I got an email from Spunky today, saying I'd won in a category for the Juggling with Hamsters contest that was held here at HomeschoolBlogger.com.  Now, isn't that the most fun kind of email?  Here is the link to the winners.  Read their posts at the above link - they are really great! - and then send an email to Spunky with your choice for the grand prize winner. 

By the way:  This is the article that I entered in the contest:  Feeling Overwhelmed? 

Another cool thing is that The Old Schoolhouse magazine (the owners of this here HomeschoolBlogger.com) asked to publish two of my Hurricane Katrina photos from our Katrina website.  Of course, I said, "Sure!"  So when you get your next magazine, look for my itty bitty name under two hurricane photos.  Now I'm a published professional photographer -- the 3 "P's"!  That sounds great!

by Lori Seaborg

I've been doing three things lately.  Just three, because when you're a mama of four, all the other "things" you do are entirely taken for granted by your brood.  I hear that one day I will wish for grimy fingerprints on the walls, and floors to mop, and mouths to feed.  But for now, I am not wishing any of that; I am living it!  Daily.  So this is what I've been doing when I'm not doing Mom stuff:

1.  Hatching baby chicks (click here for photos!).  Technically, God is hatching them, but I'm watching it happen (every 10 minutes or less, admittedly).  This is our third hatch of chicks since we got our chickens a year-and-a-half ago, but it is our first hatching without the help of a mama hen.  She decided to quit being a mother just as they started to hatch, spreading the eggs around (breaking one, sadly), and giving up on the whole agonizing mess.  I know how to sound like a mama hen, at least I think I sound like one, so I make noises at the baby chicks every ten minutes as I stare at them hatching.  Did you know it takes an entire day for them to pop fully out of their shell?  Quite slow, indeed!

2.  Making my first Pine Needle Basket.  There is something about our first break from the hot summer that makes me crafty (this usually happens in September, not October!).  We have Long Leaf Southern Pines on our property and the needles are falling in plentiful supply.   So, I thought I'd take up the Native American craft of pine needle basketry.  I can't believe how easy it is.   Here are the instructions I am using. 

3.  Starting a Prayer Journal.  Honestly, this journal dates back to 2001, but only has a few entries in it.  This week, though, I have been faithful to use my prayer journal for seven days now.  It only takes 21 days to create a habit, right?  I'm 1/3 there.  Prayer is the hardest thing for me to do each day.  I'm talking about the sit-down-with-Jesus kind of prayers, not the fleeting ones that are in my head all day long.  It seems that the kids have a mom-needs-to-be-alone radar.  Well, I can't entirely blame the kids.  I am also a complete scatter brain, so my prayers easily turn into thoughts about what to do that day, or what needs to be done, and Oh! I need to return the library books, better get them ready....  So the prayers don't get to the heart-to-heart level that they ought.  Enter prayer journaling, which for me is a natural fit.  I can write my heart out and keep focused.  When I do get sidetracked (I always do), I just jot down my bright idea, then get back to my journal.  And when the kids interrupt, I lift my pen, answer them sweetly, and start writing again. 

I'll keep you updated on these three things.  Hope you are having a great weekend!

by Lori Seaborg

Watching...the wind gusts blow tropical - hot and sticky - air across our trees and yard. 

Waiting...to see where Hurricane Rita will land. We will not be affected in any major way, except our beachfronts and maybe a few tornadoes (hopefully not!).

Trying...again, and again, to get our Florida house ready to sell. Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis have hit it this year, so Tim's over there all week fixing the last storm's damage and getting the house on the market, while hoping that Rita doesn't come East.

Knowing...that sometimes when things don't happen in our timing, God's timing is usually better.  The hurricanes slowed down our plans for selling the house, but increased the market price and demand.  We got a blessing out of a bad thing.

Smiling...when I saw that I'll be one of the Team Members for Celebrate Moms .  Click on the name to sign up to get an email when the site goes live.  I'm looking forward to working with the talented women who were selected for the team.  I'm the only dork among them, I assure you!  I'll try hard to act like I know what I'm doing.

Watching...(when I wasnt' watching the wind gusts) Martha Stewart's new t.v. show this morning.  But it's not the same as the old one, and I'm not sure I like it as much.  What do you think?

