Old McDonald...

...had a farm... and he might just be the guy at the end of the road! :) Maybe I should back up a bit. We submitted an offer, they countered, we accepted. Wow... did I just type that? We are under contract for a farm! Well, I still call it a farm, it's so small it's really more of a "property" but in our hearts we'll soon have our farm! This vision is in its very beginning stages... but. This is step one. Get the land. Our closing date is scheduled for June 25. I need to get some pictures next time we're out there. If all goes to plan (which it rarely does, so this may change) we will officially own a farm by the end of June! How exciting! The *only* thing that might *possibly* change things is the Army Corp of Engineers, they have to come out and survey the wetlands to give us our boundry lines of where we can build & what we can't touch. If for some reason the wetland report would come back signifigantly more than what the current owners thought, we may have to look elsewhere. But, we know at least an acre of the property is wetlands... as long as its no more than 2 acres total we'll be fine & will love protecting our little piece of Charleston.

So about this farm... there's nothing but a lot of weeds, tree's and a big fat dream sitting out there right now... (the dream being my little imagination going wild with possibilities) In other words, its vacant land. The front 3/4 acre is cleared. The rest of the acreage is wooded or wetlands. The plan (which again, is very subjective) is to build a "cottage" for my Mother In Law to retire in. We should be able to complete the cottage within a year & our family will move into that while we work towards building our "big" house. After the main house is completed my Mother In Law (who will be retiring in 4 years) will move into the cottage. As to the farm side, we plan to move the first large greenhouse onto the land right away. The greenhouse is 96x30 feet (huge) which will give us a chance to put all 75,000 palm tree & Japanese Maple seedlings we currently have at our peanut of a house into pots so they can really begin their growth. At some point, hopefully by the end of the summer, we'll move a matching greenhouse next to the first which will be for our aquaculture farm. This greenhouse will be home to two large tanks of tilapia (about 2500 fish) which will then provide the appropriate nutrients on a hydroponics system to the rest of the garden plants in that greenhouse. This greenhouse will house all hydroponic plants which will enable us to have a completely chemical free organic garden which will hopefully be large enough in about a year to fully supply all our fruit & veggie needs along with regular donations to our church food pantry. (That's the goal anyways, we'll see how fast they reproduce) I can't wait. My veggie list keeps on growing, I can't wait to start the canning process & get some of the fruit tree's going as well! We'll probably have a miniature orchard somewhere close to the greenhouses for fruit/nut tree's as they'll grow too large for the greenhouse. We found some pear tree's that have 3 different kind of pears on one tree! And an avacado tree that produces avacado's the size of small footballs! WOW. Then we want orange, banana, plum, cherry, apple & a few pecan tree's as well. If we get all miniature tree's they'll only take up a small footprint while producing full size fruits. I'm super excited about that.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... the first step is closing. Once we've made it past the closing table we'll need to get the footers poured for the cottage, and that isn't a cheap venture. Oh, and did I mention we're going to try our darndest not to take out a construction loan? That's why this might take awhile... if we pay as we go it'll save us thousands upon thousands of interest money however the process will completely depend on how the tree business is faring. So as long as the tree business continues to thrive, we'll slowly put our vision into reality.

Sorry this was so long, but I needed to write these things down. I'm so excited & thankful... God is amazing. His timing is perfect and we are continually blessed. The process is slow, and its hard to be patient... but I continue to pray on a daily basis that we are in the center of God's will for our lives. That is above all most important. This farm is our mission, a vision... and a huge step away from the "norm" But instead of wishing the waiting period would fly by we've decided to embrace this moment. We're excited about the future, but also excited about this moment. Today.

As for this moment, we've had some fun times lately. I have two new girlfriends, Sue & Jane that I am convinced are angels in disguise. They are both the most incredible mama's and are raising their children in the image of Christ. Such a breath of fresh air. I adore these girls. Today we spent the day together at a playdate. Jane made a wonderful quiche that we all enjoyed and then made loaves of bread to send home with Sue & I. WOW! The kids had a great time as they always do together. I just love this crew. Their kids are precious, a perfect compliment to these beautiful women.

