eat sleep and farm

I ordered the Action Bible on CD for my kids and this past week we've been listening to it in the car. We love it. The narration is great and I love that we can listen together while we drive places. I do wish our CD player had a pause button though. I find myself having to hit the power button so we can talk when someone has a question or when Mom wants to further explain :) I've been surprised how blessed I've been by the CDs! Its amazing how certain stories become just that, stories . I think about Creation. I know that story inside and out. But every time I re-read it, its amazing what new things I see and learn about God. I know all about Noah and the flood. But once again, certain parts stand out differently each time. For me this time it was Moses and the Israelites. I found myself driving to church yesterday with the kids {Daddy was already at church serving in Sunday School} and there I am at a red light, crying. I saw SO much of myself in those Israelites it br

You're half way to your first birthday! My goodness. No matter how much I begged time to slow down, its here. I can't really complain though, because I do feel like we've been able to enjoy your  early baby days and soak them up quite a bit. You're still extremely cuddly and you love to be held {can't say the same about Kara at this age}. I think Kara was too close in age to Ethan and Rachel and felt very much like she needed to keep up. You definitely know you're the smallest and the baby and you're okay with it. A few things to note since you will probably hear a lot of "you were the 4th so they probably fed you from a sand box!" is that Daddy and I are a bit opposite other couples. We have way more pictures of you than we do your older siblings {thank you nice expensive camera and iPhone}, we went into parenthood with Ethan and Rachel knowing next to nothing about anything {okay fine, we knew nothing} and so we learned as we raised them, w

We got home around 12:30AM Sunday morning or Saturday night, depending on how you look at it. The ride home was long, but went very smooth. We took our time; enjoyed the gorgeous weather and sites in Oregon and allowed baby brother to nurse as long as he needed to at stops. I felt like for him to thrive on this trip, he needed to feel that nothing was being taken away from him, so nursing and cuddles were offered often . we arrived back in WA and considered this 'cheap' gas.  Sunday was an odd day. Its hard to be in the car so long and driving so long. Our bodies were sore and tired, everything needed to be unpacked and re-organized, groceries needed to be bought for the house so we could eat - you know how that goes. The girls and I went to Costco and on the way home witnessed a really bad car accident. It was awful. I felt very off for the rest of the day. Happy to know at least one person did survive, but sad to know he's in critical condition. The guy in front o

We're still in California; heading home in a couple days. Feels like the never ending trip... but its been good . We keep saying we need to come for shorter visits, but I know if we do that, we need to come more often. Otherwise there's too many family members and friends to see in 7 days. I miss home. I'm glad I miss home. How awful would it be to go somewhere on vacation and dread going back home. I miss the daily routine, and no, I never thought I'd actually say that. I miss doing school with my kids. We've been learning as we go along in our travels, but I miss them reading to me while I nurse, I miss the math lessons and science projects and games we play. Doing family devotions at the dinner table, cooking them big, yummy breakfasts, making dinner every night for my family... the daily grind as we so lovingly call it. Funny how when you're in it, it seems so monotonous and yet being out of it for several weeks makes you miss it and realize what you lo

We're in California on vacation! Its been a fun trip, if a little tiring.  Its a different type of tired though. Its the good kind.  We've been to  Chico Brentwood Monterey Aptos  and still have places like  Sacramento  on our list.  Kara turned 4 today. FOUR!  I have no idea how that happened.  She's getting so big.  Going to AWANA, writing her letters and numbers,  learning how to spell words.  Learning sight words.  Its crazy.  She's a ball of goofiness, sass, sweetness and has a  head full of the  bounciest  curls I've ever seen.  Note to self: curly hair  likes  salty beach air ;-)  We love her so much.  I still just can't believe she's 4.