Twenty Years

Today, Steve and I celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. There have been many ups and downs, mainly in regards to children, but through all of the crises we have grown so much closer together. Marriage is definitely something that gets so much better with time and the knowing of the other person. I pray that God will give us many more years to learn to love Him and each other more.

A Weekend to Remember...

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Steve and I went to the Coeur D'Alene Resort for Family Life's "A Weekend To Remember" conference, sponsored by Family Life. This is the second year we have attended. Steve's unit in the Air Force gives free conference and hotel tickets for those who would like to attend.

While some of Family Life's theology is a bit skewed, it was so wonderful to spend a weekend concentrating on nothing but Steve and our marriage. When you have children it is so easy to get wrapped up in nothing but raising them correctly (and in our case, their various issues) and neglecting the most important relationship in the family - that of husband and wife. I believe the same thing happens for men with their career.

I have begun to wonder if much more time was spent cultivating a good marriage relationship in front of the kids, making the marriage top priority (outside of God, of course), whether much of the child training issues wouldn't resolve themselves.

The organization, Family Life, will be sponsoring a video seminar, "The Art of Marriage" in February of 2011. One of our favorite speakers, Voddie Baucham will be featured. We are looking forward to it.

Anyway, I highly recommend this conference - its worth the time, money and effort to get away. If you look at Family Life's website, you can probably find a conference in your location.

Til next time...

Sweet Potato Soup, Spiced biscuits

I had a few requests for my sweet potato soup and spiced biscuits recipe on facebook so here it is - I made up this recipe some time ago because Steve likes sweet potatoes so much. I normally do not like them but I do in this soup.

This is what we do for our family:

Coarsely chop enough sweet potatoes to feed your family (for us this is approximately 10 lbs). Place in crock pot or roaster. Coarsely chop one onion (size again depending on your family). Add to sweet potatoes. Add water or chicken broth to just cover the potatoes. Cook until tender. Puree sweet potato mixture until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook one to two pounds of country or breakfast sausage, add to pureed mixture. Then add approximately one to two teaspoons of nutmeg and one quart of heavy cream. Combine and heat gently until ready to serve.


Spiced biscuits are easy. Take your normal biscuit recipe, quadruple the required sugar amount and add 2-6 teaspoons of apple pie spice. (When we make a batch of 48 biscuits we use 1.5 tablespoons of apple pie spice). For the liquid part of the recipe, combine half beer and half buttermilk. Let rest for about 10 minutes after mixing then form, bake and enjoy...:-)

Steve is home..

Will probably continue few postings for the next several weeks as God has blessed us all with Steve's return home from Afghanistan. We are looking forward to celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on the 1st of December and also attending Family Life's Weekend to Remember at the CDA resort in a couple of weeks.

Enjoy Fall - its beautiful here!!

Creamy Potato Soup

Creamy potato soup:

Cut an appropriate amount of red potatoes, onion and carrots for your family. Put in crock pot or roaster depending on amount. Cover with half beef broth, half milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low until veggies are tender. When tender, process the whole mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Put the creamed veggie mixture back into the empty crock pot. Add grated mozzarella, cooked country sausage and sour cream to mix. Heat, serve and enjoy!

Granddaughter!

Our first granddaughter was born last night, Karissa Danielle Maus to our oldest adopted son Daniel and his girlfriend. Karissa weighed 7 lbs and is 20 inches long- Baby, Mama and Daddy are doing well and we hope to have pictures soon. We would appreciate prayers as they realize the awesome gift God has given them and that they will pursue a right relationship with God and each other in order to raise this child in a godly manner.

Thank you...:-)

Still plugging away

I have been so mentally and physically tired since Steve left that I have been just accomplishing the everyday mundane tasks and not much else. People have been coming along side us in such a great way-the community mind set here has been so awesome and such a blessing. Things are happening and I hope to start posting more about all the building projects and our new farm, etc...

Fall is in the air and the grass is greening up... this is one of the moveable cow shelters that Micah Kuntz, Jonathan True, Luke Dahlin, Berne Launay and some of our boys built-they did a great job!!

Good days, Bad days

Steve has been deployed for a little over a week now. Some of the days have been hard struggles, some have flown by because of the amount of work that needs to be done. We have also had some real estate issues but our pastor here as been extraordinary in helping us negotiate and get the problems worked out. We should close on this property later this week, Lord willing.

The outpouring of love and support has been phenomenal - from folks nominating us for Extreme Makeover Home to families from church offering to build animal shelters, put in a woodstove and supply us with wood and help with getting our vehicles and motorhome/5th wheel winterized.

We have new farm members as of last week - a 7 year dream of mine was realized when we finally got our first flock of Navajo-Churro sheep. They are all different colors and are really cool - hopefully they will thrive here at Autumn Creek Ranch.

Eric and Lucas also started Veritas Press classes and most of the kids are enrolled in a co-op at our church, taking Omnibus, Science, Computer Science and Art classes. Even Emma is enrolled and she loves it.

We are excited that Nathan Clark George will be performing a concert here this coming Saturday - girls and I will be busy making cookies for a reception afterward.

I have some wool and corduroy fabric on the way, time to start working on some winter skirts (especially since I cannot find many of my winter clothes) - time to replace I guess.

We see God's hand in so much of what is going on around us, in strengthening our community here and in showing us that we are not an island and that we need help and support. We pray to be able to support those around us in their times of need as much as we have been shown love and support these past few months.

God is good!

Still here

Just a quick note to say I am still here - we moved about a week and a half ago to our new farm, "Autumn Creek Ranch". We had found out Steve's hardship waiver for retirement was not approved and some events have unfolded which I will post about later which has caused the file to be re-opened and we are praying fervently that the deployment will be cancelled.

Lucas and Eric start classes with Veritas Press online today and the rest of us resume on Monday, once I get book boxes unpacked...

Fall is in full swing here - temps have dropped considerably and we may see the first snow fall in a few weeks...:-)

An article entitled "A Spirited Rider" from the blog Femina

I am copying and pasting this article from the blog Femina because it is so good and because I want to read it often...

" I have a little flock of daughters. With four of them five years old and under, it should come as no surprise to you that we deal with a wholloping share of emotions at our house. Titus is so simple – just right up the middle and easy. He either disobeys, or he doesn’t. Sometimes, when he feels really complicated and deep, he fusses. There are no subtexts with this kid. He wants milk – that is why he is fussing and saying, “I want milk!” Not so complex – even a beginner parent can figure out a technique to deal with this. But girls are different, and sometimes that difference can leave a person completely bewildered. When it comes to little girls and their emotions, “A” does not necessarily cause “B.” But, when “B” is what needs to be disciplined, it can feel frustrating to have no clues as to what member of the alphabet actually caused it. Are you with me here?

One of our sweet little girls has a hilarious tendency which we refer to as her “drunk driving.” If she is tired, she becomes reckless and disobedient. Her eyes get a little glassy, she gets super rowdy, and you might find her unloading the freezer, or coloring her sheets with a marker, or some such clearly outlawed activity. Once, when she was in the midst of one of these times, I caught her on the kitchen counter getting into something. Surprise was my first response – “What are you doing?!” Her immediate response was to throw her hands up over her eyes in shame. It was at that moment I realized that she didn’t know what was causing it either! She was just as surprised as I was to find herself being so delinquent. It wasn’t any kind of deep malice that got her into those cupboards looking for chocolate chips – it was just a simple lack of control.

