Push-Ups and Muscadine Bounty

now that josh has started to remove the neck brace he is trying out some exercises...jack finds the pushups too much to resist and has to ride on daddy...which adds about 35 pounds to the process. i know they are "working out" bc i can hear josh grunting trying to lift all the weight over and over...which jack of course thinks is all part of the fun =)
this morning, the kids and i took a walk to the mailbox and saw the storm of last night knocked off all the ripe muscadines...so the 4 of us drove the truck back to the spot and collected as many as we could find off the ground...they are DELICIOUS. i love all fruit but my favorites are mangoes, muscadines and ripe peaches...

A Visit from Matt and Monica

i soo enjoyed having matt and monica here today...i love my brother so much and don't get to see him too often so it was nice to have them here. the kids, monica and i took a drive through the property...4 wheel driving it bc of all the sloppy ground...then we ate deer burgers, checked out crawford and photographed chickens =) monica is missing her mom a lot...i remember this raw time right after my mum died...where everything is supposed to seem normal but it just isn't...it is all "tainted" with this pain of loss and memories around every corner....the world seems to just keep ticking like usual but the heart is just breaking and sad. monica has a deep faith in Christ and i know this will restore her...but right now, my heart just hurts for her.

Cob In Asheville

so, i have been thinking seriously about this possible move to asheville...the athens fire department isn't an option for a couple years at least, so we know we have to look elsewhere...and asheville just sounds cooler and cooler the more i learn.
cob is so random in this country...people usually think it is about corn (i did!) and if they do try it, they do so under the radar bc there isn't a code in most places...even though cob constructed buildings have stood in other countries for MANY years. well, i found this place called "ashevillage" in asheville...right near downtown! a group of community minded folks bought an area of town and have reconstructed old buildings in a very green manner and built new places likewise. there are many blogs of the folks who live and work there but this is one i liked best:
www.ashevillageinstitute.blogspot.com
i don't know how to make these links...so i think you'll have to cut and paste if you are interested in checking it out..sorry about that...
what quirky fun people too! one of my dreams is to live and eat so well...so purely i suppose. i mean, i know we live well now or at least we try...but there is always an ideal..and here is mine...
to know what wild things i can eat and eat them...to understand natural fermentation, composting toilets and how to make earthen bricks and floors and use them....to have a community garden and animals...to live in a way that reflects Christ whom i love more than anything...to preserve and protect the natural world bc we have been given a gift by God to live in it! and share it with others...to raise my children with other children...to create a happy, stable and healthy home....to give to the poor and needy....
ooo, i could go on and on..=)
the interesting thing to me is that often groups of people interested in community living or alternative building or permaculture...AREN"T Christians...which is just flabbergasting to me....it isn't that i don't understand that "to each his own" and many Christians aren't into that stuff or that many who are just aren't into Christ....i get that. but i don't understand WHY it is so rare that these groups of people are so often even in opposition to one another ...rarely existing harmoniously. i want to live simply WITH my beliefs and help others to do the same if they choose....
anywho....
so many thoughts...enough for tonight.
josh just went to meet andy (he is borrowing our truck to move) to get a spare key on our keychain...jack locked the keys in the car =) am going to take a deep bath and read until he comes home....
night night!

Josh Update

so, when josh looked at the xray with the technician, they agreed it looked messed up...but he talked with joan yesterday and she said it is probably actually healed but the muscles are not used to moving so this is why it is so painful. the doctor should look at the scans and call us...i suppose that won't be this weekend...but josh's actual appointment is in oct!!! josh is taking the course of trying to wear the brace less and less and start moving his head...hoping to loosen him up a bit.

Jack and Puddles

the part you don't hear in these photos is esme laughing at jack....she loves to watch him splash in puddles almost as much as he loves to get all wet in them! i took these a couple days ago after the rain...as we walked to the mailbox..en route i was thinking...hmmm...gonna have to keep him out of the puddles...i like those shoes...we did "fairly" well on the way to the mail...but as i checked it and then turned around...i found him LAYING down in the water...all was "lost" then..or found =)
isn't this flower pretty? it grows on a vine..no idea what it is...just it is luscious!

