We Have a Court Date

We met with the paralegal today and were given the official court date and time.

Friday, November 18 at 3:00

We praise God that it did not have to be pushed back anymore. Two more weeks and she is legally ours!!!

Thank you for praying!

Hoping for November 18

Well the last word on the finalization of "M" is that it will be on November 18. The time frame has changed a few times, once thinking this date but then given hope that it would happen before school started, then that changed to Sept/Oct. But now this is the date given. Or at least what they are striving for. I would love it if you would pray with us that it happens on that date and not pushed back. It may not seem like a big deal since we have her, but it does mean a lot to a little girl who knows that her last name is still different and legally still a foster child.

So please pray that it will happen on November 18th.

The calendar says that fall begins tomorrow. It is in the upper 90's right now, I'm thinking it might still be a while. But it will come. Of course raking usually doesn't happen until close to December around here, but we will still put up all the orange decorations to make it look like fall. Somehow even if the leaves are still green on the trees and you are wearing flip flops and a tank top, as long as you have a scarecrow to look at, a crispy apple in your mouth and the smell of spiced pumpkin in the air, you will be in the mood.

What do you most love about fall?

Lucky 13

August 1st was our 13th wedding anniversary. Thirteen wonderful years with my best friend.

My mom was visiting from Indiana, so we left the kids with her and ventured up to Kings Canyon National Park to hike to Mist Falls. The hike totaled 9.2 miles, mostly flat with a 600 foot elevation gain at the end, but it wasn't bad at all. Every bit of the hike was beautiful. So I got to spend the day with my most favorite person doing one of my most favorite things! I am a blessed girl!

This is our drive through Sequoia National Forest.

Now for the hike

We reached our destination: Mist Falls

Lunch, not a bad view

We walked a little closer to the falls and sat on these rocks for a while. It was quite loud with the water raging next to us, but so relaxing. We had a huge snow pack this past winter and now it is all melting causing the rivers to rage, which is both beautiful and dangerous.

We drove home and found our kids had made a shadow puppet show similar to what Paige and Clay learned about in Williamsburg. So that was our evening show after a pizza dinner (one of my favorites) Anniversaries look different now that we have kids. I look at them (the kids) and think of how they are one of the many benefits to marriage.

I think God for our marriage and Jathan's godly leadership and love for me!

Fruits of Labor

Our peaches are coming fast and furious. I am determined to allow as few as possible go to waste, however, it is next to impossible to keep up with them. I took a few days off of climbing up into the tree picking the "just starting to get soft" peaches and now I am in trouble. Now many are in the "eat me this moment" stage. So back at it I will be. I love our peaches, and most stone fruit in general, but as far as growing, the citrus is much easier. They will last many, many months on the tree and even on the ground for days provided they stay dry. But not so with stone fruit. You better be ready, because when they are ripe, you only have a couple of weeks and then they are gone. They have either fallen to smash on the ground or our friendly neighborhood birds have pecked away at them all. Maybe friendly isn't the word to describe the birds. The other day while up in the tree, one was squawking terribly at me. I felt like I was in intruding on its space until I reminded myself that we were the ones that pruned the tree this winter and thinned the fruit one by one this spring. We are also the ones to rake the leaves in the fall and pick up the fallen fruit in the summer. So I do believe I have every right to be in the tree picking its fruit!

Our raised bed garden on the side yard isn't doing too bad either. Mix tomatoes and basil from the garden, garlic, cheese and olive oil from the farmers market and some lavash bread from Trader Joes and you have a pretty tasty lunch!

I hesitated about putting a garden on our side yard by the street. I wasn't sure if our neighbors would appreciate the look of it. But I found it to be quite the opposite. Every time I am out tending it or picking something from it, if someone is walking by they comment about how much fun they have watching the garden grow. I have conversations with people I have never met before because of the garden. So it has been a blessing.

We are using the abundance of peaches to make more contacts with neighbors as we have been delivering fresh peaches to most all of them. Jathan and I realized and are convicted that we have not been using the opportunity we have in the neighborhood for the gospel. So that is going to change. The peaches have helped us open the door with communication and now we are working on more intentional contacts. You can pray for us if you think of it.