Sorting...through all of the donations that were sent for the Hurricane Katrina survivors.  It has been a big job!  But we are delighted to help them.

Cleaning...my house thoroughly.  With all the boxes of donations, the house has gotten completely out of hand.  I am here to rein it all in!

Reading...Marriage Undercover by Audrey and Bob Meisner.  I thought I was just going to skim the book when I picked it up the other day.  It had been in a pile of unread books I'd gotten from a publishing conference I attended last Februrary.  A couple of hours after starting to "skim" the book, the children had to remind me that they were starving for lunch.  I am amazed at the transparency of the Meisner's as they share how difficult it was for them to go through Audrey's marital affair, her resulting pregnancy, and how God helped them through it all.  (Note: The above link takes you to Amazon, click on this one for Christian Book Distributors: Marriage Undercover   .

by Lori Seaborg

http://www.survivedkatrina.org (for photos and updates on our Katrina efforts!)

For those of you who are coming through the portal page because you can see my much-too-large face there as a Featured Member, I thought I'd let you know that I have a little but free newsletter.  I only write it about once a month (Katrina made me miss last month's!), so I won't clog your Inbox! 

You can choose one of two subscription options:

Yahoo!  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/KeepingtheHome

or send an email (blank is fine) to KeepingtheHome-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

OR

(The following list is created and maintained by a Christian guy, and does NOT have any ads showing up in your email -- you may like this one better, unless you like to read your newsletters on a website, in which case you may prefer Yahoo!):

http://associate.com/groups/keeping_the_home/

or send an email (blank is fine) to keeping_the_home-subscribe@welovegod.org

by Lori Seaborg

I love a good storm, but this one.... no, none of us liked this one...

Hurricane Katrina

We are broken, wishing that what we are seeing is unreal.  Wishing that they weren't telling us that they keep finding bodies, wishing that houses were still standing, and roads were already fixed.  We are wishing the water would recede.  We wish that the curfews would lift and that stores would open.  We wish we could get gas.  We wish that the businesses we enjoyed and places that we loved have not been taken from us. 

At home, we feel that we weathered the storm pretty well.  We lost some branches, the river flooded (Backwards! A very strange site, to see the river flow upstream, because of the storm surge, which is very much like a tsunami-type flood), and we did have hurricane-force winds.  Tim can't go to work since he works on the beach, which is now covered in sand and floods.  But we fared worse with a job loss last August (our sole income), with Hurricane Ivan last September, with the record flood in April, with Tropical Storms Arlene and Cindy in June, and with Hurricane Dennis last month.  With all of that experience behind us, we feel that we did fine with Hurricane Katrina.  Or maybe we're just numb. 

Even in our town, others were not so blessed.  Homes just five miles away  are still completely covered in water.  A church lost its roof.  The farmer a quarter mile away lost huge portions of his barn.  The main employer in town, The Grande Hotel of Pointe Clear, has had such major damage from flooding, that its 1,000 employees will be jobless, which impacts the community financially in days to come. 

In our county, businesses are slowly opening.  Today, as power slowly turned on, there were a few gas stations open.   The homes are starting to get power turned on.  Our house does not yet have power, so this afternoon, we fled 50 miles and  used up precious gas to get to my parents' home in Florida.  At home, we were losing all of our freezer and fridge food (something we can't afford) without electricity, and it was 94 degrees (all humid!) today - a hot day to not have air conditioning.   I don't mind homesteading it a bit, but not in such heat with four little ones.

