A Mother's Love at Home - Homeschool Blogger

It's been a while

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:38:00 -0500

I haven't been able to login for quite some time now, and I've finally got that fixed but I seem to have trouble quite often. If you can't find me here, I just wanted to post the link to my 'regular' journal.

http://amotherslove.bravewriting.com/

A night on the farm

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:48:00 -0600

At 3:30 am, I was running out the door in red pj's, hair all wild with a large broom handle in one hand and an ax in the other! lol What a photo that would have made!

I just fell asleep at 3am. I had been cutting out pads, and then watched an hour of tv to help me get to sleep. I woke at about 3:15 to Julia tapping on my shoulder to climb into bed with us. We fell back asleep, then at at 3:30am I woke up to Graydon jumping out of bed, and chickens squaking horribly!

Graydon grabed the big flashlight and was out on the master bedroom deck trying to see what was going on in the chicken coop/house. They were squaking in a way that you just KNEW something was in there. It was scary because we've found cougar prints around here lately, and one day the chickens fence was pushed down by a large animal and the cougar prints were around the chicken house. The cougar couldn't get at the though, since we keep them closed in at night in their house.

I go running down the stairs, looking for the baseball bat. Couldn't find it, so I grabed the next best thing. A heavy broom handle. lol I run out the door, and see the small ax on the back deck, so I grab that and head out to the chicken house. Graydon got out there shortly after me, and I gave him the ax. We head out there, and we can see the doors are still shut, so it can't be a cougar but there's definitely something in there, freaking the chickens right out. Graydon cracked the door open just a tiny bit, to try and see what was in there, without letting it out. The poor chickens were all freaking out, trying to shove their heads out of the door. I thought they would all die of strokes, they were so freaked!

Finally, Graydon could see a black animal in there. It was a MINK!

Graydon opened the door to let the hens out of the way. We step into the chicken house, and sure enough, he killed one of our girls. I was so mad! I took that handle and tried my best to whack that thing over the head, but he got away from me and I missed. He scurried out through a hole in the corner.

We spent the next 2 hours cutting and nailing pieces of 2x4's to cover up all the gaps in the chicken coop. At one point, Joshua (he came out when he heard Graydon run back in the house) and I saw the mink again. The little buggar tried to steal an egg right in front of us!

I will say, I am not a violent person, I don't wish any animal any harm, but to me, this is different. That nasty thing could have, and would have killed many more of our chickens if we hadn't heard it in there. Minks are part of the weasel family and are notorious for killing much more then they will ever need to eat.

Hopefully he won't be able to find his way back into the hen house again! Joshua's trying to figure out how to catch the thing. I read online that their fur is worth 82.00 US a piece. lol (no, we won't kill/skin the thing, as tempting as that is right now).

God is good!

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:39:00 -0600

God is good, all the time. Did you know that?

For the past few months, I've really been feeling the Lord reminding me that I am to remember that even through this busy time in our lives, I need to live now.

For background info on where I am coming from:
Since we are hoping to list our home for sale by May 1st, this means lots of work. Not only lots of work, but the work needs to be done by my hubby. My hubby is not superman, and I am not superwoman (although at times I like to believe I am!) So in order for dear hubby to be able to do the work, we needed him to be able to take some time off of regular work. To do this, we needed for my business to help provide some income. To do this, of course that means I need to actually sew more, because for some strange reason, people just don't want to give me money for nothing! Imagine that!

So, back to the Lord reminding me that I need to live now.

For the past while, because life is so busy, I often find myself saying to the Lord, "Oh Lord, I just can not WAIT until this busy season is over, and we can just move, get settled and simply enjoy LIVING!"

Then I was reminded that I am to enjoy living NOW, not wait till later, because who says later will arrive? We are to number our days, not assume we have more days, but to enjoy the days the Lord has provided us with NOW. I need to create memories with my children now, not wait for later.

