Homestead Happenings - May 2017

May brought warm weather which made it much easier to camp on our property. Living in the sheep pasture provided a constant source of entertainment. We were pushing to get the burnout trailer demolished and removed from our property as soon as possible. The smell was horrible and every time we'd have a wind storm, it would blow stuff into our neighbor's yard. We couldn't get it removed until it had an asbestos test, which thankfully came back negative and we were able to move forward. 

In the meantime, the people who let us borrow their trailer needed it back, so we were scrambling to see if insurance would pay for us to buy our own. After a very stressful month of not having a clue if we would be living and sleeping in the shop all summer, some friends of ours from Thunder RV in La Grande, found the perfect set up for us! Finding a bunk bed situation is hard, but they gave us a screamin' good deal on this 32' toy-hauler. The outdoor shower is where I did the dishes all summer and fall. It had a lot of features that worked for us. Josiah still preferred sleeping on the couch in the shop, but the rest of us slept in the trailer. We did all our cooking and hanging out in the shop during the day.

 We will be able to use it for a long time to come. What a blessing!

It's so nice in side and very child-friendly. You can see how excited the kids were when we got it.

 Trying to keep things as normal as possible, the kids did a shortened version of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" for our local homeschool group's presentation night. They did a great job and had everyone laughing. It was something they had done for our Narnia unit study.

My pretty girls, playing in the front yard (our pasture).

It was getting warm, so time to shear the sheep. We did it on the front step of the shop. They were shearing sheep just as my MIL came to visit and help watch the kids while I went to Greece for a week. I had already had the trip paid for before the fire and my sister insisted I go so she didn't have to fly back alone. I'm really glad I went. It was a good break from the chaos of our situation. I'm forever grateful to my MIL for making it possible for me to go, and my adopted in-laws for inviting me in the first place!

 I'll eventually blog my trip to Greece, but I had to throw one of my favorite pictures of me and my sis and her in-laws, Vern and Ethel, standing in front of the Temple of Poseidon, which was the first of many temple sites we were able to visit in our 5 days in Greece. It was an amazing adventure!

While I was in Greece, our little darlin, Rina, turned 2 years old. The grandparents threw a little party for her back home in the shop. It was really hard for me to not be there. I'm glad she was too young to be bothered by it.

 When I got home from Greece, I came home to this delightful sight! The burned out trailer had been removed while I was gone. I bawled all the way up the driveway when I saw it. So wonderful to have it gone and not be constantly reminded of all our losses. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated it, too

!

 Despite some jet lag, I was working at the Underground the next day as a tour guide for their "Comes to Life" event. I had a wonderful time giving tours. I always love an excuse to dress up.

 This is what we would wake up to every morning when we would go into the shop to make coffee and breakfast. This kid was a trooper! I really appreciated his willingness to sleep on the couch in the shop for the 8 months it took for us to get into our new home. We lived out of tubs, doing the best we could with what we had. Mom and Larry gave us their old couch and love seat which was a real blessing.

 Rina helped me with my outdoor laundry system all summer long. 

 In May, we participated for the first time in our local homeschool group's egg drop challenge.

 Hailey put hers in a laundry detergent container full of some sort of fluff and then duct taped it shut.

 It worked!

 Josiah's not so much.

 Hailey won for her age bracket. She was very excited!

 Josiah and his Boy Scout troop were able to go on a zip-line adventure at a place on the other side of Oregon, called, "Tree to Tree".

 Michael went with them and said it was really neat to see how all the boys overcame their fears and rose to the challenge of conquering these zip-lines courses.

 Josiah was the only one to finish the entire course. They couldn't believe how fast he moved.

 Josiah with some of his Boy Scout friends at the Black Diamond zip-line run. They had a fantastic weekend!

To top the month off, we were surprised when we looked into our chicken coop and found some baby chicks from a mama hen who had gone broody and was hiding. We didn't notice her missing. She had three baby chicks. It was a wonderful thing for my kids to see, especially since all of their other baby chicks had been destroyed in our house fire. Another God smile. He knows what we need, when we need it... ALWAYS.

So the end of the month left us camping on our property and waiting for the building permits so we could begin the monumental task of building our new home. We were really thankful to be able to stay on our property so we could take care of our animals easily. We were able to kind of catch our breath in the month of May. Good thing, because we were about get really, really busy!

God Bless,
Jackie