Best of Facebook: November 2015

11/1/2015: Click here to see photo on FB

Feeling like a real farmer this morning getting kicked by a cow!
We bought a beautiful Jersey heifer, Willow, who is currently in milk. This is only her second day on our farm and although she is adjusting well and tolerating me milking her she is easily spooked, ornery and stubborn. Sure brings all those bible verses to life where the Lord compares His people Israel to a stubborn heifer! As time goes on I'll get the hang of it and she'll get used to me. And my little helpers sure loved watching mommy milk a cow "like Ms. Ingalls" lol. Praise the Lord for over 2 gallons of fresh milk this morning! :)

11/7/2015: Click here to see photo on FB

"Wow. What made you want to parent a special needs child!?!" Short answer is I didn't. I cried out to God begging Him to choose someone else more patient, more compassionate and more qualified.

"God, some days are so hard already. Some days I feel so burdened. Why have you called me again to this road of adoption? Can't I back out and trust you will find a better parent for her? I don't feel qualified to parent a special needs child, Lord!"

God calmed my stormy spirit and suddenly one quiet thought passed through my mind.

"Have you forgotten that you know not what tomorrow may bring? Tomorrow one of your six healthy children could be involved in a life-threatening accident that could change their abilities and development forever. Tomorrow your womb may be opened to grow a child with severe disabilities. Tomorrow you could be the parent of a special needs child without an option to back out. You know what? You don't have to be qualified. For God is with you and He cares for the orphans. He will be your strength. He will lift your burdens. If you rely on Him alone He will give you rest. This child will not be a cause of burden for you but one of your biggest BLESSING!"

Five months we have parented a sweet and endearing little girl; one month in the hospital, four months in our home and two months as our beloved daughter! This little girl has shown us and brought more joy into our home than we had before she came. We have watched in awe as she has made a huge impact on everyone she comes in contact with. Everyday as I help her fulfill her every daily activity I thank God for this opportunity to love her. Brittney is so easy to love because she gives far more love than she could ever receive! Anybody could have loved Brittney, she is awesome, but I am so thankful God chose us to be the recipients of His great LOVE through her!

11/9/2015: Click here to see photo on FB:

11/15/2015: Click here to see photo on FB:

Operation Christmas Child shopping!

11/22/2015: Click here to see photo on FB:

Today did not start out as a good day. I broke down into uncontrollable sobs as Brian came out to the stable to help me. Our poor cow got mastitis and is not feeling well. The past couple days have already been a fight to milk her and treat her infection (and no milk for us). But today as I was milking her painful udders our sweet dandy-cat jumped on her back and began kneading with her claws! Instantly I had a flailing 1000lb cow knocking into me and jumping over me. Thank God I was able to get out of the way unharmed but the terror of being trapped and trampled was enough to make my screams heard inside and as Brian came out I broke down in tears explaining what had happened.

This past week has been busy busy making crafts for upcoming craft fairs. We have barely kept up on chores, laundry and all the other mundane household-running stuff. So today we spent the day catching up on much needed farm and house chores. It feels like a never ending job which is why it is sometimes so easy to put off since it will only get messy or dirty again.

I had just opened the fridge to make lunch and thought, "goodness we haven't even bought a turkey yet to start the defrosting!" Sigh, add grocery shopping on our long to-do list. I was disrupted by a slamming door, "Mom someone is at our gate." As our unexpected visitor drove in we went out to greet her, she said she was here with a delivery. She said that one of our neighbors is a member of their church and felt so blessed by our kids that their church bought our family two turkeys and a box of goodies for Thanksgiving dinner! How unexpected!

As if that wasn't enough for God to show His great provision in our lives we got a 2nd unexpected visitor tonight dropping off a decorated tree, lights, and a box of Christmas treats for the kids!

After feeling like a failure this morning, ready to give up on this whole farming venture and thinking what a poorly organized mother I am, this was a beautiful and blessed end to the day. As if I could audibly hear, "I love you, you are doing fine," coming from heaven.

11/28/2015: Click here to see photo on FB:

Busy isn't a strong enough word for how this season has felt. Don't get me wrong I am definitely thankful for a season of feeling busy compared to a dull alternative of sitting in a hospital. Yay for busy! With our season of craft fairs and holiday events as well as our normal family and farm stuff we have been holed up at home with non-stop projects. This season is no where near ending either. We have one week until we spend two full days at a Market Days (a local craft fair). As we were buying more beads to make more jewelry my old boss called and asked our family to be on the city's parade float in the annual Winter Festival parade.

