eat sleep and farm

Saw Kara during Worship and had to get a video :)

Our baby is due in a week! I've had on and off contractions for the past 10+ days and I'm afraid they're becoming quite the norm for me. In fact, if a day goes by when I don't have them, it feels weird. When I get tired of them or completely annoyed by them, I remind myself they're doing the early work that my body will finish later, in real active labor. The car seat and stroller arrived, our bags are totally packed and in the car and now we just wait. This is actually my favorite part. Its a bit harder with 3 kids we have to "farm" out for the delivery, but I know in the end it will all work out. And we have awesome friends/family who've so kindly offered to be on call for us. In the meantime, we stay close(er) to home and wait for our little guy to arrive. The weather has been mostly warm and beautiful the past few weeks, with spurts of rainy days here and there in between. Its turning into my favorite time of year because of the fabulous varie...

Our friends from church hosted a super fun neighborhood egg hunt this morning! It was the largest egg hunt I've ever been to and so, so fun for the kids. Thank you Claytons, for your hospitality!  This is how Mr. Josh makes announcements :-)     Getting ready to start hunting!      Stef and Miss Maggie. We have our picture taken in this same spot back in June.       Rachel kind of ate as she hunted ;-)   Kara took the whole thing very seriously.      Ethan, Parker, Dylan and Kara   Egg on the tummy :)      me and my 5 1/2 year old girl.  5 1/2! Where is the time going??    We've decided we definitely need to put a set of swings in our  backyard. All 3 of our kids love swings.  They don't need the slide or other toys... just the swings and they're set.     pouting......

Kara: "Mommy, what do we do to get that baby out of your tummy? We need to start trying it."  Me: "Its up to God."  Kara: "Okay, then we need to pray."  Ethan: {regarding our muscular friend Craig's shaved head} "Is Mr. Craig bald because his muscles got so big, it made the hair pop off his head?"  Kara: "Ethan, stop interrupting me! If you don't listen to what I say, your ears will not hear my voice. And my voice is beautiful."  Me: "Today is called Good Friday and we go to our church service because we remember when Jesus died on the cross for us."  Kara: "Will Jesus be there?! I can't wait to tell Him, 'thanks for doing that for me, Jesus.' "  Ethan: "Wait. Why do people hunt for eggs on Easter?  Me: "because egg hunts are fun and it has to do with the Easter Bunny..."  Ethan: "Yeah... since when do rabbits lay eggs? Who comes up with this stuff?!"  Ra...

Today Jason and I celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary! I told him the other night that I don't think we're considered newlyweds anymore, but I kind of think that's all a matter of perspective anyway.  He said, "if I could get more married to you, I would."  ;-)  Its a lovely thing to be told after 8 years.  I remember last year posting wedding pictures,  posting about Kara turning 2 1/2 on our Anniversary,  and posting about our exciting news of expecting baby Micah.  Amazing how much changes in one year's time.  I never imagined only a few days later, I'd be posting  about his death.   I don't wish the past year didn't exist.  All things work together for good to those who love God.  They were months that were largely filled with grief,  but always filled with God's love and peace.  They were months God used to bring the two of us closer to  Him and closer to each ot...

I had this idea. Woke up this morning and had the sun staring into my face. I knew the kids were still asleep and when I saw it was 8am, I knew I had a good hour before they'd wake up on their own. We live kind of out in the country. With stores 5 minutes away, but in the country nonetheless. And our house is on a long dead end street. So I knew I could take my cell phone and keys, head out the door and take a brisk walk up and down our street, while keeping an eye on our house. Perfect! Every so often good ideas to come into my head. I walked down to the barn and visited LadyBug {the horse}, watched the sun rise even higher in the sky and just enjoyed the very fresh air. I think baby really appreciated it.  this is from the backyard. I was first sitting out there when  the grand idea struck me.   we do see the sun in the winter, contrary to what SO many  want you to believe. But you can't count on it.  Some days its there, some its not....