Nov. 16, 2009 - Playing Catch-up

Just thought I'd give an update on what's going on 'round the homestead. Grab a cup of something nice and warm while you catch up cause it's cold and rainy again here--and I feel so much better thinking of you all cozy and warm!! :-)

DH drove his parents down to our place yesterday in their RV. They'll be staying at least a couple of weeks so that we can help them out with food and stuff. My Father in law is doing great and looks the picture of rosy health. The doctor says that he can't life anything over 5 pounds so he just gets to take things easy for a while. And it's nothing for us to cook for a couple more people. When you're already cooking for 10 on a daily basis a couple more small servings ain't nothing!!

This has not been my "month" for appliances.

• First my vacuum cleaner broke down but DH managed to find a part from an old, spare vacuum we had sitting around. It worked great until I broke it again. Grrrr...
• Then my washer went out on me (needs an expensive part) and I managed to locate a free washer on Craigslist that someone wanted out of their basement. DH got it installed and discovered that the motor was locked up. Yeah, the nice little old lady swore it worked--and it did after a good dose of wd40 and some tlc. It's still working fine though we did have to tighten the belt a bit. What do you expect for an appliance that's "free"? And while the free machine works fine I really miss my awesome front loader that washes twice the clothes for half the soap. But since I make my own laundry soap the cost isn't terribly bad. It's just not as convenient to have to make it more often.
• Now my stove is out of service with one of the parts leaking gas and we have to order new parts for it too. I'm using my crockpot, a little countertop electric burner and the microwave (sparingly!) to cook.

When it rains, it pours!! We are trying to be as frugal as possible since money is very tight for us right now. It certainly makes for interesting and creative moments around our place.

With the colder wet weather here now there's more chores for the kids to do. The goats have to be brought into the barn at night now and thus taken back out to the field in the morning. The sheep always stay out. We have a small shelter in the field but I'd rather play it safe than have the goats coming down sick.

I got my first (heirloom) seed catalog in the mail last week!! I've devoured it a couple of times already. A passionate gardener is either IN their garden or thinking about it!! Ha Ha!! If I could only accomplish half of what I dream up!!

Last week I discovered this amazing herbal site. I found their blog first...
http://learningherbs.typepad.com/ The videos are just great!! Thanks to their site I am now making my own soda culture!! Check it out if you are interested in herbs and healthy living. They have a free e-course too. Lots, lots, LOTS of great information.

Well, that's about all of the interesting stuff going on, aside from the "interesting" daily stuff. Never a dull moment!! ;-)

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Nov. 7, 2009 - Update on Father-in-law

Just thought that I'd give a quick update on how my Father-in-law is doing after his bypass surgery...

I'm happy to report that he is doing great!! They anticipate that he will get to go home on Monday morning. It will, of course, be a long road to full recovery but I don't doubt that he will be his spritely, humorous self in no time!

DH has been on the scene to drive his mom back and forth to the hospital and help out however he can.

Your prayers for continued recovery and strength for my Father-in law are most appreciated!!

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Nov. 5, 2009 - On This Day 16 Years Ago...

Occasionally, at this time of year I tend to want to write about our dear daughter Jessica who died at birth from a lethal dwarfism called Thanatophoric Dysplasia. Tomorrow is her birthday. She would be 16 this year.

Jessica was our 6th child and 3rd Quiverfull baby. I became pregnant 9 months after Daughter #2 was born and was so not ready to do it all again. After the pregnancy test came up positive at our local Birthright where I used to volunteer, my friend who was with me began to cry on our way home. She was sad that I was pregnant and not wanting to be and she wanted another baby desperately. For reasons unknown I felt those tears were very fitting.

