Renaissance

The Big Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:25:00 +0000

The storm was warned about for days and days. Over two feet of snow was expected. Lots of ice. Imminent power outages.

I expected the worst.

But the power never went out and there was almost no ice at all. Not even quite two feet of beautiful, clean, white, fresh snow.

It was exhausing though, walking through it for a woods walk. For everyone except Jemima.

We collapsed frequently.

I took so many pictures of Jemima because she was soooo excited to play. It was hilarious to watch.

She's so regal...

...except when she is not.

Every woods walk, I find a surprise in the woods. Who knew the woods was so teeming with interesting things?!

Ineke eventually died of exhaustion.

We gave her a proper snow burial.

(And tried to honor her request NOT to get snow on her face while doing it.)

And then, I grabbed my cellphone to grab a quick snap for instagram (my woods walk accountability partner) and the snow did NOT honor that same request for me.

Resolved: 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:20:00 +0000

It's, oh, a few months late, but here are my goals for 2026.

While I haven't blogged them until now, I have been implementing them since Feb 1st. (Epiphany screws everything up with New Years' goals. Just sayin'.)

~ Take a Woods Walk once per week (these are NOT to replace the walks I take on my own or while listening to audiobooks/podcasts. These are for nature and children and refreshment. Not necesssarily exercise.)

~ Finish Hillsdale College course on Paradise Lost

~ Re-do Dining Room already. SHEEEESH.

~ Continue the habit of exercising three times per week. (I am going to try to focus more on strength training this year... hopefully sneaking it in twice a week this year as often as possible...but still gonna count three times of WHATEVER a win. Habits are turning into lifestyle and that is progress I want to keep! At my age, mobility and strength will always be more important than being thin. So, continue I will.)

~ Group Letters, 1x per month

~ Read at least 2 adult books with the Middles

~ Read at least 4 chapter books with the Littles

~ Read 2 poetry books

~ Read at least 5 never-read books from my shelves

~ Try and fix my sleep problems this year. Research and implement strategies that will help me in this. (Can only get better at this point. Can't get any worse. Riiiiight????)

~ take supplements every day. Especially magnesium before bed!

~ Monthly budget meetings with the Mister

~ One date night per month with the Mister (NOT at the same time as the budget.)

~ Host games nights for teens (I'd love to have this once a month but I know that is probably too lofty of a goal. So, my goal for this year is at least four times.)

AND THE BIGGEST ONE...

~ Focus on Feeding My People Better

(It has taken me a few extra weeks to post this because I have been concerned with how this next one sounds. I don't want to seem snooty or uppity or judgy about food or food choices. I know there is a lot of baggage surrounding this topic so as you read on, remember. This is just my goal for my family and it is just my goal for this YEAR. And it is just a goal for my own KITCHEN... I am not the sort of person who is going to refuse to eat with gratitude what others put before me. So much can be said on this topic... but not today. Today, is just me trying to find a few changes I can implement in an effort to optimize what comes out of my own kitchen. )

I spent a lot of time eating differently than my family last year because I wasn't allowing myself the not-good-for-you foods that they were eating. Which means, they were eating a fair bit of not-great-for-you food. This year, I hope to change that.

What complicates things is that everyone in the family has different needs and temptations... some eat way too much, some eat way too little. Some need lots more protein. Some need lots more carbs. Some need to eat a lot less. Some need to gain some weight. It's a full time job to meet the needs and feed all these unique, hungry people. But there are a few things that will help everyone in the household.

We don't need to eat as many processed 'treats'. Candy. Chips. Cookies. I'm all about the treats... but I hope to offer more homemade treats, less artificial and processed. (I'm ashamed to say, rather than force myself to withstand the temptation of a homemade cookie-a near impossibility- I bought cookies for the family simply because they don't tempt me as much. Tragic and sad. And selfish. And MEAN of me!)

I would like to lessen our storebought convenience foods like storebought bread or dressings. (Notice I said lessen, not cut out entirely. Baby steps.)

And we could all benefit from more vegetables. (We already eat vegetables at every supper. But I'm going to try to increase that even more.)

Basically, more nutrition.

Equal parts ridiculous food prices and my own sheer laziness/overwhelm, this year I need to refocus on getting our food under budget again...and making it as nourishing and healthful as I can muster. And THAT means, more things made from scratch. And THAT means...a schedule.

I have noticed I am very much a 'what I feel like cooking' cook. I like variety, I like following my food whims. So scheduling a meal plan has always been hard for me. But, if I plan for it, I have more control over it. And more preparation time. And more intentionality.

So here is my plan:

Focus on:

~ a loose weekly meal framework (to lessen decision fatigue). Strategy, my friends. I need strategy. Within that framework, there is room for following my whims.

~ include more vegetables in our meals each day

~ make homemade snacks instead of buying them all. Also- less snacking. Also- more vegetable snacks.

~ Breads from scratch. I make a lot of bread products from scratch, but I still wind up buying sandwich bread for lunches. It is just so convenient! I have to admit, when I make three meals a day, it is nice to have a simple, convenient sandwich at lunch that children can make on their own. But also- storebought sandwich bread is pricey, tasteless, nutritionless and never seems to fill people up OR go bad (?!?!). So I am going to be working on making heartier breads each week. (And more creative lunches). I will not be making ALL of our breads, all the time. Just MORE of them. And for the sake of our Trim the Tree party rye bread dip, I want to learn to make rye bread. (To buy a nice rye loaf at the store is almost $10 now!!!) Also: try using einkorn flour. Also: experiment with sourdough.

~ Find excellent recipes for dressings and sauces and begin to make our own rather than buy them bottled.

Here is the 'loose framework' I intend to implement. I'll tweak it if it doesn't work well.

Food takes up a huge portion of my time already. This is by far the loftiest, most time-consuming goal of the year. It will, however, impact the health of everyone in this family and that makes it very worthwhile. And it will make Matt's hard-earned dollars stretch further, which will be very helpful too.

Here's to a productive (and delicious!) 2026.

Do you make any goals at the start of the year? If so- how are you doing?! I'd love to hear!

And- if you have any from-scratch dressings/condiment recipes you swear by... drop 'em in the comments and I'll love you forever.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Grandpa's Quilt (and my Resolutions of 2025 Reflections)

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:34:00 +0000

Be the kind of woman who,

when your feet hit the floor in the morning,

the devil says

"Oh no! She's up!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”

― John Newton

Looking at last year's goals, here is how I stacked up...

