Yarn Along, Reading and CD Giveaway

Happy to be sharing with Ginny and all the others  joining in with this week's yarn along.

I have started knitting another vest using this sooo simple pattern with this beautiful shade of yarn from Peace Fleece - Lena's Meadow - gorgeous shades of green with specks of color throughout.

I have started reading Radical by David Platt.  I have always had stirrings inside that I don't live my life radically for Jesus and that there is so much more expected of me.  In Radical, the author challenges the readers to begin a journey of authentic discipleship - I mean would we really give up everything to follow him?  And what would that look like?

I also recently bought this music CD - seeds of praise - and it comes with an extra copy to give away!   It is fun CD for the whole family.  If you would like to be entered to win, just leave a note in your comment.

Looking forward to reading about what you are knitting and the books you are enjoying.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Loving Outside

We have been busy with family visiting from afar and enjoyed a very special Mother's Day with breakfast made by my oldest boys, having lunch with my Mom (who lives in Connecticut and I don't get to see very often), and then our watching Abby's ballet recital.  I feel so, so, so very blessed to be the mother of these seven children.


As I walked around outside today I noticed ~

how creative children can get with rope

A new flower box Mike built me for Mother's Day - on the little addition to our humble barn.

Flowers arranged in old sap buckets.

Vegetables growing in rows - kale, onion tops, and radishes.  

Warm wishes,

Tonya

The Everyday

More Simple Knitting and Goat Reading

Working on more wash cloths for gift giving and knitting up little gnomes in plant dyed wool yarn from Peace Fleece, and crocheting some more herbal bug spray cozies in preparation for the Farmer's Market.

I borrowed Goat Song by Brad Kessler from the library the other day and am really enjoying it.  The author can be a bit crass, but now that we have had our does for one year, I can relate to much that the author writes and am enjoying learning bits and pieces along the way.

For Sarah (first/second grade),  we are enjoying the simple poems from the book, All the small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth and illustrated by Natalie Babbitt.

The poems are nice for copywork and the illustrations are done in ink which is my favorite.

Here is one - 

lawnmower

The lawnmower

Grinds its teeth

Over the grass,

Spitting out a thick 

Green spray;

Its head is too full

Of iron and oil 

To know

What it throws

Away:

The lawn's whole

Crop of chopped

Soft,

Delicious

Green hay.

Joining in this week with Ginny and so many others this Wednesday for the Yarn Along.

Moments from the Week

making music

catching frogs

planting 

observing perennials coming up through the soil

daily baking

chick walking

enjoying Emmy

(The sharing of these moments inspired by Jules at A LittleCrafty Nest.)

Knitting and Reading

Finished up a doll I made for a neighbor and am now working on some cotton dish cloths and am still waiting inspiration to get started on a bigger project.

I have just started Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler and am looking forward to reading her viewpoints on cooking healthy with economy and simplicity.  Have you read this book?  What did you think?

You can join in with Ginny and everyone else today at the Yarn Along.

Deliberate Living

What does it mean to live deliberately? 

To me it means to have the freedom of choice - to choose how to live based on your ideals and beliefs.  It means making decisions that reflect these standards.  

For example, our family chooses not to participate fully in the consumer society and instead we are working towards being producers.  I cannot remember the last time I stepped foot in a walmart, for example.  I did go into AC Moore while visiting my father last February.  

Generally, though, we avoid buying new things - and we do look to local or small businesses first.  It may be a few more dollars to buy a gallon of paint at our small town hardware store, but I am so grateful that it is there when we remember at 4:00 in the afternoon that we are out of chicken grain and it is 30 minutes to a decent size town.  We chose to live in a very rural area in northern Vermont where there are simply less temptations for consumption - no walmart or department stores nearby and many others live much like we do.

We are content to live with less.  By doing so it means that we don't have to put such a large emphasis on earning money.  Yes, we have seven children to support and we do have to be realistic, but one of our goals is to learn to do more on our own or to barter so that money isn't our main focus.    This choice allows us the flexibility to spend more time with one another or to serve others - like spending an afternoon together cleaning our church.  

Renee, from the blog, FIMBY, reminded me recently "to not take for granted yesterday's plans and dreams that become routine."  As our family is at the stage of moving forward toward creating new dreams, I need to push aside times of discontent and remember that we are living our first dream - of working, learning and loving together on a little homestead down a country dirt road.