I could sit here and write all day about what has been happening the past 3 months. I don't have all day, though, so I'll just tell you the really good stuff.

First and foremost, I had a baby! Welcome, Amos Justice Osborn! You are beautiful and wiggly and such a joy! Your 3 older brothers think you are so cool and can't wait to wrestle with you!
And, Boy, you've got some HAIR!!

My twinners are as ornery as ever.
They love dirt.



Oliver is an amazing farm worker. He can catch a chicken and has, on a few occasions, helped me herd a few chickens back into their pen. He helps his daddy take care of the calves and can even get milk out of the cow (he can't milk her much, cause she kicks)

Now, Wheerrre did those chickens go?

Evidently, the beautiful 40 acres we just moved to was just a stepping stone to get us to this area of Kentucky. We are now looking for something else in the area where can we do some farming. It was a very difficult decision to make, but once we made it, we felt a great deal of peace about it and are so confident in the leadership of our Lord Jesus!

I confess, I still struggle with the fear of man, so some of my first thoughts about moving were: What are people going to think of us now!?!
Then my dear mother sent me this devotional which really helped.

Hope to get on here and update you again soon, but until then, Bless you all!!

What I Got At McDonalds

Have you ever heard of a Great Pryenees? They are great big dogs that are bred and trained to guard small live stock like chickens, sheep and goats.

We want one. With 20 acres of woods on our property, we're bound to have some problems with coyotes, foxes, hawks, ect... We had contacted a breeder a month or so ago about getting a puppy, but having only chickens at the time and not knowing how soon we would be getting any other animals, we didn't feel like it would be a good idea to spend money on a full blooded dog (that would be a HUGE mouth to feed) just to protect the chickens. So we backed out.

Now we have rabbits, baby chicks, we're talking about getting more baby chicks and goats, and sheep and cows are looking like a real possibility...wishing we had that dog...

So we went to McDonalds Laying casually in front of McDonald's front door is a Great Pyrenees. People were having to step over him to get in the door. I thought it was pretty strange that someone would bring their dog to a fast food place, let him out of the car and let him lay on the front step, but we are in Kentucky...

Then I saw some one bring him a cheese burger. I thought the guy was his owner until he got in his truck and drove away. We talked to the people who work at McD's and they said they were pretty sure he was a stray...he just kind of came and went. Next stop, the police station to ask about reported missing dogs...none. I asked if we can take him. They seemed delighted about having one less dog to worry about.

We finished our errands in town and went back to McD's to lured the dog into the back of the van with a cheese burger. It worked and we now have a huge, if not full blooded - very close to it, Great Pyrenees dog on our farm for the price of a double cheese burger.

On the way home, we laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and how bizarre God is sometimes...I mean, McDonald's? Really? I also mentioned that all we need now is something to catch mice. That evening a cat showed up...um, ok.

We also realized that he is a she...we named her Daisy. She's already HUGE, but she's still a puppy and has a lot of growing to do. Oh my. Besides feeding her, our major problem at this point is that our un-neutered male, Rocket, would like to make Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever puppies...um, NO! He may be having an operation done soon...poor Rocket.

So friends, meet Daisy!

Another give away! Check out the Homestead Revival blog...good stuff!

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/04/give-away-homemade-living-series.html#comment-form

New Job!

Everyone's major concern when we moved to Kentucky was that there are no jobs here. I know people were concerned that Quentin wouldn't be able to find work. Well, today was his first day of work! :) I'm telling you, there is no amount of logic that should prevent us from following the Lord's will. I am so blessed by God's endless provision.


Thank you all for praying for us! I talked to him on his lunch break and he said everything is going well. His only complaint is that he's a little bored because they are having a slow day...but they assure him not everyday is slow. Oh, and some guy came in with his little boy and it made him miss us. It will be an adjustment for all of us to have Daddy gone all day, but I know God will give us the grace we need.

Speaking of Daddy being gone all day now...Please pray I have this baby SOON! My parents need to go back home on Saturday and it sure would be nice to have a few days of help AFTER the baby is born! Thank you!

Looks like God is answering our prayers for farm animals as well. We are excited, but nothing is in stone yet, so I'll wait to give that update later. All I'll say now is BAA and MOO! :)

Update!

I know, I know, I still don't have any pictures to add. The only internet access we have right now is at the library and we are trying not to go into town more than once a week. Anyway... We are doing really well. I am totally loving living here! Yes, even the house. Now that its full of our stuff instead of the Landlord's stuff, it feels much more like our home. And although, most of our stuff is still spewing from the tops of hastily opened boxes, we're slowly but surely getting unpacked. We have already met some wonderful people here and hope to continue to build relationships. As far as pregnancy goes, I'm 38 1/2 weeks along. I really could go into labor at any point now. The funny thing is, I feel better right now than I have most of the pregnancy...go figure! We are all excited to meet Amos soon and we are so glad to have a good, godly midwife who will be attending his birth. Things to keep in prayer: Quentin does have a lead on a job. Pray it comes through for us and that it will be enough pay/hours. Pregnancy, of course. Animals - we have some opportunites to buy a good milking cow, and are also hoping to get a good group of sheep soon. We are praying the Lord provides the money for these and a few other things we'd like to get into. We are missing friends, but so glad to be here. Love you all!

