our faces!) for doing it "wrong". Hubby tried the contraption. It did NOT work. The very next day we spent at least 7 hours chasing these piggies through the woods. By this time they no longer came to "Here piggie piggie"! I even rode our 4 wheeler up and down the street 6 months pregnant calling for them at one point! (that doesn't work either!) In exasperation we began pulling items our of our cupboards and freezer that might help lure them into their pen. Apples and potatoes didn't work, various breads and crackers didn't work. Their feed corn was absolutely useless now that they'd been foraging all morning through the woods behind our house. Finally, we tried the pizza rolls, BINGO! They LOVED them! We finally got them all back to where they belonged and eventually boarded them up in the barn to spend the rest of their days until we could haul them to the meat market. Go figure; pigs love pizza rolls! Just don't tell them they were pepperoni!

TMI crazy morning

I got up at 8 a.m. (with a huge, painful lump in my breast and raging hemerrhoids mind you - there's the TMI) and began to wash the dishes that were in the sink so I could start making buttermilk pancakes for the boys and daddy. I needed to get going with that and get them fed and out of the kitchen so I could make the poppyseed torte and also frosting for the cake I made the night before. I had planned to do all the cooking and prep for Sunday on Saturday but I didn't make it home from the grocery store until 8 pm and I was so sick from the DQ moolatte' that I let my mom talk me into... Anyway, so I am hurrying to get all the prep and cooking done so I can finally get in the shower and try to ease the lump issue and praying that the rear-end issue didn't worsen or I would have to go get another "surgery" done in that region which I want to avoid at all costs. I got all the cooking stuff done as far as I could for the moment and even got all the dishes washed from breakfast. It was about 10 am at this point and we had to leave at 1:00p. I then decided spur-of-the-moment that the boys HAD to have haircuts. They looked so cute dressed up and I figured people would be taking pictures so I didn't want them to have that "hair growing over their ears" look. So I brought my 5 y/o down to the basement to find the clippers. It was then that I noticed the same 5 y/o had left the freezer open all night long (he put the frozen groceries away the night before). Sure enough, a TON of meat was thawed. I grabbed a huge armful of it all to carry upstairs and start cooking again. Hubby was trying to be nice and also felt sorry for me and said "you can just throw it all away". I knew that really wasn't an option - we needed this meat. I managed to get a huge crockpot of mexican pork going and another one full of italian sausages. I also seasoned a rump roast and some porkchops and put those in the freezer to cook later that week. I then took each boy down and very hastily cut their hair. I still needed ashower myself and if the newborn woke up before I could - I might not get one! Well, I DID manage to get a shower in. We also managed to get out the door and to grandma's for Resurrection Sunday dinner without any more problems. I did notice while we were there though that none of the boys' haircuts looked very good. I probably should've left that one alone! :-) After a day like yesterday, I sure am grateful for leftover dessert!

cloudy days and garden veggies

The weather here has been rather dreary as of late. That tends to put everyone in funky moods. Not so great for mama trying to keep everyone amicable as well as keep herself cheery. I, for one, could definately use some sunshine. Some nice, good old-fashioned fresh air would be good too. Gardening season is around the corner. This time of year always brings mixed emotions for me. I am excited to try again another year but apprehensive at all the work and concerned I will fail yet again. I am not a naturally patient person and my hastiness has proved to be detrimental in the garden. Each year I do it, though, I get a little better. I have spent hours and hours reading and learning and planning. It is all so beautifully structured in my head and then it rarely resembles the mental image when all is said and done. Maybe this year will be better. My hubby says it needs to be what with grocery prices skyrocketing and all the information we have learned this year on genetically modified seeds and pesticides used on produce. Will this be the year we actually grow our own food? I sure hope so. Now if this weather would only cooperate...

disclaimer on archived post

How cliche' is it to put a disclaimer on your own stuff? Cliche' might not be the word I'm looking for... Anyway, I just want to put a "note from the author" regarding the article entitled Liberation. That one has gotten me some flack. People misunderstand sometimes and think I am trying to attack women who work outside of the home. I want to go on the record as saying that my intention was not to "attack" anyone but merely address a society. Most of the "flack" I've recieved has also been because of the books I have listed as suggested reading (Created to be His Help Meet in particular). I also want to go on the record as saying: That doesn't bother me one bit...

