Life at our House

It's been a long time since I sat down and blogged. The urge to write is still here, but it seems a lot wiser and safer to write in my journal. 

We are currently in a state of transition in our family....visiting churches and seeking God's Will for our future. This stage of life has come with a lot of peace. I know that our choices make little sense to the people around us, but we aren't living our lives for people, but to glorify Jesus.

School: The girls and I have been doing the "Adventures in U.S. History" (My Father's World) this year and it has been so much fun again. I did this curriculum with my boys when they were in 1st and 2nd grades and they still talk about the things we did that year.

Here they are with their ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.

We made ink from mashed up raspberries one day, and then wrote our names with a feather pen dipped into our 'ink'.

We also made homemade bread and butter. 

And johnny cakes, too.....

This is how we do school around here sometimes....

Farm Life: The Farmer tried to finish harvesting for several weeks but if the beans weren't too wet, then he had a break down, but as of last week, we can honestly say we're done!!! Yay!!

When the Farmer works late, we try to make fun things happen around here. Sometimes we hang out with friends....

or play the Farming Game and drink Pumpkin White Hot Chocolates....

Or we can always take pictures with Mom's camera....

There are books to read....

 and knitting to try out...

and always, always, kittens to play with....

We can have a  tea party with our dolls, too.

Somehow I don't take pictures of my hard-working boys who cleared the garden, mowed the yard, and raked the leaves. These boys can do all the chores on the farm now, by themselves. Just tonight I was informed that Logan has been giving shots to sick pigs when he chores for several years now. I am impressed. 

I've been trying harder to involve my girls in the kitchen. They definitely show interest and it's often just a matter of me taking the time to show them how and let them be creative.

Here Annika is mixing up granola-

The girls making scrambled eggs...

Leon's youngest brother got married last weekend, and we all had a wonderful but packed weekend, celebrating with family. Now this week has been a drag....getting back into the swing of things and catching up on sleep. Annika said on Monday morning, "Mom, I just feel grouchy." I understand, dear daughter, I understand.

I read some really amazing stuff this morning and have been thinking about listening to God's voice... (however much thinking that was possible to squeeze into my morning of doing school and running a house..:)) Many different 'voices' will try to tell us how to live our lives, but there's only one Voice to tune in to...the Voice of Jesus. The Bible says, "My sheep KNOW my voice, and they follow me." I quote from Jesus Calling, "Be content to be a simple sheep, listening for My voice and following Me." And that's enough for me....

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Yesterday it was nine years that we moved here to the farm. Nine years that God totally rearranged our plans, uprooted us from our dreams, took us on a wild ride of faith, and dropped us on a perfect little farm for us. Oh, but we didn't know that then. 

When we married in 2000, we bought an old 3 bedroom trailer. Several years later, we bought several acres of "junk" farmland on a funny shaped hill, and Leon began making something beautiful out of that pile of dirt with a bulldozer. We moved the old trailer on the land, and settled in. The long-term plan was to build a house, live in the basement, eventually finish the top part of the house, and we'd be all set. We could raise our family on 2 acres in the country, surrounded by corn fields, and gravel roads. It would be the perfect life for us.

Then a young man from the community came knocking on our door. He had a 3 acre hog farm he wanted to sell to us badly. We had 2 little boys and were expecting our 3rd child by fall. This was in the spring. We told him we weren't interested.

Several months later, he stopped by again. This time we decided to ask a few people for advice. Everywhere we turned, people were encouraging us to go for it. What??!! This was not in our plans at all.

After several sleepless nights for Leon, (I was pregnant, remember, and nothing kept me awake!) lots of seeking advice and ultimately begging God to show us, we decided to buy the farm.

We got possession on August 9, 2006. My sister and husband from Wisconsin came and spent 10 days with us, working like crazy to get our farm ready to move on to. I was 8 months pregnant, and not up to a lot of physical activity. 

The house had been lived in by a bachelor for 3-4 years, and needed paint, and lots of scrubbing. My efficient sister organized painting crews and did a ton of painting herself. My entire Bontrager family came for a whole day and whacked weeds as high as the barn, mowed, washed and bleached the basement, scrubbed and painted. We had other friends who brought food and helped paint or clean. Almost all the carpets got ripped out and the wood floors underneath got a fresh coat of paint.

