We were watching our home videos after getting home from the trip and had to laugh at ourselves. It doesn’t take much to send me off in a Bible or Science lesson, lol. Even though I’m sending my older children to Christian school this year and am only homeschooling Preschool, I will always be a home school teacher at heart.
There’s still a giveaway for a bodywrap going on around here. You can enter by leaving a comment on the previous post.
I sat in the community theater crying this afternoon, thankful it was dark. Thankful my children are safe, healthy, and home. It felt wrong to cry over our last moments with Heidi’s beloved ballet studio, when so many people are truly suffering. And yet, it is because of that suffering that my emotions are so raw and close to the surface. In the wake of the news of the Colorado shooting, two church friends were diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, a Grocery Shrink reader lost her 2 year old nephew in a tragic drowning, a local police officer was killed on his motorcycle while performing an ordinary traffic stop, 3 houses burned in the neighborhood nearby last night, a facebook friend’s father is lost in the woods and faces his second night alone while the search pauses for morning light.
All of these things remind me of how precious life is, how precious family moments are. I’m supposed to be writing my menus right now for the GSPlus mailing tomorrow at noon, but I had to stop and remind myself and my dear readers of the most important thing. I’m not talking about faith–of course that is at the top of the list. I’m talking about the most important FOOD thing.
It’s so important that I’m going to use big bold font, and leave lots of space around it, so it’s easy to find.
I don’t care if you eat macaroni and cheese out of box with hot dogs sliced in it. Just do it together, with the TV off, and reading material put away. Look at each other, smile, talk to each other.
The only certain thing in this life is that it is temporary. And if a loved one is called home early, it won’t matter how many organic foods he had or whether he stayed under budget. Relationships matter–they leave the legacy. It’s easy to build relationships bit by bit around the dinner table. It just takes commitment–one meal at a time. Now, go hug your kids and give your husband a big smooch.
Choosing winners was hard! There were hundreds of recipes to sort through and all of them looked delicious.
Before I tell you who our top 3 winners are–I want to thank my readers that have already sponsored Heidi or I on our 5K run to benefit the pro-life cause. Your generosity has catapulted us to first place in fund raising! My free gift offer is still there until July 15th–you can get the details in the previous post. If you would like to donate for the gift, consider going to Heidi’s page. She gets so excited when she gets a sponsor and it just makes my day to see her so happy.
Now back to business. Drum Roll Please…..
First place is Beth Nepote with her recipe for Greek Tortellini and Spinach Pasta Salad
Second place is Nicole Cotts with Mandarin Chicken Salad
Third Place is Mary Frank with Peppers and Spirals Salad
I will contact the winners tomorrow and reveal the recipes in their individual blog posts where we can get to know the author better. Everyone who submitted a recipe is a winner in my book and will receive a copy of the ebook “Grocery Shrink Reader’s Summer Favorites.” With their recipe inside! The ebook is almost finished–somehow the Dessert portion of the book was erased…so I’ll be redoing that tomorrow.
So the directors at our reunion improvised.
I found out this week that reunion is a unique thing to my denomination. The first one was in the year 1888 and they stayed in tents in September for a week to worship and fellowship together.
We do it about the same today but we are staying in college dorms and the ladies don’t have to wear dresses. It’s a week where we have prayer service every morning, religious class right after that, and worship every evening with some of the best preaching we will hear all year. The afternoons are full of visiting, sports, and games.
Grant decided to join in the fun
We play together, eat together, and worship together. There’s no news, no TV, no radio, no video games. It’s wonderful. I’m filling my cup to over flowing for the year.
But not for long
“Is that Heather’s wedding dress?” Brandon wanted to know.
I started to laugh…but then stopped. It sort of is. It is the dress she will wear to become part of the bride of Christ. It’s her baptism dress.
I put off sewing for awhile. My sewing room has been such a mess since we moved, and I’ve had so many other responsibilities, that I just couldn’t get in the groove. It has been at least 6 months since I attempted anything (except a whale–and that ended a little tragically.) I wondered if I would remember how?
