Very far away.

I miss my sister-in-law.

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Blessings.

A time that changed everyone’s life, including mine.

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This Weekend.

In fitness:

Aaron and I brought over my family’s old tredmill from my parent’s house on Friday. I used it for the first time today. Ah, I feel like I am improving already.

In coupons:

On Friday we also went shopping. We were in dire need of groceries. Before that our last shopping trip was in August! Whew, I know! I am so thankful for the coupons my mom lets me clip from her mail. She sees them as a waste of time but she gladly hands them over to me whenever they come. Along with our Kroger card, we saved $49.25 on our groceries. We would have saved around $50 if we remembered our bottle returns!

In auctions:

I went to my first farm auction with Aaron, Brian and Logan on Saturday. Aaron’s buddy Dale Jones and his wife Amanda joined us. Aaron bought a sprayer that he is going to give to his Dad so he can spray the apple trees next year. I found something that I liked. It was an old laundry wringer. It went for $45. Yeah, if it was at a yard sale for $10, I might have been more interested in purchasing it.

In weddings:

All of the Cooks had the pleasure of being invited to Chad and Jenny’s wedding. Chad is one of Aaron’s friends.

 After the auction we snagged some McDonalds for lunch. (Yeah. But hey, it wasn’t like I pigged out on that much of it.) I got a grilled chicken sandwich, a small order of fries, and water.  We drove to the Marshall’s house (Amanda’s sister, Michelle and brother-in-law, Eric’s [who is also standing in the wedding] place) so the boys could change. The wedding began at two. The Cooks sat in front of the Jones’ and the Marshall’s, who sat in the back row because they have little ones. Dale and Amanda have a 2-year-old daughter, Samantha. And Eric and Michelle have a baby, Emily. This was my first time seeing Emily. She is beautiful!

The ceremony was very nice, simple and the sermon done by the pastor was very good! Aaron and I stayed for the reception with the Jones’ and Marshall’s. We visited, ate and visited more. There were litle bells on the table that you could ring so that Chad and Jen would kiss each other. Samantha thought they were pretty neat. Afterwhile of watching her play with them I got the idea to loop them on the ribbon she had for a belt. She danced with bells around her waist and had a ball.  We left at 9:30-ish.   

In family reunions:

Sunday was the Gilbert family reunion, during Sunday school Aaron and I left and drove three hours to my father-in-law’s home town of Adrian, MI. After we arrived with ate, and visited. I finally am able to put names with faces!

In closing:

Aaron and I have grown to much closer this past year. Almost every day we mention something about that. I am so blessed to have him. There are some feelings that just don’t have words.

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Miss You.

I wish she could have attended my wedding, visited my house, and see my garden.

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Dreaming of my Eden.

Two days ago I was pleasantly surpirised by a black raspberry bush that I found growing amoungst a lilac bush. The berry bush in taller than I am so it has been there for awhile. Today I thought about cutting back part of the lilac bush so I can access those sweet berries better. I would have to ask Aaron though. Any pointers on berry bushes?

I have been blessed to live outside of the city in a house that is 100% ours that we have to make no payments on which is a praise within itself. There is so much I want to learn and do!

Growing our food from salads to corn to watermelons to cabbage.

Canning, drying, freezing our harvest.

Making my own jams, jellies, relishes and other condiments.

Buying pantry staples in bulk.

Using hand powered kitchen appliances.

Planting and using culinary herbs like Basil to make fresh pesto and Tarragon to put in vinegar for salad dressing.

Planting and using medicinal herbs from harvesting wild plantains for postpartum relief to making white horehound lozenges and cough syrup to echinacea tinctures.

Digging a root cellar

Having a home library versus a video game collection

Cloth diapers hanging on the clothesline.

Going to pick…anything blueberries, apples, blackberries, strawberries, cherries…

Using my wood stove for more than just heating the house.

Patchwork quilts and crocheted afghans for everyone.

Home birthing

Homeschooling

Family devotions.

Little girls running around in home sewn dressies with little lacy headcoverings and little boys running around with ‘spa-menders’

 

🙂 What would you like to learn?

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I can’t think of a good enough title.