When I was 6 months along our home was flooded and we had to evacuate. DH had just started our family business about a 3 hour drive away and was only home on the weekends--which was fine by me because our marriage was not doing well at all. When we were together we just fought. This, of course, was before the Lord began working on my heart regarding submission. :-)

After we evacuated our home, we lived in DH's parents RV in an RV park close to where DH was working. We tried for weeks to find a place to live but no one wanted to rent to a family with 5 children and one on the way, 2 dogs, 2 hamsters and a bird. They all cited their rental home to be too small. So we continued to stay in the 23 foot RV in the trailer park. Oh the irony.

Even at this time we still had not chosen a doctor for my pregnancy since we didn't know where we would be living. We still had ties to the flooded home and were in the area often.

One thing extraordinary about the baby is that she didn't bounce around, kick and cause me severe discomfort like all of my other babies had. I just thought she was a gentle baby. How could I have not known something was wrong?

Finally, in late September a friend of our let us move into a house they had just bought and were renovating. Oh the joy of not having to constantly be in each other's faces with no room to do anything. Amazing.

Upon the move--that very night, in fact--I got sick. Very sick. Shortly it turned into pneumonia. But at least with our housing dilemma resolved we could think a bit more clearly and we decided to see the doctor back in St. Louis that I had seen when pregnant with Daughter #1 who leaned to the more natural side of things. Aside from prescribing me antibiotics for my pneumonia, he informed me that I had way too much amniotic fluid and the baby was breach and that I needed an ultrasound right away. He said things just didn't seem right. And yet I was still oblivious to it all. Never in my life had I been so UN in-tune with my body and what was going on in my pregnancy.

The day of the ultrasound came. Oh the heaviness as I drove the 3 hour drive to the hospital alone (DH stayed home with the children). I cried most of the way knowing in my heart of hearts that this baby would not survive. The scales had fallen from my eyes and I could see everything as it was. But that was nothing compared to what was yet to come.

The doctors were so very hard on me. When the ultrasound was done, the doctor, in such an accusing tone of voice, told me that things were very wrong with my baby--as if I had intentionally caused her problems. "Just look at this. And this" as they pointed out her deformities. I cried and cried. Next they did an amniocentesis which was extremely painful and then sent me over to talk with a geneticist who, amazingly, was very kind. She explained that this was nothing we had done and that it wasn't anybody's fault. It was just one of those things that happens. Most babies with her problems usually don't make it to birth. My body just has a hard time letting go of a baby.

After speaking with the geneticist another doctor wanted to do another ultrasound and she asked me if anyone had given me any pictures of my baby. I started crying again and told her no. She shook her head and muttered under her breath--and printed me up several pictures of our unborn daughter.

The doctors had told me to wait in the waiting room but I had endured too much already and practically ran for my life away from there. On the way home I cried and had to pull over to throw up. The 3 hour drive home was so long.

When I got home I told DH and then we told the children together. Son #1 was only 11 and he probably had the best grasp of what we were saying. Such a hard time.

At our one and only prenatal appointment we went to after finding out about our baby's condition, the doctors hounded us unmercifully to have an abortion. They tried to whitewash the whole thing. At one point the doctor flat out told us that we just needed to terminate the pregnancy--the baby was only going to die anyway. Oh how I wanted to pull a gun on that man and ask him whether I should pull the trigger. After all he was only going to die someday anyway. But being a woman of God...

We didn't have a phone in the house we were staying in but we did have a cell phone. It was one of those big ugly "bag phones" that was the norm for cell phones back then. The doctors and hospital called us all of the time to try to get us to come in for an appointment. There was no way that we were going to "terminate the pregnancy" so there was no sense in putting ourselves through any of that again until it was time to give birth. Our baby was just fine and alive as long as she was inside of me!!

It was decided that I would go in to be induced two weeks early. They didn't want the water in her head to be so much that I couldn't give birth naturally. The words "emergency cesarean section" and "never have another ******l birth" were verbal weapons used to try to scare me, as were the scare tactics of all the horrible things that could possible go wrong IF I didn't do everything their way. It was so difficult to sort out truth from propaganda. Yet there was peace.

