Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail was today. It was fabulous! I promise more pics and the whole story soon my friends.......

Traci said we might not live like lots of other [normal] people.

Pshaw!!.

Doesn't everybody else get together 42 of their friends and homeschooling buddies.

Make a little covered wagon.

Get out the BB guns.

Sew a few dresses and bonnets.

Make a little food.

And traipse through the woods just for the fun of it??

Well why not?? It was lots of fun!

God Stuff

The days are going by so fast and so often it seems that I don't take time out to really stop and see what God has been doing in my life and heart, and also in the lives He has chosen to put around me. In my quiet time this morning I was pondering so many things of the last few weeks and it made me rejoice in my Lord all over again. It is so easy to be discouraged, but when we really start counting our blessings it puts our hearts right.

Some of my bigger God moments from the past few days:

I love how God takes my broken, sinful nature and somehow has used that to nurture these 5 beautiful children He has entrusted me with for all these years. To see one certain young man repent and become right with God has caused me to be in total awe. Another certain daughter has so surpassed me both in her love for her Lord and her knowledge and desire to know Him more that I can only sit back and wonder what God will do with the rest of her young life. A husband who holds so strongly to the Lord and His word has been my steady rock for so many ups and downs.

I love when God is so gentle in my disobedience. Rather than giving me what I deserve He so gently wraps His arms around me in my disgruntled state and leads me ever so gently to His word. Unmistakeably leading me to just the scripture He ordained to be wrote hundreds of years ago that He might whisper it into my ear now and bring repentance. When I put my feelings before His words He forgives even that.

I love watching how God puts people right smack in the middle of my life when I am not even aware of it, and then takes such person and allows me to watch Him transform them. How he grows me right along beside them and allows them to watch the growth in me as well. To rejoice in their joys, and wrap my arms around them in their repentance.

I love how God reunites people after hurt and allows rejoicing in the works of His hand. When His time has finally come to bring things to completion and together we can anticipate what He will do next. Bring home those babies God!

I love how God used His son Jesus to remove the sting of death, even from a too-young-mothers early homecoming. How, somehow, in the midst of cancer and death a family can rejoice that she is now with her Savior and long for their own meeting with their maker.

I love it when God uses something as simple as a few quiet moments and lots of questions in the midst of a 30 hour weekend shift to share the gospel with a friend whom He has continued to bring into every area of my life. I love it even more when He gives me the words to say.

I love knowing that therefor there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. That for an eternity I will keep learning how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ for me.

Rhubarb Season

It's rhubarb season. Head on over to your neighbor's house who has that huge rhubarb patch and beg and plead and do what ever you have to to gather (hord) yourself as much of that tart fruit as you can, because once you try this recipe you won't be able to get enough. The kids helped me freeze 6 gallons of rhubarb last week from a friend's garden and I am on the look out for more as well as impatiently waiting for mine to get bigger. Hmmmm.... where can we plant more rhubarb on this 40 acre plot??? It's good stuff my friends!

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Rhubarb Slushies
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8 cups rhubarb
8 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 lemon
1 package strawberry jello, additional 2 cups water
Sprite or 7-up
Strawberries, pineapple, etc., for garnish if desired.
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Wash and chop rhubarb. Cut lemon in half and squeeze out juice. Add rhubarb, lemon and juice, 8 cups water, and sugar to large pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until rhubarb is soft.Strain, reserving all juice. Put pot back on the stove and add strawberry jello and additional 2 cups of water. When cool, pour into a 5 quart ice cream pail to freeze. To serve: fill glass 3/4 full of frozen rhubarb mix. Pour Sprite or 7-up to fill up the glass. Garnish with fruit as desired.

Add That to my Resume, Please

This glorious role of mothering has taken me to yet a whole new level of experience. In my commitment to delve into the lives of my children and know them each individually and share as many waking moments with them in the fleeting years of their childhoods as I can, I have found myself in a camouflage jumpsuit with no makeup on at an unbelievably early hour of the morning for the sake of nurturing. Well, actually, I was the last resort, because, as fun as turkey hunting sounded last December when the guys had to send in for their chance at a permit and as sure as pie as Rob would be able to take the time off for Trent's first hunt, plans have changed between now and then. Being Trent is still in the mentoring stage of hunting he needs an adult within arms reach while he hunts.... and that adult happens to be me. He roused me out of bed at 5:00 AM, or tried to rouse me, I did sneak in a little bit more sleeping time. He even started the coffee for me and allowed me to take a cup with. We trekked across the field where we have been watching a turkey come out all week. He wouldn't let me stop at the pond to sit and drink my coffee. No, no, no. Just keep walking. Just keep walking. The moon was still out! Jeesh!

"Trent! Look out! There's a turkey right behind you!" hehehe

I'm coming. I'm coming.

Trent got his decoy set out.

Then we situated ourselves behind the blind to wait. He was kind enough to allow me to take my coffee and my camera with. He said tomorrow he's going to make me choose one or the other, that is if he is so kind to let me take either. But I fooled him and talked him into taking a gazillion pictures for the Fair when we were done. So who's silly idea was it to bring the camera again???

