Hello Again!

Eight years ago I introduced myself on this blog.  Wow!  Seems like a million years!  Life is a funny thing.  It travels both at the pace of a turtle and at the speed of sound.  One minute we are bogged down in the mundane day to day duties, the next minute we are marveling at the fact that a kid was just born yesterday and today she's turning 22.  It happens that way, sadly, all to often.  We complain about the nit picky things that we must trudge through daily, then find ourselves sobbing at the fact that it's been 7 years since I last posted on my blog!  (Please tell me it isn't just me!)  So very much has happened to us since my last blog post...and since I know you are dying to know...let me just share a bit of our life... even though I'm not the "milkmaidmama" anymore, it is still very much a part of who I am today, so I'll just let that name stay for now... anyway, happy reading!

2017 was a tough year for our family.  Our beautiful 2 story home, the one that my husband built with his own 2 hands, burned.  We lost every material thing (except for some things that were downstairs that didn't get damaged from either smoke or water).  We were all safe, but the house had to be demolished.  We lived in a rent house for around 14 months, where we welcomed the arrival of Baby Number 8, while Darrell converted his workshop to a home for us.  While we were in the rent house the Lord laid it on our hearts to minimize, so we sold all our milk cows and milk goats.  It was hard to let go...it felt like letting go of our way of life, but it was something that we knew the Lord was leading in, so we knew there was a purpose.  

The rent house was a challenge, especially for me.  Nine months of the time we were there I was pregnant and emotionally a MESS.  The house itself was old and not built to accomodate a family of 8 soon to be 9.  The hot water tank was too small.  We had to make sure all laundry was washed by 3 pm and we had to make sure the dishes were done by 5 so that we would have SOME hot water for folks to take showers...which had to be super quick.  Then we discovered that the septic tank was also too small.  One evening, while showers were going, the sewage began coming up in the kitchen sink!  Can you imagine the response of a pregnant and totally stressed out mama???!!!  Yeah, that was me. 

We did manage to survive and happily moved into our new house...er, shop...er shouse.  Really it is just our home.  We've done what was needed to make it comfortable, and it fits our family.  Yeah, we still have concrete floors, but hey...when you spill water...you don''t have to worry about getting it up immediatly! I never cease to be amazed at my husband's abilities...he can do anything!  He can not only create the vision, but he has plenty of ability to envision the vision!  Here are some of the lovely things he's built...

My sewing corner... I LOVE it so much.  I've made some changes to it since this pic...but you get the idea.  Take note of the tiny vintage sewing machine in the corner on the crate shelf...that was my grandmother's!😍

This...oh my, I am so proud of and in love with this!  (And the guy who made it!)  Beautiful and functional...who wouldn't love this?!

We don't have cows or goats anymore, but we have some super friendly feathered friends...

One thing that I am very aware of is that right now, our world is in chaos.  I saw it coming...not because I have special abilities, but for some reason the Lord chose to show it to me.  We have insanity running amuck everywhere.  We need to be alert and on guard, but I tell you what...I am so thankful for the world we have built here...our sweet family of 9...surrounded by lilac bushes

 and apple blossoms...

 it is our heaven on this earth.  

A few nights ago we were blessed with a spring thundershower.  If you live in a place where spring = pollen, you know how welcoming those showers can be.  Darrell and I took a walk after the storm had past.  It was just before nightfall.  The chickens were starting to make their way to their roosts for the night.  The roosters (of which we have WAY TOO MANY!!!) were still crowing and fighting, but they too had begun to seek their nighty night spots.  The ducks were waddling around, looking for a little snack in the puddles made from the rainstorm and the night creatures were starting to sing their songs...the frogs were especially loud!  The sound of the water flowing through the creek 

and the sun going down behind the clouds that were remaining was so peaceful...and oh, the smells!  If I could have somehow captured the smells that were brought to life from the rain...the wet cedar trees, the oils from the grasses, the lilac bushes and apple blossoms... in the midst of a world in chaos, I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father, for giving us this little piece of heaven on earth.

Trials are coming my friends.  Those who are among the true church are bound for persecution of the likes we have never seen before, so take in the peace while you can.  Let me go a bit further and encourage you to get in tune with the Prince Of Peace...seek Him now while He may be found.  Get your house in order and prepare for that time that Jesus warned us of.  The time when His people will be hated and persecuted for His Name's sake.  

❤ Deb

Super Powers

So Number 6 comes up to me while I'm sitting at my computer deeply concentrating on the vast amount of research I was doing...ok, not really...I was reading The Pioneer Woman - Ree Drummond's blog. But anyway...he comes up to me and asks: "can I have one of those kinda round things that are straight and goes like this" (making hand motions) Immediately, my mind shifts to real life and does a 6 second inventory of what is in the kitchen. I ask him "where is it?" “It’s in the big fridge” (we actually have 2 fridges…one, the big fridge, is in the kitchen and the other is the milk fridge in the storage room. The milk fridge is where we usually keep our extra 12 gallons of fresh jersey milk, hence the name milk fridge. But I digress….) So my mind does another quick 6 second inventory of what’s in the big fridge. I ask “what color is it?” His response…meat color. Bingo!! Meat sticks…the hot spicy meat sticks made from grassfed beef…”Yes, Buddy…you can have some!” What can I say? I’m a parent…deciphering strange languages is one of my superpowers! Now excuse me while I go change a diaper!!

No Poo On the Carport

Life on a farm is never boring to say the least.  Life on a farm while raising and homeschooling 6 children is even more exciting. Add to the mix free range chickens that aren't satisfied with 2 acres to roam and scratch in, and life becomes even more interesting!

Who doesn't love farm fresh eggs from happy healthy chickens who have all the room to roam that they need?  And who could resist throwing in a picture of the cutest little egg gathering farm hands ever?!

Recently I achieved a tiny little victory that to some may seem, well...insignificant, but to me it was like conquering Mt Everest.  Let me explain....We've worked hard to create a self - sustainable life and part of that is raising free-range chickens.  That really may not seem like a big deal but free-range chickens become very smart and they become very attached to the humans that care for them. If they can hang out with you....they're gonna!  (I know that's not proper English but hey, I'm from Arkansaw!)  

Our chickens have had unlimited access to literally hundreds of acres to forage for food and do you know where they camped out?!  Our carport!  Our front door has glass that comes all the way down and they would come right up to it and just watch us. While they were watching us, no doubt waiting for us to exit the door with the scrap bucket in tow, they would poop!  Right there!  On the concrete right outside our front door!  SERIOUSLY????!!!!!!!  (Thank you Sheba for keeping the hens chased off...NOT!)

