An Afternoon At the Pumpkin Patch

  Thanks to the generosity of Harvest Farm and a special friend, we were blessed to spend a worry-free afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. 

  This family friendly place offers hay rack rides, a zip line, giant sand box, farm themed playground, huge slide from the hay loft, trike race track, train rides, petting zoo, and so much more.  All friendly Halloween-free fun!

 

  Harvest Farms is famous for their PUNKINATOR!

   

(This made me grin because growing up my Daddy always called me his “Punkin”, which is now Destiny’s nickname.) 

  This pumpkin-shooting canon was mounted to an old fire truck.  They were shooting pumpkins nearly half a mile with this puppy!

The kids were scared it was going to be loud, but they soon learned, it wasn’t….it was just TOTALLY COOL! 

Here are the photos of our fun afternoon:

You know you are a mom of 4 when……

Your baby bites the dust, er, straw, and you choose to snap a couple of pictures before swooping in to his rescue.

Poor sweet baby Pax! 🙂

The water stations were really fun!

So were the Corn Cannons!

Paxton: “This corn canon is SO loud!” 

(It really wasn’t, but in baby-land, maybe it is?!)

Hay Bale Maze, which was trampled a bit by the masses that came before us, but the kids had no complaints.  They had a blast climbing and exploring:

This farm was just beautiful!  Made Dale miss the farm days of his youth.  I informed him that this City Girl was perfectly content on our 17 acres, 5 minutes from town: Half Country-Half City, perfect for us!  🙂

Pax having a snack & watching the kids do the Zip Line:

(which was their FAVORITE thing, by the way)

 

Farm Version of the Yo-yo and a super fun Hay-Loft Slide:

All that playing made the kids HUNGRY!  Ham & Cheese sandwiches hit the spot.

HUGE sugar cookies were for dessert…..what a treat!

Paxton is a man of few words, like : Ball and Hot.  But as he sat in this chair, he DISTINCTLY said over and over ‘Rock-rock, rock-rock, rock-rock’ in this precious sing-songy baby voice. He, of COURSE, refused to say it again when Dale came back. 

“Hi guys!”

One last thing before we head home……

This CRAZY trike!

Dale was a SUPER crazy driver and about threw us a couple time with his sharp turns.  Typical male driver, I tell ya!

  Thank you to our “Mailbox Angels” for blessing us with the “Fun Funds” for a much-needed family day!  And thanks again to Danielle of Turon Harvest Farm & Pumpkin Patch, for allowing us the special privilege of being their guests for the afternoon! 

May the Lord richly bless you all for your generosity!

In Christ,

~Tonya for the Ferguson Family

That was fun, Momma! Lets come back again soon!

Bills, Bills & Blessings?

{SIGH}  I hate starting with a disclaimer, but apparently, I must!

  Last week I shared a post with you called With Cherries On Top.  It’s purpose?

To glorify God and give credit to Him as He provided in some AMAZING ways for us that week.   

  Apparently, someone read as far as the picture of the $4 bank account, and decided they needed to run call their friends to share the scandal of Tonya’s blog post with bank account picture. 

“Does she think she’s the only one whose bank account ever looks like that?”

“Is she trying to get people to feel sorry for her?”

“Who takes pictures of their bank account?”

No.  And NO.  And the picture thing? 

  I’m a blogger, we take photos of everything!  My shoes, my chickens, the sky, my garden, my kids feet…you name it, we blog it. It’s how we let people see into our worlds. 

  Would’ve you been any less shocked, had I just written the amount $4.89, rather than taking a picture of the number? Would it have made any difference to you? I seriously doubt it!  Funny, the thing that shocked you, made another reader cry.  It was a visual that caught her heart and made her rejoice with me, not judge me.  There are times photos tell stories like words never could.  They are a powerful tool.

  To this person , I ask 2 things: 

1) Go back and read it. Really read it to the clear bottom.  Please?  I believe you will find that I shared with you each and every way God answered those needs, including the bank account.  I believe you will see my heart was to share with you God’s amazing provision above and beyond anything I could ask or imagine.  I believe you will see there was no pity party, no donation button at the end. 

2) Decide if its necessary that you keep coming here to read.  I’d love to have you come and enjoy yourself, giggle at something the kids did, print off a recipe that sounds good, or praise God with me over His provision, but here’s the deal, if you choose to circle my glass house and throw rocks, you will only hurt both of us in the process.  The shards of my shattered home WILL fly, and unfortunately, neither of us will be unscathed.

  Hurt people, hurt people.  I can only assume this all stems from some hurts in your own life.  I’m sorry if you are hurting. I am sorry if you are going through a tough time.  I am too.  Hardest time in my LIFE.  I haven’t even BEGUN to touch on the heartache and struggles we are currently going through, and I can’t talk about it yet, but let me walk with you. Let me encourage you.  And please, encourage me too. Isn’t that what Christ asks us to do?

{Stepping off soap box}

I keep reminding myself:

 “We find comfort among those who agree with us — growth among those who don’t!”

  Thank you for letting me vent, you’ll see why I felt like I needed to cover that topic here in a second. 

  Last week something awesome happened.  As is his custom, Dale gets the mail from the mailbox as he drives in from work.  The kids and I were hanging outside, awaiting his arrival and enjoying the beautiful weather.

 Oh, and playing with our new “pet”, Fuzzy Wuzzy.  Poor kids, they miss our kitty, Saprina SO bad, but Fuzzy Wuzzy will do for now as they pray for Saprina’s safe return to her home.

   Daddy drives in and pulls into the garage.  I love Paxton’s newest “thing”:

  When he spots his daddy, he begins to wave his arm frantically, like “Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!”,  toddling as fast as those little fat legs can carry him.  He waves from wherever he is in the yard, all the way up to his Daddy.  That arm never stopping, not once, until he has reached his goal. “Hi, Daddy!”

Just precious!

Anyhow, Dale comes out of the garage and says, “Uh babe. You might want to come here.”  Mixed in with a stack of bills is a card:

  A card full of beautiful, encouraging, uplifting words, signed by a Sister In Christ. 

Also in this card? 

State Fair Tickets and cash.

WHAT?!

Dale’s mouth was slack, his eyes wide.  He just stood there, card in one hand, cash and tickets in another.   Amidst tears and grins, our children caught on to what was happening.  It was like Christmas! Jumping up and down squealing with joy!!!

And what blessed me most:

  Destiny kept saying: “Oh praise the Lord! He totally knew I was wishing I could go to the fair this year…..” 

  Of course, the little kids have to do whatever big sis does, so soon the chorus rang, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” Or, if you are Avery, “Pwaise da Waurd, Pwaise da Waurd” with a jump in the air: “YIPEEE!” thrown in for good measure.

   Off to the fair we went, and we had so much fun! 

  More fun than usual I think, when every second you are there, you are thanking God for His provision.

When every fun snack you taste and ride you ride, remind you of your blessings. 

  When you feel led to take a moment under the lit up midway, to breath a prayer of thanksgiving and ask special favor and blessings on the generous giver, whoever they may be.

  Have I mentioned lately that I think God loves us with a Cherry on top? 

    I love how He lavishes His love on us! It makes these rough patches we are going through so much more tolerable.  It helps me to remember that He hears my whispered prayers, that He feels my heart ache, that He cares enough to provide for my “wants” as well as my needs.  Praise His name!

  Thank you generous giver, for listening to the Lord’s prompting and providing a fun “Cherry on top” experience for our family. 

May you be richly blessed!

Hugs from Dale, Tonya & 4 extra happy little Fergusons 🙂