Let's try one more time!

Beach Vacation Fall 2011









For some reason, I can't get into the groove of this blogging thing. I have good intentions but life kind of gets in the way! That's ok, life is what it's all about:) My children are growing up so much, they are such blessings to me and my husband. They fill our days with joy and laughter. God has richly blessed us! I was looking through some old journals the other day and it was so neat to read all the things my teenage self wrote down. The things that were important to me then are interesting to read about now. I see how God has had his hand in my life. In the middle of all my teen angst, God was right there! I'm hoping to give this blog another go round. I want to capture our life for my family to see. What are our days like? What do we do? What is our homeschool like? What do we do for fun? How do we eat? What do we do in our spare time? A favorite blog of mine is here. I love her heart and how she runs her house!






My daughter looking for pirate ships!













Two peas in a pod!

Summer Love

Things I love about summer:

-watermelon
-gardening
-laughter at catching lightning bugs
-star lit nights chatting on the porch
-listening to frogs croak in my parents pond
-camping
-swimming
-fresh vegetables from the garden
-feeling closer to the Lord through His wonderful creation
-taking care of my hard working husband
-how happy my children are and seeing that every day

It's a new dawn, It's a new day...

Been too long since I posted last. I haven't kept up with my blog like I wanted. I'm hoping to change that this year. I recently had my laptop crash and I lost a whole year of photos, videos, files, etc. I was not a happy momma! I can't get those moments back, so I've vowed to get a huge hard drive and start backing up my stuff every week. I never want that to happen again.

There's been some changes in my life recently. People would probably think I've gone crazy! I have completely revamped our lifestyle. We've really changed our way of eating. Gone are the days where I open a box and get dinner out of it. Instead I have developed a real food approach to our eating. I basically cook everything from scratch. I open very few cans of food (most of it is my own canned goods that I put away this summer). You can call me an Amish wannabe lol! We haven't bought a loaf of bread in months. What you say! How do you eat sandwiches? I have a secret! Don't tell anyone, are you ready? I make my own! And I don't mean go to the store and buy a bag of flour and use my bread machine like I used to. NO! I'm talking, grind my own flour, make my dough, knead my dough, let my dough rise, bake my dough and eat some of the best bread in the world stuff.

See I told you I was crazy:)

I know you are wondering, why. Well I realized something this past year. I'm not getting any younger. I feel like I have wasted years and years of my life eating crap. My weight has suffered because of it. My fertility is ruined because of it. I don't want my kids to grow up making all the bad choices I did about food. I want to train them while they are young. There is so much to learn about health and nutrition that we have completely threw by the wayside for the sake of convenience. My children deserve better than me running around feeding them junk because it's easy.

Over the next few weeks I will attempt to show you what our life looks like. From homeschooling, to cooking and living in our little abode. And yes when I say little, I mean 740 sq. ft little!

My Journey toward Health

When I started blogging nearly a year ago, I was on a mission. I was going to lose weight and get my life back on track. Boy was I in for a rude awakening! My life got way off track, but I learned a few things about myself along the way.

1. I am a really good multi-tasker. We had planted a big garden in the summer and right when my tomatoes came in and were ready to can, our house sold. We had to be out in two weeks. The week we were to move out, my uncle passed away suddenly. It was a horrible thing for my father (who lost his favorite brother). I remember grieving and sobbing as I was putting up my tomatoes and packing up my kitchen at the same time. What a stressful time! But how good the Lord was when a few days after the funeral, there were seven men at my door with trucks and trailers to load up our house and move us.

2. After very eventful teen years with my parents where I swore I would never move back home, the reverse happened and they moved in with me. The shock of the house fire and the fact that my parents didn't have house insurance was so hard on them. People were so generous to them and just gave and gave. They were with us for 6 weeks and it was such a blessing! My children got precious grandparent time early in the morning and late in the evening. I cooked meals for my family every day. I put my love into those meals as day after day we worked on the house to restore it back to a livable space. I thank God for that time with my parents. Family really is all that is left at the end of the day. Cherish it and never take it for granted.

3. I really have learned a lot about eating healthy. I started the year with weight watchers. I really loved it at first, but over time it became monotonous as it seemed the same ideas were recycled over and over. I thought I was eating right when I heated up those little microwave dinners and ate my 100 calorie packs. How wrong I was! Do you realize how much crap is in that stuff? Ingredients I can't even pronounce and I was eating it like it was going out of style. I have since become familiar with real food and have decided that this is the path I want my family to take. I met a new friend, a wonderful lady who has been teaching me all about grinding grains, baking fresh bread, eating more organic real food. I am so thankful God put her in my life, I feel like she came into it at just the right time! I have also been reading a good book called Nourishing Traditions. Check it out!

