eeeeeekkkkkkkk! Big boys love to tease their mommies....

And this is what my oldest son presented me with...as I opened my door this is what greeted me. I might add that this was being held where my face would be - nice!

Ahhh...little boys love their mommy forever....

Look at what I was presented with today...flowers from my knight!

I love Spring time for this very reason...flowers for children to pick their mothers and anyone else who finds favor with them...

At one time in my life, before precious children, I found these "flowers" pesky weeds and now every time I see one of them I smile as I relish each time one of my children so happily and proudly brought me "flowers"....I will cherish this always!

Happy Easter

The sun was glorious streaming down our property this evening. Hubby and I took a mini walk and took some great pictures and thought you would all enjoy this one.

This is our favorite "Jersey Girl". Her name is Ruthie. She provided the cream that went with our peaches for Easter and we were so thankful.

cheese....

Standing by the cheese press which is used for making hard cheeses.

Turning the cheese and wrapping it back up in butter muslin.

Keifer cheese draining for 24 hours...tangy taste!

Well our lifestyle has taken us down yet another path...learning the art of making cheese! It is quite a process but so far what we've made has been worth it. We've made keifer cheese, mozzarella, ricotta and our latest, as you can see, is farmhouse cheddar. We won't actually get to try the cheddar for one month as it has to cure.

Potatoes are not all brown...

Here is a picture of our favorite potatoes - the "cranberry" and "blue". They both have a wonderful smooth texture and deep flavor! Here I'm getting them ready for baked potato soup. I love using all of our different colors of potatoes for roasting with olive oil as it makes a beautiful presentation...

Music to my ears...maybe not yours...and some other things to see...

So my older son took it upon himself to learn the basics of the guitar. He also decided that someday he would like to have "students" and a studio someday! (we know someone who is very important to my oldest son and this person does this for his living - and is very passionate about it...and shared with my son that he was self taught...and as they say - the rest is history...)
Here is my son with his first students, teaching them the very basics and loving it!

We got chicks and turkeys this week. Our knight bought six chicks with his savings and is learning how to be a good farmer.

Our children think baby chicks and turkeys are such fun and so cute! Ummm no they are not in our house - they have been moved to the barn - they just brought them in so they could show me and get a picture with them.

Something fun to do... a little cloth diaper/bib set for a baby doll! A dear friend gave my daughter a set for her birthday and she shared the pattern with me also. These are a snap to make and would be a great first sewing project for anyone wanting to learn basic sewing!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your day! A little something to consider...we just finished "Raising a Maiden of Virtue" from Vision Forum. I read a chapter a day in the morning to the children emphasizing to the boys the kind of lady they should look for someday and emphasizing the kind of Maiden my daughter should strive to become. I highly recommend this book!

Opsy....

Several of you have asked how my husband is doing. So here is an update about him and his wierd skin thing:

Out of all the doctors, four total, that saw him not one could figure out what he had!!!! They were all boggled and perplexed as to what it might be because it looked like so many things rolled into one...eeek!

We never did go to the dermatologists - personal reasons.

He has scarring and when it gets cold the scars are purple in color...does that mean I have my very own "mood" ring in a way?

He is humorous about it and says all he needs now is age spots to complete his collection...

Thank you for praying. I'm happy to have my husband - spots and all!

Lemon Tea Bread

Many years ago...probably 10...a dear friend of mine made this yummie bread and shared the recipe with me. I have not made it for years and decided to re-visit this recipe - glad I did!

1 2/3 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon finely ground lemon peel

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Lemon Drizzle: 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon shredded lemon peel, 4-6 teaspoons of lemon juice (enough to make drizzling consistency)

1. Grease bread pan

2. Combine flour sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

3. In another bowl combine egg, milk, oil, lemon peel, lemon juice, poppy seeds.

4. Mix in flour mixture till well mixed

5. Poor into pan back at 350 for 45-50 degrees

6. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then take out and continue to cool on wire rack.

