Daily dailies..

This morning I took myself and 4 of my children to the chiro. After the appt. we headed to Staples for printer paper which we were out of. I am able to save alot of money with homeschooling because I copy my children's schoolwork and then I can reuse it with another child.
I, of course stopped at Starbuck's for a coffee..:)

Here are a few pictures of the weather in our neighborhood. It is cold! BRR!






I was so excited to hear from a good friend of mine. It has been many months since I heard from her last. We met when we lived in PA but then we moved here and she actually planned on moving here but they had to wait a bit longer. Then in August they moved to an area by Indy and I had not heard from her since then. We were able to reconnect and talk on the phone for several hours. It truly blessed me! And we live close enough to visit!! :)

I am truly blessed! I have wonderful children, an amazing husband, sweet friends, a warm home on cold winter days, lots of food in our pantry and many other blessings!

Who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion. ~The Talmud

Daily Duties..

It's been a busy morning! Our dryer which was supposed to be fixed only dried about 5 times so the dryer guy had to return this morning and replace another part. Hopefully this will be the last time! It cost us 62$!
After he left I corrected Gabby, Josiah & Zeke's math; got them busy on corrections and then headed upstairs to get vacuuming done. I stripped my bedding as it really needs washed. Vacuumed the girls room, boys room and hallway. While doing this I managed to help Micah with his reading questions. He is doing great with his reading and even reading whole sentences now! :):)
I then straightened up the office and when finished headed to the kitchen where I cleaned out the silverware drawer along with the utensil drawer. I also stopped here and there to direct Gabby on what she needed to be reading and doing for schoolwork.. My next chore will be to get my bedding into the washer and the current load into the dryer which thank goodness is working once again!! The boys are working on their book reading; The Boys Ben Hur and The Illiad. Quentin was doing mazes in our maze book as he is finished with his schoolwork for the time being. After lunch we will do our unit study. Morgan cleaned the upstairs bathroom for me and is currently reading her bible and doing devotions. And the other children are busy playing.. :)
We have bread in the bread maker and meat (ground turkey) out for supper. Supper is sounding good about now as I am hungry. Mornings are so busy that getting in my devotion time is quite the accomplishment. So eating breakfast rarely happens. I did get to drink a cup of chai tea and a cup of apple cider this morning. :) So it wasn't a total loss...:):):)
I am reading for devotional time the weekly Parashah (Torah Portion). Today I read ch. 37 in Genesis which begins the story of Joseph. I have been thinking on how sad it was that Jacob (Israel) favored Joseph over his other sons which I believe caused the hate in his brothers hearts. Although throwing Joseph into a well, selling him and then telling their father he was dead wasn't right I can see why they felt as they did. It gives me something to meditate upon and as a parent to make sure I love each of my children equally.

I had to come back and edit:
I have started limiting my computer time and I have taken that break from facebook which is a huge time waster! I give myself about an hour and a half each day..an hour during the day and 30 minutes in the evening after my dh is home. My children are my priority and what kind of mama would I be if I wasn't truly being a mama and spending all of my time online??

May each of you have a blessed day as you seek the Father and parent your children for His glory!

Pondering in my heart..

I have been pondering some things lately in my heart..
Women in today's world feel so much pressure. Some of it the world puts on us, some we put on ourselves and some we put on each other.
Women are pressured to be this weight, to look this way and to never grow old. Why are we all so afraid to admit our age? What is it about growing older that makes us all so afraid?

As women who stay at home we feel pressure to bake everything from scratch, can every harvest, grind our own grain, cloth diaper, clothesline dry our clothes, eat vegan or darn close to it. Use herbs to treat illness, homebirth, etc.. In todays world they call this a crunchy granola mama..
But what if we don't do all those things? What if we only do some of them? And what if we only do some of them some of the time?? Does that really mean we're less of a woman or a mama? Does it make the one who isn't doing all of this less than the one who is? When we stand before Yeshua will He ask us if we made all our meals from scratch or if we used cloth diapers? Or will our faith on Him and our works that come from that faith be what He speaks of?
Why do we think we're not as much as someone who does do all those things? Why do we judge mama's who don't do things as we do?

