A Quick Update

Hi friends!

I just want to give a quick update.

I went to the Wise Traditions conference in Portland Oregon this past weekend and it was awesome! I learned so much and am working on writing a loooong post about everything that was talked about. I also got to meet Sally Fallon, which was of course, so cool.  :)

I watched a movie called Farmageddon. If you haven't watched it...you must! Here's the trailer.

We have to eat to survive and so what is happening to our food and to those who raise our food is important. Sure it's easy to go to the grocery store and buy all that you need, but to not pay attention to our food supply isn't wise.

I've struggled with the topic of food and health and how it is one of the BIGGEST idols in this country. Don't get me started on on these food diets/fads and this idea that we all have to have a six pack and a perfectly toned rear. Sure it's nice, but who has time for that! I think we should be active and most of us probably should be exercising, but sorry I don't think it's healthy for women to have 5% body fat, especially those who are ttc, pregnant, or are nursing.  I've had to daily ask the Lord to give a His perspective on health and how we are to eat. A few hundred years ago, we didn't have to worry so much because everything was grown and raised well (for the most part). Now we live in a time where some people only eat processed food that is giving them a shorter life span and not to mention crazy health problems. I know that life on earth is about serving Christ and that is why I want to feed my family well. I want to be physically able to do what God has called my family and I to do. I think it wise as a wife and a mama to feed my family well so they can thrive and be useful.

Anyway, I just wanted to point you to a documentary about whats happening to small farms all over. I hope to get the Wise Traditions post up by next week. 

Just a side note, I know I said in my previous post that I was going to delete my official page for this blog and I tried. I cannot figure out how to do it! Silly I know, but I spent waaay to much time trying to do it and so for the moment I'm just going to leave it. I figure even if I don't post on it, those who want to know when a new post is up can at least still get the update.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely Fall season. I love the cool air, the sweet smell of nature going to sleep, and the future bonfires and snuggles with my munchkins.

The Value of Self-Discipline

I'm just going to be honest. I am lacking in a big area right now and it has been made plain to me recently.

Self-discipline.

Now there are general areas of my life where I do pretty well on a day to day basis, but there are other areas where it's obvious that I need to control my whims quite a bit more.

Probably the most obvious to you readers has to do with this blog. It is ever changing and morphing. I am always loving to tweak a little here and there, just to keep myself busy. That's all it is, busyness.

I'm the kind of person who loves to do new things, loves to change things up a bit, and am always thinking to myself, "I wonder what it would look like if I did this or that?" It can be a good thing since so many people are afraid of change or trying something new, but it can bite a person in the rear if they are 'changing things up a bit' a bit too often.

In January of this year I decided I wanted to go to Wordpress because that's where all the 'real' bloggers blog. I wanted to be a real blogger. Ahem...

I never liked it, couldn't get used to is, couldn't figure out how to do a darn thing on it, and so had to have someone else do it for me. Now if your wanting someone to work on a wordpress blog for you I would HIGHLY recommend Stewart from Nourishing Days. He was awesome and did everything I asked and then some. Truly a great gentleman and he is going to treat you well. I just found that I like too much to work on my blog myself and so needed to go back to what I'm comfortable with.

Now with all this blog jumping around and lack of self-discipline is choosing one format and sticking with it, my rear has been 'bit' so to speak. I haven't lost all my posts from the last six months, but if you go to search them and click on the link provided, it will say it doesn't exist. Not sure why, but I KNOW they are there. Also I am having to upload almost all my pictures from the last six months, they didn't translate with the change. Ugh.  If you've been reading here for any length of time you'll know that there are a TON of pictures that I'm going to have to put into quite a few posts. Needless to say I'm a little frustrated with this aspect.

I am very happy to be back, I feel like my blogging break was more than fruitful and you can expect to see me a bit more. I thank you dear readers for not leaving all together and here's to more consistency and yes, self-discipline!

New Changes and a Fresh Perspective

If you think something has changed then let me tell you, your correct.

I went back to blogger format and am very happy. I switched to Wordpress back in January and while it is amazing and has so many options, I could never quite figure it out. I am familiar with blogger and am able to work on it myself and make changes myself.

At this point I will continue to blog, but only as I feel led. I don't want to blog for the sake of blogging and get sucked into all-I-can-think-about-is-blogging mode again. There are a few posts rattling around in my head and they need to make their way out.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Monday and Lord bless!

Longer Than Expected

Hello friends.

It seems good to the Lord that I continue to not blog for a while. I went to write up a post the other day, but just couldn't.

I can't explain it, I just couldn't write. Nothing came to me and what I did write seemed dead.

I am wanting to glory God in everything and I think it will bring more glory to Him if I stay away than force it. I don't know if I'll be back or when. It all is up to the Lord and His will for my life.

I understand if your not happy, but I hope you understand.

I will leave the blog up and keep my facebook page up. If you stay 'Like'ing the farm on facebook, you'll know if I come back.

I pray the Lord is working in your life like He is mine.

He is so good and I'm thankful for His presence in my life.

Until later, Lord bless!

