New Baby Bunnies!

Born in the wee early morning hours Sunday, April 7th.......

     There were six total....here you can see 5...I found the sixth over in another pile of fur.  Then I frantically checked to make sure there weren't any more!  Just the 6...they are getting so big already!  Today they are beginning to really squirm and flip around...first attempts at jumping!  They will grow quckly!  A few of them were looking scrawny and I was worried.  The success of hand-rearing rabbits is less than 10% will make it and I've heard from breeders that it's even smaller than that. :(  After many discouraging phone calls, I finally reached a dear Christian woman in a town nearby who sells raw goat milk which is as good as you can get when you can't get rabbit milk from the mommy.  As I told her what I was told (kill the babies, let them die, let nature take it's course) and how I just couldn't adopt that mindset, she reminded me of this, "You know, the outcome may not be as you hope but these people do not know one thing, how big our God is!".  She is right! Our God is HUGE!!!
     I set to prayer.  I have run a gammut of emotions because human life is so much more important than baby bunnies and there are such real needs in the world around me.....would God do something for these baby buns?  Would He hear me?  In the scheme of life this is so small....but they are still, Life.  These bunnies are still a plan, a thought, a precious creation made by God! They didn't "just happen"!  Even the least of these, He cares about deeply.  The Bible so clearly says that he cares about the sparrows and the lilies of the field.  God has made the world and everything in it, why wouldn't He care about these precious bunnies?  And, even more, He cares for me and what is important to me.
     I, again, set to prayer.  By evening I was ready to go and feed the bunnies and my husband says, "Give it the night.  Wait until morning." (mother bunnies feed at night when all is quiet and less predators are around to follow them to the nest.  I protested, "But they may not live until morning!!!" he encouraged me to wait.  he accepted that if anything happened it would be on his head (that's right mister!) and he would accept full responsibility.  I walked away thinking to myself, yeah right, what does he know?  I'm the one on the phone with breeders, vets, etc.  I'm the one who is reading and researching online!! I'm the one who has given over to half my day dealing with this.....and I'm the one who will be finding their little bodies in the morning. :(  Still, I had a choice...obey or do it my way.  I decided in that moment to obey.  I know, I know! it was sooooooooo hard! Still, I waited, I trusted and guess what?  Well, wait a minute, I'll get to that. 
     So, a restless night of prayer and worry gave way to early morning.  I sat in bed not ready to get up and see what may or may not be a good thing.  I prayed.  Lord, this is going to either be a sad moment that I am not sure I am ready to face! I cried.  They could be almost dead and I'll rush to feed them but it will be in vain!!  They could be dead and I'll feel like such a jerk for not feeding them last night! Or, they could be full.  Really, they could be just fine.  Which will it be?  How can I look?  Lord!! What will I do?  Well, until you step out of the boat, those will remain questions that are unanswered.  I had to find the answer.
     I crept over to the box that we are keeping in our room for privacy and peace from the other pets and banshees (pets being a nosey dog and two cats who would love to play with the bunnies until their squeakers break!- Banshees being my 3 boykins who are so super excited about the babies but are just boys and not being noisey and rambunctious is IMPOSSIBLE!!) I peaked over the side, removed the screen top and pet the mommy.  She eyed me warily.  I prayed.  I looked and seperate from the fat ones were the three little ones that had been so little and scrawny.  They were right infront of me, out in the open in their own little area and they had FULL TUMMIES!!!  All 6 babies had nice round full tummies!!! Oh what joy!!! Oh how I was so thankful!!! Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, praises and smiles were abundant and falling from my lips! My heart in gratitude felt like it would explode!  Thank you Jesus, thank you!
     I've been down this road before.  My dear reader, God is in the details.  He is the God who sees and hears.  Just so you know, I have been told no before.  I've tasted the loss of a baby of my own that no matter how many tears I cried, no matter how many prayers were prayed, my little one went home to be with Him.  I was devastated.  I do not have answers as to why some are yes and some are no.   The Bible says clearly that our ways and thoughts are not like His.  It hurts. It hurts to grieve, it hurts to lose, it hurts to have hopes and dreams come crashing down around us.  We live in a fallen world and are told these things will happen.  It is the result of sin in this world and it is not what God had originally designed for us.  That is why He has made a way for us to spend eternity with Him.  Salvation is for us to live forever with Him, away from death, sin, brokenness, dismay, and sorrow that we experience today.  Heaven is where we will experience perfection as it was meant to be for us.  It will be utterly perfect and we will be made perfect too!  God is in the details even of what will happen to us when we and our loved ones die here. I am thankful that He is now telling my story.
     It's a lesson from the rabbits.  "Cast your cares upon Him because He careth for you." Oh how He more than cares.  He loves, He loves passionately and deeply, more than you or I can imagine!  Oh to walk in and know the depths of His love!!!

