Large Family Logistics

31 Days: Review First Thing in the Morning

2014-10-10T14:10:00.001-06:00

There are days that are a recovery from the day before. That is us today. We went on a beautiful and fantastic 3 hour drive into the mountains yesterday, picnicked at a lake, hiked along a stream and through the pines and Aspens to a mountain meadow with a stream running through. Then we hiked out and drove 3 hours home. Once home, we ate a bit of overcooked chicken from the crockpot and crawled into bed. An exhausted bunch of kids from one day make for a next day of extreme recovery. One step in front of the other. Just the basics: food, chores, schoolwork. I knew it was bad when we got home so I turned off my alarm. We started the day when we woke up and sure enough, it’s about noon and we’re catching up with the normal work.

One thing I find very helpful to do in the morning is to review my idea list. I call it “Ideas to Review Daily”. I have a few categories and a short list for each. It’s not quite a “To Do” list that feels pressure to get things done but it is more of ideas to work on when the mood strikes, the sun shines just right, an opportunity presents itself, or sometimes an item does become something to move to the “To Do” list. By reviewing this list daily it keeps these things in mind so that when the opportunity arises the idea can be seized.

A few categories on my list of “Ideas to Review Daily” list are Books to Read, Movies to Watch, classes or educational opportunities to do “someday”, ideas to improve organization or efficiency to an area of the house or school or life, decorating ideas, garden or landscape ideas, field trips. Keep your ideas under control, don’t let the lists get overwhelmingly big or you may get discouraged and never look at the list. Keep it relatively do-able.

These are things to keep in mind so you can seize the opportunity to do them when the opportunity presents itself. I.e. Your friend suggests a hike to a spot you’ve had on your list (that was our yesterday); you’ve been planning to replace the dead bushes in front of the house and because it’s fall the nurseries have their trees and bushes 50% off.

Keep your “Ideas to Review Daily” list on the short side so that it just takes minute or two to put these things in mind at the front of the day. What you think about you will move towards.

You can change your day with a good start of positive input (not in a particular order):

Bible and Prayer, living with purpose and thankfulnes
Exercise
Water and Supplements
Having a plan for the day, knowing what you have to do, how you’re going to do it, when you have to do it, and being prepared to do it
“Ideas to Review Daily”
Give yourself an attitude check before greeting the world—thankfulness, forgiveness, kindness, patience. Make an attitude checklist and put it on a card to stick in your pocket.
Next, focus on what is front of you this moment

Tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett said. Get ready for it right now.

31 Days: I think I missed a couple of days

2014-10-08T22:24:00.001-06:00

Monday I did laundry.

Here is what I've been doing since then:
Tuesday was a full day, I can't remember all of the exact details... laundry, schooling, my lab class, making food, 4h sewing class with my younger girls... and ...
I think I took someone to the orthodontist this week...
Today, Wednesday, more laundry and food, school with the kids, I studied for a test, took the test, stopped at Costco, cleaned, laundry, food, hung some decor on the schoolroom wall, talked to the neighbor, braided girly hair, read a couple of blogs... I'm going to start a book if my eyes don't shut first.
I'm not so good at blogging this week.
Here is how I did it:
I exercise early in the morning. I put on uplifting music. I read the Bible and pray.

I change the laundry loads. Sometimes the kids do. We fold and put away in the afternoon.

The older kids do their schoolwork in the library/computer/school/music room (I don't know what to call that room). The younger ones sit at the dining room table with me and we do school together.

I give instructions before I go to my weekly lab class and most of the time they all do what they're supposed to do.
Today I came home from town to find art projects on every table. Annie was painting her bedroom furniture outside.
That's OK.

We all make food; sometimes with help and sometimes without. Last night Annie (16) made supper with me. Today Ellie (8) made pancakes for breakfast and brownies for a snack later, all by herself.
Matthew (7) vacuumed the living room on his own volition. Bronwyn (11) helped with supper tonight.

Tomorrow, we go on a big drive into the mountains to hike around a lake with friends.

31 Days: Monday = Laundry Day

2014-10-06T09:07:00.001-06:00

The following is how laundry is working out in my home right now. Different home have different set-ups and I write this just to give you and idea of how it looks here and maybe give you a springboard for ideas that may work in your home.

Because we have a bunch of children we need to do laundry every day or else it piles up too high but on Mondays we really focus on getting through it all.

My current washer and dryer do a cycle about every hour and by keeping that in mind we focus on doing at least 6 or 8 loads on Mondays.

This house has a very small laundry room off the kitchen. The room holds the machines, a sink, and cupboards over the equipment, and a window. I'm always glad for windows. There is no room for dirty laundry in this room although we do shove a basket in there to throw the kitchen towels into.

I have a laundry sorter (that's not an affiliate link, just a picture of what I'm talking about) in the big girls room (they do their own laundry), another sorter in the hall by the younger children's bedrooms, and the third sorter in the "en suite" bath (the shower in this bathroom gets used by everyone, therefore the dirty clothes pile up here). These sorters help tremendously because the children (are supposed to) sort their clothes and then I can call for the specific load I want to do.

"I need more whites to fill the washer, bring me the whites from upstairs please!"

When the dryer is done with a load, I pull out all of the "hang-up" clothes and hang them up immediately and put them in the appropriate closet. I don't like wrinkled clothes. Ask my children. I have been known to tell them to take off an item and iron it.

The rest of the clothes go into a pile in the living room and the children fold them in the afternoon after schoolwork is done. They can only watch a video or show if they are folding laundry and when they are done folding, everyone puts their own clothes away.

The rest of the week we do the odd loads that pile up, bedding, towels, or if someone needs an article clean--they do a load. We have a house rule that a person never washes a partial load, fill it up. We always have dirty clothes. Use that machine with wisdom!

This is what is currently working in this particular house. Sadly, I don't have a clothes line yet. I think this is the first time ever in my life that I haven't had a clothes line! We've been in this house almost a year, that has gone quite fast, so it's definitely time for me to get one. I LOVE to hang out clothes. I love the excuse to get outside and look at the sky and hear the birds and stretch and bend, and I like crisp clothes and towels.

Some Mondays don't work out for doing all the loads so we double up the rest of the week or devote another day for focusing on getting through the piles.

31 Days: Slow Cookers are for Sundays

2014-10-05T13:32:00.000-06:00

And any other day that you need a meal to come home to.

Today I put leftover taco meat and beans in the slow cooker. When we came home we had a taco bar for lunch.

Back in the day when I had to do a lot to get everyone out the door for church I filled the crock pot the day before and put it in the frig until Sunday morning. Things are a little easier now. And there is no toddler to or preschooler to push the off button, turn the knob, or unplug it. Yes, that had all occurred in the past. Along with me forgetting to turn it or plug it in. Oh. I guess that did happen this morning but my husband saved the lunch and plugged it in.