~ Read Paradise Lost and take Hillsdale's College free course on it . (NAILED it! Sort of. I read the entire book but didn't finish all the video lessons. Finishing the Hillsdale course on it will be a roll-over goal for this year.)

~ Make a quilt (NAILED it! I can't describe to you how proud and happy (and surprised!) I am to have accomplished this task. And I am so pleased with the end result! Even moreso, my Father-in-law was pleased, as it was for him. I don't know that I would recommend a first quilt being done with misshaped and odd pieces that you must somehow jigsaw puzzled together, but it somehow miraculously worked.) Photos of it at the end of this post)

~ Repaint the Dining Room (FAILED. Another roll-over into the new year... this goal has been rolled over three times now. Third times a charm?!)

~ Create a monthly budget and use the envelope system to be sure it is implemented. (FAILED.)

~ Begin a SAPHOUSE FUND (Well, we set aside extra but it wasn't earmarked for the saphouse. I am gonna call this a success because it can always be used for the saphouse if Matt wants to.)

~ Keep a home journal this year. (Nailed it!)

~ Use up enough of my cotton yarn to fill a single basket- or less. (NAILED IT! I still have cotton yarn leftover, but I used up a basket worth of yarn this past year- which is kinda crazy to me since I didn't knit or crochet anything impressive, really. Just a few sweaters, hats, a dress, a tiny purse and lotsa dishcloths)

~ Try to make a new variety of cheese (Nailed the attempts. Did NOT nail creating a delicious cheese. I tried three times to make Gouda- but all three wound up being ruined in one way or another. I discovered that I am very bad at babysitting cheese.)

~ Invite individual families from church over once a month. (FAILED IT. We did have families over but not once a month and not all the families of our church. Still, better than nothing.)

~ Read through the Children's Story Bible with the Littles. (While we spent time reading this book together, we did not finish the entire book -and we could have- so I call this a FAIL.)

~ Create a better schooling schedule for the Littles- and then implement it. (FAIL. Once again, the Littles get less than they deserve.)

~ Make Morning Time Great Again. (Overall, better than the year previous. Could do a lot better.)

~ Keep my commonplace book more faithfully. (NAILED IT!)

And the HEALTH GOALS:

~ I AM NOT GOING TO WEIGH MYSELF for all of 2025. (Nailed it. That was easy. And freeing.)

~ I AM NOT GOING TO TRY TO LOSE WEIGHT. Instead, my only focus will be to EXERCISE (in some capacity) at least 3x/week. (Nailed it with the exercise. Every SINGLE week last year, I did some sort of exercise three (or more times) except the last three weeks in December, when I was only able to squeeze in two. I am very proud of this accomplishment because there were many times that I just chose to do it even when I DID.NOT.WANT.TO but my track record was so good, I didn't want to ruin it. And I was always happy I had done it after the fact. Soooo happy with this accomplishment.

~ I AM NOT GOING TO CUT OUT FOOD GROUPS. And I will be tracking my protein because I know I don't eat enough of it. NAILED. I upped my protein to consistently getting between 100-175 grams of protein a day. (I ate A LOT of yogurt.) And I tracked my calories and protein the whole year- probably 75% or more of the time. I ate breads and pasta and potatoes every now and again which is healing for me because I've struggled with a lot of internal guilt by labelling those things 'bad'. And I spent the majority of the year in a calorie deficit.

~ I AM NOT GOING TO DRINK MORE THAN 12 DIET COKES this year (I had way more than 12. Let's leave it at that, shall we?)

I weighed myself the first day of last year, and the first day of this year. And entire year of exercising three (or more!) times a week, establishing routines, tracking my food, eating in a deficit, upping my protein...and guess what?!

I only lost three pounds.

Which is about what my weight fluctuates on a day to day basis. So, basically, I didn't lose any weight.

I know that my goals were to NOT try to lose weight, but of course, making so many improvements to my lifestyle would result in that naturally. I mean sheesh! I am not gonna lie, I am super depressed about this! I am going to continue to implement these goals because I know they are much healthier for me than the way I was before... I can actually squat in the garden without pain again... and my body will thank me later for being stronger as I age. But I hate to think I am going to be 'thick' for the rest of my life, no matter how hard I work at it and that just seems to be my sad, sad reality.

And yet, I can honestly say, I did everything I could to change that reality... and I am really proud of myself for doing it.

Over all of my goals, not just the health ones, I saw a lot of improvements and successes. I count 2025 as a win for my goals, overall.

(Tomorrow, I'll share my goals for 2026)

And now for Grandpa's quilt:

My floor was a scrappy mess a lot of the time as I tried to sort things out. Over and over again. And then, because we LIVE here, I'd have to pack it all up and start all over the next time.

I had some completed blocks to work with, lots of strips of fabric to work with, and then I filled it all in with blocks of my own to make it all 'fit'.

The quilt top, finally put together!

The back. (An old flat sheet and some piecing to make it big enough. And more interesting.)

I love the red and blue block in the corner. It's my favorite.

These are the oldest blocks on the quilt... all handstitched, fragile fabric and even some of the small squares were pieced using two tiny scraps sewn together to make a complete little square Very impractical to include in the quilt, but I just had to.

blowing in the wind

I had to decide how I was going to actually quilt it... without a longarm sewing machine, the options were hand-quilting and tying it off. I was under serious time constraints so hand-quilting was out of the question. Tying it off would have required borrowing a frame and would have resulted in those little ties sticking out, which felt like it would take away from the beautiful top.) A friend from church has an "in" with a reasonably inexpensive Mennonite quilter, so I decided to send it off to her to be 'professionally' done.

This was the hardest decision to make and I regretted it so much- until it was actually done a week before I had to give it to Gary. Then I was SO THANKFUL I was not killing myself to get it done in time.

Finished the binding. By the last corner, I actually did a good job. :-)

Guess you'll never know who my holder-uppers were!

I'm pretty sure he liked it.

WoodsWalks 1-4

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:38:00 +0000

January begins a new year and with it, new goals and aspirations. I love the openness and expectancy of a new year; the fresh, clean slate. And I love the reflection on the last year- where I can improve, where I did improve, what I was able to achieve, what really needs my focus now. Now that it is nearly FEBRUARY, I'll soon be doing a proper post on reflections of last years' goals and what the new ones are for this year. But for today, I want to share one of the goals for this year that I am most excited about... a weekly woods walk with the children. All year long.

