One Little, Two Little, Three Little Bunnies...

Good evening to everyone! How are you? As for me, I am exhausted!

I know, I know...it's been a while since the last post, but here it is all the same!

It has been extremely busy around here on the farm since I updated everyone. We sold Samson (our billy goat born to us last year), and we've also sold all of our alpacas except for three. We were on a mission to down-size (at least I thought we were)!!!!

I came home late Friday evening from a karate class at the main dojo when Nathan said, "Hi Honey! I looove yooouuuu!!!" My first thought was, "Ok...what did you do?!!" Nathan said he didn't do anything yet! He has been doing some research on raising meet rabbits. He said he was planning on going to go look at two or three breeding females (does) and another guy had a breeding male (buck).

I offered to go with him. We left around 9:30 A.M. We ended up driving all over the place! We went to Mountainaire, Monzano, Tijique, Las Nutrias, Bosque, Veguita, and Los Lunas. By the time we traveled to all these places, I was exhausted! The first stop that morning, we bought a hog. His name is "Big Red" and he is a Red Waddle. He's kind of cute, for a pig!

The next stop, we were looking to buy two or three female rabbits. The lady was having back surgery and she was trying to just find good homes for all her animals. She made us a deal that Nathan couldn't refuse! She sold us thirteen rabbits and gave us a cage!

The next stop, we bought eight or nine cages.

The next stop, we went and looked at the breeding buck and bought him. So that's how we ended up with 14 rabbits!

Nathan and I stopped at Tractor Supply to purchase some watering bowls and got some feed for the rabbits. We then went home and tried to set up the cages and separate all the rabbits into their appropriate cages. We were so physically drained by the time we were done. I think we got done around 8:30 or 9:00 P.M.

So, I will try and post a couple of pics tonight. Enjoy! Rest well and God bless!

I SURVIVED!!!!!

Hello to everyone out there! How are you all today? Much has been going on since I wrote my last blogs many months ago. I will try my absolute best to get everyone caught up!

Well, I had a "1st" in my life on Saturday morning. My boys and I and a friend of ours from church (Avram, an extended part of our family and former Marine) decided to participate in a 5K mud run called the Dirty Dash. Let me start off by saying...I HATE running! I despise running. Running is in no way, shape, or form fun for me in any way. Now that I've made that perfectly clear...

We showed up for the event around 8:20 a.m.  We were signed up for the first heat of the race which started at 9:00 a.m.  The Dirty Dash was being held this year at Wild Life West Animal Preserve in Edgewood, NM.  When we got there, there were already tons of vehicles coming in for the event. I didn't know how big this was going to be. 

We started stretching and getting warmed up for the run. They were doing a pre-race get to know the MC kind of thing. He had one of those t-shirt launchers and he would launch t-shirts, koozies, and Red Bulls!!!  They even had a battle of the sexes doing a tug of war. The women won and pulled the men into a watery mud pit before the event even started! They asked for 5 male volunteers and 1female volunteer. Avram and Aaron were 2 of the 5 men. He loaded his t-shirt launcher with a T-shirt and a Red Bull. He instructed the men to go off a couple of hundred feet, then launched it in their direction. The Red Bull went soaring through the air. It landed pretty close to Aaron and he had to run, grab it, pop it open (it exploded due to be violently launched through the air and landing abruptly on the ground) and proceed to chug it foam and all!!!! Aaron was so excited he got it. It got him pumped (literally) for the race!

So prior to the race, there had been some talk amongst my very own team members. I still don't think I know what truly was said!  According to Aaron, Jordan wanted to get everyone on board with taking on Avram, ganging up on him and throwing him face first into the mud. But, according to Aaron, Jordan just wanted to make me think that and he wanted everyone to gang up on his poor little ole mother!  The story according to Jordan is just the opposite, saying Aaron wanted to gang up on me.

Anyways... I was a little but concerned about the race. I have never run a 5K before. No, I didn't train to get ready for this. Didn't I tell you at the beginning how much I just LOVE running??? Why on Earth would I practice??? They also set up an obstacle course. I wasn't sure what all they were going to have. I've never done an obstacle course before either! So, the plan was for the four of us to stick together as a team. I already told everyone on my team that I didn't want to hold anyone back and keep them from enjoying themselves and to just run on their own and I would run my own pace and I'd finish when I could. Avram insisted that we would stick together as a team since Marines never leave a man (or in this case a woman) behind!

So the race started off with a bang, well not really...their buzzer thing was jammed and wouldn't work, but we started off like a herd of cows! We immediately came to the first mud pit and only a few people jumped in without hesitation. The rest of the group kind of waited to see what would happen to those first few people. When they saw how deep the pit was, everyone made their way through it. I cautiously made my way in and bless Aaron's heart, when I got ready to climb out, he was already looking for me and he was waiting to lend me a hand to be sure I made it out ok! What a sweetheart! Btw, need I mention...Jordan was NO WHERE in sight!

We ran to the second mud pit. I was a little less reserved this time and just charged right in! Again, aaron was waiting for me if I needed help climbing out of the pit.

We came to our first real obstacle, a verticals wall. They had two short 5 foot walls and two taller 7 foot walls. They had a series of two of these back to back. I tried the first short wall and failed! For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed about three months ago with a fractured L5 in my lower back. I was not able to get enough power in my jump to get over the wall. Avram was a doll and he cleared the first tall wall, then he came back to give me a boost over the short wall. He misjudged my weight and actually LAUNCHED me over! He cleared the tall wall again and met me at the second vertical wall. He gave me another boost and cleared his tall wall, then the three of us made our way to the third  obstacle.

We got to two sets of monkey bars. I failed miserably. I couldn't get enough momentum to keep moving and let me say, it didn't feel so good on my back! Aaron stayed with me though. So we all took off for the next part. We ran, and ran, and ran some more.

We came to a ramp with a long plank and a ramp down. I tackled that, no problem. Then we came across another mud pit with four culverts half buried in mud and water. We crawled on our hands and knees to get through.

Our next obstacle  was fun! It was a series of logs that were raised maybe a foot above the water in the mud pit. Avram and Aaron decided to do it the hard way (seems like that's how all the Marines are trained!). The went over-under-over-under. I did it the normal way...over-over-over-over!

We ran some more. I began to slow down some, but I never quit! I walked a little but still kept moving. My back was really beginning to not like me. We ran for what seemed like ages. We had no idea how far we had gone. We even stopped and asked at the two water stations they had set up along the race, but they didn't even know how far we were. FYI, don't drink Edgewood water...YUUUUCKK!!!

It tasted about like what the mud pit water looked like!

We cam upon our last main set of obstacles. They had two short cargo net obstacles and two large. The short ones were about 6-7 feet and the large ones were 12-14 feet. I'm not exactly sure of the measurements, but you get the idea.  I opted for the short one since I've never done this before. I went straight  up and over! I felt robbed! I felt cheated!! I decided to run around the obstacle and do it again...this time on the large one. Avram and Aaron completed the large wall and cheered me on while I completed the large one! They were proud of me! I was proud of me!

The last obstacle was an almost verticle wall with ropes with knots to help you climb up and over the wall. They had two sets of these and I did the big ones without any help!!! Again, I surprised myself. Then we all ran some more. My back was killing me, so I pulled off to the side and tried to stretch out my back again. I told the guys to go on ahead, but they wouldn't hear of it! (Still no sight if Jordan...still love ya babe!)

We walked a ways and then we could hear people getting ready to start their race and we knew we were getting close to the finish line so we began to run again. We came to the final mud pit and guess who we saw???? Mr. Jordan Gabriel Cogburn was waiting for us on the other side of the mud pit. He was bragging, "What took you all so long? I've been waiting for you forever!!! I'm almost dry. I'm not even wet!" That was it! Avram grabbed one arm, I grabbed the other and Aaron joined in! We grabbed Jordan, push him down onto his back in the thick mud and slid him all the way back down into the mud pit!!!! Word of advise...never, Never, NEVER make fun of your mother and leave her behind!!!

We had a total blast! I have never done anything like this before. If you ever get the chance to, you ought to try it! I am so looking forward to this event next year. Maybe I'll even make over ALL the obstacles all by myself!

I just want to say a huge thank you to Avram and Aaron for their patience and understanding. They could've totally run this race doing circles around me. They probably could've run it twice in the time it took me to run it once, but they held out for me. That says a lot about your character and team building skills. On the other hand, I'm proud of Jordan for running to the best of his ability. I think he was born a runner, so good for you for using the skills God has given you! Well, I couldn't have asked for a better team. Thanks guys! Next year, maybe???

Now You See It...Now You Don't!

Good evening! How are you my friends? I am fine.

When we went to bed last night, we counted five eggs when I took the picture I posted. When I walked  Nathan to his car this morning, we only saw four eggs! A little while later, there were five eggs. Before Nathan came home from work, I counted six eggs! After Nathan came home, he said there were only three. I was beginning to really get confused. Nathan said the crows must have found the nest and were carrying off the eggs. I didn't want to loose all the eggs, so aaron went and got out our incubator and got it up and running. We got the three remaining eggs and placed them in the incubator. We hope to have at least three babies in about 26 days!

