Building the Rabbitry

I am loving that my son Tristan is old enough to really help with the building process. Tristan and Shane went to our local hardware store and got all the wood they needed to build the frame and began working on it Saturday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon, they had the whole framing structure up.

 

We plan to expand on it as we begin to grow. We are looking into growing our own organic rabbit feed too. Stay tuned to see the completed Rabbitry.

 

Our first step into Homesteading- Raising Meat rabbits

We decided to take a leap into homesteading and give the kids a little hobby too. Raising and breeding rabbits! We started off taking in my sister-in-laws bunny that she no longer wanted to see if the kids could keep up with her care as my oldest 3 plan to raise rabbits for competition and for sale as a small first business. They did great so my husband has agreed to allow them to start this business venture under the stipulation that what they don't sell will be food for the family table. I am excited as eating organic meat is expensive and this will supply our family with an endless supply.

It wasn't long before we realized that the "indoor" cage was a real pain to clean and a little bit of an expense with all the bedding. It also didn't seem very sanitary so Shane and I searched the web high and low for rabbitry plans and found a a blog here on Blogger that we were impressed with. http://theweekendhomesteader.blogspot.com/  They had a very classy outdoor set-up so we took their design and tweeked it a bit to fit our not-so-flat backyard. I am so excited to get started. More to come.

Picture of our lone bunny Pebbles.

Low carb while pregnant? Part one

I was recently diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. I am supposed to change my diet to no more than 30 carbs for breakfast, 10-15 carbs for snacks, 30 carbs for lunch and 45-60 carbs for dinner. But even with the diet changing I am still having to take the diabetic drug Metformin and take a lot of insulin several times a day. So I thought I would try to restrict my carb intake even further to see if it helps. I heard that strict low carb diets can cause a person to go into ketosis and there is very little information out there about the effects of ketosis during pregnancy.

So this is my first day trying it and so far my blood sugar levels have been great today and I even cut out my meal insulin. I am still taking my long acting insulin in the morning and my metformin. So let's see how this goes.

Gods Little Christmas Helpers

It was a rough year for the Swinnings financially. We were blind-sided by so many surprise things this year.

The bounce house and party business took a hit this May when the County Attorneys office sent out a formal letter forbidding County schools to use inflatables at there end of year events in which the companies require a "Hold-Harmless" Clause. We lost nearly $2000 or more in school end-of-year events in May and June over that. (We were able to work it out with the County Attorney to all of our satisfaction just too late to remedy the situation for us)

Then my oldest son Tristan had brain surgery in June in which he was in the hospital for 11 days. My husband had to take a lot of time off of work (mostly unpaid) in order to help out with the other 6 kids including my 6 month old baby Dylana. Then in late July, Tristan had a severe allergic reaction to the intravenous antibiotics he was on at home from the brain surgery that landed him in the hospital again for another week. More unpaid leave for my husband.

Then my husbands truck had to have nearly $1000 worth of work done to it this year only for the transmission to fail in October. Leaving us with only one vehicle (a 12-passenger van that guzzles gas) for my husband to drive to and from his job in Clemmons (35 minutes away) and deliver bounce houses with in one of our most busy months of the year.

Needless to say, we are behind in all of our bills including our mortgage right now and we just couldn't afford to buy very many gifts for our children. But God heard our cries. I was out looking at fabric with this one "secret angel" who decided that they wanted to take me to this cool little store she found called Ollies. While there she tells me that she wanted to buy me $30 worth of presents for each of my kids and if I didn't help her pick them out she would shop without me. So that day I left the store with nearly $160 worth of toys for my 7 kids. She later bought my little kids a Little Tikes Kitchen for Christmas too.

So THEN I post about this awesome blessing on my FB page and another "secret angel" tells me that she put my kids on the Christmas Tree at her job and that her co-workers bought stuff for my kids too. She delivered 1-2 presents for each of my children a few days later.

Coupled with the little bit of money I had already spent on the kids myself, my kids had a Christmas they will never forget. We used it as an opportunity to share how God used these people to bless us. And my kids were so thankful for everything they got this year. I think not having money helped us prepare more special Christmas times with the kids that didn't cost much of anything like baking together and having candlelit dinners which they loved.

It was truly a Merry Christmas thanks to Gods Little Christmas Helpers.

Homesteading both intrigues me and frightens me!

Lately I have really been concerned about our grocery bill. On a good week if I still have some basic necessities in the fridge or cabinet at home, then I can get out of Walmart with only about $200 in groceries and personal hygene items like TP. But just about every 4th week the bill becomes a whopping $270. Now that may not sound like a whole lot when you have 9 mouths to feed but it is really taking a toll on our budget. So I started looking into gardening, couponing, buying bulk, ect and have come across the term homesteading. It is a term now used to describe a lifestyle of self-sufficiency.

