Family Photos ~ 2013

My sister was at our house this summer, so I took advantage of the fact to get a few family photos taken. You moms know just how hard it is to take a good family photo! My requirements have reduced over the years to one where there is no visible dirt on our clothes and we all have more or less natural expressions. (smile) I was pretty happy with these. Especially happy with the bright green grass/leaves that we could use for a background this year!

 

Note: If you want to view the photos larger - just click on the photo.

 

 

I tried to get some of those cool couple shots of my Cowboy and me, but alas - we are not a very photogenic couple. We just get goofy when we try to be sweet on camera. (grin) so this was the best we could do...

 

My poor baby was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open, let alone smile.

But that's OK.

A Country Girl

There is no way around it - I am a country girl.

I have lived my share in the city, and often in small towns, but I always feel most at home in the country.

 

 

I enjoy seeing my daughter carry her pet chicken around.

 

 

I enjoy cows standing on the road in the rain.

 

 

 

I really find it relaxing to hang clean laundry on the line in the summer.

 

I enjoy taking walks with my kids in the coolness of early evening, down a dirt road.

 

 

                                                               I find cows amusing.

 

 

I like to watch my baby watch the chickens.

 

I am glad my kids can hang over fences and watch Dad work cattle.

 

My heart goes pitter-patter when this handsome Cowboy rides past me, swinging his rope.

 

 

 The road home is always pretty...

 

 And the flowers in my yard seem to be shouting praises to God.

 

 

The rambling old rose bush harks back to a day where life was slower.

 

 

 

 And the wild roses that grow along the creek are so delicate and pretty... blooming unnoticed, mostly, but still being as pretty and sweet-smelling as they can be. Just because that is what The Creator told them to do.

 

 

The sinking sun streams over the snowy white clouds, shooting streaks of brilliance into the wild blue yonder. It makes one look up. Sometimes I just need to stop and look UP.

 

 

Note: All the photos in this post were taken with my phone. Minimal editing done.

Making Our Home a Haven

Recently I have found several sweet, old-fashioned websites that encourage women to be homemakers. Housewives. Mothers. The one who makes the home a pleasant place to be.

That's what I desire.

I want to put my energy, time and skill into making our home a beautiful place to be. A place where my husband can relax, our kids can be encouraged, and anyone who comes through our doors will be refreshed and blessed.

 

So I am learning to step back and re-evaluate my priorities, my plans, and my habits.

I want to find joy and pleasure in being a housewife. In doing my daily tasks with a sweet attitude and making our home a haven.

 

Today I washed all the dirty clothes in the house and hung them out to dry in the beautiful fall breezes. The sun brightened them and the wind softened them, and the clean country air freshened them. I enjoyed hanging them up and then taking them down when the sun and wind had dried them.

Some friends graciously brought me a special lunch of all my favorite foods, and a movie. So I folded the fresh, sweet-smelling clothes while I watched the movie with them. It was such a pleasant treat!

 

Later, the sun was sinking in the west, casting golden rays of sunlight through the trees and bushes.

I enjoy the beautiful, crisp, fall days we are having. Despite the fact that it is just a portent of Old Man Winter, I cannot help but revel in the warm sunshine and deliciously cool breezes.

 

Sometimes life is crazy and everything is a whirlwind and I feel like I can't think straight... those days happen. But I don't want them to happen often. I want most of my life to be a steady, pleasant round of household duties. So my kids can be grounded and I have time and energy to teach them the important things in life.

 

So that I have time to be there when they need me to read a story, bake a cake, take a walk, or soothe an owie. It is important to me that my kids have memories of mama making supper, reading stories, working cheerfully around the house.

 

 

How do you make your home a haven?

 

I used a cheap clothesline from the store, but someday I would like to have one of these. :)

 

Angry Birds Cake

Happy Birthday to my son, Franklin!!

What a blessing God gave us with him.
He was born on a warm summer day in June...the bees were buzzing around my snowball bush, and  I lay looking out at the pretty summer flowers, and feeling the refreshing breeze blowing softly through the open window.

     

I remember holding him on that beautiful day in Missouri - basking in the wonderful after-glow of childbirth. You know, after the labor is done, your midwife has left, you're done with the phone calls, (before texting days!) and it's just you and your sweet, new baby!