7. After completely cooled drizzle with lemon drizzle and wait 5 minutes before serving....mmmm

This bread mixed up fast and fills the whole house with a wonderful, fresh smell. When made with half whole wheat and half white flour it is even better!

Enjoy!

Good Morning Cinnamon Rolls...

Ahhh...comfort food! These cinnamon rolls were so wonderful - best I've ever made! I really like making these because the recipe is so easy and you can prepare it the night before and let them rise in the fridge and then bake in the morning...mmmmm what a wonderful way to wake up the family!

2 cups warm water

2 tbsp. yeast

1/2 cup dry milk powder

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

2 large eggs

1 tbsp salt

6-8 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup vital gluten

1. Combine yeast, dry milk, vital gluten, and 2 cups flour in mixer.

2. Add water, oil, and honey - mix well for 2 minutes.

3. Cover bowl and let dough sponge for 10-15 minutes.

4. Add eggs and salt

5. Add additional flour till dough clings sides of bowl

6. Turn onto floured surface knead for only 5-7 minutes - this short kneading time keeps the dough very soft and manageable. A stiff dough will produce heavy, dry rolls

7. Divide dough into two equal portions. Roll out into rectangles, spread 2 tbls softened butter on each, sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar, nuts and raisins can be added here also.

8. Roll up, seal the seam, cut into 1 inch thick pieces. (NOTE: I have found that using dark colored sewing thread works really well - just slip the thread under the dough and criss-cross it at the top and gives you a nice cut) put rolls into buttered pan.

9. Repeat with remaining dough
10. You have two choices here...you can simply put tight plastic wrap on the pans and put into the fridge to rise overnight and then bake them in the morning or you can raise them in a warm place until doubled.

11. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes turn heat up to 350 and cook for another 5 - 10 minutes. They should be slightly brown.

12. Frosting:

In mixer 1/2 cup softened butter, 2 tblsp flour, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and a dash of salt - mix till fluffy and put on top of hot rolls.

Enjoy with a glass of milk - untreated milk is best!

Some fun things...

Here is our little song writer with jammies that I made from....old sheets! It was a fun challenge. The sheets were so old and worn that I had to double the jammies so they would be modest. She loves them as they are of soft flannel. I used a pattern that is like the nightgown from the American Girl Samantha movie. I even altered the pattern a bit. It called for cap sleeves and I wanted to add sleeves with ruffles...and so I did! That was a bit of a challenge but it was also fun figuring out what to do!

Toddler Times...

It has dawned on me recently that Little Man is the most obedient when he is involved in our lives...what I mean by that is that he feels important and useful! Here he is helping vacuum the kitchen after breakfast. His big brother has learned that all the little people in our house do better all day if we as the older people encourage them to be useful! Little man "can" mop floors, vacuum, put dishes away and he is learning to make his bed...and all of this makes him so happy during the day!

Thanks for stopping by - until next post stand firm in God's word!

A Walk in the Park...

Here is my farmer with his favorite farm animal...Ruthie the Cow! I was on the phone when they came strolling by the house. They both enjoyed themselves on this sunny day. Ruthie loved the fresh grass that is growing between the berries and the garden.

What our little farm has been up to...

Here are my boys with swords and shields. They were made for them by a very talented young man! They are used often at our mini-farm...
Due to a family emergency we had company...three of the most manly boys you've ever meet! They were so respectful, helpful, and courteous - it was not at all hard having them here it was a true joy! I was so impressed with the older boys as everyday they kept themselves on track for school and never missed an opportunity to help with farm chores or house chores...We all missed them when the left.
Probably my favorite picture - Defending Hearth and Home...these young men will be a blessing to this generation - I truly expect them to rise above the status quo of teens and prove themselves to be men of valour.
Fun Times...we were so happy to have had sunshine most of the days that they were here.
Oh, Happy Birthday to our favorite Knight! It was such a delightful day and even more fun since the boys were here to share in his day.

