Humble Beginnings

My hands are rough, red, not even being close to manicured - and yet they tell a story. The story of a hard working Mama who does it all - with her hands. Gardening, cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc. I do it all with my hands. They show the hard work that I put into all that I do. They are not the manicured, polished or soft. They show lines and creases and cuts (from being too dry). They rub backs, hoe the weeds in the garden, rake the leaves, turn the compost (with a shovel), plant the seeds, attach the hose to the slip -n- slide, hang the laundry on the line, massage a back or head, rub on sunblock, and the list continues. At times I wish I had "coifed" hands - hands that would look presentable, not so red, not so dry - but rather soft and satiny with a beautiful manicure - but how useful is a manicure when you're gardening?

But let me tell you, these hands are not for the weak in body, mind or spirit. They have had to do so many things in my lifetime. I kind of liken them to a well-worn cowboy hat. You know the kind I'm talking about - creased, stained, bent, but it just feels right when it sits on your head. You couldn't imagine owning a better hat. Every stain and crease tells a story giving that ol' cowboy hat character. That's my hands. Every line, crease and dry spot tells a story.

And just when you think these little hands of mine couldn't do anything more ... they do...they fold together in prayer. I thank God for these hands - no matter how "undignified" and "dry" they seem to others, they tell the story of what I do on a daily basis. They praise the Lord for what He has blessed me with...for that I am grateful and thankful.

Catching Up

We've been very busy over here. The children have just about finished up with their lessons for the year. James has 3 lessons left in his Language Arts book and Lauren is reviewing her math lessons and continues to work on her reading. I think that this summer they're going to continue with their reading...it only makes sense.

Last weekend James had his choir performance and did a wonderful job. Hubby's given the OK for the children to participate in choir next fall. He was really impressed with how good the children were and how much effort they put into their performance. After the performance, James said it was the best night of his life.

The garden is doing quite nicely. I've resigned myself that the green beans will not do well this year. The guineas continue to pluck and pull. And, some nocturnal creature is digging randomly in the garden every night. I wake up to find new "holes" and foot prints in the garden. I think it's an armadillo. Hubby's working six days a week and cannot put up a fence for me. Poor man is exhausted when he comes home. But, I now have a spot ready for the fall garden! The pumpkins, tomatoes and the rest are all doing quite well.

I hope y'all are doing well...we've had so much going on here that I don't have time to blog...hope to get back to it on a more regular basis soon.

Gardening & Homeschooling Updates

I spent about 2 hours in the garden today. The kids helped some, but we spent a lot of time weeding and pruning. The tomatoes have bounced back wonderfully from the frost a few weeks ago. Some of them looked they were frozen and turned black. However, there was still life among their stems and leaves and they now look absolutely beautiful. The Lord truly watches over the gardener (and the garden!). The pumpkins have also bounced back, which is wonderful as I thought we'd lost all the plants but 3.

We had a front move through Sunday. It felt so chilly after all the 80 and 90 degree weather from the week before. It was around 60 degrees for the high on Sunday and very gusty (or as Winnie the Pooh says, "blustery"). All the plants survived the 40 degree weather Sunday night. I think all this week we're supposed to have high 70s and 80s weather. It should be a wonderful week!

It was so warm today that I made a huge glass of ice water, squeezed a little fresh lime juice in it and added a few crushed up peppermint leaves. It really hit the spot!

The green beans are still not doing very good. I've got them all covered and I planted more, but I don't see that they're coming up yet. Those darn guineas! By the way, they're "wallowing" in the pumpkins now...**sigh**. I really need to put up a fence, but hubby's working 6 days a week and the one day he has off he's taking care of a list of other things, etc.

As for James, we talked some more about people calling him names. I explained that God made him who he is and that's what's important. He's exactly who God wants him to be, regardless of what others think. And, as the Bible says, if God's on our side, who can be against us? He seemed to relate to that pretty well (I even saw a beautiful smile light up his face).

I'll try to take some pictures of the garden to post later. All in all, I'd say it was a wonderful day.

And, James is finishing 2 of his books this week and will only be down to studying his Language Arts program for another 5 weeks (unless he pushes through and finishes earlier). It looks like we're going to have an early summer! AND, Lauren (who's in Kindergarten), started reading a 2nd grade book this evening. That's amazing since she knew her alphabet and sounds in September! How cool is that? Isn't homeschooling grand?!!

