Popping back in

Hello!

I have been gone so long from my blog that it seems strange to write here again. To be honest, every time I’ve thought about sitting down to write here, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. When I started this blog, I thought it was really neat to be able to share everything that I was thinking and pictures of what we are doing. But somewhere along the way, it seemed to become another thing to check off my to-do list: “write blog post”. It’s just starting to seem strange to tell everyone about all the little things that we do day in and day out – kind of like a continuous “show and tell” about my life and thoughts. I’m not sure I feel like showing and telling that much anymore.

After closing my Facebook account about a month ago, I was so pleased with the amount of time I didn’t spend peeking in on every nuance of other people’s lives. Blogging is starting to feel like that to me now. (Both writing here and reading other people’s blogs.)

I’ve wrestled with the thought of closing this blog because  in the past I’ve really enjoyed writing here and more importantly, I’ve enjoying getting to know new friends through blogging. I kind of feel like if I close this blog, I’ll be shutting off those of you whom I’ve met through Where My Treasure Is. Of course, logically I know that is not the case. We have each other’s email addresses and real communication can still happen between us.

So, I’m left to think about it a bit more.

By the way, for those of you who were praying for our new little baby, we have been given good news. As of our last ultrasound a week ago, the fluid-filled mass in her abdomen was nowhere to be found. This confirms what the doctor thought ~ that it was most likely an ovarian cyst and that it resolved itself! She looked healthy and fine.

Now, I just have to survive the last few months. I’m starting to get to the really uncomfortable stage of the pregnancy. I can’t even bend over to my plate to eat dinner without difficulty. Grrrr.

However…

…it means that soon we’ll all be able to see our new little family member! The girls are getting anxious for her to come. It must seem like an eternity for a small child to wait 9 months for a baby to come. To them, it seems like I’ve just always been pregnant.

Speaking of pregnancy, please keep one of my blogging friends, Amanda , in your prayers. She and I are due during the same week and not only does she have third trimester pregnancy to contend with, but her youngest daughter was recently diagnosed with leukemia. I know that it has been a trying time for their entire family and I’m sure that they would appreciate your prayers.

Hopefully, I’ll be back again soon. In the meantime, enjoy these summer days with your children!

7 years

Yesterday Dan and I marked our seven year anniversary. We actually celebrated this past weekend with an overnight trip! We haven’t been away from the children overnight in about 5 years, so it was a big deal to us.  We were amazed that we found someone willing to watch not only our 3 children, but also to take care of the chickens, turkeys, baby chicks, dog, cat and milk the goats! My parents did a great job of taking care of everything so that I did not have to worry at all (barely).

It took me so long to get out of my “mom” mode, that I was wondering if I would ever be able to do it. For example, every time we passed a farm or farm store on our way, I barely caught myself before the words “Look, Jonathan – TRACTOR!” slipped out.

We stayed at a bed and breakfast 2 hours from our home, but in an area of the state along Lake Huron where we hadn’t been before. The B & B where we stayed the night was very luxurious – more like a very small resort, really – and best of all, QUIET. Our room had a huge jacuzzi, a fireplace, our own deck overlooking the beach, and a super-tall king size feather bed to sleep in. It was very tall so we could see out our window to the beach without even sitting up in bed! I was glad that I wasn’t 9 months pregnant, or I wouldn’t have been able to hoist myself up onto it. We were very spoiled there but both decided that we couldn’t live like that every day, being lazy and pampered.

The following day, we hiked along the beautiful AuSable River. We brought a picnic lunch to eat along the river. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Overlooking the river before starting out

Through the woods

Different bluff where we stopped to peek

Good idea: Walking down stairs to see
beautiful springs down below
Bad idea: Walking down 300 stairs to see
beautiful springs down below

Oh, aren’t they just beautiful? 

Here’s me before I hiked back up.
I look like I can handle it, don’t I?
Notice that I didn’t take a picture of myself once I got to the top!!

On our way home, we decided to have ice cream for dinner as it was very hot and our car has no air-conditioning. I’ve always wanted to try ice cream from the Cold Stone Creamery, but there isn’t one near our home. I was so excited to see one on our way home! The woman gave me a super-huge “medium” waffle cone. Maybe she noticed that I was eating for two.

It was so nice, just spending time together and being able to have an entire conversation without someone interrupting us. Of course, we were happy to get back to our children. We’ve kind of gotten used to them being around and also, we’ve kind of taken a liking to them.

Hummingbird Garden

We celebrated Abigail’s 6th birthday this week. I’m amazed at how fast my children are growing right before my eyes.

My big girl

Pure excitement at the approaching cake

Abigail is an avid animal lover. She is very good with all of our farm animals and is always trying to catch wild animals to observe and try to care for. We considered getting her a small pet for her birthday, but decided instead to help her put in a hummingbird garden. Ever since she went over my mom’s house a few months ago and fed the hummingbirds out of a hand-feeder, she’s been fascinated with wanting to try that herself. It takes a great deal of patience to sit very still outside over a period of days, weeks or months to get a hummingbird to trust you enough to do that. However, the first step is putting up a feeder or planting a garden to see if there are even any hummingbirds in the area.

