Large Family Logistics

Cast Iron Pan Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie

2012-01-31T15:00:00.000-06:00

Cast Iron Pan Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1 c softened butter (I use olive oil for my dairy free girls)
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

2 1/4 c flour (I prefer fresh ground)
1 t baking soda
1 t sea salt

1/2 c regular rolled oats
2 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped walnuts

In a large bowl combine the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Beat it until it's fluffy.
Add flour, baking soda, and salt slowly and carefully so that there are no lumps, or mix it in a separate bowl before adding. I like to cut corners so I put it all into the big bowl.
Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
Butter or oil a medium sized skillet. Put the dough into the skillet.

At this point my sister likes to put salt on the top of the dough. If you're going to eat this with ice cream it's a nice sweet and salty mix. But if you are not going to have this with ice cream--don't do it.

Bake for 45 minutes. If your cast iron skillet is larger then it will take less time to bake. If it is smaller and the dough deeper then the time will be longer.If your pan is smaller then the outside will be crunchier and the inside more cake like. It's all good.

And it's also good in bowl with milk. That is the Amish in me coming out.

Cranberry Pork Roast

2011-12-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

Cranberry Pork Roast

Ingredients:

4 lb. boneless pork roast

Spice rub:

2 t sea salt

1 t freshly ground pepper

2 t ground thyme

¼ t ground nutmeg

Herbs, vegetables, etc.:

3 carrots, sliced

1onion, chopped

Several whole garlic cloves

4 whole cloves

3 bay leaves

2 T dried parsley

2 T dried celery leaves

2 c homemade chicken stock (recipe follows) (you could use the watery store-bought kind if you had to)

1 package of cranberries

Use a stoneware covered roaster for the best results.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Rub the spice rub all over the pork roast. Put uncovered into oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add herbs, vegetables and chicken stock. Add cranberries to the top of everything. Turn heat to 200 degrees, cover pork roast, return to oven and slow cook for several hours. The longer it cooks slow and low the more tender it becomes, especially in stoneware.

Serving ideas: baked sweet potatoes, winter squash, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, green beans, etc. and—of course—salad and bread.

Variants that give fine results:

1. After the initial 450 degrees for 30 minutes, 350 degrees for 3 hours.

2. Rub the roast, put it in a crockpot, add the rest of the ingredients and cook it on low all day or high for 4 hours.

Homemade Chicken Stock:

This is a very easy way to save money and much yummier than store-bought.

Roast a chicken in the crock pot (with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, etc.), use the chicken for a recipe or eat it as is for supper. Put the chicken carcass and leftover vegetables back into the crockpot, add more onions and garlic, cover with water, and cook on low overnight or indefinitely. Slow and low is best, in my experience most slow cookers have too high of a low setting. This can also be done on top of the stove, in the oven, and in a roaster with several reserved carcasses. The more onions and garlic, the better the broth. Leave the dried brown onions skins on for a darker broth. Cool the broth, strain, and put in freezer containers for later use.

How to use the leftovers for a frugal and delicious soup!

Cranberry Pork Roast into Squash and Tomato Bisque

This is how I used the leftovers last time we had Cranberry Pork Roast. It was very delicious and pretty.

Unfortunately we cannot find the picture we took of it. The bisque is a deep orange with a hint of pink to it. There are pieces of pork, celery leaves, onion, and cranberries throughout. The bites of cranberry and are a wonderful contrast to the sweetness of the bisque.

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 c chicken stock

4 c tomato juice

4 c squash puree (butternut, delicada, acorn, pumpkin, etc.) (this is from leftover squash from another meal or you could buy canned pumpkin)

Sea salt to taste

Red pepper flakes

In a dutch oven, saute the onion in oil. Add the chicken stock, tomato juice, squash puree heat to simmer then puree with a stick blender. Add seasonings. If you would prefer it thinner, add more chicken broth. This could be thrown together in the crockpot in the morning and served at supper time. Leftovers freeze very well and as with many soups, it tastes better the second day.

Now, to jazz it up a bit with Cranberry Pork Roast leftovers (we’re very frugal foodlovers here).

I happened to have leftover Squash and Tomato Bisque in the freezer. Into a dutch oven I put 4 cups of Squash and Tomato Bisque, 4 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of leftover baked sweet potatoes (from our cranberry pork roast dinner). I heated and pureed this soup with the stick blender. Then I cut the leftover pork and vegetables into bite sized pieces and added it to the hot soup. Heated it to a simmer and served. It was very pretty and tasted wonderful.

As a young bride, I needed kitchen wisdom. My mother-in-law mentored me and gave me an excellent pork roast spice rub recipe. I learned to make an excellent chicken stock, the value of herbs, spices and garlic, and to cook slow and low. Eventually I combined the spice rub with a cranberry pork recipe to make a tender, juicy, home-time favorite. I can dump this easy recipe into the crockpot in the morning, or take the extra time to rub the spices and sear it. Now, Cranberry Pork Roast is a “comfort food” for my husband and nine children.

The Heidelberg Catechism

2011-12-06T19:57:00.000-06:00

Of all the catechisms this one is my favorite. I just appreciate how poetic it is. I especially love the first Q and A.
It is especially poignant tonight.

Q.
What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A.

That I am not own,

but belong—

body and soul,

in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,

and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.

He also watches over me in such a way

that not a hair can fall from my head

without the will of my Father in heaven:

in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,

Christ, by his Holy Spirit,

assures me of eternal life

and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready

from now on to live for him.

Beautiful Stocking Stuffers for Girls

2011-12-01T08:50:00.000-06:00

Look at the pictures and read all the way to the bottom because there will be a FREE GIVE AWAY!!! Plus a coupon—buy three get one free.

Misty Marr, a sweet mama and faithful reader, sent me a couple of Lilla Rose hair clips to try out on myself and my girls. Let me just say that these clever things are very pretty. And practical. I carry one in my purse so that I can have something to put up my hair or the girls’ if need be.

Pull the hair into a pony tail, the flower and the loops are on the top part and you take the stick part behind the pony tail and fit it back into the left hand loop. It’s easy. They come in different sizes for different hair styles or thickness of hair.

They are quality pieces that you will not find anything like at walmart or those kind of places. They are strong, not plastic, lie nice, and again quality. We save them for church and special events.

They are jewelry for your hair! Sooooo pretty. And just the right size for stocking stuffers.

There are oodles of styles to choose from—match it to the personality of your unique girl.

The headbands are also beautiful.

Look at this beauty.

There are also jeweled bobby pins, beaded O-rings, sticks, you-pins—and I know that you probably don’t know what some of these things are but you should go look. You will be inspired!

ooooh, there are also have earrings, necklaces, and eyeglass lanyards. Very pretty. I can’t quit saying pretty pretty pretty pretty.

Like this one. Simple Danglie Necklace. I even like the name.

There are also videos of how to style your hair with these pretties.

Even if you don’t plan to buy anything at all—you should go look at this site and watch the videos with your girls. FUN! FUN!

I was originally intending to include pictures of me and my girls’ hair with the clips in. We’re going to a ladies' tea this evening and these will be perfect in our hair.

However, there is a three day sale and free shipping that Misty just emailed me about and I wanted to let you know about it so that you have time to order and get these beauties for your girls before Christmas.

Perhaps the pictures of us with our hair clips will be up tomorrow or later in the week.

Like Misty’s page on Facebook so that you can be updated on future sales and new styles.

Now it gets better than all the fun of looking through her Lilla Rose site, there will be a GIVE AWAY!

This is how you enter to win a stylish, practical, feminine, and super-easy-to-use flexi-clip (up to $15 value), you get one entry for each thing that you do, put all of your entries into one comment post:

Go to the Lilla Rose site and choose a favorite Flexi-Clip, then come back here and post in the comment your favorite
Watch the sizing video at the Lilla Rose site
Register at the Lilla Rose site
Like Misty Marr’s Sweet Hairlooms Facebook page
Post about the Give Away on your Facebook page
Post about the Give Away on your blog

So see, you can enter the Give Away SIX times!

Additionally, Misty is offering a coupon for three days, Buy Three, Get One Free. The three days start today, so Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Just send Misty a message with Buy Three, Get One Free in the subject line to sweethairlooms at gmail dot com

Do you have an apron?

2011-11-29T08:43:00.001-06:00

During the day we all have our projects, work, school, games, toys, books, and lots of mess around the house. The house may truly be clean but it’s covered up by a day’s worth of clutter. To set the tone for the evening, we restore order.

“OK everyone! It is Afternoon Choretime. Finish up what you are doing and start in on getting the house tidy.”

In my old journal that I recently found there are notes that I made about this time of day. One of the notes says to put on an apron and to start collecting aprons.

Another note says to match the apron to my mood. I have been wearing aprons for a lot of years so this note gives an indication to how old this journal is. In fact I have a current mental note to collect aprons because all of my aprons are in such bad shape, downright embarrassing actually. They are old favorites that in my mind’s eye are still cute, or pretty, or fun. These old ratty aprons hang in my back hall in a careless unattractive way.

With some new aprons I could be more clever and use them to decorate my back hall. I could upgrade my look in the afternoon and decorate my home in one move.

This apron is from Jessie Steele, there are a lot of really cute aprons at that site. I could do all of my apron shopping there and be very happy! One for each mood or day of the week!

But then the Practical Me takes over and reminds me of all the fabric I have down in my sewing room and apron patterns to use up the fabric.
I know I have this pattern because the Practical Me said that this is the most practical apron ever. You could wear it over your best dress and be protected from the kitchen muck. Make it with a heavy fabric and go out in the garden with it.

I could also use some of my old aprons as patterns by just laying them out and tracing around them. But I don’t think I could make that really cute flower on some of the Jessie Steele aprons. I could probably buy a flower in a store and attach it to a pin and put it on my apron. BUT would I actually ever do that?

Maybe I’ll just ask for one of these aprons for my birthday or Christmas or Mother’s Day or something.
And in the meantime, I’ll restore order to the sewing room so that I can go make some new aprons with fabric I already own.

Your Personal Workspace

2011-11-28T07:35:00.000-06:00

Revitalizing my life...
In this old journal I found I had some notes about making my workspace uniquely mine with personal treasures. And I did this for years. I can picture my desk in my head. I had a designated place for papers. Favorite pictures in frames nearby, an inspiring daily flip calendar, a pretty piece of fabric for my water glass, a plant, a candle, and most importantly a basket for papers. It was a good place to be to do things such as pay bills, shop online, read blogs, and manage my family's life.

Now, don't get me wrong, it would degenerate into a mess during busy seasons requiring a battle with the big bad scary Paper Monster. But I could restore it back to a place of organization and beauty.

Today, I have more than a mess. I have no inspiring and pleasant place for work. My workspace looks like somebody has been telling people (for the last few months) who don't know what to do with a piece of paper, "Oh, go lay it on my desk." Now I know that it has been cleaned off sometime in the last few weeks because of searching for some missing piece of paper for one of my college boys but it LOOKS really bad. I think the mess I'm staring at will take two hours and one big trash bag because it's including all the paper junk I needed to sort through that was on my Teacher Desk.

I think it's important to identify how long a certain job will take because sometimes staring at a job and getting started is HARD. And it's really easy to say that, "This job will take me all day and I'm going to have no fun!" Quickly analyzing how long it will take and what you will need for the job can help to see that it's not that bad. And it motivates me to move fast and try to get it done in less time than I thought.

But here's my lesson for the day that I'm pulling out of this old journal--I need to make this workspace uniquely mine with personal treasures and pretty it up with a plant, a picture, a framed photograph, AND a basket for the papers that I tell to some child, "Oh, go put it on my desk."

Living Healthy

2011-11-22T09:15:00.000-06:00

Being a mom is hard on the body. Carrying babies inside and out. Bending over to pick up children. Carrying laundry baskets. Standing at the stove and the sink. On one hand doing all these things keeps us moving and that keeps us young! On the other hand, doing these things improperly or with a stiff-just-got-out-of-bed body can do damage. For the past several years I have been a big fan of T-Tapp. I'm not a superstar with it. I have months that I'm consistent and feeling great... and then I'll have six months of doing nothing because life sped up for a season. It's a habit like anything else.

What works best for me is to do it right away in the morning then take a shower. Last winter Matt and I were up very early every morning (he leaves for work at 6:30) and did the Total Workout together. We started with the Instructionals, then the Beginner Rehab, then onto the Tempo because it's faster with less water breaks (although I really do love the built-in water breaks). But when April hit, it was all over. I didn't do any exercises again until about a month ago. From April through October I slowly felt worse and more stiff and sore. Not that I wasn't active. Good grief... housework, yardwork, dairywork, hoisting tents and coolers for farmer's markets. BUT I was slowly losing core strength.

I was also gaining weight and experiencing bloating and puffiness but that's another story for another day.

Life slowed down drastically when we dried off the goats for the winter and stopped making cheese and going to farmer's markets. One of the things on my list to reinstate after cheesemaking season was to do T-Tapp again. I started with the Instructionals to relearn the moves. Form is everything in T-Tapp, you're not just flopping around. Then I moved onto the Beginner Rehab and ordered the Ladybug Workout. You can't order that one until you already have the Total Workout because it builds on the moves done in the Total Workout. The Ladybug Workout has a floor segment that targets the area between the ribs and hips. That is my weak area for weight gain. I have slowly began to look like a ladybug the last couple of years so when I learned about this workout I knew it was for me. Who wants to look like a ladybug? After nine children I don't anticipate looking like a twenty-year-old again but please not a ladybug! And I really hate standing in my closet looking at clothes that I like but can't wear because I'm starting to look like a ladybug! The Ladybug Workout came and I did it every day faithfully for a week so that I would learn the moves. We don't own a scale and I didn't take any measurements but I can feel that my clothes are getting looser.

And my five year old tells me that I'm not as fat when she hugs me. What a nice thing to hear.

I've been doing the Ladybug Workout daily to learn the new form techniques but on the forums they say that you don't need to workout every day and that you actually lose more inches by not because it gives your body a break. I'm no exercise scientist, just a pragmatic person. I actually prefer to exercise daily because I like strong habits so I think my key is then to use variety. I have the Step Away The Inches DVD but haven't done it for a couple of years. Now that I have the Ladybug in my brain I think I'll rotate Step Away the Inches in and do Tempo once or twice a week. I really like some of the exercises on that DVD that aren't on the Ladybug Workout.

Can't not mention Charlotte Siems, a mom of 12, who lost a whole lot of weight doing T-Tapp. She's so inspiring! I love reading her blog.

And if you haven't ever done skin brushing you should! It makes the skin feel so soft and supple, it tightens it, and I can feel the lymph start pumping when I do it. It is a strange feeling but good! Apparently it flushes toxins from the body including cellulite and stubborn fat.

Another Big Sale if you missed the last one!

2011-11-21T13:09:00.002-06:00

Keep Your Brain in a Book

2011-11-16T08:58:00.000-06:00

HA!
That is one of my secrets. Actually it's no secret. My family and friends know that I do this. And I might have even mentioned it here before. It's worth repeating.

With a lot of kids, the house, the cheese business... my brain is hitting the overflow a lot of days. That is when I carry a writing book of some sort around with me.
With the cheese business it tends to be a yellow legal pad (easily picked up at any grocery store). I scribble down things to do, ideas, people to call, and other important information. Typically it's attached to a clip board which I have lots of other pieces of paper tucked under the clip. I call it My Yellow Brain as in "Hey! Does anybody know where my Yellow Brain is?" I carry it a lot in spring and summer when the cheese business kicks in gear.

I also have a planner (which needs a good clean out one of these days) that really is my brain. It's red so I call it My Red Book or My Red Brain. I use it most for storing important information. All the really important cheese business info is there. When we have a family cheese meeting I scribble the plans there. Important info concerning my college kids. Passwords.It has calendar so when important stuff is going on those days are filled up and lists of things to do are outlined and delegated and checked off from the Red Brain. You should have seen it last spring before we had a graduation party, 50th Anniversary party, and a WEDDING. Wowza.
I keep names and phone numbers in it.You might say that's what cell phone does for you BUT I tend to let my battery die and sometimes I misplace it. AND I'm old school and still learning how to use my five-plus years old cell phone. I don't want to give it up because it has large buttons like the Jitterbug. Yes, my kids snort with laughter at me while they store info in their phones. But my Red Brain has no batteries so HA!
And my planner is my Source Book of where I get what when I'm online shopping. This is a good thing because some things I only order once a year (swimwear) and can't always remember where that thing came from.

I have a black bag that I can keep both of my brains in and carry them out the door with me when I know I'm going to have some time in a waiting room or at piano lessons or children's choir. Then I reorganize my info, check dates, and make plans.

A few days ago I found an old journal where I had taken notes and quotes from some book. This is a fun thing to find and also taught me a couple of lessons. First, I should start a real quotation book. A place where I can put down things from the books I read along with my own thoughts. It should be a serious journal, something pretty, and I should keep it with my current reading book. And it should be able to fit into my black bag with my other brains.
And second, I should use quotes around the things from the book. In looking at this old journal I can't tell whether what is written is a quote or my thoughts in response to reading the book. It actually seems to be blurred and it's frustrating to me. I won't do that again! I think I've said that a lot in my life.

Jennifer McBride collected quotes and turned it into a beautiful book that is on my list of things to get this week during Vision Forum's big sale.
Queen of the Home: Essays, Poetry, and Quotes on the Honor, Nobility, and Power of Biblical Womanhood

I love the title. I think it's a book that will set on my bedside table for a long time to be read a little bit at a time.

I think it will be excellent things to put into my brain and I won't have to write any quotes down because Jennifer already did it for me and put it into a book. I'm really looking forward to this book.

As I said, my Red Brain has a calendar in it and now I have something special to do on Wednesdays. I will be writing over at Time-Warp Wife! I wrote with Darlene Schacht years ago at Christian Women Online. She caught me at a good time, right when I had been thinking that I really should be more disciplined and diligent about writing, so I said yes. Writing for Wednesdays will be a nice little jump start. I have lots of things circling around my brain to write on and sometimes they hit the overflow and land in my Red Brain. When I sit down at the keyboard they come out pretty fast. Writing for Wednesdays will make me sit down. I don't sit down very well. But you can't write when you're moving around.
Bookmark Time-Warp Wife and come visit there on Wednesdays!

A great Vision Forum sale!

2011-11-14T16:03:00.000-06:00

Small Habits

2011-11-14T08:34:00.000-06:00

It was timely for me to find a book of quotes and notes when I was cleaning the schoolroom shelves. The first thing I read about concerned small habits. Small meaning the little things of the day done on a routine basis. I.e. Every day we drink water. What do we drink water from? Glass, plastic, something else? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Do you add lemon to the water? Do you make a pitcher of water in the morning? Get it from you refrigerator dispenser? Do you keep your water glass in a special place so that you don't lose it or mix it with someone else's water glass? On and on.

We have little habits that we don't think about until it is brought to our attention. Either willfully or not.
I.e. My favorite glass gets broken. I make a gallon pitcher of lemon water for my health.

One thing I need to work on is my morning routine. I had a crazy-busy year and a lot of my old habits fell off in my rushing around. I became severely allergic to one of my "vita-pills" but didn't know which one so I stopped taking all of them. Which led to starting to feel poorly. Which led to being tired and short-tempered in addition to being crazy-busy.

Last winter my little children loved to have drop of a calming essential oil rubbed into their neck and shoulders last thing before sleep. The bottle ran out about the same time that life got crazy-busy and we lost a very special small habit. Now, all these months later, I ordered another bottle but need to take it up to the bedrooms and make it a small habit again.

In the past, I have laid out my morning routine very clearly on a notecard. In my bathroom I laid out my order of events in a line. I.e. Toothpaste, cleanser, contacts, moisturizer, mascara, earrings, etc. When I go down to the kitchen I had a routine with my supplements laid out in a line and a cup of warm water, etc. These are small habits that make the day easier and enriches my life by keeping me healthy and put together. I need to fix my small daily routines.

Making these small habits beautiful is the next step. By choosing a pretty glass or something that you like to look at, feel in your hand, and drink from adds a little layer of pleasure. Taking a big drink while looking out a certain window at a lovely view is another dimension. While looking at that view and thanking God for the day is another layer of goodness. These are small minute habits that add order, structure, and enrichment to our lives. Small habits impact the whole of life.