The power of words

A couple was having marital problems and the husband went to his pastor seeking help. The previous night the husband and wife had gotten into a terrible argument and nasty comments were made. The husband didn't know how to make things better with his wife after the words that were spoken. The pastor told him to take a feather pillow and go down to the corner. He was to cut open the pillow and scatter the feathers. The husband thought this was weird, but did it anyway. After watching the feathers fly away, he went back to the pastor and asked, "Now what do I do?" The pastor told him to go back to the corner and pick up all the feathers. The husband looked at the pastor like he was nuts and told him there was no way that he could get back all the feathers. The pastor looked at him and said, "So are your words from last night. Once the words are out of your mouth, you can never take them back. They will always be floating out there somewhere."

The truth of it is, words carry weight with them. They are easily spoken but they carry a much heavier impact than we give them credit.

Proverbs 10:19: "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise."

Proverbs 21:23: "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity."

I have wonderful children who are honest, trustworthy, friendly, loving and very well-meaning. They want to harm no one and want to be friends with everyone. But sometimes, no matter how hard they try to be friends with others, they are turned away, called names and laughed at. I'm speaking about James now. You would think that children in a children's choir at church would be nicer to each other than that. It hurts his feelings when they ignore him and call him names. He doesn't understand why. I don't either for that matter.

I know children are children but we try so hard to teach our children to respect others, not to call others names, not to make fun of others, etc. I guess I'm so naive that I think other parents do the same, but again ... children are children (and children aren't always nice). James is a wonderful little boy...very smart, very friendly. He wants friends. He wants to play with others and fit in, but I think these children in the choir have known each other for many years and have been part of this church their entire lives. Maybe it's because he's the "new kid"...I don't know. It's just laying on my heart right now.

God Knows

A co-worker emailed this to me and I found it so interesting...God knows ... and He has an answer for everything!

YOU SAY	GOD SAYS	BIBLE VERSES
You say: "It's impossible"	God says: All things are possible	(Luke 18:27)
You say: "I'm too tired"	God says: I will give you rest	(Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: "Nobody really loves me"	God says: I love you	(John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )
You say: "I can't go on"	God says: My grace is sufficient	(II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)
You say: "I can't figure things out"	God says: I will direct your steps	(Proverbs 3:5- 6)
You say: "I can't do it"	God says: You can do all things	(Philippians 4:13)
You say: "I'm not able"	God says: I am able	(II Corinthians 9:8)
You say: "It's not worth it"	God says: It will be worth it	(Roman 8:28 )
You say: "I can't forgive myself"	God says: I Forgive you	(I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)
You say: "I can't manage"	God says: I will supply all your needs	(Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I'm afraid"	God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear	(II Timothy 1:7)
You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"	God says: Cast all your cares on ME	(I Peter 5:7)
You say: "I'm not smart enough"	God says: I give you wisdom	(I Corinthians 1:30)
You say: "I feel all alone"	God says: I will never leave you or forsake you	(Hebrews 13:5)

Fishin'...the homesteadin' way!

My children have just recently gotten into the swing of fishing. They absolutely love it. We have a tank down the hill from us that we've stocked with perch, minnows, croppie and carp (that's from what we've caught from the rivers around our home). So, every day we fish for about 1-2 hours and they just love it.

Well, Sunday we went to the river to fish and saw bass and catfish swimming in plain sight of our lines, but no such luck catching any. They weren't able to seine any either. So, we caught lots of perch and sunfish to put in the tank.

This afternoon we were going to head down to the tank to do some fishin' but realized that all the fishing gear, reels included, were in hubby's truck. So, I thought we could just make our own. I found some stocky sticks, tied fishing line to one end, added a hook and we were off. I tied thin sticks to the poles for "bobbers" and James caught minnows and frogs for bait.

Did we catch anything? Nope...but it was fun making the fishin' poles. The kids were a little disgruntled because they couldn't cast very far. They could see the perch within a few feet of their lines, but nothing would bite!

By the way, as soon as hubby got home, James headed out to make sure all the fishing gear was unloaded from his truck so we can go fishin' tomorrow.

It was a dark and chilly night...

and the children (plus mom) were all snug in bed inside the brand new tent (really only made for 2 people). They were awfully warm for such a chilly night. What started out as a neat little camping trip (out the front door and right outside the house) turned into a scary little adventure.

