funny death

Evan: The brooding chicken had a bad sleep. She died. 

sleeping in the nude and other things

Evan was just too tired after swimming to get dressed. Though he was clutching his underwear and he did lay out his pajamas to rest on.

 

Doug, Amanda, Dean, Elaine and Lizzie came for a visit! It was fun to have them here! We did farm things as well as Austin things. It's been awhile since we've been Austin tourists. I appreciated the visit to Torchy's Tacos.

We had another chick casualty. This time we think maybe a rat got it. That's 4 chicks down, 4 to go.

oh, Father, we thank the for all we have received

Every time impick my 4 goji berries which are kind of a weirs combo of berry and bell pepper, the following line from Children of Eden goes through my head. 

"Oh Father, for all we have received, we thank thee." No one really enjoys eating goji berries around here. And we get such a meager little harvest. But if I can be thankful for what I have, I believe the Lord will continue to bless us with more in the future. So, Lord, I thank thee for my 4 goji berries, my two eggs, and my 9 golf ball potatoes. I am also thankful for the opportunity to see things grow because it is actually very lovely and satisfying. 

Amen. 

fishing 🎣

Brother Bassett came by this morning to give us some fishing lessons. Unfortunately it decided to rain! I loved looking out and seeing all the kids with him. I think it is a beautiful thing that we have the opportunity to know people in ways we didn't know them before. Brother Bassett shook our hands every Sunday until the ward split. We haven't seen him much since, but now we are in his branch AND we get to learn about fishing from him. I see it as a door the Lord is opening to build a relationship with him. 

We also got a zucchini! 

 

And a strawberry or 2 and 3 purple potatoes! I feel like our garden is kind of meager but I am very happy for what we do get!

evening round up

Every Monday night we take the garbage to the street. The kids like to drive the Gator. We found this stick bug and Cappi came to face off the gator. Or to say hi, ask for some lovin' and see if any cattle cubes were being offered. (No cubes tonight.)

We play hard here. The younger boys get especially tired. We are outside a lot. The kids love swimming. I enjoy the day to day chores and enjoying the beautiful landscape. I think I've acclimated to Texas heat. I drip sweat from the moment I walk outside but I don't really mind nor do I feel that hot. 

a death and a fish

A small hummingbird was found during our wood clean up over the weekend. Taft worked hard to care for it making it concoctions of sugar water, chick food and bugs. He fed it frequently with a syringe. But alas, little Tiny was taken home to hummingbird heaven this morning. 

The boys really wanted to go fishing today. We figured out how to set up the pole, took some hot dogs out and tried out best. 

Taft, Joel and Kent all caught small cat fish and then Taft caught a big one. We released them but maybe someday we'll eat them. 

Highlights May 2024

Our family decided to take ina new lifestyle. We moved about 25 minutes east to Elgin, TX where we are farm sitting for the next year. I knew we were embarking in an adventure and the first month here has not disappointed. We are in a beautiful place learning things we can only learn here. We are learning and growing from our experiences and developing new talents, skills and spiritual gifts.

Here are some highlights:

- The water trough pipe broke which meant we turned off the water for a night because we were worried that it was leaking so much; farm family helped fix it!

- We met several rat snakes in the chicken coop. Some we rehimed and some escaped while we were "observing" them.

- The favorite farm chore in feeding the cows cattle cubes.

- We experienced a farm flood. Taft was able to kayak on the flood waters. We all watched in awe as the waters swept through and had fun playing in it. We lost a big branch on a tree by the garden. We also lost a chicken. 

- We got 6 baby chicks. One died the first day so then we got two more baby chicks. They lived inside until they broke their bonds and poop was getting out of the boundaries. They were moved outside to the bigger coop. We unfortunately lost 2 more to a bird of prey. We were sad at their loss.

- We reached a hummingbird during our fallen branch storm clean up. It has survived 24+ hours on sugar water, crushed mill worms and baby chick feed fed tomit by Taft with a syringe. 

Everyday is something new. I always want to record and share everything. It's kind of like having a newborn and as they grow you think everything is amazing and wonderous. We are having an experience and though sometimes it is overwhelming, I just love it! I am so thankful we have this time here to connect to the world God has given us.