Friday, June 15, 2012

At The Lake

Oh dear friends!

What a great weekend we (my sisters, brother, mom, dogs, cousins, aunt, more dogs, grandparents, and a few more dogs) are having! We are so blessed to have grandparents that are so willing to take our whole crew in for 5 days. The blog will be a bit quite 'til I get back to home base on Monday. There are some great stories and pictures coming soon :)

Praying your weekends are blessed with laughter, family, and lots of s'mores around the campfire!

May you be blessed!
jk

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Presenting…

DSC_4766

This year, my sisters and I have the privilege of being a part of another Grace Farm Theater production!We are beyond thrilled to be a part of another great play with 30  God-honoring and joyful people.

Last year’s production of “The Hiding Place” was phenomenally awesome. We had a lot of fun (as you can probably tell by the picture :) ) and the Lord was glorified through it all, and we were so grateful for how He orchestrated the whole thing.

This year we look forward to seeing God at work again through our production of “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” This play is a bit more difficult, and has lots of scene changes and costumes. We are all looking forward to the challenge of playing people like Charity, Joy, Anger, and Intolerance.

The performances are in mid-July, and we as a cast are so anxious to see how it will all turn out.

We would appreciate your prayers for us this summer as well: prayers for God to be glorified, patience, joy in all weather :) and friendships to grow.

Thank you so much, dear friends! I can’t wait to share the stories of how God worked through the play with you all!

May you be blessed this beautiful day!

jk

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Homestead News

Hey y’all!

Life has picked up as summer starts to roll into our life full force, and I am so excited to see what adventures God is going to take us on this summer!

Our first weekend in June was spent moving lots of plants, adding some details onto the chicken run, playing in the garden, and lots of bike rides on the cool afternoons.

IMG_2584

IMG_2588

Dad and Ruthie have been hard at work these past few days putting the pretty new roof onto the chicken run. We had a long week of hard rain that nearly turned our chickens into ducks, and they decided that it would be a good investment to put a roof onto the run. It’s hard to see on the pictures, but the roof is slanted so that the water runs off and not into the run. And do you see the new vent on the back door of the coop? Yep! Those gals needed a bit more air on the warm nights (and cool ones) so after some Pinterest inspiration, my dad put in a vent on the back door! I thought it was perfectly genius of them.

IMG_2529 

Those sweet faces we love so much are still keeping us hopping- especially that little white one :) You can read more about our latest escaped with Piper the puppy here. She recently discovered that we do live on a pond, and decided to try it out. My oh my was she a mess! It was very funny to watch her get hosed off afterwards though- her face just glared at us, and I could see that she was rethinking the pond jump.

IMG_2554

The drills haven’t been the only machines hard at work these past few days. Our sewing center was recently rediscovered as all three of us gals plunged headfirst into some exciting spring projects. Lillie  (who just recently started a new blog! did you know? she’s going to let you know about some great books she’s been reading: the Hobbit, some Historical Fiction, and some great funny reads too! Check it out over here!) made a purse out of fat quarters and it turned out so cute that the Ruthie decided to make one too while Lillie makes another one for Mom.

IMG_2550

IMG_2551

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_2565

While my sisters are cranking out some darling purses, I’ve started another quilt! I am very excited, as this is the first quilt in which I’ve used triangles to make wonky stars. (isn’t wonky a fun word? :) )

I found precut squares by Moda fabrics at my local (Christian!) quilt store, and am so excited by the sheep, chickens, and flowers that I could hardly stand it. I am using the pattern called Starry Eyed off of the Moda Fabrics blog, Moda Bake Shop.

 

IMG_2536

IMG_2557

IMG_2573

Hooray for spring!

More news to come later this week as our neighborhood starts to fill up!

Blessings!

jk

Saturday, June 2, 2012

endless entertainment

scene: a calm, windless, cool sunset in our city. 4 houses overlook a small pond. the farthest house on the right is our house. two doors down are our two older neighbors enjoying a peaceful moment on their back porch, sipping beer and chatting lightly as the sun sets.

enter 18 year old with old dog and young puppy.

the young puppy takes off towards the empty lot, and I, the 18 year old, watch calmly and chat with Ruthie as we wait for the puppy to finish her business and saunter back. The puppy, named Piper, goes to the furthest point away from us, which is normal. Suddenly, she stops, stoops, and picks up a black something.

I take off towards the puppy.

Piper, being oh so sweet, thinks “Wow! What fun!” and proceeds to launch herself into a full run while I am calling “PIPER! DROP IT!” because I have no clue what she is holding.

I come within reaching distance of the pup after a few laps around the yard, when something disgusting reaches my nose and I glimpse a tail- yes, a nasty black tail- draping out of Piper’s mouth.

Dead mole.

Dis-gust-ting.

Meanwhile, Ruthie has gone in, put treats in her pocket, and is also chasing the dog around the yard, calling “PIPER!!!” the entire time, much like I am.

We are quite the spectacle.

Our neighbors sit serenely, no expression, no movement whatsoever, except to turn their heads and sip their beer as they watch us careen around the yard like the hooligans we are.

Mom’s laugh echoes from the kitchen window.

We plan a strategy of attack as we sprint around and around the house, the yard, the lot next door, and the weeds. The tail is slowly beginning to disappear, and we are now fearing that Piper may actually eat the entire mole while running- no easy task, mind you- and that it will come back to haunt us later, if you know what I mean.

Finally, the tail disappears and Piper screeches to a halt. I am still running straight for her as she pauses, cocks her head ever so slightly, and proceeds to run straight back to where she found the dead mole.

and guess what.

she finds another one.

This time however, her slight pause to consider her next move had allowed Lillie to come out of the house to help us, and we soon have her cornered. Corralled. The mouse drops, and she again takes off.

Love that dog.

And our neighbors quietly sit, only turning their faces to watch us as we chase the dog some more.

Piper, all of a sudden, changes direction and heads straight toward Ruthie who is running towards the back door. Me and Lillie yell and holler while running for Ruthie to run to the back door so we can get her in the house.

She opens it, and in flies Piper.

We all stop, hands on knees, and catch our breath as Piper watches us from her glass enclosure. We all turn, look up and notice that our neighbors are watching us. They quietly lift one hand, almost in unison, and we wave emphatically back.