BTW....

in case you were wondering, my friends at WR&A, here is the beautiful cherry tree planted in our orchard and doing great...lots of bright red, little cherries! Thanks to my wonderful friends at WR&A...

Okay, the wind is in my favor today....

so I'm going to attempt a few more pics before my internet luck runs out!

The farm....ain't she beautiful?!

The early morning view from the porch:

Eric and the boys at the pond, an evening ritual:

Our future homesite overlooking the mountains:

Our woodshed, the first building on ATG:

...And a close-up!

Our second building (from an "artistic" view thru the grass!)

A view of ATG's pasture:

We thank God everyday for His creation and beauty, and are so grateful to Him for the opportunity to be in this quiet, beautiful place. We wish you all could be here with us!
Thanks for letting us share....

Our chicks arrived!

And they are soooo cute! We have 25 tiny Buff Orpingtons and 1 exotic that they threw in for good measure (we have NO idea what she is, but she is taller, darker with pretty markings, and leapy! Oh, and she has furry legs, whereas the Orps don't):

The chicks arrival!

Looky what's inside!

The brooder, pre-chicks:

Now, all the chicks (and soon all their poop!):

And a very interested party!

They are so cute, and just when you think they've all died (cuz they all lay down and it looks like a patch of buff-colored carpet!), they all pop their little heads up and start peeping! The boys are so excited... as is Sam the cat!

It's hard to look at these tiny, cute fur balls and know that some of them will be chicken parmesan!

Be patient with our posts as we have had a HORRIBLE time getting consistent internet connection (go figure, up on this mountain!) We miss everyone! Thanks for following us!

Help!

We need someone to post a comment to one of our posts to see if anyone can do it... we haven't heard from anyone and feel like we're talking to no one! Please comment so we can see if anyone's checking the site or can comment... thanks!

Blogging LIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From ATG

Leon this post is just for you! Actually we get the best reception from here.

A day of rest?!

So, it's Sunday, a day of rest, but we are preparing for the chicks arrival, which is either tomorrow or Tuesday. We are so excited! I haven't been able to help Eric much lately because of my finger...new picture of my "frankenfinger":

I'll post pics of the brooder and the chicks next... wish us luck, and pray for the chicks safe arrival!

My First Official post Since Leaving Virginia....

and it has taken me this long because the 3G isn't working as well as we'd hoped! But we are there, and so far are loving it!  Gosh, where to begin.... well, for the first couple of days, Eric has been building a second storage shed so we will actually have someplace to put all our stuff!  So now we will have 2 buildings for storage (so far!). I have been inside the house furiously cleaning and re-organizing to blend some of our things with what's there... not an easy chore, because I don't want to look like we're taking over.  But we have got alot of stuff... how does a family of four accumulate so much????

Anyway, the boys have had so much fun hanging out and exploring....  we left the "hill" the other day to go into town to meet my sister-in-law and kids to go to her friends farm to pick blueberries.  This is a BEAUTIFUL farm that sits on rolling acres, and is a u-pick.  The owners are also homeschoolers, so my SIL thought it was also a good way to meet fellow, veteran homeschoolers, since this was an event just for the homeschoolers of the area, before the official season opens this weekend.  How nice of him, and so very generous!  We got the most delicious blueberries (10 lbs.) and had a ball!  The people we met were so very welcoming and warm.  Eric and I felt at home and look forward to getting to know this group more.  The boys made some new friends, which was the main reason we went.

Which brings us to the present... Eric and I are in Richmond to get the big Budget truck and empty out the storage unit.  Things were great (although we had left a breezy 79 degrees to come to a balmy, muggy 105 degree storage unit!  And you wonder why we left the Richmond summers?!) until we had the LAST box of the evening, and I had a minor accident... the box was soooo heavy and I was JUST about to tell Eric not to drop the one corner, but before I finished the sentence, he dropped it on my right hand, which hurt so bad that, without thinking, I yanked my hand out, felt tremendous pain and saw a good deal of blood.  Turned out, I had totally cut open the knuckle of my ring finger on a nail head that was on the loading dock, between my hand and the box!  So Eric and spent the next 3 hours in Patient First getting me 8 stitches around my knuckle, between the ring finger and my pinky....

So this post is taking me forever to type!  And we have a friend who came to the rescue to help Eric get the remainder of our stuff out of the storage unit today, and another friend who is helping at the receiving end in West Virginia.... a HUGE thank you to both of them for helping us out of a jam!

So now we are on our way back to WV today, where we await chicks, due to arrive beginning of next week, and get to swim in the pond every afternoon (well, not me... at least for a couple of weeks!) in the beautiful mountains....

We miss everyone....

Some before pics...

These are just some pics that Eric and I have taken from last fall, when we built our woodshed:

First things first...

We have done our first farming-thing and ordered chicks!  We should be receiving 25 female Buff Orpington chicks, peeping in a box, at the post office in a couple weeks.  The boys are so excited, let's just hope Sam the cat isn't as excited!  These little ones will be layers AND food for the table....

Homeschooling Convention...

Okay, so the next step in our journey is to get prepared for homeschooling.  No small feat, let me tell you.  Eric and I attended the homeschooling convention (HEAV) here in Richmond this past weekend.... wow! It is a HUGE event, with people from all over attending.  It is so well organized and so full of nice people (some a little intense, ask Eric!) and the Richmond Convention Center is REALLY nice!  We attended the used curriculum fair, the workshops, and of course, the main event, the vendor booths.  The people attending were all so varied, but of like-mind, if you know what I mean.  Lots of Mennonites, lots of kids, lots of people with lots of kids, etc.. (seriously, what's up with all the denim skirts??!!)  The workshops were very informative and Eric and I had to split up to hear these because there were so many to chose from!  We learned alot... and I learned that, had I not researched ALOT and had some idea of what curriculum we are interested in before we went, I would have been in the middle of the vendors, on the floor, crying and pulling my hair out because there are soooooo many choices, and it is so overwhelming!  But we ended up getting everything we need, and feel really good about it... not to say we may end up changing things up if or when they don't work for the boys, but for now, we're good!  And, what's promising, is that as soon as the boys got back from the mountains (Bo and D were VERY good to take them for the weekend), they were so excited about their material, they immediately wanted to check it out and do timed math sheets!  What's up with that?!  I know, I know... the novelty will surely wear off... but it's a good start, don't you think?

P.S.  For those interested, we ended up with no packaged curriculum, but an eclectic mix... i.e. Singapore Math, TOP's science, The Yellow Book for language arts, Doorpost's Plants All Grown (?) bible, etc...

Welcome!

Hi folks!
As you all know, Eric and I are making the move to WV in a couple of weeks, which is a little scary but awfully exciting at the same time.  We are going to miss all of our family and friends so much, but we will be back to visit, and hope to see you all up our way soon, especially after we get settled and get our own house built.  This blog seems to be an easy way to keep in touch with everyone and let y'all know what we are up to.... so please, try not to laugh too much at our endeavors and mistakes and keep us in your prayers for success and safety!!!!

P.S.  I am TOTALLY new to this blogging thing, so be patient... I'm sure it will morph alot over time...