I Think We're Getting A Reputation

So we've lived here on our homestead for a year and four months...and apparently that's long enough to where people have started remembering us.

The first instance occurred when Shawn called Sears to set up an appointment to have his lawn mower serviced. The guy on the phone asked for directions to our property. Shawn started giving them and was promptly interrupted when the Sears guy said, "Oh yeah, I remember, you're the gun people!"

The second instance was with the UPS delivery guy. Not too long ago he made the comment that, "It doesn't matter when I show up here, you and your wife always have a gun on."

So apparently we're the gun-toting homesteaders.

I was telling these stories to family recently and my cousin got tickled when I explained that I've been having trouble wearing my gun belt lately because of my belly getting too big. I went on to say that I've let my gun belt out about as far as it would go and I think I'm nearing the end of being able to put it on. Apparently my cousin thought the mental picture of short, very pregnant Janice chasing children and chickens while wearing a Smith & Wesson model 66 .357 magnum was funny. So, instead of leaving him with the mental picture, I thought I'd just show him the real thing.

Here I am in all my very pregnant, gun-toting glory:


Now some of you may be wondering, "Why on earth is she carrying a handgun around all the time? Is she expecting some sort of trouble?" Well, of course I'm not expecting any trouble. If I were, I'd be carrying my rifle. Silly people...

More Sam Videos - 14 weeks into GAPS

I spent some time videoing Sam today while the other children were napping. I just like to do this every so often to document his progress.

In the first video Sam is playing with a gift he received for his birthday. The significance here is that Sam is playing PRETEND. Playing pretend is something that Sam didn't do before. He's making the characters speak and acting out something that he's created himself. Right before I started the video Sam was singing a song that he made up himself. The song was about indians riding in canoes. Just a few months ago Sam would've still played with the toy, but he would've simply recited the dialogue from Disney's Pocahontas movie or sung a song from the movie.


In this next video Sam reads a Bible story. Sam has been able to read for a long time, but just recently he's started taking an interest in learning about the Bible. I'll admit that, as a Christian, it's been hard hearing other moms discuss the thought-provoking questions that their 3, 4, and 5 year olds have asked concerning Jesus and God. Sam never asked "curious" type questions, so I could never participate in these conversations. Now, at 6 years old, Sam is finally asking questions like, "Why did they make Jesus die?" and "Did God make Indians?"


The final video is simply of Sam and I talking. It's obvious that he's so much more capable of participating in a two-way conversation than he was a year ago. He still thinks the videos of himself from a year ago are funny. When you ask him about those old videos he'll tell you that they're videos of him not controlling himself. In this video, the part where he talks about the red light on the camera is a reference to a video from a year ago when that's about all he repeated the entire time I asked him questions..."See the red light on the camera."


Finally, I also wanted to share that this weekend we had friends visit that we hadn't seen since late December/early January, before we started the GAPS diet. I was so excited when, within 5 minutes of being here, Tammy commented, "Sam is sure talking a lot more than I remember last time." It pleases me so much to hear when others notice a difference in Sam. The sacrifice our family is making is working!