Ahhhh ~ Summer in Washington

Dan and I picked about 20 lbs.

Love the fresh produce of summer!  Tomorrow I'll be canning close to 50 lbs. of Elberta peaches!  I especially love blueberries and peaches together so I thought I would share a recipe with you.  We like to eat it for breakfast, but would be equally good as a dessert with vanilla ice cream. 

Blueberry Peach Crunch

2 c. oats

1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. Flour (divided)

¾ c. butter, melted

¾ c. brown sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

2 peaches, pitted and cut into chunks

2 c. blueberries

3 Tbsp. Sugar

 Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, combine oats, ¾ c. flour, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside 1 cup of mixture.  Spread remaining crumb mixture in a greased 9” pie plate.  Using fingers, press mixture firmly into bottom and up sides of plate for form a crust.  Place peaches and blueberries in a bowl add remaining flour and sugar.  Pour into shell.  Sprinkle with reserved crumbs and bake 45-50 minutes.

YUM!

Happily Ever After

I want to share a story with you....
Once upon a time there lived a young boy who was born and raised in Connecticut.  He did all the things boys do and he had quite an adverturous spirit.  Once it was time to fly the coop, that spirit led him to California to pursue a career as a stuntman.  That career choice didn't pan out. His adventurous spirit and his love for the sea called to him and so he went to the College of Oceaneering to pursue a commercial diving career.  A good match.  One thing led to another and he became a vessel master!

Once upon another time there lived a young girl who was born and raised in sunny, California.  She did all the things that girls do and dreamed of being married, living in the country and having a large family.  When it was time for her to fly the coop she attended Califonia State University Northridge.  She would come home each weekend to spend time with her beloved mother and "favorite Daddy" (he was her only Daddy!)
On her way to her father's home, her car made a horrendous noise and all the red lights lit up on the dashboard!  Good thing there was a gas station around the corner.  She limped her car there and waited for help.

First one young man came and inquired about her trouble.  He went inside and then another young man came to her.  He also inquired about her trouble and looked under the hood to see if he could fix it.  They talked while he worked and got to know eachother a bit.  When all was fixed and she was ready to leave she gave him her phone number (GASP!)  He was such a gentleman and she could tell that he genuinely just wanted to help her and wasn't going to push his way and ask her for it.  There was something very different about this young man!

When she returned home that night, there was a phone message from "her knight in shining armor".  They talked on the phone until almost midnight.  When they hung up - she knew.  This one is THE one!!  1 month later he asked for her hand in marriage.  9 months later on August 27, 1988 they celebrated a beautiful day (Probably one of the hottest - 105!)  being united in marriage.

So you see - dreams do come true and we are living happily ever after in the country with a large family.  I am so blessed to be married to the man of my dreams who loves the Lord, loves me and loves his children so passionately. 
Happy 23rd Anniversary to my knight in shining armor!

Eric and Carol ~ August 27, 1988

Mr. and Mrs. Eric Blanchet

Anderson Family Farm Giveaway

Anderson Family Farms is having an amazing giveaway on the Homestead Revival website (Click the post title, it's a link!) If you are new to Anderson Family Farms you MUST visit! They create a variety of handcrafted products from their goats' milk.  Her soaps are beautiful and her lotions feel so nice on your skin.  I love her packaging too.  These make lovely gifts!  Kimberlee is kind of like the "Christian Martha Stewart".  Everything she does, she does with excellence and these products are no exception! For all of you Washington readers, they are having a Family Farm Fall Festival day on Saturday, October 8th.  Their farm is located in Ellensburg - you might want to make a day of it - you'll be in for a real treat!  It's gonna be so fun!

Back to School

Can you feel it? I can! I can even smell it! No really, fall brings a special little something to the air. The weather has finally perked up here in the Pacific Northwest. It actually feels like summer, but now the days are getting shorter. I kind of get a little giddy at the thought of fall. I LOVE FALL! - even though we aren't quite there yet. Seems everyone is busy with back to school activities. They are getting their sports physicals and shots. They are taking care of new eye glasses and buying new backpacks. I have begun our preparations too - planning what the kids will be studying, preparing their lesson plan books and.... taking their school pictures! This year I have a high school senior, a high school sophomore, a first year in junior high, a 3rd grader, a kindergartener, and a kindergartener in training along with Miss Muffet who is learning all the things that babies learn in their first year. It's crazy fun! I am so thankful for the privilege to teach my children at home.

My 3rd grader

My junior high schooler

My sophomore

 

My senior

We have a winner!

Too fun!  Mrs. Jennifer Green is my 5th follower.  :-)  Since she is local and actually attends my church, Everett Bible Church, I'll take her some fresh French Chevre that I just made.
Hope you and your family enjoy, Jen!  Now, who will be my 10th follower?

Something Fun...

 I like to visit blogs.  It's fun to see what others are up to and what inspires them.  What's really fun is to visit a blog, see what blogs they like, and take a little blog hop.  It's such fun to find yet another blog to enjoy.  Some are going through difficult trials, some are enjoying the blessings of new babies, some are busy on their family farm (urban and country!)   It's like meeting new friends, except I'm in my home and they are in theirs.  I guess that's the 21st century way of making new friends, but I digress.  Lots of blogs have fun little give-aways.  I want to join the fun too.  Since I don't have very many "followers"  (see right column towards the bottom) I thought it might be fun to give a way a little something special to every fifth follower (that's my son's idea!).  So if you read my blog - let me know by following me! I'll post the winner and the surprise I sent to them.

20 - Really?!

Our baby at age 20

Since she was just about the size of this bunny when she was born - We used to measure her against this bunny each month to see how she had grown.

One proud and incredibly thankful Daddy!

