The Joys Of Family and Hearth

Today was one of those days. You know the kind I'm talking about. The kind of day that doesn't go as you planned it to. Yesterday..today looked so differently.  You see yesterday I had a plan for today.. and it went something like this.. wake up usual time, finish up the laundry, clean out car and load it up, leave house nice and clean for when hubby comes home. Leave and get to our second home by lunch time.. this way I would be able to inventory the food contents, figure out a menu and shop.. then have the rest of the day to ourselves. Enjoying out time here. Instead, it went like this: Woke up LATE, not minutes late but 2 1/2 HOURS later then usual. My precious 9 year old had cleaned the kitchen up, and straightened the living room up, to the best of her ability.. She was excited to get on the road today.. :) Started that last load of wash, but would have to wait for that to finish because I need to pack some stuff from that load.. Woke up my 13 year old... He st...

The other day I was playing with my 18 month old son. He was on my lap and happily chanting, "mama, mama, mama" but I was trying to send a text to someone. So he took his chubby little hands, and grabbed my face to turn it towards him and force me to look at him. "mama, mama" ..  "Yes, baby" and then he gives me the hand signal to follow him. And I did. He took me out the back door to play. We had a great time. But it got this mama to thinking.. I thought it was super cute that he grabbed my face. But then I thought.. how sad.. he had to grab my face to get my attention because I was wrapped up in an electronic. An item that allows us to have noncommittal relationships with our family members, old high school/collage friends/ people we don't see or even hear from if it wasn't for facebook! Texting/Facebook and other applications out there, enable us to share some great things with people, yet take us away from the very people we are spend...

Back to posting my menu, it will hopefully help me with accountability. :) We will have: Meatless Mondays, Crockpot Wednesday, and Cookout Fridays. :) M: Broccoli, Rice Casserole T: Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry W: Crockpot Chicken Fajitas TH: Beef Stroganoff FR: Cookout- Burgers and Sides SA: Crock pot Mac N Cheese SU: Oriental Chicken over Rice M: Baked Mac N Cheese, this is a red version of mac n cheese T: Lasagna Roll ups, Salad W: Buffalo Chicken Sands, with fixings TH: Pizza Night FR:Cookout, Steaks and Potatoes, Veggie SA: Breakfast for dinner SU: Dr. Pepper Slow cooker pork.

I've been  told several times in the past the God uses our experiences to grow us.  For the past five years we've been struggling with different things on and off. Seriously who doesn't have issues that they deal with on a daily basis. Well our hearts, and minds are being pulled in a direction we honestly NEVER saw coming. I know that God is with us. I know that with God we will overcome. I will accept my accountability in our issue. The past week as brought days of sorrow, I am saddened.. my heart is broken, I feel let down, I am disappointed, I am hurting. I am struggling with anxiety, depression.. and overall fear of the unknown. This issue has to do with one of my children. I don't know if your ever prepared for when your children disappoint you. It's hard for me to accept.  BUT, I am moving past the ME part... I am pouring my heart into scriptures and TRUSTING that GOD has a plan in all this. That GOD is in control of EVERYTHING. That GOD knows...

Once a month I meet with some dear sisters in Christ for a bible study. This past study opened my eyes to so much. We read Jonah, we talked about diligence.   DILIGENCE, n. [L. , to love earnestly; to choose. ]1. Steady application in business of any kind; constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken; exertion The conversation led to our dear husbands. I sat around with 6 woman, All of us praising the diligence of our husbands. And then discussing how the World is tearing them apart.   One husband is a teacher.. 70+ hours a week, teaching in a urban area where the kids will freely tell him, my parents don't care why should I.. Yet our screwed up system tells the teacher it's their fault the kids aren't learning. One husband, working two jobs to make ends meet as well as his wife who works part time. One husband, a correction officer.. over crowded prisons, forced over time... One husband, a manger of a busy facility 70+ work weeks, starting over ...

We do mostly whole foods eating here. So couponing isn't an option, I mean when was the last time you saw, save a $1.00 on two pounds of apples?   It's unheard of. I have found out how to get the most bang for my buck here in my area. With the rising cost of food and having  to feed a family of 8, whole food nutrition. My food bill can easily sky rocket if I'm not careful. So here's what I do to save. We bought a 1/2 of cow. Big investment, but my freezer is full of meat and I won't have to buy any meat for several months. I should add this is organic, grass-fed, delicious meat!!! I'm also looking into getting chickens this way too, but haven't found a vendor yet. Once a month I travel to a neighboring state and buy my raw milk, grass fed eggs. I will also make several stops while out there and pick up things like a 50lb bag of organic sugar for $37.00. 5 lbs. of Raw Cheese, $20.00. And bulk oatmeal, beans, pasta, etc. For my weekly shopping I ut...

   Date Night is such a cache term. For most people date night is just that, a night out with the boyfriend or husband. When we had our first child we did not do date night! She went everywhere with us. We felt it was necessary. We had our fun, now it was time to focus on raising a family. We were young and foolish still. As we added to our brood, we realized a date night would be great.. but good luck getting someone to babysit 3-4-5 kids at a time!! SO when our kids were little we took "date night" and adapted it to our life. Sometimes "date night" was waking up early, Big Daddy and I get a cup of coffee  and go to a quiet place usually outside if the weather was nice or in a quiet room in the house. We would talk, and talk and connect. Sometimes, when the kids were younger we'd put them to bed, and hubby would go out to a restaurant that had curbside service, he'd bring home and meal and we'd sit in our home-- connecting. Other times, ...

Every year we host an Open House on Christmas Eve. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday to celebrate! However with Christmas coming so quickly after Thanksgiving, it felt very rushed. This year, our Christmas Eve Open House was a bit different. I lost one of my closest friends to a move far away. On the positive side, this is the first year in my entire life that I was able to celebrate Christmas with my biological father. That has never happened. I can remember as a child wishing/praying for him to come to Christmas. After about 10, I think I gave up on it. My dad found the Lord several years ago, and we have been able to rekindle a relationship.  What a blessing.. What a testimony to God's timing.  What a testimony to unanswered prayers, at that time in my life. God had a bigger, better plan. Reminds me of this:   sometimes i thank god for unanswered prayers remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs that just because he doesn't answer doesn...

      For the New Year, we decided we would head out to our most favorite place to be. Our camper in Lancaster Pennsylvania. We  did a bowling party with the kids to bring in the New Year, spent the night in our toasty warm camper, went to an awesome breakfast buffet at Yoder's, ate like little piglets, picked up some delicious raw milk, walked the creek and then headed home.    You see, we are preparing for a storm here.   I'm prepared as far as food goes. But we had to prepare the house and Big Daddy.   We only heat our home with firewood. That means a lot of it  had to be brought in.  We had two kids working on that. They are saying this will be the coldest our state has seen in several years.     While I make sure the house is well stocked with food,  And I get out those snow suits, hats, gloves, the drying rack, boots, sleds, thermos' .. etc. etc. Big Daddy is preparing the truck...