My Morning Prayer

Teach me to number my days

aright,

that I may gain a heart of

wisdom

Satisfy me in the morning with

Your unfailing love,

that I may sing for joy and

be glad all my days.

May the favor of the Lord my

God rest upon me

Establish the work of my

hands for me-

yes, establish the work of my

hands!

Psalms 90: 12,14,17

Simple Monday

It's been a while since I have done this!!

For Today...September27, 2010

Outside My Window... Clouds and showers with sunbreaks - but oddly warm and muggy for our area!!  It feels funny - I think I'd like a storm to roll in!!!

I Am Thankful For...My husband's cheerful spirit!!  He is such a hard worker and is always glad to do whatever is needed!  He inspires me!!

I Am Remembering...The fun time we had at the fair last week.  We were given tickets by a friend who wasn't going to use them and we had a fabulous time - especially in the Hobby Barn where we got to see all the neat things people do and create in their spare time.  (I was sad to realize I had forgotten to bring my camera!)

I Am Creating...A baby blanket for the new little one that is soon to join our family and make me an Auntie again.  Can't wait to find out who the little sweetie is (and whether to trim the blankie with pink or blue!!)  I am excited to find that I have enough yarn to crochet a matching hat.  Yay!!  I love to make hats.

I Am Reading...My Bible of course, along with His Utmost for His Highest.  I am also reading a Lord Peter Whimsey mystery by Dorothy Sayers.  A charming detective story - such fun!!

I Am Hoping...For a very snowy winter like we had two winters ago!!  Looking forward to the excitement and joy that comes with kiddos waking up to snow!!!  Last winter was a disappointment in the snow department - but on the upside we had plenty of sunshine!!

On My Mind...Thinking about how I can support my husband through the job searching he will be doing soon.

From the Learning Rooms...We are studying Astronomy in science this year - notebooking style - I just love notebooking!!!!

I Am Noticing...the trees beginning to change color and the spiders that are busy building webs EVERYWHERE!!  Ugh!!  I like them outside eating bugs in my garden but not across the doorway when I go out in the morning!!! :0)

I Am Pondering...God's plans - how His timing for things doesn't seem like the logical way to do things to my so very human mind!!  He certainly is filled with surprises!!

From The Kitchen...Lasagna and homemade bread - thinking about whether I should slip the spinach I have into the main dish or prepare it as a side dish.  I think I'll decide as I make it.  I'm making two pans full - one for the freezer.

Around The House...After I'm done here I am tidying up my bedroom and bath - our room is always last on the list - not today though!!!  The clutter is bothering me - so it's first this week!!!

One Of My Favorite Things...Okay I know this is silly - but - taking of my shoes after I exercise!!  I exercise everyday - and I just can't wait to take off my shoes when I'm done.  I don't wear tie-up shoes most of the time and my feet feel cramped in my runners so it feels awesome to take them off when I'm done!!! :0)  Silly huh?!!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...We start our school co-op this week.  We go to classes on Fridays - so I gotta start thinking about packing the picnic basket for lunch at school - the kids are jazzed - they've missed their friends over the summer!!

A Picture To Share:

Bread for dinner

For more Simple Woman inspiration go to http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Blessings,

Christine

Autumn Arrives

Happy Autumn!!!  This is what it looks like in my neck of the woods on this first day of Fall:

Chilly and wet but still lush and green - the colors will be coming soon.

Indoors we have a sick kiddie :0(

Poor Sweetie!!

But fun is still being had:

Blanket forts - the best kind of indoor fun!!  I love to hear the kids say, "Mom, can I build a fort?"  I have lots of quilts lying around (partly)  for this purpose - (the other part is for Mommy to snuggle under them on those nippy Autumn evenings with my crochet hook!)

The day before yesterday a nice man saw me with my kids and asked me if I was out with the grandkids!!!  Ummmm!!!  Not really sure how I feel about that - maybe I need to get some hair color - I am seeing some grey hair :0)

Well, I'm off to tidy the house and light my spicy candle - mmmm!!!  Happy First day of Autumn!!

