A different kind of normal

My village

Hello everyone.  I am sorry I have been a little negligent on the blogging front.  It has been an exciting couple of weeks since Christmas.  I do want to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year.  Our New Year started with a new baby.  No, no, not me (thankfully).  My sister and bro-in law had their beautiful daughter on New Years day.  How absolutely perfect and I was so excited for them.  Labor went well and the baby is absolutely perfect.  She is soooo cute.  Enough of that.  You see, I have jumped ahead again.  All right, grab an ice pick to pry your fingers off the keyboard if you live here in New England.  If not, have a cup of something warm on me!



Toby and Logan, very cute

My parents made their way up to us in the north before Christmas.  We were able to show the sights around here a little bit.  My mother does not like to travel around much anymore.  They were able to come to church with us through and watched Logan in his yearly debut of one of the shepherds in the nativity story.  It was very cute.




 They also got to hear their daughter's debut as accompaniment to one of the singers.  I just found my old recorder and thought my mother would appreciate if I joined.  So I did.  It was pretty fun. 

Mother and daughter

Where are we on the page?



 

 

We got to spend some nice time with my parents up here in VT and drove to NY to spend Christmas with my sister and her husband.  We were waiting for my sister to go into labor, but it didn't happen.

  We definitely encouraged her (walking stairs, stress, cooking, squatting down to pick things up) but, baby Sydney arrived pretty much on time.  We were probably the last ones to know that Eiki was in labor on New Year's day.  Sydney Christine was born at 3 PM I think.  I was able to go down at the beginning of the month and was so enchanted by the little package.  Boy, she really is cute.  She has both mom and dad wrapped around her little fingers already.  My sister is a great mom.  It was really great to see how she is around the baby and she is a natural.  She takes it all in strides.  I spent a couple of days with them, spending time with my mother as well while my dad was visiting a friend in Tennessee.  It was good to get back home and the first night, my kids entertained me by scaring each other, after we were trying to get to sleep.  Guess who instigated it?  Yup, you guessed correctly (SEAN). 

 

Since then, we have had to adjust to a new kind of normal.  Tom has been able to drive for the school bus company.  There was a problem with trying to hire him, the paperwork wouldn't go through and all that jazz.  Well, he started on a Friday without knowing it.  He just kind of got thrown in the deep end, but he managed not to come home with any extra kids.  We are thankful for that. He has been driving the basketball teams to all their games.  It was nice because he ran into our realestate agent, who sold us the land.  We hadn't seen him since we bought the land.  He is also a Christian.  They got to catch up with each other. 

Tom did not get  his bus stuck!
 

Logan and his game

 So now instead of all of us being home at night, we have to adjust again to a totally crazy schedule of people working at night.  I try to stay busy while Tom works and when both the T's work I try to stay in town.  Some days we watch a movie on Tasha's lap top or I work on something.  So today is another one of those days so Logan and I are staying in town. It is nice to have some Logan and mom time. 




 So the rest of the family is doing really great.  Sean is working a lot.  He is working with another fellow out of NH twice a week and working with his old boss three days.  He is happy for the opportunity to see another farrier work and get acquainted with more people.  His business is doing not too bad.  I think he has about 30 horses.  Not too shabby.  It takes a while to build up a clientele and to get your name out there and we all know how peculiar horse people are.  Oh, you didn't know that?  They are, just I am normal (hello, of course; that goes without saying).  Talking to a friend who is a vet confirms that Sean is indeed in the right business.  He is getting a reputation of being really good with difficult horses or not so difficult horses.  Gee, not patting myself on the back, but where did he get that from?

At a wedding taken by Katy
Charlton (via facebook)

 Natasha is a continual blessing to both Tom and I.  Her wisdom and love is great for us to see.  She is pursuing a new job, which is more up her alley than working in a pizza place (which she loves!).  Our dear friend Kathy suggested she check out a possible opening at the co-op.  She dropped off her resume, felt really good about it, and is waiting to see.  Prayers would be appreciated for wisdom and guidance.

That brings me to the last but most important part of my blog.  ME!  I had a chance to talk to my  sister-in-law Nichole yesterday and the question came up how I was doing spiritually.  I was not so sure what to answer.  In fact this is the first blog where I really didn't have anything to share with y'all spiritually.  So thanks Nichole.  I now got something!  Hold on to your seats!!!!!!  Here it comes:  You can't "escape" God!  That is it. Have a good day. 

Christmas eve

What!!!!  Don't leave us hanging here (this is what you are thinking all right, so go with it just to humor me and make it more interesting).  All right, I will humor you.  A couple of days ago we were at a friend's house playing Romey Cube, which is a blast. ( Mami you should try it.)  As we were sitting there I just felt a little sad.  I now was responsible to building up a new friendship and to be transparent with my new friends.  Argh, that is so much work and all I want to do is have someone whom I'm familiar with and just to be comfortable with them.  So, basically I miss you guys in CT a lot!  That is not to say that I am not meeting and having blessings with new friends here in VT, and to my new friends I have to say, hold on to your seats.  You are in for the ride of your life.  This went into this thinking on my part.  God put us here, I have no doubt whatsoever.  But I have also brought my luggage with me from CT.  Just because I am living without much worldly things, I still have things that date back to CT that God has to reveal in me or that I have to come to Him with.  Believe you me He is working overtime on me.  I love that. 

