Life on a Back Road

I did it!!!

2012-01-31T13:07:00.005-05:00

Okay, this post really belongs in my January goals update. BUT, I am so excited about it that I wanted to share it with you all in a separate post--and also so I could share some helpful websites and stuff. :) I am really, really thrilled to report that I accomplished my January goal of LOSING 5 POUNDS!!! Now, I know that doesn't sound like all that much, and probably some of you are rolling your eyes right now. But it's exciting for me, because I don't think I have ever met a monthly weight loss goal before (at least not anytime recently), and this has given me huge motivation and encouragement to keep on working towards my ultimate goal of about 15-20 lbs.

I think that cutting out sweets for this past month was one of the main factors in being able to lose 5 lbs, and even though my official sugar fast ends tomorrow, I am not planning to go crazy and start stuffing chocolate into myself. In fact, I plan to save sweet stuff for a special treat and only indulge in very small amounts occasionally. I know I need to keep my sweet tooth under control, not only to help me lose the weight I want, but also for the other benefits that cutting out sugar has given me: increased energy, clearer skin, fewer headaches(!!!), and a less-foggy brain (maybe that one is my imagination, but honestly--I feel like I've been thinking more clearly and have been able to focus on things better for the past few weeks).

So, I am setting a new weight loss goal for February: 4 pounds! (Since Feb. is a shorter month, and also because I know that weight seems to come off more slowly after those first few pounds ! :)) Along with minimizing sweets and exercising, this month I want to work harder on portion control and drinking more water--two very important things that I struggle with!

I know my success this month came only through God's strength. I really struggle with self-discipline, and cutting out sweets was something I wasn't sure if I had the willpower to do, but with His help, I was able to do it and meet my goal. I am praying for the self-discipline to continue to work hard toward my goals and to make good choices, because it's VERY easy for me to fall into bad habits!

I also wanted to share some good resources and websites that are helping to encourage and motivate me along this journey toward better health and a slimmer me. :)

Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure--I actually just finished this book last night, and I enjoyed it. I appreciated Candace's emphasis on the spiritual as well as the physical aspects of health, and yes, I also enjoyed the photo section in the middle with pictures of her growing up/Full House years, as well as more current pictures of her family. :)
Sugar-Free Mom--I discovered this blog recently and it has a lot of good recipes and motivation for going sugar-free. I haven't yet tried many of the recipes because I'm not sure yet if I want to try replacing sugar with stevia, but I have to say it was really encouraging to come across this site during my sugar fast.
Fat Chick Fed Up--I found this blog through Money Saving Mom, and I have really enjoyed following this lady's weight loss journey so far! She is very honest and down to earth, and her writing style is a lot of fun, too!
Peak 313 Fitness--yes, a whole blog dedicated to health and fitness--by a Christian lady! I'll admit I am not into doing a whole bunch of different exercises (yet!)--right now my elliptical is working fine for me--but I really enjoy this blog and especially the weight loss stories that are shared every Wednesday.

I hope some of these resources might be encouraging for you, as well. This month I'll also be reading through the book Made to Crave, to further motivate me in my journey. I was thinking about starting a once-a-week weight loss check-in here, for anyone who might want to participate, but now I'm thinking maybe once-a-month posts like this one, instead. Any thoughts?

Anyway, thanks for listening to my excitement about reaching this goal! Here's to another healthy month!! :)

Weekly Goals 01/30/12

2012-01-30T14:18:00.003-05:00

I'm going to try to start something new on the blog, where I list some goals each week and record my progress. (I'll also still be listing my monthly goals, but I'm hoping this will help keep me more on track week by week.) A few of my friends do this and I think it is a great way to help with motivation and accountability! So here goes: 10 Goals for this week!

Finish reading Reshaping It All
Write review for Promise Me This
Make scarves for Sam and Josiah
Finish scarf for myself
Exercise 5 times
Drink 3 bottles of water daily
Lose 1 lb.
Complete 4 FULL days of school (this has been a struggle lately, so I'm determined to work on it so we can finish the year on time!)
Blog at least 3 times
Make a daily computer schedule to help me use my time more wisely

I'll be back later today or tomorrow with an update on my January goals, and new goals for February.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom!

2012-01-13T21:33:00.002-05:00

I am running a bit late getting this post up, but I just wanted to wish my dear Mom a very happy birthday! :) She is a special blessing in my life and I am so thankful for all her love and prayers for me (and now, my family) over the years. If you get a chance, go over and visit her blog to wish her a happy birthday, too! :)

Love you, Mom!! Hope your day was relaxing and special. :)

Snow day

2012-01-12T20:00:00.005-05:00

Just a few pictures from our day . . .

3 happy kiddos . . .

a daddy who had an unexpected day off, and made a new sled . . .

our cozy home . . .

the littlest boy who is now big enough to slide down the hill all by himself . . .

pure white snow making everything beautiful and clean . . .

and an after-supper game of Lego Minotaurus . . .

made for a fun-filled snow day!

Random ramblings

2012-01-11T21:59:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I did a random post, and I have lots of things jumbled in my head that I feel the need to get down on "paper." Well, not really paper . . . but I just feel like chattering. :) So here are some random thoughts about nothing in particular.

It's supposed to snow all day tomorrow. Good thing we are ahead on quite a bit of the schoolwork, because I am considering giving the kids a snow day. :) Or at least a partial snow day--we will probably still do a little school.
Jim gets the day off tomorrow! He is downstairs right now (9:37 pm), building a new sled out of wood and old skis. Can't wait to see how that comes out! Sam is helping him and I just (finally!) got the other two tucked into bed. Hope they sleep late!
My sugar fast is going well. I have managed to not eat any sweets (cookies, candy, etc.) since January 1st. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, until yesterday--when I made cookies for the rest of the family. Then it was VERY hard to not sneak a nibble. But willpower prevailed!
I can definitely see a difference in my energy levels since cutting out sugar. I also feel like my mind has been more focused, and my thoughts clearer. I am still eating a very little bit of sugar, as it is in some things like the bread I make, etc. but just cutting out most sweets seems to have made a difference. I also lost 2 lbs. last week; we'll see how this week goes!
I have been working harder to get up early this week. ("Early" for me is 6 am. Yes, earlier would be better, but this is a good start. :)) I am thankful to say I've been able to make this happen every day since Monday--giving me good time for devotions, exercise, shower and breakfast all before the kids get up around 8 or later. It is amazing how that extra time adds so much more productivity to my day!
My new favorite Christian fiction author is Lynn Austin. I've read two of her books so far, and just received a third from Paperback Swap yesterday in the mail. Yay! Of course I'm making myself wait to jump into that one because I have another book going at the moment. :)
I am slowly reading through One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I hope to write a review of it sometime, but for now I am taking my time, savoring my journey through it and thinking through a lot of things. Her writing style takes some getting used to, but the more I read, the better I am liking it. And I just found this beautiful little downloadable calendar, A Year of Graces, at her site (it's down near the bottom of that post)--love it! I am writing my own list of 1000 gifts in a sweet little blue journal that I got a couple years ago, but I might just have to print off this calendar too, because it's so pretty. :)

Well, I probably could think of more to say, but it's getting late, there is still bread waiting to be sliced and put away, and a soft bed waiting for me to crawl into. :) Thanks for listening to my ramblings!

Recipe Rave: Fiesta Sweet Potato Soup

2012-01-11T19:38:00.010-05:00

A few weeks ago, the kids and I had lunch with my mom and she served us some yummy soup. I loved it, but hadn't gotten around to making it myself till last night. I have a hubby who is not a fan of beans, so I wasn't sure how well this would go over, but he said I could try it. :) Well, he said it was "good"--which means it might not be his favorite soup ever, but he wouldn't be totally opposed to me making it again. ;) And actually, I think this would be just as good without the sausage, in which case I could make a batch of it for just me and eat it for lunch for a week!

Anyway, here's the recipe, and I'll note at the end the changes I made to it.

Fiesta Sweet Potato Soup

(original recipe from Taste of Home)

1 package (9 oz) fully cooked spicy chicken sausage links, chopped

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 large onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, diced

2 T. olive oil

2 t. ground cumin

2 cans (14.5 oz. each) chicken broth

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained

1 can (14.5 oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained

2 T. minced fresh cilantro

Sour cream and thinly sliced green onions

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute the sausage, sweet potatoes, onion and pepper in oil until onion is tender. Add cumin; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the broth, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in cilantro.
Garnish servings with sour cream and green onions. Yield: 6 servings (2 1/4 quarts)

Notes: I used Italian turkey sausage instead of chicken sausage because it was cheaper. Like I mentioned above, I think this soup would be just as tasty without any meat, though! I only used about a third of an onion because hubby isn't a big fan. I also forgot to add the cilantro, and it was great without (although I'd like to try it with, sometime--I think it would add a nice dimension. We did garnish with sour cream and that added even more flavor, but if you want to cut some fat/calories, the soup is great without it. I also forgot about the green onions, but we didn't miss them. :) And I threw in some leftover rice, too, which I think is why the soup ended up looking more like stew--but it was still good that way!

So there you have it--a new yummy soup recipe to try! This was packed full of flavor and it's pretty healthy, too. Enjoy!

And the winner is . . .

2012-01-10T10:06:00.003-05:00

Wow! I had a total of 83 entries for my giveaway for The Money Saving Mom's Budget--more than ever before (thanks to Money Saving Mom linking to my giveaway :)). This morning I entered the total into Random.org's random integer generator to pick the winner. And the winner is . . .

Comment #70, LINDA!!!

Linda, I have emailed you and hope to hear from you soon!! Congratulations on winning the book! I hope you will enjoy it.

And for the rest of you--go out and buy a copy of Crystal's book! :) Or, if you live near me, you're welcome to borrow mine. :) Thanks to everyone who entered!

**UPDATE: For anyone who is interested in buying this book, I just heard that Amazon dropped the price down to $8.40 today (01/10/12), so you might want to jump on that ASAP, since it will likely go back up again before long! My affiliate link to the book is in the paragraph above, or you can just go over to Amazon and buy it there if you prefer. :)

January Goals

2012-01-08T19:59:00.002-05:00

Now that I've shared my overall goals for this year, I wanted to share some specific goals that I'm working on this month. Hopefully I will do better than last year keeping up with posting about them and being accountable to you all. :)

Daily quiet time in the Word & prayer
Fast from sugar (this includes cookies, candy, etc. but not bread or other carbs or starches such as potatoes)
Exercise 5-7 times a week for 20-30 minutes each time
Lose 5 lbs by Feb. 1st
Read 2 books (this month's books are A Proper Pursuit--already finished--and Reshaping It All (weight loss/fitness inspiration!)
Stick to our budget
Pay all bills on time
Go to bed earlier
Start school earlier
DIY project: turn all the tomatoes in my freezer into spaghetti sauce :)
Sewing project: a few belated Christmas gifts

So, do you all have any goals for this month? Feel free to share in the comments!

My list of goals for 2012

2012-01-08T15:26:00.008-05:00

{image from www.sxc.hu}

Last year, I broke my goals up into a bunch of posts, but this year I decided to just put the big list into one post. My goals pretty much all fall into the same categories as last year, but I've just organized them a bit differently. Some of you might enjoy reading these, others might be bored to tears. If that's you, then feel free to skip right over this post. :) Anyway . . . here we go!

Goals for 2012

Personal Goals:

Walk with God

~Finish "Fruit of the Spirit" Bible study

~Pray through The Busy Mom's Guide to Prayer monthly

~Start an ongoing additional prayer list notebook

~Pray daily for my husband and children

~Read One Thousand Gifts and complete a list of 1000 everyday blessings

~Review Titus 1 and memorize Titus 2-3

Health and Fitness

~Lose 15-20 lbs this year

~Exercise for 20-30 minutes, 5-7 days per week

~Aim to drink 3 bottles of water per day

~Keep a food journal (maybe not for the whole year, but to get me on track for better

weight loss)

~Eliminate all sweets/most refined sugar for the month of January, and severely cut

back on sugar after that

Mothering/Child Training

~Spend one-on-one time with each child daily

~Include them in my work: cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc.

~Teach Sam to follow simple recipes

~Consistent training and discipline

~Listen to them!!

~Love them!!!

~Play with them and read to them

Reading

~Read at least 2 books per month for a total of 24 books this year

~Continue to review books for my blog

Friendships/Encouragement/Hospitality

~Write encouraging notes to friends via email or regular mail

~Open our home to others at least once a month

~Go to moms' group once a month

Creativity/DIY

~Tackle one DIY and one sewing project per month

~Use Pinterest for inspiration :)

Marriage Goals:

Read through one or two marriage devotionals together
Monthly date nights
Go on an overnight or weekend getaway sometime this year

Homemaking Goals:

Develop routines!

~Work on one habit per month

~Follow Flylady or similar system for motivation and inspiration

~Deep clean the house--1 room per month

Decluttering

~15 minutes/day in Flylady zones, 5 days/week

Chores for kids

~Find a chore system and USE it :)

Financial Goals:

Budgeting

~Develop a workable budget and stick to it

~Update PearBudget weekly (save receipts!)

~Have monthly budget meetings with Jim (if he wants to)

~Take the cash-only grocery challenge (maybe!)

~Look into switching cell phone plans

Giving

~Continue to tithe 10% of our income

~Support a missionary or mission organization/Christian charity monthly

~Start a benevolence fund for special offerings at church or to give to specific needs

that we hear about

Emergency fund/savings account

~Put $200/month into savings (more, if possible)

Saving

~Start saving toward a new vehicle

~Save for vacation and a getaway

~Save monthly for insurance and taxes

~Save for Christmas and other gifts

~Save for next year's school curriculum

Homeschooling Goals:

Scheduling

~Plan a workable schedule and try to stick to it

~Finish this school year by middle to end of May, begin again in late August

~Complete 2nd grade with Sam, start 3rd grade

~Complete Kindergarten with Julia, start 1st grade

~Register both kids under our umbrella school for next year

Field trips

~Plan several fun field trips for the 2nd half of this year and 1st half of next

Incorporate more of a Charlotte Mason approach

~Read A Charlotte Mason Companion

~Read Educating the Wholehearted Child

Family Goals

Reading

~Read through the "Little House" series

~Read through the "Imagination Station" series

Family Fun

~Weekly game night or movie night

~Outdoor fun--sledding, skating, hiking, walking, etc.

~Occasional treats at McD's, bowling, mini-golf, etc.

Adventures

~Plan one or two overnight camping trips

~Vacation to Ohio

~Hike to Cherry Pond, climb a mountain, drive up Mt. Washington, etc.

~Trip to Story Land--if possible :)

~Other spontaneous adventures

~Make everyday life an adventure!

Whew! Well, there you have it--my list of goals. Maybe it's a bit on the ambitious side. But if I aim at nothing, I'll hit it every time. If I aim at a lot of somethings, maybe, just maybe, I'll hit a few of them. :) Jim and I are also working on a list of goals for house projects. We really need to schedule these into our plans for this year, since he is now working full-time and doesn't have as much time to devote to the house. My goal is to pick one room each month and finish all the trim, etc. We might have to wait till summer (when we can have the windows open) to do urethane, but just to get a lot of the trim up would be AWESOME. There is really not that much left to do, if we just buckle down and do it. :) I'll try to share that list here, too, whenever we get it figured out.

So, here's to a year of accomplishing some goals, one step at a time!

Disclosure: the Amazon links in this post are my affiliate links. :)

Book Review: The Accidental Bride, by Denise Hunter

2012-01-04T21:19:00.007-05:00

I recently finished The Accidental Bride, by Denise Hunter. Here's a brief synopsis and my review:

Shay Brandenberger is a single mom trying hard to make ends meet so she and her 12 year old daughter, Olivia, won't lose their ranch. In spite of all her hard work, bills are piling up and the bank is threatening to foreclose. When Shay agrees to play the part of a bride in her town's Founders Day reenactment, she has no idea that this will be a day that changes her life . . . until she realizes the man playing the part of the groom is her old flame, Travis McCoy, who left her at the altar years before. Travis and Shay didn't exactly part on the best of terms all those years ago, so she isn't thrilled to see him, to say the least. And when it turns out that the marriage reenactment ceremony actually was a real, legal wedding (thanks to an absentminded preacher who filed their wedding license from years before), Shay is definitely not happy. Travis, on the other hand, has been hoping for a second chance to win Shay's heart, and he sees this as the perfect opportunity to not only win her, but also to help her keep her home. Shay finally agrees, since Travis promises he will leave in six months if things don't work out between them. What follows is the entertaining story of the ups and downs they experience as Travis tries to win back the woman he loves.

This book was just "okay," in my opinion. Like I said, it was entertaining. It was a fairly light read, heavy on the romance (in places) and pretty light on the spiritual aspect. There were some spiritual principles woven in, especially toward the end, as Shay learns to only be concerned about what God thinks of her, after spending her whole life to that point worrying about what everyone in town thinks of her. I do enjoy western settings, and this story was set in Montana, which was fun . . . and the characters were likable (although I kept getting frustrated with Shay's tendency to assume the worst about Travis instead of talking to him). It was also neat to see the father/daughter relationship that developed between Travis and Olivia. There was quite a bit of physical attraction and some marital intimacy mentioned in this book, which was unnecessary, in my opinion--and so I would not recommend it wholeheartedly, and not at all for young girls. I give The Accidental Bride 3 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through theBookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Music recommendations for a new year

2012-01-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! I am still working on a post with my goals for this year--hopefully I'll get that up by at least the end of this week--but in the meantime I was thinking about music and wanted to share a few recommendations. I've finally started up exercising again and I like to listen to music to help the time pass faster. Obviously everyone has their own preferences/standards for music--some like more bouncy tunes for exercising (and sometimes I do, too), but this week I've been listening to sacred selections to help focus my mind on Christ. These are some of my current favorites on my iPod:

"So High the Price" by the Pettit Evangelistic Team

I received this from my brother-in-law for Christmas a few years back, and it is one of my all-time favorites! Well, I like anything by the Pettits, but this CD is probably my favorite one by them. It focuses on Jesus' sacrifice for us.

"Consider Him" by the Galkin Evangelistic Team

I don't actually own this whole CD yet. I've been downloading a song or two at a time from Amazon when I can get free MP3 credits. So far I have 8 songs and they are all beautiful. A few favorites: "Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer, " "Consider Him," "Crown of Life," "Sweet Rivers of Mercy," "He Looked Beyond My Fault." These songs contain a theme of God's grace for salvation and the Christian journey.

Recently my sister told me about this site, Watchsong, where you can download several free songs all written by one man. I've downloaded two so far and have really enjoyed them: "Chosen As His Children," and "Stewards of His Grace."

And for Christmas, Joanna gave me something I'd really been wanting--this little hymnal called "Hymns: Modern and Ancient." It includes many of the songs from the CDs listed above, as well as many more that I wasn't familiar with. I've been having fun playing through them!

And one more CD to recommend, this time a children's one:

"A New Commandment" by the Harrow family

This came with our Sonlight curriculum this year, and it took me a long time to actually try it because I didn't expect to like it. Most Christian children's CDs (except for Patch the Pirate ;)) have too much beat for my taste (yes, I am picky). I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got around to listening to this. The songs are all Scripture verses set to music, and the music is really pretty! A lot of it has a bit of a Hebrew sound/feel to it. Best of all, the kids love this CD too, and have learned a lot of Scripture from listening to it! I look forward to getting more of the Harrow family CDs in the future.

As with everything, my musical tastes may not be the same as mine, so I'd definitely suggest that you listen to samples from any of the CDs listed before buying them. :) Just wanted to share some music that has been blessing my heart lately!

Book Review (and a Giveaway!) : The Money Saving Mom's Budget

2012-01-02T14:59:00.006-05:00

Most of you know that I am a big fan of saving money and trying to live frugally, and you also probably know that one of my favorite blogs is Money Saving Mom. I've been following Crystal's blog since she started it, and I love not only her money-saving advice, but especially how "real" she is. So I was very excited when I heard she was writing a book, and even more excited when I found out I would be able to receive a copy to review here!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451646208/?tag=lifeonabackro-20

The Money Saving Mom's Budget isn't a "get rich quick" book, nor was it just a repeat of her blog. I found it to be a fresh, encouraging look at how we as women can save money and plan a workable budget.

Throughout the book, Crystal sets forth 7 rules for financial success. It really hit home with me when she started off with Rule #1: "Set Big Goals and Break Them Down into Bite-Sized Pieces." Wow, yes! This rule applies to finances, and actually all of life. In fact, as I've been working on my goals for this year, I am applying the same principle of breaking them down. It's so true that when you look at the big picture (example: huge mounds of credit card debt, or maybe a large purchase such as a car), it can be overwhelming, but when you think about it in terms of bite-sized pieces (i.e. how much you can pay off or save per month, and ways to accomplish that), suddenly the big picture doesn't look quite so daunting. Crystal walks you through the goal-setting process in this first step. Some of the other rules for financial success include cutting the clutter in your life (*real* clutter--I love this, and so need this challenge!), setting up a budget, and how to use coupons effectively. There are others, but I don't want to give away all of them, just whet your appetite. :) The final rule is "Choose Contentment," which I also loved. Whether we have little or much, contentment is the key. Crystal writes, "Contentment is a state of the heart, unaffected by outward circumstances . . . You can choose to stop focusing on what you don't have and start being thankful for the many blessings you do have."

