Recovering the Lost Art of Homemaking Part 1

http://homeschoolmummyx3.xanga.com/739961170/recovering-the-lost-art-of-home-making-part-1/

Schedule Finished!

I am so happy that my/our "official" schedule is done!

1Co 14:40

(40)"But let all things be done decently and in order."

Of course this is not the complete schedule, but it gives a simple example of what it looks like.  I've had many schedules before, but this represents out current needs and the needs of our family.  We are much different than other families.  All of us need to take the needs of those under our own roofs and place importance on those people first as our ministry and daily worship unto the Lord through our service to those we love.  We are entrusted with their upkeep, discipline and training "as unto the Lord" for a very short time.  Let's make that time the best we can possibly make it by keeping it decently and in order.  :0)

A Slice of Our Life...

This is DA carpet scrubbing the living room floor.  If you'll notice, the coffee table behind him has quite a few notebooks and our vitamin bin on it.  LOL  These things are a regular part of our days.  The kids may do school there.  It makes the perfect place to sort everyone's vitamins and meds too!  ;)

This is our basement fireplace.  If you have seen our basement before, it  looks a little different now since the panelling on the wall to the right has been removed and the wall water proofed. 

I don't know if you can see well or not, on the bottom of this picture you can see a definate point where the carpeting stops.  From the wall to that point is how much we had to remove from the black mold problem.  We're not sure what we're going to do in place of the carpeting yet.  Our plans are still being discussed at this point. 

HJ's bed....

is in....

the closet!  LOL

This is what she wanted to try to give her more floor space.  Since we've converted to a family closet, this leaves her closet free for other things.  She loves this little nook!

As a side note, as of this picture, you will be seeing LOTS of comforters, flannel and warm things on our beds since it is winter in PA. 

This is the view out our 2nd floor bathroom window to the south.  This is where our children do a lot of their snow fort building.  If you locate the bright orange thing in the middle of the yard there, that's a sled.  It is sitting next to a mamoth snow ball!  LOL 

After these two children had lunch and went back out to play, I managed to get a good picture of them on top of the mamoth snowball!  Yes!  This is how much snow we get!  ;) 

Back inside the house, a glance in to the boys' room will show...more comforters, afghans and flannel sheets! 

Just as a side note, this week has been "bedroom" week, so it looks MUCH better than this picture! 

Why did I do this?  I just wanted to show everyone that we're real people with real messes and challenges with our lives.  We're striving for a closer walk with Jesus, even in our bedroom cleanliness.  ;) 

In our bedroom, on my side of our bed sits this lovely table with wonderful shelves beneath it.  I was blessed by my MIL with this table after my husband and I were married just 2 or 3 years.  What a blessing it has been!  It is made of real wood and I just love it.   It holds all the books I love to read, then all the patterns I need to get to on the other side.

On the top there is the phone, a tissue box, lotion (a must have with the dry heat of PA winters), anti-bacterial hand gel for after tissues get used, some lip balm (for those dry PA winters), a coaster for my water bottle, a discipline tool "just in case", a remote control for movies, and a just finished dish cloth.  There are some medicine bottles there too.  I need to get those put in their proper place. ;) 

If you look closely, you'll see....YUP!  flannel sheets!  LOL

These are laying on the floor close to my dresser so that I can remember upon waking to pick them up and look at more ideas to adapt to my home.  ;) 

Our bed was "freshly" made just moments before this picture was taken. Dogs decided they needed to come see me when I took this. LOL 

The black thing is hubby's stocking cap. He gets cold at night and when he has a migraine in the morning with light sensitivity, this stocking cap comes in handy.

Right now it's winter here, so you're going to see LOTS of covers and flannel sheets on our beds.

As a side note, yes, I need to declutter my dresser to get those clothes inside it. LOL As of posting this picture, it's been done. :0)  

  Part of our bedroom. A 10 year old TV an even older chest of drawers and a towel hanging over the bedpost to dry. LOL

My hubby wanted to paint our room yellow like our bedroom in Greenville, but I told him I'd rather have it   just a bit lighter than our old bedroom. ;)  It was very very very DARK yellow with a purple ceiling!  LOL   It has been our running joke now. 

 This is part of our winter garden.  :0)  This is spinach.  We have lettuce growing too!  :0)   

  This is what our backyard looks like when it snows.  

  This is one of the things we do in the winter too.  The first sock is officially finished.  The second sock is in progress.  :0)  

  This is what the sock looks like on hubby's foot.  Finally!  This is the 3rd sock made to get to this point!

