M is for Mommy (and Missi)

Passover is Coming!

2012-02-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

I came to the realization this week that we have less than 2 months until Passover. What an exciting thought! When Sukkot was over, the 6 months before Passover seemed like it would take forever. But, we’re already down to 2 months and I know we have lots of preparations for our appointed time with the Creator of the Universe. How awesome is it that He wants to meet with us?! I wouldn't think of missing an appointment He has marked on his calendar to spend time with me. (Lev 23:4-5) So, the preparations begin.

Spiritually – I have so much to think about. It has been a difficult year spiritually and emotionally. I have spent many hours wondering if I am living out what God has given me in a way that glorifies Him. The end of our family letter from 2011 says it well:

“I pray that God gives us the strength to endure the trials ahead, the wisdom to guide the children he has blessed us with, the peace to know that He is in control and the comfort we need when we feel like we’re out of control. And, most of all, I pray that He is glorified by the life we live as we follow Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength.”

But, that hasn’t been an easy thing this year. Sometimes, it’s very clear how we should live to glorify Him. And sometimes it takes much prayer and listening to God. There were weeks on end when the only way I could stay sane was to spend hours in the Bible each day. And, when I see how much I have had to lean on Him, I see why trials strengthen us. I only pray that I am glorifying Him through it all and I will glorify Him in the future.

Physically – Time to clean up the house. Just like we clean up our spiritual house, we need to clean our physical house. I no longer spend hours on end scrubbing and cleaning, because I don’t like the physical cleaning to overshadow the spiritual cleaning. But, I do prepare in advance to start running out of leavening and leavened items. As I start to think about that, I don’t want to buy cases of anything leavened that we don’t use often.

Two weeks or so before Passover I pull our leavened products out of the pantry and put them in a crate so we can make sure to eat them. And, I make note of the leavened items in the refrigerator and freezer so we can remember to eat them, and also if they haven’t been eaten, we don't forget to throw them away when the busy-ness of the day arrives. A couple of days before Passover, we will start sweeping the house thoroughly. The day of Passover, we will get rid of any leavening/leavened products that we still have.

I need to start thinking about when we will start the 10 Plague Adventure (Click on the label “Passover” on the list on the right, if you’re interested in that.) because that is actually next month. Fun, fun! And, of course, we need to think about our Passover service and the delicious meal to follow! Can’t wait!

The Pretty Stuff is Up!

2012-02-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: These are the “House Beautiful” pictures J I did move several things off the kitchen counter to make the pictures look better. So, if you show up at my house, the kitchen will look great (even if it is messy), but you won’t likely ever see it look like this J

We’ll start with the full kitchen view.

We finally got the pretty stuff up. After they touched up the paint last week, we were ready to put the pretty stuff back up in the kitchen. I’ve had the teacup holder up in the kitchen for years. My friend (and much needed advisor for interior design) painted it and I put on new ribbon and flowers. We have the same tea cups, but I think I’m going to change one out when I find just the right replacement.

The bay window looks great. I made a new valance to add a little color. ($7 for a yard of fabric from the fabric store and 15 minutes of sewing.) It’s light green with white polka dots. And, I love the crystals and tea trinkets that are hanging from the window sill. The flowers hanging from the curtain rod are oregano blooms from my garden. I need another bouquet to hang from the other side.

We distressed the frame to the left of the window sill. Actually, we ended up distressing a lot of frames that day. It was great. Most of them are in different areas of the house, so you won’t see pictures here. The kids wanted to help and when you paint on the white, it doesn’t actually have to be done well. So, even the 4 year old was helping. Then the bigger kids and I did the distressing.

And, here’s a view of the full wall.

On top of the oven is a basket of our everyday vitamins. It looks really cute and they’re easy to access.

And, here’s a snazzy feature. The granite guys took the piece that they cut out for the cook top, cut it into two pieces, polished the edges and made cutouts on the bottom to make it easy to pick up. I usually leave one on my counter. But, when we have lots of people over for potlucks and such (which is usually at least twice a month), I can put the pieces on the cooktop and make more counter space. It’s awesome!

I went to the open-air antique market today for some finishing touches. I found this cute little thing. I’ll have to put some flowers in it.

I also found this milk bottle from 1947 to add to my lineup. I like the pink tint it has.

And, last but not least, I found a saucer to use as a spoon rest. I want a couple more for the other counters in the kitchen. I’ll have to keep looking until I find just the right plates at just the right price. I can get a beautiful saucer for cheaper than a spoon rest from Target. And, I couldn’t resist the cute little salt shaker with glass beads in it. I found them in a shabby chic stand at the market today. I loved that stand.

So, that’s it for the kitchen blogs. I feel so blessed to have this awesome kitchen and my wonderful husband who pulled it all together. And, I’m looking forward to sharing it with many people in the years to come.

Almost Finished!

2012-01-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

The kitchen is now done, except for touching up the paint and putting the pretty stuff back up on the walls. So, here is the House Beautiful photo shoot of the kitchen. Trust me, it won’t look like this for long J These two photos show the big picture. Notice the subway tile backsplash and the chair rail, which wasn’t in before now.

I have more space to store things in the kitchen, and a lot more counter space, so the counters are much clearer than they used to be.

This is the new working counter I’ve been so excited about. Plenty of space to bake, prepare pizza and plenty of storage underneath for all the supplies. And, any pizza toppings that I’ve prepared on the stove are easy to grab from the pizza prep spot.

Another view of the mega counter. We scooted the cooktop closer to the wall. It used to have a tiny little ledge next to it that was too small to be functional for anything. Now, it holds cooking supplies or the plate of heated tortillas for burritos quite easily.

This counter we extended and we added the cupboard at the end. That cupboard now houses the trash can. The trash can is much smaller than we're used to, so the kids will need to be emptying it more often. But, it looks great. And, one of those drawers is actually empty at the moment. That's amazing!

A view of the pantry. Yes, that’s two jars of Nutella. Apparently, one of the kids couldn’t find the open jar (can’t blame them in the mess we had up until now) and opened the 2^nd jar. So, we’re forced to eat them both J The LED lights in the pantry turn on when you open the pantry door. Gotta love having an electrician in the house.

Magnetic switch and lighting from inside the pantry.

Knowing how much we use the sink, we opted for a Moen faucet. A Grohe was definitely out of our budget, but we didn't want to go with a cheap brand. There are some (many, actually) areas of the house that get way more use than the standard 4 person household where everyone goes to work and school during the day. The sink is one of those. We cook a lot. When I say cook, I don’t mean we heat things in the microwave. We don’t even own one, actually. We cook from scratch all day, every day. And, as a result, we wash a lot of dishes. So, we need a faucet that will stand up to that kind of use.

And now for some detail pictures.

I’m loving the mason jars for storage and for decoration. And, our chickens have been laying lately. Go figure. Chickens laying in January. But, I won’t complain.

Close up of the subway tile backsplash and the cute, yet functional, things on the counter.

Oil rubbed bronze hinges and drawer pulls.

Close up of cupboards and beadboard decoration. With the beadboard decoration and the great paint job, you would never guess that these cupboards were built in different decades.

The cutting boards were hard to grasp and pull out, so dh added some cute little drawer pulls to them to make it easier.

I must say, I love the granite. It’s so beautiful. And, what counter is complete without a jar of olive oil.

LED under-cabinet lighting.

Dh also put the LED lighting in the storage pantry under the stairs. Plus, he added a couple of shelves on the wall. They just happen to perfectly house my 1 gallon buckets. I love the buckets, but I have to find a cuter way to label them.

And, the working counter that I’ve been raving about perfectly houses all my baking supplies. The drawers have spices on the left (which now need to be labeled on top), basic baking stuff in the middle and rarely used stuff on the right.

The cupboards hold ingredients on the left , small appliances in the middle and rarely used stuff on the right (not pictured). The Bosch Universal and the grain mill are used many times a week.

Here is a slightly more realistic picture of the kitchen in use. The two little guys are helping me cook pizza for a birthday dinner.

And, since I have so much counter space, this counter is completely clear while we’re cooking pizza! This used to be my pizza prep spot and it was quite crowded. This time I used this counter for serving the pizzas when they came out of the oven.

I’ll do one more blog post on the kitchen remodel after the paint is touched up and the pretty things are back in place.

The Kitchen, Cont.

2012-01-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

The counters are in! I've been looking forward to this. The black, granite counters are in! This is the only picture I have, because dh covered the counters with paper to protect them when the backsplash is put in. But, I'll have more pictures later.

He also started installing the plumbing - faucet, garbage disposal.

Backsplash is next.

The State of the Kitchen

2012-01-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

This was a big week in kitchen transformation. Most of the week involved us not being home. The paint and lacquer fumes were a little too much. But, I was glad that we weren't home much because this is the current kitchen. The laundry room sink and counter are currently in use as the washing area. It's tiny, but it sure beats using the bathroom sink, which is the only other sink on the same floor as the kitchen.

And the great room currently serves to hold everything we took out of the kitchen. It's not very organized, I can tell you. But, it serves the purpose. And, it's easy to access the stuff I need.

This was the week of the painters. They came in one day and prepped all the surfaces and taped and plasticed (is that a word?) off the kitchen. By the end of the next day, the kitchen looked like this.

By the end of the week, it looked like this. Now, it may not look very different from earlier in the week, but the paint has been distressed and the final coating has been applied. It looks great!

I love the beadboard.

And, here is a close up of the distressed beadboard.

Can't wait til the kitchen's all done.

Write Them on Your Doorposts - or the plywood under your counter

2012-01-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

Day 6

We had the whole family working hard today. We removed all the cupboard doors and the hardware from the cupboards, doors and drawers - hinges, magnets, drawer pulls, door pulls, etc.

We numbered all the doors and the places they came from, so we can put the doors back in the right spots when the painting is done.

We also removed everything from the kitchen refrigerator and moved it to the refrigerator and freezer in the garage. We had a couple of reasons for that. One is that we won't be able to access the inside fridge this week while the painting is being done. Two is that the freezer has been having frost build-up issues and it hasn't been making ice. So, after letting it defrost and plugging it back in again, hopefully it will work properly again. But, if not, it's still under warranty.

The most time consuming job we did, though, was removing the shelf paper from the drawers and shelves. Some of the cupboards didn't have any because they were already painted. Any shelf paper in the kitchen was there when we moved in. We didn't remove it then, and now I know why. Some of the paper came up easily and some of it really didn't. I'm looking forward to having the shelves painted so we don't need any shelf paper or liner.

The best thing we did today was adding scripture to the plywood that is going to hold the counters. In the spirit of Deut 6:6-9

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

We each chose at least one scripture to put on the plywood.

When the kitchen is done, no one will be able to see the scriptures, but we'll know they're there.

When we were done today, this is how it looked.

And, for those interested in what scriptures we wrote, I'll show them here.

But Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached Him and said Lord do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. ~ Luke 10:40

I love serving others in my kitchen, but I don't want it to distract me from what is most important.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. <3 ~ 1 Cor 13:7
Love in the kitchen, love in the house. What's better than that?

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. ~ Psalm 100:2

I look forward to serving Him with gladness often in the years to come.

He has given food to those who fear Him ~ Psalm 111:5

Speaks for itself.

Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. ~ Heb 13:1-2

Hmmm...

And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ~ Gen 27:14

Lots of savory food is prepared in this kitchen :)

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. ~ Gen 1:11

When you put it together, it makes yummy food!

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God ~ 1 Cor 10:31

A great blessing for a kitchen.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Gen 1:1

Give us this day our daily bread. ~ Matt 6:11

He does that and so much more.

In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honor preferring one another; in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer; communicating to the necessities of the saints; given to hospitality. ~ Rom 12:10-13

Another great blessing for a kitchen.

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty: only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Gal 5:13-14

Enjoying food together is a great way to do that.

And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof ~ 1 Sam 28:24

Let's party!

The Remodel Continues

2011-12-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

Day 4

First, a picture of yesterdays' final version. This includes new veneers and base shoes (I think that's what Jim said they're called) on the toekick.

