New song I like...

I love this song by David Crowder Band...it's playing as you read this. :)

He is jealous for me, 

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, 

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. 

When all of a sudden, 

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory, 

And I realise just how beautiful You are, 

And how great Your affections are for me. 

And oh, how He loves us so, 

Oh how He loves us, 

How He loves us all 

Yeah, He loves us, 

Oh! how He loves us, 

Oh! how He loves us, 

Oh! how He loves. 

We are His portion and He is our prize, 

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, 

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking. 

And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss, 

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest, 

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, 

When I think about, the way…

~~MIKE DAVIS D.C~~ AKA PAPA D~~

Reason for my blogging absence. Dusty's dad has been in the hospital in California for the last 3 1/2 weeks. He got pneumonia which turned in ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome.) He was put into a coma to give his body a fighting chance at recovery. The doctors expected him to be in a coma for 2 days or so, that unexpectedly turned into 2 weeks. 2 weeks on life support, in the ICU in critical condition. We got to see God's blessing when he finally came out of the coma and was able to sustain breathing on his own. 

Mike is now in physical therapy, still impatient at the hospital. He lost about 60% of his muscle while he was in the coma. He is working hard to rebuild the lost muscle. He is currently walking with a walker, still needs assistance using a fork to eat. Everyday he gets stronger. We are hopeful he will be released next week and will start outpatient physical therapy. 
As you can imagine the medical bills are piling. 
We have set up an account in which donations can be made to assist in his medical care. If you would like to donate please contact or walk into any Rabobank. (800) 942-6222  The account is set up under Michael Davis. 

On behalf of the family we would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the friends and family for the prayers, cards, meals, love, support and donations. You all have been a blessing, you've made a difficult time a little easier. THANK YOU!!

~The Davis Family

The Masked Underoo Man

OH MY GOSH! I couldn't stop laughing...
The kids and I are outside playing when from around the corner of the house Noah and Josiah come running up to me. This is what they looked like:
Yes, that's underware on Noah's head! He made that all by himself. He said he wanted a new fighter mask. He wanted to look like the toy in his hand.
I did have to ask..."Noah, did you get that from the dirty clothes pile in the laundry room?" He said, "No, I got it from my drawers in my room." Phew.

I laughed for a while on this one...

Princess dirty face was havin' fun crusin' in her hot ride!

Awww, so cute.

Hold on Alanah, don't move! Mommy needs her camera, ok?!

The Cob chateau with higher walls and more windows.

Dr. Mercola on Cell Phones

This is full of good info. I found the article insightful. It was full of information that I HAD heard before but it also included new facts, statistics & other data that I HADN'T heard before today.

Some of the shocking facts that made me stop in my tracks...

Shocking facts about cell phone use -- especially about cell phone use in children. I've turned the correct answers GREEN.

1. What country has banned cell phone use on trains to cutdown on 'second hand radiation'?
A. France
B. Belgium
C. Japan

2. In what country is it now illegal to advertise mobile phones to children?
A. France
B. England
C. Canada

3. A cell call lasting just 2 minutes can alter the natural electrical activity of a child's brain for up to how long? (This one made me freak!)
A. Stops when a call ends
B. 20 minutes duration
C. One hour duration

4. When you use a cell phone what percentage of the energy emitted from the antenna is absorbed into your head?
A. None of it
B. 30% of the energy
C. 70% of the energy

5. The average child uses their cell phone about how many minutes per month?
A. 2600 minutes
B. 1300 minutes
C. 120 minutes

Here's the link to watch the 7min. video of Dr. Mercola sharing valuable information. The statistics are in and it's CRAZY! He also provides a "better than" solution.

Blue Tube Headset

~~RANDOM~~

We steamed plums & peaches for juice this weekend. This cool machine is a loaner and WOW it would be hard to go back. I've tasted the easier way!! :)

Bottling the juice.

After I steamed the fruit and the juice was bottled, I decided to blend up the fruit and make fruit roll-ups or fruit leather in the dehydrator. The kids are loving it!

~~~~~COB UPDATE~~~~~

It's got windows!

Paned windows on the front and picture windows on the sides. Slightly tilted inward for passive solar.

The round windows in the middle double as canisters on the other side.

The side picture windows.

Side profile.


~~BIRTHDAY STUFF~~

I had a very nice birthday this year, I felt very spoiled. Thank you to family and friends for such a great weekend. Here's a few of the gifts that were given.

It's the big dog, a 12" cast iron skillet with lid. Made in the USA!

Another big dog. 12 cup french press. :)

Some wonderful books...

A pair of earrings from Austin, he's such a sweetheart.

Money and gift cards.

I ended up getting a new bedding set with the gift cards.

Some items not pictured would be a nice date that Dusty set up for us, a fun girls night, a birthday party with family, birthday cake, Olive Garden gift card, lots of cards, some sweet phone calls, a couple birthday texts, and tons of Facebook messages.

THANK YOU everyone! You guys are the best. I'm so blessed.

The Grapes of Wrath

Kaianah and these goggles just crack me up!
Just kickin' it with my goggles on...

So funny....

Plums, plums and more plums! ~~Plum benefits~~

Thank you EB & TB for the yummy fruit!! We've been able to harvest peaches, plums, pears & grapes.

Plums are all washed and now they are drying out.

I read in my "Backwoods Home" magazine that you can just wash, dry and freeze. Then you can pull them out in the winter (when you have more time) and make juice, jam or just defrost and eat.

6 gallons later...I'll be busy this winter!

Then came the grapes...did I know what I was getting into? NO! Grapes took me 2 days. (I've since heard of easier ways)

I'm still not working for Vita-Mix but oh man I HEART this machine! Grapes were washed, de-stemmed, mashed up, cooked, strained & canned.

Oh my, this took sooooo long! I found out the next day that you could use a large pillow case to strain all the grapes. Just fill the pillow case, hang it up and leave it over night. I wish I would have known that! ha,ha

Fruits of my labor. :) THEN I found out about a nifty little juicing machine from Lehmans. A co-worker of Dusty's is letting us try it out, so I'll let you know what I think after I try it out!

Building with Cob

We decided to put straw bales on one wall.
See that wood ramp? That's where the front door will be. Windows will be on both the left and right side. I found some cool windows on Craigslist this week, can't wait to show you!