I saw this story and had to share it.  It really touched me.


The Rich Family in Church
by Eddie Ogan (found here)

I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.

By 1946 my older sisters were married and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.

When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. When we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could. For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1.

We made $20 on pot holders. That month was one of the best of our lives.

Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church, so figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.

The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change.

We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before.

That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering.

We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet.

But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20.

As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes! Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills.

Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our Mom and Dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the spoon or the fork that night.

We had two knifes that we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor.

That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed—I didn't even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor!

I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor. I decided that I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time. We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor. We didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way.

Mom started to sing, but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?" We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week.

Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy. Ocy put it in the offering.

When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."

Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100."

We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? From that day on I've never been poor again. I've always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!

I have the droopsies about Christmas so far this year.  I just get so frustrated with all the whoo-haa this time of year.  It just seems every year it's more and more about the stuff.  Take that black Friday thing, people staying out all night and into the next day getting into fights, or being hurt by someone else, pepper sprayed in the face, knocked over and the likes for what? MORE STUFF!!  Even the stores around here were already putting Christmas stuff out before Halloween ever got here.  I would just love to have an old fashion Christmas when we focus on Christ and each other.  SSSHHH don't tell my kidos but I truly wish we had never begun Santa.  I know with some people this is a touchy issue, but it really takes all the focus away.  We always do the Christmas story on Christmas eve, and there have been years I made a birthday cake for baby Jesus, we were involved in the plays at church and the caroling but it still seems to center around all the stuff that we can give or receive. Maybe soon, this  mood will pass and I will become my usual Martha  wanta-be LOL.  
God bless ya,
Tara

Homestead happenings

Elizabeth with her Reserve Grand Champion Sim Solution heifer @ the AJCA Thanksgiving Classic

 

 

 

                 

 

                          

 

 

 

It has been rather busy around here lately.  We have been busy trying to do school work, fight a nasty cold bug and the holidays.  We had a really good Thanksgiving with all the trimmings, but while everyone  else was out shopping on Black Friday we were out livestock showing.  We had a big show on Thanksgiving weekend and the kids and calves all did well.  We have another show this upcoming weekend and that should be it till after the first of the year.  We have so much to be thankful for this year.  God has been so good to us.  Everytime we have needed something He has just been right there for us.  I don't know how people who do not have a close relationship with the Lord can make it.  He is my rock.  This is going to be a long winter for us, because of the shortage of hay, but I know He is going to see us through it somehow!  The Lord is also working in different areas of our lives right now, He has been dealing with us about where we attend church or as of lately not been attending.  We are struggling so much with this right now.  I pray we do His will and not our will, but sometimes that seems like a mighty hard thing to do. We covet your prayers right now.   Other than those things all is well on our little homestead. 
God bless ya,
Tara

Lovely weekend

Civil War days at a local state park. These two pictures were taken year before last.
And we all know why I don't have new pics;(

We had a great day Sunday at Civil War days. Got to see a re-enactment of a battle and of course JC loved it. We toured the old homes, dipped some candles and enjoyed the afternoon.
I also met some new friends, some other homeschool mom's and some that even blog! I am hoping to get to know them better. I love meeting other like minded folks! Last night after we got home we left out and went and picked up Josh's new show heifer. She didn't come off the trailer to well last night, knocked down all the fans and just was not happy, she seems to be somewhat better this morning, so maybe just maybe she will be calm enough by this evening to start working. We plan on staying home this week and working on school work and new calves. I have a new recipe to try this week and it is a banana peanut butter muffins. If they turn out well I will post the recipe.

This weeks menu:
Monday: Chicken strips, macaroni and cheese, and green beans.(all from scratch of course;)
Tuesday: Taco soup, cornbread
Wednesday: Deer steak, fried potatoes and cabbage
Thursday: BBQ sandwiches and chips. (made from a pork roast that will be cooked in the crock pot all day)
Friday: Hamburgers

Not to fancy of meals this week for sure. I want to really get a lot of school work done this week, and I wanted meals to be easy.
I normally don't plan a menu for breakfast or lunch because we normally have the same things toast, cereal, oatmeal, grilled cheese, or grits for breakfast and lunch is normally left overs from the night before or salads. This week though I did plan on making a big batch of Chicken salad for us to have for lunch and guacamole dip too!!!

