Wait and Pray, Pray and Wait

I sat down and did my daily devotional this morning. Some days my devotion just speaks to me. Today not so much. I am impatient right now. I can feel everything piling up and want to deal with it now! I have never been a patient person and this is something God continually works in me. On top of not being patient I like control. I mean who doesn't? We all like to know that we know whats going to happen and when. This also is something that God continually works on in me. It took a very long teenagerhood and several years into my 20's for me to realize I need to give this up. I cannot control what I do not understand. I cannot wait patiently without giving up control to God because he is the only one who knows the path. He is so patient and he waits for me to understand this over and over and over again. I just need to wait.

So back to the devotional... it didn't get me anywhere. I read it and was like what? Frustrated I set my Bible down next to the computer (yes I got on facebook, love me some facebook (: ) As I was sitting there I glanced over at my Bible and realized it was not on the page I had just read. It had flipped itself to a new devotional. As I started reading I had that oh this is for me moment that I just love when reading something. I had to share it:

There are so many ways in which God's actions or inactions make little sense to us. We ask him for help, and he is silent. We trust in him to provide, and he withholds. But is God inconsistent, or is he simply running according to another time schedule, another set of priorities?

Habakkuk questions God's plan to use the pagan nation of Babylon to discipline the wayward Israel. He then settles in to wait for God's answer: "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I can to give to this complaint" (Habakkuk 2:1). Like a guard who waits through his watch with eyes peeled for a sign of movement, Habakkuk waited for God.

So must we. We must pray with a willingness to wait and wait with a willingness to pray. Waiting and praying go together. Like two shoes of a pair or two halves of a whole, they work as a team.

I know that the things that are going on right now I have to give to God. He is in control and its my job to bring him what I have and see what he does with it. He knows the path. So taking it one day at a time, today I will wait and pray and pray and wait because only God knows what will happen tomorrow.

Plans and Changes

Seems things are always changing here. Not by chance, we seem to seek these changes out. I think had we been alive back in the day we would have been Nomads or something. Three years seems to be our mark for drastic change. Most of our children are just about 3 years apart. We moved for my husband to get his Masters in Social Work after three years, then three years later moved across state again once he had graduated. Two years later we had our fourth child and then one year later picked up and moved again. Now less than a year of being at our current house we are changing again. Husband wants to go back to school, something he has been talking about since I met him over 12 years ago. I never thought it would actually happen but suddenly it seems that dream may become a reality. God is sending us down a path and while we don't know what His plan is we are looking forward to what it may bring. This one change is the first of many that we are actually not worried about. Though there is tons to worry about and I am sure there will be many hurdles and obstacles in our path this one just seems right. I feel peace when I think about it. Though it is technically Joe's path it happens to take me somewhere I never ever though I would be. Not somewhere actually but "someone" I guess. A title I would never imagine would be me.

Those of you who know me in real life know I am quiet. I like sitting back and watching. Standing up in front of more than a few people is enough to make my heart race and my stomach feel like emptying itself of the days contents. Once I get to know you I talk but being the "center" is not something I enjoy or pursue being. Suddenly I find myself there way more often than I like and I find people, many people, telling me that God puts me where I am supposed to be. At first it so irritated me when Joe told me how much of a leader I am, actually it still does. I am going to deny it all. Me? A leader? Ha, thats laughable.

I wish I could just continue to deny where we are headed sometimes. As the past few months have gone on it is becoming more and more apparent that I need to get over this and just do it because I know personally what happens when you tell God no. Submitting to something that is not MY plan is hard for me. I am a planner, I love my lists and my details so knowing that God has a plan for me and I just need to submit to his will and LISTEN is hard. But it also feels so right. Our journey will continue and I will keep you updated as things progress. I am not quite ready to share it all but I will as things unfold. In the meantime I welcome your prayers that Joe and I stay on the path God has for us, that we can grow in our marriage with Christ at the center, and that we can open ourselves enought to listen because ONLY GOD knows where we are headed.

Love and prayers to all!

