Thursday, December 9, 2010

Electricity and a Sprained Ankle!

We got an early start last Saturday to meet the guys we hired to help install the utility pole. The pole had already been delivered and everything was ready to go. It was our turn to go pick up milk, eggs, cheese, meat, etc. from the farm for our church's co-op, so since we had a very busy day, I volunteered to drive out there. It is always a pleasant visit at the farm: a sweet Menonnite family with 10 (or is it 12?) children, most of whom are already grown and moved out of the house, but those who are still at home are always so helpful. One of the daughters is very good at organizing the milk into coolers, making everything fit. This time we went home with a cooler on loan, since we had about 20 gallons of milk, 10 dozen eggs, and other meat, cheese, and dairy products. That was one full van!

Upon returning, I learned that our hired help did not show, would not return calls, and had disappeared with our copper piping from our metal pile. We had discussed him taking metal, but the WHOLE thing, not just the copper. The copper is, of course, most valuable, and the main reason why someone would even come to pick up the load. Later on in the week they came back for the rest of the metal, but still never called to talk about not showing. So disappointing! Fortunately, a good friend, who is an electrician, spent the WHOLE day out there, working out of the kindness of his heart, helping Jeremy hook everything up, rent an auger, hoisting that 16 foot pole (along with our neighbor) into the hole, and working through all the kinks with us. We finally got it all done. We just needed to get have the electric company come out and hook it up, and they did on Monday.

The plan on Monday was to come out and see how everything was working. The children and I prepared a nice meal ahead of time (just in case there was a problem, we didn't want to depend on the stove working!), and brought it out there to meet Jeremy. When we arrived we saw lights in the house - a good sign! Then we could hear the heater going! We had nice hot water - stinky and black at first, but eventually usable. It feels more like home now....well, all except for the nasty particle board subfloors with no flooring! And the rooms that still need painting....oh, and the gutted bathroom...but you get the picture. We're getting there.

Wednesday our front door arrived at our current house (for our mobile home, that's just how the delivery worked). You see, up until this point, we had a busted door that didn't close right, and that had to be WIRED shut! Yes, you read that right. The door didn't actually LOCK, we just had a piece of wire wrapped around it to keep the thing from flying open. And our light switches required the use of a screwdriver to operate, so the mobile home dealer delivered new switches, too. Jeremy came home early and helped strap the door onto the top of the van, and we took dinner out there once again.

The little ones were fussy and kept stepping on and/or losing small but vital pieces to the door, so I decided, after dinner dishes were washed, to take Seth to Wal-Mart (not too many choices out there) to get a few things we needed, and put Faith to bed in the playpen in the trailer. While we were gone, Jeremy fell from the latter and sprained his ankle. He was in a lot of pain this morning, so we took him to Care Now to verify that it was, indeed, NOT broken, but just a bad sprain. So, no work for us this weekend! We will take a much needed break. But our new utilities mean that we can stay for the weekend whenever we want now. We are going to try to finish the boys' room and put the carpet squares down so that we can bring an inflatable mattress and "camp out" in there. Much better than the dirty particle board. You just can't clean that stuff!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Home in Place, Septic & Water Hooked up

Today was a very productive day out in Terrell! We woke up at 6 AM (EARLY for Jeremy!), loaded everyone in the car, and headed out. In the chill of the morning, Jeremy began digging up the water pipes that used to run to the old house, to see how much work needed to be done to make them trailer-ready. We were trying to get some things accomplished while waiting for the mobile home guys to move our mobile home to its permanent spot.

While he continued digging, a truck with a couple guys pulled up, and lots of talking was taking place. Baby girl and I were waiting in the warm car, since there wasn't much for us to do anyway. The guys got out of the truck and started helping Jeremy dig, so I just assumed they were some of the guys helping with the mobile home. Jeremy came to the car to ask me to get something out of the trailer for him, and he explained who these fellows were. One of the guys lives down the street, and they just happened to be driving by and saw Jeremy working and asked if he needed help. They work on mobile homes for a living, so we agreed to hire them (for not much money really) to help us find out what was going on with the old water pipes and also to hook up the septic pipes once the mobile home was in place. You see, Jeremy can do all these things, but with these guys helping, we knew for sure it would get done today.

Next to arrive was the mobile home dealer who was ready to move our mobile home. And he was definitely ready! It went very fast! Our sweet neighbors have a garage converted into an apartment (bedroom/bath) with a separate entrance, and they offered to let us come and go to the apartment as we needed for the day. So, by the time I got the baby's playpen set up next door and had her down for her nap, the truck was hooked up, and the home was in motion! I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch or if I didn't....but my curiosity won over my nervousness. I was amazed! They calculated their plan and got it all done in one move. I figured with all the obstacles we had, that they'd have to back it out, pull it forward and reposition several times, but it only took once and it was perfect! I can't even park my minivan on the first try sometimes! I did get a little nervous a few times as the back wheels on the truck spun, and they appeared to be stuck, but they knew what to do. No mishaps; it is now in place! We ate lunch while the guys leveled and transferred it to the cinder blocks and removed the axles. Not long after returning, Seth, Faith and I went next door to take a nap, and when I woke from our nap, the water and septic had already been hooked up! We discovered a slight leak, and some faucets that are broken, and some really dirty, smelly water (perhaps that had been sitting in the long-unused water heater?), but overall, we are SO thankful to have flushing toilets and at least SOME faucets that work! And with the home in place, there's no more bouncing floors and swaying with the wind, and we can hang pictures and move some things in. It feels more like home, and we are so excited!

We are paying those same guys to install our utility pole. Can you believe the electric company doesn't install the poles, even if you pay them? Again, Jeremy could do it, but by the time he rents an auger, etc., we are coming out cheap by paying someone. This will hopefully be done this week or the next.

There is still so much to be done, but we made big progress today. The most crucial things are getting accomplished. I have a feeling it will go fast after this point.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

If You Rip up Old Flooring...

Ever read any of the children's books like If You Give a Pig a Pancake or If You Give a Moose a Muffin? Well, the last couple weeks have reminded me of that....

If you rip up old flooring, you might discover the subflooring underneath is rotten. When you dig up the subflooring, you might find that the insulation is rotten, too. And when you go to replace the insulation, you might find that the plumbing needs work, too. And if you are going to replace the plumbing, you might as well rip out the tub and tub surround as well. When you rip out the tub surround, you might find that the walls need to be replaced too. And as soon as we rip open the old walls, I'll probably have more reasons why...

if you believe ignorance is bliss, and you just happen to buy, say, an old trailer on blue light special, you might just want to leave the old vinyl floors in place. And the carpet, too. :)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Septic Ready and Horse Drama

The boys room is painted, and they love it! We can't quite install the carpet squares because we need to replace some of the plywood. This is where electricity and power tools would come in handy, but we'll just have to wait for now. It is so nice to have a room almost finished....OK, so we have a lot of rooms almost finished, but this one is the closest, I suppose.

My lovely kitchen curtains do, indeed, look lovely, except that they are too short. I was convinced that the directions I had were incorrect, and I did it my own way. Well, she ended up being right, and it still makes no sense to me why. If you measure a curtain to the length you want it, and then you want a six inch hem (plus a 1/2 inch to fold under), why does that mean you have to add 12 1/2 inches of fabric? Oh, well, I guess I'll settle for a 3 inch hem.