Handsome Knight - tough and gentle all rolled into one!!!

So Mr. Knight is now learning the milking trade. He has been a huge help and is always so happy to help. One of our favorite parts about milking is training Dutches to be on a lead. We take her on a little walk each night - it is great fun and she is a real sweetie. It did take us about a week to get her used to the lead.
Here he is with his first catch in the small trap a friend gave him...he set the little bird free of course and set the trap for the next curious critter.

This picture is for one of my son's special friends...you know who you are - Enjoy!

Oh, Thanks for the warning Al Gore...

This is what we woke up to this March morning...it's been snowing here off and on all day! As I type this the snow is starting up again!

Now I see why we need to tax the American people more and more and more... all in the name of "global warming". As you can see its apparent that global warming is a real crisis....so yes please tax us more....goodness what a hoax that is! It's almost like a religion for those who really believe that global warming is a threat...

Well, I have lots to blog about and lots of pictures but I need to go out and help our son milk the girls. I will blog later and catch you all up on what has been going on in our little part of the world....the part that is not very warm - tee-hee

Hugs to all and as always thank you for stopping by.

Butter..Yummie Butter

Per request...a bit about making butter...

First we have to skim the cream from the milk. We have found it is best to let the milk sit, in the fridge, for 24 hours - that gives us the best cream.

Here's our evening cream...mmmm This will set out till morning becoming cultured or slightly soured. We purposely leave lids off because if you don't the "gases" can not escape and the bacteria from the air, which is needed to culture, can not get to the cream.

Using a modern woman's best friend to shake the cream....it takes about 45-60 minutes depending on the cream and if it's been cultured or not. Cold cream doesn't make good butter.

Butter in a pool of buttermilk...which is nasty by the way...although some claim it's really good! We personally think that someone in our house is just saying that it is good to be "different" - If you tasted it you would agree...yuk!

So here is the time-consuming part...butter washing! It's actually very relaxing and takes about 20-30 minutes. Washing the butter consists of of putting in cold water and "squishing", not smearing, the butter with a slotted spoon to the bottom of the bowl, then poor off that water and do it again and again and again and again until the water runs clear. Now you have to get as much water out as possible - I seem to always have a bit of water left. Now salt and put into mini containers to mold. Set the containers in the refrigerator overnight and then I usually take the butter out of the mold and freeze in freezer paper.

The taste is far superior to anything you can purchase at the store. One draw back is that it doesn't seem to do well for frying There is a weird smell - so it fries fine but the smell is strong...but we just use bacon grease...and I wonder why my jeans don't fit!

I've used it in cookies and breads - anything calling for butter in baking and it works fine.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoyed a bit of old fashioned culinary art...

Special Day...Special Girl

Last week was our sweeties birthday. She is a delightful girl...she loves deeply, trusts deeply~! If she counts you as a friend you will have a friend for life...she will love you to the very end with no strings attached...she's a keeper!

She only saw one gift for her on our "gift" table and was completely content and happy about it...it made me so proud of her! Little did she know that a really special gift was on it's way to her and would arrive a few days after her birthday...a special doll just for her.

As you can see her new "friend" is always with her. It's adorable watching her and her new friend - it warms my heart and shouts in the face of your typical cheap toys...NO they don't have to play with "pop" culture toys and YES they can play and learn to be the mommies they will need to be...so be it!

So sweet!

Reading to her friend...hmmm bonus as reading class just got more fun!

A Room With A View...

A room with a view...this is what I see out my kitchen window. This is a blessing as our new lifestyle requires me to spend a lot of time in the kitchen...I'm a blessed woman!

Update of Dave...

Well, after much concern and worry we still have no idea what is plaguing my dear husband. I can tell you that the boils and blisters have now "melted" into red blotches and patches. He is not in any kind of pain and they don't itch...strange but true. The Dr. still has absolutely no idea what this was and his best guess is that at first he did have blood poising and then he had a sever allergic reaction to the first set of antibiotics that he was on...weird!

