Mom's Adventure!

New Fanny Pack

2012-01-26T13:24:00.000-06:00

I really like the fanny pack I made back in the summer, but it is starting to look used. So I have been starting to think about making a new one. Today was the day. Since I was monitoring a young lady taking placement test in the garage I could sew.

Here is the end results:

I had bought this little organizer for your suitcase. I had the idea of sewing a belt on it and using it. When I loaded my heavy stuff in it It was to wide. I think the difference is that the ends of my home made one are flat rounding out, while the ends of this are wide making pockets.

I had an idea! I would use the bought thing inside my home made one! Instant pockets with zippers even! It fit perfect!

Here it is with the black thing inside and my heaviest item safely tucked away.

Net is Everything inside! I even have a belt loop for my key chains! I do need to get a different belt webbing for it. I like a wider one. It won't fit through the loops but I have a sewing machine. I can attach it! I debated about sewing the black thing in or leaving it removable. I decided to leave it free. I am thinking that in rainy weather this will protect items I don't want wet much better than just denim.

Not bad for a couple of hours work. The bottom will fringe out like the quilts you can do where you fringe.

God's sense of Humor and other ramblings

2012-01-25T09:58:00.000-06:00

Monday night at our retreat planning meeting we were talking about all the rain we were hoping to get since there was a chance in the forecast.   I said I wanted enough to make our road 4wd only. :)   I didn't know that the 4wd on the excursion wasn't working.   Sooo .... this morning when I went to get grandson at the hwy, well I got stuck!   We got about 1.5 of rain last night.   Ponds are full. It is wonderful.   I am thankful!

I called dh to tell him. I didn't know if he wanted to just leave it until tonight or what. I had the kids come pick us up in the ranger. Walking to solid ground was hard just to get in the ranger. Once dh got here we took some chains and went back to the private road where the excursion was.   With much work he finally pulled down close enough with three chains we could hook up.   With him backing and me in the excursion we finally got it out of the bottom of the draw.   Then he was having issues trying to back up the hill. So we manged to unhook and me go the rest of the way to the top. He went through the bottom turned around and came back.   We then switched and I took the truck with grandson in it. He thought the whole thing was really FUN.   DH took the excursion to town. Maybe he will get the 4wd fixed today. He thinks it is a vacuum hose.

That was the icing on the cake to my day.   MN has been behind in school for a couple of weeks. Just not getting all of her history and math done.   Yesterday or Monday evening while I was gone she had a revelation on how to do it. She got caught up and all her school done for today by 6:30.   Yes I do look a gift horse in the mouth. I might have been born in the dark but not yesterday.   A hundred on a test that she couldn't even pass a few days ago has a bad smell.   So I snooped around and sure enough, she had figured out how to skip problems and them not show up as skipped. Still not sure how she did it. She isn't sharing.   When a problem is skipped it is crossed out.   That is how I found out what she was doing.

My heart is so sad. The tears just keep flowing. I know this to shall pass and we will be stronger and wiser and I hope everyone grows from it, but for today I mourn. I really could use some prayers to go along with my day. I know I serve a awesome God. I know He is worthy of my praise even when I am literally stuck in the mud! :)   Doesn't mean that mud isn't heavy and tough to walk out of. We are and we will walk out of this mud puddle just like we have many before.

Heart of Motherhood Enrichment Reminder

2012-01-16T07:42:00.000-06:00

Heart of Motherhood Enrichment retreat is just 2 1/2 weeks away. Registrations are coming in. We would love to have you come and attend. The team is so excited about what the Lord has for us this year. Our registration deadline is just 4 days away. Register today!!!!!!!

Sleeping options: If you are interested in a hotel style room, rooms with one double bed are available for an additional $20.00/night;

if you have a roommate it would be an additional $10.00/night.

If you are unable to attend all weekend, consider coming for the day on Saturday. The cost for one day will be $50.00

Don't delay, Don't procrastinate, Register now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have any questions contact us at Heartofmotherhood@gmail.com or you can contact us on face book @ Heart of Motherhood.

Just life

2012-01-11T12:14:00.000-06:00

Simba is such a kid cat. If the kids decide to play legos and build cars or trailers then they better plan on "help". This was a couple of nights ago. Last night he was back down in the floor in a "boat".

This morning grandson ask to feed the fish. The fish weren't to interested but Freckles was interested in helping him. I thought this was a cute picture.

See this tiny plant? It is in the mix of some cactus type plant I have. I just discovered it when I checked to see if any of them had rooted. This one is well rooted!

I knew I had these by the back door. Remember when I had to trim my bougainvillea this fall to bring it in the house? I cut all the trimmings into about 6-8 inch stems. Stuck them in root stimulator, then into pots coming into the house.

This is a pot of wandering jew. I think it has 3-5 bougainvilleas sprouting in it.

This one is coleus and as you can see it also has one or two growing leaves. I am amazed and excited! It makes trimming my giant plant easier.

This is the mother plants. I think there are three colors here. Two are pinks and one white. I want a double and some of the other colors this summer. Since I can root at least some of them I will feel better about buying more. I can see this becoming an issue of to many bougainvilleas also. I noticed that the mother pot has SEVERAL sprouting in it also. I have no idea how many I will have by spring. More are still sprouting. I saw one this morning that just had a tiny green bud on a stick.

One more Poncho!

2012-01-10T18:32:00.000-06:00

This time I had a beautiful model/owner.

Grand son wants one! He has agreed to a different color. He suggested YELLOW! I told him I would have to look and see what I can find. I may not find yellow.

Simple sewing fun...

2012-01-09T15:52:00.000-06:00

It started with me wanting to make a simple EASY poncho. I searched and read and searched for ideas. Finally found this site: Poncho/baby wearing It looked super simple! It was!

Since I can't even follow instructions for sewing any better than a recipe I had to change it up. I wanted a hood. Don't I have a beautiful model? This whole poncho took me maybe 2 hours after I figured out what I was doing.

As you can see I may have overkilled on length. It isn't that long on me, even if she does want to claim she is taller. It IS long. I may shorten it after I play with it a bit.

I didn't totally understand how to cut the head hole for baby and me. Since I doubt I need a baby and me cut anyway I just cut about a 6 inch hole center of the material. Then I went and found a fleece hoodie I have that I have mixed reviews about. I folded a piece of flannel and cut around it leaving a small seem allowance and room for a hem and drawstring in the front. Amazingly the hole and the hoodie were about the same size around. I sewed it onto the poncho. I really hate draw strings. I ran 1/4 inch elastic through the draw string hem. Pinned it on one side with a safety pin and left the elastic dangling on the other. I put it on, pulled the elastic up where I wanted it pinned it. I took it off and sewed it in place and was done.

Next project: Years ago, MANY years ago, 15+ we bought some cheap face warmers at K-mart. They were made by Northwest Territories. Super simple, a tube of thermal material about 11 inches around by 14 or so inches long. It slipped over your head. You could use it as a headband if you folded it first, or cover most of your face or just year ears. Caps fit over them with very little trouble. We horded them, we fought over them. The boys may still have one. They were that good. I can't seem to find mine this winter. It was green.

Did you know you can't find thermal material? Not like what old fashion thermal underwear was made out of, which is what these were made out of. My SIL made some for us last year out of a new thermal, but they weren't as good. Better than most, but lacking. Today I made one out of fleece.

I did make the tube longer. I think this one is 20 inches long.

It is warm! You can't cover your nose, just not enough air. It is tight, but I am thinking that the ranger ride will be much warmer on my ears this way. I will be checking it out later this evening.

Top all this fun sewing off with a huge pot of beef stew cooking and life is good! Even if they say we may be white by morning. I am just praying no lambs born during it.

Weekend this and that in Pictures

2012-01-09T15:21:00.000-06:00

Just an enjoyable weekend. I took a few snapshots.

Girly girls start young! Check out her heels! Yes they are T's and just like T this little thing can MOVE in them.

I love this picture of my DIL. I would still love know what her granny use to say instead of cheese to get people to smile for the camera. Tammy? Care to share? She was to embarrassed to help us out.

If sister can wear them then brother should be able to also! Some how he found it a lot harder to walk in them than she did.

Retreat gifts are a family affair here! We are all getting in on the fun and the blessing of making gifts! If you want to know what we are making guess you need to sign up and attend retreat! It will be a LOT of fun. Hope some of you can join us that haven't considered it.

Pray about joining us for Retreat and getting in on the fun! I will bet you haven't felt so blessed as you will from retreat and probably haven't laughed as hard either! It is always fun sharing the ups and downs of motherhood! Come join us!

Ichthammol Salve

2012-01-06T18:31:00.000-06:00

Also know as black drawing salve. This stuff is amazing!   A friend who deals with horses suggested I use that to pack my dog's wound. She said they use it on horses and it is amazing. No cleaning, no dressings, just repack 1-3 times a day.   This sounded like an answer to prayer for me.

Stopped by Tractor Supply and got all they had. I figured to fill that hole it was going to take a lot.   I packed it in.   A lot of it fell out because of the wound and it's position. I am sure the fact I cheated and warmed that salve in hot water until it was thick syrup didn't help it stay in place.   Lesson learned. Amazon does carry it, but it is almost twice the price of other places both on line and local.

Next morning I didn't pack it in so much. I packed the deep wound part, but the rest I frosted.   Seriously this stuff is about as thick as cold can cake icing. It goes on about as well too!   You can cover once, but if you try to go back and touch up all your "pretty" pulls back onto your spoon or spatula.   I should be able to frost cakes quite well when I get through doing this.

I have been doing it for a week today. I would say that the wound has shrunk by at least 1/3 if not closer to 1/2.the deep spot is smaller around and not as deep, maybe 2 inches deep and maybe that wide. Much better than me being able to put my fist in the hole.

This stuff isn't very expensive.   I would really suggest anyone with animals keep a container on hand. It really is amazing stuff. It is oh so nasty to use. It stinks, and drains off all day.   At the same time it protects the wound. You don't have to dress it are anything. I will see rocks and hay and grass and dirt in that stuff on his wound, but by the time it is time to put the stuff on it again it seems to all drain off.