One of the things I liked most about The Money Saving Mom's Budget is how practical it is. Crystal is very down-to-earth, and writes about finances and frugal living in a way that is simple to understand. I have always found budgeting very difficult and we have made countless budgets, only to give up on them within a few months or less. But after reading this book, I actually feel as though I can make a budget and stick to it! She starts you off with just a simple food budget for the first month. The next month you add a bit more to it and make a "bare-bones budget," and then the third month you add even more to make a "full-fledged budget." Very doable!

I also really appreciated the encouraging tone of the book. It felt like I was getting kind advice from a friend, having someone to cheer me on through the sometimes-overwhelming maze of trying to figure out finances. Yes, Crystal is passionate about budgeting and saving money, because she's lived it--and still does--and knows how good financial freedom feels. But she doesn't come across in a preachy way, just an encouraging, "you can do this!" kind of way. And because the book was written by a young mom, someone who is in the same stage of life as me, I could really relate to it.

There is so much more I could write, but I don't want to make a book review into a book. :) Just a few other things I wanted to mention that you will find in this book:

~Tips on how to lower your living expenses

~Tips on how to use coupons effectively

~Tips on how to lower your grocery bill (with or without coupons)

~Personal testimonies from Money Saving Mom readers (something I felt really added to the book!!)

~Tips on how to save on dates, entertainment, and vacations

~Tips for having a successful garage sale

~A list of helpful resources (books, ebooks, websites, etc.)

~Worksheets for goal setting, budgeting, etc.

I'm sure you all can tell I am pretty excited about this book, and I hope I've inspired you all to get yourselves a copy. But if buying a book isn't in your budget right now, I have good news! The copy I received was an advance copy, but Crystal graciously offered to send me a final copy once my review was posted. And I will be giving THAT copy away to one of you, after I receive it! In order to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. No other hoops to jump through, just comment and make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win. :) This giveaway will be open till next Monday, January 9th, at midnight. The Money Saving Mom's Budget is scheduled to release next Tuesday, January 10th, so I should be able to get a copy to the winner fairly soon after the giveaway ends.

For those who don't win the book, I hope you might order a copy. One other thing I think is so neat is that Crystal is donating all the profits from the book to Compassion International. So if you buy it, not only do you get an excellent book, but you also help a wonderful organization to show the love of Jesus and bring physical aid to children in other countries.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Also, the links in this post are my Amazon affiliate links, just so you all know. :)

**EDIT: For those who are new to my blog, don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away! I have comment moderation enabled, so I have to publish them all individually. No need to comment a second time, I have all your comments--and will publish them when I have time. :) And if you're commenting anonymously, PLEASE make sure to leave an email address so I have a way to contact you if you win, otherwise I will have to pick a different winner. If you've already commented anonymously without leaving an address, please comment again. Thanks! :)

Thinking about goals

2011-12-29T22:32:00.034-05:00

It's almost a new year, and with a new year come thoughts of new goals. I'll admit that every year I set high goals . . . and I never achieve all of them . . . but it is fun to plan and aim high, anyway. :) One of the goals I did actually accomplish this year was my reading goal. I had hoped to read about 2 books per month. Well, I actually beat that and ended up with 29 (that I can remember) that I read this year! About 2/3 of them were fiction (yes, I love fiction :)), but 1/3 were non-fiction, and accomplishing that many non-fiction reads in a year is a pretty big thing for me.

Here is the list of what I read this year (this doesn't include read-alouds to the kids for school, etc.). If I counted those, I think my total would be over 50, at least. :) These are in no particular order (this year I hope to keep a more detailed record), and I'm too lazy to link to all of them on Amazon, but you can find reviews of some of these in my labels under "Book Reviews" or just look 'em up on Amazon yourself, if you see one that sounds interesting.

Spring for Susannah, by Catherine Richmond
Wonderland Creek, by Lynn Austin
Desiring God, by John Piper
Deadly Disclosures (Book 1, Dinah Harris mysteries), by Julie Cave
The Shadowed Mind (Book 2, Dinah Harris mysteries), by Julie Cave
Pieces of Light (Book 3, Dinah Harris mysteries), by Julie Cave
Calm My Anxious Heart, by Linda Dillow
Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider
Sidetracked Home Executives, by Peggy Jones and Pam Young
The Love & Respect Experience, by Emerson Eggerichs
Treasuring Emma, by Kathleen Fuller
What the Heart Sees, by Kathleen Fuller
Raising Real Men, by Hal & Melanie Young
The Thorn, by Beverly Lewis
The Judgment, by Beverly Lewis
To Win Her Heart, by Karen Witemeyer
The Final Crumpet, by Ron & Janet Benrey
Airs Above the Ground, by Mary Stewart
Footsteps in the Dark, by Georgette Heyer
Pistols for Two, by Georgette Heyer
What in the World is Going On?, by David Jeremiah
A Good & Perfect Gift, by Amy Julia Becker
Lilies in Moonlight, by Allison Pittman
Love Food & Live Well, by Chantel Hobbs
The Money Saving Mom's Budget, by Crystal Paine
The Seven Dials Mystery, by Agatha Christie
The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer
America By Heart, by Sarah Palin
The Accidental Bride, by Denise Hunter

As you can see, there's quite a bit of variety in that list! I'm really thankful for the opportunity to review books for various publishers, as that has really expanded my reading horizons. What a blessing to be able to get some neat books for free, just in exchange for a review! In fact, 13 of the books in my list were acquired in that way.

And now . . . I'd better head for bed, but I will be sharing more about my goals and my reading list for 2012, very soon!

Happy Birthday, Dear Jojo!!

2011-12-27T22:22:00.007-05:00

Today is my little sister's birthday. :) We are actually only 20 months apart and so we are practically the same age, but I still get to call her my little sister. I even got to talk to her for a few minutes tonight, and sang Happy Birthday over the phone--it's been many years since we've been able to be together on either of our birthdays, but thank goodness for telephones and computers which help us stay connected. :)

Joanna (aka "Jojo") is a very special blessing in my life, even though we live thousands of miles apart now. She is a Godly woman, a super mommy to her four little ones, and an encourager to me in so many ways. It is neat how God has guided each of us in our lives, and neat to see how much alike we still are, too . . . we are still interested in many of the same things, read the same books, like the same songs . . . Hopefully it won't be too many more months before we can be together for a visit. It's been nearly 2 years since we have seen Jo and her family, and we miss them! We still hope and pray we can go visit them our West before too long, as well.

So . . . to my dear little sis . . . Happy Birthday to you!! May you be richly blessed this year. :)

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours!

2011-12-25T06:23:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been a busy week and I never finished my countdown posts (no surprise there! :)) . . . but I think everything is pretty much ready now. Presents are wrapped, most of the brunch preparations are done, Christmas cards were sent earlier this week. I'm up early making cinnamon roll dough, and will probably go snuggle back into my warm bed in a little bit until the kids wake up or the bread machine cycle finishes, whichever comes first. Later, we will enjoy a nice late-morning brunch after we open some presents, and then this afternoon we have church. Tonight my parents will come over for supper and more presents. I'm looking forward to a special and beautiful day as we celebrate Jesus' birth! Hope that all of you have a lovely day too!! Merry Christmas!!

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 6

2011-12-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

{Started this on Saturday}:

Wow, only 1 week to go!!! Time is flying by! We had a good day today. The kids and I went to the library this morning, and they got to decorate a cookie, and Sam even got to help set up the Christmas tree! Then we came home and made more cookies--two kinds of spritz this time. I did most of the making/decorating, but I let them help with the sprinkles on some of them. Most of these are for our church fellowship tomorrow after the Christmas play, so I didn't want them to be sprinkled to death. :)

Jim got home later than usual, but he came home with some goodies--a gift basket with some yummy looking mixes, and some good tips! (Most of the goodies in the basket were from this place, and the basket was from this place--all New England made, how cool is that?!)

{Sam helped me make this pizza for supper--can you tell what shape the pepperonis are supposed to make?}

{Sunday}:

Today was our very first Christmas program at our new church! Jim, Sam and I each had a little part in the play, and Julia and Josiah got to sing "Away in a Manger" with some of the other little kids. The play went very well (praise the Lord!) and thankfully we had quite a few families visiting, which was nice since most of the church people were involved in the program. :) What a blessing it was to be able to share the true meaning of Christmas through the play and music!

{This picture is actually from last Sunday, but I thought it was so cute how Julia was concentrating so seriously on the chess game--no, she doesn't actually know how to play yet. :))

Also on Sunday, our newest little niece, Hannah Marie, was born!!! Big congratulations to her parents (Jim's brother and his wife) and her other 4 siblings! :)

And I finally got the pictures for the Christmas cards ordered! They should arrive on Tuesday and then hopefully I can get them all mailed by Wednesday. I'm running really late with them this year!

{Monday}:

Today was Jim's day off and we spent most of the day at home, doing school and working on various projects. Then this afternoon we went out to do some errands and did a little shopping in a group of shops we like to visit, which are decorated so beautifully each year. We also ate at McDonald's, which made the kiddos happy. :) Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera to take pictures of the kids in front of the waterfall, but that's OK--maybe next year. It was a special family evening! We used to go to the same place most every year at Christmastime when I was a kid, so it is neat to be able to do it again with my own family.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to wrap more presents, make a couple of little gifts, and get a package ready to mail to South Carolina soon. :) How are all your Christmas preparations going?

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 10

2011-12-15T13:15:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we wrapped a bunch of presents! It felt good to finally get a start on that, although we still have quite a few to do.

Today I am making chex mix. One of my fondest "food memories" of Christmases growing up was of my Great-Great-Aunt Bessie's chex mix that she gave out as gifts every year. My mom, sister and I would always go down the road to visit her in her little trailer and she would give us a tin of "mix." (That's what my sister and I always called it. :)) I always loved visiting her in her cozy little home. Interestingly, many years later Jim and I actually lived for several years in Bessie's old trailer . . . and while it was "cozy" for one elderly lady, it was a little bit tight for 2 people, and even tighter when we added Sam! Still, we were VERY thankful for a snug place to live while we were building our house. And I always thought it was kind of neat to live there, and cook in the same kitchen that Bessie did so many years ago.

Bessie has been gone for a long time, but I always think about her when I make chex mix! I pretty much use the basic recipe that you can find on the box, only I don't use rice chex or the bagel bits, and I add cheerios. I also just use peanuts instead of mixed nuts.

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 11

2011-12-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

{image courtesty of VintageHolidayCrafts.com}

**Note: this post was actually written on Saturday, but I didn't get around to adding the pictures till today. Oops! I decided to leave it as written, to save time. :)

I figured it would happen, and it did . . . I fell off the Christmas countdown bandwagon, as usual! It's not that we haven't been doing Christmasy stuff, because we have . . . but I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it. :) We've bought a few more presents, made paper snowflakes (which turned out so pretty!), read some Christmas books, and today we are doing our annual sugar cookie baking day! I think I got an early enough start on the cookie baking this year, that I might actually have time in the next couple weeks to make a few more varieties of cookies. :) And fudge! And anything else yummy that I come up with . . .

With regard to the paper snowflakes . . . it sounds funny, but I couldn't remember how in the world to make them, even though we made them all the time when I was a kid! So I turned to Pinterest for some help . . . and came up with this link, which has a handy downloadable template and a few patterns you can use for designs. From there, we branched out to making more snowflakes with construction paper (Sam's idea :)) and got creative with our cutting. Here are some of the ones we made:

Even though I haven't done so well keeping up with a Christmas countdown, you might like to check out my mom's blog, because she has been doing a stellar job posting some of her favorite Christmas recipes each day this month! And also, be sure to check out her Christmas blog, which has some great craft and gift ideas, links, and all kinds of fun Christmas stuff--and I must say I love how cute the whole blog design looks, too! :) Also, be sure to check out my friend Mrs. Smith's blog to see some pictures of her beautiful Christmas decorating!! I love how cozy and sparkly her home looks!

Here are some pictures from our cookie baking:

And you can see last year's post here, with links to some of our other Christmas cookie baking in past years!

Book Review: The Love & Respect Experience

2011-12-06T23:07:00.007-05:00

About a year ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to take a marriage class at our church, studying the book Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs. During the course of the class we learned SO much, from both the book and the corresponding DVDs. I can honestly say that class changed our marriage for the better. So when I saw that Emerson's new devotional for couples, The Love & Respect Experience, was one of my options to review for BookSneeze, I jumped at the chance! I was not disappointed. Although my hubby and I have yet to go through this devotional together (I read it through quickly myself first so I could post my review), I am looking forward to doing so in the near future.

The Love & Respect Experience is a 52-chapter devotional, geared toward both husbands and wives. There are several options for using this book--spouses can choose to work through it individually and then share what they are learning with one another, or couples can work their way through it together. Having 52 chapters makes it easy to focus on just one chapter per week, but obviously you can read one per day, or whatever works for you as a couple. Each chapter is short (just two or three pages), but they are packed with Godly counsel and cover many different topics relating to marriage. Each chapter begins with a verse, delves into the topic at hand, and then includes specific prayer points and action ideas at the end.

To be honest, I wondered how much this devotional would be "new" or different from the original Love and Respect book. I was pleasantly surprised! While the chapters obviously focus on the themes of love and respect in marriage, this devotional isn't at just a "replay" of former material. I found much to think on and much to challenge me as I read through these chapters. Since it has been nearly a year since I read Love and Respect, I appreciated the reminder of the principles set forth in that book, which were at the same time presented in a fresh way. I love how Emerson gives wise counsel interspersed with personal testimony and examples, and presents it all in such a practical, easy-to-understand way. I also wanted to mention how nice the quality of this book is. It has an imitation leather cover with the words imprinted on it, and just looks and feels really nice. I was expecting it to be a paperback book, so I was very surprised and impressed with the actual design.

The only little "nit-picky" thing I didn't like that much was the variety of Bible versions used for the verses at the beginning of each chapter. Although I'm not a die-hard KJV-only girl, it would have been less distracting (to me, anyway) if only one or two different versions were used for these verses, not a whole bunch of different ones, including paraphrases, of which I'm not a big fan. Obviously it's not a big deal to look up the verse yourself in your favorite Bible version, though, so as I said, this was just one little thing that I didn't care for that much.

I did really like the prayer points and action ideas--I thought these were a wonderful addition and very helpful. Sometimes it's so easy to read a passage of Scripture or a devotional book, and then forget what you read within a few hours. If you have something specific to pray about and work on for each week, that will really help you to put the principles you're studying into practice.

This devotional would make a wonderful gift for any couple--from newlyweds to those who have been married for many years. If you are a couple looking to grow closer to each other and the Lord, I would highly recommend The Love & Respect Experience! My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 23/22

2011-12-04T09:24:00.004-05:00

{image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com}

On Friday night we put up our Christmas tree! The kids were so excited. We listened to Christmas music and the kids did most of the decorating, which is one thing that's really nice about them getting older! Only one ornament got broken, thankfully. :)

Yesterday we didn't really do much toward getting ready for Christmas. We had a surprise power outage ("surprise" because there wasn't a storm that caused it) and the kids and I spent the day with my parents, meeting up with old friends at Cracker Barrel down in southern NH for lunch. That was really fun, as I hadn't seen these friends for several years and none of them had met Josiah yet.

Then we attempted to go to a local Christmas parade after Jim got off work, but ended up being too late. Oh well, maybe next year! :) We came home and added some more decorations to the tree and watched "Miracle on 34th Street" (the old one). It was a really nice day. :)

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 24

2011-12-01T15:47:00.004-05:00

{image courtesty of VintageHolidayCrafts.com}

Today we started our Advent calendar that my mom made for us several years ago. Every pocket has a little slip of paper with a Christmas activity or idea written on it.

Today's activity was to hang a Christmas wreath. This is an easy one because I have 2 fake wreaths that I made a few years ago, and we just pull them out and hang them up every year. :)

I never got around to hanging up my fall wreath this year, so it was just a matter of taking down the spring(!!) grapevine wreath and hanging up these instead. They aren't really fancy, but they add a little touch of holiday cheer. It's starting to look a little more Christmasy around here now. :)

Savoring the Season: Christmas Countdown, Day 25

2011-11-30T22:30:00.006-05:00

{image courtesy of VintageHolidayCrafts.com}

As we head into one of my favorite times of year, I wanted to try and count down to Christmas again on the blog, as I have some other years. I'll likely miss some days here and there, but hopefully I will get quite a few posts up about things we are doing to prepare for Christmas!

Last night, we started our Advent countdown with our Jesse tree. The kids and I headed out to the woods just as it was starting to get dusky and picked up some branches. When Jim got home, we had him choose the one he thought would work the best, and put it in a tall glass bottle filled with marbles. Tonight we added the first ornament. :) Once again this year, we are using Ann Voskamp's free Jesse tree devotional. It's beautifully written, and I enjoy using it even though it is a little "deep" for the kids--but we try to talk about the readings and bring it down to their level a bit more. They do love the tradition of taking turns hanging up the ornaments every night as we have our family Bible time together!

I hope to add pictures of our Jesse tree later, but am too tired tonight. Here is a post I wrote about it 2 years ago, though, where you can see some of the ornaments. I just realized I am going to need to make a few more ornaments to try to fill out our set, too! Eeeek! Well, I can always cheat and download some of the free ones this year if need be. :)

Do you do anything special to celebrate Advent as a family? You might also enjoy Crystal's post with links to some great free Advent printables, including the devotional I mentioned above.

On the mend :)

2011-11-20T13:59:00.003-05:00

We are finally starting to feel better around here. The little ones and I still aren't back to 100%, but Sam is feeling pretty good and never really got too sick, and so far Jim hasn't had more than a touch of the cold, so we are thankful. I actually went out to town for a little while today to get some things, and even though I got tired out, it was nice to get out in civilization again. :) It was also a little bit crazy to realize that now the stores are packed with Christmas stuff . . . and yes, I realize it's only a little over a month away, but I am not ready!!! Today I'm taking a little time to try to plan some gifts and also plan Thanksgiving dinner! I think we will have a light week of school to kind of ease us back into everything, since we'll be taking Thursday off anyway, and probably Friday too. We will probably read some Thanksgiving books and do a craft or two instead of our regular school reading. We'll jump back into that next week. It's funny to think that within a couple weeks, we will be pulling out the Jesse tree, Advent calendar, and all the Christmas things. I'm really excited, even though I have lots to do to prepare! :)

We got a new-t0-us loveseat this week, thanks to Jim's job, and it is so nice! It is even a sleeper, which our other couch was (which we also got for free), but it takes up less space and doesn't need a cover over it, plus it is just really spiffy, and I love it! It's not as comfy as our green couch, but it's not bad.

Today I am working on uploading pictures to Snapfish to create some photo gifts. And in order to upload photos, I first have to get the newest version of Adobe Flash Player. And do you have any idea how long it takes to do that with dial-up? Let's just say it's a long time. :) We're not even halfway there yet and I think I started downloading close to an hour ago. If I could, I would get myself high-speed internet for Christmas. :) Someday!!! There are lots of perks to living out in the boonies, but this is one of the downsides!

This week while I've been sick, I've had a lot of fun pinning new stuff to Pinterest. So many great ideas, not enough time to do them all! I could spend waaaaay too much time on Pinterest (and have, this week!). If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. :) I don't want to post my direct link here because my account has my full name attached, but if you know me in real life and want the link to my boards, email me and let me know. :)

I am thinking about doing a Christmas countdown again this year, as I have some other years. It might be a fun way to keep me on track with Christmas prep and also get me blogging more. :) I was thinking I could recycle a few posts from other years, as well as write some new ones. What do you think? Do you all enjoy reading those type of posts? Would anyone else like to join in?

Well, that is a little update on us! Hopefully I will be back later with some new pictures of our living room! :)

Book Review: Wonderland Creek

2011-11-17T13:55:00.004-05:00

Every now and then, I discover a book that is so good I don't want it to end. Wonderland Creek, by Lynn Austin, is one of these. I loved everything about this book, from the beautiful cover to the "Alice in Wonderland" references, to the ending of the story (even though, as I said, I didn't want it to end!).

