What every woman should know...

Women are magnificent beings. We are created by a very creative God, who gives us gifts and talents to bless our family and friends with. Sometimes in the course of our day to day routines, we forget that. We want to throw our hands up in the air and ask " Does what I do really matter? Am I making a positive difference?"

Sometimes I stare blankly at the sink kitchen full of dishes, and the hampers full of dirty clothes, and have to sigh. "Didn't I just wash all of those an hour ago?" How can I make a difference and reach the lost of this world, If I am stuck doing these mundane, unimportant tasks? Then the Lord has to come beside me and remind me, that I am teaching my children how to be servants. This has to be one of the hardest lessons for me....and for them. The world doesn't praise it, and dare I say sometimes even the church doesn't. The constant struggle is always there for me to abandon these daily chores to go do something great for the Lord. Once again, He has to remind me that I am....

Women need to know that we are so beautiful, because we are unique. Not one of us is the same, and we shouldn't try to duplicate each other. If a field was full of just one type of flower it would still be pretty, but add all the different varieties and you get sheer awesomeness. Yes, some may have thicker stems (gives us a strong foundation ya know ;) or wider petals. Some may be tall, while others are short. Some may have bright colors, while others are more muted.  But grouped all together they create a wonderful bouquet of creativity.

Women need to know that love shows itself in many ways. It may be a husband who throws himself into a barn building project for his "ladies". It may be a child who decides to make a card for you....using a whole book of stamps. :-o It may be a friend who cleans out her children's closets, and offers you clothes. It may just be a short email, or a phone call to say they miss you. It may be a homemade dinner brought up to you by your mother, because you and the hubs have been working all day on that said barn. It may be all of this, and more....sent from the Lord.

Women need to know they aren't alone.  When you are trudging through the early years of being married, and you can't quite figure out how to make this all work...you are not alone. When the babies come...and they cry...and cry...and cry...you are not alone. When kids grow up and start lives of their own, and move away, you are not alone. When husbands pass on before their time....you are not alone. When parent's struggle with so many health problems, they can barely walk sometimes, you are not alone.  When friends leave you, forget about you, or say not so nice things about you....you are not alone. The Lord is always with you. Sometimes He is right there walking beside you, guiding you, and trying to teach you things. Other times He is carrying you, for He knows this is way too much for you to handle alone.

Women need to know the power we have in our own houses. Children are forever watching us to see how we handle situations. Will we gossip about so and so, take revenge, of some sort, on someone who has offended us, or complain to our husbands because we don't have the "things" our friends have? Will we fall into despair, for it is just so hard to watch loved ones suffer, or will we trust that the Lord will see us through? Will we find joy in this journey the Lord has put us on called...Motherhood? Will we seek His face when we don't know how to handle the situations life throws at us? Will we stay true to our convictions even when the world says they are silly? No..we   I will, and do, fail miserably in most of these areas, but I am reminded that the Lord's mercies are new every morning.  So today, we will start with the dishes. :-)

A week in photos

Leaf piles! 

 School.

 God's promise.

 Sweet treat.

 End of harvest.

 Can you spot the fake?

 Awesome quilt that my grandmother made for her daughter in 1985. I am now the proud owner of this family treasure! Thank you so much Sweet Aunt Sandie!!!

AHG tea party.

A boat and some precious girls

This past weekend our family had many "firsts". Not only did we get a boat, which was given to our family to share from my Sweet Aunt, Sweet Man and I had a weekend alone. The boat was in Tennessee with my Aunt, and my parents planned a weekend visit with her to "pick it up"... so our girls tagged along.

I had so many mixed emotions about this little get away. I was so excited to have so much alone time with my man, but oh so nervous to be away from the girls for so long. The girls were excited and perhaps feeling a little bit more grown up getting to go on this little adventure without mom and dad. But I could tell they were worried to be away from me too.

Friday, while Sweet Man was at work, I was left wondering what in the world to do without children in the house. I didn't want to clean. I do that enough. I really wanted to finish reading "Ginger Pye", but since it is a school book I am reading to the girls, I thought it would be wrong to read it without them. Although I would have had a captive audience. The four inside critters seemed quite confused to not be ridden, dressed up, or played with by the younger family members. I decided to go to the Women's bible study at church. After sitting in the parking lot, for what seemed like an eternity, I made a quick phone call to find that it was cancelled. Hmm....now what? I know, thrift store shopping. This is a favorite of mine and the girls, and the prospect of thrift store shopping and not having the worries of bringing home stuffed animals and plastic toys was pretty exciting. I decided to go to one that I don't normally visit with the girls. The one that claims he has "antiques"...aka junk. But since I love junk, and this place is plum full of glass junk that I fear the girls will topple over, this seemed like the perfect time for such a visit. Without the constant reminding "Don't touch" or "No sweetie, they do not have a bathroom", I stayed way too long, and spent way too much. Twenty Five dollars buys a lot of this man's "antiques". I guess you could say not having children can get expensive. ;-)

After my shopping I decided to treat myself to a gourmet candy bar. You know what's weird? I was able to eat the WHOLE thing. I can't remember the last time that happened, and it's not because I am normally watching my figure. Little girls come running when they hear the rustle of wrappers, and I do believe they can smell chocolate from across the house. To actually be able to eat the whole thing made me feel quite ill, and made me miss the smiling faces with smeared chocolate all the more. I guess you could say not having children  is bad for your health. ;-)

Sweet Man and I really enjoyed the evenings out, and time to just be with each other. But boy were we oh so excited when we heard that truck pulling a boat coming up the road!

Thanks to my parents for spending this time with our girls, and thanks to my Aunt for being such a wonderful hostess and having them for the weekend....and for that WONDERFUL boat! I hope this means you will come up more often and tour the river with us.