My Great Grandmother's Quilts

As my Grandmother has moved and is settling in, we have discovered many treasures amongst her things.  Here are the few from her life back in Oklahoma where she was born and raised.  These were made by her mother around the 1930's and all made by hand (except for the second to last which is a top that is unfinished. She must have either borrowed or finally was given a sewing machine!)  The fabrics and colors are fun and it was neat to discover in two of the unfinished tops that they used their clothes often times.  So neat to think of the dresses and farm shirts worn and used up and then still repurposed into something that has stood the test of time...

Friday's Folleys

Today I spent the day helping my Grammy move into my parent's home.  A very long day.  She will get settled and it will take some time to get used to it.  I feel badly for her leaving her home of 60+ years.  I know it will be safer for her but honestly, this must be so very hard.  She is handling it well though and is a very strong and courageous woman.  I admire her so much!! 

We are also waiting for one of our bunnies to have her first litter of babies.  She is now overdue and it's driving me nuts!!! I'm so afraid that they'll come in the middle of the night and be too cold. :(  I know I need to let whatever God has planned happen but right now they are in her and alive...you can feel them kicking in her belly, it is so cool!!!  I am hoping that she is ok and all will be well.  I can't wait!!! I so hope they live! 

Tomorrow is picture posting day here and I'm bound and determined to get some pics on here!! Lots to share!

HUGE GIVEAWAY!!

Ok, my friends over at Forgotten Way Farms are hosting a huge giveaway and it's sooooo easy!! Just go their site www.forgottenwayfarms.com and leave a comment! That's it! How easy is that?!  You could win a Grampa Jakes cook set or a pioneer rack..let me tell you, these racks are AMAZING!! I've got to figure out a way to post the picks so you can see these things, fantastic win!! Head on over now!!!

Resurrection Weekend

Ok, so normally Resurrection Weekend is spent much differently that this year.  NORMALLY we start with placing decorations around the house, baking yummy things, coloring eggs, and making marshmallow "tombs" that tell of Jesus and the wonderful gift of salvation that He gives.  We read the scriptures and have a wonderful time of prayer and rejoicing, baskets and treats, and a wonderful meal with our family.  *sigh*. Not so much this year.

My poor hubs while pruning our apple trees Friday morning (taking a much needed day out of work) fell off the ladder and thought he was grabbing a branch....it wasn't a branch but a very sharp saw.  Lots of blood and a disaster later, we were seated in the ER getting his hand stitched back together.  Then, off to a surgeon specialist.  All things considered, the whole affair took 6 hours and we were home with pain meds, antibiotics and one very sad in sore hubby. :(  That was Friday.  Dinner was made and we all collapsed in a heap on the couches exhausted, mostly mentally, from the shock and whirlwind of the day. All the shopping that I was to do that day was gone....I'd been too sick myself earlier in the week to do it then.

Saturday...hubs is feeling better so what does he do?  Back up in the trees I find him.  Like one hand injured wasn't bad enough???? So I put off the errands and shopping again and helped him so I could make sure he didn't lose another limb...and I'm not talking trees here. >:/  Then I needed to prune the blueberries, take the trash to the dump, clean up and THEN go shopping.  Sandwiches for dinner when I finally got home.  Again, exhausted.  We did color eggs though and how 3 boys can go through eggs!!!! We colored 36 eggs and it was done in 20 minutes!  Can you believe that?  Still, I was glad to have them done for the next day egg-hunt.  Hubs was not feeling well and had a fever so everyone went to bed early and left me flat.  I packed baskets and hid them for Sunday morning.  We have a tradtion that goes back to my childhood.  As children, we hide our baskets and parents have to find them.  Once the parent's find them, we fill them and re-hide them somewhere else and the kids have to find them Easter Morning.  My parents started this tradition and I keep it going.  It's fun but with boys, you must make ground rules or you might be looking until 3 am for them!!!  I'll have to post that story another time! :)