10 years,, 6 houses, and two states later...here we are!
Franklin Joseph was named after his paternal grandfather - who went to be with Jesus less than a year before Frankin was born. I often wish he could hang out with his grandpa Joe Schrock. What a great guy, who loved to fish, hunt, camp and was looking forward to the day he could have a grandson to do those things with!

Franklin loves Legos, dinosaurs, and anything with wheels. Engines, machines, gadgets. What a kid!
He is getting handy on  a horse, and helps his dad out with riding and chores. But his first love is engines.

Jenni and I tried making him a 3D Angry Birds Cake today...not professional by any means, but quite cute, nonetheless!

Happy Birthday, Son!

 

Here's some cool Angry Birds' items for your next party!

 

 

 

 

Feedin' Hay

One sunny afternoon a few weeks ago, I took the 'little girls', and went with My Cowboy to feed hay. We usually feed round bales, but - thanks to the drought of 2012 - we have some large squares here, that we had to buy for the cows.

I use the term 'we' loosely.

 

 

Driving out to feed, this is what you see...

Awww.

 

 Then, there is the babysitter. Yes, cows do babysit. A couple cows may go to get a drink at the water tank or creek, and their calves will hunker down together, while another cow stands guard. It's touching. Sorta.

 

At the sight of the hay truck, they come running.
And then wait patiently while My Cowboy cuts strings off the bales and starts forkin' the hay off.

 

Or not...

Actually, cows know not the meaning of the word patience.

It's all noses to the hay bale, people! (I mean, cows.)

 

Anyways.

 

    I was doing what I do best, (next to makin' cinnamon rolls): Holding my baby, taking photos and videos by turn, and steering the truck, while making sure the drenching bottle stayed more or less upright. (My Cowboy had to drench a sick calf after feeding.)

  

You see, I dislike driving large vehicles, so I opt out on any excuse I can think up. Like taking videos. Or holding my baby. Or just about anything.

 

I act like I'm helping by reaching over with one hand and steering. But it's not really necessary. He does it every day or so by himself.

 

So I hold the baby and take photos and My Cowboy starts the truck, then climbs onto the back of the truck (while it's moving!) and forks hay. When he's done,  he climbs back through the door and continues driving.

 

Happy National Ag Day!

Happy National Ag Day!

 

Did you thank a farmer or rancher for your food? You should. Every farmer/rancher feeds 150 people. Don't ask where I got that statistic...I forget. :)

 

Today was a rather normal Tuesday. Tuesdays around here are pretty predictable.

Mondays are also predictable.

So are Saturdays.

And Sundays.

The rest of the week is wild, let me tell you. Like, homemaking-homeschooling-and-diapering-the-baby-wild. (OK, so that's not really wild, is it?)

Anyways.

This morning I fried sausage and eggs (homegrown, brown, Omega-3-loaded, from-my-own-chickens-eggs, mind you) and toasted some bagels.

And made coffee.

Of course.

Then it was getting the kids started homeschooling, starting laundry, putting supper in the crockpot, And mixing up a batch of dinner rolls. In between, I fed the baby, diapered the baby, and laid her down for a nap.  



 

Sometimes I say: "I put her down", (for a nap) but My Cowboy says that sounds like I just killed a cow or something. (As in: "Honey, there was a sick cow - I had to put her down.") Yikes. I'm trying to specify that I laid her down for a nap.

 

 

The kids are trying to take photos of each other to send to Working Ranch Magazine. WRM has a kids issue coming up, and they have a contest for the cover photo...Of ranch kids, by ranch kids, doing ranch-y stuff. So I sent them out this morning with my big camera and lots of "be careful's", to snap some pics. They did a pretty good job, although I think they misunderstood when I told them to keep the sun behind them. Anyway, I love this picture, so who cares? 

 

 

 

 I had started a cinch on Monday, and there was about an hour's work left to do on it. So I finished that up before lunch.

 

My first all natural colored cinch. It's a special order for a customer in Texas.