The septic guy was out today, and our septic is done! The only thing that remains is for him to come back out in the morning with a different piece of heavy equipment that will pack down and smooth out the dirt. Then, we'll have the mobile home guy come back and move the home into place. I'm a little nervous about that. It only has to be moved a short distance, but lots of maneuvering in a "tight" space must be accomplished for that to happen. Praying for everything to go smoothly!

The septic guy was so nice to give our little boys a ride on the backhoe! They loved it and will be talking about it for weeks, I'm sure. He even let them pull the levers and lower and raise the bucket. Fun times! In the process of moving the gravel to the leach line site, the septic guy was having to come in and out of the pasture with the backhoe. Well, the horses decided to make a run for it out of the open gate, and we were nervous! The septic guy was throwing dirt clods at them and trying to shew them back in the gate, but they instead got scared and ran the OTHER way! Our neighbor, the owner of the horses, was not home at the time, so Jeremy and I came running out to help. We were looking for peppermints (the horses' favorite), anything to lure them back in. We finally found some apples, and Jeremy was able to lead them back over toward the neighbor's pasture. They soon returned, probably looking for more apples, and Jeremy manned the gate, opening and closing each time the backhoe came through. The younger horse, still a "toddler", stubbornly kept by the gate, in spite of Jeremy pushing on him and throwing dirt clods, so Jeremy suggested the children and I take the remaining apple and try to lead them over again. Well, that didn't work so well. Once the younger horse discovered I had the apple, he constantly had his face right by my face, no matter where I went, and had his head right on top of Seth's head, sniffing for food I guess. He kept opening his mouth, and setting his teeth on top of Seth's head (sniffing maybe?), and it was scaring me! I'd never seen a horse act that way before, so I threw the apple, and the two horses fought over it. Then, they were back again , doing the same thing! Jeremy was encouraging me to just keep walking and lead him over to the neighbor's pasture, but when an animal that large is butting you in the back with his head, and breathing on your neck, and not leaving even an inch between you and him, and you have small children with you, you want to get away NOW! Sometimes, maybe out of fear of the backhoe, he would even start to run a little, and I wondered if we might get trampled. Either way, Jeremy was able to lead them away from me, and they acted normal around him - maybe since they figured he didn't have food? Maybe one day, like the chickens, I will get used to the horses and not be concerned over them, but for now, I like being on the OTHER side of the fence, petting them from there. At least the chickens I can kick. :)

Friday, November 19, 2010

An Inspiring Story

Today I was listening to a CD from the Pineapple Story collection by missionary Otto Koning. You can get this from the Institute in Basic Life Principles, and I encourage you to, because it is really good! Funny, inspiring, humbling, all at the same time. He was the telling the story of a widow lady who, like most widows, had almost no money. The was a housekeeper and made 4 or 5 thousand a year, and she had children. She wanted to give money to a particular missionary, and so she told the Lord that anything she made over her basic needs, she would give to the missionary.

The next day, as she was cleaning the house, the man of the house left for work, and on his way out the door, she told him she would be praying for him as she cleaned his house, that the Lord would bless his business. He kind of grinned at her and just left. Well, he had an AMAZING day at work that day, and he asked if she had indeed prayed for him, and she told him she had. He ended up giving her a raise. She did this with all her customers, and the same thing kept happening. The extra money she got, she gave to the missionary. One of the men noticed she was always wearing the same old black coat, and he gave her money, and told her to go buy a new coat. She thought, "This coat is just fine, and I don't need two coats, " so she gave that money to the missionary as well. Before long, he realized that the lady never bought a new coat, so he thought, "Man, she must really be poor and using that money to buy food for her family instead of for a coat," so at the grocery store, he told the grocer to put all her purchases on his bill. How surprised she was to find out that everytime she went to the store, she owed nothing! So, she was able to buy better, more nutritious food for her family, and give her food budget to the missionary.

Soon, other customers were doing similar things. Her rent was paid for the year, her utilities paid, people were even sending delivery trucks with new mattresses and furniture for her house. She had just kept the same old ones because new ones weren't a need, and she had promised the Lord to give it to the missionary. So, not only was she able to give her entire income to the missionary, but the Lord was providing new things for her, as well.

When the missionary came home on furlough and visited the church, he asked to see the wealthy family who had been giving him large sums of money every month. The pastor told him there was no such wealthy family at his church. The missionary told him the widow lady's name, and the pastor was astonished! "That can't be her", he said, "she just a widow lady receiving from the church's benevolence fund." Little did he know that the church's benevolence fund was going to the missionary, too! As it turns out, she was giving 5 TIMES her annual salary to the missionary, and all her needs were met! Keep in mind, she had been given raises as well, so she was giving incredible amounts of money!

Otto Koning was trying to point out what God can do through us, if we yield ourselves (and our money) to God. He also challenged everyone to keep their same possessions for a year (furniture, clothes, cars, houses - or move to a smaller one), and give that money to God. Wow! What a story! Do I have the guts to do what that widow lady did?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Why I No Longer Shop at Victoria's Secret

I know this is a strange post for a debt-free blog, but I just had something on my mind.

A year or so ago, I was standing in line at Victoria's Secret with my children when something caught my eye. It all started when I kept getting coupons in the mail for free items. I would go in and get the free thing (many of them expired because I hardly ever go to the mall) and nothing more. Yet this day I saw an advertisement for the Victoria's Secret fashion show - a televised show of immodestly dressed women. "Immodestly dressed" is probably an understatement - it occurred to me that by shopping at Victoria's Secret, I was supporting porn. Ugh. We don't watch this, of course, but what about the magazines that come in the mail? The huge billboards/advertisements that our family has to walk past in the mall? My boys are young yet, but it won't be long before they are affected by these things. How could I give my money to this place, no matter how good their products are? I'll sew my own if necessary. What probably bothered me the most was the many years that I shopped there without even giving a thought to this issue. It just shows how Satan has "normalized" sin to the point that we are numb to it. Lingerie can be advertised without models, as I've seen in sale papers for Wal-Mart and such places as that. But I had just grown to accept it as normal. Something about having sons has opened my eyes to these lamentable things. I'm so sorry for them that they have to grow up in this kind of world, where temptation is all around them, unavoidable. Even driving down the highway we pass billboards with scantily clad women. Avoiding the mall isn't enough, but it's a place to start.

Another good reason to shop at the thrift store. :) So maybe this isn't so out of place for a debt-free blog!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Progress...

The septic repair guy was out there today working with his backhoe, which the boys thought was awesome! Good news: both tanks are in and the line that will eventually go to the trailer is in. Bad news: leach lines are in very poor shape and will be costly to reinstall! However, it is still much cheaper than a new system, so we are thankful for that. We called our mobile home dealer to let him know that our date for the trailer's final move is quickly approaching, and that we hadn't forgot about him. We thought maybe HE'D forgotten who WE are, too! He said that he had one guy call 4 years after purchase to say he was finally ready to move it! He estimated that it would be 6 months before we called him, and it's been two, so not as bad as it could have been. :) I'm hoping this septic system will be finished within the next week or two so that we can move it, but we'll see.....

