Linky Love

Here's some places I've enjoyed this week....

I've been coming to this writing site for a couple of years now.  If you sign up for the free newsletter you will get writing tips and helpful worksheets to use for your kids.  The book is pretty good too, though I don't use it too much because it involves making a lot of copies.  http://www.createbetterwriters.com/


A Bowl Full Of Lemons is a fun site if you like cleaning/decorating/reorganization projects.  It was my inspiration for finally cleaning up my scrapbook stuff!

I bought all the ingredients to make this salad from Pioneer Woman.  Only I don't like ginger so I'll leave that out.  And I'll try substituting sweet potato noodles for the regular ones.  So my salad might not be anything close to hers!

This simple notebooking idea has changed the way I'm doing history with my
younger kids.  And when I say "simple" ya'll I mean SIMPLE!

One more especially for Jennifer....
Take a look at how The Peaceful Mom is making her weekly planner in her art journal.  So much snazzier than just crossing through a boring list.  I've been copying some of this idea, though mine isn't quite as cute yet!

A Little Bit Of Lately

~Monday!  And I get to stay home.  Allllll day.  LOVE being home on Mondays.  I love being home most any time.  But it seems like when it's Monday then it sets a good tone for the week when I'm home.  Plus it's raining.  Like gusher rain.  So who wants to get out anyway?

~Except tonight when I have to get out to go to bee keeping class.  Which I AM looking forward to.  Just wish it wasn't Monday. 

~And guess what!?  The chicken coop is finished!  If it wasn't pouring down rain I'd go take some pictures of it and show ya.  It's different from any chicken coop we've seen...which makes us wonder if it'll work.  

I'm thinking we're putting more thought into it than the chickens will.  Meg is already making plans to beautify the thing for us.

~This morning Carmel had a vet appt to get fixed.  The big question remains if Carmel is a boy or girl.  NO we CAN'T tell!!  But the clinic was fine to take her/him and decide for themselves.  Problem is, now that it's Monday she is nowhere to be found.  Again.  

~ Last week we had several snow days.  Super fun!  And lots of Daddy time at home. 

Mally loves her new purple snow gloves. 

Buzzy fighting over a snowball.  

~ The week before we had what seemed like endless puke going on.  On Sunday we had 3 kids puking at once.  We had no juice and no Sprite and no anything else except water.  And Honey had already left with the older kids to church before everybody started puking.  Sooo we were stuck home with water.  But it was ok b/c they got new cups for Valentines Day and still loved drinking from them so pushing liquids wasn't a big deal.  

It's so interesting to watch my kids' different personalities come out when they are sick.  Some kids completely shut down, sleep for 2 days, and we don't see them again until they are better.  Some kids are clingy whiners, some are more cheerful than usual, some are sure they are fixing to die.  

~Wanna see my latest re-org project?

See this mess?  It was my scrapbook stuff piled up on the shelf in my closet.  Pitiful huh?  And even though I hated it, I couldn't come up with a way to organize it in a way I liked except straightening up what was already going on.  

But then I remembered THIS.  A dresser I was barely using.  And a cute helper that was more than ready to help pull out scrapbook stuff.  

So that dresser was just holding random pieces of clothes that I hardly wear so I moved all my clothes to this built in dresser in my closet.  

And used all the other drawers for my scrapbook stuff.  

Now my clothes are in one place, the scrapbook stuff is organized, and the momma is happy happy happy. 

Don't You Love It?!

I do!

And I can't take any credit for it.  My friend Leslie just did this awesome makeover for my blog.  She's amazing at blog re-dos.   I love it!!

Just like when I add something new to a room or reorganize the whole thing, I keep walking in there to admire it.  Now I keep coming back to my blog to see how cute it looks. 

Thank you Leslie! 

Valentine S'mores

Nate made these mini s'mores kits for his siblings for Valentines day.  Aren't the heart shaped marshmallows adorable?

I passed out tea light candles and chop sticks and it was our tea time snack.

Squishy marshmallow and melty chocolate!

Mmmmm.........

So when Honey came home we did it again for dessert.  But we mostly only had extra marshmallows.  He wasn't thrilled with the candle idea so he built a big fire for them instead. 

It took it to a whole 'nother level!

She's Home!

 

After being gone for 5 days our sweet kitty, Carmel, is home!

 

 

FarmerBoy found her last night standing by her food bowl.

 

 

Happy Happy Happy....

 

 

You Smell Gooood

Zboy has some eczema on the backs of his knees.  I've been treating it with avocado oil and it's looking better.  The more I remember to do it, the better its getting.

The easiest ways for me to do this is to either have him lay on his tummy on my bed, or have him stand on top of the toilet.  The bed is actually easier.

So yesterday we were in the bathroom when I remembered to do his oil.  At first I told him to jump up on the pot, but then I changed my mind and suggested he lay on the bed.  He was visibly disappointed so I asked what difference it made to him.

Him: "When I stand on the pot, then you pick me up and put me down."

Me: "So?"

Him: "When you pick me up I get to smell you.  And you have a good Momma smell."

Seriously?  This boy melts my heart.

BLACK-Out!

I never get to pick what is on our TV.  Ever.
Well last night I was goofing off waiting for the family to come back from TKD.  That's when I remembered my season one of DD from the library.  Why did it take me so long?  It's like it was sitting there going to waste!  So I popped it in and watched a good 2 minutes of it.

THEN!!

Everything went out.  Pitch black.  No electricity.  And it was DARK people!!
Like black dark.
Like plagues of Egypt dark.
And I was by myself.

Now everyone knows that serial killers always cut the electric lines (or was that the phone lines?) before they go in after their victims.  And they use that cord to strangle them as they are frantically running up the stairs.