She was thrilled with the idea! We looked up the types of flowers that attract hummingbirds in her new hummingbird book and then went to the nursery to pick a few of them out.

We purchased a feeder for her to hang up, too.

She worked really hard to put all of her new plants in and then watered them like a good gardener would do. Since we couldn’t afford to purchase all of the different types of flowers this year, Abigail decided that early next spring she will start some of the other species indoors. Seeds are so much more affordable than full grown flowers and there will be no limit to the different kinds or the amount that she can grow herself!

 

 

The day after she planted the flowers and hung the feeder, she already had visitors to her little garden.

 

We’ve been enjoying their visits every day since. Hummingbirds are such fascinating creatures and so much fun to watch!

 

Hopefully, at some point Abigail will be successful at hand-feeding her hummingbirds just like Grandma!

Girl #3

It looks like girl #3 will be joining our family this fall!

Will you please pray for this little one? Last week during an ultrasound, the technician found a fluid-filled area in her abdomen. After examing it further, the doctor has basically ruled out a tumor (as it would be a solid mass, not fluid-filled) or a distended bowel. He believes that the most likely scenario is that she has an ovarian cyst. We have decided not to do an MRI or anything at this point. I’ll have another ultrasound in 2-3 weeks, and if the area has grown, we’ll consider an MRI at that point.

We know that our little girl is in God’s capable hands. Please pray that she will continue to grow properly and that Dan and I will be able to make wise decisions regarding this matter. Thank you!

Children’s Book Monday: Adopted by an Owl

Adopted by an Owl:
The True Story of Jackson the Owl

Written by: Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuyzen
Illustrated by: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

The true story of Jackson the Owl became a favorite of our family from the library this past week.

The husband and wife team who authored and illustrated the story, lovingly tell about one of the many wild animals that the two of them have professionally rehabilitated over the past 20 years. The great horned owl in the story was one of their favorites and they share his true account in a wonderful narrative for young children.

Jackson came to the van Frankenhuyzen family after being rescued from a boy who took the owl from the wild as a baby to be a pet, later on deciding he no longer wanted it. Instead of the van Frankenhuyzens adopting Jackson however, it seemed more like Jackson adopted them. He lived with them on their Michigan farm as one of the family. The owl’s daily antics are realistically and beautifully protrayed by the illustrator who used the real Jackson as his model for his paintings. (You can view a few of the paintings from the book HERE.)

They all lived happily until one day an accident threatened their continued relationship. While Jackson was being treated in an owl care facility, he seemed to became more aware that he himself was an owl. If Jackson did recover, would things ever be the same again between all of them?

Our girls love to hear the ending of this story read again and again.

After you share this story with your children, be sure to read the back cover to learn more about the van Frankenhuyzens and their work. The two of them have collaborated on two other books that follow Adopted by an Owl, also about the animals that they have helped on their Hazel Ridge Farm. They are entitled Saving Samantha and Kelly of Hazel Ridge Farm.

Here are a few other follow-up activities that I found to compliment reading Adopted by an Owl:

Hazel Ridge website - Here you can read more about the author/illustrator team. You can view pictures of their “real” Hazel Ridge farm, including some of the animals living there.

Teacher’s Guide to the Hazel Ridge Farm Series - a 24-page printable teacher’s guide for elementary aged students that includes all sorts of activities relating to the three books in the series.

The Owl Pages – This website is recommended by Robbyn as a great resource for learning about owls. There you will find photographs of all of the different species of owls as well as information on their behavior, physical attributes and location.

Be sure to stop A Path Made Straight to read Elise’s review of one of our family’s favorite books during this week’s Children’s Book Monday.

Happy reading!

Hi, it’s me…

…I’m still here!

Today we are finally back to our normal routine after two weeks of all sorts of activities and events. It feels nice.

During school hours today, we started reviewing all that Abigail has covered this year to see what she has actually *mastered* and what we can continue to work on over the summer. She has accomplished quite a bit this year, but I want to make sure that most of what she has learned has stayed put in her brain.

I also started my planning for the next school year today, which translates into lots of time sitting in front of the computer – poring over articles, online catalogues, eBay, Amazon, booklists, etc. (My head is starting to hurt!) I’m amazed at all the choices out there for excellent curriculum and books. I try to keep it simple, though, and not get too crazy looking into every homeschool curriculum out there. We’re going to try and use Ambleside Online’s Year 1 curriculum for Abigail this year as a general outline for her schooling. Hunting down all the books on the booklist has been a challenge, though, as many of them are quite old. At least I’m starting early. As the garden takes off and I get closer to the arrival of our new little one, I know that I’ll be less inclined to be sitting here working on school planning. So, now’s the time.

