At Home On Basket Flat

Meal Planning

I was just sitting down to try and figure out what to have for dinner and what to have for dinner for the rest of the week. I'm a pretty picky eater. So, when I read what people are making for dinner, or when I read through a recommended cookbook, I usually only find one or two recipes that appeal to me. But, this blog appeals to me, it appears fresh and simple. Here is the blog:

Next year when I have fresh strawberries, I am definitely going to try the Spinach Salad A La Lindsay.

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My Natalie

Yesterday, my Natalie was sick. She woke up feeling sick and threw up several times after that. I was mentioning to my husband that evening that it was weird, Natalie was sick from like 8:00 to 2:00 and then about 3:00 she was just totally better. Then, I remembered. At about 2:00 Natalie asked me to pray for her and I did. I said to my husband, "it must have been faith like a mustard seed, because I didn't feel that confident." I think that God wanted to encourage me in my prayer life. That it makes a difference, that He hears, that He will grow my faith.

So, don't be discouraged from praying. Pray and believe. God hears your prayers. And He is faithful and good. And, pray for our nation, pray for our world, pray for a generation who needs to come into contact with the Living God.

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With Christ In The School Of Prayer

My dh and I are reading the book With Christ In The School Of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. Actually, the book we own is called Andrew Murray on Prayer which is a collection of smaller books by Andrew Murray. Andrew Murray was a preacher in South Africa in the late 1800's and early 1900's. He wrote series of small books divided into 30 sections. They were paperback pocket books intended for rural Christians who would rarely be able to make it to a service. An old pastor of mine, whose prayer life I respected, recommend this smaller book we are reading in a sermon once. I am excited to read the book.

Reading his book, makes me interested in more specific World History. The way we hear it today we'd think South Africa is solely a racist state, at least in its old form. I suspect there is more to the story, as there usually is. Look how the news is reported now. There is good and there is bad in every society. We are a fallen people after all.

Anyhow...here is a little synopsis of the 1st chapter of With Christ In The School Of Prayer:

Jesus prayed like no other. His disciples saw this and naturally asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The disciples had power in prayer unlike the power we typically see today. Jesus had taught them how to pray. We have Jesus in us and He will teach us how to pray too, from His Word and from His Spirit. Like anything you are learning to do, prayer takes practice. Jesus never taught the disciples how to preach, only how to pray. Relationship with God equals answers for people. We should not seek to please people, but God. 

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I found a great website. Really...I've been feeling like...I just love hymns. I love the richness of the words. I love the scriptural accuracy of hymns. I love the worship of hymns. So many praise and worship songs are really just popular Christian songs. They aren't bad or anything, and certainly I will continue to listen to popular Christian music, but the songs are more singing about someone's experience with Christianity, rather than worshipping the Living God or singing scripture.

Yet, I like modern beats and a modern format. Modern, yet understandable so that the hymn can really move my soul.

Anyhow, this website (as other websites do as well) tries to address this and provide traditional hymns which are updated just a little. Check it out:

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This week's assignment for Homeschool Blogger School is to write about what you take with you when you leave the house. So, here it is. I am writing about what I take with me and what I wish I took with me.

What I can’t leave home without

• I can’t leave home without a water bottle for me and one for the kids.
• I can’t leave home without my ERGO baby carrier.

• I can’t leave home without my nursing cover.

• I can’t leave home without a diaper bag of course - several diapers, wipes, some applesauce, a baby spoon, an outfit.
• Of course, I can’t leave home without my keys, my wallet, my checkbook, my cellphone, and my kids.

I don’t want to leave home without

• I shouldn’t leave home without my camera: clean, charged up, with lots of room for pictures on it.
• I shouldn’t leave home without my fortitude to say no when necessary.
• I shouldn’t leave home without healthy snacks and/or lunch for the girls. My goal is to carry a small cooler full of fresh snacks whenever we go out. I’m not there yet though.
• I shouldn’t go out without a book to read to my kids, and a book for myself to read as well.
• Some fresh praise and worship music to listen to in the car.

Here is a scripture I am thinking about this week:

2 Chronicles 12:5-8

The the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shiskah.'"

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is just,"

When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: "Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands."

My husband was praying and reading scripture this last weekend and read that scripture to me. It just resonated with all the things that are going on in the world now and how people are unmoved by those things - how there seems to be a blurring between God's people and the people of foreign lands.

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When we moved out here to the country, the first thing my husband wanted to do was to get some cows. The people who lived here before had cows and we couldn't have sheep because we have coyotes and didn't have the kind of protection we'd need for sheep. Well, Jon fell in love with cows. Me, not so much. Well, not at first. The first group of cows (really steers) we had were a mangy looking group a guy sold us who sold hay (we found out later - hay that wasn't the greatest quality) to us here locally.

Nonetheless, I had just read Nourishing Traditions (which I HIGHLY recommend) and I had found out how really red meat wasn't so bad for you as we have been led to believe, it is how red meat is typically fed in this country. So, we decided with that first bunch of cattle (I'm getting my terminology right now) to grass feed them. Well, anyhow, that first batch weren't the most fantastic growers and they CERTAINLY weren't tame, but they made good meat.

