Category: Adventure

Seeing how I wrote a God post very late last night/this morning, I thought I’d balance it out with the other stuff. It has been very hot for the last week or so, it’s been glorious! There’s been a lot of filling the paddling pool up and a lot of splashing and fun.

We’ve been going to the beach once a week for the past couple of weeks too and been in the sea! Which is very nice. The beaches on the west coast are very beautiful and not busy at all at the moment – until the school holidays that is. We have all loved going in the sea.

I’ve never known cattle on a beach before though, we went to Mullaghmore beach a couple of weeks ago and it was beautiful and then back again last week and there was a herd of cattle on the beach. So we decided to go elsewhere that day. Didn’t fancy dodging cow pats. We went to a place called Rosses Point, which was also pretty good, but for safety in the sea for the kids (who can’t yet swim), I do prefer Mullaghmore, although one of the kids loved Rosses point. A bit of excitement and rougher sea really lit him up.

At home, most things are going well. The tomatoes etc in the tunnel are really coming on, I got my front garden weeded and planted up with annual flowers to mix with the perennials, I’ve even shoved some french beans on the fronts (don’t tell Chris ;)). I ended up strimming down the strawberry bed and managed to avoid strimming some of the strawberry plants, so we will have a few, but not as many as last year, because I definitely strimmed some. I also moved the currant bushes to the front as they were doing nothing around the side of the house. It gets very wet there and it wasn’t suiting them.

I have to show you this too:

Ages ago, we decided we were going to do baking together at least once a week as part of our home education, but we hadn’t done it for a while, so I gave J (eldest) the baking book and told him to choose what he wanted to do and he chose this! I actually wouldn’t have chosen it because of the faffing, but I’m so glad we did, it is lovely! and wasn’t actually that hard to do. Look at it! Look at it’s beauty!

So, we’re meant to be off to the beach later on too, I’ve got to make some bread first as we’ve run out and cart the water up to the chickens and probably do some washing/housework and a bit of something with the kids and open up and water the greenhouse and all that. All good stuff.

Birds are all ok. Still incubating goose eggs upstairs, apparently they’re a bit tricky to hatch, so I’m just following some guidelines I found and hoping a couple/few will hatch. Although the more I read about geese, the more I think, was it wise????! haha. Well, I’m not turning back now, onwards!

so, that’s a brief sort of update. Hello and goodbye!

Cathy.

The question, do you have a religious belief was the word press prompt question today, so I thought I’d have a shot. I’ve read a couple of others, the expected mix is there, from people who say they don’t, to those who aren’t sure, through to people who say yes, doesn’t everybody, some seem to change as to what they actually believe as to what suits, through to the Christ followers who say the expected, ‘I’m not religious, I’m in a relationship..’ I actually really don’t like that saying now (and I’ve used it a lot in the past). Or the ‘I hate religion, but love Jesus’. I do get it, and this is definitely a personal opinion, but actually yes, if you are a Christian you are religious, look the definition up. I think people get being religious and being legalistic mixed up. The difference between Christianity and other religions is that relationship. So the answer to the question is, yes! I am religious. But I believe in Jesus as my saviour, nothing and no one else.

As far as I understand it, legalism is the following of rules to ensure you are saved, or possibly to look good on the outside, which actually is not what Christianity is about. Being a Christian is an upside down world where you believe in and put your faith in Jesus and then you are changed and want to live your life God’s way, instead of just your own. It’s an ongoing process. Yes, there is right and wrong, but the caring about that comes from knowing God through Jesus and having the Holy Spirit. And yes, all of us, even without that personal knowledge of God, do seem to have an inbuilt right/wrong radar, but Jesus usually changes it to more than merely doing it because you have to. Or disobeying it because you enjoy it.

But now! the relationship. The knowing of Jesus. The knowing who He is and what He’s done (as much as our limited understanding can understand anyway.). The knowing of Him, of the indwelling of His spirit and the fact that He orchestrates our future. The fact that he paid the price for our sin, that He lived the life we cannot live (sinless) and then died on a cross, taking the punishment for everything we’ve ever done, are doing, or are ever will do. And then was resurrected, and a little while after that, ascended to heaven where He is seated on the right hand side of the Father, and He will return for His bride, which is His people, His church. It’s actually really hard sometimes to try to get that fact that he fully paid for the sin, in His brutal death. Such a price. Then was resurrected like we are, when we come to Him.