Welcome to Wyoming

We have had an absolutely wonderful time on our trip. Wyoming is truly a spectacular place and the Summers are incredible. The hottest it's been here is about 90 degrees, where at home it got up to a scorching 115! I could cry that we have to go home to the oven tomorrow, but alas we do.

My hubby grew up in Cody Wyoming and we are thankful for this gorgeous place that we get to call our second home.

I have taken a few hundred pictures (seriously) and have selected the best to show you. There are quite a lot, so please relax and enjoy this beautiful place.



Jude just loves to shoot his bow and arrow at home. Well he got to shoot the real deal and he did great. The gentleman you see sitting down is Jude's great grandfather. His name is John Schulz and he is a famous archer and bow maker. The bow Jude is shooting is one that John made...I'm pretty sure.





Seth's dad couldn't be greater. I'm so blessed to have him for my father-in-law and the kids are blessed to have such a hands on grandpa. He taught Jude how to properly hold and shoot his bow and I was there to capture it.

Meanwhile, the girls were being their normal silly selves. Doing a little of this...



and this...



What a blessed time of generations enjoying the beautiful weather and each other. Do you see Ella?

Silly girl.





Here's the garden. I'm in love with it and it's actually a producing garden.

Unlike mine.



Must get a swing set, PRONTO! The kids love this thing and it is so much fun for them to play on.





This is the house that Seth's dad grew up in and guess what, so did Seth! Such a cute little place. It sits below the current house and is a rental at the moment.



Here's the McNeil residence. They started to build this house when Seth was 16 and he moved out when he was 18 or 19 so he never really lived in this house for long. It is such a cool place though. Just wait and see.









Seth's dad was a stone mason and he built this fireplace. It goes through the whole house which is three stories!









Here's the basement.







This is the view from the house. Isn't it just gorgeous? And the sky, wow.





There are for real homesteads on their place. Here are some pictures of them. This is one that the use to store hay and provide shelter for their horses.





I love this picture. Ella was in trouble and the horse (Ritz) was thinking he should probably listen in.









View from the homesteads.



Isn't this such a wonderful place? I told you it was everything you thought of when you thought of the West!







I hope you enjoyed this montage of our slice of Wyoming.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I've been struggling lately and I'm not gonna lie, I've been considering going off Facebook.

Earth shattering, I know.

I have deleted my account before (before I had Facebook for my blog), and it was one of the most freeing things I've done. The pull to just sit at the computer and see what everyone else was doing wasn't there. I was MUCH more productive and it may seem silly, but I just felt light and unburdened.

Facebook is a wonderful way for keeping in touch with a lot of people. It's easy to see what everyone is up to, but there is also a huge downside. It is a total time waster and it is soo very easy to think you'll get on for a minute only to realize a half hour later that your still...on...Facebook.

If I didn't have a blog it probably wouldn't be such a big deal, but I do and so I am worried about how it will affect me if I do. I know most people who read blogs will read the new posts because they show up in their news feed. I don't want to lose my readers (you!). I hope you know that I am thoroughly enjoying all the nice and encouraging comments I get from you, both on this blog and on Facebook.  It's really great! My blog isn't my 'business' though, I write it because I love to write and I find great joy and satisfaction from it.

I don't get much satisfaction out of Facebook. Sorry.

Facebook + me = stress.

Here is where I am right now. I have been lax about my Facebook use lately and if I'm being honest I'm on it way too much. It's affecting my productivity and as you know, when you live on a farm (or not) there's always something that needs to be done. I get caught up in trying to 'keep up' with everyone else and trying to promote myself. I get lost in comparing and it's hard not to spend the whole day on the computer doing Facebook updates. Now, I am not condemning those who have made blogging their business. I am not here trying to tell anyone that their spending too much time on the internet.

Now, I do love instagram as well and it is just so easy. Much easier to post a quick picture than on Facebook, and it's not nearly as distracting. Probably because it's much more limited in what it can do as compared to Facebook.

I would rather write a post about my day, the happenings on the farm, the funnies that my kids say and do...on my blog. If I have to choose between better content on my blog or on Facebook, I choose my blog. I also dream of writing a book...

I haven't decided 100% if I'm going off or not, but I've got to make some changes. I love this blog and I love writing to you, but my family and duties must come first!

I'd love to know what you think, not because I want you to make my decision for me, but to know what to expect should I decide to go off Facebook.

I really want to grow as a writer, as a blogger, but much more I want to grow to love Christ more and I am needing to get my priorities straight. I need to do all things to glorify God and right now, I'm thinking I need to do some housekeeping when it comes to my internet/media use.

Surprise!

I hope this is a surprise for you! I have been having to bite my tongue for the past two weeks while my new blog was being worked on. Isn't it beautiful? I absolutely love it and am so thankful to the Lord that I was able to have it done.

If any of you are wanting a site created or needing your blog to have a makeover I highly recommend Stewart from Nourishing Days to do it. He went above and beyond what I expected and is a pleasure to work with. You'll find his button on the bottom of my sidebar. Click on it and check him out. I love his wife's blog. Such a great place to read and be inspired.

I hope this was a surprise. Let me know what you think.

***I am currently in the process of adding pages and getting all the kinks worked out so please bear with me. Everything should be up and running shortly

 

-Noel