eat sleep and farm

 I love water. I never knew this about myself until recently, but it makes sense. My favorite cities in CA were always places like SF, Monterey Bay, Capitola and Lake Tahoe. All places with water. I used to think it was fun to visit, but I'd do fine living far away from it. When we lived in the California East Bay, I struggled with being so far and got super annoyed when people there referred to the Delta as if it was "the Bay". To my surprise and satisfaction, we've got water everywhere here. Large bodies, small, the Pacific Ocean and little lakes and rivers. Our new house is about a mile away from Lake Washington and so we've been enjoying lot of beautiful drive-bys {like, we pass it on our way to places like Target} and the other night we decided to jump in the car and go down to walk the trail and watch the sun set. Best decision ever.   the girls tell me about once a day that Daddy is amazing  and they let me know they will never love another m

Our parents bought us amazing gifts this Christmas - Jason's parents gifted us with a family year pass to the Zoo and my parents gifted us with a year pass to the Aquarium! We can't wait to go on lots of outings this year and are excited to hopefully bring them when they visit. Last week brought a windy, rainy, cold storm with it and so we were happy to have an indoor fun, educational place to go to. The trip was somewhat last minute, which usually means Mom needed a day out more than the kids did ;-) We had a rough school week and I felt like one of my kids especially needed a break from the rigid school schedule. So we called it "field trip" day and spent the majority of the day in Seattle. Can I just say, I'm so thankful that with every hard day we have, there are a million amazing moments that help me forget the icky ones.  I've never wanted to be someone who makes people think life is what it isn't. I like reality, even when its icky. I

Today I got a phone call from a good friend of mine, telling me that at her 18 week appointment, she found out she lost her baby. It is amazing how in just a few seconds and a few words, my heart can feel so incredibly heavy. There's a short moment of shock and then there's this wave of total sorrow and grief that hits like a huge brick wall came in full force with my body. I have the immediate need to want to take the hurt away; to make it better, to say a magical word or share a quote that will mend her breaking heart. Then God reminds me I can't. I shouldn't. Its His job. My job as her friend is to love her. To cry with her, to pray with her and for her. To just say "I'm sorry" and tell her how much I wish so badly it didn't happen. To remind her of God's promises and to encourage her to cling to them as her mind will fill with enough sadness, self doubt, anxiety and hurt than she could ever imagine.  There are little glimpses of joy that

 Saying good bye to my husband and 3 big kids, while Miles and I head off for our flight to CA!     he did amazingly well on the flight and looked like this at landing :)    We spent the first day/night with Jason's family. I actually had a lot of seeing them with just Miles.    With 4 kids, its rare to get to see people enjoy just one child, so this was special.  And I know it was very special to our families as well.  Jason's sister took a day off work to come see us! We love seeing Auntie Jenny and had a blast with her being there. She's the life of any party :) Miles calls her "Denny"  Jason's Grandma and me.  I met this sweet lady when I was only 14 and I've loved learning more  about her over the past 20 years and seeing how much she loves others.  She's had a really rough year, physically, but God has sustained her and given my  in-laws a lot of wisdom for how to care for her in this time of her life. I

This is a must watch. I don't think you have to delete your online life, but I DO think we need to pay attention to warnings like this. When I posted this on FB, I got 4 'likes'. Four . This is from a profile that can easily rack up more than 50 likes if I post about a stupid movie or an opinion that doesn't line up with what's trending right now. Sad? Not really. To me it just proved this guy's point and made his video that much more of a truth in my mind. I already knew most of what he said, but the perspective he put some of it into was crucial for me. It was eye opening and yes, sad. Whether you're on FB or not, I encourage you to watch this . Believe me, we all have idols and distractions and things like this all around us and we each battle them every day. Online or not.