OH, Kindergarten...

Dropping your kid off at school for the first time it can be dreadful for all involved!

But it can also remind us of our WANTS in life...

For me it reminds me I want to be a stay-at-home mom! 

Not just any stay-at-home mom,

you know the ones who drops their kid(s) off in yoga pants,

not because they have been to yoga but that it the only thing they EVER wear.

(Please note not hating maybe jealous but not hating...and remember this is my dream so)

No I want to be the SAH mom is always fashionable,

 makes Pinterest ideas look silly

and who's house is impeccably clean.

 I want to be a stay-at-home mom who's kids are always well-dressed and well mannered.

And can recite all the books of the Bible in order,

as well as know the references numerous veres you might need on a regular basis.

Basically I want to be June Cleaver and Martha Stewart all rolled into one fashionable momma!

 But that's not my life, 

and let's face it that's not reality~

 I'm a full-time working mom

 who has more Pintoristy's than Pin successes, 

My fashion gets a little stale 

as jeans/slacks and a company shirt can be my go to work attire

 (and no one would notice or care)

I do good to remember my Bible study time and to ensure he has said his prayers,

much less quiz him on the catcheism.

I'm a mom who has to choke back tears on the first day, 

until I get back to the car to buckle the baby his car seat and then opens the flood gates,

to which I promptly tell myself to suck it up 

because guess what I had to go to work 

and "ain't nobody got time for that"

I'm  the mom who carts the pump back and forth daily,

constantly worried do I have enough milk for the little one.

All the while getting engrossed in what I am doing and forgeting to pump

(dang I should probably pump now)

Ok so there you have it....

what I want to be vs what I am...

I'm not unhappy with my path in life, 

just as humans we always want more...

we want what's on the other side...

But in light of recent events with friends 

today I am thankful and overjoyed that God has blessed me.

He has blessed me with an amazing husband, who is hard working and dedicated.

He has blessed me with 2 healthy boys

He has blessed me with a job that is somewhat flexible.

He has blessed me with a church family that loves me as if I was their own flesh & blood.

SO many blessings that I don't take the time to look at,

because all I can see is what I want.  

Take a moment today and thank God for your blessings.

Until Next time,

Caci

I never realized how much and how often in a marriage you are ask not only for give-and-take
 and sometimes to submit.

Now growing up no one would've called me a submissive person. 

I bucked the rules at every chance I got. 

At every stop along the way I had questions
I wasn't going to go down without a fight.

 I was always what you would call
a spitfire,
a troublemaker, 

 one that was gonna blaze their own path in the world 

no one was gonna hold me down 

That's me on the right with Gumby...

funny how things change as you grow older and wiser 

how the right person in your life can change everything 

and is even more amazing how God works in your life 

even when you're fighting him as hard as you're fighting the rest of the world

That's me on the right at the 2001 National FFA Convention

in 2001 I graduated high school 

tomorrow marks 12 years since I walked across the football field  

and was able to turn the first of four tassels 

it was a bittersweet day for me

 I remember without a doubt it I focus was on my plan for my life

 I wasn't worried what anyone else had planned for me 

I knew where I wanted to go
I knew what my goals were

(I was so determined to get away my aunt got me a complete set of luggage for a graduation present)

what I didn't know was what God's plan was for me

fast-forward:
about 10 months later in my second semester of college 

I met this guy in my calculus class 

he was living down the hall for me,
that guy turned out to be my future husband 

I didn't know it then but on that day 11 years ago my life was changed.

God was working in my life in a way that I never could imagine 

God was using me to do things that I didn't even know about

Upon starting to date William things are to change shortly 

my focus was no longer so much I'm partying and hanging out with my friends 

I worked building a relationship with him 

it quickly became evident (to both he and I) that we were in this for long hall haul 

 3 years & 3 months after we started dating we were married

This is still my favorite picture from our wedding

The reason I started listening

Our family on Mother's Day 2013

So until next time...

Caci

No matter who you are or where you are in life it's a balancing act. 

 You might be balancing personal and work life 

or a million other things. 

 I don't know your situation but I know mine 

lately it seems that there's a lot more to balance.

It could be because of these two cuties,

Plus this handsome guy...

So how do I keep everything organized?? 

Well first thing is I have 2 digital calendars and 2 paper calendars plus a wall calendar. 

 That might seem excessive to you but I try to keep my work and personal life somewhat separate. 

 I do update my work calendar with personal appointments but unless it occurs after normal work hours or requires out of town travel I don't put work appointments on my personal calendar.

