The plan was to crochet a scarf while I recuperated.
That and finish my rag rug.
Crutches make your arms hurt & making the rug does take some arm strength so the rug is on hold until the arms feel better.
I started to crochet the scarf but I didn’t like the way it looks.
My daughter Megan makes wonderful scarfs & hats with her Knifty Knitter round looms.
So she took pity on me & I am making a scarf with her loom. I love how it looks & it is about half way done!
Thanks Megan!
I am SO blessed to have GREAT friends.
Once a month we get together to scrapbook at church. Since this month I am kinda homebound they agreed to come here for the evening. I am so looking forward to some girl time!!! Yes!
(As I look around my house) Ahhh what was I thinking?
It is Friday—which means things have gotten really bad. We pick up each day but things are slipping. Sigh.
Well I guess if they are my friends they won’t mind right?
Or maybe they will help me pick it up?
On the other hand I was able to work on the kitchen counter a bit as the piles in there had gotten pretty high. My little guy was my legs. I hand him things & he runs them where they belong. Hmmm good lesson for him! We even lit a candle!
Mmmm smells good.
Next I will tackle the other counter & my desk area. One tiny baby step at a time.
I was so pleased with that but then I hopped(grin) to my bedroom & discovered a little elf had made my bed.
I still cannot do that alone. I am pretty sure I know who did it but WOW to find it done with out asking.
Initiative is truly a finer thing. So are Relationships—I posted about that earlier this week & I had a hard time choosing which was my Friday Finer Thing.
For more Friday Finer Things head over to
My name is Kim & I have been married to my dear hubby for almost 20 years(next week!) We’ve been together for along time but everyday provides us with a new way to learn to grow and change in to the people & couple that God wants us to be. We aren’t this young anymore but hey I love this picture even if is from actual film and is a bit fuzzy.
One after the other we’ve added 4 sweet children to our family.
Ranging from 19 to almost 9 they certainly keep us hopping each day. Just this year we saw our first child leave the nest to attend his first year of college.
It was difficult to let go and watch him take charge of his life. But he’s flying and we have all survived thus far.
We manage to squeeze many things in to the time that we have day to day. Vacations to places far away happen from time to time—camping most of the time.
Badlands
Independence Rock on the way to Yellowstone
Each year the kids participate in Bible Quizzing. They memorize a ton of scripture & then compete once a month. It is fun, crazy, and hair pulling. There is NO better activity for teenagers. It gets them grounded and plants God’s Word in their hearts.
We love to play games & do puzzles together. Homeschooling is our method of education. Recently I had surgery & so our current adventure involved me and crutches. Which means my family handling a lot of things around the house that they aren’t used to doing. It is going well but when the next 12 days of confinement are over there will be much rejoicing in the house.
Raising children, being a wife, walking the path God has placed before me sums up the journey recorded here.
Come along with me, I would love to have you follow this blog if you feel led to do so. Sign up for posts to be sent to your email or to your Google Reader.
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:7-9
I am not big of rules—for myself of course.
For everyone else they are fine.
I could just do without them.
Most of my children(notice I didn’t say all) don’t really appreciate them either. As a younger mom, I thought that all I had to do was lay out the rules & carry out the consequences for breaking the rules. As young children they did learn that rules are important and we survived the terrible twos and beyond.
But now I want to see actions that are taken without me nagging. Initiative is a great word. When I see someone DO something without being asked I praise it over and over and over again because it means so much more.
Doing things out of love for me, their father, and our whole family means a million times more than taking an action out of duty or adherence to the rules. That is something I didn’t know. I could have really ruined my relationship with each of my precious kids if I hadn’t changed my way of thinking.
Sometimes God gives you a glimpse of who your children are going to grow up to be. My abilities are small right now due to surgery.
But it has been GOOD for our whole family.
Sometimes nothing brings you together like a crisis. Which this is not, but you know what I mean. I think sometimes we don’t ask enough out of our kids. They can do more than we expect. I have been so surprised with how easily the house has run. I never thought my 8 year old could do his own laundry. I never thought my daughters could do ALL our meals on their own. It is such a happy surprise.
I am finding it easy to be joyful when
. . . a little boy runs to get my _______(shoes, water, phone etc)
. . . daughters bravely go in to the grocery store—WITHOUT ME.
