Life Continues to Happen

I try so hard not to disappear for long periods of time, but it just seems that life just continues to happen. It has rained here off and on for the past 5 weeks it seems. That has meant that Sam has been around. It's been such a welcome surprise, but we all knew it would come to an end eventually. This weekend was the end...at least for a few days...it appears more... and maybe LOTS of rain is in the forecast. Poor farmers...they'll be dying for this rain later this summer when everything is hot and crusty!

Due to Sam's motivation to get SOMETHING done since nothing was happening at work. We have tackled lots of the projects that were started in my previous post. The basement workout room is looking great! A few tiny details yet to be finished, but overall it's looking good. I continue to say that Sam is amazing! Truly. He did a great job down there, and now I WANT to run on the treadmill! :)

Then there was the dining room...and replacing all the doors in the "old' part of the house. The dining room is definitely coming along. For once Sam and I went with a BOLD choice, and we... LOVE IT! Yep, we love it. Sam laid new hardwood floors in there...now we're waiting for some more time for Sam to hang the new doors in there, and finish one last edge. It looks like a completely different room.

Cel has continued to develop her egg business. She really loves taking care of the chickens, and it is always exciting to find out how many and what color (because now she has some chickens that lay white eggs) eggs she will have each evening. She has several loyal customers that keep her busy supplying eggs. I can't believe it, but she turns SIX this week! I honestly can't say where the time has gone. Sam picked her up from school after lunch one day last week, and they went to pick out a few (like 20!!!) chicks that will lay various different eggs in the future. She told Sam that she wanted more chicks/chickens for her birthday---so that was his birthday present to her. Then she got to spend the afternoon with him at his office/plant. She loved helping Miss Jenny (the office manager) "do" paperwork. For those of you who know Cel well---there's not much she enjoys more than ... paperwork!!! Besides counting down the days to her birthday this week---she (all of us actually) are anxiously awaiting a visit from Papa and Grandma Esther! We are not used to waiting so long between visits with Papa---over 3 months is TOO long for us! We are so glad that it appears that his most recent round of surgeries were successful, and he will hopefully be back to his "normal" (still not using the leg for another month) activities shortly. I can't believe that in just about a month, Cel will be graduating from kindergarten! When I think that it will only be 12 short years before we're facing another graduation...my heart breaks a little.

It seems I've been pretty emotional lately. Several of my friends have very serious health issues going on with family members, and for some reason praying for those friends has brought back some of the memories and sorrow in losing Mom. For those of you who have lost loved ones that were close to you---you know that time doesn't erase the longing for them. I miss Mom immensely some days. A week ago we had a rough week with Cel behavior wise. It was obvious that she was doing spiritual battle---I was at a loss. I feared that I would fail her in the most important area of motherhood---raising her in a way that she would come to the saving knowledge of Christ as HER Savior. That is a daunting task. I'm glad I don't have to "do it alone," and that I can rest on the grace and wisdom of my Heavenly Father. During that week, I missed being able to talk to my Mom. May tends to be a hard month...Mothers' Day...a struggle in itself. I'm thankful for the blessing and opportunity of being a mother, but I long for MY mother to share the day with. Then---Mom's birthday is at the end of the month. It just seems that I find myself dreading May the past couple of years. All of that combined with the fact that sick kiddos, my injured foot (oh, did you miss that story!?!?!), and family being out of town kept us from being with family on Easter Sunday. That seemed so strange to me. I miss my extended family, in general, I guess. Those of you who live away from your family know what I mean. Sometimes I just miss the hug of someone who knows you...knows your faults...and loves you...all of you. I am so thankful for my dear little family; we have so much fun together...we're storing our memories.

Well, that was a bit on the melancholy side. I'm beginning to ramble. When I am not a consistent blogger, I tend to ramble...not a quality that most people appreciate! :)

Remind me to share the story of my graceful descent that led to my foot injury---a story indeed. It seems I am full of stories such the like. Well friends, I am nearing the end of another school year, which means...you will probably not hear much of me again until the summer...yeah summer!!! :) AND when I get my camera back from Sam (he's using it for pictures of the plant for some award), I will have to share some picture updates.

I'm finding myself ever more thankful for the Friend that sticks closer than a brother---who can hold me in the Hollow of His hand---and also holds my future. No good thing will He withhold from them who walk uprightly.

Till another day...bye for now

3 Weeks and Counting

I don't even know what to say to explain my long lived absence except that "our knott so normal life" happened as it always happens. It's been crazy...good, bad, exciting, busy, frustrating, blessing, lonely, sad... the list goes on!

I thought I would try to give a few pics to explain what we've been up to in the past few weeks instead of trying to summarize. Because y'all know...I CAN'T summarize! :) I love words. So let's try some pictures.