Well I don't have stairs but I was SCARED ya'll.  Like pee-in-my-pants kinda scared.  It never occurred to me that it could be the storm b/c I didn't even know it was raining.
And I didn't know where a flash light was and even if I did I couldn't get to it b/c you can't get anywhere in blackness like that.

But I made my way to the back door to lock it in case serial killer hadn't made his way in.  I stared into the darkness telling myself that my eyes would adjust.  But there is nothing to adjust to in pure darkness.  Outside was just as dark as inside.

My dogs started growling and I could hear Buzz walking around slowly.  I followed his noise and  made my way over to him and when I touched him he jumped out of his skin!  Turns out dogs are scared of serial killers too.

I slipped my fingers into his collar remembering that he is a VERY big dog and even if he is a chicken, just his presence is intimidating to others.  Even serial killers maybe.  Besides it helped me feel like I wasn't totally alone.

We stood there in the blackness of the dark and I rehearsed all the bad words I was going to say to Honey for not coming home sooner.

Then FINALLY there were headlights!  But the driveway is long and it takes a minute to see who it is.  Then the headlights went out.  Wait...so serial killers probably need the lights to find the right house but then sneak up and turn them off when they get close.   So I was scareder than ever.

As they got closer he turned them back on again and I saw my FAMILY!!!  Turns out he wanted the kids to see how dark it was without the lights.

I forgot every bad word I was gonna say and dissolved into a mess of tears.

Of course the kids thought it was the greatest fun ever and immediately made plans for hide-and-seek-in-the-dark, and located every flash light in the house.   Driving home they said they saw all the power go out in the city and Honey says, "Ooooooh your Momma's not going to be happy about this."   Well now he was right.

I learned something....
Country dark is not the same as city dark.

2 Blog Posts In One Day

because I'm supposed to be doing something else and this is easier. 

I'm supposed to be working on my youth lessons for Sunday.  But I'm not.  I tried.  And I thought about it.  And I looked up a bunch of stuff.  But it wasn't what I wanted and nothing fit so I'll do it later and do this now. 

I love Awana.  Have I told you that?  And even though my boys are angels in class, I heard again today that they were devils in games.  And in music.  Now I was there in music but I wasn't paying enough attention because I sat in the wrong place.   I did pay attention at dinner though and they were great.  Sean wasn't but it was my fault he got in trouble with the lunch lady for chugging the empty milk carton.  I gave it him. 

Anyway, why are they so awful in games?  I don't know.

~I'm fixing something new for supper.  Paleo friendly and smells delish.  Then my man calls and tells me he's taking the kids to Wendys for frosties on the way home from TKD.   I thinking I'll have plenty of leftovers of this mushroom spinach chicken broccoli stuff that doesn't have a real name yet. 

~Tomorrow is Friday!!  Hanging at the in-laws watching Duck Dynasty  working on youth stuff. 
And she has this neat hot water dispenser thing that I figured out last time.  I wonder why she didn't take it with her? 

~My room is littered with valentine creations from my sweeties.  Really its so cute.  And messy.

~I got season one of DD at the library and haven't watched one single episode.  I know.  And its due back Monday. 

~I need a date with my man.  Its been too long.  You think he'll watch DD with me? 

Crazy Chicken Thoughts

Oh so guess what?

The strangest idea came into my head this morning. 

I don't even know where it came from.  I was fixing my hair in front of the mirror like a normal person.  But then!  Out of nowhere I was like....."I wonder if its hard to kill a chicken and cook it." 

Like a real chicken ya'll.  That walks. 

Really, who even thinks of that?   And a month or so ago my eyes were glazed over listening to someone say too many words about the very thing.  Because I don't do that.  Kill chickens to eat?  No. 

But this morning I even went so far as to wonder how Mrs. Cratchet on A Christmas Carol got that big goose/chicken thing de-featherized and cooked in time for supper. 

Really!

Country life is messing with me. 

This Week

It's Wednesday!!  And I love Wednesday. 

 

But yesterday was Tuesday.  And I don't love Tuesdays.  In fact, I hate Tuesdays.  And when I got up my attitude reflected it.  But somewhere during the day the Lord got a hold of my bad attitude and reminded me that every word I said and every negative thought I allowed was a choice.  An extremely selfish choice and a bad example to my kids.  And since I have the power to choose differently I decided it was time. 

 

Have you ever read The Love Dare?   It's from the good folks that made the movie Fireproof.   Excellent read and a great challenge to do not only for your marriage but for any relationship that needs a boost. 

 

Here's a paragraph that I particularly like...

"Love will inspire you to become a patient person.  When you choose to be patient, you respond in a positive way to a negative situation.  You are slow to anger.  You choose to have a long fuse instead of a quick temper.  Rather than being restless and demanding, love helps you settle down and begin extending mercy to those around you.  Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm." 

 

Speaking of love, we spent some time preparing for Valentines Day yesterday.  Glue, glitter, and paper scraps everywhere.  I heart Valentines Day!  

 

 

I don't usually do anything to decorate for V-day, but this year I wanted to change that.  Then again, I don't want to spend much money but want to re-purpose what I already have. 

While the kids made valentines, I worked on this garland for the fireplace.  It doesn't look like the picture on Pinterest, but I was able to do it without buying anything and I like the way it turned out. 

 

~I have to brag on my big girls a bit.  Mally has been sick this week.  Throwing up or being sick 3 nights in a row.  Their room is on the other end of the house and I never heard a thing!  LB and Lane got up with her in the night and totally took care of her and cleaned up everything while I was still sleeping.  Thank you girls!! 

 

~Since she was sick, she missed the symphony field trip on Monday.  My son offered to stay home with her which meant the rest of us could still go.  Love him!  I've been to the symphony several times in the past but never enjoyed it as much as this time.  It was especially for kids so they played kid songs that everyone knew.  Star Wars was awesome and Jes was instantly in love.  He was on the edge of his seat the whole time just saying over and over, "Wow!"  "Mom did you hear that?!"  and

hitting his brother on the other side of him to point out something neat.  He was a whole different show all in himself. 

