saturday sunshine

 

 

At least at this moment (11:30am), the sun is shining!  While the rain has been most welcome, some warmer temperatures would be great too.  I’m so thankful Tim was able to seed the hay ground – and plant peas, etc. in the garden – before the rains came this week.

While I was out this week, I noticed the columbine plants in front of the house are actually GREEN and growing!  Yay, spring!

Today’s window of nicer weather will not go unused.  Tim and the Cattleman are headed out to plant the trees and raspberries that arrived this week.  Plus some asparagus that they picked up this morning …b/c Tim thought I liked it – ha ha – good joke.  I’d suggested we plant some years ago b/c I thought he liked it, but he’d said No, thank you.  [Isn’t that a hoot, Mom?!]  If it survives, we’ll be eating it …and/or selling it.

They also purchased some additional fencing supplies just for the orchard which resides in the midst of the cow’s pasture.  [color me HaPpY!]  Sooo, hopefully we can keep the cattle out of it this year – and not have to replant trees again next year.  ;-)

The Cowgirl and the Popper continue their efforts at purging their collection of STUFF in their room.  They all but emptied the room yesterday while they vac-ed and mopped the floor.  Now they are sorting through their boxes to keep what they love –and give way or throw away the rest.  Time-consuming {and not helpful in accomplishing school work}, but worthy – and hopefully it will help them think twice about saving  every little scrap of ‘treasure.’  :D

The Computer Geek {aka Daniel} is busy with the ACT today.  Abby & I will pick him up in a couple hours.  After we run a few errands… so we should have been on our way to Ames before now!

spring {break} cleaning -- April

Caroline is hosting a spring cleaning this month at her blog, The Modest Mom...



She offers daily physical tasks as well as ideas for cleaning out our hearts and minds.  She began in her children's bedrooms last week; this week her focus is the master bedroom.

While my focus so far has been on our storage areas in the basement, it's been good to read these posts. 

daybook 4/8/2013

 

{the message above was painted by two different people on the outside of a church in Ireland – the first was not a believer}

 

Outside my window...

a hazy sunrise

Tim says one of the weather forecasts includes THIRTEEN inches of snow for Wednesday – Wasn’t April Fool’s Day last week??

 

Hearing...

the washer drain

{the kids are all still abed}

 

Pondering...

what else to send to Kate today

whether or not I’ve written out the assignment sheets for this week (?)

 

Praying...

for the extended family of a good friend ~ Please pray with me especially for Amanda, a young mom who chose life for her baby in spite of the doctor’s advice to abort.  Instead of living for a couple hours, the baby held on for eight days after delivery – long enough for Amanda to bond with her precious child. 

 

Thankful...

for our own healthy, alive children – as well as three new baby calves

for a good week with the family {spring break}

 

Creating...

a 2013 photo album with actual printed photographs – strange, old-fashioned?

 

Going...

to the treadmill soon

to the post office to ship a few left-behind things to Kate {plus a little bag of homemade granola}

to the courthouse to register our new-to-us 1994 Buick {ha ha}

to buy more feed for the growing Jersey calves

to buy groceries for the growing children  ;-)

 

Reading...

Bible – Proverbs, James, and listening again to Acts

 

Learning...

how old and decrepit I really am {and how tired I get when doing physical work daily}  ugh

 

Looking forward to...

heaven 

 

In the kitchen...

hmm, good question

 

In the learning rooms...

I made it through the huge stack of papers to check – yay! 

 

Around the house...

still pretty quiet, although the Cattleman is now up and searching for his breakfast

 

The Mother Load...

Tax prep – must finish, and soon!

 

Noticing that...

Only ONE week until Tax Day!!!  :o

 

Something to remember for later...

All six kids in the kitchen cooking breakfast together on Saturday {interesting background while I tried to focus on Kate’s tax return – ha}

Oh, and here’s a shot from our late Friday night – the older girls got a free tube of lipstick in a not-so-flattering shade of orange  :)  Goofy kids.