I was so thankful for that little glimpse into what was causing what with this little person, and it has really shaped the way we deal with all kinds of behavioral issues. Sometimes parents can discipline behaviors over and over and over like we are playing whack-a-mole. There is a sin! Get it! This can get very frustrating when it doesn’t seem to be helping anything. We think we are being so diligent! But the real problem is that the child doesn’t know what to do with it.

Say it is someone else’s birthday. Say your child wants a present too. Say they start fussing about it. Imagine then that then you say, “Don’t do that. That is bad. Don’t be a fusser. Deal with it.” How did that help anyone? The child is taught that if the feeling comes over them, they have already failed. That is bad! But what am I supposed to do with it? It doesn’t just go away by itself. Little girls need help sorting out their emotions – not so that they can wallow in them, but so they can learn to control them.

We tell our girls that their feelings are like horses- beautiful, spirited horses. But they are the riders. We tell them that God gave them this horse when they were born, and they will ride it their whole life. God also set us on a path on the top of a mountain together and told us to follow it. We can see for a long way – there are beautiful flowers, lakes, trees, and rainbows. (We are little girls after all!) This is how we “walk in the light as He is in the light, and have fellowship with one another.”

When our emotions act up, it is like the horse trying to jump the fence and run down into a yucky place full of spiders to get lost in the dark. A good rider knows what to do when the horse tries to bolt – you pull on the reigns! Turn the horse’s head! Get back on the path! We also tell them that God told us that if we see one of our little girls with her horse down in the mud puddle spitting at people who walk by, it is our job to haul them up, willing or unwilling, back to the path.The ways that this has helped me as a mother are pretty obvious, but I will share them anyway if you will bear with me.

First of all, the horses are not the problem. There is nothing wrong with the emotions. If we have a little rider who is woefully unprepared to control her horse, well then, we had better start with some pretty serious riding lessons. Talk to your daughters about how they might feel, and what you want to see when they do. Give them some practical hand holds, be a coach. Anticipate moments that might be hard, when the horse might bolt, and help them learn to anticipate it too. Take a little break to say, “Hey sweetie, we are going in this store, but we aren’t going to buy any toys today. If you start feeling like you want to fuss about it, what are we going to do?” Make a plan. Use code words. Wink. Encourage. Give lots of praise when you see her overcoming little emotional temptations. Be right there with her as she learns to recognize what is happening. Little girls can be scared out of their minds when their emotions charge off with them. They need the security of parents pulling them back.

The goal is not to cripple the horse, but equip the rider. A well controlled passionate personality is a powerful thing. That is what dangerous women are made of. But a passionate personality that is unbridled can cause a world of damage. If you see a lot of passion in your little girls, don’t be discouraged. It is just wonderful raw material. Our house is pretty near full to overflowing with this kind of raw material! But don’t treat it lightly either – runaway horses can be a very real threat to your little girls."

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Our oldest son by birth, Lucas, turns 18 today. He is a blessing and we thank God for the precious gift He gave to us all those years ago...

He is a very good artist - here is one of his drawings:


For his birthday dinner he has requested seafood casserole, homemade italian bread and cherry pie so I better get busy...:-)

Be back in a few

We begin the moving process this week now that Steve is home (unfortunately we still do not know for how long) so my posts will be very scattered. Once we get moved, we hope to update with some pictures of the new place, the sheep that are coming and of Lucas' birthday present which we picked up this weekend - a border collie puppy which he named Eiriol.

Just a quick aside - I have been reading "20 And Counting" -the book by the Duggars and greatly enjoying it - they have truly been blessed by God for their obedience and faithfulness - I highly recommend it!

Back in a few...

From "Your Sacred Calling" website -an excellent post

"I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense…" (Proverbs 7:7, ESV)

[I recently received the following email from a young lady who would like to remain anonymous. I recently gave a talk at our ladies tea on the topic of chastity. My husband rightly pointed out that the young men need to "get it" too. I heartily agree. They also need to listen to their parents and consider Proverbs 7 and Proverbs 31 when looking for a wife.

We are praying that God would raise up an army of faithful, godly young men who are ready and deserving of the faithful young women who have diligently prepared for them. Grow up. Or you'll live to regret it. Please pass this on to all the Christian young men you know.]

An Open Letter to Conservative Christian Guys

From a Conservative Christian Young Woman
Struggling to Remain Modest, Pure, and Content

I know that every family has different standards. They have different convictions that the Lord has put upon their hearts, and different likes and dislikes, unique styles and tastes. Christian fathers differ on plenty of things too. Therefore, the way each father leads his family varies. But, sometimes things that are clearly against the teachings of the Bible, get veiled under the “our own standards” cloak.

I don’t have a problem with girls wearing pants. I don’t have a problem with girls wearing only skirts. I don’t have a problem with stylish clothes, jewelry, makeup, or fashion—I wear these things. What I do have a problem with is girls who purposefully flaunt themselves in front of young men, especially since one of them could very well be my future husband - and I have a huge problem with the guys who fall them.

I don’t plan on compromising my standards. I’m certainly not saying, “If you don’t stop acting like a bunch of Gentiles (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5), I’m going to join you.” By God’s grace, I am committed to controlling my physical desires, rather than walking “in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God…" (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)

So why do I dress and behave as I do? Why do I avoid defrauding you by flirting with you and tempting you to sin? Why don’t I enjoy your attention by lowering myself…by flaunting my body? God’s Word tells me that I was created for better things than this—and so were you. I have a husband out there somewhere who will appreciate my faithfulness.

"Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies." (Proverbs 31:10)

“Women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing…” (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

"To be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed." (Titus 2:5)

"That our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style…" (Psalm 144:12)

I pray he’s being just as faithful.

I don’t want to be like the woman in Proverbs 7 who selfishly flatters and entices men. I want to cause only one man to desire me- and that is my future husband.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find it really discouraging when I see a girl in tight jeans, a skin-tight shirt, and a flirtatious attitude walk into the room and my brothers in Christ, those “conservative, Christian (and yes, even homeschooled) young men flock to her side. They tease, flirt, and boost her ego (which encourages her to keep it up) by giving this girl every ounce of their attention.

"To keep you from the evil woman, From the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyelids." (Proverbs 6:24-25)

Meanwhile, girls like me who dress modestly sit in the background, wondering if it’s all worth it (by the way, I'm not talking denim sacks and tennis shoes - I dress attractively). I’ve been faithful to my family, I’ve worked hard to develop my homemaking skills, I’ve studied hard, I’ve remained pure, and I’ve prepared myself for motherhood.

Yet, sometimes I find myself tempted to wonder how I’ll ever get married if I don’t throw out a little “bait.” I don’t plan to do this, but I’m being frank about some of the struggles we Christian girls face.

I’ve read the Modesty Survey by the Harris boys and I’ve listened to young men beg young women to dress modestly. Well, I heard you, guys, and I loved you enough to comply. So, why can’t you take your eyes off the girl in the tight jeans? Get a grip.

What do you think these sorts of actions communicate to us? What does it say to Christian girls who are striving to honor the Lord? Girls who have been faithful at home, preparing for…well, for you? I’ll tell you. It shows us what you truly value: How a girl looks; how much of her body she flaunts; that you don’t value modesty; and that what we’ve been striving to do (help you guard your eyes) is totally unappreciated.

Recently, I found it very hurtful when someone at church made a comment to me about how “dorky” it was to wear only skirts. I replied, “I wear pants when the situation calls for it, but my father prefers me to wear skirts, so that is what you’ll usually see me in. I’m honoring my father, so why ridicule me? Why not encourage me?

