Our Trip!!!

We're getting ready to leave for our trip east!! We're leaving tomorrow. We're pretty excited about it, but some of us a disappointed the we'll miss the conclusion of The Green Ring Conspiracy (Adventures in Odyssey) We'll be gone until June 7th I think, so updates to follow! Sorry that was short, I can't think of much else to say... oh, I do hope that it's warmer in Virginia than it is here though, I'm tired of having to wear a jacket to go out side, it's the end of May! I don't understand this crazy weather :)

Hannah~

Love these lyrics

Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because he lives, all fear is gone.
Because I kno-o-ow he holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because he lives.

I've been singing that song over and over for the past few days, ever since we sang it at church on Sunday. Those are powerful words. I love it.

Rain....

It's been raining for the past 5 days straight. And where we live, it NEVER rains, except for the month of June, so this is a very strange weather pattern that not many people are enjoying. The garden is enjoying all of the water, but unfortunately, so are the weeds. As soon as this clears I know what our job will be. Weeding.

 I haven't been able to think of any interesting things to write about lately, so that's why I haven't been posting much. That, and the fact that we're getting to the season of hard work on the farm, so I don't have as much free time as I did this spring. So that's about all I have to say

Hannah~

A Day in the Life

....of me! I thought I'd describe a typical day in my house. If you were at my house at 6:00 in the morning you'd probably hear various alarms go off all around the house, if you were in the room that I share with some of my sisters, you'd probably hear some kind of music, From the Boys room you would probably hear the loud, obnoxious, buzzer that goes off each morning. From there you would hear the rush to get go down to the kitchen by six thirty to have family devotions and then head out to the barn to do the chores. After chores comes breakfast! Then we straighten up the house, and start school. We'll go until about 11:30 and then break for lunch and cleanup. Then the younger kids nap while the older kids finish up their school work. At about 2:00 or so, you would probably hear two fiddles, a guitar a banjo and/or a mandolin practicing their songs, trying to keep it down so that the napping children won't wake up just yet :) Around 3:15 the music would probably stop and the doors would slam, Free Time! (as long as all school and music is done for the day of course) 4:30 comes around, time for chores, the garden must be weeded, the laundry folded, the porches swept, the hay brought up, the house straightened, and of course the animals must be fed. 5:30, Dinner time! then cleanup, and then either free time, or reading time. You would probably either hear a book being read aloud, (and people asking, "can't we read just one more chapter?") or the chatter of little kids playing quietly amongst themselves. 7:30 comes around, all of the kids under 6 are in the process of going to bed, you would probably hear something like this: "Mom! I can't find my toothbrush!" "Grace, Don't take your diaper off, that's not good." "Dad, have you seen Josiah's pajamas? I can't find them anywhere" In other words, it gets a bit chaotic. After the younger ones are in bed, dad usually does his computer time, mom has her planning time and talks with dad, and us older ones, usually read or get on the computer. You probably wouldn't hear much of anything at that hour. 9:00 comes around, bedtime for the older kids, (it always seems early, but when you're getting up by 6 each morning it's not early at all.) Sometimes we're allowed to listen to Adventures in Odyssey while we fall asleep, but most of the time you would hear quiet.

That's pretty much a typical day in the life, simple, I know, but who said life had to be complicated? I wouldn't trade anything for my simple lifestyle.

Time Flies.....

Wow, it's been a whole week since I've posted! It was a great week, first of all, its finally spring! Last Saturday, (as in April 30th) it was 19 degrees, and then all of a sudden it's in the 70's! we've enjoyed the warm weather while we're planting the garden and mowing the orchard and all of that fun stuff. We were able to take a short vacation last weekend, We drove up to our friends house and spent a long weekend with them, we had an amazing time, it was really neat to see their new farm and just be able to catch up with them. We definitely enjoyed our time there, and when it was time to leave on Sunday night, some of my younger siblings and some of their younger kids went out and hid in the barn loft and made us come looking :) Today we had a little surprise when we went out to clean the barn after our school was finished, a water pipe had broken and there was a huge flood out behind the barn, we had to turn all of the water off and then call dad and ask him to stop and get the parts that we needed to fix it. I am so thankful for my brothers at times like that, they knew exactly what to do to fix the problem. Things are going well on the farm, I'm already looking forward to summer, and harvest soon after. Call me a country girl, but I love living on a farm.

Hannah~

Great Song!!!

I recently heard a great song called Caspian by Liddy Voetberg, here are some of the lyrics.

Stand on though infantry we fight for victory
Hold now the banner up high
Threatening adversity challenge our bravery
Search out the truth make it known in your hearts you are true


Fall not to trickery move forth with honesty
Make straight you course now and run
Fraudulent claims made to default his name
O persuade us to answer and hold forth the hope of our faith


Quickly the time comes when we are called forth
Standing exposed all alone in the dark
Don't be ashamed to look into the face
Of the one who set forth all the worlds into place


No battle is won by the strength of the arm
You proud and you lofty bow down
Heaven and earth will in time pass away
But the truth that is written in all of our hearts will stand strong.


How quickly the time comes when we are called forth
Who will defend us the day we embark
Don't be ashamed to look into the face
Of the one who set forth all the worlds into place

I looked it up online and couldn't find it on youtube, but it's on iTunes and if you go here you can listen to the song as it's the background music to their website. I think it's a really great song, I've listened to it pretty much non stop since I heard it :)

Hannah~