The morning started out beautifully, the morning chores were done in a timely manner and school was started successfully. 
First thing, we went through our books and found some 'fall' books to use for our theme week.

Lot's of fun books for this time of year, we read Chrysanthemum, Fall Leaves Fall and a few more.

Look at the groovy bag I received in the mail today! Hooray! :)
School work afterwards, we gathered leaves and glued them to pieces of paper.  I wanted the children to look at the leaf and decide what they could make out of each leaf.  One looked like a dove, one looked like an elephant ear, and so on... so we all had a good time being imaginative. 
Afterwards, we identified different varieties of leaves the children found in the yard, we had a Pin Oak, Flowering Dogwood, Redbud... And of course you can't do fall projects without doing the infamous fall leaf rubbings. :)
The children also wrote acrostic poems and did some math and more reading.
School was F.U.N. today... I wish I was this much fun all the time. :)
Here's our display.
Outside for a while, we had some pleasant surprises... Cosmos that have reseeded and bloomed one more time for us before the winter weather comes in...
Playing on the slide... look at solemn Joe. ;)
An evening of yummy supper by candlelight and the warmth of family. Sitting on the back deck, a beautiful full moon... mugs of hot, steamy cider... closeness, quietness.  A wonderfully fun, happy day.
My Cup Runneth Over...

I made our normal cinnamon roll recipe without any dairy.  I used rice milk in the wet ingredients for the dough.  And I used a soy cream cheese for the frosting.  The kids never noticed a difference.  I asked how it was and they know I don't ask that so they give me an "eye".  They said it tastes good.  I said it's dairy free.  My one daughter says... you used cream cheese though.  And I said, No... it was tofu cream cheese.  They smiled and said... That's ok, Mom... They are still GREAT.  LOL. 

The girls are getting used to the rice milk in the baking.  I don't really think there is a noticable difference in the flavor compared to skim milk in baking.  They are using less cheese themselves.  Last night we had baked potatoes and they just used sour cream (Paige and I had tofu sour cream)... and no one used cheese on their potatoes... that just never happens around here!  No complaints or faces made either.  It is getting a little easier... Just taking each day as it comes. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Let's see...We had our booth at the fall festival.  It turned out to be a good day.  We got a great spot for our booth & lots of children played & got fun little prizes.  The weather was also lovely.  We didn't quite break even...until........I won a $50 gift card to Kroger grocery store!!!  If you count that $50 we made a little profit!  Yeah!!!  We came home around 4:00 & were all very tired.

Sunday we stayed around home.  I got the children's lessons plans done up & cleaned up the school house.  Unfortunately I'm going to have to store my bean-bag toss game in there for a while.  --I said when we built the little school house that it WOULD NOT become a storage shed, and well, it's starting to look like that!  My husband is going to build me a small shed of my own hopefully sometime soon to store MY things in. 

As for today's plans, I've got the laundry going & the dryer too (calls for rain), I've got some baking to do for the week as well & then we need to make a quick run to the library to exchange our things.  We'll do school work first and then make our trip.  I need to pick up a gallon of milk from the dollar store too.  Now that they stock some grocery items in there it is so nice.  I do have to pay a bit more, but it saves on gas so it works out.

Oh...how did I forget this...our neighbors who lived across the street who stole from us, tore up our driveway, beat his wife, & tormented our children....God answered our prayers.  They moved out on Thursday!!!  Come to find out, they had not paid rent in almost the whole year they lived here. The landlord, his boss, finally kicked them out.  We've been watching like a hawk to make sure they did not tear up any of our things or vehicles and I'm happy to say nothing bad happened.  The man has another family that is suppose to be moving in soon so we hope they will be better--it would be hard to be worse!  We saw them over cleaning it up yesterday & the man who oversees the property told my husband they are "good people."--I sure hope so.

That's about it for us.  Hope you have a nice day!

Good Morning Friends!  I hope you are doing wonderful today. 
***A view from the future chicken coop area.***
I have a question for you... what are you doing in the area of planning for the future.  Now, mind you, I am not spazzing out and worrying about what lies ahead, my trust lies in Him,  but I do feel that God has given us enough sense to be prepared for our family.  Of course you know about the hobbit hole, that is one of our ways to be prepared.  I am harvesting ALL that we can get our hands on.  We buy in bulk when it is cheaper... I bought a 50 lb bag of potatoes.  A 5 lb bag was $5.00, a 50 lb bag was $17... yeah, easy decision I thought too.  I brought 5 or so lbs in the house for use and the rest are in the cellar. 
My next project is a chicken coop... now I am not talking about a little bitty thing, I am talking about a 30x30 pen size and then to have a little house for them to roost and lay. 