Today we finished priming the living room, and washing and filling nail holes in the hallway, and washing some of the walls in the kitchen. We spend about the first 15 minutes of our entrance into the mobile home every time killing wasps! Lots of them. We thought they were yellow jackets, but to my relief (sort of?), they are actually just yellow and black wasps. If the temps will ever stay below freezing for a while, we won't have to contend with them any longer! Which is good because they creep me out. Anyhow, the living room looks sooo different now, and so much more like home. That dirty wallpaper that wasn't my style at all, made it feel like someone else's home, but now, even with just the primer, it looks so much better.

I'm convinced that the former occupants of this trailer never cleaned. Ever. I have 3 children 4 and under right now, which means two things: 1. There are lots of messes, and 2. I have less time to clean them, and actually a third: morning sickness means I get behind a lot, too. Yet my house has never been that dirty. Lots of food splatters in the kitchen/dining, lots of dirty, dirty wall paper in the living room, entryways, you name it, and lots of other things I don't want to think about on the walls, toilets, showers, tubs in the bathroom. So, when you come to visit, if I tell you we scrubbed the place from top to bottom, you can rest assured that we are not exaggerating. And not because I'm a clean freak, either.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Never thought I'd care so much about septic...

Today our septic system got its second tank installed, and the next step is to have the leach lines fixed/installed. Our move in date is highly dependent on this getting accomplished! The area where our mobile home will be is so very close to the septic system, that it just makes sense to not have the home moved until it is done. So, the waiting continues. We are still fixing up the mobile home in the meantime, but we are having to do a lot of commuting in order to do so. With no septic, it isn't reasonable to stay out at our property. Once our mobile home is moved and we get running water to the home, along with septic and electricity, we can stay out there, even if the home still needs lots of repairs.

A while back I read a couple little mini-books by Renee Ellison at homeschoolhowtos.com. One was called 10 Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary People Who Got Free of House Debt, and the other was called Money in Your Pocket. These books were, I believe, under $5 each, and immediately downloadable as an e-book, and they were GREAT books! In the money in your pocket book, she writes a letter to her nephew, giving him advice about what they would do if they were young and just starting out. She talks about acquiring a piece of earth, debt free, at the earliest possible moment, and making that his highest priority, even before college. She was saying live in a camper if you have to, then upgrade to a bigger camper, or a mobile home; if the Israelites lived in tents, we could, too! She was, of course, saying that would be easier to do when you are younger and don't have a family, but it was this kind of thinking that got us spurred on in our journey. We thought about all the possibilities of dwellings we could live in, and about all the things we could really live without. Most people enjoy camping for a short period of time; some love living in their campers or RVs even for a good portion of the year. Something about the simplicity draws people. So we looked at every improvement over that as a blessing! We are learning to appreciate the simple things in life. Since we had decided we could live without 2 bathrooms (only HAVE to have 1), finding a mobile home in our price range with 2 bathrooms was a blessing! We decided that even a house with a yard slightly bigger than ours (that we could own debt free) would be wonderful; imagine our joy to find that we were getting 7 acres! God just really changed our perspective on things, and I'm glad He did. It's so much more fun to appreciate things, no matter how small, than it is to be unthankful and discontented with a lot! That's not to say we don't complain sometimes. When we try to go in that trailer and there are about 30 yellow jackets waiting inside to greet us (it's not air tight right now, since it has shifted from the move, and is still waiting to be moved yet again), and I feel like I can't even eat out there without them buzzing all over us, yeah, I get a little irritated! And the no flushing toilets thing is getting old. But we have a goal in mind, and we're getting there. And when it's all over, I will be SO thankful for our septic system!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fixing up the Mobile Home

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated! Life is so busy, of course! Where do I start...

The old house is gone, along with the huge dumpster that holds its remains, burned or otherwise. So, with the exception of a pile of metal we still need to recycle, nothing is left of it. The neighbor behind us came with his bobcat, took some dirt from our next door neighbor's land, and leveled off the old home site to make way for the mobile home.

Now, LOTS to do in the mobile home! One huge blessing God has provided for us is that our neighbor is giving us some carpet he's not using. It's probably enough to carpet our bedroom, which is the only room I'd want carpeted anyhow. The mobile home had old green carpet, very dirty, but I told the Lord I'd try to be happy with it, if that is how it has to be. Thankfully, he provided another way. The rest of the house we plan to do in a combination of laminate wood and vinyl flooring. I'm thinking attractive, yet easy to clean, with the focus on easy to clean! We just went through a bout of stomach virus in our house, which definitely reminded me, once again, why carpet in a house with little ones equals disaster! Too much poop, puke, and pee in our house, and now that we are moving to the country, add dirt, mud, and animal poop to the list, and you can see why I need something that can be mopped. I'm very much looking forward to our UNcarpeted dining area (that, of course, adds food to our dirty equation).

Speaking of animal poop, we now have 2 horses, 1 longhorn, and 3 calves grazing on our land. Not ours, but the neighbor's! We get to enjoy the animals without having to actually own them right now. I'm very glad to actually be able to do something for our neighbor, however small, since he has been so kind to us. Jeremy told him that he's the best neighbor we've ever had, and it is so very true.

Back to the mobile home. We've ripped up carpet, swept up all the dust and dirt from THAT, washed the walls in the living room, and now, we actually primed the walls in the living room. So much left to do, but it is progress. Last weekend I scrubbed and scrubbed until I was sore in the kids' bathroom. It is probably the smallest bathroom I've ever seen (well, except that in a camper!), yet I've never scrubbed for so long in a bathroom! It is clean, though. The good news is, about 10 or so of those vinyl tiles should cover the whole bathroom floor, and a sample quart of paint (or the leftovers from painting the bathroom in our current house) should take care of it. We just need a new tub surround (who thought WOOD would make a good tub surround?), and a new sink (the plastic sink is cracked). We found a new sink for about $16, so it isn't setting us back very much. We could superglue the crack for a while if we had to, but the sink is so cheap, I think we'll be able to just replace it. The bad news about pulling out the carpet is we found some rotten plywood from leaks that we'll probably have to replace. We got some of that Thompson's waterseal, and we're planning to coat all the exposed plywood with it, so that we have no more rotting floor problems. I'm really surprised that the floors are made of plywood that hasn't been treated, and just covered with carpet. Plywood seems to buckle at even the slightest hint of water, and yet nothing was protecting it from the water, not even in the bathrooms. Strange.

We were hoping to maybe be moved in by Thanksgiving, but I think we've scratched that idea. Now we are hoping to be moved by Christmas. We have to basically paint the entire house, and replace all the flooring, except that in the kitchen/dining/laundry room, so that's a lot of work to be done still. We're painting over wall paper, so we're having to do primer (more than one coat), and possibly more than one coat of the actual paint. And we've never laid floors before, so we don't know how long it will take us.

It's all fun, though, in spite of all the work and the driving. We are making memories that we will never forget. It's fun to work together to accomplish goals, and it's fun to trust God and watch Him provide. And He is definitely doing that.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Lots going on

It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. So much has been going on. Life is a whirlwind, and it's hard to keep up sometimes, but it's all been good things.

