Growing up I was never really taught the value in saving money for the future. I mean I knew it was a good idea to save for the future, I just never really was taught the particulars. I'm 36 years old and while I do have a Life Insurance Policy, I don't really have a plan for emergencies, retiring, weddings, colleges, etc. The Life Insurance I do have, I got out of panic after my first husband passed away. I did NOT want to leave my family high and dry if something happened to me. I wanted to make sure that my girls could have everything they needed if by chance something happened to me too. My first husband did NOT prepare very well for his death, he always made it seem like he did but he absolutely left us gasping for air. I made a vow to myself and for my girls that I would NOT do the same to them.

Wednesday I met with a Financial Advisor to start planning for Emergencies and Retirement. BIG TIME Adulting right there! I wish I had started this when I was younger, when I could make the MOST money and SAVE the most money, before I had dependents, a spouse, and a mortgage. I wish I had known how to make my money WORK for me so that I didn't have to work my life away. You know the phrase "Ignorance is Bliss"? Well, when it comes to your future and financial planning, Ignorance IS NOT Bliss. Thankfully, my Financial Advisor is a gem and believes that we can still make my dreams come true and thankfully I am starting now and not in my 50s. Better late then never I guess!

So, I guess the moral of the story and well the point of this random ranting is to get a financial advisor as soon as you are making money, and LEARN how to save and to make your money help you live comfortably in the future!

Have a great day dear followers!

Sorry I've kind of fallen off the face of the planet! I promise the blog WILL get more interesting in the weeks to come. I have some BIG plans ahead!

I love Fall! The color of Fall in nature with the bright reds, oranges, and yellows. I love Fall weather, the cool slight chill that beckons you to sit by a campfire and sip Apple Cider. To me Fall is the perfect time to ride and really enjoy the horses!

The Girls brushing their pony!

Ride 'em Cowgirls!

All these things I love, but I'm not going to lie, October is not my favorite month.

I do not celebrate nor do I enjoy anything to do with Halloween. The history of Halloween and why it was celebrated years and years ago are terrifying. I understand that it is commercialized now and that the reason people participate in Halloween is different but I can't help but feel like it is Wrong for my family.

Almost EVERYTHING on TV has to do with Halloween. You can't unsee something you have seen and I believe my daughters really don't need to see scary things if they don't have to. As they grow the world itself will be scary enough, they don't need these scary things bouncing around in their head now.

I have been filtering what Big Sister and Little Sister see, however Halloween stuff is everywhere. Just this week we walked into Target and there was a huge scary skeleton banner hanging as we walked in. Big Sister spotted it well before I did and pointed it out to me and said how scary it was. I know I can not shield them from everything, but I can equip them with THE MOST POWERFUL tool against anything scary.

God and Jesus Christ His Son!

I wish I could insert the theme song from the Veggie Tales episode "God Is Bigger Than The Boogie Man" right here!

Every time they are exposed to the Halloween scary things I remind them that God is more powerful than any of the scary things and that He will always protect them and keep them safe as long as they believe in God and Jesus, obey Him, and ask for His help and guidance.


Isaiah 41:13 NLV

The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

Psalm 27:1 NLT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-descipline.

2 Timothy 1:7 NLT


I hope that they hold tight to these teachings and learn to fear nothing but God.
Have a wonderful evening dear followers and please stay tuned!

I was surfing the net a couple days a go and came across a wonderful blog, The Peaceful Mom. In the parenting section of her blog, I found a link to FREE Child Safe Kits. Naturally, I was curious so I  clicked on the link. The Statistics on their main page just floored me:

Watching the Breed Pageant, she LOVED the Fresians!

Last weekend I took Big Sister to the Hoosier Horse Fair at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds. The Hoosier Horse Fair is an annual event in April and horse lovers around the state flock to the event. I remember when my Aunt and Grandma took me to the Hoosier Horse Fair when I was younger. The place used to be PACKED, not just with visitor but with horses, booth vendors, and demonstrations. The program alone was like a mini book at least 20+pages long.

I remember Stallion Row, having TONS of different breeds of horses! It was a dream come true to see all the different types of horses I'd always read about in my horse books. My favorites growing up were the Thoroughbred and Bashkir Curly Horse. I was somewhat disappointed when we arrived this year and Stallion Row only included about a third of the horses that it used to. Big Sister didn't seem to mind at the lack of variety, but I couldn't help be feel bummed.

