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!!!

     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!!

     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!!!

     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.

     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.

     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!!!

     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.

     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!!!

     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

     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

     Summer has arrived around our little homestead.  Hot weather, thunderstorms, popsicles, and the catching of frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles and whatever other wildlife mistakenly wanders within the reach of my little guys.   

What could be better than two boys and their frog???

     Our garden is still not in and I'm hoping to get it all done this week.  In between raindrops, of course.  Sigh!  Over the weekend we put in the new kitchen herb garden.  It is so nice.  After the seeds emerge I'll take a picture and post it.  Sigh.  I also got the rest of the blackberries planted, moved my bird feeder to the front yard and planted a Japanese Maple in the back yard.  I managed to get a nasty sunburn on my lower neck on my back and also on my face that is causing me a lot of pain and frustration.

     I have yet to put in the medicinal herb bed, weed all the flower beds and work out what we're planting in the back yard.  My two youngest daughters want garden spots of their own this year.  I love that the kids are showing an interest in gardening.  Lilly (13) has always had a green thumb and whatever she plants automatically grows--I'm so envious.  And Hope (11) is a hard worker and loves to help.  We have a lot to do and not nearly enough time to do it in.  I'm so thankful for my garden buddy Josh who I could do none of this without. 

     This past week and a half has, by far, been the longest of my life.  My Mother's Day (May 11th) was shattered with news of Steve's brother Vincent dying of a heart attack at his workplace earlier that day.  His wife Mae came to our house and delivered the news personally.  Steve's parents (Vincent's mom and step-dad) were visiting for the holiday weekend as we usually do a special dinner for Mother's Day. We were all shellshocked but thankful that we were all together for support. 

     Vincent was 48 when he passed away.  He lived a rough life involving substance abuse and several stints of jail time.  We loved him anyway.  He was rough and gruff but was a real softie inside.  Steve had made it a point to witness to him from the time that he was a young boy because he was concerned for his big brother who was always in trouble.  It all started with a dream that Steve felt the Lord gave him when he was 11 or so about his brother dying when he was 32.  As often as Vincent would listen, Steve would share with him that he needed to get right with the Lord.  Vincent would always tell him that He understood what Steve was saying but that he wasn't ready yet.  He would say, "Little brother, I've done some really bad stuff.  I'm trying to do better."  Steve would say that God loved him the way he was but he was pretty knuckleheaded (it runs in the family!!!).  Needless to say, Vincent didn't die when he was 32 but we calculated it up and it has been 32 years since Steve's dream.  Interesting.

     Vincent began hoving trouble with his heart about 12 or so years ago (give or take) and had two heart attacks over the course of those years.  He had several surgeries to put in stints and whatnot.

     Last Thanksgiving was the last time that we saw him and we learned that he was going back to jail for a while.  He was released April 18th and he immedietly went back to work not even a half hour before he had gotten home.  He worked hard to take care of his family.  His wife Mae had been having trouble with working and keeping bills payed so he was happy to be home taking care of them again.  He loved working as hard as his body would allow.  He had not even been home for a month before he died.

     On Mother's Day, as I lay in bed, not really praying but just talking to the Lord, I expressed that I had hoped with Vincent's dying breath that he finally accepted the gift of salvation and I had a sort of vision flash through my mind of Vincent praying and praising God with his hands in the air.  I felt a sense of peace and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

     All the next day I wanted to share my "vision" with Steve but there was never a proper moment.  When he came into the house where I was working in the kitchen he told me that he had found out a lot more of the details of the whole thing.  He explained that they had found Vincent lying on his back on the floor with his socks and shoes off, his shirt partly lifted and his hands lifted over his head.  Because of the way he lay there, they had at first suspected foul play since it was a rather unnatural position for a person having a heart attack to die.  At that point I told Steve of the "vision" that I had and we were both so happy.  A few days later Steve had the opportunity to share the story with Mae and she was really excited too.  Their son Anthony was happy beyond words because he had been really concerned for his dad as well.  Mae had been really confused about him having his hands raised that way and her mind was then set at ease.  All signs pointed to a heart attack and the coroner agreed--but that was the one thing that didn't make sense.  Now it does. 