I am going to let you all in on a little secret...
I do grind my own grain..sometimes..Sometimes life gets so busy that I simply don't have the time and will grab the wheat flour in my freezer that I keep on hand.
I do cloth diaper but I put a disposable on my baby at night becuz of his sensitive skin. The first two weeks of my babies lives they wear disposables (until the meconium is gone because it stains) and when I am healed and rested and can take on more duties once again.
We do cook from scratch but will sometimes buy a quick food when money permits and time is short.
I honestly don't like canning food. I canned peach jam this past harvest and although I didn't enjoy it I am glad I did it because it was super yummy. I will do more next year. My dh loves to can and he does most of the canning in our home. Do I feel like I am less because of this? NOPE! I am thankful my dh helps me as much as he does!
Do we dry our clothes on a clothesline? Well, we have for many years but we started using our dryer and I really enjoyed having one. Then the end of this past July our dryer broke and living where we do with all of the rain and humidity meant that keeping 11 peoples clothing washed and dried became extremely hard! Just yesterday we finally got it fixed and I am so happy to have it back! I love my dryer!!!
We don't eat vegan. We do try to eat healthy but I have been known to eat a yummy cheeseburger here and there..:)
We do use herbs to treat illness but if it was needed we wouldn't think twice about going into the dr..
And yes I homebirth. It's what I feel is best for me and baby.. but I have birthed in the hospital twice and I am still here to live to tell about it..:) If I had to birth in the hospital I would but thankfully the L-rd has allowed me to have easy good births and I am able to birth at home.
Do any of these things make me a better servant of Christ? Do any of these things make me a better mama then the next person? I don't believe so!
I LOVE my children! I LOVE my husband! I try to be a good mama to my kiddos and a good wifey to my dh. I have bad days where I feel like pulling my hair out..days where I feel like screaming! Hey, I have 9 children I homeschool and am pg...so ya, I have those kind of days..
I am not perfect..I am like all other women just a work in progress! His work!
The only thing that really does matter is that I am following Yeshua and His word and doing as He has commanded. The rest of it can burn away as in the end what will remain is the things I obeyed from His word..they will build upon that foundation...

I am who I am and I want that to be simply a woman of G-d!!

Creativeness...

Since we don't have much money for Chanukah gifts this year my sweet children have gotten ahold of their creative genius and are making all sorts of things for each other and mama and daddy..

Brokenness

Brokenness

“Whoever falls on that stone will be broken in pieces; but if it falls on him, he will be crushed to powder!” Luke 20:18

We often think of brokenness as a condition we are left in after the world has had its way with us—that we come to Yeshua broken, asking Him to put us back together. When we allow the world to break us, we come to Yeshua with a pile of pieces that have been broken by human hands, asking the Master to reform them, but if we allow Yeshua to break us, the pieces are formed by His hands, and we cannot dictate the pattern with which we will be reconstructed.

What does it mean to be truly broken? Why do we need to be broken at all? We are all going to fall at some time or another—the question is: when we fall, are we going to be on the stone or under it? When we fall, do we want the Lord to be able to pick us up again, or will we be completely annihilated? When we fall, are we falling to our knees in reverence and worship, or are we falling from heights reached by our own avarice?

Everyone will fall one day or another because of Yeshua. Those who fall in humility will be broken on the stone and transformed into a vessel of honor. Those who erect themselves and reject the cornerstone—their kingdoms will fall and become dust.

Brokenness is being on your knees before the Lord—even when it starts getting a little uncomfortable. Brokenness is spreading out your arms, exposing your heart, and, looking up toward heaven, saying, “I’m available.” Brokenness is standing naked and still in the midst of your circumstances and proclaiming, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...” Brokenness is praising God, even when you don’t feel like it. Brokenness is hearing the Holy Spirit and not putting up a fight.

P R A Y E R

Abba Father, I have become rigid and dry, break me and change me into a holy vessel, worthy of your service. Teach me now what it means to be broken before you before I fall on my own. I would rather be broken by you than whole in the world. Thank you, Lord, that you are the Master Architect, and you see me now as I am supposed be. Reshape me in your image, Lord—use me as you see fit, because I love you, and I trust you completely....

© 1997-2002 MessiahNet / Perfect Word Ministries

Chanukah Decorations

The children and I got most of the Chanukah decorations done and up on the windows. We just have a banner to get up now and we're finished!

Thoughts Out Loud

The internet can be an interesting place but for me it's also a place where I find I can get my feelings hurt, feel alone and a myriad of other feelings. Lately I have been wondering how beneficial it is being on some of the places I am. Such as, facebook..sometimes it's so quiet that I wonder if I am invisible? Sometimes the comments and posts are frequent and I feel loved and other times I am left feeling blah..seems there is something wrong with this picture? Maybe I should take a leave of abscence from facebook? I don't know? Just something I am thinking on..

Maybe I am just weird and no one else out there experiences these things?

I have been thinking lately that I am a put all my eggs in one basket sort of gal which can leave me hurt and feeling alone, etc.. It's just my personality to be this way..just who I am but perhaps learning to separate my eggs and put them into other baskets would be more beneficial? I'm not speaking of facebook here by the way..so as not to confuse anyone.

I guess today is a day for sharing thoughts and feelings and for rambling..

Most likely I am not making any sense...oh well..just thinking out loud here..

Chanukah decorating..

Tomorrow the children and I will be decorating for Chanukah. We have our star of davids and menorah's to color and put up on the windows. We already have our Chanukah lights in the windows. They look so lovely!! :)




Here is a website where I found some neat games and crafts and other things for Chanukah..

http://holidays.kaboose.com/chanukah/index.html

I love it when it's time to start listening to Chanukah music again!!

"I had a little dreydl...."

"Chanukah, oh, Chanukah.."

Another thing worth noting from my weekend was that I bought a new purse! My good friend Heather will be so glad!! The goodwill was having a 50% off everything in the store sale and I found a cute purse for 1.50$! This one I can actually carry because the handle isn't broken off! :)

Happy Chanukah!!!