The Garden

I fear that the 2010 garden season is going to be remembered as the worst ever. It has been one problem after another and at this point I am letting it go to the weeds in places. Of course this year had to be the year I decided to actually sell our produce. Everyone is understanding but man I feel awful.

It started with the wettest spring ever. I vaguely remember a scattering of sunny days. Most of the early crops got root rot from too much water. I did four different plantings of things hoping the weather would start to cooperate. July came and actually brought some sun but by that time most of my crops were severely stunted. I replanted some and those are actually doing wonderful. The corn is coming along nicely as is the later planted squashes. The tomatoes are sad, sad, sad however. They were looking wonderful after being started inside. They grew and grew while I waited for the rain and cold night temps to stop and finally I had to plant them outside. They were too big even after repeated transplantings. So out they went, all 80 of them. Sadly the rain didn't stop. They are flowering but I fear they will not bear much, if any, fruit at all this year.

Creatures have been a huge issue this year as well. The wet created a huge slug problem, which an organic slug killer took care of for now. Not before they ate a 80plant row of peas though. There must have been hundreds of them out there. The moles seem to know when I plant a row of seeds. I have one garden row that never fails, I plant something and the next morning a mole has gone from one marker to the other with his little mole path of destruction. Its kind of funny that it is regularly this one row though. Last but not least is my mistake of leaving the gate open when I left for Church last Sunday. I came home to a deer eaten path of beans and cucumbers. An entire acre to choose from and he walked the entire row up and down both sides of the trellis. lol The beans are not lost though, they were just starting to bear beans and the deer only ate about 1/2 to 3/4 of the plants. The cucumbers only had minimal damage so that is good. I have high hopes that we will still get some later harvest crops and I am starting to plant the fall/winter crops.

I have been really busy and not blogging as much but I do miss it a lot. We have Skamania County Fair coming up and my daughter is excited to be showing her chickens again. My husband and I have taken on the roles of running the children's program and youth group at our church which is wonderful. Its something we both enjoy very much and keeps us pretty busy. We feel very blessed to have found such a great church family when we moved here. Still trying to figure out how to get photos on here without as much hassle as it was last time. One of these days I will devote some time to that as there are tons of photos I have to share with you all. Until next time enjoy whatever season your area of the world is in!

Just wanted to share this song

Wish I could share a youtube of this song but I can't so will just post the lyrics instead. I have heard this song several times and just love it. Its "More Like Falling in Love" by Jason Gray. There's a few differences in the lyrics depending on which site I look at but this is pretty much it.

Give me rules
I will break them
Give me lines
I will cross them
I need more than a truth to believe
I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes
To sweep me off my feet
It ought to be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

Give me words
I'll misuse them
Obligations
I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free
It's gotta be

More like falling in love
Than something to believe in
More like losing my heart
Than giving my allegiance
Caught up, called out
Come take a look at me now
It's like I'm falling, oh
It's like I'm falling in love

...It's like I'm falling in love, love, love
Deeper and deeper
It was love that made
Me a believer
In more than a name, a faith, a creed
Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me

Decluttering time again

We have been in the new house for 6 months now and I can see that its time to declutter! I've had more than enough time see how we will use each area of the house. I really need to make use of the closet space we have and do some major sorting. Summer clothes have been brought out (not sure why with this rain) but winter clothes are still out, so laundry needs sorted through. I also need to sort through the home school and craft stuff. We just received a large order and I realized I don't even know where I am going to put it all! So I once again am starting the decluttering process, which I love to do. I've posted about my thoughts on decluttering before and you can see those if you click organization in the list on the right. Hope your Juneuary is going well.

Tunnel Vision

One of my favorite times of day is cuddling Naomi to sleep. When she climbs into bed and says "lets tuddle" my heart just melts. I love snuggling up to her as she wiggles around trying to find the spot. Which is usually head on my shoulder with one leg draped over my body. lol I love smelling her sweaty head, hearing her soft breath, and feeling her warmth snuggled next to me. Two year old head is a whole different smell from that newborn scent we women like to inhale with long deep breaths. It is a wonderful smell none the less. She smells of play. Of grass, sweat, and dirt. She smells of something only children can accomplish.