And not only that but then they had the nerve to roost on my children's play equipment!  Too many times have I said, "no baby you can't play on that. The chickens are roosting there and it's all poopy"  :-/

Oh but the determination has hit me to conquer this giant in my land!  So I went to Walmart and purchased a $20 fish dip net and came home with a mission....to catch every single chicken and clip her wings and put her in the pen for good!  Now mind you some of these hens had never been caught and were quite wild and very fast.  I took 4 of my 6 children and we headed out to get the job done!  Dear chickie on this side of the fence....your days of freedom are over! 

In hindsight I honestly wish I had filmed the whole thing because I'm sure it was quite hysterical.  I have considered doing a full reenactment just to film it all. The first 5 minutes were terribly frustrating but I put my happy pants on and determined to have a good time. We chased and trimmed and laughed and chased some more...and we got all 50 something chickens (including the rooster) trimmed and locked up.  There were 2 that somehow managed to fly over the fence but we promptly caught them again and trimmed the other wing. 

Right after all the birds were secure in their pen we set out to clean off both the front and back porch.  For the first time in years there is NO POO ON THE CARPORT! It's been over a week now and not one bird escaped...until today.  One child (who shall remain un-named) walked out of the gate with an arm load of eggs (should have taken a bucket)... (am going to purchase a lovely little, um...not so little egg basket designated specifically for gathering eggs and will severely punish anyone who takes said basket to use it in their play!) and couldn't lock the gate but forgot to go back out and lock the gate and WHAAAAT!!!!!!!  Chickens roaming everywhere!  You see I had gone on a walk with my sweetheart....checking hay and all the critters big and small and came back to the gate wide open and chickens on the loose!  Wonderful....

Fortunately for un-named child, we were able to wrangle every single loose bird without any poo landing on the carport!  Really...don't judge. Life on a farm has brought about so many changes in my life, changes that would never have come any other way....and this, my friends, is part of life...my wonderful, beautiful, exciting, no poo on the carport life on a farm! 

Now have I ever told you about the time my hubby and I spent 6 hours one day chasing loose cows all over our neighborhood? Well...that's another story! 

***UPDATE: As of now, Dec. 24, 2014, only 1 more chicken escaped.  We quickly caught her with that awesome dip net, clipped her other wing and set her back in the pen.  The little chickies have discovered they can go in and out of the wire...but soon they will be too big for that and they will have their wings clipped as well!!!!

***UPDATE #2:  Guess what??!!  The little chickies have now discovered the carport....back to poo on the carport...lovely!

And folks say farm life is dull...

Moments With Mother Culture®: Charlotte Mason's Method of Narration

I have read Karen Andreola's work for many years now.  She has been such an outstanding advocate for the "Gentle Art of Learning" always pointing to the teachings and writings of Charlotte Mason.  

As a young mother and brand new homeschooler, I would read Karen's book, "A Charlotte Mason Companion", over and over again to get that "gentle" feel of education as a lifestyle and empty my mind of the hum drum way of "doing school" that I grew up in.  I've ebbed and flowed in the Charlotte Mason method for many years...and now with a 15 year old, 11, 9, 7, 5, and 2 year old, I am reconnecting with that gentle art of learning.

Take some time to pop over and visit Karen's blog, Moments With Mother Culture and be encouraged in your homeschooling journey.  And I couldn't recommend highly enough Karen's book, "A Charlotte Mason Companion".  It was my homeschool bible...or perhaps more appropriately my study guide to Charlotte Mason's Homeschool Series.  Those books still sit on my shelf, waiting patiently for the time when I pick them up again.   Sadly, I loaned my " C M Companion" to someone several years ago and it was never returned to me.....I'm thinking it may be time to reinvest.

This time of year is such a beautiful time to slow down and take a walk outside and so I thought how wonderfully appropriate to write about the gentle art of learning!  The past few days have been an exciting time here on the farm as some hens who were quite broody have successfully hatched out some little chickies...I think the last count was 11! 

My kids have been in awe as they've actually witnessed the chicks emerging from their shells...I can barely drag them away from the chicken coop.  They run in to tell me what color the next chick is and how one hen only had one chick so they moved some chicks from one nest to another and how Mrs. Cluck-a-Lot gladly accepted the new chicks.  They have embraced the gentle art of learning...and they don't even know what they're doing!

It's easy for me to stress because my kids have spent more time outside then in the house working on their school...but...well, it's just refreshing to have Moments With Mother Culture pop up in my inbox!  Go on over and read what Karen has to say.  You won't be disappointed!!

This one was named Coffee!  They all have names!!!

Anti-conformity

Cows are creatures of habit.  They find comfort in same, same, same.  They walk the same path wherever they go.  You'll see paths etched out in the landscape everywhere our cows are kept.  There's a path that leads to the gates, a path that leads to the hay feeders, a path that leads to the water trough. Even if they've been out of a pasture for several months...they always find their paths.  They walk the same path to the milk barn every morning. 

They have the same routine for getting into the milk stanchion and when they've been milked they back out...same thing every time.   Most of the time it's even the same order...Honey first, then Wendy, then Joy...unless Honey stops at the water trough for a drink and Wendy runs on in.  Joy is always last...timid little Joy.  This is her bring up the rear.  

They like to be milked at the same time every day...I should really do a better job at getting out there on time!  When I was on the ball and out there every day at the same time (3 kids ago) they would wait for me at the barn.  If I was even 5 minutes late they would start bawling at me as soon as they saw me.  It's kind of embarrassing to be fussed at by a bunch of cows...but they not only like their life same, same, same. ..they expect that of their leader as well!

We can be like that as Christians, can't we?  We find comfort in getting up and doing the same thing every day.  Read my Bible for so many minutes then spend time praying.  Go to Sunday school then worship in the sanctuary.   Listen to the preacher speak exactly 30 minutes and don't you dare start late or go over or somebody's gonna be bawling at you!  Eat lunch, take a Sunday nap then church again at 6...

I'm gonna rock the boat a little bit because God has been speaking to whomever will listen and you know what He's saying?  He keeps telling us He's doing a new thing.  Life as we know it is changing all around us.  We've been seeing it take place right before our eyes.  We can deny it all we want but the fact is that our world is crumbling.  It seems as though it's all been turned upside down...good made to look evil and evil made to look good.  Violence, chaos, sin abounding....but God...BUT GOD.  The spiritual realm has shifted.  In Hebrews He says He's going to shake up the world one last time before Jesus' return.  He's shaking our foundations until all that remains is that which cannot be shaken.

