Just a few more days!

  It's been almost 10 months since I last wrote a blog post.  I really am not even sure where to start....

  I wish I had kept better blog posts this year, but I was so hesitant because most days it just didn't seem true.  It's hard sometimes to write all of my feelings in one spot and go back and read them months or years later.  But this past month, I decided it was time to record this amazing time.

  In March, this year, I was finishing up my EMR class and one evening I was having quite a bit of lower abdominal pain.  One of the teachers, and our friend, was concerned and brought me heating pads and made me promise to go to the doctor in the morning.  I promised, but was hesitant because I figured it had to do with my PCOS.  I knew I had a cyst on my ovary and was scared there was probably more now and decisions would have to be made about medication.  I had experienced several miscarriages over the past few years and I knew the medication would act as a fertility drug also.  So Ronnie and I decided to go to the doctor together to try and make the best decision.  I had finally come to a place of contentment of not having any more children and realizing they were all getting older now.  I had prayed for years (8 years to be exact) for another baby after Leah, but finally decided to pray for peace instead.
  The next morning, March 12, I called in and got an appointment for that morning.  We walked in and Misty, the nurse took my vitals and listened to the symptoms of the pain and had me give a urine sample.  She very quickly came back in and joyfully said, "Congratulations!!  You're pregnant!"  Ronnie and I just looked at each other in shock, which quickly turned to panic for me, because I knew there was no point in getting my hopes up.  Not to mention, I figured with this pain, that meant something bad.  The doctor (who is also our close friend) came in and congratulated us, but also tried to console me.  I was immediately thinking ectopic since I was in so much pain.  He ordered an ultrasound to ease my mind and we quickly came home to explain to the kids.  We told them that I had positive pregnancy test and to pray all day while we waited to go to the hospital.  During that time I had to have a talk with Lindsay, who was a little puzzled on how I could get pregnant after all this time.  I pulled out one of "health/birds & bees" books and this was the last page.  And all at once, I felt like God just spoke to me, saying, "I am in control and I have amazing plan for this baby boy!"

  3 o'clock finally rolled around and we went to the hospital for the ultrasound, where we were quickly relieved to see a beautiful heartbeat and a tiny little baby placed perfectly inside my uterus where it belonged.  The pain was sure enough coming from the cyst that was on my ovary, but the ultrasound tech assured us that cysts typically dissolve with pregnancy.   She said she was very surprised I was able to get pregnant for all the follicles on my other ovary from the PCOS!
  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening letting the kids call and tell their grandparents and our friends.  We knew it was early, but this was the first heartbeat we had seen since Leah and we knew we'd need the prayer!  Not to mention, we knew this was a miracle!

  The next day I called to make an appointment with the OB (who is also a good friend of ours).  They got me in within 2 weeks and started prenatal care right away.  Due to precautions (and my maternal age) he sent me to Indy to have some genetic testing done.  This was one of the hardest things throughout the entire pregnancy.  We had to go back to the same area where Hannah had lived her whole life in the hospital.  Tears just streamed down my face when we turned on 86th Street and shivers ran down my spine when we passed her hospital.  It had been 10 years since I walked out of that building carrying my lifeless child.  Thankfully, the office we were going to was in another building and my parents were meeting us for support, so I gathered myself together and prayed the appointment went smoothly.  They went through my medical history, mostly about Hannah, and took blood to run tests for things such as Downs Syndrome and Turner's.  We also were given the option to find out the sex of the baby this early.  (Even though, deep inside I already knew it was a boy.)  We had ask our church prayer group to cover us in prayer for these tests, because I just didn't know if my heart could handle having another child in that hospital.  Several days later after waiting on pins and needles, I finally called back to Indy to see if they had gotten the results.  She opened them while on the phone with me.  We put her on speaker phone so the girls could hear (Derek was at work)...….All clear on the genetic disorders....Praise the Lord!  And then she ask, "Do you want to know the sex of the baby?  What do you think it is?"  "A boy!" I quickly answered.  "Yes!, 99% chance that it is a boy!" She replied.  We were all so excited!!  So we ran in and dyed 2 eggs, one blue and one pink and took over to the farm for a little gender reveal for Derek.  He was soooo excited!!!  He just kept saying he had been praying for a brother for years!

