I'm done with the Blackberries!

These berries have been a thorn in my side for all of Aug and Sept. I finally gave up. The freezer is full enough. I gave up when I started getting hives from picking. I will have to wear surgical gloves in the future.

The above picture shows the guard canes the plant throws out. Huge thorny branches we have to cut back to get to the berries.

Pictures of the brambles under the berries. Tigerlily likes to run out and hide in these. Roy avoids them at all costs. Reminds me of the Brer Rabbit stories I read to Nick as a child.

The bushes were loaded this year. It was a beautiful sight. I have enough put away to make jam, to make cakes and cobblers, and I could have done way more, but it rained, and the rain dilutes the flavor and makes them mushy. They turned sour on the branch. Summer is over.

School Days

Desirae is modeling her new haircut.

Saying good bye as the bus comes

Here comes the bus!
Roy is so excited! Our girl is coming back home!

The dog walks the girl back to the house.

Where they play in the sand box together.

And Desi feeding her doll dinner to end the day.

First day of School

She is so Happy, she loves school and teachers and kids---and learning. I am so happy to find my house getting cleaner, having some free time. These past 3 weeks have been very hard. The constant multi-tasking took it's toll, and I just wanted to shut down. So grateful for school starting.

Desirae is napping right now. She came home just worn out from her second day at school.

The new camera/phone is great, and I have alot of blogging to do in the future.

Busy, Busy

August flew by, not sure where it went. It buzzed past me in a whirlwind. This gardening stuff is very time consuming. Watering by hand, because we are on city water and pay for it, takes 2 hrs. We've had 20 days of over 90 degree heat. In that heat, I have to water everything every day. Add the harvesting, and the cooking from scratch.....I discovered my days are centered around feeding the family. What happened??? Because of our holistic approach to eating, I imagine. Next thing I'll be raising chickens for eggs. This is the little house with the white picket fence, where I get to be a stay at home mom. I never dreamed it would be for a child with special needs who needs alot of supervision.

With Dave losing his job last October, and also our health benefits....I am now campaigning in my own way for Universal Health care. So, a portion of my time is devoted to reading and learning, and posting on my Face Book. I was afraid of doing this. I don't want to push people away or offend them, but God has made me fearless in this endeavor. I have a few friends who support this and that's all the encouragement I've needed.

I used to use my blog on Multiply in a more thoughtful way. With this blog, I discovered using pictures. In the future I hope to incorporate the two a bit more.

Desi starts school on Tuesday. I am so happy! The bus picks her up at 7 am and drops her at 12:50. That's almost 6 hrs a day of freedom! I can make jam starting next week! I love my girl to death. I also love my free time. This summer I had mostly girl, and free time was a huge luxury I didn't get but a few times. I think I might miss her a bit about the second or third week in.

Mr. Hoffman is finally employed full time. We should have health benefits in 3 months. I will never forget the fear factor of David knowing his meds were going to run out and not knowing how to get more. God was good, and we found out that he doesn't need meds, he just needs to eat right. But I pray for those who have to choose what to go without each month in order to buy their medicine.

I'm also excited that life will return to normal, and I won't have to pinch every penny twice very soon. I made a game of it, but at times, it was tiring.

The camera has been packed away since our last camping trip. I'm getting a new phone soon with a camera and a chip that will load directly into my computer. A Sprint upgrade. I am excited about it.

Well, laundry need folding, there's a bucket of plums looking at me and more to pick from the tree. Blackberries need picking. Life awaits....

My words to live by

My cousin posted her words on her site, so I'm following suite.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
~~Rudyard Kipling



Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.