New things!

"Hi!"

A lots been happening and things are growing and changing around here!

We put up another hoophouse! You'd think that after our previous experience we'd abandon the idea. (After the first one I declared "greenhouse" to be a "dirty word" in our household.) But we've got A WHOLE LOT LESS wind here than at our "Wedding House" and we were able to get a much higher quality hoophouse. We really enjoyed putting it up together! (I personally liked it a lot more since I wasn't "enjoying" morning sickness during it all this time!) Lilian was a hoot when she was out with us! She cracks us up! The funniest thing was when she found the instruction manual for the impact wrench and she started "reading" it! She would make all kinds of sounds and even point at certain words and get a serious face and emphasize them. That was funny in itself, but she did all this while walking around with it right in front of her face and she kept stumbling and running into things, but it didn't phase her! She is so funny!










Hanging out laundry. You can see our view of the hoophouse from the house. A beautiful storm that passed by one evening.

We planted eggplant, cucumbers and okra in the hoophouse. Lord willing we'll have okra at least a month before everyone else. The health food store said that we could sell at least the okra there! Which leads me to the next exciting thing; we are

USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC

Praise the Lord! :D Now we get to put little stickers on our produce, yeah! ;) Haha! It that difficult to get our certification, particularly since this land hasn't really been used in several decades.
The garden is doing fine, particularly since the Lord sent rain at last! It's quite obvious that our soil needs more organic matter and goat fertilizer, but that will all come in good time! Here's Lilian after she'd been helping me in the garden!
One less rabbit to eat the garden!

The goats are all alive and well! Lord willing we'll have some kids in July, if I'm remembering correctly! We expanded their electric fenced area to about 10-15 acres that my hardworking man has just cleared and then we also let them out of the fence every day. So far so good!
My adventurous husband has joined our local Volunteer Fire Department! He's been on four fires and one medical call! So far so good he's loving it! Just pray for him to stay safe and to get good training and equipment! This is him after a fire in the wild-land fire suit he was issued initially. The next picture is him on his way to a fire in his bunker suit.
Since we got rain we were able to burn some of our piles from the 15 acres of ceders my Man's cleared!
My handsome fella all dirty from clearing!
My sister came and spent a weekend with us! David helped her with some web stuff and Lilian put in her two cents! We really enjoyed the time with her!

We've started getting the shelving up in our pantry and it is SO nice! I am very thankful to have it!
And the biggest new thing (or perhaps it's the smallest) is that the LORD has blessed us and

Ahlgren Baby Version 2.0 is on it's way!

WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We got to announce it to my family two years (to the day) after we announced that we were expecting our first! :D We are so excited and thankful for this little blessing! Lilian will be such a fun big sister! The other day we were talking about how the next time the organic inspector comes out we'll have two children, and I commented that it sounded so strange! My husband wondered why I thought it was strange and I said, "Because I've never had two kids before!!!" It'll definitely be an adventure, and one we're more than happy to have! We love each other so much and it's a delightful blessing to watch that love grow! Some nausea and loss of appetite has been a bit of a killjoy, but this too shall pass away and we can't wait to hold our new little one come January! We would appreciate your prayers that the midwife we were so blessed to have for Lilian would be available for this baby too!
First official picture of the FOUR of us taken the day we found out for sure!

"The LORD has done great things for us;
whereof we are glad!"
Psalm 126:3

*This is just a small reminder to pray for the those who recently lost loved ones and property in the tornadoes and storms in the South.

( :: )

Four years ago

my Love and I covenanted our lives together.*
OH HAPPY DAY!
We smiled so much that day that our faces hurt!
We are so thankful for that day and for the Lord's work in our life!
'Twas the start of a very wonderful thing!

*This references our betrothal, or engagement.

A Concoction!

I made Hair gel!

Now your suspicions are confirmed; we're strange! :D

Probably so. But we also try to be healthy and frugal! I wanted to find a natural hair gel to get away from all the the chemicals and perfumes in the regular stuff! But buying natural products can get pricey very quickly. As with most things I assumed that it was likely healthier and cheaper if we made our own. With a few minutes of research I found a recipe and ordered a pound of gelatin.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 teaspoon gelatin

1/2 cup boiling water

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water and let set til it thickens. Get it into a container and keep it in the fridge if it's not used up withing a couple of days. You can add some essential oil or extract for a scent.

