Rainy Tuesday

Hello everyone! I hope all is well with you all. We are getting some much needed rain here in Floyd. It rained most of the night and is still raining. Temperatures are warm though. Over the weekend we got up to about 60 degrees. Amazing! Right now it is 40 degrees. I will take this for January weather any time.

We are working on school as usual. I love routine days. Days that we just go along doing normal stuff. Hubby hasn’t found any work yet so he is still working on learning how to make bowls. He is doing a really good job.

I want to give an update on the homemade dish soap. I don’t think I will be making it again. I’m sure it cleans good but I just do not like the fact that it does not soap up. I really like to see bubbles in my water when washing dishes. Oh well, it was fun making it.

Well, I think that’s about it. Piano practice is almost over and then book work begins so I better be getting ready. Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 15, 2013 5

Homemade Dish Soap

Hello everyone! I thought I would share with you all a new project I am making today. I got the idea from http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-little-winter-project.html She always has the best projects going on. I tried to figure my cost on this. I think it runs a little less than one dollar counting the essential oils It makes over a quart of dishsoap. I will let you all know how it works. Anyway, it was a fun project to make. Thanks, Mrs. Faye.

Enjoy your day and God bless..

January 10, 2013 2

Hubby’s First Bowl

Hubby hasn’t had any work for a while now. Not knowing exactly what to do with himself, he has been working on bowl making. This is his first one. I think it looks beautiful. He, of course, sees many flaws. This bowl is made of sassafras wood.

He also made me this long handled wooden spoon. My new canning kettle has a nonstick finish on it so I have to use wooden or plastic spoons with it. My spoons didn’t really have a long enough handle. I don’t like getting so close to the hot stuff I’m stirring. I told him when we got the kettle that I needed a long handled spoon for it, so ta-da, I now have one. Thanks, honey.

Well, I hope you all have a good day and God bless.

January 9, 2013 2

Flowers

It is not very often I do two posts in one day but I wanted to share this with you all. I got a HUGE surprise today from Jessica. These beautiful flowers were delivered to our home as a thank you from her and the kids. So sweet! Thank you, Jess.

January 8, 2013 4

Another Update

Hello everyone! I wanted to let you all know how everyone is doing. I came home yesterday. The Bates clan seems to be on the mend. A long way from better but on the mend. Jess took Daniel to the doctor this morning. He has a lot of congestion and a double ear infection. Also please pray for our friends, the Horns. As of right now, 3 out of 5 of them have the flu and one has strep throat with the flu. I know many blogs I read have had this bug going through them. It is horrible.

Today we are working on school and other normal things. The girls and Hubby kept things running smoothly here while I was away. I did come back up Sunday morning and went to church. You all remember, Sunday was the girls big day of playing music. They did a great job. I hope to get a copy of the CD this weekend. If I can figure out how to put it on, I’ll try to share some of it with you all.

Well, that’s about it. Lunch break is over and time for us to start back on school. Thanks again for your prayers. God bless.

January 8, 2013 3

Update on Sam

I just wanted to give you all an update on little Sam. He is doing some better. He still has a long way to go but is much improved from the other day. He managed to come through it without a hospital stay which is a good thing. We so appreciate your prayers and ask that you would please continue to pray for him. I just got a call from Jess and she is on her way to the doctor with Katie. She is congested and running a fever. Please include Katie and Jess in your prayers. David is gone to Vegas so Jess is holding down the fort alone. I think the keeper of the fort could really use some prayers..

Yesterday, we went bowling with the Horns. We had a great time. I think I have mentioned this before, our bowling alley does a thing called homeschool bowling. The first Friday in every month, homeschoolers can bowl for $l.50 a game and the shoe rental is free. We are hoping to do it again next month.

Today is fairly nice here in Floyd. When we first got up, the temperature was 19 with a wind chill of 9 degrees. It has warmed up to about 25 degrees now and we have sunshine. Not too bad for January.

Well, I hope you all have a great day. We are planning on doing a little housecleaning and working some on the chicken nests and lot area. Kinda a slow day. Tomorrow the girls will be doing all the music for church. Our piano player is gone on a little vacation so the girls are doing the music. Grace is doing the congregational for Sunday School. She is playing “What a friend we have in Jesus”. She is also playing the doxology and a congregational for worship service-“Rock of Ages”. Julie is playing “Sweet Hour of Prayer” for her congregational and “Softly and Tenderly” for the invitational. Julie is also doing a special, “The Old Rugged Cross”. She will be singing and playing it. BIG DAY! Pray for them, that all will go well.

I guess that’s about all. Enjoy your day and God bless.

UPDATE ON KATIE: I wanted to let you all know, Katie has the flu. Jess is supposed to try to keep Katie and Sam apart so Sam doesn’t get it too. I am going down to help. It would be so hard for Jess to manage all this alone. I am thanking you all in advance for your prayers. God bless.

January 5, 2013 5

Pray for Sam

You all are looking at one sick little boy. Please pray for him. Jess took him Tuesday to the ER and they said he had bronchitis. They gave him a breathing treatment and a steroid shot. Last night he got worse. She called us at 3:30 this morning to be in prayer for him. He was running a high fever and nothing she did seemed to help. Anyway, after a long night, she took him back to the doctor this morning. He now has pneumonia. They are given him a breathing machine to take home. She is supposed to use it every 6 hrs, also giving him a very strong antibiotic. The doctor told her to go to their local health food store and get buckwheat honey. Buckwheat honey has medicinal properties that will help with all his coughing. I appreciate all your prayers. Thank you and God bless.

January 3, 2013 5

Beautiful Sunrise!

God was certainly showing off yesterday morning. We had an absolutely beautiful sunrise. The colors were so vibrant. These pictures DO NOT do it justice but I wanted to share it with you all anyway.

We were not the only ones who noticed how beautiful it was. I turned the tv on yesterday evening to catch the weather and the weatherman was talking about all the sunrise pictures they had been getting in.

The girls and I went down to Jessica’s yesterday to watch the kids while Dave and Jess went out on a date. David will be traveling to Las Vegas next week for a conference and they were wanting a little alone time. It was a good day.

Today is back to school. We originally had planned on Dave and Jess coming up today but little Sam is sick. I hope you all have a good day and God bless.

January 1, 2013 7

More Snow and Ice

We got a little more snow and ice last night and early this morning.

We are getting some blue skies and sun now, which is much appreciated. Thank you, Lord!

The rock lily beside the driveway.

The driveway.

I hope you all have a great day and God bless.

December 29, 2012 4

What We Still Look Like

Hello everyone! I thought I would show you all what it STILL looks like here in Floyd.

Ice still covers everything. I was hoping to show you all how beautiful it is when the sun shines on it but none of these pictures do it justice.

We are still snuggled in and enjoying the slow pace of days with nothing major to do. We will be starting back school next week.

I have to tell you all about all the fun we had last evening. We opened the chickens gate to see if they would come out and explore a little. Well, they came out just fine. The problem was, they didn’t want to go back in. I think they didn’t want to walk on the ice. When it started getting dark, instead of being on the roost, they were scattered everywhere-under buildings, in the wood shed. We had to gather them all up and put them in their house. Needless to say, we were SO COLD! Silly chickens, they will not have an open gate this evening.

Our actual temperature here this morning is 15 degrees. I’m not sure what the wind chill is but I am certain it is in the single digits. COLD!! I am working on another afgan. I made Jessica and Chuck one each for Christmas but forgot to take a picture of them. Jessica’s is purple and white-Chuck’s is green and yellow.

I hope you all have a great day. Stay warm and God bless.

December 28, 2012 3