Quilt Quack 3

 It's time for another installment of quilt and quack.

I have finished one quilt and almost done with a second.

I hope to finish the second one this weekend, if not sooner.

I can't show them yet.

I will, however, show something new that I'm learning.

I have been taking part in a free video tutorial on Facebook.

It's a three part series with one left to go.

I am so excited to officially learn how to do foundation paper piecing.

It makes piecing super easy.

I've tinkered with it before but I really didn't know what I was doing.

I can't believe how easy it is once you learn the technique.

This pattern even has the lines numbered.

It's basically sewing by numbers.

So easy.

So precise.

This project has two different triangles.

You make four sets of each triangle.

Then those will be pieced together to make one block.

I'll have to take pictures of the block once the last tutorial is finished.

Should be fun!

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Before I get to the ducks I have to share this picture.

It's from our kitchen window.

Our two Wyandottes still think they belong on our porch.

The dog doesn't bother them even when they drink from her water bowl!

I have to shoo them off the porch several times a day.

So far they're winning the porch battle.

A squirt bottle is my next line of defense.

That's Connor.

That's Connor looking at a hidden chicken nest in the cow run behind the house.

This is said hidden chicken nest.

This is a pile of 19 wasted chicken eggs.

Stinkers were laying their eggs here for days before we found it.

It was a nice looking nest though.

Just frustrating.

We've learned that ducks over a year old stop laying eggs for 2 - 4 months when they molt.

Apparently go through a molt every year.

Our duck pen looks like there's been an epic pillow fight.
This doesn't even come close to all the feathers laying around our yard.

So while our older ducks have temporarily stopped laying eggs

our younger ducks should start up soon.
This is Daisy our young Pekin hen.

Wednesday we found the first egg from the Daisy.

This beautiful egg is our first duck egg in 29 days.
Hopefully in the next few weeks the young Runners will start laying too.
Can't wait!

Again

It comes around once a year just like every other day in the calendar. August 27th. This day marks the second year since the murder of my father. I don't know what to do with this day. Try as I might, it won't go away. I can't ignore it nor can I forget it. It is painful. There is sadness and grief. It created a scar that will never completely go away. It's not something you get over or move on from. It's something I have learned to live with.

The grief is heavy today. Well, all week leading up to today if I'm going to be completely honest. (Thankfully, my prayer warriors are there for me.) I try my best to choose to remember how much my dad loved me and not how he died. I still ache to talk to him. I miss his laugh and his quirky dry humor. I have a recording of him reading from the book of Isaiah. Someday I'm going to muster enough strength to listen to it. Just not today.

I was also hoping to have the trial behind as well. That was not meant to be. I still have several months of waiting for that to happen. Someday, I'm hoping, earthly justice will take its course. It's just excruciatingly slow.

Today I'm choosing not to dwell on the horrors of this day. It's far easier to say than do. It took a long time to get through the fog of when it first happened. I still get that foggy feeling every now and then but it doesn't last long. I know this pain is temporary. The Bible tells us to think on Godly things. I sometimes need to remind myself of that. We humans tend to let our minds wander. That's probably why God put those reminders in his word. I remind myself of how much I need God and his word. I can't imagine going through this and not having God with me. How do people do that? I'm so thankful for the one true living God whose love knows no bounds. Who loved me before I was. Who loved me before I committed my first sin. Who loved me before I knew him. Who loved me when I was an enemy. Who loved me enough to willingly let his innocent son be brutally murdered for my sins. Who loved me enough to satisfy the penalty for sin. It was his blood, not mine that made me clean. All anyone has to do is believe. Only a holy, just, and loving God could and would do that. I rejoice in the truth of his love. His love has such depths that I cannot fully comprehend it. I'd rather focus on that than anything else. What an amazing God he is!

And because I don't like picture-less blog posts.

Here's Pepper.

My dad usually asked what kind of mischief our goofy dog was up to.

This time she was just trying to take a nap.

So We Wait

Once again I was supposed to be in Texas to attend the jury trial.

Once again it's been postponed.

Once again we have to wait longer.

As if the almost two years since the murder wasn't enough.

So we wait.

Going, not going, going, not going in such a short amount of time was taxing on our minds.