 

~Yesterday I got to talk to Renee on the phone.  I can't remember the last time we actually got to talk on the phone for like 25 minutes.  And the funny thing is that even though my kids were finished with school and chores and should've been enjoying free time, they were gathered about me either listening to my conversation or whispering something they thought I needed to know.   So we had to talk about how to act if mom ever gets to talk to Renee on the phone again. 

 

~So as I was saying its Wednesday.  And that means AWANA!!  Oh happy day!  Love those boys of mine.  And last week Misty commented on how well behaved they were.  Yep, I agree.  They are awesome.  Even though I still get bad reports of them in games....oh well.   Hopefully I'll have a full class tonight. 

 

~Awana means a trip into town and that means grocery shopping.  I'm trying the Paleo diet with the autoimmune protocol for a couple of months to see if I can get a handle on this wicked disease that I HATE.  Lots of people have had great success with this approach.  But I've learned that lots of people doesn't mean that'll happen for me.  So I'm not all dreamy and starry eyed about it, but it's something I haven't tried yet so I'm all over it.  Anyhoo.....that means a different approach to the grocery store this week. 

 

 

Linky Love

Here's some fun things I've explored this week and some things I hope to do soon....

This one is especially for my friend Jennifer who likes to journal too.  These are beautiful and fun journaling pages.  I love to journal and blog and doodle about anything.  These are neat and a change of pace.  I've had to stretch my thinking to fill in the blanks this week.

And speaking of doodling...these are some pretty quotes to work on if you're artsy like that.

Valentines Day is coming up!  LOVE Valentines Day.  This year I've been looking at doing something different for our kids.  Here's some fun ideas that I'm letting them do for each other.

This site shows you how to take better pics with your iphone.  I definitely wanna learn this! 

Here's a recipe for Tomato Basil soup that looks perfect for a cold day.  I wanna try this next week if it's cold..

I'm ready to sleep!

This has been a sleepless-ish week. And we don't even have a baby to blame. When we were in baby mode I was good at getting by with just a couple hours at a time. But now that I'm out of practice, I'm a sleep wimp.

I had one night of snoring husband and sick kid. Moved to the couch.

Next night of a lap desk in my back because my man was working late and slept with the laptop between us waiting for something to blow up. Moved to the couch again.

One night of intense shoulder pain that was crazy.

One night of bad shoulder + dog puke. On the carpet of course.

And one night of annoying dog that wandered about, shook his head all night, and made his collar rattle because he was banned from the carpeted room and didn't have his rightful spot.

This weekend's plans?
Sleep!

Some TKD awesomeness!!

Black belts are coming!!

Increase and Multiplication

"But the Word of God increased and multiplied." Acts 12:24

The early church was an amazing body.   A persecuted church full of faith in their God and love for their people.

To set the stage in chapter 12, one of their own, James, was killed at the hands of a pagan king and their beloved Peter was imprisoned.  Bad times.

"but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church " (12:5)

In the night, an angel walks Peter through his escape from the maximum security, through the gate,and into the city.

When he went to find his friends, where were they? Gathered together praying! Were these ppl amazing or what?

No wonder it was said of them "and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied".

The numbers multiplied and consequently the Word multiplied.
This morning I am stopped in my tracks by these words "increased and multiplied".

The church is the people of God ... that's me.
Is the Word increasing and multiplying in me?

 I am blessed to live in a time of extreme convenience and comfort affording me more time on my hands than I know what to do with.  Yet, I dare say if Peter came looking for me in the night after miraculously escaping from prison he would probably find me sleeping, playing with my phone, reading something stupid, or watching Duck Dynasty. Probably not praying.


"Only in the Lord it shall be said of me is righteousness and strength." (Isa 45:24).
Not in the silliness that I turn toward.
Oswald Chambers says to "narrow all other interests until the attitude of mind, heart, and body is concentration on Jesus".


I have a feeling that I don't have a right understanding of the extreme privilege that is mine in the freedom I have to worship and proclaim the Word of God.  I sit in my pretty church, listen to my fine speaking pastor and gawk at my sexy worship leader (wink). And I don't understand anything that has to do with persecution or hardship.

And I'm thankful for that. But how much more should the Word be increasing and multiplying in me when I do not have the the cares that so many are shouldering even today?

Instead I am discontent with the simple and long for the fancy and "well done". I judge on the basis of whether it is funny, entertaining, or "relevant". I am entangled in my notions of what is attractive (to myself and others).  My eyes are blinded by the sparkly trinkets of this fallen world when they should be looking into the face of the One who says "Turn to Me".

This Week...

~I have battled selfishness like crazy!!

~Am trying to be more careful with my words.  :-(

~Tried to watch Ghandi for school.   

~I'm memorizing part of Isaiah 45.  Really trying to increase my Scripture memory.

~Re-reading my autographed copy of Experiencing God.   Major life changing book for me decades ago.  Thank you Henry Blackaby!

~Awana!  I taught an incredible bunch of 3-4th graders God's Word.   And worked with a sweet little girl on John 3:16

~Helped to clean up puke.

~Signed my high school kids up for a writing and history class. 

~Skipped my piano lesson because I didn't practice. 

~Have resolved to make time to practice.

~Watched my family get ready for TKD testing on Saturday. 

~Found the lost 3 hole punch!  Yesssss!!

~Started a new way to journal.  Just for fun b/c I adore that sort of thing! 

~Met a neighbor.

~Invited a friend to church and she said "maybe"

~Struck up a conversation about acupuncture with a lady at the furniture store.  Love the South!

~Went to Bible study with LB.


And Today......

~Listening to my boy play piano

~Thinking I ought to be next.....

