Simplest Pleasures

Getting Back to Blogging

2011-07-15T22:38:00.000-04:00

Ok....after a long, long and maybe too long break, I think I am going to keep up with my blogging again. Although I am pregnant with #5, I would love to keep up with this especially so family can keep up with growing children :) Look how much everyone is growing....I need to update more pictures :)

Family Photos

2010-06-29T22:07:00.000-04:00

This is us :) I love being a mom and wife....I love being at home....the world is icky but I really love life when I am clinging to my Savior.....life is good when it is lived with Him.....I can breathe and hope and dream!!!

Sidetracked

2010-06-28T22:06:00.001-04:00

Our Little Bub loves trucks and tractors. He would be smiling but its like 13 degrees out :(

Sidetracked.......that is what my life has been for alittle bit. The traditional diet has stabilized to a norm around our home so I have completely forgotten to continue to share some of the fun things we are doing as a result of the switch to nutrient dense foods.

Herdshare......we now drink raw milk from a real farm that we can visit.....they give our animals a good, normal life .....we also get coconut oil, real salt, beef, chicken, yogurt, cream (to make my own butter) and fruit when in season.

CSA.....we have joined another farm that provides us with our veggies for the summer.....the great kicker is that EVERYTHING is organic!! It's really fun to drive there and pick up our share of crops and to support another family

Organic Food Coop.....my friend runs a local food coop that picks up about 2 minutes from my home....huge blessing....I can get everything from them but I usually stick with nuts and dried fruit and some other miscellanous things.

Bee Farm.....we get all our honey from a local bee farm 15 minutes away....we are planning a field trip there soon to learn more about bees.

Farmers Market.......this is where I get the remainder of my fruit and more veggies to ferment :)......I also get my raw milk, grassfed cheese here!

Fermenting....probiotics in a capsule???...NOPE....we make our own in our Pickl-its (check out a pickl-it http://www.pickl-it.com)%20.....yummy/ yummy kefir!!

Dehydrating....doing lots and lots of that right now....getting ready to go on vacation and I am trying to make traveling snacks....graham crackers, herb crackers, chicken jerky, hamburger jerky, butterfinger bites, fruit roll-ups....

Lots of adventure to our week and I would not have it any other way. The Lord has been so good to provide so many blessings for us and I am so grateful. He is always working on me in one way or another and typically never lets me rest in between teaching times. I just started to get comfortable with all the food changes and now He has pulled another whopper on me....its big (for me at least) and it is for another post.

Food Chit Chat and Cute Kids

2010-05-24T23:56:00.000-04:00

I have been alittle busy lately so sorry for no posts. They will be coming soon but in the meantime I will be hosting a "Food Chit Chat" night here at my home on Tuesday, June 1 at 8pm. I will be covering the basics of the Traditional Diet, samples of food, recipes, resources, encouragement and more. Contact me through email or facebook to let me know if you are coming. This night is for friends and family only :) !! Hope to see you there.

Here are the cute kids....for a quick little update.

Peanut should join the circus. Baby B is just so cute.

Big Bub just learned to pump and is overjoyed. Little Bub is hilarious and makes me laugh daily.

This is the most recent picture of us.....another 5 aspects project picture :) It was really fun.

I thought this was a really funny series of pictures. Notice Little Bub driving his car on Big Bub while he is screaming and how Baby B gets fed up with Little Bub and tries to push him away....just too funny!! I love these photos the most because I think they show the most reality!

Ahh! Haa! The Traditional Diet

2010-05-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

More than likely the term "traditional" and "diet" used together are a rarity to you. They were to me. Now "lowfat" and "diet" were words I knew well. How about words like kombucha, kefir, lacto-fermentation, dehydrating, sprouting, lactic acid bacteria, kimchi....uhhh, can someone please speak English? :) These were some of my early thoughts when I started to read about the Traditional Diet. This was a whole new and exciting world for me.

So here it goes.....Ladies and Gentlemen....The Traditional Diet Guidelines

1.Eat whole, natural foods.

2.Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.

3.Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.

4.Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.

5.Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils—coconut and palm.

6.Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.

7.Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.

8.Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.

9.Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.

10.Use herb teas and coffee substitutes in moderation.

11.Use filtered water for cooking and drinking.

12.Use unrefined Celtic seasalt and a variety of herbs and spices for food interest and appetite stimulation.

13.Make your own salad dressing using raw vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and expeller expressed flax oil.

14.Use natural sweeteners in moderation, such as raw honey, maple syrup, dehydrated cane sugar juice and stevia powder.

15.Use only unpasteurized wine or beer in strict moderation with meals.

16.Cook only in stainless steel, cast iron, glass or good quality enamel.

17.Use only natural supplements.

18.Get plenty of sleep, exercise and natural light.

19.Think positive thoughts and minimize stress.

20.Practice forgiveness.

http://www.westonaprice.org/Dietary-Guidelines.html

(I will actually refer to the diet as NT from now on meaning "Nourishing Tradtions"....its the cookbook from an early post) This is the Traditional Diet (NT) food pyramid. It looks alot different than what I was used to seeing.

I am going to help guide you through how we switched over and what it has done in our lives. This is month 3 of the adventure and I have proof that this change in food choices and preparation is the real deal....Stay Tuned....

The Great Adventure: Out with the "New" and in with the "Old"

2010-05-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

Prior to going to Holly's that night, I would have easily rated myself at an "8" for the nutrition of our family. After reading and learning more information on nutrition, I now would have given myself something closer to a "3". I was blown away at how much I was outsourcing our food to mega food companies and how much they were compromising the very nutrition of our food.

So, the center of our adventure is now.......eating whole, nutrient dense foods, preparing them properly, and yes that means no more processed foods. This is NOT a switch to only eating organic labels. (Though we do get our spices and such in organic.) This IS a switch to eating food in its most whole state...that means as minimally processed as possible. (Things such as crackers, gummy bears, candy, fruit juice, goldfish are out even if they are "organic".....in posts to come I will share more information on processed foods and extruded grain.) We have gone back to a traditional diet.....one that has foods that my great-great-great grandma would recognize. (That's 3 great's) Here are pictures of my fridge and cupboards now :)

In the next couple of weeks, my hope is to gently show you how we switched to a traditional diet and what exactly a traditional diet is. I will include recipes and tutorials and hopefully soon Holly will have her blog up and running so I can shoot you over to her.

Now that you have heard part of our story, I am hoping that you will continue to keep reading and learning. The information I will pass along to you will cause you to do one of three things.

Remain- to continue on with the Standard American Diet (SAD)
Reform- to take the SAD diet and switch to organic (still buying boxes, frozen dinners and canned goods but are now organic.....still outsourcing food to the local health food store and organic labels)
Return- go back to a traditional way of eating and preparing foods (dehydrating, fermenting, sourdough bread, making meals from scratch with fresh produce, "real" milk and eggs and my favorite part.....eating lots of "good" fat)

My hope is that you will in some way research what you are eating daily and the next time you think or say, "I know this is so bad for me, but.....but...." ----My hope is that at that moment you will toss it, instead of eating it. Of course, I am hoping you all will want to "return" to good, whole food.

Stay tuned for the first step in this process of switching over.....in true Bethany style, I stalked down every person that had good food information for me and switched over to all of this fairly quickly. I was responsible for caring for my family and once I knew the truth about the foods in our home, it was a joy to throw them away as quickly as possible (I can't say that for Big Daddy....he trusted me but it took him a little longer to adjust to not having chips, crackers and such in the house until I came up with a nutrient-rich substitute) I will be sharing information with you at a much slower pace in hopes that you will not get overwhelmed but be excited to start this journey :)

Next post I will tell you a little more how this Amish connection Holly had changed our lives indefinitely......

The Great Adventure: The night that the ball starting rolling

2010-04-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

Narrator: Tap, Tap, Tap...

Me: Yes, God.

God: It's time to do something about your self-control with food. I see it has become something you worship over me.

Me: I think you are right God, now what?

Finally after months of tapping and prodding, my heart responded. I choose to give up snacking after 7pm. I noticed that after the kids go to bed was the worst time for me to have a lack of self-control with my food. I had three very dear friends who did this with me (bless their hearts....I had weeks to think about this and I pitched it to them and they started the next day....very impressive) We decided to do it for 40 days and see what we learned from God in the process.

After day 4, it was getting really easy for me....actually I stopped craving food at night and was content with water with a squirt of real lemon. Around day 5 or so, a friend was presenting a project for "Five Aspects of Woman Study" (I highly recommend that every woman take this course if its ever offered at your church....just amazing! I did post a couple of posts from the study if you would like a preview Week 1 and Week 2) and she made soap for the class. Being very old fashioned and loving to do things the "old, traditional" way, I hunted her down after class and set up a time to learn how to make soap. This future friend, Holly, also mentioned a connection to an Amish family (no we are not becoming Amish :) ...good guess though....I just love how the Amish know how to do so many things without the use of electric and it intrigues me....this connection will be described more in other posts)

Soap night came and I was pumped. I actually had no idea what God had in store for me this night...I thought I was going there to learn how to make soap free of toxins and carcinogenics. While we were waiting for the soap parts to melt, I asked Holly about a cookbook she had on her counter. It was called "Nourishing Traditions". We got to talking and she started telling me about a dentist who was in search of the causes of dental decay and physical degeneration that he observed in his dental practice in the early 1900's. It was fascinating what some of his findings were from uncivilized cultures around the world. You can read more about him here.