Does anyone have any suggestions how to get rid of crows or how to keep them from flying off with our chicken/duck eggs in their mouth. I've seen them do this. It's absolutely insane! We've tried taking some eggs, poking the end with a needle and extracting some of the yolk. We then replace the fluid with "winky juice". Winky juice is made with apple cider vinegar, onions, garlic, habanero peppers, horse radish and you let it ferment for a couple of weeks. You strain out all the veggies and drink the juice to boost your immune system. It packs quite a punch and it will kill whatever ails you. I was hoping it would deter the crows from wanting other eggs in the future, but it hasn't seemed to help. Can anyone give me some advice? 

Well, as usual, everyone is in bed and asleep except for me. Guess I had better join the ranks and get some shut-eye. Until tomorrow. God bless you and may God bless America!

Is It Crazy Around the Farm? Eggsactly!

Hello to all! How are you this beautiful evening? We are enjoying the coolness of the slight summer rain we got today! Yippee! It's the first rain we've had in over three months.

Well, just to let everyone know, Jordan woke up feeling all better. He just drank too much pickle juice yesterday and he felt much better after he got it all out of his system!

We got up and around this morning. I made my daily cup of mocha. I even splurged and made an second cup of iced mocha! I fried a pound of bacon and Nathan made us some crepes. We left for church and listened to a wonderful lesson. 

After church let out, two families from church brought meals for the Gloetzner family. It was very sweet of them, we dropped the food off and the family really and truly appreciated the love and kindness shown to them.

Well, I was outside this morning talking with my nephew, Avery Cogburn. We just happened to start talking about our guinea hens. He said that he thought he saw some guinea hen eggs the other day. I have never seen any, so I told him the next time he sees some, to come and let me know. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later when something really cool happened! Nathan turned on the watering system to my flower garden yesterday. We forgot to turn it off, so he went to turn it off this morning. As he was turning it off, I walked up beside the flower garden and noticed that someone or something's had trampled one side of my flower bed. Needless to say, I was NOT happy. So I walked around to check the other side of the flower bed and I found where the guinea hens made a nest and laid three eggs! I was so excited! I ran to go get Avery and Savanah to show them. Before we left for church tonight, we saw a different hen laying on the nest and we counted four eggs! By the time we got home from potluck and volley ball this evening, we had FIVE eggs! I looked the information up on line and their gestation time is 26-28 days. So hopefully, we might have some away chicks by the end of the month, Lord willing! Life never slows down for us Cogburns!

Well, I'm very sleepy and I'm having a difficult time typing. I had better turn in. Praying Gods love and blessing on you. Take care and rest well.

Jordan's Sick...

Good evening to all! How are you? I want to encourage you to leave comments and ask questions. I'd love to hear from you!

We had an extremely busy day today. Wait a minute...we started off by sleeping in (around 7:30)! I set my coffee maker to brew at 7:00, so I woke up to smelling freshly brewed coffee! I love it when I make time the night before and set it to brew before I wake up!

I made me a tall cup of mocha and sat down with Nathan and Leslie to enjoy it! Nathan left to go to the local nursery to pick up some more trees and bushes while Leslie and I made breakfast. Darin and Dakota left the house around 6:30 to go golfing today.

Leslie and I fried up some real bacon (Jordan wanted a break from turkey bacon)! I made toast while Leslie scrambled some eggs. She also made a fresh fruit salad which was absolutely yummy!

Aaron, Jordan and I went outside to get started on the garden while Nathan got home and grabbed some breakfast. Aaron and worked on getting all the blackberry bushes transplanted to the correct row outside the garden and then getting the rest of the raspberry plants transplanted as well.

Tonya and Chad (Nathan's brother and his wife) are in the process of building a house and they started raising walls today. Tonya and her mom, Kay, provided a wonderful lunch. After lunch, Aaron, Nathan and I hopped back in the truck and drove over to the Schwebach's farm. We dug up quite a few stray raspberry plants and a blackberry plant.

As soon as we got home, Aaron and I got busy planting the plants from the Schwebach's. Nathan, Jordan, Peyton, Dakota, Cayden, Haven and Avery helped Nathan lay out all the drop hose and got the garden prepped.

Tonya provided supper again to night, but we moved it over to my house. I made some asparagus and desserts. Leslie made a really good dessert...coconut strawberry tres leches truffle. I also made coconut ice cream to go along with it!

About two hours before supper, Jordan started complaining of his stomach hurting. He complained of it last Sunday, but nothing came of it. This afternoon at lunch, Tonya ran out of pickles and Jordan thought it'd be a great idea to just drink the pickle juice from the jar. I'm not real sure how much he drank, but I think it was quite a bit. We thought he was just feeling the consequences of drinking that stuff. He ended up getting sick after we got done with dinner. We thought he got rid of the pickle juice and would start to feel better. He just threw up again a little bit ago. He has a slight fever 99.2. He usually runs about 97.8. Poor guy! He really is trying to be a trooper about it though!

I am praying he gets over it quickly and that NONE of us get it! Nathan can't afford to be sick. Aaron, Jordan and I leave Thursday morning for karate camp...we CAN'T get sick...we're not allowed!

Oh well...

In other news, Lily, our baby cria (baby alpaca) is now 12 days old!!! She is strong and healthy!! We are so very happy! I am just thrilled to look out across the pasture and see a baby alpaca running around! The other momma hasn't had her baby yet, but we're still watching her.

Well, I am tired and want to get some sleep. Please pray for Jordan to get over this quickly and that the rest of us don't get it! Thank you so much! May God bless you and good night!

Praise The Lord For Little Angels!

Good evening everyone! How are you doing tonight? I am fairly exhausted!

I got the boys up early today so we could get chores done and be finished and washed up ready to leave by 10 a.m.  I was set and all ready to walk out the door at 9:58 when Nathan called me and asked to to pick up our truck at the mechanics. We had to have our rear U-joint replaced. So, aaron and I ran over to the mechanics, picked it up, then dropped it back off at home.

When we got home, we loaded the car with food that my sweet sister-in-law made for the family that we've been praying for. In case you hadn't heard, there's a family that does karate with us. This family is extra special. The dad and mom have adopted over 20 kids over the years. They always asks for special needs or handicapped children. They still have nine kids at home right now. They have a sweet 9 y.o. Daughter named Gracie. She was born with hydrocephalus and had a shunt put in. Two weeks ago, she developed meningitis around the shunt. She has been in the hospital this whole time. Mom and dad take turns staying with her overnight at the hospital and day time too, around the clock.

I found out that they had been receiving meals to help them, but that their time was up and they had no more meals lined up for the next day. It was just by God's grace that we found out. I got busy making some calls and posting on Facebook to see if anyone would like to help provide meals for this very dear family. We had a great response and we've had meals provided through Monday! Thanks to all who volunteered and showed them God's love and compassion when they needed it most!

So this morning, we came back from the mechanics and loaded up the food my SIL made and loaded my boys in the vehicle. We stopped halfway to Albuquerque and picked up one of the boys' friend. Then we dropped the food off at Gracie's house. 

I had to stop by the main dojo in town and pick up some stuff that Sensei Nagatomo had for me. Then we met up with Nathan's cousin Darin and his family and a good friend of ours, Avram. We met for lunch and enjoyed Dion's pizza. From there, we took all the boys to Cliff's Amusement Park. We had a blast!

I left the boys with Avram at cliff's at 4:30. I had to go back to the main dojo again for a mandatory training session for registration for the karate summer camp and National Competition. At six, I met back up with everyone and Nathan too for dinner at Cracker Barrel.

After dinner, I was driving home and something in my mind clicked. I was supposed to pick up a meal that Avram (a bachelor and former Marine) made for the Gloetzner family. So I met up with him and picked up his potato soup. I then drove back to the Gloetzners to give them their meal for tomorrow!

Leslie and I made it back to the house about 9:30 tonight. Boy, am I exhausted!

I am just so very thankful that God has blessed our lives with little angels like Gracie! She sure brings happiness to her family and those who know her. I pray for her continued healing and strength for her little body to cope well with having had the shunt completely removed!!! She has never been able to be without a shunt, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for prayers on her behalf!

Well, I need to turn in. Nathan fell asleep on his recliner in the living room and I have tried twice now to wake him, unsuccessfully I might add! May Gods peace and love surround you tonight as you rest well.  God bless!

Swing Your Partner Round 'N Round!

Good afternoon! How is everyone? I am doing great!

I woke up this morning a few minutes before six (without my alarm clock to rouse me)!!! I got up, curled my hair, put on my make-up and got ready to head to Albuquerque this morning for a karate business meeting over breakfast.

We had a wonderful visiting, spilling coffee all over the table...blaming other people...lol! It was a riot! We actually did accomplish talking a little bit about business!

