My Castle in the Kingdom of God
Middle daughter is debating job? school? both????Our middle daughter is debating over a job offer and college or just straight college. For all our girls we offer them a full ride to college , books , all cost, a car, gas, medical & car insurance , spending money , we do it all like we do now. The only difference is they have to live at home while they go to school, or board at a far school. They car work part time where dad and I agree they can for mad money, but they are just to focus on school. Well, Shayna has a great job offer starting off at $10 -$12 an hour with insurance, 401k, retirement and more. She will still live at home and we will support her still, minus medical insurance ( she has to be in school for 12 units for ours to cover her) and she can go to college at night. Shayna wants to open a cafe. So she would be going to school for that and her art as well as her veterinary. So now she has a choice to make this job where she could just keep advancing year after year and school or just straight school and open her cafe and sell her art there. The veterinary is just because she is good at it and loves it(she already has college classes in this from high school) , and well it is good to fall back on if she ever needed to. We tell her what ever she decides is fine, we will support her 100%. We are praying over this to see what God has to say. P.s. the joke on dad went good I will tell you all about Mr. Grump Gills (the fish's name)and dad later , also about his wife they are trying to talk us into buying!!! Some times I wonder if they are Moses, every needs a mate! God Bless all, mj
Woo Hoo the Winters Wood is In!!After more than a month of working on the project we are thrilled to be able to say the wood is in for the winter! Tobin and the boys worked tirelessly to cut down trees, limb trees, and clean up trees that had broken during the winter’s ice storm. All in all it is approx. 6 cords of wood. Our place looks great and the wood is in. What a great feeling.
Tobin and I were both quite proud of the youngest three kids as they worked to help with this task. Jacob especially has really done a lot of maturing in the last year. He is a hard worker and knows how to put in a man’s days work, not a bad thing for a 14 year old to know. He is even sought after by the neighbor to do work for him. This year Jacob has learned to use a chainsaw (it is a smaller electric one).. he used it to cut up all the small pieces of wood that were brought in (and there was a LOT of them). He made a stand to hold the tree limbs in so he could easily cut them. He also learned how to drive Tobin’s tractor and use it around the property to bring in wood, move piles of leaves and sticks and any other task Tobin needed his help with. He is proficient with mowers, weed wackers and a host of other tools. Just had to take a moment here and share with you about my boy
 Here are some pics of him driving the tractor during one of the wood gathering days. Sierra and Jacob are also helping with the clean up of a tree that Tobin took down.. -
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 Here is one pile of the many piles of tree limbs he cut up…
 And a picture of some of the many, many pieces of wood Tobin split…. by hand...
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 This was the first year he mentioned that maybe getting a log splitter in the future might be a good idea!
 Winter may still be a ways off.. but it is great to know we can look forward to warm cozy days and evenings inside while the wind and rain and the snow do their thing outside!
  Wagging { Posted by
The Good Life
}
It sure feels like winter here in New Zealand - lots & lots of rain - day in. day out. One would think our dams were over flowing with the amount of rain. Oh & thunder & lightening storms too!{ 10:45 AM , Thursday, July 24, 2008 } { Posted in Daily Life } { 2 comments } { Link } Yesterday the kids & I wagged school - well kind of! The kids did the cattery for me in the morning while I printed out pedigrees - new owners had rang to see if they could come a day early - not a problem! Abbey & I worked on her CV - drove her to collect her reference from babysitter & then dropped it in. She did thank me for making her do all the international exams he he - she had quite a nice little CV with all the results. She loves I am her taxi - I love that I am seeing her blossom - teen years are really fun watching them grow & change - bit like a flower opening. We then drove in the wind & rain to the big shopping centre south. I think other families decided to wag too as the mall was full! We priced new cell phones as poor James had lost his in the paddock in the weekend - we have looked & looked for it. - We bargained hard & got $40.00 off. He didn't like the big lump come out of his bank account - and commented he would hate to be in debt! Yes, yes, yes moment all the hard work of teaching the kids how to run a cashbook with their pocket money working. Brent helped him make a chain & his new phone can now be firmly held to his belt. I got a USB stick (A pretty pink one) as one of my friends keeps hassling me - Have you backed up??? Each time she sees/speaks to me I do love her for it as I know I am shocking for backing up!!! - must do it today!. Oh and I also brought more flies for our families frogs - cracks me up buying flies! We also stopped at a warehouse good specials of tomato sauce & rice by 25kg packs. James spotted some Batman juice so we brought bottles of that to smuggle into the movies - along with homemade popcorn & Bat lollies for the kids. Yep it is soo much cheaper to take your own snacks to the movies by a long way! We were an hour early for orthadontist (sp) so stopped at Macdonalds for a treat. it was really, really nice - the train has now gone - bit