To begin with, the guy with the backhoe who was going to help has a full time job, and he just hadn't been able to get out to help us, so we decided to do it the old-fashioned way - brute force! Well....and a little help from chains attached to pickups and such. :) In one weekend, we had the thing as leveled as it could get (only 1 interior wall standing, surrounded by debris. Then began the massive job of sorting out the stuff that could be burned and carrying it to the burn pile, and putting the rest into the big dumpster we rented. What a job! Shingles had to be scraped off roof decking, insulation had to be pulled out, carpet, toilets, bathtub, sinks - just anything you could think of that comes in a house that isn't wood. Still, lots and lots of burning as well! Last weekend a neighbor came over with his bobcat and helped push everything still left together into a pile that can be burned in one big massive fire. His help was a great blessing, except for one thing...he accidentally ran over the septic tank and crushed the lid. Thankfully, the neighbor across the street says the same thing happened to him, and he was able to make a fix for it. The only thing regulated in this county is septic. Our septic is the old-fashioned kind with a leach field, which the county will allow us to keep, provided the repairs don't exceed a certain dollar amount. In that case, we would have to replace it with a new aerobic septic system, which is more expensive and more costly to maintain. We are praying that doesn't happen.

Speaking of septic, life without one is difficult. For a while we've had the use of a friend's camper, which has a holding tank we can empty from time to time. Right now they are using their camper, and we are feeling the lack of septic! We found a cheap camping toilet which utilizes plastic bags (fun, fun!) that we have set up inside the mobile home (remember, no utilities in there!), and that is working for now. It sure does make us appreciate the little things in life, like flushing toilets and being able to take a shower!

And that brings up another topic...water. We finally have it! Jeremy got the idea (being desperate makes you creative) to disconnect the pipe from the water meter to the house (that is no longer standing) and install a water spigot right at the meter. And that brings up all sorts of redneck ideas....like taking a 100 ft. hose that wasn't quite long enough, and attaching it to a 25 ft. water hose, and attaching THAT to the camper. Voila! Running water. Well, except right now we don't have the camper....so we wash our dishes the REAL redneck way - in the front yard with the water hose. :)

The visit to the water company was an experience in itself. OK, we live in a city of 360,000 people right now, and we are moving to a town of 13,000. The water company boasted of now serving some 1,300 customers, and consisted of 5 employees. I'm not joking - 5! Only 2 of the employees are the service technicians that do repairs and such. So, one of those 2 guys came over to the property to unlock the smallest padlock I'd probably ever seen, and remove it from the meter so that we'd have water. Jeremy offered to save them time and just cut the thing off, but she smiled and said we'd get in real trouble for doing something like that. :) Water is expensive out there, too - all the more reason to conserve, I suppose.

I also learned how to patch holes in the walls. Jeremy was working on another project and gave me very brief instructions on how to use the tape and the joint compound for the mobile home. Folks, I had NO idea how much of that stuff to put on. But I figured it had to look better than the holes, so I ended up using up the whole container (we had lots of holes!). Fortunately, our neighbor, who turned out to be a painter, came over about half-way through my job and fixed what I'd done, and did the rest for me. So, no more holes in the walls!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Homeschooling Curriculum is Here

For years (OK, my oldest is just turning 5, but we've been thinking about homeschooling from the beginning!), I've resist the whole "packaged curriculum" thing. Us homeschoolers, we want to be creative. Buck the system. Do your OWN thing. And I still intend to be creative in teaching my children, and do things in ADDITION to the curriculum. But a curriculum can be a very freeing thing. Someone has already spent hours (years, really) thinking this thing through - what does a Kindergarten child need to learn, and what is a good way (maybe the best way?) to present it? I have a plan for everyday - what needs to be done, and as long as I move forward, our children are guaranteed to learn this year. Of course, I'm the mom, and that means I get to make the final decision of whether we are going to do this thing, or learn that thing, but so far the A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum that we chose has been really good. And I think the boys are going to have a BLAST with it! They've watched me coloring pages, buying packages of balloons and stickers, and asking, "when do we get to do all this?" It's funny that the thing I resisted so hard ended up being so fun in the end - both for them and me! I know that no curriculum is going to be perfect, but at least I have a starting place.

I really, really love homeschooling! I used to do substitute teaching, and I really liked teaching (well, SOME classes anyway), but this is even better. As a parent, I like the idea of getting to decide what my children learn, having the privilege of teaching it to them, and the satisfaction of seeing them learn. As a teacher, I don't have to deal with the home/school gap - dealing with parents who don't seem to care, discipline issues with children that you don't quite understand because you aren't with them all the time. I'm with my boys all the time, so I know when they can't concentrate that it's probably because we had a late night last night (and hey, I can start school LATER if I want to because of it). I know their personalities, so I know how they learn best - what really "lights them up." I like that they are already each others' best friends. One day Seth got to spend the day at Aunt Lacey's while Jude and Daddy worked out on the property. As it was nearing dinner time, Jude asked Daddy if we could pick up Seth because he missed him! I thought maybe he would enjoy having the day with Daddy all to himself, and I'm sure he did, but I thought since he's always with Seth that he wouldn't miss being away from him for the day. So sweet! They truly are buddies. I'm so thankful that I get to spend my days with them!

Monday, September 27, 2010

A Camper at the land

Every weekend something new at the new homestead. This weekend: a very generous friend loaned us a camper, and a generator! The weather was so beautiful that we didn't need the generator this weekend, but what a blessing to have the option. Most importantly, one pregnant mom and 3 little bitty children now have a bathroom to use at the property! That means we get a lot more accomplished now. I brought our battery-powered vacuums and vacuumed out the mobile home until there was no juice left in them (still lots of "junk" on the floors, though). The vacuums at least got most of the broken glass up off the floors. I also got to clean one of the bathrooms a little, but the shower was pretty smelly (I think a vandal used it as a toilet), and I could only handle so much with my pregnant tummy! Outside, we got some limbs and brush that couldn't be used for firewood and made a huge fire pit...yep, we roasted hotdogs and marshmellows, too, and had some fun with it. We got part of one side of the house torn down, since it was close to the power pole, and not too safe for a bull dozer to get in there. Windows and anything else that we can't burn were also removed. We have no running water at the property, so we have to bring clean water to clean with/wash hands, plus drinking water, and we use pond water to flush the potty with! Our cooler is our refrigerator for now, unless we want to power the generator to cool the little camper fridge, but for now, no electricity is the least of our utility worries - we can always substitute with batteries, propane, etc.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pics of our Mobile Home - Part 2











Here are a few more pics. The first is of one of the kids bedrooms. I'm not a fan of the teal carpet, but it is much better than the burnt orange of some homes we've seen! Other than it not being my fav. carpet, it is in decent shape, so we can clean it, and replace it as we have the cash. The next picture is of the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. Next is a picture of the master bedroom with a built-in that we may or may not keep. The doors are still there but just need to be put back on somehow. After that is the picture of the pantry, which is inside the laundry room (the last picture). Not planning on keeping the cow print shelf liner. :) Our current laundry area is in the garage, and I do tons of laundry, so not terribly convenient. I definitely plan to have a nice big laundry area in the house we build - right off the kitchen, like this one is. There is also another bedroom and bathroom that I didn't post pictures of, and of course the outside, but you get the idea. Maybe I'll post "after" pictures once it's clean and we're all settled in.