Sad to report, we forgot a key ingredient in the soap and it did not turn out :( But I think God did not intend for us to make a good soap that night (then we had an excuse to do it again) but for Him to open my eyes to a whole new world.

I naturally came home to research for myself all that Holly had shared with me. This would be the beginning of a three week nutrition study, about three hours a day. I felt like I was putting myself through nutrition college. I researched the pros and cons of so many things. I spent most of my time here. What I found in those three weeks, was life changing for this family forever.

This was the literal start of the adventure...unfortunately, I am an "all or nothing" girl and this one I gave my ALL. (I say unfortuately because it left my family in a little bit of shock...especially my hubby who could not keep up with what I was learning)

The next post will reveal the adventure so stay tuned............

We did finally have success with the soap on another night. I am hoping to host a night/class to make some soon. Big Daddy and Big Bub are in the process of making some soap molds for me :)

The Great Adventure: Slaves in America???

2010-04-20T23:07:00.002-04:00

We live in a country that has fought for the freedom of its people. We have freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, to assemble, and to petition. But my question is, "Are we really living a life of freedom?"

Through my time in Scripture and living everyday life, I have found myself asking this question to myself. (If it seems like I asked myself alot of questions, its because I do :) After re-evaluating my days and what I was spending time on, it was time to tackle the things in my life that distracted me from serving God and my family to my greatest ability as an extremely flawed woman. (thankfully God's grace is sufficient and his forgiveness is great) I made a mental list of the things that people and I could be a "slave" to in a "free" country so here it is: (there may be more to add but this is all I could think of at the time)

1. Sports

2. Sex

3. Work

4. Money

5. Marriage

6. Computer

7. Facebook

8. Blogging

9. Drugs/Alcohol

10. Food

11. Our Kids

12. Sleep

13. Bargain Hunting
14. School
15. TV
16. Exercise
17. The Phone (any form)
18. Texting
19. "Me" time
20. Politics

The above things are not bad in and of themselves but if you worship them and they are stealing away precious time from more important things in your life then I think its time to rearrange your priorities.

Once again, more things that God was wanting me to change. My number one slave: FOOD (sleep and bargain hunting were on my list too...I was shocked to see what I did sometimes just to get a bargain...scary). I did not realize it until I actually sat down and thought about it. For the most part, I have no self-control when it comes to food. It was something I did live to do. It was so convicting but I did nothing about it. I acknowledged it and then it sat on the backburner for months.

God kept tapping me on the shoulder to remind me about this area but I decided I had better things to focus on at the time like homeschooling, scrapbooking and taking care of the kiddos.

The tapping continued for months here and there.....but still nothing..........

The Great Adventure: An Unexpected Book

2010-04-08T22:41:00.000-04:00

And the story goes on......

After I started milling the flour, I also started doing cloth diapers. Big surprise I know, but, I really liked doing it. But my knew found fun diminshed when we were blessed with a new washer. Little did I know that front loaders aren't the best for cloth diapers.....actually, I had to quit using them because they did not wash well any longer :( Anyways, that was just alittle blip on the radar but just one more little "old-fashioned" way that snuck into our home.

Shortly after my cloth diaper adventure, I finally saved up money to buy a book I had wanted for ages. I ordered it and eagerly waited for it to arrive. It took days and days and finally...........it was here. Then it took me at least 3 months or so to pick it up and read it (Life is so interesting with kids and at this point I had three) But once again, God's timing was perfect for me to read this book. I bet you are wondering what the book was. It is called, "Rite of Passage Parenting" by Walker Moore.

I would highly recommend that everyone (married, single, kids, no kids) read this book at some point. I know it says its a parenting book but I gleaned alot from it personally. I will have a full book review on it another time. For now I want to focus on one part of the book.....Outsourcing.

Moore talks about how much Americans outsource....someone else to teach and take care of our children and elderly, Betty Crocker for our cakes, Green Giant for our frozen foods, maids cleaning our homes, restaurants cooking our meals, and the list goes on (I wish I had the book to give you some of his examples but I lent it to a friend)

As I was reading this chapter, it made me think of a couple of things.....1.) What am I outsourcing that I should be taking care of myself? and 2.) If I am outsourcing some of my duties, what am I doing with the extra time I have? These two questions helped me do two things.....cook more from scratch (not just things with flour in them) and limit the computer. It's amazing how lazy I realized I was and how much time I was wasting throughout the day.

I often get asked the question, "How do you do it? You homeschool, have 4 children under 6 years old, make all of your own bread and still have time to scrapbook, blog and have girl game nights. ( I have one more thing to add to my list but I don't want to spoil the adventure :) I never have any time. I'm too busy" the person replies. My thought is, "What are you busy with?" I will constantly reevaluate that question with my life in everyday comings and goings. I like to keep it simple and fortunately, I do not struggle with saying "no" to too many commitments.

God is definitely my Rock everyday...I need Him and He responds to my calls of desperation. To be honest, we don't have a tv to be distracted by. We will watch an occassional movie but that is it. I think that is a huge factor to the productiveness of our days. I have learned to make useful the time during the day which I was being idle/lazy (like taking a nap when all my kids are sleeping through the night is not needed or my weakness, being on the computer too long researching one more thing).

Outsourcing was another interesting and convicting part of this adventure and I am still idle in some areas of my life but at least I can identify them now and work on them........

The Great Adventure: An unexpected purchase

2010-04-03T21:53:00.000-04:00

Shortly after my thoughts on transforming our home environment, a friend was telling me how she was "milling" her own flour. Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was her turning a crank of a mill as the grain was mashed into flour, outside in the backyard and I thought, "How in the world does she have time to do that? and "What a silly thing to do when you can buy flour at the store." Whole grain flour had not been introduced to me up till this point and here she was, making her big debut and I shut her down. I did not know the benefits of whole grain yet but I was semi-interested in the whole "milling" process.

As the weeks went on, I thought more about how neat this was...I could make my own flour (and it was alot cheaper too!) So I priced out the good ole' Nutrimill from a good friend locally who sells them. God's timing is always so perfect and unfortunately this was not the time to buy the mill :( So I waited patiently and wondered when the day would come. I waited longer and still no extra money for the mill.

Christmas was just around the corner and I thought just maybe, someone "might" get me the mill. Christmas came and went....no mill :( (I know, I know.....bear with me....most people want big glorious things and here I am wishing for a flour mill....its just me.....I never thought in a million years that I would ever dream of getting a flour mill :) Then, very graciously, one of our family members allowed me to return some gifts and use the money toward the mill !!!!!!! I picked it up in January 2007. It was glorious and now I could forever use whole grain, non-processed, no bleach, free from chemical flour from my very own kitchen.

I love the mill.....how much do I love my mill? I have not used flour from the store in this home since January 2007....cheaper and much more healthy. I use the flour from our mill for everything.....cinnamon rolls (actually rising right now as we speak for Easter tomorrow), waffles, pizza, bread, muffins, cookies (yum)....you can substitute the whole grain flour for flour in any of your favorite recipes.

Whole grains have shown to be better for you than white flour. I have had two pregnancies now since switching over to whole grain everything (except the occassional white bread at restaurants and fast food) and they were both amazing. I really think that switching to whole grains helped my body get the extra nourishment it wasn't getting from store bought bread (basically dead food...nutritionally I mean) to nourishing and nutrient dense whole grains. ( I have lots of recipes I will share but they will come later on)

I was excited to provide good food for my family and I felt better about what I served them. I learned how to plan better (with 4 kids you have too!) and it has in turn made me more disciplined. The kids love to mill the flour too and Little Bub knows exactly how to work the machine....its precious.

This was quite an adventure for me but that was still about 3 years ago, so the story goes on, but I have not yet scratched the top. What was in store for me down the road I would have never forseen even if I could see into the future :) Stay tuned............

The Great Adventure: The Story Begins

2010-04-01T15:47:00.002-04:00

I have been pondering many days how to appropriately communicate to you our change.

I think I need to give you alittle background trip through the past three years and some little tidbits about how I am wired these days.

To start with: I LOVE EVERYTHING TRADITIONAL/OLD FASHIONED! I have many people tell me, "You were born way past your time" and "You should be a farmer." and "Little House on the Prairie is calling your name." I fully agree with everything that has been said :) I love the old way of doing things....I don't know why...but I do.

I love the old days when the man would ask the father for his daughter's hand in marriage, when you wash your clothes by hand (yes...I know its nuts but I have actually had a desire to do this even with four kiddos....nuts I know), make your own clothes, know who your neighbors were because you all had a front porch, when no one knew what a gummy bear was, when people spent more time together than on the computer and phone, when living together for the first time was the night after your marriage, when commitment actually meant "till death do us part", when all of our food and such were clean and free from processed chemicals.....all these beautiful things that get so lost and clouded in a culture of busyness and confusion.

