Winter…Spring…Summer…oops I forgot to blog

Life. It just doesn’t stop going 100 mph! I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since last December. I would like to stop time for a few weeks. Freeze my children and my animals and take a couple of weeks to clear my mind of all the memories and photos that are floating around in my brain. But that’s just not going to happen (I think it’s illegal to freeze your children, and I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t be happy with the productiveness of my thawed out animals.) I think I just need to say a few words about my lost memories and move on, forward, let it go so I can start blogging again. Deep breath, it’s going to be okay.

This summer has been fun, busy, full of life and flowers and laughter and fruit and veggies. The kids have had a lot of fun with their little gardens this summer, we did the same kind of thing we did last year, each of the kids got their own 2′ x 10′ garden bed, they got to plant whatever they wanted (from the seeds we had) and had a lot of fun watching everything grow. It’s been great seeing the kid’s love for gardening growing. I’ve noticed each of them gaining an appreciation of this life we are trying to create for them, even a love for the outdoor chores. On several occasions Cait has told me she loves working on our farm, Connor is so sweet and will often say that he likes that we are farmers. Victoria is my little garden shadow, whenever I’m out there she is too and loves helping with planting seeds or transplanting things we started indoors. I love working outdoors on our farm but honestly my favorite times on our little farm are when the kids are engaged with me in the beauty God is creating here in our little world.

This summer I’ve spent a lot of time learning more about gardening, what it takes to be more productive and coming up with a plan for next year, I’m hoping next year I will have extra veggies to sell. I’ll be sharing more thoughts on that at another time. We have really been doing a lot of dreaming, brainstorming, even dreaming with our children about our future together and what they want to do with their lives. It’s been a stretching, challenging season as well. But at the end of the day we look at these beautiful people God has put in our lives, and all we can say is God is so good.

I feel like I’ve really gotten into my groove with goat milking and cheese making this year. I’ve got quite a few wheels of cheese in my cheese cave, and we are just really enjoying the goats this year, they are all healthy and sweet personalities. Next year we will be milking 4 goats and we are already looking forward to the spring when we get to welcome new baby goats into the family :) Up until now the goat milking has been my thing, partly because I just really like to do it and partly because I’m a bit of a control freak. So last week I had a pre-op appointment to have my gallbladder removed. I have to check in for my surgery at 6am, which means I wont be milking that morning, it also means that Chris wont be milking that morning. I couldn’t see many other options, I needed to finally teach the kids how to do my morning chores, as well as my nighttime chores. I am so glad this happened. Now I go out with the kids in the morning, the last couple mornings I’ve brought my fried eggs and coffee out there and watched them do “my chores.”

It’s kind of weird that I didn’t take the time to teach them before, but I’m so thrilled and so are they, to see them doing the chores and doing them so well. Aidan was milking Penny the other morning and said with satisfaction, “I feel like she’s my goat.” :) Guenna milks Dandelion and Gracie and Aidan milks Penny and does the rest of the feeding, grain and hay and water. It’s fun watching them work so hard and take their jobs so seriously. Cait and Eamon have been doing my evening chores, graining and hay and water, as well as feeding ducks and chickens, and Victoria makes sure Brutus (our adorable bunny boy) gets his food. And Connor hmmm, I need to find a really important chore for him to do. Noted.

Here we go. Summer is almost over. We are just getting going with school again, and winding down with cheesemaking. Getting ready to breed the goats again hopefully next month. Getting the farm cleaned up and ready for the fall. Working on the leaks on the barn roof and working on getting better ventilation so we have less condensation on the barn roof so we don’t get mold in our hay. All the while dreaming of next spring and summer, thinking ahead but trying to live fully in the moment. These days aren’t always easy, our kids are sweet but they certainly aren’t perfect, we do our best to train them up but we are all sinners.

But in all of our challenges and struggles my thoughts continually rest in this truth, God is good. He is sovereign over all, He in his goodness cares about the clothing the lilies of the field and he cares about feeding the sparrow, and He cares about all the things that concern you and I. He is good, and trustworthy, and I will put my trust in Him. Instead of worrying and wondering what He has planned I choose to enjoy these days, I choose to lift my eyes to the giver of life and know that He has good things in store for all those who put their trust in Him.

And with that, isn’t that a cute little watermelon holder? The watermelon wasn’t quite done but the kids eating it were all really cute and excited we grew our very own yummy watermelon, they will do better next year! Allright, I better go make some dinner now :)