31 Days: Kitchen Rules

2014-10-04T10:57:00.001-06:00

Happiness is a Kitchen full of Family

Kitchen Rules

1. If you empty it – fill it

2. If you dirty it – clean it

3. If you open it – close it

4. If you spill it – wipe it up

5. If you cook it – share it

31 Days of Writing: Bible Study and Prayer

2014-10-03T07:50:00.001-06:00

I'm not writing these 31 Days to tell you how to live your life but simply, in a conversational way, tell you what I do and how it's working. I always find it helpful to hear how other people do things because it inspires me to tweak my life a little here and sometimes that makes life more do-able. Hearing about other people's days sometimes really inspires me to change things up and that's usually a good thing. Kids grow and sometimes my systems are stuck in a rut that needs to change and adapt to a new level.

Here is how I fit Bible reading and prayer into my day.

While I drink my coffee I read the Bible on my Kindle. It's a read through the Bible in a year plan that is set up by the date. If I get behind I learned to not try to catch up. That was my downfall in the past with Bible reading plans. I'd get behind and get discouraged. This time I just pick up on the correct date and start up again. It's really easy to do with the Kindle. I don't have to "see" a big chunk that I skipped. Reading through the Bible doesn't have to go perfectly. Jesus is perfect for me. I just go to the correct date and restart. The important thing is to read it and get in my head. I'm sure that the missed section will come around again someway-somehow.

Then I go to my prayer app on my kindle. It is a place to record things I pray about. I start at the top and pray through the list. I add to it and check things off as answered and archive the answered prayers. The app is called Mobile Knee. Both the Bible reading plan and the prayer list app are on my Kindle so I can tote them around with me easily wherever I drink my coffee. Back porch, front porch, living room couch, dining room table, in my bed, in the orthodontist office...

I also have been working on the memory verses from A Holy Experience. I print them out and stick them on colored card stock and put some on a bulletin board above my desk and some above my kitchen sink. I'm not perfect about getting the verses out on the scheduled week. The weeks fly by quickly and I lose track of time, then I may stick up three at a time. And, I haven't put up any new ones since July. And now it's October. I do have them printed out. One of these days I'll switch them all out. When the verses are right in front of the face they tend to go into the brain. In-Out.

Because of the memory verses, which all come from John, I've been thinking a lot on the book of John this last year and that caused me to choose the Precepts Ministries study books on John for part of my children's schoolwork. Good stuff. And I'm doing it along with the little children as I help them. The older kids work on their own. John is a beautiful faith-building book.

In the past I've had inspirational/Bible verse flip calendars either beside my bathroom sink or on the kitchen window sill or on my desk. They tend to eventually get water-spattered and beat up and pitched. I recently bought the Jesus Calling flip calendar. Again, another way to get my focus right throughout the day.

As I said yesterday, I put some sort of Jesus music on the TV through Pandora every morning after I exercise. There is a huge variety of genres in just the Christian music category. I change it up and put on different styles. I find this keeps my day started right. This habit started because of an article I read some time back about a woman who was in a really tough situation where a mentally ill person was holding people hostage. I can't recall all the details of the story but she handled it all with peace and grace speaking to the man, calming him, saying the right things for the situation, and eventually he released everyone without harm. She credited her supernatural experience to God. It was mentioned in the article that she had gospel music come on in her home for the early morning hours, starting before she woke up, that she felt gave her peace and strength and a right focus in her day. I thought that doing the same is a simple habit I can add to my day that will influence my home life in a good way.

These are things that keep my focus throughout the day in trusting God and giving thanks for His goodness in all the little and big things.

31 Days of Writing: How I Fit Exercise Into the Day

2014-10-02T08:20:00.001-06:00

Exercise is something I've been sporadically faithful with over the years. Sporadically I will be a faithful exerciser. It's a habit just like anything else. If it's part of the routine and the routine is working good, or at least a part of the routine is working good, then exercise happens.

My husband began an exercise routine last spring and it prompted me to get going again. We've been talking about it the last couple of years, how what we do now will determine our health in the future.

A couple of years ago we visited my brother's family on Maui and we saw elderly retired people that were fit. And I mean they were fit. They could whoop me hands down any day. Carrying Stand Up Paddle boards out to the ocean and paddling around like they were a twenty-year-old athlete. Have you every been on a SUP? It takes serious core strength. It is super fun, I love it. That is the kind of elderly retired person I want to be.

Again, a couple of years ago (I don't know when so I say "a couple"), we were selling goat cheese and marketing it every which way we could which meant that anywhere there were large amounts of people we took goat cheese and encouraged people to try it. We took it to RAGBRAI as it was passing through a nearby small town. RAGBRAI is a week long bicycling event across the state of Iowa. People come from all over the country and even internationally to this event. My cousin from Florida has brought his family of five kids and a camper and did RAGBRAI. It's a big deal and the day we marketed cheese at RAGBRAI we saw just how super fun it is. Each small town that the tens of thousands of bikers ride through puts out food and hospitality. When I do it someday I look forward to eating my way across the state. Everybody talked about the good food. I have wanted to do this ride for years but of course trying to fit that into life with babies and toddlers and older kids and the summer activities and a hardworking husband and... but it's still on my bucket list and when I do it I need to be somewhat ready for training so that means I need to exercise now. And yes, I saw lots of elderly people on bicycles at RAGBRAI. Core strength. I'm doing it someday. Maybe next year.

I have been a big fan of T-Tapp exercise videos for years. That's not an affiliate link. I don't recall how those affiliate links work and I'm on a time frame and just go buy one anyway. If you haven't ever tried T-Tapp just do some of the try-before-you-buy videos. I first did T-Tapp when Bronwyn was a baby and she just turned 11. I've been a fan for a long time. I've collected quite a few of the videos over the years and I change it up every day. When I get a new video (wait for the Deep Discount Days and other sales) I do a boot camp with it. Senior Fit (it's not just for seniors) was just on sale and I look forward to it coming and doing a bootcamp (a boot camp is at least four days in a row). My favorite is Brain Body Fitness Floor. It has three sequences to choose from on the DVD. Each is a little bit different and they feel so good on the back. I have really strengthened my back and hips since I added it. I love it.

I'll give you the nitty-gritties of my morning routine just to give you an idea. There is a lot to be said for muscle memory and mind habits.

