Historical Tour

About a month ago we took a trolley ride tour of a town that we used to live in.  My parents lived there until my mom's death three years ago.  My sister brought my dad to go on the tour with us.

 

The weather was perfect and our tour guide did a wonderful job.  Marc and I lived in this town when we got married and our first three children were born while we lived there.  I never really loved the town while we lived there and definitely have no desire to move back, but I do have some good memories from our time there.

These first pictures are from the military college that Marc was attending when I met him!  We got to tour some of the buildings, so that was fun for the kids to see!

There are some beautiful homes there and definitely a lot of history!

This was one of the old churches in town.  We heard  stories about Sherman's famous "march to the sea" and how much damage was done during the Civil War.

The inside of the church was beautiful!

The kids posing with Grandpa outside of our trolley.

Me with my girls.

After lunch we spent some time at a park where my older ones use to play.  The kids enjoyed walking on the path around the pond.

 It was a fun day making memories with family.  Another good field trip for Mariah finishing up her year of studying Georgia History!

 

Three years....

May 5th was the third anniversary of my mom leaving this earth behind.  She was in such bad shape that I could never wish her back to the pain and suffering she endured, but she sure left a hole in our lives.

 

                                         This was the last picture Madeline had taken with her.

I couldn't make myself blog yesterday.  Our day was busy, but I would have moments that I would stop and think of May 5, 2012 and feel the wave of sadness all over again.  The day she died we were all exhausted.  We had been going on three weeks of an emotional roller coaster with her in the hospital and then in ICU.  It was almost like I was numb when I got the word that she had died.  I probably cried less that day than I had the week before.  I remember leaving the hospital late one night and going by Kroger on the way home. (My kids still had to eat! :o)  I remember trying to shop and just sobbing the whole time.  Everywhere I looked I could see my mom.  She loved to cook and everything that had to do with the home.  I remember wondering how I would ever be able to function again.

Life marches on and time has a way of healing things.  I still don't think a day goes by that something doesn't make me think of her.  Our home is full of things that she gave us, made for us or belonged to her.  Her hand prints are everywhere... but especially on our hearts.

I looked at old pictures a lot yesterday just to find ones of her.  Thankfully I am a big picture taker (and so is McKenzie!), so we don't lack for pictures of her.  These aren't great pictures (and she would NOT be happy with me posting them!), but they just bring back so many memories.  They are good memories, but I wonder if I will ever be able to look through them without crying.

I know losing your mother is a natural part of life.  I have often wondered how people ever take another breath when they lose a child.  I can't begin to imagine the pain.  I think the sadness of losing my mom is because she suffered so much her last years, she wanted to live so desperately because of her family, and she died too soon.

 

This old home on Willow Bend Way will always bring back so many memories.

If my mom could help it, she would not miss anything that had to do with her grandchildren.  This next picture is of Malachi's first birthday.  She was having a pace maker put in the next day!

This was one Sunday afternoon when we went to celebrate Mother's Day with her.  I wanted to take her picture and she put her plate in front of her face.  My dad (always a goofball) did it too.  He hasn't been the same silly dad since she died.

 

This next picture makes me cry.  She adored her grandchildren, and they loved her too!  I have thought so many times about Macheus never getting to have a "Boo Boo".  She use to rub noses with my babies and say, "Nose, nose, nose."  I started doing that with Macheus and I was doing it with him last night and told him, "Your Boo Boo sure would have loved you."  He smiled and said,  "Boo Boo love you."  :o)

There are times that I can picture everything about her.  I can hear her voice, I can see her standing in her kitchen  Then in other ways she seems so far away.  So much has changed since her death.
If you still have your mother don't take her for granted.  You never know when she could be gone.  My mom wasn't perfect, but she was perfect for us!

Savannah

 Back in February (or the beginning of March, I can't remember!) we went on a trip to visit Savannah, Georgia for a few days.  Marc had business and we decided to travel with him to do a little Georgia History!

We took a ride on the Savannah River.  It was such a beautiful day!

 

Walking along River Street.

 

We walked miles, and miles, and miles while we were there.

No, we didn't see Paula Deen. :o)

There is so much history in this city from both the Civil War and the Revolutionary War!

 

And of course, we hit the hotel gym at night. (As if the walking wasn't enough! :o)

 

Madeline is much better with directions than I am, so she was our map reader when Marc was in meetings.

 

This was the cemetery with Revolutionary War graves and monuments.  It was interesting to me that this cemetery looked newer and was better kept than the Civil War cemetery.  My uneducated conclusion was that it was a more popular war, but who knows.... I just found it interesting!

Mariah studied GA History this year and it was neat to see her excitement when she would recognize names that she had studied!

 

The little guys were fascinated with the statues with swords!

 

The one day we decided to ride out to the beach it was FREEZING!

 

 

Huddled up together for one last cold, windy picture before we left the beach!

 

Myles and Macheus loved watching the traffic from our hotel room window.

Our last day there we went to Laurel Grove Cemetery.  This is where many confederate graves are and lots of slave graves.  It was one of my favorite things we saw while there.

 

I'm not a fan of Girl Scouts, but it was neat to see Juliette Low's house and read some of the history.