Cob Update

bit by bit...it is getting there...
i have started on the back wall...the 2 skinny windows will have arches over them.

Thrift shop skirt

well, i founf this fun skirt which i have to PULL and tug over my hips...it is a youth large....it is actually a good sign they are assuming the youth has not yet had hip widening pregnancies =)

Our Dear Joan

both josh and i often talk about how blessed blessed we are to know joan and that she is so part of our little family...i was reminiscing to josh on our way home today about when i lived in joan's barn...and she'd call to see if i wanted to take a hot shower (opposed to the buckets i'd set out to get warm in the sun i usually used) or if i wanted to go to cracker barrell for breakfast and we'd always order the same thing....or if i needed to come over and wash clothes....just knowing she was there made me feel safe miles away. her home is filled with toys from her 4 boys...an absolute wonderland for jack. when we left today he kept asking to go to joan's home =) we are blessed to have so much family...

If Michael Phelps had a Dog....

Dad and Sandra

here's dad after been nursed by sandra with eyedrops...she takes such good care of him. the doc said the other isn't ripe yet so dad is free from medical procedures for a while!

Not Lifting Air Weights

but it sure does look like it.
the kids are asleep...and i just bought 2 songs on itunes...something i do as often as i give up chocolate and stick to my promise to myself. hardly ever. it is a song that you can hear on most any normal pop station...but tonight, i joined the throngs of highschoolers listening to the same song. well, one of them....a matchbox twenty song called "let's see how far we've come"...i put on those headsets as not to wake up our sleeping children in OUR matchbox (which i love) and closed my eyes and danced until the vitamin E layer on my face (josh is using it for his face scar and i thought, hey, how does work on wrinkles) was holding strands of my hair all stickylike to my face. i opened them as i noticed a flash...josh capturing the moment...but really didn't care...i closed them again and danced as much as one mother can standing with a very short eyeplug leash. it felt great. great. sometimes the best thing for exhaustion is exursion...i mean, it pushes something past the limit...like the last moments of running...exhausted but triumphant as you tell all that aches "there is something greater in me than muscle and breath...something deeper than physical that is going to keep me going...so just watch me."
that is what Christ does
He is past even our possibilities ....He is greater than our weaknesses...our tiredness...He really is our strength....and He is wild....lucy, you are right, our Lord Aslan is not tame and how we love Him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh's Day by josh

well i dont like doing this but..... my day started as usual, with a scream and a yell and a cry and a totally exausted clare walking our newest spawn around trying to get her to be quiet. clare is about as sleep deprived as anybody should never be. i expect she will develop chronic narcolepcy. in a desperate attempt to get our cottage's extention up and running so as to create an atmosphere of rest and seclusion, i cut the hole in the wall so there is access to the new rooms from the old house. it went well and i think we will start to use the rooms without the tile down. a little later in the day cash killed another chicken, this one was one of our favorite ones. so cash and i had some bonding time over that. then i buried her, the chicken, out in the woods. she is two strikes into her at bat, lets hope thats as far as she goes because, well strike three will be a rough one. the rest of the day went pretty smooth. i have found i am a little reclusive and that i like to choose my times of interaction with people but i don't get to choose much as of late. sometimes i want to evaporate or become invisible.

Cute Photos of our Munchkins

i love these little pickles more than i can write or say....they are my joys!!!! josh home now...so good to have him back though his cold is raging....he is about 2 days behind the rest of us as far as that goes...
off to chat

Memorial Park

josh left today for another class in asheville...he is doing great by the way...he made a 90 on his first test!! it was a lot of anatomy/physiology stuff...he truly is an excellent student...
anywho...i wanted to get the kids out to play and so did marybeth is so happened! so we all met at the park and let the kids run around a while...little evy has quite the adventurous spirit going down the curvy slide...so cute to watch her...and then all of them as they pile up at the bottom.
i have been so tired lately and not feeling great that i often feel so stoic when i am out and about...almost as if the slightest things take me a long time to comprehend so i just stand there...dazed. kinda funny when you think about it =) the kids seem to be feeling better and better....i think the cold is a thing of the past for them...i am still heady but hoping to sleep well tonight and kiss it goodbye by morning....

