A Mother's Prayer...my prayer

Dear Lord,

         So far today I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, I haven't lost my temper, I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or very indulgent. I'm very grateful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on, I'm going to need a lot more help. Amen.

New Additions!!

We have 4 new additions to the family...baby chicks!!

This is Hawk. My son named her of course because

she looks like a hawk, duh mommy.

 She is a Black Sex Link (hybrid dual purpose) chick. About 3 wks old.

 She is a bit skiddish and a bit ornery.

This is Delia or Dellie.

She is a Delaware chick (dual purpose). About 3 wks old.

She's not thrilled to be held but deals with it.

And this cutie is Ducky...she has stripes like a duck

 but you can't really tell in this picture.

She is sweet and doesn't mind being held.

She is an Americana (dual purpose)

 and will lay blue eggs! She's about 2 wks old.

BTW naming a chick Ducky can be a bit

 confusing for a 2 year old. {Grin}

And if I have a favorite this one would be it...

This is Rhodie. She's a Rhode Island Red

(dual purpose) and about 2 wks old.

She doesn't mind being held either and has a tip of red on the

end of her beak which is so cute.

So! This is our new adventure as a family. We are so excited to have our own free range, no antibiotics, no hormones eggs soon. And of course they are so fun to watch which is an extra treat. {Grin}

Something I Love...

About home schooling....

The other day Little Astronaut says, 'Mom, can we learn about castles?'

A quick trip to our online library...and

Can you guess what we're 'studying' about for the next couple weeks??

That's right. Castles.

Why? Because my son wants to.

Is that so GREAT or what?

What A Waste!

I am not a Tree Hugger. I am not a Save The Planet or forest or ocean person. But I HATE waste! I LOATH...yes I said loath in 2011...the Buy and Trash Lifestyle America has embraced. Flip on the tele. Nothing is good enough. Isn't that what they're telling us? Isn't that what we are teaching our kids and feeding ourselves?? That what we buy today will be less than next year. Your phone, your clothes, your decor, your video games, your Rubbermaid lunch thingy, even your cool BPA Free water container. I think we have lost the reality that these things have to go somewhere when they are discarded...the trash. In a big hole in the ground...forever...doing nothing...going nowhere...forever.

This bugs me. Can you tell?

Call me crazy...this is what we have changed:

We use glass not plastic for almost everything.
Why? Because there are no toxins in glass and you can use them over and over and over again. And food just looks so much better in glass, all pretty and shiny.

We use our own grocery bags (when I remember to put them back in the car!).
Why? Because you can use them over again, wash them, buy really cute/fun or masculine ones, and sometimes get 6cents off (each bag) your grocery bill!

We recycle cardboard, paper, and soon plastic.
Why? Because it's so easy and you'll be amazed at how your pick up trash can is only half full each week or less.

We donate instead of trash. And buy used when we can.
Why? Because someone's trash can be someone's treasure. And! It's so much cheaper to buy used of course :)

We buy from the bulk section. 
Why? Because it's so much cheaper! And! there is so much less packaging (to waste).

Our newest thing is using reusable produce bags.
Why? Because throwing those flimsy plastic bags away drives me nuts and I detest food in plastic.

I first planned on sewing fabric ones with drawstrings but then the checker would have to take them out of the bag for their #s and you don't want a frustrated checker so I decided to look for laundry bags with zips but I was at the Dollar Tree and found a four pack or mesh bags with drawstrings. So $3 later I have 12 bags and didn't sew a stitch!

I didn't one day wake up and say 'We are going GREEN!' It happened one thing at a time. I want to be a good steward with what The Lord has given us; with our health, with our money, and with his glorious land. We can not save our planet. Because of sin we are living on an earth that is slowly dying just like us but that doesn't mean we throw caution to the wind, right?

Here's a link on making your own grocery bags:
http://tipnut.com/35-reusable-grocery-bags-totes-free-patterns/


Check out this video and be inspired!

Finding Joy In Your Father's House

I came across this book in The Vision Forum Catalog....

By age fourteen, Jasmine Baucham’s little-girl dreams of becoming a mommy were supplanted by bigger visions of winning the Pulitzer Prize or an Oscar and appearing on Oprah. She began viewing the calling of home and marriage as second-rate. Then her world was radically challenged by the Scriptures, as she went from craving personal renown to craving to please the Lord through delighting in his design for the joyful home — an even bigger dream, she realized, than stardom.

In Joyfully at Home, Jasmine writes with verve and transparency about her own struggles and triumphs as a young woman, encouraging other girls to embrace a vision for the home as a hub of ministry and discipleship and as a training ground for life ahead. With humor, humility, and heart, Jasmine tackles the tough questions girls face, offering practical counsel on how to overcome false views of marriage, husbands, and singleness.

I want to encourage young women . . . to be enthusiastic and vibrant, purposeful and driven, meticulous and passionately focused in pursuit of the Lord's will for their time at home. —Jasmine Baucham

Why do single young women choose to stay at home? Can they be fulfilled and content under their father's roof? What do they do with their time? Jasmine Baucham has written a winsome, compelling, and hard-hitting book which will encourage and inspire all the women in your home! Joyfully at Home will challenge your thinking and help you honestly answer the really tough questions. —Beall Phillips


After reading this I sat back and thought...whoa.