The fact that we can read the bible, which is God’s word on paper, Jesus is the word in person, and we can be radically changed and start to be conformed to His image and what we should have been in the first place. That! That! is the difference between this and other religions. That we start to serve because we’re made in His image, that life is not all about ‘us/me’, it’s about Him. He who made us and He who is why we are here. Jesus has done it all. We cannot add to it. He made us to be us, with Him, not without Him. To enjoy knowing Him. He came to break the power of sin and when we come to Him we get eternal life, freedom from slavery to sin and become righteous, because of Him. Not us. The bit which is really hard to understand is surely there’s conditions, but the bible is very clear, you believe in Him, you believe He lived and died for you and that He was resurrected from the dead, that He was taken up to heaven and is Lord! (in charge) and preferably that you are baptised. Then you trust Him, partner with Him, allow Him to work in you and guide you, you repent and ask for forgiveness in every necessary area (and it is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to this).

I’ve had a lot of memories coming up recently about my life, pre knowing Jesus as Lord and while some are good, there’s a lot of bad ones connected to when I was drinking as well as a few others. They just enter my head pretty randomly. Examples such as falling down stairs (quite a few times), injuring myself, falling off walls, waking up on toilet floors in pubs (and then probably going on drinking), or in fields, on my own, in the middle of snow, of walking screaming around the streets, of my friends being funny with me the next day after going out and me having absolutely no recollection of throwing a bottle at them in the middle of a road the previous night. Vodka used to make me lose my memory. Of befriending random people, of losing people I’d gone out with. Of being so drunk, frequently, that I couldn’t really stand up. Of putting my needs and drinking before other people who were close to me. It made me horrible, ruining friendships and relationships, of being put in very vulnerable positions, and a whole heap of other stuff, including contributing to getting into debt (Which was completely resolved almost ten years ago now). Of course, a lot of this, to some, will be very familiar. I was a bit of a nut. But so are a lot of people. But that doesn’t make it right. And do you know what, since Jesus came into my life once and for all, 15 years ago now. There was a lapse during the first year, which I think was a final realisation that I no longer needed to do it, but since then, the memories on the whole are a whole heap better. Mainly (I think) because Jesus dealt with my pain when I came to Him, he forgave me and enabled me to forgive others and myself. And also made me able to face the stuff, rather than escape it.

When I remember all this, it is tempting to think, shut it down, it’s bad! but it’s good really. It can be good to allow the memories sometimes, rather than shut them down. Sometimes you need to remember. I think it depends on the situation. It really makes me see what it is that God does. He really has changed me and He can change you. Not into someone else, but into you that you were made to be, the you, you would have been in Eden, had the first humans not succumbed to sin. Don’t get me wrong, it is still hard sometimes, sometimes it’s harder, because you may get more of a sense of right and wrong and your pre conceived ideas and beliefs will be challenged. People still get tempted to sin and still often do. But the difference is, when you know Christ, the bible says you are now a slave to righteousness, not sin. It swaps around. And I’ve found the greatest battles against stuff we want to do that isn’t right, yield the greatest results and providing you throw yourself on Jesus, and decide to say yes to him and no to the sin, we get to know Him more. And even in the process, where we might at first be sinning, He still never leaves and then it all changes.

I’d better go now, I’m not sure I’m making sense anymore. It’s very late! congratulations on getting through the whole thing :D. Sorry about the lack of bible references, I could’ve put a fair few in, I’ve literally just sat down and written and written.

Good bye, farewell, speak soon :D.

Cathy.

P.S. I am not currently going on Facebook, so apologies for any lack of response. But I have to say, I’m enjoying life a lot better this week for the lack of the social media. But I am still blogging… obviously….durr.