Painted Saddle Horse at the Breed Pageant.

 Not only was the Stallion Row population lacking, the variety in vendors and the amount of vendors was limited as well. I remember going home with BAGS of swag, my FAVORITE booth to visit was the Thoroughbred Racing booth, they gave away tons of stuff, including Blood Horse Magazine, which became my most prized possession for YEARS growing up. The Quarter Horse booth always had awesome posters as well, with beautiful photos of every color of horse possible. I used to plaster my room with posters I'd acquired from the fair, it was awesome!

My tired Cowgirl!

There also used to be horse items for sale of every variety and I DREAMED of the day when I had my own horse I could buy things for at the Hoosier Horse Fair. This year my mission was to find a pretty detailed blue halter for Rusty. I was also disappointed by my selection. I found a nice blue halter, but nothing like I'd seen from my childhood.

The COOLEST demonstration ever at the Hoosier Horse Fair was the 6 Horse Draft Hitch Competition! It was the HIGHLIGHT of the whole event! The Draft horses were MASSIVE in size, almost unreal, and they would take 6 of these horses and hook them together under harnesses to pull a large stag coach. It was BEYOND awesome to see the raw horse power pulling the coaches. The horses were always perfectly well behaved and acted like true professionals. They would get a least 5 or 6 of the hitches to pull around the Pepsi Colosseum all at once. The thundering of the hooves and the jingling of the bells along their harnesses made a permanent impression in my memories. This year was the second year in a row that they did not hold this epic Competition. I am bummed that Big Sister missed out on seeing the giant horses, but I can only hope that they will be brought back again in the future years.

I don't know if it just me, being an adult now and seeing the reality of places instead of looking at the world through a child's eye, but the Hoosier Horse Fair just didn't have the WOW factor anymore. I know a lot people are blaming the deterioration of the event on the economy, maybe that's it, maybe it's not. My hopes is that the organization that runs the Hoosier Horse Fair works to improve the Fair next year. It sure would be nice to walk into the Fair and have the same WOW factor that had as a child.

Thanks for reading and have a WONDERFUL weekend dear followers!

With "Easter" here, I am both pleased to be able to serve a Mighty God who gave his only Son for my sins and both saddened by the thought that so many don't know Him. I grew up with Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, but I was also aware of the real "Reason for the Season," thanks to my mother who took us to church and never gave me a reason to doubt that there was a God.

Today, I'm not sure how many generations younger than I actually know why we really celebrate these holidays. They are very much commercialized and parents don't seem to talk to their kids about God and Jesus as much as they used to. I don't know why, I'm guessing they don't know how, aren't sure about the facts themselves, or just really don't care. To me these holidays are serious and very precious. In our home we have decided not to invite Santa and the Easter Bunny in to share in our celebration. Some people think, "Oh your poor kids" or that we are "Taking away a part of childhood" but I don't think that is true. Many times kids put Jesus in the same category as Santa and the Easter Bunny and guess what happens when they finally find out that Santa and the Easter Bunny aren't real? They start to wonder what else you have made up and they start to doubt their belief in God and Jesus. The world tries to give people so many reasons to doubt, I don't want to hand out reasons for my girls to doubt the existence of God and Jesus. I want my girls to trust me to tell them the truth and to be honest with them. I know at times I will fail miserably because I am human, but I pray that the times I fail will not permanently damage them in the long run.

Why is it that the kitchen table is always the dumping ground. At any given time if you walk into my home, there are stacks of papers or various items sitting on the kitchen table. It seems like every time I clean it off within 5 minutes SOMETHING appears on it. I don't know how to combat this problem, any ideas?

I thought you'd enjoy a photo of our after lunch table display complete with Little People Car, empty plate and jello cup, Sippy, Plush Pig (because Big Sister loves Pigs), Little Sister's Bumbo Chair (greatest invention EVER), and Little Sister's Formula and bottles... beyond the Formula what you can't see is my stack of samples for the interior design of our new house, coupons, and various other papers that came in the mail.