I used to work with the city's Special Events office. I loved that job. I seriously got paid to make parade floats. It was just awesome. I loved it! Anyway, so I am now spending every waking moment staring at my sewing machine until I have my crew of seven turned into the cutest elves and reindeer you ever saw!

Oh, and did I tell you I have NO CLUE what I am doing. I don't have a pattern or any experience sewing. I am just winging it and re-doing a lot as I mess up then praying it turns out somewhat looking like I had hoped! I am quite pleased so far!

I'll be able to breath after Saturday. But then we will have a week to play catch up on all the stuff I am not getting done before we head to Orlando. We have four very full days that include a speaking opportunity, a gifted day at Universal Studios, a wedding, visits with friends and a fun reunion! Busy is better than dull! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

11/30/2015: Click here to see photo on FB: 

This is our morning spread. Usually from October 1st to December 1st quite a few colds have passed through our house, not to mention the ear infections, sinus infections and the flu! But this year I am so excited to announce that so far we have been sickness-free! I love when the weather begins to become cool and crisp but I also begin to dread the snotty noses, sore throats and coughs it brings with it. With my news feed being filled with mamas posting about their sick babies I wanted to share the secret to our success thus far.

I am so thankful to God for the wisdom of our wellness doctor who instead of selling us the flu shot (which he said has not proven effective) or preparing for us to "need" antibiotics he prescribed that we load up on vitamin C and D to keep our immune system army ready for battle. Taking just a multivitamin doesn't cut it. In most multivitamins the average dose of vitamin C is 40mg and our doctor recommended 1000mg/day. The average dose of vitamin D is 400iu and our doctor recommended 2000-10,000iu/day. Back in August he tested my vitamin D levels and even though I was taking a daily multivitamin I was severely vitamin D deficient.

Twice in the past two months a little one showed signs of a drippy nose starting or said their throat felt a little scratchy. That is when we whip out the Apple Cider Vinegar (the real stuff with the mother) and after 2-3 tablespoons throughout the day (mixed with warm water, honey and cinnamon) any and all signs of a cold coming on were gone! Quote from OrganicAuthority: "While it’s highly acidic, apple cider vinegar actually helps the body to keep pH levels balanced, which can help prevent colds and flu germs from getting cozy in your nose and chest. A properly alkalized body is unappealing to germs.
Most of us tend to run a bit more acidic, thanks to the standard American diet, so it’s no wonder we spend the winter months battling germs." (Google "flu season apple cider vinegar").

Praise God for getting this far without any cold symptoms and praying for at least two more sick free weeks since we are way too busy currently to be down for a minute!

Posted by Shannon

Best of Facebook: April 2015

4/7/15: Click here to see post on FB: 

We have Brittany for our first unsupervised visit! Yay!


4/13/15: Click here to see photos on FB:

Our week of packing begins today! We will be packing our entire RV for 8 people and cooking and freezing a weeks worth of meals so it can be a true vacation for mom too ;) By Saturday we hope to be on our way to Big Sandy, TX for our yearly family camp and conference! The kids are beyond giddy with excitement and super motivated to be helpful so we can leave as soon as possible!

Busy has been the theme of our life lately. I'll use just last week as an example. Sunday we cooked a big Easter lunch and had an amazing Easter Sunday with several friends, which longer than the planned lunch and included a nerf gun war, Super Smash Bros tournament, dinner, long conversation and a movie. Monday we packed quickly, dropped off our puppies and kids at two faraway friend's houses and drove to Orlando to see Brittany, Tuesday it was just Brian and I but a full day of doctor appt, medical trainings and visiting with our daughter-to-be, Wednesday I prepped a powerpoint during the car ride home and rolled into town just in time to pick up kids and puppies and host our 4-H group for a class about fostering orphaned animals and bottle feeding puppies. Thursday after our weekly bible study we caught up on some farm chores and I took my biggest girl to the "life-saver dinner" where she was honored by raising over $2500 for our local Women's Pregnancy Center. Friday we finished some fencing, built some garden trellises, and built two whelping pens for our two very pregnant piggies to give birth in peace. Saturday finished it off by having old friends over so we could teach them how to butcher their own chickens (at their request) and we attended FSU's Kids Brain Fair where we had a great time learning all about how God designed our amazing brains to work! Add to this week meals, daily chores, school, farming, gardening and bottle feeding puppies every 4 hours!