~Enjoying the fire my son made for us

~Fixing to put littles down for naps and work on my mom's birthday present.

~Planning a trip to the store after TKD

~Then tea time with a new granola bar recipe and Trumpet Of The Swan

~Thinking about supper.....baked potatoes and salad

~Wishing I had some chocolate......

Skunks And Holy Bread

Ok well actually it's holey bread.  And skunks.  One skunk really...singular.  

But VERY big!  

My kids are doing school when somebody shrieks " A racCOON!!!!"  

Me from the kitchen..."A raccoon??"  "In the house?" 

Them... "A SKUNK" 

Me..."A raccoon and a skunk??" 

No raccoon.  Apparently we need to review our farm animals. But a huge fluffy skunk was right up on our back porch.  Carmel spots the intruder from her bed and slooooowly creeps out, crouches down, and starts to stalk.  Did I mention that this skunk is bigger than my cat?  The skunk starts walking off and Carmel is right on his tail....not the best place to be when we're talking about skunks.  

He was really not in a hurry though.  He just walked along a "mosey" sort of pace.  I guess he knew my cat was no match for him.  But skunk spray was NOT what we wanted so after Skunk cleared the porch we opened the door and grabbed Carmel. 

Skunk just continued at his pace all the way across the yard and through the back fence.  

Disappointed Carmel went back to her nap.  

Meanwhile in the kitchen....look what happened.  

When your bread turns out looking like this you're not going to be feeding sandwiches to anybody.  

And since I had 5 loaves (yes FIVE!) that looked exactly like this or a little worse, I had to come up with something else.  

It's the perfect thing for french toast casserole.

I've tried lots of these recipes in the past but this one seems to work best for us.  

Tear up all the bread into pieces like this. And "salt" them generously with cinnamon. 

Then crack a bunch of eggs and whip them together with some milk like scrambled eggs.  I think I used 3 dozen eggs for 2 pans.  Mix in a splash of vanilla.  And pour it over the bread.  

Don't skip this part!  With a back of a spoon press all the bread pieces into the eggs so everything is coated. otherwise you'll have dry bread sticking up and you don't want that.  

Let it sit for an hour or so then bake it (covered) at 350 until it's done.  

Slice it up and serve with maple syrup.  Or if you have 5 loaves worth, cut it up and freeze it in individual servings.  

Then go back in the kitchen and make bread again. 

 But this time do it right!! 

A Little Bit Of Lately

 

My new earrings!  My new FAVORITE earrings!  Mom gave them to me when we were there for Christmas.  They used to belong to Nanny who is in Heaven now.  I like having anything of hers. 

 

 

Axis and Allies is one of the new games we got for Christmas.  NOT my fave.  Any game that takes 2 hours to play will never be fun.  My boys are crazy about it though.  And now I hear that they learned some "new" rules that they didn't know when they taught me to play.  Uh huh. 

 

My dishwasher is broken.  4 days now.   And WOW do we make a big mess in a short amount of time.  My guys went over to the in-laws to get their old dishwasher out of the garage to switch them out.  Right now its in the living room....even though we don't do dishes in the living room.
 

Life has been better for these two since I've made them start taking naps again.  Not quiet time.  Nap time.  They still go to bed at the same time since they share a room with older siblings that stay up later.  But Mally is waking up much happier.  That makes for a better start to the day for everyone.

~Snow today!  It didn't accumulate enough to play in but it was beautiful and caused a huge distraction during school. :-)  We made a pot of chicken soup and put on the kettle for hot chocolate and chai.  I love these things about winter. 

~Grocery shopping tonight.  And its about time.  The pantry is getting bare. 
Tonight we are having chicken legs and salad and something else (?)

~So I thought I'd try some fiction again after the Martha Washington story.  But I didn't know what to start with or what I would like.  So I chickened out and decided to forget the whole thing.

Instead I read The Average Family's Guide To Financial Freedom.  Save yourself the time.  It's not that great. 

I also read What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast.  Not bad.  And it helped me to see that mornings are my best time to exercise. 

Now I'm reading Just Around The Corner.  I've learned a lot from Teri Maxwell over the years. She has such a practical way of doing things and applying it to Scripture.

I want to read Voice In The Night by David Wimbish.  Its about a pastor in Africa.  I don't have it and neither does Paper Back Swap.  It may be my next Kindle splurge. 

~Piano lesson week one went well.  It's harder than I thought.  I figure I'm probably her "special ed" student.  It doesn't help that whenever I sit down to practice it draws a big crowd.  Then the kids all stand there and sing while I'm plinking out...
"Old Mac.  Old Mac Donald.  Old.  Old Mac Donald had a.  Farm."

Then I can't play anymore because its all funny.  And since I'm only doing this so I can play with my man I'm thinking he needs to learn that song too.

No More Yoga Pants!

It's Monday!  That means I have nowhere to go all day.  As far as I am able, I try to stay home on Mondays.  So when I got dressed this morning it didn't take me long to decide that I didn't need to get completely dressed.  Yoga pants and my army shirt would suffice.  Ponytail.  Voila! 

And I knew better!  I always feel better when I'm really dressed.  Otherwise I feel lazy.   But still, the yoga pants won. 

Sure enough.....

Now my house is a wreck. 
My dishwasher is broken.
School did not go so great.
My schedule was too loose. 
And I'm freezing!!

But now..... my older kids went to Grandma's.  My little kids are taking a nap. 

I've decided the only way to redeem this day is to shower and get dressed like I should've in the first place!   Because sloppy clothes seem to set the tone for a sloppy day.  For me anyway.

 Do you think wearing my fancy clothes of jeans and a hoodie will set the day straight?

In Other Words....

