When life goes hard...

Life is hard going at the moment. We are facing some challenges, schooling problems, the possibilty of saying goodbye to a dear friend, a very sick daughter, but the one that I had today was Big White Dog had to have an operation. Last Friday it was confirmed that he had 3 cancerous growths and they had to be removed today. Poor boy...now we wait for the results of the tests to see if he needs another.

In this tough time I am so grateful for little things. The blessings of my family working together, the rain, the winter garden giving us food, the warmth of the fire at night.

Here are some pictures of the last while...

From Jane's Delicious Kitchen a quick nutritious Asian greens soup with homemade chicken stock and egg noodles.

The first of two slouch berets finished sitting in front of the warm fire...such a nice quick knit. This time I used some lovely handspun/dyed wool from Journey Stitches.

Trying to get my family to eat more beans and this was a win. Delicious bacon and beans in an Italian tomato herby sauce with fresh parmesan on the top. So delicious.

The kids and I built a support structure for our first planting of broad beans using old canes. My engineering skills are not the best but this should do the trick.

It's olive curing season and we are doing our 4th annual curing of 20kgs of olives. I have to change the water in the bottles every evening for a few weeks before brining them. We have one bottle left from last years curing.

Chard, mustard greens and bok choi find their ways into meals everyday. So nice to go into the garden for produce.

On Friday night I watched a lovely video called "Life at Bethany Farm" about a family living and loving in Langkloof. I saw this poem on the wall in the video and recalled it from when my children were young. I thought that it would be great to share here as I too need the reminder when things are going tough that the home is all about love and the people in it.

Love in the Home

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness--not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.

Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.

Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.

Now I glory in God's perfection of my child. As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.

~Author Unknown~