Flowers

This lily has had a rough beginning. In early spring, it was trampled and broken by a big footed pup. It seems to have survived nicely though. I have waited all spring to see what it would look like. I think it looks pretty next to the purple flowers. I most definitely will have to separate some of these flowers next year. The bed is extremely crowded. Yesterday was a busy day. The girls and I cleaned out both of the big freezers-making room for this year’s harvest. This took a major portion of the day. Then I helped Hubby by mowing some before he came in from work. For supper, I used some of the pork tenderloin I had cooked the day before. I like to cook a large amount of meat at one time and then use it in different dishes for another meal. So I put the tenderloin in the oven with some potatoes and roasted them. We also had corn on the cob from our freezer, biscuits with butter and homemade blackberry jam for dessert. Today is starting out to be a beautiful day here is Floyd. Lots of sunshine. Tomorrow our church is doing a horseshoe tournament down by the river. We will play horseshoes, eat lots of good food, listen to good music and in general have a great time. It amazes me some people think Christian life is boring. We have a blast at my church! We are small in number but we do lots of things together. We are family. I will try to get some pictures to post of our activities. This is the first year we have done this and we are hoping many will come. Baby Sam and Mom are still doing good. Daniel says he loves his baby brother. Thanks so much for your prayers. I hope to go down to see them soon and get more pictures. Take care and God bless.

June 11, 2010 1

Garden

Here are just a few shots of our garden. We hope to soon enjoy squash as you can see the bloom on it. This one tomato plant will be an early one. The others are not near as big. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Hubby and I finished getting the garden out. We planted a few more tomatoes and beans and corn.

Later in the evening we got a good rain. I guess God knew our seeds needed a drink. The girls and I are working on cleaning the house today and washing clothes. My house is a little behind as we have been doing up the beef. Our total is 80 quarts of canned beef and 88 bags of hamburger. Pretty good I think. Tomorrow is bible study day. We are studying I Corinthians. Little Samuel will be here in 4 more days. Unless he decides to come before then. We all can hardly wait to see him and hold him. God is good! Also hopefully David will have my computer back in operation soon. I really miss it. It’s sometimes hard for me and Hubby to coordinate on one computer. His free time is usually my free time too. Well, my time is up. The wringer is calling my name. Take care and God bless.

June 3, 2010 3

Roses-Getting Ready

My rose bush is full of these little buds. I can’t wait to see them in bloom! Of course, I will take a picture so you all can see them too. Today we begin our new study today on I Corinthians. Pray for us, as the ladies seem to think this will be a hard study. To me, hard means digging deeper. Hopefully, digging deeper means understanding deeper. We’ll see. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, not too warm, just right. I washed clothes again and hung them out on the line to dry. I thought I should take advantage of the sunshine. They are calling for rain this evening through Monday. Every year, our church does a youth Trout Fest day. It is scheduled for tomorrow. The pond is already stocked and ready to go. It is a big day. The kids fish from 9:30 to 12:00. Then we have a picnic lunch. Hotdogs with all the fixin’s. Lots of desserts. The kids and the adults have a LOT of fun. Hopefully, it will not get rained out. We went over to a friend’s house last night. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and took them to share. Good coffee, good food, good fellowship. Life is good and God is great! I took Jessica’s advice and made the rolls a little different this time. I put chopped pecans in the middle along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Then for the icing I made a quick caramel frosting from my Mennonite cookbook. The recipe is:

1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Melt together on low heat and boil 2 min. stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup milk and heat just until boiling again. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar.

This was very good on the cinnamon rolls. I know it would be excellent on cakes as well. Time for my day to get busy. Take care and God bless.

May 21, 2010 1

Irises

I think irises are very pretty. These were given to us by a friend at church last year. When we planted them, we were not sure they would live but I think they look pretty good. Today has been a beautiful day here in Floyd. Temperatures in the mid 70’s with a gentle breeze. A beautiful day to hang clothes out on the line. Today Hubby and I set up the wringer washing machine for us to use. We had it set up and ready last fall however the line froze and burst so Hubby had to do some repairs. We are ready now. The girls and I washed 3 loads of clothes on it today. It was hard to keep them focused on school because they wanted to help with the wash. I’m sure this thrill will wear off before summer is over but we’ll see. It is a little more work than the automatic machine but more fun to use. I am very thankful to have it. Yesterday, I made some strawberry-rhubarb jam. I used some of the strawberries we got Saturday in N. C. and the rhubarb came from our patch. This is the first thing we have canned for the year. I am looking forward to much more. I really enjoy canning our own food. It is a lot of hard work but I think it is worth it. At least I know what’s in the jar I’m opening for supper. Well, I have much to get done. Take care and God bless.

May 5, 2010 1

Baby Geese

Here’s a picture of the baby geese. We have 6 of them. Ain’t they cute! I have been hoping to get a better picture of them but so far this is as good as it gets. We have been really busy around here. I had to take Grace to the doctor Thursday. She fell and we thought she might have broken a bone in her foot. Thank the Lord, it was not broken just a sprain. She is feeling much better today. We went down to Jessica’s today for a short visit. We fixed hamburgers on the grill for lunch. There is just something special about sharing food fixed on the grill with family. I love eating outside and today was a beautiful day for it. We also went down to a pick your own strawberry patch that is close to her house. We got 4 gal. for us and 2 gal. for our friend Vicki. We ate 1 of our gal. on the way home. They were delicious! When we got home, we went up on the hill above our house and starting cutting wood for this winter. We got 1 truck load cut, brought it down and unloaded it. Many, many more loads to go but it is a start. We will split it later. So of course, all of me is tired. Hubby is mowing and I am ready for a shower. Take care and God bless.

