Winter Wonderland

My kids would make excellent meteorologists; the 'winter storm' they've been predicting (for about a month or so) has finally come! All three of the bigger kids were bundled up and outside before breakfast this morning, shoveling, digging, swinging, marching... and tromping through the still-running creek! I don't understand the magnetic-like attraction between children and water.

Though I have enjoyed the extended autumn that we've had, I must admit that the clean white beauty of the freshly fallen snow brings a peace and stillness to me - especially when there is a steaming cup of hot tea in my hand. I love watching the wee birds as they flock to the feeder outside my kitchen window, their little bodies all puffed up against the cold. The winter birds are one of my favorite things about the cold season! Unfortunately, I've not seen even a glimpse of a single cardinal. Maybe this new snow will bring them out of hiding.

Well, the kids have come in, eaten pancakes, and have scattered - some back to the cold outdoors, some to cozy corners with favorite books... and one to his world of imagination. Off I go to dishes, laundry, and another cup of tea!

How To Clean Your Stove:

1 – Since you are running behind, in an attempt to cook supper faster than usual, turn up the [electric] burner under your milk-based soup.

2 – With the oven timer beeping, forget about the soup as you try to clear a spot on the counter for the bread that done in the oven.

3 – Smile at the beauty of the bread you just pulled out of the oven… and then immediately forget it as you grab a spoon to stir the soup.

4 – Groan with dismay as you feel the telltale layer of cooked milk along the bottom of your pan.

5 – Calmly, without panicking, remove the soup from the burner and retrieve another pot (which, thankfully, is clean!). Pour the soup into the new pot.

6 – Turn the burner DOWN as you continue to cook the soup.

7 – Glance at the bottom of the now empty pot and again groan with dismay, since you cannot see even a tiny bit of metal. No, it is completely covered with black burned milk.

8 – Taste the soup, in hope that you salvaged it. Sigh with thanksgiving and relief that the soup is still yummy.

9 – Back to the blackened pot: Fill ¾ full of water and begin to heat it. Realize that you have too much water, and distractedly pour off one third of the water (the pot is now ½ full)

10 – Bring water in blackened pot to a boil.

11 – Observe with fleeting reservation the rapidly boiling water then, ingoring the tiny voice of caution in your head, pour in about ½ - ¾ c of baking soda.

12 – Stand like a fool as a volcano erupts all over your stove. Turn the burner down, only to recall that you still have a horrid electric burner that retains its heat.

13 – With no thought for your safety, grab the pot and lift it off the burner, being EVER so careful not to let any spillage contaminate the gently cooking salvaged soup.

14 – Look with horror at your VERY messy stove (it is usually just generally messy)

15 – Ignore it til after supper when…

16 – You wipe it down and, to your utter amazement, discover that all the burned on grime that you were ignoring miraculously wipes clean!

I’ve not had a cleaner stove in months! And it required not a bit of elbow grease!!!

Happy New Year!

Today we woke up to a very disappointed boy announcing that "it didn't snow a lot last night!" Poor Phin. He has been hopefully predicting a massive snow storm for weeks, now. Instead of his yearned for storm, we have a light sugar dusting covering the ground. Well, he wasn't too deterred! After chores and breakfast he and his brother bundled up and have been attempting to sled for the past 2 hours. One thing I don't understand is why both of them refuse to wear their mittens. They started with them on... and quickly dropped them in the red barn where the Carpenter has turned into the Mechanic and is working on his snowblower; Andrew also is hoping for a snow storm, if only to use his magnificently jerry-rigged machine. Abigail was outside for an hour or so coaxing the chickens to eat from her hand. We have our 'old hens,' some of which are almost two years old. Then, back in September, we hatched out a bunch of old heritage mixed breeds in an incubator. The babies are now about as big as the old ones! To top it all off, one of the old girls, Zoe, went broody about 2 weeks ago. She is sitting on 6 eggs; if she's been a good sitter (and if the eggs are fertilized) the chicks should hatch out next weekend!

And so begins the second day of our new year! The kids all have colds - enough to be coughing and sneezing, but not enough to damper their play. We've been enjoying chicken soup, teas, lots of cuddling, and lots of extra rest. Abigail is reading "Understood Betsy," a fabulous book that I recommend for kids and mama's alike! I have a stack about a mile high of books I would like to read for myself, and other ones I'd like to preview for Abigail. (So many books; so little time!!) I just finished a fantastic book by Eric Mataxas called "Bonhoeffer - Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy." Not surprisingly, it is a biography about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I can't even begin to describe all of what and who Bonhoeffer was. I highly recommend this book, as well.

Well, the fellows are finally coming in, probably in search of lunch!

Happy New Year!

Long awaited...

Well, I sent an e-mail to a friend of mine, giving her an update on our family. When she replied, she said that it would have made a good blog post. So, (a week or so later) I've decided to post it here... in case there is anyone who faithfully checks in to see if I'm still here. Sure enough! Here I am! For now, that is. And here is a little update on our family!

Lets see - Abigail just turned 7. She is an avid reader; i can't keep her supplied with enough books! This is, of course, wonderful. But it has its set backs as well: unfortunately she is like her mother in that once she is immersed in the world of a book, she is lost to this world! Ah well, we can work on that! She still adores horses and dreams of the day when she can have one for her own. Right now she has quite a toothless grin; as soon as a new one grows in, she looses another baby tooth.