Also, Madeline got her first big girl hair cut this afternoon! Nothing too drastic, but we cut almost 4 inches off the back. *sniff* She was starting to look a little like an orphan child with her mop top hair always in her eyes. Now she has a cute little bob that looks adorable on her. So fun and exciting. :)

Elizabeth is beyond ready for Kindergarten. If ever I was worried, she has spent the week convincing me that she is eager to learn. I loaded up on some kindergarten/first grade work books this week & she has spent hours every day working on them. She is now confident in small word reading & is slowly getting the "sh" "ch" and "th" sounds down. She is also getting better at counting (something she was very behind on). I am confident that by the end of the summer I will have a full blown reader on my hands. She is such a stinker, but such a joy to be around. As she approaches 5 years old I find myself looking forward to times when I can take her with me on a mommy daughter date, just the two of us. She is maturing at an alarming speed, but still has some toddler left in her for mommy to enjoy & cuddle.

Speaking of toddler, Madeline is speaking in full sentances now. True, they are never proper sentances, but gone are the days of pointing and shouting 1 word. She'll now say "More outside time please!" or "Maddy need wipe for messy hands mama" which actually comes out sounding like "Maddy need wipe fo meshy heens mama" She talks from the time she wakes up, to the time she passes out for her nap or at night. And she runs. Everywhere. All the time. The child has one speed and it's full force ahead. My poor girl has more bruises on her head and knees from running into tables, walls & anything else that stands in the path of my little hurricane baby. But though I am one tired mama at the end (and sometimes beginning) of every day. My children are such a joy in my life. No matter how cloudy my outlook at times, a simple slobbery kiss from my toddler or a whispered I love you from my 4 year old can turn my entire day around. :)

So now that this post is approaching a novel length, I'll sign off. I'll be sure to update as we find out more on the farm! Pictures to come soon. :)

Waiting.

Did anyone ever tell you not to pray for patience because God will send you problems to teach you patience? You know, patience is a virtue, it must be learned and cannot be given? Yeah... I don't pray for patience. Ever. Never ever ever. I know better. My children challenge my patience daily and I can honestly (and sadly) say that I have a long way to go before I'll have mastered the art of patience... however there's another area of my life where I'm being taught patience. The farm. Jay & I both felt like God was calling us to create a farm... over 2 years ago. We were (and still are) excited. We were (and are) ready. We said "Where God? Send us! We'll go!" We were ready. Or so we thought... we've prayed. and prayed. and prayed. God show us where you want us to be. Show us the farm you'd have for us. Teach us to wait on your timing Lord so we only go where you want us to be. Your will be done.

In case you didn't catch that... "Teach us to wait on your timing" can be translated to "teach us patience" oops. lol We mean it. Still do, and still pray for God's perfect timing. But the waiting process is admitedly hard. God is shaping our vision of the farm... a place where people can come and rest. A place to grow tree's instead of taking them down. A place to get back to our roots & grow our own food, make a smaller carbon foot print & build a recycled home. We are excited about our vision, and we know it's from God. Without a doubt we know that our farm will provide us a place for friends and family to come and just be... be quiet... be with family... be away from the city... be surrounded by nature... just... be. I long for those moments and am so excited to see what God has in store for us. I struggle with the waiting period. We've prayed and asked God what He's waiting for... then prayed for forgiveness for our impatience... then prayed again that God would show us where he wants us to be... then prayed once more for forgiveness for our impatience. It's a slow lesson to be sure but I know that somewhere out there the perfect place for us is waiting... a place where I can home school my girls, teach them to look beyond their front door and explore their world...

We've found a piece of land that we are prayerfully considering... it *might* just be the one.

If its not, we know God will open the right door in His time so that doesn't worry me... but I have to say, this property takes my breath away... it's so beautiful. It is truly like stepping into another world. A mix of Narnia, a beautiful rainforest and an empty meadow of lush green grass... all on one farm. It's small, much smaller than we'd envisioned, but again, God is shaping our vision to what we need and what He can use.... which is anything. We'd hoped for 15-30 acres close to town... this property is merely 5. Five small acres, part of which is protected wetlands and thus unbuildable. I don't know why my heart is so excited about this property aside from the fact that it is undeniably the most beautiful property we've looked at during our long 2+ year search... It is close to town. Close to our church. But also far enough from the city to see the stars, hear the crickets & smell the clean air in the morning. Lord I pray this is the one for us. If it isn't please give us the strength to walk away and trust in You completely to provide. If it is the one, please open the door wide open and give us peace.

