Home with all my heart

Mint Ice Tea

Posted by KimMC
04:47, 2008-Jul-18 .. 2 comments .. Link

This is one of my favourite summer time drinks. It's so easy to make and is very thirst quenching on a hot day.

Mint Ice Tea

6 cups boiling water

4 tea bags

1 cup packed fresh mint

3/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate drink

Pour boiling water over tea bags. Cover & steep for 5 minutes.

Remove tea bags Cool for 15 minutes and add mint. Steep and strain.

Refrigerate until cold.

How To Never Run Out Of Groceries Again!

Posted by KimMC
01:33, 2008-Jul-18 .. 2 comments .. Link

I posted this over on my other blog Around The Homestead and thought I'd share it here to.

How many times does it happen to us, in the middle of making supper we find we are missing an important ingredient. We rush to the store for just ONE thing and before we know it other “extras” have found there way into our cart. Soon the one item has cost you 30.00 plus and a lot of wasted time.

So how do we avoid falling into this trap?

1. Make a Menu List

Write down all of your family’s favorite meals, and include the ingredients.

2. Make a Master Shopping List

You can set this up how it best suites your family. For ours we made a 3 column chart. One each for freezer, fridge, and pantry. We then listed each item we used on a regular bases in the proper column.

We decided how many of each item we wanted to keep on hand. Beside each item put the desired number of check boxes.

Now this is the important part. EVERY time you open something that is on your list check it off right a way. No you might not NEED it this week but now that you’ve opened that jar of mayo you should buy another one to replace it. Then when you are getting low you don’t need to make a trip out to buy another.

Preparing our list this way has saved us a lot of money and time. It’s stopped the quick trip to the corner store for 1 item. And since our local store has a minimum purchase amount to use debit that 1 item would always cost us 10.00. Our other alternative was to drive to the next town for one thing and spend the difference in gas and time.

Fences or Folly?

Posted by KeriMae
11:09, Thursday, July 17, 2008 .. Link

The two oldest children burst in the bedroom earlier.

“An eagle! An eagle!”

I admit looking at the sleeping baby and being a bit perturbed. What was the big deal? We have bald eagles all over the place.

Then I looked outside.

The hens were hiding under the tarp shaded section of their home, cowering. A bald eagle that easily met half my height was sitting nonchalantly on the lawn, right next to the chicken tractor. Probably trying to figure out how to get his next meal.

I raced to get the camera but it majestically took off before I could capture the scene.

I am thinking. Do we have as much sense to stay fenced in?

Our hens are constrained. Locked in. Fenced. Their freedom to roam is limited to the area we have designed for them. They cannot just unlatch the door and go out. And if they had any sense at all, they’d be praising the Lord after this morning!

God has fenced us in also, but we have the freedom and ability to stray from His good paths. Be not deceived, sisters, for lions await.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour...

Do not think that a little sin is just a little sin. No lion is going to just pat you on the head with his paw and lick you on the face in greeting. The slurp would be more like an appetizer.

Where are you straying from God’s paths? It is much for me to consider today. I think I will be making the trek home during the day, and thanking the Lord for His ways, which are always for my good.

Psalms 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Lock me in, Lord.

"The School Thing"

Posted by KeriMae
10:16, Thursday, July 17, 2008 .. Link

I got this great email regarding my blog on how to best educate our children, and with permission am printing it here. I found it inspiring and hope it gives my readers pause for thought as well:

..Read your post this morning... Been there... done that..
Seriously, we have homeschooled almost 18 years now... and I started out with the seat work at the table bit... but like you, I wanted more for my kiddos...I have all boys, I wanted each of them to be godly men , wonderful husbands, great fathers... so we tossed 80% of the books most years... We read lots of books..separate...as a family...we talked about them... and we did math... maybe 2-3 times a week.. the boys were able to explore their interests peppered with real life instruction. For a month they worked with a neighbor learning how to shingle a roof...followed by volunteering at Habitat and learning other skills...One saved his money from raising rabbits and went to the state surplus auction where he bid on a hundred computers... swapped out parts and built 35 good ones which he sold on ebay and made a dandy profit. He spent HOURS absorbed in that which he could not have done had I forced the book work.. they took mission trips to Honduras, Maine & NY after Ground Zero to feed volunteers... they hiked mountains and worked in soup kitchens they learned how to run a tiller and plant a garden. They bought old cars and learned how to swap out transmissions and what a universal joint was..
... so, despite my schooling fears.. I woke each morning and committed our learning to the Lord for each child..and at night my hubby and I would pray together for us to be able to guide them where HE wanted them to go...
..The result.. The oldest is 27 and engaged to a very wonderful woman..he owns a landscape business that specializes in solar lighting and is working on finishing up his degree at NCSU in Sociology and Public Service where he hopes to work for a non-profit.. he is the author of the book "The Faces Have Names", a pictorial on the homeless in America
..#2 son is married to a lovely woman ( he is the computer kiddo mentioned above).. He works in IT from home where he and his wife hope to have a house full of children. He and his wife have a music ministry where they sing together at different events.
..#3 son who volunteered at Ground Zero when he was 15 just returned from Iraq with a purple Heart, bronze Star with Valor & a Medal of Commendation for his service. He will settle in as a police officer and continue volunteering with at risk kids as soon as his wounds are patched up ( we seriously need a good chiropractor!!!)
#4 Will play basketball at Liberty University as soon as he graduates and wants to coach at a Christian school or college.
... it works... it works by committing it to the Lord...

You can find this mother here.

