It's been awhile

Hello again readers, I have debated whether to start writing again, it seemed too daunting...too much to catch up on. In reality...too sad.

In November Tim and i went away to Ontario for 3 days to get away from things and people and influences and have time to really reconnect and share our goals and what really mattered to us in the life we were given by our Maker. We had a very encouraging time together. With that trip we made some really difficult decisions too. When we got home, we put our farm up for sale. Big gulp here. We prayerfully gave up our lives to God and asked now what? Many, many tears flowed. Many uneasy nights, unanswered prayers and unknown days lay ahead of us and we plugged on together....with trust in the Lord to again provide. December came along and we heard songs like "Joy to the World"....harumph my sinful nature kicked in and i personaly saw no joy, i was sooo sad. I was so self absorbed in the life we were giving up and the freedoms we had to raise our boys on a farm in central alberta. I couldn't possible imagine it could get any better. I will say one thing, my prayer life was strngthened from then on in. Our farm sold within 5 days. It hurt. We started chicken farming 5 years ago. In 5 days it was gone. We were told by a wise person, you just came in too late. It got too expensive. Next chapter.....now what...write it on the walls Lord, i prayed. Tim was soo strong. He was the anchor through it all. He kept me grounded. Pictures kept coming up on our computer screen of a farm in Monarch by Lethbridge. We prayed some more, we went for a day trip to see the farm and we felt a huge sense of relief. You know the kind after completing a test or falling into bed after a long days work. Complete relief. God had a plan all along. Oh ye of little faith, should be adressed to miss Me. We did our homework and found that many doors were opening to a future in southern alberta and we went full steam ahead. We can now say that on April 20 we by God's incredible plan for our lives are moving to Monarch on a goat farm with 117 acres of irrigated hay land with an older 5 bedroom home but I will say it again! GOD PROVIDED! I will stay in touch a little better and try to post pics soon dear friends, but let me know if you are still reading with me. We covet your prayers.

Temptation

Are you licking the computer screen yet? Kevin and i baked 12 dozen cookies. He was more than tickled to place 2 smarties on each cookie. So if you are dieting......well sorry but my freezer was empty in regards to the baking department so if you feel inclined to sneak in my house at 2 am i do not think i will miss one of my 144 cookies, err 140 now maybe;)

Then and now

hello readers, things have been improving around here. The laundry chore around this home will be less of a burden to me. I have sucessfully trained Rachel to empty the dryer. No more bending for me....oh the achy back muscles i get and sore knees. Did i mention the back aches? Hey, after so much laundry on the farm and with 4 kids it can be back breaking. Don't you think Rachel is at the perfect height anyway?

The Will

Hello fellow readers. Here is my rant for the day. The statistics are scary only 1 in 5 families have a will. We were that higher percentage up intil last week. We went to the lawyer to finalize our will.....don't be disappointed you may not be in it unless we owe you money...or you get our 3 roosters and hen....all joking aside it was a difficult task to complete. Kinda morbid really. We had to approach someone and ask them to watch over the care and nurturing of our children in the case of our deaths being at the same time. We also had to ask a trusted friend to be the executor of the will. Our lawyer was very helpful. In the end though it really hit us that these types of scenarios can happen in life, not often but they can happen. How many of us do have a will? Do you know what will happen to your children and your home? Do you assume all will be taken care of by other family members? Last year, i believe, a young couple got hit by a drunk driver and they were both killed. They had 6 kids. 2 of their own and 4 were adopted. Now i do not know of their will or final testament but should we not watch or at least be ready if something were to happen to us as parents?

First Day of school

Sniff, sniff, yes i am crying. I would make a terrible spokesperson for Staples commercials. I do not think it is the most wonderful time of the year. In fact, as i look over my shoulder, it SUCKS, there i typed that out loud! I miss my boys, i miss their questions, some fighting, helpfulness and presence in our home. From 8-4, 5 days a week i am putting them on a bus and entrusting them to a Christian School with Christian teachers to teach my boys the one R one W and one A. I never understood why people called it the three R's. It's reading, riting and rithmatic! Silly people, must have been homeschooled, err, i better watch out, Tim was homeschooled. Oh and my sister homeschools, umm..... silly people! So peoples, are you a little sad too? No not those teens reading this, of course you are tired of school by now, you've been there soo long. But parents do you really like to see your kids gone all day? I may need a part time job! I only have 2 kids at home now. Let me know how you spend your days.....while i am crying beside the bus stop! Hey maybe pick me up to go shopping!

Of a different kind

I recieved a phonecall a few weeks ago from a rather hesistant lady on the line. She is from our church and asked if i could help out with a teen club outing. I scratched the date on a piece of paper and any minor instructions and let her konw i would speak with Tim first before i committed to the Saturday morning outing. I trudged to the shop to Tim and explained i was asked ot help with a game at the local farmer's market just south of here. I was to dress up with a friend and mingle in the crowds till one of the teens from our church attempted to address us and get our signature. Tim chuckled, he knew this was right up my alley! He agreed i could look silly for the morning but had to look for my own sitter for our children. No problem, but now what to wear, i have lots of maternity clothes, but i am almost always pregnant, well 36 of the 94 months of our marriage, anyhow the teens would recognize me for sure! hmmm, i have hockey gear! Na i will stand out, then it hit me, i would dress as a mus-lim woman. My dear dear longsuffering friend agreed to also dress this way and no i did not have to drug her or pay her to do this. The teens took awhile to find us, in fact they were hesitant to even approach us. We were definately looked down upon! One man bumped into my shoulder and whispered into my ear "Jesus", i was ready to converse with this young man and ask if he knew Him too but my reformed heritage wasn't exactly portrayed in my attire. Another man walked up to us both and asked," Are you real practicing mus-lims?" We quickly removed our coverings and explained we were playing a game and dressing up. He replied" Oh, ok, becuase i was going to ask what has the mus-lim religion done for you?" Perhaps he was a reformed evangelist? Brave of him to approach us! anyhow, enjoy the photos, we will not be dressing up at any other functions any time soon.

Gopher Patrol

After many tears this momma is relieved to say her plants may survive while my tough guard is on duty! You see we have this mysterious pest that loves to eat my annuals. I replanted 13 plants and was not very happy. Andrew took matters into his own hands. He grabbed a death defying freezer basket, tapped cardboard to the sides to camaflougue it and propped it up with a board. Next was the bait. He walked over to opa, who was busy augering grain into the truck, and asked for a handful of wheat to tantilize the little critters. Andrew then trotted over to his daddy's shop to find a shovel and booster cables. This was getting funnier by the minute. Lastly a camping chair came into the scene and my boy waited and waited on that chair for a whole hour! I walked out to him and asked about his conTRAPtion. He kindly explained in graphic detail how the silly gopher would see my flowers but get distracted by the good smelling wheat in his trap. Next he would nibble on the wheat while my avid trapper would pull on the twine and the trap would come crashing down around the pest. Then with the booster cables (it's okay..... no scary scenes here, it's still PG) he would clamp the cardboard sides over the basket. This was where Nathan was going to help....they wold drag the basket to the machine shop let the gopher out, then with the shovel, (here it gets graphic PG 13 now) hit the gopher over the head to knock sense into him.... right? He was so excited to have finalized all these plans! I thanked him profusely for protecting my garden! But questioned if he knew which gopher was enjoying my plants and if he was wrongly acussing a gopher... he pondered this and of course our Andrew is our thinker and has excellent one liners and replied, "well too bad for him, maybe his gopher friends will see and learn from his example." So if you need gophers trapped call Andrew 1 800 got cha