I thought I would try to buy a dress, but tradition dictates the dress be pure white and fully immersable! I’ve seen lots of first communion white dresses…but they weren’t meant for the water. And talk about pricey! Plus white tends to turn clear when wet–so I’m going to need lots of layers. It’s hard to buysomething like that.
I taught my first sewing class in the new house Monday night–so had to get my sewing studio in order. I thought I had taken inspiration photos to show you how messy it really was….but I can’t find them. Convenient..I know. Imagine a room from the TV show hoarders without animals or rotten food. That will get you close. I shoved all the stuff to one side of the room so Mark could work. Here’s before:
After Mark came and built out shelves for the triangular room.
Since then, I’ve been working for a week on folding my fabric onto comic book boards (The economical way to make mini-fabric bolts. I spent $20 on 2oo boards, saving $400 over buying these.) I have a LOT of fabric. Caleb’s closet is still full of boxes of fabric waiting to be rolled. I’m getting rid of a lot as I go.
I love being able to see all my choices without digging through boxes. I’m hoping they are far enough away from direct sunlight, not to be faded.
Anyway, a clean room with space to work is very motivating. I made 3 ballet costumes the next day.
And yesterday I cut out Heather’s dress. Heather was on the farm visiting her grandparents so couldn’t be fitted. I had to guess. (When she arrived, I had to take 4″ out of the width of the dress!) I chose a piece of fabric and a pattern from my stash. The fabric was a remnant of white on white embroidered gauze with woven stripes that I fell in love with years ago, but never found the right purpose for. It was going to have to be very special. There’s nothing more special than a baptism!
In our church, we believe baptism is a public declaration of our covenant to follow Christ for the rest of our lives. The children have to make the decision themselves, but can’t decide until they are at least 8 years old. This gives them time to mature enough to be able to understand how imp0rtant this decision is. When Heather turned 8, she wasn’t ready yet. I tried to tell myself it was okay. That I was glad she was making the decision on her own and not falling to peer pressure. But mostly I worried. I worried about the questions she asked…the deep thinking she showed that she was struggling with faith. And I prayed…a lot.
You wouldn’t believe the deep discussions we had late at night after the rest of the children were asleep. We would talk about how I knew God was real. I would tell her my testimonies, about how God sent an angel to comfort me in my deep grief and I actually felt his arms around me, but saw no one. About how God healed Caleb’s smashed fingers instantly while Heidi prayed and Grandma and I watched. How I saw Christ in a vision on the cross and He told me that his sacrifice was for ME. And how his face looked like love. And that even though I was worthy of his contempt and condemnation only love was in his eyes.
We talked about that if the big bang theory was true—-where did the first life come from? How we have all the chemicals in the lab that are in living things, but that without life–life cannot come. Life must come from life. So where did that first life come from?
And we talked about how fulfilling a Christian life is. I mean if I live my whole life by Christ’s teachings, I will have a pretty happy life. Loving, forgiving, serving, holding no malice. And if I die and I’m wrong, I still had a fanstastic life. But if a non-believer lives his whole life in sin, he will feel the misery of it his whole life. And if he dies and is wrong, will continue in his misery. And after all that, she still wasn’t sure. She wasn’t ready.
So I stopped talking to her about it. And just prayed in silence. Prayed that God would reveal himself to my daughter in a way that would affect her life forever. Prayed that she would have her own tesimonies and not have to rely on my witness alone. I prayed that fear or anxiety of the water, of germs, of other people watching wouldn’t get in the way of her desire to follow Christ. I don’t know what happened between Heather and God, but one day a few weeks ago, she said to Daddy, “I’m ready now.” He smiled; I cried.
So that is why I am making a white dress. The best reason in the world. Now I’m off to buy a zipper and then we’ll take pictures of the finished dress.
Saturday was wonderful! My mother came over and helped with the baby so I could paint. I painted Heidi’s second closet, her trim, and the boy’s bathroom. This gets us a step closer to a functioning house!