I also am going to make a batch of those muffins and a batch of sausage biscuits to put in the freezer for my hubby to have to grab every morning to eat on the way to work.
God bless ya till next time.
Tara

Homestead happenings

Well today was another typical busy day in our household. This week we have been home quiet a bit and I have loved it. We have been busy with school work and trying to catch up somewhat. J.C. and I did a nature walk this week and did a leaf collage and studied why God makes the leaves change colors. We have just been doing normal everyday feeding of cows and calf watching. We still have two that have not calved on their dates and I am concerned that maybe something has happened, I will probably take them in another week and have them pregnancy checked. Elizabeth is working with the new heifer and we will pick Josh's up sometime Sunday or Monday. The boys have been busy hunting and Josh got the first deer of the season. I bragged on him that he is growing up and helping to feed his family, he thinks it's just fun, but I on the other hand love the idea of fresh meat in the freezer. He is even learning to process and wrap it. I would have pics, but we all know why I don't have any LOL;(
This is the season of thanks giving and we have a lot to be thankful for this year. God has blessed us with so much it is too numerous to say. I hope that you take the time and think about and thank Him for all he has done for you and your families. May God bless ya,
Tara

Busy days and State Fair update

We have been very busy around here, nothing exciting just regular stuff. We made it through State Fair ok. We were there for 6 nights and boy were we glad to get home. Unfortunately I do not have any pics because while there I lost my camera. The shame I know. I have been sick ever since we have been home over it. At least everything so far this year had been downloaded to my computer and the only thing lost was State Fair pictures. The kids did well, both got 2nds in thier classes, both got pulled in for the grand drives, but to no avail no reserve grands. Josh did however get 3rd in commercial heifer showmanship and we were very proud of him for that. Jeff's truck is currently in the shop right now. He was trying to change the plugs and broke one off into the head and so needless to say we had to put it in the shop. We already have one of the new show heifers and are working on getting another one. We are not going to get much of a break we will have a Thanksgiving show to attend and the kids are very excitied about this one.
This is a month of thanks and I thank God for all His blessings he has poured on us this year. God bless ya,
Tara

Another one done!

Well another show is done. I didn't get a whole lot of good pics of things, I was
To busy running around. Josh won his class, but should have got grand. I won't
linger to long on that one, or I might show my ugly side, and trust me it's not pretty.
Elizabeth won the Grand Maintainer show. We are all very tired and are now
getting ready for State Fair.

Josh with his heifer

Elizabeth with her heifer

Waiting her turn.

The guys who worked on the calves for us did an AWESOME JOB!!!
NO one can fit like they can.

Well as for us we will now rest a little bit today and then we will be off and running again.
God Bless ya,
Tara

Been a busy day for sure, made a trip to town for supplies and feed. It was supposed to be just a short trip, but too all day. My goodness everyone is grouchy here today. It seems everyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. We all went to bed like that last night. Why is it teenagers think that they know everything and that we moms and dads have idiot plastered over our head.LOL If we make it through these teenage years we will be doing good!

Watched a very good movie on you tube tonight its called "180"moviehttp://www.180movie.com/
It will move you and give you lots to think about. We are a firm conservative family who does not believe in abortion, this movies showed what people think about it and their religious beliefs. It is so sad that there are so many people that are going to die and go to hell and they think it's just going to be a big party. Well folks that is the farthest thing from the truth. If you do not repent of your sins and ask God to forgive you and believe that God sent His son Jesus Christ to die for our sins that is exactly where you are going, and while there you will be tormented with darkness, pain and fire. But, the good news is that we are given a choice and it's a free choice for us paid by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. If you don't know Him I urge you to stop right now and repent, and give your life to Jesus. I promise you that life as you know it will never be the same.
God Bless,
Tara

A new goody!

Well we got a new goody this week. A new truck !!!!

Well new to us. It's a King Ranch F250 super duty truck, it is a diesel and I love it. My other truck was literally falling to pieces. We can only say it was by the grace of God that we got it. It was very quick, we came in drove it filled out the paper work and picked it up the next day. We have never been able to do something like that before. God is an ever loving and merciful one. God knew that we needed that truck , mine was on it's last leg. God is good.

