Miracle Lane Homestead- our new start

​We have started our newest adventure!!  Yes it feels like we are always onto something new each year but we go as doors open! 

Farmsteading.  This is a dream we have prayed for many years and it finally is!  It’s not happening where or how we planned but God has truly given us our hearts desire and dream home with this.

First thing was creating a name we felt met the feel of our land as well as our family.  Miracle Lane.  This gave us a touch of Mira’s name to honor her, but it also describes the miracle that God gave us with this land.  Lane is due to the fact we have a very long driveway which is truly serene and peaceful.   We are so thankful for this homestead. 

Our goals and plans will be to one day have self sustaining meat, veggies, and as much as we can off our land.  We are starting with pigs and very soon will add cows and chickens!  We are enjoying getting to learn and take care of the farm animals.

The boys are having an adjustment period.  We went from a whirlwind busy life with constant homeschoolers, friends, and activities to a very slow paced life.  We started trail life which is Christian Boy Scouts so they are meeting new friends and starting to learn new skills!  We also found a fantastic group of music homeschoolers so the kids started band and choir.  It allows us to have one thing a day with people (between church and activities) but we have the majority of our day with family and farm life! 

Our new church has been truly amazing!  It’s been a difficult thing for me to find a church that preaches solid bible and has traditional music but also has true love and grace for others.  The church here is very small town and country feel but they have made us feel welcomed and loved every step of the way!  It’s made the transition to a new state much smoother. I am grateful how God has continued to encourage us through others as we settle in. 

We have many new adventures to come and I can’t wait to see what is in store!!  For now we are settling into a slower pace of life, refocusing on our family, and healing through more of our past traumas without distractions.

I will continue to share as we settle in!    

Texas blizzard 2021

 Well this is one for the books.  In Texas we have 205 hours of below freezing temperatures.   Through this I learned a few things (as a girl raised in the cold north): 

Texas homes are not designed to keep warm

Days without electricity is not fun

It was good to unplug and play games and have no agendas

It was exhausting playing board games with three hyper boys for three days

We discovered potatoes keep reptiles warm and all our keys survived

I learned to appreciate even more being back inside a warm house at the end of this week

Through this adventure I was reminded of the fun of snow days and exploring the cold and doing all of that with my kids     It was honestly a relief to not teach for a week and stay in pajamas and just be a family.  At the end of it though o appreciate even more my routine and schedule.  Our home lost power for over 24 hours and became frigid cold.  Thankfully my parents had a gas stove and fireplace so we were able to stay warmer there and still have warm food and family close by.  The boys had many adventures of playing and off electronics and just being kids.  We all slept super early as the lights out reset our internal clocks a bit.  We huddled in the cold, relaxed when we could in the warmth, enjoyed family time, while also driving ourselves crazy.  This was a truly historic event for our area, and was a memorable experience I hope we never experience.  

It caused a lot of stress as well though being thrown off our routine, living with uncertainty, hearing and seeing horror stories from across our town and state as many had it much worse.  Today we were able to have our first normal day with friends, food, and clear roads

As our kids went through this relatively calmly it reminded me today how days of uncertainty show their trauma in other ways   We are constantly recovering and growing through our pain as it evolves 

I am looking forward to fitting back into a routine.  I am so thankful for the family and friends through it all that supported and loved us 

Stay safe   Stay warm  and keep those you love close by  

Here's a small glimpse of our week:

Friday Fun Friendsgiving!

OK, so apparently there is this new thing called "Friendsgiving."  I personally have never heard of it, but I figure we like to do things with friends, and it's almost Thanksgiving, so why not??

To start with, our curriculum does NOT do school on Fridays.  This makes me have a day for catch up work, field trips, home school co-op, doctor appointments, or personal time off.  I love having a four day school week for this very reason!  We like to call our Friday's our "FUN DAYS" because we more often than not, do something fun with our friends that day.

Breakfast is kind of a big deal on Friday Fun days!  I like to mix it up with banana bread, or muffins, or something a little more fun than normal cereal, eggs, toast, etc.  Today I went with Banana Oatmeal Chocolate muffins!  I am a big advocate for finding a way to have chocolate in a semi healthy way.  Normally it's chocolate protein banana smoothies, or else adding it to my muffins like I did today.  After eating some amazing muffins and drinking Zeal, I was ready to go with an awesome Friday!!

Step one of today was getting caught up with some school work because we did field trips earlier this week and needed to catch up today.  I was so excited today to watch my preschoolers and PreK kids finally get what I was teaching them!!  They sang their songs great, did all their actions, listened to their stories, and did great with their pattern cards.  Ezekiel even was identifying his sizes and shapes correctly.  After two weeks of wondering "do these kids really get it??" today was so relieving to see it all click in and be applied. 

My mom (also an amazing teacher) did a great science project this morning.  The first graders are learning about flowers, plants, and all the parts of them, so we added everyone to the fun!  Life saver in homeschooling is to group things together as much as possible for subjects like Bible, Science, and History!  They disassembled, and labeled parts of flowers and learned a lot about wind (it's SO windy today!!) and weather as well!

After lunch I got kids laid down in front of our FIRST fire of the season!  We have really been enjoying this cool front that came in with fresh, crisp, fall air!  The boys slept by the fire, and I had a very impromptu lunch date with a friend.  

Now, I do have a very blessed luxury that most moms do not have, and that is having two other full time adults (my husband and mother) that help with school and house.  I am SO grateful for this, because it's the only way we get everything done.  I am not a miracle worker, so others that see only that do not see all the behind the scenes that happens.

Lunch date with the girls!!

Due to illness not all our friends could make it today, but we did have fun with the ones that could make it!   The kids thoroughly enjoyed turning themselves into pilgrims, making thankful trees, and then finishing it off with Charlie Brown Mayflower, and hot chocolate!

My favorite part of all these fun crafts is Oriental Trading Company!  They make easy to assemble, affordable crafts which are perfect for the ages that I'm working with.  Anything with stickers, fun colors, and fun themes is great in my book.  These fun friend days are much needed, and I'm very thankful for them.

The days get crazy, the kids get fussy, but at the end of it all STAY THANKFUL, stay happy, and never forget all the little things that make it all worth it!