Simple Womans Daybook

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FOR TODAY OCTOBER 27TH, 2008 ...

Outside My Window...
Cold and windy but sunny today

I am thinking...
I have so much to be thankful for and so many to pray for

I am thankful for...
the Love of my Savior
my beautiful children,
my warm home,
our kind and involved grandparents

From the kitchen...
My mom took us out to lunch today, I had pasta with tomatoes, spinach and artichoke


I am wearing...
Jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater

I am creating...
Fall cards, but only a few and only late at night after the kids are asleep and I'm waiting up for dh to get home from work sometime around midnight

I am going...
To enjoy a bonfire at my parents house tomorrow night

I am reading...
Streams in the Desert
(recommended by a friend battling cancer)

I am hoping...
For my friend's full recover

I am hearing...
My dd working on school work on her computer and the boys building with legos, baby is napping

Around the house...
Man! Do we need a fall cleaning day!

One of my favorite things...
Baby toes

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
schoolwork, cleaning, and b-day party for ds on Sat.


Here is a picture thought I am sharing...
actually its more of a picture sequence of
my oldest helping me try to feed baby cereal
to her little sister for the first time






Please come join us at The Simple Woman

It is the LORD's purpose that prevail

A friend asked me a while ago about dreams or plans I had when I was younger, back before I was married or had kids. She wondered if my life had turned out as I imagined it would? As I thought back over past dreams and plans I had to giggle. And I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11-13:

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. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."


I'm so glad that God remains in control and that He knows the plans He has for me. At one time in my life I swore I'd never have kids ... that seems comical now, because I can not even imagine my life with out my precious kiddos. But back then I was younger, a bit foolish, stubborn, not willing to be completely dependant on God. As I look back now, I can truly see the fingerprints of God on my life. And I'm so grateful that God's plans prevailed and not mine.

As a teenager I dreamed a lot about being a pilot and working for NASA. I loved studying about planets and stars and space! I still do (but with my kids). A friend and I even attended Space Camp down in Huntsville Alabama twice.

Over the years that dream gave way to politics and governments. My freshman year in college I was a Poli Sci major. And I still love studing that kind of stuff. The kids and I are currently working on Elections 2008 Lapbooks. But I could not imagine having to work in that world everyday, its just not what God created me for. Somewhere during my second year at college God did show me (or I finally listened long enough to hear), that his plan for me involved children and teaching. I changed my major to early childhood education and about 5 months later was in a car accident. I was taken to the emergency room, that is where we discovered I was pregnant with our first child. Talk about a change in plans! Can you imagine my poor hubby arriving at the ER, after being told his wife was in a car wreck and my first words to him were:

"Hi honey, I'm banged up a bit, but OK, they'll discharge me in a little while ... and half an hour ago in the process of a few blood tests they discovered I'm pregnant! Surprise! By the way, the officer on the scene thinks your truck is still drivable, just smashed in back"

Recovering from that accident kept me from attending classes that quarter. Then morning sickness kept me from attending the next quarter. And once I held that baby in my arms, well ... God's plan for me was obvious. I'm thrilled God saw the mother I could be.

God must have a great sence of humor. For someone who said she'd never have children ... here I am, blessed with five children. I'm so glad God's plans prevail, and that He is so patient with me!

Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.


Before any of us were ever born, before any man or woman ever placed foot on this world, God had plans. He created us, planned for us, and He loves us. God's plans are unique and individual. For some of us that means children and homeschooling, for others that means work at NASA, for others its missions work in remote areas and still others as doctors and lawyers. God has great plans for each of us and I'd love to encorage you to seek HIS plans for your life. Follow where prayer and scripture lead you. A few other verses that God has used to teach me about this over the years:


Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work
in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Acts 20:24:
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.

Let's Celebrate Fall

Let's Celebrate Fall at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod!!!

Today's theme at Tiffanie's Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza is Halloween. What are you doing for Halloween this year?

We don't really celebrate Halloween. I'm not into the spooky scary stuff and the kids really don't need candy. We do like to let the kids buy or make costumes to wear to the church harvest parties and to wear to the big bonfire our city has on the 31st. And honestly the creative play that occures over the next few months in the costumes makes them well worth the money. Over the years We've had various Disney princess costumes, Peter Pan, Captin Hook, Buzz Lightyear, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Winnie the Pooh and Elmo ... but this year they choose:


Baby Lady Bug (ok I choose that one)



Fire Cheif


Ninja


And a gymnast

Lets Celebrate with Fall Crafts!

Let's Celebrate Fall at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod!!!

Today's theme at Tiffanie's Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza is Fall Crafts. Come check out craft ideas and share yours with us!

My kiddos love to find beautifully colored leaves this time of year and we usually try to dry and press a few to keep.

