We are keeping Quiet Time journals based on this post by Ann at A Holy Experience. I have great hopes for the things we will encounter using the journals...if we can only keep them up!

Today is the beginning of our week...we enjoyed a day of relaxation and visiting with friends. The rain is falling pretty steadily and the light coming in the windows is gray. We have the lights on throughout the house and I am trying very hard to keep the mood from being dreary. My students are at the table working on their assignments and I'm settling down in the library adjacent to begin my morning of paperwork.

I have begun to take Conrad to work since parking has gotten so bad at the shipyard and we will have to figure out how to fit that new aspect of the morning into our routine. It gets us started a little late, but all together, which is a good thing.

Well, there's much to do and my time on the computer is up. Have a good week!

What's for dinner? Burritos and salad

What I'm thankful for: The rain and a comfortable dry house! For new beginnings. For prayer time in the morning with my husband. For kids who are demonstrating good attitudes...so far!

What I'm praying for: For me to remember my huge influence over the tone of our home. That God would help me to be thankful and prayerful. That I would remember that by dying I will live, by serving I will be satisfied, by caring I will feel carefree. That instead of worrying about my burdens, I should carry others' burdens. *see what I'm studying below.

What I'm reading in The WORD: I'm reading Isaiah 58 over and over this week (perhaps this month). I'm punched in the stomach with it! Today, I'm meditating on verses 10 & 11.

A blog to check out today: Look at WEE FOLK ART for a cute mini pumpkin patch craft...I'm thinking that these would make cute little gifts to bring to someone when we visit.

Please read the Headmistress' post at the Common Room on suggestions for parents whose children will be seeing the president's address to classrooms across the nation... even if your children will be spared, I think that there are many really important things to discuss with our kids here!

I've been rearranging the furniture downstairs. It is mostly done and I've only the books to arrange on the shelves. Everything has gotten a good cleaning and things just feel fresher around here!
I've been trying to keep my blog list current by adding and subtracting blogs as I see articles that are really great.
I know that there are probably better ways to do that, but I don't have time to figure it out!

I've just finished tightening Shayna's braids and have lots more to do around the house today, especially paperwork - menu planning, grocery list writing, lesson planning and general filing. I also have to get going on my grandson's cradle set and get it finished before he is due in just three weeks!

What's for dinner? There were turkey breasts on sale last week for $.97/lb. and I bought six! We will have one tonight for dinner with stuffing and green beans and I will use the leftover turkey in fried rice over the weekend.

I'm thankful for: The wonderful cool weather this week, and the breezes coming through the windows. I'm thankful for Isaac's kindness to Shayna this morning - fetching things for her when she was forced to sit still while I did her hair. For Steven's first week of school behind him and his enthusiasm for his studies. There's so much!

What I'm studying in the Word: Conrad has been teaching us from a commentary on Isaiah during family worship time and I am spending time in that book to aid my understanding.

What I'm reading: Nothing for myself right now...I'm too busy getting organized! I'm reading The Hobbit to the children aloud.

I'm Praying: Constantly for Ben, fighting fires in CA, and our session dealing with difficult issues, non-stop. I'm praying regularly for Ryan & Meg getting married in a few weeks. For our church family, that we would grow in Grace and would pour ourselves out for Christ. For Emily as she nears Tad's due date for rest for her body and health and a safe delivery.

Blogs for you to check out on the side bar:
I'm really excited for the crate filing system idea on A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
For Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers check out Morning Time Moms new morning time schedule. And from the same author, Cindy's reports on the CIRCE conference at Ordo Amoris.

Have a lovely weekend!

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!

Isaac just made a banana pudding for himself and his Papa, complete with from scratch custard and hand beaten meringue!

"Study the Past"

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.

Giving Thanks

This is yesterday's thankful picture:

My niece Hannah with her ladybugs cake

Giving Thanks

O greatly blessed is the man who walketh not astray...
(wish we had a better pic of this, our camera ran out of batteries, sigh!)

Giving Thanks

Lesson Planning

Giving Thanks

Pancakes for breakfast.

"Children, should be... loved, not coddled; led, not driven, respected as
an individual... guided to walk freely on directed paths; to slay
caprice and to liberate will; to kill selfishness and to conquer self;
helped by the shining of your steady light to a vision of the
relationship between the world of nature and the world of the spirit..."

Kate Douglas Wiggin (author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm)
(HT to The Common Room)

I'm trying to see my life as art... it's hard for this unimaginative soul. I miss too much joy, trying so hard to "do the next thing".

I know that my thinking- my heart is something that I constantly have to stop and realign. I can get very caught up in getting our chores done, our math and spelling done... even that Bible lesson - lesson 65 comes after 64 which comes after 63... And then my children are nothing but cooperators or annoyances - when they are not cooperating.

It is very easy to frame such thinking and living in righteous sounding terms. I am my husband's helpmeet and it is helpful to him if I keep the house clean and educate our children. I'm helping him in his calling...

