A little bit of moving blues

Don't get me wrong. I'm SUPER excited. I was just tucking my boys in and looking at the mural I painted in their room. It's of a farm--because, you know, what we REALLY wanted was a farm. :) After I painted it, I promised myself I'd never do such a huge mural. It took HOURS. WEEKS of every moment of free time....Yes. It was labor intensive. It was a labor of love, for my boys. I painted them in it.

I was talking to the boys about their room at the new house, and what color they want me to paint it. They said they want airplanes. And horses. And machines. I meant what color, not what mural! Oh goodness. I am a little overwhelmed at the thought of another mural (there are so many outdoor projects I'm excited to get moving on! Maybe a mural will be a winter task? Maybe.). It makes me a little sad--my kids have always had a room that was hand crafted...Now we're leaving the room that I labored over, and I plan to put them in a plain blue room. Or yellow. We can't decide (maybe it'll just depend on which color we have the most of in the garage ;).

Yesterday Karry and I were talking about our ideals for our kids, and raising them on land, and how that will be so nice. And I said "I just want them to remember being raised like this__" (I can't remember my exact wording/thoughts right then), and Karry said "well, they're almost half raised in this house. What???? Oh yeah....Isaac is 8....Almost half...in 8 years he'll be driving...in 10 he'll be a young man.....Wow......... They really do grow up fast. It's not just a saying. It's true.

This is why we decided to move now though....Later will be too late....Now is our chance to make them hard workin' farm boys! So we're gonna do it! :) No tears about leaving pretty walls--we've got men (and a lady) to raise, no matter what their bedrooms look like....right? Right....

Here's Kaleb by the farm.

Here's my Noah, looking like such a little guy one Easter, in his farm room:

This is Noah by the barn (I learned how to draw a barn, and chickens, etc., from Draw Write Now--the first book--I love that book :). Noah is fishing in a heart shaped pond. My kids have always had at least one heart on their wall in whatever I painted, to remind them that we love them.

Kaleb is flying a kite by the John Deer. Thank you again, to Draw Write Now. Although, Karry advised me that my steam should get bigger, not smaller. Oops. Technical error.

Isaac is feeding the pig. And there's a little spider in the pig house, at his request. Our cat is by the outhouse (complete with a moon). We had 2 other cats when we moved in here, and then gave them back to the shelter because of pooping/peeing problems (not allowed in my house! ;), and then I just painted green over them. Bye bye Mordecai and Esther!

An overview, before the clouds.

The boys begged us for clouds. They had clouds in their airplane room at our old house. One night, when they were spending the night at my parents' house and we were taking a weekend class (for adopting Ruby? Maybe?), we decided to stay up late and put some clouds on their wall to surprise them when they got home.

See, those kinds of details--those kinds of memories--make me a little teary eyed, thinking of leaving this place. I know we will create more memories, and that this is a VERY GOOD move for our family, but still, there are little things to get sad about.

BTW, the glitch--well, we'll know for sure soon, but we have heard hints that it might not be so much of a glitch, on our end, anyways....I'll share when I know more.... :)

Do you know what 30 acres looks like?

It's hard to explain how big it is. Actually, it's 29. something acres 29.8 something? Almost 30! :) I'll give you a photo tour of SOME of what it looks like!!

First, a shot of the kitchen. Isn't the brick cute? I like it. There's touch up work to do. Some cabinet doors missing (left of the pic), dark, inconsistent paint on the ceiling, no real light fixtures--there's stuff to do....but not bad!!!

We have an accepted offer, there is just one glitch that we're figuring out right now. Tuesday ends our 7 day period for inspections, etc. I'll update when we know more. :)

So, here is the property--some pics on a rainy day, some on sunny days:

One of the 3 ponds:
We were walking up the hill from the bottom of the property...Can you see us? Can you see the house at the top?

The property goes up over the hill past just past that rounded tree. Then it also goes down (to the left) a looongg way. This is the view out the kitchen & dining room.

A creek at the bottom of the property. We're thinking maybe salmon? :)

Not sure which field this is. South East or South West? Hmmm...We'll have names for them, I'm sure.

The main (biggest) pond is on the left here. The property goes just beyond that tree line.

So many different kinds of trees!

The property goes way down the hill. The view way down past the trees is of other properties across the highway. The goats have been butting up against the closer tree.

The North West field.