I love to make my own things with my hands. About three years ago, I watched a video that talked about all the chemicals in our house and how much indoor pollution we live in. It sent me search for new household cleaner recipes which I actually love. With so many kiddos in the home, I was alittle fearful of them getting near the cleaners I had. One of my favorite is listed below:

1 spray bottle
filtered water (enough to fill the bottle)
20 drops of essential lemon oil

I use this on everything and even my windows (no streaks either). If you want to make it alittle stronger, you could add 1/4 cup of vinegar for alittle more disinfecting power.

This is one tiny piece of the adventure to come..............

Book Review: Dinosaurs for Kids

2010-03-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

Dinosaurs for Kids by Ken Ham is by far my favorite dinosaur book I have come across in the two years my little boy has been interested in them. I enjoyed the illustrations throughout the book. I was most impressed with the high quality information presented, in 64 colorful pages, that you do not get from other dinosaur books.

Ham focuses on the Seven Ages of dinosaurs: Formed, Fearless, Fallen, Flood, Faded, Found and Fiction. Each section focuses on information about dinosaurs based on God's Word. Ham consistently draws the reader back into Scripture. I appreciate that he states facts based on the Bible and says that some things about dinosaurs are truly uncertain. I have never heard other authors state that many things about dinosaurs are still a mystery. Many books will tell you everything about them like it is fact, where in fact, it is just an educated guess or fiction.

I have really enjoyed reading this book to help answer some of the harder questions about dinosaurs and also finding out that the discovery of dinosaurs is still very young and scientists still do not know very much about this amazing creature. I love being able to incorporate God's Word into teaching my little ones about every aspect of life....including my son's beloved dinosaurs.

I would recommend this book as a "must have" for your library especially if you have a dinosaur lover. This book gives you a great picture of dinosaurs on the whole.

Photography Fun!

2010-03-26T17:13:00.000-04:00

I just love to showcase the amazing beauty, captured by camera, that the Lord has created. Here are some of the recent photos that I have been blessed with taking.

These are my dear friends, The Bravo's.

Our precious Peanut. She loves the nutcracker.

I can't seem to locate some other family pictures I did :( I will have to look more later.

We are back online :)

2010-03-25T22:04:00.000-04:00

Ok, after alittle break, we are back online.

Once again my life has drastically changed and it wasn't due to another addition to our family. Ever since I met the Lord nine years ago, my life has consistently made drastic changes....so needless to say, I was not surprised by this change but its huge.

I bet you are wondering what this big change is :) Over the next couple of weeks, I will reveal to you what has changed our family physically and spiritually. It has been one of the most liberating and exiting and extremely frustrating (at times) changes of my life!

I look forward to sharing more with you soon but for now here is alittle family update :)

Peanut: This little girl is turning into alittle lady. She is consistently helping me around the house with cooking, cleaning and taking care of her siblings. One of her jobs is to sweep the front porch so it looks nice when guests arrive and she does it so proudly. She is reading very well and excelling so quickly in her school...it has truly been a blessing to watch her learn and grow in character. We have started studying bits and pieces of God's word together and its neat to watch her put the pieces together.

Big Bub: The biggest praise and exciting news is that he is finally eating vegetables. He is so proud of himself and shows me his muscles every time he takes a small bite of his veggies at dinner. This is a little boy who would gag at the sight of veggies. He is growing up so much too. He is very creative when he plays and he loves to make spaceships out of everything he can find. He is also still very in love with dinosaurs and is questioning more about God and creation which has been very exciting. He is a very sensitive boy and is still learning how to play with his growing little rough and tough brother.

Little Bub: I wish I had a clip of this little boy talking...it would melt your heart. He is so funny. He talks in complete full sentences which sometimes I laugh at because he just seems too little. He loves, loves, loves trucks. One of his beloved times is going with Gaga to watch the trucks work. He loves to read books and nuzzle right into your lap....he melts my heart daily. He is also the fiesty one out of the bunch and he has a pretty good and passionate temper on him

Baby B: She is just so teeny, tiny cute. She has just recently started to crawl and its so funny watching her crawl acrossed the floor because she is so little. I think she weighs a whopping 14 pounds. She is about 10 months now. I can't believe how fast time flies. She has two little bottom teeth and eats about everything you put in front of her. Her favorite: saurkraut homemade by mommy!

Big Daddy: He is doing well and keeping very busy. Praise God for all the jobs He has brought our way and is providing for us during a rough ecomony. I think the business is doing the best it has since its birth 6 years ago so I consider that a HUGE praise and thank you to God alone for His provision.

Bethany: Photography has been great and I am loving it. It really helps to have some extra income to work with. I have a nagging pinch in my shoulder that consistently reminds me of my weakness and my need for God because it is really annoying and really painful.

So this is us and I will continue to post more about the family as I remember and I look forward to sharing my newest "grand adventure" with you bit by bit.

Long time no talk

2010-03-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

I took alittle sabatical from blogging to get my house in order, to ponder my purpose for blogging and to put myself through nutrition college. More to come soon...............

Jacob's Surgery Update

2010-01-04T20:41:00.000-05:00

Book Review: The Answers Book for Kids Volume 3 and 4

2009-12-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

The Answers Book for Kids Volume 3: 22 Questions from Kids on God and the Bible and Volume 4: 22 Questions from Kids on Sin, Salvation and the Christian Life by Ken Ham are great resources for helping your children try and understand some of the big questions they having rolling around in their minds. Thses books are great at helping guide the child to find out those "Why" questions and to dig deeper into the Bible.

Each page has a question from a child, a response and extra scriptures that you can use to learn even more of what God's word says about the question. Some of the questions are, "Who made God?, How big is God?, Why does God let the bad guys win sometimes?, How does God get His power? Where does He get it from?"

This was also a great resource for me, as a parent, on my journey of faith and wrestling through some of the more difficult questions of life. I really enjoyed the pictures used on each page. They were creatively put together to help match the question asked. I have not yet read Volumes 1 and 2 but I am sure they were done with the same quality and accuracy as Volumes 3 and 4. I would definitely recommend having these in your home library, town library and/or church library.

Book Review: The Creation Story for Children

2009-12-29T22:22:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for a book to engage your child and tell God's story of creation, look no further. Helen & David Haidle have written, "The Creation story for Children" that captures the beauty of God's creation through pictures and God's word.

Some of the pages are also fun to use as a "seek and find" because there are so many pictures used to show what God created on each day.

I am encouraged that the authors stick close to God's word and not just another paraphrase of the Genesis creation account. At the end of the book, they go through amazing creatures, amazing senses, amazing shapes and colors in depth and show animals in each category.

I really love this book and highly recommend you add this to your library. It will be the only creation book you will need to teach your children the truth about God's creation.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2009-12-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

I once again had great vision of sending out cards by mail this year and it slipped my mind. I was really preoccupied with an interesting gift this year that took up most of my brain power. My grandmother collects nativities so we decided that our family was going to pose as the nativity, frame it and give it as the most unique nativity she will ever possess. The angel on the right is my aunt and she lives in Canada so I actually superimposed her into the picture....amazing complicated but the Lord provided an amazing picture for us. So Happy New Year from the Fleishours and belated Merry Christmas our Savior has come!!

Oh, How They Change

2009-12-21T14:47:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe my babies are not babies anymore. Big Bub is well on his way to becoming a gentleman and Peanut is developing into quite a fine young lady. I have been enjoying watching them search out who God has created them to be and what things in this world pluck their heart strings. I have made two collages that I feel capture some of their uniqueness and little passions that are growing inside each of them. I have so much to be thankful for this Christmas season and these two gifts from God are top on the list. (Big Daddy is my first and best gift ever!)

Peanut wants deeply to be in the Nutcracker Ballet!

Big Bub loves to be creative with his costumes and pretend play. He still loves dinosaurs a ton.

Mistress of the Domain: Redeemed

2009-12-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

I posted the fallen part of this aspect previously and I am glad to be posting the best part...the redeemed.

The most beautiful part of this aspect is how we are redeemed. God has had a redemptive plan from the beginning. He knew He would need to reach down to us. Mouser puts into words our wonderful salvation,
"We deserve to be hauled in to the capital and hanged for treason. But Christ was hanged for us. This is what His death on the cross means; He paid the price of a traitor's death....Adam and Eve broke the trust. But trust is re-established when we receive God's offer of new life and re-assert our allegiance to Him." Our mind is to be renewed and enlightened and our conscience is purged from dead works. This is great news!!!

In conclusion, we were created in the image of God, the Fall has brought sin nature to the image we bear, Jesus has died to pay the penalty we deserved to die. God has given us our domain for a purpose and is fashioning our lives that we might bring our whole being to Him.

Next aspect....Helper-Completer (and it is so good!!)