What do you have that you're holding on to?  What do you have that cannot be shaken?  Where is your focus?  Where is your place in God's Kingdom here on earth?  He has warriors strategically postitioned...just waiting for the call to come forth.  They are being trained right now as I type.  They have been called out and set apart.  They are in this world but not of this world.  They listen to the voice of their Master.  He's giving them the battle plan.  He's placed within them the battle cry and you know what it sounds like???  "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY!!"  "WORTHY IS THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN!"  "GLORY AND HONOR AND POWER BELONG TO EL SHADDAI!"  He says that our worship is our warfare...the enemy has no defense for it!  God doesn't want us to be creatures of habit.  He doesn't want us to be stuck in the old ways of "doing church" and "being a Christian".  He's breaking us out of the molds we've created in the name of religion and He's bringing together the Jew and the Gentile...ONE NEW MAN!  

My friend if you have found yourself in the middle of a storm and you feel as though your world is about to crumble to pieces, sound the battle cry!  Worship your God!  Stand with Him and He will war for you!  Worship the Lord for He is worthy to be praised.  Break out of the box you live in and be willing to do something new with the Lord!

I'm telling you, things are about to get exciting!  Hang on because if you think life has been a roller coaster....WOO HOO!!!!!  

Homeschool Schedules...Don't You Just Love Them??!!

If you're anything like me, you enjoy reading over other homeschool families' schedules...hoping to get a glimpse of their day in order to tweak your own.  I like to see how other families operate their normal daily tasks in addition to the homeschool routine...so I read and read and tweak and tweak.....

Not too long ago the Lord called us out.  He told us that we would eventually be in the ministry but hasn't given many specific details.  One thing I know for certain is that He told me to simplify our schooling schedule.  I have had to let go of a lot of curriculum...most of it never really got used anyway...but I develop bonds with my books and it's hard to let go....

I sat down and through much prayer I developed a school routine that will be (hopefully) a whole lot easier for us to follow and will allow time for ministry....

We'll be sticking with the 3 R's: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic!  I gleaned a bit from the Robinson Curriculum and tweaked it to fit our lifestyle. 

Reading will be 2 hours per day split 1 hour in the am and 1 hour in the pm.  I will read aloud from The Mystery of History (we're on Vol. 3) to all kids...hoping that Baby Number 7 will be able to sit still long enough to be a part of it.  I may also require my older readers to read different lessons as well...just so I can stay on top of their reading skills!  We will discuss what we read then I will have my older readers read their Bibles quietly to themselves.  They will also be encouraged to keep a list of words they come across that they have trouble with or that they don't understand and they will be required to research them so that they can fully understand what it is they are reading.  This includes word studies with Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and our Webster's Dictionary from....well...it's the old one from a long time ago!!  There will also be required reading that will be assigned by myself.  These are books I've gotten off of the Robinson Curriculum reading list and others I've come across along the way.  This will be how all other subjects outside of the 3 R's will be covered.  Writing assignments will be derived from the required reading as well!  I will work with my younger readers teaching phonics or just listening to them read aloud.  I will also work with my pre-schooler just in learning his letter sounds and recognizing the letters.  If he is ready I will begin teaching him to write his letters...but I won't push him...we'll take the gentle approach!

Writing will be 1 hour daily.  I will have my older children fill out a writing assignment sheet where they choose the type of writing they will do each day for that week.  The younger students will have simple sentences to copy and/or dictation.  For my pre-schooler, again, I will start with simple letter writing if he's ready...

Math will also be 1 hour daily and will be done first thing while their minds are fresh!  We have an array of curriculum we use for each student, basically because we're using what we have.  I know that isn't very scientific or anything, but that's what we're doing.  One will be doing Teaching Textbooks, 2 will be doing Math U See, 1 will be doing Christian Liberty Press, and my pre-schooler will be doing simple counting, number recognition and some adding and subtracting with manipulatives.  They will all do flashcard drills and they will each have time where they do oral math with me.  I downloaded the Ray's Arithmetic Series for free off the internet and have printed out lessons for each grade.  I like the old books and encourage people to go snooping all over the internet to look for these old 19th century schoolbooks...they are great sources for word problems and I think they really exercise the brain!

So that's it.  Simple.  I will next work on a spreadsheet chore chart that will hopefully simplify chores and incorporate their lessons with it so they can mark off what they've accomplished.  It will be divided into sections of AM CHORES, MATH, READING, WRITING, PM CHORES.  Again...keeping with the "keep it simple this year" theme!!

I hope this helps someone just a little bit...especially if you are feeling overwhelmed and unprepared!  The world says that luck favors the prepared, but I say when we feel the least adequate for the job and terribly unprepared we can take a moment to completely empty ourselves of our own strength and allow Abba to fill us up...even in our homeschooling journey!  I believe by far that your worst day homeschooling is better than their best day at public school!  Enjoy the journey!!!

A Prophetic Word From Abba

Our Father is speaking to us, His children.  His heart is to have us turn to Him...to seek His heart.  Are you listening?  Do you feel Him tugging at your spirit?

The Lord is saying that I know your heart is for Me and you're doing the best you can in your own strength.  You have a passion for souls and winning souls to the kingdom but you're doing it in your own strength.  I want you to begin to do it in My strength.  Not by might, not by power but by My Spirit says the Lord.  You must allow My Spirit to work through you.  Surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit.   Allow Me to have My way and you will see a flood of the harvest like never before.  There will be great rejoicing for when My Spirit is allowed to flow freely, when My Spirit is allowed to connect and interact with My people unhindered, who can resist My Spirit?  There are some pastors who seek fame and glory, they seek to be acknowledged among their peers.  They want to be well known for the amount of people they have saved.  But there are some who's heart is genuinely for Me, who's heart is genuinely for the lost and their sole desire is to bring people into the kingdom...to save them from hell and see them with Me in eternity.  Do not concern yourselves with the ones who seek glory for themselves, for I will bring them low.  But encourage one another, uplift one another, share the burden.  Work together to bring in the harvest.  Awaken your spirits to the Living God.  I will use you when you surrender to Me, when you seek to do things My way, when you seek to let Me have My way.  Then I will see that your heart is truly for Me and I will work through you .  I will draw people by My Spirit and you will see a great harvest.  Now is the time for awakening, turn your eyes to Me.  Seek My Holy Spirit. Cry out to me and I will hear your cries.  I am just waiting for you to cry out to Me.