One of my favorite things I've started for the new year is requiring my kids to take notes on my pastor's sermon.  It helps them pay attention and remember what he was talking about long after Sunday morning.  I recently heard someone speak on the ways we listen.  We can listen for our own purposes or we can listen with a goal of being able to reproduce. 

One of the things I would like improve on is teaching.  Teaching my own kids, teaching Awana, teaching whatever.....expressing myself clearly sharing what God has been teaching me.   In my house, that means that my kids have to learn it too. 

I print off this sermon sheet for my little kids.  And this one for my middle kids (I also use it for our youth group).  I printed off an adult one for my teens but they prefer to use their own paper. 

On Monday morning, I give them a good re-cap using my own notes.  We go over all the Scripture again.  And they basically get my take on the sermon.  Their writing assignment is to re-write the sermon in their own words using their notes and Bibles. 

I have 30 minutes set aside for the writing portion of this.  My older ones are required to write as though they are explaining it to someone else (or giving their own sermon).   My middle ones are working on good sentence structure with it all.  My youngest ones have to re-write the Verses.  Eventually I hope that they get to the point of using it as a springboard for expanding it with their own ideas and Scripture they feel is relevant. 

As for my youth group kids, it kept them quiet, paying attention, and off their phones while George was talking.  If they will bring me their notes re-written in their own words, they get a prize.  Shawn rocks at this and I'm proud of his diligence 2 weeks in a row.  In fact, there was a great improvement between week 1 and week 2. 

I hope that with practice we will all get better at being attentive listeners who can reproduce. 

A Little Bit Of Lately

~I still l feel like I ought to be on vacation!  

We started school last week.  It was a good week considering we had been off for so long.  

School wise, I need to buckle down.  Testing will be here soon and I want my kids to feel good about it. 

~Last week I gave them a writing assignment about old year/new year.  Mally's started with......

"So far in 2013 I have not been outside one time!"  Picture her big brown eyes rolling with attitude as she read it aloud.   Lots of cold days and my girl missed her kitty.  Today was warmer and she spent a good long time with Carmel on the trampoline.  

~TaeKwonDo testing is coming!!  And lots of my kids will be mid-terming for their black belts.  That means if they stay on schedule, they should get their black belts in April.  Honey and Nate will also test for colored belts.  Mally and Zboy will stay at green for awhile. 

~Do you wanna see my new favorite chapstick?

I LOVE this stuff.  It's a blend of essential oils and vitamin E.  100% natural. And no chicken poop.  I promise. 

Honey made a special trip to Atwoods this week to get me some more.  Love. 

~My other new fave....

The Simple Slicer from Pampered Chef.  This is my 3rd mandolin slicer.  My last one never even came out of the box.  They are just too dangerous.  But this one is different.  First of all it has a lock feature so you can safely clean it.  It also has a bowl type attachment to set the food in so it doesn't slip all over the place when you're slicing.  

My mom introduced this to me when she was teaching me how to make potato chips.  My grandmother gave me hers.  Turns out she's not a fan of homemade chips.  It's perfect for me. 

~Another new thing....I start piano lessons with Jes' teacher on Wed.  I wanna be able to play with my man. Then if I can play keyboards it'll free Lane up to play her bass guitar while Jes drums and Honey plays guitar and sings.  I'm really looking forward to this. 

~Tomorrow my sweet baby girl turns 21.  I'm cooking some of her favorite foods and looking forward to spending the day with her and Ethan.  Then Monday the two of us are going shopping together.  Just us.  Fun!  

~My hair is doing so much better!   I got it cut last week and the lady didn't freak out about it like last time.

Maybe I won't end the year bald after all.  

~I ordered 20# of pears from Azure Standard.  When they arrived, they were already half dead and needed to be dealt with immediately.  I made about 15 pounds of spiced pears, which when cooked down only equaled 2 1/2 quarts.  Then I used the rest to make a pear crisp.  I won't be ordering pears from them again!

~4 more days until Wednesday.  I haven't seen my Awana kids for way too long.  I seriously miss them a LOT.  Especially BigBoy.  So I've been praying for him extra hard.  I trust the Lord's protective hand in his life.  

~It seems like every time I turn around I'm learning of another marriage in trouble.  It's so sad and not what God would have for us.  I wanna do better about covering my relationships in prayer.  Especially my marriage.  If you think about it, pray an extra prayer for your pastor who is particularly vulnerable on the front line.  

~Church tomorrow!  

"...for You have exalted above all things Your name and Your word."  Ps. 138:2

What I'm Reading For The New Year

I just got 2 new books from Savers.  I was really excited about the first one.  I think it is called The Body Broken or something like that.  It was supposed to be about answering God's call to love others.

Big LOSER.  I read chapter 1 and could not understand how the title had anything to do with the book.  So I skippy dipped the rest of it just to make sure.  No Scripture.  Nothing but more of the same as chapter one.  Good thing I didn't spend much money on that one!  Hopefully somebody will snatch it up on Paper Back Swap next week.

My other new book is this one...

.

I like Max and all but to tell you the truth the only reason I'm reading this one right now is because its COLD outside!  My "library" is a little room off the garage.  And even though it has heat in there I'm too lazy (and cold) to go figure out how it works.  So I'm reading something I already have in the house and by the time I'm done maybe it'll be warmer out and I can shop my shelves again.  If not, Honey will have to buy me something else.  

Job.  Almost done.  I don't understand the whole "patience of Job" saying and whenever I hear it I wonder if they truly know who Job is.  Yes he was patient  but God also paints a very honest picture of his discouragement and pain and the way he dealt with it.  If you haven't read Job.  Please do.  It's awesome.  

Acts.  The historical account of the early church.  I love this part...."And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."  Acts 2:46-47  My pastor preached on this recently about the intention, gladness, and enthusiasm of the early church.  I would love it if we could reproduce that and I wonder how it would look today.  

