I hope you have all been as blessed as I have this Mother's Day! My hubby made me breakfast, including the perfect cup of tea. My children bought me a desset cookbook for summer, as well as small presents and beautiful homemade cards. After church was a beautiful dinner made by the girls.
Wow! it has been a busy week. Little time to post or visit. School is winding down for most of the kids. One is a little behind, but we are working towards our goals everyday. The other two are on their last or second last pace in almost all of their subjects. We have told them to expect to do a project before they are considered done for the year. Meghan will be be doing a small paper on Confederation and what it meant to our Province. Sarah will be doing a lap book on either a butterfly or a flower, right now we are leaning towards the butterfly.
My Grandmother is doing well so far. We are continuing to covet prayers for her recovery. It will be a long slow battle back to health. I will continue to update as possible.
Work is going well for my hubby, he continues to love his job, and the unsameness of it. Is that a word? He loves that it is almost always diferent. Even on the days when you work on the same thing, you can be sure it will change soon. So goes the life of a painter/carpenter.
My two in school are looking forward to being home. I am looking forward to having all of my little chickies back home with me.
Meghan is resting as she does her work, she fell and hurt her foot a week and a half ago. We all thought nothing of it , now after a trip to the ER we have her foot wrapped and it is feeling MUCH better! I too had to go tho the ER last week. I was sure I had kidney stones, thank God I didn't. I was in severe pain and a friend brought me in. It ended up being a bad bladder infection. After a round of antibiotics I was as right as rain. Darrin also had a Doctors visit. He plays hockey in the winter and this past year his age was catching up (HEE,HEE, HEE). He was falling on the same knee all the time (almost one everytime he played). He was having trouble with it and discoved after his visit that he has brisitis(sp?) The doctor is watching it and feels it will go back down by itself. But if it doesn't after four weeks they will drain the knee.
That about sums up our week, we are all back to fairly normal health, as normal as you would consider any of us anyway. ;) hope you are all feeling good and having a great week. Kristy, hope you get into your house soon! God Bless!
Thought I would include a recent picture of my Grandparents and my girls.
"This week we're going to reminisce on our Favorite Travels! I had three requests to do something about favorite field trips, favorite vacations, or just favorite places to go as a family or with other homeschool families. I combined those three requests and came up with Favorite Travels! Do you have a favorite travel prayer that the children recite or a favorite verse you can add? That would be fun too. Don't you just LOVE the graphic for this assignment...it's thanks to someone on Fliker (not sure that's spelled right), there was no name to give thanks to. Please share pictures or a direct link to them if you have any!
I love sunshine faces!" ~Nancy's Nook
Really other than camp-meeting at our old church we have never had a family vacation. We would love to, it has just not come to pass. WE are going to try this year to go to family camp together and take a couple long weekends and travel to close places amd spend time together. our dream family vacation would be to go to Prince Edward Island and visit "Anne of Green Gables" Everything!
My hubby and I did go on a vacation within the first year of marriage. We traved from our home Province to Conneticut for a campmeeting. I was about 7 months pregnant in the July heat. e traved with members of our church in a small bus. With little pitstops! The meeting was great and I can still remember the bugs! Oh well, someday we will vacation somewhere!
Please pray for my grandmother. Last night she fell and broke her hip. At this time they can do nothing, because her heart is enlarged and she also has congestive heart failure. Please pray for her, my family and the doctors. Thank you so much. This is one more thing to add to my list from my previous post, by far the most important though. But I will continue to praise my God, it just may be through tears.
This is the third time I have tried to post this! My computer is crazy today!
It has been a different week, alot going on and I feel like I have little or no control over most of it. Last Thursday my great aunt passed away, she had been a missionary to south India for 24 years with her hubby when they were younger. I was unable to get to the funneral on Monday and that was disapointing. We had our first showing after having had the house listed for over three weeks. It lasted all of five minutes, not even enough time to walk through the whole house. To top it off our agent has not called since it happened. I am a little disapointed, we spent all day cleaning to have them show up and late and basicly walk in and out of the house. There has been a few other things happening that seem to make a lot of my life feel up in the air lately.
When these things happen as they do in life, I like to take time and praise my God who is in control of everything.
Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power : for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure thy are and were created.
I came to Jesus, weary, worn, and sad.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
And now His love has made my heart so glad,
He took my sins away.