Hearing From The Lord

I haven't been reading much on Facebook and we don't watch the news anymore so I tend to miss a lot.  It's time for harvesting and canning and I'm consumed in my own little world.  While we are out chasing cows all over the woods because someone (finger pointing at myself) forgot to plug in the electric fence and hunting for a lid for my water bath canner that someone (not naming names) used as a shield outside while he was playing... the world is in turmoil.  Most recently, there's a lot going around about Robin Williams and his tragic death.  Some people are using it as a platform to "preach" and others are just mourning the loss of a Hollywood funny man.  We criticize the "preachers"...we criticize the mourners...critical, critical, critical!  People everywhere are so quick to criticize...don't judge this or don't judge that.  Don't you see what is happening?  Have you heard what Abba is getting ready to do?  Are you getting caught up in all the distraction or are your eyes fixed on Him??

 

 Right now we are in a crucial time...things are falling down all around us.  Christian persecution, government corruption, rampant immorality....our world...our nation seems to be turning upside down.  BUT GOD!!!!!  God is moving in a mighty way!  He's been speaking through His prophets that He's about to pour out His Spirit on us like never before!  We've been hearing it for a while now, but the time is drawing so close.  The devil knows what Abba is about to do...that's what all this junk is about.  He knows that if you're looking at the waves you're not looking at the One who walks on the waves!  If you're looking at the storm, you're not looking at the One who calms the storm!!

 

Yesterday Darrell and I were praying and asking Abba about all of this nonsense and this is what He shared with us:

 

"People are saying how can God let all this be happening? How can God let the Christians be killed and everything that's going on in Iraq....the caos that's in the American government....people are saying where's God?  Why is God letting all this happen?  And God's response is where are My worshippers?  You want Me to swoop down and fix everything but your heart is not for me.  You want to continue on in your life, having fun, doing things...not worshipping, not focusing on Me...you want to close your eyes to these evil things.  You want to ask Me where I am but you can barely whisper a prayer for these people.  There are some praying, there are some worshipping, there are some who see what's happening.  There are some who see what I'm doing.  But there are some who are sleep walking.  You talk as though you're awake.  You look like you're awake, but your spirit is asleep.  Why all the destruction, you ask.  Why all the earthquakes?  It's because for all these years I've used the least severe means possible and you still won't listen to Me.  I've called you and called you and called to you repeatedly but you have hardened your hearts.  The earth groans for justice.  My creation cries out to me.  But the ones I have created in My image, they have hardened their hearts against Me.  So I am sending flood, I am sending famine, I am sending earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados... The things that you've seen so far...these are the least severe measures I've used.  So what I am sending now you have never seen the likes of.  Those who hear Me now, those who are focused on Me, those who are lifting their eyes for the outpouring of My Spirit, those will be spared.  And when the people are broken and they have no hope, My shining ones will rise out of the ashes and you will preach and you will prophesy.  You will walk in My favor.  You will bring healing to these people and they will listen because then they will be ready to hear.  So pray now.  Lift your eyes to Me now.  Don't be caught in this destruction.  I am sending you this warning because I don't want you to be caught in this destruction.  But even now I know that your heart is hardened against Me.  Don't you see that I weep for you?  Don't you know that My heart burns for you?  I sent My Son to die on a cross for you and He went because He loves you.  He loves you above His own self.  He suffered so much for you.  He bore all of it for you.  And you harden your heart against it all.  I stand here with My arms wide open just waiting for you to walk into My arms.  I call you My beloved.  Even as you stand with your arms crossed and your chin braced and your heart hardened I still call you My beloved.  And it's because I love you...because I love you I am sending this destruction.  Because I love you...to turn your heart back to Me.  I have legions of angels that stand at the ready to protect you.  Just cry out to Me.  Cry out to Me.  For I hear your voices, I hear your cries...cry out to Me."

Saying Good-bye

Yesterday marked the end of an era.  Yesterday we loaded our herd bull, Billy Burger and his son Hurricane Isaac, and took them to the livestock auction.  Ok, so 6 and a half years doesn't really make an era, but for Number 5 that's a lifetime ...and bless her heart, she had the hardest time of all of us letting him go.  I don't really understand why she was so upset.  I mean it's not like he was a pet, but he's been with us her entire life and now her life on the farm will never be the same.

  It didn't hit her until we began our drive home.  She wasn't concerned with the loading of the bulls or the long drive to the auction.  She was excited that she got to ride with Daddy in his truck while Mommy followed behind in the van.  She was excited to see all the livestock running through and disappointed that we could not stay long enough to watch Billy Burger run through.  No one mentioned his life here on the farm....not the fact that he was born just 2 weeks after that precious little girl.  No one remembered how he demolished their swing-set and ate parts of the blue padding from the old trampoline.   No one talked about how he chased Daddy one time while he was mowing or how he used to get all excited and try to fight the hay bales while we were trying to load them into the hay feeders.  We all just knew that it was time for him to go.  We've lost a few cows due to milk fever and acidosis and even sold a few so the majority of cows we have here are his daughters.  The excitement of looking for a new, younger bull just isn't enough to soften the pain of saying goodbye.   Billy Burger was part of our family in a small way.  And I think, especially for little Number 5, it all hit home when we hit the freeway behind our empty stock trailer.  Then all the time with Billy Burger here came flooding over her as she realized she would never see him again.  We're all a little sad...my heart hurts a little too.  But life on a farm, as wonderful and beautiful and amazing as it is, can sometimes bring a little heart break.  So Billy Burger...wherever you are....thank you. 

Thank you for 6 years, for fun times, and for 6 beautiful heifers that we get to see little glimpses of you in.  We will miss you and it really won't be the same here without you.....

Years and Tears

It's almost 5 am and I've been awake since 3.  I'll barely lay my head on my pillow and it'll be time to start the day.  I've been wrestling with a soft, squishy little chunk of a man-child and my eyes are getting so heavy.  My cheeks, just minutes ago wet from sweet, slobbery kisses are now wet with tears as I think about how quickly the years have rolled by.   This little baby boy who I carried in my womb not too long ago is now a year and a half.   He still wakes several times in the night and so sleep,  once a necessity, is now a luxury.  But that's ok.   For now I'll take these precious times of nursing and cuddling and wrestling and shooshing because I know that all too soon these days will be gone...and the tears flow again.

I have learned to cherish the days of sleepless nights and stains on my clothes.  A year may be a long time if you're moving a pile of rocks from one place to another; but a year in the life of a baby is way too fast.

We didn't quite get 2 years with our first child.  He was taken from us much too soon.  This year...this month in fact...Our sweet firstborn would have been 19 years old!  I'd give anything if I could hold him one more time and run my fingers through his curly red hair.  Oh but the blessing of eternity!  I wonder if it would be ok if I spent the first few years in heaven just holding my boy...

