My  finger is really sore as one of our rabbits bit it this morning!  I didn't know rabbits would bite?  Well they do.  I guess the poor girl was hungry, I was filling her feeder when she decided to latch onto my little pinky.  It makes it hard to type........so this will be short.

The insurance adjuster came this morning.  The building that burned was not listed on the policy, so not covered, which we pretty much knew.  Only the garage and 2 open sided sheds were listed.  The other little buildings (misc. chicken houses and such) are really not worth enough to insure.  Until this happens, then you wish they were!  But the garage siding will have to be replaced and he said he would include the shingles on that side also. 

So, since we felt that we should wait until he came to start clean up, we did get a little done on that this afternoon.  We picked up all of the tin, which made a huge difference in the looks of things.  The roof was tin and also the sides were lined with tin inside the building, so quite a bit of tin was laying around.

No baking today, a little laundry, chores and just everyday things other than that.  Hubby has been promoted to dish washer for a few days!

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Much to the delight of a certain seven year old that I know...it snowed! There's a blanket of fresh clean snow here in the woods. It looks just like a fairyland. Of course, he has been distracted all day, waiting for the school day to end. When "the bell rang" he was out the door! I've been making a list of things that I want to accomplish this winter. These snowy "home days" will soon be here and gone and I'll be putting on boots, grabbing gloves and heading out into the soggy spring land. In the last several months there were some projects left undone, letters left unwritten, clothes that need mending, and things that I just haven't felt well enough to do. These things need to be done now. I'm not sure why I have this surge of energy, but I'm just going to just embrace it. :-)

I have decided to get back into making soap. If I am to have any for Farmers Market in spring and summer (or for our own use and gifts for that matter) I need to get busy now. I've also been daydreaming about our raspberries. I'm sure that this stack of seed catalogs here on the table isn't helping my spring fever much, but, I do want to enjoy each season to its fullest. And I do love snow, too. Probably not enough to brave the cold to sled in it tonight as the boys are doing, but I think it's really lovely. Besides, my job is to see to it that they warm back up. I'll stay indoors, put some wood in the fire, a pot of hot soup on the stove and warm some biscuits in the oven for when they come back in. Oh, and maybe dream a little more of spring.

Where, oh where, did she go??  Was she accidentally locked away in a neighbor's shed? .....Trapped in someone's garage? ...Or...maybe even holed up and hiding out in the barn on the hill, awaiting the departure of the two little weiner dogs who were visiting us?  Only Mac, herself, knows for sure...and she's not talking (...not a word, other than repeatedly telling me her name..."Maaac - mmmaaac").  All I know is that after four days, her mommy was happy to see her once more! 

Welcome home little prodigal.

  Another gloomy day full of wind and rain!  The winds got up to at least 28 MPH.  Our garbage can got blown across the road.  I had to adjust our satellite about 4 times because the wind kept moving it over! 

  They started running production at Jerm's job yesterday, and they're not wanting anyone to get any overtime.  Thankfully he did have a lotover the Christmas season, that was nice.  It is nice having him home earlier as well...it's not like I'll be buying Polar watches or anything so I think we're good! 

  My eczema was flared up really bad so I had to start using my steroid cream again...it's helped immensely but I hate using it...my skin is gonna get so thin I won't have any left!

  Well I ned to upload some pics, have a nie evening!

Blessings,

~*Becca*~

    " Pray for peace in Jerusalem: May those who love her be safe. May there be peace within her walls and safety within her strong towers." 

                   ~ Psalm 122: 6 & 7 NCV ~

Like many of you my heart goes out to Israel at this time.  The media has launched an anti-Israel campaign.  They are not telling the truth about what is really going on there.  My prayers are that peace will be in Jerusalem. The bible tells us to pray for Israel and for her peace. I pray the United States may always be counted as one of her allies.  Israel still has a destiny to fulfill and God has His eyes on His people.  His promises will be fulfilled in due time.

Praying,

~ gloria ~

I realized today I have not blogged much about homeschooling.  Our family began homeschooling years and years ago, when my oldest child  ( 15 yrs old now) at the time was getting ready for kindergarten. I remember reading everything I could about home education and then taking the "plunge"!  Of course back then I had just a few little ones to school, and now there are 8 children being homeschooled at home! 

Homeschooling does pose it's challenges --  but overall I have been really pleased with the results.  I can't even imagine putting my kids in the public school system.  I know there are many wonderful & gifted teachers teaching in the schoools, and I am sure many kids are receiving a good education.   The decision to homeschool is much more than "academics" to me.  It's more about "relationship" with my kids then academics. Oh sure, we do have our texts and our projects we are working on, but the focus has never been on the "books" but on character development and relationships. My greatest desire is to keep my kid's hearts and to really lead them to a personal walk with the Lord.  I want our schooling time and our books we use to glorify God and to teach truth not relativism or humanism.

