Happiness

A verse borrowed:

Happiness doesn't occur by itself.
You cause it to happen or not.
How you relate to life's events
Determines your joy or your misery.
Whether your feelings are mean or kind
Your attitude to life is the key.
Don't wait to be happy until things are just right.
Don't let life's little annoyances get in the way...

You can be as happy as you decide to be.

How true this is! I am convinced that we are the sum of the choices that we make. And if you think about it, the majority of the choices that we make are not the big, life-changing ones. They are the small, seemingly insignificant ones: choosing this task or that, choosing how we respond to others, choosing how we deal with each situation. It is all these little, daily choices that really determine who we are and what type of person we are. Will your choices mark you as one who is negative and easily irritated or as one who is happy and finds joy even through the difficult times?

It takes a conscious effort, but I want to choose happiness. One way to do this is to find something to be thankful for in all situations. As a believer, I have a hope that there is so much more than just this life and its trials. So, I can always offer thanksgiving, even if it is merely being thankful that this, too, shall pass. And the times that are the toughest are usually the times that strengthen us the most.

Today is officially Thanksgiving Day and I find MUCH to be thankful for including the family that will gather around the table today and the blessing of the abundant food that will be upon it. But even if there is a dinner disaster, or the sickness that has been lurking around our house attacks, I will give thanks and CHOOSE to be happy anyway.

Priorities

I believe that I have discussed this before...priorities. Well, here I go again because this is something that I struggle with. I have a full and busy life. I always have more to do in a day than there are hours or I have energy for. That is just a fact. So, therefore, I need to prioritize my tasks. I need to make sure the most important things get done first to insure that they do get done.

When I take the time each morning to make a list and note my M.I.T.s (most important tasks), I usually feel like I accomplish more. Some days I struggle with this discipline. Even when I do get it done, I also struggle with staying on task because what I feel NEEDS to get done is not what I feel overly motivated to do. I will have the bug to clean out a closet or do a project that is low on the list of priorities. I wonder if this is just a rebellious spirit in me that is fighting my desire to be disciplined and organized.

On the other hand, when I am feeling passionate about something, I usually can get so much done, so I hate to waste that motivation. I suppose I need to bribe myself. If I can get the less desirable, yet important, tasks done first, then I can do the fun tasks.

I do believe these priorities are the key to successfully accomplishing all that I need to do. I know that God does not give me more to do than I have time for or am able to accomplish. However, I DO need to be efficient with the time and seek to do His will. Perhaps some of the things I THINK I need to do are really just part of my own agenda and not God's.

I am currently studying the book of John in Bible Study Fellowship. Last week we learned about Jesus' inner life and thoughts in regard to His relationship with His Father. The point was brought up that His mind and desires were completely taken up at every moment with doing His Father's work. This is the source of Jesus' peace, security, assurance and joy. I am thinking to myself, "I want that!" I want the security of knowing that what I am doing at every moment is the right thing. I want to know that what I am teaching my children is the right choice for who they are and what God has planned for them. To have that security, I need to be in tune with God every day all day. I need to be completely taken up with doing my Father's work. I don't think that this is an easy task. It is a challenge for this weak, undisciplined woman. But I am striving for this because isn't our goal to become more like Jesus?

So, priorities....I am handing them over to God. Lord, create my to do list for me and prioritize it according to Your Will. I am listening with pen and paper ready.

Good morning!
I am sitting here looking out my back windows which face east and watching the sunrise through this gorgeous misty fog. I am separated from my closest neighbors behind me by a 25 acre field and a majestic row of mature pine trees. Each day I am treated with seeing them silhouetted by the rising sun. It still amazes me that we lived on this property for 7 years before I ever really took notice of them. That is because where our old farmhouse was situated, they were blocked by our detached garage. Our new home is in our pasture directly in front of them. What a treat to discover them and the lovely vista they provide every morning!

Years ago, there used to be a similar row of trees on the outskirts of town. Every so often I would drive by them traveling west at sunset and loved their gorgeous silhouettes. Sadly, they were cut down in the name of progress and a gas station now stands in their place. We saw the signs that this was soon to happen and I made an attempt to get a photo of these trees at sunset, but didn't have good success. I chalked it up as a loss and treasured the memory of that beautiful sight. I suppose that is why my morning view is all the more special to me. It is as if those cut down trees have been given to me and placed right in my back yard - a little gift from God.

