Rain......

Rain, rain, rain, rain........Holy cow, I'm beginnig to think that I'm back in Seattle! It has not stopped raining for the last couple of days and it is still raining. We have received almost 2" of rain! Which is good for fire control over the summer and green fields and all.........I think I would of rather been snowed in during the winter so that I can be sitting at the lake right now!
Oh, well.
After my last post, I'm excited about everyone's responses to 'Camp Omak' @ Simkins Farm!
Everyone please keep this idea in prayer and also for everyone's personal situations to be able to come!!
Jeremy should be coming home late tonight!!! Except for a couple of days here and there he has been gone for 3 weeks and I'm so ready for him to be home!! Pray for his safety while driving back-like I said there has been a lot of rain and it is holiday weekend.
Veronica will be 22 on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that crazy?????? She is loving married life! Jeremy took her present to her last night. There were 2 crock pot cookbooks she wanted, so he bought those for her. The gift bag was a cute reusable bag he found at Michaels for her. ----birthday season has officially started in our family!!!!!!

Camp Omak

Well, technically we should call it Camp Okanogan, since we don't technically live in Omak.......
Yes, a girl weekend. Only adults (and little babies, like Peaches). A weekend sometime in late spring/early summer of 2011. Those that are interested, please pray about this! I'm seeing eating yummy food; fellowship; a devotion each day; walks/hikes; maybe going to farmers market; eating.........

Today, Jack and I were going to head out to town for awhile, but a big wind and rain storm is currently going on, so I think we will put a fire in the wood stove and just be at home again today. We will try again tomorrow.
I've been working on putting things in the car that we simply do not need or use so that it can be donated. It's very exciting --my closet is getting bigger and bigger! :) Now I just need to go through the large pile of papers!

Have a blessed day!
2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Morning Exercise

Ok, those of you city girls will find my little adventure this morning pretty funny. So, I go out and give the goat their morning hay and grain. They are happy to see me (well, happy to see food!). I talk to them for a couple of minutes and move on. Then I let the big chickens out for their daily trek around the farm. Then, I look over at the pre-teen chicks and notice that their food is low, so I decide to be nice and feed them now instead of later this afternoon. As I walked into their pen, I notice that they are on the far end and I think, "how cute--they are exploring the area! i'll just get some hay for them to scratch in." I go get a bit of hay and as I toss the hay out to them, they all totally freak out---all kinds of noise and several of them climbing the fence wall! As I'm trying to comprehend all that is going on, I quickly discover that there is a small hole in the chicken wire at the back of the pen. Of course I notice this as one chicken got through the hole and is now looking at me quite confused on the OUTSIDE of the pen! Lovely......So out I go trying to catch this little girl, but to no avail. So as I'm giving up on her (because it is pretty much impossible to catch a chicken in the open by yourself) I notice that she ran towards some fencing by the garden and was sitting inside the rolled up fencing. So I did what any smart woman would do, I picked up the roll of fencing with the chicken trying to hide inside. Then I took one end of the roll and shoved it in the pen doorway and shook the roll of wire fencing until the chicken came out in the pen. The girls all huddled together with much stressful clucking over the matter. A total of 25 minutes later, I head back inside and promptly make a large cup of chai tea and sat on the couch!
Ah the glamorous farm life! As for my "Camp Omak" girls, maybe we can plan a little women's retreat up here Spring 2011????????????

"Man" Weekend

This was a big weekend. Our friends, Chris and Martha allowed their son, Eric to come and get out of the city and stay the weekend with us! It has been fun and exhausting for all!! Actually, I'm not really sure why I'm tired: the boys have been TOTALLY occupied with each other--I just throw them food! Since Jack is so busy with Eric, I've been trying to get as much misc. housework done. Jack and Eric have been running EVERYWHERE! They were 'hunting' the other morning for wild animals and bad guys; jumping on the trampoline; eating popsicles; playing with all the indoor toys! Eric has to leave early tomorrow morning to head home though........we will miss him!!!!!!!

