New Year New You! Summit 2014

Last year my friend shared with me Summit 2013 and it changed my life. There were so many amazing speakers filled with so much knowledge, I was totally blown away. As you can see below, I scribbled down many many notes as they were speaking and gained an incredible amount of knowledge and new perspectives on so many topics: Feeding and Caring for Babies & Children, essential oils, welcome to the sausage party (why homesteading is so important), Paleo lifestyle,  Healing the body and mind through your diet, DIY Products, Natural Medicine vs Modern Medicine to name a few things.

I ran across 2 amazing must have books while listening to some of these speakers, Nourishing Traditions you can find it here and Modern Essentials find it here. 

To get down to the point of this post, Summit 2014 is just 7 days away!! 

I am so excited for this! The best part (other than it being FREE) is that you can enjoy it from your own farm, home or wherever you're at! 

It's a 5 day online conference starting from January 15-19, 2014.

There are 31, yes I said 31 FREE online presentations to listen too!

Here's all you have to do... just SIGN UP NOW and they will send you an email conformation and a reminder before the sessions begin. 

I am so excited about this and the lineup of speakers looks so incredible! 

My friend Jill over at The Prairie Homestead is speaking on How to Homestead Anywhere

a few others I'm looking forward too are... How to escape the Clutter Trap, Homemade Mommy Survival Guide, Taking the Stress out of Dinner, the Future of American Farms 

This is to good to pass up!! 

Seeing God's Goodness and Be THANKFUL!

I woke up this morning and for the first time in two weeks felt at peace, my stomach was not doing flips, I was not a tense ball of nerves and my mind was at rest.
Life. Seems so perfect so wonderful and in a blink of an eye it can all be turned upside down. God brings you to your knees. That is what happened to me a few weeks ago.
It is painful and breaks my heart. Now as a mommy I have to make a choice how I am going to handle those painful moments. I can either let it define me. Let it destroy me. Or let it strengthen me.
I am choosing option number 3 and with God's help I know this will strengthen me and my family.
God doesn't promise for our life to be easy but he does promise to never leave us, to never forsake us and with God all things are possible.
My life is far from glamorous. With broken relationships and family so close yet so far, it could be very easy to get caught up in those things to let Satan twist my thoughts and feel bad for myself (I like to call this.. "stinkin thinkin" but these are the moments when I pull God the closest to me and that's when he shows me his Goodness and his love for me and I am so thankful.
I may be considered the "momarazzi" (my definition of "momarazzi" is... a mom taking photos of God's love and Goodness and each photo taken I give thanks for that moment.)
but you know what, I love that. I love to find joy in everyday to capture those moments that fill my soul with love and laughter. Finding joy and capturing moments really helps me stay away from that "Stinkin Thinkin".

This year has been one incredible year solely because of the Lord and his goodness. He has provided and blessed us in ways that we don't deserve.

A few of my "Momarrzi" Moments
throughout the year.
Life on the farm 

God provides in marvelous ways. My childhood dreams were answered and we bought a farm in January 2013! We have had an amazing year here soaking up every minute! We are reminded of God's love for us daily when waking up to breath taking sunrises. There are so many rewarding things that we are enjoying and loving so much since being on the farm...

the fruits and veggies from the garden, canning, all of our farmyard pets, watching the miracle of birth, homesteading: eggs from our chickens, milk from our goats, meat from our chickens that we butchered ourselves, dinners from our farm, homemade bread and meals from the garden, endless hours of learning, harvest, meals with family and friends, making probiotics (from our goats milk)

The miracle of birth and life and the grace of God. Gracelyn Joy Gniffke joined our family May 15, 2013 at our home. Praise be to Jesus. God is so good.

Our 5th wedding anniversary (details will be in another post) but I am so thankful to be married to my best friend the man of my dreams who and he so gratuitously puts up with my style of parenting allowing me to bring along our 6 month old baby on our anniversary getaway!

I am so very, very thankful to have a husband who works so incredibly hard for our family so that I can stay at home and raise our kids. I am also so very thankful for my at home business that has gone so incredibly well.

After 3 very long years a miracle happened. This happened. For the first time ever my whole family ate a dinner together. By the grace of God alone my dad and I reconciled. My kids met their grandpa.

This could get long so I will also save the rest for another post. But God IS GOOD and God provides and God does miracles.  

And finally I am so very, very thankful for this past year. I have gotten to spend everyday with this sweet girl. I know that will change next year but I can't even put into words how grateful I am for the time and the memories that she and I and our family have made together.

This Thanksgiving I treasure these moments, these memories, my family and my Savior for the wonderful things he has done and provided for our family.
Thankful for the gift of finding joy in everyday to see God's Goodness and find joy in it.

