The Joys Of Family and Hearth

Proverbs 3:3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. For many months now we have lived this scripture.. When I say lived it I mean LIVED it. I know many will say they are a faithful people or person.. That they live this way.. But my experience has been a bit different. Yes, I would say I've lived a life of faith.. Sure.. But my husband had a job that provided well for us, we had health insurance, we had good vehicles, we "had" it "all" ... in the eyes of the world. We did not worry about where our next meal would come from. We didn't worry about friends we had many.. And then the bottom dropped. And now we LIVE a different type of faith. One that truly does depend on God for our every need to be met.. Our every desire to be fulfilled.  It's amazing how when one loses everything we learn to rely on our Lord so much stronger then we ever have. When my husband lost ...

It's been a while since I've updated my blog.. my apologies.  Our life was substantially turned upside down when Sandy hit just a little over 6 weeks ago. The cliche' of "you don't know what have until it's gone" is something we have been hearing over and over again over the past 6 weeks. The isolation of our neighborhood is mocking to those of us still here. Our close knit shore neighborhood was hit extremely hard by Sandy. She wiped most of it out. 90% of it at least is uninhabitable. People are gone, Homes are gone, Memories remain, but the place where those memories we made are GONE. This blog post is even hard for me to write.. How do I effectively communicate the loss, yet expressly communicate how blessed we were through it all? My heart is torn between those who lost it all..and myself who by the grace of God did not. I still have a hard time fathoming why... I know I can't question God or why he does what he does. I know only th...

Lately I've had an abundance of energy. I guess it's the nesting instinct kicking her. Yesterday, I made several batches of cookie dough, a couple of meals for the freeze, prepared the baby's bassinet, redid his clothing.. Just getting ready for my son to arrive. How my arms long to hold him and nurture him. I can hardly wait to see his sweet face, count his fingers and toes, wrap him up and feed him. I have been contracting since midnight last night.. they are strong and steady but nothing that I can't handle, so we wait until it becomes unbearable and then we go to hospital.

How good I am feeling now that the weather has cooled down here! Yeah!!! I have energy to walk! Energy to cook again!!! Yeah!!!! I love Autumn, it's my absolute favorite season.. and then my next favorite is winter!! :) Our school year is progressing so well. I'm extremely happy with every ones progress. I'm learning how to deal with an almost 18 year old and soon a newborn in the home. What a wide range of parenting stages I am in.. I often have to remind myself of who I'm dealing with and how old they are.. My oldest daughter surprised me with a baby shower for the new little guy who is due to come in early November. What a blessing it was to be surrounded by family and friends all there to encourage me in the welcoming of our sixth child. I could complain of our situation, but I won't. God has taught me to rely on him for ALL our needs.. and he has provided through it all. He has even blessed us along the way. He has taught me so much on grace, me...

M17-Chicken Pot Pies T18-Garlic Noodles with broccoli and parm W19-Crock pot Ribs, noodles with cottage cheese, veggies Th20-Broccoli/Cheddar/Potato Soup Fr21-Pizza Sat 22- BBQ at Moms House Sun-Tacos with all the fixings M24-Meatloaf/smashed tatoes, veggies T25-Garlic Chicken Thighs, Veggies W26-Baked Mac N Cheese with Ham Th27-Pasta Fagoli, fresh bread, salad Fri-Pizza Sat-Oriental Chicken, Fried Rice Sun-Tuna Casserole

Today was our first day back to a more "normal" routine.. Back to school, and so much happening. We started off our day with Cinnamon Rolls, Ovaltine, Yogurt with granola. Yum! Cleaned up from breakfast, started our school. The morning went fast, before I knew it lunch was upon us. I made some chicken and cheese quesadilla and little orange segments. I finished up with my little ones, right after lunch and the older ones went till about 2pm. I started supper at lunch time, by throwing everything in the roaster oven.. Wednesdays are busy nights for us. We have church, older kids have youth group and younger kids are attending the Olympians program at our church. With having children ranging from 17 down to 4 and expecting #6 soon. It seems like we are moving in so many directions. My oldest daughter attends vocational school, is driving on her own, and working 3 days a week. Next in line, is my 14 yo old, He does SOS school and some additional book work that I ...