CONFESSION: I turn into a hibernating bear in wintertime. A hibernating SLOTH would be more accurate but sloths don’t hibernate. I move as little as possible. I avoid anything to do with the cold unless I absolutely must. And, it's no wonder, winter can be a very challenging time for me- despair and anxiety and stress creeps in little by little.

(Apparently, sunshine fills my proverbial batteries.)

Coupled with that, I have been thinking a lot lately about how my mothering looks differently, now that I am older, with my Littles than it did with my Biggle babies. With the Biggles and some of the Middles, I was growing up with them. I was making snow angels alongside them and playing hide and seek with them. Somewhere along the line, the children started playing with siblings and I began staying inside. I realize this and want to remedy it. Playing with siblings is so, so good but I do not want to become a dull mother in my old age.

I hope that this weekly woods’ walk will help with ALL of these things. I will move my body, even in winter. I will breathe in deep the fresh air. I will exhale long. I will soak up sunshine. I will feel revived. I will be encouraging my children to do the same. And, maybe best of all, I will be a mother who plays, explores and experiences alongside her children once again. I have already been sledding twice- and I haven’t done that in YEARS! Moses and I had a very fun time rolling down the pipeline two weeks ago. Imagine! Me, 43 years old… rolling down a hill, arms tucked tight and legs flailing- laughing like a child. It was amazing.

I am going to take a picture every week for accountability and later, a rememberance book. At the end of the year, we will have witnessed the woods in all its' seasons, we'll watch it transform and come alive.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll see the same in ourselves.

WoodsWalk 1:

(First Week challenged My resolve almost immediately when we went out in the middle of a winter snowstorm)

Right behind us was where Matt fell from the sky and lived to tell the tale

Woodswalk 2:

WoodsWalk 3:

Not clever enough to bring sleds along, the pipeline hill begged to be sledded down- so we used coats instead.

Woods Walk 4:

We came prepared this time

“Everyone begins as a child by liking Weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven’t you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children—and the dogs? They know what snow’s made for.”

-C.S.Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Birthday Wishes Do Come True (Ineke turns 10!)

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:21:00 +0000

Ineke, going in to her 10th year, has a deep and abiding love (infatuation?) with horses.

And so naturally, horses had to be a part of her birthday.

Besides horse socks and a horse notebook and a little horse lantern, she got a beautiful horse card...

and on that card, she got a ticket.

And on that ticket, she got a birthday trip to ride a horse for the first time!

(I think, from those tears, that this was a very Special, Secret Wish that she had been holding close inside for a long time.)

Thank goodness for friendly, generous, homeschooled horse-people like Kate, who are willing to make birthday wishes come true.

This is Boon.

I think both Boon and Ineke had some trepidations about trotting. Poor Kate had to practically pull the horse to a trot...

But eventually trot he did. And Ineke was glad that she had done something that made her nervous.

What a brave, beautiful, boisterous girl you are, Ineke Beaneke.

And we love you more than a barn FULL of horses. ;-)

For her dessert, Ineke requested a fruit cheesecake. Here is a fruity cheesecake at dusk.

And here is her fruity cheesecake on fire.

And here is her attempting (and failing) to blow out the MANY candles upon her fruity cake:

One can only assume she had such a hard time because all her wishes had already come true.

December Photo Dump (and lots of Naomi)

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:21:00 +0000

One of my favorite winter decorations, makes me miss the maker more every time I light it.

St. Nicholas Day

(I found these gorgeous red carved klompen at a flea market this fall! My favorite! That tempers my disappointment that Jemima got ahold of two wooden klompen and chewed them up, spoiling TWO PAIRS just when I had enough for everyone in the family. uuuuuughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Dogs can be so annoying sometimes!)

Field trip with Littles to a local glass studio to make handmade glass ornaments! So FUN!

Moments before this picture was taken, Moses dropped his and it split in two. After initial panic and frustration... nothing that a bit of super glue and a smooch couldn't repair.

For Christmas, Matt got me the most frivolous, superfluous serving tray ever.

I love it beyond words.

12 Days of Christmas stockings

When Naomi comes to visit, everyone wants to hold her:

Cantrell Country Christmas, minus a few:

Moses made himself a knife and Adele' woodburned the handle for him.
Now this cowboy is prepared for anything.

A red sweater set for Naomi, who had outgrown it before I even finished it. So it became a red sweater set for a tiny baby Lizzie instead. How fortunate to have lots of sweet little babies around these days!

A bigger red hat for Naomi with a clearance Christmas blanket I've had stored up for years.

Judah's first buck!

(AND, he won a prize for the most interesting hunting account at Trail Life, to boot!)

More of Naomi. Can you blame me?!

Christmas Feasting at church

Mid-December I set up a table at a craft fair alongside my sister. The original plan was to do children's books gift packages but then I decided to paint a few wooden people too.

(The absolute CHAOS of craft fair tables)

I enlisted the help of talented friends to help me round out my table.

My sister. Clearly, this isn't her first rodeo.

I stayed up way too late, on too many nights, wrapping book presents and painting wooden people.

The worst part was... out of all the little wooden people and all the lack of sleep I sacrificed to make them, I sold only two.

To my sister.

(Thank you, Elizabeth. I love you!)

I am about 99.9% sure no one even looked at them, actually. Even still, I think they are cute and I am going to keep on painting them. Maybe they aren't good sellers at craft shows, but there are lots of children in my life. And, Lord willing, will be lots of grandbabies to enjoy them someday.

(Maybe next time, I won't do it around between 1 and 2am though. MAYBE.)

I took pictures of them all in case I sold a bunch, so I could replicate them next year.

HA!

After snapping this picture, I realized Goldilocks didn't have a face. I fixed it immediately.

I assure you, she now has eyes to see.

I loved making this one, in particular, because Granny and the Wolf are in a single doll. Reminds me of those old vintagey flip dolls of Red Riding Hood. Anyone remember them?

I made two nativity sets, copying the ones I made years ago.

One of them will definitely be making its' way to the grandbaby one day. ;-)

If it hadn't been for all the craft show cramming, I might have been able to do more Christmas crafting than just these few measley ornament gifts. Alas, that's all there was.