But I am rambling on.  Sorry, told you this was not going to be my normal, organized straight to the point blog (Here you look at yourself in the monitor and shake your head, saying she has lost it.  The cold is getting to her brain).  So just because I live in the sticks in VT doesn't mean I didn't bring my stuff with me.  And the "closets" of my heart were kind of full of junk.  God has cleaned out so much of that junk and He can now see the floor.  I like that a lot.  The point I am so eloquently trying to make is if you are trying to hide from God, ha!  Sorry, I meant HA!  Oops, no that is not loving.  Emmm, hehehehe?  Are we getting the picture of who this God really is?  I just plugged into a wonderful study on the fundamentals of Christianity.  Very nice so far and I am enjoying meeting with wonderful people (getting out there again).  He is here, there and everywhere from before the beginning to beyond the end of time.  He will not stop existing!  He existed before time!  He knows you before you were even a tiny speck in your mother's womb.  He knows what is in your heart.  He already sees you at the end of your life.  To Him life is like a blade of grass.  And He loves you, me and myself!  He took His right arm and send Him to be Emanuel, God with us!  God with us!  That should give us pause as to how much we curse the driver in front of us, because "big brother is watching".  But this big brother wants us to come to Him so He can sooth our wounds, our fears and worries, if we let Him. 

To recap, I am finding that no matter where I go, God is with me!  I am so glad about that!  Could you imagine me going off to VT or to make new friends by myself?  Yikes, I have made some messes of that in the past!  But God is with me when I step out of my very comfortable circle of me, myself, and I to reach out to others.  God is with me when I am having a bad day because our pipes are frozen (got you, we don't got no pipes hehehehe).  God soothes me when I just can't deal with having to do dishes again or when the school day just drags on.  He dries off my tears when my day is really bad.  As long as I allow Him open access to me, no matter what is up. 

"I need a friend to lean on"
Katy Charlton and from facebook

I think I have said it all.  I hope this is not just thought provoking but also convicting.  We have but one life to give. 

Hope the weather where you are is cooperating.  The kids and I are off to NY next week.  I haven't seen my niece in a month and my brother in law is going out of town.  So I thought I would keep my sister company (she has running water!).



Have a wonderful remaining day.  I went outside today (it is a balmy 27 degrees outside) and heard more and more bird callings.  Spring is on its way!  Yehaa, bring it on! 

 

 

 

 

 

The perfect day

I am thiiiis strong

I wish all of you, my friends, a wonderful Christmas holiday season.  A lot of things are happening here and it is time to share.  It seems that the summer was spend mostly in our garden.  We did little things with the house, that made our life a little more easy.  Recently we have had the pleasure to really get to know some of our neighbors (we are in the boonies and I count neighbors anybody who lives in a 5 mile radius).  We have had the pleasure to spend Sundays with the owners of dear Bessy (the cow) and their 2 kids.  We have a little bible study and share a meal.  My kids were really excited because we did pizza the first time.  We haven't had home made pizza in a really long time.  Then we have our wonderful librarian neighbor (no more library late fees for me, people.  I am on time for now........).  We have spend many nights playing games (Pictionary), or just talking.  She usually brings cookies or goodies.  She knows the kids well.  It has been wonderful just to get to know people.  There are several people from our church we have been hanging out with too.  One of my church friends let me bake cookies in her house.  It smelled so good.  And of course some of the cookies stayed at her house for a moment.


We spent a lovely Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad Perreault.  I didn't have to cook, although I thought a traditional Thanksgiving with the turkey roasting on the spit would have been kind of fun.  But we didn't opt for it.  Instead they came up for the afternoon and we ate at a very nice place right off the highway.  The food was quite plentiful and everyone came home, well actually we rolled home, and Tom had to loosen his belt (for about 15 minutes only, you can picture Tom!).  It was a really nice time and we so appreciated it.  Logan was feeling a little under the weather but he has rebounded since then.

 I was also able to bake 3 apple pies (thanks to my friend Sandy) and we had one on Sean's birthday (whip cream was included.  A drill works really well to whip the cream if you can't find your mixer).  Those pies were yummmmmmmy!!!!!  Anyway, I need to move on, time is running on.  We got to see my beautiful sister.  She looks great and I can't wait to see my little niece.  We spent a day with them at my friend Sarah's house in NH, who had a crib and other baby stuff for them.  They left with a very stuffed car (sorry, George, SUV). 

Before

Progress!

On the house front we are now back in operating order.  We were without power (generator) for a couple of months.  Talk about cozy at night, when we gather (that is a good words for it) together beside the gas lamp!  It has not been as challenging as I thought.  The generator needed a new muffler and so it took a while to order it.  And of course, since the generator was my birthday present three years ago, the boys thought it would be fitting to get me the muffler for my birthday this year.  Yes, I was touched!  DEEPLY!  I think there was some moisture running out of my eyes, but that may have just been a figment of my imagination.  And since the generator is working again, Tom has been working on the steps, another birthday present.  I know, you are all jealous.  Don't be.