The carpenters showed up bright and early today for what turned out to be a full day's work.

The first big job was leveling out the tops of the old counters, so the plywood has an even surface to sit on, so the granite has flat plywood to sit on ... you get the picture. But it was definitely a time consuming job, as those old cabinets were particularly uneven. No wonder when we spilled something on the counter, the liquid flowed away from the sink.

While this was going on, they discussed the fact that the border of the tile backsplash would run into the electrical outlets. So, our resident electrician, also known as my awesome husband, relocated the plugs and switches on this wall.

Next job in the woodwork department was preparing the sink cabinet for the new farmhouse sink. That required quite a bit of rework and reinforcement on the inner cabinets. And, while they were at it, they replaced the bottom of the sink cabinet because that piece of wood was disgusting. We just never got around to dealing with it before now. When they pulled up that board, they found a rat's nest. Ewwww! Thankfully it wasn't currently being used.

After all the basic structure was finished, some of the pretty stuff started going in. Yay! Thankfully, my bff has been such a help with the pretty stuff. I can't wait to see how it all looks when it's finished. But, in the meantime, the new apron front sink is in.

We really wanted the farmhouse look. But, Jim did lots of research and found that the fireclay sink just isn't built to withstand the wear and tear that a homeschooling family of 8 can dish out. It's not even built to hold a garbage disposal and I am not doing without a garbage disposal! But, he continued his research and found that there is one Kohler cast iron sink that fit the bill (and the price range). So, I still get my farmhouse sink. Yay! And, it's big enough for an almost four year old to take a bath :)

Back to the woodwork. They also cut in the hole for the cooktop and added beadboard detail to the flat (aka boring) sides of the cabinets. Can't wait to see this when it's painted. Oh, and Jim added a receptacle to this end of the counter so I will have a receptacle at each end of my new and exciting working counter. Did I mention I'm excited about this new counter space?

I took the little guys out of the house today rather than try to deal with them in a construction zone. We went to the park and met some new friends, then came home and had Shabbat dinner. I am thankful for my laundry room sink and counter (installed by my aforementioned awesome husband) which currently serves as a dish washing area. And, I'm looking forward to having a garbage disposal again. Amazing how we get so used to these conveniences. I'm also thankful for a working oven, Costco and Trader Joe's, which, when combined, keep my family well fed during the remodel.

Day 5

And now, it's time for Shabbat. All the work comes to a halt during this blessed day that God has us set aside for Him each week. I'm ever so thankful for a day of rest. And when Shabbat is over, we'll be back to work on the kitchen.

Kitchen Remodel

2011-12-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

It began unexpectedly. I decided that the crumbling grout in my kitchen counter was unacceptable. I couldn't tolerate it any longer. So, I decided to regrout. But, the day Jim and I decided to start the process, he couldn't tolerate the poor job done on the tile in the first place. He didn't want to put the time into regrouting a counter that wasn't tiled right in the first place.

So, we discussed a new counter. When we had a quote done, I didn't want to invest that much in a kitchen that I didn't really like. I figured if I put that much money into it, I would feel bad changing it in the future. It's always been a little small and doesn't have a real working counter. The cupboards are pretty, but there aren't quite enough of them.

I cook ... a lot. We make food from scratch daily and need some working space in the kitchen. So, we thought of how we could expand the kitchen and still keep the old cabinets. We did lots of research on counter tops, design, materials, cabinets, sinks, faucets, etc. And, a dream kitchen started to formulate!

And then, the construction began. Well, technically, the destruction was first ...

Day 1

Start it off easy. I moved the coffee/tea counter to its new location.

Jim and the kids knocked the edge off the existing counter so we could have cabinets (that we ordered last week) installed.

Day 2

We had the new cabinets installed. These will hold all of my baking tools and supplies and the top of this will be my working counter - 6.5 feet of working counter! So exciting!

This new space will be a slide-out trash can holder. And this counter will be extended some, as well. Oh, and I now have dividers in my tall cabinet. Yay!

Day 3

Busy day today. Counters and backsplash were removed - this includes the sink and cooktop, which basically makes the kitchen non-functional. *gulp* (Take a deep breath, it won't be for long.) New plywood was put on and the granite guys made a template for our new counter tops.

That's it for today. :)

Seasons of Life

2011-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

I’m entering a new season in life. I took a shower by myself today with no interruptions. Well, actually, that’s not true. I had one kid come in and ask me a question while I was showering. That’s pretty impressive, actually. I’m used to answering several questions and refereeing several fights while I’m in the shower. It’s just part of being a mom. But, the interruptions are becoming fewer and farther between. Apparently, it goes along with the kids growing up.

My oldest is out of the house. My youngest is 3 and rather independent. And, for the first time in 21 years, I have a 3 year old and no baby. So, I was thinking about the things I can do now that the kids are growing up. I can get an hour-long workout in the garage without complete chaos breaking loose in the house. I can run to the store by myself without someone crying at the door, “Mommy, don’t go!” I can get an evening of quiet time at The Coffee Bean. I can go out to lunch with my husband or a friend with no phone calls. I can even stay upstairs when I wake up in the morning and start my day with prayer and Bible study. I’m learning to enjoy the simple pleasures of my season.

No Halloween

2011-10-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

So, what do you do for Halloween when you know its evil origins and you don’t want anything to do with it? I won’t go over the facts of this being Satan’s holy day. If you don’t know about that, and you’re interested, you can look in any encyclopedia or look it up on the internet. So, I’ll just discuss what we do on October 31.

We don’t want anything to do with Halloween as the evil of the holiday is so overwhelming. So, we don’t carve pumpkins in any way. We don’t dress up; although, the kids dress up many other days. We don’t go to harvest festivals or trunk-or-treats at local churches as we feel this is a compromise we don’t want to participate in.

We used to turn off all the lights in the house and hide in a back room and watch a movie on that evening. The doorbell still rang many times and we started to feel like we were being imprisoned in the back room and joining the darkness.

Several years ago, we started a new tradition. We turn on our porch light and the lights in our living area. This way, we fight the darkness physically. Then, we play praise music really loud and sing and dance praises to Yahweh. This way, we fight the darkness spiritually. And, we’re doing something we love to do. We have a time of prayer for all the evil that goes on this day. We also put a banner on our door that says we don’t celebrate Halloween. For instance, last year’s banner said:

· Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” – John 8:12

· What fellowship has light with darkness? – 2 Cor 6:14

· Halloween is playing with darkness.

We rarely have anyone knock on our door when we have the banner up. So, we can enjoy a time of praise & worship and not have to think about Halloween.

Back to Reality

2011-10-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

So, Sukkot is over. We're back home and back to the real world. I'm slowly conquering Mt Washmore and getting everything unpacked and put away. And we're still remembering the thrill of Sukkot. Even through the trials, we had a blessed time. We're praise dancing daily. Enjoying Bible time and remembering great times with friends.

We even started school again today. Just the basics - Bible study lesson, memory verses, Bible chapter, math, reading, language and writing. Time to get back into Tapestry of Grace, do some science and make sure the big girls are accomplishing what they need to for high school.

Expectations and Echad

2011-10-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Life is full of expectations. Sometimes expectations aren’t very high, such as when we expect our son to take out the trash. But, other times, expectations are built up for something for weeks, even months. Then, when those expectations aren’t met, we meet with disappointment. And, we have to make a choice of how we will respond to that disappointment.

So, our major disappointment this year is connected with our Sukkot celebration. We anticipate this for weeks and months. A time to praise and worship Yah and spend time with Him and people we love. A time for fellowship and dancing and singing and learning. And, initially, all those expectations were fulfilled. But, very soon after Sukkot started, sickness hit the camp and started working its way quickly through. People were down and out with a stomach bug. First 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and very quickly dozens.

So, now many people are confined to their tents and feeling miserable. One of the first thoughts is, “I’m going home.” After all, who wants to be sick in a tent – oh spoiled people that we are. I will admit, when I had 3 kids with this bug coming out both ends, we did pack up and go to a hotel for the night (poor hotel maid). And, when I and my littlest one were sick, I was tempted to go back to said hotel. But the thought of going home was never really a serious thought. After all, who wants to end Sukkot this way? Do I really want to pack up camp and drive home 4 hours with sick kids? Then we would be home and everyone else would still be here praising and worshipping and celebrating .

So, we have chosen to stay here and see what God has in store for us; to worship Him in spite of the trials and family members succumbing to illness one by one. But I think the real test is in our attitude. How do I choose to respond to this disappointment? Apparently God has something else in store for us than we had originally planned. Even though our plans were made in obedience and we thought they were so right and so good, He had other plans.

As I sat here in our tent tonight, listening to the praise and worship and celebration going on in the main tent. I was disappointed. I won’t pretend I wasn’t. I so wanted to be there praising and worshipping with everyone. So, I did sing the songs, but I knew I was missing out on some awesome dancing. However. going into a tent full of people when I know I’m sick isn’t loving my brother. So, I get a chance to spend some quiet time thinking about the blessings of being here in spite of the hardship.

Of course, the illness, as minor as it is, isn’t too serious. That’s one blessing. Everyone seems to be getting over it rather quickly. As I spend time on my own, I have more time to contemplate what He’s done for me – as long as I’m not wallowing in my own self pity.

We are still fulfilling the theme of Sukkot – “Echad: that we may be one”. We are helping each other through this. Everyone shares what health remedies they have. Some get food for others. As one leaves for the market, they check who else needs anything. The kitchen makes special food for the sick. Cleaning crews 30 strong go through camp disinfecting all the surfaces they can. And, while they’re cleaning, others are dancing in worship. So we are battling it physically and spiritually.

We’re all still here, together, worshipping Him as best we can under the circumstances. We won’t give in to the enemy. He wants to ruin our Echad. But, we won’t let him. We have God on our side and we won’t miss our appointed time with Him.

Summary of our Family Traditions

2011-10-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Someone on one of our email lists asked about family traditions. This is what I shared:

Our favorite family traditions all revolve around God’s feasts listed in Leviticus 23. We find so much joy and fulfillment in celebrating the days that God has set aside to meet with us. Each one is truly a treasure. And, as each day finishes, we look forward to the next with great anticipation. Right now we are in the midst of the fall holy day season. We recently celebrated the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. Now, on this Sabbath, we are anticipating Sukkot!!

Our celebrations always include lots of praise & worship and circle dancing. And, we enjoy learning from one another as we study God’s word. Food is always present at our celebrations – except on the Day of Atonement, which is a day of fasting.

We are thankful for the weekly Sabbath (Lev 23:3), which the kids usually start asking about on Sunday. Only 6 more days!! The Sabbath begins on Friday night with a special meal, then dancing and singing and dh blesses each of the children. The next morning we enjoy family time before we host a home fellowship, which includes more dancing, singing, teaching and food. Just as we spend extra time with our heavenly Father on Shabbat, our little ones get to spend extra time with their earthly father because he doesn’t work on Shabbat. So, he is home to spend time with them.

Each year we celebrate the annual Feasts listed in Leviticus 23. The first is Passover and our year begins with a great celebration! This observance begins with a more solemn tone as we remember that Yeshua (Christ) died for our sins. And, it ends with a celebration of our salvation because Yeshua died for our sins. And, we finish up the celebration with lots of food. J This begins the week of unleavened bread. We have put all leaven out of our house and we eat unleavened bread every day. This is a reminder of how difficult it is to remove all the sin from our lives. God gives great object lessons. We see that if we spend more time at home (come out of this world) then it is easier to avoid the sin (leaven) because we have removed it from our home. But, if we spend much time away from home (in the world) it is easier to sin without thinking about it (remembering just after we eat that piece of bread). And, since we are commanded to eat unleavened bread during this time, we can see that when we put sin (leavening) out of our lives, we need to replace it with righteousness (Yeshua - unleavened bread) so that spot doesn’t get filled back up with sin.

