Family reflections

After all the recent rain, I saw all our boots lined up outside the door and I thought that I should capture what our family looks like in boots right now! So many good times on the farm together.

I have to say that every time I think that I can't love my family more...I do! We have so much fun together and just love to laugh together. Someone asked me a while back if we ever sit down at our big kitchen table together to eat. I was am proud to report that strangely enough we sit there pretty much EVERY night and I cherish each evening when I finally get all the food and all the people there. I guess we're strange? I know that the time is coming when they'll have their own lives and this will be so much more difficult to do! Still, it will always be a priority for me to TRY to sit around the table each night. One of our favorite things now is hearing all of Jeb's school stories followed immediately by Cay's imaginative stories about his class and "Mrs. Butterfly" his teacher. His stories sound a lot like Jeb's?


Not only do I treasure my times with our little family, but sometimes I am amazed at the sweet fellowship that our faith family shares. Our small group went bowling recently and I still have some warm fuzzies from the laughs we shared together and the rich history we have with friends of 10 years here now. I cannot think of better people to walk through life with and to share deep, true, friendships with than those in my church. My children are so blessed to have many other adults in their lives who love them and enjoy them. I am so thankful to have so many kids to love in my life in addition to my own. These folks make it so that we don't just "go to church" they are "being the church" as we serve, struggle, laugh, sin, repent, strive, forgive, celebrate, cry, and pray for each/with each other. 1 Corinthians 12: 25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance (The Message).




And, of course, our biological family around the commune here on both sides of our street is such a rare and beautiful thing! Being surrounded by so much love and care is seriously wonderful. I would have loved for so many cousins to have lived closer to me growing up. Wild times!

I wanted to include my new, wonderful table/bench that J built me for Mother's Day. It was a labor of love. I said I wish I could have a table that would fold away and boom--there it was! I am sure that it was not that easy, but it seemed like it. He's amazing!

Spring Break 2011

My apologies that this blog is a novella really. It has been an ongoing project to put all that has been going on the past month down for posterity! I guess the sun has given me the energy boost I need to get back to bloggin'.

We had a spectacular Easter of thinking about Christ's sacrifice and how loving and living he is in our lives!

We hunted our eggs, made a chick craft, and played Jesus Bingo! "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" 1 Peter 1:3, NIV I realized this year that many scholars say that 1 Corinthians is the best account of the ressurection b/c it was written by Paul on 35 years after the event
1 Cor 15: 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
That verse always reminds me of how short THIS life is and how LONG the next one is with Christ...I should be doing so much more to prepare for my next phase of life! My goal this year is to simply share the gospel message more and more intentionally.

Caleb had a good time hunting eggs this year, but when he discovered the chocolate inside he sat right down and took a nice break mid-hunt.












The whole clan hit North Myrtle for spring break this year.

We took DC's boat down the intercoastal waterway to explore a fun, deserted island (well there were other sunbathers, but no one who lives there!). It was fun and we had a blast jumping all over the dunes that were more like mountains.

We played in the sand a lot and had some good laughs playing whole-family beach baseball and kickball.

I love the shot of Cay giving his signature thumbs up in the sand. I have tons of shots of him giving a thumbs up and each one still melts me. He is so much FUN!


Then, we got home and our house was struck by lightening--not fun. Our losses so far include: TV/DVR receiver, 1 truck, phones, electric fence charger and some lights around the house I think. So bummed. Life is always throwing something at ya.

We love a new book we discovered at the library: Cowlick. Check it out if you have two or three little boys!

Our chickens are show chickens now. The boys have had a time teaching them to do "tricks" around the garage and screened porch! They have grown so much and have moved out to their own apartment in the pasture. I hope to release them to their new family of big chickens who hopefully won't "henpeck" them to death. C still loves chickens like no other child I've ever known.

Our babies are doing well. As you can see from the shots 2 (Billy and Cami) of the 17 are quite friendly, and more like little pups. They come out of the fence to see the boys and follow them around, jumping on them like dogs. It is too cute. Camellia even lets the boys put her in seats and tractors.





The ipad has been a hit with J. He enjoyed teaching Papa D all about it and it was FUN finding games and trivia to put on it for our ride to the ocean.

