Breaking Ice

     OK, so after re-reading my last post, I decided I needed to write something cheery and upbeat :-)  Seriously, I'm not trying to hide anything; I have truly been back to my usual happy self.  Is Reece still headbanging?  Yes, some.  The cuts on his forehead from last week are finally starting to heal now, thank goodness!  The headbanging seems to be a little better; maybe not quite as violent as before.  Today, he was actually unusually calm!  Yea!!!  Always love calm days :-)  And, it helped that it got up to 60 today... woo-hoo!!

     I know I talk a lot about Reece and his autism, but, truly, there is a normal boy in there- a normal farmboy who likes to go feeding with his grandpa almost every morning.  And, what do normal boys do with their grandpa while they feed every morning?  They help, of course!  And, what does Reece do?  Well.... he does what most city-mamas would never let their little 8-year-old boys do....

HE BREAKS ICE ON A FROZEN POND!

     Yes, that really is an axe that he's using.  I know, I know.  But, he's very careful with it and does a pretty good job!  He decided on his own, early in the breaking-the-ice season that he would do this.  So, he grabbed that axe from Grandpa and took off to the pond.  On this particular day, I was along and we were actually feeding with Jeff (Grandpa had somewhere else to be), but we let him do his thing and I got some great pictures to remind me that there is so much more to Reece than just the autism :-)

By the way, here's a couple of the girls hanging out in their favorite pasture tree.

     The kids had fun in the snow, but Lindy's comment today was, "I hope it doesn't snow again for a whole year!"

winter blues

So, I've thought about this blog a lot and have wondered what to post, but have felt like I was simply out of words.  Winter is always very hard for me.  My mom always said I suffered from cabin fever.  I take my vitamin D and plan for my summer garden, yet when February hits, I become unmotivated and lethargic.  All my energy from having a new year begin seems to melt away.  I don't want to be depressing, but as I sit in here my frigid basement waiting for my autistic son to quit his autistic screaming and just go to sleep already, it's very hard to be cheery.  It's been very difficult with Reece these last few weeks.  We had a pretty good holiday season, but things have started to go downhill with him.  He started head banging, which he has NEVER done before now.  His bruise and the cut on his forehead were finally all healed and he didn't head bang yesterday hardly at all.  I thought maybe we had passed this whatever-it-is, but today, after he was outside this morning, he came in with a forehead that looked like raw hamburger.  We think he banged his head on the woodpile.  Dealing with this has put a damper on my spirits.  I try so very hard to be thankful for my special boy and to thank God for his wisdom in giving Reece to us and to thank Him for the autism, but when we're all cooped up together in the house and we're constantly on Reece to quit banging his head, it becomes so very hard to be thankful for this autism demon.  Yes, that's sometimes what it seems like to us.  It's like a demon that has possessed our sweet boy and sometimes I pray SO HARD for Jesus to take it away!  Just when we think that maybe this autism isn't so bad and that everything will be "alright" (whatever version of that God chooses for us!) something new and awful crops up.  I took Reece off of dairy again.  He was dairy free (and a whole lot of other frees) for several years, but almost 2 years ago, we put him back on a normal diet.  In an effort to "fix" things, I decided that maybe going dairy free would help him again.  Reece has adapted well- he likes all of the milk alternatives.  And, going back on a special diet isn't nearly as traumatic this time around.  I still have all of my recipes and whatnot.  But, it adds to the stress of everything else.  But, after venting like this, I must admit, I do feel better.  So, I'm going to praise God for the autism, pray for patience and wisdom and that someday Reece will choose Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior!  Just writing those words has made me feel a million times better!  God is good and even if these snowy, cloudy days have gotten me down, spring will come and we will make it through another mile on our Autism Journey.

Our Animals

     OK, so I've had this post planned for awhile, but it's just taken awhile to get to it!  I thought I would introduce you to our animals that we have here on our farm.  First of all, let me tell you, that even though I was/am a bona fide farmgirl, we didn't have much in the way of farm animals.  We had chickens and dogs and cats, but that was it!!  My dad referred to us as "dirt farmers."  He didn't care for animals.  He actually grew up on the biggest chicken farm in Kansas, but hated it.  My grandpa started buying more farmground (he had the original quarter- 160 acres, but that was it) to spread the chicken manure on.  So, when my dad and uncle decided to take over the farm, out went the chickens, and in came some big green equipment!  They've been pretty successful at this whole dirt farming thing, since over time they've expanded their original 300 acres or so to a hair over 5000.  Yeah, I'm pretty proud of my dad :-)
     My dear husband, though, grew up with dirt and animals- specifically cows.  He also had a horse and his mom had chickens and when he was a little guy, his dad had 800 sows.  He fed bottle calves and milked their family Guernsey, Jewel.  Jeff loves animals!  He's also pretty good at the dirt farming part, though, and happens to be a mechanical genius, so he's the Donley Farms repairman.  I'm pretty proud of my husband, too :-)
     So, during my ten years of married life, I've discovered that I LOVE animals!  I've bottle fed orphan calves, raised baby chicks, and fed baby goats.  My kids love animals, too.  So, I took some pictures and thought I'd introduce you to the current animal members of the Donley Farm!

