Babies!!!

   Last week we noticed one of our hens was starting to get broody, we were running out to the coop often to see if she was staying on the eggs.  It seemed that her and another hen were co-parenting together.   Austin and Zachary started researching right away and one thing led to another and before I knew it they were shipping me off to home depot with a list. They had watched a couple you tube videos on how to make an incubator.  So far what they have built is holding the right temp and humidity.  It takes about 21 days for them to hatch - we have 17 days to go. The eggs have to be turned 4 time a day, and the little ones love to help with this part being so very gentle. 
It's exciting to see if our experiment is going towork.
If anyone out there has done this and has any tips please leave me a note.

Homemaking Spring Cleaning Part 3

The learning room/playroom.  I don't like even calling it that because it really doesn't fit how I view education. Maybe I should call it "The place mom stores the school books and we sometimes do our work down there."

When we bought this house I wanted the downstairs fixed up ASAP. It was horrible in my opinion.

The walls are paneled but not even nice panels they have a million tiny holes.. The owners before us had a dart board, so you can just imagine what they look like.

 

     As time wore on though this room grew on me and I became thankful to have an area where I can really relax and the kids can be kids. Not much is going to get damaged down there.  This is where we do our book work, do crafts, and play games....  sometimes. This round table is from the thrift store and fits all our little people around it.

                  The train table got moved downstairs with the other toys. I got rid of a box of books and a garbage bag of broken toys.

  This is my main school shelve it has most of our curriculum on it with games and manipulative's. The huge photo copier I scored from Dh's work when they upgraded.

                                                   Big view of my humble basement. *blush*

Homemaking Spring Cleaning Part 2

The Nature Table can be very simple or quite elaborate - the important thing is that it reflects the changing seasons outside.

Our Waldorf inspired nature table. We just switched it from our winter theme to spring. Things it includes are bird nest from our yard, bees nest, mason jars to collect things, nature journals and readers, Homestead Blessings DVDs, Back to Basics book, the homesteading hand book, children's picture books of farm animals and feathers.

 This is our little play corner. We removed the train table with all it's bins and put it into our school room. There was just too many toys for upstairs and because this area is for the littles I didn't want it to be overwhelming to clean up. Trust me when I say this is clean. LOL

    Our living room - I love this room. This is where we do devotions and visit and really live and be a family. We have movie night in here as well.

 

Our dining room, we do school at this table from time to time , the kids color here and the odd time when we have lots of company the adults will eat in here. the previous owners had an interesting idea with the flooring. I hated it at first but it's grown on me.

 

Where my kids spent a lot of their time.

Homemaking Spring Cleaning Part 1

 

 

 

What mom doesn't want a clean house?  It's hard work especially when you have little ones or a large family to keep running.

This isn't going to be a blog series on how to clean cause I think most people know how it  takes time and dedication to get it done. My kitchen is nothing fancy and rather small for a family our size but it works and it carries the heart of our family.

        This is inside my fridge which often has spilt milk in it from kiddies getting a drink.  That bottom shelve is all milk. The big pot is milk separating to make butter.

                                 My kitchen is the main central station, my children can find me in there most of the time.  My older 3 rotate nightly kitchen duty but sometimes it needs mom to go in and do an over haul. Pulling out the fridge and stove. Scrubbing scrubbing scrubbing....

                               My favorite little corner where my coffee and lattes are made.

         This is where we gather 3 times a day for our meals. We have never been a spread out around the house to eat or eat in front of the TV kind of family. It always has been really important to me that the meal table is a consistent thing. Proverbs 9:1-2 says, "Wisdom has builded her house... she has also furnished her table."   I want my children's memories to be filled with the aroma and fellowship of the evening.

This our spring bucket list. I like to have a seasonal bucket list on the wall near the table, it sparks conversation and imaginations. The rain drops have a "to-do" written down.

When Someone Shares The Ugly

Sipping my grande london fog tea I notice myself checking out of the conversation, my ears start to hear every table around me...

Focus..

I keep hearing her words and as I take each new one in my heart aches,  I can feel the pain.

The ugly pain of life.

How do you stay present with someone in a mess?

To love the way Hosea loved through deep shame, trouble and pain all inflicted by the one who is hurting.
 
His heart is torn with love and compassion asking "How could I give up on you?"

When you just want to protect your heart from hurting along with them. To be that person that takes a private note writing things down in the soft dust not etching them in stone.
To love the way He has loved us.


