Homestead Bound

21/03/2024

Probably be been done by now but the clients keep stopping by to "check on the build." 🙄😆

27/12/2023

My last post was about how we pulled an all nighter on Christmas Eve to put everyone's bigger gifts together.

There was one exception...

We didn't assemble the swing set.

This was partly because it needed to be done outside, but mainly because the thing Jack wanted most for Christmas was a real tool set.

We thought we would leave the swing set disassembled so he could help put it together using his new tools!

He loved the idea and today we got to make it happen. 😊

27/12/2023

On Christmas Eve, after everyone was finally asleep, my wife and I began stuffing the stockings, wrapping gifts, and eating all the milk and cookies.🥛🍪

Around midnight, we reluctantly decided that it would be much more festive if the larger gifts we had for the kids were already assembled when they woke up.

So, we pulled out the tools 🧰, made our 5th cup of coffee for the day ☕, and got to work assembling the drawing table, soccer goal, desk, and playhouse. 😅

We ripped open boxes, crossed our eyes trying to read clunky instructions 😵‍💫, and even had to pull out the drill a few times.

We were busy until about 5am before we finally finished up and passed out.

Just a couple hours later, we were woken up by screams of joy and excitement. ☺️

The reward of watching their reactions was worth far more than the labor that we put in!

Having six children has created more work than I could have ever imagined, and it requires so many sacrifices to keep everyone safe, healthy, and happy.

But there's no doubt it's made me a better person and taught me that it's truly more blessed to give than to receive. 🙏

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year! ☺️🎄

24/12/2023

This is the first year we've had the right type of trees in our own backyard.

We ended up cutting this one down and everyone in the family got to take part in chopping, shaping, and decorating it.

It's not a showstopper but it means a lot to us.🎄

Merry Christmas!

24/12/2023

FACT: The newer Christmas lights just don't hit the same as the old ones!

09/12/2023

Anyone who says "the best things in life are free" never had to pay for cat food or diapers. 🤷

29/11/2023

When our first born was a toddler and got into mischief (like toddlers do), people would say things like, "oh that's nothing, just wait 'til she's a teenager."

Well, she's a teenager now (14), and some of her favorite hobbies include baking treats and making sushi for our whole family (there's 8 of us), and everything she makes is delicious!

She may fly off the rails and break our hearts in the next few years but at this point she could steal our car to rob a bank and the next day I'd be bailing her out and asking her to make us some macaroons. 😆

26/11/2023

Take your spouse's phone and yell what you'd like for Christmas into it. Now they'll get reminded everyday with ads! 😂

23/09/2023

When the temperature in Florida finally starts to dip below 90 degrees: "Dad, it's fall now so this is how you dress in the mornings." 😂

13/09/2023

Setting up our new hammock!

10/09/2023

We snuck a squirrel into church

07/09/2023

Our crew, as seen by my 11 yr old (she's the one with the shirt that says, "awesome" 😂).

26/08/2023

I don't like to brag but I just got these two down for a nap at the same time. 💪😁

17/08/2023

I'll never forget the moment I realized our oldest daughter, at 12 yrs old, could bake things completely on her own.

A couple years later and not only does she still enjoy it immensely but, she's also really good at it! Multiple times a week she asks to make fresh pastries for the family and it's amazing. 😋

Today our 2 yr old (pictured) was playing with flour like it was kinetic sand, getting it all over herself and the kitchen.

Younger me would foolishly think she was just making a mess but, older, wiser, and 30 lbs heavier me knows better. Now all I see is tomorrow's endless supply of fresh, baked-with-love goodness. 🤌

07/08/2023

When someone's life looks just a little too perfect on social media. 🤣

02/08/2023

31/07/2023

Something seems off about our broccoli but I can't quite put my finger on it 🤔

20/07/2023

2 yr old: Mommy, LOOK at my HANDS

Mom (anxiously): What's wrong with your hands??

2 yr old: They are supposed to be holding WINKIE!!