     These are some of my chickens.  A couple months ago, my brother and I butchered some that looked like this (but they were roosters, not hens!)  Once you've had home-grown, free ranged chicken, you will never go back to grocery store fare again! (Or if you watch the movie "Food, Inc." .....)  We butchered chickens a couple times when I was growing up, but I don't remember much of it.  My brother and I love everything about chickens and both of us raise our own and help each other with the butchering.  It's really fun and a GREAT science lesson for the kiddos!  Elisa's dissected a heart and a gizzard and Reece likes to play with the guts :-)

     These are the rest of my layers.  These are my favorites- Red Star.  They're a smaller chicken, they free range awesomely, and they lay jumbo dark brown eggs.  I had one of those last year that we named Rietta, so this summer I ordered 25 more.  I also threw in a couple other varieties for fun.  It is so relaxing to sit outside and watch the chickens and how they interact with each other and their environment.  Yes, we do end up with chicken poop on the porches, but we try to spray them off fairly often!  Our eggs have a dark orange yoke and have a taste like no other.  I didn't know what "real" eggs tasted like, until I had free range.

     These are two of our five goats.  Meet Roscoe and Erin.  They are Alpines, which is a dairy goat breed.  I have plans to milk Erin and her sister, Carlene, once they get old enough to breed and have babies of their own.  Our adventures with goats began 5 years ago with a free bottle billy goat from the sale barn.  Elisa named him Scap and he lives in our lagoon at our old house on the farm.  Scap has a companion named Poppy, who is a Boar, which is a meat goat.  We got Scap to help keep the weeds down in the lagoon, but it soon became apparent that he needed help, so we got Poppy.  I wish I had a picture of Scap handy; he's a beautiful goat.  He's the father of Erin and Carlene and he had beautiful horns, that are long and curve back.  Since  he was a bottle baby, he thinks he's like a dog or something and loves to be petted.  He especially loves to have his billy goat beard combed and scratched!  A couple years ago, we got a free goat, named Marble, who was also an Alpine.  She was the mother of Erin and Carlene.  Erin and Carlene are twins who were born last March.  Marble and the babies moved with us to the new place.  After weaning the kids, Marble mysteriously died.  We got Roscoe this summer with the plans to use him for breeding.  Jeff thought it would be fine to cross breed Erin and Carlene with their father, but that just didn't sit well with me.....  Anyway, so we love our little goats and it gives the girls another chore to do :-)

     These guys are the calves of our latest cows that live at our house.  We're expanding the cowherd and since our new house has a nice bermuda pasture, they came to live here!  Sometime really soon, though, their mamas will be taking a short trip to the big pasture to visit with the bulls that live there.

     And this little girl is our latest addition- Belle the Blue Heeler.  We acquired her a week before Christmas down in Bald Knob, Arkansas while on a short trip to pick up a bale wrapper.  The idea is for her to be a working cow dog.  So far, she comes when called (or at least to me!) and can sit.  We're having fun with her, but her heeling instinct is very strong and her idea of playing is to nip at the kids' heels!  Which makes them scream and run- which makes her chase them!  

     So, there you have it!  An overview of the animals that grace the Donley farm!  

     Oh, and by the way, those chickens you saw?  Yeah, they are laying profusely, even with the cold weather, so come and buy some eggs from me :-)

Passing on My Childhood

     Jeff always teases me that I'm trying to recreate my childhood with our kids, and maybe he's right.  For some reason, I think my childhood was magical.  My siblings seem to have the same opinion as the spouse-in-laws agree with Jeff and think there needs to be a support group for everyone that marries into the family :-)

     One thing, though, that was a no-brainer for Jeff and me was to pass along a love for this:

     When we were first married, the Dukes of Hazzard was on cable at 2 am.  Jeff worked 2nd for a very short period of time, and when he'd come home from work, we'd watch the Dukes.  Later, the seasons came out on DVD.  I bought Jeff one for Christmas when the twins were babies.  We actually considered naming Elisa "Daisy"!  That's how much we love the Dukes :-)
     I remember watching them every week as a kid.  My backpack from kindergarten was pink and had Bo and Luke's picture on it and said "I love Bo and Luke."  I wanted to marry Bo someday and I use to snatch some of Mom's high-heeled sandals and wear cut-offs and pretend to be Daisy.
     Jeff grew up be just as enamored with the show, although, he didn't realize Daisy was hot until about puberty.
     So, after we started getting the DVD's, a Donley tradition was born.  Friday nights became breadsticks and Dukes nights.  Our kids love this show as much as we do and, other than Daisy's short "Daisy Duke" shorts, it's really pretty clean.  I never realized how much the girls liked it, though, until I overheard this the other night:

Lindy:  "He's sooooo handsome!"
Elisa:  "Yes, he is!  That's Bo and I think he's handsome, too!"