 

Something fun to share...

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month?   Neither did I.

The Erskines offer daily links to free sources for those interested…

This week, in keeping with our April poetry focus, 
our featured resources are all materials designed to help you 
incorporate poetry into your children's studies. 
These are great for all ages!

The lineup:

Monday, April 8th:
DON'T FORGET THE POETRY! Unit Study Guide (PDF ebook)

Tuesday, April 9th:
LEARNING TO LOVE SHAKESPEARE - Practical Tips & Audio Stories! 

Wednesday, April 10th:
CLASSIC POEMS TO MEMORIZE (PDF ebook)

Thursday, April 11th:
THE CAMBRIDGE BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN (PDF ebook)

Friday, April 12th:
VIDEO TREASURES FOR THE FAMILY!

--------------

All of the above resource can be found on their respective 
days this week at

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Ooao_&m=K3GjW7qtsAYxun&b=sQAmcPVtZhjnGplhZWTaOg

 

A favorite quote for today...

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.

~Martha Washington (as shared by Nancy Leigh DeMoss)

 

One of my favorite things...

enjoying a meal at Hickory Park with both family and good friends  :)

 

A Bible verse...

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:13-16

 

A few plans for the rest of the day/week...

school-required physicals for Abby & Daniel; ACT for Daniel on Saturday!

 

A peek into my world...

Tim was able to till and seed the hay field – yay! 

 

~.~.~.~.~

Giving credit where credit is due:

While I am not linking up with anyone, you could read more weekly news posts at other blogs by following any of these links:

• 
  
  Peggy at the Simple Woman’s Daybook

• 
  
  Julie for adapting this daybook version as her own ‘Grasshopper Days’ ~ Perhaps I could call it the GHV Daybook. :)

• 
  
  You can also find a similar weekly meme in Happy Homemaker Monday at Sandra’s

~.~.~.~.~

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord,

that thou fulfil it.

Colossians 4:17

masterpiece {the king's singers}

This is some of what's rattling around in my head this week... so thought I'd share with y'all of course  ;-)
{especially for you, Christine, if you're reading}



Enjoy!  :D

youth service ~ march 17, 2013

 

The boys were all duded up in their suits  :)

    

 

Abby was the pianist for the evening.

  

 

E.W. played part of the prelude.

   

 

J.R. led the congregational singing.

 

Our Cowgirl played the offertory.

 

An ensemble of teen girls and leaders sang…

 

… as well as the entire youth group with leaders.

 

An instrumental ensemble also played some special music.

The scripture passage was read by three of the teens.

 

And finally the preaching – J.M. had the introduction and explained how gold is heated to remove its impurities.

Our Computer Geek had the first verses ~ followed by J.F. and  S.W. 

     

  

The Cattleman provided the conclusion.

{sorry for the blurry pics of the young men!}

They each did a fine job ~ It was interesting to see how each personality was demonstrated during their time behind the podium.  ;D

 

^{James 1: 2-8}

² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

daybook 4/2/2013

 

 

Outside my window...

the snow has almost disappeared :)  The week is starting out cold [as in freezing], but the sun is shining and the forecast is for warmer days.

Hearing...

not much.  Dehumidifier just shut off.  The latest Nerf gun battle is over for now.

Pondering...

what I should be doing this morning.  ;-)

Praying...

for a good week – both fun and productive.

Thankful...

dental insurance {a new thing for us}

Creating...

tax returns?  :p

another shutterfly order?  101 free prints – ends today

Going...

to town this morning with Kate {twice – ooops} – home again

to the basement this afternoon… and the day is g-o-n-e, gone.

to finish this post finally  ;-)

Reading...

Tim has started reading Living Proof by Jim Peterson aloud – interesting, convicting – required reading for our teens who are going on the youth missions trip this summer

Learning...

that multi-tasking is not good for your {my} brain  :o

So says Tim after listening to Jan M on WHO today – with a repeat guest topic – You can listen here.  Find the second segment on ADHD.

