Abundance

I'm sitting here crashed out on the couch after a long day of homeschooling and canning. I canned applesauce today. The apples we bought are Macintosh, Courtlands and Gala's, which is a mix I have never done before. Here are some of them. We bought 2 bushels.











And here is what my kitchen looked like today. It smelled wonderful, but was SO sticky.


























I canned 21 quarts total and then got too tired to do anymore. I still have about 1/2 bushel left. I am going to can them tomorrow, but not do applesauce. I am going to try canning sliced apples so I can use them in pies and cobblers.

My garden is going a bit crazy! This is what my side garden looks like. The pumpkins have taken over! You can barely see my tomatoes because the pumpkin vines are going over the top of them!













Here are some of my pumpkins. They are actually ready to be picked. They are supposed to be a pale orange, and the variety is called "Long Island Cheese" because it looks like a wheel of cheese. I thought they would be small, but they are big!


























Amazingly, my tomatoes are producing like crazy, despite being overrun by the pumpkin vines. I'm not sure what I am going to make with them yet. I canned the ones we picked late last week into sauce. I have so many coming on that I am going to have to get creative. Maybe I will can ketchup? All 12 tomato plants are loaded like this...














Underneath all the pumpkin vines are my carrots. We picked a few today, and they were SO sweet and yummy. I wish I would have planted more! We still have a whole row to pick, so I am glad they are so good. Evie ate the littlest one, and most of the big one :).




















I am so thankful for all the abundant produce that God has blessed us with this year!

Crazy busy last week!

It has been a wild last week at our house. First, Jeff got offered a job about 2 miles from our house that he couldn't refuse. He ended up taking the job and quitting his other job. He left on such good terms with his job that he quit, that they want him to do contract work for them in the winter! He started his new job this past Tuesday, and he had a really good first week. He gets to come home for lunch every day, which has been SO awesome! Love it!! God is so good, and has blessed so much. We are so thankful!

My garden tomatoes weren't coming on very well, so we bought 2 bushels of tomatoes that were heirloom organic tomatoes at a roadside stand. We got a really good price on them. I canned 20 jars of chunk tomatoes and 11 jars of tomato sauce. I also canned 30 jars of pearsauce, and froze 1/2 bushel of green beans. Now my garden tomatoes are taking off, so I'm not sure what I will do with them! I'm thinking about just canning them into sauce. We just bought apples, so this week I will start canning applesauce. The last thing I will can is grape juice. Here are my shelves, which are getting very full!

Trying to fit in homeschooling this past week was a challenge because of all the canning, and also because we found out the cats were infested with fleas! I have flea dipped them twice since Tuesday, and at the last bath we killed 40 fleas between the two of them. The natural flea shampoo we bought was completely worthless. It didn't kill them at all, so I tried orange oil (called Orange TKO). It repelled the fleas, which made them jump off the cats. Some of the fleas jumped out in the water and drowned, but most of them jumped off when we toweled the cats off. Evie was my helper! She would see one and go, "There's one!" and either she or I would pick it up and stick it under the water in the tub. We were amazed at how many we were able to get! I'm planning on dipping the cats again on Tuesday. I need something that kills the fleas, but I don't want tons of chemicals. I am going to try Dawn dish soap next. I read that it is supposed to kill fleas on contact. The dog is pretty much under control now. I have only seen (and killed) a few fleas on her in the past several days. I have been vacuuming the house every day. So far we haven't seen a flea, except for a few in the cannister after we dump it after vacuuming. Jeff got bit by one once, but Evie and I haven't. So I am trying to keep the fleas from infesting the house. I feel like I need to have a clone because there is so much to do!!

Evie lost her top tooth last week, and looks so cute with her gap :).

The blessing of adoption

I have been crying lots of tears of joy this morning. My cousin and her husband just adopted this beautiful little girl last night from China. They are there right now. Every time I look at this picture, and the pictures of her with her new parents, I just bawl. Knowing all they went through, and how long they have waited, I am just so thrilled for them. They wrote about how surreal it all was, and how they felt shell-
shocked. It brought back memories of when Jeff and I first held Evie. Unlike with a pregnancy, adoption doesn't have 9 months of preparation. Most of the time people wait and wait, then everything happens super fast all at once. You almost never know when things will happen. It only took us a year to get Evie. It took my cousin and her husband almost 5 years to get this precious baby. The wait for adoptions seems to be much longer now than when we adopted. Domestic adoptions are becoming so scarce that most people are adopting internationally.

