And We're Off...

...for a week of nature in Nebraska.

Camping, a wedding, family, making great memories. We can't hardly wait!


This is what we have packed for the kids. A weeks worth of nature to record, what could be better? These journals will return home, weathered and worn with beautiful learning...


...how wonderful.


On a homestead note:

Here is a picture of the first harvest from our garden.



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To All These Special People.

It is not very often, at all that I address the topic of being a homeschooling mother. I mean, yes, I do talk all about our days and sometimes may even tag them with a "homeschooling" tag but that is not, in my opinion, discussing the act of homeschooling.

Today, this week, and always, I love my days. Not because I am anything special, but because I am so blessed by this roll of wife and mother that God has chosen to give me.

I thought I would take a small amount of time to record my thoughts so one day my children can read back and know how much their momma loved each and every aspect of our days together.

To my little chicks,
I love you. I love watching you, teaching you, learning with you, exploring God's wonders with you each day. I love watching you laugh, and wiping your sweet tears. I love to embrace discipline each moment necessary with every ounce of joy I can muster up to better prepare you to be children obedient to your one true Father, God.


I love to watch you play so sweetly without being told, I love to catch you reading to one another. I love to go looking for you only to find you under a tree with two little chicks, reading. You bring me joy when I walk into a room and you have done something I never asked you to do. I love it when you think of ways to love your daddy and I so sweetly. I love it when we turn the music up loud and dance until the house shakes and I love it when we are resting quietly with sweet music creating sweet memories.



I love it that I am the one to answer all of your wonders of each day.

My Sweet Alli (8), My Happy Jordan (5) and My Crazy Judah (2)... you are such blessings to my days.



To My God, My Adoni, My Source of Strength,
Thank you for the opportunity to live out each day to the fullest. Thank you so much for your outpouring of love. Thank you for the courage to rest in your comfort. Thank you for allowing me to trust in you. Thank you for teaching me love, joy and patience in abundance. You alone are good, I am not.


To My Little Sweetie, I Have Yet To Meet,
Oh, how I love to feel your sweet little pitter patters each day. In the mist of a busy day, to feel your little bump is an unexplainable blessing to me. To know that God has woven you together, perfect in any way he chooses, brings me such peace. To know that he calls you by name, even now, brings me such joy. My sweet little chick, I cannot wait to see what a wonder he has done!

To My Man, Whom I Love So Very Much,
Thank you for who you are, for what you stand for, and for how you love me.


To all of these special people who make up my family, I love and cherish you so very much.


Thank you.
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A Little Boy and His Hair Cut.

One of the wonderful things about having a little boy is... having a Daddy.

He loves to give said little boy showers and haircuts...






...and the little boy loves it when he does. =)


Thanks Daddy.


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Look Around The Corner...

... and what do I see?

Two little girls as sweet as can be.

I called for them to head out with me to check on the garden and they replied with "Mom, we're reading." I couldn't help but grab the camera. I guess the garden will just have to wait.

The book they are reading is, You Are Special by Max Lucado.


This book is amazing, I cry every time I read it. It is a great reminder of how God made you and he made you perfect. I read it a few weeks back to a group of High School girls and we had great discussion, tears flowing.


Related Posts:
Look Out My Window
A Wonderful Reunion


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I Laughed So Hard...

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A Sunday Morn.

Sundays are beautiful.

I don't know why they are so special in our home, they just are. It is a wonderful gift God has given us to avoid stressful Sundays. We all work very hard to keep the wonderful peace of the morning; the perfect peace that comes from the Prince of Peace. It is a special time together before we go to church later that morning to gather with other believers. I think this is especially special being married to someone who works in the church. I pray my children will never hate being a "preachers kid" as long as God has us in this roll.

This morning my Alli set the table for us. She has a special gift for details, I wonder where she gets that =)

Pancakes with fresh fruit, sweet conversations, of course a little bit of discipline of one of the children, and the blessing of love, joy, and peace. It was a wonderful Sunday Morn; a great way to start a day.


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Donuts.

Today was a busy day.

Friday's are Daniel's day off, so we usually get a lot of things done and have a lot of fun =)

This morning we started it off with going to a few garage sales. Then to the grocery store and home to unload our blessing of food and "such". Then it was time for lunch. After lunch, we all put on our water clothes and headed out to wash the van and car. After that, the kiddos played in the water while Daniel and I cleaned the garage.

After all of our fun outside, the kids and I came in for some rest time. Reading, quiet talking, Judah napping. It was a sweet time. Afterward, it was time to start dinner. We enjoyed a nice Spaghetti dinner with fresh bread before Audrey arrived and Daniel and I headed out the door to H.S. Graduation.

After arriving home, Audrey and I started to make donuts.

I never knew making donuts could be such a beautiful thing. Talking about life, sharing stories, praises, struggles. Encouraging one another in different areas of life. It really was a beautiful end to a beautiful, busy, fulfilling day.

After Audrey went off to bed around 1:30 am I stayed up to soak my feet and do some reading. While reading, I stumbled across a beautiful Mother's Day card that was sent to me this year by my good friend, Judi. She had written some encouragement from Proverbs 31.