Colorado - Kansas - New Mexico

In the middle of May, Jathan had a conference in Estes Park, Colorado. The kids and I got to tag along. It was so much fun exploring Rocky Mountain National Park and the surrounding area. After Colorado, we headed to Kansas to visit Jathan's sister and her family. Here we were able to attend our nephews graduation. On our way back to California, we stopped in New Mexico to visit our friends from our days in Indiana. I wish we could have stayed with them longer, we had a wonderful time, two nights just wasn't enough. Finally home again the first day of June. We had a great time, but there really is nothing like sleeping in your own bed!

Snow is not on the list of some of my favorite things. But it sure is beautiful up in the mountains. The picture below is in the morning after a snow fall the night before. The older three and I went on a bird walk with a local naturalist at the park. It was so interesting and beautiful.

The weather forecast said no snow, well that isn't what happened. We were not prepared and being from a place that doesn't snow we really didn't have much at home that would have prepared us anyway. So off we went to the thrift shop and for $35 we came away with 5 bib overalls, 4 coats, 4 pair of snow gloves and 3 pair of snow boots. For another $30 we got a brand new but on clearance pair of water proof hiking boots for Clay that will last him a couple of years and hopefully his younger siblings too. Everything was sized larger than needed so we will hopefully get many years out of them. (except my bibs, I am hoping not to grow too much myself!) They will come in handy as we venture up to the Sequoias to play in the snow.

In the picture of Paige, we are over 2 miles above sea level, that is the highest we were able to drive in the park.

Paige and Clay got to take an archery class where we were staying. The younger two weren't old enough. We stayed at the YMCA Conference center and it was wonderful with activities and classes for the kids. Most everything was free except the archery, but that was only $3.

While passing through Denver on our way to Kansas, we stopped at Casa Bonitas, a very unique Mexican restaurant. I can't say the food was much to write home about, but the entertainment on atmosphere was worth the trip. Cliff divers, flame juggling, skits, caves, pinata. It was a lot of fun.

While in Kansas, the kids not only saw their cousins, they also got to spend time with their grandparents who also came to watch the graduation.

In New Mexico, Jill and I took the kids up to Santa Fe for the day to do a little sight seeing. We saw the oldest church and oldest home in the US as well as some cool shops. In the picture below, bricks are being made to restore the oldest church.

Homeward bound. Crossing the Mojave as soon as we get into California. This is our view for a couple of hours.

Two Kids

We are two kids down this week as Clay and Paige are in Williamsburg, VA with their grandma and aunt. They are learning lots about Colonial history and it sounds like they are having a grand time.

So it has been just the four of us this week. And wow! what a difference it makes. The first day was a bit of a struggle, I have to admit I missed the other two, it was so weird not having them around and knowing that they wouldn't be for a week. But then getting to focus on just the younger two has been so nice. We had a bumpy morning yesterday, the younger two didn't quite know what to do with themselves without their older ringleaders. But today has been filled with laughter and chatter between the two and I think they are enjoying their time quite well.

Now that the two kids are occupied with something, I thought I would update the blog a bit. I am not sure if anyone reads it anymore, updating it less than once a month does not help encourage people to follow, but for those of you faithful readers here is a nutshell of what has been going on in our lives.

After returning from our two and a half week trip out east, we finished up with school and were excited to bring on summer break. In June we had swim lessons a couple of times. A lady from our church offers swim lessons to our family at her home. It is great, as they kids can work on what they need help with and they get lots of individual attention. Their strokes are improving very well. The beginning of July, our college friends that live in the LA area visited for the Fourth of July. It was a great time with a couple trips up to the national parks, swimming, games and fireworks. Also this summer, the kids are in a reading program at the library, earning prizes and reading lots of books. The older two, especially Paige, concentrated on reading books about colonial times and Jamestown. This was to prepare herself for their big trip.

