Movin' to the Country~hopefully

Image courtesy of www.clearybuilding.com/.../horse_barn5.jpg

Our dream is to move out to the country. Y'all knew that. We have chickens, we have crops, we pretend to be homesteaders in our little Kyle Carter development...but it's not authentic...yet.

We long for a life filled with farm chores, hard work focused on productive use of our very own land, and teaching our little ones the value of self-sufficiency. We desire to be less concerned with possessions and materialism and more focused on being close to nature and getting our hands involved in Godly things.

This dream has existed in our collective Haner minds for quite some time, and we are finally ready, as a family, we think, to make the move, Lord willing (that's a lot of disclaimers, huh?).

We are clearing out the clutter of our current home with our sights set hopefully on moving to some acreage. We don't need anything fancy. In fact, really, the less the better. That's the point after all.

PRAYER:

Give us a place for us to lay our heads Lord, keep our chickens, kitties and dog, and grow some crops. Help us prepare for the inevitable "inconveninces" and keep our flexibility throughout the process. Point us to the perfect location, right where you want us, where the kids can thrive and grow up knowing the value of hard work and getting dirty. We pray for patience with this process and for a good sense of humor for those who are unsupportive or think we are insane. Oh, and could you help us sell our house in this horrendous market? That would be swell. IJN, Amen.

Our Kids Are Really Loud~and Possibly Tone Deaf

I just accept it. Sometimes our kids are really really loud. I am not a fan of noise. I like peace and quiet. I like when one kid's asleep, to keep him or her asleep. I like when I can hear the sound of the hundreds of dollars we spend on PG&E in the summer whirring in the background. But alas, our little blessings often preclude such pleasantries. Enjoy this video at http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/ if you're reading this on Facebook and be thankful for the moments of silence...and noise...in your life. :)0

As a sidenote, I am a little concerned with the lack of pitch matching precision exhibited here, but I am still hopeful these kids will one day be musically inclined.

Free Rooster

Our latest baby chickens are now about three and a half months old and one has started to crow. Girl chickens don't crow I'm told. So this little guy (who is starting to exhibit all the typical male posturing around our poor little hens) has gotta go!

As much as I would love to live on a farm and have our own little homestead here on our 8,800 sq. feet of land, the sounds of a rooster at 6:00 AM are not warmly received by our very close neighbors. So, until we have a real homestead, and acres of land, no roosters allowed.

He is a Light Brahma (the kind with feathered feet.)

Any takers?

Baby Jail

We managed to pick up this fabulous enclosure for only $5 from a yard sale down the street a month or so ago and it has SAVED MY SANITY. Our youngest, Caden, almost eight months old, started rolling around the house at 5 1/2 months. He was full blown crawling by 6 1/2 months. I was certain I would have a few more months of peace only chasing around Kya and Wyatt. Now I have three kids to chase. I wondered how I would ever go the bathroom much less take a shower unless I got up at the crack of dawn (like 4:30 am) before Caden's first feeding.

As a side note, my schedule is crazy these days. Caden wakes for his first feeding at 5:00AM and usually is awake until his first nap at about 7:30 AM. Wyatt usually wakes up at 6:00AM and Kya sometime between 6-7:00 AM. Wyatt usually goes to bed around 7:30 PM, Kya at 8:30PM and Caden does not go to sleep for the night until 10:30 or 11:00PM. So, between the kids' sleep schedule and my after-everyone's-in-bed-chores, I get, on average, about 4-5 hours of sleep a night...assuming no one wakes up needing mommy during the night (rare). So you see how getting up at 4:30AM to shower and prep for the day isn't a very attractive option to me at the moment.

OK, back to baby jail. Because of my kids' ages and maturity levels, keeping them safe is pretty much a full time job.

Enter baby jail. This expandable enclosure, with child safe doors on each side, can be filled with toys and children, and only one of my children can actually open aforementioned doors (and she usually doesn't if I ask her nicely.) So, a mommy in my predicament (I mean, "blessed state") can safely leave the room for a few minutes without worrying that someone will put a fork in a light socket, play in the dog water, eat a crayon or climb INTO the dishwasher (it happens.)

I highly recommend baby jails. I don't know if this is actually what they are called, but that's what we call it. The gal at the yard sale said they paid like $100 for it! We paid $5. Best deal we've EVER gotten! And because it isn't as confining as a playpen, Caden seldom balks about being left in it, especially if his siblings are in there with him. On occasion, Scott and I have spent some time in baby jail as well...I have even fallen asleep inside with the kids crawling all around me because I can be assured no one will escape or injure themselves! Hey, I take sleep where I can find it!

Author's notes:

*Baby jail is pictured outside, but usually it is in the middle of our great room, where I can easily drop Caden off on my way to whatever chore or child needs tending next.

*If you are reading this post on Facebook, please check out our blog for more Haner Family Happenings: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/

Sleep

There is something so wonderful about having rest these days. As a mom who has had three babies in four years, rest has been elusive to say the least. Even when I sleep, I am still on edge, waiting for a cry in the night, or, since our home invasion, somewhat irrationally waiting for someone to enter uninvited.

But this morning, my wonderful husband allowed me to sleep in...not just a little sleep in either. When I finally rolled over and looked at the clock, it was NOON!!!!!! "Noon?" I thought to myself..."how can this be?" Not only that, but when I awakened, it was quiet in the house. Both boys were sleeping and he had taken Kya to her private swimming lesson (with him as the teacher) at the Solera pool. Ahhhhhhh...seratonin levels were restored. I could face the laundry, dishes, sewing projects and MOPS publicity duties with fresh eyes (ones that didn't tear up every time I looked around the house or toward my overfilled inbox.)

I believe a special prayer lifted up by my pastor helped me find the sleep I needed. Thank you Lord, thank you husband, and thank you Pastor.

For those of you reading this on Facebook, please visit our blog at: http://hanerhome.blogspot.com/