The kids and grands are on their way!!

As I type this Josh, Jess, Nathan and Starry are on the road. They last checked in from Kansas and hoped to reach Des Moines, IA to spend the night. Then they will arrive late tomorrow. Josh and Jess both have job interviews Tuesday, so there's not much breathing room.

Praise God, Josh reports that the kids are traveling well. They have a video player, so Nathan is enjoying movies. (What a difference from when WE were traveling with little ones!) They are renting a nice little house in Park Rapids, which is about 12 miles from us. They will be close to work, when they find work.

Please pray for safety as they travel and that they will be able to get at least one job between them. They're still trying to figure out if it makes sense for Jess to work, or if she should stay home with the babes. With the cost of childcare she might be better off staying home, which would be her dream!

The Lord is good! When they moved to Texas I never expected to have them back here in Minnesota. You just never know, do you?

It's hot everywhere, so STAY COOL...somehow! :D

Shalom!

Exciting news!

We've had some joyous news at the Richards/Yliniemi household  (aka The Commune)! We've received reports that son Josh and his little family will be moving back to our area! We are now in the process of making numerous calls back and forth to figure out the logistics of moving a family with two small children to a new community where Josh does not yet have a job nailed down. His old employer at J&B Foods (where I work) has expressed interest in rehiring him, but they haven't solidified that. They have an apartment spoken for, but have only a small stipend with which to get here, so Josh will have to work for a bit to come up with rent money. It's really a leap of faith to make this type of move! Of course, we can shoehorn them in here to keep a roof over their heads for a while, but we're praying things will fall into place quickly. It will be SO wonderful to have them here and to get to know our little grandkiddos!

Josh and Jess

Mr. Nathan Aslan Richards

Miss Danielle Starry Hope Richards

Their little cousin Audrey can hardly wait to have more cousins to play and grow up with! (She has one cousin on the Yliniemi side, but these will be the first Richards cousins she will meet!)

Miss Audrey..."Are they here yet?"

Besides this good news, I've gotten to spend a lot of time outside this morning. I did a little hoeing in the garden, helping daughter Micah with her horse and dog chores and snapping a couple of photos.

Bob and I are going back out to play now, so I'll talk to you later!

Shalom!

Oh shoot! No hoeing today...

Honest, I really intended to do some hoeing in the vegetable garden today! But the rain is coming down so I'll have to just spend some time visiting blogs and maybe drawing. Isn't that sad? (Hee, hee!)

Here's a photo I took a couple of days ago. Nicer weather.

And Audrey enjoying the nice weather on the same day.

And digging for some refreshments...

After four days of work I'm needing some rest, so I'm off to visit blogs and enjoy this rainy day. I think a nap is also on the agenda.

Have a great day!

Shalom!

Baking with Audrey...

Have you noticed an Audrey theme lately? It's a nice theme, and since she's a constant source of delight, she may show up a lot here!

I haven't done any baking from scratch for a long time, so when I came across a freezer bag full of pureed zucchini the other day I decided to make some zucchini bread.

Like my ancient loaf pans? I do! I think they have "character". Somebody's watching!

Audrey really enjoys watching me cook. It's nice to have a little friend in the kitchen.

Daughter Micah has just started online college classes, so I'm going to try to watch Audrey as much as I can to give her time to study. It'll be a busy summer!

Shalom for now!

Audrey learns about technology...

She was getting upset because Mom was on the computer, so Micah brought out a laptop that doesn't work and Audrey had fun with it...for a few minutes. She was  a little ticked when she couldn't get a picture to come up on the monitor!

Every time we open the fridge door she comes scooting across the floor and wants to explore.  

That's all, folks! Just wanted to show some pics of Audrey!

Shalom!

A sunny day on our little farm...

Since we moved into our new place we have to make a garden area and begin creating a lawn out of what was pasture. This is our new front yard...

It's pretty rough right now, but it will evolve. The little sandy patch right in the middle of the picture now has some nice black dirt on it. Bob is planning to make me a flowerbed there with some old wagon wheels and other antique items as accents.

Our garden area was already a garden, but we hadn't used it for several years so it had to be plowed and disked and is now ready for planting.

The little white flags you see behind the garden mark our border fence. Our farm has gotten a lot smaller, but it's still plenty of land for two old duffers like us. We have about 9 acres including the pasture behind the house and the woods beyond that.

This is Bob's new/old John Deere tractor. He had to sell his two tractors a while back, but then found this one and bought it a little at a time. He's lived on a farm since he was a child, so he didn't feel quite complete without his John Deere. He's one happy boy!

Now for the seeds!

Enjoy your summer!

Those crazy robins!

I wish I had a photo! (Oh, wait! I nabbed this one from Pom Pom's blog!)

Yesterday I looked out the window toward our horse pasture and there was an intrepid robin pulling at a piece of baling twine. The problem was that this particular piece of twine was about 20 feet long (left over from a large round bale) and one end was embedded in the ground. I could hear the little bird thinking, "Man, if I could just get this loose I could build TWENTY nests in no time!" Today he, or another robin maybe, was back at it! Never give up! :D