Technically, not in December, but still in Christmas territory, the children and I fried up fresh donut holes for a donut tree for Epiphany.

I carried it on my lap in the car for 45 minutes without snitching a single one.

A Christmas miracle, in and of itself.

That's all for now!

Next up, Ineke's DOUBLE DIGIT BIRTHDAY!!!

Christmas Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:44:00 +0000

It was 2:15 am when I took this picture and went to bed. Happy Christmas Day!

I never write the names on the presents... I put secret stickers on each one- three presents per person. Three snowmen presents. Three Christmas tree presents. Three snowflake presents- whatever I have.

And then I hide the clues around the living room after I stuff the stockings.

That way, no one knows by looking which present is for whom. And you get a bonus "I spy" game out of it. I was particularly pleased with Moses' placement this year. ;-)

Reading the Christmas story with children who are not quite yet awake.

A goal of mine is to not do ANY cooking on Christmas Day... which is lovely for Christmas Day but means Christmas Eve is craaazzzzzzzzzzy.

This years' breakfast was crustless quiche and hashbrown casserole for an army.

Lunch is usually nibbles of cheese, grapes, crackers, summer sausage, nuts, peeled carrots, etc. A Grab and Go, Mama's-not-cooking-so-eat-cheese-and-raid-your-stockings sort of deal.

Dinner is always lasagna, bread, and fancy salad which I never took a picture of, but was beautiful and tasty and fuss-free.

Right around mid-day, I "hit a wall". 2am bedtime was catching up on me. All I wanted was to curl up under a blanket and fall asleep reading a book.

I was juuuuuuuuust about to head to the couch and the phone rang.

Would we want to go ice-skating with the cousins?

Why NO. NO, we would not! (I said in my head as I rounded up all the snowpants. ;-) Clearly, the children DID.)

That was me, taking one for the team.

The fresh air woke me up and did me good and everyone had fun. It was wonderful.

But I never did get to read my book.

(I *did* find out that ice-skating is not my forte. I am really, REALLY bad.)

And then we came home and cleaned up before Grandma, Grandpa, Corynn, Kemuel and Naomi came over.

And by then, I was too tired to remember to take any pictures at all. :-)

The Trim The Tree Party

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 19:23:00 +0000

Last weekend was our very last Christmas celebration. Christmas has officially come and gone and it was wonderful and bustling and sweet and frantic and glorious and fun and all of the things... a wild rumpus, a sweet pandemonium... but now I am feeling ready to move on with the new year!!

Step One: create some sort of order around me.

There is residual chaos everywhere. I am not sure you want to see how long my list is of things I must tackle.

I'm not sure *I* want to see that list either.

Even the 'ol blog needs some proper ordering. The particularly problematic part about the blog is that I am feeling inundated with mediocre (at best) photos. And who wants to post those?!

While I love beautiful photos and I love TAKING beautiful photos- I am in a stage (lazy? busy? carefree?) right now where I am just lucky every now and again to snap pictures at all. So nearly all the photos I have from the last few months are pretty b.a.d.

And yet.

While the photos are blurry and awful, the memories are not. And so, that's the lazy, busy, blurry life I am living right now. And I still want to remember it.

Perhaps I will be more diligent to *try* to take lovely photos in the new year... but for now, I apologize to those "lucky" few visitors here, who get an authentic, instead of curated, less-than-lovely sneak into this crazy, lazy, busy life.

It may not be pretty, but it IS beautiful... just in it's own ugly-sort of way.

Cue the blurry Trim the Tree Party photos...

Matt is faking here, by the way. He is never this enthusiastic about Christmas trees.

In this photo, the observant among you now know where we store all the nerf guns. ;-)

(I wonder if this is the last year where the angels and Godfather Drosselmeyer are given a tour of the tree ornaments and put on a dance?)

Corynn and Kem stayed and watched a Christmas movie with us after the tree was decorated and it almost felt like old times.

When it was time to go, Naomi donned a hat I had made for her and she looked like a proper elf.

Alright. More another day.

The house is a wreck and there is lots to be done...

but....

maybe I'll just sit here and admire those chipmunk cheeks for a bit first...

Merry Christmas to You and Yours, 2025 edition

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 16:49:00 +0000

Dear Ones,

Well, hello there! If you are anything like me, you’ve probably already scoured the enclosed Christmas picture (we all know that ALWAYS takes precedence to any letters…) and what, pray tell, did you notice?! Anything new? Perhaps different? Surprising? Most definitely adorable?!

Why yes! We have A NEW BABY to snuggle and squeeze!!!!!! Meet Naomi Elisheva Laudermilch, Corynn and Kemuel’s precious gift and sweet delight, born on November 2nd. From her head full of fluffy brown troll hair, to that tiny “Pipsqueak” turning out to be over 9 pounds at birth, to the fact that ‘she’ is a ‘she’ at all, instead of the boy that nearly everyone expected; Naomi has exceeded our expectations in every way.

It is a surreal thing to witness a piece of you, your legacy, entering into and shaping a future that you will not see. As a young mother, you work tirelessly to be everything to everyone and it is often a very thankless job. But when those children that you mothered, that you prayed for, worried over; that you served, that you fed, clothed, nursed, read to, bathed, answered (a million times each day), disciplined, encouraged, protected… when they grow up and get married and have children of their own- only then do you truly understand how momentous that work was. How profoundly impactful those efforts are to the world. And how exponential the yield your fruitfulness will become. You are world-changers.

And if you start that good work early- get married, have babies, raise them in the Lord- if you do that early enough, you might just get spry and youthful grandparents (like myself, for example 😉) and great-grandparents to enjoy and dote on your children for many years to come, Lord willing! What a gift! Go make some babies, y’all! It’s the best.

(Who would have thunk a Christmas letter might have THAT bit of encouragement in it?! Only ours, my friends. Only ours. 😊)

As you can imagine, Corynn and Kemuel are having the best year ever and loving every minute of this new and cuddly (and exhausting and sleep-deprived) season that they are in. It has been (and will be) so fun and wonderful to watch them grow and flourish as parents. I see Corynn blossoming into motherhood with grace and excitement and patience and my heart swells with pride. I am supremely grateful for them living close enough to be able to witness it up close; I do not take this gift for granted. Beyond the baby and the booming business, Kemuel and the Avoda crew finished building the Laudermilch home this year, a formidable project and you should see how beautiful it is! The quality workmanship, the artistry and the selflessness behind that project astounds me even still.