I am not sure how long I will be icing his hinny, but I do know not near as long as I expected to be doing wound care and oh so much simpler!    It truly was an answer to prayer!

What do they say about bragging on children?

2012-01-04T10:41:00.000-06:00

I discovered after I bragged that she had "borrowed" the poem about a new day. :(

Since it was pointed out, (Thank You), that she borrowed it she will no longer be on FB. She does have lots of God given talent. It makes me very sad when she didn't own that she borrowed it. Was it a misunderstanding that grew? I don't know.

My DD rough start to a New Year

2012-01-03T09:16:00.000-06:00

Not sure what her cat got into or what happened, but he was sick right before New Years and New Years morning he was dead. After she and I cried together about 5 AM, she dried her tears and wrote this poem and posted it on her FB group. I "borrowed it"

A New Day

If life seems at its lowest ebb,
... Because a day's gone wrong.
Let not your heart be troubled,
... For a new day soon will dawn

And we can never be quite sure,
Just what it has in store.
Since each one is so different,
Than the one just gone before

As it penetrates the darkness,
With its soft and tranquil beams.
It calms even the most restless soul,
And brings new hopes and dreams

So when a days been troubled,
And the night is dark and long.
Lift up your fallen spirits,
For a new day soon will dawn

I committed on it, just how she sat down and in her grief she wrote so beautifully. She responded with this, made me cry.

"I love you too mom! I am so glad I am your daughter and that you spent 7 years working with me so I can be the girl I am today!"

I know the journey she has walked to be able to grieve over her cat. The journey that allows her heart to be hurt by loving something. The walls she has struggled first to put up just to survive, now she is tearing down to LIVE, and to LIVE life to the fullest.

Later New Years day she wrote this on her FB:

Today... I start a New Year... A new year that will have new joys... new begginings... new oppurtunites... another chance to breathe and live my life... to thank God each passing day... hour... minute... second... year. I will have new sorrows. New pain. New grief. I will grow stronger each passing day as I leave my past behind me. The loved ones I have lost... I move forward and leave them behind. I hang on to the truth that I will see them again. All of the cats... dogs... goats... and any other animal that captures my heart. I will always love them... I would rather have had them once in my life then to never have had them at all.
2012, I will learn that it is okay to cry... cry and cry. Cry without shame, because God hold my every tear. I will learn to choose joy. Learn to praise God in my tears. It is hard when I lose something I truly love, and know that they will never feel my hug again, I will never see them in my arms again... they will never feel my kiss again, they will never feel me stroke their fur... That is not until I go home. Which will be awhile.
All I really wanted to say was... Scraunch, I will miss you this year. I love you and I am trying to stay strong. I hope you know that you were my baby, I miss you. Wait for me okay? You were my sweet, daring, troublemaker, silly schoonkiebum! I will always treasure the memories you gave me! You have taught me so many things! (Besides that cat claws hurt!) but you taught me to love. You showed me that it was okay to create a bond. I love you Scraunch, I really pray that where you are in heaven, you will wait for me. I love you schoonkiebum!!!
Love your mama,
MNJ
P.S Oh I forgot! I will also be sure to bring a roll of toilet paper when I go home to see you. That way you can shred it into millions of pieces in God's bathroom! Then He can see you with the look on your face "Ummm, I am not sure what happened here. But I can explain... I did not tear the toilet paper up and make this huge mess! THe floor just erupted and exploded..." All the while you have a stream of toilet paper in your mouth.

To say I am proud of her and her journey from angry, hurt little girl into this beautiful compassionate young woman is an understatement. She amazes me! She truly has been transformed by God. She isn't the same little girl we adopted almost 8 years ago. That child couldn't grieve over anything. She didn't cry. She lashed out and hurt others, both people and animals in her pain. What an amazing journey it has been and still is as I get to be apart of God's hands and feet as He transforms her into a powerful Woman of God. This post is a tribute to both Him and her.

Starting a New Year...

2011-12-31T15:49:00.000-06:00

I don't do resolutions, mine is to be better this year in the eyes of God than last year. It continues to be that day in and day out, month in and month out, year in and year out.

I do like to start new things with a new year. I like the clean slate idea of it. Usually I start a new Bible reading program. There are many different ways to read the Bible in a year.   :) I have done several. The one that probably grew me the most was the year I read a Chronological Bible.   I finished that year with a much better understanding of how the books in the Old Testament mesh together instead of how they are presented.

This year I am excited and feeling a bit overwhelmed at what I plan on tackling this year.   Back in the fall I found this book at Sam's:

I have glanced at it a couple of times and each time thought it looks really good.   Yesterday I sat down and LOOKED at it. Wow, it is going to be a study! It has a read the Bible in a year program in the front, so that is taken care of. Then more reading for each day's devotional.   I am looking fwd to it.

I also made copies of the read the Bible in a year in front of the devotional for all 5 kids. I am going to challenge them to do it also.

I have revamped some of my prayer journals and made each of my kids at home a prayer journal with their name and a special blessing on the front. I am very pleased at how they turned out.   These are some of the extra prayer notebooks I made for retreat last year.

We are also going to do some accountability for those of us with habits that we wish we no longer had. I have each of the kids come up with 1-5 things they want to be held accountable for.   Not just bad habits, but lack of habits in things they want to have habits of.    Again we will see how this goes since I am making it up as I go along.   I planning on having a couple on this list also.

A friend shared this link on de-cluttering and building better habits. The decluttering calender looks really interesting and easy.   I think that is one thing I may put on my accountability list.
MySimplerLife/Calendar

I like this one, but wish I could tweak it to make it mine. I may borrow some from it and make me one.
Daily Planner from Holy Experience

Hope this year is wonderful for everyone. I pray that the Lord blesses each and everyone that reads this blog over the next year in ways that can only be from Him and that each of you grow and come to have a deeper love and understanding of who God is in your life.

New "exercise"

2011-12-30T18:55:00.000-06:00

Jump Rope!!!

Yes, those are boots, and believe it or not she holds the championship in jumping!

We plan on taking the jump rope to church on Sunday and the park on park days. It should be fun to get this fad started back. Kids were looking on you tube with amazement Double Dutch Jumping.

Even mom got out there and jumped a few jumps. My knees aren't use to this. They were trying to run in and jump. I finally took off my fanny pack and showed them. Only problem was I got in and jumped ok, but my knees weren't prepared so I went to the ground. It didn't hurt, just they folded. I need to do more jumping before I try showing off. I did and do rub it in I can do it and they can't. I think my record jumping was about 3 or 4 jumps. This to can improve with practice.

Puppy update...

2011-12-28T16:42:00.000-06:00

Meet Freckles. That was her name when we got her. We really can't come up with anything better. Our old Freckles was a great dog. We tried several names but first thing I knew she was Freckles again.

We bought 2 puppies, but the other belongs to my oldest. He is needing a working dog with different blood lines and we pray will WORK. His best working dog is a Florida Cur. That dog would rather work than take care of puppies. The puppy in this picture with D10 is Ranger. See he has a white collar and wider blaze in the middle of his face.

They do seem to be catching on fast. I told one of them no a little while go and it stopped what it was doing. The seem to play pretty gentle with grandson. They love on him but don't knock him down. He figured out how to "lead" them yesterday. He would as to bring the puppy to you. We would agree and he would grab the collar and "lead" him to you. Puppy would apply all brakes and with my tile floor slide where ever he was to go. Yes, they are leading pretty good now.

I didn't get the one I thought I liked. The lady had said she was a little more standoffish. She was WAY more shy and wouldn't come up to you and would slink away. I liked her, she was beautiful, but I want an out going not shy puppy/dog. These two don't seem to have a shy bone.

H.O.M.E. Heart of Motherhood Enrichment

2011-12-28T12:36:00.000-06:00

H.O.M.E.

Heart of Motherhood Enrichment

Retreat News

Hello Ladies,

Blessings to each of you. Heart of Motherhood Enrichment retreat is just 5weeks away. Registrations have started to come in. The team is enjoying planning and preparing a wonderful, fun, and relaxing retreat. We are praying for each of you. We pray all the details will work out for you to attend.

Each of the speakers are getting excited about what God has put on their hearts to share. Listen to these wonderful topics:

The Importance of Blessings: Nola Jones

Need a blessing? Need to learn to receive a blessing? Need to learn to speak blessings to those you love?

We will explore what the 5 keys to giving and receiving blessings are and why it is important for us to learn to speak them to those we care about.

Vanessa Simon – Do you sometimes feel like you are living in a dry season? Learn to walk through the dry times into Gods green pastures.

Julie Zesch – Nutrition and Declarations:

Nutrition – Learn how to feed your body with God given healthful foods so you can live life to the fullest in your motherhood journey.

Declarations and Faithfullness - Speaking, declaring what God has for us, our marraiges, and our children and knowing that our Faith is the Substance of the fruit we will see in our lives, our marriage, and our children.

Molly Criner: Every day in our roles as mothers, wives, and women of God, we are bombarded with thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Some we recognize immediately as representing truth or lies, while others “fly under the radar” and subtly, by our own agreement with them, move us away from God’s plan for our lives. I would like to share, through scripture and stories from my personal life, how I’m learning about the amazing, scriptural power of agreement and the subtle but profound ways it affects my success as a mother, wife, and woman of God.

The View from Here: Kristi McClellan
Life is a journey, often exhilarating, occasionally daunting. As we each travel along the path God has laid out for us as His daughters, as wives and mothers and friends, we have much to share with one another, especially as we look back over the ground we've traveled and consider the lessons we've learned. I would like to share with you "my view from here," my thoughts on Christian life, marriage and mothering from my current vantage point, a few of the most valuable nuggets I've learned along the way. I pray that God's pearls of wisdom for me will enhance or help some part of your own journey!

Sleeping options: If you are interested in a hotel style room, rooms with one double bed are available for an additional $20.00/night; if you have a roommate it would be an additional $10.00/night.