Well, since the last post, I’ve processed the broiler chickens, we ended up with ten of them, and they’re now in the freezer. The other chicks have gone into a pen outside. So we’ve got our greenhouse back. Yay! And I’ve been happily growing away and planting. So we’ve got the tomatoes and cucumbers in, I’ve also had to put onions and beetroot inside because I’ve run out of room in the beds outside. Onions probably aren’t ideal in there, but I’m hoping they’ll be ok. Outside, so far, there’s peas, beans, garlic, spinach, some onions, and I’ve planted some salad stuff that hasn’t yet germinated. It’s been warmer than last year, but a lot wetter, so outdoor weeding and sorting beds etc has been a bit of a challenge. I still need to get a lot done, what I call the strawberry bed is almost waist high grass. Hopefully I’ll manage it this week, it’s supposed to be dry. Chris said the bed isn’t salvageable, but I say it is! I might be eating my words later this week. I’m still sorting the flower beds on the front as well, I need to plant my sweet peas. One side is in, the other, not yet. You seriously sink in if you stand on the soil at the moment. But as we say from Derbyshire ‘it’ll be rate’.

It seems to have turned into tick season, seriously, they seem to be everywhere! I know we did have them in Derbyshire, but I never had to extract them off animals and children when I was there. I think over the last two weeks, I’ve extracted 5 or so off the dog, one off one of my children and another off the cat. In fact, I took the dog to the vets lasts week for his vaccinations and whilst we were sat in the waiting room, I stroked his neck and a massively fat tick rolled off him (I had checked him before we went too). bleeurgh. I now keep tick tweezers on my key ring and am vigilantly checking everyone all the time. In fact, one of my sons has a small dark mole on his arm and I was absolutely positive the other night that it was a tick and was about to try and extract it. It was only his impassioned pleading that stopped me and I said I’d check again in the morning. It is indeed a mole. Listen to your children. 😀

I’ve ordered some goose eggs to hatch, they’re from Embden geese. I’m not sure how they’ll do, by all accounts they’re not as easy to hatch as chickens, but we’re going to try our best. One of the reasonings, is that they eat grass, and sound the alarm if foxes etc are around and that is always a good thing. I also love trying new things, so here we go. I have got a broody hen at the moment, but unless another one goes broody, I think I’m going to use the incubator because the one that is broody at the moment is horrible if you try and touch her and pecks you very hard if you try to move her. According to what I read, if I put goose eggs under her, I’ll still have to help her to turn them 2-3 times a day and I am most definitely not up for fighting with a chicken 2-3 times a day for 30 odd days. So incubator it is.

There’s probably a lot more I could say, but I’ll leave it there for now, it is very beautiful at the moment. One of the amazing things about Ireland is that no matter what you do to the land, it greens over really quickly. Not so good when you are attempting to make a planted garden, but good in general. And in the spring, when the sun is shining, and the gorse and the primroses and the hawthorn are out, and everything is growing, it is exceedingly beautiful. So, thankyou God!

See you soon.

Cathy.

It’s been a funny week. It has been one of those where you know you feel like you’ve never stopped doing stuff, but you’re not quite sure what stuff and you haven’t done some of the stuff that you really should be doing and nothing actually looks much different to how it did at the start of the week.

It hasn’t helped that it’s been raining a lot. We had a beautiful day yesterday (and Chris was off, which made it even better), we went to Lough Key for the first time in ages. It was lovely.

But, apart from that day, it has seemed to rain and rain and rain and rain and rain. It is actually dangerous to cross the winter chicken pen at the moment, I had to use a spade as a walking stick this morning, haha. Maybe not dangerous, but very, very muddy and very, very slippy. And the way up to the greenhouse, where the broiler chickens are, is really boggy and wet. My short boots were leaking this morning, so, despite having made an oath not to complain today, I was walking about with soaking wet, muddy feet, doing all the jobs this morning, carrying water and feed and eggs and being mobbed by chickens, muttering under my breath and stomping and feeling sorry for myself. Wondering why on earth I/we thought this was a good idea, why on earth we’d moved here and why the actual @!#~ was it a good idea to have all these chickens and a place that needed so much work!!!! etc etc etc……… And yes, I know it is still early in the year and it may get better and all that.

But then, as life happens, particularly with God, a couple of encounters with people, prompted me to change my mind and chill a little and say thankyou for this life. It is good. It is busy and I think maybe I need to look at what is important and necessary and what isn’t. Otherwise I may collapse beating the floor with my fists and frothing at the mouth at some point. But, yes, it is good in most ways.