The barn was in a terrible state of neglect. Leon and my brother-in-law worked long days out there, cleaning out drains, repairing water leaks, cleaning up in general, plus taking care of our first batch of baby pigs- 1400 of them.

I packed up the trailer and took care of my little boys. I made food for the hard workers and tried to stay organized and rested. I really felt like I didn't do much at all compared to everyone else.

But with lots of help, we were able to move on August 19, 2006. Our furniture from the trailer didn't even come close to furnishing our big farm house. But we were settled and now this baby could be born. (Annika was born almost 4 weeks later.)

Leon went back to work at his full-time job. He worked long hours, then came home and took care of the pigs. We wonder sometimes how we managed those first several years.....

The boys just loved the farm. They explored and played outside all day long. We had a cement patio to ride trikes on. We had an old garage that quickly became their "shop" and all kinds of adventures were had in there. One of the first things they did was to dig a very large hole in the  middle of this garage. Of course, nobody knows why. The hole is still there. 

Over the years, we've made lots of improvements to this place. Leon has spent countless hours working in the pig barn, repairing things. We had a wall put in the huge 5 car garage so that the back part could be an insulated shop for Leon to work in.

And the house- I cried the first time we walked through it. It was so dirty and smelled like pigs, and it was just such a strange house! Two staircases, strange nooks and crannies, crooked floors, and nasty old windows.

The first winter we worked in the kitchen and added some cupboards. We hired someone to put a railing on the open stairway in the living room so my babies wouldn't fall down and break their heads. Leon put shelves in the door-less, shelf-less closets. He also put shelves in the damp, dark basement for my canned food.

We put carpet in the living room, on the stairs, and in the school room and girl's room. We painted the storage room and turned it into a tiny guest room. We replaced several windows. 

More recently, we jacked up the kitchen/dining room floor and put hardwood flooring in. We also repaired the front porch and tore out the rotten railing and replaced it with pillars.

New windows are on the agenda next.....!!!!!!!!!

The crazy thing is- I fell in love with this old house! When people advise us to tear it down and build new, (it was built in 1905) something inside of me gets a sick feeling. Tear down my house that has so much character? No way. 

This house is home to so many memories. This house that I didn't want to live in has now has become my cozy friend. This house that I finally have room to entertain guests in, host parties in, and so much more......

And now- a trip down memory lane.....

It's been a wild ride, but I'm so grateful for this farm.

Just Another Day In The Life.....

...of the ordinary homemaker. :)

Recently, the girls got the brilliant idea to make and serve supper to the rest of us. They have limited abilities in the kitchen, but I did help them prepare a Hamburger Helper meal, broccoli, and cheese biscuits. They set the table in the living room and thus began the very special opportunity of serving us. They were so excited!!

We started off the meal by looking under our chairs for a treat. I was the lucky winner of ......... a rubber ducky!

They brought our meals in to us and then they ate their meal in the kitchen. We heard much giggling and chatter from that direction. 

At the end of the meal, we each received a very tiny, tightly wrapped and taped, present. Inside one of the 4 was a dime. Jamison was the lucky winner.

They also serenaded us with after-dinner music.

After clearing the table, they were shocked and thrilled to find that their Dad had tipped them each a dollar!!!

We have been LOVING the beautiful spring days. Like usual, we have several gorgeous days, then a blast of cold, only to repeat this cycle until, oh, maybe June. (jk)

Annika learned to drive the 4-wheeler recently. 

And Brooklyn {finally} learned to ride her bike without training wheels. I wonder how many times her siblings removed her training wheels in the past 1 1/2 years, only to have her plead for them to put them on again. But she finally did master the art!

I love to herd the children outside on these nice days and watch their creativity take over!

Brooklyn lost her first tooth!!!!!!!!!!!

 The tooth fairy {aka her sister} left her a whole dollar under her pillow!! 

I forced everyone to pose on Easter Sunday. Let's just say that some people enjoy dressing up more than others.......And nobody complains about photo's if they can include their pet on the picture. I pick my battles carefully.

So now you had another peek into ordinary life here on the farm. And may Spring come quickly to stay!