Advent this

At our small Ozark church I put up the advent wreath bulletin board for the season of Advent. I used the marbled card stock and glitter from our local walmart. 

Advent is a Catholic event before Christmas to prepare for the birth of Christ and the second coming of Christ. So each Sunday in December before Christmas we light up a certain candle for peace, hope, joy and love. No other secular decorations are allowed until Dec 22nd. So no trees, no santa, no reindeer- nothing but the Advent wreath. It is a nice calming tradition in the chaos of the secular holiday. It is a good time to reflect, reconcile and renew with Christ in your life. We are so blessed in this country to have the freedom to worship and honor our Creator openly.  

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a great new year.

Moving Forward

We have no answers on my husbands test. CBC, Hep, Stool panels are all normal. Frustrated with how slow the medical process goes, we took advice from a friend- apple cider vinegar to drink each morning- to straighten out his gut bacteria. It seems to have helped. His hunger is back but he is not healthy. Will wait and see how it goes. There is a colonoscopy coming soon. All has to wait until the new year and medical insurance.

On a good note my friend got married. She and her fiance have each lost a spouse. She cleaned his house one day and he was smitten. After a year of courtship they married. Two very kind people who fell in love. I am so blessed to see them together as husband and wife. And she will be moving closer to our farm. I will be very fortunate to have Alfreda and Gene nearby.

I have been busy sewing memorial pillows for a friend who faces her first Christmas without her husband. I sewed each of his shirts into 8 pillows for her adult children and grandchildren.

Tough Time

So this December has been gutting. My husband who is not yet 50 years of age is ill. We have had test done for pancreas, liver and blood infections. His lower belly is swelling and he is losing weight. His liver is two times as large as it should be. He is not getting any nutrients from the food he eats.

He does not drink, do drugs nor smoke and is very active. But this is where we are with no answers.

We have had X-ray, ultrasound and blood work. Waiting on a Hep panel to see if it is that.

We have no answers and no idea the cause.  

Praying for answers.

Snowy Halloween

I don't know what this means but we had snow on Halloween. A first for us living out here. Might be a tough winter ahead.

Went to let the chickens out and saw snow.

Blackberry patch covered in snow.

My truck with ice and snow.

My girls did not mind the snow.

buffalo grass 

sugar maple

Splitting wood

With the colder days we can get wood split for winter. We use our own fallen trees and we sometimes buy logs from locals. We heat by wood stove using logs and pellets. This pile of logs was from a felled tree on our pond. The tree fell into the pond and had to be pulled out with a tractor. After a year of sitting in the lean to it is ready to be split and stacked.

We started in the afternoon and it is now nightfall. We got the log pile and a truck load split and stacked. This is one of two splits we make to get through winter. Wood heat is cheap and warms you twice. Once when you cut it and once when you burn it.

 This wood stack becomes a winter home for chipmunks.

Our lean to keeps the firewood dry. The metal cans with lids keep our trash from the bears.

Fixing the fences

My studio in the winter. Wood stove for heat, all supplies on wheels to move around for animal emergencies, boots at the ready, old shepherd warm inside, and sewing machines at the ready. My studio is the real room of requirement on our farm.

Swing to watch the ducks.

This time of the yard gardening is done and canned. So now I can work on firewood and winter chores on the farm.

sugar maples

Splicing barb wire and fixing hot tape fences.

our woods as we walk and fix fences

poison ivy in its fall glory

rocks arranged by someone along our fence line.

deer busted though the electric tape

tree branches always falling in bad spots

There is always something to do on the farm.