I also carved a very little spoon this afternoon, it isn’t brilliant, I haven’t finished it yet, I haven’t got all the right tools yet either, but I really enjoyed it and it is ok for a first one. I have joined a group on facebook to do with carving spoons and I’ve watched a couple of youtube videos, so I got a small piece of kindling and decided to try it. Watch this space, I could get into this wood carving/whittling business! Possible new obsession.

We have also finally planted some seeds, we’re a little late, but better late than never as they say. Looking forward to them sprouting.

Good night. I’d better put the kids to bed, it’s getting late.

I think we need a holiday, as a friend said to me recently.

Thankyou for reading!

Cathy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Warning: mentions getting chickens for meat purposes. Nothing explicit though…

So hello! It is raining and pouring again, the ground is as soggy as soggy can be. But we’re all doing ok. Doing our thing, home educating, doing our jobs, playing, watching Star Wars films… that sort of thing. I’ve been unwell for a couple of weeks, but I’m just starting to feel more like myself again and with a bit of energy. So I am very glad about that!

We went to pick up some broiler chicks yesterday, we got given 12, which is actually 2 more than I ordered (bonus!). The company we used are called Freeway Poultry, you order your chickens online and there are various drop off points throughout Ireland and you go and meet the van and they give you your chickens. I cannot fault them, they’ve been brilliant. When I was meant to pick the chicks up originally a couple of weeks ago, our car was broken and I couldn’t make it, so they said that it was absolutely fine and saved me the chicks and contacted me again with another date (which was yesterday).

The chicks themselves, they’re a breed called Ross, and they’ve been a bit of an education already, they’re only about two or so weeks old and just about fully feathered already and quite large. They don’t really need extra heat either. I’m used to everyday chickens which are on heat until around 5/6 weeks and not feathered until then either. So I guess I can now see why they are processed at around 8-10 weeks old and no older. They’ve gone straight into a pen in the greenhouse, rather than the house, with a deep bed of shavings and straw for them. It was a bit odd when I was collecting them because a few people were around and started being a bit coo coo over them and asking what breed they were. So it felt rather awkward saying they’re broilers … Still, we eat meat and it will be an experience to rear and process our own chickens for this, our first meat birds. All the others have been duel purpose (as in used for meat and eggs) and I’ve only done it because of them being roosters. These are different and it will be good to know how they’ve been brought up i.e. by ourselves.

So there’s a brief update. Will write more soon.

Cathy.

So, during the past couple of weeks, the car broke down with me and the kids in it. Chris was not sure if he was going to be able to repair it (he’s usually quite positive he can), so I was contemplating a future where we didn’t have a car. But! He has mended it, and in doing so, corrected a problem we’ve had with the jeep since we got it. So bonus. So we’ve now got a smoothly running jeep, hurrah! 😀

Because we couldn’t get out to the shops again, apart from Chris going on the motorbike. I started baking more again. Did loads of bread, biscuits, meringues. I really enjoyed it and have ordered a load of flour that was delivered within a day of ordering it. Amazing service from https://www.riotrye.ie/

We’ve had five more chicks hatch, it’s the cuckoo maran/copper maran mix chicks, they’re very little at the moment and very nice. J is constantly walking around attached to either a little chick, a big chick, or a guinea pig. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, the kids now have guinea pigs as pets and I can safely say they will be the tamest guinea pigs in the world… J and I (our two boys) also decided, after watching a program about pets, that they want a parrot… (they can dream on).

The bigger chicks, the lone one we hatched and the six silkie/goldtop mix are going out into the greenhouse during the day at the moment, with a view to them going out permanently in a couple of weeks and ten broiler chicks that I’ve ordered, will be going into their cage in the house, for a little while. It’s really cold this week, hence, not even contemplating leaving them out at night at the moment. They’re still using the heat occasionally at night.

It’s been a lot drier over the past week or so, so I’ve started sorting the front garden out. I’ve decided to halve the area that we plant up and weed. I can’t cope with the full area, half seems to be much more manageable, so I’m in the process of removing the grass and rushes that have grown there and extracting them from the actual plants. I can’t believe how much I’ve ached from doing the gardening! I need to get fitter, definitely. It’s nearly time for planting seeds, I know some have started already, it’s very exciting.