The "backyard," and then my garden would go up right where the grass starts looking like dirt. Do you see it? That's where. :)

A random tree. There's a Filbert, there are Douglas Firs, lots of Oaks, etc. I am going to scope the property out with the kids (with their field guides that tell what kinds of leaves/pine cones/etc. to look for) and figure out all of the trees....That's my plan! :)

This is Frog Pond. Yup. That's what I'm calling it. There are frogs here. It's the perfect little picnic spot. No needing to order various biology samples (like tadpoles?) for homeschooling. Nope. Right out in the back field!

A guy drove up the driveway today and told us that his buddy grew up there & he used to hang out there. They used to have 40 head of cattle on the land!! WOW! There also used to be 2 other ponds to catch run off water, and the higher pond drained down into the lower one, and then into the lower ones. Very cool. We might just want to set it up like that again (free drinking water for cows! :).

My parents walked the property with us today and they liked it a lot. I felt like I was going to faint and throw up at the same time at the last part of the walk. I was on the couch laying down all day yesterday with a fever. This morn I was still warm. I went from doing nothing to walking 30 acres of hilly land. Not so smart. My dad hopped in his 4wd and became a big hero. :) He drove down the land (almost getting his Tahoe stuck in mud!!) and picked me up, and then gave me his orange to eat (because I refused to drink out of his water bottle ;). I didn't faint, or throw up, yeehaw!

Now for a lazy movie night at home with crockpot soup! Nice! :)

He's on the move

I don't know what He's doing or if He will do what we hope He will do, but He's on the move, and He's doing something....

We have been praying about moving, and about that property specifically. Karry said on Saturday that if we could, he'd make an offer on that place right away....

I am usually the most emotional/anxious about things like this. Not this time. It's Karry. I love the property, it's just that he's leading this--and I like that.

We found out that because it's a bank property, they requested that people get pre-approval from a specific lender (this is common) before any offers could be made...

Karry called the lender, and the guy (who was really nice, Karry said) worked into the evening last night and got us pre-approved. With our current home (as a rental, or whatever).

Apparently, there has been a lot of interest in the place.

We made an offer. (YES! Crazy, huh?)

THEN, we went to look at the inside of the house for the first time ever!! :) (well, we peaked in the windows before, but this time we actually walked in it!)

The house is in amazingly good condition for its age and for being a bank owned property. It needs new carpet throughout, some dry rot repair in a bathroom, and new paint--and then it's totally move in ready....It is a very nice and livable floor plan. We can see a lot of potential in the house itself (and it's not as huge as this one, which we LOVE!). 2 wood burning fire places as well as a chimney by the KITCHEN (I can put an old-fashioned stove in there!! I always wanted one!!!!!!! ;).

We walked the land again and drove to the top of the property. Wowie zowie. What a view! It's so beautiful. There are 2, maybe 3 ponds on the property (I have to check the property line to see about one of them). Plenty of water for our future cattle! :) The two random goats were still there. Maybe some free goats with the land? :)

If they accept our offer, we have 45 days from today to get our house sold (our preference) or rented. We posted our home as a rental and already have two families interested....

We used to own a rental property and sold it (because it was 4 hrs away from us and too hard to maintain when the water heater went out, etc.--a 4 hour surprise drive..crazy). Karry has wished for quite a while that we still had a rental property....Maybe God's making that happen through this?

See what I mean? He's doing something. Maybe not what we're hoping--but He's moving, and that is certain.

We won't hear anything back for 3-5 days. Waiting, waiting, waiting...... (somebody please come buy our house, k? :)

We're in love...

...with a house. Ok, maybe not the house--but the land. Some people came to look at our house today and we are praying (so pray too!) that they buy it!!!

We went driving to look at some properties, in Canby and outside of Canby. We're looking at bigger acreage (therefore smaller houses ;) than before. The one that we like has about 30 acres. The house is small-ish (compared to this one) but doable. It has some nice features--and some we'd want to change. There is brick in the kitchen around the stove and oven. I like brick in kitchens! (it kind of reminds me of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood--remember the brick in the kitchen??) It's vacant, so we scoped it out through the windows, and we walked the property. THIRTY ACRES!! WOWIE ZOWIE!