Andrew (19) has had a challenging year in many ways and yet he continues to rise up and meet those challenges head-on, with a certain fervor and verve. Through them, he is learning valuable lessons about himself and the world around him. He has worked for the Avoda company this year and he has proven himself to be an asset to the company. He just finished a 6-week intensive in which he logged nearly 170 hours just of overtime! He, too, worked with the Avoda company on building the Laudermilch home and in doing so, gained valuable skills that will bless his own homeowning in the future. With the company, he was able to travel to several roofing/business conferences throughout the country, which doubled as work AND pleasure trips. He bought himself a suit and sure looks dapper in it when he wears it! At one point this spring, he and a friend hosted a community dance party- lots of food, lots of dancing, lots of people! I guess that means it was a success! But mostly this year, Andrew was on a roof. He roofed in blazing heat this summer, drenching his shirt so much that salt ripples had dried within the cotton of his shirt and likewise, in the negative wind-chill frigid temps of winter, when I wondered if he might come home without the tip of his nose. He does it all without complaint and with incredible tenacity. He works from dark to dark, throughout the year, but still finds time to shovel out a neighbor’s driveway, prune fruit trees or bring in some firewood. He needs to work less and play more, frankly, and that is not the advice most young men need to hear these days. I realize this makes him extraordinary. (But I do still hope he plays more in the coming year!)

Adele’ (17) is so precariously close to adulthood it frightens me. She is wise and sweet and generous. Just as wonderful are the things she is not… she is not boy crazy or self-absorbed or superficial. She works as a house cleaner for several neighbors and enjoys her job, especially when she can listen to audiobooks while cleaning. (I don’t even want to know how many books she has read/listened to this year… my paltry list will pale in comparison.) The highlight of her year was being asked to be Maid of Honor at her friends’ wedding and what a grown-up responsibility and honor that was~ one that she fulfilled with grace, sacrifice and skill. She was most nervous about giving her speech…but she NAILED it. She has pushed herself out of her comfort zone so much this year and has become less introverted, more considerate, more brave and more resilient. Adele’ is my own little Pied Piper because a thing she has taken to doing the past few years is walking children to the nearby community park. It began with brothers and sisters but as time passed, she began picking up children along her route and taking them along with her. She is the Pied Piper of Warren Center, with the exception being that she returns the children to their families’ after their romp. (A far kinder ending than Brownings’ version, if you ask me!)

Judah (15) is now so manly that sometimes, if I catch him out of the corner of my eye, I can’t tell if it is Judah or Andrew standing there. He and Andrew are neck and neck, standing at about 6’4 (maybe more?!). Maybe Judah is just a tad bit taller by now… but only by his perfectly chic, sleek hairdo. With Papa and Andrew working so much, the brunt of the manual labor falls on him… bringing in wood, milking cows, mowing, burning papers and so forth. I appreciate his strength and abilities so much, especially when he uses them for good. Other people appreciate them too, as his help is in high demand with friends and neighbors throughout the year. The highlights of his year were attending a junior Game Warden camp, snowboarding, archery season, camping, shooting his first buck AND his first doe, and trapping muskrats for the first time ever. Despite all the camouflage clothing and the hunting talk, Judah still enjoys tickling the ivories of the piano, which he does at home and at church (one of my greatest pleasures!) and can belt out Phantom of the Opera with the best of them. I hope for my birthday this year, both of my boys let me record them singing together The Music of the Night. (It is show-stopping.) (Hint, hint boys!)

Ineke (10 in less than a week!) has a smile that lights up her whole face. She still has those beautiful crescent moon eyes that make even the worst day turn happy. She is dramatic and loves acting (she had fun memorizing her lines to play Squanto in a skit this Thanksgiving). She has the enviable (to me) talent of making herself into all sorts of people and personalities with impressive accents and voices. Ineke as a story-telling Brit, is a wonder. She enjoyed roller-skating this summer and doing gymnastics all year long- in the yard, and living room, and on the trampoline, and on the porch… you get the idea. She is strong and athletic and loves to dance. She loved reading Anne of Green Gables this year. Twice. She also loves holding babies and can’t seem to get enough of holding any and all that she can find, most especially her Naomi-love. She got to go on a ‘girls’ trip to North Carolina which was a high honor for her to be included and just a hoot; it was the best fun a girl can have, sharing a backseat with two giggly friends, eating snacks all the live-long day and with a chunkie baby to snuggle with at the end of the road. We survived flash flooding on a highway and swam in a flooded boat launch surrounded by wading trees and floating log ‘alligators’ (and possibly, flooded sewage- I don’t want to think about it) and picnicked on the side of the road and sweated in the North Carolina humidity. In her mind, it was a DREAM!

Moses (6) is an avid naturalist and loves exploring outside. He has an uncanny ability of catching insects mid-jump and butterflies mid-flight- and with just his pincher fingers! He caught more flies with his fingertips than I can count. He wanted to pin his captures onto a specimen board but the girls couldn’t bear the thought of him killing them in cold blood, so they convinced him to take pictures of them and make his very own nature book instead. He enjoyed going on a caterpillar hunt and then watching as they went through their magical monarch morphing. The highlight of Moses’ year was going to see NOAH at Sight and Sound Theatre- thanks to Grandpa and Grandma- and that happens to be a highlight of my year as well. (Most of ours, really!) It was so amazing! Moses loves to listen to stories and I love to read them because I get some snuggles in at the same time. One night when I was lamenting how quickly everyone is growing up, Moses assured me that “even when I am 65, I’m still going to want to snuggle with you” so I plan on holding him to that. He also enjoys being with Papa and “inventing things” and working in the barns. He helped Papa split wood this year and he helps me unload the dishwasher and do animal chores and he even made a mighty-tasting-looking omelet all by himself. All this to say, he is growing up fast and growing more independent and helpful by the day! Moses’ most favorite adjective to describe good things is AMAZING and he uses it all the time. When he tells me my cooking is amazing, I swell with pride. At least, I did until he recently described Judah’s socks as smelling amazing. That word has since lost its’ luster. Though, Matt tells me that Moses asked him what superb meant the other day… so maybe an upgrade is coming.