Yes I am helping

                                                     We just passed the month of birthdays.
It seems that November is our month.  My mother-in-law is first followed by me, and then a week later my mother.  Sean is the last in this family.  We also have a number of friends who picked the coolest month to be born in.  And to top it of, our month is followed by Christmas.  What can be more cool?  I love this time of year! 

 Growing up, I always waited for the perfect day.  My parents made

He is a brave one!

 my birthday pretty special.  I usually would have friends and family around and it would be a very happy, merry time.  But yet, it was not perfect.  Something big would always happen and would leave me feeling like the day was less than perfect.  Be sure to note, that this feeling was not because people didn't meet my expectations.  They didn't, they couldn't!  My expectations were so high, no one could meet them.  And I would feel like the day would end with less than spectacular bang. When I left home to attend boarding school, I was hit like a ton of bricks when my birthday came around.  Suddenly I was left in a foreign country without my family, who always made sure they called and wished me well, but again I was sunk!  No perfect day and what was worse, a total feeling of being unworthy, unloved by friends.  That carried over to my married life.  Weeks before my birthday I would be steeped deep in depression.  Nothing my hubby did would cause me to feel loved, special.  If the present wasn't good enough, I would be left with a deep sense of as;ldjfwoier, if you know what I mean.  If Tom didn't manage to come home on time, soeiurwoenos again.  My expectations were so high, my poor husband eventually threw up his arms and gave up trying.  I would mope for days, if not weeks. 

And soon after that came Christmas.  Y'all know I am German, and the Germans know how to do Christmas!  We pull out all the stops!  And if you have been privy to one of our (Klemp) Christmases, you will testify to the fact that it is a big deal!  I mean, it is always a big deal but we do it up!  As a kid I remember learning my Christmas poem to be recited on Christmas Eve to Father Christmas, who just happened to stop by our house.  The day before would be spent in anticipation, since the door to the living room was locked and entry was forbidden.  I mean the rule was so strict that Eiki and I didn't dare to steal into the room after dark.  I have to speculate now, but I think Tom and his brothers would have found a way in and they would have opened all the presents before, just because it was a challenge.  But I digress.  So when the door would finally open Christmas Eve and our eyes would behold the sparkling, perfect Christmas tree piled high with presents, it was close to a perfect day.  When I mean perfect Christmas tree it usually was.  My grandmother would take pains to decorate the thing perfectly and I mean perfect.  No, we never had a "fake" tree.  When Tom tried to sneak in a "fake' tree one time, just ask our neighbors John and Kelly what happened to it.  For years they thought there was something really wrong with us.  But all the time I was left with a sadness, a sense of missing something big.  Again that beautiful day was left imperfect, a feeling of disappointment in the center of my being.

And then the perfect thing happened to me!  It wasn't in form of a day, but it was in form of what happened in my heart.  Nobody could meet my expectations except for one person.  My Lord entered in and started cleaning house.  He gave me a new desire, a new heart.  For a while, I tried to control my sadness and my disappointment at the lack of obvious love from my family when the day didn't go well or when a little thing happened.  But boy, I would still be messed up for weeks.  But I would mask it so that it had nothing to do with my disappointment of the perfect day.  And then the work was being done in my heart and I had to come to the point of deciding whether I could give up that one perfect day.  Could I surrender that expectation to the Lord or would I hold on to my hurt feelings and my sky high expectations.  One day, I let go of them.  Some people might look at me and ask how I could possibly be fine with receiving a generator muffler for my birthday.  You should have seen me when I "opened" the generator.  I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face (not tears of sadness).  I think I even made a little speech. 

In the recent months God has shown me about perfect love.  That perfect love is not my love for someone or something.  It can't be.  I can't love enough on my own not to have fear or any other emotions.  These emotions are there.  We don't live in a vacuum.  What do I do when I feel forgiveness, fear, anger, disappointment, sadness, pain?  Do I dwell in them, let them sit there and make them ruin my day, my marriage, my life?  I have allowed those feelings to dictate to me long enough.  People will tell you just move on.  Right!!!  You do it!  See where that leads you.  Or this is a good one: Time will heal all wounds!  HA!  NOT!  Try it.  It doesn't hold.  For a time being you may be able to deal with the fear, the disappointment, the anger.  But after a while it does come back.  Then what?  I have found that if I choose to hold on to my "bad" feelings, well, you know what happens.  But if there is a problem and all of a sudden I don't let that feeling dictate my reaction, that is a different outcome.  If I have given my Lord permission to be Lord over my feeling, I soon have victory. 

The other day I was feeling very put out with one of my children.  Instead of dwelling on that feeling, and I was totally in the right believe you me, I turned to my Lord and asked Him to take that nasty feeling from me and replace it with His love for that child (OK, my kids are children anymore).  Do you know what happened?  That child (sorry) came to me and I think it recognized its mistake.  But rather than dwell on my hurt feelings, we were able to laugh and talk in a way that if I had held on to that feeling I would have been stewing in it for hours, making that child's life miserable.