Looking forward to...

spring…green grass

In the kitchen...

New batches of elderberry syrup

Leftovers of chicken enchiladas, calzones and artichoke/spinach dip, turkey dinner, muffins, egg casserole.  Today’s lunch was a bit of a smorgasbord

Menu plans ~ beef roast; manicotti (LO from Feb. banquet); turkey taquitos; grill burgers or steaks? homemade pizza

In the learning rooms...

While it is officially Spring Break here, the Cowgirl has a few things to catch up on.  I’d like the Popper to finish a music theory book for piano.  I’m sure our college girl could/should spend some time reading as well as practicing violin and piano.  Abby has both piano and harp lessons this week {practice time!}  The Cattleman is still working at his research paper – How much land is required to feed one person for a year?  He came up with the topic by himself and has struggled a bit with the variety of numbers, but I think he’s still learning something.  :)

Around the house...

an Easter lily from my mom; pussy willow branches from a friend; new binders and page sleeves for the ‘baby books’ – just a few of my favorite things

The Mother Load... 

Catch up with grading current school papers! 

Purge the ‘archives’ of school work – meaning each student needs to sort through their multiple boxes of papers collected over the past 15+ years!  That’s where we’ve been this afternoon!

Baby books (binder scrapbooks) for the graduates at least.  Start the youngers and add more to Kate’s too.   {Hoping to inspire my girls to do much of this project this week.}

Purge the entire basement of unwanted stuff, then find a place for everything we need to keep and put everything in its place, cleaning as we go of course.  {Don’t wake me up; this is a lovely dream!}

Tax prep; monthly & quarterly financial reports for church

Remodel blog layout

Noticing that...

there are both pros and cons to a joint graduation party… decisions, decisions!  And so many opinions involved.  Much laughter and grace too.

Something to remember for later...

oh so many stories from the ‘creative’ minds of our children… no time to tell now

Something fun to share...

Does this link work for you?

Great sermon from a man who learned to read after the age of 30…  I need to listen again, so I can actually hear the whole thing  ;-)

“It won’t be because Norman didn’t ask!”  in regards to his praying for a million dollars {See James 4:2}  :)

Enjoy!

A favorite quote for today...

 Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it? 

Thanks, Conny!

One of my favorite things...

red barns {sigh}

A Bible verse...

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Psalm 136:1

I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.  Psalm 138:2

A few plans for the rest of the day/week...

You can get a pretty good idea from my to do list above… plus see my niece and her daughter?

A peek into my world...

interesting ice from the creek last week

           

 

~.~.~.~.~

Giving credit where credit is due:

While I am not linking up with anyone, you could read more weekly news posts at other blogs by following any of these links:

• Peggy at the Simple Woman’s Daybook

• Julie for adapting this daybook version as her own ‘Grasshopper Days’ ~ Perhaps I could call it the GHV Daybook. :)

• You can also find a similar weekly meme in Happy Homemaker Monday at Sandra’s

~.~.~.~.~

Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord,

that thou fulfil it.

Colossians 4:17

youth international missions meal ~ january

 

Saturday, January 19th, was the youth group’s annual international missions meal ~ Where Pastor B. announced the destination of this year’s trip…

The teens are each to bring a dish with non-American origins – and something other than tacos or spaghetti if you please. 

Even though the Popper is not in the youth group yet, Abby enjoyed her help stirring up some pretzels.  I think this recipe was linked to a South American country.

          

                      

   

Then she helped the Cowgirl with doughnuts {“kleiner” from Iceland}

  

{roll out dough, cut diamond-shaped pieces, cut a hole in the middle and twist one end through the hole ~ or something like that.  Fun, eh?}

             

The Cattleman made raspberry and apricot rugelach ~ yum! 

        

The Computer Geek was happy to share brats and sauerkraut.

 

And the destination for this year’s learning-while-serving adventure is…

  BOSTON!  :D