As I consider each child and how the years have flown by so quickly, I think of my own precious mama and how she must long for the days when she was a young mama and the pitter patter of little feet filled her house as my sister would leave her own bed and come crawl into my crib...and the tears flow again as I realize that one day that will be me.  One day my own house will be quiet and I will think back on the time when it was filled with the sound of children playing and laughing. It will be clean and everything will be in its place...and all my little arrows will have left my quiver. 

So for now I'll deal with the messy house filled with noises and smells and I'll cherish every second of it.  I'll wake up 7 times a night if I have to and hold my sweet baby boy.   Sleep will find me eventually....maybe...

I Am Not a Doctor!

A lot of people ask my advice when it comes to natural remedies.  It's an honor for me to be able to answer questions and help someone else get a little further down the road of natural medicine.  There are so many things that I still don't know...but I don't mind sharing the few things I do know.  There are tons of people out there who've been doing this a lot longer than we have.  I love it when new people discover the beauty of natural healing.  It really excites me!  But.... you know there's almost always a but...I feel the need to put out a disclaimer. So here's my list of health advice disclaimers:

 

1.  I am not a medically trained professional.  I have not taken any specialized classes for anything.  Everything I know has come from years of reading, researching, questioning, more reading and the application of common sense.  I also try my best to pay close attention to the Holy Spirit.  Since it was God who called us into this lifestyle, He is who I go to first for advice on how to treat any ailment.  He's the one who created our bodies, I figure He's the best source to go to when there's a problem.

 

2.  You have to think logically.  I will be the first to admit this is probably my biggest weakness.  I am not known for my logical thinking skills. As a matter of fact, I am the world's biggest emotional thinker. I would love to say it's a woman thing, but unfortunately I know a lot of women who are totally logical and that seriously bums me out!  But when you are dealing with sickness or injuries big and small, you have to always remain calm.  Please believe me when I say I understand when a child is sick or in pain how hard it is to see them suffer, but we have to remember that the quick fix isn't always the best.  Now again, I'm not a doctor so if, heaven forbid, your child somehow slices an artery, don't wait around thinking that cayenne pepper is going to stop the bleeding.  Or if they break a bone, don't think it's going to magically set itself.  You must take each situation as it comes and always evaluate, with the help of the Holy Spirit, how best to take care of yourself or you loved one.

 

3.  You have to change more than just your medicine.  Oh man...this is gonna be hard!  In some ways, yes.  You will be forced into a change in the way you live.  But I promise you will feel soooo much better overall.  I don't want to go overboard here so I will be brief in this.  Our food choices are not what they used to be.  Food is grown differently now than it was 50 years ago.  The nutritional value isn't there thanks to all the scientific advances in GMOs and chemicals we put in and on our food.  You will have to forgo convenience for the sake of nutrition and wellness.  I'm not a food nazi.  We still have junk in our pantry.  But it isn't our main food source.  We don't eat instant mashed potatoes and we don't eat Hamburger Helper.  No frozen dinners...but I did buy some organic frozen spring rolls the other day at the grocery store!!!  Work to reduce your toxic load.  Get rid of the chemicals you use to clean with...I know...I'm talking crazy!  But the truth is you don't have to disinfect EVERYTHING.  Some bacteria is good.  Clean your house with plain old soap and water or if you feel like you need some disinfecting... like in the case of rampant illness making it's way through your 6 kids...use essential oils.  Young Living has an excellent cleaning product with their popular oil blend Thieves.  It smells fantastic, by the way!!!  Change your toothpaste...again Young Living and their Thieves...I love the Dentarome Plus toothpaste.  But really any toothpaste without flouride would be good...for starters.  Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.  If you can handle a big jump, then by all means, GO FOR IT!!!  But if you tend to get overwhelmed, just do little things here and there that liberate your senses...And it will seriously liberate your senses.  I have been obsessed with smells for as long as I can remember.  I used to spray lysol, Febreeze, Glade air freshner...then they came out with Plug Ins!!!!  Don't even get me started on Bath and Body Works!!! I always had no less than 6 bottles of lotion at a time!!! But when we quit all the chemicals and started using essential oils my nose literally woke up!  I can smell things from a mile away!   These are just a few examples of things you can change that will make a difference in your health.

 

4.  Health and healing is a journey, not a destination.  This is my hubby's favorite saying when it comes to natural healing and probably is the most least understood.  We think that natural healing is supposed to be instant.  God is the miracle worker...not herbs or oils.  There are those rare occaisions that we feel better instantly...for example...Number 5 complained that her ear was hurting.  I looked with my otoscope (best investment EVER!!) and her ear was red.  An hour later she was crying...I looked again and her eardrum was completely swollen.  Ten minutes after that she was writhing and kicking in pain.  I tried several oils and nothing helped.  I got online and did some quick reading and got 3 cloves of garlic and a slice of onion (both organic).  I warmed some grapeseed oil and crushed the garlic and onion in the oil and simmered for just a few minutes.  As soon as it was cool enough to put in her ear, I dropped some in.  Instantly, she settled down, stopped crying and kicking, and went to sleep in my lap.  It wasn't an instant healing, but the pain went away instantly.  The next day her eardrum was slightly swollen and red but she never complained again.   Instant relief...not instant healing.

 

5.  What works for me may not work for you.  Just because oils didn't work in my kid's ear, does not mean they wouldn't work in yours.  They have worked in other situations where people had severe ear infections.  Our bodies are all different and so it sometimes takes some experimenting to figure out what exactly you need to do.  It can even vary within your own family.  Just like you may not be able to teach every child in your family in the same way, or discipline in the same way...you may not be able to use the same remedy for every child.  You have to be willing to fail without giving up.  And you have to continue to figure things out...remember the journey not a destination thing???  Which leads me to my last disclaimer...

 

6. You must be willing to take your health and your family's health into your own hands.  We are programmed (and have be for years) to think that we need a professional to tell us what is wrong with us when we are sick.  Doctors are the experts, right?  I mean, they spent soooooo much time and money going to med school and all that, so surely they have to know what's wrong with us, right???   WRONG!!!!!  They don't always know what's wrong.  They may have the ability to run tests to be exact, and they may even have the benefit of experience.  They've seen (if they've been in practice for any length of time) every illness under the sun...you kinda get to the point where you can recognize it right off.  But guess what...you can do that too!!!  Recognize things, I mean!  You don't have to have gone through years of medical school to realize that your kid has the flu.  Oh and I'll go even further to say this....hang on....it's pretty radical....are you ready???  You don't always have to know exactly what's wrong to be able to treat it naturally!!!  WHAT???!!!!  Did I really just say that???  Oh yes I did!   For example... 5 of my kids and my poor hard working hubby have been sick recently.  Mainly a cough, 2 ran fever, and 1 had a major runny nose.  I didn't need to know if it was a cold or a flu....whether it was bacterial or viral.  Know why?  Because when you use natural remedies, at least the remedies I use, they can work for either.  WHAT???!!!  But the doctor says if it's viral there's nothing they can do!  Well, maybe THEY can't do anything....but nature can!!!  God, in His infinite wisdom, created herbs and plants to work on anything from viruses to bacteria to fungus.  Talk about multitasking!!!!