Other than that nothing special going on. We are gearing up for another livestock show this week and hoping to take home supreme heifers. Hubby will be home this week and so he is going to try and get some brush hogging done and maybe get my fall garden planted and some firewood cut. I am looking forward to cooler day for sure. I don't like the cold but cooler would be nice.

We have 4 new baby calves so far and they all seem to be doing well considering our feed situation. Hopefully our feed will be delivered this week also.
I tried something new this month and tried to do a months worth of groc. in one day. I got lots of stuff, but this is going to take some work if I plan on doing it again, my list didn't cover everything like I needed it too. As busy as we are going to be for the next month I was trying to at least make something easier. LOL.
God bless ya,
Tara

Another show

Well there is one more down and two more to go for the year.
The kids did great, both won their classes with the maintainer and the exotic commercial heifer. Josh got in the top 5 in his age division is showmanship he was against 50 others. Elizabeth got in the top 7 in her age division,
I am a proud momma.

Future Hero

I have a little boy who dreams of being a hero one day!

He is only 6 and wants to be a soldier. He spends his
days making forts and running too and fro on this
old farm. He comes in the kitchen every morning and
says "mom, I'm off to fight the enemy, I'll be back"
I give him a kiss and off he goes. He'll come back in a while later
to tell me he's back and gives me all the details of where his patrol was and what his captain made him do. Imagination is running wild. He gives me another kiss, this time it's usually
a stinky one, but I love the smell of stinky sweaty dirty little boys.

I can't imagine ever sending this sweet little boy off to war one day,
but I am ever so grateful to the mom's of our American Soldiers who have
sent their little boys off to war to keep my little soldier safe.
And sadly lots of them didn't make it home to kiss their mommas.

We are so fortunate to live in this country, and many of us don't even know it.
I want to thank God for the men and women who are out there right now protecting us and for God allowing me to live in this place and for the sweet children he has blessed me with.
God bless America!

The sword you see was made by his grandfather. It is
a favorite of his, who needs fancy plastic toys when you have a
wooden sword.

First baby calf of the year

Well we have our first baby calf of the year and as you can see she is a dandy. She is so small. Her momma is a first time heifer calf and so between that and the drought this summer with us being low on feed stuff she is small. We saw her and mom on top of the hill as we were heading out to go to town one afternoon. She looked well that evening, but by that morning she wasn't looking to good. Mom hadn't even made a bag and was stepping all over her so we brought her to the house and gave her a bottle of colostrum. We then ran her mom across the road and put her in the front lot of the barn. I thought if they were confined a bit and the mom could get a little more feed they would do well. Well the next morn we went to check and they were both in the front lot and little one seemed to be trying to nurse more. I don't know what happened but the mom is an idiot she decided that being in the lot for one whole night was enough. She jumped the fence and litteraly got tangled up and was hung in the barbed wire. We had to cut her out. We got the fence fixed and no more done that then she jumped the gate. So we said to heck with it. We put her and the calf back across the road and as of earlier today the little one was nursing well and wagging her tail while doing so. Which by the way is a very good sign. We will just have to watch her closely for a while and see how they do. We have about 3 more that is due in the next week, so we are keeping a closer eye on everyone. We will have a steady progression of calves from now untill spring, our original cows will be having calves around Feb and March and the new ones we bought are going to calve from now untill the end on Dec. We are in the midst of a crisis here on our farm and that is NO HAY. The drought has everyone scrambling for hay and people are being ripped off left and right. There are a lot of people that are going to have to pay for charging 100 bucks a role to people who are desperate for it. We are desperate, but I just can't spend that. So I have been on the phone all day trying to come up with something else and I am about to get panicky. Please say a prayer for us. I know that the Good Lord gave us these cows this year and I know He is going to help us feed them.
God bless until next time,
Tara

Well County fair has come and gone. We had a good week all in all.
Elizabeth won Grandchampion Maintainer heifer and Senior showmanship
Josh won Reserve champion commercial heifer and Reserve steer and he won Junior
showmanship. JC got a little ribbon for showing as a pee wee. Elizabeth also won best of show
with one of photos. We are just now recovering, it was dreadfully hot, but we made it.
Thought I would share some of the pictures.

The calves, don't they look good. Considering its been an average 108 degree days.
The first one is Elizabeth's then Josh's heifer and little steer.

