Moving and Life with the Mangos

Our family is not early risers.  In order to get the children started early on a day with much packing, I told them they could have waffles if they were up by 8 AM.  This was a challenge to them.  5 of the 6  got there on time.  Poor Thomas, missed out.

T-Bob got busy and made some peach sauce from some frozen peaches we had.  It was yummy!

They worked together and

ended up with this yummy morsel.  Yes, they are gluten free and as good as any normal waffle.

 Thomas is growing quickly and prefers his sleep.

We also cleaned out the garden and found a lot of eggplant and basil left, that we didn't want to go to waste.

We made pesto from the basil, which is one of our favorite foods.

I have been substituting pumpkin seeds for the pine nuts or other nuts, primarily for financial reasons.  It tastes really good too.  One uses olive oil, fresh garlic and sea salt.

We even  had enough to freeze!  Yeah!!

We packed boxes the entire day!!!  My friend Kathy came over and worked with us for 6 hours, helping us pack boxes.  We still have way too much left to pack.  There is no end to our book collection!  The bedrooms are getting emptier and should be OK.  The china is packed and some other kitchen items are packed.  We are hoping to be down to mostly furniture come Saturday.  We have managed to put enough food in the freezer that we should only have limited meal preparation for the next 5 days or so.

There is much taping

and labeling of boxes.

Tonight our Boss friends came over after prayer meeting with their two large vehicles, and my DH took our big beast van and we loaded up most of the stuff we had packed the last couple days.  Things are coming along.  My DH still has 2 garage-fulls  of stuff, and his office and other hidey holes to pack, but he is planning to do it in stages, since he will have to come up this way to work anyways.  He has been super diligent on getting the house ready for us to move into.  We are blessed with many friends to help us.

Farm/ Moving Update 10/30

My DH at the farm

We are busy packing.  We plan on moving on Friday and Saturday.  Don't have a lot of time for writing blog posts.

We are spending a lot of our evenings at the farm getting the final details ready so we are able to move in.  There are a lot of little details.  Back at the house we are also working hard.  Paul has the front yard all empty of vegetable beds.  No more vegetable gardens in the front yard.

Paul has been such a blessing to our family in this move.  He has worked hard, without complaining.  He has put in many long hours to get the farm ready for us as well as working on the house.  He has been diligently selling off the firewood from the old house.  We won't need it anymore as we heat with gas.  We had about 7-8 cords sitting around in the back yard.  He has been my right hand in getting everything done!

Elizabeth doing the 'wild child' look.

We still have LOTS to pack up!  We are still discarding as we go along.  No sense moving stuff we don't want or need.  But the books... They are needed and so heavy.  Some are being sorted and discarded, but there are still thousands left.  Definitely need more boxes.  I want to be all settled in by Thanksgiving!

Here is what we see as we drive back and forth from the house to the farm.  Autumn and her glory is finally and truly here.

The soybeans were harvested yesterday.  Hip hip hooray!  Now it feels like it is really our property.

There may be a few gaps in my postings as I am rather busy.  Also we are still trying to figure out our internet provider for the farm.  Thanks for following our journey!

Daughters of Destiny 2013

This past week I have not been blogging, because I was away where I did not have access to internet.  I was off on a mountain top in North Carolina ( NOT Tennessee).  I was at Mountain Top Youth Camp.  Below is the view from the lodge.

The camp program is for Christian homeschooled teenage girls.  They are an amazing bunch of gals!

We had a great time studying the Bible and learning many different practical skills.  Sarah and Grace Mally, of Bright Lights fame were the Bible Teachers.  I taught a class on using herbs.

There was a class on hair styling, braiding and cutting,

The videography class got pretty serious, even using this big boom to get the right shots.

This was JoAn's cabin.  She was a counsellor, and helped me teach my herb class as well as teaching a class on Bible Study Methods.

There was a class on making Bobbin Lace.

There was a class on Embroidery,

and weaving.

Elizabeth took this picture when she borrowed my camera.  I really like it!

Elizabeth and Libby at the banquet.

 One of the highlights of the week is the friday night banquet.  The food is always super yummy! and it is fun to relax together after getting to know each other all week.  It is the final big event of the week.

These are my girls.  Everyone gets all dressed up and tries to find someone to do their hair up all spiffy!

The girls take pictures a lot of pictures as they want to remember their new and old friends.

For the last evening, the speaker did a chalk drawing reinforcing the weeks lessons.

The very last thing that happens is that the scores are announced for the cabin contest.  Points are given for cabin clean-up as well as for memorizing the daily and extra credit Bible verses. Eight girls memorized all 51 Bible Verses. Michelle's cabin won first place.  They had a party together.  All the cabin's stayed up late and had fun.  I went to bed at 1 AM and most of the cabin lights were still on.  A lot of girls slept most of the way home!  They took many happy memories home with them.  They learned a lot that hopefully, they will apply to their lives.

Farm Update- 10/27

This past week I was down on North Carolina at a Camp.  I will tell you all about that very soon.  Today I went over to the farm to see what had been done while I was gone.  It looks so nice!!!

The counter tops are done in the kitchen.  I really like how they turned out.  They match the cabinets very well.

We are still missing the faucet for the peninsula sink.  This pretty close to how it really looks.  The granite was called Ivory fantasy, but this particular piece is a little darker than ivory....

Here's how we fit the counter around the stove.  This week my DH is going to build a wall behind the stove.  Eventually we will redecorate the eating area, but it can wait until later after we move in.

The living room and dining room floors look amazing.  For being almost 100 years old, they  are in great shape!

This was the view today from the family room into the kitchen.  We have protective paper down for now, until we move in.  This will give the finish time to set up and protect it while everybody is carrying things in from outside.

This is a better picture of the floor and gives a truer sense of the finish.

