~ All is Well ~

First let me say that I havn't been blogging much of late due to the fact that "LIFE" is happening all around me, so please forgive me. I do intend to come back full time once things settle down.

My mom is going down hill a little more with each new day. As of yesterday she has blood in her catherter bag, lots of blood. We knew that the catherter would cause infections, so there it goes. Things not any better with my husband, divorce more than likely still happening.

But even that is not the worst of things going on right now. As many of you are aware there is a storm, Gustav, in the Gulf of Mexico. Well they are predicting it's land fall, as of now, to be none other than on yours truly, lol. Yes it is headed straight for us. We live approx 50 or so miles north of the gulf. And with my home being an older one, it can no longer be insured, so we would lose everything. My car is on the blink right now so leaving is out of the question, and even if we did have a good vehicle, mom can't travel.

When I tell you I have never been so scared, it's not a lie. I have lived through so many storms here in Louisiana and none has ever effected me like this one is. That is why I am asking for you wonderful people to pray for us down here in the south. I know it's hard to pray for it to go somewhere else, cuz that would mean it has to hit some one else. I am a nervous wreck to say the least. I have been on the edge for several weeks now about mom and her condition and this storm is kicking my butt but good. All of this is taking a great toll on me physically too. I have lost almost 20 lbs in the last two weeks. Although I am excited about the weigth loss, it's not the healthiest of ways to do it. I am feeling the effects of the stress on my body, and I have to say, I'm a little worried about that too.

SOOOOOOO ladies, PLEASE pray for us. I am a firm believer in the power of prayer and that is why I am posting this. I will probably be without power for sometime if hits us ( i hope that is the worst of it, I can live with that), so I will update as soon as I can.

Updates from the Homestead

Yesterday was such a nice sunny day.. a day to enjoy our pond and the sunshine

. Today is promising to be the same. The nice weather is an appreciated change from the stint of cool wet weather we had; looks like we are back to summer weather for a few days. I am not really ready to head into fall quite yet. The cooler weather however did get me in the soup making mode. Yesterday I made veggie beef soup and it was yummy. I put a couple individual servings of it in the freezer for Tobin’s lunches while I am gone.

My oldest daughter, Carolyn, is due to have her baby in about one week. My friend Sarah and I will be flying out there as soon as she gives the word that things are looking serious. We don’t want to arrive too early but we don’t want to arrive to late either! Sarah and I delivered Carolyn’s first baby. That was a bit easier since at that time she was in California (I am in Washington) but this time she’s in Maryland so there are less flights out daily and the flight time is a lot longer… but if it is meant to be that I am there, all will work out as it should so I am leaving it the Lord’s hands and not stressing over it all.

While I am gone Emily and Leanne will be holding down the fort. I have meals lined up for them to cook, groceries in the house, and should have just about everything I need to do, done! It is a blessed feeling to know that my girls are able to handle the house, the kids and the meals and pack dad’s lunch while I am gone. I will try and update you when I leave and who knows, maybe while I am there if I am not too busy.

I started school this week with the kids. I usually don’t start until well into September and in the past it has even been October before I finally got things going. I think the wet cool weather just made all the kids think “school” and they were ready to get going. I have only started math with them. We will add in the rest of the subjects on the 8th.. even if I am not here Emily and Leanne have said they will get the ball rolling with everyone.

I really only have 3 students this year! It seems like such a nice relief in many ways. This will be my 21st year of homeschooling and like anything done for that many years I have lost some of the newness and excitement I had for homeschooling way back when.. but I have not lost the reason my hubby and I chose to homeschool and we are both committed to continue onward. I still value and treasure the time I spend with my children and would not have it any other way. I have enjoyed the “new school year” excitement this year.. Just watching Isaac get all excited about new note books, pencil sharpeners and all was sweet.

This school year Leanne will be getting ready for her GED and working through Saxon’s Calculus book as well as teaching Isaac his math. She taught him last year and did a great job. She will also be deciding if she would like to join Emily in working towards a degree of some type through College Plus. Right now Leanne is looking at an English degree as a possibility.

