This & That . . .

Well, I have certainly neglected the blog lately! I promise I didn't fall off the face of the earth; we've just been busy. :) In random order, here is some of what we've been up to:

• My birthday was a week ago. I'm the ripe old age of 34 now! Jim & Sam made me some homemade peanut butter cups, and I made myself a birthday cake. :) And my parents came over with presents and ice cream.
• The same day, Julia had 2 more teeth pulled--her 2 top front ones. At this rate she's not going to have any teeth left! :( She had developed another gum blister (infection) and Dr. B said he needed to pull the tooth that was affected . . . but that would have left her with one of the teeth just kind of hanging there in front, looking pretty snaggle-toothed, so he offered to pull both of them if I wanted. I decided to go that route, and I think it was for the best. Her gum looks fine now, and we're praying for no more blisters!!!
• Spring has finally sprung around here--kind of. We still have some snow piles, but also lots and lots of mud. And a few bits of green starting to show up here and there. Also, I received my free seeds from Seeds of Change, and started some seedlings--tomatoes, mostly, but also some basil, lettuce, melon, and something else I can't remember right now. It was a little late to start them, but hopefully they'll do OK and be ready for planting in late May/early June.
• The chickens and ducks are all doing great, and the chickens are happy to be able to go outside more now. (They refuse to walk in snow, so they don't go out in the winter except to sit on their perch once in a while.) The ducks, on the other hand, spent time in and out of their house all winter--Jim kept a small space of water open for them in their pond and they were pretty happy about that. But a lot MORE happy now that they have the whole pond and brook to play in again! Also, Jemima has started laying eggs. Only problem is, she lays them all over the place and they're not always in very good shape when we find them. We were really hoping she'd hatch some ducklings, but not sure how to encourage her to do that--I guess maybe she just has to be in the mood?
• I ordered used curriculum for next year for Sam. I was so thrilled to find it at a great price, and to be ahead of the game this year (last year I didn't order it till just in time to start school). My package arrived Saturday and I had such fun going through it . . . till I realized that half of the books were missing. We checked the package weight against the weight listed on the label and realized from that (and the condition of the box) that a bunch of books must have fallen out on the way here. Major bummer! I contacted the USPS and our local postmaster was very helpful--he asked me to bring him a list of the missing books, which I promptly did, and he forwarded it on to the lost mail dept. Since we know two facilities where the package was processed, he seemed hopeful that the books might be found. If they are, they'll show up here eventually. So I'm praying and waiting to see what happens with that!
• We are currently involved in the very beginning stages of a new church plant in our area, which is super exciting! We really love the church where we have been attending for more than 6 years now, but it's hard to get very involved because it's an hour from our home. Our leaving there has nothing to do with the recent trials that our church has been going through--just to clarify and avoid speculation. :) As I said, we love it there and are so thankful for the blessing that ministry has been in our lives. But God opened this door, pretty much out of the blue, and we are stepping through it . . . on faith, with excitement, although with a little trepidation too! It's not always easy to leave one's comfort zone!!
• We are in the home stretch of school. I think we have about 5 weeks left after this week. Sam and I are both looking forward to a break! But, it has honestly been a really good year. I get so encouraged when I see him actually retaining something that he's learned! He has come so far with his reading, attention span, understanding of math concepts . . . and even the dreaded handwriting has improved. :) We have read so many good books this year, too--it's been so much fun!

Well, I hope to get some more "normal" posts up soon (although since this is a very eclectic blog, I'm not sure what normal is for me! :)). But hopefully this brings you all up to date a little bit on our lives!