A Front Yard View....

God doesn't force us into anything.

Instead, He leads us to green pastures and causes us to lie down beside still waters.

But, when the forces of life do come against us,

He has promised to be our strong shield and ever-present help in time of trouble.

(taken from What I Learned From God While Gardening ... Niki Anderson & Cristine Bolley)

4-H Winners!

The boys had their 4-H Photography Contest this weekend and they both won blue ribbons!!

They were so excited when we arrived at the exhibit hall and they saw how well their photographs had done.

This is Bear's 1st place photograph in the Junior Landscape Division....

And Ryan got his blue ribbon with this picture of my niece at her 1st birthday party . First place in the Intermediate People Division...

Actually all the kids in our group who entered the contest ended up with at least one ribbon. They all did so well!

We are loving our new 4-H group. After having a bad experience with our previous club, I wasn't sure the kids would be up for trying another club out.

We are called the Fantastic 4-H'rs. It's a small group of only 6 kids. But we are all Christian families with very similar parenting standards and home life.

It's so wonderful to see the kids interact and enjoy each other's company. I believe we'll be with this club for a long time.

The 4-H Pledge:

I pledge my HEAD to clearer thinking;

my HEART to greater loyalty;

my HANDS to larger service;

and my HEALTH to better living for my club, my community, my country, my world.

Cranberry-Chocolate Scones

I dug up some old Sunset magazines and thumbed through them for some good recipes to try.

This is one that is a definite keeper!

3 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold butter

3/4 cup half & half (I just used regular milk)

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cranberries

can also add 1/2 cup chopped pecans

-- In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into chunks and blend into dry indredients with a pastry blender.

In a small bowl, whisk together the half & half (or milk) and the egg, reserve 2 tbsp for later.

Add remaining egg and milk mixture to the dry ingred. along with chocolate, cranberries and nuts.

Blend with a fork until moistened. Scrape out onto a lightly floured counter and pat into a 7 inch round circle.

Cut into 8 equal wedges.

Place 2 inches apart on greased baking pan.

Brush the tops with the reserved egg and milk.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.(If you can wait that long!)

---Sunset magazine January 2004 issue.

Growing

I've been thinking about "growth" today.

All around me things are growing.

These are growing...

And these are growing...

I'm growing...

I potted all my herbs. Right now they look small in their large pots, but soon they will grow and fill up the pots with their fragrant, green leaves.

And underneath the soil, their roots reach and lengthen until they have nowhere else to go.

So what happens when the roots reach the edge and the bottom of the pot?.... they stop growing, they begin to hunger for more nutrition and more space. They want to spread out.

I feel like that plant sometimes. My roots are reaching and seeking for more nutrition, more of God's word, more of His wisdom.

But my roots bump into walls at times. They come up against the sides and can't reach anymore.

God tells me to wait on Him.

To trust Him.

To bring everything to Him.

To know that my trials allow me to grow.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,

Which spreads out its roots by the river,

And will not fear when heat comes;

But its leaf will be green,

And will not be anxious in the year of drought,

Nor will cease from yielding fruit." --- Jeremiah 17: 7 & 8

I'm trying.

I'm trying to be that tree.

The one who spreads its roots by the river.

Who bears fruit and turns green.

The tree who doesn't fear heat.

I'm trying.......

On the Agenda

• call hospital about outrageous ER bill
• call orthodontist about down payment on phase 2 for Bear
• call 4-H lady about photography contest and then make arrangements with other 4-h mom for traveling to contest
• call my brother to make sure my hubby and boys can stay at their place this weekend for boys weekend skiing
• bake bread
• change Kaycie's sheets
• clean bathrooms yuck!
• bake banana bread to use those nasty bananas sitting on my counter
• balance checkbook
• make sure the boys' laundry is all caught up so they have jeans and underwear for this weekend

That's my written list that sits on the counter to check off as I go. I'm sure there is so much more that needs to be done, but I seriously doubt I'll get to anything else today.

But on a positive note, I'm glad to be home today. It has been so busy lately that I really need this day at home to catch up.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with funner (is that a word?) things to chat about.

The Bug That I've Caught

No, I'm not sick.
I've got the spring-is-in-the-air, i-wanna-plant-some-things bug.
My sewing and quilting projects have taken a back seat to dirty fingernails and dreams of a perfect garden.
We had another beautiful day here. And though I know that the rains will return, I'm enjoying every second of this weather!



This is what I picked up at the store the other day.

The startings of an herb garden....

-English thyme

-Italian oregano

-Peppermint

-Lavendar

-Rosemary

-Sage

-Sweet basil (seed)

-Chives (seed)

And to get a jump start on veggies for the garden, I grabbed up broccoli and lettuce seed.

Garden plans are coming along!

Anybody else caught the bug?

