• Jul. 22, 2008 - A Few Photos from Jon's Birthday
Just thought I'd take a few minutes to share a few photos from Jon's birthday while I've got a decent connection speed.
 OK, I had to practically buy the two oldest boys off with game tokens to get this picture, but I love it nonetheless! Jon really wanted to have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, but it wasn't in the budget. Fortunately our friends said that they would enjoy playing some games with the big mouse so I hunted online for some coupons and we counted this trip as one of his presents.
Here's a tip: If you're going to Chuck E. Cheese, go to their website first and sign up for their newsletter to get their best online coupon. You will only be able to access the coupon once, but you can print multiple copies to use so make sure that you have paper on hand! They also have other coupons on their site that you can use so browse those too, but don't miss their special coupon just for signing up for their newsletter!
 A few days later we had a party at the house with a few other homeschool families. Cookout, cake, and a bunch of friends always makes for a ton of fun. There were almost 30 of us all together. And see the spray bottle in Tony's hand? That's to keep the dogs, cats, chickens, and guineas from joining us on the patio.
Then we wrapped up the festivities the next day when my mom, sister, and niece came to visit.
 We really appreciated them coming to spend the afternoon with us and Jon was thrilled when he finally got to open his BIG present. A starter guitar!
 He has great plans for forming a band with friends. Be on the lookout for a single from them someday.
But first my little guitarist had to cool off a bit on the Slip N Slide.
 The album release date will just have to wait.
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• Jul. 16, 2008 - On this day in history . . .
I was crashed out in a hospital room as swollen as a pufferfish with full blown eclampsia 3 weeks before my due date. My blood pressure kept skyrocketing and I was a bit foggy about all that was happening. Nothing went quite like planned and yet there were blessings. I saw what a blessing it was to have a husband who would make good decisions for me when I was out of it and what a blessing it was to have a doctor who I knew was caring for me the way he'd want his own wife to be treated. I still remember feeling "safe" even when I was very out of my element with a very medical birth.
Hours later, Jon Carter made his appearance and melted all of our hearts. Weighing in at 8 lbs., he was only 3 ounces less than his big brothers were at delivery. He had Carter Kid written all over him. He was my first sling baby and I treasured every moment of getting to hold him close to me. I knew the whole time that I was pregnant with him that he was a snuggler and that has definitely proven to be true.
Even as an official seven year old today, you can often find him coming into our bed in the wee hours of the morning or joining me in my recliner "just to sit together" for a while as we start the day.
Hope you all are having a wonderful week!
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• Jul. 2, 2008 - The Dynamic Duo
Well Jake finally decided that it was time for Jon to learn to ride his bike.
He's a good brother and decided to start him off in the grass
instead of on our gravel driveway.
He's thoughtful like that.
Joe's staying busy getting things ready for hunting season at Western Kentucky Outdoor Adventures , but I'm thankful these two are getting to enjoy lots of summertime fun together.
 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! Psalms 133:1
Finally it was time to get a little help from Dad and give it a try on the pavement.
And so it goes, another one of the boys rounds the corner and takes off on his first set of wheels.
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• Jun. 17, 2008 - Coolin off at the creek
When it's a zillion degrees outside, you can find us here -
Cuz you know it's hot when even the cats
are tagging along to the creek.
I mean at this point,
I thought they were actually going to hop right in.
We're used to Faith hanging out with us at the creek. She's a pretty good swimmer. And I think she kind of looks like a river otter or something.
Meanwhile Tony and the boys (and a couple of dogs) were busy catching crawdads.
And boy howdy, they caught plenty of the little buggers.
And then I realized that maybe THAT was why the kitties were following us.
Mmmm, crawdads...
But soon enough it was time to head back towards the house.
SOMEBODY in our group was dog tired.
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• Jun. 3, 2008 - One of These Things Is Not Like The Others
• May. 26, 2008 - A Hodge Podge of Moments
Last week kind of ended with a flurry of activity so we all actually spent most of the day sleeping today. God provided a wonderful gentle rain that was good not only for our freshly planted garden, but also for creating the perfect day for sleeping in.
But let me catch you up on a few other things that might be slightly more interesting than a detailed account of how we all slept the day away.
This past Thursday was actually quite exciting. The morning started by discovering one of our hens with a beautiful assortment of 10 baby chicks. We have absolutely NO idea where she was hiding that nest, but we found her taking them on a walk in the tall grass. With our current abundace of cats and kittens, we've temporarily converted our chicken tractor to a hen & chicks nursery to help keep them all safe.
Later that same morning, we also discovered ANOTHER litter of kittens in the barn. They were actually hidden behind a tarp in Billy's stall. They already had their eyes open so I guess they had been there a week already. They sure are cute! Anyone need a kitten or four?
