One of our favorite songs is sung by the Brother's Four called the Green Leaves of Summer. I'm titling this entry the "Green Leaves of Summer" because it seems as though that time has gone... Fall is peaking his head and we are starting to look for the sweaters and undershirts. The quilts are going back on the bed and fireside reading is coming back. Usually we have another month here of heat before it gets cold. My dear one tells me that the cold front is from British Columbia Canada. We will get some of it but not all of it. Some places are getting a good 1" of rain. We sure could use some down here in the valley.
                  I really love this time of year.  The Martha Steward in me comes out. Baking scents, fresh clean rooms, daily walks. I love it all. The thing I do NOT like is the wind. Come Oct. we usually get a lot of wind. Not a nice steady breeze but a wind that kicks the dust around. The birds are happy though. Today I saw a beautiful bird that pulled a worm out and believe it or not, she left it at my feet. I guess I look more pregnant than I thought. Or maybe there was just a sense that she knew I needed food for little Jr. Muffin here. I was hungry. Thank you dear lady but I think our tastes differ a bit. I have never heard of such a thing before.

   A Jr. Muffin update:
  Jr. Muffin is still head down and in a very good position. Midwife is guessing around 6lbs 9 oz? But she doesnt want me to quote her on that. She is expecting a 7lb+ baby. Good baby weight. :D The heart rate was much lower right now than it usually has been. If we should go by heart rates, I am having a boy according to the old wives tale. The previous times before it has always been a girl.  I have 16 days until my due date and I am physically prepared but I still have activities I want and would need to get done. My body is totally ready! YAY!     I exercise daily. Lots and lots of walking. Papa is getting very excited I know. I am excited as well. People dont think I am because I dont giggle and bounce of the walls but inside, my joy overflows. Thank you Lord for this precious gift!

A friend I know is having a giveaway special on her adorable pumpkin patch. If you dont win, I know she is selling them too so be sure to stop by there as well! Happy Fall!

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/chas/69050/A+little+something+giveaway....html/

What happened this weekend...

Dear hubby has decided to replace our roof cooler with a master cool that will sit on the ground. HE has given me an explanation for this, in his own articulate way but me being who I am and very pregnant I cannot quite recollect his exact words. Also, who is the carpenter here, me or him? LOL.

So in order for this cooler to be placed on the ground, dearest hubby had to
a. build a cooler stand. Where the cooler will sit, the ground tends to sick in and get very muddy. So that was the easy part.

And B. drill through our solid brick wall (no insulation here, solid brick) in order for the duct to run through. This was a 2 day job. 8 hours one day and 4-5 the other.

The result? Well, see for yourself.
First we had to make a little room so that the dust wouldnt go anywhere and everywhere. This meant moving some furniture and putting up plastic. Not as easy as it sounds when you have a very pregnant woman as your moving partner. LOL.

Then he drilled...

And after all that work of drilling, this is what happens to you... You gray FAST!

A crowning glory.....

That took about 3 hours to do. You had to buy a special blade to do it. But the blade wasnt enough. There was also steel rods in the brick... so had to spend $25 for a special blade to cut through all that (then when the blade went dull, another $25 to replace it). So after another 2-3 hours of drilling the day ended with this progress completed.

  Day 2

Now it was time to bring the big guns out......... All day he spent doing this. I kid you not. Basically 1 hour off, 1/2 lunch 1/2 hour for running to replace the dull blade.

 Working with gravity.....

Ready to do some damage!

Way ta go hubby!!!! Need a massage? I do just looking at what you did! Thank you! I love you!

Stay tuned for more pictures of the final and finished project...er product! :D

What a weird title you might say, but that's what we had for dinner last night. Poor dh was not doing very well with his depression and I think it was a little bit of a comfort to come home and have Betty Crocker putting dinner on the table with a smile. This Chicken Teryaki was easy to make, mess free (almost) and provided such a good balance of protein and carbohydrates. So I am gonna share this with you all. Ice cream is a very good desert to go with this by the way.

Chicken Teryaki Marinade
Makes about 1/2 cup

1/4 cup maple flavored syrup (I used 1/4 cup molassas and a tablespoon of brown sugar)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, finely choped
1 tsp. vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients except 1 tsp. oil. Combine chicken and marinade in a sealable plastic bag (zip lock). Seal bag and refridgerate atleast 4 hours but no longer than 24. Remove chicken from marinade. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in oil 8-10 minutes, turning once (unless you cut up the chicken into peices like I did then it needs frequent stirring), until chicken is no longer pink in center.

Eat Harty!

Life is so full of suprises, mysteries, and adventures of one sort or another.  Take this pregnancy for example... I never know when the contrations are gonna hit, when some stranger is gonna walk up and touch my stomache (which I find VERY annoying!) or where that secret stash of chocolate dissapeared... If this all sounds odd to you, remember, this is a pregnant woman typing here. Not everything is gonna make sense written down as it does in me head! The grammar will be atrocious too! How do you use spell check again?

         8 months pregnant. Wow! 6 weeks to go... 6 weeks to get everything ready. Can I do it? Sure I can. Why else do I keep up such good relations with my sisters? Ahem. Cough. Mumsie, you didnt see that. :)
     What could I possibly have to do? Lets see... Clean out this fabric tote of mine so I can stash more stuff from under the bed in there so I can move stuff around in the bedroom so the baby can have a place to sleep. I think I will invest in one of those baby moniter things... Still deciding on that.   Midwife is predicting a 7 lb baby. Cool beans! Not to big... (I dont wanna get any bigger!) but not to small to make pushing a bit more complicated.   

