Piggies!

They're almost big enough to taste!

This bunny-mama is due to have babies next weekend. She looks so happy about it - about like any Mama who's a week away from giving birth.

Blog Posts I Really Liked This Week

Before I share with you my favorite blog posts from this week, I wanted to share with you some of the pictures I've been taking in my photography class. Just remember, I'm a beginner!!!!!

We've been learning how to do blurred backgrounds.

blogs i enjoyed this week
Your Care Guide: 25 Point Manifesto for Sanity in 2013 - Holy Experience
5 Things You Need to Know Before You Begin Your 2nd Term of Life - Holy Experience
How We Use Essential Oils to Fight Colds and Flus - The Prairie Homestead
2012 Homestead Yields & Cost Analysis - On Just a Couple of Acres
Encouraging Maturity in Children - Smockity Frocks
We're Going Around the World Literally - Keeper of the Home
Do I Parent Out of Fear or Faith? - Inspired to Action
A No Waste Kitchen  - New Life on a Homestead
Love Your Neighbor. Even If You Don't Think They Deserve It - New Life on a Homestead

Sad Day on the Farm

My Pastor-Hubby & I had the privilege of attending a church leaders' conference in San Jose, CA yesterday. We listened to some fantastic speakers: Francis Chan, Jon Tyson, & Rick Warren. It was wonderfully encouraging and inspiring.

During the first session of the conference, I received a text from my children at home. Joshua's mommy rabbit was found dead and mutilated on the front driveway.

Somehow, her cage door had been left opened. The rabbit cages are suspended high above the ground, but she managed to jump down to the ground and got out during the night.

We had begun, this past week, weaning her babies out of her cage. We have three of her five babies sold already, so those were the first we moved out to a cage of their own. She had two babies left with her.

When the kids went to her cage yesterday morning, it was completely empty.

Stephanie, our babysitter, spotted one white baby on the ground hiding in a corner. They snatched that little girl up and put her in the new cage with her other brothers and sisters.

The tri-colored baby was never found. We suspect a coyote.

My text message read that there were many tears at home. Joshua, my oldest boy and owner of the rabbits, dug a hole and buried his momma rabbit. Stephanie led them in a small "funeral."

This is part of farm life.

On a lighter note, here's some other happenings on the farm these days.

Our three little pigs, Bacon, Ham, and Pork Chop, are not so little anymore. They're four months old, requiring 12 pounds of food a day.

Our hens are completely free-ranged all day long now. Our puppy is now trained to leave them alone, and she's doing fantastic. Unfortunately, this means we are finding some eggs on the lawn. Anybody know how to solve this?

This lone rooster is kept very busy all day - and he's developed a bit of an attitude.

My oldest boy, Josh, is teaching my fourth child, Noah, to drive the tractor.

My Pastor-Hubby likes to put in 30 minutes to an hour each day working on the farm. He works that in around his church schedule.

This is Hannah's Holland Lop doe who will be ready for breeding in spring.

Noah enjoys playing with these baby bunnies. These are the babies purchased for him, Luke, and Hannah. These are not Joshua's babies born in December.

Noah's baby rabbit

Luke's baby dwarf rabbit.

Our lab-mix puppy is so grown up. She's the best dog we ever had. She desires to please and obey. She is going through a little bit of the terrible-twos right now, at eight months old. She loves playing in the seasonal pond we have on the property (which is what she had done before I took these pictures of her.) Isn't she pretty? Any guesses on what she's mixed with?

My Favorite Blog Posts from 2012

Everyday,  my email box fills with several blogs I read and glean knowledge and inspiration from.

Today, I want to share some of them with you. I'll break them down by category.

Light a few candles, brew some tea or coffee, curl up on your sofa with a blanket and your laptop and be inspired!

parenting
51 Things You Can Do That Will Bless Your Kids - Finding Joy
5 Ways to be More Present Today - Finding Joy
Kids and Electronics - What Age and How Much is Too Much? - Smockity Frocks
I Gave Myself Away Because of a Dare Wanting to be Loved - Mom's Mustard Seeds
7 Ways to Invest in Your Kids - Finding Joy
Ten Commandments of Courtesy for Kids (and Adults) - Smockity Frocks
Keeping Kids Safe on the Homestead - New Life on a Homestead
Preparing Our Children For Marriage - Renewing Housewives
A Tearful, Joyful, Hopeful Letter to My Teenage Self - Inspired to Action
20 (more) Motherhood Tips - Finding Joy
Hope Chests 101 - A Practical Check List - Raising Homemakers
22 Activities for the Country Toddler and Preschooler  - The Prairie Homestead
How to Instill a Strong Work Ethic in Children from a Young Age  - Keeper of the Home
How Do Large Family Moms Manage Everything?  - Smockity Frocks