Alice Grace Ripley is a bookworm (and therefore very easy for me to relate to). She has the perfect job as a librarian in her town of Blue Island, Illinois, and she even has a steady boyfriend, Gordon. All seems to be going beautifully in her little world, even though the rest of the country is in the midst of the Great Depression. Then suddenly Alice's perfect world falls apart. Gordon breaks up with her, after accusing her of living in a dream world of books rather than real life, and she loses her cherished job. At loose ends, Alice makes a spur of the moment decision to personally deliver several boxes of donated books to a small library in the backwoods town of Acorn, Kentucky. Almost from the moment she arrives, she is thrown headlong into a mystery that is crazier than any book she has ever read. Her intended weeklong visit stretches into months, as she is persuaded against her will to stay and care for Miss Lillie (a one hundred year old former slave), helps to solve the mystery of who tried to kill Mack (the librarian), assists the packhorse librarians delivering books to isolated families up in the hills, and even snoops around in a deserted coal mine (in the dark!) and comes face to face with a mountain lion.

This story was truly a delight from start to finish. I absolutely loved Alice, Mack, Miss Lillie, and all the other characters. Alice's aunt, although a very minor character, totally cracked me up. Two other characters, June Ann and Maggie, tugged at my heart with their emotional struggles and tragedies. Ike was just plain fun. I loved how easy it was to picture each one of the characters, not only how they would look, but especially their personalities. A friend recently recommended Lynn Austin to me as one of the best Christian authors she'd ever read, and after reading Wonderland Creek, I agree. It's been a while since I've read a historical Christian novel that was so well written and engaged me so thoroughly. I also appreciated that although there was some romance involved, it was tastefully done. Romance was a fun part of the book, but not the focal point. I really enjoyed watching Alice "grow up" through the book . . . changing from a dreamy, self-centered, somewhat spoiled young girl to a young woman who discovers the strength to do hard things, overcome obstacles, and serve others. By the end of the story, Alice still loves books as much as ever, but she has discovered that books can't compare to the joy and drama of real life.

Wonderland Creek is a book I'll be reading again and again, just for the fun of it. I highly recommend it, and can't wait to read more of Lynn Austin's work!

Disclaimer: I was given a free review copy of this book by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book Review: A Good and Perfect Gift

2011-11-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl Named Penny, by Amy Julia Becker. This book, told in first person by the author, is the story of her first daughter's birth and subsequent diagnosis of Down syndrome. Amy Julia shares the many fears she and her husband experienced, the way their expectations were changed, and the way God worked in their hearts and has blessed them exceedingly through Penny.

I wasn't extremely familiar with Down syndrome prior to reading this book, so I appreciated Amy Julia's explaining what Penny's diagnosis entailed, and the various medical testing, physical therapy, etc. that became a part of their life after Penny was born. The book also helped me realize even more how obsessed our society is with "perfection" and how we consider babies born with physical or mental needs to be undesirable, or less than "perfect," (although in reality, we are all less than perfect!). Although I definitely would have some theological differences with the author (she mentioned preaching a sermon), this didn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book. I thought she did a great job being candid about her struggles and joys, and the book as a whole was beautifully written. It opened my eyes to see that too many times, I have viewed those with "special needs" the way most of the world sees them--and yet each one is made in God's image and is a precious soul for whom Christ died. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am glad I had the opportunity to read it.

**Disclosure: I was given a free review copy of this book by Bethany House Publishers, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The sickies have hit :(

2011-11-14T10:49:00.006-05:00

Although I was hoping maybe Josiah was the only one who would get sick, Julia came down with the tummy bug on Saturday. In the meantime, Josiah's had gone from the tummy bug to a bad cough. Yesterday Sam started complaining of a headache, tummy ache and sore throat. :( So . . . suffice it to say we are taking it easy and I don't foresee much school in our future this week! I was able to make it to church by myself yesterday, but today I feel some cold symptoms coming on, which isn't surprising since Josiah has been sleeping either beside me or on me for 3 nights out of the past 4.

Last night as I was lying on the couch with his warm, snoring little self snuggled up on me, I was trying to count some blessings in the midst of my uncomfortable position and sleeplessness. Here are a few I came up with. :)

Thankful that I still have a child who is little enough to snuggle on me without it being too painful. :)
Thankful for a soft couch to snuggle on.
Thankful for homeschooling . . . I don't have to stress out about the kids missing school because it isn't a big deal to catch up later.
Thankful that overall, our family is extremely healthy.
Thankful for Vicks Vaporub and Hyland's nighttime cough medicine. :)
Thankful for Chestal cough medicine too. :)
Thankful for several new books to read while the kids watch movies but still want me nearby.
Thankful for an understanding husband when meals are sketchy and boring during a weekend of the sickies!

Hopefully soon we will all be on the mend. In the meantime, I'd appreciate prayers for health and strength as I try to care for and comfort my little ones!

This & That . . .

2011-11-11T13:23:00.033-05:00

I'm pretty sure I have at least half a dozen posts titled "This & That." :) Oh well . . . that's my life, I guess!

We've been having a few "different" days here, as Josiah came down with some kind of fever/tummy bug yesterday. I actually thought at first that he might have a UTI, because he said it hurt to go potty. So we took a quick trip to town to get some OJ and frozen blueberries, and I was trying to really push the fluids . . . only to find out later that apparently it was actually his tummy that was hurting. He was feverish through the night and threw up a couple of times . . . he ended up sleeping with us for the second half of the night, which meant less sleep for us, but that's OK. Today he's seemed totally fine and isn't feverish anymore, and is keeping down food and fluids. Strange. The other weird thing is that I didn't feel too well last night either, I felt like I was running a temp and had a headache for the second day in a row. Today I feel fine, just tired. Needless to say, we have skipped school for the past 2 days and the kids are watching a lot more movies than usual! We were supposed to go grocery shopping for my Grampa this morning since my parents are out of town, but I let him know I would have to do it tonight or tomorrow instead. He said he still has plenty of food, so not to worry. :)

Due to all the extra snuggle time with Josiah, I got a lot of personal reading done while the kids were watching movies. :) I just finished a really fun fiction book called Wonderland Creek (review to come soon!) . . . it was one of those that I was sad to finish because it was such a good story. I also received a preview copy of The Money Saving Mom's Budget to review for my blog, and I'm nearly halfway through that. I can't wait to share more about it with you all--review to come in Dec/Jan!

Earlier this week I finally tackled a project I'd been putting off for months (literally): cleaning out and organizing the kids' dressers. I'm embarrassed to say that Josiah (who is currently wearing size 3T) still had some 18-24 mo. size clothes in his drawers. No wonder they were so packed that I couldn't fit everything in!! Everything is much neater now, but I still have to take all of the outgrown clothes down to storage. Some of Julia's hand-me-downs are going to a friend, and I took a few things into the consignment store yesterday to earn some more store credit.

Now I need to tackle another project I've been putting off for a few weeks: making Julia a skirt for Patch club! I've had the fabric for at least 3 weeks, and I need to get it made by Sunday, so I'd better get started. :) It's just going to be a really simple jersey skirt with a yoga style waist, so shouldn't take long to whip up. Hopefully I will remember to post pictures once I finish that.

I took advantage of Timberdoodle's 11-11-11 sale today (hurry--it only goes till 4 pm if you're interested!) and bought a few things for school and/or Christmas. I am woefully behind on my Christmas shopping! I really need to sit down and make a master list ASAP. We have a few things for the kids and gifts for a few of our nephews & nieces, but we still have a lot of planning and buying to do.

Well, I will wrap this up for now so I can eat a late lunch and try to find my kitchen sink and counters under the dirty dishes. :) Then perhaps I can clear off the table and start sewing, and also make some of these yummy looking chocolate-bottom banana squares! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Input requested: Perfume recommendations

2011-11-09T21:52:00.007-05:00

This is a kind of different post, but it's something that I've been thinking about recently, so I thought I would throw a question out to all my lovely readers. :) I am not much of a perfume gal. I have one tiny little bottle of "Curve" perfume that Jim bought me ages and ages ago for Christmas, and I like it, but to be honest I rarely wear perfume at all. And by this time the perfume in the little bottle isn't smelling so nice anymore, anyway. Every now and then I will notice a friend or a lady in the store, or just a random stranger I pass who is wearing a subtle but beautiful fragrance. You know the type--not overpowering, just nice. But since I'm not really the type to ask a random stranger what perfume they are wearing, I am really clueless about what good brands/scents are out there! So, I thought I would see if any of you have a perfume you really love and would recommend. I just might have to add one to my Christmas list. :)

So please . . . share away in the comments!

Quotable kids

2011-11-09T21:25:00.006-05:00

A few recent funnies from the kids--of course I keep forgetting to write most of them down!

Sometimes I tell the kids "do (whatever) or your name will be Mud!"--this is something my dad used to say to us all the time and our kids think it is so funny when I use it on them. Anyway, I told Josiah to do something last night and said, "You don't want your name to be Mud, do you?" To which he replied, "Yes! Because I wike mud, 'cause I'm a pig!" :)

Today Julia was playing with a little toy, making it jump around here, there and everywhere. I heard her say, "And he was running, and hipping, and skopping, and jumping!!" Totally cracked me up, although she never even realized that she'd mixed up her words. :)

I just love them all so much . . . and they're growing up way too fast. Sigh . . .

Now THESE deals make me happy :)

2011-10-29T19:44:00.001-05:00

I just love our local children's consignment store. Every now and then I take in a bag of clothes and in exchange I earn 50% store credit for the clothes they accept. Then when the kids need something specific, I go in and look around, and usually I find something! Once in a while I run out of store credit and have to spend some money out of pocket, but either way, this is a great example of God's provision of an inexpensive way to clothe our kids.

Yesterday I went in there with the purpose of looking for some winter boots for Sam. At first I didn't see anything that looked like the right size, so I went looking through the clothes because he needed a white shirt for Patch Club. I was so excited to find a nice long sleeved button up shirt in his size, even Lands End brand! :) Then I looked at the clothes in Josiah's size, hoping to find him some new jammies. I was tickled to find a cute pair with monkeys on them--perfect because he is always saying, "I'm a monkey!"

I went to pay for the things and mentioned to the lady that I was looking for winter boots for Sam. She pointed out a pair of Bogs insulated mud boots that were just a size or two bigger than what he wears. They are expensive boots (around $60 on Amazon), rated to -30 degrees, and she had them priced at $20.25. Yes, that still sounds expensive for boots, but I had looked around at Walmart and Marshalls, and other stores, and the cheapest boots I found were $17, and after my store credit was applied to everything, all I ended up spending for these was $17.19. Yay! They are high quality boots and should hopefully last through all three kids, unlike cheapie boots. I felt like God put them there just for me.

So it was a happy thrift shopping day. :)

A little rant (or "Why I Will Never Buy Anything From Target.com Again")

2011-10-29T08:49:00.003-05:00

I don't usually use this blog as a place to rant or complain . . . and I'm not exactly complaining now. :) I just wanted to share my recent experience with ordering something from Target.com so that it can serve as a warning to you guys and a reminder to myself if I'm ever tempted with one of their "deals" again!

A few weeks ago, I saw an amazing deal on jeans from Target.com on one of the deal blogs that I read. After coupon codes and the buy one, get one free promotion, I could get 4 pairs of jeans for $19 with free shipping. What a fabulous deal! I figured I would give it a try, and if it turned out that the jeans didn't fit, I could always return them to the closest Target store (which happens to be an hour away--but we do go to the city once in a while, so not a big deal). Anyway, I placed the order, received a confirmation for my order of $19, and congratulated myself on scoring such a good deal. :) After all, it's not often you can get jeans for less than $5 a pair!

Well. You know how sometimes things are too good to be true? Yeah. That's what I found out. A few days later I received the shipping confirmation. Both that, and my account on their website showed a charge of $32.25 total, rather than $19. I was confused, thinking maybe it was an error. Then I checked my bank account, which was also showing an extra charge of $13.25 via Paypal (which is how I had chosen to pay when I placed my order). So, in addition to the original $19, which I had happily paid, now Target had dipped into my account for more money (WITHOUT my permission--and with no notification whatsoever, other than casually adding it onto my total on the shipping confirmation). At this point I wasn't too happy with Target. Isn't that illegal? If it isn't, it should be . . .

I decided to go back to the original deal blog post and see if anyone else had had this problem. Several other ladies mentioned that they had been overcharged and had to spend an hour or more on the phone, trying to get it straightened out with Target customer service. With reps in other countries who couldn't speak English very well. So I decided to email their customer service center instead, hoping that would be less hassle and that they could get the extra charge taken off. I finally heard back from someone, who was totally less than helpful and basically informed me that $32.25 was my order total and they hoped that helped. Um, no, it doesn't!

(And as a side note, yes, I realize that this was *only* an extra $13.25. And it still would have been a good deal for jeans. But it was the principle of the thing! Adding an extra charge after the order is placed, without authorization from the customer, is just not right! And some of the other ladies I read about had been overcharged way more than I had, which didn't make any sense either.)

At this point I decided to wait till I received my order to see if the jeans actually fit. I figured that if I had to end up taking them back, then I would just get all my money back at that point. If they did fit, I would continue to hound customer service either via email or phone and try to get the extra charge refunded. They arrived pretty quickly, I tried on a pair, and they were a bit too small. Okay, problem solved. I would take them back to the store for a full refund. We did this last night, and here is what happened:

Before we left, I made sure I had the packaging slip for the return, and I also printed out the shipping confirmation they had sent me, which showed the full charge of $32.25. Just in case there was any discrepancy. The young man working customer service at the store was very nice and helpful. The first 3 pairs of jeans scanned in with no problem, but then the 4th pair wouldn't scan at all. His computer/register thingy gave him a message to call some number about this problem, which he did. He finally got that 4th pair to scan, and he told me I would have to get my refund in the form of a gift card. This made no sense to me, so I asked why. I explained that I should be able to get my money back in the form of cash or put on my debit card, since I was returning the items within 90 days. He wasn't sure why the system was telling him this, but another rep was nearby and she asked whether I had paid with Paypal, which I then remembered doing. (It was Paypal, but transfers directly out of our bank account to our Paypal account.) She said that was why--that when you pay with Paypal, they only refund with a gift card. Hmmmm, okay. So that was fine, only a bit frustrating. At this point I wanted to be done with Target forever and not buy anything else from them! Also, the system wouldn't let him refund our whole amount (it insisted that they only owed us $31.25 instead of $32.25--so I lost a dollar). He believed us because we showed him our shipping confirmation, but there was nothing he could do about it . . . so he gave us the number for Target.com customer service in case we wanted to try to get it back that way. The person he was talking to on the phone said she "didn't have much information about our transaction." Huh? Isn't that convenient. I'm not sure it is worth it to try to call and possibly waste an hour or more trying to talk to someone in another country just to get back a dollar. But I can tell you one thing: I've learned my lesson and I won't be ordering anything from Target.com again. It's not worth the hassle!

I don't know about you, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when big corporations have lousy customer service (and I'm not referring to the store rep--because he was as helpful as he could be, and the whole thing wasn't his fault), and especially when they dip into my account without my authorization. I've had much more positive experiences at Walmart, Kohl's, and other stores . . . so I will continue to shop at those kinds of stores, but Target won't be getting much of my business from now on! (Well, not that they ever did . . . :))

Sorry this post got so long and rambling, but I just wanted to share my experience so that if you're ever tempted with a Target.com deal . . . you might want to think twice about it! :)

October roses

2011-10-26T22:14:00.002-05:00

My roses decided to surprise me with some late blooming again this year, although I think this is later than ever before--last year's latest blooms were in late September/early October, if I remember right.

I'll have to cut them all down tomorrow since we are due for some very cold temps (20s!) tomorrow night, and possible snow, so we'll see if they can continue to give us a little beauty inside the house for a few more days.

And hopefully these beauties will winter well and give us some more loveliness next spring. :)

Book Review: Raising Real Men

2011-10-26T08:26:00.004-05:00

Recently, I was accepted into the Timberdoodle blogger review program. Timberdoodle is a company that sells homeschool curriculum and other educational products, so as you can imagine, I am thrilled to have the privilege of doing some reviews for them! Every time I receive one of their catalogs, there is so much cool stuff to drool over. :) (In fact, if you've never heard of Timberdoodle, be sure to click on this link and sign up for a free catalog!)

My first product to review was a book called Raising Real Men. I was super excited to read this book, because just the title alone is great--and Jim and I truly desire to raise our sons to be "real men." So the title drew my interest right away, and I also loved the subtitle: "Surviving, Teaching, and Appreciating Boys." The authors, Hal and Melanie Young, are themselves the parents of six boys (and two girls) so they have just a *bit* of experience in raising sons. :)

Raising Real Men is divided into two main sections. Part 1 is called "Virtues in the Rough," and it is "a look at some of the masculine characteristics or tendencies which are present in all of our sons. These are meant to ripen into the manly virtues of the adult male when they've been properly understood, disciplined, cultivated, and practiced." (p. 27) Some of these virtues include the adventurous spirit, tendency toward competitiveness, and aggression. The chapters in this section cover things such as the need for boys to have heroes to look up to (the right kind of heroes!), developing courage and boys' natural love for adventure, teaching responsibility and developing independence, discipline and teaching obedience in order to develop servant leaders, and much more. There was so much practical advice in this section and I found it to be really encouraging and helpful. There is even a chapter called "Taking Up Arms," discussing toy guns and other "violent" toys, and how we as parents can encourage our boys to be the good guys and defenders against imaginary enemies in their play. One day they may be called to join the military, where they will be defending freedom for real!

{our own little "real men" in the making}

Part 2 of the book is called "Civilization for the Tough," and focuses on how to "teach our sons the things they will need to interact in society, to lead their families, to serve God" (p. 126). As the authors say, "In the first part of this book, we talked a lot about the things boys do naturally that drive us crazy . . . unless and until they are molded and shaped into the manly virtues. Now we are going to talk about the things we want boys to do that drive them crazy . . . unless and until we help them see the purposes, the goals, and the principles involved." (p. 127) The chapters in this section address topics such as spiritual training, teaching stewardship and money management, homeschooling, serving others, preparing for college, future marriage, and beyond.

I enjoyed this book wholeheartedly, and found so much practical advice on raising boys. I especially loved the chapter on homeschooling, and found several tips that I've already put into use just in the past couple weeks! It was really encouraging to realize once again that my seven year old boy is completely normal. :) I also really liked the authors' style. This book was really fun to read, due to their down-to-earth writing and all the humor they used to illustrate their points. The final chapter, "Firing the Arrow," was very challenging and a great end to this book. Here's a quote that I underlined: "This is why we work to raise real men. There is a time to protect our sons and a time for them to start protecting others. There is a time to teach and disciple and control the influences our sons face, then there is a time for them to instruct others and to meet those influences and conquer them." (p. 230)

Raising Real Men is an all-around excellent book, and one I will be referring back to over and over. I highly recommend it for all parents of boys! Thanks to the Youngs for writing it, and to Timberdoodle for the opportunity to review it!

Legal Disclosure:
As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of Raising Real Men in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Quotable Julia

2011-10-14T08:57:00.002-05:00

Once in a while the kids will pop out with things that are so funny I just have to share them, and this is a good place to do it. :) More often than not, I forget to write them down anywhere, so I know I have missed a lot of them, but here is one from yesterday.

Julia was trying to boss me around (something we've been working on lately!), and I gently but firmly reminded her that she isn't my boss and that she needs to ask me nicely when she wants something. She promptly replied, "I'm just practicing for when I'm a grownup!"

Yes, it was very hard to keep a straight face! But I did inform her that she can wait until she's a grownup to "practice." :)

Finally, a completed project!!!!!!

2011-10-11T15:53:00.000-05:00

So . . . I'm sure you might remember way back last winter when I posted this idea for a little bench re-do for the kids' room. And then this summer when I posted about it again, having actually started on it? And then I didn't post anything for a long time, simply because after I got the painting and urethaning done, I put the project on the back burner again, having limited time to do the cushion and pillows. Well, I am pleased to announce that FINALLY, I buckled down and got to sewing, and now I can cross this project off my list. :) As of last Monday, it is done, done, done! And I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! Here are some shots:

This cushion involved first making my own piping. I got the tutorial for how to do that here (it wasn't hard, just took a little while). And I got the bench cushion tutorial here. It's definitely not perfect, but I'm fine with that.

As for the pillows . . . I scored these cream-colored throw pillows at a yard sale back in September for a dollar each. Yippee!! I then embellished them with leftover fabric. It was a bit different than my original plan, but I actually like it better.

And here's the lowdown on the cost of this project, just because it's fun to keep track of stuff like that. Mind you, this isn't exact, but a rough-ish guesstimate of how much I spent.

Bench: free (old toybox that my Grampa made years and years ago)

Paint: leftovers from other projects

Urethane: no idea, but I didn't use much :)

Fabric: gift from my mom several years ago

Rope (for the piping): maybe a couple dollars for the amount I used?

