Mama Kay

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

246. Late night talks with my husband
247. Beautiful piano music playing in the background
248. gentle rain
249. God watering our garden & trees
250. kids plugging away at their lessons quietly
251. bread rising
252. baby sleeping
253. school year coming to an end
254. a clean kitchen this morning
255. yummy foods coming out of the kitchen
256. my sister getting a house with a backyard
257. dreams
258. old friends
259. new to us books
260. Amazon Prime

221. Birthday weekends

222. Phone calls from loved ones

223. Rain

224. Hail—such a fascinating weather phenomenon (as long as its not the damaging kind)

225. God’s love captured in a necklace sweetly given to me by my husband

226. A new week

227. A new month

228. A growing baby boy

229. The light at the end of the tunnel for our school year

230. Cheesecake with fresh raspberries!

231. Sharing a birthday weekend with my best friend.

232. Being able to give my husband one of his best birthdays ever

233. Living close to my grandparents

234. Dreaming of our future home

235. Facebook friends

197. Raw Milk once again!
198. Playing 4 square with the family after dinner
199. Reading Farmer Boy aloud to the family
200. Homemade Caramel Sauce
201. A Smiling Boy

202. Helpful 11 year old daughter
203. Nearing the end of a 2 year study with Mystery of History
204. Windy Spring Days
205. My Grandparents & getting to spend time with them again
206. Wild Asparagus—knowing that my grandfather & great grandfather ate from the same plants
207. A loving husband
208. Hope for a future on the land that my great grandfather farmed 80 years ago

209. God’s grace
210. New mercies every morning

After years of talking and dreaming about it we are moving to Montana next week. I can hardly believe it! Yes, we know it is cold there but we can’t wait! We are looking forward to getting out of the city, enjoying the country life, being close to my grandparents and having seasons! We are going to miss our friends and family here in AZ but we are ready for a new start. We are anxious to see what God has in store for us.

Our home inspection did not go well—the home inspector suggested we gut the house keeping only the structure, foundation and roof if we fixed it. Then the termite inspector found a huge nest and said the termites had been feasting for several years and we would have to test every stud. Finally, the mold inspector found Stachybotrys Mold (yes, that’s the bad kind). So we’ve run into another closed door. We are canceling our offer today.

I know that the Lord has good plans for us and I am so looking forward to the day when we know where we are supposed to be and what he wants us to do.

Please pray for us that we will see what God wants us to do now. We are still proceeding on trying to sell our current house and we are going to change out the flooring & draperies as well as remove more things from our house in hopes that our showings will go better. We’re definitely open to suggestions if you have any for us!

After years of talking, months of looking and planning—we have a contract on our first piece of land. It is a 1500 sq ft house with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on 3.3 acres in a rural area just outside of town. Still in the desert but this is our practice place. Our chance to learn the skills we need while still having a good paying job and proximity to friends and family. We close on August 4th and hope to move in towards the end of September. We got an amazing deal but that means there is a lot of work to be done before we can move in which is exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

Our plan is to have a mini-farm with a big garden, fruit trees, chickens, goats and maybe even a family cow. There are already citrus trees and a grape vine that are producing fruit. We want our family to work together towards a common goal, learn to be good workers, learn important skills and build community.

God has been so good to us!

Please pray for our current house to sell and that we will make good decisions as we improve the new property.

Here’s a couple video clips to give you an idea of the new place:

This one the land includes about as far as you can see (well not to the mountain) but you get the idea:

Here’s the “Front Yard” area around the house:

Here’s the “Back Yard area around the house:

I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.

I loved reading this description of how one family decided to grow as much of their own food as they could and only purchase what they could find in their own county for one year. They moved from Arizona to Virginia onto 40 acres in Appalachia. It is a month by month chronicle of what they ate and includes recipes. It also veers into the political and social ramifications for eating locally instead of purchasing food that is shipped thousands of miles away.

Barbara Kingsolver who went to grad school studying evolutionary biology inserts her belief in evolution frequently throughout the text. If only she gave credit to God for the wonderful things she finds in creation instead of millions of years of natural selection I would be able to fully endorse this book.

I enjoyed her descriptions of participating in the production of their own food and putting it up for future consumption (sounds a lot like investment cooking to me ). Reading this book made me long for our own country space where we could have a large garden, raise chickens and maybe even a cow. It also made me miss our farmer. We really enjoyed knowing where our food came from and supporting a local farmer before they moved. I really need to find a new farmer!

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

Last January I told you that we were setting aside a jar to donate money for World Vision and I wanted to give you a followup on our progress.

On Christmas morning after we opened our gifts we counted up the money we saved all year. Plus final donations from everyone including our family that was here visiting.

We were suprised to find that we had over $500! Everyone got to participate in deciding what we would give from the gift catalog and here’s what we decided to get:

• A share of a well


• A pair of goats


• A sheep


• 10 chickens


• 5 ducks

We pray that God will multiply our effort and bless the recipients of these humble gifts abundantly.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much. We’ve been finding ways to get out of the heat this summer.

We found a great area that is only 3 hours away to try out camping. (Last year we decided that we should adopt camping as a family hobby. This is only our second attempt at it and we’ve gone with a group of friends each time.)

We had a great time.

The kids had a great time playing with their friends. They decided to build a bridge across a small ditch. After working for 1 1/2 days on it—it was actually sturdy enough for 6 of them to all stand on it wihtout it failing!

Here’s a picture:

We also caught a beautiful butterfly in our tent!

I love being out in God’s creation and enjoying the beauty he created.