On Wednesday the girls and I (and Isaac) went to town. Emily took her Western Civilization 2 CLEP test and passed (YEA!!). Then we went grocery shopping at Costco and then went to Starbucks and got our coffee and ended up at Ikea perusing the store with coffees in hand. Emily bought a book shelf for her bedroom. She has a really small room and was drowning in lack of organization. So now the books have a place to go. We saw some cute little baskets that hang on the wall.. but they were out of stock. We will check back next week (or when I get back.. something I keep saying often now). She thought that would be a perfect way to make a place for things and look pretty. She will be all organized before you know it and then there won’t be ANY reason why we can’t see her bed on some days.. right???

Today I have house cleaning on my list and laundry. I really need to get some soap made before I go so I will try and get things set up to do that so I can make it tomorrow (if I am still here

). Sierra, Isaac and I will be heading to the recycling center to take in our recycling. Jacob has been working all week for a neighbor and will continue that today. And we have school to do as well. Dinner tonight will be chicken pot pie and a salad. Emily and Leanne won’t be here so I will have to adjust my recipe so I don’t have too many leftovers.

Emily and Leanne are house sitting and watching Miss Margaret. I have mentioned her before. She is the little 90 something year old lady they watch when her son and daughter in law go out of town. She loves playing Skip Bo but has very little recent memory so she never can remember how many games she has played and would keep on playing all day if the girls were willing! The girls don’t mind but after 12 games they are ready for a break..

Singing the Word of God

For the past few weeks the Lord has laid it on my heart to have the word of God on my children's heart and lips more often . The passage that came to my mind was from Deuteronomy:

" And thou shalt teach them dilegently unto thy children and shalt talk to them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up." Deut 6:7

Now we do have a morning devotional time when we read a chapter from the Bible and the kids have a verse they memorize each week and for their copy work, but I still felt that the Lord wanted us to have the WORD of God on our hearts and lips all thru the day.

I took my desire to the Lord and asked for help..... His answer : put music to passages from the Bible. Ok, I thought..... "how am I to do that , Lord?" I mean I am NOT a musical person -- I love music, but I don't sing wonderfully and I don't read music! The Lord's response to me was "Don't worry, I'll give you the music". Isn't God good?

These past weeks we have been putting the psalms to music or shall I say the Lord has been and it has been so fun!

It has blessed my heart to see my kids going thru their day singing the psalms and other passages!

Now the music is very simple -- or shally I say the melody is very simple - easy for children to learn and memorize. The words come directly from the Bible - we have not changed them at all and we use the more formal KJV. It has been easy for the kids to learn these verses because the music helps them with the memorization.

It's so precious to see my kids sing the word of God as they gor thru their day - doing their chores, or playing. I have been singing them as they lay down for bed at night as well, so it's the last words they hear before bed.

How precious~ we have been so blessed by what the good Lord has been doing here!

Our God is truly a creative God - He is the master artist and music is definately not a problem with Him!

It's always amazing to me how God answers our prayers..... He always helps us accomplish what He asks of us to do. I hope you all will realize how anxious the Lord is for your children to know His word and to speak His word....... thru the day and at night when they go to sleep. What a blessing it is for them to know God's word and it truly blesses His heart to hear!

Let us never take for granted how important it is for us as mothers to dillegently teach our children the word of God.

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Three

After arriving in Egypt Leanne’s team rested up and then it was time to unpack and get a glimpse of the orphanage in the daylight. I was surprised to see how big it was and how green! The orphange is near the Nile River and is an agricultural area so there was a lot green to be seen

Here is a picture of the girls on Leanne’s team. Leanne is sitting on the top row in the middle…

When the Egyptian girls saw them on the balcony for the first time they quickly swarmed around wanting to have their pictures taken..

The main portion of their time at the orphanage was spent laying concrete walkways. It was heavy duty work! They had no equipment to do the mixing the kids mixed it all by hand and carried it by bowlfuls to dump. Leanne said she learned so much about concrete work that she could give lessons now!

Here is a look at the work they did… They had large piles of sand and rock that they mixed with bags of cement. They filled and carried the sand and rock by hand and then mixed it.

See the bowls in the picture below? That is what they carried the mixed cement in to fill the walkways...

Laundry was done by hand on the roof top of the building they stayed in. This is the way everyone does their laundry. If you look back at some of the pics above you will see laundry and mattresses hanging over the tops of the roof drying.