The boys and I have been into Carrick on Shannon this morning, we needed to get new tyres and so we ventured to the shops while we were waiting. There’s an escalator in one of the shops. The boys have never, to their memory, been on an escalator and seemed to view it on a level with Alton Towers. J was fine and went up a few times and was very excited about it. I went up twice with I and then said I wasn’t doing it again, so ‘I’ tried to go up himself, wasn’t very confident, sank to the floor whilst on the escalator, leaning backwards (lying down), and nearly fell down it. I had to jump on and drag him upwards whilst holding him on with my legs. It didn’t phase him. At all. It was quite funny’ in a ‘what are you doing?! type of way.

One more thing, some people were out lamping the other night and until I realised what they were doing, they terrified me. Picture the scene, I’ve finished the jobs, put the kids to bed, sat down on the settee whilst Chris was having his bath, started reading a book on the kindle… then ‘bang, bang, bang, bang!’ (fairly close by) and I’m like ‘that’s a gun!’ Chris hadn’t heard anything and carried on relaxing in the bath and I’m sneaking around the house in the pitch black with a torch, peering out, getting into ‘you hurt my family and I’ll get you’ mode. Until I realised what was actually happening. Then I was like, oh, ok. Nobody is closing in on the house. 😀

We went on a local walk yesterday morning, it was so nice, it really is stunning around here. Here’s a couple of pictures and goodbye for now!

Cathy.

Hello! I’ve just been looking back at the last few blogs, thinking about updates. The eggs I had in the incubator (chicken) were not particularly successful, one hatched, 2 died in their shells, 9 didn’t develop at all (they probably weren’t fertilised). So we ended up with one chick, that was constantly chirping because there were no other chicks with him/her. Much as I loved playing mama hen (and I really did), having it under my chin and constantly with me, it was a bit much. So, I put a few requests out on various facebook chicken groups for day old chicks and got a message that a lady who lived a couple of hours or so away had some, but that I could meet her brother somewhere nearer if that would work. So we’ve now got 6 silkie/goldtop chicks and they are really strong and absolutely gorgeous. The lone chick is part of their little gang now as well, and all is well. J (eldest boy) is really good with them, they tend to stay really calm and with him when he gets them out. I’ve never had any type of silkie hens before, they have feathered legs and feet! So they’ll be interesting as they get older.

This one is now 1 1/2 weeks old.

I have put a few of my own eggs in the incubator now, and I will candle them on Saturday/Sunday to see if they are developing. If they hatch, they will be cuckoo maran/copper maran mix. The ovascope arrived and I used it last time, it is so good. It’s a bit like a microscope in looks, you put a strong light in at the bottom, switch it on, stand an egg with the broad side up on the stand, cover it with the plastic cover and then peer in and you can turn it around, it’s really cool. So it’s easier to tell if the eggs are developing and discard any that are not.

I’ve dug a channel down the middle of the big chicken run (the winter one) today, it is so wet, you sink into it as you are walking across it, it’s what you would call slushy if you’re being kind. There was a definite area where you could see the water travelling across, so I’ve dug a narrow trench today, in the hope that it will help with the drainage. I’m looking forward to getting them back on the field soon, but there’s still a bird flu lockdown thing going on, and, we haven’t got any coops that are big enough yet. We had to get rid of one of the coops we used last year. We’re planning on converting a couple of IBC tanks, just have to get them.

It only looks small, but it was quite hard work! and yes, that is a cot, I converted it to house some quail the other year, it needs a do over! The patch of grass where it’s been is brilliant :D.

We installed the rollaway nest boxes a week or so ago, and they’re so good! They keep the eggs fairly clean and stop them being eaten. Chris welded up a stand for them to be hooked up to, rather than fastening them onto the side of the shed and it works really well. I’ve just started putting eggs out again to sell, as the hens are starting to come into lay again and there’s too many for just us. Made our first sale of the year today, thankyou!

There’s so much happened in just a few weeks. We got guinea pigs for the boys, they love them.

We met some other home educators for the first time. We haven’t met many up to now, but we organised a get together and it was good. There’s another one coming up soon.

