01 January 1872

I just never thought I would live to see the year 1872. Living through the war was the worst thing I can remember or ever hope to see. It was a terrible time, needing food and staying warm in winter. Dan saved a lot of folks during that time but a lot was buried too. Some of our people didn't live to see the end of the war. I worry for them ever day.

My babies is growing, John more than Jane. She is such a little, frail thing. But she smiles and doesn't cry much, even though she is sorrowful in her eyes. She has hardly been away from me since they day she was born. I tie her up in my Granny's old shawl and hang her across my chest while I go about my work. She frets if I put her down. I can't take it for her to fret.

We ate up all I had cooked today so it will be an early morning for me. I wish Jane would lay in bed with John and Dan for a bit but a doubt she will. It's so cold for her while the stove gets going. I've got a few eggs for breakfast along with some sausage that came from up at the Yates place. I can stir up some biscuits and pour some gravy over them. That should keep us filled up most of the day. Then for supper I'll fry up some side meat and potatoes to eat with them left over biscuits.

It's bleak looking out the back door. The chicken yard has gone to mud then froze over. Rough ground like that is hard on the chickens but I feed them and give them water. I cleaned out a corner of the chicken house so they can eat and drink without having to go out on the frozen ground. The trees are all so bare with limbs hanging from ice that covered everything. I won't see all the trees recover, it will take so many years. I already feel like an old woman. I guess I am old even if I do have babies. I pray I can live to see them grown up. Won't nobody love them like I do. Thusy is a help with John, she wants to help with Jane but she clings to me. When I look at Jane I think she'll always be close by me.