I'm reading this with LB.  We are doing a mother/daughter Bible study with it with some friends in our homeschool group.   Its a terrific book so far and I'm looking forward to our first meeting next week.  

That's pretty much it as far as my reading goes for now.  But get this.  I read a fiction book.  All the way through to the last page.  I know right!  Gram gave it to LB and I read it first.  It was a historical fiction about George and Martha Washington at Mount Vernon.  I know that sounds boring but  I have to say that I kinda liked it.  It wasn't stellar, but it was fun to read something that had a story to it instead of all the be-a-better-fill in the blank  books I usually read.  

So now I'm wondering....is that something I really want to start?  I've always thought fiction to be mostly a waste of time.  Besides I don't have the attention span for it.  There's only a handful of movies I can sit through, let alone a whole book.  But give me a personal growth, cookbook, or learn-more-about-God book and I'm all over it.  

I found that I enjoyed the character Martha's quiet, yet gently firm ways in the book and thought I might need to imitate some of that in my own life.  I can see how a well written book can be inspiring even if its not real.  But then again, is it the "turning aside after empty things that can not profit or deliver" (1 Sam 12:21)?  I don't know.  What do you think?   And if you are a fan of fiction, who are some of your favorite authors?  

Looking Forward To The New Year

Do you have any NY goals? 

When Honey asked the question I was surprised and happy to find out that one of our sons had a long list. And one of our daughters is planning to read through the Bible in a year. 

As for me, it is 2 fold.  First of all I want to concentrate on my relationship with the Lord.  Through Bible reading and prayer, I want to have a closer walk with God. 

The 2nd is loving others.  I want to be broken and poured out.  So often I have good intentions but never follow through.  Then there are the times when I am oblivious to the needs of others b/c I'm not paying attention.  Also, my extreme selfishness gets in the way of everything. 

Once those two things are in place, I figure everything else will fall in line. 

So how about you?  Do you have any New Years resolutions, plans, or goals? 

A White Christmas

Since it's an extreme oddity around these parts I count it as an extravagant gift!

LOVE
THE
SNOW!!

We dug out the snow gear and made up some hot cocoa mix.  What more do you need?  Well maybe my new marshmallow blanket too......sooooo nice.

Remember what happened the last time we had a white Christmas?

Poor Baby Girl!

Well this time there were no face plants.  Only FUN...

Notice how much space they have?  We love it out here.  Have I mentioned that before?   Last time they had to go across the street and import snow.  This time they had more snow than they could play with.

Life with boys = snowman with legs and a gun.   Life with girls = a nice little snow village with a hotel.

The view from the back.  Isn't it pretty?

We had 2 good days of snow play.  And just when we thought it was over, there was more snow in the forecast.  We had to cancel movie night with the Awana friends and head home early.   I'd be perfectly happy with a snowed in weekend.....we'll see.

Our Christmas Our Christmas

Best. Christmas. Ever. 

The kids and I got to spend some time in Texas last week visiting all my family. 

It was a great time of.....

crafting with G'ma

shopping with Nana

talking (alot) to Gram

watching Gunsmoke with Paw Paw

watching Grandpa kill a hog

and seeing Uncle Kenny gut it 

We also got to visit with my pretty grandmother.

And for those of you who have been praying for her, she is feeling a lot better these days. 

It was good to see her smiling.

My family is so hospitable and made it a great week for us all. 

We headed home to get ready for our own Christmas. 

This year we decided to do something a little different.

When the kids came out on Christmas morning they had to follow clues to a scavenger hunt to get their presents. 

Honey made up all the clues (in rhyme).  When they found the hiding place, there was an envelope with letters inside. 

When all the envelopes were found, they dumped out the letters to unscramble the words....

Season Passes To Silver Dollar City! 

We are SOOOO looking forward to this! 

Ethan and Meg came over bright and early and didn't miss anything.

Ethan stayed until the afternoon when he left for work

but we had Meg for the whole day. 

Love my girly at home. (So does everyone else)

Presents! 

And the whole time my in-laws were a part of the action even though they are in far away Florida. 

Thank you Face Time! 

Playing all day! 

Best Silly Straw EVER! 

This was one of the presents I was most looking forward to. 

A car track on the wall. 

For whatever reason, I'm a bit sentimental about my boys and their cars. 

I love their cars.  I'll keep them forever.

And I'm perfectly happy to decorate my living room in Hot Wheels.

Later in the day the Riley family came over. 

We had decided to spend our Christmas time (and money) together by shopping the Compassion, Food For The Hungry, and World Vision catalogs. 

We drew names, dividing up into 7 teams of 2 and splitting the money 7 ways. 

Then we divided up the catalogs and shopped until the money ran out. 

We bought lots of sheep, chickens, and goats. 

Fed a hungry baby for a week. 

Bought a fish pond. 

And I don't remember what else. 

I pray the Lord will use it all to bless those who need it.  

It was an awesome day! 

And I didn't even mention the SNOW. 

SNOW!!!

That'll be tomorrow.....

Oh NO!

I just thought of something.  I went through the Christmas season without talking to my Awana kids about the birth of our Savior!  AND I have new boys this year!!

What in the world??

And now it's too late because we don't have class next week.   AWWWWWW............

I'm praying someone has told them that Christmas is more than Santa and elves and pretty trees.  I'm praying that someone will stand in the gap and pick up where I dropped the ball. 

Oh my goodness gracious. 

John 14

20 precious lives stolen in minutes.  Heart broken families, a stunned and horrified nation.

Oh God.  It is too much.

I am trying to understand (and help my kids understand) the tragedy and injustice of it all.  I weep for these families and can't get the news coverage pictures out of my mind.  The fact that I have a child that age doesn't help.  I think about how they started the day so normal, never suspecting in their wildest dreams that they'd never see their baby again.  And I've prayed that our all-knowing God blessed them with a good and loving morning before they went to school.  Why them?  It could've been mine. I'm just so sad for them.

