Neat little side note for today - on this day in history, January 11, 1935, Amerlia Earhart flew across the Pacific Ocean. Now, that is a common (daily!) occurrance in our day and age, but back in the day, it was a huge accomplishment!
Today, we are taking a detour in our history lessons - instead of 300 - 200 BC, where we are with the younger kids, and the early 1800s with the older two high school kids, we're doing a lesson on Amerlia Earhart! I found a neat little lesson on her on InstructorWeb.com here. There are mapping pages available just for this month from Bright Ideas Press here and notebooking pages here.
Maybe I have a little bit of an extra interest in Amellia Earhart because my grandmother-in-law was a W.A.S.P. during WWII - she's one of the neatest ladies I've known - she is in her 90s now and is still peppy and feisty! :) Most women I've known that are "peppy" or "feisty" have rounded the corner to become feminists... thankfully, grandma has not - she just wanted to fly, and that was a way she could fly *and* be helpful! She's never sought attention for her service (really, she downplays what she did) and says that she "just wanted to fly". How neat is that?
Friday, January 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Progress... stairway refinishing so far...
So, working on the stairs... the old, nasty carpet has got to go, but the project is bigger than I first anticipated (surprised? no... determined? you betcha!)
For once, I actually remembered to take a BEFORE shot before doing anything at all! :)
This is part way through taking the carpet off - man was it dirty under that carpet!! between my vacuum and my broom, I just about filled a trash bag with all the junk and gunk and old padding and scraped off glue stuff when it was all said and done!!
And this is the progression... top couple of stairs are stripped and sanded - next couple of stairs are stripped but not yet sanded - and the bottom couple of stairs need a bit more work before they are stripped and ready for sanding -
They are now sanded and ready for painting - of course I forgot to take a picture when it was all done, but little man was NEEDING his mama, so I put away the work stuff and cleaned up so he could get his nursey! :)
Bottom set of stairs still need stripping - hoping to get to that this weekend... and my husband and I finally picked out the paint colors we want to use, so once both sets of stairs are stripped and ready, we can start the job of painting! I'm so looking forward to having it all done!
In the meanwhile, I'm also finishing up painting the hallway, the entryway walls, and getting ready to get the last of the border wallpaper up in those areas - not so sure the paper will go up in the entryway, since the ceiling is so high and I don't have the equipment to get that high without using a big stick! ha! So, I might just content myself with painting that part and not putting up paper there...
I don't regret undertaking any of these projects for a moment, but I will be quite honest and say that I TOTALLY underestimated the amount of work I was getting myself in to!! (and it's taking longer than I had hoped for it to - but when it's all done, I'm going to absolutely love it, so it will be worth all the time and effort! :) My husband is already loving the difference, and that's really encouraging, too! :)
For once, I actually remembered to take a BEFORE shot before doing anything at all! :)
This is part way through taking the carpet off - man was it dirty under that carpet!! between my vacuum and my broom, I just about filled a trash bag with all the junk and gunk and old padding and scraped off glue stuff when it was all said and done!!
And this is the progression... top couple of stairs are stripped and sanded - next couple of stairs are stripped but not yet sanded - and the bottom couple of stairs need a bit more work before they are stripped and ready for sanding -
They are now sanded and ready for painting - of course I forgot to take a picture when it was all done, but little man was NEEDING his mama, so I put away the work stuff and cleaned up so he could get his nursey! :)
Bottom set of stairs still need stripping - hoping to get to that this weekend... and my husband and I finally picked out the paint colors we want to use, so once both sets of stairs are stripped and ready, we can start the job of painting! I'm so looking forward to having it all done!
In the meanwhile, I'm also finishing up painting the hallway, the entryway walls, and getting ready to get the last of the border wallpaper up in those areas - not so sure the paper will go up in the entryway, since the ceiling is so high and I don't have the equipment to get that high without using a big stick! ha! So, I might just content myself with painting that part and not putting up paper there...
I don't regret undertaking any of these projects for a moment, but I will be quite honest and say that I TOTALLY underestimated the amount of work I was getting myself in to!! (and it's taking longer than I had hoped for it to - but when it's all done, I'm going to absolutely love it, so it will be worth all the time and effort! :) My husband is already loving the difference, and that's really encouraging, too! :)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Quotable quotes
I was looking for a specific quote the other day - we saw a sign at Hobby Lobby some time back but did not have the budget to purchase said sign at the time... when we went back later with the intention (and funds) to purchase it, we could not find it... anyway, in looking for it, I came across this one - good food for thought! :)
"Those who look for the good in others will naturally bring out the good in themselves."
Something to ponder today. :)
on other notes, if you know the quote I'm looking for, I'd love it if you would forward it to me!
It goes along the idea that children are love you can touch, or love personified or something like that... my husband recalls it more specifically, along the lines of "Children are love in physical form" or something similar to that... we were wanting to get or make a wood "antiqued" sign with that on it for the living room...
"Those who look for the good in others will naturally bring out the good in themselves."
Something to ponder today. :)
on other notes, if you know the quote I'm looking for, I'd love it if you would forward it to me!
It goes along the idea that children are love you can touch, or love personified or something like that... my husband recalls it more specifically, along the lines of "Children are love in physical form" or something similar to that... we were wanting to get or make a wood "antiqued" sign with that on it for the living room...
Thursday, January 3, 2013
knock knock!
Conversation between my just turned 2 year old Hannah and just turned 4 year old Benjamin:
Ben: Knock knock, Hannah!
Hannah: Knock knock, Ben!
Ben: No... knock, knock, Hannah!
Hannah: Knock, Ben...
Ben: No, you say "who's there?"
Hannah: Me!
**happy, smiley sighs** I love my kids!
Ben: Knock knock, Hannah!
Hannah: Knock knock, Ben!
Ben: No... knock, knock, Hannah!
Hannah: Knock, Ben...
Ben: No, you say "who's there?"
Hannah: Me!
**happy, smiley sighs** I love my kids!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Out with that old... carpet?!?!???
Yup - redecorating time is here!!
This is about the time that we *would* be moving into a new (to us) house on another base... but we aren't moving! (yeah!!!!!!!!!!!) We have our own home now, with plans to retire here when TJ's military service is all done, and I can paint, paper, decorate, put up nails, or do pretty much whatever (provided my husband approves and we can afford! TJ isn't picky and likes what I do with the decor, and has been great about helping pick out paint colors and even wallpaper border! He's so great about that, he doesn't even think I'm silly for doing it.. but he is thankful that I haven't asked him to move the bookshelves (again) in some time! *grin*
Last month's project was painting... the kitchen is done, the living room is done... upstairs hallway still needs doing, as does the entry way... but I need to buy more paint to finish the job, and that has to wait until next payday ;)
Last week's project was putting up wallpaper border in the kitchen and living room - I got some on a great deal... and then learned *why*! the "pre-pasted" paper wouldn't stick (oh, the frustrations and stress!! thankfully my dear sweet husband helped me see reason and I didn't throw the paper out, assuming it was ruined... instead he took me to the hardware store for wallpaper paste - good man, and good thought!! that did the trick!) paper is up and looks so nice!
This week's project... or maybe it will be this MONTH's project... is the stairs! Dirty, stained, and in some places worn right through carpet... yuck! We've talked about replacing it for almost as long as we have lived here, but when we got an estimate to get it done, we knew that is simply NOT in the budget! Well, we decided to rip out the old and clean it up real good and paint the stairs :) We have a split level entry, thankfully!! I stripped off the carpet and spent a good (intense!) FOUR hours scraping the old padding, glue, and gunk off, as well as pulling out the carpet tacks and staples, and then finally sanding the now bare upper set of stairs... yes, I'm taking before, during, and after pictures! I'll share them when I get it finished :) anyway, my hands are all sorts of sore from doing the top set, so I'm waiting a day or so before tackling the lower set. We also still need to pick out paint for them... debating on if we'll do a two tone on the stairs or if we'll do a single color - not sure yet! We just might play around with that before we decide. ;) Either way, you'll see the finished product when I post pictures :) Still, I was beyond amazed at how much dirt and junk was trapped under the carpet that I did rip out - eeeeewwwww!!!!!!