We finally decided to go to the hospital at the Lord's leading on the evening of November 5, 1993. First we had to drop off all of the children at my mom and dad's and then make the hour long drive to the hospital.

I felt like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I honestly believed that not only would my baby die but so might I. Yet there was peace. At no other time in my life did I feel as though I had literally fell over a cliff backwards knowing that the Lord would catch me. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Such bittersweetness.

Shortly before we made it to the hospital, a song that I dearly loved came on the radio and I knew with all my heart that the Lord was speaking directly to me. Those words were my soul's cry to take up my cross and follow Him.

The Man with the Nail Scars
by David Meece

There are roads that take you everywhere, but where you need to go,
There are roads that don't go anywhere, and one that leads you home.
The way is rough and steep; it is the path to the one I seek,
And I must go on.

Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
His love is everlasting, and his mercy never fails,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
I'll follow in the path of the man with the nail scars in his hands,
The nail scars in his hands.

There are times I feel I walk alone, in shadows of my doubt,
There are times I fear I can't go on, and strength is running out,
But there, upon my knees, his strength he freely gives to me,
I stand by his power.

Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
His love is everlasting, and his mercy never fails,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
I'll follow in the path of the man with the nail scars in his hands,
The nail scars in his hands.

Though the road is rough and steep, my heart can hear him call to me,
"Follow me, follow me home."

Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
His love is everlasting, and his mercy never fails,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
I'll follow in the path of the man with the nail scars in his hands,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
His love is everlasting, and his mercy never fails,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
I'll follow in the path of the man with the nail scars in his hands,
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
His love is everlasting, and his mercy never fails, (the nails scars in his hands)
Shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah, shad-din-nah-yah,
I'll follow in the path of the man with the nail scars in his hands,

To make a long story just a little bit shorter...
After the worst labor experience that I won't describe out of kindness to my readers, our Jessica was born and lived for only a few short minutes. Her chest was too small to allow her to draw air into her lungs. The amazing thing was that she had the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. Normally my children are all born with murky dark blue eyes, yet her's were bright and clear with lines and sparkles like a toy baby doll's. Just gorgeous.

I know that we will meet her again in Heaven and that makes Heaven all the sweeter to me.

Just felt like sharing.

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Nov. 4, 2009 - And Some More Pictures...

I told you that I had taken a "few" pictures!! :-)

My kefir culturing in my china cabinet. It looks so pretty in there--and fits in perfectly.


I've been using my crock pot a lot lately. It's so helpful to not have to worry about what's for supper in the afternoon. This is beef roast and vegetables. So yummy!! I do think that it might be time to buy a bigger one though. I always pack it a bit too full! Also, the jars to the left are chopped peppers that I dehydrated. The taller quart jar is sweet peppers and the smaller pint jar is hot peppers. I'm working on clearing out the garden and these are what was left on the pepper plants. Ya know, every time I cut hot peppers I promise myself that next time I'm going to wear gloves but I never do. This batch was super hot and I washed my hands and arms for hours after cutting them--and even used some Solarcaine spay to help ease the burn. I'm telling you, they were HOT!!


These are beautiful Moonshadow Hyacinth Asian Beans that my Uncle shared with me when we were visiting after my grandma's funeral. These are heirloom beans. He called them Jefferson Beans. Historically they were grown in Thomas Jefferson's garden at Monticello. Sharing these bits of history are a passion of mine!!


This is my tub of beautiful pinapple mint. It dries up very fine and tastes tangy. I bought a sprig at the Baker Creek Planting Festival (in Mansfield, MO) last May--and boy, did it flourish!!

Aren't these mushrooms gorgeous??? This is a shagbark Hickory stump. I was surprised to see them there. Don't know if they're edible or not.

Also, if you feel led, please pray from my wonderful Father-in-law. He is in the hospital planning to have a double or triple bypass heart surgery in the next couple of days. Thanks in advance. It means a lot to us.

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Nov. 3, 2009 - More Pictures...

Just thought I'd share a few more pictures...