How much longer can this go on?  When Lord?  When will You return?  When can this be done?

 But God, in His goodness, has helped me line it up with Scripture.  My regular daily reading was John 14.  I was stunned at how fitting it was.

"Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me."  John 14:1

There is so much in this world to trouble our hearts whether it be a lunatic murdering precious children, hurting loved ones, or a busted washing machine.

But, "Let not your hearts be troubled" is not your lame think-positive-and-be-happy approach to life.  Jesus tell us exactly where to turn our hearts instead.

"Believe in God; believe also in me."
But don't the demons believe and shudder?  My commentary tells me that this particular usage of believe denotes a personal and relational trust.

This Genesis 3 world will never lend itself to an option of trusting in our circumstances, ourselves, or other people.  Things won't get better when fill in the blank.  Until the Lord returns, we will always deal with disease, loss, disaster, and sin.

Praise be to God that this is not all there is!

"In my Father's house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also."  John 14:2-3

An eternal home of joy, worship, peace prepared for the redeemed who call upon The Way, The Truth, and The Life, our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Because I live, you also will live."  V. 19  (Those little ones are safe in the arms of Jesus.)

And in the meantime, the Father has given us the Holy Spirit (V 26).  God Himself, teaching us the good and helping us remember the right way.  Whenever I would struggle with something, my friend Van used to say, "I trust the Holy Spirit in you to make a good decision."  Such wisdom.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  V.27
In this fallen world we will never be free from despair.  But the Prince of Peace has offered Himself so that we have the blessing of a right standing with the Father and an eternal home prepared for us.

"Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  John 14:27

Living Life Now

I had my first acupuncture appt this week in an attempt to get a handle on these crazy flares.  It's divided into 2 parts.  And after the first part, he told me that he would walk out and be back in 15-20 minutes.

I said, "I should've brought a book."

Then he told me that it's better not to read or play on my phone or anything else.  Just relax and rest and let the needles do their work.

Nothing to read.  No one to talk to.  Nothing to look at.  Nothing to listen to.

Just sit.  And be quiet.

Turns out I'm not too good at that.  I'm so used to having people around me.  I have my stuff to entertain me.  I have lots of books I'm in the middle of.  I have my blogging, and Facebook, and e-mail, and my phone to play with.  What in the world would I do for 20 minutes??

I tried to remember the Verse I'm trying to memorize.  I tried to pray.  But I was afraid of falling asleep especially since I had barely slept the night before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday was a busy day of Christmas-y things with my kiddos.  Meg was over.  It was full and sooo much fun.

After I got the littles to bed, I settled into my usual nighttime routine.  Reading.
But I couldn't concentrate.  I couldn't remember what I had read.  My mind was full of thinking over the events of the day.  I couldn't settle down.  I wasn't sleepy.  Did I spend my time wisely?  Did I pour into my kids like I should have?  Did I do anything to reach out to others?  Did I concentrate on what was important or was I just busy?

I spent a lot of time on my computer and phone yesterday.  Yet, I would be the first to say that I never think I have enough time to do the things I want to do.  But instead of doing what I should be doing, I distract
entertain myself with what other ppl are doing.  No, I don't spend hours in front of the screen, but if I added up all the minutes I "steal" from my life with it, I know I would be surprised at how much of my life I am wasting.  No wonder I can't just sit and be still.

Something needs to change.  I don't want to be addicted to the silliness of Facebook or YouTube, or ridiculous movies.  At one point last year, I deleted my Facebook account.  But I had some lame excuse that I don't remember for getting back on.  Today I will try again.....

My life is a vapor.  My kids will be gone soon.  I have no time to waste.

"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom."  Ps 90:12

15 More Days!

And we are desperately behind.  Like seriously.

But tonight we are going on a shopping date.  Just me and my man.  Then a choir concert after that featuring some youthy peeps.  And speaking of youth, they were very good last night.

So 15 days to go and we haven't even decorated the gingerbread houses!  Or watched The Grinch!  Or made cookies!  Or hardly anything.  So this week we are ditching school and doing Christmas fun.  Meg comes over tomorrow for gingerbread housing and Grinch watching and Momma cooking.  Today we are making some salt dough ornaments or cookies....haven't decided.

Yesterday was a great day.  After church the boys and Lane went to pick up some fencing supplies at Lowes while the girls and I went to Savers.  This was a perfect combo b/c my man likes Lowes so spent a nice long time in there while the girls and I shopped.  Or maybe it wasn't such a good idea since I'm $73 poorer.  Shopping the thrift store on a non-sale day is highly unusual.  Here's to living on the wild side!

Meanwhile my boys were picking up tools and fencing stuffs to make a dog fence that is hopefully not too obtrusive on our land.  They will have access to the shed like a dog house and the whole thing will double as our chicken coop in the spring.  They are over 1/2 way done and it looks perfect.

Thanks to a good friend and his tiller, we got the strawberries in their brand new plot.  Seems late to plant anything to me but from everything I've read, it seems they should be ok if covered properly.  My boys collected pine needles and FarmerBoy bricked off the new strawberry patch.  And just in time......

It's SNOWING!!!!

Those Tricky Hearts

Awana last night was great as ever. 

My own kids were doing Christmas play practice so I only had my Awana kids in class.  Honestly, that's usually the way I like it.  But last night I was wishing they had been in there.  There was a great lesson to be learned. 

We went around the table and answered 2 questions. 

1.  What was your favorite thing in your day?
2.  What do we need to pray about?

The favorite things were silly and funny and a couple of my guys said coming to church tonight was their favorite thing.  I (heart) them. 

Last week we mostly prayed about grades, but this week it seemed most boys had a family member to pray for. 