Picture borrowed from http://sharecare.wordpress.com/2008/03/

Family Photos

2009-12-01T23:52:00.001-05:00

Our dear and favorite friend, JMay, took some fun photos of us. I forgot about them until I was sorting out pictures today so here they are. Check out the amazing background God gave us....that is as rich of red as you can get...amazing. Thanks so much JMay for capturing our family :)

My best friend. I love this man dearly and we have our ups and downs but I am committed till death do us part.

My baby girl!

Silly!

I told Big Bub to touch cheeks with Mommy....I guess I forgot to mention look at the camera too....he was so cute...he kept his cheek on mine for a whole minute!

This is our family. Somehow we have developed this little family cheer where everybody puts their hands in and then screams, "Go brothers and sisters!!" It's become a trademark.

The Lord is good.

2009-11-29T22:21:00.000-05:00

The Lord is good, even when its raining.
The Lord is good, even when I am crying.

The Lord is good, even when chaos surrounds me.
The Lord is good, even when I am angry or frustrated.

The Lord is good, even when life doesn't make any sense.
The Lord is good, even when you feel lonely.

The Lord is good. His character does not change. My emotions and feelings towards God change like the wind but I can settle back into this beautiful truth....The Lord is good.....

Journey ReEnactment Concert Featuring: Dan Flower

2009-11-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

Big Daddy and I got to go see our Uncle Dan Flower rock the in a tribute concert to Journey. I was impressed and Big Daddy and I had so much fun that we want to see them again. Here are some pictures and the websited where you can check out more of their songs, concert listings and alittle about the band: Lights: Journey Tribute Band Homepage

Behind every man is the woman who supports and loves him and here she..... Mrs. Flower.

Little Bub's Thumb!

2009-11-24T23:49:00.000-05:00

The Adventure of Little Bub

He was playing with his bro,

and they were running to and fro.

They have been told "Do not slam the door!"

but Big Bub forgot and Little Bub cried alot more.

Big Daddy was first to arrive on the scene,

and his little thumb was caught in between.

I was upstairs baking some bread

and I did not know that his thumb was so red.

Big Daddy then tried to straighten it out

but he could not move the little thumb about.

The doctor called to see what was the matter

and he asked, "Is it getting any fatter?"

Dr. Void gave his thumb alittle tickle

but that little thumb was still being fickle.

So he sent us away to the hand doctor,

his name was Richter the Rocker.

Dr. Rocker did not make us linger,

He said, "Oh...that's a trigger finger!"

You will need to go to the hospital,

but don't worry son they will give you a popsicle.

So that was the adventure in a nutshell,

and yes, Little Bub did yell.

But he squeals with delight,

and now he will have a thumb just right.

Written for: Little Bub

By: Mommy

Book Review: Dinosaurs Stars of the Show

2009-11-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

Dinosaurs: Stars of the Show written by Amie Zordel and illustrated by Joanna Borrero is a must have for your children's book collection. I have a dinosaur lover in our family and I grow weary of the heavy evolutionary material constantly presented through other dinosaur books.

This book was a breath of fresh air as it presented truth based on the Bible. I love the example of the little girl in the book that when she questions something she runs straight to the Bible as an authority instead of the internet or library. It is a great book to use as a unit for homeschool study as well. (for preschool, kindergarten)

My children have enjoyed this book and we have had great discussions from reading it together. It is important for me to teach my children how to think and be able to figure out what is true and what to measure truth by and this book is going to be a great tool in teaching them.

The illustrations in this book are so colorful and inviting. I adored the artwork. I also enjoyed the rhyming story. (it makes it more fun for me to read)

Overall, I would recommend this book as a "must have" for any parent who wants their child to learn early what truth is and where it comes from.

Mistress of the Domain: Fallen

2009-11-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

     Along with the created aspect of this domain comes the fallen aspect. Our image of God has been corrupted. We still have a mind but it is darkened. Our domains have been affected by the Fall (human choice to disobey God and eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil) and our work is under a curse that the Lord gave to the man and the woman. (Genesis 3:16-19) Work is not part of the curse but unproductive, frustrating, inefficient work is the Curse. Our domains will continue to rebel against us as we have rebelled against God. Everything around us is in entropy...including our domains in which we are to rule over. The curse is what comes along and destroys our labor and making our work fruitless.

     God has allowed the principle of rebellion loose in our world, but He has a redemptive plan. Romans 8:20-21, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God." By intensifying the struggles with the deep issues of life, it pushes us back to God and away from Him. His hope is that we will all turn back to Him as He will lift the Curse someday and we will no longer live under the Curse.

     This Curse has directly affected all of my domains. Examples would be: Little Bub constantly running away from me, my house looking like a tornado hit it, something breaking on my camera, burning a meal, staying up too late, thinking mean thoughts about my husband, wanting more and more even though I have everything I need, loosing my temper, my kiddos constant fighting, the dishes piling up in my sink, pine needles that prick me feet as I walk through my house... my list could go on and on. We need to understand how the Curse causes our domains to rebel against us. We need to stop believing lies about God and trust the Great King under whose authority we are working. We deserve to have far worse punishment for our rebellion against God...He is a good and gracious God.

     Below are a couple of pictures I have captured through the years that have helped me see some of my rebelling domains. Most of my time is spent in the home and with my children so naturally most of these are of them.

This one is classic....the whining children battling to make breakfast.

Ahhh....now this is classic. We were getting ready to leave the kids with a babysitter to go for a nice dinner and a banquet at the Pregnancy Support Center when we heard the kids being unusually quiet. They were at work making a big sticky mess.

This happens daily and is frustrating for me. Who walks on the dining room table????

Ahh...the whining again!

I love this one. You're trying to get a beautiful family portrait and all the kiddos are running in different directions :)

And this was a sad picture for me to remember....it was our first Christmas in our new home and also Laney's first Christmas. We had an ice storm that took out our power for 5 days starting on Dec. 23. It was a scary night with no power and hearing branches breaking and wondering when one of our big ole' trees was going to give way. We had to stay with family (which was fun) but there is just something about celebrating the holidays in your own home.

Thankfully our good and gracious God has a redemptive plan which I will post soon.....

Premier Jewelry

2009-11-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

I just attended my first Premier Jewelry Party ever. It's actually the first party I have attended in a long time because I did not have conflicting commitments :) I have to say, I was impressed with the jewelry selection and the party itself was so fun and different from any other. I actually came home with alot of free stuff which made it even more fun. My favorite part is that I know that this jewelry business supports another local family around us. Being the wife of a small business owner, I truly appreciate all the business we get because it is how we are provided with finances to pay our bills, care for our children and take care of our family. I love the opportunity to support another family!!!

Heather Hennagin was our Premier Consultant for the night and she was so fun and loved holding Baby B. The Witty Girls were our hosts for the night and the theme was a mother/daughter party which I thought was a great idea. Peanut was very excited to go and hangout with one of her favorite friend, Wiley Witty. Baby B actually won a drawing she had and Peanut said that she was just going to keep the bracelet until Baby B was old enough to wear. She said she will probably give it to her for her third birthday :)

I actually decided to host a party and I got this cute little tote bag and the tennis bracelet (shown below) just for setting a date. The tennis bracelet is special because you can't buy it. I like it because its so cute and feminine...my kind of jewelry. If anyone is interested to come to our (I say "our" because Peanut has taken the lead to help plan it) jewelry party, it will be Friday, December 11 at 6:30pm. I will be sending out invites very soon. Hope to see you there.

2009-11-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Exactly 53 years ago today, God fashioned my father and brought him into this world. I have been blessed with a caring and loving father who truly reflects some of my Heavenly Father and for that I am grateful.

Here is alittle bit about my dad:

He loves to play softball.

He loves to play Roy Hobbs hard ball.

He loves a good adventure.

He loves rocking chairs.

He loves my mom!!!!!

He loves to play catch with Peanut.

He loves to sleep everywhere.

He loves to roasted marshmallows on the fire.

He loves to build things and he is quite good at it.

And he even loves to change diapers (well, let's rephrase...he doesn't mind doing it :)

Happy Birthday Dad and I am so proud to have you as my father.

Book Review: A Beautiful Mess

2009-11-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

A Beautiful Mess with Tom Roland is a biography/autobiography the country band, Diamond Rio. Rowland did a great job of communicating the full complete story. I have to admit that the book was a bit hard for me to get through. It contains alot of music lingo and many names which made it very difficult to get engaged. The setup of the book was hard to follow as well. It would have been easier to follow if the chapters on each of the band members came first so you knew who was who before you got into how they came together, their rough times and where they are now.
A Beautiful Mess was an appropriate title for this book. Many aspects of this book were beautiful and many more just a mess. I was inspired by some of the parents of the band members. Two points in this book touched my heart (one in a good way and one a bad way) and brought tears to my eyes..

The first was about a band members father. Brian's dad was an alcolohic and abusive. After many rough times, Brian asked his mother why she continued to stay with his dad. She answered, "He was my husband. It was a different generation, and 'til death do us part meant 'til death do us part. I recognized that alcoholism is a disease, but so is cancer, and I would not have left him if he had that." What a woman of honor and integrity! This was a "Beautiful" part of this book. She made a commitment and wasn't going to use a selfish excuse to get out of her marriage....she stood by her man even if she had to stand at a distance. Amazing!!!