Last sip of my tea everything in me wants to run, and not look back. I can not bear the though of watching again....  And then that still small voice says " Go and love her again"

Let her talk.  Don't let her repress. It's her story. Her life. That's all we have is our story and the one who writes it.  When we don't share our story it suffocates until we are dead.

Show love. Speak the truth. 

Sometimes you have to be willing to stand in the dark to see that you’re a light.
                  
                         You can only see your light is shining when you are standing in the dark.

St. Patricks Day

   We had another home school family over for a St. Patricks Day Party.  The kids watched a movie on St. Patrick and then all headed outside to sled. It's always so much fun to do school with friends!

Later in the day we read this book.

Crazy Hat Day

It was crazy hat day at AWANA this week, Rachael and Presley were so excited to create their hats.

                                                             This is what they came up with.

Happy 14th Birthday Austin

Another year older.

Every year on Austin's birthday I replay his birth in my head, I think because the pain of never experiencing childbirth is burned into my soul.  Born on a cool March night after a really rough day, of induction and water being broke, 3 hours of pushing I pushed into motherhood.

He was such an easy baby that still managed to squash every ounce of my selfishness out. I was determined to do this job well. I had a vision to raise up a Godly young man and I am sure I was too hard on him in those little years.  I look back with what I know now and wish I could re-do a few things.

 

He welcomed every sibling that came after him with open arms and acceptance, as he was thrilled for one more to play with. And still at 14 is excited for when there will be more.
Austin is an amazing person. I am often humbled by his maturity, when he puts his mind to things he has an amazing work ethic, his love for others, heart for the needy or hurting leaves me and his dad in awe.. I am often getting comments about him, which just humble me more. Even though parenting is a huge sacrifice and a lot of work as the kids get older I see that it is all God and I really can't take any credit.
Daily I see him lay down his desires, his time, his sleep, his comfort, and his way for his brothers and sisters. If Jude wakes up from a bad dream Austin will crawl in his bed and snuggle him until he falls back asleep.

 

I marvel at his hunger for God and devotion to prayer. I am challenged by his humility to be honest with himself and to us.  He is not afraid to be wrong, face his weaknesses, ask forgiveness, or let us know he just doesn't know what to do. He seeks out the wisdom of his Dad or his Grandpa when hard things come up.

Since he was little he was always so serious, now as he gets older he is such a great mix of taking life serious and having a crazy amount of fun.

   To celebrate his day both sides of our families met up at a local Japanese restaurant for dinner. It was a lot of fun. His Grandma made him his favorite cherry cheese cake and everyone went in on one present and got him a tablet.

  I keep thinking about how the years of raising him are changing and how I need more wisdom and guidance just like when I gave birth to him and had no clue how to do things, it's how I feel now. I had a vision back then and I still hold that vision and trust that God will get us there. There is no black or white recipe. He needs a mom and dad that believe in him and respect him. He needs to know we trust him to make the right choices. He needs a mom and dad that are looking to Jesus to help us guide him all the way into his adult years.  I'm really excited for what the next years will bring.

Spread Love

You reap what you sow. We have all heard these words a thousand times, we all know what it means but do we really know how serious it is?

My very good long distance friend encouraged me this year to buy a new bible, I am a girl that loves to write and highlight in all her books. My bible is all marked up in a rainbow of colors with notes in the margins and my eyes are always drawn to things that are underlined. So starting in the New Year with fresh clean pages I get so see a running theme of what God is speaking to me about through his written word.

The bible I am using is the Life Recovery Bible so I am becoming familiar with the 12 step program.

Step 5: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

One thing we as mothers cannot do is believe we can bury our sin and go on without admitting them. As time rolls along we realize those things we buried or ignored in our children were really seeds that grow and bear “fruit”.  When left too long we have this crop on our hands that we just want to disappear. We had hoped that our self-deception would make it go away.   Rather than sweeping sin under the rug of pride we might as well come clean and be forgiven, God see’s it all anyway.

                   We will always harvest what we plant in our children

I must be diligent in my sowing, in instilling every bit of truth and wisdom and goodness into these precious children. I may not be able to protect them from the harsh blows of life and I understand my sin may even hurt them. But I do know what I can do when in doubt I can extend love and grace. I can speak words of affirmation over them and pray with them. I can believe in them and teach them to always hope and have faith in a living God who says we are his own child that he chose!  I will teach them that love covers, to keep their conscience clear and bless those who speak against them. That they are made pure in Christ when they confess their wrongs and repent. To love each other deeply will all their hearts. All goodness in their lives is a gift from HIM. He delights in them.

