Getting Dressed

Last night during our family worship time, Jeff read to us from Colossians 3 and 4.  This verses from chapter three, though, really stood out to me.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;  even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body;  and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through Him.   Colossians 3:  12-17




As he was reading I could see each one of us getting dressed each morning and adding on each of these qualities layer upon layer.  How good and pleasant would it be if we could just go to our closets or drawers and physically PUT these qualities upon our bodies.  Oh, if it were as easy as that!!  Dressing ourselves each day with all of the following traits:

          -tender mercies
          -kindness
          -humility
          -meekness
          -longsuffering
          -bearing with one another
          -forgiving one another
          -love
          -peace
          -be thankful
          -grace

Sounds almost impossible, doesn't it?  And it is!   It is only through Christ's righteousness that we can exhibit any of these qualites and even then it isn't always easy.  I fail. every. single. day.  At the end of a busy day of homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, errand running and child training it is so easy to think only of myself, to get tired of answering just one more question, of listening to one more piece on the piano, to hear the constant drumming, banging, snapping that one son MUST do (he has so much music and rhythm within him that it MUST come out!), one more dish to wash, one more load of laundry to fold....It's tiring and I snap, fail.  But then I remember that even though I do struggle, I do not depend upon my own works for salvation.  I can rest on HIS righteousness and not my own weak self.  How wonderful and precious is that?

The following poem, written many, many years ago by Charitie Lees De Chenez is so special to me.  I cannot get through singing it at church without tears, but the third stanza is generally where I break down.  Yes, I will strive to clothe myself in all the qualities listed in Colosians 3, but will daily remember that Christ has paid it all and has clothed me, even me, with His righteousness.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
A great High Priest, whose Name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.


My name is graven in His hands.
My name is written on His heart;
I know that, while in heaven He stands.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.


When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.


Because the sinless Saviour died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him, and pardon me.


Behold Him there! the risen Lamb!
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace!


One with Himself, I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Saviour and my God.

Menu Plan for April 16-22

We've had a busy weekend with gardening, cooking, cleaning, massive amounts of laundry and a visit from Lauren and her family.  I was exhausted!!  Being on my feet all day Friday and Saturday really tired me out and caused lots of leg pain, so yesterday I stayed home from church and aside from washing a few more loads of laundry, I stayed in the bed or recliner all day long.  Hoping to be much more productive today, though!

We do have another busy week with some plans still in the air for the later part, so my menu is not complete.  I was able to buy a couple of turkeys at a great price last week, so my menu reflects that!!

Monday
b-bagels, eggs and dairy-free, egg-free baked oatmeal for the little boys
l-leftovers (we had yummy chicken fajita nachos with rice and refried beans on Saturday night and I made extra for today)
d-Papa John's pizza and salad (free pizza from Papa John's!)

Tuesday
b-apple crisp and eggs
l-potato soup and raw veggies
d-sesame turkey nuggets, green beans, rice pilaf and salad

Wednesday
b-blueberry muffins, ham and eggs
l-leftovers
d-grilled turkey/cheese sandwiches, turkey soup and salad

Thursday
b-English muffins, sausage and eggs
l-?
d-?

Friday
b-?
l-?
d-?

Saturday
b-?
l-?
d-turkey pot pie, salad

Sunday
b-cinnamon rolls
l-finger foods at church
d-grilled burgers, roasted potatoes, salad

A Look Around-April 2012

This is really just for my records.  I want to record how our garden grows throughout the season this year.

The oregano bed was planted a couple of years ago and just keeps going.  It was covered in leaves throughout the winter and is looking great.  I'll be adding lots of fresh oregano to our salads and drying some as well.  I also have a four by four bed of lemon balm that will need a few more plants added to it.  For some reason it is not doing as well as the oregano.

This is a new bed that Jordan recently built for me.  I had transplanted my mint into another bed and it didn't do very well.  Now I have transplanted most of it to this bed and will be adding more plants as I find them.  We love peppermint tea and I would love to have this entire bed full of peppermint!!  I also have pots with lemon mint, apple mint and chocolate mint.  I am hoping to get some four by four beds built soon to fill with each of those mints. 

Our older blueberry bushes are covered in berries!   Last year was the first year we really were able to harvest much from them and we only got a couple of gallons.  We have several more planted, but it will be a while before they are very fruitful.  Thankfully, we are just a few miles from a huge blueberry farm and can pick all we want there!

I think this bed is a 12 x 4.  It is full of everbearing strawberries and we will be getting a good bit from them this year.  This bed was started last year from the babies of the mother plants that I purchased 2 years ago on clearance.  I spent about $15 for a dozen strawberry plants and we have two beds full now.  We'll be seperating these before next season into two other beds.