The second was about the marriage of band member Dana. I had just finished reading about the band recovering from some pitfalls and being redeemed when the very next chapter started off with, "Dana came to the realization that he and his wife had been growing apart for years." It continues with, "But he suddenly felt a spark for a longtime friend....he told his wife that he felt it was time to end their marriage." Then he goes on to say, " I ask the Lord every day for forgiveness for it....I feel better and I'm happier...if I did anything wrong, as far as in God's eye, then that's why we have forgiveness." Our generation knows nothing of commitment or God for that matter. All this generation knows is feeling and selfishness. God's forgiveness does not give us a license to sin or do whatever we want because it feels good or right. It doesn't work that way. Notice how Dana's focus was on himself and Brian's mother's focus on her husband and not her feelings.

I brought up these two points because Rowland pulls this whole story together in the final chapter with these words, "Commitment is, in fact, a recurring theme that's been present often in their music. And commitment is something they've lived out professionally in a way that few bands have managed." Family and marriage are more important than a commitment to the band. While these men were committed to the band, three of them were forgetting their commitment on the altar. Three of the six band members are divorced and they are yet another poor example and role model in the public eye for the children growing up in this generation. I really respect Marty, Gene and Jimmy. Thank you for being "men" and commiting to the band and also continuing to carry out your committment to your family.

I believe family is the backbone of society and our communities. It really does take a family, so that is why those two points in the book stood out to me the most. I was truly touched by the whole story until the end, "Where are they now?" stories and it just ruined the beauty of the redemptive work in Chapter 12, except for seeing Marty Roe's life change.

The Rainbow Family :)

2009-11-15T22:46:00.001-05:00

I got the pleasure to spend some time taking pictures of the Rainbow Family today. I gave them that name because they have or will have enough family members for each color of the rainbow. Mrs. Rainbow is pregnant which meant I got to take a couple of prego pictures :) I was getting alittle worried because it started to get dark at 3:30pm today...got to love OHIO! Anyways, the pictures turned out great and we had a lot of fun! Enjoy!

Five Warriors and a Princess

2009-11-14T21:41:00.000-05:00

I have a lovely friend, the Princess, who has been blessed with four warriors. The Princess and the Head Warrior make such a great team. This is one of the most fun families we know. They are so laid back and the boys in the family are always on an adventure.....they hunt, own four wheelers, always building something, own lots of cool boy toys and live on alot of land that they can explore. One of my favorite things at their house is a plate that the boys got the princess that reads, "Home is where the MOM is !!!" I love that.

I got the privilege of meeting my dear friends' newest addition and also taking a million pictures of him. He was just so precious and her other son, Cutes, was just loving the camera. Congrats Five Warriors and a Princess Family!!! Beware: these kiddos are just so cute!

Bubba and Baby Boy

This is Cutes hamming it up for the camera.

Bubba put this car on Baby Boy...he was trying to play with him...I thought it was so precious.

Peanut could not wait to get her hands on the baby. She is starting to become a pro at taking care of babies. It's part of her beautiful creation.

Mom and Baby Boy.

Simplfying Your Home: Cupboards

2009-11-13T16:21:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for better ways to things around my home. About every 2 years, our home changes by adding another baby to the family so I am constantly working around a higher functioning home. I have a little kitchen so I am always brainstorming about how to get the most out of the space I have to work with. Of course, I have a list of shelves that I would love for my husband to build but they are not needs at this point just wants, so they will sit in the waiting list :)

For some time now, I have been washing my dishes by hand. I have a dishwasher but I have preferred, don't ask me why, to do them by hand. They seem to be easier for me somehow. One day I was looking at my cupboards and realized how many plates and dishes I kept in my cupboards that I never use but took up nearly two full cupboards. So it was time to brainstorm......(gotta love imagination movers :)

For our family of six, this is all I keep in the cupboard for all of our meals.

Here is what I did: I decided to keep one setting for each member of our family (this includes silverware) and one extra setting in case we had a visitor. All of my other dishes I put in another closet in the house so if we have company for dinner I could easily get to them. This gave me a cupboard in a half to use for our food pantry and for more important cooking pans that I use more frequently. This not only freed up cupboard space but it also makes me do the dishes less. When we need a new dish, we pull from the sink of already washed dishes instead of adding another dish to the heaping pile that stacked up during the day. For those of you who do not have dishwashers, this might be great to try to cut down on dish washing. It actually forces you to wash the couple dishes you have at each meal and most nights I actually have a clean kitchen with clean dishes ready for the next day.

Project Dining Room Part 3: It's Done!

2009-11-12T13:48:00.000-05:00

After a five day long adventure....it's done. The hardwood floor fits in so nicely that it seems like its always been here. This has been such a dream of mine for years now and I can't believe its actually done. Here are couple of in process pictures. Tim Blythe, owner of Blythe Construction, was so kind to lend Big Daddy some tools and give us some good advice that helped us make some good decisions with this project.

We even did school among the chaos. Big Daddy teaches the kiddos history on Saturdays. What??? School on Saturday??? Yes, by request of the kiddos themselves. They love to learn and we take every opportunity keep teaching them.

Slowly but surely, I am learning that there is no such thing as a simple home project. Upon starting this one, I said to Big Daddy, "All you have to do is rip up the carpet and put the new floor done. That should take only a couple of hours, right???" As I look back on my question to my husband I laugh at how silly it was. Rip up the carpet and put the new floor down were on the list but there were about 50 other things that accompanied them. "All he has to do is just...." is a statement that comes into my mind frequently when I want to do some new project in our home. It is not simple and now I know exactly why contractors charge a good fee for their labor...its really hard work and takes alot of time. With all that said, project hallway is starting soon :) Extra back rubs, Glenn Beck updates and black coffee for Big Daddy!!

This is our first dinner "on the new road" (its a little one liner from the movie Cars and it has been our little throughout the project. My favorite thing said through the project...

Big Daddy: Hey B! It looks like the shoemold was originally pink.

Laney: Hey Daddy, who is Mrs. Shoemold?

For some reason, it cracks me up!

The Five Aspects of Woman: Mistress of the Domain Created

2009-11-10T23:02:00.000-05:00

     I am sure you have heard, "You are created in the image of God" from other Christians, the Bible or even on Sunday mornings but what does that mean, especially as a woman?

     I am doing a 25 week bible course, Barbara Mouser's "Five Aspects of Woman", that is exploring that exact issue. It explores the root of womanhood based on Genesis 1:1-Revelation 22:21. The aspects include: Mistress of the Domain, Helper-Completer, Life Giver, Lady of Wisdom and Glory of Man. Each aspect is then explained from the created, fallen and redeemed perspective. There are many key points to each aspect but I will only share what I have personally taken from each one. (You will have to take the class for yourself to learn the rest :)

     Mistress of the Domain was the first aspect we just finished. This aspect was fascinating to me because it gave me a deeper appreciation for my created being. I love learning more about how purposeful and planned the human male and female were and how personal God was in creating them and His plan to save them.

     Something that really struck my heart was that being created in the image of God means that we reflect God's nature in our humanity, it has nothing to do with gender. I previously held the belief that a man and woman together made the complete image of God. But, my thinking was faulty because if that were true, God would have to be part feminine and He does not reveal Himself throughout the Scripture as both feminine and masculine, but masculine only. I found it interesting that every single woman has all five aspects whether they are visible or not.

     Based from the Scriptures, we can see that God created us with characteristics that mirror His larger attributes...the difference is that He exhibits His attributes perfectly and completely. Some examples are that we have a mind that is capable of knowing some things (God is omniscient (all knowing)) and we have a conscience that can usually tell right from wrong (God is just). There are more of these attributes covered in the study but I just wanted to give an example to keep you with me.

     Knowing all these attributes has given me a deeper appreciation for who I am and who others were created to be. I love how Mouser says, "We will never find ourselves in ourselves. We will find ourselves in God. Only knowing the One in whose image we are makes sense of our own image." I just love that.

     The world mandate is something I have latched onto the most. It has since come up in my heart over and over again. Mouser explains our purpose of life based on Genesis 1:28, "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." We were created for the earth, to care for it, maintain it and produce from it. Mouser writes, " God designed the world so men could complete what He started. As they complete what He started their humanity is fulfilled and God is glorified. " This is so beautiful. This also explains why I feel so fulfilled when I rake the leaves in our yard and clean up the house after a long day. What a purposeful and loving God to have created us and let us do things that are meaningful and fulfilling...as small as some tasks may seem. She continues on saying, "Man was created to search out and cultivate the creation and it capacities...in one sense the creation is a game of divine hide and seek." I continue to think through how this is true. One day someone figured out how to grow cotton and spin it to make thread, yarn, string and then put them together in a pattern to make the shirt that is on my back....that is amazing! It's just one small example of something we take for granted and some of God's fingerprints we miss each day.

     So the world mandate in Genesis 1:28 is to find what domain(s) God has called us to and we are to rule that domain, maintain it and produce from it because God has given us authority over the earth He has created.

