Hey Y'all!

It's been several days since I last posted. Matt and I have been enjoying...well, uh, how do I say this? We've been enjoying "Q-U-I-E-T" this week. Amy and Rachel and Katie left Tuesday for a visit to my parents. Oh, it's not that we haven't missed them...no siree, it's not that at all. No way. We've really missed them all. I promise. :O) But we've somehow managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves in the "missing" process. It's been tough. Yes siree Bob, it's been hard. So, well, anyway...

I got a bit more canning done this week. I made chow chow and got it canned. Then I also canned some quart jars of new potatoes. Both the chow chow and the taters were a first for me. I've gotten quite a good start stocking my winter pantry (especially considering the drought this summer). Speaking of drought, we had 3 days of good rain this week. The pasture is really greening up and the grass is growing. The ponds have lots of water in them, and the cows are happy. And so are we.

I'm leaving you with some pics of the results of God's bounty (and a wee bit of my labors). Til next time....

I've been in a real pickle :O)

As much as I must admit that I am not a summer person (I don't like to sweat)...I still have to confess that I love the results of summer...namely, fresh veggies! We were given lots of cucumbers this week and I've been busy making relish and sweet pickles. The relish took some time to make but the results were good....12 half pint jars, 2 pint jars, and a quart jar!

I used a new recipe for pickles this year...freezer pickles. That's a first for me, but I was really pleased with the results! They are so yummy! (and very easy to make)
Canning and preserving has kept me busy, busy, busy, but at the same time, it's also kept me out of trouble this week. Funny thing though...with all this busy-ness going on, Amy decided this week would be a good time to go visit friends out of town. Hmmm. Think she had an ulterior motive?

Busy week!

Haven't posted much lately but it's been a busy week. We've spent alot of time running around since Amy's been here. (She's off visiting friends for a few days or we'd be running now too!) I wish I had more pictures of her to post but she is taking tons of pictures with HER camera, not mine! So she has them all!

Jacob is settling back into "reality" since he got back from his big trip. He really had such a good time. The day after he got back, he got his drivers license. Passed with a perfect score. So now, he's got his license, a pickup truck, and a job. It won't take long for reality to sink in when it's time for insurance and gas. :O) Our garden is doing very little this summer. But the Lord blessed us with an abundance of green beans through the kindness of a neighbor. I spent most of my day canning 61 jars and freezing about 5 containers of beans!! It's alot of work, but it's all worth it come wintertime. I was just so glad to get the beans because it doesn't look like we're going to get any out of our garden. At least now we'll have lots of beans and taters to eat!

Jacob's Back!!

Just a quick post to let everybody know that Jacob is home from the Dominican Republic safe and sound! I'll post more about it later, so for now I'll just say that HE LOVED IT! He said he could've stayed even longer! We're glad he's back home and can't wait to hear even more about his trip. For those of you who know how quiet Jacob normally is, I can tell you that he's talked and talked about his trip since he got home! :O)
Having Amy home for awhile and Jacob back home from his journey, I am one thankful mama. Glad to have all my chicks in the nest again.
I'll be posting again soon!

Amy's Home!!!

Amy arrived safe and sound in the good ole USA on Monday afternoon! It's so good to have her home for a while! They say a picture is worth a thousand words, soooo......we'll just let the picture speak for itself!
Last word we heard from the gang in the Dominican Republic, everybody was doing well though they had to spend an entire day confined to the motel. The citizens were having a national protest about gas prices ($5 a gallon there!) so to avoid any possible "harm" it was agreed they would stay at the motel. Since the motel is right on the beach, they were at least able to get out and enjoy the sunshine and water! So I don't think they "suffered" too terribly. Sure will be glad to get all my youngens in one place!!
I'll update soon...we're all running hither and thither having fun for now!

Taters and Other Bits of Info

We're still under "drought conditions" here, and that makes us all the more thankful that our potatoes have done so well. We planted 100 pounds of potatoes this year (50 lbs of red taters and 50 lbs of white taters) We planted the red ones earliest so they're already ready to dig up. Just after digging 1 3/4 rows (loooong rows) we filled 6 five-gallon buckets!! Yippee! Lord willing, it looks like we're gonna have enough to get us through the winter! Last year we only got 6 buckets out of our entire potato patch! Just look! Isn't that a pretty sight?Concerning other bits of info, Amy will be here Monday!! Woohoo! We're all looking forward to that. She'll be here for almost an entire month! Then, on Thursday, youngen #2 will be flying back to the nest from the Dominican Republic! It's going to be an exciting week! I can hardly wait to see both of them! It's seemed rather "empty" around here with just two kids! :O) We haven't heard from Jacob since he's been gone, but then again we weren't expecting to because he had no way of calling home. I'm excited to hear all about his trip. We'll be keeping everybody posted!

He made it!

Thankful to report that Jacob has made it safely to the Dominican Republic!! I never realized how nervous I am when someone I love is traveling until I hear they've arrived at their destination! :O) It's always a relief to get that call!

They left Newport around 7:20 this morning in the church bus headed for the Atlanta airport. Once they got checked in there, they got some lunch then waited for their flight to depart. As far as I know, they actually left Atlanta on time! (imagine that!) They had already been through customs at the Dominican airport and were headed to their motel last word I got. And to think Jacob got to make such a trip on his 16th birthday!!! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACOB!) The picture below was taken early this morning before they left Newport. I'll keep everybody updated!

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Holiday to all! Just wanted to write a brief update...nothing earth shattering. :O) We're all doing well...enjoying good health. We're getting a few rain showers here and there. Seems like the garden is perking up and the pasture looks greener now than it did a few weeks ago. We're still holding onto 8 of our cows, hoping and praying we'll be able to carry them through the winter. So far, we've not found ANY hay at all. Not a single bale. It's very scarce right now. So, we're going to try to hang on and hope and pray some more. :O)
We're getting ready to dig up our red potatoes. They've done really well this year, in spite of the drought. The onions have done great too! The cabbage has been late coming in this year, but it's been good. The brussel sprouts are putting out too, but they're beginning to get a bit "buggy."
The kids and I picked some blackberries this week. I was pleasantly surprised to see how pretty some of the berries were. I figured they'd be dry and tasteless, but actually they were wonderful! We made a little blackberry juice. I hope to get some jelly made this week.
Tomorrow Jacob leaves for his missions trip to the Dominican Republic. He is very excited about it! By the way, he'll be leaving on his 16th birthday! Nice present, huh? :O) We have been busy all day packing and repacking! I think we've finally got things organized. I hope to have lots of pictures to post from his trip next week. He is really looking forward to it. I'll be updating soon!