Birds like strawberries, so we have to keep them covered or there won't be any for us!

This is another 12 x 4 bed full of squash plants....and one lone marigold.

Another 12 x 4 is ready for a load of soil.  We still have cucumbers, watermelons and green beans to plant from seeds and I have started tomatoes, leeks, more squash and lots of basil that will need to be planted soon.  We need more beds built!!

Yesterday we purchased more plants to add to these beds.  We now have early peas, tomatoes, various peppers, and squash planted here.

This is a muscadine vine that was growing near the garden.  Jordan is training it to a trellis.  Last year he foraged in the woods and got gallons of muscadines and we made jelly.  Yum!!

To the right we have marigolds planted alongside onions started from seed. To the left are chives and more onions and marigolds.

We are mulching with leaves this year hoping to keep down the weeds and to retain moisture.  When the leaves break down they will enrich the soil.

This is the first year that our little plum trees actually have plums.  There won't be enough for a big batch of plum jelly, but we'll have enough to eat fresh.  And we also have apples!!   So excited about this!

Around three groups of felled trees we have huge mounds of wild blackberry bushes.  Last night when I was taking pictures, they were covered with bees.  If we only had beehives.....

More marigolds waiting to to be planted...Marigolds help keep the bugs away.  As these die down we will save them to scatter around plants next year.

This bed has sage and thyme.  I harvest them in the fall and the sage grows back up to about 3 feet high. 

                                                                    

Knockout roses are looking beautiful!

I had to put in a picture of Caedmon.  He had already had his bath, but ran out while I was taking pictures.  The azaleas at the porch railing were beautiful this year, but are at the dying out stage and look slightly frazzled.  

That's a look around here this week.  Hope to see you soon!

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Menu Plan for April 9-15

Monday
b-bagels or English muffins, eggs, grits
l-leftovers
d-ham/potatoe bake, fried squash and zucchini

Tuesday
b-baked blueberry oatmeal
l-cheese, crackers, popcorn, fruit, raw veggies
d-crockpot roast, potatoes, carrots and onions, green beans and creamed corn

Wednesday
b-applesauce muffins, bacon, eggs, grits
l-leftovers
d-grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches, potato soup

Thursday
b-English muffins, ham, eggs
l-cheese, crackers, popcorn, fruit, veggies
d-garlic chicken, sauteed onions, squash, zucchini and carrots, oven roasted potatoes

Friday
b-pancakes and sausage
l-leftovers or sandwiches
d-homemade pizzas and calzones, raw veggies

Saturday
b-biscuits, bacon, eggs, grits
l-sandwiches or leftovers
d-seasoned pinto beans, corn on the cob, cron bread, raw veggies and apple cranberry crisp

Sunday
b-cinnamon rolls
l-finger foods at church
d-ham and cheese omelets, sausage, grits, applesauce muffins

Making Progress

My sixth child, Jackson, has been a little bit more of a challenge academically for me than my other children have.  Granted, Jackson is only seven years old, but he has had a few learning delays that my older children did not have.  This child loves to work outside and developed control of his large motor skills early.  He was riding a bike without training wheels before the age of 4 and was cutting down small saplings with a hack saw at age four.  Give him a job to do outdoors and he'll get it done.

However, his fine motor skills have been slower to develop and he has some speech delays that I think caused him some delays in reading.  I did have his speech tested just before he turned five years old and the therapist felt that I should be able to handle his therapy at home.  We even found a speech therapy program developed by a homeschooling mother who just happens to be a speech therapist.  We used Super Star Speech for a while and had great results.


I think, though, what has made the biggest difference for Jackson is working to make our school time more focused.  Instead of making daily lesson plans for Jackson, I put all of his school activities in plastic drawers according to subject matter.  I made a list of daily activities that we do together and placed it in his "meeting book" in a page protector.  As we complete one task, I mark it off with a dry erase marker.  Caedmon joins us on much of the work that is oral and has learned much himself.  I don't necessarily follow the order that I typed things up, but we are getting much more done just by having this one checklist handy.  This saves me much frustration and even though I am not making out daily lesson plans we are seeing great progress.  I thought I would share my list with some explanations for you today.

1.  Bible reading-we are reading from The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos.  We read this on the couch with Caedmon.

2.  We read a book together either from our home library or from the public library.  This may or may not be related to our history, science or geography topics.  Caedmon joins us for this time as well.

3.  Scripture review-we haven't been as focused on this as I have in the past with the older children.  I need to get working on this area with him.

4.  We head to the school area and work on some oral drills incorporating songs.  We go over the days of the week and the months of the year.  I have these written on cards and Jackson puts them in order.  We do not do this every day.  We also go over our address, phone number and how to spell our names through song.  Again, we don't do all of this every day, but it helps to review and Caedmon is picking up on all of this as well.