I challenge you if you're not a "momarazzi" and you are struggling with things in life, each day take a picture when you see an example of God's love. Look for it, but you won't have to look far and it won't be hard to find because it is all around you.

From our family to yours, we wish you a very very Happy Thanksgiving!! :) 

Bountiful Weekend

Today our family celebrated as we dedicated our sweet baby girl, Gracelyn Joy to the Lord at our church. Such an honor and a reward to be parents but knowing that Gracie isn't just our child she is the Lord's and that we made a promise today that we will bring up Gracie to know the Lord, that's just something to celebrate! (Read on...and you'll see a little of the celebrations that took place, stay with me it gets a little lengthy but it's good and of course there are pictures throughout too)  but first let me explain some things...

(A  little previous family history side note: Ashtyn was baptized in the Lutheran church that I grew up in. When TJ and I got married we became members at Swan Lake, Evangelical Free Church. At Swan Lake they do not practice baptism of infants but have a dedication service instead. The boys were both dedicated (And I'm so so sad to say that I don't have any pictures of any of them. The ones I had were ruined when our basement flooded a few years ago, so this is a partial reason why I do so many blog posts).

Dedication was a new thing to me (new as in 5 years ago new). I was not familiar with it, since I grew up Lutheran and I was accustomed to baptizing babies, but after praying and researching TJ and I both agreed that dedicating our children was the best choice for our family. This poem I stumbled across really sums everything up.

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OUR SWEET GIRL

You are an incredible blessing

An extraordinary gift

Given to us from our Heavenly Father

To experience this life with.

We dedicate our hearts to teaching you God's way

With everything we do

And every word we say.

We know your precious eyes are watching us intently

And your tiny little ears are listening so sharply.

We'll teach you how to love by the way we treat others.

We'll teach you generosity by the way we give.

We'll teach you how to worship God by our obedience to Him.

We'll teach you righteousness by the way we live.

Our prayer is that you grown up strong

and love the Lord your God.

You are our sweet child

And we love you with all of our heart.

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Verses that I cherish...

 "She said, "Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the LORD. "For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. "So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there." ...1 Samuel 1:24-28
 ...Hannah, what an inspiration. She gave her son Samuel over to the Lord and knew that Jesus loved her son more than she ever could.

And here is another verse that just confirms our reason to dedicate our babies instead of baptizing. I believe that they should be baptized when they are old enough to make the choice on their own of accepting Jesus into their hearts.

"And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord." - Luke 2:21-22 ...Mary presented Jesus, her first born son to the Lord in Jerusalem. Jesus was not baptized till He was 30 years old, but was presented when he was eight.

I truly believe that children are a heritage from the Lord. That they are a reward from God. Every parent should realize that children are a heritage from the Lord. They are a reward from God...Psalm 127:3 "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him." 

Back to the celebration details ...
Today was a beautiful extremely gorgeous day outside.
It began by the church service at 9am. (Thank you to our family and friends who were there to support us and love on our little Gracie, we are so very thankful for all of you!!)

"...that I may walk before God in the light of life." Psalm 56:13

 

unfortunate camera problems but thankful to have a few photos!

Our family :)

Auntie Halie and Uncle Matt

Kenzie and Ashtyn, cousins and forever friends

After church we had the big celebration at our house. It was wonderful. There was 23 people at our farm and it was just amazing!  As I finished preparing the meal, I looked out my kitchen window to see all the kids out running in the yard playing catch and a few carrying kittens around and the adults were walking around the farm talking and soaking in God's gorgeous day he gave us. That moment just made a special place in my heart.

That meal that I told you I finished preparing... I am so pumped to share with you that I had it all ready to go last night, so when we got home from church I just had to put things in the oven and warm things up. So I feel like I can a little bit brag about this because I will have you know it is the very FIRST time I have ever ever ever been prepared like this. I mean EVER! I am the one that is always late (as most of you know) and scrambling around last minute making a big mess because I wasn't prepared.
So here is how prepared I was.... I finished everything and crawled into my bed last night (Saturday morning at 2:45am.) Yes, I was that prepared. haha. Not sure why I can't ever stay on track and accomplish things at normal time but anyways... this was still awesome to just enjoy our time after church and not feel so rushed.. (It was also an awesome feeling to take a long nap this afternoon) :) 
One last thing being prepared thing... THE SMELL.. when I walked into my kitchen when we got home, it was marvelous. Fresh homemade bread in the bread machine, the smell of chicken. the savory smell of squash. yum yum yum.

