somedays...

I have to work really hard not to get bored! I run out of things to do! I don't really have a so called hobby that takes my time. I really like working on projects about our home, inside and out but that's not happening at this time. Soooo I have to find things that don't cost and basically have to do with staying here because I rarely have a vehicle. Such a sob story I know!! Somedays it's busy and full other days I twiddle my thumbs, and today was starting out as a thumb twiddling day! BUT I have been wanting to go on a pasture picnic with the children and today was lovely so we did!! We have many neat little places on our land! I love that about the country, it's just right out the door! Of course we had a few visitors....dogs, donkeys, cows but hey we didn't mind a few on-lookers!! I hope all we do on our farm will be a story book to tell their children one day.....

my day...

my day started off with walking with my friend Natalee around the Masonic temple in town. Then we switched gears and headed to our coffee date at Hoboken!! I had to drink water first and then after awhile I got cool down to have my hot drink!! Our topics ranged from kids, to cooking, to food, to fears, to grand children to children's future spouses, to school, to weight, to the crazy futures of our kids, to schedules, to summer, and
much more but I can't remember it all!!! It's never dull no matter how many times we have coffee!!

Then......since it was a most glorious sunny day, meaning I have to be outside in the 89 degree weather....sun time!!!

Then.....Natalee told me about this bread recipe and I made it today instead of waiting til June!!! Heheh!! Artisan bread! It was very good, but I'm not a big bread eater, but the fam loved it!!!!

Then.....it's time for coffee and my evening walk!

How's your day been!?!

finally....it's Friday!

all seasons....

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest....

parade day!!

Hosanna and Jigger made their debut at the 89'er Parade in guthrie today!! Jigger did great although it took hosanna a long time just to get him in from the back pasture so we could load him. But we made it in time!!! It was a beautiful day too, so that made it extra fun!!

Have a great weekend!!

gone city.....

........but only for an afternoon!! Gorgeous day means we needed a little bit-o-concrete beneath the feet and wheels!! Bike riding and a 2 mile walk for me....very fast walk to keep up with them!! Making memories and getting fit!!! My kind of day!!

making monday meaningful...

How?????? how do you make the dreaded Monday meaningful? Mondays mean tons of laundry, getting the house back in order, school (again) just getting the gears going again. Well, first, I had to get some fresh flowers.....so I had to only take a few steps outside and snip snip snip! There is something about flowers that brings a happy to a Monday! Mercy had her own ideas of "where" to put them. I would set them near my fav chair and after a minute I would come back through the LR and she moved them to her house she was building for her furry friends. I guess she wanted "happy" in her life too! I finally won!! They sit cheerily beside MY chair! Another way that Monday became meaningful....I was checking on my lemon tree that Caleb and Kristen got me back in September and it has loads of tiny lemons on it! I pollinated the blooms with a small paintbrush. I am anxiously awaiting the growth and seeing the results and sizes of the lemons! Believe me, Mondays are not the best day for me. So much to do. It is very overwhelming to "feel" the weight of a Monday. Ohhhhhh and another meaningful way that today was fun, we went to sonic for lunch for free! 8 people ate free with coupons! If ever I am sick of cooking, it's now. Soooo this was a treat for sure.

If ever there was a person that was/is like me in the family, it's Andrew. An organizer and worker, can't be still, always looking and wanting to be busy, likes projects. A to himself kinda person, a loner. He's got a small project going on outside and I have to say hats off to him because he can always find something to do at no cost or use materials we already have! Me and him "click!" Ha! I guess hosanna is kinda like me to, tell it like it is!!! Haha!!

Hope your Monday is meaningful!

Happy Monday!!

bucket list and I'm invisible:

Have you ever thought about all the things you want to do, experience, or get before you leave this earth!? I have! I made a bucket list and so far it has 32 things on it!! I feel sure the list will grow but it's a good start!! Interestingly enough, many of the things have to do with our house, many of the things have to do with my kids and many of the things are places I wanna go!! And you can bet Disney is on there!! Ha! I hope much of it happens before I get tooooo old if The Lord is willing!! Then again 32 things is not much at all!