They had been in bed for only about an hour, the children were fast asleep snuggled up against their mom (who was having trouble falling asleep on the cold, hard ground - and whose feet were pushed up against the opposite side of the tent because she's too tall for the little tent). About 11 p.m., the dogs started barking - not a normal bark, but a "something's out there" kind of bark. The dog's barking subsided when Uncle Danny (the mother's brother-in-law) stepped out of the house down the hill and called out, "Hello?" And upon hearing nothing, went back inside. The quiet of the night surrounded the little sleepers in the tent. Just about the time mom was drifting off to sleep in the warm, little tent, Hubby descends upon the tent..."Meredith? Meredith? Are you awake? Y'all need to come inside...there's something out here." I open the tent and hubby's standing right out there (all I can see at this point are socks and the end of his .22 rifle).

Here's where it gets spooky...when hubby came outside (he was going to sleep on the porch, protecting us in the tent), he heard something large behind the oak tree (about 20 feet downhill from our tent). He said it had heavy foot steps and sounded quite large. He said that it slowly walked towards the neighboring fence (all the while staying in the brush), but did not cross the fence. Hubby is not one to be afraid of many things, but he felt a strong urge for us to come inside. When we got the kids inside and in their beds, he then told me that something had walked under his brother's window a little earlier. He said that it was breathing heavy and was right below the window (which is about 7 feet off the ground). That's about when the dogs started barking and my brother-in-law called out the door.

There are many strange occurrences that happen out here...too weird to go into but there are many strange things afoot in our little part of the country.

At any rate, here are some pictures of the kids this morning doing their schoolwork in the tent and one of me checking out my garden, which all turned black in the night (as last night it was chilly and rather frosty). My tomatoes have all turned black as have the volunteer pumpkins and my two basil plants. So, it looks like I'll be planting again this weekend ***sigh***. I knew I should have listened to that little voice in my head saying "Cover your plants!!" Nex time I'll listen.

I forgot, there's also one of the Yeast Bread I made last week (some of the best bread I've ever made).

Request for Prayers

I'm requesting prayers for a relative of mine who is facing severe financial difficulty ahead. Basically, she overextended herself in trying to fix up her home in order to sell it (sometime in the early part of last year), purchased land (in cash) in another state (to be near her sister), had a 3,000 square foot manufactured home designed to her specifications for her new land. She must have her current home up to code before listing it. Her home is not complete, she used her entire retirement (having withdrew funds early) and is currently paying two mortgages. She has enough money to pay for both mortgages next month and that's it - nothing left in the bank or in retirement. Her home is not ready to be listed, she has no employment (as she retired and has not returned to work), is behind on her utilities and now owes the IRS $55,000 (and that's not an exaggeration) for early withdrawal penalties. She won't listen to advice from her sister or any other relatives (and hasn't for the past many, many months) and is now in dire straits. I ask that y'all lift her up in prayers as God is the only one that can help her right now. By the way, she has people living with her that don't help pay utilities or the mortgage or rent or help any in way shape or form. She continues to let these people mooch off her and does nothing. She needs help in a divine way for wisdom and financial responsibility and any number of things. Please pray for her. There's nothing that we can do for her as any money we could give her would not even be a drop in the bucket. She has informed us that her last option is a gun to the head (and I'm not kidding). I know that there are many God-fearing, loving Christians out there and I would appreciate it if you would bow your heads and say a prayer for her. She needs many prayers to help her through this difficult time.

Guinea woes

That's how I feel right now. The guineas have destroyed all but 7 of the 78 green bean plants I planted (and all of them were sprouting). I tried row cover but they WALK ON THE ROW COVER picking at the plants beneath it. Hubby suggested a scarecrow. I've replanted the green beans and I hope that this next batch sprouts and grows. I'm so disgusted, frustrated and wouldn't mind eating guinea stew for dinner tonight.

The plan today is to prop up the row cover where it sits a little higher so they can't walk on it. And, I'm going to build a scarecrow. We shall see what that does.

If these don't work, we may just have to put a fence around the garden (which costs $$ that we really don't want to spend right now).

And, I'm going to say a prayer that the guineas find some other food source (at least until the plants are large enough to withstand some pecking).

Just a few pictures

This is the side garden that contains the herbs + the green peas (seeds are planted in the trough and in the soil right in front of the trough). The cucumbers are next to the trough in the smaller pots. I'm hoping to get plenty of cucumbers for more pickles (although we still have a lot from last year).

