Queen of my Domain

I know I've been MIA lately but life is crazy during harvest and of course there are just so many new things to learn and do. First of all let me just say that 38 walnut trees is a TONNE of nuts. My word, I have never seen so many nuts in all my life. We have had a whole bunch taken off our hands from the hutterites, which we traded for fryer chickens so that is pretty cool. Just two weeks ago we got a little starter flock of laying hens. We have 6 birds but we are only getting 1-2 eggs a day. Hopefully this will improve. Life here in my little patch of heaven is really great. In sad news though, my baby is walking. My last baby, my last little bundle is growing so fast. I don't even know what to say or think or feel. I'm trying very hard to not let the days past me by with out loving him and soaking in all that he is.

So the home that we purchased in Creston sits on 2.44 acres. I think it may have been a full fledged orchard back in the day but now it's just our own little piece of paradise. We have Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Prunes, Apricots, Cherries, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, and Raspberries. In the short 2 weeks that we have been here we have already harvested fruit off the land. I don't have any pictures of the cherries but here is a picture of the apricots we picked up off the ground. The fruit on the tree isn't quite ripe yet but these ones have been fabulous!  This is one of my peach trees. It has quite a bit of fruit on it this year. I hope that it will continue to increase it's production over the years. I can't wait for them to ripen.  They are still quite tiny but I've been watering them so hopefully they will plump up.   There are a couple of different kind of apple trees on the property. I couldn't tell you which one is which. Only time will

My girls have hit the age where they are gymnists and they are loving every minute of it. They are constantly comparing their cartwheels and handstands and round-offs. I love that they love to move their bodies. Here is some of their hard work.

Life has brought us many ups and downs over the years. The nature of Daniel's work has made home life a bit of a struggle with 5 children, so Daniel suggested that we move to Creston to be closer to family. It has been a very long up hill climb, not something that I want to share here but what I want to share is some of the fun that was had a long the road as I was struggling to move forward. Cardboard boxes....... children's dream come true!!!  Building a tower or something, who really knows. But they were having fun and that's all that they needed to do in that moment.  Empty boxes.... who knew?! Right?!

So in case you missed it the last 5 months have pretty much been a walk somewhere other than a park, or near a cake for that matter. The last 5 months have been the hardest 5 months of my entire 13 years of marriage. I will not get into the details right here right now but I will say this. The very distant light in the dark tunnel has finally come close enough that I can see my hand in front of my face. I can see that life will move forward. I posted a little saying on facebook yesterday that said "Making a Big Life Change is Scary. But, Know What's Even Scarier? Regret. So here we are, trying to settle life, once again. We just did this 3 years ago. This move has had it's ups and downs. What move doesn't, right?! I know we will come out on top, and then we can only go up from there!

I had a rough 2 weeks and I was in a really low spot yesterday but today I am back up on my feet. I worked out this morning. I have not eaten my weight in sugar. In fact I've had very little sugar today. I am feeling like I can move forward again. There are many variables in my life right now that I can't do anything about. They are all balls and they are all suspended in the air. One day they will come down. Hopefully they will come down one at a time or gently with reason, and not all come crashing down on the same day. The Lord has blessed me with a set of scriptures that I found while Pinterest/Blog hopping this morning. All 5 of them speak to me. I found them here . If you are feeling Weary try Matthew 11:28-30 If you are feeling Unappreciated try Colossians 3:23 If you are feeling like a Failure try 2 Corinthians 12:9 If you are feeling Anxious try Philippians 4:6&7 If you are feeling Unsure of your future try Romans 8:28 I needed every single one of thes

I'm a Perfectionist and it's killing me. But the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. That being said, it's not actually killing me but there are moments when it feels like it is. What can I say, I like order, I like it to be done promptly and without deviating from how I want it. (My kids just don't seem to get it) Being the mother of 3 older daughters and then a son, I thought I had the 'terrible twos' figured out. I DON'T! Boys are so different from girls. Now I don't need you to shake your head at me and roll your eyes and say 'DUH' but really they are so different. It started about 2 weeks ago when Gage started getting into mischief when I was nursing the baby. O.K. whatever, but it's only escalating and I know that the biggest reason for it is Archer (the baby) but what can I do about it. When I'm tied up nursing the baby I'm nursing the baby I can't be chasing a 2 year old. Yesterday was a prime

I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who showered his love on me this morning in the form of a bright, warm sun. The sun streamed through my window as I mixed up a batch of bread by hand. It smiled on my face and warmed my soul. I needed that today.