Josh is waiting his turn in the show ring

Josh with his heifer during the premium sale.

Elizabeth doing her thing!

Elizabeth in showmanship.

JC waiting his turn to mutton busttin.

He didn't last but about 4 seconds, but the first thing he said was
"do I get to go it again" and he was all grin.

JC showing the little steer in the Pee Wee showman ship.

One down and 3 more shows to go.

A few pics

A few pictures from the past

Josh with a bull calf several years ago.

Josh helped Rudy the clown during a PRCA rodeo held at
our district fair. He helped him for several years. This was the
best fun for him. He had a blast, memories that will last a life time. This was
a picture about 3 years ago.

JC has been at every county fair since he was born. We gave him

the first year off because he couldn't walk yet LOL.

The inside of our barn, it is over 100 years old.



JC when he was 3, he is now 6. I don't have any pics from the last year two years due to camera
issues. He was so little and cute!

homestead happenings

Elizabeth with her heifer Jezz. She won supreme heifer at county and
supreme heifer at district. We can't wait to get a calf from her.

Well not much going on around here this weekend. We have begun the countdown to our county fair next week. This weekend we cleaned the fairgrounds, there were lots of kidos and moms and dads to help, everything is looking so nice.

I haven't felt very well today and hubby was exhausted still from the week, so we stayed home from church today. My BP has been really low today and so has my heart rate, when it want's to do this I just feel really exhausted all day.hopefully by tomorrow I will be feeling some what better. Sometimes you just need a day to recoup, a body can only take so much ya know.

This weeks plans are: clean out the camper, take a load of clothes and junk to the sheltered workshop, get health papers from vets, 4-H meeting, clean tack and show box and paint the stall, and that is just a few things. I will have to make a running tally everyday to keep us on track.

The kids have been out looking at the moon tonight. It is big and bright for sure. God is so good.
God bless ya,
Tara

What is going on?

Are you ready for what is going on in this country right now?

Could you survive if we were to have an economic fall out?

Could you as a family have enough food for a year?

Could you make it?These are just a few question that I have this morning. I
Have decided to start some post about homesteading skills and what we
can do to better prepare ourselves. I think our family needs to learn a few things.
So I invite you to come along and join us on this adventure

Some of the things that we are already doing is trying to provide some of our own food. I do not want to be dependent on a gro. store for everything. What if someday I can't get to a store, or don't have any money. (which seems to be more often for us).
We had two hogs butchered this spring there pics are above, we got close to 400lbs of meat from them. We are looking for 4 more right now. We also have a steer we are feeding out right now, from him we will average another 700 lbs of meat from an 1100 lb steer. I know a lot of people doesn't have room for a steer, but a hog is more manageable. They can eat all your kitchen and garden scraps, you would be surprised . The satisfaction of knowing that you didn't have to throw anything away and you would be getting something for your scraps is a good thing, less waste, and you know where your food is coming from.

Next I encourage you to get a garden going, even if it is a small one. I have been so upset this year over ours, but we have learned something, I will need to always have more than I plan on needing, in case we have another summer like this one.

I have been learning to do lots of homesteading skills, like canning, butter making, bread making, cooking a lot of things from scratch, sewing etc.
You would be amazed at how we can save money on food by making lots of things from scratch and not buying pre made pre packaged food. On average I spend around 400$ a month for food and cleaning supplies. That is for two adults, two teenagers, and one 6 year old (five of us).
I will try to do a post later on about how I shop for groceries and some cost cutting ways. I would love to get that 400 even down more. I would love to hear your comments and any suggestion that you may have.
May God bless ya till next time,
Tara

Its that time of year again!

