Well Hello November

November is here!

The holidays are upon us!

And I am SO happy about that!

The first two weeks of November brought some unseasonably warm weather to our neck of the woods.

It was FANTASTIC.

A girlfriend and I wanted to get together for coffee and a chat, but you cannot sit in any of our local coffee shops.

Thanks to that great weather I took some camp chairs to town for our coffee date.

Yes, I did!

We had our coffee date in the parking lot!

We got a lot of looks, but I bet people were thinking “why didn’t I think of that!”


The beautiful weather gave us a lot of opportunity to be outside, to go on brisk walks, and to enjoy the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets!

Ruby is NOT happy when she gets left behind!


Chad finished up a hunting blind he built and now it is for sale!

It turned out great!


Are you tired of seeing the same things here in our little scrapbook?

School, books, and food on repeat!

Hope not – because here are some more photos of those three things!

School has been wonderful – we are still studying Brazil!

I bought a guava for us to taste because of that fact.

We must not have let it ripen enough.

It was very yucky!

I gave it to the hens when we didn’t like it and they did not touch it either!


My trio and I do spelling every school day with a curriculum we have been using since Kayla was little.

My husband tells me often to not try to fix things that are not broken – and this spelling program works like a charm!


The two littles are learning about Flying Creatures in Science this year.

Birds are fascinating!

I absolutely love this illustration and narration that Eliza did!

Read what she wrote!

She is CUTE.


Lane is a Math whiz.

As seen here by his pre-algebra grades.


Tate still will ask what things are – and he has been immersed in the English language for five years now!

This day he said “Mom, what is a Doug?”


I know I take too many photos of the cute ways that they sit.

I can’t help myself!!


Another thing I have a ton of photos of!

Littles in God’s Word.

You can’t blame me though, I just know you can’t!


Our afternoons are still full of the same things too!

Read aloud, books, games, time outside, and a movie once in a while.


My days are fullllll.

Same things as always!

I cannot imagine anything better than running this little nest called Twin Oaks and schooling these beautiful children!

Food prep – well, I talked about food prep in a post here.

Food prep is just a big part of life!

I am glad I have helpers!


We bought a case of bananas recently for all the smoothie and chunky monkey making!


Bible study with my girlfriend turned into more of a chatting and bread making get together this last time!

She brought her bread machine and some 1 to 1 gluten-free flour to see if we could make a good loaf of gluten-free bread.

We loaded that bread machine, she headed home, and the rest of us headed to Clyde’s birthday party.

When we got back home at 9 p.m. the house was FULL of smoke and this is what we found had happened to the bread.

YIKES!

We are so thankful the dogs were ok, and that there was not a fire!

It took three days to clear the smoke from the house!


I pre-ordered the new Bible Recap book months ago, and it arrived this past week!

I honestly ordered it to support the ministry, but I LOVE IT!!


Speaking of supporting people – there is a boy from China who lives in California with his forever family.

He is built a lot like our Tate.

Ryker just had a BIG surgery at the beginning of November.

We bought some sweatshirts they were selling as a fund raiser to help with their medical bills.

We love these sweatshirts!


Did you all vote?

We did.

CRAZY WORLD.


Eliza came upstairs one evening and told us she was supporting Trump.

We died laughing.

If you need some JOY in your life, hang out with children all day!


We work on building relationships here through chores sometimes!

I have Lane and Eliza as the bed team this year – they wash all of the sheets every Tuesday and remake the beds together.

Team work teaches SO many lessons!!


I had a celiac reaction last week.

I’ll spare you the details, but it had me in bed for the better part of two days.

I was so thankful for everyone who did everything I normally do, and for kiddos who like to be with their mama!


Last but certainly NOT least…my Bible time.

The last few months God’s Word has just come alive for me!

It’s exciting!

And life-changing!

I’m so thankful for my Bible and the time I get to spend reading and studying and memorizing it!

If you are not a Christian, read the book of John.

If you are a Christian, read your Bible!

I promise you will never regret it!

It has such eternal value!


One more thing.

If you are spending lots of time watching media and news – STOP.

Please stop!

Open your Bible instead.

The BEST way to face this craziness in the world right now is WITH THE ARMOR OF GOD – His written Word!

Take your thoughts captive to CHRIST.

Live for Him!

Let your light SHINE in this darkness!!

God’s plan will prevail!!

Amen and amen!!

Happy November, everyone!!

Clyde Strength is FIVE!!

I seriously had a melt down when Tate and Eliza both turned five…but now our oldest grand baby is five, and his sister will be five soon too!

HOW did that happen so fast??

A week ago Thursday, we all headed to the farm to celebrate Clyde’s birthday with him!