It was BEAUTIFUL! It wasn't boring, plain-jane land. It was sloped (think: beautiful rolling pastures!!), it had small forest areas, it had 2 pretty decent sized ravines with blackberries growing in them (fun exploring for the boys!). It was set up for goats. 2 random goats went past us--the neighbor's? There was a pond at the bottom of the hill. The house sits mid-way up the property. So from the front/side of the house, the land slopes down towards the pond & towards the main road. Back behind the house, the land slopes up--beautiful pasture! (and that is the view out the kitchen window)

The view from all over the land is AMAZING. It's peaceful!

Out of every one we've seen, it's our favorite. We'd be near our friends Kyle and Dawn, and Jay and Lindsay (the neighborhood that those 2 couples live in is just 5 min away or so). A little further drive to Fred Meyers and to co-op, etc., but I think we could handle that! Ohhhh pray! We want that land!! The kids had SO MUCH FUN runnnnnnning and runnnning and runnning and said multiple times "we should move here! Can we buy this place?" Isaac even said he wouldn't need a play structure anymore (that's one thing he's been clinging to), because God already created such a huge play structure on that land. Well, wasn't that such a grown up thing to say? :)

Prayy with us! :)

So much on my mind!!

Where do I start?

~~Packing. Our house hasn't sold yet, but I want to pack. What first? The china cabinet? The den? My craft room? Toys? So many choices!

~~Thinning out toys. It's been on my mind. Maybe today!?

~~Thinning out clothes. I worked on the boys' room last week. Ruby's is next. Or maybe mine? I don't want to pack what we don't need or wear!

~~Adoption. I want to spend many of my waking hours researching! :)

~~Menu planning--it takes me longer with this diet, trying to figure everything out. I have to plan more menus....

~~Ruby's hair. She needs a new hairdo at least by tomorrow!

~~My house. The laundry has not been up to par this week...I see detail cleaning that needs to be done.

~~Homeschooling for next year. In Dec/Jan I read The Well Trained Mind and now I have some new ideas for school next year. I want to plan, plan, plan!!! ;)

~~Serious Moms. It's done. Except for testing. I want it up, but I want to write a newsletter to announce that it's up.

~~Food Challenge. I'm writing a "Food Challenge" for Serious Moms--a whole month of goodness. I'm researching as I write. It's a lot more work than I anticipated. It'll be worth it, and I want to work on that.

~~Made in USA. This is a new big deal with me. :) I'm sick of our toys being recalled because of lead, and I'm tired of things breaking. We bought a juicer at Costco, and then noticed it was made in China--so Karry's returning it today. I'm trying to find one made in America--or at the very least, a reputable European country. This takes work...They don't readily advertise this kind of information. I want clothes made in the US too--but I haven't found any... :( I'm considering making some summer clothes for my kids (t-shirts for the boys and summer dresses for Ruby) out of organic cotton that's made in America...if I can find that...

~~Sewing. I want to sew. I'm not good at it, but I want to do it.

~~Farm life. I keep thinking maybe I should create a schedule as if we lived on a farm (milk the cow at 6 am, etc.), and then during that time, I read books to the kids about how to milk and take care of a cow. So that we can transfer our schedule when we get there and just start doing--but for now we learn how....Maybe tomorrow. :)

~~Sit ups. I want to do sit ups. I should just get down and do them now, right? :) The pounds are leaving, the belly's not quite right yet....I want to do sit ups....

~~Potty training. She can do it, I know she can. Can I? :)

I'm sure that's not all, it's just what came to mind right now!! Goodness!! That's a lot.

It's about time for a post!

The Diet

It's going super well! I feel a whole lot better than I used to, and I'm down 13.5 lbs! Woot, woot! Going out to eat isn't very fun--I feel sick. :( It's not new, it's just that I feel so much better at home these days, so when I get sick, I reeeaaallly notice it. Before, I'd feel yucky--but I often felt kind of yucky, so I didn't know what it was. Now I know! ;)

My Girlie~~

Her language is EXPLODING! Some recent examples~~

Me: Want to watch a show?

Ruby: Yeah! Mickey Mouse! Where 'mote contol? Oh, there it is. I push a button!

Ruby: Wass fer lunch?

Me: You mean dinner?

Ruby: No, lunch

Me: We're having fish for dinner.

Ruby: I ont want fish. Mommy, I ont want fish. No fish. I hungy. No fish.

Me (after several of these): Do you want me to call it chicken?

Ruby: No, no chicken. No fish. No chicken. I hungy.

