We Bought a Farm: What my life is like right now

It's been awhile since I just flat-out wrote about my life on this-here Blog. 

So this post, is about my life.

I thought I would share what my life looks like right now.

• I farm.I am dirty. A lot. I'm a dirty farmer. Some farmers stay clean a lot. I am constantly dirty. Poop. Mud. Whatever. It's on me. Right now we have guinea fowl, sheep, ducks, geese, and chickens. The winter is always a lot slower with daily chores but we fill it with things that we have put off for awhile. 
• I homeschool. I really like homeschooling with the 9 children together. It works really well for me. I like teaching the older kids. Some days are easy. Some are harder. Kids have a lot of moods. And so do I.
• I clean. I have a housekeeper. She comes once a week. She is my friend Jennifer. She rocks my world. I couldn't do what I do without her. But despite the fact that she does the hard stuff once a week, I am doing the day-to-day stuff everyday that keeps us from ending up with too many junk drawers.
• I delegate. I give my kids whatever I can for them to do. The girls and boys rotate emptying the dishwasher. (Girls one time. Boys the next.) The boys do their own laundry. The girls are getting close to it. The kids keep their own rooms clean. Anytime the house starts feeling cluttery, I call an audible and ask everyone to join me in the living room for 5-15 minutes of help getting us back to the starting line. The boys each have an animal they are in charge of. The girls help with the dogs. We talk often about how we are a team here on the farm. I do understand why old-time farmers had a lot of kids. They are very helpful. :)
• I manage. I am the farm manager. I don't want to be but I am. This means that I am communicating between grandparents and husband and Jacob and Anni and the Kotynskis and other farm volunteers to keep the farm moving in the right direction. It's my main job. Everyone has what they are good at here. That's what I'm good at.
• I communicate. So much of my day is communicating. To sell eggs and meat and coordinate deliveries and what-not, I have to be available and connect with people. I wish I could simplify this part of my life, but I don't really see how I can. 
• I try to limit my technology. I am constantly working on simplifying my need for an online presence. I have removed the Facebook app. for my phone. I have stopped texting lengthy discussions/conversations with people and try instead to call them or MarcoPolo with them. I do play Scrabble everyday with 4 family/friends, and I really enjoy that. It's the only game I keep on my phone. I work to not be on my phone in public as much as I can. I want to set an example for my kids that we don't need gadgets to fill dead time. 
• I read. I read some sort of book (usually historical fiction) everyday before I go to sleep. I like to read it during the day too if I get me time. I try to bring my book with me wherever I go and read during down times. 
• I nap. I still nap but a lot less than I used to. I am lucky if I get a nap once a week. It's still one of my favorite things to do for ME. 
• I pray. I want to spend more time with God than I do. I try to keep a constant ebb and flow of prayer in my day-to-day life. Reading the word, scriptures, prayer ... as much as I can. But I do NOT get daily time at a certain time in a certain chair everyday. I take what I can get. I would love to be more diligent about this, but I am not sure how to do it with the type of life I live. 
• I chauffeur. I keep the kids going with their activities which include:
• Ballet (Abigail -- 2 classes a week and Hannah 1 class a week) plus usually 2 rehearsals a week for the play Pollyanna which will be presented at the end of January.
• The boys Karate (1 class a week)
• All four kids gymnastics (1 class a week)
• Speech (Sidge and Abigail 1 time a week)
• (Tennis is done for the winter)