M3-Chicken on grill T4-mismosh of camping leftovers W5-crock pot oriental chicken Th6-Pasta Fri7-Pizza Night (homemade) Sat8-London broil, veggies,biscuits Sun9-Chicken Spaghetti, PW recipe M10-haddock with rice and veggies T11-stuffed shells with salad and bread sticks W12-crock pot Th13-leftovers Fri14- Pizza Night Sat-Meatball subs Sun-baked ham, mac n cheese and veggie

God NEVER CEASES to AMAZE Me with HIS GOODNESS!!!! Tonight, DH and my oldest son had a job to do together. And it's the annual Chinese Auction at our Clubhouse in our neighborhood. I love my neighborhood. We have a club house, and beach access all for a small yearly fee. Which we have been blessed to barter out for the past 4 years.  Today, while the Ladies were setting up for the auction, My Jake when up there. The ladies told him the clubhouse was closed, since they were setting up and he asked them if he could stay and help. He was there for about two hours helping. He came home and reminded me that tonight was the auction, and I said we didn't really have the money to go. It's was a $5.oo entry fee per person.. and then more $ if you wanted extra tickets for other prizes. He told me helped out and one of the old ladies, emphasized to him to come back for the auction. He gently told her he didn't have the money to come, and she offered to pay his share for ...

Yeah, I know it's Tuesday, I'm a day late and a dollar short!  That's the story of my life! Summer had just flown by and now August is here, and this is my month to get my house back in order, prepare my school schedule for the year, and get back to business. For some reason summer seems to bring a lot of... lets say... carefreeness, (is that a word?) to my family.  We fall from our routines and basically become lovers of the sunshine and lots of outdoor activity. :) So with August and September they  bring me a sense of urgency of renewal. With that.. Menu planning is back on the table. I personally like to theme days based on our schedules, I will offer variety.. but for some reason theming seems to work right now. So right now, we're going with Meatless Mondays, Pasta Wednesdays, and Fridays are pizza/hamburgers. Monday- Forgive me we ate meat yesterday, Sloppy Joes, Mac N Cheese, Fruit. Tuesday-Baked Chicken, Veggies, Salad, biscuits Wednesday-Past...

The garden is spitting out TONS of pickles!!! :) Yeah!!! My favorite type of pickle is a half sour, I have yet to try and make these, but I did make about 3 qts of "refrigerator pickles". They turned out delicious!!! And super simple... http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-refrigerator-pickles/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=refrigerator%20pickle&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page I omitted the sugar, and added garlic!!! :) Good Stuff, I tell ya!! :) Got any good pickles recipes to share.. I definitely can make more!! :)

The family has been out at our second home now for about a week. :) On July 4th, Dh and I celebrated 15 years of marriage. :) We have been together for 25 years total. Just took us awhile to commit to marriage.  And it was before we came to know the Lord personally. Anywho... We went to a spectacular fireworks show! It was held in a historic park out in Lancaster county.. http://longspark.org/ A military band  from Washington played lots of cool tunes while we waited for the sun to set and the show to begin. We met up with friends of ours out here in PA, the Martins.. And our families had a great evening of playing games, eating lots of yummy food and goodies and just enjoying the fireworks show. :)  Massive amounts of people there. :)  The fireworks started off with shots firing from 18 historic civil war cannons.. So cool!!!  Me and My friend Lisa~~ :)  Some of the kids playing Red Rover strategically in front of all the first ai...

The kids were board, so I showed them the "cell phone" of my day!!! They were busy for HOURS!!!!!!!

Last night we had a magnificent supper. We pulled a couple of steaks out of the freezer, along with some leftover talapia and salmon, steamed some fresh picked broccoli, steamed some clams and rock claw crab, and had a mini feast! Everything was cooked outside on our grill, or on our campfire cooker. We sat outside at our dining table and enjoyed our meal and each others company. Over the weekend. We did some work around our little homestead lot! :)  You may or not be aware.. our "homestead" is a very small lot. 80 x 100 to be exact.  We live in a shore community, but are doing the best we can with what we have. :)  That is the idea of becoming more self sufficient, isn't it? The garden is doing well. Everything is growing except for my peppers, not sure why they aren't doing so well. They haven't grown at all.. and are starting to flower. We also worked on creating outdoor space for my "outdoor" kitchen. Which basically...

