Angel Kisses

My daughter has freckles on her nose that we call "angel kisses." Tonight, I kissed her goodnight on her nose and she said, "Well, I guess I can expect a new spot on my nose tomorrow because I have just been kissed by an angel." I welled up in tears. Does it get any better than this?

Extraordinary Gifts

Well...she certainly doesn't get it from me, that is for sure! I sent this picture out to some friends earlier in the year....but it bears repeating here. I can't believe my 6 year old (now 7) did this. I love when I can see talent in others that I could NEVER do.
My mother in law is the best cook on earth, for example. Believe me, it has been a tough transition for my husband. He is patient, but seriously starved! Sometimes he will sneak over to his mom's house to eat! I have to laugh because I have tried and tried to cook and ya know what? I have come to the conclusion that there are just some things that work for some and not for others! I watch people and try to duplicate it and it is really usually sub par! So sad!
Another talent that is amazing to me is my mom's abiltity to accomplish SO MUCH in a day. She cleans, organizes, bakes, irons, takes care of children, and it is ALWAYS to perfection. She will call me at 7:30 and have done 3 loads of laundry, scrubbed her floors, vaccuumed and started dinner! I listen intently as I fumble for the coffee pot! People are just amazing! I look at my children's art work and know they are gifted thru Frank's side of the family in it. His dad and brother are both artists and I think my oldest may have the gift. I should have known when at 3 she asked me to draw her an animal and when I gave it to her she scrunched her nose, turned her head sideways and said, "well....I think I will have daddy do it. " Hmm.
I am always amazed at what others can come up with. I have decided that my talents are photography and decorating, both of which I am an amateur, but the passion is there. And isn't that what matters....having the passion? I think maybe that is what it all boils down to.

Call Me Crazy............

What is it about mowing that is so relaxing? Is it that I sit (not push!) and just relax all the while I am completing a task? Is it that I am getting a bit of a tan without having to sit still which makes me feel guilty? Is it that the sound drowns out all other cares in the world and I only have the one goal to accomplish? Maybe it is just that I know it helps Frank out and it is a small contrubution to his already busy life. Whatever it is, I love it! Good thing I do because it takes almost 5 hours to accomplish. That is full throttle with stopping for gas once. It seems daunting when you look out and stare at it all, but when I am mowing, I am totally in a good way. I use that time to pray, reflect on my week, think about goals, organize my life and just pretty much focus on all that is good. I think of it as my 'me' time and it really takes on a new meaning. Too bad I can't do that while I fold laundry! That is when I am racing to get done because I hate putting clothes away! UUgghh. When it comes to being outside whether gardening, pulling weeds, mowing or just doing some kind of fun activity, I am in heaven. My mom says I get that from my grandmother, who at 85 years old, still pulls weeds everyday. Her yard in neat and tidy and so beautiful. I remember the days when she mowed and mowed, gardened, planted flowers then took us in for coke floats. I cherish those memories and hope to pass those same kind of memories to my girls. Summertime is such a gift and I relish in it everyday. Chores and all, being outside is precious to me!

Here Comes The Garden!

Yeah!! Our garden is finally coming in! The sweet basil, onions, peas, tomatoes, beans and yellow squash are here! The canteloupe is slowly growing and the pumpkins are really coming along nicely. No, we aren't going to give Vala's any sort of competition, but the girls are tending their gardens very well and it gives us awesome discussions....."Life began in a garden" etc. We have decided that because it has produced so vastly, we are going to have a produce stand on our acreage out here. The girls will sell their produce to help pay for horse back riding lessons that they are dying to take! We will get the stand going in about 2 weeks I am guessing. That will be such an awesome experience for them. I doubt if they make enough to cover even one lesson, as they are pretty pricey, but the experience will give them much to think about. The process of planting, weeding, watering, cutting back and caring for has been so valuable to them. I can't even believe all that they have experienced from this one little hobby. Since I am an unseasoned gardener, I have learned much too. We chose to go the "organic" route, so the okra and beans are a bit beat up from pests, but we still would rather be chemical free and go with it. And at the end of the day, after the lessons have been taught and the work is complete, we will get to enjoy the "fruits of our labor" with what my husband calls a "taste explosion!" I LOVE summer!

TRIBUTE 1: Amy H.