White fabric for piping: in my stash, bought on clearance at Walmart last year

Red bandana fabric: also in my stash, leftover scraps from another project

Foam for cushion: a little over $7

Batting to cover foam: in my stash, no idea how much it originally cost

Pillows: $2

Total: around $10-12, give or take a little. Not bad, if I do say so myself! :)

I'll admit that I don't know how much this little nook is actually going to get used for its intended purpose. But it does dress up that end of the room, and the kids seem to have fun playing with and on the pillows & cushion, so it's all good. :)

Blog launch and giveaway at Grace Full Mama!

2011-10-03T13:01:00.003-05:00

For the last few years I have enjoyed reading a blog called The Stay-at-Home Missionary, written by Joy, the wife of a missionary pilot in Indonesia. Earlier this year she stopped blogging for a while, so I was really excited when she recently announced her new blog, Grace Full Mama! Her official blog launch is today, and she has a really great giveaway going on too! And she will be having some more giveaways this week as well. Today's giveaway is only open till 11 pm EST tonight, so hurry over to Grace Full Mama and check it out! :)

Sadness . . .

2011-10-03T12:49:00.002-05:00

Today, both of our ducks are missing. :( Jemima had been missing since yesterday and now Puddleduck is gone too. We have no idea what happened--we're assuming something caught them, but we haven't seen any evidence of an attack, so we just don't know. Maybe sometime they'll just show up on the pond again like nothing had happened . . . but we're not counting on it. We haven't seen them anywhere around. Jim followed the stream waaaay up in the woods this morning but they were nowhere to be found. So, we are a little sad today. Actually, I think Jim and I are sadder than the kids! Josiah doesn't even realize they're gone; Julia was pretty matter-of-fact about it, and Sam was a little sad, but not to the point of tears. Probably it helps that we just don't know for sure what happened.

We had had them for just over a year, and they were more like pets than the chickens are. I hope sometime we can get some more duckies, but we'll have to see . . . we would probably wait until next spring anyway. We will sure miss them if they are indeed gone for good! But, I'm thankful for all the fun they brought into our lives in the past year. I think it will be hard to find another duck with as much personality as Puddleduck had!

Ladies Retreat 2011

2011-09-27T20:09:00.008-05:00

So, I planned to post about this last week, but of course time got away from me as usual. :) Anyway, here is a mostly picture-heavy post about the retreat I went to at the Wilds of New England. As most of you know, this was my second year to go to this. I had a wonderful time last year and was so excited to go again this year! And thankfully, this time I didn't come back to an injured child. :)

I went with my mom and several other ladies from her church. I have known all of these ladies for years, so it was fun to spend time with them for the weekend! There were 8 of us in Cabin 6--which just so happened to be the closest cabin to the bathhouse. Score!Well . . . it was good in a lot of ways, not so much in others. Try sleeping in a freezing cold cabin (yes, there was a frost that night) with the sound of "crunch, crunch, crunch"--footsteps going by all night long on the gravel path as ladies made their way to and from the bathhouse. :) And of course we won't even mention the "other sounds" that emanated from inside the cabin . . . That's OK, though--we didn't go there to sleep anyway, right? ;) Honestly, I don't think anyone ever sleeps well on a hard bunk at camp, but it is all worth it.

When we arrived, we got registered and then had some time to just hang out for a while before supper. So of course we got everything settled in our cabin first, and took some pictures, just for fun. Here I am with my very fun Aunt Betty!

This year I had actually made sure that the batteries for my little old camera were freshly charged, so I was able to take a lot of pictures--in comparison to last year when I ended up with maybe 5 or 6 before the camera died.

We spent some time in the coffee shop, Cool Beans, where I enjoyed a large hot chocolate. This is my big "indulgence" every year, which is by way of becoming a tradition. :) (I'm not a coffee drinker, but hot chocolate with whipped cream? Yes, please!!)

Pretty soon it was time for supper. The bell rang and everyone assembled to go into the dining hall, which is this building. The chapel is connected to it, the other building jutting out at the far right of the picture.
Inside, the tables were decorated so beautifully for fall!!
As were the windowsills . . .

After supper, we had about 15 minutes before it was time for the first session. The speaker for the retreat was Mrs. Mardi Collier from the Wilds of NC. I had never heard her before, but wow--what a blessing she was!! Mrs. Collier is a lady who obviously has a vibrant, personal walk with God. She has written a wonderful little book called What Do I Know About My God?, which explains the system she developed for herself to get to know God through His Word. (I bought the book while I was there and am excited to go through it soon.) Her theme for the retreat was "100% words" in Scripture--she challenged us to look for words such as "all, always, forever, will, shall," etc. as we study our Bibles. This was something I hadn't really thought about before but now I am constantly noticing 100% words, thanks to this retreat! I came away with a renewed desire to dig into God's Word, and I am so thankful. It was just what I needed!!

Here is a picture of the chapel from the inside--during one of the times between sessions when there was nobody in there, obviously. :)
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the funtimes! We were hilariously entertained by Rand Hummel and Josh Prather before some of the sessions. Also, Rand's kids were visiting for the weekend, so his son & daughter got in on the funtime before the final session, too. Here is a picture from that (sorry it's so dark and far-away)--they were singing "She Don't Know It's Fido." One of the things I love most about the Wilds is that everyone is passionate about God, while at the same time they totally love to laugh and have a good time.

I should also mention that the singing was amazing--such a blessing to praise the Lord with other Christian ladies!!

The next day consisted of more time spent in Cool Beans, breakfast, a morning session, God & I time (devotions), another session, and then lunch. After lunch we had several hours of free time. Mom and I hung out for a while--she treated me to a "Green Monstah" in the Sweet Shoppe!! :)

(I think you might have to be from New England to understand about the Green Monstah. They also had a Nor'eastah on the menu.) Here is a picture of me with my ice cream. Notice the little monstah face on the cup?!
(By the way--this was basically a Blizzard, consisting of mint ice cream with Oreos mixed in. YUM.) And here are a couple more pictures from inside the Sweet Shoppe. Those hard-working girls were everywhere that weekend--waitressing, working the coffee shop and scooping ice cream, even cleaning the bathrooms. And they're all volunteers!

We also went in the bookstore during free time. I bought a couple books, and then had fun taking pictures. I love how they have restored this old New England farmhouse into a beautiful store and office. There is even a lovely sitting area complete with fireplace there!
I loved this framed quote, which pretty much sums up what the Wilds is all about. And more than that, what WE should be all about, too! I want to get one of these for our house sometime; such a good reminder for our family.
Around 2:30 pm, some of us went for a hike around the "Perimeter Trail." I did this last year too, and it is a nice walk through the woods all around the campsite. It felt good to walk off some of that Green Monstah. :) We got to go in the "mystery mansion," same as last year (this is a neat old house set off by itself on the property--they haven't restored it and it's not really used for anything except occasionally for some mystery games at camp).

I was too busy walking to take many pictures on the hike, but I did think this sign was funny. :)
A view of the cross and the main part of camp, spread out below. Such a pretty place!
After hiking, I went on the last hayride of the day with a few friends.
Then it was time for the final session of the day, and last of all supper. (And yes, they fed us GOOD food all weekend long . . . it's not like camp food or college food!) Then we packed up the car and headed for home. I had to take one last picture of the fall decorations by the flagpole.
It was a truly wonderful weekend . . . have I maybe inspired more of you New Englanders to join me at next year's retreat? :) Hope you enjoyed this peek into my weekend away!

Fruit of the Spirit Bible study

2011-09-18T17:24:00.004-05:00

I am back from my retreat weekend and I promise a post all about that will be coming soon! But in the meantime, I wanted to share this free Bible study on the fruit of the Spirit which I came across last week at Inspired to Action. I am really excited about this, as I had been wanting something new to study after finishing Desiring God, but wasn't sure what to start next. Anyway, I began this study at the end of last week and I think it is going to be a big blessing! I shared about it with a couple of friends, and then I realized I should mention it here too, in case anyone else was interested. :)

Then tonight I was browsing Pinterest, and happened across this free printable fruit of the Spirit artwork, which I thought was really pretty. I think I will print this out to frame it and put it somewhere in my home as a little reminder of the things I am trying to work on in my life!

Retreat time!!!

2011-09-16T10:30:00.003-05:00

Later today I am heading off for a ladies' retreat at the Wilds of New England. I went last year and had a wonderful time, so I'm really looking forward to this year!! And I'm praying that all the kids manage to avoid catastrophe and trips to the ER . . . :)

Also, I wanted to let you all know that a couple of my good friends have just started blogging!

Mrs. Smith and I have been "email friends" for more than 10 years now, although we have never met in person. We met "by chance" (but I know it was actually not by chance, but orchestrated by God!) in an Anne of Green Gables forum, and found we had a lot in common. It has been so neat to stay in touch over the years, and I'm thrilled that she is now blogging at Sweet Tea and Simplicity!!!
1HappyWife is a sweet friend from even further back--we went to high school together! We got back in touch when my mom saw her at a church event and told her about my blog. She and her family even got to visit us a couple summers ago, which was really cool! I was very excited when I found out she had started her own blog too--you can check it out at Our Little Corner.

I hope some of you will get a chance to visit both of these ladies over at their blogs and say hi!

And now . . . back to packing and getting things in order for Jim to be able to take over for the weekend! :)

Book Review: Desiring God, by John Piper

2011-09-15T07:58:00.014-05:00

Although I've been familiar with John Piper for a number of years, this was my first time to read one of his books. Desiring God was excellent, and gave me a lot to think about. It did take me quite a while to get through it, not because it was difficult to read, but because I wanted to take my time and try to absorb as much as possible. Even so, I think this is a book that I'll have to go back to again and again, so I can glean more!

Desiring God has the subtitle "Meditations of a Christian Hedonist," which does sound like a bit strange. In fact, some people may be turned off by the title (my husband was). Piper includes an appendix explaining exactly why he chose the unusual term "Christian hedonist," which was helpful to me. His main premise is that we, as Christians, bring most glory to God by delighting in Him; that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He then breaks this down into a number of chapters about how we can delight in God and glorify Him in different areas: conversion, worship, love, Scripture, prayer, money, marriage, missions, and suffering. I found all of these chapters to be challenging and convicting in different ways, but I particularly enjoyed the chapters on worship, Scripture, prayer, and suffering.

I think the thing I appreciated most about Desiring God was the way it was packed full of Scripture. Piper continually points the reader back to God's Word, and I was refreshed and challenged by the verses scattered throughout each chapter. He also quotes from many "heroes of the faith" (Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, George Mueller, Jim Elliot, and many others), and I loved reading their stories and "hearing" their words. The next time I go through this book, I will read it with a highlighter in hand so I can mark phrases and quotes that stand out to me. One that has stuck with me ever since reading the chapter on Scripture, for example, is Piper's statement that "if we intend to wield it, we must wear it. . . . If we do not carry it in our heads, we cannot savor it in our hearts or wield it in the Spirit. If you go without the kindling of Christian Hedonism, the fire of Christian happiness will be quenched before midmorning." Very thought-provoking and convicting words!

Desiring God is a book well worth having in the believer's library! This edition also includes a helpful study guide at the back. I haven't gone through that yet, but hope to at a later time.

Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

A school post

2011-09-13T20:15:00.014-05:00

We are in our third week of school now and things are going well. Just got to try to get us into a better schedule, but at least so far we aren't having a problem getting everything done each day. It's just not getting done quite as early as I would like!

I'll start with Julia. She is doing Sonlight Core P4/5, sort of. This means I am taking some of the books from P4/5, but not using the original SL schedule with them that I used with Sam. I'm using an alternate schedule that I found online, but have tweaked it quite a bit. Every week has a little theme and all the stories we read center around that theme. This week's theme is birds. It was neat how it worked out that yesterday we read about God sending the Israelites quail in the wilderness, and her handwriting page for the day just happened to be the letter "q" with a quail coloring page. :)

Handwriting is going a lot better for her this week! She did a review page today covering the first 6 letters she's learned, and I was amazed how well she did on them. I think she is starting to buckle down and really concentrate, and she is so pleased when she does a good job! We flew through the first 26 lessons in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, because she already knows her letters and sounds very well. Now she is starting to put short 2 and 3 syllable words together, and is doing great with that! For math she is in Singapore Earlybird A, and so far it's super easy. Just basic counting and learning to write numbers. She mostly really enjoys math!

Sam is doing Sonlight Core B (formerly SL Core 1--they switched the Core names this year, which has confused me a little bit :)). The theme for this core is "Intro to World History, Year 1. We got 2 big laminated wall maps which are going to be (and have already been) wonderful for helping the kids get a big picture of the world we live in. (The 2nd map is a US one, which is already on the wall, but this year we're focusing more on the world, due to our subject matter.) We have already been reading some great books, including Usborne's Peoples of the World, Missionary Stories with the Millers, From Akebu to Zapotec, and Charlotte's Web. This is actually our 2nd time through Charlotte's Web, and Sam is enjoying it just as much this time around. Such a wonderful book! I'm really excited about the lineup of read-alouds for this year, and I'll be sharing more about them as the year goes on.

For workbooks, Sam is doing Singapore Math again (this has worked well for us so far), First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind: Level 2, Writing With Ease (this is going SO much better for us this year than when we tried it last year--he was just not ready, but this year he is enjoying it for the most part!), A Reason for Handwriting B, and All About Spelling. So far he and I are both really enjoying this spelling curriculum, as it incorporates many different ways of learning and makes spelling fun!

I am going through the God's Design science curriculum from Answers in Genesis with both kids, and we are all enjoying it so far. We are working our way through the books about God's Design for Life, beginning with the book about plants. We have already done some fun, simple projects, such as making a cell model out of jello, and studying different types of grass.

We have also done a couple of projects out of Sam's science book from last year, because my little budding scientist can never have enough experiments to do! We made craft dough one day, and another day we made colored sugar water, which turned into crystals after letting it sit out for several days so the water could evaporate.

So that's a little peek into our school year so far. I hope to update at least once a month through the year so I can have a better record for myself, and also just in case anyone else is interested in hearing what we've been up to. :)

Busy days

2011-09-07T21:31:00.002-05:00

I'm up late, baking the last of a double batch of cookies, and it seemed like a good time to post something. :) Not that I have anything terribly interesting to post about right now . . . but that's OK. I have lots and lots of posts just waiting to be let out of my brain and onto the blog, but they will have to continue to wait, at least for now. Here are some random thoughts for tonight . . .

I didn't get any very great flooding pictures from Irene. We did get to see part of a nearby town that was underwater, but I most of the really good photo ops were already past. However, if you want to see some pictures of the devastation in Vermont, which was hit a lot harder than we were, head over to my friend Nikki's blog!
We started school last week and it is going well. I'm finding that Julia is a perfectionist and will cry at the drop of a hat if her letters aren't coming out right in handwriting. Maybe I should have used Handwriting Without Tears? We even had tears in math today because she had to practice writing numbers. One thing I will say for her, though, is that she isn't a quitter. Even when she is in tears and frustrated, and I give her the opportunity to take a break and do something else, she is determined to keep practicing. I am really thankful for this!
I hope to do a more detailed post soon about our school plans for this year, along with some pictures. :)
I just checked Amazon to track some items that we had ordered last week, and it looks like we will be getting 3 packages tomorrow. Our mail lady is going to love us. :) Good thing we have such a nice mail lady!
I am a confirmed book-a-holic. Wait, that's nothing new! But I have been working hard to read more this year than I have in a while. I have a review to write for a book I just finished, another book I just received to review, and a fiction book on the way to me (hmmm, wonder how long it'll take me to read that? It's a Christian suspense novel and I already read the first in the series, which was nearly impossible to put down). Plus, while we were on vacation last month, I managed to read 4 books in about a week. That's what free time will do for a gal! (Well, free time AND a long road trip!)
My children are turning into book-a-holics too. I love that. :) We have been reading lots for school, checking out library books, and working our way through the Gone-Away Lake books (which Sam absolutely loves).
It's my dad's birthday today. The kids sang to him over the phone, which was fun for them (and hopefully for him too :)). Happy Birthday, Dad!
My baby nephew has been home for almost 2 weeks now and is finally able to be off the feeding tube. Yay!! Praising God for little Micah's good progress.
My cookies are done. Time to make Jim's lunch and call it a night. Thanks for listening to my ramblings! :)

Yes, we are fine. :)

2011-08-29T13:39:00.005-05:00

Irene has come and gone and we made it through unscathed . . . well, aside from a good chunk of the dam on the duck pond washing out . . . but that's a really small thing compared to all the flooding and other storm damage that so many others have experienced. We never even lost power, amazingly enough! At one point yesterday our little stream (which has been mostly dry this summer) was rushing in a huge torrent and coursing through the pond, which overflowed the dam as it tumbled on its merry way. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of that, even though I wanted to. I didn't really want to get our camera wet, and that was when the rain was at its hardest.

We're hoping to go out for a drive in a little while and get some pictures of the high water around here, although most of it has receded a bit by now. There are several local rivers that flooded badly. The damage around here doesn't look as bad as what I've seen in some parts of VT, though. To my VT friends--hope you guys are OK!!

By the time the storm had abated last night, the kids were asking when the hurricane was going to come. They were actually a bit disappointed when we explained that it had already been and gone, and wasn't a hurricane anymore by the time it got to us! I think they were expecting it to be more like a tornado than just a big rainstorm.

Anyway . . . possibly I will be able to take some flood pictures later to share with you all, if we go out! The flooding around here has been the worst I've ever seen (not that I have this vast experience--but it is a lot for our area :)), and makes me thankful that Irene was "just" a tropical storm by the time she got here!

Cookin' up a storm

2011-08-26T14:42:00.002-05:00

Since Hurricane Irene is headed our way, and of course we don't know yet how bad it will be . . . we may lose power, etc. . . . I decided today would be a good baking day. Now we are well stocked with bread, banana bread, frozen Egg McMuffins, and (hopefully later) granola and maybe some chocolate cake. My kitchen looks like a hurricane already went through it. :) But I feel better knowing we have some food cooked up ahead of time. I might also get some canned soups that we can cook on the stove top if needed. And I need to start filling jugs and pitchers and anything else I can find, with water. Thankfully we are already well supplied with lamp oil, flashlights and batteries, and we have a generator. Since we're so prepared, probably that means the hurricane won't come anywhere near us. :) (Which would be OK with me.)

To all my friends on the East Coast--hope you weather the storm well. Stay safe!

Spicy Refrigerator Dill Pickles

2011-08-24T20:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I made a few pickles using this super delicious recipe that I found last year. They are seriously sooooo good (if you happen to like pickles, that is!). I don't have a pressure canner (yet!) but from reading the comments I see that this recipe works fine for canning too. If you try the recipe . . . definitely scan through some of the comments first. The biggest recommendation is to cut back on the sugar--I would recommend cutting it back to half the amount or even less than stated in the recipe. Unless you want your dills to be sweet. :)

Input requested: Kids' room bench/storage, part 2!!!

2011-08-23T14:03:00.004-05:00

OK everyone--here we go again! :) Remember waaaaay back last winter when I asked for your input regarding this kids' room bench that I was hoping to re-do? Well, I finally got around to starting this project over the past few days. I decided to go with a blue outside and a cream inside, after looking over your input both on the blog and Facebook and sort of combining the ideas. This was my base coat--plain ol' cream:

And this was how it looked when I had it all painted with 2 coats of cream and 2 coats of blue.
But I had in mind that I wanted to distress it (a la this post/instructions) and then cover it with a coat of poly to seal everything. So today I took the sander to it. And now I'm not so sure. I was going for the rustic/weathered look to go with their cowboy themed room (not to mention the fact that they will beat on it so it might as well look beat up to start with, right?). But the kids informed me, "Mommy, you're ruining it!" (Sam) and "I don't like it looking like that!" (Julia)
And I'm wondering if it looks less weathered and more like just a bad paint job?
I can always repaint it with another coat of blue to "fix" it, but I wanted to see what you all thought. Keep in mind that it's going to have a cushion on top and the bottom will be used for large toy storage so not a whole lot of the inside will be showing. Mostly what will be seen is the blue edges. I'm going to get hubby's input too, but I'm just curious to see what you all think!

Updated to add: I decided to take a couple pictures of my 2 cushion options to add to this post; that will help give a better idea of how it will look with a cushion on it, and also I am curious about which you think is the better fabric for the seat cushion? Whichever one isn't used for the cushion will be used for coordinating pillows to lean against the wall.

Fabric choice #1:

Fabric choice #2:

Yard sale treasures

2011-08-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Yard sales can be so much fun, but so far this summer we hadn't gone to any. That all changed on Saturday, when we went to five! We started out the day going to a couple as a family, but didn't find anything we wanted at either of them. Later, after Jim went to work, the kids and I headed out to a local town festival where there were a bunch of vendors, including a good sized yard sale. That was where I found my first treasures--three pairs of ice skates for the kiddos!! I was beyond thrilled. The kids have really been wanting skates, and I had especially been wanting some of the "double runner" type--for them to learn on--so imagine my delight at finding 2 pairs of those, plus a pair of hockey skates that will (hopefully) work for Sam after he learns on the double runners. The lady charged me a total of $10 for all three pairs--which was an amazing deal (we've looked for deals on used skates online and have never even come close to that!!).