News on "M". We still haven't finalized and we still have no idea when that will be. Her social worker told the court November, then he told me he hoped before school started, then he said that wouldn't happen but hopefully soon after it starts. So I really have no idea when it will happen. Until there is a court date set, I am not going to get too excited. I feel like we are bonding better with her, but we still have a way to go. I hate to admit it, but she can still do things that just get under my skin, and I know that if it were one of the other kids it wouldn't bother me as much. But it is getting better. She is no longer in therapy, her therapist thought that she was doing well and didn't need it anymore. We have been working on her asthma. It is all new to us. I had asthma as a child, but hers seems to be different. We haven't had much trouble with it except on our trip which landed her in the hospital for 3 nights. Last month two women from the local hospital came and evaluated our home for possible triggers. They literally did the white glove check which was a bit embarrassing and stressful. And then gave me an action plan and came back two weeks later to make sure I made the changes and cleaned the way I should. "M" came with over 40 stuffed animals, I am not exaggerating. They said she needed to be limited to two animals. The other kids also needed to get rid of all but two a piece that way I could wash in hot water, dry and then put them in the freezer every other day for 24 hours. That was hard, especially for Drew as he told me he didn't like asthma. I let them keep 5 each, I couldn't do the 2 a piece, but I will try to stay on top of cleaning them. (just don't tell the hospital ladies!)

Drew completed his school testing. All of it just in time for them to hire a new special ed teacher that won't start until the beginning of the school year. So we really didn't get anything accomplished yet. We have had less raging, which is wonderful, though when he has raged the things he yells at me breaks my heart and can be a bit frightening. After he calms down he is a different kid again and you are thinking "what on earth just happened?" One of our biggest challenges is communication. Trying to figure out what he is saying can be close to impossible and frustrating for both us and him. It isn't understanding the words, sometimes that is a struggle, but after figuring them out he just doesn't make sense or we think he does and find that the words he is saying is not matching with what he means.

So anyway, those above are ways you can pray for us.

We are back

Well maybe you didn't know we were gone. We just returned Wednesday night from a 2 1/2 week road trip. Colorado for a conference, Kansas for nephews graduation and then New Mexico to see friends on the way home.

It was an adventure. Lots of fun and a bit stress ("M" spent 3 nights in the hospital for asthma). I'll share some of our trip in the future. Right now we are adjusting to home.

Laundry has been the focus. Washing clothes, hanging them to dry, taking them off to fit the next load on. I finished the last load this afternoon, they are folded, not quite put away, the kids will do that in the morning. I believe there is suppose to be rain, so it is finished just in time. Of course, I can never really get caught up with laundry.

In addition to putting things away and washing clothes, I decided to rearrange some furniture. I realized today that the last several times I went on a trip, I came back and rearranged some furniture. I am not sure what that is about.

But anyway, we made it home after traveling over 3,000 miles. Thanking God for protection.

Egg Dyeing Gone Wrong

It is inevitable when you want something to be perfect that it turns out just exactly the opposite.

This is our first Easter with "M". And it was to be her first time ever of dyeing Easter eggs. She was supper excited about it. So the day before Easter I had everything ready. The eggs were boiled and I had the dyes out and ready to go. This year we were using this swirling sorta dye that I had in the Easter box that my mother-in-law had given us for the kids. This was probably the problem. This certain egg dyeing kit looked a bit complicated so I held off a few years to use it. You know when the kids were a bit older. The box showed perfectly dyed eggs, with beautiful pastel colors all swirled around the egg. They looked professional.

Well I read the directions, had everything set up. Put the drops of dye in the water. Now I went first to demonstrate how to do this new technique. Per directions, I put the egg in where the dye was floating and then brought it out in a spot that the water was clear.

Voila!

A perfectly white egg emerged from the water. Now my hand was a bit colored and felt gross because this is all oil based. But not a drop of dye was on the egg. OK, well the kids wanted to try anyway, so they all submerge their eggs and swirl around and dip over and over again and they came out bleach white. Oily hands and white eggs were not what I envisioned for this perfect first time egg dyeing occasion.