Pics of our Mobile Home












Blogger apparently does not want me uploading too many pictures at once, so here are a few! The first is of the hallway/front door, and part of the living room. The next is of the master bath; if you can't tell, the mirrors are missing over the sinks, and the mirrors over the bath are broken. This trailer is a blue light special people, so we have a few repairs to make! The good news is that we didn't pay extra for mirrors that we probably wouldn't like anyways. :) The next picture is of the sliding glass door in the dining area. No, the view is not of our property; these pics were taken before it was moved from the trailer park in Hutchins. Then we have a picture of the kitchen, where the fridge will go. We have an enormous fridge that I love, so I'd rather sacrifice some cabinets than have to give up my fridge, so which cabinets is TBD. The last picture is of the kitchen where the oven will go. This trailer was vandalized before we bought it, and some of the appliances were stolen; ironically, the appliances that were stolen were the ones we already have. We just replaced the oven in our house for when we sell it, and we held on to the old oven because, although old, it still works! We almost sold it on craigslist but we're so thankful we didn't. We can always upgrade later, but for now, it meets our need. The only appliance that wasn't stolen is the dishwasher, and that is the appliance that we don't have. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the kitchen has an island - that is where the sink/dishwasher are, and there is a prep area next to the oven, and one next to the fridge.
We have lots of cleaning to do, replacing of mirrors, painting, and a few repairs to some cabinets, but all the important stuff is in good working order. I like the floor plan and that it has lots of windows!




Our Home Made it - In One Piece

This was a busy weekend at our place. Friday Jeremy took the day off and spent almost all of it taking down the neighbor's fence to make way for the mobile home. Jude helped Jeremy, and I spent most of the day sitting under one of the trees on our property, SWEATING (though not as much as Jeremy!), and keeping the 2 youngest entertained. Our nice neighbor, again, came out to help. Once that was finished, Jeremy had to cut down some limbs along the street, and I and the littles helped drag it into a pile or two on our property. It was REALLY getting hot and muggy, and the pastor's wife invited me in to put the baby down for a nap, while the boys played in her front yard with her grandchildren's toys. Not long after, Jude comes in to tell me that Jeremy took the van, and I assumed he went to meet the movers along the route. I found out that they have to post their route along freeways with the Department of Transportation, since it is a slow-moving vehicle, but once they were on the county roads, I guess no one was concerned with what route they took. There were two possible routes, and there were a few last minute changes. Unbelievably, it started raining! I'm so glad I do not do this for a living. I can barely park my minivan. I'd be sunk. But they were able to back this thing down the road about a mile and a half, until they got to our street. Then they had to swing wide through the neighbor's now de-fenced property (over the ditches and everything) and try to make it through all the tree limbs that we apparently did not trim enough! So, very slowly they went, while Jeremy and the neighbor cut down limbs as they went. It was stressful watching them drive through the neighbor's land, hitting the ditches, with the mobile home leaning one way, and the truck leaning the other! I wanted to watch, but I DIDN'T want to watch! The trailer's axles were exactly the width of the street with (small) ditches on either side, and then of course, the trailer itself is wider than that, so it was a tight squeeze. And we live on a dead-end street - so one way in, one way out! One of the neighbors actually drove up behind the trailer, and of course, couldn't go anywhere at that point, but fortunately the home was minutes from being out of the way. Since our home is to be moved again, once the house is torn down, it was just sort of parked where it landed - all the skirting and air conditioner still inside the house, the deck disassembled, and the cinder blocks still stacked on the property. It's hard to have it there and not be able to do anything with it (clean it, get it ready, etc.), but I know that will come soon.

One thing I know, my trips to the property are going to have to be fewer! As much as I hate missing the opportunity to be out there (it is so beautiful and peaceful), all the driving is really increasing my nausea. That and the long days (past 8 PM is a long day for my pregnant self!) means that I come home just so miserable! But, usually, once the nausea passes, I accomplish more during my second trimester than I do even when I'm NOT pregnant, so productivity is on its way! I'm really hoping we can be moved in and settled in to have our first Thanksgiving and Christmas in our new home, but I guess we'll see how things go. Next year, I want to raise our own Turkey or Goose for the holiday meals!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mobile Home to be Delivered Tomorrow

Our mobile home is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. However, it is an interesting situation...

1. It will be parked in a temporary spot. In order to make things easier utility-wise, we plan to put the mobile home on TOP of where the current house is (my sister's very brilliant idea!)....so....we have to tear down the house before we can do that! However, the mobile home dealer was anxious to move the home out of the trailer park it is in, understandably so, since he is having to pay lot rent by the day. Apparently, moving the home to our site, and then coming BACK to move it to its final place, was cheaper. This guy is so nice and is really bearing with us through the whole process. We are blessed to have found him. Apparently, it is not legal to burn a house, but it IS legal to demolish a house and then burn the remains, so we plan to do that. Our neighbor (I told you, this guy is a blessing!) has a friend with a track-hoe who is coming out to do some dirt work for him anyway, and he's offered to demolish the house for us while he's out there. He said it'll probably take him like 5 minutes! The burning will save us in disposal fees ($400 per dumpster full!).

2. A neighbor's fence will have to be torn down in order to make the turn onto our street. Fortunately, the neighbor in question does not have any animals, and was happy to oblige, providing we put the fence back! Easier said than done, so Jeremy is taking the day off to make that happen.

I'm so very thankful to have felt reasonably well today and gotten some things accomplished (dinner cooked, laundry, dishes, a little bit of cleaning). The poor chickens have been begging me for food lately, and I purchased the grains and mixed them up today for them. They are much happier now, and don't peck at the door all day! I feel so unproductive lately because of feeling sick & tired, so it's nice to feel like I actually contributed to the household. :)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Well and a Cow

Neighbors. We really have some great ones at our new place. Every time we come out to our property, our pastor neighbor comes out to greet us, always with an offer of help or advice. Last weekend when we were out there, he loaned us a chain saw and helped us cut some limbs down, to make way for our mobile home. He also helped us dig around our property to try to find the septic system (we were unsuccessful :( ). If I tried to list all the tools and ideas he's offered to us, I'd surely forget something, but he's just been a really great neighbor.

When we got this property, I thought it might be a while before we could get a cow for beef, and esp. one for milk, since that takes money, and know-how - two things we are a little short on right now! But, our neighbor has offered to buy a cow for beef and split it with us when it is time for processing. The price would end up being less than $1/lb. (that includes, ground beef, steaks, roasts, however we want it cut). 400 lbs. of meat would definitely set us up for the year, so that is a good arrangement. Buying a cow ourselves and raising it to butcher would be too much meat for our family. I was thinking I'd only get to do chickens this year (since I'm familiar with them, and they aren't too expensive), so this is great news!

