Happy Birthday America!  Today I am especially grateful for the wonderful freedoms we enjoy.  The freedom to worship, the freedom to praise God, the freedom to own our own property and live and work as we wish. For all these freedoms and more I very thankful for!

I pray each one of you enjoys a blessed & wonderful day!

Gloria

                              I have been planning our weekend.  Tomorrow we will enjoy a quiet day at home.. just family ( all 12 of us!).  We always enjoy a special meal on America's B-day.. so this year I will be making grilled steaks ( a rare treat) , baked potatoes, homemade baked beans, watermelon & homemade apple pie! It's not the fourth w/ out homemade apple pie! 

      Sunday our Church is holding an evening meeting and then a potluck meal. I'll be brining watermelon, lemon meringue pies and spinach salad. The girls are making cookies & cupcakes.  We are also going to bring a pinata & water balloons!  It should be a fun evening!

      Fourth of July is one of our favorite holidays!  We sure enjoy celebrating and taking time to remember how blessed we are in this land of the brave and home of the free!  I am also thankful for the freedom and perfect law of liberty thru Christ our Lord ! Jesus died so ALL men could be set free!  How grateful  I am for that!  We are no longer under the bondage of the law -- but are free thru the grace and liberty in Christ! Thank you Jesus for your precious blood shed on calvary so all men can be free!

  Hope you all enjoy a blessed Holiday!

Gloria

I don't think I have ever taken a photo of the old homestead from this angle..... I was on my mower today and I had my camera in my apron.... this is being taken looking west from our garden area...... I wish I had a photo of what this looked like " before".. oh my! It was so delapitated!  The building next to the house is our "schoolhouse" or aka: "smoke house".... it was built as a smoke house and was in such bad shape when we moved here. Many told us to tear it down. My husband decided to make something of the old structure and completely remodeled it from floor to roof... and made our schoolhouse! We spend a great deal of time here... this is where we do all our schooling. As you can tell it's close enough to the house, that I can run in and check on things.   This November it will be 3 yrs since we moved to Missouri. This place has seen many changes - it's really not the same place we drove up to!  Wow.  Still have things to renovate still, but most of the stuff is done! Praise God for that!

 I thought I would share some pics of some of the projects we have been busy with here on the homestead.

First of all, we have so enjoyed all the wildlflowers that have bloomed! I love bachelor buttons & black eyed susans!  We took an old hand pump that had been on the old cistern that we took out ..... and repainted it and used it for landscape decor!

This area had once held a cistern and hand pump and we tore that out and made a flower bed.....

 We had a big problem in this area.... the previous owner had laid brick pavers and they had cracked and the weeds were coming thru and muck..... my 16 yr old son tore the whole thing out, leveled the dirt, laid down black landscape tarp and then put down pond rocks and some stone...... turned out nice, eh?  I was so suprised when I was done and so happy! No more mucky wet ground!!

 It sure is handy to have a teen age boy around!  He helps me a great deal with household projects! Great job, Jacob!

Dru has been busy working on refinishing all the outside doors. Stripping, sanding, re-staining and then finishing...... he even took the old door hardware and cleaned them up with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint! It turned out great! 

We took the old screen doors, stripped them, repainted and cleaned up the old hinges.... we rescreened them with a tough pet resistant screen..... it sure comes in handy to have screen doors durring bug season!

Finally, I have really been enjoying working in our garden and flower beds..... the roses are blooming and beautiful... and the wildflowers are attracting the butterflies and hummingbirds and bees...... one of my favorite spots in the warmer months is my front porch.... I love to sit out there on my rocker and look around at the surrounding countryside.... it's where I go in the early morning hours.... I love to sit out here and listen to the birds chirp and sing praises to my Lord...

Home sweet home.......

Lots of other projects we are working on..... hope to share more later next week!

Until then, God bless!

gloria

It seems like since I started Facebook, I have little time for blogging! On top of that, life has been busy here this summer.... with all the outside chores and yard work, and household projects we are working on... life is just plain busy! 

Sorry about neglecting this blog. It's not my intention, just too much to do and not enough time!

Hope you are all enjoying a lovely summer,

gloria

We tried our hand for the first time in making frozen yogurt........ oh man oh man.......it is fantastic! I think I like it better than ice cream!  It's also much easier to make! My kids loved it too!    Next time we're going to make Pina Colada Frozen Yogurt!!

                      Frozen Banana Yogurt

8 cups vanilla yogurt

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups mashed ripe bananas

Combine yogurt, salt, sugar, whipping cream and vanilla in a mixing bowl with mixer. Cover and refrigerate for 30 min. Freeze as directed per ice cream maker model

** I have learned that for creamier ice cream/yogurt, use Morton's ice cream salt and freeze 30 min after making the mix.  If you wait too long to freeze and make into frozen ice cream or yogurt, the texture turns out dryer. **

Yields:   4 quarts

We've been in the middle of a heat wave........and I wish I could say we are loving it... but that would be a lie.     Yesterday was in the low 100's with high humidity.... heat index was at 120 or so.......today is a wee bit cooler and less humid. Kids are outside in the slip and slide and kiddie pool under the big walnut tree..... the older kids are inside staying cool. Thank goodness for A/C!!!  You would think after 3 summers here I would become accustomed to the heat....... but that sadly I still get sick, dizzy, head aches and just plain ole miserable........ I am waiting for the evening hours to get outside chores done..... I have some painting to do on the farmhouse ( touching up on some spots where paint peeled) and I have some benches to sand and paint.  We are enjoying lots of cold lemonade and ice cold popcicles!  How do all of you in the South do it?  I thought by my 3rd yr here I would be accustomend!

Stay cool ya'll,

gloria

" Pay as little attention to discouragement as possible.  Plow ahead like a steamship, which moves forward whether facing rough or smooth seas, and in rain or shine.  Remember, the goal is simply to carry the cargo and to make it to port. "   

Maltbie D. Babock

 I finally broke down and turned on the A/C .... it's been in the 90s with high humidity.......after school work was completed, the kids headed outside to cool off in the kiddie pool and sprinkler. We need to get a pool for the older kids.  I dont enjoy the hot hot days.. but at least my garden plot should be drying out !! Yeah!!

Hope you are keeping cool.