A Saturday around the farm, in photos.

Sweet Man working on heating our house.

 This is what you do when you don't want visitors...;-)

oops....

 Oh No!! My cow got out of the fence!

 Cat nap ;-)

 It's important when your Sweet Man tips his back hoe over, that you don't mention the fact that you gave him the advice, to not go into the wet spots. Pretty sure he remembers those wise words. It's best to just say "Hey, this seems like a great time for a break. Wanna go get something to eat?"

What's one to do?

What's one to do, when you have a late night at work, but still have to be somewhere bright and early the next morning? You wake up, take a NoDoz pill and hop in the shower. You convince yourself that you will have a great day. You go to blow dry your hair, and the power goes out. You say to yourself that you know Satan wants you to fail today, and you won't let him win. You pack your hair stuff and load your girls up and head on out to the church. You set up for the party that you had planned for this day, and then head to the bathroom to finally fix your hair. You have a few set backs at the party. With a group that size, there will always be a few. But no biggie...

You have a special speaker come to teach a little about bee keeping...

Games were organized by a sweet co-op momma...

 And the children thoroughly enjoyed them!

 Valentine cards and treats were exchanged, and a yummy lunch was eaten together!

What's one to do, when you come home tired and exhausted, only to find out that the neighbor's dog has indeed either eaten, or run off all but two of your laying flock? You scour 40+ acres in hopes of finding some survivors, all while wearing your good shoes, and the only pair of jeans you can remember paying full price for. You get hung up in a few briars, and get turned around a bit. Do you cry? Yes. but just a bit. You're so tired and not really feeling like a nature hike at the moment. Your hubby helps you look, for he is feeling guilty for letting them out earlier in the day. You go home. You have looked long enough. You have to get ready for work.

What's one to do, when the power goes back off again, after you have already cleaned and set things up for working from home tonight? You call everyone and tell them they will have to meet you at the office, instead of your house, and you pack up the snacks you had laid out. You light the fire, make a cup of tea, and sit with your dogs.

You have family members that are dealing with heart failure, cancer, surgeries etc. You can handle this. It's just chickens. You just about give up hope when you see one at a time coming out of the woods.

They seem to be saying..."Shew that was close, I think that dog wanted a piece of me!" Then as they start to congregate and share just how terrified they were, you hear one ask Momma hen, "Where is Penny, Mable, Clarice and Henrietta?" The sweet and loving momma hen gently puts her wing around her to console the stunned child. She lets her know that it was a "wee bit closer" for her four missing sisters, and they won't be joining them tonight on the roost.  "Chin  Beak up girl, we've got a lot to be thankful for! I hear the farm wife might be making pancakes in the morning, and if she make the super healthy ones there will probably be tons of scraps for us to eat"!

God is good all the time, but life can still be hard....

Yesterday was a bummer of a day. Nothing bad happened. No one was sick, but I still had  a case of the grouchies. Now that can spoil a day faster than just about anything. :-( A combination of being super tired, and trying to do too much was probably to blame...or the fact that I am a huge sinner and was just living in the moment of wanting everything to go my way...which doesn't normally happen. I was irritable, and not too sweet to my little princesses. They seemed to have a case of the grouchies as well, which didn't help the situation go any smoother. They fought while we were out in public, which just makes me want to run and hide. The place where we went knows that we home school, and I just pictured them whispering when we left about how bad homeschooling was for you kid...LOL I let the girls get hot chocolate at this place (it was free) in hopes to seem like I was being a pleasant mom, only for it to spill all over my car by not one, but two sweet little princesses. I lost my cool. I snapped. I took the hot chocolate away. We drove home in tears. Good grief, it's just a mess in the car, I always have a mess in the car. It shouldn't be that big of a deal. But right then, it was.....

I have been following a blog about a home school mom, who recently lost her 2 year old son, in a terrible accident at home. He had pulled a dresser over on himself while trying to climb up on it. Her faith in God is strong, but of course there are so many struggles she is going through. She posted the other day about a situation at a grocery store, but I didn't get time to read it until this morning. God knew I needed the message today, not last week. She was in a public restroom with her two younger children, when one lady commented on how much work they are when they are young, "but they grow up so fast and you'll be planning their wedding before you know it." The home school mom lost control of her emotions, after the unknowing lady left the bathroom. She wished that she would get to plan that wedding for her lost child...instead she had to plan his funeral.

I kept thinking about that blog during my quiet time this morning. How often do I get so wrapped up in how much work child raising is? How much laundry or dishes do I need to clean? How many times do I take for granted that my children will always be here with me? I kept praying that the Lord would help me remember my own little world is not always about me. Sure the kids disobeyed yesterday...they normally do when someone is watching. Think God let's that happen to keep us humble. Guessing He thought I needed an extra dose this week. There are so many people that have said they aren't sure why they are put on this earth...most of them not Christians mind you, but I know why I was put here. I have been given the task of raising three precious girls for the Lord, to impact His world in a mighty way. That is a huge task. Why would I think it would always be easy? I not only need to show them the way this world works with all of its gadgets and thingamajigs, I need to show them how God works even when we can't tell that He is even doing anything. I need to teach them that God is good all the time, but that life is still hard. I need to be able to explain to them that I don't know why the Lord would take that sweet momma's little child so young, but that He had a purpose in it for sure. I need to remind myself the same thing, for my heart is breaking for her......