     The funeral on Monday (the 19th) was beautiful.  Our friend Chuck and his family came out from Virginia to officiate the service.  Chuck had known Vincent from when they both were working for our business. 

     The cemetary where Vincent is burried is right down the road from a place where his family used to go swimming in the summer and he loved that area.  It is a beautiful place and very peaceful--as a cemetary should feel. 

      We will be working with Mae to get her on her feet and be her support for as long as she needs us.  She will need someone to come alongside her as she raises her two children left at home--Anthony (who is 15 or 16) and Rosemarie (who is 5 and was the apple of her daddy's eye).

     I will miss Vincent.  I miss his big booming laugh, his down to earth ways and the love he wasn't afraid to show for his family.  I regret that we didn't get to see him again but, providing that my vision was correct, we will meet again in Glory someday.

     Do you ever have days that you can almost catch yourself as you're running around in circles?  It's been that way for me these past couple of weeks.  Sometimes it feels like I meet myself coming in and going out of the door.  Cloning technology would be great at this point!!   

     The move to our new office has went very well but there is still so much to be done.  Steve is in heaven with his quiet little organized work world.  He says that he can get so much more accomplished now.  On the other hand I am a woman divided.  When I am at the office all I can think about is all the things that need to be done at home and thinking about the children.  When I am at home I think of all the stuff that I haven't finished at the office yet .    I have always enjoyed working amoungst the chaos of our daily life, being able to easily take off my secretarial hat to put on my mommy one.  This has been a big adjustment for me.  Not to mention that my Internet access is now only in the office.  That's been hard to deal with as well--not being able to just look up something when the whim strikes or chatting with friends and checking my e-mail. 

      The children have felt my absence as well.  I think that things will fall together as the new routine becomes more familiar.  My plans are to only work 3 days a week for about 4 hours a day.  But I have to get to the point where that is possible--which means getting caught back up and staying there.

     School has been on hold.  We have been working on the new schoolroom on the weekends.  We've gotten it all cleaned out and have painted the ceiling and walls.  This weekend I plan to clean the floor, put down the foam moisture barrier and lay the carpet tiles.  I am just thrilled at the aspect of getting all of our books/bookshelves and school stuff out of our main living area. 

         A couple of days after I posted my last entry we had a bunch of hail.  I was distraught that all of the bucks and our ram was out in it and Josh mustered up the courage to run out and put them in the barn when the hail let up a bit.  What I should've been more concerned with was my trays of seedlings that I had been hardening off and had completely forgotten was outside on the back porch.  Sigh.  The hail came down so fast and hard that it beat the paint off of the front of our house and made a mess of the trees and plants with leaves everywhere.  I lost all but 2 of my echinacea seedlings and most of my canning tomatoes.  I figure that it was about a $50-$75 loss. 

hail on the back porch

     With all of the rain my remaining seedlings still haven't found their home in the garden yet.  I did manage to get out all of my canning tomatoes that survived, but that's been it.  And we had to use our little Mantis tiller to put those in.  My only wish for Mother's Day this year is for my big tiller to get put back together!!!

     As mother's day rolls around again I am thankful for each and every child the Lord has blessed us with.  I am thankful that the ones that I can hold in my arms are all healthy and doing well and I feel a strange gratitude also that I will have my own little welcoming committee when I arrive in heaven one day.  I pray that our quiver is not full yet--greedy woman that I am!!  I so long to grant our children's desire for another baby.  But I will rest content with the children the Lord has blessed us with if He does not send another.  His will is all I truly desire.

     I hope that all of you moms reading this have a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

     Wow!  I can't believe that it's been this long since I've posted.  How the days seem to fly!!!  We have been busy, to say the least.

     For our daughter's birthdays (April 4th & 5th) we bought them a nice little piano and when we went to pick it up and bring it home dh Steve put his back out.  Also in the midst of that, his doctor changed his medication (he's bipolar) and for 2 weeks he was out there in the twilight zone (as he called it).  He really was messed up between the pain meds, muscle relaxers, and the new medication.  The new meds made his blood pressure skyrocket and he was sick and pretty much unable to function for the two weeks he was taking them.  He's off of those now, thankfully and getting back to his old self again.  Whew!!  It was terrible.