Here are a few great websites if you are looking for instructions on pressing leaves and crafts to do with them:

www.kidsturncentral.com/crafts/leafcrafts.htm
www.crafts.kaboose.com

Here are a few good pages for lapbooks or notebooking:

www.homeschoolshare.com

www.kidsturncentral.com/coloring/leafcolor.htm
www.kidzone.com


And one of my favorite things to do is take pictures of my favorite people in the pretty fall leaves:

Wordless Wednesday - Our Little Pumpkin In The Fall Leaves

Let's Celebrate Fall - Thanksgiving

Let's Celebrate Fall at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod!!!


Today's theme at Tiffanie's Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza is Thanksgiving Traditions. Share your family traditions, memories, pictures and funny stories of this great holiday and then sign Mr Linky at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod

We enjoy our Thanksgivings with family and later tonight I'll try find some pictures of those fun memories over the years. But one memory that jumps out at me is Thanksgiving 1997. My parents wanted to take my then 2 year old dd on her first trip to Disney! We had a fabulous time. We flew in on Thanksgiving and my mom knew we would never get through the airport, to the car rental and to our condo and still feel like grocery shopping for stuff to make a thanksgiving meal. And though, the rest of us said it would be fine to eat out my mom would not hear of Thanksgiving in a restaurant. So we packed all the fixings for thanksgiving dinner in a suitcase! Yes, a turkey, cranberries, potatoes,... all of it. When we arrived at our condo my mom got right to work making our dinner. She did however allow my dad to run out and buy milk, and ice cream. We've spent several Thanksgivings at Disney World over the years now. Its a great time of year to be there! And if you stay for the days immediately following Thanksgiving you get to watch as they put up all the Christmas decorations.

Celebrate Fall

Let's Celebrate Fall at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod!!!


Today's theme at Tiffanie's Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza is Halloween Past. Our past memories or photos ... hmmm makes me wish my scanner was working ... I have some very cute photos from the years before I kept photos on the computers. But I think these ones from last year are cute, too:







We don't participate in trick-or-treating. I'm really not much for celebrating Halloween, but we do get costumes and goto our church's Fall Festival and our city has a huge bonfire ... I'm talking HUGE, the pile of brush they burn is much bigger than our house! The kids get free hotdogs and chips and cookies. Its sponsored by the police dept. and fire dept. so there are fire engines and cop cars to look at and climb in. Its a fun time.

Happy Fall Ya'll and Happy Birthday To Me

Let's Celebrate Fall (and my birthday) at Tiffanie's Blog, Three Peas in a Pod!!!

Fall is here and with the season comes memories from the distant past, traditions, and fun times. Fall evokes a feeling of warmth and happiness. The air is filled with falling leaves, crisp cool air, apple pies, warm sweaters, and comfort foods. Tiffanie figured, Why not celebrate this season with fun prizes and sharing memories. So everyday there will be a new theme on her blog that she will ask us to write about on our own blogs and then sign Mr. Linky back on her blog. At the end of each day (midnight) she will pick the winner using Random.org. Sounds like fun, right? And she has some great prizes!! So come on over and join us!

Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza will run from October 20-26th.

Honestly fall is my favorite season, and not just because I have an October birthday. All those things mentioned above like, the crisp air, leaves, apple pie ... mmmm, give me that warm fuzzy feeling.

Today's theme at Tiffanie's Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza is Favorite Fall Recipes, there are lots of good ones! And I bet each of us have one we could share! I actually have a two to share. The first one that came to my mind is:


My Mom's Russian Tea Mix

2 cups of Tang
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup Lipton lemon instant tea

(also possible to use Lo-Cal sweetened tea mix and omit the sugar)

I mix all these together and store in an air tight container.
When you are ready for a very delicious cup of tea with a fall feel, heat one cup boiling water and add 1 to 2 tsp of mix per cup.

Mmmm, drinking mine as I type. When ever we got fall colds and sore throats my mom made this tea for us ... eventually we asked for it even when not sick ;-)

My next recipe is Swedish Meatballs. I heard the story over and over through the years that this is the recipe that my dad found to make for my mom the day they brought me home the hospital back in 1973. Yep, that makes me 35 today!!! Most years on my birthday we would have Swedish Meatballs for dinner. Oh! and my mom made them for me the day I brought my first daughter home from the hospital.


Swedish Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 cup minced onions
3/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp minced parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

mix all ingredients thoroughly
shape into balls the size of a walnut
brown in 1/4 cup hot fat(I use veg. oil)
remove meat balls & make gravy (below)
return meatballs to gravy & cook for 20 min.