Sunday, it's early morning, the sun is shining and I can't wait to share the day!  What a wonderful day to rejoice in! The sun is shining again and it's almost 60! Gorgeous! Baskets, chocolate, eggs, family, Jesus is alive! I am so excited to share this with....wait....where's my hubs?  Why is he up so early?  Hmmmm.....must be feeling better so got up early.....no, I hear the TV.  Hmmmm....No coffee is made.  What's this?  He's curled up on the couch in my blanket?!  I need to make him his own....but I digress.  My hubs never curls up on the couch in ANY blanket.  "Good morning Hon!"....him, "grmph".  "How are you feeling?"...him, "umph (or something like that) TERRIBLE!!" Oh no! I take him temp. he's 100F.  He is sore, achy all over and just miserable.  His color is terrible and he looks like a wreck.  Time to call the doctor.  I call the surgeon as my hub's hand is so bandaged and we are NOT to unwrap it, he could be infected and we'd never know.  My guess is it's not the hand, it's either the shot they gave him or a reaction to the antibiotic he's on.  What little is showing of his hand is not swollen, painful or anything.  BUT! We are then off again to the Dr.  Great guy, met us in his office on Easter Sunday just to make sure!  Several hours later we are on our way home.  So much for our morning of Hot Cross Buns, eggs, bacon and fruit salad with praises to Jesus! I call my mom as we were supposed to go to her house for dinner.  Can you come here instead?  Sure, just come help me for a bit.  I drive to her home and help her unload so much stuff for my grandmother who is moving in with them I am overwhelmed!  That's a blog in and of itself!  I then load up the food, drive to my messy home and organize the troops!  Boys are cleaning, I'm cooking, cleaning and all things I can reach...I feel like a whirling dirvish! Or an octopus on crack!  Then family arrives! We go from egg hunt to food to trinkets to dessert to everyone out the door and a mess to clean up.  I'm beat.  it was such a whirwind weekend! No time to truly reflect on the Lord and His wonderful gift to us but it did allow me to gift others.  My hubs needed to be loved and cared for, my mom needed my help, I was able to prepare food for others and entertain them and hubs was able to rest and be comfortable in his own home while beginning recovery from his fever.  All in all, I guess it was a day of service and that is what the Lord wants for us....to serve others.  I'm glad to have every day to thank Him for His gift of salvation..not just once a year.

Thank you Jesus....for Truth, for Light, for Love.  For forgiveness, for kindness and for showing us that it isn't really about us, but about You. <3

The Neglected Blog

My poor neglected blog.  Life as a teacher, mommy, quilter, daughter, friend, etc takes so much of my time that blogging just kind of falls away.....I'm glad because that means I'm busy living and what a blessing that is!  On the other hand, I would like time to tend to this poor thing. Don't know why except that the idea of putting out there life, what we do, what we see, what we experience seems fun! Sharing the insanity? Perhaps.  Not that anyone comes here besides me but still, if I didn't neglect this thing so much then that wouldn't be the case now would it? :)

Ok, so here goes.  I'm going to make a name change.  Not sure what yet as I am so involved with so many different things I could have 20 blogs to cover just a few of them....I'm a quilter, it is a HUGE passion of mine.  I'm a crafter...enjoy creating and stamping things, cutting things, glueing things, etc..  I'm a gardener and love to plant and create in the gardens.  I'm an off-grid wannabe...and working in that direction.  I'm a teacher by day and a mommy 24/7. I'm a Cubscout Assistant leader, Cubmaster, whatever they need done person.  I'm a helpmeet to my hubs and an animal lover.  See, I'm already overwhelmed with what to write! I'm ecclectic and so glad for it.  How could I pick one and then want to writed about something else?  Mostly I'm a very dedicated Christian.  Not perfect on my own, just dedicated to being loved by God and learning to serve Him here.  That is my biggest passion in life.

So, stay tuned and there will be a name change coming!  In the meantime, I think I'll just ramble on about whatever I'm doing....I think the name will reflect that too!  Throw some ideas my way! :)

Fabulous Friday....Again.

Ok, where did that week go exactly?  I had all these lovely intentions of posting each and every day...oops. I have come to the conclusion that there will never be enough time in one's day to do all the things we want to do, intend to do or would do if we were superwomen!

