Fifteen...

Today my honey bunches of oats and I celebrate 15 years of wedded bliss!

Fifteen years ago, I couldn't even begin to think of where we would be in fifteen years.   I never dreamed we would have five children, Jamie would be a bean counter, and I would be a stay at home, homeschooling mom.  Boy, how the times have changed. 

I was a complete and utter bundle of nerves this time fifteen years ago.  I was 23 and had always lived at home with my parents.  I was finishing up my college education and about to embark on an entirely new life.  I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted nothing more than to marry this man of my dreams, but I had a lump the size of Texas planted firmly in my throat.  It was new and I was scared.

Oh how true the saying, "Hind sight is 20/20" really is.  I had no need to be a scaredy cat.  God made this man for me and He would work it out.  That certainly has been my story for the last fifteen years and I am sticking to it!  

Happy Anniversary Jamie!  I sure love you ole boy! You make my heart smile anew everyday!

Much love,

In The Garden

Guest post written and typed by Cooper Hill

 A lot of things go in to planting a garden.  First you have to disk it twice to tear up all the grass and weeds. Then, you have to bottom plow it to turn over the soil and to get the good soil on top.  Next, you have to disk it again to make neat straight rows. It is now time to spray the garden to kill all the weeds and make sure they do not come back. Finally, you have to do the most fun and most pain in the rear end job! Planting it!

 Planting the garden is fun because it is hard work. It is a pain in the rear because you have to sit on the back of a solid steel planter and make sure the seeds stay where they will plant evenly.  You do not want any skips.  A skip is when there is not a seed where you want a seed.  To keep it from skipping you have to rake the seeds with your hand so the seeds will plant evenly.  Oh yeah, you do not want to get your finger caught doing this.  The planter looks like a small disk with seed buckets and a dirt packing wheel.  The dirt packing wheel packs dirt to bury the seeds.  It is important to bury the seeds in order keep them from washing away.

 It sounds like a lot of work and it is. You might want to keep this in mind before you try to do this yourself.  I am a country boy, so I like doing it.


I hope you enjoyed Cooper's take on planting the garden.  We are going to leave you with a few pictures of the garden and the farm.  The corn is not something that we planted as part of our garden.  It is just pretty and I wanted to include it.

Happy planting,

Cooper Hill

So Much To Do...

...so little time to do it all.

Instead of wishing all of my time away, I'd actually like an extra hour or two or twenty in a day! It has been Key-razy around the Hill homestead.  It always is this time of year. I just forget from one year to the next how nuts it can get. It is so easy to get discouraged this time of year.  I sometimes feel like I am doing lots of things partially and not giving any one thing the time that it deserves.  Take laundry for instance.  I am just barely hanging on people.  I am washing what needs to be washed for the moment and hoping no one has to go commando in their clean ball uniform.  You think I jest..

I have lots and lots to share in this blog post.  So, buckle your seat belt or hang on one.

Our science project for homeschool is in full swing now.  The boys have planted our garden and it is growing quickly.  Cooper is working on a blog post about the "getting ready" process. Look for it soon.

Sweet baby Amelia is walking now.  How can that be, right?? Okay, not full on walking but she took about seven steps on her own last night. (Correction:  As I am working on this, she just walked from the living room into the kitchen to greet my mom!) She is so very sweet and curious.  She is standing beside me right now carrying on the most adorable conversation. I might not know what she is saying but she thinks it is a very serious topic judging by the look on her face. I love to hear her say yes (ess), dance and outside (side, side). She had tubes in here ears a couple of weeks ago, immediately followed by a fever virus that completely wiped her out.  She is on the mend now and is back to her old self.
Mother's day is on the horizon, this Sunday in fact.  I know that it is a Hallmark holiday, but it is a tough one for me.  I know that I am not alone in that.  It is that way for many women for many different reasons.  It is tough for those who long to be mothers, those who only have babies in heaven, and those who have children to celebrate with but have children to miss on that day also. Sometimes I wish that it would just go away.  There would be a great deal less hurt for so many if it did.  Then I think about how much my children love to pamper me that day and I am just torn.  I honestly don't miss Eli any more that day than every other one.  I just think more about him being on earth and being a part of his brothers and sister's scheming for the day.  They will all descend on me while I am "sleeping" and his spot will be empty...As it is with any other family activity.  On another note entirely, someone asked me last week how many children I had now, and without even thinking about it I answered four.  I was then left with an intense feeling of having cheated Eli.  He makes five.  I could have gone back and explained, but then it would have been just awkward and uncomfortable for the others involved.  Will the awkwardness ever end this side of  Heaven?  Will I ever not care that I make others uncomfortable when I include Eli.

I Pray all of my lady friends have a gentle and blessed Mother's Day! 

Sending much love your way,