Some days bedtime takes only about 15 minutes or so and I cherish every moment of it. It won't be long before she won't want to cuddle with me. She all ready doesn't cuddle much during the day. She is going, going, going all day long. Then there are some days, and thankfully these are few and far between, when bedtime takes about 45 minutes or longer because her mind is going 1,000 miles per hour and she is just trying to process it all. She wiggles and wiggles and can't seem to find the one spot that is comfortable enough to bring sleep. She picks at my freckles and decides every 10 seconds that she wants the blanket and then she doesn't want the blanket. Every sound brings questions and I can literally see her brain working behind her eyes. She whispers to me as I lay there pretending to be asleep. "Mama wats dat?" "Mama dat da titty?" "Yes sweetie thats the kitty, now cuddle, lets sleep." I say as we settle down for another round of where's the sleep spot.

Sometimes I give up and just get out of bed with her but usually I just try and wait it out. I know she is tired and just needs a quiet space to bring some peace to her mind before sleep takes over. These times are quite often not my favorite. In fact they can be downright frustrating. Some days I have had one to many boogers wiped on me and feel incredibly touched out and have Joe put Nomy to bed and some days I just take a deep breath and make a choice. I choose to cuddle my daughter to sleep at night. When I am frustrated that she won't go to sleep when I want her to I tell myself I have a choice. I could choose many other methods for getting her to sleep but I don't.

This post really isn't about the different methods of sleep training or getting children to bed. Its about the sweet smell of my last baby girl. Its about the way her nose wrinkles when she finally drifts off to sleep and I sit and stare at her almost afraid to move because our bed creaks when I get up. Its about the tunnel vision I get staring at her sleeping face. Watching every breath her body takes in and me completely forgetting any frustration the evenings bedtime routine caused. Its like that moment after birth when all we see is our baby and all we feel is love just pouring out of us like its going to spill over and fill the world. We completely forget the moaning, the rocking, the swaying, the in and out of the birth tub. We forget the pain and have tunnel vision that lets us see only one thing for a brief moment.

What a wondrous thing motherhood is.

Rain, rain, and yet more rain

This year has been a rainy one. Joe told me he heard it was the wettest May in history. I am not surprised if that is true. The few days of sunshine we have had were absolutely wonderful and I am aching for more. Sad to say that the radio just informed me another week of this is coming.

The garden is not doing well with all this soggy weather and hail even. I have never been unable to grow the cool weather crops and this year it is just a dismal failure. Sad for us as we are still buying store lettuce and greens. The lettuce we do get this year will taste so good though as we have waited a month longer than normal for it. lol

I am also worried about my tomatoes and peppers which I put out at my estimate of last frost, May 15th. A good 2 weeks past last years date but I figured its a bit higher up here and I will play it safe. I have lost a good amount of tomato plants this year. Not sure exactly how many are left but I put out over 100 this year. Some succumbed to the hail we had two weeks ago, others to the high winds we had several days later, some just withered up from lack of sun I think. I am not losing hope yet though!

My estimation for our first frost date is still a good 120 or so days away. Still plenty of time to pull the waterlogged plants and plant some new seeds if I have too. So there may still be tomato sauce in our pantry this fall!

I do find it funny that I count up to the last frost date all winter and early spring only to turn around and start counting down to the first frost date. At then a few months later I will start it all over again. Hope you are all having a wonderful spring or fall depending on where you are!

Garden Season

I am full into garden season now, my absolute favorite time of year. Spring brings not only my birthday but new life, growth, and the chance to dig my hands into the earth and feel the warmth of sun kissed dirt. My nails are always brown even with gloves and chances are my face is brown too from wiping my hair out of my eyes with my garden gloved hands.

This year is a big garden year for us. We have sold three shares of our garden, one to a complete stranger! It was interesting getting a check in the mail, that I was not expecting, from someone who wants to buy our produce every week. Turns out its a friend of a friend so they didn't go into it blindly but I still have yet to actually speak with this person. lol In addition to the garden shares (think CSA but I was to scared to call it that) we also sold some produce to my mom and are planning our fall harvest to be huge for root cellaring.