Take this same idea to other parts of the day that occur in and out. Such as: a routine of small enriching habits that you create for the time before your husband comes home and then another for when he walks in the door. Another for putting the children to bed. And then yourself. They become so ingrained that even when life becomes crazy-busy it takes a lot of erosion for them to fall apart.

Even if you think you are footloose and a free spirit you still have habits every day. You wake up in the morning, your children wake up, your family eats, your husband comes home, your children go to bed, you go to bed. You have habits. What are they? Are they beneficial to you and your family? I think the good habits that we've had in the past and fell into sloppy have been detrimental to my family. It is going to take effort to get beautiful habits going again. One little step at a time.

Be thoughtful and deliberate. Enrich the life of yourself and your family by making your small habits enjoyable and enriching for everyone.

Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic

2011-11-09T13:51:00.002-06:00

Loving the Little Years, Motherhood in the Trenches

by Rachel Jankovic

I love the cover pic and design on this book. I don't know if you can tell or not from this blog but that is a spaghetti noodle in the corner and spaghetti sauce splatters that follow onto the back side of the book to a messy spaghetti plate mess and fork. Soooo normal. And then the first thing you read on the back is this

I didn't write this book because mothering is easy for me.
I wrote it because it isn't.

Rachel Jankovic, mother of 5 under the age of 5, is the author. And she's real.

This book is twenty little chapters and you can read each one before the next mess happens or as a reward for folding one more load of laundry. It's small and fits easy into one hand while you nurse the baby. Let me just say this--you need this little book of encouragement.

It is full of real life everyday stories with encouraging biblical wisdom on how we moms are being sanctified in our homes with our families. It can be read and reread and still find nuggets of truth.

Sin is just a fact of life, it is the way we deal with it that changes ours.

One of the great things about having children is that you constantly convict yourself by teaching them.

Multiple nuggets on each page.
I laughed. I was convicted. I could relate to her stories of motherhood. I was inspired. I laughed some more. It's good to laugh at ourselves.
And then I laughed some more.
I was convicted again and vowed to make some changes around here! I remembered things I did with my older children that my little children know nothing of.

Her stories are so typical to what happens to all moms. Children grumbling in the back seat of the car. Children mimicing the words they hear. Diaper blowouts. Picking up toys. Losing shoes. Settling squables. And our attitudes, our thoughtlife, our reactions. Grace.

Their are things in this book that I needed to hear many many years ago. If you are the parent of of little children, get this book. Don't learn things the hard way.
I think an ol' mom like me needs to reread some of these chapters.
And did I mention this book is funny. I laughed so much once that I was crying. Probably because I could sooooo relate.

Canon Press is the publisher and you can also get it from Vision Forum and on Amazon.

Large Family Logistics Appendices

2011-08-25T05:30:00.003-05:00

We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12

Blogging through the book with the the 4 Moms for the last little bit of the book, the appendices.
Appendix A Coping While Exhausted and Overwhelmed
Appendix B Moving Beyond Survival Mode

Often times in life we come to a spot when we do not know what to do. We "can't see the forest for the trees". Someone else looking from the outside can immediately see what the problem is and give ideas to fix it but we are bogged down and stuck. Like a game of Chutes and Ladders going up and down over and over again.

We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12

Call upon the Lord and He will give you rest. He is wisdom. The Holy Spirit will counsel you. Ask Him.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Ephesians 6:10

Whether are challenges are big or small, continuous or hit us at a certain time every single day, physical or spiritual we have the best weapon to meet the challenge and that is God's Word.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17

When Jesus was tempted by Satan He used the scriptures as a sword and we should do the same throughout our days to meet the small challenges and the big ones. Satan will wear us down with mundane little things and cause us to be useless in God's kingdom, useless in raising up Godly children. Do not let that happen. Memorize God's Word, post it around your home, teach it to your children.
Coping While Exhausted and Overwhelmed
and
Moving Beyond Survival Mode
are both nitty gritty bare bones instructions on how to get your life back on track. Both address the spiritual aspect of priorities and attitude but I wanted to reiterate here that when we have things right with God, when our priorities are lined up with His priorities, when we are seeking Godly counsel, when are hiding God's Word in our heart and using His Word as a sword then we are stronger in Him. And we have His peace that passes understanding. And we have joy like a fountain. And we see people like Jesus does and we love them like Jesus does.

Heavenly Father,
We thank You and praise You for blessing us with Your Word which is a light to our path and a sword against the enemy. Please help us to faithfully read Your Word and to teach it to our children. Help us all to hide it in our hearts and not sin against You. Help us to be strong in You and faithful in the work that You have given us to do.
In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Mister Linky's Magical Widgets -- Easy-Linky widget will appear right here!
This preview will disappear when the widget is displayed on your site.
For best results, use HTML mode to edit this section of the post.

Large Family Logistics Part 2: Chapters 28-47

2011-08-18T05:30:00.002-05:00

"What? I wrote a book with 47 chapters?"
That was my thought when I looked to see what I was supposed to reference this week in the 4 Moms blog together linky thing. Which is actually 5 Moms since I joined them for this book blog on August Thursdays, so it is 5 Moms, 44 Kids. Hopefully readers are being inspired, comforted, and learning some tips and tricks of the large family to apply at home.

Read to the end to see the other moms' links.

So, what did I write about in these chapters...

oh yes, it's the nitty gritty of our days.

VERY important stuff.

Evening Routines

Mornng Routines

Meal Time Routines

And more of the same. If you want to know what to do, how to do it, and how to get your family involved--it's there. While it is about the nitty gritty details of life it's not written so that you have feel you have to do it exactly a certain way. Sure, we all live in homes that require management, we have children that need care and make messes, we have husbands--each one unique, we have front doors and gardens, we have bathrooms and kitchens, we all eat food.

Things are the same among us but yet very unique.

Every woman is different, every family is different, every geographical location and heritage and home are different.

You have to take the ideas in this book and from other moms as a springboard that will help your specific family and home situation.

Every six months the children are dramatically different. They grow and change so quickly.The dynamics of the home change with each developmental milestone reached in each child. And we ourselves change from year to year depending on the people we rub shoulders with, the books we read, the things we get involved with, and more.

One thing is constant and that is God. His Word is true and a light to our path.

Do you know Him?

Do you study to know Him better?

Does your day center around Him and His will for your family?

Are you praying? Is your family praying?

When we keep our eyes on the Master our days honor Him.

Anything else dissolves into chaos.

I know. Personally, we have had days, weeks, months, years that are right. And we also have had days, weeks, months, years that are chaotic. The root of the chaos problem is our focus--you are good at what you focus on.

Are you focusing on making God the center of your familylife?

Is He at the center of your work, of your play, of your worship? Or is some other idol being worshiped?

Sometimes I have to sit and think: what is my current idol? I'm not worshiping God so what is my idol? Where is my focus? What do I think about? What are my actions?

I'm not perfect, I'm right there with you.

So, these chapters 28-47, they are about the nitty gritty details of our days and getting things done in an orderly manner but they are also about including the worship of God in it all.

Blogging through Large Family Logistics, Part Two - Chptrs. 18-27

2011-08-11T05:30:00.018-05:00

I'm blogging with the 4 Moms again. They're all unique and I really enjoy their blogs so be sure to visit them. Such interesting things. I confess that I have gone from reading 0 blogs to reading these 4 the last few weeks since KimC came up with this "blog through the book idea". I did read blogs in the past but somehow the last few years I have gotten too busy. Something to do with the number of children, high school age kids (covering all the bases before they're gone), a preemie (now 4 years old and doing GREAT!), a goat dairy (32 milking does), making cheese (every other day and going to multiple farmer's markets), college age kids (and you thought that young children were exhausting), and my sister getting married at our house (!!!!), and life in general (laundry, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling) --I find it hard to sit down (and lest you think that all we do is work work work - we do play as hard as we work). Anyway, these blogs are fun and inspiring.
Life in a Shoe Kim has a new blog design and a new pic of her kids. Cute cute cute
Smockity Frocks
Raising Olives
The Common Room

On to blogging through the book...
I thought that I should preface this part of the book with a most important underlying philosophy.
A Godly Work Attitude
must be part of our lives every minute of the day.

Colossians 3:23-24 says

Whatever you do,

work heartily,

as for the Lord and not for men,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ.

I can’t say it more clearly than what the scriptures do. This is to be our work attitude. Think of every work that you set your hands to do as unto Him.

Work is scriptural. God placed Adam and Eve in the garden to tend it. Work precedes The Fall. The Fall made our work more difficult to do.

Organize your life and your home for efficiency.

Think Ahead – what is happening tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and plan your days accordingly.

Plan your work-

Plan when you will do what.

i.e. Exercise early in the morning so you don’t have to dodge the children and can get a shower in before they rise.

Plan the steps that you will take and the things that need to happen for each step.

This is making things more efficient and you will be able to move through the task much more quickly than if you have to constantly stop and find something. Order builds on order. Step by step.

Plan your meals –
At the very least have a pantry full of things you use for your family’s favorites. Planning meals ahead relieves so much stress for you. You don’t need to worry and stress about what’s for supper, you know already. If you can’t remember, you can look at your plan. And because you have planned, you have the necessary ingredients and can make it with ease of mind.

Plan your rooms-

Paper belongs at the desk, not all over the home.
Music books belong with the musical instruments.
Children’s books should be at the location you read them to the children.
Bedrooms are for sleeping.
The kitchen is for food preparation.
What purpose does a room serve? Remove the unnecessary from that room.
Plan your cupboards and drawers -

Your kitchen knives should be at the location you do your cutting.
If the children unload the dishwasher or set the table then the dinnerware should be placed at their level.
Eliminate unnecessary steps by placing things where they will be used, within reach.
Rarely used items should be put in the out of reach places.

Plan your home to be hospitable.
Get enough chairs around for meals, they don’t have to be beautiful. An assortment of folding chairs is fine. A piano bench can seat three little children. Hospitality is an attitude of love but it takes thought and preparation to show that love. Keep some things on hand for quick appetizers and drinks. Have a plan for games or activities for children to do together.

Order Your Week

This is what Chapters 18 through 27 are about.
This is something women of the past did. They had specific days for specific work. Unlike us though, some of their work literally needed a whole day for the process. Think about laundry. On their laundry day they had to heat water over a fire, soak the laundry, boil the laundry, beat and rub the laundry, rinse and wring out by hand, and dry in the air. Doesn’t sound like something you would want to do in the winter does it? Which helps explain the need for spring cleaning, eh?

I remember loving to do laundry with my grandmother and her wringer washer, which was a recent invention of the 20th century. My job was to stir the rinse tub with an old broom handle. She wouldn’t let me put clothes through the ringer because many children have had their fingers crushed in them. She didn’t have a washing machine as we know it until she moved to a cottage in a retirement home community. Laundry for my grandmother was assigned a day of the week and she hung everything out on the clothes line.
She also had a Cleaning Day and a Baking Day (oh, she was a wonderful baker!). I don't recall if she ordered her other days like the women of yester-year. She did sew her own clothes and she made beautiful quilts so she must have had a day that she focused on her sewing.

Grandma Stoltzfus coming out of her chicken house.

Classically, the days went like this: Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Sew on Wednesday, Market on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday. In the name of liberation we run around like headless chickens. Headless chickens don’t get a lot done.
Order your days to suit your life. You can't escape Laundry Day and Cleaning Day though. Or Market Day.
And what do you do about this age of technology and paper? I have an Office Day. Grandma had it easy in that regard.
The point is to live in an orderly manner.

You will get more hours in your day and your week and you will have more time to enjoy your family.
You know what you're doing and when you're doing it.
And if it doesn't get done this week (cause we're always interrupted) that same task will come around next week.

Laundry Day

Kitchen Day

Home Office Day

Town Day

Cleaning Day

Gardening Day

Day of Rest

Blogging through Large Family Logistics, Part One

2011-08-04T05:30:00.098-05:00

A lot of the first part of the book Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family concerns underlying philosophies that are based on who we are as children of God and how that impacts some of the nitty gritty of life. I'm going to expand on that here and tell you what I've found to be helpful through the years in growing our faith.

Who are you? Why do you do the things that you do? What’s your purpose? What are you living for?

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

1 Corinthians 6:20, 10:31. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Psalm 16:5-11. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 144:15. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Often times we live to glorify ourselves. We fear man. We fear what others will think of us. We live to please our friends, neighbors, family. Sometimes we find ourselves sucked into relationships with others that bring us down.

That is not God’s way. We are to fear God and live to glorify Him. When you let go of the fear of man and fear God instead you are freed. Your life revolves around pleasing Him and doing His will. The things of this world will pass away but God and our life with Him are forever.

When we live to serve God we become strong. Strong in the Lord. Strong does not mean that we become the manipulative bully in our relationships with others but it means that we are strong enough to stand up against wrong or things that bring us down or are detrimental to our children. Strong in faith, hope, love, and the desire to live for a higher purpose than the here and now.

First we need to study God’s Word and learn to know Him.
Read the Psalms they are full of imagery and descriptions of who God is and His relationship to us. Do Bible Studies both with groups and on your own. Do not get the kind of book that tells you what to believe but get a book that has you searching the scriptures and thinking. Know what you believe and why you believe it. Go back to the scriptures again and again.

Psalm 119:23-25

23Even though princes sit plotting against me,    your servant will meditate on your statutes. 24Your testimonies are my delight;    they are my counselors.

25 My soul clings to the dust;     give me life according to your word!

Pray for wisdom.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Hebrews 10:14-16
14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them    after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts,    and write them on their minds,"

The Holy Spirit – in us – will teach us, check us, and guide us. Pray to Him that He would teach you more and help you in your life.

Make it a point to read the Bible before you read anything else –a novel, a study book, Facebook, blogs, anything – read the Bible first.
Choose a book of the Bible and read one chapter a day. Mark the verse or verses that jumped out or spoke to you that day.

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Wear out your Bible. Plan to buy a new Bible next year because your current one gets worn out. Put it beside your favorite chair and read daily. Read it to your children, not only yourself. If a child interrupts your quiet time then start reading outloud to that child. Don't get frustrated, just make that child part of your study time. Take the Bible to the breakfast table and read to the children while they eat. Do the same thing at your lunch hour. Take it to bed with you and read it before you go to sleep. When you wake up, read a chapter right away.

Pray all the time. Converse with God in your thoughtlife.
Jesus teaches us how to pray in Matthew 6.

Put on your list to do a study on the elements of this prayer.

Make repentance a part of your daily prayer life.Read Psalm 51 while you pray.Repentance is not a 360 degree turn of regret but a 180 degree turn. Replace the bad with good. Change your habits with the help of the Holy Spirit..

Be thankful, live thankful, teach your children to be thankful.

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Psalm 147:7 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.

Music touches our emotions and when the music is God honoring it can be healing. Music is a balm to the soul. Learn scripture music so that you’re singing God’s Word. It will get in your heart and come out when you need it later. Use music to teach your children. Put it on in your home to create an atmosphere. Quiet music for the wild days. Upbeat for when you're doing a quick clean up.

24Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin,was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." 26Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." 28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Do not doubt.We have the Holy Spirit and He will help us.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

When we look at life and our problems through the mind of Christ we are able to see, albeit dimly, that God has a purpose for all things. The Holy Spirit is a gift to us, our counselor, He will build belief in us if we live a life of repentance, prayer, and study. Our belief will grow.

Philippians 4:6-8
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

That peace is a gift to us that we should be thankful for. We know that there is a higher purpose, a reason, a hope for the future.
We're not to do life on our own, in our own strength. In God we have peace, we have joy, we have Him.

Nehemiah 8:10

the joy of the LORD is your strength

Ephsians 6:10-11

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

We are calm because He leads us beside quiet waters (Psalm 23).

Walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16-26
16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

From the Heidelberg Catechism

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer:

That I with body and soul,

both in life and death,

am not my own,

but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who,

with his precious blood,

has fully satisfied for all my sins,

and delivered me from all the power of the devil;

and so preserves me

that without the will of my heavenly Father,

not a hair can fall from my head;

yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation,

and therefore, by his Holy Spirit,

He also assures me of eternal life,

and makes me sincerely willing and ready,

henceforth,

to live unto him.

He knows you. He loves you. He lived and died for you. He lives again and is preparing a place for you in Heaven.

Live for Him in all your ways.

Promo Code 4MOMS expires today at Vision Forum. Hop over there to get a 40% discount on Large Family Logistics.

Three Under Three with a Newborn

2011-08-03T09:57:00.000-05:00

This is a post from the archives. I was asked again about the post partum stage of life. There is are a couple of things that I would add to this. Read through, I'll put it at the bottom. And then I'd like to hear what other moms would advise for the post partum.

3 Under 3 with a newborn

This is the most physically exhausting time period of your life. I have had 3 under 3 and that was really rough and I had big kids! Before that, without help, I had 3 under 4 and that was my roughest time ever. To top it off, I baby sat also. Was that crazy or what? And then I grew a monstrous market garden with my sil, went to Farmer’s Market twice a week, and we canned and froze like crazy. The baby was 6-12 mos old during that stretch. Anyway, I know what you’re talking about.

You have a newborn right now, that baby will settle into a routine soon. The newborn period is always a bit hectic. I make it a policy to have the whole crew stick to the schedule like glue. That’s the key to keeping everyone peaceful, routine routine routine. Children thrive on routine and structure. They like to know what is going to happen next and what is expected of them. They like to know where the boundaries are. Even with a schedule there are enough variances and interruptions that it’s crazy even with a schedule! Make sure they take naps and lay down with them. Go to bed early. Do whatever you can to get that sleep. Cut out anything in your life that detracts from you getting sleep, adequate nutrition, and same for your children. If you have them in playgroups or some such that messes up their eating and sleeping, then drop out for 6 months then re-evaluate.

Have dh bring home some boxes and box up clutter. You can sort through it later when the baby is bigger. Just get the clutter out of the way so that the house is easy to pick up and clean. You and the children should be able to get the house picked up in 10 minutes or less. If it takes longer, you have too much stuff. Get rid of all toys that they don’t play with. You and they do not need to pick them up.

Take your children along with you in all of your work. If you’re in the kitchen put them at the table or the sink. They can play with a bowl of rice or beans and spoons or “wash dishes” then give them a rag to mop the floor from the water they spilled.

Try what I did on vacation: each child had 3 outfits and we did a load of wash every morning and every night. Box up the rest of the clothes and set aside til later. If you’re behind on the laundry then kill that beast at the laundry mat with dh to help. Just get it over with. With 3 under 3 and a newborn you need to take it easy on yourself and make your life simple.

This is also the time to resort to paper plates, plastic dinnerware, paper napkins, paper towels, etc. This is cheaper than a housecleaner! Those who know me well, know that I hate paper and plastic, but I am flexible. There is a time and place for disposable and this is one of those times. Keep things as simple as possible. This is a season, not forever. When you have bigger children they will be washing the pretty dishes for you and hanging the cloth napkins on your wash line, and making a chocolate cake for an afternoon tea party. Right now, you are busy keeping things sane so that you can get to that stage! : )

With each task you do, ask yourself, what can I do to make this easier? Ask your husband for advice. I know sometimes their suggestions are silly because they aren’t there 24/7 with the children but other times they have great logistic ideas because their brain somehow can see how to fix problems while we are all emotional about having the problem.

What can a 3yo do? Keep him by your side and talk to him all the time. Tell him what things are and why you are doing things. Keep his hands working in what you are doing. Give him little jobs to do right beside you. Demonstrate how to do things. Praise him for all the little helpful things he’s doing with you. Teach him when he is little that all the work we do is as unto the Lord. Talk to him about Jesus. Tell him why you love Him. Tell him how you are serving Him and how he is serving Him. Christianity is more than Sunday and more than reading Bible stories to our children, it is living Christ out in all of our actions. As parents we are to teach this as we go about our day in all of the seemingly insignificant tasks. That’s what the shema is:

4"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

To summarize:

Try to see what you can do to simplify, ask dh for ideas.

Use paper in the kitchen.

Box up clutter and toys. Sort it down the road.

Box up clothes and keep on top of the laundry.

Keep the children with you in whatever you are doing and teach them all the time.

Do whatever it takes to get sleep and adequate nutrition for you and your children.

Most importantly: Pray without ceasing.

