Natural Play Building, Leaf Pattern Identification, Fire Safety, and Solanacae Evaluation

Will has four lessons left in Explode the Code, and he's working on one of those as I write this. He'll be finished by the week's end. We won't be finished with the plant science book until the end of next week, b/c we missed several days. Anyway, I'm doing it with him every day now, and we may double some of the lessons in order to finish soon. We're still in Isaiah in the bible, going along slowly, because the prophecy stuff doesn't keep his attention well (understandably), and I have to explain it as we go. We still are reading Proverbs, of course. Will started on subtraction for math last week. I'll have him continue addition and subtraction until we're finished with the science next week. Then, we'll take a break from that, and during our "break" from the books, I'm hoping to teach him more about money and time. When we get back to the books in mid-September, we'll go back to more addition, subtraction, place value, etc. I just ordered two dvds off of Ebay; they're part of a series called Drive Thru History. The ones I bought will cover from Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims to George Washington and other forefathers fighting for freedom. It will pretty much cover everything we went over in Our Christian Heritage. The boys love dvds, so this will be a treat...and they learn. ;-)

Sunday, Will and Nathan went to the very front, near the road, and built a stick house together (a "log home") and dug a pond. I picked several white clover flowers from the yard and made him little flower beds around the bank of the pond. I took several pictures. One of them is included here. Then, Nathan set the house on fire to demonstrate to Will how a house can burn. This was a great follow-up on the fire safety video Will and Trust have recently watched. Of the things we got Will for his sixth birthday, a set of safety videos were included. The series is called Danger Rangers. They teach fire safety, water safety, wheel safety (bikes, etc.), and miscellaneous safety things. One of the pictures I took of the burning house is included here.

The other three pictures show what Will did in science yesterday. After we read the science lesson on leaf patterns, Will went out in the yard to study several trees, bushes, and other plants to see which of four leaf arrangements each had: opposite, alternate, whorled, or rosette. This refers to the way leaves come off of the nodes on plant stems. I included three of the four pictures I took here. One is of him with a redbud tree, another with a walnut tree, and the remaining one is of him with an unknown weed he found by the creek bed.

Will is also studying caterpillars. This is something he's doing on his own. He is collecting caterpillars in a black plant bucket (Nathan duct-taped around the bottom to cover the holes), with leaves and a little water. Every time we see a caterpillar, we attempt to identify it with our moths and butterflies field guide, and then he puts it in the bucket.

He's continuing to take his swimming lessons. He'll be finished with level 1 at the end of the week, and I'm not sure where we will go from there.

Trusten seems to be learning his colors. I talk to him about colors in every day life--our clothes, the grass and trees, the boys' trucks, foods, etc. He also says things that surprise me. He's just very observant. His attention span doesn't do well for long with books, but he's always observing everything--visually, audiby, etc. He's dangerous, though. We do well to keep him safe.

Nathan and I had learned about bot flies several months ago. I can't remember why they came up, but we watched short videos on Youtube of persons removing them from other persons. Well, I didn't know we had such a thing around here, but apparently that's the same thing that invades rabbits, and Nathan had told me about some "worms" that tunnel through rabbits. Well, the most awful thing happened. All of our cats (well, we're not sure what happened to one of the four cats) got these things. Maybe it was b/c they hunt rabbits. The mother cat has killed at least one rabbit since we've lived here and have been teaching the kittens to kill things. Anyway, Nathan and I tried helping the cats. He removed a larvae ("wolf worm") each from two of the kittens, but our most beloved kitten Sylvester--Will's cat and also my favorite--we couldn't successfully help. We were going to take them all to the vet the following morning, but they are outside cats, and all of them were gone again yesterday morning, and we haven't seen them since. They'd been gone a whole day or more before the day we helped them, with one of them being gone closer to two full days. The mother has been missing for close to a week now. I'm really, really sad. :-( I so wish we would have done something to keep them inside that night so that they wouldn't leave. As more time passes, the hope fades. I'm not dealing very well with what has happened to Sylvester, b/c I prayed for that cat all the time, b/c Will is so attached and loves that cat, and I'm sad of continually seeing him lose animals (and he's lost a brother). Another lesson learned here for me is that if want to have a pet cat survive out here very well w/o being a partial indoor cat.

I've been doing more study on the plant family Solanaceae. This is the "nightshade" family of plants, which includes several genera and a few thousand species. Some of the most familiar are tobacco, tomato, potato, eggplant, and pepper (excluding black pepper). I am planning to cut out all sources of Solocaceae from my diet. I will talk yet more about why later. This post is long enough.