So whats in the ground? So far its been slow going. Lots of rain has hampered my efforts and being in a new, higher elevation, area I was worried about frost. None of my neighbors could give me a good answer. I heard everything from July to when the snow is gone from Mt. Pleasant. Umm where is Mt. Pleasant? I ended up calling a local dahlia nursery a few miles away and they were very friendly and helpful. Ooops thats me getting sidetracked, so back to what is in the ground. So far potatoes (3 varieties), lots of tomatoes, carrots, snap peas, many varieties of lettuces, radishes, spinach, cabbage, swiss chard, arugula. I have a ton of starts left to go in the ground and many, many seeds left to plant.

I love spending time in my garden, I even tolerate the spiders when I am there. If you know me personally you know spider tolerating is huge for me. lol I still have one garden bed to de-rock and then I can finish mulching the paths. I hope you are all enjoying your spring (or fall) and are looking forward to the coming season.

Meet PomPom

This is our favorite addition to our flock this year. All of the birds are Speckled Sussex except for this one. He or she was thrown in for free with our chick order since we ordered more than 25. We are not 100% sure what she/he is but we "think" she is a White Crested Black Polish Bantam. She was less than a week old in this picture and has since lost the pom pom fuzz on top. It has been replaced with white feathers as she is now about 2 months old.

Meet PomPom

Some of the others at less than a week old.

It seems I have figured out this blogging on dial up issue and will hopefully be here more often. I have really missed blogging! So coming soon are pictures of the new place!

Living off the Pantry

Keeping a well stocked pantry is high on my list of priorities. There are many reasons I do this. One being I like to know that the items in there were purchased on sale, saving us money. Another is I do not like to run out of things mid cooking. Knowing that I have beans, rice, and baking supplies on hand is comforting to me. I enjoy feeding my family. Making bread is one of the highlights of my day. Dinner can sometimes be a chore but I am working on that. lol

Before we moved in January we discovered that the budget needed a lot of tweaking. We though that our first months rent would be the pro rated amount like it usually has been when we moved mid month somewhere. Well this was our first time using a rental company and how they do it is the second months rent is prorated for the amount it would have been in the first month. Quite a shocker for us since we had rearranged our budget to accommodate paying final bills and new bills and had a lot of overlapping bills making it a very tight month and a half. As we looked at out budget the only extra that could go to this unexpected amount was either savings or the food budget.

I told Joe that I could feed the six of us on just our pantry and freezer stores for 6 weeks. He was skeptical but I was certain I could do it. We did buy milk and some fruit during this time but not a lot. I am so thankful that we had this store of food. Had this been a real emergency we would have been fine. I could have even stretched it farther if needed! I am very thankful for this and even more determined to have a stocked pantry after this experience.

We did not starve but towards the end the options were limited. lol The kids were hit the hardest I think. One day Joe came home with his lunch dishes in a plastic bag and the two littles rushed him yelling "Did you go the the grocery store?!!" lol I think thoughts of goldfish crackers were running through their heads. :) The snack options were limited and for the last week snack consisted of a loaf of homemade bread with peanut butter and a jar of apple butter. My kind of snack! Many soups were enjoyed and a lot of beans were eaten. I feel like this experience really strengthened my cooking skills.

Now the task of restocking my pantry is at hand. Luckily this happened at tax season where we were able to throw a bit of that to restocking the pantry. Its not where it was before but will be soon. Living off our pantry for 6 weeks also showed me what I really need to focus on stocking a lot of. We were just about out of flour and some kinds of beans. We still had a lot of rice. We completely ran out of most baking supplies, frozen/canned vegetables, and meats by the end. We had an ample supply of jams and jellies thanks to our canning the previous year.