So out come the crayons, stickers and any other left over egg decorations from years past. I went back in the house to look over the directions again. Drew comes in asking if he can eat the egg that he accidentally cracked. I say yes. And soon they are all wanting to eat some eggs. I go back outside to see eggshells everywhere, crazy decorated eggs, and happy children.

So I guess it wasn't all a loss.

And yes we even had a guest participating.

What If I've Done it All Wrong?

I read an article today by Lisa Qualls from One Thankful Mom. The article was called What If I've Done it All Wrong? It was a very encouraging article and if you've adopted children from hard places or if you know anyone who has and would like to understand them better, I encourage you to read it.

I have recently struggled with knowing the hard place that "M" came from and wanting so badly to help her heal. I have read books, watched videos, seen countless articles and been told what to do. As I read, I can see the struggles she has and know how I should react. But I don't react that way. If I looked in the mirror I would be horrified of the face that I am making, I wouldn't speak to a friend in that tone of voice. What happened to what I learned, to my plan on how to handle the lying, the authority struggle, the fussing? Where is the compassion that I thought I had when we began our pursuit of adopting from hard places? I am not helping her heal this way.

The article came at the perfect time. There is forgiveness. But I do need to do better. I covet your prayers for our family as we seek healing for "M". It can only come from God and we need his help.

I'm Still Alive and Still Walking

We did it! We finished the race. Jathan had hoped for under 2 hours, we did 2:05 but I am happy and I know that Jathan would have finished a whole lot faster if didn't stick by me, but he did and encouraged me the whole way. Maybe next year we can beat his goal together. (I'm hoping I will speed up rather than slow down in a year)

April's Happenings

Not a very catchy title, but hey, that's what this post is about. Just so you know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I'll fill you in on what April has brought us...

We began April with my sister leaving after a several day visit. Her visit ended our 4 week guest stay. From March 4th thru April 1st we had visitors at our house every night except 2. The kids love visitors especially because the first visitors were missionaries that had 3 kids around their ages, the second visitors were their grandma and great grandma, lots of attention, and the third was their aunt. More attention. We were happy, though, to have the house back to normal and go back to our normal routines.

We celebrated Paige's 9th birthday this month, which I did post about, even though it was a bit late.

Last week was our semi-spring break. I say semi because like semi-retirement, we still did a bit of school work. We are going to take another break later before school is out, but we did need to tone down a bit and rest. Spring break was fun for the kids because they got to play more with their friends and swim a bit.

Paige loves her new wet suit. She freezes whenever she is wet, even if it is 100 degrees outside. I guess when you don't have any body fat, it is hard to stay warm. :)

We celebrated Easter. Our church had an Easter brunch, that was delicious! We had a wonderful service. And enjoyed dinner at our house with a few friends. The kids got to have a little egg hunt. Jathan and one of our guests hid the eggs. They tried making it challenging on the kids, and in the end they even had a hard time remembering where the last one was hidden.

We planted a garden. Jathan and the boys built these nifty garden boxes to put on the side yard. It is an area that isn't used much. The kids and I started seeds indoors and then were able to plant them a few days ago in the boxes. We will see how they do. I also worked on my herb garden in our back yard. I added some mint (in a pot), basil and lavender. In addition to that, I already had thyme, oregano, sage, chives, cilantro and rosemary.

The boys went to California Hot Springs with a couple other dads and their sons. Here they have pools that are fed by naturally hot springs. They have some to soak and then they cool down the water a bit for the swimming pool. The boys had a great time.

I got to go a way for a weekend to scrapbook. I feel a bit guilty about it all. I left on a Friday afternoon to go to LA and spend the night with my friend Suzanne. We had the house to ourselves because her husband took the rest of the family to visit his sister. Then we went to a hotel in Manhattan Beach to scrapbook Saturday through Sunday. It was a very nice hotel, I must say, so I felt a little out of my league there. I returned home to find a bouquet of flowers from Jathan. I thought I should bring him flowers, he was the one who had the kids by himself and still had to preach on Sunday morning. Then I found out the next day that he had scheduled a pedicure for me!

