Life on "the farm" via my iphone

These days are good.
What am I going to do when I cannot go out and pick tomatoes in my garden!
Life on this little farm is busy and good. I also had a fun get away last weekend! I met Lesha, Grandma Alma and Aunt Janis in Bellevue on Saturday. Pictures of that to come soon. It was refreshing and fun. I even got started on my Christmas shopping.

Sharing more of sweet Hazel on her 6th Birthday!

It has been fun to take a stroll down memory lane today. Hazel has been such a delight!

Happy 6th Birthday Hazel Jane!

Hazel, you are an amazing sister and daughter!! We are so thankful for you!!
May God bless you! You are learning so much in kindergarten. Your love for learning and your kindness is such a blessing! Have a great day and a great 6th year!!

Autumn Beauty, Autumn FUN

Cheers to a great day!
Thank you God for Autumn! And for these children!
Hazel Jane and Oren Paul had a blast together today!!
The big boys went to the Seahawk game. Oren and Hazel just played and laughed and played some more. It was awesome.

Encourage

Balancing Tolerance.
Balancing Life.
I promise to ENCOURAGE.
Sometimes my kids tell me about something that is bothering them at school, a comment a teacher made or something about a reward system or lack of discipline... So often I don't make a big deal about it and we kind of tolerate it. (sidenote: My kids have hard working, dedicated teachers)
And then there are the behaviors that we have to respond to even as adults. Sometimes we are ridiculed. Sometimes what we do, what we give, isn't quite enough. I have been texting often with a friend this week who is struggling with even family members making her feel like what she is doing is not enough. And a neighbor was sort of ridiculing her. We can be thick skinned and try to keep on keepin on at times like this, but the truth is, we need encouragement. And we need God's grace. We have God's grace.
Let's promise to encourage. Let's show God's grace. There are people hurting all around us and we can be a light in their lives, if we choose to be. I want to encourage my kids to keep working hard and behaving even if they feel they have to tolerate too much. I want to encourage my friends. Our jobs as moms is so hard! It is not a contest or a competition it is a huge opportunity to love and encourage.   I never considered a tatoo until today! Beautiful font down my arm ENCOURAGE ;-)

Again today I am reminded of the wonderful gesture of a handwritten note! Today I received two in the mail!! Janice VanDiest and Marilyn Molitor your notes made my day!! And I felt encouraged. Liz and Shannon, your help and love today = encouragement.

Willem has needed some extra encouragement lately. I do my best to give it! Hazel is pretty good at encouraging too!

And their friendship, remarkable.

These two joined me for a senior photo shoot the other day. Assistants who loved making memories playing while I snapped away. So, I snapped a few of them.

Vance is making Cheesesteak sandwiches, they are da bomb! Can't wait to gobble one up, have a glass of wine and encourage! --

Happy 13th Birthday Merit!!!

What a hard working, driven, kind kid!!!
We love watching him as a big brother and friend!
Watching him play ball is a delight!
He loves the Lord.
He has a great sense of humor.
He works hard in school.
I think these teenage years are going to be great!