Mama Kay’s Reflections

Dh & I have been enjoying the video set we got from Franklin Springs Media. I think our favorite of the ones we’ve watched so far is A Journey Home. It is about a father who takes his family out of suburban life to live among the “plain people.”  With 11 kids, they learned to farm without electricity or other modern conveniences in an attempt to prepare their family to serve in Israel. In one of the outtakes the mom comments that the first couple of years God was burning away the dross, refining them as gold. As dh & I have been struggling with what we should be doing with our lives we can not help but wonder how God is refining us and preparing us for his work.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  (Php 1:6 ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10 ESV)

I Will Never Be the Same Again
Geoff Bullock

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I’ve closed the door.
I will walk apart, I’ll run the race
And I will never be the same again.

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I’ve closed the door.
I will walk apart, I’ll run the race
And I will never be the same again.

Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas,
Whatever you need to do, Lord do in me.
The Glory of God fills my life,
And I will never be the same again.

Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep aways the darkness, burn away the chaff
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

Fall like fire, soak like rain,
Flow like mighty waters, again and again.
Sweep away the darkness, burn away the chaff,
And let a flame burn to glorify Your name.

I will never be the same again,
I can never return, I’ve closed the door.
I will walk the path, I will run the race
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again.
And I will never be the same again.

Refiner’s Fire

Chorus:

Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

Have you had one of those weeks when each day you think surely the worst of it is over but then something else happens? Last week was one of those weeks for me but reflecting on it I see God working in our lives through all the yuck.

We went camping over the weekend and had a great time but when it was time to leave my in-laws house after dropping off the camper the car battery was dead. Not too big of a deal my fil helped replace the battery since dh needed to get to evening services at church to teach and all in all we just got home a couple hours later than I had hoped.

Then early Monday morning we awoke to 3potato vomiting. She was sick most of the morning but seemed fine after that. We were happy that it seemed to be a small bug and didn’t take over the whole family. (Thank you, Lord!)

Oh and while camping a piece of my molar broke off (I’ve been meaning to get to the dentist but just hadn’t made it there yet). My tooth was hurting quite a bit by this point.

Tuesday, I thought I’d get an early start on the laundry since we had camping laundry on top of sick laundry to get done. I ran the first load and went in the laundry room to move it to the dryer and the floor was flooded! My wonderful fil came over and checked the washer over & found it was the pump! We have been thinking we need to replace the washer & dryer soon (they were 12 years old). The dryer had been acting up some but we thought we had a little more time. So… we got on Craig’s List and started looking up machines. I’ve been really wanting a front loader. I contacted one guy who ended up having his machines at a storage place less than 2 miles from our house! We had cash in the bank to pay for it and were able to help this family out who had their house foreclosed and couldn’t use their machines anymore after having them for only 5 months! We are the proud owners of Whirlpool Duet Sport HT Frontloader washer and dryer. I love them! The cycles are so much shorter. It uses less water and electricity and I can get more laundry done. Another blessing in disguise—we had the new washer & dryer hooked up by the end of the evening.

Wednesday—I was up half the night with the pain in my tooth. I knew I had to deal with it for sure today. The dentist my mil & dh liked was closed on Wednesdays so I decided I better go back to the dentist I went to in June even though I hated it. I prayed that I would get a different dentist and that it would all work out. I called as soon as they opened and was able to get an appointment for 9:50 am. Dh came home from work to watch the girls for me. Turns out the 9:50 appointment was just with the general dentist confirming that yes in fact my tooth needed to be pulled but I would have to come back at 1:30 to see the oral surgeon. So at 1:30 the oral surgeon said he could pull both of the teeth I needed pulled (the molar & a baby tooth that never came out) but he couldn’t do it until 3.

So I came back at 3 and got in at 3:30. I elected to have the laughing gas because I was so worried about this. (I’d never had dental work before.) He started with my baby tooth and it came out without too much trouble. He decided to take a break for a couple minutes after that tooth and while we waited I became really shaking. He turned off the gas but I could seem to break out of the shaky feeling so he decided I better come back next week to get the other tooth out. I called dh & had him come pick me up since I didn’t feel able to drive.

Dh was furious that they didn’t take out the tooth that was hurting me! They didn’t change my bill or anything. So he called up the dental office and talked to the office manager and the dentist himself to communicate his displeasure with their service. All said and done the dentist said if dh brought me back he would remove the other tooth that night. So that’s what we did. I didn’t have any gas the second time and did much better.

Thursday, my inlaws brought me some groceries including soft foods and helped with the girls for a little bit. Then they took 1potato to her piano lesson and 2potato for the ride. I was able to get a good nap in and recover some. Then my mom brought me some yummy tapioca pudding that evening! It defintely helped the ibuprofen go down easier.

Friday, 4potato threw up once but seemed fine after that.

God was there with me through the whole week and I did feel his presence even through all of the yuck. I just pray that this week will be much better and that we can get back on track with our schoolwork!

We’ve been having lots of discussions about church at our house lately. Please go visit my dh’s blog and comment on what you think church is.

We had our convention this past weekend and it was wonderful as usual! It’s so nice to spend time with friends, listen to encouraging speakers and shop for homeschooling books!

My favorite session was Shelley Noonan’s Mentoring Your Daughters. She talked about purposefully teaching your daughters. She recommended spending 1 hour each week one-on-one time with each daughter. With 5 girls I’m not sure how I’m going to achieve that. She wrote A Companion Guide for Beautiful Girlhood. I bought this and intend to start it with 1potato (who is 9 1/2). I already had Beautiful Girlhood but we haven’t read it yet.

