January ReCap

What a month January turned out to be.  It seems like much of it we were sick, and half of it my hubby was gone!  The beginning of the month, we celebrated New Years with my in-laws.  We had a lovely visit and squeezed in a trip to Patriot's Pointe.  (I'll post more on that later.)  My parents also visited during the month for an enjoyable time.  We were able to celebrate S's 7th birthday :)  Of course she wanted to go squirrel hunting as well as to the zoo.  E is now 5 months old, has two teeth and rolls... but best of all, she laughs.  There is nothing as sweet as that sound!

The end of the month was a little more eventful, with two "rare" occurrences... or at least for us!  The first was snow :)  Now I'm only talking about snow showers that only covered vehicles, and no ground, but we still had fun, with the kids making balls of the snow lying on the cars :)  The other occurrence was a "sonic boom."  This is said to happen when an aircraft (generally military) goes faster than the speed of sound.  All I can tell you is it is loud and made the house shake and windows rattle.  Crazy intense!

As far as my goals are concerned... I did not do so well....

Family Goals: epic fail!  With hubby being gone so much, we never had any family game nights or  movie night!  I think I want to really focus on those this month!!!

Spiritual Goals: To be honest, these have been hit or miss.  i could give a gazillion excuses, but truth be told, no excuse is good enough!  I MUST make time for God in my life, no matter what phase of life I am in!

Health Goals: These are going alright.  I have no idea how to wake up my adrenal gland to get it acting right!  I am slowly making progress on my GNOWFGLIN courses as well as my Vintage Remedies courses.  I need to push myself to take more time in these.

School Goals: We made it on two field trips in January... Patriots Point and to the zoo.  I'll post about those in another post (or two).  We haven't started the unit studies yet, and honestly school was pretty discombobulated in January, with a lot of chaos and confusion.  I figured out a better schedule I think that we started today, but alas, that is for February.

Farmgirl Goals: I put in and received 5 badges in January: Expert in My Fair Farmgirl, Beginner for Sew Wonderful, Beginner for Aprons, Beginner for Quilting, and Beginner for Homespun Christmas.  I did, however, fail at writing a letter this past month, though I posted on the boards most days.

Homesteading Goals: These are a work in progress.  I learned from my brother that much of the selling will be through word of mouth, and not advertised on the internet.  This obviously makes some things more difficult, as I can easily learn what kind of critter I want, but may not be able to find any out there once we move.  We do have a source, however, for our grass-fed beef when we move :) I also read The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball.  Simply put, she is living my dream!!!

Crafting Goals: I completed two Christmas ornaments for January :)  I went with a snowman theme and they turned out really cute.  Sadly, that is all I accomplished for my goals for January, though I also made some crafts for a Valentines swap.

2016 Goals

With the coming of a New Year, posts of New Years Resolutions fill my inbox and blog feed.  Due to my dismal failures in the past to obtain my own personal resolutions, I sadly gave them up, years ago.  With that said, I do try to write out my goals within the first month of a new year though.  Some are lofty goals with little chance of obtaining them, while others are more realistic.  They all help me to grow, however, to become the person I believe God desires me to become.  So here are 2016 goals....

2016 Goals

-       Family Goals

o   Weekly Friday night Game Night

o   Monthly movie night (Disney themed?) complete with themed food and activities

-       Spiritual Goals

o   Nightly Family Bible time

o   Daily time with God

o   Complete 3+ Bible Studies, starting with “Homeschooling With a Meek and Quiet Spirit”

-       Health Goals

o   Using herbs and essential oils, along with food and exercise, work to obtain better health

o   Complete 5 courses on GNOWFGLINS

o   Complete half of the Vintage Remedies Master Herbalist certificate course

-       School Goals

o   1-2 monthly field trips

o   Complete unit studies with the children

§  K12 – horses

§  S6 – cats

§  W8 – birds

§  L10 – George Washington

-       Farmgirl Goals

o   Put in for at least one badge every month

o   Write a snail mail letter to a fellow Farmgirl once a week

o   Participate on the forum at least 5 out of 7 days a week

-       Homesteading Goals

o   Research breeds of animals

o   Research what species of veggies, fruits, and herbs survive in Zone 4

-       Crafting Goals

o   Monthly Christmas ornament

o   Monthly crocheted themed dishcloth (crochet)

o   Bi-monthly Gingerbread house creation (plastic canvas)

o   Make one Christmas present each month

2015 Recap

Merry Christmas!