After lunch, we headed out again to some more sales in a nearby town. I only had one good find, but it was a fun one: these vintage hardcover Madeline books, as well as a French-English workbook/coloring book, circa 1965, and in beautiful condition (not colored in at all!).

The inside cover of one of the Madeline books:

We also were able to get some other books for the kids at our local library book sale . . . so all in all it was a very good day for scoring deals! And now that I've found I can actually navigate yard sales with all three kids in tow, I might need to visit a few more before the summer's over. :)

Look who joined the family!

2011-08-17T21:09:00.003-05:00

Well, not OUR family exactly--but our extended family. :) This little guy surprised my sister and family by arriving about 5 weeks early, on Monday morning, while they were on vacation in Utah. The planned birth center birth turned into an unplanned hospital birth . . . but God is good, and baby was born healthy, just with some breathing difficulties due to being early. His name is Micah and he is doing well--and breathing on his own now!-- but still in the NICU for now. Please pray that he would grow stronger and be able to be released soon. Isn't he so precious? I shamelessly borrowed this picture from an email from my sis's father-in-law because I just wanted you all to see that adorable little face. :) I just want to kiss him and snuggle him, but alas . . . I probably won't get the opportunity until at least next summer, when he will be practically grown up! But that's OK . . . I will send virtual snuggles his way. :) Welcome to the world, baby Micah!!

Inspired to cook (finally!)

2011-08-17T16:41:00.007-05:00

Before we went to Ohio, I was totally in a cooking slump. I just plain didn't feel like cooking, and even though I had new recipes I was interested in trying, I kept making the same old things over and over. I think part of the problem was that I didn't feel like cooking anything in the heat wave we were having! But since coming home from vacation, I have been feeling inspired. Maybe it was partly due to not having to cook anything for a whole week, and partly because it's cooler here now, but anyway . . . our meals have been more interesting since we got home (mostly). :) On the menu yesterday were crockpot ribs, corn on the cob, garlic mashed potatoes, and sliced cucumbers. (Jim came home and wanted to know what he did to deserve that!) Tonight's supper was a variation on shepherd's pie, made from last night's leftovers, with angel biscuits on the side. Mmmmm. And a few nights ago I even tried making homemade wheat thins for the first time (which were a success, I might add)!

Anyway, all that to say that I'm thinking I need to set aside a week soon to share some of the recipes I've been trying lately, or just some of our favorites that I haven't posted on the blog before. I'm sure I'm probably not the only one who likes trying new things, so maybe someone else would benefit from some of them too. :)

Stargazing time

2011-08-12T14:55:00.003-05:00

It's one of my favorite times of the summer--the Perseids meteor shower will be at its peak tonight! If you live in a place where there aren't too many bright city lights to dim the sky, this is the perfect night to take a blanket out on the grass and watch the beautiful "natural fireworks" show in the heavens. This has become a favorite annual date night activity for us and I'm glad tonight is supposed to be mostly clear!

Late summer roses

2011-08-10T21:16:00.003-05:00

After waking up rather late on Monday morning following a full day of traveling home, I was thrilled to discover that my Queen Elizabeth roses had waited for me (I was afraid they would bloom while we were away). There were buds on this bush earlier this summer, but either the chickens or chipmunks ate them all. :( Thankfully they have left the bush alone this time, and there are 5 buds. This was the first:

As of today, the same blossom was open this much, and more buds are starting to open.
Gorgeous at every stage!

Book Review: Treasuring Emma, by Kathleen Fuller

2011-08-09T12:02:00.003-05:00

Treasuring Emma was my first full-length novel by Kathleen Fuller, and it was a fun, easy read. So far the Amish stories I've read by Fuller don't delve as deeply into the Amish beliefs and practice as some other well-known authors of this genre, but they are still pretty good stories.

A quick synopsis: Emma is a young Amishwoman who has just lost her mother to cancer. Her father is also dead, and she lives with her aging grandmother. Emma is discouraged and somewhat bitter about the way her life has gone; besides losing her parents, she also lost the only man she ever loved, Adam, to the "English" world. When Adam suddenly reappears in her life, she guards her heart--after all, he made it clear years before that he felt nothing for her but friendship. Treasuring Emma a story of forgiveness and second chances as Adam sets out to earn Emma's trust and win her heart.

There was also a subplot in this book, involving Emma's sister and her personal struggles, and a "villain"--Mark King--who comes along, trying to make more trouble in Emma's family. I found that part of the story a little confusing, as it was unclear to me exactly what Mark was up to, and what he'd done in the past in trying to con other Amish families.

While I did enjoy this book, it's probably not one I'd pick up to read a second time. Another thing I'd like to note: back when I read Fuller's What the Heart Sees, there was a small excerpt from Treasuring Emma at the end. That excerpt did not appear anywhere in the actual book, and it seemed like the author must have changed the story from what she originally intended. It seemed kind of odd, but maybe this happens more than I realize.

Ohio

2011-07-31T12:30:00.002-05:00

Well, we are currently in Ohio visiting Jim's family! Sorry my blogging has been so sporadic lately. We arrived yesterday and will be here for a week--it's HOT here (94 today), but we are enjoying the air-conditioned house. :) We're looking forward to a relaxing week with family, a few shopping and visiting trips, and just hanging out around the farm. The kids are having a great time with cousins, and of course I'm enjoying the chance to catch up with my sis-in-law and mom-in-law! And the guys have already had a good time shooting together. :)

I can't believe how fast the summer is going by. By the time we get home, it will be time to think about organizing all my school stuff for the year, then hopefully starting sometime around the end of August. I actually already started with the organizing, but I have to finish making a schedule for Julia's curriculum and figuring out how to spend one-on-one time working with both her and Sam. I am getting excited about the upcoming school year, but it's definitely going to be interesting as I go from teaching one to two!

I hope all of you are having a great weekend and hopefully I will catch up on more bloggy stuff soon!

How does my garden grow?

2011-07-24T20:51:00.003-05:00

Some of my bloggy friends and real life friends have been asking how our garden was doing, so I thought it was about time for a garden update! After several years of trying this square foot garden thing, we are FINALLY having some success. We're attributing this to two factors: we moved the garden to a better location, which likely helped a lot, and we also added a bunch of old chicken manure to the soil, which probably helped a LOT lot! :) Most of our plants this year have gone crazy. We did lose most of our lettuce and none of our peas ever came up (which is probably the fault of the raccoon which invaded our garden the day after we planted), but everything else is doing great. Waaaaay better than any other year. Here are some pictures:

Cucumber toward the back corner, zucchini on the right, mint in the front. My friend Mrs. D warned me that the mint would take over--and she was right!

Our tomatoes have taken off like crazy. They are at least 3 ft. tall, I think. (I started with plants from a greenhouse, having had no luck with my seedlings.) The regular tomatoes are heirlooms--Brandywines. This is a kinda weird/too close picture, but I wanted to show you how they're looking. We have lots of them coming along--so exciting!

We also put in a couple of grape tomato plants. They are doing great, as well!

Closer-up picture of the zucchini. There are a couple cute little zucchinis growing on there, with hopefully more to come!

Carrots in the front, cucumber behind them.

Lots and lots of green! Beans are on the lower left, tomatoes behind them. Potatoes in the middle (there is also some spinach and chard squished in between, but you can't see it--I didn't realize how crazily huge the potatoes and tomatoes would get. Next time I won't plant little things in between. :) Cukes, mint and zucchini on the right.

The potatoes were a total experiment. I had some from the grocery store that had sprouted in my drawer, so decided to cut them up and try planting. I couldn't believe how fast they grew! Yikes! It will be cool if we actually get a good potato harvest, since those are something we eat a lot of. Next year I might even try planting them in their own raised bed; I didn't know they would go out of control like that!

So that is a quick photo tour of our garden--I'll try to update again later in the summer when we start harvesting!

Better things ahead

2011-07-12T09:00:00.012-05:00

"Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind."

~C.S. Lewis

This quote has been going through my mind since I read this post by a young mom who is dying from cancer. May I encourage you all to go over to her blog and read it? You will be blessed and encouraged, and you will probably cry. I don't know Amy personally, but she is married to a cousin of one of my friends from high school and I came across her blog through my friend. Her faith through the "valley of the shadow" is an incredible example and a shining testimony of God's grace.

A baby chickadee

2011-07-09T08:00:00.007-05:00

The kids and I just had the treat of watching a fledgling chickadee on the ground near our swing set. We've been seeing chickadees flying in and out of one of the pipes that supports the swing set for the past month or so, and more recently have heard the babies chirping away in there. I guess they must have flown today, because there was just this little guy on the ground making all kinds of noise, and the parents singing to him from the trees.

I wanted so badly to hold him in my hand, but I knew it was better not to unless he seemed to be in trouble or abandoned (which he obviously wasn't). But at least I was able to get close enough for a picture. Chickadees are my favorite birds, so what fun to see a baby one. :) When I parted the grass for a closer look, he tipped his head back and opened his beak wide--so cute! I didn't get a picture of that, though.

When Jim got home, I had him look in the nest to see if any of the other babies were still in there. They weren't, so we assume that the little guy will be fine to leave on the ground; it's obvious that his parents are looking after him and feeding him, so hopefully he will be OK and safe from predators overnight. And hopefully he'll figure out soon that he really can fly. :)

My Favorite Things: The Jesus Storybook Bible

2011-07-08T11:55:00.000-05:00

**This post has been in the works for months, literally. I started it in February, but I kept forgetting to go back and add in the links and pictures. Julia's comment last night about Jesus rescuing us brought the post back to my mind, because the overarching theme of the Jesus Storybook Bible is that Jesus loved us so much, He came to rescue us--to get us back. I know this was another tool God used to bring about Julia's understanding of salvation. So here's the post--finally finished!

For quite some time, I've been seeing reviews on some of my favorite blogs for The Jesus Storybook Bible. We have had a hard time finding a Bible story book to use for family devotions that we really love (although we have some that we have used and liked quite well--which I will mention at the end of this post). Anyway, I'd had The Jesus Storybook Bible on our wish list for a while, and we were able to get it for the children for Christmas.

I have to admit that at first I was skeptical if I would really like this children's Bible, just because of the pictures. They are a rather unusual style, and just seemed kind of cartoonish to me. After getting used to them, though, I don't mind them--I guess they've kind of grown on me. :) I now tend to think of them as more whimsical than strange. And the kids really like them a lot . . . I think the artist did a good job drawing them in a childish way that appeals to kids. Anyway, regardless of the artwork, the stories were what I was most interested in, and this book did not disappoint. This is not a comprehensive children's Bible, but all of the stories in it do indeed "whisper His name." The author, Sally Lloyd-Jones, did a beautiful job weaving Jesus throughout the whole book, just as He is in the real Bible! The stories are easy for children to understand, beautifully written, and I have actually been brought to tears by some of them--they're that good. This book is a real treasure, as it shows God's heart for mankind--"His Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love."

We purchased the deluxe edition, which includes the entire book on three CDs, narrated by David Suchet. I would highly recommend, if you ever purchase this book, that you get this edition. Suchet (who happens to be one of my favorite actors/narrators--he also played Aslan in the Focus on the Family's Narnia, and is best known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot in the BBC series Poirot ) does a fabulous job telling these stories. Even without special sound effects, my kids love, love, love to listen to these. They have sometimes even requested them to listen to as they're going to sleep at night (they usually listen to music). They're just really good, and to me it's worth a few extra dollars to get the set with CDs, simply because of how excellent they are.

Besides this Bible story book, there are also several others that we enjoy and still use from time to time, as well. Here they are:

Family Time Bible in Pictures by Kenneth N. Taylor

Kenneth Taylor has written several good Bible story books, and this is one of our favorites. It came with Sam’s curriculum for Kindergarten, and we have used it often for Bible time. I really appreciate the beautiful illustrations and the stories which are very faithful to the Bible, while also being geared toward children.

Read-Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall

We have volumes 1 and 4 of this set. The kids LOVE them. They have very simple stories with large, colorful pictures. Every now and then we pull these out and read them for a week or two, for Bible time. The stories are easy enough that sometimes Sam even reads them aloud to us!

Egermeier’s Bible Story Book

This is the most in-depth and thorough children’s Bible that I have ever seen. The only problem I have with it (which isn’t really a problem :)) is that the stories are a little too deep and lengthy for very little children. We bought this about 3 years ago or so, tried it for Bible time, and it just didn’t hold the kids’ attention. This past year it was part of Sam’s school curriculum, and he is now at a good age for it. We will finish reading through it next year. Julia and Josiah will sit and listen to it occasionally, but Sam is definitely getting more out of it. If you’re looking for a well-written, accurate children’s Bible that covers more Bible history than most of the other Bible story books out there, I would highly recommend this one. The illustrations are also gorgeous (although there aren't enough of them, in the kids' opinion :)).

So, these are some of our favorite tools for teaching our little ones about Jesus. How about you guys? Any other Bible story/family devotions recommendations for me? :)

My daughter, my sister

2011-07-08T08:06:00.006-05:00

Last night as we were tucking the kids in bed, Julia said she wanted to ask me something. So I sat down on her bed and she said, "What does it mean to ask Jesus to be your Savior?" I was so excited, and explained in simple terms--then asked if she wanted to talk about it more out in the living room where we would be away from the distractions of the boys' chattering. She nodded, so we went out to snuggle on the couch. I was able to share some verses with her, asked her if she understood she was a sinner (she did), asked her what Jesus did for sinners ("He rescues us!" "He died on the cross for our sins!"), asked her if there was anything she could do to get to Heaven without Him (she understood there wasn't), and after a bit more explanation, I asked if she wanted to pray. She did, but wanted me to help her, so we prayed together and she trusted Jesus for salvation. It seemed that she truly understood and that God was working in her heart . . . and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to lead her to Christ!!!

So now not only is Julia my daughter, but also my sweet sister in Christ. What an incredible blessing! I pray that she will grow in grace and in the knowledge of Him. It is also neat that she shares her "spiritual birthday" with our good friend Mrs. R (who also happens to be Julia's Sunday school teacher). We already share several physical birthdays with people in their family; how special to be able to share a spiritual birthday also. :)

Book Review: To Win Her Heart, by Karen Witemeyer

2011-07-05T05:55:00.007-05:00

To Win Her Heart is the story of Levi Grant, a blacksmith with a rough past, who is looking for a fresh start in the small town of Spencer, Texas. He finds himself drawn to Eden Spencer, the daughter of the town's founder, who also happens to be the town librarian. Levi and Eden discover that they have a mutual love of books, so Levi begins spending his lunch hour in the library nearly every day. He and Eden form a sweet friendship, but as their feelings for one another grow, they face obstacles from the town's jealous sheriff, as well as Levi's own difficult past.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical western romance. Levi and Eden were both likable characters, and their personalities were well-developed. The fact that Levi struggled with a lisp and was always trying to find words to substitute for any word containing an "s" made him an even more human and endearing character. It was interesting to get a glimpse into the life and work of a blacksmith, too . . . and I could relate to both characters with my own love of books! I appreciated that this novel did have quite a bit of spiritual content--more than some of the other Christian fiction I've read. I also liked how both Levi and Eden tried to work through their obstacles with God's help, seeking His will above their own. There was also a little subplot/secondary romance between a couple of the other characters, which was fun. All in all, this was a sweet, enjoyable book, and one I'll probably read again!

**Disclosure: I was given a free review copy of this book by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Happy 4th of July!! (and a goals update . . . )

2011-07-03T17:44:00.009-05:00

First of all, Happy Fourth to my bloggy friends and family! I hope you all have a lovely weekend filled with parades, fireworks, picnics, or whatever . . . but most of all, appreciation for our great nation and the freedom we enjoy. May we never take it for granted! We will be celebrating up north with our own church family as well as the "sister" church there which is currently sharing their pastor with us. Looking forward to a fun day!

Now that June is behind us, and July stretching out ahead, I wanted to update a bit on how my goals for the year are going. I'm not even sure I can remember exactly all the goals I set without going back and looking at my blog post from January . . . but here goes. :)

Spiritual: I still have my ups and downs with a daily quiet time and prayer. I usually do fine as long as I make sure to get up at least 30 minutes before the kiddos . . . the problem is, I never know when they are going to wake up. :) Over the past couple months I have been reading through the book Calm My Anxious Heart, by Linda Dillow, along with Bible reading. I really loved this book and highly recommend it for anyone who may be struggling with worry, discontentment, or discouragement. It's a book I'll definitely go back through over and over again.
Physical: I have to admit to being a little discouraged in this area. I'm still working out on a pretty regular basis, but am not seeing much weight loss. Jim tells me I need to work on eating less. :) I'm sure he is right! I'm currently doing about 45-50 minutes a day on the elliptical, which equals about 2.5-2.7 miles on my machine. My goal is to work out 5 days a week, but lately I've been averaging about 3 because of a busy schedule. Gotta work on that!
Mental: I'm happy to say that I've been keeping up with reading on a pretty regular basis. As I mentioned, last month I read Calm My Anxious Heart, and I also read a mystery: Airs Above the Ground, by Mary Stewart, which I enjoyed very much. This month I plan to read Desiring God, by John Piper (really looking forward to this one--I got it free from a blogger review program) and probably a fiction book as well--either another mystery or another review book from BookSneeze.
Financial: I've totally flunked this goal for most of the year, but we're making a lot more progress in the saving/managing department now that Jim has a regular income. We're still not sticking to a written budget, something that is definitely a future goal, but I definitely see some improvement. Even a little bit helps. :)
Relational: As I've mentioned in another post, having a church closer to home has provided more opportunities for fellowship, and we are thankful. We have also been able to have friends over quite often, either for dinner, or just a fun moms/kids gathering. I'm thankful for the more relaxed schedule that comes with summer, giving us more time for spur-of-the-moment hospitality and visits.
Domestic: I still feel like I have so far to go in this area; I really need to work on some good routines. Every time I get something deep-cleaned it feels so good, but I hesitate to set very specific goals in this area because I always end up falling far short! And it seems like every time we get a room under good control and thoroughly cleaned (esp. the kids' room), it gets turned upside down within a few days and we're right back where we started. However, I have to remind myself that cleaning isn't the only domestic thing I do! Spending a day out of the house on Friday picking strawberries, which were then made into jam all day Saturday . . . that's domestic too. Making bread twice a week and taking care of the garden are part of my homemaking. As are keeping the children clean, clothed, happy, and healthy. So while some things (lots of things) don't get done, there are other things that do get done. But I just don't get it ALL done. I guess no one does. :)

So there you have it--a little update on my goals. How are the rest of you doing with your own goals, now that we are halfway through 2011?

Last night's visitor

2011-06-27T13:16:00.002-05:00

I know those of you who are my Facebook friends have already seen this, but for those who haven't . . . we had a special visitor last night! Just at dusk, a very large moose wandered into our yard. Unfortunately it was too far away to get a good picture--this was the best I could do as she (he?) was ambling away, but if you look close, you can see it up behind the chicken coop--pretty much right in the middle of the picture. Josiah's first words upon seeing it were: "Let's shoot it!" He is definitely his daddy's boy . . . ;) Of course, we won't be shooting it since you have to win a spot in the "moose lottery" to be able to hunt them here--and only for a short time each fall--and I'm glad. Moose meat is quite tasty, but I would rather enjoy the live moose visiting our backyard. :)

"The Works" works!

2011-06-27T11:07:00.003-05:00

Okay, this is a somewhat unusual post for me . . . but I'm excited that I finally found something that makes our toilets sparkling clean! :) We have hard water and it leaves some pretty nasty stains in our potties. On Saturday I decided to give the master bathroom a good deep-cleaning . . . everything was looking good except those icky stains. Scrub as I might (and did!) I couldn't completely get rid of them. I tried Barkeeper's Friend first . . . it helped a little. Then I tried Zud . . . helped a little more. With both of those products I was scrubbing them in really hard with a little scrubby pad. I wanted to try them first because I already had them on hand. Then I went searching online for other ideas and kept seeing people recommending the toilet bowl cleaner "The Works." Apparently it's pretty harsh, but supposedly would work wonders. I was skeptical but decided to give it a try since we could get a bottle at the Dollar Store. At least if it was a flop, I would only be out a dollar! I read about how the fumes are so terrible, that you should wear a mask and have lots of ventilation . . . I have to say that in my opinion those reports were highly exaggerated. There was very little odor at all, in fact. I did use gloves, though. :) I poured in a bunch of "The Works" and let it soak for maybe a half hour or so. I wanted to give it plenty of time to work its magic. And lo and behold, it really DID work on my nasty looking potty!! I don't think it has been so sparkling white in several years. Just a little scrubbing action with the toilet brush, and it was totally like new. While I don't plan to use this cleaner all the time (I'm hoping to keep the stains at bay by daily swishing--something I usually forget to do), it's so nice to know there is a product that will get rid of those stains with very little effort on my part. Just wanted to share, in case any of the rest of you might have similar stain issues!! "The Works" is available at the Dollar Tree, Walmart, and probably lots of other places.