My husband gets up and does his morning thing and brings me a glass of water and supplements. Isn't that sweet? When he doesn't it completely upsets my day start. I am so grateful that he does this for me and when he travels I really struggle with my morning routine just because of this nice thing he does for me. So, I drink 16 ounces of water, visit the bathroom, get on my workout clothes, put in my contacts etc.
Then I make coffee. Sometimes I just hang on to the thought that by the time I'm done with my exercises the coffee will be done and I'll have a nice hot cup of strong coffee with a little cream. Plus I get to smell it and hear the coffee machine sounds while I work out. I really like coffee.
Next I turn on the TV and DVD player. This is saying a lot and when I started exercising a few months ago I had to have the children teach me how to run these machines. Now I know. There are other things these magical machines do that I don't know but I do now how to start my workout videos.
I choose a DVD. I keep a paper in the TV cabinet where I write down how long each T-Tapp DVD is and for some I write down what exercises are on it. Some of the T-Tapp videos are 45 minutes or even more than an hour long. I save those for when I'm up extra early or I have no major plans for the day. Otherwise I choose the videos that are less than 30 minutes. I think that the absolute shortest video is the Basic Workout Plus which is about 15 minutes. Sometimes I only do the Primary Back Stretch which is the first move on all of the videos.
If any children wake up while I'm exercising they have to do the video with me. Or leave the room.
When I'm done with the video I switch the TV to Pandora and put on some music for the morning. Usually some sort of Jesus music.
I write down which video I did. I didn't realize how important and encouraging this is! On a whim back in July I just grabbed a paper and every day I wrote the date and what I did. It is so encouraging to look back and see a record. It also tells me when I need to shake it up a bit and do one that I haven't for awhile. It's also nice to record a boot camp. Writing it all down is just encouraging to look at.
Then I put my video, paper, pencil, and water away and I go have a cup of coffee.

31 Days of Large Family Logistics

2014-10-01T22:15:00.000-06:00

31 Days

I'm taking a challenge to write for the 31 days of October. I haven't written every single day for years so this is a big challenge for me. Almost ten years ago I started blogging on the Life With Christ site. Back then I wrote nearly every single day except for Sunday. I don't know if that's even around anymore. I switched over to blogger at some point. A lot of things happen in ten years. Wowza. I'm not who I was twenty-five years ago when I was a college freshman. Not who I was ten years ago. Not who I was a year ago. Time marches on and God brings new lessons every day. Thankfully, there is grace with each lesson learned!

In 2004 I started writing about what I was doing and how I was doing it. Sometimes the why I was doing what I was doing got thrown in. This month of October 2014 I'll continue on with that theme. If any readers have any questions they'd like to ask please do so. Either in the comments or personally kimberly dot s dot brenneman at gmail dot com

The first thing I'll write about, for October 1, is when I will write. In the past I found it best to write early in the morning before the children woke up. I always had a baby to wake me up early and I'd write during and after the early morning feeding. I can type the whole keyboard with either my left hand alone or my right hand alone. I'd like to show my high school typing instructor that. She didn't have a lot of patience with my stinky attitude back in 1998. Now, my last baby is seven. My current routine is to exercise early in the morning. Do I write before I exercise or after? I think after would be best. I like to exercise before my brain turns on and gives me all the reasons to spend my time in other ways. I will need to wake up earlier if I want to write and exercise before the children wake up. So, 5 o'clock it is. God help me. No, really, I can do this. I'll set twenty alarms on my phone. It's only for a month. I'll get in a groove and it will flow easy. I like to go to bed early, it's easy to do this time of year.

A little bit about me and my life and how what I do might help a reader out with survival skills of being a woman in today's world:

I have nine children. We have always homeschooled. That doesn't make us better than anyone else. It was our lifestyle choice and we have no regrets. The oldest son is 23 and manages our farm in Iowa with his wife. The next son is 21 and has a new job as a herdsman working with high-value donor and recip cows. I'm sure I'll write more about that in the 31 days just for the reader's education. It's fascinating stuff. The third is 19 and a college student studying animal science like her brothers did. The next six are being homeschooled. The 16, 14, and 12 year-old children are studying to take CLEP tests. This is an experiment on our part. They are excited and taking it seriously. The 11 and 9 year-old are starting the Prairie Primer unit study in October. I'll write more about that too one of these days. The 7 year-old is my last one to learn to read. This is a bittersweet year for me because of that. It's so exciting to see them learn and it's so painful to sit through phonics and reading practice and it's so awesome to see their eyes lit up with excitement when they first read and it's such a relief when they can read on their own and just fly.

I grew up on a farm and we raised our family on a farm until the bulk of us moved to an acreage in Idaho. We've been back to Iowa three times in the last year. It's a two-day drive one way. I have learned a little bit about driving across the country with a bunch of kids. We moved because of my husband's off-farm work which is in wheat technology. I really like Idaho, the sun shines here a lot more than it does in the midwest. Which also means that we've had to learn about irrigation. That's a new concept, turn the rain on, turn the rain off, turn the rain on again, turn it off. WHO KNEW you could turn rain on and off! I grew up on a hog, corn, bean, and cattle farm. So did my husband. We were in junior high and high school during the farm crises of the 80s. There's another thing I can write about. We've raised cattle for over twenty years. Our sons in Iowa are harvesting beans right now. Corn is next. Then winter. On the farm life revolves around the seasons and the weather. Except in Idaho and other dry places where you turn the rain on and turn the rain off. Amazing. Our farm was hit by a tornado last April, causing one of our trips home to Iowa. I will write about that one of these October days.

I started to educate myself about childbirth about the time I was pregnant with my sixth. Before that I was pretty status quo "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and turned my body over to the hospital when I delivered. Then I learned a few more things. But... my body was a little tired of pregnancies every other year and didn't want to work very well with Baby #8 or #9. Those are some interesting tales that might still be on the old Life With Christ site. If it's still around. I'll check... nope, LFC is a thing of the past. Well, I have those stories saved so I could put them up for one of the 31 days. Anyway, my many and varied childbirth experiences led me to eventual work with an Amish midwife when we were in Iowa. Those were good times and highly educational. I loved it. I studied midwifery through a distant program with Mercy in Action. I will write about that too sometime. Nowadays, I am taking college classes towards being a Nurse-Midwife. I figure it will take me five years but maybe more. I will write about this journey also.

I almost forgot to mention that we milked goats and made chevre commercially for a couple of years. That was an interesting entrepreneurial experience. We either had to take it to the next level with more investment and employees or stop. It was a hard decision to make but we sold the goats. Someday maybe one of our children will pick it up and carry on.

I wrote a book. It was published. It's now out of print but I've been working on a rewrite and hope to get it published in 2015.

There's more but it's getting late if I'm going to be up at 5 AM.

I love to learn and I love to share what I've learned.

Being Christian

2014-09-20T11:54:00.002-06:00

Don't leave a comment if you just skimmed.

"I assumed this was a Christian group..."

"(Fill in the blank) is worldly."

[What a person defines as worldly changes from generation to generation and culture to culture around the country and world. It is subjective to the speaker (or writer). The speaker is drawing a line and passing judgment and teaching others to pass judgment on the subjective fill-in-the-blank.]

What these, and similar words, say is that if a person doesn't subscribe to a certain version of Christianity then that person is not truly a Christian. Or that the person saying these things is more enlightened, more mature, more right, more whatever.

Quite simply, these are judgment statements comparing self to others with the intent that the speaker is a better person in the light of the speaker's eyes. It promotes the speaker (or writer) and devalues the receiving person. It is not love.

Let's define what Christian is with just a few verses, there are many similar verses for you to seek out for yourself. https://www.biblegateway.com/

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

It can certainly be argued that it is only God's place to judge whether a person is Christian or not. However, if you really want to know who is Christian and is who is not then let the following be your guide:

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Matthew 22:36-40 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 6:2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

And finally, go read what Jesus taught.