i have been searching and searching for a good priced ticket to england for esme and i...i want so much for sally to meet esme...and even though the tickets are just through the roof, we do have enough skymiles to cover them....but i just haven't been able to go through with the purchase. and today, i asked myself what was really going on in my head about it all...and it is that i honestly just don't want to leave josh and jack. they are part of my nest...my home... it has been a tumultuous year and a bit...it was only last year that jack was hospitalized with yersinia and josh for prostatitis....then the birth of esme and all the medical aftermath of that for me....now josh's neck and the restructuring of our livelihood (moving from tree work to firefighting and with that a possible move to asheville)... i am just needing to be home....to see my healthy family everyday for a while....i think with each drastic turn, my heart always goes to that place of "o dear Lord, please don't let me lose the ones i love" and with that on the lid of my heart, i am just not ready to cross the ocean without them all. i am being a little melodramatic i think...i mean, we are only talking for a week away but there it is anyway.

ramble ramble
off to bed...until tomorrow bright and beautiful!!

Dear Little Esme

she has begun to crawl...well, i say "crawl"...and what i more mean, is that she has begun to super scoot....and then get up on all fours and rock back and forth....she is priming herself =) her favorite place after being in our arms is where she can sit and then scoot...here she is playing with josh's shoe laces...

Getting Back into the Saddle

well, after nary of wink of sleep last night...(esme and i took 4 drives in the car and 2 walks by moonlight) it seems we have rounded a corner this evening....
the kids are enormously less snotty and back to their happy selves...it seems it was a quick and harsh cold ....the quick part i am grateful for.
a couple photos....
the gourd! as big as a baseball bat! naomi says to make a soup out of it!
the tomato hedge...i planted them way too close as you can see...so it is like tomatoe hunting!
we all took a walk this evening...in the woods...lovely weather!!!!
and my phone....the pieces....
jack broke it a couple days ago...sorry if you have called and i was going to chunk it...and gave it one last chance tonight and it works!!! yippee!!!
ok...getting the evil eye from josh....this is his movie computer =)

Colds

alas, this is esme's first cold...and the first one for jack is about a year....my throat hurts too....we were up and down all night. esme is happy this morning though ...so maybe it won't be too bad....she is all of a sudden snotty and has a little cough...crazy how as an adult this is just a grin and bear it type of thing...but when your infant gets sick...it means sleeping even less than normal. o well, this too shall pass....josh got home late last night and has jack all snuggled in bed with him...that is wonderful. off to clean sheets.

Josh Coming Home

just talked to josh and he decided to drive home tonight...
i am so glad...he'll be home late...but i love knowing he'll be here when we all wake up in the morning....i found harry....the hunters are at the cabin and he is just so nosey =) he can't help but going to socialize and of course see if they have any spare fetid deer meat.

A Glance of Single Momdom

Josh had his class today in asheville...so he was away last night and then tonight...
last night, harry started barking at something in the woods (under esme's window) at 2 am. he didn't stop so i went looking for him in the woods to then lock him in the truck....returned to find esme awake....i soon nursed her back to sleep but then i was wide awake and in that nighttime stupor...which seems senseless by morning light but huge by the shadowy night. i kept thinking..."what was harry barking at? was it a person? what would i do if it was? " and so on. it was a merciless night as far as sleep goes....
tonight, i thought would be better....
the kids in bed asleep, i slipped into a bath and planned on putting harry in the truck before i fell asleep too....i was just saying goodnight to josh on the phone when i heard jack crying. every so often, he wakes up in the night SO upset...this was one of those nights...and bc i didn't hear him for the first few minutes he was in such a state by the time i got up there...dripping wet from the bath....that he threw up 2x all over the bed....and woke up esme....both crying and one a real mess....i just quickly had to figure out if jack was sick or just overwraught...i decided the second and cleaned him up and his bed...and tucked him back in....before getting to esme to do the same...now snotty and overwraught herself.
yikes.
now i can't find harry...he must know i am looking for him the little fiend.
and i think, this would be all in a day's work for a single mom....truly, no rest....no one to share any of the responsibilities....how hard would this be! i am so thankful for what i have in josh....and so thankful for my kids...and that i can be home with them...i do get tired...really tired...but i honestly do love this stage of life. it won't be forever that jack and esme think i am the most wonderful person in the whole world =)and want to snuggle with me more than anything else...so i suppose, as parents, we take it and revel in it while we have it....
alright, one last venture to find harry....i even have meat to give him!
and off to bed.

