Allow me to introduce myself

Hi there. I'm Lynsey.

I've finally done it. I hit "new post" on this forgotten blog. It's all good though.

My lack of silence around here as been a very good thing. And also a very hard thing. The Lord has used this time to do some amazing things in my heart. Amazing! He has given me freedom in areas that were once taken captive.

Although I would love to get into the knitty gritty right off the bat, I feel like it's time we get ourselves reacquainted.

This isn't about a New Year's resolution. I sort of have a comical relationship with those and know that ultimately the Lord is in control and sovereign over everything in our lives.

The best resolution I could possibly come up with would be to abide more in Him, buckle my seat belt in the passenger's side of the vehicle, and let Him do the driving.

With this absence from blogging, I've realized how horrible I am at capturing and documenting my family's life. So, that's what this is about. A lot has changed in and around us.

Like long lost friends reuniting for a cup of coffee after months gone by, allow me to catch you up to speed with the "Top New Things....." in my life if you would be so kind as to humor this behind momma.

I was going to do "Top 10" things, but just to alleviate the pressure, we're gonna go with it and see how many I can come up with.


1. We are having our 4th precious girl!!! I'm due January 31st and we couldn't be more thrilled. See??? This is what happens when you let months go by in posting and documenting your family's lives. I've grown a baby in my tummy and she is about to be here really soon.

All I'm saying is how does the manliest of men end up with 4 girls?? I will tell you. He is an amazing daddy to our little girls. It takes a special man to be the father of girls. Jason shows them what it is like to be loved unconditionally and tenderly. And just between us, I think they each have him wrapped around their delicate, dainty little fingers.

The joy of having a 4th girl is that you have to buy basically NOTHING.

2. Homeschooling is going great this year. We are part of a community called "Classical Conversations" and we are loving every minute of it. I will have more to say about this in the future and would love to share our experience with you.

This community couldn't have came at a more perfect time in my life. Being new to homeschooling is overwhelming. However, with incredible support and also the clear Christ-centered vision of this community, the road untraveled has been sweet so far.

3. The Lord has brought us through a rough season and plopped us down in a new church. The church is new to us, but several of the families have been part of our lives for years. We are so blessed to be a part of this community of believers.

4. Ruthie is walking. Well, she's been walking for a while now since the beginning of November. She has been our latest walker so far (17 m0), but she skipped the "new walker" stage and went straight to running.

Here is a progression of her new found talent.





5. Farmer Jason's sister and husband packed up their boys and moved to Haiti. I wanted to mention this so that you can be praying for their family and keeping up with their story. They are so dear to us. So, although this change isn't directly in our lives, we love and care for them deeply. Their journey has inspired and humbled us. It's put various things into a much different perspective.

Our summer was spent surrounded by them out on the farm. And now our Christmas break has been spent much the same. Sweet cousins playing, sister in laws laughing, good food, late night talks, sitting by the fire, and (oh yes) recovering from a whole slew of illnesses.

In just a few short days, they will return to Haiti again staring situations and people in the face that I can't even wrap my brain around most days and can only see in pictures on the news.

Go subscribe to their blog...that's assuming that you already aren't a reader and fan along with the bazillion other people who are.

6. Cloth diapers....I quit them. But, I need to un-quit them because I really do love them. Ruthie received a horrible ammonia burn from them because our water out here on the farm is super hard (even with a softener). They weren't getting rinsed out completely even after 2 or 3 cycles in the washing machine. So, I'm trying to figure this all out since baby #4 is on the way and I will have 2 in diapers again.

Anyone out there with hard water and use cloth diapers??

7. I've updated on sweet Ruthie but not the older girls. Really, Kaylyn and Laney Rae are just getting sweeter and sweeter. We, of course, still have our moments, but I love my girls!


Laney Rae is quite the character still. She is full of joy. You never ever know what she is going to say. Be ready for hilarious Laney Rae stories in the near future.


Kaylyn is learning and maturing so much. She has definitely embraced the role of eldest daughter and lead sister. Kaylyn is so helpful. She is showing sweet fruit in her life and loves to sit and read her bible. I catch her often throughout the day with her bible trying to figure out words.

8. The Farm.....it's growing! There are lots of new things happening around and on the farm. Expect lots of updates on that in the near future too.

I'll leave you with some more updated pictures of the girls. Thanks for dropping by! I hope we can continue this long-lost relationship.