Next up, we'll see... we need to replace our water heater (praying it holds out until we get our tax return! we've had it go out a few times, so we're very much looking forward to changing that gas/ propane thing to an electric one! -- with the eventual hope to get solar panels so that we can utilitze our lovely natural sun out here in Big Sky Country!! but that will probably be a while in coming... those solar panels and installation are PRICEY. We also have projects planned for the barn and the chicken shed, but those have to wait until spring at least anyway - so for now, the focus is on the inside of the house! :)
Pictures coming soon....
This is about the time that we *would* be moving into a new (to us) house on another base... but we aren't moving! (yeah!!!!!!!!!!!) We have our own home now, with plans to retire here when TJ's military service is all done, and I can paint, paper, decorate, put up nails, or do pretty much whatever (provided my husband approves and we can afford! TJ isn't picky and likes what I do with the decor, and has been great about helping pick out paint colors and even wallpaper border! He's so great about that, he doesn't even think I'm silly for doing it.. but he is thankful that I haven't asked him to move the bookshelves (again) in some time! *grin*
Last month's project was painting... the kitchen is done, the living room is done... upstairs hallway still needs doing, as does the entry way... but I need to buy more paint to finish the job, and that has to wait until next payday ;)
Last week's project was putting up wallpaper border in the kitchen and living room - I got some on a great deal... and then learned *why*! the "pre-pasted" paper wouldn't stick (oh, the frustrations and stress!! thankfully my dear sweet husband helped me see reason and I didn't throw the paper out, assuming it was ruined... instead he took me to the hardware store for wallpaper paste - good man, and good thought!! that did the trick!) paper is up and looks so nice!
This week's project... or maybe it will be this MONTH's project... is the stairs! Dirty, stained, and in some places worn right through carpet... yuck! We've talked about replacing it for almost as long as we have lived here, but when we got an estimate to get it done, we knew that is simply NOT in the budget! Well, we decided to rip out the old and clean it up real good and paint the stairs :) We have a split level entry, thankfully!! I stripped off the carpet and spent a good (intense!) FOUR hours scraping the old padding, glue, and gunk off, as well as pulling out the carpet tacks and staples, and then finally sanding the now bare upper set of stairs... yes, I'm taking before, during, and after pictures! I'll share them when I get it finished :) anyway, my hands are all sorts of sore from doing the top set, so I'm waiting a day or so before tackling the lower set. We also still need to pick out paint for them... debating on if we'll do a two tone on the stairs or if we'll do a single color - not sure yet! We just might play around with that before we decide. ;) Either way, you'll see the finished product when I post pictures :) Still, I was beyond amazed at how much dirt and junk was trapped under the carpet that I did rip out - eeeeewwwww!!!!!!
Next up, we'll see... we need to replace our water heater (praying it holds out until we get our tax return! we've had it go out a few times, so we're very much looking forward to changing that gas/ propane thing to an electric one! -- with the eventual hope to get solar panels so that we can utilitze our lovely natural sun out here in Big Sky Country!! but that will probably be a while in coming... those solar panels and installation are PRICEY. We also have projects planned for the barn and the chicken shed, but those have to wait until spring at least anyway - so for now, the focus is on the inside of the house! :)
Pictures coming soon....
Happy new year, welcome 2013!!
So it's a new year (again?!?? how did that happen already??) and the "thing to do" is to make resolutions...
so, if I were to make the resolutions I would like to keep, my list would include
- always be positive
- never say anything I shouldn't
- lose 20 pounds
- exercise 5 times a week
- budget better this year
and well, yeah... those aren't going to happen... and even if I did lose 20 pounds, I'd likely gain half of it back just in time to make a new resolution to lose weight NEXT new year!
So... instead of resolving, I'm going to goal set! (same thing, but less incriminating if I don't accomplish them!)
- first and foremost, to read to my children from the scriptures daily... we use to be so good about it, and somehow just got busy... having 9 kids is not an excuse to go slack on raising them in the Lord... this month we are focusing on the book of Proverbs, with the goal of reading one chapter each day (preferably at breakfast time)
- second, and right along with the first, to complete a read-through-the-Bible in a year again! TJ and I did this for 2012 and it was a great reminder of many parts of scripture that I had forgotten... not to mention it helped break in the Bible my dear sweet husband gave me last year, since my previous one wore out and much of the spine is coming out of the glue and the cover is pretty worn... but I've had it a long time, and it's been through many phases of life with me - my new one is large print for my aging eyes (ha!) and much easier for me to read :) still my much preferred King James version, but with the added bonus of being more visible :) even when nursing my little one and not able to hold the book in my hands while reading :) last year (2012) we did a chronological read-through - this year we are doing a cover to cover read-through :)
- third, which probably goes hand in hand with the first two, is to be more patient... I've been working on this, and on making sure my priorities are more in line with what they should be (despite tangents and projects and redecorating kicks!) and have been doing better... but there's still room to improve, and it's my goal to continue working toward that end this year :)
- fourth, what kind of new year's goals would it be without adding in weight loss?? I have more than enough extra pounds for a mom of nine, though I do hear people comment "you look great for having so many kids!!" but that leads me to wonder, what do they expect a mom of many to look like, after all?? so, my more realistic goal is to lose 10 pounds... more if I can keep it off... ultimately, I could stand to lose 20 and not be very thin (my husband doesn't care for very thin, and honestly, I'm not sure I could keep that kind of figure... I stopped running long ago, and my aging joints just aren't up for that kind of stress these days... I'm getting older and I'm feeling it!
- next, yes, exercise... yeah, I get some exercise cleaning the barn, the chicken shed, and keeping up with kids and house and home! But it isn't usually the type that helps cardio health, so I'm hoping to get in exercise at least once or twice a week... but being realistic with my life and responsibilities, I doubt I could do more than that without dropping something else that truly does need doing!
- finances... what would a new year goal or resolution list be without something about finances?? for 2013, my goal is to be a better steward, to budget better, spend more wisely, and not give in to those un-necessary whimsical purchases that are forgotten in a day or a week! I'm usually fairly good about that, but I could do better!
- finally, to be more forgiving, more loving, more kind to those around me... most especially family, but also those outside of the family - people can say and/ or do hurtful things, and it's easy to become offended or upset when people pass unfair judgements or whatever... what isn't as easy, but is better to do, is to forgive them and treat them with the caring and kindness that we would have liked them to extend to us. We are different - we stand out - we are called to be different... it's a good thing, if it's done in obedience and not in legalism or for show... strangers or passing acquaintences just don't understand that sometimes, and their comments can be hurtful - those people need forgiveness more than they need our defensiveness. :) Most of the time I can take it like water off of a duck's back - but sometimes comments rub the wrong way, like those who see a large family and assume there is some sort of perversion going on, or that the large family *must* be on welfare or whatever, when in fact the husband and wife are very much in love with one another and love having many children... and while we will certainly never be rich (and don't want to be either, for that matter!), we also aren't on welfare... but that's a sensitive point that really shouldn't be - so I need to work on that ;)
- and well, most finally, to continue to not have a reality show! ha! the thing about large families and reality shows just doesn't make sense to me... I haven't seen one (and really have no desire to see one - I certainly do not miss having tv channels in our home, it's been more than a decade, and we really prefer it this way! *grin*) but I also don't understand why anyone would want camera crews and people constantly in their home, losing their privacy and what not, all so that they can show the world how they live... no thanks - I'd much rather maintain our mostly quiet lifestyle :) (for the record, I'm not knocking anyone who does have other opinions on this, and I've heard great things about the Duggars and did read an exerpt of an interview by Michelly Duggar about why they do what they do - I respect her reasoning that she shared, but it is so not me! ;) I don't even like to have my picture taken! ha! :) (and well, that would be on my husband's wish-list for me for the year... to not dislike that so much... but he has gotten some snapshots of me doing stuff, so that my picture is also in the family scrapbooks, lol...
There are other goals too, but they are more thoughts on the loose than set goals... my brain runs too much on a rabbit trail to write them all down! :)
Happy new year, and wishing you all the best in keeping your goals for this new year! :)
so, if I were to make the resolutions I would like to keep, my list would include
- always be positive
- never say anything I shouldn't
- lose 20 pounds
- exercise 5 times a week
- budget better this year
and well, yeah... those aren't going to happen... and even if I did lose 20 pounds, I'd likely gain half of it back just in time to make a new resolution to lose weight NEXT new year!