Painting with REAL Paint

is maybe not such a great idea =)
kelley brought over this huge boxes so jack could have a good surface to finger paint upon...but we were out of paint....out of FINGER paint anyway...so i reasoned that how bad could it be to use real paint...leftover from the chicken coop. well, EVERYTHING he touched with his orange hands is now orange...like that children's story where everything he touches turns to gold...if only =) no, we have rooster orange on the hose, the spikket, his water cup, the slide, quite a few tools and my pants...and of course his clothes....
but thank goodness for the redneck slide....after a few swooshes down the slide, he was as good as new....and children have the funniest quality...an immunity to cold...the well water is SOOO cold and yet even when the sun went down, he was begging to slide "4 more times....4 more times"
little peanut...
both are asleep now...and i think i can hear kelley out there still painting! I have been shelling limas off and on today ....maybe i can finish them so she can take them home with her! off to shell.

Kelley and Adam's House

after cobbing this morning, esme and i went to pick lima beans at kelley and adam's house. they have been juggling lots of jobs and building our house and writing up bids for stuff so haven't been able to do a lot in their wonderful garden....so we went to help them out a bit while jack and josh went to lowes. anyway, we picked a while ....and then realized they already picked late last night! oops...i thought it was a little spare. so we chatted instead...check out these squirrels! the little one is a 2 week old grey squirrel...the kind we all most often see...the large one is a 5 week old fox squirrel...they are black/red and are about 2x the size of greys and are solitary in adulthood...quite amazing.

My Husband

esme and i are quite ladylikely picking the morning veggies and commenting on the growth of some edible gourds when we turn our delicate eyes around to my sweet husband saying "hey, look at this gourd"...
you gotta love him =)

Come on in!

it has become a funny part of our mornings....
i open the doors around 6...when it is still dark and the sun is just beginning to come into view....the chickens are roaming around and hungry....and are just waiting to see jack stick his head outside...as soon as he does, they RUN to the door and he just lets them on in....i found him talking to "buddy" in the loo.....and turned around to shew the others out the door.

The Moore Family

it was such a treat today to have doug and naomi and emma and clare to visit...
they arrived this morning as jack and i were coming up from our morning cob...covered head to toe with mud and sweat...we were quite a sight i am sure =) jack loved having emma to play with...they set straight to jumping on the bed (little clare too), playing house, eating their mac n cheese together....it was lovely to watch... they played until they crashed into nap time...at one point, all 4 kids were asleep at the same time! emma is vivacious and happy....clare is quieter and soooo sweet! i could just eat them both up!
josh and i so enjoy doug and naomi too....the 4 of us often talk about living in the same area ...growing gardens together, raising our kids...we seem to always be a step behind or before the other....for instance, doug and naomi once lived near asheville....now we are heading there....and there is a slight potential they might move to athens..alas! but God has all this worked out....we will just all trust Him for where we should be...

we took a late afternoon ride in the truck through the woods....
it was such a lovely day.

i am trying now to find a ticket to london that our credit card frequent flyers will pay for....the cost of tickets has gone up so exponentially, it isn't easy....my Godmum sally really wants to meet esme and she has been through a lot this year...surgery wise...and her son, mathew...like family to us has just had a little boy "alphie"....i want very much to see sal...and yet leaving jack is SO hard for me to consider...even if it would only be for a week. anywho...we'll see what i can find..we certainly aren't in a place to pay for a ticket...so that might make up my mind for me...

we'll see! =)