Refrain
He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I'm so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.
The load of sin was more than I could bear.
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
And now on Him I roll my ev'ry care,
He took my sins away.
Refrain
He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I'm so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.
No condemnation have I in my heart,
He took my sins away, He took my sins away.
His perfect peace He did to me impart,
He took my sins away.
Refrain
He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I'm so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.
If you will come to Jesus Christ today,
He'll take your sins away, He'll take your sins away,
And keep you happy in His love each day,
He'll take your sins away.
Refrain
He took my sins away, He took my sins away,
And keeps me singing every day!
I'm so glad He took my sins away,
He took my sins away.
Be Thou exalted, forever and ever,
God of eternity, Ancient of Days!
Wondrous in majesty, perfect in wisdom,
Glorious in holiness, fearful in praise.
Refrain
Be Thou exalted by seraphs and angels,
Be Thou exalted with harp and with song;
Saints in their anthems of rapture adore Thee,
Martyrs the loud hallelujahs prolong.
Be Thou exalted, O Son of the Highest!
Gracious Redeemer, our Savior and King!
One with the Father, co-equal in glory,
Here at Thy footstool our homage we bring.
Refrain
Be Thou exalted, O Spirit eternal!
Dwell in our hearts, keep us holy within;
Lead to Thy home in the life everlasting,
Open its portals and welcome us in.
Do ever stop and just wonder why some things happen in your life? Why exactly did this thing have to happen? I know too often when things do, instead of figuring out how this situation can bring me closer to God and strenghthen me. I react in a typical way and exclaim why does this thing always happen to me and why doesn't it ever happen to someone else!
Without going into alot of detail, I will say that I have been dealing with a few happenings in my life. Things that brought me pain and things that blinded me and couldn't let me see past myself to the whys. Now before you write a comment on my depression and telling me how God can bring me through this. I do know all of this. I have claimed Romans 2:28 over and over. I know that God is in control and I also know me and I know that I put myself in the way too often.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I sometimes have a hard time removing me and seeking the whys from God. I know that once I reach this place God never fails me, it is only when I try to be the one in control that I can't find Him and get the answers I need to carry on. I am sorry to say that I have failed again and it has taken far too long for me to remove myself and look to my Heavenlt Father for direction once again. But as is always the case, He has drawn me to Himself, wrapped His arms around me and has whispered words of love that I so needed to hear. It is true, that I may not understand all the whys but God has never failed me, it is only when I don't let my Father have control that I have failed.
God only wants the best for me, He never fails, I am not depressed. If anything I have finally remembered to remove myself and let Him have control again. Will this happen again? Most likely, I am human and fail way to often. But, I seve a God of second chances, He will ALWAYS welcome me back with open arms of love. Praise God !
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart
What a busy day today! But the sense of accomplisment is so great after a work day. The day started about 8:30 a.m. , no I was up before that just left the house at that time. two of our daughters were at a friends house for a sleepover/birthday party. That left the little ones home with Mommy and Daddy. Abigail went grocery shopping with me and daddy and the two youngest started to do general yard tidy up. It still amazes me what winter leaves behind! When we got home we put some of our good finds away, including bulk bagels that are usually 55 cents each. One store had a special as much as you can put in the bag provided for 2.99! I got 11 bagel in each bag. Hubby was impressed. We love bagels around her. So much so that the girls wanted them for lunch.
One thing I love is stores that offer rewards for buying things there. I was able to cash in $25.00 worth of points at one store, that gave me my bead, milk, eggs, cereal, pizza pops (a treat) and granola bars for Daddy Free! Yes thats right. How cool is that! I was pretty excited.
Once lunch was over we got going at some more work around the house and yard. I got busy hanging out some clothes on this beautiful day.
Sarah did an extra job for some money and she did an awesome job of cleaning the fridge! I am very proud of what a good little worker she is!
Abigail was busy cleaning out the van.
Daddy and Ruth were doing yard work again. I think they were having fun though!
After all the "work" was done Daddy went to pick up the older girls and brought home new helmets for the girls and stuff to fix up their bikes, what a bunch of happy workers we had! what a great day and it is so nice to look out in the yard and see the new green grass coming up. Well it is late here, and we have church tomorrow. Though I am keeping an eye on two girls that seemed to be getting sick by the end of the day. Well see in the morning if we all go or not. They were starting to look feverish and complaining of sore throats. Ones voice was sounding quite bad. Well the scolloped potato and ham are ready for the oven tomorrow and I am off to bed. Praying you all have a great Lords day!