Blessings,

Christine

Back to More Cheerful Subjects!!

I am sitting here watching a darling chickadee in my sweet maple tree outside my window and thanking God.  He is good!!

  One thing I'm thanking Him for is all of my bloggy friends.  I used to be very scared of the internet because it seemed to be so useful to spread evil.  But once my friend persuaded me to check out blogging I found out differently.  In our crazy mixed up world where things seem so backwards especially when it comes to things like family I discovered a whole community of women who are dedicated to their husbands and children and who are joyfully living out God's plan!!

I want to thank you all for your lovely encouragement and prayers!!  There is something so nice about knowing there are people praying!!  I know God is in charge and while my wobbly old heart and feelings sometimes want to act like we're alone in the world - I know differently.  I'm so glad this journey is no surprise to God!!!

Life is getting sorta back to normal - I always have laundry to fold but at the moment I am avoiding  impossibly high mountains of folding :0).  Oh well - it'll get done. 

I still have some canning to do, but have gotten a good amount of food put up.

We came home from our trip to Eastern Washington with 100 lbs of peaches, 80 lbs of pears and 150 lbs of apples!!

From empty to full in just a few days

My smart Hubby set up my canner pot outside for me on a propane burner next to the picnic table.  I did most of the preparation inside since Fall has arrived early here and it's been raining lots - but doing the actual canning outside has been such a help and is really better since I have ruined several burners with my heavy canner in bygone years.

So far I have put up 56 quarts of peaches and 33 quarts of pear sauce (mighty good on a pork roast in the winter, mmmm).  I also made several huge peach crisps (Oh so yummy!!!) and we ate quite a few of those delicious tree ripened pears.  (I forgot to take a picture of the pear sauce on the counter - I had to put them away quick because the teenage boys in the house were threatening to open and eat up jars full almost as fast as they came out of the canner!!)

I still have applesauce which I plan to start tomorrow and corn which I hope to go pick and freeze later this week.

There is something so satisfying about opening the pantry door and seeing those gleaming jars all lined up - knowing I have wholesome, homemade food for my family!! 

Again, I want to tell all of you who encouraged me thank you!!  Your virtual hugs have meant so much to me!!  I am sending {{hugs}} back to all of you!! 

Blessings,

Christine

The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Can I vent for just one post?  I promise it will only be this one time - I don't like being whiny - but in this case I just need to for a short time.

I want to run off to this calm and quiet lake near where we were camping last month!!

Or be in Hawaii watching the sunrise!!!

Yesterday my sweet Hubby shared with me the news that his new job with a small pathology group is going away!!  He's been there four months and just loves the job, but sadly quite out of the blue the doctors who own the company decided to sell it and so shortly Hubby will be out of work.  I will admit to doing a bit of whining to God (okay, more than a bit).  Doesn't He know there is a recession going on?  Doesn't He know there are 8 children to feed in this home?  I hope to come to the place of peace soon but I am confessing to not being there yet.

The day wasn't quite done yet though - after hearing that lovely bit of news I then discovered the plague that had stealthily entered my home - oh the horror!!!  I learned that the itchy scalp that my daughters had been complaining about was NOT the allergy to the new shampoo as I thought (they and I are very prone to skin allergies and itching is just a part of our life).   That itch was from something far worse - you guessed it!!   Oh dear - I can hardly say it - gasp - LICE!!!  There - I said it.  Five kids and myself  have them.  Sigh - whoever heard of a 40 something lady having lice?  I thought it was something for 7 year olds. I feel like crying like a kid though.  Well okay -  since I've confessed already - I have cried like a kid today (and eaten far more Mint Milanos than anyone should!!)

There - I've shared my terrible, no good, very bad day.  I've got to go back to the laundry (and there is GOBS) and to the combing.  And to the comforting of my husband.  Sigh.

I will go back to writing about my canning and other things.  I'm done whining.  I think.

Blessings,

Christine 

A Family Jaunt

A couple of weekends ago we went for a drive over the mountains to the east side of our state.  A very different environment exsists over there and it's great fun to drive for just a little while and find ourselves in a completely different habitat.