We cannot believe that only seven days ago, Katrina was just another unnamed tidal wave in the Atlantic.  We can't believe that the water rose high enough to cause record flooding in nearby Mobile, Alabama, one of America's oldest cities.  In Bayou La Batre, Alabama, the place where Forrest Gump finally got his shrimp boat, survivors are searching through the debris.  Toady, a shrimper was helping another man search through the rubble.  He was missing his brother.  Dauphin Island, Alabama had miles of beach wiped off the map.  A woman found out that the home that has been in her family for 47 years is gone now.  Vanished.  Others will find the same.  Only 1 in 10 homes is still standing on that island.  On the Mississippi coast,  they are finding homes that look like matchsticks, and bodies in the debris.  A five-year-old boy was standing in the debris, lost.  Someone tried to help him, but the boy didn't know his parents name or his address.  He did know his new teacher's name. Somehow, through that connection, they figured out where the little boy lived.  When they reached the rubble of his home, they found his parents were dead.  In New Orleans, the water keeps flowing.  The city that we all love, the most unique city in all of America, with a deep history and a beautiful culture, is drowning.  Under Interstate overpasses, hundreds of people are sleeping tonight.  Like you'd see a homeless person do.  Which is what they are now.  They could not evacuate, many of them.  They didn't have the money, or the transportation, or the strength. Now they are under an overpass, getting bitten by mosquitoes and trying to bear with the heat and the humidity.  And the fear.

Evacuees from Mississippi and Louisiana are here, thousands of them, in South Alabama and North Florida.  Our counties are trying to figure out what to do with them.  There is not electricity in our areas, and there are not many volunteers since much of our area evacuated, too.  But the evacuees can't get enough gas to go on down the road.  Some of them stop at the one open gas station, and say, "We just can't put the children through this any more.  Please find us somewhere to stay."  The news reporters are being offered a handful of hundred dollar bills for a tank of gas.  The hotels are filled to capacity for those who can afford to pay.  Our civic centers are opening tonight for weary travelers.  The Red Cross is opening shelters.  On one radio station this morning, caller after caller offered their home, their living room, an extra bedroom, and even a corner of a FEMA trailer, to the evacuees. 

We all went through Hurricane Ivan last September.  We know how the refugees feel, so our desire to be generous is great. But, then again, maybe we don't know how they feel .  We were able to get back to our hometown within 4 days of the storm.  We only lost a couple dozen people in the storm.  These refugees don't know when they will be able to return.  Their devastation is worse than ours.  Their body count is highter.  The refugees are weary.  They are worried about their homes. They are worried about their families and their neighbors, who stayed in the danger zones.  We have to help them.  And we will. 

by Lori Seaborg

Mobile, Alabama:

Our local news  runs 24/7, trying to keep us updated on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  You can watch live streaming video online.

New Orleans, Louisiana:

 For more information on New Orleans and photos, visit this site.

Mississippi Gulf Coast:

You won't believe these pictures.  This is where the eye of Hurricane Katrina hit, after it tapped the tip of Louisiana.  I can't believe this happened in our country, much less in an area I know very well.  This area of Mississippi was just beautiful, with historical plantation homes lined along the waterfront, live oaks in the front yards.  It was a military area, home of the Hurricane Hunters (see my last post).  It was also the home of Methuselah, the oldest live oak in America, believed to have been 2000 years old, and a survivor of Hurricane Camille in 1969.  I don't know if the oak still stands. 

Hurricane Katrina is stalking us.  If she affects our area (around Monday?), it will be three major hurricanes (Ivan, Dennis, Katrina) and two tropical storms (Arlene, Cindy) to hit us in just one year.  

If you are keeping up with the news, and want to know just how much Hurricane Katrina may affect us, we are located on the Florida/Alabama border, just 10 miles or so north of Gulf Shores, Alabama and 4 miles from the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay (The Weather Channel is in town today!).  Go to the National Hurricane Center website, if you want to turn this into a homeschool lesson! 

You never know about hurricanes, whether they'll come or not; and if they do come, you don't know whether they'll affect you greatly or not.  Still, you must get prepared. 

On the positive side, there's something nice about all this preparation:  the yard debris gets picked up and put away; the chickens get to roam freely, which they love (we live on a river and have to assume it will flood); the laundry gets done in case the power will go out; the pantry gets stocked in case we are stuck at home for quite a while.  I posted once on preparing for a hurricane, so today I will look at that list and work on it. 

Before I begin preparing for Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to let you know that I've posted a few more sites that have great forms for your Household Notebook.  Go to the post on Creating a Household Notebook to see the list. 