I’m also wondering why so many of you are going outside of your own churches to pursue girls who are weak and worldly in their walk with the Lord—girls who, based on their current lifestyle choices, may not even want to homeschool your children. I’ve heard some of you excuse your attachments to these girls—girls who reject all that your parents hold dear, by insisting you will “change her” or you will “teach her.”

I always thought this was something that only girls dealt with (wanting to “change” the “bad boy”) – but no! It’s happening to guys too! It’s happening all around me every day – Christian young men who seem to want a girl who is “cool” and who shows off her body.

But I have to ask you a question. Do you really believe that the girl who flirts and flaunts herself while she’s single, will suddenly become the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 if she marries you? I’m afraid too many men have learned the hard way that this isn’t how it works.

Just because a girl is a Christian doesn’t mean she will be faithful after marriage – perhaps she won’t be unfaithful physically, but what about emotionally? Don’t you see how dangerous this is? The fact that so many beautiful, faithful, Christian girls are being ignored and passed up is shameful—and for such fleshly reasons!

I'm weary of it. Stop loving what is "cool" and start loving what is "holy." (1 Peter 1:13-16) If you’re having trouble discerning who would and who would not make a good wife, why don't you ask your father for help? Listen to his council and don't stop your ears to his words. "My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding," (Proverbs 5:1) "Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies." (Proverbs 31:10)

Please, young men, look past the flirty girls. Look for a young woman who will be faithful to you all the days of her life. Look for a young woman who will honor you, love and nurture your children, and make your house a haven—a woman who you can safely trust in.

"The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." (Proverbs 31:11-12)

Look at her heart. I know that’s so cliché, but it’s true. Look at who she is. Look at how she honors her father, how she treats her siblings, how she communicates with other young men, the way she carries herself.

Please, for the sake of the girls out there who are striving to honor the Lord—the girls who have worked hard to remain faithful, and who long to get married, don’t forget about us—for the sake of your family, your future, and your children; but, most of all, for the sake of your God.

Please pass this on to all the Christian young men you know. And, please, if you have a moment, write a note of encouragement to this faithful young lady, and to those like her.

Change of plans

This week has produced some interesting change of plans. The farm we were trying to buy did not appraise for the asking price. The owners are not willing to bring the price down so we are no longer buying that property. We instead put an offer in on a farm (and it was accepted quickly) we looked at some time ago. We love the land - its beautiful, half pasture, half light woods with a meandering creek running through. The house is old and small and the outbuildings are newer but need some repairs. However, the price is much less than the other properties we have been considering. Our intent is to buy two used 5th wheel campers for extra bedroom and bathroom space and then once our house in AL sells we will have a new house built. Even doing that, the price is about half of what we would have spent at the farm we were trying to buy, for the same amount of land. We are thankful to God that He closed that deal because we will be in a much better financial position at this new farm and we can build a house how we want it. The existing house will be converted into our farm store and we will build a dairy barn/pole barn when funds allow.

Still no news on Steve's retirement, we continue to pray for an answer soon. Kids are enjoying music camp this week but we are tired with all the running around. At the beginning of next week we will construct a hoop coop for the 13 new turkey poults that were born this week- hope to take pictures of the process.


We will begin the moving process August 20th so will post pictures at that time of the new farm, still being named, "Autumn Creek Ranch"...

Little girls ready for church

Ladies Tea with Michelle Duggar

I listened to the Baby Conference CD which was a recording of the Ladies Tea with Michelle Duggar. I came away from it inspired. She is such a joyful person because she chooses to be. It would be easy for me to say that its harder for me to find joy because most of my adopted children are so difficult. But that is incorrect. God has chosen to GIVE us these children and despite their issues and challenges we should be grateful, joyful and content. Beall Phillips stressed how the Duggars have prayed to be joyful in everything God gives them, good and bad. The same humbleness I heard in Jim Bob Duggar's message I heard in Michelle's. It is understandable why so many people love them because they see two people completely joyful about life, its rewards and its hardships. Were that more people were like them!

Manhood and Babies

We listened to the session on the Baby Conference CDs last night entitled, "Manhood and Babies". It was a talk given by both Doug Phillips and Jim Bob Duggar of "19 Kids and Counting". Jim Bob made some excellent points but the part that struck me the most was how humble he was. In watching their show you get the feeling that everything is always going well for them (despite baby Josie's early birth) but he explained that he has weak areas that he enlists his wife and children to call him on to make him a better dad and husband and also how they are always asking their kids about temptations so their hearts are always open to each other. Lucas, Eric and Anthony wanted to listen as well and they seemed to enjoy it and took some good pointers away. I am excited about listening to more...:-)

Here is the link for the conference CDs:

http://www.visionforum.com/booksandmedia/productdetail.aspx?productid=13467&categoryid=192

Baby Conference and Night Visitors

I received my 38 CD set of Vision Forum's Baby Conference yesterday. Several of us listened to the opening session last night and are looking forward into delving more deeper this evening. I also received two other CDs one entitled "Getting Your Hands Dirty - How to Teach Your Children to Love to Work" and "Tilling the Soil-Creating An Entrepreneurial Vision for the Family" - both speeches Joel Salatin gave at Vision Forum several years ago. We listened to half of the first one last night while making dinner. I had heard it before but it was a great refresher.

Early this morning (around 4 a.m.) Elizabeth and Emma came in asking to sleep with me. As I was putting Elizabeth (3 1/2) into bed I told her I was scooting her over onto Daddy's side of the bed. She sighed and said, "I wish Daddy was here." After my night visitors joined me I didn't sleep much. These girls plus baby Hannah were a ten year answer to prayer to have more babies and so I don't mind. I cannot imagine my life without them (or any of the other children for that matter). I know when they are older I will miss having them crawl into bed next to me.

Something to think about...then read "A Thomas Jefferson Education"

(The following was read as the valedictorian's speech at Coxsackie-Athens High School in recent weeks, creating quite a stir among administrators, to great applause from students and many of their parents)

There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master: "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen?" The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years . ." (The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast - How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" (Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path."

This is the dilemma I've faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.

Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning.

John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, "We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don't do that." Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. (Gatto)

To illustrate this idea, doesn't it perturb you to learn about the idea of "critical thinking." Is there really such a thing as "uncritically thinking?" To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?

This was happening to me, and if it wasn't for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.

And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.

We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.

The saddest part is that the majority of students don't have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can't run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be - but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.

For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, and create your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, "You have to learn this for the test" is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.

For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.

So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn't have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.

I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a "see you later" when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let's go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we're smart enough to do so!

Erica Goldson
Athens, NY __________________


Sadly, this is true of many homeschoolers as well - duplicating the system at home. I highly recommend the books "A Thomas Jefferson Education" and "Leadership Education" by Oliver DeMille and also the Cds "Curriculum Advice" by Victoria Botkin...

Generation Cedar Post

Just as I finished writing the previous post, I went over to Generation Cedar to continue reading a series of articles she wrote about a "True Beauty Makeover". The one I read today was so fitting in regards to my last post that I had to cut and paste it here:

"She has no real fear, because her eyes are fixed on following His will. Whatever befalls her has passed through the hands of the One who loves her most.”

“Strength and honor are her clothing.”

Proverbs 31

What does it mean to “wear strength and honor”? I love this verse, because it flies in the face of the perverted misunderstanding that our culture has of biblical womanhood.