I came home. I had to call over to the main dojo to find out some information and Sensei Nagatomo and I got to talking about camp. He asked if we had already gotten our rooms. I had given all our information to our Sensei. Our Sensei thought we were taking care of reserving our own rooms. We thought he was taking care of lining things up...you see where this is going??? Well, I called the hotel. They did have three rooms left, but they all only had one king bed. We have four people staying in each room. I contacted the manager and ey were able to switch our rooms to two queens in each!! Yaaaay!

Aaron and I had to go by the mechanics and drop my vehicle off for some repairs. He also took a look at our truck while I was there. Looks like we're going to have to replace the U-joint on the rear if the truck as well. :/

Right now, I am baking several dozens of cookies for the boys drama club tonight. They are hosting a fund raising square dance! I am so excited for the guys! They can't wait! I'll try and take some incriminating photos and post them!

Well, I need to get my coconut almond cookies out of the oven!

God bless and take care!

Another Girl!!!

Good evening to you all! How are you? I am busy as always, but I'm good!

We woke up this morning to see one of my alpaca mommas in labor. Their labor is usually pretty quick. Momma had no complications and delivered us a happy, healthy baby cria. She is absolutely adorable! We named her Lily. As you can tell from the picture her momma is white and her daddy was a darker brown color. We love her white legs!

After baby was born, we picked Lily up and momma followed very closely. We put them in a temporary pen while we moved the three alpaca boys to the non-milking pasture. Then we moved the girls over to the milking side where we set a temporary nursery. We also put the other expectant momma in the pen too.

This was momma's first pregnancy. Poor thing didn't have a clue what was going on and we were concerned whether or not she would be a good momma. She never left her baby's side! Jordan held her around the neck to make her be still. I held her rump in place so that she would move side-to-side and Aaron got Lily to latch on to momma. Momma's gotten the hang of it and baby seems to be doing well. We were really concerned since we have had three crias in the past and none of them survived. We are praying that we've done more research and know a little better to give them the best chance of survival. 

We are happy she has joined us here at Cogburn Rancho Loco! She should fit right in!

Please take care and God bless!

The Rooster Strikes Again!

Good evening to everyone out there! It seems like an eternity since I have written on my blog. My hope is to get back into the habit of writing each night.

Nathan and I had an absolute blast on our cruise! We got to see lots of new things, tried new foods, saw lots of neat places and admired some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen! Over the next couple of weeks, I want to blog about the places we went, things we saw and things we did.

As soon as we arrived home, we hit the ground running! To start off with, the airline lost both of our check-on luggage. Thankfully, they finally located it about five days after we got home! Yes, we did make it home with all of our honey! Since we have our own honey bees, Nathan has become a honey collector. We bought honey in all but two ports of call that we stopped in. We were a little worried about clearing customs, but since they lost our luggage, we didn't have any trouble at all. We actually found out that you can bring honey back through customs, no problem at all.

Anyways, we had been traveling and awake for about 24 hours. We were absolutely exhausted. Going over to Europe, we had no difficulties making the time change adjustment. Coming back was a totally different story! The luggage the airlines lost had all our over-the-counter meds like Benedryl. We sometimes take that to help us get to sleep and to also sleep through the night. We went to bed around 9:09 p.m. (NM time) and our internal alarm clocks woke us up at 1:30. At 3:30 a.m., Nathan was still awake and couldn't go to sleep.

Let me back up a second. On our way driving home from the airport, a friend of ours had a cow named Honey. Honey had had a calf two days prior and she just up and died. So they now had an orphan heifer. They called us to see if we could take her in since one of our cows just had a baby about a week before. So five minutes after we drove in our driveway, the Schwebachs brought over their little girl. Let the fun begin!

So when Nathan couldn't go to sleep, he got up to check on the Schwebach's little heifer. When he went outside, mind you...it's 3:30, he looked and low and behold, our other cow Ruth had just had her little baby! The calf had just been born and was still on the ground and wet! We finally got another GIRL!!!! So Nathan came back in and woke me up and we had to get her all settled in and milked momma and fed the baby.

The day after we got home, we got an order of 20 turkey chicks in. The day after that, we got our order of 9 goslings in. Unfortunately, we think they had some sort of virus. They began dying about the second day after we got them. We now have no more chicks. I am so sad. We have never lost two entire shipments before.

Oh well...on to my real story. Paula, now is the time for a restroom break!

I kind of had an eventful Tuesday morning. Nathan called me and asked me to go outside and take a picture of our bull calf that we were trying to sell. The guy that was interested in buying it wanted a better picture. So I went our with my iPhone and started taking pictures.

Once more, let me back up. While we were gone, our rooster (his name was Eagle) had "attacked" several people. He had never been aggressive. He actually belonged to my brother-in-law, Chad. His boys hand raised him and used to carry him around as a pet! Chad had some people over and he tried to attack one of the young kids, then later he tried to get one of Chad's kids and then he snuck up on Chad and tried to get him. Fortunately, Chad had a pitchfork and the rooster never really hurt anyone. 

So...he i am minding my own business, taking pictures of our cute little calf. By the way, might I remind you that I HATE CHICKENS??? The stupid rooster snuck up behind me. I had NO idea he was even there. My left thigh started hurting and I looked over my shoulder and all I saw was feathers and wings. I thought there were two chickens fighting behind me and so I took a step forward. My thigh was STILL hurting. I looked again and then it dawned on me...the rooster was spurring me! I was swinging at him to get him off me. He finally quit attacking my left leg and immediately launched his second attack on my right leg. Thankfully I was wearing pants, not shorts. He continued spurring me as I was desperately do anything to get him off me. I was screaming at him, swinging at him...I just couldn't get him off! Finally, I was able to get him to let go. The second he did...I kicked him like a football. Both my legs were killing me. Even after I kicked him, he tried to charge at me again, feathers ruffled! I chased him ready to kill him. I HATE CHICKENS!!!! I pulled up my pants leg and he had broken the skin in six different places. I already had welts immediately popping up and where his spurs made direct contact, it broke the skin and was barely starting to bleed. I was so angry! I was crying hysterically when I limped back up to the house. The boys came running as soon as they heard me crying. They thought that one of the main milk cows or the babies had died or something catastrophic had happened. They asked, "Mom, what happened? Are you ok?" I am still crying hysterically and figured out trying to talk at the same time was not a good idea! I managed to choke out between sobs, "The stupid rooster attacked me!" At this point, the boys were trying to hold a straight face, but they were dying of laughter. Jordan couldn't keep a straight face and just busted up laughing! Aaron told him it wasn't funny, but he didn't totally hide the smirk on his face! They just couldn't help it. I told them, "We're having chicken for supper. GO KILL THAT DUMB ROOSTER!!!"

Needles to say, we had chicken afritada tonight. I have been in a lot of pain since Tuesday. My legs are so bruised they look horrible. Nathan couldn't even hide his smirk when he saw my legs Tuesday night as I was changing. As traumatized as I was, he asked me to tell him what happened. As I'm relaying one of the most terrifying moments of my life, he's sitting there outright laughing his little head off!!! He wanted to clarify that he was laughing WITH me. I reminded him that I was NOT laughing at all. He said he laughed for me. My legs did not get infected, thankfully, and today the pain wasn't as bad. I'm hoping I get moving again pretty soon. I hate being stiff and not moving so well. I am thankful he will never again be able to hurt anyone else. I hope you did get a little laugh out of this. At least it provided entertainment for Nathan and the boys...next time I'll let the boys be the walking pin cushion! I can smile a little a bout it now. Maybe one day I'll find the humor in it!

Well, that's our funny farm story for the day...let's make that for the week or better yet, the month! Ok gang...until tomorrow, God bless and rest well.

Venice...An Interesting City.

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been WAY too long since I had a good Internet connection to write a blog. Nathan and I are spending our last night tonight in Venice Italy. We hope to catch our flight into London tomorrow evening, spend the night and head out first thing the next morning for good old Albuquerque!!! Woo hooooo!!!

I have enjoyed learning about the other cultures and the history behind these beautiful people. It has really made me appreciate our country and our history as well. I took hundreds of pictures and can't wait to share them with everyone.

After we return home, I plan on writing a journal each day for every day that we were gone. I'll tell about the highlights and some of the lowlights and about some things we learned along the way!

One thing I know for sure...I truly miss my boys!!! Hugs and smooches guys! And no getting squeamish when I hug you and smooch you to death when I get home, ok??? Lol! A million-and-one thanks to my mom and dad. Dad, for taking care of my boys and mom, for letting dad come. This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. Thank you honey for sharing this with me. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in a most memorable way. Thank you sweetie for loving me and cherishing me.

Until we get home...ariva derci! I'm not sure I spelled that correctly, but I sure know how to pronounce it! God bless you and may God bless America!

We're In Barcelona!

Hello to everyone! How are you today? I am completely exhausted!

Nathan and I have been traveling for about 16 hours. We landed in Barcelona, Spain and collected our luggage. We caught a taxi cab to our bed and breakfast and just dropped our luggage off. Check-in wasn't until 2 this afternoon, so we hit the road with a map in hand.

