A Look Back at March

March was a good and busy month! Here is our month in a picture recap:

We gained 5 new members at the farm...chicks!
They are growing rapidly and ready to move from the empty stock tank to the chicken coop! 

I helped throw a baby shower for Ashley and baby Cooper. His arrival is expected in less than two weeks!! :) 

Over Spring Break Ashley and I took Cole and Jami to Jump Mania.

Cole wore me out! They had a blast! 

This was the BIG slide that he just had to go up multiple times. I had to go with him each time. I think he is a better climber than I am! 

The jumping kids!

*Note to Self- Take bigger kids with us next time to keep up with these two! :) 

Cole got to have some Boone's BBQ! That place is one of our favorites.

He might have eaten an entire order of fried pickles by himself! 

We helped Grandpa Rick and Wendy haul some hog housing equipment. Cole was quite the worker! 

Mr. Messy Face off to feed his chickens. 

Uncle Dylan paid a visit finally!

After spending the day with Grammy Patty, she left an Easter basket full of treats. 

Cole had his first Peeps and he loved them! He also got a fishing pole and can't wait to use it! 

My yard got a much needed make-over thanks to the handy hubs. He took down a tree and knocked out some bushes that were not attractive! See the before picture ON THE BOTTOM...and the after on top. Not the greatest after picture, but it is so open and clean looking now. 

We dyed Easter Eggs!

After milking (of course) the Easter Bunny had paid Cole a visit. He brought some good stuff!

My little baseball star! He just loves baseball! 

He also got Play Dough from Nana and enjoyed playing with it! 

*No he isn't actually eating the P.D. Trust me :) 

Finished out Easter Sunday with some piano from the boy.
He could play that thing forever! 

Happy April!

Grey Hair Moments! (First Edition)

I decided last night while standing in the milk barn on a new "series" of posts that I am going to start. They will be called...

GREY HAIR MOMENTS!!

Yep, you guessed it! This mama is going grey. I have been fortunate to keep the grey hairs to a minimum, but recently they seem to be making a fierce appearance on my head! So how does this tie to anything you ask? Well last night the hubs had to work a little later so that meant Cole and I were set out to get chores and milking started.

Let me give you a little background. Every night when we get home, Cole jumps out of the car and takes off for his toys and the chances of me pulling him inside anytime soon become few. The boy would live outside most of the time, and if he is going in the house it is only to get more toys for digging in the dirt. This is great other than the fact that the fight to get his "barn clothes" on and into his rubber boots is typically on. Luckily last night a trip to the potty helped cut this fight for me in half. (Okay Heather get to the point...) Cole plays while I do the feeding and other chores and then I have to do some serious bargaining or dragging to get him in to the barn at milk time.

We love dirt :) 

Begin grey hair moment HERE- As I drove the 4-Wheeler up the fence line with my boy to feed the bull and 53 heifer the pup "Wrangler" usually follows. Of course today was no different. He is a cow dog and is learning to chase them now. So he thought why not practice on 53. You see the problem here is I DID NOT NEED HER TO BE CHASED!! Being the cute little pup he is, he did not listen to my blood-boiling screams to STOP! Therefore, he chased her far enough that she jumped the fence and went into the manure pit. Not her first rodeo in there, but not because she wanted to this time around.

So enter frustrating "grey hair" moment when I had to open 3 sets of gates, walk around the ledge of the pit 15 times, and spend 20 minutes convincing 53 to get OUT of the manure pit. She sure thought she was going to jump out the way she came in, but had a little vertical problem on the inside. So after about 15 minutes of making "scary" or just ridiculous noises and using a stick as my "cattle stick" she finally found her way out. Then came the task of getting her from the pen she was in back to the place she belonged. Task accomplished. Thank you 4-Wheeler. In this amount of time I could have been happily milking and a quarter of the way finished.

Anyways, I am feeling lucky that there were no cameras around. It could have made for lots of laughs for everyone. Especially with the commentary provided by a certain 2 year old. He even said to me once, "It's ok Mom. Don't worry." He is a hoot! So we set off to the barn to get it read for milking. When said 2 year old found himself standing on the wall for being ornery and next lead to a pee-pants incident that resulted in another delay and trip inside for new clothes.

FINALLY, after about a 40 minute series of delays we were off to milk cows. My goal for each night is dinner before 8:00. Well, we failed on that one for the night. Maybe tomorrow. :)

So until the next "grey hair moment..."

**Disclaimer- The events in this story were quite humorous even if they were frustrating. It is ok to laugh at my expense. That is pretty much the goal.

Grace

I haven't walked away from this blog, but I haven't had time to put anything together either. I no longer have internet at home. That is the downfall to living out in the country. The only crazy part is that I don't live in the middle of no where. Actually my backyard is along the interstate. BUT apparently fast internet just doesn't exist right now at my house. So until something better than Total Highspeed comes around...it is just me and the cell phone. Long story short, this doesn't make blogging easy! My phone is full to the brim so I can't even download the blogger app...boo!

Anyways...this post is about Grace. God's grace. I have been working on become a more graceful person recently. Gosh is seems like something that should be so simple, but it is not!

I read in a post from Rick Warren the following words:

"God’s Word says your weaknesses, doubts, and insecurities are no surprise to God. You may try to hide them from others, but you can’t hide them from the one who created you.

The truth is, God created you with weaknesses. And, since he’s God, he couldn’t have made a mistake. Is it possible he created you with weaknesses in order to keep you on your knees before him? With you dependent upon him, you’re able to do all things through him who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13–14)." Found HERE

The original scripture aligned with this post is: 

Graphic from HERE

My thoughts more recently have centered upon WHY is this happening? I know that all of the time we are all thinking that to ourselves. So with every struggle, stress, and frustration that comes in life I have decided to remember that God's grace is sufficient. I know that God does not give me more than I can handle. He gives me WHAT he has designed me to handle. SO when times of distress, stress, and frustration come my way I have been trying with all of my might to handle it gracefully. What do I mean by this? I have had to work hard to convince myself to GIVE IT ALL TO GOD. I tell myself everyday that I cannot make it on my own. God is my guide and I will rejoice in knowing that everything is going according to his plans and not my own. Handling life with GRACE is the hardest thing for me to do. BUT I know that God's plan is always greater than mine. 

One final reminder from God today...

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiates 3:1-8, ESV).

Join me in the venture of becoming a Graceful woman! All I can say is that prayer is the best medicine and God never fails. Even if we cannot see it right away. 

For now...I share my struggles with you and hope that I can post more often!