Note on archived posts...

It had been my endeavor to publish my old articles here just as they were when they were finished and/or published in the Wisconsin Christian News. Some of them are over 2 years old. I now prefer to use only the KJV of the Bible to quote scripture references but there may be a few quotes throughout that are from the NKJV. If this is a problem to some readers, I apologize. At this time , however, I do not plan to go back and re-reference the quotes.

Runaway Chickens

My husband and I made the move from the city to the country about 3 years ago. Neither of us knew too much about rural living, but we did our best to read up on some things and figured we'd make the most out of it.

It was a tough decision for my usually "steady" man to buy this 30 yr. old home on 8+ acres. He builds beautiful, luxurious homes for a living. Neither of us would want a home as glamorous as the ones he typically constructs, but he has always wanted to live in one he has built. Well, that is still a dream in progress; because as I stated before, my typically "steady" man announced to me just 2 months before I was due with my 3rd son that we were moving to the country! I had already gotten the nursery all situated at our old house!!! But I am usually up for any adventure so I gladly packed the house all up and, just 2 weeks before our son was born, got us all situated in the new place.

Thus began a whole new life for us. I knew right off that I wanted to raise chickens. There just seemed to be something so motherly and feminine about tending to a flock of chickens. I got books from the library on how to raise them from chicks and placed an internet order. Who knew that chicks come in the mail? Our first time brooding was a huge success! No fatalities. They were all Rhode Island Reds. I didn't know then that they tend to be feisty. Well, at that time we had converted one stall in our stables into a coop. My husband built a beautiful row of nesting box es and we chicken-wired the whole thing to keep critters out. Eventually the eggs came in abundance and we were able to sell some to our friends and family. We were horrible at butchering the roosters our first time at it, though. It was quite the experience (I'll save it for another time!). Sadly, we began to get lax about shutting the stall door at night. At that time we still didn't have any electric lights out there and it was a cold, dark walk from the house to the barn. My hubby took it upon himself to make it his job; especially after a few run-ins with some deer who were strangely not skiddish and frightened him a time or two. I was grateful as I dreaded running into the big dark barn to shut the door. Honestly, I was beginning to dread opening it in the morning too as the chickens would chase me all the way back up to the house (those feisty RIRs!). Well, it wasn't long before no one was shutting the stall door at night. Raccoons and foxes picked off a few of the chickens. We felt like such bad "parents". After that the chickens wouldn't go "home" anymore. Instead they roosted in parts of an old truck we had pieced all over the back of the garage and a few even came up closer to the house and tried nesting in our windows. Over time, they began to disappear into the woods, probably flocking up with neighboring chickens or becoming victims to more racoons. We were down to just a few hens. It was sad. One day, as I was driving home from the country grocery store, I saw the last of our pretty red hens running down the highway. Seriously! My chicken was bolting down the highway (in the gravel at the shoulder)! I didn't know if I should pull over and try to shoo her into the van or what!?! It's not like a pet dog that runs away. I just glanced in the rearview mirror and said goodbye. We ended up being such terrible country-dwellers that fist year that my chickens ran away. Truly, truly embarrassing! We can laugh about it now because we've gotten a lot better at it and our chickens like it here now but it was something quite different then!

To tell you the truth, we have wanted to give up many times since we first moved here. It is not easy! But, no one said it would be. And we now know that it wouldn't be nearly as fun or rewarding if it WERE easy. It is good, clean, fun, HARD WORK! I do have to remind my hubby when he gets overwhelmed that someday we will have three teenage sons who need a pace to tromp and play and work and this is just the place for it.

What ever became of my runaway chicken? She took up residence right smack dab in the middle of a golf course a few miles down the road... stupid chicken ... must have looked like a big red bulls-eye to the neighborhood red-tailed hawks...

Beginnings

This is my first time blogging... I am totally new to the world of blogs. I hope for this to be a place to archive some of my articles, many of which have been in print in a local Christian newspaper. I have always enjoyed writing for pleasure and am thrilled when it can be used to bring glory to God.