When we were waiting to adopt, we found out a month before Evie was born that we had been chosen by Evie's birthmom. After Evie was born, we had to wait to see if her birthmom would really go through with the adoption. When we got the call to go to the hospital because Evie was really ours, we really didn't have any emotional preparation. It was SO surreal. I still remember just staring at her. I thought I would be crying hard, but instead I just couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that I was holding my daughter. She was absolutely beautiful, and such an amazing gift. I am so thankful that her birthmother chose life for her. As I look back and see the journey we have been on, I cherish all the memories. She has been such a huge gift to us. There are verses in the Bible that talk about how God adopts us into His family when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Having adopted, I see those verses in a different light. I view Evie as my flesh and blood, even though I didn't give birth to her. If I see her that way, in all my human-ness, how much more would God my Father who is perfect see us that way! My heart is so full this morning. I am so thankful for the blessing of adoption. I am so thankful for this new, beautiful baby girl in our family, who will grow up in such a wonderful home. What a blessing knowing that she will grow up hearing about the Lord. God is such a good God!

New updo and hair toy organizing

I tried a new updo that I have had in my updo book (a book of hand sketched hairstyles that I made), and for some reason I have never tried it. It is the Chinese Bun, and it was SO easy! It was also super comfy. I took a picture because I actually really liked how it looked!

















I also organized my hair toys. I bought a jewelry organizer, and used it to organize my stuff. I filled both sides and hung it on the wall. I love that I can see all of my hairsticks and homemade hair pins. Here is one side




















And here is the other....




















I love that I can see all of my things! It has helped me use them more, which is always good. I'm trying to be more creative with my hair. I'm trying to wear it different ways to avoid boredom.

Today was our first day of homeschooling. It went really well! We homeschooled from 8:00 - 12:00, and it was a cram packed time. We are doing Rosetta Stone Spanish this year, and it was actually really fun! Plus I get to learn Spanish too :).

Fun and busy days

It has been such a busy time at our house these past few weeks! It has been wonderful having Jeff home every night! I love being able to eat dinner together each night. His new job is going well, and he is really liking it. We are so thankful for that! I have been busy canning, getting stuff ready to homeschool, and de-flea'ing our dog. Poor Si Si was covered with fleas. I kept checking her because she kept chewing on herself, but I couldn't find any fleas. Well, I must not have been looking well enough because she was covered. So I had to flea dip her (I found some natural stuff), then I put some more stuff down her back (also natural). I have also been vacuuming every day. Evie took this picture tonight after I had just checked her for the 3rd time today, and after we had just been outside on a walk. She looks all tuckered out :).















I have been canning peaches. I have never canned them before. Evie was such a HUGE help! She helped me peel the skins after I put them in the boiling water and then the cold water.













I canned a bushel of peaches over 2 days, and got 27 quart jars. Each one sealed! Yay! I have learned to pray over my jars, and I pray that they will seal. That may sound funny, but I believe God cares about even the little things :).















I just got a bushel and a half of pears, so I am going to be busy for awhile! I canned 23 pints of salsa, so that is done. Evie helped me with that too. She has been my little canning helper this year. When she isn't helping me, or playing with friends, Evie likes to pass the time playing dolls. And she likes Daisy to feel like she is part of the playtime!













This past weekend, we went with Jeff's parents to Michigan and Ohio for a mini vacation. We went to Cabela's in Dundee, MI. I wish I would have taken my camera to that place! Wow, it was awesome! Then we went to the Toledo Zoo, which was amazing. It is ranked one of the top 3 zoo's in the nation, and I can see why. It was an awesome zoo!


Evie was really afraid of this polar bear at first, but got brave after we had been there awhile :).




















We loved the polar bears. They had a beautiful underwater viewing area so we could see them swim. This one was the mama bear.















The baby's name was Siku, and he is the only polar bear cub in a U.S. zoo. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of him (he was jumping in the water). He didn't stay still for very long!














The wolves were probably my favorite. They are so beautiful.

































It was Jeff's parents 45th wedding anniversary. We were glad we were able to spend the time with them.






























































They had a fabulous aquarium there. Jeff took this great picture of a Clown Fish inside an anemone.














Here is the drenched family! It sprinkled the whole time we were there, which was nice because we stayed cool. By the time we left, it was raining pretty hard. We went at a good time!














The gorilla's were fascinating. This big guy just stared at us. He was huge!



