Have a lovely day dear followers, I'm off to go play out side while the girls are napping!
Kelsey

Sad to report that last night I lost the last of my hens. A family of racoons has claimed the life of ALL my chickens, well all except the Rooster. I have the oddest poultry left, I have the "Unpairs". I have a Rooster and no hens. I have a Peacock and no Peahen. I have a Turkey, but no Female Turkey. I have an African Goose and no Gander. The only pair I have left is a Pekin Drake and a Rouin Duck, although they are not the same breed. I am ready to through my hands up in the air and submit to these Racoons!

With the loss of our farm dog this winter, my poultry just didn't have a chance. He was our defender, he never once went after my birds, he knew they were special, or rather, he knew that was where I got eggs from... and boy did he LOVE eggs! If I dropped one or if there was a blemish or crack in an egg, he always got a special treat. I miss our dear sweet Joey, the BEST farm dog ever. A GOOD farm dog is hard to come by and they are never for sale. I badly need another, but I would need to train it... which takes time... something I have very little of. Joey was a Bernese Mountain Dog cross and I hope to some day find another one like him to continue is legacy on the farm. He was sweet and gentle, loved EVERYONE and would insist on getting petted by rubbing his paw on your leg. I don't know how he knew it but during the day he just hung out and was "off duty", the only exception being if a horse got loose or tried to eat grass on his side of the fence. He would bark at them to keep the horses in line! But as soon as the sun started setting he was "on call" and scouted the property. No dog, Coyote, Fox, Raccoon, Opossum was safe if they entered our farm!

So, now what do I do?

Thanks for listening dear followers and stay tuned for a new giveaway coming soon!
Kelsey

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Well, I just can't take it anymore! My digital camera is dead! The flash went out a couple months ago and I've resorted to either using my cell phone which doesn't take very high quality photos and produces mostly blurry pictures of my babies because they move around so much OR borrowing my mother in laws camera, which she uses on a regular basis so that is problematic in itself. I haven't been in the market for one for a while and I've never really researched digital cameras very much. Here is what I need in a digital camera:

1) The ability to take good quality photos indoors and outdoors.
2) The ability to take photos of moving objects (my kids) without parts of the photo coming in blurry.
3) The ability to take good quality videos with sound.
4) A camera that isn't going to break my pocketbook, has to be reasonably priced.

Anyone out there have any suggestions? I'm getting desperate! Little Sister is already 4 months old and I don't think I have even 1/3 of the amount of photos of her as I did Big Sister! There are so many moments I want to capture and right now I'm just SO limited! Please give me ideas!

Or if you are from a digital camera company or sell digital camera and need a reviewer I would be MORE than happy to test one out! PLEASE help me!

On a totally unrelated note, something has been killing my birds! I've lost all but 2 hens, a rooster, a Peacock, a Royal Palm Turkey, an African Goose, a Pekin Drake, and a Rouin Duck.  This is So not fair! I need to build again and make them varmint proof somehow! Ugh, this has been a rough Spring/Summer for my birds! To top it off, my Swedish Duck was laying on 11 eggs, they are all "half baked" and I put them in with my Goose hoping she will adopt them, but we will see. I'll keep you posted. After we lost our farm dog Joey, it seems like my birds are just not safe anymore! Good farm dogs are hard to find and hard to replace! RIP Joey we miss you!

Thanks for the help dear followers and have a GREAT weekend!
Kelsey

Happy 2011 All! Boy am I doing a bad job of keeping up with my blog this year, lol! I'll try to work on that!

Today I woke up, stuck some Toaster Strudels in the toaster, looked out the kitchen window and saw this:

I made some of Dad's Yummy Chili again the other day and had some leftovers. I had never heard of Baked Chili before, but my Hubby's Mom wanted to try it out with my leftover Chili. We had a couple of pie crusts that weren't baked over the holidays so she used them as the crust... here is what you do:


I was delightfully surprised at how yummy this was! A+ in my book! The pie crust gives it an extra texture, which I loved the crunch! Good Luck and Hope you Enjoy!

