Month: June 2022

Sorry for the 2 week hiatus, but the family went on a vacation/hubby business trip to Nashville, Tennessee! We have been to Nashville several times, and we never get tired of it… We stayed in the Gaylord Opryland Resort, and as always, it was beautiful and we had a blast.

The first full day we were there, we went to the resort’s water park. The kids and I went last year, but this year we had to take Luke with us. The kids forced him to do the surf simulator…hahaha Luke and Wyatt also did the drop slides (where they close you in a tube and the bottom falls out)…NO THANK YOU! I’m more of a tube-slide person.

In the evenings, at the top of the hour, the resort held a water show at one of the indoor fountains. They played music and timed the fountain to the song. We went to at least one show every evening.

Nashville is full of amazing food options as well! Our rule when we travel is: No eating at places we can get back home. And we always try a new place if we visit the same city more than once. This trip we hit a couple different restaurants that we hadn’t eaten at before. We went to Paula Dean’s Kitchen (AMAZING!), The Aquarium (you get to see all kinds of fish swimming around while you eat), and we also tried The Stillery (let’s just say the Nashville hot chicken is HOT!!!)

In addition to playing at the resort, we took a day and went downtown and walked Broadway. There was music coming at us in every direction, and we could hear aspiring artists playing in some of the restaurants. I know the saying is “When in Rome, do as the Romans”……however, with our family it is “When in Nashville, go to the boot store”. HAHAHA We had three teenagers who all were in need of a new pair of cowboy boots, and they picked some really nice ones! I think that just means that next time it’s Luke and my turn to get some LOL

And now that we are home………………I’ve been overwhelmed with playing catch up. I have been in the garden every. single. night. For hours trying to get it cleaned up from being gone for a week. I usually do a walk through every night and pick a stray weed or two….but not having done that for a week, I had a lot of weeds to pick. It is all cleaned up now though, and everything is growing nicely. I have baby roma tomatoes, baby pumpkins, we picked our first zucchini, and the lettuce and peas are thriving.

One final note for this post….. we all know the story “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”……. There again, our story is a little different, “If You Send A Girl To Rural King”….. SSSoooo….our homestead grew by 34 little feet. I bought 17 meat chicks! I would have bought more if they had more, but I bought the last of all that they had. For anyone who knows me, I am NOT bird person….but here I am killing it being a crazy poultry lady. *insert eye roll*

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far. Leave me a message of how you’ve been beating the heat!

For those of you who know me, patience does not come easy. When I tell my kids to do something, I want it done now. When I make up my mind to do something, I want to do it now. When I plant a seed in the ground, I want it to sprout…NOW… Are you seeing a pattern here?? Hahaha

I was kinda hit-up-side the head this weekend with the whole “be patient” thing. Last year we decided to plant some strawberry patches. Great idea, right?! Put the plants in the ground, water them, watch the strawberries grow, enjoy the delicious strawberries…NO! That is NOT what happened. The place we bought the strawberry plants from told us that we needed to pull off the flowers the first year, and not to allow any strawberries to come onto the plant. That seems counter productive when planting something that provides a food source… I wanted berries! Once they started flowering, I got very excited. First comes flowers, then comes strawberries…..except I would catch my husband picking the flowers off of the plants. I was getting so frustrated because he wouldn’t allow the berries to grow! I planted the berries, and I wanted to enjoy them NOW.

Fast forward to this year, and the waiting paid off. The plants are THRIVING!!! We are getting so many berries, and they are sweet and delicious. The plants are producing so many runners which produce even more strawberries!

This went along well with a Bible verse I found. Proverbs 14:29 says “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly”. Yikes!! Reality check for sure! I didn’t want to be patient. I wanted instant gratification, which would have caused the plants to not be as bountiful. But, because Luke gave me no other choice, we are being blessed with an abundance of berries. I guess I owe Luke a big “Thank You” for that one…. <3

Another lesson in patience, trees don’t grow overnight. LOL We have catalpa trees, and they are absolutely beautiful when their flowers bloom. And when their white blooms blow across the yard, it is one of the prettiest sights. However…..it takes 5 years for the trees to bloom the first time!! A true testament in patience….the catalpa tree that we planted 5 years ago, is blooming for the first time this year!! It’s so pretty….

In our world of everything being at our fingertips, sometimes we lose sight of the benefit of having to wait. We we want everything “now, now, now” that we forget to enjoy the present. We forget to enjoy the process. Today’s world moves so fast, and before you know it, another growing season is done, your babies aren’t babies anymore, the joys in this world pass us by because we are too busy rushing onto the next thing. Growing the homestead is such a blessing to me, as it is teaching me patience. In being patient through it all, we are blessed with the reward of happy, healthy animals, abundant crops, and the ability to bless others.

I’d love to hear from my readers. Are you a person blessed with patience?? What is one things that you struggle with patience about? My list is a mile long….LOL