It's that time of year again, the time when we start to pull out the curriculum catalogs, and make new schedules, revamp and renew from the previous year, change and add things, have lots of prayers and are full of excitement. Yep its time to go back to school "homeschool".
It is hard to believe but, this will be our 4th year to be home. I am not going to tell you it has all been sunshine and roses. There are days when I want to scream, or cry or both. But, I would not trade it for anything. I will never forget the first week we were home and I was at the kitchen stove doing some baking and the kids where gathered around the table and I looked around and the peace that came over me was overwhelming, I still get that feeling. The satisfaction that I am raising them in a God fearing home, a Christ centered home.
I still feel like I don't know anything, but I do believe a lot of the doubt that is placed in me is of satan and this world. He wants to place doubt in us and try to cause chaos.
I have decided to of course do some changes this year, we are going to try and do more hands on things this year and I have decided that the best way for us to try and do history this year is through literature and living history, I think we are going to try and take a lot more field trips that are focused around what we are studying that month.
I learn something new all the time myself, I want the kids to want to learn and not feel as though it is a job, that is my goal for this year, to install a love to learn in the kidos. We are going to have a fun and exciting year this year. The great thing about homeschooling is that it's not just 8-3 , its 24 hours, 7 days a week. Outside or inside, at home or away. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" Philippians 4:13

locust trees and infections

Well this has been an interesting week so far. Sunday we had Jeff's mom and dad over for supper, I fixed a roast with gravy, rice, green beans, candied carrots and fresh rolls. We had a good time of fellowship together. It had been a while since they where here so we really enjoyed the company. Sunday JC didn't feel very well though and kept complaining about his armpit hurting. We didn't think anything of it because him and Josh are always wresting around with each other. Well on Monday morning he couldn't lift up his arm with out it hurting and a knot had appeared. Yeaterday it was even bigger. Needless to say we made a trip to the doctors office. While we were waiting I took JC to use the restroom and wash his hands(his hands are always dirty, he's a little BOY what can I tell ya) any way I noticed a thorn in his index finger that had puss around it. I told him we would have to get that out when we got home. We then went back to the waiting room. When the doctor finally saw us, the first thing he said was there was an infection in his arm somewhere and the lymph nodes in his arm were trying to keep it from entering his body. "light bulb" I told the doc. I think I found the problem already. That little splinter in his finger. And of course that was it. He dug around in his finger and tried to get it out and sent off a culture of it and sent us home with some really strong antibiotics to take. JC told us he had gotten it from a locust tree at the pump. So I learned a lesson here. Locust tree thorns are something not to be played with.

Can you see the lymph node sticking out?

This is a black locust tree limb, you can't see from this picture but it does have some thorns
on it.

Now the hardest part of all this is going to be keeping him inside out of the heat for a few days. I guess when you are a 6 year old boy you have no feeling of temperatures, it doesn't matter if it is hot or cold outside, that is where he wants to be.
God Bless ya,
Tara

Random thoughts this morning

The joys of homemaking

Oh the joys of homemaking, being a wife and stay at home mom. I can not imagine any better job. For most of my marriage I have been home with my children and husband, I only worked outside the home 2 times and they were for very short periods of time. For years I kept asking God to show me "his will" for me. I have all kinds of books on "God's purpose in your life" well let me tell you, I was doing it all along, just not very well. It wasn't until I realized that being home was my purpose that I started looking at things very different. I realized that my home was being neglected because I was not looking at it. I was looking somewhere off in the distance. God has given us a job, a purpose and that is to be a help meet to our husbands and keepers at home. If you are married and have children then those two things are your purpose. I have really made some changes around here the last couple of years and the first one was to be a more submissive wife, just that alone can change the atmosphere of your home, when mom and dad are in love and one accord with each other things can't help but to get better, next was discipline of the children and next was order in our home. As I have said before God is not the order of chaos, Satan is and if our home is chaotic he can get a foot into our homes and well we all know what can happen then. I can always tell when we begin to get a little chaotic around here and then we have to reign everything back into focus and trust me, it is easy to get that way. Satan wants to make us so busy that we don't have time to focus on our family and home the way we need to. I struggle daily with all these things, and I constantly have to stop and go to Christ and ask for His help, I am still learning and still growing, but being home with a happy heart for my husband and my children is the very best.
May God Bless ya,
Tara

Homemade Ranch dressing

The dressing turned out very good.
5TBL-minced dried onions
7tsp dried parsley
4tsp salt
2tsp garlic powder
pinch of dill week
1tsp onion powder
mix together and store in air tight container

To make dressing:
Add 3 TBL mix with 1 cup mayo and 1/2 cup buttermilk
Mix and let sit over night for best results.

If you wanted the dressing a little thinner just add more buttermilk. I didn't have
any buttermilk so I made my own. Just take 1 cup of milk and add 1tbl spoon of vinegar or lemon juice. It was weak tasting right after I made it but the next day it was great!