Next bit of news involves our well. We found out from the neighbor across the street that it IS a working well, but it needs to be cleaned out (beer bottles and such down in there). We offered to share the well with our neighbor next door, and he offered to split the cost of a pump to pump it to our respective ponds. The well is 18 ft. to the water's surface, and our 25 ft. tape measure wouldn't touch the bottom, so it's at least that deep. It would be awesome in the future to use it as our water supply, but for now, Jeremy is just thinking of using it for animals. Such great news, as wells are hard to come by! Whoever sold the property certainly didn't know what they were selling or else we could have never gotten it for this price! God has truly blessed us.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Mobile Home Has Been Purchased

A few facts:
1. We can't live in the moldy, falling down house on the new property
2. We've never built a house before with our own hands, so it won't be finished tomorrow. :)
3. We can't reasonably commute over an hour to our property to work on the house and expect to be done this decade.
SOOOOO....the solution....we purchased a mobile home! Nothing big, nothing fancy. Double wides cost too much to purchase and esp. to move, so we went with a single wide. I'm pretty sure we paid more for our minivan than this home, and that's saying something, because we got a good deal on the van! It's smaller than our current house, but probably the biggest we can get in a single wide. It is adequate for our needs, and we have the cash to buy it - so that makes it perfect! The man we are buying it from is a believer, and he is fixing a lot of the things in the home for us and moving it for free. Vandals got into the home and damaged it, so there are a few cosmetic things we may have to deal with until we save up the money to fix them. It's not old, ugly, or smelly, doesn't leak, and hey, we actually kinda like it!! It'll be nice because it will be the first home we've lived in that is really and truly ours. We found a nice spot on our land, surrounded by beautiful, mature trees for shade. We just have to find that septic system and make sure we aren't moving in right on top of it! Can't wait to move into our new little home. :)

Friday, September 3, 2010

Survey is Done

Today we got to take advantage of this beautiful weather we had and go walk the boundaries of our property! The survey flags were out, and it was definitely bigger than we imagined! We got to look at whole other pieces of the property that we didn't even know came with the land. Our new neighbor, the pastor, walked the boundaries with us to help us find the survey flags and tell us what he knew about the land. We also met some of our other neighbors, one of whom loaned us his golf cart to drive around the land. Lots of it couldn't be driven, though, because it was so thick with trees! I'm just still so amazed. 6.99 acres is even bigger than the 6.88 that was last estimated, and of course, more than twice as big as the 3.44 originally listed. The neighbors have been so nice to offer to help us move, clean up the property, and loan to us their tractors, trailers, and all sorts of helpful things.

We also got to see the inside of the house for the first time since they've cleaned it up. Someone has attempted to board up some of the broken windows along with the back of the house, which was wide open with NO DOOR. My sister and I were laughing at their attempts to "secure" the house, though. We opened a back window, which my sister climbed through and unlocked the front door for us to come in. After walking through the house, I carefully locked the bottom lock and closed the door. A few moments later, Jeremy, who hadn't seen the house yet, just walks up and opens the "locked" door. LOL! We sure wasted our time climbing through that window. I think the lock box on the door is just for show. I doubt anyone has used it. :) We were hoping to be able to use the house for storage of tools and such for building, but it looks as though we can't even use it for that. There just isn't anything salvageable. Even the kitchen sink is missing a knob! Lots of mold/mildew throughout the house, thanks to the caved in and leaking ceilings, holes in the floor, just lots of yuck. So, tearing that thing down is probably our first order of business! We may be able to have the septic system pumped and possibly repaired instead of replaced, which would save us some money. Before we thought it couldn't be salvaged.

Our closing will be delayed until next week, since we couldn't do it today because of some paper delays, but overall, today has been a day of good news! The fresh air did some good for my nauseous tummy, too. :)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Our land isn't the only thing cookin'

We're expecting baby #4! This is even more exciting than our land, so we feel really blessed right now. I just wanted to reflect now on some of the reasons I'm so thrilled to be having another one.

#1 This baby is eternal. Our material possessions, money, basically everything we know here on this earth is fleeting. It will all burn up one day - either in this life, or at the end of time. Proverbs talks about how riches maketh wings and fly away! It's so true. Job knows all about that. But even if this baby doesn't survive another day in my womb, or perishes before he or she reaches a state of full accountability, he or she will be with the Lord. After that it is mine and my husband's job to walk out before this child the fullness of joy that is a life lived for HIM, so much so that it is irresistible to the child. May we be found faithful.

#2 This child will be a blessing to us. I can hardly count, and probably most parents can't either, the many things our children have said or done that truly blesses me! Just today Seth said, "Mommy, I'm sorry your tummy feels sick." and "When's the baby going to come out? I want to see the baby!" And Jude crawled up next to me and said, "I just want to snuggle you so much, Mom." Not to mention all the profound things that challenge my heart.

#3 This child will be a blessing to others, too! From the cooing smiles of a baby, to the innocent ramblings of a toddler, to the fully mature Christian who brings others to our Savior, children who love HIM are a blessing.

#4 We get to watch God provide. David said, "I was young, and now I'm old, yet I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor seen his seed begging bread." It's so true - God provides for His children. And sometimes it isn't until you HAVE the children that you get to see the provision for them. I know families with 2 or 3 children, and families with 7, 12, 13 children, and none of them lack for anything! Our children may not have the newest fashion clothes (who cares?), or their very own IPOD, or whatever it is that Americans think we must have in order to be happy, but they'll have something more important - each other. Things should only be tools to bless other people, not an end in themselves. I think the fewer things we have, the more our children will see how unimportant things really are. If there is one thing this getting out of debt journey has taught me - it is just how little I really need to be happy. And I have far more than I really need.

#5 I get to grow. I kind of don't like this part. But it is necessary. Some day, some how, this child and I will come in conflict, and it will bring out something in myself that I need to change. And I will be moved to change because of my concern for the child, that he or she not become like that flaw in myself. And I will seek HIM because without HIM nothing will change.

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Land has been Cleaned!

Tonight we discovered that the property we are buying has been cleaned up! All the junk has been cleared out - even the house has been cleaned up - and the neighbor said that the real estate agent had that done only two days ago. I'm so amazed at what God is doing! We signed the contract last week, so really they didn't HAVE to have it cleaned up, but for whatever reason (God!?), they did it anyway. That has saved us hundreds (maybe thousands?) in junk disposal fees and days of work. Unbelievable.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We Found Our Land!

Tonight we signed the contract on our new land! It's not "official" yet, as we need to get a survey done, and get the title pulled - all those things to make sure there are no (bad) surprises, but if all is a go, we will close the end of this month. It's so hard to believe! When we first set out on our search for land, we decided we'd look for something that would be equal to or less than our current mortgage. Then, after hearing more testimonies of God moving heaven and earth for people so that they could get out of debt, we decided that we'd just believe God, that He'd help us to find a place that we could just buy with whatever cash we had. And that is exactly what He has done! It is something we could have never done for ourselves and above what we could have dreamed of.

When this house was first listed, we noticed that it had an old house on the property, but for 3 acres, the listing price was a steal! We had my sister, who lives close by, drive out to the property to see the neighborhood and help us determine if it was worth the look. After her favorable report, we scheduled an appointment with a realtor to go see the inside of the house. Wow. It was bad. We had seen lots of houses in disrepair, but this was beyond salvaging. The realtor just kind of pushed the door open - not daring to go inside - and no one else volunteered either. At that moment, my husband, who had been talking to the neighbor, yelled out "Don't go inside, or at least don't let the kids go inside!" There was insulation coming through the ceiling tiles, some black stuff on the walls which looked to be mold or plain old filth, lots of trash everywhere. The roof was caving in in places, and there were certainly leaks. After talking to the neighbor more, we found out that the bank had sent in a pest control company, and the man (you know - he does PEST CONTROL!) said he'd never seen a house that bad - millions of roaches everywhere. Then the bank sent out a cleaning service to clean up the house, and they refused to do the job. The neighbor (who is a pastor, by the way - I prayed for at least 1 Christian neighbor) also said that the septic was backed up into the house and would need to be replace with an aerobic septic system because of the clay soil (doesn't absorb fast enough). So, the house was a disappointment, but not a surprise, since the listing price was so cheap. The house wasn't the only issue - this land was FULL of trash (at least, the acre or 2 closest to the road)! BBQ grills, tackle boxes, old chairs, the remains of a demolished mobile home, and just about any other junk imaginable! A dumpster (or 2...or 3...or more) full. Lots of work ahead of us. At least we have utilities....

