This week…

This week I hope that…

• My garden seeds will finally get here, and that the weather will cooperate so I can actually get them in the ground.
• Jeremiah will use his head instead of his butt (our new catchphrase) and will find other ways of amusing himself other than finding ways to try to piss Mom off.
• I finally get my hair cut, cuz my ponytail is getting really heavy.
• The chicken coop gets assembled successfully with as little stress to the hubby as possible.
• Hubby gets a  specific phone call that he wants to get.
• I actually get to make important phone calls that I’ve been needing to make.
• Baby E has her first visit with her mom and dad, and that it goes well.
• Hubby continues to draw closer to the lover of his soul.
• I remember that God is good…always…ALWAYS!

Blessings!

Hannah

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Updates in Bullet Points

• Gabe is fine. Now that he is 18 and making his own life choices, I will refrain from writing too much about him, other than how his choices are affecting me as his mom. Right now, I miss him and am not really sure how to be. Still working on that.
• Jeremiah is really struggling. He’s been struggling for almost a month now. Daily. Icky, horrible, not fun! He’s deeply afraid of a lot of things, including himself, and loving me. Today, the fear was that he will have to leave. He shouted through tears that he “will not leave! Even if they drag (him) away!” It’s so hard for me to hear, and understand. I’m trying. I just don’t know how to respond to the constant-ness of all the behaviors.
• Baby E is doing great after 3 days in the hospital due to a UTI.  She spiked a fever Tuesday night, and after 4 hours of tests (until 5 AM) they admitted her. They kept her for 3 days, 2 even after the fever was gone, because there was a count that came back higher than they liked. So I caught up on naps, sort of. I was so glad to bring her back today. I missed that little face so much.
• Hubby and his dad have been working very hard on our garden beds. For all you southerners, this must be a shock, but you see, it was below freezing last week. So, we are hoping for an Indian summer.
• The menfolk are also working out a plan for our chicken coop. They chickies are full size, and happyily perching on their box. They need to get out of the garage. A dear friend gave us a coop, but it will have to be reconfigured a bit. I am so thankful for my father-in-law.
• There is a new design for this blog coming! SO EXCITED! It was a total surprise from my beloved hubby. It’s gonna be Suh-WEET!

TTFN

Blessings!

Hannah

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It’s Bullet Point Time!

First of all, I was chewed out today by a dear friend who said I was depriving her by not writing more often.

So there, Lori, I am posting! OKAY?!?!?!

Ah, the beauty of bullet points.

• Gabe is still not residing in our household. It’s becoming a new normal, and that’s weird.
• It snowed 6 inches this weekend, and we are expecting another 8 tonight. Gotta love spring in the U.P.
• Jeremiah is doing fairly well, but we are working through some sabotaging issues. I hate fear. I want fear to leave my son alone.
• I am working through big feelings related to God’s plan for our family, and for me as a woman. I have to say, it has been easier this round of emotions, but it still overwhelms me at times. Lots of babies due within the next few months, and that’s always a challenge for my heart to remember to trust God’s plan for ME. I also have to remember that it’s about HIM, not about me. That sucks. It’s hard.
• World events have made our family much more aware recently. My hubby has been intensely studying what’s going on in our world and what Scripture has to say about it. We are looking to the East expectantly. At the same time, as my sister, Rachel, reminded us, we need to understand that with that hope there needs to be an urgency for sharing God’s love and the message of Jesus with those who don’t know Him yet. What does this mean for our family?
• I really REALLY want Spring to be here to stay. J’s baseball practice got cancelled today because of SNOW. My garden seems like a far off dream at this point. Lord, bring the warmth!
• Just got all my garden seeds picked out. Wow. Talk about overwhelming. But I am also uber excited. We have a crazy short growing season up here, so those seeds that need inside time are gonna be a little crowded for a while.
• COME ON, SPRING!

Blessings!

Hannah

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Bread, and Chickens, and Gardens! Oh my!

“Wow! This home-making thing is getting a little obsessive. I like it!”My sweet hubby said as I kneaded bread dough after dinner tonight.

I am on a new adventure.

