• Aug. 22, 2008 - Farm Style Drive In
This was lots of fun. We watched Night at the Museum on the side of our barn all snuggly with quilts and fresh popcorn in our folding chairs from the back end of Joe's pick up truck.
What great memories. We'll be doing this again! Anybody want to join us at our Farm Style Drive In? City folks can't have all the fun!
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• Aug. 19, 2008 - Pray for our Men & Women over in Afghanistan!
I just got word that one of our homeschool dads who serves in the Army is at Camp Salerno in Afghanistan where the militants have been attacking. Apparently, today was Independence Day in Afghanistan, and there have been several attacks and suicide bombings near his base, actually one right outside the gate where he is stationed.
You can read details on Yahoo News or Fox News.
Even though the men and women at Salerno are definitely fully prepared and able to handle whatever the militants throw their way, please remember them in your prayers. And remember their families back home too.
Sometimes all of the fighting over there can seem so far away or become "just another news story." But these are dear loved ones who are laying their lives on the line to keep the fighting away from us.
May God bless them all and keep them safe!
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• Aug. 14, 2008 - Did I Tell You?
While we were in Durango, we went to Honeyville?
And we got to see their cool observation hive and actually watch the bees at work!
Or that Durango has an AWESOME Recreation Center?
I mean, because I really should have. We had such a good time there and I feel like I owe it to you all and the fine folks of the Durango area to just point out all of the wonderful things to do there.
Like this . . .
The folks at Mild to Wild certainly know how to do an awesome rafting trip! That guide didn't let us turn over at all. And the water was a tad chilly so I was REALLY happy about that.
And the Bar D Wranglers - they know how to fix an awesome supper and their cowboy songs made you just want to hop on a horse and go wrangle something!
But this fella in the picture with Tony -
He was our favorite thing in Durango... well he's not a thing... but he was our favorite part of the whole trip. See, he's been hanging around with Tony ever since something like 2nd grade and he was even technically on mine and Tony's first date. He was Tony's roommate before we got married and one of the groomsmen in our wedding. He helped us fix things at our first starter house and we're still known to call him when we need help with autos, electronics, or any other general fix-it things.
And surprisingly, after all these years he still answers the phone - and he welcomed this active family of 5 into his very neat, very bachelor home and didn't toss us out even when Jon flooded his bathroom. Yep, he's pretty special to us.
Oh, Durango, we miss you!
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• Aug. 12, 2008 - Intruder in the Hen House!
We've had a mysterious shortage of eggs this summer. All of our hens are good layers and even with a few broody hens, we should STILL be getting 10 eggs a day.
Hmmmm, it's not been happening though.
When we got home from vacation we saw where some varmint had actually dug into the chicken feed THROUGH the plastic trashcan. And it seemed like some of hens and baby chicks were missing.
Grrrr.... Don't mess with my family and don't mess with my animals!
So, Tony came home with a trap for the hen house the next day.
First we caught a possum in it. We rejoiced. Victory was ours. We had caught the culprit. Or so we thought.
A few days passed, still, no more eggs. But we caught a young raccoon. It was actually cute, but it had to go too. It's simply ridiculous to keep buying eggs when we're feeding a whole flock of chickens here.
We're figuring that surely we've solved the problem, but we better leave the trap there juuuuust in case.
So, look what Jake found in the trap this morning....
 Ummm, Faith girl, what's happened here?
Oh nothing Nan, nothing at all. I was just ummm, checking on the chickens and I saw this weird box and it had EGGS in it Nan. I know how you all have been complaining about not getting enough eggs so I thought I'd ummmm . . . bring them to the house for you . . . yea, that's it. I was just going to get them out of the box. I'm not even hungry. But they sure do smell good. Maybe I am just a little hungry after all...
FAAAAAAAITH GIRL! How could you? You are SO grounded. You can just stay in doggie timeout for a few minutes! And no, you can't eat those eggs!
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• Aug. 5, 2008 - 18 Years
We were just young wipper-snappers when we got married, but were crazy in love. Who knew that 18 years later, we'd be living on a small farm with 3 boys, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 3 guineas, a bunch of chickens, and one old horse?
Tony took me camping as a surprise to celebrate.
We spent time talking about where all we've been - (Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky - 8 moves altogether) and where we're going.
Actually it's hard to know. In another 18 years, our oldest will be 33, almost as old as us and our youngest will be 22. Maybe we'll still be here on the farm, but who knows? We just hope that wherever we are, we'll still be having fun with the boys and getting to enjoy daughter-in-laws and grandkids too!
