Thankful for Friday!

YAY! I am SO glad it's Friday, this has been another busy week here at Tanglewood Hills! This time of year is just plain busy, no getting around it. I cannot tell you how much I am longing for the lazy days of winter when we are snug in our warm home knitting and enjoying just being here. :) Summer and fall bring about SO much activity here, harvesting, canning and processing our bounty (or in the case of this year, the produce market's bounty) and preparing for another winter. Around these parts, we are expecting a harsh winter, both weather wise and work wise. It's all in the Lord's hands, but we are trying to do all we can to prepare for it now.

So, what am I thankful for today? Oh so much!

* Our oldest son is home from the Marines...for how long, we don't know, but for now, he is home with us.
* My husband has still got a job!
* Most of the curriculum that we need for the coming school year is here...I have maybe 3 or 4 small books to order still, but for the most part, it's here. :)
* My food dehydrator is full of apricots, drying away for future trail mix and snacking.
* 33 pints of sweet pickles are ready to find their new home on my pantry shelves.
* This weekend, we will begin expanding our goat pasture...the fencing won't be finished this weekend, but it's a start! One step closer to having our own cow...not sure if it will be a milk cow yet, but we'll at least have a steer for meat! YAY! :)
* I've been able to spend some time focusing on my home and our routines here, trying to find a routine that will work with all that fills our days!
* Our one dairy goat that is in milk is still producing strong, we're getting just under a gallon a day! This is the longest she has stayed in milk yet...such a blessing! :)
* So far, our wheat experiment is working fine. We know what doesn't work and have found our limit. :) I am enjoying baking wheat bread again!
* Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary! I can't believe we've been married so long, I truly don't feel like either one of us is old enough to have been married that many years already. Where has the time gone? I love my husband more today than I ever thought I could. He is truly my very best friend and someone that I know I can always turn to. He's not perfect, neither am I....but we have a great life together! I am so blessed to have him as my husband, best friend and father to my kids. I couldn't ask for more!
* As much as our part of the country was well overdue for a stretch of hot weather, I'm glad for the cooler days the past few days. This AM when I got up, it was 44 degrees...that's a bit cold, but I'm enjoying the cooler days. :)

We are so blessed here. I am SO thankful for all that we have, are able to do and how close our family has become. Things may be hard at times, but we all know in the midst of it all that we are blessed and well cared for!