Tom and I were having a conversation by our nice furnace to keep warm, and he said something that stung!  He was just pointing something out to me that really was minor, but I took it the wrong way.  But I realized the moment my hurt feelings started to surface that I had a choice.  I could be miserable all day, and blame Tom for hurting my feelings, or I could allow someone with much broader shoulders to carry my hurt.  I could release Tom from the responsibility of causing my hurt.  I could free him to be my husband, no matter what he said to me.  I was not going to let little words come between him and me!  You know what, we had a wonderful day!  I didn't hold on to my hurt, but let that perfect love, the love that gives (For God so loved the world He GAVE....).  We ought to do the same.  We ought to give.  That is setting me free and it is setting everyone in my family free too.


I would love to challenge you in this season of celebration and looking for the perfect day.  If you find yourself feeling a little unsatisfied with the rushing around and the preparation, your spouse who doesn't appreciate your efforts to make the season special, or doesn't appreciate you period; try this (and I mean it): talk to God about it.  And wait what will happen.  I can guarantee you an outcome better than the weathermen.  Your feeling of hurt, pain, justified forgiveness, whatever it was you were struggling with, will go away and will be replaced with a feeling of peace, if you are willing to let it go and give it to God.


He came to this earth, whether we believe it or not.  He still came and He also died, whether we believe it or not.  He didn't stay dead.... HE rose (whether we believe it or not)!  With that He made it so that I can now go to Him and cast (that means chose to let go) off my stuff that I am holding on to.  It means I can have a perfect day!  Yes, I can have it!  Finally it is possible.  It will cost me to decide to allow Him to take that stuff.  But I can have a perfect day through Christ, if I allow Him to lead me step by step, and guard my heart and give Him the feelings I know will cause me to separate myself from Him or from my fellow humans.




Chet is so comfi in his new bed!

Merry Christmas.  Think about why we have this wonderful season.  Take time and examine yourself and take me up on this challenge, if you would.  My family and I will be spending a perfect day with my sister, her husband, my parents and who know maybe a new niece (hopefully not yet, she is not due until the end of the month).  Have a perfect day.


 

The final product!



 

 

Something unusual

"Downtown" Springfield in the snow

 

Hello my dear friends.  I really don't have any new pictures to share or anything really exciting going on.  As usual, school is going on.  That is my biggest concern at the present.  We have been blessed with a lot of  new friends, who are just adding to our lives up here and enriching us as a family.  It is so nice that we have not just been put up here to exist.  It is such a blessing to be able to enrich others lives because at the same time, we are being blessed.  So that is where we are pretty much.  We still spend a lot of time at the library.  Tom is slowly being taught to drive a bus.  Monday he is going to have a "long" day and drive to Rutland, an hour away, to train on railroad crossings.  So funny.  He rode with another driver the other day and got to check out a route.  We are anxiously waiting for him to get his license so he can get a route.  The kids are doing well.  Tasha still loves her work and Sean is doing well.  I am enjoying my new friends (I haven't forgotten my old ones though). 



I don't want to take up more of your time because I would really like you to sit back and look at this video.  It is an amazing story about an illusionist, who went through something amazing.  I hope you take the time, it is 10 minutes long.  His story will hopefully blow you away, as it did me.  I have to share it. 

More of Him, less of me.

Have a wonderful day.  Logan are here "in town" (Springfield) to run some errands, wait for Tasha to be done with work and just enjoy some time together.  Right now that includes the computer.  Oh, well. 

Who am I?

Hello my dear friends,

Shocking, yes another blog so close to the other.  I apologize but when I have a really good topic, I like to share what I think.  Because we all know, what I think is very important.  All kidding aside, my young adults came home from "youth group" the other day.  It is a group of people who come together and hang out once a week and share a meal.  Very nice and I love going and hanging out with my good friend Ruth Ann and the young people (yes we are also young).  I found this challenge to them the next day.  They were asked to describe in 100 words who they were before they came to Christ, what led them to Christ, and who they are now because of Christ.  So, and this is how incredibly different my two young offspring are, Sean had a ready answer.  He is a young man of little words and it is always a challenge for him to use as little words as he can (much to the chagrin of his teacher and his boss at Winding Trails).  So his answer was "I am a Christian".  Yeah, I know!  I really can't do anything about this anymore.  Believe me I have tried and failed!  Miserably!   But that is quite all right, I have a daughter.  She set out the next day to describe this and she used some of Sean's words.  Tom proceeded to "use up" the rest of Sean's words.  Very funny.  So I got the idea:  this will be a nice blog.  Ha, so here we are.  You are not getting away that easy, since I will use more than 100 words (possibly, quite possibly).  This is a total tangent but I was just reading (yes, Tom was working hard next to me while I was reading) a book about the war of 1812, a very stupid war.  What struck me was the wealth of words the people used back then.  The English language was so beautiful.  Now we use words like yeah, and nope.  Ugh!  End of tangent back to what I want to say.  You comfy?  Cozy?  (See, what kind of word is comfy I ask you).  I should say: please, my dear friends, take a very comfortable position upon your seat and have a sip of your tea.  (Better!)

