Mama Kay

We had a wonderful week in Arizona albeit crazy trying to see so many people and get so much accomplished in one week.

Here are some of my gifts from the last couple weeks (#456-511)

457. A fresh blanket of snow.

458. Laundry: 10 loads in just one hour.

465. A trip to Arizona

466. Spending good time with my mom.

465. Getting together with friends that I haven’t seen in over a year and having it feel just like normal…

466. Enjoying a sky ride over the zoo with 4potato

471. Feeling loved and missed.

477. French onion soup with a friend!

478. Sweet potato fries – yum!

479. Bringing home a bucket of lemons picked right off the tree.

480. Shopping at Fresh & Easy

481. Shopping at Sprouts

482. Getting my haircut

483. Getting contacts!

485. Safe Travels

486. Time to talk & dream with my dh.

490. Hope of friends visiting us here.

491. Feeling good about moving to Montana

492. Bringing home the rest of our stuff

493. Washer is fixed!

494. Furnace is fixed!

497. Having multiple sources of heat in this house!

502. The sun shining and making the snow sparkle.

503. Taxes completed!

507. The smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven.

509. A husband that works so hard to provide for us.

511. Grace!

Oh how I have been enjoying Ann’s book. I’m trying really hard to savor it and apply it instead of reading hastily through it. I’m back on working daily on my list of gifts although I haven’t been posting them all here.

444. We have a piano once again!

445. 1potato’s love of playing the piano

446. Listening to the songs from The Sound of Music—played by 1potato;)

447. Ann V’s book: a thousand gifts

448. Joy is possible!

449. Giving Thanks changes me & there is hope…

450. Phone calls from my sister—any time of day.

451. Awesome friends—who even help move pianos!

452. Generous friends who gave us the piano.

453. Chicks on order!

454. Planning the garden

455.  Preparing for our trip to see friends & family in AZ

I started my 1000 gifts list many years ago inspired by Ann V at Holy Experience. (I’ve been reading her blog for 6 years now! Always encouraging!) Well, an amazing thing has happened! She published a book call a thousand gifts 2 weeks ago and it has made it to the Best Seller List! She opened herself up and shared herself and the work God is doing in her life to show us how God can do the same for us. I’ve been slowly reading through the book trying to absorb what she is saying. It gives me so much hope! She doesn’t pretend to be perfect but she shows with her words and actions how to keep seeking God and finding joy in everyday life. Bloom is having a book club using Ann’s book. I highly recommend you read it!

Take the dare and start your list today!

Here’s a trailer about her book:

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since October! Our life has been a bit of a whirlwind since then, however!

We are the proud owners of a new to us house in Laurel,  Montana. It is a big but unique house on 1.33 acres with no restrictions and water! It was originally built in 1948, added onto in 1980 and since then extended some more although we are not sure when that happened. We have 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and lots of living space. The total square feet of the house over 2600. We even have a garage that can fit both of our vehicles plus a shop for Paul! We also have lots of trees including a mature apple tree and a couple of plum trees. We are so excited to finally be able to do many of things we’ve dreamed about doing for several years now. We plan on getting chickens next month!

There have been many ups and downs as we’ve moved and tried to work on touching up this house. Prioritizing what we have to fix and what we can live with. Having well water with very hard water has been a challenge but we did get a new water softener today that I am hoping will make a big difference. Lots of folks helped us scrub down the house and do a lot of painting before we moved in and there have been lots of projects being done since then.

We are having an open house on Sunday and I hope to have lots of pictures to post showing you our new digs.

God has blessed us so abundantly. We didn’t get everything we wanted but this is a great place for us to learn and grow and still be close to my grandparents (They live about 10 minutes from here.) and the friends we’ve made here in Laurel.

If you ever are up this way—we’ve got plenty of room for you to stay with us and we’d love to have you!

I intend to write much more frequently and to document our turning this place into a homestead.