Today we hit a few yard sales in our area. They were rather large. One was held at the VFW and the other was being held to raise money for foreign missions. :) I managed to pick up some cute things, cheap! One was a pilgrim and Indian screen, super cute to add to my Thanksgiving decorations. A pampered chef pizza stone.. brand new... $5.00 Brand New in the box, $2.00 A brand new Lock N Lock egg container for 18 eggs!!! for $2.00 So I think I did well!! Plus a fishing pole for my little girl and another pyrex bowl for the kitchen! :)

So while browsing pinterest, I came across an idea.. that I loved! After pricing it out at home depot, it wasn't such a great idea anymore.. way too much $$. But I did see another idea, that I thought was cute. SO I enlisted Big Daddy's help, and we set to work! The only investment I made in the project was for plants, mulch and the balusters, about $20.00 in total. I had the teacups aka, bird feeders and the bowl aka bird bath, the milk can I just respray painted it white. Big Daddy drilled holes in the cups and sauces and screwed them into the balusters, and then we did a light caulk around the center to keep anything from going through. We then just glued the bowl to top of milk can. added some mulch and flowers and now we waited for some birds to come visit it! :) Psalm 104:12 The bird s of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. From My Home to Yours~~ Blessings~~

Psalm 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace . Oh, how the Lord has blessed me with peace these past few weeks. I almost feel as if I am not myself. The *me* I know, would be panicking with the fear of how we are going to make it. The *me* I know would be doubting God, double minding my husband, and living in fear of what is to come. But since before my dh was laid off, our Pastor in church has been doing a series on Faith, based on Hebrews 11.  So many men of faith discussed in Hebrews 11. So many different situations to faith. I hope I am expressing myself clearly. Anyway, it is almost like it was preparatory for what was about to come, and sermons to carry us through this trial. We have grown so much during the past several months. We felt the Lord leading us several months ago, to stay at home more, train our children more, and just be present more for our children. It's amazing what has happened in our lives since then. ...

As the warmer weather approaches and the kids are outdoors more and so I am.. Our appetite naturally increases. Here's some healthy snacks your might find around our home if your pop over for a visit. Ice Cold Water Homemade unsweetened ice tea are a must for this house! We always have both on hand!!! :) Celery is always available too, we like to stuff it with peanut butter, or with cream cheese and then top it with some walnuts!! So good. Carrots are always on hand as well. Not the baby carrots, those are bad for you!!! And more expensive then just buying  a regular bag of carrots, that you peel and eat. We have several hand peelers on deck. Even my 3 yo can peel a carrot. :) Apples!!! Our favorites are granny smiths, pink ladies, golden delicious and gala!! Now you can slice apple and dip in peanut butter or cashew butter.. We will eat the Granny's with cheddar or smoked Gouda cheese.  Apples and cheese go great together! Grapes, we like seedless either red o...

Woke up to the birds singing. The sun shining, and a cool breeze blowing through my bedroom window. :) Decided we would go to a flea market at Allaire State Park! So glad we did. We met my mom there and we had a great time. Also caught up with my friend Genevieve!!! SO glad to see her as well! You can check out her finds here : http://primitiveparadise.blogspot.com/ Hubby and I found some great deals! First off I love cast iron!!! I love to cook in it, love the way it looks, just love it all around! And since I am primarily cooking with it, my anemia is no longer. :) How precious are these?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?! Little Bears  Fruits and Veggies!!! Muffin/Cake pans!! I just love them. Now I am very picky about where my cast iron comes from it absolutely must be made in the USA! And these were from a place in Pennsylvania!! Yeah, so exciting!!! They are in really good shape, just going to clean them up and oil them really good !!! Can't wait to giv...

Well we sent off the appeal to unemployment. Hopefully this will go through and we will be allowed to collect. If they do allow the appeal, we should get back pay for all this time he has been out of work. What an amazing time this has been. You really do find out who your friends are when your in a tough  financial situation.  Many offer help, I guess it's to be kind. But when you call on it. They don't return your calls. And then others that you wouldn't expect to get help from are truly offering you anything they can do. What a blessing that is! How wonderful to see God moving in peoples hearts. Dh has been offered small jobs by friends of ours, things they could do themselves I'm sure but they are taking the time to offer it to dh, so they can give him a little bit of money. How grateful we are for that. We even had a couple bring us a box of blessings. FOOD!! yeah!!!! How grateful our hearts were last night when we went to bed. God is moving. We are b...

