Farm Life

Life on the farm has been so blessed the past few weeks. We have received so many unexpected surprises and blessings and this is my chance to say that I praise God for the way that He is working in my life. I am so thankful that next week at this time Bridget will be with the youth group at the Dare 2 Share un tour convention and I pray that the blessings that she brings back will be able to be shared with all of you here. She is extemely excited about going and she seems to be sure that she will continue to work on getting friends to chuch as well. I pray that God shows her just what he is wanting from her life.

The animals are doing fine surviving the crazy and cold weather that we have been having. It seems that we may be in the path for another major winter storm this coming week, but prayers are going up that it misses us and the people on the eastern coast of the United States who have already seen a lot of snow this season.

Thinking of spring, which is only a little over 50 days away and the garden will need to be planted and the weeds will need to be pulled and the flower beds and herb gardens will need to be taken care of as well. It seems that life here is always busy but always a blessing in some form. For now there is cooking and laundry to be completed and firewood to be cut and stacked. Heating our home with wood stove has certainly aided in keeping utility bills lower and at a price that so far we have been able to afford.

Well, that is enough for today. I pray that you will stop by the funny farm again and catch up with our family. We will be attending our first 4-H meeting for the year on Monday evening so I am sure that there will be news to share about that too.

Woke Up By a Ringing Phone

Well, my morning started out completely different today than I had expected. Knowing that there is yet another winter storm headed our way, I had planned to make a quick trip to the store today as well as to make a stop at the post office to change my brother's address and make a stop at the library so that books would not be late. Plus, we needed to get wood stacked onto the porch so we don't have to trod through the snow in order to bring it in tomorrow. However, a ringing phone changed my entire day.
My oldest daughter works in a restaurant and at 6:45 this morning to ask me to come to work as no one showed up in either the kitchen or the dishroom. Well, I am not an employee there, but I can always use the extra money so I told her that I would be there shortly. I hurried to get ready and to line things out at home as my youngest daughter goes to youth group on Wednesday nights with a friend and they pick her up around 1:30 p.m. and I needed to make sure that her school work was ready for her as I home school and I usually do lessons with her.
Finally, I made my plans for the day at home and headed out the door. I arrived at the restaurant to find that I would be in the dish room, which I didn't mind. It was an interesting day as I learned my way around the dish room and kitchen on a day that I intended to be at the store and library.
After working about 7 hours, I left there and went to do the errands that I had intended to do before that ringing phone. It is amazing how such a small device can change the course of the whole day. It is also amazing that I managed to accomplish everything that was on my to do list and still go do someone else's job.

Trip

My daughter wants to go with the church on a mission field trip to Cincinnati, Ohio in a couple of weeks and the convention is called the Dare2Share. It is geared towards teens and young adults and the youth group is going. She had told me about it and said that if she could not afford to go they would get her a sponsor, so I had her ask for a sponsor as the trip was going to be over $100 and I was not sure that we could do that. Last night I found out that the church didn't find a sponsor and that she has to pay for it tomorrow night. Well, I am disappointed to say that I do not think that she is going to be able to go as I don't think that we will have the money for it.
I feel sad for her as I would have worked harder to try to get the money had she not been told that she would have a sponsor. She was really excited about the trip and wanted to go and now feels that she is less than the other kids who are going to have the opportunity to go.
For a young person to want to do something like this so badly and yet she can't, just makes me feel that I am not fulfilling my responsibility as a parent. I am working on trying to get some money, but I am not sure.

