Oh my goodness....it's been too long

 It has been so very long since I have posted on my blog.  I think life got busy with grandparents moving in, sicknesses, death, and surgeries, etc.   We had a "farm" to keep up. And homeschooling four kiddos took all of my attention. 

So where do I start?  

Let's start with homeschooling. I have a high schooler, middle schooler, 5th grader, and 3rd grader.  

Drip, drip, drip....That's me crying in a puddle on the floor. How did life speed by so fast?  

We have recently done educational testing.  I have three kids with dyslexia.  Three of my kids have ADD. One kid has visual spatial problems. And  I have a headache. 

 Naw....just kiddding.  I am fine. God has prepared me for this since the day I found out I was pregnant.  It's been challenging.  There have been  days that I thought  it was too much.  But I am confident God called me to homeschool these past years.  I know my children have had the best years of their lives at home.  We have went on countless field trips, played hours with friends, served and loved big, learned about God in all things, and they learned at their own pace with individualized instruction completely catered to their strengths and needs by  an amazing skilled teacher.

Clark is in ninth grade.  School comes easier for him than the rest.  He has to put in very long hours, but he gets it done.  He is doing a virtual school this year.  He is accountable for his grades and assignments in a new way, but he is rising to the challenge.  He is 14 going on 40.  He is wise beyond his years.  He loves to talk grownup talk.  Theology, apologetics, and politics are his favorite things.  Throw in a little personality profiles, and you float his boat. 

Joel is in 7th grade.  He is my fly low under the radar kind of student.  Things comes easy for him, but he likes to be done.  So we spend a few extra moments each day cleaning up a few careless mistakes.  He is quiet until he is loud.  What I mean is he doesn't say much, until something means a lot to him.  Then you can't miss him.  It reminds me of a volcano.  You might not notice him until the smoke and ash began to appear.  He is so loyal and loving.  He is hands on and full throttle.  I need to get him into sports....bad.

Levi is in 5th grade. He is an incredible communicator. The power of his tongue is his super power.  He can talk to anyone young and old with great eloquence.  He hasn't fallen in love with reading yet, but I pray he does.  He is likes to be social.  He longs for people, parties, and get togethers.  He cares appearances and opinions more than my other three.  He loves people. He has a big heart and loves big.

Karis is my butterfly and busy bee.  She never meets a stranger, and she has friends everywhere she goes.  She finds a best friend in every situation. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She loves math. Recently she has been tested.  She has an extremely high IQ, but for some reason, it's hard to remember to bring her shoes to car trips. She loves writing stories.  And she loves her momma. Her only toy to play with is stuffed animals. She is my mini-me.  

  

Wild Turkeys and Wild Indians

Life has been full of wild turkeys and Indians in these here parts. :-)  

We have had several encounters with real wild turkeys in our yard!  It's so cool to have wild life roaming around!

 And of course we always have wild Indians!!!   Karis decided to get her war paint on for battle and used up almost all of my lipsticks. 

Here the boys are excavating their chocolate chips after a great lesson about mineral, rocks, and fossils in our science home school book.

I've been busy too.  See that island that the boys are sitting at.  I made that!!  I found the buffet on Craiglist, painted it, put new hardware and bead board and trim, and made a butcher block top out of maple.  Now we have a bar/island/butcher block!

Life is exciting here whether it be new projects, wild turkeys, or adventures with our little wild Indians!!!

Spring of 15

 Spring of 2015 has been wonderful and hard, a mix of bitter and sweet.  Paw Paw has been sick, and he is the hospital today.    He is such a major part of our lives, our family, our hearts.... 
We know we need to treasure each day with him.  

Little Karis looks for him everyday, and she loves her PAWPAW so much. 

Besides sharing life with PawPaw and Grandma, we keep busy around here.

This spring...

• We finished up Clark's 2nd grade and Joel's kindergarten year of homeschooling.
•   We are raised frogs from tadpoles found in our yard.  
• We started remodeling our kitchen.  
• We planted a garden. 
• I made a boot holder for our back porch.
•  I refinished our cabinets and table top. 
•  We kept a fresh bouquet of wild flowers picked from the backyard. 
•  I made a picture collage for the living room. 
•  I painted a buffet, and I am in the works of making a butcher block counter top for it.  
• We hunted and trapped a killer raccoon that was getting our chickens.  
• Clark and Joel finished another season of soccer with Lee University!  
• Our three boy rabbits turned out to be one male and two females who had babies on the same day.  So now we are raising lots of baby rabbits. 

 Here's the before and after of the kitchen island.  The counter top still has to be made.

Joel graduated from kindergarten, and he had a great little graduation ceremony thanks to BCHE.

Easter 2015

Happy Easter, dear friends and family.  We hope this Easter will stir our hearts to be fully engaged and impassioned to live a life pleasing to our God.

Snowball and Ice cream joined the photo.  Cheese It soon joined as well.

I love this picture.  It was the last one I got.  It shows their personalities so well.  Clark is my rock and still trying to do everything just right.   Joel is cuddled up all close to his baby sister because he is watching over her and protecting her.  Levi is my Mr. Independent and silly nonconformist .  And Karis is not able to sit any more because she is my "Gotta Run Girl".

My pretty little girl

A Beautiful Life

 Katie, our sweet almost 14 year old Border Collie, lived a beautiful life.
Today I take moment to celebrate her life and mark her passing.