I f you are unable to attend all weekend, consider coming for the day on Saturday. The cost for one day will be $50.00

Don't delay, Don't procrastinate, Register now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also; we've had several inquiries of mothers wanting to bring their daughters. If you have a daughter who would like to attend the cost will be $90.00. This will not include the retreat packet.

If you have any questions contact us at Heartofmotherhood@gmail.com or you can contact us on face book @ Heart of Motherhood or call Julie Zesch at 325-234-6182

Blessings to you all,

May today's rising of the sun mirror the rising hope in your heart of God's emphatic desire to be a part of your life in a very personal way.

Just Life

2011-12-25T18:45:00.000-06:00

Life is rolling along. We escaped the winter weather, it stayed above freezing. We were blessed with drizzle and showers for a couple of days. We have stayed slightly muddy for about 6 weeks or so. It is wonderful! Our wheat is growing, but more like a green carpet than something that the stock can enjoy. Even though we have been very blessed this fall/winter with moisture we are way below "normal" on rainfall. Please continue to pray that the rain continues and even increases.

This afternoon I grabbed the camera for evening chores.

Sheep really don't want to wait for their hay. We have to keep them off the ranger while the boys load hay. I usually have my old dog RC helping but Thursday evening while we were gone the other dogs ganged up on him and beat him up pretty bad and chewed on his butt area. I think he will make it. We have him on antibiotics, plus I am very blessed in being able to use warm water outside to wash the chewed up area. I am covering the site with healing salve and other healing aids. Plus lots and lots of prayers. Feel free to add yours. I do know God heals animals too.

Baby lamb number 5! Born today. We managed to not have any lambs during the rain earlier this week.

Hay on the ground! We scatter in two places to help keep the lambs from getting stepped on.

Loading hay for the next round. We decided this is his best side.

Cows fed! Now home to a warm fire and supper.

Dad playing! It was to cold to weld today. He decided late this afternoon to go play on his friends toy. He is seeing just how big a mesquite tree he can take out correctly with this back hoe.

In other news, we are working on communication skills. Don't these two boys look like they are communicating?

The object of the lesson was to move the blue loveseat from the school room to the living room. They finally got it there with dad's help and bossing. They did fail communication 101.

D10(he had a birthday!) has a new toy playing partner. This is Simba and him playing cars.

I think having a kitten "help" is a new and novel thing with D10. He laughs and plays and rolls his cars for the kitten to drive.   He also gives the kitten rides on his big truck.

In other news I think I am getting a new puppy. I have been looking for a new working dog to train along with RC.   With him out of commission it has really driven home how often he helped.   The two yard apes we have are useless for that. I would really like to find them a new home that was just a yard home. They would be happy and we would be less dog populated.   They are sweet, but worthless out here. Want one?

Back to the puppy. I have been watching Cragslist for some type of working dog puppy for 2 or 3 months. I have emailed on some and they are working dog breeds, but not out of working stock. I don't want that. I need all the natural talent I can get. The other group I found that sounded interesting the pups were gone before I finished my reasearch, ever here of Hanging Tree Cowdogs?   They sound great!   Must be they didn't stay on crags list but ONE day.  Today they had some catahoulas puppies listed out of working parents. I emailed on them and the owner was more than happy to visit with me about his dogs. He loves them. He has had, used and raised them for many years.   The pups are really out of his mom's dog that he gave her. I ended up talking to her.   She told me her take on these dogs. The mama works cows for her just by nature. She hasn't "trained" her, but has just took her and used her and she loves to work.   She has the natural desire mixed with the love for her owner to work. This describes my relationship with RC.   I never trained him, but he learned to do what I need.   Between them they answered all my questions, most without me asking. How they are with kids? If they will work on smaller stuff than cows? How they are around chickens. One of the con's with them is they are very protective.   Gentleman told me he has to bring his children inside if he wants to spank one.   The two he has won't let him "hurt" the kid. He said also no stranger comes into the yard.   Again not sure this is a bad thing, especially way out in the sticks. My yard apes will bark and great the stranger at the gate. They will gladly show them the fine china or silver if we had any to show.   In this area I miss Freckles! She was son's old mountain cur. Nothing came in the yard with her either.   Some of the catahoula traits and history mimic the mountain cur.   I really wanted a male just to make life easy, then she texted me the pictures of the three she had left.   In a heart beat I knew which puppy I wanted.

It is this ladies pick.   She is a little more standoffish than the other two. She said not shy, but just sit back and wait and watch then gets petted.   The other two are all over her.   She told me all of this before I saw the picture. She was also my pick of the crags list of puppies.   My older children will be able to guess what color she is just by that. I couldn't believe that the prettiest puppy of the litter was still available.   As my dd pointed out maybe God was involved. I did think it was interesting that his dog, the grandmother to this puppy is named Freckles.   :)   They have another do that had the same name as one of our past favorite dogs.

I am just praying that in a couple of weeks RC will feel up to working sheep a bit to start training her.   I will be taking her twice a day on a leash to "help" me keep the sheep off the ranger.   RC just has me spoiled, I tell him to watch them and when they come to close he chases them back.   He has nipped enough of them for not backing off they know when he starts toward them to back off.   Not sure what her name will be.   Kinda like the name Socks, looking at her front feet right now.   :) Just noticed them when I posted this picture. I had also thought Blue, as look at her eyes? I think they are blue. They looked blue in this picture on my phone.

Beans, brisket and corn bread are being eaten without me so think I better wrap this up and get my share.

When God is Real

2011-12-24T21:47:00.000-06:00

Yes, I know God is real all the time. I started to title this When God Shows Up, but decided to share how God revels Himself in real ways.

Tonight we were discussing some stuff where MJ is struggling. Ended up he and I praying over it as he walked through it. I ask him to picture Jesus and listen to what he said.   For this black and white child that is a stretch, but he did it.   Jesus gave him some scriptures. I am always skeptical of what is really saw and what is made up to make me happy.   Yet, so often God does show up in what the kids "see".    Tonight was no different.

After we were through talking I suggested MJ write down what Jesus shared with him.   He got his Bible out and flipped to the first verse.

2 Cr 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

This fit what he is struggling with. I suggested he write them down so he could study on them and pray about them and how God wanted him to use them as swords in his battle.

He wrote two more verses down.

Pro. 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe

1 Pe 5:7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

This is a

young man that doesn't dig in his Bible. He has a working knowledge because of school, not a burning desire. He couldn't pull 3 verses out that fit together, much less address where he is struggling in the amount of time it took him to find these three. He had to supernaturally remember them also. Normally he wouldn't have remembered the first one, much less being able to find 3, and write them down!

I always love it when He shows up in ways that are so much Him and no way we as humans can fake it. It helps remind me in ways that grow my faith just how real He is. How He is listening when we are crying out even when we don't even understand what we are crying out for or about. We just know we need help.

He gently reminds me He cares for my children even more than I do and I am not walking this path without supernatural help. I can trust Him. I can believe He is real.

I did it! Satin Waterbed Sheets for Less than $40

2011-12-21T12:20:00.000-06:00

My dh has wanted satin sheets for years. We had some some cheap ones years ago that we both loved, but they wore out and I am cheap! It's hard to find satin waterbed sheets. When you do the cheap in me comes out and I won't pay for them.

A couple of months ago we were talking about fabric.com with my SIL. She buys a lot from them. He said something about wanting satin sheets. She has made a lot of satin pillow cases. I clarified and said WIDE satin. Of course we don't just ask, by then one of us has our smart phone or a computer out looking it up.

They had ONE color in stock wide enough. It was an interesting yellow. It was also clearance Now they were talking! After much figuring by several people we came up with the amount of fabric we would need. I placed the order, but you have to have $35 for free shipping. So I had to go buy a spool of thread to send me over the free shipping limit.

Once the material came in I was overwhelmed with cutting it. I have yet to master cutting or drawing a straight line. Even with a ruler. I procrastinated. Finally I ask dh if he would help me measure and cut. I really hate cutting fabric. It isn't even like hair that will grow back, once it is cut it is cut.

We got it measured and cut and then I had to wait until I was in the mood to tackle it. Yesterday was the day. I hemmed both pieces, then sewed the pockets on. I even put the elastic in the pockets for the bottom sheet. It looked perfect! It wasn't :( Some how we had miss measured, bottom sheet was to wide.

I ripped the pockets off that side, then I waited on dh to come home to cut. He cut it for me last night and this morning I finished them. Even if I did them, I am proud of them. They could be a tiny bit smaller across still, but they will work.

I love everything about them but the color. I can live with the color!

Sewing...

2011-12-20T12:51:00.000-06:00

I wish I could say the sewing bug had bit, but in part it hasn't. I just have some part finished baby blankets and wanted to give one to the families we were blessing. As usual the simple plan turned into not simple. Dh had bought several large totes of baby quilt material, squares cut and part made blankets. My idea was swoop in grab a top and sew a back. Hey it should work!

Wrong! This quilt was to small so I sewed red strips around it to enlarge it. All worked well until I discovered a flaw in the middle of the blanket. Grrrr! So I got creative. I sewed a truck over the flaw!

I did the back in blue since I didn't have enough of any color.

The other one I did manage to just zap a back on and use. It was narrow strips of material sewn together. Really pretty!

Then I realized as I was thinking birthday for grandson I had never done him a tied blanket. I did the older two but he wasn't around. Made birthday easy. I did not follow protocol on how to do a tied blanket. The put a scene on ones side and a solid on the other. I figured he would like both sides of this.

I had lots of help doing it. MN did most of the cutting. D12 did all the tying. I just got it straight, and marked where to cut the ties.

Now just how do I wait a whole week and 1/2 to give it to him! He will be 3.

Today we were Blessed!

2011-12-18T19:34:00.000-06:00

We gave up Christmas as the world knows it 5-6 years ago.   When we gave it up it was because of greedy attitudes and entitlement mindsets of 3 young children that we had adopted. Add the fact that the "season" came with lots of triggers for theses same children and it was enough to cancel Christmas.   I thought for one year.   God had already been working on my heart about where Christmas came from. Add the fact I detest the $$$ involved in buying a tree, and the fact that after the fun that tree has to come down and either be packed away if it is fake, or trashed if it is real has never been my favorite part of Christmas. We even did the plan the tree after Christmas tree one year.   I think it died.   Bottom line is I have never been overly into Christmas as most people think of Christmas. I wanted more Christ in Christmas and less stress and worry and materialism. I just didn't know how to achieve that.
The year I canceled Christmas it was like scales fell off my eyes. I discovered how freeing it is to not "have to" buy for this one and that one and struggle with will they like it and will it fit and do we have the money.   I could just go on with life.   It was peaceful.   We weren't stressed.