. . . meals are on the table with out smoke, tears or takeout.
. . . chores are done without reminding(much anyway). I sure cannot see what the laundry looks like in the basement.
So I am focusing on the time I get to spend with them. I am looking for ways to enjoy them and create that relationship with them. It simplifies my life. I don’t have to worry so much about who is obeying. They seek the relationship with me and all in our family. Everyone finds the joy in loving.
I really appreciated a post at Heart to Heart with Diane today. It made me think & I am starting my own list of ways to “bind your children’s heart to you in love” as she says. Her post is directed at homeschooling but I really think any parent can use these ideas with their child.
Here is my challenge to you--what things will you do today to build your relationship with your child? I think I will go play a game . . . or two. Sounds pretty simple to me.
Hubby has the day off today so we are hanging out together. Playing games.
Snoozing. Working on projects. Playing in the snow
Michael was home for lunch. We got a college update. He likes all his classes this semester. Freshman English isn’t awful so far. He got a good professor.
School marches on. I did almost a full load with Joshua today—no math but he’s WAY ahead in that right now. Just need to do some grading now. Uhg.
I am helping a friend with a Photoshop project for her blog! Of course I am joining in on some hops today! Welcome to everyone! What are you doing today?
Not my sons but sweet picture regardless.
I do claim both of these even if one isn’t mine.
Yes they are really sleeping.
Posted at Wordless Wednesday
What do you remember learning to cook as a child? What do you teach your kids to cook first?
Learning to cook is such an important life skill! I think we mom’s are sometimes in too much of a hurry and want things to be just so. . . and we don’t include kids or choose to teach them when they are excited to learn.
First things first
We start off EASY and SIMPLE. Cooking can be complicated but it sure doesn’t have to begin that way. Here’s the short list of what I teach first.
PBJ’s, Mac & Cheese, Chili, Scrambled Eggs, Oatmeal, Spaghetti
We’ve been eating a lot of soup with all the cold weather lately. Some kinds from freezer meals we prepared ahead of time and others we’ve made from scratch.
Today Megan made 3 Bean soup. This is a no fail yummy recipe. Pretty healthy & EVERYone here likes it. As I have said before if it has beans, cheese & rice in it my kids will eat it. Last week’s bean recipe was Enchiladas and next week will be Tostadas!
3 Bean Soup
1 can black beans—drained & rinsed*
1 can white beans—drained & rinsed*
2 cans chili beans w/ chili sauce
1 qt of pureed tomatoes
1 qt of water
tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese or any other toppings you like
Rinse & drain beans & then dump them all in a medium pot. Add the tomatoes & water—Heat & serve! Let each person add the toppings that they prefer & enjoy!
*I try to cook dry beans up ahead of time & save some $ but this week we did used some cans due to how life is going right now. We did have black beans in the freezer(yeah!)
Your turn!
Please share what you first learned to cook in the comments.
Me? Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies!
Yum.
For more great recipes head over to
Our family LOVES music of all kinds. On any evening you might find us listening to a wide variety of artists. Toby Mac, Selah, Revive, Francesca Battistelli, Sanctus Real, Third Day, Need to Breath, and The Apologetics
But on the other hand
You might see Steve dancing with kids to Christmas songs in July.
or. . .
Thank God I am a Country Boy by John Denver
or. . .
Rocky Top by Conway Twitty
or. . .
Johnny Horton singing Johnny Reb
So we have lot of CDs and sometimes it drives me crazy to have them out everywhere. They get damaged(we do have kids) and then we cannot use them.
We do rip them & put them on the ipod/mp3 players but I don’t like to put on headphones much.
It also costs a lot to buy CDs. We do occasionally get things from I-tunes but not recently.
We’ve been using
It is a free site where you can build play lists of your favorite songs. I have several different ones that I use depending upon my mood. Try it out! I am getting no kick back here—we just enjoy the wide variety of music we can find on this site! You can click on the image above to go there.
I didn’t forget the blog hop I was going to host regarding Making Plans! It just hasn’t been possible with recovery. Still one of my goals. . . maybe next Monday. Taking it one day at a time.
 Copy and Paste Code |