A Day of Honor- Martin Luther King

Today as we honor one of the most influential men in American History, I am made even more aware of the huge strides we have made in equality since MLK's famous speech. HOwever, I am well aware that the blacks in this country suffered for a great many years.
My daughter and I are studying the Civil War right now and we recently studied slavery in the United States. She asked how people thought that it was right to own another human being- that comes from a 14 year old and yet, there are still many men and women who believe that slavery should not have been abolished. Makes me wonder how some people see things so clearly and others are so naive.
Today is a good day of reflection for our history and for our country. Imagine someone telling Martin Luther King that we would have a black President in 2011, he would have been so pleased and yet, he would have never said that he was sure it would be. Yet, here we are with history being made by yet another black man _ President Barack Obama. It shows that one person and their beliefs can made a huge diffence if they get their voice out there and fight for what they believed.
One thing that I also think of is that Martin Luther King would never have gone to the violence that some resort to in order to think that thier point will be made. The shooter in Arizona, the mastermind of the Sept.11 attacks, the Oklahoma bombings all thought that violence was the answer and they might have gotten much more attention if they would have stepped forward and spoke of their beliefs and tried to change the way people looked at a subject. It is a lesson learned for all of us.
As I am listening to the news, I am finding that there seems to be plenty of talk about the Golden Globe Awards and the fashions that were worn, but not much talk about this holiday or the man behind it- maybe that shows what is most important in society today, which makes me sad! If we expose our children to more history, they would understand more as to what politics was designed for to start with and possibly know more about the people who have changed our world.

Early Morning Thoughts

As I sit here this morning enjoying my tea and thinking about the day ahead, I realize just how important my quiet time is to me. It seems that the day begins with hustle and bustle as I attempt to get things prepared for meals, teach my daughter, aid my husband in chores around here, clean the house, and try to find time to write online which is currently my job. From the time it starts till the end of the day, it is hard to find time to sit and just think.
We are dealing with a situation right now with a friend being wrongly accused of animal cruelty and it seems to be taking a lot of our time. He is a wonderful horseman and is currently fighting charges that the county brought on him several years ago and is winning and now they have charged him with 9 new counts. He is an middle aged man who has dealt with horses all of his life and he is not in the best of health, but he makes do and he lives for horses. No one should have the right to take that away from him.
I know nothing about the case in the past, but on this case I know they are wrong. They have said that he was not feeding the horses or caring for them and that is a lie! We were taking him to feed at least every other day and they had plenty of hay and access to a creek to drink from. Most days he was feeding 50 pounds of feed a day plus the hay plus they were in a field where they could get some foliage. Shelter might have been an issue, but horses are designed to stay outside and their bodies are designed to adjust to the cold. Maybe we need to put shelters in the western United States where wild horses roam free so that they can get out of the cold. What a thought?
Congress woman Gabby Giffords seems to be improving much faster than I imagined that she would as they say she is communicating with her hands and that she has opened her eyes and moved her arms and legs. What a blessing that is for her family! Whatever drives this woman to survive this horrible attack, I am thankful that she has the strong will to overcome such a life threatening injury. Praise God!!!
Until tomorrow, thanks for reading and remember to be thankful for the quiet moments in your day!

More Snow Coming

Just watched the weather so I must be a glutten for punishment. With at least four or five inches of snow already on the ground and cold temperatures all around, it seems that I would not want to hear any more. I was hoping for some warmer temperatures in the near future and instead I hear of another winter storm moving in for the weekend.
Central Indiana is being forecast to have a rain snow mix on Friday night and Saturday morning and then snow on Sunday. Will the winter weather ever end this year? We are above average in our snowfall by about double. It would not be as bad if we were to have a week or two between snowstorms, but it seems that they are coming back to back. Plus, I just seen another large area of precipitation moving into the West Coast and that is sure to make its way here just as we are cleaning up for the one that is predicted for the weekend.
The horses here look beautiful when covered with a slight layer of snow, but it would be nice if it were warm enough and dry enough to go out to enjoy them just a little bit. Looking at them out of the window is just not enough, but I do not like the cold and I try not to go out anymore than I have too.
We heard last night on our local news that 49 out of the 50 states now have snow. I guess Florida is the only place right now to go to avoid the snow and I personally do not care much for Florida. I guess I will have to deal with the cold and snow and maybe spring will be here soon.

16 Years and never good weather

Yes, I know I live in the Midwestern United States and I know that I chose one of the worst months to get married, but it would be nice to have one year of decent weather for out anniversary. My husband and I were married 16 years ago last night and if weather for the future could have been predicted by the weather we had at that time.