Tooth fairy

It finally came out. That little top tooth has been
hanging by a thread for days now.

Homestead happenings

There has not been much happening around here. It is too hot for much. This week our highs are going to be around 105-108 and that is regular temps. The heat index will make it feel like 115. We have just been doing regular feeding of momma cows and show calves. County fair is in 3 weeks so it is crunch time for us. We need to work on getting some craft projects done this week for the fair.

This weeks menu looks a lot like last weeks, because I didn't get to stick with my menu last week, I didn't have my crock-pot to do my rib and roast in so I am going to do some of them this week.

Sun-Pot luck at church
Mon-Smoked sausage casserole
Tues- Chicken strips, chicken herb rice, salad
Wed-BBQ ribs in the crock-pot, potato salad, baked beans
Thurs- Beef stir-fry with rice
Fri- Go to town day also known as fend for your self night.
Lunch this week will be something simple and light because of the heat. Grilled cheese or cheese casadeas, left overs or salad.

I am going to try my hand at making homemade ranch dressing and if it turns out well I will post about it.
God bless,
Tara

Homestead happenings

I love these sweet potato vines, they can fill in lots of bare spots and can take
some of the heat. This is my mail box, the block is for little people to check the mail.

A little experiment to see if we can have squash till frost,
They have buds on them so we shall see.

I see a little green this morning, not much but some is better than none.

Mornings are a special time for me, I love the freshness of a new day the thought that I get a new start everyday. That today is going to be better than yesterday. And I love to hear the birds singing. This week started off rough for me, and I realized that that I had not been seeking the Lord as I should. I have slacked off reading my Bible and having a prayer time. I have made an effort this week that every morning after I get Jeff off to work I have taken my Bible and gone outside and sat in the swing and done some reading and a few days of just weeping to my Savior. And oh how it has made the difference this week. It has just made a difference in how my days have played out. If you don't have a quiet time that you can just read and go to Him in prayer, I encourage you to find it. It will make a difference.
God Bless ya,
Tara

a few new pics

Here are a few pics I wanted to share.

I pickled these peppers today, aren't they pretty. I just love the colors.

JC at the barn, Elizabeth took this one. He is growing up so fast.

Best of friends, her name is Scarlet Rose

This is one of JC's new cats. We brought home 5 from the Farm Store a couple of days ago.

They were wild as a march hair when we brought them home, but no more! They are now his best friends.

We did have a problem this week, something got in the hen house and killed all our chickens. We are not sure what got them, but I think it was a coon. The dogs barked all night last night and we woke to a dead coon in the back yard that they had caught. The kids had been having a coon coming to the barn at night and I have a feeling it was him that got the chickens and him the dogs killed.
Lets see, I canned peppers today and yesterday I made a German chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookie bars and I made a batch of butter. I also cleaned the boys room from one end to the other and boy was it bad! There was so much dust you could have planted potatoes!
God bless ya till next time.
Tara

homestead happenings

Well the kids got home safe and sound from their church trip. I was ever so glad to see them safe and sound and in their own beds last night. I havent slept in several days for worry, which I know is a sin on my part, but I just couldn't help it.
Thank the Lord for the rain today. It has been weeks since we have seen rain in these parts and the Lord finally gave us some today. I took a 3 hour nap today and woke to a dark house, everyone asleep and it was raining.

This weeks agenda:
Monday: wash clothes, dig potatoes, and haul water for house
Tuesday: clean refrigerator, bake some sweets for the week, haul water for barn
Wednesday: work on school stuff for this next year
Thursday: go get a load of feed
Friday: town and bill paying day
And of course there is the everyday feeding and taking care of animals, trying to keep everything watered and trying to get some everyday school work done.

This weeks menu:
Sunday: We had homemade pizzas tonight. Even the crust was from scratch~
Monday: Hamburgers and fries
Tuesday: BBQ pork ribs, new potatoes, baked beans, fresh rolls
Wednesday: steak casadeas
Thursday: Roast, broccoli rice cheese casserole and green beans
Friday: sandwhich night

God bless ya,
Tara

Country Roads take me home to a place I belong.

There is no place like home

This is the road in front of our house.