Jayden has been to class a couple of times and I was glad to see him back last night.  He's a good boy and fits right in.  When it was his turn, he asked for prayer that his dad would get out of jail soon. 
I asked for a show of hands to see whose dad was in jail.  Half.

4 of the 8 boys in my class has a dad in jail. 

But here's where we made the hard stop.
Hayden says, "I hope my dad doesn't get out of jail.  He's mean and I hate him." 

I saw my chance on jumped on it.  We all make mistakes.  There is none of us who are perfect and never sins.  We've talked a lot about that so they are familiar with it.  Jesus came to take the punishment for sins....and our dads' sins and God is in the business of forgiveness.  We also need to forgive. 

As far as memory work went, they were mostly divided into 2 groups.  One group was memorizing the books of the Bible.  And is it any wonder that the other group was working on Jeremiah 17:9 ...
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure, who can understand it?'

Some Thoughts From Interrupted

I've been reading Interrupted again.   It wasn't on my Christmas reading list but it just happened.  God knew I needed the refresher course. 

There are times when it's difficult to balance family life and ministry.  Especially for my man who is working a LOT.  And there is the thought of ....is the cost too high?  Are we sacrificing our own on the alter of ministry?  What needs to change?  Have we reached the time when something has gotta give? 

Today I read about broken bread and poured out wine. 
"Do this in remembrance of Me."  1 Cor 11:24 

The "do" is a continuous action.  Not only does it require a constant response, but the "remembrance" comes from anamnesis which means "to make real". 

From the book:   Communion is more than a memory, more than a reverent moment when we recall Jesus' heroic sacrifice.  Remembrance means honoring Jesus' mercy mission with a tangible, physical action since it was a tangible, physical sacrifice.  In other words, "Constantly make this real." 

Constantly make this real.  Constantly be broken and poured out for humanity....for the sake of Jesus.
Constantly is ringing in my mind. 

I felt so encouraged after reading this to think that we are still moving in the right direction.   As Richard Blackaby recently reminded me in his book, Putting A Face On Grace, grace always costs something.  Others have to be poured out for the grace that is bestowed on us.   Why should we expect a sacrifice to cost nothing? 

But we need to be in constant prayer to know how to include our kids.  Our little kids are growing up very different from our older kids.  We are in a different place in life and I can see how our older kids are a huge safeguard for our littles.   I love how they love them by helping us keep them on the right track. 

It was easier when it was just me and some of the older kids at Awana every week.  I could pour into the precious lives of my boys without a single thought of neglecting my own.  They were safe at home with Daddy and all was good.  Win win.  But now that everybody's on board, I constantly have the red light blaring in my head "DANGER DANGER DANGER!!!" 

And while I know it's wise to be aware, I also am thinking that they are benefiting in huge ways that I didn't see before.  I'm pretty sure it's the right place to be.  For all of us. 

Awana This Week

It's been awhile since I've posted an Awana update.   Last week we were on Thanksgiving break and since we follow the public school schedule that meant no Awana.  It was weird to not have something to do on a Wednesday.  And by Friday I was missing my Awana boys.  I can't go too long without my 4th grade boy fix!

Have I introduced you to Shannon?  He started coming at the end of last year having NEVER HEARD THE NAME OF JESUS!!!    So you can imagine that he's a little bit special to me.  He's been eager from the start and a quick study.  Super smart and one of the better behaved, he's a joy in my class.  He's also one of the best about keeping up with his book and shirt.

This week we prayed mostly about grades.  I guess with the year almost 1/2 over, kids are getting tired and ready for a break. I really can't believe we are almost at the end of this semester!

We talked about some of the harder words in the Verses and whose responsibility it is to make sure you have your shirt on Wednesday.  Most of the kids were studying the books of the Bible.

With over 90 people this week, Awana continues to be jam-packed and busy and full of fun!

Look What I Made!

Shampoo!  

If you've read my RA blog lately, you'll understand why.  For whatever reason all of a sudden my medicine or something is making my hair fall out.  Being off my med for 3 weeks did nothing but put my wrist in a brace.  Soooo, I needed another idea.  Any idea.  

And this is where I landed.  I figure I have nothing to lose, since I'm losing it anyway.   So I googled an all-natural recipe and  filled my Azure Standard cart. 

 A few basic ingredients....

1/2 C. water
1/4 C. liquid castile soap
2 tsp avocado oil
1/8 tsp peppermint oil and tea tree oil
1 tsp vegetable glycerin
10-15 drops lavender oil

I poured out one of my mom's cokes (funny, no?) and filled the bottle and shook it up.
I am soooo proud of it and I haven't even used it yet.

I'm not so thrilled with the smell.  Peppermint and lavender are kinda weird, but I wanted to follow the instructions the first time.

As I was making this, I was thinking that if I read this blog a few years ago I would've scoffed at the idea of making an all-natural shampoo when I can buy perfectly fine shampoo for less than a dollar.  Life has sure changed.  And I wonder if many ppl really make a vegan/natural/free-ish move unless they are forced by health issues.

I remember the first time I went to a health food store and wondered why the ppl just didn't look right.  And now I figure they didn't grow up with a dream of working at Squash Blossom, but probably had some wicked auto-immune disease they were desperately trying to control and learned a lot in the process.  Maybe??  I still don't understand why it smells so weird.

Next on the list.....deodorant and green stuff.   And  YOGA.  Yes, I know.  Yoga will solidify my crunchy status forever but I read that it can really help with RA symptoms....can it be?

So help a girl out here.  Do you know of any good yoga videos that don't have a lot of new age meditation? Is all Yoga considered Hinduism?  Can you just benefit from the exercise without all the "emptying your mind" business?  Or is there a such thing as Christian yoga?  Or is it dabbling on the dark side?  The arguments I've read about it seem flighty and stupid.  Thoughts??

Maybe I should stick to shampoo...