The neighbor also mentioned a pond at the back of the property, so my sister and I braved the high grass and walked all the way back there. ALL the way back there - this property was way bigger than 3 acres. There were all kinds of trees, tall ones and short ones, and trails through the trees, and of course, the little pond at the back. When I got back to Jeremy, the lady told us that the agent who listed the house thinks that it is more like 6 acres. I whispered to Jeremy, "It's beautiful. We HAVE to buy this!"

We placed a bid and had the real estate agent check into the title for us, to see how much acreage it really was. It turns out that it was TWO lots, both 3.44 acres, for a total of 6.88 acres. Wow! Much more than we could have ever dreamed we could buy, esp. with cash! Of course all this is subject to verification before closing, but the real estate agent is confident in his information.

I'm so blown away at what God has done. It's not like we are able to do this because we are wealthy, or have never made mistakes with money, or never splurge and buy things we later regret. It is not like we are real estate pros. or have insider tips on the house search. I like how Dave Ramsey says that when you start moving in the right direction, God just puts a moving sidewalk underneath you, and you accomplish things must faster than you thought you could. That is exactly what He did. Thank you, Lord! I think He likes to do amazing, unbelievable things because he wants us to have a story to tell, where people KNOW that it was God.

We're excited about getting to build a house, and maybe get a trailer in the meantime, but either way, having a house of our own, no matter how humble, with no debt. And of course, I'll keep you posted on our journey along the way. Since Jeremy works with computers for a living, I know I'll at least have internet access! :) We may have to dig an outhouse and sleep in a tent, but we'll have our internet connection. LOL!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Cluttering Mission #3

Today's mission is sorting/packing our other file drawer. Maybe this will go faster than the other one?! We seriously need to downsize our office contents, since we may not have the "luxury" of having an office for a while, so that is my goal for the next how-ever-long-it-takes!

Update: after looking through the drawer, I decided most of it was for Jeremy to go through, so I went through my filing cabinet full of fabric instead! Yay - it's done!

Dinner Strategy

Lately, with our tighten-the-belt don't-spend-any-money program we have going on while we wait for our property, I realized that getting dinner on the table every night, without fail, and NOT wasting food, is high priority. Now, I realize it SHOULD be EVERY day, but with 3 little ones and a sometimes-busy lifestyle, that didn't always happen. So my strategy lately has been - I HAVE to make dinner a priority, and get it done first thing in the day - enter the crockpot! Now I've definitely used the crockpot a lot, but not every night like I have lately. With little ones, sometimes things would happen to make dinner difficult - an unexpected errand (for us or a friend), cranky children, cranky mom (LOL!), something didn't thaw, or something burned (while I changed a diaper or whatever). So, I decided, thanks to Renee Ellison at homeschoolhowtos.com, to make dinner my highest priority, after my time with the Lord, and get it done in the morning - so that I have 8 hrs. to get it figured out if necessary. Also, sometimes food would spoil before we could eat it - I overbought, or I cooked a new recipe that was a miserable failure, or everyone but me hated it. All these things added up to money in the garbage! So, I'm planning my menus/grocery lists carefully, using up things that will spoil soon FIRST, and just not experimenting for the time being. So far, so good! I noticed it's been a few days since the chickens have even had any scraps (peelings or anything!), and when I dumped a little bit of food off the boys plates into the trash tonight, I realized it had been a while since I'd done that, too. And for the most part, if the kids don't finish it, it goes into the fridge, and the next time they ask for a snack (or even a meal), I give them their leftovers first. Jeremy has been very faithful to take his lunch to work (or eat what's at the office), so no eating out for him!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

More Decluttering

Today's mission: go through all my yarn and give away what I will likely never knit/crochet into something! You'd think having lots of yarn would be great, but everytime I pass by the basket it says, "Why have you not made something out of me?" and I feel guilty. I know there are other young women who would love to have my yarn and who actually have TIME to make something with it. I'm also going to try to go through some more files - one more drawer to go! How's your decluttering going?

Update: Yarn sorted!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Decluttering & Organizing

Sorting through my house to declutter and get ready for a move! Whether it be for this property or another, I believe it will be coming up soon, so we are getting prepared. Tonight's mission: File Cabinets and Underbed Storage. I'm getting rid of clothes we no longer want and manuals and papers we no longer need. We will probably be downsizing, at least in the beginning, so we must get rid of more stuff. It's amazing how little we really need to survive, or even to be happy. I'll be posting my progress as I go through the house purging our stuff. What about you? Do you have corners of the house that need to be de-junked? Let's do it together!

Update: Underbed boxes sorted - check! 1 file drawer sorted and packed into a box - check!

Things are Tight Around Here!

So, it's been a LONG time since I've posted. Mostly because we've had a lot of things going on that required a wait time before there was any news. We placed a bid on a property that is still pending. Nothing is certain yet, but if/when we get it, I will have such a testimony to tell! In the meantime, we are trying to hold on to every penny we can, to make sure that we have all funds available to make this purchase, should we get approved. When we found out that this property was available, when we did the calculations, we decided that we would have very little money to spend, if we made our top bid. So, I dug through my pantry, fridge, freezer, and deep freeze, and I decided that we could probably live for a month on what we had in the house, if we were judicious in the way we prepared meals, and if we didn't waste food. A while back I started a small food storage program, so maybe it was for this reason! So, since then, I've been to Aldi once and spent a little over $7, and we went out to eat at Rosa's with some friends after church (our whole family of 5 ate for $10). We also put in an order with our milk co-op (before we knew about the property), but still only spent $10. I feel guilty when I think of all the food that has gotten wasted at our house in the past, not to mention all the fast food trips that we could have lived without. To see just how little we could live on is humbling. When we say a prayer to thank God for our food lately, it has taken on a whole new meaning. I could just be eating a piece of bread, but God has provided so much more than that! He is so faithful!

Monday, July 26, 2010

My Baby Girl is 1 Year Old!

Today, one year ago, my little girl was born right here in our home! What a precious memory I have of her birth...albeit a long one. As with our other children, we didn't find out ahead of time whether she was a boy or girl, and what a WONDERFUL surprise to have a sweet baby daughter! The boys were and are so proud of their little sister, and they are always looking out for her, helping me with her (feeding her, even changing her diaper), and kissing and hugging on her. We are just so blessed to have her!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Still Searching...

We had an appointment scheduled to view the house we were thinking of, and ended up cancelling. One night we were talking in bed, and we both decided that neither of us felt right about the house. If the sellers had accepted the offer we could give them, we still would have had NO money left, no cushion for emergencies, and for our first move out to the country, that seemed especially risky. And we just didn't feel right about that location/neighborhood either. So, we aren't moving right now. And I'm OK with that. I like our house, and that we are close to our friends, and so forth, and just don't feel like anything that is available at this moment is right for us. We're in no rush, so we will just wait until the right place and circumstances come along. But we will still keep looking....