 

 

Sometimes people get all weird and go off the deep end and take what they read and just do.  NEVER DO THAT!!!!!  I would hate to think that because of something I said someone did something crazy and something terrible happened.  I am no authority.  I make mistakes...I make typos.  I'm sure you'll find several in this article despite my constant reading and re-reading.  There are things in other people's lives I know nothing about.  I will not begin to speculate on all that is out there.  Just do this one thing for me...think for yourself!  It isn't hard to do...if I can do it anyone can!  Really!!!!   Take what you read and evalutate it yourself.  Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  If you've never met Him, take the time to seek Him out.  He already knows you and all your quirks.  He can read between the lines and guide you in the direction that will work for you...He's waiting.  All you have to do is take that first little baby step.  You can do it...really you can.  I believe in You and He does to!!

 

How toxic is she?

So she wakes up Monday morning ready and slightly nervous for the day. She has a doctors appointment this afternoon. She climbs out of bed feeling well rested after a weekend of spring cleaning. She feels good about her house being clean because she used all her typical cleaning supplies: Pledge, Bleach, Mr.Clean, Lysol, and all her Glade Plug Ins are freshly refilled.  She rolls out of bed thankful she went ahead and put those clean sheets on. She loves the smell of the Tide and Downy fabric softener on her sheets and jammies.   She jumps in the shower and washes her hair with her favorite VO5 shampoo and conditioner and washes her body with Dove soap.  After her shower she rubs on her favorite Bath and BodyWorks lotion and then puts on her Secret deodorant.  After she gets dressed and puts on her Cover Girl makeup, she goes down and brews her Folgers coffee and pours herself a bowl of Special K cereal.  She puts her dishes in the dishwasher when she's done and runs it with Cascade and Jet Dry to make those dishes sparkle.  She brushes her teeth with her favorite Colgate toothpaste then goes to do some shopping and for lunch she decides to drop in at Wendy's for a salad and bowl of Chili. After lunch she goes by the grocery store and picks up a bunch of fresh fruits and veggies. She sees the labels marked organic but decides to go with the conventionally grown since they're cheaper.  She grabs a few more things like Diet Coke and Pringles, passing up all the expensive non-GMO items and heads home. After unloading her groceries, she sees it's time to head to the doctor. With nervous anticipation she sits in the waiting room until they finally call her back. They lead her to the doctor's office rather than an exam room where the doc is sitting at his desk looking very solemn.  She sits down and looks at her painted nails and when the doctor speaks his words ring in her ears.  Cancer???? In my lungs and liver????  But how can that be?  I don't drink or smoke... how can I have cancer?

This isn't a true story based on anyone in particular. This is a representation of the typical American lifestyle and diet. Every product mentioned above contains one or more cancer causing ingredients and most people don't even think twice about using or eating them. We've been conditioned to believe all these products are safe, even necessary, but we've been duped. The people pushing these products are not doing it for our benefit. They are doing it to pad their pockets. The science is out there, proving these things are harmful and in fact completely unnecessary... we only have to open our eyes and begin digging. And by digging...I mean digging... because there are a lot of people who don't want you to know the truth. That includes your own government, by the way. Several years ago, God called us out. Our journey has been hard and bumpy.  At times we fell back into the old pattern.  Just recently, we've really gone hardcore.  We've eliminated all sugar and processed foods from our diet.  We are saying no to Monsanto, no to chemically grown produce...no to GMOs!

Consider the she in the above story...are you her?  Do you know her?   Don't fear the C word...fear misinformation.  Fear the lies from big pharma.  Fear government control over our food.  Fear fear itself.  Be brave, be informed...be proactive! 

Beavers, trails, and turtle tails.

Nature literally came knocking on our door today. Number 6 went out to find my broom for me and seconds later came running back in with eyes as big as saucers!  He'd never seen such a big turtle before.

Number 4 was brave enough to touch the shell too!

We decided to take the turtle to another pond that was far enough away that he wouldn't come back to ours and eat up all our little fish and also secluded enough that it wouldn't bother anyone if we dropped him off.  We loaded him up into the back of the RTV and piled in... all 8 of us and headed out.  Little did we know.... turtles are pretty good climbers.  He actually made it up the side of the dump bed on the RTV and bailed out before we made it to the pond.  We figured he was close enough and that we should just continue on with a little sight seeing excursion.  Darrell quieted the kids, who always love to sing while riding in the RTV, and encouraged them to drink in their surroundings....to take in every possible detail, from the blades of grass to the buds on the trees...all in true Charlotte Mason style.  That's when we spotted the beaver swimming across the pond.

We drove up to the edge and tried to see if it would swim to the other side and go up the bank.  We got out and walked around the pond, watching for his head to pop up again.  The kids wanted desperately to see it up close, but the beaver disappeared... and as we walked around the pond we figured out where he probably disappeared to...
 

Number 2 explained to the little kids how the beaver builds the hut and makes a spot for the babies up at the top.  She gave them a few more details and then we moved on and found the dam the beaver had been working on.

I bet it really hurt his teeth chewing down that stop sign!!

We drove on around and let the kids do a lot of running and playing.  There's nothing like a big, wide open field to let a bunch of kids run off some energy!  They found an old hay bale and had lots of fun running and climbing on it.

We drove around a little longer, just really enjoying the beautiful spring day and being together.  Number 7 fell asleep in my arms and we stopped and let the kids run around some more.  Darrell joined them in a game of tag.  It was such a joy to watch him running and chasing the kids in his silly/crazy style.  The kids really love it when Daddy plays with them.  They absolutely eat it up!! 

I'm so in awe of the life that we live.  We work hard...every day.  We all do.  So it's nice to be able to take some time like we did today and just enjoy life and the beauty of this world God created.  Our kids are always excited to see living things...from deer to rabbits to squirrels and even turtles.  I hope that excitement never dies.  I hope that life never becomes so mundane that the little things they enjoy so much now mean nothing to them.  I think that is why I love homeschooling so much.  We live a lifestyle of learning....whether they know it or not, they are always learning.  It just seems like fun and play to them, but today they learned that snapping turtles are detrimental to the fish swimming in the pond.  And rather than shoot it, we took him to a place that he wouldn't really bother anyone.  They learned that beavers will never swim up to you and pose for a picture.  They learned to work together as they helped each other climb up the broken down hay bale.  They also learned that Daddy can still outrun them...even with a bum knee.  And they learned that God has a special plan and place in this world for every living creature...including themselves. 