In the evenings they had chapel time and Leanne was befriended by a couple of girls that were about her age. Leanne said the girl on the right really attached herself to her and she said she was so sweet.. she wanted to take her home with her..

The team spent more time with the children and got to see the town of Assuit and I will share about this in my next blog post. Leanne will also be sharing more with you as well!

Yeah I know I am hurring things

I looovvve fall and winter. I always have. So I know I am rushing things by changing my blog to my fall stuff and putting up a christmas countdown banner but I am so ready for the change. We have had a pretty ruff year with my brother and I wanted to put someting that was pretty and would make me smile. I am so ready for the hot homemade soups, the warm fires in the fireplace with a good book and a hot cup of cocoa, the long flannel gowns with the warm socks, and I love the time of year that for some reason always in some way or another brings families together if only for a day or two..........

Making Homemade Chicken Soup in Pictures

Fall time is just around the corner. I start thinking about soups and stews to feed my family. They just seem to go hand in hand with the cool months of the year. One of my favorites is chicken soup. Chicken soup from scratch is very easy to make! Here is a step by step photo tutorial to show you how to make this yummy meal for your family.

Put your chicken in a large stock or soup pot. Mine is a 14 quart size pot, but it is a little on the big size for the job. An 8 or 10 quart stock pot would most likely work just fine.

Turn down the heat, cover and let is simmer for a few hours (2 to 4 hours or so) I never really time it I just cook until my chicken has kind of fallen apart.

Now it is time to separate the chicken and broth. I do this by putting a large pan (large enough to hold all the broth) in my sink

Lymes Disease

My heart is heavy today. This afternoon I visited with a sweet friend of mine who has recently been diagnosed with Lymes Disease. If any of you are not familiar with this disease, it is a disease that is carried by the tick. The tick carries the disease and it causes symptoms that are similar to MS, Fibromyalgia, Bell's palsy.

I am in shock as I just visited with this friend 2 weeks ago. She is a beautiful mom of 7 sweet children. She is nursing her youngest baby. About a week ago she noticed a tick had bitten her, and she had a rash. ( classic lyme disease symptom) She calle to make a doctor's appt and a few days later she was swimming in a pool and her face became paralyzed. She is dealing with bells palsy as a result of the Lymes. Apparently the Lymes has attacked her nervous system.

My heart just aches for her -- she is just a mom like me, who was out doing yard work, and didn't see the tick on her.

Please, for those of you who live in areas affected by ticks, please check each day head to toe -- your children, your spouse and yourself for ticks.

We do a tick check each night on everyone, and yes it does make for some extra work. I also use the essential oil, Thyme , and dab it on the tick if we do find one on the skin. We swab it on the skin and a few minutes later the tick comes out by itself. We also use a special tick puller to ensure the entire tick is removed. ( you want to make sure the head is out).

What makes me sick is that he we are in the year 2008, and we are dealing with a bug that transmits disease! I mean I would expect this from the 1800's!! Why hasn't the govt done the research to eradicate this? They did it was the fly and eradicated typhoid, and they did it with the mosquito that carries malaria. Why not do the same for the tick that carries Lymes Disease?

My heart is burdened for my precious friend and I pray that the Great Physician will heal her completely.

Meanwhile she is taking a round of antibiotics ( the therapy treatment for Lymes) and also looking into alternative sources of healing.

Remember - CHECK your kids and yourself for ticks each day if you live in areas affected by it! It's nothing to fool around with.

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Two

As boot camp came to a close the kids began the task of packing up their belongings and getting ready to head to Egypt. Not all teams left on the same day and their team was a few days behind most of the others. The last few nights they were able to sleep in the dorm rooms. And after 2 weeks in tents that flooded often with all the summer rains in Florida, they all appreciated this quite a bit!

The first day I arrived at boot camp was a little hectic. The fist thing I went through was getting registered, transferring all my things to a duffel (which was challenging due to the fact everything had to be on chairs and nothing was allowed to touch the floor) they issued me, and getting acquainted with most of my team mates that had already arrived. We then took our stuff to our camp site that had already been taken over by mosquitoes. I had no idea what boot camp was going to be like, but I could tell they weren’t joking when they said this was no pamper camp.