So... instead of resolving, I'm going to goal set! (same thing, but less incriminating if I don't accomplish them!)
- first and foremost, to read to my children from the scriptures daily... we use to be so good about it, and somehow just got busy... having 9 kids is not an excuse to go slack on raising them in the Lord... this month we are focusing on the book of Proverbs, with the goal of reading one chapter each day (preferably at breakfast time)
- second, and right along with the first, to complete a read-through-the-Bible in a year again! TJ and I did this for 2012 and it was a great reminder of many parts of scripture that I had forgotten... not to mention it helped break in the Bible my dear sweet husband gave me last year, since my previous one wore out and much of the spine is coming out of the glue and the cover is pretty worn... but I've had it a long time, and it's been through many phases of life with me - my new one is large print for my aging eyes (ha!) and much easier for me to read :) still my much preferred King James version, but with the added bonus of being more visible :) even when nursing my little one and not able to hold the book in my hands while reading :) last year (2012) we did a chronological read-through - this year we are doing a cover to cover read-through :)
- third, which probably goes hand in hand with the first two, is to be more patient... I've been working on this, and on making sure my priorities are more in line with what they should be (despite tangents and projects and redecorating kicks!) and have been doing better... but there's still room to improve, and it's my goal to continue working toward that end this year :)
- fourth, what kind of new year's goals would it be without adding in weight loss?? I have more than enough extra pounds for a mom of nine, though I do hear people comment "you look great for having so many kids!!" but that leads me to wonder, what do they expect a mom of many to look like, after all?? so, my more realistic goal is to lose 10 pounds... more if I can keep it off... ultimately, I could stand to lose 20 and not be very thin (my husband doesn't care for very thin, and honestly, I'm not sure I could keep that kind of figure... I stopped running long ago, and my aging joints just aren't up for that kind of stress these days... I'm getting older and I'm feeling it!
- next, yes, exercise... yeah, I get some exercise cleaning the barn, the chicken shed, and keeping up with kids and house and home! But it isn't usually the type that helps cardio health, so I'm hoping to get in exercise at least once or twice a week... but being realistic with my life and responsibilities, I doubt I could do more than that without dropping something else that truly does need doing!
- finances... what would a new year goal or resolution list be without something about finances?? for 2013, my goal is to be a better steward, to budget better, spend more wisely, and not give in to those un-necessary whimsical purchases that are forgotten in a day or a week! I'm usually fairly good about that, but I could do better!
- finally, to be more forgiving, more loving, more kind to those around me... most especially family, but also those outside of the family - people can say and/ or do hurtful things, and it's easy to become offended or upset when people pass unfair judgements or whatever... what isn't as easy, but is better to do, is to forgive them and treat them with the caring and kindness that we would have liked them to extend to us. We are different - we stand out - we are called to be different... it's a good thing, if it's done in obedience and not in legalism or for show... strangers or passing acquaintences just don't understand that sometimes, and their comments can be hurtful - those people need forgiveness more than they need our defensiveness. :) Most of the time I can take it like water off of a duck's back - but sometimes comments rub the wrong way, like those who see a large family and assume there is some sort of perversion going on, or that the large family *must* be on welfare or whatever, when in fact the husband and wife are very much in love with one another and love having many children... and while we will certainly never be rich (and don't want to be either, for that matter!), we also aren't on welfare... but that's a sensitive point that really shouldn't be - so I need to work on that ;)
- and well, most finally, to continue to not have a reality show! ha! the thing about large families and reality shows just doesn't make sense to me... I haven't seen one (and really have no desire to see one - I certainly do not miss having tv channels in our home, it's been more than a decade, and we really prefer it this way! *grin*) but I also don't understand why anyone would want camera crews and people constantly in their home, losing their privacy and what not, all so that they can show the world how they live... no thanks - I'd much rather maintain our mostly quiet lifestyle :) (for the record, I'm not knocking anyone who does have other opinions on this, and I've heard great things about the Duggars and did read an exerpt of an interview by Michelly Duggar about why they do what they do - I respect her reasoning that she shared, but it is so not me! ;) I don't even like to have my picture taken! ha! :) (and well, that would be on my husband's wish-list for me for the year... to not dislike that so much... but he has gotten some snapshots of me doing stuff, so that my picture is also in the family scrapbooks, lol...
There are other goals too, but they are more thoughts on the loose than set goals... my brain runs too much on a rabbit trail to write them all down! :)
Happy new year, and wishing you all the best in keeping your goals for this new year! :)
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Little man... 3 months
So our littlest man is growing and soooo sweet... I have been bad about taking pictures, but did get a few this week! This one is my favorite :)
Life stays super busy over here with many, many things in progress or finishing up or just beginning - and true to that theme, I have to run! Have a great week!
Life stays super busy over here with many, many things in progress or finishing up or just beginning - and true to that theme, I have to run! Have a great week!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
oh deer!
So here is the promised picture of the deer... this is after it was skinned and gutted (by our friends, not me, lol) and before I did the butchering and freezing the meat... we have since had several meals from the meat gotten from this deer and it is sooooo good!! :)
I'm thinking this may be the "push" that gets us out hunting in the next year or two! (residemcy and hunting license rules depending of course!)
Yummmm.... doesn't look tasy in the picture, haha, but all finished up it sure was!
I'm thinking this may be the "push" that gets us out hunting in the next year or two! (residemcy and hunting license rules depending of course!)
Yummmm.... doesn't look tasy in the picture, haha, but all finished up it sure was!
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Running, running!
There is a song by Point of Grace that talks about if there were only more than 24 hours in a day... whoooo boy, can I relate! It's busy here, but a good kind of busy...
Little man is 10 weeks old now (how did that go so fast??), nursing like a champ, and is just so sweet and cuddly and snuggly... *happy sighs* he is just awesome! The next youngest is doing great with adjusting to not being the family baby, though she's still rather little (all of our others are high on the height charts and almost as high on the weight charts - she is much more of a petite little thing, but boy is she active!! Thankfully, she also loves her sleep, so she naps in the afternoon and goes down easily at night, so I sure can't complain about her busy little self during waking hours (plus she's just so darn cute!!) Yeah, this mama is biased... but she's also right, haha! All the kids are doing well, have been keeping busy as ever with school, and ready (more than ready!) for a break!
Well, our second oldest had foot surgery (corrective, not due to an injury) earlier this week, after lots of doctor appointments and trips to town in preparation for surgery... she is in a cast and mastering the use of crutches - which is good because after this foot heals and has regained strength, she is set to have surgery on her other foot to correct her pronation and flat foot issues... hopefully that will alleviate the pain she's dealt with over the past few years...
So, between surgery on Tuesday and Thanksgiving on Thursday, we took the whole week off of school... and since my husband had to be away over Thanksgiving and the weekend for work, we're having our family Thanksgiving on Monday, and since he has a few week days off next week, we're extending our break for an additional week! That's ok though, since we are about a month ahead in school, having started late summer and having taken less of a "baby break" than planned...
What have we been up to then? Ha - you had to ask! ;)
It's that time again... over the course of TJ's military career, we have moved right about every other year... maybe not to a different base each time, but for varying reasons (a bigger house, housing renovations, moving to a different base, etc...) we have moved every other year. Well, we've been here just over two years and WE ARE NOT MOVING!!!!! (yeah!!!) but that moving things around and fixing things up bug has hit and with a crazy vengeance (if only it came with an extra dose of energy, ha! I'm feeling every one of my fourty years tonight!!!) So, I painted the kitchen... we've had sterile military white for so long... don't get me wrong, I like white... but it was time for something DIFFERENT... but I very much prefer earth tones, so I didn't go wild! *grin* The kitchen walls were painted on Thanksgiving day :) I'm very thankful that I had the whole day to get it done, too, because I'm seriously out of practice! It took almost as long to prep for painting as it did to actually paint the room! but it's done...
