The past couple of weeks have been SUPER busy for me! One of the things we have been doing is going out of town for 4th of July visiting my husband's side of the family. We had an absolute blast! Here are some photos from our visit.

This is a video of some bats that were flying overhead during the fireworks!

This week we read George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz.  The reading of this book has become our yearly tradition for President Washington's birthday.  The kids and I simply love it!

And of course after reading it, we just had to make Indian Hoecakes, served with honey and maple syrup.  Here is the definition and a little history of a hoecake.

Indian Hoecakes

2 cups of cornmeal

salt to taste

1 1/2 cups boiling water

2 T. butter

Combine the cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl.  While constantly stirring add in boiling water and stir until smooth.  Let stand a few minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with butter until hot.

 

For each hoecake drop about 2 tablespoons of cornmeal mixture into onto hot pan, and form into a flat circle.  Cook each hoecake for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Add additional butter if needed and fry remaining hoecakes.  Serve immediately with honey or syrup.

Watch 2008 Punxsutawney Phil's live prediction at http://groundhog.visitpa.com/index.html.

Official site for info:  http://www.groundhog.org/

I've finally come to the conclusion that I will have to take a short break from blogging.  As hard as I try to make time, I'm coming up short.  Did I mention in my previous blogs that two of my three children have birthdays in December!  Just crazy right now!  Perhaps I will have time here and there, but I know nothing will be "normal" again until January.

Have a glorious, blessed, and very Merry Christmas!!!!!

...for words that is.  Any close friend of mine would find that quite unbelievable!  No, truthfully, I'm going through one of those "stale" times in my life where inspiration is eluding me at all costs.  I know I'm not the only one who experiences these dry times.  Times when everything in my life seems to be on hold, including my walk with God.  Oh, how I dread these times.  I'm not sure what brings them on, but I do know for sure that it seems no matter what I do, only God's timing will bring it to pass.  And I know He uses all things for His glory and our good, so I hold steadfastly to this Truth.

Perhaps some of it has to do with the holidays being upon us.  I'm one of those people who every year ends up feeling overwhelmed.  Don't get me wrong, I love so many things about the holidays.  Especially the magical feeling I get from the twinkling lights and warm feelings I get when listening to Christmas music.  But for some reason, I struggle with a general feeling of being overwhelmed all through the season which serves to rob a big chunk of the joy from me.

As a general rule in regular everyday life I feel great pressure from expectations.  Mostly ones I put upon myself.  Ones that I continually battle with to put into the real Truth and right perspective.  When Christmas rolls around, my "to do" list, like everyone else's grows in size and that much more pressure befalls me.  There's talk of doing so many wonderful things with our children such as advent, crafts, music, cooking/baking, making sure everything's focused on God.  A quick peruse through a couple of blogs and my heart sinks at the beautiful and wonderful things people are doing with their kids.  And then there's gift shopping and wrapping, Christmas cards, special dinners and engagements.  Oh how I love all these things, but when I pile them on top of my already "just trying to get basic schoolwork done in 5 hours" days, well I'm sure to get overwhelmed with it all.

So my big question: "How do I make and keep Christmas simple, not feeling the pressure to make it anything more than what it's supposed to be?"

If you're still with me, bless you!  See, I told you my friends would never believe I was at a loss for words!