Occasionally, I will blog about people in my life.....those who make a big difference, or who have in the past. You will see family, friends, acquaintenances, or just people who inspire me. I look around in my life and am always amazed at who is in it. Some are geniuses (you know who you are!), some are true friends, some are comics, some are wise, some are Christian leaders....but so many make such an impact each day, that I want to occasionally take a moment to stop and appreciate them. Tonight, it is Amy H.
Amy is a spicy redhead who is beautiful, funny, smart, and very talented! I met her through our homeschool network. We met at her house one day and just walking in her house, I knew she was a "kindred spirit." She decorated more closely to me than anyone I had met before, only she was better than me! I am a really tough critic on that and I have to say, I was impressed! The more we talked, the more I liked her. She is a southern gal with an accent as thick as can be and she had the sass to go with it! One day, we were talking about our similar interests, being separated at birth, blah blah blah when I asked her when her birthday was...yep! You guessed it, July 9, my birthday! Perhaps we were separated at birth. Oh, wait, no that can't be because I AM OLDER!!! She told me once if she came back as anyone else she would want it to be me, well that is funny, because she already is me! Well, kinda. Amy is amazing with so much to offer others and I wanted to thank her first here, for many reasons but mostly because she is as cool as me! (HA!) and because I owe her a huge thank you for helping me start this blog, helped with pics, and has been a constant source of help with homeschooling questions, organization tips and *sigh*, yes, even decorating. Love ya, Amy! Thanks so much!

Are you KIDDING me???????

Officially, I have seen it all! As most of you know, we allowed our two female cats to have 1 litter each, just so happens it was 19 days apart! In all, we had 12 kittens and 2 mommies. I must admit, it was one of the most joyful experiences for us ever! We have so many stories to share about that. I even have a video of one of the mother cats running up to the top of the barn, bringing down one at a time to the little bed that I made for her in the bathroom. It was amazing she knew what I was trying to communicate to her because she is an outside farmcat, but she knew I was letting her bring in those babes to raise inside until they were old enough. One by one, she took the babies by the neck, brought them down from the loft, outside across the field, to the house and into the bed where she would nurse it to sleep and then go get the next. Wow! I think I may win the big $$ on the funniest home video show! It really is cute and absolutely amazing. When the second cat was in labor, she (I kid you not!) banged on our window in the middle of the night. I got up and let her in, which she is also a farm cat, never had been in before, and she went into a closet in our kitchen and allowed myself, Frank, Olivia, Avery and our dog Scout watch her deliver 7 babies. It was a miracle to say in the least. We were blown away by her, as it took many hours to complete that task. None the less, these mother cats were amazing and we were grateful for the experience.

That brings me to my own "mother hen" of sorts. I allowed each girl to keep 1 kitten from each litter. This brings our total to 4. One of them is definitely babied! Her name is Butterfly and she is adorable, but boy is she spoiled! Here is how each day goes: Olivia wakes up, gets dressed, adn rushes out to greet her baby. She picks her up, spins her around, delights in her, brings her in, pets her, feeds her, allows her to watch her eat as she sits on the bench. Then Olivia makes her a pillow bed, wrapped in the coziest blankets, surrounds her with stuffed animals, turns on a fan so she won't get too warm, turns on soft music to help her sleep and the cat takes her first of many naps of the day. "Butterfly" is a very cool cat, I must say. She never gets up to walk around, no she waits to be carried. She lays in your arms as an infant lays, on her back and will lay like that until you change positions. She rides in the bicycle basket all over the place and just sits there. Good thing the others are the mousers, because as far as "Butterfly" is concerned, they are not at all interesting. Today, I have seen it all. As we finished up our morning routine and were ready to head to our appointments, Olivia announce that Butterfly "wasn't quite ready" for us to leave yet. I was taken back by this comment a bit, as I didn't know what on earth this cat had to do yet and I wasn't going to wait to find out. Olivia showed me! She has trained this cat to SUCK HER THUMB!!! She saw a baby do it once and thought it would be good for her cat to do. She said she had been doing this for weeks and that it "only takes about 20 minutes or so for her to fall asleep!" ARE YOU KIDDING ME! We are beginning the weaning process tomorrow!

Anxiously Awaiting

When I was a child, I had mixed emotions about going back to school. I really dreaded it as it approached, knowing my summer was about to end. True, it would be fun to see who my teacher was and who would be in my class, but ultimately, I knew that would last a day or so and then the reality of summer being over and back to sitting in boring old school all day would kick in. So you can imagine my surprise last night at 10 pm, when I was finally deciding to put the kids to bed (yes, they are allowed to stay up since it cools off at night and stays light out so long!) when Olivia asked, "When can we start homeschool again?" I was really tired and yawned, "soon, honey, very very soon." I really should have given her a better timeline than that because when I came back with a glass of water, her books were out and her pencil was poised ready to write. "Ok, then let's go!" Frank and I looked at each other and cracked up. The girls talk about it every day and want to start again. I am sure that there are lots of kids out there wanting to go back to public school too, I just wasn't one of them. It is just such a comfort to me knowing that my girls are loving being homeschooled as much as I am loving doing it. I started getting my lesson plans ready today and haven't committed to an actual start date yet, but probably in the very near future. I am so blessed to be able to persue this option of educating my girls at home. We really do have amazing freedom in this country. One of the focuses of our curriculum this year just happens to be on our country and you can be sure that freedom is a topic we will be discussing. Avery (freedom) should really love that. I never want to take for granted the opportunities we have been given and I want my children to be appreciative of the blessings we don't think about each day.

