Remembering that no matter what, God is there.

Do you remember where you were 10 years ago today?

 We had just moved up to Minnesota from Wichita, KS and we were temporarily staying at my parents. Jonathan was a teeny tiny baby and Mara not quite two. That morning Ken had gone off to his new job at an insurance office and we were doing things at home.

I remembering us hearing the news on the radio and just being shocked and thinking what is going on- what is really happening.

I remember Ken calling from work to make sure we had heard and said that they were all down in the break room watching the TV. I remember the shock in his voice.

I remember for months hearing more of the stories and being shocked by the horror of it and amazed by God's work in the midst of that horror.

God has allowed us on earth the have free will and people often make horrible choices. That however does not change who God is or what He is like. When thinking of things like the horrific events of 9/11/01 here are some verses that I think are very comforting.

"Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28



"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38 and 39




"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8





I hope you find those scriptures comforting as well.

It has been a full week!

This week has been very full but a very good week too.

 It was our first week of formal school for the year. Megan was very excited because she is in "Kindergarten" now. We are still staying pretty relaxed with her schooling but she is eager to learn and so I am helping her. She loves writing her letters and numbers and doing math pages.  Aaron is doing well with his work and was even doing math pages at nap time just for fun (and so he would be able to get done really early this year). Jonathan is seeming to enjoy his math this year, so far he finds it easy. I hope it stays that way. He is also eager to take his first spelling test. Mara is finding that as you get older work does tend to get a bit harder but she is doing fine. I am enjoying the routine of school work but at the same time I am having to work to get adjusted to it. Right now I am having to do a couple of math lessons each day too because of some messing up on my part and so I don't have correcting manuals for Mara or Jonathan yet. I hope to change that soon!

 We spent much of Thursday over at my parents helping with some homesteading activities. We did get our math done before we left. On Monday I will tell more about the fun that we had.

  We have harvested honey 3 days this week. I am feeling so blessed by the harvest we have had. It is a lot of work to harvest but the kids help and this evening my inventive children came up with a way to make extracting easier, faster and more fun.

A piece of clothes line around the handle will act rather like a yoyo string and you can make the extractor turn by pulling it. This made them much more eager to help.

 I have been having fun trying out the bartering site. I have done several deals now and am enjoying getting some "Junk" out of our house in trade for things we like or need.

 We have been canning pickles and salsa and doing other garden harvesting. God is so good to us!

  We have been attempting to do some thorough cleaning around here but sometimes it just feels like it's getting worse. Especially when someone forgets to connect the grain grinder to the bin when grinding and flour sprays all over the kitchen.  Putting up food in general is rather messy and for that reason I will be glad when harvest time is over. I am loving the harvest now however!

Over all, life is good and I am grateful for the week that God gave to us!

Who would like to win a giveaway of some yummy Tropical Traditions Coconut Flakes?

You would?
Well you came to the right place.  I have been enjoying getting to try out this yummy coconut thanks to Tropical Traditions and they are going to let one of you try a bucket of it too!

We do like coconut around here. We enjoy No bake cookies, coconut granola, Butterscotch coconut cookies, just eating it plain and much more!

 With this coconut I had a lot of fun trying out making coconut milk. It turned out really well and it wasn't hard to make. Tropical Traditions has a recipe that you can follow and you can even watch a video to show you how. What I really liked about the making of coconut milk is that you don't have to through out the coconut bits after you make the milk you can still use them somewhere else. I threw some in our oatmeal and it was delicious and then the rest went into cookies.

I also enjoyed putting some of the coconut flakes in some blueberry granola bars that I made. They turned out yummy.

  I am very much enjoying our gallon bucket of Tropical Traditions' coconut flakes- Who else wants to try some?

If you want to buy some you can get a 2 lb bucket for $11.69. While you are shopping you should check out all the other different coconut products they have. You may want to sign up for their e-mail newsletter so that you can hear about when they offer free shipping and sales. It just comes once a week.

 If you want to try to win a bucket of Coconut Flakes then simply leave a comment below. Please tell me about something that you like to bake for you family or tell me about one of your favorite ways to eat coconut. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you if I draw your name.

For an additional entry you can sign up for Tropical Traditions e-mail newsletter and then just leave another comment letting me know that you did that.

THE WINNER IS: Sarah Blanshan! Congratulations Sarah!

This giveaway will end on Sept 23rd. It is open to those in the US and Canada.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

A bike trip for the holiday

This past weekend we had the fun of going on a little biking trip on the Paul Bunyan Trail. A had wedding flowers to do on Saturday and we were having trouble finding campgrounds so we didn't leave until after church on Sunday. My sister Keren took us down South of Walker and dropped us off. At the drop off place their was a pond that the kids had fun exploring around.

I did find a campsite for Sunday night (For $50 a night!!!) so we were all packed up to go hiking. Jonathan is using a bigger bike this year so I had to make him new pannier bags (The brown ones in the photo below) and Aaron got his old ones. This is the first year that he has had a rack and pannier bags.