So to ward off the high prices of tomatos and the amount of money we spend on them in the summer, I planted a tomato garden. (My kids love to eat them as snacks or on a sandwich by itself with mayo.) We planted 9 plants in our raised bed of 4ft by 7ft and the garden just exploded into so many tomatos we couldn't eat enough. I began trying to incorporate them into recipes and sauces but alas a lot of tomatos were wasted or rotted on the vine before we could use them. Lesson learned about how many tomatos our family really needs.

Lately, we have been reading about raising your own rabbits for meat and doing some hunting. Everything about homesteading is new and exciting for me and I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you.

Have a Blessed Day,
Jennifer

I'm not judging you, I promise ;)

So most of you know OUR story and how I was told I probably wouldn't be able to get pregnant without medical help due to a condition called Anovulation. In other words, I don't have the typical monthly menstrual cycles that most women have. So long story short, my husband and I prayed for at least one child when we got together and we told God that we would take however many kids he wanted to give us. Well, needless to say God answered our prayers. You can read our entire testimony here.

Our oldest 2 children were in Kindergarten and 1st grade at a private school in our town in 2006, when we were blessed with our 4th miracle daughter. (2 miscarraiges between her and my 3rd) Then my husband got laid off from his high paying executive job and we had to re-evaluate our spending, The kids expensive private school was one of the first things we had to cut. One of the things I liked about the private school was that they encouraged the parents to volunteer in the classroom and be a real presence in their childs education. I didn't want to lose that and through much prayer and encouragement from other homeschool moms, We decided to homeschool our children. Now that we have such a large family and one child who is "exceptional", I know that we made the right choice.

So why am I titling this blog entry as "I'm not judging you, promise"? Well, let me go around my elbow to get to my thumb to explain lol. Recently my husband and I felt the Lord leading us to leave the small community church we were going to and join a larger church mostly for the youth program they offer. And I found myself in that awkward "getting to know you " phase of church again. And it has been difficult to really connect. I have introduced myself to numerous women and have great conversations. Then it seems as soon as they find out that I am a stay-at-home mom with 8 children who homeschools, women seem to shy away. I asked a close friend of mine recently if there is some sortof vibe I put off and she oh so nicely said "Maybe people are just waiting on you to get on your soap box." What do you mean, my soap box? And then I GOT IT!

When I tell people that we are just blessed by whatever number of kids God gives us, people assume that I have some regulation from God that I just can't wait to share and push on them. Or When I say I am a stay-at-home mom, mothers who work think I am judging them for working. Or when I say I homeschool, mothers think I am judging them for sending their children to school. I GET IT!

But all of that is NOT what I am thinking. I chose to have this many kids because at one time having even one child was just a dream. It was a vow I made to God and I am glad for it. It wasnt until way later on in our marraige that we began to look into what Gods word says about children being a blessing and decided that we don't believe in any form of birth control FOR US.  I chose to stay-at-home with my children because all I ever wanted to do was be a mother and wife. And well, for 13 years I have always had a toddler or infant to tote :) And I am not judging people who send their children to school. I was all for private school when mine were little and of course, now that our family is so large I don't think there is any other option but to homeschool. I mean between homework and school activities for this many children when would we have time for family time. Believe me if I could figure out a way to extend the hours of a day so I wouldn't have to teach my kids Science and History (two subjects I hate) I would!

SO rest assured, I'm not judging you, I promise!

Swinning Taco Chili (base for 3 meals)

Around here WE LOVE MEXICAN FOOD! My family could easily eat mexican 3-4 days a week which is great since it's a pretty cheap dinner. We make this Chili very thick and serve it 3 ways (Chili, Crunchy tacos, and soft tacos or burritos). 3 nights without cooking? Oh yeah! We easily go through an 8 cup bag of fiesta cheese with this meal.

Shopping list:
2 cans of black beans
4 cans pintos
2 cans light red kidney beans
3lbs hamburger or ground turkey
15oz can of petite diced tomatos
2 packs of taco seasoning
8 cup bag of fiesta cheese (cheddar, queso and jack)
2 packs of crunchy taco shells
2 packages of soft taco or burritos tortillas
1 medium onion
taco and burritos fixins

Directions:
Saute onion in the pan with the ground meat. Drain meat and add to pot add the tomatos, beans and taco seasoning. Let simmer for 20 minutes. It should be thick. Put in bowl for chili and top with cheese. Fill taco shells with half meat mixture and load with toppings like cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, black olives, green onions, avacado ect. For soft tacos or burritos spread meat/bean mixture on tortilla add cheese and desired burrito fixin's, Fold in sides and then roll it up.

I figured the cost for the above shopping list to be close to $30. Cheaper if you get the ground beef or turkey on sale. This sometimes last us 4 meals. If there are leftovers I will sometimes add beef broth and a bag of frozen soup vegetables and turn the leftovers into a sortof mexican soup :)