Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Bike Hiest

The kids got their bikes stolen yesterday. We don't have a garage, so they keep them on the side of the house. They went to ride them and now they are gone. The bike thiefs probably got them while we were gone at the coast. It is puzzling why someone would steal a kid's bike right before Christmas. The person must be very desperate. I pray for that person. I hope the bikes can make someone else very happy this Christmas. The kids were first in shock and then disapointed that their bikes were gone. However, this experience I hope will lead them to appreciate what they have and to know that material things are fleeting. Matthew 6:19-23 talks about not storing your treasures on earth, but in heaven "where moth and rust do not destroy, and where theives cannot break in and steal." This is a good lesson for us to remember.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Wonderful Weekend


Had a great weekend at the coast. It was really cold, but the indoor pool was warm. It was the best time to go to avoid the crowds. We had such a nice family time. We really needed it. Might make this a Christmas tradition.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

New Day

God is Good. It's been a long two weeks without my husband home, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I have never been diagnosed with depression before, but I know I suffer from it. Maybe, it's just my hormones going wacky every so often. However, when it slips into my heart, it is hard to get rid of on my own. Prayer helps me a lot. Getting to the point of prayer is difficult when stifled with saddness. But if you can get there it makes all the difference. Sometimes it takes just a small step to change the power it has over you. A step such as: turning off the tv, and opening the Bible. Turning to a christian webpage instead of facebook. Or getting dressed as soon as you wake up in the mornnig instead of lying in bed lettting the walls close in around you. It's a good thing that I'm not allowed to wallow too long in the hole. My kids make me have to come out of it. I know they need to do their lessons and I know I need to get the lessons together for them. They need breakfast, lunch and dinner. And so I pull myself up and reluctantly step forth to brave the world wanting all the while to get back in bed and wallow. It seems that the depression comes more often when I am isolated and when I am not busy. But sometimes it comes when I'm too busy. So, I pray for a balance in my life. I pray for a balance that can make me stronger and a better example to my kids.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Peace

I need peace in my head today. I question and question and feel so unsettled. The pastor spoke about Hannah and how she prayed. She poured out her heart to the Lord for her desire. I need God so much. Although, I don't know what my prayer is for. I'm not quite sure what my desire is. The saddness comes into my heart and doesn't go away for long. I have everything I need. Beautiful kids, a wonderful and thoughtful husband, caring parents, and an understanding sister. Why do I so often feel sad? Why do I feel so paralized to change? Why do I feel so alone? Lord, I pray for peace in my soul and for joy in my heart and that that joy will extend to others.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Sloth

An object at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts upon it.

Disorder

You can always tell the state of my mind if you look at the state of my house. And right now-It's a mess.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009




Ok, I had some carrots and celery and a few frozen potaotes. What to do? Make a soup. So I looked up celery on the internet and found a recipe. Now, I hardely measure when I cook, but I found out the ingredients and put them together. I made two soups, a carrot soup and a celery soup. The carrot soup is made with chicken broth, potatoes, carrots, onion, dry ginger and some butter. I added some fresh parsely from the garden. The celery soup is made with celery, carrots,onion, potatos, cumin, curry powder, thyme and the recipe called for an apple. But I didn't have any apples ,so I put a little orange juice in there to sweeten it. Of course salt and pepper both. Well, I went to blend them and the celery soup became a disaster! I accedently blended up the little plastic top on the blender. It fell into the soup! So, I had to throw that out. Bummer. Oh well, it may not have been good anyway, because of the orange juice instead of the apple. Anyway, the carrot soup came out well.

