Emery meets Greenfield

I suppose most old houses fall apart, get torn down or just become uninhabitable eventually but it doesn't make it any easier to say goodbye to a structure you have endless memories with. My husband's family's house was purchased by a church several months ago and it has come time to move all the precious furniture his grandad built along with other sentimental things. For Jesse and his Dad it is a memory but for little Emery, it's brand new. Instead of taking photos of things I thought were interesting, I followed Emery around to see how he explored the country. Here is what he found.

Ash Wednesday and Happy Birthday Grandaddy

If Grandaddy were alive today, I believe he would be 98 years old. He died September 2007. He always mentioned his birthday being on George Washington's birthday but I never thought about it until today that on some years it fell on Ash Wednesday. It became special to me because my birthday sometimes fell on Easter. The old church calendar celebrates Ash Wednesday as being the last day before Lent. Lent is a time where we sacrifice a little or a lot as a symbol of Christ's sacrifice for us. Easter is the last day of Lent where we all gather and celebrate Christ's sacrifice and rising from death to pay for our sins. My Grandaddy sacrificed a lot not only our family but his brothers, sisters and parents growing up. He quit school when he was in the sixth grade to help his parent's on the farm which, if I'm not mistaken, was around time of the great depression. He never went back to school but married and raised four children, owned a business, owned a large farm, worked as a tobacco farmer, was a landlord, raised cattle, provided a car and a college education for all of his children and more. He sacrificed a lot to provide for all of us. And because of his wise decisions, he is still providing for us even five years after his death. He has always been described as a quiet, small but strong man. He complained very little. He wasn't frightened by much and if you genuinely needed help, he would most certainly help you. He sought the opportunity to sacrifice so we were less likely to suffer when he was gone. The day he died, I was with him. I left before he actually passed but I remember knowing for certain he was going very soon. He had a stroke and couldn't pronounce anything correctly when I saw him so most of what he was saying I couldn't understand. Although, I could see in his face how earnest he was. He was trying to say his goodbyes and trying so hard to tell me he loved me. I just remember how important it was for him that I was left with that. He loved all of us. Our church celebrates Ash Wednesday with a service and at the end we all have black dust smeared on our foreheads into a cross. When they smear it, they say, "Remember you were made from ashes and will return to ashes" Even memories on earth will go away. My grandaddy's memory will pass eventually but his soul lives forever with Christ. Happy Birthday Grandaddy. Miss you. See you soon.

Baby Drums, Docs and more

While the three of us were in Nashville, Jesse wanted to visit his second favorite drum shop where he purchased Emery's birthday gift...a miniature drum set. It's really cute because it's a actual real drum set just really small! He loves it. He knows exactly what to do with it. He crawls up to it, grabs a stick, puts it in his hand the correct way and goes crazy! Since the holidays Emery has been sick with mostly a runny nose, cough and a few times had a fever. I went to a couple of pediatricians who saw him for five minutes and each time prescribed him several antibiotics. Viruses have been going around so I always assumed that's what it was but by the time February came around and he was still not well I looked into it more. I talked to a friend of mine who had their kids tested through biofeedback and had great results. It's a fancy machine that reads radio frequencies. Everything on earth has a unique frequency and this machine reads human frequencies and records what is going on in our bodies. I took Emery a week or so ago and found out he is highly allergic to cows milk. Not only that but he's also slightly allergic to every other milk except for goats milk and rice milk. I had a feeling something was going on with milk and this confirmed it. Ever since I've given him goats milk and avoided several other things his runny, stuffy nose is gone, his wet cough is gone, his cheeks aren't rosy, his happiness is back...he is so much better! I can even tell a difference when I accidentally give him something on the list of sensitives. Some of the information the machine was reading on him was so specific and things only I would know about him. I went back for myself and it was even more impressive how much it read about my health and affirmed issues I have. The ladies that run it are very informative and give really good advice. It was more thorough than any doctor's appointment I've ever been to. Move over clinic, I've got something better! I have been reading this book called Radical Homemakers. The first part is a little repetitive but overall it's great. The author herself escaped a fast paced career path for a farm lifestyle in rural New York state. She explains how our culture has tricked us into thinking our lifestyle should be work, consume, work, consume. I can think of a few families myself who live to pay the bills and they don't think there is a way out. There's no other choice but for both husband and wife to work. Or if you don't work outside your dwelling, you're lazy. But there is a way of life that doesn't need so much and is more freeing. There has been a lot of transition from the homemaker 100 years ago to the homemaker. Sadly it has developed into a meaningless daily life of being a chauffeur and consumer. This is basically as far as I've gotten in the book... I agree with most of the ideas she has and it makes me want to inherit knowledge that our great grandmothers had as homemakers. I'm still deciding but I just don't think I'm the type of person who can work at home all the time but I also don't think I'm the type that can work full time either. A lot of skills we should know like making broth from chicken bones, gardening and canning fresh produce for the winter has escaped this generation. At our new house we have a large, flat, sunny backyard. And I may or may not have a garden by this summer:) I'll eat veggies and tators any day over take out!