The Bible exalts women far above what the feminists have. It spoke of women, 4,000 years ago, of honor, dignity, rare jewels, and strength. Why would we want to trade that picture for anything else?

Strength can be expressed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Since strength and honor are used together in this verse, I think they describe a woman strong of character. And what does a “strong character” look like?

I am prone to envision a woman with a tranquil nature, steady, even in the face of distress. Boy could I use some work here!

Strength allows a woman to be at peace, because she is not exerting HER strength; but rather, an inner reliance on God the Father. Her faith rests completely on His providence, His protection and His guidance in her life. She has no real fear, because her eyes are fixed on following His will. Whatever befalls her has passed through the hands of the One who loves her most.

To wear honor is to first know she is worthy of it. Worthy, not because of what she has done, but because of who she is in Christ. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”

Honor: “High rank. The dignity accorded to position.”

We need to dwell on our royal inheritance! We are marked by holy distinction! We are daughters of the King, princesses fit for Heaven–do others see that in our behavior? We aren’t talking about wearing pride, but wearing honor, behaving in a way that is honorable.

Do I exhibit those character qualities that have been obscured in our day? Am I honest–even in the small things? Do people know me to possess integrity and uprightness of heart? Do I “walk worthy of the vocation in which I am called”?

I’ll add here that the way we dress speaks volumes about how we view ourselves. Given the “princess” analogy, if we really dwelt on that image, I bet our attire would begin to reflect it. Compare the attire of a woman who understands her worth before God, desiring to reflect His character, even in the way she dresses, to the popular “grunge” style of the culture?

Let us practice putting on strength and honor, and allowing the adornment of our hearts to affect the adornments of our bodies…we are representing the King!"

Two more finished and two interviewing

Two more of my children finished and passed their Martin Luther assignment and I believe they feel pretty good about the fact that they decided to do it in the first place and in the second followed through.

In addition, I took two children to interview with Job Corps yesterday. This a program that helps struggling youth and adults to finish their education, achieve their GED, get a drivers license and learn a career path. Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome don't take instruction from their parents very well (in an effort to push the parents away they ignore them and many times refuse to learn to their own detriment). These two children are unfortunately reaping the consequences of this when they were younger and realize that if they want to be functioning members of the community they need to catch up and get going. It looks like this program will help them but it does have some rough elements - mainly some of the folks that go there. We have found one campus that is 12 minutes from a church affiliated with our church and so if accepted they will attend that campus to continue with their education and in addition can worship with accountability. Job Corps has a zero tolerance policy for drugs, alcohol and fighting so it will be tough for one child in particular (he is prone to fighting) so I have explained to him that if he wants it bad enough he will self govern and walk away. He has begun talking of marriage one day and I also explained that no father worth his salt is going to give their daughter to a know it all - hot head so now is the time to turn it around and make himself worthy of a young lady's hand. I pray he takes the words to heart - we will see...

We haven't heard lately from one of our daughters who returned to her biological family family about a month ago. Within ten days of returning she was doing drugs, abusing alcohol and who knows what else. I have tried to keep in touch with her to check on her and to gently convince her of her wrong doing but now cant get in touch with her at all. We honestly fear for her safety and health in that environment but we know that God is in control.

Speaking of that, I have been struggling with being angry and overwhelmed these past few days regarding Steve's possible deployment, mainly because I don't see how I can accomplish everything that is supposed to get done plus deal with all of the behavior problems that are going to occur if we get word that he is going. We have one child who rages daily, this will worsen. Others manifest stress by defiance, breaking things, stealing, hurting themselves, defecating everywhere - top this with a brand new move and yikes... I have been praying continually about this deployment as have many around us and I had to again realize yesterday that God is not going to test us with what He won't give us strength to handle and that if Steve deploys it will be for a purpose, a purpose that ultimately blesses us. So, today is a new day and we will press on...:-)

We do appreciate the prayers from all who are doing so and hope to be able to return the blessing someday. Thank you..:-)

Hannah enjoying No bake cookies

Just had to get this shot of Hannah covered in both homemade pizza and no bake cookies - she definitely enjoyed them!

Perserverance rewarded

Our church holds an annual "music camp" for children so they can learn to sing in harmony, learn to do the dances that we regularly do at church functions (think Pride and Prejudice dances) and learn some history. This year's theme is "Martin Luther". I had been getting frustrated at the "life is about entertainment" mindset in my kids and so set before them a challenge. I told them that anyone of them that could write a well written, mostly grammatically correct with proper spelling, 20 page paper with bibliography, on the life and works of Martin Luther, by July 26th could attend Music Camp this year. I wanted them to understand that not only is this meant to be a fun time with their friends but it is also a time where many teachers are working hard to teach them and they should take that part seriously.

So far, two of my boys have risen to the challenge and their papers were really good, one of these boys who we have nicknamed "The Fool Around King" because of his mantra that life is a joke and work is too hard being one of the boys who finished. His paper was excellent and in addition to finishing a really hard job I gave him on the farm to pay back something he had broken in a moment of foolishness, he is showing me that he is growing up..:-)

One daughter is almost finished and another son is waking up a half hour to an hour earlier each morning to get his done. Two more children don't want to be bothered and two additional ones are struggling through-we will see if they make the deadline.

I am glad I did this as it shows them that anything worth having or participating in is worth working hard for and they will appreciate the camp so much more now that they have a frame of reference and worked so hard to get there.

Light hearted reading

I am enjoying doing some light hearted reading right now of a book called, "Coop - A Family, A Farm and the Pursuit of One Good Egg" by Michael Perry. Cindy at "The Bodie Bunch" recommended it and so far I am loving it. Its about farming, family, taking in special needs adopted and foster kids-obviously right where I am living. The author is humorous and as I am laughing out loud quite frequently the kids are wondering what I am reading. Eric liked his section about oatmeal every day growing up (Eric greatly dislikes oatmeal so he can relate).

Anyway, other than that we continue packing and planning the house addition for our new farm. I hope to do a step by step pictorial of the update/addition process as well as the conversion from a hay farm to a pastured enterprise for livestock.

Off to church and parish fellowship today. Have a wonderful Lord's Day everyone!

No, this is not the farm we finalized the contract on yesterday but I believe this will be the new logo and name - what do you think? Autumn is our favorite time of year and is also the time of harvest. There is a creek that runs through the new farm and we liked how that flowed with the word ranch. Since we raise heritage animals and plants and also hope to pass on a generational heritage to our children, the subtitle seemed fitting.

More details to come...

What looks to be an excellent book!

http://www.healthforgenerations.com/index.htm

Her book is available for pre-order and I will definitely be doing so!

Still waiting

We are still in the negotiating process on the farm we hope to buy. We did get good news from the contractor we spoke with regarding an addition - he will be glad to let us do as much of the work we would like in order to save money and to learn some valuable skills. The boys are excited about the prospect of picking up some extra money for painting barns and outbuildings there and the girls are talking through decorating ideas.

We went ahead and decided to put the plants I bought almost two months ago in the ground here yesterday. Most of the plants I bought survived but are kind of leggy. Not sure what kind of harvest we will get but we figured some is better than none and by the time we move it will be about 3 weeks from first frost. One of the boys put up three cattle panels and we planted peppers (Chocolate, Purple Beauty, King of the North red, Orange Bell and Jalapeno) and tomatoes (Roma, Gold Medal, Persimmon, Goliath, Early Girl) along these.