 Who was I before Christ?  I was a little girl in a pretty dark place.  I had fear, anger, disappointment, pride, and other junk in my heart.  At times that was all I could focus on and the fear was the most dominant of the three.  I wanted nothing more to be free of these but I didn't know how to get rid of them.  So I found a way.  I would become the most funny, happy person I could possibly become.  I would make being happy my god.  I would make jokes and pretend I was doing just great.  It worked like a charm, but on the inside, there was still that horrible, ever encompassing fear, anger and disappointment.  It crept into all my relationships.  On the outside was this happy go lucky person. (I have reached my 100 words, sorry, keep on reading).  My insides were lonely and dead.  Fear was my constant companion.  And a healthy dose of self condemnation went along with it.  Ohh yes, I was good at putting myself down.  If I put myself down, others couldn't do it for me.  I lived these two identities.  The outside, happy go lucky and the dark side of me (Luke, join the dark side, we have cookies).

My parents never forced any "religious" activity upon me and for that I am so thankful.  I was a pretty young girl when God introduced Himself to my heart.  At night I would cling to Him when I just didn't like the way my life was turning out to be (whose life is perfect at age 9?).  But He never mentioned His Son.  It was a long time until I met Him.  I was about 42 years old when He finally introduced Himself personally.  At this point I had again spent some time with the Father and was looking into this relationship thing.  I was again striving to get to know the Son through my own intelligence, my own viewpoint.  I was "working" so hard to find this Christ, the living God.  I knew I was a better person for knowing Him.  Already He was working in my heart and the first thing we cleaned out was my atrocious language.  I was swearing like a sailor (hey, I was a sailor's daughter and proud of it).  The fear and self doubt had lodged itself really good, though.  I was doing everything I could to be a "good Christian".  Again, the outward picture was me going to church and having kids who were "good Christians".  At that point we had left our first church, much to my distress, and we were going with my wonderful friend Donna to her church.  Tom had just left for Iraq and so I was dealing with that when one night I had just had it.  I was in my room, totally exhausted.  I could not keep up with all the demands of a "religious" life.  I could not keep the fear out, the tongue (don't even get me started with that), and my thoughts.... atrocious!  I was so angry at God for taking Tom away from me for a time being, and making me exactly what I had worked so hard never to be; a single parent.  I was spinning my wheels so fast I couldn't keep up with myself and I had had it.  What in the world did God want from me?  I couldn't even keep a single day (the Sabbath) separated for God!  It took too much energy and effort.  So I was pouring out this stuff to God in my room.  I remember it to this day and I hope I will never forget what happened.  I had been reading a wonderful book by Stacy Eldridge and her husband.  So my heart was open to where Christ wanted me.  He was able to make contact with me.  It wasn't a booming voice in my room.  The house didn't shake.  There was a presence in my room, and in my heart.  A voice, very gently voice, told me that I was looking for answers in the wrong places.  It wasn't about observing one day, it wasn't about making the right outward decisions and looking good.  It was all about Christ.  He was my Sabbath, He was my husband, the father for my children, the one I was to seek, the one who would take care of me in the storm of life.  An incredible peace came to me.  I felt like I could let go and allow someone else to take the reins of my life.  It was a very comforting thought.

Who am I now because of Christ?  I am a new creation, a better person, and free person.  Not because of the things I have done, but because I have someone doing these things for me.  If I were to take ahold of a situation and try to manipulate things the way I want them to go, we would have a disaster.  If I let go, and allow the one who created me to deal with the situation, we have success.  He has taken my fear, my self doubt and turned it into something like joy, peace, long suffering.  There are moments when I take the reins out of His hands and we have fear, doubt..... same old same old.  These moments are far and between these days.  I am a whole person with Him.  Apart from Him, I am my bad old self.  Happy on the outside, fearful, prideful, self doubting on the inside.  I don't know about you, I prefer the new me.  Because of Christ I now have real joy.  I have felt that  love, contentment spill out of me and overflow me so that I can't help but being happy.  It doesn't take work on my part.  It takes Christ's hand on my life, and my willingness to let Him lead me.  I am part of His bride, and I am called His beloved.  And that is why I know there is a God, and a Savior.

How about you?
 

 

Four score and three Octobers ago.......

Hello everyone,

 It seems ages since my last blog.  Life, as we know it, must go on.  It has been a wonderful fall.  The weather has been so beautiful.  Foliage is gorgeous.  Natasha and Tom drove around today and she took pictures.  I love this picture.  It kind of tells it all.  We have been so blessed with all kinds of visitors.  It was wonderful to have our friends Lisa and Scott come up and camp in their camper.  I crack up about that.  Then my in-law and Tom's uncle and wife came up for a visit.  That was really nice.  Doug, Tom's youngest brother, and his family came up and we had a nice time seeing the eagles.  I don't know if they are still there (the eagles, Doug and family are back in CT).  Then my friend Luiza and her hubby made the long trip up and we spend a wonderful afternoon together.   

Three Octobers ago, we bought the property.  A year ago we were just about to move into the barely liveable house (if you can call it that).  I am so amazed about what has been done in a year.  Yes, there is a ton of work to do and the house is not finished (by a mile).  But our living conditions are so far improved it is such a far cry from last October.  I remember we were just putting up insulation last October, still waiting for the windows to come in.  Ugh, to think we moved into the house when we still had boards down and they were moving all around us.  Things have changed, for sure.  We just procured a vanity for the bathroom

Happy third anniversary.