Matt did not build any building this year and he didn’t remodel anything or upgrade anything. All of these are easy markers of a productive life. Look at that building! Look at what you’ve accomplished! When it is done, it’s easy to notice. It is easy to pinpoint. But often the most productive and powerful things one can accomplish in their lives can’t be measured easily because it is comprised of a million little moments of faithfulness that are overlooked and unnoticed and no matter how hard you work at it, the job is never complete. But that faithfulness, planted and watered and fed and not noticed even a little bit, is more powerful than any grand building could ever be. And this husband of mine is faithfully planting, watering, leading and feeding souls not just within this house but in relationships wherever he finds himself. Work, church, neighbors, family, friends. Matt is doing powerful, productive work and accomplishing great things and what humble, quiet but bountiful fruit it yields.

While no buildings are being built, Matt did have to put some battens on Andrew’s cabin with the boys last week. And as he did so, we were reminded how precious and precarious life can be when Matt fell over 15 feet off of a roof and landed squarely on his back. Praise the Lord, though stiff and sore and banged up and bruised, he somehow miraculously didn’t do any serious damage to himself! But that incident was a stark reminder to us that each moment given to us is precious and finite. How quickly can life change! Might we use the time the Lord gives us wisely.

This Christmas, it is my hope that we may not grow weary in doing good. That we might do so, not for accolades or recognition or praise but simply because we are becoming more Christ-like. Because we, too, can be world-changers. May we have eyes wide open to see the gifts that are so abundant, they are redundant. So obvious they are overlooked. So powerful and yet so inconspicuous.

Merry Christmas to you all and might the joy and truth of a Savior born, a King enthroned, a God in His heaven stay with you all the year long.

With love,

Rebecca et al.

PS. Why do I wait until the frigid 15 degree weather to snap a picture? I've gotta stop doing that.....

This was the other option for the family photo:

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 14:58:00 +0000

Some day, I'd like to post a "Tips for Hosting Thanksgiving" blogpost. I have a few tips and tricks up my sleeve, I think, to make things go more smoothly and make things more meaningful and pleasant.

But for today, I'll leave you with this singular bit of sound advice:

Don't forget to lay out clothes for the youngest of the bunch because if you don't, there is no telling what the photos will show when you finally have time to notice. ;-)

A Month Later

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:38:00 +0000

I am the queen of making outdated blog posts!

Despite grand plans to keep the 'ol blog up to date, time just keeps marching on and now I am deeeeeep in the midst of Christmas preparations.

I still haven't sent out Christmas cards! But I have made LOTS of Christmas cookies, incidentally.

(Priorities.)

These are the rest of the photos I took of Naomi the week that she was born... over a month ago.

Clearly, they must be posted.

And clearly, they must be posted SOON. Naomi already looks so different!

I hope everyone's mid-December flurry is full of the best kind of chaos!

Now... I'm off to write Christmas cards.

Naomi the Delightful

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:21:00 +0000

On Sunday, Naomi was baptized. She wore a vintage table runner I made into a dress when Corynn rejected the mini-prom-dress that was her own. :-) She didn't cry or even squirm, just melted right into her baptism. Corynn looked like she had stolen a baby from someone else because surely a nine pound baby had not exited THAT stomach. Kemuel beamed. FIVE great-grandparents were there to witness it. Four (incredibly youthful!) grandparents too. ;-) And afterwards, the Laudermilchs and the Newmans, families joined together by love, came together to feast and toast our sweet Naomi.

This post, I realize, is way over the top. I posted nearly every single picture I took at Naomi's baptism, it's true! (And a few sweet little photoshoot pictures too) I am sure this is incredibly boring for all of the scores and scores of blog readers that visit me here. (Or maybe just you.)

But it is my blog and so I am going to do it! Because I love so much (and never want to forget) watching the joy, excitement, pride and delight of Kemuel during Naomi's baptism. Is it okay to call a grown man cute? If he is your son or son-in-law?

Because I must.

It was so cute. And sweet. And special to watch him on this special day.

Especially because I spent many long nights and days wondering if and praying for a day like this to happen.

For the work the Lord did in Kemuel's heart on the subject of infant baptism while he and Corynn were courting/dating. For the receptive spirit and yearning that Kemuel showed as he and his pastor studied for himself what infant baptism means and what it does not. For the faithfulness of God's promises to you and your children and your children's children. For the precious gift of life that the Giver of All gave to Corynn and Kemuel in giving them Naomi.

Thank you, Lord.

Three little words that can't seem to convey just how deeply I mean it.

Meet The Baby

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:48:00 +0000

(yes, this is an ACTUAL happy dance)

(Judah is wondering what to do with a girlllllll)

Pipsqueak Surprises Us All

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 14:42:00 +0000

All it takes for the exhaustion to set in is to close your eyes for a second...

Can we just take a moment to enjoy that double chin?!

Mama #2 made the adorable going home outfit and Mama #1 brought a bow- JUST IN CASE.

Everyone thought Pipsqueak was a boy. I said I was on 'team girl' only because no one else seemed to be (except the great grandmas) but in my heart, I really thought it was a boy.

I thought Pipsqueak would be teeny tiny- because Corynn seemed to barely gain weight and her belly seemed so small her entire pregnancy.

But early on November 2nd, Pipsqueak came into the world, surprising the world with her own little perfect self. A head full of dark hair, jack rabbit feet and a rather impressive double chin.

9lbs and 6oz of MERCY and GRACE and STRENGTH and LEGACY and BLESSING and GIFT.

Naomi Elisheva, a name that means delightful blessing from the Lord.

And that she is.

Halloweening

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 16:25:00 +0000

Happy Halloween from Teddy Roosevelt, his pet zebra (yes! He really had one!) and his prize hunting mounts...

I've been told by my middle son that this may be Judah's last year dressing up.

Which means he is becoming a boring old person. ;-)

Regardless of what happens next year, I am glad that he was a good sport this year. Our theme wouldn't have worked without him.

He nailed Roosevelt too, didn't he?!

If Teddy looks a bit quizzical here, it is because he was being blinded by prescription glasses from Salvation Army whose lenses I could not pop out with breaking them.

Ah... but wait! He sees something!!!

His ferocious kill:

Moses didn't really understand that he was a wall mount and not actually a living, hissing, ferocious cheetah.

Apparently, I didn't understand either. Pretty sure wall mounts don't smile...

I didn't have to spend more than $2.00 on glasses for Judah. I *did* spend more than that because I bought felt and brown paint on Friday because I was uptown and couldn't remember what colors I had at home. (And yes, I had them already, sooooo.... that was frustrating.)