In addition:

Keep your baby close to you. Hold that baby and nurture all the time. Get really in tune with each other.
AND
Stay. Home.
It is hard on the baby, it is physically hard on you, and it is one more stressor to the other children. stay home stay home stay home

stay home

If you feel the need to get out. Then sit on your back deck. With your baby.
And then if you feel the need to get out again. Sit on your front porch. With your baby.
And if you need some adult conversation... invite your best friend who won't care that your house is a mess and will wash your dishes or fold your laundry or bring you a meal.

Now, there are some that attach times to that thought of staying home based on scripture and the sex of the baby. I believe there is wisdom in that, it did come from God's Word after all. Perhaps someone else can give the reference for it and the time periods. I want to say it's six and eight weeks and I can't recall which sex for which time period.
All that I can say is that, from my personal experience of learning everything the hard way, a new mom should stay home with her baby.

Q and A plus more and a sales promo

2011-07-28T06:50:00.001-05:00

I'm doing a Question and Answer with the four moms who blog together.

They gave me a bunch of questions to answer, then we divided them up between the five of us. You'll have to visit each of their blogs to see all the questions. Here are a few to start you off. Keep reading to learn about the promo.

Q      What are your personal strengths and weaknesses? And how have you grown in those areas?

A      For the first several years of my marriage and in parenting I prayed for self-discipline. I studied it and read anything I could on it. I memorized verses. I stuck verses and quotes up above the sink, on the frig, on mirrors, in my Bible, by my bed. I had to learn to think ahead of this moment in time, this hour. I had to learn to think about supper before 5 o’clock. It slowly came. I’m not there yet. When life gets busy I drop good habits and bad habits are quick to jump in place.

Q      How do you manage clothing, handing things down, switching seasons?

A      I keep all the children’s clothes in the laundry room in tubs on shelves about 16 feet long. The girls Sunday dresses hang in their closets. The tubs in the middle shelf are for their current clothes and they do not have the lids on. The top shelf has out of season clothes and sizes that nobody is currently in. Changing seasons is always painful for a couple of months. Cold, hot, cold, hot. I guess I manage that bit of chaos by enduring it for a short season. It really helps to set aside a few days, once you’re sure the season has changed for good, and get completely caught up on laundry and change out the clothes and get everyone in the right size.

Q     Can the ideas in your book be applied to a single parent household?

A      Absolutely. The first twelve years of our marriage my husband traveled a lot with his work. He would be gone for weeks a time. I completely sympathize with home management alone. I didn’t work outside the home though so I don’t have that perspective. Simply assigning house work to days of the week gives direction, puts things into order and frees up time. Knowing what you’re supposed to do and when is freeing.

Q     Can the book benefit small families or is it specifically for large families?

A      I think this book is more for the mother of young children. By the time someone has a lot of children they have figured out so many things already. I would have loved this book when I had my first one, two, three, four children. Then life got easier.

The rest of the questions are spread between the blogs.
Life in a Shoe
Smockity Frocks
Raising Olives
Common Room

If you have a question for me -- go ahead and ask. I'll be answering questions here and at the other 4 Moms' blogs today and in the next week.

For one week you can get the book at Vision Forum for 40% off. The promo code is 4MOMS.

Plus, Minus, Misconceptions, and Fascinations

2011-07-22T09:40:00.000-05:00

Plus
The biggest pluses of having a large family are that there are always people to play with, to talk to, to do things with, and lots of love from lots of people all the time, teamwork, more resources, more interactions with people of all ages, cooperation skills, working together, playing off of each other’s talents. As a mom I’m not always the one to teach the younger ones things such as how to tie shoes or riding a bike or the alphabet but it has been such a joy to see the older children tenderly teach their younger brothers and sisters or to see them run and help if they fall and get hurt. There’s a lot of love and care in a big family.

Minus
The biggest minus of having a large family is that the house is pretty loud, crazy, and it can be messy. Managing the home and family is a definite challenge. Most women are not prepared to care for a home and family but trained to enter the workforce. I wrote a book, Large Family Logistics, detailing the skills I learned along the way so that other moms don’t have to learn the hard way. Moms who have several children will find it all familiar, they are like me and learned to cope one child at a time, but a mom with two or three little children will be far ahead of the game after learning the methods, hints, and tips therein.

Misconceptions
One funny misconception is people trying to figure out “Well, you’re not Amish, are you Catholic or Mormon?” We’re not. We’re Christians who believe that children are a blessing not a burden and now that we’ve been down this road of a large family several years I can unequivocally say that children truly are a blessing. Another misconception is that people expect me to be tired, worn-out, haggardly looking perhaps—I’m not sure but I always get surprised unbelieving comments that I have nine children. The children keep me up and moving and I want to do fun things with them. Having babies doesn’t wear out a body—the standard American diet and lack of exercise does.

Fascinations
I think people are fascinated with large families simply because they are not the norm anymore. People are intrigued by things that are different from what they are or do. Also, most people have large families in their family tree about three generations back and to the beginning of time and they like to contemplate “What was it like for Grandpa to grow up as the youngest of 11?” “What would life be like if I were born into a large family or if I have a bunch of children.” Another thing that interests people in large families is the love and care that they show to each other. It’s a built in set of friends only better. It’s truly fun to watch big family dynamics. We have a handful of large families that we do things with and each one is different because of the personalities of the parents and the children but common amongst them all is the help, care, and love they share with each other as a family unit. Not that small families don’t have that, it’s simply multiplied exponentially in a large family.

My sister was married Saturday!

2011-06-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

My sister got married on Saturday. My only sister. My baby sister. She's been spoiled her whole life. By everyone in the family. Including me. Maybe, especially me. My mother tells me that I prayed every day for a sister until I got one.

For years she's been dreaming, "When I get married I want to get married in your orchard." She was probably still in high school the first time she said it. But of course there must be a groom for the wedding. And in God's timing, the groom came into the picture last year. The proposal was made on Valentine's weekend. The date was set. And the preparations began. Between rainstorms for the last three months we pruned, we painted, we laid landscape fabric, we planted, we arranged, we weeded and weeded and weeded and mowed the grass between storms, and the weed wacker became a permanent appendage on key persons. Did I say that it rained a lot this year? In fact, it is storming again as a I write. Everything is lush and green. And the grass grows very fast. We shopped for the wedding dress, we shopped for the bridesmaid dresses (not fun), we shopped for shoes, for shirts and ties for the ushers and carparkers, for the flowergirls, and shoes for the flowergirls, and lights, and the constant conversations for the last months have centered around such topics as long tableclothes or not, canning jars for drinking glasses or not, candles or not, tiki torches in the parking area?, ring bearers or not (that conversation ended when one thought that he was going to get to be a ring bear, complete with the roar of a bear). And now it is over. I have a wonderful new brother. The bride and groom are on to their honeymoon. More fun to come this week and next weekend with visiting family. And one houseful of tired children.

The day of the wedding I was up at 4:30 to load cheese for farmer's markets. It was a foggy morning and most everything was set up for the wedding except for the tablecloths and flower bouquets. I had to capture the moment.

My dad made the lectern out of a hedge post and an old barn board.

The bride is known to faint in weddings so she and the groom sat in the old church pew for most of the ceremony.

Tables set up and waiting for the decision concerning the rain forecast. Do we put on the tablecloths yet?

Chelsy and Allison Bontrager were here doing all of the girl cousins' hair. There were three flower girls, three girls that helped serve at the reception and were gift takers, and two girls that were Heather's personal assistants. These eight young ladies were absolutely thrilled to have such a girly-girl day.

This is Brielle, 5, taking her turn. The other girls sat in the hall and watched and anticipated their turn to be beautified.

Farm girls beautifying farm girls.

Three flower girls (Brielle, Annika, Bronwyn) being very good and not messing up their hair while they patiently wait for the time to get dressed before the wedding. I did have to yell out an upper window to "Get out of the sandbox!"

The bride and Brandt, one of her nephew carparkers. It was also his twentieth birthday.

These four boys (Nick, Brian, Jon, Nathan) were the wild card. Where would they appear next and what would they be doing?

Here's another ornery cousin (Simon) who was better at escaping notice because of his camouflage.

Looking pretty...

(back: Bridgette, Brock, Matt, Kim, Brandt, BriAnne

front: Brooke, Brielle, Matthew, Bronwyn, Brian)

and here we are after a group hug with an uncooperative four-year-old.

I'm not the only that has spoiled Heather. Our brothers have been heavily involved in it also. My brother Chris owns a winery and had special labels made with the engagement photos for the wedding reception wine bottles.

Here's Dad and Mom before the wedding.

The groom's uncle was the minister for the wedding and the minister's father married our parents 42 years ago.

Now where's my new brother, the groom?

Found him, with his wonderful family. Lovely people to be connected with.

And my sisters-in-law. I love them so much. We have a lot of fun together.

Here's my brother Chris and sister-in-law Amy with their children and Amy's parents.

This is my brother David and his wife Rhonda in a successful group hug with their children.

Here come my lovely sisters-in-law and nieces through the orchard after hanging mason jars of peonies. When it got dark we changed out these jars with jars of candles in sand.

It was a heavenly day.

For my dear husband

2011-06-20T10:54:00.000-05:00

...who is tired of checking my blog and seeing the old Baby Snap Sack review. I love you honey!
And in honor of Father's Day yesterday--You're such a great dad!

We're going to be doing this kind of stuff this summer now that all of our big parties (graduation, anniversary, birthday, wedding) are over.

Don't forget we have county fair coming in less than a month though.

No bucket/bottle calves this year though.

But there will be cattle.

and pigs.

and it will be hot, it always is.

You might have to eat some pie without your hands.

And then we'll go home

and do some more fishing

I love you!

babysnapsack

2011-03-17T09:19:00.000-05:00

Susan from Lone Pine Designs sent me a babysnapsack to review. One word for the babysnapsack--smart.
I'm all for working smarter not harder and this is another one of those things that makes mom's life easier.
The babysnapsack is like a sleeping bag for baby that fits around the arms and neck of baby like a jumper. It's adjustable with durable snaps to fit a little baby all the way up to a toddler.
Here are the benefits that I see right off the bat:

it looks like it built to last through a bunch of kids; the zipper and snaps look great and the material is a light-weight corduroy on the outside and a soft flannel on the inside
it's washable
you won't need to worry about blankets for baby, this is a blanket and it's fastened to baby so he won't come uncovered in the night
it has a two-way zipper to make diaper changing a cinch without disturbing baby; baby won't need to get all the way undressed and cold

Depending on your climate, season, home temperature, and baby you will want to dress your baby in appropriate clothes before putting him in the babysnapsack. Think of it as a blanket that you don't need to worry about baby rolling out from under.
There are four snaps on both the right and left side of the torso in order to adjust for width and there are six adjustment snaps to fit baby's shoulder. This truly looks to fit your baby for a couple of years.

Smart!

I love it.

To get a babysnapsack for your baby or for a gift visit the online store Snuggle Down Baby.

We have a winner!

2011-02-28T07:06:00.000-06:00

Winner of Family Strategies is Quinn!

Quinn,
Send me your email address.
mkbrenne at netins dot net

Family Strategies Give-Away!

2011-02-23T14:47:00.001-06:00

Woooh! This has been one busy week already and it's only Wednesday! I try to schedule everything on one day. I try hard to. But it doesn't always work. Then I did something really dumb a few months ago that snowballed on me. I cancelled our dental appointments.
Up to that point, for years, we all went to the dentist on the same day or at least on two days -- half went on one day and the other half on the other day. Last fall, we were winding down with cheesemaking, tired, and we all wanted to stay home. Just sit on the couch and ~~read books~~ do schoolwork. On the calendar, right before Thanksgiving food and family fest week, were dental appointments. I said, "no way" and rescheduled. Well... there are a lot of us.
Not thinking I did whatever the receptionist wanted to do. Even looking at months out, it was a smattering of days. Dumb dumb dumb. What can I say? I was probably tired.
Now, after what seems like a month of dental apointments interrupting my days and weeks, we are almost done. Two more next Monday. And another appointment sometime to put sealants on a half grown girl.
Let this be an example of
what not to do.
The pain of enduring two days of stacked appointments would have been better than this.
I was not deliberately thinking things through, I was acting on my feelings at the moment.

Let me tell you about something that will help you be a wiser person, it is listening to those who have are a bit ahead of you in an area of life.

I need some fresh encouragement, insight, reminders. I'm tired of running out to the dentist again and again. I think I'd like to stay home and hear some inspiring words concerning what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I'd like to sit with Matt, a cup of tea, and listen to Doug and Beall Phillips. It will be like they are in the living room with us only I don't get talk too much. Wouldn't you like to hear more about the following topics? I do.

1.How to Organize Your Home to Promote Family Unity

2.How to Cultivate a Love of Reading with Your Children

3.How to Make Mealtime Meaningful

4.How to Prepare for a Year of Home Education

5.How to Take Children Safely Through an Airport

6.How to Involve the Whole Family in Family Worship

7.How to Address the Plague of “Jive Talk” in Your Home

8.How to Encourage Masculinity in Sons

9.How to Encourage Femininity in Daughters

10.How to Handle a Social Worker Visit

11.How to Wage War on Sibling Rivalry

12.How to Use Household Decorations to Teach Character

13.How to Talk to Your Children about Miscarriage

14.How to Involve the Whole Family in Hospitality

15.How to Build an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Your Children

16.How to Watch a Movie As a Family

17.How to Cultivate a Love of Meaningful Poetry with Your Children, and Why Doing So Is Important

18.How to Prepare Your Children to Listen to a Symphony

19.How to Take a Road Trip with Your Family

20.How to Select the Best Locations for Family Vacations

When I read through that list I think that I'm pretty good at some of those and some I know we're weak in. And regardless, it's always good to hear from someone else how they do something.

The sessions are 30 minutes each and the series begins next Tuesday. You get a link in your email and then download it to listen to at your convenience.
There are 20 sessions and the math figures out to being $5 for each one. Now, if Doug and Beall were coming to your home for the evening, I bet you'd spend at least $5 making a nice dessert to serve and you would have to take the laundry off the couch.

If you forget that it's Tuesday download day you can get the message anytime once you have the link to it.

I have the privilege of giving away a pass for the webinar. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me which topic area of the above 20 intrigues you the most.
I'll go first and say that I am looking forward to the session about meal time. My current meal time problem is that everyone is trying very hard to be heard all at the same time. They all want attention and want to tell a story, often the same story that someone else is.
We'll choose the winner randomly with the assistance of one of my littlest kids.

You can watch a video from Doug and Beall, listen to audio samples, and purchase the webinar through the following link.
Vision Forum

Storming the Gates

2011-02-22T08:03:00.000-06:00

I read a poem this morning.
It included this line

Storming heaven's gates till the children are in.

I have told my children about Augustine and his mother Monica.

...on his return home he ventilated certain heretical propositions she drove him away from her table, but a strange vision which she had urged her to recall him. It was at this time that she went to see a certain holy bishop, whose name is not given, but who consoled her with the now famous words, "the child of those tears shall never perish." There is no more pathetic story in the annals of the Saints than that of Monica pursuing her wayward son to Rome, wither he had gone by stealth; when she arrived he had already gone to Milan, but she followed him. Here she found St. Ambrose and through him she ultimately had the joy of seeing Augustine yield, after seventeen years of resistance...

And I have told them to expect me to do that. It's almost like a threat. "I'm going to follow you around praying for you!"
My kids aren't denying Christ, they aren't caught up in heretical philosophies. They sin like I do, "self" is our idol. But I want them to know that I
storm the gates of heaven
for them and in talking to older parents, a mother does that for her whole life. And if I have to I will follow them around and pray and plead for them.
I tell them that I'm raising soldiers and warriors for Christ.

Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? Isaiah 29:16

He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jeremiah 18:6

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? Romans 9:21

God has a plan for each of us and for each of our children. We can trust in that. Not stew, not worry, not give up but trust that the God who created the heavens and earth, that gave His son for our lives, who knows the hairs on our head, who considers each of us the apple of his eye, has a plan for us and for our children. That He will be glorified. We might not, probably can't, see what the purpose of certain events and trials are, but God is bigger than we are. We are the clay. He is the potter. We are His instrument in each of our child's lives. Do the best you can with what you've got, read the Bible and apply its commands and principles, then
storm the gates of heaven.

morning by morning new mercies I see

2011-02-07T07:53:00.000-06:00

I am so glad for a new week. Last week was rough but it's over.
This week will have challenges, I'm sure, but God is faithful.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is thy faithfulness
Oh God my father
There is no shadow of turning with thee
Thou changest not
Thy compassions they fail not
As thou hast been
Thou forever will be

Summer and Winter
Springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join in all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness
Mercy and love

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me
(So Great)

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Your strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with ten thousand aside

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning
New mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me

Great is thy Faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning my morning new mercies I see
New mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
(Lord unto...)

Meeee mee ee
Yeah oh oh oh
Great is Thy faithfulness
(You could've chosen anyone)
Lord to me Your faithfulness
(Oh, you blessed
Oh, you blessed me)
Great is Thy faithfulness
(You gave me everything oh yes you did
That I needed and more that I needed and more)

Repeat x1

(You've been better to me, than I've ever been,
Than I've ever been to myself,
So I'm sayin thank-you, thank-you thank-you)

Great is thy Faithfulness

(Lord I thank-you)

Christian Music Lyrics by: Gospel Music

When you're coming down with a bug

2011-02-01T14:21:00.000-06:00

May I recommend Trilight Health.

These two will ward off an ear infection super fast. I've had the same two tiny bottles for years and should probably buy some fresher product. A little goes a long way.
Lympha Rub - rub this on the neck and around the ears to help with drainage.
Hear No Evil - rub this around the ear also. If you're sure the ear drum is intact, put one drop inside.

Good for colds and flu are:
Lungs Plus
Scout Out

While you're visiting Trilight Health be sure to get Shonda Parker's books. I LOVE Mommy Diagnostics.

I'm also a firm believer in Air Borne and the knock offs. I give it to the kids to ward bugs off when I know we're out and about and/or busy and they're stressed. When we have a bug in the house, I have everyone drinking it 2-3 times a day.

What I didn't do was have my kids faithfully taking Air Borne last week when they went to school to take tests! I know better.

More about Jesus

2011-01-30T19:44:00.000-06:00

1

More about Jesus, I would know,

More of His grace to others show;

More of His saving fullness see,

More of His love who died for me.

Refrain

More, more about Jesus,

More, more about Jesus;

More of His saving fullness see,

More of His love who died for me.

2

More about Jesus, let me learn,

More of His holy will discern;

Spirit of God, my teacher be,

Showing the things of Christ to me.

3

More about Jesus, in His word,

Holding communion with my Lord;

Hearing His voice in every line,

Making each faithful saying mine.

4

More about Jesus, on His throne,

Riches in glory all His own;

More of His kingdom's sure increase,

More of His coming, Prince of Peace.

Testing

2011-01-28T09:34:00.000-06:00

For a long time I was in the anti-testing camp, quite independent and bit haughty. "I am not teaching to the test."
"the test" said with total and complete disdain.

We are not required to test in Iowa.

Then I realized that I have sons that will grow up and provide for their families. Sons that are interested in agricultural science. And that they need a piece of paper that says college degree if they want to be employed anywhere. IF...always the big if.

Let me be clear.
I do not agree with the educational system in place. I don't like it. BUT this is where we are in this place in time.
My husband has seen for years in interviewing and hiring in his off-farm job, that a person's resume is not even considered if that person doesn't have a four year degree in something. It has been really sad because he has seen, up close and personal, qualified people passed over and less qualified people hired simply because of that piece of paper. He has had to take part in that system and see his recommendations discounted on bureaucratic reasoning.
Maddening.
But that's life.

Now recall that I am a very entrepreneurial person. Because of living on this diverse farm with plenty of opportunities, my husband and I have raised entrepreneurial minded children. Can you see it coming?
We have had many discussions the last few years about college, the value of that piece of paper, the choices in how to get that piece of paper, and the long term ramifications of any decisions made at the age of 17, 18, 19.

Our journey is just beginning. Ask me in 25 years what I would do differently.

But I'll tell you what I've learned so far and it's a lesson you already know.
Every child is different.

They learn differently. They test differently.