I rely on Pinterest for lots of inspiration.  I have a whole board devoted to Organizing.  It's full of printables and great ideas for getting your family, house and car organized.  Now I have not personally done all of the various ideas but they all sound great.  Maybe one day I will get my house to be as organized as what I have pinned.  

I also have a Home Management Binder that really helps keep our house running smoothly.  My binder includes sections for finances, school schedules, doctor appointments, menu planning, and blogging.  But here is where I different from most wives and mothers, in addition to organizing our family life, extra curricular activities, and school events I also organize farm stuff. 

What kind of farm stuff?

Calving/lambing dates, vaccination and medical records, weights and average daily gain, breeding dates, and sale records.  To ensure we know everything we need to about every animal on the place we have a 3 inch 3 ring binder for each year of operation.  For me it works easier to have it all in one place.  The only thing that isn't organized in yearly binders is registration papers and we have a separate binder designated to those.  (Livestock registration papers are sort of like a birth certificate for purebred animals.) 

Juggling all of these things seem hectic but its all part of life, no matter if you are living the farm life or not.  My biggest suggestion for Balancing it all...

Pray...ask God to guide you and help you.  

Without God long ago I would dropped all I was balancing into a huge pile!  

Thank you God for keeping all my plates spinning.  

Until Next time...

Caci

Faithful Fridays are a new addition to the blog this year!  I thought it might be great once a week to post on how I am trying to remain faithful to God.  This post keeps me accountable for my daily time with God.  It also gives me a chance at least once a week to focus on the blessings God has bestowed upon our family.  Some weeks that is much harder than others!!

So how have my faith based goals gone the first 11 days in the new year??

Goal 1: was to memorize 24 verses of scripture.  I am still working on my 1st verse of the year but will be adding number 2 next week!  I do have the basics of the verse hidden in my heart and will continue to work on it.  I have found myself turning to my index card binder often over the past 11 days to remind myself of the verse and to go before the Lord in prayer.  

Goal 2: was to spend more time in prayer and allow God to guide me.  I feel that I haven't spent nearly as much time in prayer  as I would have liked.  I need to be more dedicated and purposeful with my prayer time.  I catch myself praying throughout the day about little things but I feel that I also need to set aside some quiet time morning, noon, and night to do some focused prayer time.  As far as letting God guide me...well there are many times when I am not sure if I am doing my will or God's.  I try to make sure that what I am doing is pleasing to the Lord and that I am looking to him in all aspects of life not just in the big stuff.  I want to make sure that I am living my life for him all the time not just when it's easy.  I think my biggest struggle here is deals with finances.  It's hard to give up control to God and know that he will provide for our needs.  

Goal 3: was to read through the entire Bible in a year.  This one has been a little difficult as it requires you to set aside time each day to read between 4-5 chapters of the Bible.  I have gotten behind a couple of times but I am happy to say that currently I am caught up and have completely read the book of Ezra!  1 book down and 65 to go!  The weekends seem to be the hardest for me as we don't have a structured day on the weekends.  

In addition to these goals I also spend other times with the Lord.  I was blessed this week to get together with my WIC group on Wednesday night for a good girls night.  We enjoy a meal together, pray together, and study God's word.  We are working through Beth Moore's "David, Seeking a Heart Like His."  I have really enjoyed this study.  God has used this study to guide me in many ways!  I also really enjoy just spending time with the ladies in my group.  The majority of us are all in the same stage in life...we are 30ish, married, with kids and have full time jobs.  We do have ladies in our group who don't fit that description and I think that it's great!  Those ladies offer us a different insight into how God's word works in their life.  Many times we are so caught up in ours we forget that the same scripture may work differently in one life than the other...but the idea is the same...God is working in their life!  

Next week my Good Morning Girls group starts their study in Luke!  I am very excited for this study.  It's an 8 week study.  I am leading a Facebook group through the study.  I have tried this before and it worked out ok but I lost motivation because other's in the group weren't interacting.  I pray that the new group helps to keep up my motivation!  

I also try to work a little each day on vacation Bible school (VBS).  I do this so that I don't feel overwhelmed later in the year, which this year is even more important as we are expecting baby #2 in March.  I am happy to say we have dates set, starting to line up volunteers, and working on set design already!

So right now my typical day includes multiple small burst of time with the Lord.  I am thankful for the time I can spend with him alone but I also enjoy the time I spend with him and my family and friends.  Each type of interaction with the Lord blesses us greatly.  

Oh and by the way...I have to say HAPPY NATIONAL MILK DAY

So take a moment and let me know how are your faith based new year's goal going?  

Caci

My first verse is one of my favorites: Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  Not only is this the first verse of the year I want to have hidden in my heart it is also the verse I have chosen to focus on living out this year.  Which takes me to goal number 2.