Here’s my plan for this week:

Monday:
Breakfast: Eggs
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Cabbage Rolls (aka Bierocks)
Make Bread

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Banana Bread
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Black Bean Chowder
Make Pumpkin Dip for Ladies Bible Class

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Cheesy Noodles
Dinner: Crockpot—Roast Beef with potatoes & carrots, rolls, peach rhubarb cobbler

Thursday:
Breakfast: Dutch Babies
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry

Friday:
Breakfast: Smoothies & Toast
Lunch: Cheesy Chips
Dinner: Brazilian Carnival to celebrate our travel to Brazil for our homeschool

311. 10 days with Nana & Papaw

312. 2 date nights with my husband

313. apples overflowing buckets

314. bags of apples saved in the freezer for months to come

315. time spent with grandparents cutting apples

316. Hearing my grandpa say that he was afraid when they sold the farm & the apple orchard they wouldn’t have apples but every year they have had plenty of apples….God certainly provides

317. Jars of pickles made with my own hands

318.  Pickled beets just like my mom used to make from my own garden

319. fun at the water park

320. Amazing finds at the Farmer’s Market

321. Running into cousins and friends from long ago wandering the streets at the Farmer’s Market

322. a Mother of many who are nearly grown stopping to help me with little ones during church services

323. A Walking Baby Boy

324. 5potato is 3!

325. Time celebrating life with our loved ones near & far.

326. Princess Dress made with love by Grandma Di

327. Answers even if they weren’t the ones we wanted

328. The changing of leaves—our first fall in Montana—beautiful!

329. New mercies every morning

330. Hope

Ok, trying to get back on track with my meal planning. Here’s my plans for dinner this week:

Monday: Sicilian Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Veggie
Tuesday: Tortellini (frozen from Costco)
Wednesday: Cabbage Rolls
Thursday: Costco?
Friday: Stir Fry chicken, veggies & rice

I can’t believe it is September already! We really enjoyed our August in Montana. Although there were a few 100 degree days the heat only lasted a few days at a time followed by some really lovely days. In fact, the month ended with temps in the 60s! Much better than our normal succession of 100s for months on end…

Here are my blessings for this week:

291. Rain, glorious rain.

292.  Boxes of fruit to preserve

293. My first attempt at raspberry jam set up & canned!

294. Yummy Peach Butter

295. Homemade applesauce, apple muffins, apple pie, apple crisp & apple brownies from 1 box of  Ginger Gold Apples.

296. A freezer full of frozen peach slices to enjoy for months to come

297. shopping at the local farmer’s market

298. fresh corn on the cob

299. harvesting lots of zucchini from our own garden

300. the hope of more produce from our garden: cantaloupe, pumpkins, & potatoes still growing

301. Nana & Papaw are coming next week!

302. Fitting into my pre-6potato jeans

303. Finding our place in our new community

304. Our church home

305. Our baby is nearly walking…

306. Starting our homeschool co-op tomorrow

307. Baby going to bed on his own at night

308. Finding dryer paperwork after much searching

309. Everyone else started back to school

310.  God’s mercies are new every morning

281. Children doing their chores without complaining
282. Visiting with extended family
283. Dreams of our homestead
284. Friends getting their heart’s desire quickly
285. Fresh fruit from the Farmer’s Market
286. A nice breeze
287. Dry Erase Crayons—what a fabulous invention!
288. Kingdom Tales—what a wonderful allegory
289. Being able to keep in touch via email
290. A very thoughtful grandmother

Wow its been awhile since I updated my list. I’m going to try to be better about posting here…

261. Time with my quickly growing eldest daughter

262. Back to School shopping

263. My Father’s World: Countries & Cultures study

264. New Notebooks

265. New Routines

266. Fun VBS for the kiddos

267.  Storytime with my 2 year old

268. A cruising baby boy

269. Peas fresh picked from the garden

270. No more beetles!

271. My sacrificial husband—he gives so much so that I can be at home to take care of our family!

272. Quiet time in the morning

273. Cool breezes

274. Montana summer especially in comparison to Arizona summers!

275. Good friends who call to share their good news!

276.  Our church family where my husband can use his God given talents

277. Friendly neighbors

278. Sisters who are friends

279. A storage room that is now navigatable

280. Time with my grandparents