We are submitting an offer in the morning... praying for guidance... thankful for grace, and looking forward to what is to come.

Updates!

Okay, so I am SUPER excited and wanted to update a few things. First of all, all this dieting has REALLY helped my metabolism... my energy levels have skyrocketed which is crazy awesome. The last few days I have scrubbed my house to a sparkling shine & organized closets, caught up on laundry, etc. Lots of things I'd been behind on... it feels so good. AND I've officially lost 17.5 lbs this month! Hard dieting and exercising, not to mention the workout I get from scrubbing my house has really paid off! I'm almost half way to my goal!!!! I know the first 20 is the easiest and the next 20 (22.5) will be much harder, but I'm so excited that all my clothes are getting a bit baggy. Love it! I'm down 2 sizes in jeans already. Ahhhh feels good. So anyway, the kids are in shock. Mama has been getting up at 6:30 so by the time they wake up at 9 I'm already mostly done with my housework each day so we get to spend the whole day playing and goofing off together. They love it, I hope this energy thing lasts... I love having energy still when Jay get's home from work. It's been nice staying up and spending time with him. Usually when he get's home its dinner, bath, bed time for the girls & then I'm usually asleep shortly after they are. But the last few days I've been able to stay up, watch movies, plan our budget together, etc. Sooo nice. Anyway. Feeling good and slightly smaller! Just wanted to share! :D

Progress.

Well, I'm down another 2.5 lbs. It's been a long week, but I do have more energy which is very helpful. We had our bi yearly bug spray yesterday which always makes for a crazy day... We have a pond/lake behind our house so the mosquitoes & palmetto bugs (aka roaches) are always plentiful in our backyard & garage... and when the weather warms up we start seeing them inside too. Gag. That's what you get for living in a 30 year old house with crappy insulation... So every 6 months we have someone coat our yard in an environmentally friendly layer of bug zapper, as well as the garage, kitchen and bathrooms. Which means on that day we can't come home until everything dries. However yesterday, he decided to do some new gloss under our sinks, fridge & stove to prevent any bugs from being able to live there, ever. Which is fabulous & I'm all for it (I have a pretty bad bug phobia, crazy yelling & chasing the mosquitoes around until I squish them is fairly common in the house... my kids refer to it as "ew buggy buggy mommy's crazy!") ...what I didn't realize is that we can't USE our sinks, dishwasher, stove or anything that will warm up the kitchen until the gloss sets... which takes 5 days. who what?! I just paid $ for someone to incapacitate my kitchen for a week. Crap. It was worth it I guess... I mean, no ants, no squitoes, no roaches ever again? I'll believe it when I see it... but for now, we'll be dining in the play room for a week on cold cuts & fruit. Yesterday was a loooong day. We cleaned in the morning, played at the park with some friends until lunch time, drove over an hour to meet daddy across town, ran a few errands for him, went to Ye Old Fashioned for yummy ice cream, picked up some Milk & Candyland 3D onsale for $3. Then came home, played the game, had dinner in the playroom (yep, you guessed it, cold cut sandwhiches) and then they both passed out at 6:30. Yes, we did the whole day with no naps. Eeks. Always a risk... but it worked out okay & they both slept hard and didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. :)

As for my diet, I'm not working out nearly as much as I want to. Screw the 3-5 times a week with arms/abs in between... I'm lucky if I hit the DVD 2-3x's and remember my arms and abs once on my days off. But I'm trying. Having more energy is making me a braver mom, I take the kids out on longer play dates, am willing to wear them out and tolerate the melt downs when I cut it too close. Normally I don't play that game, we're very routine people but it's nice being outside & enjoying this weather more and letting the routine slide a bit. I'm looking forward to a summer full of park dates, pool time & sandcastles at the beach! I have the girls closet stocked for summer, and I've made over 75% of it myself from great deals on fabric! Woot!

Anyway, just wanted to update. My jeans are getting a bit baggy. And I'm perfectly happy with that. :)

Curveball.