Theology can be argued forever and ever. I'm not as smart as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and the rest. I don't believe I need to be a super-intelligent theologian in order to believe that Jesus is the son of God and died for my sins.

We aren't here

to follow man-made rules (please go check your personal rule book and see if it lines up with Jesus)
to judge each other on certain things that we elevate higher than the teachings of Jesus
to lay burdens on people with our interpretations of what to not do
to teach our children the "do nots" and an attitude of judgment towards others
to be law-followers instead of Jesus-followers (after all, why did Jesus come?)

Why are here?

Love God
Love others

And that happens through relationship.

how you talk to Jesus and others
how you behave towards Jesus and others
how you deal with Jesus and others

What is grace?
Very simply put, grace is a gift you do not deserve.

How are we to be graceful in our relationships?
love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
self-control

It's all about grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We're all in this together, being shaped and conformed into His image. Let's all work on being more graceful with each other. Let's listen, think, and examine before we pass judgment and start talking and writing responses. There are many who have gone before us in the journey and there is value in what they share. There are reasons why people used to do or think _______ but now... on myriad things.

Listen hard.

Think hard.

Love God.

Love others.

Grace Attracts

2014-05-13T11:33:00.000-06:00

I read a little bit at a time here and there. Five books at a time. And I have books not started waiting for me to read. And books saved in my Amazon shopping cart...

I just wanted to share this little part of what Christine Field wrote in the Forward of The Joy of Relationship Homeschooling. I thought it was relevant to the reflections that are happening in the homeschool culture.

..."Grace attracts; judgement repels." In this single moment, the Lord showed me the source of so much of my difficulty in parenting and homeschooling. I was determined to judge everyone and everything and pronounce them as "good" or "bad". This outlook squelched the joy out of everything. The way of wisdom is to approach people and circumstances the way Jesus did--with love and grace. If I wanted my children's hearts, I needed to draw them to me and to the heart of Jesus, just as He demonstrated so many times throughout scripture. This filled the gap between the words of the Bible and my heart. Now it all made sense. Everything changed for me.

Can you relate? I can look back in the last 23 years of parenting and see times when I would default to that because it seems easier to enforce dos and don'ts or to think in terms of bad and good rather than having to use my heart and head to discern gray areas. When we want to protect our children from our fears for them and take that to an extreme of spoken or unspoken "good" and "bad" we miss the mark. We become like Pharisees and train them to either be like Pharisees themselves or to reject everything in a response to our hypocritical spirit.

This reminds me of something else I read recently. Jesus was with the people. Being with them, talking with them, teaching them. It was the Pharisees that were critical of people and of Jesus being with sinners. What did Jesus teach? Love. What did He do? Love the people.

The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Loving God and loving others is the heart of everything. If we want to live by a do and don't system then we may as well be Muslim or Mormon or any other merit based religion. Jesus is our righteousness. We can't do it on our own. We can't make our children be righteous. We can't make them do anything in their heart of hearts.

We can damage them with our actions and attitudes.

We can damage them with our words and the tone we use.

We can damage them by not being perceptive of who they are as an individual with unique interests and gifts.

We can damage them by not listening to them and being sensitive to their individual needs.

We can teach them about God the Father who loves His people.

We can teach them about Jesus and emulate Jesus.

We can relate to them as Jesus relates to all of us and not how the Pharisees related to people.

We can demonstrate our walk in the Spirit and talk about how He works in our lives.

We can teach them about the Holy Spirit and how to be sensitive to His leading.

We can show them through our actions how to love God and love others.

We can demonstrate to them how to be people of grace.

Christ Has Set Us Free

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Walk in Love

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Children are pretty good teachers and through the years they have taught me that grace is more powerful than anything. Listening instead of speaking. Doing alongside rather than a thing alone. Talk and discuss rather than tell. Examine opinions and issues together for truth. Answer the why--"because I said so" doesn't carry a lot of weight. Having a relationship means that a child will listen and not dismiss.

This goes for even the littlest of children. I read recently that a child who consistently "hears" (spoken to the child or the sense) that their opinion doesn't matter or that they must always give in to the will of those more powerful (anybody big) develops a feeling of being invisible. Even to the point of experiencing "dreams or waking sensations of shrinking or literally diminishing in size". They develop a blurred identity not knowing who they are or what they stand for, not knowing where they begin and end with the person in control. Others (parents or other authorities) project who they need or want the child to be onto the child's identity. This sets the child up for a lifetime of a diminished sense of self and being manipulated by others unless they can break free. I recommend reading Who's Pulling Your Strings by Harriet B Braiker simply for understanding the impacts of relationships and how we function in them.

What kind of opinion does a little child express? Stop and listen to little children. Learn who they are as a unique individual. Are you doing more with your child than feed, water, sleep? When they express "no" give thought to why they are saying it. Are you controlling little children as an expression of your own need for power or control or out of fear or in a reaction to your own history? These thoughts cause us to examine our motives. For their health we need to allow them to become their own person with unique interests, gifts, strengths, and needs. Can they safely say "no" or express and opinion and be listened to? Force is not grace. There is a balance that must be maintained between teaching, guiding, secure borders, discipline, and letting a little person be their own person, parented with wisdom and grace.

Why Should I Schedule a Town Day?

2014-04-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

A person cannot be in two places at once. If you're not at home then the home things do not get done. The dust, dishes and laundry pile up. The home schooling is haphazard. Projects stay in the "someday" state.
Once upon a time…
a couple of weeks ago,
for some reason, or several, we had a week in which we were gone nearly every day. And to top it off, I needed to do a Costco run and as the week slipped away it came to Friday. In case you were living under a rock, Friday and Saturday are the worst times during the week to go to Costco. Especially if it is the only one in Southern Idaho and people come out of the desert and down from the mountains to fill up their carts for a week or month. Which is also what I like to do but prefer a weekday. Back to the crazy week of running, it flew by and left the house a mess. Dust, dishes, laundry, paper piles, a dirty kitchen, just ick. I entered the weekend tired and looking for relief. Not happening. More events and Sunday… I found myself longing for "Monday—Laundry Day" and my weekly routine.
You see, even if you don't live far from town and are without the option of just "running to get" this or that, it is still the best use of time to plan to do all the errands at once. It saves you time, money, gas, and keeps the home life preserved.
I know it's unavoidable when scheduling multiple children but it really helps to aim that way. Try to get all the dental appointments done on the same day within the same hours by multiple hygienists. Really, trust me. And don't forget your Kindle.

Paper Monster and Paper Gift

2014-04-09T09:38:00.000-06:00

The Paper Monster always looks more intimidating than it is. It's a bit like painting or washing windows in that it takes more mental effort to gather the supplies and start doing it than actually doing the task.

I like to put on music. Pull up a trash can, get out the bill paying tools (checkbook, envelopes, stamps), and get going. If it looks like the chore will take a looooonnnnnngggg time then I love to use a timer. Work for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break.