Oh- and I bought black hairspray for Ineke.

But I didn't sew a single thing and the grand total was less than a fancy coffee.

Easiest year ever!!!

In my opinion, the age old debate about Christians celebrating Halloween or trick-or-treating doesn't apply to us at all.

Because this is what Halloween looks like for us...

Visiting and bringing joy and laughter to a handful of special "old people" living nearby is just about where it's at.

ORANGE you glad?

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:53:00 +0000

I am not perfect at it, but I'm doing my best at keeping these blog posts coming.

For the last week, I have been Frankensteins' monster, with staples in my head- and yesterday I made meals for people, delivered them hither and yon, got my staples removed (a monster, no more!) and then whisked home to make Glupper for a crowd. It was too busy to blog- but not because I was busy holding a new grandbaby.

Pipsqueak is hanging on and so shall I, as best I can.

But today, too, there is very little time!

Costumes to make! Pumpkins to carve! Chili to cook! Nacho Cheese Bugles to eat!

There is much to be done...

With zero inspiration and even less time, in honor of Halloween, I gathered some ORANGE things in my life.

From the last bit of butternut squash soup, to picnicking with the moon on our last night of eating on the porch, to a sunset Adele' admired, to the epiphany of using crunched up lasagna instead of spaghetti noodles in chicken soup, to the oodles and oodles of BEAUTIFUL tomatoes, to Judah's first deer (!!) to saying goodbye to our monarch friend...

orange you glad I posted?! ;-)

Martha and Reuben

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 13:09:00 +0000

These are not from the wedding I took a few days ago, but from a wedding a few months ago of our pastors' daughter, and Adele's dear friend, Martha. I was asked to take candid photos during the reception and to act as a second shooter during the ceremony so there aren't any beautiful bridal portraits in here, but plenty of memories.

Adele' happened to be maid of honor in this wedding and she did such an amazing job delivering the speech and taking on maid-of-honor responsibilities. I was so proud of her. I kept thinking how strange it is to have my middle girl be old enough to be maid of honor at a wedding. Isn't she still just a child?!?!

Here are some highlights...

And because there is no other place to put it... Martha and Reuben's wedding present:

I wood burned the picnic basket the morning of the wedding (because I am an idiot) and since the bride grew up in New York and had to leave and cleave to North Carolina, I filled the basket up with New York specialties like maple syrup to remind her of home.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day. And we miss Martha dearly.

Remember This

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 01:44:00 +0000

Corynn: "You better do a blog post tomorrow, or people (including me 🤣) will think I had the baby!"

Funny girl.

"A mother is a chalice, the vessel without which no human being has ever been born. She is created to be a life-bearer, cooperating with her husband and with God in the making of a child. What a solemn responsibility. What an unspeakable privilege--a vessel divinely prepared for the Master's use. "

~ Elisabeth Elliot ~

Isn't it Ironic. Don't you think?

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 25 Oct 2025 11:44:00 +0000

When the photographers take photos of each other taking photos?

(I am off to photograph a wedding today so this is all the blogpost I have time for. No Pipsqueak yet!)

(I bet you think this song is about you...don't you?!)

In Which Andrew Throws A Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 19:37:00 +0000

Andrew and Zion took a break from roofing and decided to throw themselves a community dance.

Lotsa people were invited.

Lots of dancing ensued.

(I may have been roped into helping decorate...)

And looking back at these pictures just now, makes me joyful and sad at the same time... because one of the friendliest smiles you ever could meet, walking casually across the photo above, is now beaming his smile in Glory.

And time on earth just never seems enough for those of us still here.

The Newman Campout 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 14:44:00 +0000

Of course, there was tubing.

and boating...

...and waterskiing.

(or should I say ATTEMPTS at water-skiing?)

It took two years but Judah persevered and eventually got it!

Kem was SO CLOSE! He tried again. And again. And AGAIN. (The man doesn't give up, that's for sure!) I thought he had it this time...

...but then...

Next year, Kemuel!

They kept at it until the sky painted itself pink.

Moses smokes a mer-man pipe

cornhole, four square, chalk and basketball

Aunt Holly brings fancy snacks

First time is a looong time, Grandma and Grandpa went in the water too. It was fun to see.

Grandma's idea.

Thank goodness Pipsqueak's absence deterred her from using it as a Christmas card.

old family movies

Adele' spies and photographs mermaids...

Nathan and Leia show us photos and tell us all about their trip to Scotland. They let us sample different bourbons and whiskey.

(I can't say I loved them. ick.)

I had to snap a picture because Corynn was not in an oversized t-shirt or sweatshirt for once! ;-)

And! She really went above and beyond. Notice how her sunglasses match her skirt.

I'm sure she did this on purpose.

For sure.

Overexposed, but still cute!

My favorite part

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 14:43:00 +0000

In the wee small hours of morning, when children are still sleeping off a night full of movies, whispers and candy-fueled giggles and the menfolk are off to milk cows and do morning chores, I find myself alone in the early morning quiet.

I have always taken this opportunity to go out in a kayak all alone, to listen to the quiet echo of sounds not usually noticed. The gentle swish of a paddle pushing through water. The distant call of a bird across the lake. The glug of a frog, somewhere in the mist. The flip of a fish. A few distant voices from a fishing boat, clear across the water.

And to see things slowly. Things I don't normally see. The sleepy waterlily waking up and stretching toward the sun. A bustling dragonfly, already buzzing about his day. The magical mirror of stone-still water. The haze, that ebbs and flows. The million different shades of things I usually see as just plain green. The piebald head of an eagle, perched high and silent. The blue heron that so serenely and picturesquely stood under a tree on the edge of the water; that is, just until the moment I was close enough to take a picture...and then he flew away.

I take notice, is what I do. I don't often grant myself the privilege of slowing down enough to take notice.

I sat in the middle of the lake, feeling the sway of the boat as the fog rolled in around me and enveloped me in a wall of white. There was no point in taking photos after that. But what the fog had hoped to thwart- I welcomed... because I had come prepared with a book. For an hour, I couldn't see past the tip of my kayak, reading about Rudyard Kipling's childhood, in an eerie cloak of invisibility.

Eventually, I hear a splash and giggles, telling me that children are awake and back in the water and then the men's voices, returning with blazing hot coffee, and I am beckoned away from India and back into reality. The fog is so thick I can't see anything in any direction... so I point the tip of the kayak toward the voices and hope for the best.