I am excited that we were able to do this. It was daunting at the beginning and a little scary. We had little extra money to throw into the food budget if this failed and I am happy to say that it was not only successful but it taught me a lot about our food usage. I am looking forward to this spring when I will plant our garden and am all ready planning a root cellar for inside our garage. I am mid re-organizing and re-stocking the new pantry area and when I get it cleaned up a bit I will post some pantry photos and more details here on Lally.

Have you ever lived off your pantry? Either by choice or by necessity? What kinds of things are most important to you to keep stocked in your pantry? I would love to hear about it here in the comments.

What did I forget?

Right around dusk I need to go close up the chicken coop. I usually have Maddy keep an eye on Naomi and run down to the coop on my own. Its getting dark and easier to do it without the help of a 23 month old. For weeks Joe has been telling me that I am going to regret doing something and well it finally happened. Its rather comical actually but needless to say I will be changing what I do. Here is what usually happens:
I head to the coop, open the gate and shut the chicken door before they realize I am out there and all run out, I then open the roof check and check for eggs. The roof is heavy and a two handed lift, so at this point I slip the egg or two that we are getting into my pocket. Then I lock up the rest of the coop, grab the chicken feeder, and head back to the house. On the odd occasion that we have three eggs I put them on top of the chicken food in the feeder as three won't fit into my pocket. Once back at the house I hang the feeder up, take off my boots and go inside. Hang my coat in the closet and then its on to start dinner. Do you see what I missed? I didn't either. Until I went to put my coat on the next morning and wondered what was oozing out of my pocket. Yup, eggs. lol I think I will start bringing the egg basket even if it is only one egg. :)

Garden Planning 2010

This years garden is going to be our biggest ever. I have yet to measure and map it out but at least four times last years size! I am so incredibly excited about this and cannot wait to place my seed order. The other day a friend said that seed catalogs are gardener's porn. lol I couldn't agree more. I have loved looking through my seed catalog this year and dreaming of all the possibilities. It is now very well marked and the cover is falling off. So onto the garden. Here is a list of what we are growing this year:

Summer Squash Cocozelle
Basil
Catnip
Chamomile
Chives
Cilantro
Dill
Fleabane (insect repellent)
Horehound (used for coughs and colds)
Mint
Stevia
Strawberries
Horseradish
Garlic
Shallots
Arugula
Green Beans (bush and pole)
Beets
Brussel Sprouts
Carrots
Cabbage
Celery
Chard
Corn
Cucumbers
Fennel
Pak Choi
Leeks
Anuenue
Lettuces (many varieties, including a hot weather one)
Melons
Kincho
Bunching Onions
Red Onions
Walla Walla Onions (will not be ready till next year)
Peas (shelling and snap)
Pumpkins (edible varieties)
Radishes
Spinach
Yellow Crookneck Squash
Zucchini
Butternut Squash
Sweet Meat Winter Squash
Ground Cherries (yes I am trying these again, even after last years fail lol )
Tomatoes (several varieties)
Watermelon

In addition to growing for ourselves and preserving/storing for the winter we are growing a few items for my mom. We have also offered up a share of our garden to local friends (mini CSA style). I didn't think anyone would be interested in buying a garden share from us but threw the idea out there anyway. Now we have a list and are thinking about doing a second share. After I do the actual mapping and planning I will decide if a second share is even possible. I wouldn't want to commit to one and then realize the space is just not there.

What is going on in your garden right now? Are you just at the planning stages or in harvest season? I love getting comments and read each and every one.

Happy Gardening!!

My Vision for a Special Kids Garden

I have a vision in my head for a special kids play area. I am going to post it here so I won't forget it. I am not talking about a kids garden they tend themselves. They will have that as well. I am talking about a special place to play where things are growing. I am picturing a square of grass big enough for all the kids to sit in. All around the grass area will be like a moat with a pathway in. The moat area will be where the plants grow. I want to find large branches and tie them together to make a sort of tee pee and plant vining and climbing plants to grow up and over these branches creating a sort of canopy. There will be walls of sunflowers, cosmos, daisies, corn, and whatever else I think will grow well. Maybe snap peas and carrots for quick play time snacks. Also cut tree trunk rounds for sitting, standing on, or to use as a table. This will be like a summer nature fort. I know I have seen similar ideas online and am really excited to maybe have one for the kids this year. I think they would really enjoy this. This is more of a note to myself so sorry if you are trying to make any sense of this. :) If I can work out the details and get this done I will be sure to post more details and pictures.

