Some bullets!

Here are some bullet points of our lives currently:

• COVID is slowing down in the ER. (Man does that make life better for us.)
• Erin Dunham and her family are living with us until the Spring. It has been a wonderful inclusion to our lives.
• Our long-term wwoofer, Jacob, is still with us. He's been with us on and off for five years.
• We think one of our favorite wwoofers, Tijmen, may be coming back to visit us at long last. The USA has been closed to the Netherlands for quite some time, but our doors are opening in November. We will see.
• Our farm is going well. We are focusing on our sheep, laying chickens, and meat chickens. We incubated our own chickens this past year for the very first time. (We normally have little 2-day-old chicks that show up in the mail.) It was super fun, and we are working on integrating them into the big flock. (This is kind of a pain-in-the-butt as it requires a brooder, smaller tractor, and then eventually going out to the egg-mobile with the big girls. However, they don't accept this readily, and we have to go out every night and dig them out from under the egg-mobile until they learn how to go to bed properly.)

• The picture above is of me and Lindsay. Lindsay was stationed with us in the Azores. And now, she and her family have relocated down the street from us. (Unlike other friends, they didn't move here because of us. They moved here because, like many Americans, they are plain tired of the attitudes and costs in many of the big cities. Like us, Lindsay and her husband Sam and their three teenagers chose our area because of: taxes, politics, cost, religion, etc. People are just FED up and moving here in droves. Other people who now live by us:
• Of course the Kotynski's!
• My parents bought a house in Greeneville. They plan to live there approx. half the year right now. It's being renovated and looks amazing.
• Eddie Kotynski's parents have relocated to the area. They just built a house halfway from our house to Greeneville. 
• John's sister and her husband (and surprise baby at 39 that's coming with them!) bought a small plot that actually connects to our farm at the top of our property. They are coming in the Spring.
• Our friends from Turkey, Shane and Linda, bought some property down the road. Linda owes many more years to the military so it will be a "home base" and AirB&B property. 
• Anni has officially relocated from Knoxville. Her house on her property is ready to be moved in any day AND it looks like she will be adopting her little foster daughter in the near future. (Stay tuned!)
• Our friends, the Steele's, moved on the other side of Greeneville about 2-3 years ago. They were stationed with us in the Azores. We actually saw them just tonight when their little grandbaby needed stitches from John.
• Homeschooling is going very well. It's hard. It really is. But it's worth it, and truthfully, I can't imagine doing anything else. As it stands, my last child will graduate in 2032. (Holy cow is it weird to write that number.) And Aunt Hannah will have one graduating in 2039. So I don't see this ending for me anytime soon.
• I was sick for a WEEK. I haven't been really sick in years -- unless you count COVID. 
• I'm sure there's more to report, but I'll stop here for now.