Trusting

Olivia went to school on Monday.
Yes. School school.
I know! It was unexpected to me as well.
I feel....like my right arm has been cut off.

I feel like a duck trying to peel a banana.

I feel out of sorts.

Sigh...

It started about a week ago when I had this nagging, persistent feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing that I wasn't doing.

I know I'm not perfect, so I could think of A LOT of things it COULD be. But, nothing gave me peace until I prayed and said,
"OK! What is it?"

And clear as a bell:

"Olivia needs to go to school"

Um...excuse me?

But.I.homeschool. WE homeschool! We love it. And this year has been the best year yet!

"Well, Olivia still needs to go to school"

But homeschooling is a good thing, right???

You know all the reasons I homeschool and don't send her to school, right??

Yes, He knows because He knows me.

But He sees something better or best.

Isaiah 55:8-9

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, thus saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I had my plans.

Yes I did.

And my plans never included public school.

And I mean never.

At least not completely. Sure, maybe sports or choir or band in the upper grades.

But all day, 9-3 school?

Nope. Not for us.

I had my plans.

But His plan is better than the cleverest, wisest, most inspired plan I could come up with.

So what do I do?

I trust.

I trust that everything I see as a disadvantage to public school will work out.

I trust that Olivia will thrive.

I trust that I will be able to "let go" to a degree.

I trust that someday I will understand the WHY.

And honestly, the hardest part hasn't been sending her to school.

It's been hearing all the "Oh-was she falling behind?"

"Oh-was it for the socialization?"

"Oh-that will make everything better!"

Um...

Sorry. But she was AHEAD of the game, and the "socialization" is a DISadvantage in my book, and tell me-How will this make things better when they were already going GREAT?

I've had to swallow my pride.

And keep trusting.

So please don't sound excited and tell me this is a good thing.
I know it's right.

I know it's His will.

But, I'm still grieving.

And trusting...

Harvest Festival: Day 3

And here's the final installment of our Harvest Festival...the harvest part!

There's a great farmer's market down the road from us with fantastic peaches. Mmmm......Could peaches be the most beautiful fruit ever? They remind me of a sunset.

So, we can peaches every year. Here's the results. Our peaches floated this year. I'm not sure why, but my friend said hers floated too. So I am blaming it on the peaches. :-) No, my syrup was not too heavy. It was lighter than light. So? I don't know. But, they still look nice, eh?

This is actually a cheese that Sam made in February that has been curing in our fridge since then. We decided to break it out in celebration of...Cheese and things. It was great. It tasted like mozzerella. By the way, that blue stuff is not mold. It is food coloring. You have to coat the cheese in wax to protect it from mold, and we tried to dye the wax blue to look cool. Well, wax and food coloring don't mix...apparently. So, speckled weird blue is what we got.

Sam's chalk art. Ok...this.is.funny. Remember my Hawaiian sunset scene from Day 1? Yes, well Sam was just blown away that my chalk art was prettier than his (he did some carnival scene that day). I mean, he was standing there staring at my sidewalk square just stupified. BECAUSE, like I mentioned in Day 2 post, he is better at everything than me. So, what does he do when I'm gone for an hour the next day? Create this Cat in the Hat masterpiece. The funny thing is, I knew the day I saw him jaw-dropping over my art that he would have to contest. I knew he wouldn't be able to take it-me winning.

We're not competitive or anything...!

He ran out of chalk before he could finish, and this picture was taken after the water fight. It looked a lot cooler before.

Remember the balloon chamber? Well, here are all the balloons out in our yard for the whip-cracking event.

Junior having a go at the balloons...

It was taking a LONG time cracking all those balloons, so we eventually put the poles on the ground, and let the kids stomp on them.

Then, wheel-barrow rides. Yes, those are extra kids of a friend who just had a baby.

Sam had quite a work-out wheeling them around the house over..and over again.

We ended the night with a movie that Sam made. It was called, "Something to Celebrate" and it consisted of pictures from the past year put to music. I might set up a link to it if he publishes it online. But, it was like 40 minutes long. You'd have to REAAALllly love our family to want to watch it.

Anyway, it was a great festival.

Thanks, Sam/Dad for all of your devotion to our family! You're the best!

Harvest Festival: Day 2

ahem...
So, a week later I'm finally posting about Day 2 of our Harvest Festival. Ha ha. That's life.

We started the day with abel skivers-a yummy Danish dish that basically tastes like pancake balls.

Mmmm.....
Then, we went for a hike down to the river.

Whoops. Forgot to rotate this, and I'm too lazy to change it now. Me and Jack in the Moby.

We found some tracks....raccoon, I think?

Next up...waterfight! If you ever ever ever buy waterguns again in your life, buy these! They were so much fun. They refill in seconds, and they shoot out large amounts of water at a time.

The "littles" preferred to just jump in the refill buckets.:-)

We also had a pie-making contest scheduled. It sort of happened. Last time I totally won with a killer blueberry pie, so I think Sam was a little intimidated. He is pretty much better than me at everything in life EXCEPT making pie crusts (oh...and having babies).