One more thing. I took the boys to this traveling reptile exhibit last week. They had a Nile crocodile and a large American alligator. They had all sorts of snakes and a couple lizards. Will had been asking to go.

Partial Book Work, Swimming Lessons

Will has mostly been doing Explode the Code, as far as book work goes. We did finish Our Christian Heritage. I am going to look on Ebay to see whether I can find a good bargain on a bulk number of children's dvds on history and historical figures such as the ones we've gone over. I'll do a quick review with him before this year is up, and we'll work on geography again at some point before the end of the year. Will has good cloth maps hanging on his bedroom wall, but I'd also like to get a new globe to put in the living room.

Will started swimming lessons this week, and he'll finish next week on level one. At that time, I'll decide whether he needs to take the level 2 lessons or whether we can just work with him from then on. And then, I'll only be able to enroll him in the advanced lessons if the 4th and last session this year still has openings. He's really enjoying the lessons. Trusten and I sit and watch.

We read a book on roots that I'd bought for Will's 6th birthday. It didn't really teach us anything we didn't already know, but the illustrations were awesome. What a beautiful book! I believe it's called What Do Roots Do? I can't remember the author's name.

Will got to watch some glass blowing when we took him to Silver Dollar City. He got to see a lot of neat things and got to ride some rides. I'm hoping Nathan will take a day off during the week again sometime soon so that we can all go to the George Washington Carver museum soon. I think that would be awesome.

Nathan has been doing a little extracurricular wood-carving. He loves building things, and he builds strong structures. He wants to do more carving and stuff, too. I think I'd like to surprise him with a wood tools set (hand tools). He started on two pipes (smoking pipes), and he set them both aside. I forget what was wrong with the one, and the other had a flaw at the bottom, a crack or something, and so it wasn't going to work. Will has one of them and screwed two sticks in the top to make a cool-looking helicopter. I think it will be great if William can be a fine wood-worker one day. He loves such things. The building Nathan had bought for our chickens (we don't have any left, anymore, but we'll get more when we're ready) wasn't going to be easily transportable, so he had to get his money back. He's very ready to build another one, smaller than the last one he built before we moved here. He is just wanting to build something badly. There was something I wanted or needed, but I can't remember what it is right now. Nathan said he'd like to make me one. I can't think of what in the world it was. Well, I'll post it here if I can ever remember. I must not need or want it too badly! In other news, Nathan has been super busy with HVAC work. But, he's been trying to get home at a decent hour to spend more time with us and not get to bed too late. :-) He would like to start bidding large contractor's jobs (now that he has a contractor's license), and he has an electrician friend whom he would use for the electric work, and he knows a plumber whom he would like to use for the plumbing work. It's hard for him to have extra time enough to make these steps. He also still wants to get into solar and wind stuff, but wow, where's the time?

I have been doing some more research on sulfur and hydrogen sulfide. We have high levels of hydrogen sulfide in our well water. As dangerous as it is, it apparently also has benefits. Apparently our cells make small amounts of it on their own to be used in crisis situations. It can help the heart and prevent heart attacks. Very interesting, I thought. Apparently it slows down the metabolism, much like when someone cools an injured person until he can make it to the hospital. It buys time. By replacing the oxygen in cells with hydrogen sulfide, instead of dying from oxygen deficiency, the person goes into slow-down mode. The body conserves energy. One fellow said that technically by injecting hydrogen sulfide into someone, it artificially kills them so that they can be successfully brought back. They claim to have had mice in that state for 4-6 hours before "bringing them back" to normal. Strange. Anyway, it's sure been interesting research. Scientists claim that all mass extinctions, except for the dinosaur extinction (which they say was caused by an asteroid), has been caused by hydrogen sulfide. They sound so sure, but I'm not fully convinced. Anyway, they say the way we're currently doing the planet, that we could all die out from hydrogen sulfide. It would heat the earth's atmosphere, stop ocean currents, thereby stopping oxygenation of the water, thus killing all ocean life, and then it would eventually kill all life on land. This is the gas that is released from our well water, the same gas that is released when eggs are rotting.

I'm also researching the plant family Solanacae, which includes belladonna (deadly nightshade), tobacco, tomatoes, and potatoes. I'll talk more about this in a future post.