The boys built their first rabbit gum with Daddy this spring.



The garden is going in and some of our early crops are here! We are enjoying our collards. I used chicken broth and some other Paula Deen hints for some YUMMY greens! Our broccoli, garlic, onions, potatoes and lettuce are getting ready for harvest. We are planting peanuts this year for the first time.

Our small group gang had fun dying eggs and playing on the lake over our break. The kids rode the tube ALONE and the that left the mamas with some fun, uninterrupted time to chit-chat. Babies are fun, but having independent kids is so liberating. I still have an impulse to buy diapers, but it is waning. I don't miss bottles and baby food at all right now, but will embrace it again one day when I get that call and see that little face!

The not so grand finale of our spring break was J's fractured elbow. J was racing a boy quadruple his size on an inflatable obstacle course and though he pretty much beat the kids when the kid got to the end he catapulted J off the bouncie. So, in the end we were the losers! On Easter morning after church we logged our annual 4 hours at the ER and got that fixed up. He was sad, but once the Easter candy IV began that cheered him up.

The boys "splunking" adventure

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars. ~Martin Luther












WOW --our boys are troopers!!! They walked about 3 miles today to get to the caves. The boys loved going through all the tunnels, getting wet in the COLD drops coming off the overhands, exploring around the caves/boulders, and of course, digging in the sand underneath them.






I am always impressed that in 2 hours from our house (or less) we can be in some amazing places in 3 states.

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. ~George Washington Carver


P.S. Kidding season is officially over for our family. Buttercup had 2 boys this evening making our total 17: 10 girls and 7 boys. The babies are having fun on the playground, making new friends, jumping off the hills and starting to "kid around." The new girls are Sunny, Butterfly, Hosta, Hydrangea, Mum, Lilac, Camellia, Lark, Holly, & Pansy. They have brought us a lot of joy and WORK!

My home 6.5 years later...and other thoughts, of course

On Oct. 4, 1999, I found a poem/song lyric that is below. I wrote on the top of the paper, "What I Dream my home will be like..." WOW! Here I am 12 years later with my home and my family (6.5 years after building our home)and I just found that paper this morning and it was so sobering. I have to say that I don't feel like I am doing badly at making it that type of place, but I have so far to go and truly desire for God to use our home.

If we are afraid to be different from the world, how can we make a difference in the world? ~Rev. John I. Jenkins
In Chan’s book, he mentions that, “something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.”
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” Chinese proverb
“All Are Welcome” by Marty Haugen
Let us build a house
where love can dwell
And all can safely live,
A place where
saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
Rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions;
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.


Let us build a house where prophets speak,
And words are strong and true,
Where all God's children dare to seek
To dream God's reign anew.

Here the cross shall stand as witness
And a symbol of God's grace;
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.


Let us build a house where love is found
In water, wine and wheat:
A banquet hall on holy ground,
Where peace and justice meet.

Here the love of God, through Jesus,
Is revealed in time and space;
As we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond wood and stone.
To heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the strange bears the image of God’s face.
Let us bring an end to fear and dangerl
Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard,
And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace.
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

All are welcome, all are welcome,
All are welcome in this place.

Other Thoughts I've been thinking and hearing lately...

Sometimes we love our kids too much...so much we don't discipline them anymore. We love them so much we look just like the world raising them to be in the perfect school, have perfect clothes/shoes, have perfect attitudes on the surface--but their hearts are far from God, TOO SPOILED!! And then, we overprotect (I am not saying that in today's world we shouldn't protect) but sometimes we take it too far. Sometimes they grow up thinking the world owes them and that they are blessing to others (not vice versa) and then they are terrible employees and citizens and friends. I am praying against raising my children to be so self-centered, but it in today's world that is TOUGH. In Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, he mentions that, “something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” I think too much of our child rearing makes sense to others.

"Don't let God's blessings take the place of God."

I heard a speaker say that lots of parents are going to be surprised when they end up in Hell and their kids are in heaven. They might say, "what can I do God to be in heaven with my kids?" And God might say--hey, that's why you're in hell....you loved them more than me!

If we are afraid to be different from the world, how can we make a difference in the world? ~Rev. John I. Jenkins


“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” Chinese proverb