Our Little Farm Girl

Not all of our grandchildren are crazy about the farm. For some of them it's too noisy or smelly or dirty, and for some of them it's kind of scary because it's different from what they're used to. The hay barn feels pretty safe, though, because there are kitties! And kitties are cute and fuzzy and fun!!

Aniston & Ayden

Ashley

Marshall

Haylee

(Note: The pictures above are a few years old, and I don't even have a photo of little Ryland at the barn yet. Her day will come!)

Marshall, being "all boy" and almost 14 years old, loves his time at the farm. Machines and animals are right up his alley.

Aniston is our surprising little farm girl (4-1/2 years old). Yes, she's a girly girl, wearing cutesy clothes and hair ribbons, and wanting to pet the little kitties. But the bigger animals don't scare her, and neither do the machines. She'll ride with Grandpa on the noisy tractor and go with him to the poopy pond to see the "dirty, stinky scum." Last night she decided she wanted to help milk the cows!

First order of business: Aniston saw Weldon wearing his apron and wanted to know where hers was. I told her that I don't wear an apron and she didn't need one because it's Grandpa who washes the cows and he's the one who gets wet. But, that will never do. Grandpa got the extra apron and fixed it up "just so" for Aniston.

When Weldon got the cow ready, he had her try milking the old-fashioned way: by hand.

 Then she graduated to the milking machine.

And, finally, Aniston wanted to milk a cow with me! So, of course, we did!

I'm thinking Aniston should grow up real fast and take over the farm. She could do it!!

A BRAND NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! Have you missed me?

Now that you see how cute our little Christmas corner was, I guess it's time to put the tree and the angel back in storage. However, the ornaments will stay hanging on the curtain rod all year long. Through the window you'll notice we didn't (and don't) have any snow.

Life goes on here at the farm, but it seems to be dragging very slowly these days. We've all had nasty colds that haven't wanted to give up. I managed to get Christmas letters out and Christmas gifts wrapped (on Christmas Eve!), but Weldon and I spent Christmas Day at home, all by our lonesome. Not wanting to share our germs with everyone else, we refrained from joining the family in the usual Christmas morning festivities up at Mom Edith's.

But now to more cheerful matters! The other day Weldon came in and asked me, "Who put that wood in our garage?"
-"What wood?"
-"It looks like the wooden shakes that Clay put on his house."

 

Let me tell you, I got excited over that! You see, the "roof" over our bay window needs to be finished with something. Last fall, upon seeing our neighbor's cedar shakes, I said they were absolutely beautiful and thought they would be perfect over our bay window. (They're much prettier/warmer/darker than they appear in the photo.)

Lo and behold, turns out our dear neighbor Les asked Clay to order a bundle for us and have them stained the same as his. Les says he'll put them up in the spring! Woo hoo!!

 

Rather than get discouraged by all the unfinished projects I see on the inside and outside of the house, I have learned to be content with what we have and simply say, "Well, I don't suppose that will ever get done." Well, I didn't suppose the "roof" over the bay window would ever get finished, but looks like I was wrong. God is good. Our neighbors are amazing. I'm excited.

2013 - a brand new year! We don't know what the future holds, but God does. That's marvelously good news! I'm looking forward to living this year with the best possible attitude, because God is good and I AM BLESSED!!!