thankful, day 18

i am thankful that my mom was kind enough to send down a couple jugs of Turner Dairy Farms pumpkin spice eggnog a few weeks ago. (no other milk or dairy product compares to the freshness and tastiness of Turner's!) this week i am enjoying the last jug- it makes such a nice addition to my morning coffee :)

thankful, day 17

i am thankful for a short, but sweet, weekend visit with my dad. hiking and sushi is about all we had time to do, but we all enjoyed every minute of his time here. it's always sad to say goodbye to our out-of-town-visitors.

swinging on the vines on our hike

this may never happen again, so we had to photo document the eating of sushi, just in case

thankful, day 16

i am thankful for out-of-town guests! not only do we love having family come visit us, but it gives me extra incentive to deep clean the house. it's an extra bonus that my floors get washed more than once a year. :)

thankful, day 15

i am thankful that i have a job and an employer that allows me to work from home. it is a huge blessing to our family during this season of our lives. i get to be home for jacob and kate, it saves us money on clothing (office attire and home attire vary greatly in cost!), and not to mention the gas expense of travelling to and from work. i know it is going to coming to an end soon, so i am thankful for and cherishing every (ok, almost every) moment.

thankful, day 14

i am thankful for our 2nd vehicle! 8 years of being a single car family brought it's challenges. the past 3 months of having another car have made life a little easier. and the fact that jesse loves his "man car" is a bonus! praying that this antique lasts us many years!

thankful, day 13

i am thankful for all my handsome, beautiful, smart, sweet, cheerful neices and nephews! today i am especially thankful for the safe arrival of neice #4! Dominca Jane Pié was born this morning to Josh and Heidi. we celebrate a new life and are thanking God for a healthy mom and baby!

thankful, day 12

i am thankful for coffee. but i think most everyone already knew that.

thankful, day 11

today i am thankful for the freedoms that we have as Americans, and thankful for the men and women who have served in the military to defend those freedoms. i pray that the Lord heals our nation and turns hearts to Him, but until then i pray that we have the right attitude that God calls us to.

^{1 Peter 2: 13-17 
13} Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants^[d] of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

thankful, day 10

i am thankful for the friends and community we have been blessed with. we try not to take for granted the way we are served and encouraged on a daily basis by the the people God has put in our lives here in Kentucky. so thankful.

thankful, day 9

i am thankful that our first family camping trip last month was a success (minus jesse's nasty cold that kept him up all night). the kids had a blast and were sad to leave the campsite. that gives me hope for future camping trips with our family. :)

thankful, day 8

i am thankful for our small group. a collection of people who lived relatively close together for 5 years and didn't know it. i am thankful for the friendships that have developed since the start of our group, a little over a year ago. i am thankful for the encouragement, prayers, and serving that happen amongst us.

thankful, day 7

i am so thankful for melissa's tortellini soup recipe. since i have been making it for the last 2 years, it has been a wonderful, tasty, amazing addition to my soup rotation during the cold months. and bonus points for being a recipe that everyone in my family loves to eat.

thank you, melissa! i owe you.

(so thrilled to find this photo i took almost exactly 2 years ago)

thankful, day 6

i am thankful today for a fairly inexpensive trip to the mechanic. everyone panics when the "maintenance required" light comes on in their car. as my friend put it, "when that light comes on, you just see dollar signs."*

today i was thankful to find out that the message popped up for a simple oil change. i am thankful it was just $30 and not $300!

*shout out to Katie for the great quote! :)

thankful, day 5

i am thankful that Jacob had a day off of school today. i enjoyed having him around (although it does seem to make a lot more work for me :) ). we spent the morning babysitting and in the afternoon we took a special treat trip to the Lego store for their free monthly build event. we drove 30 minutes, waited in line for 90 minutes (doing homework, watching tractor videos on the ipod, jumping out of line for potty breaks) and 55 minutes in traffic on the way home....all for a free tractor mini-model that we got to build in the store. ok, we actually go 2 of them :) but in the end, it was all worth it. a fun afternoon spending time with my kiddos...priceless.

thankful, day 4

in the last 8 months i have reflected more than ever on how thankful i am for the home we live in. our landlords have had the house on the market since March. i have been soaking in the moments and memories we have here, knowing that it could come to an end very soon. there is still a chance, i suppose, that we could be here for a long time yet, but until that is clear to us we are holding loosely to the idea that this is our forever home.
i feel most thankful for the beautiful views we have from our kitchen window. the mornings and evenings are breathtaking. the wide open space is irreplaceable. we are truly blessed to have the privilege to enjoy this every day!

this morning was a perfect reminder of that

thankful, day 3

i am thankful for our little Katie Pie, who just turned 5 years old this past week. she is such a joy to us! she is creative, dramatic, thoughtful, wacky, and most of the time, just plain cute! i am thankful for this time i have with her at home, and am already not looking forward to the day she starts kindergarten.

treasuring every moment with my little helper girl.

thankful, day 2

today i am thankful for lazy saturdays. after a month of crazy busy it is nice to slow down, rest, and enjoy each other. oh, and shepherd the young hearts. (but that is constant, you know. and for that i am thankful too!) the peak weekend for the fall leaves seems to be today. the colors are vibrant, the sun is shining, there is a nice fall breeze, and we are lazily taking care of things that have been forgotten about over the last few weeks.

thankful, day 1

 

i am so very thankful for this man. i am amazed at the way God puts 2 people together, and knows just what he is doing. i am thankful for the way that jesse serves me as a husband and as a father to jacob and kate. he sets an example for me everyday of what it means to live in Christ. i am especially thankful for the time we had together this past weekend as we went on a little road trip to a small town in southern Kentucky for a concert. i loved being "stuck" in the car with him for several hours. :)

kate is 5

we enjoyed a week of celebrating Kate, as she turned 5 years old! there's something about your baby turning 5....no more toddlerhood....she's growing up.

the week started with a weekend visit from pappy & gammie, and aunt rachael even came too!