     Last night hubby, or papa, as he wants to be called; suggested that we wind up my little mama figurine to play, beautiful dreamer to the baby. Sure I thought, no problemo... So we wind it up, lay it next to the belly (I think he thought the baby would fall asleep better since he likes to wake up at night just as we go to bed!) and jr. muffin is like his mama... He starts to roll, and roll, and roll, and roll... I think it was the baby version of twirling... David couldnt see the rolling but I could tell him that the baby WAS ROLLING! Didnt my moans of sea sickness and elbows crashing my belly provide proof enough!?!?!?!   But anyways, it is the thought that counts right?    Now the neighbors... lets not talk about the "music" they play for the baby... or is it for the whole neighborhood? Talk about sleepless nights... No wonder babies wake up so often, who could help it? Ahh for the country life, with crickets, running waters, and nature playing... how peaceful!

Well that is all the time I have for today. ta ta!
          

How hard it is to get excited about something you have to do over and over and over and over and over again. Maybe I dont want to get necessarily "excited" but "content" about what I have to do and what needs to be done.  So, what is my goal in this? I have absolutely no clue.
I know dear hubby loves it when I put effort into making our house his domain, his home, his comfort, a refuge. I am thrilled about how I can do that to hubby and yet that means self denial for me. I dont like that. How selfish am I!
                      With the little one on the way I need to make a commitment to get into the habbit of putting my home before my friends. The computer is my reward and priviledge for all the "hard work" I have done. Can I kick myself into gear? Why not? Generations of women have done it!

     An update on the pregnancy life...
Things are going well. I dont feel Jr. Muffin every day but I know he is there just the same. I am so looking forward to holding this child and raising him as an arrow for the Lord and hopefully brothers and sisters too but right now the Lord has blessed me with one and this one will need my attention for the time being. Jesus said, if you are faithful over a few things I will make you ruler of many things. I was always a bit frusterated that I didnt become housewife and mother within the month of my marriage. It was a real eye opener that God had a plan and my scedule do not always fit into His. WOW, imagine that! The verse is true, He never gives us more than we can handle. His ways are not our ways. Why is that so hard to grasp sometimes? Anyway, I have confirmation this week and my new nephew is going to be baptized...but we will miss it. :(
 So this is just the brief update I wanted to add.

Saturday, April 29, 2006
A young bride wakes up and realizes this is the day every woman waits for.  She does not have time to write an entry in her journal about the giddy feelings that are going through her but immediatly get's to work with the final packing and preparations to begin a new chapter in life.
A special breakfast awaited her with friends from around the country that she has only known through the internet. Imagine her excitement to meet this dear friends for the first time on her wedding day. Adjectives are useless.
Most of the day is a blur, bits a peices come into view in the future but for now all it is is one happy blur.
1:00 comes. It is time to get ready. Bridemaids flutter in a school room- beautifying themselves. The bride is so grateful to have the curlers out of her hair. Dear friends help with the hair, the makeup and the dressing. Sisters are everywhere. They are her family, they are a part of her special day. Soon it is time. The last minute rush, everything in place. Every button completed. LAst minute pictures with teh father and mother. The music begins........

There he is. Her future protector, guardian, provider, husband. It is the man she loves. The man she is entrusting her heart and her future service too. With a quick look at her father who had always been the guardian, protector and provider she slips her arm from her fathers and takes the man who will vow to be her husband til death do them part.

Most of the service is a blur. They sang a hymn (O Blessed Home Where Man and Wife) and it is time for  the kiss. The bride does not want to share it with a full congregation with a quick slip between her sister (the maid of honor) the boquet comes up to sheild the faces of the bride and groom.   The witnesses, friends, and family laugh but the bride and groom have shared something no one else can take.
The reception I..er the bride cannot remember other than the fact that cheesecake was served while the rest of the people recieved beautifully decorated white cakes. Thanks to the hard working crew the night before. Everything was so beautiful.
The first thing they did when the reached their home (no longer just the grooms) was for the 140 lb groom to carry the 150+ bride over the threshold to immediatly kneel down and pray for a godly marriage where Christ is the center of everything.

1 year later...
That was my wedding. Has it really been a year. Must have been atleast 4 months because I am now a mother to be as well as a wife. I am not the wife I had always assumed I would be. It has been a good year. Have we grown? I asked my dear that last night. He does not know. I feel like I have taken a step back instead of forward.  In our walk with Christ, we have been running forward, running for the prize. But I cannot say that I have done everything in my power to be a godly wife. My selfish desires still come to play.
I have advanced in my cooking skills. For which I am sure both of us are much relieved. This next year I am sure will show its trials, its fire tested trials but I shall remember that I have Christ at my side.   He has provided everything I need. My husband loves me dearly and will not let our family fall off the narrow path.
Now as I look around my dirty home I shall sign off and get busy.  Thank you for reading a brides thoughts.

What a more polite and noble way to make a grand enterance.

Greetings.
             I am Hopin' and my dear husband I will introduce as Alvin York. We are buffs of the movie, Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper and some actress. It has Gary Cooper in it, so its a good movie!

Anyway, to get on with my introduction. I will first explain my title. In Sergeant York, Alvin and Gracie are first introduced to the movie by Alvin and his brother George going after a red fox ("That aint nothin this time of year" "This one were") and Gracie brushing her hair on the porch see's the hounds and the brothers running and points them in the right direction.  
My nickname for my hubby is, Hopin'. See the movie to understand that one. :)

So, with that out of the way, I will tell you a little more about me. Other than the fact I am weird, very feminine with prairie dresses, bonnets, (ok so more like whatever hat I can find in teh store to wear), like to be a writer someday, love a good cup of vanilla chai tea; I really lead a quite boring life.
My dear mother is on the way to bring me some food. With that in mind, I will end this bizzaro entry here and try for a more normal one tomorrow.
  Looking forward to getting to know you.