Throughout this study we have had projects to do after each aspect so we can make it more personal. I wanted to share mine with you. I chose to take a picture that showed the domains I feel God has called me to rule over.

     I had Big Daddy B take some pictures and I felt this one represented my domain the best. Little Bub running away, Peanut asking me questions, Baby B just hanging out and Big Bub wondering when I am going to start reading again. It is the perfect picture for my current domain for homeschooling and parenting. My relationship with God is foundational to being responsible in caring for my domains so I listed it on our fireplace because our fireplace is basically the center of our home. In the bottom left-hand corner, I have arranged some things that represent my other domains. I have also listed in words, the domains I feel I am responsible for at this season in my life: parenting, scrapbooking, homeschooling, my time, my words, my thoughts, discipleship, relationship with God, photography, homemaking and cleaning. My domains do and will continue to change throughout the seasons of life but this is where I am right now.

     I would encourage you to ponder first in whose image were you created and remind you that you can only find who you are in God because it is His image we bear. I want to also encourage you to think about your domain and how you can make decisions that produce fruit from within your domains. "To not decide is to decide."

     I will be posting Mistress of the Domain Fallen and Redeemed in the next couple of days so look for those posts. The fallen will give you a greater picture of how we experience Mistress of the Domain.

Project Dining Room Part 2

2009-11-10T10:20:00.002-05:00

There was much to do especially when Big Daddy B switched the nature of our project from laminate flooring to real hardwood. He had to gather more tools, do more prep work, pick out hardwood. But finally he was making progress. To get himself pumped up, he put in some Michael Jackson hits and showed off some of his moves. I can't tell you how much I love my husband and how fun he is (well sometimes...usually he doesn't perform for the camera)

What a hoot!! This is his first time laying a hardwood floor and I think he is doing an awesome job. To be honest, anything but carpet underneath my dining room table is a blessing.

We have been eating all of our meals in our living room which has been quite funny. The hardest part is keeping the kids away from Daddy because they want to help all the time. But finally the nailing has started and some of the hardwood is down. More to come.....

My beautiful Sister-in-Law has a post about Big Daddy B...you should check it out. We wished we lived closer too and that Husband could teach us how to fly :)

Project Dining Room Part 1

2009-11-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

Since we moved into this home in 2004 (the picture above was move in day :)...our house is now yellow though you can see it on this post) it has taken a completely different look. Big Daddy B is very handy and he has a creative wife so we are always creating something new to do. This project is different though. This is something I have wanted for years now...hard wood floor in my dining room. With four children and food constantly being smeared into the carpet, it just wasn't working anymore. I will be posting updates as we go. Here are a couple of through the years dining room pictures.

This was the dining room in March 2004. Our whole home was white when we moved...thank God I knew a great painter :)

Big Daddy B painted the dining for my birthday May 2006.

And this is the beginning of our 2009 hard wood floor project. I can't even explain how excited I am to be able to actually clean up spilled applesauce with ease!!!!! No more yucky carpet. More updates on the project to come....

Book Review: Janine Suter Genesis Series

2009-11-06T22:35:00.001-05:00

Janine Suter has written a series of books that retell three stories from Genesis that are creative and thought provoking for children (I could also say adults as well). What I best-loved about this series is that in every book, she shows how the story points toward God's rescue plan, Jesus. The illustrations in this series of books are by Richard Gunther.

The first book in the series was, "The Day the World Went Wacky." I have to admit that this was not my favorite book but I did revel in the story. I was bothered by the first two pages of this book because she starts the story with a trip to the dentist, with drilling and fillings. The images were enough to make me uneasy about the dentist. My kids have not been to the dentist yet and I was hoping to keep it as positive of an experience as possible. I thought Suter could have used another example in her story to show how we have pain in this world. An example would be falling off your bike and scraping your knee instead of the dreadful trip to the dentist for a filling. There were two illustrations in the book that I thought Gunther captured well....a picture of God handing Adam and Eve fruit when He used to walk in the garden with them and the serpent receiving the curse and the loss of his legs. Based on the story content I would recommend this book for all ages but based on the illustrations, I would recommend ages 6 and up. The graphics in this book are fairly aggressive but they do a sound job depicting the story through images. This is why I recommend this book for ages 6 and up.

The second book is called, "Noah's Floating Animal Park". This book by far was my favorite out of the series. The story gave glory to God as the hero and not to Noah. It also did not paint the cute little Noah's Ark picture but showed how horrible sin was, how it was taking over and that there ws a need for something to happen to take care of the situation. At the end of the story, Suter brings it all together and tells of God's plan to rescue us. I would recommend this book for all ages.

The third book in the series is called, " The Not So Super Skyscraper!" This book retells the story of the tower of Babel and where all the different races come from. I really enjoyed this story and once again she continues to point right back to God and His son Jesus. I would recommend this book for all ages.

Overall I would recommend these books. They have been a great addition to our library of a good story that continues to teach the children truth about God. I would only be cautious for the first book only because of the illustrations. The other two books would be great for all ages. They retell the stories of the bible without compromising it. My children have enjoyed them and request them at each story time.

The Fire Station

2009-11-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, The Crawdaddy's, The McFriend's and The Freshflower's got the priviledge of touring the Jackson Fire Department. Big Daddy B and Grandma Freshflower made guest appearances :)

I was impressed by the kindness and quality of the firemen. They were patient with all nine of our children ranging from 5 months to 6 years old. They answered all the kids questions and let them thoroughly enjoy the fire engine and the ambulance. They got to see where the firemen eat, sleep and hang out during the night. Peanut asked if she could slide down the fire pole :) (she was not allowed to though) Little Bub loved the trucks.

One of the McFriend's kiddos, McBrother, came dressed to play the part. He said he wanted to be a fireman when he grows up. McSiddy BooBoo McFriend stayed at home with grandma and missed the festivities.

The Crawdaddy Kiddos drew the firemen pictures to hang on their fridge. Ezzo was just smiling the whole time. Everytime I aimed the camera his way he gave me a big smile :) Marco was taking every second in. He seemed to really enjoy the fire station.

All the kids came with questions to ask the firemen. It was so cute to watch them ask their question and see how intently they listened to the answer.

The Struggle

2009-11-05T22:17:00.001-05:00

For many reason this verse continues to come to my mind through these past few weeks. It has continued to remind me to pray more and not think the world is out to get me.

This picture of Big Bub reminds me of the latter part of this verse...to continue to put on the armor of God and to know His Word so we can stand up for the truth and beat down lies.

The Armor of God

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes....13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Keep the faith, God is still on the throne in the midst of all the chaos, loss and confusion on this earth. I have just finished the Chronicles of Narnia series and it has helped me long for the great Home that the Lord has prepared for those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ.

Simplfying the Home: Measuring Spoons

2009-11-03T22:26:00.000-05:00

I have been on a kick of simplfying our home lately. I really have wanted to spend more time with kids than taking care of the 'stuff' in our home, which seemed like it consumed all of my day. God has answered some of my prayers and I wanted to share some of the simplfying ideas that we do in our home. My hope is that they may help you too!

Measuring Spoons/Cups

I love to cook everything from scratch....bread, cookies, cakes, skillet dinners, casseroles, salad dressing, you name it! I use measuring cups and spoons daily and get so frustrated by looking through the drawers for the right one. I decided to ask my handy dandy hubby to build an idea I had in my head that would help eliminate my frustration and encourage my homemade cooking. I have to admit....I am lazy. I like things to be convienent for use right away. That is why this little addition to my kitchen will enhance my cooking experience even more everyday. I now know exactly where each cup and spoon is at all times.

I just had Big Daddy B cut a piece of wood and hammer little nails into it. He secured it to the wall with screws and " Voila! " it was done.

Classic Kids

2009-11-01T22:17:00.003-05:00

Baby B is so precious. She always has something that she is chewing on....her fingers or a toy. What a joy to try and figure out her unique personality. She definitely has a different temperment than the others.

This is Little Bub at his best. This is the smile that I will remember when he is all grown up. His smile can light up a room. This is Little Bub as we know him at the age of two.

This is Big Bub to the left. Although I think we may be on the way out of this stage, this is Big Bub 70% of the day. There are many more things I will remember about Big Bub's year of being a 3 year old but these whining fits will be well remembered. In some funny way, I think I will miss this stage (maybe because it means he is growing up and out of his childish ways)

Oh Peanut, my dear beauty. This is my Peanut. The many things I treasure about her. Her feminity shines as a 5 year old. Her year of being five has been packing purses, changing outfits, making necklaces and little mini books. I have seen her mature in the past year....especially in the way that she cares for her brothers and sister. I do believe her commitment to the Lord is real and His light has been shining through her.

It is not often that I get a photo with one of my children and God blessed me with two because my husband was kind enough to take a couple of impromptu pictures. I will treasure these.

My Bread!

2009-10-31T23:08:00.001-04:00

About two years ago, I was blessed to be able to buy a grain mill (by the grace and provision of family). It allowed me to make all of my own flour....completely whole wheat, full of all the good stuff!