So yeah, I pretty much failed yesterday in the loving, sweet, forgiving, patient department.....but I refuse to fail today, for He is faithful and He has called me to be better than I am. He has promised  to empower me to be able to push my own weaknesses aside, and let Him make me stronger. Yes, I fall...but I am learning to pick myself back up.

 More Valentine party preparations today :-)
Brushing your hair was not required to attend this activity! :-o

"I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strengthens Me"

Philippians 4:13

Rockin out on President's day!

One of the many challenges for farm girls nationwide, would have to be mud. I am always happy to see warmer temperatures arrive, but I am fully aware of the consequences that come with that. Mud covered cars, shoes, kids, dogs and perhaps even chickens. With the cost of gravel being right up there with asking for your first child, it doesn't get ordered very often. This month Sweet Man has been working LONG hours...like one day he worked 17hours straight :-o...and then of course I have a part time job as well. With this extra income we thought it might behoove us to indulge in the luxury of being able to drive up our drive way, in 2-wheel drive.  So we decided to order gravel.

Today was the day!!! Can you sense my excitement? I woke up bright and early to make that call to the stone yard. :-) We waited and waited, and finally got really impatient and decided to move onto other things to pass the time. We of course did our school and scrubbed a few potties in between spelling words and math sheets. This just wasn't as exciting as it sounds though...so we moved on to something a little more fun.

We started getting ready for our Valentine's Day party, at co-op this Friday. Yes, of course I know Valentine's day already passed, but this way we get to celebrate a little bit longer! :-)

 Licking the spoon is a treasured activity around here.

At last....we heard something...IT WAS HERE!!!

 Even the dog was excited!

 Sweet Man of course had to do a little spreading...and we now can walk to the car without loosing a shoe, (or a kid ), in the mud.

Gravel. Truly is a girls best friend!

Revisiting Friday...A day of new adventures!

This past Friday marked the beginning of our new semester at our home school co-op. My girls were so excited, and so was I...after I made it there. Do you ever have one of those mornings when you think you have plenty of time to get ready, so you are going S.U.P.E.R. slow, and are so peaceful and happy. That was me Friday morning. I was curling my hair listening to the birds sing their sweet song outside and singing one of my own inside. I looked at the clock and did a little calculating in my head. You see, when we aren't on night shift we go to church on Wednesday evenings. Being at church on Wednesday, lets me set up for co-op early. I had forgotten that I hadn't set up yet, and I should already be there getting ready to be able to make it all happen. Instead, I was curling my hair as slow as can be, while the little princesses snoozed away, in their sweet little beds. Well, to say the mood changed would be an understatement. I rushed out of the bathroom to wake them up without slowing down to look where I was going. Ran straight into the doorknob that sent me a flying to the ground moaning like a dog. Sweet Man popped up out of the bed and asked if something was wrong...now I wanted to say.."Does someone normally flail around on the ground moaning, if everything is ok?"...but I had just read about being a sweet wife and decided to bite my tongue. Which indeed did add to my pain. :-o Long story short...girls were dressed and fed, (who knows what) lunches packed for all five in the household and we were on our way.

It turned out to be an awesome day. Thank you Jesus!! Kids were excited about their new classes and moms were happy to visit!

We had a cooking class for the older girls..

Lego class

gym

Music for the younger classes...

Art

Science

Preschool

 The Lord blessed the day, and we all concluded it by a picnic style lunch on the floor.

Followed by some free time play :-)

We had our good buddies come home with us afterward, for a short visit, before our next adventure of the day. The kids are getting old enough that they can start exploring our woods. That is one awesome thing about having so much property...the girls haven't even seen half of it yet! New adventures are to be had everyday around here. They found some pretty big rocks up on the hill that they are claiming as their new clubhouse. It is literally so far up I can barely make out who is who when they are up there. The youngest princess only rolled down the hill once so far :-o Hey, falling down is a part of life right?...it's learning to pick yourself back up that really matters. They came off that hill pretty dirty and faces that resembled Indians heading into war with war paint on. We said goodbye to our friends and had a quick bath. War paint is cool for outside play...not so much for a girlie sewing class. Which is where our next adventure took place.

We met up with our pals from our local American Heritage Girls group, at Sew Crafty for a community service project. We were going to be making dresses from pillow cases to send to girls that might be in need of them. Now, I do believe that there is a misconception out there that ALL home school moms know how to sew. I am here to tell you that is a load of pure silliness. I not only do not know how to sew...I didn't even know how to turn the sewing machine on. That's ok...neither did two of my good buddies ;-) It was still a very enjoyable evening and me and my girls had a blast. And since I am not the only mom there that didn't know what she was doing, we are planning on taking sewing classes together. Doesn't that sound like fun?

I thought these dresses turned out so nice. We finished up around 8 or so and we headed home to drop the girls off. I still had to go to work. By the time my head hit my pillow that night I was out like a light. It was an awesome day of fun times with my girls and our friends...:-) So thankful to have both!

A trip to the eye doctor

Life is full of so many new and exciting things. So many adventures out there to experience. Many emotions play out when you are trying something new. Take Princess # 3 for example. Today was her first trip to the eye doctor. She was chock full of every emotion imaginable.

She was a little bit frightened.....

And a whole lot excited!

Frustration and boredom made an appearance as well. Seriously, why do they make you wait so long in these rooms, with NOTHING to do?

And then of course...exhaustion from waiting FOREVER!

To pass the time we decided to have a mini fashion show....

This princess was glad to show off her "new" boots....and I was just thankful I had my camera. What else would we have done to pass the time? ;-)