Little Boots January 3, 2009
Posted by Laura in Faith, Family, Farm.1 comment so far
If I had to pick one thing to be an icon of raising children on a farm, it would be a pair of knee-high rubber boots. You just need them to walk around in the mud and manure, to do chores, to wade into puddles, and any number of other important kid activities. And each child gets a pair as soon as he or she can walk.
I came upon these prints yesterday and they just made me smile.
I found these two sets of footprints just a few feet apart, testament to the investment a daddy made in his little daughter by including her in his activities.
This life God has provided us is one we cherish and appreciate. But in the middle of everyday life it can be so hard to take the time to let the little ones join in when it’s so much faster to do things alone. We strive to keep the big picture in mind, though. In the end it will have been more important to spend the time together and suppress our perfectionism than to have square corners and spotless floors. The bent nails have their own value.
Twittering December 27, 2008
Posted by Joe in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
A few months ago, I started using Twitter.If you’re not familiar with Twitter is a free web site where you can sign up and create your own little “what I’m doing right now” web site. Posts, or more aptly tweets, are meant to be short and sweet. They are limited to only 140 characters and are generally intended to let others know what you’re doing at that moment.
But I think it’s probably grown beyond that for many people. It’s almost a cross between blogging and Instant Messaging. You see, you can follow what other people are doing and even reply to them. Your Twitter web site only shows your tweets and replies. You don’t see other people’s tweets and replies. To see their replies you must follow them on their web page or through a Twitter application.
There are lots of good Twitter applications out there that allow you to follow a group of people without necessarily having to visit their Twitter web page. I have one on my desktop and one for my iPhone. I enjoy seeing what others are up to at any particular moment.
For me, I tend to tweet about my day and things that I’ve found interesting online. Some of those things are work-related. Others are farm-related. And still others are semi-random thoughts that come to me during the day.
I’ve added a “Recent Tweets” section to this blog. It on the right hand side near the top. You can see the ten most recent tweets that I’ve made. To see more, you can visit my Twitter page. Anything that starts with a @ sign is my reply to another Twitter person so that may not make a lot of sense since it will appear somewhat out of context.
I hope you find it entertaining. My only warning to you is that once you start down the Twittering path and build a network of followers and friends, it can become quite addictive. You’ll find that you regularly check to see what you’re friends are up to.
So, do any of you Twitter? If so, post a link in the comments section of this blog post.
Cheers!
Merry Christmas from the Webbs December 25, 2008
Posted by Joe in Faith, Family.add a comment
Merry Christmas from our family to yours. We hope you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year. And as you open presents from loved ones, we hope you remember the greatest gift of all - the one offered to each of us by God so many years ago.
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. ~Luke 2:1-20
The Pleasant View Christmas Parade December 7, 2008
Posted by Joe in Family, Scouts.2 comments
Earlier today, Rachel’s Brownie troop marched in the Pleasant View Christmas Parade. Here are some pictures of the event.
Rachel did a great job tossing candy to onlookers.
It was cold, around 32 degrees F. So Timothy was bundled up pretty well. He looked a little like Ralphie’s brother in “A Christmas Story” when he fell down on the way to school and couldn’t get up because his mother had wrapped him in so many clothes.
Of course it wouldn’t really be a parade if the Shriners didn’t ride their little motorcycles around in circles.
And although we live in a small town, we do have a police force. Fortunately, this is not one of the patrol cars.
It’s a Parade! November 26, 2008
Posted by Laura in Family, Homeschooling.2 comments
Unlike children, adults actually enjoy quiet “boring” moments when no one is talking. I’m a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom whose husband travels a lot so I get my fill of “quality time” with the children. I was having one of those “I need a sanity break” moments today and I thought I had figured out a way to get one.
After a quick salad, I put the toddler down for a nap, strapped the 15 pound infant into his “frontpack,” and left the older children finishing their lunch. I thought I would get a little exercise and have a few moments of solitude walking in our driveway without anyone making demands of me. I put on some Chris Rice music and headed out the door to be alone (okay, at least with only the infant, but that’s something). It was not to be.
Our driveway is a hair under 1/4 mile long from end to end with the house being at the crest of a slight hill. The driveway is paved which makes it great for walking, bike riding, etc. I headed out on foot to try and work off some baby weight. I had hardly made it to the toolshed before two dogs joined me. They jostled me and each other trying to get their heads up under my hands to be petted. After acknowledging them both with pats and compliments I continued on. Another 100 feet and two cats came barreling past me, quickly throwing themselves onto the pavement immediately in front of me and rolling onto their backs to have their bellies scratched. I obliged and continued on. At about that point, I picked up a small herd of goats who paced me from their side of the fence giving me the rough side of their tongues for not bringing treats. I spoke to them by name and made my apologies for the oversight.
I managed to make it to the mailbox without tripping over any cats who continued to do their speedbump impressions right in front of me (never have I met felines who accompany humans on walks, but this is frequent with them). I herded the dogs away from the street and started back up the hill. When I got to the barn, I picked up a flock of about 25 chickens. They assumed that my general heading toward the henhouse meant they would get fed again and they swirled about my ankles as I walked. As I neared the house, the bovine bellowing began and the cows picked up the pacing where the goats ran out of fence. Just to make the picture complete, both Benjamin and Rachel were on the porch waving me down when I reached the house.