About two days ago, I was blessed to be able to buy a bosch mixer (by the grace and provision of Brandon) The best part about this mixer is that I can make 5 loaves of completely whole wheat bread to accomodate our growing family.

About two hours ago, I baked my first loaves of bread mixed in my bosch and they were amazing.

Some of the best bread ever!!! It was an exciting day for me.

Thanks God for providing a way for me to take care of my family. I am always looking for more ways to keep our family eating healthy, so if you have anything your family does....please share!!

10 Ways to Boost Your Immune Health

2009-10-29T15:43:00.003-04:00

The other day I was searching around trying to find some good tips and ideas on how to boost your immune system to help fight through the winter. I came across this website:

http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/10_ways_to_boost_immune_health

It gave some really great ideas and they are actually very practical. Check it out and please leave a comment if you have any other ideas. Having four kids this year, I am trying to get us all good and healthy :)

I also heard about this onion thing.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/swineflu/onion.asp

Snopes say it is fake, but some say that the Amish use it all the time and it works. I figured it would be worth passing along and let you decide. If it might help not get the flu, I might for some crazy reason try it.

Celebrate Ms. Miki's Grand Opening!!

2009-10-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Come and celebrate with us! We love Ms. Miki's Gymnastics!

Educational Movies

2009-10-27T14:28:00.002-04:00

Since Big Daddy B and I have been married when have never had cable....that is well over 6 years. We actually did not have money in the budget for it when we got married and got so used to not having it that we never ventured to get it. With that said, I have found a PBS show, on dvd, that has caught my attention.

Since we do not have cable, we have been renting the dvd's from the libary. Kristi revealed WordWorld to me and my kids are loving it. It is actually the one we watch the most. I love that they can teach the kids while they watch. I have worked it into our school schedule that they watch their "educational video" as I am preparing for dinner....it works beautifully. I also love that we own/rent the DVD's. It allows me the freedom to use them whenever I like and not be bound to the tv schedule:)

The other series we have really been enjoying is Popular Mechanics for Kids. They show the inside scoop on just about everything and they show how things work. I always try to make their school day "movie" something that teaches them so they can learn from that break time too.

Another homeschool mother once told me, "Its ok to have a little movie time each day and sometimes its a great break for both of you!" That was freeing for me and I can say it has been a great refreshing time in our home and a great asset to our school day.

No More Movies!!

2009-10-26T22:23:00.002-04:00

Alright, bear with me.

I have been consumed in proving how remarkably atrocious Prince Caspian "the movie", from the series of "The Chronicles of Narnia" books, is and how it was manipulated by...hmm,, I am not sure upon whom I should bestow the credit?? Uh...Hollywood possibly??

About two months ago, we eagerly rented Prince Caspian to watch. I actually wanted to read the book first but I thought that my kids would be grown and gone before I finished (I am a slow reader...sometimes!). We watched it and I loathed it. High King Peter's character seemed amiss and Queen Susan kissing the prince almost out of nowhere seemed, well, just ridiculous. After this night, I would plunge myself into "The Chronicles of Narnia". My dilemma was, I could not just read Prince Caspian (it's the fourth book) so I would have to start at the beginning. All together The Chronicles of Narnia are seven books.

So, I started. I could not stop. I was intrigued. I was thrust into such a beautiful world. A world I am not sure I have spent much time in. The world's name....imagination. Over the past two months, I have read five books out of the seven and it has changed my life.

The imagination and beauty of Narnia has opened a new world for me. I watched the trees today with my children and saw the leaves dancing in the wind and almost seeming like they were waving at you. The colors I see when I peer out the window are bold and bright as if they were brand new and I was seeing them for the first time. As my husband cuddled me the other night I thought in my head of a oversized, soft and furry, blue and purple scarf that snuggled so close and kept me so warm, was so pleasant and would protect me.

Thus far here is my review....C.S. Lewis is an amazing writer. Prince Caspian the movie was abominable. Yes, I can use a big word like this because it exactly describes what I thought about the movie. I do not see how they will ever be able to make another movie in the Narnia series because they compromised the story on many different levels. This explains why I was remarkably confused after watching it.

My advice: read the book and read other books. Most movies today lack substance, good examples, imagination, and creativity. Big Daddy B asked me if I wanted to watch a movie the other night (mind you, I love to watch the same movie over and over again because I used to love movies) and I shyly replied, "Do you think we could read instead?" These were foreign words coming out of my mouth but nevertheless they were true. My desire to read and tap into my imagination have brought me to a place I have never before been in my adult years. Falling in love with Narnia has been natural as it seems to remind me of my Creator and his God-breathed Scripture. I will have more to come about Narnia soon......

The Pumpkin Carving Party

2009-10-25T22:20:00.003-04:00

Each year my uncle has a pumpkin carving party at his house. Each year it gets harder and harder for us to carve pumpkins because we have one more child to keep track of.

Little Bub was the most focused, scooped out all the gunk inside and cut the top off. Big Daddy B had to do the carving.

Big Bub was a little less focused that Little Bub but he did a lot more of the cutting. He would not dare touch and of the goop...he has texture issues.

Peanut was the least focused of all, drew about 20 hearts and her pumpkin and asked daddy to cut them out. She left to go play with the kids while Big Daddy B finished it up.

In the middle below are the POW Flyboys who were quite festive in their little purple costumes. They carved pumpkins while we did. They did theirs faster with the new state-of-the-art motorized carver. Seriously, what will people think of next!!

This is our best attempt at a family picture. It's actually way more realistic than the posed ones :)

The Basket Family :)

2009-10-25T21:37:00.001-04:00

This is not their real name of course but don't they look great! They are such a naturally photogenic family and Daddio and Mama look great together. Did I mention that I love taking pictures?

Let's Celebrate

2009-10-24T21:03:00.001-04:00

Today is a day to celebrate your marriage because I do not think it is celebrated enough :) I thought it would be great to honor what we have with our husbands or to honor someone else for the commitment you see in their marriage. I just really love the beautiful and challenging man/woman relationship God has given us to navigate.
Please share your story!! I want to start the week off being encouraged about other beautiful and refining marriage stories. My hope is that the tides are changing and more marriages would stay together than to fall apart.

Our Story

I have been married to Big Daddy B for 6 years now and it has been anything but easy. We have definitely had to work very hard at the relationship we now have today and I am sure we are going to have to keep working hard for the years to come. We go through so many seasons that we need to continually work through the new season we have come into. We have both had to eat alot of humble pie!!! Most of the time the things that anger me about him are the very things I do myself. I have chosen to let God work on me and to make me a better spouse instead wasting my time trying to change my husband. It's a hard thing to do because you have to put down your pride, but it is most definitely worth it.

I want to take a second and honor both of our parents. Big Daddy B's parents have been married over 30 years and mine just celebrated their 30th this year. What a blessing it has been in our lives showing us what it looks like to work at marriage and stick it out through the thick and the thin. My parents have weathered many storms and there is one decision that trumps all the rest. That one decision they made has impacted the rest of my life so deeply that I do not have words to express to them the gratitude in my heart. Big Daddy B and I have had some great examples of commitment, not perfect marriages because they do not exist.

I am really looking forward to hearing your story...please share it by posting a comment. Below is a beloved group that God has brought together for the past year and a half. We all did the bible study Fireproof together here at our house. (Highly recommend the movie "Fireproof") They are five more examples of committed relationships in the sight of a Holy God that are being refined even as we speak.

Your Super Power

2009-10-22T22:32:00.001-04:00

Being a mother of four very vibrant children always leaves me thinking of the super powers I wish I had to be able maintain sanity in our home :) Here are my top two:

1. To see through walls....I would know where each kid is at all times and what they were doing
2. To multiply 2 arms into 8 (the key here is that I can go back to 2 arms whenever I wanted to)....I would be able to be the ultimate multitasker :)

I would love to hear all of your creative responses so please share your Super Power if you have ever thought of it.

Fall in Ohio

2009-10-20T20:44:00.001-04:00

Isn't this just beautiful? Its just one of God's amazing fingerprints here on this earth.

I have to admit I love Ohio for its four seasons of weather and at the same time sometimes I really dislike the four seasons of weather. I love when the season changes the most but the winters get kind of long. I was kind of sad this year as Ohio seemed to almost skip Fall and go right into Winter...it has just been so cold already. But God gave us a beautiful break in the weather today and tomorrow. Here are some fun pictures of the kiddos enjoying our Fall weather while it lasts for two days :)

Look how cute Little Bub and Big Daddy B are....just precious.

Above is our cute little home and below is our neighbors house. I just had to take a picture of it with the beautiful red trees.

The 60's Party

2009-10-20T00:06:00.000-04:00

My mom and dad had their a Halloween/Fall party this year. The theme...the 60's! We originally we going to go as the Flinstones but it was way to cold to go walking around with no shoes and a sleeveless costumes so I resorted to a more creative costume. Since there are 6 of us we decided to go a the "Six" T's" to the Sixties party :) We had a fun time painting our faces and watching everyone try to figure out what we were. Good party Kone Family!!!

