Last Week of February

8 year old book worm

O (10) putting together the puzzle from Grandma

T (4) on the Snow Day

Snow Day sledding!

L (6) on Snow Day

Lettuce seedlings in rockwell... getting ready for the Tower Garden!

M (21 months) has a snack

I've been remiss to post my thanks, but not remiss in giving thanks. What a wonderful week we have had! Here are just a few of the gifts:

931. lovely, quiet weekend with snowfall
932. a snow day!
933. crazy huge gift of a gallon of maple syrup (when we were out and I didn't have grocery money left to buy any).
934. M singing "Jesus Loves Me"
935. Big boys singing in big voices in the shower
936. Green plant shoots bending to the light. We ooh and ahh over their growth.
937. A single white rose in a vase. The smell! The beauty!
938. Finally, the long awaited book- Jesus Calling- and surprise! It was on sale.
939. Leaning into a sunny window to listen to L read.
940. The Lawyer asks to listen to a sermon in bed.
941. long, sweet conversation with my mother-in-law.
942. M climbing into O's lap during school, snuggling his blanket and so happy to sit with big brother.
943. lots of texts with an old friend- so much good going on right now!
944. family visits and family dinner and farming conversation
945. children happy skipping. . .

Do Less

My mother sent me this quote from Julie Beck in an email recently and paid me a high compliment when she said it made her think of me. It is true that we are not involved in much outside the home and we do not have a t.v.; we are trying to live in a small(er) space and make do with less. This season of having children in our home is passing so quickly and I know it takes concentrated effort to be fully present here and now, content and invested by choice.

 "Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all." (Julie Beck)

Homemade Orange Toothpaste

Children's toothpaste is ridiculously expensive. And flavored with crazy artificial things and colored with dyes. And they usually contain fluoride. And (our) children have been known to blow through a tube of toothpaste in less time than it takes to need to replace the toilet paper and eons before we run out of hand soap. For all of these reasons, I knew I needed to make our own toothpaste. (Yes, I did this nearly two years ago, but it had been quite some time and I was ready to try this again.)

I've tried this before and people weren't so happy with it. The storage container was a problem, but I solved that with a fun little metal container. (Though now I realize the lid is much too difficult to get off!) The offsetting taste for the children before was strong peppermint (which I enjoyed). This time I switched to orange essential oil and most of them think it is very fun.

So... inexpensive toothpaste that I feel good about letting my children use- even M (21 months). I like that I was able to achieve a creamy consistency this time and it tastes good! I'll try a new (minty) version for myself next.


Homemade Orange Toothpaste:
3 Tbl. coconut oil (softened)
3 Tbl. baking soda
5-10 drops liquid stevia
5-10 drops orange essential oil (the kids liked about 10, which also gave a nice orange color)

Mix all ingredients together until they are a smooth consistency; this should look creamy like "store" toothepaste. Adjust sweetness with stevia and flavor with orange oil. Apply to a toothbrush (wet with warm water helps soften coconut oil if it is chilly where you live, too.) Enjoy your clean teeth!

Fun Food!

Venison, Cabbage, Onion Beirock

Beirocks prompted this!

Wholly Granola

Chocolate Valentine Custard Cakes

The Ultimate Sabbath

Our pastors have been preaching a series titled "The Story Behind the Morals;" basically walking us through the Ten Commandments and talking about how they reveal Jesus and the gospel of grace and are not simply a list of things we ought not do.

"Honor the sabbath day to keep it holy" seems like a straightforward command. And yet, how do we show honor and how to we keep a day holy? I, like the Pharisees, would like to have a list of things that are permissible and inexcusable on the Sabbath. Can I make dinner? How about raking the lawn? What if raking the lawn is fun for me? What if I'm praying while I'm raking? Can I read books besides the Bible? What if they talk about the Bible? What if they are written by Christians?

I'm a moralist, I admit. If I could just know all the right things to do... and then be able to DO them... somehow I persuade myself that I would be okay. It's funny, almost. Because I can NEVER do all the right things. I can't even do just TEN right things (as in the Ten Commandments). Therefore, I can never make myself right. So my salvation is not about my doing at all but only about believing and receiving.

Andrew Conrad shared a quote,"The thought of an activity that does not accomplish something tangible terrifies us." It sometimes seems terrible to have a to-do list with nothing crossed out at the end of the day.

Sabbath rest seems like it would accomplish nothing, but that is because we think too highly of ourselves and often look only to what we can "accomplish" instead of trusting what He wants to accomplish in us if we rest and receive.

Our weekly sabbath rest points to our ultimate sabbath- God's eternal rest in heaven. As we rest from our daily work on Sunday we are reminded of our final, coming rest.

Sabbath is a taste of our salvation, an opportunity for us to taste the goodness, mercy, and grace of God. It's not about what we can do but all about what He has already done. Oh, marvelous grace!

921. nighttime coughs quieted with R.C.
922. boy still little enough to ride on my hip
923. oldest boy filling in a goal ladder for his dream log cabin
924. a movie in bed with The Lawyer
925. five loads of laundry (or was it six?) in one day
926. words of encouragement from a friend who reads these spilled out thoughts
927. amazing, crazy abundant gift of food- and we had asked to see crazy provision this week.
928. the boys remind me of other provisions, too: the milk, the door prizes at the RV show
929. music on speakers flowing calm notes through the house
930. girl's excitement over Valentine's day; so many treats and notes and signs through the house!

