And we....

LOST! Well, Wichita's team played a GRRRREAT first game and won the game by one point in an extra inning during the tournament yesterday. But then they had to play another game with only 10 minutes break and they lost. After lunch, they lost a second game which put them out of the tournament and that ended the season. Despite the losses, (only 2 wins this season), the boys have improved SOOOO much and they had a good time. Wichita really enjoys baseball and is ready to have another go at it again next year. So, all in all I say we came out winners despite the loss! Isn't that wonderful?!?! Next up on our calendar, besides irrigating and dentists appointments, is getting ready for the children's camp fundraising garage/bake sale. We don't have many "garage sale items" since we moved and downsized our stash of stuff - besides maybe a few toys, but we do know how to bake. Both boys are going to camp this year so we really need to raise a lot of money so I don't have to try to pay out of pocket. It costs $160 each for them to go to Nazarene Children's Camp. We had a pie sale a couple months ago so this garage sale will be our final fundraiser - hope it goes good. And if any of you are interested in helping the boys go to camp let me know - we would love to take your donations for the garage sale or sell you a dozen cookies!! Now, we are off to the ice cream social and fireworks! YUM!

Need advice

I am needing advice from all you small-time farmer/ranchers out there. What is the best kind of cow to get if I am looking to buy just one cow for milk, butter, and cheese making? And should I buy a calf and raise it by hand myself or buy an already milking or pregnant cow?
I have researched a little to find that Dexters are nice cows because they eat less and are great for meat and milk. Jersey cows eat a little more, have richer milk than a Holstein, but produce a little more milk. Holsteins produce a lot of milk per day but it is not as rich. These are really the only 3 I have read much on. I am sure there are other good kinds out there, but don't know much about it. I am looking for a cow I can buy for a good price. I would like extra milk to sell so I don't want a cow that makes less than 3-4 gallons per day. I would also like to raise her calf each year to pu in the freezer so I would like a cow that produces good meat, but not necessarily a whole lot. I would probably be breeding the cow to an angus since that is readily available here. Then of course I can get all the cattle supplies I need from our local farm store or co-op. I need to finish my fence now that my grass is coming up nicely and probably build a little shed to keep her out of the winter weather.
So, what do you recommend?

So HOT!

After all the rain and more rain, it is finally summer temps outside. Unfortunately it went from about 60s to 90s in just a day or so. With all the water on the ground the humidity is unbearable and the heat is crazy! Thankfully we have these great inventions called air conditioners!! I'll bet the boys at the College World Series were wishing for AC. I think it was 107 on the first night of the championship games. WOW!!! We watched all three games - something we haven't done before, but Wichita is getting into baseball so we thought this would be something good to do as a family. It was pretty exciting. We were rooting for the underdogs (LSU) and they WON!! I was excited to see Texas win one of the 3 games though - those boys should know they are so close to winning - and almost as good as LSU. I really think without the slew of errors in the 3rd game they could have pulled it off. It is always hard to see the disappointment on the losing teams faces, knowing how hard they worked to get there. But second is nothing to be ashamed of. They ALL did a fantastic job and displayed great sportsmanship - something important for young boys like Wichita to see on TV. Speaking of baseball, Wichita has a game tonight and then a tournament on Saturday which means the end of the season for us. Finally!! :)

Trailer insurance?

We are loaning out our cargo trailer to a lady to sell fireworks (in exchange for the use of the trailer we get FREE fireworks!!). Since there will be people in and out of the trailer and highly explosive items in it we are trying to get insurance on the trailer itself when it is not attached to the pickup. When I called our insurance company that we got our original auto insurance quotes from they didn't quite understand what I wanted. Then, when they finally transferred me to the right department, the lady seemed to understand and took down the registration information on t he trailer. She gave me a quote and took a down payment. So, yesterday I get this request for information in the mail wanting a copy of the trailer registration because they can't find the make/model in their system to write the policy. Well, they have it listed as an RV which is probably their main problem. Hopefully they get it figured out before next week so we are covered! I guess if we were really desperate we could use the trailer as an RV but I am pretty sure it is much more suited for hauling cars and stuff around.

CRAZY!

I don't know about you, but for my family June seems to be the CRAZY month! Between summer starting, yard work, gardening, animals to care for, baseball, swimming, fishing, studying for the Bible bee and reading for summer reading at the library we have not had a moment to spare. It has been over 2 WEEKS since I have even been able to get on the internet. We are well! We are all still alive!! And we are thoroughly enjoying our busy summer so far! In fact, despite the never ending rain, everything is going fabulously!!