And then, poof, almost as if by magic, the fog lifted and there I was, ready to start the day. Fresher. More thankful. More rested. More observant. More filled.

And I think, once again, what it must have been like for Matt and his brothers to be raised with this remarkable gift right at the end of their driveway.

And then I remember that it was in the noticing, not the location, that I was filled.

Perhaps where I stand each moment, there is as much beauty and magic and serenity- if only I had eyes to see.

This hurried world needs to slow down and start noticing things.

I need to slow down and start noticing again.

"It must be a great disappointment to God is we are not dazzled at least ten times a day. " -Mary Oliver

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Corynn and Her Teeny Tiny Baby Belly

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:19:00 +0000

Corynn is now officially one week away from her due date!! Which means, sweet little Pipsqueak can make his/her appearance ANY TIME now.

Which kinda blows my mind!

My little girl is having a child of her own. What a gift. What a strange and beautiful world it is. A lifetime of dreams come true.

Last week I thought about how nice it would be to get caught up on my old photos before Pipsqueak comes. At the very least, it would distract me from waiting! (Maybe Corynn too. 😊)

I did pretty well, considering how busy life is. I made three different blog posts! I haven't blogged three times in one week in years!

There is no way I will get entirely caught up, but I am going to keep plodding along as best I can.

Here is my challenge to myself: I am going to try and post every day until Pipsqueak arrives.

Can I do it? (I doubt it.)

Am I going to try? (You betcha!)

And to begin, since that beautiful baby belly of Corynn's is not going to last much longer... I think now might be the perfect time to show it off.

A few weeks ago, I took Corynn and Adele' to go visit my mother with me. As we passed by a dying sunflower patch, well past her glory days, we swerved in to get a few impromptu pictures.

The lighting was bright and shadowy, the flowers were droopy and sad, but look how sunshiny my girl with her baby is?!

I forget the joke, but something was very funny...

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you"
~ Jeremiah 1:5

***

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

A Patch of Daisies

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:46:00 +0000

There was a beautiful patch of daisies by the pigpen. So many times I thought to myself, "I really need to take a picture of those! They are just so beautiful!"

And then, time would get away from me and I'd be on to other things.

And then one day, they were all but faded, dead and gone away and I thought how sad I was to have missed my opportunity.

And then, there on the computer, I saw that Adele' had captured them a million times better than I would have anyway! It was like finding treasure.

Inside the Coop de Jardin

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:08:00 +0000

The last time you saw the Coop de Jardin, it was full of scrap wood and buckets of broken glass.

Still very much in the middle of a work zone.

I can say now, after moving the wood scraps out and spending hours and hours (and hours) of picking up broken glass (which still continues to appear as if by magic, even to this day) from that broken concrete floor, that the garden shed is as good as it is going to get at this point.

And, in my opinion, that is very, very good.

Come on in and I'll show you around....

That swinging chair was bought at Aldi, after the season was over for $9. My intention was to give it as a gift to someone but when the garden shed was built, I decided to gift it to myself instead. ;-)

TEMU allowed me to get lots of beautiful canvas prints of girlie paintings that I love for about $2-3 a piece. Many times, just a buck! That was thrilling, because I've always loved the idea of an art wall but that isn't something I could do easily in our house and without cheap alternatives, would be super expensive to do.

I asked Matt to make a slotted area in the workbench so that dirt could fall through into a bin below.

He built it after it could be used this year to start seeds but I know next spring, Lord willing, it will come in very handy.

I have a stash of old glass jars for filling vases to give away.

And for the spring and summertime, a few plants in the windows.

They need to be brought in before they freeze to death, now that I think about it.

Adele' painted this lovely art for me on my birthday.

(She copied the design from a canvas I admired online)

This framed photo is an ariel view of our home back in the earlier 1940's or 50's, (I think... not sure of the exact date.) You can see the original chicken coop beside two dark trees behind the house.

I hung battery powered twinkle lights from the beams in hopes that it would illuminate the building in the absence of electricity.

Not quite.

But it does provide a magical, twinkly ambiance.

This is the garden shed mascot.

Moses painted a piece of scrap wood into an alligator for me.

Matt's dad made us a GARDEN SHED sign for Christmas last year which is extra special to me as his hands shake quite often and I am sure that must have been very hard to do. But he did it for us anyway.

I cherish it.

I hung two mirrors on the walls of the garden coop. I did this for a few reasons:

1- They were here when we bought the house and have been getting in the way ever since.

2- It's a miracle they haven't been broken in the granary yet. On the walls is a much safer place to be.

3. I hoped they would provide more reflective light to a building that does not have electricity.

But mostly, #2.

Matt made it very clear that this was my building to with what I want, but I am not sure that he figured I would make it soooo..... girlie?!

From the beginning of Matt's big plot, I've thought how unnecessary a building this size is for garden tools. You can see how much space that takes up...

not much.

I still feel guilty at the excess and extravagence.

I am not sure how we will utilize this space to its' fullest potential~ I guess we will 'grow into it'.

I have dreams of making it an inspiring place that I might eventually be able to use as a writing shed... a quiet and reflective place away from the busyness of a bustling household. And I think I have done that- all except the fact that winter is fast approaching and it will be freezing cold. Maybe next spring and summer?

It has been a sleepover shed where girls can laugh all night long without a Papa and Mama bear getting grumpy with all the chatter.

It has been a hangout and visit spot when company comes.

It's been a reading and lounging spot on a hot summer day.

And in August, when Matt's and my anniversary rolled around, I wanted to do something special (read: NOT COOK) but Matt had just returned from a week long work trip in which he stayed in hotels and ate at restaurants... the last thing he wanted to do was go out.

Instead of being sad about it, I figured I could make our anniversary special and give us both what we wanted.

I strung out an extension cord to plug in some proper lights, I moved the porch bed in there and Matt and I watched a movie and ate take-out while kiddos stayed in the house and watched a movie. It was all fun and games until a terrible thunderstorm erupted overhead.

(Thunderstorms above and around you in an uninsulated shed with a metal roof are very loud and very scary. Then add the fact that you are laying on a metal bed... and we hightailed it inside pretty quick.)

(Aunt Holly strikes again with just the perfect anniversary gift.)

And that's the coop de jardin, in all her glory.