The Littlest Life

From time to time, we are reminded of God's perfect design and how He can use the smallest moments in time to teach us great lessons. Yesterday, I came home and found my way out to our garden. Then I wandered over to Olivia and Avery's garden, which is filled with raspberries, canteloupe and pumpkins. I was pulling some of their weeds to help them out, when I looked over and there it was. A little tiny, pink fleshy pulsing blob of what was intended to be a robin. It was newly born, couldn't be but minutes old. The egg had fallen out of the tree and I looked up and could see mama bird sitting there on the rest. The egg was 3/4 intact and the bird appeared to be fine.....blind, bald and TOTALLY DEPENDANT ON ME! I stared at the height of the tree. I stared at the strength of the branches....could I do it? Could I get that baby back into that nest? hmm. I knew one thing for sure, that baby needed to be kept warm. I held her close to my body and wished I could nurse her to health! I know I know, but it is really a mother's intent to make sure those babies survive! Why couldn't that mother bird swoop down and solve my problem? Why couldn't she understand what I was trying to say to her. I grabbed a ladder and tried to reach up, coming up VERY short. I tried to bend those branches down to me, as they were not big enough to bear any weight but could they maybe bend to me? No. Then I got a net from a swimming pool and attempted to reach up to that branch and bend it down a bit. I scared mom off, but didn't get the limb close enough. Frustrated but determined, the minutes passed. I began thinking this must be how God feels when he is trying to get our attention. We are so close, but yet ignor his calls. He only wants to help us, just like I wanted to help that mother and baby reunite. Yet, even though I tried to sound like a bird and tried to coax her into trusting me, she would not. No matter what attempts I took to reach her, to bring her to me, to go to her, she wasn't having it. This must be how our Father in heaven feels so often. Soon 55 minutes had passed and I went to the internet. It said putting her back would work and the mom wouldn't abandon her or her siblings if the nest wasn't moved, even with human scent on her. It said it was imperative that humidity be high for this bird to survive! Well welcome to Nebraska, little one. You were born in the right place at least. And I was giving off massive heat of my own in my efforts to save her. I started to panic. No, I wasn't going to go to Gretna days. I was going to make this baby live. The internet said regurgitated worms are what they are fed for 3 day. Hmm....yes it occurred to me! I know, I have officially lost it, right. Then I thought of putting it in a blender with a dab of water. Yep, I am totally gone! Ha! I called my friend, Heather, who is one of the most amazing people on this earth. She instantly knew to call the wildlife rescue people, and in fact pretty much had one on speed dial! Within minutes, she called me back with a solution. "Get a butter tub, drill holes for drainage, put in dryer lint for warmth and hang it in the tree," she said. "The mother bird will swoop down and get her when she chirps for food." While on the phone, I had the drill in hand and was goin for it. Hmmm. Do I have dryer lint? When was the last time I used that bad boy laundry room? AAHH, yes, there was plenty. I proudly stuck her in her new rescue station and tucked her in. The girls and I prayed for her and off we went to Gretna days.
This morning she was still alive, looking a bit dehydrated, but still breathing and still having a heartbeat, although weaker. She had done well overnight, and I was proud of her. I thought perhaps this could work! Elated, I checked on her periodically, even trying to put a syrange of water in her beak to give her a sip. She was so sweet. But in the end, it was to much for her to survive without her mother. She needed the love that only her mother could provide, much as we need the love only our Father can provide. We had a family burial and found another nest to bury the bird in. Olivia took it especially hard. She cried and cried and I simply held her. I felt her pain, for I too wanted that bird to live. I was proud of her heart. She has compassion beyond words. Her heart for others is great and ultimately the goal. She has known so much about death with humans, based on what we teach about eternity, but for animals that is a bit harder. I think the lessons here are for both of us. First, for me, listening to God's calling is imperative and if I fail to do so, I may miss His purpose for me. I may miss what he is trying to do in my life and for His glory. Second, for Olivia, learning about loving and losing and trusting are just small steps in this great big world of lessons. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.

Yep, I am doing this......

Crazy....I am adding one more thing to my life. Blogging. Wow! I guess I first started thinking about it when my sister's husbands brother (are ya with me?) adopted their fourth child and blogged from China. It was really cool to see the daily entries....kinda like reading a diary or something, only with daily info happening live in another country. Very neat. Then I began reading a blog on a little boy with cancer and the day in and outs of that teary situation, but realized what an amazing way to communicate to others about all that is going on day to day with families etc. My friend Amy invited me to her blogspace and well.....here I am. I think it will be a great way to journal, since that never seems to make the cut in my daily activities. I don't plan to do this daily, just when I need to say something.....ok ok maybe every other day. In any case, welcome to my blog.

Think I will go night night and get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's. Then I will wake up and realize I did this. You can thank Frank for being such a loud snorer tonight...hence the creation of this. *aaahhh* the wonders of marriage! Goodnight.