We had a different fella finish the floors in the bedrooms.  He used different finishing technic and it looks different.  They are very shiny while the downstairs are more of a matte finish.

The soybeans have still not been harvested.  I hope the farmer gets to it soon.  For those who wondered, this is what soybeans look like when ripe and ready to be picked.

The leaves are starting to turn color.  This is such a late year for that.  It is like a month late.  There were actually snow showers this past week already, although nothing stuck to the ground.  There were ducks on the pond this afternoon when we arrived.  They flew away before I got close enough to photograph them.   

We are planning to move in on Saturday.  It will be a busy week with lots of packing.

Painting

I love being at the farm.  It is so calm and peaceful.... It just draws you outdoors and makes you want to stay there.  We all love it!!

But this week has been spent indoors.  Getting the house ready to move into.  We want to move in the beginning of November.  We plan to have the family Thanksgiving dinner here.

The paint looks a little splotchy in the pictures as they are still wet.

So far this week, Paul and I spent our days here painting.  We finished trimming up the girls room and we painted the boys room, including the closet.  Now they just need to clean up all the junk in the middle of their floor and they can start moving in.

Today's big project was getting the family room painted.  In real life the walls are much lighter in color than they look here.  We got 2 coats on everything, except the final cutting in.  I am really looking forward to having these rooms totally done so we can start moving things in and making it home-like.  It will be nice to have a place to sit and rest between jobs!

We are in a hurry to get this painting done before the floor guy comes this weekend.  That way any stray drops will be sanded off in the final sanding.  After he puts the topcoat on we will have to stay off the floor for several days to let it harden.  The countertops will be installed on Tuesday afternoon.  We are getting really close to start moving!  I am getting excited!!  The office is coming along also.  Most of the walls have their second coat and the trim has been painted.  I still need to pick out flooring.  My DH can install that pretty quickly.

The outside projects are small.  We have mulching and building beds for spring planting on the list.  The barn must be organized and the garage.  Need to put a drain tile in the back part of the barn.  Paul has his mower working so we are good there.  Now to sit back and plan for spring.  There will be lots of fence building and planting and other things then to keep us busy.  So much fun on the farm!

Kids and Church

Most parents want their children to come along with them to church with a good attitude.  But how do we as parents encourage this to happen?  I have been thinking a lot about this as I see many families struggle with children not wanting to come.  Obviously, there is a huge spiritual dimension that we have limited control over (other than prayer). However, many of our own attitudes and life choices have a big influence on our children.

Here are a few of my own observations...

Make church attendance a top priority!  If it is optional then kids pick up on this quickly and choose to opt out.  Anything that we skip church for, has a higher priority than church.  We tell our children a lot about our values by what we deem more important than going to church.  I remember as a child growing up and now in our own family, that we planned our trips/vacations around getting to meeting.  Whether it was getting to our own church or one on the road while traveling.  Church shouldn't be a club that you can choose to go to or not depending on your mood.  We obey God when we gather together with other believers.

Parents need to go to church with a good attitude.  You need to want to be there if you expect your children to feel that way.  Be careful of what you say about the meeting and the people there outside of church.  Children are quick to identify hypocritical attitudes in their parents and other adults.

Help your children to 'own' the church.  By this I mean, give them responsibilities and help them to feel a part of the meeting.  It can be helping around the building or taking part in the meeting.  Encourage them to reach out to other children and families at the church. Help them to get to know other families at church.  Have them sit in the meetings for adults.  Most teaching is not over the average third graders head.

Hospitality is a great way to get to know others at church.  Hospitality should be a characteristic of those in leadership, but it also should be practiced by all Christians.  When we invite others to our home we give our children an opportunity to get to know other families better as well as to serve them.

Live your faith out at home.  It is not the church's responsibility to teach your child about God.  It is yours!  Teach your children Scripture and pray together every day!  When you run into problems get on your knees with your children!  When you receive blessings in your life, thank God with them.  They need to see that your faith is central to your life.  It should be more important than sports, electronic media, your hobbies or whatever else you spend your time on.  Prayer should be a priority also. Bring them to prayer meeting!  Let them hear the heart of those who are praying for them.  If you don't bring your children to prayer meeting, at what age do you think they will start to go?

There are no guarantees that your children will want to go to church and to follow the Lord, but by practicing these things you will greatly increase the likelihood that they will want to.

Farm Update 10/14

We have been working diligently on getting things done at the farm so that we can move in as soon as possible!  It is work that doesn't show as much, like skim coating walls and sanding.  So here is our latest project update...

The dining room and kitchen walls were painted today.  It is a shade lighter than the walls in the dining room at our old house.  It is a warm color and not dark.  We will be putting up a small crown molding along the wall.

It looks good with the wood in the cabinets.  I think it will be OK with the floors in the dining room and living room.  The floor finishing project has once more been pushed back until NEXT weekend.  It is better to get the painting done before you finish the floors.

I think we will paint the family room the same color.  That will make it feel more unified and open.

 My DH got the back on the peninsula cabinets and the supports in for the counter top.  It will have a 12" overhang so the supports are needed.  The dishwasher will go in on the other side of the peninsula in the middle.  There will be a sink on the kitchen side on the end.  The granite counters should be ready either the next week or the beginning of the following week.

Another project that we would like to get done is to take this big tree down.  It has already had one big branch come off during a storm and knocked the chimney down and came into the house.  No need to have a repeat on that.  The roots are also pushing against the foundation and pushing up the basement floor.  That's not good either.

We keep learning more about our property from the neighbors.  Apparently, we have a cistern right behind the house.  We will have to check into that.  The wet spot in the back is a spring, not a well. We had kinda figured that, since the water is lying on top of the ground.  It is so nice being on the farm.