And did you know, that a homeschooled child can go to college without an accredited high school diploma but a lot of weight is put on the ACT and/or SAT scores. Here is a description of what is covered on the ACT. Here is info concerning the SAT and CLEP tests. CLEP tests I'll talk about a different day.

And there is this thing called test anxiety that can occur. A child can do perfectly fine on a practice test at home and then get in a new situation and not do so fine. ooooh that is frustrating for everyone.

And because of this. I chose to have three middle children take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. I didn't teach to the test. I simply wanted them to have the experience of going somewhere new and different and quiet and fill in the little oval circles. The quiet might have something to do with test anxiety in the opposite way you might think. Our large family raised children are accustomed to doing their work with a lot of noise and distractions.

This past week has been a lot of running around. Matt went to work late each morning and dropped the children off at the local Lutheran school. There were familiar faces there so it wasn't too painful for the children. Everyone was very nice. I picked the kids up at 11:30. It has been one big inconvenience but I think that it will be worth it in the long run.

On a side note: one of the teachers was homeschooled himself and told my daughter that he loved being homeschooled. He would get all his work done really early in the morning before the bus would go by and then he had the rest of the day to do whatever interested him.
Sound familiar?

In talking to the children about the particular tests they had each day, what was hard and easy, I'm learning what I already knew, that I need to make sure these middle kids aren't falling through the cracks. They're so easygoing and helpful that it's easy to overlook whether they are doing their schoolwork or not. I have spent my drive time thinking about this and thinking about how life is so different now than it was when my big kids were doing elementary and middle school work. All the fun things that worked then are not working so well now and I have to adjust. So, I'll adjust. I'll eat a bit of crow. The older I get, the more I have to eat. I shouldn't have been such an opinionated 20something. In my 30s I learned to just shut up. Now I eat crow.

When my older children were 7, 8, 9 I discovered the classical method and I loved it. I did it to the best of my abilities with them. We had fun. We read great things. We did fun projects. We watched incredibly boring Latin videos. But the farm always interfered. I finally had to come to grips with my personal reality. My boys eat, drink, and breathe all things farm. History was interesting but real life biology and farm business won out. Any Latin they retain will hopefully help them when they study the sciences. Instead of the Battle of Thermopylae when he was 12, I cheated and handed my 18 year old Gates of Fire. Yes, I had to come to grips with the fact that I was raising farmers. They will feed the world.

From the classical method, I slowly morphed into: cover the basics and go live life.
Now, I need to make sure that the basics are being done well.

What are my children doing now?

The oldest is at Dordt College studying Animal Science.
The next is taking community college classes online and is going to Dordt College in the fall to study Animal Science and Music.
The oldest daughter is doing Far Above Rubies for high school in addition to math and science texts.
I just ordered Switched On Schoolhouse for the next three, the easy kids that do some of their work but perhaps not all of it.
The seven year old reads all day long. I'm not sure exactly how she learned to read but it was definitely a hodge podge and lots of teachers. I'll let her be for now.
The five year old is learning to read the same way the seven year old did. Next year, we'll pull out the phonics workbooks for her.
And Miracle Boy keeps hopping and running and bouncing making sure that all the attention is on him. He's the one we'll focus on making into a president. I'll make him read Plutarch and do George Washington's copybook exercises.
"Now quit playing with those farm toys!"

Moving On

2011-01-24T07:27:00.000-06:00

It says up there in the title that a bit of craziness will be thrown in therefore I should stop this cow series because it will continue on to the smoldering manure story which will lead on to something else and so on until we get to the crazy story that happens today.

Instead, I will tell you that I have one crazy intense day of coordinating people here and there all day long and a big thing that I need to do today, can't put it off at all, and how I have been preparing for this day and how I am going to get through this day.

One word.

Pray.

Pray. Pray. Pray.

The world will not come to a complete stop if all this coordinating and the big thing do not get done.

Spike

2011-01-22T10:17:00.001-06:00

Spike was a fall kitten, small, and lonely without his family. Orange with a white triangle on his face and white socks, he was admired by all. When Spike drank milk out of his little bowl, the white triangle on his face would get wet and cause his hair to spike, thus the name. Spike didn't stray from the barn yet, he was still a little kitty. The little children played with him there and talked to Agnes who did nothing but lay and chew her cud. Spike crawled up on pant legs as far as he could go and then would be picked up and cuddled but he was also adventurous. He crawled around shoulders and onto whoever was standing near to his starting person. He prowled around the sill plate of the barn pretending to be a big cat. He was somewhat annoying to the milkers because he would crawl around on them while they were squatted by the cow. They had to watch that Spike didn't try to crawl up the cow's legs trying to get to the milk source. But he was so cute and friendly you couldn't be mad at Spike.

As it got colder Spike took to sleeping on top of Agnes. Remember, Agnes lay down all the time. She rose when we raked her back with the plastic manure fork. Then she would go to the water bucket, drink five gallons, and go to her post where she was tied for milking. While she was being milked she ate her pan of grain. She also ate hay but when she did that was a mystery to me. After milking she would immediately take a few steps and lay down again. Every time I saw her she was laying down, often with Spike curled up on her.

Then one day Spike disappeared. It was now into fall and the children were starting to play more inside than out so it wasn't immediately apparent, to anyone but the milkers, that Spike was gone. But eventually it became the topic of conversation at the supper table.

"I haven't seen Spike for awhile."
"Neither have I," all the little children chimed in.
The milkers were strangely silent. And they would know about Spike.
"Have you seen Spike?" they were pointedly asked.
No comment was made.
All eyes on the big boys.
"Welllll?"
One of the boys quietly and nonchalently says, "Oh, Spike. He's fine. He went to visit his family."
Puzzled looks appeared. Wasn't Spike's family dead?
The other milker blurted out, "Yeah, his ancestors."
Gasps.
"What did you do with him?" "Where is he?" "What happened to him?" "Did you bury him?"
"We tossed him in the manure pile."
"The manure pile!"
"How did he die?"
"Well, when I got Agnes up, there was Spike under her. Flat as a pancake. I took the manure fork and tossed him in the manure pile."

The Milk Bucket Saves the Day

2011-01-20T07:52:00.000-06:00

Correction to a previous post: After reading my story of Agnes from the last several days, Matt informed me that Agnes was more like 1600 pounds. I do recall her back being as tall as I am.

Recall, we were anxiously awaiting the milking bucket while we watched our muscles grow from hand milking morning and evening, and it had finally arrived.

We set the bucket on a block of wood under Agnes and proceeded to attach the milkers. Fumbling hands and arms, orders given and not taken, jostling.
"OK, very carefully plug in the machine."
An inflation is dropped off, reattached.
"Is it on far enough?"
"Is it on too far up?"
"Does it matter?"
The old quiet gone, now the hum and pulse of the vacuum pump.
"Get a bigger piece of wood, the milkers don't reach her back teats."
Agnes cranked her large head around to see the commotion and wobbled. A crowd gathered to see the new machine work.
Finally, everything was in its proper place and position and we could see her udder emptying.
"How do we know when she's done?"
Clearing my throat with the expertise that comes from being milked by babies for many years, I say with authority, "The udder will be shrunk and the skin loose."
Before long, the front was done but not the back.
"Massage the udder to encourage milk flow."
Can't be that different, right?
The inflations fell off the front before the back was done which then messed up the vacuum process and the back inflations fell off. Reattach to the rear, pinch the front lines. We were getting this! And look at the time, that machine is magical!
And the bucket is heavy, very heavy. After being lugged to the house we find that it's four gallons.
Ummm, yeah, we were a one gallon of milk a day family. And that was one milking session.
Was that just because we hadn't ever got her milked out completely? Really? Four gallons?

A repeat the next morning. Four gallons and a run to the Amish store for more half gallon canning jars to hold the milk. Butter making. Yogurt.
"Let's make a dessert and put whipped cream on it!"
"How about pudding!"

There was more milk that night.

And the next morning.

And the next night.

And so on...

In case you're not doing the math, that's 8 gallons a day. Some days she gave nine gallons.

N-i-n-e

Nine gallons is a lot of milk.

But it was nine gallons of fresh milk. Fresh like the air and sunshine. With a thick layer of cream on top. In fact, if we didn't strain the milk immediately, we had to shake the milk bucket a bit to move the cream so that it would strain.
Beautiful thick cream. Delicious in coffee. The mornings just got even better.

Sometime around here we got an old frig that we put in the garage to hold all this milk. I can't recall the details and will have to ask the kids later for that story. (You know everything has a story.)

In spite of increasing our consumption of dairy products we couldn't consume 8 or 9 gallons of milk a day.
We called a few people and arrangements were made. We couldn't legally sell it but we were gifted baked goods and garden produce and whatever else a person might have around that would make a nice gift exchange.

Cats began to come around, they must be able to smell the fresh milk from miles away. The favorite little kitty on the farm was Spike. Spike was a little orange kitten. Sadly, Spike's mother been run over by the skid loader. Her litter of fall kittens were at an age where they might or might not be all right on their own. Fall kittens have a hard time surviving in the best of circumstances anyway. Spike was the remaining kitten...

Ahhh, Relief

2011-01-18T08:03:00.000-06:00

Walking into the house I promptly sat down in front of the computer and punched in Ebay. At that time, I didn't know what a milking bucket was or cost. I didn't know what it was called. I just knew that there was such a thing. As with any subject a person researches on the internet, the rabbit trails connect and start to make sense. Three days later we had won an old Surge bucket on Ebay with new parts.

Three long days of milking a once prize Holstein by hand is an intense workout. Anyone who wanted, and definitely those who were able, were called on at milking time. Agnes lay down all the time. She must have ate hay sometimes but every time I looked, she was laying down. And did I mention that Holsteins are stubborn? She didn't want to get up. It took supreme effort pulling her halter, poking, prodding, and finally we discovered the trick. She hated the plastic manure picking fork. If we took the fork and ran it along her spine, roughly, from back to front, then she would slowly rise to her feet and go to the water bucket and drink five gallons in one shot. Then we led her to the barn post and tied her there with a pan of grain in front of her nose. We sat on overturned buckets, one on each side of her and milked until our hands and arms quit. Then we'd hand off to the next person. This took over an hour before we quit. Not Agnes, no, she still had milk. Remember, she's a Holstein. Every dairy farmer we knew got up at the wee hours of the morning to milk and we knew that Agnes was accustomed to being milked in the five o'clock hour. So that's what we did. Does this sound like a nightmare yet? If so, I'm being dishonest.

It was still late summer-early fall so the weather was pleasant. Praise and thanksgiving were easy on the lips when seeing the sunrise on the way to the barn. The children coming and going in the barn. Kittens prowling around waiting impatiently for their bowls of milk were sweet. The earthy smells of hay and fresh warm milk brought out some feeling of rightness with the world from deep inside.

But the arms and fingers were worthless for the next couple of hours after each workout. The constant talk around the cow each milking centered on the magical milk bucket. Did you find one to bid on? Can you "Buy it now"? When is the auction over? When will it come? And the biggest question of all: How are we going to power the bucket? It needed a vacuum pump. Our good buddy John, who gave us the three-legged cow, mentioned that he had an old vacuum pump. It might need a little work. Didn't know if it ran or not.

Matt brought it home and with a bit of oil had it going. Just don't touch the cord, you might get shocked. And don't touch the cord because it will fall out of the outlet. Yes, the cord was soon replaced. And replaced again. That machine was a homeschool lesson in motor rebuilding. More than once.

Ten days of milking the cow by hand passed before the Surge bucket arrived. There was a big celebration when the crew saw the UPS truck coming down the lane. Oh our aching arms and hands that were daily growing stronger and bigger were happy.

That night Agnes was in for another surprise. She had just grown accustomed to her routine of being pulled up and prodded with a plastic manure fork on the spine, tied to a barn post, and milked on two sides at the same time. The milkers had gotten the system down. We were bringing in maybe two gallons of milk morning and night. Way more milk than we needed but we had made butter.
Delectable butter.
Agnes and the milkers had to learn how to use this contraption.

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

2011-01-17T15:15:00.000-06:00

Oh, please watch this beautiful trailer for Ann Voskamp's book.

Ebay to the rescue

2011-01-17T07:41:00.000-06:00

When I last wrote about Agnes, we were milking her by hand and she was swaying as if she were listening to some internal music. Our hands and forearms were jelly and there was still milk coming. We had been milking for what seemed to be hours. We quietly discussed the need to empty her udder versus the safety of our souls if she would go down. And which side would she go down on? With one person milking on each side,someone was going to lose. Agnes was large, maybe a thousand pounds. Losing was going to mean a trip to the ER after we got the cow off of the person she landed on. My mother's heart was FREAKING OUT. What did I get us into, saying I wanted a dairy cow? I questioned my sanity before I remembered that I didn't want a three-legged dairy cow.
"OK, surely that's enough. We've got let her lie down. The worst thing that will happen is that her production will be hurt."
We backed off and untied her. She took a few steps and lay down.
It was hard to see how much milk was in the stock pot because the top was all foamy but we guessed there had to be two or three gallons.

Now, before this first milking session I had the romantic and naive thought that we would milk our family cow by hand. Walking to the house with arms and hands that felt like wet noodles changed my mind. The men concurred.
"Get on Ebay and see if you can buy an old milking machine."
"Will she live? I hate to spend the money if she'll never get up again."
Round and round we went trying to determine the odds of her survival.

Our First Dairy Cow was a Three Legged Holstein

2011-01-13T08:24:00.000-06:00

Well, she had four legs but one didn't work very well. I'm sorry I don't have a picture to show you. Holsteins are tall, black and white, have prodigious udders and give lots of milk. A typical picture or ad for dairy includes a photo or drawing of a Holstein.

I had been wanting a dairy cow for years and Matt was not opposed. His family had a milk cow for a short time while he was a child. We already had hay for the beef cattle, had a barn, etc. It was simply a matter of obtaining the cow. We tend to have lots of things going on at the same time and finding a break in the routine busy-ness to locate a cow never happened.

Then he got a call one day from a friend. A friend who was a dairyman. As in, he had lots of milking cows and sold commodity milk to a milk processing company.
"Matt, don't you want a dairy cow?"
"Well, yeah."
"I have a cow that's gone lame because the Blue Heeler (a cattle working dog) was chasing her to bring her into the parlor and the cow slipped. She seems to have a bad joint in her left rear leg."
"uhhh"
"The vet can't do anything for her, she'll be perfect for a family milk cow. Otherwise I'll have to take her to slaughter."
"I'll give Kim a call."

Of course I wanted a cow! All the milk we wanted! I didn't have to drive to my other dairyman friend to get milk. We could make butter, and whipped cream, and butter, and yogurt, and butter, and ice cream, and butter, and sour cream, and butter, and kefir, and butter, and creme fraiche, and butter, and mascarpone, and butter, and cottage cheese, and butter... I ran to the shelves to get my book Keeping a Family Cow.

This was a very valuable book to us in the following weeks. It became dog eared, even making its way to the barn. Thank you Joann Grohman for writing this book.

You would think that two people who had grown up on farms, around livestock, currently living on a farm, with a beef herd, having plenty of friends who owned dairys, would slip right into this family cow thing with ease.
ummmmm, no.
We were glad for that book.

Matt had one of the boys hitch up the livestock trailer and they drove to John's. I believe at this time the oldest boys were 15 and 13. They loaded up the lame cow. It was not the normal loading job. She got part way on but kept slipping and falling. Her leg didn't work very well and they ended up pushing her on. "They" being two grown men and two teenage boys. Then she laid down.
uh oh. Would she be getting off?

At home, they got her up with poking and prodding and led-pushed her off and into the barn.
By the way, did I mention that Holsteins are very stubborn? Jerseys are nice and docile for the most part.

But Holsteins have an opinion.

Especially if they're lame.

We didn't have a stanchion to put her in to milk her and by this time it was evening and she was full of milk. We drug-led her to a post in the barn and tied her there. It was no small task. She wanted to go where she wanted to go and she did not want to go. She wanted to lay down right where she was and not one step forward. When she finally came to the realization that it was milking time, she stood still with her head tied and a pan of grain in front of her. She was confused by the hands in place of the milking machine. I brought a large stock pot from the house and we placed it under the udder and proceeded to milk her out.

Her ear tag said Agnes. So we started talking to her friendly and calling her Agnes and telling her what a good milk cow she was and other things that would make us feel better about milking a lame cow and not putting her out of her misery. After all, she might heal up right? We were certainly hopeful that a little TLC would go a long way in her recovery.

Matt and the boys knew a little bit about milking because occasionally they have to bring in a beef cow to milk. But that's another story.
This was different. Matt, Brandt, Brock, and myself milked the cow, by hand, until our arms gave out and then we handed off to the next person.

We milked and milked and milked and that cow still had more milk. The whole time we were milking Agnes was swaying side to side. It's rather intimidating to be almost under a cow, milking, and feeling and seeing her sway. One of us on each side. Sway one way, sway the other way. Back and forth. It was more than intimidating, it was scary.

To be continued... I have to get my little boy some toast.

Our New Project

2011-01-12T14:26:00.000-06:00

The Milkmaid and her cows

2011-01-12T08:18:00.000-06:00

Blair loves Annie and hugs her. No kidding. This is a hug. Blair does not like the men of the house. For no reason. She loves Annie. If one of the guys has to milk the cows, they act naughty, they don't let down their milk, they poop in the parlor. For real.

This is Pretty Girl and she also loves Annie. See her kissing Annie.

Annie is very faithful morning and night to milk her cows.

This is Blair being milked in the one-cow-parlor eating her multivitamin at the same time. That is a Surge bucket which holds 4 or 5 gallons. I can't remember which. The pump is in the room on the other side of the wall you see. There is a pvc pipe that runs from that room to this room. Annie attaches that clear tube you see running from the bucket and on the floor to the pvc pipe. The pump creates a vacuum suction pulse which "pumps" the milk out via vaccum lines that run to the inflations. The milk flows through the inflation milk tubes into the bucket. It's just like a Medela breast pump on a larger scale.

The pump is in the other room because the other room is the goat parlor where we milked 24 goats twice a day last spring, summer, fall. The pump is very loud and should be in its own room. It's a Milk Maid I think from Parts Dept. The DeLaval buckets we bought an auction. The Surge bucket we bought off of Ebay. Parts can be bought online from Hamby Dairy.

Annie washes the parlor every day. Usually it's just feed that the cow slopped around and whatever is carried in on the hooves or Annie's boots but sometimes Blair and Pretty Girl don't do their bathroom duties outside. On those days, the milk may or may not be saved depending on the situation.

Annie strains the milk into jars in the "milk room". The bucket is heavy and Annie is one heckuva strong twelve year old girl but it's easier to lift and strain with the jars on the floor. This room also gets washed down daily.

This is nine-year-old Bubba. He helps Annie with the milk chores every day. His main job is to wash the milk bucket and inflations. Although it looks like he's going hunting here.

Yep.

There's Annie and Brandt ahead of him. In case you're concerned, Bubba's gun is a BB gun.

In our Milk Room is a big sink for washing.

Before we had our dairy building we did the straining and washing in the house. I had to use the utility sink for washing and even that is nearly too small. It is harder to wash a DeLaval bucket in a utility sink. The DeLaval buckets are tall and set on the floor during milking while the Surge are short and wide and hang under the cow.

Work's all done. This is Tubby, Annie's dog. He's one big fat puppy from all the Jersey milk he gets.
It takes Annie and Bubba 45 minutes to an hour each milking depending on how dirty the cows are. If the pen is clean, the cow is clean, and less washing of the cow before milking.
Currently we are milking two cows. That is rather accidental to be milking in the winter. Their next breeding will be more strategic so that they calve in the spring and we will dry them up for the dead of winter. Thankfully, this winter has been mild so far.

Our milkmaid

2011-01-11T08:06:00.000-06:00

Meet Annie.

Meet Blair.

Blair is a greedy pig about eating her multi-vitamin mix. Don't tell her it's a multivitamin, she thinks it's candy.

Our adventures in milking have been a long and winding road. With lots of stories both good and bad. I'm debating whether to tell them to the world or not.

