More of God's Presence

Please read the post below for the first part of this story.

What stands out most in my experience of nearly losing a tire on the highway is the wonderful people that God put in my way. First, the worker at the Yankee Candle Museum kindly offered me the phone that is just for employees, called another worker to brainstorm my family's options, looked up the phone number for the local garage and was just plain and simply kind.

Then after I figured out that it was the tire that had nearly fallen off the truck (an hour and a half after we had been at the Yankee Candle Complex), I waited for my mother to arrive, thinking she may have my step-father with her. When she came by herself, I again went into the Yankee Candle store and talked to another wonderful employee in the restaurant (as the store had closed at 6:00 pm), and she said not a problem, she would call the property maintenance worker and he would be right out to help me with the tire. Not only was he a very nice man, but he had lots of experience with working on cars. He tightened up the three existing lug nuts (the other three had fallen off), and after much thought, told us we could make it to Connecticut (to my Mom's) if we stopped every 20 - 30 minutes to tighten the nuts and to travel at a speed of 50 mph.

While waiting in the parking lot, we were encouraged by another person, a sweet mother who was leaving the parking lot with her two children. She asked if we were ok and I told her we were waiting for family to come and help. She looked in her cooler and said, I have 6 juice boxes left, that looks just right for your children. Another blessing.

Here is a picture of the children playing a game on the far end of a parking lot.

Here is a picture of the beautiful flowers on the grounds.

It turns out that our mechanic forgot to tighten the nuts on Friday when he removed the tire to repair a brake line. My husband was able to practice being meek when phoning him on Sunday after listening to a sermon on the same that morning at church. He admitted his error and we all move forward celebrating the life we have been given.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Testimony

Ohhh,,,
I have pictures to go along with this that I need to load up when I return home.
Just wanted to start writing a bit of the story of my trip to Connecticut this past Saturday.
This was to be my first long distance trip without Mike (my husband) with all six children. Since the oldest is 15 1/2, I felt pretty confident and with prayer and faith we headed on our journey at noon on Saturday.

I had planned out the trip figuring that mapquest predicted 4 hours 45 minutes, that I would plan on 6 hours with the stops and driving a bit more slowly. Our stops were first about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the trip at a large truck stop with nice bathrooms and soft serve icecream. Abraham (18 months) fell right asleep and I woke him up at the first stop. Icecream was enjoyed by all and Abraham was content during the next almost two hours, when we stopped in Greenfield, MA at McDonalds for the bathroom and small fries for all. You know how eating just one french fry at a time can keep children happy for some time. (We never eat at McDonalds except for this very occasion). Second stop was a success.

Now, after getting back on the highway, the suburban (a 1992 with over 200,000 miles) began to shake very badly and seemed to be getting worse. The next exit was for route 116 which I was somewhat familiar with as I went to college at UMass, Amherst. I saw the sign for the Yankee Candle Company just ahead and pulled into the far parking lot, next to some grass. Of course, I was praying constantly as the shaking worsened.

We also don't have a cell phone. I said ok children, I am going in and going to ask where the nearest garage is and to use a phone to call my mother (where I was headed). Inside the Yankee Candle Store (a giant place with beautiful grounds - we were so blessed by this), a man was ever so gracious and let me use the phone and talked to me about what was going on and my options, etc. However, because it was nearly 4:00 on Saturday, there was not a garage open.

I phone my Mom and she said she would be on our way to get us and I presumed that we might be able to drive the truck the just over one mile it would be to the garage and would have to come back on Monday or Tuesday to get it.

Well, at about 5:30 pm while walking around the truck I noticed the rear tire was nearly off! What emotions went through my body - we were so blessed to be safe. All that remained were three lug nuts that I could unscrew with my hands.

Now, things looked a bit different, maybe there was a way to get the truck to my Mom's house and get it fixed somewhere near her.

Meanwhile over these two hours at the Yankee Candle Company, the six children and I toured the stores, romped through the beautiful grounds, played a game on the grass, had fresh drinks available in the store and clean bathrooms. God is good.

I will type more upon arriving home hopefully tomorrow safe and sound - we did make it to Connecticut with the truck at about 9:00 pm Saturday night and the truck is being repaired right now at a local garage. However, our stay is extended one day.

