Where did last week go?

And that's what I'm really wondering! Seems like it was so busy, and full to overflowing, it just flew by. I certainly hope next week flies by just as fast or faster! A lot of this week was spent getting things planned and together for Jere's upcoming trip to Haiti. Remember a while back I said he was asked to join the SALT-Haiti board? Well, they've asked him to head down there for a week to get a feel for how things are working on the field and help out with some business stuff. He leaves Monday the 29th and comes home again on Tuesday the 7th. So please keep us all in your prayers in the next week+! I'm privileged to be married to a man of character, who is sought after to help with such important things! I proud of him. Pray for his safety as he travels quite a lot in such an unstable little country, and for the rest of us at home as we eagerly anticipate his return.

Besides that, the weather has warmed up beautifully the last couple of days, and we've been enjoying the fresh air blowing through the house, and sunshine! I love the sight of clean laundry flapping on the line, and the joy the children have playing outside making more dirty clothes. :-) I love the yard turning green, and being able to walk through the garden without sinking in mud past my ankles. I love the feel of soft grass under my bare feet, and the sight of Leanna enjoying the whipping wind on bare skin. Ah, spring! I'm so glad it finally showed up!

Rain!

Yes, this cold, wet spring has been a blessing! After the hot, dry summer last year, the moisture coming now was sorely needed. With a slow thaw, the moisture has been able to sink in as much as possible, instead of running off over frozen ground. However, I am anxiously watching the forecast, hoping (vainly so far!) for several days in a row that will be warmer, and DRY. I can hardly wait to get the garden worked up and my early crops in! We actually dug around in the muck on Tuesday night and planted a row of potatoes. :-) Yea, I'm anxious to get gardening! My plants in the house are getting anxious to be outside too. Several of the tomato plants are too tall to fit under the grow light anymore. Normally we move them outside to a cold frame when they get that big, but not yet this year. We've simply used windows laid over straw bales before, but this year straw/hay is so expensive it's not practical to do that. I need to build a real cold frame I guess! We have the parts, just lacking on time. Surprise, right?

Heges in Mexico, it looks like you sent the chipi-chipi our way today! Soft drizzle and swirling fog, and that wet, penetrating cold. Makes me think of you, wondering if you have sunshine!

We're having a bought of colds running through our house lately. Seems most of the winter we kept them at bay, but I ran out of my favorite essential oil that has been helping so much, and we got hit pretty good. Sore throats, sinus congestions, light coughs, and just feeling tired. Thankfully so far no fevers or chest congestion. It's not really any wonder, with the weather the way it is and nasty colds going around.. and around... and around in church.

Sorry no pictures this time. :-( I haven't been having much time with camera in hand recently!

Oh, the little joys of life!

On Wednesday I went to put my supper in the oven (running late due to letting the water run out on the carrots I was cooking and burning them!) and discovered my oven was stone cold. I double checked. Yes, it was turned on. After some fretting, I remembered that the pie could fit in the toaster oven, so in it went and we still could eat supper! So ever since I've spent a lot of time online, trying my hardest to chase down a used stove. Seemed like there were enough choices, but till we chased them down, they didn't work out. The upshot? I'm the happy owner of my very first new appliance--a lovely black stove! Here are some pictures from today, after we got it:

Yes, in case you're wondering, my wonderful, sweet husband bought me a stove with a fifth burner--a long, griddle burner in the middle! Thank you Sweetheart!!!!

Catching up with my baking, making granola again.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous. Funny name, but I didn't know what else to call it! Just had too many different things going this morning.

For starters, here's a picture of the little man recovering from multiple accidents. I was wishing I'd gotten a picture at the beginning of the day instead of the ending, since he eye was an unusual and intriguing shade of green mixed with purple. By the time we got the picture, the worst had passed and it was going back to a more normal bruise color.

 

 Here are a couple pictures I got of Leanna helping me in the kitchen. She can't stand to be left out of anything! She follows me around as I work, insisting on getting her hands into whatever I'm doing. Here I was cutting up carrots for supper. I didn't want her handling a knife yet, so her job was to pick up the pieces and put them into the pan. She was delighted! She also loves helping with the dishes, and on Monday was determined to lend a hand with my sewing project. I spent most of the rest of my time "sewing" training her to keep her hands away from the needle, but hopefully she'll develop a love of work as we include her and allow her to enjoy it alongside of us.

