Posted in Family and Friends
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Well, it looks like I have to change my name and my email address sometime in the next 6 months or so! After 5 years, I found out that I am unexpectedly expecting! I will be changing from mtnmamaof4 to mtnmamaof5! Baby is expected in the beginning of January. What an adventure! My oldest is starting high school and my youngest is starting kindergarten in the fall. Not really what I had in mind for our lives right now. But God had other plans. And I've finally come around to trusting His thinking on this. I think! But seriously, I am praying over this school year more than ever before. And would greatly appreciate any advice on enjoying an infant while homeschooling 4 other children! I am sure I can rest in God's grace to get me through this when the time arrives. It is just the nine months waiting and wondering that are so hard! :) It seems my mind wanders to worry so easily. I need to train it to wander to the Savior instead. God always seems like He is asking, "Do you trust Me?" That is really what everything in life boils down to. Do we trust Him? Do we trust Who He says He is? Do we trust what His Word says? Do we trust what He says about us? Do we trust His payment for our sins? Do we trust His plan for our lives? Do we trust Him with our children? Do we trust Him with our economic situation? Or do we grab hold of the controls ourselves because we think WE could do a better job? That somehow our lives are safer in our hands than in HIS. WOW. I need to repent of that sin of arrogance. Because sometimes the fear I feel is really saying I think I can do a better job of planning, orchestrating, and protecting this life I am living. Because I forget this is not MY life. That He bought it with a price. That living is no longer about me but about Him. And I want to be part of the plan that He has. I want to bring glory to Him with the life He gave me to live. I don't want to waste my life..... I want to pour it out for Him.
There is a great book written by John Piper called Don't Waste Your Life. It can be downloaded and read for free here: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/1593_Dont_Waste_Your_Life/ Here's a great video/song that illustrates the same principle. (And no, I don't normally listen to rap but this song is just SOOOO doctrinally sound with such a great message!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RWEllqh5J0 |
Posted in Family and Friends
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As 2008 comes to a close, my daughter is baking bug shaped cupcakes, two boys are playing Indiana Jones on the Wii, and the littlest one is begging sister to let him help! As soon as I am done typing, I am going to start cooking for our annual appetizer feast! Starting with boiling the eggs for devilled eggs. I am also making steaks, slow cooked mushrooms, chocolate covered pretzel rods (decorated with jimmies they are "firecracker" rods to usher in the New Year!), and veggies and dip. We ALWAYS have hats and noisemakers, too. Later, we'll probably also get out the chocolate fountain for dipping! Then we play games and listen to music until almost midnight. When the youngest starts to look really tired, we get the noisemakers out and take the last photo of the year! Then, the little one is free to go to sleep! My kids have to see the ball drop even though they are still pretty young (but we only let them watch the last minute or so of the year since the show has some pretty questionable material in it). Then we make lots of noise and go to bed! Usually we play all the board games we got for Christmas but this year we got mainly Wii games! So we might actually play some of these! (I expecially like Cranium's family game for the Wii Kambooki and also Wii sport). Some favorite games are Pig Pile, Racko, Mancala, Chess, Blokus, Scrabble, Yahtzee...... I could go on and on! We love games! Tomorrow, we will talk about our resolutions/goals as a family and share what our goals are as individuals. We try to focus our individual goals on character building. Then, we all agree to encourage each other to reach our goals as best we can! So what do you do to celebrate the New Year???? Do you celebrate with your kids or do you and your husband go out? Do you have company? Or is it just your family? How do you make the day special? |
Posted in Family and Friends
 Here is USAPUPPY's (my oldest's) first fondant covered cake!!!!!! She made it for her brother's 11th birthday (note the "no. 11" in the top right hand corner of the cake). She loves watching Ace of Cakes and loves baking and decorating. She made mints with fondant for St. Patrick's Day, but this is the first time she has covered a cake with it. Since she is only 13, I am VERY proud of her. I think it was a pretty ambitious undertaking. (I have yet to work with fondant myself!) She hopes to have a career as a pastry chef someday. Or maybe a Nutritionist. Or an interior decorator. Who knows!? She is only 13! Hope you all enjoyed seeing her cake! Go Pack! :) |
Posted in Family and Friends
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My daughter made her first bread- all by herself!!! Here is a picture of one of the three loaves she made today. I think it is amazing! I only started making bread myself a few years ago, and here she is just a young thing and making bread from scratch by herself! (Can you tell I'm proud!?) And all this baking occured while I was out of town at a dentist appointment. So she didn't have me watching over her shoulder making sure everything was done right! She just followed the recipe and made beautiful bread! So I just had to share! Way to go, USAPUPPY! You make me proud everyday! For those interested, USAPUPPY used the recipe for overnight bread from the Hillbilly Housewife found here: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/familybread.htm The recipe is located at the top of the page. Scroll down the page to adapt the recipe for the low-yeast, overnight method. I've had excellent results with whole wheat and other hearty grains rising this way. Also, this method is great for beginners, in my experience. So try it and see what you think! i hope you and your family enjoy this bread as much as we do! |
Posted in Family and Friends
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I usually don't participate in these things BUT since it's from my daughter, here goes! 1:What time is it:? 4:17 pm (I should be making dinner!! 2: What's your favorite site: the homeschool blogger is there any thing else?
10: What's your favorite tv show: Well, as a family, we're obsessed with the nickolodeon spy cartoon the Secret Show but personally I love Way of the Master! 11: How many sibling(s) do you have: 2 brothers 12: What's your dream job: I have it- I'm a mom!!!!!!!!!! But I'd love to write books that glorify God and draw others to Him when I have more time.
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