  This is what the original socks were supposed to be like for my hubby.  Now, though, they are for DA since hubby needed his a little larger.  :0)  

 

We do much more during the winter.  This is just a very small slice of our lives.

 

Before I bid you a fond farewell, I know that a lot of you have heard of our very cold snap that has occurred here in our area of the country.  I snapped this picture this morning of the snow that had blown through our front yard.  It looked so beautiful to me that I just had to get a picture.  I couldn't go outside to get it because it was 8 degrees F outside.  Brrrrrrr!

 

I snapped it when the sun had stared to come out from behind the clouds.  What a beautiful sight it was! 

 

Tomorrow, I'll take pictures of our driveway so you can get a picture of what it looks like now. 

 

Currently our road is snow covered.  The plow just made its pass just about 20 minutes ago. 

 

Life here moves along.  The Lord gives us these seasons for rest and time together with our family.

 

Tonight after HJ and I returned home from our shopping trip, I challenged JL to a TV game-Shrek.  The game itself is called "Donkey Dash".  For someone who really doesn't care for video games, Donkey Dash is one of my favorites.  There is a wonderfully hillarious sound that occurs when Donkey crashes.  It's like a gooey splat and I laugh every time.  It's such a cute game and I love playing it with my children. 

 

Blessings,

Mr. G & Mrs. G

This is a picture taken of my Mr. G and I while we were on vacation over Christmas in Florida.  Our oldest had the camera he was allowed to use and just managed to get this of us both.  I just love the look on my hubby's face.  He is 

♥ ♥ ♥ My beloved, my best friend, my knight in shining amour. ♥ ♥ ♥

My Pantry/Shopping System

If my previous post made you wonder how I do my shopping list based on my pantry and so forth, I have a new post up now.  Please go here to read!  :0) 

Laundry, Organizing and The Family Closet

I just finished this post today!  Come walk through the journey of my pantry/laundry room with me!   Enjoy!

Blustery Day Saturday

Today is a very blustery day.  We went to the church this afternoon to make pizza dough and cook them half way in preparation for tomorrow's pizza-by-the-slice sale.  The roads were covered very heavily, moreso than I've seen in a while.  The children asked if we could take the rental van since it had more room than the Explorer does.  I figured that since we still have it in our possession, we might as well use it, right?  Well, the roads were VERY slippery.  I love going around and looking at the surroundings while someone else drives.  LOL  Unfortunately, I was the one driving and had to concentrate on the slippy roads. 

We had an interesting time making our pizza dough at the church in the HUGE mixer.  What a time saver that was!  We finished all 12 pizza crusts in and half baked in 2 hours!  Praise God! 

Why all those pizzas?  Well, we were making pizzas for a pizza-by-the-slice sale to support missions.  We have volunteers from our congregation who go to a variety of places to support good charitable causes.  Last year the missions team went to Merci in North Carolina.  They arrange to get the disaster relief buckets ready to go out after floods, hurricaines and earth quakes. After the earth quake in Haiti, the buckets were depleted.  So, with our missions group, they not only filled buckets and wrapped them to go out, but they also built coffins (morbid, I know, but necessary) for sweet little babes.  There was a gentleman from our church who brought this particular mission home with him and built 99 more (now called cradles) to take down to the Merci headquarters this past October.  Our oldest son, DA helped on the project, sanding, hammering and gluing the wood for the coffins/cradles. 

Now the way home today was much more slippery than on the way over to the church.  It was much like this video that I took outside my front door in 2008.  Whew!   If you're thinking of heading to PA to live, please be prepared for winters like this!  Fortunately, this doesn't happen all the time.

Blustery Snowstorm

We spend quite a bit of our time inside in front of the fire, knitting, crocheting, reading, listening to the local Christian radio station, and just snuggling under a blanket with a little dog while we watch a movie.  HJ and I are getting ready to bring in the sewing machines and crank out some clothes for her.  We'll be working on skirts and some longer shirts for her.  I'll make sure to add some pictures when we're done. 

For now, though, it's time to get ready for the Lord's day. 

Blessings,
Regina

Walk in Wisdom

I have heard it said that the Old Testament doesn’t matter anymore because Jesus has returned, died, risen and ascended in to heaven. All of His teaching on earth supersedes all of the Old Testament. My question to those who believe this is, “Why then would God allow the Old Testament to remain in the scriptures?”, “What would the Old Testament benefit those of us who are Christians then?”, and last but certainly not least, “What does the New Testament say about this very topic?” Very simply put, searching and studying THE scripture (meaning the whole book of God’s Word) itself will give us the answers we seek.