Black Friday... I have a wonderful Black Friday tradition that I've held dear for many years now... STAYING HOME!! Well, this year I broke with tradition - made a trip to town for another can of paint! Then scooted back home just as fast as is legal to avoid crazy shopper people! One wall in the living room accomplished and little man decided he had enough and it was time for a super-long "nursey", so I settled in with the kiddos for an evening of popcorn and movie and snuggles with little ones. *happy sigh*
Saturday... that can of paint was just calling to me... and the unpainted walls in the living room beckoned for attention... so since the kids were all actively busy with various play activities or crafts, I undertook the project - I am so loving this new color of paint!! It's kind of a sand color, but a little darker... very earth tone-ish, and very not white! Now I just need to find some nice, simple, coordinating border wallpaper to finish the touch!
Then, when I'm thinking of rest and Sunday and taking a day off of projects we were offered a deer! Some friends who are all avid hunters had a great year hunting this year, and my friend has been butchering left and right - her huuuuuge freezer is so packed full that she had to pressure can the rest of the meat she had because it wouldn't all fit in her freezer... and then her husband came home... with another deer! She asked if we could use it - they would hang and skin it if I wanted to butcher it, so cool! I've never butchered a deer before, so had to google some instructions... she told me it's much like butchering a pig, no problem!
Whew... picked up the deer late this afternoon, got it laid out on my butchering sheet on the table (used to be a bed sheet, then became a drop cloth for painting, and now is my butchering sheet) and got the deer up there (man was that a good weight! too bad I couldn't carry it by myself, haha! Thankfully my oldest stepped in and helped me get it from the van to the table) - got the meat grinder set up and ready, my butchering tools out, then sat to nurse little man so he would be happy while I worked :) then, got to it! Took a couple of hours, but we have some good sized roasts, tender backstraps, strips to make into jerky, and a huge bowl of meat waiting to grind up... but little man had waited long enough and was getting rather upset - so I put away in the freezer all that was done and refrigerated the rest... nursey-man is a happy, sleepy camper :) when he's done (typing while nursing, lol) then I'll get back to it...
Did I say back? Oh yeah, it's screamin'! but hey, it's been a productive week! and I'm really earning my Sunday day-of-rest! :)
I'll put up some pictures later... deer and paint :)
Little man is 10 weeks old now (how did that go so fast??), nursing like a champ, and is just so sweet and cuddly and snuggly... *happy sighs* he is just awesome! The next youngest is doing great with adjusting to not being the family baby, though she's still rather little (all of our others are high on the height charts and almost as high on the weight charts - she is much more of a petite little thing, but boy is she active!! Thankfully, she also loves her sleep, so she naps in the afternoon and goes down easily at night, so I sure can't complain about her busy little self during waking hours (plus she's just so darn cute!!) Yeah, this mama is biased... but she's also right, haha! All the kids are doing well, have been keeping busy as ever with school, and ready (more than ready!) for a break!
Well, our second oldest had foot surgery (corrective, not due to an injury) earlier this week, after lots of doctor appointments and trips to town in preparation for surgery... she is in a cast and mastering the use of crutches - which is good because after this foot heals and has regained strength, she is set to have surgery on her other foot to correct her pronation and flat foot issues... hopefully that will alleviate the pain she's dealt with over the past few years...
So, between surgery on Tuesday and Thanksgiving on Thursday, we took the whole week off of school... and since my husband had to be away over Thanksgiving and the weekend for work, we're having our family Thanksgiving on Monday, and since he has a few week days off next week, we're extending our break for an additional week! That's ok though, since we are about a month ahead in school, having started late summer and having taken less of a "baby break" than planned...
What have we been up to then? Ha - you had to ask! ;)
It's that time again... over the course of TJ's military career, we have moved right about every other year... maybe not to a different base each time, but for varying reasons (a bigger house, housing renovations, moving to a different base, etc...) we have moved every other year. Well, we've been here just over two years and WE ARE NOT MOVING!!!!! (yeah!!!) but that moving things around and fixing things up bug has hit and with a crazy vengeance (if only it came with an extra dose of energy, ha! I'm feeling every one of my fourty years tonight!!!) So, I painted the kitchen... we've had sterile military white for so long... don't get me wrong, I like white... but it was time for something DIFFERENT... but I very much prefer earth tones, so I didn't go wild! *grin* The kitchen walls were painted on Thanksgiving day :) I'm very thankful that I had the whole day to get it done, too, because I'm seriously out of practice! It took almost as long to prep for painting as it did to actually paint the room! but it's done...
Black Friday... I have a wonderful Black Friday tradition that I've held dear for many years now... STAYING HOME!! Well, this year I broke with tradition - made a trip to town for another can of paint! Then scooted back home just as fast as is legal to avoid crazy shopper people! One wall in the living room accomplished and little man decided he had enough and it was time for a super-long "nursey", so I settled in with the kiddos for an evening of popcorn and movie and snuggles with little ones. *happy sigh*
Saturday... that can of paint was just calling to me... and the unpainted walls in the living room beckoned for attention... so since the kids were all actively busy with various play activities or crafts, I undertook the project - I am so loving this new color of paint!! It's kind of a sand color, but a little darker... very earth tone-ish, and very not white! Now I just need to find some nice, simple, coordinating border wallpaper to finish the touch!
Then, when I'm thinking of rest and Sunday and taking a day off of projects we were offered a deer! Some friends who are all avid hunters had a great year hunting this year, and my friend has been butchering left and right - her huuuuuge freezer is so packed full that she had to pressure can the rest of the meat she had because it wouldn't all fit in her freezer... and then her husband came home... with another deer! She asked if we could use it - they would hang and skin it if I wanted to butcher it, so cool! I've never butchered a deer before, so had to google some instructions... she told me it's much like butchering a pig, no problem!
Whew... picked up the deer late this afternoon, got it laid out on my butchering sheet on the table (used to be a bed sheet, then became a drop cloth for painting, and now is my butchering sheet) and got the deer up there (man was that a good weight! too bad I couldn't carry it by myself, haha! Thankfully my oldest stepped in and helped me get it from the van to the table) - got the meat grinder set up and ready, my butchering tools out, then sat to nurse little man so he would be happy while I worked :) then, got to it! Took a couple of hours, but we have some good sized roasts, tender backstraps, strips to make into jerky, and a huge bowl of meat waiting to grind up... but little man had waited long enough and was getting rather upset - so I put away in the freezer all that was done and refrigerated the rest... nursey-man is a happy, sleepy camper :) when he's done (typing while nursing, lol) then I'll get back to it...
Did I say back? Oh yeah, it's screamin'! but hey, it's been a productive week! and I'm really earning my Sunday day-of-rest! :)
I'll put up some pictures later... deer and paint :)
Friday, September 21, 2012
Picture time!
The hospital "Daddy scrubs" - Daddy's feet in shoes were too big even for the extra large size "booties", so he had to sock it and leave the shoes behind! And who figured out the sizing for the jumpsuit?? Certainly not a tall American man, haha! These just barely fit... but they fit enough that he was able to be in the operating room with doctor approval! :)
And finally... after weeks of contractions, an unstable-lie "transverse-breech" baby, and a month of pre-eclampsia frustrations, this Mama was READY to have her sweet baby OUT and in her arms!!! Cesarean birth by necessity for the safety of both baby Caleb and me - but our OB did a wonderful job, and we pulled through with probably one of the easiest c-sections possible!
Caleb, just a few hours old... sweet little sleeper...
Fast forward two weeks to pictures taken yesterday and today!
Shhhh... baby sleeping...
and of course... baby feet!!!!
did I mention how much I **love** baby feet???
Happy, very contented Mama sighs... and lots of sweet nursey baby snuggles... what could be better??
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
He is here!
Well, he was here two weeks ago, haha, but as you can imagine it's been a busy couple of weeks with baby snuggles and healing from the pre-eclampsia and the subsequent cesarean section that brought our little man *out* to join our family!
Caleb Alexander was born September 4th at 3:44 pm, weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. He's strong and healthy, though a bit jaundiced, which will go away over the next few weeks with lots of nursing snuggles and sunbaths! :)
Our doctor did an awesome and amazing job on the c-section, with very little blood-loss for me, which is an accomplishment for that type of surgery! I'm sore but recovering well from the incision, up and about again and happy to have a large majority of my usual energy back! That last month of bedrest about drove me batty, haha - I don't stay still well, so that was a real test!