Such wonderful, beautiful lessons in life that they didn't get from a book or a classroom.  They learned these lessons by living life... all because one not so little snapping turtle came knocking on our door!!

Give us this day our daily bread...

How about we talk bread today, does that sound good?  I know there are a lot of people on gluten free diets right now and if you're one of them please don't be offended.  I have a slightly educated opinion on that subject, but for now I'll keep that to myself.  I should educate myself a little more on the subject of gluten intolerance before I stick my foot in my mouth!  What I want to talk about today is the wonderful goodness contained inside that beautiful, tiny little thing we call the wheat berry.  Wheat has been around from the foundation of the world.  Jesus munched on it as he walked through fields.  It has been found in various pyramids, buried for centuries.  Bread is a part of nearly every meal.  So what's in a wheat berry?  May I enlighten you a bit?

So let's first look at the physical body of a wheat berry.  It is composed of 3 things... the bran, germ, and endosperm.  The bran is the hard outer layer of the berry. Bran is particularly rich in dietary fiber, essential fatty acids and it contains significant quantities of starch, protein, vitamins, dietary minerals and phytic acid.  It is not present in store bought flour.

The second part of the berry is the germ.  The germ is the embryo of the plant that will grow into a new stalk of wheat.  Wheat germ is a concentrated source of several essential nutrients including Vitamin E, folate (folic acid), phosphorus, thiamin, zinc and magnesium, as well as essential fatty acids and fatty alcohols. It is a good source of fiber and is rich in polyunsaturated fats, which have a tendency to oxidize and become rancid in storage, which is the reason why the germ is also removed from store bought flour.

The final part of the berry is the endosperm. It surrounds the germ and makes up about 83% of the berry. It is food for the embryo and consists mainly of starch but can contain some oils and proteins. This is what store bought white flour consists of. This is what you eat when you buy bread from the store.  While there are some vitamins and minerals added back to the flour, they are synthetic and not at all good for you! Encapsulated within that tiny little wheat berry you will find nearly every essential nutrient your body requires.  In fact, of the 44 known essential nutrients we need, only 4 are missing from wheat: Vitamin A, B12, and C, as well as the mineral iodine.

If a person were to decide they wanted to give up the store bought bread and start making their own they usually start with one question...where do I begin?  In my opinion you start with the right equipment.  If you try to avoid paying money on the front end, you will eventually pay it and sometimes even more.  The 2 major pieces of equipment I suggest a person invest in are the WonderMill or NutriMill, and a Bosch mixer.  The mills are the best on the market as far as I'm concerned.  The flour produced is perfect!  The Bosch is equally important as I have found that it is nearly impossible to make a bad loaf with that baby!  You can find them at Joyful Living.  That was the cheapest I could find for the combo plus free shipping.  There are several resources available to anyone willing to look for them.  I could list a million resources here.  One that I will definitely recommend is The Bread Beckers.  This is where I learned a lot in the very beginning.  She also has a free CD I highly recommend. On the CD you will learn about the reason the bran and the germ were removed from the flour and what happened to a test group of dogs that were fed the while flour without the germ and bran.  It's really scary stuff.  Just be warned...the more you hear and read about store bought bread, the less you will want to eat it!!

Now as for my bread recipe...I will share my recipe, but I will also tell you this...I have to tweak it every season.  With each new season brings a whole new climate...even inside my house.  My current method is as follows:

The MilkMaidMama's Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
3 cups warm water
2.5 Tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons sea salt
Several cups fresh ground wheat mixed with a few cups of Unbleached white flour  (I use the unbleached white flour to make my loaves a little lighter...you can totally leave it out if you want to!)

So I add the first 5 ingredients to the Bosch and turn it on speed 1.  While the mixer is running I add the flour 1 cup at a time until the dough is pulled from the edges and no longer sticks.  I add it this way to give it plenty of mixing/kneading time.  Then I turn off the machine and let it rise until doubled in size.  After it has risen, I turn the mixer on speed 2 for 10 minutes.  Once it has kneaded for 10 minutes I place in 2 generously buttered bread pans.  I have metal ones and I also have the pampered chef pans...I really like the pampered chef pans even though they are small!!  I let the dough rise in the pans until it is just above the top of the pan, then I put it into a preheated oven (350 degrees) and bake for about 30 minutes.  Time will vary with various ovens.

Our family can easily go through 2 loaves a day!  We love the bread!!!  It is extremely filling and I feel good about serving it to my family.  This recipe is versatile and can be the base for anything from cinnamon raisin bread to cinnamon rolls to donuts!

If you decide to take the plunge and begin making your own bread, remember it is a process.  You are working with living things here...you will have good loaves and bad loaves.  Don't be discouraged if your first loaf is as hard as a brick!  I still turn out a bad one every now and then!!  The best thing to do is to keep trying... keep perfecting it.  You will be so glad you did!!!  And your family and friends will love to eat your bread!!

If you have any questions or anything to share or add please leave a comment!  I would love to hear from you!!!  Until then...happy baking!!!

Hello. My name is Debbie and I'm a smell-a-holic...

In light of the previous post you may get the wrong idea. Let me clarify.

I love smells... the good ones! Every place I go, naturally one of the first things I do is sniff it up.  If your faculties are in place and in good working order you can't help but to smell. You can tell a lot about places, people and things by how they smell, right?  You smell your food to make sure it isn't spoiled. You smell your baby's tooshie to make sure there's no prize for you. You smell your vehicle to make sure there's no funky sippy cups or dirty diapers accidentally left in there... well, maybe the last one is just me, but you get my point!

Living on a farm affords my sniffer lots of practice. I sometimes gets sensory overload from all the smells. Working with cows always ends up in some bit of poop to deal with. Your either in it or avoiding it, but most certainly at some point you will be smelling it. It honestly isn't that bad compared to the smell of their urine.  It must be the nitrogen in it that gets me but I really can't stand the smell of their urine. I will tell you, though, the absolute, most horrible, most disgusting smell on the farm is, to me, chicken poop. I can't even describe it to you! Just thinking about it makes me gag!

So knowing the variety of not so pleasant smells experienced on a farm and keeping in mind my addiction to sniffing places, you can understand my paranoia when it comes to the way my house smells. I remember watching an episode of wife swap where a dairy farm wife swapped places with a city girl-diva type. The diva went on and on and ON about how horrible the farm house smelled. My paranoia meter went through the roof!