It has been awhile since I have posted any blog posts... I had considered giving it up, with the busy-ness in our lives.  But as I reflected on how much has happened this past year, I realize how much I have missed by not writing about it... how much has faded from my memory.  See, this blog is intended to capture the everyday blessings that happen in our lives... and all I really remember are the major events.  So I guess it is those events I will post here....

Our year started with finding out we were expecting another little one.  Having had surgery in September, there was some concern about being pregnant again so soon, but we knew God would provide!  We also celebrated S6's birthday.... with a squirrel hunting trip!

February and March we focused on our garden and chickens.  It was our first time planting garlic and potatoes.  And honestly, it would be our first time having a really productive Spring garden!

April was a FULL month, between Easter, a trip to the zoo for my birthday, strawberry picking, and keeping up with the garden and chickens.

made and decorated by K12

made and decorated by K12

May was full as well, between the chickens and garden, a trip to a horse rescue with friends, another trip to the zoo, a fishing trip, and celebrating W8's and B4's birthdays.

W8's cake - made and decorated by K12

B4's cake - made and decorated by K12

June was a month full of packing!  Our chickens went to live at a friend's and our belongings were packed into boxes.  We did go on one field trip to Charlestowne Landing, though.  We also celebrated my hubby's birthday as well as A2's.

both cakes were made and decorated by K12

The beginning of July, we moved.  We spent the rest of the month getting our house ready to put on the market.  We also kept up with picking the garden :)

August - what a month!  There was blueberry and peach picking... and eating, and canning, and freezing, and... well you get the idea.  We also celebrated the birth of E and K12's birthday.

September was a month of adjustments!  Somehow I always forget what the first few months are like with a newborn!  K12 made herself a cake for her birthday, which is the 31st of August.  We did manage a trip... a loooooooong trip.... to get apples... to can, cook, and eat :)

October was more quiet... we finished processing apples, and went to the Corn Maze with dear friends.

In November we went to the fair... for the first time!!!!  We had the opportunity to listen to the Willis Clan, which was A LOT of fun!

And December - it was a time of preparation for our Christmas celebration :)  We made another trip to the zoo, celebrated L10's birthday, went to the Festival of Lights, went to a Live Nativity, went to Mepkin Abbey to the Creche Festival, and enjoyed a Blessed Christmas!

Now it is time to prepare for 2016...

Ornaments - July - September

I have SOOOOOO enjoyed making ornaments every month!!!  It has helped me do a little each month in preparation for Christmas :)

The theme for July was vintage.  Anyone who knows me, knows that while I think vintage items are pretty, they just are not my style.  So, I accepted the challenge with some trepidation, and started brainstorming.  I also contacted a few people for advice, lol.  This is what I ended up coming up with:

For August, our theme was Gingerbread Man :)  So much fun!

Angels was our theme for September.  Oh how I love angels!

Ornaments - October - December

Ahhhh - Our last three months of ornaments for 2014.

October's theme was cupcakes!  This one was A LOT of fun!  In fact, it started my desire of wanting a "sweets and treats" themed kitchen for next year ;)  My poor hubby!  Anyways, here is the ornament I came up with:

November's theme was stockings:

December was a "free for all."

Looking forward to seeing the "requirements" for 2015!

My "Miracle Baby" is 6!