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Chasing Chickens

Today I got a knock at the door from the neighbor across the street, who spotted one of my chickens in the front yard while he was mowing his lawn. I live in the suburbs, folks, so that must have been a sight. Apparently, some unnamed person in our family didn't get the gate all the way closed, so it escaped. So, I started chasing the chicken around the yard, and it did NOT want to be caught. Fearing I would chase it out of our (small) yard and into the street, or a neighbor's yard, creating a scene, I decided to lure it with food. Instead of it running to the food, it crouched down really low, and FLEW straight over the fence, back into the back yard where she belongs. I'd heard that some chickens CAN fly over 6 ft. fences, but I'd never actually witnessed it. So, the moral of the story, my friends, clip your chickens' wings, even if you don't think they will attempt an escape!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Potential Home on the Horizon?

So, we have spent many evenings lately driving out to view possible homes, only to be sorely disappointed that it wasn't quite what the pictures represented. :( But this week, we DID find one that we are actually considering! It is on a little over 6 acres, with a nice wooded area, and some pasture as well. It is a mobile home, but a nice one, with over 2000 sq. ft. living space, and with that amount of land, there is room to build a site-built home. We could then sell the mobile and have it moved off. The only problem is, the sellers are asking a little more than we can pay....

I know that if God has this place in mind for us, he can move the heart of the sellers to accept our offer. And, if God has a different plan in mind, I know it will be better than this one! I'm waiting to see what happens. In the meantime, we need to go tour the INSIDE of the house (we could only see a few rooms through the windows), and I'll update you when we look again. Maybe even with a few pictures. ;)

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Garden & Chickens

Check out the butterfly in the above picture I caught visiting my oregano today. If you want something very satisfying and easy to grow, start with herbs! The ones I've planted have grown enormous, survived snow, and don't seemed to be bothered by insects or lack of water. In fact, in one garden box, I have some huge basil that I didn't even plant! I think it may have reseeded itself from last season, so now I have basil! Last year's basil got eaten by a bird, all but a tiny section of 1 leaf. I thought for sure it was hopeless, but I left it anyway, and the thing grew back to be huge within just a few days! In the background you can see my lavender, which I'm growing because I just LOVE the smell!
The chicken tractor! A movable, bottomless chicken house, where they scratch and dig for bugs, poop (aka, fertilizer), and there are a couple nesting boxes where they lay their eggs. Up until a week or so ago (when they stopped laying eggs, presumably from the heat), we were getting about 4 eggs a day from our 4 hens, which I found out is super. :) I guess I'll forgive them for their hiatus. There is also a section for their hanging food and water containers inside the tractor. We give them a grain mixture that we mix up ourselves - a recipe we found on the web, and of course, all the kitchen scraps they can handle!
Here's a close-up of one of our three garden boxes we have this year. We are using the All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. This is our third year doing it. It is very easy to maintain, almost no weeding needed, but our tomatoes haven't produced as well this year as they did our first year. I think it might be due to our lack of watering sometimes. :) We added some leaves as mulch to maybe help retain some of the moisture. It seems to be helping. We added fencing around the garden this year to keep the chickens out. :)
Here are some of the chickens, hiding in the bushes because it is SO HOT! Their combs are looking a little dry, like they might be getting dehydrated in spite of all the water they have. I added some ice to their water, and they decided they wanted to drink it after all. We had one chicken die about a month ago, and she had a very dry comb right before that, so I am keeping a close watch on them all.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Jim Sammons & a Wedding Miracle

In addition to Dave Ramsey's advice, Jim Sammons' Financial Freedom Seminar really changed the way we looked at money. His seminar is filled with testimonies of miraculous ways that God has provided for people, when they follow His principles. Praying for God to provide things that you actually have the money to purchase, so that you can have a testimony to share, was a breathtaking concept. To think that God would really care about such "small matters" in my eyes is just amazing. So, I tried it.

The first thing wasn't even a prayer, just a desire I discussed with Jeremy. One Sunday night, I told him I'd really like to get a small desk to put in the breakfast area to use as a sewing desk. Not even a couple of hours later, as Jeremy and our 4 yr. old were riding bikes around the neighborhood, they saw a desk on the curb with a sign that had $10 crossed out and "Free" written right next to it. And now it is my sewing desk.

For my sister's wedding, the boys needed pink ties, and our 4 yr. old needed a black suit coat. We had already borrowed a tux for our two year old, and I wanted our 4 yr. old to have one, too, but I decided that since he already had black dress pants, our NEED was for a suit coat. So, I put out a request to our homeschool group, thinking it was a long shot. One friend replied that she knew another friend whose little boys had pink ties , and she was willing to loan them to us. Another friend with twin boys my 4 yr. old's age, said she had 2 tuxes she had been wanting to pass along to someone (and hey, we only needed one!). When the lady with the ties couldn't find one of the ties, I was worried for a second, until I realized that I already had a bowtie pattern in my sewing stash, and a 40% off coupon for fabric. God not only provided my need, but my desire as well.

I can't wait to see what God does next, but in the meantime, I hope I get to be a part of someone else's "miracle"!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Dry Cleaning Savings

We do not own many dry clean only clothes; one trip to the cleaners would be more expensive than just going back to the thrift store for more clothes! LOL! This weekend was my sister's wedding, and DEFINITELY the occasion for itty bitty suits and bowties and other things that can't be machine washed. Enter Woolite's DryCleaner's Secret - very much like Dryel, but without the bag to get your clothes all wrinkled. $9.99 will clean 24 pieces of clothing, and unlike even the $1.99 drycleaners, an itty bitty bowtie counts as LESS than 1 piece of clothing! I'm not technologically inclined, but if you can make the below link work, you can use it for a mail-in rebate for $3 off DryCleaner's Secret. I'll let you know if I get my rebate check....

http://cvssavingscentral.com/Media/04_DRY_10052_WooliteDCS/Images/04_Dry_10052_WooliteDCS_rebate.pdf

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Process of Becoming Debt-free

Our journey started in Sept. 2005. I was due with our first son in 3 months, and a friend was talking about Dave Ramsey and how they were on his plan to become debt-free. Wow. Debt-free. Who doesn't want to become debt free? No one likes debt. Not really. Some people might not think it's possible to live without debt; some might want possessions more than they want to be debt-free. In the end, I think when people find out it is possible, they'll go through extraordinary means to get there. That was us. We sat down at the dining room table and made out a budget and decided we were going to do this thing.

For months to come, I learned new habits - shopped at thrift stores, garage sales, ate at home, and learned how to bargain shop. We learned that we actually could live without going to the movie theatre! Finally, less than a year later - we paid it all off (except the house). What a feeling! But we weren't there yet....

In the process of trying to lower our budget, especially with groceries, I was trying to still keep up our organic diet. After all, who wants to trade health for debt-free status? It wasn't just theory - I could feel the difference when I ate unhealthy foods. The cheapest way to have organic food is to raise your own. So, thus began my gardening and cooking from scratch! I found that I really LOVED doing these things, and when I would visit the farms where we bought our meat/milk/eggs, I also loved the country/farming life. We decided we wanted to have our own homestead; land of our own, and a house we could call our own, no matter how humble. Our OWN. Not the bank's - OURS! Well, that's where we are today - still looking for the piece of earth to call our own. We're saving up our money and hunting for whatever we can afford. We're working like it all depends on us, and praying like it all depends on the LORD. We still owe a mortgage on our current home, but we are working right where we are, building our little suburban homestead on 1/10 of an acre (including the land the house is sitting on!) until the day we can pay cash for our land and sell our house. It may be weeks, it may be years, but we are waiting on the Lord to provide, and trusting that HE wants us to "owe no man anything except the debt of love".