So Good

In church the other morning, we sang an incredible song that I have had stuck in my head ever since.  As I look back on my life I realize just how good God has been to me.

I live a wonderful life.  I have....An amazing, godly husband. Two loving parents. Lots of fun animals. A beautiful house. A job that I enjoy. Great friends.  A heavenly Father that loves me unconditionally.  And, the list goes on.  Has my life always been easy?  Oh, far from it.  But, like the lyrics say, "He gave me beauty for ashes, joy for my mourning, and praise for heaviness."

Sometimes it is overwhelming to think of just how blessed I am, and how I do not deserve any of this. God has been so good, so, SO good to me.

A New Cleaning Schedule

Today, I was supposed to clean the house.  I had the best intentions.  I didn't clean the house...at all.  :)

During the school year, it is so hard for me to get everything done.  Especially those chores that you love to hate- like cleaning.  So, I am going to try something new.  Today, instead of cleaning, I made a Cleaning Schedule.

We're going to try out the new schedule for the remainder of the summer to see how it works.  Our typical Saturday consists of cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning-- and very little relaxing.  Hopefully this will help that situation.

Fun in the Sun

Who says that neighbors can't be friends??  Well on "our half" of the street we live on-- neighbors are INCREDIBLE friends!  We have been so blessed to have great next door neighbors.  You know, the kind that you want to spend time with... the kind that you watch The Bachelorette with every Monday night... the kind that you have regular dinners with... the kind that help you in the yard... the kind that you borrow a cup of milk from (or cream cheese!)... the kind that you go shopping with... the kind that you can truly call friends... the kind of neighbors that every person hopes for and prays for, but only few are lucky enough to really get.  We are blessed.


And of course, they are also the kind of neighbors that you go to the beach with!!  So yesterday, Jess and I set out for a day at Atlantic Beach.  Our day is pretty much summed up in these words:

Here are some of the highlights of our day.

Do you see my pink hat and both of our pairs of sunglasses?  At one point all 3 of these items were LOST in the ocean.  Somehow we managed to find the hat-- Jess scoping it out from in the water & me on the shore.  And again, don't ask me how, but Jess also managed to find my sunglasses even though they were short 1 lens- haha!  Her sunglasses on the other hand are still in the ocean graveyard.

Our pedicures that we got from Dun'Artie a few weeks ago!

By the time we left the waves were at least 7 times this size-- no exaggeration.

We had such a great time that we have already planned our next beach trip.

Summer Reads

I LOVE BOOKS!  This hasn't always been the case.  But now, there is hardly a time when I'm not working my way through a book.  Typically, during the summer I usually have more time to read.  So far, this summer has not followed that trend.  So, starting today, I'm vowing to change that!  I don't really have a "favorite" genre anymore.  It used to be romance-- but books like The Hunger Games, Twilight, and others have broadened my horizons.

Today (after reading on it for at least a month and a half) I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Steig Larsson.  I must say, if you're going to read this book...do yourself a favor and skip the first 40% of the book.  For all you people who still read paper copies- I'm not really sure how that equates to pages, haha!  But, the last 60% of the book was totally worth the slow beginning.

Here is my reading list for the remaining month of my summer vacation!

      
  

So there you have it.  I'm an overachiever.  The last book, Bloom, actually wasn't even on my radar screen until a friend posted it on her Facebook wall today.  I went to Kelle Hampton's blog and found this trailer:

If you know me, you know that this totally pulls at my heartstrings!  Not even 30 seconds in I was crying and knew that this was on the top of my "to read" list.  Well, we'll see if all of those books get read before August 20th.  

Are there any must-reads that you have come across lately?

A New Endeavor

As you know, we have had pigs in our backyard for exactly a year now!  Jacob loves "messing" with them: feeding, water, petting, watching.  He is very dedicated-- I mean, at least twice a day he is out there with the pigs.

Not too long ago, Jacob dediced that he wanted to try and start his own pig business!  So, we both applied for and got our meat handlers license just in case we ever wanted to sell meat.  Well, here we are-- tons of pork in the freezer, 3 new hogs in the back yard, and certified meat handlers. 

So, I now introduce to your our latest endeavor- Morgan Meats!  We have created a logo and blog and are open for business!  Well, actually-- Jacob has already been selling meat for about a month or so.  And his sells are booming :-)  He has almost sold $1,000 worth of pork.  Unfortunately, that's not all profit! 


Go check out our blog (www.morganmeats.blogspot.com), grab our button and put it on your blog, and buy some pork.  You won't regret it!  We have also created a Facebook page- Like Us!  Also, make sure you check back to the blog and Facebook because we will be doing FREE giveaways :-) 

Happy Birthday, Little One!

Tonight we gained a new member of the Morgan family and we caught "its" birth on camera!!!

Here are a few fun facts about chicks/chickens:
1. The incubation period of a chick is 21 days.
2. A mother hen will turn her eggs about 50 times a day so that the yoke does not stick to the shell.
3. Chicks can eat, breathe, and chirp while still inside their shell.
4. A mother hen looses the feathers on her belly while sitting on eggs so that they get direct body heat.
5. Chicken eggs incubate at 99.5 degrees.

Pressure Washing in 100 degree weather!

What is the only thing that you should be doing in 100+ degree weather?!  You got it--- water sports.  So I decided to haul out the pressure washer and get going.  From 9am-6pm, with the exception of a 1 hour lunch break, I worked....and worked.....and worked.  Even though I pressure washed the house last summer, it was still nasty.  Here are some before and after pictures:

The sidewalk is wet on both sides...just one is dirty wet cement and the other is clean wet cement!

I also pressure washed our front porch, back porch, 2 lawnmowers, various pig accessories, patio furniture, and outdoor patio carpet.

Then, I reassembled our back porch and put my brand new cushions (thanks Mom and Dad) on the chairs!! I can't wait to sit out there when it gets a little cooler!!

So, after 8 hours of manual labor the house was sparking clean..... and I was FILTHY!