Phinehas is 5 1/2. He has officially started unofficial homeschooling. When we began in the fall, he was soaring. Then he hit a plateau and refused to budge. Reading was a drag and jumping into quicksand was preferable to math. So, we set aside the 'formality' of it all and have been reading library books (somehow, he seems to be taking flight again in the reading department! Hurray!) As for math, we do a lot more 'playing' with manipulatives and working with concrete concepts: when i say, "What is 4+2?" Phin answers, "5! 7! No! 10! 8!" But as soon as I say, "What is four kids plus 2 adults" he shouts, "6!" So, math has slowed down... but I think we've time. For now he spends a lot of time outside hammering nails and building things.

Liam is 4 and totally disinterested in learning his letters. Which is fine. He is working on the normal kid foundations - kindness in action and speech, preferring others, helping mama, learning how to be diligent. He is my most imaginative child, always lost in a dream world. When he tells you something it takes him FOR-E-VER and if I'm not careful a lot that is precious in him can easily be ignored and set aside in my haste. I'm working on stoping to look into his worlds and enjoy him. Actually, I am ever seeking to learn how to enjoy all of my kiddos!

Lydia is 2 1/2. She is definitely my biggest helper, always wanting to do whatever I am doing. If only, when Abigail was little, I had known what I now know! I could have avoided some of my most sorrowed mistakes! Ah! Thank God for His ceaseless grace! In my life and in the life of my children.

Andrew and I are ever more in love. He is my hero and my favorite place. He loves and cherishes me in ways I never imagined. How wonderful to laugh with my dearest friend! I am so glad to be his!

We have 13 'big' chickens and 16 'chicks' that are just about as big as the older ones. The 'babies' we hatched in incubators. That was a lot of fun! We might be getting a piglet from Andrew's brother in a few months - that would be nice! i've gardened for two years now; learning a bit more each year. Presently I have 3 - 3 1/2 x 8 beds full of garlic! Yippee!

Well, that's about it in a nutshell.

I've been wanting...

I've been wanting to tell you about all the wonderful things going on here... but I haven't seemed to be able to find the time! You see, we've been too busy picking bouquets of wild flowers, inhaling their light sweetness.

We've been too busy eating fresh cherries, just picked from the tree in our yard. Granted, they sure aren't sweet - they are very tart! - but they are fresh! And to get them the kids have to climb! You can't beat that!

We've been too busy chasing chipmunks and butterflies and watching the little brood of bluebirds, now that they've ventured from their hidden nest. They flit from branch to ground, from ground to limb, learning how to catch bugs and delight their eager observers.

We've been too busy reading books and riding bikes, weeding the garden and harvesting it's goodness.

We've been too busy watching the fireflies and gazing at twinkling stars.

We've been too busy enjoying life!!

Hope you are enjoying yours!

The Power of a Vow

We are eating chicken tonight.

We are eating chicken because of a rash vow made in anger. By me.

You see, while I was out yesterday, the gate to the garden either blew open or was left open and some of the chickens came in and decimated my carrots and some of my lettuce/swiss chard. I was really, really mad. Probably more mad than I should have been. Anyway, I sent a message to Andrew saying, "May the fox eat your chickens. So be it." I knew as I typed that had I left it with the first sentence, it would have been merely dramatic ramblings. But as I typed in the 'so be it,' I knew in my little inner knower that I was crossing the line. Unfortunately, in my anger, I didn't care. I wanted vengeance. So much so, that last evening before I went to bed, I purposefully ignored the little voice that said, "Go shut the door to the coop" (You see, we've left if open at night for a long time... and nothing had happened).

So, this morning shortly after 5:00, we were awakened to the distressed cries of one of our young chickens. As my eyes were snapping open, I knew what it was and I knew the cause without a doubt.

We scared the fox away - probably not permanently (as in, we didn't get any lead into it); I was shaking too hard to hold a gun and Andrew's eyes and glasses weren't cooperating with the scope.

Only two of the chickens are dead. Thankfully. My only fear is that the power of my vow still holds. But, there is repentance. I am very sobered by the recognition of the power of words. I also am very thankful that I learned this lesson first hand, but that the only cost was the life of a couple replaceable and edible chickens.

There is much power in the words we speak. There is more power in vows we make.

Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You!

Joys of June

With the warm days of June have come many delights that have filled our waking moments, and even infiltrated our sleepy nights! First, my favorite: the Multiflora Roses! I know - they are invasive and tough as all get out to remove, but MY! the fragrance is intoxicatingly sweet! Earlier in the spring, I thought nothing was better than the lilacs. Then the honeysuckle. But now, unquestionably, the roses are my favorite. All roses should smell as sweet!

Other delights that have flown in on the wings of June are the humming birds, the oriole that sings from the top of the cottonwood tree, the flying gems or butterflies that flit too and fro across the yard. And don't forget the fireflies that silently blink in the night!

And thunderstorms! I love the earthshaking booms that rattle the windows and make everyone jump! The brilliant flashes of lightning that strobe across the sky! The torrential rains that pour from the sky! The kids are gradually beginning to enjoy them, shakily casting aside their fears to behold the wonder and the power of the Almighty!

Then, delights from our garden have started finding their way to our table - green onions, fresh lettuce, swiss chard. Yum!

And the best delights are the shining faces and goofy grins of my wondrous children as they romp and play outside, their creative imaginations running wild!

Welcome, summer!!!