 It's very dry and desert-like.  The main occupation is farming (my kind of place!!).  We has such a fun time.

Enjoying our picnic lunch

We did have a destination in mind - this was fun day with an agenda :0).  So after our picnic we set about business - getting our fruit for the winter.

Blueberries for Abbie

Kerplink, Kerplank, Kerplunk!!!



We gathered more yummy fruit:

Then we headed home over the beautiful Mt. Rainer.  Such a beautiful drive!!!

Beautiful - even for the chicken-hearted Mama who hated driving next to very steep cliffs!!  I'm quite sure I left imprints of my hand on the door handle - much to Hubby's amusement :0)



An alpine meadow we stopped to hike through

We are so blessed to be able to do this - fill up our van with fruit to prepare for the winter!!  It's one of my favorite things to do - fill up my pantry with delicious homemade foods to see us through the months when fruit is difficult to afford.   And build family memories at the same time!!  What could be better?!!!

Blessings,
Christine

Birthdays!!!

Oh dear, I have been busy, busy, busy!!! I can't wait to share what I've been working on but first I have some belated birthdays to blog about!! Well, we celebrated the birthdays on time but I didn't share about them on time :0)!!

Both birthdays are my August babies. The first birthday of the month was sweet baby Esther's, who is really not much of a baby any more. This sweet pea turned two near the beginning of August!!! In the last year she's turned from a little crawling bundle into a walking, talking independent toddler (although my heart is so happy that my tiny girl is still nursing - I'm not quite ready to let that go and neither is she!!) I'm so happy God placed her into our home - she is such a sweet blessing - and I know God has her path is laid out to bring Him glory!! My sweet little funny face!!

Happy birthday sweetheart - Mommy and Daddy love you soooo much!!!
Our second August birthday was Samuel's. He turned 11 years old - I just can't believe how time is going so fast!!! It's crazy to know that my gentle, kind little man is 11. I just know God has big plans for Sam. He is such a kindhearted, gentle and loving boy!!
He got the pleasure of celebrating his birthday while we were visiting Fort Stevens and the ultimate boy dream of being the powder boy for the Civil War cannon shooting event at the fort on his big day - a birthday I'm sure he will always remember!!!
Waiting for his turn to walk forward with the gunpower (which was real!!)
Doing his very important job!
He had to approach the cannon crew backwards just in case he got shot - the bullet wouldn't hit the gunpowder he was carrying and blow up the whole crew - he'd just take the bullet in the back instead (a comforting thought for all the mothers of powder boys during the Civil War - ugh!!) Anyway - since this was not the real thing this Mama was thrilled he could do this!!

Happy Birthday Sam!! Mom and Daddy love you so much and are so proud of you!! We are sure God is going to use you for His good works!!

So now we are in September and the month is just flying by already!!! I have been so very, very busy!! I can't wait to share what we've been up to!

Blessings,

Christine

Vacation!!

We did indeed camp near a real shipwreck - a ship that grounded here in 1906.

We are home and had a marvelous, restful and relaxing trip. Getting ready for school and laundry sorta kept me away from the computer for a while. We had so much fun and did so many things I can't begin to tell all - so I'll just let some of my many pictures speak for themselves :0)! Our humble house on wheels - a camping delight - if I may say so! I am now a wussie camper and proud of it - not being cold and scared all night long in a tent was awesome!!!!

Beach play - as you can see - we were blessed with unusually wonderful weather for the coast!! (the Oregon coast that is) it was nice enough to even get wet!!
Tide pools
The fabulous Oregon coast rocks!!!


Sam got to be the powder boy for the Civil War re-enactment they had at the fort (on his birthday no-less!!!)
Cannon fire Sunset on the beach
Kite flying on the Washington coast - note the amazingly blue sky - a rarity on this part of the Pacific!!!
The rain came creeping in on our last day - Goodbye coast - we had fun!!
We were indeed blessed with amazing weather, a gorgeous location and fabulous fun!! We were blessed with safety and good health! We came home rested and relaxed and ready to start the new season that is fast approaching.

Blessings,

Christine