Given a Brother

  My whole world changed this week after I opened a letter from a stranger. The letter said I have a half older brother. We share the same mother but have different fathers. He is just 4 years older than me. I had never been told about any other siblings, just myself and my younger brother. I was always the oldest but now I am a middle child. This was discovered after a DNA test and some sleuthing by my oldest brother and his wife. And for that I am so grateful.
  Thanks to their persistence I am able to get answers to what I felt I have been missing in my life. A hole I have felt but ignored. I was told there was a boy stillborn before I was born. I had no idea he was given to an orphanage.I have been lied to and about my whole life. A lie that has festered for 54 years of my brothers life. A lie that has moved us all over the country constantly running from some invisible thing my mother created.A demon that rode me and my older brother very hard in our life.
  But this week that all stopped. A huge wave of shock, sadness then fulfillment washed over me as I got to talk to my oldest brother. To hear the voice of someone familiar with French inflection that is wiser and very similar to my own. He calmly told me his family history, he knows who is his biological father and our mother thanks to DNA. He just wanted to meet his blood siblings and get to know them. Since this is the part of his life he has been missing.
  I have been given an loving older brother who has open arms and has welcomed me into his very  open life and loving family. There is no greater gift to me than having a family that also shares some of my DNA but also wants me around. I am looking forward to meeting him and his family in the flesh.

My older half brother Thomas 

Our grandparents

Our mother

It is ironic that I have located so many missing people and here a piece of mine fell right into my lap. I did not even know I was missing a piece.

Let it Go, Let it Go

After a decade of getting holding on to big stuff from auctions we decided to let it go. We were going to give it to the local charity but found out they are reselling very high instead of low for people in need. We live in the Missouri Ozarks.

After talking to some local friends we decided to give it away to whomever needs it. After less than a week a few needs came into our awareness via friends of friends. And it was not easy. Things had to be moved, measured and scheduled.

Several households now have what was taking up a lot of space for us now gives them a need filled. All it cost them was gas to get here.I am overjoyed that these will now be used instead of collecting dust. Letting go is hard but very good for the soul.

Hope this inspires you to get organized and help someone along the way.

Rockin' October Salsa

What do you do when a neighbors drops of a bushel of tomatoes? You make salsa and can it. This was me the day after our visitors left us. I got all my jars from the shop, cleaned and sterilized and got to making a lot of salsa. Since I had everything out I also thawed a 2017 bag of frozen homegrown tomatillos to make green salsa.

Hot Zesty salsa recipe from the Blue Ball canning book.

Odd pink Canadian tomato peeled

Gloves are a must with hot pepper work

green salsa made with tomatillo I grew and froze in 2017 recipe in the Blue Ball cookbook

The whole gang canned, labeled and shared. One was opened by the neighbor who could not wait. He loved it!

Far Away Friends

Last week our missionary friends from Tanzania stayed at our place. It was a busy fund raising/supply gathering trip for them here in the US. They are vegan and so all meals needed to be healthy and all veggie. I made lentils, bean enchiladas, oatmeal, and lots of other bean dishes.

Lentils from the book Vegan 101.

Vegan enchiladas from the 7 Secrets book.

Their son is now almost 18 years old. How time flies as we have watched him grow.

Taking the smooth tire off the one wheel and replacing it with a knobby off road tire.

The gang the 3 Tafts, the 3 Schochs and Alfreda and  Mr.Jean. This will be the last time they are all together here as they are no longer ordering Country Life co-op foods. We used to order food in bulk and all meet up at the local church for distribution. But their kids are leaving the nest, the Schochs are going back to Tanzania and Alfreda and Jean are getting married! I am so happy to see the young ones grow up into adults and the adults still falling in love. 

And they are outta here

Silver boy was a rescue of 10 weeks got adopted on a farm.

Three stooges hand raised from birth are now all living in new homes.

Bobtail and Torti live together in a new home/farm.

My Frosty cleaning the kittens.

This deaf boy got a special home. The adopter drove in 2 hours away to pick him up. She had raised deaf cats and was looking for a very rare flame point Siamese.

Always boxes of food and pee pads also great kitten cubbies.

Frosty can now rest after helping to teach the kittens how to eat, use the litter box and clean themselves. He is a great mom cat. Frosty is a kitten no one wanted one winter and so I kept him. He is a priceless silver tabby and my constant companion.