I can't remember if it was the first year or the second year that we adopted the angel tree. We would choose a child from there and bless them for Christmas.   Kids loved it!   They would start looking before Thanksgiving for the trees at Wal-mart.   Last year we did the angel tree and also our church made food baskets for several families and bought toys for their kids.

This year we again felt that was the way we were to go. Instead of doing the angle tree we wanted to do more in an area that doesn't see many blessings. We came up with one of the local towns in our area that is very poor. It is a town that many would slip through the cracks because there aren't many services are even choices in groceries without driving 30 miles. We prayed and went seeing who as a church to bless. We came up with the same names from 2 directions.

We shopped, we chose gifts, we prayed over gifts as we talked about what we were doing. The excitement level here has been growing all week as we planned to surprise these families today.   The excitement has been like Christmas, only not for them, but in giving.

Today we organized loads of food, and gifts for these families. Not only did our small church group tithe into this, but others joined us so the amount of food we had was truly from God.   Gifts enough for children.   Bibles for all.

We arrived at our blessing point and that is when we were blessed. Their children were excited. Kids had been told they weren't having much or anything for Christmas.   The parents were receptive and thankful. My deepest blessing came from the young mom our family delivered too. She was tearing up and I just hugged her. It blessed me!   I spoke a blessing over her and then told her I want to be her friend.

I pray that this sows seeds with all our children how to celebrate this or any other season.   They have all expressed how good it made them feel inside to do this.   They repainted some of their wood crafts they have made for the children. This on top of the gifts that were bought. These are items that are precious to my kids. They gave as and act of love. More blessings for me.

Heart is singing tonight as we soak in the blessings of giving. There is no feeling like that of giving!   It is a high that can't be matched.   I am so thankful that God has allowed us to be blessed today. I pray that each gift we gave will draw those we gave to closer to God. That they will remember Him in those gifts, not us.   I pray that those we reached out to will feel loved. I pray that they feel our heart in blessing them. I am thankful that we were given this opportunity!

Homeschooling in Real Life

2011-12-16T13:46:00.000-06:00

We are planning as a home church family to bless some families for Christmas. We were buying staple groceries to bless them with yesterday. I decided to let the 4 older kids handle the shopping.

I gave them the list and told them to times 4 what they bought, but to shop smart and stretch the money.

They did really good!    I loved watching them talk about and think about which item to buy and what size items to buy that would feed a family the best.

They help buy groceries all time. More and more I send them in different directions to get what is on our list. We always price shop so they understand how.

After we bought for the families we talked about what they had bought and what they hadn't and how much $$$ it cost to buy just basic food without any fresh veggies or even meat.    I hope it helps them understand how much they need to get an education so they can have a good paying job.

My prayer is that they take away from this a deeper understanding of what it takes to be an adult. How choices now will effect them down the road. I also pray they will develop compassion for those that aren't as blessed as they are. That they will step up and help those that need help.

Project

2011-12-16T12:56:00.000-06:00

I "borrowed" this from a friends blog. Stare if You Must .

Of course I can never just borrow, I have to create! We are blessing some families for Christmas, but I really wanted to bless these moms. So we made bath salts and vanilla sugar for them. As we were working on the bath salts grandson wanted to help. Since I had plenty of baby food jars I filled one with Epsom salt most of the way to the top. I cant figure out what color is his favorite color so used MINE. I added equal drops of blue and green. Then told him to shake.

Once it was shook up then I we painted a face on it and I made a hat for it.

He loved it! He is giving it to his mommy.

Here are some snap shots of the girls doing faces and hats.

Choices choices choices, I had T bring down 4 colors for hats. I ended up just going with 2 since that made long enough tubes to do more than one.

Here is the tube ready to go on. What I did different is I didn't use the wire like my friend. I wasn't hanging it. I don't like the inside of this fabric to turn it up, so turned it under to make it look smooth for the hat.

Waiting on hats!

All done! Think I will just make some small tags and stick in the hats as to what is in here.

The ones for gifts are layered like sand art. Love how each face is different.

Just life

2011-12-14T12:04:00.000-06:00

Kitten is living up to his name. He now owns the back of my rocking chair.

And my lap........

Look close at the ears peaking out of his hammock. This is my shawl that stays on the back of my chair all time. He got himself up there the first time.

Today we were trying to rake out some of the tracked in mud. Grandson loves the shop vac. He was a big help to D12. D would get where he was going to vacuum and then say turn it on!

Not a lot else going on other than that. The weather said 70 and sunny today. So for the sun is missing. It is warm, I have most of the windows open. I trusted them and hung my jeans on the line. In less than 5 minutes I heard it sprinkling. Since I knew there wasn't much rain out there, (I had also checked radar, which showed no rain) I just left them on the line. We will see if they dry.

Hummm sprinkling harder.... might even call it light rain.

Meet Simba

2011-12-13T20:48:00.001-06:00

I know I needed another cat like I need a hole or three more in my head, but....

This is Simba, the Lion King. He is a return blessing from me blessing a friend with a Siamese bob tail kitten more than once. He is some how a descendant of Rambo, my big tom that I lost a couple of years ago.

Pictures don't show his feet well. He has 6 toes, and 6 claws on each front foot! That means 12 sticks instead of 10 when he is playing rough.

And this is what my living room looks like when it is wet, muddy and dark outside!

Poor Poor Pitiful Me! Grand Daughter's feelings!

2011-12-10T19:44:00.000-06:00

It all started when I ask this young lady to come out of the garage. It seems to have offended her. She squalled her way up the steps and turned to face the cabinet. Sticking her nose to the cabinet was totally her idea. I thought it made for a cute picture.

Once I got started I needed more than one and from different angles. She really didn't seem to appreciate granola taking pictures of her drama. She reminds me of those dolls you see with that have overalls and their head in a cornor.

Once I was done with the camera I went on with life. She was where I wanted her and her drama was low key beside some I have heard. It didn't take long for her to realize she didn't have an audience. She found her happy pants and was soon playing in the living room with the other kids. I just loved the pictures!

Quilting

2011-12-09T17:33:00.000-06:00

Today T finally finished her quilt. She started it I think the second week of Oct. I know it was early Oct. She was making it for her niece's birthday in the latter part of Oct. With much prompting and much ripping out of rush jobs of sewing that mom wouldn't accept she finished today.

T finishing up tying the quilt.

K working on opening it. She had it socked in the sack so help was needed.

Mommie helping get it out of the sack and spreading it out for her.

T and K with the new quilt between them.

I am very proud of T for sticking it out and finishing even though she had to rip it out several times and redo.

Super Tonic

2011-12-02T19:30:00.000-06:00

I just made this today. I copied the recipes and what she had to say about it from the Texas Above Rubies Yahoo group where I got it. I used equal parts of 8 oz of each with a quart of Braggs Vinegar. We love it. We being about 70% of the family. Use it very sparingly on bread and I can eat a LOT.

DIL was battling a headache. Her face said she was working on getting ready to have a major allergy attack. Within a few minutes of eating some on her bread she discovered not only was her head not hurting, but her she could breathe out of her nose deeply for the first time in a long time. She ask for a jar to take home.

SuperTonic;

This recipe has been around for many, many years and has been helping people just as long; SuperTonic is one of the best ways to relieve a bunch health issues from acid indigestion to sinus problems, cardio supportive and a great overall tonic. Let's look at the ingredients and get a general sense as to why.

Cayenne - good for circulatory issues, cold hands, cold feet, the heart, blood pressure

Ginger - works on small vessel and capillary circulation, good for digestive issues

Onion - may make you cry, but oh so good for a cough and other respiratory issues

Garlic - hard to beat for a natural anti-biotic, aids in a healthy heart as well

Horseradish - sinus problems run for cover, good upper body circulation, really opens you up

Apple cider vinegar - the real unfiltered Bragg's, Hain or Spectrum brands that are not distilled, we know this type of apple cider vinegar is alkalizing, good for digestive stress and helps with circulation

The way to make SuperTonic is to combine equal parts (depends on the size of your blender, I use 1 cup as a part), so one cup each of fresh hot cayenne or habanero peppers, peeled sliced ginger, peeled chunked horseradish, peeled chopped onion, peeled garlic and one quart of apple cider vinegar; Pour into a blender and whiz on high for two to three minutes. DO NOT stand with your nose over the blender when taking the lid off and take a deep smell - it has been known to make people faint - they haven't had good blood flow to the brain in a while. Take the lid off the blender and let stand for a few minutes, then pour into a large wide mouth jar- Label. Seal tightly and shake twice per day for two weeks; Strain and bottle the liquid - SuperTonic; The pulp may be discarded, or if you are brave enough you can use as a hot salsa dip.

Store in the refrigerator, but you may keep some in a small bottle on the table to use with olive oil as a salad dressing; Suggested use is one dropper full in 8 ounces of water daily ;This is potent, so you may start with just a few drops at a time and build up; Add a bit of Agave or honey for taste; You can use up to 6 dropper full per day if a bad cold or sinus infection has you down.

Taken daily people report fewer colds and coughs, better blood pressure reading and overall better vitality; A very inexpensive all natural remedy to everyday ailments. Used as a condiment, your family will never know they are taking their daily tonic.

Cold Cloudy Weather = Baking

2011-12-02T15:34:00.000-06:00

Today is heavy clouds, mist and cool, not really cold, YET, but they say that is coming on Sunday and Monday.   It does inspire me to bake.   I'm not sure that this is a good thing.

So for I have made Gingerbread. A double batch! It is so yummy.   The recipe is some where back in the blog. Do a search if you want to make it. It is easy and good.