We woke up every morning at five-thirty to one of our leaders singing some happy energetic song that not one of us appreciated at that time in the morning. We had exactly five minutes to be outside our tent with our boots on, name tag on, and a clean tent ready for inspection. We ran an obstacle course every morning, which included anything from climbing over a huge mountain of tires, using ropes to swing across water, crawling through barrels, etc…then it was on to breakfast! Meal time was always a highlight to everyone. We always had to eat everything we took or we got a SB, which stands for special blessing and we have to work them off during our free time. After that we had devotional time, listened to a couple speakers, had our brick laying class, lunch, some other classes, puppet class (which was one of my favorite classes), bath and laundry time, free time or SB time, dinner, and then we finished every day with a rally with all the teams.

We learned how to wash our clothes by hand, we took bucket baths, which was done in public so for two weeks we never really got clean, and how to do everything very quickly. Just about everybody’s level of vanity dropped drastically. There was no time for make-up, and not much time for clean clothes (it rained just about everyday and so it was hard to get your clothes dry), clean hair, and basic things like that. As unsanitary as this may seem, looking back I can see how important it was to get us used to this kind of environment. It prepared us for the field. We also had to learn a verse everyday. There was rarely a time when we didn’t have something to do.

The hardest parts for me were getting used to having everyday of my time planned out by someone else, and while I was there I was asked to write a brief testimony of why I decided to come to Teen Missions, what I had learned from boot camp, and that kind of thing. This wouldn’t have been a big ordeal if I had had time to think it out and had plenty of time to write it, but they needed it in three hrs, all of which I had classes. It was hard to write something personal under pressure. Not to mention in one of those classes we had a lady who walked by making sure everyone was paying attention. It just added to the pressure.

Boot camp was hard, and it was definitely a stretching experience, but it prepared us thoroughly for our trip, and it showed us what it is often times like for missionaries. Though it was tough it was worth it, and I would recommend Teen Missions to anyone who is interested in missionary work and wants to see if they would like it.

Leaning on Him alone

~~ "There is never a majestic mountain without a deep valley and there is no birth without pain. " ~~

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part One

There is no way I could give you a quick and simple overview of Leanne’s trip. Last night our family began the journey through over 900 pictures she took while gone! We made it half way through and it was time for dad to leave for work so we will continue our tour today some time. So what I have decided to do is to share with you about her missions trip in parts. That way I have time to digest all her info, resize pictures to post and share a little more detail with you. I hope you enjoy this mission trip to Egypt with Leanne!

Leanne began her experience with Teen Missions by leaving on a plane from the West Coast and flying to Orlando Florida. She along with several other who were on her flight were met by a Teen Missions representative and taken to Merritt Island Florida for two weeks of training that they call “boot camp”. The term boot camp has a couple of different meanings. One is simple and straight forward.. every team member buy’s a pair of boots and wears them. No other types of shoes are allowed other than water shoes. The other meaning is more like the military term in the fact that there is a lot of training and group work going on. They learn not only necessary skills for when they are on the field, but how to live without common luxuries like showers and toilets that flush, but they also begin learning how to work together as a team through a lot of physical training. Boot camp is primitive, difficult and according to Leanne was a real challenge to get through.

There were no showers so they swam in the lake you see in the picture at the top until it got too dirty and then they closed it down and switched to Alligator Lake and no one went swimming in that one!

As I said earlier the only shoes they wore were boots.. 6 or 8 inch lace up leather work boots. Leanne took this picture of one of her team mates all dressed and ready for church in her work boots!

You see the brick in the girls hand? Well the kids could not leave their belongings laying around. If you did leave something behind the next day you carried a brick around with you all day long as a reminder to pick up your stuff.. I loved the idea and told the kids I need to come up with my own version of this! Think how this would solve the clutter problems! LOL… (they were not thrilled by my excitement over this new found idea..

)

~ All is Well ~

Prayers Needed

Updates from the Homestead

Singing the Word of God

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Three

Yeah I know I am hurring things

Making Homemade Chicken Soup in Pictures

Lymes Disease

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part Two

Leaning on Him alone

Leanne’s Mission Trip, Part One

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