May 1, 2010 3

Fun

Okay, so our visit went by much too quick. Monday evening when they first arrived it seemed like such a long time, but now it is Thursday and they are gone. I miss them already. We had so much fun. We went to a park here in town. When the girls were little they called it “the colored swings.” We, of course, still call them that. Tuesday was a beautiful day, we packed a picnic lunch and headed into town. We had a great time. Wednesday was cool here. Not much outside activity. Today however is gorgeous. Nice and warm with lots of sunshine.

Doesn’t he look like he is having fun!

The girls had a great time keeping up with him. Well, maybe not a great time but they did have fun.

No fear-no gain. Tuesday evening while we were outside burning off the garden, Daniel had lots of fun playing Superman. As I have said before he is all boy. Time for me to start supper. I think tonight’s menu will be sloppy joes and fries. Something easy. MawMaw needs to rest. (Just kidding) I don’t think anything makes me feel any younger than being around small children. They love so freely and completely. No wonder Christ said for us to come to Him as a little child. Take care and God bless.

April 15, 2010 3

Thursday

My Grace took this picture the other evening. The clouds were beautiful. Thanks for the picture, Grace. Today looks as though it will be another beautiful day here in Floyd. The sun is shining, the birds are singing praises. Beautiful! I am getting ready to hang clothes on the line. So much fun. I also just finished making some homemade yogurt. I have not made this in a long time. I usually make kefir. However I am having difficulties getting it to thicken. I think it has something to do with temperature. Without the fire, I don’t think it is warm enough in the house for it to set. I had this same problem last year in the spring. So maybe I’ll just make yogurt for a while. Must be time for a change. School today as usual. Hopefully we will finish getting the garden ready to plow today. I am really ready to play in some fresh turned dirt. Get some early crops in the ground. Onions, lettuce, peas, cabbage. YUM! I don’t think I’ve told you all, but we have a mama goose setting on the island on the pond. Much excitement. We have never had one make a nest here before. We are certainly looking forward to seeing babies swimming around. We have always said when the birds were singing they were singing praises to the Lord. On another blog, I read about listening to their praise songs. I so much like that thought. So it is time for me to go hang some clothes on the line and listen to some beautiful praise music. May your day be filled with the sound of praise. God bless.

April 8, 2010 0

New Life

The field above our house has come to life. Several new calves have been born. They run and jump through the new grass. They have so much fun and are such a joy to watch. Today we worked outside most of the day, picking up in the yard, getting the garden ready. David, Jess, and Daniel came this afternoon. We had hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Ate them outside at the picnic table. The sun was shining brightly. A beautiful day.

The girls enjoyed some fishing time. It was one of those days that I just thank the Lord I live where I do. Clothes blowing dry in the wind. The birds are singing so beautiful. Frogs peeping. It makes me want to do all my work outside. I even open my window just a little bit at night so the frogs can sing me to sleep. Wonderful time of the year in Floyd. It’s been a really hard winter but spring in sweet. Just like life. Sometimes life is hard but the Lord is good and brings us through to spring. Well, I must go. My baby boy is here. Take care and God bless.

March 20, 2010 1

More Signs of Spring

I could hardly wait to post these pictures! The crocus are so bright and beautiful. The rhubarb is coming up nicely. I LOVE SPRING! This has been a busy week for us. All day Tuesday spent in Roanoke at the eye doctor. Wednesday was a fun day spent with our friends, the Horns. Today has been a beautiful day here. Temperature around 60 degrees. We can hardly believe it. I hung our clothes out on the line-they will smell sooooo good! I plan on having london broil on the grill tonight, probably home fries and corn on the cob (from our garden last year). I purchased some strawberries at the store today. I usually don’t do that this early in the season but they looked so good. Strawberry Shortcake for dessert tonight. We usually go down to Jessica’s in early May. There is a” pick your own” strawberry patch. We love it. We try to pick a lot, freeze them for winter. We also make lots of fresh strawberry jam. YUM! Anyway I have a praise. My truck is fixed!!!! Hubby and his brother worked until dark last night but we are back on the road. I never imagined how much I would miss that old truck until I had to jiggle my schedule with Hubby’s. One vehicle can be a little trying to say the least. The girls and I don’t go a lot of places but it sure is nice to be able to go when we want to. I guess I better get busy cooking supper, Hubby is looking in the pantry so he must be hungry. Take care and God bless.

March 18, 2010 2

Snow

Today is a beautiful day here in Floyd. Lots of snow. It’s really hard to get an accurate measurement here because of the wind but we know we got at least 8-10 inches, drifts are much deeper. The girls have already played in the snow and we have made snow cream. For those of you who do not know what snow cream is, you put snow in a large container, add sugar, vanilla and evaporated milk. Stir it up with a mixer and you have snow cream. Very good! The amount of ingredients vary so just keep tasting until you get it right. This is a favorite of ours whenever we get snow. I think today is a quilting day. You know one of those days where I just snuggle in with a project and enjoy the life the Good Lord has given me. I guess there will be no church tomorrow. I really miss going to church but it just can’t be helped. The roads are too bad to go anywhere. Jess even got snow in N.C. I wish I could see Daniel’s face when he gets to play in it. They do not get snow very often there. So it will be a treat for him. Well, I think I hear my quilt project calling my name. Enjoy your day and God Bless.

December 19, 2009 0