So we continue to homeschool. Some days I am tired. Like many of you I deal with the yearly "burn out" syndrome, and the days do come where I ask myself "why am I doing this to myself"!   But when I stop to really think about things and look into my kid's faces and eyes..... there is NO way I could put them in the local school.  I just can't. 

Does that mean homeschooling is a "perfect" fit? No! I am sure that there are many things I could be doing better as their teacher and there are hard days when I am struggling along with a child and something they are trying to understand or learn.  But overall, homeschooling is so much more than academics. ... it's a way of life...... our life does not revolve around "school" ........ we do have a time set aside each day for doing the math, the grammar, the spelling, etc. But we have learned to be flexible and to keep the "big picture" in mind.

Recently I found out a good friend of mine has quit homeschooling her kids after years of doing so. It just broke my heart.  She has beautiful children and for the life of me I don't understand why she would make that choice. But regardless of how I feel about homeschooling, I know it's not for everyone.

One of the things I really love about homeschooling is the ability it gives me to really *know* my kids.... there is no "guessing" what is going on in their minds...... everything is revealed and there is nothing hidden....if there is a problem, it's evident..... if there is an attitude that needs to be adjusted that is known too...... it's all up front and open....... no hiding anything... that can be tough, especially when mom's flaws are "open" too!  So I openly admit, homeschooling is a "stretch" for mom, and it certainly does keep me on my toes!  ( no hiding my sins behind closed doors around here!!)

I wanted to share one aspect of homeschooling that I really, really love and that is the opporotunity that homeschooling can give to really develop a love of learning in our children . By that I do not mean learning their math facts or spelling words -- what I mean is loving to learn about something for the sake of loving to learn!  Each month my kids choose a topic that they wish to study and dwelve into.... it can be anything........ and believe me we have had some interesting topics thru the years. :)  After their assigned subjects are completed they can spend as long as they wish studying their "topic of choice".   At the end of the month we have a "report night" where each child writes up a report on their topic, presents an oral report ( they hand in a typed report for me to file) and can also share a display board with drawings or print outs.  The kids really look forward to this night!  They enjoy sharing their knowledge with the rest of the family.  It gives them a sense of accomplishment.   My husband & I also enjoy hearing about what they are learning and what they have gleaned from their in depth study. 

Here are some snapshots of  our report night we held a few nights back.  As always the reports were interesting and varied.  :) 

This past month we had:

Sarah studied  about the Pilgrims.  Big sister Hannah, helped her put a display board together. :)  She loves to give these reports, even though she is just 6 yrs old and needs help reading her report a loud. :)

Paul learned about Abraham Lincoln .  The twins are getting much better with their reading and didn't need much help giving their reports!

Peter gave a wonderful report on Martin Luther King Jr.

Rebekah studied about Anne Frank.....

Samuel gave a wonderful report on William Penn -- the founder of Pennsylvania ....I learned a ton just by listening to his report!

Rachel enjoyed learning about the "maide of Louraine"....Joan of Arc.......

Hannah studied up on Mary Queen of Scotts......... what a sad and interesting life she led.....Hannah loves to study about famous women in history....... she's a lot like her mom. :) I too love studying the lives of famous women -- right now I am reading about the life of Susanna Wesley the mother of Charles & John Wesley.

Last but not least, Jacob gave us a very detailed report on the Vietnam War.......he loves to study wars, and he really learned a lot. This month he has chosen to study  the Korean War, so he really is into this "war" studies lately!  He loves history and mostly chooses historical topics of interest.

This coming month the kids have chosen the following topics to study:

Jacob: Korean War, Hannah : Christopher Columbus, Rachel: Eleanor Roosevelt, Samuel: Lightening, Rebekah: Horses, Peter: George Washington ( again!), Paul: Trains, Sarah : Dogs

I hope my kids can look back upon their years homeschooling with fondness. :)  I know I will have many many memories to look back upon.  No regrets here, even though there are the the "days" I wonder what on earth I have done to myself!

~ gloria ~

I want to say thanks to those who answered my questions about dairy goats.  It's so nice to have helpful friends.  We haven't decided yet to get the 3 does.  I'll let you all know if we do because I'll probably have a ton of questions.

I have been researching how to milk a goat, saving the milk and such.  Looks like I'll have to invest in a few supplies.

I tried a new recipe tonight to use up the leftover chicken from the other night.  It was quite delicious.  Although, Madison said it didn't taste good.  I swear that girl should be a vegetarian some days.  I don't think she'd like to give up pepperoni.

We've taken down the Christmas decorations and I returned them to the house in town today.  It seems roomier in here tonight without the tree.  And it also feels cold!  LOL  I'm not sure the two are related but I'm chilly.  The temps are in the single digits below zero with a NW wind this evening.

Our baby bunnies are doing well. We've been bringing in both does in the am to nurse and everyone is thriving except for 2 runts in the litter of 10.  I brought Poppy in this evening to nurse the 2 of them but they didn't get much so I'm wondering if something isn't right with them.  They sure were giving it their best effort!

Well, I'm off to bed.  Good Night!
Carol