I would love to share a photo, but I am working on my laptop and I don't have any on this computer. We are having a little technical difficulty with our computers. Our old desktop is, well, old, and runs especially slow. Since up until a couple of months ago it was my photo editing computer of choice, I have quite a few photos saved on it. Our newer desktop is currently out of commission. For several months we have been getting a "hard drive failure is imminent" message when we start it up and have been making sure that nothing important is saved on it. We were just waiting for it to finally quit and replace the hard drive. Well, now the graphics card is not working right. [sigh] Both of our desktops are HPs and I have gotta say that they have had lots of little problems that we have had to repair. After the trouble we had with our first one, I swore I wouldn't ever by another, but I got talked into it by a good bargain and a persuasive hubby who was convinced that our first computer issues were just a fluke. I am not so convinced. Anyway, all that being said...it is a challenge right now for me to be able to share a photo online. I guess you will just have to deal with me yammering on and on...

I know; I know...it is ridiculous how I have neglected my blog. I am still alive and kicking, but have been finding it hard to find time to write something here. At least I am finding it hard to write something coherent. Most days I crave just a few more hours and a bit more energy so that I can get more done. My intentions are good, but I find it difficult fulfilling all of the roles I am required to play in life.

What's happening in my corner of the world:

My baby is almost 9 months old. I blinked and he went from a helpless, squishy little newborn, to a busy, boy who is crawling, pulling up, and putting anything he can get his chubby little hands on into his mouth. He, alone, could be a full time job just making sure he doesn't hurt himself at this stage. He is also the cutest little thing!

The rest are busy with lessons and learning in various degrees each day.

My oldest is now taking a rifle class ans seems to be doing well. Just a warning, I guess, that no one should mess with her.

We have officially joined a homeschool gym class this year which meets each week. The kids seem to be enjoying it.

I am now a 4-H leader! Ya' gotta do what you gotta do to keep the club alive. 4-H is such a good learning experience for the kids. I was already participating as a parent anyway. Now there are several of us moms that have stepped up to run things since our former leader has stepped down. She will be missed, but we are looking forward to keeping things going great.

We have been attending a new church. The whole experience of deciding we needed to do this, church shopping, and feeling a bit lost has been quite an experience - one we are still in the middle of. I can't even begin to tell you what it has been like and how many emotions I have gone through. To sum things up, we have attended the same church for about 10 years. Its members feel like a second family to me. Then God nudges us out of that comfort zone and into the unknown. ( I won't go into the details. That is a post and a half in itself.) It is a challenging thing to try out new churches with 6 kids that range from baby to high school. We forge into the unfamiliar and have to figure out where everyone needs to go. Thankfully, we have found a place that we think we are gonna stay at least for a season. In certain aspects, it is a bit out of our comfort zone, but it just feels right to us. I think that is all God's leading. For the time being, however, I am still involved in things at our old church; in particular bible study, book club, and the girls and I are still doing liturgical dance. because that is where my friends and my connections are. The church we are now attending on Sundays is rather large and it is going to take some time and effort to make those same personal connections there. And also, I don't want to lose those connections that I have from our old church. That is what really makes this such a difficult thing. [sigh] And that is enough about that.

Let's see...what else?

I have cleaned my house like 850 times since I last posted. Sadly, the kids have messed it up 851 times.

I have made several gifts in the past couple of months which include two custom monsters for my nephews, a nightgown for my mom, an apron and two bread bags for my sister-in-law, a stuffed rocket ship complete with 4 little aliens that ride in it for my son, and a pretty little doll with a removable skirt, blanket and carrying bag for my daughter. I have quite a few projects in mind that I need to get started on for Christmas, too. One of these days, I will be organized enough to post photos here, but I am running out of time. You can see photos that I have posted on Facebook here.

If you are interested, more recent photos can be found here, as well.

I think that's all for now.

Faith and Facebook

You have probably noticed that I have been pretty quiet here on the ol' blog. I have started a couple of blog posts, but always seem to get interrupted by something before I can finish it and get it posted. I struggle when I am busy to organize my thoughts into something coherent that I can post here. I have plenty of ideas, just not a whole lot of time to translate those ideas into something more than a jumbled mess.

