We are doing well. We had a wonderful holiday weekend. Celebrated with family and friends. And it was quite nice to just have a relaxing day remember how blessed we are to live in the USA. And praise God for the freedom to be able to worship as we feel led.

and it's from our garden! yea! I am having such fun! Summer has been unseasonably cool here until today. Hopefully it will help the garden really grow :-)

I am so pleased to be able to watch my chickens grow..what a kick they are! They will walk in my office door as to say good morning :)

We are finally finished with 4 H for the year. I am already missing it. Fair time was last week and we had a blast! The kids learned alot and placed with their rabbits and got 4 H fever. Will be looking into more rabbit shows soon!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

Good Fourth of July Weekend to you all~ I pray it finds you blessed and relaxing wiht family and friends! It's a good time to take stock in all that the Lord has given us. Freedom in Christ.. in dependence in His Lordship which brings true freedom and liberty!

How'd your day go? We had a nice and productive day plus fellowship with family and friends. It was a nice day all in all.

I'd like to invite you to our message board. http://acountrywoman.ning.com it is rather slow but a good place to hang out :)

Wednesday... already?

Sunday Morning Blessings!

Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing i the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love.

Another week has past

and we are busy as usual. The garden is really going well. Picked my first zuchini! YEA! Bill needs to make his special zuchini skillet bake! It's the best!

We have a baseball tourni this afternoon and it's going to be 105 at least. I hate the heat! I'm a winter person. But I thank God that it allows my garden to grow :)

Quick Apple Butter

You will need:
 1 cup sugar
 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1.59-oz pkg freezer jam pectin
 3/4 tsp cinnamon
 1/4 tsp allspice
 1/4 tsp nutmeg
 5 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped apples (about 5 med)
 1 Tbsp lemon juice
 4 8 ounce freezer jars

Directions:
1.) STIR sugar, brown sugar, contents of pectin package, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a bowl until well blended. Set aside.
2.) ADD apples and lemon juice to food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add apple puree to pectin mixture. Stir 3 minutes.
3.) LADLE jam into clean jars to fill line. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes.
4.) SERVE immediately, refrigerate up to three weeks or freeze up to one year.

Summer Joys!

This is our first week without scheduled schooling and we are starting the Prairie Primer :) I love Little House in the Prairie! It's a good time of the year. It's more laid back though my work load doesn't decrease, it's so nice to have the children home :)

My garden is taking off and It's a thrill :) I believe my chickens are starting to go into their first molt. later then I had expected :-) It's all good I suppose

I need to get the poster board for our 4 H project and have the kids practice somemore on their showmanship with their rabbits :) Fair is next week :)

How are you preparing for a tight ecomony? I would be interested in hearing your tips and ideas :)

Thursday Already?

Good Morning, Dear Ones~!

We are doing well. We have first of our three open houses tonight. This is coming up to a really busy time for us. with Taylor graduating and baseball coming to tourni time, 4 h and fair and rodeo coming, it's well.. busy. I will not get grumpy :) I will chose to go with the flow.. God help me! LOL

I so can't wait for summer! My garden is going well. I want to plant more. Will try to do so this weekend :0

I have been thinking a lot about the passage, Proverbs 31 .. how I strive to become that but it always seems so beyond my reach. But God is showing me, one step at a time. That I am still accepted in the Beloved even if I don't meet every standard. That it is a goal to strive for, a lesson to learn and a goal to strive for but not beat myself up for .. for there is no condemnation in the Lord... and that just brings peace and a bigger desire to continue to strive to do so, out of gratitude :-)

today's goals...

Great refreshed with His Word

I'm working on some fabric gifts.. making some adorable dishtowels with scripture references on them. and table runners.

Will finish bookkeeping for my dh and cut up the fresh bread I made :)

pay some bills

hang up some pictures

that's my goals

Happy Mother's Day

Isn't that the truth? If I am doing my God given job, my babies won't grow up and lean on me but be independant, God honoring, other loving people.

In this day and age of 'community parenting' it is refreashing to know God's Word has not changed. That what was true yesterday is true today and will be true tomorrow and forever. I can settle my mind on what's right for my home. Rest assured, no matter what comes about, Ladies, God has given us all we need to raise Godly children. You are important to God's purpose in your child's life. He called you to this mininstry called motherhood. Do not be dismayed. You are chosen for such a time as this!

A Verse for Today

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the table of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Bread Making!

Ok I'm hooked! With help from my online sisters, I have learned to make bread! Ok, I've known for some time but not really as it always came out hard and with no flavor ;( It was always like a rock... But I finally made a really nice loaf of bread! YEA! No more store bought!

We had a baseball game today and it was fun. Our team lost but it is always fun to watch the boys play and laugh with the parents in the stands :) My beloved is hard at the shops and the kids and I are now home and fussing on the home :)

An Invitation!