Real Food Night

This week I hosted an exciting "Real Food" night. We used the JuicePlus+ Live Life to the Plus booklets and when we came to "consuming more whole foods and less processed foods," a local farmer shared a few minutes on their family's vision for providing green-fed meat and dairy products to the local community (with an emphasis on green!). We then discussed the importance of consuming lots of fruits and vegetables in our diet and watched a JuicePlus+ dvd.

The evening ended with questions and answers and great feedback. (I think there were many of us who were wishing we could move our family to a farm!) Everyone tried delicious JuicePlus+ Complete shakes (cherry vanilla or chocolate with peanut butter and banana) as well as red, green, and purple chewies. Thanks to Joy, they also left with raw milk. It was a wonderful evening and I was excited again about connecting farms with families and encouraging and empowering others to eat local (even as local as their own Tower Garden!).

On Blogging

As there has been an obvious lack of posting in recent months (at least to me), it's time for me to wax philosophical again in attempt to explain myself.

I tend not to post much when:
a. I'm not sure I have anything fun/exciting/interesting/helpful/spiritual to say
b. I'm not sure I have the most positive things to say (and best keep my thoughts to myself and pray for reformation of my soul!)
c. There is so much going on that I'm not sitting down for 5 consecutive minutes in a day
d. I spend my 5 "free" minutes checking other blogs for inspiration and then really don't think I have anything to say
e. all of the above

And YET (aren't there always yets on this blog?)! I find the reason I enjoy blogs is that they inspire me. Take an ordinary, everyday kind of woman like myself, let her write about the stuff in her life and a few of the things she is passionate about will rise to the surface and shine. She is invariably really good at something. I learn a lot from some really good blogs.

My error is in thinking that all of a life can shine. On a blog you can highlight the things going well and the things you are excited about and you can gloss over the laundry and broken relationships and weeds growing out back. What makes a great blog, in my opinion, is one that I read and find inspiration in (and it might only be inspiration in one life area) and also see some weaknesses. Every good character is flawed, right?

I often don't feel very inspiring and my flaws seem too obvious.

And YET that's what makes blogging so interesting to me. I don't see my life as exemplary, but I do have a great life! And maybe through the ins and outs of my days there will be inspiration to someone, just as so many other "ordinary" people are inspiration to me.

Simple (Frugal) Eating

I've had a light heart these past few days as I realized that we made it through January without running out of food or money in the grocery fund. I'm not sure this has ever happened before!

This amazing feat can be attributed to two things:
1) The Lord is graciously gifting us. Now that we have been using a strict budget for two years and have been faithfully tithing, He is calling us to be (more) generous. So, we tried it out in January- giving more than we thought we had to give (because you can't outgive the Giver!). In turn, I see His generosity toward us (of course!).
2) I've surrendered to simple, frugal eating. If I buy lots of beans and rice and potatoes at the beginning of the month (when there seems to be plenty of money) then we'll still have something to eat at the end of the month.

Here are a few more things I've learned:
1) It's good for me to just stay away from the grocery store. If I don't go, I don't spend any money. It's kind of strange, but I do love seeing how many days I can "make it" with only the food in the house/freezer. Usually I impress myself- and the meals are actually quite good, considering.
2) When I plan the week's menu it is good to leave at least one (or two) slots blank. Then, I'm not purchasing food for those meals and I can put my scrounging skills to good use on those nights and whip up a surprise. Maybe the Lord will bless us with surprise fellowship or a gift on one of those nights, too.
3) The Lawyer was right (even though I don't like it). Buying nuts and dried fruit doesn't feed bellies when they are hungry for dinner. Even those these are good, healthy grow foods that I want for my family, I can only buy them once our pantry is full (of beans and rice!). I'm still buying (lots of) them, but not as much as I'd like.
4) I can survive without daily chocolate.

One simple, frugal meal this week that was a hit: Broccoli Cheese Rice. I served this with a head of cabbage which I cooked with garlic and Braggs. We had salad, too. Yum for everyone!

Another (inexpensive) winner has been grits with eggs in the morning. Our kids also love bean and cheese quesadillas (and I can add all kinds of nutritious things in there!). 

Cacophonous Thanks

There was an evening last week when I thought to myself, "I have a great life. And if it gets any greater I may have to go take a long walk by myself."

I think that was about the time that M(21 mo) pinched his fingers in the bifold laundry doors, which followed T's (4) tears after an "accident" with his brothers... which happened while I was cleaning up a mess in the bathroom from M. . . during which there was a heated argument in the dining room between two siblings while The Lawyer washed dishes and R (8) talked his ear off in the kitchen. Oh, yes. This is normal around here. And it's great. What a lovely, cacophonous life we lead.

And I'm thankful for these voices and these troubles and these accidents. It means I'm alive! Feeling and being and messing up and receiving mercy... loving and hurting and experiencing deep joy.

916) M snuggles into bed and says, "Nigh, nigh, Mama. Cozy."
917) We dropped off some borrowed items and received spinach and apples and tomatoes- just the right things to feed my family a few more meals until the new month's paycheck came through.
918) Free haircuts and good fellowship with other moms.
919) THESE amazing photos of sand! Amazing. Blow-my-mind awesome.
920) God-breathed Scripture.