My mom remarried while I was in high school. She had a new marriage, a full time job, and 3 younger children. She may not have intentionally pushed me out but I felt like I didn't have a place at home. So I left and got my first apartment a week before I graduated. I came to the Lord shortly after that and moved back home. Met a boy, fell in love, moved out, and married him 6 months after meeting him. I can look back and say...Yeah, I was seeking a home. I needed to feel needed. To be a part of something. And thankfully God brought me my husband.

Before I read about this book I've said the following...
My kids will work at 16.
My kids will leave the house soon after they graduate.
We won't push them to go to college but they have to do something.

I brought this up to a friend of mine. She was home schooled, her family loves the Lord, and she's still at home. I told her about this book and that I'd never even thought this was an option in a family. I ask her,'Were you guys encouraged to stay home until marriage?' And this is what they were taught...

Pursue your passions.
Seek God always.

They weren't told they had to leave, or to go to school, or to find a job. Pursue your passions. Seek God always. Go from there...that's it.

That's all there is isn't there? In life I mean. Doesn't God give you the desires of your heart? The desires of His heart for you? Should we lean not on our own understanding??

How is this not obvious? How is this not what we are teaching our children?? Guess what...

We will not push our children out.
They will always have a place in our home...until they marry of course :)
We will give them the tools to pursue their passions.
We will encourage them to seek God always.

Thank you ST your family has inspired me in more ways than one.

Staying on Track

I love the whole house clean. And it was do-able with one child but with two? Forget it. There are just not enough hours in the day to clean every room, enjoy some playtime, make and eat 6 meals a day without mom or the kids melting down. So! About 6 months ago I packed up quite a bit of my OCD-ness and settled wrote a game plan.

Monday- Laundry (fold and put away)
Tuesday- Vacuum Living Room/Sweep/Mop
Wednesday- Bathrooms
Thursday- Master Bedroom
Friday- Kids Rooms
Saturday- Kitchen (only sometimes...since it gets cleaned after every meal)
Sunday- Wash All Clothes/Bedding  (I only want to do laundry once a week and cloth diapers are usually in the washer during the week)

I know, simple right?? It will be nice when my kids are older and I can divide and conquer but until then I'd rather keep my sanity and the love of my kids. I'm totally a planner so every morning I make myself a list of what I need done and want done. The cleaning of the day is Top Priority! Then I can move to the rest and if they don't all get done it's not a big deal I just move them onto the next day. Everything eventually gets done and I can look at the bathrooms or laundry and take peace in the fact that I won't see them again for 7 days :) And now I feel like I'm planning my day around my little loves instead of working them in my overachiever schedule.

Why did I share this? Maybe you're dealing with this issue too and this will help? More because I want to stay accountable in this area {Grin}

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

A bit late, I know.

Can I just say I love new beginnings. Being able to look at the past and see how far we've come as a family, as friends, and in our journey with the Lord. Two years ago the Lord spoke to me about relationships...some that I had to cut off, some I had to take a few steps back from, and a couple I had to work on. It was a good training for me and I have to remind myself of that training often. Last year He spoke to me about being different. This training will carry into 2011 as well for we have much to learn in this area. He showed us that our calling as a family is different even paired up next most christian families. This has been hard at times...some days we just want to be the same but of course we want to do what we have been made to do so that feeling quickly passes {Grin}. This year I think My Father will be talking to me about time...

The two weeks before Christmas the kids were driving me crazy. There was disobedience all over the place. Which means I was spending most of my day correcting and re-training...and exhausted by 8pm. After all that I was seeing NO RESULTS! Which is weird for my kids. So I'm talking to the Lord one day and say 'Ok. They are doing this and I'm doing this over and over and over again. I'm getting no where. What's going on?' And as plain as day I hear...'Time. You're not spending time with them.'

So four days of putting them back in their number 2 priority slot (where they should have been that two weeks) and TaDa! My real kids are back.

Moving on...

We have some traditions for Christmas....we:
1. Cruised neighborhoods looking at lights
2. Baked cookies for our neighbors
3. Unwrapped our nativity scene one day at a time (two pieces at a time)
4. Made cupcakes for Jesus' Bday
5. Decorated the tree with only white lights, a home made paper garland, and 4 homemade ornaments (I really wanted to keep it simple this year)
6. Little Astronaut and I made a new star for the top of our tree with some yellow felt and lots of glitter
7. We hung up a stocking for Jesus and wrote him letters and drew him pictures for his bday
8. Bought two main gifts for the kids...one from us and one from Jesus. (and stocking stuffers)
    We don't buy a lot of gifts for Christmas because we want to keep it about Jesus. Some people think  that's weird but I just tell them that we can (and do) buy our kids stuff anytime of the year but Christmas is really not about them.

Next year I want to:
1. Write letters to our friends to remind them how special they are to us
2. Have our nativity on our dining table and each night move the wise men around the house as they follow the star to baby Jesus

What did you do this year? Anything you want to do next year?