Anyway, thank you for your prayers - we are so thankful that the Lord saw fit to answer them in such a way!
I'll post pictures later. :)
Caleb Alexander was born September 4th at 3:44 pm, weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. He's strong and healthy, though a bit jaundiced, which will go away over the next few weeks with lots of nursing snuggles and sunbaths! :)
Our doctor did an awesome and amazing job on the c-section, with very little blood-loss for me, which is an accomplishment for that type of surgery! I'm sore but recovering well from the incision, up and about again and happy to have a large majority of my usual energy back! That last month of bedrest about drove me batty, haha - I don't stay still well, so that was a real test!
Anyway, thank you for your prayers - we are so thankful that the Lord saw fit to answer them in such a way!
I'll post pictures later. :)
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Growing, growing, growing...
It seems that the garden isn't the only thing growing these days...
My belly continues to grow and swell with the babe within, as well as my patience growing (or should I say, being stretched??)
It's hard to believe that we are still pregnant... our last five children have all been born before this point, and yet this little guy has still not made an appearance. Our check up with the OB yesterday had us tenatively scheduled for a c-section this morning, however, the amniocentesis came back unfavorable. It appears that his lungs are simply not ready for birth yet. I'm not sure who was more surprised, the doctor, Daddy, or me! So, we wait... and continue to wait...
I've never been accused of having patience be one of my best virtues, and it seems the Lord has seen fit to use this as yet another means of stretching me and growing me in that area.
That and putting stretch marks on my stretch marks! Wow, my belly is huge... my baby is huge - by ultrasound, he is measuring weeks ahead of dates, and at this rate, he's easily going to be our biggest baby yet by the time that he finally, FINALLY makes his appearance. Whenever that may finally be.
My belly continues to grow and swell with the babe within, as well as my patience growing (or should I say, being stretched??)
It's hard to believe that we are still pregnant... our last five children have all been born before this point, and yet this little guy has still not made an appearance. Our check up with the OB yesterday had us tenatively scheduled for a c-section this morning, however, the amniocentesis came back unfavorable. It appears that his lungs are simply not ready for birth yet. I'm not sure who was more surprised, the doctor, Daddy, or me! So, we wait... and continue to wait...
I've never been accused of having patience be one of my best virtues, and it seems the Lord has seen fit to use this as yet another means of stretching me and growing me in that area.
That and putting stretch marks on my stretch marks! Wow, my belly is huge... my baby is huge - by ultrasound, he is measuring weeks ahead of dates, and at this rate, he's easily going to be our biggest baby yet by the time that he finally, FINALLY makes his appearance. Whenever that may finally be.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
This year's canning projects...
Well, it's been a busy couple of months, taking advantage of produce sales and the local Saturday farmer's market, putting up for winter; and since I had to re-plant this year's garden two or three times (depending on the veggie) with our crazy start to the growing season, I didn't want to take chances by waiting for the garden to be ready for harvest for most of my kitchen projects (though we should still have a good bit to put up in the freezers when it's all done growing for the year). Anyway, I made good use of the canner this year - and just because I love to be able to look back each year and see my "canning harvest", I took a picture!
We have sweet pickles, dill pickles, marinara sauce, salsa, cranberry sauce, raspberry cranberry sauce, apple-walnut cranberry sauce, apricot jam, raspberry jam, blackberry jam, strawberry jam, gooseberry jam, rhubarb jelly, spiced apple butter, apple sauce, pear butter, peaches, cherries, pearsauce, and 200 pounds of canned pears!
For lack of an actual canning closet or kitchen cabinets, we have improvised and use these panty cabinets that we bought a few years ago at Target - it works :) though some day I dream of having floor to ceiling cupboards along the window wall (leaving the windows uncovered of course!) - for right now, these work just fine, though, and if we did have the floor to ceiling cupboards, I doubtless would not be able to get those lower shelves at this point anyway, being so huge with our not-so-little baby growing within! :)
So the goal was to complete my canning to-do-list before baby-time - which usually falls around week 36. We're at week 32 and I just finished the pickles this weekend, completing my list (and filling all of my available space!) which means I'm done... at least for now ;) After baby is here, and the garden is finally ready to harvest, there will be more freezing to be done - in the meanwhile, I'm thankful for a few weeks off! :)
What to do with those weeks, you ask? Ha - never fear... with 8 (soon to be 9) children, we are NEVER lacking for things to do! This week my three oldest are finishing up everything needed for their 4-H submissions for the state fair. Interview judging is in a few days, so they are down to the final project-scramble. Once that is allllll done, we're all taking a week off of projects and just enjoying a few days of NO PROJECTS (**gasp**) - then I'm sure we'll find more to occupy ourselves! That and finishing up our summer school term (7 weeks total so that we have a head start - and so that after our newest little guy joins the family, we can take a month off and still be a little bit ahead of the game!)
Now, to stick to that "few days of no projects" idea... is that really and truly possible? We shall see...
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Preparing ahead...
As summer is here, gardens are blooming and growing, farmer's market is teeming with activity and fresh produce, and my belly is quickly expanding (oh my!!!) I'm working to get much of my canning done and get the freezer fully stocked so that it is ready for those initial days/weeks after our newest little one is born. It's a good feeling to see the canning cupboards fill with home canned foods for my family, and to see the freezer filling... of course, we are also still using some of the things going in to the freezer, so it's a process of making, using, and making again, haha - but I'm really looking forward to having it *filled* and ready for those few weeks that I'm not as active as normal and to have the ability to pull a homemade meal from the freezer in the morning to thaw and cook/ serve in the evening!
For canning, I'm still working on it... waiting for some things to come in to season... I cheated and used store-bought tomatos for my marinara sauce, though - so I have four large batches of marinara canned and ready... not making salsa this year since we still have a good amount left from last year... pickling cucmbers should be ready in a couple more weeks, and then I can get dill pickles (last year was my trial run on that one - it was a success, so I'm repeating it this year!) and sweet pickles (my "new thing" to try for this year) canned and done... jams and jellies galore, cranberry sauce (again, I cheated and used some that I had frozen last year when they were on a good sale, so I don't need to buy or make more this year, which is nice! We have just over 200 pounds of pears canned - most are just peeled and sliced and canned, some I made into pear sauce and pear butter, though, too. Still waiting for peaches and cherries to come into season - cherries are doing better - of course, I buy these at the store since we don't have cherry trees out here, and apples for making more apple butter and apple sauce for my sweet-toothed husband. :) The kids are all allergic to apples and peaches, so I only can those for my husband and myself, so those are not done in the large quantities that I do most everything else, which makes those batches faster and fairly easy to accomplish.
Freezing: I made a batch of 5 coffee cakes this morning - one is in the oven now for today's breakfast, the other four are in the freezer for later... I made a batch of scones the other day - I need to make another so that we have 4 or 5 breakfast meals of those... we have several pans of muffins in, but again, I need to make another big batch so that we have more than just two kinds in the freezer for more variety :) Of course banana bread, zuchinni bread (working on that one later today), pumpkin bread, pizza crust, pie crust, and some casseroles still need doing... I have 3 pans of lasagne and 4 pans of chicken-broccoli casserole frozen from last week's cook-ahead sessions... perhaps I'll put together more enchiladas as well... Of course we have our stockpile of pork from the pigs we butchered this year, and I've prepared and frozen in baggies papaya and strawberries for smoothies - adding blueberries in some bags for a little variety. We have between 70 and 80 bags of that put in the freezer (I lose count when we use some and freeze more - those fresh, 100% fruit smoothies are such a refreshing treat on these hot summer days!!!), and as they come into season (and better prices!) I hope to freeze more blueberries and strawberries for pies and what not, and am watching my rhubarb plants in the garden, waiting for a good harvest to add to our collection of frozen produce! :)
With our children's wide variety of food allergies and sensitivities it makes life soooo much easier to plan and prepare ahead - not to mention less expensive!
I'm thinking I need to go through recipe books and get some new ideas for freezer meals - main courses anyway, side dishes are usually freshly prepared rice a fruit and/ or veggie dish, and sometimes a dessert. Hmmm... chocolate cake freezes well... ;) at least, if you freeze it as dough and don't bake it first - makes for a funny texture if you bake *then* freeze it. Cookie dough is also an easy favorite - so when we make a batch of cookies, I'll usually triple the recipe and bake a quarter or a third of it and freeze the rest into little cookie balls for later use and convenience.