I’d better get back to work before Jonathan wakes up from his nap!

Hope you’re having a nice Monday.

Spring country days

It’s been such an eventful week. After Dan returned from a 4-day business trip, we enjoyed visiting with different family members and friends, eating lots of yummy food, going to various garage sales, and having people over. One of the highlights of the week was when the girls had the opportunity to hand-feed the hummingbirds that live near my mom’s house. I wish I had been able to get a picture of it!! The delight on their quiet, still faces (you have to sit still like a statue to feed them) was so great! Another highlight was getting to see my little sister in one of her very rare homecoming visits! After a busy week and weekend, we’re back to our regular home life. It’s such a comfort to be all together again at home.

Our life seems so full here on our little farm these days. I hate to say “we’re so busy”, because it’s not busy in a bad way. We’re not stressed out with all the things we’re doing, but we don’t really have time to sit around looking at each other either.

We became the (unanticipated) new owners of 5 one-week-old baby turkeys this past Sunday.

We’ve discussed the possibility of raising turkeys within the next year or so, but these ones were available and needed a home. It’s been a bit of a scramble to get them all set up in their new home. Thankfully, we still have all of our chick brooder stuff stored away, so we had to get it out and set it all up. The next step was pulling out the book on raising turkeys and figuring out what we’re supposed to be doing with them! These particular turkeys should be to full size by early fall – just in time for Thanksgiving. I think that will be so neat to raise our own Thanksgiving turkey!

In addition to learning about our new birds this week, we also have another big task – putting our garden in! It’s finally warm enough to put our poor plants out into the ground. They have grown so large in their indoor flats that they are drooping out everywhere. It’s as though they are saying, “let us out!” Dan is outside tilling a few areas of our big garden as I type and then the girls and I will get out there and transplant as much as we can until Jonathan wakes up from his nap. Somehow, I don’t think that an 18-month old boy and little baby plants would mix very well.

We’re also trying an herb/kitchen garden this year. Dan tilled up an area for me in front of the house so I can run outside and get something quickly if I need it for cooking. Here is a picture of it – empty so far:

Here are a few other pictures I took this week during our spring country days:

Country breakfast in the sunshine

 

Strawberry smile

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today!

The Learning Curve

For Dan and I, keeping animals and growing our own food involves learning many new things. As soon as we think we’ve got something figured out, the circumstances change and we find ourselves just as ignorant about what to do as we were previously. On a weekly, sometimes daily basis, there seems to be a new issue that comes up that leaves us throwing our hands up in the air.

For example, ever since our baby goat arrived, we’ve been (quite unsuccessfully) trying to contain the creature. His thin little body can fit through the most amazingly small spaces. After the 3rd or 4th adjustment to his pen, when we were finally able to contain him, he found out various ways of getting just his little mouth into his mother’s pen (he’s bottle fed). There, he promptly empties her of (our) milk while his stomach gets more and more distended. After 5 weeks, we finally have his pen situation figured out and we’re all getting along fabulously.

Another goat issue we’ve had in the recent past was a goat who kept getting out of her pen. Mind you, her stall gates are 4 feet tall and all gates are double locked. We could not figure out how she was escaping until one day Dan happened to catch her in the act. She was getting a running start down the longest part of the stall (the runway, we call it), jumping up to a crossboard on the wall one inch wide, ricocheting off of it and flying over the gate – clearing it by a good 1/2 foot! Crazy goat!

Dan tried sawing the tiny cross board at an angle so that she couldn’t get her footing there, but she still managed to jump over. Finally, he tacked chicken wire to the entire are of the wall. She still ricochets off of that. However, now that she can go out into her pasture, she’s lost interest in jumping over it - most of the time.

It’s not only the animals that we’ve had to learn so much about. In the garden we’ve come up against more pests and troubles than I could have ever imagined existed in gardens. We worked diligently for weeks last summer to hand-pick Mexican bean beetles off our our beans when we  began to notice holes in the leaves. The beetles were super fast and were crazy to catch. When we finally were able to declare victory it was a happy day. Little did we know that the Mexican bean beetle has a 2nd batch of eggs that hatch about a month later. By then, we had failed to notice new ones because we were to busy with other garden pests. The new ones hatched, ate, and the plants were destroyed. Lo and behold, after all this, we learned that there are certain plants that can be planted alongside the beans that the beetles hate! Sounds much easier than hand-picking to me!!!

We’ve had to learn what to do about hens pecking their eggs, dogs that wouldn’t stop barking, a cat that had seizures, birds eating half of our blueberries, a flooded garden, apple trees that only produce every other year, biting deerflies, poison ivy outbreaks, late May frosts, hawk predators, and many other things.

One thing is certain.

Our life in the country will always be interesting and we’ll probably continue to learn for a long time yet!