**Note: if you don't have really nasty toilets, you might not be as blown away by this product as I was. :)

Random update :)

2011-06-26T17:07:00.006-05:00

Well, it's about time for another update on us (or well past time :)). Life seems to be zooming along at breakneck speed, as usual. Even though summer brings a more relaxed routine than the school year, we are still pretty busy. We've been doing more get-togethers with friends, which has been nice. Last week on Jim's day off, we headed south to my old high school (boarding school), to visit with some friends there. It had been way too long since we got together with them! We also had the chance to watch some logging that the guy my dad works for is doing there. Of course the kids were pretty excited to get to watch Grampa as he worked in the big loader! Our kids also had lots of fun playing with their new friends . . . these girls are close in age to Sam and Julia, so they all got along well and had lots of fun on the school playground.

{my dad is in the orange loader}

{visiting with Grampa}

{We finished up the day there with a campfire and s'mores--so much fun!!}

A couple weeks ago, we bought 3 new laying hens to replace the one that was eaten by a critter. These "girls" just started laying in May, so they're not quite once-a-day layers yet, but still they are doing very well. Sam named them all, but so far I can't quite tell them apart. They are: "Lucy" (in honor of the hen that was killed--Sam was determined we needed another Lucy :)), "Hilda Hen," and "Scaredy-Pie." Scaredy-Pie is apparently our accident-prone chicken. The day after we got her, she stepped on something sharp and her foot was bleeding. I quickly went online to get ideas of how to clean and treat it, and we got it bandaged. Scaredy-Pie spent the rest of the day in a tote with some food and water to make sure the bandage stayed on and that the other chickens would leave her alone. The next day we changed the bandage and all looked good, so we let her stay with the other hens. The day after that (Thursday) we removed the bandage and she's been fine ever since. On Friday, the chickens had been free-ranging all day and were all close to the coop as evening approached. We had just sat down to supper when we heard a commotion outside--Jim ran to the bedroom window and looked out in time to see a fox making off with one of the hens. The fox stopped a little way from the coop and Jim was able to shoot him, and amazingly missed the hen. In case you were wondering, yes--the hen he took was Scaredy-Pie. She was totally fine, just a bit shaken up and missing some feathers, but not bleeding or anything. Anyway, she had quite the traumatic first week with us, but since then everything has gone smoothly. :)

{Scaredy-Pie}

Work has been going well for Jim. It is so neat to look back and see how God blessed us with this job, in His perfect timing. It's been nice because he is getting about 35+ hours a week, and has been able to do some small carpentry jobs on the side as well. So far all the jobs that have come in have been little things like installing a door or something, so they can easily be worked into his schedule.

Things are going so well with our new church, too. I have missed the small church atmosphere over the past 6 years. It's been fun to be involved in piano playing for church again (something else I have missed) and I'm teaching Sunday school to two 11-year-olds, which has been fun also! It's been neat to see how God has brought along some new families to join our group since we started meeting together. We started with 6 families--plus the pastor and his wife--and now we have 10 who are coming regularly, and have had a few others visit too. We are very thankful for our years at Trinity and we loved the time there--I thought we would feel a bit of a void in some ways when we left. But I can honestly say that we haven't felt a lack for anything. We've heard wonderful preaching each week, our kids are enjoying their classes and programs, and we've actually had a lot more time for fellowship with others, since we're not having to run out the door for an hour long drive home. We are loving it--feeling refreshed, spiritually fed, and challenged every week. And we've been able to be a lot more involved in ministry, which has been really nice.

I'm hoping to go strawberry picking sometime this week with my mom and the kids. Just got to find a good (cheapish) place to go! We have a little patch here which is doing beautifully this year, but I need lots and lots to make jam . . . so we need to go to a farm. So far we've used ours for smoothies and I'm also planning to make strawberry shortcake. Plus the kids have eaten lots. :) You can probably expect a jam-making post here sometime within the next week or two! I also have lots of other things to blog about--butterflies, science museums, books . . . and an update on my monthly goals, which I haven't remembered to post about since . . . um, February, I think!

"Let's make a story!"

2011-06-14T15:29:00.002-05:00

I love to hear my kids playing together. It reminds me so much of my own childhood, when my sister and I would say "Let's make pretend!" And off we would go, making up a story with our toys or dolls. My kids "make a story" instead of "making pretend," but it's the same thing. :) Sometimes it cracks me up to listen to them. Like today, Sam was "being Michael" (one of the Little People). Michael (aka Sam) announced, "I'm not ONLY a magician, I'm a POLICEMAN and the PASTOR of our CHURCH!" (words capitalized to show emphasis ;)) Apparently this Michael wears a lot of hats! He also drives a piano car, so I assume he is a musician. Quite the talented fellow!

Whew!

2011-06-13T08:13:00.002-05:00

It's been a kind of crazy week here--well, at least the end of last week was. On Thursday we had a really bad storm whip through our area. It knocked our power out immediately (this was around 3 pm that day), and we didn't end up getting power back till sometime after 6:30 pm the following night. Needless to say, living without power for a day makes me appreciate a little more just how much our ancestors lived without on a daily basis! We were able to make it into a kind of fun adventure for the kids, though. That night we let all three of them sleep on our new-to-us sleeper couch. It was a pretty hot night and without being able to run fans, it was cooler out in the living room than in their room. We lit oil lamps and ate popcorn before bed. The kids had a blast and actually slept a lot better than I expected. Jim and I, however, didn't sleep so well and were awakened in the wee hours by something thumping around on our deck. It was a raccoon, and although Jim went after it, unfortunately it got away. At least for now!

Friday night we left the kids with my parents for a few hours and went out for a date night. In our haste we forgot to shut up the chickens before we left. When we came home around 10 pm, there were only 3 chickens in the coop and a lot of rooster feathers. We were pretty upset with ourselves for our forgetfulness. Up till then we hadn't lost any to predators, but now we had lost two (we thought). Around 5 am the next morning, however, we were awakened by a great sound--our rooster crowing! We were so happy that at least he had survived. So we only lost one hen after all, and the other hens are back to laying normally, although they were pretty skittish the next morning. And we've been a lot more careful about shutting them up as soon as they go into the coop at night. We're blaming the coon, but we have no way of proving that was what got Lucy. Jim is determined to do away with that coon as soon as possible, though! Nasty little critter. It's gotten into our garden at least twice, too.

We're going to hopefully buy a few new laying hens tonight. We were hoping to find some more free ones (we were so fortunate with that the first time!) but haven't seen any listed lately. We'd been thinking it would be nice to have a few more hens anyway so we can sell more eggs. Right now we have one family who buys from us, and sometimes our hens are a little slow in meeting demand for our family and theirs. We might even be able to sell a few more if we get some good layers.

Speaking of chickens, I wanted to throw out a question for you other chicken owners who are more experienced than we are. Two of our red hens, Marilla and Buttercup, have these big bare patches on their backs and wings. Lucy was getting to look like this too, but not as bad. (They look kind of bedraggled in this picture because it was right after our big storm--when they were hiding under the car. :))

{last picture of all three hens together before we lost Lucy--the one in the back}

For a long time we thought it was just from the rooster being too rough with them, but the chicken saddles did nothing to help (and they all eventually wriggled out of them). So then we thought they must be molting (and maybe they are)--but egg production hasn't slowed down much at all. Marilla has looked like this for months, since the winter, and doesn't seem to be looking any better. But other than the bare spots, both of them seem completely healthy. We wondered if it could be a problem with mites, but if that was the case, why don't Josie Pye (our Speckled Sussex) and the rooster have them? Both of them look totally normal. Any thoughts? Maybe they are just really slow molters?

Book Review: Spring for Susannah, by Catherine Richmond

2011-06-09T07:27:00.004-05:00

To me, one of the marks of a good book is when you continue thinking about the characters and story even after you've finished reading it. Spring for Susannah was such a book for me. The story is set in the late 1800s, not too long after the end of the Civil War. Susannah Underhill, a young woman from Detroit, has lost both her parents and has no suitors. When her pastor's bachelor brother Jesse writes from Dakota territory, asking if his brother can think of someone who would make a good bride for him, Susannah is recommended. After being married "by proxy" (because there are no preachers in Jesse's area), Susannah travels by train to Dakota and begins her new life as a mail-order bride.

Over their first year of marriage, Susannah and Jesse grow closer through tragedies and triumphs. Susannah has to learn how to make do with little, confide in her husband (something most difficult for her, since she is somewhat introverted and lacks confidence), and deal with the hardships of life on the prairie. Little by little she comes out of her shell and gains confidence in her own abilities and in Jesse's unconditional love for her. When grasshoppers destroy all of their crops, she and Jesse face a difficult separation and she learns to find her strength in God.

I really enjoyed this book for the most part, and I liked how "real" Jesse and Susannah seemed. Jesse was a lot of fun--I really enjoyed his personality, and I could relate to Susannah in many ways also. The last third of the book was a little harder to get through, as Jesse and Susannah were separated for many months and the storyline divided to follow what was happening to each of them. Many new characters came into the story at that point, Susannah ended up back and forth between the homestead and their small town, and it was just more confusing and not quite as enjoyable as the first two thirds of the book. I did enjoy seeing how Susannah became a strong and confident woman during that time, but I just wish the author could have found a different way to accomplish that--with the main characters together. :) I also felt the ending was rather sudden--I would have loved to see a few more chapters . . . maybe also an epilogue . . . to wrap things up a bit more. Maybe the author was just leaving it open for a sequel--I hope so, as I would personally love to read more about Jesse and Susannah.

One thing I want to note--there was quite a bit of marital intimacy throughout the first part of the book--more than I have normally seen in Christian fiction. It was portrayed in a beautiful and positive light, but it was there, nonetheless--so I would definitely not recommend this book for young girls.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Heat Wave!

2011-06-08T13:35:00.002-05:00

Today was HOT. The highest temp I noticed was 94.5, but that was more than hot enough. :) Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty bad too; after that it's supposed to get cooler. I thought about heading to the beach tomorrow, but I really need to go grocery shopping and then we have prayer meeting at night . . . so I guess we will put off the beach till another day. I'm sure we'll have plenty more hot ones this summer. :)

I tried a couple new recipes today--I didn't want to heat up the house any more than it already was, so I planned a cool supper. We had a pasta salad and baked beans made on the stovetop. The beans were very tasty, except for the parts on the bottom that burned because I forgot to stir them toward the end. Oops! But I would definitely make them again, just watch them more closely! Here is the recipe I used for them.

I also made homemade mayo. I've never tried this before although the idea has interested me for a while. I used this recipe from Passionate Homemaking, except I used my handy dandy immersion blender instead of a food processor. Easier clean-up. :) I'm still not quite sure what I think of the end result, though. I went with half coconut oil and half olive oil instead of 1/3 coconut oil and 2/3 olive oil. I was afraid the olive oil would be too strong. But now I think maybe the coconut oil is too strong. I did use the homemade mayo, mixed with sour cream and some herbs and spices, for the pasta salad dressing. And it was good. But I'm not sure how it will taste on a sandwich yet. At any rate, the consistency turned out pretty good and I'm definitely open to making homemade mayo again . . . I just might have to experiment with various recipes. Such as this one. Or this one. I'm trying to move away from using canola oil so much, thus the coconut and olive oil combo.

I've kinda stalled on the 31 Days to Clean challenge . . . I had big plans for more kitchen cleaning today, but then it got so hot that I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to tackle anything major. My fridge and freezer are sparkling, though! Hopefully next week we will have cooler weather and I'll be back to work, and move things along a little faster. I was so looking forward to getting all my deep cleaning done this summer . . . and hopefully I still will . . . but I just forgot how life gets in the way sometimes. :)

Loving summer!

2011-06-03T18:57:00.002-05:00

Summer is here (I think) and I am loving the slower schedule! We have had some interesting weather here this week--it went from 80s-90s early in the week to mid-50s/low 60s at the end. I don't mind the cooler weather, but it was kind of a shock after the heat wave! Also, I had JUST changed to our coolest sheets (go figure) so now we're piling on extra blankets at night. :)

We had a nice Memorial Day. We were invited over to a cookout/get-together with friends, last minute, so that was fun. We even got to see some friends there whom we hadn't seen in a few years--and meet their baby girl who will be a year old soon! The relaxation and fellowship was very nice.

Our trip to the Montshire Museum was great! I hope to blog about it soon, with some pictures, but for now I'll just say that we had a wonderful time. The kids were sad to leave when it was time to go, and we plan to go back next year since they had so much fun. We're even considering getting a yearly membership to save some money and be able to go more times throughout the year. We'll see, though . . . since we live an hour away, we might not make it over there enough to make it worth the membership.

Today the kids, my mom, and I went to a local greenhouse and bought some plants. My poor little tomato seedlings haven't done so well, and I decided to see if I have any better success with plants than I have with starting my own. I was able to find some heirloom Brandywines, and bought 6. I also bought 2 grape tomato plants, and a peppermint plant. I'm hoping to get the garden planted tomorrow if the weather is nice. And praying for better gardening success this summer than in the past few years!

Uninspired

2011-05-31T19:45:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling kinda uninspired in the blogging department lately! I think part of the problem is that I've been spending too much time reading other blogs, and not making enough time to write in my own.

The past week or so has seemed busy, with our trip to the science museum last Weds. (which was super fun!) and then Memorial Day yesterday . . . but really, other than that, we haven't been doing much out of the ordinary. We're beginning to get used to Jim's new schedule--he usually works from around 10 am to 6 pm or so. The kids have been a little more ornery than usual as they adjust to Daddy being gone more, but we're getting there. :) It sure is a blessing to have some regular income, and we are thankful!

I did part of "Day 2" of my cleaning challenge today (cleaning the fridge) and it felt really good to accomplish that. It was in desperate need of a good cleaning. Lots of science experiments in there! I still need to do the freezer, though--hopefully tomorrow morning I will tackle that.

Well, hopefully I will have some inspiration to write more soon . . . for now, I'm off to bed!

31 Days to Clean: Day 1

2011-05-23T20:32:00.012-05:00

I decided to jump into the 31 Days to Clean project today. I'm not sure that I'll be able to do all 31 days consecutively (since life tends to get in the way :)), but I'm hoping to get all the challenges completed by the end of June, at least. Today's challenge was to write a homemaking mission statement. I actually had done this back when I first downloaded the book, so all I had to do today was print it out and make it pretty! I'm still not sure yet where I will display this. Maybe on the fridge? Or somewhere else in my kitchen? Anyway, it's just a small card which will be a good reminder and motivation for me when I get overwhelmed and bogged down in the day-t0-day stuff. I'm not sure how well the scanned image will show up in the post, so in case it's hard to read, here's what it says:

"I purpose to make my home a peaceful haven for my family, a warm and welcoming atmosphere for guests, and a clean and orderly domain that brings joy to me as a homemaker, and honor and glory to my God."

If any of you already have a mission statement or thoughts on homemaking that you'd like to share, I would love to hear them!

Summer sewing plans

2011-05-23T20:21:00.002-05:00

Over the past week or so I've been making a mental list of projects to tackle this summer. At the top of my list, of course, is whipping my house into shape. A little farther down the list are my sewing projects (or the ones I dream of doing)! Just today I stumbled across "Free Pattern Month" at Grosgrain, and . . . oh dear . . . I'm just going to have to download some of these! (Click the button below for more the link.)

Even though I never get as much sewing done as I think I'm going to, I have many lofty goals and ideas. I have tons of free downloaded patterns in a folder on my desktop already, along with a humongous stash of real paper patterns. And a fairly big stash of fabric, as well!

Here is what's on my list (so far) for the summer. It'll be interesting to see how much of this I actually accomplish. :)

Summer apron for me
Sleevless shirt for Julia
Capris for Julia (1-2 pair)
Skirt for me
Something to give away on my blog :)
Cushion and pillows for the bench project in the kids' room (which I haven't even started yet, though I have all the materials!)
Bedspread for Josiah
Possibly some stuff to sell on Etsy--burp cloths, nursing covers, etc.--that I've been thinking of trying to do for a while

There are probably more things that haven't come to mind yet, but I think this will give me plenty to keep busy!

Homeschooling/Family Update

2011-05-23T18:55:00.005-05:00

{the kiddos on Sunday before church}

Well . . . we finished school last Wednesday and it feels so good!! Sam took his achievement tests and I got those sent in to be graded on Thursday. Now we just wait to see how he did. :) I think he did quite well in everything except spelling, which was my fault because we didn't do spelling at all this year. I wanted to focus on reading and worry about spelling later. Next year we will be doing it, so that should help! Overall I was pretty satisfied with how this year went, but there is always room for improvement!! I really need to work on doing more hands-on stuff with the kids. They LOVE it, but me . . . not so much. However, I know it is fun for them and helps to reinforce what they are learning, so I'm hoping to incorporate more crafts and activities next year. I'd also like to take more of a Charlotte Mason approach to learning next year. We will still be using Sonlight, but I want to add in more nature study, etc. Over the summer I'm hoping to read A Charlotte Mason Companion to get a feel for how I might be able to tweak things in our homeschool to incorporate more of this approach.

Julia lost another tooth last week, but this time it was a "natural" loss! Her very first tooth to come out without a dentist's help. :) You can see the hole in the middle of her bottom teeth in the picture above. She was pretty excited, and her tooth collection is growing!

We are praising the Lord that Jim has had work for the past week, and it looks like it will continue for a while, anyway. He has not had much work at all for the past few months and we were praying about what to do. This opportunity to work for a local furniture store came about through a friend of ours who works there part-time. Jim has been making deliveries, putting furniture together, etc. He is still hoping to get more carpentry work in the future, but we're leaving that in God's hands and in the meantime, we are so thankful for a job and the way God has provided!

On Wednesday we will be heading to a children's science museum in VT to celebrate the end of the school year. I haven't been there since I was a kid, so I am pretty excited about it! I have a feeling Sam is going to love it--he is really into science related stuff at the moment, and this museum is very hands-on. I will be sure to take lots of pictures to post later!

I still haven't received any of the school books for next year that were lost in the mail. Today I had to go to the post office and the postmaster asked me if I had ever heard anything about them. When I said no, he said not to get too discouraged yet--sometimes these things take a while. So maybe they will still show up. The seller did refund me some of the money, which was very kind, and between that and Paperback Swap, it shouldn't be too expensive to replace the books.

So that is just a little update on us. Hopefully over the summer I will have time to post here several times each week; I have missed writing here as much as I used to!

31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha Home the Mary Way

2011-05-18T16:25:00.017-05:00

A few weeks back, I downloaded this e-book by Sarah Mae, 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha Home the Mary Way. At that time she was running a special promotion and I was able to get it for free. Although I haven't been able to start on the challenges yet (I was waiting till school was done to dive into some deep cleaning!), I have it all printed out and I've looked through it. Let me tell you, it looks excellent. I love how she has focused on the "Mary" part--loving God first and glorifying Him through our care for our homes. I also love her warm and friendly writing style. If you are like me and struggle with keeping a clean and orderly home, lack motivation, or just need some encouragement, I feel you would definitely benefit from this wonderful e-book. I hope to blog my progress when I actually start working through the book myself, too. Maybe some of you would like to join in!

And the BEST part is . . . right now (through tomorrow, May 19, at noon) you can buy it for only $1!!! You can find out the details on that right here at Raising Homemakers. And by the way, if you've never checked out Sarah Mae's blog, Like a Warm Cup of Coffee, there is lots of good stuff there, as well!

Lazy Saturday, and Linkables

2011-05-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

Today has been quite the lazy day. Josiah came down with some kind of bug (or maybe something he ate??--hoping, since no one else has gotten it yet) and spent the morning alternating between sleeping and throwing up. There went my to-do list for the day! But sometimes it's good to have a reason to throw out the list and just spend time snuggling. I did lots of that today. :) We have also watched WAY more movies than usual. At the moment Josiah seems to be feeling lots better and has kept down saltines and ginger ale for a couple hours. So I'm hopeful that the worst is over! (**I wrote this part several hours ago and he threw up again just before bed . . . so we'll see how the night goes!**)

I finally got a couple of book reviews typed and posted, which was a good feeling. I love getting books for free, and I don't mind doing reviews (it's a great exchange!) but it just seems to take me a while to get them posted here. Now I can order some new ones! If you love to read and have a blog, you should check out some of the blogger review programs. I'm currently doing reviews for Thomas Nelson & Multnomah, and just ordered my first book for Bethany House's program. Their requirements are pretty much the same, and it's a fun way to get to check out new authors. Here are the links to these programs, for anyone who might be interested:

I'm pretty sure there are other blogger review programs out there as well, but these are the only ones I've personally used.