 

After a quick lunch of stew and fresh dinner rolls, I packed up the kids and we headed to town. We had several errands...Wal*Mart, the bank, post office, library, Murdoch's, and then some half-price-Happy-Hour slushes from Sonic, before the kids' music lessons.

Whew!

After all that, I made it home about 6 pm. Just in time for supper.

I love my crockpot on days like today. Coming home to hot food is beyond wonderful.

And that, my friends, is how I spent National Ag Day.

:)

 

Lucia's Birthday

Miss Lucia turned 4 years old today.

I have a cut-out cake book that the kids get to choose from, every birthday.

'Cia chose a daschund. Of all silly-lookin' dogs.

 

 Who knows what inspires a 4-year-old?? :)

 She had a hard time blowing the candles out.

 She has been begging for  stick horse the last few months - so I figured that would be a hit.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl! You bring a lot of joy and fun into this house.

What is Really Important?

What is important to you?

I was thinking of this recently, in a moment of reflection. It's so easy to float through life, just doing the things that need to be done, planning and working and yes, even taking some 'down-time, so we don't get 'burned out'. 

We go to church and sing praise songs, we agree with powerful messages, we lay down in our beds at night and say a quick prayer before falling asleep. We may get up early and pray for an hour before we start the day. We may read three chapters of Scripture daily - at any cost.

 We may make a commitment to raise our kids in a Godly home - foregoing all the modern entertainment and distractions that are easy to provide. We home school. Or we find the best Christian/academic school possible, and send them there.

We go to marriage retreats, women's retreats, and men's retreats. We read great biographies of Godly people. We devour adoption blogs and dream of making a difference.

We spend less time on Facebook, so we can be better mothers/wives/husbands/fathers/students/Christians.

We read Godly mothering blogs, books, and magazines, and we feel guilty that we are not teaching our kids three languages and that they can't recite the Sermon on the Mount and play at least one instrument proficiently. We look around at our house and wonder if what we're doing really matters? And what are we really doing, anyways? The house looks like a whirlwind swept through - and we just cleaned it up!

My friends - what are we doing? And does it matter?
I have felt the guilt. I have tried the supermom-superwife-superChristian road. It doesn't satisfy. We are not meant to live a copy/paste life, taken from the pages of some book, blog or friend. We will fail, and fail miserably.

Photo credit to Rose Miller.

 

 We are created for one purpose, and one purpose only: To love and be loved by our Creator. To honor Him and His Name on this earth. To love one another.

What is the greatest commandment? A lawyer asked this of Jesus one time, many hundreds of years ago. And Jesus answered:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39.

This is what it all comes down to, my friends.
Do you love God?
Do you love your neighbor?
And are you passing that love along to your children?

 It doesn't matter so much if they can't say the Sermon on the mount by memory - if they love God.
It won't hurt them in life to never have studied Latin - if they love God.
They won't care if your home looked like a Pinterest home - if they know they are loved. 
They may not know more than one language their whole lives - but if they love their neighbor, they don't need a language to get that love across!

    You may only be able to snatch moments here and there for reading the Word of God, but if you love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind - your family will be blessed.
    It may not be in God's plan for your family to adopt, go on a mission, or even be on the VBS committee. But if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will find plenty of opportunities to love on people - starting with your family.

 Sometimes we need to get off our knees, and get a drink for our toddlers.
 Close the Bible and open a book to read to the little ones.
 Put down the duster, and pick up our babies - just for snuggles.
 Stop running around for others - and take our kids on a walk.
 Leave the house a mess, and go sit on the couch with our husband.
The house will always be there - waiting to be cleaned, but we never know when our family may be gone.

It is imperative that we love our children. Our spouses. That we teach our children to love God passionately. He doesn't need our sacrifices. He wants our love. He is our Bridegroom - desiring only our deepest devotion and affection. All of life and it's frantic hurrying and scurrying must fade away as we gaze into the face of our Beloved. That doesn't mean we must be hermits to be still. When we love our family - we are loving Him.

 Brother Lawrence said: " I can sit at the feet of Jesus just as much amid the clattering of pots and pans in the kitchen, as I can while at prayers." (And he was a monk.)

We need to come back to the important thing in life - loving God.
We need to have a deep, passionate love for God, and pass that on to our children.
We need to learn that being holy does not mean being unreachable.
This, my friends, is what is important.