Serve meatballs and gravy over mashed potatoes or egg noodles

Gravy:
STIR 1/4 cup flour, 1tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper into hot fat (or oil) in skillet.
STIR in 2 cups boiling water and 3/4 cup sour cream

Let me know what you think if you try either of these. And please share your favorite recipies with us over at Let's Celebrate Fall Extravaganza



Here I am with my kiddos, my parents and my niece and nephew having my birthday cup cake. No Sweedish meatballs this year, though. We decided to order out from a very nice Italian place this year, I wanted real Gnocchis this year and yes they were delicious!!! Thanks Papi for running all the way into St Paul to pick them up and thanks to my sister, Amber, for hosting my birthday dinner at your house so all our kiddos could enjoy running around together! Its tough to take 10 kids out to eat ;-)

Thankful Thursday!

Here is the verse Iris had at the top of her Thankful Thursday post:

“And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.” ~ Psalm 27:6 ESV

Hmmm... I want to sing to the Lord! I am thankful, truly thankful for all He has blessed me with. My Thankful Thursday posts could literally take all day if I posted all I had to be thankful for. But one area I feel needs my attention is prayer, so I chose to focus on prayer today ... my time to speak with my Lord, hear from my Lord and yes sing to my Lord. I am so thankful for this privilege of being able to speak with, pray to God, my Father.

I've journaled and blogged for a while now, but have seen quite a bit lately on "prayer journals". Some use plain blank note books, some have special printed pages to record dates and other specifics.

Please share with me your ideas: Do you use a special note book for prayer journaling? Where did you get it? Has it helped your prayer life?


Have a blessed week! Go check out the other thankful hearts at Iris's blog!

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Rememberance Day

Here is something I wrote after my last miscarriage:


Babies I'll never
Get to hold, cuddle or kiss
My angel babies

Liberty John and
Elijah Lee are resting
in our Savior's arms

What comfort to know
They have arrived safely "Home"
Engulfed in His Love


Please join us today in remembering our babies who are already in heaven and pray for those who are grieving the loss of a baby or child.

Visit Remembering Our Babies and learn about Oct. 15th being

Simple Womans Daybook

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FOR TODAY Oct. 13th...
Outside My Window...
Was raining, but turned into a nice sunny day, sun is setting now

I am thinking...
About which builder we should work with to build our new house ...
we need to make that decision soon

I am thankful for...
The opportunity we have to build a new house

From the kitchen...
My hubby is grilling steak tonight ... Yum!

I am wearing...
Jogging pants and t-shirt

I am creating...
Egypt lapbooks with my kiddos

I am going...
To sleep soon, I hope

I am reading...
About ancient egypt to the kids

I am hoping...
All the decisions in building a new house don't drive me certifiably insane
(honestly it would be a very short drive)

I am hearing...
Baby Mary gurggling and babbling ... she certainly has found her voice this week

Around the house...
kKids are getting ready for dinner, dh is grilling

One of my favorite things...
Baby smiles

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
finish lapbooks, little more study on Moses, order new math books

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Homeschool Memoirs #8

This weeks Homeschool Memoirs theme over at www.homeschoolblogawards.com is about Study spots, where does your homeschooling and learning take place? Do you have a favorite spot?

We do have a "school room", we actually added on to our house while I was pregnant with dear child #4 - by the way I strongly recommend NOT having major remodeling done while pregnant ... was not a fun few months, I ended up on bedrest living in a hotel room with three kids and very little sanity. Anyway, back to the topic - we love our school room and used it all the time at first. The kids' computer is kept in there and all our file cabnets and bookshelves. But during my pregnancy with dear child #5 I was again on a lot of bed rest and we got into the habit of gathering the needed books and schooling on mom's bed ... and its become a favorite. I guess there is something comfy and comforting about mama's bed, everyone likes to snuggle up there.

Thoughtful Thursday

Michelle over at Homeschool Notebooking has started a great Thursday Meme. I'm glad to be joining her for Thoughtful Thursday.

I would like to invite everyone to participate in "Thoughtful Thursdays." Every Thursday, Just as your school week is coming to a close, use these journal prompts to reevaluate where you are going in your homeschool. Every homeschool mom has these thoughts, and what a wonderful way for all of us to share our strengths and weaknesses with each other. I encourage you to speak freely and from your heart, allowing the Lord to use your truthfulness to bless other mom's just like you. And I ask that as you read others entries, you would pray for one another using the information that others put after "I feel I need the Lord to help me..."


If you would like to participate, please visit Thoughtful Thursday on Michelle's blog and join us!


Today's date is...
Oct. 9th, 2008


This week my greatest challenges have been...
I came down with mastitis Monday and was out of comission most of the week

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...
school, cleaning, cooking ...

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...
We managed a nice nature walk
and a few good discussions about Moses

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...
hmmm... sick mommy

My biggest accomplishments this week were...
Getting up each day, tandem nursing

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...
thanking the kids for all they do to help out


I feel I need the Lord to help me...
get back into a better daily routine

I am most thankful this week for...
my wonderful, helpful, amazing kids!

One word to sum up my week...
tired