HAPPY SUMMER!! and BIG NEWS :)

HELLO!! LOTS OF NEWS :)

We have had a BLESSED SUMMER!!

We sent our kids to public school last school year. It was quite an adjustment!! Now we can say WE TRIED IT!! We LOVED the school and the teachers and staff but MISS OUR FREEDOM :) Especially now with The Captain being RETIRED from flying and being home, working full time with me on OUR BOOMING BUSINESS! But we will be going back to homeschooling this coming year! I will admit, I'm nervous to be homeschooling  my first high schooler but know that God will get me through!

You all know that we lost our son in law Matt in Afghanistan last year...He was a HERO and will never be forgotten.... Well, we have some big news :) God has sent our oldest a true ANGEL.. He holds her when she cries.. He understands.. He has been at war himself and was injured badly...HE GETS IT...  They were Married in March and are expecting OUR FIRST PRECIOUS GRANDDAUGHTER IN SEPTEMBER! They are living in Dallas so we will be in TEXAS A LOT!!!!!

We have been BUSY TRAVELING in our RV! We spent 3 weeks in Florida in May and June!!! We were blessed to take one of our two kiddos birth siblings with us that has never been out of Kansas :) SO FUN! We plan on spending FOUR MONTHS in it this winter from NOVEMBER 1 to March 1! We are SO EXCITED to plan this trip!

BUT THE BIGGEST BLESSING was to be able to Bring our parents down to FL on an ALL EXPENSES paid trip!! We got them a little house RIGHT on the BEACH with their own separate master suites! A DREAM COME TRUE FOR ME!! Our GOOD LORD and OUR BUSINESS made it all possible! WE ARE SO THANKFUL for the precious memories made!

I am blessed to travel about one weekend a month to different areas to train my GROWING IT WORKS TEAMS and also to BE TRAINED!! SO FAR this year, we have been to FLORIDA, DALLAS, ATLANTA, CHICAGO, NEBRASKA, KANSAS CITY, and headed to CALIFORNIA this weekend and SAINT LOUIS in a couple weeks then Back to FLORIDA and WEST VIRGINIA SOON!  The FRIENDSHIPS FUN and Freedom that God has Blessed us with have been UNREAL!! SO MANY adoptive MAMAS on our team!!! Its truly something ONLY GOD can Orchestrate!!! It has changed SO MANY LIVES both physically and financially.. UN... REAL!

We also had a BIG BIRTHDAY just a few weeks ago :) Blakely turned THREE!! Hard to believe this little miracle is GROWING UP SO FAST!!! 

We also just finished our YEARLY WHEAT HARVEST here on the farm!! UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!

Praying you all have a BLESSED and HAPPY SUMMER!! I am going to TRY to get back to blogging at least twice a month!! I have missed you all!! BLESSINGS TO YOU!

Early Morning FARM EXCITEMENT!

We never know what excitement we will wake up to on the farm..

Can you guess what we are all doing outside at 7:45am?

Even the cat and dog are involved..

Thanks to our little TINKIEBELL

We got to see this...

Do YOU SEE HIM?

Mr. Smearfritz came RUNNING in the house while doing his chores telling us there was a COON up on top of the telephone pole... "AND HE'S ALIVE, he LOOKED RIGHT AT ME" He said..

I said "POOR LITTLE FELLA, we need to CALL SOMEONE and SAVE HIM!"

The Captain calmly replies.. "coons like doing that, they climb, they sleep up in trees and on poles every day,  he will come down when he's ready."

It was NEAT TO SEE!

Reminded me of life before my KING SIZE BED!

Sure enough, THE CAPTAIN WAS RIGHT as he is most of the time.

About 30 minutes later, here he came..

Another reason why CITY LIFE IS NOT FOR ME!

Farm Wife Duties

Living on a working farm has been a huge blessing to me. I feel so needed ALL THE TIME! I have MANY duties as a farm wife other than my normal motherly duties like homeschooling, cooking, cleaning and breaking up fights.

