Prayer of Thanksgiving

I thank thee dear Father in heaven above,
For thy goodness and mercy, thy kindness and love.
I thank thee for home, friends, and parents so dear,
And for every blessing that I enjoy here.

Help me to be good, kind, and gentle today,
And mind what my father and mother shall say.
In the dear name of Jesus, so loving and mild,
I ask thee to bless me and keep me thy child.

"I Thank Thee, Dear Father" Children's Songbook, pg 7

This simple, children's song expresses my gratitude and thankfulness for all that I have. I know that I and my family are truly blessed. All that we have and are comes through blessings from Heavenly Father. I could make a list a mile long for all that I am thankful for! I love you all and wish you a safe, happy, cozy Thanksgiving Day with your loved ones.

Sleep Reading?

Tonight we were having our usual family scripture reading. Here's how it usually goes: Holdyn reads a verse or two then Evie and Kallie read a verse with help from me or K.
Tonight, Evie wanted to go first. I helped her read her verse and she did a really great job of sounding out the words. Next, Holdyn read two verses and Kallie read a verse and also did a great job of sounding out the words. In the meanwhile, Evie had crawled up into K's lap and promptly fallen asleep. After scriptures is prayers. Kallie said her prayer first and then Holdyn. We noticed that Evie was asleep so I called her name and K told her to say her prayer. She sat up, bowed her head, folded her arms and began, "Wu, wu, wu-i, wu-i, wu-i-th, wu-i-th, with" She was sounding out the word "with." I, compassionate mother I am, realized she was still asleep and immediately cracked up laughing. Holdyn and Kallie joined in. K shook her gently and said, "Evie, say your prayer." Her eyes popped open and she said, "Oh, I thought I was reading my homework sheet." Bless her heart she was so tired! But still, I had to laugh. As my family knows, I've had my share (and then some) of sleep talking outbursts. That girl is me made over, in that respect!

EGGS!!

That's right, it's official. We've got eggs (two to be exact). Yeah! Holdyn went out to feed the ladies and gent this morning and found these two sweeties in the new house we built over the weekend.


Maybe that means we are officially a farm because now we're producing and growing something besides little heathen monsters! ;)

Pioneer Spirit

There's an old saying most of us have heard before. It goes something like this, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!" It's a great motto to live by always but especially in these more difficult times. As I've said before, we're striving for a simpler life here on Vaughn Farm. That means lots of repurposing - especially where animals are involved. Here's what I mean...

This is our scrap wood bin. K made it last year after we were nearly all killed by a scrap wood avalanche when we opened the barn doors. We've been living here for 4 years and remodeling just as long. Needless to say, we've collected a lot of wood. We try to use it as much as possible. For example...
Casa de la Goaties was built by K for the 3 Billy Goats Vaughn to live in. Although, they don't really sleep in it (they're somewhat intelligence challenged). All this leads up to yesterday. It's cold here in AL (by our standards at least); it was 33 degrees last night. We were worried that the chickens might get too cold over night so we worked for about 3 hours and built this...
Well, it ended up looking like this...

A cozy home for our 8 girls and 1 guy. We added a light and the place was perfect. Except, the ding-a-lings did not use it! Well, I guess they DID use it. They spent all night on the roof! All that work to keep them toasty and they sleep OUTSIDE anyway. The more I deal with chickens the more I understand the term "Bird Brained"!

Thank you.

To all the veterans of the US Armed Forces:
(and especially those in our family)

Thank you for your service. (My Dad, Donnie)

Thank you for your sacrifice. (Dad's older brother, "Snooky", killed in Vietnam, age 19)

Thank you for your devotion. (K's Dad, Ray)

Thank you for your courage. (K's older brothers, Kurtis and Kent)

Thank you for your selfless service. (another of K's older brothers, Kolton)

Thank you for your love of country. (My Dad's other older brother, Len)

Thank you for your love of family. (My great-uncle Jim)

Most of all, thank you for defending our freedom. Happy Veteran's Day, you are not forgotten!

Busy, busy, busy

Things have been crazy around here! K's Mom, Nana, came to visit two weekends ago and we had a great time. She is awaiting her 3rd mission call, it should be arriving soon. In the meantime she is making the rounds to visit all her children (8) and grandchildren (25). We had a fun few days together. K even set up a blog for her at www.nanaonamission.blogspot.com.
Last weekend we had a family camp out on Halloween. It was our first and it turned too cold to actually sleep outside but we set up the tent, filled it with pillows and blankets and then cooked hotdogs and smores and had a great time together. I'll try to get some pics up; my camera is on the fritz. The camp out was great fun and we've decided to make it our annual Halloween tradition! Since we live in a rural area trick or treating is not really an option.
On Monday I finished my student teaching practicum! I had a great time teaching 8th grade. It was fun and never dull. The experience has really reinforced the fact that teaching is for me! After my practicum I wanted a day to rest and clean the house. Yesterday I did just that. Today was my first day as a substitute teacher and I was in kindergarten! It was just for a half day but I go back tomorrow for a full day. Actually, kindergarten and 8th grade aren't all that different ;)
Well, that's a quick update on life at Vaughn farms! Back to busy!