We finally had a chance to harvest the birdhouse gourds last week. This is a big wheelbarrow full. And some of the gourds were really big!! I need to get them drying on our shelves in our warehouse so that in a few months I can make birdhouses!! :-)

Here's Son #4 and adorible Grandson filling the birdfeeders.

Son #4 hanging a birdfeeder near the woods. We love looking out of our schoolroom and watching the birds eat.

My garlic bed all tucked in for the winter. I planted 10 varieties this year.

My pretty garlic braid hanging in the kitchen from last years garlic. So tasty!!

This has been a busy fall for us. We're having "normal" weather again and trying to get as much work done as possible before winter sets in.

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Nov. 1, 2009 - Fall Means... Playing in the Leaves!!

I've been walking around with the camera taking pictures these past few days. The children always love raking leaves and playing in the piles they make. I'm sure they get tired of hearing me tell them to be careful and not poke their eyes out with sticks while they are jumping in and rolling around. Who can resist a leaf pile???

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." Psalm 133:1

Working hard together.

Lots of fun!

Getting buried in leaves

Posing for the camera.

Olivia likes the leaves too!!

Where is Oliver??

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Oct. 29, 2009 - A Few Thoughts On "Skillet"

One Day Too Late
        Skillet

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Oct. 27, 2009 - A Grand Reopening... ;-)

According to Site Meter I still have a lot of traffic here.  In fact, most of my visitors to my Blogspot blog are actually coming from this blog.  So I have decided to go ahead and put up duplicate posts here too--to make it easier for my friends from here.  OK? 

And since I changed my template I will be editing as well.  Thanks for your patience!! 

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Nov. 4, 2008 - New Blog

Just letting ya'll know that I have a new blog.  The addy is...

http://seekingtheancientpaths.blogspot.com/

This is where I will be posting from now on!!  Come by for a visit!!

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Sep. 25, 2008 - I'm alive and well...

     My oh my, how the time flies!!!  I'm sorry that I haven't posted is such a long time.  So much to do--so little time.

     To bring you up to speed...

     Our new school year officially started August 4th and we're already behind in our schedule (usually by the 1st of the new year we've long since abandoned the schedule and have stopped feeling guilty about not doing all of the extras I had wanted to do).  I am happy if the daily basics are fully accomplished. 

     Both Zane and Scott had birthdays in August.  Scott had commented how he thought it would be cool to have someone to share his birthday with.  We had been talking about how we have so many birthdays in our family that either are the same day or within a few days and thus having shared parties.  Well Zane decided to wait just a little over a week for his party so that he and Scott could have a shared party.  It was so hard for him to wait (a hard job for an 8 year old!!) but he was committed.

     Steve and I celebrated our 27th anniversary in September (our anniversary is 2 days after his birthday).  To make a marriage last so long my motto is "Don't do what you WANT to do.  Do what is RIGHT!"  Not that I'm perfect at it by any means, but marriage is such a good way to practice all that "dying to self" stuff we're so unfond of. 

     This has been the strangest year of gardening.  Seems that something wasn't quite right for the tomatoes to do their thing.  They just take forever to ripen.  One day I'll check them and they won't be near ready.  2 days later they are overripe and on the ground.  Crazy.  And it's pretty much the same for everyone around here.  Seriously, I just got my first harvest worthy of porcessing yesterday.  Go figure.

     With the financial world in an uproar as of late, I'm thankful that we are preparing for possible hard times ahead.  It's not easy to squeak out the extra cash to do so but it sure feels good to know that we will eat for the next few months should bad things happen.  If you are interesting in learning to prepare check out this site...  http://simplylivingsmart.com/training/

     Along those lines, we are beginning the process of saving our garden seeds.  This year our garden consisted of open pollinated or heirloom varieties.  Josh and I are already planning for next year's garden.  I'm amazed at the things that I learn each year from our garden.  Lessons in diligence, patience and the value of hard work (more of that "dying to self" stuff).  Our garden taught us many things from history as we learned about some of the origins of our seeds.  And it just feels good, both body and soul, to work the soil.  It is a comfort to know that I won't HAVE to reorder new seeds next year either!!

