I'm Baaaack!

It's been forever and I have no good reason for slacking off except I have allowed laziness to creep into my days ;-)

A short recap (and I mean VERY short) because a lot happens in 4 months!

Brent is in his FINAL week of school. If I could stand on the roof top and scream, HALLELUJAH!!!! I can assure you, I would. It has been a rough road for him through school. In 9 months time (while he was in school) his step-dad was hit by a train, he got laid off, his grandfather (who practically raised him) had a stroke and then passed away, his wife gained jobs to support the family and then lost those same jobs, and soooooo much more! I know he is so ready to be finished and I am sooooo proud of him! More than he could ever know.

We have officially decided to home school our boys and I am sooooo excited about it. Dane loves to do "school" and so we have been working on school for a bit here and there. I cannot wait to share in this journey with him. It is sure to be a learning experience for us both.

The books we used this morning.

Webb likes to work with us, so today, he looked through Dane's magazine at all the silly things :D

 We have lost lots of chickens. The majority of the causalities came from our dogs-- we had to make the tough decision to get rid of both of them. We ended up getting a Great Pyrenees puppy. Theory goes, if you raise your dogs with the chickens, they will protect, not kill. Seems simple enough. We had to learn the hard way. We have also lost quite a few lately to a predator. I am getting so frustrated as each day, we notice another missing. My husband tried to hunt the evil animal down last night, but had no such luck. He is trying again this weekend. I am sooooo hopeful that it will be found and shot!

The gorgeous view in our pasture

We are selling our milk goat and sticking to cows. Nellie is a sweet baby, but I can no longer stomach the milk and so I will never breed her. I feel like it is pointless to let her have pasture that I need for the cows. I know she will make someone an excellent dairy goat.

We have about 50 quail now. My husband and our neighbor went in together on them. We will use them for meat, to sell, or pickle their eggs. We had about 20 put in an incubator a few weeks ago and we probably have another 50 eggs that need to go as well!

Dane has turned 4 and what an adventurous 4 years it has been! I have enjoyed every second with him and I am looking forward to many more birthdays with my sweet boy! He is a wonderful big brother and such a great helper on the farm. He loves the chickens, cows, goats, dog, cats, and quail. He had informed us that he wants 5 brothers and 1 sister and we are to name his sister, Da-Merica (AKA- Captain Amercia).

I was hoping to wean Webb this summer, but the little big man is having none of it! He is super duper attached to his "boo-boos" and each time I get him somewhat weaned (meaning, no more boredom nursing, etc) something happens and we regress. That is ok though. I am a stay-at-home mom who is practically jobless these days and I am focusing on enjoying this stage. I'll admit, it is not always easy to nurse a very strong-willed 23 month old. He flops and wiggles and and twists and turns and gets picky about his current boo-boo, pulling off and pushing the one he was on and pointing at the other one screaming, "That!!!". He also must play with one while nursing from the other. This is all fine and dandy until he starts twisting and pinching and pulling. My patience gets worn thin. LOL. It has been especially hard during the night. For 23 straight months, I have nursed Webb through the night. The majority of the time (for Webb), that literally means. Through. The. Night. As in, he never, ever pulls off. A good nights sleep was not something I knew anything about. So.... Brent said I had no choice we decided together that maybe now was the time to transition Webb into Dane's bed. It actually went sooooo much better than I ever could have imagined. Webb does great and wakes up 1-2x during the night. He either walks into my bedroom (because I sleep so soundly I never hear his crying) or I go to him when I hear him wake up. I lay down and sometime I stay awake and go back to our bed, other times, I remain in there. LOL. But, it works for us.

As for me, I went from working like a mad woman-- every odd job you could imagine-- to now working a whooping 2 times a month. Yep, every other Thursday, I clean 2 houses. I would like to complain and tell you how horrible it has been to lose such an enormous amount of income in such a financially tight situation, but I have to say, God has been so good. He is supplying and meeting each and every need. I literally uttered a prayer last Thursday night about a certain amount of needed money. No one knew of this or the amount other than my husband. When I checked the mail on Friday, the needed money, in the form of cash, was anonymously placed in there. It is because of things like this and so much more that I have faith and trust that I am right where the Lord wants me, yet again. It doesn't mean it isn't hard or that there aren't scary days, but I know He brought me to it and I KNOW He will see me through it. Plus... my husband is ALMOST done with school and I get to really be a stay at home mom now that my life has slowed down. Yes, God is still showing His sovereignty and I am still amazed by it.

So, there is your extremely short 4-month recap. 

If you are a wife or a mother looking for a good devotion book, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the Power of a Praying Wife and Parent. It is split up into short, very easy to read chapters. They pinpoint key areas of each relationship and cause you to pray about things you (or at least I) would never think of until the issue arose. Examples-- for your husband, his trials, his mind, his temptations, his faith, his finances, his attitude, and so much more. For your children-- their future mates, their bedrooms, their forgiveness, their ability to abstain from drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, and homosexuality, their ability to chose healthy food and their desire to exercise, and so much more. These books have truly taught me how to pray. When fears creep in, or I begin to worry, this book has taught me to use that as an opportunity to pray for that very issue. The peace that comes is so real. I can promise you, you won't regret your purchase. I bought mine off Amazon a few years back (I have used them daily for a few years now) for about $4 a piece. 

 This morning, I enjoyed one of these DELICIOUS, made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls as I sat on the back porch for 2-1/2 hours doing my devotions and listening to the storm. Yes, it was sinfully good and I asked the Lord to forgive me ;-)

It's been nice catching up! Hopefully, I will be showing up a bit more often now that my life has slowed down to an extremely enjoyable pace.