The map we were carrying isn't a complete map, so we walked around quite a ways and got lost! After about 1 1/2 hours, we finally figured out where we were!

Nathan and I saw some cool architectural designs in the older buildings along the way. We stopped and a sidewalk cafe and ordered tapas. Wanna know something funny? I don't even know what tapas are, but we were told we HAVE to try them! No body at the cafe spoke any English, so we winged it! The #1 that we ordered had fried potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce and chicken croquettes. So as soon as we ordered, the lady shooed us outside to sit at an outside table. They brought us out a saucer full of pickled olives. Nathan seemed to like them. I took only a bite of one olive and that was enough for me! About five minutes later, the guy brought out 5-6 pieces of French bread sliced in half, sprinkled with tomato juice and olive oil. We thought...this is not what we ordered...but maybe she misunderstood...oh well! Two minutes later, the guy came out with 4 fried oblong things. Come to find out, it was our chicken croquettes! Then last, but not least, he came out with a larger plate of fried potatoes with the spicy tomato sauce and some sort of mayonnaise sauce in the middle. That stuff was good (except for the mayonnaise)! We sure didn't know what to expect!

After lunch, we started walking our way back to the bed and breakfast. There is a guy here that speaks very good English and he asked us to be back by 2:00. He will be off work around three, so he wanted to be able to answer any questions we may have. Duane and Anita are supposed to meet up with us any time now. We brought a walkie talkie with us and Duane and Anita have the other one. Their flight gets in sometime around 2:00 and it's now 2:24, so we should be hearing from them soon!

Well, I'll post more tomorrow. Much love to everyone. God bless!

SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO!!!!

Good morning! It is THE day! Nathan and I are sitting in the Albuquerque airport waiting for our flight. We just finished a nice leisurely breakfast. Nathan had an egg, potato and green chili breakfast burrito and a chocolate cappuccino. I had a cinnamon roll with a vanilla latte.


Well, Nathan's cousin Darin and his son Dakota came and spent last night with us. Darin had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago and he had his follow-up appointment yesterday morning. Darin and Dakota (as well as my family) really like Duck Dynasty. Well, the last episode we watched, one of the brothers lost a bet and for his consequences of loosing, his brothers duct taped him to a pole in their warehouse. Dakota and Aaron got an idea...

See what my dad has to look forward to for the next 16 days??? In case the picture isn't very clear, Jordan's feet are NOT touching the ground! When Jordan had had enough and wanted to get free, everyone went back inside and turned the porch light off! It was pretty funny! He kept screaming, "Come on, guys...Guys? GUYS???

Will post more tomorrow. Love to all and may God bless America.

Noah's Ark and BonVoyage!

Good evening everyone! How are you? I am doing very well!

We had a surprise wake-up call at 5:00 a.m. by my dad. He got up to use the bathroom and found that our house was flooded! The entire dining room, partially into the kitchen, the laundry room and especially the guest bath were completed flooded!

I used up every towel in the house and a couple of blankets to boot! And then I still didn't even get the water all mopped up! I wasn't feeling well, so Nathan (bless his huge heart) sent me back to bed while he finished cleaning up the mess! I am so blessed to have a hubby who can fix things and spoil me at the same time!

I went back to bed since I wasn't feeling too well. I got the boys going on school. We then went to the two last classes of karate. We had special plans for after karate class. I was starving!

Dad treated us all out to Samurai Grill (where they cook your food right there in from of you). It's our family's favorite place to eat. I got camera happy! Jordan surprised us all. He ate SUSHI for the first time ever and actually LIKED it! He even tried some of my teriyaki salmon and LIKED it too! I think I about fell out of my seat and onto the floor! Nathan (as usual) ended up with too much wasabi on his sushi!

We had a marvelous time! I wish my mother could've been here with us. Well, I will post several picks of our pre-Anniversary dinner and Bon Voyage celebration! Good night and God bless!

Packed and Ready! Yippee!!!

Good evening everyone! How a you this beautiful, but chilly evening? I am getting really excited! I finally feel like this trip IS going to happen (Lord willing)!

Earlier this evening, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. It's funny how things turn out. When Nathan and I first got married, I dreaded going on trips. Nathan used to get easily irritated and quick-tempered and I was so mellow. Well...the tables have turned! Nathan is as cool as a cucumber and I get all worked up, cranky, and just down right miserable to be around! Yes, I am speaking of myself! For those of you who do know me, this is not like me usually, but over the last few years, I have noticed this irritating trait developing in me...grrr. I hate when I give in to those feelings. Oh, well...I am working on getting better. Tonight, I only felt overwhelmed, not irritated and short-tempered and well...just crying at the least little thing.

I did it. I actually did it. I am officially packed. There's only four things I need to still put in my suitcase: my formal gown, my toiletries, my iPhone/iPad chargers and one tank top (in the dryer as we speak). I am so proud of myself. Most of you know that I am still doing things up to the very last minute. Friends call me the night before my trip and ask if I'm packed and all ready to go. I give them my usual answer, "No, I am still doing laundry!" Then I fold them straight from the dryer and into the suitcase it goes! I usually end up staying up till 2-3 a.m. getting everything all ready.

I am ready! I just can't believe it!

I have a fun-packed day planned for tomorrow, so I plan on posting pics and blogging about it! Until tomorrow my friends...God bless!

Dad's Here!

Good evening to all! How are you? I am doing well, in fact, very well!

Things have been kind of crazy around here. It seems like the days are getting shorter and shorter as I try and accomplish everything on my "to do" list before our cruise! Is it me, or are there fewer hours each day when I really need to get a lot done???

As you have probably have guessed from the title of this blog, my dad came in today! Bless his heart, he got up and left his house in Arizona at around 4:30 a.m. and drove seven hours so he could come stay with our boys while we go on vacation! It was so good to see him and I was relieved he had no problems driving in the wind today.

I taught some music lessons this morning. I also ran to Walmart to pick up my prescription that I called in a couple of days ago. They said they'd have it ready by 10 a.m. on Monday. I went in today and they told me they wouldn't have my script ready until the day we leave on our cruise and we'll already be on an airplane! I had to call my insurance company and request a vacation override, after I spoke with a customer rep who barely spoke English! How do I explain to someone who barely understands why I need a med filled sooner than later and what type of medication and dosage etc.??? Anyways, after running around (on the phone and in the store), I finally got my override approved and the pharmacy was able to fill my prescription. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait around till it was ready, so it looks like I'll try and pick it up again sometime tomorrow.

As I am attempting to get things all ready for our departure, I may not be able to blog as much, but please keep checking back. I will try and update as regularly as I am able to!

Well, I just got my dishwasher loaded to the hilt. The boys are in bed. Nathan's in bed. Dad's got his breathing machine on and is doing some serious sleeping! I guess I should follow their examples! Rest well dear friends! Love you all! God bless!

Starting To Get Ready!

Good evening everyone! I am getting pretty excited! Nathan and I started getting stuff packed for our cruise.

Lord willing, we fly out Saturday! My dear, sweet daddy volunteered to come stay with our boys. He plans on driving up here on Tuesday. This way, we get to see him for a couple of days before we leave.

Nathan and I finished writing down a list of things to do that we need to accomplish either today or later this week before we leave.

Chad had a really good lesson about faith. We ran a couple of errands together after church let out. I dropped Nathan off with the boys at Nathan's work place. We left his car parked at his work since we met up for date night Friday night. Nathan and the boys ran their "manly" errands (Home Depot, etc.). I had the whole afternoon to run around doing my "girly" errands! I had a blast just shopping at multiple stores, looking for sale priced bargains at my leisure and not having to worry about rushing through things so the guys wouldn't get bored waiting on me. The only thing I didn't have time to do was stop and sit down for a nice cup if coffee! I did manage to do just about all my shopping for the next three weeks though! Boy, did that feel good to get that all done!

While I was gone, guys what my guys did??? Aaron, Jordan and Nathan cleaned out the garage and moved Aaron's vehicle in so he could work on it indoors! The garage looks so nice! Way to go guys!!! I am so proud of you!

Well, everyone's in bed now, so I guess I aught to go to bed myself! I do need to get some rest if I want to get some major work done around the house tomorrow. Rest well my dear friends! God bless!

Date Night!

Good evening to all! How are you? I had a very busy, but wonderful day.

My day kind of started out rough. Most of you have read my blogs and know that we rescued a little lamb named Hope. She was partially blind. She was precious though. Unfortunately, she passed away during the night and my boys found her this morning. I was very sad. We're not exactly sure why she died, but she will definitely be missed.

I did some schooling with the boys this morning. I also ran some errands. I came home and baked a devils food chocolate cake with espresso cream cheese icing...YUMMM!!!! Believe it or not, I was a VERY good girl and only took two small bites!