Today, I am motivated to work hard and fast because I am going to make one of these when I am done! Go look at Joy-in-a-Box!

I have someone in mind to give it to but I also think it would be good to have one ready-made and waiting for when I discover a person in need but lacking the time or money or energy or what have you to put it together.

A long long time ago I put something quite similar together for someone in a hard spot. I had no idea how it would go over. I was actually a little afraid. I think there is that risk in giving. But the recipient told me that it was the most thoughtful gift she'd ever received. I was shocked. Gifts is not my natural "love language". I had been praying for this person. I can only think that it was the work of the Holy Spirit in guiding me to do it and what to put into it.

I get excited about ideas to change the world, I love to read or hear about mission work of any type, I look around and see the immediate mission field of my children. Putting together Joy-in-a-Box is something I can do in the here and now, with the help of my children, to be a blessing to someone.
Will you make one for someone?
Or maybe you have a similar idea to share?
Or do you have an experience of getting something similar or perhaps a time when you gave?

Make a Laundry Protocol Poster

2014-04-07T12:54:00.004-06:00

Making a poster for your laundry room will help your family know how to use the equipment and wash specific loads. They can all pitch in with the work and learn essential life skills. Creating a guideline will save you steps and time in instructing.

First, make sure that you are properly running your equipment. Get out the manual and learn more about your machine and how it can wash your specific loads better. Give thought to your detergent and how it is cleaning your laundry. Read the box and learn how much to use for the specific loads. Be sure you are sorting the laundry correctly. You have to know what you are doing before teaching someone else.

Plan an order of events for your instructional poster. Collect, sort, load, soap, etc. This will be particular according to your family's machines and laundry. Perhaps you want to wash specific things on specific days and assign it to a specific person? I.e. linens on Fridays, towels on Thursdays, Tuesday-Girls' Laundry.

Now, plan your poster on paper for a rough draft. Write simple so that those in a hurry can glance at it and do the step. Don't be too fancy with your scripts, this isn't an artistic decoration for your laundry room. This is a do it and do it right instructional poster.

Put your rough draft ideas onto your poster board. Use bright markers to differentiate loads. Perhaps use cut out pictures or clip art for the beginning reader.

Hang the poster. Call your family. Read through it together. Ask for questions.

Do some practice runs together referring to the poster.

Make Your Food Ahead

2014-03-31T18:25:00.000-06:00

A little effort put forth on one day in the kitchen makes the rest of the days go easier. Planned meals are healthier and less expensive. Plan to put the key ingredients into your freezer. I find there is more flexibility in putting slow cooker meals together with a variety of single ingredient freezer bags than a whole meal in a bag. Slow cooker meals are my favorite. I love the ease of throwing things into a pot. As the books say, fix it and forget it! My 8 and 10 year old girls have been having fun being helpful with the book Fix it and Forget It Kids Cookbook.

Night Before:

Soak beans.

Get ground meat out to defrost.

Put a chicken and a little water in the slowcooker and cook on low all night. I’ve been known to put a few chickens in a big roaster for a lot of stock and a lot of cooked chicken in the freezer. Handy!

Tasks:

Drain beans; put in slow cooker; cook until soft; drain; cool; put in freezer bags for future meals.

Brown meat; drain; cool; put in freezer bags; freeze for future meals.

Cool chicken, debone, save the bones and make stock to simmer all day, put cooled chicken in your supper or freeze it for a future meal.

I make THM food ahead on my Kitchen Day. It's easier for me to make better food choices when I have options prepared ahead.

Have you found making food ahead helpful? Do you have tips to share?

The Washerwoman, That’s You Mama

2014-03-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

Family and friends will confirm that laundry is not my favorite thing to do. I’d rather wash dishes or weed the garden or mop the floor. What I’d really like to do is read a book. For a lot of years my strategy was to fold clothes for a certain amount of time or fold one basket and then read a chapter. Yes, I bribe myself. I also reward myself with chocolate.

Here are a couple of other things I do on Laundry Day.

Make a commitment to the laundry. Act as if you are one with the washer and dryer. Think about it a minute: Do you want to wash your family’s laundry in a creek? Or stir a big pot of washing over a fire? Nah, the washer and dryer are really good friends to be with for a day. Commit the day to being with your “friends”.
Start early! As soon as you open your eyes and realize that it’s Monday Laundry Day jump up and start a load. Sometimes I start the night before. I put a load in the washer that I’m not afraid will grow stinky overnight.
Use the timer on your machines. If the machines are too far from your other work areas and don’t allow you to hear the buzzer then carry a kitchen timer with you. Change the loads as soon as you hear the signal.
Make a goal for the day—x amount of loads.
Involve the children. They can sort, take a turn changing the loads, and they can all fold and put away laundry. Little ones can carry a dishpan of laundry to a location.

What works at your house?

Weekly Chores for Life

2014-03-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

Take a load out, put a load in.

Do it again.

And again.

Always “the next thing” is a version of load out, load in.

Load the dishwasher, the oven, the sink, the laundry, the drawers, the shelves, the plates, the trash. The loads circle our days and our lives.

These moments of load in and load out do count. The mundane does have meaning. See the people in your life? We love, we help, we inspire, we encourage. We cannot live without the load in and load out of basic needs. Jesus through us to them.

Today I stumbled upon the following in my stash of good stuff to read.

WEEKLY CHORES FOR LIFE

Author unknown

Monday - Wash Day
Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness and vanity, so I may serve you with perfect humility through the week ahead.

Tuesday - Ironing Day
Dear Lord, help me iron out all the wrinkles of prejudice I have collected through the years so that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday- Mending Day
O God, help me mend my ways so I will not set a bad example for others.

Thursday - Cleaning Day

Lord Jesus, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday - Shopping Day
O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may bless my family with contentment and happiness and all others in need of love.

Saturday - Cooking Day
Help me, my Savior, to brew a big kettle of brotherly love and serve it with clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday - The Lord's Day
O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please come into my heart so I may spend the day and the rest of my life in your presence.

Work is an opportunity to talk to God about life.

“help me”

“give me grace”

Our work is God’s help and grace for others.

I really don’t like to do laundry. I like it done.

When we have to do the unpleasant work it is good to experience God’s help and grace in the work. He is with us (omnipresent), He knows our circumstances (omniscient). I am not alone doing the mundane, God is in the Laundry Room.

Preaching to myself here.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

It is a habit of the mind. Instead of talking to yourself or listening to your self talk to you, talk to Jesus. When you question the whys of life, ask Him. When you come to a problem, big or small, say, “Help me please” or “give me grace”.

And always, “Thank you Jesus.” In all circumstances.

Sometimes there is a cycle of negative thoughts. Load in an event or perhaps a series of low things and it becomes a litany, a downer of a song playing round and round.

Or, a person or place can trigger a series of unpleasant memories that start to roll around in our mind.

Load out is not good.

"Help me, my Savior.”

“O God, give me the grace.”

“Dear Lord, help me.”