Yes more counters!

through our friends Scott and Lisa.  This is now our newest counter in our kitchen.  Luxury!!  We have now discovered that we indeed like having a sink where we can look out the window.  Of course, these sinks don't work, yet.  Still working on it!  Sean started arranging his room upstairs, kind of like Natasha did, so he has some room to work on his paperwork.  Logan is still spread out upstairs with Legos everywhere!

School is also going quite satisfactory, I think.  We are actually able to sit down and work in the house.  We are not cramped in the shed or trying to make our way over moving floor to a place to sit.  We are also getting together once a week with another family and doing science experiments/fun.  The kids do their stuff and then run around after, while us mothers visit and pray for each other's families.  How cool is that?

Misty

 
On my front, all is well.  I still get to see my cow friend Betsy (or I think it's Bessy) every other day.  I'm not sure if I shared this bit of info with you but we have become quite tight.  Every time I get there, she moos for me to come and scratch her neck.  I am not kidding you.  I have shared this with my parents and they had a really good laugh about it.  I laugh every time she comes and moos when I'm there.  And it is rather loud.  If she is at the other end of the pasture, she has been known to run up to the gate to get her scratching.  It cracks me up.  Anyway, there is another animal making itself known in my life.  Her name is Misty, and she is one of the horses we cared for early in the summer, if you recall.  She is rather a little difficult (hehe, yes, difficult) and my friend Heidi asked if I could ride her once in a while.  Well, apparently Misty really had a good time being fussed over by me.  Those who know me, know that I like difficult horses (a lot!).  So I get to go and play with a crabby mare and tell her that she better be nice.  I used to tell my horse, Thunder, that every time he put his ears back.  And he got the message.  It was so funny because I was doing that with Misty.  She didn't get the memo yet, but she will.  So I get to ride her while the weather is nice.  Tomorrow (Friday) is another day for riding.  So that is quite pleasurable.  After Heidi and I ride, there is another chance to pray for each other and our families.  So double blessings.

Tom is going ahead with his bus driving training.  It is going quite slowly.  But he got to drive a bus the other day and not crash it.  He had a good time.  He also applied at the local Shaws supermarket.  They were hiring, and he thought it might give him more choices.  We will see what happens with that.  Sean is getting quite busy with his own clients.  He has had the chance to be the farrier at a horse show up in Woodstock.  He has gotten quite a few clients and is trying to juggle them and working for his boss still.  At times there are conflicts and his business has to come first.  He has clients that are now regularly calling on him to come and service their horses.  He just came back from a job where the horse had broken its coffin bone, so they were shoeing the horse to heal that injury.  I guess the client is very happy and so is the vet.

The hoof

 I am pretty glad he is doing a great job.  But then again, he had a really good example to follow when working with horses.  Yes, you guessed it: me!  But I jest, I really do.  Natasha is enjoying her work and she mostly works at night.  She is taking courses on line and has recently started Chemistry.  To my huge, and I mean huge, surprise, she loves it!  Who would have thunk it?  Not me!  So she is doing that on line and she is taking a photography class (hence the really nice pictures here) and something else and her Herbal Remedies class, which is very challenging.  She has to get the biochemistry of her elements she is dealing with.  This she is doing on her own, without anyone standing over her shoulder explaining things to her.  Sometimes she comes to me in frustration and asks me a question, which I, in tern, force back onto her (mostly because I can't remember my biochemistry stuff that well anymore.  It has been 20  years after all).  Logan, as I said, is doing well and is making friends and having a great time with them.  I am glad.
 

We are well prepared for winter.  Tom stacked 7 cords of wood this year.  We helped here and there but it was mostly him and himself.  They had a good time together.  Sean and Tom were out there the other day, tossing the cut up logs, seeing who could throw them furthest.  It was a little too much testosterone for me and I stayed out of it.  Logan did join in the fun at some point.  Guys!!!  Tasha and I were busy reading out books.  That is the civilized thing to do.



Have a wonderful remaining fall. 

Just call me farmer Anne

This is what happens when you live in an unfinished house for too long.

Shopping at home!  Delicious!

 Hello, hello everyone.  I wanted to share what is going on, because it has been a hoot and a half.  I have to share this with you and give you something to chuckle about.  So, this is how far I have embraced this rural/country living.  We have been enjoying our produce from the garden.  We had a melon the other day.  Delicious!  Deeeelicious!  I don't know if it was quite ripe, but that didn't matter.  We have one more that made it.  Note to self for next year: plant something that is going to grow in time to be producing by the time the temperatures hit 40 at night in September!  Our potatoes are also really good.  Some were kind of tinny weeny but there are some pretty good sized ones.  The best were the beans.  Yummy, yummy.  We had quite a lot of beans and they went really well with potatoes or rice.  Then there are our tomatoes.  They were pretty good too.  We still have a lot of rutabaga and white beets.  I think we will have some of them this week.  Also Tasha's herbs have kind of developed a mind of their own.

