The Beginning of A Dream

Time is up! For most of our family, many of you already knew bits and pieces, but these clues might have been harder to solve for those who are not as familiar with our house and home.

For years, Ken and I have had an ongoing vision to find a fantastic piece of land, and later build our dream home on it. Who doesn't have that dream? Recently, we have become more serious about the pursuit, spending more time on real estate web sites scoping out local land for sale. In the search process, it became very clear that trying to find land in our very popular suburban county, would be a challenge, especially in our own booming town. The alternatives were not appealing. Moving far enough north or east to get the land we wanted at a nice price, would mean uprooting church roots and friendships we had grown to really appreciate. Not a reasonable trade off.

So for the last two years, on a weekly to bi-monthly basis, I would revisit the real estate sites to see if by some great miracle 10 acres was available for sale in our area. At the same time, the mental debate of giving up the dream for a nice house on a 1/2 acre lot circled in our heads. We did find a couple properties with acreage, but they were poor choices for undeniable reasons.

Then this January, during a late night search, I stumbled upon a horse farm that sat on 12 acres of pasture available for sale by owner. There were no pictures listed online, but a trip to Google Earth was enough to peak our interest. The location was remarkably close to home. Within 5 minutes!!!! Tucked away on a dead end cul de sac with 5 other horse farms, and adjacent to a city protected creek and greenway, the farm sat in an area that would never be touched by other developers.

We found ourselves soon making arrangements to visit the property one cold winter January afternoon. The house was two houses connected together. The original 3 bedroom ranch was built in the 1970's. When the owners purchased the property in 1998, they added another 4 bedroom house onto the ranch, and refinished the old house. I immediately began calculating the advantages I would have as a busy homeschooling mother with a growing family: two kitchens, two laundry rooms, space, separation of school and home, closets and more space.


The house was in good shape and simply needed a fresh slap of paint on the wall, a bit of patching, quite a bit of landscaping, and a lot of TLC. I think I might have taken a box with a hole in it. It was the land that stole my heart almost immediately. The scene of horses grazing in the pastures, our children running from paddocks to kitties to new adventures around the next corner, and the character of the unique old barn. It was beautiful, and full of promise.


We spent a couple more weeks researching the property, getting others' feedback on the property, and consulting the Lord in prayer. We wanted to be good stewards, and purchasing this property would mean going from completely debt free, back into debt for five years. We prayed for the Lord to open doors, and I specifically asked for the Lord to make it incredibly clear to me that we were making a wise decision by seeking this property.

One day, while driving the kids around town and thinking over the farm, I wondered how God might reveal His will. For a split second, I entertained the thought that another pregnancy would be the clearest sign in my mind's eye that the Lord approved. Four children would instantly cramp the two children's bedrooms. As quick as it came, I erased the thought, scolding myself for being so foolish.

One week later, I was late, and a pregnancy test revealed, we were expecting, quite unexpectedly, our fourth child. The Lord heard my foolish heart. Walking into the room with the test behind my back, I asked Ken, "Remember the confirmation I was looking for?...I think we have it." Surprised, he took the test from my hand and looked at the results. All we could do is shake our heads and laugh at each other in disbelief. I had only experienced one cycle since weaning Faith, and the Lord had decided it was time to add another blessing to our family.

Shortly thereafter, we began negotiations on the house. An inspection last week revealed that the owner, who was a builder and had built his own home, had done an excellent job. The building was sound and in good shape. With the sun shining for the first time down on the property, the land looked more inviting than ever. Negotiations were finalized before the inspection, and the results of the inspection added the last confirmation we needed to know that the decision was sound.

In three weeks we will close. It is hard to believe that we are three weeks away from a dream that seemed almost impossible to achieve. And yet, it was under our noses the whole time. The Lord has been so sweet to us. He has reminded us in a very kind way that nothing is impossible with the Lord.

What's Behind Door Number Four?

While you are in deep discussions over yesterday's clue, I will unfurl a single clue in reference to the second life changing event that awaits our family.
I will avoid the spoiler, and wait to add the label for this post later. :)

A Smudge of a Clue

Ken and I have a fun word we use. You've heard of the word "smidge"? Well, if you want a lot of a smidge we call it a "smudge". So here is a smudge of a clue regarding our first life changing event that is about to land square on the shoulders of the Knucker Hatch household. We are all buzzing with excitement and anticipation over the following...