We're going to soon finish up the plant science book and what he has left of Explode the Code, and we'll be taking a good break. I need to order him more Explode the Code books, too. Oh, and I ordered Prepare and Pray curriculum, a biblically-based curriculum that teaches survival skills. I have not yet received it.

Trusten is just not a very good sit-down learner. He is definitely smart but learns in a different way. As Nathan said, if I can just be able to teach him to read and write when the time comes, he'll learn pretty much everything else in the way he needs to do so. So, I'm not going to worry about it. I will continue to teach him what I can by sitting down with him, but he mostly just learns his own way and by observing everything around him. That's fine with me. I can accept that. He sure talks a lot better at this age than William did. Will didn't really talk in sentences until he was three! Trusten talks a lot. They're both great and unique. Each has his strong and weak points.

Well, that's it for now.

Phonic Mania, Beautiful Flowers, and Getting Ready for a Break

*In the bible we have reached Isaiah and are reading 2 chapters a day, in addition to our daily chapter of Proverbs. The boys also watch a bible video almost daily (about half an hour long). This gives me time to go have some fair bit of quiet time to go to my closet and pray w/o being concerned that the boys are getting into mischief.

*William finished the Reading section of the Complete Curriculum book. He'll now go continue on both the Spelling and Language Arts sections, and when he's finished with those, he'll move on to the Writing section. He's also worked through 2 or 3 Rocket Reader books since the last update. He now does an entire lesson of Explode the Code almost every day but the sabbath. I have him alternating days between Explode the Code 1 1/2 and Explode the Code 2. The former gives him more practice on his short vowels, and the latter works on consonant blends. He also has been working on the phonics cd we have on the computer. I've not copied any more workbook pages out of that book for him, though. But, the Explode the Code keeps him pretty busy with that right now. The lessons in Ex. the Code are 8-9 pages long.

*I saw a book that I bought to make things easier for me to give him more writing practice. He gets better all the time, but it still needs work, and the worst thing is not spacing his words when he writes sentences. Most of the words run together. It's atrocious. Anyway, the book will save me time. All he has to do is copy what they have written. It goes through the entire alphabet, so he'll have more practice on just the letters, and then they do phrases (I think) starting with the letters, and then sentences. I think it has days of the week, holidays, and such, too. Anyway, it will give him additional writing practice.

*We've worked with addition flash cards for math. I really need to do this more. He's getting a little better with this, but he can't get much better when I don't work enough with him on it. :-( I'll continue this and other things to help him add, and I'll also go ahead and continue him in the Math section of the Complete Curriculum soon. He'll be starting on subtraction in it.

*He's nearly finished with the history book. He'll be done next week. After he's finished, it will be no more history book for the year. He'll just get reviews every so often, and I'll go back to see how well he remembers his geography. He knew all his states and many countries. He hasn't talked about these things much in the past few months, so I'm not sure whether he's forgotten anything or not.

*In science we've done two lessons on roots and three lessons on stems. We've examined roots and stems on plants as well. William had a bean plant (pinto) and two corn plants that we potted and put outside from the germinated seeds we had in jars from our experiment. Trusten took the leaves off the bean plant, so it's a goner. The corn plants are still making it for now. We went this week to buy some flowers and more potting soil and pots. Will helped me pick out some of the flowers. We now have beautiful flowers on our front porch. :-)

*We'll be going to Silver Dollar City next week for Will's birthday. I think it'll be fun for him, and there will be learning experiences there.

*I'm not finished with the bird and butterfly book, as I just read a little bit here and there, but I'm making plans for next year. I also saw that we have some butterfly bushes on our property but not in our yard. I want to transplant one of them as part of my butterfly paradise plans. :-) I'm so excited. Oh, and our old (as in previous) neighbors gave me some red honeysuckle to plant. Nathan planted it on the hill in the backyard (well, our backyard is mostly hill--lol). I hope it makes it. I'm so excited. I love honeysuckle, and I love red! I also bet the hummingbirds would LOVE it!