     We've been foraging as well.  We have numerous shagbark hickory trees and also black walnuts.  The children and I spent some time picking hickories yesterday and need to crack them today.  Tomorrow we will pick the meat from the shell.  The black walnuts have only just started falling and it looks like we will have them coming out of our ears this year.  We will gather and take them to be shelled.  Most of them we will sell but I do plan to keep some for ourselves this year. 

     I've been looking into cob building.  Interesting stuff.  I remember many a summers that Joshie had the younger kids out making clay bricks to build a miniature city.  Some of the city was built but it was hard finding willing workers and then as he got older his time was spent working on more profitable pursuits (like making some money).  But the dream still lives.  I'm hoping that we can possibly involve the whole family in building a nice size cottage on the land that we own free and clear.  Who knows, maybe it'll turn into a whole house. 

     Seems like the sewing bug has hit me lately.  I don't have a lot of time for it but I try to fit it in when I can.  I made a really cute apron and sold it on ebay a few weeks ago.  Here's a picture with Bethany modeling.

     I've made up a bunch of flannel nursing pads to sell on ebay as well.  Eli still nurses (at age 4 1/2!!!) but I don't need the pads myself.  It was just one of those projects that I started several years ago and didn't finish.  Now I have lots of them done and I'll just sell them.  They are so pretty!!

     Well, I've rambled long enough!!  Just one more picture...

      I love fall!!!

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Jul. 23, 2008 - Happy Birthday Sarah!!

21 years ago I became the mother of a daughter.  And an amazing journey it's been.  We've weathered many storms from stubborn defiance to open heart surgery and the life-long effects of living with all that has come from it.  With maturity that stubborn defiance has become Godly conviction.  All of her life I have been torn between pushing her to become strong and brave and coddling her in her bodily weakness due to her heart problems.  I am amazed at the transformation of the stubborn little "princess" outwardly defying my commands into the beautiful young woman who is convicted in her heart to be obedient, dress modestly, wait patiently for her "prince charming" (God willling) and train to be a happy homemaker.  Truly a blessing to our family. 

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

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Jul. 21, 2008 - Grandma's Peaches

     I confess that I tend to do some of my best thinking while working in the garden.  Perhaps it is because it's one of the few places around our house that is quiet enough to hear yourself think.   

Last friday I was trying to get as much weeding done as possible before the weekend, which I knew would be busy.  Man, oh man are the weeds prolific this year!!  Josh does assure me that they are always this bad--but I don't believe him for a second!!  Anyway, as I was pulling up the weeds and the sweat was running off of... everything, I muttered to myself, "Boy I hope everyone appreciates all of this work I'm doing so that we can have good-for-you, yummy stuff to eat."  In my heart I know that the children take a lot of my toil for granted--they're kids!!  That's when the Lord brought a memory to my mind of when I was barely a teen and the weeks that I would spend at my grandma's house each summer.  I remember her bringing home bags and boxes of juicy, ripe, DELICIOUS peaches.  Somewhere in my mind, I knew that she picked them herself on property that was family owned and brought them home for us.  I figure that she probably planned to can them or something because she got so many.  But I ate them and ate them and ate them.  I know that I did ask to eat them--but she worked all day and I couldn't help myself to all of that heavenly goodness.  I'm ashamed when I think of how many of those peaches I ate.  Oh the mess I made, standing over the sink with my face dripping peach juice.  And was I thankful for her efforts??  In a sense, yes, but I don't think that I ever really expressed my gratitude in a way that made her feel like I appreciated her hard work.  If grandma only knew how I now compare all peaches to those delightful treats of my past...

     I make an effort to never garden while I'm angry or upset.  I want my time in the garden to be a peaceful one.  I want the work that I do to be done with love and caring.  I pray that the hands that work the garden bring blessing and health to my family.  Grandma must have picked those peaches with love because my memories of it all warm my heart and touch my very soul.  THANKS GRANDMA!!!!

