Briesacher-Hayes Farm News

Posted By Gisela B-H* on April 23, 2009

Daughter with her long hair before it was cut.

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 15

Daughter with her long hair before it was cut.

Last week, my daughter and I, had a pair of mother and daughter salon appointments.  It was great!  My daughter, for sometime now, has been wanting to get her hair cut.  So, after her stating for the upteenth time that she wants her hair cut short, I make us both salon appointments.  My salonist was Lyndsey and my daughter’s was named Jaime.

My daughter was so excited to have her own salonist that she jumped up and down.  I had called the salon on a Friday and our appointment was set for the following Friday.  Now, my daughter knows her days of the week but she was so excited to finally be getting her hair cut that she asked me everyday if it was Friday, yet.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon at the salon.  I really enjoyed sharing a salon day with my daughter and I hope we can have many more mother - daughter salon days.  We, also, enjoyed putting on our Avon lip gloss we purchased from Aunt Veronica online Avon store.  I wore Crimson and my daughter wore Pink.  My daughter thought she was so grown up that day.  It was wonderful to experience that in her.

Also, I want to thank my husband for coming along and taking these special first time pictures.

Category: Family | Comments Off
Tags: appointment, Friday, hair cut, mother and daughter, pictures, salon

Posted By Gisela B-H* on April 5, 2009

We spent the weekend cleaning out the shed and getting rid a lot of things that we couldn’t get rid of in our initial clean due to sentimental reason.   This was the first stage to getting a new shed and tearing down our current red and white metal shed.   For safety and security reasons I wanted my daughter’s play area to be right where the shed is located. 

We also have both of my daughter’s living great-grandmothers in the hospital.  One went in with a broken hip and the other went in with reasons the doctors have not found yet.  The later great-grandmother was found incoherent on the bathroom floor but seizures, strokes, and the like have been ruled out.  I simply think that she lost her balance and hit her head causing a mild mild case of amensia. 

Anyway, snow is coming this week…can you believe that….it’s April! I had to bring the strawberries in and thus they are growing in my kitchen all snug and warm. 

Category: Family, Farm | Comments Off
Tags: amensia, balance, bathroom, broke hip, cleaning, great-grandmother, play area, shed, snow, strawberries

Posted By Gisela B-H* on March 25, 2009

Knowing that we couldn’t get the massive clean up done ourselves, we hired Shumakers Landscaping.  They are charging us $1200 to clean up the brush, cut down the knee high grass, cut down a tall dead tree, cut all the small trees growing, and burn the huge pile of debris that they made from pulling out and cleaning the cemetery.  

Even though I think the amount is a little much, it is quite a relief to have the cemetery looking nice once more.  It should be easy to keep it maintain. At least I hope.  We’ve never been in trust to a cemetery before.  

I did take before and after pictures and as soon as I download them off of my camera I will post them here.

Union Hill Cemetery is the finally resting place of our farm’s ancestors as well as many of the early settlers to Millstadt and St. Clair County.  The earliest burial was 1823.  I have made a website for Union Hill Cemetery but I haven’t had time to finish the design of it.  The link is www.UnionHillCemetery.com.

Category: Family, Farm | No Comments »
Tags: ancestors, burial, cleaning, dead, growing, landscaping, Millstadt, resting, St. Clair, trees, Union Hill Cemetery, website

Posted By Gisela B-H* on March 25, 2009

Our new rainbow birdhouse.

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 4

After a nice spring downpour the Sun came out.  Well, if you remember anything from your Earth Science class then you should know that when the Sun and Rain Mist get together they produce a beautiful rainbow.  My daughter loves rainbows and so she was extremely happy to see this one yesterday.

Of course, being the mommy that I am made sure to comment on how beautiful God made the rainbow for us to see today.  My daughter knows the story of the Flood and how God set a rainbow in the sky as his covenant not to destroy the Earth again because of the wickedness of man.

Also, just three day prior to the rainbow we bought a new bluebird house and my daughter and I painted it with rainbow watercolors.  We had such fun doing it in the kitchen.  I sprayed it with a gloss and daddy put it up.

Category: Crafts & Homemades, Family, Farm | Comments Off
Tags: beautiful, covenant, daughter, earth, flood, God, happy, mommy, rainbow, science, sky, Sun

Posted By Gisela B-H* on February 22, 2009

About a week ago, we went to Oklahoma for my husband’s oldest daughter’s brithday.  She turned 18.  We went out to dinner and then everyone came back to the hotel in order for us to give the birthday girl her gifts.   We gave her a lottery ticket, scratch off tickets, a book titled “Rebelution, A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations”, a beautiful little soapstone box, a genuine amethyst and gold ring,  money and bonds, a Susie Orman book titled “Women and Money”, a wonderful leather bound Holy Bible, and some dry highlighters.  Each gift from us had a meaning.

—————–

Before I continue I need to say that your father and his family does love you deeply.  We hope that your new age will brings more of you into our lives.  We hope to hear from you more and that you will be apart of our lives more.  We are not people that force or push relationships, so the ball is in your court.   It definitely happens that people can go though a relationship and not know that we have hurt or offended the one we care for.   We feel that you are mad, hurt, or angry at your dad and his family for reasons we are just not aware of because you do not call, seldom return emails, reluctant to come visit , and do not really engage in conversion with us, all which has hurt us over the years.  We pray and hope that God will help us both take the little steps to loving relationship so that we spend the rest of our lives in peace and not in dread of each other.   We do love you.  Please be apart of our lives.