She had not been eating or drinking for a few days this past week.  We too were sick with the flu, but I knew she was dying.  We all spent many sweet moments with her while she was resting.  I told her the moment she told me she was in pain, I would take her to the doctor.  Well on Friday night she started barking which is something she has never done in 14 years.  She was a very quiet dog.  Between basketball games on Saturday, we took her to the vet, and he was certain she was dying too.  The children went out to the truck, and I stayed with her.

I whispered all the beautiful memories we shared in her ear.  I told her how proud I was of her, the best dog in the world.  I told her she was my friend, my partner, my quiet encourager.  I was with her till the end trying to repay all the love that she had poured on me through the 14 years spent together.


She was our first child in many ways.
 Before having human children, I brushed her teeth daily, celebrated her birthday by taking her to the pet store to let her pick out a present and treats.  We took her everywhere we went.  We even bought a vehicle that she would ride in comfortably.     She didn't seem to mind the intrusion of  human children.  She enjoyed the additions to our family as they came.  She taught them the game of catch like a pro.

 She was a super star in our family.  A dog that loved and played with all her heart.  Here's little Clark and baby Joel playing with her in the backyard.

She will be missed more than words can express.  There will never be another Katie.  

She had a beautiful life.

Wrapping Up 2014

 2014...Hmmmm what a year!!!!
I have to say I have never experienced anything like it.
So many wonderful things happened like

• Michael's new job
• the home of our dreams
•  in-laws moving in
• getting chickens
• two kids homeschooling
• living in Cleveland (crazy thing is I've wanted to live here even when we lived in Dallas)
• a new amazing church and church family (Cleveland First Baptist is great!)
•  our family complete with four beautiful healthy children.

But what a hard year too with missing my amazing, incredible friends in Hixson,  injuries and illnesses, moving (UGGG), starting over, faith shakers, and adjustments that have stretched us thin.

Here's some moments captured toward the end of the year.

Joel is our soccer star.  He is really fast and really focused.  Every time he scores, he turns back and gives us a thumbs up.  We see it a lot!!!

Christmas was fantastic this year.  We couldn't hardly wait for it.  Michael found a broken down go-cart on Craigslist during the summer.  He spent lots of time working to fix it up and getting it in top notch shape for Christmas.  It was a hit!!!  The boys also got bikes.  Karis got a dollhouse, vacuum, and a little kitchen.  Clark and Joel got BB guns too.  We found almost everything at a consignment sale or Craigslist this year for GREAT prices in great  condition!!! 

 And we got some sparklers and Roman candles for New Year's Eve.  The kids loved them, even though it was COLD!! 

Bird Brain Fun

 Life has been soaring pretty high around here lately. And we have had a lot of fun--much has revolved around our chickens.  

I got to have a girls night out the other day.  We painted.  Here's a picture of my painting.  It was a lot of fun to paint.  I am addicted.

 We finally cleaned out the tower, and we climbed it for the first time.  

Here's a bird's eye view from the top!!!  

It's a nice view of the Smokey Mountains from there!

Clark LOVES it up there.

 Here's our little Chicken Run.  The boys love to push each other in the wagon while holding a hen!!!  The hens don't seem to mind.  :-)

 We're having a little ducky fun in the yard after a big rain.  We made little boats with recycling materials and watched as they trickled down the water ways.

 One of Clark's jobs each day is collecting the eggs.  It's kind of like a treasure hunt each day.  We get 8 a day!

 Then this weekend, we had an awesome time.  For starters, we got some chicks!!  Five Americana (Easter Eggers) and 6 Barred Rocks (1 is a rooster).  Michael built a hutch, and the boys love playing with the chicks!!  Joel had his last soccer game.  He had a great season.  We went to an awesome church on Sunday and served in the nursery.  Then we saw Grandpa and Grandma at the hospital.  We went to a hilarious Upward Soccer Family Celebration.  And after that we went to Grace Point's Fall Festival. 

 Clark meet the real Darth Vader (or at least it felt like it).  We all were very nervous to come close to him.  He was gigantic and sounded like the real deal.

We petted farm animals, played games, bounced in bounce houses, roasted marshmallows, trunk-or-treated, and meet some really nice people.

Life is good.  And we have discovered life is funner with chickens!!!

Mom's Turn

 There is a beautiful path that leads into the woods by our chicken coop.  I had a feeling it would make great pictures.  So we tried it out yesterday.  I like how it turned out!

 Michael took these for us.  I had to pull him away from working on the chicken coop. :-)

 Joel, who is five, took this one.  He did good.  :-)

Fall is HERE!!

 Hooray...fall is here.  It's so pretty here with the colors, trees, grass, everything.  I am pretty excited about taking pictures this year.  So friends, come out for a visit.  And I might try to take your pictures too.

We are enjoying the weather with bonfires, shooting, hikes, and staying outside all the time!

 Boys are learning how to shoot their BB gun.  Joel is ready to go hunting!!

 Grandpa's wagon makes a great prop.

9 Chickens and Counting...

 Lucky, Allie, Lilly, Burgundy, Fern, and the rest of the girls are seeming to enjoy their new home.  We drove way out in the country (and if you think we live out, you ain't seen nothing) to pick them up on Thursday.   They are sweet and tame and love corn.  Elmo our gentle lab plumb came unglued when he saw the birds and attacked the one we named Lucky.  Lucky for Lucky, Grandma was there to save her.  They are about five months old, and they should start laying one egg a day soon. 

The boys LOVE their hens.  They love petting and holding them...ALL DAY LONG.  :-)