New Sheep are here!

Our flock is now complete (for now anyway!)

We have Herman our Ram from California

And four lovely ewes from Massachuttes

Why we own horses.......

This is Rock. Rock is 27 years old and still going strong. When he came to us about 4 years ago he was very underweight and in need of a lot of attention, but he has rewarded us sevenfold. We still struggle to keep weight on him and we are not sure how many more winters he will survive but for now we are enjoying every moment we have. I walk outside and see my little ones with their big babysitter and I smile, kiss him on his sweet face, and whisper in his ear....."thank you"........

A day in the life....

The ewes are in their new pasture and are happy. We banded tails and whethered the ram lamb, trimmed hooves and wormed so everyone is healthy and happy. I know, I know the banding should have been done when they were born but they weren't ours then.

It is lovely looking out our living room windows and seeing our sheep. It is peaceful and warm and fuzzy all at once!

Just a few pictures......

Not feeling very witty so here's just a couple of pictures........

Go Figure......

95 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

They found a tree frog

Among the other critters they find on the homestead daily they found this.......

Learning to trust.....

Todd and I have been a bit discouraged lately. We are waiting for God to answer a need and we are waiting. And. Waiting. In the meantime we are discouraged. And to add the discouragement......we find our little Eddie has passed away in the night. We could find nothing wrong with him and he was fine yesterday. Yes, we are a bit discouraged.....but it is the hard times that teach us to trust. More on that here.....

We do have good news though. I have confirmation that I will receive Cormo's from Indiana and from Massachuttes. We are thankful for that!

Ah life.....

Such as it is....Busy. Too. Busy. And of course what do you do when you are too busy? Well, sensible people slow down. Weed things out, say no a couple of times...... Me? I am not sensible, practical or (I need another llll word....). No. I take on more. Oh well this too shall pass or I will! It would be really nice God if you would send me an employee or two.........

Memories

A friend asked me to post this:

The War

How I See It

Todd Louis Peck II, a journal entry

My intention in this journal is to record as best as possible the spiritual warfare surrounding my recent relapse of cancer so that I may later remember the lessons learned and perhaps share them with others. In fact, sharing the lessons is actually the bigger of my two reasons. My greatest hope is that through my fight and this record of it, others will be equipped and encouraged to take the fight to the Enemy. I believe that all of life is a war fought over the souls of each individual and everything that happens in life somehow fits into this war, whether we know it or not. So when hardships and trials come they ought to be viewed as Enemy attacks and dealt with accordingly.

In War the purpose of any attack is, of course, to gain some sort of advantage that will in some way bring you nearer ultimate victory. Rather, that sought after advantage is the destruction of some threat which the other has or the gaining of a position that leaves you a better position to threaten the other. The point is always to somehow hard the other's overall position in the greater scheme of things.

Thus, this relapse of cancer that God allowed was and is intended by the Enemy to somehow gain him something. That something, in this case, is probably to neutralize what the Enemy's high command perceives as a danger to their war efforts.

That threat may or may not be me (though I like to flatter myself that it is) but the fact is, for whatever reason, I seem to have been chosen as the main point of attack. I therefore, as a soldier in the King's Army, have the responsibility to stand and fight to make sure that the Enemy gains not and inch. For it is my (and every soldier's) duty to even turn this attack to the advantage of the Cause and the glory of the King.

This whole thing reaches far beyond me, however. It reaches into my family and into my church and community. I am just on facet of what is a large and complex battle being fought in this small theater of operation called West Michigan. The full extent of this larger fight I will not ever be able to fully comprehend this side of Heaven. Nor will I likely ever understand the extent to which my own standing or falling will influence the larger picture but I will stand!

Indeed, I am resolved to not just stand, but advance! I may be a small part of a huge battle but I will press my influence to its limits for the sake of the Cause.

Lord, have mercy if I should be cut down (i.e. if I allow the Enemy to get the better of me) for the greater the effort, the greater the defeat in case of failure. But by the grace of God, I shall not fail! As He wills, so may it be. Amen

Todd lost his fight with cancer on June 11, 2005

http://my8kidsmomswalk.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html

Granolacrunchy

That's what I am!! Amy, my hairdresser told me so and I am honored!!

Down on the Farm

Wow, I've gots lots to share today! Where to start.......

My husband has new love. His name is Eddie. Maybe I should be jealous but I am not. You see I really love Eddie too. Come to think of it so do the kids. Here is a picture of Bobbi kissing him:

But really it is Todd who is most attached. He is a sucker for little guys. Eddie was a bottle baby and broke one his legs so when Bobbi picked her Finnish Sheep in OH she was able to bring Eddie home for free. (She has already made money on him though, her dad bought him from her!)