But looking under it all, those are the good things that often take priority over the best. Those things are definitely important... doesn't that go without saying?

I've been forgetting the first G of the three G's of education*. I'm forgetting WHO GOD IS! What has that got to do with not appreciating my kids for who they are? EVERYTHING! We need to stop together and remember who God is and in that we remember who we are. Then everything is a precious gift!

Then I see my life as art! I see the beauty before the dust, I see the joy before the character flaws. I see His loving benevolence to me in my husband and children, in what we learn, in what we have and even in what I do.

Heavenly Father, help me to remember who you are, what you hve done and then what you require of me. Thank you for constantly renewing my mind and heart in Christ Jesus. AMEN


The three G's - Who God is. What He has done. What He requires of us. From When You Rise Up; A Covenant Approach to Homeschooling by R.C. Sproul Jr.

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!

Where do I begin?

I have confessed before that I really struggle with being a good housekeeper. I have needed to train myself through the years and constantly backslide in my standards for cleanliness.

There are “seasons” in my life when I have made good progress in this area and have maintained my home in a sufficient manner. There have even been a couple of “seasons” when I was manager of my home enough that my children were on the ball – doing a lot of the housekeeping along side of me.

THIS is not one of those “seasons”!

I have really let the ball drop as far as the children’s chores and my own.

I certainly have many legitimate (in my own eyes!) reasons to have spent my time elsewhere- things that were higher on the priority list, that have taken much time and physical as well as emotional energy. But that is more often the case than not, isn’t it?

I’ve let my housekeeping lapse. We’ve been keeping up on the laundry- mostly, and making our meals- though we have made far too many convenience meals, and our academic lessons have continued-until we took a break. So, even our necessary tasks have been suffering. This is surely not the way to be faithful in my God-given tasks in life!

I have learned over the years that this phenomenon - gradually letting everything slide until it is all screaming for attention has often preceded a change in direction for my housekeeping. Something that was working before isn’t, anymore. It is time to change my routines, or methods or look at some training that hasn’t happened (in myself, or my children).

So, we are taking a mini vacation from schoolwork so that I can pray and plan and work. It’s time to overhaul our routines and assess what training is lacking in the kids, or what has lapsed that must be taken up again.

We are spending time deep cleaning rooms and getting back to our daily chore charts. The kids have a little more free time and I’m spending time on paperwork – long range lesson planning, book lists to take to the annual home educator’s convention and slogging through old files, etc.

There’s so much to do like the above mentioned that there is no way that we are going to get it all done in the planned two weeks I’ve taken off (we are in the second week now!) So, one of my tasks is to find a way to fit those big maintenance jobs into our regular routine. This has always been a challenge for me!

Question: How do you manage to keep all your plates in the air and make sure things like deep cleaning, culling your files, mending, organizing and do ahead type things (i.e. gifts, meals, planning for special occasions) get done?

Okay...

with the last installment of Masterpiece Theater's Little Dorrit, I have lost my sympathy for John... I was grieving for him, but now I want to say, "Stop snivelling boy!" Sheesh!

Go! Go enjoy it, just don't neglect your duties!

Tobias' Baby Shower...Gifts & Cake

This is the little layette set I made for little Tobias...the appliqued onesie and the shoes are my favorite.

Here's the cake I made...I ended up being rushed toward the end...so I wasn't thrilled with it. but it definitely was yummy!

	Currently Reading: Get your copy here.

Quilt Show pictures...

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get these up. I didn't take enough pictures this time because my memory card was not in my camera, much to my dismay. Here are the ones I captured, though:
This first one was my favorite from the black and white challenge. Isn't it great?
This strippy quilt goes in my file of quilts I actually would consider doing.Looking at this one, I'm not sure why I took the picture...perhaps it was one that Shayna wanted me to snap.This quilt is using the traditional "Flying Geese" pattern in a unique way. I really, really like it!
Applique over "Grandmother's Fan" I love the use of the dark fabric, it really makes the vintage '30s colors "pop".Another view.

An amazing Celtic Applique quilt.

A traditional Baltimore Album appliqued quilt. I love the pineapples square!
Appliqued Fleur de lis.Isn't this one beautiful? I'm thinking that this is my favorite of the show.
Hat boxes! And they are on the traditional "attic windows" blocks. What a great way to use some of your favorite large sized patterns. This one is for Laura Lee.

Blocks! I took this one to study because I really need to work on my color theory and shading. Isn't it lively?
Another example of Celtic Applique. I am really fascinated with this technique, but not enough to do all of that work!
I love a sampler quilt! This one is applique, very traditional.This one was taken at a vendor's booth at the request of Janette. The gold and black would be a great combination for her living room project. This block pattern is called Sage Buds (according to my quilt block encyclopedia). I like quilts that combine two different blocks.

Well, there you have it, my quilt pictures. I hope you enjoyed them.

Overheard at the Quilt show...

"The oxy-products are great for new organic stains, but Biz is best for old organic stains." Overheard at the vintage linens booth. So, there you have it!