It always blows me away how much my sons grow while I'm away working. Coming home last night after a week and seeing them all this morning; I swear they all shot up an inch or more.

Young fathers, treasure all of it. It will slip through your fingers every time you blink.

I look forward to bad weather.  Our area shuts down a few times a year for hurricanes or winter storms.  It's always an opportunity for me to stay home for a few days with my family, and focus on simple things like keeping the fireplace going and protecting our animals.  These events test the model of the family I have forged and provide unique team building moments.

Modern degenerate culture has taught people reliance on someone else to solve their problems.  This reliance turns into slavery in the end.  Real freedom is doing things our own way and being the driving force in our own life.

"Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves. It is to preserve the distance which separates us from other men. To grow more indifferent to hardship, to severity, to privation, and even to life itself."

-Friedrich Nietzsche-

When the temperature drops we always worry about our bees. It's amazing how they keep the hive warm. You can see where they are and how effective they are with my thermal camera.

In the past 5 or so years I've seen more people in our circles go full black pill with everything over the smallest set backs.  Having a cause that you truly live for is essential to be able to look past all defeat and appreciate the little victories hidden in it all.

In being Boldly Optimistic and moving forward with life, we ditch the setbacks, and advance against our enemies no matter what they throw at us. 

“Our actions may be impeded… but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions.  Because we can accommodate and adapt.  The mind adapts and converts to its purposes the obstacle to our acting.  The impediment to action advances action.  What stands in the way becomes the way.”

-Marcus Aurelius-

I worked for over a decade for a company that always promised tomorrow and always came up empty.  We all hoped that we would see some reward for our efforts, but in the end the company sold out to Bank of America executives while the old owner sails on a yacht around Greece.  Now in less than a year the company has gone from being a 12-million-dollar company to closing its doors by the end of the year.

I was always very concerned that any other company I went to would be more of the same.  That it would be better for me to stay and work with the devil I know.  I've been told that the grass isn't always greener on the other side for so long I never dreamed anything would change.  I was the first to find new work and quit, and the grass is pretty dang green over here.

It's not too late to find something else.  Especially as we get older, we get into the mentality that we just have to suffer through something.  What I've found throughout all industries is that now is the best opportunity to start a new career.  Everyone is hurting for good people, and good people are extremely hard to find.  Stop selling yourself short like I did in the last 10 years.

“Only, consider at what price you’re willing to sell your power of choice. If nothing else, make sure, man, that you don’t sell it cheap.”

-Epictetus-

A message from my wife, Happy Father's Day!

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."

So today and every other day, thank you for being my best friend, my rock, and my husband. Thank you for being the most amazing father, provider, and role model for our boys. Thank you for everything you have done, continue to do, and have sacrificed for all of us. You never cease to amaze me and I'm so incredibly honored and humbled to call you mine.

Happy Father's Day to my husband and all the other dads out there! Thank you for everything you do for us all!

After 7 sons and 15 years, I'm proud to announce our first daughter due in December!

If I, a high-school drop out, can have a family this size on a single income; what's stopping you?  It won't be easy, you will struggle, and you will sacrifice.  The things you sacrifice are insignificant and void of any real value.  You will learn to live simply and ultimately live a happier life because of it. 

I know having a large family and a large responsibility doesn't seem very simple, but once you get there you'll see how much comes about naturally.  It is all within your reach.

Today many parents foster their children to consumerism and entertainment.  A lot of parents are ruining their children because they seek to be children themselves.

“If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could be better changed in ourselves.

-Carl Jung-

I'm here at the top of the mountain this morning after an excellent hike up.

Don't forget to enjoy these moments, and take every opportunity to have them when life grants the chance.

Today I delivered baby number 8, our 3rd at home, and our 1st girl. My Church, my home, and my friends group has had babies and pregnancy announcements in mass this year, and that gives me a lot of hope for the future.

My oldest son is learning to drive, and our newest is just a few hours old. Seeing all those smiling faces and coming home to such a wonderful wife has been one of the greatest joys of my life.

Living simply, will slow the world around you, and you can take a breath and enjoy all of the things that would normally pass you by.

“But for those whose life is far removed from all business it must be amply long. None of it is frittered away, none of it scattered here and there, none of it committed to fortune, none of it lost through carelessness, none of it wasted on largesse, none of it superfluous: the whole of it, so to speak, is well invested. So, however short, it is fully sufficient, and therefore whenever his last day comes, the wise man will not hesitate to meet death with a firm step.”

-Seneca-