And Abraham Went Out . . .

Hello, hello


We're here and doing fine. I brought the camera up to Radio Shack the other day to have the owner take a 'look and see.' We'll see if something comes of it. I hope so. I miss gabbing with ya'll here and showing some beauty through pictures. Mr. Hubby has a few more pics on his phone but it always takes me a few days to load them on the computer. Hopefully we'll get a few pics tomorrow. We have an old fashioned circus parade in town. Wahoo! I love this old fashioned small town life. The charm still hasn't worn off.

I've had many more opportunities to count my blessings. I had hoped to add pictures to them but you'll have to use your imagination.

There have been a number of moments lately that have been such gifts. Moments that remind me that we are living the dream. All be it, these "dreamy" moments are sandwiched by some down and dirty parenting hours, but these moments remind me that it is all worth it. I'll take any prayers you are willing to send up for me for those in-the-trenches parenting hours. Phew, its been tough!  

#73 Zucchini Muffin Making with Nutmeg

The other day Nutmeg and I were making zucchini muffins. She gets out the chef's hats and aprons. She's looking cute as can be helping mom bake and on Pandora comes the song "Do you know the muffin man?" Too fun. After a while I notice some critters in the garden and point them out to Nutmeg. At that moment she heads for the door. I see her a few moments later literally marching, marching her little self down to the garden to take care of those pesky critters. So funny to see her spunky little self MARCHING down to the garden IN her apron and chef's hat to show those critters who is boss. I take care of a few things in the kitchen and look out the window a few minutes later to check on Nutmeg. THIS time I see her, still in hat and apron, holding a flower she had just picked, dancing and twirling around the yard. Oh, how I LOVE this child! Full of personality!

#74 Zucchini Muffin Making with Nutmeg AND Basil

#75 The country dream.
I know I've already gushed about the many gifts of living in the country. Really, I'm still so blessed by it. What a neat opportunity. I was reminded of it the other evening as I was reading in bed with a cool breeze coming through the window. I hear a horse snort from across the street.

#76 Although our garden looks just awful, it is still such a huge blessing to us! The fruitful bounty has been such a joy. Several times this week we've been out picking all the blackberries and HUGE raspberries by our road. I got out early and picked some for our breakfast. Then we all got out there and picked some to put in our vanilla ice cream. One afternoon Doug and I headed out to the garden to dig up some potatoes. Mr. Basil joined us this time and was squealing with excitement! We dug potatoes, picked peas, dug up carrots, cut more broccoli and basil and then headed into the house to cook dinner using it all. Nutmeg and even Sage joined us out there. It was such a joy to dig in the dirt and enjoy being there together.

And the meal we had  . . . oh my lands! Perfection! No meat even. Doug took three helpings. Nothing like fresh garden goodness for dinner!

Here's what we had:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/baked-penne-with-corn-zucchini-and-basil.html

I think it helped that we had some fresh mozzarella on hand as well.

#77 Answered prayers and a quick recovery.

This particular post was going to be a longer post but time has run away from me lately. I'll have to make it short. Mr. Basil came down with a pretty serious case of Lyme's disease. Most of you know this already. Oh my, but it was awful. The boy hardly slept for four days. He wasn't drinking much or eating. Painful to watch as a parent. We were worried to death. The evening we figured out it was Lyme's was just awful. This mamma did not sleep! It was worse then when my boys were in the NICU. Really. Awful because I have heard personal horrors stories of friends with long-term Lyme's complications. I was afraid for this boy's future. But God be praised, the doctor who was on-call at the hospital gave us a prescription right over the phone. It only took two days and Basil was back to normal. And . . . that same doctor called us a few days later to check on Basil. In talking to him over the phone I could tell that this doctor was much more thorough with following Lyme's disease in the long-term than others. I had made a number of phone calls looking for good doctors and was finding that this could take considerable funds to work through this issue. So when this doctor called and we talked, I was relieved and incredibly thankful! Mr. Basil had another check-up this week and things are looking great. We'll go in again in a couple of weeks to have another look. We will be keeping an eye on things for six months to a year. You cannot be too careful with this!