  All of my prenatal care went very smoothly.  I had to make one more trip up to Indy for them to check my uterine wall since this would be my 5th C-section and there is more of a risk the more you have.  The doctor up there quickly cleared me to deliver down here and said there wasn't any need for me to come back to Indy unless something changed.  Praise the Lord!!

  I did develop gestational diabetes during the 3rd trimester, which has not been fun, but it hasn't killed me either ;)  I've done weekly NST these last 2 months, which have actually been nice to hear his precious heartbeat every week, here at the end. 

  Now, as I write this, my C-section is scheduled for this Wednesday.  I am getting very nervous about the surgery.  After all these years, I never in my wildest dreams thought we'd be doing this again.  I've spent this whole pregnancy being in awe of how it all worked out!  I've worried over this baby growing up by itself, but the kids are soooo excited for him to come, I know he will be beyond loved and included even as they each move on while he is still here at home. 
   What's his name, you ask?  He will be named Daniel Lee Roach.  We knew we wanted a "D" name to go along with Derek.  Ronnie has always been very insistent that our kids' names mean something.  Daniel is after our doctor that we are such close friends with and who has been such a inspiration in Ronnie's life and he and his wife have helped us in so many ways with our Christian walk and parenting.  Lee is Ronnie's middle name that we will be passing on.  Needless to say, we are all beyond excited to meet and finally hold and cuddle Mr. Daniel!!

~For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked him.~

1 Samuel 1:27

Hiking, Our Fun and Cheap Hobby

  Here in southern Indiana, the weather changes by the hour.  Last Saturday, we were blessed with some beautiful sunshine and decided to take advantage of it.

  Ronnie and I have always loved to explore.  Once we had children, we realized we needed to find something do together but we couldn't afford to take fancy vacations or go out every weekend and drop $100 on an activity.  Ronnie grew up riding around on country roads finding new places and tent camping.  I grew up camping in a 5th wheel camper traveling all over.  So we knew we wanted to pass on our love of camping, but we were too adventurous to just sit around a campfire for an entire weekend.  So Ronnie started showing us some hiking trails.  After the first one, we were hooked!

  We've been learning about the Appalachian Trail through some YouTube videos and hiking blogs.  I've always had a dream to hike the 2,000 + mile trail, but just don't believe I'd ever have the endurance to try it.  However, a friend of ours told us about a trail here in southern Indiana that people training for the AT hike,  The Knobstone Trail.  It's approximately 58 miles long and winds through 3 counties.  So we decided to go and check it out.  One end of the Knobstone is only about 25 miles from our house.  So we all packed up our camelbacks, first aid kits, and laced up our hiking shoes.  

  We loaded up and drove over to Delaney Park in Washington County.  We found a trailhead parking lot and headed out.  It was so gorgeous!  We saw a beaver dam and there was a pretty little lake.  It was a bit wet in places, but that didn't stop us from having fun!  There was a beautiful stream and amazing foothills, that made you feel like you were hiking in a small Smoky Mountain range.  We were have a great time.  We had been hiking for about an hour when we met another hiker on the trail and ask him about the trail.  He informed us were not to the Knobstone yet.  We were on a trail called the Spurgeon Hollow loop.  He told us the trailhead for the Knobstone was inside the Delaney Park.  When we were finished hiking, we drove on into the park and went to look for the beginning the Knobstone.  We think we found it, but couldn't really find a good place to park.  So we're going to go back sometime when the park is in season and find out more info.  

  So in the meantime, I thought I'd share pictures from our hike.  I'm also sharing some of our other favorite trails!  Click on the title of the trail and it will take you to a link with info on each trail.