     We have also been looking at rental property for our business.  We had been talking for some time about putting our office somewhere other than here at home.  Steve has a terrible time being able to concentrate and our little guy Eli (who's 4) loves and wants to be with his daddy all the time.  And while there's nothing wrong with that at all, we do need an income.    We've decided that we definitely need stronger boundaries between work and play time so we have pretty much narrowed our options down.  The building we've settled on is just 10 minutes away from home and in our little town on the "main" street where all the cute little shops are.  We will have space for each of us (Steve, myself, and our oldest son Stevie) to have our own offices, which is so cool.  We also have a spare room to put all of our exercise equipment that we don't have room to use here (thus sitting, collecting dust wherever we can find a place to stuff it).  We will have a big area for a showroom--something we've never had before in our 15 years of business but have always wanted.  You can't imagine how excited we are!!  The best part --to me--is that I'm going to convert our office here at home into a schoolroom.  I'm a bookaholic and have shelves and shelves of books.  But I also have boxes and buckets of them that I store when we aren't using them.  The new schoolroom will allow us the room to have everything on shelves.  Which means of course that I need to buy some more shelves!!  And to not have school stuff strung out thoughout the house...  Heaven!  I'm so excited!!

     In March we traded our big "box" truck (like a moving van) and an extra little pickup truck we had for a Jeep Sahara with 4 doors.  We've been having lots of fun with that.  We like to take the 3 little boys out for fun rides through creeks and climbing hills and such.  They love it.  Every time we splash through water Eli will yell "Do it again!!  Do it again!!.  On Monday I took our oldest daughter to a dentist appointment and when we drove past Bagnell Dam we saw that they were letting out lots of water.  Later that evening we took the little boys out to check it out.  It was really cool.  They loved it.  

Daddy and little boys with dam in background.

A closer view of the open floodgates.

A view from the top.    

The "Jeepsters"

     We had a bit of excitement earlier this week here at home.  Steve and I were going to run to town to look at another rental unit and I was kind of standing there outside waiting for him to get off of the phone.  I heard this strange noise like a horn honking.  It just kept going and going.  After he finally finished his call we hopped in the Jeep and headed down the driveway only to discover there was a car on fire a little down our gravel road.  From what we gathered from the neighbors, a couple of guys stopped their car on the road and then hopped out and tore out across the field that borders our property.  Not too long after, an SUV (possibly a Bronco) was seen roaring off down the adjacent road.  The sherriff said that there was a call about an hour afterwards of a reported stolen car.  He thought that it seemed a little fishy and we agreed.  We had quite the show though as there were policemen and firefighters all over trying to get the fire put out.  The fire had caught dead grass and trees ablaze as well and that was dealt with first.  Another neighbor had an interesting theory about the whole thing.  He said that he figures that the guy's bank payment and insurance payment must've been rubbing together pretty hard and the friction of the two caused the fire.    Our concern though was that the men had ran off toward our house so Steve and the older boys kept a vigilant watch over the house and our outbuildings.  The police even brought out dogs to see if they could sniff their trails.  Interesting.  After a couple of hours they all left and things got quiet again.

     We still haven't been able to work in the garden with all of the rain that we've gotten.  Every time that the ground almost dries up enough to get in there it rains again.  Our tiller has been broke down anyway so I haven't been too upset.  And now that we do have the new parts in I'm starting to get a little antsy.  All of my seedlings are growing huge!!
     We had a nice surprise this morning when the kids went out for their farm chores this morning.  Two adorible little goat kids had been born (probably in the middle of the night) and were hollering.  They were dry, standing up and nice and strong.  They had obviously helped themselves to their mommas yummy milk.  Not that we're opposed to that but all the experiences that we've had with kids raised by their mommas haven't been all that great.  The kids are really skittish and the mommas are more ornery.  So we like to bottle feed them--and they let us join their herd. 

     And that's what's been going on around these here parts!!

