Porsche racing car at Hockenheim Ring, Jeroen Bleekemolen (driver). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Life… at full speed.

That’s what my days feel like right now. I’m not complaining though- this IS the life I signed up for, this is the life I prayed for. I am so blessed –even in the hard times as a woman trying to live out the reality the bible tells me I can have. Every time I get tired, every time I feel pressure, every time I feel discouraged, I remember those prayers prayed so long ago: “Lord, I want to be FRUITFUL in every area of my life, cause me to grow and bear fruit…” “Lord, I want a LARGE family filled with life and vitality day to day…” Lord I want to be BUSY doing Your work to glorify Who You Are…” & “Lord, I want to CONTRIBUTE to the family finances, working alongside my husband to support our dreams…”

So many other prayers prayed, and one by one I have had the honor and privilege of watching my God answer them. I’m still waiting on others to be answered, but because I have had a front row seat to the faithfulness of God I can confidently say that He will do all that He has promised and that He does not forget one Word He has ever spoken nor does it leave His remembrance of one prayer I have ever prayed.

So, while this earthly body is wrestling with the allotted 24 hours each day given me, I will stop and ponder on the faithfulness of God Almighty. And I will thank Him for bringing to pass His plan in my life and I will offer praise for more to come.  No matter how much I struggle, I know He will guide me into perfect peace and balance as I wait upon Him, this crazy life of mine will be filled with fruit that He carefully cultivated and all of it will be for His Glory!

God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:9)

I do not have posts to share with you this week, I will tell you that if you are following along with the Sweep & Keep Challenge , we are in Week Three of the Pantry and Storage Closet areas of our home. I hope to have those posts up by the end of the week. As you know from my last post, Fruitful vine posts may be a little sporadic as I learn to work with my new schedule. Just stick with me and I will get everything running smoothly again.

Aside from that, I’d like to share some of my friends’ blogs with you this week!

Chrysalis Family Ministries will be one that you’ll want to be watching in the near future. Many treasures will be coming from this site on family, homeschool and the Word of the Lord. You won’t be sorry that you bookmarked them!

Faithful Homemaking is a blog from my good friend Lindsey Swinborne, just what her blog states, she encourages moms like us to be faithful in the home.

Amanda Shade over at Almost Organic is challenging all of us to eat better, I love the unique recipes that she is including in her menu plans that she shares and if you are in an area where game meat is plentiful, you’ll like some of what is in her plans, like Antelope Meatballs.

Amanda Kaake of Kaake Family Blog has an awesome e-book available on wholesome cooking and her blog posts are wonderful.

Adventures In Mothering with Kimberly Eddy is one of my favorites as well.

All right Fruitful Viners, that’s it for now… have a blessed rest of the week and I hope to be posting soon!

Nicci

Happy Purim!

Every year for about 8 years now, I make Hamantashen for the biblical holiday of Purim and I talk to the kids about the story of Esther in the bible, why we remember the story and how it is useful to us Christians today. The longer I walk with the Lord the more I want to know Him and be known by Him. Teaching our children the biblical holidays and what they stand for and symbolize is such a great way to keep the bible alive to our children and to teach them their biblical heritage. Am I trying to be a Jew? No. Although, because I have been grafted into the Root by my belief in Christ Jesus, do I believe that I am one inwardly with a faith in my Messiah Savior? Absolutely! I believe it simply because the bible says it is so. For me, the biblical holidays are not about being Jewish or not, they are simply a way to honor God’s word and teach it to my children.

Up until this year, we’ve kept it pretty simple- bake Hamantashen, eat hamantashen, give hamantashen, talk about the story, maybe enjoy a special meal. This year however, we decided to up our giving and include full Purim baskets as something we’d like to do. Little Prince was my big helper with this and we had so much fun.

He decorated paper plates to put the cookies in while I was doing the baking. This year we included hamantashen, oranges, apples & grape juice as our ‘basket’ along with a “scroll” explaining the holiday of Purim and the reason for the basket gifts.

Our “baskets” were in plastic bags holding all the goodies with a “Happy Purim” tag on the outside of the bag. I purposely kept it simple because I wanted it to be FUN for Little Prince’s first experience- even two-year old Ce-Ce kept trying to “help” by putting more fruit into the bags.