19/07/2023

🤣

18/07/2023

Easy peasy

13/07/2023

Today is our 15 year anniversary! 1st pic is shortly before our wedding day. 2nd pic is very recent with all 6 kids. It's been one intense and wild journey but we've been truly blessed!

04/07/2023

😂

28/06/2023

Our kids love writing stories and illustrating them. Here's a recent concept that came across my desk recently. 😂❤️

28/06/2023

I thought all 6 of our kids would scatter when I started cutting into this beef heart.

I'm so glad I was wrong!

These two even pulled up a stool to watch and voice their curiosities.

Growing up for me was an experiment in eating an exclusively processed food diet.

Fast-food, microwave meals, sugary cereals with pasteurized/homogenized skim milk, sodas in place of water, candy in place of fruit, public school lunches...

The list goes on. Very rarely a home cooked meal with simple, real food ingredients would make its way onto my plate.

I tried to eat a little better when I got older but the bar was so low, and my understanding of real food and nutrition so dim, that it wasn't near enough.

At 27 years old, married with baby number two just months away from being born, I found myself in the hospital fighting for my life.

The doctors didn't know what was causing the blockage and infection in my intestines.

3 weeks I laid in there with not a bite of food or even a sip of water (although my wife did sneak me some ice chips here and there).

An IV kept me alive while the doctors did all sorts of tests and came up with theory after theory.

Finally, as nothing was working to get rid of the infection or open up my digestive tract, an emergency bowel resection was performed.

After this surgery, I had to stay even longer with no food or water, waiting to see if it was successful- if I could pass anything through.

Within 24 hours after the operation, either the nurses forgot, or, there was a problem with the pain medicine I was supposed to be on and I woke up feeling the full torment of the wounds in my gut and abdomen.

When they did get the laundry list of medications and pain killers flowing properly, I had a terrible reaction and the worst nausea I can even imagine hit me for multiple days.

With fresh wounds in my gut, the incessant vomiting that ensued was one of the most painful things I've ever experienced.

All this and more was going on while I continued to lay there, wondering if the surgery would prove successful...

I lost all my muscle, literally down to skin and bone. I couldn't sit up on my own, let alone get out of bed and walk.

This was by far one of the most intense and difficult times of my life.

More than that, it was one of the worst and most difficult times for my wife.

At this point she was 8 months pregnant, trudging back and forth with our 1.5 year old to check on me while also holding down the fort at home.

As several weeks without any bowel movements went by, and I continued to wither away, it really seemed as though all hope was lost.

Thankfully, things started to turn. I did finally have something pass through and the road to recovery began.

It took several days to get the strength just to sit up. Then weeks to be able to actually walk on my own again.

A biopsy from the surgery came back to reveal that I had Crohn's Disease, and at this point it was actually a relief to at least know what we were up against.

Fast forward to today, well over a decade later, and I'm still recovering. Still unlearning bad habits and ideas about food, health, and well-being.

Brain fog, inflammation, and fatigued often plague my days, and threaten the goals I have to create abundance for my family.

This is why this picture means so much to me...

I often feel as though I'm failing to give them the best life has to offer and wish I could do more.

This picture reminds me that, though I may not leave them a large financial inheritance, I CAN leave them with something perhaps much more impactful and meaningful.

I can leave them with an understanding and appreciation of what real food looks like, where it comes from, and the sustainable quality of life it can provide us.

If I can steer them away from the lifestyle and systems that led to such grand setbacks and suffering for me and my wife, I will consider that a success.

Lord-willing, from that foundation they'll go on to achieve their own dreams and goals, and leave behind a more sustainable and health-promoting way of life for their children and for the world. 🙏

20/03/2023

Every stick is a sword. ⚔️😊

14/03/2023

More in the "funky farm animal gymnastics" series from our 11 year old. 🤣

14/03/2023

When your kid's into drawing, homesteading, and gymnastics at the same time. 🤣