On a totally different subject... I'm 34 weeks and 5 days along with this second baby girl. People always tell you that each pregnancy can be different, but I don't think I actually realized it was true until I was able to experience it for myself. This time around has been quiet different. My belly feels SO much lower than with my first, I've had bad back pain, but missed out on the lovely carpel tunnel that I had the first time around. Overall though I think that I've handled this second pregnancy much better than the first, probably because I was prepared for what was to come, knew what my body was going to go through, and wasn't plagued by the "what ifs". I only have about 5 more weeks to go, but if I had her tomorrow, I think I'd be ok with it. I'm ready, I'm done. I'm tired of feeling like I sleep with a bowling ball, tired of heartburn, and I'm overall done with sharing my body, I want it back to myself... now don't get me wrong, I LOVE the end result, but boy am I not a great pregnant person! There are some women that are born to have babies and love it, I on the other hand am NOT one of those women. I just keep reminding myself that its a GOOD think I'm a human and only have to be pregnant for 9 months, if could be worse, Elephants are pregnant for 22 months! Glad I'm not an Elephant, although sometimes I feel as big as one with this baby belly.

Was totally bummed the other day... I'm trying to get things ready for the new baby and decided to dig out my daughter's infant car seat, clean it up again and get it in the van. I had washed it down, placed it in a large garbage bag, sealed it, and put it in the basement thinking it would be okay until I needed it...NOT. I opened the bag, pulled out the car seat, began to take off the covering, and thousands of tiny foam balls fell all over the floor. A mouse had chewed through the bag and destroyed the foam support in the car seat. SO annoying! At first I wanted to try to contact the manufacturer of the car seat and see if it could be fixed. Then I thought about it and if we happen to be in an accident, I would feel much better having the baby in a car seat that hadn't had any repairs done to it and was brand new. I did some research and talked to some other Mom's on a couple Mommy groups I'm on online and decided to order a Safety 1st onBoard 35 Infant Car Seat. It should be here between the 14th and 20th, hopefully it makes it here before the baby does!

Thanks for reading dear followers!
Kelsey

Last night my hubby comes home from work and said he got an odd call. Naturally this make me curious so I prodded him to continue with the story. Evidently, somehow, a Company (who will remain nameless... only because I can't remember which one it was right now) selling testing devices for Diabetics called him and left a message but didn't say who it was or who the call was for. When he called the number back he told the call receiver that he had gotten a message from that number and he was trying to return the phone call. The lady on the other end asked him if he recently had a Glucose test, he said no but my wife had one at the beginning of the week. Odd, no? He asked them how they knew someone in the house had had a Glucose test and how did they get HIS phone number. Now, I don't give out my hubby's phone number if I don't have to and only list him for Emergency Contacts so I have NO idea how they got his number to begin with. We came up with a Conspiracy Theory... we assume that someone in the hospital is monitoring which people come in for glucose tests and then reporting their information to this Company and making some profit on the side... interesting huh? If we are even remotely close on our Conspiracy Theory, isn't it wrong, what about Patient Confidentiality rights? I know it was only a Glucose test and that a phone call doesn't hurt anyone, but where do these people draw the line with "selling" information? Just some food for thought...

Thanks for reading dear followers,
Kelsey

I've been meaning to go get my Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) done for about two weeks now, but with everything going on here it seemed to have slipped my mind until I realized that I have a doctor's appointment coming up and I was supposed to have it done before then. What is the GTT for you ask? Well, sometimes pregnant women get what they call Gestational Diabetes, which usually only lasts during pregnancy... after the baby is born it normally goes away. It is important for pregnant women to get this test done because Gestational Diabetes can cause some complications:

Taken from Google Health - Gestational diabetes:

Well yesterday was interesting...  It seems like most of the time when people do something wrong, they don't want to own up to it but instead blame their failure on someone else. Most of the time this involves them lashing out, causing drama. I'm not a fan of drama, EVER! I don't mind drama and I know in the end I will learn from it, but it just seems pointless in the interm. If everyone would just sit back and think about things before they do or say them, the world would be a much better place. I believe the old saying is "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." Would YOU want someone to lash out at YOU for their failure and try to ruin YOUR reputation and spread LIES about YOU? I didn't think so. This is why I am glad I am who I am. I have learned a lot and am constantly learning. My learning has helped me greatly these past couple of days. Instead of lashing out to defend myself, I let it go, I KNOW THE TRUTH and GOD knows the TRUTH.  I'm close to God and I know everything will be taken care of and everything will turn out fine.

Last night I did have THE BEST NIGHT'S SLEEP ever! I slept so deep and so nice, it was as if all my worries were lifted and my mind was clear and empty, allowing me to fall into a deep sleep. Normally I have a million things on my mind and though I do fall asleep really easy and do sleep all night through, I don't get a GOOD nights sleep because of the thought rolling around in my head all night long. Katelynn on the other hand had some trouble sleeping and I think its because her 8th tooth is coming through and bugging her a little.