I remember that it was slick, icy, snowy, and cold the night we were married. We had been planning to get married at a different time, but I decided that I was tired of waiting and made a last minute decision that we would get married then. We got ready and where married two hours later surrounded by family and the residents of the nursing home where my grandmother was. We wanted her to see the wedding and we decided that it was too slick to bring her home, so we went there. Very slippery and cold trip, but well worth it!

Now 16 years later, we are under a winter storm advisory and it is cold, snowy and we have slick roads. Being that we live in rural area, travel is even more difficult. As we were talking yesterday, I do not ever remember a year that the weather has not been like this on our anniversary. It seems that this must be the worst week of weather that Indiana has and this week seems to be delivering the same results. Would it be too much to ask Mother Nature to hold off one week of bad and extremely cold weather?

Oh Well, I guess we will just continue to enjoy the years even if we don't enjoy the weather. The day was spent as any other day is - cleaning house, doing laundry, preparing meals, home schooling, and work. Maybe we can go to dinner at a later date and maybe we can actually plan to go somewhere warm at some time to celebrate.

Snowy Day

Waking up this morning to a white blanket of newly fallen snow, I realize that it is once again Mother Nature exerting her power over the country. It seems that the weather has gone completely overboard everywhere. Places like Atlanta, Georgia are seeing snow a few times this year which is not a normal situation.
There are winter weather advisories all over the country and snow falling it seems in most of North America. There were over 2000 flights cancelled or delayed yesterday and I am sure that many will follow today with the Midwest being under a weather advisory with the potential for 3-6 inches in most of this area. Omaha, Nebraska was blanketed with snow overnight and now snow is falling in the Ohio River Valley area.
The snow hitting the midwest and the snow hitting the southeast will combine later today to deliver a serious amount of snow into the northeastern United States over the next couple of days with places like New York City possibly getting 12-14 inches of snow and other places forecasted to get 1-3 feet of snow. That is a large, heavy blanket of winter that will be hard to dig out from under and could cause even more serious delays in travel.
For anyone who has to travel, be prepared as I am sure that you will be delayed at some point of your trip. For those of you who do not have to travel, stay inside. Today seems to be a good day for a cup of hot chocolate and snuggled up under a blanket with a good book.

Beginning the Week

I am beginning the week on an organized note and hopefully, I can keep things going in that direction. I am hoping that this year is one that will allow me to be even more organized than I have been and that will start with organizing my own stuff before I try to do the whole house. I rearranged the kitchen some yesterday and I am hoping that it makes a difference.

We are starting home school back today after a long break for the holiday season. I made lesson plans out a week ago or so and we are going to stay on track as much as we can. I believe that we allow life to interfere some times with things that we know we need to do. Of course, I am changing our schedule around today as we were to do a field trip on Wednesday, but we are predicted to get more snow tonight and tomorrow, so I will do the field trip today and do the work on Wednesday that I intended to do today. That is the beautiful thing about home schooling, we can make adjustments and work around things that come up as long as we continue to do the school work each day.

I have our menu planned for this week and have started next week's. I feel that it makes life easier on me if I am a little ahead on planning what I will cook. Then I can make sure that I have meat laid out and I do not have to make plans that day and try to decide. I also have the menu worked around the plans that I have for the day and if it is a busy day, the crock pot comes out and we use it. I find that in the winter time I use it much more than I do any other times.

Please pray for the families of the Arizona shooting victims. This is such a tragedy and the young man who made the decision to carry that gun and shoot those people had a family that is grieving just as much as the other families. I realize that he must have had some major problems and I know that he had a family who loved him also. It is such a shame that young people feel that guns are the answer to so many problems. Politically, we are a country with some serious problems, but we still live in a free country and a land of wealth available. Our leaders have a lot of work ahead of them and we should stand behind them even if we know they are wrong. After all, to err is human and they are human!