Spurgeon Hollow Loop Trail

Pioneer Mothers in Paoli, IN

                                    

3 Dune Challenge, Indiana Dunes

We even found some trails on the beach while looking for lighthouses in Michigan!

                                                 

                                                   Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

Abrams Falls, Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee

Hemlock Cliffs, English, Indiana

Psalm 121: 1-2 

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

  

Christmas History, Meanings and Epiphany

  I promised last month to write a post on the History of Christmas.  We have spent the last 7 years wearing ourselves out trying to make the right decisions about holidays and paganism.  I won't go into all the things we did feel convicted to give up and felt freedom in keeping, but I would like to share some of the resources we found related to explaining the History behind Christmas.  
  There is so much contemplation over celebrating Christmas on December 25.  Through these resources, we were able to come to peace with practicing Christmas purely as a celebration of His birth and His coming and not to become so wrapped up in the actual date.  

  This documentary is very informative about dates and how incredible our Creator is!  I highly encourage you to take the time to watch it.  

The Star of Bethlehem

  This is a clip from one of our favorite movies, "Why Do We Call it Christmas?"  This is the 12 questions from the movie.  We love this and it is so informative even for adults!  

Epiphany ~ January 6

  Like I said before, our friends introduced us to the Holiday of Epiphany.  I had never even heard of it before!  We have not celebrated it yet, and I'm not sure if we really will or how it will look for us, but I wanted to share with you anyway.  

  Here is a wonderful blog post on the History of the day and how another family celebrates Epiphany.  

Three Kings Day Celebration

  So in conclusion, it's important to remember, never to stop seeking Him!  Be fervent in your search for wisdom.  No matter how or when you celebrate, keep Christ in the center!  He is truly the Reason for ALL the Seasons!

Christmas Blessings

  

     You've heard the saying "a Christmas Miracle has happened"...….well, I'd like to share our "Christmas Miracle" story with you.  It starts out just as your typical Christmas story starts.  Work was really slow and Ronnie had gotten sick and was not able to work even if the work was available.  Derek had ask for a computer for Christmas.  I knew money was too tight for us to be able to afford that.  But I also knew, he could really benefit from getting a new computer; with his school work, some new classes he was going to be taking, and being on the homeschool Journalism staff.  So I started looking at different brands and ask on my Facebook page what everyone recommended.  I was hoping all the while some sale would hit and I would be able to afford one.  

  One day I received a text from a sweet lady at church, who has a computer shop, telling me that someone had just traded in a very nice lap top and they would sell it to us for a very reasonable price.  I was just floored!  I was in awe that something others would consider worldly, but we knew had potential to help Derek, God seemed fit to bless him with.  

                                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Every year, I have the kids make out Christmas lists and I split it up and hand it out between all our different family members.  This year, Leah's Christmas list said three things:

A Horse

A Halter

A Rural King Gift Card

  Easy enough, right?  Ha!  The child is 8 and she's spunky, but not a take charge kind of person.  She seems to live her in own little world most of the time.   So if we were even to consider getting her a horse, it would need to be dead broke and not skittish around children.  Oh, and then there's this thing of money!  Typically, a decent horse that's broke is expensive and remember we're dealing with the issue of no work...

  So like a responsible adult, I'm just not even considering this horse idea.  I'm trying to coax other ideas out of her and she keeps telling, "Nothing else, I just really want a horse."  I spent half of November and the first 2 weeks of December racking my brain, trying to come up with ideas for this child to open on Christmas morning.  

  One afternoon, some friends of ours, that we don't see very often at all, came over.  The kids all had fun playing and the mother and I spent the morning talking Heart of Dakota and Charlotte Mason books.  We had a wonderful visit. 