     By the way, we got two peaches off of our peach tree this year.  They were so yummy!  I can't wait until next year so that we will hopefully have lots more!!

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Jul. 10, 2008 - Working in the Garden

     We have been spending incredible amounts of time in the garden this week.  And don't laugh, but we are even still planting a few things in hopes that they will come up and still yet have time to bear "fruit".  This year our garden is planted completely with Heirloom/open pollinated seeds that I hope to pass down to my children and grandchildren someday.  I'm planning to make up a fact sheet, notebooking style, for each of the different seeds that I have planted (complete with pictures) that I will laminate and put into a binder.  I want to include all of the information that I can find: planting instructions, specifications, historical information, etc...  Maybe even recipes.  I plan to write it all out by hand for sentimental value.  I hope that someday some future family member will feel the pull of the soil in their hearts and treasure the seeds that I saved.

    The other day I was out in the garden pulling weeds by myself.  Josh normally works with me but he was gone for the night--staying at Stevie's.  Sarah came out to ask me a question and I told her that I've discovered that I am a "social gardener".  She laughed and agreed saying that this was the place where I fill Josh's head with all of those crazy ideas.  How thankful I am that the Lord has allowed me to stay home with my children and fill their heads with all the things the Lord has shown me. 

Not somebody I want in my garden!!!

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Jul. 4, 2008 - Dealing with Grief

     I confess that this past week has been a hard one for me with the grief of our friend's loss nearly overwhelming me at times.  The visitation was on Wednesday (July 2nd) and I was a blubbering mess.  Tressa and Paul (Timothy's parents) were calm, peaceful and strong.  Our roles have been reversed in the past and I know the peace the Lord has blessed them with.  It is hard for others to understand how a person can feel so at peace when their world is being ripped apart.  

     I found out more information about what happened.  Timothy was not the good swimmer that I had thought--unless he had his "noodles".  His mom said that he had three that he used.  If he didn't, he "sank like a rock".  He had been swimming with his siblings (and maybe some friends?) in the pond on their property and everyone had gotten out of the water.  Timothy gave his noodles to his sister and they all headed back to their house.  Not long after that they noticed that Timothy was missing and spent 2 hours looking for him around their property.  They concluded that he had to be in the pond.

     They were astounded when Timothy's body was pulled from the water.  He had a smile on his face and a look of sweet peace.

     What prompted him to go back into the water without his floats is a mystery.  His parents smile and say, "It was his time.  We know where he is."  They rejoice that he is with the Lord and though they will miss him dearly, he is in a better place.

     I wondered why the Lord didn't just take him like He did Enoch.  Then it occured to me that his parents would have spent a lifetime of misery wondering where Timothy had disappeared to.  This way there is closure.  And you know, maybe He did take him that way--but left the body behind. 

     Sweet Timothy, we will miss you.

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Jul. 1, 2008 - Remembering Timothy

     Yesterday morning we received a call from our friend Tressa informing us that her oldest son Timothy (17) had drowned on Sunday.  They don't know what happened, really.  He was swimming with friends in a pond and everyone got out of the water.  They noticed Timothy missing and eventually found him on the bottom of the pond.  The water wasn't deep.  He was a fine swimmer.

      My heart is broken for his family and friends.  The promise of life and vitality gone in an instant.  No goodbyes.  Though it is not for us to question our loving Father, I find myself asking, "why?".  I know that he is with the Lord--so there is peace.  And yet my heart aches for the void he leaves.

     I will remember the shy, quiet boy who loved cayenne with his food, who's face lit up with a smile so brilliant it almost took your breath away, who was brave enough to chase turkey robbers off in the middle of the night, and was a blessing to his parents who loved him dearly.

     Lord, please grant those who loved dear Timothy the peace and grace to carry on in spite of emptiness left.  Let us feel your presence in this time of sorrow.