——————

The gifts:

Lottery and scratch off tickets - now that she is legally an adult she can now partake in wasting money on such things as lottos and scratch off tickets.  She did not win anything and so we hope she learned what a waste that they are.  Only play for fun.

Rebelution, A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations - a highly talked about and awarded book written by two twin brothers, age 20 now, that makes the argument that teenager can do more than what society has placed on them.  Her father and I hope that she reads it.  We don’t think that she will, but we hope.  The birthday girl is a very intelligent young woman and the world needs her mind and knowledge to make a difference.  Be a part of something bigger than yourself, you can start with the book and this website http://therebelution.com/

Soapstone box - no meaning on this gift. We thought is pretty and we wanted to get it for her. It just a little material something something.

Amethyst Ring - Now that she is 18 years old it now her responsibility to build her estate.  An estate is what society places value on, unfortunately.   As her estate grows so will her wealth.  Like the old manors and castles of England and in the US, these estates are large due to the fact the the family valuables, antiques, and treasures were passed down to their children and so on.  You can not have a wealthy estate if you do not hold on to your valuables. We hope that this real and natural amethyst ring will start, if not already joined the “family jewels” collections which will grow her wealth.

Money and Bonds - We closed her savings account that we had all these years, gave her the saving bonds that her great-grandmother bought these last 18 years, and she received birthday money from her Grandma Pat, Great Uncle Warren, and the Schmidts.  If she reads the following book and comes to understand that is not always wise to spend your money but save and invest it.  Make it grow.   The monies and bonds that she received is a very nice sum to start her off to financial freedom.

Women and Money - this book, if read, should give this new legal adult a great foundation to being financially free. We can not stress enough that managing your money,  keeping a budget, and maintaining good credit is essential to not having to worry about money in the future. Shopping sprees and wastefully spending your money only keeps you away from wealth.   We know this book will help her build the foundation for her future to not having to worry about money.  It is all in her power, no one else, to have the money to do what she needs as the years pass and take her farther down the road.

Holy Bible -  Far more important than family and friends.  Far more important than jewels.  Far more important than money.  Far more important than material things and fun.   The relationship that she has with God is by far the most important thing!   If the world ends, people misjudge and hurt you, or judegment time comes, we would love  you to be right with God.  It will be a sad reunion if we do not get to see you after this life on Earth ends.

Pictures are coming!

Category: Family | No Comments »
Tags: 18, amethyst, birthday, budget, freedom, gifts, God, Holy Bible, lottery, love, money, Rebelution, ring

Posted By Gisela B-H* on January 15, 2009

Ignorant knowledge… what a paradox. There is something to be said about those who truly believe they are smart enough to comment on very important things without the knowledge gathered from research. For example homeschooling. I can not tell you all the mouth drops we receive when I tell that I and my husband have decided to homeschool our daughter. I am a very intelligent woman and to add I do not take my role as mother passively. In regards to her education, naturally, I would want the best for her. She is beyond those her age, if not double her age. She is only three but has begun reading, doing math, her imagination is very well established indeed, and her humor is amazing. In the beginning, we did not feel that the local public school was to correct place to educate her, thus beginning of my in-depth research in education.

I researched all the different styles of education and the different schools already established in the area, free and private. My husband and I interviewed a few to boot. After about two months, I started my research in homeschooling. I, like many I have met, had a stereotype towards homeschooling. However, once deep into my research, I was amazed at the plethora of curriculums and styles and methods that make up the world of homeschooling. There is absolutely something that will meet the needs of her learning style at any particular moment in her educating journey. I could not imagine another source of education like that to homeschooling. Her education can be tailored to her and her speed and love of learning.

One of the styles of homeschooling I found overwhelming great was the Charlotte Mason style of learning. Charlotte Mason was an 19th century educator and she devoted her life to the education of children. She studied children and the way they learn. She was known for her saying, “For the sake of the children.” The basis of her style is to teach to a child the love of learning so that they will desire to keep learning. I’ve reading all of the following books on Charlotte Mason:

A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning

Charlotte Mason Summaries
Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series

So, after almost a year of researching, reading, and studying child education I am very confident that homeschooling is the correct place to educate my daughter. I am still surprised at the ego of those who clings to the “stereotype” of homeschooling and try to talk me out of it doing such a thing. I simply tell them that unless they have researched the matter as I have I will not get into a debate with them for it will not be worth the words. I also tell them that I am not here to convince them and that if they are indeed concerned about my daughter’s education and want to research the issue then I will be more than happy discuss their findings. Most are not really all that concerned about her education. The one question that I get the most is not about her education, sadly, but about her socialization and that is another post.

God Bless!

Category: Family | Comments Off
Tags: charlotte mason, children, curriculums, education, homeschool, homeschooling, learning, method, research, school, stereotype, style

Posted By Gisela B-H* on January 4, 2009

Just before Christmas my husband and I decided that we did not want the girls sleeping on air mattresses again in the basement so we purchase a Tempur-Pedic style of bed and converted the living area into a sleeping area. Below is a picture of the new bed. Also, I wanted to included a picture of the closet. The closet door is located on the side but we are going to move the lowboy piece of furniture and one of my favorite painitings, which is a pointillism painting by George Seurat, called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The entire painting is created by tiny dots.

I am having some trouble posting in my blog all of a sudden. As soon as I get it fixed, I will post some pictures and more text.

Category: House & Home | No Comments »
Tags: air mattresses, Christmas, closet, George Suerat, La Grand Jatte, lowboy, mirror, painting, sleeping area