2. Let go of the fear and anxiety that consumes parts of my day.  Pray more often and let God guide me.  This goes for everything from parenting to financial planning.  Too many times I am concerned with other's opinions about myself, my family, even my finances.  I want to let that go.

3. Read through the ENTIRE Bible in one year.  I am not sure that I have ever read every single chapter and verse in the Bible.  Therefore this year I have decided to follow a plan.  I am going to do my best to stick with it.  If you would like to join in I am using the plan from Rachel Wojo.com 

4. Spend more time focusing on my family.  This has especially come to the fore front of my mind since we will be adding baby boy #2 in March.  I have realized that many times I have taken both my husband and son for granted.  I want to be an intentional wife and mother, taking time each day to appreciate each person in my home.  This means putting down a project, not watching a television show, or going outside in the cold mist to spend time with one of them then that is what I plan to do.  

5. Finally get my house, office, and life organized.  I worked on this challenge last year.  I did improve but still have a ways to go.  I keep hoping the declutter fairy (my sister) will come declutter and clean my house but to no avail :(.  This includes everything from better financial planning and monthly menus (that we stick to) to finding time to exercise more & rediscover the floor in my office(at work) along with finally getting rid of clothes I haven't worn since I got married! 

6. To use my blog more effectively.  For me this means one posting more often.  Last year I posted 37 new post and gained followers however this year I want to do more.  I have a goal of 500 followers by 12/31/13, but to reach this goal I must give my followers content.  My content will still focus on my life and it's ever changing activities.  

and last but definitely not least...

7. To advocate for agriculture more often and to be more vocal about issues affecting agriculture in our community.   I want to be the person that my non-ag friends look to for answers concerning agriculture...not some special interest lobbyist group who thinks that modern production agriculture is going to be the end of the world.  I would like to see more visitors to our farm and perhaps expand some of our education efforts in our area.  

So all in all my list isn't long but it's a commitment.  I did not include anything on my list that was a luxury.  I like visible targets and I feel that this list is just that!  So to close out this post please enjoy some photos from Christmas around our home.  

So as some of my readers may remember about a month and a half ago I started this journey to lose weight in a series called Thin Me Down Thursday (original post).  That lasted ohh about 3 full weeks and then I started slacking.  Well I'm back but not because of anything I did.  I am back because of a Challenge I read about on Monday from Courtney on Women Living Well.  A challenge to discipline ourselves so that we, I actually, can grow closer to God.  Disciplining ourselves is a spiritual act of worship.  

So I started off pretty good on Monday but still haven't gotten back into the swing of things.  I still need to work on my calorie intake as it has been kind of high this week and I personally feel like I need 20 minutes daily devoted to an actual workout not just playing with my lil one or cleaning house.  I need to feel the burn that comes with a good, hard workout after which you feel like you are going to die and throw up all at the same time.  

So here is my chart...we'll discuss the progress or lack thereof in a moment

Living in the Southeast it's rare that we get to experience a true spring.  

Typically it goes from cold (50 and below here) to HOT...I don't mean like 75 degrees hot...

I mean like 90 in March HOT and we live with that from about March (with the exception of Easter Frost) until October or November.  That's life in the South (which I love).  

But this year our weather has been kinda wonky and crazy...we seen 30's for highs and high 80's for highs since the first of the year...and tonight they are predicting a low to mid 30's but by Sunday we will be in the mid to upper 80's again

Anyways we have had the chance to enjoy a few days of truly blissful springtime weather...

So enjoy a few of our photos

Last night the hubby and I had a conversation about Pink Slime.  We were talking about how cattle prices had dropped slightly and I asked was it a correlation.  He said he wasn't sure but asked "What the crap is pink slime, anyways? I heard some guys at the barn talking about it but I was too busy to focus."  So I did my best...which was terrible...to explain what pink slime was.  

Basically this is what I know...it is beef, that is left over after you get steaks and roast out of cuts...then the meat is separated from the fat kinda like you separate cream from milk.  Then its all mixed together and added to ground beef.  It is beef, it looks like beef but people are scared of it because of the spin the news media puts on it...no news flash there!

Then this morning on Facebook I saw a post from the Center for Food Integrity about what other than... PINK SLIME!!!  They of course do a much better job of explaining it and Dr. Dickson is an expert...I am not.  Here is a Q & A with Dr. Dickson.  So then I began to wonder this stuff has been around for YEARS & YEARS...why just now are we worried about this...I discovered this blog posting on this Discovery News that explained a little.  Check it out too.  