For this weeks assignment I decided to take an idea from a fellow BFS'r. I'd like a Yea or Nay in a comment if you'd be interested in passing along an idea or you can just email me. This week I'm using an idea from Sombra at More Little Wilsons. I do have plenty of ideas that I've written myself, but thought it would be fun if we did a round of BFS on the blogs that participate.
Sombra wrote, "I think it would be interesting to find out if some
of the other ladies have sunk their teeth into something new in the last
year or so, what are they enthralled with, what has claimed the fires of
their passion." You can post pictures or as many things as you'd love to start doing for YOURself. I stand corrected but I took it from Sombra's email that she meant OUR OWN passion and not something your children or husband would like you to learn. Make sure you include a favorite scripture.
Here's mine:
Wow, I really had to think Passions? What have I done that I have been passionate about? Well I hate to beat a dead rug, but I have stated piano lessons. This is something I have always wanted to do and the Lord blessed us by giving us a piano in December.
I have found a great teacher and she has encouraged me to teach my older ones at home what I am learning as I go. So I am thrilled that they get to learn also.
The one other thing that I have taken to this last year is my blog. My friend Kim got me started and another friend at Hskubes helps me with the template and any questions I have. I have really had fun and met some good friends while doing this. And I look forward to meeting more.
I was going through some friends blogs and found this contest on one of them. I checked it out and couldn't beleive it! You must check out The Simple Woman. The contest ends on the 18 (her birthday). Go check it out and make sure you wish her a happy birthday.
Wow is it that time again! I am sitting here making out my menu for this week and watching snow flurries! I am sure the calender said spring! But alas they are coming down and as much as I love snow, them it was sad not to hear the birds this morning. So here is my menu and I will share a recipe from last weeks menu that was requested at the end.
Sunday ~ Breakfast ~ cereal
Supper ~ BBQ chicken burgers and natchos
Monday ~ Breakfast ~ leftovers
Supper ~ Pork roast with mashed potatoes, carrots and dessert!
Tuesday ~ Breakfast ~ toast
Supper ~ baked chicken with baked potato and carrots.
Wednesday ~ Breakfast~ oatmeal
Supper ~ hamburger and rice casserole
Thursday ~ Breakfast ~ cereal
Supper ~ BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs (using up leftover hotdogs and a small package of ground beef) potato salad
Friday ~ Breakfast ~ eggs and toast
Supper ~ turkey with mashed potato and mixed veggies
Saturday ~ Breakfaast ~ pancakes
Supper ~ Whatever I bring home from shopping! ;) last week we had deli meat homemade subs and chips
Giving credit is important this recipe for Chicken Carrot Fried Rice is from a Taste of Home Cookbook that I purchased a few years ago. I love Taste of Home and I love their site, check it out here.
3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
4 Tablespoons soya sauce, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
3 green onions, sliced
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 large carrots, grated
4 cups cold cooked rice
1/4 tsp. pepper
In a bowl, combne the chicken, 1 Tablespoon soya sauce and garlic; set aside. In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the broccoli and green onions in 1 Tablespoon oil for 5 minutes. Add carrots; stir-fry 4 minutes longer or until tendr crisp. Remove and set aside.
in the same skillet, stir-fry the chicken in remaining oil until no longer pink and juices run clear. Add the pepper, rice and veggies and remaining sya sauce. Stir-fry until heated through. Serves 4-6
As with all recipes in my house they are subject to changes. In this recipe I almost always use more soya sauce and a bit more oil. I don't have a large frying pan so I use my large pot. I don't always use broccoli, I sometimes used 2 cups of mixed veggies. Last time I cut steak in to strips and use it instead of chicken. I always make it ahead and place it in a casserole dish to reheat. Hope you enjoy.