This morning the kids and I woke up early and feeling energetic! So we decided to go for a walk to the "flower" lady. She is about a two mile hike from the campground. I was a little concerned about my youngest one making the trip, it's 4 miles total. But she did it like a champ! We traveled on very country roads. So cars go pretty fast, yet at times you meet up with kids on horseback or horse and buggy's going past. It's a cool day here in Pa, the sun is shining.. the walk was great. We passed several  fields. One was filled with sheep, Emma did her best sheep impression and the came running to the fence, "talking" back to her! It was so cute! We walked past a Mennonite house, and the children were banging on the windows to say "hi" to us. Down a curvy road, following the creek.. we saw several large horses, I'm not sure what kind of horses' they were but they were huge! Fields of yellow wildflowers. Up a steep Hill...

Carrie, This is what happens when you give your cousins your password to your blog. We change EVERYTHING!! We hope you like it, we worked hard and thought of what you would like for your new blog design, the WHOLE time!! LOVE YOU Jess and Tue

So this past weekend we were out at our home away from home. We went to our first ever Mud Sale! If you haven't been to one, what a blast. EVERYTHING you can possible imagine is for sale!!!! From tea cups to motorcycles! There were several auctioneers going at one time! And some stuff was dirt cheap while other stuff went a little high, just depended on what you wanted I suppose. One thing about being out here in the middle of Amish country is they don't waste ANYTHING! and EVERYTHING is for sale! Stuff I will find back home dumped for garbage, they sell. And people buy it too! It's kind of funny! And the way they use things is so neat! So there was two things, I wanted.. a wood stove was one, and a huge cast iron kettle was the other. Unfortunately both sales were going at the same time. Missed the wood stove.. it sold for $5.00. And was over bid on the pot. That sold for $125.00... Great price , I know but with dh unemployed... not going to spend that much ...

Into the will of Jesus, Deeper and deeper I go, Praying for grace to flollow, Seeking His way to know; Bowing in full surrender Low at His blessed feet, Bidding Him take, break me and make, Till I am molded, complete. Oswald J Smith 

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future After 24 years with his company, and after a seriously rough few weeks. My dh was let go from his job. I have such sadness, not because he was let go but more because this was originally my grandfathers business, and with dh working there.. it was still somehow a connection to my grandfather whose been gone for several years now. I will miss the smell of the "shop" . I will miss seeing the equipment my grandfather started out with in his garage. I will miss the familiarity of it all. It's a closing chapter for me personally. I still miss my grandfather. For my husband, I am happy.  I can't imagine the pressure he felt in his life for him to come home from being fired and he physically looked relieved. He said for the first time in years he can breathe! What a sense of burden he must have felt. My...

We had  beautiful Saturday here on the East Coast. First thing we did in the morning was go to a camper show. We love to go look at the new campers that are out. It's just a fun way to spend some family time together doing what we all love. Then we made a pit stop in Lowes! So glad we did.  I picked up two gallons of paint for my boys bedroom on clearance for $5.00 a gallon, and some redwood stain $5.00, and several cans of black spray paint for a project I had at home that I wanted to do, while the weather was wonderful. So we came home and set up shop. Dh put a large speaker outside for me and I plugged my laptop into the mixer and we put on a pandora station. I love listening to old time music, so we started with classical Italian and then later in the day switched to the "swing" genre. Anywho, I have these metal chairs and table that I moved to a nook on the side of my house. The only problem was the chairs and table were green and my house is green.. and the...

crisp cool spring mornings daddy starting the woodstove before he leaves for work quiet time with the Lord Children who slept in today beautiful spring day to hang laundry on the line. a 17yr daughter, that's not feeling well and still wants to cuddle mom. a two mile walk with the kids to go out for pizza an afternoon nap most of the children out for wednesday night services, while I'm at home with the youngest who is not feeling so good. soft tissues warm tubbies dragontales crisp rain nights warm fires phone call from my dad peaceful home candles burning unending love 

Since we've been doing Sunday dinners for awhile now, and we knew this past Sunday (Easter) we wouldn't be having one. We opened up our home on Good Friday. Ashley made several pizza crusts in the am, and we lined the counter with tins filled with white, wheat/white, and some with herbs in the dough. We sliced several toppings, bacon, sausage, red and green peppers, pepperoni, olives, broccoli, and ricotta for a white pizza. And then we opened the house to come on by for pizza, and egg dying. My cousins came over too and we filled 300 eggs with candy, rubber jewelry, tattoos, cookies, peeps and so on!! We had a wonderful time of food, fellowship and fun! Our re-focus on our families has been a wonderful experience for us. We are reconnecting, and building relationships. I am so reminded of how Jesus was with his earthly family, then his spiritual family, and then he himself reconnected with his earthly family. Remember that even if you have unsaved family mem...