If the first picture isn't enough of a smudge, this ought to help move speculations along...Whatever you do, DO NOT look at the label for this post. SPOILER ALERT.

Too late. You looked, didn't you.

What Is In Your Front Yard?

While you are waiting for the revelation of family secrets to arrive, I thought I'd provide some amusing entertainment that had our house in a big to-do last Friday. It all started with an afternoon phone call:

"Hi! It's Jennie's mom. I just had to call you and tell you about this bird that was in your yard. I drove by your house on the way to the store and it was standing by the pond. And then, twenty minutes later, as I was returning, it was still in your yard! You've got to check and see if it is still there. You won't believe it."

Upon that intriguing news, Faith and I removed ourselves from a laundry folding marathon and headed to the dining room window that faced the pond. For two quick seconds I saw him, looking very smug as he stood over the small pond. And then he saw me, and decided it would be wise to fly to safety on a neighbor's roof.


Unbelievable. It really took my breath away. We had an enormous four foot tall Blue Heron grabbing fast food from our tiny pond. In a span of two seconds, it all made sense. The missing fish, one here, one there over the last two years that would completely vanish. The flag stones lining the pond that I would find in complete disarray. It wasn't the work of a mischievous cat, or even a hawk...it was most likely a heron. How in the wide world he found our 4ft x 2ft pond, escapes me.

But the size of our three gigantically fat 9 inch long goldfish in our pond, did not escape him. They didn't stand a chance. The heron had more than a satisfying meal, devouring the two largest fish. In fact, I have witnesses! Our neighbors, upon seeing me inspect the damage, came over to tell their big fish story of how they saw the heron catch an orange fish, and how they tried to scare him away from the pond.

And so we have one fish left. The poor girl. All by her lonesome, and too scared to come out from underneath the one protective rock she can hide under. In the spring, we'll head back to Walmart, to cheer her up with some more company. Hopefully, by then, the heron will be more interested in bigger waters. But bigger fish?? I have a feeling we were his trip to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for the year.

This picture was taken three years ago...with the lone survivor sporting the white and orange markings (only now she's 5 inches more plump and tasty).

He Makes Her Lay Down In Purple Pastures

Now you know how this story ends, I'll start from the beginning. Last Thursday evening, after returning from a wonderfully exciting day of visiting with a close friend and playmates, I sat down to rest. The entire week had been packed, and this last visit marked the end of a fun but tiring affair. Ken had been away in Tennessee for the week, and I was glad to be near the end of flying solo.

The children, eager to be out of the long car ride back, got out their wiggles chasing each other around the house and swinging Faith's blankies at each other. Faith was just as happy to be free from car seat restraints and was giggling with her older siblings trying to keep up. As the children chased each other up the stairs, Faith followed. Too tired to object, and enjoying her visible joy in being a part of it all, I watched from my chair as she climbed up the stairs. I saw her little legs disappear as she moved beyond the rails and the wall hid her view. She was half way up the stairs, when she encountered her two blankets that Grace and Jack had left on the stairs.

What happened then, we'll never know. The next thing I heard was her gasp, as she lost her balance and began a slow tumble down our steep staircase. I saw her reappear tumbling backwards till she landed on the floor. It was a scary fall, but it was slow enough that it seemed she would be ok. In a matter of minutes I realized she was crying over more than fright. She did not wish to stand, and held her foot up refusing to have any pressure placed underneath it. Her right foot grew red and hot, and it appeared that she might have twisted her ankle during the fall.

It took her 30 minutes to stop crying and complaining. Her usual comforts didn't perform their magic. I called Ken and employed his resources to look up broken bones in infants on the Internet while I focused on Faith. After going through it together, it still seemed like she had twisted her ankle, and the swelling around her ankle was small. After an hour, the hot to the touch skin and redness had subsided. I decided to wait until the morning to see if the swelling had increased, or if there was bruising, or any other further signs.