     Today our second oldest daughter turned 16... our rough and tumble tomboy.  She can dress up and play the lady or take you out in a hearty game of air soft.  She is beauty and she is rugged wilderness.  Smart.  Artistic.  Fun.  Exasperating.  Stubborn.  Thank You Lord for the opportunity to be a mother to such a daughter.  My own mother always told me that she hoped I would have a daughter just like me to understand what I put her through.     It's been a wonderful journey so far.  Not always "peachy", but certainly "sweet and spicy".            Happy Birthday Beth!!!

     And I bet you didn't even know that I was "gone"!!      

     March was another unfriendly electronics month for me.  My computer obviously has something wrong with the hard drive and I was unable to access the Internet for much of the month.  Talk about frustrating!!!  You never realize how much you want to do something until you can't do it!!  Honestly I wanted to just chuck the whole computer into our neighbor's pond.  We spent hours upon hours trying to fiddle with this and adjust that other thing--all to no avail.  If it were not for my friends that I IM/email and my blogs I would have given up completely.  I ended up having to wipe my hard drive and reboot it ~AGAIN~.  Sigh.  Now my printer isn't working (can you even homeschool without a printer???).  I am resisting the urge to stomp my feet, jump up and down while screaming at the top of my lungs and pulling all of my hair out.    It eats away at me.  But at least for now I'm back online.  I don't know how long it will last but I'm enjoying this little bit of victory while I have it.

     Right now our house is bursting at it's seams with children.  My neice and 5 nephews (ages 18-7) are visiting.  That makes 17 people under one roof.  It's great!!  They were only supposed to be here for the weekend but we decided to make it a week long visit.  I had planned to let them stay for a week this summer when they can play outside freely but realized that the oldest boys will be working again and won't be able to stay for that long.  And since this week is 2 of my daughters birthdays--well I figured that this is as good as time as any.  Actually it was all of their begging and sad faces they gave me when I told them I had to take them home that clinched it.  What can I say, I'm a softie!!  The cousins love spending as much time together as possible and they get along very well.  After ps hours are over they play outside.  The older children play with their "air soft" guns in our field while the younger ones play in our playground bouncing on the trampoline, swinging or teeter-tottering.  (When it's not pouring down rain or hail, that is!!)  And there are baby goats to play with and feed as well. 

     I can't believe how much rain we've had these past few weeks.  I have no hope of getting into the garden any time soon.  My seedlings are coming along nicely though.  I have broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage waiting to go into the garden when it gets dry enough.  My warm weather seedlings like tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers are growing wonderfully.  I planted peas a few weeks ago but they didn't make it.  Too much rain, I guess.  I was so hoping for a nice crop of peas.

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Thought you all might enjoy this picture of Stevie and little Silas (who isn't really so little!!).  He's 3 months old now and so adorable!!! 

     If the Lord leads you, please pray for Silas who has been having a bit of blood in his stools for some time now.  The doctors don't really know what's causing it and suspect that it might be allergies--most likely milk. 

     Also Hannah's grandpa was out walking around their neighborhood in SC--he really loves walking--and a neighbor accidentally ran over him as she was backing out of her driveway.  She is deaf and couldn't hear him yelling at her to stop.  He's very old and doesn't move the fastest.  Anyway, this happened Easter weekend and he is stable but his pelvis is fractured and they are fairly certain that he'll never be able to walk again.  So sad.  Please pray for her grandpa and their family.

     And (finally!!) here are a couple of pictures of the goats...Hope with a few of the goat babies and our black Shetland Sheep ewe.

The gang.  They love to romp and play outside on a sunny day.

     That about sums up much of what's been going on around here!  
       

     On Sunday afternoon our other doe delivered a set of twin kids--a doe and a buck.  She's a big bodied girl and has only ever had as many as two kids--but they are always pretty big.  Again they were surprisingly gorgeous.  I'm really happy with how well it all turned out.  My big sigh of relief. 

     We have hopefully 2 more does left to kid but it will be some weeks yet.  The bucks broke into the girls field.  That happens occasionally and we are usually able to avoid pregnancy but a couple of the girls are looking unusually plump. 

Ashley at http://helpmeetintraining.blogspot.com/ has tagged me!!  I love getting tagged!!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Kris' Facts...

