Juiced Up

I've been putting our juicer to good use lately...

This was today's version: 

celery

carrot

greens

lime

apple

orange 

I have to admit it can be a pain with all the prep.  And some days,  a lot of days most days I'm too lazy to do it.  But when I do I'm always glad.  The chickens are happy too because it makes for some yummy scraps for them.  

This Week's Phone Pix

Well this is actually from last week.  But isn't he awesome making valentine cookies for his siblings? 

And LOOK! My mom made me a New Fire jacket!  She made one for Mally too so we wouldn't be cold selling concession snacks.  LOVE!

A make-shift recording studio to record some songs.  

My Aldi run.  And I had no helpers.  Despair started to kick in when I realized I had TWO carts and nobody to help me sack it up or load it and I would probably end up spending the night at Aldi.  But I sucked in my bottom lip and got busy...because I CAN!  I feel great and I'm strong and I can grocery shop all by myself.  I actually condensed it into one cart and had bags left over by the time I was done.  Aldi shopping tip:  Just take a big fist-full of WM sacks instead of the homemade or re-usable grocery bags.  They don't take up as much room and they are easier to deal with.  Except for that plastic basket thing on the bottom.  I LOVE this basket with handles and I use it for everything.  I used to have two but I left one somewhere and now it's gone and somebody else is loving it and probably using it at Aldi.  

My 3rd grader is doing standardized testing for the first time this year.  Until April, we are working on some test prep so she will be a little more familiar with the format.  And this is why you should practice fellow homeschoolers!  She circled the answer and didn't know to color in the bubble.  So cute!! 

And speaking of cute....NEW HAIR!!  It was too long and frizzy so I cut it.  Then I was on a roll and shaved all the boys' heads too.  I wish I was confident enough to cut my own.  

There was a huge wreck on the way to TKD so we had to turn around.  We went to Grandma's to wait for the highway to open and watched some Sponge Bob and played Angelina Ballerina.  It was more fun than TKD! 

This Friday Morning

1. We had the morning meeting on my bed.  All six of us.  And it was the coziest best idea ever.

2. My son called from school to request the leftovers from last night's dinner and briefly discuss some New Fire business.

3. We moved the coffee table out and I had the kids teach me the TKD kicking sequence for a front and side kick.  It was lots of fun.

4.  My Valentine roses are so beautiful!

5.  House cleaning day!  I picked the music and nobody was aloud to change the volume or request a change.  It worked a LOT better than our other house cleaning related music attempts.

6. Joshua had a cow about Nathan wearing skates in the house.

7.  Zekey yelled and got in trouble about being the boss of the TV.

8.  Mallory threw a fit because the boys were trying to take over her sandwich making assembly line.

9.  LB came home for a quick lunch to go because she didn't take her lunch with her and the cafeteria was serving catfish.  I gave her $5 her dad wanted her to have because she actually gave him her lunch she made last night.

10.  I took out the paper towel/cutting board holder in the kitchen because it was ugly and I was tired of looking at it.

11.  We have 4 loads of laundry to fold.  By the end of the day we will have 3 more.  I'm having the kids dump out their drawers and re-fold and organize everything.

12.  My new hoodie I bought at Savers came out of the wash and I tried it on for the first time.  It's too small!!  :-(  Good news is that I have other people who will want it.

13.  Mallory browned meat for tonight's dinner.

14.  I'm diffusing essential oils in an oil warmer because I don't have a real diffuser and it's not working very well.

15.  There are 28 soccer balls stacked on my fireplace, 4 goals on my bedroom floor, and other misc soccer fun that would enjoy living in the garage instead of the house.

16.  I bought some new fruit so I'm going to take the older fruit and juice it all for this afternoon.

17.  I cleaned out the coffee pot with vinegar water and have the stove's burner pans soaking in zip lock bags with ammonia until tomorrow.  No using the stove tonight and it's ok b/c dinner is in the crock pot.

18.  There's a real possibility that my bed won't get made today even though it's house cleaning day.

19.  I walked around and pulled lots of decor items that were looking cluttery and put it all in a laundry basket.  My plan is to go through it one-by-one and see what I really want to go where.  As for now, everything looks bare.  And I kinda like the cleaned-off look.

