Story of the Day

There are some days that just make for a good story. Today was one of them. It was a cloudy overcast day and very chilly. I made a list of "To Do's" most of them were indoor activities like vacuuming, cleaning specific rooms, etc. But one thing on our list was to take fresh vegetables from the garden to our local food bank sponsored by our church. This would be our first trip of the season since planting occurred so late.
This is our 3rd year planting the garden for our own consumption and for the food bank. The kids and I love meeting those who are in tough times and benefit from this little food bank. The gals who work there are a true gift. They give of their time organizing this little endeavor and feed about 200 people a week.
Today we greeted the gals and brought raspberries, a variety of lettuces, arugula, an assortment of dark red, pink and white beets and Thumbelina carrots. We spent a little time talking with them and then were about to go on our way.
As we exited the food bank there is a line up of people waiting for it to open. First in line were two older women. One was missing her front teeth and the next lady had an accent. They said "Thank you" and we started walking to the car.
Immediately, I noticed someone trying to get my attention. I turned around and the little lady with the accent said, "My husband has been waiting for you." I looked out into the parking lot in the opposite direction. Walking toward us was an older, slightly feeble, looking man. Although he looked quite a bit thinner I recognized him instantly. She said, "Do you remember my husband, Joseph?" I looked at him and said, "You are the one who likes the GIANT zucchini I bring." (You know those zucchini that overnight grow to about 2 1/2 feet that most people don't want).
Joseph loves them. He is a Hungarian man who makes a favorite Hungarian soup with the big zucchini. In the past two years when he sees me arrive, his face lights up. The gals at the food bank always set aside the huge cabbage and zuc for him.
Joseph approached and greeted us. His wife said he waits in the car because he's not feeling well. Joseph then shared that he has lung cancer and is going through chemotherapy. We talked a bit about what's growing in the garden and what I brought today. At the close of our short conversation I tried to be encouraging and let him know we'd be praying for him.
As I got in the car, the kids said they remembered him from last year. I let them know he has lung cancer.
Driving home I starting thinking about the little things in life that we each can do. It really doesn't take much more effort to plant the seed packet instead of a couple of seeds. The cost is the same. The time weeding is about the same, but the blessings spread from this little effort are great. We are blessed to see Joseph and his wife and their smiling faces. We are blessed by seeing the gals work so hard giving their time at the food bank. And we are blessed to see the others wave at us while we drive away. It's good to know they're getting some fresh, healthy vegetables. It's all worth it and then some.
And when we least expect it, God shows us we now have a new person to add to our prayer board and lift up...Joseph.

This Little Pig Went to Market

The kids and I recently went to a local park that is also the home to many farm animals. The kids love to look at the animals and sometimes they even have "baby" animals which are especially precious to look at.

I took photos of the piggies, because they are irresistable! So cute!

While looking at these photos I was reminded of a childhood treat. In our family pickled pig's feet were a favorite. We didn't get them very often, but we would often receive a jar of them in our Christmas stockings (Just typing that makes it seem like such a strange thing!!- but we are a different type of folk). My brothers and I would fight over who got more, etc.

Then one year I went to a local fair and there was a mama pig there with her pee wee piggies surrounding her. I looked at those little cuties and that was it! I couldn't eat another pig's foot again. I even tried, but couldn't do it.

My family is shocked by my departure from pig's feet world, but they just don't sound good anymore.

I still eat pork and just about every other type of meat and we still eat "different" food, but no more piggie toes for me.

Growing Garden

This is a photo of my garden at the beginning of July. I need to get out and take another photo to show the new growth. The sunny weather has really been beneficial!

Last night we enjoyed a huge salad with fresh mixed lettuce greens.

The beets are now ready too, so I've got some canning to do. I love pickled beets! There is a recipe in a canning book, Small Batch Preserving, that makes the best beets. Throughout the year I pull a jar down and usually make a beet salad. The salad consists of beets, garbanzo beans, feta cheese, garlic, olive oil, and kosher salt. We love it!

I probably won't do too much canning this year with our upcoming move next spring. Although, I couldn't resist putting up some strawberry/rhubarb jam, but that will be gone quickly.

Raspberries

The raspberries are coming on and they are AWESOME! It's wonderful to be working out in the garden and then take a break for a fresh, non-sprayed, raspberry snack.

We have three different varieties. We have raspberries that are a deep red color and they are a medium size. We have golden raspberries that are small, but oh so flavorful. The kids love the goldens. They aren't as plentiful so we treat them like a delicacy. And we have LARGE, pinkish-red raspberries. I love these ones. They are plump and so tasty!

The other day the kids went out on a mission to pick and came back with over seven pounds of berries. Way to go!! I put most of them in the freezer for future consumption.

If this year is like years past we should be picking berries until late September. They just keep producing!

