Hi all! I didn't exactly forget about my blessings post yesterday. I thought about it a lot, but I was away from my computer.
I took the kids to my grandparents farm to help get their winter's wood supply. We had a great time visiting with family, and helping out. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I spaced it out completely. They would have been great pictures to have! Tractors, chain saws, little wood splitting competitions to liven things up; it really was a great time. Only too much food...way too much food...
It's so strange that I had so many battles with time since more than a week ago when I talked about time in my Counting Blessings post. My blessings list is going to reveal the real us, for sure! I'm trying to learn to appreciate and invite God into ALL my time, not just the feel good time. I want to be thankful and appreciative of all the times in my life. I have managed to do that this past week to some extent. I'll get that list posted soon, I hope!
I'm not sure how much I'll get on this computer this week, so I'll wish you all a wonderful week! :) Blessings on all of your time!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
A Wonderful Day
I love Mother's Day! I'm just sayin'... I love being a mother every day, but there is something about Mother's Day. On that special day, I feel so thankful to be Mother to my four treasures. It's fun to have our picture taken together. Pictures really speak to me, so having those pictures to look at is very special.
I have an old family picture taped to the edge of my dresser by my bed. When I wake up I almost always see that picture. In it, my oldest is but seven years old and my youngest less than a year. In so many ways it seems like just yesterday! It reminds me that time marches on and stops for no person. That really inspires me to pray that God meets me in this place where I am, perhaps already feeling weak and overwhelmed by the magnitude of that day stretching before me with its endless number of tasks. It seems to me that those first few moments of focusing on the Lord really gives me direction for the day. I feel inspired and ready to begin.
I'm going to put these new photos next to that old one. It's nice to see how far we've all come, too!
The other reason I like Mother's Day is that it does something to my children. They try to be so good and sweet! It seems to me that on that day I get to see the fruit of my labor of love in their lives. All those things I've repeated over and over that seemed like they were going in one ear and out the other; I can see they're in there somewhere!
When my sister in law was raising her children she had a "manners meal" once a week. The kids had to clean up and dress up for dinner. They had to set the table fancy with all the forks in the right place. They used their best manners...no elbows on the table, chewing with their mouths closed, saying please and thank you...Mother's day is kind of like that for me. I see my kids at their best. Now that's worth seeing! :)
We took a hike yesterday after a late lunch at Sven's. This is overlooking town from Sweetheart's bluff.
my honey and me
my little treasures
I have an old family picture taped to the edge of my dresser by my bed. When I wake up I almost always see that picture. In it, my oldest is but seven years old and my youngest less than a year. In so many ways it seems like just yesterday! It reminds me that time marches on and stops for no person. That really inspires me to pray that God meets me in this place where I am, perhaps already feeling weak and overwhelmed by the magnitude of that day stretching before me with its endless number of tasks. It seems to me that those first few moments of focusing on the Lord really gives me direction for the day. I feel inspired and ready to begin.
I'm going to put these new photos next to that old one. It's nice to see how far we've all come, too!
The other reason I like Mother's Day is that it does something to my children. They try to be so good and sweet! It seems to me that on that day I get to see the fruit of my labor of love in their lives. All those things I've repeated over and over that seemed like they were going in one ear and out the other; I can see they're in there somewhere!
When my sister in law was raising her children she had a "manners meal" once a week. The kids had to clean up and dress up for dinner. They had to set the table fancy with all the forks in the right place. They used their best manners...no elbows on the table, chewing with their mouths closed, saying please and thank you...Mother's day is kind of like that for me. I see my kids at their best. Now that's worth seeing! :)
We took a hike yesterday after a late lunch at Sven's. This is overlooking town from Sweetheart's bluff.
my honey and me
my little treasures
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day to all You Fabulous Women!!!!
"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness."
-Honoré De Balzac
"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
-Washington Irving
"The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates his wants, but when she resolutely holds him to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than his best."
-Hamilton Wright Maybie
"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
-Abraham Lincoln
"We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves."
