A day for the Special Plate!

The special plate is a family tradition that we really enjoy. It is coming out today to celebrate a special day in the life of our daughter, Robyn!

Today is Robyn's 11th Birthday!!! She has had an incredible year of growth: physically, spiritually and emotionally. God has an amazing plan for her life and we are blessed to share it with her!! Her passion and enthusiasm for life is something I can learn from.....

Robyn is my right hand helper in the kitchen! She is really getting a list of skills going.... her brothers love being able to make requests and for the most part she is happy to comply. Her new skills are very helpful to me, too! Here she is helping me make blackberry jam.
Happy Birthday, Robyn!!!!!!

Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

Hunting Turkey

Last week, our 7 year old ETHAN, shot his first turkey during Indiana's turkey youth hunt weekend!! EXCITING!! Nate got in on the picture taking action and has big plans of getting his first turkey next year.

Ethan had such a GREAT time with his Dad on this hunting weekend.

The turkey tasted great, too! I cooked the turkey breast in my crock pot seasoned with a packet of Italian seasoning (mixed according to the package). It was moist, yummy and special. The next night I turned what meat we had left into creamy turkey and noodles.

This past weekend it was my husband's turn to bag a turkey! More yummy meat and great memories of the hunt.

Anyone else have turkey hunters in their family?? No, I didn't ask if any one has any turkeys for family! LOL!!

Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

Visions of Strawberries dance through my head!

I really LOVE this time of year!!! Anyone who knows me in real life knows that they will most likely find me OUTSIDE! For the last week or so I have been busy in the garden and in my new strawberry patch. Our local U-pick strawberry farm shut down 2 years ago (sooo sad). I have had a small strawberry patch, but not enough to put up jam, freeze, and EAT fresh....... This year, our solution, was to put in our own LARGE patch so that we will have all the strawberries we could want and I will have extra to sell. It has taken a lot of time and work (we wanted to do it right), but it looking great. I will try to get pictures posted soon..... I am so bad about downloading pictures off my camera. All said and done I will have 150 ft of strawberry rows (each 2 ft wide)...... I will also still have my other small patch.... I do indeed have visions of strawberries dancing in my head!!

On a side note.... My Blogging fast was wonderful!!!! It again revealed to me how much time I waste on the computer and how much mental energy all this blogging (reading and writing) consumes.... Really, when something happens my first thought shouldn't be whether it will make a good blog post!! :) LOL!! I also shouldn't be plagued by guilt that is induced by reading all the wonderful things that others are doing..... I can only DO so much... I'm only ONE person!!! I just read other blogs and want to do it all, too!! YIKES!!

I recently purchased a "Simply Said" design from my friend, Michelle, and I think it is a perfect reminder for me..... "Enjoy this Moment, for this is Your Life!"

Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

Time for a week long media fast....

Sometimes, my mind just gets cluttered..... My house is in need of a good spring cleaning but more importantly my mind needs one!! It is hard for my Spirit to hear God when my mind is so busy consuming tv, internet, radio etc! I don't even give myself time to think some days, let alone enough time for quality prayer with my savior!! This week I will be abstaining from media consumption. I will open up some time for my Spirit to refill with Jesus.

I have also been really thinking about relationships... the ones I have with my husband, my children, my extended family, my friends, my church..... In our modern, fasted paced world, it takes genuine determination to have real depth to any relationship. I have also found something very interesting.... facebook is both good and bad for me. The good is that I have connected with long lost friends and I can easily send messages to people I need to pass along information to or have a question for.... love that. However, the bad is that it feeds surface level friendships that are based completely on my own convenience. If I don't want/feel/need someone on facebook I simply don't get on. Real, deep, truly meaningful relationships are not so simple and require committed time and self sacrifice. We live in an incredible self centered culture and facebook has a tendency to feed this in me. I want REAL relationships with people!!! I want to spend TIME with people, I want to have CONVERSATIONS with people!!! I am blessed to have a few friends that go beyond facebook and I want to nurture those relationships. I also want to spend more un-hurried time with my husband and children.......

So, if you think of it... will you pray for me?? Thank you!!


Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

Happy Sad Mommy moment

Last night was Kindergarten Round Up (Enrollment).... for our youngest, Nate. Happy. For Nate. He is growing up to be a wonderful boy! Sad. For Me. No more little ones to be at home with all day. It is one of those mommy moments that sneaks up on you! When the boys (as we affectionately call the youngest two) were little there were many days I didn't think I would survive their childhood! They were BUSY boys! My Grandmother even embroidered a wall hanging for me that says: "Mothers of little boys work from SON up till SON down"! So TRUE!!

I am HAPPY for Nate... I wouldn't want him to stay a baby forever, but SAD for me... these Mommy transitions take some time to get used to. A few years from now it will be something else.... like my oldest getting his drivers license! Ok, YIKES, I'm not going to think about that!! Oldest, Wes, turning 13 this summer and Nate starting kindergarten is enough for me this year!!

Have a BLESSED day, BE a BLESSING!
Heather

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