*Nathan is apparently a "business prodigy." He has been steadily growing his business, and people love him. He's very respected for his quality, fairness, and superb business practices. He is actually quite expensive (but the quality is worth it to folks), but he's also done pro bono work for people who can't afford to pay anything or has done things inexpensively for some. He told me today that the owner of the restoration business he does a lot of work for, whom already loves Nathan and values his work, told some of his own employees that Nathan was a "business prodigy" and is saving him money, unlike all of the other contractors (in other fields). He also gets him a lot more business, b/c Nathan has a way of working with people, and it really helps in the case of dealing with people's insurance companies. The employee told Nathan what was said about him. This isn't the first time he's been told things like this. I'm very proud of him. :-)

*I am still working with Trusten on his alphabet, colors, etc. I got him to put the playsilks back in the basket today by color. He did well on some of them, and some of them he did not. He ended up giving up. Oh, well. He'll get it. He likes to call us all a "mink." I assume it was b/c Will went a few days a while back when he talked and asked a lot of questions about minks. So, now Trusten says, "I love you, Mink." He says this to any of us. Or someone will tell him something, and he says, "Okay, Mink." I'll say, "My name is not Mink." "Okay, Momma." :-) He's silly. Oh, and people have come to the house, like the UPS man or a fellow looking for a neighbor down the road, and he'll shout to them, "Bye!" They'll return the goodbye, but then he'll say, "Love you!" He is sure a hoot.

*After Will finishes up the current science book (plants) and the history, we will take a break from the books for 2-3 weeks. We'll probably take a complete break for two weeks and a break from everything but phonics and writing for another week.

Okay, that's it for now!

Finished and Nearly Finished with Some Books!

William finished the Explode the Code 1 yesterday. Yay! That covered short vowels. Now, I'm going to start him on Explode the Code 1 1/2 (more practice on short vowels) and Explode the Code 2 (consonant blends). I'll switch back and forth between both the books until he's finished, and then if he needs more practice with consonant blends, I'll make him do Explode the Code 2 1/2, too.

He'll finish the Learn-to-Read bible today, and he's almost finished with Our Christian Heritage. We've recently gone over in OCH: Christopher Columbus and his voyage, the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving (and I explained that God already instituted a harvest feast--the Feast of Tabernacles--and that we have no need to add a new harvest thanksgiving feast in His honor), and leaders of our nation's past. So far, the leaders we've discussed are George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. We have a book somewhere on Christopher Columbus that I've read several times before to Will, but it's been a while, so if I find it, we'll read that soon. We may also read more about GW and TJ, though we have read more about them in the other recent books we've read.

We finished our germination experiment for science. Everything came out the way it was hypothesized, except the jar that was supposed to be deficient in oxygen had germination. I believe there was still oxygen and that the suggestion to get rid of it did not work. Yesterday we planted some of the bean and corn sprouts. We'll see if they continue to grow and bear fruit.

Will learned more about seeds, specifically how different seeds get around in different ways. We also read about George Washington Carver, whom I think was an awesome individual. What a wonderful human being. We will soon visit the George Washington Carver museum, as it's less than an hour and a half from here. We'll do it all together as a family. Today, we're going to learn about roots.

He has gone through 2 or 3 more lessons in the reading section of the Grade 1 Complete Curriculum. He has been getting better about being able to do Explode the Code mostly by himself and the reading questions in CC. I just get him to read the story aloud to me, and then he does his work and just asks me when he needs help.

We also have done more in the book on manners and etiquette.

We finished Psalms in the bible and have started Ecclesiastes (we still do a Proverb every day). Will has sabbath school lessons on sabbath.

Trusten turned 2 on May 26. He can't seem to decide whether to be precious and sweet or wild and mean. He's certainly as cute as he can be. There's not much to report on him as far as learning progress goes. He is progressing, of course, in many ways, but as far as solid basic things that I can report, I don't really have anything to say.

We've all continued to watch the Universe dvds.

I'm about to continue reading the book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard. I want to purchase a book called The Firstborn Advantage. I have been studying family dynamics and physical and spiritual genetics for awhile, and I am fascinated with birth order and have discussed it briefly before. The book is on sale at Christianbook.com for $6.99. I'll see whether I can get it used for less at Amazon, and if I can't, I'll buy from from CB. I think I'm supposed to read that book. I know I definitely want to, regardless.

Busy, Busy!

I've been too busy to update this blog. Since the last update:

I'm still working with Trusten on his alphabet, colors, etc.

I continued to read through the Psalms aloud to the boys and also a Proverb each day. We'll soon be done with Psalms and will start Ecclesiastes.

I read their magazines with them that were about a month old, b/c we'd had no time with all the moving and putting away stuff. William gets Your Big Backyard, and Trusten gets Wild Animal Baby.