What do you want to do before you leave!?

For some reason I had this idea, that as children leave the home, we would spend less on groceries! Yesterday, I bought a gallon of milk and this morning it's gone! The other thing that is quite fun is, I never know who's gonna be at our house on the couch when I wake up. We constantly have people here that hang out with our kids and just randomly show up to eat with us! #feedthenation hahaha!!! Really, it's a blessing!! I want all my kids friends to "experience" a good time when they come here and have good food! I read the article below and it made a lot of sense! Hahah!!


 It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I’m on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I’m thinking, ‘Can’t you see I’m on the phone?’ Obviously not; no one can see if I’m on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I’m invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie t his? Can you open this? Some days I’m not a pair of hands; I’m not even a human being. I’m a clock to ask, ‘What time is it?’ I’m a satellite guide to answer, ‘What number is the Disney Channel?’ I’m a car to order, ‘Right around 5:30, please.’
Go
I was certain that these were the hands that once held these tiny creatures, brushed their hair, eased their pain, but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She’s going, she’s going,e’s gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England .. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, ‘I brought you this.’ It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe .

I wasn’t exactly sure why she’d given it to me until I read her inscription: ‘To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.’

In the days ahead I would read – no, devour – the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of d saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, ‘Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.’ And the workman replied, ‘Because God sees.’

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, ‘I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make everyday, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.’

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far a s to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don’t want my child to tell the friend he’s bringing home for Christmas, "My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.’ That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, ‘You’re gonna love it there.’

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Oh, we have been having fun too, making some origami's (folding paper to make shapes) and getting in some Redhawk baseball!

friday

bebe'

I can hardly wait until this little dude gets here!!! I thought waiting for my own child was hard!!! Ha!! Praying praying for a safe, healthy, happy delivery!!! AND he is gonna be the most beautiful and handsome bebe EVER!!!!

The hardest part too, is NOT to buy everything in sight!!! It's just too much fun to see all these tiny little clothes!!

Not long now!!!

back in time....

Yesterday was 82 and a perfect day for Natalee and I to step back in time to a new little restaurant In Guthrie! Once in the doors your amongst all the oldies of the 50's and 60's! With black and white checkered floors, a soda bar, rock around the clock music going and then a big greasy burger and fries in a red plastic basket.....the good ole days for sure! And the burger and fries was under $5!!!! Yay for my budget kinda lunch! Although the burger and dripping greasy fries are not on my healthy food plan, it was fun for one day!! And the extra extra fun was going there with my friend Natalee! We stepped back in time and didn't even have to drive far at all!! Guthrie is a cool little town!! I am appreciating it more and more. The quaintness and historical aspect of it....I'm proud to live here!

census:

We are growing! The farm that is! The census as to date is 55 goats, 5 calves, 6 dogs, 5 cats, 2 donkeys and we can throw 13 "real" kids in there!! Ha! Praise The Lord for a happy Spring of multiplication on the farm! It is a blessing from The Lord to have times of plenty!

insta//

Life is fun when you can go on an instawalk with a friend that is crazy as you are!! And so.....that's what we did Sunday! We def did not take zillions of photos but we did have a zillion words to say!

coffee....

Morning coffee at our favorite little coffee house, it's what we do. It's girl time. It's a moment or rather sometimes 3 hours of talk, of laughter, of musing, of contemplation, of discovery. We talk about, well about everything and anything. We talk about family, our kids, things we wish we would have done, things we are doing. We analyze and try to figure out the ins and outs of life. I think it will take us a life time....and that's good because that means we will forever be having coffee dates together!! Thank you Natalee for
being a friend who is just that, a friend!

There are people we meet in life that make everything seem magical. Cherish them.