Hmmm... time to get back to work! :)
For canning, I'm still working on it... waiting for some things to come in to season... I cheated and used store-bought tomatos for my marinara sauce, though - so I have four large batches of marinara canned and ready... not making salsa this year since we still have a good amount left from last year... pickling cucmbers should be ready in a couple more weeks, and then I can get dill pickles (last year was my trial run on that one - it was a success, so I'm repeating it this year!) and sweet pickles (my "new thing" to try for this year) canned and done... jams and jellies galore, cranberry sauce (again, I cheated and used some that I had frozen last year when they were on a good sale, so I don't need to buy or make more this year, which is nice! We have just over 200 pounds of pears canned - most are just peeled and sliced and canned, some I made into pear sauce and pear butter, though, too. Still waiting for peaches and cherries to come into season - cherries are doing better - of course, I buy these at the store since we don't have cherry trees out here, and apples for making more apple butter and apple sauce for my sweet-toothed husband. :) The kids are all allergic to apples and peaches, so I only can those for my husband and myself, so those are not done in the large quantities that I do most everything else, which makes those batches faster and fairly easy to accomplish.
Freezing: I made a batch of 5 coffee cakes this morning - one is in the oven now for today's breakfast, the other four are in the freezer for later... I made a batch of scones the other day - I need to make another so that we have 4 or 5 breakfast meals of those... we have several pans of muffins in, but again, I need to make another big batch so that we have more than just two kinds in the freezer for more variety :) Of course banana bread, zuchinni bread (working on that one later today), pumpkin bread, pizza crust, pie crust, and some casseroles still need doing... I have 3 pans of lasagne and 4 pans of chicken-broccoli casserole frozen from last week's cook-ahead sessions... perhaps I'll put together more enchiladas as well... Of course we have our stockpile of pork from the pigs we butchered this year, and I've prepared and frozen in baggies papaya and strawberries for smoothies - adding blueberries in some bags for a little variety. We have between 70 and 80 bags of that put in the freezer (I lose count when we use some and freeze more - those fresh, 100% fruit smoothies are such a refreshing treat on these hot summer days!!!), and as they come into season (and better prices!) I hope to freeze more blueberries and strawberries for pies and what not, and am watching my rhubarb plants in the garden, waiting for a good harvest to add to our collection of frozen produce! :)
With our children's wide variety of food allergies and sensitivities it makes life soooo much easier to plan and prepare ahead - not to mention less expensive!
I'm thinking I need to go through recipe books and get some new ideas for freezer meals - main courses anyway, side dishes are usually freshly prepared rice a fruit and/ or veggie dish, and sometimes a dessert. Hmmm... chocolate cake freezes well... ;) at least, if you freeze it as dough and don't bake it first - makes for a funny texture if you bake *then* freeze it. Cookie dough is also an easy favorite - so when we make a batch of cookies, I'll usually triple the recipe and bake a quarter or a third of it and freeze the rest into little cookie balls for later use and convenience.
Hmmm... time to get back to work! :)
Sunday, June 17, 2012
27 weeks and growing...
My husband took this today at the rodeo... we are 27 weeks and 2 days now! And my little sweetie standing there with me is 18 months already!
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Butchering time... and a picture!
So it's butchering time again...
This year we are selling 2 1/2 pigs and keeping 1 1/2 - they got sooo big this year, too, so we have a good amount of meat from even just one pig!
Now, I don't know if it is nationwide or if it's a state law or what, but it is against USDA regulations for individuals to raise and butcher animals and then sell it... but we *can* raise and sell animals and have an approved butcher (one with a butchering license and passing health department inspections and what not) do the butchering. It is legal to butcher our own meat provided we don't sell it... all of this makes sense, because it protects the buyer/ consumer from getting meat butchered in a dirty environment and getting sick. Honestly, as big as I'm getting with this pregnancy, I'm thankful that I only needed to butcher ONE of them anyway! haha!
Here is a picture of the killed pig hanging, with me skinning it (though my husband also helped me skin - and was a tremendous help when it came time to take the head and feet off!!! I could not have done that part on my own - and was very thankful for his strength - and his reciprocating saw! - in getting that part of the job done!!!!
Anyway, he's skinned, all cut up and everything but the hams (which I wet cured and have the last of them in the smoker now, with others baked so they are fully cooked before freezing) and bacon (which is still in the wet cure, to be smoked early next week) is done! Hams will be finished by the end of today - yeah!!! and bacon will be finished by the middle of next week.
The other three pigs go to the butcher Monday morning - and I'm ready to see them go for the year! (though we'll also be looking forward to raising them again next year) and then I'll have a week or so before we get the meat from the half pig that we are keeping from one of them where I'll start the curing and smoking process all over again - but half of a pig's hams and bacon only take up half of the space that the full pig does... and whew! a full pig has a lot of meat!!! I'm happy to have my refrigerator back for normal use for at least another week!! :)
Anyway, it's been a great experience getting to raise our own animals for meat - and learning to do the butchering for ourselves! Next year we'll do pigs again - and next fall we'll butcher our first cow, though I'm not sure we'll do the cow butchering ourselves... I"m not sure the rafters of the garage are strong enough for that added weight! (nor do I think I have the refrigerator space to keep the meat while I work on it section by section!)
This year's butchering was tremendously helped by the teens of my friend who taught me how to do the butchering last year - this year they came out again and killed and gutted Hamlet for me, and got him hung up on the gamber so that I could do the rest of it... this was my first year going it solo, and my husband's first year helping with the skinning! Perhaps next year we'll be brave enough to try the kill and gutting ourselves - but I wasn't about to try it being very pregnant this year! :)
This year we are selling 2 1/2 pigs and keeping 1 1/2 - they got sooo big this year, too, so we have a good amount of meat from even just one pig!
Now, I don't know if it is nationwide or if it's a state law or what, but it is against USDA regulations for individuals to raise and butcher animals and then sell it... but we *can* raise and sell animals and have an approved butcher (one with a butchering license and passing health department inspections and what not) do the butchering. It is legal to butcher our own meat provided we don't sell it... all of this makes sense, because it protects the buyer/ consumer from getting meat butchered in a dirty environment and getting sick. Honestly, as big as I'm getting with this pregnancy, I'm thankful that I only needed to butcher ONE of them anyway! haha!
Here is a picture of the killed pig hanging, with me skinning it (though my husband also helped me skin - and was a tremendous help when it came time to take the head and feet off!!! I could not have done that part on my own - and was very thankful for his strength - and his reciprocating saw! - in getting that part of the job done!!!!
He was a big pig!!
Anyway, he's skinned, all cut up and everything but the hams (which I wet cured and have the last of them in the smoker now, with others baked so they are fully cooked before freezing) and bacon (which is still in the wet cure, to be smoked early next week) is done! Hams will be finished by the end of today - yeah!!! and bacon will be finished by the middle of next week.
The other three pigs go to the butcher Monday morning - and I'm ready to see them go for the year! (though we'll also be looking forward to raising them again next year) and then I'll have a week or so before we get the meat from the half pig that we are keeping from one of them where I'll start the curing and smoking process all over again - but half of a pig's hams and bacon only take up half of the space that the full pig does... and whew! a full pig has a lot of meat!!! I'm happy to have my refrigerator back for normal use for at least another week!! :)
Anyway, it's been a great experience getting to raise our own animals for meat - and learning to do the butchering for ourselves! Next year we'll do pigs again - and next fall we'll butcher our first cow, though I'm not sure we'll do the cow butchering ourselves... I"m not sure the rafters of the garage are strong enough for that added weight! (nor do I think I have the refrigerator space to keep the meat while I work on it section by section!)
This year's butchering was tremendously helped by the teens of my friend who taught me how to do the butchering last year - this year they came out again and killed and gutted Hamlet for me, and got him hung up on the gamber so that I could do the rest of it... this was my first year going it solo, and my husband's first year helping with the skinning! Perhaps next year we'll be brave enough to try the kill and gutting ourselves - but I wasn't about to try it being very pregnant this year! :)
Contemplation...