-Henry Ward Beecher
Sometimes the poorest mother leaves her children the richest inheritance.
-Ruth Renkes
A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
-Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
-uthor Unknown
Who is getting more pleasure from this rocking, the baby or me?
-Nancy Thayer
By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class.
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Making a decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
-Tenneva Jordan
Women do not have to sacrifice person hood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women's opportunities, not to limit them. The self-esteem that has been found in new pursuits can also be found in mothering.
-Elaine Heffner
Woman in the home has not yet lost her dignity, in spite of Mother's Day, with its offensive implication that our love needs an annual nudging, like our enthusiasm for the battle of Bunker Hill.
-John Erskine
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
-Rajneesh
Here are some quotes I gathered for the home school blog. I thought I'd share them with you wonderful mothers too. Hopefully there's something special to inspire each of you. :)
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
-Author Unknown
All mothers are working mothers.
-Author Unknown
The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.
-Jewish proverb
Remember that behind every successful woman......is a basket of dirty laundry.
-Author Unknown
-Honoré De Balzac
"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
-Washington Irving
"The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates his wants, but when she resolutely holds him to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than his best."
-Hamilton Wright Maybie
"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
-Abraham Lincoln
"We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves."
-Henry Ward Beecher
Sometimes the poorest mother leaves her children the richest inheritance.
-Ruth Renkes
A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.
-Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.
-uthor Unknown
Who is getting more pleasure from this rocking, the baby or me?
-Nancy Thayer
By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class.
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Making a decision to have a child-it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone
A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
-Tenneva Jordan
Women do not have to sacrifice person hood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women's opportunities, not to limit them. The self-esteem that has been found in new pursuits can also be found in mothering.
-Elaine Heffner
Woman in the home has not yet lost her dignity, in spite of Mother's Day, with its offensive implication that our love needs an annual nudging, like our enthusiasm for the battle of Bunker Hill.
-John Erskine
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.
-Rajneesh
Here are some quotes I gathered for the home school blog. I thought I'd share them with you wonderful mothers too. Hopefully there's something special to inspire each of you. :)
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
-Author Unknown
All mothers are working mothers.
-Author Unknown
The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes
God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.
-Jewish proverb
Remember that behind every successful woman......is a basket of dirty laundry.
-Author Unknown
Friday, January 28, 2011
We're Still Alive
Hi all! I've been gone a long time, I know. That does seem to be the way things go in the winter around here. I get so busy with the formal education of my children, and my attempt to remain even slightly organised with so many irons in the fire. It feels a bit like juggling dinner plates, only I drop a lot of them. I'm not always OK with the fact that I really can't do all of my jobs well, and in my attempt I end up with what feels like a barely adequate job at each. Many times each year I reevaluate each "plate" to see if I really need to include it in the act. Some of them go by the wayside for a time to be picked up later. Here are some of the plates(each one important to me)that I'm evaluating now.
Relationship with my Savior: This is primary for me. I often neglect this one, I'm sorry to have to confess. It's because He's such a gentleman. He never throws a fit if I neglect Him. I don't have to be sure there's something for Him to pack in his lunch or cookies for after lunch. He doesn't need his clothes cleaned or his bath, and I don't have to teach him arithmetic or how to load the dish washer properly. In fact, if I fail to keep this relationship well, He can become quite invisible. That is, until my plates begin to fall in rapid succession. I realize at that point that I've lost my peace and joy, and my life feels precarious to say the least. I need that time of prayer and meditation for refreshment to stay sane. This has to be my first priority!
Relationship with spouse: This is very important. If it's really true that, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" then it is equally true of Papa! By the way, we're about to celebrate our 15th anniversary! I'm so happy that he's the one I'll be celebrating with. If you've ever seen Marley and Me, it's a fairly realistic representation of our lives together. Their struggles were so common to us. Watching it seemed to be watching ourselves grow up in our relationship together. Not in every way, but many - minus Marley. We have a dog, Katie, but we got her after 10 years of marriage and when the kids were 2, 4, 7 and 9. It's the struggles as young parents that are so similar to us. Parenting young children is so consuming in time and energy. It is such a blessing, but it takes it's toll on life as well.