Ahh! Work, work work. The kids are busy today. They have been working on capacity in their math books. They really got into it. Water was everywhere. But I don't think they will forget ml and Liters! Aidan said he felt like a scientist measuring everything. I need to start doing some science activities with them, but when to fit it in is the question. I have been reading a lot about Charlotte Mason lately. I like her ideas, but getting away from workbooks is hard for me. We have been using Rod and Staff. It is such a thorough program. I am afraid I would forget to teach something without those books. But oh! to have hours of exploration would be nice. It takes them so long to finish their workbooks. We don't always get outside. Maybe I need to stop reading Charlotte Mason- I'm feeling torn.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Now That's A Bag of Oatmeal

Little did I know when I joined a grain co-op that we would be surviving off it. With my husband making less and less money per week and being gone so much, I have had to be really creative with meals. Thank you God for Wheat and Oatmeal! I must say I had no idea what fifty pounds of oatmeal looked like until I picked this up from the drop off point! Now, I am going to split it with a friend, but still...it's a lot of oats! At the rate things have been going I think it will get used. The wheat, which is under the oats in the picture, has been really allowing us to make ends meet. I have made bread three times a week along with some cookies, waffles, and muffins. It has filled my family up. And we haven't had to purchase much at the grocery store, except for eggs and milk. I am so glad I had had my freezer stocked with frozen veggies before all this happened, especially bell peppers. I had bought two big bags of them at BJs in June. I didn't use much of them until this squeeze. Now I put them in everything, pasta, potatoes, rice and meatloaf. They give flavor and vitimins that we need. We sure aren't losing weight on this budget. Healthy foods are so expenseive. Fresh vegtables add up. Eating potatoes, pasta, bread and beans isn't going to make you skinny. That's for sure. But it will save you a dollar. My garden didn't come in real well this year. My tomatos are still green! We have eaten a little bit out of it, not as much as I would have liked, though. What has helped us is the food I had stocked up on before all this. For example, things are really dwindling in the pantry, but I did have a can of stewed tomatos, a can of black beans, a can of corn and some frozen spinach. I also had some really yucky Cambell's Select soup that I didn't toss after tasting the nasty stuff. Thank goodness I didn't throw it out, because it, along with the other cans, gave us a wonderful bowl of soup. I also added a little extra garlic and Pace Picante sauce. It turned out real well and it was easy. With all this bread baking, homeschooling and cleaning I need some easy meals. I even have some left over for another meal. Just realized I'm out of milk and eggs. Been going through those really fast. I guess I'm going to have to go to the grocery store. Got to have milk to go with oatmeal in the morning.:-)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009











I wanted to post some pictures of our last week. Also, I had made the most perfect bread and wanted to remember it. I tweeked it from a recipe I got from a lady named Clara on youtube. She makes a bread called Depression bread. No measuring!! Here I was trying to get the best bread recipe- measuring things out to the tee. And this lady pours a whole bag of flour into a bowl, adds some yeast to the middle and keeps adding water while kneading until she has a dough. Lets it rise. Puts it in pans. Lets it rise again. Then bakes it at 350 until crispy on top. Ta Dah! Depression bread. I tried this with my own grinded wheat flour mixed with a little bread flour. I also added a little sugar and salt. But I didn't measure a thing and Ta Dah! Wonderful bread! The other pictures are of a butterfly funeral the kids had. Aidan accedently hit a butterfly while swinging his tennis racket. No really, it was an accident. He was devastated. They nursed it as long as they could, but then it died. So they decided to make funeral. It was a big production. Let me tell you! Now they think they are BUG SAVORS. Brianna has made business cards. Yesterday, when we went for a walk she began handing out her business cards to people on the trail. What surprised me... was that some people thought it was for real and asked for the website and phone number! BB said that her mom wouldn't let that information out.