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your rod and staff shall comfort me" - you've all heard this verse...we have also - but it means so much more now!

As I was pondering the events of the last week this verse came to me and it struck me that we had walked through the shadow of death valley...but that the Lord put his "rods and staffs" around us to comfort us...can you guess what I think those rods and staffs were? YOU, all of you who prayed and encouraged and held us up when we felt like that we had been forgotten, all of you who held fast to the promises of the Lord, all of you who prayed with out ceasing...YOU were the rod and the staff that comforted us as we walked through that dark and dreary shadow of death...thank you for being the rod and staff for us - thank you a million times!

May the Lord continue to use each and every one of us as rods and staffs for there are many walking in the shadows of death and need comfort!

Hugs and until next time - God Bless!

For anyone who has been reading our blog you can see that we are going through some trying times. It was a really strange experience to feel like I was leaving my wife and family, for we feared that MRSE had not responded to the medicine I was given to fight it. Even stranger, I was under the impression that I was only days away of having that great mystery in my life answered. God why have we not seen your power in our lives? Were did we miss up that we never became the people I see promised and talked about in the New Testament. Where were the people with power from on high? Where was the greater things that we can do than Jesus because He went to the Father? Where was the say to this mountain go into the sea and into the sea it goes?

For me my struggle with this skin issue is more than simply asking God to heal me. As much as I would like God to supernaturally heal me, I want His Holy Spirit. I prayed the morning I was to go to the hospital most earnestly. I prayed for healing but I also sought God for His Holy Spirit as I have so many times.

I find it odd that the thing we can fake as from the Holy Spirit. In plenty we find those things in church. We can fake speaking in tongues. We can fake words of knowledge and prophecy. In some churches we have these things in abundance. I am not saying they are fake, but in sharp contrast we do not have in abundance or at all those things we can not fake from the Holy Spirit. Where is the power from on high? We can’t fake a life long cripple being healed or the autistic child being restored to his right mind. How many demons has the average church cast out? How many of us can ask the Father anything as Jesus says and the Father will do it for us? Let alone skipping stones in the ocean with the mountains.

My prayer to God has been that I feel like Cain. For even Cain knew what the consequences of killing his brother was. It wasn’t that someone might kill him. Cain said his punishment was too much because he would be cast out of the presence of the Lord. In my life I do not have the presence of the Lord as I read is available for New Testament believers. So my prayer is that the Lord would not cast me out of His presence. I believe that God has had His Holy Spirit on me, but I don’t see the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit in me.

Many may be taken back by my comment and say that I should have more faith. But I am still left with a life that doesn’t match up to that which was promised to the believer. I can no longer sweep this under the rug.

My prayers are constantly asking God if He is no longer able to trust anyone with His Holy Spirit, for I only see those things we can fake and not those things we can not in peoples lives including my own.

My prayers are constantly asking God if it is possible for a man of today to walk with God as Enoch. Can a man be such a man for God to call him a friend as God did for Abraham? What about Samuel, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, Paul, Peter, John or how about Stephen a man filled with the Holy Spirit and who did miracles? Can a man in our time be a man who can be above average like those men? Scripture mentions and almost makes it a given of believers.

My prayer has been for many years not to see an angel or have a visitation from the Lord. Nor do I want to die and go to heaven for 30 minutes and come back all fired up because I saw heaven. I want to be what scripture says I can be because I believed God’s Word and put my faith in God’s promises. I want to be the man I read about in Scripture that seams to be missing in our churches today. But at last I know I am only suffering from grandiosity. I actually think that God could make me that kind of man someday and use me in a great way for His Church.

Joy Comes In The Morning...or Late Evening...

You'll remember the heartbreak we had a few days before Christmas as we lost our first calf.

Since then it seems as though we have been tested, like Job.