The best part of it all though, was when we were delivering all the baskets: After the third delivery, Little Prince was counting to make sure we had delivered the right amount up to that point and he looked over at me while I was turning onto the next street and said, “We need to make more baskets next year!”

Yes, my mama heart just melted into a pile of love goo. My Little Prince was enjoying this celebration holiday of God’s and he was enjoying giving! We talked about how fun it is to give and happy it must make people to be thought of, and how pleased God is when we do what His Word says.We talked about Queen Esther and how her courage and obedience to God paved the way for this wonderful holiday of rejoicing and freedom for His People– and we discussed it all on his 7 year old level. PRECIOUS.

This year, consider exploring God’s Holidays with your family, keep it simple so that there can be real learning and fun!

If you are interested in exploring Purim today, visit my Pinterest board to learn about the holiday and get ideas for celebrating with your family!

This week’s posts:

March Sweep & Keep Challenge, Week One Storage Closet and Pantry

Little Hands craft & Activity Time: Marble Painted Paper

Crockpot Applesauce

See you next week!

Applesauce is good. Period. And my family loves it… I am still convinced that someday I will have my own personal orchard to keep up with apple demand in my home. We love anything with apple in it- oatmeal, bread, pancakes, crisp, pie, sauce- ANYTHING with apple in it is welcome in this home and treated with respect!

Image via Wikipedia

So, applesauce that practically makes itself is a major winner in our home, it is soooooo easy that it is fast becoming one of my favorite things to do in my crockpot.

All you need is:

about 10-12 apples, peeled, cored & chopped

brown sugar

cinnamon

a little water

Put your chopped apples into the crockpot, add brown sugar and cinnamon in quantities that your family will like- I added about 1/2 – 3/4 cup brown sugar & 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and about a 1/4 cup water.

Cook on low about 4-6 hours.

THAT’S IT!

When it’s done, just mash it up  to the consistency your family likes… we like it a little chunky.

Applesauce is great served hot or cold, can be added to smoothies, baked goods, parfaits, granola and yogurt… and it is a quick go-to snack for the kiddos who need just a little something before dinner is ready! Enjoy- I’m going to make more right now!

I am chipping away at the Pantry and Storage closet project of the March Sweep & Keep Challenge and am not completely confident that I will finish in a month! We do not have a walk-in pantry, so kitchen shelves along one wall of the kitchen constitutue as my “pantry” . I have thought and thought about how to make this space less cluttered and messy- to be honest with you, as much as I LOVE these heavy duty shelving units that I bought a few years back, things do not balance very well on them due to the wire shelves, so we have resorted to “piling” and stacking items which ends up in one big mess every other week. Things constantly topple over and we just seem to have a time keeping it organized.

So, last week I went out and bought a bunch of various sized cheap plastic baskets and I am going to fiddle around and see what I can come up with. What I really want is some of those fancy can rotators, like what you see in the soup aisle of a grocery store, lol, but my budget isn’t allowing it for this month, so I am going to try to make due with what i have.

I’ll post my after pics as soon as I am done on this page, so check back in a few days to see my progress!

I haven’t even looked at the storage closet- I peeked- and that’s all the nerve I had! Lot’s of deep breathing will accompany that one! See you in a few days!

And… Ta-da! The pantry is still stuffed but at least the stuff is more contained! I still have to figure out my corner shelving unit, but the main one is done for now.

We had so much fun with this one in our arts and crafts time, I found myself reaching for paper shrieking, “Oh! This one looks like it’ll turn out cool! Whoa! Look at the swirl on THAT one!”  I could have spent hours on this craft swirling together different color combinations!

The materials are simple: shaving cream- the foam kind; food coloring; & paper… also, a few pencils to “swirl” the colors around.

All you do is empty out a bottle of shaving cream into a large bin, place drops of food coloring on top and start swirling- it works best with 2-3 colors, no more than that, although, after things get swirled so much, you can add more drops and sort of start again, but it looks the most awesome when your shaving cream still has white in it.