I like the term "full" instead of "busy." We haven't intentionally filled up our schedule but we often find ourselves in a spot where important, memorable events pile themselves up all in the same week or even day! We try to prioritize our lives with people first. If someone calls and says, "Hey, we would love to come by today and visit" or "Can you guys come to help us build a fence this week?" or "Are you available to watch my kids for a couple hours?" then we will always postpone our farm projects, cleaning or even homeschooling to make time for the most important things in life, people!

There are no interruptions to our plans, just God ordained plans that we are made aware of, so we put our own plans on hold for His. Now if I can remember to not hold my plans for this week so tightly-fisted and view every interruption as an invitation to participate in God's perfect plan and put my own on hold!

4/16/15: Click here to see photo on FB:

The kiddos had their last day of our weekly homeschool co-op on Tuesday. The end of the year presentation was very cute showing off much of what they learned throughout the year in Latin, Literature, Bible, History, Science, and Music/Art.

With our homeschool co-op, 4-H, Awana and bible study all taking breaks for the summer we are looking forward to a slower season (Lord willing!).

The past two days have been filled with tremendous amounts of list making, directing, cooking, packing, and cleaning. We take off tomorrow night for Big Sandy, TX for our annual family camp and conference. All our meals are cooked and frozen and most all of our stuff is packed away in the RV. Just some last minute preparations and shopping trip left. If I can get through tomorrow without coming unglued that would be a miracle!

4/17/15: Click here to see photo on FB:

We are finally on the road headed to Big Sandy, TX for a week of camping and fellowship! Our goal was to be on the road by 6pm tonight, well we took this picture as we loaded up at 5pm, an hour ahead of schedule. That is pretty good. Especially since we were out for 6 hours this morning finishing up last minute errands, at a total of 12 different stops, then 3 more hours of last minute prep and packing and we were still out ahead of schedule. And best part!?! I didn't come unglued once today, no yelling, no anxiety, no freak-out mode. Preparing for large trips with a large family typically sends me over the edge pretty easily, God is definitely at work, thank you for your prayers! :)

That isn't the end of the story. We took this cute pic, pulled out of our driveway and were happily cruising along. Brian turned to me and said, "Hon, we forgot to pray just before we left for our traveling." I wish we would have pulled over that moment, "We are about to stop at this gas station to fill up on gas and fill our propane tank, we will pray then." The excited chatter from the kids was bubbling over and the little ones ansy-ness from sitting in a car all day was beginning to become a distraction. Just 30 miles down the interstate we stopped for gas, then filled our propane tank then made sure our grey water tanks were emptied. That is when we noticed we had some major problems. Problem 1, our fridge wasn't turning back on. We had 4-6 hours before we would lose a week's worth of meals and preparation. Problem 2, both our batteries died and our RV wouldn't start. We called our roadside service, It would be $190 to send someone out to diagnose the problem.

"Babe, what did we not do?" We all unloaded and surrounded the front of the RV, laying our hands on the battery, "God we are so sorry we didn't come to You first. Please forgive us. Lord, we are taking this trip to deepen our love and faith in You, please help us."
We opened our eyes and saw a young college student at the next gas pump, "You need a jump?" Oh, yes!!! The moment those jumper cables were on our RV started right up and the fridge turned on. After a two hour delay we are back in business and this time we will keep prayer closer to our hearts. :)

4/29/15: Click here to see article on FB:

We were recently tagged in a friend's post on supporting adoptive parents and we wanted to continue the conversation here.

"I was speaking to an adoptive family recently and they said, "EVERYONE is called to support adoption. You may not personally be able to adopt right now, but you are still called to support adoption. And you do that by supporting the families that have (or are working to) adopted now." Yes, YOU!

Christian or not, you are responsible to support those in our community who have gathered the courage to bring new children into their home. But how? Well, this article is a starting point.

And maybe some of my adoptive/foster family friends could chime in on how we can best support you."-Jen Brown

This article has some great and practical ideas. Our church was kind enough to think of throwing a shower for Brittany this time around. While our other children have never had a shower thrown on their behalf our church and community always brought us meals and material needs within those first weeks home.

Click here to see article: How to Support Adoptive Families

Posted by Shannon