It's feeling a lot like Spring

 We are having some unseasonably warm weather lately (usually winter lasts at least until the date on the calendar and generally farther) and our bodies that are recovering from sickness are really enjoying the warm vitamin D laden sun and the fresh air.

 Yesterday the boys wanted to make a fire while meanwhile Mara was combing the woods looking for a tiny sapling that she could hopefully turn into a Bonsai (which she has been reading up on). I okayed a small fire and they did it with "Just one match!" I went out and sat around it with them, wrapped in a blanket as I was still struggling with fevers and chills.

 The discovered the we did still have some jumbo marshmallows on hand (3 to be exact) so they cut them all in half and we each got one half to roast. Oh the simple joys that can be had.

 The girls had fun with the marshmallows too!

 Today I think my fever might finally be gone (though the stuffy head is not) and I am exceedingly thankful! I was able to venture out to attend a Circus and Carnival held just behind our house but some very sweet children I know.

 Mara attended as well (and then joined in on the performing). You might notice she has extra gear on her teeth- those were added just this morning.

 A high stage was set up with Jonathan doing much of the duties as Ringmaster. From the curtain beneath him would pop out all variety of amazing things to look at. (Like jumping things, Kangaroos, and dancers.

 The Kangaroos (though one - the eldest- preferred to act like a tiger).

Aaron standing to compete in the rubber duckie throwing contest.

A good time was had by all.

I think our house will be a bit emptier again for a while. When fine weather comes the kids prefer to live outside.

Praise the Lord!



We don't actually have crocuses blooming yet but it sure felt like Spring today!

   We are still struggling with sickness here at our house and my thoughts are rather disjointed so I won't say much. I just wanted to share this passage which is a good reminder no matter what situation we are in.

Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples!
For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting.
Praise the Lord!

I don't buy....Tortillas

 We enjoy Mexican food and tortillas was something that I used to buy and have on hand pretty much all of the time. All white flour tortillas where the cheapest to buy and so that is what I would get. As I started adjusting our diet to contain more and more whole grains I decided to try making my own tortillas using some whole wheat flour along with white flour. Though it took me a bit of practice to get good at making them without burning them (I tend to get distracted easily) I found that homemade tortillas taste so much better than the ones that you buy!

  Over the years I have kept upping the amounts of whole wheat flour that I use and just lately (since we have no white flour in our house) I have been using 100% whole wheat and we like them. Yeah! I recommend making the change gradually so that you can get used to the different taste.

   Here is the recipe that I use. I usually make 3 or 4 times the recipe as I like to have extras to save for another meal or so.

Fresh Tortillas

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup canola or olive oil or softened tallow

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients together. Then add the oil and mix like you would a pie crust. Add the warm water and mix. Dough will be sticky add more flour while kneading until dough feels soft and light and looses its stickiness. Using a handful of dough at a time, roll out on a floured surface. Roll out several then heat dry pan (iron skillet is good) to medium (or a little above medium) heat before setting tortilla in pan. When the it starts getting a lot of air bumps flip to the other side. It will have a few brown spots. Watch them carefully as they cook quickly. This recipe makes 8 (10 inch) tortillas. They are quite yummy.

This is what they look like when you need to flip them.

 I hope you enjoy them! Making tortillas would never be my first step in saving money as the savings are not that huge and they do take some time to make. However to me the reason for making them is more than just saving money. The other reasons that I make them instead of buy them is because I make them healthier than store bought, I think they taste better and I just in general prefer to make things myself rather than purchasing something premade. I have enjoyed changing our habits little by little towards living more naturally and in the process we have saved a lot of money and we live a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

Do any of you make your own tortillas?

I am linking this to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM.

Don't miss my current giveaway for 100 postcards (your design) that goes through tonight.

Family and Friends~ Visiting and having visitors~ Sickness and health. It has been busy lately.

My dad and his brother John and their families after my Grandma's Funeral.

Life normally stays pretty full for us but lately it has been extra full.

 The main (and not normal) events lately have been (in order of when they happened): Helping out with hosting homeless people at our church building for a week (around 20 of them), Helping out with our Republican County Convention, Traveling down to Iowa to my Grandma's funeral, Having company come to stay with us (3 families with a total of 16 people), helping out with and attending a Weekend Winter Retreat at our church and All of us but Ken coming down with a virus that we picked up somewhere.

Keren, Martha, Peter, Anna, Luke and Abbi

 Some of the blessings that we have received from these events are: Being reminded of how very blessed we are, Getting to meet and spend time with people that I normally wouldn't get to know in our community, Getting to spend time with others who also very strongly want to get our country back to the roots it was founded on, Seeing my extended family (very nearly everybody on my Dad's side including his cousins), Getting to enjoy time with all my brothers and sisters and their families, Wonderful hospitality of a very sweet christian couple who are friends of my parents, Getting to travel and visit with my parents, Having wonderful friends come to stay with us, sweet fellowship, wonderful spiritual encouragement, laughter and music and staying healthy until pretty much everything was over (we did still have one family staying with us when we got sick and we are hoping they make it home without getting sick!).

Here are some photos....

 I wondered what the funeral home director thought about our visitation time for Grandma. Though we were sad in our missing of her it was also a joyful time as we knew that she was where she wanted to be (and she specifically asked that we would be happy for her), and we had a wonderful time remembering her and enjoying our time together as a family and with the others that came to be with us. All of Grandma's 15 great-grandchildren were there and although they were good, 4 hours of visitation can get long. We were thankful that they did have a special family room.

 Grandma (my mom) spent some time reading stories.

 Sometimes the play got a little rambunctious.

