EKjourney Backup

I went on my first solo outing yesterday with the children to a homeschooling get together at the park.  I was asked how things are going.  I had to be honest....it is kicking my rear a little! Mothering is hard work and sometimes it feels a little too hard!  Am I equipped to meet the needs of five small children?  Am I qualified to educate them?  Am I patient enough to train them?  Am I a good enough example?  Can I let go of my own desires, feelings, struggles, frustrations, etc.. to focus on the job.  How do I survive without "me" time (or sleep!)?  Can I juggle each child and be wife?  Can I push beyond duty and give out of joy?  Can I say, the house will have to stay a mess, the garden will have to be weedy, there may not be a vegetable with dinner tonight, the laundry hamper will have to remain full....  The answer to all these things is no, I can't.  I need Christ. I need His strength.  I need His gra...

I had hoped to have a complete top to bottom purge and spotless cleaning before the start of the school year.  The outside took so much time that we weren't quite able to accomplish the house project.  HOWEVER, Phil stained and put up the trim work (from the remodel 5 years ago!), repainted the main rooms a bright cheery yellow, and built me a new craft table and shelves!  I managed to go through closets and purged enough to make several trips to the Goodwill.  We are finishing up a thorough surface area house clean and going through the last of the clutter piles.  With any luck, we can start the school year with everything put in its place! The baby nook.  She sleeps in our bed but she could sleep in this cosleeper! This was the crafting area. Trimmed out doors, transition pieces from floor to carpet, my new bird picture and shelf, and yellow!  What a HUGE difference it makes to have the "finish" work done.  The living room. The dining and h...

of our beautiful yard!! We (Phil mostly) worked SO HARD this summer on our Urban Farm.  Bamboo came out, new beds were made, an entire hillside was retained (4 1/2 tons of concrete blocks hauled by hand), the chicken yard was doubled, the duck's got a brand new pen (2 yards of pea gravel hauled up the steps in buckets), the rabbits have a hutch, 9 yards of Hog's Fuel was spread, two loads of junk was hauled off to the dump, the hillside was chainsawed down, Spring and Fall planting was done, and of course there was lots of weeding and horse poop mulching.  I watched as the yard transform from vision to reality.  It looks amazing and I am so grateful for Phil's tireless, labor intensive work.  What a man!!! The last of the projects, chain sawing down the Locust tree volunteer, the dead Eucalyptus, and blackberries! Fresh Hog's Fuel ties everything together! WOW!  Can you believe this was once a very steep, weed covered hillside! The new upper bed The new lowe...

Taking a break from hauling Hog's Fuel I have tried to interest my daughter in dolls.   She got a doll for Christmas that she took no interest in so we got her a different style one for her Birthday with clothes to fit.  I even crocheted a blanket and made a quilt for swaddling.  What does this sweet little girl prefer?  A dirty old frog, named Carlos! Watching Daddy use the chainsaw.  

This is what I wake up to each morning, a cuddly sweet little baby with milk dribbling out of her mouth! Warm and toasty in the cocoon Mommy crocheted for me!

Morning time Sawyer learning how to use the weedeater.  He was very pleased! Kisses from Daddy on my spit up onsie Bath time after a typical outside play day. Pictures on my new blankie: Cuddling with my Goose/Duck...there is a debate over this! Help Mommy, I am falling over!

I am finally finding a few moments to post about our newest blessing! Glorielle Blossom Leigh Kelly Born July 26th at 1:14 a.m. 7 pounds 14 oz, 20.5 inches long. Her arrival was quite a surprise!  She was 3 days late but I expected her to be at least ten days overdue (Evi was 14 days overdue and Brighton was 13).  She also arrived just past midnight where as all my other labors started between 2:30-3:00 in the morning and babies arrived early morning or early afternoon. One of my dearest friends, Michelle, was due two days before me.  It was so much fun for the two of us to go through all the stages of our pregnancy together.  We joked about who would win the race to the finish!  She emailed early Monday morning to tell me that her water broke.  I emailed back in the afternoon to tell her that I was having a lot of sympathy contractions!  We went to my brother and SIL for dinner and I was having some increasingly painful "Braxton Hicks" contractions. ...