The Best Children in the Whole Wide World!

our little knuckle head

our bouncy butterfly

our sweetheart

our good rascal

strong, brave and steady

hard working visionary

This lively bunch makes me the happiest mama in the whole wide world, which makes us the happiest family in the whole wide world!

God is good, all the time!

Know God, Know Peace!

How soon life can be flipped into turmoil, confusion, frustration, tears, heartache...

Considering recent events, I was resting on the couch when one of my sons came and sat against it with a little Bible story book.  I watched him flip through the pages and stop to read about the story of the Tower of Babel.  God had said to spread out over the earth, but the people had taken matters into their own hands and decided to build a huge tower instead, so they could stick together and BE something. 
{and let us make us a name,
lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Gen 11:4}

...the end result we all know.  They all started to speak in different languages resulting in chaos, frustration, confusion....!!!!!!!!!

As I pondered this, I realized this happens when we leave God out of the picture, when we try to do it our way.  When we take things into our own hands and not do what God wants us to do. 

~When He says for us to school together, work together, farm together....we need to do it

     {And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deut 6:7}

~When He says gather not up treasures here on earth....we need to do it.  (interestingly how as we are decluttering, throwing things out, getting ready to sell and packing things away, I found an article on Decluttering.  It brought me to another level and I went back and threw out more stuff!  =)

         
          {Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth...Matt 6:19}

~When life gets hard and baby bump weighs heavy and pulls me down, physically and mentally, God keeps reminding me to TRUST HIM, to endure...(because He has a plan, and that plan was not what I had planned) but He wants me to go on, in endurance...

{Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. James 5:11}

.....and in place of all things things we put behind us, throw out, put away; we get

PEACE!

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on thee:

because he trusteth in thee.

Isa 26:3

The phrase

 no God; no peace.  Know God; know peace

rings true in every aspect of my life.  When I remember that my worth is measured by what GOD thinks of me, rather than man, I can go on through my day joyfully, finding delight and peace and rest in serving my family, the way God wants me, not what the world around me is screaming loudly to me on how to do things, when to do things.....how to talk, how to dress, how to walk...

It brings peace and rest when we are looking at a farm with a small (teeny tiny) house (knowing soon we will be a family of nine) but that we will be together, we will be living side by side, working, schooling, teaching, learning, homesteading...making a living together. 

Hard work, but so rewarding and satisfying at the end of the day...

I fear God.  I fear consequences.  I fear, and therefore I DO. 



Tired out Farm Girl...

Yes, this can happen to busy farm ladies...! 

Too beat to walk those stairs!

{...and she does not get this from her mama...

because I always tend to find my bed,

no matter how tired out I am!  }



The Precious Fruit of Hard Labour!

Here are just some pictures for you to see what we have been enjoying this past week!  We were getting so busy (as in BUSY) so we decided to drop one of our markets.  It was hard to do, but the busy-ness was just getting a bit our of hand.  Along with market harvesting we are also farm shopping and purging our home of ALL things we don't want to drag along!  Its a big job!  We have been here for 14 years and although we have purged and gotten rid of things before, this time its for real!!!!  It feels so good, so light, so brain-freeing-up-space!

So, we are waiting patiently till September to see what the one farm sale holds....its hard not to get overly excited (like we have done in the past and then have to deal with the huge disappointment) but we know this is all part of the process, the waiting, the dreams, the letting go of this home....and yet, it all might not even happen!  But we KNOW God is in control of every little detail and when we look back on our traveled road, we see and KNOW He cares and gives us all we ask for and much more!!

We are a very rich, blessed farming family...loving a simple, free life...TOGETHER!

Pieter jr's tomato and jelopeno harvest

So colourful!

Jan's Sweet Million Cherry Tomatoes.

The boy that makes us sooo happy!

He can't talk, but oh, he makes us laugh
and smile and thankful!!!

sorting and washing salad mix

Golden Beets

Purple Haze carrots are fun!

more beets...!

Pain and Joy.