Aw, yes, my girls will look back on their childhood and remember a love for the Dukes, too!

Nothing in particular.....

     So, this is my first post of the new year and I don't have anything earth shattering to say; no big, spiritual revelations of any kind or any earth-shattering improvements made by Reece-man.  I decided, though, that I really oughtta blog more often, because what's the point of having a blog if you never write on it?  I love reading other people's blogs and it gets irritating when they only update once in awhile, yet I find myself doing the same thing :-)
     As for our new year, the first 4 days have been pretty quiet, although, I think we need another break to recover from Christmas break!  Reece started back at school today, so the girls and I started back into our school routine.  Everyone did fine.
     I don't make any concrete New Year's resolutions anymore.  I used to all the time.  When I was a teenager, I would write them down and post them somewhere.  Sometimes I'd follow through, but more often than not, things would slip.  At some point, I quit making resolutions and really just starting thinking about things I'd like to improve or accomplish and how I might go about making that happen, but without making a list.  It's much easier that way- less guilt when things slip!
     So, a few of my general thoughts are:  I'd like to start running again.  My mom, who started running at age 50, just ran her fist 5K last week.  Makes me feel totally lazy :-)  I mean, I'm only 31, so why couldn't I do that? I use to run, back in the day, and I've always liked it, but once the twins came along, I never felt like I had time.  And, I'm blessed to be one of those people with an awesome metabolism, so the baby weight melted off without any work on my part, which contributed to my laziness and list of excuses.  So, come warmer weather (I canNOT run in cold weather- remnants from childhood asthma or something that make it hard for me to breath) I'm going to start running....
     Another thing I'm working on is improving my housekeeping skills.  I'm not super organized and I'm just flat out lazy (a recurring theme in my life, it seems, huh?).  I read a book called "Large Family Logistics" and even though I don't have 9 kids (although I wish I did and I'm very jealous of women who can be pregnant without life-threatening complications!), the author still has lots of good ideas for managing a busy household and homeschooling.  I've decided that, even though my kids have chores, I've been letting them off too easy and that they could do a LOT more to help me out!  We started our new routine a few weeks ago, and other than a short derailment during the busy Christmas season, it's been awesome!  And my girls are learning some great home-managing techniques that they can apply to their own families someday.  I  had no such skills when I got married (I was a total tomboy and Daddy's girl, so I was trained to farm, not keep house!) and it's been a huge hindrance to me.  That, and being flat-out lazy.... have I mentioned that, yet?  *wink, wink*
     Then, my other goals are to write more (my dream is to publish a book someday) and to garden bigger (someday I want to be almost completely self-sufficient in the food department) and to pay off our mortgages (yes, we own two houses). 
     My other big, important goal that we also started a few weeks ago, is to read the Bible with the kiddos more often.  Sure, they know all the major Bible stories frontwards and backwards, but we haven't done nearly enough memorization and I want them to know the BIBLE, not just the stories.  So, we've been reading a Proverbs, a Psalms and a chapter in the New Testament first thing in the mornings.  That got derailed during Christmas, too, but now that we're back into our normal routine, we're getting back on track.
     But, that's enough about me.... Reece is finally asleep, so it's time for me to head back upstairs and do.... something....  maybe start that book I want published someday???  :-)  Good-night!

Bathtime with Reece!