Kate chose to celebrate this year by having cake and ice cream with her closest friends (which she picked over a visit to the pumpkin patch, as is the tradition). so on tuesday, her friends joined us for some cake and ice cream, and Hello Kitty overdose. :)

then on Kate's birthday day we started with saying goodbye to gammie (gammie stayed a couple extra days to help out and we loved having her here!), opening presents, donuts and preschool with Kate's friend, Ana, then off to the mall for a free birthday ride on the carousel! she talked about this for weeks, there much deliberation about which animal she would ride on, and when we finally got there she got stage fright, so we ended up riding the bench :) Kate chose Chipotle for lunch (2 years in a row! i love this girl!).

the day after her birthday we were invited to join our friends for Disney on Ice as an extra birthday treat. what a fun night that was for the girls!

after all the birthday celebration was over, we had quite a "hangover". it took us several days to come down from the birthday mountain, but now she's settled into being 5 quite well. :)


this was Kate this morning, as we sent her brother off on the bus.
she's unique :) and we love every part of her

six

we celebrated jacob's 6th birthday this weekend. kinda hard to believe. a little bit surreal, but not so much as the day he was born. we love this boy. we are so thankful for the blessing of being his parents. as with most kids, he doesn't always make it easy for us- but the moments when we see him make a right decision, or say something unexpectedly sweet, or create something that amazes us, fill us with joy and thankfulness for this sweet boy.

his birthday gift, a new bike, came a week early. we spent the weekend hanging out as a family and were joined for birthday dinner by some friends. the highlight of his birthday, and he might say of his life :), was a tractor ride given to him by one of our neighbors.

thankful

2 months ago, our landlords put the farm and house up for sale. it was unexpected, but not really a surprise to us. we're sticking it out and praying God's will to be done, whether that means the house sells and we get to start in a new home or if it doesn't sell we get to create more memories here. whatever the outcome, we have taken this time to reflect on the 5 years we have been here and what a blessing this home and this property have been to our family. 

here are a few snapshots of the beauty we get to enjoy while we are still here. we have so much to be thankful for!

it was a good friday

we celebrated the easter holiday weekend at home this year. it was nice to slow down from our routine and daily busyness to reflect on the death of Christ and his raising from the dead.

on friday we resolved to stay home and not have the distractions of our regular days. we read from Luke's account of the last supper, crucifixion, and resurrection. we took a family hike, enjoying creation, hunting for fossils, and trying not to fall in the creek
(trying to get some hikes in before it gets too hot, muggy, and weed-infested) :)

it was a nice restful family day!

let's see, where did i leave off?

i think i stopped some time just before thanksgiving... so let me catch up.

kindergarten happenings

jacob has been enjoying his kindergarten year. although, if you ask him if he likes school, he will quickly tell you "no" (the not-liking-school attitude started way too soon, if you ask me).

he has learned lots of things, and so quickly. he started out the school year barely being able to count to 20 (....13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20...missing a few!) and now he can count past 100, count by 10's, 5's, 2's, odds, and evens. he is starting to learn simple math and is up to +3's in his homework. his favorite part of school is art class and music.

he can now read most level 1 reading books, and can sound out most words. his latest thing he thinks is pretty cool is writing sentences. i'll find him after rest time with a page of sentences he has written (not all spelled correctly, mind you) and it goes a little something like this...

Jacob is 5.
I like tractors.
I like tractor books.
I like cars.
I like old fashioned cars.
I like dogs because they are cute.
I like my room.
I love Dad and he is 33 and mom is 32. (lovely)

over the months of january and february he participated in an instructional basketball program at his school. it was every saturday for 6 weeks. he didn't seem to care for it until his friends would show up. then they would run and chase each other around the gym, half-dribbling the ball. it was quite entertaining. :)

jesse and i thought this was perfect timing with the camera :)

in january he was one of the 4 in his class that was selected to receive the "Treating Others Respectfully" award. proud parent moment. kate and i were able to go to the special assembly to watch him receive his award.

presidents day

a day off of work and school, and looking for something different to do...we found ourselves heading to the city of Dayton to visit the National Museum of the US Air Force. it was a fun to get out as a family, and we all enjoyed the planes. well, except for maybe kate. she wasn't that impressed :)

jacob was thrilled that there were tractors :)

jesse enjoyed seeing some of the planes that he has done paintings of in the past.

especially the A-10, which he did a painting of for an A-10 pilot that we kind of know.

the kids enjoyed the 1 opportunity they got to actually get into one of the planes, and it was the cockpit which made it even more exciting! i think this one was an f-16?