I'd like to work on these notebooks with you today, it looks like Katrina has changed my plans.

by Lori Seaborg

I was quite surprised this evening to find my name mentioned in the profile of the latest Blogger of the Week.  I'm not the gal who wins prizes; I don't get selected when I raise my hand, and I don't usually get my name mentioned in writing!  But, apparently, the Blogger of the Week, Graceful Journey,  found HomeschoolBlogger.com when she read my newsletter.

Since some of you may wonder about my newsletter which was mentioned in the profile of the Blogger of the Week, I thought I'd direct you to it.  To subscribe, send an email (blank, if you prefer) to:   keeping_the_home-subscribe@welovegod.org , or if you prefer Yahoo, send an email to KeepingtheHome-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (it's the exact same newsletter). 

Here is the description of the newsletter:

This newsletter, Keeping the Home, is written by Lori Seaborg about all aspects of keeping the home ~~ keeping children content, keeping hubby happy, keeping God close, keeping the house orderly, and keeping others in mind. "Keeping the Home" came to mind after reading Titus 2:4: "Teach the young women to be responsible, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, pure, keepers at home."

While I am not an "older" woman at 34, I still would like to help other women, particularly mothers, learn from me as I am learning. My husband of 13 years and I have four children, two boys and two girls, who are 10, 7, 5, and 2. They fill our days in the Alabama Gulf Coast countryside, along with our gardens, our chickens, and our bunnies.

In the newsletter, I will share devotionals that are impressed on my heart, articles that I am working on, the frustrations and joys of motherhood, favorite recipes, favorite crafts (there are always several projects going on at once!), life in the country, homekeeping tips, and homeschooling ideas.

I will send out a newsletter no more often than weekly, no less than monthly. This is NOT a chat group. It is only a newsletter list.

Please join! It's free to try and you can leave whenever you want!

Lori Seaborg

The direct link to more information about the newsletter is http://associate.com/groups/keeping_the_home/ , or if you prefer Yahoo, the newsletter is also hosted there at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/KeepingtheHome .

Thank you for visiting!

Lori Seaborg

I'm the mom who is never ahead of you in motherhood and homemaking knowledge; I'm just the gal right beside you, learning along with you!

Rubbing...my eyes all day, just because I read a blog on "How to Become an Early Riser," so I set my alarm for 6am.  I need to now read a blog on "How to Not Be a Night Owl the Night Before Becoming an Early Riser."

Napping...this afternoon with the baby.  I wonder if that is cheating? 

Missing...four chicken teenagers who have decided that they love freedom more than free food.  They are scratching in the woods and won't join the others in the coop. 

Wishing...that you wouldn't wonder if I tried to catch those four chicken teenagers.  Yes, of course I did, but I didn't want to admit it since I was a sandy, muddy, sweaty mess when I tried, and failed, at catching them.  And now you know.

Catching....chickens has to be one of the most horrible things to attempt on a 90 degree, high humidity day.

Letting... you know that Hillary, the annoying hen named after Mrs. Clinton, and the one many of you have written me about, is safely in the coop.  We'd be just fine without her, she is like her namesake after all, but she never seems to go away ... just like her namesake.

Singing...Happy Birthday to our Britty, who turned 8 on Sunday, August 7th.

Thanking...God for sparing my life 8 years ago, when I had complications after bringing Brittany into the world.  Honestly, the whole birthday party thing should have been for me!  But I don't play with Polly Pockets and fake makeup, so I guess she can keep the gifts.

Sneaking...out the door with my friend Leisl who goaded me into canoeing with her - without telling our husband and kids who didn't notice us leave the house - after dark Saturday night. 

Laughing...until I nearly cried when Leisl and I got only five feet away from shore and got too scared to go canoeing after all. 

Trying...to get out of the canoe with tipping over.  I.am.not.a.ballerina.

by Lori Seaborg

Brenden (10) and Stone (5) had a little fight yesterday that ended in Stone crying desperately loudly until I scolded Brenden.

"Stone, I noticed that you stopped crying immediately when Brenden got into trouble.  If you can stop that easily, you shouldn't have been crying."  ~ me, to a perfectly fine Stone a little after the incident

"Well, I just felt better after he got in trouble!"  ~ Stone

by Lori Seaborg

In the Oven:

Peanut Butter Cookies

Sounds I'm Hearing:

Toby, the five-month-old Cocker Spaniel yelping at the vacuum cleaner, and the four kids yelping with him.  Now, that's loud!