Well believe it or not, this was causing me a lot of stress! I kept thinking, 'How am I supposed to stop everything, to create some memories for my children, and enjoy life RIGHT NOW when every time I stop, it sets me behind once again and I have to work twice as hard to catch up!?!?'

So you can see how this was causing me stress.

I should have known better.

I should have realised that God, does NOT, CREATE stress!

So, yesterday morning, I'm sitting in bed doing my devotions and Joshua pops his head in to talk to me about something. So we get talking, and I told him him how I just can't wait until we're moved and settled, but that God keeps reminding me that we are to also LIVE now. Through the course of our conversation I shared how I don't understand how I am to do that, when life is SO busy, and there is SO much to do, and that every time I stop what I'm doing, I fall behind!

So we discussed that a little, and didn't really get anywhere with it, and just left it at that.

Joshua left and headed downstairs to carry on with his morning chores. A minute later I hear him saying something to Alesia in a silly voice, and she bursts out laughing, and instantly the Lord 'downloaded' a "A-HA!" moment to my being!

Do you ever have those moments? Those moments when you are struggling with something, not understanding it, and suddenly, something happens, and there is no better way to explain it then to say that God simply 'downloaded' the information into your being. Suddenly your heart, your mind, your whole being understands. Suddenly the blinders are removed, and you can see the answer so clearly!

God did that yesterday morning, through the laughter of my eldest daughter.

That was it! Laughter! Joy! Being silly in the midst of working!

Even though Alesia and Joshua were in the midst of their morning chores, they seized the moment to have fun in the midst of it all, and, created a memory, lived life, seized joy, enjoyed laughter!

THAT is what God has been trying to tell me!

He's not saying I have to STOP everything I am doing, stop our usual routine, and go do something EXTRA, on top of everything else we need to do! He's saying SEIZE the moment, in EVERYTHING we are doing to GET to that place!

Look what seize means:

1.	to take hold of suddenly or forcibly; grasp

2.	to grasp mentally; understand clearly and completely.

3.	to take possession of by force or at will

4.	to capture; take into custody.

5.	to take advantage of promptly: to seize an opportunity.

16.	to grab or take hold suddenly or forcibly usually

God is not asking me to take on MORE, by going out of my way to do even MORE then I am needing to do right now. He is asking me to SEIZE each and every moment, and take advantage of THAT moment!

When I look back on my childhood, for some reason I can't remember a lot, but some things do stand out. One thing that stands out in particular is a time in our family's life when we were building a home. I still remember to this day, putting in metal ties in preparation for the cement to be poured. With that memory, I can almost picture the entire scene in my mind. I was really young still. I'm not sure what age exactly, but I would have been between 6 and 9 years old?? Yet, that memory stands out because I enjoyed being with my family, WORKING together, towards a common goal!

THOSE are the memories the Lord is asking me to SEIZE now! Working together with my children, towards the common goal of getting this place fixed up and finished, so that we can move on in our lives to our future home. A home we all dream of, and hope for. A larger farm with room for more horses, more pigs, more chickens, a large garden, and simply room to run around with said animals. To enjoy the simple life.

Until then, God wants us to enjoy our 'complicated & busy' life, and to SEIZE the moments, the memories, we are creating through this complicated & busy time!

Praise God! He truly is good all the time!

What a week!

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:35:00 -0600

What a week.

Right now, 3 of the kids are sick and I'm sick. Not fun. I hate the stomach flu. Of course who doesn't?

The week promised to be a busy one. As I mentioned in my previous post, we began babysitting this week. At first, we had set things up that I would meet the children's mama each morning and afternoon to swap the kids. This really didn't work out so well. I should have realised that it wouldn't, but I really wanted to try. I thought it might be able to fit into our schedule alright, and that I could turn it into a positive thing, but it just wasn't happening. On top of it all, we got a bunch of snow so my van was unable to make it out of our steep driveway. The thing is so old and since we know we won't be moving it with us in the spring/summer, we just can't be putting much money into it right now. So Graydon wound up having to drive half the time because his suburban was able to make it out into the weather.

