The Big Picture section of the blog will just be about LIFE! It'll be random posts that cover a wide range of who-knows-what topics, that don't seem to fit in any others sections of the blog. The posts may be about our family sometimes, but not always. They could be about a place we went, something we did, saw, became aware of, experienced, or something entirely different that we just feel like blogging about. Generally speaking, you'll never know WHAT the post will be about in this section! It'll be a mixed bag of miscellaneous life! But one thing you can count on: they'll always be more photos than you can shake a stick at! ( Just clicking on the blue Big Picture bar above, or the Big Picture tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section. )

The Homestead (Home & Garden) section of the blog features posts related to our home or gardening. We LOVE our home, because we see our house and small bit of land, as our sacred place in the world. So we have invested our heart and souls into our home, and continue to do so. After a major renovation/addition, (all blogged with lots of photos), we continue to finish the inside from the insulation on out to interior decorating! Here in this section, you'll find everything from little home improvements going on, to some amateur interior decorating, and all of the little things that make our house feel like home. We are always doing little projects, creating new pieces or spaces, or relishing in the little things that make us smile and feel the comforts of home. You'll even find a little gardening going on. We are very new gardeners, growing some flowers, fruits and vegetables, and doing a little landscaping to boot! We are enjoying learning as we go, and look forward to expanding our gardening and landscaping a little more each year. (Clicking on the green Homestead bar above, or The Homestead tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section.)

If there is one thing we ALL have in common, it's FOOD. Whether you eat to live, or live to eat....one way or another, we all EAT! Many families, like us, love to gather around the table, spread with the vittles made in our kitchen, join hands, and give thanks to God for the abundance of nourishment He has provided us with, both for our bodies, and our souls.

But we think it only fair, to let you know right up front here: We are not some gourmet cooks or bakers. We're just down-home folks, who love making and eating down-home food, so we spend a little time in our humble kitchen, cooking. The meals or side-dishes we share may be grilled, baked, stir-fried, or made in our slow cooker. As a bonus, our oldest daughter, {A}, is an aspiring baker, and has dreams (among many) to open a bakery some day. So there's a lot of baking going on around here too. Between her and us, we bake breads, cookies, cakes and pies. We do love to try different recipes we saw on the net, or in a magazine, or one passed on to us. We'll be sharing the recipes we loved, with YOU. Always with photos! Most will even be in a step-by-step format, complete with photos and directions. We also have an open-invitation to you all, to send in your favorite recipes to us! If we're intrigued to try your recipe, we'll make-it, photograph it as we do, eat-it, and blog the whole thing in a post! ~ Bon Appetite! (Clicking on the red-orange Vittles bar above, or the Vittles tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section.)

We do quite a bit of crafting around here. Being artists by nature, and by trade, we enjoy being creative. So we tend to make gifts for others, little things for our home, or things we saw in a store or magazine, and want. We often just make the things we want. It's not only a fun crafts project most times, but it saves us money. Our children love to create all kinds of things too. Arts & crafts is one of their favorite pass-times. So we're always full of ideas. We love to document our projects, photograph them through the process of their creation, and then blog them to share with you! So if you've got a creative bone, or would like to be inspired to grow one, you just might love this section of the blog! Come get creative with us! (Clicking on the yellow Crafts & Creations bar above, or the Crafts & Creations tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section.)

We are a home schooling family. Home schooling is not just about education for us, but our family's way of life. We embrace life as a learning experience, and really tend to blend together many ways of learning, from more formal books and book work, to experiences that come with field trips, but LIVING! Home schooling brings us a great amount of joy, and makes our values and the values we want to instill in our children, more attainable. In loving the home schooling life as much as we do, we hope you enjoy this section of the blog as possibly other home schooling families, and hope you will share with us in it! We encourage you to share your home schooling experiences, successes, tips, tools, and anything at all that you care to! We love to converse with other home schooling families and continue to be inspired by the many families and blogs that have a focus on their faith, and also those with a faith filled home schooling lifestyle. In reading and sharing with us, you are sharing with others, our other readers. We look forward to it all! (Clicking on the red Home Schooling bar above, or the Home Schooling tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section.)

This section of the blog focuses on the 2 businesses we run, which provide for our family, utilize our passions, which believe are the gifts God meant us to use, and so to serve Him as well, by serving others. I, (Laura) am a professional portrait photographer with an established business. My work is generally photographing 'Gifts of Life': babies, children, families, high school seniors, etc. I also am beginning to do some commercial work, which I have been enjoying as well. Michael is a truck letterer and sign maker. He has been in business for many years as well, and has an established clientel. In this section, we like to share some of our work with you, our blog readers. We also use this section to give sneak peaks to clients Laura has photographed, or feature local or distant businesses of which Michael has created lettering for. It's all just another creative aspect to our life, and something we like to blog about now and then, with purpose. (Clicking on the purple Photography & Lettering bar above, or the Photography & Lettering tab at the top of the page, will take you to this section.)

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