The Shindig

This year The Charmer referred to his pink plastic pumpkin as his "backpack."

Yes, he got the pink pumpkin because, as of late, the girls are no longer into the color pink. They pawned the pink one off to their little brother with absolutely no resistance from the Charmer. He was just stoked to have a new "packpack" for his "tandy" :)

So with his bright pink pumpkin in hand, he walked door to door and asked oh so sweetly,

"More tandy in my packpack pease?"

It's definitely the fault of his parents, but this little guy has a serious thing for candy these days. 

And when his Papa told him no more candy tonight, he dropped his head and his shoulders, and he just started bawling. 

It wasn't a fit. 

It was genuine sadness. 

And when his Papa tried to explain that he was going to be just fine, that cute little Charmer told his Papa,

"But Papa, I wuv tandy so much."

It took him another five minutes to pull it together and stop crying. 

But he finally got a grip after I put his pajamas on. Him and the spunky girl were fast asleep two minutes after their heads hit their pillows. 

The Dancing girl and  My Siah wanted to sleep in their costumes tonight... so they did.

These kiddos know how to make me grin from ear to ear. :)

Halloween around here is a time when we chat about being dead to sin and alive in Christ.

We had our annual Shindig on Sunday and we spent tonight at a friend's house eating pizza and trick or treating, since there's not much good trick or treating going on out here in the country. :) 

And there you have it, Halloween on the Farm

Hope y'all had a Happy Halloween! :)

Shelves

Remember this?


When The Cowboy was going to build me a glorious book shelf from all the old barn wood out in our field?

Well he did.

And it's beyond lovely.

And ya wanna know something else?

During these recent crazy months with all sorts of heart hurts that just seem to keep on coming, My Cowboy has loved me in a way that I can't even really explain. Sometimes when so many things around you start breaking down, you can't help but wonder if you might start breaking too.

And in the dark of our room, he held me close and he looked right into my eyes,

"They're not us, and "us" will always be."

He said it gentle yet firm.

And I want to believe him so badly but I can't help but wonder.

What makes my marriage different? What is it that's gonna keep us committed to that covenant that we made nearly 13 years ago in that little wooden church?

I wish I could Google it and find a ten-point list of  "if you do these things, you'll have a fool-proof marriage."

But there's really no such thing.

I wish I could just memorize a verse or say a specific prayer, but then again, a marriage is two sinners trying to learn to love one another above themselves and sometimes life just gets too seemingly unbearable.

The Cowboy and I, we aren't immune to the yuck of this world. The enemy can whisper the same garbage to us that he can to anyone else.

So we simply continue to love the absolute best we know how. He stops me in the kitchen and whispers silly things in my ear. He's calls me a few times a day just to hear my voice. I rub his head at night, make his bed in the morning and try to keep enough of his black shirts clean so that he has something to wear to work. We link hands in the dark and pray for one another each night.

Him and I, we set up seemingly ridiculous boundaries, and we commit to never being alone in a room with the opposite sex. We're intentional about the things our eyes see on TV and the internet. We purpose to encourage one another with our words and affirm one another with our touch, daily.

We pray and we trust that the Lord can do in us what we can't do in ourselves.

We can trust in His Word, and we can trust in Him.
And we can do this because He asks us not to live in fear, but instead to live in the shadow of His wings.

The Cowboy built me a shelf.

But even better than that, he's built up a marriage with the way that he loves.








 I wash the dishes in our sink, and I sing it under my breath,

"On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand."

How can I stand on anything else but Him?

The Routine

There was a time when I couldn't bring myself to break the routine. When My Siah and The Dancing Girl were small, they went to bed at 7pm and I didn't get them out of bed until 7 the next morning. We would eat at the same times each day and it was a RARE occasion when I could bring myself to let either of them skip a nap. 

Now I have four. 

There are a lot of days when The Charmer doesn't even get a nap at all. We might eat lunch at 11 or we might not get around to it until 1. 

Everything in me thrives off routine. But when we became a family of six, routine has molded itself into something different.

We still try, but most days the idea of routine becomes just another lesson in Acceptance With Joy.

My little Spunky Girl is in a stage where she can definitely use a nap. But the trouble is, if she takes a nap, she's wide awake into the late hours of the night. I still put her in her bed at 8, but she just lies there awake, playing with her feet and doing somersaults across the length of her mattress. 

I'm finding that this constant changing of schedules and routines is really just another gift that He's giving. 

Last night the Spunky One came down stairs for the third time to go to the bathroom. I was on the couch and the rest of the house was fast asleep. I love my time alone at night, but I also love that amazing Spunky Girl of mine. So I made us each a PB & J sandwich and we watched The Pioneer Woman Cooks together on the couch. In fact, her and I have had a few dates on the couch lately. And it's the biggest treat for this Mama to see my little one light up at something as simple as a sandwich and a show on the couch with her Mama. 

Last week the older kids worked hard and got all their school work for the week done by Thursday. So on Friday we went to the dollar theater in town with some friends. It was right during the Charmer's nap time and I knew that he just might be a wild man at the movies. And he was. :) 

A friend of ours had recently given us three giant grocery bags full of candy and we had brought some of it with us to the movies. And that cute Charmer of mine just kept sticking his hand in the box and pulling out another handful. I finally just had to tell him NO MORE!. 