Bobbi picked up two ewes and is picking up a ram this week from BellaVita Farm. She has a nice little flock started.

Chewie has adjusted to his life as a sheep dog. Soon he will have to adjust to his life as an it but please don't bring it up. We haven't told him. Here he is with Todd's Jacob Sheep:

And when we first got him:

Twila has resigned herself to the fate of her pony. He will move to his new home soon where he will pull a cart. Kim has been coming over and working with him in the meantime.

We are hoping to have my cormos soon. We are on our way to becoming a working farm!

Eli has a birthday and some other goings on....

This is going to be a long post to make up for the lack of posts recently........
First up...

Everybody got valentine's day cards from Grandma Peck. They of course loved getting the mail!


David and Jed are still getting in trouble! Thank you Lord for the spring! They need to go outside!!!

Twila is, well Twila...... Practicing her guitar daily and managing to fiddle around for at least (usually more, much more) 25% of the time she is supposed to be working, yet still able to say in all innocence "I worked hard the whole time! Really mom, I did!









Josiah is still diligently working on his reading and doing pretty good, and he is also working on memorizing the names of his numbers. The number 20 stumps him everytime. He spends every free moment he can drawing. I will have to post some of his pictures.






And lastly we have the elusive teenagers, one of which had a birthday!

so whats new?

Josiah had a birthday! He is now 12 years old.

I had to work on Valentine's Day, but Todd had flowers waiting for me!

And Eli and Twila left this for me on my desk to find when I got home.

In Which The Last Grilled Cheese Gets Eaten and Not By Jed.....

It has been a difficult morning for Jed. He wanted the last grilled cheese. He wanted it badly......He didn't get it. All the other kids had two but not Jed. No, Jed had only one. "It's not fair!" Jed tells me and he ought to know.
He is five; every five year old knows the rules of fairness.
He interrogated all the older children and found the culprit.
Bobbi! Bobbi ate the last grilled cheese!!! Will justice ever be served in the Peck household? How will we ever make it through this? Will Jed ever get his grilled cheese? Stay tuned....

Waiting for October

On October 11th Cookie A is coming to my not so local YS (City Knitting in GR). She is teaching two sock classes and I am taking both! I currently own and love two of her patterns: German Stockings and Millicent

Wonderful, really

Have you seen this? You type in an artist you like and then it plays music for you based on your choice. So far I am loving it!

Music – Last.fm

Powered by ScribeFire.

Ummm I am new at this thing

Trying to do the template doohickey and I am confused. I just want this to be pretty LOL! Bear with me as I figure it out.

What's on the needles and Jed gets bored every now and then..

I can not put this down! It is so much fun to knit, it is keeping me completely entertained and (to my husband's dismay) far from housework. I hoping to be able to wear it at church on Sunday so I must get it done! The pics are bad but you get the ideal. I am using knit one crochet two ty dy for the main color and a one green and one orange cotton blend. I am finding I am not particularly fond of cotton and am much more happy when knitting wool but the lovely pattern makes up for it. I shall have to knit it once more in wool....


More pics once I am done. Maybe I will even model it for you!

On to the kids.....

Joey, Eli and I went to Inside Moves with Jason (my BIL) as a late birthday present for Joey. Fun, fun, fun! I had pulled a muscle in back but couldn't resist climbing anyway. I was a little sore and didn't get to really push myself but it was still a lot of fun. Joey and Eli were like spiders! They were climbing everywhere. Sorry I forgot the camera :(

Josiah is doing well. Not much new to report. So often I wonder what is going on in his mind. I wish I just knew how to draw it out. I would do just about anything just to be able to have a conversation with him.







Twila has decided she no longer wants bangs. She thought the best solution was to cut them herself.....um it wasn't. Ah, well, hair grows.










Little David is sooo skinny. We keep feeding him but it doesn't seem to help. We have figured out why....the kid doesn't walk anywhere! He runs or he jumps but never walks and he is never still!








Jed also has hair issues. Among other things....he told me today "Mom, I get bored every now and then." I don't feel bad for him. I don't remember how it feels to be bored.

Welcome Nathan James

My sister Jamie had her baby, Nathan James, Saturday January 26th. He was a whopping 9 lbs and 1 ounce! My sister is only 5'1 and weighed about 110 when she got pregnant! Wow were we surprised by his size. The picture above was taken today, he is being held by Twila and is about 5 days old. What a cutie!