Sights I'm Enjoying:

Seeing my 12 teenage hens come home.  They went missing for a couple of days, off on a woodland adventure, no doubt.

Smells I'm Smelling:

Thyme, picked from the terra cotta container it shares with aloe vera

Treasures I'm Finding:

13 eggs under the Holly Fern, after I chased "Hillary" (named after Mrs. Clinton because the hen is horribly annoying) off the nest

On the Nightstand:

"The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers" by Amy Hollingsworth

In the Craft Basket:

Handmade Journals and Photo Albums I learned how to make recently from this program: Book Making

What Made Me Laugh Sunday:

Our kids performed Sunday night at church for their VBS program.  As we were getting ready, I yelled to them that they were supposed to wear jeans and a red, white, or blue t-shirt as their "costume" for the program.  On the drive to church, I suddenly noticed that Tim (dh) was also dressed in jeans and a red, white and blue t-shirt.  He thought I was yelling to him to dress that way!  Every time I looked at him that night, I got the giggles.

by Lori Seaborg

Bella is upset at me...and her nose is in a petunia!

by Lori Seaborg ... view entire blog here:  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KeepingtheHome/

In the Oven:

Lemon Bars

On the Stove:

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Sounds I'm Hearing:

Laying Hens Clucking and the Rooster, Princess (we thought he was a girl) rescuing them

Sights I'm Enjoying:

Canna Lillies, Zinnias, and Hydrangeas blooming

Smells I'm Smelling:

Whole Wheat Bread that's rising; oregano, which is getting out of hand in the raised herb garden

Sips I'm Sipping:

A Turtle Deluxe Latte with Whipped Cream from Latte Da, my neighborhood coffee and book shop

On the Nightstand:

"Creative Counterpart" by Linda Dillow; "Thrush Green" by Miss Read; my Bible

In the Craft Basket:

A scarf I'm knitting (I'm a beginnner, so really I should say "a scarf that I'm twisting and undoing and twisting again); Bead Bookmarks; Book Making

Topics I'm Teaching:

Genesis 1; The U.S.S. Alabama Battleship history; Pop-Up Cards

Coming Out of My Pen:

An ebook, a devotional for The Upper Room, and a website I'm creating (technically that is coming out of my computer, not my pen!)

Coming Out of My Head:

"There are only 5 months until Christmas!  Not all that much time to figure out how to knit a scarf into a recognizable shape for a gift! Ack!"

by Lori Seaborg

"Hey, Baby." me, to our 9yo boy

"Well, I'm not really a baby, but I guess it's okay if your mom calls you that." 9yo

by Lori Seaborg

***
"I try to be strong, but sometimes I just can't be strong." ~ our 7yo daughter, after getting teary when she permanently botched her art project at homeschool group time today

***
"And Daddy, and Popo, Amen!" ~ our just-turned-two daughter, folding her hands and praying, without being prompted. She loves the men in her life!

***
"I have to give you 5 hugs and 5 kisses every night, and I have to give you 5 'I love you's, too!'" ~ our 5yo boy who, since his January birthday, is still very excited to be 5 whole years old and does everything possible in multiples of five

***
"Am I bothering you? I think I might be bothering you, and I don't like it when I'm bothering people." ~ 7yo daughter to me while we are gardening this evening

"Oh, no! I like being with you. You're never a bother." ~ me, to 7yo

"No, sometimes I'm a bother."

"Never!" I say.

"Sometimes I think I might be. Am I ever a bother?" she asks.

"Well...you're kind of being a bother when you keep asking if you're a bother."

"Yeah, I thought I was bothering you."

by Lori Seaborg

Reading...blogs like a Blogaholic, a word that I'm sure will be in Webster's next year.

Wondering...if you knew there is a word for blogging too much:  blogorrhea . 

Chasing...two baby chicks round and round, through the woods, under the azaleas, over the cedar logs, under the crepe myrtles, over the chicken wire...for over a half hour last night, to rescue them from the Tropical Storm Cindy heading our way.