In science in The World of Plants, we did three lessons. The first one was about trees, and then there was a bonus piece on redwood trees, so after that we got on the Internet so that I could show William pictures of cars driving through a redwood tree. We also did a lesson on what seeds needed to germinate--water, warmth, and oxygen--and are still in the process of finishing our experiment with seeds in jars to see whether they truly need all three. We then did a lesson on the difference between two kinds of seeds--monocots and dicots--and we dissected a pre-soaked bean seed (dicot) and corn seed (monocot) and identified the different parts of the seeds.

In history we read in Our Christian Heritage about the Constitution of the US, the Bill of Rights, and about the American bald eagle. We then reviewed about those, the liberty bell, statue of liberty, and the Declaration of Independence. The next day I read to William the book The Story of the Constitution, put out by Childrens Press.

Will did three lessons in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum for Grade 1. He did one lesson in Explode the Code (or maybe two lessons). I know he worked on short 'u'. He read probably 30 pages or more in the Learn-to-Read Bible. One day he read 10. Most days he's read four, but he's read six a couple different days and has requested to read more than four a day. He'll be finished with it soon, and so then we'll go back and continue on the main Rocket Reader books.

He did four math worksheets (2 one day and 2 another) on addition.

He did a lesson on sabbath before last in the book on obedience. Last sabbath (yesterday) we went to the Living Church of God congregation that meets in Joplin. It was our first visit, and it went all right. Nathan stayed at home, and I left Trusten with him.

We have not done anything in the way of art or music in awhile, but we'll get back to it.

I finally bought the Universe series by the History Channel, and we've started watching those. We've only watched one segment so far, and that was about the sun. Very interesting, though one can only put so much trust into what they say about certain things. They act as if they're so sure about some things when they have no way of knowing.

Well, besides the thousand questions Will asks me every day and thus all the additional things he learns but that I can't remember all of in order to post (and don't have time to post it all, anyway), that's about it.

As far as what Nathan and I are learning, we're watching those videos, and I am always learning more biblically. I can't remember all what we learn, either, so I don't always post about it.

Anyway, this is it for now, as things have been very busy around here. I'd like to get back to posting some pictures on here from time to time. I WILL eventually.

Grass, Declaration of Independence, and Addition

~Monday~

**William**

We read in Psalms, Proverbs, and went over the Ten Commandments.

William read four pages in Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.

He did a lesson in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum book. He read the story aloud to me, as usual, and then he answered the questions.

He did four of nine pages in Explode the Code, a lesson on short 'u.'

I read to William about grass in God's Design for Life: The World of Plants. We went outside and dug up a grass plant and identified the parts of grass. He used a magnifying glass to get a better look. He learned about five groups of grass: turf, forage, cereal, ornamental, and miscellaneous; that grass covers 1/3 of the land; and that people eat the seeds of grass, while animals eat leaves and seeds.

**Trusten**

I did alphabet flashcards with him, having him repeat aloud each letter. Then, after we went through the whole alphabet, we went back through the alphabet orally, without the cards.

In the late afternoon, I took the boys to the park. I've told William that if he does well each week with his school work and obeys well and is nice, then I'd take them to the park once a week.

~Tuesday~

**William**

Psalms and a Proverb from the bible, review of Ten Commandments, and a reading of the works of the flesh vs. the fruits of the spirit from Galatians 5.

He read four pages in the Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.

He completed the other 5 pages in the lesson on short 'u' in Explode the Code.

And sadly, that is all that got done, because Will gave me a hard time, and we had to go grocery shopping (takes 2.5 to 3 hours of the day). I was hoping to do some history.

**Trusten**

We did the alphabet flashcards again, and then the second oral repetition afterward w/o the cards.

~Wednesday~

**William**

Today we read Psalms and a Proverb from the bible.

We sat outside where I read to him The Story of the Declaration of Independence, a book by Children's Press. We'd gone over the Declaration in Our Christian Heritage, before the Liberty Bell and Statue of Liberty, but I had not read this additional book to him before, like I did for the other two things. I even learned a little bit from the reading of this book.

While still outside in our beautiful front yard under the gorgeous sunny sky (we did have some shade from a tree), he read six pages from the Learn-to-Read Bible.

We came in to do some addition work on the abacus, and he's currently working on two math addition worksheets that I copied from a workbook.

I am going to start writing sentences for him to copy, as he really needs practice writing sentences. I'll then move on to paragraphs after awhile, but I'll wait until we start doing more work in the Language Arts section of the Complete Curriculum book.

**Trusten**

He and I went through an alphabet picture book, and I had him repeat the letters after I said them aloud.