Relationship with kids: This one has so many facets. There's the actual interpersonal relationships with each of them. These are one of the reasons I set about educating them at home. These relationships are among the most precious of all to me. However, the other "plates" often distract me from these relationships. This isn't OK with me, but how do I change it? There are SO MANY PLATES!
Another facet in the relationship with my children is their actual education: This should probably be in a category of its own. This is a major undertaking that gets bigger every year. There are all the subjects that the Department of Education deems important to teach, and well as guiding them in life skills that will be so important to them as they grow up. All this while still maintaining relationships and attempting to keep that "fire" lit in them. The fire I speak of is that natural desire to discover and learn. It's there in all of us, but so often it's extinguished before it's joys are discovered. I so badly want to keep that fire alive in them. It's so much fun to see it burning, and to watch what they do with it. However, some of the things I find myself doing in the process of educating them is more like pouring water on their fires. I dislike those parts. I try to evaluate things so that there's more fuel on the fires than water. When life gets too busy with spinning plates, the fuel is more likely to be set aside, and the water remains. Things like memorizing multiplication facts and learning grammar. They're important. I can't cut them out! But, we need the fuel. Classic books, art projects, science experiments, living books, constructing castles, THESE are what I want more time for.
But there are still more plates: Laundry, preparing healthy meals, teaching how to do chores, pet and livestock care, maintaining organization, friends, extended family, physical fitness, financial priorities (like TAXES!)...
I was hoping that this blog post would help me clear my head and organize my priorities. I'm not so sure that's happened. Perhaps I shouldn't post for fear that it will stress you all out! ;) But, this is where I'm at right now, and so this is what I'm sharing with you. A glimpse into a life that's definitely full, usually happy, and very imperfect! This is why blog posts are few and far between in the winter.
Jesus, help me to be OK with imperfect! :)
Relationship with my Savior: This is primary for me. I often neglect this one, I'm sorry to have to confess. It's because He's such a gentleman. He never throws a fit if I neglect Him. I don't have to be sure there's something for Him to pack in his lunch or cookies for after lunch. He doesn't need his clothes cleaned or his bath, and I don't have to teach him arithmetic or how to load the dish washer properly. In fact, if I fail to keep this relationship well, He can become quite invisible. That is, until my plates begin to fall in rapid succession. I realize at that point that I've lost my peace and joy, and my life feels precarious to say the least. I need that time of prayer and meditation for refreshment to stay sane. This has to be my first priority!
Relationship with spouse: This is very important. If it's really true that, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" then it is equally true of Papa! By the way, we're about to celebrate our 15th anniversary! I'm so happy that he's the one I'll be celebrating with. If you've ever seen Marley and Me, it's a fairly realistic representation of our lives together. Their struggles were so common to us. Watching it seemed to be watching ourselves grow up in our relationship together. Not in every way, but many - minus Marley. We have a dog, Katie, but we got her after 10 years of marriage and when the kids were 2, 4, 7 and 9. It's the struggles as young parents that are so similar to us. Parenting young children is so consuming in time and energy. It is such a blessing, but it takes it's toll on life as well.
Relationship with kids: This one has so many facets. There's the actual interpersonal relationships with each of them. These are one of the reasons I set about educating them at home. These relationships are among the most precious of all to me. However, the other "plates" often distract me from these relationships. This isn't OK with me, but how do I change it? There are SO MANY PLATES!