Kentucky

We arrived safely in Kentucky. It was quite an ordeal to get here. But I figured if the there wasn't any big, ridiculous, and dramatic hurdle to cross in the process...it just wouldn't be us doing the move!

We had so many wonderful friends show up on Thursday morning to help us load up the Penske truck. More than necessary...I thought. They got the truck about 2/3 full and decided that nothing but the miraculous was going to get all this stuff in the truck. We needed a bigger truck...right now. So we checked with Penske. Turns out it would cost A LOT more money to rent a bigger truck at this point...IF they had one available. So we are standing in the driveway with NO IDEA what to do, when our dear friend Jonathan said, "Well, load up the back of my truck and I'll go with you."

WHAT?! I mean, seriously who has friends like that, not to mention so many wonderful friends like that in so many different states!?! We are so so blessed! So, our Penske, minivan caravan turned into a Penske, minivan and a loaded pick up truck caravan. We were quite a sight, I'm sure. The trip went well, even the camping in Illinois part.

When we arrived, we found the house...um, different than I expected. It doesn't cut it to say that they haven't done a deep cleaning in a long time...more like they haven't touched a broom or rag in 9 years. Yikes! At to make it more difficult. The guy wasn't Nearly as moved out as we thought he was going to be, so I couldn't even get my broom out to use it until we cleared HIS stuff out of the house. Oh my goodness! Needless to say, this prego woman was a bit stressed and overwhelmed! I'm so glad my mom and dad and sister and bro-in-law arrived just an hour or 2 later to help! We cleared and swept (walls and floors) the bedroom first and moved beds in so that we could at least sleep when bed time finally came.

We've made lots of progress already but there is still lots to make! I should be meeting my midwife for the first time today, if her other patient hasn't decided to go into labor this afternoon. Keep me in your prayers! This is quite an adjustment for me. The boys seem to be doing great. They are all little country farm boys at heart, I guess! The sun finally came out ( to melt the snow we got last night) and its feeling warmer now.

God is so good and is continuing to provide for all our needs. Thank you all for your prayers!

Bees!

Here's the deal, the house we are moving into is rough...to say the least. The land is AMAZING...but the house is just...rough. Anyway, its safe to live in, and that's good enough for us for now, but Quentin and I have worked out a deal.

Since most of the money from the farm endeavors will be put back into the farm for a while...we are going to try and get me some bees. The bees will be mine to care for and to make products from. (Obviously honey, but I'm also going to try my hand at candle making since beeswax candles are AWESOME!) Any money I make from the bees is mine to use on the house. I think it a pretty good deal! I'm quite happy with it, anyway.

Just after deciding that, my awesome sister Missy sends me this link to a giveaway for a new book by Ashley English, Keeping Bees!

http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/03/give-away-keeping-bees.html#comment-form

God is continuing to provide for us in totally amazing ways and leading us in the way we should go. We've been praying that God would really show us which livestock animals to get involved in (there are SO many options), then Joe and Tammy Franck (dear friends of ours in KC) told us they'd like to buy us our first Icelandic sheep! We've loved this breed of sheep for a while now and had hoped to get started raising them for milk, wool and meat very soon, but now we know...Step 1 - Sheep. Perhaps if I win this givaway (not to mention my dad is working on building us the kind of bee hive I want) we'll know Step 2 - Bees.

Thanks for praying for us everyone! Jesus is so awesome and such a good leader. What wonderful people He has put in our life who care about what we are doing and want to help!

Oh yeah, Len and Beth Walstrom sent me a book on homesteading this week too. I was excited to recieve it, but not as excited as Quentin was when I told him it is called Homesteading, by Gene Logsdon. He was so excited because he knows the name of the author. I didn't...I was clueless...he never is.

I'm hoping to win this give away!! I sure could use it, don't you think :)

http://homesteadcommunitypost.ning.com/page/weekly-give-away

All Things Natural and Logical...

I was asked last week if we are FOR SURE moving to Kentucky... I said, "All things natural and logical say no...God says yes." That's about the time I started announcing that we were moving.

Well, the time has come that I can say for sure, even according to the natural and logical that we are moving to Summer Shade, KY.

The date is set for March 24th. We are taking two days to get there, so we will be arriving to our new home on Friday the 25th.

Good bye all you dear Kansas City friends...We're a bit closer you wonderful Indiana friends...and nice to meet you Kentucky friends.

All His Ways Are Right And Good

When talking about moving to Kentucky today, this question was posed to me:

"How do you know 100%, without a shadow of a doubt and no chance of being wrong."

My response was this, "I don't. But God is worthy of putting my trust in even if He brings me to destruction."

In Acts 21, Paul had heard from the Lord to go to Jerusalem. The other believers begged Paul not to go because they had received another prophetic word that Paul would face persecution if he went to Jerusalem.

Acts 21:13-15 says

Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!" After these days we got ready and started on our way up to Jerusalem.