It’s been a bit milder, so the boys have been playing out more and running about on the field with the dog and I’ve started to get some of the spring jobs done, like weeding and trying to sort the flower and veg beds out. There’s a long way to go yet haha. That’s one of the smaller beds, down below, a strawberry one that I need to finish off.

I need to get the ducks back out of the greenhouse and out on the field again, they’re making the inside of the tunnel too wet. The soil is turning green, even where they aren’t! I’d like to get them an enclosed coop and run sorted too, but that’s probably asking a bit too much for now.

It is so good to hear the birds singing and see the days lengthening. Amidst the chaos of the world, these things are really good and important to me. To stand still, and breath in and out and listen and just be wherever you are, for a while, is immense.

God is good.

If anyone needs prayer, feel free to ask.

See you soon!

Cathy.

Hello and welcome! I’m pretty sure that was some sort of tv host’s catchphrase when I was growing up, but I can’t remember who and I can’t be bothered to google it at the moment.

It’s Sunday! (obviously). It’s a good day, today, Chris is off work, and both he and I have jobs to do outside, which I really like. It feels like it’s what it’s meant to be like, being here. Chris actually has numerous things to do, I need to completely blast one of our chicken coops with the pressure washer, put it in the greenhouse to dry and then once it’s dry, next week or something, I need to creosote it.

Chris is mending his motorbike, and hopefully putting my new nestboxes up in the chicken shed. I got some rollaway ones, which basically means the eggs roll down into a covered area and the chickens can’t eat them (if they’re into that) and other predators, like crows, can’t get at them either. Hopefully, anyway. Chris has been waiting for some bike parts and now they’ve come, he’s putting the bike back together. Which he is very excited about and so am I. I’m getting a bit stir crazy again, with being in the house for what seems like weeks. (Chris has had to use the jeep for work). But it will come to an end and that end is sight. I love being here, at home, I really do, it’s basically like having a job, looking after this place and the kids. I love the homesteader aspect, and the fact that I’m in a position to be able to do this! It is awesome. but I’m now not keen on being here non stop for weeks. It’s good to be able to get out sometimes.

It’s funny, like I’ve said before, Chris adjusted really well to moving here and I struggled a bit more. But I’ve realised now, that I’m actually starting to really like it here and don’t want to leave. It’s pretty amazing really. I really struggled with grief when we were first here, but it wasn’t really just grief for my dad, it was grief about leaving, guilt about not being there, questioning whether it was the right place and whether we’d just been selfish. And at certain times, it’s been massively overwhelming. I’ve also realised that until recently, I haven’t really been myself, the grief closed me off, made me brittle and low. It affected my energy levels and just me in general. I feel like I’ve really started to come out of that over the last six ish months. After I did the blog on grief and was honest about how I’d felt, I actually started to feel much better, and I’m sure in part it was due to certain individuals who messaged and helped, as well as the fact I’d been honest. So I’m sorry for dumping it all out in a blog, but it did help! Thank you for the messages and prayers.

Like I said, I’m starting to see the beauty again. And not feel so shut off, or feel I’ve got to shut people out. It’s good. I really do believe that sometimes we need to go through this stuff in order to get to the right place. And life can be so up and down, especially if we look at what is happening all over. But, as these words say ‘my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly trust in Jesus name’. All is actually well, whether we feel it or not. That line is actually from a hymn I’ve just found out! I never knew that. I thought it was a fairly modern worship song. It’s a great one. It was by someone called Edward Mote. My hope is built on nothing less. Look at the words, they really are great and true.

Anyway, Happy Sunday indeed! Enjoy, whatever you are doing.

Love, Cathy.

God is God and you are not. That is one of my favourite sayings from one of my favourite people. My husband to be precise. And it is very true.

