Changes

Good morning friends, and welcome to the blog!

I hope y’all have had an amazing June so far. We have had a wet one, and I’ve spent a lot of my time working on Etsy orders and contemplating homeschool things. It has been a good month!

There have been a lot of changes going on in my life and heart lately. Lots and lots.

We finally sold our four bucklings this month for… get this… $25.00 each! I honestly thought we would have to give them away! It wasn’t a very successful kidding season over here with the buckling to doeling ratio, a stillborn, and a rejected baby. I’m not sure if I want to do it again, especially because some of us do not drink milk at all.

My oldest daughter’s wedding was this month and I was not invited. Friends, this is one of the hardest things I’ve gone through in my entire life. Sometimes you think you are doing everything right as a parent, but you aren’t. At this point my conscience is clear that I’ve done all that I could to make wrongs right. I think I’ve done all I can do on my end. But I definitely am making some changes to my parenting style and what I allow/disallow going forward.

My faith is changing, too. Not because of the above situation, but because of years of study and questioning. For the time being at least, I want my faith to be more private as I sort things out. I do know that God is good, faithful, and just. I am so thankful for His hand on my life!

Life is a beautiful gift, even through the hard times. If we are breathing, we have a purpose and God is not through with us yet.

We can bring joy and happiness to our families simply by having a good attitude. What we do matters!

Oh, one good change around here is that Moses is now potty trained. I don’t have a single child in diapers! This is over a decade in the making, and I must admit it feels very nice. While in a way I wish my babies would stay little forever, there are definitely perks to them growing older.

I hope you have a wonderful week, friends!

Blessings, Nicole

Choosing Childhood Activities

Hey friends, and welcome to the blog!

I hope you’ve been having a great day. I’ve been working on a Baby Shark Outfit order from my Etsy shop, making sourdough bread, and I plan to continue painting my kitchen cabinets this afternoon. So many fun things!

My three youngest girls have spent their days at a dance camp this week. It has definitely been an adjustment! Moses has spent his time with a bunch of teenagers (and me, of course). I think everyone has really enjoyed it.

At first, we weren’t sure if we would send our girls to dance camp or not. But one of our oldest daughters is a teacher there, and she has been able to take them and bring them home. The camp is over an hour away from home, so this was definitely a blessing to me!

Tomorrow I will go and pick them up because they are going to have an end of camp performance. I’m very excited to go see it!

When I first became a mother, I enrolled my children in all kinds of activities. It definitely became too much for our family, and we toned it down to music lessons only. I’m grateful my girls have gotten to go this week of camp, though. I think they have made a lot of good memories.

I think it’s important to seek the Lord’s will about these kinds of things and also ask yourself some questions. Does this activity bring value to my children’s lives? Will going to this activity be a continuous burden to my other children? Will this activity stretch our family’s finances too far? What kind of influences will be introduced during this activity?

I plan to sign my children back up for violin lessons in the fall in a week or so. While these lessons are far from home too, I think the value of being able to play a musical instrument is immense. This is something they can carry into adulthood. I wish I would have learned how to play a musical instrument while growing up.

At the same time, I realize that my life was cultivated in other ways while I was a child. I was always encouraged to be creative and active. These are very good things!

We don’t have to do it all. Carefully curated extracurricular experiences can benefit our children a lot.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, friends. I hope to talk to you again, soon!

Blessings, Nicole

June 2023 Life Update

Hey friends, and welcome to the blog!

I hope y’all have had a lovely June so far. Things have been going pretty well around here, and I wanted to share a few of the things we have been doing with you today.

Besides what I mentioned in the video, three of my daughters will be going to dance camp this week. They are super excited about it, and I can’t wait to see how they like it.

I also have been updating my Etsy shop a good bit. One of my summer goals is to get it up and running again. While I haven’t attempted to make money for awhile now, my family has a couple of goals that I’d like to contribute to. Etsy is a fun way to do that!

My garden is taking off, and it is so much fun to work in. Weeds are starting to get to me, though. Oh, why are weeds such a bother?

I hope you have a lovely week, friends!