What inspired the gingerbread was a recipe I found on Fox news for Gingerbread syrup for Gingerbread Coffee.   It sounded good. It is!

Gingerbread Syrup
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients into a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce hit and allow for syrup to simmer. Leave uncovered for 15 minutes and then remove from fire.

It didn't cook down very much in the 15 minutes, my simmer must be lower. So I upped the fire and simmered some more.   Once it was looking syrup like I poured it in a jar and then reheated my cup of coffee in the pan. That was my only option since the coffee pot was empty.   I really wanted to try it. It is yummy!!!!

In between doing this the boys chopped onions and red potatoes for clam chowder.   It smells yummy.   Just a small batch, maybe 2 gallons by the time we add milk and corn starch before we eat.   With that much we might get left overs for tomorrow. I doubt enough for every one though.

While they were doing the chowder I mixed up an interesting bread recipe I found that we LOVED last time I made it.

Basic Focaccia Bread

Preheat pizza stone to 450,   I don't OWN a pizza stone, so scratch that.

Place in Bosh:
2 cups warm water, 1 Tbs. salt
3 TPS garlic oil or any salad dressing with an oil base, (I used Italian)
3 cups unbleached flour, (WW flour here)
2 Tbs. maple syrup or honey, (rapadura)
3/4 cup cottage cheese or sour cream, (today it was cream with lemon juice)
2 Tbsp. SAF instant yeast
enough wheat flour for dough to pull away from sides of the bowl

Mix together all ingredients. Add flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Then add back a couple of tablespoons of water so dough is very soft. Knead for 5 minutes. Sprinkle 2 paddles or wooden boards generously with corn meal. Oil hands well and shape into 3 large dough balls. Roll out to 1/4 inch.   Using a soft brush dipped in cool water, brush top and sides of each circle of dough. Then dip fingertips in water, and with four fingertips of each hand make indentations all over the dough. Pour flavored olive oil or salad dressing lightly all over the dough so that it collects in the indentations. Sprinkle sesame seeds, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, pepper and your favorite herbs all over the top, Transfer to preheated stone. This does not need to rise before baking.   Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

This was a HUGE hit last time I did it and I forgot to put the herbs and Parmesan cheese on top.

Today I made it and stuck them in the frig for supper. I will get them out and put them in a hot oven at about the same time I add the corn starch and milk in the chowder.

As to how much weight this will add... I refuse to think of that! It is good!  Think of how good the house smells! Think of all the learning the kids get out of helping! Think of all the munchies I can share if you come visit me.

Our Naval Commander and his first weekend of boat building

2011-11-26T17:09:00.000-06:00

This is D12. He is a boat builder.

This is his "boat". If you look close, or maybe not to close you will see the holes in the bottom. It is a former water trough. It lost it's job when the whole bottom started rusting out, and would no longer hold water.

Setting the main sail, or wait the only sail.

Some of the many helpers and advisors involved in this epic adventure.

Coverning holes with boards.

This would slow the amount of water that comes in at any given time.

Setting the sail. Notice it is a paper calender.

Nothing like having an older brother willing to help you and encourage you along.

And give you a much needed push when it is required.

Sail has already been lost, but he is using arm power to power across the pond, then from one end to the other.

Notice the white thermal undershirt under the wet blue t-shirt. He had matching bottoms on. They can be seen through the knee holes in the jeans. It was COLD today. Wind was about 20mph with gust to 45mph.

His boat did end up at the bottom of the pond a few times. He came in changed clothes and spent all after noon working on patching holes.

He is waiting for a warmer day to set sail again. For now he is content with what he did accomplish. I was very proud of him. This is the child that was afraid to put his face in the water in the pool 2 years ago. For him to set sail across the ocean of a pond in a leaky water trough shows lots of growth in boy like smarts.

I see lots of fun adventures for him in the future as he discovers that life can be fun and not totally frightening.

Baking Brown and Serve Rolls

2011-11-22T11:17:00.000-06:00

I decided to try brown and serve rolls for Thanksgiving. I got the first batch in the oven without help.

I had to grind more wheat for the next batch. Grinding wheat is like a beacon of sound for my youngest cook. He heard it and here he came, "I help!"

He really does love to cook. He then helped taste test celery that was being chopped and after the fun was over went back out to play while they cooked. He will be ready to taste test them. Hot rolls and butter for lunch.

Thinking Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T15:20:00.000-06:00

It's that time!

Pouring the mixture on the cereal to make it yummy. MN caught a really cool picture of it.

Then you mix.......

And mix more more...

Then you bake it and mix every 15 minutes for the next 2.5 hours or so. I can't "mix" so we dump from one of Grandmothers roasters to the other and back and forth each time. Hey it works! We still end up with trash on the table and such, but it seems to be sucked up like a vacuum going.

My mom's Pictures

2011-11-15T21:13:00.000-06:00

Grandmothers Pictures
If you like old pictures, or are related to me. Check out these pictures from my past. I could really use help IDing many of the faces. I will start working on the ones I know tomorrow. If there was information on the pictures I copied it.

Pictures

2011-11-12T19:34:00.000-06:00

Love these two pictuers. This is Aunt Roxie and Dakota.

This is her great cousin, :) How about Maybe second cousins. He is praticing to be a first time grand dad. Think he is doing good.

Who's Who??????

2011-11-12T14:31:00.001-06:00

Baby A:

Baby B:

Baby C:

Which baby is which on here? They are all three about the same age in the picture.

Birth years are 2007, 2009, 2011

Check back for the answer in a day or so. I want mommy and daddy to guess also. Post your answer in the commits.

Red Enchilada Sauce

2011-11-12T10:44:00.000-06:00

I made this sauce for supper tonight. It is really good.

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-last-red-enchilada-sauce-youll-need-188644?scaleto=8&mode=null&st=true

The Last Red Enchilada Sauce You'll Need

By Jamie Renee on October 02, 2006

Photo by ~*Miss Diggy*~

16 Reviews

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 20 mins
Serves: 12-16, Yield: 8 cups

About This Recipe

"This is the tastiest red enchilada sauce I have ever had! I could literally just eat it with a spoon. The secret is cocoa powder, do not miss that step! I found it on the Texas Monthly cooking forum. A lot of times I double the recipe since its so good. Serve it over enchiladas, burritos, or grab a straw! Its scrumptious!!"

Ingredients

6 tablespoons chili powder
6 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 teaspoons oregano
6 cups water
1 (16 ounce) cans tomato sauce

Directions

Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl.
Stirring constantly, slowly add enough of the water to make a thin paste.
Pour into pan and add rest of water.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.
Stir in tomato sauce.
Use in your favorite enchilada recipe.
The amounts on the ingredients are very flexible.
For instance, if I am feeding my kids who do not like"spicy", I will halve the chili powder and double the tomato sauce.

Pictures

2011-11-11T18:20:00.002-06:00

She's a GIRL!!!!

2011-11-11T14:48:00.001-06:00

She is 8.5 lbs don't have a length yet. About 12 hours of labor.

When God’s Answer isn’t What You Expect

2011-11-09T17:18:00.000-06:00

For 2 years D9 has struggled with anger and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Honestly he has struggled much longer, but I have only struggled for 2 years. Imagine every time you tell your child to do the simplest thing it is a battle. Choose your battle has always ben my motto. I would choose even more carefully with him but most days were filled with defiance. It wears on you. It truly makes you not like the child. Even when you know it is not his fault, but a product of his environment for many years that cause the issues. Remember that he came on I think 5 meds, meds that weren’t working. We got him off the meds and saw a dramatic improvement in him not trying to crawl out of his own skin. It didn’t help his anger. It didn’t make it worse either. It was just there, the guiding force of his life.

As I have cried out to God for help with his anger I finally came to understand he needed something to cut the edge off his anger. It was all consuming him. He couldn’t heal until he could function outside the anger. I still didn’t want to go the heavy duty meds that you get from a doc. After much prayer I felt I needed to search for homeopathic meds. I know that many homeopathic meds work well. I have used some of them over the years for different things. After looking lots of places I ended up at Amazon. Yes, Amazon! Why? They have reviews! J I typed in homeopathic ADHD into the search. It came up with lots. I then tweaked it by only looking at those that had 4 stars or better. Once I had it down to that I read the info. Then read the reviews. I arrived at a decision. I ordered and prayed. I ended up with Brightspark For Children Add And Adhd Native Remedies and Native Remedies Triple Complex Mood Tonic Tablets, 360-Count Bottle . These two fit what I felt would help him the most.

I started giving them to him as soon as I got them. It took a couple of days and I thought I saw more improvement in attitude. After close to a week I knew I saw an improvement. I knew he was getting school done better. I saw less totally ODD behavior. The down side was he was sleepy in the afternoon. I backed off of the meds and the attitudes started coming back, so I went back on the amounts. He didn’t get sleepy then. I guess his body had to adjust to it or something. He has been on them close to a month. He hasn’t had a melt down in almost 2 weeks. What I find most interesting is his ability to process things and own things. He had called someone a name outside a bit ago. I called him in and instead of having a melt down arugument over he didn’t say ….. He told me exactly what he said. I told him to stop. He said ok and off he went to play. Today he swept the living room. Instead of HOURS to sweep it and many redo’s he did it once in a reasonable length of time and did a good job.

He told me today he had thought about doing right and it is harder, but when you do right you get to do more things and have more fun. Yes, he is processing. I am hearing lots of these discussions. He was telling me today that as a mom I don’t have to be his friend. I need to be a mom. I told him I can be both, but when I have to choose then I need to be a mom first. He agreed that was true. These are out of the blue discussions. I am finding I am really enjoying his company. The sweet young man I knew was in there is shinning. He is loving, and joyful, and caring to everyone, but especially the littles.