Another facet in the relationship with my children is their actual education: This should probably be in a category of its own. This is a major undertaking that gets bigger every year. There are all the subjects that the Department of Education deems important to teach, and well as guiding them in life skills that will be so important to them as they grow up. All this while still maintaining relationships and attempting to keep that "fire" lit in them. The fire I speak of is that natural desire to discover and learn. It's there in all of us, but so often it's extinguished before it's joys are discovered. I so badly want to keep that fire alive in them. It's so much fun to see it burning, and to watch what they do with it. However, some of the things I find myself doing in the process of educating them is more like pouring water on their fires. I dislike those parts. I try to evaluate things so that there's more fuel on the fires than water. When life gets too busy with spinning plates, the fuel is more likely to be set aside, and the water remains. Things like memorizing multiplication facts and learning grammar. They're important. I can't cut them out! But, we need the fuel. Classic books, art projects, science experiments, living books, constructing castles, THESE are what I want more time for.
But there are still more plates: Laundry, preparing healthy meals, teaching how to do chores, pet and livestock care, maintaining organization, friends, extended family, physical fitness, financial priorities (like TAXES!)...
I was hoping that this blog post would help me clear my head and organize my priorities. I'm not so sure that's happened. Perhaps I shouldn't post for fear that it will stress you all out! ;) But, this is where I'm at right now, and so this is what I'm sharing with you. A glimpse into a life that's definitely full, usually happy, and very imperfect! This is why blog posts are few and far between in the winter.
Jesus, help me to be OK with imperfect! :)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Dan's First Deer
Dan got his first deer this year! It's one awesome animal, too. We're just so thankful to God for the meat. We really needed it, and so it's just such a blessing that we were able to get so much with this one big guy! It's a big bonus that Dan was able to get such a nice big buck. He was about 220 to 230 lbs. and thirteen points. Dan's pretty tickled that he got his first deer at 46. This was his third year hunting.
In other news, both our does (rabbits) had their babies, one today and one yesterday. They're behaving like typical first time mothers. They have no idea what they're doing. It's kind of nerve wracking for me. One of them is keeping hers in a nice little nest, deep in the straw, but didn't pull any fur for them. We had to pull some for her, but she didn't appreciate it and wanted to bite us. We didn't get enough to help much. The other pulled a ton of fur, and stays in the nest a lot, but isn't keeping them in any kind of group. They're all spread out around the nest box. We've raised litters in all kinds of weather, but I'm not sure if these first timers are going to be successful. I pray that they are. If things go well, I'll try to get some photos up soon.
That's about all there is for now. This weather really gets me in the mood to bake, so I've been in the kitchen pretty regular lately.
Stay tuned for my daughter Molly's art work, and canning venison!
In other news, both our does (rabbits) had their babies, one today and one yesterday. They're behaving like typical first time mothers. They have no idea what they're doing. It's kind of nerve wracking for me. One of them is keeping hers in a nice little nest, deep in the straw, but didn't pull any fur for them. We had to pull some for her, but she didn't appreciate it and wanted to bite us. We didn't get enough to help much. The other pulled a ton of fur, and stays in the nest a lot, but isn't keeping them in any kind of group. They're all spread out around the nest box. We've raised litters in all kinds of weather, but I'm not sure if these first timers are going to be successful. I pray that they are. If things go well, I'll try to get some photos up soon.
That's about all there is for now. This weather really gets me in the mood to bake, so I've been in the kitchen pretty regular lately.
Stay tuned for my daughter Molly's art work, and canning venison!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Feeding Whiskey Jacks
Dan took Molly and Sam on a camping trip into the Boundary Waters for the weekend on October 1st through the 3rd. They had a great time. No trip into the BWCA is complete without feeding the Whiskey Jacks (aka grey jays). The "little girls" and I stayed home this trip and had a blast doing our own thing. I took them to town for a day, complete with lunch at Sven-n-Ole's and ice cream at Sydney's. We snuggled in my bed watching movies, and reading stories. It really was a blast for all of us! It was also great to be back together again and share our stories with each other when the other half of our family got home. Family...what a word that is...
OK, the main point of this post was to share the great video Molly got of a whiskey jack eating out of her hand, but I never can seem to get the video's to upload. Grrr...
OK, the main point of this post was to share the great video Molly got of a whiskey jack eating out of her hand, but I never can seem to get the video's to upload. Grrr...
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