I am a little better at keeping up with things on Facebook. Yes, Facebook. When I signed up for Facebook, I thought it was pretty dumb. I had several people encouraging me to try it and I thought, "Why not? I can just join, check it out and that will be the end of that. Right?" Ha! I didn't realize how this little "social network" can suck you in. As it has been said, Facebook is like stalking - only easier. I suppose that it is just plain nosiness that makes me want to keep up on all of my friends' statuses, but I really enjoy knowing what they are up to and how they are doing. It is fun to see their photos of their lives and their kids. Many of my Facebook friends are people that I had lost track of in real life. Distance and busyness have kept us apart, but on Facebook, they are a mere click away.

There is more to this, though; something beyond the nosiness. Recently, I have had several Facebook friends going through some serious health issues within their families. I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to pray for them. Many of these friends have used this venue to keep all their friends and family updated on what is going on. This saves them much time and trouble getting information out and is a very easy way to communicate at their own convenience. I really appreciate knowing how they are doing and being able to pray in very specific ways for their needs.

I came to the realization this morning that Facebook has made me a better prayer warrior. I know this sounds a bit crazy, but hear me out. Usually, I have a little list of people that I am praying for. Sometimes it is an actual written list, but more times than not, it is just a mental one. During my morning quiet time, I go down my list and say a cursory prayer for each person listed and I am done. If, by chance, they are brought to my mind during the day, I will send up a quick prayer. Now, with Facebook, I am updated on what is going on with these friends during the day and find myself praying often during the day for them. I even notice when I am missing status updates from them and pray that everything is still ok.

So, now I am thinking about Facebook as a prayer tool and making an effort to pray for all of my online friends. What if I prayed for each friend as a read their status updates in my news feed? What if every praying person did this for each of their friends? What incredible things could happen? Would we have the power to change the world? It makes you wonder.

I just read some wonderful food for thought over at A Holy Experience this morning that speaks about the ceremony of the everyday. This article struck a chord with something that I struggle with: daily routine. For some reason I really struggle with sticking to my daily routines. Something in me wants to rebel and not follow them each and everyday. I am not sure what it is. Ann at A Holy Experience discusses how God follows routine everyday. Everyday He commands the sun to rise and the tide to ebb and flow. It is as if every day is a celebration with a traditional order of events to follow making each day a special one.

To quote the article:
"Our God acts in endless ceremony to bring order to the world. And so we too, made in His image, are ceremonious beings, bringing order to chaos through ceremony.

Whenever parents create ceremonies, or a rhythmic routine, around any daily activity, we impose order on the environment, instead of on our children.

The order of service we create around bedtimes, school times, mealtimes allow ceremonies to prescribe behavior instead of each event requiring parental directive.

This atmosphere of known routine, expected ritual and, yes, celebrated ceremony, not only lessens the number of decisions that a parent must make throughout the day (the established ceremony directs, instead of the parent), but children thrive in such an environment.

Children "want things repeated and unchanged," writes G.K. Chesterton."

I know these things in my heart, but struggle to make them happen daily. I wonder why I like to change things around in our routines, daily. Is it a lack of discipline?

The article continues:

"When we reject repeated actions as monotonous and Spirit-quenching, are we simply exposing our weaknesses?

If we chose to "exult in monotony," to embrace habitual ceremony, would we be inviting the same God who instituted the observances of feasts, temple ceremonies, the service of communion, to be our strength too?

Perhaps the repetitiveness of ceremony does not stifle the Spirit, but ceremony invites us to regular meeting places, places to commune with the Spirit."


I am so weak in this area, but striving to be better. I am committing my quiet time to this in my prayer and study. This is especially important right now as I am reevaluating our school days here at home and we get back into our school year routine.

In my world...

In my world, life is still busy. Nothing new. I have had too much stuff swirling around in my head to write a sensible blog post.

Here's what's happening:

Although we school year-round, lessons definitely slow down during the summer, so I am gearing up to kick things back up a notch.

Have asked the children to think about their goals and what they desire to learn this year and am meeting with them one on one to discuss. This will help me in the direction of their schooling for the upcoming school year.