Below is a short little video of a couple of games the kiddos played. The doughnut on the string game is classic :)

As a Christian family, each year we are confronted with trying to figure out how to celebrate Halloween when we know its roots and with some of our convictions. My friend Kristi posted a great blog on this issue that I really appreciated.

http://runwatchplaywait.blogspot.com/2009/10/navigating-through-halloween.html

I also really liked and I identified the most with the Classic Housewife.

She said, For the past few years, we’ve put more effort into celebrating Autumn as a whole. God is sovereign over all seasons. He causes the trees and plants to die so that their seed may spread, hibernate over the winter and grow again in the spring. Not only is this symbolic of our lives in general (change is necessary, the “death” of some things is necessary for the life and growth of others) but this is also symbolic of the greatest sacrifice ever made. Jesus had to die (autumn), spend three days in the tomb (winter) in order to rise to life again (spring.) There are so many wonderful things to make, see, do, enjoy during this time of year. Many wonderful crafts to be made, activities to be done, places to go– devotionals ready at your fingertips.
The kids and I will bake cookies, do crafts, enjoy the great outdoors, and Halloween will come and go pretty much like another day. We’ll indulge in some candy, we’ll spend time with family. But we will not attend parties on that day, because for us, it’s not about Halloween itself. We all know that actions speak louder than words. Our actions and our words show what is in the heart. I want my actions and my words to show what I am celebrating, what I am truly worshiping. Not only on that day, but on every day. To that end, the Halloween “holiday” really has no true place there, you know?'

Here is more from the rest of her post:

http://www.classichousewife.com/holidays/2009/10/19/halloween-at-our-house/

Courtney posted this that I thought was helpful also.

http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2009/10/christian-view-on-halloween.html

I love how Courtney says, " So that's what we do - but like I said - I believe this is a matter of conscience so do not follow my lead here - follow your husband and the Holy Spirit. Pray and do what God lays on your heart this Halloween."

My main goal is to honor the God I love, I don't do it perfectly but it is what I want to strive for and I am trying to see where Halloween fits into this goal.

Sweetest Day

2009-10-17T23:09:00.001-04:00

We celebrated Sweetest Day actually yesterday because Big Daddy B said he could not wait :) We are so blessed to have such a husband and father in our home. By no means is he perfect but he is a man after God's heart and I see him grow more and more. He also has the beautiful challenge before him of taking care of, providing for and dating 3 of his most special women....Me, Peanut and Baby B.

These pictures below are of the girls receiving their flower (ones that we so nicely preserved by God outside). Big Daddy B explained to Peanut that Mommy gets the most (I got a small and beautiful bouquet that I forgot to take a picture of) because she is my wife but you two daughters are important also and I love you.

I thank God for a husband who continues to try and learn the emotional world of a woman and how loved we feel from simple little gifts that are just a reminder that you are loved.

Ebay: Even A 5 Year Old Can Do It!

2009-10-16T11:14:00.001-04:00

I have funny story to share with you.

Yesterday, Peanut was having her quiet time and her quiet time happens to be in the same room as our computer. I was looking up a food processor and following it so I stayed logged on and left the room.

Later I came back to the computer and saw a screen that read, "Congratulations! You just won the auction!" I never bought a $13 pink Ty beanie baby. It took me a second to try and piece together what had happened. Then it struck me....Peanut must have seen a picture of the cute little bear and clicked on it to see it like one of her little computer games. I knew it was her because it was just the kind of bear she would ask me for if we saw it in the store.

I asked her about this when we woke up this morning and this is what she said, "Oh yeah! I did click on the pink bear and also a blue one for Caleb. I thought they were free." The part I can't figure out is how she actually clicked all the right buttons to be able to purchase the bear. You have to go through a series of screens to actually bid on the auction.

So moral of the story:
Ebay is so easy that even a 5 year old can do it!!!

Fruit of the Spirit Tree

2009-10-15T23:28:00.000-04:00

This week in school we decided to focus on apples after attending the Ciderfest. I got most of these ideas from a friend and then built on them.

http://runwatchplaywait.blogspot.com/2009/09/apple-day.html

We actually drew a tree and used an apple cut in half as a stamp to make an apple tree. From there we wrote a fruit of the Spirit by each apple and talked about what each of them meant. We also talked about the bad fruit that can come from our lives if we choose not to listen to God.

We also made an apple book. You will see many books posted on here because that is what my kiddos love to do.

These are now our fall decorations in the living room so we can remember what fruit God can produce in our lives if we let him.

Little Bub's 2nd Birthday!

2009-10-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

Our two October birthday boys. Big Daddy B turned a whopping 32 on the 3rd and Little Bub turned two today. (This celebration was on the 3rd)

Here is a cute clip from dinner tonight:

This is a cake that Grandma Kone made because Little Bub loves trucks.

This is some of the family celebrating Little Bub at Parasson's Italian Restaurant.

I thought this was a neat picture of Little Bub and Papa.

What a great cake substitute....peanut butter and jelly and look how cute the little Peanut hostess is.

Typical Little Bub! We actually had a dual party with Big Daddy B about two weeks ago so tonight was actually Little Bub's birthday. We went to Parasson's for dinner and he was wild as ever. He also had to be sick on his birthday :( He had croup pretty bad the day on the 14th and spent 5 hours in the emergency room with Big Daddy B and got an oral steroid. No fun but he is doing better.

Little Fingers

2009-10-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

I am amazed when the kids start writing. These are a few of Big Bub and Peanuts drawings. Big Bub's are first and just looking at them I can invision his little tongue sticking out the side of his mouth and his eyes intent on the paper as he creates his masterpiece.
Peanut has been writing for some time now but she still amazes me at what she can draw for a 5 and a half year old. Below are a couple of her creations and let me tell you, this little girl has such a creative mind. I wish I could show you everything she does from loading her purse each day to these little mini books she creates. I love watching this little one.

This last one she did at church about a week ago.

2009-10-11T21:09:00.001-04:00

CiderFest 2009

Each year our friends have a Ciderfest where they make cider from the 20+ apple trees that conviently grow right in their own backyard. It has become one of our family traditions. The kids look forward to it every year.

Fun Family Fact: About two years ago, I actually went into labor at night with Little Bub after climbing and picking in the apple trees.

This was one of the biggest apples picked the whole day and Peanut found it :)

The boys were driving the tractor.

Baby B even got in on the fun this year. She is grabbing at everything.

This is the only picture I have of Big Bub with the apples. He was more interested in

the sweets in the house and the playground.

Here goes Little Bub...he is so cute. He liked picking the apples but the

branches kept poking his face.

We will be spending the week making every kind of apple recipe you can think of. We made some applesauce tonight and will be making some more tomorrow along with some apple butter. I have this real handy dandy apple corer/slicer/peeler that makes preparing the apples a breeze.

2009-10-10T21:51:00.001-04:00

The Boys Got Bunk Beds!!

We started off the morning with the boys making us breakfast. Little Bub came into the kitchen and said, "I cook". I am amazed at how well he does in the kitchen for only a not even 2 year old yet. Big Bub does awesome in the kitchen and his favorite it breaking eggs and measuring out the flour.

What a fun day!! The boys have officially moved into bunk beds today. Big Daddy B and the kids spent the afternoon putting the beds together. We definitely had some fun times. Little Bub helped with the electric drill (which was scary for mommy) Big Bub tried to take every thing apart with a wrench and Peanut was the crew leader :)

Little Bub did pretty good taking his nap. Bedtime was another story. He was not about to stay in his bed and he can climb up into Big Bub's top bunk which he thinks is so cool. (that will be remedied tomorrow :) While they were trying to fall asleep together, Big Daddy B overheard these words of Caleb that he was mimicking after Laney, "Sweet Dreams Little Bub." It was just precious to see them bonding as brothers.

The Five Aspects of Woman

2009-10-09T15:06:00.000-04:00

This is a 23 week bible study that I am a part of right now. It has given me some amazing things to think about over the past couple of weeks and I want to share some of the study with you and get that beautiful mind thinking about some grander thoughts of our creation.

Look for more posts on the Five Aspects soon.

Capturing my Kiddos

2009-10-08T22:39:00.000-04:00

Baby B just as cute as ever.

Little Bub ...well this is just him smiling away and laughing.

I just got done watching a very interesting photography video that gave me some really great ideas of how to capture my kids and the things they love. I really enjoyed photographing them but now I have to learn the full capabilities of my camera. What a blessing to be a mom!

Big Bub is building an amazing little lego house.

Peanut is trying to fix a broken crayon...alittle tape can fix everything.

The Kids

2008-08-30T22:16:00.000-04:00

Days can be so long and just when you think your parenting has done nothing to further your childs character they pull out a surprise to remind you that you are doing ok.

Little L asked me if she could go over to the neighbors to pick up their trash can. I asked her why and she said with passion, "Mom, this is a great way to serve our neighbors and I know that they will be thankful." With tears in my eyes, I watched her go over and pick up the neighbors trash can, struggle to get the lid on and then walk away with a smile on her face. It was so precious.