Learning new things is hard. We get set in our ways, comfortable, familiar and we don't want to change. But I have learned change is good. I have moved twice this year, it was stressful but we learned to be patient with each other when we couldn't remember which box the toothpaste was in or where we stored the blender! We are in a tiny little apartment that on most days is fine, but give us rain and cold weather where the kids can't go outside and I feel like my walls are closing in on me. I pray a lot on those days. And occasionally scream! But God is good and that's been the biggest lesson I have learned, He really does care for me. Little 'ol plain me, who is nobody and no one. Thank you Lord!

I'm not a quitter!

I love fall. I love the colors changing, the cool crisp air. It's such a welcome relief from the hot summer we've had. And what a summer I've had! Parents house burnt, sold our house, moved twice in 5 weeks and then our house deal feel through. So not only are we living in a two bedroom apartment, we are also paying for an empty house that my husband doesn't want to move back into. Am I ok with that? Yes and I'll tell you why. For the first time I am standing still and letting God move. I am letting my husband lead. And if he doesn't want to move back, so be it. I am content to be, because my husband is leading. I want so much to be in God's will and I certainly can't do that if he is getting grief from me.
We are poor, but rich in God's love. We are committed to being the best parents to our children. God is good and worthy to be praised. He doesn't owe us anything, even though we secretly want to pitch a little fit like a toddler sometimes when things don't go our way. I've had a lot of things happen to me in the last few years that most people would say, what's the point in trying? Why not give up?
There are several reasons:
1. I have two little ones watching. If I give up, how do they learn to lean on God in hard times, to be thankful for everything? How can I give up when they so want to be like me and my husband.
2. I have loved ones who don't have a relationship with God. If I am truly to be the "salt" of this world and show them what loving Jesus is all about, how can I give up when times get hard?
3. God loves me and I don't deserve it. I deserve Hell, but He desires a relationship with me. Why would I give that up because life gets hard? This life is so short, so fleeting.

I want to walk up to God and one day hear these words: "Well done, my good and faithful child, enter in."

I never knew...

I'm having a rough week. Nothing major going on, just not a great week. We sold our house a month ago and moved to a rental trailer. We had two weeks to move when we closed (which was 5 days after we accepted a contract) So we had less than 3 weeks from the time we found out it sold to "see ya later house, it was nice living in you!" To begin to describe the stress I felt, well, I just can't. It was unbelievable. At the time of my move, all of my tomatoes came in my garden so I was packing, canning, packing, canning until I thought I would lose my mind. I will love my fresh spaghetti sauce and tomatoes this winter when I really need it, but right now I could care less if I ever can anything again. My uncle also passed away at the same time as our move. Another blow to our family, more stress.

So we've moved. I'm so thankful to the Lord for our house selling, for helping us get out of that financial burden and for providing a place. Here's the problem. Our house is 20 minutes from my parents. I know it's not far, but when you live 5-10 minutes away for years, this seems like an all day trip to just visit. I do not like living on another end of the county. I keep my sister's kids 2 days a week so she can work and her drive is much longer than before. Spontaneous trips to my folks doesn't happen now. I have to plan for them because now it's almost an hour round trip. Boy am I in a crummy mood or what? Since I am a stay at home mom, I guess maybe I've been getting too much home time. My husband and I haven't been out in over 2 months and I think it's starting to show.

I have struggled to like this house but I just don't. I know God wants me here for a reason. For one the view out the back is gorgeous. Nice big hills and a pond to feast your eyes on. That's it's one saving grace. The house is small. The kids are sharing a room and I have made the small bedroom an office/school room. I have yet to organize it. I just can't get motivated to even look at it right now. I think by not unpacking and organizing this one room I am internally rebelling against the change of another move (we've moved 8 times in 13 years by the way). Hmmmm, I think too much and I need a nap. Maybe my next post will be more positive!

On a brighter note here are some pictures of our camping trip we took last week. Enjoy!
















God has blessed me and I am so thankful for all He gives me. I know the enemy is
attacking me today. That's why it's so necessary to "gird up thy loins." Put on that armor of God and fight back!

Summer Fun

Since it's been forever since I have posted anything, I want to post pictures of some of the things that we've been up to as a family this summer.



Slip-n-slide fun:)













Church camp











Working at mom and dad's smoke damaged house

















Dress up Fun!


























Tea is served!!!!
























































Sleeping in mommy's bed is so much better












Pool Time













Nature center exploration













Lake Winnie


























July 4













Canning is hard work but so worth it!