 Our grapes survived the attack of many Japanese Beetles.  Here is the tip, when you are inundated with them and grasshoppers.  You need a son, about 10-12 years old is best because when they get older they don't get into this as much.  Take this son and give him the directive to kill the beetles.  He will then take this upon himself and do so with abandon.  He will develop two methods, both of which are very effective.  He will either choose to pick off

the beetle's head, thus killing it quickly, or he will pick the less quick method of removing one leg at a time ending with the head.  In both cases the beetles will be effectively destroyed.  Now to the grasshoppers.  They are a little more difficult, since they can get away from said son by two methods.  One would be to hop (hence the name grasshopper) and the second would be to fly (yes they can fly, unfortunately).  However, once this son does manage to catch a pesky grasshopper, perhaps by using a long forgotten tennis racquet, he then proceeds to use the same methods on pesky hoppers, sometimes adding the "let the thing swim for a while in a bucket of water, which the dog will proceed to drink out of and thus devour with his water".  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us.  Logan will be happy to help you out with this problem.  I may even be able to rent him out for this.  Hmmm, good idea.

And then there were my peaches.  My beautiful, juicy, yummy peaches.  Ahh, I remember them well.  They have now become part of two peach pies (one is in my stomach already digested :)) and 5 jars of peaches.  I was told they are very good.  We are waiting for opening our first can of peaches when Sean can eat again.  He had his wisdom teeth removed last Friday.  We stayed at my friend Sharon's house for him to recoup.  It was nice and close to the dentist's office.  He did recoup but can't eat anything hard as of yesterday.

Now for my most farmer like experience.  Many of you know about Betsy.  Yes, Betsy.  She is my friend's cow and she has become a good friend of mine.  Last week I had agreed to cow/dog sit for my friend Sandy.  I figured, yeah, sure I am country.  I mean, I do horses, for sure, you see.  And dogs and I go way, way back.  So nooooo problem.  A cow is just a horse which produces milk.  Ahhh the milk!!  Sorry, I was daydreaming there about milk.  I digress.  Where was I?  Yes a cow is just another form of horse.  And really milking is a piece of cake, especially when you are using a machine.  I mean, any child could do it then.  So for weeks I have been in training.  The milking itself goes without a hitch.  The machine does that.  But........  the machine also has to be cleaned for the milk to be safe for consumption.  When my friend Sandy left for vacation I felt confident that I had that part down no problem.  The milking and hooking it up to the cow was another story.  I will walk you through my experience as a dairy farmer (for a week!  That's it.  They have to get up way too early!)

Day 1:  Rise at 5 (that is AM for those of you who like to sleep in like myself) after dreaming that I was going to oversleep and waking up several times during the night.  Stumble around in the pitch dark for my clothes and try not to fall into the abyss of the basement.  Get into car and turn key and step on gas as the car screeches and drive out of the drive (the belt needs to be changed).  Ask the neighbors to please forgive me as we screech down the road.  By the time I reach Sandy's house the car is warm and is no longer screeching (yeahhh).  Get out and walk to house and stumble around in dark house.  Wake up dogs as I try to make as little noise looking for light switches.  Sandy's daughter stayed the nights with the dogs.  I was glad not to wake her up (it was a Saturday, after all).  During the week this worked out great because she would leave when I came.  Get the milking machine put together, and breathe a sigh of relief.  I remembered all the parts.  Good, step one accomplished.  Next, get the bucket of hot water and betadine.  That was easy and quickly accomplished.  Next, proceed to the barn.  That was also easy.  It was pitch black outside still (weather!).  Fumble around to find lights (also quickly accomplished).  Greet the cows in a happy voice as I am praying, praying and praying some more.  Next step is to lock Betsy's head into the headstall.  Easier said than done.  I thought this was accomplished when I went into her stall to clean it.  She is a very happy cow and greeted me with her head.  Ouch!  How did she get out of the head lock?  All right, can't milk her without her being in the head lock.  Get out of stall and hit the switch again.  All right, the switch is lowered and Betsy is in her head lock.  Go back to open stall again.  No, here came Betsy and her head.  This went on for about 5 minutes.  I had to stop and think (sweat dripping down my brow at this time aka James Herriot, one of my favorites).  I had to stop and pray and think about what I knew.  Suddenly it dawned on me that I was not getting the switch in the right position.  Once that was fixed, voila, Betsy was stuck and I proceeded to step 2.  Mucking.  I was in my comfort zone there.  That was accomplished quickly.  Next, the cardboard was placed under Betsy's body to protect from sawdust while milking (it don't taste too good).  Feeding cows came next (also way in my comfort zone).  Then hooking up the milking machine.  I will tell you that it took me at least 10 minutes to figure out how to keep the machine from falling off.  More sweat and praying.  I finally breathed and stood up and inspected the whole set up.  Again, stick to what you know, I thought.  And again, after more praying, I got to fix the suction (VERY IMPORTANT).  From then on the milk flowed beautifully (with the sawdust).  After I was done, the unhooking produced more sweat and praying.  You really need 4 hands for that!  I finally got everything in order and I was done!  Lastly, poor out the milk because it has too much saw dust and cry as I bid it good bye.

Good girl, Betsy.