finances
Save Money by Purchasing White Linens and Towels - Being Frugal
Fun Fund: Saving Money for Entertainment and Travel - Being Frugal
How We Afford to Mini-Farm on One Income (Part 1)  - The Prairie Homestead
How We Afford to Mini-Farm on One Income (Part 2) - The Prairie Homestead
10 Ways to Live More Sustainably - DIY Natural
Analyzing the Family Budget - Homestead Revival
On Producing Rather Than Saving - Nourishing Days
50 Ways to Make Money  - Bible Money Matters

health
Make Your Own Cough Syrup - Raising Arrows
10+ Natural Cold Remedies - Keeper of the Home
Natural Remedies for Cold & Flu Season - Little Natural Cottage
Allergy Relief for Ragweed Season (or any Allergy Season) - Sprittibee
How I Healed My Son's Skin Infection (Without Antibiotics) - Keeper of the Home
How to Treat Bug Bites Naturally - Keeper of the Home

personal
Will I Ever Change? - Sarah Mae
The Rushing Mom Embraces Today - Finding Joy
Why It Is OK to Take a Mom Break - Finding Joy

beauty
Your Lips But Better - The Small Things Blog
Tips for an Easy Fall Wardrobe  - Simple Design

country living
Our Journey to Agrarianism - Nourishing Days
Homesteading Wherever You Are - New Life on a Homestead
Pioneer Homes - Little Homestead on a Hill
Roundup of Homesteading How-To's  - Smockity Frocks
Is It Easier? - Simply Living For Him
The Garden Plan - Homestead Revival

homemaking
Household Cleaning with Vinegar - Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling
My (Simple, Natural, Frugal) Cleaning Cabinet - The Prairie Homestead
Quick Homemaking Tips - Raising Homemakers
Clothesline Options - Homestead Revival

food
Just Add Water - Lemonade Makin' Mama
Extending the Family Table - Plan To Eat
Real Food Substitutions - Keeper of the Home
10 Things You Should Make Homemade - Gricefully Homeschooling
Managing Your Kitchen - Raising Arrows
Scenes from the Kitchen - Nourishing Days
Preserving Food - Raising Olives
Stocking Your Freezer - Gricefully Homeschooling
A Plan for Stretching the Meat Budget - Plan to Eat
4 Cheap Healthy Meal Plans for Families - Christian PF (Personal Finance)
Reducing Food Waste at Home...and a Meal Plan - Blissfully Content
Ultimate List of Easy Slow Cooker Recipes - Hodgepodge
Buying Meat in Bulk - Homestead Revival

26 Acts for Newtown Victims

My heart is still heavy for the tragic events that took place a week ago today.

I have two boys the ages of those children who were killed last week.

I can only imagine how scared they would have been in those circumstances.

My heart is also grieved over the troubled young man who committed these acts - a boy who obviously needed more help than he received in life. This article gripped me: I Am Adam Lanza's Mother.

This Sunday, we will be challenging our church family to join in the worldwide 26 Acts Movement. If you haven't heard about it, you can learn more by visiting Twitter's #26acts page or Facebook's 26 Acts of Kindness page.

We will be inserting one sheet of instructions along with one sheet of stickers in each bulletin we hand out at all three services this Sunday.

To join the challenge with our church family, and others around this nation and the world, you can read my instructions here.

If you'd like to print out the stickers I created with a picture of each of the 26 victims, please follow these instructions:
1. Click on this link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByxyI9jtA1nJbTdGelpyc25Cb0k/edit. It will not appear correctly in the Google screen.
2. In the top left-hand corner, click the DOWN ARROW which allows you to "download the current version."
3. Open the document with Microsoft Word.
4. Print the document in Microsoft Word on Avery label template 5160.




Will you turn your grief into action? Performing 26 acts of kindness gives us the power to create change in the midst of an evil situation.



On a lighter note...
Baby Rabbits
The baby rabbits will be two weeks old tomorrow. They just opened their eyes yesterday. With fur, they are much cuter than they were a week ago.

These are all five babies on day one. They look like mice.

My 9yo son will be selling these babies January 26. They will range in price from $30 to $50. We can't yet tell how many are does and how many are bucks.

One Rooster Down
We discovered this week that we have two roosters - which is not good. One in particular was getting somewhat aggressive. We decided to process him for the good of the flock.

Our friend Joe came to help with the deed, as this was our first time.

I'll spare you the gory pictures and skip right to the removing of feathers after his dip in boiling water.

Joe was a pro! Does that look great or what? Now he's aging in my fridge for a few days before we roast him.