And when I closed that box, he opened his mouth as wide as he could and started pitching a fit right there in the middle of the theater. I gave him my "You better get it together buddy," Mama look. Then all of a sudden a GIANT bear came on the screen and let out the biggest ROOOOAAAAARR ever, and my little Charmer turned off his tears immediately. He looked at me, then back at the screen, then back at me, and said it, "Oh, ya!" He got comfy in my lap and sat there for the rest of the movie. I'm so glad we went. 

Routines are good, especially for small kiddos. 

But flexibility is good too, especially for Mama's who are determined to find joy in all the seemingly little things that He's ALWAYS giving. 

It's a serious gift, this being a Mama thing.

And man o man, am I feeling thankful these days! :)

Always Hope

Minus all the fancy "thee's and thou's", I have loved this prayer lately...

Gracious Lord,

Thy name is Love, 

in love receive my prayer?

My sins are more than the wide sea's sand,

but where sin abounds there is grace more abundant.

Look to the cross of thy beloved Son,

and view the preciousness of His atoning blood;

Listen to the never failing intercession,

and whisper to my heart, "Thy sins are forgiven,

be of good cheer, lie down in peace."

Grace cataracts from heaven and flows for ever, 

and mercy never wearies from bestowing benefits.

Grant me more and more to prize the privilege of prayer,

to come to thee as a sin-soiled sinner,

to find pardon in thee,

to converse with thee;

to know thee in prayer as

the path in which my feet tread,

the latch upon the door of my lips,

the light that shines through my eyes, 

the music of my ears,

the marrow of my understanding,

the strength of my will,

the power of my affliction,

the sweetness of my memory.

May the matters of my prayers always be wise, humble, submissive, 

obedient, scriptural,Christ-like.

Give me unwavering faith that supplications are never in vain, 

that if I seem to not obtain my petitions,

I shall have larger, richer answers, 

surpassing all that I ask or think.

Unsought, Thou hast given me the greatest gift,

the person of thy Son,

and in Him, thou wilt give me all I need.

(The Valley Of Vision)

I know, it's awful wordy. But each time I read it, this is what I hear.

"Kacy, you're sin-drenched, yes. 

But it's nothing My grace can't handle. 

I know life has been a bit over whelming lately, but even when you come to me and you have no idea what to pray, you must know that My Son is always interceding for you. How beyond great is that?

You're loved, 

You're loved, 

You're loved. 

Even when my answer to your prayers is seemingly more pain, surely I am answering you with LARGER, RICHER answers.

All you need on this crazy planet earth is My Son."

It's strange how when you walk through the yuck of this world, you can find yourself in a place of joy. When I keep my eyes on Him, I can see Him working all things together for His good. 

There is so much going on right now that I just plain don't understand. And the truth of the matter is that I probably won't ever really have a clear picture this side of heaven. But my hope in not in my own understanding, it's in Him.

And so,

"This I recall to mind,

Therefore I have hope.

The Lord's loving-kindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, 

Therefore I have hope in Him."

Lamentations 3:21-24

It doesn't really matter how hard things might seem, or how south things might actually go, when we're in Christ, we always have hope.

Woohoo!!! :)

The Ranch

I know I've been MIA from our little family blog lately. The reasons are many I'm sure, but mostly it's probably simply business. 

Since being able to let go of some of my ridiculous expectations, life at the One-Room-School-House has much improved. We have found our joy again and I'm super grateful. :)

I've felt encouraged as a Mama by a couple of chapters in this awesome book... Reminders that prayer is  my greatest tool as a Mama, and that the Lord is full of abundant grace towards me.
(I might share bits and pieces of these pages here sometime soon. :)

Lately I've felt  refreshed by His Word.

I've been so thankful for these warm summer-like days lingering this late in October.

And this past weekend we were so blessed to spend a few days at a friend's ranch in Nebraska. As we drove down their crushed rock driveway, the kids got all wide-eyed and started cheering.

 "MOOOOM!!! They-have-HORSES!" The Dancing Girl, she declared it all giddy in slow-mo.

My Hal, she has a thing for horses. Have you ever read the story of Felicity. My Dancing Girl dreams about being Felicity. And even more so, she loves Felicity's horse, Penny. 

And when she looked out the car window and saw those beautiful brown horses behind the fence, she couldn't help herself.

"Mom! There's Penny! Penny lives here! Penny lives on THIS ranch!"

I sat there smiling in the front seat. I love it when she gets all wrapped up in joy like that. :)

Our friends were truly hospitable and made us feel right at home. 

After a grand tour of the ranch, My Siah found his nitch and drove everything he could find with a motor and four wheels.

We had an awesome steak dinner and hung out by the fire.

And the next morning my Hal went out before breakfast and met up with the Trail Boss out at the stables. 

She got up on that horse like she'd been riding them her whole life. The horse was five times her size and she was fearless.

It was AWESOME! 

The kids had a blast. 

We had a blast.

It was a weekend  of nothing but blessing! 

A HUGE Thank You to Co and Kevin!

 

On the beautiful drive home, there was a bit of chatter about bringing horses to the farm. There are so many things that would be fun to do with the treasures as they grow up here on our little farm. But my wise Cowboy is great at bringing us all back down to earth. There might be a horse in our future. But for now. we'll just soak up our memories made at The Ranch on a fabulous weekend in mid October. :)