You know what we need?

Maybe you know how exciting it can be to come across a real treasure at a flea market or yard sale. I have the fondest memories of scouring the vendor tables at the stock yards with my grandma in their tiny Michigan farming town.

When she died last year I was heartbroken. And it was more difficult than it should have been to visit the Yards later that summer, knowing she’d never go with me again.

But lo and behold did I find a treasure of which she would have approved – a collection of glass milk bottles, which represented our little homesteading family perfectly, both because of the sizes (2 quarts for my husband and I, and 4 pints for our 4 children) and because the name of the old dairy family happened to be our last name as well!

Now, my in-laws have always been very sweet about asking if there’s something in particular we need for a Christmas or birthday present. So when happily we found I was pregnant with our 5th child, we knew just how to break the news to them!

When they asked their usual “So think about what you need for Christmas, and let us know”, we showed them the milk bottles lined up so smartly on the shelf, with a very conspicuous gap at the end, and told them we had everything we needed except a 5th pint… and it was immediately evident by their dumbfounded stares they caught on right away :-)

And we haven’t found our newest addition’s bottle yet, but we’ll keep on looking, and are thankful little Anna Rose (FINALLY) arrived this week, as healthy and vocal as the rest of the clan (and just in time for a very tired Daddy to go finish the chores and bring in the morning’s milk)!

Knowing in her matter-of-fact way, Grandma would say “Well I like babies, I had 10 you know”, she was always the first person we told when we’d find out we were having another, and I do love looking up at those bottles, sure of how happy she’d be as our little family and our farm dream continues to grow.