Catching up

Well, I’m sorry it’s been so long since a good update! Life has been so busy! I’ll try and fill you in and bring you up to date. We are still enjoying our work and doing things together as a family (or sets of people working together). Life is very full on so many levels. Such a blessing to watch everyone work and enjoy so many things…old or new.

Moving: We have moved! We ended up staying at the Riverside home a little longer than any of us anticipated. Things are always changing, and due to unforeseen circumstances, it was necessary to stay there and help for a little longer. We were all fine with that, although we were definitely ready to move into the Unity home.

Through this whole process, the Lord has been faithful! Im still learning how to make adjustments gracefully. As a mother, I realize that I have many sets of eyes looking to me to make the best of things when we may be disappointed, or overwhelmed, or busy, or enjoying something…just everything in life. So how I handle something is super important. I want to teach my children by example how to anticipate things, how to handle a stressful situation, how to look for the positive things instead of dwell on the negative…all those and more. It’s what a mom does. But I realize it can’t just be a reaction on my part. I have to subconsciously have good responses to things to keep everyone on track and things going as smooth as possible.

Well, we packed up our things at Riverside, cleaned the house and headed out on a Saturday morning. We have learned to make our trips to town count. Everything substantial is about 2 hours away. So I went (with the suburban and cargo trailer) to the grocery store that morning, with half the kids, and grabbed some food for the next few weeks. On a side note, Oregon doesn’t have disposable grocery bags and when I’m buying a load of groceries, we just put an empty cart at the end of the check out line and do a big transfer. It works. Just makes loading and unloading take a little longer handling each item multiple times. And yes, we have a few reusable bags, but not enough for a grocery haul for this size family!

Stephen stayed at the ranch and helped get the cows sorted and loaded on the trucks. After I got shopping done and he got cows loaded, we met up at a park in Vale, OR and had a family picnic. It brought back fond memories of our road trips last year and other times. We always find a park, let the kids play, take a walk, and have something simple to eat. We are so blessed to have made so many good memories over the years. This picnic was no exception. We all took a sigh of relief and just enjoyed the moment.

We were given a puppy right before we left Riverside. We named him Chief after the chiefs that were mentors in Papas fire department carrier. He is a border collie and the cutest little ball of fluff! We brought him, and 2 barn cats with us, along with our 2 loaded trailers, and trunk full of groceries. We were very packed to say the least! But we made it and got to work right away. The home in Unity has been completely taken over by mice. We have our work cut out for us! We have been cleaning layer after layer trying to get things feeling better. I wanted the kids to be up off the floor when they sleep, so we got to work assembling beds right away. (I’ll try and get some pictures of their room and post them a little later)

The weather has been beautiful. We had just a few really cold days about a week or so ago, but things are starting to warm up. The highs are anywhere between mid 70’s to low 80’s. The lows are down to the upper 30’s to the mid 50’s. It’s spring up in Unity and the trees and grass and flowers are blooming and growing beautifully. There is irrigating that the ranch manages (we will eventually learn how to do that). They have a huge pivot that waters a gorgeous meadow.

In the spring, the ranch has cattle hauling trucks, haul loads of cows/calves/bulls/heifers to various properties north of riverside. It’s quite a process! There are so many components of the whole operation, it sure makes you grateful when things go smooth because it isn’t always that way.

The kids got hired to do a few day jobs, which they really enjoyed! I’m grateful to the Lord for opening up opportunities for them. They help with ranch chores all the time and have such a good time. Their favorite is riding horseback as they gather or push cows or work on fence.

Brandings continue to be a highlight of everyone! Usually several families or individuals gather together and help out for the day. The kids get to be on the ground crew. That includes “mugging calves” which is essentially wrestling them and flipping them to their side after they have been roped by someone on horseback. Then they are given shots, ear tag, and branded. It’s good work.

Each one is a little bit different but generally that’s how it goes. Then there is a big meal everyone enjoys together before heading back home. It’s quite a spread and so delicious!

Family life has been good. Since moving to Unity we have desired to be able to kinda pull in together as a family and do more of our normal routine…family Bible study, meals together (or at least one) each day etc. So far, we have managed to work back slowly into that normalcy. It sure is necessary for us. So much training and discussion all happen during those 2 times every day. And if we don’t keep up with that, we see bad habits or attitudes form and then have to do more disciplining. We need to be together and have that glue that holds us together.

Throughout my married life folks have always asked us “how do you do it”? You know, sometimes it’s things you don’t do (electronic devices, TV, social media etc) and then sometimes it’s things you do intentionally (make time with each child individually etc.) and then sometimes it’s things you do from habits you have formed as an individual that you carry on in your family (Bible study, meals together, daily chores etc.) All those things make you who you are. And over the last few weeks, I’ve seen how important it is to make that a priority.

We have been working on making this house feel like a home. Eradicating the mice will be a huge feat. We’ve added some decoration items from back home that bring comfort. It’s a little here and a little there, but we are making progress!

We had a fire in our stove and Stephen and Martin hauled it outside. It was full of mice bedding and just wasn’t going to be safe to use. Mr. & Mrs. Elder brought us out a new stove the very next day. They were Johnny on the spot. We were able to use it confidently and get back into the daily bread making and meal making that we so heavily rely on as a family. So grateful for nice working equipment and for the Elders for making that a priority for us.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ve got so much more I want to say, but I’ve attempted working on this post for weeks now and just don’t seem to have the time to get it all done. So, thank y’all for your prayers and for checking in. We love y’all all so much!