I’ve always been the domestic one of my sisters. Although I viewed my older sister as more glamorous, I’ve always considered myself the more “girly.” I have always loved babies, and my pretend play mostly consisted of keeping house and raising my babies, with the occasional safari or spy adventure thrown in for good measure.

Now, I am really loving learning more of what I’ve considered “complex” domestic skills. As gas prices rise, our rural-ness is hitting our budget hard. We live 35 miles from the closest “shopping town,” so trips are having to come fewer and farther between. Everything I am choosing to do is about making our family less dependent and our resources more sustainable.

I have been making our own bread for about 2 weeks now, and I’ve noticed how that $3+  per loaf really adds up. Making it myself, it only costs about $.90 per loaf, and it is SO YUMMY! I’ve perfected it over the past two weeks, and I can now produce a loaf that is sandwich and toast friendly.

I made my first batch of laundry soap from this recipe last week. I used Dr. Bronner’s citrus soap, which is a little pricey, but I wanted something that smelled good, cuz I like natural smell goods. I wanted to be ENCOURAGED to use it, and even opening the container is like a ray of sunshine. I will let you know after more use what I think of it. I have noticed that it doesn’t lather like regular detergent, but maybe it doesn’t need to. Any comments on that?

The next step on my domestic adventure is my garden. A good friend has offered to be my garden mentor, more or less, and she and I are meeting next week after church to plan everything out. The plan is to use raised beds in our backyard, which has a very nice southern exposure. We are getting soil from hubby’s family’s homestead farm, and there is also lumber available there to make the beds. I want to make sure I grow things that I can preserve and stretch throughout the year, so I am making my choices carefully and doing as much research as I can. Ideas?

Finally, Hubby and I are discussing the idea of having backyard egg-laying chickens (as opposed to fryers). A good friend has offered us the coop that he had made for his first batch of chickens last year. What a blessing! I told him not to tease me, and he repeated that we could HAVE IT! AMAZING! Ask and you shall receive, seriously! I am planning on getting 6 New Hampshire Red hens, or the breed that is closest to that that our local feed mill sells, which the “man” assures me are excellent layers. Feed prices have gone up majorly, but the “profit” will still be about $30/month, as opposed to paying $3+/dozen eggs. Sounds good to me! Plus, I love birds. And NO, I am not planning on eating MY chickens. It would be too much like having Juji for dinner, and I just could not do that.

Anywho, the adventure continues. I am really trying to listen to the Lord and be everything he has called me to be, and be open to every skill adventure he has for me. The sewing thing is still not happening…partly because I have been too lazy to get my power pedal fixed…that has been broken for 2 years. I will get there.

Blessings!

Hannah

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Blisters, Buff Arms, and Bargains

Saturday was a great day. I needed a great day.

Jeremiah couldn’t come home this weekend, which sucked, but it also meant that I got to sleep in uninterrupted, which was very nice.

I had asked Rachel the night before if she wanted to go to the farm and garden with me and I was psyched when she excitedly agreed.

Rachel and I spent 3 hours in the glorious weather digging trenches to create raised beds for our garden plot. It was hard work, but it felt wonderful. We weren’t sure what we’d be working on so we didn’t bring any gloves, which led to a nice big blister on my right thumb, but the manual labor made me feel strong and capable, something I feel the opposite of quite often.

We were hoping to get most of our planting done yesterday, but it was rainy and COLD again, so the planting has again been delayed. Friends of my down south are already harvesting some crop for goodness’ sake!!! Can’t we at least get ours in the ground?

We are still figuring out what veggies are going to go in our plots. Here’s what I’ve got so far: Green and red peppers, jalapenos, acorn squash, summer squash, water melon (the little kind), cantaloupe, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, lettuce, and ???? So many choices, such a short growing season. Any suggestions?

Okay, so on the way home from gardening Rachel and I stopped at a multi-family garage sale and I found some incredible treasures including a brand new “Cars” comforter for Jeremiah, a beautiful wooden marble maze (which Gabe has not been able to put down), a Carrom game set (a childhood favorite), VHS copies of “The King and I” and Shirley Temple’s “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms”, some Christmas music, a cute outfit for a special little friend, a beautiful platter and ceramic hot pad thingy,  and a playstation game. ALL FOR $21!!! YAY!!!!