Then we continue through the Feast of the Pentecost – remembering the day when the early church first received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). And, after a short break, we come to the Autumn Feasts. The Feast of Trumpets (or Yom Teruah) is the first of these celebrations. We aren’t sure yet what the fulfillment is of the Autumn Feasts. But, we enjoy celebrating and doing just as the Bible says. On Yom Teruah we make a loud noise. On Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), we fast and realize how weak we really are and how much we need Him. Then, the season finishes up with Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Eight days of living in tents. Celebrating God and Yeshua and what they have done for us as we live with other believers for eight days. We leave the outside world and enjoy a tiny taste of the Kingdom.

After Sukkot, there are about 6 months until Passover. During this long break, we are thankful for the weekly Sabbath to consistently return our focus to Him.

If you’re interested in more details of how we celebrate these days, see specific posts on my blog.

Goals for the Week

2011-03-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

1. Finish preparing garden beds. The kids and I made lots of progress today. 4 out of 5 beds are finished and they have chosen what they want to plant.
2. Finish weeding the parkway in the front yard. Most of the yard is finished, but I have to keep up with the maintenance or it gets out of hand.
3. Take 6 kids to the dentist.
4. Sew a skirt. I've had the fabric sitting around for a couple of months. I guess I should sew already.
5. Buy plant for the front yard. It's really looking nice. I need to get some annuals to put in for more color.

Bread, Bread, Bread!

2011-03-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

One of the things we've done to decrease our food budget is to make homemade bread instead of buying it at the store. It is significantly cheaper and significantly more nutritious since I make it with freshly ground wheat and usually some other grains. And, the kids love it! Actually, that's the problem :) They eat bread for breakfast, lunch, with dinner and for snacks. Last Friday I made 8 loaves of rosemary bread. The loaves were smaller than usual, but still, there were 8 of them. By Saturday, they were gone. Sunday, I made 6 dozen rolls. By Monday, they were gone. (Of course, we had 12 people in the house all weekend, but still!) Monday, I made 4 loaves of bread. By Tuesday, they were gone. Guess what I'm doing today :)

Goals for the Week

2011-03-01T00:59:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine put her goals for the week on her blog, so I thought I’d follow suit.

1. 1. Put away snow clothes from our snow vacation. They’re all washed. Now they need to be sorted into their containers and put back up into the attic.

2. 2. Weed front yard. I got way behind on weeding during the chilly and rainy winter months. But I am finally getting caught up. My mom helped me for hours yesterday, so that was good. Today I finished that area. I have some more to do, but the yard is looking great!

3. 3. Prep garden beds. I won’t complete those this week, but it’s time to start getting the beds ready for planting. I have to add some layers of soil, manure, etc. And, I have to replace drip hoses that have leaks.

4. 4. Prep for home fellowship. We will be having a home fellowship again this week and I have to get the house ready. I also have to prepare food for the potluck.

5. 5. Put out spring decorations. I’m done with winter. It’s time to put out the lamb decorations to remind us of Passover.

A Time to Play

2011-02-19T22:47:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how much a little break from regular life can do for your outlook. We were blessed to spend almost a week at a vacation cabin in the snow. We have no responsibilities here. We've left them all behind. It's just a chance to spend time with family. We play in the snow, play board games, play Wii, eat together and generally just enjoy life.

The kids love it. Everyone wants to play with mom and dad when we have no other pressing business. And, we love it because, it helps to take our minds off the stresses and trials of every day life. We will have to go back to reality, but for now, this is a pleasant diversion.

Time for More Weight Loss

2011-01-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

So, I’m off to a good start. Yesterday was a total day off because Sabbath always is. But, starting today I’m transitioning back into strictly healthy eating. I had my green drink – with oranges from my tree and chard from my garden (thanks, Mom – those chard plants are the best ever!) and I did a 1 hour elliptical workout. Yay! Tomorrow I start a 3 day juice cleanse. Jim is going to do it with me, too.

Then after that it’s a strict Eat to Live diet for a while. I lost 40 pounds last year and kept them off. This year I’d like to lose 50 and keep them off. I’m thinking if I lose 50, I might be at a good place. But, we’ll see how I feel when I get there.

I know when I did this last year I felt really good. Not just the weight loss, but health in general. It’s amazing to me how hard it is to eat healthy when there is junk around. Even though I know I’ll feel better if I don’t eat it, I eat it anyway. So, I’ll try to document this time how I’m feeling when I’m eating better.

The nice thing is that doing ETL last year really changed my eating habits. When I’m not eating strict ETL, I still eat totally different than I did in 2009. Lots and lots of veggies, plus fruits, grains, nuts and seeds. When I’ve gone a couple of days without many veggies (due to busy-ness or junk food availability) I start to really crave some seriously healthy food. So, I’m back at it...

Unschooling

2010-12-29T19:47:00.001-08:00

I'm reading "The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom." It reminds me of what I love about homeschooling. Every now and then I start straying back toward a more textbook style of education. Then I just need to read a book like The Unschooling Handbook to get me back on track.

The more book work I add, the more stressed out I get :) The other day was great. We did calculadders, then I read Story of the World while they colored in historical coloring books. Since we are just beginning US history, I hung a US map and started reading “Paddle to the Sea”. We talked about the Great Lakes.

Paddle to the Sea mentioned a wolverine and Lucas went to the computer to look up wolverine. While reading about a wolverine, he saw "caribou" and looked that up, also. He was reading animal facts to Elijah because Elijah wanted him to "learn it to me". And Arianah drew her "A" and showed me all the things she was writing. In the meantime, Rebekah is busy looking at poses and other things to help her in her photography shoots.

That was just an hour snippet of what we did that day. But it makes me happy to take note of the education that goes on when I make my lesson plan a guideline. The kids love learning and, when facilitated well, they can learn a lot.

Calculadders

2010-12-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

I found something else for homeschooling that seems to be working well. The kids have never done very well with memorizing their math facts. I have seen Calculadders in various catalogs for years. I finally decided to try them and they work really well.

It's a quick speed drill for math facts. Each one page drill is designed to be finished in 2-3 minutes. You do the same page over and over until it is completed in the time frame and without error. The kids still enjoy them, even though we've been doing them a couple of months. And, they're actually making progress.

You can buy Calculadder books, but I bought them on CD. It's really easy. Each morning, I simply print up one worksheet for each kid. They do the worksheet and I correct them. The program provides a great record keeping sheet for their progress also, so I have it all at my fingertips.

Pencils & Erasers

2010-11-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Why is it that you can never have enough pencils or erasers in the house? No matter how many we have, there is always someone that can't find a pencil or an eraser. So, I bought this box of erasers. There are 144 in the box. I wonder how long they will last.

Scripture Memory

2010-11-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

I finally found something that works for scripture memory. I am so excited! I got the idea from this website: http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/

With a simple 3x5 card system, we have memorized several verses already. And, the whole family is doing it. I have tried different things for years, to no avail. The plan always went by the wayside.

I have done a couple of things to the instructions on the website. First of all, I added one more divider. As I find verses that I want to memorize, I write them on a card and put them behind this divider. One of the problems I had in the past with memory verses is that I would need a new one and I wouldn’t have one handy, so we just ended up not doing one. Now, I have a stack of memory verses waiting their turn.

The other thing I added is a couple of large copies of the verse. I hang one on the bulletin board in the school room and one where it is visible from the dining table. Originally, I had some in different areas of the house, but we found the only ones we looked at were in the school room and in the dining room. So, during school, we review the current verses. The readers can easily read the verse until they have it memorized. Then, they recite the verse. The non-readers are prompted by a reader, so they can memorize the verses. Then, I review the past verses from my card file. At meal times, the whole family reviews the memory verses.

This system has been working great for us. I’m so happy to find a system that works.

Sukkot - A Time of Refreshment

2010-10-11T23:10:00.000-07:00

Acts 3:19

Times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

Sukkot is a glorious example of finding a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. It’s hard to explain how incredibly blessed we were in so many ways as we celebrated Sukkot together. We had times of corporate worship, praise, dancing and study of the Word. And, in between those group gatherings, we could always find somewhere in the camp where someone was enjoying praise, worship, dance, fellowship, study of the Word and, sometimes, just plain old relaxation and recreation. Funny how the main thing He tells us to do during Sukkot is to rejoice. We definitely did plenty of that!

We enjoyed living together in unity as family. We rolled out of bed and stepped out of the tent and we were with 150 of our closest family members. We brushed our teeth at the same sink. We got by with 2 showers, 3 toilets and 4 port-a-potties. (That, in itself, is amazing!) We shared our meals, taking turns cooking for the whole family and serving one another.

Everyone was free to share their gifts – serving, teaching, singing, dancing, facilitating, organizing, etc. Bring a gift and share it with others. There was such joy in the camp as we freely served one another.

The camp was not without trials and discomforts. We had extreme heat, swarms of flies, bugs of various kinds, spraying of nearby crops, illness, etc. But even in the midst of this, we rejoiced and praised Yahweh. We didn’t let the discomforts get us down (as a general rule). Many of us felt these were a way of Yahweh testing our attitude. Hopefully we passed that test J

It truly felt like a rehearsal for living in Yahweh’s Kingdom. To dwell in unity with so many other believers was wonderful. Relationships were renewed. Healing took place in more ways than one. We could safely leave valuables lying around the camp, whether it was cameras or computers or phones, just as comfortably as we would do that at home. When others were in need financially, physically, emotionally or spiritually, others were ready to give whatever was necessary to help them.

It’s hard to describe the joy and contentment felt as we celebrated this appointment with Yahweh together with so many others. It creates a bond that can only be formed by God’s Spirit. I’m thinking that’s one of the blessings Yahweh had in mind when He invited us to share in this appointed time with Him. (Lev 23:33-43) Our obedience to His call paid off a thousand fold, as it always does.

Why We Strive to Be Torah Observant

2010-09-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

Someone on one of my email lists asked this question:

Could you please explain to me why you think it is necessary to observe Old Testament laws in light of the New Covenant and New Testament Scriptures?

This is my response:

It’s a hard thing to explain. I don’t believe keeping the law is necessary for salvation. That is because the only thing necessary for salvation is to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior.

As a result of loving and accepting Jesus as my Savior and loving my Father and Creator, I choose to obey them to the best of my ability.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10

If you love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6

We choose to walk as He walked. We choose to do what Jesus did. Jesus did not look for an excuse to disobey His Father. He was obedient and followed the law and commandments. Jesus did not celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other pagan holiday disguised as a Christian one. He kept the days that His Father commanded us to keep throughout our generations. (Leviticus 23 shows us that these are God’s feasts, not the Jews’ feasts.) I can’t figure out why I would want to use some replacement holiday instead of celebrating the joyous feasts that God has blessed us with.

We just celebrated Yom Teruah yesterday (Lev 23:23-25) – a day that God has not yet fulfilled the meaning of. It was such a joyous day. We worshipped and praised together with dance and song and musical instruments (Psalm 150). We ate yummy food together. We made a loud noise as we are commanded to do. (The kids loved it. They could yell and blow trumpets over and over again without us stopping them, because God commanded us to make a loud noise. :) We’re not quite sure why that is commanded. But someday God will show us and, in the meantime, we just walk in obedience.

And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain . Zech 14:17

People kept the appointed times in the past. We will be expected to keep them in the future. There is no place in the Bible that says we should no longer keep the appointed times that God commanded us to keep throughout our generations (that means ‘forever’, people!). So, why would I not keep them now? Again, I prefer to keep God’s days than counterfeit days. They are an incredible blessing to our family and we anticipate them for months before they arrive

God asks us to not to worship Him the way the pagans worship their God. Yet people use pagan holidays disguised as Christian holidays to worship Him all the time. I would not be pleased if my husband came to me and said, “I am so excited to celebrate your birthday. But, I have decided to celebrate it on my ex-girlfriend’s birthday. It seems like a good day and we always had some really good traditions for her birthday celebration. So, I will take those traditions and use them to honor you and show I love you.” I most certainly would NOT feel loved or honored by that. Christmas is the same thing. The day was originally used to worship the pagan God Nimrod. That is easily found in any encyclopedia. Because of that, we choose not to celebrate Christmas or Easter. (And, because nowhere in the Bible are we told to celebrate Jesus’ birth. It doesn’t even tell us when He was born. If God wanted us to celebrate Jesus’ birth, He would have told us when it was and asked us to celebrate it.)

