Where it all began

I guess for me it all began when I was a kid - roaming the hills and fields of upstate New York.

I was raised on a small farm in the middle of nowhere, but loved it. Daddy was a Baptist preacher and mom worked with him with and for the church. We, well, we were a family. Not like families now a days, we actually did everything together - no matter what it was, it was done together. Growing up in the midst of this life was sometimes, I guess, I would have called a pain back then and I dreamed of escape, but in my looking back, all I ever did since leaving, was actually try to get back!

I have been married three times - each of my first two marriages brought with it their own trials and heartbreaks, but I know now that I needed those failures to appreciate my later success.

Today, I am married to my very best friend, Steve, and co-dreamer in this life that we now live. We are a blended family and together we have three children; Matt - 12; Logan - 10; and Sammy Jo - 6.

When Steve and I got married, Matt was 6, Logan was 3 and Sammy was 9 mo. We both held full time jobs in the city and only had time with the kids in shifts. I would get up and leave early and be able to get out of work early to pick up kids, get them home for dinner, homework and baths. Steve would get up with the kids do breakfast, dressing and delivery to school or daycare and he would work late. We only really were a family on weekends.

Then came the day that we found out that our middle child has autism, we knew that something was not right, as he was not talking, potty training was not working out, fits constantly, and he was very distant, but the diagnosis was in some ways a relief to know what it was and devastating to know what it is...

This began our quest to be the family that we knew Logan needed and in turn we all needed...

There are so many little paths from then to where we are now...and to take you down them all...this should be a book, not a blog.

It has been 6 years, working on 7 since those days and where we are now is our dream and our family is as amazing as ever, don't get me wrong we have those days too...we all do.

We moved to a quaint little town, well we are actually about 6 miles out of town, but it's still quaint. We made sure that we had land; 1. for raising our own food, whether it be from the ground or grazing the ground. 2. our kids - for Logan, not knowing where he will get with autism, we wanted to be sure that he has his own space right here. For Matt & Sam - the joys of working to raise your own food, how a hard days work can make you feel and appreciate so much more in life. We then decided, after a year in the local public school, that we needed to home school our children. With Logan's disability, he was just not getting anything from the congested classroom of public schooling. And there was too much "junk" being learned by the other two. And education seemed to be the least important thing going on there. I am currently on year two of home schooling and love the education that not only they are getting, but mama is learning a thing or two herself! This is one of the most demanding jobs I have ever had, but seeing my children thrive and learn - priceless!

As far as the land...we began to clear...well, as you clear and move to new areas, those you clear, they grow again....and so our adventure started with farm animals. We became the proud new owners of 9 goats. We did not intend to own 9, but there came a deal and well, you gotta love deals. We were able to sell 5 and get back most of the money and since we have used them as a source of income to sustain and add to our farm. And you talk about a source for home school education....there is not much right here that we can not use for home school learning!

We also have gotten into raising our own garden. The first year we went small as we were unsure of A LOT! Thanks to a lot of phone calls with Mom-in-law....we were successful. That was a great learning experience for our entire family and the garden did amazingly well. Year two we expanded and again we were truly blessed and therefore were able to bless others. Kids are kind of spoiled to home grown foods and snub their noses at anything in a can...what can I say - they have good taste!

Every year we find out more and more about our land and have found a plum tree, peach tree, apple tree, persimmon, and pecan trees. Every year we clear here and there and look forward to what gifts we may find and look forward to finding a use for it all. Gotta love making you own homemade jellies - YUM! We have realized that when we bought this land that God had such a plan for us....I do not think we have yet seen exactly all that entails and I am excited at every turn.

We have closed out 2009 with high hopes for 2010 - and know that none of this could have happened without the help of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ because in all we do, we keep Him in the lead.