Garden Planning

Garden season is coming. I love this time of year. The anticipation of what this years garden will bring. I am even more excited out here in the new house as we can have a huge garden in addition to what is all ready planted here. I have started obsessing over the one seed catalog that survived the move, sadly I think the others were recycled. Its a catalog for a local nursery and one I would probably have chosen to order from anyway so all is well there.

I usually start my garden planning with marking pages or making lists of what I want to grow even if it won't grow here. Then I mull it over in my head for a few days adding things as I think about them. This years list is three pages long!! lol I will be weeding it down. :) I always put the standard garden fare for my family which is: several kinds of lettuce, carrots, spinach, peas, green beans, tomatoes, summer squashes, and potatoes. I am sure I am forgetting something but that looks about right. After I list the main plants I start having fun. I like to add something new each year, last year I grew cayenne peppers for drying. This year I am trying some medicinal herbs and tea herbs. Also stevia is on my want to list but its a zone 9 or 10 so I am waffling on that one.

Once my list is made and I have mulled it over I start to condense it. This is where I usually sit down with Joe (who often groans when he sees the garden journal/notes for the year) and ask him what he wants to grow/eat. I cross off things I have decided not to grow and add things I decided to grow. Do I really need 6 different varieties of something? Once I have a suitable list I order or go to a store and buy the seeds. I try to do this early as I have noticed if I forget something its usually not available later in the season. One year I forgot to buy snap peas and they were really missed by all of us when I couldn't find any in the local stores.

Now comes the really fun part. At least for me the compulsive, crazy type. Its now time to map it! I usually use a grid paper and measure out the area I am using. I then make a key of one square equals so much space. Last years garden was small and one square equaled 1/2 foot. This year I think I will be making a much bigger map so not sure how to scale I can do it but I will sure try. I add plants to marked off map sections checking the seed packets and my gardening books for recommended spacing. I try to check previous years maps to rotate crops (though I mostly forget) and I like to plant flowers among everything for insect control and also to attract the beneficial insects. As I go down the list the map gets fuller and fuller. I usually find a few empty spots and add whatever I think we will want more of. This is about as detailed as I get on the map making my notes else where in my garden journal. This year I plan to note more information on the map itself. Days to harvest, info for fall plantings, etc. I may have to make a separate map for the fall/winter plantings but that will depend on how the map spacing is.

Once this is done its planting seeds inside and waiting for it to warm up enough outside to get to work. I will try to post pics of my garden map when I get it done. Currently I am still at the trying to get Joe to sit down and tell me what he wants to grow stage. I would just do it on my own but then he always says why don't I let him help! lol

Happy garden planning everyone, I would love to hear about what you are growing this year! Old favorites or new plants? For the readers in other parts of the world I would love to hear how your garden harvests are going!

We are here

We moved in on the 10th and are still unpacking. No photos yet but soon I promise!! The kids are really enjoying all the areas to explore in the yard and I am completely enjoying the peace and beauty that is out here. Madeline told me the other day that the air smells good out here. :) I am starting to plan our garden and am really enjoying unpacking and setting up house again. lol Hope you are all well just wanted a quick update on here as its been a while. See you soon with pictures...