This last week we have been in constant fear of Dave's life....what started out as a simple infection in his finger spread like wild fire - he is now covered in boils and blisters all over his harm, back, neck other arm and his torso and they don't seem to be ceasing...the antibiotics are not stopping it! We were very fearful that he was dying of MRSA.

Our local Dr. could not figure out what was wrong with him - said it was strange and unusual but he would treat him for MRSA.

Friday night we decided that we should go to the ER as the sores were aggressive and growing fast - my heart was torn in two - I was not prepared to say good bye to the love of my life....and the thought of raising my children without their daddy was more than I could imagine...

Joy filled our hearts after THREE ER doctors came to look at him and said..." we just don't know what this is....you have us puzzled as it looks like MRSA but its not acting like MRSA...it's acting like so many things wrapped into one...BUT WE ARE SENDING YOU HOME AS WE ALL AGREE THAT YOUR LIFE IS NOT IN DANGER...keep taking the meds and get to a dermatologist asap"... The main doctor kept apologizing for not knowing what was going on - she will never know what relief and joy we felt as we heard the words "not life threatening"...thank you Lord...beginning of our joy and hope restored...and a nice end to my birthday - knowing that he will be around next year as I will be "20"...shhhhh I mean "40"....

We are home and still struggling with why...friends have put it into focus for me - I've been reminded of and have memorized James 5:15-16 and have recited "God has not Left you" over and over and have been reminded that there is war in heaven and sometimes the messenger can not get through to Gods people like for Daniel.

It makes me realize that we need to be steadfast - in season and out of season - the Lord was serious about this! It reminded me that life is short and we need to be of purpose and prayer...so many actually die without hearing the true gospel...so many don't believe that Satan is crouching around every corner looking to see whom he can devour, shake of course, and steal the joy that was once there...people of God "Hold Fast" and preach the Word of the Lord.

Please continue to pray for my husbands healing...I miss his hugs and so do the children - we still have no idea if it's contagious so we are being careful...

Okay now comes the part we are praising the Lord for....because joy really does come in the morning - we are filled with it this morning as we think about our newest member "Dutchess". She was born last night and is the cutest thing you ever saw...full of life and happiness!

Labor was difficult for Rosie...Dave had to help pull the calf out - but both mom and baby are fine and we even milked Rosie for the first time this morning...phew Dave got a workout there...Ropes are a marvelous invention! You see a cow produces 10 more milk than a calf will ever drink...can you imagine that? Poor Rosie was very very very full...and not very happy to being pulled away from her calf. But once she realized the rope was her "friend" and that it lead to snacks, she held still long enough for the milk machine to do its job...

Meet Dutchess...and praise the Lord for his goodness to us...No that is not Rosie the mom...that happens to be Ruthie who is very very very protective of this new calf...she actually lead us to the birthing "room" in a thicket of trees...she would not leave Rosie's side and stood over Dave watching, nudging, mooing...it was sweet! We call her "Auntie Ruthie" now.

skooooooooo

Well, this is a delightful day for sure. I've relaxed so much and am not so stressed about "perfection", so much so that I can really enjoy this precious moment in time...time that will be gone all too soon...

Little Man loves and often asks to please "do skooooooo"...A dear friend of mine encouraged me to visit this wonderful web-site and try these age appropriate, downloadable, FREE, "tot-school" lapbooks.
If you google "tot-school" - you'll find http://www.totschoolbycarisa.com/ - This blog has really interesting insights on schooling tots and some great lapbooking ideas as well as lapbooks ready to print!
Enjoy...

Rain Drops Keep Falling....

Rain - you'd think that my children, being used to Northwest weather would not be so excited about the rain that is falling...but alas they are!

Probably not because it's raining but because of how much it is raining and it is leaving huge puddles to wade in...they are having a "splash" of a time...and it's better than watching a movie on a rainy day...

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy the rain - it won't last right?