Now, I still wasn't so keen on this cow thing. Generally I considered cows ugly and stinky and not very interesting. Plus, my husband was a bit BUSY with those cattle the first year. And I was jealous. Rightfully so. Anyhow, the obsession wore off and my husband, being the faithful husband that he is, wanted to find a way to make me happy with the cows. In comes raising Pinzgauers and having baby calves. This last year was our first year having calves. Unfortuneately, we had some troubles with that. But, we got one adorable Pinzgauer calf out of it and her name is Annabelle.

Pinzgauers are a beautiful breed of cattle. They are known for their beautiful color, resistance to disease, tenderness of meat, low cholesterol of meat, good growth rate, and tameness of breed. Unfortuneately, it turns out the breed has a bit of an Achilles Heal. They are known for problematic births, especially in Heiffers (1st time mommies). So, we lost two of three calves. It was heartbreaking for my husband. We probably would have been able to save at least one of them if we had more experience.

My husband got curious at that point about other breeds. He had previously gotten some Angus steers that were really good growers from a local breeder and liked them. So, he looked into getting some Heiffers (1st time Mommas) with them. Bottom line, this year we have 2 Pinzgauer Cows (2nd time moms), 1 Red Angus Cow, and 2 Black Angus Cows which are suppose to have calves this next spring. We are looking forward to it. In addition to those 5 cows, we have 1 Heiffer (girl) calf, and 14 steers (yes my husband is crazy - this is not his full time job). Oh yeah, we also have a bull on loan which is on our property.

Well, anyhow, here are some pictures. First I show you the calf and her mommy. Annabelle, the calf, is such a sweetheart. She lets me pet her anywhere and especially loves her belly rubbed. She comes over to us and the girls. And she stands still for us. I'm not sure if she is properly halter broke. If anyone could help us with that, that would be great.

This entry is part of Canada Girl's Show and Tell Friday. To see more Show and Tell's visit her blog. 

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I love doing art with my kids. I don't know why. I'm totally not an artist myself. But, I just love doing art with kids.

Anyhow...I just found a couple of new websites I am excited about that have to do with kids and art. And, I am NOT easily impressed when it comes to art projects for kids. But, these look like fun projects to do with my girls. The projects don't look cookie cutter either. They will be able to use their own imaginations to come up with their own finished product with these projects. So, here are the sites. I look forward to including some of these projects with you from these sites in the future.

Here is the first link:

 

Here is the second link:

Art Projects For Kids
 

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Ok. Does this freak anyone else out?

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Ok. This week's topic at Blogger Friend School is wacky homeschooling. I've got to admit, I... don't consider myself too wacky. Yet, my kids are hilarious and we have a lot of fun.

One thing we enjoy a lot of is ART. Free form art. Lots of little supplies in the cupboard and they form the most interesting projects. Here is one my daughter did today. Of course, she wants me to put it on her blog, so I hope I'm not stealing her thunder.

   

Another thing we enjoy is farm life. My girls play the most imaginitive outside play. My Rachel goes outside multiple times a day and sings songs while singing at the top of her lungs. I can't even keep track of the things they play. Horse races are very popular, as are relay races. Setting up store is a common theme.

The chickens are a great source of entertainment. Natalie has names for all of them. Personally, I can't tell them apart. But, she can. The girls follow them, watch them, chase them away from my flowers, pick them up, and collect their eggs. It is great fun.

 

Setting up store is a common theme inside. Natalie especially is always trying to run a store. Her blog is called Natalie Art Store - because she loves to pretend she is running a store. And she sells her art and counts her money. They also pretend to run a restaurant complete with menus and lunch served to Mommy.

Then, I just have that one girl that is as funny as can be. She constantly says things just to be funny or contrary. This is her giving us a little jig. I love Rachel. She makes me laugh.

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I am very busy right now. I think I have a tendency to always be too busy. How do I always manage to be so busy? Between doctor's appointments, and putting in time at our business, and getting together with other moms, and Natalie's violin lesson, and the girls dance class, and soccer, and finally trying to steal some time away for myself --- I'm just way too busy!

It's hard to do school. Not because I don't have the hours to do school - but because making dinner and cleaning house and planning for school all pull at me.

Right now there are two or three unique activities that should fade off.

The first is soccer. Soccer is three days a week. It's fun. I think it's relaxing to sit out there and watch my daughter play soccer. Natalie loves soccer and is really gaining self-confidence from it. But, it's a lot. I am torn back and forth over our future commitment to sports. It's so good for the kids, but what's not good for the kids is me being overwhelmed.

Secondly, I wanted to put some time into our business all summer, but babysitting and other scheduling issues didn't cooperate with us. Now, especially with the economy, our business could really use my help. Most things employees or my DH can do - but sometimes my husband just needs me in there for a short period to give my ideas and pour over our business website. I work on SEO (search engine optimization) stuff, give my input about products, and give my input about graphics. I could do more - but I REALLY, REALLY JUST want to be a SAHM. So we limit it. But right now I've been trying to get in there at least one evening a week.

The third is doctor's appointments. I've been putting them off. So now I scheduled a bunch within a two week period.

So, this is the 2nd week of the doctor's appointments. Next week is the last week of soccer. Then, I'm not sure how long I will try and keep putting time in at work, but hopefully I won't need to do that so frequently for too much longer.

But, my question is how do I make sure I don't overload myself when this time is over? Seasons are one thing. Ongoing busy-ness is another.

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