I was just informed that they are taking my Grandpa off of kidney dialysis. We don’t know how much longer he is going to be here. I wanted to put in a longer entry, but I am a little empty at the moment.

Garden update: Pole beans up. Bush beans up. Cucumbers up. Corn and watermelons in.

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Jam and Jelly, Brothers and Sisters, Summer and Schedules.

So yesterday I tried making strawberry rhubarb jam with some of Aaron’s rhubarb and two pounds of strawberries I bought at Meijers. But, silly me didn’t follow the directions and now it is more like ice cream topping. I told Mom Cook that we can have that for our red, white, and blue ice cream in July.

Presently I have wild violets and anise seed steeping for jelly. I will let you know how it turns out.

Yesterday, I also trimmed apple trees with Mom Cook and Naomi. It was very, very relaxing. Mom Cook even got a few photos of Naomi and I up in a tree trimming and lopping together. I feel as if I have a special bond with Naomi, which was probably spurred on after all of the time I spent with her right after the accident. I told Aaron that and he agreed. He also stated “Yeah, you do weird things together.” Seemingly continuous games of Uno, and falling into a trench while snow shoeing. 🙂

One of our neighbors asked if we could care for his orchards. There are many kind of apples including Spy, Jonee, Mutsu, McIntosch, Granny Smith. I have a feeling we are going to have good cider this year, the more varieties you have the better it tastes. We will be selling them (and hopefully some apple products) at the farm and at farmer’s market. I am so excited to be a part of it! 🙂

This summer is going to be busy! A few weeks ago I made myself a schedule that I am going to try out. In the early mornings I will tend my garden and do little things around the house. Then when the blueberry farm opens I’ll go there (I requested mornings but, I know that can change. 🙂 ) Then after my shift, I can go home and do my ‘major’ house cleaning. Each day I am going to devote to one room (Mondays – bedroom, Tuesdays – kitchen…), along with normal daily chores (like dishes, laundry, making the bed, and the like) I can do during the hottest part of the day. And somehow I need to put in the apples too. It’s in the works. 🙂

Here’s to a productive summer!

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Last Year

“This time last year, my friend, Betsy Cook, just introduced me to her oldest brother, the man who would one day be my husband.”

That thought just hit me. Just a year ago. I was going strong with loosing weight, wearing pants because I looked good and I knew it, and just getting over feeling sorry for myself over a poor decision.

We shook hands. Then I went to cut apples for cider. He watched me all night, and I was oblivious.

“Trust in the Lord, with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. But in all of your way acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

“Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Excitement!

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Look Mommy, I’m on a blog.

I had my bridal shower on Saturday. A post is to come! But for the mean time…

acooker.blogspot.com

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Aunt Lauren

In a few months I will not only become a wife, I will become and Aunt. Aaron’s younger brother Joel is married to Judith and they have two daughters- Kaelyn who is two and Janessa who was born in late March. They live in Pennsylvania.

Kaelyn already knows who I am and I think she has said my name to me twice. She loves her baby dolls and her baby sister. When they came to visit in July Janessa started fussing, Kaelyn promptly looked at her Mommy and gasped, “Nessa!” She shared a book with me for five seconds then became disinterested. She loves her aunts, uncles, and kitties.

There are at least two things that Janessa is always doing, keeping her mouth wide open and spreading her arms way out as if she is waiting her a gust of wind to carry her away. I was lucky enough to have held her three times, due to all of her aunts and uncles trading off.  🙂

The first few times, I am usually nervous about holding babies that don’t know me well, as if I’m going to break them or something. The last time they came for a visit in late August I got to hold her twice and feed her

I held her and truth be told she was too heavy for my back. I was trying to hold her and have her sit up on the table. The second time she didn’t hurt my back as much because I wasn’t holding her out.  Betsy passed her off to me when she went to go pick blueberries.

Betsy just got through with nibbling her fingers and kissing her mutiple chins, causing Janessa to gabble, talk to Betsy, and grab at Betsy’s face. I on the other hand  just held her and talked to her quietly and watched her big eyes study the baloons floating nearby.

I fed her and talked with Judith. We talked about animals, Kaelyn came back and started to put sand into the cupholder on the stroller and poured sand on her toy horse. I informed Judith that it is how she is going to treat the horse she is going to get her!

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