I have attended meetings of the CHIP (Coronary Health Improvement Project) for the last two summers.  Last summer, however, I wasn't able to attend all of the meetings, but I did really enjoy the meetings I did get to attend. 

Dr. Hans Diehl is a fascinating person.  Quite warm and patient in person, yet he is quite to the point when it comes to health and can bring a person to recognize when they are giving excuses for their health.  I so loved that about him!  I suppose one could get upset that he was so to the point, but I loved it.  He does it with a smile and he still loves the person whom he is talking to.   I think I also liked him because he reminded me of my grandfather... his face was shaped much like my grand-dads and that is likely because they have similar ethnic backgrounds, plus I love his German/Swedish accent.  LOL!

Anyways, the first year I attended the meetings, my heart wasn't with the meetings.  I found them full of truth, but it was truth I wasn't searching for so it seemed so irrelevant.  This year, however, I just ate up every morsel of health information.  What was the difference?  I noticed that I was tired in the afternoons, more than normal... more like when I was pregnant... and I'm not pregnant!  I realized I had put on weight and if I let things continue, I likely would become one of the statistics on the power point presentation.  Also, my husband had a couple episodes of not being able to catch his breath very well after moving some heavy farm equipment.  He just chalked it up to getting older, but he is only 39 yo and his symptoms were early symptoms of some clogging arteries.  That got my attention!  We have a 3yo and we both want to be around to watch her grow up!  So these meetings met a need for our family.  A need to be healthy and to live a strong vibrant life, not one of tiredness and complaints. 

The CHIP program is outstanding.  I see at the website you can listen to short health presentations online.  Do so... they are very good.  I was encouraged that taking steps towards better health is possible.  I was encouraged that simple changes at home can deter one from having to partake of costly medical treatments.  I was encouraged that the simple changes produce results! 

The CHIP program focuses on a low-fat, high fiber diet.  Because of these talks we are giving up many of our white flour favorites and opting for more whole grain alternatives.  Also trying to keep some raw foods in our diet to increase our fiber intake is another way we have made changes.  Thirdly, getting that daily exercise.  There are other aspects, but the main focus is living a life that is optimal in health.  Encouragment is given for baby steps as well as the giant steps that one can make towards improving their health. 

This program can reverse heart disease, without pills, without stress (unless you really stress over the diet!  LOL), and the results can be seen quickly.  To find out more about the program, click on the link at the beginning of the post. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

We have a new kitten on the farm.  It wasn't by choice.  Dh brought home some rams from another pasture and later that morning we found a tiny kitten in the chicken barn, about 50 feet from where the trailer was parked. 

I estimate the kitten to be between 3-5 weeks.  The kitten is so small.  He also has such gooped up eyes.  We called the guy who has the pasture and he says it is likely their kitten, and said we could bring him back or keep him.  We were all very willing to take him back to the farm, but my daughter with such a heart for sick animals wanted to keep him... at least until he gets well. 

After cleaning his eyes, it is apparent there is an infection of some sort.  His inner eyelids are red and swollen.  His left eye may be blind...it is really hard to tell at this point, because the inner eyelid on this eye is SOOOO swollen.  But Today it appears rather gray and cloudy compared to the other eye. 

We are giving him a round of pennicilin.  The shots are soo small, it seems rather a waste of the effort, but he is so tiny.  We also got a bottle and some milk yesterday as he wasn't eating regular cat food very well.  I also picked up a bag of kitten food that was much smaller in size so he could try to eat.  Well, last night we gave him his first bottle and the kitten was sooo happy.  He purred for the first time (we had had him a day by then).  Since then, he continues to eat from the bottle at 3-4 hour intervals.   He eats a whopping 2 teaspoons of milk.  Once he had about three feedings in his tummy, he finally felt ready to discover the kitten food and ate about a teaspoon of that as well. 

We are washing his face about every 2 hours.  I know I should have some eye drops of a sort, but have no idea what to put into his eyes.  I also will be looking at buying another nipple to get us through another week.  He's about chewed this first one to pieces.  But he isn't very good at lapping milk just yet... he loses his balance and falls in... which then gave him a runny nose as well.   One thing I am happy about is that he is using the litter box.  His little wets make up a nickel sized spot.  If he stayed this small forever and made these small messes , I might consider an indoor cat!  LOL 

My daughter with the loving heart went a traveling for a couple days with her older sister to see some friends and to bring a friend home to visit during her home leave from academy.   I will be glad when she returns home to do the nursing of this poor little kitten. 