I couldn't believe how busy it all felt. I'm just not used to that anymore. I'm so accustomed to being home with the kids. The first two days I felt like I hadn't even seen my little ones! We never got any school done. It just felt awful. I even ended up letting them all stay up later then usual because I really felt like I had spent no time with them at all. That's probably why they got sick, lol.

Anyways, by midweek I realised we just couldn't go on like this anymore. We really want to be able to help out this mama and her kids are great. They fit in here really well and we do all have a lot of fun together but our homelife was really suffering and I just couldn't see how it was going to get any better if something didn't change. So I had to let her know I couldn't do the driving thing anymore. I felt REALLY bad, and I struggled SOOO much before telling her. I felt SO bad, but I knew I had to do something before our whole life went from being a peaceful simple, home based lifestyle to one of confusion and running around. We really don't mind the babysitting, and really, it is Alesia's babysitting job. As Alesia's babysitting job, it's going REALLY well, and it's great for her to be able to make some good money to save for her new horse after our move. But, it was becoming a part time job for me, and I don't need that. My kids don't need that. I, we, have worked really hard to get to a place in our family's life where I can simply be at home with the kids, and not worry about doing a lot of running around to make an income. We've built up my home based business so that I wouldn't have to work out of the home, or go places, to earn a bit of extra money for our family! So as awful as I felt to not be able to meet part way to pick up the children, I knew it just wouldn't work to keep going the way we were.

So, their mama has decided to bring the children all the way to our home and that is working SO much better. This way, it really is Alesia's babysitting job. It's no longer a part time job of running around for me. It was so hard those first few days, trying to figure out when I would fit in homeschooling in between picking children up, and getting ready to pick up children, making lunch for 9 or 10 of us etc.. I knew that life would get busier once the extra children were here, but I'm used to that kind of 'busyness'. More children doesn't seem like extra 'work'. More running around certainly did though!
I've learned one thing out of all this. It's a darn good thing I have my home business, because I would sure hate to have to work out of the home again. I just couldn't imagine! I think I would literally crack up. I'm just SOO not used to the hustle and bustle and being away from my children!

Anywho...

Yep, so now the kids are all taking turns being sick and of course I couldn't let them be the only ones! The last time we all had the stomach flu was this past summer, when I babysat for our neighbours with the 8 children. LOL Does anyone see a trend here?

Hopefully it will pass soon, and leave us alone at least until next summer!

Elsa's 9th birthday was this past week. On the 11th actually. For her birthday, she got sick 11 times! How enjoyable for her! Poor girl! We still haven't truly celebrated. On Thursday (her birthday) we all decorated cupcakes, but she was too sick to even eat hers. While the kids all played, she stayed in bed all day. We'll have to make it up to her once she's feeling better. She got sick a few times again today. We thought she was over it yesterday, but I guess we were wrong.

But, through the busyness, and crazyness of the whole week, I have been able to keep up with my morning devotions routine! I can not even imagine how nuts I would have felt if I had not kept up with it! I have really noticed a huge difference in my perception of things. I don't know if that explains it well? You see, before, if things weren't going well, all I would be able to focus on would be the negative. The positive would be no where to be found. It was as though I was wearing blinders. Now, even though I felt like I would go insane if things didn't slow down, I could still keep my head above water, and see the positives in everything. I could still feel ok, and I didn't feel like everything was negative and it would all pull me under. I had hope, and faith, that it was all going to work out in the end. No, we didn't get much school done at all this week, my laundry is now piled to the ceiling once again even though I did have it under control, my bedroom has become a mess again and I probably look a mess, but I have my sanity still, one of my children lays fast asleep next to my bed, my other children are all fast asleep in their beds, everyone is safe, fairly healthy, the animals are all doing well, and life really is good. Truly, life is wonderful. I am amazed at how open my eyes are to just how wonderful it is, even in the midst of stinky sick kiddo laundry, cleaning toilets and floors because little ones didn't 'quite' make it there in time, it's all good. All of it.