First of all, let’s define the Old Testament. The “Old” Testament simply stated is the record of God’s works among His chosen people from the beginning of creation to approximately 300 or so years before Christ’s birth record. Is the Bible a history book? Absolutely! For example, the record of the kings in 1st and 2nd Kings gives us an account of what each king did during their reign. In my own understanding, the records of the kings are there to show how each king conducted themselves according to level of obedience to God’s word. Some kings knew God’s word and obeyed and they were blessed. Other kings knew God’s word and didn’t obey and they were cursed with loss of their lives or the lives of those whom they loved. There were yet others who knew the history of their people, but did not read nor understand the word of God and they chose evil. The people suffered under this type of king, yet they wanted a king to rule over them. God gave them their desires and the fruit of their desires were evident in the kings who reigned. Having said that, the records of the kings are there for many reasons that, in my own mind, I cannot fathom yet due to my own mortality. I am sufficiently content, however, knowing that there is a reason far past my own understanding for the Lord of Heaven and Earth to have placed the records of the kings in His Word.

Considering the historical account of God’s people in His Word, then would it be a testimony to God’s grace and love toward the children of Israel? Of course it would be! It also shows without a shadow of a doubt how God is also a God of power and might, a force to be reckoned with and one who deserves our admiration due to his sheer power. To send the plagues just by giving Moses the power to speak it is awesome. To part the Red Sea so that the children of Israel could walk across on dry land is absolutely spectacular! Just placing myself in one of those Israelites’ shoes is very humbling. Just think of it! You’ve just seen Moses, a man who has inspired everyone of Hebrew lineage to leave Egypt and be free of slavery has just raised his arms and the waters parted. While you’re walking across the bottom of the Red Sea, in the wall of water to your left and to your right you can see WHALES and all sorts of other deep sea creatures you’ve never seen before, IN THE WALL OF WATER!!!! Think of it! It’s awesome!

There are a whole HOST of other stories contained within the Old Testament that shows every one of us the importance of obedience to the laws of the land we live in as well as the Lord’s words that are contained within the scripture. The book of Leviticus gives us rule upon rule to live by. I’m not sure about everyone else who is reading this post right now, but honestly, when I read the book of Leviticus, I can feel the oppressiveness, the hopelessness, the absolute need of a Savior. One who would not free me from all these God given laws, but give me hope, let me actually talk to and reach God without going to the tabernacle and asking a priest to sacrifice a lamb for me to have my own sins washed clean. I believe this very point is the reason the Lord placed the book of Leviticus in the Bible. We need to read it to remind us that in our own strength, every single day, in our own mortality we all fall so very short of the grace of God. It is for this very reason that I believe God allowed the Old Testament to remain intact in His scriptures. There is such hopelessness and helplessness when one is led to and fro by the world much like the sands of the sea. There is MUCH hopefulness and peacefulness when one is grounded on THE ROCK of ages!

Those of us who are Christians in each of our various stages of spiritual growth need to see very clearly the wisdom shared with us in the Old Testament. There is such a wonderful legacy that is shared with us through the feasts of the Old Testament. My own personal study of these feasts and celebrations is very limited at this point in time. However, I do know that with each celebration of each feast and holy day, each one of the practices of these feasts point directly to Christ. Right now I am in the process of compiling books to study these celebrations with our children. We will begin, hopefully on January 1, 2011 and follow each of them through the entire year. What a wonderful way to study the Old Testament! I will update as time goes on how this impacts both myself as well as the rest of my family. We are excited to learn more about these Old Testament traditions. Much of the reason we are pursuing this study is due to the discovery of this particular scripture—

Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy,

but to fulfil. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one

tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.

(19) Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall

teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do

and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Mat 5:17-19

This is the very answer to questions #2 & #3 above, “What would the Old Testament benefit those of us who are Christians then?” and “What does the New Testament say about this very topic?”

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and with no reproach,

and it shall be given to him. But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like

 a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

(Jas 1:5-6)

The more we study the word of God, the more He shows Himself to us. Like a father takes delight in the child he loves, our Heavenly Father wants us to know Him and His heart of hearts. There is no other better way to take delight in knowing the heart of our Lord than to read His scripture. There are great and wonderful mysteries that are made known to us through opening our eyes, our ears and our hearts to the word of God.  In this pursuit is great wisdom.

