Keeper at Home

I am still plowing through my Pinterest boards and eliminating things I don't need, printing off ideas and patterns I want to keep, and generally tidying up.  I found some goodies today on my Keeper at Home board that I wanted to share.....











Thankful for~

being a homemaker
helping my husband
caring for my family
having a comfortable home
living a quiet life
spending time together
being grounded in the Lord

Life on the Farm

Our bedroom remodel is continuing ~ Greg is painting the inside of the old closets (after he removed the diving wall, and all the shelf built ins, and patched the walls).   The dark blue trim work on the closet, bedroom door frame, windows, etc. is being painted a beautiful neutral beige.  The paint and trim in the room is the same as our bedroom at our old house in MS.  Our love seat will fit into that space along with an end table and lamp.  On each end of the space, Greg is going to build bookshelves from the old shelf builtins/inserts.  They will be painted the same as the walls.  We have loads of books packed in boxes under the pool table.

Amy and I found some cute plastic containers at Walmart that we are going to use on the Candy Favor table for the wedding favors.  We managed to find 10 that were just printed with hearts or heart shaped that did not also have Feb. or Valentines day printed on them.  Her future Mama in law, Tammy, found some really cute flower girl dresses for our 2 little flower girls.  Amy picked out her favorite and they were available in the right sizes, so those got ordered. 

Our dear Chicken gals are nearing 2 years old and have greatly slowed egg production ~ as in we used to get 5-7 per day from 10 chickens and now we are getting 5-7 per week.  They may become free range chickens in the back field and we get the coop ready for a new flock.  Our local Tractor Supply will start getting chicks in a couple of weeks.  When we get the chicks, I will have to get all the grandboys over here for pictures!

I got a beautiful plant nursery catalog yesterday.  I have dreams of more blueberry bushes and fruit trees.  Also of a nice long row of Leyland cyress trees/bushes to block the view through the chain link fence into our back pasture.  We received a box from one of Gregs aunts a couple of weeks ago with 15 or so little raspberry plants she dug up from her patch.  That was a huge "free" blessing!  In the fall Greg ordered us 10 grapevines to start our little vineyard.  Both the raspberries and grapes are planted.  I've got 3 vases with plant starts in them from Moms old yard ~ with healthy roots.  I am hoping they survive when they are potted.  Some for her house and some for ours.

My days are spent canning, sewing, cross stitching, laundry, cooking, cleaning, in Bible study, reading, wedding planning, running errands with mom & Amy.  My daughter in law brought me lots of  grapefruits from her aunts tree.  Amy juiced these for me yesterday and the juice will be made into grapefruit jelly.  I've also got frozen apple juice and apple pulp to make into jelly and apple butter.  I canned 21 quarts of small red beans to use in our casseroles and in chili.  Buying dried beans in bulk and then canning is much cheaper than buying all the little cans at the grocery store.

Thankful for ~

lots of Mason Jars
cooler weather to can
Free fruit (grapefruit) & plants
anticipation of spring
getting baby chicks soon
a great football season watching our Falcons play
planning our garden and vineyards
cheery, bright yellow daffodils
knowing that God is in control of everything

Cross Stitch from Pinterest

I need to stitch this NOW!  Great thoughts for calming my over active mind.

Honduras 2017

Our mission trip was amazing, beautiful, tiring, emotional, taxing, fun, and busy.  We love the country and all our dear friends down there.  This was my 7th or 8th time to go in the last 10 years.  Its always a blessing to me and a humbling experience.

Here are some pictures of our journey ~

our kitchen for the week ~ we prepared food for 25 people + extras for church folks

Our sweet Mirna with the quilt I made for her little baby son

Gregs cook station for the week

delicious fresh fruit in January

Austin and Amy got up and worked in the kitchen for Breakfast and then went our with the medical team for the day....every day!

My awesome chef at work

Amy & Mirna

Me and Glinda ~ the church housekeeper

young man who cooked our chickens one night!

This dear lady was lightning fast with the tortilla making

the pharmacy staff at work at one of the churchs ~ Amy's first time with a medical team

Austin worked in optometry

I started to crochet one day and ended up making many single crochet bracelets and hair ties

my favorite drink ~ Pepsi needs to sell it here

Floor to ceiling fabric at the local store ~ spent $23 and came home with 9 unique yards of fabric

Made up a new dish ~ Mexican Lasagna ~ layers of grilled chicken, tortillas, ground beef and lots of cheese and salsa

presunburn picture at Telamar on our resting day before travel home

I could sit at the beach and listen to the waves crash for hours!

Thankful for ~ 

*another opportunity to serve the Lord in this wonderful country
*sweet visits with most of our friends down there
*feeding our medical team
*a walking buddy (Greg) thru town (about 7 miles logged on our fitbits daily)
*delicious cantaloupe and watermelon in January
*watching Amy and Austin work together
*the premarriage counseling they received while on the trip
*a relaxing time at the beach on the last morning
*Wonderful hugs & a few tears
*God's protection as we walked to and from the church each day (5 blocks each way)
*for the internet (spotty at best) to hear about the inauguration and the Falcon's win and going to the Superbowl!
*for serving the Lord with our mission team friends again

*and really thankful that I have a home with no staircases to climb multiple times daily ~ climbing to the 4th floor to our room was not fun everyday.
*thankful for clean water and warm showers
*for being able to shop locally without heavily armed guards in the stores
*for the quietness of my home
*for the opportunity to see that Lord at work in other parts of the world