 While in Iowa we were very blessed to have an older Christian Couple from the church where my Dad grew up, offer to let our family stay with them. My younger brother and his wife and my youngest sister did stay with my great Aunt but the rest of us (21 in all) stayed with the Kerkoves. They have a big old farmhouse and are used to having family gatherings and we felt extremely blessed by their hospitality! We had thought we would stay at a hotel but this was so much nicer and we are very grateful.

  The kids and I had traveled down with my parents as Ken needed to stay home and work. It was fun to have that extra time with them and we had fun visiting and spending time together while traveling. It is nice because we all like to travel frugally so we packed nearly all the food that we ate while traveling.

A day after getting back from Iowa we had company come. I think our house was as full as it has ever been but it sure was a lot of fun!

Four families staying in one house can create some close fellowship! :-) The picture above (which I took from Jason and Michelle's Facebook page as I hadn't taken many pictures) is of the Moms; Christy, Michelle, Myself and Carrie. We have four bedrooms in our house (though generally one is used for my office/craft room) and so each couple got a room and little kids stayed with their parents. The 6 oldest girls slept in the living room and the 4 oldest boys slept in the laundry room. We were able to schedule things pretty well with two bathrooms and I don't think anyone had to take cold showers nor did I ever see anyone dancing around waiting to get in.  I am thankful that we have quite a few air mattresses and foam pads as that makes life more comfortable for everyone. Also our hide-a-bed couch came in handy as did an extra mattress and box springs which we borrowed from my parents.

  We had a wonderful time at our church retreat with Christians from our area as well as from around the country attending. I helped teach a rambunctious but fun children's class on Saturday morning (On God's steadfastness), played the piano and violin for song services (so very fun when you have a lot of people singing heartily) and helped out with the food. I also really enjoyed the preaching and getting to visit with so many other Christians.

  Most of our company left on Sunday afternoon but we were blessed to have Jason and Michelle and their girls stay until Wednesday morning. We also we able to spend more time with my sister Martha and kids on Monday before they headed back to North Carolina.

  On Monday Megan started to be sick and then the bug seems to have just kept spreading since then. I had hoped everybody might be better by today as we had planned on going sledding with our homeschool group. That was not to be however so we are enjoyed a quiet restful day at home instead. I think everyone is improving however and we will probably being energetic and healthy again soon!

   I hope you all are doing well!

Stand Firm

 This weekend we had a wonderful time having a Retreat/Rally at our church with out of town people coming to join us. We had a wonderful time fellowshiping with other Christians as well as listening to messages from Dale and Bob Blanshan (Father and Son, who are friends of ours).

  The theme of the Rally was Stability in Unstable Times and the theme verse was:

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm, let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, for you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58.

 This verse has long been a favorite of mine. I find it encouraging as I strive to follow God. I love also the promise that God gives us in this verse- when we labor in the Lord- it is not in vain. There are many things we can labor in that can sometimes it is in vain. I have done things like planting fruit trees that just end up dieing. I have also worked on political campaigns and the person ends up losing. Things like that just happen in life but when we do things for God what we do will not be in vain!

The first night Bob had a bunch of object lessons and games that illustrated stability.

  I haven't been a very regular blogger lately- life has been very full lately. The week before last we helped with hosting the homeless at our church for a week (and during that I experienced one of the most interesting Wednesday night services as one of the homeless women laid up in the front corner of the church building - next to where I played piano and sat- and slept through the service, snoring very loudly.), and then my Grandma passed away and we traveled to Iowa for her funeral and had a really neat time with all our family while staying at the home of some christian friends, then we came home to helping out with a church rally and hosting 3 families of out of town guests in our home. We have had simply wonderful times of fellowship but it has kept me a little busy. We still have one family staying with us for a couple of days and also my sister and children are in town currently. We are blessed. I will be blogging more regularly Lord willing when life gets back to normal.

PrintRunner Postcards -Giveaway!!!

I am excited to be able to offer a giveaway today of 100 postcards made just the way you want them! Personalized postcards can be used in so many ways. You could use them for your Christmas cards with a picture of your family and a greeting on the front and room to write a few words on the back or you can use them for your business (I know I like to send out something like this to Brides after the bridal shows) or you can use them to announce a baby, a new home and address or a party. You could even just put a pretty picture and a verse on one side and then just use them to send notes on. I would guess that you have even more fun ideas for using them!

  Have you ever used an online printing service before? We have and have been quite happy with the ease of it. You simply upload the design that you want and they take it from there. I do rather like being able to simply get it done on my computer and then have it arrive in a few days in the mail. So easy!

 This giveaway is sponsored by the company PrintRunner and here is a little more information about them:  "PrintRunner.com was established with little more than a small press and a dream. Ten years later our company became one of the foremost quality printers in Southern California. Our commitment to provide the best value and high quality full color printing at affordable price made our company grow.  PrintRunner is a full service high quality printing company located in Chatsworth, California."

 What does this giveaway include?

~ 100 5 x 7 inch postcards with rounded corners. The postcards will have 4/0 front only printing. They will be made with 14 PT. UV Coating on Front Paper. There will be no proof and the postcards will be ready to ship in 4 business days. Check out PrintRunner's postcard printing services online.

  *Giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above.

Would you like to win this giveaway?

To enter:

~Please leave a comment telling me what you would like to do with the postcards should you win. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you should you win.

~For an additional entry you can like PrintRunner on Facebook and then leave another comment letting me know that you did.

This giveaway will run through Friday March 9th at which time I will randomly pick a winner and e-mail them to let them know that they won. The prizes will then be awarded on March 15th.

      Thank you to PrintRunner for providing us this giveaway, I will receive a set of postcards for hosting this.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner is Manda V. Congratulations Manda!