Celebrating 31 years

So after Joy's birthday, Emery's birthday, Emery's birthday party, Valentine's Day we finally get to Jesse's birthday. Bless him, we are all celebrated out by the time Feb 15 gets here. When I was "with child" a lot of people commented on how Jesse's birthday will get forgotten when Emery got here because my due date was Valentine's Day. Thankfully he decided to come a little early to give about a week in between to focus on both of them. I believe that scripture teaches us to make your husband the most important person in the family. It makes sense because if Jesse is successful and taken care of, Emery will be well taken care of. There is nothing more important than a father, son relationship especially while Emery is young and I strive to nurture that relationship however I can. Therefore, as a representation of that thought, I made it a goal to keep his birthday just as special as it has always been. I made him a donut with candles in it that morning and gave him this coffee kettle that brews coffee on the stove. Last night, Jesse was scheduled to play with Joe (The Kernal) so Lisa graciously volunteered to make him a cheesecake. We all sang him happy birthday and he blew out the candles in between songs. Today we are on our way to Nashville to eat at his favorite restaurant, Burger Up, shop for some fancy jeans, coffee, books and a date with his friend Jonny. Tomorrow we are going to Atlanta to grab a truck full of items from Ikea for his showroom and our new house. So Jesse is sorta getting a much deserved birthday weekend;) Love u Jesse!

Celebrating One Year

Due to poor planning on my part I had to pull some strings and get my sons birthday party located elsewhere! Thankfully the Neely House across the street was available. Emery was a bit fussy because he was so tired but over all had a good time. Hey it's his party and he can cry if he wants to. He loved getting mostly naked so he could dig into his cake and get as messy as he'd like! I'm glad I took the unwrapping gift part out of the party. I would have felt bad if he was ill receiving gifts. And we were able to raise $200 for IOI. Before the party Lisa pampered us with a Valentines brunch that was fantastic. She is so thoughtful. I love crock pots. All of the family came over to eat dinner together, watch the history channel and open gifts.

Food For All: Dinner Co-op

Last night we had our usual food for all. It is a food co-op that has been so valuable in our family. We all love to eat well but eating well can be time consuming and expensive. At least I don't fancy cooking so much. My friend Lisa has been so detailed and careful about how everyone feels which at first I thought she was being silly but I'm really glad we put a lot of thought into organizing. Our friendships are precious and people can get their feelings hurt or be overwhelmed easily. The hosting days can be a lot but it's worth it to only have to cook a full meal every two weeks! It is so great i wish others would start their own as well. It really builds community and I think we would agree that we could consider all of us our best friends now that we eat together as much as four days a week and sometimes see each other on the weekends. Here's how it works: First we needed to find a group of 22-28 people that lived fairly close, had similar meal expectations and could handle the schedule. Our group has 25 people in it. Some are students and some are families. To make it fair, we paired students with families so they bring a side dish or something substantial enough to count as one third or one fourth prep. We do have one group who are all students and they take it to whoever volunteers their house for hosting. There is a website called takethemameal.com where we all sign up for 3 meals within 6 weeks at a time. We can choose any day and write what we are going to make to avoid us having Mexican or something every night. Two fridays during the six weeks are potlucks. We eat every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. If we don't plan on coming, we tell the host on our Facebook group wall or we can bring to-go containers and take it home to our family or eat it later. It's great because we eat healthier, there is portion control, we spend more time with friends, it teaches our kids to serve, it gives us a break from cooking all the time, we all eat out less, it saves money, it saves time and I'm pretty sure all of us are experts at planning dinner parties now:) Joy's birthday was Wednesday, so we went to Memphis to eat at "The Elegant Farmer" where they had regional and local food. One thing that is a minor drawback about our food co-op are our attitudes toward food have become quite snobby. Just driving by Wendy's sorta makes me sick to my stomach! At the restaurant I was very pleased with their catfish that was (big surprise!) not fried, pan seared, with a sweet homemade sauce, with summer greens and tomato basil farm raised dressed eggs. We went to Lisa's for some Alice made homemade ginger ale and chocolate mini cakes with hot fudge and raspberries Lisa made. Yummmmm

Happy Birthday Emery!

Yesterday was my "town day". It's the day of the week I combine all of my errands into one day. Since Emery's birthday was yesterday I decided to keep my original chores and errands because he loves seeing people. He got a lot of birthday wishes One of our stops was the bank where he got a birthday sucker. I can't wait for his party tomorrow! You're invited!