Dh went to one called How Do You Know What They Know? by Teresa Moon. He suggested I get her book Evaluating for Excellence. I think it is just what we needed! With more students this year dh & I have been talking about how we need to have more definable goals and ways of measuring their progress. This book is filled with forms to help diagnose where they are, set down your goals and measure their progress. It comes with a CDROM (which they are mailing to me) that you can print the forms out if you don’t want to make copies from the book.

This year we decided to switch from Making Math Meaningful to Math-U-See. Dh is going to take over teaching them math so I won’t have to worry about it. We are really excited about it. I bought the Primer for 3potato who is doing Kindergarten this year and Gamma for 1potato. Some friends of ours are going to give us Beta for 2potato as soon as their son finishes it (he’s almost done). We are already enjoying listening to the skip counting songs.

I’m very excited about the books we got for language lessons this year! They are from Queen Homeschool. The include full color art work for picture study, poetry, creative writing, grammar and more. They are so lovely to look at and are directed to the student so a lot of it they will be able to do on their own. 1potato also picked out Pictures in Cursive Book D to practice her cursive. It is a daily cursive writing practice based on picture study lessons

1potato got very excited about lapbooking at the convention. She got to go to a workshop where they made one. So we got Dinah Zike’s Big Book of Books and Activities. We also got a kit that has 12 folders & papers to make lapbooks with. I’m hoping she will make a lapbook every month and it will help her study skills.

We also got the Keepers of the Home Handbook. We are hoping to start a club using it this fall.

We are going to continue with our Mystery of History Volume 1 using figures from History Through the Ages for our timelines.

We are also going to continue using Draw to Learn: The Book of Psalms for drawing and Bible. We love it. We are using some hardbound books from Miller Pads & Paper to do our drawings in and Prismacolor Pencils. I’m doing it with the girls and it is so enjoyable and really helps focus on what the Bible is saying to us.

We are planning on starting back to school August 4th with everyone else around here. I’m using this planner from Simply Charlotte Mason to pull it all together. I’m really looking forward to this year—I think its going to be a great school year!

Our home inspection did not go well—the home inspector suggested we gut the house keeping only the structure, foundation and roof if we fixed it. Then the termite inspector found a huge nest and said the termites had been feasting for several years and we would have to test every stud. Finally, the mold inspector found Stachybotrys Mold (yes, that’s the bad kind). So we’ve run into another closed door. We are canceling our offer today.

I know that the Lord has good plans for us and I am so looking forward to the day when we know where we are supposed to be and what he wants us to do.

Please pray for us that we will see what God wants us to do now. We are still proceeding on trying to sell our current house and we are going to change out the flooring & draperies as well as remove more things from our house in hopes that our showings will go better. We’re definitely open to suggestions if you have any for us!

2 cups whole wheat floor
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup finely shredded carrots

2 eggs
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons coconut oil (could use melted butter)

“Syrup”

4 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash cinnamon
water (to desired consistency)

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, milk and coconut oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in carrots, coconut & pecans. Let sit for at least 5 minutes.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls on a greased hot griddle. Turn pancakes when bubbles form on top, cook until second side is golden brown.

For “Syrup”

Blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Add water to achieve desired consistency.

We all enjoyed them immensely!

After years of talking, months of looking and planning—we have a contract on our first piece of land. It is a 1500 sq ft house with 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on 3.3 acres in a rural area just outside of town. Still in the desert but this is our practice place. Our chance to learn the skills we need while still having a good paying job and proximity to friends and family. We close on August 4th and hope to move in towards the end of September. We got an amazing deal but that means there is a lot of work to be done before we can move in which is exciting and overwhelming all at the same time.

Our plan is to have a mini-farm with a big garden, fruit trees, chickens, goats and maybe even a family cow. There are already citrus trees and a grape vine that are producing fruit. We want our family to work together towards a common goal, learn to be good workers, learn important skills and build community.

God has been so good to us!

Please pray for our current house to sell and that we will make good decisions as we improve the new property.

Here’s a couple video clips to give you an idea of the new place:

This one the land includes about as far as you can see (well not to the mountain) but you get the idea:

Here’s the “Front Yard” area around the house:

Here’s the “Back Yard area around the house:

This is a commercial from Germany promoting having children. It’s amazing!

I still can’t believe that Emma is walking already! She is the earliest walker of any of our girls by at least 6 weeks.

Here is a video clip of her:

Enjoy!

I will enter your gates with thanksgiving in my heart and I will enter your courts with praise

I am thankful for my husband who is able to drive us safely to go camping pulling a pop-up trailer.

I am thankful for the cool breezes, beautiful butterflies and blanket of stars we experienced this weekend.

I am thankful for air conditioning (especially when it is 112 degrees outside!)

I am thankful for my own soft bed to come home to.

I am thankful for my wonderful in-laws who make swim lessons an extra, special event for our girls.

I am thankful for baby smiles, toddler kisses, preschooler helpfulness, and big girls who can really help out in such a meaningful way.

I am thankful for a generous church member who gave our family the exact swing set our children have wanted from Costco for years.

I am thankful for crockpots cooking dinner.

I am thankful for all the recipes that are so easy to find on the internet.