All I need are the simple things...

{our baby goat...saved!}
A few days after our baby goat was born we noticed that he was all stuffed up. What I mean is that his poop had dried into a hard ball and was blocking any more poop from getting out. We could tell he was is a bit of distress and so even though it was a dirty job we felt like we needed to help the little guy out. I know it sounds...okay it was gross!!


First Scott and Jarom doused his back side with water to try to soften it up. It helped a little...I think. Then Scott held the little guy and went to work. It took a while, but eventually we got him all cleaned up. His mom was so worried about him the entire time we were working on him, and kept circling us in the garage. Mama goat is a bit of a nervous Nelly. Once we finished Scott put the little one down and mama and baby ran to their favorite spot behind the garage happy to be together again.



{Irrigation...oh what fun}
So we just got our first dose of irrigation and all I can say is we never need to go to Disneyland again!! Irrigation is just as fun, loads cheaper, and an entire day of entertainment. WE HAD A BLAST!!



The kids thought it would be awesome to bring out our three little ducks so they could swim around and enjoy the water, and boy did they love every second of it. It was hilarious to see them swimming and splashing around. I am sure bringing the ducks out for a swim will be part of our irrigation ritual from now on. They weren't the only ducks that enjoyed our irrigation...I think we counted six or seven other ducks swimming around the front yard at one time. Not to mention the other hundred or so birds. CRAZY!!!



{A Simple time}
I think what I've enjoyed the most about our new simple lifestyle is the increase in relaxed, simple, fun, quality time we've spent together as a family. We don't feel like we need to be running around the city to find things to do...we just look in our yard or home and create things to do here. Some of our favorite things lately have been kickball, Frisbee, bike riding, climbing trees, and just sitting on a blanket reading books. Family work projects have also been simple activities we've done more of like pulling weeds, cleaning the yard, organizing the house, doing the irrigation, harvesting the pecan trees, etc... Simple is the new complex!! :)



Right now I am reading the Little House on the Prairie to my kids, and before that we read Little House in the Big Woods. As I've read about their simple lives I often wish I could have lived in that type of uncomplicated world. What would it have been like to have my husband home every day working on our farm? AMAZING!!! I can't imagine how wonderful it was being as self sufficient as they were. The family work she describes them doing is fantastic! What a great time to live.



As their evenings are described I long to have every evening in my home spent like theirs...simple and with family. Their evenings are powerful time spent together as a family. She describes her family sitting around their one room cabin talking and just being together...her mother busy with a sewing or handicraft project, the girls busy with some useful project, and her father preparing for the next day (sometimes cleaning his gun or making bullets) as well as often telling a story, reading, or playing his music.


I am inspired and comforted as I read the description of life back then. Even though part of me wishes I could have lived then I am grateful for this day in age, and the many conveniences I enjoy. Even though this is a crazy busy world we live in I am in control of my life and I am capable of keeping my life simple and focused on what is really important in life...family and God.