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This has been a very strange summer weatherwise. Seems like we just got over a very long winter and it's been raining some every day since. Makes me sleepy. We're thankful though for the garden is loving the rain, it's not too hot and we're able to get much done. Our decluttering is finally paying off!!! Or at least it feels like it's FINALLY paying off. We were able to really switch a large room we've always called the workshop with what used to be a garage that we have had closed in for the NEW workshop. Things are coming along in this 1860 house and we thank the Lord for all of it. My oldest daughter returned home this past weekend after a month of ministry with CEF and with them a two week trip to New York City. What fun to hear all of her stories and see the 600 pictures she took. The boys are becoming real assets to the community in helping with haying, building and general handyman stuff. I too am so glad to have them around. Blessings keep coming with Mainely Grains ... our business. I'm learning lots and have great times with the older children working with me. The Lord is good! Annette
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We as a family are working hard and are excited about the Lord will do with this new venture that we believe HE has led us to. We are taking baby steps so as not to overwhelm ourselves and so that we can learn the business of running a business and we are already seeing the Lord bless. He is so very good to us. I can't imagine why anyone would think that being a christian is boring. Our adventure with the Lord has been and continues to be a very exciting and educational one. We are learning so much. Whatever our hands and hearts find to do we must do it all for HIM and HE gives us so much more. It's just amazing.
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I was reminded last night that as people we truly are so frail and unwise. We really can't even find our own way but ahhhhhh the Lord is so very good. He promises to show us the way, to make the path clear. We have certainly experienced that over the last couple of months as we have been working on getting our business set up. The temptation to fret about things... like inspection and getting squared away with taxes and such but the Lod granted peace and favor. There is nothing like knowing that wherever the Lord leads HE will provide, making the way accessible.
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Well we've still got several feet of snow on the ground and just today enjoyed another snowstorm which left a few inches. We are so looking forward to Spring and getting outdoors to work. As a family we will soon be embarking on a new venture with a small home business. The decluttering has been tremendous and has carried over into our outerrooms.. one of which will be our place of business. Lots of remodeling in that particular room too. I am so grateful for my family. I love doing things with them and this venture will be one more opportunity for us to all grow closer and stronger together as well as develope business skills. The Lord is so very good.
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We've made great progress in our decluttering. The nine rooms and hallways are freed!!! So many blessings have come from all of it. The house is easier to clean, folks know where things go most of the time and we're all happier. I still have some training to do on making sure we put things where they go and we pick up right after we are finished with something but we are well on our way to a home that is easier to manage. The outer rooms (there are five of them) are next on the agenda. These rooms are unheated and have little lighting so we need to work on them when it's not too cold and during the daylight hours. We are awaiting a dumpster which will be a huge blessing as there is much to get rid of. We are looking to turn one of the rooms into a business which Roy has been working very hard in and made huge progress. It will be tremendous to not have to do all of this when the weather allows us to be outdoors more. Since we moved here we thought it would be best to clean out those rooms in the spring but there is so much to do outside in the Spring with all the gardens and such that this will be better. Yesterday I had two teeth surgically removed. I'm a bit sore but so thankful that the Lord worked out all of the details (I would have otherwise had to wait until September) to have it done yesterday. My children have once again proved how terrific they are. I came from the surgery with the couch ready for me. They loved on me all day. I'm so spoiled! :) I've been reminded over the past several days that I am not to take the everyday blessings for granted. The breath I take, the protection from the blizzards, the food. Oh so much. The Lord is so very good! Annette
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We had a wonderful time! Our homeschool group mother and daughters got together for a tea party. Everyone dressed up nice, some of the young ladies performed. We had a dance, a song, a poem and a slide show all done by the girls. Just lovely! Our theme was Dreaming of Spring. We are in the middle of our usual cold winters with temps often well below zero, we hit our seasonal snowfall average of 100 inches two months ago and the snow has continued to come. So we truly are dreaming of spring. :) We looked at Ecclesiastes and Solomon word's reminding us that there is indeed a time for everything. We also enjoyed some wonderful refreshments. I have never made or had walnut cream cheese petite sandwiches but that was one of the things we brought and they were soooo good. One of the things I noticed by the older girls is their dislike of dressing up. Now mind you most of our homeschool group are farmers and are out in the dirt a good deal of the time but still I wondered if it was an age thing where they might really enjoy dressing up but aren't comfortable admitting it OR is it that they are not comfortable with it because it's not as physically comfortable as the jeans they normally wear. I am NOT a frilly woman at all but it made me a bit sad that there was grumbling about dressing up instead of the fun I saw in my three year old. I reminded the ladies at the tea that while we may not enjoy getting dressed up there are times when we are called on to be beautiful on the outside and we should do so to honor the Lord. Perhaps anyone reading has some ideas about why it is that way often in our society today. Annette
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Is there any great priviledge than to see your children grow? It's amazing to me that the Lord has entrusted Roy and I with the care of these dear children. Today our Christopher turned 14. We're having a wonderful day of celebrating. He enjoyed some morning sledding with his brothers and friends, pizza for lunch and an afternoon of visiting with those same friends. I look at him and can't help but smile. He loves the Lord, is mature, hardworking and dreams of buying a home with cash for a future wife and family. We love celebrations around here and today is no exeption. As believers we have cause for celebration every day but isn't it so easy to get caught in the workings of every moment to forget to celebrate. I know so many who run from one thing to another without ever pausing to consider their blessings. It makes me tired just watching. I am so grateful that we have made the choice of homeschooling. That allows us to enjoy so many moments of educational celebrations. Learning to write their names, reading their first book, memorizing their first scripture, getting an a on a biology test, figuring out alegra equations, doing their first research project. So much to celebrate. Annette
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As christians we have the most valuable freedom there is. Freedom from the eternal punishment of our sin. There are so many ways that while we are free indeed we can choose to put ourselves in bondage. I am praying that as I continue with the decluttering and keeping on top of what we have done that we are developing better habits of picking up after ourselves right away, putting things where they belong so that this new freedom can continue to be enjoyed. Annette |
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Today while cold outside it was beautiful. My 12 year old son and I took a 35 minute walk and had a lovely time chatting about his future. He will soon have some money that he has to decide what to do with that is meant for his future and we talked about different possibilities for that. I shared with him how I was never really taught about handling money as a child and my parents took care of everything. He told about watching children just ask for all kinds of things at the store and parents just putting them into their shopping carts with no thought to it. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach my children about handling finances. It is our prayer that the five young men and two young ladies we are raising will be able to prosper with the knowledge that none of it is theirs and they must seek the Lord for wisdom in dealing with it. We pray that their needs will be met and that they will be blessings to many. It was tremendous for me to be reminded of the importance of staying the course with the teaching and training of our children. Sometimes in the everyday we can forget the importance of what we're really doing.