Talking to Jesus, giving it to Him, in turning our thoughts around, that is the way to overcome habits of the mind that bring us down. Turn to Jesus to help process the heavy loads. Walk in the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit will pour out.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5

Lean on God’s grace for the hard things.

There will be days when it all seems to be going wrong, when everything we touch falls apart. Stop. Pray. Know that God is with us and God knows all about it.

“O God, give me the grace.”

The problems may not be instantly solved but His presence is with you and His Spirit is in you.

Overcome habits of the mind and be made new.

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24

Love and grace with and for our families, friends, and neighbors. There can be no darkness where there is light. Where the light of Jesus shines there is agape love. Perfect love drives out fear. 1 John 4

Add love to your weekly work.

Load in love. Load out love.

When something comes to mind, turn it overto God and pray about it.

Every little thing, every big thing.

Every old thing, every new thing.

"Help me, my Savior.”

Printable for Weekly Chores for Life

Get Organized and Get Energy

2014-03-26T16:15:00.003-06:00

Clutter and disarray suck the energy out us. We can’t see the forest for the trees. Emotionally attached to our stuff and our homes and our families and their stuff we can’t see where to start. Looking at our messy homes can be mentally exhausting.

When we live in a state of order and have the discipline to keep things in their proper place then we are free for other pursuits. We can spend a couple of hours whipping up some deliciously fancy cupcakes in the kitchen, start a home business, make lawn furniture with old pallets, learn photography, and a hundred other things. Looking at a cluttered mess though, we spin around not knowing where to start and escape it in some manner. It’s easier, in that moment, to look on Pintrest at great ideas than it is to put the house in order so that we can do the great ideas.

Let’s get started on clearing the way so that we can have some fun doing not looking and thinking about it! Get a piece of paper and a pen.

· Goals are always a great motivator so first get an idea about what it is that you want to do when you have the time to do it. Write your goal in big letters across the top of the page.

· Identify the rooms or areas of your home and what happens in each area. Write it down on the paper.

· Go around your house with a basket or box and take the appropriate things to the appropriate place. I.e. Staplers, scissors, and pens in the office area. Books to the bookshelves. Current magazines in a basket by the spot where they are read. Trash in the trashcan. Unused and unnecessary goes to the thrift shop.

· Look at each area of your home with your paper and pen in hand. What needs to happen for each area to be more orderly and organized? If you have trouble with this then get ideas from an organizing web store such as www.containerstore.comor do a search on Pinterest and you will find multiple pictures that will inspire with a plethora of ideas. Write down on your paper what will work for your similar rooms of the house. Do not be overwhelmed but click through to the original site and learn how the person did it. Often it is with “found” materials and paint.

· Not only does your home need to be organized but it needs to stay that way if you are going to have extra hours to do more fun things. This boils down to the discipline of keeping things where they belong. Give yourself and your family a couple of mottos to live by: “Don’t lay it down, put it away.” “Everything has a place, everything in its place.”

· Keep your home clean with a daily clean up time. At our house we have a list of daily chores and every day at the same time everyone does their cleaning chores. “Many hands make light work.” On your paper, make a list of the daily cleaning chores for each room and assign it to a person. This isn’t hard labor, it’s fast, and it’s simple: Straighten, Dust, Sweep.

· Every week, or month, take an hour to make a menu plan and a grocery list. Now you know what you are going to eat and you don’t need to think about it. Don’t throw out your menu plan but use it again another week or month!

· Every morning do a load of laundry and then switch loads every time you change activities during the day. That is how you keep up with the laundry.

Now that things are in order and you keep them in order with some new family mottos, organization and a daily cleaning time you have more time and energy for your goal!

About

2014-03-25T16:58:00.000-06:00

I'm Kim.

Wife to Matt. Mom to nine plus a daughter-in-love.

My roots are in rural Iowa but I recently moved to rural Idaho.

I have a lot of children because they are truly a blessing, just like it says in the Bible.

I am a Christian and believe the Apostle's Creed.

I enjoy writing about all things house and home. I first started blog writing in 2004. A lot has changed in those years both in my personal life and the blogosphere.

Since 2004 I (not in chronological order):

*graduated 3 children from our homeschool

*had two babies. One was born at 26 weeks and spent three months in a NICU. I lived in a Ronald McDonald House during that time.

*started a goat dairy with my family, made cheese and sold it at farmer's markets and retail stores. And closed the doors to our successful dairy.

*wrote a book, Large Family Logistics, temporarily OOP

*worked with an Amish midwife for 18 months and studied midwifery, helped at ~40 births

*took some college classes

*hosted my sister's wedding at our Iowa farm

*added a daughter when my oldest son was married

*hosted their wedding reception at our Iowa farm

*and a whole lot of other stuff that I can't recall at this moment in time

food from my youth: Mennonite Plucket

2014-02-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, this recipe was our Sunday morning breakfast nearly every week. My mom made it on Saturdays in between our weekly house cleaning work.

1 package of yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup of warm water
1 cup milk, scald and let cool
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, well beaten
3 3/4 cups flour (approximately, enough to make a stiff batter)

Sugar mixture:
1 1/2 cup sugar
6 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix. Knead. Cover and let rise one hour. Knead down and let rise again. Roll into small balls and dip into a bowl of melted butter. Then roll into sugar mixture. Pile loosely into a greased angel food cake pan. Drizzle excess butter over the top and then sprinkle the rest of the sugar mixture over. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 30 minutes. Slip a knife around the outside of the pan to loosen the plucket. Let cool for a couple of minutes. Turn pan upside down over a plate and remove plucket immediately from the pan.. Serve warm or cooled.

As a child I loved to eat my plucket piece dipped into my milk cup. Delish!

I tried a gluten free and dairy free version replacing the milk with coconut milk and the butter with coconut oil. Instead of flour I used the gluten free baking mix from Costco. I added 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

The batter was more like a stiff cake batter. There was an obvious lack of the look and feel of gluten. It did rise but never doubled in size. Because the original recipe was rising in my angel food cake pan I used a springform pan for the gluten free version.
The result was very yummy. It didn't have the springy spongy texture of the wheat version but it was a great substitute.

I can't answer why it is called plucket. I like to think that it's because you pluck a piece from the whole. Pluck - et.

I think I am drawn to making the food of my childhood and heritage in an effort to, once again, examine why I believe what I believe. Besides the food
and love for others
And serving those in need
and four part harmony acappella hymns
what else do I appreciate and want to keep? What, if anything do I need to discard? Why? What should I pick up again that I once discarded? Who were the people and books that have influenced me over the years and what was the result? Which influences were valid and which were not? And how do I respond to what I find within myself and how will this introspection affect others? My children? Have I blindly passed things on to them or deliberately taught them things that I now find I disagree with?

More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.

Refrain

More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.

More about Jesus let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me.

Refrain

More about Jesus; in His Word,
Holding communion with my Lord;
Hearing His voice in every line,
Making each faithful saying mine.

Refrain

More about Jesus; on His throne,
Riches in glory all His own;
More of His kingdom’s sure increase;
More of His coming, Prince of Peace.