I am always learning and growing by honoring Him the way He has asked me to in His Word. I don’t have any need or desire to add extra days that He hasn’t requested. We choose to honor Him the way He has asked us to honor Him.

We choose to follow all of the 10 commandments simply because He asked us to. We don’t leave any out for the sake of convenience or for any other reason. We strive to follow all of them, including the Sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday as He commanded us) because He made it for us. And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man , and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27-28 God made the Sabbath for us! It is His gift to us! Why would I not accept a gift from God!? I think that would be crazy!!!

We choose to follow the laws of clean and unclean meats because God put them in His Word for us. He knows how He made us and He knows how he made those animals. As a result, He knows what is best for us to eat. Research shows that the meats Our Creator has labeled as unclean are unhealthy for us to eat. It’s not surprising to me that He knew that before men did J

I follow other laws in the Bible that people don’t typically follow. I don’t need to go into details. Suffice it to say, I obey Him because I love Him. Simple as that.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t follow any of these laws perfectly – not by a long shot! I fall short every single day, just like everyone else. As a result of falling short, which is ‘sin’, plain and simple, I need the sacrifice of my Savior. So, His sacrifice is very important to me. Without it, I would suffer eternal death, but because He is my Savior, I can live with Him forever. HalleluYah!!

Missi who, along with her family, is excitedly looking forward to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) - 8 glorious days of celebrating His millennial rule!!! HalleluYah!

Sabbath - A Day of Rest

2010-08-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh! Sabbath. God was so good to give us a day of rest. I don't know how anyone could call the Sabbath a burden. It is such a blessed day and we look forward to it all week. Our countdown to Sabbath tends to start pretty early in the week. At some point, a little bitty one will ask,"Mommy, when is Sabbath?" Then I tell them and they continue to ask until we get to the Sabbath.

I love sitting here in the morning enjoying a cup of coffee, chatting with my hubby, reading the Bible, looking at facebook. The little kids love eating "Sabbath Cereal" (aka, junk food like Capn Crunch, etc.) and watching Sabbath videos. The bigger kids love sleeping in and eating Sabbath Cereal. Then we start the day fellowshipping at congregation. Every week we have a potluck afterwards and the kids hang out with their friends and play on the playground. After that, we continue fellowshipping at our house, since several of the teens, and often other people, come over to our house to hang out for the rest of the day - or maybe even to spend the night.

It's a day filled with God and the people we love. It's all about relationship. What could be better than that?

Emotional Roller Coaster

2010-07-20T12:19:00.001-07:00

I love roller coasters. I always have enjoyed the thrill of the ride. However, I do not like emotional roller coasters. It's been quite a week and it's only Tuesday. I started with the happiness of being pregnant and feeling great - really starting to look forward to a sweet baby to hold.

Then, Sunday, I had a friend with preeclampsia who had to deliver her baby at 31 weeks. This sweet lady has had such a time trying to have a baby of her own - very difficult with various health issues and miscarriages. But, after over a day of waiting and praying, she did deliver her little girl and both Mommy and baby seem to be doing fine. HalleluYah!

Before that day was over, I started having signs of impending miscarriage. And, this morning, I awoke with really no doubt that a miscarriage is in progress. I think it's a tiny bit easier, since I more than halfway expected it from the beginning. But it's still heartbreaking.

I was at the place where I was perfectly content not having another baby. I have 7 children and I am 45 years old. I wasn't yearning for another baby as I have in the past. And, I know more people who have miscarried at 45 than who have carried to term at 45, so I had no desire to join that statistic.

But, I was pleasantly surprised when I got two pink lines on the pregnancy test. A little life growing inside me is a miracle that never grows old. And, as the weeks went by, I got more and more excited. I can't help but get excited at the prospect of a sweet new baby head to smell.

And yet, today, here I am resting in bed, waiting. I hate the waiting. The uncertainty of how this is actually going to play out. Even though this is my 3rd miscarriage, they still have a feeling of uncertainty about them.

I'm familiar with full term birth. I've delivered 7 of my own at home and been privileged to be present at several births besides my own. I know the stages. I know the end result. But with miscarriage, there are no stages. You're not quite sure when the baby will come or if you'll even know when it came. It's all too uncertain.

I'm not quite sure why God decided to bless us with another life for such a short time. I am thankful that He did But I am sad that I won't get to hold this little one in my arms and sniff its little head.

Eat to Live

2010-07-16T12:49:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm up to seven weeks pregnant now. I know that's not a major feat usually, but each day that passes uneventfully makes me thankful. The thought of miscarriage is always in the back of my mind. Not just because of my two previous miscarriages, but also because of my age. I don't really worry about it, but the thought is still there.

But things are going really well. I feel great. I actually feel better than I did the last couple of pregnancies. I don't remember the pregnancies before that - too long ago I guess. LOL! I take the same supplements, so I don't think that's the reason I feel so good.

I'm thinking it's either the exercise or the Eat to Live diet, or both. I always exercised during pregnancies, but I am exercising more now than I did before.

And the Eat to Live diet had me feeling great before pregnancy. I didn't follow it stricly before I was pregnant, but I did follow it several days a week. I lost 40 pounds and I was just feeling all around good.

I don't follow it strictly right now as I don't think a vegan diet is a good idea period, but especially not when pregnnat. But I do base the beginning of my eating each day on one pound of cooked greens, one pound of raw greens, 4 servings of fruit and 1 cup of beans as a beginning. I don't limit any of the things the diet says to limit - nuts, avocadoes, etc. But I do strive to eat the minimums and then I allow myself to eat whatever suits my fancy. I don't often crave junk food, so that's not a problem. But I often eat cheese, eggs, grass fed beef and raw milk. Those are all no-nos on the ETL. I never considered them no-nos, but I don't limit them now, whereas I did limit them them before.

I feel great. I have lots of energy. I hardly ever even need a nap, which is amazing for me when I'm pregnant. I haven't gained any weight yet. I usually gain 5 pounds before I know I'm pregnant and then continue on from there. Anyway, whatever I'm doing seems to be working. I guess I better keep it up!

Thoughts on Legalism

2010-07-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking lately about keeping God's laws and how often that results in getting labeled a "legalist". I don't really understand why a believer in God and His ways would be antagonistic towards me if I choose to follow the ways that our Creator has spelled out in His Word.

I am often labeled a legalist. It's just that since I believe God loves me, He created me and He knows what's best for me, I'm not looking for an excuse to not obey Him. I strive to obey Him in ALL things, to the best of my ability. The more I learn, the more I try to do what He says. I strive to be Torah observant (Gasp! That term is sure to have some pointing fingers and labeling me a legalist), but I'm not sure I do a very good job.

My obedience doesn't earn me salvation, but it certainly brings me joy.

Two Pink Lines

2010-07-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's been an exciting week. Here are some excerpts from my journal for the last week:

June 28, 2010

Out of the blue in the middle of the day today, my feet started burning like they do when I’m pregnant. I thought that was really odd. I wasn't late, but I took a pregnancy test, anyway. At first there was no second pink line, and I didn't think anything of it. But, as I waited longer, I thought maybe there was possibly the faintest possible, maybe almost imaginary pink line. This was the middle of the day when I wasn’t even late and I was doing a watermelon juice fast, so a negative response would not have been the least bit surprising.

So, not only was I not “sure”, but I had no one to tell. Jim left for Israel yesterday and the big girls left for camp yesterday L

Quite honestly, I was thinking I was done having babies. After all, I am 45 years old and this is the longest spacing (except for once back when we really tried to prevent pregnancy ;) between pregnancies. Being "done" didn't bother me. I was just beginning to contemplate getting rid of the baby stuff.

And, I'll admit, I’m a little apprehensive. I believe I know of more people who have miscarried at 45 than people that have carried to term at that age.

And then there’s the weight loss. I just hit the 40 pound weight loss mark. I’ve been working on that since the beginning of the year. Alas, pregnancy brings and end to weight loss for now. I am glad I lost weight before I got pregnant, though. I can continue to eat the way I have been eating, with a little adjustment for pregnancy and work out 6 days a week like I have been. That way I’ll be a step ahead in getting in shape after baby is born.

June 29, 2010

Time for test number two. This time I took it early in the morning and there was a pretty definite line. Light, but definitely there. And still, no one to tell.

June 30, 2010

I took another test. Gotta be sure, right? Absolutely a second line. And, all week, I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell Jim – just the logistics of getting the news to him in Israel. I could call, but it’s very expensive. I could wait til he get’s home, but I don’t honestly think I could wait that long. The next best option is texting him. After all, I’ve never texted him the results of a pregnancy test before J

So, I texted him a picture of the pregnancy test with the caption "two pink lines" and his response was, "See I go to serve Yahwey in Israel and the blessings come in right away. LOL" Have I mentioned I love that man? :)

July 1, 2010

The girls got home tonight, but between alternate showers and talking to friends on the phone, I didn’t get a chance to tell them.

July 3, 2010

I finally told the girls this morning. They were so happy. I thought Rebekah was going to explode! We all agreed that Justin would find out by facebook because he’s a big stinker and would not be a happy camper. So, for timing purposes, the girls had to keep it a secret for a few hours, too.

Due date March 5, 2011. Rebekah says I might as well just say mid-March. She’s so right.

Break Time

2010-02-23T20:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Rebekah brought her chickens in for school break time. Actually, it wasn't break time, but when she brought the chickens in, we had to take a break...

Front Yard

2010-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

When we bought our house last year, it was bank owned. The lawn hadn't been watered in months. We started watering it and found that it was all weeds. The parkway had lots of prickly weeds which made it hard to walk on barefoot. So, we covered the whole yard in plastic to kill off the lawn, the weeds and anything else in the ground.

It's been about six months and last week we started lifting the plastic. The plastic was already off the parkway for a while (Don't use white plastic, it deteriorates.). We had some really good rains, so I figured now was a good time to start removing the new weeds from the parkway.

We spent a couple of days last week removing the weeds. Jim started shoveling off the top two inches of soil because the dirt was too high. We put it into the front yard to deal with in the days to come.

We loosened up the top of the soil left on the parkway. (That was a tough job.) Then we layered on some garden soil. I mixed the creeping thyme seed with sand and sprinkled it on the dirt. Then we put some sphagnum moss to help keep it moist. We also need to get some stepping stones to put here and there so people can cross easily. I'm really looking forward to the ground cover when it's grown.

Funny Boy

2010-02-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged for a while. So, I figured I'd start off with an easy one.

While we were on vacation, Elijah kept telling this story about how his name isn’t Elijah, it’s Johnny. Cuz, you know, his other family named him Johnny. He's 5 years old. (He's really only 4, but he's wanted to be 5 ever since his older siblings were in a class that you had to be 5 to be enrolled in.) His Dad’s name was Sukkah and his mom was Sukkah 2. His mom died and his dad gave him a map to go live with us. Too funny. He goes into all this detail. And he even answers to the name Johnny.

Uncle John came and visited us while we were up there and he just had a heyday with the whole thing. John and Johnny shared a room the night he stayed. And John would just do all kinds of stuff to bug “Johnny” or get him to tell more of his story.

On the way home, we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner. There were highway patrolmen eating there and Elijah wanted to talk to them, but he was too shy to go by himself. Rebekah took him over to say hi. The patrolmen stopped eating, said hi to him and then asked him his name. After a long pause, he said "Johnny". Then they asked how old he was. Another pause and "5". Too funny! I think the kid is starting to believe his own stories. :)

Thanksgiving Table

2009-11-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

We used to have a tradition where before dinner, we would go around the circle of people and everyone would say something they are thankful for. Unfortunately, some people were dumbstruck by this idea. And some people just couldn't stand to wait that long for their food. Go figure.