We also planted three rows of cabbage (we eat a lot of fermented sauerkraut and coleslaw), one row of bunching onions and 4 rows of potatoes. Today we will plant the one pumpkin plant, several butternut squash and few melon plants that survived. We dont expect any harvest from these but hopefully the new owners can put a frost cover over them and get some benefit.

We had several potato plants spring up in our garden beds from last year as well as quite a few squash plants. Today we will weed those. My lettuce, peppers and tomatoes in the earth boxes are doing well and we should harvest from all of those, God willing. We have a beautiful stand of oats growing in our used hay/manure pile so we have been pulling handfuls of this and feeding it to the animals.

We plan to haul all of our used hay/manure from this past winter to the new place (going to rent a tractor for this) and use it to fertilize and mark new garden beds. I will continue with Dick Raymond and Ruth Stout methodology and see how it works (raised beds and tilled beds). I am excited to use "Dick Raymond's Gardening Year" next year.

Finally, looking forward to listening to Vision Forum's Baby Conference on CD soon and a couple of books are being added to my wish list - the first being, "Kick the Hay Habit" by Jim Gerrish and soon to follow, Joel Salatin's new book, being released in September.

That's all for now...:-)

Offer process

We put an offer in on the old farm I posted about on Friday - still waiting to hear back their hopefully final counter offer. So far the process is going well. We have a contractor looking at the house to see the best way to add on and I have been perusing wall paper sites looking up victorian and vintage styled wallpapers. In addition, we found some episodes of "This Old House" and watched that so the creative decorating juices are flowing.

We continue to pack and get ready, its been very warm over the last few days but a cool front is coming through today so we are going to do some garden work. I purchased quite a few plants last month thinking we were going to moving much sooner than this but since it now looks like we will not move until the end of August, I am going to plant them and hope the new owners can have some sort of harvest with them before the first fall frost.

We are all enjoying watching Molly and the kids are engaging in daily water gun battles - the fun of summer..:-)

Meet Molly!!

Molly is our first Dexter born on the farm - her mother is a black Jersey and her sire is a red Jersey. Matilda, her mother had no issues calving and Molly looks healthy and is nursing well... We are very excited!!

Happy Birthday Mom

My Mom's birthday is today - I hope she has a blessed day and we all send her our love and gratitude!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Are we crazy???

We had found a homestead we really liked but found out from our realtor that one of the owners really doesn't want to sell (the dad) so in light of that we started looking yet again. I asked our realtor to check on a farm that we have had our eyes on for over a year but the price has been prohibitive and a year ago when we checked on it, they werent very motivated to lower the price much. We knew it was a long shot but we are also running out of possible options here. Apparently a year makes a difference because now the owners (older folks) do want to retire and are willing to be very negotiable. We went there yesterday and the farmer who owns it gave us a grand tour. The farm itself is pristine, right now he makes hay and raises cows on most of it - he used to raise yaks. He has 35 acres of water rights and all the irrigating equipment will be included in the sale. He is also willing to include all of his haymaking tractors/equipment. Most of the land (105 acres) is in alfalfa and oats. There are extensive, albeit old, outbuildings. It has a large seasonal pond and the water for the house and land is spring fed. The farm used to be a dairy up until the 1950's and still has all the old cow stanchion spots and milk cooling room in an awesome old barn. In addition, this farmer leases 450 acres of state land for dirt cheap that he said we can take over (he has 5 years remaining on the lease). The downside is the farm house is very old and small and needs completely redone. We did something similar in NC but this will take more work. It has great bones and is very charming however. We are having a gentleman go out this afternoon to give us an estimate on adding on to the house. The location is prime for the type of business we want to run so we have to decide - buy something that wont take as much work to overhaul but is farther away and wont be as successful for a business or take on something that will be painful for a few years but could be exactly what we want long term....we will see what God has in store.

Til next time-

Meet Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...

Fourth with friends

We had a nice time with friends for the 4th of July yesterday. I elected to bring my little ones home and not attend the fireworks because they started so late but my older kids decided to drive back down and enjoyed celebrating the anniversary of the founding of our nation.

I was frustrated coming home, however. I hope that someday our youth (I know some adults are this way too) wont spend so much time speaking about movies and personal entertainment. I wish we could get back to speaking about what God has done and is doing for us, the work we hope to achieve, Lord willing, how much our families and friends have blessed us, getting help for problems we may be struggling with and in turn helping others with what they are struggling with. Perhaps we can talk about how to better the culture through God honoring movies as the San Antonio Christian Film Festival strives to do. I would hope fellowship could be a time of support for leading a set-apart life (simple, separate and deliberate as the folks at the Highland Study Center would say) not a comparison of how much we continue to be like the culture around us, partaking in music and movies that I don't believe God would find glorifying to Him or "pure, noble and lovely".

Off my soap box for now - more on Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner tomorrow...

Psalm One and Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Blessed is the man [1]
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law [2] of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Had a sad talk with one of our adult children who has returned to live with her biological family and it is not going well. She admitted to substance abusing and being completely miserable and greatly missing everyone but because her cousins have told her she "doesnt fit in"culturally with their partying crowd she feels unacceptable and she thinks its much more important to be culturally relevant, drugged and miserable than at odds with the culture, walking a different path, but safe, content and joyful.

On another note, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner came yesterday....more on that to come...:-)

Happy 4th of July - may we get back to the founders intent for this country - a country where we as individuals are self-governing, choose to do what is right and help our fellow man because the Bible says to do it, not expecting the government to take care of us all.

Good news

We had an inspection done on the property that is at the top of our list and it came back pretty good. Our realtor was a little nervous about some of the unfinished projects but based on some of the houses we have taken on in the past, this one seems easy. We would have to put up siding and would probably but up "e-log" -(they have an internet site) on the outside and possibly some on the interior as well as we both really like the look of log. I am already planning out decorating schemes - pulled out some Thomas Kinkade farm borders I have had for awhile and also looking at red toiles and burgundy, cream, gold and forest green floral papers. Since this will hopefully we our home for awhile, (more than the 3-4 years of all of our married lives) I plan to have fun and not worry about it having a neutral color scheme for resale. I also want to do some decoupage on the kitchen cabinets (www.durwinrice.com) and on some more furniture (I did several pieces when we lived in NC and had a blast). In order to rest my back a bit yesterday, during quiet time Emma and I sat down and watched a "Sewing with Nancy" on embroidery tips, a "Martha Pullen's Sewing Room" and a "Quilt In A Day" about Pigs in the Blanket quilt blocks. Emma loves these shows and since I only watch about 10 a year it was fun for her to snuggle with Mom and dream about creating. Not much is worth watching on TV but I do enjoy these shows.

Packing up the upstairs bathroom today and cooking for tomorow. Lord willing we will put an offer in on our future home on Monday!

Real Estate and Packing

Lots of real estate issues going on right now. We are having to shop around for mortgage lenders because they all seem to have different standards and rules. We are praying that a gentleman who wants to lease to own our Alabama home follows through at the beginning of next week which will ease some of the financial strain we are under and make banks more willing to work with us, despite our excellent credit rating. The house we hope to buy is being inspected on Friday, we are praying good news comes from that as well.

I have been busy packing and my back is starting to feel the strain. The books inside the house are all packed now, today I move on to quilt and sewing items. Gina is organizing and packing up the workshop with some help from the kids. We are still short of book boxes, hopefully we can pick some more up on Friday.

Weather has turned cooler here - almost like Fall but it is supposed to warm up again, warming up being relative of course to this area, which means 80 degrees (compared to over 100 in Alabama).