 

 

We had our first thunderstorm of the year yesterday while we were in town running some errands. That made it interesting. Thankfully Jere had decided to come along and run some errands of his own, so I wasn't trying to run in and out of stores in the pouring rain with all the children in tow. He sat in the van with them where I needed to run in, and I sat out with them when he needed to run in. It kind of let up through the afternoon, but came back with fury at bedtime. So we went to sleep (some better than others!) amidst lightening and crashing thunder and whipping rain. And woke up to a frozen, ice covered world. What a difference! It felt just a little strange. But this whole spring has been strange!

Quick pics

Here are a couple of pictures I just took this morning. Leanna doesn't usually even notice her dolly, so I had to capture the moment! :-)

Accidents

Well, seems like we've had our share of accidents around here lately! On Monday evening the boys were taking turns pushing each other around on Eliott's ride-on car. It got rather wild, as it had been too cold for them to run their energy off outside that day, and while Jaron pushed with all his might, they crashed into the hearth and sent Eliott face-first into the edge of the hearth. So, add to the bump under the right eye and cut on the lip, a huge egg between his eyes and a nasty bruise heading down across his left eye and his cheek. I took him to the chiropractor yesterday morning, figuring he would need it after so many head thumpers, and sure enough, he was way out of line.

Starting to look better already!

 

Yesterday morning we decided it was more than high time to get the weaner ring in the calf's nose, since we should be adding another calf to the farm in another couple of months. Seeing it was a cold morning, we figured we get less dirty than if we did it in the evening after things had thawed out a bit. We had a royal chase to rope the thing and get the halter on him, then I ran in to check in on the children who were eating breakfast under Jaron's helpful eye while Jere hunted for the weaner ring that had fallen out of his pocket during the chase. Well, I tried to run. A few stems of grass poking up hid a slanting sheet of ice, and I went down pretty hard on my left knee. To my dear, worried, husband's inquiry "Why did you do that?" I answered that I really couldn't help it--I hadn't WANTED to fall! I hobbled to the house, where Jaron was happily managing to get his little siblings to eat breakfast (though some distressed because "Eliott poured water on his cereal!" Which cherub cheerfully replied that it was "Yummy with water."). Then I hobbled back out to the pasture to join the hunt for one missing piece of plastic. Finding it, we applied it to the calf, and I hobbled back to the house while Jere headed across the field to work. Jaron joined his daddy at the shop then, and the two youngest and I went to town to the chiropractor and to do some shopping. As I was loading the groceries into the van, the hitch receiver reached out and clunked me pretty good just below my injured knee. Ok, well, guess I just forgot right where it was and clunked it. However, it seemed no worse for the wear. I was just glad to go to bed last night to not only rest my very sore leg, but to keep it out of harm's way as well.

 

In the middle of the night, I was wakened from a sound sleep by Eliott, as his usual routine is, came to join us in bed and was sent back to his own, an unhappy little fellah. His wails wakened his little sister, and when Jere realized I was waiting on him to go quiet her as he normally does, he confessed his stomach was in knots, and please, could he just stay in bed this time? So I slipped out of bed, snuggled the princess for a bit, then put her back to bed. No sooner had I snuggled under my covers and was about asleep again, than I heard, faintly, "Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!" from the other end of the house. Fearing the stomach flu was striking, I flew out of bed, only to find that the night wanderer had had to go potty, and somehow in the process had managed to miss the pot and get his jammies and undies and socks and the toilet seat. Soooo... Get him dressed in clean clothes, clean up the mess, and go back to bed. Ahhh. I thought. Till very shortly Jere vaulted out of bed and ran to the toilet himself. From then on, every time I was about falling asleep, the sound of his distress came floating back and I found myself rigidly awake, making sure that he was, in fact, fast asleep beside me, my stomach felt fine, and I heard no such sounds from the children's rooms. Then I would try to find a comfortable position, only to be stymied by one very, very sore knee. It was a relief to see morning show up!

 

Today has been going wonderfully--so far!! :-) With getting up earlier than normal, things got done in good time. Jaron had ALL his school finished before lunch, which always makes him very happy, as then he can walk across the field WITH Daddy once Jere heads back to work after his lunch break, instead of half an hour later or so, whenever he gets done. Jaron also had washed the dishes and made his bed before school! The sun is shining, it's thinking about maybe getting a little warm today, and I need to head out to hang out the load of heavy winter coats I just washed this morning. Hope you have a blessed day today, and that the little accidents of life stay away from your door!