So, this year, we covered the table in paper and handed out crayons and colored pencils. Then everyone got to draw or write what they were thankful for. No one had to say it out loud and everyone seemed to enjoy hanging out before the meal and working on their artwork while talking. I think we'll do this every year. Yet another way to focus on the aspect of giving thanks on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Tree

2009-11-25T23:47:00.000-08:00

With extended family, our Thanksgiving Day tends to focus on food and football. I find the best way for us to institute a spirit of thankfulness is to think about it as we lead up to Thanksgiving. This year we put up a thanksgiving tree. It is in our entryway. We have a supply of leaves, a pen and some tape in the entryway, also. As friends and family come to visit, we ask that they write on a leaf something that they are thankful for and add it to our tree. And everyone that shows up for our thanksgiving meal will be asked to do the same, so we start with a spirit of thanksgiving.

We will also cover the tables in paper. Then we supply crayons and colored pencils, so guests can write/draw what they are thankful for this year. Again, we are focusing on thanksgiving. That way when they must turn on the football game, I can be content knowing that we have focused on what we are thankful for this year.

Pomegranates

2009-11-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

Yay for pomegranates! I love them, and apparently God thinks pretty highly of them, too.

Ex 28:34-35

34 The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.

Deut 8:6-9

6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land — a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates , olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

Growing Up

2009-11-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

Babies grow up. It doesn't make any difference whether they are cats or kids or any other kind of baby. It's hard to believe that our kittens are so big. Just a few months ago they fit in the palm of our hands. Now they're almost as big as their mommy. And Rebekah loves to use them as photography subjects.

Sukkot - A Joyous Celebration

2009-10-19T10:42:00.001-07:00

Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the increase of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days; on the first day a Holy Day Sabbath, and on the eighth day a Holy Day Sabbath. And you shall take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, palm branches, and boughs of oak trees, and willows of the valley, and shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim seven days. And you shall celebrate it a feast to Yahweh, seven days in a year, a never ending statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month you shall keep it. (Lev 23:39-41)

I love Sukkot. It's such a joyous celebration and an opportunity to spend extended time with God's people. There's nothing like it.

Dancing in the Sukkah

2009-10-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Dancing and singing praises to our Creator at one of His Appointed Times. A great way to start Sukkot.

Deut 16:13-15

13"You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Fall Harvest

2009-10-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of our pumpkin harvest, just in time for Sukkot - God's harvest festival.

Lev 23:39-42

39'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. 40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

And here is the pumpkin harvest we are waiting on. Can you see the big yellowish pumpkin in front of Arianah. That is the one and only big pumpkin growing in our garden.

Park Day

2009-09-25T21:23:00.001-07:00

Today turned out to be a double park day. This morning I took the little guys to the park while Jessikah had her orthodontist appointment. We went to William Mason Regional Park. The kids had fun on the playground there for almost 2 hours.

This picture was so cute. I'm bummed it was in such weird spotty shade.

Then, we had to take Jessikah to the dentist in Laguna. Since the only time we could get in was time for Shabbat dinner preparation, we decided to go to Bluebird Park and have a picnic dinner. Jim showed me this park while we were in Laguna for our anniversary. I knew the kids would love it and I was right! They had a blast - all of them.

Cool, tall rocket.

View of the playground from the rocket.

The kids greet Daddy when he brings the picnic dinner.

We only had a little over an hour at Bluebird Park before it got dark. So, we'll definitely have to go back.

School: Getting Back Into It

2009-09-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

We have slowly gotten back into school. Of course, every day is a school day, even when we're not doing book work. But I have phased all the bookwork back in as of today. In a couple of weeks we'll be celebrating Sukkot, which puts school on hold. But, for now we're back in school.

The first subject of the day is Bible. The kids are working on their Bible study lessons for Community Bible Study. They attend homeschool classes and have lessons that they complete for their weekly class. CBS is a blessing that we have been enjoying for many years. I highly recommend it if you have a class in your area.

Arianah has to be part of everything. Today she was very diligently working on her coloring book.

Elijah is playing Leapster. He loves this thing. I'm glad it has educational games.

Here, Arianah is multi-tasking. Hannah works on the number balance with her while she sits on the potty. Potty training is very important. This is homeschooling at it's finest :)

Yom Teruah - Feast of the Loud Noise

2009-09-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work'" (Lev 23:24-25)

I love how God blesses us with opportunities to obey Him. This weekend we celebrated Yom Teruah. (We follow the new moon conjunction to begin the month.) For some of God's appointed times, He is very specific about what we are to do in celebration. We focus on Yom Teruah as God shows us in His Word and we stay away from focusing on Rosh Hashanah and the man-made traditions that go along with it.

The instructions for Yom Teruah aren't as specific as the instructions for the spring appointed times. We are told to blow the trumpet - or make a loud noise, depending on the translation. Either way, the kids are happy to make a loud noise. They blew the shofars for a long time. I'm not sure how the neighbors felt about it, but I'm sure God was pleased. And, interestingly enough, this was one of the loudest dinners I have participated in in a long time. Maybe the kids were just keeping with the loud noise theme :)

"'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. (Num 29:1)

We are also told to do no work. Gotta love that day of rest. If God didn't tell us to take it, I know we often wouldn't. We are always thankful for a day to rest and focus on our Father and our family.

Then, of course, we are told to "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh 8:10) So we feasted with friends. Food and friends are one of the greatest joys of life. I think God knew that.

And I do look forward to the day when we understand exactly what we are practicing for. In the meantime, we will enjoy the blessings of obeying our Creator and following Him.

Cuties!

2009-09-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

She's just to cute! If she's all dolled up and accessorized, Rebekah did it. Good job, Rebekah.

HalleluYah!

2009-09-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying a blessed evening of praise & worship. We have a friend that comes and stays with us and he plays awesome piano. We spend the evening belting out Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, Marty Goetz and many more.

Tonight my hubby was playing drums, my brother was on electric guitar and another friend was on the acoustic. And, best of all, my six year old was singing lead. How awesome it is to praise Yah and listen to that sweet little voice singing praises at the top of his lungs.

Shabbat Shalom!

Sweet 16

2009-08-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

My daughter's 16th birthday is coming up. The years fly way too quickly. She is growing up into a a beautiful young woman. What she really wanted this year was to spend her time with two friends that live far away. She has spent Sukkot with them for the last three years and they have become great friends.

So, Jim and I decided to get airline tickets for her friends (we are very thankful for frequent flyer miles) so they could spend time together. Both girls arrived on Friday. One left yesterday and one is leaving tomorrow.

What a great time they have had. We had Jessikah's birthday dinner on Friday. It was really a distraction for her friends, so they wouldn't know that we had bigger and better plans for Sunday evening. And it was also a chance for us to sing happy birthday to her.

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. That was a special day because there were 5 young people baptized that afternoon. Then, while Jim and I went to a wedding, the big kids went to the Harvest Crusade. While we were all out having a good time, my wonderful Rebekah babysat for us. What a blessing she is to us.

Sunday's big activity, besides the teenage girls taking the teenage boy out shopping for some trendy clothes, was a limousine. Jessikah and her friends and two adults (one that acts like a kid and one that almost acts like an adult) went out for a limousine ride. They drove down to the beach.

They got take out for dinner from Ruby's on the pier. The people on the pier made all kinds of comments about them. People couldn't figure out what they were doing since they got out of a limousine and they were such an eclectic bunch :)

The next day we went to the beach. After all, you can't visit Southern California in the summer and not go to the beach!

That night they went to the Irvine Spectrum. Yesterday, they went to the mall again. Then we had to deliver Brandy to the airport and say good-by. Today Jessikah and Hannah are working on making an Anime video. Then, tomorrow we say good-by to Hannah. I'm thinking this will be a very memorable 16th birthday celebration for Jessikah. And the whole family got to join in the fun at one point or other.

Make Sure Big Brother Stays Informed

2009-08-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a post from my friend, Jennifer:

I didn't believe it, but here it is, in black and white.

The white house is asking to be informed about people who are speaking out about health care. Guess we don't dare disagree with the government now? Casual conversation even? This is straight from the White House blog:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it toflag@whitehouse.gov."

Go here to view the article.

Food

2009-08-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am excited that our garden is going so well. God is truly blessing it! I have always had a brown thumb and never managed to keep a plant alive. But, with the help of God and my kids, it seems to be going really well this time.

The bees are busy in the melon patch. (Can you tell I love my melon patch?)

We have some pumpkin flowers now.

And lots of watermelons growing. A couple weeks ago, they were tiny. It's so cool, even tiny, they looked just like watermelons. Now we're discovering some nice sized watermelons. I can hardly wait to taste the first homegrown watermelon.

And Rebekah went into the melon patch and found cantaloupes! The little cantaloupes look weird - kind of like a hairy cucumber. But she found some full size ones that just need some more ripening.

And, remember that cow I blogged about in June? This is what half of it looks like packaged up and put into a 20 cubic foot freezer. That was one big cow! 500+ pound of grass fed beef. Woohoo!

Gardens

2009-07-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

This was Arianah's breakfast this morning. She picked all the red strawberries :)

The melon patch is now officially out of control!

And the rest of the garden is doing great.

Jalama Beach

2009-07-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

Almost every year, we reserve a group campsite at Jalama Beach. That alone is a feat. It usually takes hours of calling to get through on the reservation phone line. But it's worth it. We love this place! It is so beautiful.

Someone has to watch the little guys while everyone else sets up the campsite.

We spend a lot of time at the beach. The water is really cold, but that doesn't seem to stop the kids. And, when Daddy gives boogie boarding and surfing lessons, that is extra special.

There is also an estuary that the kids love to play in. The water is a little warmer there. They found a raft and enjoyed playing on that.

This is more Arianah's style of water play. She really didn't like the beach or the estuary.

Of course, eating is an all-important activity. That's what camping is all about. After all, where else can you eat cereal and milk out of the box?

Maybe a wrestling match with Daddy.

Checking out the wildlife. Now, this first picture is of everyone inspecting a dead, half decayed turtle. Yuck! I will spare you the pictures they took of it.

Arianah likes most animals, even if it's a black beetle or a friendly squirrel.

The camp fire is popular, even if the beach wind gets smoke in everyone's eyes. Praise & worship, smores and roasting hot dogs are all important at the campfire. Jim outlined the base of the firepit with lights so we wouldn't be tripping over everyone's feet.

All activities pale in comparison to a baptism! My brother got baptized while we were camping. How awesome is that? Jim gathered all the kids to make sure they all understood what God's word says about baptism. Then, Jim, Taco and Grammy went out into the water while Taco went under. After that, we layed hands on him to ask for the Holy Spirit to fill him up.

And, while we relax at the campsite, there is plenty of time for just hanging out with family and friends.

Kittens!

2009-07-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. We came home with friends and hung out for the afternoon. We realized, that we couldn't find Neferkiti anywhere. Knowing that she was due to have babies anytime, we figured she had gone off somewhere comfy to have them. We looked high and low all over the house and couldn't find those kittens. We were beginning to worry that she had gone outside to have them!

In the middle of the night, Jessikah woke up to the sound of meowing. She followed it and found Neferkiti and her babies underneath Rebekah's dresser. She found a great place to hide them. There was so much junk in front of the dresser that we never would have found them without the meowing. So, the girls admired the kittens for a while and then went back to bed.

The next morning, they got to show everyone the new additions. All the other kids were thrilled, of course.

Neferkiti had five babies. One looks very much like her and the other four are mostly white with spots.

Later that night, Rebekah found one kitten alone and cold. She warmed it up and fed it with a dropper. We tried to get it to latch on to Mommy, but it wouldn't. And it never seemed to be part of the kitty pile. Rebekah spent the next two nights waking up every hour to feed the kitty. That kitten was oriiginally named DroolFace, because it was always drooling. As Rebekah continued to nurse it for the next two days, she renamed it Catrina Rosalynn. She bonded with the kitten, so she was understandably sad when she found little Catrina had died. We buried her in the back yard.

