Living In My Large Family--"Opening Remarks"

No, this should not have been the first post in this series.  lol  It was the best thing I could come up with and not use 'Introduction', since I had already used it in this series.  :D  Yes, I do know it's been a while since posted anything about "Living In My Large Family", but I couldn't come up with anything else to post about and no one (namely my sisters) weren't helping me and giving me ideas on what to post about.  :D  (Yes, always blame the siblings!!)

It is always interesting to hear how people introduce me to their friends. Rarely is it just "This is my friend Katie" it is always tagged along with to tell about my family or farm, these are some of the most common comments that people use when introducing me...

"She's the oldest of eleven children (or is it 12 or 13?)."

"She has A LOT of siblings!"

"She comes from a large family."

"She lives on a dairy."

"She has a ton of goats."

"Her family sells goat milk."

Thanks Tim!

Not really.  lol

Do you ever sometimes wonder what your siblings think about you?  Well I did, until a few minutes ago while milk when time told me...

"Your an ooooodddd woman Katie!!"

Oh, thanks! 

"It Is Well With MY Soul"

"It Is Well With MY Soul"

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

Milk Production Again!

I believe that is was last week when I was talking about the goats and how I love it when their production goes up, well I'm going to say it again...

I LOVE it when the goat's production goes up!!

In an hour I am headed out to Rice for the Houston Farmers Market.  :D  Where I have the pleasure of bringing not only milk, but Chocolate Milk (with a pound of ground up chocolate bar per gallon of milk), Capra-Cino (Our coffee flavored milk drink), Plain Yogurt (Goes great with strawberries) , Vanilla Bean Yogurt (It taste like melted ice cream), AND Kefir. 

This is the first time in months that we will be bringing our complete line of liquid products!!  So, those in the Houston area stop by the Houston Farmers Market at Rice today.  :D

Weather (again)

When it comes to blogging there have been two things that some of my family members have accused me of doing...

1) I blog entirely way to much about the weather (Hey, I'm the daughter of a farmer what else can you expect?) and

2) I blog way too much. (Which one of my sisters followed up with "Well, she talks a lot, so what should you expect?").

So, here I go again--Blogging yet another post on the weather. :D Just what Sara and dad want to see. lol

My motto in the winter is "I was not raised in the South to be used to this weather!!" This weather being anything under 45 degrees. Well, this week I am going to be getting my full of that bitter northern weather that I HATE!!

It's currently 45 with a wind chill of 39! Our highs will be in the 50s with lows in the 30s during the day. At night we are looking for it to be in the lower 30s to upper 20s. Way to cold if you ask me!! And my dad is crazy enough to think that he will get me out of bed way too early to go to market on Saturday where it's projected to be in the 40s!! He's crazy, but then he's right so what am I talking about? :lol:

New Year Resolutions?

Nope, not me!  How about you?

O.K. so I have done it once--last year--other then that I was never one of those people who made a list of goals and things they wanted to complete by the end of the year. For me if I ever did make a list along those lines it was on my birthday, with the thought that I am starting a new year in my life and what did I want to accomplish this year of my life?

Only once on January first did I make a list.  Like I said it was last year and I was able to do two of the three goals on my list. The third goal? Well, instead of getting better and concurring the problem it only got worse (I have way too many papers in my life!)

This year did I make any goals?  Well, maybe, I think.   :D  These are things that I've been trying to either get better at or start for a while now.  Of course the first two on the list is to get better at my daily bible reading, and to read the entire bible this year.  That shouldn't be hard for me, I've been known to read a 1,000+ in less than two weeks.  The only thing is I don't want to fly through reading it just to be able to say I read the bible in less than a year, I want to be able to learn from it. If only my MP3 player was still working, :-S

Those are my first two goals of the year.  The other three?  I would love to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew (yes in that order).  But from previous experience I know I am not the best at learning other languages, esp. Since a number of my family members and friends will tell you I have yet to  conquer my native language of English. :D

So, there you have for the second time in my 21 1/2 years I have set New Year Resolutions, now to see if I can accomplish any of them. :D

New Year's Eve & New Years Day

You didn't really think my family would pass up a chance to make a tradition did you?

Our family's traditions for New Year's Eve and day aren't as set as most of our Christmas' traditions are, but they are still there and we do tend do them more often than not, they are after all traditions and our family is all for tradition. :D

We always do snack food, never a set dinner New Year’s Eve, always 7-layer dip (6-layer for those of us who do not like olives. Rather, for that all important me! :D ) Caso, chips, cheese sticks, and poppers about rounds out our meal. It sits out all evening and we snack on it while we all watch TV, play games, shoot fireworks, talk, and have family time.

New Year day we sleep in a little later then the norm and then we all gather as a family and watch the Rose Parade. Chores and more relaxing (The week between Christmas day and New Years is our laziest week of the entire year. :D ) Black eye peas and corn bread for lunch as all good southerns have. (Before anyone says anything it's all about tradition not luck!) Garnished with a tomato and pepper vinaigrette. Something we've been eating from my earliest memories. :D

I can't believe its New Year's Eve!! I have the feeling that the year has flown by and I was barely able to glimpse it. It amazes me!! I remember when the years used to drag by and it seemed to take forever for the next year to come, I also remember being told to be patient and enjoy those days, because there would be a day in my life when I would want to have those slow days back. Well, that time has come and I wish I could go back to the good ole slow days. :D

Now another year is on us and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us this year. The one I am most eagerly waiting for and can't wait until the time is here, is to see my newest littlest sister that will be joining our family in early May. :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!