20.  We are shopping for a new bed frame and head board.  Our's is broken.  I'm wanting something simple with straight lines and not a lot of complications.  No tufts, no shelves, no fancy.  Maybe white.  And not expensive.

21.  This afternoon is football, piano, and art lessons.  Cheese and crackers for tea time with another Hank the Cow Dog chapter.  Sloppy joes and cole slaw for supper. And a quiet night with almost everyone at home.  It's a great day!

Loving God. Loving Others

Everything I'm reading these days seems to say the same thing.  Love God.  Love others.
Even our New Fire verse is Romans 12:9-12 and talks about outdoing one another in brotherly affection.  I think God is telling me something here!

I love Edie's  post on How To Find God's Will For Your Life.   I think I should read it every single day until I have it memorized!

And here's my favorite part:

God’s will is for you to be saved.  He has made every provision for that salvation Himself.  He has given you everything you need in Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection.  You don’t need to do ANYthing to please Him or find Him or discern His will.  He is pleased with Jesus and sees you as one redeemed by Christ.

He has placed you in various stations in life and called you to serve your neighbor, since all of YOUR needs have already been met in Him. He has gifted you in certain ways, so that you may serve your neighbor and meet his needs. And the beautiful kicker is this—God hides Himself in your vocation, so that all the service you render to your neighbor, is sacred, because it is, in reality, GOD at work through you, meeting the needs of the neighbor.

See what I mean?

My new Kindle book is also fantastic.  Living In Light of Eternity.  It's not free anymore, but it is super cheap anyway.  KP Yohannan discusses how to live your life with a Kingdom purpose right where you are.

When Jesus called James and John in Matthew 1:16-20, He basically said, "You can waste your life catching fish all day, or you can follow Me and be fishers of men."
They were still fishermen.  But now they had a Kingdom purpose.

God has put us here to accomplish His will in this generation.  I don't want to waste it by going my own way, living my life selfishly and being a slave to my own emotions and view points.  My emotions and intellect can be overcome with deception.  So I need to stay in the Word.

I also want to be intentional in the way I love others.  The very nature of agape love in the NT is a love that is demonstrative.  It is a love that is shown.  And that takes thought, prayer, and effort.
And here is a most perfect example played out in the life of a 9 year old.

And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  Luke 10:27 

Just Because....

I'm crazy about these people!

New Fire, Maggie House, and Team Eli

We have started off 2015 with a new business!  We've been working for several months to bring a soccer league to Charleston.  This town is sports CRAZY but oddly enough there's no soccer.

Now there's a new ball in town!

Our business is called New Fire Athletics LLC.  You can click here to see our website.

New shipment of soccer balls today!

We've had a tremendous response for our first season.  Lots of cute kiddos came decked out for practice last week.  We are forming teams, ordering uniforms, and planning concession snacks.

One of our visions for New Fire is to concentrate on local giving opportunities.  Thanks to the great participation we got, we will be able to be a sponsor for the Charleston Springfest 5K this year which benefits Maggie House, the new children's home that's coming to town.   We are very thankful for this.

Another great cause New Fire is hoping to be involved in is called Team Eli.
Eli is our 3yo neighbor that is battling a brain tumor.  You know we live in a fallen world when sweet 3 year olds have tumors.

Do you remember our neighbor's puppy, Blue?
Eli is Blue's owner.

Saturday we had the privilege to attend a benefit dinner for Eli.  It was absolutely the sweetest thing to see the unbelievable turn out from this little town.

Please check out Team Eli and Maggie House.  Pray and give if you feel led.

Our Saturday

What a GLORIOUS day!!  

This is a big pile of empty bee frames that needed new foundation.  I had no idea how to do it but I decided it was time to figure it out.

I had lots of good entertainment while I worked!

And I did it!!  Why did I think this was hard?  I made a big mess with the tools because a lot of the frames still had plenty of propolis that wasn't cleaned up.  I'm thinking I need my own tool box.  My man might be thinking the same thing.  

Boys airing up the soccer balls to get ready for tonight's first New Fire practice!  We had a great turn out for our first season.  

Buzzy loves the sunshine.  

Lots of this...

And some of that.  This picture cracks me up!  Pink curlers for an afternoon wedding and shooting a pellet gun.  