I dropped my boys off at a friends house, the Heckendorns. They are a lovely homeschooling family that runs the drama group the boys are in. They are ranchers and were looking for some extra help around their ranch today putting up some corrals and barbed wire fencing. I dropped the boys off around 12:30 (just in time for lunch)! They worked hard and just hung out with them until Boys' Night tonight at the Drennan's house. The Drennans are another homeschool family that we also know through drama and karate. Once a month, Mr. and Mrs. Drennan invited young Christian teenagers over to hang out. All the other parents get a date night!

Nathan was in the mood for Baja Mexican food, so we tried a restaurant called the Prickly Pear located off San Mateo. We had their fish tacos. It was a bit pricey for the amount of food they served.

From there, we went to Sportsman's Warehouse and returned some merchandise. We bought a scope for Aaron's .22 rifle.

We hopped back in the car and stopped at Putt-Putt Miniature Golf! We had a blast! I am so horrible, but I had a great time! Nathan is much better than me...I think he was purposely missing the hole just so I wouldn't feel so bad! Nathan - 42...Michelle-69!!! I probably would've golfed just as well if I kept my eyes shut!

After golf, we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts for a cup of coffee and a donut. I ordered a French vanilla/coconut coffee with a lemon filled donut. It sure hit the spot. Nathan of course, got his French crueller!

That was our date in a nutshell. What a nice date with my sweetie! Rest well and God bless!

Back In The Groove

Good evening to all. How is everyone? I am still trying to recuperate from having company upon company and my insanely busy week!

Today was kind of non-stressful! We got up, did chores and some school. The boys got ready for drama. They had a great rehearsal! They can't believe they have only two weeks until their performance. I am pretty bummed that I will be missing it. This will be the first time EVER that I have missed any performance my kids have done. I am happy that I'll be spending it with my wonderful hubby on a cruise ship!!! Rough life, right? But someone's gotta do it!!!

After drama, we met Nathan at home. He actually got off kind of early from work this afternoon and had time to drive home, have dinner with us (tuna casserole) and hop back in one car and drive into Albuquerque for church this evening. Aaron had the lesson tonight and he has decided to start a series of studies on the book of Acts. He did a very good job! He has come a long way in his speaking skills. Nathan and I are so proud of him.

Nathan and I are (Lord willing) leaving for our trip a week from this coming Saturday! I am so excited! My dad has graciously offered to come and stay with our boys while we are gone. I am so thankful that they will get one-on-one grandpa time. The boys are very excited that at least he will be here for their drama performance. I do hope someone videos the performance.

Well, I am going to bed. I am trying to ward off a cold or allergies or sinus gunk. Please take care and may God bless you tomorrow!

Spring Karate In-House Dojo Tournament

Good morning to everyone! How are you this beautiful spring day? I am trying to recover from my busy, crazy week!

Saturday w a huge day for the boys and I! We got up early and got ready for our major in-house dojo tournament. They only hold one tournament a year. We all did very well. I made two minor mistakes, but otherwise, I did great. Jordan surprised me at well he did. Aaron astonished us by how well he did (I'll tell you more about that later)!!!

We got there and we warmed up. Come to find out, he pretty much had the brown belts run the tournament! He used his black belts as judges and to help train us, but we did the announcing of scores, compilation of scores, general announcing, keeping the kids lined up and following the appropriate protocol. It was so much info, it made my head swim...but it was fun!

Aaron, Jordan and I competed in all three events...kata, sparring, and team kata. Actually, we were signed up for a fourth event in family kata, but it ran so late, Sensei Nagatomo just ran out of time and no one performed their family kata.

Jordan did very well on his kata. I was so proud of him, he has improved a lot lately. He did great in team kata. He, Aaron and Luke Drennan performed team kata together and they did Jion. They looked really sharp. When he did his sparring, he held his own and even dished some out! He got third place in kata, second place sparring and second place team kata! Yea Jordan!!!

Aaron did extremely well. He did very well on kata. He earned second place in kata and second place on their team kata. I need to tell you a little more in detail about his sparring "stunt"!!! Let me start off by saying, we all came home in one piece, no broken bones, bloody noses or detached heads!!! When Aaron and Jordan's age of brown belt division came up, Jordan sparred Luke Drennan. Jordan beat Luke, so that placed him in the next bracket against Aaron. So Aaron and Jordan were sparring for first and second place. When we semi-free spar, we are able to shift our position, but we still attack announcing in what order we are attacking (head, stomach, front snap kick, side-of-thrust kick and roundhouse kick). The person blocking has to block whichever attack is called and then counter attack. When we starting training, we always counter attack with a punch. Well, in this tournament, they changed it and said out of all the counter attacks, you must change one of the counter attacks with an elbow, knee to the stomach or a kick. Well, Aaron blocked Jordan's head punch and countered with a punch. Jordan attacked stomach and Aaron blocked and did a knee to Jordan's stomach. He did his one change and so we thought he was going to punch on everything else...so we thought...

Jordan did a front snap kick. Aaron blocked...he then (FULL SPEED mind you) did the most beautifully executed roundhouse kick I have ever seen! He stopped within a hairs breadth of the side of Jordan's head! If Jordan had moved or flinched, Aaron would've seriously hurt him, but do to our strict training, Jordan didn't move and Aaron was completely controlled and no one was hurt! I saw Jordan's life flash before my eyes! Me, as a mother, my heart just stopped! For those of you who have not witnessed Aaron's natural ability and skill in karate, he has the most amazing kicks. He is probably the fastest kicker in our dojo, except for our Sensei. His technic was flawless on that particular kick. His form, fluidity and execution (no pun intended!) was spot on! Our Sensei even told him that his kick was beautiful. Aaron kicked at full speed and stopped right next to his ear for a split second for us to realize he was in control, then contracted back. Wow!!! That's all I can say is wow!!! All of us standing in the back of the room, our hearts stopped and our jaws dropped and hit the floor! Needless to say, he won first place with that kick alone! If Aaron hadn't performed that kick flawlessly, Sensei said that Jordan was winning the sparring. Jordan was doing that well with his own sparring. I couldn't have been prouder of both of them! Scared all of us moms half to death, but they performed with dignity and honor towards each other and to our dojo. Wow!

As for me, I did very well on my kata. I made a very minor bobble on a movement, but it w enough of a point deduction, that I didn't score as well as I would've hoped, but over all, I was pleased with how I performed. I earned third place in kata. I wasn't too disappointed with that seeing as I felt very good about my kata. My Sensei even called me this morning to personally tell me that he was very impressed with my kata, Bassai Dai. On sparring, there was confusion at the tournament about when to change the counterattacks. I thought the first time we went up to spar, we just counterattack with a punch, then if we made it to the second round, then that was where I understood that we had to change at least one counterattack. I misunderstood and I punched all of the first round. I won hands down against my opponent, but since I didn't change one of the counterattacks, she won the match. My Sensei said if I had changed that one punch, I would win first place. I earned third place, but I am content with how I did. I also performed a team kata with Jeanne Drennan and Sam Hoffman. We did very well and earned second place. So, overall, we all did very well and our Sensei is very proud of us and how we presented our dojo.

Well, after all that was over, we rushed home because we had invited our friends, the Radigans, over for dinner. Saturday night was the only time they could come before we leave for our cruise that's coming up in less than two weeks! I made a huge pot of beef vegetable southwest stew and a salad. The Radigans and their kids came over and we had a ball! I was exhausted, but we all had a great time. We showed them around the farm. Then, after supper, I taught their girls how to card fiber and how to spin it on my spinning wheel! They had a blast! I don't think they wanted to leave when it was time for them to go! I think they would've been content to keep carding and spinning! What a wonderful day!

God bless!

Karate Demonstration

Good evening to all! How are you? I am doing great,


Our company left this morning after breakfast. I spent the day cleaning house and getting ready for more company tomorrow! We are hoping to have the Radigans over for dinner.

The boys and I drove into Tijeras this evening to do a demonstration. The school that we practice at was holding a special event especially for moms and sons. Our Sensei pulled some of the most advanced students to do a demonstration for everyone. I was pretty excited about being asked to participate!

The first thing we did was line up, meditate for a minute, and then we started on our basics. We did punching jodan, chudan twice. Then we did a rising block, reverse punch. Next we did a stomach block, elbow strike, fist strike and chudan punch. The next thing we did was an inside-out block, same hand punch, then a chudan punch. Then we did a front kick, back kick. Next was a round-house kick.

The next part is what we call kumite. Kumite is where we spar with partners. We pair up, then one attacks the other and the other block and counter-attacks. I was very happy to have been paired up with Sam. Sam is about Aaron's age. He is our Sensei's first black belt student! I sparred very well with him. He attacked me with a jodan, chudan punch twice and I stood there for demonstrating how they are to make controlled contact. Sam punched pretty hard, but it was good. Next, he had to demonstrate kicking while I stood there. The first kick barely made contact. I whispered,"More Sam!" The second kick wasn't totally on target and wasn't enough,again I whispered,"Come on Sam, more!" Well, the third time was a charm and he took me seriously! He kicked me really hard. He didn't intend on hitting that hard. Our Sensei just happened to look over at us right as he kicked me. The kick was so hard, there was a big sound, it made my Sensei wonder if I was going to be ok! It was then that I smiled at Sam and he whispered," you ok?" I said, "Ossu!" It made me Sensei proud to see that Sam overdid it and I took it in stride! Next, we demonstrated some judo technics. I took Sam down! It was good! He did very well taking me down too! Overall, I had a blast!