Today, after spending the day at the beach, we came home and found the kittens weren't under Rebekah's dresser. Hmmmm. Neferkiti must have moved them, but we couldn't figure out where she had moved them. And she was hanging out downstairs so much, that we were starting to wonder if she had lost them. But, we did find her new hiding spot. It is under another dresser in the big girls' room. So, the four kittens are safe and sound.

Egg!

2009-07-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

We were eating dinner in the back yard two days ago. We had friends over and one of them walked over to the chicken tractor and said, "You have an egg in here, you know." What?!?! Everyone went running over to the tractor and sure enough, there was an egg. We didn't think the chickens would lay until September, so we were pleasantly surprised.

Rebekah got the egg out. After we took a picture of it, she let the little guys hold it. Apparently, someone told Elijah to "look at it closely". :)

Then Rebekah put the egg on the table so she could get a bowl ready. Unfortunately, the egg was in Arianah's reach. When Rebekah tried to get the egg back from her, it fell on the table and dented.

So, we had to cook it.

I think four people got a taste of this little, tiny egg. Rebekah said it was extra tasty.

We're definitely looking forward to more eggs.

Chickens 101 and Getting to Know Your Neighbors

2009-07-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

It looks like we're going to make as much of a farm as we can out of this 7000 sf suburban lot that we are blessed to live on. The garden is really starting to do great, now that it's actually getting warm enough to call summer. And, our most recent project is chickens. Yep, you heard me right, chickens. A month or so ago, Rebekah asked if we could have chickens (she had spent the night at Grammy's and Grammy has chickens). I told her to first call the city and see if it was OK (she did, and it is) and then ask her dad (she did, and he said OK).

After that, we had to build a chicken tractor. That was Jim's job and he did a marvelous job of it. We will need a couple of upgrades, but it's all a learning process and we are learning.

After he built the tractor, Grammy brought the chickens over. Last Monday, the kids were all excited and gathered around as we put the chickens in the tractor.

Arianah loves the chickens. Of course, Arianah loves all our animals. From the dog and cat to the lowly worm. (Every time we work in the worm composter, she wants to hold a worm.)

The next morning, the learning really started. Rebekah came upstairs first thing, looking very distressed. "Mom, the chickens are gone!" What?!?! Sure enough, Scooter, our golden retriever had broken into the tractor and let the chickens out. He even left a telltale tuft of golden fur on the torn edges of the tractor to make sure we could figure out it was him. After all, the day before, he had paid no attention to the chickens after his first cursory examination of the tractor, so we wouldn't have suspected him. Thus began a week of chicken chasing.

Rebekah and Hannah went door to door, knocking and asking neighbors if they had seen our chickens. They left fliers on the doors where no one was home. Rebekah pasted fliers up on the poles around the block. Trust me, it's not often you see a "lost chicken" sign in our neighborhood :)

To make a long story short, after much chicken chasing all over the neighborhood, many phone calls from neighbors, going from back yard to back yard, climbing trees, reaching under bushes, chasing down the street, hearing neighbors say "chickens?", "did she say chickens?", "how tall is the chicken?", throwing whiffle balls on the roof to try to scare a chicken down and much help from our neighbors, we finally retrieved Strawberry (the red chicken named because Elijah says she's red like a strawberry) on Thursday evening and Henrietta (the black chicken) on Friday evening.

So, if you're looking for a good way to get to know your neighbors, try getting some chickens and releasing them in the neighborhood. It works great. We have lived here 9 months, but we know many more neighbors now than we did a week ago.

It's All About Me

2009-06-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you realize "it's all about me"? Seriously, I have been struggling for weeks with some things - being hurt by another person. For a while, I've spent my time knowing that since I've told that person how these things bother me or how they hurt me, that certainly that person should just change and all will be right with the world. Well, amazingly enough, that tactic wasn't working. That person hasn't changed. That's when I realized ...

It's all about me! It's not about that person. It's not about how that person can change. It's about how I change my response to said offenses. I can choose to be bothered by them over and over, but that doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere. So, instead I choose to ask God for help in responding in love. That works so much better.

Unfortunately, that ain't easy. I hate when it's all about me.

Road Trip Tips

2009-06-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

We have been quite busy since our road trip, but I thought I would jot down some tips that worked for us in our travels … and some things that didn’t work. On this last trip, we were driving 4-7 hours every day. That’s a lot of driving. And, it’s not easy to keep 8 kids happy with that much driving.

First and foremost, I think the main reason our trip went as smoothly as it did is because we have a DVD player in the car. We aren’t big TV watchers at home. And we never use the car player if we’re just around town. But, on trips, it’s a lifesaver! I am SO thankful for it. When we’re in a beautiful area, I turn off the video so they can enjoy God’s magnificent creation. And, actually, my 4 year old was usually the first one to notice something awesome, even when the video was on. It was so cute to hear his exclamations of “Mom, look at that mountain!” or similar things J

Each child brings their own bag of toys. It’s usually a backpack. Most of the kids have a Nintendo DS or a Leapster. Those are another blessing when travelling. Then they have books, drawing materials, games, action figures, etc.

As for snacks, I can never seem to figure out how to make that work. I have had each kid bring their own snack bags so they can eat when they want, but that seems to be messier. This time I had the stash of snacks up front. So, they had to ask for snacks when they were hungry. But even that resulted in a large pile of food between the seats of the 4 year old and 6 year old and tons of snacks on the floor everywhere. We tried to do a quick clean out of trash and large chunks of snack when we stopped at hotels, but we still ended up with a huge mess in that regard.

Water worked much better. Each of us had a stainless steel water container. The kids had sippy lids on theirs, so if it fell over it didn’t spill … much. We carried a 2 gallon water container from Wal-Mart that had a large opening to fill it up and a dispenser spigot. We refilled the water container along the way. At every stop, we would refill everyone’s stainless steel container. That way everyone had water and we didn’t have to worry about thirst … unless they couldn’t find their water bottle J. This system worked really well.

We wanted to make this trip low budget and we didn’t want to eat at fast food often. We brought a cooler with food. It had sandwich makings, fruits, veggies and snack foods like hummus, artichoke dip, etc. I think another good idea would have been cold salads – pasta, potato, macaroni, etc. We also had a few stackable crates with paper plates, cups, plastic ware and dry foods – bread, snacks, chips, etc. Most of the hotels we stayed at included breakfast. But we often ate lunch and dinner on the road or in hotels.

We had to make the food relatively accessible, so we packed the car accordingly! We often ate in parking lots of the various attractions we visited. Sometimes we would just pull over and slap together a meal and jump back in the car to continue driving. A couple times we brought the food into the hotel room to have dinner if we arrived early enough. This worked really well for saving money on food. We rarely ate fast food on this trip.

This is the first time we have ever gone on a trip where we stayed in a different place every night. With 10 people in the car, we certainly didn’t want to have to bring everyone’s duffel bag into every room every night. The system I came up with worked really well. I packed each person’s clothes in a laundry basket. The laundry baskets nested inside of each other. So, I had two stacks of laundry baskets in the car. (Note to self: If other people are travelling with you, have them use the same luggage system. Throwing duffel bags and a different sized basket into the mix really messed up the system. Also, make sure guest family of 3 doesn’t pack as much luggage as our partial family of 7. You’d think I’d be used to this from her by now, but I’m not ;)

I started the trip with one duffel bag packed with PJs for each person and one outfit for the next day. I checked the internet regularly so I had an idea of what clothing we would need each day. Every morning as I packed up the car, I would pull an outfit for each person out of their laundry basket. The clothes were easy to access, because the baskets are open. We would just lift up the stack and pull clothes out of each basket. The bigger kids pulled out their own clothes. I used the same PJs a few days in a row. And, if clothes were clean after a day’s travels, I had them reuse the clothes in the morning. This saved on laundry. I packed the overnight bag in the morning so I wouldn’t have to do it at night as we pulled into a hotel parking lot, inevitably very tired. It took a while to do each morning and it would have been a daunting task after travelling all day.

One thing I forgot was a way to store dirty clothes. I think I should have started with an empty laundry basket (or two) that we could put dirties into. An alternative would be a big trash bag, but the laundry basket would have fit in with the stack and kept the dirty clothes separate from the clean without looking like an explosion in the back of the van.

There were a few things that I didn’t pack into each person’s basket. We had a separate bag with everyone’s socks and lace up shoes. That way if we found a place to hike, or if it got chilly, we just pulled out the bag of shoes and put them on. Otherwise, we wore sandals or slip on shoes during our travels. The same idea worked for jackets. If it was cold, I grabbed jackets very easily – at least in theory.

We also had a swim bag. I usually tried to get a hotel with a pool, especially if the kids had been sitting in the car for hours a day. The pool is a great way to let off steam after being strapped in all day. If we were going to swim at a hotel, I just grabbed the swim bag along with the clothing bag to bring into the hotel. And since the swimsuits were in their own bag, it didn’t matter if they were wet. We found the best way to dry swimsuits was to hang them on hangers in the closet. And since the swimsuits were in their own bag, it didn’t affect anything else if they were packed wet.

The only other tip I can think of is that we tried to fill the gas tank when it got down to half a tank. We didn’t want to be caught in the middle of nowhere low on gas. Believe me, coming from Southern California , we aren’t used to being in the middle of nowhere. It can be a long way between gas stations in other parts of the country.

Side of Beef

2009-06-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

We ordered a side of beef from a guy we have ordered from before. He runs his cattle in the canyons near our house. So, being homeschoolers, we decide that it's not good enough just to order a side and have him deliver the final product. We have to be there every step of the way :) Field trip!

We went to the ranch along with friends of ours that are ordering the other "side of beef". The beef guy had corralled a batch of cattle, so we could choose one.

We spent some time checking out the cows (Bulls? Steers? I don't know. I'll just use the generic term "cows".) He told us what to look for in choosing a cow to slaughter.

We chose this chubby cow.

And then I had to get pictures of Arianah in her sweet new sundress, just because she looked so cute.

Jim also asked if we could keep the hide. Lessons in tanning :) So, he and some of the kids will be going back when the time comes to slaughter the cow. We dream of someday owning some land and having a farm. So, we have to take advantage of every learning opportunity we have in this city life.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm ...

2009-06-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

What is it about a toilet paper roll that make it so hard to put on the holder? Seriously, I am always amazed when I find this in the bathroom.

Fatherhood

2009-06-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you, there are many days that I am in awe of how much God has blessed me when He gave me my husband. Today I will focus on what a great Dad he is. (Yes, I know yesterday was Father's Day, but I haven't had a quiet moment to write until today.)

When we got married, I never dreamed that we would actually be blessed with so many children. We knew we would have children, but I honestly thought 3 would probably be our limit. How blessed we are that, God has changed our hearts and gifted us with 7 children.

It takes an incredible man to be a good father to 7 children. And, through the years, God has grown Jim to be that wonderful father. First and foremost, he is a man of God. He strives to be obedient to our Creator and is a new Creation because of his openness to God. When a man is open to being molded by our Creator, he can't help but be a constantly better man. He is the leader of our home, leading us along the narrow path.

As a leader, he works very hard to support our family. And, trust me, to support a family of 9 in Southern California on a single income is no easy feat. But, with God's blessings, Jim has provided us a plentiful lifestyle. Now, with the recession, we are cutting back, like many others. And Jim is still out there working hard to make ends meet.

And, after working hard all day, he has plenty of projects around the home, too. He has built beds for our raised bed garden. He is remodeling our laundry room. He fixes all the things that break around here. We very rarely have to call a repair man. He always provides me the best of the tools I need to take care of my responsibilities.