And my new dress Mom gave me.  I hadn't had a reason to wear it until now.  We had a beautiful wedding to attend and I had something new to wear! 

Great Saturday. 

LOST!

My Most Recent Crazy Thoughts On Foster Care

~"How will I be able to do this with somebody else's kid in tow?  With a baby I can't leave at home"....as I embark on the huge grocery shopping day that involves 3 stores and several hours.

~ "What if our FBI prints didn't take and I have to do it old school and it takes SIX MONTHS to get back?"  ....my most recent prayer request.

~ "How can we most effectively re-arrange bedrooms to accommodate our people?" .....my man said we'd take the smaller room.  "What!!?"

~" I would just love a very young sibling group of two."

~"I need to YouTube how to do corn rows just in case." ....oh be still my heart!!

~"Sebastian county kids would be fine as long as I get transport for visits. Or I wonder if transporters will bring birth moms here?  I need to ask."

~ "Four hours of interviews?  OH MY GOODNESS." ....I'll be glad when that's over.

~"I need my foster support families to get their paperwork done."

~" How will Zboy handle this?"  ....he might just have some entitlement issues.

~"Can I really just handle this?  Because I home school.  And I have teenagers.  Teenagers take a lot of time and emotional energy.  Can I just *fit it in*?  Because it's sorta a big deal that will require it all."

~"I need a car seat."

~"If I can't attend visits, maybe I can send notes and pix to the birth family."

~"I need a file cabinet, or a filing box for all the papers."

~"Lord, help me rest and not be anxious."  .... I hate the waiting game.

School This Week

Bedtime has been getting later and later.  Since my kids are now responsible for putting themselves to bed without being told, they have to watch the clock closely when the time is getting close to 8:30.  They do ok with this but not as well as when we first made the rule.  Bedtime might be closer to 8:45 by the time they finished getting ready.  

But the mornings?  HORRIBLE.  I have a schedule.  I have a list.  They know what is expected.  BUT.  The mornings were continually a struggle and this week I had had enough.  So I shot an email to their daddy and turned it over to him.  

And let's just say that the boys were glad it was Wednesday and Dad would have youth worship and maybe he'd forget when he got back home especially since they'd be in bed.  Except it didn't happen that way.  

He got them all out of bed for a meeting in the living room.  They got a big long speech about what it means to respect and love their mom.  What it means to CHOOSE the right thing and get up when you are told.  Being IN bed is not the same as getting ready for bed.  And how 8:31 is NOT the same as 8:30. 

And this morning was PERFECT!  They were up.  They were cheerful.  And they were ready to work without a word from me.  Oh thank you Honey!!  As the day went on I noticed that I was way more productive and we had a lot of school behind us by 10am.  It made me realize that I had been starting my day with a feeling of defeat.  Every morning was a battle.  My attitude reflected that and I didn't look forward to the work ahead.  I'm so glad we've made a change.  

A picture of our grammar work.....

Just a sentence from our Bible reading written on a white board.  We label parts of speech and pick out various words to talk about.  It takes about 10 minutes and we are done with grammar.  I write this in cursive because I'm also working with them on their penmanship.  

My kids needed some preposition practice so we've been playing this preposition bingo game.   They love games.  I also printed off a long list of prepositions for them to copy and memorize by Friday.  The first one to pass it off got a Sonic drink.  The rest got no screen time until they did.  

This article about making lists has changed it all! 

Every week I print out an individual daily schedule for each kid that looks something like this.  

And it's ok.  It makes them responsible for their own work and helps them keep track and work independently.  

But when I started keeping my own list BY HAND it made me so much more involved and aware of exactly where everyone was and where we'd be tomorrow.  She does such a great job explaining how simple and necessary this is.  I hope you'll hop on over there and read it for yourself.  

My list also highlighted what we needed to do tomorrow.  Friday is catch up day and house cleaning day.  But instead of just checking off history I could see that Joshua would benefit from doing a quiz on Friday instead of being hit with it on Monday after being off for the whole weekend.  And since ZBoy only had one more lesson in his vocabulary book, he could go ahead and finish it off so he could start a brand new book on Monday.  

And while I'm happy with the amount of work we got done, I'm even happier with how much more motivated I feel because our mornings are going to be so much easier!