Now enter in the wonderful aroma of essential oils. I absolutely love, love, love using essential oils. There is literally an oil for everything! I use oils every single day.  Sometimes I am fighting a sickness or sometimes preventing a sickness and sometimes I just want to fill the air with the healing aroma of an essential oil.  I clean with oils.  We use oils as deodorant.  We brush our teeth with the oils. As you can see the essential oils are very versatile.  Except for some of the citrus oils, essential oils never go bad.  They are safe for the very old to the very young.

I use oils from Young Living.  I've spent many years using oils and Young Living is the best. They are the only oils you can actually know where they come from. Young Living has their own farms all over the world, literally! Equador, France, America, Oman.... just to name a few places.  All those other oil sellers are just brokers.. DoTerra, Now, Aura Cacia, Mountain Rose... they all buy their oils from different places and then resell them to the consumer.  Young Living also has nutritional supplements and other products based on their oils.

The other day we were running errands in town and 2 different people commented on how good we smelled.  You know for an old farm girl like me that's a great thing!  The paranoia has faded into a memory now that we have our oils. I love walking into our house and rather than smell the slightest hint of dirty kids or animals I am greeted with a wonderful, welcoming, and healthy aroma.  My sniffer is happy!
  

I sniff my baby's diapers...

I don't think there's any sweeter time with babies than to be cuddled up nursing.  I love that time.  What makes it so precious is that it lasts for such a short time; so I soak it all in.  I nurse my babies on demand.  I don't schedule it for every 3 or 4 hours.  I also nurse them to sleep.  Some people don't think that's a good idea and that's fine for them.  But I want to spend as much time nursing as possible.

Some mamas nurse for only 6 weeks. Some for 3 years and even more.   We all must go our own way in this.  Babies aren't a "one size fits all" kind of thing. All babies are different, with different wants and needs.  However... there is one thing that every baby does need (besides a loving family) and that is good and safe nutrition.  What does all this have to do with sniffing diapers?  I'll get to that later! 

Ok... so nutrition...

We all know that breastfeeding is absolutely the best for infants.   Even the science proves it.  Even in the animal world mama's milk is best for the babies.  Did you know that if a newborn calf doesn't get the colostrum within 24 hours that calf will surely die?  I know that as long as I am feeding myself correctly my body can sustain my life and my baby's. 

Now I'm getting ready to get pretty opinionated here so please be advised.  I may even resort to some strong language and you'll just have to bear with me.  I don't seek to offend by any means, but sometimes truth offends until it sinks in.  Then it liberates.

Let's travel back in time to an age where Similac was not a part of our vocabulary. When a mama couldn't breastfeed her baby she resorted to goats milk or cows milk.  Even today in less "civilized" societies they use goats, cows, yaks, sheep, emus, reindeer... you get the picture.  There was no man made swish with which to feed their young.  Now fast forward back to today where there are just as many kinds of formulas as there are ice cream flavors. Formula wasn't created for mamas who can't breastfeed.  There is plenty of cow and goat milk for that. Formula was made to make someone money.  You see, they can't patent anything natural so they swish a bunch of chemicals together, call it formula, and target those poor mamas desperate to feed their babies.... and then they line their pockets with all the money rolling in.  Never mind the fact that some formulas have been linked to cancer and other degenerative diseases.  Oh but I digress.

So I nurse my babies exclusively for the first 6 months at least... then come the solids.  I fix them a nice warm bowl of rice cereal to fill their tummies. ..NOT!!!! Grains are very difficult for little ones to digest.  Why doctors recommend that as first foods I'll never know!  My baby's first food has been bananas.  He loves them!  I also mix in some liquid acidophilus to help with the transition from liquid to solid.  So the next food I'll be giving him is avocado.  It's a perfect first food for baby's digestive system. Not too starchy or sugary and loaded with good ole fat! 

There are several websites and blogs that support my philosophy.  You can agree or disagree... that's totally up to you. There are all kinds of ideas and theories that you must wade through, but definitely wade through them. Arm yourself with information.  It could literally change or even save your baby's life.

So do your research. There are all kinds of mamas out there. Which kind are you? Are you a crunchy mama or a silky mama? Are you the kind of mama who sniffs her baby's diaper or do you stick your finger in to find the prize? I've chosen my path... Have you chosen yours?

Introducing myself

It's been a long time since I've blogged.  I had my own blog several years ago but life got busy and blogging got in the way.  Life is still busy, but I'm getting a little better at managing it...just a little...ok...maybe not so much!  So why am I getting back into blogging now that we've got 7 kids (one is waiting in heaven), 11 cows, 5 goats, 2 geese, 2 dogs, and a whole bunch of chickens?  Well honestly, it's because of this driving passion I have to show people a different way of life... the "simple life" which is by no means simple...AT ALL!  Yes, we raise our own grass fed beef.  Yes, we milk goats and cows.  Yes, we keep chickens.  We also home-school and we treat our family with natural medicine...herbs, vitamins, and essential oils....Young Living essential oils to be exact.

So what started this journey through life?  Well, I'm so glad you asked!  It started with a calling.  A very soft, simple calling from a familiar voice.  It was the voice of our Father calling us to come out of Egypt.  To place ourselves under His wings.  We've trusted Him with our eternity for several years and He wanted us to take another little baby step...to trust Him with our health.  This was a big deal for us because of what we went through with our first child.  That is a whole other story, but let's just say we depended on conventional medicine for his very life.  It was very hard for us to walk away from the only "medicine" we'd ever known, but the Lord was opening our eyes to the fact that the medicine we were depending on was poisoning us.  We learned that if we were going to walk away from that security then we had to make changes...and learn...A LOT! 

We began by changing our diet.  We added healthier foods and automatically the junk faded away.  Now that was waaaay back when we only had 3 little girls.  Three more babies came along and it got complicated...at least it seemed that way to me.  I allowed myself to slack quite a bit.  But now I hear that same voice calling me back onto the path we started years ago.   This time He's shown us a little more.   We now know about Young Living essential oils.  I've actually known about and used essential oils for a while but I have just now been introduced to Young Living oils... but again, that's another blog post!

So for now I am climbing back up onto the path we started years ago.   Will it be easy?  Probably not.   Will it be worth it?  Oh most definitely!   Because when Abba calls, He has a plan much greater than our human eyes can see.  And what's great is that we won't be doing it alone this time.  I plan on dragging you all along with me,  kicking and screaming if I have to! So welcome aboard and let's do this journey together!

"Teach me Thy way, Oh Jehovah; and lead me in a plain path."  Psalm 27:11