Saying...aloud, to 10-year-old son, "Let's just cook them when we catch them, for all the trouble they're causing us."

Hearing...10-year-old say, "Oh, Daddy and I always say, 'Let's just chop off their heads and be done with them.'"

Having...a word or to to say to the 10-year-old's Daddy , whom I did not know was threatening my chickens!  It's less scary when it comes out of my mouth, somehow. 

Catching...the offending chicks by releasing their mama, who gathered them within minutes.

Blowing...around in the yard, when I ventured out at 5am.   Tropical Storm Cindy was small, but a bit fiesty.

Preparing... for Hurricane Dennis who is headed our way this upcoming weekend. 

Admitting...that I love a good storm.

by Lori Seaborg

I take paper with me everywhere I go and if I don't have it I feel like some women feel without lipstick. Today, I decided to go on a walk as part of my New Year's Resolution of self-discipline. I folded an 8-1/2 x 11 piece of paper in fours, shoved it into my back pocket along with a sharp pencil, and headed up the hill. Somewhere along the way up I had an epiphany but didn't want to stop my "aerobic" exercise so I wrote while walking. It was a profound thing I had written on my piece of paper, worthy of putting in a bestselling book no doubt.

But I cannot remember what it was, and I will never be able to read it again.

I had walked over to the cows and actually spooked one. She was even spooked into doing a second-glance-jump! I still giggle when I remember that cow's reaction to me. I talked to her, but she was apparently a little ticked at me coming up on her eating like that, so she walked away (MY! They have big bellies! I think I'm doing just fine with mine).

The male then came over at a bit of a rapid pace. He didn't have horns, so I decided not to be afraid of him...well, not too much. He acted like he had an itch on his head, between his big eyes. He kept scratching it against the vinyl fencing (Vinyl does not seem sturdy enough for a big boy-cow when he has an itch!). I tried scratching him where he itched, but he stuck out his loooong tongue at my arm and it was way too gross. So, I went back to admiring his big beauty of a self while fiddling with a bit of cotton that had blown off a farmer's field. Cow Boy went back to scratching between his eyeballs on the vinyl fence.

Are you wondering why I said I would never be able to read what I wrote on that piece of paper ever again?

As I was admiring Sir Cow and he was scratching, I bent over to pick up my dropped cotton and a breeze blew. It blew the paper out of my pant's pocket and into the cow pen. There it was, my paper with my wise words on it, and the big boy cow much too close for me to reach in and get my paper (do cows bite??).

But my fear of him is not the reason why I no longer have that piece of paper.

He ATE it!

(Know what my first irrational thought was? "Is Farmer Bishop going to know the paper is mine when the cow sends it back out in a patty?")

by Lori Seaborg

The children and I studied John the Baptist recently (well, "studied" sounds like we pulled out our Greek and Hebrew texts - if we had those - but what I mean is that we "read" about him.  Whatever!).  After "reading" about him, I asked the kids why God put John the Baptist on the Earth.  That lead to a discussion of why God might have put us on the Earth (in parentheses is the age of my brilliant child who made the preceding remark):

God put John the Baptist on the Earth to "tell people that Jesus was coming and to baptize people." (9yo)

God put Brenden, our 9-year-old boy on the Earth to "make video games that don't include any shooting." (9yo who at the time was grounded from all X-Box games because I finally grew tired of being "shot" at by the boys every time I turned a corner)

God put Brittany, our 7-year-old girl on the Earth to "help animals." (7yo)

God put Stone, our 5-year-old boy on the Earth to "sell X-boxes to buy more X-boxes to sell and to buy food.  Then I would make wood things to put the food on the shelves and then give the food to people." (5 yo)

God put Alyssa Belle, our 2-year-old girl on the Earth to "work with Brittany" (said our 7yo Brittany) and "to make us smile" (mama).

God put Mama on the Earth to "help her kids" (9yo), "to be a good cook" (9yo), "to be a wonderful mother" (7yo), and "to go to bed" (5yo, bless that child!).

God put Daddy on the Earth to "be a good person to be working outside to help get our chickens in the pen and to repair from the hurricane and everything" (7yo), "to help us and protect us and to give us a bunch of money" (9yo), and "to help Mama" (5yo)