I was thinking today about how abundantly God has blessed us--in many ways, but here is just one example. We have been gifted with tons and tons of clothes for our kids; we rarely have to buy anything for them. I honestly love hand-me-downs; our kids are well-dressed in very nice clothes thanks to the generosity of others! Quite a while back, I was able to purchase a voucher for a box of clothes from ThredUP, a website where you can sell or purchase boxes of gently used children's clothing. These boxes normally cost $15.95, but at the time of the deal, I believe I paid a dollar or possibly two for the voucher. I had been waiting to use it, thinking about what I would need most for the kids. Julia was recently given 5 huge bags of clothes, plus we had been given a bunch more clothes for her a month or so ago, so she has clothes coming out her ears. With the boys, Josiah gets lots of Sam's hand-me-downs, so he didn't really need anything. I thought about Sam and realized he could use some more pants for next fall and winter. I found a box of 5 pair of size 8 pants--2 pair were jeans and the rest were corduroys or dress pants. All very good brands, and the seller had good reviews, so I purchased it earlier this week. The box arrived today, and I was VERY pleased with the pants. The seller had even thrown in an extra pair of jeans that she had found! If I had purchased these same pants at the local thrift store (which I love, by the way), I would have probably paid close to $30 unless I had store credit. So it was just another neat way that God provided something for a future need.

I have had babies on the brain lately (no, this is NOT an announcement of any kind! ;)). Three of my good friends have had babies in the past 2 weeks, plus my sister and sister-in-law are both expecting, so that's why baby-related things have been on my mind. Along the same line, I really enjoyed this post, The Joys of Home Birthing, at Passionate Homemaking . . . as well as Kendra's birth story this past week at New Life on a Homestead (Part 1 & Part 2). I always love reading about birth and other ladies' stories!

My bloggy friend Nikki (whom I have not yet met in real life, although I went to high school years ago with her husband and his sister!) just started a blog, Our Little Haven on the Hill, and I wanted to let you all know. I have enjoyed getting to "know" Nikki over the past few years through my blog, and now it is fun to get to know her and her family better through her blog! One of these days hopefully we can meet in person, as they live only a few hours or so from us.

Well, it's getting late and I'd better wrap up this post . . . and head to bed. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!!

Book Review: Lilies in Moonlight

2011-05-14T09:24:00.003-05:00

Lilies in Moonlight was my first Allison Pittman novel, and I really liked it. Her writing kept my interest and I was drawn into the story from the first page.

Lilly, a young and nearly penniless flapper, is trying to make a living selling cosmetics door-to-door. After a party one night, intoxicated Lilly ends up passed out in the yard of an older woman to whom she had recently sold cosmetics. Amazingly enough (and against the better judgment of her adult son, Cullen), Betty Ruth Burnside insists on making Lilly a part of her household. Cullen, a former baseball player, is dealing with his own disappointments and problems . . . he survived the Great War, but it left him burned and wounded. Lilies in Moonlight is the story of Lilly and Cullen's journey to forgiveness, hope, and love.

I found this book really enjoyable and I appreciated the overall theme and message. I will say that there was a little too much "physical" attraction mentioned (in my opinion)--nothing really offensive, and the characters don't ever go "too far"--in fact there isn't even a kiss till the end of the book--but there is some reference to Lilly's immoral past, mention of Cullen struggling to keep his thoughts pure and not let himself get physically too close to Lilly . . . I just wanted to mention that because this is a book I would want to read first before giving it to my teen daughter (if I had one). Obviously to some people, this stuff won't necessarily be an issue; I just felt the physical references could have been toned down a bit. But overall I did really enjoy this book--the setting, time period, and characters all felt so real . . . and I loved the cover, too. I rarely see a cover where the characters look just as I see them in my imagination, but this one was just right in my opinion. I hope to read more Allison Pittman books in the future!

Disclosure: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: What the Heart Sees

2011-05-14T08:44:00.007-05:00

I enjoyed this collection of three short Amish romances by Kathleen Fuller. The first book, A Miracle for Miriam, takes place around Christmastime. Miriam, who considers herself ugly and uninteresting, has been interested in handsome Seth Fisher since she was a teen. But it takes a severe accident and God's work in his heart to bring about a change of direction in Seth's life. When he finally realizes Miriam is the girl for him, she can't believe him, and it takes a lot of work on his part to convince her! I really enjoyed both Seth and Miriam as characters, and this was my favorite of the three novels.

The second book is titled A Place of His Own. Amanda Graber is delighted when her longtime best friend and next-door neighbor, Josiah, returns from Ohio after ten years. However, it doesn't take long for Amanda to realize that Josiah has changed. He takes a lot of care to put distance between them, just as her feelings for him begin to grow from friendship to love. Eventually Josiah realizes that he doesn't have to let his past determine his future, and the story ends happily.

What the Heart Sees, #3 in this collection, is the heartwarming story of Ellie, a blind but independent young Amishwoman, and Chris Miller, a former Amish boy-turned-Englischer. When Chris returns to the Amish community after many years, he is carrying a lot of bitterness with him. But as his friendship (and later, love) for Ellie grows, he is able to find peace with God and the ability to forgive.

All of these were sweet stories, although to me they seemed a little "light on the Amish." I saw them as romance stories with a sprinkling of "Amish," if that makes sense. The way the characters spoke and thought seemed a little too "Englisch" to me at times. Perhaps I'm too used to reading other popular Amish series which delve more deeply into Amish beliefs and customs. Still, I found these stories enjoyable, and the fact that each of the three novels was fairly short made them quick, fun reads.

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!!!

2011-05-11T19:21:00.000-05:00

My Jim turned 34 today . . . now we are the same age again for a while. :) Today also marks exactly 14 years since we first laid eyes on each other--yes, we met on his birthday back in 1997--pretty cool, eh? More accurately, we didn't actually "meet" that day, but we did see each other for the first time. We were both too shy and didn't get to know each other until a bit later. However, Jim has always said he knew since that first day that he would marry me. :)

I love and appreciate my sweetie so much. He encourages me daily, willingly gives of himself to serve me and the kids, and works so hard for us. He is so skilled with his hands; I look around our house and still marvel at all the things he knows how to do. He puts up with me and loves me in spite of my failures. He is a great example to me as he spends time each day in God's Word and prayer. He is fun and adventurous, and he makes me laugh. :)

To celebrate his birthday, we had a special supper and carrot cake (his favorite). I had a little problem with the cake--I accidentally left out the baking soda--so it was more like a brick. Oh well, at least it still tasted right, the texture was just wrong! I hate it when I do stuff like that though! We also bought two small apple trees and planted them. We've been wanting to get some for a while, and Jim decided that would be a good thing to get for his birthday. Hopefully they will grow well and give us some good apples in the years ahead!

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! I love you!!!

Luscious lemons

2011-05-10T21:03:00.004-05:00

I am a huge fan of pretty much anything with lemons in it. When I was a kid, my family would pick on me because I would actually eat the flesh and juice of the lemon wedges that came with a fish dinner at our favorite local restaurant. I don't do that anymore (well, not usually :)), but I do still love lemon! This weekend my mom brought me a jar of lemon curd that she had left over from a cake she made. (See her post and recipe here.) I was looking forward to having the whole jar to myself because Jim isn't much of a lemon fan. Then he wanted to try some . . . and ended up really liking it! So much for my plan of eating it all.

Tonight I made these lemon scones from Tammy's Recipes. I'd made them before and they are sooo yummy. I wanted to use the lemon curd in or on them . . . I ended up slicing them open and sandwiching the curd in between the layers. Jim and I each tried one this way for dessert tonight and it was a winning combination!! But the kids liked the scones too . . . and unfortunately the recipe only made 8 . . . so I think I am going to have to make some more to use up the rest of the lemon curd. :)

Any other lemon lovers out there?

Happy (belated) Birthday to Julia!!!

2011-05-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Julia's birthday was actually at the end of April, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about it. I figured I'd better do it today, since Jim's birthday is tomorrow and I don't want to be doubly behind! :)

Julia turned 5 this year. She was quite excited to be a 5 year old and had been talking about it for weeks ahead of time. It took her a while to decide on what kind of cake she wanted, but she finally settled on a treasure chest. Jim and I were happy; this was an easy cake to make and decorate--only 2 colors of frosting!! :)

My parents and Grampa came over to celebrate with us and I finally remembered to get a picture of all three kids with their Great-Grampa. I am so blessed to still have two of my grandparents living--this is one of them. :) I am thankful that my kids will all be able to remember him. My other grandfather died 10 years ago, so none of my children ever got to meet him, which is sad--he was a wonderful person and would have taught them so much, especially about nature.

Anyway . . . Julia got lots of fun presents, including a new purple water bottle, some felt food, an apron, and some bubble toys! Also money, some of which she has already spent on a butterfly hatching kit. Her caterpillars arrived on Saturday and we have been having fun watching them grow!

She is such a sweet little girl although she can have a will of iron at times. :) She loves girly things but she is not at all afraid of worms, salamanders, toads, or even dead animals. In fact, she is quite interested in the inner workings of things and I wonder if she has a future in biology? She is somewhat afraid of bugs and spiders, though. She loves purple and pink (of course!), enjoys having her hair done in pretty styles (a new favorite thing is to "match Mommy"--she likes it when we do our hair the same way), loves poofy dresses so she can twirl, likes salad (she thinks it's fun to eat "leaves,") but barely tolerates meat, loves books.

Before she was born I wanted a redheaded girl . . . but now I wouldn't trade my little blondie with the green eyes for anything. :) She has been through a lot this year but has come through with a smile on her face (albeit a somewhat toothless one ;)) and we are so thankful for God's protection on her. We pray that she will come to know Him soon and love Him always.

Happy Birthday baby girl!! We love you!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2011-05-08T18:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the blog silence lately; I am waaaay behind on posting--still need to write about Julia's birthday, several book reviews, and all kinds of other stuff! But I just wanted to quickly say Happy Mother's Day to everyone--my own wonderful mom, my dear mother-in-law, my sister, sister-in-law, my sweet Grammy and Jim's Grandma--and of course all of you, my readers, who are moms! Thank you for all you do and all you have done in raising the next generation!

We had a lovely day. Now that we are attending services at our new church, our Sundays are more relaxed. (This is because our Sunday service is currently in the afternoon.) So, for the first Mother's Day in several years, I slept in and was served breakfast in bed by my amazing hubby! We had a slow, lazy morning, leftovers for lunch, then it was time to head to church, where we enjoyed sweet fellowship with friends. After church we stopped at Walmart and I was told to stay in the car. :) Jim and the kids came out with a gift for me--a new rosebush! This is a "Queen Elizabeth" rose, which will have pink blossoms. I hope I can manage not to kill it! So far I've had so-so luck with roses--out of four that I had planted a few years ago, two have survived. I'm looking forward to getting this one planted, and hoping it will bloom beautifully in years to come!

Jim took a few pictures of the kids and me, but alas, we had forgotten to put the camera card in the camera (which we didn't realize till hours later), so . . . no Mother's Day pictures after all! Oh well. Maybe we will try again another week when we are all dressed up for church. :)

Hope all of you had a very special day too!!

Just for fun: If you could step into any book . . .

2011-04-28T19:25:00.003-05:00

This question occurred to me a few days ago and I thought it would be a fun one to ask you guys. I have so many favorite books, many of them historical, and sometimes I just wish I could step into the pages of these books, or visit that period in history for a while. Maybe even forever! So, here's the question: If you could step into any book, what would it be, and why? If you can't narrow it down to just one, feel free to list a few.

I couldn't pick just one, so here are three favorites that came to mind. These are all series.

The Betsy-Tacy series. Especially the high school/young adult ones. These are set in the early 1900s and I love, love, love them. The descriptions of the girls' clothes, the fun times with their high school friends (mostly revolving around music and parties--so much more simple and innocent fun than teens have today), the world traveling, and finally the adjustment to married life on the brink of World War 1 . . . all of these are reasons I would like to step into these books and be part of the "Crowd" with Betsy, Tacy, and Tib.
The Little House series. The fact that I can read and re-read these books over and over, even as an adult, attests to how much I love them. I know the pioneer life was difficult, but how fascinating it is to read about! To think of being one of the first families settling the West . . . teaching school at age 15 or 16 . . . going to "literaries" or surviving the long, hard winter . . . living in a tiny log cabin, a dugout, or a claim shanty . . . riding on a train for the first time . . . riding in a cutter with Almanzo . . . :) Laura's life fascinates me and inspires me. I'm so glad she wrote down her experiences to share with the world.
The Anne of Green Gables series. Particularly the later books, when Anne is grown up and married. I would have loved to be friends with Anne, and to live on PEI at the turn of the century would be like a dream come true. I would have loved to spend hours by the fire at Ingleside, chatting with her and gleaning wisdom for mothering and nurturing children. Or even being one of her children, living a lovely, happy childhood, uncluttered by the distractions of television, video games, and too many toys . . .

Writing about these books has given me a hankering to re-read all of them. :) I just love a good book, and have read many, but these are a few series that I can pick up over and over and feel like I am sitting down for a visit with an old and dear friend. Which is why I so wish I could step into their pages, even for just a little while. How about you? Do you have any books that affect you this way? Please share! :)

Linkables

2011-04-25T21:09:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a linky round-up, so here are a few goodies that I've bookmarked and thought others might enjoy also!

One Pretty Thing: I've linked to this site before, but figured it wouldn't hurt to mention it again--for anyone who may be new or has never checked it out before. There is SO much crafty/DIY inspiration here . . . love it! You can learn all kinds of cool stuff here, like how to turn plastic Easter eggs into faux robins' eggs . . . I so want to try this!!!
This post at Amy's Finer Things was linked on Money Saving Mom a while back, and it was really convicting and a great reminder for me: Somebody Wants What You Have.
I thought this tutorial from Positively Splendid for lovely lined canvas bins (made from diaper boxes!!) was brilliant.
I discovered the cooking blog Two Peas and Their Pod a while back, and oh, my! Pretty much everything I've seen there looks so yummy. Like these cookies. I haven't made them yet, but I will . . . one of these days!
I recently found out that a friend from church has her own blog, A Solid Foundation. I really enjoyed this post. And this one! Oh yes, and this one about vermicomposting . . . I really want to try this next year!!
Passionate Homemaking is one of my favorite blogs ever. Lindsay's posts always provide food for thought and/or inspiration, and I love how her love for God and family shines through. This month she's been doing a series on hospitality . . . lots of good stuff there!
Thanks to Simple Mom, I just found out about this Jane Austen-inspired Etsy shop, Brookish. Some really fun stuff there for Austen fans!!
Speaking of Etsy shops, my in-real-life friend Diana (whom I've known for her whole life--she was even one of our flower girls almost 12 years ago!!) has opened her own shop, Beauty Reflected. Stop by and check out her lovely jewelry! She also has her own blog, Write Forward!

I guess I will stop with these for now . . . I could go on and on with lots of great links, but now it is time to head for bed. :)

Happy Birthday, Josiah!!!

2011-04-24T16:30:00.003-05:00

First of all, Happy Easter! I hope each of you has had a blessed day celebrating Jesus' resurrection and the gift of eternal life.

This year, Easter and Josiah's birthday happened to fall on the same day. Yes, my little man is now THREE. We have had a busy day--up early for church, home again to finish dinner preparations; Grammy, Grampa and Great-Grampa arrived for dinner and stayed for a nice relaxing afternoon; we had presents, cake and ice cream, and all of that combined made for one tired little guy. We had planned to go back to church tonight, but with all the busyness we ended up staying home. And Josiah conked out on the couch while watching one of his new Busytown movies. :)

Words can't express just how much I love this little guy. He is so precious, so much fun. He makes me laugh daily. I can't believe he has been a part of our family for 3 years now. (You can read his birth story here, if you haven't already. Or if you're just a birth story junkie like me. :))

He is growing, changing, and learning all the time. He is very opinionated. He gets embarrassed easily and doesn't like being laughed at or teased (though he usually takes it with a grin, along with a command to "stop!"). His favorite colors are green and blue (he's very emphatic about that). He loves Thomas, cars, trucks, his stuffed puppy "Pongo," listening to stories, watching movies, playing outside, going on trips (especially in Daddy's truck), having friends and family over to visit, eating anything sweet, and the list goes on. He loves to give big hugs and kisses--in fact, he likes to kiss our ears, eyes, heads, chins, as well as the regular cheek kisses. :) He sleeps all night long nearly 100% of the time, and loves to sleep with the sheet pulled over his head. He has such a fun and mischievous personality and helps to fill our home with fun.

Happy Birthday, sweet Siah! We love you so much!

This & That . . .

2011-04-13T06:59:00.002-05:00

Well, I have certainly neglected the blog lately! I promise I didn't fall off the face of the earth; we've just been busy. :) In random order, here is some of what we've been up to:

My birthday was a week ago. I'm the ripe old age of 34 now! Jim & Sam made me some homemade peanut butter cups, and I made myself a birthday cake. :) And my parents came over with presents and ice cream.
The same day, Julia had 2 more teeth pulled--her 2 top front ones. At this rate she's not going to have any teeth left! :( She had developed another gum blister (infection) and Dr. B said he needed to pull the tooth that was affected . . . but that would have left her with one of the teeth just kind of hanging there in front, looking pretty snaggle-toothed, so he offered to pull both of them if I wanted. I decided to go that route, and I think it was for the best. Her gum looks fine now, and we're praying for no more blisters!!!
Spring has finally sprung around here--kind of. We still have some snow piles, but also lots and lots of mud. And a few bits of green starting to show up here and there. Also, I received my free seeds from Seeds of Change, and started some seedlings--tomatoes, mostly, but also some basil, lettuce, melon, and something else I can't remember right now. It was a little late to start them, but hopefully they'll do OK and be ready for planting in late May/early June.
The chickens and ducks are all doing great, and the chickens are happy to be able to go outside more now. (They refuse to walk in snow, so they don't go out in the winter except to sit on their perch once in a while.) The ducks, on the other hand, spent time in and out of their house all winter--Jim kept a small space of water open for them in their pond and they were pretty happy about that. But a lot MORE happy now that they have the whole pond and brook to play in again! Also, Jemima has started laying eggs. Only problem is, she lays them all over the place and they're not always in very good shape when we find them. We were really hoping she'd hatch some ducklings, but not sure how to encourage her to do that--I guess maybe she just has to be in the mood?
I ordered used curriculum for next year for Sam. I was so thrilled to find it at a great price, and to be ahead of the game this year (last year I didn't order it till just in time to start school). My package arrived Saturday and I had such fun going through it . . . till I realized that half of the books were missing. We checked the package weight against the weight listed on the label and realized from that (and the condition of the box) that a bunch of books must have fallen out on the way here. Major bummer! I contacted the USPS and our local postmaster was very helpful--he asked me to bring him a list of the missing books, which I promptly did, and he forwarded it on to the lost mail dept. Since we know two facilities where the package was processed, he seemed hopeful that the books might be found. If they are, they'll show up here eventually. So I'm praying and waiting to see what happens with that!
We are currently involved in the very beginning stages of a new church plant in our area, which is super exciting! We really love the church where we have been attending for more than 6 years now, but it's hard to get very involved because it's an hour from our home. Our leaving there has nothing to do with the recent trials that our church has been going through--just to clarify and avoid speculation. :) As I said, we love it there and are so thankful for the blessing that ministry has been in our lives. But God opened this door, pretty much out of the blue, and we are stepping through it . . . on faith, with excitement, although with a little trepidation too! It's not always easy to leave one's comfort zone!!
We are in the home stretch of school. I think we have about 5 weeks left after this week. Sam and I are both looking forward to a break! But, it has honestly been a really good year. I get so encouraged when I see him actually retaining something that he's learned! He has come so far with his reading, attention span, understanding of math concepts . . . and even the dreaded handwriting has improved. :) We have read so many good books this year, too--it's been so much fun!

Well, I hope to get some more "normal" posts up soon (although since this is a very eclectic blog, I'm not sure what normal is for me! :)). But hopefully this brings you all up to date a little bit on our lives!

Book Review: Love Food & Live Well

2011-03-31T18:34:00.012-05:00

I really enjoyed Love Food & Live Well by Chantel Hobbs. I had never heard of her before I received this book to review, but I found her down-to-earth writing style fun to read, and her explanations of various topics such as simple and complex carbohydrates, protein, exercise, etc. were easy to understand, even for a non-health-nut like me!