"It's finally fall, Aidan. You can tell". I hear my little girl exclaim to her brother as they run to get their long sleeve shirts on. Yeh! I love the fall. And it is about time!!! I am just not a heat person. I'm sitting here wanting to play, but knowing I have work to do today. I have all their boxes ready to go. Each filled with a subject. They have art, reading, vocabulary, math, spelling, memory work, History, correcting, and a chore to do. These are their time sheets. I decided to go with this instead of a scedule strip. Each box gets a number. When they get done with their box they put the number on this poster board. As you can see there are yellow tags on the poster already. The tags are their breaks. They get a ten minute break, a snack break, a lunch break and a recess break in between their boxes. Once they fill in the empty squares with their numbers they come to a break. Sometimes I have allowed them to schedule their own breaks after they have seen their filled boxes. This works well, because it gives them a little choice in the matter. My biggest struggle with the box system is my own laziness. I HAVE TO MAKE SURE I FILL THE BOXES EVERY NIGHT or early morning. Also, timing can be a problem. We have had to rearrange break times or haven't finished all the boxes in a day. See, unexpected errands come up. Then it throws us off. I'm still trying to figure out how to work that. For example today is a beautiful day! The boxes are filled. I want so bad for the kids to enjoy the beauty of this day a bit before they get started on their boxes. But they have drama class at 2pm. Already, those two things throw a wrench into getting their work done. I guess that's when I have to decide what is the priority. Is it savoring Gods creation or preparing God children to serve. They are both important. And each day a different decision will have to be made. But for today... we will first...savor this wonderful weather. For today is the day God has made.:-) We should rejoice and be glad in it!

Friday, August 28, 2009

WorkBoxes!


Ok, I jumped on the bandwagon and began this school year with the workbox system. Totally unexpected. We had plans this year of having the kids do Classical Conversations-our homeschool co-op. Classical has been my accountability for the last five years. We meet every week and the program is structured as a guide to what subjects to teach the children each year. You know what to expect each week. Here I was at the beginning of August getting ready to plan my CC year. We only had half a payment to go. I had other curreculum lined up on my budget for math, reading, spelling ect. (Not to mention the gymnastic class, football and drama class I wanted them to participate in this year.) I was excited, too, because this would be the first year since homeschooling that I would not be tutoring for Classical Conversations. In previous years I had tutored in order to have my kids in the program. The money I would make from Classical paid for my kids. Well, last year we had saved tuition money and we made the decision for me to spend one year not tutoring, so I could see how my children are in a classroom setting. I had never before been able to be in their classes, because I was always teaching. So, I really thought this year was going to be good and allow us to bond closer as a family. We were finally able to afford for me not to tutor! And then...BOOM! All my plans died. My husband lost his designated load ( he's a truck driver for those that don't know him) A designated load is a load that is the same each week. Every week we knew how much money was coming in. Every week we knew when he'd be home. Every week we just knew. And it was great! The money that had been saved for all my BIG PLANS has ended up paying for mortage, car payment, bills and Big truck expenses. WHY!!! I asked God. Why? I thought I was doing YOUR WILL. I thought you wanted me to homeschool-to bring the children up in your ways- to prepare them to make you known. How can we do this without money! So, go the thoughts in my head. No more curreculum, no more books, no more CLASSICAL... Oh! Misery. What to do, what to do. I had no plan. Me. Without a plan. I love getting my little notebook out and planning away. Not always do I stick to the plans, but there is a plan none the less. And now school should be starting and NO PLAN! All my plans had money involved. NO MONEY, NO PLAN. It's a test. I know it. It's a test- and it is SO HARD. I'd like to say I turned to my Bible and began reading, but that would be a lie. I turned to the internet. My mind was in chaos. My thoughts were a jumble. I began exploring ideas. :-) (Let's just go all the way here.)
God's Word is the rock we stand on and everything has to line up with it. I believe he also uses other mediums to guide us to his Word, such as books, computers, people, ect..(Let's be clear..not mediums as in fortune tellers-that's not the medium I'm talking about here) Anyway, in my exploring I came upon the Workbox system. (A friend had actually, mentioned the name once and I googled it.) I'm sorry to say I haven't bought the book yet. But by reading what others have said I was able to figure it out. Hmm? I thought. Boxes. Boxes are organized. Boxes are cheap. Boxes can help you plan...I need a box. I need to just go sit in a box and maybe it will all go AWAY... Uhh? Thoughts of the grave just went through my head. OK maybe that's not a good idea. Not that kind of box!!! Boxes are compartments that can organize things. I need order. I need a box! And I scrounged up some spare cash and went in search of a box. If I had shoe boxes I would have used those but I did'nt. So, I did have to go spend some money, but not much. I found boxes on sale at Walmart. Five boxes for $3.50. It's a sign! I got 24 of them. I went home to put my thoughts in a box. I went through all my old curreculum and found old workbooks that the kids never completed. I found old books that the kids had never read. I found coloring books, computer programs and craft projects that they had never done. Hmm. It was time to clean house. We needed to finish things not finished. We needed to do what hadn't been done. Prayer. We need a lot of prayer. And here sits the Bible. It needs to be read. No curreculum stands up to it. But I just can't put it in a box... It is THE BOX.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Rain

