Relaxing

 
 
 
 
today we just played in simple ways...went to chickfila, walked to the mailbox, looked at kim's indonesia photos, kim cooked dinner...mostly talked and talked....so filling for my heart. i miss having her here so much... but what she is doing and how God is moving through her in indonesia is quite wonderful and amazing...i'll give her up for that =)
jack was quite out of sorts today....any change of plans can unsettle him...he'll be better tomorrow though...i hope!

My Dear Friend Kim

 
 
 
 
is back from indonesia!!! well, she is here for 1 month and has come to spend 2 days with us! it is so soo good to spend time with her....kim and i went to india together after college and that cemented an already dear friendship...she is kind and faithful, joyful and beautiful....
we had plans to go to glencove (the lakehouse) but gas being what it is, we decided to stay here...
and we have fun things to do...like try on wigs (which have been matted by cash)

Modern Miracle

 
our friends joe and julie gave this to us a few months ago and we are not kidding, it works!!!!!
it is just a big rock of salt...and when you get out of the bath, you wet it and apply liberally to your underarms...and voila! the salts react kill the bacteria and no smell! none at all! truly!!!! and it lasts! there is a chunk out of ours bc it was dropped but other than that, it looks like we'll have the same one for years! we were unbelievers...now we are followers.

The Dirt Road

 
one of the kids favorite things..and harry's...is to ride the dirt roads...i go really slowly and we watch the wildlife...often seeing turkeys and deer...always passing by "red" the horse and the perssimmon tree (loaded right now!)...fording the stream...watching butterflies congregate there and drinking water....
there are 2 ways to get to our house....one is via downtown crawford, the other is a couple miles on a dirt road...and this is the treat for jack and esme. harry came with us today...to drop off josh's tire at the shop (flat)...

Josh's Schedule

 
i remember about a week after josh broke his neck...and he was sitting sort of propped up in the chair and watching a movie in the middle of the day...a strange sight. i could tell he was slightly ansy and i knew it was bc it was hard for him to be doing "nothing" while the world was whirring around him. but it was like a peace settled on him...a knowing that this was for a short time and what was best for him was to "do nothing" and heal. josh has worked since he was 17 at some sort of job or other....usually jobs which required a lot of strength...building fences, mucking out stalls, flying a plane, laying tile, laying stone, pulling all nighters at a kid's shelter, climbing trees, hauling wood...full-on jobs...and when he isn't working, he is doing something around here...so just sitting was a gift to him in a way. it was like he knew that life would once again "get back into gear" so he should rest up for it!
well, we have arrived at that place.
he will work 4, 10 hour days for the holder brothers...and still make his class in asheville once a week on alternating mondays and wednesdays...he'll make up the missed day with the holder brothers by working fridays with them...the day they usually take off...or at least let the crew off. since the holder brothers are an hour from here...and asheville is 3 hours, he is going to be doing a lot of driving with late nights...
tonight, i found him sitting in the aftermath of the prom studying a bit for his next test on wednesday. it was a beautiful evening...jack ran around in his pajamas pulling the wagon filled with hay....wanting "his ez" to ride with him...or to pull her rather. i love that they love eachother so much...jack and ez.
it makes me smile that jack calls her "ez" bc my mum always called me "kez" not entirely sure why but something from childhood which stuck and that was always who i was to her...i haven't heard it in a long time...
alrighty...off to bed now...
my friend kim is coming tomorrow!!!!
she is home from indonesia for 1 month and i have her all to myself for 2 days here.....i am so delighted i can barely stand it! in the morning, we are going to make some of her favorite things to eat...which won't be hard as it is mostly beans, tortillas and cheese..ha!

Little Buddies....Staughty and Jack

 
 
 
 

Morning After

 
 
 
 
we had such a lovely time last night...so good to see friends and just enjoy the night sky....thank you so much to all who came~! this morning, we let the chickens out (we kept them up for a day....they were READY to get pecking around the house), ate a delicious breakfast (pancakes, eggs and sausage....made by chef josh), and went for a walk. faye and jeff, and katie and clay and staughty stayed over...so it was like having a birthday which lasts for 2 days!
sometimes, well, more than sometimes, quite often actually, i dream about living in community with friends like all of them...raising our kids together, building and hiking in the woods, planting gardens, having sheep and goats and pigs...the boys going on hunting trips in early hours and the ladies in the kitchen baking pear pies and making cheese. that probably sounds so sexist...but the thing is that i prefer baking to hunting. i think i'd like to hunt once or twice but i don't see myself falling in love and longing for it like i do a day of baking with fresh ingredients. anywho....
the way i see it is that we have 90 acres...and we are only using about 1 of them....so come on!

Our Pups

 
we had to pen up the chickens..but the dogs loved the excitement of the day/night

Prom

 
 
 
 

Prom King and Prom Queen

 
 
 
 

SHAVED HEAD!!!!

jonathan and jenny are GREAT....and jonathan shaved his head for the occasion...it felt so good to laugh so heartily =)

 
 
 
 

Prom

 
 
 
 
too tired to write a lot...
it was soo fun...we have almost $700 for carolyn!
about to hit the hay....wanted to post a few before i did
thank you SO much to joe and julie....they helped us today with EVERYTHING...made it so special.