Prairie Oak Homestead

The father of our pastor friend passed away today. His suffering is over.  He was such a kind man and I am blessed to have known him. He will be greatly missed by many.  I will not forget the kind words he spoke to me the other day. Words can have a lasting impact. So to that I want to tell my dad you are missed. I wish things were different and I could speak to you and glean wisdom from your words. I wish I knew somehow if you were proud of who I am becoming. I hope you are well. Know that you are still loved even after all this time...I will imagine in my mind that you feel the same as that is all I can do. Follow @titus2baker

watching someone you care about in their last stages of this life...One of our good friends, Rich, is dying. He is the dad of one of our pastors and friend. We went to see him today and it's hard to see him in so much pain and confused at times. There just seems to be a lot of heartache lately.  I would be crushed under the weight of life if it weren't for God. He is what keeps me standing. At the end of our visit today, I hugged Rich and told him I loved him. This is what he said to me. "I love you, too, Stephanie. You have such a sweet heart. Don't ever lose your sweet heart." I told him I sure would try not to. His words were an answer to prayer. My diseases can get the better of me at times. I feel in my heart that I have become a little bitter inside and that can come out at times as grouchiness or frustration. There are times where I wonder if I still had any sweetness in me. I have been praying that God would help me to not become a bitter person with m...

Wow..it's was a long weekend. :) I'm exhausted! It was a fun one though. Sold at the market on Saturday (it was as hot as could be). Then we went to a movie that evening with friends. Sunday we went to church and then had our small group over for a cookout. We smoked brisket and had roasted corn on the grill, potato salad, fruit salad, green beans, and cheesecake. So yummy! Yesterday, we had to get the mower tire fixed so I could mow again. That was an ordeal. Took a lot of the day. Then we went out to eat and took Hunter putt-putting. (I won!) Him and Ryan went and did some go-karting. I ended up in bed early last night. So tired. :) My knee is still really bad. It is very difficult to walk as it is very swollen and painful. I have to wear a knee brace just to get around. Today is grocery shopping day as well. :( Not much fun with a painful limp. I will be making more soap this week and also will be making a new product to sell...a Himalayan Salt Body Scrub. Good stuff. I...

Not one that I fancied, let me tell you. :)  My old car broke down on a bridge today. It was going and just slipped out of gear and acted like it was in neutral, but wasn't.  It wouldn't go into any gear.  So, I had to push the car down the road farther to get it off the bridge and onto the side of the road.  Hunter steered. (I tried to have him push, but he wasn't strong enough) I pushed and pushed that car down the road and people drove by me not offering to help.  I was kinda shocked.  But, finally after I pushed it almost all the way down the road (puff, puff, cough, chest burning) a teenager stopped to help me push it the rest of the way. My husband is at work on a roof somewhere and I have no contact to him.  I called our good friend, Travis, and he came and picked us up and took us home.  I'm glad I had him to call.  He is our go to person when my husband can't be contacted. I appreciate him being able to come to our rescue. But, it ...

Wow! What a vacation that was! No phone...no internet...no responsibilities...Just fun, food, and relaxing! We went on a cruise to the Caribbean.  Our stops were Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.  We had a great time. The first two days our ship hit rough water so it rocked and rolled quite a bit.  There were several people that got sick including our friend, Jenny.  It was difficult to walk as you would stumble around due to the waves rolling the ship.  I over heard several people say that they never had a cruise that was that rocky.  Usually you can't even tell you are on a ship.  After day two it settled down and we got off in Puerto Rico. This was a night excursion.  We took a van ride for 1 1/2 hours to get to where we needed to go.  Before we left I had some, what I thought was decaf coffee.  Turns our it wasn't and I had to pee (sorry) really bad on the way.  We were only 20 minutes into it and I thought I'd die....

Our friend invited us to spend Thanksgiving with her family.  So we loaded up the vehicle and her, her husband, Ryan, Hunter, and I and set off for Ohio.  We played road games like I spy and talked and had a good time on the way over.  We arrived about 7 hours later and were glad to get something to eat and sit down. :) Her family was very kind to us and we felt very comfortable there.  It was great spending Thanksgiving with a lot of people.  The food was FANTASTIC!  We played cards, went to Wheeling to go to Cabela's, and just relaxed.  It was a great time for our family.  I loved seeing how their relationships worked.  They were all very close.  You could feel the love they had for each other.  It was great to be around. :)  I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.  Now that we are home, we have a ton of stuff to do in the next two weeks.  We are leaving for our cruise on the 10th of December and I need to g...

Helped load up a moving van (actually two, don't ask) for my mom this morning into the afternoon.  It was interesting.  She is moving to Wisconsin.  A lot of things transpired this week that broke my heart, none of which was her moving.  Going out to eat tonight with friends to one of my favorite restaurants, Biaggi's. It will be nice to relax and put some things behind me.  I'd like to focus on good things, like wonderful friends, a great church family, being loved as a daughter in a wonderful godly way by someone God has put in our life, a funny son, the beautiful day we had, and a healing spirit God has provided me to deal with the lot He has given.  My husband told me that he loved my fighting spirit.  He said he admires that I don't just give up on things.  I think my childhood has prepared me for the things I face now.  Funny how that works. ;) I hope everyone has enjoyed their Saturday.  I am plum tuckered out and ready for a ...

Today was a good day. Enjoyed a sweet breeze today while helping friends move. Enjoyed good conversation and a blessing that was given. Looking forward to good sleep...