Kevin did decide to quit his job. A combination of many things lead to this decision, so now we are just praying for the right opportunity to come along and for him to know which direction to go. He has several things in the mix and opportunities he is considering so I will let you all know when we know!

In other wonderful news....we have a new member of our family!! My sister had her baby on Monday - it was another boy!! We are so excited (even though I was really hoping for a girl!) For those of you who don't know me personally, my sister has 3 boys (now 4!). They haven't named the baby yet so we are still waiting to hear on that aspect. Mom and baby are doing great and come home tomorrow!!

And by the way, for those who didn't know, we did get a phone... just call our old number to get the new one!

Pictures....

Although I have good intentions, I obviously haven't quite met those intentions yet. I have been meaning to take pictures of our house and the chicken shed I built, but haven't gotten that far yet. Now that I don't have internet at the house, it makes it harder to get pictures on my camera's flash memory stick and them get them to the computer. I am sure I can just pull the card out of my computer and bring my little attachment and upload them on my parent's computer, but I just haven't gotten the ambition yet. So stay tuned for the pictures, I will get them up eventually - I promise not to disappoint you all!! Now I better head off to baseball practice - I'll check in next week - have a great weekend all!!!

Bentonite Clay

I have done quite a little researching and thinking lately about all the toxins we introduce to our bodies each day. From the air we breathe, to the water we drink, to the food we eat, often we are putting toxins in our bodies that we are not even aware of. All these toxins in our bodies cause them to work less than perfectly often causing fatigue and even pains we learn to ignore or accept as life. I was reading an article on a website I love called No Greater Joy. This website is written by the same couple that wrote the book Created to be His Helpmeet which my women's Bible study group studied this past year. Anyhow their daughter runs an herb store and speaks highly of an herb called bentonite clay. It can be used externally as a mask or rub for treatment for acne, a salve for blisters, and an anti-infection 'cream'. It can also be taken internally because it absorbs toxins from inside the body and helps to remove them from the system. One commenter on the website claimed that it helped immensely with her morning sickness. So I thought I would give it a try. I have taken it a couple times - it is hard to take since it is like putting a small scoop of dirt in your water! However, I did notice a difference in my body and especially in how good/bad I felt. If I can come up with an easy way to take it, I think it would be really good. I am excited about the benefits of detoxifying my body.

Baseball schedule

For those of you who live nearby and are interested, we finally got Wichita's baseball schedule and he plays every Tuesday and Thursday night of June at 6:30. We have 3 home games and 3 away games. He also has a tournament on June 27 which is also at home. If you might be coming to watch him play let me know and I'll let you know where we are that night. He is really excited about baseball this year and has definitely improved since last year. He has a great coach again this year and the teams are very evenly divided with new kids and more experienced players. I am very happy with the outcome this year and can't wait to see them play their first game next week. See you at the park!!!

Gettin' Fit

Well, we may not have internet yet, but at least we have TV now! With all the past rainy days it has been a good thing too! I have been thinking about trying to develop an exercise routine for the mornings. Since we have a channel on our dish called FIT, I will not be needing any fitness equipment, just some motivation and stick-to-it-ness. Summer is the best time to lose weight and I really think coupled with all the extra exercise I am getting in my yard and garden, exercising would be very beneficial for me. We will be keeping busy this summer with baseball, swimming lessons, and irrigating so mornings should work out nicely for me. All I have to do now is GET OUT OF BED!!! before 8am I mean :)

Chickens, chickens

My chickens are growing fast and furious (and no I haven't been giving them HGH)! They are so fun to watch as they scamper around the yard scratching at the ground searching for seeds, bugs, and bits of food. They will all be out scavenging for food under the cedar trees when suddenly, for no apparent reason, one of them will take off at full speed back to the shed. Instantly at least 4 or 5 others will follow. They will all get halfway to the door and then just stop and start scratching the ground again!! So funny! We have 2 baby ducks that live with the chickens and I believe that they think they too are chickens. The cry if we try to keep them out of the chicken shed and they spend their day in the trees with the chickens (or in my garden eating the tops off my onions!) I ordered 100 broilers to be here next week. I plan to raise these to butcher. I will sell some of them and put the rest in my freezer. Yum!