Here's the recap of our week!  Last weekend we attended an Art Birthday Party at this really cool local art studio.  The kids get to make their own framed art to take home.  They are given a cut out of a character or whatever the parents want or kids want to go with their interests or theme of their party, then you detail it, piece it on to a piece of paper and paint around it.  The instructor is there to talk to the children about technique, ideas and so forth.  When they finish, the artwork goes into a frame which the kids can then decorate the frame with little plastic do-dads.  All in all really cute and this particular activity was geared to 3-5  yr olds.  I enjoyed seeing what else they offer for classes there and hope to enroll my boys in classes later this Spring.

Sunday found us at the Scout Hall for the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.  My Middle-Guy did great and received a ribbon and certificate for "The Most Colorful".  He did a Lego theme car.  He was disappointed not to win the race BUT I reminded him that there is always next year and you know, his car did pretty darn well. :)

This week was a busy one with the usual flair for school; readin', writin', and 'rithmetic.  We made Kefir this week and have another batch brewing.  We also had our celebration for Ground Hog Day!  We made Ground Hog theme lapbooks that you can find HERE along with many other cool lapbook projects.  Every Ground Hog Day for the past almost 20 years, we have a Cook-In.  Winter is usually so long and boring that one year my mom decided to have some fun.  She set up a card table in the front living room by the fire and set it up for a summer cook out.  She made hamburgers out on the grill, potato salad, corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake for dessert!  We have kept this tradition for all these years!  We now have added the movie Groundhog Day that stars Bill Murray and even have trivia challenges after the movie.  I think we know almost all the details of that movie!  I have taken over Ground Hog Day dinner in recent years and always set my table as fancy as I can (usually on the fly with zero time to actually plan this in advance...such was the case this year too!).  I use my best china, silver and crystal and the kids and I come up with something funny to either give as table favors or what-not.  This year I made little envelopes with a stamped groundhog on it that I filled with heirloom tomato seeds for Spring.  The boys also shared their lapbooks and a fun little craft project we found online.  At the end of the night, everyone had some groundhog cupcakes to bring home. 

So there you have it! Our week in review! Lots of other running around errands in there but really, do you care?  I didn't think so.  Meltdowns in grocery stores, the endless trips to try and find my oldest some shoes, picking up our raw milk...not usually what folks want to read but I'm sure more can relate to.  I promise to post pics later of all the above so you can see what we've done!

Fabulous Friday!

Rain Rain Go Away......I can't believe it's raining today...Where on earth is all the snow?! Oh well. I keep telling myself that it will mean earlier in the garden! 

Speaking of gardens....I'm getting that Mid-Winter gardening itch. I'm beginning my plans for our gardens. I have most of my seeds and only need a few items.  This is a new garden in a new home for us this year so it will be interesting to see how it all goes.  We are going to have the biggest gardens we've ever had if all goes well and though I'm excited, I'm a bit daunted by it as well.  So much to do and as always, so little time to do it all in...oh well.  Onward and Upward as the saying goes.  I plan to post pics (if I can figure out how) of our progress and plans as we go.

So, what is on tap for today?  School, Pinewood Derby car painting and planning for pizza! Friday Night is always Pizza Night at our house. Pizza and a Veggie Tales movie tonight. 

Have a blessed and fabulous Friday!

Fantastic Fabulous Giveaway!

Head on over to http://www.forgottonwayfarms.com/ for a fantastic opporunity to win some great homesteading items! Right now they are having a giveaway for one of their hand made drying racks, Homesteading For Beginners DVD's, herbal remdies and so much more!  The racks are quality racks with a unique design that allows maximum items with minimum drying time!  I own one of the smaller racks and the quality is superb! I own two of the Homesteading DVD's as well and let me tell you, these are family friendly, fun and inspiring! You will learn something new and be entertained as well.  While you are at their site, check out their other items they have for sale! I so want to win the Grampa Jakes cook set-up! Incredible!

Also visit http://www.homesteaddryingracks.com/ to purchase these and other items for your homestead!

Good luck!

DVD contest you don't want to miss!!!

http://www.wellplannedday.com/contest01.php

Today you can enter into a fabulous contest for a DVD your family is sure to love.  Follow the link and enter!  You will receive an extra entry for sharing the contest on your blog, Twitter, FB, or emailing to friends!