Coming Home from China, Off to China

I was just reading the Blogs from two separate friends. One friend is flying home from China with her husband, youngest biological son, and newly adopted Chinese son. This is their second Chinese adoption and makes for 5 kids in their family. It was so amazing to read how God pulled all of the details together and has rewarded them greatly for their obedience.

My other friend has just arrived in China with her 5 children (two of them adopted from China). They are beginning their new positions as "educators" in a Chinese school. They are also obedient to their call and waiting to see what God has in store for them.

There is so much excitement and I enjoy knowing amazing people who are reaching the orphans of the world and making a difference.

I was driving the kids to VBS (Vacation Bible School) this morning along the same road we travel just about daily. The road(s) have been under A LOT of construction and they have been consistently torn up, rerouted, and resurfaced. As we were nearing one of the stoplights I glanced over to the side of the road that had been torn up and was now a pile of dirt and there was a single BEAUTIFUL red poppy. It wasn't one of the red wildflower type poppies, but a beautiful multi-petaled fancy poppies. I alerted the kids to the flower and I just sat there gazing at it while we sat at the light.

I started thinking about that little beauty amidst the mess of construction and starting thinking about life. How many times do we only see and focus on the mess of heart-construction when God has us working on an area. We may miss the beauty that is there if our focus in only on the repairs.

That little poppy is going to be my reminder when I start to focus only on the construction/character building in my life. Rather than let myself get down and wonder when is this construction going to be done or what a mess it is and why do I have to go through it, I'm going to look for the little poppies in bloom and know that a good work has, is and will be done in my life.

To your poppies...

The Garden is Growing!

We had such a terrible spring- so cold and rainy that I didn't get my garden in at the regular time. I didn't want to write the garden off, but felt like I was so far behind I couldn't have the garden I wanted. I kept running into people from our church's food bank and they ask, "How's the garden?" I didn't want to admit, "It's not going or growing" and we wouldn't be able to bless the food bank this year, but I also didn't want to put a lot of extra pressure on myself.
Family is such a blessing!! A month or so ago my sweet husband rototilled the garden. He decided to plant some grass in a couple areas that used to be garden so it wouldn't be too overwhelming. The soil is so beautiful and the winter rye we planted last fall added a lot of nutrients to the soil.

Also, my mom came up and helped me clean up and plant MANY seeds! Poor mom kept asking, "Are we done yet?" I kept showing her more seed packets I had bought. So we hustled and much to her dismay and aching muscles we got the garden in. We planted bush peas, bush beans, beets- choggia, red, lettuce- romaine, mesclun mix, paris mix, butterhead, arugula, and more, cucumbers- pickling, muncher, and more, butternut squash, sweet meat squash, carrots- Thumbalina, Rainbow, tomatillos, spinach, tomatoes, delicata squash, hubbard squash, pumpkins- Dill's Great Atlantic, Cinderella, Howden, Acorn squash, onions- walla walla, slicing, cabbage, and I'm sure there's more out there that I'm forgetting. Two things we didn't plant are potatoes and corn. Corn takes up a lot of space and since he made some of the garden grass, I didn't do the corn. We still may do pototoes...we'll see.

So tonight from the garden we enjoyed a spinach salad with strawberries. The strawberries, although very late are DELICIOUS!! We added a little feta, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, onion and a balsamic vinegrette and... Oh so good!

A DAY AT THE LAKE

The boys went to Day Camp last week so baby girl and I had a lot of time on our own. I really wanted to make sure she had some great times too so she wouldn't feel like the boys got to do all the fun stuff. We went to the local lake three times. She loves to play in the sand and build castles. I'd love to too if I could sit down comfortably amongst all the goose poop! Gross!! And despite the freezing water I did get in up to my knees a couple of times. I seem to remember the water being warmer in the past.

We also frequented the local donut shop for donuts and ice cream and of course did the girls day out at the mall. It's fun to wander around and look. The boys don't care much for shopping, but our girlie sure likes it! She shouts out words like, "Darling, SO CUTE!, Uh, Wow, etc." I think she's a born shopper!

Even though we had fun, she's really looking forward to her days as a camper. Mom just isn't as fun as a bunch of young energetic camp counselors. So sad!

New Look!

I was looking at a friends blog and decided to change up our blog a bit. I hope you like.

It would be my ultimate goal to post everyday like one would write in a journal. I know the information may not be all that exciting, but I'm hoping to keep many of these pages for our kids so they can look back and see what we were up to when they were young. Even though I hope to REMEMBER everything, I can barely remember what we had for dinner tonight.

Wish me luck! Again!

