Life has been lived here

Thankfulness. Thankful. Thanks.

Words that are often used very loosely, but mean much your soul.

Simply speaking these words mean little, but actually feeling them do something to your insides.

I've been thinking lots lately about the practice of being thankful and seeing things in a different light.

This lady just sort of does that to you. If you don't follow this blog, you should. I recently condensed my blog reading from a list of about 200 (no lie) to a list of about 25. She definitely made it in the Top 5 for sure.

My girls and I have started a "Thankful Journal." Reading what they jot down is precious and makes this momma grin.

I've been re-inspired to pick up my lens once again and take a mental picture of this beautiful life that the Lord has given me. I want to remember every single detail of this life and choose to put on thankfulness and take off the dirty old rags of ungratefulness.

A life that is filled with sharpie marker adorning the butcher block counter top,

.....Little girls stirring pots and peeling potatoes in the kitchen.

.....A baby girl holding another baby girl.

......newborn smells and tiny eyelashes.

......painting and loads (no MOUNDS) of laundry to prove that we've most certainly painted; and we laughed while doing so. I laughed at the mess!

......map pencils in the floor and sisters coloring.

.......Number 4 in mommas arms while her sweet little big toe peeks up through the seam. A sure sign that this outfit has seen better days, but has kept many a little girl warm and cozy.

.......Nap times filled with creativity with momma and the eldest.

.......Tiny sewing machines for tiny fingers and sewing the perfectly imperfect pocket all by her big self.

These are the memories that I'm most thankful for today.

His words tell me to,"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2

Be prayerful. Be watchful. Be thankful.

Lord, please don't let me sleep through this life. Don't allow me to be on autopilot and simply coast. I don't want to be friends with regret. Through your kindness and your mercy show me how to BE watchful and BE thankful. Fill me up full of all of these things.

I'm thankful for this house that has been worn and used and that LIFE has been lived here.....today.

Lord, tomorrow when my feet hit the floor, help me to remember this sweet truth that you spoke over me today. Help me to get dressed with the garment of thankfulness.

When the baby becomes a big sister.....

Where do I even begin? Life has been a wonderfully sweet roller coaster that hasn't stopped since our new little girl, Exie Jo, has made her presence known in our family.

She was and still remains a wonderful little infant.

Today, Ruthie brought me to Exie Jo in her swing in the living room. I found her just like this.


Her outfit was unsnapped and her diaper was halfway off.

Ruthie proceeds to tell me,"Poop momma." So I bent down to take a whiff and sure enough, there was a filled diaper.

Whoever claims that breastfed babies don't have stinky diapers are not telling the complete truth. I can smell them and so can the other 3 mini-mommas that live in this house.


Ruthie left the room and came back with her cotton ball, alcohol, wipes, and a diaper. She was determined that she was going to change Exie's diaper.

But, I'm not quite ready for that just yet. So, Ruthie settled on changing her pig's pants.



And then I managed to steal a photo of Ruthie's new favorite face to make. How funny! She is one very animated little girl.


And this is one to grow on.

Exie Jo is here!

Exie Jo is here.

She was born yesterday at 8:01 am via c-section. The Lord was so gracious and good to me. I feel really good considering the surgery.

We couldn't be more thrilled. She is perfect and oh so sweet.

And she has 4 mommas. Her sisters are extremely in love with her.

Laney Rae refers to her as "my baby". And Kaylyn cannot stop saying "she is so cute".

So, I'd say that Exie Jo has stolen all of our hearts.

Here are some pictures of her arrival.

This is me holding Exie Jo for the first time. Bliss!


Daddy and some of his girls. What will this man do with all of these girls? I'll tell you. Love them to pieces. He is the best daddy in the world to these girls. I'm so thankful for him.


Sweet sisters. Laney Rae was holding Exie saying,"Come here baby. Momma has got you." Ha!


Little Miss Ruthie doesn't really know what's happened quite yet. I think she will figure things out a little better when we get home from the hospital and start doing life again.