When we take out our sunken Harvest Gold bathtub in the master bathroom, it will stop water flow to our only functioning bath. We will have to open the boy’s bathroom for use, which has been closed from wall-paper removal and a large hole in the shower’s fiberglass floor. Now that it is painted, I can clean it all up and call the fiberglass repair man. I’ve seen lots of DIY fiberglass repair articles on the web, but this is one I’d like to call the professionals for. I’ve seen plenty of black mold from improper leak repairs and am ready to do this one right.
Now that Heid’s room is painted, the carpet man can come. Then she can move into her room which will allow Heather to move into her room and all the children will be in their rightful places. What a happy day that will be!
I used my Christmas money to order curtain fabric for my office and Heidi’s room. Heidi went with white bridal illusion covered in silver glitter. I took a risk on aqua blue and white chevron. I saved some money by salvaging some finials off a curtain rod that was too short. I bought a $3 electrical conduit pipe that just happens to fit and will spray paint everything white–tomorrow. Because even though It’s January in Kansas City, the weatherman thinks it will be 60 degrees tomorrow!
That Chevron has me sitting on pins. I love it–right now. Is this something super trendy that I will tire of quickly? It’s an expensive enough purchase that I’ll have to live with it for awhile. So now that I hit “complete purchase” I’ve decided to love it no matter what.
I had the same concerns about my black and white damask curtains that I made for my living room 3 years ago. Thankfully I live in the midwest where it takes years for the trends to hit, so they’ve stayed in fashion this whole time.
And then I think about the poor orphans in Africa and wonder why I care so much whether my curtains are fashionable. I’ve spent years not caring so much and have found that when I take the time to choose my purchases carefully for their beauty as well as functionality–it makes a difference how the people in my home feel. So I think I will pray that all people have their needs so met that they can waste a thought on whether something is lovely or not.
Here’s a video tour of our new house. I got a little spooked part way through when the front door blew open by itself! And I wasn’t about to go down to the basement again alone–silly, I know. But it’s creepy down there. There is a rat or two living in the house since it was vacant for over a year. And Yikes!!! I just won’t be comfortable there until I’m sure they are “taken care of.” Oops it looks like I shouldn’t turn the camera sideways :p
I just posted this over at Club FYM and wanted to share my joy with my Grocery Shrink friends. I wrote in an earlier post about how I discovered Fit Yummy Mummy and how it’s changed my life. The last 12 weeks was the FYM Fall Transformation Challenge that I participated in. As an exclusively breastfeeding mom, I doubted my ability to make quick changes in my appearance. But I stuck to Holly’s basic program and lost an average of a pound a week. I still have 20 lbs of excess fat to lose and a lot of muscle to build and should reach my final goals in March. What I’ve experienced gives me hope that I will reach those goals if I keep living the FYM lifestyle. Planning and Consistency is the Key to Where I Want to Be.
Here’s my final entry for the challenge:
FINAL STATS
Mom to six ages 11, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 6 months
Height 5’6”
Weight 157.6..145.4 -12.2 lbs
Size 12…8 -2 sizes
Bust 40…38 -2 inches
Waist 34…32.5 -1.5 inches
Mommy Belly 40.5….34.5 -6 inches!!!!!
Hip 40.5….38.5 -2 inches
Thigh 23 7/8…..22 -2 inches
Total 12.2 lbs and 13.5 inches lost
Reflection:
I’m a different person than I was 12 weeks ago. Not just smaller, but stronger inside and out. Emotionally I dealt with being a 7 year veteran homeschooler and putting 2 of my kids in Christian school. The transition was heart wrenching but has been good for our family. We also had the stress of inviting a reality TV crew into our home for 2 days. That 2 days of filming required 4 weeks of prep—cleaning out the spaces that get little attention and no one ever sees. Holly’s program is so perfect, because it only requires 15 extra minutes a day. I can do that even amongst the stress.
