Thank you all so much for your prayers.  Sadly, the doctor is certain we miscarried.  I'll go back for the final lab works and a follow up physical next week.  This has really been rough week for our whole family and my husband is taking us on a weekend trip just to give us a change of scene.  I'll be back as next week and try to post more regularly.

I was tagged and didn't realize it.

Anyway, 6 interesting things about me:

1.  My favorite food is rutabegas.

2.  My biggest dream is to have a wood cookstove.

3.  I have an English sheepdog in a part of the world where you never see sheep.

4.  I am the 5th generation to live in my house.

5.  My husband and I were meant to be together.  We had friends try to set us up to meet several times and we both refused -- only to meet by fluke and fall head over heels for each other.

6.  I don't like to eat processed fruit.  (even as a child I didn't)

Now, I don't have a clue who to tag,so I'm off to look.

Goodness, I don't even know where to start, so I guess I should start with apologizing for being so long to post. 

I'm sorry.  We've had a lot going on -- actually I've had a lot going on medically, but I think the kinks are slowly being worked out.  My children and husband have been wonderful at "taking care" of me.  The "biggest" part of what may be wrong with me is actually food intolerances/allergies and if I am careful to avoid certain foods I feel well enough to avoid medication 99.9% of the time.  Of course, any time you begin to change a family's diet things are tricky and when you begin to remove wheat/gluten from it -- well, it is just tough.

To top off that, my cholesterol was killer high -- stroke and heart attack high.  So I am also following a vegan diet atleast for the next three months until the doctor retests me and advises me.  Being a "farm" girl makes that really tricky.  Fortunately I love beans and vegetables.

We're learning though.  I'm also looking into buying a grain mill for grinding my own corn meal, rice flour and bean flours.  Other than cornbread I've never cooked a gluten free bread in my life prior to now. 

The children are doing well with their school work and we're hoping to be ready to officially begin the new school year the first full week of September.  I'm beginning to plan their next years curriculum and I'm so excited at all the possibilities that I am having a hard time chosing. 

I still can't knit and it breaks my heart.   It also hurts to write -- far worse than it hurts to type, but for every door closed the Lord opens a new one.  I've been doing more sewing with my machine.  I'll share photos soon.

Up until April 15th and 17th this year...life is a little topsy turvy for us.  Praise the Lord -- we're finally getting back to normal. 

We've made a lot of decisions.  Revamped our one and two year family plans and we're pressing on.  We're doing a lot of decluttering (physically and spiritually and financially); we're simplifying in the most freeing way.

Spring just feels like a great time for renewal!

I'm hoping to allot time on Fridays to update this blog about how our week and life is going.  One of my new goals is to learn to control my internet time.  At first, I know it will be tough, but I do realize that it will be best for me and my family.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We had a quiet blessed day.

My daughter and I had a girl's day out.  Was unplanned, but my husband always jokes that I come from a family with wheels on the tush!  Some of my favorite trips are impromptu.

We went out to a simple lunch -- fast food, but it was her choice and that is what the day was about.  Time for her to be the center of attention.  We so rarely eat fast food that it was a treat for us both.

We stopped off to have our hair trimmed and then we did some spring shopping.  I found 3 modest length skirts for her and several tops to mix and match.  She is so tall and today's styles are so -- indiscreet -- that we have a hard time finding clothes for her.  After we found the clothes we bought a few undergarments and two pair of summer shoes.  (I also picked up a nightgown for me and a pair of walking shoes.)

We finished our trip up with grocery shopping and a snack for the road. 

My daughter is working her way from a girl to a young woman and I am so proud of her when I see her growing.  She's beginning to ask some deep spiritual questions and to show a compassion for others that is amazing.

Spring is such a beautiful time of year.  The temperatures are in the 80's here and the weather is gorgeous.  I have the house opened up and the breeze is blowing through.  I can hear a choir of birds from the open field next door.  This week our garden area will be tilled and limed and next week it will be rowed.  I'm so excited that I can barely contain myself. 

Today is going to be a non traditional school day for us.  We're doing a video study on punctuation...a review for my son and a starter for my daughter.  Then we'll do hands on learning projects (some science, some homemaking, some consumer oriented). 

Today was a long day.  My hubby had signed me up for a Notary Public class and today was the day.  It wasn't bad.  Just 6 hours, but I hated to leave the children with my hubby because I knew he had clients coming.  I did everything I could do in advance and left a simple meal for dinner.  (yes, I am afraid I do eat breakfast, dinner and supper...lol) Because the class was being a held at a remote site (near our office is an old public school building) I was able to walk through a neighbors yard and a parking lot to get to class.  The weather was beautiful -- 70+ degrees and it was an easy way to get in exercise.

Anyway, as soon as the instructor signed off on my test, I was out of there.  I had only made it about half way home when I saw my two children running across a lot to meet me.  Talk about a heartwarming treat -- they were so excited to meet me and told me how their day just wasn't the same without me...both children sort of talking over each other in their excitement. 

As soon as I was home, they took off to play....secure in the knowledge I was back.

I came home to a few surprises -- they had cleaned up their own dinner dishes and straightened up all the toys and school stuff.  They even told me they had each read a chapter in their library books.

So all in all I had a good day. 

I've been keeping a knitting blog for a while now, but I realized that I rarely talk about my true calling in life on that blog.  I read a while back that knitters didn't want to read non-knitting chatter and I've tried to be true to that, but there is so much more to my life than knitting.

So here I am.  There is a lot to tell about my family and I'll try to share how our days go. 

As a quick intro -- my husband and I have been married for 12 years and we have two wonderful children.  We run our own business and homeschool.  We use a combination of text book, real life, child lead learning and even unschooling.  We have two main philosophies about our homeschooling:

1. Our children aren't welcome anywhere where God isn't welcome.
2. Life is a learning process that can't accurately be measured in test scores alone.

I love being an at home mom.  I love seeing my children day in and day out.  I love being able to make our house a home....to see the content on my husband's face and to see the security in my children's eyes.