the void

I wonder what God has in store for me?

Today, tomorrow, over the next few weeks & months?

As I go through each day, as I pray my way through struggles & joys, I feel like God is directing me.  Where?  I'm not sure yet.  Not my physical location, not like that.  Yet I feel like God is preparing me for.....something.

Maybe it's a deeper relationship with Him.  I've been lacking in my relationship with Him over the past few years.  I can feel it, that hole, that void - yet I also felt unable to do anything about it.  I know He has always been here, right here with me.  Maybe His whispers to my heart are finally getting through.

I need Him.  That's all there is to it.  I'm unable to make it, day after day after day, on my own.  My husband can't fulfill me.  My children can't fill that void.  Only God.



:LYRICS:
Every point of view has another angle
And every angle has its merit
But it all comes down to faith
That's the way I see it

You can say that love is not divine and
You can say that life is not eternal
"All we have is now"
But I don't believe it

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And the restless soul is searching
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
And it's a void only He can fill

Does the world seem gray with empty longing
Wearing every shade of cynical
And do you ever feel that
There is something missing?

That's my point of view... 


Please, Lord, fill me

Because...

Because when he laughs, I just want to figure out a way to make him do it again....

Because each time I look in his eyes, the term 'love' gets a bit deeper....

Because I am AWED at how God created this child....

Because as a parent, I understand a bit more how much a CHILD of GOD I really am...

Because when I look at my child, I truly believe God is blessing me with a glimpse of His Love.

all those papers ~ AHHH!

Homeschool papers, Sunday School papers, coloring pages, memory verse papers, copywork papers, Co-op papers.......



AHHHH!!!



Paper overload.  It drives me crazy.




I'll admit it - I throw my kids papers away *often*.  I could never display all the paper crafts my kids all make just from ONE Sunday morning at church, let alone Pioneer Club that night or Wednesday night church.  Come ON!!

Not to mention, I like things to look neat.  De-cluttered.  Nice.  This simply doesn't happen when I have 15 papers haphazardly stuck to my fridge (that *is* the fridge under there, right?!.  I can't stand opening said fridge and having 8 things immediately fall to the floor (which I have a hard enough time keeping clean as it is, for goodness sake!).


But guess what?  We have a new place to display our papers:

~A STEEL DOOR~

It's kind of out of the way - meaning it's not SMACK-DAB in the middle of my kitchen - yet it's the door to the garage, so Daddy will be able to see the kids' schoolwork each time he heads outside.  It's perfect!!

And guess what?  I've got another one upstairs, the door to the boys' room (which is above the garage).  So that door will become the "fun" papers door, while the above door will be used strictly for school work.  Excellent!

Now....I just need to pick up some more magnets....

it's finally happened...

I've had to resort to taking pictures of my own home, after I've cleaned it, just to have visual proof that yes, I do clean.






If I don't take pictures no one will ever know.

Hurry, look - in 10 minutes it's all destined to be destroyed again....

....well I'll be....see!  She left that plate sittin' there on the table....it's all downhill from here....;)








p.s.  this here is my call-'em-to-dinner triangle that I picked up at the last Feast of the St. Claire.  We just wouldn't be "country" without it!

Why do *you* lock the doors?

As we pulled into the garage the other night, I asked my 8yos Isaac if he would please lock the back door - from the garage to the back yard.  He said "sure, Momma".  As he was walking back from his task, he looked at me questioningly and asked, "Momma, why do you want to make sure the back door is locked?"

Before I had a chance to formulate an answer that didn't involve anything too scary for his imaginative 8yo brain he pipes up, "OH!  I know why!"

Why?

"It's 'cause of the ninjas, isn't it Momma?!"

Ummm....yes....ninjas.  How did you know?

He was totally serious.
Crack.
Me.
Up.
;)

it *can* be done!

We are involved in a weekly Bible Study/small group with two other families.  All together, we currently have 11 kiddos.  Our Isaac is the oldest at 8 years old.

It *can* be done.

You do not always have to find a way to "be alone" to study the Bible.  You do not have to figure out a way to have an "adult only" time in order to have fellowship.