2011-01-07T07:58:00.000-06:00

One of the many advantages of having lots of children is that there is always someone to play with. With limited screen time the creativity abounds. Today we are going to clean the Playroom. Who knows what sorts of remnants of creativity are lurking down there. Recently, the big girls were cleaning and discovered that the little girls had taken the Easy Bake Oven out of the locked cupboard (how did they get the keys???) and had been baking with it in the Playroom. And of course they knew it was off limits so they had it tucked in a corner and screened from view. I should move it to the kitchen eh? BTW Don't bother buying one of those things just include your children in the kitchen. This was a gift...
I read today that parents are concerned that their children are losing out on imaginative skills and creative play because their days are full of academics, sports, TV and video games, and the trappings of our modern life. Homeschooling a large family negates a lot of that. Especially when you live in the country. Especially when you physically can't run each child around to every sport. Especially when your TV was bought in the last century. We didn't deliberately aim for creative and imaginative kids but it has been one of the results of choices we've made. A good result.
Things I've found in our Playroom:

people made out of clothes pins complete with painted faces and clothes and names
doll clothing on stuffed animals
full toilet paper tubes as round hay bales
wrapping paper tubes and brooms as stick horses
Pringles can into a milk tanker truck
cowboys and other people elaborately created and clothed all from paper
cardboard boxes cut into houses, buildings, vehicles and more

Now, if a person would glance at the room, it would like a trash bin: toilet paper, cardboard, paper, Pringles can, and the rest. Cleaning it can be hard. How am I to know a piece of "trash" was specifically designed with tape and rubber bands to be a _________? How valuable is this item? Can it be built newer, bigger, and better next time? Or is it a one-of-a-kind? I'm talking myself out of the cleaning job. But the dust. I've got to get the dust and clean the clutter off the tops of the cupboards. And the unintentionally dehydrated apple cores.

Crockpotting All the Day Long

2011-01-06T08:04:00.000-06:00

In doing my recent planning and reflecting on the last year I decided that I need to utilize my crockpots more often. At one time I was the (self-declared) crockpot queen. I had five crockpots of various sizes and I used them regularly: cooking dry beans of different varieties, soup stock, in addition to lunch and supper. But alas, they died, one by one, until I was down to one. My mother spotted a nice big one on sale and bought it for me before Christmas so now I have two, one for supper, one for lunch. Now, a problem...I am tired of my recipes. My children are tired of my recipes. I have decided to go looking for new recipes but I am afraid that my qualifications might mean that they look like my old recipes. Here are my qualifications:

The recipe must be dairy free or dairy at the last minute so that I can pull portions out for my girls who are allergic to cow's milk.
The recipe must be healthy--meaning that I cannot use anything that is called Cream of _____ or a mix envelope and must start with whole foods (or as near as possible)
The recipe must be affordable. No exotic ingredients that require my going to a specialty store (boo hoo hoo--I love fun ingredients) unless I grow the exotic ingredient myself next summer.
The recipe must be able to be made from food I get at my small town grocery store. Sadly, the day we are out for lessons and choir, the day that I do my shopping, is the same day that the Amish stores are closed. WHY do they close on Tuesday???
I also must use up what is already in my pantry and freezer. And because I like to buy ahead in bulk I will need to be creative.

I'll keep you posted about it.

Keeping It All Together

2011-01-05T08:36:00.000-06:00

I'm a paper planner person. I've tried using a PDA, I've tried to use the Outlook Calendar. But I always go back to paper. I love my planner. It's a Target version of a Franklin Covey planner. Red with a handle that slips in and out of the outside pockets. It tried to find one like it to show you but couldn't. I guess I've had it five years and it's going strong but I was sorely tempted by this pink beauty.

I put everything in my planner. In fact, I call it my brain. And if I'm really busy and carry around a yellow legal pad for the up-to-the-minute brainstorming I have a Red Brain (my planner) and a Yellow Brain. I love having three brains. I get lots of stuff done then.
Now, back to ordering filler for my brain.

Farina for Breakfast

2011-01-04T07:55:00.000-06:00

Easy easy! And fills the tummies with warm food.

Farina

The ratio is 3 cups of water to 1 cup of farina. For 8-10 of us I make 9 cups of farina (that means 9 cups of water and 3 cups of farina).

Heat the water to boiling.
While the water is boiling and you are stirring add the farina. If you don't stir while doing this the farina will turn into lumps. It is vital that you stir constantly while adding the farina.
Turn the heat as low as you possibly can on your stove, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with honey, molasses, sorghum, maple syrup, fresh or dried fruit.

Q and A

2011-01-03T08:01:00.001-06:00

Hi, Kim! I got your book for Christmas, and I can't put it down!! I've got so many questions for you!! I'm a wife and mommy to 5 ages 7, 6, 5, 2, and 3 months. My house of 1150 square feet is a total wreck all the time. I never eat or sleep right. I worry that I'm failing in my effort to provide a good homeschool education. And, my husband is having to constantly help me instead of vice versa. All this plus we are trying to sell our house so that we can get into something bigger. But, as I read your book I'm so encouraged!! Here's my 2 pressing questions: 1. Considering the house is such a wreck there's no chance of selling it as is, and it's hard to function well. Should I try implementing as I read or just get through the book as quickly as possible and then go back and implement? 2. Please, please tell me specifically what curriculum you use. I totally have to be very hands on in the curriculum I'm using. Thanks so much for writing this great book!! Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
There's no doubt you are in a tough place right now. My older mommy quick response is to say, "Enjoy these days, they will pass so quickly! Hold on to every moment with those little children and savor it." But I know that what you really want to hear is how to function so that you CAN enjoy it.

First, drink water. Every time you sit down to feed the baby, drink a whole glass of water. Next, eat protein for breakfast. Make some scrambled eggs for everyone. Eggs and cheap protein and very good for your brain and baby's brain. And the protein will carry you for hours. If you don't like eggs, eat cheese or the left over meat from yesterday or bacon. But get some protein for breakfast. Go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning. Regulating your body with sleep will help you feel like a new person. Regardless of the state of the house or laundry, go to bed and sleep. You will avoid many negative things by just getting your sleep. Tomorrow, things will look better, you will have more energy after sleep and a good breakfast. Then tackle the day.

Second, do not worry about home education when your oldest is just seven. Can he read? Then give him a time of day when he should sit down and read something. If not, then when you are sitting down to nurse the baby, have him bring his phonics book to you and work through a lesson while you are feeding the baby.

How to implement: That will depend on your situation. I can't see your home. I can imagine. I can think back to my days of only little children and what I see is toys everywhere, crumbs on the table, dirty dishes, laundry piles. Wait, I think I still have that going on here. I just have big kids now who can help take care of it all in a matter of minutes. Your day is coming...but then those big kids are big and won't crawl on your lap anymore without squishing you, their hugs are crushing, and their laundry is huge, and they go out the door and drive down the road, and... Can you tell yet that I have a big kid flying the nest next week? And another one in eight months? And another one who will get her license this year? It was just yesterday that...Back to you, Jennifer, go to the back of the book in the Appendix section and start there with the 15 minute plan. Work for 15 minutes at a time restoring order.
Concerning your move and your home sale: Start packing strategically. I learned this trick from Emily Barnes and it is key to changing your home management. Go through each room of your house with three bags and/or boxes. Sort through the stuff and put in either the throw away black trash bag, sell or give away box, or the Keep Box. When you are done with the room, sort through the Keep Box and this time leave in the room only the things that are absolutely necessary. Put the rest in storage for moving or storage until you need it again. Clearly label the box with a number or name. Write on a 3x5 card what is in the box. At the top of the 3x5 card, write the name or number of the box. Put the 3x5 card in card holder box. Do this for each room or area of the house. Write in pencil on the 3x5 card so that as you further sort, organize, and purge you can easily erase things. Now for a warning. If your storage area has mice, don't use a cardboard box. Been there done that. Your storage boxes will be ready for your move, you will be clearing your house of clutter that gets in the way of real life, and you will have your house clear for showing.

Curriculum: Pray for wisdom and talk to your husband about what he wants them to learn. Go to homeschool conferences and listen to the speakers. Pour over catalogs. Get a book about book lists and start buying living books.
I think that Alphaphonics is the easiest and simplest way to get a child reading. After that, I like the Christian Liberty phonics books. They are thorough and my children who have done them have the most solid phonics foundation for deciphering words later on. Buy real living books, I use the Veritas Press catalog and Sonlight catalog as a book guide and source. But there are other book lists out there.
Math: I used Developmental Mathematics for years and still like it. The younger ones have also used Christian Liberty math books and I'm please with that. I recently bought the first Life with Fred book for my 12 year old and think it's fun. The jury is still out there.
History: Veritas Press and the text books they recommend as resources. Some years we do the cards, other years I just assign reading.
Science: assorted nature and science books for the elementary years, Apologia for age 12-13 on up.
Bible: Studying God's Word from Christian Liberty, Veritas Press Bible some years.
Character: Doorposts

Jennifer, I can hear through your words that you care and that is key to success in anything. Keep Bibles handy around your home so that you can easily pick one up and read a bit. Pray without ceasing. Those two things will carry you far.

Kim

My Back Hurts

2010-12-13T09:24:00.000-06:00

I've been a real whiner the last couple of weeks. I wake up feeling like a crippled old woman. I've been to the chiropracter a few times and things are corrected. I don't need to go back. I just need to keep the muscles stretched and start exercizing.Yes, it's been several months since I did T-Tapp.
In the spring when we were making cheese I ran back and forth from the house to the dairy, lifted heavy buckets and ice chests full of cheese, and I was strong! It was easy to let T-Tapp go by the wayside. However, because we were at Farmer's Markets two and three times a week all summer I ate a lot of great food. As in A LOT.

Now it's winter, we aren't making cheese. All that great food from the summer is still hanging around me in the form of extra cushioning for my family to hug.

A couple of weeks ago, while trying to rush the five youngest children out the door for music lessons our three-year-old Miracle Boy decided to lie on the basement step with a limp body fit. He should have been waiting patiently by the door because he was ready. It was his sisters who were sock-less. He simply wanted more attention. He's a bit of pig that way. I bent down to pick the wet noodle up and a sword of fire entered my lower back. Moaning and groaning I crawled up the stairs leaving him behind. The noodle was suddenly an erect and speedy little boy who beat me up the stairs calling, "Mommy hurt! Mommy hurt!" The rascal.

But really it's my fault. I stopped exercizing last spring. I stopped doing hard labor in the fall. I don't know where my T-Tapp videos are. I finally bought a second pair of "fat jeans".

Enough.Someday I want to hike the Appalachain Trail and canoe in the Boundary Waters. Can't do that with all this fluff and a weak back.

Today, I locate The Total Workout.
Tomorrow, no not tomorrow, there's too much going on tomorrow to add another thing.
Wednesday.

Large Family Logistics Review and Giveaway

2010-11-18T07:55:00.001-06:00

Caroline Allen at The Modest Mom has written a review and is having a giveaway for the book!Go leave a comment to enter!Large Family Logistics Review and Giveaway

Thank you Caroline!

In our schoolroom

2010-11-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

three children, let's hope the rest are being productive elsewhere in the house
two mushroom growing kits, I harvested some last night and sauteed them with onions and olive oil and ate it over tortelini--delicious!
all the plants that lived on the deck over the summer
more plants that my nine-year-old bought from "the plant guy" every week at the farmer's market
laundry baskets full of books and no, I didn't get bookshelves bought yesterday
a big ol' heavy slate chalkboard waiting to be hung, it's been waiting for a year but I still have hope
an empty aquarium, and I'm fine with it being empty for a season
I look up again and there are no children in the schoolroom anymore... better go hunt them down

Today's Agenda

2010-11-10T09:30:00.000-06:00

Chores
Take a load to Goodwill
Shopping for some very necessary items that are keeping me from getting clean around here:

vacuum bags for my small vac that does the hard floors, stairs, furniture
a broom that picks up fines and gets in corners
toilet bowl cleaner
bookshelves -- I'll check the resale stores for these, although I did find some substantial beautiful shelves once at Hobby Lobby years ago completely accidentally, a person doesn't usually shop for bookshelves at Hobby Lobby

And the rest of the list:

shoes for the 4 year old
socks, socks, and more sock -- then we'll come home and throw out all the junky socks! woo hoo!
underwear for the little girls
toilet paper
paper towels
kleenex

Alone Time for Strategizing

2010-11-08T09:50:00.000-06:00

One thing that was very helpful to me this last year was that a portion of our kids were in a children’s choir. While they were in choir, I drove them there (instead of one of my big kids) and I sat for an hour each week just evaluating, prioritizing, planning, and making lists. I didn’t realize how valuable the time was to our homelife until choir ended for the summer. It took me awhile to realize that I didn’t know where my date book was or my yellow legal pad that I brainstormed on or my bag that I carried my organizational things in was and that I had slowly lost my grip on things after I lost that choir time! Choir started back up this fall and I’m getting back in the groove. Plus, I have the summer to look back on and decide how to be more efficient for next summer, what to cut and how to do things so that they flow better in our life. The alone uninterrupted time out of the house to think quietly, evaluate, and pray was a very good thing for me and the ramifications it had on our whole family. Perhaps you could do the same at some regular point in the week.

Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing a Large Family

2010-10-20T07:53:00.000-05:00

Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing a Large Family

We've been making cheese,

2010-08-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

in case you've been wondering where I'm at.

In between meals and laundry I join my family in the dairy where we turn goat milk into cheese, package it, and then take it to Farmer's Markets. Fun! Fun!

Amy Howard - T-Tapp Testimonial Tuesday Success Story

2010-05-10T07:08:00.000-05:00

Hey! Read about my friend Amy! She's inspiring!

Amy Howard - T-Tapp Testimonial Tuesday Success Story

Church decline of another kind | Faith & Leadership

2010-04-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

Church decline of another kind | Faith & Leadership
Tell me: how are you preparing your children for the very different world they will be living in 20, 30 years from now?
What implications do you see?

The More Kids, the Lower Moms' Suicide Risk - Mental Health | Illness | Disorders - FOXNews.com

2010-03-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

The More Kids, the Lower Moms' Suicide Risk - Mental Health | Illness | Disorders - FOXNews.com

Posted using ShareThis

easy homeschooling!

2010-03-22T12:31:00.000-05:00

ah haha hahahaha! I love it when hard things become EASY!
Wow!

digitalfrog.com has this program called ScienceMatrix: Cell Structure & Function.
I had my older kids in mind when I saw it. It seems like the first lesson in anything to do with highschool science is THE CELL. It can be rather boring and easily glossed over but of course is elemental to understanding nearly everything else. You can't skip it. If you do, THE CELL will catch up with you later.

My high school kids have been busy with a hundred other things, my sixth grader who is currently in a biology text has also been absent from my grasp. I wanted to see if the program was what it promised so I loaded it up anyway. My 8 year old was in the room and I put him in the chair.
bahahaha-he probably knows more about cell structure and function than anyone else in the house now! The visuals are great, it's self-explanatory, it was fun, and he enjoyed the whole program.

Hands down, I'm impressed and I plan to get more of their software.
If an 8 year old can learn all about the cell, my older kids have no excuse! ; )

"Winner of a World Summit Award, this program tackles a complex subject, makes it interesting and facilitates learning. Cells and their components are brought to life for middle and secondary school students with inquiry-based learning that both engages and informs.

Stunning 3D models and excellent photographs clarify difficult concepts. Detailed information is available on specific organelles with fascinating insights on how these affect the student."

Busy Times

2010-03-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

Just when I think I have a bit of time to write...
*we start having baby goats
*we are scheduled to get the cheese vat for our forthcoming dairy
*we clean the dairy
*we get a call that the vat had an unfortunate accident on a winter road
*I make a list of other things we need for the dairy and freak out
*I start looking for needed things online and make a list of local places to shop
*we have more baby goats
*my kids start doing their Teenpact homework which includes some intensive teaching on how to write an essay
*I make a call to buy more goats
*all of my children get sick with a nasty cold
*I go on a date with my honey and buy a brand spanking new book on the day of its release -- Woo Hoo!
*we have a 100 pound newborn bull calf in the mudroom and try to keep it alive
*100 pound bull calf dies in the mudroom
*I find a bar of dark chocolate in my pantry
*I am tired of round steak and chicken and make chili soup with ground deer meat (I really don't like deer meat)
*the snow is melting and I can't cross country ski until it snows again, if it snows again--so I suck it up to do something else new and exciting for exercise, I just don't know what
*I read Fallacy Detective again with a different child and again see fallacies all around me MADDENING
The End

Big Oven

2010-02-21T09:37:00.000-06:00

I've been playing around with the Big Oven trial and I like it. I can import a recipe from online, convert the serving amounts instantaneously, rewrite the directions to suit my kids and my kitchen fast and easy. woo hoo! I had some problems with error messages when I first downloaded it but the customer service was awesome and had me up and running in no time. I'm still having fun with it, a little bit every day, so this isn't a complete and thorough review but I like it so far.
I'm going to enter my fav recipes from my books and take the majority to Goodwill. I'm jealous of the shelf space they are taking up. Of course I'll keep the sentimental favorites. When we were married I had three cookbooks and no internet. A church cookbook put together ~1977 from my home church, a cookbook that my high school home ec teacher gave me for a wedding present, and a Betty Crocker book. Those three are in sad shape today. In fact one is referred to by my kids as the "one that is falling apart". Nearly everyday those first years of marriage I called my mom, my mother-in-law, or my grandmother with the question, "how do you make____?" I do have an overflowing recipe box thanks to those phone calls and also sitting down with my sister and copying every recipe that was in my mom's recipe box. Wow, isn't the internet and recipe software awesome? You can find a recipe for anything and several versions of a single recipe and then also read comments and ratings from other people. Maybe my problem is too many options. I think my grandma would have simply slow-cooked the round steak with onions, served it with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles and homegrown and canned green beans. I think I've served roundsteak 10 different ways in the last two weeks and still haven't made stroganoff with it. That's next.
Why so much round steak? Well, when we had the beef butchered I didn't have room for it all so a few boxes went to my sister's freezer. We pulled the last box out of her freezer and it was all round steaks. My choices are: round steak, heart, soup bones, and whole chicken. I'm still not sure what to do with heart. Last time I fixed it, I had sliced it thin and stir fried it with veggies. I thought it was rather tough. If you have any idea on how to fix beef heart let me know, I've been collecting them the last couple of years. I don't even know how many beef hearts are in the freezer.

Converting Recipes to Suit My Life

2010-02-11T10:03:00.000-06:00

I have been finding yummy recipes. Some are slightly different than my same-old same-old. Some are more exciting. I remembered that I have a collection of delicious Thai recipes from my sil Rhonda that I should add to my list. It would be fun to have Thai night once a month.
Almost 100% of the recipes I have found I need to double or triple or quadruple. I copy and paste the recipe into Word, then I do the conversions. After that I go through the recipe and rewrite confusing parts so that my chillens can make the recipe without asking me a hundred questions. Any unhealthy parts I make substitutes for. And finally, write it for my oven and my cooking paraphernalia. In other words I personalize the recipe for my home and the food I have access to. I can do all that more quickly than it sounds.

Last night I watched the DVD Rejuvenate Your Life by Serene Allison with some friends. It's about eating raw food. We talked about food all night. We all seemed to be tired of our recipes and I wonder if part of it isn't simply that it is WINTER. Bleh. What I wouldn't give for a garden fresh tomato right now. Or a sweet juicy peach. Pesto. Ooooh, I think I have some frozen gazpacho in the freezer. I'm running to get that out.

A recipe website recommendation is The Nourishing Gourmet. My friend Pam uses the recipes here frequently and is quite pleased. Pam is also the most diligently healthy Mom/Chef that I know. If she praises it, it must be good.

And a math curriculum recommendation that I learned of from my friend Diane, is Life of Fred. I might be tempted to switch from my old standby. Benefits that I see are that they are not consumables and the price is reasonable. Especially amortized over a bunch of kids. It reads like a story book full of math problems all about Fred.

New Recipe Plan--foiled

2010-02-10T08:10:00.000-06:00

I didn't do so well in making my new plan yesterday. Recipes that appealed had too many ingredients and/or steps to be fast. Or had ingredients that would bring the cost up too much for my budget. Another recipe book that had fast meals were made with canned soups and the like. That's not healthy or tasty. And I always have to pass over the recipes that have milk or cheese in them because of my allergic girls. I considered not changing my standard recipes but I really am a bit weary of them. I need something new for a basic recipe plan. Last night I had the idea of looking up recipes for cast iron dutch ovens. I love my cast iron. I love dutch oven cooking. It's usually simple and tasty. I'll look for some fresh recipes for my cast iron today.
If I'm successful you might see a new meal plan later.