And he loves those kids. He was right there at home with me as I delivered each one of them. Several of them he has "caught" as I delivered them. Other than diapers, he is great with the kids and has grown as a Daddy over the years. He loves to be entertained by the little ones and spend time with the big ones. He blesses me to stay home with and homeschool our children. He and I are the ones that are actually raising our children, instead of having values instilled in them by someone else for hours a day.

Since getting words out of teens is like pulling teeth, I thought I would just ask the younger set what they like about Daddy. And here is what I got:

He teaches us about flames. He teaches us stuff about Israel. He builds stuff for us like playhouses and he works really hard so we have enough money to buy lots of food. We don't use the special money to get little toys for us, we use it for food, cuz food is more important than toys. He teaches us what's right and wrong. He teaches us about God. He lets us get reservations at Jalama (camping). He lets us stay up late to have smarshmallows while we're camping. He lets us swim to the part with sand at the River. He trusts us with Uncle Taco at Shell island.

I thank God for blessing me with a wonderful man.

Silk Worms

2009-06-15T22:14:00.001-07:00

The silk worms spun their cocoons last month. And the moths hatched just before our road trip.

They can't fly and they don't eat. All they do is lay eggs and die. The kids enjoyed holding them because they just sit on their hands. We'll have to try some projects with the cocoons. Anyone know any good resources for that?

Three Teens

2009-06-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

Rebekah turned 13 today. We had her birthday dinner last night because the rest of this weekend is filled with wedding festivities for a close family friend. But today is the actual day that we welcome the third teenager into our household.

She received the laptop a couple months ago as kind of a combined gift that she negotiated - covers all her gift occasions for the year.

Of course, we wouldn't want to leave her completely gift free on her 13th birthday, so we got her some important things, like candy ...

and gum.

And her siblings gave her some of their special toys, too. See how proud Elijah is of the gift he gave her?

And, we have a tradition for our kids' 13th birthday to ask for a note of encouragement, advice, scripture, etc for the young lady (or man as the case may be) from many of the special people in their lives. I put the notes in an album, so they can keep it with them throughout their lives. Here are the girls reading Rebekah's album.

Happy Birthday, Rebekah!

A Thorn in the Flesh

2009-06-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

I have this physical weakness that, thankfully, only shows up once every couple of years or so, because it sure is miserable! It usually starts with a cold or something minor and then settles in my glands under my tongue. They swell up HUGE and get very sore and they take days to go down. It hurts to swallow and sometimes it just hurts. It usually hurts to talk and people can't usually understand me anyway. I have taken Advil several times in the last few days, which is so unlike me.

It's not just swollen glands. The whole thing just knocks me completely on my butt. I have been laying on the couch for the last two days - doing the absolute minimum. I just sleep all day. My body must be working hard to fight off whatever infection has settled here. I even sleep on the couch (thankfully it's a recliner) because it's very uncomfortable to sleep flat in bed.

And, of course, with me out of the picture, the house starts to fall apart. So, I get to listen to all the complaints of what's not done quite right. I'm pretty sure I don't need that while I'm lying here feeling miserable, but I get it nonetheless.

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll feel like I'm on the upswing. Right now I'm not feeling too bad, but I don't know if that's because I'm starting to get better, I did a lymphatic massage, or I took Advil. We'll see in the morning.

The To-Do List

2009-06-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time balancing life with my to-do list. It seems the list always takes priority, even if I would like relationships to take priority. People are far more important than the list. But, I don't always behave as if that's the case. I feel like I always have to have everything done before we "go play". However, if playing is on the list (like homeschool park day), then it's easier for me to fit it in. Granted, part of this has to do with expectations made of me by others, but when it all comes down to it, I'm the one that decides what we will do in a given day. Sometimes I just wish I did a better job at prioritizing. People, things, people, things. It's not a tough decision.

Road Trip - Part 3

2009-06-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

We decided to stay an extra night in South Dakota. We went to Mount Rushmore, thinking that we would see it and be gone in about an hour. Turns out we spent hours there doing various things. Since there were other things we wanted to do in the area, and we didn't think we'd ever be back this way, we decided to stay.

We stayed in the little town of Keystone right near Mount Rushmore. I didn't realize Mount Rushmore was so far from Rapid City. And the hotels in Keystone were cheaper than the ones in Rapid City. Live and learn. Anyway, the next day we toured Big Thunder Gold Mine, which was lots of fun. Then the kids panned for gold.

After that we went to Crazy Horse Memorial. That was pretty cool. I think at the rate they're going, it will take 200 years to finish it, but I guess it's the thought that counts. This is the view of the how the mountain is suppsoed to look and the mountain in the background.

Then after Crazy Horse, we made a mad dash through Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming to spend the night. While we were driving through Nebraska, besides Chimney Rock (which is on the Oregon Trail), we also saw lots of thunderstorms.

The next day was the Day of Pentecost (Lev 23), so we just took it easy. We had breakfast at the hotel and then hung out until noon, which was checkout time. When we loaded the van and got ready to go, the battery was dead. So we had to call AAA. We got a jumpstart and then headed across Colorado. Colorado Springs was my favorite area. We didn't do much in Colorado, except enjoy the scenery and stop at a hotel for the night. But we did get one pretty picture there.

The next day we drove into New Mexico and visited Capulin Volcano National Monument. That was really cool. You could go down inside the crater.

And, for the more hardy among us, you could walk the whole rim. It was a tough hike. One mile long, with the first half being uphill (I believe there was a 300 foot increase in elevation). I sure was glad for the downhill part. And when we were finishing up, we were also racing a storm. We could see the lightning and hear the thunder in the distance. But we made it back safely to the car before the storm hit. Then it was on to Arizona - a long, long drive.

In Arizona, we just made one stop at Delgadillo's Snow Cap, just off the 40 on Route 66. We love this place. We stopped for lunch and then hightailed it home.

We arrived home just before dark after 3400 miles. What a blessing to be home safe and sound.

Road Trip - Part 2

2009-05-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

Going on a road trip like this is not something I would typically do. Usually if I go on a trip, I have everything planned out - where we're going, where we're staying, etc. And I have never been on a trip where we stayed in a different place every night. When I started talking about it, the kids thought it sounded like a fun. As it started getting closer, I started wondering if I wasn't completely looney for planning it (or not planning it, depending on how you look at it). But by then, it was too late to turn back.

So,we are now on day 6 of our road trip and having a great time. The kids are travelling better than I expected - even the 15 month old and 8 month old. Of course, the DVD player in the van helps with the travelling. But we turn it off when we hit the National Parks and other scenic areas. They enjoy that also. Elijah notices everything even while the video is playing. He is often heard exclaiming things like, "Look at that mountain." or "Look at those cows!" Anything that catches his eye really.

The first day was just a travel day. I got Jim ready to fly to Israel and then we hit the road. We drove to St. George Utah. The next day we drove through Zion National Park, which was pretty. Then we drove through Bryce Canyon National Park. That was spectacular. We loved it. The kids are dying to hike there. Since we were two moms and 8 kids, including 2 babies, we didn't do very strenuous hikes. Footpaths only, really. But I told them we would have to come back with Daddy and camp and go for a hike. That night we slept in Provo, UT.

The next day we drove through Idaho, which we found pretty boring until we got to the Montana border. It was at the border that we pulled over so the kids could play in the snow. We were parked right between the Montana and Idaho signs, so we weren't sure which state we were in. The kids thought that was awesome. Then we pulled into West Yellowstone for the night.

The next day we drove through Yellowstone. Incredible! We basically saw from the west entrance, through the geyser basin, to Old Faithful. We were all amazed at the sights - landscape and wildlife. Words can't even express it. You have to see it for yourself. That night we travelled to Cody, WY. a little tiny town. We found the best place to stay. It was at the Western 6 Gun Motel. They have a lodge that has four queen beds and a couch. Tons of room. The kids could run around. No chain hotel here. The staff was the best and the lodgings were great. Everyone wished we could stay a couple of days here.

But the next day we headed for South Dakota. We drove across Wyoming. I'll tell you, that was one boring drive. It's as bad as the drive up the middle of California. The middle of Wyoming is same old, same old, boring. And there are no people around. All the freeway exits lead to dirt roads. Definitely not my kind of place. The big horn mountains are beautiful, though. We stopped at a waterfall and checked it out. We pulled over to the side of the road while we had lunch and the kids played in the snow. And then we drove on to Rapid City. We were told we had to go to Mt Rushmore at night, so that's what we did. We went straight there and got there a little before it closed. Then we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Now we are on day 6 and we'll see what adventures await us.

Road Trip - Part 1

2009-05-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged recently and Rebekah tells me that I should be blogging. After all, we have a lot going on lately. The kids and I are on a whirlwind road trip while my hubby is enjoying a trip to Israel. We left Sunday afternoon, and since then we have been through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We have seen Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park (my personal favorite) and Yellowstone (beautiful!). We have gone 1200+ miles since we left and the kids are doing great. I'm not going to upload pictures right now because it takes too long, but if you go to Rebekah's blog, you'll see some pictures there. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post pictures soon.

The kids have been such great travellers. They are really enjoying all the sights and activities. This trip has been an incredible blessing. Hopefully we can share some of these places with Jim later. I see camping in our future.

Silk Worms

2009-05-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to raise silkworms as a science project. This is a typical homeschool project. The only difficulty is in finding mulberry leaves to feed them because that is all they will eat. That problem was solved when a new friend mentioned that she had a mulberry tree.

We got the silkworm eggs somewhere around the beginning of April. When they arrived, they were about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. They took a while to hatch and then I was afraid I killed them because I didn't have leaves in the when they hatched. But I put in some leaves and apparently the timing was OK, because they lived.

They started eating the leaves - very little at first. They didn't even eat all the way through them. The leaves looked lace after they ate them. It was really cool. Then they started eating more and more. Now they are incredibly voracious. They eat hands full of leaves each day. And, they are incredibly ugly. Yuck! I don't know how much longer we have to wait for them to spin their silk cocoon, but I hope it's soon.

Arianah loves to hold any small animal. Silkworms included.

E's Birthday

2009-05-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Elijah's birthday last Saturday. It was also family dinner night (our monthly family get-together) and a chance to meet my nephew's new girlfriend. It was a great evening.

Elijah wanted a Spider Man cake, which my wonderful mother gladly made for him.

He loves this gift. He plays with it all the time rearranging the figures and telling stories.

Arianah enjoys someone's leftovers.

Uncle Daniel partied too hard and needed a nap (after cooking us a delicious dinner).

Gardens

2009-05-12T19:45:00.001-07:00

We have some watermelon plants sprouting in our melon patch. Today, we also planted some sugar baby watermelons and some cantaloupes. I have several things growing in the garden beds, but they are only about half filled. I planted a tray of little, tiny peat moss pots a couple of weeks ago, but I got NOTHING out of them this time. The first time I tried, I got about 5 seedlings (out of 50). So, I don't seem to be having much luck with the seedlings. The kids planted carrots straight into a garden bed and got nothing. I planted cucumbers in the garden beds and they are growing. We'll see what happens to the broccoli I planted in the beds. Live and learn. I think I'm doing OK so far for my first garden.

New Oven!

2009-05-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! I have a new oven. Well, it's actually used - off craigslist. But it's new to me and it actually works. And that's what matters.

I think the oven that was in our kitchen when we moved in was original to the house. (The house was built in 1964.) It was so tiny that my cookie sheet had to hang on the oven rack guides instead of actually sitting on the rack. It didn't heat well at all. The knobs were so worn out I couldn't read the markings. One day it took 3.5 hours to cook a chicken. Another day it would burn my bread, even while I used an oven thermometer. The bottom oven wouldn't heat past 250 degrees. Another problem was that our cupboard space to install a new oven is very limited. Many ovens are just too big for the space.

But hubby has taken care of that. He cut the cupboard space as large as it will go and put the oven in for me. I am so thrilled that I had to share - even though the cupboard area isn't fixed up yet.

I turned it on immediately. It heated up quickly and to the right temperature according to the oven thermometer. It sure will make baking more pleasant.

