Farm Fun!

We all love hanging out at "the farm." Prairie Point Ranch is home to one of our favorite families and all of their animals nestled on 17 acres in Haslet, TX. Olivia adores the farm and all of its fun activities. I'm sure that if she actually lived there and was required to do the chores she finds so much fun it would lose all its appeal all too soon!

Her latest favorite is to help Aunt Shelley feed the baby goats. She knows all their names, of course. She thinks it is hilarious that the goats try to nibble on the hem of her shirt and dress like it's food to eat. Feeding the fish and the turtle rank a close second, but are never menial enough to be forgotten.

She always has to check in on her chick, "Hen"nah Montennah. Hennah is growing nicely and luckily, is a hen......now that we can actually tell. : ) (Our girl is the blonde in the back.) Speaking of chicks and chickens, Olivia also likes to walk around the grounds looking for eggs. She won't actually step into the hen house, "It's got poop on the floor.....ew", but she will pick them up anyplace else she finds them. There aren't usually more than a couple of eggs, which never fails to disappoint her. We have been known to put the eggs she finds back down on the ground to be found again....Aunt Shelley is so smart!

On Mother's Day we had a fun time taking some pictures in the back field where the Indian Paintbrushes grow wild. We had a hard time keeping the baby goats out of the photos, but they did cooperate a little.

Out of the mouthes of babes

Sometimes an ordinary day takes a turn and things become special. Today is one of those days. On the drive home from Awanas, Olivia and I are heading home and I am teaching her a song the pastor mentioned in the Sunday service. It was one that I hadn't thought of since I was a child and I remembered it as soon as he started to sing it.

"O be careful little eyes what you see

O be careful little eyes what you see

The Father up above

He is looking down in love

So, be careful little eyes what you see."

She then asked me, "Why do we have to be careful what we see?" I explained that we can help keep our thoughts and actions pure by not watching things that teach us bad behavior and by not looking at things that make us think bad thoughts. She agreed that this sounded like a good idea. She went on to say that God was in her tummy. I said that no, He was not, but that He could be in her heart if she decided that she wanted Him to be the boss of her life. You pray to God and tell him you want Him to be your boss and that you know you are naughty, but that you want to do what He wants you to do and He will live in your heart.

I hear a small voice from the backseat say,

"Dear God, I want to make a good choice. I want you for my boss and I will do what you say and I cannot tell a lie. Amen."

It just doesn't get much better than that.

The rest of the drive home consisted of a discussion about our roadway system. I try to tell her what road we are driving on and she asked if we were on Denton Highway. I told her we were actually on North Tarrant Parkway. She asked if you parked on the parkway. I said that we drive on the parkway, but we park in the driveway. Her response, "THAT is ridiculous."

This and that

It has been an eternity since my last posting, but I am eager to get back on track. Today my daughter got glasses. I never imagined that my 4 year old would need glasses, but here we are nonetheless. When her vision was tested and it turned out she wasn't seeing as well as she should we had some mixed emotions. On one hand, we were glad that she was excited about wearing glasses, but both her father and I wore glasses as kids and we know how cruel kids can be. We certainly didn't want her teased about being a four eyes. She is going to have a hard enough time growing up having the mom who is bald and wears wigs. I think she will handle any harassment well because she really doesn't seem to care much what other people think. She likes being that one kid that stands out in the crowd.

My business is going well. "You've Got It Maid" has 3 solid customers and several inquiries....which is about all I care for at this point. I keep busy while Olivia is in Pre School and the income pays for the Pre School, so it is win-win.

Johnathan is back at work full-time after hurting his back in September. He was on light duty through the first of the year. We really found out what life without over-time and off duty income is like and it wasn't pretty. Luckily, we signed up for Financial Peace University (a Dave Ramsey financial course) and that really helped us blaze our way through the end of the year. Our church is now offering Financial Peace and we are teaching it to our House to House group. We are only months away from being debt free and we are so excited!
http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/

Olivia's diet is still pretty limited. She started out well and added grilled cheese sandwiches to the list of acceptable fare, but after trying a few items that were deemed "too too icky" she really started reacting negatively to suppertime. We decided a reprieve was in order and now we reward the act of trying a new food, but don't require it. Baby steps. At least the items she will eat are healthy and I am happy to say that she was given a sip of orange soda once and thought it was "too spicy." I want to keep her away from soda for as long as possible. Who would have thought that a child would consider chicken nuggets and spaghetti "too too icky."