The light

Wichita has been working very hard the past several weeks on memorizing verses for the Bible Bee competition in September. One huge advantage of this is that the other 2 kids and I are also learning the verses. One of the best ways I have found to help him learn the verses is to write individual words on pieces of paper and have the kids arrange them in the order the verse goes. This helps Wichita to visually see the words and I think it will help him to remember them longer also. Although he is not gettting enough verses each day to probably get all 350 learned by September, I feel knowing part of them very well is better than knowing all of them poorly. I am proud of what he has learned so far and I figure even if he doesn't do well at the competition, memorizing verses from God's Word is reward in itself. Like Sylvania light bulbs placed in the center of a room, Jesus is the light in the center of our hearts. Hiding God's words in our hearts helps us to spread this light and warmth to the world!

Sunny Day!

The sun is finally shining after 3 days of nothing but dreary rain and cold!!! My garden has been begging for sunshine!!!!

Farm Life

Moving to the country has been fun and yet challenging at the same time! Learning to get everything I need in town when I go to avoid multiple unneeded trips has been a challenge for me, but probably better on my budget!! Learning to deal with the additional wildlife intruders on my garden has also been a challenge. I know that a first year garden is more difficult anyhow, but adding extra bugs, birds, and rabbits has made it much more difficult to get anything out of the ground and keeping it alive!! Luckily it is not too late in the year to continue replanting so I got some of that done this week and things are looking better than I first expected. We did have to erect a scarecrow near the radishes to keep them from being eaten the moment they appeared and the second try seems to be going better than the first! We lost a few chickens to the neighbor's dog, but have figured out to prevent that problem and the chickens and ducklings are growing fast! The dog is adjusting to living outside and loving the extra running room. I think the guinea pig has a much happier life as well!!
Of course the kids are much happier! (and so are the grown-ups mostly!) They have a lot more room to run and play, have their very own "clubhouse" and spend a lot more time with mom and dad doing things they enjoy like playing outside and going fishing. Today it is supposed to get into the low 90s and after we get all our town running done we thought we might take a trip up to Cub Creek. The boys have remote control boats they have been dying to try out and it will be nice enough to swim if they want!
Kevin likes his new garage and being out in the country - he doesn't even seem to mind the smaller house! However, he is very unhappy at his job lately and I wouldn't be surprised with a change soon. He has talked a lot about doing different things so we will see where it all leads. We are trusting God to lead us!
I have been very very busy with my garden and yard and animals to care for. Plus we have been practicing baseball and learning verses for Wichita's Bible Bee this fall. So exciting! I am hoping all this added work (plus irrigating this summer) will help me lose some extra weight!! Otherwise I am going to be needing an appetite suppressant because I can really work up an appetite!! The next few days are supposed to be absolutely gorgeous - summer weather really and I am pumped about that! We LOVE SUMMER!!!

May!

Hooray! It is May at last. The weather is starting to mostly straighten up and the sun has shined a few days in the past week! We are all moved in and settling nicely but still haven't actually closed on the paperwork part of the house which is frustrating to me. Hopefully soon! The chickens are growing nicely but we had an attack by the neighbors dog so we had to buy a few replacements. I guess that is life! The ducks are full-grown and loving the farm. Wyatt got 2 new baby ducks (they are black) for his birthday so it will be fun watching them grow also. Unfortunately during the move we lost our cat Mia and haven't been able find her yet. Montana has been praying nightly for her and I hope against all odds that her prayers are answered. She loves that cat dearly. I have most of my garden in and some plants in the house that I bought but haven't put out yet. I am excited to get them out but also worried about the weather still dipping below freezing so I am hesitant. I can't afford to get them froze off this year, because I am putting in so much stuff. My garden space isn't much bigger, but I am squeezing a lot more into the area because of how much I am hoping to can this summer. My kids are really starting to eat a lot more and I want to keep my grocery budget as low as possible. They are also big enough to weed, pick, and help with canning/freezing so that makes me able to accomplish more in one summer. I will be working for a month or so helping Mr. Campbell with ESU stuff like I have the last 2 years and I will also be doing some irrigating for Kevin's dad. This will help pay off some extra bills and put money back into savings that we used to move and make the down payment on the house.
We are greatly enjoying the new house, even though it is smaller and we don't have internet access. We also don't have our dish hooked up yet, but we have been accomplishing so much more without all the interruptions and distractions that a TV and computer can provide. I do miss blogging, so we came in early for Bible Study to spend a few hours at the library to use the computers and find books to read in our spare time. We have spend several days fishing as a family and caught some AWESOME bass! The one I caught yesterday weighed 5lbs 3oz - almost a master angler!! Today is the only day this week we are coming to town, but I know there will be weeks this summer when we are in extra for baseball and activities. Wichita is the only one signed up for ball this summer, so we are excited to help him practice and watch him play!