We have been told the cooler temperatures are keeping strawberries from maturing this year and tomatoes are struggling. If God blesses us with buying the place we would like, I hope to plant a bunch of things in their big green house to atleast reap some harvest this year.

We will be spending the 4th of July with some local friends and then are back to the moving insanity...:-)

Wisdom of Proverbs

Steve sent me this proverb this morning - Proverbs 29:1 - "He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy." I sent him a message back asking "which child are you speaking about" since that readily applies to 4 at this moment. One has left the house and decided to live the life of a partying drug addict it appears. One begins the process of counseling/church discipline today for defiance/disrespect issues but his answer instead is to enlist in the military so he doesn't have to obey rules (yes, that is funny to the rest of the world). Another's mantra is "Its too hard" no matter what is asked of him - the world is a place to play. And one more assumes the world should revolve around her and gives us all the daily pleasure of a raging temper tantrum (she is a teenager not a toddler). On a more positive note, a different adult child on her own told us the other day that she would give anything to go back to cooking and gardening and being in the home, even longs to wear skirts again. In light of this, I was able to have a discussion with my children about a couple of things. First, what's in your heart will come out when you are on your own, as is evidenced by our one who very quickly adopted her bio family's legend of intense drug usage and law breaking. Another thing I told them is you have to choose how to live your life and being on your own isnt always as fun as you think it will be. You can choose to follow the path of the culture for self gratification or you can follow the path of Jesus and have a more difficult but ultimately rewarding life.

We attempt to shelter our children from some of the damaging things in our culture and we expect them to follow the "narrow road" with us while they are at home. That means they cannot do everything their contemporaries in society can do but we do try to prepare them for life on their own, knowing they will have to face the temptations of the "never going to grow up" culture we live in - life is about entertaining ourselves it seems. We want them to learn to work hard since hard work is a blessing. We want them to be self sufficient. We want them to love learning. Most of all, we want them to be able to stick to and defend what they believe, even if it disagrees with what we have taught. We have told them that if they choose to follow the life we have chosen or a life in similar fashion, it will be hard, they will be ridiculed and questioned. In the end, at the Judgment seat, I would much rather Jesus say to me, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant" than have the approval of the culture around me and be accepted for "fitting in" - we certainly want to see our children in that same category and so we pray for their hearts and continue plodding along on our daily path of training, even in the midst of some big obstacles... and with that note - a new day begins...:-)

Sunday BBQs

We had a great day of fellowship with the folks from our parish yesterday. Our church has a wide geographical spread of people and so to encourage community we have broken into parishes in order to fellowship and have small group bible studies. One such BBQ was yesterday where the women got together and of course talked about kids, birth stories, marriages, grand kids, home learning, etc... Most everyone else played volleyball, wiffle ball and chatted and ate lots of good food.

We will be hosting everyone in August Lord willing, hopefully we will at least have clean bathrooms and working appliances at that time..:-)

A great way to grown squash...apparently

One of the good things about raising pigs is that no food goes to waste (other than our leftover pork which we do not feed to our pigs). Last year we bought lots of squash from a local farm here and of course, scooped out the seeds and stringy stuff and put it in the pig dish for them to eat. Much of this occurred while the pigs were just starting out in their winter pen. At the beginning of Spring, we took down that pen, moved them to fresh ground and either raked up or out all of the manure.

Yesterday, my 11 year old son came in excitedly, telling me he needed to show me something by the old pig pen. You probably guessed it by now, but there are probably 100+ squash plants of different varieties growing now where that old pig pen was. We are hoping we will be here long enough to reap some of the harvest, but if not, it will be a great experiment to watch it continue over the growing season to see how it does.

Are we home yet??

The farm we looked at yesterday is just what we hoped for. House is set up great for us and also has a huge green house with a planted orchard, including probably a hundred strawberry plants, huge raspberry bushes, grapes, etc... It also has a planted alfalfa field for hay, lots more pasture then we have now, woods for timber harvesting and a generally beautiful setting on top of a small mountain. It also has a chicken house, underground 2 room root cellar, large pantry/keeping room, large insulated, heated workshop - again, everything we wanted in a farm is here. It does have finish work to be done (siding, some walls to finish, etc...) but we had wanted to learn to do some of that work anyway. We have to wait a week or so to put an offer in until what looks to be the purchase to own of our house in AL to be firmed up. God has been testing our faith to see if we will worry and fret or just wait on Him and His timing. Since I want to plan everything out so much this is especially hard for me, but we have seen God work out so many amazing things in this move/potential retirement situation that I should be like Abraham and just know that God will provide.

We still appreciate prayers for Steve's retirement to go through and for a new job to open up. We have some good possibilities and the even better possibility of the job he wants to take being available a year from this Fall.

Today is Ricky's 18th birthday so we will celebrate with him and this milestone in his life.

Have a great Saturday!!

New Farm

We are going to look at yet another farm this morning for the second time. This one is my favorite by far with so much already done it would be easy for us to step in and start our business. The farm now has an organic seed business that is pretty successful but we would focus on raising pastured meats.

I can say that I will be so glad to be moved and done. We thought that was the case when we moved here but God had other plans... hopefully the next house will be the final one, at least for a really long time!!

IMAC is back!!

Our IMAC computer is back in business with a new external hard drive attached since we lost all of our information over the last two months.

To post an update - we closed on our house here this week, I will rent it for the next two months or so. We will be re-looking at a house again tomorrow that is my dream property - having some financing issues because of the deal on the house here but hopefully that will be worked out soon.

In addition, it appears we have someone interested in buying our house in Alabama but they will need to sell a house first - they want to rent to own our property, which would be great as it would bring in additional income.

No word on Steve's retirement yet but we know its being worked because they have asked for additional information.

Finished reading "An Unburdened Life" by Richard Morris. Good on the whole, I like his point about it being hard for most people to exercise because other than fitness it serves no purpose. Back in our agrarian forefathers day they got a great workout and a great harvest to prove it.

Weather finally warmed up here but we have had amazing amounts of rain.

That's it for now - will post pictures of where we buy a house, once we figure that out.

Quick check in

Didnt think I could post anything while our IMAC was in the shop recovering from its hard drive implosion because the lap top has cookies and such enabled but apparently I was able to fix that. House closing here on Wednesday, think we have found our new farm and plan to make an offer this week. Working on lots of sewing projects, going to start packing, etc... no news on Steve as of yet, hoping to hear something this week... seeds I planted last year in the garden are coming up - I guess the moisture and temperature are just right this year.

Heirloom nightgown

Pictured below is a new summer nightgown for Emma using Martha Pullen's Fancy Slip pattern. The nightgown needs to be washed and shrunk a bit but all in all it went well. I am enjoying improving heirloom sewing techniques using my specific sewing machines.

Testing a few things

I wanted to test this new blog site, including inserting pictures. Here are my sweet Emma and Elizabeth...

Exhausted

When Steve found out he was going to be deployed for a signifigant period of time, we filed a hardship retirement waiver because we knew it would be very difficult for our children to handle.  We didnt realize how quickly things would start to go bad.  Unfortunately this past week, one of our more challenging sons started bullying and hurting his sisters and then when confronted with the fact that if he didnt stop he would be speaking with men from our church, he ran away into the woods for two days.  The woods behind our house consist of thousands of acres and so it was a very scary/exhausting couple of days for all of us, not knowing if he was truly lost, hurt or just being belligerent.  Turns out it was the last and he finally came back because he was very hungry.  Right now he is staying with some single men from church until we figure out the best place for him to be (or Steve comes home if the waiver is approved).