Is it sometimes challenging?  Of course.  Yet our children are growing up seeing their parents part of a Bible Study every week.  It's just a normal part of their lives.  When they are older, I pray it will stay a normal part of their adult lives as well.

Of course, I do believe we're going to be planning an "adult's only" dinner & a movie date night with these two couples.  Babysitters, here we come!  Hey, kids also need to learn how important their parent's marriage is as well~

Here are the "babies" from our Bible Study group - one baby per family!!

Beautiful babies~

planning meals - day in & day out

Hello all~
Welcome to another Quiverful Friday.  Today's post isn't so much about "why" we are quiverful - you can find that HERE. (this explanation is a year and a half old at this point though).  No, today is about a practical aspect of being Quiverful.  When you are QF, it is possible that you may have many children - not always, mind you.  I have some WONDERFUL QF-minded friends that only have 2 or 3 children, yet they are just as accepting of the Lord's blessings as any other "large" QF family.

Anyway, today's post is about how to feed those many lil' blessings.  I'm not talking about a grocery budget (although we do have one), nor am I talking about couponing (although we've begun that process as well) - I'm just talking about the day to day "what in the world am I going to feed all these people" dilemma.

Here's some things at my finger-tips each and every week to help me in this endeavor:

Here's my one Longaberger basket - my recipes!  Here I have all my tried-n-true family recipe - ones I know are worth the effort and loved by....um...most everyone.  If I'm having trouble coming up with a recipe for ground beef, or chicken breasts, or a side dish - this is where I look first!

After that, if I'm still looking for a recipe, I'll try one of two places.  Maybe I'll pull out some back issues of Taste of Home magazine.  I've been getting this magazine on and off (mostly on) for 10 years - ever since we got a year's subscription as a wedding gift.  One of the best wedding gifts a new, inexperienced bride could get, imho!

If I can't find an interesting recipe there, or I need to find something really quick, I'll get on-line and click on over to RecipeZaar.  Here you can search for recipes in many ways:  by main ingredients, by cooking method, by seasons, by holidays.....oh, just any ol' way!  I just set up my own account there, so I can finally start rating the recipes I try (although, if they are "keepers", I'll write 'em down and put 'em in my recipe basket eventually).

Then, once I've figured out what meats & ingredients we have for the week, once I've figured out most of the meals for that week, I'll click on over to the Meal Chart Maker, from LotsofKids.com.  She has three options of charts, but I use the one with breakfasts & lunches listed too - that way I have a basic idea for EACH & EVERY meal during the week.  There are plenty of times when meals sneak up on me - suddenly it's lunch time and I have no idea what we're going to have.  Since I started making this list each week, I can simply send Isaac on over and he'll tell me what we're having.  Each morning I can check the list and get dinner all prepped after breakfast if needed.

I'm telling you, this lil' system is a SANITY-SAVER!!

The last thing I do is remain flexible ~ somedays it just doesn't work to have a big ol' meal at the end of the day.  We've done so much, we're so tired.....we'll just pull a frozen pizza out of the freezer or even just have PB&J's.  Or maybe I'll switch tonight's dinner with Sunday's meal - whatever works!


This system really doesn't take that much prep time - just a bit of work on Sundays (or even Monday mornings before I get going with my day).  Most of our meals are the regular family recipes we're used to - although I like to throw a new recipe in every once in a while, just to keep things interesting!

And that, my friends, is how I keep my sanity feeding all these wonderful, crazy, loud, HUNGRY children day in and day out - without losing my mind!!

~Tastes like the Amish did it~

Or the Mennonites, or your grandma, or that lil' ol' flea market you went to as a kid - whatever! - it's DELISH!!

It's Homemade Apple Butter!

I got this recipe (and wonderful pics) from an IRL friend:  Danielle @ Finally Finding Me...I Think

I *so* love apple butter - only get it here and there, when we happen to come across some at a market or an orchard or something.  Maybe once a year, seriously.  Yet I was kinda doubtful that any recipe I could make at home just wouldn't be *quite* as good.  Ha ~ I was WRONG!

Here's the recipe - with some pics to show you how it looks along the way:

So, you start with 9 apples (my friend's were red, mine were yellow - didn't seem to matter), cored, peeled and chopped up.  Throw 'em in your crock pot.