Jathan and I are going to end the month by running in a half marathon tomorrow. I will try post how it goes, but if you don't hear from me in a while, you will know what happened to me. Seriously, though, I am excited/nervous. I know we can do it, we did a trial run of the 13.1 miles a little over a month ago, but I still get nervous about these kinds of things.

I know I left a lot of details out, but I will try to fill them in later. But just because it has been so long, I thought I would get you up to speed a bit.

Happy 9th Birthday Paige!!!!

So this is a little late. But I still feel it is post worthy. My baby girl turned 9 this week! She use to be so little! I hated it when people would say "It will go by quick" "They grow up so fast". When we were going through sleepless nights, that didn't sound too bad, but now, I realize it is true. It is hard to think that the tiny red head we brought home from the hospital is the same person as this strawberry blond that loves football! I do sometimes miss that little stage, but I am finding that I love this one even more. I love knowing her dreams and see her pursue things that interest her. It is a fun time and I look forward to seeing her, Lord-willing, grow more and more.

Here is Paige 4 years ago.

Here she is opening her presents on her birthday. She got 2 backpacks from her grandparents. She wanted a small one to carry a few things when we hike up in the Sequoias. She also got a little one for our travels, I thought her Dora the Explorer backpack from preschool was a little outdated.

Yes, my daughter is a Steelers fan. Paige has liked the Steelers ever since she got into football. She says the Colts are her second favorite. But to her, the Steelers are #1. She has several Colts items, but I felt it was time that she had something with "her" team on it. And Jathan didn't argue. So she received a Steelers pillow, earrings and alarm clock. She was pretty happy.

Since it is an odd year birthday for Paige, she got to have a party. The parties have definitely changed a bit since the first ones I did for her. She has her own ideas now. This year she wanted a few families to come for dinner. She wanted a few games and knew exactly which ones she wanted. One was a version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. We have had that game at about every birthday party we have done. Usually with a little twist to fit the theme like pin the license plate on Lightning McQueen for the Cars party and pin the sombrero on the vaquero for the Mexican birthday. So Paige wanted pin the tail on the whale. I have to say that I thought this to be a little under her age and wondered what the other kids her age would think, but when it came time to do it at the party the kids threw in a new twist and had the parents do it.

They had great fun blindfolding us, spinning us around and directing us to the actual game. Paige had a great time at her party. She was with family and friends, so she was happy.

Can't Resist This Smile

I love this picture. I am not even sure who took it because I was busy dishing out birthday cake at Paige's party. (I'll post about her birthday later). I think the cake is why the smile is so big. It is a little fuzzy, but you can still see how beautiful Drew's smile is.

We've Come a Long Way

Thank you to those that commented on my last post and shared that you were praying for us. That means so much to me.

I posted that Sunday morning. Around lunch time I was in the kitchen and "M" was listening to a CD in the adjoining room. The CD is one that the kids listened to ALL the time last summer. Once school started in the fall, we didn't hear so much and through winter and now spring, I don't recall the CD being played at all. So when she had the music going, it immediately took me back to last summer. I thought of the beginning days with "M" and the first couple of months. I realized how far we have come. How far God has brought us. We were in a valley last month, but looking back that valley wasn't as low as the valleys we were in at the beginning. It helped to look back and think of it as going through a mountain range. When you start you are low, but you climb, get to the top of a peak and then you will go down again, before you climb to get to the next. The next climb will take you to a peak a bit higher then the last. And so it goes. When you are in the middle of it you forget how far you have come. Sometimes you are in a valley and you look back at the last peak and get frustrated, but there is a bigger peak just ahead. I needed to remember that. We have come so far. She calls us mommy and daddy. Yesterday she gave Paige a card that said "I Love You". She is learning what it is like to be in a family. I see her as mine. We have come so far. I needed to be reminded that God is working. The next valley will still be hard, but I want to remember that the peak ahead will be worth the work and prayers.

Catching up

Well it is 9:30 Sunday morning. I should be at church, but I am home with two sick little girls. Not too sick, thankfully.