I love the rain. The rain canceled runner's camp today. Not that that was good, but it left me with an unplanned day. So, guess what? We are spending a cozy day at home making cookies, catching up on homework and reading books.


These are the cookies we made. There is no flour in them. They are made from oatmeal alone. Came out looking a little funny, but they sure taste good. Aidan gave them a B+ and Brianna gave them an A+. But they are both begging for more.


Yesterday, we ate from our garden for the first time this summer. The kids helped me pick the lettuce. I also had one banana pepper that I chopped up and put in it. Tomatoes haven't come in yet. Here's the salad we made...




Saturday, June 6, 2009



Today is the anniversary of D-day. Remembering my Grandpa Joe today. He was one of the 82nd airbourne paratroopers who glided into the beaches of France at night so the enemy wouldn't hear us coming. But, he got shot in the head that night. They put a metal plate in his head and he went on to perform seven more missions.
He received 2 bronze metals, 2 purple hearts, and a silver star.
My grandfather was 1/2 Apache indian, and he fought with bravery for his country.
My family and I are proud to call him grandpa and we will never forget what he did for the cause of freedom. We love you Grandpa Joe.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Nice Easter


We had a real nice Easter this weekend. I had been so worried about not having a lot of gifts and candy for the kids. I remember as a child waking up on Easter morning and having some very beautiful Easter baskets with toys and candy. My mom would make us get up very early and we would find a church that would have sunrise service. We would go to that and then find a brunch to eat at. I remember those traditions as a child fondly. I have tried to recreate them in my own home, but it never seems to work out. This Easter I had meant to get the kids a gift for Easter morning, but I'm never by myself. Since David is gone all week, it is just me and the kids. So, it was impossible to get them anything during the week. When David got home on Friday it was too late to really go to the store, because we went to church that evening. On Saturday, David and Aidan had a father and son football game, which went very well. They had lots of fun. After that we had errands to run, and we were going to separate in the store to pick up goodies for the kids. Well, there I was in the Easter isle. David had told me I could not spend much money. I look around and it was a mad house. Parents scrambling for the last remaining white chocolate rabbit. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. God was screaming to me at that very moment that this is not what Easter is about! I left the area and found my family in the store looking at socks, which is exactly what we all needed. We don't need candy, we don't need toys, we need socks. All our socks have holes in them. So, we bought socks and I went home and cried. I cried, because I just didn't want to disappoint my children on Easter morning. I cried, because I couldn't live up to the traditions my parents were able to give me as a kid. I cried, because I forgot what Easter is about. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He showed me that Easter is about being with Him and being together. So, we read a book together and I sent the kids off to bed knowing I had nothing for them to wake up to in the morning. So, I sat there on the couch and it occured to me that I could make them something. I had wool from my new hobby-felting. I decided to felt them a little rabbit. It came together well. They each got a rabbit and David went up to the grocery store and bought two small chocolate rabbits. We put them in an old Easter basket that we had already had. When the kids woke up in the morning, they were very excited about mom's homemade rabbits. It really didn't take much to make them happy. My kids read the Bible about the tomb being empty and we made a wonderful breakfast together. We had went to church on Friday so we decided that we would stay home together and enjoy the day the Lord had made. We are very blessed. I thank God for showing me truth when the world tries to mislead us.

Monday, April 6, 2009

New Day

I feel like today is a new day. We are changing our studies to new things this week. I'm hoping to get the kids out into the garden a bit if it stops raining. I hope we can plant some lettuce and peas. We worked all weekend on designing our new garden layout. It's going to give us more room. It was hard work, but worth it.