Blessings,

Fixing Major Problems

As many of you know, we've had some big dirt mounds in our front yard.  This is to hopefully document the journey that still is not over yet. 
To begin our journey I'd have to back up, so this will only be about the outside of the house in this post.  The rest of the journey is yet to be written. 

As you will notice, above is what resembles where we use to have our square foot gardens.  Earlier this Spring, we took them out to relocate them and plant something else here.  Little did we realize at that time that we would be using this space for transplanting my flowers in to from the front of the house.

This is only a few of the perennials that have been transplanted. 

This is why we needed to transplant all of the perennials.  This wonderful gentleman from our church came to help us dig out our foundation so we could install french drains.  This was just the beginning.    
 He was able to dig all the way down to 9 feet below the ground level, thankfully. 

Here he is precariously balanced on our hill. 
For all this, we've had quite an experience.  After the gentleman left, my daughter was sitting on the porch tying bundles of chives for drying when her yarn rolled off in to the 9' hole pictured above.  The boys got the ladder out, got the yarn out and left the ladder in the hole at my direction.  I figured that since my husband was going to be working in the hole the next day that leaving it there wouldn't be a problem.  Just after dusk, my youngest son said, "Mom, what was that sound?"  I said, "No, let's go check it out."  We went out to the front porch to this...
 ...a half burried ladder with 4 feet of clay filling up the originally dug 9 foot hole.  (This is standing on the porch looking down in to the hole.)

The next day, my dearest husband and youngest son were perched on the porch in this fashion checking things out and figuring things in their minds.
 In this picture you can see exactly how much of the wall of dirt came down.  The hole is a little more than 4 feet deep in this picture.  The black stuff is tar.  This is the first coat. 
Hubby painting the tar on the foundation...


 After all of the tar is painted on, the plastic goes up, then the pipe and gravel.

 Of course the bucket brigade helped to save my hubby's back.  Each of them were incredibly helpful in the whole process.
  Here is the french drains completed and ready to be filled in.
 ...by our ever helpful friend who came to till with this same tractor this past Spring.  He was such a wonderful help and I am ever so greatful to him for his friendship and help to make sure my hubby's back doesn't get hurt further.  What a blessing!

 Yippee!  It's getting fuller and fuller!

 Almost done!
 Of course the screen decided to rip out of the screen door and look at who wants to see everything that is going on!  LOL  Silly Biscuit!
 And who can miss...the filled in hole!  From the side...
We are ready to begin work on the inside of the house now.  Tomorrow my hubby will begin the computations for getting everything from mold resistent drywall to the framing wood.  I'll get more pictures as we progress with the project.  For now though, the soil needs to settle in the front yard before we do anything more.
Blessings,

Not So Lazy Summer Days...

These summer days are quickly flying by and coming to a close faster than I ever thought possible.  But, that is how it goes with seasons.  My beautiful beebalm has long faded.  My precious hummingbird came to buzz by the bay window earlier today, perhaps to say "Good-bye" until next summer.  I have been quickly trying to fill our last days of summer with sun and fun. 

This morning the children, dogs and I walked along the beautiful Clarion River for our morning walk.  Well, I should say that the dogs and I walked.  Dearest Daughter rode her bike, oldest son roller bladed and youngest son roller skated.  Once reaching almost to the 1 mile point, we turned around and they BEGGED me to jog back to the Pale Whale.  So, with doggies in the SUV and emergency flashers on, my two tortises and one hare jogged behind me.  My one hare decided to run as fast as he could, then stop to walk very slowly for a while, then run at top speed again.  Lessons were learned very quickly about the difference between sprinting and jogging to build stamina. 

DA is the oldest who is now 15 years old.  HJ is my precious daughter who will be 13 this month.  JL is the youngest of the 3 who just turned 11 in July.  What fun we've had together this summer!  This area is absolutely beautiful to walk, ride, jog, canoe and whatever other mode you'd like to go through.  I'd highly recommend it!

We've tried our hand this year at selling produce from the side of the road.  We've had such and adventure!  The kids did all the work with it and we made a wonderful profit of $9 from it!  What a wonderful learning experience!  Maybe next year we'll have even more to sell!  Yippee!

Well, today is my paperwork day.  I just stopped by to write a tid bit and then head out to get my work done. 

Have a wonderful day!
Blessings,