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The decluttering has seriously begun. The kitchen and school room are just how I would like them as far as clutter and organization. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now to stay on top of everyone to be sure it stays this way! That's not an easy task but training must go on. I've been enjoying time alone with the Lord each morning and that is sadly something that I had been partly neglecting. We've set up our budget for the year and with the drastic price increases in so many things we're asking the Lord for more income. Not sure what that will lead to but as we work on the children's businesses perhaps the Lord will make it all clear to us. We are so blessed and while the world yells "you are poor" to us in many different ways we are richer than most and we are grateful. We'll be getting back some rigorous schooling on Monday and it will be good to get back on schedule. That really does make a difference in everyone's temperments and abilities to cope with each other and the daily work that needs to be done. Whatever goals you have set before you and the Lord may you and I know success in them all. Annette
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I'm excited to have a new beginning. They energize me and cause me to refocus. Roy and I have been having wonderful conversations about some of our goals and where and how the Lord may be leading us. *I'd like to continue with weight loss and getting into shape. Thus far I have lost 30 pounds and would like to lose 20 more. More than weight loss is my goal for better health. I had been diagnosed with hypertension this past year and have seen the Lord do amazing things with it. I started with a diuretic and some herbal and vitamin supplements. Lost some weight, included drinking loads more water and am no longer on the diuretic. I will be part of a Biggest Loser group again and will be starting to work on Couch to 5K with our church group. Last year Roy bought me a bicycle for Mother's Day and having not been on one in more than 25 years it took me a long time to reach my goal of being able to ride around our 5 1/2 mile block. *I have taken steps to begin serious declutter and beautifying our home and the work of it starts today. We've been blessed with a move from a city to having a 17 acre farm in Northern Maine four years ago. The house had all kinds of exterior work done this past fall and now it's time to get it all in order!!! We have plans to help our children set up businesses and we need to make our outer rooms accomodating for that as well. We have not decluttered since moving here. *Moving here was one of our first steps in our slow moving journey towards self sufficiency living. We want to continue in that direction by experimenting with growing wheat, expanding our gardens and fruit trees, and hooking up a woodstove which we have and researching power options. *I've got to work on some specific child training issues and self discipline issues on my part as well. Having the house completely decluttered and in order physically I know is going to help tremendously in that area. *Schooling the children is always high on our list. We will soon be adding Crown's course Business By the Book with the older ones. It is our desire that they share God's heart in all areas including handling business and finances. *We pray that the Lord will bless us and all those who walk through our doorway this year. Annette |
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What a wonderful Christmas! Our celebrating truly lasted a month long. Can't imagine anything more worth celebrating than the birth of our Savior. Being reminded once again that He willingly came to be born with the whole purpose of dying for all of humanity. "May it be for me as you have said" was Mary's answer to the angel when he told her of God's plan to have her be the mother of our Savior. I pray that that will be my response with what the Lord has for me this year. One breath, one step at a time. When it comes to doing dirty laundry, helping with a math problem, decluttering, serving at church, disciplining a child, being a good helpmeet for Roy, reworking the budget, ALL OF IT. Annette |
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It has always been a blessing to me to be able to serve others and though that may be a good thing I have realized that I must serve my family FIRST. I have failed at putting them first. The emphasis has been on things like "let's get the house cleaned well for the guests coming" instead of "we're going to clean our house well because WE deserve a clean house'. So while I am home 98% of the time with my children that does not necessarily mean that my children get the best of me and that needs to change. If my children whom the Lord has given me charge over are not getting my best that ultimately the Lord is not getting my best. Maybe you're like me and the time has come to reevaluate and make some priority changes. I'm looking forward to 2008 and what the Lord has in store for my family and I. I know it won't always be easy. It'll take a good chunk of self discipline, a continual turning my head so I'm not losing sight of the goal and some growing pains for sure. Are you up for joining me and taking a close hard look at your priorities and making needed changes? Up for giving me a nudge if you sense I'm getting off course? Annette
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I am so blessed watching others enjoy the blessings of giving and receiving and participating in all of that as well. It brings me to tears to see particularly christian women being generous and compassionate to each other. What a great time for us to help our children develop a heart for giving and learning the humility that comes from receiving. I was reminded recently as I was listening to the radio that receiving does not come easy for many. Receiving means that we are the ones in need or want. That's not always an easy thing to admit but truly when we consider it, we are in need of a life giver to allow us our very next breath, we are in desperate need of the Father's grace and mercy on our very souls. What could be more important than to teach our children that they too are in NEED of the Father and must depend on HIM. |
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I'm not quite sure what I'm doing as this is my very first experience with blogging. I'm looking forward to doing some journaling as my family of 9 continues to walk through our eleventh official year of homeschooling. |