Hello everyone...I'm back after a long silence! I've been busy finishing school with my children, helping a missionary family settle back into the States from Haiti, hosting church services in my home, trying to get ahead of spring weeds, enjoying my gardens both from inside the house and from the porch swing, picnicking, watching the sun set over the lake, playing King's Base with the children (both young and old :) from church, sitting in the stillness of the midnight on my porch swing talking to my Father in heaven, helping friends move into their new home in our area, sewing clothes for my family and a friend, planting and tending a vegetable garden together with my husband and children and two other families, reading good books, opening my home to a teenager in need of love and discipleship, getting my daughter ready for summer camp, reading Bible stories to my son, together with all the regular things a mom does...washing, cooking, cleaning, nurturing, and repeat process. I'm loving life and loving my Jesus and just glad to be alive and well.

I've been thinking alot lately of my own mortality and it's caused me to really think about the things I do and for what purpose? I want my life to tell for Jesus and I really want to make the most of the days  he gives me.

Flowers abound outside my windows. Gardening being one of my hobbies, it shows from April to November around here. I am at the point now where I can relax a bit and enjoy them. When it became warm enough to work outdoors, it seemed every kind of weed imaginable threatened to take over! My 9 year old daughter shares my love for flowers and she can often be seen out in the gardens, picking beautiful bouquets, decorating garden hats with blossoms, or just picking a hatful of blossoms for floating bouquets. The other day my 12 year old daughter, who is not a gardener but an animal lover, came into the house with 3 wild daisy blooms, found while she was out with her horse. It's so special when they come and say I thought of you, Mom...another day she came in with a single yellow rose. She searched for a "perfect" one to bring to her mom...Those kinds of gifts have a special spot on the windowsill at my kitchen sink where I placed a small hurricane glass for that purpose. Beside it is a wooden sign, another gift from my daughter that reads "Have I told you lately that I love you?" and my small collection of willow tree angels, all gifts from children and a friend. I enjoy putting things like that out-they hold meaning and when I glance up and they catch my eye, I remember the one who gave me that gift and it warms my heart.

The children are enjoying their freedom from books and school work. We like to put our books away for an 8 week vacation before we get them out again in August. I'm actually looking forward to starting school again, altho it's enjoyable to have a good break. I will have 3 scholars this coming year, a 1st grader, a 4th grader and a 7th grader. The older two can pretty much go ahead with their work, with Mom looking over their shoulders, giving me more time for my 1st grader.

May your summer be happy and may you seek to honor God each day that he gives you life.

Hello friends, from my cozy spot this evening on the easy chair by the woodstove. Hubby is studying Scripture, preparing for his sermon on Sunday while the children listen to a story about how God takes care of us all the time. All in all, it's a wonderful night of togetherness and comfort. Outside, the snow gently falls, adding to the already huge drifts piled up in our yards.

I've been enjoying my feathered friends so much these days, especially when we're "snowed in". The cardinals have come now, joined by the downy woodpeckers and redbellied woodpeckers and the bluejays. Juncos, finches and sparrows fill in the spaces, too. A lone hawk watches occasionally, hoping for a happy meal. And on occasion, I see a cat stalking the birds as well. Thankfully, they rarely find their wish come true...seems we can't have a farm without the cats.

Our family is looking forward to a few days at a cabin next week with another homeschooling family. The children hope there's snow there so they can go sledding when their school is done. We plan to make cutout cookies after school books are closed the one day and crafts another day. The daddies have agreed to be in charge of lessons one day so that the mamas may  have some time with a good book, etc.

I've renewed my efforts to "fight fat" the past few weeks. I've gotten out my exercise dvd's and even inspired my children to get moving with me sometimes, altho they get plenty of exercise otherwise. I have Leslie Sansone's dvd's for walking where you only need a small space in your house to walk 1 to 5 miles! I usually do 1 to 2 1/2 in the am and 1 twelve minute power mile in the evening. Sure helps boost the energy levels although not taking off pounds nearly as fast as they came on! Guess it's still better to turn the fat to muscle than to not do anything.