Well, I need to get some sleep. The boys and I are completely in a major tournament tomorrow over at the main dojo. Will write about that either tomorrow or the next day! Rest well my friends. God bless!

Catch a Breath Before the Storm Hits!

Good evening! How are you? I am fine.

I have had a crazy couple of days. We had our fundraiser last night. It was pretty successful. We made $110 just for eating out at Carl's Chili Hills! So far, we have raised $460 all together. After the fundraiser, the boys were invited to spend the night at a friend's house. Nathan and I came home to Natalie and baby Aleah. I couldn't go to sleep since I was pretty hopped up on total caffeine and sugar!

I tried and tried and tried to go to sleep, but I couldn't. I woke up extra early this morning to help Nathan do the boys' chores before Nathan had to go to work. I helped milk, poured up, washed and bleached everything and took the trash out, fixed Nathan his breakfast and got him out the door by 7:30!

I drove to the Schwebachs and picked up our order of maple syrup. I came home and cooked breakfast for Anita, Duane, and Natalie.

I went back to bed since I only got about 4 hours sleep. I never fell asleep, but it did feel good to lay down. I lady came by to buy five chickens. About ten minutes later, another lady came to pick up Chester (one of our new bucks). Ten minutes after that, our normal milk customer came for his cream. What a busy morning!

I babysat Aleah for a while while Natalie finished packing up her suitcase. Duane and Anita came for a late lunch. I had to eat and run since today was karate. I just met up with the boys at karate.

I am tired. We are expecting company tomorrow. I have drs appointments tomorrow. I have music lessons and drama. I still have school. Then we're supposed to eat out at Tomato Cafe tomorrow evening for a fundraiser for the other dojo. Then we go to church. After church lets out, Leslie wants to through a small birthday party for Peyton. Thursday, we still have company. We have violin and karate. Friday we still have company and our dojo is putting on a demonstration Friday evening. Saturday is a big dojo tournament at the other dojo. Then we have different company coming over for dinner Saturday night. Sunday is potluck. Then I can breathe!!!!!

Well, I am trying to go to sleep, so until tomorrow...God bless!

Smoked Duck

Hello to everyone tonight! How are you? I am well thank you.

Today was a wonderful Lord's Day! Happy Easter to all my friends out there who celebrate Easter!

We got up this morning and my sister-in-law, Tonya, invited everyone over to her house for breakfast this morning. She had an egg casserole with vegetables, baked oatmeal, strawberry cheesecake muffins, hash browns, zucchini bread and sliced fresh fruit salad! What a feast!

We went to church assembly and heard a wonderful message. We came home right after church. My little niece, Aleah (10 months old) needed to come home for her nap. Nathan and I were in charge of smoking a duck today. I made a brine with apple cider, bay leaves, salt and pepper. I brined the duck for 24 hours. So as soon as we got home this afternoon, we stuck the duck in the smoker. I made a plum glaze to smear all over it when it was almost done. We stuck the duck in the oven to crisp the skin at the end. It was really good! I sautéed some asparagus with coconut oil, soy sauce and pepper. We also had salad and some of Anita's yummy bread. We served a sour cream pound cake with sliced strawberries and whipped cream for dessert with a pot of fresh hot coffee! What a way to end a beautiful day.

Thank you Lord for sending your son to die for us and to open a way for us to be with you some day in heaven. You made the ultimate sacrifice by giving your son as an atonement for our sins. Thank you Jesus for loving me so, even when I don't deserve it. You are a wonderful, merciful savior.

Well, everyone...seems like I'm always the LAST one to turn in for the night. I need to sleep tonight. Rest well and may you be blessed tomorrow. God bless!

Whew! I Made It!

Good evening! How are you all tonight? I am doing fine.

I have had a couple of busy, crazy days, but I made it! I did a bunch of baking getting ready for the reception after my students' recital. I baked one loaf of banana bread, two loaves of zucchini bread, two batches of brownies and one batch of oatmeal kitchen sink cookies.

We got to the church building for the recital a few minutes after 5pm. I started practicing some music with several of the students and helped them warm-up their voices. I was really surprised at how many people showed up. What was really cool was that my Sensei and two of his children came!

The recital started off with my student, Lydia Willis, playing one of her original compositions. She entered into a competition and won first place in the state of New Mexico. They have since sent her composition on to be judged at national level! She did a fantastic job!

Next was my nephew, Avery Cogburn. He played three songs and did very well. So proud of him!

Haven Cogburn performed on his guitar and he did a fabulous job! Aaron has started teaching classical guitar and Haven is his first student. He looked so cute with his little guitar!

My niece, Savanah Cogburn, went next. I couldn't have been any prouder of her! She got up there and sang her little heart out! What a cutie! After the concert, one of my older students went to Savanah and told her that she thought she did wonderful and guess what Savanah said, "I was so nervous, my breath ran away!!!!!" She really stole everyone's heart.

The Jungling girls and Levi did fabulous. They all worked so very hard and it paid off.

The Willis girls and Mrs. Willis all performed together. They did beautifully. Mrs. Willis was as nervous as ever, but she made it through! She sounded beautiful and she didn't even pass out! Maybe next time, she might relax enough to enjoy herself! She has made great progress and I am so proud of her!

My son, Aaron, did a fabulous job. He sang "The Least I Could Do." Then he did a duet with Lydia Willis. They sang "The Prayer." It was absolutely stunning.

Lydia Willis and her friend, Kelsey Hoppman, wrote a song together called "The Triumph of the Cross." It was a very moving song. This was the first time they ever performed it. They wrote it specifically for this concert!

I played a song on the piano called "Rustle of Spring." Then I sang a solo while I played on the piano and Aaron played his guitar. I sang "Via Dolarosa."

All of my voice students formed a choir for the last recital and decided to keep it going. They call themselves, For His Glory. The women sang a song called "Trust In The Lord." It has some pretty harmonies and they did very well. Then the entire group sang "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today!" and "Lamb of God!" I think "Lamb of God" was my favorite! The harmonies were unbelievable! They did a super job! Before the night was over, they were already planning for the next recital!

People stayed afterwards and visited for quite a while. Most of them thanked me for my hard work, but I felt pretty funny. Teaching these great group of kids was not hard work for me. I truly enjoy working with them. Well, I don't really see it as work. I have WAY too much fun! THEY do all the hard work!!! All of them have a desire to serve God and honor Him with their lives. I honestly believe God was glorified through their actions.

I was so tired. I guess I still am! Nathan and Aaron left this morning to sell chickens at the poultry swap meet. I actually went back to bed after they left and I fed Jordan and Gabe some breakfast burritos! I got up and did some cooking and prepping for tomorrow's supper. We are brining a duck and we plan on smoking it tomorrow. I hope it turns out alright.

My back has been kind of out of sorts. Please pray it gets straightened out on itself soon. Nathan and I are trying to de-clutter around the house. Today I started in my piano room. I cleaned out the front closet and organized everything and started a pile of things to get rid of. I did hang a bunch of pictures around the house. The next room I plan on tackling is either the living room or the school room.

I am sitting in bed typing this. Nathan is already asleep. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, Natalie and little Aleah flew in this afternoon! We are very excited to see them. We had dinner tonight here at our house. Anita (my mother-in-law) marinated some steaks. We grilled them. We cooked some pork ribs in the crockpot, then grilled them right before they were done. Anita and I had a joint effort making bread. It's called Wild Rice Pecan Cranberry Sourdough Bread! Yummy! Tonya fixed salad and made some brownies for dessert. Natalie cooked a bunch of vegetables. It was a very good supper! I felt kid of bad not doing a whole lot to contribute, but they wanted me to take it easy since I worked so hard getting ready for the recital!

Well, good night my dear friends. I hope you have a good night's rest. May you have a blessed Easter Day!

A Major Milestone...

Good evening to everyone out there! How are you tonight? I am doing well. I feel like I'm a spring that is getting wound up and almost pressed to its capacity before exploding!

I have had several extremely busy, crazy appointment-packed days, so I do apologize for not blogging for several days.

I have to tell you about yesterday though! I had a choir practice scheduled here at my house to work with all my voice students for this semester. They call themselves...For His Glory. They are an absolutely fantastic group of young Christian kids (roughly ages 11-19). These kids have truly blessed my life. They have blessed and influenced the lives of the people who have heard them perform before. God is working something special through these kids. I am just fortunate enough to be able to work with them.