First we had a yummy meal and then it was time for gifts.

My photos are mostly blurry, but I am still adding them here – because the memories captured mean more to me than my photography skills!


Clyde had asked for chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and his mama made him just that!

I love this series of photos – they show our Clyde’s personality so perfectly!


What a sweet little celebration it was!

Clyde is full of enthusiasm, JOY, inquisitiveness, and energy…but has the softest heart and fills his first-born-big-brother roll perfectly.

He is an amazing willing helper to his Mama!

He fills my heart SO full!!

For those of you who are already in the season of being a Grandma, you know how full my heart is!

For those of you not quite there yet – JUST WAIT.

What a gift to see your own children be parents, and what a blessing to be a part of your grand children’s lives!

Clyde Strength – we are SO grateful you were born!!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Happy, happy birthday to you, Clydey boy!!

A Big Part of Our Life

I do not have any memories as a young girl of being in the kitchen helping my Mom cook and bake.

My Mom was a fantastic cook, and we always had delicious food growing up!

After Blake and I were married, somewhere along the way I started to love to be in the kitchen – making new recipes, learning new ways to cook and bake, and making everything from scratch.

I was the one who made cinnamon rolls from scratch for Saturday morning breakfast, took the fancy pampered chef appetizers to get-togethers, and was always asked to bring my homemade rolls to Thanksgiving dinner.

Those rolls were appropriately named “the best buns in town!”

I just LOVE how the Lord prepared me for what lay ahead!

Once I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 2006, my love for being in the kitchen took on a whole new meaning.

It is such a HUGE part of our life – but now it is out of necessity.

I still make rolls!

I’m not sure they are “the best buns in town,” but they are good!


Celiac disease, topped with other autoimmune diseases, and children who are dealing with the same – is not all about what you cannot eat….

It is very much about making sure the bites you CAN eat count!

Food is either poison or medicine – depending on what you eat, that is!

Food that is good for you is in its natural state and it is beautiful too!


The further we got into our healing journey, the more Blake and I realized eating WELL would make a difference in our healing, if the Lord chose to bless our efforts.

He has.

A hundred times over, the Lord has blessed our efforts!!


When you add the need for allergen-free foods to the amount of mouths we have here to feed, it is a BIG job!

Because we eat mostly fresh produce, our fridge looks like this before grocery day –


And then like this after grocery day!


I am SO thankful for ALL my helpers and their own dedication to their own health and healing journeys.

Addie Mae is the best grocery shopping helper!


Tate is inheriting his Grandma’s and his Mama’s love of being in the kitchen and it makes me SO happy!!


He was helping me make six layer bars here after we found a new “safe” ingredient at the grocery store.

Please make note of the photo bomber.

Thank you very much.


Here those bars are headed to the oven.

They got rave reviews, although they were way too sweet for our taste buds!


Eliza also likes to be in the kitchen too!

I enjoy spending time with her this way!!


Addie’s love for baking is inspiring and something I hope she passes down to her children someday!

She makes delicious things!


Of course, there is always room for treats.

Ice cream is one of our favorites!

We make ice cream from scratch a lot, but there are some very yummy safe ice creams at the store too!


It goes without saying that I (and we) are very aware of how abundantly blessed we are.

I sit in the quiet of the morning and ask the Lord often “why us?”

“Why do we get to live like this, with so much, when there are others in other places who live with nothing?”

We simply are not worthy of ALL the Lord does for us!

I will always be grateful for the joy the Lord has given me in the kitchen when it is such a need in our lives!

How I love to fill bellies!!

Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for us!!

Grand Days Are the BEST Days!

If you have been here in this little space on this world wide web for even a second you know that our BEST days are when they are spent with our FAVORITES!

Our grand babies!!

Either here at Twin Oaks, over at Shiloh Valley Farm, or any where in between – we LOVE time with our grand babies!!

I can never get enough of them!


They are growing up fast and just FULL of life, inquisitiveness and JOY!

Our youngest children and our grand babies are growing up like cousins and best friends!


I love this photo and the memory of how NaiNai’s ice pack could make a bonk on the head all better super fast!!


The babies (how much longer can I call them that?) absolutely adore their Aunt and Uncles too.

Watching them together fills my heart to overflowing!!


No better way to fill up our table or our beds!


Whenever they are here at NaiNai’s house and have to leave to go back home, Clyde taps me on my leg and says “NaiNai, NaiNai, NaiNai! I come back, OK?”

You better believe it’s OK, sweet Clyde Strength!!

Make sure you bring your brother and sisters, OK?

I LOVE YOU MY GRAND BABIES SO VERY MUCH!!