Easter 2013

Easter, this year, was a stressful time.  In that, I mean there are some family expectations that come into play. Like, aren't you supposed to have extended family, for dinner? Apparently, we are not!  With my parents divorce and their new significant others, it all just seemed too messy to hard to process, to much anger on the cusp.  So instead of having blood family, we opened up our house to neighbors both near to Christ and not familiar with Christ.  It was, by far, one of my favorite Easters! We got to love on our neighbors and serve in this home that God has blessed us with!

 Crazy amounts of amazing food!

 Neighbors meeting and breaking bread on the Super Bowl holiday of the Christian Faith.

Single people, married people, widowed people, new babies, old doggies, I think we passed the generational test!

and of course...you know how we love a good game.  We ended the day with Apples to Apples.  Blessed...Blessed...Blessed beyond measure with a full house to love on!

I love how Christ meets us all where we are at...wooing us with his constant grace filled love.  Today was such a neat example of it.
  

If it poops like a mouse then maybe it is a mouse !?!

Ok, first off, I am feeling a little schizophrenic. I have been dreaming about land, raising animals...basically being Mrs. Dolittle and then a friend posted this picture on her facebook page.

This is my friend's mother-in-law helping out with one of their roosters. Granted roosters are a bit bigger, but holy cow look at those talons.  Then all these crazy bossy thoughts start popping in my head like
....can you get chicken scratch
....what kind of chicken gloves does a person need
....I'm gonna die
....one of the kids will for sure die
...what do you do with an animal when it dies
....I am so ooo oo going to be in over my head!

And then when I am feeling completely inadequate, we had an unfortunate incident. Here's what happened.  So a couple of weeks ago we showed the house and most things ended up in the garage...things started to pile up and we slated to clean out the garage as one of our pre-listing duties.

We (ok Craig) started moving things out to organize into groups of sell, donate, or trash it piles. While moving we saw black rice looking stuff and then it hit me...we have mice, but not only did we have a mouse, we found a nest.  It was empty but holy cow I was on high alert. My son swears he saw a five foot rat.  So being proactive we bought both kinds of traps...

Ya'll know we homeschool so everything is educational.  This lesson had the boys FULL attention.  Let me just say that on the test snap everyone jumped....if the mouse/rat does not bite the dust I just may!  Let me also address that checking on said traps = large cojones. Craig may not sleep tonight....


Before you all start commenting...yes I know mice are small and relatively harmless but what about
rickets.  Ok, off to ponder this whole country living thing and oh and listen for the "snap".  

FYI...

When you are house hunting there is some lingo that must be "clarified".

1. Bring your tools does =bring a bulldozer cause this house needs to be leveled.

2.  Handyman's delight = almost condemned property.

3. Has flooded before = uninsurable property.

4. Open acreage living= not a tree for miles.

Just thought I'd share some learned opportunities. Both houses on the hunt today were a fail, but I learned some new lingo! God has a plan so let's see what he has next!:)

House Hunting!!!!!

I have to post 2 pictures of houses we toured,and people this is super exciting cause these houses we actually like and can almost afford. What I mean is that they are relatively close to the budget:) tomorrow we see 2 more....it could really happen.... Whoo hoo!

Nice big lot with almost 2 acres....open floor plan but just blah. I guess we should have started with this one cause it pailed in charm to the next one:)

This may seriously be the cutest house I have ever seen...so pottery barn meets country charm. Bathroom counters were farmhouse tables yet the master shower had a rain water spout from the ceiling. Super super super cute but backs to a public park and is in the middle of a downtown so the neighbors could be questionable...not to mention it is priced high. Praying about it and the last house too. Thanks for being excited with us...either way we gain some acreage and adventure!

How do people blog everyday?

I am a non-typical blogger.  While I do love meeting my word quota on here....it's hard to make time to blog.  Life is in overdrive, but I guess that's the point of blogging....capturing those moments that otherwise slip through the cracks. So here is a recap of the last week or so events!

Passover Seder

Loved that my husband was teaching our children about the significant symbolism in the passover meal!  This was so neat to share with dear friends and we all learned a ton.  Our God is so into the details!

This was our Passover plate...with lamb shank, matzah bread, bitter herbs, salt water, horsey sauce, boiled egg, apple chutney, and candles.  Where did we get such interesting candles?  Well, I am so glad you asked! The kids made them the week prior at the Williamson Bee Keeping event. 

I also got knee deep in this book...so dang good!