It seemed like it took a while to thicken up, but that's no biggie.
And here it is after a few hours in the fridge. Very jelled.Now the real question: Does it work? When I told a dear friend that I'd made the stuff I'd told her about she quickly said, "Oh no!" Haha! With great anticipation I slathered it onto my clean wet locks and waited and watched. And... I really like it! It even did pretty well overnight! And since it's 100% natural I have no reservations about using in on our curly headed Babe!

My calculations (which do not include the price of digging our well or the cost of the electricity to pump the water or to run the stove etc.) show that this hair gel costs four cents ($0.04) per cup! Now we like that! I compared the cost to equal amounts of a similar hair gel that works well for me and learned that we could save $418.56. Now we really like that!

The gelatin has protein so it's actually good for your hair! Thank you Lord for creative ideas to be healthier and to be wiser with the money You've entrusted to us! :D

Firsts!

Lilian had her first adventure with "dress-ups" tonight! I was getting out her next size in clothes and she loved helping! She really wanted to wear the floral dress and kept putting everything else on her head! Thank you oh SO much Adina for the hand-me-downs!!!!!
Once on, she determined that the pantie-Beret was not optimal.
We are so thankful for our precious blessing! She is such a delight! It seems like she laughed a lot today and that is so wonderful! A little while after we finished sorting the clothes she was so tired and totally crashed stretched out across my lap! I love it when she sleeps on me!

She's walking now! WOOHOO! She started almost a month ago now! It's so fun having her walking! I love how when we get down on her level she comes to us and the last couple of steps she practically falls into us with a huge smile on her face! 8D

My Beloved and I were in the garden planting potatoes on Saturday and in the course of the conversation he quoted 1 John 4:7-8 to me. "Love" has been the summation of many of our conversations lately, so I'll share those verse here!

"Beloved, let us love one another:
for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love."
1 John 4:7-8

House pics!

A little sneak peak at some parts of the inside of our house and some other random photos!

I've been wanting to share this picture of David making Mrs. Morris laugh hysterically and this seems like a good spot!

Working on the Bender Mansion ;)Working hard on Caleb's Castle :D

My breathtakingly handsome husband pondering life! 8D I love pics where you can see his ring... oh yeh, he's taken!
Hanging sheet rock in the Ahlgren Jungle Hut of Adventure (aka Casual Cottage) master bathroom and laundry room.My handsome Man! We love texturing the walls! :D Really, we do! Can anyone guess why I like this picture!? 8D Lilian helping! Lilian being a little too helpful! Laying the tile! When we picked out tile there was some in the colors we needed at a major discount! Praise the Lord!
My Beloved looked and looked for another big bathtub for this new house so that (among other things) if the Lord blessed us with another baby I could have the option of another water birth! The Lord led him to this one for $150!
My Master Tile Cutter. :) Billy let us play with a tile cutter gadget he picked up at the state fair. It worked... sometimes!
I think around 1:00AM my "Make it Happen" Man started on the walls!
Lilian helping again!
With her little top curl we think she'd make a good mascot for David's business, Wave Media Technologies!
And here is the 99% done project! Eventually there will be wood covering the tub plumbing. The washer, dryer, laundry sink, water filter, and dehumidifier are behind some brown curtains to the left in the first picture. Laundry part is to the right and our bedroom is through the door on the right. This was one evening when Caleb and Daniel and Billy were going to spend the night out on their land.
Looks like Caleb almost decided to spend the night on our couch, which he's welcome to anytime!
A summertime party at our house.
This picture is for the Morris's and the Wilsons! The Morris's give nicknames and David they call "The Maverick" or "Mav", I'm "Mavette" and when the Lord blessed us with our pregnancy they named the unborn child "Mavie"! Lots of people still call Lilian "Mavie" including our dear friends the Wilsons! As a baby gift before she was born (and we didn't find out the gender) they had these adorable little pajamas made for her! We've been planning to put them on her one night over at the Morris's to show/surprise them but she's growing out of them quickly (in length) so you'll probably just get to see it here! And thank you Wilsons for such a cute and perfect gift... you guys always give "perfect" gifts! :)

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love one for another."
John 13:35