In recent weeks life has been so busy... indeed, it seems some days are spent running literally from one thing to another!
This past week has been no exception to that! It's been busy, but productive... good, but crazy at the same time!
In all of this activity, again the thought comes back about the Biblical command to rest... to have a day of rest in which we honor the Lord and spend the whole day in worship and praise of our Lord, and in fellowship with other believers.
As a large family, I look at the praciticality of this and how to make it all work (no pun intended) - the logstics, if you will... such as "is it ok to wash dishes" - we know we need to feed our families, but we can cook ahead so that we're not *working* on meal prep on the Sabbath... we eat off of plates, though - and I don't know about other large families, but we don't have enough dishes to go through an entire day without washing a single dish... of course, we could use paper plates... it's not so much a question of legalism, it's a question of obedience... and this is just one small example that leaves me wondering at times - what's ok and what's not ok in trying to honor the Sabbath as the Lord commands?
How do we, as wives and mamas, prepare ahead to honor the Lord's day while also still caring for our families?
This has been a subject of thought many times over - and sometimes I wonder if I'm really any closer to answering the question with an answer that would please our Lord... It's something to contemplate, to be sure... we want to live in obedience - and it's easy to live in DISobedience without even realizing or giving conscious thought to it, isn't it? So, in an effort toward wanting to PURPOSE to live in obediece, I contemplate this (and other issues) and look for the Lord's guidance...
This past week has been no exception to that! It's been busy, but productive... good, but crazy at the same time!
In all of this activity, again the thought comes back about the Biblical command to rest... to have a day of rest in which we honor the Lord and spend the whole day in worship and praise of our Lord, and in fellowship with other believers.
As a large family, I look at the praciticality of this and how to make it all work (no pun intended) - the logstics, if you will... such as "is it ok to wash dishes" - we know we need to feed our families, but we can cook ahead so that we're not *working* on meal prep on the Sabbath... we eat off of plates, though - and I don't know about other large families, but we don't have enough dishes to go through an entire day without washing a single dish... of course, we could use paper plates... it's not so much a question of legalism, it's a question of obedience... and this is just one small example that leaves me wondering at times - what's ok and what's not ok in trying to honor the Sabbath as the Lord commands?
How do we, as wives and mamas, prepare ahead to honor the Lord's day while also still caring for our families?
This has been a subject of thought many times over - and sometimes I wonder if I'm really any closer to answering the question with an answer that would please our Lord... It's something to contemplate, to be sure... we want to live in obedience - and it's easy to live in DISobedience without even realizing or giving conscious thought to it, isn't it? So, in an effort toward wanting to PURPOSE to live in obediece, I contemplate this (and other issues) and look for the Lord's guidance...
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Psalm of praise
I love these verses...
Psalm 30: 11-12
"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
"To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."
Indeed, our mourning has many times over been turned into praise, dancing and thankfullness to the Lord for His great grace and mercy. Underserved as it is. I thank and praise Him!
Psalm 30: 11-12
"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
"To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."
Indeed, our mourning has many times over been turned into praise, dancing and thankfullness to the Lord for His great grace and mercy. Underserved as it is. I thank and praise Him!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Coming up for air...
The last month and a half have been a swarm of activity, so I apologize for neglecting you...
First, please be in prayer for my friend Sarah and her family... their 7 month old infant died recently, the youngest of nine precious children in a wonderfully close-knit family... needless to say, this has left a tremendous hole and immeasurable hurt in their lives.
Next, my OB, who is a wonderful, exceptional high risk pregnancy specialist also very recently lost his wife to a battle with cancer... She was diagnosed one week after our Hannah was born, given months to live, and yet surpassed that timeframe given by her doctors, which was a gift and an answer to prayer. Her final month was very difficult for her and her husband as the cancer became painful and she really struggled with pain in her final weeks. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for her husband, our wonderful doctor, to sit by and not be able to really DO anything to make things better for her... She has been gone for almost a month now, but after 40+ years together, he is missing her tremendously and learning to adjust to a "new normal". Please be remembering him in your prayers as well as their two children and grandchildren...
On a similar note, in speaking of my OB, we had another ultrasound this past week, and our little guy is growing well and everything looks good so far! We praise the Lord for this answer to prayer, especially after our very painful loss back in October. It appears that we have our third boy on the way, due in September, which means, with our labor history, we'll most likely have an August birth - which is extra fun, as we do not yet have any August babies!
Life has been swimmingly busy in recent weeks, as we finish up the school year, prepare for summer projects for 4-H, gardening, animals, and projects around the house and property... I'm told we "officially" have a farm now, haha, though with it's small size I suspect "Hobby Farm" might be a more accurate description. Either way, we are greatly enjoying the animals! George (the calf) is now weaned from the bottle... another learning experience for me, as I thought he had been dehorned, is that his bull horns are growing in! We have a trip planned for this coming week to haul him back to the dairy we bought him from, as the dairy manager said he would take care of that for us, if we wanted to make the trip - that was an easy decision!! :) The pigs are getting quite large, and will most likely be ready to butcher in late June or in July, and it appears we already have a couple of buyers for at least one of the pigs through my husband's co-workers! We've gone back to store-bought ham and bacon, as we used up the last of last year's meat a couple of months ago, so we are very much looking forward to filling the freezer with our home-grown pork once again! Next year will be even more interesting, when it's time to butcher pigs *and* our cow! I'm not sure how we'll fit all the meat into the freezers, but I'm thinking we'll probably figure something out!
Plans for livestock - we are tossing around the idea of getting another calf after butchering the pigs, so that we have another ready to butcher 6 months or so after butchering George next year in the autumn/ early winter, and there is the thought that we might sell half of George's meat and keep half for ourselves if we do go that route... that would certainly make the freezer issue less of a problem! :) Besides, I have NO idea where we would put another freezer!! Anyway, we'll see how it all goes, but raising a calf has been a considerable bit easier than I had anticipated! We shall see...
Our chicks are growing so well, they are nearly the size of the adult chickens, and another homeschooling family asked me if they could give us their chicks once they were done hatching and watching them grow the first few weeks... since we already had some, it was an easy question for them! Anyway, we now have 3 additional *little* chicks, in a brooder box back in the kitchen, haha ~ I'm looking forward to in a week or so, trying to combine our adult chickens with the big chicks, to see if they are ready to mix and get along well... if that works, then we can move the newest three chickies into the separate partition inside of the chicken shed, and I can get my kitchen counter back... again! :) Still, it's been fun having the baby chicks again, and in another few months, I suspect we're going to have more eggs than we know what to do with!! (that's easy, actually - we can sell the extras through our homeschooling group and put the money towards chicken feed!)
The weather has been interesting... we keep hoping that spring is here, and then we get another wintery storm... no snow in the last two weeks, though, so I'm hopeful! The garden has been a complete flop the last two years I've attempted it, so I'm listening to the wisdom of others and hoping to see good results this time around! So far, tomatos and a variety of squash are doing very well, protected by wall-o-waters - something I haven't used before, but seem to make a world of difference! *and* I learned a new trick this week, talking to the gal at our local extension office... she wraps plastic wrap around her tomato cages to put over the young tomato plants, so they have the protection from wind and weather, as well as the support of the cages! I'm thinking about trying that when we put more of our plant starts out in the garden (then we can move the wall-o-waters to those plants and the tomatos will still be protected!) Anyway, I thought that was a neat idea!
I guess most of this is mundane rambling... my brain feels like mush today! There are so many activities and things going on lately that it's hard to separate them out into a logical sequence and share in a blog post! Perhaps later, when things quiet down, I can share more of the interesting things and events, with my brain functional and sensible! hah!
For now, have a great week! When my husband can take a moment and scan the ultrasound pics, I'll post them here - we got a frontal face shot, a foot (I loooove baby feet!!!) and two profile pictures with our latest ultrasound - hopefully we can scan and post two or three of them :)
First, please be in prayer for my friend Sarah and her family... their 7 month old infant died recently, the youngest of nine precious children in a wonderfully close-knit family... needless to say, this has left a tremendous hole and immeasurable hurt in their lives.