Momma and Exie Jo. I can't get enough of this girl.


And neither can these girls....



And just because. We had us a little photo session in the hospital.

nEsTiNg::::: the big girls' room

With the arrival of our 4th girl in just 9 days, you better believe I've been nesting like crazy.

Living on a farm, I realize that nesting is just a normal part of life for humans and animals alike.

Something happens when a woman is expecting a baby- whether in the womb or through adoption.

We fluff our nests, clean like crazy, re-organize, craft, paint, and find ourselves tackling projects we've put off for months all because a little one is about to grace us with their presence.

One of many projects we've tackled is converting Kaylyn's room into a room for her and Laney Rae to share. They were sharing her full bed, but let's just say that one of these girls sleeps a little on the crazy side (bet you can't guess which one) so two twin beds were in order.

My sister found the perfect twin beds at a gigantic antique sale for a bargain. We painted them a watermelon pink to match all of the pillows and linens that my friend and designer, Holly, had given us for Kaylyn's original room.

The other two pieces of furniture that are new in the room, is the great pink shelf my friend, Robyn, purchased at a garage sale and the white double locker I picked up at Warrenton this past year.

And let me just mention the monkey on Laney Rae's bed. My friend, Kirby, made that for Laney Rae along with 7 other kiddos in our homeschool group. It has become a favorite of Laney Rae's and she sleeps with it every night. I'm so thankful that it happens to be adorable and sentimental.

Do I have some great friends and family or what? I love that there are so many things in this room that were given to us or found for a great price with this room in mind.

**side note: You should go check out each of the lady's blogs mentioned above. They don't disappoint when it comes to "all things cute". Promise.

The prints above their bed are from Sarah & Abraham that used to be in the schoolroom.

I've gabbed long enough.

Here are photos of the finished product of the girls room that they now share.

More nesting projects to follow.

A snapshot of my day

The girls and I loaded up in the "farm buggy" and drove around for a bit today.

As we were driving around, I was taken aback by the glitter, cheetah print, and PINK!

I snapped this photo to remember this season of life.

Little girlie feet out and about on an adventure. Oh how I love those little feet!

And this photo serves as a reminder to never ever ask my girls to say "CHEESE" to capture a photo. It just doesn't work in these parts.

When a pig gets a bath.....

Ruthie has a stuffed pig that she is VERY fond of.

Actually, it's not just a stuffed pig. It's an "Aurora Lolly Gagz" pig to be exact per a phone conversation with the manufacturer of this pig.

This desperate momma phoned the company last week only to find out that they quit making this pig in 2009. Bummer- in a major way. The last purchase of this pig was by "Tuesday Morning".

Consider this a plea if you will.

If you see this pig, please buy one. Or better yet. Buy two. I will pay you back and pay the shipping.

This pig goes everywhere with her. When it's out of her sight, her radar goes off. She knows. He/she has no name other than "pig". It's easy for her to say.

She always insists that I give her pig a kiss goodnight too. There are times when I cringe and hold my breath in order to grant her request.

Sometimes, her pink pig turns into a brown-ish pig.

I think (actually pretty sure) I traumatized Ruthie today when her beloved pig got a bath today. After searching for near an hour, she found her pig like this.......


I decided to air dry the pig and let mother nature's sunshine do its disinfecting magic. But, little Miss Ruthie discovered that her beloved pig was literally being "hung out to dry" and she was not a happy girl.

As a matter of fact, this is as tame as it got......for almost an hour. She never left the porch.


So, as you can see. I'm desperate and dreading the day that our beloved pig is no more or lost or decapitated. I tremble at the thought. Our whole family shudders even thinking about this. We are all conditioned to perform a "pig check" when we get in our vehicle to go any place.

Who would have known that we should have scurried down to the local hospital gift shop and purchased everyone of these pigs because she would love it so?

Consider this alerting the masses....

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.