Children's Bible Study Links

Posted by KimMC
01:07, 2008-Jul-16 .. 1 comments .. Link

If your looking for good free Bible studies/activities for children I really like the sites below. I plan to mix them in with our daily Bible devotions.

Calvary Chapel Children's Ministry Curriculum

The Bible Stories Library

Composer Study Link

Posted by KimMC
01:03, 2008-Jul-16 .. 0 comments .. Link

Someone shared this wonderful site with me recently. We plan to use it with our music studies this year. You can lesson to music and read bio's of the composers along with photos.

Last.fm

Counting the Cost of Baby Number Six

Posted by KeriMae
12:58, Wednesday, July 16, 2008 .. Link

I have received so many messages; thank you, thank you. I treasure all of your good words and thank you so much. I’ve been trying to reply, to catch up on emails and blogs, and yet the days pass into one another so quickly! Is it possible that our baby is a month old already?!

I have been enjoying her oh so much. In the middle of the night we sit on the rocker that Tom’s mother sat on in the yesteryears, my feet upon a little pine stool. My back is so improved; what a blessing to be able to lift up my feet! Baby lies upon my chest with her feet tucked under her round rump, her soft and downy head under my nestling chin. Can there be anything sweeter in the whole wide wonderful world, anything at all, than a newborn babe content with her ear upon mother’s heartbeat?

Somehow our other children grew, and my memory grew rusty during the moments that stretched into years. I truly forgot. In counting the cost of another pregnancy, another "mouth to feed", another child to train up, I forgot how time stops for the swaying of a chair, the stroking of a wee head, the deep inhalation of baby perfume. I forgot the wonderment of toes the size of corn kernels, and dainty eyelashes parting for eyes to lock into mine. I forgot about the faithfulness of God to give me strength, endurance, patience, hope. Oh, how precious to be in HIS arms!

The past month seems so foreign now. The finding of a provider whilst in labor, the surgery by default (breech=Caesarean at our hospital), the eight day trial of painfully traveling the halls to get to my newborn, her wires and oxygen tubes, X-rays, EKG’s and echocardiograms, dealing with nurses of all stripes, the blow of our friend’s toddler dying in an accident, my mastitis and current lingering chest pains and of course the cherry on top of it all in throwing my back out (did I leave anything out?). Ack! It is all rubbish now. I pull my baby close into my body and inhale the utter goodness of God of making me (me!) a mother of all things, and I think and cry out to the Lord during the quietness of a 3am feeding:

“It was worth it all. It is worth what will come. Thank you, just thank you, thank you for it all. I am blessed beyond measure.”

Free Butterfly Unit Study

Posted by KimMC
02:39, 2008-Jul-15 .. 1 comments .. Link

This weeks wonderful freebie at CurrClick is a study on butterfly's!! What child doesn't love them?! Make sure to stop by and grab your freebie, it's only up for this week.

Click Here

Solar Power

Posted by Song of Joy
11:44, Sunday, July 13, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I came across something that I had never heard of - a solar food dehydrator. I have heard of solar cooking, but this was something new to me. I found this article in Mother Earth News, and then went to the guy's website. You can order his book from Amazon for around $10.00. Has anyone ever tried solar dehydrating? It looks like it would be a lot cheaper than an Excalibur, which has been something on my wish list for some time. Maybe now I'll just add this book to my wish list, if my handy dandy dh has the time to build it.

I saw this book as well on Amazon: Cooking with Sunshine: The Complete Guide to Solar Cuisine with 150 Easy Sun-Cooked Recipes and thought it looked pretty interesting, too. While I have heard of solar cooking, I've never tried it. That just might be a fun family project!

Blessings,

Carol

Cough cough cough

Posted by Daisyblend
08:58, Sunday, July 13, 2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

Guess what? Yup, we're still sick! Things are going along about the same... maybe the symptoms are worse but we're settling into the routine of endless vomiting and laundry so it's a little better in a sense. Unfortunately the Momma of the house is getting worse. It's settling into my chest now and it's terrible at night when I try to sleep. Once I get to sleep it doesn't wake me, so that's something.   About the same for the kids, I guess. Within a half hour of putting them to bed we have one or two vomiting (and Farra, though not vomiting, is still up coughing) but once it's over they sleep the night through. Seth coughs and sputters more during the day than anyone else.  And though we're all up late with this, I don't get to sleep in like the kids do because of the goaties! (And forget napping. It takes a couple hours to get to sleep with this tickly throat and by the time that's passed I have to get up!) Bobby had mercy on me this morning and did chores so I could get an extra couple hours sleep (I begged him).   Chores are remarkably easier now that we've weaned the baby goats.
        Bobby's back to work tomorrow, at least for a day or two. I'm hoping Kelly will officially lay him off after that so he can collect unemployment until the next out of town job in a few weeks. Usually, though, he gives him a few odd hours of work here and there. Praying about it. The Lord knows.
          Not much else going on. Bobby wanted to get out today so we did a little letterboxing. Kept it to short trails to not over-do our bacteria-fighting bods. The weather is beautiful since the humidity dropped some and it was nice to be out. Of course, that meant that the house didn't get cleaned and only half my garden got weeded this morning and I got the cauliflower and broccoli in and frozen but didn't harvest any more calendula or get to those green beans...  and the pool we started filling this morning is only half full of water and we still haven't found that leak in it... But there's always tomorrow, right? You know, while Bobby's working...
        I sure miss the fellowship. I miss being in a room full of believers all signing praise, encouraging and admonishing one another... doing what the body does... But people are calling and writing email and letting us know we're not forgotten. Looks like we're out of the loop for at least another month, if Blue doesn't get sick. Deep breath... (cough cough) we can do this!    ... With His help alone.

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