Tough Loss for Indianapolis Colts

Today, Indianapolis Colts fans are recovering from a heartbreaking loss to the New York Jets. Struggling with injuries all season long, Peyton Manning and the Colts seemed to have a good chance at making it to round two of the playoffs after Adam Vinatari scored with a field goal kick with about 53 seconds on the clock to give the Colts a 2 point lead. However, Mark Sanchez and the Jets would work their way into field goal range to with a remarkable pass with two seconds on the clock, giving the Jets a chance to win the game. With a field goal of 34 yards, the Jets won the game by 1 point putting an end to the season that Colts fans have seen plenty of losses in.

It has seemed that with many key players out for some or most of the season, even Manning has been off and out of sync. Manning has been plagued with several interception passes this year, which is something you rarely see from him. He has been pressured to pass the ball and it has shown with his stats this season.

Maybe with this loss behind them and time to rest, the Indianapolis Colts will come back strong in the 2011-2012 season and win a Super Bowl in Lucas Oil Stadium next year - home team, home turf could mean a certain win, but we are talking NFL and we all know that the games never turn out as they appear. Good luck to the Colts next season and for now- We are still proud of the outstanding games you have had this year and the hard work that you have done!

Thursday Jan. 6

Well, the weatherman is predicting snow to fall here today. I am thankful that it has given us a break from the crzy weather we had in December. I hope that they are wrong about snow. I would not care if it did not snow any more here this year as it seems that we have had enough.
For some reason, I feel that January makes me think of spring. I was thinking yesterday about what crops we will plant this year and how I want to do some new things to the yard in order to add some beauty to it. I am really not a flower person, but if I could plant some annuals that would just return each year that are as easy as mums, I might be willing to do more. However, I am also anxious to see the birds return to the yard. I have several bird feeders and each spring the ones outside the dining room window bring beautiful birds into our view each morning.
Today is library day at the farm. My daughter and I attend a home school class each Thursday morning and we enjoy the time as it allows us to visit with friends and allows us a few hours doing something different.
Once, we are home then it will be lunch, stack wood, and then cook dinner. I hope to work a little reading into that schedule and I would like to be able to get my three articles written for Associated Content that I try to get finished each day.
Hope you all have a great day!!

Busy Day

Another day is upon us and it seems to filled with plenty to do so I am sure that this will be a short post. As we are winding down our Christmas break from school, I find that it is once again time to start making lesson plans for the upcoming six weeks. Being a home school family, our lessons have to be planned ahead in order to not get too far away from the book learning by lifes ' own learning experiences.
Also, we have been given a washer and dryer by what I am calling my own personal angel for the day. As my washer has been going out and I knew that the budget didn't allow for one anytime soon, I was worried about how I could get one. Recently, talked with a stranger who is moving across country and heard of my situation and is willing to give us a set that they were intending to sell. I praise God for someone who is willing to do such a wonderful thing. It is such a blessing to my family and we will be sure to pass the blessing forward when we can. Isn't God great? Answered prayers remind me each day as to why I put my faith in Him.
Also, there are animals to be feed and writing to be done online plus there are meals to be cooked and housework to be completed. It will be a busy day but a very rewarding day. Praise God for His wonderful works!!

Sad Day on the farm

Today is a sad day on our farm as I have learned that my pet pot-bellied pig Arnold passed away yesterday. I had raised him from a young pig and had only had him a couple of years, but had grown to love him very much. We aren't sure of what killed him or caused his death, but it is a sad day for me on the farm.

Arnold was named after the pig on Green Acres as that is one of my favorite shows. He had been scared of people when I first got him, but now was accustomed to my daughter and I getting in his pen with him and he had learned to allow me to hold him. He had been handfed when he was younger to allow me to be able to interact with him at the time.

Today is my memorial to Arnold and I hope to add a photo of him to this blog today.

Indianapolis Colts Advance

My favorite football team has advanced into the playoffs following a slim win over the Tennessee Titans yesterday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts have a rough season plagued with injuries and so I decided that I would write about them and he is the article that I had published on Triond.

http://sportales.com/football/indianapolis-colts-advance/

New Years Day

Happy New Year to all of you! We spent a wonderful evening with friends last night and played games and ate and just had a lot of fun. We spent the evening with our children and families and it was a nice relaxing entrance into the new year.
I wish everyone a year of peace and prosperity!