  When they were packing up to leave, we had to go to the barn to gather all the children and she commented on how nice our barn was.  She mentioned that Cricket (our current horse) looked like she needed a friend.  She also mentioned they had an older horse too and they were looking for a new home for it!  At first, I just brushed it off, but the more she talked about it, the more I realized this could possibly be the answer to Leah's prayer.  However, the next hurdle was Ronnie.  He's not been excited about having another horse, because we don't have more fence up.  She assured him more fence or not, the horse would be a good one for us and the price was excellent......FREE!  We told her we would talk about it and get back with her.  So I tried to play it low key, but I was super excited about the idea of making Leah's dream come true.  

  By the next day, Ronnie was warming up to the idea and started thinking about how we could make it work.  By the end of the week, we had text them and let them know we wanted the horse.  Ronnie was going a million miles an hour with excitement of how he would surprise Leah with it Christmas morning.  I'll let the video tell the rest of the story...  

I know that this is all just minor in the grand scheme of things.  We look through human eyes and see no way, we even try to come up with back up plans to maybe suffice, but God sometimes has a bigger picture.  

  I heard this song today and I think it sums up my feelings just perfectly.  It's called "Didn't I Walk on the Water", by The Dunaways.  

…...She hears a voice so soft and low  

He says I've moved like that before,

 I'll do this little thing

And I'll oh, I'll give you so much more.

Didn't I walk on the water

And calm the raging sea

I spoke to the wind, 

it hushed and I gave you peace

Didn't I run to your rescue, 

Didn't I hear you when  you called.

I walked right beside you just so you wouldn't fall

Didn't I leave all of heaven just to die for your sins,

Searched until I found you and 

I'd do it all again

A Day in Our Life

A Day in Our Life...

Every day is different here, between running the kids to their events, kids coming here for piano lessons, and wrecker runs.  You just never know what the schedule will hold for the day.  However, a couple times a week we have a day at home all day and they are truly treasured!!  Here in the Midwest, just like motherhood, the seasons change quickly.  I want to savor each day (even the hard ones) as if it is priceless gift straight from God.  I realize how quickly I have forgotten what it was like when the children were all littles and how busy my days were, so I thought I'd jot down what my days have been like lately to remember once this season too passes.



7:30 - Wake up, check the weather outside, and bump up the thermostat.
  Get a cup of hot chocolate and curl up with my favorite fleece blanket and my bible.

8:00 - Wake up the kids, start a load of laundry, clean out dishwasher.

8:30 - Make a bottle for the lamb, Send the kids out to feed and do morning chores, Start breakfast sandwiches (or oatmeal, cereal, or muffins).

9:00 - Eat Breakfast, Get Dressed in real clothes, Brush Teeth, Wash Faces, and Make Beds.

9:30 - Start Schoolwork (Monday mornings - Table Time: Ethics Study, Family Storytime, Sibling Devotional).

10:00 - Listen to Leah read, Help Lindsay & Leah with Math, Check over Derek's work, and answer questions.  Cleaning Kitchen, prepping supper, folding laundry, and sweeping floors.

12:00 -  Lunch, Daddy comes in to join us!

12:30 - Bottle feed lamb.

1:00 - Finish up school work, practice music lessons, watch educational videos. (Tuesday afternoons ~ Poetry Teatime and Story Starters)

2:00 -  Kids read library books, work on craft projects, woodworking, play board games, or play in rooms.  I work on any projects (4-H work, schedules, paperwork, bills, future lesson plans).

4:00 - Clean up Living Room of all toys and start getting ready for Evening time.  Finish up some laundry.

5:30 - Start Supper, work in the kitchen, bottle feed lamb.

6:30 - Supper Time

7:30 - Sit down as a family to watch tv or play a game.

9:00 - Family Worship Time and Prayer Time

9:30 - Bottle feed lamb, Bedtime


Colossians 3:23~
   And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.

