2019 - the year in review

 White Pines Homestead

           2019 ... the year in review

                

As each year draws to a close, we find ourselves reminiscing over some of the highlights,  the challenges, and a few of the accomplishments, but even more, we love the opportunity to look back and see how God’s hand was perfectly orchestrating the events in our lives.  This year was no exception and perhaps it was even more evident as God led us through some pretty big losses, but despite the tears, we seemed to focus more clearly on HIm. That's a good thing!

Within the first 4 months of this year, we lost both of our moms, mine at the age of 97 and Brian's at the age of 87. We also sold our home of 40 years, packed up the rest of our life and shop and moved it 700 miles away to our new homestead.  Several trips back and forth have occurred this year, over 9,800 miles worth to be exact, to finish moving our stuff, to sort through and clean out our moms' stuff.  That means we haven’t accomplished as much as we’d hoped on our home build.  But we do see some progress and we are certainly enjoying the process.  At the end of the day, isn't that what really counts anyway...we're happy and content and consider ourselves truly blessed. We really do!

Despite the losses and many miles traveled, we managed to maintain our flock of chickens and our guineas, and reap a decent harvest from our gardens.  We've also completed the new 8' x 24' Chicken Coop - it turned out great even managed to use quite a few repurposed materials! One of the highlights of our morning is walking down to the Coop and coming back with a handful of fresh colorful eggs for breakfast!

We’ve also been busy getting our orchard and gardens established and are so looking forward to enjoying those over the next few years. To keep our lettuce and root vegetables growing a little longer we put up a temporary greenhouse over a few of our raised beds. (Separate post on that) We lost the tomatoes and green peppers with a sudden dip in temperature to 17 degrees, but the onions, carrots, peas, and many varieties of greens are still thriving which is so fun to have this time of year! One can only hope they will continue to thrive through the winter ahead!

The house itself hasn't seen much progress, but we did manage to get 3/4 of the shiplap ceiling installed in our foyer/ loft area, and 5 of the 8 windows trimmed in the Livingroom. If all goes well we should be able to finish most of it before Christmas (yes this year!) and maybe get our new "old" wood stove installed before we are too far along into this cooler weather season!  (We picked up a vintage Weso wood stove on our way to Illinois on one of our many trips this year and we are so anxious to put it to use!) Google "Weso wood stoves", they are so cool!

With all the things we have to be thankful for, I think one of our most precious gifts is the privilege of being a Nana/Nani and Papa to 10 amazing grandchildren! They range in age from 2 to 16, so when they are all together there is no quiet to be had...but we wouldn’t have it any other way!  Without the older ones' help, we also wouldn't have accomplished as much as we did this year on the homestead.

Lastly, despite the loss and challenges, it was also a year full of God's love and abundance, protection, comfort, and another opportunity to see His hand upon our lives in such tangible ways.  God is good. His plan is always the best and His gift of life is eternal! 

We look forward to what the New Year will bring and what we might accomplish.  In the meantime... blessings from our homestead to yours!

Remembering Jesus is the Reason for this Season,

        as we celebrate our Saviors’ birth,

Brian and Jan