I would love to extend an invitation to anyone who would love to join us in a bible study of Daniel and then onto Revelation. We are going thru a study from Kay Arthur, www.precept.org. We would LOVE to have you join us! We are just starting so come to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kindred_Hearts_at_Home

My parents are here and we are thoroughly enjoying the visit. Gals, treasure your time with your parents. They are truly God's gift to us! Our garden is taking off :) YEA! Now, I'm on a hunt to keep them. I'm learning of food preservation and truly believe this is a time to stock up. If for just being a good steward of what God has given me, I will learn to be more frugal :)

Does anyone have a good white bread recipe they can share? I am not all that talented at making bread

Mid Week Dreams

We are doing well. My parents are here for another visit so I'm excited about that :) I did get to go have coffee with a friend and found a huge blessing. That working at home for my husband is a huge luxery :-)

My garden is taking off! We put in a drip system and we are seeing the fruit of our labors :) YEA! I am thinking it's time to plant the melons seeds before it gets too long..

A New Day!

It's a Brand New Day! God truly is gracious and His mercy is new every morning! We are having that chicken and rolls casserole tonight. That was such a hit! And we have a surplus of eggs :)

I'm having such fun with the chickens. They are absolutely adorable! They loved to be held. Will stop in front of me and lower themselves so I can pick them up. Trenton oh my, has a love for the chicks that is so precious! He will hand feed them and walk them around the property and show them things :)

Good Day!

It's a beautiful day in my neck of the woods, though very very windy and cold. We had an outing today with Trevor, He had a drill team performance for his sea cadets and they performed for the Army Reserve's 100th anniversary! They were awesome!

We have our garden almost completely finished. Now we are thinking flowers. I want some rose trees on our deck on the back side of our home. I love roses.

I am feeling the need also to shed of un wanted and/or unnecessary 'blundle's' .. have bagged up lots of good clothes which could get better use and donated them to the needy. I have re organized my kitchen and office area. I have been re organizing my menu and recipes.. just in time for spring. What if I allowed the Lord this kind of control? What would He need to clean or shed from me? Do I hold onto sin and not pay attention? I pray not. Do I hold onto grudges? Do I find comfort in things which are not Him? Time to spend even more time in the Word.

I am getting ready to go on our women's retreat this next weekend. I need to bake some cookies and prepare our list of what to take. My Tay is coming along this year. Should be pretty amazing! I can already sense a moving of His Spirit on my heart.

Does anyone have a good recipe for Triple Berry Jam which includes blueberry, raspberry and blackberry?

Wednesday Blessings

We are enjoying some good weather in my neck of the world :) It is windy with a little chill but that will end soon enough so I'm grateful. Got more plants in the ground and the garden is coming along nicely. My beloved hubby fixed the sprinklers so the garden won't flood anymore:)

Tonight is prayer and praise night and we hope to attend Lord willing :) We are getting ready for our weekend full of gardening and This is the weekend of the Army Reserve's 100 anniversary at our local training station and T2 is in the Sea Cadets so he will be participating with the drill team. He makes me so proud!

I have decided to stop selling beauticontrol as a career. I am not one really to sell product in a party setting, hate getting up in front of people and so I've decided to just purchase for myself. It is a great product. Won't put anything else on my skin but I am feeling rather excited as I am going to put more time and effort into my sewing and selling those online. No standing in front of a party plan thing, boothes and such where I talk face to face is more my speed :) I like the personal one on one approach and so I'm excited about my new endevours.. well, been doing this for a while but putting more time into it as it is :) I have set up an etsy account and will let you know when I get things posted there :)

Tonight for dinner is salmon, a salad and corn. It's making me hungry thinking about it! I'm reading a couple of books, Jesus, the One and Only by Beth Moore, I just love the way she writes! And The Covenant by Beverly Lewis. I'm an avid reader and having a hard time putting this down. Anyone else read these?

Good Sunday to ya'all

We had an amazing time at church today! Our interim Pastor is preaching out of the Gospel of John. It is wetting my appetite for more :) Thinking of taking Beth Moore's The One and Only Study then online to go with it :)

My parents are here to visit again! Yea! Gals, treasure your parents.. the time with them here is so limited and precious! Thank God my parents know Him and this is only a see ya later kind of thing but I so treasure having them here!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi. I have some gardening I hope to do with the lambs in my life. We have gotten the tomatoes, the cabbage, onions and carrots in . Goal for today, zucchini, peppers, garlic and corn.

Bill put a plug in my ear.. I'm chewing on it. Said if I wanted, I could sell the jam I am making at our shops ( We have two auto repair shops). This could be really fun! I am LOVING making jam!!!

Good Morning!

Good Wednesday Morning! May the Lord bless you this fine day! We are off and running this morning :) Chickens and kids are off doing what God calls them to do :) My beloved husband is off to work and I'm working here on the computer. My parents are here for a visit so I am trying not to spend a lot of time here. I have been trying to do one different thing, one new effort to streamline our homelife each day.. one new thing to become more self sufficient and simplify my family. So I started canning. I have made lots of jam :-)That is such fun!!

I'm also starting my own garden.. just need to find a good way to keep the dogs out of there :-) NIce problems :-)

A Yummy!

Cut 1/2 of rolls. Layer bottom of pan with rolled out rolls. Layer the cooked, chopped meat of choice.. then top with Jack cheese. Mix together eggs and parmessan cheese and cover meat. Then layer top with remaining rolls .. you can braid them together like a basket. Cook for 35-40 minutes

A Simple Country Home

Monday Blessings