I am so thankful for God's goodness, his love, the gifts he has given to us that we don't deserve.
This meal we made, most of it came from our farm. Seeing the prepared food all ready to be served just reminded me again for God's unfailing love for us.

On the menu:

Farm grown baked lemon pepper chicken, roasted carmel glazed squash, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, cracker with homemade goat cheese (thank you to Shirley for this deliciousness), fruit salad and last but not least...lemon blueberry cupcakes. YUMMO.

We ate, and enjoyed conversation.  Then went back outside to enjoy the day. The entire day was so wonderful.

But all things come to an end... Harvest. 2013.. yes we're right in the heat of it.
TJ was one of the first to leave but we really enjoyed spending our morning with him.
We have also really loved the times that we have gotten to ride in the tractor and see daddy over the last few days. Each one of the kids love it, they could all spend hours and hours with daddy or grandpa in the combine and tractors.
Even, Miss Gracie who got to have her first tractor ride today (at 4.5 months old). She giggled and smiled at daddy and watched everything going on but it wasn't long until that hum and steady bumpy ride from that big rig put her right to sleep. We watched the sun go down and what an incredible view from the tractor.

 

Helping Delaine for a little bit

Spending time with Grandma while Brayden got to ride with daddy

Gracie's first tractor ride!

She's loving it! So is her mommy and brother

future farm girl in the making!

unloading on the go :)

and the bumpiness and constant hum put her right to sleep shortly after we got in

didn't take her long to be a daddy's girl

 
Praise God for his great blessings and a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

 

 

 

  
 

Grandma's Hearty Pierogies

Living on our farm has been one of the biggest blessings I could ever imagine.

My childhood dreams came true.

We spent our summers in Pennsylvania and I spent a lot of time on my Aunt and Uncle's Dairy farm, helping milk cows and drinking the milk right there in the barn. My Uncle taught us so much about milk and nutrition and how healthy and good for you raw milk is.

This is one of the reasons I'm such a firm believer in milking our goats and drinking their milk.  

I also spent a lot of time with my grandma and cousins. Grandma Blough was famous for everything natural, cooking and canning.
We spent hours outside picking fresh raspberries and helping her in the garden.

These summers I never ever wanted to end, and I always prayed that I could move out there one day, or at least have a farm of my own so when I became a mommy I could teach my kids these things and have a garden and make these memories with my kiddos.

Back to my grandma...one of my all time favorites from her kitchen were her pierogies. (for all of you non German folks you pronounce them, pie·ro·gies).

I would beg her to make them every time I was over. My Aunt Rita makes some pretty tasty ones too, almost as good as grandma! ;) We would sit around the table and talk and laugh and eat this big delicious meal. I can still picture it like this was happening just yesterday (my grandma passed away 7 years ago)  and still smell the most amazing aroma of the pierogies frying.  

Well tonight after talking to my Aunt Rita, the kids and I made grandmas recipe.

 

It wouldn't be normal to cook in the kitchen if one of my kiddos weren't sitting on the counter.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

The questions and endless talk  is treasured deep in my heart.

what could beat sautéing homemade pierogies in butter in the cast iron skillet?

 

As we sat down to eat these delicious pierogies (not quite as good as grandma's, I still need to work on perfecting the recipe). But the kids might disagree, they only saved a few for daddy when he got home (simply AMAZING, all 3 kids loved them!!)
 I shared lots of stories growing up and my fond memories of visiting my family in Pennsylvania.

 The kiddos were so interested and had smiles from ear to ear.

These are memories I hope they are storing deep in their hearts as well.

Crazy don't you think... how a simple food can have such significance in ones life?

 

 

 

Got Eggs!!

Farm Fresh Eggs, we have plenty of them to share with all of you!! :) 

Our hens are layin! We have 7 dozen eggs ready to go to new homes today! :) 

Why FARM FRESH eggs vs. store bought eggs...

Take a look at the eggs from a free range hen vs a conventionally raised hen. The difference in the eggs are incredible from the outside to the yolk! 

Free Range Hens:: yolks are dark yellow

Conventionally Hens: yolks are light yellow and much flatter

Free Range Hens: Fresh eggs!! (can purchase after just hours old)

Conventionally Hens: Eggs purchased at the store are much older

Free Range Hens: Much less likely to be infected with salmonella

 Ok... and the best part! The nutritional differences

Eggs from the Free Range hens have:

• 2/3 more Vitamin A
• 2x more Omega-3
• 3x more Vitamin E
• 7x more beta Carotene
• 4-6x more Vitamin D
• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat

Now that you are all going to be so in love with the idea of farm fresh eggs the Gniffke kiddos have plenty they'd love to sell you :)