On another note, one of our adult daughters is visiting with her biological family for the next two weeks (family she hasnt seen for over ten years and from what we have been told haven't changed much since their children were removed).  She has gotten no sleep since she has been there, she said they were finally going to eat dinner sometime after ten p.m. last night (getting ice and beer was more important).  We are thankful during this time for technology as we can text back and forth to keep her spirits up and her strength in convictions renewed.  Her family has complained to her that she is too "white" and they have to bring back the "brown" in her, whatever that means.  Of course she is going to act like us, she has lived with us for 7 years.

Finally, my littlest girls are sick again, stress I believe is contributing some, so most of the crew will be heading to church this morning while I care for little ones.  Hope everyone out there in blogdom has a wonderful Lord's Day!

Dogs vs Porcupine

Unfortunately, the dogs lost and we ended up having to take them to the vet yesterday morning to be sedated as this was the only way to pull out the massive amount of quills, especially on our dog Frostbite (all 3 dogs are Great Pyrenees).  They all came through great - we go pick them up this morning before church.  More importantly, it appears our house here has sold, so we begin looking for our new farm.  At this point we think we will find a farm with small farm house and build a 2 story log addition, using the skills Steve received at the Log Home Builders Association 2 day class.  If we do, I would like to pictorial the process along the way.

Steve, Lucas and Eric have had a wonderful time at the Veritas Press End of the Year Gathering and Steve actually interviewed to teach there  (Calculus to start).  He said the interview went well and is hopeful.  He has also met some folks we used to attend church with in North Carolina and also the Mother (a teacher a Veritas Press) of a woman we were friends with when we lived in Florida.

A young man from church here was able to fix the rototiller we inherited when we bought this property so Gina, Shawn and James tilled up our garden area to see how it works.  That garden area looks great and is a wonderful combination of cow, pig, goat and chicken manures and spent alfalfa hay (which I have read is phenomenal for the soil).  Hopefully the new owners can get a good crop of veggies from it.  I plan to haul the rest of the manured hay with us (we will rent a tractor to scoop it up) so we can get some garden beds going when we get there.  Our earthboxes with lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and peppers are all thriving with the massive amount of rain- we are looking forward to salad soon!

Lots going on

I haven't been posting much lately because so much is going on in our lives.  We found out a few weeks ago that my husband is supposed to deploy to Afghanistan in the fall, preluded by several months of training, all in all he would be gone around 15 months.  We have been fighting the deployment because it would be very rough on the children, especially those of our children who are more challenging.  We have one more fight to make, the results would be early retirement for S

Another great article to read

Artificial Stupidity

This is great and so true of our culture today...

A great article regarding the roles of men and women

http://networkedblogs.com/4fofC

Plants and seeds

My sun room and sun porch are now filled with plant starts I received from Azure Standard yesterday and seeds are pouring in.  I am itching to begin planting but have to wait one more week for a decision being made about our house here.  If we move I will be planting about a month behind schedule so will need to resort to some frost covers in the fall to complete the season.  I also received a great book yesterday, "Dick Raymond's Gardening Year".  It is a month by month pictorial schedule of what to do when - and since his growing season in Vermont is very similar to the one here it should be easy to follow.  Our apple trees are blooming and I hope to have Gina begin taking a bunch of pictures so I can start adding pics as we progress with the garden through the year.

On another note, Lucas and Eric are excited about attending Veritas Press' End of the Year gathering next week and getting to put faces with students and teachers they have met online.  Hopefully, the rest of us will be packing..:-)

Working on figuring out new homestead blogger system

I have not been posting much as we are trying to figure out the new homestead blogger set up.  I have a feeling it will take me a few days.  I will miss my farm picture I had at the top of the other blog - this one was the prettiest I could find but still doesnt quite capture farming like I want it to. Oh well, sometimes new  improved technology is not always a blessing.

We are busy getting the garden ready and watching the orchard trees bloom.  More turkeys are laying on clutches and spring is definitely in the air.  We will wait to plant until the end of next week in case the folks that say they want to buy our house follow through.  Dick Raymond's "Joy of Gardening" had been recommended to me by a mentor of an agriculture class I am taking and it is an excellent book.  I will be trying out his "Eat N Store" garden plan as well as continuing with some raised Stout method beds.  I hope to get Gina to begin some pictorials of the garden as it progresses...

Fire

For many years I have taught my children that even when you think what you are going through it tough (and my kids have been through some tough times in their lives) there is always someone who has suffered more than you.  This lesson became quite evident to all of us Wednesday night.  Just as we were preparing for bed, my older daughters heard an explosion and came to tell me they thought our neighbors house was on fire.  I followed them downstairs to confirm this (we both live on 20 acres so our houses are not very close) and sure enough as I came into our living room, huge rolling flames and smoke were rising from their house.  I called 911 and as I was talking with the operator, our neighbors called in the fire themselves.  Apparently they were sleeping when it started, so we saw it first since it started in the garage which faces our house.  We are thankful to God that He brought them both out alive.  As the fire was raging we heard explosions which turns out to be ammunition exploding in their garage.  Unfortunately both of their cars were in their garage so not only was their house completely destroyed but both of their cars and all 3 of their cats as well.  As can be imagined they lost everything and are devastated.  And then of course there must be that awful contingent of society that is now showing up in their driveway with pickup trucks (after the owner and fire chiefs are not here), driving around the rubble and shouting all sorts of really crass and heartless things...

We were blessed by God in a big way during all of this, as we are surrounded by woods and the fire could have gotten really out of hand.  We left our property pretty quickly in case this were going to happen.  The firefighters (6-8 trucks) contained the fire rapidly and God blessed us by diverting the smoke in a different direction.  We were very concerned that our animals would suffer from the intense smoke but it didn't come our direction at all.  Thanks be to God for this and prayers please for our neighbors as they attempt to recover from this catastrophe. 

Mothers Day

My 5 year old, Emma, said yesterday, "When I have a Mothers Day, I am going to have lots of desserts and no soup!"

Turkey poults!!

Our first set of Red Bourbon turkey poults (or is it pullets? - I can never keep that straight) hatched yesterday.  We have 8 fluffy babies following their mama hen around - they are so cute and hopefully will make good eating and breeding stock in the future.  It is so fun to make new discoveries on the farm as they happen and finding baby animals is one of the best.

Moving?

We are anxiously awaiting news about whether a family that has expressed intent to buy our house here will be making an offer in the next week.  Apparently they have some tax issues to straighten out but our realtor is pretty sure they will be moving forward.  We are excited yesterday to find out that a property we had a lot of interest in came back on the market.  It had sold earlier in the year (it is a foreclosure) but apparently that has fallen through and its back on the market at a signifigantly reduced price.  There is an additional 20 acres behind it (the house comes with 20 acres now) that our realtor is pursuing to see if they will sell.  40 acres would give us a nice jumping off place for our farm and the possibility of picking up more land around the area is good since its not heavily populated.  The second piece of land borders state land (its a mountain) which would be great for the animals since they would not be up against someone else's home.

We know God will provide exactly where He wants us to be - we just need to be patient!

On another note, I picked up a used copy of a book called, "The Sovereignty and Goodness of God" by Mary Rowlandson. She was a puritan who was captured during Prince Phillip's war.  I hope to delve into it more later today.