     I have no pictures because I didn't want to ruin the wonderful moment----  after 9 months of refusing, the word refusing doesn't even began to tell the extent of it, Reece took a real bath in the bathtub for over 15 minutes with his sisters!  You have no idea how AMAZING this is!!!!! 
     You see, bathtime use to be one of Reece's most favorite times of the day.  He's absolutely loved it every since he was a little, tiny baby.  In fact, when he first became autistic and Lindy was a baby, if he was getting too wild or throwing a tantrum, I'd put him in the tub and let him play for an hour while I sat on the floor in the bathroom and took a breather (and nursed Lindy!).  Well, last March we moved.  We'd lived in the same house for the last 8 years, so it was the only home Reece had ever known.  He seemed to handle the move just fine (it was only 3 miles away from the old house) and happily took a bath in the new and different tub for the first couple weeks.  And then, one night, he just refused.  I mean, absolutely, threw a knock-down-drag-'em-out fight when it was time to take a bath!  For about a week, we really fought him on it.  But, he's getting just big enough that he's very hard to manhandle and he's super strong!  (although you'd never guess it by looking at his toothpick arms!)  He would still use the toilet and stand at the sink and brush his teeth, but he wouldn't get within 2 feet of that tub.  So, I got out a metal bowl and a washcloth and gave him a sponge bath in the hallway.  We did this for months.  Gradually, we moved him back into the bathroom and eventually, he would sit next to the tub and take his sponge bath.  Washing his hair was a huge, gigantic problem, but thankfully it was summer time, so he went swimming alot :-)  Chlorine is a disinfectant, right?  Anyway, after our Labor Day camping trip where he took an outdoors bath in a Rubbermaid tote, I decided to see if he'd do that at home.  I put it in the tub and put water in it and bubbles and bought some cool funnels.  For the last 3 months, he would sit on the side of the tub and dip his feet in, but I figured this was major progress!!  Then, 2 weeks ago, he actually SAT in the tote!!!!  HUGE progress!!!!!!!  We were thrilled!  And then, tonight, totally out of the blue, as the girls were filling the bathtub for their bath, he told me wanted to take one with them!  I figured that once he stripped down and realized they were actually in that dreaded bathtub, that he would chicken out.  But, NOPE!  He hopped right in like he'd never had a problem with before in his life!  AMAZING!!!!  I tell ya what, God is GOOD!!!

As a side note- I just finished reading the Karen Kingsbury book "Unlocked" about a boy with autism.  I cried and cried and cried my way through, but it was awesome.  She totally nailed the feelings of a mother with an autistic child.  The boy in the book was 18 and it's based off of a real-life autistic boy that Karen Kingsbury knows.  Crazy as it may sound, this fiction book gave me so much hope for Reece's future and renewed in me that God is here, He's with us on our Autism Journey, and He's not only watching, but He's participating!!!  PRAISE GOD!

Cold/Flu Remedy

     Hey, just wanted to do a quick post of an awesome herb for this winter!!!  I've told several people about this (including our accountant :-)  and I decided since this seems to be the best kept secret since I-don't-know-what, I'd share it.  OK, you want to know what the miracle cure/preventive for colds, flu, sinus infections and anything else caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi is????

OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT

     Yup, you read that right.  Apparently the olive tree has some really awesome properties, besides just the olives and the oil.  (Kind of ironic that it's a common tree in Israel- The Promised Land.  God's pretty amazing, isn't He?).  The leaves of the tree have anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties.

     Let me give you  my history with this herb......

     Four years ago when we started on our Autism Journey with dear Reece, we discovered that he had a major yeast overgrowth in his intestines (found through labs done with our DAN! doctor).  He was suppose to take olive leaf extract to fight it, but at the time, all I could find were these big, honkin' capsules that a little four-year-old boy could not (refused!) swallow.  You couldn't break open the capsule and disguise it with anything either because of the rather unpleasant, potent taste.  So, I put the big bottle at the back of my cabinet and used other methods (which, by the way, was a low-sugar diet, biotin, and major probiotics).  We kicked the yeast and moved on.  Well, when Lindy was just at a year old, I developed a major sinus infection.  I saw our family doctor, who prescribed an antibiotic, which I took and, which got rid of the infection. The side effect was that since I was still nursing her, I either had to quit for a week and just wean her completely.  Even though I wasn't ready, I weaned her.  So, a year and a half later, I was getting ready for a very sad and emotional trip to northern Nebraska to attend my uncle's funeral.  We were leaving at the beginning of the week, so that Sunday I was trying to get the house in order (Jeff and the twins stayed home) and pack for me and Lindy.  I could tell I was developing another sinus infection (the pain in my jaw, teeth and sinuses, plus the green snot was a dead giveaway), but, being a Sunday, I chose to ignore it.  We were leaving at 8 am the next morning, so no hope of going to the doctor.  On a whim, I dug out the olive leaf extract, and that morning took 3 capsules.  By noon, I was feeling a bit better, so I took 3 more.  By evening, the pain was gone in my face.  I took 3 more before bed.  I woke up the next morning with clear mucus.  I continued to take another 9 capsules that day and by  night the sinus infection WAS GONE!  I mean, completely GONE!  I couldn't believe it!  So, ever since then, I have been a firm believer in the power of herbs.  We keep some on hand at all times.  I've even convinced my mother-in-law.  As soon as I feel the beginning of a cold or something else coming on, I hit the olive leaf and I rarely develop a full blown infection of anything.  Finally, this winter, I learned how to make a liquid herbal tincture using dried olive leaves, so now my kids can have some.  

     So, there you have it.  Go to your nearest health food store and pick up some olive leaf.  It's a whole lot easier than getting sick and treating the symptoms :-)