5.  We work on money and time.  We have been using the appropriate levels of the KUMON workbooks for this and he is doing great!  After buying several of these workbooks for Jackson, Caedmon and the grandchildren, I finally decided to have the spines cut off and put them in page protectors so they can be used many times.  These pages are put into Jackson's "meeting book" so they are easily accesible.

6.  Weather chart--we set up a bulletin board using some ideas from confessionsofahomeschooler.com.

7.  Sight word game--I take all of Jackson's sight word cards and make up fun things to do with them for review.  Sometimes we spread them neatly on the floor into equal rows and columns....I call out a word and he finds it.  We may spread out some large alphabet cards and then place the words under the letter they start with (introducing alphabetical order) or I may just have him read each word from the card.  We do not do this every day, though.

8.  Math review--We picked up a fun dot-to-dot book that has each page with dots 1-100.  This has been a huge help for Jackson.  He is almost finished with it and I will be getting him another one with higher numbers.  He also does a facts sheet review page from Math U See and a critical thinking skills page.

9.  We work on a Math U See lesson.

10.  We work on a phonics/reading lesson from Learning Language Arts Through Literature.  

11.  We do one lesson from Life of Fred.

12.  We do two pages in Explode the Code.

13.  We do a handwriting page from Italic Handwriting.

14.  We practice skip counting by 2, 3, 5, 6, and 10.  We count backwards as well.

15.  We look at his calendar in his "meeting book".  We count the days using ordinal numbers.  We count how many days Daddy will be out of town this month and how many days he will be home.  We look at events on the calendar.

Jackson also listen in to the history tapes, read alouds and geograpy lessons that I do with the older children a couple of times a week.  It looks like a lot of work, but with everything organized it only takes a minute to set things out for him to work on.  Some he can do independently while I work on laundry or activities with Caedmon.  Finally, we are making great strides and we are all so excited to see him learning so much.

Menu Plan March 26-April 1

Wow!!  We've been having unseasonably warm weather here in the Deep South and have been busily getting our garden in order.  The last couple of days, I have been sore from pulling weeds and transplanting some mint into a new bed.  Thankful I am for young men who can do the really heavy work around here!!  Jordan's been building new raised beds and filling them in with compost and planting lots of seeds.  Aaron has already cranked up the lawn mower, weedeater and leaf blower and our place is looking a little neater.  We have lots of blossoms bringing some color to our little hilltop homestead.  Dogwoods, azaleas, Carolina jessamine and daffodils brighten things up in the yard and, I am told, there are lots of the beautiful redbuds to be found across the creek.  Everything is green and the vehicles are coated with yellow from all of the pine pollen.  Hopeful that the rains from last week have washed most of it away and our long bout of seasonal allergies will be relieved.

Here is our menu plan for the week.  We have very little beef left from the 1/4 Angus we got in the late fall and, while we do have an abundance of sliced ham, we only have one pork roast and one package of sausage from our hog that was slaughtered last fall.  Yes, we definitely need to have two slaughtered this year!!  I am trying to convince the menfolk that it is necessary...and it really was so much cheaper doing that than buying from the grocery.  We have used all the chickens from the freezer and I am hesitant to buy more from the grocery after seeing so many documentaries like Food Inc. Again, we have two chicken tractors awaiting a flock of meat birds, but still trying to convince the head man that we can do it!  Thankfully, we do have a full Angus coming in the next month, so I will only need to buy white meat.  And eggs!!  Yes, we have eggs...thirty was the count from this mornings gathering.  However, with two of the boys being deathly allergic to eggs, I have to limit what egg dishes we make.

Monday
b-apple crisp
l-popcorn, fruit and raw veggies
d-purple hull peas, squash and onions, cabbage, brussel sprouts, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, corn bread

Tuesday
b-blueberry muffins, eggs
l-baked potatoes, green beans
d-beef and bean tostadas, Spanish rice, salad

Wednesday
b-biscuits, sausage, eggs
l-leftovers
d-pasta salad, sandwiches, fruit

Thursday
b-baked oatmeal with apples
l-popcorn, fruit and raw veggies
d-pork roast with cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions

Friday
b-pancakes, ham and eggs
l-leftovers
d-calzones and pizza, salad

Saturday
b-biscuits, sausage, eggs and grits
l-leftovers
d-grilled burgers, roasted potatoes and onions, salad

Sunday
b-cinnamon rolls
l-finger foods at church
d-vegetable soup, French onion soup, salad and sandwiches

Goals for this Week: How Did We Do?