Refrain

Mennonite Potluck Fluff

2014-01-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

Fluff before crumbs

Even though it's been several years since we went to a Mennonite church we still lived in the community. We still went to events where many choices of delicious rich and way too sweet yummy things were served. These were occasional treats because at home I served what my family called Nutty Nutrition. Tomorrow is a potluck, or Love Feast as some churches call it. Hearkening back to my heritage and blessing my children with a couple of treats they won't likely see served at this potluck I am making Graham Cracker Fluff, Tapioca, and a really rich cake or bread (I'm not sure which it should be called). These are not Trim Healthy Mama. Another day I will do some tweaking.
As a kid this was my favorite. Ok, I had lots of favorites but this was right up there.

Graham Cracker Fluff
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs separated
1 package of gelatin soaked in 1/3 cup of water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Cook milk, sugar, and egg yolks over low heat until slightly thick.
Pour over soaked gelatin. Cool.
Beat egg whites.
Whip cream with vanilla.
Fold everything together.

For crumb mixture:
12 graham crackers, crushed
2 or 3 tablespoons of butter
Mix. Place 1/2 on bottom of a pretty bowl. Put fluff into the bowl and top with the rest of the crumbs.

25 Minutes of Productivity

2014-01-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

My yellow legal notepad, my yellow brain, has traditionally been a running list of things to do. In reading this book, I learned to take three things off the Running To Do list and put them on my To Do Today list. I’m still working my way through the book reading at odd moments here and there so I may not have things exactly right according to the author’s method but any movement forward is better than being frozen or flitting from this project to that and then to another. A very easy thing to do in a busy home.

My list of three things to do today are based in the kitchen because we are having new friends over for a tea party this afternoon. Work for 25 minutes and then do something totally different for five minutes. Then I'll go outside on the porch and just breathe and look around at the world.

1. Clean and organize the kitchen counters (currently a cluttered eye sore!)

2. Clean and organize my THM center in the kitchen

3. Change up the wall décor (I do not like what I did last fall)

Other things on the To Do Today list will be delegated to the older girls.

We moved in October and unpacked boxes and decorated our home for six weeks before I burned out. I got tired of the boxes, the deciding, the ~~shopping~~ hunting for odds and ends. So I quit. Then Christmas, travelling, sightseeing, skiing, and now trying to get a routine going again. I see that I quit working on the house and it could definitely use some improvements.

I need some inspiration so I’m going to give myself a 25 minute time period each day to look at Pintrest and Houzz. I will make it a reward after doing the three things on my To Do list. And to make those To Do things more tolerable they will get 25 minute work periods also.

Thank you Ann for the recommendation of a great book on being more productive in my day!

House challenges

2013-12-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is the 5th house that we have lived in since we were married. We had a little rental house and one baby. Then a bigger rental house. Next we moved into my in-laws large farm house and had another baby. Then we rented a farm with smaller old farmhouse and had two more babies and began homeschooling. Eventually we bought the house and farm and then built a bigger house and tore down the old farmhouse. We had four young children when we built and lived there 14 years adding five children and making changes here and there as our family grew and our day-to-day lifestyle changed. This house in Idaho is a little smaller and is configured differently. Making it home has been then the challenge of our fall.

The first challenge we had is less bathrooms. After several weeks here we have figured out how to live with that. I think. The older girls carry baskets with their personal items and a towel to one of the two full baths for their showers just like in a college dorm situation. We structure shower times. I limited the number of towels and each person has their own bath towel. We placed over-the-door hooks on the bathroom and bedroom doors for towels and bathrobes.

Our second challenge is school. There is a small library/office room here where we placed bookshelves and the piano. But there is no room for a desk or the rest of the books. Our Iowa house had built-in bookshelves. This meant buying bookshelves here and placing them on empty walls in various rooms. I think the HGTV shows would not approve but we did the best we could. I tried really hard to avoid putting a desk and bookshelves in my bedroom but finally concluded that there wasn't another option. There is no room to use as a schoolroom so we are once again doing school around the kitchen table. If they all get started early enough in the day they can finish by noon and we clear the table for lunch. We still have stacks of books scattered about so either I tell myself that "It's OK, live with it" or I eventually buy more bookshelves or replace shorter bookshelves with taller. I'm leaning toward the latter. Believe it or not I left books behind in Iowa, I gave books away before we moved, and I gave more books away when we arrived and filled these shelves. My excuse for my book loving disease -- we homeschool and my children need these books for a well-rounded education. Text books all the time is dull.

The third challenge: not enough cupboard space in the kitchen and a small pantry. In Iowa we lived far enough out from town that I was well trained to buy in bulk and kept a well stocked pantry. And I had the luxury of space to do that. Here, not so much. Thankfully, the garage has some large cupboards and my walk-in closet is quite large. Larger than what we need. On my list of things to do this week is to organize that so we can use it for storage for overflow items. I need to stop buying in bulk and rely on the nearby grocery stores and most importantly use the bulk foods I have stocked up and not replace them. That's a little scary for me. But I've lived long enough to understand that the world is a big place and the doomsday folks have been wrong plenty of times. Coming Economic Earthquake? Y2K? etc. I'll put my trust in God and keep enough around here to live through an ice storm an no electricity. I don't even know if ice storms happen here.There certainly are hardly any trees to land on the power lines and pull them down here in the high desert. We keep hearing that it can be really windy but... perspective is everything. What does "really windy" mean? Regardless, I have too much bulk goods for my cupboard and pantry space.

Fourth challenge is the world's smallest laundry room. Two things in my favor though--we aren't on a farm bringing in mud and manure covered clothes and I have enough older kids now that nearly all of them are doing their own laundry. Because my bedroom is on the first floor and is big we have taken to hauling the laundry there for folding. It's working.

Fifth challenge, one living area and no playroom. That means there is no real place to send the kids when their play is getting too loud. It's working out though. The younger girls, 8 and 10, play with their toys in their room. They are old enough that they are keeping it tidy and organized.
The boys have their 1/64th scale farms set up in their bedroom and down the hall.
Games happen at the large coffee table in the one living room or at the kitchen table.
And they're being trained to play more quietly. Too much energy and noise gets them sent outside. A garage and construction tools helps with 12 year-old-boy energy output.

Sixth challenge, crafts and sewing. There is a small, odd shaped store room where we can stow our things. We work on the kitchen table, use my bed as a table, or work on the floor. That couldn't have been done years ago when we had babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Moving and making a house into a home

2013-11-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

In October we moved to Idaho. I never ever dreamed that I would live in Idaho.

Why are we in Idaho? Wheat.

Wait. Don't they grow potatoes in Idaho? Yes. We were fascinated to watch potatoes and beets being harvested the weeks after our move. That was new for us!

Corn is grown in Iowa. Not potatoes. Potatoes are grown in Idaho.

Matt has always worked in corn research, now he's working in wheat research. Not potato research, even though we're in Idaho. There really isn't a huge amount of wheat grown in Idaho but Idaho is centrally located in the west so the research station he works at is in Idaho.