Omak Lake!!!!!!

Well, here is a little picture of our morning spent at Omak Lake. It was the first pilgrimage of the season with a beautiful 79 outside. We were the ONLY ones there, which is always kind of nice. In this picture Jack is holding a little butterfly he found "swimming" in the water. He ended up setting it on a rock to "help" the little guy dry off. Jack had a blast and as playing with rocks he informed me that he was doing 'water science'. LOVE homeschoolers--we turn EVERYTHING into a school project! I defintely need to get an easy tarp thing to use as shade. I used to be able to handle sun for long periods but now in my 'maturity', I really could use a little bit of shade! --Plus also we totally need SOMETHING else to carry down to the water! LOL I can't wait to share my favorite summer spot with my visiting family and friends!!!!

Atmosphere

There is much atmosphere around here these days! On this last Saturday, we got four goats!! We received them from our dear friends Sam and Daniela who, due to a new city ordinance, were unable to keep themselves. So, we received the blessing of them GIVING us the goats. The mom is the goat with no horns. Her name is Dora. The one with horns is Dora's daughter, Boots, who was one year old this March. Dora gave birth to twins on April 26: Lucy has ears that stick out like Dora and Edmund has floppy ears like Boots. For those who want to know the types of goats: Dora is a purebread Saanan goat and the father of Boots, Lucy and Edmund is a purebred Nubian. They are a wonderful addition to our farm. Jack is so excited about the whole thing! He says: "Finally, we have a normal farm!" Well, I don't know how 'normal' we are--but we are here! Even though Dora is still nursing the twins, you have to milk the mama goat once per day to help with milk production. So in case you didn't figure it out yet....yes, I am milking a goat. A very funny experience. I feel like an idiot out there, but you know, if little kids can do it, then by golly so can I! Jeremy is working in Bellevue for the next 3 weeks or so, only coming home on the weekends, so needless to say, I'm forced to quickly learn on the job--which is probably good since otherwise I may just sit back with some lemonade and watch him! LOL

I just finished reading the book, "I Dared to Call Him Father". Marnie had recommended it to me--WOW! I really don't know what else to say. I was trying to read it fast because I wanted to know what was going to happen, but at the same time needed to read slow so that I wouldn't miss anything! I learned many things by reading this book. But one of the things is knowing when the presence of the Lord is with me or not--and noticing, if I do leave His presence, to ask forgiveness. Peace will reign if we are as one with Him.

The weather is turning warm and so beautiful. Jack and I are heading out to Omak Lake for the first lake run of the season!! Can't wait!! Just need to find the sunscreen................

She is Married!!!!

My girl is married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful, blessed day!!! Everything went perfectly and the weather was SUNNY!!--that in itself is amazing since April in Seattle, is not always known for sunny and comfortably warm weather! So many people made a selfless effort in setting up and cleaning up--and many people traveled many miles--including 3 families that were guests that came from CA--

They had a beautiful honeymoon in Oregon and are now back home; working on organizing the apartment--LOTS of presents to find homes for! :)

Three days after coming home Sabrina (our pastor's wife) and I headed to Easton (about 3 hours away) for the central WA women's retreat. It was such a beautiful time--all was based from Exodus 3:14--I AM who I AM. Learned sooo much!!

Now I'm back home working on getting things back to a schedule and get the house organized for the summer. Gardening has now begun--we have strawberry plant and raspberry bushes planted so far, and in the next few weeks when we are not have anymore frosty mornings, then we can get our veggie starts into the ground. Goats should be arrived within the next month after "Dora"s twin babies are ready to weaned. The baby chicks are growing quickly! We go through so much baby chicken food!! They are pretty funny looking right now--feathers on the bodies and fuzzy heads--somewhat awkward looking!

Mother's day is on Sunday--bless the mom's in your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!