A craftin we will go...

It was a chilly day in October. The rain was pouring outside, while the fire crackled inside. Sweet smells came from the kitchen, along with the sounds of chatter and laughter. Four women got to know each other, all the while learning a new crafting skill. We talked about spiritual things, raising children, and how on earth does one cut a straight line?  It was a marvelous day that ended all too quickly!

When I got the email from my friend saying that she needed guinea pigs to do a trial run for a handmade holiday workshop she is working on, I very emphatically said YES!! My Sweet Mother-in-law came over to hang out with the girls for the day to free me up to participate. Don't you just love Grandparents? :-)

We Made these super cute fabric stars. I just love em! You could use Christmas colors and decorate with them for the holidays. You could sandwich them in a super pretty frame. You could hang them from the ceiling in a Princesses bedroom to show her you would give her all the stars if you could ;-). The possibilities are endless!

Thank you so much to my friend for the wonderful day!
You are such a wonderful hostess and friend!!!

What's that smell?

When I stepped outside this morning I smelled the most amazing smell. It's fall and the crisp leaves are starting to decay with all the rain we had the other day. Was that it? No. It smelled so familiar and yet it has been so long since I have smelled it here. It was horse poop! Was it stuck on our shoes when we came back from THE BARN? No. I washed all of our shoes to make sure it wasn't. Oh yeah, we have ponies now!!!

Last week the girls and I watched "Where The Red Fern Grows". If you have never seen that movie you need to put it right at the top of your list. It is an amazing tale of a young boy with a desire so strong to have hound dogs, that he works odd jobs all summer to earn enough money to buy them. ( I watched this movie when I was a kid and I do believe this is where my love for hound dogs came from) After he earned the money, he hiked for miles to the next town to pick them up at the post office. The movie does have a sad ending, and this house was full of 4 crying ladies, but the message is so strong. A message that I wanted my girls to hear. They need to learn to have tenacity, perseverance and not expect to just be handed things in this life. If they have a strong desire to have something, I want them to work for it. To have such dedication to stick with something, even if it's hard, doesn't seem to always be taught anymore. I think it makes you love and appreciate things more if it doesn't always come easy.

As we were hiking the two miles back from picking up these two ponies, that the girls put their money together to buy, I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, they might be learning those life lessons I so strongly want them to have. We do not NEED ponies of course. But it does make life a little bit more sweeter.

A jam packed week

Last week was jam packed full of fun activities, and left little time to actually sit down to write. 

There was the Pumpkin Festival that the girls and I were able to attend with some much loved family members.
( My Sweet Aunt and Sister)

There were pumpkins that needed decorating...

Facts and games about bugs...

A hay maze...

Hair painting...

Sand Art...And food!! Lots of food!!! :-) Food on sticks. 

"I think they need to make more food on sticks." ;-)

The 2011 Rod Run and Doo Whop car show was last week too!

Having dinner at our booth for The Printing Press.

The girls making their first sale. :-) They were so proud...so was I!

 "Ridin" down by the river

There was a concert...

And lots of dancing! Who knew those three little princesses could move like that?"

And of course there were cars! Lots of them.

 

I think we all left the show with the desire to go out and buy a muscle car. A green one.
Like this...

(I'm pretty sure I NEED this)

Now sometimes getting the girls motivated in the morning can be a challenge. Not so if they know they get to go to THE BARN after school work is done. I woke up bright and early this day, to find the girls already downstairs waiting. :-) They might have been motivated... Me? Not so much!

 

I must say this ended up being a pretty awesome day. :-)

Sunday marked a very special occasion. It was Sweet man's birthday, along with my brother's as well. Who knew 33 could look so good?

We Love you so much Sweet Man!!
 You are such a blessing to us all!!!
 Happy birthday...I think you need a new car. A green one. ;-)

Honey and Cabins

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, and very productive! The girls and I spent the day with my Dad helping him out with some chores. First on the agenda was harvesting honey! Such a sweet job...literally!

 Not sure these suits are very figure flattering though. ;-)

 Princess #1 hid in the safety of the enclosed Kubota to observe and take pictures! I think she did a great job!

 Then it was cabin building. Actually we started on the cabin first thing in the morning until the sun came out. Bees like to leave their hives in sunny weather, so we were hoping for a few less bees to be around by the time we got to them. Then it was back to cabin building. 

 We finished most of the front, and I think it is looking awesome!

For school work today? I guess it was all about homesteading. I didn't hear any complaints from the girls...or me! ;-)

Wordless Wednesday

Trash to Treasure

There is something so rewarding about taking an object that was discarded by someone else, and re-purposing it into something new. I guess this is the way I recycle! My Aunt was cleaning out her house and got rid of a wooden Lazy Susan. After staring at it for two days, I came up with its new identity.

A little bit of glue, and leftover jars... 

And I have a new art organizer! 

A rainy Auction day

Saturday was cold and rainy, and Sweet Man and I spent the morning outside, all for the love of a good deal. Don't you just love a good deal? The public school was having their annual surplus sale. Since we scored so many neat deals last year, like our whiteboards, we were up for braving the yucky weather. We came home with several matching school desks, and lots of really useful tables, and only spent $15!! I'd say that was worth getting half froze to death. ;-)

With the new school furniture we were able to rearrange the school room to be a little bit more functional. Sweet Man had the wonderful idea of making a desk for me. I was like..."Why didn't I think of that sooner?" I have to stand for the longest time while I am reading to the girls, or overseeing their work. I have been known to read super fast, just because my legs are tired, and I want to sit down. LOL

The girls got new desks too!

Now all I need are some students! Guess I should go wake them...maybe after my second cup of coffee. ;-)