So goes the life of a homeschooling, farming woman. It’s certainly never lonely.
Incoming! November 14, 2008
Posted by Laura in Family, Scouts.2 comments
Benjamin has enjoyed cub scouts since he finished Kindergarten and joined as a Tiger cub. He is now a Webelo and loves it as much as ever. At the meeting last night, the boys got to build a catapult to work on an “engineering” badge.
Nearly finished.
Now, let the war begin! (And Lydia wasn’t left out of this battle. She ran right through the middle of the combat gathering up ammo- ping pong balls- as fast as she could).
Rachel and Timothy took cover out of harm’s way.
Pretty cool project!
4-H Speeches November 13, 2008
Posted by Laura in 4-H, Family, Homeschooling.4 comments
Public speaking is listed as one the greatest fears people have. Though Joe is an old pro at it with all the conferences he does and courses he teaches, public speaking is also one of the hardest skills to master. It is no simple feat to give a well-organized, informative presentation in a confident and effective manner. It can take years to become comfortable speaking before your peers, or worse yet, your superiors. For that reason, we feel that it will be more easily accomplished if our children get an early start. That’s not to say that we are pushing them into careers that will require it. It’s just that we would like them to be well-rounded and prepared for whatever God calls them to do. Here they are giving speeches to their peers and the parents.
Fourth graders all have to speak on the topic My Family. Benjamin had practiced and practiced until he hardly even needed to glance at his notecards. He made a point of making eye contact with his audience. (I apologize for the picture quality- I was zoomed in pretty far from the back of the room. The leader also promises to have his name spelled right by the next meeting).
Rachel spoke on a topic near and dear to her heart- cats. She read several books and looked up information online so she could develop a speech that told about their needs and development, personalities, and appearance. She felt very nervous but it didn’t show when she spoke.
Both children did a great job and we are proud of them.
Good-bye to the Toy Story Two November 1, 2008
Posted by Laura in Farm.1 comment so far
For the past year and a half, we have had two donkeys, Buzz and Woody. This was my brilliant idea. At one point, we were losing chickens to predators at an alarming rate but we wanted to add more livestock to our farm. My reading suggested that the way to go was to get donkeys as guardian animals. After much convincing, Joe agreed and we purchased two young half-brothers from a very gregarious old farmer not far away.
Woody and Buzz, named for some long-standing favorite movie characters.
This experiment will probably have to go in the “failed” category. As we improved our periphery fences, the need for guardian animals decreased. At the same time, the southeast was plunged further into drought and hay became scarce and expensive. And just to add insult to injury, the brown donkey bullied the goats and calves he was purchased to protect.
We’ve become kind of fond of Buzz (the white one) and thought about just selling Woody. There is something pleasant about equine companionship even if they aren’t “working” animals and we still miss our old horse Gus. But we don’t need the donkeys and their upkeep was too costly not to factor in, so we listed them both for sale online.
Yesterday the new owners came to get them. Neither Buzz nor Woody made themselves easy to load, but Woody showed his true colors and sat down on his rear end, refusing to move. He was determined not to get in that trailer for a bucket of feed or anything else. Finally, he was outsmarted and outmuscled though and off they went. The pasture seems kind of empty now, but they are going to live close by so we’ll be able to drive by and wave.
Pumpkin Fun October 31, 2008
Posted by Laura in Faith, Family.3 comments
Though we are pretty conservative people with strong spiritual beliefs, we have no problem with taking part in some of the fall festivities we grew up with way back when. We look forward to pumpkin carving, roasting the seeds, and putting on costumes from our collection of dress-up clothes. We go up to church and play games and get candy and fellowship with our friends. It’s always so much fun and there isn’t so much as a hint of the possible darker side of Halloween’s history. We feel that what really matters is how WE celebrate and our intentions and the traditions we pass on to our children.
Darth Vader, a sweet ladybug, and a princess pose with their respective pumpkins.
A close-up of their designs. (Okay, I helped Lydia a little).
The little 9-day old Pea-in-a-Pod slept through most of the activities.
In addition to the blow up bouncy things and games you always win to get candy, free snowcones & hot dogs, these Human Hamster Balls were set up in a Sunday School room . Two children play by trying to roll the other into a corner or otherwise chase each other around the room. Benjamin and his friend Zack had a great time.
High Wire Adventure October 30, 2008
Posted by Laura in 4-H, Family, Homeschooling.1 comment so far
For the city folk out there, “4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills” (quote from the website). All the groups I’ve known of have been in rural areas, but they may exist in urban areas too. We joined last year as Clover Buds, but Benjamin has now moved up to the higher level. It has been a great experience for us.
Our homeschool 4-H group had a super field trip on Thursday. We all met out at a rock climbing wall/ high ropes course/ zip line built and maintained on a university experimental agriculture farm. Joe was able to go with us and I think he had as much fun as the children.
Rachel preparing to climb the rock wall.
Off to a good start.
“Let me rest just a second…”
Benjamin scales the rock wall while another kid tackles the high ropes.
Joe nears the top.
Don’t worry grandparents, that sad look is because we didn’t let Lydia harness up.
Benjamin has made it to the top of the pole.
Now for the really scary part.
And there goes Joe…
All the way across and down the zipline.
What a great adventure!