We have recently been blessed with a brand new little congregation of believers here in our community. After years of prayer and tears and strong vision for this, God has worked it out so beautifully. Pray for us. We feel a great need for God's light to shine in our community and desire that we would be instruments of His light and peace wherever we may be. We face some opposition from those who do not understand and are saddened by those who turn their faces from the light of Life and the Prince of peace. We have all be placed on this earth to glorify our Father in heaven. Oh that we would have ourselves crucified so that Christ could shine through us!

My son is asking for a story and I will sign off. May the peace which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

P.S. For some interesting reads, go to www.auntciasgarden.com I did not write all of the posts on the blog there, but I did write some of them. Perhaps there's something there of interest to you.

Long winter evenings make for good reading times, both with the children and by myself. We go to the library every few weeks and come home with 40 new books to enjoy. One title my 5 year old son enjoyed alot is "Uncle Chuck's Truck." My husband and I borrowed a set of books from my sister written by Francine Rivers. Titled "The Mark of the Lion" series, the setting is in Rome, Ephesus and Jerusalem during the era of the early church. I found them so inspiring, especially the simple Christian life lived out by a slave girl who is one of the main characters. I highly recommend these books to anyone wanting fresh fire in their own Christian life and also for those wanting a bit of history. Another book I was given this winter is titled "The Gate Seldom Found" by Raymon Reid. It's a novel, although based on true events. I have only begun reading it, but what I've read so far has been so inspiring. In a nutshell, the story surrounds several families who were looking for a church that was a simple one like the early churches were. Their experiences and lessons along the way are woven into a historically detailed story that is both beautiful and inspiring. Read it! I think you'll come away refreshed. I'm also reading a devotional the past several months titled "Imagine Meeting Him," by Robert Rasmussen. Each chapter looks at one of the stories that happened while Jesus was on earth or focuses on one of His teachings. It has been both uplifting and a good book to help me grow spiritually.

Brew yourself a good cup of chai tea and curl  up on your favorite reading chair with a fleece throw and read! Let it snow!

Winter's truly here in my house...I know because I have turned to tearing apart closets and drawers...I usually do not get enthused about such things until there is no hope of gardening left for me outdoors and school is nicely under way and it's cozy inside...and, last but not least...those drawers bug me so badly I simply have to do something about it! My sister was here for 2 weeks and I made a bargain with her that if she would help me with organizing projects, I would sew for her. We both ended on a happy note, I with my clean game closet and kettle drawer and baking cabinet and she with 11 new jumpers for work and church.

Another sign of winter at my house is a drying rack's almost permanent presence in front of the woodstove, filled with drying gloves and coats and snowpants, boots on the hearth beside it. That stove's faithful compliance yet another year adds warmth to our days! And puts less strain on the checkbook when it comes time to pay that fuel oil bill! We live in a buge 13 room old farmhouse that is a mammoth to heat, especially with a stairs that spirals all the way to the attic. We have closed off the one part of the house from the other, opening the doors only at night for the woodstove heat to travel its way upstairs.

Another winter project on my January list is scrapbooking this past year's pictures into our family album. I try to do this once a year, using our album as a sort of family diary. The children spend alot of time poring over the family photo books from years gone by. Even Lamar, my husband, can be found on occasion reminiscing over one of those books! I do not have the children's photo books up to date, but I'm hoping that the family albums will help me out if I do not remember things when I finally do get around to theirs.

What are signs of winter at your house? More signs here are hot tea and gingersnaps...the delicious aroma of a homemade blend of chai spices for lattes...cardinals, chickadees and bluejays at our bird feeders...a train track laid out in the family room...girls' renewed interest in embroidery and coloring difficult pictures...evenings spent reading library books by the fire...corduroy and demin combined with fleece and cotton sweaters...Christmas music playing softly in the kitchen...

Have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll catch up with you all after the holidays.