I just typed, "I haven't updated my blog for a while", then erased it because I feel like I start every post that way, but I guess that is usually how it is. I am not a very good blogger, one because writing isn't my favorite thing, two because I have kids and a husband and I homeschool, and lots of other projects that are always waiting to get done, so there goes my computer time. But I wouldn't have it any other way, it just means that I simply am not a very good blogger.

So anyway, here I am home when I usually am not. And because the girls aren't in too bad of shape (low fevers and sniffles) I decided I would take some time to bring everyone up to speed on our lives. There are some things that I have wanted to post for a while, but haven't for a variety of reasons.

The last month has been crazy with company. Since March 4th until April 1st we had overnight guests all but 3 nights. We have had missionaries, my mom and grandma and then my sister. In the middle of all of that I had strep throat, we have tried to continue on a schedule with school and we have had some parenting/child issues that have been a bit difficult. But now it is quiet. Don't get me wrong, we loved the company!

Now to be transparent. Two other big things that have been going on in our lives is just figuring out how to parent children from hard places. This last month has ended the honeymoon period with "M". We struggled with lying, framing siblings, and refusing to take discipline. Here is where we struggled with parenting. Figuring out what the root issues were, discipling when a sin, and showing unconditional love through it all. There were days when I couldn't believe anything she said and she didn't care. And how do you help siblings bond when they don't trust her because she lies to them too and she tries to get them in trouble. I had a conversation with Clay about showing Christ's love to her, but at the same time I am thinking it is natural consequences for her that he doesn't want to be around her. But still she is his sister. Thankfully the last couple of weeks have been better, not every word is a lie. It has been a good reminder to us that kids do not come from situations like hers and not have any affects. So we are trusting God and crying out to God that he would help us, giving us wisdom and love for her. A quote from The Christian Guide to The Connected Child says "the past affects the future...but it does not have to determine it." It is so good to know that God is with us and he can transform anyone. If you think of us you can pray for our family as we bond and help her heal and show her Christ. We are so thankful for "M" and do love her so much. Adoption isn't easy, but we have seen God work in our life through it. We also are constantly reminded about how hopeless we were before we were adopted into God's family.

The other big thing is Drew. To make this short and not turn into a book, I am going to summarize a lot of what has happened the last 5 1/2 years since we have had Drew. He is a lovable little boy, always has been. However he has always had a temper with a very short fuse. Sometimes we weren't even sure what set him off. When we first got him, we thought he was adjusting, then we thought terrible twos, then we thought because his speech was delayed he was frustrated because he couldn't communicate. He would scream and jump around, and slap himself. He broke his crib even. But as he got older it got worse. Even after he could talk, although he still has a hard time expressing himself. After Godly counsel and a lot of praying, we were still not making any progress. In fact as his vocab expanded, his screaming turned into yelling at me and now he wasn't hitting himself, he was hitting walls and kicking them. We were frustrated. Most people didn't see this. It didn't happen all the time, but when it did he would scream for hours, I am not kidding we left church with him screaming one day and he screamed until it was time for bed that night. I was told just let him scream, but now he is hitting and kicking and throwing things. Sometimes he will wake up like this and have no idea why. After he calms down, he is happy and he himself doesn't seem to understand why. To go along with this, we still had speech issues, coordination issues (although give him a ball and he is amazing, but he runs into everything and you have to watch your feet, because you will most definitely have your feet stepped on when he walks by). He also seemed delayed in learning things that I thought he should know. About a year and a half ago, I talked to a friend who had some similar issues with her adopted child. She asked some questions and gave her thoughts. The past few months we have seen some doctors and they believe based on his history of prenatal alcohol exposure that he has FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effects). I was told by a professional that we would most likely go through the grieving process once it was diagnosed. I can't say that I have, maybe because for over a year I was sure that is what it was and feel better now that I know that I am not crazy and now we have people that are willing to help us. We are working with the charter school he is in to test him and find out exactly where he is at with with learning, speech, and psychologically. We struggle with school. He loves it, but his brain is like swiss cheese sometimes the info is there and somethings it is in a hole. For several months he can count to twenty. But one week last semester he couldn't count past five for the whole week. Then the next week he was back where he left off. We are getting help but there is no cure for FAE, we believe he is mild (thank goodness). We have found some ways that help him when he rages here at home, but if we are in public we still don't know what to do besides leave and hopefully we aren't far from home because he is yelling and hitting the window of the van the whole way home. We still don't know how to prevent the rages.