Liquid Sunshine

I know the health posts on this blog are few and far between around here. Or really any posts for that matter. We have lots going on these days.

Honestly, I’m sort of “over” the internet right now and over blogging. I want to push through this phase because I know what is written here on this blog helps document our family’s life and has also been (hopefully) used for good.

After I heard feedback and stories from women who tried the OCM (Oil Cleansing Method) and saw amazing results, I was encouraged. The stories are still coming in.

Who knew something as simple as slathering your face with a bunch of oil that smells good could be so beneficial to our skin?

I love hearing stories of natural methods helping people and taking the things the Lord created to bring healing.

Enter Chlorophyll.

We had a customer out to the farm a few weeks ago who has struggled with severe anemia. And to top it all off, she is a mom of 8 kids. Not a good combination. I think anyone would need a nap after feeding that many kiddos.

She did some research and talked to her natural doctor. Her findings and doctor’s recommendation led her to try Chlorophyll.

She noticed an increase in energy very quickly and overall felt much better. I didn’t get into great detail with her, but as with most things I wanted to look more into this.

Energy??? I could use a little bit of energy myself. I’m all about that.

I happened to have some on-hand- I used it to treat an illness that Jason had came down with a while back (colitis). But, I had never thought about taking it for myself.

The things I read about Chlorophyll made me want to try it for myself. In my research, I’ve learned that this is an all around good supplement.

Here is a quote from this site:

“Chlorophyll is miraculous. It has SO MANY health benefits it makes it a true wonder-food. However, the most marvelous and amazing benefit it gives comes from the fact that its molecular structure is absolutely identical to hemoglobin except for the center atom. In hemoglobin this is iron, whereas in chlorophyll it is magnesium. This means that when ingested, chlorophyll actually helps to do the job of hemoglobin (hemoglobin is so vital to the health of our blood – in fact, blood is approx 75% hemoglobin). It helps to rebuild and replenish our red blood cells, boosting our energy and increasing our wellbeing almost instantly.”

Here are some other claims that come with using Chlorophyll as a supplement:

• Help cleanse your blood
• Aids in digestion
• Increases oxygen in your body
• Removes heavy metals from your body
• Helps balance your pH levels
• Detoxifies your liver
• Anti Carcinogenic

As with anything, I encourage you to do some research before you decide to take this supplement.

I will most definitely continue to make this a regular part of my diet. I use the liquid form of Chlorophyll. Within a few days, I noticed an amazing increase in energy. So much so, that when I "thought" I wanted to take a nap, I could fall asleep. I've struggled in the past with digestive issues and this seems to be helping things move in the right direction also. Overall, I feel better.

I would recommend drinking this in the morning. I've heard from a few others that this has been known to keep them awake at night- which the hubbies might seem to like. Just sayin'.

There are a variety of Chlorophyll brands out there. I chose THIS one solely based on taste. The reviews all said that it was the best tasting one. A lot of the brands claim to be "tasteless". I refer to this as my "cup of fresh". It is indeed refreshing for sure!

You can also receive chlorophyll from eating RAW veggies including parsley, broccoli, brussell sprouts, and Spinach among a whole host of green vegetables.

From my understanding, Chlorella is referring to chlorophyll found in algae. Chlorophyll is simply the green pigment found in both plants and algae. So Chlorella is a specific type of chlorophyll; algae-based. Both are extremely beneficial to our health. I have found Chlorella to be very expensive and so I chose to use a liquid form of Chlorophyll instead.

You can view some articles on NaturalNews.com HERE pertaining to chlorophyll.

HERE is another article on The World's Healthiest Foods website.

Disclaimer::::: I am not a doctor. The things I speak about on this blog regarding health are things that I have personally benefited from using. This information is supposed to be used to inspire and motivate. And should not be taken as medical advice. The methods discussed here have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Summer Lovin'....some favs

I love summer. Let it be known that I don't love 110+ degree heat though.

So far, our summer has kicked off pretty awesomely.

I shot these photos of the girls playing with their new wagon a few days ago. They were sitting in the middle of the yard eating strawberries by the carton when the sprinklers came on.

This turned into instant fun and much laughter. I stopped what I was doing and grabbed the camera to capture it all. Such a fun unexpected moment. One minute you are sitting in a wagon in the blazing heat eating strawberries. The next minute you are drenched from head to toe leaping over sprinkler heads- clothes and all.