No piglets yet - butchering day

Still waiting on the piglets - hopefully any day now.  Steve and boys butchered a goat, our first turkey and some roosters on Saturday, during intermittent periods of rain.  Its been raining so much here (its raining again today) that its beginning to feel like England or Seattle.  I itch to put plants in the ground but the fact that we will probably be moving in the next month and the possibility of a late spring freeze (most folks don't plant until the end of May here) keeps me from doing so.  Its actually fore-casted to snow tomorrow.

We are beginning a plan of hospitality nights on Fridays and Family Sabbath meals of Saturdays starting this week.  Unfortunately the first hospitality night is being ousted by a church family dance we found out yesterday but that will be fun as well- the kids are certainly looking forward to it...

More piglets?

Our second sow was looking rather restless, tired and uncomfortable yesterday and would not be around the other two.  Even though it doesn't look like her teats were filling with milk yet, we wanted to make sure her farrowing space was prepared, just in case, especially after last times disaster.  Our kids made an electric netted pen around her with a shelter, food, water and hay for nesting.  Hopefully we will see piglets in the next day or so...

Robert Duncan

I had to share this link - I have some of this artist's children and winter pictures which are some of my favorites - my two favorite artists being Thomas Kinkade and Robert Duncan.  Here is a link to a new group of paintings-they are breathtaking!!  Enjoy!!

The Farmers

Spring Cleaning Conference and Feminine Modesty

I cannot rave enough about the Spring Cleaning Parenting Conference Steve and I attended this past weekend - "Faithful and Unafraid - Parenting for the Future" by Douglas and Nancy Wilson.  It really was excellent and CD sets will be available in the future from Canon Press Audio.

While we were there, we picked up a CD set from the book table called "Feminine Modesty" also by Douglas Wilson.  We have listened to three of the four CDs in the set and wow is it powerful.  Modesty in our culture and especially in the church is an issue that grieves me greatly but its so hard to address.  In our own home we have high standards that we externally control, even if the heart of our girls are not in line, for the simple fact that we do not want to cause our Christian brothers to stumble.  Further, how our girls dress (and our boys as well)  is a reflection on Steve and his leadership in the family.  For children we have not had from the beginning but are rather trying to teach right things later in life this can be challenging as the government school indoctrination of "I must dress to be accepted and cool even if I look like a hooker or moron" is hard to overcome.  We train in right principles and have faith in God for the internalization.

Here is a link for the CD set : Feminine Modesty CD set

Finally, a link to  three book companies I really like and a conference I am praying the money will be provided for me to attend - check them out!!

Monergism books

Crown Rights Book Company

Lamplighter Publishing

Baby Conference

Farm learning experiences

This week has been particularly challenging in regards to our novice farming.  We were excited about getting Tamworth pigs because of their heritage status and because of their excellent taste status from the Slow Food movement.  Our two sows and boar are very gentle and have been a joy.  I had read in Greg Judy's book Comeback Farms how his sows farrow on pasture - they just go into the woods, have their litter and appear back in a week to ten days with piglets in tow.  Unfortunately for us, this didn't happen in reality.  Our sow had her litter but the other two pigs (all three always want to be near each other) kept going near her and accidently stepped on a few.  When we discovered this, we netted her in away from the others but then that night the weather changed and we think we lost the last few to cold and the fact that by this time the sow was pretty agitated.  So, we will build a farrowing shelter for her next time with a separate, heated place for the piglets to go in to.  Steve found a good plan that is not too restrictive for the sow as I find the narrow farrowing crates pretty cruel.  Hopefully we can have one built before our next sow gets ready to farrow.

On a brighter note, we made the acquaintance of a livestock dealer in this area that rescues Jersey calves from confinement dairies and then resells them.  We were able to get 3 calves (all about 2-3 months old) for about $100 a piece (calves usually run $400-$800 a piece and up).  We will get them healthy and then have them ready to help begin our raw dairy in a few years.

Tonight Steve and I will be attending a Spring Cleaning Conference with Doug and Nancy Wilson sponsored by our triad of churches up here.  I look forward to hearing them in person after reading their great books.

Tilling and plowing

I have read quite a lot over the last few years about how plowing and tilling are so bad for the soil, how we lose so much top soil that way, how "nature" doesn't plow or till but grows seeds through the "duff" which falls naturally on the ground and accumulates.  I have believed all of this until yesterday when in my Bible reading I came across references to plowing.  I did a Strong's concordance search for plowing and tilling and there are many references for both in the Bible.  So, it appears plowing and tilling are good ways to grow crops.  Perhaps the problems with our soils are both the massive use of pesticides and herbicides, the fact that we do not let our growing areas rest appropriately and the fact that we don't feed the soil.  I will do more research on this in the future.

On another note, Emma finished her phonics learning book yesterday.  She was very excited and we are both very proud of her - good job Emma!

Townshend Winery

Steve and I had a "date night" last night and we went to one of our favorite local places, Greenbluff Growers, specifically to Townshend Winery to do some wine tasting.  I love their Red Table Wine which is very robust, not typical for me since I am usually a sweet wine sort of person.  They have a wine club on their website that I will join once the double mortgages are done.

Also, during church yesterday our pastor spoke about dying for or "killing" your brother - specifically using the example of Cain and Abel in the literal sense.  It is interesting to me that the first covenant child created was evil - I want to do more research on this in the future once I can somewhat wrap my mind around that concept since we hope that most children born to Christian parents will be covenant keepers.

Finally, I will begin my correspondence sewing course with the Smocking Arts Guild of America today, Lord willing, plus lots of new things going on at the farm - hopefully piglets and poults soon...

A wonderful surprise

Steve and some of the boys were supposed to go work with some church members helping at an older gentleman's home nearby.  Anyway, he surprised me this morning by saying he was taking everyone (except Lucas who isnt feeling too well) so I could spend the day sewing..

So, off to work on summer clothes for Emma...

Fresh Cream again!!

Little things in life can be so rewarding!  I have been without fresh cream in my coffee for a little bit while our cow was "dried off" in preparation for calving.  I was using goat's milk in my coffee but it just isn't the same.  I am so thrilled to have fresh cow cream again-its the best in coffee!

I found out something interesting in my Bible reading yesterday from Leviticus - cattle form a herd, sheep and goats form flocks (I always thought it was a herd of goats). 

Finally, I finished the book, "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen yesterday (required reading for my Agriculture class).  The middle part of the book that speaks of his figuring out how to make food was inspiring (however all of God's providence was left out of this book) but the ending was awful.

I have a bid on a four volume set of "Farm Knowledge" books (published in 1819 by Sears and Roebuck).  Our mentor strongly suggests these and they look wonderful!  The one thing I do believe is that in our current and deepening recession/depression, farming will be one of the most profitable ventures as people always need food.

Until next time...

Turkey eggs

Well, the turkey we thought had taken off on the run was instead doing her God given duty of sitting on a clutch of eggs under a very large spruce tree in our front yard, we just couldn't see her.  She apparently has twelve eggs she is attempting to hatch - we are hoping the naturally nested eggs will work out well.  We are also hoping to buy a Royal Palm pair, with separate chicken tractors for the Palm pair and Bourbon trio.

Received "All Through The Ages" by Christine Miller yesterday.  Lucas is very excited as this is a huge book list for history from the beginning to more current history. 

Finally, the folks from CA who are interested in this house will make their decision this week we have been told.  We continue to pray that both houses will sell at the same time so we can make a wise decision as to a farm to purchase to continue this dream we have of producing good food for our local community and church body...