A Sweet Surprise

I went to the library yesterday afternoon for a bit and when I returned home, there was an apple pie baking in the oven.

The children, with a friend, had picked apples from our trees, made the apple filling, the pie crust from scratch (even looking up the recipe I use - No Fail Piecrust from The Amish Cook).

A special note of appreciation to Mike for accommodating the flurry in the kitchen that I am sure occurred during the process of making.

It was delicious!

Making Time for Homesteading

We have been enjoying a few weeks of record sales with our business - autumn wedding order mostly.  While being thankful for the money and doing our best to save it to use toward the big three "needs" we have - property taxes, a woodstove, and a new used really old car; it has been really hard but we have learned some things we wouldn't have learned if we didn't have this spike in our business.

We have learned is to be more efficient - Mike with some of his production techniques and me with my packaging of orders.

But truly we have learned that we need to keep focused on why we have chosen to pursue a homeasteading simple life.  

It is so easy to get caught up again in the consumeristic trappings of the world - oh so easy.

We have learned that it is ok to say no to business  - when it interferes with being able to spend a bit of time with family;  when I am struggling to sit down to get all my  homeschool plans on paper;  when gathering and preserving food becomes hard to keep up with; and, when homestead building projects keep getting put on hold.

  Life, of course, happens, but I think God wants us to use wisdom to make the decisions that are right for us - what is right for our family.

So Thoughtful

On my 43rd birthday bits of thoughtfulness were sprinkled throughout the day -

fresh flowers picked from our homestead from Mike in the morning

a note at my laptop first thing in the morning from Nolan letting me know he would be doing all the dishes for the day

love notes

gifts made of wool and clay

pizza for dinner (as much as love preparing healthy food for my family, a night off was a treat)

cake and ice cream shared with 12 college students and Thomas (a brief surprise visit from college!) 

This Girl of Ours

Sarah.  She is a worker.  She exhausts us with her unending energy, ideas, and projects.  

She is my expert vegetable slicer.  (Cutting each one with a knife by hand.)

 She has single handedly sliced every cucumber that has gone into all 25 pints of pickles so far.

Here she decided to take on the task of sanding and finishing her desk.  When an idea strikes, she has the attitude of - "let's do it! - and right now would be perfect."

Her desk did come out nicely!

At Our Kitchen Table

Sharing a meal with friends one night last week

Starting in on math this morning - just math this first week.  They were eager to begin this morning.  The moans and groans will come, that is for certain.  But, I hope to make learning as pleasant I can.

And under the table....

What has been going on at your kitchen table?

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Off to College

A small room that he shares with a roommate - who seems to be  a really wonderful young man and a Christian.  God is so good.

It is a small college with very nice well kept grounds with beautiful views.  

And because he is only about 30 minutes away, I did not shed any tears, instead I am so excited for him as he begins a new journey.

Slowing Down

With my first knock down episode of mastitis since having Emily (almost a year), I was reminded once again of what is important in this short life we are given.

It certainly is not how much canning I get done this season, how many knitting projects are finished, nor how much money can be made.

How I just have to stop sometimes - stop and have a cup of coffee and a slice chocolate chip zucchini bread, stop and give a family member a compliment, stop and remember to get together a gift for a friend.

What matters are the relationships I have - between my husband, family and friends and what how my children will remember their mother.  Will they remember me as being grumpy and hurried trying to get a million things done at once? or Will they remember me as a mother that worked hard but always had time to stop and listen, read a story or play a game?

  I want to be the mother in the second option and sometimes spending the day in bed realizing that life continues to go on with or without me - is the best medicine of all.