Piano Recital

Piano Recitals. What can one say about piano recitals. I LOVE hearing my precious playing. I love watching them walk on the stage, sit down and play their piece whether it be "Old MacDonald," "Star Wars," or the theme from Hercules. It is all music to my ears. I love being the proud parent holding the video camera and just beaming, "Yes, that's my little pumpkin up there." So wonderful!!
Last night the boys had a piano recital. Our middle son just started playing about 2 months ago, so I was a bit nervous for him to go on the stage thinking he might be nervous. He was the first one to go since he was the youngest (6) and the newest to lessons. He did a magnificent job! Can I say "magnificent" for a 6 year old with 2 months of lessons under his belt? Well, I thought he was magnificent. He walked up to the stage took a seat, played his 2 pieces and walked back down. He meant business. Serious business!
Our oldest played 3 songs. He's come a long way adding chords to his music, and has recently started making up his own songs. It's exciting to see him getting more and more comfortable at the piano and actually experimenting. He did a Stupendous job at the recital! (Gotta like those adjectives).
And our precious little princess...well she's not quite recital audience material. She kept getting up, going from the front row, back to our row, checking on the program, etc. It really is hard to sit through 1 1/2 hours of piano when you're barely 5. Luckily there were cookies afterward as a reward for the patient. She loaded her napkin with 3 cookies and marched out of the auditiorium. It was a good night!

Planning for the Future

Our oldest son, all of 10 years old, had his first meeting with a financial advisor today. WOW! I shared with our little man that I didn't even know what a mutual fund was until I was about 18.
He's had quite an interest in saving, investing, earning and the like for years now.
Last summer we read, Larry Burkett's Money Matters for Kids. He was crazy about this book. We discussed his skills, he worked on a resume. We talked about time management and when he could work on jobs. We examined what to do with the money he made and set up goals for tithing, saving and spending. We've researched and tracked stocks.
And today he took the leap and had a 2 hour meeting with a financial advisor. He learned about Money Market accounts, Mutual Funds, the law of 72, and much, much more. It was so exciting to watch his wheels turning as he was taking in the information. He's very excited about his future and leaping into diversifying investments. This was an important day in the life of our own Warren Buffet.

Wrapping Up the School Year

It's been a busy time around our household lately! So many of the year's activities are coming to a close.

Dear Husband coached both boys soccer teams this spring. Needless to say many of our Saturday's were spent on the soccer field. It was a strange spring with snowed-out games and frigid temperatures. Too bad Global Warming hasn't hit our neck of the woods. Our number 2 son was proud to have played a game in the snow-that's a claim even his dad hasn't had a chance to experience. So we're almost done with soccer. Regular season is over and now we're only looking at a tournament.

Our home school co-op is now on break for the summer too. We celebrated our end of the year event/graduation last Friday. I taught all three quarters this year. It was really fun! I finished the year teaching a cooking class to younger kids. They did a great job!

Our youngest was able to join co-op for the last quarter. She took a science class and came to a few of my cooking classes. The boys finished up with the following classes...Legos, Germlish (German), and Fitness. We love our co-op family!

Tonight was the official end of AWANA. We had a leadership appreciation dinner. Last week the kids participated in an AWANA Grand Prix. We made a Wii Controller shaped car. It did well the first round, but didn't do so well the second round. It must have been a graphite thing-couldn't have been the sleek car.

Also today, we had the end of the year Preschool Picnic. I can't believe our baby is going to be a real life school girl. Hello Reading, Writing and Arithmetic!

So our calendar is freeing up a bit for a couple of days... but don't blink, it'll be filled soon enough.

The Eagle Has Landed

The other day we came home to a message from a neighbor... The message was, "Hi! We were driving by your house and noticed an eagle sitting on top of your roof! Just wanted you to know and thought you would want to take a look if you're home."
Well, we weren't home and were sad to have missed it.
Then a few days later we were driving home and there were 2 HUGE eagles circling our house. They looked so magnificent and glorious. I thought about the verses that mentioned eagles and claimed the truths,
"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint." Is 40:31
AND
Psalm 103:1-5
"Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satifies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
This week we're continuing our study on the Names of God. We're on Yahweh Rophe- The God who Heals. How perfect how He pulls all of this together by showing us the Eagle and the verses about healing in the time that we've moved into learning about God our Healer. AMAZING! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I don't believe in coincidences, so I stand and marvel.

