A 'Real' Saturday

Well, today was something of a 'real' Saturday here. Used to (mainly before I started college), on Saturdays the four of us would either work on little projects we had going, read, do things together, work outside, or other sorts of 'just-for-fun' type enterprises. We haven't gotten to do that in a while, but today, we did! Dad's been working hard getting our little garden in, and today the rest of us got out there and finished it up. So except for some Sunflowers, butternut squash, and a couple of sweet potato plants we're experimenting with (two Mom bought sprouted, and we saved the slices with the sprouts, put them in water, and when they are about 9 ins. tall, we want to plant them and see how they do!), our garden is in!

We've got yellow squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, potatoes, beets, radishes, turnip greens, spinach, asparagus, green beans, pumpkins, okra, and seems like something else too, but I'm not remembering it at the moment. We only have a row or two of each though, so it sounds like more than it really is :). We just wanted a little of the stuff we really like, and we also wanted to try some new things this year.

Here's how it looks now that everything's planted. The little building in the back is our chicken coop.

This is a little potato we found as we were digging to plant something else! I guess he got skipped last year when we dug them - Mom says we can eat it anyway ;)



Well, I'm going to run for now. It's been a long, fun day :) !

Seven Days In A Dress Challenge

This week Jenna was hosting a "Seven Days In A Dress (or Skirt)" challenge, and I decided to join in. I usually wear dresses or skirts, simply because it's hard to find jeans anymore that aren't either too low or too tight - unacceptable. So I decided I'd join in, and maybe encourage someone along the way, who thinks that skirts can't be worn without looking sloppy or terribly weird. Now, I'll admit right off that I haven't got the greatest sense of fashion, but anyway... ;D

Seems hard to believe the week's over already! I don't have alot of time to spend on the computer just 'for fun', so I decided to just post the whole week at once instead of trying to get on each day.

Ok, here are the week's outfits:

Resurection Sunday. I'd sort of hoped to have a new outfit, if not store-bought, then home-made. Mom was working on a top to go with a skirt I'd made last year, but with everything else going on, it didn't happen, and that's OK.

Deep sky-blue eyelet top: Belk's. About $8 I think. Mom bought it for me to wear to a wedding we went to a couple of years ago.

Cream eyelet skirt: I made it as part of my graduation outfit. Dad and Mom paid for the fabric from Wal*Mart for $4.

Cream sequine sandals: Shoe Station. Also for graduation, but Mom bought them for me, and I think she paid about $12 or $15.

I wore my hair just down plain.




Mint blue snap-up shirt: 50 cents at a yard sale. Love yard sales!

Straight denim skirt: $4 I think, from the consignment shop in town. Mom got it for me, and I wear this skirt All. The. Time!

Sequine Yellow-Box flip-flops: A gift from my grandmother.

Hair: Ponytail.

In all honesty, I only wore this outfit the last part of the day. I had some work I was doing that I had to have some grubbier clothes on for earlier.

Mint blue and slate blue plaid snap-up Western-style shirt: About $1 I think, from Dirt Cheap. Great place for people with lots of patience and an eye for a bargain!

Tiered denim drawstring skirt: Gift from a friend. This is my only tiered skirt, but I absolutely love it. If I had my way, whenever I wore a skirt, it would be this style! This one was from Wal*Mart, but I have a pattern that a friend gave me that I want to try out this Summer. Mom is using it to make one for Trissy right now though :) !

Navy Old-Navy flip-flops: Gift from Mom. She got them at the end of the season for $2, and they are so practical - I wear them all the time in the summer 'cause (in case you haven't noticed yet) I LOVE denim, so they always go with what I'm wearing. :)

Hair: Ponytail.





Tan short-sleeved knit top: Borrowed from Trissy ;) I love that we wear the same size in so many things! You can't really see it in the picture.

Brown tunic-style top with gold beading and embroidery: No more than 60 cents at the consignment store in town. I really like this style of top! Brown really is not my color (I love it but it doesn't look good on me), but I wear it anyway ;) The top actually is a little big - I need to take in the sides some when I get time.

Monday's denim skirt.

