Welcoming A New Decade

Happy 2010 from Hartland everyone! Wishing you all many blessings and adventures in this new year AND decade that's upon us! Any New Year's resolutions that anyone has made and cares to share? I myself, haven't made any official resolutions, other than to attempt to increase our family's self-sufficiency. But more on that in posts to come!


We had a small dusting of snow just before the new year that was pretty, although it didn't last long. There was no sign of white stuff for Christmas, so I had to sing along to just a couple of Christmas carols early that morning while beautiful, little flakes danced from the sky to the ground. And then all Christmas paraphernalia went into the attic...

The girls enjoyed getting bundled up and playing in the falling snowflakes while they lasted. And then the house was filled with tracked in mud for the rest of the day, until the ground could soak up all the moisture! Here are a couple of video snips of Zoey and Camryn playing. Enjoy!

Promises

I get a sense of wonder with each change of a new season. Each is different and magical in it's own way. I love the cold winter months here in Hartland, but as these of weeks of frost and snow (yes, SNOW!) roll by I begin to long for warmer weather. There are promises of Spring around me, even in December. The blooming of my 7 year old, beautiful geranium plant, the little shoots of green from under a thick layer of straw in the garden (onions sets that were planted in the Fall), and a stackful of seed and garden magazines recently from the mail, teasing me!

Merry Christmas from Hartland!

And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all people. For unto you this day is born in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger". Luke 2: 9-12

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; And the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 9: 6-7

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; Therefore the child to be born will be called holy--The Son of God".
Luke 1: 35

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5: 1

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7: 14

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6: 23

From our family in Hartland, we wish you a very blessed Christmas!

Winter in Hartland

Happy December from our family in Hartland! We took our family heirloom, the Green Beast, out for a photo session not long ago. For fear of posting the wrong year (apologies to Tom and my Dad!) it's a 60's GMC truck that belonged to Tom's grandfather.

The acres of pecan orchard behind our house have lost their leaves, but at this time the trees were still heavy with pecans. When the big tractor-like shakers grab on to the trees, you can feel the ground vibrate many, many yards away at our at our house. Another season, come and gone. We are so blessed to live in such a rural area of our town--we have space to play and create adventures!

Surgery

Our sweet big girl has had problems with enlarged tonsils for several years now. Especially over the last couple of years she's been prone to tonsillitis and strep throat. She was also a little 'nasal sounding' when she talked, snored when sleeping, and seemed liked she had a chronic runny nose! Poor girl! Z's elementary school was dismissed for Winter Break on December 18...And Zoey had a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy on December 21. I felt completely guilty about it, but I know that she is going to be so much healthier for it in the future! We've had it with monthly antibiotics!!!

There is nothing worse than the feeling you have as you watch your semi-drugged 5 year old being wheeled away from you on a stretcher to the operating room. Horrible, HORRIBLE! Everything went smoothly and we were home with her later that morning, along with a mountain of popsicles, ice cream and gatorade. She had a pretty slow week, but was recovered enough to enjoy Christmas. We are a week post-op now, and other than some occasional referred ear pain, she is back on track. What a story she will have for the other Kindergartners when school starts again!

Last Soccer Game

Mid November was Zoey's last soccer game of the season--and it's quite possibly her last soccer game. The kids and families of the Badgers' soccer team have been wonderful, most of the kids on the team (as well as Z) started when they had just turned 4 years old. It's been fun seeing each of them grow over the past three seasons. Zoey, however, has decided that it's time to move on and try different things. Up next, we'll be giving ballet a try! I'm going to miss those fun little games and getting to know all the different families at the soccer practices. Camryn will be able to play in the Spring of 2011 (wow, that was weird to type...) so we'll see if that's what she's like to do. Thanks Badgers for three fun and memorable seasons!

Compost

Over the last couple of years I have become an avid composter. Initially, my idea was to start composting to supplement the soil in my garden (and yes it's definitely a bonus for some healthy plants and beautiful veggies!) But composting kitchen scraps also lessens your household waste and keeps less junk out of landfills. You don't need anything fancy to compost. I usually collect my kitchen waste in a plastic container and empty it out at the end of the day into my compost bin. It's important to add 'brown waste' to the compost as well as the 'green waste' kitchen scraps. Brown waste are things like grass clippings and dried leaves. Keep your compost pile moist and it will break down into black gold for the garden! If you'd like to learn more about composting, visit composting fundamentals--a guide to composting at:
http://vegweb.com/composting/