Back to the Books

For the last little over a month, we've been really busy, as we moved and have had a lot of other things with which to contend. And I'd not updated for nearly a month before that. We now own a house on 18 acres, and it's great! Before we packed up most of the books:

**William**

~Our Christian Heritage: We read about the Liberty Bell, and to learn more we read the book The Story of the Liberty Bell put out by Children's Press. We also read about the Statue of Liberty, and then I read to William the book The Story of the Statue of Liberty put out by Children's Press. I then pointed out where Our Christian Heritage had stated that people would see the statue and start praying to God to thank Him for bringing them to the US so that they could have liberty. The statue is a heathen idol, and God alone brings liberty. He doesn't want us to use statues to pray to Him. So, I then showed William on the Internet some pictures done from descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes and showed him how they compared to "Lady Liberty." I explained that they were both idols representing the sun god Apollo.

~Complete Curriculum for Grade 1: We also worked in that book in the reading and math sections.

We finished the Social Skills book. We will soon start on the other book I bought on etiquette and good manners.

********************

--So, now we are over halfway through the Psalms. We're in the 80s. We still read a Proverb daily. I now usually make Trusten sit beside William on the floor while I read it to both of them. I remind them of the Ten Commandments.

--We started back in the science book on plants. Last week William learned the four organs of a flowering plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. And although we'll go over it again in a later lesson, I went ahead and told him the various parts of a flower and their functions. We picked several different flowers in our yard and on the side of one of our hills. We identified the parts on the flowers. We'll be identifying our local plants, especially those on our 18 acres, this summer, with the help of guide books. We're always identifying birds, plants, insects, rocks, etc. We really enjoy this as a way of life.

--William worked on some pages in the Complete Curriculum book in the reading section--a Reading Roundup, so we'll start Unit 5 this week. He also did a review page in the math section, and we also got out his abacus for help. The next lesson starts subtraction, and he's not ready to move on from addition, so I'll be getting out another one of our workbooks so that he can practice more on addition. We'll also be using the abacus and anything else that aids him.

**Trusten**

--I also have not worked on the alphabet or anything else much with Trusten over the last month. I will start back on that this week. He has taken picture books off the shelves and laid on his belly on the floor to look at them, so he's definitely interested in such things, to an extent. He is nearly 2. I was hoping he'd know his alphabet, colors, and numbers to 10 by his birthday, but I didn't really anticipate the happenings of the last month and half, either. BUT, I'm happy to report that he's nearly potty-trained for daytime. He also throws less tantrums. He has not thrown a bowl, saucer, or thrown anything at a glass, breaking them in several weeks. He has broken one bowl since we moved, and it was an accident. He's also gone several weeks w/o a forehead injury. I'm so happy about that! He and William play together more and more. He still loves to talk. He's VERY spirited. At least now the spirit is more positive, rather than mostly negative. Praise God!

**Nathan**

I'm happy to report that Nathan took and PASSED his Arkansas Contractor's License exam. That license will allow him to "legally" bid bigger, higher-paying jobs than the HVAC license does. His goal is to soon get where he can spend a lot more time at home and have his main helper (was his partner when he was in a partnership) and good friend be a supervisor over a crew. Of course, the trick is to find hardworking, quality-striving, ethical individuals. But, that's Nathan's goal so that he does not have to go do much of the physical work himself and yet still bring in money. He'll make the decisions and just go check to see whether everything is going as instructed. And he'll have more time around here! We both plan to be out of debt soon, including the house (in less than five years). He wants to build a cistern for the house we live in, since the well water is bad (though we have a filter coming for temporary solution). But, his long-term goal is to either build an earthen home on the ten acres we own free and clear (part of the 18 acres we have) or to increase the value of our property, sell it, and build an earthen home on another property. He has lots of great ideas.

**Tara**

I had started reading a book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard before we moved. I'd like to soon continue it. I'm already thrilled with the number of birds and butterflies we have here. It's awesome! But, I want William and myself to be able to plant some flowers around the yard to not only attract MORE beautiful creatures, but to also beautify the property with the flowers themselves. Oh! We do already have some wonderful trees and flowering bushes here, as well as some wildflowers. I love it! And I'm loving learning more about the plants here.

I've learned more about biblical things and am taking notes to write about them.

I'm out of time for now. I'm going to try to get back to updating this twice a week. I'm still working on getting back on a normal schedule, and we still have a lot of different things with which we're dealing right now. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed. :-)