It has been one of those weeks where your heart is heavy, and when you have to laugh or smile about something, it quickly vanishes, remembering that life for some has been turned upside down...

...broken to pieces, never to be the same, the clouds of sorrow and pain being thrust into their bright sunny, happy day.

Two families, no three, lost children this past week.  The one family had to say goodbye to a unborn baby, just 18 weeks along.  The other family lost two children, a 7 year old boy and 10 year old young lady,  having gone on an afternoon swim to cool off from the beating heat, the lake became the enemy.  The following day, a young family enjoying being together at a campground see their only beloved little 2 year old girl crushed under the tire of a vehicle.  Such pain, such heartache!!!

How can one smile?  Or laugh?  How can I feel blessed when the very baby in my womb moves around letting me know he is there, when someone else's womb is empty? 
I hug my children tighter, cherishing the moments I still get with them.  I want to keep my camera handy, making those memories last, because they are way too numerous to store in my heart.

And I cry...because life can so quickly make you turn onto a road that is hard to travel. So many parents learned that this week.  Not only here in Southern Ontario, but in East Toronto, in Colorado.

Then thursday the long awaited day came for our little spunky butterfly that she turned the big 4.  The day that our niece would have turned 21, the day that Darrel and Helen layed their little Charity to rest.  It was all too bitter sweet.  Here we watched our little sunshine share gum and pieces of chocolate she got for her birthday, we heard her say over and over 'cause its my birthday..' we saw her bounce and run, bike and fall, laugh and giggle, and we watched her pitch in with the busy day of harvest, always so ready and willing.  It was a hard day, yet a ~somewhat~  happy day.

But today I will rise up and not overwhelm myself with all the sadness around me.  Yes, my heart is heavy, but it also wants to dance with joy for that many good things.  Dance, because of the precious memories we have and because of the ones we are still making; my heart will dance that because of the pain, you realize how precious life really is, how precious it is to squeeze a warm hand and to see the light in my childrens eyes.  Big, Bright and Blue!  I will dance and cherish each moment. Who would have known that pain and joy would be so intertwined?  That pain and sorrow are weaved into our life to make it more precious, more filled with joy?  They go hand in hand.  My heart will dance because of the hope we have, life is not in vain and we can let each circumstance, each happening mould us into something undescribable.  They are there to strengthen us and for that my heart will dance.  There is Faith, Hope and Charity!

But the God of all grace,

who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

(1Peter 5:10)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Some pictures of the past weeks...

Learning to put in a new switch, taught by Dad!

Learning to replace an inner tube, taught by Dad!

There is always room for one more
on the tractor seat!

Camping!

...the higher the better!

How Dad can even make a rainy afternoon at camp
enjoyable!  He teaches us to love the rain!

The busy hot days of SUMMER!

Its been awhile, but life has been filled with enjoying the bountiful harvest from the market garden, busy markets, hoeing, weeding, laughing and crying, crunchy carrots, swimming, making jam, baking bread  and making yummy smoothies with my new Universal Bosch Mixer, sleeping, napping, feeling baby move and kick in my growing belly, looking at farms, dreaming, enjoying our children immensely, cooking purple carrots and watching them go green, gathering eggs, camping, oh yes, camping, fishing, baby birds, laundry drying fast on the line, laying under the fans cooling off, midwife appointments, the swoosh of the baby's heartbeat, reading, writing letters...

Ah, life can be so busy, so hard, but the many moments in the day that we stand still and observe our blessings, WOW, it all amazes us!  We are so blessed!  Blessed with an outstanding marriage, lively rough and tumble boys, a bouncy daughter, the hope of another baby on the way.  How does one gather all those moments in a day that make your heart burst and how does one share about it?  When you see your 21 month old swinging on his belly on the swing to his hearts content?  When the boys come back from the garden, wagon filled to the brim with beets, themselves all pilled up on the tractor seat, hanging onto each other so not to fall off due to reduced seat space? When sisters offers to help brother find the baseball bat?  A little boy breaking open a pea pod for a snack? 