I'm rebelling....

Thu, 4 Jan 2007 02:57:00 -0600

I'm rebelling against my own 'tradition' and putting a kibosh on the Year in Review in Photos.

I don't really know why. I just don't feel up to it this year. If I review the year, do I include the good, the bad and the ugly? How do you review a year where you've grown in many ways, through photos? How do you review a year in which you had many people in your life, fall out of it, and then back in again, friends and family alike, in photos? How do you review a year where you went through a life attitude change because of a 'near death' experience, through photos? How do you review through photos, a decision to move clear accross the country? It just can't be done, so I won't even try.

Instead, I look forward to a better year. Not that the last one was all bad, but it was different, very different for me. I don't think I've had so many ups and downs in one year since I was a teenager! I don't care to review it right now. Instead, I choose to look forward to the future!

There is much to look forward to this year. I began 'preparing' for this year at the beginning of December. Some things I really wanted to change about the new year was to spend MUCH more one on one time with God, much more QUALITY time with my husband and children AND use my time more wisely in my business.

Since the first week of December, I begun re-reading the Power of Prayer books. Today I finished reading all 30 chapters of Power of a Praying Wife, and Power of a Praying Parent. It felt SO good to get back into starting EVERY day in prayer! Out of 32 days, I only missed 2 mornings. This has made a HUGE difference in my attitude, my outlook on life and in my countenance. And please believe me when I say that I don't share this to 'brag', but rather to encourage! To encourage anyone who thinks they don't have 'time' to MAKE the time! This is one decision, one change, you will NEVER regret making in your life, and you know that.

So, for the past 32 days (except for the 2 days I missed) I have woken up each morning and read one chapter of Power of a Praying Wife, and one chapter of Power of a Praying Parent. After I read each one, and said the prayers out loud, I went on to write at least one page in my written prayer journal. In that journal I can simply share my thoughts with my Abba Father, whether I want to talk to Him about what I learned in the books, or share with him what I am needing help with, ask Him to forgive me for my poor behaviour/attitude/whatever I need help with that day. It's just a great way to start the day.

As for spending more QUALITY time with my husband and children.
As you all know, I homeschool, and my husband has his own business which means he works his own hours. As a family, we choose for those hours to be no more then 4 days a week, whenever possible. So I do get to spend a LOT of time with my husband and children, but just because we are always together doesn't mean it's ALWAYS quality time. So early in Dec., I had decided to go out of my way to spend more time with each family member in a way that THEY would like. That can mean anything from just spending more time listening to each one babble on about things that don't really interest me too much, to crafting or working alongside each one in whatever they are doing. Whether it's playing dolls with the girls, or laying a hardwood floor right alongside hubby, to helping the children with their chores even if mine have to wait. It's simply a concious effort of putting them first, and me second. I don't want anyone thinking thoughts like, "Oh but mothers put so much of themselves out there for their family, I'm sure you were doing enough already!" This is not true. I am VERY spoiled. My children do their share of the chores around here, AND they help me out in my business. EVERYONE in this family puts a lot of themselves into each other, so no pitying the mother here!

So, onto using my time more wisely in my business.
My business has really flourished. Again, I don't say that to brag because I really don't know how this has happened. Each month since HomemadeMama.com first opened, sales have increased. Every single month. I stand amazed. That's all I can say about it. I certainly can't take credit for it! It's got to be a God thing.

So, through this flourishing, of course management has to be at it's top performance! Orders need to be handled quickly, yet carefully. Customers need to be given care and attention, yet without allowing myself to become completely burdened by their needs. That may sound 'weird' but believe it or not, in my business, a personal level seems to come about quite easily between myself and the customer. There are questions to answer, concerns to care for, etc., yet I have to be careful to not allow myself to spend too much time on the computer! So it's a balancing act at times!