More to come...
Blessings,
Tonya

Food Baskets

We have been delivering some weekly food baskets to a couple of customers.

In each basket:

two dozen eggs

two loaves bread

cookies (about 2 dozen)

this week's veggies from the garden:

broccoli

beets

new carrots

lettuce

snap peas

turnips

radishes

new onions

This has been another outlet to market our small market garden as well as our eggs and homebaked goodies.

Blessings,

Tonya

Weekend Wonders

We are still spending much of our time moving our belongings out of our mobile home and cleaning it and painting it to get ready for the young couple that will be renting from us. Thankfully, it is just one mile away from the home we purchased. We do still do some living inbetween.



Here is Sarah wearing a new dress we found at a yard sale on Saturday. We had some garden salad with rainbow radishes.

Abby and Abraham snuggling and reading.
Abby and Isaac swimming in the pond at our new home!
Finally, our new home is still jacked up but they are setting up and pouring the foundation today!
Lots to be thankful for.
Blessings,
Tonya

Family First

I have been really truly convicted about the following:

"Persevere, create, and give your gifts to your husband and children first."

This was from the spring edition of Joyous Home. Wow. It seems like such an obvious way to live. However, I find myself continually caught up in what I need to do to earn money for our family or in measuring my worth somehow in my earnings or what others buy from the handwork I create. Wrong!!! God expects me to be a wife and mother and a good one at that. That is it! I need to put my husband first and then my six children and all will fall into place. Being resourceful, growing our food, canning, baking, making some of our gifts, household items, etc..... that is part of being a homemaker. All that comes after wife and mother and may overlap some of the roles. However, to be so concerned about earning money, well, I believe if I have my priorities straight, God will provide. I have a hard working husband and we live very simply, thus we are pretty good stewards of the money God does provide us.

So this moring, and from this day forward, I am going to take the time to roll a hand knit ball back and forth with my little one without an ounce of thought of what I should be doing to grow our family businesses, I am going to think about what I can do special for my husband this very evening and remember to get the invoices ready for the jobs he has completed, for example.

I am going to listen when my 13 year old wants to tell me about a book he is reading or stop and play hangman with my just turned 11 year old. I am going to sew the backing on my five year old's patchwork potholder.

Yes, I will work hard, be diligent in my daily work, however, there is nothing more important than my family and giving them the foundation of a happy, loving home.

Blessings,

Tonya

Crocheted Bib

This bib is oh so easy to crochet or knit up. Simply knit or crochet a square - on the top edge add a buttton hole for knitting. To make a button hole with crochet, simply chain three at the beginning of the row and connect to the third chain with a slip stitch and then single crochet across the row. Add one more row of single crochet and then crochet across just five stitches across to form the tie. Sew a button on the end. I like using wooden buttons or repurposed buttons from old garments.

Cotton works well and washes well.

Enjoy!

Blessings,

Tonya

Under Construction

Our house is up and they are digging around it for drainage and under it to dig out for a basement. I am excited to have a root cellar.

Our days are filled with moving and organizing and sorting and wading through mud.

We are enjoying our new environment and living beside a pond. Just this morning six mallard ducks are visiting. Unfortunately the way the sun was shining over the pond, I was unable to take a picture.

Frog collecting is a daily activity for Abby and Sarah. Reed weaving has been enjoyed as well.

Lovely Blog Award

As I was checking the comments from my last post quite some time ago, I realized that The Handmaden had passed this award to this blog and I wanted to say thank you and to pass it on to some others. If you are able, please accept the award, post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award - that would be me:) and pass the award onto up to ten more blogs that you have newly discovered. Remeber to contact the bloggers that you have chosen:

Sew Me Something Good

I apologize, but since we are in the middle of moving, I simply cannot spend too much more time searching for beautiful blogs - there are so many and I am getting too distracted.

Again, thank you to the handmaden!

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Moving

I am so sorry that I haven'twritten recently. Moving is so very time consuming, but oh so worth it. We are filled with joy and happiness with the purchase of our new home. We call its style - rustic cottage. The open space is wonderful!

Pictures and more about our home, homeschool, homestead and country life to follow tomorrow.

Blessings,
Tonya