I'm kind of glad the reschedule is in several months instead of several weeks,

even though it means waiting longer.

The new date is in January.

We can almost do normal family things without thinking about getting ready for me to leave.

Don't get me wrong.

It's still hard.

We can temporarily put our focus on other things.

We can enjoy some of the silly things that life throws our way.

Like these two ornery chickens that still won't stay off the porch.

This is one drawback of teaching your dog not to harm the chickens and ducks.

She lets them hang around on the porch... even drink out of her water bowl!

Being silly in the doctor's waiting room.

We ended up laughing so hard we had tears.

It's good to laugh.

It's the best medicine.

And So It Begins

Thursday, August 10th was the first day of school for the boys.

They got up early and headed to work with Dwayne.

Thankfully both boys are at the same school.

The first two pictures are our traditional first day of school pics.

They were taken before they left that morning.

Nolan's starting his sophomore year.

Connor is starting the 7th grade.

The I-survived-my-first-day-of-school pic.

(Connor was quite tired and Dwayne was behind me making them laugh.)

All in all they enjoyed their first two days of school.

We'll see how they are in a few weeks.

Funny Farm

Not much going on around here.

Camp recovery/Texas prep.

School prep... which I will save for another post. So stay tuned.

These are our two Laced Wyandotte chickens.

They seem to be people chickens and think they belong on the porch.

I tend to disagree with the porch part.

They leave bombs.

Bombs should not be on my porch. Ever.

Our resident bomb cleaner isn't keeping up with her part of the job either.

I can't fire the dog. (A house joke... we'd never get rid of her.)

I hate the thought of training another one.

Especially since she only needs to be told something once or twice!

(She listens better than the boys sometimes.)

Speaking of our dog.

Dwayne got ready to leave for work one morning to find this.

Pepper was ready to play.

Last week the crop dusters were all over the area.

I love watching their acrobatics in an attempt to spray every

part of a field and yet miss the trees and houses.

Their skill amazes me.

Our older ducks have stopped laying eggs.

I jokingly blamed the planes but we don't think that's the culprit.

We've gone six days and counting without a single duck egg.

We think they may be molting.

They molt differently than chickens do.

We're still relatively new to raising ducks.

Our first batch of ducks were killed before we had them a year.

So we're in uncharted territory.

This was taken the other week while we sat at the farmers market by the courthouse.

This squirrel was bumbling around the lawn seemingly not bothered by the people.

It only ran up a tree when the market kids (children of market vendors) would try to chase him.

Camp

Connor and I spent last week at Checkpoint Bible Camp.

It was our fifth year.

Dwayne stayed home due to his bad foot.

Nolan chose to help on the farm for the week.

He says next year he'd like to try being a CIT (counselor in training).

Since Dwayne wasn't going to be there I opted to stay in a cabin rather than our tent.

Last year I volunteered to do snack drop since I take care of the special food needs.

This year I had a new helper.

Not a single snack drop went as it was supposed to (and it wasn't my fault - honest!).

However we laughed till our sides hurt every single time.

Something that should have been so simple turned into an adventure every day.

This was one of the times we were retrieving empty boxes...

at least that was the goal.

More mishaps and more giggles but all was well in the end.

Did you know that driving a golf cart is gentle and a Gator is not? They don't go slow!

No trees, kids, carts, Gators or snacks were harmed in the delivery of snacks.

I didn't take many pictures this year.

I didn't even go watch any of Connor's activities.

This was his first year in middle school camp.

He did awesome and he loved it.

The week went by very fast.

I was hoping to escape the realities of my world for a little while.

I did for the most part.

Halfway through the week I got my travel itinerary for the trial in Texas.

That sent my emotions in turmoil for a short while.

I didn't stay there long.

A few people knew about the trial and they were praying for me.

Staying in God's word helped too.

And puppies!!!

Everybody needs puppy therapy now and then.

These are basset hounds.

I had never seen any colors besides the normal kind.

This one was my favorite.

The coloring was called lemonade and ice.

They were four weeks old and hadn't been walking long.

They were more like drunken sailors.

(The "normal" colored puppy above was 12 weeks old.)

A basket full of light colored basset hounds.

This gentleman has been bringing puppies to camp for a few years.

The kids and adults alike love the puppies.

That's the camp report for this year.