This is just a quick one, I just want to say, Christians! There is no need to feel defeated, no need to think you have to speed on out there with a perfectly prepared testimony, that you have right, word for word, and God forbid anyone should interrupt you mid flow. This is my opinion. But I think it’s a good one. Live your life where you are. Where you live. With the people you know and the people God brings you into contact with. Know your story, and know that it’s real, no one can take it from you. Whatever your story is, it is good. Be natural. Live, with Jesus. Look at Him and Holy Spirit will direct you. You don’t need to be an all guns blazing, gotta tell everyone type person. Some people are, some people aren’t. If you want to be, ask Him. In your daily life, God will work through everything if you submit to Him and sometimes when you don’t, and people will see Him and either not want to know, or want to know more. This can be gradual, or sudden. Not down to us. Just keep your ears open and your love on, but be honest, flattery for the sake of it is never pretty, not to me anyway. Never try for the sake of trying. If love is not involved, I would say stop, and get your love back on with Jesus. we all have times in our lives when we need quietness and refilling, it’s not all about frantically telling people. Be prepared to be direct, when it’s required. But above all else, just be there. Be the you God has made you to be. Embrace God, love others.

Lecture over.

amen. 😀

I’ve just looked at the last blog and realised it’s just over a month since I last wrote. I tend to do things like that in general, go for it big time and then leave it for a while. Seems to be a trait of mine. So there were quite a few and then not much. But hello! and welcome again.

Quite a bit has happened in some ways over the past month. Not so much in our family, but around and about, with people we know, with friends. Things in their lives. Like I’ve said before, I don’t tend to write about people, not in a recognisable way, unless I have their express permission. But it is fair to say that God works in us and through us and also just sovereignly in people’s lives. He is amazing. He listens to prayers and He sustains us and brings people to Him. Sorry to be cryptic, there’s a lot I’d really love to write about, but I need to think about it and how to put it and whether I do actually want to share it. So onwards!

Since Christmas, we’ve had rain piling down, then it froze and snowed, which was brilliant, I love snow.

It’s gone again now and is just boggy and wet again. It is Ireland though, so to be expected. The photo below was a couple of days ago. All snow gone. Still beautiful though.

In smallholding news, I ordered some chicken hatching eggs and put them in the incubator about ten days ago. Unfortunately, it isn’t looking that hopeful at the moment, for a hatch. I’ve already had to discard five eggs (out of twelve) as they had no development at all and the others aren’t that clear to see (when candling, which is putting a bright light against the egg and seeing what’s inside), I’ve ordered something called an ovascope, in the name of home education (not so I can have a fancy gadget at all, haha), and I’ll hopefully get to have a better look through that. I put 6 of our duck eggs in a different incubator, but it turns out they aren’t actually fertile, so I’ve discarded those too. It is a little early in the year to be honest, I was just a bit impatient to get going! Even if this hatch rate is not good, we will be trying again later in the year. Probably in a month or so. I’d actually like to try hatching muscovy ducks rather than Khaki Campbell, so I might try and search some out in the next month or so.

Chris has been waiting for some parts for his bike again, so we’ve been at home again, but it’s probably for the best that he’s had the car, because of the weather. It’s been nice actually, to relax after Christmas and New Year and ease gradually into the year. We’ve started back up with the home education in the last week or two, and are finding our way again with that. The subject of Egypt is currently on the menu amongst other things, and on a different subject, the book ‘now we are six’ by AA Milne has just arrived today. I’ve never actually read it before and I’ve started reading it and it is lovely. The boys think it is funny as well, which actually is a massive surprise to me. I thought they’d be sighing and making faces when I was reading, but they weren’t! They do want to listen to the audio version though, so I might oblige with that. I’ve also bought a Kindergarten type curriculum by a company called Masterbooks, which I’m following loosely, and I’ve found it’s actually been really good so far and it’s very adaptable to use with our older boy J in some ways as well.

I can’t wait to get out in that garden and start on it, I’ve got a load of seeds in our new seed tin that my sister in law got us for Christmas.

I need to do a bit of planning. I’ve got a couple of different things this year, such as cape gooseberry and quinoa seeds, as well as the usual suspects. I have no idea whether they will work here, or whether I can find the room for everything. But I figure I’m going to try! The garden needs weeding really, really badly, but it’s still massively squishy, so I’ll leave it a bit longer, but I’m itching to get at it now. Have a little more get up and go than I remember having last year. Which is great!

I’ll leave it there for now, there is actually loads I could talk about, but it would probably fill pages and for a blog, that probably isn’t a good idea! So if anyone would like to me write about anything in particular or expand on any areas to do with our lives, any part of them really, or where we live, or our journey, or faith or anything. Feel free to comment.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

Cathy.