Très, Très Blessed

The title of my blog translates "Very Blessed", and it is my goal to share with my readers the many facets of my life that display the richness of God's grace and mercy.

Here is one of the greatest gifts God has given to me:

He is so much more than I ever imagined I'd have in a husband.

"You're everything I never knew I always wanted!" (Name that movie!)

One post cannot do justice to this topic, so for now, I'll focus on one thing about MY LOVE that I LOVE. :)

My dear husband does not leave messes around the house.  He leaves the bathroom in the condition it was when he arrived.  He rinses out his dishes.  He puts the box of cereal away.  He moves his dirty socks to the dirty clothes area of the house.  He puts his toothbrush away.  He puts the cap on the toothpaste.  He disposes of the diapers that he changes (without complaining about having to change a diaper).

So much of what you hear about husbands is how unhelpful they are around the house.  When these conversations come up, I have nothing to contribute.  My life partner is helpful and does not add any extra work to my housekeeping load.

...and I love that.

PS-He also likes to splash around in the river with while on vacation with his kids.  (I thought the photo might call for a bit of an explanation.)

From Above

I got a new camera last week.  I'm very excited about it.  I've been messing with some of the manual controls, which is especially fun for me with sky/cloud/storm pictures.

I have so much to learn in order to find out my camera's full potential.  I'm hoping that I learn a fraction of that this summer.

Living in Wyoming, I miss trees.  But, then when I stand outside our house, I can't help but appreciate the wide, open spaces.  Nothing hindering my view.  There's something priceless about that too.  We're very blessed.

I am waiting on only 1 of about 8 shipments of homeschool curriculum to arrive, and my set will be nearly complete for the 2011-2012 school year.  I am feeling confident and excited!  I hope to at some point have a nice little link on the sidebar, listing my curriculum choices.  I'm describing our philosophy as a sort of Math/Science-heavy Classical program.

Glad to be back to blogging....

Dangers of Farm Life

The photo above is not of our "farm".  It is a photo I took last week while on a lovely hike with my children at the Audubon Society.  I don't have a picture of what I'm going to write about today...but I like to include an image with every one of my posts.

Last night, the chickens got a chicken run built close to their coop.  So, today started out with much motivation on my part to get the back yard de-chicken-poop-ified.  We sprayed down the deck and the window well coverings.  And, I decided to mow some of the grass that has been hard to reach all season.

Long story short:  I didn't really do the necessary prep work before mowing...and I had a bit of an accident.

I'm pretty sure I broke my finger.

The details are embarassing not very important.

Just wanted to have  a farming followup post.  I may have painted farm life as ultra-romantic.  Know that there are real dangers involved...at least if you're me. :)

Update: The Farmer doesn't think the finger is broken....just traumatized. :)

Finally a Farmer's Wife

When I was 13, and my family moved from the big city out to Wyoming, my parents bought a place with a couple of acres.  Shortly after moving in, my dad purchased an old horse, saying, "I didn't move to Wyoming NOT to have a horse!"

Now, nearly 20 years later, I find myself in similar shoes.

My husband and I just celebrated 1 year in our new home, which happens to be on a bit of acreage in the country.  And, only about 9 months in, we decided to adopt 8 little chicks.

They aren't so little anymore, but they deserve a proper blog introduction.

Larry (the rooster)

Most of the chicks we bought were guaranteed to be hens.  A few of them, we were told, MAY be roosters.  We were advised to just "wait and see".  We weren't sure what we were waiting to see...but in the last few weeks, at about 6:30 each morning, we've HEARD a little something that gives us a clue. :)  It started as faint and almost unrecognizable, but in the last few days, a very clear "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" has greeted me in my half-awake state.  Meet Larry.  He's the fluffy white one in the back.  He's been one of my favorites from the start.  He's docile (so far), and he has feathery feet, which is...adorable.

A Dixie Chick (1 of 3)

We got 3 of these pretty white ones, because they were advertised as good "layers", and we're very excited for the laying to begin!  They don't have names individually, but collectively, they are "The Dixie Chicks".

"The Sebright" (Marge)

We got one of these, a Silver Sebright.  We named her Marge, but we usually call her "The Sebright".  She just looked cool, so we decided to get her for aesthetic purposes, I guess. :)

Larry has a "partner", not pictured, named Dixie.  She's a bantam also (feathery feet), but she has black feathers.  There are also 2 Barred Rocks.  One is pictured in the background of the Dixie Chick photo.  They are Dale and Mary Ann, are robust, and are also supposed to be good egg-producers.