Next, my OB, who is a wonderful, exceptional high risk pregnancy specialist also very recently lost his wife to a battle with cancer... She was diagnosed one week after our Hannah was born, given months to live, and yet surpassed that timeframe given by her doctors, which was a gift and an answer to prayer. Her final month was very difficult for her and her husband as the cancer became painful and she really struggled with pain in her final weeks. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for her husband, our wonderful doctor, to sit by and not be able to really DO anything to make things better for her... She has been gone for almost a month now, but after 40+ years together, he is missing her tremendously and learning to adjust to a "new normal". Please be remembering him in your prayers as well as their two children and grandchildren...
On a similar note, in speaking of my OB, we had another ultrasound this past week, and our little guy is growing well and everything looks good so far! We praise the Lord for this answer to prayer, especially after our very painful loss back in October. It appears that we have our third boy on the way, due in September, which means, with our labor history, we'll most likely have an August birth - which is extra fun, as we do not yet have any August babies!
Life has been swimmingly busy in recent weeks, as we finish up the school year, prepare for summer projects for 4-H, gardening, animals, and projects around the house and property... I'm told we "officially" have a farm now, haha, though with it's small size I suspect "Hobby Farm" might be a more accurate description. Either way, we are greatly enjoying the animals! George (the calf) is now weaned from the bottle... another learning experience for me, as I thought he had been dehorned, is that his bull horns are growing in! We have a trip planned for this coming week to haul him back to the dairy we bought him from, as the dairy manager said he would take care of that for us, if we wanted to make the trip - that was an easy decision!! :) The pigs are getting quite large, and will most likely be ready to butcher in late June or in July, and it appears we already have a couple of buyers for at least one of the pigs through my husband's co-workers! We've gone back to store-bought ham and bacon, as we used up the last of last year's meat a couple of months ago, so we are very much looking forward to filling the freezer with our home-grown pork once again! Next year will be even more interesting, when it's time to butcher pigs *and* our cow! I'm not sure how we'll fit all the meat into the freezers, but I'm thinking we'll probably figure something out!
Plans for livestock - we are tossing around the idea of getting another calf after butchering the pigs, so that we have another ready to butcher 6 months or so after butchering George next year in the autumn/ early winter, and there is the thought that we might sell half of George's meat and keep half for ourselves if we do go that route... that would certainly make the freezer issue less of a problem! :) Besides, I have NO idea where we would put another freezer!! Anyway, we'll see how it all goes, but raising a calf has been a considerable bit easier than I had anticipated! We shall see...
Our chicks are growing so well, they are nearly the size of the adult chickens, and another homeschooling family asked me if they could give us their chicks once they were done hatching and watching them grow the first few weeks... since we already had some, it was an easy question for them! Anyway, we now have 3 additional *little* chicks, in a brooder box back in the kitchen, haha ~ I'm looking forward to in a week or so, trying to combine our adult chickens with the big chicks, to see if they are ready to mix and get along well... if that works, then we can move the newest three chickies into the separate partition inside of the chicken shed, and I can get my kitchen counter back... again! :) Still, it's been fun having the baby chicks again, and in another few months, I suspect we're going to have more eggs than we know what to do with!! (that's easy, actually - we can sell the extras through our homeschooling group and put the money towards chicken feed!)
The weather has been interesting... we keep hoping that spring is here, and then we get another wintery storm... no snow in the last two weeks, though, so I'm hopeful! The garden has been a complete flop the last two years I've attempted it, so I'm listening to the wisdom of others and hoping to see good results this time around! So far, tomatos and a variety of squash are doing very well, protected by wall-o-waters - something I haven't used before, but seem to make a world of difference! *and* I learned a new trick this week, talking to the gal at our local extension office... she wraps plastic wrap around her tomato cages to put over the young tomato plants, so they have the protection from wind and weather, as well as the support of the cages! I'm thinking about trying that when we put more of our plant starts out in the garden (then we can move the wall-o-waters to those plants and the tomatos will still be protected!) Anyway, I thought that was a neat idea!
I guess most of this is mundane rambling... my brain feels like mush today! There are so many activities and things going on lately that it's hard to separate them out into a logical sequence and share in a blog post! Perhaps later, when things quiet down, I can share more of the interesting things and events, with my brain functional and sensible! hah!
For now, have a great week! When my husband can take a moment and scan the ultrasound pics, I'll post them here - we got a frontal face shot, a foot (I loooove baby feet!!!) and two profile pictures with our latest ultrasound - hopefully we can scan and post two or three of them :)
Monday, March 12, 2012
Growing the barnyard...
So, it's nearly spring... this brings warmer weather (which is nice, since we didn't get much snow this year... if it's not going to snow, it may as well warm up, right??!). Warmer weather brings new life... and our place is abounding with new life these days!
Aside from the animals we already had (1 rooster, 8 laying hens, and 2 horses) we have just added (in the last week) 11 new babies (not counting the babe growing within me... more on that in another post! I need to have my husband scan the ultrasound picture so I can post it here... we got a great profile pic, but I don't know how to put it on the computer... but I'm rabbit trailing...)
No, rabbit trailing wasn't a play on words... the only rabbits here are the wild ones ;)
We've added:
6 baby chicks... we bought black star and red star chicks this year, since they are "sex linked" (meaning you can tell their gender based upon their coloring) and we are assured that we won't get another surprise rooster (one is fun and I enjoy his crowing, but more than one would just be too much...) and we know from the chickens we already have that these two breeds are great egg layers of very large brown eggs! Right now, these chicks don't have names... but we're watching them to see how they distinguish themselves, so we can name them (and tell them apart!)
4 piglets... right now they weigh about 50 pounds each - by slaughtering time, they should weigh around 200 pounds or more - when they are a bit bigger, they are GREAT composters!! We can feed them kitchen scraps and garden scraps, which helps minimize our trash going to the dump and helps with our feed bill! We'll keep two for our own freezer, and sell the other two at butchering time. We have one barrow (female) whom we have named Petunia and three gilts (males) named Porky, Hamlet, and Sausage.
1 calf... he's 2 weeks old and weighs about 200 pounds. Next fall, when it will be slaughtering time, he should weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds - and he's a smaller breed! We bought him from a dairy farm, since they sell their steers but keep their heifers for future breeders and milk producers. His name is George, and we had intended to bottle feed him, but he simply will not take to the bottle, so I'm feeding him milk replacer from a bucket, which works just fine, too! Actually, it might even be a tad bit easier, because I can mix the milk right in the bucket, which I could not do in a bottle.
They have been such fun to have on our little "hobby farm"!
Aside from the animals we already had (1 rooster, 8 laying hens, and 2 horses) we have just added (in the last week) 11 new babies (not counting the babe growing within me... more on that in another post! I need to have my husband scan the ultrasound picture so I can post it here... we got a great profile pic, but I don't know how to put it on the computer... but I'm rabbit trailing...)
No, rabbit trailing wasn't a play on words... the only rabbits here are the wild ones ;)
We've added:
6 baby chicks... we bought black star and red star chicks this year, since they are "sex linked" (meaning you can tell their gender based upon their coloring) and we are assured that we won't get another surprise rooster (one is fun and I enjoy his crowing, but more than one would just be too much...) and we know from the chickens we already have that these two breeds are great egg layers of very large brown eggs! Right now, these chicks don't have names... but we're watching them to see how they distinguish themselves, so we can name them (and tell them apart!)
4 piglets... right now they weigh about 50 pounds each - by slaughtering time, they should weigh around 200 pounds or more - when they are a bit bigger, they are GREAT composters!! We can feed them kitchen scraps and garden scraps, which helps minimize our trash going to the dump and helps with our feed bill! We'll keep two for our own freezer, and sell the other two at butchering time. We have one barrow (female) whom we have named Petunia and three gilts (males) named Porky, Hamlet, and Sausage.
1 calf... he's 2 weeks old and weighs about 200 pounds. Next fall, when it will be slaughtering time, he should weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds - and he's a smaller breed! We bought him from a dairy farm, since they sell their steers but keep their heifers for future breeders and milk producers. His name is George, and we had intended to bottle feed him, but he simply will not take to the bottle, so I'm feeding him milk replacer from a bucket, which works just fine, too! Actually, it might even be a tad bit easier, because I can mix the milk right in the bucket, which I could not do in a bottle.
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