Painted Canvas

2009-05-01T22:25:00.001-07:00

OK, so apparently Elijah wasn't content with just using paper as his canvas. He had to move to something more beautiful. We heard Arianah outside laughing and crying at the same time. When I went to check on her, this is what I found.

Painting

2009-04-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

I got a Little Tikes easel for the kids off of freecycle. I figured today was a beautiful day to bring it out. We have most of the hard work done on the garden and we haven't done much traditional schooling lately. We'll get back into that next week. So today, they are working on art.

Working on the House

2009-04-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Since the garden beds are finished, we have one last big house remodeling project. Jim is working hard on the laundry room. Right now, this is how it looks.

He will be working on it this weekend. I am so excited to see it done. Before, it had room for was a washer and dryer - that's all. Now we will have my laundry storage, washer, dryer, large stainless utility sink and some counter space. And probably some shelves on the wall, too. This is of course, the laundry room, but it also holds baby clothes, my scrapbooking supplies and homeschool supplies in the cupboards at the end of the room.

If you'd like to see other before and after pictures of our house, go to Rebekah's blog post. She did a great job a while back posting pictures.

When we first saw this place, we knew it had potential but would take a lot of work. Cosmetically, it was YUCK! By the time we moved in, I couldn't believe this house was ours. I love what we have done with it. Of course, it will always be a work in progress, but the majority is done and we are enjoying our blessings.

More Garden Info

2009-04-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

So, we've finished the garden beds. Here is a picture of Hannah scooping the last of the compost into the wagon. It took us nine days to transfer 4 yards of dirt from our driveway to the back yard.

Here's the little guys doing a cheesy post in the melon patch.

Here they are putting the final touches on the melon patch. The boys are mulching with the lawn clippings that Jessikah set aside when she mowed the lawn today. Hannah is watering the newly planted watermelon seeds.

And here are our five garden beds. The farthest one we're having a problem with. Scooter likes to walk through it. Hmmm ... what to do. The two green beds have several plants in them already and are mulched with today's grass clippings. The two closest beds are ready for planting. Tomorrow we'll plant some seeds.

Then we'll see how our garden grows :)

Making Progress on the Garden

2009-04-21T22:36:00.001-07:00

So, we're finally making some good progress on the garden. Jim got rid of the pile of junk that has been sitting in the remainder of our garden space. I can't believe he cleared all that stuff out -relocated it, smashed it, cut it, whatever it took to get it into 20 garbage bags scheduled for a "bulky item pick-up" by our trash company.

Then, on Monday, we had topsoil and compost delivered. Two yards of each. Took up a nice large spot in our driveway. Wouldn't you know we would have it delivered on a record breaking 100 degree day. I had no desire to haul dirt from the driveway to the back yard. But the younger kids and I got to work in the evening when it cooled down some.

The kids are such good helpers. Jim was brilliant enough to buy a dump wagon. It's pretty cool. We fill it up and pull it to the backyard like a wagon. (No accidentally spilling a wheel barrow.) We push it right up to the bed and lift and it pours all the dirt right into the raised bed. Perfect! And, he bought a kid-sized shovel. So, they all want to take turns using it and filling the wagon.

Today, after Bible study, I came home and finished one bed completely. Yay! I'm excited. Now I have to start up some more seedlings. My first batch didn't do very well. I only have 3 or 4 plants that might make it. I didn't want to start again til I knew I had someplace to plant them. So, I'll have to do that in the next few days. And we'll finish up more of the beds.

Unleavened Bread

2009-04-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the Days of Unleavened Bread have come to a close. God gives us such a great object lesson at this time. Really, make leaven represent sin and then try to stay away from it. It seems simple enough, but it is quite difficult.

This year I did a better job than usual of removing leaven from our home and cars. I tried to remember the places I had missed leaven in previous years - lunch boxes, diaper bags, etc. Right before the first evening I found a box of crackers in the pantry and promptly put them down the garbage disposal. And honestly, I only found one small chunk of leavened food under our couch during the Days and one small chunk afterwards that was obviously there throughout.

So, at home we didn't slip up and eat leavening. But when we went out in the world, it was a little harder. At park day someone brought a pinata for their daughter's birthday. That seemed harmless enough. But, there was a leavened treat in there. I almost didn't even recognize it. It had long biscuits to dip in frosting. I was going to have my daughter share one with the baby and I said to just give her the stick, "It's like a cracker." Wait! What?! It's like a cracker! Don't eat that. And while I was dealing with this, one of my son's was eating a birthday cupcake. It's always something.

And then there is the spiritual value. A friend made some good points on yearning for leaven (sin) during these Days. We had our leavened meal all planned out for the moment these days were over. It was in the car right at sunset. So, obviously that represented yearning for sin, just as we do at times in life. God is so good to give us a chance to really focus on the prevalence of sin in our lives and this world.

Laundry Room Remodel

2009-04-13T22:22:00.001-07:00

Jim started a new project today. He and the kids used their demolition skills on the closet in the laundry room. They loved trying their hand at breaking down the walls

This closet used to hold the furnace and the water heater. We relocated both of those to the rafters before we moved in. Now we are removing the closet to make the laundry room bigger. It's amazing how much bigger it looks already. I'm excited to see how it will look when it is finished.

Here's a before and after shot.

Passover

2009-04-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Finally! The day we have been looking forward to. It's Passover! (Well, it was on Thursday, anyway.) We prepared all morning - cleaning and cooking. We didn't get pictures of most of the preparations because we were all too busy. Jessikah made the bread that we use for the Passover service. We make bread without the yeast instead of using store bought matzah. She made a challah recipe without yeast. She even braided some of the little loaves. They were so cute.

Arianah had a new dress on, so we had to take a picture of her.

This is the table set up for the service. We usally have the menorah and shofars on that table. We added the bread (under the blue cover), wine and the lamb ready to be sacrificed.

Jim is telling the story of how they chose the lamb and prepared it for the Passover sacrifice. The kids ar every interested, as usual.

Jim has some incredible special effects as he sacrifices the lamb.

Arianah is ready to have her feet washed during the footwashing portion of the service.

The problem is, after she had her feet washed, she wanted to put her feet in everyone else's footwashing bin. But, we managed, nonetheless.

Lucas and Elijah are very proud that their water is actually dirty after they washed each other's feet.

Then we start the dancing and rejoicing. Thankful to Yeshua for His sacrifice for us.

The little guys set their own dinner table.

And the big kids set the big people's table with our most special dishes and flatware. Special dishes for a special occasion.

After the food came out the pictures stopped. We were all busy enjoying food and fellowship.

Plague 9 - Darkness

2009-04-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

Darkness is a fun plague. We used to just turn off the lights and sit around in the dark for a while, but that's actually kind of boring. So, now we blindfold the kids and have them do something; for instance, go take a hat and put it away in the closet and bring back a pair of Dad's socks from the bin. The little guys could go on all night, but since we got a late start, we only did one turn per kid.

Lucas getting a pen, pencil and pair of scissors off the school table to bring back to Daddy.

Plague 8 - Locusts

2009-04-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried looking for plastic locusts? I'll even settle for just grasshoppers. I can find some big, ugly plastic grasshoppers. Only problem is, I can only find them one or two at a time. If I'm going to make a plague of locusts, there has to be lots of them.

I have tried several things to represent this plague over the years. I have tried cutting out brown construction paper ovals to represent locusts. I have used plastic cockroaches (yes, I actually found those in large batches. Yuck!). Last year I used some plastic buggy creatures that looked nothing like locusts. Of course, they looked nothing like any other bug, either, so they were an alright stand in.

This year I found some plastic buggy creatures that look a little more like locusts. Of course, the other half of the bag looked like brightly colored cockroaches, but I used them all nonetheless. I have spread them all over the great room. Maybe I'll go put out a couple of lettuce leaves just for the effect of eating the greenery :) Than again, maybe I won't. I must be getting tired because I didn't even put them in the drawers or the food. I just threw them all over the floors and the table. That's 8 plagues down and two more to go.

And tonight I threw away all the leavening I didn't figure we would eat before Thursday. The trash truck comes tomorrow so I figure I might as well get rid of it now if we're not going to eat it. We're down to 1 1/2 loaves of bread (easily disposed of in grilled cheese sandwiches tomorrow night) and various cookies. Yes, Passover is quickly approaching. HalleluYah!

Plague 7 - Hail

2009-04-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

We used to do the plague of hail with ice. I would just have a bunch of ice on the back patio when the kids woke up in the morning. But that wasn't very interesting or exciting. So, we changed tactics. Last year I had a bunch of bouncy balls and I bounced them outside and told the kids to try to avoid them ... but that was too easy. So, this year, we stayed inside and I took a bowl full of balls (the white plastic ones that are full of holes) and threw the balls against the ceiling over the kids' heads. Then they were all trying to get hit. As you can see by the pictures, they had lots of fun with this technique.

I misjudged on this one and ended up getting myself with the hail.

Another action shot.

This one is right before the hail hits them.

And having fun after.

We still haven't figured out how to add in the fire with the hail (Exodus 9:13-35). Maybe next year :)

Plague 6 - Boils

2009-04-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

The plague of boils affected all of Egypt as the handfuls of ashes that Moses scattered in Pharaoh's sight became fine dust and caused boils on man and beast. (Exodus 9:8-12) In our house, the boils, otherwise known as brightly colored happy face stickers, only affect those that are sleeping.

In the little kids' room, it also affects those that are wearing summer pajamas more severely than ...

those that are wearing warm footy pajamas.

And in the girls' room it affects preteens ...

and kids just about the same.

Worms, Our Newest Project

2009-04-04T16:16:00.001-07:00

We got ourselves a worm composting kit. We're setting up the garden. Jim made a custom composting barrel. But when I saw the worm composting kit, my homeschool antennae went up and I just couldn't resist. So we set it up a couple of days ago.

We started with 1000 red worms. I'm not sure how they know there are 1000. Maybe they make them count off. Maybe they make them sign in before they crawl into the jar. Maybe they just take a guess.

First we lined the bin with newspaper.

Then we added the peat moss mixture.

And the wet, shredded paper on top of that.

And then we added the worms.

Then Jim and Lucas decided to have a snack :)

When we had it all set up, Jim was asking the kids what we should name the worms. Elijah said, “We call the mommy worms Mrs. Worm and we call the daddy worms … Grandpa.”

Plague 5 - Dead Livestock

2009-04-03T21:46:00.001-07:00

The next plague is dead livestock (Ex 9:1-7). So, we just take all the stuffed animals and lay them around the house, so they pretend they are the dead livestock. OK, so I know that Lightning McQueen and Sully don't count as livestock, and I didn't even show a picture of Larry the Cucumber. But Eeyore is a donkey, so he counts. And there is a sheep and a cow in the other hallway. We just make do with what we have :)

Plague 4 - Flies

2009-04-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are at plague #4 - flies. (And also at Sabbath preparation day, so I'm a little late with my post.) Flies is a simple plague. We spread plastic flies all over the place and in all the nooks and crannies - snacks, cereal boxes, cupboards, drawers, etc. We have a particularly nasty looking batch of fake flies. They are big, black ugly things. We don't have very many left and my usual store didn't have them this year, so we didn't spread them all over the house. We just plagued the great room.

This afternoon while we cleaned up for Sabbath, we are also picking up frogs and crunching lice rice under our feet. The plagues never seem to end.

The last couple of days we have read through the plagues in Exodus and spent time discussing all the nitty gritty details. Until the next plague ... Shabbat shalom!

Plague 3 - Lice

2009-04-01T23:05:00.000-07:00

The plague of lice doesn't make much of a picture. I sprinkled rice all over the floor. One year I found little tiny white plastic bugs, but over the years my supply has dwindled. We have also used the little circles from the three hole punch, but I don't have any of those either. So, we're back to rice. I only put the rice in the great room because it's so annoying to have that mess all over the house. Every time I walk through there, I remember the plague as I brush the rice off of my feet. I think it's time to go sweep.