This is a picture of the green bean plants I have left. I put row cover over them yesterday only to have the guineas walk over the netting this morning!!!

And yes, those metal "cages" are halves of our minnow trap.

These are my tomatoes (about 25-26 of them)...mostly Roma tomatoes (I plan to make tons of spaghetti sauce & salsa this year).

James & Lauren looking for caterpillars (they wrap themselves up in the Spanish Oak leaves every spring). It's like Christmas for them (unwrapping the leaves, that is!).

A Sister's Love

For the past few days my son has had an in-grown toenail. The swelling had gone down and wasn't as tender but it was still bothering him last night. So, hubby had him sit down and proceeded to remove the ingrown toenail. Well, you know how sensitive that can be. Poor baby was crying and hurting and I'm holding his hand, telling him it'll be OK in a few minutes and I turn around to hear Lauren say, "Why am I crying?" She had HUGE tears streaming down her face. She was so upset for her big brother that she just couldn't help but cry and hurt with him. It was the sweetest thing. She truly loves her big brother. The whole thing lasted about 5 minutes. Thirty minutes after it was done and over with, James' foot was feeling TONS better ... all that pressure was gone.

I just thought it was so touching. They are very close. Yes, they fight and argue, but they're always there to make the other one laugh and now I know that they'll cry along with each other as well. Don't you just love families?

Garden v. Guineas???

All right. I'm going to war ... with the guineas. I think they're the culprits behind the green beanocide taking place in my garden. Every day I go out to check on the garden and what do I see? Green bean plants plucked from the soil and laying next to or close to where they were planted.

The plants just emerged about a week ago and are about 2"-3" tall. It may not be the guineas, but right now it's just hard to know for sure.

The guineas are free-ranging and wander around the 1 acre piece we live on with my in-laws. The guineas belong to my in-laws and are mainly set free to keep down the local snake population around the houses. So, yes, the guineas serve a very huge purpose. And, I kind of even enjoy their raucous squawking.

However, when my garden is in jeopardy, I can't help but point a finger at those little guineas as they are the only ones I see meandering around the garden.

None of the other plants are bothered (i.e. the tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, sunflowers, etc.)...just the green beans. It's a mystery (as Lauren would say). I'm going to have to put up some little wire domes over them until they get large enough where they can't be plucked up and out of the ground.

As for the rest of the garden, I've been able to finish planting everything today:

It's been raining off and on today - one of those gentle, spring-like kind of rains...the kind that's just perfect for the garden. I look forward to the plants getting larger. I need to take some pictures to show y'all how nice the garden's growing.

Update on Mushroom Soup

I was asked for the soup recipe I used the other day. I've posted it below. As for the results? Well...it turned out pretty darn good! It had a really rich flavor and canned up pretty good. I should take pictures to post. Also, I was able to make 10 pints of chicken stock (I was completely out of the quart jars) instead of the 5-6 I originally thought I would have left over. It dawned on me yesterday that you could probably use a bunch of celery (I mean the entire bunch) to make "Cream of Celery Soup". I bet that would be really good. I may have to try that one next time.

Melt better. Add mushrooms and cook until brown. Add meat stock, saving enough to mix with the flour. Make a paste with meat stock and flour. Mix all ingredients and heat until it boils. Put in jars and process in pressure canner for 40 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure. When opening to use, add equal amount of milk and soup. Makes 5 pints. Can be tripled.

$9 Chicken = Bunches!!

I spent $9 on 2 whole chickens. With those two chickens, I simmered them for a few hours and was able to make:

What kind of mother are you? -Mother Styles

This is a neat "test" to determine what kind of mother you are.

Your type is: estj —The “How-To” Mother

“We’re the mothers you like to carpool with. Not only are we on time, we organize the driving schedule for everyone.”

Glorious Morning

Today is the first day all week that I've woken up to sunshine...glorious sunshine!! There is not a cloud in the sky!!! It's going to be a balmy 78° which means I get to do my laundry on the line today. Praise the Lord!!! All right, kind of weird, I know, but I love hanging my laundry on the line. It's peaceful. There's something so nice about hanging it, watching it blow in the breeze and folding it right off the line and putting it right into the laundry basket.