To make things just a little more complicated (but it seems I like life to be complicated!)...
My eldest dd and I will be caring for 3 children starting next Monday. Twin girls who are 4, and their little brother who just turned 2! They will be joining us Mon-Friday, so of course time management will truly be important this year, at least for this first quarter! The child care brings along one extra thing. I will be meeting their mama 25 mins away from home each morning, and 15 mins away from home each afternoon. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't venture from home too often, so this will be a change for me. lol I'm looking forward to it though. Change can be good. I plan to use this time in the car for a few things. Some days I can go by myself and listen to books on tape or worship music on the way to pick the kids up. Other days I can take just one of my children with me and use that time to focus on them when it's just the two of us in the car. I think it can be a great thing. Plus, it will get all of us up and going first thing in the morning!

Anways, that's the plans for the New Year in a nutshell (although a LARGE nutshell).

Merry Christmas!

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 01:36:00 -0600

Merry Christmas,
From Our Family, to Yours!

Not a whole lot new here. We've been busy putting in hardwood flooring in our living room/dinning room area. We're very pleased with it.
This was the latest we have ever put up a Christmas tree though! Normally we head out to the tree farm on, or near the twins birthday on the 8th, but this year since we knew we were doing the floor last week, we waited until we were done. So last Sunday we finally got the tree and decorated it. I love the look of the new floor with the Christmas decorations. So pretty compared to the old blue indoor/outdoor carpet that was in the house before!

It's just 2 more sleeps until it's Christmas eve. We will be spending the evening with my parents and younger sister. On Christmas day, we'll be staying home and having our big meal. We'll open gifts from my family on Christmas Eve, and then gifts from Graydon's family, and us, on Christmas morning.

This will be the last Christmas I'll be spending with my family before we move 3000 miles away. On the one hand, I try not to think about it because I want to enjoy Christmas, on the other hand, it's hard not to.I just wanted to stop in and wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas , and a Happy New Year!
I hope to do a Year In Review with photo's before New Years Eve like I have done the past couple of years. If anyone else would like to do the same, please leave me a note so I can come check it out! :)

On the topic of photos. Someone showed me a link to a fellow who took a photo a day all last year, so for 365 days. He plans to do it again this year. I'm going to try my best to do the same. I am blessed to have a wonderful camera now, and I LOVe photos, especially photo's that simply depict 'a day in the life of'. I know if I can pull it off, it would be something I would never regret. What great memories we could keep with just one photo a day! If you'd like to join me, let me know!

Just an update

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 01:39:00 -0600

I haven't had much time online lately. I'm trying to get orders finished up by tomorrow or Wednesday so we can have some real 'holidays' around here! Hubby is off all this month, and the first part of next month, so he has been helping with the schooling. I'm finding that with his help, I'm actually getting my joy back in our schooling! Not that it was really gone, but it was fizzling a bit. It's really hard at times with 3 who are in the early grades. I find once a child learns to read very fluently on their own, the schooling just changes completely. I haven't made it there with these three yet though. It seemed to go much quicker with the first child. lol Of course not all children are going to read full novels by the time they are 6! (although I wish all five of mine would! lol)

Thank you for those who have been praying about the surgery I had the other week. We got the pathology reports back, and it was basel cell carcinoma (cancer) as I thought. I'm so glad I researched it when I did! It's very true that knowledge is our best defense!

So for now, it's been removed and that's basically the cure. My dr is sending me to a dermatologist to check all other spots. I have another one on my face that concerns me, and they will check out my other many spots. I've always had lots of spots, but so far they have always been simply moles.

This year is leaving me feeling kind of old. Before this year, I never had any health problems etc.. Now this year I spent 4 days in the hospital with that 'episode' and I don't get to see the neurologist about that for another 2 months. This year I started getting gray hairs, and now there are too many to count. lol (But I keep reminding myself that the Bible says gray hair is a gift!) Now this with the surgery. Suddenly I've gone from never going to the dr's except for routine check-ups, to going much too often for my liking! I'm too young for this. I'm only 35!