The Chicken Abode

This is the chicken coop mansion.  You see, when we decided to embark on the chicken adventure, we knew we weren't exactly prepared.  So, it was in the plan to build a chicken coop/garden shed.  Those darn chickens grew very fast, and the chicken coop construction has had a hard time keeping up.

The Farmer

My husband, the Farmer/Engineer/Carpenter/Roofer/etc., is building a luxurious home for our beloved chickens!  I'm very proud of him and the awesome shed.  In fact, as I type, the chickens are being introduced to their new home, and will spend their first night there tonight!  What an occasion!

Maybe we'll have an open house! :)

RSVP to the Farmer's Wife. :)

Dear Blog,

Dear Blog,
I miss you.  Let's make time for each other soon.
Love,
Me

Handsome

My husband is great.

One thing I love about him is that he is a great dad.

Super Great.

In the words of my 4-yr-old, "Duper" Great!

Most pictures that I post are of the children...

But I was so excited to discover that some of the best shots in my most recent batch included my handsome husband loving his boys.

I feel loved when he loves our kids.

Why isn't that one of Gary Chapman's Love Languages?

It probably should be.

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 3

New Friends

We moved into a house on rural property at the beginning of the summer.  During the last 6 years living in town(s), there were never kids nearby for our kids to play with.

But, we move 10 miles out of town where we only have 6 neighbors within a mile-radius...and there are kids just 2 doors down!

There is a boy who is right between my 2 oldest boys in age.  And a girl who is  1 month older than my girl.  AND...a baby boy who is a few months younger than our latest lad.

And, if that weren't cool enough...They're NICE! :)  I'm excited for our kids to grow up together. :)

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 2

Goggles

Summer Snapshots, Ed. 1

As I've been on a blogging sabbatical, I need to do some catching up on the events that I've missed sharing with you.  

The first series:

Summer

Tree-Climbing

Mother-Son Bonding

First Braids

Baseball in a Big Back Yard

The Bug

 I'm starting to catch the blogging bug. :)  I hope this results in frequent posts....we'll see how it goes. :)

So...an update on what's been going on with us:

We started homeschooling!  We've been at it for about 4 weeks now.  We've put a lot of energy into our homeschool room, and I'm starting to love it.

My princess is getting so big!  Her sassiness is letting up a bit. :)  She's a joy to be around!  I have lot of cute stories...maybe they will be the subject of an upcoming post.

My 2nd boy turned 4 last week.  I kept asking him if he wouldn't mind staying 3 for a while longer.  He was not interested.  I'm making him think I'm overcome with sadness.  But, the truth is, I'm glad he's 4 and not 5.  4 is still a little boy...and I'm not ready for the bigness that comes with 5.

We've been trying to enjoy the outdoors a bit.  On a nice evening, we walked to a nearby pond for the sunset.  It was pleasant and memorable. :)  We hope to go back and go fishing sometime!... maybe before it snows. 

My baby's getting big.  He's really zooming around and getting where he wants to go in his walker.  It's nice having all hardwood floor, so he can have a little bit of independence.  He's happy. :)

He's also crawling.  He's 7 1/2 months old, and we didn't put him down on the floor until he was 6 months old.  As soon as we got our rug and laid him on it, he started rolling all over and trying to figure out the mechanics of crawling.  It didn't take long.  He's still my sweet, cuddly guy...just a little more of a big boy.

I do hope to post more about our homeschooling, our new home, our recent travels, and of course the kids and the funny, sweet things they do.

Reformed Church in Casper

For those of you who live in our area, we are excited to announce that our pastor from Laramie will be conducting a monthly Bible study in our home here in Casper.

As you may know, we became members of the Laramie Reformed Presbyterian Church during our short time living there.  We have grown to love the church, and we're excited to see how God intends to expand the work of the RPCNA here in Casper.

If you are interested in a Bible Study from a Reformed perspective, please contact me or check out the Reformed in Casper blog that we've set up.

Oh, What a Wonderful Day

Verse 1 & Chorus of "Heaven Came Down, and Glory Filled my Soul" :)