Summer lovin'.

Speaking of summer lovin'. Here are some things I'm majorly loving these days (in no particular order):

- Doing 5 LOADS of laundry and not folding ONE pair of socks. I'm loving our laundry in general- pool towels and bathing suits.

- Jason's sister and her sweet crew are here for the whole summer- really loving that! There are 7 children on this farm so needless to say they are all plumb exhausted at the end of the day. They are leaving to be missionaries in Haiti beginning in August. The Lord has totally moved in this situation and has done amazing (Would you expect any less??) things during their journey. Follow their story by clicking on the link above to go to their blog. You will be blessed!

- I'm also really loving Chlorophyll....a.k.a. Liquid Sunshine, as my friend Mandi referred to it as. It's the truth. I think it deserves its own post so that is in the works. I've seen amazing results in just 2 weeks of adding this to my diet.

- Earth Balls. You must make these. They are so addicting and really good for you. The recipe is really flexible. The possibilities are endless! This is a good treat or snack to take with you or have on hand. They are pretty rich so you can eat two at a time and feel like you just had a real treat. They also go well with a glass of raw milk!

(loosely adapted from the Whole Foods cookbook)

1 cup organic peanut butter
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup (I've used both of these)
2 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup hemp hearts (you can substitute sunflower seeds or chia seeds)

Mix the peanut butter, maple syrup or honey, and cocoa powder together. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer. Stir in raisins and 1/2 of the coconut . Put this batter in the fridge for about an hour until chilled. In a separate bowl mix the coconut and hemp seeds together. Get the batter out of the fridge. Roll the batter into small balls. Then roll the balls into the coconut and hemp seeds. Keep chilled until you serve it.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Ruthie:::: ONE year

Wow. How does a month go by so quickly??

Or rather, how does a whole year go by this quickly??

My baby, Ruthie Claire, is ONE today.

This is just crazy. I can still smell the hospital room where I held her for the very first time.

I was smitten over this baby from the moment I laid eyes on her.

She is summed up in one word; sweet.

Ruthie Claire,

We love you so very much. I could hold you in my arms forever- and you'd let me.

You have taught me how to slow down and enjoy each moment.


You have 3 mommas- bless your little heart. That explains why you aren't walking yet. You get around just fine doing your commando crawling; no worries there. And I'm perfectly fine with not rushing things. I want you to be the baby as long as you can be. And your other 2 mommas "oooohhhh" and "aaaahhhh" over you all day long. It's pretty special for this momma to watch.

I pray that Jesus would capture your heart at an early age and that you'd fall deeply in love with Him and His unfailing Word.

Happy Birthday my love.
Momma

Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)::::

I've been doing an experiment some months and I've been loving the results so far!

I have a very dear-to-my-heart friend, Mandi. Go check out her blog...you will learn cool crunchy hippy things.

Mandi is a kindred spirit. She also has glowing, radiant, beautiful skin- and striking green eyes (but that is besides the point...back to the skin).

Upon one of our many conversations- me learning and she enlightening me- I asked her what she "washed" her face with.

Much to my surprise, she told me about how she cleanses her face with oil. Gasp!

Instantly my brain thinks through how this would NOT work for me because I have oily acne-prone skin. I would be committing skin suicide if I put oil on my skin, right???

I had bought "oil-free" everything my whole entire life per the costly dermatologists requests.

There lies the problem.

For the majority of my life since I've been old enough to have pimples and bad skin (which most likely dates back to the ripe ole' age of 7.......not really, I tend to exagerate. It just seems that long.) I've struggled with skin issues.

I won't deny that a lot of my skin issues in the past have been hormonally related (PCOS), dietary related (the SAD diet), and an imbalance of good vs. bad bacteria in my stomach.

That whole statement above really irks me! What is the first thing a dermatologist prescribes for someone with acne?

Birth control and antibiotics??? Ding, ding, ding! That's right! And then they tell you to lay off the chocolate. Much to my surprise, chocolate was the least of my worries.

Well, I don't know that a dermo can technically "prescribe" birth control, but I know it was suggested that I use it to help with my acne and so I went to the "other" doctor to get on the pill- who highly recommended the pill for acne. Do you see the cycle?

Okay...I need to focus. I can't get into all of that right now because I don't want to bore you to tears with a reaction chain of all-things-wrong.

We're about solutions around here.