Although this is not what she referenced; I found the following passages tugging on my heart as I explored the beauty of the full portion of scripture tonight.

Psalm 31:25-27

She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness.
She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness.

My prayer is this: That I would be a woman clothed with strength and dignity, in a world lacking such. That I would laugh more, without fear of things to come, trusting God is in control. I pray when I speak, my words are wise and carefully thought out. I pray, all of the many instructions I give out each day are clothed with kindness. I pray God will help me be a woman of strength, continuing to work hard, having no laziness.

God is such a good God, teaching us such good things. Even after a long day.


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Let's Make It a Baking Day.

We've known since April 27th that "it" (aka the BOSCH) was coming. But today... it arrived. So, we made it a baking day.

First, we made delicious mixed berry muffins. They were supposed to be blue berry but we didn't have enough blue berries. So, we made due with all different kinds of berries. =)

They were still absolutely delish! Thank you, Teri for this GREAT recipe! You are too good to me.

Mmmmm, I think it is the nutmeg that just takes them over the top!

Well, we couldn't stop there. Up next, four loaves.

The kids and I had a fun time making muffins but my hubby and I had a fun time making bread =) Daniel milled the wheat while I prepared the BOSCH. We are so silly, we giggled the whole time. Who would have ever thought we would be here. Milling Wheat. Baking Bread. Loving Life.

God is so good.





Not too bad for our first batch, if I do say so myself ;-)

The warm, fresh, bread was delicious with the homemade chicken soup we had for dinner. And the muffins were good both before and after dinner.

It was fun to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

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Oh, The Wait is OVER... Finally!

Excuse me while I spend the afternoon in the kitchen with my sweet girls and my new best friend...



... who sweetly appeared on my front porch today =)

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A Lovely Sunday Treat.

For the longest time I made big meals after church on Sundays. Or perhaps I would have something yummy cooking in the crock pot waiting for us when we would come home.

Until I discovered the simple delight of rolls and honey under an apple tree.

It is very simple. After breakfast is over that morning, I prepare the rolls to rise. When we get home they are huge and ready to pop in the oven.


10-15 min on 350 and we have ourselves a simply delicious, simple, lunch. We pile them high into the basket and carry them out to one of our favorite spots, the apple tree. Smooth butter and pour fresh honey on them and enjoy sweet conversations =)

Then, the leftovers can be used for "the big dinner". But as for our lunch, it is now a beautiful transition to a delightful day.

A Lovely Sunday Treat.


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A Great Man.

You might remember my time off from the beauty of technology...

Well, since I picked it back up, my email inbox has been in overload mode. I THINK I'm ALMOST up to date. =)

This morning, I took some time to do some heavy duty deleting. While searching for emails to delete I ran across this loving note from my sweetie dated Jan 14, 2009.

Hey

I wanted to send you an email saying thank you for all of your devotion to furthering our family in growing in all different areas of life. You make sure we grow physically with food, you make sure our kids grow mentally with education and learning, you make sure I grow as a man by letting me go and be a friend with other men, you make sure the house grows in it’s beauty, you make sure to take care of your body so the new nino grows as best as you can help it, you make sure that our family grows in its joy of life with each other by planning fun things for us to do. I love your growth in having a positive attitude. I pray right now that God would grow you in your desire to be like Him. May you be filled with joy and love the rest of your days for your devotion to be a Godly wife. I couldn’t have asked for more than what you have poured out in our last few years of marriage. May we grow closer together and may we love like no other married couple has before. I love you MY BRIDE!

-D

Ok, I am totally crying... again. He is a Great Man.

You have one too, I am sure. Love on him today.

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Oh, The Wonders of Technology.

A copy of an email Alli sent to her daddy today:

Hey Dad, I was asleep when you came home for lunch =) I missed you. I love ya.

Alli BABA

And a reply was received:

Hey, I am glad to hear from you! I hope you are feeling ok. Guess what! We have a date scheduled soon. You should start thinking about what you may want to do. I will be thinking as well. Well, I will talk to you soon. Love you.

Daddy


One little girl was very happy =)

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A Sweet Find.

Every now and then you find a little sweet something your children have done.

This is the "little sweet something" I found last week when Alli left her little notebook on the table.


I treasure these moments.

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I Bet You Never Knew...

...math could be taught using shoes, bananas, tops of strawberries, and a butter dish.



Well, neither did I.


These kids always amaze me.

The other day they were saying "Dad, we love Friday's because we almost never do school." (it's his day off) He replied "Yes, you do." The kids said, "We do?"

Well, today is Friday. When we got home from a fun trip to Krispy Kreme donuts, grocery shopping, and the book store the kids scattered. I was in the kitchen washing fruit, Daniel was at the table paying bills. I stopped and listened.

Jordan was at the counter playing working a difficult puzzle, Judah was napping, and Alli was somewhere reading. =) The house was quiet.

I told Daniel "It is so funny they think they don't do school on Fridays" ;-)

Learning is fun and they consider it play. Natural, how wonderful!

Well, I'd better go, Alli needs me to pass the leftover bread crust so they can add it to their math collection.

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