 

 

4 weeks of Bed Rest

Today I shall give you an update on the home situation around here. It may be boring to some of you - so feel free to pass. :)
It's been 4 weeks since I was put on bed rest.
Really? In a way - it doesn't seem that long, on the other hand - I feel like I have been laying on my couch the whole summer.
I have been laying here all of August.  That's a long time, baby. Of course, I have been under restrictions since the first week in July, so I haven't really been 'normal' since then. 
After 4 completely normal pregnancies, I never figured it possible to have such a complicated pregnancy. 
Boy, was I wrong! I guess it's true when they say that 'every pregnancy is different'!  
Am I depressed? No.
Well, ok. It does seem long. Some days I struggle with boredom and/or loneliness. But I can say that the grace of God has been abundant. I feel so blessed to still be carrying this baby.
They didn't give me much hope, back at 9 weeks when I was in the ER.
Or at 12 weeks when I had another ultrasound.
Or at 18 weeks. 
But here I am: 27 weeks, baby is measuring normal size, and from all appearances is a healthy, growing baby! Thank you, God!
I am being taken care of by my wonderful, amazing family: my handsome husband, my sweet kids... they  all pitch in and run the house, fix me food, and care for my hobbies (chickens/garden) while I can't.
                                      Beautiful flowers from My Cowboy and the kids.

Then there's my kind friends.
1.  My friend Karmen drove over an hour one day to visit me. She stocked my fridge and freezer with food, loaned me a stack of books, books on tape, dvd's, and her laptop!! and she placed her adorable baby boy on my lap, so I could snuggle with him. Sometimes it's the little things in life....

2.Then my friend Jodiann drove up another day...also an hour's drive. (yeah, we kinda live far from anyone) She brought loads of delicious food, goodies for the kids, books, books on tape, and of course, conversation! She also did a big stack of ironing, and cleaned out my fridge!!! Ok, there are seriously only a handful of people in this world who I would allow to clean out my fridge. Jodiann is one of them. :) It was really, really bad, too. Thanks, Jodi! Every time I walked past the fridge for the next 2 days - I opened it, just to admire the clean-ness of it! lol!

3. One Sunday Phil & Katie drove up.  1.5 hour drive for them. They brought some of the kids' friends along, which was a nice surprise. They also brought food, and conversation, and Katie made popcorn! :) I am a huge 'popcorn-on-Sunday-afternoon' freak, and we've been missing the cord to our popper for several weeks. So when she asked what I was hungry for, I said popcorn. :) I loved it.

4. Gretchen (Cliff's boss' mom) brought a yummy meal one day. (The best brownies ever!) She lives in town, and has a pretty full schedule - I was honored that she took time to make a homemade meal.

5. A neighbor, Kaley, who I had only met once or twice, offered many times to pick up anything in town that we needed. One evening she brought milk and cereal for us. She's a good American. A good neighbor.

                                                    Flowers from my mom.

6. Then there's my cleaning girl, Heidi, who comes every week and deep-cleans my bathrooms and kitchen. She doesn't even like to accept pay - even though she drives 3 hours round-trip. Her mother sent a delicious meal yesterday - thanks, Karen!

7. There has been various friends and neighbors who have offered help, and there are many friends who pray on a regular basis for our family and this baby. It is all much appreciated. On Sunday, My Cowboy came home from church with food for our freezer...lots of food from friends. And a book from yet another friend. 

8. Last but not least:  when I was first put on bed rest, the first person to call me was my brother. The next day another brother called. I am so blessed to have loving brothers and sisters that care about me, and faithfully call and help pass the time. I just wanna give a shout out to my siblings... Jerry, Jason, Darrell, Jane, Carol, and Rose. What a wonderful family I have! 
Of course, my mom and Cliff's mom keep track of me too.

Are you still with me? :) Ok. All that to say: How could I possibly be depressed?!? I have wonderful, caring friends, loving family, and an awesome God. My needs are provided for, my wants are catered to, and I have the privilege of carrying daughter number 3! 
I can be nothing but grateful. 

                                                 ~27 weeks pregnant~