Granted this is public, but seriously, who really reads it? I'm about to take this blog to a new level of personal. That's right baby... it's diet time. I had a major curveball thrown at me last week while visiting the doctor. Well, let me back up first. Anyone who knows me very well (or knew me at all while I was pregnant the second time) is aware that I had some serious depression while pregnant with Madeline. I was miserable in my body, got sick way too many times, and had the doctors from hell steering my big behind in the wrong direction for 9 months... all that to say, while it improved after I gave birth, it was still enough that I was miserable, scared & needed some help. I went to my doctor and he suggested I try Celexa, an anti-anxiety/depression med that would help me mellow out a bit. I've now been on the Celexa for nearly 2 years and frankly, the difference in me is amazing. Where I was once so high strung I would snap at the slightest whisper of trouble, I'm now able to handle life in a more relaxed, take it as it comes way. I've thought about going off of it several times, but if a tiny pill keeps me less angry with my husband and kids, dude... bring it. I'd much prefer to be mellow. I've lived the high strung life, and maybe when my kids are older & I'm ready to tackle that hurdle when I don't think I'm going to scar them for life with my crazy high's & lows... I'll go off of it. But for now, the whole house is better off with mama chilled out. SO last week I went in for my annual check up & to renew my perscription when my doctor casually mentions my weight. God I hate when they talk about it... at the time of last weeks visit I was exactly 20 lbs less than when I gave birth two years ago, which is exactly the weight I was when I left the hospital with Madeline. Haven't lost a single pound since I gave birth to her. And yes, that's 45 lbs over what I was when I got pregnant with Madeline. I seem to gain ungodly amounts of weight when pregnant despite eating healthy for the most part. It's really ridculous, both of my pregnancies I gained 60-65 lbs in 9 months. After Elizabeth I was back to my pre baby weight minus an additional 10 lbs when she turned a year old. Madeline however was a different story. I've yet to bother dieting, preferring to play ignorant pretending we don't have a scale, and who needs it anyways?

Well... at last it's time for some decisions. My doctor said I really need to lose about 40 lbs to be in my healthy range. Ouch! I can't say I'm disappointed in myself because really, aside from hating dresses, shorts & swim suits... it really doesn't bother me that I'm the biggest I've ever been aside from when I was pregnant. However, when you mention health I'm a little more logical. I know I'll feel better about myself & my body if I lose some weight. My self confidence is pretty much shot, I prefer to mock myself before others get around to it... but I don't seem to mind it enough to actually do anything about it.

And there lies the problem. I'm now going to try to lose about 40 lbs simply because my heart & body will be more healthy for it. Everything else is sort of non important... but being healthy is a priority, I go out of my way to be sure my kids are in excellant health, yet somehow I've let my own healthy choices fly out the window. Not any more. Starting last week (the morning after my doctor visit) I put myself on a strict work out/diet routine. Yes I'm not one who will lose weight just by eating healthy... I need to diet. Strict, hard core, kick my butt diet. It's the only way for me... once I reach my goal I can maintain pretty easily... but the actual losing part will require lots of work.

I'm happy to report that 1 week in, I'm already down 10 lbs. Which, is mostly b/c I'm sweating off all the water that I normally drink. The first 7 lbs came off within 3 days simply by eating LESS. The next 3 lbs have come from taking in less calories than I'm burning. Dana recommended a great at home work out DVD which is kicking my butt. I'm only on level 1 and it leaves me breathless, exhausted & wanting more at the end of each work out. I was soooo stinking sore those first few days, but I'm getting better at it. My goal is to do a hard work out 3-5 times a week and at least work my arms & abs on the all the off days as that's where I need the most work. Arms & tummy. Ew.

Hopefully by the end of summer I'll have hit my goal weight. My goal is our anniversary in September... if I do hit my weight, I'll be in desperate need of clothes that fit as I have nothing saved from my smaller days. I guess that's not exactly a "bad" problem to have though. lol I love shopping so more motivation right?

I'll try to update every week or two on the weight stuff. It'll be good for me to be accountable to my blog. LOL Bring on the curveball! Let's lose this weight!

Easter.