We have an old geo-safari that we have had for 20 years. He use to “play” it which was punch the button, watch the lights and listen to the sounds. No playing or trying, just repeating that over and over and over until I blew up. Now he gets it and plays for long periods of time. Often he has 1-3 littles watching and helping him. He tells me the scores and is proud of them. He helps the littles play and tells their scores too. He is just a totally different child. He still does wrong, but if doesn’t become a huge issue. It is kid like, gets a kid consequence and life goes on. I am so very thankful that I tried the homeopathic meds as they were an answer to prayer. They are the tool God is using to transform him into a likable child. His self control is so much better. I laughed this morning as grandson was having a fit and D9 sweetly told him he didn’t need to throw a fit all the time. Talk about the pot calling the kettle! J He is helping with chores and the others aren’t coming back screaming about and at him. In fact they even said he is doing good at getting cow feed. Little things like the other day I was taking clothes off the line. He came out to swing. I ask if when I finished taking clothes off the line he would open the door for me. He swung until I had one or two pair of pants left. Then he came to the door and opened it when I got there. I ask him to get the pins and he brought them in. Such a simple thing, but it was done RIGHT and with joy. A month ago he would have saw how many ways he could do it wrong and make me mad. I can rave on and on about the changes. Each change doesn’t seem big, but roll them all together and life with him is a lot less stressfull and tough. I give God the glory for it! He is the healer!!!

Heart of Motherhood Enrichment

2011-11-04T16:41:00.001-05:00

We invite you ….

H.O.M.E.

Heart of Motherhood Enrichment

Friday, February 3, 2012- Sunday, February 5, 2012

1 Thessalonians 2:7 “…we cared for you the way a mother

cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just

pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. (The Message Bible)

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest Walk with me and work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message Bible)

If you occasionally need a “pick-me-up and “fill-my-cup Lord” weekend, then join us as we look to God to give us a clearer, burden free path of raising and discipling our families. God desires for us to have peace, joy, and even rest on our motherhood journey! The Heart of Motherhood Enrichment retreat is a retreat for moms that need to be encouraged, inspired and uplifted by the Word of God. Join us this year as we welcome a group of Godly women as our speakers: Elaine Russo, Vanessa Simon, Kristi McClellan, Cindy McCloy, and Nola Jones, and Julie Zesch.

Where: Heart of Texas Bible Camp, Brownwood Texas

Cost: $110.00 This cost includes: your lodging, 6 meals (Dinner Fri. evening through Lunch Sun. ) many blessings and a retreat packet. Registration deadline is January 20th. Earlybird registration $100.00 – due December 31^st.

Unable to attend all weekend, consider coming for the day on Saturday. The cost for one day will be $50.00

As a part of our ministry we believe in feeding your body with God given healthful foods. Our meals will be served with whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, preservative free, home-baked, nutritious and delicious!!!

What to Bring: Bedding, toiletries, free time projects, ears to hear, a heart to receive and your Bible.

Friday:

5:00 to 6:00 Arrival

6:00 Welcome

6:15 Reception Dinner -prepare to be pampered

7:00 Praise and Worship

7:30 Session#1

9:00 Tea Party and Style Show!

Saturday:

8:00 A.M. Breakfast

9:00 Praise and Worship

9:20 Session#2

10:30 potty break

10:45 Session #3

12:00 Lunch

Free Time

3:00 Session #4

4:30 Open panel discussion

6:00 Dinner

7:00 Praise and worship

7:20 Session#4 -

9:00 Prayer and candle lighting

Sunday:

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Praise and Worship

9:30 Session #5 –

10:30 Testimonies and sharing

12:00 Lunch - Pack up and head home!

We will have a selection of helpful books and nutritional supplements available for purchase!

Registration Information:

Please e- mail your registration information to HeartofMotherhood@gmail.com

include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address. e-mail for payment options

We do have a scholarship fund. Our desire is for anyone wanting to attend to be able to. Contact Julie for scholarship information.

If you would like to contribute to the scholarship fund you can when you register. If 10 ladies contribute $10.00 you will bless someone with a full scholarship to retreat.

Squash Tea Bread

2011-10-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

This is beyond good!  D12 and T made it this afternoon using pumpkin since I have LOTS.   I copied the recipe then adjusted for size.   The measurements on the left will make one loaf. The measurements on the right will make 3 loaves. I didn't notice it being very large loaves though. It was hard to tell as they scarfed them up.   I hear from one of the cooks of this recipe that you should wait 10 minutes to dump it.   Maybe that was why it dumped into crumbs.    Then the hoard swept through and it was gone in about 4-5 minutes.   I haven't dumped the other two. I am afraid that there wouldn't be any left to share.

MN decided after one bite this is going to be her wedding cake down the road many years.

T decided this is the cake she wants for her birthday.

D12 said the texture was like corn meal, but it sure was good as he was scarfing crumbs.

I only had two tiny bowls of crumbs.   Probably because there wasn't any more crumbs.

Squash Tea Bread

1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour 3 ½ cups
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ teaspoons
1/4 teaspoon baking soda ¾ teaspoons
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 ½ teaspoons
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 ½ teaspoons
1/4 teaspoon salt ¾ teaspoons
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice 3/8 teaspoon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 3/8 teaspoon
3/4 cup squash puree, (see Tip) 2 ¼ cups
1/2 cup sugar 1 ½ cups
1/4 cup honey ¾ cup
1/4 cup canola oil ¾ cup
1 large egg 5 eggs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice and cloves in a medium bowl until combined.
Beat squash puree, sugar, honey and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in egg and egg white. Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until combined. Scrape into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake the bread until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes more. Serve warm.

Tips & Notes

Make Ahead Tip: Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 6 months. Unwrap and thaw on a wire rack at room temperature for 4 hours.

Tip: To make your own squash puree, halve and seed one medium acorn or butternut squash. Place, cut-side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until soft, about 50 minutes. Cool, then scrape out the flesh with a fork. Or simply use frozen (thawed) or canned squash puree. Find frozen squash puree near other vegetables in the freezer section and canned squash near the canned pumpkin.

My day and it is only 9:30

2011-10-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

Still battling the ear thing, but it IS better.   Thank You Jesus!

I got one cup of coffee. Kids took the rest before I got a second cup.

Kids yet again waited until MN said chore time to get ready for chores. This is getting old. I brought it up to them.   God really gave me a good analogy. I pointed out that satan really doesn't want them to learn to think. His goal is for them to be followers and do what they are told without thought or question. Then when another Hitler comes along they will follow his orders and do what ever without ever giving it a thought.   They have all watched them move, 180. If you haven't watched this youtube video take the 30 minutes to watch it. It is life changing.

As I am in the middle of this discussion, the dogs start to bark.   I send MN to see.   She rushes back with the news. Pepper and Yeller have a skunk under the pool deck.   Joy!   So discussion is canceled. As I head to my room I tell them I'm done for now.

Here is your mental picture for today. Me all decked out in my bright pink with orange flowers night gown, socks and crocs. Topped off with my blue shooters ear muffs.   Gun in hand out the door I go with two girls hot on my heels. One very upset skunk, two stinky dogs. Yeller has called it quits. MN said he was foaming at the mouth when she first saw him. By now he is just muddy from rolling around in the dirt trying to get the skunk spray off and out of his mouth.   Pepper hasn't given up, just barking from about 1-2 away.

Next order of business was to figure out how to shoot him. I finally decided that the only safe shot was off the pool deck. Ever try to shoot straight down? It sounds easy. I missed!   More than once. Then the skunk moved back where I couldn't get a shot. So we are chunking rocks under there to get him out. Finally I look up and I have 2 girls helping. Dogs went poof when I went bang. Boys?    I have no clue!

Finally skunk makes a wrong move and heads toward the house. This is away from the pool. Girls get on porch, and I have a clear safe shot with nothing in the line of fire. I hit him the first time at this angle. One more shot to make sure he is done for and I am done.

I come back in the house to find boys right where I had left them. Seems they missed the memo about me being done.

Just think this was all before 9 AM! I may find more interesting things to post about later.

Life

2011-10-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

Life around here is going. Today I brought all my plants in off the porch. This is a very sad time to me. I hate the dullness of the porch. This summer was so hot we didn't get to enjoy setting outside much. Now that it is cool enough to enjoy it, my plants have to be downsized.

I gave my bougainvillea a super size hair cut this morning. It was a jungle in it's self.   I hope some of my cuttings root. I probably had the girls dip in root hormone and stick in pots about 100 cuttings. Think every pot I have plants in that came in has all these little wooden sticks of various sizes sticking out of them. I only have 2 colors of pink and white in this pot.  The "pot" is about 1/3 of a 55 gallon plastic barrel.   I do want some apricot to add next spring.   I had one but the dogs un-potted it this summer.   We will see if any of the cuttings root.

I have been battling an ear ache since Sunday morning. It just won't go away.   I have used all my ear ache tricks at least twice. It goes from horrible pain back down to feeling like I have a super air tight ear plug in it.   This morning it wasn't as sore to the touch and didn't hurt just stopped up. It won't break loose and pop.   It has made for a long week. It is better and will be much better by tomorrow, when I have to go to town.

I wanted to brag on how super D9 was doing in school, but his super good was cheating. :( That is such a bummer.  I really know he just figured out the pass word this week.   So the cheating hasn't been going on long. Mom's rule though is you have to retake all your test for the year. He is doing pretty good at them. Those he fails, he will have to redo that section.   He knew the rule when he made the choice to cheat.   Some times it is hard being tough. I do know he needs tough and same rules. He has a mind set if he is _____ you will change your mind and do what ever he wants.    Doesn't work that way here.   I also know it won't hurt him to review his school work that he didn't do as well on.   I really do have a built in allowance on time for this so they can do stuff where I extend the year to keep them from being overwhelmed with school.   I have 2 others that are stuck on dish duty since they can't pass their test. I am seeing a lot more effort in school this week. They may be getting tired of dishes.

MN is enjoying her Internet freedom.  It is highly monitored, but it is Internet. She is reading up on donkey training. She loves a challenge and lets face it a donkey will be a challenge.

Other news, washing machine died. It developed a leak. Dh said he could get it fixed but bottom line is this machine has been fixed and fixed and fixed. It sounds like an airplane landing when it spins, has a dasher missing, has had that a long time, but not as long as it sounds like an airplane. So after some research on Sunday and Monday Dh decided to go with an Asko.  His company sells them.   They don't have them in stock. They have to order it. It should have been in today, but :) you guessed it it didn't get here. Maybe I will have a washing machine by Friday. That will be a nice cold day to hang clothes on the line.   Yes, I do hang jeans and pants out every week, unless it is raining. So maybe 1 time this year I had to dry pants.