sad!! It now has a Macafe - we were most impressed and we sat watching cars drive by while we enjoyed each others company & our treat. Mcdonalds is a treat for us - we watch our pennies by choice - we live like no one else now, so we can live like no one else in our later years too. W we were talking how we are all greatful I don't have to work. The kids said they would much rather me be home than working. I often think of NZ today so many mums working - kids in day care - the government funds daycare. Oh no Brent was home early, we had only just walked in the door at 5pm - no tea on, no fire lit, no animals fed. All hands on deck and home was soon buzzing. The kids got out their school work & worked on it while I cooked tea - macaroni cheese & James had baked beans, stewed apples for pudding. Ab made phone calls to her friends & they are all happy to come in fancy dress & costume for her party - they are now planning a mass trip to second hand shops. She rang my folks & they are helping her out with 1920 style theme. Should be a fun party! - Brent is NOT into dressing up - he is a kiwi bloke! - his daughter is trying to talk him into dressing up as a butler. It was a good choice to wag routine of home school & go out - we are recharged & very thankful for our lifestyle. Gift from Canada { Posted by
The Good Life
}
Blogging has enabled one to meet other people from around the world. Nicki from blog Rural Writings had a give away & I won - I was not meant to be in the draw!!! As knew the postage to NZ would be shocking - Nicky put me in the draw & pulled out my name. The parcel arrived yesterday - on a long journey of nearly 3 months. { 10:53 AM , Wednesday, July 23, 2008 } { Posted in Daily Life } { 1 comments } { Link } What a lovely way to start ones day - We did school by candle light yesterday - winter here & we need a light on - ooh the bees wick candles smell wonderful!!! The kids want to make their own candles. I soo need to look into this for them. I have a slight fear of candles as when I was young about 12 I think .I burnt my bedroom down playing with a candle. Well actually I was playing the Ouija Board - called out of my bedroom & I blew out the candle - next thing I am in BIG trouble & my bedroom is on fire. Luckily it was only my bed & not the house. My mum fell down the steps & twisted her ankle needing an after hours appointment. We lived in the back of a dairy & we had customers running through the house to help put out the fire. I was not popular & was sent away for the night, That was a very hard night as I always got very homesick being away from home - probably the best punishment I could of got. - Hence I'm a bit dubious of candles. Oh and yes Ouija boards too - hard to say to your kids I don't want you to do this or that when you have done it!. I was very popular at playtime at school showing the kids how to play the Ouija board - just as well we didn't burn down the school. I remember doing one chant where a girl lied on two chairs & there was about 7 or 8 girls standing around the chairs. We did a chant along the lines - of there's been an accident ....we had to put both our pointer fingers under her & chant she is dead - or something to that nature (I actually remember it word for word but won't share here) & she actually rose off the chair up in the air on our fingers. We were all soo scared - screamed, we let go & the poor girl fell. Fair dinkum! Sometimes one doesn't believe unless your have witnessed something. Just like when James was a wee toddler. I was always ever so good at safety & wee kids. But this day I remember I had left my coffee up on side board. Had that awful dread feeling & walked into the lounge to see him with it. It should of been spilling towards him - law of gravity would say the same. But something or someone had like his arm and it was tossing the contents out in jerking motions away from his body. I stopped & couldn't understand what I was witnessing. James sure had someone watching out for him. I firmly believe there is more to life than we think - I've even experienced the white light - I nearly died after James was born - I even felt myself rise above my body & saw myself lying on the table Dr's & nursers working on me. I was floating to the most pure, gentlest, brightest white light in a tunnel. I wasn't scared or frightened - it was the most peaceful thing ever. Then I heard it is not your time & fell back into my body. Wacko you may think but it happened. I asked my Dr about it & she has a very scientific reason - of your body shutting down. Me I believe otherwise.  Wasn't I spoilt rottten!!! - Oh excuse the vase - but kids wanted to use the candle then & there GRIN.And I loved looking at the flyer of Canada food specials that was rapt around the candles. Thank you Nicki! NIcki's daughter, Jennifer has started a blog oh how nice it would be to have a blog from when first married. I've enjoyed reading it - it brings back lovely memories of when we were first married & setting up our first home. I think first homes are special! Gingerbread { Posted by
The Good Life
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{ 11:28 AM , Tuesday, July 22, 2008 } { Posted in Morning Tea } { 2 comments } { Link }  After school Abbey made one of my favourites - Ginger Bread. 2 Cups Flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 3 teaspoons ginger pinch salt. 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup warm milk 2 eggs 1 cup golden syrup Mix well add 225 grams melted butter Beat until very well mixed. This is a very sloppy, wet mixture. Bake in a square cake tin at 180 deg C for a bout 45 mins - 1 hour. Test that it is cooked. Butter & enjoy - oh men folk like it hot with custard. { Last Page } { Page 1 of 10 } { Next Page } |
LOL. Help me!!!
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