Now, add in all the other ingredients and mix well:  9 apples, sugar (use 2 cups), cinnamon (use 2 teaspoons), ground cloves (use 1/4 teaspoon) and salt (use 1/4 teaspoon).

Then all I did was turn my CP on HIGH for an hour or two - then down to LOW for the rest of the time.  All together, you want this to cook for about 12-14 hours, depending on how hot your CP is.  Mine is pretty hot, so I only did it for about 12 hours, my friend did hers for 13 plus she mashed a few big chunks out at the end.

You have to stir the ingredients every hour - so pick a day when you don't have anywhere to go - and stir away.

Here is my apple butter after having cooked for about 1 hour or so.

Here it is after a few more hours.

And here is my apple butter, very late at night (cause I got a late start that day.....as usual...ahem), after about 12 hours of cooking.

I then took the lid off and let it cool for a while (while I watched some Special Features on our Netflix movie).  I then scraped it into two glass jars I had and voila!!  APPLE BUTTER!!

The big jar is a peanut butter jar, while the little one if from salsa.  I like to keep my glass jars when we are finished with an item "just in case".

Here it is the next morning, right before I spread it on my toast:

*argh....my butter wasn't soft that morning and I didn't have any patience to wait.

The results?  FABULOUS!  The taste?  Exactly as I remember from the Amish ~ YUM!!

local nature center

I am really enjoying our local Great Lakes nature & natural beauty!  There are so many trails and nature centers and orchards.....we are just discovering so many opportunities for learning, it is wonderful!

Today, we headed on over to the Pine River Nature Center.  We were only there for a few hours, yet we managed to fit in a short hike, an ant craft, a snack, and exploring in the nature center (with lots of interactive displays and beautiful animals).  We already have plans to head back in a few weeks for their Fall Celebration - then again in December for their Paper Making Workshop.  For $2 per family, you just can't beat it~

So this was our schooling for the day (we'll probably fit some math in there as well, just 'cause they *love* to do math) - it was our Co-op day too!  Here's just a sampling of pictures from our day...

Tali trying to keep up with the kids ~ yet still dealing w/ some breathing/coughing issues....poor Tali....

Isaac & Tali as "Ants" ~ right by the new "treehouse"

Selah finding *treasures* along with way

Isaac was a bit nervous for this pic ~ it was a really big, kinda scary bear!

     

On the way back to the Nature Center after a mid-hike snack!

Anne & Selah making animal footprints in the Nature Center

A beautiful red leaf found by Tali ~ we were walking  s l o w l y  behind the group for a while (to help with her coughing) and she discovered all kinds of great nature items!

Also in the Nature Center, a place for the kids to inspect animal "skulls" and "furs" ~ very cool!

(not to mention a cutie-pa-tutie Hadassah along for the ride)

Can't wait for the next trip ~ a Fall Celebration ~ EXCELLENT!!

never a dull moment ~ seriously, never.

Hey, it's Monday again...already.  They just keep on coming, don't they?!

Weekends are usually so busy for us (dh working at a church and all), that Mondays tend to be our catch-up/catch-all days.  This Monday is a bit different though, seeing as how my dh is on vacation this week - whoo-hoo!!

Here's some craziness for ya:  we went coupon shopping last night, after evening church, with our FIVE children.  Yes, I know, not the brightest idea we've ever had.  Yet it was the *last* day to go shopping for that week's sales, with those particular coupons and deals - and we wanted to take advantage of those.  We had a very specific list, and thought we could manage it & the kids.  *ahem*  ya right.

Well, we made it (eventually) and managed to do pretty good on our very first coupon shopping trip.  Even with having to buy some needed items that were NOT on sale, or did NOT have a coupon (like juice, milk, etc.), we still managed to save over 50% overall.  Not bad!  Plus, I get a certain satisfaction seeing the pantry filled with numerous boxes of "stockpiled" foods.  It helps me feel like we're taking good care of our family with the money that we have been blessed with.  Amen!!

