Weekend Fun

I spent entirely too much time this weekend cleaning up dog puke. Apparently, toads are really toxic to dogs. Ours had a little run in with one Thursday night and she immediately reacted - drooling, kinda foaming at the mouth and choking. She started throwing up and didn't stop till Sunday morning. I really didn't know if she would make it. She finally ate tonight and seems to be on the mend. I don't like getting up half the night with a sick kid - much less a sick dog! As much as I belly ache about the dog, I'd be really sad if we lost her. FYI - if you ever see your dog around a toad - you should immediately wash their mouth out with a water hose. A lot of dogs die from toad poisoning. Who knew!

That wasn't all of the adventures around here! My husband shot an almost 5 1/2 foot snake! Yipes! He calls all snakes copper-rattle-venom-mockisons and wouldn't rest until this one was dead. Gotta love that man! He shot a good part of the snake's head and body, so you can't really get a good idea of the real length, but he was a big en!

I need to look it up to see what kind it really is!

The snake crawled away under the tractor while Byron was mowing. The kids and dad stalked it to a cedar tree and had to set up a perimeter so it couldn't escape.

We found him perched up in the tree. I think this was probably a good lesson to make the kids a bit more cautious this summer in the woods! Now they know what's out there! Yipes! It has been an eventful weekend - with all this - plus an impromptu bathroom remodel in our new house when we discovered a water leak! Never a dull moment!

Random Thoughts

I am looking forward to roastin' these extra large marshmallows this weekend! I am thinkin' they might not be the greatest invention - I suspect the center's not going to be gooey! We'll see...

Otherwise, you might find me here... I think we have figured out PH and Chlorine and Stabalizer and all that stuff.
But, most likely my husband is going to drag me out here and make me work cuttin' trees, hauling limbs, and sweating.

This Saturday is one day we have held onto with an iron fist to keep clear of all activity! It has been a struggle to hold on to it, but we have it - our first day full day in the new house without at least someone making 20 trips all over the world to do 900 things! We are ALL looking forward to it! The kids are worn out traveling back to Waco so much for sports & activities! I told Gracie we had to go somewhere this week and she just slumped into the floor and cried. Thankfully, Nana's been home up the road and so they didn't have to go quite every trip. We've tried to make an intentional effort to model thankfulness and thank God for the beautiful scenery as we go - but it has been hard for me to be thankful filling my gas tank up so often!

I saw this great quote a while back about prayer; "It is like going to the bank of Heaven when I go to God in prayer. I have nothing deposited there....if I go in my own name I will get absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has unlimited credit in Heaven, and He has granted to me the privilege of going to the bank with His name on my checks; and when I thus go, my prayers will be honored to any extent." R.A. Torey's How to Pray

I also love this one by Soren Kierkegaard, "A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening."

Love that thought! That's so hard for me - stopping and taking the time to listen and wait on the Lord!

I'll be back soon to review a really interesting book I've been reading which has brought up lots of deep theological questions around here.

VBS/ Sunday School gift idea

My kids are so having a hard time realizing that summer is NOT here yet. Since our move, schoolwork has been a daily battle and I think maybe I am losing. They are much more interested in making daisy chains. Picking flowers. Exploring in the woods. Making forts.

And mostly swimming. I wonder if they will ever tire of this pool? It is like ice - I can't believe they are in it - but between church services yesterday they logged about 4+ hours. And I must admit I took a quick cannon ball dive after mowing and it felt nice!

Okay, this one is just my 2 minute prototype - but What a Cool Thing! I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs for printables and cutesy giveaways www.giverslog.com Look at her version - it is much cuter! Paired with a baggy of some inexpensive gumballs (of course hers were cute sewn bags, but who has time for that)? She had made it as a reading incentive, but I changed it as a neat concept to encourage kids to have their daily quiet time. I'm planning to make a bunch of these for our mission trip to do VBS at a church in Colorado this summer.

Lazy Day

It's been this kind of a week. And I don't mind a bit. Don't you just wish you were a dog somedays? No, me either. I'm too grateful for toilet paper. But, I do wish I could be THAT lazy sometimes.

The Lightkeeper's Ball Review

The Lightkeeper's Ball by Colleen Coble is the last novel in the Mercy Falls series. I haven't read the first two, The Lightkeeper's Daughter, and The Lightkeeper's Bride - but the book can be read on it's own. If you've read my blog for anytime, you know I am pretty critical of Christian romance. I am not the biggest fan - I think a lot of the time they are too heavy on the romance and the Christian part is just an afterthought.

I liked this book - it has some deeper elements - a really great mystery, with some suspense, a bit of history, and it is overall just well done. The romance isn't overdone, and I thought faith was well represented.

Here is the synopsis:

It is the dawn of a new century and Olivia Stewart is heiress to an empire. Her family numbers among the Four Hundred – those considered the wealthiest and most distinguished in America. Unfortunately their wealth has nearly disappeared, and now their security rests solely on the Stewart daughters’ marrying well.

Olivia’s sister, Eleanor, was engaged to Harrison Bennett, one of the nation’s wealthiest men, but has since died. Now the pressure is on Olivia to take her place, despite her suspicions about Eleanor’s fiancé. Using her family’s long-forgotten English title, Olivia travels to Mercy Falls, California, as Lady Devonworth, hoping to learn more before committing to marriage. There she finds that Eleanor’s death was no accident. And Harrison is not the man she thought he would be.