All of the sudden one day Sam and his crew at CPS were crazy busy. That meant that Sam worked some days around 20 hours. Insane. I don't know how they get up after only sleeping for a few short hours, but they do it. I know Sam credits his stamina to the grace of God. The first Sunday Sam had to work, I was faced with a cow trying to calf. I could not do it on my own!!!

Sam and two guys he knows from work came to help pull "Boiler Up" (named in honor of Purdue's Sweet Sixteen dance). This was especially exciting because the kids and I got to watch the whole thing...even the mildly traumatic parts! :) The kids were very excited. Boiler Up and her mama were doing well---unfortunately, today we found Boiler Up dead in the pasture--that brings me to one of the sad parts of our past few weeks. We're not quite sure what happened, but we (the kids and I) are getting used to REAL farm life.

That same weekend we had other additions to our little farm. Chickens! Yep, we got 'em---eight of them and one rooster! So now we have lots of these...

FARM FRESH BROWN EGGS!!!

Cel LOVES taking care of the chickens. Sam told her if she continues to take care of them she can keep the money from selling the eggs. Now, she says she's an "egg seller" like Kit Kittredge.

I also had my first flat tire that week. Thankfully the Lord in His graciousness allowed it to happen on my way to drop Cel off for the afternoon at the babysitter's. I was able to borrow their car to go back to work, and her hubby (thank you, Kevin and Amy!!!) graciously put my spare on so the kids and I could head to Wal-Mart to spend our Tuesday evening waiting for a tire repair! :) Y'all know how that is...three kids, one tired Mommy, huge Wal-Mart store...aah, the life! :)

We've spent tons of time outside for long walks down our "country" road. The kids love throwing rocks into the stream that runs along our property. There's a bridge that spans it on our road---rocks make great "kerplashes" from that height!

Micah loves to climb, and he is the ever-ready rock thrower into the stream!

Carson loves exploring the depths of our "yard." He loves the cows, but he's not so sure about the chickens.

The kids are LOVING Micah's birthday present--a John Deere battery operated Gator. Yep, it's great. We've been swinging, sliding down the slide, and just plain getting dirty! Nothing a good bath can't take care of.

Cel is a crazy driver! Can't remember the days she was too scared to attempt to drive! She loves giving her brothers rides all over the property. Notice her "attire." She's always wearing a skirt!

:)

Then of course there was the project we were working on the weekend before things broke loose at Sam's work. Remodeling the room just inside our basement garage.

Yep, Sam is turning it into a workout room for us all. He built the half walls you see to divide the room from the long hallway through to the main part of the basement. He laid the carpet and put on the baseboard. All of this took several weeks since he had to wait for some rainy weekends to get back to the project he started a month ago.

Obviously it's still a project in the making, but we're getting there. We are installing laminate flooring down the hallway to help cut down on the dirt, etc brought in from the garage and the various trips to the barn/chicken coop. It is much more functional than it used to be as those of you who have seen this area before.


Then yesterday we tackled another project. We were pretty much stuck at home---I have been feeling fairly lousy due to a double ear infection. Cel has bronchitis, and the boys...well, let's just say that they've been using TONS of these...

It seems we can't go much of anywhere these days for fear of SHARING our germies. So while the kids laid around, played off and on, and slept...we did some destruction in our dining room. Cause that's how we roll...we just can't have TOO much going on at one time. Here's the "finished project" from our destruction.That's our dining room MINUS the yucky carpet. It will look like this for awhile (probably a month or so depending on how insane things get at work for Sam) ...since we are struggling with exactly what kind of hardwood we want to lay so it will GO with the rest of the wood in our house. We have this thing for UNIQUE places... unfortunately I think a synonym for "unique" is CHALLENGING! :)


So like I've said between all this going on at home---the many hours Sam has been putting in at work---the different 2nd semester functions going on at school and church---I just haven't found a chance to sit and put my thoughts down on this here blog. I've had much to think about, and I've missed putting all of it into words.


My dad is recovering from his latest surgery on his Achilles wound. This one has been the hardest surgery as it included a large skin graft donor area which is very painful. He has one more scheduled surgery in April. Thankfully the surgeon is pleased with the progress at this point.


My babies...well, they're growing up too quickly. They are loving spring...especially on our little farm. They miss their daddy when he is working his long hours, but as I've mentioned before. The Lord is good! So GOOD! He gives us good friends that don't mind our craziness and put up with us when it's one momma and three kids. He sends rain when we just need some time with our Daddy/Husband!

That's all for now, dear ones! I hope this is coherent! This is my first time adding pictures---and I've had a "few" interruptions while posting!

Happy Spring, y'all!
(Don't know about y'all, but our forecast has snow in it! HA HA HA! Gotta love spring!)
Please don't forget the importance of this week ahead of us as we remember the precious gift of our Savior's sacrifice for us on the cross.