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Jun. 25, 2008 - Happy Birthday to Me

     I woke up this morning another year older.  Hmmmm, I don't feel any older.  Several of the children have the stomach flu so we didn't do a party or guests.  Scott took me out yesterday for dinner and a movie, several of the children gave me homemade (read: very precious) gifts throughout the day today, Sarah gave me some money, and Steve gave me a beautiful, mushy card.  It was a little different--but nice.  Thank you Lord for another year to love and serve my family!!!

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Jun. 11, 2008 - Hurry Up and Wait

     When we first bought our property I was so excited to finally have a place to live out my homesteading dreams.  We quickly bought our chickens and it wasn't too long before we got our goats too.  We gardened and divided up our land for appointed uses.  But when it came to planting our orchard we hit a snag of modern proportions...  We couldn't find it in us to buy something that we had to wait for so long to bear fruit.  Looking back, our faulty logic of thinking that since "we couldn't have a harvest now we should just wait until next year to get started" was plain stupid thinking.

      I don't know exactly what spurred us to take the plunge and get our orchard growing but I'm glad that we finally realized that the longer we waited to plant, the longer it would be before we could be eating our own chemical free, fresh fruits.  It will still be a couple of years before we get enough of anything to put back for the winter but  I can guarantee that for now we will be watching for the little that we do have to ripen up to be quickly devoured.  I still have visions in my mind of my husband and children standing around my parents Concord grape vines eating fresh grapes for hours on end.  Believe me, they remember too and check the progress of our own vines daily. 

baby grapes

ripening blackberries

      Currently, our orchard consists of:

• 1 Granny Smith apple tree
• 1 Yellow Delicious apple tree
• 1 Jonathan apple tree
• 1 Redhaven peach tree
• 1 Reliance peach tree
• 1 Flat Wonderful ornamental peach tree
• 1 Whitegold Sweet cherry tree
• 1 Royalton Sweet cherry tree
• 1 Sweetheart apricot tree
• 1 Bartlett pear tree
• 2 Pawpaw trees
• 4 Concord grape vines
• 4 misc. seedless grape vines (won't be seedless since they are planted along with the concords.  Live and learn!!)
• 12 misc. blackberry brambles
• 6 misc. raspberry brambles

     We have, in addition, scattered around the property 3 plum trees (2 are mature), several mature black walnut trees, many hickory nut trees (we have never used any of these nuts), 2 almond trees, 1 filbert tree, 1 sugar maple, 2 mulberry trees (something I loved as a child on my grandmother's property) and lots of strawberry plants in our garden area.  We are hoping that these will all be enough to sustain our family in the future without having to buy produce from the store.  Some of my children lament that they may be grown and gone before many of these trees bear big harvests but I console myself that Grammy's house will have many treasures worth coming to visit for. 

     In a later post I will talk about all of the wild edibles that we are discovering and plan to cultivate.

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Jun. 10, 2008 - Fun Pictures

     I was clearing off my digital camera memory chip and found some pictures that the kids took that I hadn't seen and thought I'd share a few with you...

     This is Josh (or "Joshie" to all who know and love him!!).  He's been growing his hair out for quite some time now hoping that it would go into "dreadlocks".  It's long enough now but it just curls into ringlets or does this awesome 'fro thing when picked out.  This picture gave me a really good giggle.  Those big glasses and his Christian "Take me to Your Leader" T-shirt give it the finishing touch!!  He would've fit right in in the '70s huh?

     Here is one with his hair all straightened out thanks to our talented in-house beautician Bethany...

     And here is my little "angel" Eli looking so sweet.  It was obviously a moment of great acting skill!!  Just kidding.  He really is a cutie.

     Next is (cousin) Jeremiah and Scottie clowning around.  Never a dull moment!!!

     Here's one of me and Steve in our messy, old, tiny office...

     Bethany is consoling a sad little Eli...

