Family

Family

Monday, November 28, 2011

It's Monday!!

Snow and ice?  Wow!!  Predictions this morning are for up to 2-3 inches of snow accumulation for tomorrow morning.  It's still November, right?  Last Christmas we woke up to a deep blanket of snow which is very unusual for us in Mississippi, but this early would be even more unusual.  Lettuce, turnip greens, cabbage, brussel sprouts and spinach are all growing in our garden.  Should we cover them?  I think Jordan will be doing some research this morning.  The chicken coop has some light that can keep things warmed up for them, but with 26 hens I don't imagine they will have any problem keeping warm and cozy.  The roosters, housed in one of the chicken tractors until we can get them slaughtered may need more attention, though.

Thankfully, due to our keeping our own "store" there will not be any mad rush to purchase grocery or other items to make it through the storm.   We are really enjoying having foods and toiletries in stock and adding to our stock each month.  This weekend I also made up about 15 meals for the freezer, so not only are we prepared for ourselves, but I will be able to share a homemade meal with a family who just moved into this area and will be able to share some staple items from our own store with some friends who are having a financially tough time right now.  What a blessing!

Our chickens are now giving us around 120 eggs per week!  Another wonderful blessing!  And we are sharing with others as well as having plenty of eggs for all of our holiday baking.  As I mentioned before, I would love for  you to share some of your favorite EGG-Y recipes in the comments.

After 4+ years of driving to church, the homes of extended family and vacations in two cars, I can happily report that we now have a vehicle that we can all ride in!  I am such a tightwad that everytime Jeff would discuss getting a Suburban or large van I would hem and haw about it.  I would much rather spend money elsewhere!  But with Caedmon's recent anaphylactic reaction and the mad rush to the hospital we realized that it would be foolish for me not to have a vehicle available at all times.  There were at least two days a week that I was home with no vehicle.  Now, we have a new-to-us Yukon XL that all 8 of us can ride in.  No more taking two vehicles to church and small group or even to grandma's house.  We are looking forward to being together more, listening to books on CD as a family or even reading out loud in our confined surroundings.  That is one thing I have really missed about having a family vehicle!

We are finishing up the Christmas decorating this morning while Jeff is home laying tile in our back entryway.  We hope to get the kitchen painted with new lighting and flooring before the new year as well.  And perhaps we'll even get some school work done!

I still have to process the fat from our hog and hopefully turn it into usuable lard for baking and soapmaking.  I have some cabbage fermenting in a 6 gallon crock, but really have no idea what I am doing!!  Share with me please, if you have successfully made saurkraut the old-fashioned way!

And we missed the start of Advent last night due to being out later than intended so we will double up tonight to make up.  Does your family celebrate Advent?  It's been a wonderful part of our celebrating Christ's birth for the past 17 years and makes Christmas so much more meaningful than focusing on Santa Claus and gift giving.  I shared a little bit about Advent in October in this post.

Our family has been praying for little Noah Estes, four year old son of Jeff and Kate Estes for a while now.  Noah has mitochondrial disease and is struggling right now.  Here is a link to Kate's latest post.  Please add this sweet family to your prayers.  I cannot imagine the emotions the family is going through right now.

Now, it's time to get things rolling around here.   Some of the older kids have slept in thirty minutes, so I may need to get the whip cracking...LOL!!  And some of my older children were up before dawn.  Time to get breakfast going and face the busyness of the day.  Hope you all have a blessed Monday!

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2 comments:

Large Family Small World said...

You sure are getting quite a bit done and are well prepared! After a recent move to a new state I'm working on rebuilding my pantry.
I miss snow, it gives such a soft, warm and cozy feeling when you are well prepared for it. I'm looking forward to moving back to a snowy area in a few years. For now we are enjoying 70 degree weather and cactuses in the yard at this assignment!

Potato Recipes said...

Godd bless

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