This has been our life. I have debated about sharing these issues on the blog for quite a while, but of course never did until now. The bright side is that God is working, in our kids and in us. We love our kids and wouldn't change our decision to adopt them for a million dollars. But it isn't always easy. When I was pregnant with Paige and Clay, I made sure I did everything by the book so that they could have that advantage. I can't control what Drew's birthmom drank while he was in her womb. With Paige, Clay and even Drew after 7 months of age, we have loved them, showing them by hugging and kissing them, telling them and providing their needs and structure. "M" didn't have that. And there is nothing I can do about the past. But they are our children now and we will do our part in pointing them to Christ and trust God to do the rest.

Thanks for listening. Or reading rather. I share this so I can be a little more honest in what goes on in our home and some of the daily struggles we have and also to share the triumphs. And maybe you can pray for us when we come to your mind. I in no way intend to turn anyone off adopting. Rather I hope that you will see how much children need loving and committed parents to teach them the ways of the Lord. But it isn't easy. Worth it yes, so very worth it!

Spring in the Valley

Winter lasts really only 2 months where we live, December and January. November still feels very much like fall and in February, more blossoms are coming out and we have some shorts days. Even though winter is shorter (and much, much, much milder), we still anticipate the spring as much as anywhere else. It is a change and one we all look forward to. Our part of CA is known for it's fertile valley soil where we can grow most anything and we do grow most everything. One of the favorites though in the spring are the fruit and almond blossoms that send a beautiful fragrance in the air and and are gorgeous to look at when they are in bloom row after row after row. The colors of pink and white are everywhere. And it can almost look like you are in a fairytale when you are among them. It is a short time that they are in all their glory, but when the petals float away and the leaves begin to uncurl we know that something better is on its way. Soon the plump, juicy peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots will weigh the branches down and not long after that, they will be in our mouths with the juices dripping down our chins. And the almonds, oh I love them too!

Before moving here, I really didn't appreciate agriculture as much as I should have and as much as I do now. When I have taken the time to learn about the plants, the trees, the bushes, and the animals that produce the good healthy food that I so enjoy, I can't help but thank the Maker for his wonderful plan and provision for us. I see how He has provided the soil, the sun, the water, the pollinators so perfectly to produce a nourishing product that I so often have taken for granted. I appreciate the farming men and women too for their hard work in raising these crops and livestock.

Some fun agriculture trivia that I thought very interesting.

Over 3/4 of the world's almonds are grown here in CA. And did you know that 2/3 of what you eat are dependent on bees to pollinate? Even the milk you drink and the steak that you eat. Remember that cow has to eat something and that something was most likely pollinated by a bee. During the weeks of the almond blossoms in California, so many bees are needed for pollination that bees are brought in from nearly every state in the U.S. Have you ever seen a truck with bees driving down the road? I am sure you have heard of a sheep dog guarding the sheep from predators, but have you ever heard of donkeys and llamas protecting livestock? Well they do and are used here in California.

Almond blossoms

Look closely and you will see boxes on the left side of the road.

Those are bee hives.

Birthday Week

A couple of weeks ago turned out to be a birthday week at our home. Our littlest one turned 6 on March 15th. Drew had been looking forward to the day for quite some time, when he was finally 6 years old! And the week before, my mom and grandma began their visit and we were able to celebrate my grandma's 92nd birthday.

In our house you get a party for your odd birthday and we do something special as a family for your even birthday. Thankfully, it was a "celebrate as a family" year since I had strep throat on Drew's birthday. So the rest of the family, including my mom and grandma, all went out to celebrate his special day. However, I did get to join in the celebration when he opened his gifts.

Here is the birthday boy, with his sibling made "birthday crown"

Out to dinner for Drew's birthday.

Out to dinner for Grandma's birthday.