The living

If you lived with us you would notice that food is always something big at our house. We're either buying food, or planning meals, or making meals,  or setting the table for our food, or cleaning up after food. It's funny how food brings our family together.We love good food. We love the smell of it and the taste of it at night when the table's been set and we're waiting for daddy's lights to be seen on the driveway.

Our cook-books and recipes can be found everywhere. List of groceries we will need always on the bar.

 Our little black beauty that we got at the world's largest yard sale has more than paid for herself.
  She sits all day and cooks just about everything you can imagine.

This is our newest addition to our family. We call him Lucky. He was named Lucky for several reasons.

1. We don't normally do cats
2. Our cats are farm animals that normally find their food in the pasture, meaning we don't buy cat food. No sissy cats around here. You hunt for your food. Our cats are tough.
3. Lucky found his way into our hearts and into our house.
4. Lucky gets a medium priced store bought cat-food that I feel fairly good about buying for him. I don't want this poor thing to have to go hunt for his food. He might starve to death.
5. Taylor is not a cat lover and well Lucky found his way into her heart by ending up in her dirty clothes pile and she let him <3 It's love I tell ya.

Speaking of love these two are on again and off again. This weekend they were full blast packed out full of love. I have to tell you a secret though. It's H-A-R-D having twins. It's been an experience that has had us crying from lack of sleep to rolling laughing as they tell each other "no cry, baby". They have tested me to my inner core and they continue to keep me on my scarred up knees, banging on the doors of heaven asking for wisdom..I know I post their "good side" most times but that's because of their little reputations that I'm trying to protect.. Not because I'm trying to make you think I have it all together because, believe me with twins, from what I've heard, you never really have it all together again. Hmmmmmm. So I will spare you the going into their room after you've laid them down for the 5th time only to find both of their diapers off laying in the floor and their sheets soaking wet....? Why did you do that I ask them? I really want an answer. They both say diaper as they point to the floor. I will spare you the stealing of each others food and they both blame the other. You never know who really did it. I will spare you the obsession they have with shoes. They want shoes on all the time and when you lay them down for a nap or night-time and you pull their little feet out of their shoes they cry like you just ripped out their soul. I will spare you the early, I mean early, wake up call. I will also spare you the crying that the two these sisters can do and when done in unison will drive you slap crazy.
See, I spared you the messy details. Aren't you glad? I would rather you know the side of them that loves like crazy. The side that gives BIG puckered up lip kisses. The side of Josie that sucks her thumb and rubs her outie belly button and how darn cute she looks when she does it. How when I put on footy pajamas she cries because the zipper is hiding her belly button and I have to un-zip her so she can rub it...  

 I want you to know how very much they love this guy down there, their older brother. They adore him and he adores them. He is protective and loving, kind with these girls. They call him Tuck-Tuck and I simple call him a wonderful son. He is the most generous person I think I have ever been around. He loves to do for others. He has a lawn care business and worked all summer for a christian mechanic. He also helped some of our friends {tornado victims} rebuild. He has a few computer businesses on the side as well. He is saving his money so he can expand his business next summer and putting a few dollars back for his future family.
He is earning his eagle scout badge. He is busy but work is good. He has few friends outside of our family not because he's not a likable guy but because he's busy. He's available to his family and helps us in so many ways.

Having older children, I see the blessings of teaching them patience and understanding when it comes to their younger brothers and sisters. There's not a "typical" day around here.. you have to be flexible and willing to give of yourself and well that's not normal. We gets lots of, "what about your older kids? why should they have to help burden themselves with helping just because you have a large family? They should have their own life...They should be normal teenagers and get to hang out with their friends and express themselves blah blah blah"........Come on, it makes me so mad. The same people who say all that stuff are also the same people who say the world has gone to hell in a hand basket....and I want to say, "well responsibility builds character" and  that our society at large has taken all responsibility out of our children's lives and has inserted 'let me do everything for you' and when young men can't hold down jobs or young ladies have to be taught how to change a diaper or cook by our school systems, something is wrong. We try and give our children a better life than what we had... but is it really better? You are who you are and I am who I am because of the hard-times. Why do we take all hard-times out and then wonder why there are so many weak kneed young adults? Just thinking out loud. Teach them to work and work hard and work along side you and then when you play, play hard.
For the rest of Tucker's life he will have to work. He will be providing for a family. He has to learn now that work is not an option.

Taylor graduated this year and her days are filled with family and work. She does all the cooking and helps with teaching little ones to read. She works for her daddy two days a week and she has a job at our church as a wedding coordinator. She is starting online classes at Penn Foster to be a certified wedding planner.
Oh, and she wants to get married and have lots of babies..and homeschool..So not normal :)

She  is my right hand and so much more. She is 18 and for years people made remarks like "just wait until they get older" well I'm right in the middle of older with her and can I just say I love it? Truly, the Lord has blessed me with remarkable older teenagers but these two are our guinea pigs if you will. They have always had to work hard. Up early with chores and work on the farm or helping with babies. They have been raised old school if you will. No free rides I've said more than one time (probably more than a thousand), "if you don't help you don't eat".....they always help. Bad attitudes are not part of our everyday life. We have them, we all have them, but we work them out..We talk a lot and read scripture and sings songs of God's grace and love.
We make the ones that don't get along work together and sleep together and share a plate until they show me that they can get along. What's the use if your kids can get along with other kids at church and hate the very people in their home? Teach them and beg God for love between brothers and sisters. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in harmony. Expect it and don't ever expect any less. Don't listen to the lie that brothers and sisters get on each others nerves and that's normal. They will fight and fuss. They will disagree, but teach them to love first and work out their differences under God's rules not the worlds "normal".

I hope you don't mind my soap box but, be encouraged and grow in grace as we live out our daily walk together.

Living...