A New Menu Plan for Us

2010-02-09T09:07:00.000-06:00

Our freezer beef is nearly used up, no ground beef, and I'm going to guess there are 20 chickens left, and one smoked ham hock. My options are severely limited. I dug out my vegetarian recipe books and will serve meat as a side dish. Don't tell my family and hopefully they won't notice. ; )
As soon as I get my grocery lists made, I'll post it all here. We're still eating leftovers from Super Bowl food so I don't need to worry about today's meals. I love leftovers, especially yummy ones! However,the rest of the truly-disgusting-and-I-will-never-make-them-again-Little-Smokies are going out to the dog and cats and farm critters. And if I NEVER see a Little Smokie again it's too soon!

Climbing the mountain of laundry

2010-02-08T11:51:00.000-06:00

Anything less than full load is subject to severe punishment in this house! A large family makes a lot of laundry and many hands make light work. When each member contributes to the good of the family, he or she builds self-worth and confidence in the ability to do a life-long chore. This is education. Fill it up for the good of all.

Little children in the kitchen

2010-02-04T14:29:00.000-06:00

Oh, little children are fun to have in the kitchen! They are so delighted and curious about everything! Of course, sometimes they can be in the way, especially when you are hurrying, but try not to squish them. Give them something to do.
Tell me what you do with your little children in the kitchen.

Surrender

2010-02-03T09:56:00.001-06:00

All of our lives must be surrendered to God. We live for His glory not our own (1 Corinthians 10:31). Say no to yourself, do the hard thing, finish the work, do what you say you are going to do, be timely, organize yourself. These things can sound huge to an overwhelmed mom who is drowning in work, I know! I was there and occasionally I revisit that situation. Start with small things and add to them. Practice makes perfect. Someday, when you fail to be disciplined in an area it will be easier to regain that discipline. You did it once, you can do it again! You can do it with His strength and there is joy in His strength. Read the Bible to know what He wants you to do, converse with God throughout your day, sing praises to His name, teach your children and learn alongside them, and you will renew your mind.

Thinking 'bout

2010-02-02T15:12:00.000-06:00

writing again.
Not sure why, except that maybe the muse is waking up again.
Perhaps it is just the want for an outlet.

The bad thing is that I will probably be writing from the dinosaur laptop. The good thing is that we have wireless now and the dinosaur sets on the "teacher desk" in the schoolroom.

We make time for the things that are important to us.
We are good at what we focus on.
And that causes me concern. It makes me want to not write because I fear I will neglect any number of things.

I might just write about the trivial.
But does the reader really want to hear about my bunion?
I might record a diary of the daily events here. That sounds simple. But...life isn't simple. And I don't like to feed voyeurism. It also sounds narcissistic.

So, what is the purpose? My original intent in blogging years ago was to instruct the novice in home keeping skills. It paired with the yahoo group, still in existence and running on auto.

We are good at what we focus on and I could use a little refocus on the homekeeping around here. What I write about--I do, or I do and then write about it. They feed each other.
I can write here in the schoolroom when the kids do their work. Better than reading up on bunions and scaring my poor foot to spastic convulsions.

It's always hard to keep the why out of the how and they why is often such a gray area of life. I've always been rather "black and white". Believe it or not--to the folks that know me--the longer I live the more gray I see and refuse to discourse on. That's meant in a philosophical way, I have not discovered one gray hair yet. I'm a late bloomer. Back to what I was saying, I won't get too philosophical. Maybe.

Back to the garden

2009-08-10T14:32:00.001-05:00

My garden is awesome but a little slow because it's been so cool. We just started to get tomatoes.
My son brought me two lugs of blueberries and two boxes of peaches from the Amish store this afternoon. I froze the blueberries already and now on to making peach salsa.
Then I think I will take a break from cleaning and organizing, even though I really don't want to, and make pickle relish and pickled cucumbers, pickled beets. And then hopefully by then the tomatoes will be really coming on and I can start on those. dh has been talking about bringing me corn also. My blogging days will probably come to a stand still, I'll try to twitter about it all though.
For recipes I tend to use the Ball Blue Book. The peach salsa recipe I got online from google. Haven't tried it yet but it looks very promising.

Laundry Revamp

2009-08-10T07:56:00.003-05:00

Today is Laundry Day and I'm very happy to go down and get caught up. We had a busy weekend and NO laundry kept up. I'll probably have to rewash whatever is in the washer. But I think I can hang out. The forecast doesn't call for more rain but it does look cloudy and foggy out right now. I'll take a chance.

Our laundry system was not working like it used to for a few months. My chief laundry person had added goat milking and cheese making to her daily duties and she wasn't able to keep up with it all. We reassigned duties early in the summer and I drew the laundry card with an able assistant.

For a month I did the laundry and quickly realized that our family had outgrown the current system. Plus we had a big problem of 5 girls using the floor of their bedroom to store their clothes. We called it the Floordrobe. I know that this is a common problem among young girls. We also have a little girl, sometimes more than one, that changes her clothes on whim. She might wake up and put on a Cinderella dress and be a princess. After breakfast she decides to put on something else. Then two hours later when her activity changes she changes her clothes again. Then she has some sort of messy experience and changes her clothes again. And most of these clothes are returned to the Floordrobe.

Two things inspired my revamp:

In the spring I had visited a friend's home and she showed me her inventory system. I had heard about her sytsem for years and finally, I got the tour. : ) A little bit of background must be laid first. Her husband has a business in which he needs a very large shop. Several years ago, they built a shop with a an office on one end of the building. They chose to live in the office part of their building until they build a house. Last I heard, they might not build a house, their living arrangements are working out very nicely. If a person didn't know that their home was built to be a on office, you wouldn't know it, it's very nice and homey. At the back of their home there is an inventory system where they keep anything and everything. Think about an auto parts store. Shelving from floor to ceiling. If I remember right she has 3 sets of shelving, each about 15 feet long. She is a very organized lady and has everything in place. Anything that you would stick in a cupboard or closet somewhere in your home, she has in her inventory system. This room is right off of her kitchen. Kitchen tools, cookbooks, homeschooling books and supplies, and her family's clothes. Each person has a dirty laundry basket, hang up clothes area, and shelves for the rest right there in the shelving system. Also in her inventory room are her washer and dryer and her desk area. The floor is cement but it has a radiant heat system in it so it's not cold in the winter. The room is well lit, looks easy to keep clean, and like I've said, VERY organized. I was in awe. I wouldn't want to build a house either with this system in place. It was inspiring.

The other motivating thing that happened to me this summer was simply a conversation with another friend. She also had a passel of little girls who liked to change their clothes frequently and a floordrobe. She decided to keep all of her girls' clothes in the laundry room. The little fashion-istas clothes were put up high and required assistance to retrieve. Now she isn't rewashing clean clothes. There is no floordrobe. Less time washing, less time folding, less time restoring order to girls' rooms, less time getting irate with little girls. She had bought more shelving at Sam's Club in case you're curious.

A month ago or so, I set aside two days to redo the laundry room. It took me four days and a trip to Walmart for more Sterlite tubs. 4 days of early in the morning straight through to supper time. I was on a dedicated mission!
Our laundry room is the unfinished part of the basement measuring about 15 x 30. On the north are walk-out steps to my clothes line. Also on the north side are the washer and dryer (Bosch before anyone asks, and I like them a lot). On the east side are two deep freezes, and above that is a pipe hung from the rafters the whole length of the room that I hang the guys' shirts, out of season coats, any hang-up clothes that come out of the washer and/or dryer, and now the girls church dresses. On the south side is a door to the "fruit room", that's where I keep canned food and store garden produce in the winter. It's worthy of another post someday. On the west wall is the door to the playroom/family room and stairwell, shelves and cupboards for kitchen things that aren't frequently needed and take up big space, the furnace, water softener, water heater, etc. I had storage shelves and thought I needed more to revamp my system but I didn't! I sent a bunch of junk to Goodwill. The boys' clothes have been stored in the Laundry Room for years and that worked great. I also had tubs full of hand me downs and out of season clothes. They were organized--I thought, but once started I had quite a job to do.

I first moved all my shelving into a long row down the middle of the room. The shelves were not efficiently arranged before. Then I started going through tubs. I gave each size it's own tub. And of course sorted by boy/girl. In the middle level of shelving are all the current sizes, each person knows their tub. In the tub, winter is on the bottom, summer on the top. So far it's working out. I had some questions about that arrangement. The big girls' clothes were so large that they have boxes for their winter and their summer clothes. Out of season and off size clothing tubs are stored on the high shelf or the bottom shelf. We have a tub for girls' swim gear and another for guys. That has been handy for swimming outings, we just grab the entire boxes. There are two dressers that make up the end of my inventory row that sit back to back. One for each of the big boys.
When I went through the old boxes there were clothes that were, for example, size 8 but in the size 6 box. More often than not it was because the size 8 was inappropriately sized. I took my Sharpie and put a 6 on the tag. Some clothes had the tags cut out and I had to guess. A person could take a clothing marker and mark the size. I just left them. They know who wears what and I'm the chief laundry person and know also.
One other discovery I made was that some sizes have way too many clothes. Sizes 8 and 10 in girls are two that I can think of off hand. I left the boxes exploding but it's something I will tackle when the seasons change. That's typically when we throw out the stained, holey, worn out clothes with a vengeance. I only keep the best. Interestingly, there were tons more girls than boy clothes in the hand-me-down boxes.
I made a tub of winter dress shoes for the girls, a tub of summer girls' shoes that didn't currently fit anyone, and a tub of athletic shoes. I used a tall laundry hamper for boots. And I had an assortment of shoes that didn't have matches. I kept them for now because I suspect that when we get the rest of the house cleaned and organized, they will appear.
And sometime I need to asses all the shoes in the garage and make a workable system for that mess!

We've had this system for a good month and it's been working well. I taught them to go to their box to get their clothes and then take them and a towel to the bathroom before their shower. After the shower they are to hang up their towel and throw their dirty clothes down the clothes chute. So far so good except in the girls' bathroom BUT that room is on the list that Mom is visiting very soon! They need some lessons on throwing their dirty laundry down and some consequences enforced. It's going to happen this week.
I'm going to spend the day down their and I look forward to it! Last week I thoroughly cobwebbed and swept and wiped so this week the cleaning will be easier.

At one time I had severly limited the number of towels in the house and bought special embroidered towels for each person. We need to return to that system. That would help out with the amount of towel laundry!

A halt until next week

2009-08-07T06:40:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we had an extremely successful morning cleaning the house. We're not done yet, but we had cousins overnight and for a play day today. I really doubt that anything big will get accomplished until next week.
No pics yet, my resident photographers are too busy and I am too.
You'll have to imagine about the house.
We built it ten years ago when we had four small children. After adding a couple of children we quickly realized one big problem. The mudoom was built for a family of 4 that lived in town and did not get muddy. In the last ten years we have rearranged and rearranged to accommodate a big family. It hasn't stopped yet. We just moved the big girls bedroom.

It is a two story house with a basement so three levels. There is a front porch. You walk into the living room which is to not have any toys. But of course they wander in there. The living room has two wing chairs and an antique sofa that I got for $40 at an auction last spring. It weighs a ton but matches the room perfectly. There is a table between the wing chairs that we put current reading material on. There is also an antique pie safe that we call Sarah Margaret because it belonged to my husband's great great great grandmother or something like that and came to Iowa in a covered wagon. I keep special dishes in it. Opposite the wing chairs is the piano and beside the piano is a small book shelf full of music. And the guitars. On the east wall is a big wardrobe where we keep our "town coats". It has a hard floor that looks like walnut wood but is not. We tore up 9 years of disgusting carpet last winter and put in this laminate. I love the laminate floor. It's not as pretty as wood but I have learned... many things. There is a wool area rug. We use the piano bench for seating when we gather in this room. It's pretty much "company" room.
When you walk in the front door there is also stairs that go up to the second floor.

From the front door you also see across the Living Room straight into the Dining Room/Kitchen. This is a big room 15 x 24+. The Dining Room part has a ten foot table that we had specially built the same year that we built the house. It has been through a lot with a big family but we can refinish it someday. : ) On the walls in the Dining Room are a white board where we put up current projects, our prayer list, verses we're memorizing, notable quotes, vocabulary words etc. There is another smaller whiteboard that always has a scripture to memorize on it. On one wall is another pie safe that I keep good dishes in. And another dish cupboard that is glass fronted on the top, has a buffet, and then cupboards below. I keep our tea party things in the top behind glass and in the cupboards below I keep the preschool activities that we use during school time. The Dining Room/Kitchen have a hard wood floor that we put in when we built the house. I love it. It has taken a lot of abuse and still looks pretty good. We can refinish it someday. : )

The other end of the room is the kitchen. It has one wall of doors to the pantry, the basement, and the library (the south wall). Two walls are typical kitchen(north and east walls). In between is a 6 foot bar that I love. It is an awesome workspace. There is also a deck off of this room (north wall). Also on the east wall is the entry to the mudroom. In the mudroom is another frig (where the washer and dryer used to be) and a big utility sink. We use the frig for milk and cheese, and the sink is for washing the milking equipment. There is another sink for handwashing which each person is to do whenever they walk in the garage door. And there is a toilet/shower room.

Off the south wall of the kitchen is an entry to the Library. There is a very short hall with a closet. The closet was originally intended for coats but I don't think I ever used it for coats. Matt put shelves in and it has been a place for my 5 gallon buckets of grains (on the floor) and large pots etc. on the shelves.

In the Library: The west wall is a desk where my computer is. It is about ten steps from the stove. So I can check email and cook oatmeal in the morning. ; )
There is also a door on the west wall to the Entry/Living Room. But it's not used and a lot of time it is blocked off with whatever the current arrangement of the room is. I have put the big boys in here for school on occasion. On the south wall is a CD shelf. A cart with the copier, Phonics Museum box, paper supplies, laminator, etc. On the East and North wall are built-in bookshelves with cupboards on the bottom third. These are awesome and I'm so glad we did that when we built the house. This room was on the "plan" as a dining room. It was quite obvious at the time that it was small and made for a family of 4. Total. And maybe the family of 4 could have 2 guests.
A couple of years ago we sorted all the books, categorized them by genre and time period, and put stickers on the spines. I can't remember the name of the store where I got the stickers but it was online and it was a library store. The best stickers were the long ones that you could write more on. I gave the time periods a long sticker and then a circle sticker for the type of book Reference, Fiction, etc. You could also get stickers that were specifically for Biography, Classic, etc. The stickers changed things dramatically around here. People could find what they were looking for quickly and it made returning books to the right place easier. That said, there were about a hundred books lurking in corners that didn't get labled but eventually made their way to the library. And we bought more books. Yes I am a bibliophile.

Back to the Dining Room: At the west end of the room is the entry to the "family room". For eight years it was the family room and we did school around the dining room table. But a year ago we moved all the furniture down into the basement play room, tore up the disgusting carpet, put in laminate floor (looks like unstained pine), and turned it into our school room. It is another thing that I am very happy we did. One of the biggest reasons why is that when we all go into the room on school days our brains change course and we all put our heads down and get a lot accomplished. I didn't see that happen at the table. I'm not saying that learning did not occur at the table. We did school around the table for 8 years plus the years in our old falling down house. But we really switch gears when we walk into the new "school room". The school room has bookshelves, desks, tables, and the wood stove that we heat the house with. I painted a black board on the wall and an alphabet. Above one window I painted a scripture verse. It's a fun room.

That is the first floor and all I have time for today. And it's clean! Except for the library which I did not finish the other day. But I'll come back to it next week! Unless my sister and sister-in-law want to help me today. They are book lovers. They might want to. I hope they do. Please, pretty please?

Too much to chew

2009-08-06T07:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am trying to squeeze too much in.
No, the condition of the house is worse than I thought. Instead of a day for each area, I need a week. Or, I work a bit in each area each day?
Think Think Think

I'll take a look at the Worse Case Scenario Handbook.
Yes, every room in the house is a mess.

When you get irate during the day about an area of the house that is not working for you or a chore that the children should know how to do but aren’t doing, then instead of losing your temper, write it down. By writing it down you can let it go and not be bothered by it all day. You can say, “I will make a plan for fixing ____ later.” Then smile. At the end of the day or on Office Day you will take this paper and you will make a plan for how you are going to address the problem.

Yes, that is me--irate.

Pray with the children for God’s help in restoring your home.

Ah, ha.

Set your timer and work for 15 minutes.

Forgot about the timer!!!

OK, I'm printing it off and this will be the plan for today.

Did I really write that Worst Case Scenario Handbook?

Office Day

2009-08-05T07:01:00.002-05:00

Today is not my Town Day. I'm staying home again. YEAH! I am so happy to stay home and focus all the things that need done here! Yippeeee!

Today I am going to have an Office Day. I have two drawers of things to deal with and stacks on my desk. Our kitchen junk drawer fell apart and everything from the drawer was put into boxes which were then put in our Library/Office. There is also a big box of garden stuff that for some reason is also here. Toys. A stack of school stuff having to do with the oldest son's transcript preparations and college. Two big stacks of 4-H paraphernalia. Party supplies. An old car seat. And last but not least the brand new flooring that was supposed to be installed in this room LAST FALL. hahahahhahahahaha

I have two goals:
To empty the drawers and pay all the bills
and
Put everything away so that this room is ready to have the flooring installed. Then nobody can blame it on me. ; )

Getting Control of the Kitchen

2009-08-04T08:56:00.002-05:00

Well,
The kitchen is not too bad. We've had enough events here this summer to keep it decent. I think the major things today are going to be reorganizing my plastics closet. Return some things to their proper place. Reorganizing my pantry will be a doozy.
I have everybody else assigned to other tasks so I won't have much help. The girls are painting a room upstairs. The big boys have work to do outside. I might get some help out of the 7 and 9 year olds after they are done cleaning the mudroom.
I would really like to get the kitchen done this AM so that in the afternoon I can get a head start on the office/library. I suspect that it might be one of those rooms that I think will take a day but turns out to be a week. That happened to me earlier this summer when I revamped the laundry room. I gave it two days and it took every bit of 4 days. Next laundry day I'll tell how I did that.

Kitchen Day
Tuesday August 4, 2009
All Day
(This event repeats every week.)

Notes:
Set your little children at the table to measure and weigh beans and rice. Playdough is another time occupier. When you make bread dough, give the some dough to make bread sticks or pretzels.

Fill the sink with hot soapy water and keep it filled all day to help you keep up with the cleaning and cooking projects. At the end of the day, give it a good scrub.

Big children can be assigned these tasks:
Clean, declutter, organize one drawer (10 minutes), one cupboard (10 minutes), one pantry shelf (10 minutes).
Some need done on a weekly basis such as the plastic container shelf, the honey cupboard, the silverware drawer.
Clean out refrigerator (10 minutes). Wipe appliances (10 minutes). Clean stove top (10 minutes).
Children mop the floor during Read Aloud time.

Food Prep Ideas:
Make freezer meals,bread,

yogurt, cook chickens & broth, brown meat etc.

Chaos

2009-08-03T09:20:00.002-05:00

Well, it's not bad. But there are parts of the house that have not been cleaned in a long time.
My list of reasons is long. We've had a very busy summer and I am ready to STAY HOME.
I am very excited about the calendar for August. We have two days at the State Fair and that is all. I am determined to not let it get any more full. I plan to clean and organize every room, preserve food, eat out of the garden, and not spend any money. For accountability, I'm going to be blogging every day and using Twitter. Watch us work through the house, bit by bit. I look forward to seeing the list of things to do be checked off.

First up: It's Laundry Day.
Commit today to your laundry.
Wash, dry, iron, mend, put away. Set the timer for 45 minutes, switch loads, fold, put in baskets.
Make sure that the Sunday clothes are cleaned, ironed and put away for next week. Wrap the tights around the hanger of the dresses.
Take 15 minutes to clean your laundry room/area, get your children in on the work. De-clutter for 5 minutes (set your timer)so that the work space is more enjoyable.
Work on any ironing, mending, sewing or craft projects between loads or in the afternoon when the schoolwork is finished.
At 4 o'clock put all projects away until next Monday.