Ahh, stepping off my soap box, lol!
Thanks for reading dear followers!
Kelsey

Sometimes I think people get confused as to what the true meaning of being a volunteer actually is. To clear up any misunderstandings I've decided to write this post about the true meaning of being a "volunteer" enjoy the quotes, definitions, and my thoughts:

vol·un·teer[vol-uhn-teer] –noun
1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking.
2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.
Taken from Dictionary.com
 
 
In my family's "line of work" we depend a lot, not all, but a lot on the kindness of volunteers. We often sit back and think about past volunteers, and by their actions we truly know who was in it FOR the cause and who had their own self interest first. Volunteers that are in it FOR the cause are always there, ready to help, they do not complain about a job needing done, they work their hardest to get the job done. I know that when I have been a part of volunteer efforts where the volunteers are in it FOR the cause it is always fun and you create a kind of bond with them. Its like you are connected through the good that you achieved or through the same goal or mission. Those people stay with you forever, they may have a life change that makes them leave the cause, but they are always with you in heart and spirit. I always think back and remember a group of college girls that was with us for a good while, we were a "team", we felt invincible against anything the world could throw at the cause, there wasn't a problem or situation that we weren't ready for and we knew we could count on each other to be there and get through it... not for us, but FOR the cause. Our hearts were in it for the right reason, not to make outselves feel better about ourselves, not to make people like us, not so that we could pat each other on the back, not to get something from it, but to really make a difference. I often miss my "team" and think of them often, I haven't had that in a long time. A "team" that I could count on, to be there if we needed them, that we could call at midnight about a situation that needed tended to at 6:00AM... a "team" that knew their roles and acted effectively with integrity and with drive and passion. I miss that. I don't want to replace my "team" I want to expand on it, to add members to the "team"... because you never really loose "team" members, it just seems like they are put on hold or frozen in time.
 
Its sad when you have a "volunteer or group of volunteers that isn't in it FOR the cause. It makes everything less fun and its hard to really trust them. Its sad. Sometimes I want to just pluck them up and shake them saying "Hello, you, in there, wake up, I know you are in there for the right reason, come out come out where ever you are!" I don't know what has happened to our society to make people think that they are owed the world when they decided they want to "help" or "volunteer"... where does that come from? That isn't volunteering! No one OWES you anything! It makes absolutly no sense to me. They think they are owed privledges, or status, or admiration, or something and it just ruins the whole concept of being a volunteer and trying to work together towards a common good. It just ERKS me! And this is exactly what I've been encountering lately and I just don't understand it...
 

This morning my dear sweet baby was awakened by the thunderstorm at about 6:30AM. Mommy is not a morning person, so 6:30AM is REALLY early for us. Usually she will sleep until 8:00AMish, sometimes earlier sometimes later, but not 6:30AM early. Well, I decided to bring her to bed with me and give her a bottle in hopes that she would fall back asleep... no such luck. We ended up hanging out in bed and watched cartoons on the Disney Channel until it was time for me to get ready to head to the farm. Well, she started getting brave and would lean forward and put her hands on the bed, then stand with her legs and lift her body into the standing position... without holding on to anything!!! I was amazed! She did this several times and on the bed, which isn't that easy to stand up on and balance for some adults let alone a baby! So today we reached yet another milestone, Standing by herself without holding onto anything! Wow! I have to say, I love having a phone with a video recorder on it, I have the LG Shine Slider Phone, which takes good pictures and videos, but I don't like it other than those things and you can't "butt dial" with it. Sometimes the phone will randomly turn off, or it won't tell me I have a text message until hours or a day later, the slider is annoying I liked my flip phone better, the outside scratches easy,  but I will continue to use it until my account allows me to get another free phone, which is how I got the LG Shine... which was a bad move, but I'll live with it. 

We decided to watch the new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog last night... I have to say that I was less than impressed with it... what is happening to Disney? I LOVED Disney movies growing up and they were all very cool... I didn't really like The Princess and the Frog. It was a good story, but the whole voodoo man thing was a bit weird to me. I would think that little kids would be afraid of shadows after seeing this movie, it was freaky how the shadows came and got the frogs several times, WEIRD! Can't say that I will be buying that one, thats for sure.