I especially appreciated the fact that Chantel wrote this book (and her previous books) based on personal experience. She was once very overweight; she lost 200 lbs. (and has kept it off!) through changing her eating habits and faithfully exercising. She recommends keeping careful track of calories, making sure you're getting the best nutritional value you can from those calories, and starting off with at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise, 5 days a week. She includes practical examples of exercise routines, and detailed descriptions (with pictures) of quite a few different exercises, as well. She also has a small section of recipes for healthy meals (I would have loved this section to be a little bigger!). The only little "issue" I had with the recipes is that some of them call for packaged foods such as "egg substitute"--not a big deal, but personally I'd rather get my calories from real eggs from my own chickens, instead of a substitute. :)

Overall this was a really good book--probably one of the best weight loss books that I've ever read, simply because of the friendly, encouraging tone, and also the fact that Chantel points the reader to Christ, that we may seek His help in the area of health and fitness. I would definitely recommend Love Food & Live Well to anyone seeking some practical help and encouragement for weight loss!

**I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Gardening Questions

2011-03-31T18:07:00.003-05:00

This post is for all you gardeners out there, in the hopes that some of your wisdom will rub off on me. :) I've been thinking about ordering seeds for this spring (if spring ever arrives in NH, that is!) and I'd like to go with all heirloom seeds this year, if possible. We've done some heirloom varieties of stuff before, but mostly tomatoes, and I've never actually ordered seeds from anywhere online. So, here are my questions:

What are your favorite places to buy heirloom seeds? (Either online or a local store.)
Can you refer me to any good sites which give info about saving seeds from one year to the next (i.e. harvesting them from veggies, drying and saving them)?
Do you usually start tomatoes or other veggies from seed, or buy heirloom plants? If it's the latter, where do you buy the plants from--local store or online?
What are your favorite (or easiest) veggies/herbs/etc. to grow (esp. for those of you who live in the New England area)?

And feel free to share any other gardening tips that you'd like. :) We haven't had a whole lot of success with our past garden ventures, but I am really hoping that this year will be a good one for us!

Also, I just ordered a variety of "mystery" seeds from Seeds of Change for only the cost of shipping and handling ($4.99). For 25 packets of organic seeds, this seemed like a good deal. However, it will be a surprise as to what seeds we receive. :) Which is fun . . . I like surprises! But I have no idea if any of these will be heirloom seeds or not--I don't think "organic" and "heirloom" are interchangeable terms in this case, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. :)

A Handy Tip for Cooking Fresh Eggs

2011-03-24T17:19:00.003-05:00

I am so excited about this tip, I just had to share it with everyone. Now some of you who have had chickens for a while may already know about this, but for those (like me!) who didn't . . . it may be helpful. :)

I love having fresh eggs to enjoy and our hens keep us very well-supplied! The only thing that I don't like about fresh eggs is trying to peel them after hard-boiling. Fresh eggs just don't peel well at all, and I hated how my deviled eggs would come out looking like they'd been through a battle! Plus, a lot of the egg white is wasted when half of it gets stuck on the shell. I read a tip in a magazine that suggested cracking the shells of the hot eggs all over before soaking them in cool water. That helped, but who really wants to be handling hot eggs (it was awkward with gloves)? Not me. I was resigned to doing it this way, until a friend of my mom's shared this blog link with her.

Turns out the best way to "hard-boil" a fresh egg is to STEAM it in a steamer over boiling water! Who knew? I tried it last night and lo and behold, my eggs peeled much better than ever before. There were still some that ended up with "pock marks" but that may have been because I was in a hurry while peeling them. Here is how I did it:

Put eggs (I used six) in a steamer basket above a pot with a small amount of hot water. Bring the water to a boil. When it starts boiling, cover the pot and steam for 20 minutes (next time I might go a teeny bit longer--maybe 21-22 min.--just because some of my whites came out a little soft). Soak eggs in cold water for a little while, until cool enough to peel. Voila! Easy-to-peel steamed eggs. :)

Photo credit: sxc.hu

A Homemade Life: A Natural Remedy for Earaches/Ear Infections

2011-03-23T14:40:00.017-05:00

This morning Julia awoke complaining that her ear hurt. She's had a cold, so I immediately figured an ear infection might be developing (seems to be fairly normal--with my kids, anyway). I quickly headed to the kitchen to make some garlic oil. This is my favorite natural remedy for earaches and ear infections, which I learned about on WellTellMe. I like to avoid antibiotics whenever possible, and this treatment works like a charm most of the time! Garlic is one of those amazing foods that has wonderful healing properties. It is a natural antibiotic, and I love being able to use what I have on hand to treat an ear problem rather than having to make a trip to the doctor. (Although I do still recommend going to the dr. for a persistent earache or infection! :))

Here is how I make it:

Warm 2-3 T. of olive oil. Mince or press a clove of garlic into the oil and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Strain out the garlic. Use a medicine dropper to put a few drops into the affected ear. (Have the child tip their head for a little bit so the oil doesn't run back out.) I also find it helpful to have a tissue handy to soak up any oil that does escape. :)

I hope this remedy might be helpful for some of you, too! Do you have a favorite natural remedy (for anything) you'd like to share?

Photo credit: sxc.hu

Recipe Rave: Gourmet Garlic Chicken Pizza

2011-03-19T14:45:00.004-05:00

We recently tried another fabulous (and I do mean fabulous!!) pizza recipe from Tammy's Recipes. This is a "knock-off" of a Papa Murphy's pizza. Well, I've never had Papa Murphy's (we don't have them around here) but this pizza was super delicious, and I'm so glad we tried it. I will definitely be making it again and again! Way back many years ago when I was in college, I once had a garlic chicken pizza at Pizza Hut. I honestly don't remember exactly what it tasted like, only that it was really yummy, and I wished for years that I could recreate it. While this pizza isn't exactly the same as that one, it definitely satisfied my desire for a good garlic chicken pizza.

I made my own ranch dressing for the sauce, and used a little less cheese, but other than that I made the recipe just as it was written. If you like to try different varieties of pizza, you should definitely try this recipe!! I give it 10 out of 10 stars!!

The ABCs of Me

2011-03-17T23:09:00.009-05:00

Every once in a while I have a night when I can't get to sleep. Apparently this is one of those nights. So, I'm spending a little time online in the hopes that I can make myself sleepy. :) I figured this was a good time to do the ABCs of Me meme that I've seen on a couple friends' blogs . . . so here ya go!

A. Age: 33 . . . but not for long. I'll turn 34 in April! How is it that I can be 34 and still not feel any different than I did at 22?

B. Bed size: Queen. Lots of times we wish it was a king . . . like when we've had a baby sleeping with us, or when all three kids decide to pile in with us for some snuggle time when they wake up. Oh well, it's cozy!

C. Chore you dislike: Yes. Haha, not really . . . I don't mind a lot of my chores. I guess washing the dishes (what few I have to wash by hand) is one of my least favorites. And cleaning the shower. And dusting!

D. Dogs: Nope. I hope we might get one someday, but it has to be an outside dog, and preferably a largish one--like a lab. :)

E. Essential start to your day: Well, breakfast for one. And a shower ranks up there pretty high!

F. Favorite color: blue, blue, blue!

G. Gold or silver: Both. My wedding rings are gold, as is the only other ring I usually wear. And some of my necklaces are gold, but most are silver. I tend to be drawn more toward silver these days, but I like both.

H. Height: 5 ft. 4 inches. I'm a shorty! :)

I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano, since I was 5. Unfortunately I rarely practice anymore, so I'm afraid I'm pretty rusty these days! I also own a guitar, which I always thought I would like to learn . . . but I could never get past the sore fingers every time I tried. Maybe one of the kids will want to learn someday, so I'm holding onto it for now.

J. Job title: Mommy, wife, homemaker. What I always wanted.

K. Kids: yes, three. The best little people on earth!

L. Live: NH, in the woods. It's kinda hard to live in NH and not live in (or near) the woods, actually. Although it can be done in some places. :)

M. Mum's name: Since she has a blog too, and likes to maintain some anonymity, I'll just call her by her bloggy name: Mrs. T!

N. Nicknames: Yes, my little sister always calls me Pooky. I'm sure there are others, but that's the most famous one. :)

O. Overnight hospital stays: Yes. Just 2 nights in the hospital after I had Sam. Let me just say that was one verrrrry nice part of having the other two babies at home. (Just one of the many nice parts, actually. :))

P. Pet peeves: when I misspell something. When other people misspell something (don't get me started on the texting generation of spellers ;)). I really only find it particularly annoying when it's a professional person/business that doesn't spell correctly. For example, I recently saw this in a restaurant menu: "Thank you for your busyness!" So it doesn't always annoy me, sometimes it just makes me laugh. :)

Q. Quote from a movie: "This is true love. You think this happens every day?" (Yes, I am married to a Princess Bride fan. :))

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: 2. Older brother, younger sister.

T. Time you wake up: varies every day. Let's say I aim for 6 am, but it's a rare day that I actually get up then. Tomorrow will probably not be too good, considering my bout with insomnia tonight!!

U. University: I'm a graduate of NBBC, which is now a part of Northland International University.

V. Veggies you don't like: Hmmm, I don't really eat many unusual veggies so I can't think of any that I know for sure I don't like. Maybe eggplant? I guess I should broaden my veggie horizons!

W. What makes you run late: my kids, sometimes. I really try not to run late though. Being late for something is another one of my pet peeves (in myself). :)

X. X-rays you've had: None that I can think of. Hooray for good health!

Y. Yummy food you make: Why, all of it, of course! ;) Seriously, I hear about it from my kids if something is not yummy in their opinion (but they still have to eat it). One of my favorite foods that I make is quesadillas. A favorite dessert is hot fudge pudding cake. Mmmm.

Z. Zoo animal favorites. Well, I haven't been to a zoo since college. Unless you count the little petting zoo at the Creation Museum. The camel there was really cool!

So there you have it. All kinds of random things about me that you may or may not have known before. And now . . . *yawn* . . . I think I'm getting sleepy. So it's off to bed I go, in the hopes of falling asleep this time!!

1,000+!!!

2011-03-15T20:40:00.004-05:00

1,002!!!

Oops! I had been intending to watch closely and see when I hit 1000 posts here, and I just tonight realized that yesterday's post was #1001!!! My grand plan was to do a giveaway when I hit 1000. But alas . . . now I am past that and I have nothing ready to give away! Well. I will just have to remedy that asap. :) I won't make any promises, but you can hopefully look for a giveaway sometime within the next month . . . in honor of reaching this milestone. It's also cool that 1000 posts closely coincides with my 6 year blogaversary--which just happened to be yesterday (another fact I didn't realize until today :)).

And yes, I realize that compared to a lot of bloggers, 1000 is not a lot of posts. :) However, it seems like a big number to me . . . I guess I am a chatterbox (at least on the blog!).

Homeschooling Update, Week 26: A day in our school

2011-03-14T21:35:00.009-05:00

I’ve probably described our typical homeschooling day on here before, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of what we do. We are zooming along through the school year, with only 10 weeks left to go (at least by the schedule--I’m planning to fit those 10 weeks into 8, though :)).

My goal is to start school around 9-9:30 am each day, but in reality that rarely happens. Sometimes it’s more like 10-10:30; it just depends what time I get up and get moving, how early (or late) I exercise and get a shower . . . stuff like that. Anyway, at this point school usually only takes us about 2 hours or less, so it’s not a big deal if we start a little later.

The first thing we do is workbooks. These are done at the kitchen table, and we usually do them in the same order every day. We start with Reading. Sam is doing really well with that, and I’ve been so encouraged, especially when I compare this year to last year and all the struggles he had with reading. There are 231 lessons in the book, and he is on lesson 195, so we should easily finish it by the end of this year. Which is cool, because next year I get to start over with Julia!

After Reading, we move on to Language. Sam is on lesson 77 in this book, out of 100 lessons, so we will finish this one a little bit early. I love the thoroughness and gradual building of this book . . . it doesn’t take much time each day, and is quite repetetive, but I really like that because I can tell it’s sinking in. :) We’ve been learning about nouns, pronouns, and action verbs. We’ve also studied things like initials, periods, seasons, months, days of the week, address and phone number, and Sam has memorized several poems.

Language is followed by Math. We have just started into a unit about basic multiplication. Up to this point we have done lots of adding and subtracting of numbers up to 40. I appreciate that Singapore Math doesn’t focus so much on memorization at this point, as on understanding concepts. They use lots of pictures and manipulatives, which helps make it fun. It seems to be quite a different method from the way I was taught, so I’m learning as we go along, too. :) Sam enjoys it and is doing fairly well with it, so I am happy about that.

We save Handwriting for last, with good reason. This is still Sam’s most hated subject--not because he actually struggles with it, but because he perceives it as “hard” and just doesn’t enjoy it. For a while I was pushing him through the lessons faster, trying to do 2 or 3 days’ worth in 1 day, but I’ve decided to slow down again. My goal was to get through it early so we’d have some time at the end of the year with no handwriting, but I think it will go more smoothly if I back off . . . so I am. Speaking of handwriting . . . how many of you use an actual curriculum? I’m considering skipping this subject next year, and then moving him on to cursive a year or two later, but I just don’t know yet. Do you think it’s an essential subject or not? I think it’s good to teach him to be disciplined even in a subject he doesn’t like--and to write neatly (which he does pretty well)--but I am wondering if it’s worth it to spend the money on the curriculum when he already gets some copywork practice with Language. Just thinking out loud here . . . please share your thoughts!

Anyway, in this subject I think we are pretty much on schedule--maybe a little bit behind, but not much.

After we get the workbooks done, it’s our favorite time--couch time! Here is the stack of books we are currently working on:

We actually finished the Boxcar Children (Treehouse Mystery) today, and will start on the next one tomorrow. We have been working our way through these since the beginning of the school year, and Sam is still into them as much as ever. I think we will stop when we get to the end of the original series, and start into something else. I’d like to get him started on the Happy Hollisters, a series I loved as a kid. Just got to find a set for a decent price on Ebay! I was able to borrow a few from my mom and grampa, but I think there are around 30+ in the series, so if Sam really likes them I will have to find more!

We are enjoying all the other read-alouds, too. Tomorrow we will finish In Grandma’s Attic. At first the kids weren’t too excited about this book, but now Sam and Julia both really enjoy it. We have a few of the others in the series, so I might see if they want me to read those, too. Wild Places is a new favorite--we have been learning about jungles/rainforests, and Sam was fascinated to learn about Pygmies. :) He has now decided he wants to be a jungle explorer when he grows up. As long as he can drive a Hummer through the jungle. :) And in the First Book of Nature, we recently covered invertebrates, and now are learning about moths and butterflies. I’m thinking we might have to get one of those butterfly hatching kits and get to observe some up close this spring!

Well, I have made this long enough, and if you’re still awake, you’re doing good. :) I would love to hear how things are going for the rest of you who homeschool! Hope you enjoyed this peek into our homeschool day.

**For info on the curriculum we’re using for different subjects, check out this post. Just so I don’t have to re-link to everything right now. :)

Project: Simplify--Week 1

2011-03-11T19:19:00.003-05:00

I was so excited a few weeks back when I saw that Simple Mom was going to be hosting Project: Simplify, tackling one hot spot every week for 5 weeks. You may have noticed the "I'm Decluttering" button on my sidebar--this is what that's all about. :)

This week she assigned the first hot spot: closets/clothes! What a great place to start. Now I have to explain right off the bat that what you see in my closets and wardrobe is probably not even half of my clothes. I have lots more down in storage, which I also need to sort through, because honestly--I just have way too many clothes, more than I could possibly need! But just sorting through my clothes that were "out" was a good start. I was able to find 20+ items, and 2 pair of shoes to give away. Most of it will go into a Planet Aid box, and 1 bag will probably go to friends to see if they want any of it. It felt really good to pare things down a bit.

Here are the before pictures of my closet and wardrobe:

And here are the after pictures:

Ahhh, much better. Okay, I know it doesn't look *that* much different, but I do have fewer clothes in there, and they're a lot more organized. :)

I'm excited to see what hot spot we will be tackling next week! It's not too late to join in, for any of you who are interested--even if you don't have a blog, you can take photos and post them to Flickr. You can see all the details about Project: Simplify here.

February update

2011-03-10T17:53:00.002-05:00

Well, it's way past time for my monthly goals update . . . February flew by and we were well into March before I realized it! I'm sure you haven't all been waiting with bated breath for this update, though . . . but it's good for me to type it out and see how I'm doing.

So here's how it went with my goals in February:

Spiritual:

Not so great this month! I really struggled with getting up early. If you think of it, pray for me in this--that I would make myself get to bed early so I can get up early too. Early morning quiet time was kind of hit and miss this month, but I did manage to memorize about 7 more verses in Titus. This means I'm almost all the way through chapter 1! Just 2 more verses to go.

Physical:

I was definitely encouraged by my progress in this area. I haven't actually lost any weight still, but I was consistent with exercising on the elliptical. I'm thankful that I'm not getting bored with it, and I actually look forward to my workouts and challenging myself to go farther and work harder. My goal for Feb. was to spend 27-30 min. a day, 4-5 days a week, and I met that goal. Here are my stats for the month:

8 hrs. 58 min.

27.1 miles

11,088 calories burned

For March, my new time goal is 30-35 min. a day, and so far that is going well. Occasionally on Saturdays I push myself harder, and have gone 40 minutes (which is about 2 miles for me). I'm also hoping to lose some weight this month by more careful watching of my diet!

Mental:

I read both books on my list this month, and even added in a fun Agatha Christie mystery for a third book. I love that I've been able to keep up with my reading goals. I reviewed my "serious" book (What in the World is Going On) in an earlier post, and I also really enjoyed Sidetracked Home Executives, which a friend lent to me. This book is by Peggy Jones and Pam Young, the ladies who were the inspiration for Flylady. I'd heard of them, but had never read any of their books before. My friend lent me several others of their books too, which I am hoping to work my way through in the coming months. Oh yes, and my other fun read was The Seven Dials Mystery--one that I happened to miss when I was in a big Agatha Christie phase back in high school! :)

My goal is to read 2 more books this month: Love Food & Live Well by Chantel Hobbs, and Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. And I already managed to add in another mystery story which I read aloud to Jim--my "fun" book for the month! :)

Financial:

I feel like I completely flopped again on this one, at least in regards to budgeting . . . and this month hasn't been any better. I guess we can all see that this is one of my problem areas! Not that we have been going wild spending money, though . . . we've been doing fairly well with frugality, but I just haven't been keeping track of it, so I know there are some "holes" that we need to fix.

Relational:

Jim and I didn't get out for a date night in Feb, but we did have two very nice family dinners at home around Valentine's Day, so that was special and fun. And, we had a free month-long Netflix trial, which we took full advantage of--watching a couple of new movies every week. So that was one reason we ended up staying up late a lot last month! It was nice, relaxing time together though--so I guess we "dated" even though we didn't go out! :)

We were also able to have friends over for dinner one night, and I enjoyed a nice, long girls' day out with two of my good friends toward the end of the month. We shopped and shopped, and ate out twice! Such fun, and so refreshing to spend time with other young moms, talking, laughing and sharing.

Domestic:

I made progress in some areas, and not so much in others. I am so looking forward to doing a big spring cleaning, but not till school is finished . . . but I'm trying to keep up with basic chores (and not always succeeding). Reading Sidetracked Home Executives was very helpful and inspiring, though, and it made me feel there is hope even for a domestically challenged gal like me. ;) I just need to put some systems in place and then stick to them . . .

It's hard to believe that we are well into the new year now (I'm finally getting used to writing "2011" on checks and things), and I know this is where some of my goal-keeping energies start to lag. So I'm going to try to stay encouraged by the little bits of progress that I've made, and not feel like a failure for the things I haven't done so well with. :)

Happy Birthday, Sam!!!!!

2011-03-05T14:14:00.002-05:00

Sam turned 7 today!!! I can't believe how fast my little (big) boy is growing up. For the first time ever, he helped to decorate his cake (which was a Hummer). Somehow we have graduated from Thomas cakes to the world of 4-wheel-drive vehicle cakes. :)

I thought it would be fun to list seven things I love about Sam, in honor of his 7th birthday.

He has such a loving heart. He doesn't think himself too old to give me hugs and kisses (thankfully!) and he is very affectionate with those he loves.
His big, beautiful gray-green eyes totally melt my heart.
He is learning to be more responsible. He does a great job letting the chickens and ducks out every day and shutting them up at night, and collecting the eggs.
He is a good eater and is becoming much more willing to try new and different things. He compliments my cooking, which is also really nice! :)
He is very creative. He especially loves to draw and comes up with some very fun and interesting pictures!
He is brave (at least a lot more than he used to be ;)). He'll go flying down our hill on his sled without fear, and does the same on his bike in the summer (trust me, it took quite a while for him to get to that point, which is one reason I'm so proud of his bravery now!).
He is a good encourager. I've seen him take time to encourage others (including me!) when they're feeling down or struggling with something, and I appreciate that.

This boy is a lot of fun, and I am so glad God put him into our family. It is a blessing to watch him grow and learn, and we pray that he will one day be a man who loves and honors God above all else. Happy Birthday, Sam! We love you so much.