Next, in order to recover from Chaos, I'm cleaning the Master Bedroom and Bath. It's not pretty. Lots of dust, mildew around the bathroom window. Gross.

The kids each have a list of cleaning to do also. This is where it sometimes gets tricky. The older kids work fine independently but the younger ones do better with somebody. I'll let you know what actually gets done.

Food Allergies

2009-04-24T06:36:00.003-05:00

For Emily

We discovered our oldest daughter was allergic to milk when she was 7-8 months old. She had been an extremely "spitty" baby but there were odd days when she was not. In retrospect, those were days when I did not drink milk. She was completely breastfed and I was a big milk drinker at the time. She also had eczema. It was suggested to me that her problems might go away if I eliminated dairy in my diet and it did. Immediately. If I had any milk at all in my diet, she would start spitting. As she grew older, if she were given milk products she would vomit to dry heaves and then have diarrhea. She also gets terrific headaches if she has milk products. She is fine with goat milk.

Our third daughter was also apparently sensitive to milk. She is one of my Ezzo babies and went to formula at 9-10 months and could only tolerate a certain soy formula (can't remember what it was called now). As she grew older she could tolerate raw cow milk but not any milk products from the store. When she was about 4 years old she had extremely painful stomach cramping and diarrhea from an ice cream cone. At that point we were getting goat milk for our first daughter so we just put daughter #3 on a goat milk only diet also. She had other incidents similar to the ice cream cone one in that she manifests her allergy with severe cramps and diahrrea.

Dairy is in nearly all processed food. We had to read labels and understand what those scientific words in labels meant. We bought a book about dairy allergies that had word lists for milk ingredients and also food lists that are potential hazzards. For instance: milk is used as a filler in supplements, hot dogs, sausages, and it is in nearly all bakery items. This is what started our trip on the road to eating healthy. Up to this point we were SAD (Standard American Diet).

From what I understand, doing an elimination diet is the best way to determine what food is a problem. I have read that for it to be accurate, the food must be eliminated for two months so that the body is cleared of all antigens (that might not be the correct word) to that food.

I once did an elimination diet for just one week. I eliminated the common allergens and ate lots of veggies. The most common allergens or foods that people are senitive to are: dairy, eggs, wheat, corn, citrus fruits, gluten, yeast and related products, tomatoes and the rest of the nightshade family, peanuts. If you search it out you will probably find more complete lists.
A couple of days into the elimination diet I felt so much better. I didn't even know that I felt bad until I started feeling so great! I felt so good that I didn't want to stop the elimination diet so I did another week. At the end of the second week I had some dairy and I immediately bloated up and felt horrible.
From what I have read, as people age they lose the "whatever it is" ability to digest the lactose in dairy. Lactose is the milk sugar and it is present in all milks whereas the protein makeups are different in different breeds of milk. That is why our girls can have goat milk but not cow. The process of cheese making discharges the lactose from milk and is therefore more tolerable for those that are lactose intolerant. The more aged the cheese is, the less lactose remaining.

I love dairy so avoiding it has been hard. Especially because we have this beautiful Jersey cow that gives wonderful cream and it is so tasty in a cup of good coffee. mmmm I love cheesecake and my oldest son makes delicious mouth watering cheesecakes. Commercial soft serve ice cream is especially bad for bloating and the yuck feeling.

After my elimination diet I discovered that corn also bothers me. I knew that I always put on weight during sweet corn season. It's like gorging on a simple carb and it turns immediately to fat on the body. But as an Iowa corn raised girl it didn't bother me that bad. : ) I could lose it afterwards. I love sweet corn. What I discovered though in my elimination diet is that corn also makes me bloat. So sad. Now I try not to eat too much and pay more attention to how I feel.

Those are my experiences with food allergies and sensitivities. I suggest everyone do an elimination diet and record results. Like I said, I didn't know that I had a problem with milk or corn until I did the diet. I became more aware of how food makes me feel.

Beyond Cold Cereal

2009-03-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Baked French Toast
10 slices of bread
1 1/2 c milk
4 eggs
1/3 c honey
1 t vanilla
3/4 t cinnamon

Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix liquid ingredients and spices. Put a layer of bread in, then pour a little of wet mixture over. Keep doing layers. For variety add a layer of apple slices or berries and cream cheese. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for ~ 40 minutes. Serve with maple syrup.

Smoothies
Plain Yogurt or Kefir(usually homemade) for all the good bacteria we need in our gut
1 cup per person
Raw Eggs for protein (from our chickens or another free range flock)
1 per person
Coconut Oil for all of its health properties
1 T per person
Vitamin C powder, buffered, again, for our health
Frozen Bananas for sweetening and because they're so healthy
Frozen Berries or Pineapple for our health and palate
Other options to add healthy properties: flax seed (put in before blending), sea vegetable powder, raw greens

Baked Oatmeal
The day before: Stir together 6 c oatmeal 2 c milk

In the morning: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together thoroughly
4 eggs, beaten
1 c coconut oil - if it is in its solid state, you will want to heat it a bit until liquid
1 c honey
4 t baking powder
2 t salt

Stir in the oatmeal-milk mixture.

Pour into an 11x15 pan and bake for 25 minutes. Serve with milk.

While it is cooking, do the prep work for lunch and supper. Switch the laundry loads, check the children's chores, etc. Then call the troops to breakfast and read a Psalm and Proverb to them while they eat.

The leftovers are good for a cold snack.

For the allergic kids, I substitute the milk with goat milk or water.

How to make oatmeal
The day before, sometime when you're working in the kitchen, at lunch, afternoon chore time, or supper
Put regular oats in a pot, twice as much water as oats.
Whey if you have it, I use lemon juice because of my girls with milk allergy, 2 Tablespoons per cup of oatmeal.
Let it sit on your stovetop (off) until the next morning.
Turn on your burner to medium-low and stir.
Do not stray too far from the stove and keep stirring. Burnt oatmeal is not a very good way to start the day. :-(

Some of us like it with raisins. If you put them in the pot the day before, they swell up and get juicy! Yum! Any dried fruits are yummy.

Some of us like it with chopped apples and cinnamon.

And we also add cocoa to it sometimes for chocolate oatmeal.

For more health add flax seeds or flax meal.

How much to make depends on how much your children will eat. I usually do 7 cups of oats (14 cups water) and have little for leftovers.

Dutch Puff
This is a great way to get the troops fed with protein that will last all morning long. And don't forget, eggs are brain food.

Here is the standard recipe which will feed 6 nicely.

The day before serving:

Put in a blender and blend 8 eggs 2 c fresh ground pastry flour 2 c milk or buttermilk

In the morning:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put a stick of butter in a 9x13 pan and put the pan in the oven. When the oven is hot and the butter has melted, pour the blender mixture in and bake for 20 minutes.

While it bakes, change the laundry loads, do lunch or supper prep, check up on the kids' chores, do the next thing and don't forget to set the timer for the Dutch Puff. : ) BTDT

The mixture puffs up into a gorgeous souffle type creation. The hotter your oven is when you put the dish in, the higher it puffs. If the oven is not hot enough it will take longer than 20 minutes. Take it to the table and ooh and aah over the beauty of the breakfast. As it cools it deflates. Serve on plates and pour maple syrup over it. Fresh berries are also delicious on the Dutch Puff. Another variation is to put sliced apples in the batter.

I have two girls that are allergic to cow milk so I make a half recipe with goat milk (mixing that in the blender first) and use coconut oil in the pan instead of butter.
The last year or so I have had to increase it by 1/2 and it no longer works for me to mix it in the blender. I put in a slightly bigger pan still using 1 stick of butter. Here is the adjusted recipe:

12 eggs, beat with a whisk in a large bowl 3 c milk, whisk in 3 c fresh ground pastry flour

I have seen a similar recipe putting the batter into greased muffin tins which would be really cute. But too much work for a fast breakfast.

Yummy options are to add thinly sliced apples or a handful of berries to the batter. YUM! You can also add berries as a topping after it's baked.

Basic Scones

2 c flour
1 T baking powder
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
6 T butter
1/2 c milk, buttermilk, yogurt, or cream (each variation adds character)
1 lightly beaten egg

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add dairy and egg. Mix. Roll out dough and cut into pie wedges or into circles. Put onto baking sheets. Lightly beat another egg and brush the tops with it. Bake in a hot oven, 425 degrees, for ~15 minutes. With scones you can dress them up more by adding chopped dried fruit, chopped apples, chocolate chips, cinnamon, cranberries, or whatever else suits your fancy.

With scones and biscuits it's very important to not mix them too much which makes them dry and tough. The dough should be sticky. Do not mix in too much flour, this is easy to do when using fresh ground whole wheat. If you think you added too much flour and the dough is dry, add a bit more liquid. Remember, don't overmix.

Hashbrown Bake
24 oz. pkg. frozen hashbrowns OR shred a few potatoes with your food processor (greater value!)
4 T butter, melted
8 eggs
½ c milk
2 c Jack or Cheddar shredded
1 c cooked ham, sausage, or hamburger

Beat eggs; add milk, ½ t salt, ¼ t pepper.
Mix in potatoes.
Add meat, chives, and cheese. Stir.
Bake until eggs are set.

Breakfast Casserole
3 c milk
6 eggs
1.2 stick butter
4 c croutons or dried breadcrumbs
2 c shredded cheddar
1 c ham cubed, or other cooked meat
½ t salt
1 t ground dry mustard
1 T minced onion
Dash pepper

Melt butter in bottom of dish.
Put in croutons.
Sprinkle with cheese; then ham.
Beat eggs; add spices and milk.
Pour over the top. If it looks dry then add more liquid.
Bake until eggs are set.

Large Family Lunch Recipes with Grocery Lists

2009-03-13T08:47:00.001-05:00

Copy and Paste, then Print and put it into your Home Management Book.

Monday: Easy Homemade Tomato Soup or Lentil Stew

Easy Homemade Tomato Soup
Chop an onion in the food processor, add celery and a carrot also if you want.
Heat half a stick of butter, or use olive oil, in a Dutch oven or large stock pot; add the chopped veggies and saute.
Mince a garlic clove or 2 into the pot.
Slowly add 1/4 c flour and blend.
Add 1 quart of any tomato product, canned or frozen, juice, whole tomatos, sauce, fresh tomatos -if you use puree or paste then use much less or add a lot of water.
1 quart of chicken broth
pinch of baking soda
salt and pepper
1 t basil
Bring to a good rolling boil.
Add 3 c milk or cream and heat to almost boiling-do not boil. May use water instead of milk.
Can make at 11:30 or so and serve or make early in the morning and put in crockpot to keep warm until noon.
Serve with cheese slices.

Lentil Stew
Chop in the food processor 1 onion and 2 celery ribs.
Saute in large stock pot or dutch oven. Add some chopped bacon if you want.
Add a 1 or 2 cloves minced garlic.
Add 2 c lentils, 1 bay leaf, leftover ham if you have any.
salt and pepper
1 t oregano
Add 4 cups of water.
Simmer for 45 minutes or put in the crockpot on High all morning.

List of ingredients to keep on hand for Monday:
onions
celery
garlic
tomato products -either from a can or frozen in your freezer from last summers garden or fresh from your current garden or farmer's market
chicken broth
lentils
flour or thickening agent, it will still be great soup without
bay leaf
basil
oregano
milk

Tuesday: South of the Border Salad or Garnaches

South of the Border Salad
1 qt. corn -can drained or frozen from last summer's garden or from the grocery freezer
2 qts. black beans, frozen or 2 cans
1 qt. tomatoes undrained
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1/3 c olive oil
juice of 1 lime
1 T cilantro or parsley, minced
1 t salt
1 t ground cumin
Mix and serve on a bed of torn leaf lettuce

Garnaches
Tostada shells, I prefer Mission brand
Mix together:
1 qt. kidney beans, or 1 can -drained
1 qt. tomato product,
1 or 2 minced garlic cloves
1 chopped onion
juice of 1 lime
Put a tostada shell on each plate. Top with large spoonful of the bean-tomato mix.
Serve with typical south-of-the-border toppings: shredded cheddar, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc.

List of ingredients to keep on hand:
corn
black beans
tomatoes
green onions
olive oil
cilantro
parsley
cumin
lettuce
garlic
onion
tostadas
kidney beans
limes
cheddar cheese
sour cream
salsa

Wednesday: Tuna, Chicken, or Egg Salad

Tuna Salad
For each 7 oz can of tuna, Add
3 T mayonnaise
2 T pickle relish, or chop up some pickles
2 T onion
1/2 t salt
pepper
Mix and serve on a bed of torn lettuce or on bread.

Chicken Salad
2 c diced cooked chicken
1/2 c finely chopped celery
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 t salt
1 T vinegar
2 hard cooked eggs, chopped, optional
1/4 c pickle relish or chopped pickles or green peppers
Mix. Serve on a bed of torn lettuce or on bread.

Egg Salad
8 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 rib finely chopped celery
1/2 finely chopped onion
4 T chopped pimiento, optional
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 t salt
Mix. Serve on a bed of torn lettuce or on bread.

List of ingredients to keep on hand:
cooked chicken, do this on Kitchen Day
tuna
eggs
pickle relish
celery
onion
pimiento
mayonnaise
vinegar
salt and pepper

Thursday: Fast Fiesta Soup or Frijoles

Fast Fiesta Soup
2 qts. tomatoes or some tomato product
1 qt. corn
1 qt. cooked black beans
1 chopped onion
1 minced garlic clove
Combine; heat through.
Garnish with shredded cheddar and sour cream

a similar recipe:
Zesty Soup
1 qt. corn
1 qt. cooked pinto beans
1 qt. chicken broth
1 qt. tomatoes
1 qt. chopped, cooked chicken
chopped green chili peppers
Combine; Heat; Serve with chips.

Frijoles
2 qts. cooked pinto beans
cooked chopped bacon or browned ground beef
1/2 t comino
1 t black pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 qt. tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
salt to taste
1 onion, chopped
Simmer for 45 minutes or all morning in crockpot on high.

List of ingredients to keep on hand:
pinto beans
black beans
corn
bacon
ground beef
chicken broth
tomatoes
cilantro
onion
garlic
cheddar
sour cream

Friday: Spaghetti or Chicken Tortellini

List of ingredients to keep on hand:
butter Spaghetti
1 lb. browned ground beef
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 qts. tomatoes of any sort
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 t salt
1 1/2 t oregano
1/4 t thyme
1 bay leaf
Simmer for 45 minutes or put all morning in crockpot on High.
Serve over noodles.

Chicken Tortellini
Start pot to boil for noodles.
Meanwhile,
Melt 1 stick of butter.
Add and saute:
1 chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
Add:
4 T fresh basil or 1T dried
1 qt. cooked, chopped chicken
Heat through.
Serve over cooked noodles.
Top with Parmesan cheese.

onion
garlic
basil
parsley
oregano
thyme
bay leaf
browned ground beef
cooked chicken
tomatoes
tortellini noodles
spaghetti noodles

Saturday: Corn Chowder or Sloppy Joes

Corn Chowder
6-8 potatoes
1 qts. corn
1 onion
1 rib celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
1 qt. chicken broth
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 qt. rich milk or cream
handful of spinach chopped, optional
Bring water to boil in large pot. Dice 6-8 potatoes; add to boiling water; cook until just soft; Drain.
Meanwhile, in large stock pot, saute in butter onion, celery, carrot and garlic.
Add chicken broth, cooked potatoes, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper, milk, spinach.
Heat through and serve or make early in AM and keep warm in crockpot til lunch.

Sloppy Joes
2 pounds browned ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 qt. cooked pinto beans
1/2 c ketchup
2 T mustard
1/4 c honey
dash of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
Mix, heat, and serve with bread.

List of ingredients to keep on hand:
browned ground beef
potatoes
celery
carrots
onion
garlic
spinach
milk or cream
chicken broth
cooked pinto beans
bay leaves
ketchup
mustard
honey
Worcestershire sauce

Moving On to Gardening etc.

2009-02-27T07:36:00.003-06:00

A year or more ago, I started another blog called Nearly Free Organic Food. My goal was to write more about gardening, growing your own food and that type of thing. Now, gardening season is approaching, I plan to start some seeds this weekend, and I feel like writing. If you care to read what I write you will probably find me at Nearly Free Organic Food more often than here.

French Onion Soup

2009-02-24T10:35:00.002-06:00

Tonight's Supper:
French Onion Soup
Salad
meat, meat, meat...what to have????
I don't know if my guys can handle a meal without meat.

Speaking of meat, I've been writing a post in my head (most of my posts don't get much further than that the last year or two) about why I'm a meat snob.

Leave me a comment telling me what you would serve with French Onion Soup.

The Princess Adelina

2009-02-23T15:07:00.004-06:00

Book Review by Bridgette Brenneman

The Princess Adelina - An Ancient Christian Tale of Beauty and Bravery Retold in English by Julie Sutter, Edited by Perry C. Coghlan, III

Adelina, a daughter of Irish missionaries to Germany in the 8^th century, is commanded by the prince to be his bride. Because of her faith and the love of the pagan prince, Christianity is kept from persecution for a time. The prince’s mother is a pagan and with her priests does all she can to make Adelina miserable. While at war the injured prince, now king, is cared for by a Christian hermit. Adelina, meanwhile, becomes heir of substantial property and escapes the wicked queen to the property where she starts a school. The story ends dramatically with intrigue, evil, and amazing conversions of the most determined pagans.

“And Pillung watched her speed away towards a man who, from his dress and bearing, seemed a shipmaster, as she described him. But Pillung could not see his face light up with joy at the account Regiswind gave him. He watched them walk away towards Adelina’s present home. The “shipmaster” was sufficiently disguised by a wig and false beard, appearing an elderly man in his adopted garb.”

The book was a page turning adventure from the start but after reading this passage I stayed up until midnight reading!

The book is an encouragement to young ladies to be strong in their faith. Based on a true story about a real girl who stood up against pagans and was used by God to convert and strengthen Christians. Because of this retold story, this missionary’s daughter is still encouraging us today in 2009.

Christian persecution in America today is not life threatening, but in Adelina’s day it could mean a torturous lingering death. In comparing Adelina’s life with pagans to my own experiences with ridicule of my convictions, I think she had it a lot worse. God was her strength, He is mine also.

Just reviewing this story makes me want to read it again. I strongly encourage all young ladies and grown women to read this book at least once.

Have you seen this? 12-year-old speaks out on the issue of abortion

2009-02-19T16:04:00.015-06:00

My 26 week fetus.

He was wanted.

Here is a recent picture of him.

This boy was also planned by God.

His folks could have un-planned him. But they didn't. They got married. Then they had a bunch more just like him.

Each one a blessing, a gift from God.

WOW!

2009-01-19T09:02:00.002-06:00

Look at what Charlotte has done!

T-Tapp is awesome!

I confess that I haven't been doing much exercise and using the feeble excuse that the kids lost the remote to the VCR. I even offered $ to find it.

I think I'll go tear apart the couches now.

Keeping Baby Feet Warm

2009-01-06T09:37:00.003-06:00

Robeez are the way to go!

I am so sad that I didn't discover them before Baby #9! For years I struggled with keeping socks on babies in the winter. Occasionally I would find socks with tight enough elastic to keep on. I did not like shoes because babies can't crawl or walk very well in them and they look so uncomfortable.

I learned about Robeez from Matthew's therapists last fall when it started to get chilly. They gave them high praise. They are leather slippers with elastic around the ankle so they stay on. It requires real effort for the baby to get them off. The baby can feel the floor and is able to learn to walk much better than in shoes. You can put socks on with them to add warmth. They are very well made. They were invented by a mom of course! I love them! I can't tell you how far you can pass them down because our baby is the first one here to have them.

The down side is that they are a little pricey.
Walmart and Target both have knock-offs. Walmart's are no good. They don't stay on worth a hoot. Plus, they are plastic which translates into sweaty feet if they would stay on. Target's are just as pricey as Robeez so I bought the real thing.

A New Start

2009-01-05T07:00:00.002-06:00

I know it's simply a mental trick and a person can have a fresh start any day of the year they want to but I have always been one to make new start in January.
Here are my personal goals in improving daily life. Three of them have to do with taking care of my health. There are a lot of things I'd like to do yet in life that require feeling fit and able.

get up earlier and have better morning routines
do a detox diet after way too many sweet things over the holidays
exercise consistently and lose the weight gained over the holidays
use resources more wisely
stop drinking coffee, I'm going to try Teeccino

I tend to make another set of goals in the late spring when we're winding up school and looking towards summer. I do it again going into fall and starting "school". I put school in quotations because I think that all of life is learning and every experience can be used for educating, school in quotation marks simply means coming inside and getting out the books--learning how to do multiplication, what a noun is, putting periods at the end of sentences, lots more reading of great books, etc.