Any ideas for the kittens eyes?

Warmly, ~Melissa

I assigned categories for the pieces of health information that I plan to write about.  These categories focus mainly on the acronym NEWSTART.  I have added a couple other categories which really do not relate to the NEWSTART acronym, and may continue to add a category or two as necessary. 

The NEWSTART acronym is described below:

N- Nutrition

E - Exercise

W - Water

S - Sunshine

T - Temperance

A - Air

R - Rest

T - Trust in God

Remembering the different parts of NEWSTART can help one to remind themselves of the areas that can improve one's health.  We hardly ever fall apart because of ONE problem, but rather it is usually a combination of health struggles.  Making changes in one area may show improvement, but it likely is not going to be a lifelong answer to our struggles.  NEWSTART can help us towards a healthier lifestyle.  It isn't about diet to lose weight, or sleeping pills to get our rest, but simply getting back to what we were designed to live by. 

DISCLAIMER:

A disclaimer that I want to add is that some of us have bodies that are far along in disease processes.  Changing late in the game is likely not going to cure us, however, we may see decreased symptoms by making healthy lifestyle changes.  A diabetic may still be a diabetic, but their blood sugar levels  are easier to control.  Also because of sin,  our bodies have become run down after generations of misuse.  That means our children can have problems like allergies or other horrible diseases that are not caused by how they are living, but rather a compilation of problems in our own genetics that we have passed down to them, or problems caused while growing in the womb...not to mention the exposure of so many things that are just considered normal these days... (chemicals, pesticides, immunizations, pollution, etc.) that can adversely affect one even though many others can take those exposures without much of a symptom at all.  So, do be realistic in making changes, they won't cure us overnight and they may not cure us at all.  Some changes may relieve us of some symptoms, but some changes could be detrimental to our specific medical condition.     

What does that mean?  If you have a medical condition or your children are sick, please read for guidance of where to go for information, not to substitute for medical treatment.  Making changes without your medical doctor's knowledge can cause big problems.  Medications you may be on may become too strong when making changes to a healthier lifestyle and without some guidance from your doctor on how to wean from your medications, you may end up sicker trying to live healthier than when you just lived "as is" with your medications.  Also, if you are ever feeling concerned or overwhelmed with a situation, do not try to do it on your own, just because it is healthier.  Our gut feelings are there for us to seek help.  And sometimes we do not notice something going terribly wrong because we are untrained in knowing what to look for. 

Now, I do not want this to deter you from trying natural remedies or lifestyle changes.  Just when you do it, make wise choices and if under medical care, take it to your doctor to explain what you are wanting to try.  Some doctors are not supportive of healthy lifestyle/home remedies... in that case, find one who is and one who knows what you are talking about because not all doctors know what home remedies even are as many are not trained in that area or they have seen disasterous cases from one trying to cure themselves on their own.  Often a person will misdiagnose a problem and the "cure" they are using will never work, but only cause the problem to continue without restraint. 

 Many medical missionaries treat others with home remedies and teach unschooled mothers and fathers in treatments where medical facilities are too far away or too expensive.  These treatments are taught and used all over the world and have improved lives.  Why we don't use them here in America boggles my mind.  With medical care so expensive and drug treatments sometimes noneffective or the side effects so damaging, we need to go back to some simple ways of healing. 

In summary, I do not feel anyone should be afraid of remedies or lifestyle changes.  Many changes are as simple as not eating cheetos and eating a whole grain cracker instead.  Some home remedies you can practice even while on medications and see increased results above what just the medication alone will do.  As your skill improves, you will feel more confident.  As time goes by, you will understand how our bodies work and see why something will or will not work in a situation.   Be wise in your decisions; pray and ask for guidance. 

Warmly, ~Melissa

Good Morning! I hope you are all having a lovely start to your Friday!  I am excited for the day.
On Tuesday, we worked in the root cellar... or what my children are insisting we call the Hobbit Hole for a long while.  My Dad came and helped show Shannon how to build some sturdy shelves to store our stockpile.
My boys wanted in on the action.  And since you can 'work' in nothing less than overalls, that was the choice of attire for the day. :)
The littlest one lest be left out...
He even came equipped with his own saw and hard hat. ;)
Shelves were built across the back and down both sides. 
It is SO wonderful!!! I am so happy to have this finished and ready for use.
Have a terrific weekend. Fill it with your family,  laughter, smiles, hugs and kisses, snuggles, sips of hot cider, cozy quilts and love.
With much love from me to you...