I have a pear tree that needs to be harvested and I am trying to figure out how to preserve all that goodness.

I also have 2 crab apple trees that appear to have crab apples that are ripe and ready. I am thinking about trying to make crab apple jelly.

Trying to decide where to put another litter box in our house because we are having some issues in this area.

We've been cleaning carpets (has to do with above item). We have a monster-sized commercial carpet cleaner that does a great job, but is quite a bit of work to use. So we are trying to go room by room and do all of our carpets. This means emptying nearly EVERYTHING out of each room. This is good because it gives me a chance to go through things (toys) and only put back in the rooms what we really want and need.

There are quite a few birthdays coming up in the next couple of months and I have intentions of making quite a handmade projects for them. I need to get working on these.

Elizabeth has completed the class portion of Driver's Education and we are awaiting the driving portion to be scheduled.

My older girls have been taking archery classes through 4-H. Fun!

Samuel, at 6 months old, is hitting some milestones. He has been on his knees and rocking for about a month and it moving about quite a bit, but just this week he figured out how to get himself to a sitting position by himself and is now actually crawling slowly and deliberately forward. He is quite a curious guy and will have our work cut out keeping an eye on him, especially with this new mobility.

We are considering a new homeschool gym class.

We have units open in the apartments we manage which means fielding lots of calls and making appointments to show them. This can be a real time stealer.

The garden is flourishing. Herbs are producing well and I have been harvesting and processing these. Now the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. Love that! Soon I will have to be deciding how to preserve them.

Of course, there are the usual allergy shots and orthodontist appointments, etc.

I could probably go on and on, but I hear my household stirring and waking up, so it is time to get my shower and attend to breakfast. Just thought I would check in here.

How to Learn

Even though schooling and education continues year-round in our household, as the beginning of the new school year approaches for everyone else, I start to re-evaluate where we are and set new goals. I have been looking at and praying about what is important - what are my priorities when it comes to teaching my children. One of the things on my list is to teach my children to be independent learners. What does that mean? Eventually, I want my children to be able to learn anything that they need or want to all by themselves. I want to work my way right out of my job as teacher. Lately, I have been thinking more about what steps are needed to accomplish this. How do you teach someone how to learn?

To discover how I should go about teaching my children to independently learn, I first need to look at how I, myself, go about learning something. For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed being an independent learner. When I want to know something, or how to do something, I just figure it out. I don't feel the need to necessarily take a class or ask to be tutored by someone else.
Here are the steps I generally take:

Search out all resources on the subject. I gather all of the information that I can find on the subject. I search the internet for pertinent articles, raid my local library for books on the subject, look to see if their are any classes in the area teaching this subject, and think about who I know with knowledge about this subject so that I can either pick their brain or have them direct me to more resources that they find of value.

Evaluate resources. This is the weeding out process. After, I have all the information and resources I can find, I evaluate which ones are worth my time and/or money. I most likely will not read every book on a subject cover to cover, but I will skim them to see which seem most helpful to me. I skim lots of websites, bookmarking those that are of value for future reference. I consider whether a class is worth my time and money. For myself, I have found that often I can get the same info that I would get in a class through good books that I can get from the library for free saving my time and money.

Study resources. Here is where the learning takes place. I take advantage of the best resources and study them, taking notes if necessary to learn the material and internalize it.

Use what has been learned. If you do not use it, you will lose it. You need to put whatever you have just learned to use if you want to truly know it and retain it. Especially if you are trying to learn a skill, you need to practice it. You can read how to bake bread or change the oil in a car, but until you actually DO it, you don't fully know the process. Practice makes perfect! If what you are learning is more informational. then it is important that you somehow communicate and share this information either by teaching it to someone else or writing an article about it. The process of retelling something in your own words is an important part of learning. I forces you to understand it better.

So, these are the steps that I want my children to learn and put into practice. Of course, as their teacher and their mom, I am (hopefully) an important resource for them, as well. I have life skills and knowledge in many areas that they would be learning. For me, I need to remember to restrain myself. I can play teacher and spoon feed them information, but that will be less effective than if they seek it out for themselves. Often, I look at myself as more of a facilitator of my children's learning. I guide and steer them to where they need to be, but then let them work things out and learn on their own. If they get stuck, of course I am there to give them help.