Yes, we are very blessed!  I hope you take the time to enjoy those moments in your life too, because they are there!!  All around us!

Jolly family, Jolly days

The beautiful Month of May is upon on and we are LOVING IT!!  The warm temperatures, the birds busy with their little ones, digging your hands into the warm dirt to plant those little nursling's, green grass, leaves on the trees, chickens roaming around...!  Ahhh, so refreshing!!  (But just wishing that that swallow would have picked a spot more out of the way to make a nest.  I don't like birds swooping down at me when I walk by, but then again, haven't we been given the dominion over animals??? Do I just tell the parent bird to buzz swoop off and leave me be?? ) 

I am a Mother!!!  Mothers Day came and went with nothing really fancy happening, but I sure felt blessed!  When I am blessed with a Heavenly Father who loves and cares, teaches and gently guides me throughout each day, a good husband, many lively, rough and tumble sons, a beautiful helpful bouncy daughter, another blessing on the way, dear friends with whom we can play with, fellowship with, sing with...
are those not things that make us rich and think we have it all??  How much better can my life get?  I am needed, I am loved, I am a Mother!

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Pro 17:22

I have been meditating lately on this verse.  I want to have a merry heart always, to not fret, to trust completely in God, to be cheerful, kind, loving....its so good for me, my hubby and the children! 
You know, when someone embarrasses you, you instantly blush, right??  That is how fast something can influence your body.  When you go to bed angry, it is bad for your digestion, and the Bible even says don't let the sun go down on your anger.  But what about bitterness, unthankfulness, discontentment, unforgiving, worry?  What does that not all do to your body???
I recently heard a testimony of a godly wife who was very sick for most of her married life.  Nothing they did, or medical treatment she got, helped her.  Finally after sharing her unpleasant, hurtful past with her husband and some sisters, her health was restored!  She also mentioned that when her husband would tell her I love you, you are beautiful, in her heart she would not really believe it.  Besides, she knew who she really was, and he did not know her filthy past!
That helped me grow aware of me not really believing my hubby either, thinking he was just being nice when he said I was beautiful, that he loved me.  It was until a sister in church challenged me to start believing it that then the fogginess in my head, which I had been battling with for almost a year, would go away. 
So over the next days, weeks I started to simply believe the I love yous and the compliments and lo and behold, slowly my mind started to clear up!  I can think clearly again!  I can have a few things going on, and it doesn't bother me!  I can make a meal and sit down to eat it and realize that hey, I did it without that feeling of being lost in your own kitchen!  I get a good chuckle in my heart when I say to hubby: thanks for loving me!  Ha ha, isn't that good?  Good enough to be like a medicine??

That said, it makes me aware that God loves us, even though He knows who we really are and were!  We are saved by His Righteousness and we get overwhelmed sometimes by His Love because we fail Him so often and all He does is gently lead us on!  He is always there, waiting, caring, willing to forgive!  Yes, He loves us unconditionally!!!  Glory!  It sets me free!

Mr Farmer had his 39th birthday!  A day filled to the brim with blessings!  Just before we were about to enjoy a hearty breakfast each of the children gave dad a gift and just as he was about to start to open the first one, Pieter Jr announced: Let the adventure begin.  =)
All day we thoroughly enjoyed our first harvesting day as we picked beautiful spinach, colourful salad mix and sang Happy Birthday about a hundred times in different harmony's and variations.  We had a jolly good time!

Enjoy some pics of the last few weeks!

Making potato hills with a Cub that is not working
so what is the solution??? 
Mind you, this was done slow pace! 

Chicken getting whey as a treat!

Farmer transplanting Brussel Sprouts

Farmer John

a tray of blessing!

another thinker in the family!

 dirty dishes means we have FOOD
and food is important when you have BOYS!

making Gouda cheese!

and the weeding begins!

planting potatoes

everyone pitching in!

Have a splendid day, everyone!