Feeling opinionated...

It's been awhile since I took the time to really write something other than an update. My life has been like a box of chocolates lately. I have been neck deep in espionage, infidelity, financial difficulty, unexpected loss, and deep grief. All that, before we even start thinking about what has been going on in my personal life (LOL). I have learned some things lately about myself so as I usually do... I'm gonna share!

Being a child of God isn't easy. There are so many challenges along the way that can make you feel like you are failing. A friend reminded me tonight of how easily we are led to believe that we are hopeless. How easy it is to invite into our lives a spirit of darkness. I have struggled personally with the pain that comes when you are a house divided against your own will. It may very well be a heavy topic for some of you but here it is, the good, the bad and the ugly. There is a spiritual battle for our hearts and our souls. Never overestimate the power of your enemy but never underestimate it either. Jesus died that we might have life to the fullest. Jesus died that we might have freedom. Let not that be in vain.

Why do we buy toys?

Yesterday I sent my children outside in some old clothes armed with paint and brushes and told them to go paint rocks. Three hours later... no, three peaceful, quiet, relaxing hours later they proudly showed me the colorful collection that they have made to decorate my around my flowerbeds! I think it kept them busy longer than the last DS game they got! LOL Lesson learned... Don't over think it! They are so easily entertained and I think we over complicate things by trying to hard to engage them. Keep in mind this included age ranges 3-13 and they were all out there having a blast! It got me thinking. When we lived in the house on the south hill I used to send them out with a clean (large) paintbrush and a bucket of water and tell them to paint the house. When they spread water on it it looked darker so they felt like they were "painting". They would stay out there for hours and paint the whole back of the house!

Ummm... Has anyone ever seen this before?!

Remember the "giant" egg from my last post? If you don't, go look now... I'll wait.... do do do do do do do do do do do do dododododo... Ok, we broke it open this morning and although we were not sure what we would find... we did not expect this!

There was another egg inside it!!!

The egg you see in the pan is the one from inside the giant egg and then the little one was in with it.

The second egg was perfect. Good solid shell and cute little egg white and yoke! Babies makin' babies people! What?, you had to know I was gonna say that! LOL

We didn't eat them because I wasn't sure how long the other one had been there and well, better safe than sorry with food folks! We are getting double yokers about every six eggs! I am just curious, has anyone ever heard of this before?

Lessons from Sesame Street...

Do you remember the game on Sesame Street?

One of these things is doing it's own thing... one of these things just doesn't belong...

Well, we had a version of that in our kitchen on Father's day! We have started getting eggs daily now but not all of the chickens are laying. The egg on the far left is the first from one of them and it well... IT'S HUGE!!! Having been through childbirth four times I am feeling for this chicken! LOL

We were also able to get about a quarter of our garden in this weekend. I think I will revise my plan for next year but for now we have corn, snap peas, tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, lettuce, yellow squash, peppers, radishes, broccoli, carrots, watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, raspberries and blueberries. By growing a small amount of each this year I hope to find the ones that will do well on a larger scale next year. The berries of course are perennial but on all the others I wanted to see before I go overboard on something that isn't going to grow well.

Happy Birthday to Me....

My birthday present arrived today! I have a brand new fabulous greenhouse to play with! The process of getting it off the truck was not so easy but all of us pitched in to help the poor man (yes, one man... what were they thinking?) who came to deliver it. The important thing is that it is here and has made it safely to it's new residence next to my garden.

This will allow me to extend our growing season by at least four months if not all year round and also makes growing some things possible that might not otherwise work in our area. I am really excited about this new adventure.

We went with pre-built because all the comments on the "build it yourself" models were very frightening! It seems that they are very problematic and even though this was about 10% more... I think it will be a much smarter choice overall. It has built in shelves and is built from solid wood. 10 X 12ft. of planting playground!

Happy Birthday to me... Happy Birthday to me... Happy Birthday dear

completely spoiled and blessed beyond all understanding

Amy...

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Our first egg!

We found our very first egg in the hen house today! The shell was perfect and lightly speckled brown. After having been told that it might take up to a year for them to start laying this was an awesome surprise after only a few months.

We cracked it and it was a double yoker... how cool! The kids were totally in awe (ok, so were Ben and I)!

I drove home from Seattle today with my friends three girls and they will be staying with us for a bit. This is their first time here at our new house and it has been so cute watching them discover all the country life stuff!

Then they all sat down to watch their first sunset hear together (a big deal around here at the Kaeding's) and I could not pass up the photo op!

BJ, Raven, Alyx, Myka, Trinity, Tory and Jedidiah

Teenager?

"Do you know what today is?" That is the sentence that Ben woke up to on Friday morning. "Our son's birthday?" he said. "No, this is the day that I have to start using phrases like, I have a teenage son... my oldest son is a teenager now.... now that BJ is a teenager... oh, you know how teenage boys are... and open a window, this room stinks to high heaven!" I kid you not when I say that I really honestly feel about 17-18 years old. My brother will gladly add that I act like it too! I wouldn't disagree with that at all. It is now oh so obvious that my son and I cannot both be teenagers and so I am at a total loss as to how to handle this!

As if it all wasn't hard enough already I bought balloons and streamers to decorate for his party with and he didn't want to decorate. My son, the one who always wants streamers and balloons... this is all happening way too soon and way too fast. He is so sweet and loves the Lord so much that I cannot help but be proud of him but... oh, how I wish he would grow all the way up at once!

My mom and dad spent the evening with us and I am glad. My mom totally understood how I was feeling (she raised four boys and then me) and I think your first one becoming a teenager is pretty universal. She had a little fun laughing at me too!

This is my son's favorite dessert, Peanut butter cheesecake! I bake the peanut butter flavored cheesecake with a Nutter Butter cookie crust and then put it over a fudge brownie bottom layer and cover it in Nutella or in this case more peanut butter.