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• Aug. 5, 2008 - A Dozen Reasons to Celebrate!
Well, we've had another birthday at the Carter household.
Jake is 12 now and I thought I'd share 12 things that I especially love about him!
- He has a great sense of humor and loves to make people laugh.
- He cares about others and loves to help them.
- He can have just as much fun with an 80 year old or a baby as he does with kids his age.
- He signs I love you when one of us is leaving.
- He shares my love of animals.
- He takes an interest in what his brothers do.
- He enjoys teaching his younger brother and has great late-night conversations with him.
- He knows what it means to be a gentleman and to hold the door, lift heavy things, and how to care for and protect a woman like his daddy.
- He has a tender heart and is willing to work on things when he's made a mistake.
- He is very forgiving and doesn't hold a grudge.
- He's understanding when things don't go as planned and is appreciative of what others do.
- He loves deeply, lives life to the fullest, and keeps music in our house!
We love you Jake. Thanks for being our Jaker, Jaker, Mover, Shaker!
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• Jul. 31, 2008 - Now, Back to My Vacation!
One of the nice things about this vacation is that we stayed a full 7 days. That was plenty of time to see plenty of sites (or would it be sights?) and still have some downtime in between things.
One day, we drove through Silverton and toured the Old Hundred Gold Mine. The mine was named Old Hundred after the German hymn Old Hundreth, which most of us know as the Doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Our tour guide had actually worked in this mine back in the day and did a wonderful job explaining how they worked in the mines. It was a tough job, I tell ya!
And then afterwards we spent some time panning for gold.
Tony said that he could understand why miners were such grumpy folks. It's tough hunkering down over those troughs sifting through the sand and stones looking for those little glimmers of gold or silver.
And if any of you are curious, no, we didn't come away rich with gold. All we found were some little silver pieces that they had "salted" the troughs with. It was a good experience though and very educational.
And any day in the mountains is a good day, a very good day.
I'll have more for you tomorrow!
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• Jul. 30, 2008 - Up Close and Personal with the Wildlife
You know how people talk about southern hospitality?
Well the folks in Colorado could teach some southerners a thing or two. Wow, they were just the nicest people. And they seem to really like animals there too. Everywhere you went, people had their dogs with them. So friendly, I LOVED it.
Even the animals were friendly.
Here's a little chipmunk that came to visit while we were checking out a waterfall.
And here's some mule deer that practically walked up and asked if we had some Grey Poupon while they were munching away on some grass right in the middle of the subdivision.
Jon even visited with these kids while we checked out a local family farm.
It all reminded me of the saying, All Creatures Great & Small, the Lord God Made Them All. And as I googled that, I learned that the words to the song All Things Bright and Beautiful really just remind me of our whole trip to Colorado. What a refreshing time of just enjoying God's creation!
All Things Bright and Beautiful
by Cecil F. Alexander
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
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• Jul. 29, 2008 - Our trip to Durango
Well if you haven't guessed already, we spent this past week in Colorado - lovely, glorious, magnificent, awe-inspiring, not-too-hot, not-too-cold Colorado.
Getting there wasn't easy. Colorado is a long, loooooong way from Kentucky, but it certainly was worth it.
We started off on a 6 a.m. flight (I know, I know, WHAT was I thinking?) from Nashville to Denver. It was the very first flight for our two youngest and they both absolutely loved it and gave it two thumbs up!
 Here's Jon with Daddy.
 And me with the two big guys!
We flew Frontier Airlines and would definitely give them two thumbs up. The seats were all nice and comfy and the TVS on the airplane really helped to pass the time. Our flights stayed on time and our luggage arrived all together. It was a good thing - a very good thing.
Once we got there, Tony picked up our rental car from Thrifty. The jury is still out on whether we would recommend them or not. They DID give us a nice upgrade to a full size SUV and we got a great price because I reserved the truck online, but they just about wore Tony out trying to upsell him on various plans and features.
And we were really, really ready to get on the road. Because views like this were just waiting on us!
And this waterfall, Treasure Falls, is truly a treasure. 
I'm sorry that I didn't get to visit with some of you all while I was visiting your fine state, but I had lots of oooohing and aaaahing to do. And picture taking. I've got plenty of other pictures to share... if I can just find my Easy Share cord.
More pictures to come....
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• Jul. 28, 2008 - Guess Where We've Been!
 Majestic mountains
Gorgeous rivers
Crystal clean air
Daytime highs in the 80's
Almost NO humidity
Pretty close to heaven on Earth we'd say.
Absolutely stunning
So much to do, to learn, to enjoy
“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”
- John Lubbock
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