We waited and waited in the beautiful morning sun. We were so still and quiet that a hawk flew within feet of us and didn't even see us. We listened to the mice and pheasants, and watched the little birds in the field.
Trent started calling~ a noise much like running your fingernails across a chalkboard. Eeeekkk!And lo and behold, an answer to our prayer, and the moment we were waiting for! Now I understand that the odds of even seeing a turkey in the 5 allotted days of hunting can be pretty slim. The guys here have not seen one in the years they have been turkey hunting and here we were, just over an hour into hunting, and out comes a turkey. She walked right up to the decoy as Trent continued to lure her in with his call. She came within about 15 feet of us. Unfortunately only Jake's or Tom's can be shot in the spring so we had to just watch her keep going. But how exciting!

Trent was kind enough to let us take a little walk to the much need privy. I guess he had something there about the no coffee thing, huh? But I'm still gonna bring my camera next time.
We scouted around without finding any signs then went back to the blind and sat a bit longer, then decided it was time to head home. Trent amazes me with his confidence and skill at handling guns. Ever since he could walk he has wanted to hunt. Rob has been taking him out since he was 3 years old and nothing made him happier than to complete hunters safety last year. I am more of a lover than a fighter and am honestly very scared of guns. To watch him handle this weapon made me a proud Momma tho! I think hunting must be a gift from God because Trent certainly has it.
Trent earned the money for his new gun last fall by trapping gophers around the farm and for the neighbor. Way to go buddy!

We picked up our decoy and headed for home.

I doubt that this morning will convince me to become a die hard turkey hunter.

But it sure convinced me that my investment in my children is more than worth anything I think I am giving up~ like sleep.

Now to this declared bachelor, I think (hope) one day you'll have to change your mind and consider the value of a wife. Either that or your momma will have to come turkey hunting with you when your 30 something:))) Love you buddy boy!

The Heavens Declare

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19

The Wife of Noble Character

She gets up while it is still dark;

She provides food for her family

and portions for her servant girls.

Proverbs 31: 15

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I certainly have a long way to go to become the Excellent Wife, but there are a few things I have learned along the way. As important as it is to prepare the physical food for your family early in the morning it is also so important to prepare the spiritual food. By filling up on scripture and prayer before the kiddos wake up we as mothers, especially tired mothers of young children, provide for our families by being living examples of what Christ calls us to be. It is so much easier to be patient and loving and kind when we have spent time with our Lord. The days I neglect this are the days I struggle the most. If we aren't in the word how will we know how to minister to those around us who need the word?

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Her children will arise and call her blessed;

Her husband also, and he praises her.

Proverbs 31:28

Lap Books

Have you heard the term Lap Book in the home schooling world? It is a fun, hands-on way to learn that we discovered a couple of years ago and have been using to study American History. The basic theory is that you study a subject then make a Lap Book, much like a scrap book, of what you have learned. I found the manilla file folders work perfectly for holding our pictures and studies. It can become labor intensive on my part because I have to do all the researching at this point but as the kids are getting older it will also be used as a learning tool and they will be responsible for the researching and teaching part. We have learned about historical people that have shaped our country like Eli Whitney, George Washington, and Betsy Ross to name a few. We studied the presidential candidates in 2008 and made up mock ballets on the day of the election. Now which one of my children voted for Barrack Obama I would like to know! We have a history game that we have based the Lap Book schedule off of. The cards present 5 clues to guess who the person is. The last guess is to show the picture on the front. The plan is to study the history lesson and create the Lap Book on Wednesdays and on Mondays we go through all of the cards we have studied and play the game. It is a fun project that even Micah can play along with. Every once in a while the answer really is Christopher Columbus and he wins an M&M, too!

Monkey Bread

One of our favorite bread recipes is Monkey Bread. Over the last couple of years I have perfected my original recipe for this delicious treat and I am happy to share the secrets. Start with a basic bread dough recipe, or even store bought bread dough.

The recipe that I like to use is as follows:

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1 egg + enough warm water to equal 1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

4 1/4 cups white flour

2 1/2 tsp yeast

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Mix all your ingredients together and knead for a bit. Set your bowl aside to let the dough rest and rise.

Get out your bundt pan (any baking dish will work as well, but a bundt pan is perfect so you get caramel on every single piece). Grease your pan well with butter or margarine. Prepare a bowl with cinnamon and sugar mixed together.

Grease your hands and roll the dough into little balls. Dip those little balls into the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat them well, then drop them into your pan.

Mix all your caramel ingredients in a pan and heat on the stove until warm.

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Caramel Sauce:

1/4 cup margarine or butter

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

2/3 cup brown sugar

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You could add nuts or raisins if you like, and certainly feel free to make a bit extra if you like your Monkey Bread a bit more gooey and sticky.

Pour this sauce over your bread dough.

Now at this point you have lots of options. I have made the dough in the evening then put the pan (caramel sauce and all) in the refrigerator overnight to be ready to bake for an easy, delicious breakfast in the morning. I have also let the dough raise just a bit before baking. Or, if you can't wait any longer, just pop it in the oven and let it raise as it bakes.

Bake it at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until you start to smell that wonderful aroma of baked bread. Let it cool a few minutes, then put a platter which is bigger than your pan on the top.

Quickly flip the pan over, then take the bundt pan off.

To reveal all that ooey-gooey sticky goodness.

Wah-lah! Monkey Bread! The funnest way to eat Monkey Bread is to pull it apart with your fingers. And, of course, feel free to put a bit of extra butter on every piece because we all know that butter really is just a Dairy product and Dairy products are good for you:)))