Here is a dutch oven we bought at a flea market today for $25. It is a 15 quart oven – huge! We don’t have a clue as to how old this one is and there is no brand name on it. If anyone knows by looking at the picture, please leave us a comment.

I love cooking with cast iron now that I know how to season it. Having it seasoned right, you can cook an egg on it and it will slide out just as easily as teflon. Matthew worked on getting the rust spots out of it today and tomorrow morning I will season it. It will look dark and shiny like our little pan to the right of it when I am done. Here’s how to season your cast iron cookware: http://www.dutchovencookware.com/lodge-cookware.html

The girls are starting to play together. I love it! They are so fun to watch and play with myself. I put them in the toy basket and tip it back and forth. They go nuts! They are truly a delight.

Here’s the girls taking a bath. They do pretty good in there together now. It’s a nice break for me that now I don’t have to hold Hannah up with my left arm the whole time. Elisabeth is not a happy girl when it is time to take her out. She screams every single time. She’s having way too much fun to leave!

Our chickens are already 10+ weeks old. They have been out in the hen house for a couple of weeks now. They are so sweet! They come running up to us for food anytime we go down to the barn. One little black chicken is our favorite. She is the sweetest as she is not afraid of us. She always comes very near us and lets us pick her up very easily. I named her Henrietta. One of the Plymouth Rocks (the black and white) we think is a rooster. He’s the one with the red neck and crown. So, if that is the case we will have not only eggs but more chickens later. We both thought that they would stick pretty bad but surprisingly, there is very little odor from them. Matthew takes good care of the animals though and keeps everything so clean. By the way… we bought 3 turkeys last week, one Matthew will take care of for Thanksgiving dinner! They should get up to 35 pounds or so. We’ll post pictures later. They’re kind of ugly birds unless they are on your table.

Here’s our big update from the past 4-6 weeks. Here’s a picture of me and my little Hannah. She’s almost 9 months old now. I am feeling better now. I have never had too much of a problem with morning sickness but this pregnancy I felt sick!!! Our due date changed to November 1st and so today I am 16 weeks along. I should be feeling the baby move any day now. In just over 3 weeks we will go in for our 2nd ultrasound and will find out if we are having a boy or a girl. We can’t wait! We would love to have a little boy now. I have always wanted a boy where most of my friends always wanted a girl.

Yesterday I went out shopping for maternity clothes. Let me share a story with you from a post I wrote up yesterday:

“We were recently blessed with a little extra money and my husband shared with me to buy some maternity clothes. I was so looking forward to this as I’ve only bought them at the thrift stores with the other pregnancies and just have nothing. Since we live near the ocean, there are no maternity clothes stores around here. I really wanted to find a long dress, skirt and top or two today. So, I drove the 2 hours it takes to a major city. I went to a well known maternity shop and asked if they had any long skirts/dresses. The reply was no. Some of the dresses were to the knee and I tried on 1 or 2 but they were so much emphasizing the breasts that I couldn’t even consider it. And I really wanted a long one anyways. Most of the tops I tried on were about the same. It was disappointing as it was so hard to walk out of there because they had the cutest, prettiest patterns of clothing. I tried another store and another one and found just worldly looking maternity clothes. I just wanted something pretty! So, I started driving home and a song was on the radio. I don’t know the name of the song but she sang, “I choose to be holy, separated for you my Master. Ready to do Your will.” I felt the Lord near me and I felt the peace of God. I knew there was something more to what happened today. I felt like maybe this is what I needed to really give me that “push” to start sewing my own clothes – and I don’t know how to sew. I shared with my husband on the cell phone what had happened. After returning home he shared that the Lord spoke to him for me to sign up for sewing classes and that this would be a blessing and a joy to our family. This would be another part of being separate from the world. I was just delighted and knew this was what the Lord wanted. I then made a phone call to a quilt shop. The lady shared with me that yes, they teach sewing and the price she shared was so cheap I couldn’t believe it. They also can provide me with a good, used sewing machine for $50. We are both so excited. We were prepared for me to drive as far as 2 hours away for lessons and here’s a place that’s local. Anyways, I remember driving home today thinking how hard it is for me to buy maternity clothes today that are modest and how it will be impossible for our children when they are older. Now I can teach our children and boy are we going to have fun. I just thank the Lord for what He is doing.”

I am so looking forward to learning how to sew. The beautiful fabrics out there and patterns. I have a creative eye and know I can do much better than what I find in the stores. I will share some of my creations in a few months or so when I can actually put something together. I can’t wait! Also, we ordered a electronic piano – a good one. It should be arriving in the next couple of days. I will be learning how to play that as well. So, I will have a busy summer. I think the time will fly by during this pregnancy. Matthew will start filleting fish in a couple of months again at the docks. We are planning on canning 200 lbs of tuna this year for ourselves and a few relatives. We are almost our from our canning last year. It is just the best.

Last weekend Matthew went down to get some razor clams. He was home in less than an hour and I thought that he must have forgotten something. Nope, he had already limited out at 15! So, we made chowder that night, of course it was delicious – with bacon and white wine, potatoes, celery, parsley and a few other spices. Delicious! Then Matthew went back the next couple of days, limited out again and we had fried razor clam steaks breaded in panko the next night. The only thing missing was the malt vinegar. We still have 2 bags of razors in the freezer as well as leftover chowder.

When our calf was just 17 days old, our neighbor Carol called us up. Remember, she is the one who helped birth this calf from her old cow Mary whom she had for 19 years until we bought her last year. Anyways, she wanted to know if Matthew would be willing to sell the calf to her. She wanted to buy her for her grandchildren who live next door to her (I personally think she wanted to have her because her favorite cow Mary died and this calf came from her – just some sentimental feelings there). So, after some consideration we thought it best to bless our neighbor with this beautiful calf. Matthew was sad for the first 24 hours as he had grown very, very attached to this calf whom he had bottle fed for nearly 3 weeks. But, at the first sound of laughter of the children on the hill with the calf and later him seeing them with her, his woes went away. Here she is in this picture just a week or two old.