A large part of my problem has been what I've put on my skin on a daily basis.

From the www.oilcleansingmethod.com:

"The reasons we have so much trouble with mainstream skin care products are numerous, but two reasons, in particular, lead the pack. These products strip the oil out of our skin, leaving our largest organ trying to repair itself by replacing the oil stripped away. This leaves us in a cycle of being tight and dry followed by the inevitable oil slick. Each time we strip the oil away, our skin over-compensates for the lack of moisture by creating more oil. On top of the drying effects, these products are highly-scented. Fragrance is one of the top skin irritants and strangely enough, even the so-called "unscented" products usually contain fragrance. See for yourself and check the labels. Dry, irritated skin replaced by oily skin, inflamed and trapping debris."

After talking to Mandi and reading that paragraph above, I had a light-bulb moment. I love those!

I had no idea that taking care of my skin could really be this easy.

I'm not claiming that I have perfectly spotless skin, but during "a time" when my skin is usually the worst.....it looks pretty good I must say.

And on "normal" days, my skin glows like it never has and looks better than it has in years. I do attribute this to the oil since my eating habits have mostly been on track and I've changed my cosmetics over the years.

I really noticed the most improvement when I switched to the Oil Cleansing Method.

I have normally oily skin. When I'm done oil cleansing, my skin feels balanced and soft. Not squeaky clean and not overly oily.

I've noticed a big decrease in blackheads. I can't tell you how many times I've declared war on those suckers.

I cleanse my face with oil at night to wash off my make-up. In the morning when I wake up, I just rinse my face off with water as a good refresher.

Side note.....Another light-bulb moment for me was when I realized that I was washing my face every morning after only sleeping on a newly washed face before I went to bed. How dirty can your face get sleeping??? Not very I don't think.

I will never use soap on my face again. Never! And I will never spend another dime towards expensive cleansers, moisturizers, or toners claiming to be awesome. They are not awesome.

I noticed a HUGE drastic improvement of the "feel" of my skin in just a few days of doing this.

Here is a post on The Oil Cleansing Method website with recipes and information.

Here is a post on Mandi's blog with her great recipe.

I made some modifications for my facial oil based on my skin type. I do have oily skin naturally (my momma says I'll be thankful when I'm older) so I use a little more castor oil than normally balanced skin people should use.

Some people like to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in place of the Sunflower Oil.

But, this is where I like to have a little fun.

The recipe on The Oil Cleansing Method website suggest only Castor Oil, and Sunflower Oil. I suppose you could do that. But, there isn't a whole lot of fun in that now is there?

So, like Mandi, I added Neroli and some essential oils for fragrance. Many many many essential oils are so great for the skin. At the top of the list is orange oil. Not only does it smell scrumptious, it does wonderful things to your skin.

The main thing is to keep it simple and do some experimentation on what works best for your skin.

Try and use medicinal or therapeutic grade (organic is possible) essential oils if you choose to add them.

Before you spend another dime on a bottle of "the next big thing", try going simple and back to basics of skin cleansing. I think we tend to over-complicate things in this world of ours.

Cleansing your skin can really be as simple as using two ingredients (or 4 in my case) and not a list of ingredients the length of your hand with a million words you've never heard of claiming to do things they were never intended to do in the first place.

If you give this a whirl or have used it, give me a shout out and let me know!

Ruthie and the sink bath::::: 11 months

My sweet Ruthie Claire is 11 months old today.

I still can’t believe in one month she will be ONE!

I’m really digging the sink baths after messy meals these days. It’s so easy. I seriously thought I’d never be a sink bath kind of momma (you know… because of the germs), but it sure is looking that way.

I can do dishes, clean the highchair out, sweep the floor, and bathe my baby at the same time. How efficient is that?

I give my sink a good scrub down before I put my little one in it. And before you start lecturing me about the sink being dirtier than the toilet, I’m not scared. Poop is my life.

And besides, I’ve never even understood how a sink could possibly be dirtier than the toilet.

Back to Ruthie. She is as sweet as can be in every sense of the word. Her sisters are smitten over her. Her daddy and I adore her and love to sit and talk about how wonderful she is.

She is clapping. Saying “momma” “dada” “tae tae (KK)” “ni ni (night night) “da (dog)” and “ni (no)”. Ruthie is sorta kinda crawling…..show the girl some love. She has two older siblings who do EVERYTHING for her. And she is eating everything in sight. I haven’t found one thing that she doesn’t eat. We are still nursing. But, I think she is starting to taper off big time on her feedings since she has developed an insane appetite.