Savannah is one of my favorite cities to visit.  There's lots of history, neat things to do and beautiful homes to see!

Farm Days

It has been a few years since we grew our dairy herd by buying a goat.  The herd has grown just by births here at our place.  We had two Saanens, one Nubian, and three Saanen/Nubian cross (Snubians) before kidding season began this year.  Our little Nubian gave us triplets this year but her udder was lopsided (Yes, these things are important when you have a dairy! :o) and she was on the small side.  The girls decided to sell "Licorice" and invest in some registered Nubians.

 

 

Meet "Bootleg Wildflower" or just "Wildflower" for short. 

 

We sold our (very mean!) buck this past winter.  This is his replacement...... "Mandrake" or
"Drake" for short.  All of our goats have plant names.  I will have to take pictures of them one day and introduce you to all of them.  That might be fun! :o)

My sweet husband (that really doesn't care a thing about the animals except for the milk and eggs they bring in!) spent ten hours on the road (and a small fortune!) one day to two different farms to get our pair of Nubians. The things we do for our children!

"Wildflower" was bottle raised and is very sweet.  She follows the girls around like a puppy.

These are a few of our babies from this year.   We had a total of eight babies this year.  We are keeping two of our Saanen doelings.

"Drake" was dam raised and is a bit skittish.  I told Malachi I would pay him if he would go into the pen and play with him every day!  Thankfully he was disbudded, so we won't have to worry about horns like we did with our last buck!

Nubians are my favorite breed of goat.  I think their floppy ears are cute!

We have been working hard in the garden area this year.  Last year we replaced some of our wooden raised beds with rock.  I liked it so much better!

We replace two more beds with cinder blocks.  I planted marigolds in the holes to help keep bugs down.

We also added a blueberry area this year.  We got a really good deal on huge bushes from a nursery.  This is Marc's project and they are looking gorgeous!

                                                     Oregano anyone!?

 

And just because he is cute!

*If anyone reading this blog is interested in buying a goat, you can e-mail us at maynor7@windstream.net   We have one doeling and two bucklings left.  All three are Saanen/Nubian cross. 

Barnabas

The week before Easter we were on spring break.  Marc took Matthew and Malachi on a camping trip.  It was my idea for them to go, and I'm not sure what I was thinking because it was the beginning of kidding season around here!  Little did I know,  the goats would be the least of my "problems" while they were gone!

 

One evening I laid down on my bed with Myles to read.  When I came out of my bedroom I called for Mariah.  Madeline said she was outside closing the chicken coop.  I noticed it was dark out and made a comment that she was brave. (Living out in the country, I do NOT go outside after dark!)  I noticed the glow of a head lamp shining towards the house.  As I was walking from the living room into the kitchen I wondered what she was doing because she wasn't coming towards the house.  As I went into the laundry room I heard her yell, "Help me mama!"  I kind of wondered if she was goofing off, but I didn't take any chances and I darted out the door.  When I got out there she was screaming and crying,  "They are after me!"  I am standing there already in my pajamas and having no idea what she is talking about.  I kept telling her to just run back to the house and she kept saying, "I can't mama!  They are after me!"  Because I was at the house with flood lights on, I couldn't see anything but darkness and her headlamp.  I didn't want to take the time to go inside and try to get a gun loaded (if I could even figure it out!) so I just started clapping my hands and yelling, "Get out of here!"  About that time an animal came running out and across the yard where I could see it. It ran to the field next to us and I heard it hit the fence!  I was so freaked out!  Mariah came running to the house and told me there had been two animals that came out after her. She was yelling, but they didn't stop until our dog "Barnabas" got between her and them. He is just a puppy but showed such bravery that night! :o) 

 

What were the animals that were after her?  Coyotes!!!  Living out like we do we know that most of the time wild life just wants to get away from you.  However, we have experienced twice now where they have been more aggressive!  It was scary and I am very thankful for this BIG, black puppy that aggravates me sometimes!  He definitely has earned his keep around here! The next day we bought him a big box of treats! :o)

Grace

"Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon." John Piper

I thought this was good.  I need God's grace desperately in my life!  I pray that I never cheapen that grace though by allowing myself to stay in sin.  As Christians we should always be striving to be more like Jesus.  I tell my children that they should never be comfortable in this world.

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

If we "fit in" with the world, listen to the world's music, watch television and movies that don't line up with Philippians 4:8 (" Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.") then we probably should be asking ourselves if we are really living our lives for Christ.  I am not saying that we can "work" our way to heaven, but if we truly are saved our desires should be different than the world's.

It isn't always fun or popular to be different.  Sometimes even in your own circles it can be difficult.  I have watched so many Christian families change over the years and some just completely fall away.  Does God change?  Does His word change?  What use to be held dear to them is no longer important?  I just don't understand.  I fail all the time, but my heart is to be more like Jesus than I was last week, or last year. When you see Christians going backwards it is very disheartening.  We have spent a lot of time lately talking as a family about this topic. I was very thankful that we could attend a home school conference last weekend.  The speakers were very encouraging and it was a reminder that when I get overwhelmed or downhearted that my focus is on myself or circumstances and it should always be on Christ!

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will^[a] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Well, those were my late night thoughts.... good night! :>)