Crazy Day

My pastor-husband, who makes the majority of things happen at our church, was feeling very overwhelmed and behind going into this Christmas season. He asked me, well kind of begged me, to take today (Friday) off from my home duties and come work alongside him on church activities so he could get caught up.

Our church will be blessing eight families in need this year. Giving to those less fortunate is the greatest birthday gift we can give to Jesus!

Thank God for my mother-in-law, who willingly watched over my kiddos so I could be released to go serve my husband for a day. Let's just say he's in a much better mood this evening after all we were able to accomplish together.

Don't you just wish you could have two of you some days? I sure do.

Here in the valley of Northern California, and especially out in the country on our five acres, we're completely flooded! We have lakes in our backyard - a few of them - that never existed before. This is no joke - during a break in the storms today, my boys actually went swimming in those newly-formed lakes. Coco, our lab mix puppy, was in hog heaven! She was running full speed through those lakes, splashing and playing so happily.

Our chickens are standing in water. Apparently, their coop is a low place in the ground.

And our pigs were wallowing in a foot of mud. We moved the goats to another pen and let the pigs out into the large goat pen so they could dry off a bit.

Only ones who stayed dry were the rabbits because their cages are suspended off the ground and surrounded by tarps. They also have wooden hiding boxes in their cages for them to take cover when they need to.

Brownie

 One of my son's rabbits, Brownie, if truly pregnant, is due next week. We will bring her up under the back patio this weekend so we can put a grow light on the babies to keep them warm. I don't have electricity out at the rabbit habitat.

A few weeks ago, my daughter finally found her Holland Lop doe so she could begin breeding her rabbits. Her doe, however, is a baby, and has to get a bit older before she can have any babies. But she's darling, isn't she?

My kiddos all worked their tails off to finish the rest of this year's schooling and start Christmas break early. We're done, folks! Hooray!

I'm feeling good these days. Over Thanksgiving break, I felt like the paddles were applied to my heart - I was given a good shock of new energy and determination. I just got tired of being tired, decided to take my focus off of my inadequacies and put my focus on my God, whose grace is sufficient for me. I decided to fight in warfare prayer against the devil who tries to keep me down. My strength is returning as I draw nearer to God.

Thanksgiving on the Farm

they are here!

 

These are "the boys," all brothers. They're a Hampshire/Duroc cross, which will make for very tasty meat! They're 11 weeks and came to us at about 55 pounds each. They will each grow to approximately 230-250 pounds, which is market weight, by age 6-8 months. They are STRONG! Within an hour of arriving, they had tilled up their entire pen by rooting with their snouts. It was fascinating to watch! They ate all the slop we had saved for them from the night before within 15 minutes. I was thinking, "Geesh! We don't have THAT much leftovers!" We have a pig grain to feed when we don't have enough scraps to give them. And they sure do enjoy our pumpkins from October. They are eating machines! I've never seen anything like it. They almost hurt each other to get to the hanging feeder. We're already gearing up to build something bigger so they have more room to get at their feed. We've also discussed switching their housing with the goats when the pigs get much larger, as I think they're going to need the extra space, after seeing their parents. They're so fun!

guys & girls, God's way
This past Wednesday, I shared at our youth group's home group called "Kickbacks." I was blessed with a living room full of young people with whom I shared some of God's topsy-turvy truths about the broke-down American system of dating. I prepared this PowerPoint to aid the kids in taking notes, and I'm happy to share it with you. Unfortunately, you don't get all my verbal comments and teaching to go along with it, but it will give you the basics of what I shared.


our thanksgiving plans

 I really can't wait! To be honest, I'm a bit tired and worn out and need a break. The children have been working furiously on school to get as much of their end-of-the-year work done, so they can start Christmas break early. They didn't get it done before Thanksgiving, so we'll have to return from next week's break and do some more, but they have made some tremendous headway.

My side of the family decided to all meet at my parents' home this Thanksgiving. My parents live in Medford, about 5 hours north of us. My brother, his wife, and three children live in the Portland area, about 4 hours north of my parents. So we're meeting in the middle. My children rarely get to play with their cousins, so this is a treat! They always seem to pick up right where they left off. My parents, Dad especially, love having everyone under the same roof (for a short time).

So when we made that decision, I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if I could fly up early and spend time with my mom in the kitchen making preparations, as well as getting some alone time and rest?" My husband totally supported the idea. My parents were gracious enough to donate some airline miles that will allow me and my 7yo son to fly to their home for $10. Woohoo! So Luke and I will be leaving Sunday evening. My hubby and the rest of the kids will drive up to meet us on Wednesday. We'll all come home on Friday. Today is packing day. I am really looking forward to this!

Happy Thanksgiving to You All!