He was looking right at me. I'm thinking he didn't like me taking his picture!















Look at the other crazy gorilla's that were at the zoo!














Evie "hatching" out of an egg :).













My blog posts have been really long lately. I hope I am not boring you all! It is nice to have something to write about! I didn't really want to write much when Jeff and I were apart. I guess I felt too sad. I'm so thankful we are together as a family again!

Summer

Today is an exciting day! My hubby quit his job today, and is coming home for good tonight! He didn't give a 2 weeks notice because they are closing down the company anyways, and he didn't have anything to do. I am so thankful to God for His goodness to us. I get to have my hubby back :)!!

I haven't been the best blogger this summer, so I will try and throw a bunch of stuff into one blog post :). We had a fun time this year at our local 4H fair. We had beautiful weather, and it was a little cooler, so we didn't roast. Evie got to ride several rides, and we got to see all the animals. I especially loved the llamas, which I didn't get to see last year. This is only the second year they have been at our fair. They are sooo sweet! If we had land, I would love to have some. They have the softest hair, and the sweetest, most gentle eyes. Love them! Here are some fair pics...






















































Our garden has been doing great, but is still a bit behind. My pole beans (which are climbing the fence and are going over the fence into the neighbors yard!) have flowered and are ready to start coming on. The zucchini plants were huge this year, but I didn't get as many zucchini as I would have liked. They are in front of the beans.















My green pepper plants are HUGE! They are almost to my shoulders! They are producing beautifully. I used them to make salsa this week :). The smaller pepper plants are ones I planted from seed. They are red, purple and orange, and they are all loaded with little peppers. I can't wait until they turn colors and get bigger. I have been trying to freeze a lot of the peppers for winter.













My tomatoes are also huge, and are loaded. Many are still green, but a lot of them started turning the past few days.














This picture of my pumpkins is about a week old. They are taking over the garden! They are now overlapping my potatoes, carrots and tomato plants! And they are LOADED! I bet I have at least 50 pumpkins growing out there. The variety I got is called Long Island Cheese. They are supposed to be shaped like a wheel of cheese! They are supposed to store well. I wish I could can it. Everything I have read about canning pumpkin sounds dangerous. They said it was the #1 cause of botulism in home canning. Yikes! Freezing is a option. I may do that. I may just store them in the basement where it is cool. That is what the pioneers did! It looks like we are going to be eating a lot of pumpkin!!













I canned green beans today. I got some from my neighbor. I canned 6 pints. I canned salsa yesterday. My neighbor gave me a bunch of tomatoes, so I wanted to make some salsa. I canned 13 pint jars.














Here is the start of my canning shelf. Please excuse the massive mess of a shelf down below! You can see my salsa. I also canned some jellies, and the beans I canned this past winter. There is also grape juice from last year. I hope to make some more of that. I still have a ways to go with canning. I'm hoping to can some tomatoes, and more beans. I would really like to can some chickens too. I love seeing full shelves of homemade canned goods :)

Praising God!!!

I love that I get to write this blog post :). JEFF GOT A JOB!!!! And we don't have to move!!!!! YIPPPPPEEEEEEEEE!!!! I can actually say it now without bawling my head off with joy :). He was offered a position at a company about 1/2 hour from our house. It still hasn't set in yet that I will actually have my husband home every night. No more seeing each other only on the weekends. No more eating dinners just Evie and I. No more feeling like a single mother. No more sleepless nights hearing every noise in the house. No more wild weekend baking trying to make meals for the week for him. I get to have a husband again!! Yay!! I thought about the fact that Evie and I haven't sat at the dining room table since March. Jeff started doing the commute thing in March. Whenever we would sit at the table to eat dinner, Evie and I would get really sad. We started sitting at the bar to eat, but that didn't help either. We both would miss him terribly. So we started watching our favorite tv show, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, while we ate. It made the time go by, and didn't make us miss Jeff as badly as sitting at the table did.

I can now unpack boxes. I left several boxes packed just because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I didn't know if we were going to have to move or not. This past 14 months have been the most unstable we have ever been when it comes to not knowing what is going to happen. God has been so good to us though. He has provided in amazing ways, more than I ever thought possible. We didn't lose our house or go into debt, which is a miracle only from God. I am so grateful to Him for taking care of us through all this. Jeff works this week, and then next week away from us. Then he gets to come HOME for good! He starts his new job on the 23rd, which is the same day Evie and I start homeschooling. I can't wait to have him home!!!!!!!!!!