Stephen Makes Good On a Deal

Darren had some friends from Wisconsin come spend a few days hunting pheasants a couple of weeks ago.  John made us the most amazing pancakes - his somewhat secret recipe.  Stephen was sure he needed that recipe so a deal was made.  In exchange for the recipe Stephen would clean the birds they shot that day.  Stephen was hesitant to fulfill his end of the bargain, but in the end he was a trooper and a man of his word.

 See the white paper up on the rack by the window?

That's the recipe.  Ha ha

 The smell was disgusting at best.  In the name of a good blog post I suffered through.  A good reminder why I do not hunt - I don't like to clean the kill.

 Cormac, Brech, and Gianna had swept the shop and left piles earlier that day.

Brigid and Kiara undid all their work.

They had fun though.  That's all that matters.  Right??

 Way to go, Stephen.

 Congratulations on a job well done!  The recipe is yours and yours only.

 John and Deb brought their daughter along.  She and Gianna were good friends almost immediately.

Such great memories to start off our adventure in the area.

Chicken Pox

We moved on Friday - on Saturday the three girls showed signs of chicken pox.  It was perfectly timed for the busiest week of the month.  The girls did very well with the chicken pox overall.  The first couple of nights were rough on Darren and I as the girls got up more than they slept.

 Brigid

 Kiara

 Brigid's hand

Poor girl had blisters between her fingers.  She had the worst case of the three.

 Brigid and Kiara

 Brigid

Kiara

Helping Daddy

One of the biggest pros to moving on the ranch is that the kids are able to go to work with Darren.  I have many, many fond memories of going to work with my dad both when he was a carpenter and when he started farming with Papa.  The girls just adore anything their daddy is doing.  If he is taking care of Jimmer, they want to take care of Jimmer.  If he is cleaning the shop, they want to clean the shop.  If he is feeding the calves then, by all means, they will feed the calves.

 Gianna rode up the hill in the tractor with Darren.

 The twinnies cried 'cause they wanted to go with Daddy.

 I opened the gate and had a few admirers.  Aren't they cute??

 Finally the twinnies got to help.

Happy, happy girls!!

Strongman

On Saturday, September 15, we kept busy unpacking and cleaning and unpacking more.  Stephen and Blase helped clean out the reloading room in the basement.  It was the only room that hadn't been cleaned out before we moved in.  Blase was saying he could carry two twenty-five pound bags without a problem.  His dad said it would be more impressive if he could carry one hundred pounds.

So he carried 125 pounds.

He only took four steps at most, but he carried it.

Young men!!

The Journey

For this 1000th blog post I thought it would be fitting to put up a fortune cookie of mine from this summer.  This blog has always been about the journey.  

The journey of motherhood.

  The journey of marriage.

  The journey of homeschooling.

  The journey towards heaven.

  I can now add in the journey of ranching to our blog. 

The journey is not smooth.  

Sometimes it is not pretty.  

The journey twists and turns, it climbs and falls down.  

The journey will end with my death.

Death is something I'm all too familiar with over the past decade.  Death has been part of my journey and will continue to be part of my journey.  With each death in the family I am reminded that my journey from now until death is just day after day of waking up and making a choice to love God or love the worldliness around me.  To love my neighbor or love myself.

The journey itself determines my end.

It is at this point I will post my favorite fortune cookie of all time.  Brech's -

http://treasuresforheaven.blogspot.com/2015/01/advice-worth-taking.html

Ha ha, well, what do I know anyway.  I'm just a pilgrim on a journey.  

I hope you take this journey with us as we embark on a new adventure full of cattle and crops, machinery and misfits (that's us by the way).  I hope the next one thousand blog posts are full of life and love as that will make the journey happy and fruitful.

Homecoming and Coming Home

On September 13th we had a busy day.  First I went shopping with my sister to get groceries for our first couple of weeks at the ranch.  Next I went with a different sister to a homeschool mom's night out.  And finally home to fall into bed.

Friday, the 14th, was even busier.  We woke up somewhat early to finish packing and loading all the things into the trailer that we were taking to the ranch.  Blase, Stephen, and Darren left in the morning so they could go unload the trailer and set up beds in the house.  I loaded more things into the van, fed the kids lunch, and then took them to the homecoming parade in my hometown.  I haven't been to a homecoming parade since the year before I was married.

Mauri and her girls were also at the parade, along with Mom and Loman. 

  

 Carlie was almost more than Mauri could keep up with.  She's so busy!

This is the whole reason we came to the parade.

Our niece, Shelby, was marching in the middle school band for the first time.  She did a great job.  I have to say that the middle school band marched AND played better than the high school band.

Our sort of kind of adopted brother who is actually our cousin somewhere down the line was in that firetruck.  He got on the loud speaker and said hi to Loman.  Roy, that sure made Loman's day.

After the homecoming parade we made our way home.

Yes, HOME.

We were finally moving to the ranch and finally going to be together as a family.

 Mauri sent home brownies for our first night in our new home.

A glorious sunset to welcome us.

AND we started unpacking right away.  I found my rejoice coffee cup and, finally, everything was as it should be.  The first evening was long and exhausting.

Gianna had fun though.  She almost wasn't heavy enough to do any good.  It is tradition though.  One kid has to jump on the paper when we unpack.  This will hopefully be the last time one of my little kids has to jump on the paper ever.

God willing this will be our forever home and the end of our gypsy travels.  Home to stay, home for good.