Any excuse to climb a tree...

Dan always did love to climb trees....but he bit off a little more than he could chew with this one!  We had to leave our big ladder back at the Charlotte house because we couldn't fit it on the last load leaving in the van...soooo....Dan decided he would find SOME way up the tree!  Lots of laughs, a few scary moments, especially when Lilly dragged a upside down rod iron chair under the tree to play with and I knew right then and there how freaked Dan was of being implailed because he freaked out and wanted to chair MOVED!  He made it, though...and the kids love their swing.  We quite enjoyed the day of "How to get Dad up the tree" and then "How to get him down from the tree"....ahhh...living in the country :)

Gingerbread Houses

Another Christmas tradition....the gingerbread house display at Ballantyne Resort!  Always fun to go see what people have come up with this year!  We don't live as close to this display as we used to, but the kids really look forward to it so we made an effort to stop by on one of our trips into Charlotte.

 They even had an Angry Birds gingerbread display (funny computer game...Dan's friends will know what I'm talking about :) )  The boys laughed about that one!

 Hope that your having a very Blessed Christmas Season!  I will posting some more of our Christmas activities soon :)

Blessings,
Kimberly

The hunt for the family tree!

We started a family tradition a few years ago, of going to a tree farm in South Carolina to find our own Christmas tree and cut it down ourselves.  The tree farm is a really fun, family owned business and they even have a fire pit for roasting marshmallows and having hot chocolate after you cut your tree.  It always ends up being a great excuse to get outside all day and hunt for the best tree!

Thinking about this quote:

“My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much.

When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him."

-Derek Loux

We are ALL adopted into the family of God...Jesus was our ransom.

Dan's first mini-homesteading project

When we first moved in to our new home, Dan knew he really wanted to get the compost going.  The cost of buying a fancy, rotating compost bin is ridiculous so Dan got to work making us one.  He bought a couple used  55 gallon barrels for $23 each and used Google Sketchup to design it.  Here's a pic of it as well as the sketch up file of the frame to hold to barrel.

Compost Bin Sketchup file

Notes from Dan: "I used a galvanished steel pipe with two plywood discs on each end bolted to the barrel.  Drilled holes in to let air in and cut a door on the side.  Bought hinges and a latch to keep it closed.  Overall, it cost us about $50 to build it instead of $190.00 to buy one locally."

Happy Composting!

Blessings,
Kimberly