Category: Around the Homestead

I was asked to do an interview about how our adoption has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. I am by far not the greatest public speaker, but I hope this helps some of the families out there waiting to know they are not alone, and we are all in this together. My prayer is that someday soon we will all be united with our children.

Aspen and I spent the day together. Just the two of us and a whole lot of animals. We had such a fun day together. It is nice to have one child at a time, so you can really listen to them and talk to them. Giving them all your attention and love goes a long ways!

A beautiful March day on our farm. We love hanging out with the sheep, llamas, and whatever cats are brave enough to wander into the lot with us.

We are so blessed to live here and care for these animals. Some days, I’m not going to lie, it’s the hardest job in the world. Most days, however, it is the most rewarding and fulfilling place I’ve ever lived.

They are growing up so fast. Good-bye baby teeth!

So Canyon’s birthday turned out to be under different circumstances than Aspen’s. Although they are only 5 weeks apart…a lot can change in 5 weeks. Canyon had chosen to go bowling and lunch at a Mexican restaurant for her birthday. Since we were under quarantine by this point we had to make other plans.

Fortunately for us, Canyon is so sweet and easy-going. She totally understood and was up for whatever.

And then a great idea from my mom and the contribution of my brother…

We don’t have video games in our home, so this was a big deal. Both the girls loved it and Canyon thought it was the best birthday ever. We couldn’t take her bowling, so with the help of my family, we brought bowling to her.

We love you Canyon!

Reading is important to our family not only for entertainment, but also for learning. I would not be able to homestead and care for the animals we have if I didn’t have the books to help me along the way. I wouldn’t be able to bake from scratch, ferment food, preserve food, etc. if not for all the wonderful books to teach me along the way.

I have tried, and not always successfully, to not only instill a love of reading in our children, but also the importance of being able to teach yourself using books.

I tend to read multiple books at one time so I can have them strategically placed throughout the house to pick up easily wherever I land.

Bible-The Book of Acts

Devotional: Quiet Times for Parents-H. Norman Wright

The Little Boy Down the Road-Doug Phillips

Mitten Strings for God-Katrina Kenison

How to Live Without Electricity and Like it-Anita Evangelista

Heidi-Johanna Spyri

Aspen is reading:

Heidi-Johanna Spyri

While reading is a struggle for Aspen, not that she isn’t a great reader, just that she doesn’t enjoy it. Heidi has proved no different. I am hoping to order some books, that I feel are a bit below her reading level, but at this point any volunteer reading would be great and she loves these stories.

Canyon is reading:

The Little House series-Currently Farmer Boy-Laura Ingalls Wilder

She loves to read and will almost always be curled up with a book of some sort. Her vocabulary and spelling reflect her love of reading.

Read Aloud:

We are reading through the New Testament, currently the book of Mark.

The Coral Island-R. M. Ballantyne

Just finished up:

Me and Nobbles-Amy LeFeuvre

These Lamplighter books are the absolute best. I highly recommend them for character building and entertainment. The girls love them!

We have been members of Read Aloud Revival in the past and it is wonderful. The girls have loved nearly all her recommendations. So picture books are still a big part of our daily reading.

That is it for now. Hopefully in a week or two this list will change.

We had to put our little dog, Ruby to sleep today. This has been coming for awhile, but was still sad. She had gone completely blind, couldn’t hear, and then woke up sick this morning. We just couldn’t put her through any more.

The story of how Ruby came to live with us.

And although she never fully warmed up to us. She did make a dramatic improvement with time.

Never say never, but we are fairly certain Ruby is the only Brussels Griffon we will ever have. She may be the only little dog we ever have. It was an experience.

We miss her and love her dearly.

We decided to forgo gifts from us this year for the girls and in exchange they chose what we did and where we at that day. Aspen chose a hands-on children’s museum and Beyond Burgers from a restaurant some friends of our’s own. Mom went with us, so it was a fun girl’s day out!

For her birthday party we always just have mom, dad, and my brother over for lunch, gifts, and of course dessert. We let them choose the meal and dessert. She chose tacos and chocolate cake.

I think she enjoyed her birthday even without tangible gifts from us. We hoped this would make memories as opposed to more clutter. It seemed to work and she was not disappointed in anyway.

We love you Aspen!

Our next stop was Daytona Beach where Randy had a conference to attend and the girls and I spent time with his family and saw the sites.

We visited the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet our first day there. They rescue marine animals with the intent of releasing them after giving them proper medical care.

While Randy was at his conference for work the girls and I saw the sites. Randy’s dad and stepmom were so good to show us around and spend time with us. It was such a great experience for all of us.

Now granted it was really a work trip for Randy, but with all the scariness of traveling to China and the adoption of our little boy under question because of travel bans and safety concerns, it was truly the vacation and reprieve I needed.

We spent a few days with my aunt in Vero Beach, Florida. The weather was beautiful, the location was beautiful, and we just really had an incredibly relaxing stay.

We were so blessed to have such a beautiful place to stay and enjoyed spending time with family. Next up…Daytona Beach!