Well, I thought that the colds and flues were going to give us the slip this year, buoy was I wrong. It has been somw week almost all of us had something some of us two things. It started with two of the little ones getting colds and sore throats, my baby was home three days from school (thank goodness that is almost over, school that is). Then my middle girl came down with a fever of almost 40 degrees and bright red cheeks. That same day my hubby stayed home in bed all day, except for a doctors appointment I made at the last minute. Abby had strep throat and hubby had a bad case of influenza. Wow! Then Yesterday I was knocked out of it, fortunitly hubby was feeling better. My oldest two still haven't had anything. Thank goodness for my teenager and my pre-teen. They helped which ever of us was half well to keep everything going and look after the others. Abby came down today with a runny nose, so now poor thing she has a cold too. Hopefully they all feel better for bible club tonight. School has been going well, Meghan is starting an project on Confederation. I am considering doing a lapbook project on flowers with my other teo girls. What do you all think? Hope you all have a great day.
Find out how to join in our blooger school fun! See Nancy here.
As spring is among us and summer is approaching my family and I slowly steer away from the big hot dinners and more to the salads, sandwiches and fresh fruit. We'll be doing lots of canning and preserving foods this summer, so I won't feel like cooking big meals every night like I do now.
For this week's assignment I thought it would be fun to share our dinner plans for the night or if you're organized enough for the week. You can include pictures if you desire. Also tell what your family likes to drink, if you have desserts or not. If you want to then take this assignment and let all the children in your life make dinner for the night. Please add your favorite verse for this assignment as it might be an encouragement for someone else. This week's assignment is short and sweet so have fun with it.
I have been posting my menu , or trying to every Monday. At this time of year we really start to BBQ and salads will start to make more appearances. Some of our favorits are grilled Greek porkchops, marinated steaks. I am always looking for more BBQ recipes. Let me know if you have any. :) I am looking for more desserts for those hot summer days. We of course have the regulars hamburgers, hotdogs, tacos, puddings, jello. I always have lots of fun planning my menus. Let me know if you want any of the recipes from my menu. I would love to share them.
Lots going on, just no time. If you happen to stop by, please pray for us, we have a house full of sickies. Including my hubby. Also please pray for my MIL and my SIL, the Lord knows.
I forgot to post our menu last week it was a very busy week! But lots in store for this week. We are having our pastor and his family up for supper on tuesday, and our first potato salad of the year this week! Yummy, I can taste it now....
Sunday ~ Breakfast ~ Cereal
Supper ~ Beef and carrot fried rice casserole at church for young peoples choir
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack
of response, the way one of the kids will walk into
the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to
the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on
the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on
the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even
standing on my head in the corner, because no one can
see me at all.
I'm invisible.
Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can
you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a
human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?"
I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the
Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around
5:30, please."
I was certain that these were the hands that once held
books and the eyes that studied history and the mind
that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had
disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen
again. She's going . she's going... she's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner,
celebrating the return of a friend from England.
Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and
she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in.
I was sitting there, looking around at the others all
put together so well. It was hard not to compare and
feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my
out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find
that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a
banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell
peanut butter in it.
I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to
me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I
brought you this." It was a book on the great
cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd
given it to me until I read her inscription: "To
Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what
you are building when no one sees."
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the
book. And I would discover what would become for me,
four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern
my work:
1. No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we
have no record of their names.
2. These builders gave their whole lives for a work
they would never see finished.
3. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4. The passion of their building was fueled by their
faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who
came to visit the cathedral while it was being built,
and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside
of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are
you spending so much time carving that bird into a
beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will
ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God
sees."
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into
place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to
me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you
make every day, even when no one around you does. No
act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on,
no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice
and smile over. You are building a great cathedral,
but you can't see right now what it will become."
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction.
But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is
the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness.
It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I
keep the right perspective when I see myself as a
great builder. As one of the people who show up at a
job that they will never see finished, to work on
something that their name will never be on.
The writer of the book went so far as to say that no
cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because
there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that
degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to
tell the friend he's bringing home from college for
Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and
bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey
for three hours and presses all the linens for the
table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a
monument to myself. *I just want him to want to come
home*. And then, if there is anything more to say to
his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We
cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day,
it is very possible that the world will marvel, not
only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has
been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible
women.
Didn't I just do this? I am sure these things happen more then they should. But alas, it is that time again. Today is my baby's birthday. I was sitting here thinking it couldn't really have been seven years ago that that little bundle came home with us to help finish our little family and bring joy into our lives. But here it is Ruthie is 7 today and she has grown into such a sweet little girl ( most of the time ;) ) Happy Birthday my sweet baby!