So now let's chat a moment about Mommy School.  This is my effort to home educate my now 4 year old.  It's takes a lot of effort working full time, helping on the farm, and trying to teach a preschooler.  But in our family it's important for me to do all of these things.  I wish I could stay at home and only focus on the farm and the family but right now that's not possible.  Anyways...these past few weeks we have had rounds of Mommy School daily for hours to I don't want to do school today.  Both of which are OK for us.  I refuse to force him to do school if he doesn't want to...many times I find he will still pick up a school activity to work on even though he says "NO SCHOOL MOMMY!".  

We have added a few new curriculum materials to our school!  I purchased a Geo board (like this one)a while back from our local teacher store.  He likes it OK but its not his favorite.  We are still working on incorporated this into our lessons.  Mainly as a way for him to create letter and shapes.  Well in his world we can only create pastures for cows using the Geo board.

Last week I ordered counting bears and pattern blocks with boards.

These items just arrived yesterday and lil man has already enjoyed playing with them!  He love the pattern blocks and despite the reviews I read online he had no problem with getting the blocks to stay on the board.  

He liked sorting the bears but really loved having his dinosaur counters gobble up the bears...only the T-Rex of course!  

We have added 2 VeggieTales books to our daily routine.  We use VeggiesTales: 365 Day Starter Devos for Boys in the mornings or during Mommy School and VeggieTales: 365 Bedtime Devos for Boys we use at bedtime.  Both books are focused on helping bring lil' man closer to God and understand that Jesus loves him and is his friend.  We were lucky enough to be able to purchase them at our local Christian bookstore, Footprints.  The girl who runs the place is super sweet and they have a good selection of items.  If you are ever in downtown York, SC be sure to stop in and say hi!  

Until next time...

Caci

    

Wow it is hard to believe this work week is over.  

On Monday I always want the work week to hurry up and get over so I can spend more time with my family but then Friday seems to sneak up on me and my to-do list seems only half-way done.

This week has been a myriad of things...from the EPA sending us things to look into at work to new lambs and a new heifer, to birthdays.  There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done for work, the farm, our family in addition to doing Mommy School with lil' man and spending quiet time alone with God reflecting on his word.  

About a month ago I joined an online bible study...(you can here more about it here) from Good Morning Girls.org.  It was a great way for me to get motivated and have conversations with ladies studying the same verses (they have a Facebook page as well).  All was well until everything seemed to catch up with me and snowball all at one time.  This week I haven't read a single verse even though each day I intended to get caught up.  I have been distracted and unfocused and frustrated all week...you know why because I am not taking time to spend in God's word.  His word is what creates calm and order in my life not me.  I have to let go...hopefully next week will be better!

Well like I said we have been celebrating birthdays...yes days.  My husband, son and father-in-law all have birthdays in the month of February (the 5th, 7th, and 16th).  To make it more interesting the all share the same name (Sr., Jr., and III)...thank goodness we call them all something different or that would be confusing (Hubs-William, Son-Wyatt, FIL-Bill).  Each celebration comes with its own unique issues.  We celebrated William's birthday last night...at home with just Wyatt, William & I. 

 It was wonderful to me however Wyatt was devastated that Daddy didn't have a BIG PARTY like he did...but he settled for the chance to pick out Daddy's cake.  Wyatt insisted on Lightening McQueen "because Daddy loves the movie Cars."  (I personally think that he is getting a little confused with the whole name thing).  

Lastly I had to go to the grocery store early in the week to buy meat...

yes pretty much just meat.

I purchase the majority of our meat in the grocery store usually with the expectation of sausage and ground beef.  However this week I had to purchase ground beef as well because we are out.  With homegrown our homegrown beef I don't have to drain the meat after browning it because there is very little fat however with the 75% ground beef from the grocery store I have to drain it or our food is swimming in fat.  Now with that being said realize this is still what I buy.

 I just make sure that I brown the meat alone first and then drain the meat in a strainer and run hot hot water over it to help wash away any excess fat.  If I needed to cook it with onions or seasonings or whatever I just wipe out my pan while washing the meat and throw everything back in the pan for a few more moments.  This gets you a leaner supper, cheaper.  

Beef is a regular part of our diet.  Most nights that is what we eat for supper.  Now I don't expect everyone to agree with that but my hubby isn't a chicken man and in our family pork is a mainly a breakfast meat.  Occasionally we will enjoy pork chops...oh how I love a good fried pork chop or chicken leg...or most anything fried (sorry just a ramble...almost lunch time)

There are many good lean, healthy beef cuts that you can enjoy.  I encourage all of you to hope over to Explore Beef and check it out.  To encourage you to try some beef I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes:  Country Fried Steak.  I use a recipe similar to the Pioneer Woman's seen here