That's right...where else but in Austin, can you attend the Funky Chicken Coop Tour.  We had a blast at this very informative filed trip. When you homeschool nothing is off limits for a field trip!

We held baby chicks...so fitting this weekend of new birth!

We explored the latest craze...the mobile chicken coop!

The kids met other homeschool school kids that participate in a group called Fancy Feathers.  It is a 4H group that shows chickens....can you guess what the kids want to do next year?

This crew learned about the different varieties of chickens and the family decided we need 5-6 different breeds of chickens...so we can name them and tell them apart and have lots of colors of eggs.  We shall see about this one!

This is $2000 coop....I think my husband almost feel over when they said what their coop cost.  Of course, this was the first coop we saw!

Coop build buy 3rd grades...we can so do this!

family FAVORITE!

30 chicken coop

Next up Easter pictures...and how God got to show off at our house!

Holy Week

   This week and the resurrection is like the super bowl of Christianity.  Christmas, as special as it is, is only about the birth of a savior. The holy week and Jesus' resurrection are truly what give people their faith.  It's all because of Jesus. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and took the cross for our sins.  He paid the debt...but not only did he pay the debt he broke all the rules and rose from gave. There is nothing we can do to bridge the gap of our sins....there are not enough good things we can do to earn our way to heaven.  It's that crazy FREE gift of choosing to believe Jesus was not just another cool, good guy.  He was and still is the savior of the world. Check out this cool modern take on the age old truth of Jesus!

What if Jesus Had Twitter



We've had a crazy cool week paying honor and remembering the ultimate price Jesus paid for us...

Sunday- We celebrated the miracle of healing in James Dear.  If you have not heard of him check out his wife's blog on their journey.  Dear family Blog

Monday- I met with my incredible mentor.  I think everyone should have a person speaking wisdom into their life.  She is someone who is a lifestage ahead of me her precious grandchildren....she homeschooled, has a ministry in recovery, and is someone who wants to walk daily with Jesus.  She's not perfect but man she so much further ahead than me in my walk and I just want to spend time with her and let her goodness rub off on me!:)

Tuesday- Our small group read through the account of the holy week in Luke 22

Wednesday-Financial Peace class and our Easter craft started growing grass

.....and we still have a New life celebration today, ceremonial passover meal tomorrow night, and a neighborhood Easter dinner at our house on Sunday.

Ohhhh...and stay tuned we have this fun event on Saturday where we are learning about keeping chickens in the backyard!!!!!!

The night I ran away

There are just some weeks that make me want to run away and this was one of those weeks.  I didn't run too far just far enough to meet up with a "sister from another mother" kinda friend!  The week started out with the house showing and I am not gonna lie...it was harder than I thought to not sell the house.  I mean I already had packing boxes in the garage and some of them even packed!

Tuesday brought a visit to the vet.  Our 15 yr. old puppy, Sassy, is now in her "sunset days."  The Vet informed us she has, at best, a couple months to live.  Hospice for Dogs is currently operational in our home.

Wednesday  brought an unexpected emergency trip to the dentist.

My sweet Faith bumped heads with her brother and almost knocked out her two front bottom teeth.  Glad I went to the pediatric dentist when I did.  They were able to re-secure the teeth and hopefully avoid a double root canal.  We go back next Wednesday to see how the teeth are doing and also get a quote to fix the chip where the teeth hit one another.

Thursday we went over to a very special family friend's house.  We did an Easter craft and our 8 kids had a blast!  This is the best picture to accurately reflect how some homeschooling days go....joyful and chaotic!

 Thursday afternoon was the President's Day Challenge.  All the kids ran either a mile or 1/2 mile and completed 4 other challenges.  It was a great afternoon.....until we came home with another friend.  While the Mom and I were talking one of her kids were hit in the head with a softball.  Friday morning I got the call that our friend had a concussion because of it:(

Friday night was supposed to be our date night, but it was a total bust.  Tensions were high...emotions off the chart so I decided to run away with a friend.

Brenda, my sweet "wise" friend made me laugh and forget all that the week ensued.  What a blessing friends are....they know the good, bad, and the ugly and they still chose you!

Well that about sums up the week...I don't think I even mentioned my parents divorce and how it continues to ravage my family, the recovery of my husband and how that still impacts us or my own sinful flawed nature, but for now I continue to run the race set before me....knowing I am in a marathon not a sprint.

Hebrews 12:1 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,