Well, the other day I was playing on my hubby's laptop and came across this cool movie maker program that I had no idea was on his laptop. I decided to take photos of Katelynn's First Year and put together something. It is coming along well, but I am still learning (or teaching myself) how to use the program... so hopefully I can have it up and running and uploaded to facebook or youtube by her first birthday! I would REALLY like to do some giveaways for her 1st birthday, I'm hoping to contact some people to see if they will sponsor one, maybe I can get some more followers that way!

Have a wonderful evening dear followers!
Kelsey

Uhg, not sure what is going on today but my allergies have been acting up really bad. I took a Zyrtec and it seems to be helping but now I'm fuzzy like my head is congested, I hope I'm not getting sick. I can't get sick, I've got way too much to do. I had allergies a lot when I was younger and took Zyrtec before it was over the counter, but instead of every once and a while, I took it EVERY day. I never had any side affects or anything and it always worked like a charm. I was allergic to pollen, dust, mold, all animals, grass clippings, hay, stuff like that. Shortly after I turned 19 my allergies, along with my asthma seemed to disappear and I no longer had to take the Zyrtec or my asthma medication. I was SO happy, it was really hard growing up having these medical conditions, wanting to be like the other kids and do things the other kids could do, but being unable. I used to have to walk the mile in gym, not because I was lazy, but because if I ran my asthma would kick in and I couldn't breath. It STUNK big time! I am so thankful everyday that I no longer have these problems. I praying that Baby K doesn't inherit these traits... but at least I will know how she feels and be able to help her to the best of my abilities because I was in those shoes before!

On a brighter note, I've figured out what I want to do! I just have to figure out where to start and to convince my dear sweet husband that its a good idea! Keep an eye on the blog for my idea coming to life! You'll know it when you see it, plus I will promote it like crazy!

I am so tired tonight. I feel like I worked hard today, but all I did was talk a lot... Trying to make some changes and get the horses evaluated this spring. Within the next couple weeks I think I'll have everything sorted out pretty good, but trying to find somewhere to start is hard. I just gotta take one project at a time and work the projects.

Project Pete had a rough day today. It started out well, I went out to feed him in the morning, again he was waiting for me and nickered. At lunch I let him out to graze for a bit while I fed the crew, nothing much happened. Well between lunch and dinner he got himself cast in his stall.... for those that don't know what cast means, it just means that he laied down, rolled and got his legs stuck against the wall and couldn't get up. Well luckily I had asked our farmhand to take some sawdust down to the barn for him and he saw Pete stuck in his stall and got him up. He was a little weak but ok. When he came back to the office and told me I went to the barn to check him over. He was ok no sign of injuries, but I gave him some Banamine just in case he was having some colic issues or if he was sore from trying to get up. Its a good thing he was down at the barn because somehow all the miniatures got out and were running around the barn too, little boogers, they figured out how to undo the chain on their gate. So, now I have to figure out what to do with that... Tonight at dinner Pete was waiting for me again, ears perked and awaiting his dinner. He was acting fine and didn't seem to be phased by being cast earlier today. I think I'm going to start adding oats to his grain to help with any gas so that he doesn't get colicy and try to roll in his stall again.

Okay, so I record American Idol... not sure why but I like the show... Well tonight they were doing their "Idol Gives Back" Episode and I was slightly disappointed in the Black Eyed Pease and Alicia Keys. Not sure if they were having technical difficulties or not but their performances kind of, well, weren't good at all. Carry Underwood was good, she seemed to sing well, but the others, they were really disappointing.

Erg, I think that I have poison oak or poison ivy or something, icky. My right arm itches and I have some red raised bumps. That's what I get for working out in the woods picking up landscape timbers. Oh well, its for my birds, hopefully I can get a new area built for my peacocks. Oh that reminds me, I lost one of my Pekin Ducks today, not sure where she is... yesterday she was in te pen and today she was gone. I have a feeling she got out and something got he because when I let our farm dog out this morning he went right over to the woods by the duck pen and starting sniffing around and howling... so I think maybe the coyotes got her, bummer... guess I'll just have to find me a couple more female ducks... I'm totally bummed, she was such a pretty white girl and gave me nice Extra Large eggs, bummer.