Day 2:  Get up at a more relaxed pace and grab a flash light to shine my way (yups I was prepared).  Start the screeching car and again apologize to the neighbors as I drive down the street.  Car warmed up enough to stop screeching at Sandy's driveway.  This time I figured out the lights (yeahhh) and didn't have to stumble in the darkness.  Got all the stuff in the house done and proceed to barn (not as dark as the day before).  Greet the cows cheerfully and proceed professionally to lock Betsy in her head lock.  Hehe, I do have a master's degree, so I can learn.  It may take me a while but eventually the little gray cells start working.  Mucking accomplished and onto the milking.  Take a deep breath and pray (a lot).  Betsy is ready and waiting patiently.  I had it all set and only dropped the sucker thingies say not at all!!! Oh yeahhh, I was doing the milk dance.  Ask me sometimes and I will show you (NOT).  Milking done and sucker thingies removed without dropping, again.  Two for two, I was doing great.  The rest was easy.

Voila, milk, and not out of the carton!

So you get the idea.  By Friday, I was a true professional.  The only thing was that every day, I was getting less and less milk.  I was convinced I was getting something wrong.  I
found out today, that the calf was getting more and more milk during the day!  Silly calf.  Doesn't she know that milk is ours?  Really, I ask you.  The nerve.  I have decided after that week, that no, I will not get a cow, unless I really have to.  The getting up at 5 was all right, but I was always sleeping by 9 at night.  I tell you, who does that?  By 9 the day is just beginning.  So out of regard to my beauty sleep I just can't get myself to do that to myself.  The family is very happy.  They really didn't want cows.  But the milk is a real treat.  However, if given the opportunity, I would so do it again without a blink of an eye.  There is something satisfying hearing the milk getting sucked into the milking can.

Parent and child

Young eagle

So, enough of farming, milking and other such silly shenanigans (Logan and I just read that word and I thought I would use it here, since we all know that I like to use what I have learned at school).  I don't think I have shared with you the wonderful time we spent with Doug, Tom's youngest brother, and his family.  Of course we were very silly, which is always expected.  But we also had the opportunity to see some of God's most impressive birds of prey up close and personal.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we saw the eagles and their offsprings.  And I don't mean the singing group Eagles.  It was pretty amazing because they were sitting in the tree right above us and talking with the young one in the nest back and forth.  That alone was just a dream come true for me.  I love those big birds and I have always wanted to see them in the wild.  What was even better was that the "kids" got to hang out and be silly.  They had a good time and so did the adults, I think. 

Dining area

Wood shed

So that brings me to the house.  There are a lot of exciting things happening.  Tom passed his CDL (commercial drivers license) permit.  We are at this point waiting for the bus company to get back to him.  So prayers will be appreciated.  We moved our dining room into the dining room.  That was really great because we now have the kitchen stuff in the kitchen and the dining stuff where it belongs.  Tom has been diligently chopping and stacking wood.  We have a good amount of wood done but there is more to be done in that department.  We are ahead of the ball, though.  Last year we didn't know how much wood we needed and so we just kind of "wong it".  This year we want to have 8 cords (that's a lot).  We are well on our way. 

And now I have something really cool to share.  Sean and I were in CT (again) this weekend.  He had his wisdom teeth removed and the thought of coming back to a house without running water really didn't appeal to him at all.  I don't know why.  So I was his driver, and glad for it too.  We stayed with my friend Sharon and her family.  They live right near the dentist.  So Sharon and I were watching a DVD.  And I learned something that blew my mind.  Now, mind you my dear friends, I love biology.  It is a nice science, a science which makes sense.  I studied it as undergrad and enjoyed it.  So I learned something new.  I want to share it with you (of course).  I have often wondered why, as humans, we are so drawn to the divine.  I mean, really.  We search for God in nature, in things, in work, in other people.  What has us searching?  Very simple.  There is a protein in our body, which is basically responsible for holding the body together.  It is the glue of our cells, a protein network foundation for most cells and organs.  Yes, yes so?  Stay with me here.  What blows me away is the shape of it.  You see, God, in His wisdom knew you from before you were born.  It states that.  It also states in Colossians 1:17 that He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.  Yeah, you say, that is in some old book.  Who can believe everything the bible states.  The stories are nice but, they don't really have anything to do with me.  Wait a moment.  I haven't come to the kicker yet.  Here is a picture of laminin.

I don't know if you are as excited as I am about this.  The protein that holds our body together is in the shape of a cross!!!  Let that thought sink in a little bit.  You are welcome to google it yourself.  Check it out your self.  Please.  This is not some hokus pokus.  This is biology.  God has wired Himself into our body because He wanted us to know that only He has redeemed us in the form of the cross, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the blood of the savior. How absolutely amazing is this?  I get goose bumps just thinking about this.  So when you go about your day, know that God is with you.  Literally!  He is watching and He is knitting your broken heart together, if you will let Him.  He is healing your pain, your past, your future, if you let Him.

God had a plan from the beginning

I'm sorry, that is Natasha watching you.  No, it is not like that.  She has not had a face transplant, don't worry.   This is God watching you from out of space.  It is called the Whirlpool Galaxy.  How about that?

 I hope I have given you food for thought.  It has certainly been amazing for me to follow this science.  If you are interested I have added part of the video.  Please take some time to check it out.  The guy is pretty funny.  

Have a Godly day, because He has ordered our days from the beginning of time, Amen.