Kaleb was very proud of “his little bargain shopper”.

I am really loving garage sales this year, especially since I have purpose now in the things I am looking for. I love being able to look through the kid’s clothes and actually find things that will work for our little guy. It’s a joy that I didn’t know I was missing. Now, if  I could just find a decent couch.

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5 Quick Takes Friday

7 Quick Takes Friday is a blog carnival hosted at www.conversiondiary.com . Head over there to read more great quick takes.

—1—

I am psyched about getting to do some gardening tomorrow! The weather is supposed to be cool, but not raining, so maybe we will actually get some of our sprouts into the ground. The temperature has been dropping below freezing at night all week, so planting has been necessarily delayed.

Jeremiah will be so excited to get to go play on the farm again. He really gets along with our garden host’s girls well, and there may even be two boys his own age there tomorrow. YAY!

—2—

I was in a huge panic Wednesday when I came home and discovered Pe’s eyes swollen shut from an allergic reaction to bug bites. No one was in the house and there was no note. AHHHH!!! Found out later that Rachel had put anti-biotic ointment (what???) on her eyes and that she didn’t think it was that big of deal so she went to a coworker’s son’s baseball game. Gabe was sanding the fence. Anywho, Pe could have gone into anaphylactic shock very quickly, but thankfully it was only her eyes that swelled. I gave her some benadryl and put hydrocortisone on her bites and she is now fully un-swelled.

For your information and for the safety of all our beloved poochies, please read up on canine first-aid. You never know when you might need to use it.

—3—

We have been dealing with some major honesty issues with our eldest, but we hopefully had a breakthrough last night. He actually displayed some emotion, anger even, for a split second! But then it was gone and we were back to starring at a stoic, blank, unfeeling face. I am hoping he follows my suggestion for getting garage done today so he can earn some mega points.

—4—

I made name meaning posters for both of the boys. Each poster has their name, their name in Hebrew, and the meaning of their name. The background is an artistic interpretation of their names in Hebrew lettering. I was rather impressed with myself, and Kaleb was impressed too. I printed them on photo paper so they would be vibrant and put them in some beautiful frames I found for CHEAP. They are now displayed on our mantle and they look FANTASTIC!  I was very excited about this project. Probably because it is a type of nesting, making our family feel like a family.

Anywho, I am also working on doing a similar project making posters of different encouraging scripture verses. Kaleb has been very determined to surround Gabe with our vision and God’s vision for him, and that gave me the idea for the posters. I am using some great stock photo backgrounds that I found on http://www.sxc.hu/ . Fun fun!!!

—5—

We are planning a family trip to a nearby city to do some clothes shopping. I am so excited!!! I need new clothes very badly and Gabe has a clothing allowance to spend. We were planning on going tomorrow, but Gabe’s recent behavior has not been conducive to fun family outings. I am waiting to hear from Miah’s caseworker to find out whether he can come too. We will be staying in a very nice hotel with a family suite (5 beds) and a pool with a water slide for CHEAP because my hubby stays there so often for work. Even though I am heavier than I would like right now, I am still ecstatic to get some new clothes.

Okay, so that’s five. It’s all I got right now. Maybe I will think of two more to add later.

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A Gardening Opportunity

A local church has opened a community garden. The coolest thing is the garden is going to be only a few miles from our house! Miracle of miracles!!! A family owns a farm and they are going to be the facilitators of the garden. Participating families are being asked to contribute $15 (total) and work at  least 1 day a week to share the work load. At the end we will all share the crop. I am SOOO excited!!! I have always wanted a garden but have not had the time or equipment to get one started. I am also really excited to get to work alongside other families. The main work day is going to be on Saturdays, so Jeremiah and I will have something to do while the others are still sleeping.

Sadly I have to inform him that Naia (our black and white kitty) ate “Bob”. His precious tomato plant.

So far the garden veggies are going to include corn, beans, zucchini, three types of winter squash, cukes, peas (all 3 kinds) onions, potatoes, broccoli, salad greens, cooking greens, carrots, beets, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers. Also watermelon and cantaloupe! YAY!!!

Anywho, that’s my happiness for the day.

Leave a comment | 1 comment so far | Tags: Gardening