Six years ago, on the 16th of January, I knew something was not right.  Call it mother intuition, a gut feeling, or God gently pressing us forward.  We knew that we needed to go to the hospital.  I was in my last month of pregnancy, and everything had looked good up to that point.  I wasn't feeling contractions really - just twinges.... yet it seemed like the little baby girl inside me was spasm-ing with those twinges.  We dropped our other three children off with dear sweet friends of ours and headed down the road.  I get to the hospital, only to find out my least favorite OB was on call!  He had a pitiful bedside manner when we had miscarried the second time!  I had avoided him this entire pregnancy and yet, there was no avoiding him this time!  He kept mentioning a c-section, and I told him no.... but it hit the point where there was no denying one was needed!  The weird pains got worse - they were only on one side of my stomach - and with each one, I could feel my baby girl struggling.  An emergency c-section was needed!  We were soon to find out that not only did we have a prolapsed cord, but where I was feeling the weird pains, my placenta was tearing off my uterine wall!  After a scary few moments of our baby girl not breathing (it felt like minutes/hours!), our sweet baby cried... weak at first and then strengthening.

Wanting to do the best for our baby girl, we blindly followed the "recommendations" that are often looked at as mandated.  We vaccinated our child, just as we had the other three.  OY!  If we only knew then what we know now!  Our sweet baby girl went hypotonic... I'm talking limp rag doll!  No more vaccinations for her or any of our other children!!!!

Fast forward a little over a year after the vaccination scare... Vomiting, a high fever, and nothing helping, landed us in the ER.  After giving her some anti-nausea medicine, we were told we could go home and she would be fine.  Finally having hit the point where I could stand up to a doctor, I told them she needed IV fluids first.  The doctor thought I was nuts, and told me she didn't need them.  Just give her fluids, the medicine would prevent her from vomiting, and she would be fine.  I demanded to see the head doctor.  He comes in and informs us he is admitting our sweet little girl for 24 hour observation.  We finally agree... but that 24 hours turned into over two weeks!  Her little body was fighting meningitis and encephalitis.  We were told every day that they were not sure if she would ever leave the hospital alive.  And yet, God was faithful!  Once again He pulled us through this trial and healed her little body.  We basically brought home a 20 month old newborn.... one that could not walk any more, sit up, talk, or eat.  We were back on bottles and retraining her little body.

And now she is six!  She amazes me each and every day!  Our hearts swell with love - she is one of the sweetest most tender hearted children!  If you win her heart, you have won it completely!!!  She still has her struggles, but is growing by leaps and bounds into a little lady!  Her birthday wish was to go squirrel hunting.  Yup - you read that right!  Squirrel hunting!  So that is what she did!  Happy 6th birthday Sweet Girl!  We love you and thank God for the miracle you are!

A Friend is Hosting a Giveaway

There are numerous blogs I follow - some are for recipes, some are for sewing and crafting, others are homesteading, while others still are for home schooling.  And then, there are the ones that I follow as an inspiration, and of course there are those that I follow because they are friends.  The blog I want to tell you about today is both of the latter two.  Alysa's blog is a great inspiration - and I am honored to call her as a friend as well!  I actually met her before I ever got saved, and it was her attitude and beliefs that helped influence my desire to get to know Christ - I wanted "what she had."  We both attended a fantastic group for young adults, that was a great time of praising God and growth.  And we both ended up marrying military men, thus "shipping us off" to different states. 

Anyways, on Alysa's blog, she is giving away a copy of "Love Without Limits: A Remarkable Story of True Love Conquering All," by Nick and Kanae Vujicic.  This is one book that I am truly looking forward to reading!!!!  Nick's story has been a true inspiration, and I think my children as well as myself would learn a lot from him!  There is a focus on how Christ has gotten them through their trials - of dating, marriage, and family life.  With all that said, I encourage you to check out her giveaway as well as her blog!  Her blog website is https://alysasawyer.wordpress.com/ and to that specific blog post is https://alysasawyer.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/love-without-limits-free-book-giveaway/