So, basically it turned into me making 3 different peach pies over the span of 3-4 days. I was trying to find the best recipe. Suffice it to say, I didn't fall in love with any of the recipes...and Sam didn't make any pies. :-(

We also had a strobe dance in the evening...you know-the good ol' strobe light days? Yeah, they actually make me sick now that I am old and no fun anymore. So, the kids and Sam danced away while I hung out with baby upstairs. The pictures of that didn't really turn out.

Well, that's Day 2 of the Festival!

Livin' the Dream!

Harvest Festival: Day 1

About 3 years ago, we had a "Harvest Festival". It's kind of a "Celebrate our family and have crazy fun for three days" kind of thing.
We planned on making it an annual tradition, but two babies later and some other "life" stuff and...we missed a few years.

But, this year we are back on track. So, here's the lowdown from

Day #1 of the Harvest Festival!

We love food at our house, and we like to take pictures of food, too. I'm not sure why. So, here's breakfast!

We started the day with some yummy homemade doughnuts and fresh fruit.

Next, we were off to get Family Pictures. (if this doesn't take you to pics,
you can enter my first and last name with LTTT0799107601TAR as the password to view)

After every meal we had a raffle where the lucky winner got to pick something from the raffle box. No, the workout video was not for the kids.

Here's Emily in the Balloon Chamber! This is our downstairs library/guestroom filled with balloons. I think this was the favorite for the kids.

The "Chalk Walk". Here's Olivia working on her "purple mountain majesties".

My finished sidewalk square. I think my inspiration came from the cloudy, cool weather we've been experiencing a lot lately...in AUGUST!

And we ended the day with shishkabobs for dinner. It was a great day and I was wiped out by lunchtime, so we must've been having fun, right?

I have to give most of the credit to my wonderful man for putting everything together. He planned it all and we just showed up!

The egg sac

There have been two spider egg sacs next to our front door for several days.
On the underside of the siding.
So, last night my hubbie and I went out to water the blueberries. I decided this would be a good time to jet off the front entrance and zap those egg sacs (along with all the other bugs that have made their home there).

I don't enjoy killing living things. But...if little critters are on my turf, they just have to go. It's as simple as that.
So, have you jetted an egg sac lately? They are tough little cookies. I had to spray for a good 3 minutes before the things would come free.

I don't enjoy killing living things. And when it takes longer than a few seconds, I start to feel sick inside. It gives you too much time to think....
I started thinking about the mommy spider who worked so hard to make a safe sac for her babies. She did such a good job securing them to my siding! They were well protected. But, I am a big, bad human with a powerful stream of water, and I won.

So then I came inside and got out Charlotte's Web to read to the kids. What chapter are we on?

"The Egg Sac"

That's right.
Charlotte, the loyal and selfless friend of Wilbur, creates her "magnum opus" in that chapter. 514 baby spiders wrapped securely until spring. It took all she had left in her.

There I sat reading this beautiful and sensitive writing. Me! The one who just pulverized not one, but two "magnum opi".
Sigh...
I felt horrible.

But, then I thought of 1,028 spiders by my front door and I didn't feel quite so bad.

BUSY BUSY

I'm a country farm girl at heart.
I WANT to be a country farm girl....
even though I'm not one.
I fantasize about being Laura Ingalls Wilder or Anne of Green Gables,
even though I like my curling iron and I kill most plants I come in contact with.
Animals? no experience with them.
so Why do I have this dream?
Well, one reason is because "back then" life was simpler.
Quieter, slower, thoughtful, peaceful.
People knew how to appreciate real entertainment back then.
Like a sunset.
Or a string of notes slipping from violin strings.
Or a book being read out loud...while the fire crackles...and mom knits in the corner.

Can't you see it?
Perfect, right?

But I was born when I was born and honestly I'm happy to be here now, at this time.
It's exciting, this time on earth.

But I do pine for simpler times sometimes.

Today I had a revelation while reading this article about BUSYness
in my monthly church magazine.

The revelation was simply that I choose exactly how simple or busy my life is. Not necessarily just how many activities or events I fill my life with, but my FRAME OF MIND.

Do I truly listen when my 6 year old spouts the 100th dinosaur fact of the day to me?

Am I wholeheartedly playing a game of pretend with my 3 year old, forgetting any lists or obligations?

Am I taking time to meditate on God's will for our family and myself?

Do I look into my childrens' eyes every day and think about how amazing they are and how precious they are to me?

Do I do something small each day to show my husband how crazy in love I am with him?

The things that show I'm not too busy to listen, to care, to know what's most important.

If I face the facts, I have to admit that my A personality back in the 1800s could be just as "Busy."

I could be baking bread, washing clothes with a washboard, harvesting my bountiful garden, and never take the time to memorize every curve of my baby's face.

So, since Heavenly Father has been tapping my soul about this lately, I'm guessing I'm not the only Mom out there who has to fight the same balance: relishing each day but also doing the things that must be done so everything doesn't fall apart.

So to all you Moms out there, here's a great poem that is now on my fridge to remind me NOT TO HURRY my way through life.

Duties are pressing upon me,
And the time for work is brief,
What if with purblind vision,
I neglect the very chief?

What if I do with ardor
What a thousand could maybe,
And leave undone forever
What was meant for only me?

--Charlotte Fiske Bates

I love kids...

Apparently, I took too long in the bathroom to receive this gift in person.