We Bought a Farm: What I love (and don't love) right now

• I love my old friends. Joia and her three kiddos came to visit our farm for four days. Oh how wonderful it was to reconnect with her. I will blog more about their visit (when I get pictures from her), but for now may I just say how much I appreciate her. She reached out to me during a very dark point in our infertility journey and she was loyal to me then and now. She has managed to make three rather substantial visits to see me. I appreciate her, and was just in awe that our children fit together so wonderfully. 
• I love our farm. I really do. I am trying each day to not take for granted what is here -- at our fingertips. (Can you see our group setting off on a hike in the picture above?) Seeing it fresh and new through the eyes of visitors is so valuable. It is truly amazing what the Lord has given us and I don't want to ever forget that.
• I love my dogs. I realize I don't blog about them like I did Scrubs, but they are slowly wiggling their way intimately into my heart. Arabelle is incredibly smart. She truly behaves as if she completely speaks English and listens to you without any hesitation. I can take her out with me all over the farm off-leash, and she is listening and not going after ANY animals. Ritter is currently not behaving as well around the animals. (He had a small run-in with a sheep that did not go so well.) I am hoping that I will be able to get him off leash around the farm, but we will see. He is however the most loving and snuggly dog ever. He lets the kids lay all over him, and actually likes it. Against everything I ever said, they have become indoor dogs. They will still probably spend a lot of time outdoors, but they are also spending a lot inside with us because we just love them so. Arabelle just finished her first heat. We plan to breed them during her next heat, sell one litter of puppies, and then get them both fixed. (I've been getting some orders for pups so let me know if you are interested in an Aussie!)
• I love our new life group. We are coming up on two years here on our farm and two years at our wonderful church. I have been very deliberate in the "yes" replies I give to people. I want to make sure what I agree to is right for our family and not too much. We've really wanted to get involved in a small group with our church -- knowing that that community is incredibly important, but have not felt the time was right. However, about a month ago, we were scooped up into an amazing group. All the pieces fell into place perfectly including the time it meets to make this work for us. While JB has yet to be able to attend with me, it is a perfect fit for us. I am blessed. 
• I (do not) love my van. Today while out with my kiddos at the grocery store, I stopped at the bank, rolled down my window, and it would not roll back up. We went to Bible Study, and then stopped by the hospital where JB was able to get it at least stuck in the up position. We have had this van since 2008. It is a 2002 Odyssey. It is quite old, but it is still right around 150,000 miles due to being very sparingly used while we were in Eglin, Turkey, and the Azores. I have always said we will ride it into the ground. Especially after we had an old truck kick the bucket last year and had to buy a truck for JB and the farm. But tonight was the first time I thought: I want a new van! Don't worry. I won't give in. I'll keep driving this thing into the ground. But I have begun to dream slightly. Dangerous territory. 
• I love our WWOOFers. This week we said good bye to the wonderful Amy. Oh man I liked that girl. I really was sad when she left. But just as she left us, Leon, joined us -- another volunteer from Holland. At the same time, I was sad to have a possible Turkish WWOOFer not be able to come due to a work-schedule change, but was ecstatic to hear that Mary Anne, who was with us two and a half months last summer, wants to return to us for a month this fall. I continue to pray and seek the Lord about how this process fits with our family, but God continues to bring us wonderful people. 
• I love (and don't love) John's job. JB is working nights. No one in the family likes when he works nights. But I realized today that we needed a change of attitude. The kids have all started getting seriously SAD when he is doing nights. That is not cool, and rubs off on John too. So we decided we are going to try and start having fun the four to five nights each month he works. We are going to watch an episode of AFV after dinner (the kids love that show and you can pull up old episodes on youtube), we are going to let people sleep in different places, and I'm going to read books to make up for Daddy not being there to do his nightly reading. We may even have a special dessert we only eat when he is gone. I talked to the kids about how great their dad's job is and that no job is perfect. We can start praying for some awesome doctor that wants to do all nights at their hospital so he can do less nights, but otherwise, all the docs have to take a few each month. We need to embrace them instead of dreading them. 
• I love parenthood. But it is HARD. Four children is hard. Four young children is hard. Each stage produces new hardness. Oh they are funny and charming and wonderful, but they are starting to fight with each other a lot and get quite opinionated. I truly feel like there is someone who needs me every single second I am awake, and I struggle to remain happy in the moment. I truly know that this motherhood thing is FLYING by, and before I know it, they won't need me anymore. I mean, the son we waited forEVER to adopt is going to turn NINE next month. But in the minutia of the moments, it can be challenging to remember. 
• I love vacations. We are planning some fun stuff coming up. In May, we are going to take our first "big" trip in our camper up to the Indiana area for my grandfather's memorial weekend. In addition, I am going to take a day to take Isaac to Carowinds for his birthday. We've decided to meet my friends Hershal and Michelle and their oldest son for a rollercoaster extravaganza. And the last HUGE piece of news is that I am going to be taking a CRUISE for my 40th birthday in May with a few girlfriends. It was JB's idea. At this stage in our kids lives, we just really can't leave any grandparent with them for more than two nights. (We are waiting for Hannah to grow up a bit more.) So John suggested I get out of dodge for a few days. I CAN'T WAIT. In addition, JB and I have begun talking about what we should do for our TWENTIETH anniversary June of 2018. (Ideas are welcome!)