Living in the Shadow

Amazing day yesterday! The kids and I spent an incredible hour walking through the Shadow of the Cross. As part of Holy week, our church had an awesome station to station walk though experience that focused on the "why" of Easter. The booklet we were given states that we'd leave with a deeper understanding of Jesus' agenda for our lives- forgiveness, salvation, healing and freedom.
The 8-station experience is designed to take about an hour for an individual, but since I was with the kids, I figured we'd have about a half hour's worth of attention span. Surprisingly enough, we were being passed up by other adults and I'm guessing we were there for at least an hour.
The stations were:
Who is God?
Confessing Sin
Receiving Forgiveness
Forgiving Others
Renouncing Idols
The Divine Exchange
Communion with the Sacred
Come Lord Jesus
It was such a blessing to see the kids confessing sin, forgiving others' sin against them, and renouncing things in their lives that have become idols. I was able to annoint each child with oil and pray over them. We walked through crosses symbolizing Jesus' blood shed for us, the darkness of the tomb where he was laid, and came through a white cross of the resurrection. We knelt and did communion together and went to our knees to pray. It was such a moving experience.
A couple times during reading of the stations, I'd glance up and see one or more of the kids with eyes closed praying. Precious!
Jesus is amazing and we definitely felt His presence!
Tonight is Good Friday and we'll be back at church to remember this somber day. We usually follow the evening up with a viewing of The Passion. We'll see how we do.
Easter is just around the corner!! Praise God!

Paper Crafts Class- Project #2 Mini Books

Our second papercraft project was mini board books. We titled them "Simply About ME." The project was inspired from a book my brother made when he was young. I thought it was so great to read about what he liked and thought at a young age.

For this book the kids included their birth statistics, a photo of them as a baby, a current photo with statistics, a family photo, what they love about their family, what they think their "gifts" are (we called them 'Super Powers'), what their dreams or aspirations are, what they love, and what makes them laugh.

This is the book I made as an example. I'll post photos of our oldest son's book soon.

Paper Crafts Class- Project #1, Thank You Cards

As I mentioned earlier, I'm teaching a Paper Crafts class at our homeschool co-op. For the first project of the quarter, the kids made thank you cards. They were given an example and they then created their own cards. The top card was made by our oldest son. He's one of my 9 students in the class.

Darkling Beetles

I wish I could report that we got a puppy or a fun pet to raise, but no...the boys are raising Darkling Beetles. On our kitchen counter sits two cups filled with cornflakes, a couple pieces of apple, and darkling beetles/mealworms.
The boys are taking a zoology class at our homeschool co-op. The are learning many new animal facts and are diligently recording the details in their journals. Our oldest son is focusing his animal study on iguanas and our middle son is researching bats. I'll post some of the information we've learned about the aforementioned animals at a later time.
Darkling Beetles are from the Phylum-Arthropoda, Class-Insecta, Order-Coleoptera. Our beetles are still in the larva (mealworm) stage. They are about an inch in length and have a tough yellowish brown exoskeleton. They are cylindrical in shape. They burrow in the cornflakes. We add bits of apple for moisture.
We've learned that the beetles and larvae eat decaying leaves, sticks, grasses and some new plant growth. They are decomposers. They have molted a couple of times since we've had them. The boys were able to examine the molted skin under the microscope. Our oldest son noted that it had a paper-ish appearance.
These little decomposers will continue in their cups on the kitchen counter until they turn into beetles. At that point I think momma will want the little buggers out of the house. At least they're raising something that will stay in a cup.

Mercredi Gras

This week people around the world celebrated Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Shrove Tuesday (the term used in the United Kingdom). It is the day before Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of lent.

We read in the United Kingdom Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day. Why would one celebrate with eating pancakes? Wikipedia (www.en.wikipedia.org) states "The reason pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself."

We love to celebrate so we started off our day with Pancakes like the English. We then were going to have a decadent dinner New Orleans style, but the day was so filled with other kid activities we had to postpone our Mardi Gras celebration to Wednesday, hence Mercredi Gras.

For our New Orleans style dinner we made Chicken and Sausage Gumbo over rice, Red Beans and Rice, and New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. I am blessed with some great kitchen help to assist in chopping, stirring, and more. All the help makes for a great meal! We are going to experiment with more cajun, creole and carribean recipes.

So Many Books, So Little Time

From September 2006 to September 2007 the kids and I tried to keep track of the books we read. Each time we completed a book we made a paper ring and added it to our paper chain. We finished the year with somewhere around 200 books read. This included picture books and chapter books. Because of the age of our kids we read a variety of books from board books to about middle school level.

We were recently cleaning out our homeschool room and decided it was time to recycle our paper chain, but wanted to keep the memory of the accomplishment in a photo.

The boys would hang the chain from upstairs and it would still leave a large pile of paper chains on the floor below.

This year we're not keeping track, but we're still busily reading.

Paper Crafters on a Field Trip

As mentioned earlier, I'm teaching a paper crafts class at our homeschool co-op. We've made thank you cards, we're working on an "About Me" book and yesterday we went on a field trip to a local paper crafts store.
We learned about the business of paper crafting, a bit of the history of scrapbooking, how a local individually owned business can compete with the big box stores and we learned a new craft.
We made marble magnets. We were blessed as the owner of the store provided the craft supplies at no charge to us.
There was one bummer of the trip though...I brought my camera and with all the excitement, I forgot to take any photos. What kind of scrapbooker am I??
I will post photos of our projects soon.