 We were running late getting started and so we didn't actually get on the trail until around 3:30 pm. We also hadn't researched the trail or the options of starting places very well so we ended up having 21 miles to go to reach the campground. 8 of those miles consisted of big hills as well. It was a very pretty, winding and hilly trail in that area. We enjoyed it but it did wear us out.

Jonathan was needing to rest after some big hills.

 There were a lot of flowers in that area too.

Aaron and Mara on a flatter stretch.

 That evening we didn't get to the campground until it was almost dark. Then it took the camp owner a while to show us our place. We were still needing to make our supper and set up tents and such and so we were pretty tired and hungry! Once we got food in us we felt much better and then we headed to bed. It was pretty cold that night (the forecast had been 36 degrees) but we brought warm stuff and we slept pretty well.

 The next morning I went to check out the bay we were camping on. It was on Leech lake but from their campground it just looks pretty weedy. It was pretty anyway.

Our campsite. We were in the area of a bunch of people that bring their RVs and stay all summer long. I think they found us rather interesting. They were very friendly and offered to loan roasting sticks and give us fire started and water and ice.

Getting packed up on Monday morning.

One of the things I had fun noticing were all the wild edibles along the way. It is always good to know what we could eat if we were needing to survive along the trail. :-)  Here is some of what we found:

Sumac. We collected some of this and are looking forward to making something similar to lemonade with this.

We we surprised to find a bunch of wild grapes. Mara picked quite a few and we plan on making jelly.

Wild plums. These aren't ripe yet but I am hoping maybe we can ride back to get some when they are.

Echinnacia. I collected some leaves to use for tea.

We also saw quite a bit of Wild Asparagus which off course is not in season right now but we are hoping to go find it next spring. We also saw other herbs and greens, wild chokecherries that could be picked right now, a few hazelnuts, and strawberry and raspberry plants. I am sure there was a lot we missed as well.

Here is Megan out of the trailer to stretch her legs on Monday. We rode 37 miles on Monday.

Once we got back to our town we had fun eating supper at a yummy Mexican restaurant. We had packed all our other food and we could have made it home to eat but we enjoyed filling up on food with out doing any more work that night.

 It was another fun bike trip and now we are thinking about our next one.

 We have been in the fixing up mood around here lately. Fixing up our home by getting rid of things and cleaning it up is what I have been in the mood for. This week I was able to get rid of 10 bags of extra clothes by giving some away to friends and family and then donating the rest to the Disabled Veterans of America. They just put up a handy drop of box on our side of town so donated to them is very easy and I like to do it.

  What I am really excited about however is a bartering site for our area that is on facebook. I just learned about it from another mom at baseball. There are nearly 1000 members and it is extremely active. You simply list (with pictures included if possible) the things that you have to get rid of and you can also list things you need or want and then people can comment on it or message you and you can figure out a deal. No money is allowed though they do allow the bartering of gift cards.

  I just became a member today so I haven't made any deals yet but I am excited about listing up things that we want to get rid of and seeing if we can find things that are useful to us instead. You can also barter services and a lot of people were offering food (from their garden or even stuff that they had purchased) for things that they wanted. I am really excited about the whole bartering thing. I have long thought this sort of website would be fun and so I am delighted to find it all set up.

Today besides cleaning and dreaming of all the things we can get rid of I have also been doing some fixing up of wedding flowers. Since they are more photogenic than my dreams I thought I would share a few with you. :-)

First here is my wonderful little helper!

 The Pomander is for the flower girl to carry. We are going for a somewhat vintage/rustic look which is why there are some twine accents and canning jars.

This is the groom's boutonniere.

I didn't get the bouquets photographed yet but I am enjoying the whole look of the wedding. I am looking forward to filling the reception tables with flowers in canning jars tomorrow.

I am curious... Have any of you ever been involved with a bartering group before? If so, what are your experiences?

Homeschooling works for me!

 I know homeschooling isn't for every family but it works well for ours and I am getting excited about starting another school year. I love the fact that our family doesn't have to split up for learning to happen, that the kids' books and learning can all have a christian world view, and that we can shelter our children from much of the nastiness that is happening in our world and that we can have more time to work and minister together.

   I have been having fun looking figuring out all the books that we are going to use this year and the activities I hope to do. I'll be honest I don't even begin to get everything scheduled out that we are going to do during the year but I do figure out our basic books and then start looking for books and activities that would add to our learning that we can do together. Throughout the year more books and activities are added as we come across them. Our school year is fairly flexible (other than the basics) and I strive to have us do as much of our learning as possible together and in a fun way.

  Here are some of the books that we plan on using this year:
(I am trying to really make use of what we have on hand rather than going out and buying new books if possible. We will also use our library heavily.)

For Bible:
We are reading through the New Testament (generally one chapter a day) in the morning and the Old Testament (again usually one chapter but if we are engrossed in it we keep reading) after lunch. We also do scripture memory work in the morning and the older kids also do their own memorizing with the ACE curriculum and they do their own bible reading at nap times or at night.