On a good note, my baby girl seems to be doing better, thank goodness. Her cough is finally starting to go away, YES! And the congestion is almost gone too! God works wonders, its amazing what a little prayer will do! God is Great! .... "Honey, God don't care which church you go to as long as you show up." Dolly Parton from Steel Magnolias. Isn't that ironic (or maybe its "A God thing"), just as I was writing this paragraph I turned to Steel Magnolias and started watching it, well that line just came on the screen and I was driven to add it to this blog! You know what gets me... I don't know, I guess it is obvious to me since I believe in God, but sometimes I wonder why it is people don't believe in God. I mean seriously, there is nothing bad that can come from believing in God, there are no drawbacks, nothing bad that can happen. Can you imagine a world where everyone believed in God and lived by the Bible? Everyone would be nice to each other, there would be no crime, no greed, and we would all have everything we need in life to live healthy and happy. The greatest lessons in the Bible talk about LOVE. If you love someone and care about them you try to help them and are concerned as to what goes on in their lives. How can believing in God be a bad thing and why would people want to be against God, I just don't understand it. I will be the first one to tell you that I don't always live by the Bible, even though I know I should, I'm a work in progress, but at least I'm trying and making an effort towards becoming a better Christian, Wife, Mother, Friend, ect. by strengthening my relationship with God. I want my daughter to grow up always knowing God, why wouldn't that be every parent's hope? I know our society isn't doing so well, but why not change that? It got the way it is by change, why not change it back?

Oh well, I'm getting tired, I hope my "Midnight Messages" about God make sense... they make sense in my head hopefully they make sense to you or at least make you curious about God if you haven't had a relationship with God before. He's there, listening, waiting, all you have to do it talk to Him! Oh, Small note, if you are going to read the Bible for the first time, don't start at the beginning, skip to John, he makes everything make better sense. The Old Testament is more of a History Lesson and the New Testament is what you live by today ;o)

Have a wonderful evening and good night dear followers!

Well, this week my baby girl has been sick. She started coughing and a couple days ago her temperature went up to 99.2 degrees F under her arm when it is normally 97.6 degrees F under her arm. Made me nervous so I called the doc. Well the receptionist tells me she is going to talk to the doc and then call me back. So....... I wait and wait and wait and finally an hour or more later she calls back and they want to see her that day. Ok no problem... so we go in. My new issue with public places: Parents that don't wrangle their kids and let them RUN all over the place! These young kids, under 3, are running all over the waiting room, snotty noses, coughing, and touching everything AND everyone! No WONDER my child is sick, it seems like every time we go in for her Baby Well Check visits about a week to two weeks later we are BACK there because she is sick, probably something that she picked up in the waiting room. Can you guess when her last Baby Well Check was? Yes, your a genius, about a week and a half before she started getting sick! I try my very hardest NOT to let my baby touch anything in the waiting room and I DO NOT let her off my lap. But these uncontrolled children are running around spreading their germs and visiting everyone in the waiting room. The last time we were there some kids came over to us and tried to grab Baby K's bottle from her diaper bag. ERG! OK so back to our visit... I go into the exam room and wait, they send in a Nurse Practitioner... which I don't really trust much, EVERY time I've seen her she says the SAME thing like it is her auto response to "Why your baby is sick" no matter who you are, it sounds practiced and recited. ERG! So she tells me my baby girl has an upper respiratory infection aka a cold...ok waste of my time, WHY tell me to come in when you could have told me this OVER THE PHONE! I did feel better after seeing "someone" better safe than sorry, but geez. So I go home without a prescription or anything to help ease her symptoms. Poor thing has a nasty cough and is raspy (BUT the Nurse Practitioner said she wasn't) her nose is running and now the snot is green. This poor child is miserable and fussy. I have made attempts to help her out, Baby Vics on her feet and chest at night, cool mist humidifier at nights, nasal suctioning before eating, and Baby Zyrect at nights...

Oh exciting news, my cloth diapers came in, YEAH! But my hubby forgot to bring them home from the office, ERG, so I will probably make a trip up to the office to get them tonight, I'm too excited to wait for him to bring them home tomorrow night when he gets home.

I made a pretty good dinner tonight, Chicken and Rice Casserole. It worked out well, but since everyone likes more or less salt I didn't add any so that they could season to taste. I also made some Butter Pecan Cupcakes with Vanilla icing, yum! :)
Have a wonderful night dear followers!