The FTC took place over 6 birthdays in our family (including mine) and I learned how to remove sweets from my definition of celebration. Saturday night before the end of the challenge, my oldest daughter scored her first goal in soccer. My dad took us all out to IHOP to celebrate. I was really worried about it, but ordered the spinach omelette with fresh fruit and was able to enjoy the moment with everyone without sacrificing my goals. I had an aha moment:
No matter where I go, there is a positive choice in the options. And when I make that good choice, it FEELS better than anything sweet can taste.
I could enjoy watching the others eat mounds of whipped cream over fluffy white flour pancakes with 6 different syrup choices, and it was okay, because I am reaching for something that is bigger than the moment.
My youngest baby is 6 months old and this is the smallest I have ever been with a 6 month baby. Even though it is my 6th baby! Before FYM I had some thoughts whether it was ever possible to have a trim figure with 6 babies and 35 years old. It is possible!
I feel so strong. When I move, my back is straight and I can feel the muscles in my posture. My legs are strong and powerful. I can run the stairs in my home doing chores and not get winded. I’m so excited because I will only get stronger, yet I will weigh less. It’s like putting a huge engine in a little red sports car. I can MOVE!
Losing weight has always been a battle for me. I had childhood onset obesity and currently weigh 3 pounds less than I did when I was 12 years old. My daughter is almost 12 and when I shared that with her today as she helped me with my photos—her jaw dropped. I’m so thankful she has lived an active healthy childhood and not dealt with the emotions of childhood obesity. Genetics and my past don’t matter as much as my NOW habits. I can have a better body than I did when I was 12—even after 6 babies.
My goals this challenge:
1. To Lose 12 lbs—Met!!!
2. To be able to do real push-ups (I can do 6!)
3. To balance my posture so my shoulders are level—Yes!
4. Consistently Plan My Meals—I would go with spurts on this one. For several days in a row I’d plan it all out, and then for a few days I’d record what I would eat instead. While I prefer planning ahead, both methods worked well for me. I’ve been used to eating 6 small meals a day for several years so the biggest change was upping the produce and decreasing the bread.
5. Do my exercising first thing in the morning for a metabolism boost all day. I did great with this one until the early morning crazies got to me. If I didn’t get it done first thing in the morning, I did it before lunch. Still a huge improvement.
The biggest dare I took, was doing my exercises no matter what. Which meant sometimes I was the only mom jogging around the soccer field at 8am on a Saturday morning. I had to get past the fear that people would look at me and think I was weird.
We had our annual History party at the farm October 30th. It was overwhelming to make 8 costumes, so we went really simple.
Darren and I went as ourselves :). Heidi gathered hers from the dress up box. Dub and Brandon wore their outfits from last year. Caleb borrowed a hat and we only made the beard from drections from the Family Fun website. And Heather’s was made from two etsy patterns that were too fun to pass up. The best part about making the wings was all the scraps I used up–plus I cut out a second set at the same time for a birthday surprise for my neice.
The best costume of the night was my cousin Rachael who came as an olive tree and her son was the grafte in branch–so cute and creative!
Heidi and Brandon were a trio with baby Grant (who slept through most of the party.) Heidi was the Egyptian princess, Grant was baby Moses, and Brandon was the frog plague :).
Caleb went as Abraham Lincoln. He loves history and war games.
Heather was an owl. I forsee lots of dress-up play value in these wings in the future.
Dub was a tiger from the ark.
Here’s the Olive tree, grafted in branch, and lily of the field.
There were some other cute costumes like Shadrack, Meshack and To-Bed-We-Go ( a cutie toddler in her footie jammies.) I wish I had taken more pictures!
I have a teaching degree and taught 5th grade for two years, when I was VERY young. I turned 22 on the first day of school and though I did a decent job, would do a much better job today after having been a parent. I had already decided that when I was blessed with children of my own, I would be a homeschool mom. After teaching classes of 20-25 5th graders, I figured that homeschooling a mere handful of my own children would be a piece of cake. I WAS WRONG. I have a huge respect for homeschooling mothers who do it right. Especially those moms of many who persevere year after year while pregnant and nursing and during financial strain. I wrote this little ad as a tribute to homeschool moms everywhere. It takes a special woman to do what you do.