Changes are coming

We are in the new house! It has been a fun and eventful last few days. We had so many helpers Saturday morning that the move was unevenful and went fairly smooth. Thank you everyone who helped out!! Next came the unpacking and unfortunately water problems. Right when Joe and I were ready for a shower Saturday night we realized that the hot water heater wasn't on. lol So we turn it on and do some other things for a bit then headed to a shower. On Monday Joe left for work and took my phone with him so I was here at the house with no car, no phone (the cell doesn't work anyway and the home phone was in an unmarked box, lol) and to top it all no clock!! All of the clocks were wrong so I didn't know what time it was all day. The kids and I ate when hungry and slept when tired and I kind of guessed when it was dark enough to start dinner. lol It was hard to do and as I write it now I am reminded of Rhonda's post over at the Down to Earth blog about this. I loved reading how free she is with her time. (I'd link it but that would require opening a new window which just might freeze my dial up internet up, lol) Also about halfway through the day our water turned brown, really brown! It was awful, we had no water and I had to send Joe to the store as soon as he got home. Luckily there is a tiny little Mercantile about 1/2 mile away. Needless to say we have water in the pantry should it happen again, which actually we probably should have even more water in there anyway in case of disaster or something. Okay I am rambling. back to the house. I LOVE IT!! It is so big and the outside is wonderful. The kids run and roam and the the chickens really like their little section as well. Though they have taken to laying in the bushes in the soft grass right behind the blackberry bushes. :) I need to find a good plant identification guide as there are sooooo many plants here. I would love a recomendation if anyone has one! Feel free to leave it here in the comments. The owner loved gardening and there are many raised beds, lots of flower gardens, bushes, and trees. So far I think I identified found blueberry bushes, raspberry bushes, lots of strawberries, several Rhododendrons, an apple tree, and lots of rose bushes. I cannot wait for spring and see what blooms. We were told that there will be things blooming from spring to fall and I cannot wait. I feel like a kid in a candy store, the anticipation is killing me. :)

And now on to the changes. I love posting pictures but I fear that will happen less often. I am going to try and get some pictures of the outside next rain break and give it a go. I will post inside pictures when its unpacked and pretty. Right now it looks like a junkyard. :) I am also going to be removing some of the sidebar things on the blog that make the loading slow. It only took 3 minutes or so to load today so its really not as bad as I imagined it would be. :) Most likely the Hyena Cart link will be gone or changed to a still image or text only and possibly the widget of where everyone comes from will dissapear as it took a while to load just that item. I do love that the internet is not a big pull for me right now. I used to check my blogs and email several times through out the day and now I pop on real quick as most things will not load very well so I don't even bother trying. :) So hopefully I will see you on here in the next few days or so with some photos!!

Today's the day

We pick up the keys today!! Tomorrow Joe will go pick up the uhaul and a wonderful group of friends will show up around 9 to start helping us load. I am so grateful for the people who are coming to help us move! So many great friends, thank you all!! We will be without internet for a while so have a great week! Before I go I will leave you with a few pictures of our new additions:

Madeline has been asking to get a cat. The new house allows pets so we told her if she saved enough money she could. This is Clover. She is 6 weeks old and is very friendly and playful. She is also very pink, which Madeline just loves. Her paws, ears, and nose are a very bright pink color. Hope she stays that way as she grows.

Clover on the left and Luigi on the right. I bought Luigi for the rest of the family. He is 4 months old and all ready a lap cat. He loves to jump up on who ever is sitting down to take a nap. He is also very playful and its really cute to watch the two play together.

Clover

He has such a unique face.

November/December 2009

These are in no particular order. In fact I think they are backwards. lol

What do your kids do when you pack all of their toys without thinking? They make a mouse house!

Marah enjoying the snow

Naomi not really sure what it was

Christmas Eve reading the bible

The three older kids and Joe went to zoo lights.

Someone turned 9!!

Gingerbread cookies

Drawing with Daddy

They played dress up

This is a game called Star Mars. Think StarCraft and Mars Mission combined. The kids made it and its really quite fun.

Michael checked out this book from the library and fell in love with it. Its The Little Red Hen only with a burrow who grows corn and makes tortillas.

We of course had to make our own tortillas.

If you haven't heard yet we are moving! This Saturday to be exact. The house is wonderful and on an acre. We are super excited. Not sure how much blogging I will be doing as the house is so far out in the country that the options are dial up or satellite. Satellite is not in the budget yet so we are giving the stone ages, I mean dial up, a go. I posted more about the move over on my blog with some pictures and I will try to get new house pics up there if I can later. have a great 2010 everyone!!