Anyways, we had practice and it's the first time I was able to get everyone all together for the first time to practice our choir pieces as a whole. I don't know how they do it, but they do! Most groups must practice together for hours to get the parts to fit together right and to get a proper blend. Like I said, I truly believe God is working through them! They did so well! I am so excited for them! We had so much fun, we totally lost track of time. Hey, time flies when you're having a total blast!!! The kids have picked an Easter theme this semester. It was coincidental, but we ended up scheduling the recital on Good Friday, two days before Easter! I don't think I could've timed it any better. Some of the songs these kids are singing are just amazing. Some of them are performing well beyond their years. I hope anyone in the Albuquerque area comes to watch them. You will be blessed by them. If you listen to their music and their message, you will not leave the same person you were when you came in. I bet you can't tell I'm sooo excited!!!

Well, about that first milestone...

My oldest son, Aaron, is 15 years old. He has a Instructional Driver's Permit. He has been learning to drive with mostly me, but sometimes Nathan. Anyways, today I really realized that my "baby" has grown up without me! :( He bought his first vehicle today! He worked all last summer and has saved for the last two or three years doing odd jobs and working for the Schwebachs. He bought it all with his own hard-earned money. He got a 1995 Honda Passport. It is a dark blue SUV. It is a 4x4 and has a v-6 engine. Auto transmission. Aaron was wanting to get a vehicle that ran, but one that needed a little work so he could learn a little auto mechanics and/or body work. He has some work cut out for him. Someone backed into the front if this vehicle and needs a little work done to it and Aaron can't wait to get started.

I am tired and need to get some rest. I will take some pictures of Aaron with his "baby" and post it tomorrow! May you have a great night's sleep. God bless! Until tomorrow...

They're Here!

Good evening. How are you? I am doing well I suppose!

We did hear from Joe today. He did arrive home safely. Unfortunately, his wound is worse today. I think he's going to try and call his doctor tomorrow. So, a big thank you to all of you who prayed for his safe return home to his family and also for continuing to keep him and his family in your prayers during this trying time for them. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that I have friends who are willing to lift another up in prayer to share a burden. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Duane and Anita (my dear, sweet in-laws!) just drove in this evening. It was about 10:45 when they finally pulled in! Praise The Lord for their safe trip! I am so glad they are here. I go through "withdrawals" if I don't get my "Anita-fix" on a somewhat regular basis!!!

We are revamping the fodder system. We are going to have to get serious and kick it into high production gear. We will run out of alfalfa before this coming season's first cutting. We are going to have to provide our own protein source with the fodder. Chad and Nathan met tonight and talked out some ideas on how to fine-tune this fodder process.

Just to keep everyone updated, our tilapia farm went bust. We tried, but for some reason, they were not healthy and thriving. We ended up selling them to a guy and he picked them all up yesterday. Well, I'm kind of bummed that didn't work out. Oh well, I'm sure we'll probably end up trying something else totally new!

Everyone is in bed asleep except for me. I guess I need to join the ranks! Good night and rest well. God bless!

Prayers For Joe

Good evening. How are you all? It's pretty late, so I don't plan on writing a long blog tonight.

I am doing very well. I am asking for all my readers to please pray for our dear friend Joe that I wrote about last night. He woke up this morning and we think he might be having a little bit of infection setting in on his injury.

He decided to cut his trip short since he began to start not feeling well yesterday and seemed to just feel worse this morning. He got packed up and headed back to home, Sierra Vista, Arizona. Please pray for his safe return to his wife and kids and also for healing for him.

We truly enjoyed his fellowship while he was here. God blessed us greatly by putting him in our lives. Joe has been a huge part of Nathan's life and has become dear to me and also our boys. Joe was there at some of the most important parts of Nathan's and my life. Joe is a blessing to all who know him and also to all who don't know him. He is a living testimony of his faith. The world needs more people like him.

Thank you for praying for him and his family. It means a great deal to me. May God's peace surround you as you sleep tonight. Until tomorrow...

Joe's Here!

Good evening to everyone out there! How are this evening? I am doing fine!

Nathan has a wonderful friend, Joe Casey, who has been one of his best friends since sixth grade! They have kept in touch over the years. Joe is married and they have two beautiful kids. I knew Joe and his wife Laura before they even got married. They live in Arizona with both Nathan's and my parents.

Joe surprised us yesterday and asked if he could stay with us for a day or two, so guess what? He drove in safely this evening. He had a most interesting story of some of his recent life events that totally shocked us. About six weeks ago, Joe was cleaning his hand gun while he was watching tv. He was a little distracted and didn't realize that he had put a fully loaded magazine clip into his gun. He went to take it apart and it went off and he ended up shooting himself in the leg! It went clean through. It missed his femoral artery by 1 mm and completely missed his bone, praise The Lord! He was in the hospital for a while, but has recovered well with a whopper of a story to boot! I am so grateful that it appeared that God had his guardian angels working overtime with Joe!

Anyways, the boys and I had karate tonight. We got home and Joe showed up shortly after we arrived home. I made tacos for dinner. We sat around in the living room and shared some crazy stories of our shared past and some new ones too! We were laughing pretty hard and having a great time. Boy, it sure is good to see Joe again. I wished Laura and the kids could've come. Well, there's always next time...

Everyone was completely exhausted and wouldn't you guess...guess who can't go to sleep??? I am so tired it's not even funny, but my mind just won't quit!

Well, God bless you all. Until tomorrow...

Taxes and Getting Ready

Good morning to everyone out there. How are you? It is still early and dark where I am today.

I decided to wake up a little earlier than usual today since Nathan started doing our taxes last night. This is not a fun time for me. I know I am probably one of the worst organized people God ever created! Well, I had most all of our tax documents all in one place. Thought I had it all together this year...or so I thought! Nathan has decided to do it a little differently and needs quite a few extra documents, so guess what that means? That I must now reap the benefits of not being organized and try to locate all those documents today. I resign myself that one of these years I will just be more organized. I am many things, but organized...I am not!

I am also preparing to get ready for my students' music recital coming up. We have it scheduled for Friday, March 29. I am desperately trying to be ready in this short amount of time. Even my students are feeling the pressure. I usually don't hold my recital this early, but this is how it worked out. We are having an Easter theme and some of this music is just incredible! All of the kids decided last recital to all get together and sing a couple of songs as a collective choir and they were fabulous! I am so proud of them. Well, they wanted to have the choir perform some songs again and I haven't been able to get them all together for a practice yet! I've been working with each of them individually and they are doing great. I can't wait to get them all together! In any case, amid my busy day, I have scheduled a choir rehearsal this morning at 9:30. I hope everyone can come!

Well, I need to get Nathan's breakfast and lunch ready so he can head off to work. Much blessing to you all today! Until tomorrow...

Catching Up Day

Good evening everyone. How are you tonight? I am winding down for the evening!

We slept in this morning! Yippee!!! I got up, made a wonderful pot of coffee and share a cup with Nathan. I made fried eggs and fruity baked oatmeal for breakfast.

We got up from the table and promptly started on chores. I started trying to make a dent in my kitchen! I still had dishes piled up! Bless Aaron's heart...he did a bunch of dishes right before I got home. I started dishes yesterday, but didn't seem to scratch the surface! Nathan butchered three of our male ducks and dressed them for the freezer. Aaron and Jordan set up a pen for the baby goat kids and our orphan lamb in the three sided shelter. They got them all moved over, then Aaron and I moved about 35 of his chickens into the former goat pen. Aaron has been trying to sell his Americanas. He's listed them on Craigslist. He had two people come and they bought a total of 47 chickens!

I had to run some errands, so Aaron drove me. He is still logging in his driving hours to go towards his driver's ed class. We tried to stop by two different feed stores to pick up some chicken feed. Both of them were already closed for the day. We ended up going to Walmart. We did our shopping and went home.

While we were gone, Nathan took Jordan and picked up another load of flagstone. It took them quite a bit longer than they expected, but they made it home with no mishaps!

I was expecting Nathan's cousin, Darin, and his son, Dakota so I was cleaning house all afternoon. I started making a special dinner. Aaron made a special request for spaghetti. I made it with our hamburger, onions, garlic, chopped carrots, chopped mushrooms, bell pepper, poblano pepper, jalapeño pepper, salt, pepper, and Prego spaghetti sauce. It was so wonderful. I thought it was probably the best sauce I ever made. Nathan fixed our French bread tonight. He sliced it in half horizontally, spread one side with butter, sprinkled it with my French bread seasoning, and put cheese on the other side, closed it up and I baked it until the cheese melted. It was also very yummy! While I was busy making supper, Nathan just informed me that Darin wasn't coming after all! Oh well...

We enjoyed a nice dinner together. We are all pretty tired. We did get a lot accomplished today though. Nathan is really suffering with his allergies tonight. There was something where they went to get flagstone that just made him feel miserable...poor guy! :(

Well, I am glad to be home. Thank you all for your prayers. They are much appreciated. I will pray for a good night's sleep for you all. God bless. Until tomorrow...

Sad Goodbyes

Good evening everyone. How are you this evening. I am just plain tired and worn out. I am good though...thank The Lord.