Galatians 6:7

You will always harvest what you plant.

Salt and Light

Blessed are those who have heart. Blessed are those who love, who build up unity everywhere. Blessed are those who stand with the poor; blessed are those who themselves are poor as beggars. Blessed are those who know themselves as beggars before the Spirit. Blessed are those who are so poor that they hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who feel this hunger and thirst for justice, for the justice of the heart, of love, for the establishment of peace in unity. For they are the people who carry the pain of the world on their hearts, who carry the suffering of the world in their innermost being. They do not think of themselves, for their whole heart is turned toward others.

Yet they are the people who are misunderstood and persecuted because they love justice and do not take part in injustice. This is why they are the salt of the earth. They do not take part in the injustice of mammon. They have no wealth, no savings account, nothing in the bank, nothing invested in houses or land; they have nowhere to go when need comes to them. Jesus tells us not to gather riches on this earth, but to gather the fortune found in love. Let your whole fortune be love, so that wherever you go hearts will open to you. You will be met with hatred because you bring justice, and you will be persecuted and hounded to death for not taking part in injustice. But you will be received with great love in huts which are open for you, and you will be taken in because you bring love.

This is your treasure and your wealth. It will free you of all care.

From the book Salt and Light by Eberhard Arnold
 

Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World, an ebook by Johann Christoph Arnold

 

 

 

I read this great little {free} E book over the weekend,  It had a lot of great information on raising children

Mother Teresa once observed, after a visit to North America, that she has never seen such an abundance of things. But, she went on, she had also never seen “such a poverty of the spirit, of loneliness, and of being unwanted…That is the worst disease in the world today, not tuberculosis or leprosy…It is the poverty born of a lack of love.”

There was a section on the effects of divorce in children, we all know how damaging it is but I really appreciated his frank approach on the topic.


"Clearly, it is one thing to have children. To create a home – a place of love and security – is quite a different matter. Unfortunately, many adults lack a sense
of what this means. They are always “too busy” to have time for their children.


Sadly, parents are sometimes so blinded by their principles
that they are unable to follow their hearts. Ready to “do the right thing” at any cost, they are masters of their domain – but all too often they lose their children in the process."
 The book was the hard but encouraging truth to roll up your sleeves and make everyday count with those babies God has given you.  Yes, days are long and sometimes the nights are even longer but our investment in the next generation will pay off.  There is no easy way to get this parenting thing done right. It takes sacrifice and a lot of time.
 

There is always a tomorrow, but how can we be sure it will be ours? There are always new chances, but how many will we let become missed opportunities and regrets? For the sake of a child, are we ready to drop everything – not begrudgingly, but with joy?

Here is the link:
Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World, an ebook by Johann Christoph Arnold

Bible Study

                 Ladies bible study..

       Those three words used to scare me like you would not believe!
I had this idea in my head of women sitting in a circle sharing their or someones prayer request as a hidden way to gossip. I thought women attending these things weren't really digging into their bible but just needed a night out.

Brutal hey?  I hate even saying it out loud but it is the ugly cynical truth.


Guess what though as soon as we come to these absolutes of right and wrong outside of scripture God changes things.  If this is true your not going to be surprised that every Tuesday night my butt is planted in a chair upstairs in our church sitting around a table with other ladies.
That's right I LOVE ladies bible study.

I look forward to it every week, I crave the fellowship of these women, we all have our quirks and muddle threw trying to figure out how to walk this walk. Our imperfections lay naked in front of each other but mercy resides. 

It's beautiful...   It's real...   It's good stuff...

Creating Books

 The poka dot one is Presley's and the animal print is Rachaels these are hard cover books that they created.

Week 1: 

The first week of making our books we read a number of different stories by different authors.

As we read different stories we would discuss the story and the layout of the book. I would have them point out as many details as they could and then re-tell the story to daddy in their own words.

Week 2:

We started building stories as we were driving or eating a meal we would all take turns adding to the story.

 

Week 3:

Week 3 was for me to figure out how the books were going to be laid out.  This is also the week

they wrote their stories. Presley did his own as a rough draft and we had Rachael dictate hers to us. For the final copy I decided to do the printing for Presley’s book and give him some writing at the front of his book.

There was so much illustrating for them to work on. Even though these were a lot of work I can see doing one once a year as a great way to see how their imaginations grew.