Monday October 6, 2008Outside My Window: Sap is running in the maple tree in the side yard and the leaves are piling up! Big, bright yellow, crispy, crunchy leaves. The kids had an early morning raking and jumping party. The pile was as big as the children and it took quite awhile to get all the leaves out of their hair and clothes so that we could leave for our coop day, but it was worth it. There was lots of giggles and joy in the air!
I Am Thinking: about Isaiah 32:17 which says "The work of righteousness shall be peace and the affect of righteousness quietness and confidence forever." As a believer I am made righteous through Christ. If I am following Christ and seeking his will then I will have peace, quietness and confidence in my daily life, in my decisions, and in my life. When I seek after my own will and fleshly desires than I will not know peace. I will not have quietness, nor experience confidence.
I am thankful: that my grandmother has been moved close by and that although the move has been so hard on her, that I am able to see her frequently and to help care for her. This time is a precious gift.
From The Kitchen: This morning was fresh applesauce muffins! Tonight for dinner we will be eating at a dear friends home and I believe we are having taco soup! My kitchen challenge for this week is that I am taking two meals over to my grandmothers and the only cooking appliance she has is a microwave. This means that everything has to be cooked before I get there and either hot or able to be warmed up in the microwave.
I Am Wearing; a grey skirt and pink coop t-shirt. There is not a lot of deviation on Mondays.
I Am Creating: I asked my husband to remove the hot tub from the screened in porch off of our bedroom which opened that space back up and allowed the air chair that is in the porch to moved over to a better spot. With the hot tub gone and the air chair moved I also able to put a table and chairs in the porch. The hot tub is now on the back deck. Where maybe next spring we will be able to have it fixed and hooked up. For right now I am just happy to have my porch back and usable. It will be a nice space for the kids to work in or even to have dinner in without all the bugs!
I Am Reading: The Last Child In The Woods. It has been very encouraging in that I have done so many things right with our children in regards to their outdoor education. We garden and they know that the produce from the garden has to be preserved. We use the apologia science curriculum which is so hands on. We have lots of pets that we take care and we camp. But it also motivated me to do a little bit more. I would like to initiate a daily walk after lunch and a monthly day trip. The monthly day trip will take place to the same county park every month. The author suggests becoming intimately familiar with the flora and fauna of one particular area to observe and record how it changes with the seasons.
I Am Praying: for the marriages in our small group and our church.
I Am Hearing: The pitter patter of a light sprinkling rain, leaves shuffling in the breeze, the faint tink sound of a metal clasp hitting the flag pole, and the distant sound of the occasional car passing by.
Around the house: We are having a major fruit fly invasion! There are actually enough of them to create swarms! All of our apples and grapes are canned up. My husband canned another 24 pints of salsa last night and will be trying his hand at canning pepper rings this week. Until we get all of this produce out of the house I am sure that we will not have much luck getting rid of the fruit flies. It would seem that they are not easy to get rid of.
A few plans for the rest of the week: My In laws are still on vacation, so I will be working at my husbands store helping out for the rest of the week. We are also going to go see the Hobbit at the Des Moines Playhouse this week and make a trip to Howell Tree farm with some friends to pick some pumpkins.