A couple of years ago I discovered that I am gluten sensitive so this wheat research is fascinating to me also.

Our oldest sons are still on our farm in Iowa. Brandt is managing the farm with his wife Ainsley. They are so adorable.

Brock is a full time student along with helping Brandt on the farm. Such a handsome fellow.

The other seven are with us in Idaho. They keep me laughing all day long.

Bridgette is planning to study Ag Business at the College of Southern Idaho next semester. Currently she's helping out turning this house into a home, brushing up on math, and looking for a part time job.

That leaves six in our homeschool. They do the usual of quickly getting it done in the morning so they can do what is more interesting in the afternoon. Matthew, our littlest guy, is quickly showing me he knows a lot of things I didn't know that he knows and I think he will be reading before we know it.

The house we moved to is configured differently enough from our Iowa home that we have had to change our home lifestyle. We've been here six weeks but are still working on making this house a home. We're still working on discovering where to buy what in our new town. Gardening will certainly be different moving from the humid midwest to an irrigated desert. Thus, the blog. I feel as though I am relearning some things simply because my setting is very different. We're having fun and we'll share our fun and what we're learning here.

Trials, Tragedy, Death, and a Sovereign God

2012-05-25T14:50:00.000-06:00

Today I was looking for some word for a friend concerning trials. I knew I had something put together that I had written long ago. I found it (Thank God for external hard drives!). I thought I would share it here also.

In Job, we learn that God allows suffering for His own purpose. Satan is not another divine being dueling it out with God. He is a created being, more powerful than us but he is not omnipresent, omniscient nor omnipotent. He is defeated and has no power that God does not allow him to have. God is not sitting on His throne wringing His hands about what is happening on earth, this is a common error in theology in this day. It is a heresy. People put so much emphasis on the love of God that they stop taking into account all of God’s other attributes. In essence, taking their little scissors and cutting out all the verses that tell us about the whole of God’s character. Look below for that list of verses concerning all of God’s attributes.

God is not subordinate to the universe that He created. The infinite cannot be finite.

Another common error in this age is giving Satan way too much credit and making God way too small. We need to be in the scriptures, all of them, learning who God is and how we are to bring glory to Him.

From Webster’s 1828

OMNIPRES'ENCE, n. s as z. [L. omnis, and presens, present.]

Presence in every place at the same time; unbounded or universal presence; ubiquity. Omnipresence is an attribute peculiar to God.

OMNIS'CIENCY, n. [L. omnis, all, and scientia, knowledge.]

The quality of knowing all things at once; universal knowledge; knowledge unbounded or infinite. Omniscience is an attribute peculiar to God.

OMNIP'OTENCE,'OTENCY, n. [L. omnipotens; omnis, all, and potens, powerful.]

1. Almighty power; unlimited or infinite power; a word in strictness applicable only to God. Hence it is sometimes used for God. The works of creation demonstrate the omnipotence of God.

Will Omnipotence neglect to save the suffering virtue of the wise and brave?

2. Unlimited power over particular things; as the omnipotence of love.

Here are a handful of verses about the sovereignty of God:

Psalm 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.

Job 42:2 "I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Gen. 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless,

Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

Eph. 3:11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Matt. 3:9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

*An easy way to look up the following list of scripture is to copy and paste the reference into

http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/

God exercises dominion over great and small alike.

1 Kings 22:19

Is. 6:1

Ezek. 1:26

Dan. 7:9

Rev. 4:2

Ps. 11:4

Ps. 45:6

Ps. 47:8

Heb. 12:2

Rev. 3:21

Ex. 15:18

Psalm 47

Psalm 93

Psalm 96:10

Psalm 97

Psalm 99:1-5

Psalm 146:10

Prov. 16:33

Prov. 21:1

Is. 24:23

Is. 52:7

Dan. 4:34-35

Dan. 5:21-28

Dan. 6:26

Matt. 10:29-31

God sovereignly overrules human action as a planned means to His own goals

Gen. 50:20

Acts 2:23

Acts 13:26-39

Death

Job 30:23 For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for all living.

Job 14:5 Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

Death for Christians is honorable, death for the non-Christian is a tragedy.

Here is beautiful sermon on death by the great theologian Spurgeon:

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0043.htm

The verse: “the thief who comes but to steal, kill, and destroy”, John 10:10, taken in context, is talking about the false messiahs that came before Jesus v.8.

Psalm 91, is a great comfort to us about God’s love, care, comfort, compassion, and so on. God is love as it tells us in 1 John 4:7-8. God does not promise us health, wealth, pleasure, safety and happiness as this world sees it. When we look at the whole of scriptures we see that God is in control and He allows bad things to happen. We don’t know why in our limited reasoning. God is so much bigger and greater than we are, there will always be mysteries concerning this. God does not change, there is no “shadow of turning”, He hides us in the cleft of the rock. Yet, tragedies occur. I am reminded of the Christians in North Koreaand Sudanthat are under intense persecution. Why does this happen? Where is the God of Psalm 91? What I do know, from the whole of scripture is that God is in control “and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. It is very difficult to understand and we must have trust in that realm of mystery. God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, He is working things ultimately for good, to bring glory to himself. We must hang on to the word ultimately. That is the part we cannot see with our human eyes and reasoning. I think that Psalm 91 is speaking of spiritual comfort more than anything else. I imagine that Christians everywhere, in every sort of circumstance, and in every time period since David wrote it find comfort in it. Think of Corri ten Boom in the concentration camp and her God-given super-natural ability to love and forgive the guards (one of them became a Christian!). Think of Stephen being stoned.

⁵⁵But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." ⁵⁷But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together^[a] at him. ⁵⁸Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." ⁶⁰And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

And think of Jesus at His crucifixion.

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." ⁴²And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ⁴³And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

We cannot remove one bit of the scriptures. We must take them as a whole, study and understand to the best of our ability, and trust God for all of that in the realm of mystery. We are not the Creator, we are the created and we must bow to Him. We know that God is in control and that somehow things are working for His glory. We take comfort in the spiritual protection of Psalm 91 and have the true hope that only Christians have when facing anything. God is good and ultimately everything is for His glory.

“If God told me to eat the dung from off the streets, not only would I eat it, but I would know it was good for me.” –Martin Luther

Psalm 25:8-10 Good and upright is the LORD;
   therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹He leads the humble in what is right,
   and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
   for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Recommended Recipe Books

2012-02-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my list of favorites with stars by the books that are the most beat up books at my house.

366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice Beans and Grains by Andrea Chesman
Country Beans by Rita Bingham
The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book by Laurel Roberston et al
*Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
The New Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson
*A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices by Linda Murdock
*Fix It and Forget It by Ranck and Good

I have other favorites but they're church cookbooks or old and out of print.

If you're just learning to cook then I would recommend a *Betty Crocker Cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, or The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
I've always thought it a good idea for an older girl in the home to cook every recipe in one of these to gain a wide variety of skills.