Easter 2010 happened to be an insanely gorgeous day for celebrating the resurrection. We made a weekend out of it, spending Saturday with grammy and Sunday with Nanie & Pawpaw. I had planned all week to visit the Summerville Easter Egg hunt at Azalea Park Saturday morning with the girls for lots of Easter fun. However we over slept, decided to work out & then hit the hunt in the afternoon as I thought it was at 1pm... nope. The kids hunt was at 10am. Oops. You can't just tell your kids "sorry guys, mom's mistake, maybe next year?" Nope. I had promised an egg hunt & gosh darn it we were going to have an egg hunt. So off to grammy's house we go where we hid 42 eggs filled with jellybeans & grammy had Easter presents waiting for the girls! Liz was thrilled to find the Princess & The Frog DVD in her grammy loot. Grammy also found matching outfits for the girls which made me smile... we all know what a fruit loop I am about matching my girlies. We followed our fun (no nap) day up with dinner at Wasabi. Now I realize most people don't think of Easter dinner involving Japanese food... but seeing as how I had a coupon, and Linda & I are sushi nuts... we decided Wasabi was a great place to celebrate together. Mm mm mm. Sooo delicious. Following our delicious food we rolled ourselves on over to church for the Saturday night service. It was amazing... our worship team is really incredible. They are such a talented group & never cease to amaze me. What a celebration it was & with tears in my eyes we ended our evening thankful for the grace we've been given so freely which cost so very much... He is risen... indeed! Sunday morning I left my girls devouring their Easter candy & playing happily in their new swim suits, flip flops & beach towels which I put in their baskets every year. (I figure I'm going to buy them new suits anyway, why not put them in their Easter baskets?) So off I go (in a dress no less, which is highly rare for me) to church to serve in the nursery all morning. What a great morning it was. We had 10 babies in nursery for one of the services and somehow I was lucky enough to get the 6 week old angel baby who was so tiny and precious I absolutely melted. He snuggled into my arms for an hour while I blissfully remembered those early days with my babies... such a special Easter gift for me. Who needs candy when you have a sweet little one to rock and love for an hour & then give back when they get hungry?! Not I! After nursery duty we spent the day at my mama's... which was more fun with the candy, clothes, big baskets, lots of thankfulness and amazing food. Whew it was a crazy weekend!

Here's a couple pics of the craziness!

Family pic...

Mommy & Daddy's Easter Basket goodies!

Easter Dresses - Sister lovin - 2010

Busy Weekend...

Well the kids finally got over their yuckies... thank you Jesus... I think I did about 300 loads of laundry every day while they were ill. No fun. Last weekend Summerville hosted its annual Flowertown Festival where all the local crafty vendors get together with local businesses and restaurants & everyone puts on a good show. We had a booth at the festival so the girls spent 3 very long days with no naps staying with us from 8-5 each day. Sooo tiring. It was lots of fun though. They played in the grass behind our booth which happened to be on a hill so there was lots of fun to be had rolling down the hill. Grass stains and dirty hands galore! Liz got her face painted like a peacock and we all ate WAY too much amazingly unhealthy delicious food. I spent $18 one day on the best sushi ever but decided that was way too expensive to do more than once, the rest of the time we stuck with Italian sausages, cheeseburgers & cheap hotdogs. Blech. I made a maple honey glazed ham & garlic roasted mashed potatoes last night to counter all the picnic food of the weekend. I've got a couple great pics from the last few days... my girls are so crazy.

AND I have some news... there's a possibility that I'll be going back to work as an At Home Travel Agent for a Disney Only company here in Charleston! It's all in the works and nothing is final yet, but I've been searching long and hard for a way to get back in the industry that I love. And I'd really like to specialize in Disney Vacations. SO... I'll know more in the next few days as we sit down & chat more to be sure our goals/interests are the same.

So anyways, here are the pics:

Lizzy got her facepainted like a peacock!

My sweet girlies at Charlestowne Landing

Madeline trying out her bed with no rails!

It was a fun crazy weekend... my big splurge of the weekend was 4 bottles of organic muscadine juice. Heaven I tell you, at $7 a bottle it better be. LOL Every sip is like a mouth full of fresh grapes... no sugar or water added... just fresh squeezed muscadine grapes... Mmmmmm... As I type I'm sipping this deliciousness and savoring each mouth watering sip. Life is good. :)