When Mercy Falls holds a charity ball masquerade to raise funds for the new lighthouse, secrets–and truths long hidden–will be revealed. But can Harrison really love Olivia when he finds her true identity? Can she live with the repercussions of failing her family, or will she finally realize that nothing–not money, family, or romance—will ever compare to God’s unconditional love?

You can purchase The Lightkeeper's Ball from Thomas Nelson for $14.99. You can visit Colleen Coble's website for more information about her books.

I was given The Lightkeeper's Ball by Thomas Nelson and B&B Media Group for the purposes of review only.

Today's Agenda

A little working in the garden. It is getting LATE for planting - we've got to get going on that!

A little mowing.

A little blackberry picking. And... some swimming. Oh, yes, and we'll squeeze some school work in there as well! We finally got the chemicals just right in the pool. Now if only the water wasn't still cold! That doesn't stop my kids from gettin' in, though!

I just finished reading Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo boy did I enjoy that book! You should definitely add it to your reading list if you haven't read it yet.

I'm Back! With Lots of Pictures

It has taken about a week to get functional Internet out here in the country, but we finally did it! We are learning to take everything much slower! And we are learning to stock up so we don't have to go into town so much! Here are some pictures of what we've been up to around here: Unpacking and settling in mainly. I love beige sheer curtains that blow in the open windows!

Catching critters! The kids have spent most of their time exploring in the woods.

B and my dad cut some great trails through the woods with a tractor. It's pretty raggedy and rough back there on the back 6 acres.

There's a few cactus in the woods with some beautiful blooms - and LOTS of wild blackberry vines almost ripe.

Too many mesquite trees. It's going to take a lot to clear some land for horse pasture.

We've spent some time reading and doing school on the front porch.

A couple days ago Gracie ran into the house carrying this find - a newborn baby bunny! It's eyes aren't even open yet. She put it back and we've seen the mama with it twice so we think it will survive. We were worried the mom might reject it because of Gracie's scent, but it seems to be doing okay. The kids are keeping an eye out for hawks and buzzards (Daniel stood watch with his bb gun yesterday for most of the day). Gracie kept a lookout with her binoculars.

Gracie keeps a good watch on the neighbor's horses. She is hoping to be helpful and volunteer to exercise them (just to be a good neighbor and all).

This is the end of our driveway.

Daniel - protector from all evil birds of prey.

We had fun ripping up the old carpet and writing verses on the subfloor.

The whole family took a trip to Nana's house for supper. She lives less than 1 1/2 miles away.

We pulled down the fence around the pool. We wanted to be able to see some view behind it. The view which is scraggly at the moment, but will surely improve with time and some effort. Well, not my effort of course - that's B's department. On another note: pools are complicated, incredibly expensive, and possibly a bit of a pain! We have found 2 parts needing to be replaced in the pump already and figuring out the chemical balance has been a bit of a challenge to say the least. We attended pool school, but I felt like I was flunking high school chemistry.

We live at the end of the cutest little country lane. It is exactly .5 miles to the mailbox. Not a bad little 1 mile daily workout there and back. I'll be back with more adventures soon!

The Big Reveal

I hinted before on the blog that we decided not to reveal the details about our new house to our kids for lots of reasons. Part of it was just for the JOY of it. It's been pretty hard to do - especially since we've known we loved this place for almost 2 months. We actually blindfolded them and led them to the gate and then let them look.

And run... They were VERY excited about the fact that the house has two stories! They went straight upstairs to check it out and they MISSED what was going on in the back yard!

A POOL! They were absolutely blown away!

Gracie cried great big tears of joy when she saw the Mimosa tree in the front yard. This is special to her because there is a special Mimosa tree in our current house that holds the much beloved Midnight the tire horse. She has been dreading leaving this tree - she took pictures, drew it, pressed its flowers - it has been traumatic. This new tree she has now named Junior and she vows to weed and water it like crazy so that it will grow big and strong!

Of course everyone had to go for a swim. Everyone of course except the dog! The dog is not a big fan of the new house. There's too much activity. Too far to walk. Too many dangers to keep everyone safe from. Too much pressure - her workload has quadrupled and it's just too much for her. She really wishes everyone would just come inside and sit in the A/C.

Daniel started cleaning the pool at 6am! How long do you suppose that will last?

Here's a picture of the outside. There are 7 acres to explore in the back - and room for a real chicken coop and nice garden!

We did a little bit of painting. The house has lots of neat storage cubby-closets.

Daniel's room we painted this nice, deep blue. Oops. I think I might see some spots we missed there.

The girls have a big room to split. They chose their own paint colors. The colors look nice, but Dad commented that it will be like being inside an Easter egg. They like it.

We spent the weekend painting and cleaning. Now comes the task of moving the stuff in it! That's going to take all week - and it was already a busy week to start with. Tomorrow they are disconnecting my Internet and we are going to take our time. I'll take 5-6 days of blogging to get all settled - but I'll be back with lots of pictures! The settling in and redecorating part is my favorite! My goal is to be all settled in by Sunday so we can take a REAL day of rest. Maybe that will happen!