Long story short, Faith got quickly used to standing on her left foot and keeping her right foot bent off the ground, but most noticeably, she went back to a life of crawling. Her foot had a small amount of swelling, but no change from the date of injury. However, after still refusing to stand or put pressure on her foot four days later and with no improvement, it was clearly time to take her in.

Somewhere in my mind I always thought that babies' bones were less brittle than adults. That since they were new and still growing, there was more cartilage involved and they had more bend to them (which is true in a sense). What I didn't know, until that visit, is that babies' bones are actually more likely to fracture than for a ligament to sprain. Bottom line, babies have stronger muscles than bones. I was given a referral to a sports medicine doctor for X-Rays in the morning.


Then things turned from bad to worse. Faith got the royal puke flu that night. She went through numerous bedding and clothes changes, and she and I got very little sleep as all she wanted to do was sleep on my chest, anything farther away was unacceptable. I felt so bad for her, she couldn't keep even water down until late afternoon.

The whole family headed out in support of Faith that morning. And we all hoped and prayed for the best. Unfortunately, it was not Faith's day. The X-Ray showed that Faith had broken and bent her fibula (lower leg bone on the inside of your leg) just above her ankle. It wasn't a giant break, but it was clearly broken. So our little Faith became our first family trauma after three children. We all watched as the doctor set a half cast around her leg and secured it with an ace bandage.

Grace kept the conversation light. The doctor had given Jack a small wet cast sample to observe how it slowly would harden. As he was describing how the cast would harden, Grace looked directly at the doctor and said, "How do YOU know?" As if he had no authority. We all bust out laughing, and the doctor wittily informed Grace he had gone to school for sixteen years to learn those types of things.

The rest of the day was a blur with little sleep under our belt, and nausea to boot. Our little girl is much better today, and is getting used to her little cast which she will need to wear for four weeks. It has slowed her down which is a huge test for mobile Faith. She is learning to be still, and be even cuter. We are so glad she is on her way to recovery. And somehow, even weighed down with a cast, she still manages to be a blur in my camera lens.


And now I must end this post with a cliff hanger. We have a number of life changing events to announce in the next week. There is more than one reason why I have been so blog-silent as of late. The changes are uber-exciting, but I don't like to blog about it until I'm quite sure it is true. Stay tuned in the coming week...

Hair Bear

When the princess is told she is having a good hair day...
When the princess doubts the talents of her hairdresser...and dentist...
When The Princess of Wails suspects she is being mocked...

It Is Starting

When I returned from the grocery store last Sunday, Ken approached me with this...

The report was that Grace had made it, and Ken had caught her trying to stick the sign in the ground of our property. Ehm...facing a group of boys that were down in the cul-de-sac. When questioned about why she made the sign, Grace's simple reply was, "Cause boys like girls."

The child is seven.
We are in SO much trouble.

That evening, Ken and I casually reminded Grace that her first kiss will be at the altar on her wedding day. Would she be ready for that first kiss (at the altar on her wedding day, after she turns 30)? She'd have to do it front of everybody....ewwwww.

The unsettling thing, is that when I left for the store, she was bringing the stick in the house to make a sword. And I remember thinking something along the lines of "Now that's getting creative." I was told that the sword thing didn't work, so we went from weaponry straight to "Boys Rock!".

Zero To One in 24 Hours

On the morning of Faith's birthday, Jack peered into her room as she and I did a "Happy Birthday" dance together. Coming in for a closer look, he asked:

"Is Faith really one today?"




After I confirmed that she was indeed one, he carefully supervised her diaper change, making comments like:

"Her legs look longer, I think."
"Mom let's put her down and see how she walks NOW."
"I wonder if she understands any more words."

For Jack, the idea of Faith going from zero to one overnight is a concept he still is trying to wrap his mind around. I'm not sure what he expected, but it was his belief that overnight our little Faith would become a toddler. When I tried to explain Faith has been slowly working her way toward one all year long his eyes glazed over. And then I think I almost made his head explode when I told him that now that she was one, Faith was one day closer to being two!

Stumbling upon this photo today, made me realize just how much both Jack and Faith have grown in the last year. Both of them...just babies.