Happy 7th Birthday!

Sat, 9 Dec 2006 01:03:00 -0600

Today we celebrate our twins 7th birthday!

Here are some pictures of then, and now:

Only minutes old and in Daddy's arms for the first time. At this point I am still in the OR after the c-section.

Newborn Babes

Now! Seven years later.

Enjoying the new teddy 'cub' Joshua gave to Shaylah.

Big brother deserves BIG kisses for great gifts

Tomorrow we are taking them out for lunch at a play place nearby, and then on to pick out a Christmas tree. Since they were babies it's been a tradition to get the Christmas tree on, or around their birthday. We keep it up (if possible) until Elsa's birthday on Jan. 11th as long as the tree doesn't get too dry.

More photo's to come tomorrow, I'm sure!

Would appreciate prayers

Tue, 5 Dec 2006 01:50:00 -0600

I'm having minor surgery tomorrow (Tuesday). I have a spot on my forehead that the dr thinks may be basal cell cancer, and it needs to be removed, so tomorrow's the day. Oh joy! (hear that sarcasm?)

Anyways, would appreciate prayers as the thought of that needle and knife making it's way to my face is not very pleasant. Trying not to feel anxious about it all.

Snowy day ramblings...

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:04:00 -0600

This week's favorite photo:

I can not believe that my youngest children, MY BABIES, are going to be SEVEN years old in less then TWO WEEKS!

How is that possible?

I sat here and added up the days until their birthday. Then I thought, hmmm...they are turning 7. Then I thought, "NO WAY! That just can't be!! They MUST be turning SIX, they CAN'T be SEVEN already!!!"

Wow, time just flies MUCH too fast!

It really is shocking how quickly the days turn into weeks, into months, into years.

Today the children woke up to snow. That was so exciting for them! I think since we've lived here this is the earliest in the year that we've ever had snow! Normally if we get some, it's usually not until January. Hardly ever before Christmas. A couple of years we've only had snow for one day out of the whole year. Yet it snowed late last night, and then again today. Lots of fun!

The new picture at the top of my journal is from the view off my master bedroom balcony. Very pretty, especially with the beautiful snow making everything look so white and clean.

Speaking of growing up, I can't believe our third will be 9 in two months!

Another fav from today:

In other news, not much new.
This week I'll be working to get orders finished up. I have quite a few at the moment. Hubby and I are planning on both taking time off from Dec. 15th to Jan. 8th, so I need to get things done by then.

After Dec. 15th we'll be doing family Christmas stuff only! I've got some things planned. A Christmas Unit Study, some Christmas crafts, lots of Chrsitmas baking, decorating the tree, and sewing some doll clothes and accessories with the girls for the new dolls that are coming as their Christmas gifts. We let them pick out their own dolls, so it's not a suprise. We let them each pick out a Just Like You American Girl doll. For their birthday gifts we let them each pick out an American Girl horse, for their doll. That made Christmas gifts pretty easy! lol

So for their gifts for one another, I'm going to help them make doll clothing for each other's dolls. Even Joshua wants to make some doll sized quilts for their dolls. These dolls are pretty special, and we hope they will be treasured keepsakes for the girls. Especially with the horses. All our girls are right into horses.

I also ordered a couple of books for them:

I think they'll love these. I KNOW I will. lol

I won't say what we have for the older two, just in case they do some snooping on here. lol

So to get back to our time off. We'll be doing lots of fun family activities. Dh plans to take the children skating quite a bit. I don't do skating much. I have this fear of running another person's small child over. lol I like skating on ponds and such, not indoor rinks.

Well that's about it for now. I think I'll head to bed early for a change and do some knitting.
Yet another new hobby of mine.