Kids, farm and business.

Today is April 1st which starts birthday month in our house. Mike is on the 6th , Amanda on the 26th and Noah on the 27th.

Amanda will turn 18 this month. It is amazing to me that time has passed so quickly and now she is a young lady about to head into the world to make her own way. I am not sure what the future will hold for her, however, I believe it will be good. The last 13 years of her journey have been at home being home schooled. She attended the Career Tech Center and solidified by running the highest grade in the class that it does work and she can cope in any environment. We will graduate her on the 21st of May. The day after what would have been her sister's 7th birthday.

Noah is moving into 5th grade and we are still on the fence as to if Josh will move onto 1st or spend a little more time on Kindergarten work. Yesterday while at the Amish store (one of my favorite places to shop) I picked up preschool books for Micah. It is hard to believe I will be graduating one and just starting another.

We are still waiting for baby bunnies and I am beginning to believe that we may not get any this round. This is sad because we bred 6 rabbits. We will try again in a few days and maybe get some to sell at fair. The turkeys are getting big already! Chickens will arrive in a few weeks.

We are going back on forth on where we take the next level of my business for emailing for small businesses. I can add more clients and that is great however, the question on if I add services such as managing facebook accounts for them and twitter is a possible next step and income stream. I will have to pray on this because I do not want to be tied to the computer quite that much with summer coming on. I am thankful for this income just need to decide how far to extend my services.

I hope everyone has a truly blessed day.

Fun things

So today I am at home with Micah and Noah. We are anxiously awaiting a litter, any litter of baby bunnies. We bred 6 rabbits. 3 English Angoras and 3 Holland Lops. I hope something pans out with at least one of them. There has been a bunch of fur pulling in the barn so we will see.

It is always exciting to my kids when new animals arrive and sad when old ones leave. I can honestly say I would not trade them getting the experience for anything in the world. I stand on my hill in spring, summer, fall or winter and can see the beauty of God's design for literally miles. It is one of the best views in the world. I think we sometimes get caught up in all the craziness and forget to stop. Out here in the peace and quiet with the birds singing it reminds me to stop once in awhile.

By the way the trees are loaded with Robins. It is very amusing because there is so much snow on the ground. I am sure they have to believe they headed back way to soon. I am hoping all the snow melts soon. I think I realize why I enjoy all these things. When I sew and I am finished it is something I created and I feel satisfaction in that. When I grow food , not only does my family get great things to eat but I helped go from seed to finished product as well. When we chose to bred an animal in our barn I get to see new life come into the world and all the smiles that it brings to my kids faces to see that just new born baby.

God is so good he knows exactly how to fill and satisfy my soul. Not with big fancy things or expensive stuff but with all the wonder of his world.

Hannah's Prayer of praise.

I am not going to type the whole thing just a little bit. This comes from 1 Samuel 2:1,2

Then Hannah prayed:

My heart rejoices in the Lord!

Oh how the Lord has blessed me!

Now I have an answer for my enemies,

as I delight in your deliverance.

No one is holy like the Lord!

There is no one besides you!

there is no rock like our God.

I was reading this for my quiet time. Hannah's prayer is much longer than this. Hannah petitioned the Lord for a child...a son to be specific. She even promised the Lord that when he was weaned that she would give him to God. Not an easy task for someone who never had kids and was going to give the one up at such a young age.

Hannah realized that God was good and loving and would fulfill her. She talks about Gods judgement and our behavior.

I think that we need to be thankful and praise God for what we have instead of whining about what we don't have or feel like we are missing out on. I was listening to the radio yesterday and they said muslim conversion is at an alarming rate in our country. We have forgot the basis our founding fathers gave us. We have allowed people to scream separation of church and state for so long we created a valueless, moral free country.

We need to petition God and be a light to those who would otherwise be caught up in the lies of the world.

God's grace is enough.

Wow, last night at our home school meeting just wowed me. We watched at couple of video clips and the resounding message was powerful. God loves us no matter what we do. Yes I know this, yes I have known it for years but never really heard it this way.

With all my junk and garbage and brokenness he still wants me. Jesus said he came to help those who were sick, heavy laden. Not all those who had it nailed down just right. These videos about made me cry and I am a very stoic person.

I have felt so broken the last year. Years of suppressing the pain I have felt from losing a child has been way to much for me to handle. I have questioned why me and does God really love me if he let me go through all that. The one speaker said in the midst of a storm God is there whispering....I love you buddy...we are going to make it through this ....over and over again as you go through the storm.

He really does and this is something that struck a cord with me last night. God will send us a message at the time we most need it. He is always there. I think sometimes we are so distracted and deceived by Satan (this is what he wants) that we can't clearly see God's love or grace.

Things to be done.

So many things that need to be done now that spring is starting to spring so to speak. Every year there is an initial serious barn cleaning. While it is maintained in the winter some things just can not be done until the weather breaks.

Today a friend of my posted on facebook that a friend of hers delivered her baby still born last night. This really does grieve my heart. Losing is child is such a surreal process that only those of us who have walked the walk can understand. Many well intentioned comments to make people feel better usually miss the mark and in some circumstances bring more pain. God is good and gracious. Time will ease the pain but it never goes away completely. You go from being a family that is whole to one that has a hole in every family picture that only you can see. I pray for this family to have peace and comfort that only God can bring them. That their hearts will quickly heal from what feels like a constant pain.

Be thankful for the blessing you have and try not to complain about the things you don't.

Keeping on eye on the right things.

Lately I have been highly distracted. I let everything else get in the way of where I am going and what I am supposed to be doing. I must remember the tasks set before me and follow them.

For example.... I was sure that Noah had a dentist appointment in Grand Rapids tomorrow but it is on the 23rd not the 17th. I have planners and calenders. The problem is I lost my focus. After reading a friends blog today I realize I need to do 2 things:

1. less time distracted by games on facebook

2. make sure I spend time in the bible daily.

Simple enough and my new reorganized journey must begin!