Once your shaving cream is swirled how you like it, take a sheet of paper and lightly press it on top of your shaving cream mixture. Now, gently lift up the sheet of paper and place it shaving cream side up on a table to dry. Yes, you will have glops of shaving cream still on it.

Ours took a few hours to dry, but once they are dry, take a paper towel and gently brush off the dried shaving cream, prepare to be AMAZED. Ooooos and aaahhhs of all sorts could be heard coming from our little homeschool room.

The above pic is one of my favorite pieces… my camera doesn’t do it justice at all- the colors are so vibrant and the swirls are so pretty!

These pieces would make great wrapping paper for small gifts, backgrounds for homemade cards or just as artwork in frames, I am thinking about cutting them into artsy shapes and putting them on matte in frames for a more decorative look while still having a keepsake from my kiddos.

Aside from the artistic fun, the leftover shaving cream makes awesome sensory play and kept Little Prince and Ce-Ce busy for quite a while!

Have you had fun while learning lately? Make it a point to have fun during homeschool with your kiddos! And don’t forget to share your ideas here for other moms to see!

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Transition is tough. I’ve had lots of transition seasons in my life so it isn’t new to me at all, but there is something about transition, that when it  comes, it leaves me feeling edgy, nervous, irritated and frustrated. Sometimes, I even feel a little scared. There. I said it, it’s all out in the open now.

Anytime life takes a turn, or the direction completely changes, it is uncomfortable to this flesh of mine. I am the kind of person who will keep the same cell phone for 8 years because I am comfortable with it. I’ll hold onto the same computer, even when it becomes a “technological dinosaur”, just because I am ‘used to’ the programs and don’t want to change. My hair style is the same that it was in high school, my clothing style hasn’t changed much either- in fact, once I find something that works for me, I can stay with it for pretty much my whole life. I resist change most of the time, and it’s not always a bad thing.  That’s probably why sticking with Jesus hasn’t been too difficult for me either. I mean, times may get hard, but Jesus, and His Word works- why would I try anything else, right?

Sometimes though, change – which brings transition- is needed: Like the cell phone issue- I finally, ages after all my friends had taken the plunge years earlier, invested in what is called a Smart Phone. People, my eyes were opened! Life took on a whole new meaning with this incredible little device in the palm of my hand… but the transition wasn’t all excitement- stress began to settle in with trying to figure out the darn thing! For a good couple of months I was operating on a learning curve that everyone else in the world did not have! It was like being in a foreign country and I didn’t not know the language! The same thing is happening with my website here, I am seriously mystified by all the website talk on how to run this site the way I envision it. Thank the Lord for a good friend who takes the time to explain it all to me when I have questions!

Right now though, those kinds of changes and transitions are easy in comparison to the ones that are staring me in the face now. My oldest child is getting ready to to start life as an adult, the process has already begun and I can feel the resistance rising up in me. I have begun courses for my Herbal Certification after years of wanting to, and while excited, this brings a new season into view- transition. There may be a move in the near future for our family- transition. Ministry is growing- transition. Daily life has new focus with the education of my other children in full swing now, and even all of these do not speak of the changes God is bringing about in my character, mind and heart… transition.

Years ago, I was like a boat without an anchor when change would occur and the tides of transition would carry me to and fro- it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t easy. I gave into chaos a lot and panicked at every rocking of the boat. Now I won’t say that I handle things perfectly now, but I will say that there is much more assurance that the One Who is Captain of the boat knows exactly how to steer it and I trust Him. I’ve learned a few things about the process of transition and how to get through it as painlessly as possible… and maybe with even a little joy in my heart:

