Monday at the Neaton Ranch

Busy days are best organized by God. ~ Pamela McQuade

Around the Neaton Ranch...Beautiful weather today. I got some weeds pulled and cucumber plants transplanted and even time for a little gator ride with the family tonight.

Listening to...

Hubby snoring on the couch.

Moments of Gratitude...

The past week has been all about my grandma Geri and the brain surgery she had. They live in Kansas, but she was able to get into Mayo in Rochester for her surgery...putting her only a couple of hours away from me. Early Friday morning, she went in for an 8 hour surgery to remove a baseball size tumor that was attached to numerous parts of her brain. Praise the Lord, the surgery was a huge success. Her surgeon was the chair of the neurosurgery department at Mayo and he was able to remove the entire tumor. 

The tumor was found after she started losing her eyesight and cataract surgery hadn't corrected the issues with her eyes. As of this morning, she was doing tremendously well and her eyesight also seems to be improving each hour.

God is so GOOD! There are a ton of little things that have happened and fallen into place along this journey of hers...there is no way that God doesn't have His Hands in it. 

 Myself, grandma and my mom...can you tell we are related??

This was last Wednesday before she met with the specialists and surgeon.

This was Saturday...day after surgery

Her husband, John, my cousin Dylan and my aunt and uncle, Jim and Shelly

Reading...

Bible

Don't Make Me Count to Three

Heaven in Her Arms

Praying...

So many things...

Grandma and great recovery

Relationship rebuilding and extending forgiveness 

Schooling plans for next year

Home Learning...

Planning on starting to teach Charlie to read...she has already managed to teach herself quite a few things. I borrowed Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons from a friend...now just to open and use it.

On Our Plates...

We grilled burgers and potatoes tonight and had fresh asparagus and lettuce from the garden. I have decided I am a 24 hour meal planner. I almost always have basics in the pantry and freezer, so I can throw something together...and our schedules and moods change from day to day. Tuesdays are Charlie picks supper nights, so I will have to talk to her in the morning and see what the plan is for tomorrow.

Ahead This Week...

Tomorrow I'm headed to the hospital to visit with grandma. I have a sitter lined up for Wednesday and will plan on working in my office and hopefully getting the onions planted like I had planned well over a week ago. Bible Study with some wonderful girlfriends on Friday. We will be finishing up a book and I'm excited to hear what they thought of the last couple of chapters.

God bless!

Greenhouse - April 2012

 04/26/12 - Greenhouse is pretty much full

On the left - sweet corn, green beans, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers

On the right - potatoes, melons, cukes

 Carrots and red cabbage

 Lettuce and a few onions amid the weeds

 Watermelon

 Cukes

 Potatoes

Baby boy

...think I could grow a couple more of him?...

It is the end of April and the greenhouse is basically planted for now. As the season goes and we harvest things, I will plant other things but for now I am done planting in the greenhouse. It is pretty full.

I also still have plans to plant some things in our normal outside garden. I'm pretty sure it will be full too. I will get the onions planted in the next couple of days. I'm also planning on planting some popcorn, squash, spinach and some herbs next month. 

My name is Holly and I may just be a food hoarder and garden addict.

God bless!

On My Mind Today....

Really pondering this today and praying that those I love also know that in Christ they too are BLESSED, CHOSEN, ADOPTED, ACCEPTED, REDEEMED, AND FORGIVEN!

Someone recently mentioned being holier than thou and it caught me off guard and I had nothing to say at the time. But now, all I can think is how unholy I am. I strive for holy every day and every day I fail because I am a sinner. There is no perfection in this human soul.

But God...He is Almighty. He has redeemed me! He has saved me! He grants me new grace and mercies every day!

Praying you all are able to feel the Lord's presence and unending love today.

God bless!

A Tuesday Afternoon

God bless!

Garden/Greenhouse - March 2012

My little seed organizer

I'm having fun playing in the dirt in the greenhouse. It seemed so overwhelming earlier this spring...just so much space and I wasn't sure where to start planting at. I've gotten over that and now feel like I need more room to grow more things. 

I started by planted some sweet corn, carrots, lettuce, and cabbage in the early part of March. Those rows are coming up really well right now. 

Around the 23rd of March, I planted 12 rows of potatoes, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers, green beans and more sweet corn. These things are all starting to come up now. 

My plan is to get tomatoes, peppers, celery and maybe some sweet potatoes planted on Saturday. I will planted a bunch of onion sets early next week and some pickling cucumbers too.

I will post some photos next week...it's kind of crazy to see sweet corn growing already. 

God bless!

My Rock

My rock of a husband brought me a rock today. It made me love him even more.

See the big flat gold-speckled rock in the back...it's mine!

Joe was on a job today helping a farming neighbor pull out some stumps, clean up some rocks and install some drainage tile. He was holding the 3 smaller rocks above in his hands and noticed that he had a small, medium and large one and it reminded him of his little blessings at home. He decided his children would love to get a special rock that their daddy found for them during the day. He pocketed them and decided he should find mama a special rock too. He didn't want to leave me out.

The next rock he picked up...the gold-speckled one. 

He was showing the kids the special rock he found just for mama and said..."See, how it looks like gold, I thought it was perfect for mom because she is as precious as gold."

MELT MY HEART!

I am so blessed to have this man!

Books Anyone?

I'm attempting to do some clutter clearing around here and have started to go through my book shelves. I have a few books pulled out to go to new homes as of now. If you are interested in any of the the following, let me know and they will be yours. I'll even cover the shipping if needed.

Fresh-Brewed Life by Nicole Johnson

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn

God Allows U-Turns for Women by Allison Bottke

The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson

The Lucado Inspiration Reader - Max Lucado

My First Read & Learn Bible


God bless -

Multitude Monday

Newest Neaton ~ calf born on Friday morning

Little ones all checking on the calf 

Cori peddling away

This is what happens when you have big sisters ~ sometimes you end up in a dress

Farm fresh eggs

All our blessings come from His hands.

Counting today...

953...new life on the farm...

954...mama cow handling it all on her own...

(I checked on her at 6:30am and no calf yet, Joe went out at 7:30am and she had delivered the little one shortly before that and was already taking good care of him)

955...hens laying eggs again...

956...wide variety of spring weather to get out and play in...

957...kids having fun in sun, in clouds, in dirt, in mud, in sandals, in mittens...

958...siblings playing well together ~ even if it means brothers in dresses...

959...play-dates with friends and with cousins ~ all in the same week...

960...little one's giggles...

961...John 12:13 ~ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel."

962...hubby compliments for the everyday things ~ clean clothes and packed lunches...

963...camera photos and videos...

Have a blessed week!