Today I was privileged to watch the movie "The Nativity". It so inspired me to think of some of the history surrounding Jesus' birth and to see the way that God accomplished His plan. I was also inspired by the care of God--from the way He kept Mary from being stoned (according to the Law, any unmarried woman who became pregnant was to be stoned to death), to guiding Joseph to marry her anyway, to providing a place for His Son to be born when only closed doors were found upon arrival to Bethlehem, to protecting them in their flight to Egypt...I was struck, too by the thought that although they were fulfilling His plan, they did not escape hardship. In fact, they faced quite a bit of it from the shame and despising received from their townspeople, to the hard trip to Bethlehem, to the poor lifestyle, to the birth and rest needing to be in a barn, of all places, to their long, arduous trip to Egypt, and on the the story goes. But through it all, they had the blessing of the Father and His care for them. I am so thankful again for what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God of the Universe, chose to do so that I, and the whole world, could be free and have life beyond description! I wish everyone I knew and those I don't know who know not God would really come to grips with their direction of travel and would come to the foot of the Cross of Christ and be saved.

A snowstorm in the night dumped about 6 inches of snow. The pristine whiteness tells us again how God loves beauty. I was enjoying the birds at my feeder. The blue of the bluejay stands out so much more in the snowy surroundings. I also spotted either a downy or a hairy woodpecker a few times. He was too far away for me to tell which he was. I put unsalted, unshelled peanuts out in big basket on stump in my lawn for the bluejays and woodpeckers. It's alot of fun to see them fly away with a peanut in their beak and sometimes, we get to see them perched in a tree shelling their delectable delight. I'm waiting for my cardinal friends to make their appearance this winter. They and the chickadees usually don't show up until January. Must be when their food supply in the hedgerows is getting a bit slim.

We and another couple from church have tickets to an evening of Handel's Messiah tomorrow evening. Friends plan to babysit our children so that we can go on a double date. We are all looking forward to it. We have double dated several times before this year, and we have agreed every time that it is a good thing for parents to do this every now and again. It is a blessing to have willing, godly babysitters to make this possible. Our regular babysitters are spending 5 months in Haiti with their family on mission work so we probably will not have too many dates this winter...

Have a blessed weekend, all of you. Enjoy the days God gives you. They are each a gift from Him for us to use for His glory. It's exciting to wake up each morning with the thought "I wonder what He has for me today."

Hello. I'm new here and I must say, very impressed with all these new friends to visit with! It's encouraging to see so many people interested in the future of their children and walking daily with their Savior.

I was born again in 2001, after about 12 years of searching for more than the religion worship I saw as a child and youth. Since my New Birth, my life has never been the same!! And I will never turn back!

My husband and I are involved in a small house church in NY that the Lord has recently started. There is beauty in worshiping together in the Spirit with like minded believers, be it a small group of 20 people (including children) in a livingroom, or a large group of 150, as we experienced on Sunday at a meeting about 1 1/2 hours from our house. God is so good. He gives us what we need when we need it every single time. It's just up to us to accept that we need what we receive! Sometimes God's gifts to us do not come in the package we expected. Does this mean we should practice expecting the unexpected?! :)

We have been homeschooling for 4 years now and most days we love it. The other days are those days when we need to focus on loving the unlovely or giving up ourselves...Know about those days?

We live on a farm, fulfilling my husband's dream to farm. You can take the boy off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the boy! So it seems.

I enjoy gardening when the season is here for that (and dreaming of gardening, when the season is here for that!) My husband sometimes gets a little nervous when I start the tiller. He wonders which part of the green grass is going to go next! We worked out a deal that I would "play" in the front lawn while he and the children could have the back lawn to play in! Seems to work well for all involved.

I love nothing better than a good cup of tea and a study of the word of God. So much is there and I marvel at how it can be new every single day! I know I cannot go long without the words of eternal life to feed my soul. I'd love to hear about what inspires you as you read those beautiful words.

I think this a long enough letter for this time. Until next time, thanks for listening and I will enjoy your blogs.