On the DIL front, still no baby!   She missed this Tue, maybe next Tue. Both the other two she went into labor Tue afternoon right after her dh got his 18 wheeler out of pocket with a load of sheep and goats that have to be delivered.   With the first on he made it back before grand son arrived. Grand daughter was a bit more speedy and dh missed her delivery. The joke is she will again go into labor when he makes the Hill Country run. Her Due date is Nov. 4th.

Found out some sad but not unexpected news about S. She no longer is involved in her daughters life. She is letting the daddy and his parents raise her. I am very glad for the baby. Every baby deserves to be loved and cared for. My "source" said that daddy and grandparents are good parents and just glow when they show her off and talk about her.   S according to FB is engaged, but not it seems to the daddy of this child.   My, source who is S's former foster parent said that this relationship isn't healthy either that S is playing games with him.   She really needs prayer to understand she is worth and that God loves her. Pray also for her to figure out how to grow up and be an adult. I still have no regrets, just sad that she couldn't accept what we offered.   We tried! I would still adopt a teen again. I would just look at different red flags.   :)

T is making a quilt for grand daughter. She finished the top today. We will get some batting tomorrow and show her how to do that part.   I may go by a thrift store and just look for a blanket instead of batting since she is going to tie it not quilt it.

Guess that is an update on my week. Not much going on, but never dull either. All have a blessed week. Next week will be a better week.

Oh and just saying, I'm ready for spring.   :)   Friday night we have freeze warnings.   I know about 90% of the rest of W. Texas is looking fwd to the "cool" (COLD) weather, but for me, I'm ready for spring.

She's Two!

2011-10-25T10:09:00.000-05:00

A very sleepy 2 in this picture. She didn't nap, then napped late. She didn't want to wake up and party.

Yes, it was a zoo in my house. This didn't picture doesn't show all the kids running around outside.

Birthday girl and mommy.

Mommy made the cake. It was so good.

See she even thinks it is good!

Yes, that is a watermellon! It was one of her presents! She was very excited about it!

Littles checking out the gifts.

Pumpkins

2011-10-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is one of those note to self. Do not order produce when you are battling a cold and feel yucky and can't think straight. You may come out with more or different things than you want.   I wanted 5 lbs of pumpkin to make pies and such for Thanksgiving. Yes, I am starting to cook and plan ahead for Thanksgiving.   Instead of 5 lbs I got 5 LARGE pumpkins.   One pumpkin would have been enough.

Yesterday we cooked the first pumpkin. I peeled it this morning and MN made pumpkin pie filling or pumpkin pudding, what ever you want to call it.   I made a ~~carrot~~ pumpkin cake. I used my carrot cake recipe.

I had been wise and remembered to preheat the oven. When I went to put the cake in the oven it wasn't hot. Panic!   I called my dh and told him. He was working on the road.   Sent MN to retrieve him off the skid steerer.   While she was gone I discovered that the 2 larger roasters I was cooking in were off too.   Then I knew what the issue was.   I had managed to put all three on the same circuit. I threw a breaker.

I had one roaster cooking brisket, and one more pumpkin. I would have never dreamed the two places I had them plugged in were also on the same breaker as the stove controls.   After rearranging roasters to different rooms and circuits we were in business.

We have 1 pumpkin cake and 2 pumpkin custards or what ever.   My bunch does like pumpkin pie stuff so it won't be a problem getting rid of them.

The pumpkin in the roaster will be peeled and vita-mixed and put into zip-locks for Thanksgiving or what ever. Some one mentioned pumpkin stew, so that may be the use of another pumpkin.   Maybe church tomorrow.   Haven't planned that far in advance.

Now to figure out how to use about 5 lbs of jalapenos and 4 bags of romaine lettuces.   Seems like there was something else that came in that I was like ?????    I ordered winter squash. Usually if I order 4 kinds I might get one. This time I got all 4! So I have butternut, acorn, spaghetti, and >>>> I think one more.   Enough of each for a couple of meals.   I guess we will be eating good in the country!

Quick Little Girl Dress

2011-10-21T19:04:00.000-05:00

I really wish I could take credit for this idea. I found it on the net. I did tweek it just a tad.

Find a ladies t-shirt. I think this one was a medium. It was her mommies. Sew from the neck down the shoulder seam all the way to the bottom of the sleeve with elastic thread in the bobbin. Make several passes back and forth. Do both sleeves this way. Find about where the waist would be on a small child. I guessed since small child had went home. You want to go just a tad below the waist so it can blouse up. Sew a couple of round around the middle. The picture I saw I didn't like the way the sleeve was to big. I fixed this by making two passes around the sleeve on the hem. We tried it on and decided the neck was to big so I sewed around the neck a couple of passes. Next time I think I will just sew a section in front and in the back, not a circle.

This took maybe 20 minutes from start to finish including several oops as I sewed where I shouldn't.

Passive verses Aggressive

2011-10-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

have come to realize that these personalities lend themselves to very different children. As much as most people are thinking I’ll take the passive child, I am not sure I would agree. First by aggressive I don’t mean exactly violent or hurtful, even though both of those can be a part of their behaviors. These are the children that embrace life. They fight tooth and nail for life. They have a never give up attitude, even when what they are fighting for is wrong. Let me explain what I see in my children that have me considering this in the first place.

I have two passive, and two aggressive children and 1 that is really not in either category. I would have to put her in the aggressive, if I had to choose.

MJ and D12 are passive. MJ is really struggling right now with lots of things because he won’t take hold of his past and fight through the gunk and be free of it. He is stuck making some stinking choices because the old way is the “easy” way. That said I am working very hard to make his easy way hard. He is on my radar and being held very accountable. He is very uncomfortable with this. He wants to fly under the radar, go unnoticed and continue with his shallow life. I want much more for him. He doesn’t want to feel. Passively living what is dealt him without ever really experiencing life or even protesting what is dealt him. God has much more for each of us than just allowing the world to run over us. For MJ to get in trouble is “OK”. He will just take the consequence, and never try to understand why he got a consequence or how to fix it. He has a beaten down view of life. He deserves what he gets and that is just how it is. Sad way to live.

D12 is the one that caused this to come to light. He was bitten by a ???? maybe a spider. This was Sat. two weeks ago. Sunday he told me he hurt his ankle. I hear I hurt something several times a day around here. I didn’t think much about it. Told him I was sorry. Monday he said something again about hurting his ankle. I ask him how he hurt it. He didn’t remember. Again not unusual around here where boys are boys often. Tue. He was limping on that foot. I did more questioning, still no real answer. Tue. Night I demanded to see it since in watching him walk I discovered it looked swollen. It was very swollen. I then discovered what looked like a bite below the ankle bone. I started taking aggressive measures to draw the poison out Thursday it was still swollen and as a group at the park we prayed for healing. That evening it ruptured. That was an answer to prayer for me.

What I saw with D12 was him retreating inside himself. I know it was hurting. I allowed him one day of just setting and sleeping or staring into space. I felt in my spirit that his vegging out wasn’t health. Next day I gave him choices of reading, playing, anything but setting and staring. Then if he didn’t I gave him something to do. Amazingly it took very little of this for him to stop retreating inside himself. I can see though that his passive attitude or failure would easily allow him to curl up and die rather than fight through a situation and not only survive but become a stronger person. His ugly horrible bite is almost healed. It healed amazingly fast. It is still draining a tiny bit, but a band aid covers it. Now my struggle is keeping it clean until it totally heals. If I had allowed him to retreat I don’t think he would have healed as well. His mental health was what was in danger. Like MJ he has this view of life that control is beyond his ability.

Now on the other side I have two aggressive children, D9 and MN. Both of them embrace and fight to survive on their terms. Yes, these children are tough! Yet there is a depth of survival in them that isn’t in the other two. They would go down swinging to the very last breath you would know they were there.

D9 is labeled ODD. That stands for oppositional defiant disorder. Think stubborn and take it to about the 100^th power. Everything can be a power struggle. Choose carefully your battles, because the battle may last hours or days over something simple. Remember the 9 hours to sweep? D9 rages with his ODD. Think 2 year old rages to the 100^th. Imagine being screamed at for HOURS while he avoids doing what he has been ask to do. Yes, this happens. Not as often as it use to, but the past 2 weeks it has again been rough. I finally, I think, figured out what is going on. He has always been able to battle and win control of any person/situation. Then he met me. I am a brick wall. He has spent 22 months trying to go over, around and under this brick wall to again gain control. Remember he thinks he needs to be in control because the adults in his world that were in control didn’t exercise that control correctly. He can’t trust adults to keep him safe. He is coming to the conclusion that I am really in control and he can’t manipulate me or steam roll or badger me into letting him be in charge. This is a very scary place for him. It is a very tough place for me, but exciting as I foresee a breakthrough in behaviors soon. Once we have breakthrough this child will be a leader of people. He will be a power to contend with because he has staying power in the face of opposition.

My other aggressive child while much like D9 in many ways was more passive aggressive in her stunts. It was seldom a screaming match, it was just one brick wall (me) meeting another brick wall (her). She was sneaky. She would look you in the eye and lie. In fact if she was looking you in the eye it probably was a lie. She did LOTS of things to incite anger, but she did them under the table. If you notice I use past tense with this as I describe her aggression. She has spent the last year allowing God to truly transform her. She is a new creation in Christ. He has taken her fight for life and transformed it into an amazing young woman for Christ. She now fights for things that He stands for with just as much passion and aggression as she fought first just to survive in an unbelievable abusive home, then for control from me for years.

I often wonder what my children would be like if they had escaped the neglect and abuse. How would they be different? I do think each of us is born with some distinct personality traits. I think that our environment takes that and forms it into who we become. Some things we have control over, some we don’t. I think we all have the ability to change to some degree the part of our personality that is formed by environment. The God given part is just that God given.