Here are some sink bath photos!

Leave a comment if you’ve ever bathed your children in the sink!

Bluebonnets:::::The Keepers

Because the post below is freaking me out on a whole new level, I now bring you, "the Keepers."

Score! I love this one of all three girls.


Little Miss Ruthie....


Minus Laney Rae....she wasn't feeling this at all.


My fun one!


And THIS is totally her smile and the way I think of her.


So sweet of these two!


Watch out Little House on the Prairie. Ha!


She has got this down!


And this!




And she is just herself. No matter what.


Ruthie sitting in a suitcase.


So sweet!

Bluebonnet Bloopers::::Installment Uno

***can i just say upfront how annoyed I am with the font situation in this post??? but, since i've been working on it for 4 DAYS now, i'm surrendering to it being all out of whack.***

We live in one of the most beautiful parts of Texas this time of year.

Everything is green. Blankets of colors paint the rolling pastures.

It would only seem reasonable that I would try and capture a photo of my beauties in the bluebonnets along with the other 90 million tourists that brave the trip here.

Let me just say here that I’m honestly not a fan of bluebonnet pics. I have yet to find a way to be creative (with 3 kiddos) and not make them look entirely cheesy. I'm sure there are ways (and I've seen them), but I'm not really feeling the creative juices when I'm trying to capture just ONE picture of my girls in the bluebonnets. I'll take a "sit and smile squinty-eyed" photo any day.

I set out for what I thought might be an easy and almost nostalgic photo session. The weather was perfect. I even planned ahead and borrowed a stinkin' awesome baby carriage from THIS dear lady (thanks Aunt Berte!!!).

The girls wore the most precious smocked dresses from Aunt Debbie for Easter. I wanted to get a photo of them in their dresses in the bluebonnets with a prop. That was the goal! Seems easy enough.

Remember the Victorian Era?



Most of the children in Victorian photos are sitting stone-faced still.

I know that they didn’t have Benadryl back in the day. Honestly, how on earth did they do this?

Did they bribe them with Figgie pudding?


Did they even smile in those days? Was the goal for them NOT to smile?

“Sorry Jim Dandy. The kids smiled. We need a re-do.”

Okay sorry. That photo is now starting to depress me. I'm getting a little to carried away here.


There were three adults present- my sister and friend Robyn. Surely if a man (assuming the Victorian photographer was a man) with a big non-mobile camera hiding under a curtain can make these children all sit still, surely I can pull it off in the digital mobile age.

We were quite the sight lugging our old antiques through the pastures. We had an old baby carriage and an old suitcase. If there would have been a steamer train present, you might have confused us with regular ole' Victorian travelers about to go visit our dear Aunt Rodie to tell her that the old gray goose was dead. For sure.

At one point, we noticed that a couple photographing their dogs were having much better success than we were having.

And there were several people just taking pics of the flowers. Why didn't I think of that one?

Here is a series of photos I shot of the girls in all of their glory.

These are SOOC and required no editing. Because why even bother with that? These won’t be making the cut….that’s for sure.

The first shot: Laney Rae was extremely upset because she didn't get to hold the handle of the stroller. Off she goes.....arms crossed and everything. KK scooted over from holding the handle bar in order to make peace with Rae Rae. But, it was too late. This momma just kept shooting.

Okay, new strategy re-group. You both get to do the "pushing" from both ends. Brilliant! Let's give that a whirl. This could work.


It did in fact work well enough for one shot (you just need one), but then Laney Rae had a new idea.....


To march herself up to the foreground......


and plop herself down. She is pretty thrilled with this decision, but Kaylyn is not. Zoom in and take a look at that face.


Or this one....sheesh.



We did get some definite "keepers". I just thought this little series was funny and worth sharing. All jokes aside, my girls really were troopers. I was the doof wad that decided to have a picnic before hand to get them comfortable with their surroundings and feed them Cheetos- the bad kind- IN WHITE CLOTHING. Not smart and definite rookie bluebonnet picture mistake.

But, I had a smile on my face throughout {{mostly}}. I did say "are you kidding me??" lots of times.

I went into with the mindset that it may not workout and be the day for me to get the "perfect" bluebonnet picture of ALL three together. With children- sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

The "keepers" post coming soon!