(she ate her fish just fine--and wanted seconds!!) :)

Today after her nap, I decided to tease her. I pushed her door open and hid, to see what she'd do. She said "Come in!" in her cheerful voice. I just waited...Then she said "Who are you?" :) I jumped out, and she said "ooh! care me!" (scare me) It was cute!!

Every time she wakes up, she asks "where boters?" (brothers), and then she goes through each one: "where Noah? where Keyub? where Idaac? where Daddy? where Kizzie?" (our dog), and after each one, she says "oh." And then--"wass fer lunch?" :)

Her favorite time of day = snack time. "Mmm, a nack! Cheese and apples, cheese and apples! Oooh! Yummy!" :) or "Mmm! Punpkin seez!"

Tonight she wanted to get her jammies on. I said "you do it yourself," and she tried to get her arm out and said so clearly "I can't" (and then proceeded to do it ;).

Whenever I start to cook, she pushes a chair over, and says "I help! I help! I cack da egg!" :) The poor girl got a burn on her arm from a pan the other day--she LOVES helping cook!!

Tonight she set the table (she does a GREAT job for a 2 year old!!). Whoever sets the table gets to choose where the kids sit. Isaac asked who set the table, and she started to say "Ruby di--" and she caught herself and said "I did." WOW! She called herself "I" instead of Ruby--this is a BIG step!! :)

She's also been more cuddly, which is fun! I love having a two year old! I want a whole bunch more! :)

Speaking of kids...

We're praying about which route God wants us to go in adopting next. We'd love to go to Haiti and at least keep one (or 2? or 3? :) kiddo from sleeping on the street one more night...It's the dumb government that's stopping it all. ;) We could get an international homestudy done and then just wait until the doors open again--but who knows how long that will be. I took a "Webinar" today about China adoptions. And then, also, I've got an e-mail out requesting info about Japanese adoptions (I love Japan--I would love the excuse to travel there!! And then what a fun culture (I think) to teach our kids about!). There aren't a lot of adoptions from Japan taking place (I think 36 per year is what I read). These kiddos stay in the orphanage until they age out--they just never get adopted (Japanese people do not usually adopt--it is changing, thankfully--but if they do adopt, it is in private and they pretend they had a baby..blood relations are very important to them)....I wanted to call Japan today, but I figured I'd be patient and wait for an e-mail response. ;) Oh, and one more adoption option--we could get a homestudy done and then go straight through the agency we went through to get Ruby in Georgia. (But when we adopted Ruby, we used an agency here, who "found" the agency there--thus costing us a whole lot more...this time it would be cheaper...NICE). :) We want to go to Georgia to visit Karry's sister and her husband, too....So there you go.....Lots of options. Where will you take us, God? We'll see!!!

Learning about sweeteners

I think most everyone I know (that's you!) at least knows about the problems with corn syrup. Now, you're avoiding it, right? ;) Please do!

Sugar--Kaleb was telling his friend Gracie that God didn't make sugar, the other day. I corrected him...God DID make sugar. But man made a ton more of it grow. And man made it an ingredient in everything--not just desserts and candy--but spaghetti sauce, and salsa, and salad dressing.

Agave Nectar--I was using it prior to this diet. Dr. Campbell-McBride advises against any "new" sugars--and just sticking to honey. There are always new sweeteners coming out. Then there are always new articles about those sweeteners coming out--explaining why they weren't as great as everyone thought they were....I read this article about Agave Nectar tonight. I really appreciate the site it's on...check it out. :) The main deal--it's highly processed--it's heated--it's turned into fructose--a kind of fructose that is worse than high fructose corn syrup.

Stevia--I keep hearing about Stevia. I read an article about it on that same site tonight. Did you know that Stevia has contraceptive properties? No way! Goodness! And the white powder is highly processed...Highly processed = no good. :)

So what do we use? Well, we use honey. Not a ton of it. I have noticed a pattern, when I have honey in a day, my weight either stays the same or goes up .5 lb. When I don't use it, my weight goes down. So I'm getting used to tea without honey, etc. (herbal berry flavored teas are just fine w/o honey....and perfect on a sore throat! ;). I do let my kids have a little bit of honey just about every day. But we get plenty of sweet food--tonight we had butternut squash cooked in browned butter with thyme. It was yummy, and quite sweet! I think we're getting used to living without sweetening every little thing (I used to dump probably 1/2 a cup of sugar on my corn chex!!!), and this is a gooood thing!!! :)