I do know that God has called us to move to Kentucky. I don't know how this will all work out or what exactly it will be like when we get there. But I will put my trust in Him.

Let me clarify...I really believe God is going to take care of all our needs, that he is going to bring us to this land and bless us. But if He doesn't, He is no less worthy of my praise and adoration.

All His ways are right and good.

My faith Is So Small

One day, I'm on cloud nine because I am confident that I have heard from the Lord. The next day, I am staring at my giants and trembling inside.

Thankfully, my awesome husband made me sit down to pray with him. We usually spend a few minutes just praising the Lord, giving thanks, then we ask a question or request and wait for the Lord to speak to us.

This time he was doing the dishes and I was drying, so our hands were mostly busy while we were praying. But after we asked for direction, we both just kind of stopped moving and sat really still for a few minutes because the presence of God came over us. Neither of us really 'heard a word' from God, but we were definitely overcome with His peace.

I realized that earlier in this process, when we would come close to a hurdle it wasn't that scary because we didn't expect anything. Now that we've heard from God, approaching a hurdle means believing God will do what He said He would do.

God, I believe...but help my unbelief.

Keep praying for me, friends! We still have a long way to go!

Giants in the Land

Once again the Lord has asked our family to step out in faith. We are WAY excited.

For as long as I've known him, my husband has wanted to farm and I have shared this desire with him, if only on and off at first. Over the 6 years of our marriage, our desire to do organic farming, raise healthy grass fed animals, and raise our ever increasing number of boys on a farm has only grown.

You would not believe the number of books read and the amount of research Quentin has done on the subject of farming. And of course, he has set his hands to work at every opportunity. He has filled my poor parents back yard with goats and chickens, and gardened every spot of soil he was allowed to till.

In the middle of all this, God took us to Kansas City. Um...ok, God. We are so glad that God took us to this City. Studying at the Forerunner School of Ministry has rooted us in the Word and Love of God. We have learned the importance of standing with Isreal. We have built relationships with wonderful, Godly people. We have been challenged, stretched and strengthened in our Faith. I wouldn't trade this time in the city for anything in the world. It is most definitely what God wanted for our family.

Our time here is done now. God has accomplished all that He had in store for us and is clearly moving us on. This time to the country...ok, not just to the country...Kentucky!! I would have never guessed Kentucky! Of course, 2 1/2 years ago, I would have never guessed Missouri, so I guess we're seeing a pattern here.

I wish I could give you the whole long story of how we came to be interested in this farm in Kentucky, but...I have no idea how this happened. One day my husband sends an email and gets a reply, the next day a phone call...then we keep emailing questions and keep receiving answers. A couple weeks into this we looked at each other and said, "Is this really happening?"

Every time an insurmountable barrier appears that seemingly would keep us from going to the farm, we just glide right over it. God just keeps working out every detail. Our parents (such wise and wonderful people) are standing with us in prayer and in awe at the amount of peace we all have over this move. Why are we in awe? Because this is completely crazy and impossible! And yet, its happening right before our eyes. Quentin and I feel like we are blindfolded and in the dark and yet, our feet keep finding solid ground.

Yesterday I got scared...

I started looking at all the barriers we have yet to glide over and began to think maybe this wouldn't work at all. But the Lord is so faithful. This morning as I lay in bed half awake and half asleep, the battle of Jericho came to my mind. God did not give the Israelites what they needed to fight that battle. In fact, they had been circumcised not too long before that and may not have even had the physical strength to fight a battle. And yet, after following God's ridiculous instructions, the walls of the city collapsed and they took their land.

Then Joshua and Caleb came to my mind. Forty years before the battle of Jericho, Joshua and Caleb came out of the Promised Land reporting what wonderful things they had seen and were ready to go in at take it while the rest of the scouts only reported of the giants in the land. At that point the Lord spoke so clearly to me and said, "There are still Giants in this land...and I can take 'em!"

So...Here we go.

We have officially started packing. We hope to be on our 40 acre, organic farm by April 1st. Please pray for us. Many things still have to be worked out and I'm not exactly in moving condition. (Due April 14th with baby Amos!)

My little Van Gogh!

During homeschool this morning, we read 'Katie and the Sunflowers' by James Mayhew, then 'In the Garden with Van Gogh' by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober. Both are really great books for introducing preschoolers to classic art.

The last picture in the 'In the Garden...' book is of Van Gogh's Starry Night. My kids probably looked at it for 10 seconds at best.

When we were done reading, I turned on some music and told them we were going to paint. Usually, all our art projects are very open ending, so that they will use their own little creative brains to make something that looks awesome to them. This time I had an abundance of black construction paper, so I gave them all a piece and threw out an idea, "Maybe you could do a painting kind of like the Starry Night painting"...then I walked away.

This is what I came back to...

I must confess, I was impressed! He explained to me that the tall red thing was the building and the white swirls were the stars. I hadn't really expected him to copy the picture, but he was very proud of himself, and so was I!

*If anyone can help me figure out why some of my pictures are only half there, I'd be grateful!