A wish....

Ethan has been approved to have a wish "granted" from the Make A Wish Foundation. He is incredibly excited, and is having a little trouble making up his mind....he actually is changing his mind at least once or twice a day as he wants his wish to be the very best wish ever. He would like to know what everyone else would wish for....not grown up wishes, but wishes from the child in all of us. Some great ones that he thought of so far are: To see a West End Musical in London, to go on a Safari in Africa, go to the the beach in Hawaii, take a cruise to Alaska. He also likes the idea of wishing for some "thing" like a toy, which we can't figure out what is at the moment. He has read all the wishes on the Make-A-Wish website and like the one where a little boy wished for the perfect Christmas for his family. But he really would like to hear what everyone else would wish for before he makes up his mind, So please share your childhood dreams.....
I wish to be....
I wish to meet....
I wish to go....
I wish to have....

Close your eyes and count....
ONE
TWO
THREE

I WISH....

Getting ready for school....

With three starting school in just a couple weeks it has been crazy busy and I have had little time even for my own sanity! I have noticed that the "back to school" sales just aren't like the way they have been in previous years, I suppose effects of the poor economy, so we are only buying absolute essentials. I am happy that Mark will be going to school with his dad and he is so excited about starting kindergarten. I am hoping that it will be easier with just Chloe home and that maybe I can get some work done and hopefully supplement our income a little so we can move closer and closer to getting up to our land.

Make way for the goats.....

In a matter of hours the goats will be here! This is a lot sooner than I anticipated as I THOUGHT we wouldn't find any until we had our first animal enclosures up on our property....however, when opportunity knocks...you answer the door. The kids and I have been busy readjusting everything and doing a bit of clean up so that we can give them a temporary home until a safe enclosure can be built in Holbrook for them. They are Nigerian Dwarf goats so they are quite small and should be very easy for the kids to handle and when we are ready, they should be great milkers!

Working the land

Trips up to our land are becoming extremely important in my life. When I am there I feel so at peace and that dreams are achievable. Even though at the moment it is just a barren expanse of desert, to me, it is a blank canvass waiting for an artist to bring it to life. This was a very short over night weekend trip, but it was the first time I was able to bring my tiller and I cleared a large ring around the area that will be a temporary fire pit and a path from the camper. Next time I will clear a bit further because the grass and brush is so dry and there is so much wind that wild fire is a very realistic risk and has to be closely monitored and contained. We won't need a night time fire for some weeks yet as it is still quite warm, though it hasn't really gotten much over 95 during the day and cools down several hours after dark after we have gone to bed. We are looking forward to our up coming projects of fencing and enclosures so that we can move animals up there, building an "adobe" oven and putting in a raised bed garden....already working on ways to amend the sandy soil so that it will retain water and provide the nutrients needed for the vegetables. We will have to keep things on a small scale until we are able to spend a good deal more time up there.....sooner rather than later I hope!

Refreshed and motivated

We enjoyed a week of vacation in the mountains and up on our land. There was virtually NO fighting as the kids freely roamed the woods playing and exploring and finally I was able to relax and reflect on where I want to be and how to get there. In addition we were actually able to get out trailer on to our land, thanks to a back road we had not previously seen. I can't wait to get back up there and take my tiller to start working on getting ready to build animal enclosures and plant a garden. Now that the trailer is up there, we can pretty much go up at any time and get things ready for "homesteading" which I am over the moon about....not an easy life, but certainly less stressful and more healthy. I hope to take some pictures when we go back later in the week as I forgot the camera this trip.

A better day!

We have decided to delay the camping a few days to avoid the 4th of July rush and also for better weather for early next week. We have begun sorting through issues and feel better about our whole situation regarding Ethan's needs and care and knowing now that we will not be fighting on our own. And this brightens my spirit tremendously.


On the farm....we learned today that BOTH our Turkeys are boys....so no eggs will be laid, but this means I won't feel in the least bit cheated if we eat Turkey Lurkey before Thanksgiving. At 4.5 months he already weighs about 25-30 pounds so he will make a nice meal.


The kids are learning not to be so intimidated by the geese, with the exception of Chloe who still runs as soon as the enclosure gate opens! Mark is getting particularly brave and I think he just might be able to help with them pretty soon.