If you read this whole bog you may be wondering what the point is. I don’t really have one. I have been musing on this and decided to muse out loud. I would love to hear others thoughts. I don’t know that mine are right. I am just observing what I see in my children. I spend a great deal of my time trying to figure out what makes each of my children tick and how to take that God given gift and grow it while weeding out the environmental weeds from their past.

MN has started a new blog

2011-10-21T07:04:00.000-05:00

For anyone who follows her blog she earned the privilege of having her own email and blog. This is her new blog address. http://christiancountrygirls.blogspot.com/ She is having fun with the privilege of blogging anytime her school and chores are done. Join her on her walk to adult-hood as she explores life and blogs about it.

Nesting or De-Cluttering

2011-10-19T12:15:00.000-05:00

OK my DIL is due any day. Her due date is less than 2 weeks away. Maybe I am nesting for her. :) I am again battling my pantry.   I took some major steps.

I had a set of china that was my aunts that we were given as a wedding present 30+ years ago. It has been used ...... ZERO times!   I am not a china person, always afraid of breaking it. My oldest son did break a cup when he was about 1 year old. I offered it to my DIL. Maybe because she is nesting she took it! This morning she packed it all up. Later today we will take the boxes to her house.

I also had a set of stoneware. Same story, wedding present. We ask for camping stuff and got stoneware and china.   It also has been used ZERO times.   So being the fast thinker I am, if one DIL took the china it is only fair to offer the stoneware to the other one.   She also said YES!!! I boxed it up for her. It will go in her car next time I see her or I will deliver it to her tomorrow if I keep the kiddo tomorrow.

That leaves that area with a few odds and ends.   Will offer some of them to kids and the rest will get donated.

All this stuff was in a built in cabinet with glass doors in my pantry.   I need that cabinet GONE so I can move a shelf down so I can make a door from the pantry into the bat cave. This will be the kids family closet/changing room. Freeing up that area of the pantry for ????? I'm sure I will find something.   I usually do. It will be a narrow room/closet/bathroom if DH gets it put in. That isn't my problem.

My DH is SO (sarcasm) excited about this project.   I cleaned the jars out of the bat cave way back in the spring with the hopes of this happening. I didn't keep the focus on this project so it didn't happen.   I really want it done so I am doing it. DH knows me well enough to know that it will happen.   He usually likes to step in and do it "right" before I do it my way.   My track record is I ask and ask for something to be done then I do it. Over the years he has learned when it is time to step in before instead of coming home to the wall being in the front yard or other such events.

I will keep everyone posted on how it goes and who uses the saws-all.

Garlic Pasta with a Twist

2011-10-19T06:17:00.000-05:00

A friend shared with us this super simple recipe that is a huge it of garlic pasta.

Cook pasta of your choice, we usually use whole wheat spaghetti. Drain then add lots of butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Mix well and serve.   We use the minced garlic in a jar from Sam's.   The more garlic the better this is. Vampires don't stand a chance when this is made.

Last night I decided to give it a twist.   I finely chopped broccoli, onions, spinach and grated carrots. I cook this with my pasta. Then added the other ingredients after it was done.   It was a huge hit.   I thought I was fixing enough for lunch today, but only if one person eats lunch.

Quick and easy, two must on my cooking.   I had said as I was tossing it together that my new rule is if children don't find something to fix for supper mom will and they will eat what ever mom fixes. I think it backfired last night.   They ate it with gusto.

Birthday

2011-10-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was MN's 14th birthday. How time flies when you are having fun! I find it hard to believe she has lived with us 7 years, half of her life. She really is so much my dd it is funny. I see me in her in funny ways, like she loves Brahma cattle, the long floppy ears. Me too :)

She ask me last week if her birthday gift was "cool". I thought a minute and decided it would be cool before her birthday. I assured her it was.

She had to retrieve it out of the freezer!!!!!

She seems to be having difficulty unfolding it. I wonder why? Couldn't be that I not only put it in the freezer several days ago, I soaked it down with water before it went in the freezer.

Even dad got into the act of helping her get it unfolded. It seemed to be stuck in places.

Once it was unfolded dad quickly wrapped her in her "COOL" blanket! :)

Here is a better picture of it, not wrapped around a squirming young lady.

Other gifts from T, a dream catcher and....

A horse, dream catcher Indian statue.

I really liked this picture of her. See her princess crown? MJ made it for her. He even told her she looked like a princess.

I had to add this picture of T. I thought it was so pretty.
Then this one of grand daughter was to cute to not add.

She still has to get her present for DIL. I know what it is and she is going to love it.

Weekend Blog

2011-10-15T18:11:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was one of those treasured stay at home days where things were productive without mom being the motivator.

I missed the picture of T helping me make mano. She did the drip drip drip of oil into the eggs and it turned out awesome!

She also started a quilt. She wanted to make it for grand daughters birthday. She is using the left over flannel from my quilt as her top and a piece of cotton fabric with bears for the back. Here is she cutting quilt squares.

David has become a wonderful bread maker. He did good on his bread last week. This week he discovered that double grinding makes the bread even better. He is grinding in this picture.

Since MJ wants to reap the benefit of bread he has to help make it. He is greasing the pans. The reason it looks so orange is that he is using red palm oil to grease it. I would have got pictures of the bread after it was done but forgot and the ate a whole loaf for a snack.

This afternoon we cleaned up the dump. All the trash that came off of ds's house was filling up the dump. With the rain and the field on the north side of the dump dh decided to burn it. Burn ban has been lifted. That was evident this morning as we went to the flea market you saw smoke columns everywhere.

Here are our fire starters!

Success! Dump will be ready for an other few years of collection!

Just Life

2011-10-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

Not a lot going on other than mud, which is wonderful!

I am thinking that we should start to see a hint of green across the dirt soon from the rain.   It doesn't take W. Texas long to green up when we get rain.  We ended up with about 5 inches of rain in our gauge. This is more than most areas near us. Thank You God for the blessing.

Kids are enjoying the mud.  :)   They keep making mud balls and mud pies and just walking in the mud and all that kind of fun stuff.

I have boys that are learning (the hard way) that not helping with chores at the barn is costly. They have lost all food that is made from stuff from the barn. Not that it has to come from the barn, but even if we buy it.   They have been on a milk, cheese, butter, beef fast for a week now. When will they get it back?   When they find a servants heart.   Translated, then they do what needs doing without being begged, threatened or otherwise made do it. They may need to think of going vegatairan.

Then I have the two that want so bad to play they see no reason to read lessons or study for quizzes and test. They are stuck on permanent dish duty.   They have to be passing everything before they are released.   Seems others in the house like this plan.   The others seem to like the fact they don't have to wash dishes.

More Water Pictures

2011-10-09T13:28:00.002-05:00

We stayed home from church this morning to check water gaps, (we only have 1) and just generally play and enjoy MUD and WATER.

Girls getting ready to go out, such a fashion statment!

Road to the back cornor was blocked, but we could get close enough to check the gap and it will need a little TLC, but will keep critters in for now.

This is the house pond, see T and the dirt pile at the top? I am on the far end.

On to the middle pond. Grandkids and mommy were checking it out.

This is same pond from the back side. It is level full and that makes it 20+ feet deep.

Helpful big brother was hanging on to little sister so she wouldn't fall as she tossed a stick in.

This was her stick!

So much for dogs and donkeys not getting along.

When I got back from my walk kids were playing in the edge of the pond. Tunia was all the help.

See her nose, there had been toes wiggling above the water just before I took the pictue.

There should be one of D12 but it wouldn't load. MJ decided to get in on the fun after I came in. MN decided to void the fun today but was plenty muddy yesterday.... and the day isn't over yet!

Rain Totals

2011-10-09T06:31:00.001-05:00

Last night right before we went to bed I poured out 3.5 inches of rain from our rain gauge. This morning it has another 1.5 inches in it.   I didn't bother pouring it out. That is 5 amazing inches of rain in less than 24 hours!!! It is still raining.   We have an 80% chance today.

Chores are going to be interesting this morning. We skipped putting out hay last night as it was pouring down rain. It has to be done today if at all possible.

I was amazed last night how deep the moisture had already soaked.   Ds was going to show they younger kids how dry it still was down a few inches, it wasn't!    I was like him, and didn't think it had soaked in that well since it came so hard and fast.

It was wonderful sleeping with rain on a tin roof just outside my window all night.    Our house roof you don't hear the rain on the tin, but the porch doesn't have anything to mute the sound so it can be LOUD out there.   Last night it was just nice.

I need to drag my protesting body out and sweat it this morning since I skipped the last two mornings.   It will be nice walking in the rain. I can listen to it and enjoy the sound of it and stay dry and not muddy on my treadmill on the porch.   Down side is my shoes that I walk in might be wet and I am sure COLD since I played in the rain yesterday with them on. My other walking type shoes I never use anymore and know one pair is in the bus, not sure where the other pair is.   Oh well wet cold five finger knock off's it will be I guess.   I do like them!   Maybe I need to invest in another pair.

Table Cloth Idea

2011-10-09T06:19:00.001-05:00

My table cloth tends to be a piece of fabric with heavy plastic over it. What ever I find I like. For a long time it was John Deere. Last it was states, with their flower and bird. This served as something fun for the kids to look at. I have friends that have a US and World map under their plastic table cloth. I like this idea too, but haven't taken the time to get maps. Facebook is forever having a quote I like and want to share with my kids. I decided to copy those quotes, fancy them up as needed, print them of and tuck them under the plastic. Kids are loving it. They get up checking to see If I have put any more quotes under the plastic. They talk about what quotes mean. Each on has a favorite, or one that either applies to them or a sibling.

Here are some I have printed off:

DADDY isn't defined as the man who makes the child, but rather the man who extends his hands and time to help with the child's needs, raising and giving his heart to love the child through anything. !!! BLOOD Doesn't always make u a DADDY! Being a DADDY comes from the heart. Any FOOL can make a baby!!!

Judging a person does not define who they are it defines who you are.

You can never make the same mistake twice, because the second time you make it, it's not a mistake, it's a choice.