A Week Full of Lambs

  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you can see how busy last week became for us.  For those of you who do not know, our family is very involved in 4-H.  Our kids have shown everything from Poultry, Swine, Dogs, Sheep, and Horses, not to mention all the non-animal projects.  (I hope one day to have a post on how influential 4-H has been in our lives.)  Over the past year, we have made a few changes to our little homestead farm.  We gave all of our chickens away to my best friend and we sent all of our pigs to market.  We've decided to concentrate on the sheep, horses, and dogs.  We currently had 3 ewes (female sheep) left from previous 4-H projects and we bought 1 more ewe and a ram off my other best friend earlier in the year.  We had high hopes of breeding all our own 4-H projects this year!

  I grew up on a sheep farm and felt pretty confident in what I was doing and could teach the kids all about sheep.  I have found, I was gravely mistaken!  My father knew what he was doing and I just participated, evidently.  I have youtubed, googled and read many books, not to mention constantly texted our dear friends and the vet trying to find answers for things I have either forgotten or Daddy had just taken care of on his own.  

  I had a feeling that one ewe was going to lamb early, but I had no idea 3 of them were.  Ronnie and I had worked in the barn the week before last prepping all the pens to be ready to lamb, putting down fresh straw and closing up any holes in the walls and putting some windows in for natural light.  The girls and I went out early last Wednesday morning and fed and watered everything and then headed back inside to start school.  We hadn't even been inside an hour when the excitement started.  Ronnie called and said, "Hurry out here, we've got lambs on the ground!"  So we all came running out and sure enough, our first ewe had twins.  

Then, the next evening the next ewe had another set of twins!  It was quite cold that night so Ronnie immediately got the salamander heater going and a heat lamp hung for them.  

Leah holding one of her lambs, Oliver

  Then on Saturday we had my mom's side of the family Christmas here at our house.  We had a wonderful time visiting with family from Ohio.  It was a busy day and just when everyone was settling in for the evening and getting ready for bed...…...we had another set of twins!!  This time it was a first time "mother" and I was afraid of how she would care for them.  It was super cold again this night and she didn't clean them very well.  The next morning, one of the lambs seemed to be fine walking around but the other was very weak and couldn't seem to stand on its own.  I nutridrenched both of them, hoping that would help, but by evening time I was pretty worried about the weak lamb.  This ewe was Derek's and I really hated to see him lose a lamb this soon.  So I decided to try a bottle.  We gave it a little colostrum and it took the bottle right away, like it was starving.  

Derek and his ewe lamb, Juniper

  The next morning his ears were a little perkier, so I decided to try another bottle and hope it would eventually latch on to its mama.  I kept putting it over to the ewe and it kept trying but just would not latch like its twin.  It downed the bottle again.  Each feeding we would try to latch him on and each time, he just turned away.  So now.....we have a bottle lamb too.  Derek has been doing an amazing job making bottles and making sure he feeds on time and now the lamb has fell in love with Derek.  

Lindsay with her ewe lamb, Pearl

Bottle feeding Grover

  We are now waiting on our last ewe to lamb and hoping for twins out of her as well.  So far we've ended up with 4 ram lambs and 2 ewe lambs.  We had some pretty unfortunate issues with our lambs last year, so we're hoping this year is better.  Overall, we have been very blessed with this lambing season and all the learning we have been doing.  This has been a whole family affair, which is what we strive to do in most everything.  It truly brings me great joy to watch my children with these lambs.  The excitement in their eyes when they see the lambs for the first time is absolutely priceless.

  I know there are some out there that think I'm strange or crazy, and that's ok.  I've made it my life goal to find some kind of blessing in every day.  I'm realizing more and more that life is ever so precious and short.  I pray that one day our children will look back on this season of raising sheep and realize that something so small brought memories that were incredibly great!    

  In having all these lambs during the Christmas season, I am reminded of a few scriptures.  There is something so simplistic of raising sheep.  I wouldn't really call our family shepherds, but I guess we really are.  When you put it in that perspective, it becomes very overwhelming that a family like ours could have been some of those out on that hillside!

Luke 2:8-14 ~

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And ^[cbehold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a ^[d]manger.”

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill^[e] toward men!”