I'm not the most mechanically inclined gal out there so I know when The Captain calls for my help, its serious OR he's desperate. The Captain called & I could hear tension in his voice. The grain truck had stopped running on the side of the road a few miles from the house. I shoved 6 popsicles at the 6 littles and had them play outside and OFF I WENT.... There the grain truck was OUT STANDING IN THE FIELD.I parked the 4 wheeler next to the grain truck and remained silent (that's what I knew I had to do-ANY EQUIPMENT BREAK DOWNS during harvest are sure to get any farmers blood boiling.)Being the dweeb that I am, I couldn't resist bringing my camera and taking a picture of this Milo as it clicked in the breeze. Isn't it lovely?

Then I got in the truck and turned it over and tried to start it while The Captain worked with some starter fluid and trying to unplug the gas line.

DANG I'M GOOD! Next thing I knew he was OFF to the elevator with his load of beans.

Living on the farm-I've learned how to drive lots of stuff. Today we "MOVED FARMS." We are all done cutting soybeans and planting wheat on our home place so it was time to move all our equipment to our other farm 9.1 miles away. I loaded the littles & a Dora video in the DVD player in the bus & started the big kids off on their homeschool math and headed out.

We moved the grain truck first. I follow The Captain while he takes each piece of equipment to our new farm all the while the 2 boys are SCREAMING their brains out that they want to be with him-OH JOY!Next was the tractor and grain cart which takes a while following at 20mph. The last thing to go was the combine & since it's last, I dont have to follow. I peeled the boys off The Captains legs gave him his carefully packed lunch with a LOVE NOTE INSIDE and came in to get started with the rest of my day. I won't see him until late but I do love harvest time and all the buzz around the community.I put the kids initials in their pot pies last night-they thought that was just the most awesome thing-another farm wife duty-THINKING UP BIZARRE STUFF TO DO WITH the 6 littles food so they will eat!I'm hoping and praying that as the 6 littles see The Captain and I working together as a team on the farm-they will learn how important it is to help when needed. I already have one little sweet one "in training" that always volunteers her help.

Thank you Lord for trusting us with these sweet ones & helping us "HARVEST THESE SWEET LITTLE HEARTS!"

HARVEST TIME! Homeschool Challenge..

See this picture? This means its HARVEST TIME!! The soybeans are READY!

I'm just amazed by the gorgeous beans inside the pods & they taste good too! Truly God's handiwork.
There's The Captain off in the distance-bean dust rolling!

Here go the beans into our new old truck & then OFF to the elevator.Of course The Captain has his usual "appendage" WyWy.This boy prays for tractors & combines & anything John Deere daily.The only thing to break down "so far" this harvest is WyWy's 4 wheeler.

He actually rode it from our house out to the field to find The Captain about a mile away. Farming is in his blood!The only thing I find challenging this year is keeping my 4 preschoolers busy during the homeschool day. It is tiring to say the least. We try several different ways of doing things. They are very distracting to the older kids & I haven't quite found the perfect schedule or balance to keep things running smoothly. Any advice/ideas would be appreciated! AND YES-we do school in leotards & underwear at times! Whatever works right?

Tears On The Farm Today...Farewell....

It happens all the time on the farm and it DOES get easier but still sad.

I KNEW it was EVENTUALLY going to happen...

T's job is to feed our chickens each morning before breakfast.

This morning- this was all she found....SHE WAS DEVASTATED!!!

The chicken house got broken into last night or sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

The door was ajar....The screen was ripped out & we noticed some FAMILIAR foot prints on the side of their house.

The front screen and concrete block were moved and a HUGE HOLE DUG underneath the front door....After the cat was CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES this DYNAMIC DUO was deemed GUILTY!!

Guilty of the murder of our 2 sweet chickens that we incubated, watched hatch and faithfully loved and cared for.

She knows she did something naughty.She won't even look me in the eye."SUMMER" right out of her egg.

The only black chicken born. She was special.Named "Summer" by her mama Aw-BellFarewell Sweet SummerAffectionately named "Rainbow" by mama MyMyGoodbye Dear Rainbow..

You were both loved very much by 6 little kids.

I will admit, I shed a few tears over them IN PRIVATE myself.

There is a time to live and a time to die.

We learned a lot about Gods gift of life watching you 2 start as little dots inside an egg & then come out of the eggs-

What a miracle we got to witness.

Thank you for all you gave us in your short lives.

The giggles, excitement, laughter & now tears.

RIP Summer & Rainbow.