Ruth at 2 months
Ruth at three
Ruth at four
Ruth at 5, she had just come home from the hospital. She had
broken her arm in three places and had surgery at the I.W.K.
This week I thought it would be fun to share one or two short experiences with everyone about one of those times in your lives. Tell a story or two about the last BIG laugh you had with your hubby or whole family. The don't mean a little ha ha laugh...I'm talking about cheek hurtin', gut wrenchin',snortin' out loud, almost wet my pants laughing moments!!! This can be a recent story or one from your childhood. We all want to laugh with you and enjoy these funny moments! Have fun and you can add pictures if you have any. Don't forget: Add your favorite verse for this assignment. Find out here.
I have to say I was stumped on this. I just went around asking all of my family members when was the last time this happened? My oldest said "mom, just last night!" She's right. She was the cause. Now you have to picture this. My maturing 13 1/2 year old, always wanting to act like she is 30 ( does this happen in your family?) sitting at the table. We are all talking and eating lemon jello with whipped cream. Jello is low fat and mommy is trying to loose weight, no don't tell me how much calories is in the whipped cream. It was my one treat after veggies and rice cakes. My hubby likes to get them laughing by staring at the girls with funny looks. He does this really well. Then my second oldest starts to talk with a dill pickle sticking out of her mouth. My oldest daughter then starts to laugh and as the spoonful of jello with whipped cream is coming to her mouth almost there, it falls and hits her mouth, her shirt, her skirt and almost the floor! I am not sure how it happened, but she did manage to get whipped cream in her hair and on her forehead! We all laughed alot! But not as much as when I was a child....
I am not sure of any of the reasons now, I am getting old you know. But I can remember times as a child even up to 10 or 12 of laughing so hard I was literally rolling on the floor and coulds NOT stop if I wanted to. Talk about cheeks hurting, once I was done I hurt all over!
Make sure you visit my other new post and wih my baby girl a happy birthday.
Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
Wow! it has been some week, and I still don't feel like I have caught up on my sleep. We had special meetings last week with a guest preacher from Indiana. They were such a blessing and encouragment. We were also able to have the Preacher and his wife up for a meal on Friday and it was so nice to sit and get to know them better. But that was just part of my busy week. The meetings went every night from Thursday to Saturday including both services on Sunday. We also had a church pot luck on Saturday night with lots of good food and fellowship. But again that was not all. We were up late (2a.m.) Friday night or is that Saturday morning? getting ready for my daughter birthday party and making a gracery list for general shopping on saturday. I was up early to hit the stores before they became really busy. home again to ice the birthday cake and have a card-maling party with 10 little girls (and 4 wannabee's).
I will interject here that my hubby and I decided along time ago to make each daughters birthday special in their own way. That means a small party by themselves until they reach about 12 then something special to be decided betweewn them and us as they get older. So the wannabee's are the other girls watching from a distance.
Of course Friday night was hockey after church and my hubby didn't want to miss that. though he did hurt his knee a bit and it was tender for awhile. So that brings us to Sunday. My hubby knowing how tired I was took us to the grocery store after church on Saturday night to buy chicken burgers and french fries so that lunch on Sunday would be simple. BBQ'd chicken burgers ! YUMMY!!!! Though not good for my diet!
So that brings us back to this week. School went well yesterday, corrections are up to date. Thought my little princess, my youngest at home until the baby comes back, started to cry when she was told we had to redo a test for spelling. She really doesn't like spelling. But we have a standard to maintain. If I knew it was a reall problem and not just the I don't want too's, I would have more compassion. But she always does alot better the second time, should we learn from this ? Boy do I try! Tomorrow is my babys birthday (pictures tomorrow) she is turning 7! and has requested hamburgers and french fries with cupcakes with yellow icing! Her party is on this Saturday.
Well it is early the girls are winding down from brekfast which means school work very soon. I would like to ask for help though. I am trying to become more schedualed for next year. How do you all out there with larger families do this? Including a devtional time?
My oldest daughter then starts to laugh and as the spoonful of jello with whipped cream is coming to her mouth almost there, it falls and hits her mouth, her shirt, her skirt and almost the floor! I am not sure how it happened, but she did manage to get whipped cream in her hair and on her forehead! We all laughed alot! But not as much as when I was a child....