Apology and Fresh Faith

Please forgive me for that previous post. I went to bed with a headache and frustrated beyond belief. No prayer.


This morning I woke up a little early and decided to revisit my rage here on my blog. But during the night my computer had done a security scan and needed restarted.

THANK GOD!

Because instead of sitting down here, I picked up my Bible.

It's amazing how He speaks. I prayed for wisdom and guidance.... and He provided.

The devotion for today is Psalm 62. Beautiful psalm.

verse 8-- Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.


Holy cow... did I need that first thing this morning!


Why do I think that everything has to be on my schedule and done how I like it? His timing is perfect; mine is flawed and selfish.


My eyes have been opened and refreshed this morning. I'm seeing things in a different Light.


My dear blog friend, Laura, had this on her post yesterday:

In time of trouble say,

First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this place; in that I will rest.

Next, He will keep me in His love and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.

Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He means for me to learn, and working in me the grace He intends for me.

Last, in His good time, He can bring me out again, how and when only He knows.

Say, I am here;

by God's appointment,

In God's keeping,

Under His training,

For His time.

---from Humility

Headaches

I'll warn you right now, this post is me in my bitter, frustrated and angry mood.

How many hours my kids are in public school each day..... 7
How many hours we spend as a family each day.... maybe 3 (if Ken gets home by 5pm)
How many hours do I get to spend with my children..... 5
What do I try to teach my kids........ truth, God's truth
What does the public school try to teach my kids......... baloney garbage

So if my kids are actually at the public school more then they are with our family, how can i expect anything i've taught them to sink in?
Other people are raising my kids........ and that makes me angry!

Don't give me the line about homeschooled kids not getting the social interaction....... that's a bunch of spittle!
Homeschool kids interact and socialize as much as their parents allow. They still can play sports on the team, they can still be involved in clubs such as 4-H, they still attend the church youth groups...........
So why do I send my kids off to "socialize" with kids I don't even want them to socialize with?
It doesn't make any sense to me.

If I were to list the pros and cons of each (homeschool vs public), ............ wait I can't do that.. I can't think of a pro for public school that homeschool can't meet or exceed.

I"ve just spent 4 hours.......... 4 HOURS!!!......... looking and pouring over 22 Principal/Administrator applications for our small k-12 charter school. Yikes! There are some strange monkeys out there!!
There were a few that i found promising and would like to see interviewed but just thinking about how my conservative values and morals will be going up against some liberal thinkers, well, it just gives me a headache.

Then to come home and look at my 7th graders homework for science, made my headache even worse. Origins of the EArth....... give me a break! 483 million or was it billion years ago!? What?
How sad that our children are being shovel-fed lies instead of truth.
Not long ago, the school curriculum was .......THE BIBLE!
It was used for science, english, social studies, history, math, writing , spelling......... for it all.
now we've replaced the only infallible book in history with man's theories.
Here kids... don't believe what God says but instead believe what some man has made up!

headaches, i tell you, headaches.

Sunshine, Sweet Sunshine

After spending most of the day in town for an ortho appointment, we were sooooo ready to get home and enjoy the sunshine......... a balmy 60 degrees here.... love it!

All of us had different activities in mind....

For Lindsey it was stripping down to "take a bath" in the puddle. Well at least until Mommy said ,"absolutely not!!". It was only 60 degrees today, not naked-let-it-all-hang-out weather, for goodness sake!

But once she had her clothes back on, she decided playing in the garden dirt would be ok....
barefoot, of course...

the boys were anxious to take apart some wood pallets that were free at the lumber yard. they have some ambitious plans for it all....

And you can't enjoy a warm day without a bit of tackle football, right?.......

As for me, I was eager to get my raised beds built for my garden. I now have 3 made. I'm so excited to see how my veggies turn out this year...

shoveling the poop... so glamorous!!!...

We had some old outdoor carpet-type stuff rolled up in the corner of the garden. So I laid it out between the boxes to be weed crushers!...

Kaycie was the photographer today. She did manage to get a shot of herself though....


Ken is in Dallas TX for the week. It's his yearly conference for work. So far we've done all right without him. The kids are staying busy. Bedtime is a bit rough for the little one. She's Daddy's girl and he's not here to rub her back.

Mommy is trying to fill his shoes but it's hard when they are a size 14!!!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Puppy Chow

Here are 3 big bowls of Puppy Chow... ready to head to the 2nd, 5th, and 7th grade classrooms today...

PUPPY CHOW.....
1 box of Chex or Krispix cereal
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter (can leave this out if there are allergies)
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Place cereal in a large bowl.
Melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in the microwave. Stir until smooth.
Pour over the cereal and carefully fold and stir until well coated.
Place in a large brown paper grocery bag and pour powdered sugar over mixture. Gently shake and rotate bag until the cereal is coated.
Dump back into your large bowl or resealable bags.
Start munching!