The end of a season, for me, and the beginning of a new one

Go to my xanga. Thanks.

New Links

I just wanted to post and say, "Congratulations to the Baucham family on their new blessing!" Check out Jasmine's blog to read some great posts on being an adult daughter at home. I bet her blog roll has lots of wonderful food for thought.

Shayna and I have enjoyed the posts on hope chests at Feelin' Feminine. And we enjoy the many project tutorials at Moda Bake Shop.

A great resource for homeschoolers or anyone who loves to learn new things.

Ladies, You have to go to see this article at Holy Experience! It is full of links to visit daily of things to learn. There is a daily audio Bible selection, geography quiz, science links, poetry, art...check it out, it's really cool!

I'm thinking that this is especially nice on days when school has to be light, just get the kids doing some of these activities. Enjoy!

And if you haven't started reading Ann's blog daily, you really must!

Trying to get back on board...

We are back from a lovely vacation to our nation's capitol and to see some family. Hopefully a little about that later.

Our family has been experiencing a particularly busy and stressful time of our lives and so I've let the unnecessary things (such as blogging) go by the wayside. I've finally realized that there's no end in sight and I would like to revamp how I manage these things, because I enjoy them or find them useful.

One thing I'm spending a little time on is my blog list...it had gotten totally unmanageable. I love my googlereader which shows me what's new to read each day and my blog list on that is huge. So, I think I will begin with the links that I read basically everyday or am currently finding an important read.

Some thoughts...

I've started water aerobics with my Mom...I feel like my skin is absorbing all of that chlorine! Yuck! I am really tired and sore but am enjoying it.

Over at Quiet Life, Donna is asking for warm weather meal ideas. Here is a favorite:
Oriental Crunch Salad
Saute in a 1/4 cup of oil:
2 pkgs of chicken flavored ramen noodles, crunched up
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
Until brown. Sprinkle the seasoning packets from the Ramen noodles over. Set aside to cool.
Cook
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. vinegar
2 Tbs. soy sauce
in a sauce pan over med.-high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk well and set in refrigerator until cooled.
Shred one head of cabbage and two carrots and put in a bowl. (My friend Myra just buys cole slaw mix in a bag and our own family likes about a half of head of cabbage and mixed greens as well.)
Serve dressing and "crunchies" along with the salad (the crunchies will get soggy if you have mixed them all together and have leftovers).
For a summer meal, we often add a rotisserie roast chicken sliced to the salad, or just some grilled chicken from the bbq.

Yum!

I just found this really cute blog of decorated cookies. Great ideas there!

One of my favorite blogs that comes up in my reader every day is One Pretty Thing, check it out.

I've been inspired today for a bridal shower cake I'm making...I can't wait to get started on it!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Check out the Mother Letter Project. I’ve only read a couple of the letters but they are good…and I like the idea very much.

I learned about it in a convoluted way, (like so many things in the blog world!). Amy’s Humble Musings linked to the letter written by Ann at A Holy Experience…I thought that that letter was excellent and saw the link to the Mother Letter Project. So get a cup of coffee or tea and read one (but only while the kids are otherwise occupied). Merry Christmas, Moms!

A Good Article

by one of my favorite speakers, Voddie Baucham.

"It's Not All Bad"

catching up on a little blog reading...

I saw this post at Flourishing Mother.

AMEN.

How To Help Your Grieving Friend

I wanted to put a link to this great series so that I could refer to it again. It looks to be very good. Found through Nancy Wilson's blog (also very good!).

One of my favorite bloggers has decided to stop blogging. I will really miss her posts and I’m glad that she is going to be keeping her archives up. Cindy’s posts are often full of content, challenging my thinking and encouraging me to know why I believe what I do.
She has been a modern day “Titus 2” woman to me, blogging to encourage us to love our husbands and children and to be busy at home. The thing that has made her unique is that she doesn’t stop there, she challenges us to not fall back on assumptions when we do these things. Cindy has helped me to think about what it means to love my husband, love my children and be busy at home.
I really appreciate the women who blog who help me wrestle with what those commands look like here, today, in my life. Cindy (and others) help me to wrestle with my theology and my orthopraxy (living out that theology).

I don’t blog like that. I blog in little snatches of time, not devoting much thought or planning to what I’m going to say. First, I’m not very good at focusing, period, and secondly, it takes all of my energy to be focused on what I’m doing here, loving my husband, and children and being busy at home.
I blog, because I know that there are people who know me, who would like to stay in touch with me, our family and our everyday lives. I really don’t expect to have anyone else really interested in this blog. I’m okay with that, infact, I don’t think that I could take the pressure of a broad readership, imagined or real.

Cindy, I think has handled the pressure beautifully and has been a brave woman to hang on teaching us as long as she has. I’m going to miss the glimpses into her family life – her oldest boys have traveled farther down the paths that my own oldest are on, graduation from homeschool, careers, courtship, marriage. I’m going to miss her encouragement to enrich the culture in my home, something I have to work hard at. I’m going to miss her encouragement to enrich the culture of my mind, something that I need a lot of encouragement in – doing this in a purposeful and disciplined manner. I’m just going to miss Cindy.

I’m thankful for the other bloggers out there who do many of these things for me as well. I hope that when I point you in their direction, that you go look and ponder. They often say the things I want to say, but in a way that I never can.

Margaret

Taking a Break

I know that posting has been sketchy around here already since before my surgery, sorry!

Things are really busy around here and I'm just plain stressed and tired, so I'm cutting out the unecessary things in life. This is definitely one of them, though lots of fun.

Our family is also discussing a media fast for the month of November, so I guess I will jump on the ball a little early!

Beginning with Reformation Day and going through the celebration of a New Year, the main thing that all of those holidays do for us is give us a time to celebrate God's total faithfulness to us, his people, in the past and the sure promise of His continued faithfulness to us in the future.

God Bless!

Stopping in for a sec...

I wish I could write as well as the inhabitants of the Common Room! I wish I could think as well as they!
Check out these two articles there.
The Spiritual Side of Family
and
News and Views

Good stuff!

Now, back to work... :^)

Trying out Blogger

I'm trying out the blogger account I have. I have stuck with Xanga because it's not very complicated and I don't want to spend more time than I already do blogging...or figuring out blogging.
I would like some of the features I see at blogger though. So, here goes!