End of the year thoughts

2008-12-24T08:55:00.002-06:00

It's snowing again.
We love snow to play in but...
It's been a hard winter already for my guys. We've had sub-zero weather and that always means thawing waterers for the animals.
On the bright side there have been snowmen made and melted before the super cold weather hit. An ice storm made for fast sledding. I'll let the kids talk more about this year's red-neck sled on their blogs. Scroll down the right hand sidebar. Each year brings a new contraption made of "found" materials they rig up and pull behind a four-wheeler or truck. I pray for safety and insist that they wear helmets.

Nearly all the gifts are wrapped. The guys are hurrying through chores this morning to do their traditional Christmas Eve shopping.

I have food to make for tonight and tomorrow. Oyster Soup and Chili are always served here on Christmas Eve. We set the table pretty and invite extended family who don't otherwise have plans. We got to a country church service in the late afternoon, come back here for supper, read the Christmas story and try to keep the children properly focused. ; ) In the past we have done Amanda Bennet's Christmas Unit Study. That is good! It didn't happen this year. We also attempt to do Advent readings every day. I don't think we have ever hit every day. We have been doing better at reading through Acts in the evening. I think that happened because of a Voddie Bacham video we watched a couple of weeks ago.

I've been reflecting on 2008--the good and bad--and making plans for 2009. I don't just make resolutions but plan how I'll get there. Some plans work, some don't. But without a plan, nothing works. So I plan. I feel like 2008 centered around feeding and sleeping Matthew. But in reality a lot more than that occurred. I'll have to make a list of those things.

Our miracle baby is doing really good. We still go to therapy and he's hitting milestones just a little delayed for his corrected age (15 months). The therapists have been helpful in seeing little red flags and showing us how to work with him. Learning to eat food was a trick and he still hasn't "got" how to drink from any sort of sippy cup or regular cup. He does a lot of spitting and sputtering. That's my question for the OT next appointment. He is supposed to be getting the RSV shots again this winter but we have had problems with the proper paperwork being done by the doctor's office. I'm about to fire them and go elsewhere. Except that it might be more work to do that. argh.

We're hibernating (avoiding the public, crowds, and children) again this winter, for the most part. The longer Matthew can go without a respiratory infection like RSV the better his lungs will be long term. That means that we are "home-churching". This has been a really good experience for our family. Some weeks Matt has scripture and a topic plus a Pslam and Proverb. Some weeks we watch a video. Last winter we watched a lot of S.M. Davis videos. Ever week was convicting and some we watched more than once. Sometimes we watched the same video twice on a Sunday--they were that good. I had heard about S.M. Davis for years here and there on the internet, seen ads in homeschool magazines, from people "in real life", and we had some audios from VF. Last winter was the perfect time to do a bunch of his videos.

This winter we happened upon Voddie Bacham. WOW! You've gotta love it when someone says the truth so clearly and logically. I ordered these videos after we saw him on Fox News during the election season. I wish that there were more videos by him. I looked all over the internet and found nothing. I also read a book by him that was very very good and I recommend it for everyone, Family Driven Faith: Doing What it Takes to Raise Sond and Daughters for God. Excellent, excellent book. My oldest daughter started reading his daughter's blog. It's very inspiring to her.

Last winter we started having movie nights on Fridays. This winter we haven't started that up again yet but I anticipate that we will after the holidays. The trouble with movies is that there is so much junk to try and sort through. And what one family might find acceptable is not acceptable in our home. I'm picky. My time is valuable, time with my family is valuable (#1 lesson from our Matthew crises) and I don't want to spend it with everyone's eyes glued to a stupid movie. I don't like entertainment for entertainment's sake. When I've wasted my time with a brain-sucking movie I get irritated. We watched quite a few from VF. I'll probably order more from them. Franklin Springs had a few that were entertaining and inspiring. I haven't seen their more educational videos. That's not quite what I'm after. Friends loanded us old VHS movies from Feature Films for Families. I don't know much about that company or what all they offer but the videos we watched were relatively benign. Some were funny, some were inspiring, one of them made me cry (I can't remember which one though), and they all had some sort of moral-to-the-story. They definitely provoked good conversation. A movie that can do that is a worthwhile movie imho.

Now, in this neck of the woods, we're going to hunker down, eat our pantry full of bulk food buys, keep the animal waterers thawed, perfect our cheese making, do a bunch of old fashioned schoolwork, plan next year's garden, and on Friday nights eat pizza, drink a cold lager and watch a good video.

I don't know how much I'll blog this winter, I'm still working on editing that dumb ol' LFL book I started. I also have a short project list that the girls and I are going to work through--our reward is to go to an antique auction in late January.
My mom likes to see what we're doing everyday so I'll try to Twitter. : ) Look on the right sidebar.

I don't like to go out in the cold, wind, and snow to do sale shopping after Christmas so I'll be hitting the online sales starting with videos at VF.

Just in case you're still not done shopping or mislaid your list and are starting over

2008-12-10T16:50:00.004-06:00

Update! These rebates now end December 13th!

I'm not done yet.
I almost am... but I know there a couple of stockings yet to be stuffed.
The problem is that I have mislaid my list. I don't remember which stockings.

Speaking of losing things. My brain seems to becoming dyslexic. I put the back end of a sentence in front more than usual. AND I told my friend Becky that we learned Psalm 119 this fall when I meant Psalm 91. Big difference there. As in way over a hundred verses! I really don't think mothers lose brain cells. I think it's just that the brain is full to overflowing with managing lots of people and all the unessential things are allowed to go through the overspill. Eh?

Christmas Shopping Bargains

2008-12-01T09:12:00.003-06:00

Vision Forum keeps having these great sales! If you haven't gotten in on their good deals, it's not too late! This one is over on Friday.

I have a couple of Christmas gift lots up on Ebay. This is leftover inventory from the LFL store. The toys are nearly gone. After the holidays, I'll have some other interesting items to sell.

The first lot is a box of gifts for toddlers, preschoolers, and younger elementary age children. It's one stop shopping. If you don't want all the gifts for Christmas, then put them on your gift shelf for later.
It includes Farm Blocks (pictured in the side-bar), Shape and Sort Clock, Lacing Boards - Shapes, Jumbo Knobs Puzzle - Farm, Primary Lacing Beads, Puppies in a Basket, Chomp and Clack Alligator Push Toy (pictured here), and the Shape and Sort Cube. All new from Melissa and Doug.

That's not Matthew but it looks kinda like him. He loves this toy and pushes it all over the house.

Here's another box of gifts up on Ebay.
This one has the Vehicles Maze Puzzle, Lacing Beads, Wiggling Worm Grasping Toy (for baby), Lace and Trace Pets, Peek-a-Boo House (for baby), and Pattern Blocks and Boards. All new from Melissa and Doug.

The great thing about Melissa and Doug is that their toys promote creativity and imaginative toy. My kids are kept busy for hours with open-ended play like Melissa and Doug toys encourage.

Now, off to do more laundry...

Little Children and Chores

2008-11-18T07:34:00.007-06:00

A two year old can help unload the dishwasher with your encouraging help, help you switch laundry loads and fold wash clothes, stand at the sink with you and wash dishes. It might look more like play, but they are learning through watching and doing with you. Two year olds cannot stay on task long or be held responsible for regular chores. Two, three, and four year olds are in the preparatory stage for doing regular chores. They love to help do work, they love to accomplish something, they love praise, they love to do things with you. Enjoy this time of life with them, include them in your work, and teach them how to do things. Encourage them to be helpers by saying things like, “Come help me mop” and give them a little mop rag. Then thank them for their wonderful help. Say, “See how fast it went when we worked together?” and “Daddy will be so happy to see a clean floor and know how hard you worked to make our house clean.” “Look how clean it is!” When somebody spills something on the clean floor, teach the children to handle a spill with grace and hand them a little wet towel to quick mop it up with a smile and not a sigh. A good attitude on the part of mom and teaching it to her children makes for a happy home.

Little children can learn to do work much more easily if their day follows a routine. If you train them, through doing it with them, to make their bed every morning, it will be a work habit. They aren’t coordinated enough to make a bed beautiful but encourage them to do their best. Teach them, “If you pull the sheet tight at the top, it makes a neater line.” And “When you are done washing your face, grab a paper towel and wipe down the counter.” Say little phrases such as these to them every day while you do the work together and they will learn. When these little children are big, you will hear them saying the same things to the next set of little children in your home. This is your reward for teaching your oldest children well. Little children can learn helpful work habits and learn to do them well! After making the bed, they should go to the bathroom and wash and brush with your direction or doing it together. They will get into the habit of doing that little chore every day. If they are accustomed to rising and sitting in front of Barney then that will be their habit. Isn’t it much better for them to rise, make their bed, dress, and do personal grooming for their early morning routine? Little children can do this if we are helping them to do it. It makes life easier for everyone to be ready to face the day right at the start rather than doing it after two hours of public television. I know this for a fact. I’ve done both ways in my life as a mother. By keeping the TV off in the early morning, you add hours to your day and enjoy your children more. So much of teaching little children skills depends on our own self-discipline to do the task with them everyday. When little children know that at certain times of the day, we do certain things, then they are happier and more helpful to the family.

Ship Full O'Pirates has more help for you!

How to get help with meals

2008-11-11T07:27:00.004-06:00

Ship Full O'Pirates is stacking up advice, go take a look!
My kiddos have been helping in the kitchen since they were itty-bitty. They all love to cook and fight over it! This is one thing that helps me. It's actually a tiny excerpt from the forthcoming Large Family Logistics book (we're still working on editing).

Assign a day of the week to each child. The "special" child for the day gets extra privileges and is also Mama's right hand in the kitchen. By assigning each child a day in the kitchen they learn how to cook! My children love to cook and try to cook on days that aren’t “their day” and this often turns into a squabble! They often get excited about a recipe and are told to save it for their special day. Ingredients that they need are added to the grocery list.

The child assigned to the day is required to be in the kitchen during meal preparation. Involve the child in the recipe making and if they can, let them do it alone! Start this when they are little and by the time they are 8, 10, and definitely by age 12 they will be able to make meals alone!

Show no fear! When they want to make cream puffs and you think the recipe sounds too complicated, let them do it! Tell them to follow the directions of their recipes exactly. I tend to be a “dump cook” which is good and bad. The good is that a dump cook can make something out of nothing and no recipe. The bad is that a dump cook rewrites the directions to a recipe and can end up wrecking it. I have learned, the hard way, that when the kids want to make something that requires exaction—baked goods—and they have a reliable recipe, that I should get out of the way! If they see a recipe made on a TV cooking show, let them get the recipe off the internet and make it. Help them out with collecting the ingredients and being their dishwasher and the supporting role in the production. Then sit down and enjoy the food!

It's not over yet

2008-11-05T10:28:00.003-06:00

We had another nice day yesterday which is good because we didn't get everything done on Monday! I had Brock plant things in the cold frames for next spring. When it is planted now it sprouts and goes dormant then on warm spring days it starts growing and we get fresh salad very early. Hip hip hooray! I'll write more with pictures at Nearly Free Organic Food.

Jenny over at Ship Full O'Pirates has a Mr. Linky for posts about "Help for Growing Families". You can find lots of great tips there. She's going to do this every week. I plan to participate next week.

Last week I cooked three chickens with all the trimmings in the roaster. This week I have been using the leftovers in various ways and the carcasses with vegetables, onions and garlic have been slowly simmering at 200 degrees making some awesome broth. The sick kids are loving it. They drink it out of a mug when they don't want to eat with us. The bones from that broth are going to bend when I finally strain it. It might be the best broth I've ever made. I think it's because of doing it in the roaster at 200. We definitely need to get back to our winter regimen of supplements.

Regarding the election:
James 1:2-3
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

The last nice day

2008-11-03T12:02:00.003-06:00

We're finished!

The last day of fall seems to be today if the forecast is correctly forecasted. The sun is shining, it's warm, and there is a lot of yard to be cleaned. No school today. We are done with harvest and I have my big boys back (I think, I'll probably lose them again when they start disking the fields). Today one of my boys has the duty of mowing the lawn for the last time and the rest of the children are picking up, putting away, and other general yard work. Later, we'll go help an elderly friend do her fall yard clean-up. If the wind dies down we'll have one last supper over the fire pit. Then we'll hunker down and let it rain, snow, and blow.

Large Family Homeschooling

2008-10-29T10:03:00.003-05:00

Edited 10/31/08

1. Learning happens all the time all the time all the time

2. Turn off the media and live your own life

3. Learn to learn

4. Lots of books: reference books such as Usborne, DK, classics, dictionaries (more than one), biographies, and of course the Bible and Bible reference books

5. Play outside and use the imagination

6. Chores, indoors and out

7. Animals: pets, livestock

8. Garden

9. Real life experiences develop a can-do attitude

10. Talk about life and current events

11. Older children naturally teach the younger children--a beautiful thing when the older children are taught well

12. Use non-consumable curriculum and pass it down the line

13. Spiral notebooks and sketchbooks--don't let them tear paper out to avoid the paper mess they can quickly create

Beans-Inexpensive and Healthy!

2008-10-27T07:20:00.004-05:00

I like to keep an assortment of dry beans in the cupboard:

kidney
black
pinto
navy
lima
garbanzo
white
split peas
lentils
red
black eyed peas

Adding cooked beans to a dish adds nutrition.
Beans are a complex carbohydrate that also adds protein, fiber, calcium, potassium, magnesium, folate (a B vitamin) and other vitamins and minerals.
Research links a diet that includes beans with heart health, low risk of diabetes and cancer, lowering recurrences of cancer and longevity.

Beans also stretch a dish to make it go further. They are versatile and can be added in many different dishes.

Beans store for a long time and I have never had bugs get into beans.

Beans are delicious and each bean will add a different flavor to your dishes adding new interest to old favorites.

My sister-in-law, Rhonda, has been raving about The Country Beans Cookbook for a long time and I finally took her advice and ordered it today! Sorry it took me so long Rhonda. I look forward to expanding my use of beans.

Once a week or so, I put a few cups of beans to soak in a bowl with lemon juice. The next morning, the beans are swollen and have absorbed most of the water. I drain them, put them in the crockpot and cook them on low all day. If they are small beans it does not take all day for them to cook. After the beans are soft I let them cool and then put them in freezer containers and freeze. I love having them ready to throw in a pot on the stove or into the crockpot. It is so handy! Dry beans are very inexpensive, much less than canned beans. Soaking them a long time with lemon juice makes them digestible, as does cooking them slow and low. It takes hardly any effort to soak and cook beans in the crockpot.

At one time I had three crockpots and could do quite a lot of beans at once but the small one I got for a wedding shower gift finally died, boo hoo. Then the large round one that only cooked on high and had a cracked crock also died, waaah. Now I am down to one, the oval crockpot that is great for cooking one chicken with red potatoes, onions, and garlic cloves around the sides; fresh green beans and lemon wedges on top. We've outgrown that crockpot recipe. I should try it in the roaster with three chickens-then I would have leftovers to make a soup with and throw in a freezer container of beans.

Keep a bunch of beans in your pantry-cheap, nutritious, and yummy!

Free Gift for Readers!

2008-10-21T09:27:00.005-05:00

Something I enjoy on a regular basis in my email is the newsletter from Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn called Homeschooling with the Trivium. You don’t have to be a classical homeschooler to receive wisdom and blessing from this newsletter. It is an encouragement for all Christian homeschooling parents. Laurie recently contacted me with a special offer for my readers.

For three days, October 22-24, blog readers and Large Family Logistics Yahoo group members have the opportunity to receive for free the 73 page ebook of the entire text of Chapter Twelve: Ten Things to Do With Children Ages Ten Through Twelve out of their book Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style when they subscribe to the Homeschooling with the Trivium list. This offer is only for new subscribers to Homeschooling with the Trivium and is good only from October 22-24.

Go here to subscribe.

Teaching the Trivium is one of my favorite homeschooling books. It is a must read in my opinion.

In addition,

if you subscribe to Christian Logic's Fallacy Detective News you will receive two lessons from the logic textbook The Thinking Toolbox by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn (Lessons 12 and 13, along with exercises and answer key). This offer is only for new subscribers to The Fallacy Detective News and is good only from October 22-24.

Go here to subscribe.

Our family has really enjoyed The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn. We like to read the chapters aloud and discuss it as a group. We typically laugh a lot in the process also. A political season always makes us moan and groan about the thinking skills of people and especially the media. The sad thing is that books like The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox point out areas in my feeble brain where I demonstrate previous brainwashing. Thank you Bluedorn boys for helping me and my kids!

This is a wonderful opportunity and I hope that you all are blessed by it!

Money for Food

2008-10-17T07:40:00.004-05:00

I buy in bulk. I do it for a couple of a reasons.

To be honest the first doesn't have a lot to do with saving money, I buy in bulk so that I have to shop less often. I like to be home doing things not shopping. If I have a well stocked pantry then I have lots of options. I don't have to stick to a menu. Using a menu is, of course, a smart way to save money and be efficient with time. But if I scheduled a complex meal for a night when I need something fast and easy, then I can turn to my pantry and throw together something else in a snap. A well stocked pantry with lots of base ingredients is like having a grocery store in your home.

Having base ingredients in your pantry gives you lots of options for recipes. It also allows you to exchange one ingredient for another when you are out of something.
For example, if you are making chili soup and you are out of red kidney beans but have black or pinto or navy or any other bean, then add one or more of those varieties. If you are out of tomato juice for your chili recipe but have diced tomatoes or whole tomatoes or tomato sauce or tomato paste then add one of those and adjust the liquid with water. If you are out of ground beef for your chili then exchange for stew meat or cut up a round steak or leave out the meat and add a couple of different varieties of beans and beef broth.

Buying in bulk means cooking from scratch instead of relying on packaged food. You stop paying for packaging and added ingredients that you don't need. You decide what goes in your recipes and how much of certain ingredients. I'm sure you will leave out all the words that you can't pronounce. You add herbs and spices and will make the food tastier and healthy. Remember that herbs and spices are very good for your health!

The second reason I buy in bulk is because it is generally a better deal. There are exceptions but they are few.

Each time I buy in bulk, I will post here what I bought, how I will use it, and other pertinent information. I don't run out of things all at the same time of course so each time I order or shop I get different things. If you don't already buy in bulk, start small with things you are low on or use a lot.

Yesterday I picked up my order from Azure Standard.
25 lbs. regular rolled oats
25 lbs. jasmine brown rice
50 lbs. soft white wheatberries
50 lbs. hard white wheatberries

Ideally, I would stick these bags in the deep freeze for a few days to kill any potential bugs. But I don't have room in the freezers so I will be taking a chance here. I store these items in 5 gallon food grade buckets. I actually do not have enough buckets so some of these things will remain in their bags and stored on the floor of a pantry closet.

Oats we use for breakfast cereal: oatmeal, granola, muesli; also in meatloaf, meatballs, cookies, oat bread.

Rice we eat as a side dish with meat meals, in casseroles, soups, and of course with stir fry.

Soft wheatberries are used fresh ground in quick breads, cookies, pancakes, scones, biscuits, cakes, anything that does not "rise". Soft wheatberries have less gluten and are more tender. You can use hard wheatberries for all of these things but it will be more grainy in texture. You cannot use soft wheatberries for baked goods that use yeast to rise because it doesn't have enough gluten to help rise.

Hard wheatberries are used fresh ground in bread and other baked items that use yeast to rise.

Next post I will try to remember everything I bought at the Amish bulk foods store last week and tell you how I use it.

Fall Happenings

2008-10-14T17:42:00.002-05:00

We started our old fashioned one room school complete with antique desks, the American flag, scripture, and recitations. It has been great fun!

Then, we took a break and have been finishing up harvesting from the garden and orchard. The boys have been helping with the corn and bean harvest.

Brock and Bridgette saved up their hard earned money and purchased quality cameras. They will be helping me out here with photos on this blog and Nearly Free Organic Food! Yippee!