     And the last one is a picture of the moon that I took one night while it was rising and really red.  Too cool (yes, that's just how it looked)!!

     Hope you enjoyed the pics!!!

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Jun. 9, 2008 - Preparedness and Diet Thoughts

     There are a couple of issues the Lord has placed on my heart in this past year or so that I thought that I would share. 

     The first is "preparedness".  There are disasters around every corner and the economy is not something that I think we should place our trust in--no matter how good things look.  The Lord has placed on my heart the need to have provisions stored for our family for at least a year.  I'm on a couple of e-mail groups relating to this topic, plus have a couple of forums that I visit and a few websites that I glean wisdom from.  I confess that the actual logistics of preparing for a family of 11 is quite daunting.  To me though this isn't only about having a pantry bursting at the seams but also providing abundant fresh food and learning wilderness survival.  In short it is becoming a lifestyle.  It's just that it's so alien to our current way of life.  My dream has always been to be self sufficient.  I have learned a lot over the years.  But now I feel that it is critical to begin getting serious about this.  I need to turn my hobbies and good intentions into truths and realities.

     The second issue deals with our current style of diet--which is really quite SAD (Standard American Diet) lately.  Ironically, it seems that the more I learn about healthy eating the worse our eating habits seem to get.  Literally: "who can save me from this body of death" (Romans 7:21-25).  While I can blame much of it on busyness and lack of time, much of the problem is just plain laziness.  Sigh.  Our children have suffered for it and I am ashamed.  Lack of energy and brain power, cavities,  etc...   Seems that there's always a lion in the road.  And while I work hard and manage to get myself back on track, I find myself easily bogged down in that same old rut time after time.  The wheels in my head are spinning to make things easier for me to not slip into old habits but it's so hard to replace old bad habits with good new ones.    I'm open to suggestions!! 

     I've hesitated sharing these things since I am shying away from accountablity in a sense.  I know that I need it, but dread it at the same time.  I'm hoping in the future to have more time to devote to these two areas that I know will make a huge impact on our lives and  I plan to continue to share more about how we are working these issues out in our daily lives.  When considering how radical these ideas are, it's overwhelming but "through Christ, all things are possible".

Another beautiful California coast pic

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Jun. 7, 2008 - Seasons of Change

     What's that old saying?  "The only thing consistent in life is change".  Yeah, that's my life in a nutshell.  And while it's nice not being stuck doing the same old thing every single day, sometimes I wish that we had a little more of the same ol' same ol'.  I suppose that life has it's seasons and there have been many times that I've whined about everything being it's same old boring self.  I guess I'm just struggling with my life being so chaotic.  It has been for some time.  I try to roll with the punches and console myself that things will become more stable in time.  But the months just keep dragging on and I'm getting a little discouraged.  My only consolation is that the Lord is the ultimate scheduler of my days and that this is where He wants me right now.  I look for the beauty in the chaos and see His hand moving in my life in the little things--our new kitties, messy toddler smooches, the frequent thunderstorms, and the many distractions that come my way through the day.  Everything is filtered through the Lord's loving hands.  Each moment a precious gift--crazy as it is.

     Our friend Chuck has accepted our job offer to come bail us out of the mess we've made in our business life.    Steve hates and avoids paperwork whereas Chuck loves it.  Our books are "messy" and he's going to help us clean things up.  It feels good to have some help but it's going to take time and effort to get things to where they need to be.  I'm hoping to work myself out of a job with the new computer program that we've bought.  Chuck should be able to coordinate it all and everything should work smoothly without me needing to be here in the office so much.  It will be good to focus my time and energy on the home and children again.  Much has slipped through the cracks that need my attention.  I look forward to the challenge. 

     With the economy being the way it is, I don't see how we will be able to take a vacation this year--either as a family or just Steve and I.  I'm missing the quiet grand beauty of the beach and I feel terrible knowing that we aren't going to make it there this year unless something really wonderful happens.  So I'm holding out hope!! 

Sunset on the California Coast

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