For History:

I want to read aloud The Church in History (a book that I used in bible college but it is interesting, has pictures and I will read it in small sections and I think my kids will enjoy it.) and The Story of the Constitution by Sol Bloom and Lars Johnson. We have also been focusing on Jewish history lately. We have been reading aloud the All of a kind family books and also reading through the Old Testament. Our Jewish neighbor and friend recently loaned us The family treasury of Jewish Holidays and we are hoping to try celebrating some of them this year. Here is a Calendar of holiday dates that I found.

We will also be reading a bunch of biographies both together and on our own.

 For Math:
We are using Saxon Math for Mara, Jonathan and Aaron (87, 65 and ,3 respectively). For Megan I have some Work sheets and will be during other hands on math.

For Science:
We plan on reading aloud and doing together these books and hopefully more as we have a lot of fun ones on our shelf.

• Science in the Creation Week (to be read and with hands on activities) by David Unfred
• First Aid for Children Fast by the John Hopkins Children's Center (This is geared for performing first aid on children not necessarily for children to do first aid but it looks to be a well written book with interesting pictures and instructions and in my quest for my children to have a well rounded education I thought this would be valuable learning.)
• Skin and Bones, a beginner's guide to your great insides by Joanne E. De Jonge

We also plan on doing various activities that help wiht our learning of science like: Beekeeping and study on that, watching videos, hopefully making soap, helping with cleaning fish and butchering chickens.

For English, Spelling and Vocabulary:
For Mara and Jonathan we have ACE workbooks (English and Word Building).  For Aaron and Megan we have a variety of workbooks and I will be working with them a lot on reading (Aaron still needs to get a lot better and I am hoping that Megan will learn how this year).

For Geography:
We are still studying through the countries of the world using a book on countries that we have and also books that we get from the library. We are just finishing up going through the countries of Oceania and are getting ready to study the countries of Africa. Another way we focus on geography is by reading together the Voice of the Martyrs publication, Prayer Point sent out by Samaritans Purse and Missionary letters that we recieve. We also talk about maps quite a bit. Eating and preparing ethnic foods is another way we enjoy learning about countries.

For Literature and creative writing:
I don't have books picked out yet but we try to read a lot of good books. Both me reading aloud and the older two on their own. Mara and Jonathan are voracious readers and so keeping ahead of them in supplying good books can keep me busy! We are just getting ready to order a new bunch from CBD and I am very thankful for the library that I put together when I was their age and all the books my parents have to borrow and for our public library.

As far as creative writing, Mara really enjoys this and does it on her own a lot (this summer she has written several lengthy poems and some stories) but I have been encouraging her in it more. She is working on a book that she tries to work on at least a couple of times a week where she spends time writing and researching. We have also found some essay contests for her to enter.

With the younger three we haven't focused on this much but I do have them write letters every so often and that gives them at least some writing experience.

For Home Ec:
This is something my kids learn a lot naturally and I won't go in to all of that but I did think about some goals that I would like to set for this year and they are that by the end of this year Mara will know how to make 4 different meals with no assistance from me, That Jonathan can do 2 and Aaron can make a simple one. I also want them to practice up more on their baking skills. I want to make progress on their ability to clean the house and maybe do laundry on their own.

For Art and Music:
This spring I started the boys and Megan on piano lessons along with Mara (I teach them) but then summer got busy and I just couldn't seem to keep that on the schedule. We hope to get that started again soon. The boys are also taking drum lessons from a friend and I am hoping to start teaching the girls violin soon as well. Though if we start feeling overwhelmed with too much I will happily cut back.

 We also make sure to sing pretty much every morning together.

I have lots of ideas for art and things I would like to do trying all sorts of different art mediums but at the moment I am not making any specific goals. We will just see what gets done.

For Foriegn Languages:
We are using Rosetta Stone for Latin American Spanish. We love it but took a break over the summer so we need to get it back in our schedule.

I would also love to learn American Sign Language and so I have been exploring routes to learn it as a family.

    ***************************************************************************

 Looking over what I wrote that looks like a ton of stuff but it really isn't overwhelming. Math, English, Reading and Word Building (spelling and vocabulary) are the basics that each child needs to do each school day (though if a vacation is needed we will take it- we love the flexibility of homeschooling!) and that is what they work on mostly by themselves or one on one with me during the morning of the school day. Megan and Aaron do not take all morning to do their work, they have time for playing too and sometimes the older kids can get done early as well.

After lunch we sit down together to read our books which includes History, Geography, Science, Bible and literature. Usually we do all of them a day but stuff like history and science will sometimes just be done for a while and then we will take a break. This time is totally a fun time for us, the kids will beg me to keep reading. We learn a lot but it doesn't feel like school work.

 Art, Music, Creative Writing, Languages, and Science activities usually get done in the afternoons as we have time. I do try to schedule the music lessons so they get done on a regular basis. Home Ec happens all of the time! :-)



  A side note.... I found out that I am not the only one excited about school starting. Megan had books out and we begging me to teach her both yesterday and today. This morning when Mara and Aaron's math books arrived Mara asked if she could do a lesson. Then the boys came in from playing baseball in the yard and announced that they wanted to do school work. I am glad they are eager!