Shoes: Shoes? On a day like this?! You've got to be kidding me!
I have on my Old-Navy flip-flops in the picture 'cause it was cold and dewy in the morning, but I went barefoot the rest of the day!

Hair: Ponytail. I love ponytails!





Bright turquoise sleeveless top: Belk's between $3 and $5. Can't really see it. Sorry about all these poor-quality pictures. I'm borrowing a camera, and it doesn't always produce what I hoped for.

Monday's top.

And Monday's skirt. Told you I wear it all the time ;) !

Shoes: What Trissy calls my "Susan Shoes" :) She says they look like some Susan wears on "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe". Anyway, Mom got them for me ages and ages ago, and I recently 'rediscovered' them. They're real leather, so they've stayed nice, and I wear them to school in the winter. It was colder Thursday so I wore them.

Hair: Ponytail. Again. Yes, I wear ponytails all the time. I wear my hair down on Sundays usually, but I'm not a hair-do person, and I wear ponytails because they're fast, simple, and if they come undone, they can be fixed back without a lot of fuss. I love braids too, but my hair is not long enough right now to make a decent braid. When it was long, I wore a braid all the time. *Sigh* Hope it doesn't take too long for it to grow out again!

Ok, this outfit really looked better than it does in the picture. But I didn't have much time, and just took it fast, and it had to do. So, sorry.

Black T-shirt: Michael's at the end of the season for less than $1.

Green beaded/embroidered cotton jumper: from Dad and Mom, for my birthday several years ago. I know it's from Wal*Mart, but I don't know what it cost.

Black leather closed-in shoes and black knee-socks. Ok, I know, strange, but my feet were cold, and at least they matched the shirt. :)

The shoes are some of my "old faithfuls" that I've had for years, but they're leather, and even though they're so old, they still work for just around the house. They came from either Target or K-Mart.

Hair: Ponytail.

Plaid button-up shirt: 50 cents at a cousin's yard sale.

Full denim skirt: Gift for my birthday a couple of years ago.

Funny navy-and-lavender-sandal-Crocs-that-are-very-comfortable-once-you-learn-to-walk-in-them-so-they-don't-tip-you-over-and-pour-you-out: Brand new hand-me-downs from a cousin who they didn't fit. Yay! The heels are built up just a little, so they 'tip' if you're not careful :) .

I decided to braid my hair today, even though it didn't make more than about 9 inches, simply because I knew you were all tired of reading Hair: Ponytail! LOL

Ok, well, that was the week in skirts. Let me know what you think
I'm going to run 'cause I've still got quite a bit of homework due Monday, and I don't work on school on Sundays, so I need to get busy!

Keep Looking Up!

Large and Small: Chickens!

Hello all! Just a quick post on: Chickens!

My instructor at the college (the one I've asked you to pray for) knows we have chickens, and like farm life and all that. She knew another girl at the college who had a couple of roosters she was needing to get rid of, and Mrs. H (my instructor) asked me if we wanted one. Dad and Mom said we could take one, even though we've got a rooster, but we have plenty of space since our chicken population has been declining over the past couple of years, and besides, the rooster we have has pretty much NO dominating spirit whatsoever, even over the hens! So anyway, here is our new little rooster! :



See the feathers on his legs? He's a Silky and Mrs. H said feathers on the legs, and a sort of silky down instead of feathers are trademarks of Silkies. Uncle David and his family were down visiting when I brought him home, and the two cousins helped us name him: Brainerd. Because, according to them, his comb looks like a brain, and his "brain" makes him look like a nerd, and also Brainerd was the name of a missionary, so that's always good!
I know, crazy huh? But Trissy and I agreed it was kind of cute; and the logic worked, if you're not too picky, so Brainerd he became! :)

Mrs. H has also been wanting to loan me her incubator for quite some time so that we could hatch some chicks. So finally several weeks ago, she told me she had a neighbor who was "needing to get rid of some eggs", and said we could have them to hatch if we wanted them. So she brought about a dozen and a half to school, and her incubator, and they're supposed to hatch Tuesday!



Ok, well, I'm going to go for now. Told you this wouldn't be very long, but anyway... I'll try to post pictures of the chicks when they hatch. So long for now!