1. I was married at the tender age of 15 and gave birth to my first child before I was 16.  

2. I have been pregnant for 9.5 years of my life and have been breastfeeding for a total of 16 years.

3. I am a "crunchy" mom.  I nurse on demand (my 4 year old is still nursing), co-sleep, wear my babies who aren't claustrophobic (most are), and "attachment parent".

4. I love alternative Christian music.  My older children and I listen to the same music--some hard, some rap, some acoustic, even a little bit of screamo. 

5. I believe in a Saturday, 7th day Sabbath.

6. I was an underachiever in school.  Wait, I think I still am!!

     Well, we had our first batch of kids this afternoon.  I was napping with my youngest and one of my daughters woke me up, announcing that one of our does had kidded.  And they are absolutely gorgeous!!!  These are the best looking kids we've ever had and just the sweetest little things!!  2 does and a little buck (which we will probably wether... aka castrate) so far.  They are all standing on their own and eating well. 

     Evidently everything went well and the momma just popped them out with no trouble and is doing very well.  Her bag hasn't completely filled up yet and it is a struggle to keep up with 3 kids.  But in a few days everything will even out.

For the first 24 hours we feed them 2 oz. of their momma's colostrum every 2 hours which means that my oldest daughters will stay up all night with them.  They love this special time of playing computer games with each other while everyone else is sound asleep.  They will wake up my 2 youngest daughters at 8am for the morning feeding on their way to bed.  We are hoping that our other very ready doe will kid yet tonight so that the girls will only have to stay up 1 night.  Usually it never works out that way and one year we had 3 does kid a day apart each so the girls were up for three nights in a row!!  That was a pretty tough year for them.   

     The funny thing about our doe kidding today is that goats very rarely ever give birth during the day.  They love to wait until bedtime or the middle of the night!!  It's just what they do.  So this was very welcome to us.

     Hopefully I will have time for pictures tomorrow!!

     It won't be long now until our new kids start arriving--Goat kids that is!!  We're all very excited.  I should receive my order from Hoegger Goat Supply today for the last of my supplies.  Since I was so sick, I didn't get my order in as early as I would have liked and that has put some stress on me wondering each evening if "tonight" would be the night and I wouldn't have my supplies.  But we've made it, so that worry is a thing of the past now.

      My basket of general supplies is ready and waiting.  Clean fluffy towels to dry the kids off with, a bulb syringe for suctioning mucusy noses, iodine for dipping cords, baby bottles waiting to be filled with their momma's nourishing colostrum and other odds and ends.  After the delivery I like to fix the mommas up some tasty fiber cereal and molasses mixed with Goat Nutri-drench to eat after they birth to help regain their strength.

     We bottle feed our kids.  Our herd is closed (meaning we don't show and don't bring in new animals without quarantine) so we aren't susceptible to CAE.  I don't pasteurize the milk so the kids are getting good raw milk, which of course is better for them.  We like to bottle feed because it makes the kids far more friendly and easier to sell--everyone wants a goat that isn't afraid of them. 

     I confess that I worry about kidding a lot.  My mind conjures up a million and one ways things could go wrong.  I worry about the kids being positioned properly because I hate having to turn kids or lose them because they are in the wrong position.  This year I bought some coated steel cable in case we have another kid in that horrible position of the front legs coming out but the head is stuck, pushed backwards up inside.  In that position you need a "kid puller" to loop around the head and pull it down (it wants to keep folding backwards up inside unless you help hold it steady so that it can come out with the front feet).  We've only had that happen once but it was very traumatic to me. 

     I also worry that they will kid in the middle of the night and not survive the cold temperatures.  We've only had that happen once and was actually able to save the kids because I heard the kids bleating in my sleep, woke up and ran out to find them. 

     Then, once the kids are born I worry that they will be OK.  I worry that the mommas will be OK.  We keep our kids in the house for the first 3-5 days (generally in our bathtub) so that I am able to keep a really good eye on them and make sure they are eating and eliminating properly and that they continue to act normally.

     Sometimes I think that I worry so much so that when things don't go badly I have a huge sigh of relief that things went so well.  And if things don't go well I am mentally prepped for the worst case scenario.  I prefer the sigh of relief though!!

     I'll let ya'll know how things turn out!!