Then to top the day off, we discovered a stray puppy in one of our fields. There was a state crew working on our road doing some really loud work and it was just scared to death. Obviously someone just dropped it off. Jake brought it in, bathed it, and tried to get it to eat something. THEN we thought to call our friends who had just lost a dog. We weren't even sure what kind of dog it was - it had wavy ears like a cocker spaniel, but a smaller face, and LONG legs. We ended up deciding that it looks a lot like a gordon setter puppy. That too will be a surprise though!
Then Jon surprised me by wanting to participate in our homeschool group's presentation night. He immediately knew that he wanted to talk about some sort of bug or animal so we had some fun putting together information about the platypus.
We probably had about 70 people at our presentation night so when Jon first got up to do his presentation, he literally froze. Once he had a little break and a few other kids went though, he got right back up there and did a wonderful job. This has been a wonderful year for him. He has just really developed a love for learning and his enthusiasm is contagious.
I actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about this past school year as I prepared this Year of Memories video for our homeschool group. We've had lots of great activities, we've made lots of new friends, and truly we've created a lot of memories. I selected the song The Miracle of the Moment by Steven Curtis Chapman because I loved how it reminds us to just cherish each moment.
So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment
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• May. 19, 2008 - A Wonderful Weekend
Did I happen to tell you all that it was my wonderful husband's birthday last week? Well that was because I was so busy trying to plan a weekend getaway for the two of us that I didn't even get around to blogging.
See, I don't really like to plan things. I'm so indecisive that making plans feels like it takes FOREVER. But wow, it was all so worth it.
I found a great little bed & breakfast online - Aire Castle Inn in Benton,KY. Tony and I discovered last year that we really enjoy bed & breakfasts so I started out just googling Kentucky bed & breakfasts. I looked at so many pages, I was totally overwhelmed with all of the choices.
Some of them looked so fancy though that I didn't think we'd feel even feel comfortable there, so that eliminated some of them. Then I found the Christian Hospitality Network website and saw that Aire Castle was listed on there too. Bingo! I knew that we would feel right at home there.
And I was not disappointed.
The Innkeeper, Mike, helped suggest a place for us to go out for a nice dinner and then made reservations for us there and reserved 2 tickets for us at a local play. They stocked our in-room refrigerator with our favorite soft drinks and water and even put some bags of popcorn in there in case we wanted some snacks later on.
We enjoyed our tour of the B&B and learning more about how Mike and his wife, Lady Anne, met years ago and came to be innkeepers. There was just a very sweet spirit throughout the whole home which was very refreshing. We had just the right mix of privacy and friendly fellowship there. There was only one other couple there and they were newlyweds on their honeymoon. I kind of thought it was an honor to get to share breakfast with them as they start their married life!
And then we finished off our trip with a 90 minute horseback ride at LBL. (That was more for me than Tony, but he went along with it anyway!) We just felt so blessed by how all the details worked together down to having just absolutely perfect weather. It definitely was a wonderful chance for us to just enjoy our time together and recharge our batteries.
Planning it took quite a bit of time, getting everything organized to have Memaw here with the boys took some effort, and spending the money wasn't easy, but it was ALL worth it.
Now, to start thinking of things to do when he turns 40...
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• Apr. 22, 2008 - Guess What We Brought Home from the Auction?
Remember I told you all about the auction last week? Well we found a new addition to our farm there.
Meet the new kid (or lamb actually) on the farm.
He made it through our enthusiastic welcoming committee.
And we've named him....
Spot!
Suits him, don't you think?
And Baab is VERY happy to have another lamb for company!
I took a short video to show how Baab hops and jumps around.
Gotta love it!
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• Mar. 24, 2008 - Spring on the Farm
Well it's hard to believe that it was just a few weeks ago
that I was celebrating our first big snow of the season!
Spring has sprung and it's absolutely beautiful!!
I just love seeing the green grass return each year.
 Billy watching all the activity in the yard.
 Jon feeding the chickens.
 Baab enjoying a walk in the yard and the cats enjoying stalking Baab.
 Another cat playing in the chicken house.
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• Mar. 21, 2008 - What About Baab?
Guess what was waiting on me when I returned from speaking to a homeschool group in the Lexington area? (Which was SO much fun and really a wonderful treat for me! I'll be blogging more about it later.)
 (Ignore the date. The camera settings are messed up again!)
If any of you have followed along with my blog, you probably know that I have ALWAYS wanted a little lamb because I wanted my kids to see how lambs truly learn their shepherds voice and follow him faithfully.
So, I was very happily surprised to hear this sweet little lamb's baaas over the phone the other night and I know I'm totally blessed to have a family that knows what means so much to me.
I'll write more later! Just had to share the good news really quickly!!
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