1. Put your LIFE SAVER Jacket on: I grew up near the Great Lakes in Michigan and one thing all of us kids were taught early on was Boating Safety. You didn’t dare go out in a boat without your life jacket. It was just plain common sense. Jesus, the Word of God, is my Life Jacket. Without His daily instruction, I am bound to drown when that wave comes crashing or I fall out of the boat, but His Word keeps me safe and brings me back to safety every time. During times of change and transition, I fix my gaze on Him and follow His leading for a safe trip through the uncertain waters.
2. Focus on the destination & fruit ahead: Looking at how hard it is, how much you don’t like this process, how you wish you could just hide from it all etc… will defeat you in the first leg of the race. Trust me I know. If however, you can focus on the finish line, the fruit and outcome of the new change, you are more likely to pass with flying colors than with a white flag. I know it’s hard, but ask the Lord to help you see the fruit and to encourage you along the way.
3. Bring some Crew Mates aboard, Include your spouse and a close friend for support: We all need it, yet we don’t ask for it: SUPPORT. I have a friend who may join the same Herbal Course that I have and I know she will be the one I am calling when I need to figure something out or examine something. She’s also the one that reasons scripture out with me and is a trusted intercessor for our prayer needs as a family. (I have quite a few friends plus my spouse for that) My husband is almost always one of the first people I go to for support and counsel. Aside from them, my pastor and key leaders in my church are also valuable trusted counselors and a support team. You can ask others to pray for you, to talk things out with you- though they should never replace your time with the Lord.
4. Lastly- Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness and rejoicing: When I am in transition, usually at some point I realize the need to be thankful and rejoice over the work being done in my life- most of the time, I realize it at my lowest possible point out of conviction! Regardless, when I finally do come to my senses and muster up some gratefulness and rejoicing, my entire outlook changes and the future seems bright again. And there is something very valuable that comes when joy is given it’s place- strength. I have hit rock bottom in the middle of transition before, felt defeated, like quitting, and utterly weak. But then I would raise my hands and praise God and thank Him and all of the sudden my strength would be renewed. Thankfulness and Joy go a long way during times of change.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

So, here’s what you need:

3-4 cups of oats- NOT the quick kind

8 cups of water

sweetener of choice

fruits to be added, except raisins- you will want to add those after everything is cooked, otherwise they reconstitute and you have soggy grapes- yuck!

spices of choice

Here’s what you do:

place 3-4 cups of oatmeal in crockpot (the original called for 4, I will be reducing my next batch to 3 so it is not as thick)

Add 8 cups of water

Add fruit like chopped apples

Add seasonings and sweeteners

Stir well to combine

Place lid on and set to low overnight

**Now, I got up in the middle of the night to for a drink of water and gave it a quick stir last time. But I don’t think it is necessary, my crockpot is a little weird and is a little warmer than most and tends to cook things faster than recommended times, so I always check on it to make sure it isn’t burning anything.

***This recipe filled my 6-qt crockpot full.

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Wrap It Up Week

February has been an interesting and hectic month in my home, but I am pleased with what I have been able to do so far. Husband just informed me that by the weekend he just may be able to paint afterall. Yay! As we head into March, we will be focusing on the Pantry and Storage area of our homes, so start thinking about what you’d like to accomplish in those areas. This week, I am going to look for those items i mentioned last week for the bathroom, and I may even pick up a few new towels to spruce up the space a little. I am also going to make some new linen spray- see week three- and I may buy some nice body wash and hand soap. I already have a pretty candle for the right side of the sink, so the main thing I am waiting on is fresh caulk and paint, which I know will do wonders for the appearance of the room.

How did you do during February the February Sweep & Keep Challenge? Remember, if my posts don’t come through regularly, you can always refer to the Introduction message for an outline for each week of the challenge.

See you next week!

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Week Three and still no progress aside from cleaning and organizing! But that’s okay, because I have a plan and can come back to it as I need to! This is the week to organize and optimize that space called your bathroom. Now, while mine is very small, yours may be very large and spa-like. Take advantage of that if you have it! Make yourself a personal spa getaway, place some nice smelling bath salts in there, maybe some pretty dried flowers and candles, and some artwork on the walls! I dream of the day when I have a garden tub to sink into again at the end of a long day!

One of the fun things I like to do is to spritz my towels with some homemade linen spray to give them a fresh scent before their use. To Make some for yourself all you need is:

***a spray bottle, 2-3 tblspoons of vodka, distilled water and essential oil drops in your favorite scents.

***Mix about 15-20 drops of your essential oil into the vodka, place in the spray bottle, and fill the rest of the way up with distilled water. Place the cap on and shake- voila! Linen Spray!

Next week we will be wrapping up our bathrooms in week four, see ya then!