March's Challenge - From Feminine Farmgirl

March's Challenge - Peace

Jenna's assignments and my responses for this month's challenge:

"... please write a post on your blog about the Peace of God in your life, and how the challenge has personally helped you in that particular Fruit of the Spirit!!"

Well, I must say that this month's challenge was the easiest so far. At the beginning, Jenna challenged us to focus on a Bible verse whenever we were feeling overwhelmed and in need of 'peace' encouragement. The timing was perfect! That week I had been working on memorizing the verse John 14:27 -
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
It is so amazing how the Lord works out little details like that! Anyway, there were many times this month when things threatened to overwhelm me, but each time, I tried to think of that verse, and it really helped! The last week of March especially, I had tons, really, tons of schoolwork due, our church's Easter choir presentation to practice for (I was in a trio for part of it, singing tenor, and never could nail my part - until the actual presentation ;D Don't you just love how the Lord will do funny little things like that?! Talk about nervous though!), and some of our cousins and our local homeschool group were getting together to do a home-made 'movie', and wanted Trissy and me in it, so I had those lines to memorize as well! All in one week. Whew! The Lord just helped me get through that week!
All-in-all, this past month was very challenging in the Peace area, but I found it was just what I needed.

~

On a side note, I would like to just like to mention what a great blessing the Regan family has been to me since I 'entered' the blogging world. I found Jenna's blog first, then Josh's, then Mrs. Regan's. I do not know this family personally, but I have been so encouraged by their seemingly pure, sincere desire to be different - to rebel against the modern, feminist, anti-anything-wholesome world that the United States (which started out as a Christian nation) has become, and raise a "Godly seed" to impact the next generation for righteousness. Jenna and Josh, though younger than me, have taught me so much about kindness to siblings, submission to parents, servanthood, practicality, contentment, honor, being honest in communication, and the idea that as long as there are still young people coming on who love what's right, there is hope for the future. Mrs. Regan has refreshed my spirit with her honesty, sincerety, hunger for righteousness, and - though this may sound silly, it is true - probably what has blessed me most in reading her blog, is her desire to learn her children. Yes, "learn her children". Now, this is of course from someone who has no experience having children, just experience being one. But from what I have observed in my own life and in the lives of other families who I associate with who are (at least they say they are) trying to do things by the Bible, I think many times parents of this sort get so caught up in the 'training' of their children, that in the end, they ended up missing out on the opportunity to know their children. They have unconsciously raised their children with the mindset that they are assignments - something to train in such a way so that they do or don't do certain things, and react to stimuli in a certain fashion. But they are people! Yes, they are under the authority of the parents, yes, they should be shown to obey certain rules. But they have feelings! They have questions; they don't always understand why they're getting a spanking, all they know is that Daddy or Mommy didn't like something they did, they don't always see that they are being punished because it was wrong - that must be explained. Kids are not puppies to 'train', they are people to 'teach' - to show by example that there is a Standard to follow, a Guide Who does not always lead over the smooth sand, but sometimes over the rocks, but Whose path always ends in Joy. Mrs. Regan seems to be seeking to do this - to learn her kids so that as she teaches them, they are understanding why, and love her for it, and will love Christ sooner - because they see that He is the reason she loves them.
I don't know how many people read this blog, but if you do and you are afraid that the Christian home is dying, *smiles* it is not. Stop by these blogs, stay a while, and you will come away refreshed.

Regan Family Farm - Mrs. Regan
While I'm Waiting - Josh
Feminine Farmgirl - Jenna

"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." Proverbs 25:25

Spring And School

Well, they say that Spring is finally here. And while the sun shines, the days warm to a comfortable in-between temperature, I'm reminded of God's mercy that is new every morning. He is so good to give us just what we need, when we need it. How kind He is!







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Please pray for me this week in school. It's kindof tough right now. But I'm encouraged, for my instructor is seeming to become slowly more open when I talk about my faith. Please, please pray that I would be the kind of witness I need to be so that she would see Christ in my life and want Him. What an honor it would be if I could be privaleged to be the one to lead her to Jesus!



Have a wonderful day everyone



-Kyrie<><