Let the Journey Begin!

Well, here goes, my first actual post!  This is a multi-faceted journey.  New blog, new land (sort of), new season in our lives.  I think I will start with sharing some of our beginnings on our current property.  It was a barren 5 acre (sort of) plot of land that was once part of a bigger farm and still had the old dead corn rows buried among all the weeds.  I say sort of 5 acres because the last acre is separated by a rather LARGE creek (definitely CANNOT walk across it) so we don't really have any access to it.  The blessing was that we didn't have to clear any land, just install our own septic, electricity and water lines.


We purchased a double wide manufactured home in 2007 and began our journey.  Homestead dad disced (sp?) the land over and over again to try to smooth out the rough and get it ready for the foundation footings and what we thought would be a nice grass lawn (that is another story!).  The process of starting from scratch never seemed so daunting until it kept dragging on and the expenses kept changing for the worse!  It seemed everything was not coming in at the prices we had estimated and been quoted.  In the end, it worked out okay for the most part.  We did get a few items cheaper to make up a little for the higher ones.  However, we had to wait two years before there were funds to complete the back deck, we still don't have a garage or the jacuzzi tub we had hoped to put in the master bedroom.


In hind sight of course we would have done things differently, but it is what it is and we are still so blessed and grateful for what God has done.  It is a lot of work, but it is nice to get out together as a family and work on the garden and flower beds and just spend time together.  I know all the land and mud have elated Sweet Pea beyond measure!  What young boy doesn't enjoy the chance to whoop and holler and stomp through the mud and anything else along the way without having someone correct you because you were being too loud?  Although I do wonder at times what the neighbors must think, he does get awful loud!!  Our plot of land is narrow and long, so we have neighbors very close, which is nice.  Kinda country, but kinda subdivision, but not real close.  We are on the outskirts of town, but only about 5 to 10 minutes away from all the stores and hospital, pretty nice.


I will end this post with an interesting mind picture for you (no I won't post this pic, not that I was able to get one anyway).  It was within the first few months I think of us moving in, perhaps it was the following spring, I don't rightly remember now.  Anyway, I am out front, early in the morning, taking care of watering the flower beds.  Homestead dad is at work and Sweet Pea is still asleep in bed, or so I thought!  Mind you now he is only about 3 years old at this time.  Well,  here I am watering and listening to cars driving by and I hear my son burst out of the front door all excited about watering.  For whatever reason, he got distracted with something else in the flower bed and for some reason I never looked up to see what he was doing.  I just hear him trotting back and forth behind me on the walkway.  Of course this probably only went on for a few minutes, but much to my shock and embarrassment, I turn to address my son as to why he has his rain boots on, only to find him stark naked, with boots on!!  He really did not like to wear clothes when he was younger and just didn't want to take the time to put clothes on before joining me to water (he loves to garden)!  As I was quickly correcting him and urging him to quickly get back in the house to get dressed, my mind was racing with how many of our neighbors may have seen their new neighbor who let their child parade around in the nude!  Kids, gotta love them.

What embarrassing things have your children been up to lately?