Today I got to teach a friend how to shoot. :) She really didn't like guns and really wasn't that interested. But, she finally changed her mind. :) We have several .22's and she really enjoyed shooting them and boy she was a good shot (like me lol) :) We just need to get her to shoot a bow and we'll be set. LOL The captain got to eat breakfast with dad this morning and was able to let him know that what I meant by it seeming like I'm not able to have a dad is just that if God doesn't want me to have one, well then I won't have one. I meant no disrespect to him or any ill will in that. I was just looking back on my life and realizing that is one thing that God has not allowed me to have fully. I pray one day I will be able to fully show my love for him as a dad (it has not changed in my heart), that would be wonderful. But, that is all up to them and God. I hope he understands I didn't say it to upset him. I was just stating what was on my heart...

Which one are you? A Debbie Downer or a Lucy Lifter? Honestly, I think I tend to be a Debbie Downer...especially when it comes to my own circumstances. I can easily keep my eyes on circumstances and get very down. I can bring my household down. Not a good thing. I can be encouraging to others and see through their circumstances to the cross, but why is it so hard for me to be encouraging to myself? Hmmmm....something to ponder I suppose. :) I'd like to try and be more encouraging to myself and others. The need for encouragement is very great. It's a wonderful gift to have to give. When I really stop and listen and watch for what God is doing it's easy to become a Lucy Lifter again. :) No matter our circumstances, God is ALWAYS in the midst. When we don't see Him there or ignore Him is when we get stressed and overwhelmed. Trust me, when life is swirling around you with it's hurt and disappointments, it's easy to get caught up in the swirling and lose ...

The trees have been beautiful this year! I know I've talked about it like crazy, but it just seems so wonderful to me. The simple things in life are what stirs my soul. Here are a few pics from our back porch (the horse is our neighbors)... I went to Arthur today with some friends to get some meat, but stopped at a store called Beachy's, an Amish bulk food store, for a few other things. :) Here's some of them... I got some orange slices, popcorn, and almonds. :) And oh this cheese! THIS cheese... Oh my this CHEESE... Can ya tell I like it? I like it a lot... It's wonderful on chili, tortilla chips, crackers, crackers and deer sausage, by itself....*sigh* I should have bought more... I'm eating a chunk of it as we speak...oh the simple pleasures! :) God is GOOD!

Our anniversary is the 19th, but we are celebrating it tonight with friends who have their anniversary close to ours. We will be married 13 years. Over the last 6 years we have really grown in our marriage. We've had our good times and bad, sickness and health, richer or poorer...But, we've grown stronger through it all. I met my husband when he was 16 and I was 18. We worked at the movie theater together and found out that we went to the same high school. I had prayed for a kind, gentleman that was unlike the other boys I had dated. They were too forward and after one thing. ;) The next day I met Ryan. I would always be cold at the theater and my hands would be like ice. He would take my hands in his and warm them up. *aw* He says he fell in love with my voice before he even saw my face. I had my back turned to him when coworkers introduced us and I was talking at the time. We married when he was 19 and I was 20. October 19, 1996. :) We have such a deep connection...

Our friends got FREE tickets to the Cardinals/Braves game this weekend. I have never been to a Major League Baseball game. It was so exciting to enjoy with my husband for the first time. America's favorite pastime. The Cardinals didn't do well at all. But, I also like the Braves so it was fun either way. :) It was neat to see the Arch in the background. He wasn't too happy he let the Braves score 6 runs in the 3rd inning... In addition to the game, I enjoyed a turkey leg! I had NO idea they had those! It was so good! I just love those. Ryan had these incredible nachos! Good times! :)

Arthur is an Amish/Mennonite community about a 1/2 hour away from me. Hunter and I are going there today to visit one of his Mennonite friends, Joe. Joe's grandma, Esther, is the one who showed me how to sew cape dresses and headcoverings. She is a very wise woman. Joe's mom hasn't seen me since I stopped covering and wearing dresses. They both wanted to talk to me today. :) I think Esther is disappointed that I stopped covering. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say after I explain to them why I stopped. I respect them a lot and don't want to disappoint them or want them to think I have slipped away from Christ. I have grown closer to Him. :) I will admit, though, that there are some days I miss wearing my covering and cape dress. It was easier to find something to wear that's for sure. It's so hard to shop for modest clothing at the stores. My husband prefers that I wear jeans now. I think if we grew up Mennonite it wouldn't h...

You may remember the window I broke a while back with a wood chip from the lawnmower. Well, we finally got a new window to put in and some friends came to help us put it in. My husband is off to the right side and you can't really see him. lol. (From left to right--Bob, Thad, Hunter, Ryan) After they took out the old window. There he is in the long sleeved grey shirt. :) Handsome, eh? lol What great helpers! It's finally in! The windows on this one open. I kinda like that. We now can get a breeze from the dining room to the kitchen. :) Now we have to do the finishing touches like trim and such. But it went in with no major catastrophes and we're happy about that! Glad to have friends to help. :) God has blessed us with good friends.

It rained here the whole day on the 4th of July. We had a work day here on our little homestead with friends. We needed to get some wood split and stacked for winter. Our time is running out for drying and we haven't had a lot of time to get it done. Our friends came down to help despite the rain. It meant a lot to us, the dedication of our friends. That's a rare thing indeed. It gives a great sense of community. One of the things I admire about my Amish/Mennonite friends. This is my husband in the rain. :) This is our friends. :) They realized that the rain suites were useless. So they got rid of them. Then we did some fireworks later on. That was fun. Here's Hunter with a sparkler. Our friends. Me with a sparkler. It's pretty smokey, but there I am. lol My husband and I looking at the pics of the fireworks I took. It was a great day to spend with frineds even though it rained all day. It did stop long enough at night for us to do some fireworks. :) I wa...