We ended up staying in grandma's apartment last night instead of the hotel. Uncle Lowell was up all night with his cough due to having pneumonia. He woke everyone up. I was up at 11:45, 2:10, and then pretty much up since 3 am. We tried everything to get him to stop coughing. I tried rubbing the bottoms of his feet with Vicks and putting his socks on. He had already had his dose of cough syrup. I made a concoction of honey with a little bit of lemon juice mixed in and fed that to him by spoonfuls. He was sucking down cough drops like they were going out of style. I got up and made him a hot toddy (without the alcohol of course, however, I would've put that in to help knock him out if that would've helped)! I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

We all got up. Dad started packing his suitcase. I had all my stuff packed already and loaded in the car. When dad finished packing, I took his suitcase down to the car and loaded it up. We all met up for breakfast. They had a brand new chef cooking for the first time this morning. Poor thing! We had omelets, burnt toast and something that was supposed to be coffee cake. Is it me, or would you think it a little strange to be so cold I wondered if it was partially frozen? What even bothered me more was that it really had the texture of jello. It was really strange!

After breakfast, we started to say our goodbyes. It was a sad, but sweet parting. It always breaks my heart to say goodbye to my grandma. I never know if she will be around until next year when I go again. We all started shedding tears. It was hard since most of the residents were all there gawking at us while I was blubbering like a little baby. Even the staff started crying with us. I think my grandma had a feeling this was going to be our last visit with her. She had some sweet words she whispered to me in my ear before I left...parting words of wisdom. Last year, I thought she wouldn't be around this year, but she sure surprised us all. This year her parting words were purposeful and well thought out. That's what made it seem harder for me this time. I sure will miss seeing grandma and all her lady friends. They are all surely going to miss me (at least that's what they all said)! The director of the facility offered me a job to play music for the residents! I sure enjoyed playing music for them and encouraging them even if it was only for a couple of days.

I drove us to the airport and I was excited to be coming home to my adorably sweet and caring husband and children. Nathan surprised me by meeting me at the gate! What a surprise!

I am home now and got to see Nathan bucket train our four kid goats and baby lamb. My baby lamb and my baby goat girl were the first one to learn! They will totally drink from the bucket without any assistance. All the other kids will only drink from the bucket if you use a nipple as a straw and gradually pull it out of their mouth so that they eventually start sucking the milk out of the bucket. Hope they all remember tomorrow morning!

Well, I am having to readjust my time again. Sleep well and may God bless you tonight. Until tomorrow...

Errands

Hello everyone! How are you this fine evening? I am winding down for this kind of hectic day.

My grandma (bless her little heart) woke me up at 5:45 (need I remind everyone that this is 3:45 Albuquerque time)? She was confused and worried this morning when she woke up. She didn't know whether or not to wake us up, or who she should wake up. She didn't know what to do or how to go about doing it!

We all got up and around and got ready for breakfast. After breakfast, we came back to Grandma's apartment and I start about washing her hair for her. Once that was done, she waited about a half hour, then decided she wanted a shower, so I got her going on that. Almost towards the end of her shower, one of her hospice nurses came and helped her finish up in the shower. I got her all dressed and ready for her doctor's appointment later this afternoon.

In the mean time, I gave Uncle Lowell one of his breathing treatments. Got him all cleaned up and ready to go to his doctor's appointment this morning. I took him to the pain management clinic for his appointment and this is the second time they've turned him away. Dad took him earlier in the week and they found a problem and wouldn't give him his shots. So, we remedied the situation, followed their strict instructions, got him back down to the hospital just for them to find something else they didn't like, so they still didn't give him his shots. It was a little bit frustrating!

I got him back to their facility just in time for lunch. We went back to Grandma's apartment after lunch and I worked on a frilly scarf I am making for her. After a while, I got her wheelchair and got her loaded into the rental car and we were on our way to the hospital for her appointment. Her appointment went extremely well, actually, it went better than I thought it would. I loaded her back in the car, and she asked me to run by Walmart to pick up some throw rugs for her bathroom. I got her back to the facility just as the staff started serving supper.

As soon as supper was over, several of the ladies begged me to play the piano and sing once more before I head home tomorrow. I played some instrumental music by Yiruma and I sang Via Dolarosa. The facility director offered me a job playing music here at Shields House!

Dad, Uncle Lowell and Grandma came back to the apartment and I went back and checked out of the hotel. We are staying in grandma's apartment tonight. Kind of tight quarters, but I'll make the best of it! Everyone's in bed already, so I need to turn in. It's been a memorable time with my Grandma. Thanks honey for letting me come spend time with her! Thanks boys for picking up the slack at home while I've been gone. I want you three to know what a blessing it was to have this week with my sweet grandma. Thank you.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading about some of my adventures back east. Now, back to adventures on our farm! Rest in God's peace tonight. Until tomorrow...

Visiting Day!

Good evening! How is everyone doing? I guess I'm doing the best that I can!

We got up this morning, dressed, left our hotel, and drove over to grandma's apartment. We met up with her and Uncle Lowell for breakfast. I woke up this morning and the room was spinning. I don't know what was causing it or what. I knew it wasn't an earache. I didn't have a fever. I felt all right, except that the room would occasionally start spinning. As I was getting up from the breakfast table, I almost fell. I would've if I hadn't grabbed on to the bannister next to me.

We returned back to grandma's apartment. I tried to lay my head down on the couch, but my head was spinning worse. Just then, we heard an unexpected knock on the door. It was Earle Lacey. He is a long time family friend. He actually went to school with my dad. He's been so good to my Grandma and uncle Lowell. After my pa-paw passed away, he always looked out for both of them. He would check on them and see if they needed anything. He would even mow their lawn before he'd go home and mow his. If any of you have never been in Indiana or Kentucky, everyone has a lawn (abut the size if Texas)!!! Everyone keeps their own yard immaculately manicured. Anyhow, Earle comes and visits with dad and me every year when we come. It was so good to see him.

This time difference is really getting me! We eat breakfast promptly at 7 (5 am Albuquerque time). Then we eat lunch at 11:30 (9:30 am Albuquerque time) and supper is at 4:30 (2:30 Albuquerque time)! I don't now if I'm coming or going! I don't know if I'm eating first breakfast, second breakfast and lunch or what!!! Maybe I'm part hobbit???

Anyways...another very close family friend, Sarah, came to visit us at lunch time. She actually showed up early. She lives in North Vernon (where my Grandma used to live before she moved to this assisted living facility). She lived in the same apartment complex as my Grandma, just three buildings over. She would always check on Grandma and Uncle Lowell to see if they needed anything. She'd drive them to music nights or doctors appointments. She go over just about every night and play dominoes with them or sometimes shed bring her guitar and pick on that guitar. Boy, can she make that guitar sing!!! And she's got a great voice to boot! Well, she stopped at my grandma's favorite restaurant who serves the best fish sandwich I have ever had and pick up lunch for all of us. She drove about 30 minutes and arrived here at 11, so we had an early lunch! After we got done eating and I cleaned up, we played five rounds of Mexican dominoes. The facility here hosted an Easter egg hunt for two head start preschool classes. After they hunted for all their eggs, Sarah got out her guitar and played for about an hour. The old ladies here just thoroughly enjoyed themselves today. The ladies were really happy to see all those little kids! Then to have a music jam session to top it all off just made their day! They were all trying to convince Sarah to move in to this facility so she could sing every night! Lol!

Sarah left around 3:30. Supper was at 4:30, so Grandma and dad didn't want to walk all the way back to her apartment and then turn around and go all the way back for supper, so we just stayed out in the main room until supper time. After supper, Grandma, Uncle Lowell, and dad were all exhausted. We came back to the apartment.

Dad put on his breathing machine and he passed out. Uncle Lowell started feeling worse with his cough and he fell asleep. Grandma was wiped out and she took a nap herself. When she woke up, she really enjoyed looking at pictures on my iPad. She couldn't believe I was able to look at pictures of my boys that were taken just this morning. My boys went on a hike with a great friend of ours, Avram Gooden. He posted pictures he took of the group and my Grandma just couldn't believe those pictures were just taken this morning and we were able to already see them! She has been watching me text a lot. Now she thinks she wants to get an iPad! She's so cute!

The hospice nurse stopped by tonight to check on Grandma and Uncle Lowell. She is pretty positive that Lowell has pneumonia. He's been on antibiotics already for over a week and hasn't gotten any better. He sounds like he's got emphysema. The nurse said he sounds like he's breathing through soup. So she is working on getting him a different medication to get him to feeling better. My grandma is doing much better though.

Well, the facility's nurse just came in to give them their evening meds. They were supposed to get them at 8, but it's 10:52! She had to wake them both up to give them their pills and cough syrup. I hope everyone gets a decent night's rest around here!

I'm about ready to turn in myself. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and everyone here that I'm taking care of. I have needed extra strength and encouragement to get through this week. The words "thank you" cannot begin to express my gratitude. May God bless you all for your love and kindness. Sleep well and may God bless you abundantly tomorrow!