I'm hoping that later today or tomorrow I can make some chicken stock. I bought a pound of mushrooms yesterday so I can try the Mushroom Soup recipe I posted about a few posts back. We shall see.

With the chicken from the chicken stock, I'm going to make chicken enchiladas. Those are so good!!

I don't really have anything else to post but these random thoughts flitting through my head as I plan out my day.

Question: Prima Latina & Latina Christiana - has anyone used before?

My goal for my children is to have a foreign language for every year they are in school (with the exception of Kindergarten). James is finishing up 3 years of Greek. Next year I want to start him and Lauren both on Latin. I think Latin is crucial to grammar, vocabulary, spelling and is the basis for many languages. So, I found this program through Memoria Press: Prima Latina (for K-3) and Latina Christiana (4th grade+). In this curriculum they also have a section on 12 Famous Men of Rome with maps, etc. Has anyone ever used this curriculum before? If so, is it a good program? They also have another book you can buy called Famous Men of Rome that outlines the lives of 30 Roman men with stories, maps, European geography, etc. I'm considering purchasing both the Latin sets and the Famous Men of Rome book for next year. I figure that would be history, geography and foreign language all rolled into one. I was just curious if anyone had ever heard of it or used it before.

Rainy Morning

We woke up early this morning to the sound of rain beating on the roof, lightning flashing across the sky, thunder booming and hail pounding above our heads. I kept saying prayers that God would watch over the plants in the garden, keeping them safe in the hail. It's too dark still to determine if any damage was done. I think the worst of it has moved on. I can hear the soft rain now.

We all got up, watched Alvin & the Chipmunks and the kids and hubby are now upstairs playing. It's just now 7:04 a.m. It's going to be a LONNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG day.

Today is our normal "day off" for school work. I'd promised the kids that if they did good this week they would get a surprise today. So, we're off to see the first showing of "Nim's Island" a little later. It looks like a pretty good movie. Again, we shall see...

I noticed yesterday that some of the green beans were sprouting in the garden, along with one of the sunflowers. Yeah! With 75+ green bean plants, I'm hoping that most of them grow!!!

Here are some of the flowers we picked yesterday on our walk. Aren't they pretty?

1 Fish Tank + Minnows & Crawdad = GREAT Science Experiment

Over the past week we've been down to the tank (pond) so the kids can catch minnows, tadpoles, etc. Their grandparents purchased butterfly nets for them and they've turned into great minnow nets. So the kids can better watch all the minnow activity (without going down to the tank every day), we found our old fish tank and set up a new home for the fish.

This has probably been one of the best little experiments we've done. They are watching the minnows, tadpoles and now a crawdad who now reside in the fish tank. One of the tadpoles had two hind legs when we caught it. Now, it has it's first front leg. They've been watching it for when the 4th leg emerges. Talk about a great science lesson! I'm going to see what kind of lesson plans I can find on-line that correspond with the lifecycle of a tadpole.

James and Hubby caught 2 crawdads last weekend. One of them was HUGE! Anyway, the larger one died but the younger one is about to start shedding its skin. It is a beautiful reddish/green (which I've never seen before). So, maybe I'll see what I can find out about crawdads as well for next week.

Anyway, I thought I would share ... they absolutely love this fish tank. Hubby and I never thought something so simple could be so entertaining for so long!!

Sunday Happenings

Well, this is the end of my vacation

. Although I got roped into working about 4 hours yesterday, today is my official last day of vacation. Hubby and I were talking this morning and he thinks that by the beginning of 2009 I should be able to quit altogether or possibly only work 15-20 hours a week. Yeah! Right now we're pretty much debt free with the exception of a student loan payment, but we're trying to save $$ for land. So, that's the reason I'm still working.

On a different note, today has been a really nice day. I woke up late (8:30 a.m.), made a leisurely breakfast of fresh eggs and toast. Hubby's brother came up for a little while and we talked for a bit. Other than that, I've been quilting today on Lauren's quilt. I made a promise to myself that I'm going to finish one square a day so that I can finish it within the next month or so. Then, I'm going to go back to James' quilt. I'm still piecing his together.

The kids and hubby went down to the tank and did a little crawfishing. James caught a HUGE crawdad with his bare hands. He was pretty pleased with that. Hubby caught a smaller crawdad, which made James happy because he caught the largest one of the day. He's so competitive!

The kids have choir practice tonight and then following that we have church. All in all, it's turned out to be another wonderful day!