My dh took a pic so he could share with our facebook friends (one of which shared all this couponing stuff with us).  I know you can do *much* better, but for our first try, plus having to buy some needed items as well, I think we did pretty good!!  My husband and I both enjoyed figuring out all the best deals (as did our children, who got Pop-Tarts & KRAFT mac-n-cheese out of the deal!  **yes, we do occasionally feed them processed food.....all in moderation, eh ;)   **and in case anyone noticed, yes, the ice cream was one of those "needed" items *ahem*...but we did have a coupon....hehehe

One last thing for today, usually, on Sunday nights (or Monday mornings, just depends how on-top of things I am) I go to this site:  http://www.lotsofkids.com   I use their Meal Chart generator each week, adding in our specific meal plans for each day - breakfast, lunch & dinner.  I don't think I've ever stuck *precisely* to the list for each and every meal - but it definitely makes life easier for me.  Meals happen every single day, every few hours I am having to think about feeding many people.  This is just one way to make that easier!

So, I'm off.  I've got to figure out 2 meals using smoked sausage (we don't usually buy it, but it was a great deal!) - I'll probably go to my stand-by recipe site:  RecipeZaar.   Then I'll finish filling out my Meal Chart, nurse the baby and go out to the garage to help my hubby make it sparkle.  Well......at least make it cleaned-up and organized.  And get rid of some of the bugs.  Ewwww......

Have a great Monday~

How We Do Laundry in Ohio

Now, granted, we do live in Michigan......but my dh is a die-hard Ohio State fan.  So this joke is funny!

One day a housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt.

Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to his wife,

"What setting do I use on the washing machine?"

"It depends," she replied.  "What does it say on the shirt?"

He yelled back, " University of Michigan. "

"Use hot water , ½ box of Tide and 4 cups of bleach."

GO BUCKS!!!!!

Feeling a little behind

Well, we've just been dealing with some LONG nights (or short nights, depending on how you look at it - I've not been getting enough sleep, let's just put it that way).  Micah is definitely on the road to recovery.  He will occasionally have a coughing fit, but it's no longer all whooping-sounding, nor like a seal-bark, so I'm confident he's doing good!

Elijah....well....he is *better*, but he's still running a fever here and there.  His cough isn't as bad, but the boogers....eww....the boogers.  gross.

And Tali, well, it's probably allergies (are there FALL allergies, I just don't know?) or a cold that she just can't shake the coughing part.  She is taking nebulizer treatments, which help a lot, but she keeps on having to take them each day.  Poor girl.

If anyone is still having issues on Monday, I'm gonna go ahead and take 'em in to be seen - but this weekend, I'm going to TRY to keep them all calm and relaxed and just taking it easy, so their little bodies will have a chance to fight off all the yuckies.  Poor lil' babies~

Soooo anyways, I've got some stuff to talk about:  some of it light and everyday & some of it heavy and deep.  We'll see when I can get to all that....I really need sleep more than blogging.  (did I just say that???  amazing ;)

Later, my friends ~ enjoy this beautiful weather!

the croup: waiting & wondering

All I'm wondering about today is whether or not to take my 2 yob to the doc's office for his croup??

Most cases of croup can be treated at home - yet there are instances where it's just safest to get a professional opinion.  Such as Elijah's drooling.

He's got the classic croup cough.  I've heard it before - namely in my sweet Selah when she was younger, although I do believe Isaac & Tali have had it as well.  Selah was our first child in which is sounded so BAD and so SCARY that we just freaked out and took her to the ER.  And I'm not saying it was the *wrong* thing to do.....yet now that we've been down this road a few times, I'm not automatically thinking a trip to the ER is in order.

If Elijah wasn't drooling, I wouldn't be wavering.  Yet drooling is one of those *signs* that the experts tell you may mean the child needs some stronger meds (i.e. steroids).  So here I sit, waiting for my doc's nurse to give me a call back and let me know what SHE thinks.

Also, Talitha has been using her nebulizer for a few days now.  She does *not* have the croup cough, but she does have a nasty cough - and the treatments DO help her!  I'm just hoping she's on the upswing....

So there ya go - I'm just waiting and wondering.

Yuck!  Sick days.....but the older ones are still doing math.  They love math.  silly babies;)