Tomorrow will be our first born's 20th birthday!  In some ways it seems like just yesterday we were enjoying those early years of childhood.  In other ways it seems like a lifetime ago!  20 years ago I was very, very sick!  I was in the hospital with 4 weeks until my due date.  The doctors were puzzled and quite concerned about my odd symptoms that didn't all match up to anything they were familiar with.  While in the ER due to severe side pains, a doctor behind a curtain to another "room" over heard my situation.  He conferred with the doctor that was seeing me and suggested he run a series of tests on my RED blood cells.  They had looked at my white blood cell count for infection, but that all checked out fine.  Once the other blood tests were in - there was a bit of panic between the doctors.  My numbers were BAD and getting worse!  Specialists were called and I was admitted.  All the while, the pain was getting worse.  More blood tests and X-rays were taken.  We spent the night in the hospital waiting to hear what it all meant.  In the morning, after they fed me (BAD MOVE!) we finally were able to consult with the gastrointerologist.  He sat squarely in front of Eric and me.  He said all the symptoms made up only 2 possiblitiles - Fatty Liver of Pregnancy or HELLP Syndrome.  He also told us that with my blood work numbers, things didn't look good.  (That was his polite way of saying that if we didn't do something immediately, I would die!)  He looked at Eric and said, "Your wife has a 25% chance of making it and we just don't know about your baby."  It was so surreal!  Eric and I looked at eachother and really didn't know what tomorrow held for us!  The doctors decided I needed to be transfered to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and so in the ambulance I went, with my husband in our car following and my mom in her car, following Eric.  Since I had eaten breakfast - they needed to wait 8 hours before performing the C-section, which was the only thing that could save my life from HELLP Syndrome.  It was a waiting game.  Bleeding time tests were done about every hour and each time it was taking me longer to clot.  I found out afterward that my platellet count was down to 25,000.  (50,000 is considered "severe".) God in His sovereignty gave me a fabulous team of doctors and a wonderful surgeon.  Their decision for the specifics in the surgery allowed my to have more children naturally!  Our baby girl arrived at 7:58 pm on Tuesday, August 13th - 4 weeks early, but alive and healthy and pretty darn strong though tiny at  4 lbs. 5 ozs.  and only 16" long.  I, on the other hand, had a ways to go in my recovery.  The next 2 days I was in intensive care, but then was moved down to the regular maternity floor for 3 days.  On the 6th day, I got to go home....empty handed.  Sweet Sarah had to remain in the NICU.  She had bouts of apnea, a bit of jaundice and she had to weigh 5 lbs. before she could come home.  The next two weeks were full of ups and downs as we spent limited time at the hospital with her.  Eric was back to work and I couldn't drive having just had surgery.  Lots of days at home alone - thinking.  Thinking about the kind of wife and mother and wanted to be and why God spared my life.  I wanted my talk of being a Christian to match my walk of being a Christian!  15 days later we brought a tiny, pink bundle home!  Time is a funny thing.  As I recall the details of her birth, they are so clear - like yesterday and yet 20 years have passed - full of  achievements and bumps along the way.  I remember being encouraged by one of my mom's friends at the time of Sarah's birth when things seemed a bit tenuous.  She said that preemies are strong fighters!  That is a true statement!  Sarah is strong (emotionally...she has great leadership qualities and physically...she can split wood with an 8 lb maul right along with her brothers!) and I pray that THAT God given character trait will be used for HIS glory in her life.  So fast forward to tomorrow.  We shall celebrate Sarah's 20th birthday honoring her with her FAVE....green mint chocolate chip ice cream - no cake - no pie, just ICE CREAM with maybe a bit of whipped cream, and a few gifts.

Aroma Therapy

A long time friend, Karen from California, taught me how to make poured candles. I have loved the results. It is such a treat to light a candle and make the house smell yummy! I love to bless people by giving them as gifts too.
She made the switch from paraffin wax to soy wax and since I’m the “queen of copy”, I decided to try that too. I love these even better! Since our family is all about Pure and Simple I started doing some more research. I wanted to switch from fragrance oils (which is synthetic and man-made) to essential oil which is natural and God-made. Some of the fragrances are so nice, but I find that they can easily become overwhelming and cause a slight headache when I burn them. So, I did some reading. In that reading I found out that both paraffin wax and fragrance oils are carcinogenic!! That’s not something I really want to burn in my home!
Soy wax is a vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans. After harvesting, the beans are cleaned, cracked, de-hulled, and rolled into flakes. The oil is then extracted from the flakes and hydrogenated. The hydrogenation process converts some of the fatty acids in the oil from unsaturated to saturated. This process dramatically alters the melting point of the oil, making it a solid at room temperature. I do not recommend eating soy, but for candle making it is IDEAL ~ especially because they burn clean and won’t leave that nasty soot on your jar or your wall!
I have also been reading about and researching essential oils. We have an amazing God who created such a vast variety of plants that have healing properties. I feel like I am taking a college chemistry class. Each scent has a note like music- top, middle or base. Mixing the oils in an appealing ratio with a good balance is a little tricky. But, it doesn’t stop there, you can go a layer deeper and find out what the oil is useful for and create a candle for that. For example, did you know that lavender has antifungal and antiviral properties? Having a candle burning with lavender essential oil will diffuse those properties throughout your room. Citrus scents help give you a boost if you have a lack of energy. Did you know that ginger increases memory? Every plant is really so intricate. The leaves, the flowers, buds, stems, oils all have a use. Now multiply that by all the plant flora and then realize God created that in one 24 hour day. WOW!
So I am busy formulating scents for my soy candles. I will put some up for sale here on the blog soon. I can’t wait to share the joys of aromatherapy with you.

Honey Bunny

In loving memory of Sarah's beloved Honey Bunny

7/9/00 - 8/1/11