Homemaking-
*keep current with laundry-  we do have several loads to take care of today, but no one had to go naked!
*maintain all other areas-- today is our big clean, dust, mop day
*can milk   -got a dozen pints done last night!!
*can beans-- got 7 quarts done on Monday
*make soap--there's always next week!

Homesteading-
*pull out spinach, turnip greens and lettuces to feed to chickens
*prepare other beds for planting -Jordan's been working on both of these and even got some planting done
*wash cars- maybe today
*pick up trash and fallen limbs...add to burn pile-maybe today

Homeschooling-
*begin and stay on top of lessons in Diana Waring's Ancient Civilizations and the Bible
*make sure older children complete all assignments and extra reading for history
*finish making copies--Easy Grammar for Kaelan and Aaron, Daily Grams for Aaron and more of the printable packs for preschoolers from confessionsofahomeschooler.com ---hope to get to the copying today


Books we will be reading from this week include:  (I should have written that we would be reading from these books for the next four weeks!!)


-Understanding the Times
-Darwin on Trial
-Creation:  Facts of Life
-Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
-Adam and His Kin
-The Hidden Art of Homemaking
-The Epic of Gilgamesh
-The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible
-Dry Bones and Other Fossils
-Peter Spier's Noah's Ark
-The True Story of Noah's Ark
-Dry Bones and Other Fossils


DVDs we will be watching:
-Noah's Ark:  Thinking Outside the Box, The New Answers Book and The New Answers Books II


----------------------------------------------whew!-----------------------------------------------------




I'm pretty pleased with our success.  Today's list includes the following:


-Sam's run
-produce market
-making applesauce muffins, blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls and cinnamon roll cake
-MAKE THOSE COPIES
-finish lesson plans for the next four weeks.  I got a great start last night!

Menu Plan for March 5-11

Monday
b-applesauce muffins, ham, scrambled eggs
l-turkey or tuna sandwiches, fruit, chips and salsa
d-venison stew, salad, biscuits

Tuesday
b-baked oatmeal, strawberry yogurt smoothies
l-leftovers
d-beef and bean nachos with sauteed peppers and onions, chips, salsa, cheese, sour cream and olives

Wednesday
b-pancakes, sausage, eggs
l-leftovers
d-chicken wraps, salad, baked potatoes

Thursday
b-bagels with cream cheese and/or jelly, bacon, eggs and grits
l-turkey/cheese sandwiches, strawberry yogurt smoothies
d-ham, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, stewed potatoes, green beans

Friday
b-blueberry muffins, eggs, granola
l-leftovers
d-pizza, salad and cookies

Saturday
b-biscuits, sausage, grits and eggs
l-leftovers, fruit, salad
d-Irish stew and/or shrimp gumbo, rolls, salad

Sunday
b-cinnamon rolls
l- roast with potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, English peas and rolls
d-dinner with church small group

Pocket Reflections

Cleaning around the house

Adding things to my pockets as I find them in the floor

Today, once again, I realized it won't always be so

In just five minutes my pockets were full

Colorful magnets I use with Caedmon, 3,  for his "schoolwork"

A green army man

Two glass marbles

Empty nebulizer medicine tubes

An inhaler

A quarter

A colored pencil

Bobbie pins

All reflections of our days

Days that I am fully aware are constantly bringing change

Yes, there are still little boys here and will be for a few more years, but I can easily see those two little boys....just by glancing over at their older brothers....same age difference just a dozen years older

Asthma meds have been a huge part of our daily lives since....well, since I was a kid....but for my kids?  The past 24 years or so.  Thankful I am that there are empty nebulizer medicine tubes that I must pick up from the floor.

Jackson, 7 year old man child, has discovered money to be very interesting....counting, sorting, just looking at it

A colored pencil that could have been used by a number of the children...older and younger loves to draw, paint, create....

Bobby pins....a reminder that there are still a couple of young ladies living here...in the midst of all this manliness

It's easier to see the changes, I think, as my children are so spread out in ages.  This year the children will be 28 (how can that be!!), 24, 20, 16, 13, 8 and 4....and we now have grandchildren!

Life is full of changes, seasons, scrapbook pages turning before our very eyes.....

Slow down and see the changes...

Newest Blessing

Carolina Belle was born Friday evening, February 3.  She is a big girl, weighing just over 10 pounds and is 21 inches long.  Our daughter, Lauren, is doing well.  Just dealing with those severe afterbirth pains that moms of many get.  I got to sit and hold her for a good while on Saturday and we'll head back down in the morning with a Yukon XL full of supplies from Sam's and ready to settle in for another long baby fix.  So sweet to hold a newborn baby and listen to their little grunts and moans.  Blessed sweetness!