It's Monday

Yes, it is Monday morning and I am sitting here trying to gather my thoughts and plan out my week and my day. There is so much I want to get done and know that in reality, it can't all happen right now in the time that I have. I guess that goes back to the priorities that I talked about last week. I have to decide what is the most important and move that to the front of my to do list.

I always envision this to do list planning as a priority ladder. The top rung is that most important thing that I have to do right now. Each day I hang things on each rung in order of importance and as I complete the top thing, everything else moves up. Unexpected things happen and they will have to be put at the top, pushing other things down the ladder. Sadly, often things I really want to do continually get pushed down the ladder and I can never seem to get to them.

So, how does one decide what is currently at the top of the priority ladder? Because I tend to be procrastinator by nature, deadlines tend to be the deciding factor. If something has to be done this morning, it goes to the top, while the thing that needs to be done by this afternoon goes on next, and so on. Once all current deadlines are met, I have to choose what is the most important using my priorities. Often I do what sounds like the most fun at the moment, but that is probably not always the best choice. Although, when I am in the mood and motivated to do something, I can accomplish it much faster than if I am not.

Right now, as I look at today's ladder, I think I am going to have to put motivating my children to finish getting ready for the day and fixing breakfast right at the top. That would fall into the "deadline" category above. The day is getting away fast empty tummies have needs. Then I will tackle today's to do list.

Sewing on the Cheap

Recently, I have rediscovered sewing. I learned to sew when I was in the 7th grade from both my mom and my home ec teacher. Although I loved the idea of creating creative and special clothing and accessories, I was not a patient sewer and got frustrated easily. Throughout the years, I just dabbled in sewing now and then. It happened either out of necessity or because I would see something that would inspire me to say, "I can make that." One thing that tempts me to sew is seeing these cute little girl's dresses for sale for big boutique prices. I see them and think that I have got to hone my sewing skills because I cannot see paying that prices for just a little bit of fabric. But if you have ever done any sewing, you know that it is not as economical as you might think. By the time you purchase a pattern, fabric and notions for an outfit, you usually have more money wrapped into it than you would just to buy something ready-made at the store.

So, why now am I newly excited about sewing? I have discovered some ways to sew for cheap which I can share with you.

First of all, one word: Wal-Mart. Not all Wal-Mart stores have a fabric department, but if you are lucky enough to have one near you, it is worth checking out. The one near me is not huge and is limited in variety, but is a great resource for reasonably priced fabric. Most cotton prints are around $4/yard and flannel is $3/yard. This definitely beats the big fabric stores unless they are having a fantastic sale. The best deals I have found at Wal-Mart are on their clearance table. They have scads of fabric for only $1.50/yard. I am not sure where this fabric comes from, but they get in numerous full bolts of all types of fabric. I always laugh when I try to figure out what some type of fabric is from the label on the bolt which declares that it is made of "100% Undetermined Fabric Content." I figure that's a small price to pay for some beautiful cheap fabric that you can buy in decent quantities. Wal-Mart also has patterns for about 1/2 price.

My next big discovery is recycling fabric. I never thought much about this idea until I got inspired by someone on etsy selling these adorable leggings for kids made from recycled sweaters. I love the idea of taking something cast off and turning it into something new and usable. I have been looking at my clothing donation pile with new eyes now. A few months ago, I discovered that I had worn a hole right through the fitted sheet that we were using on our bed. I was disappointed because I really loved those soft sheets. I got to looking at them and started seeing a whole BUNCH of usable fabric in those king sized sheets- yards and yards of it. That's when I got the idea to make a nightgown out of a bedsheet. I figured it may not be quite the color that I wanted, but it would be very soft and comfy. I found a cute pattern (at Wal-Mart 1/2 price) and just needed to find the time to sew. In the meantime, my church had a rummage sale and I found a soft vintage bedsheet with a cute little floral pattern on it that I liked even beter than my own sheets. I slapped down my 50 cents and took it home and created the nightgown I showed off in this blog post. I have been wearing it and am totally thrilled with it. It cost me a total of $8.49 for the pattern plus the sheet which is less money than I would have spent for a cheap nightgown at Wal-Mart that I wouldn't love nearly as much.

Last week I stopped at two side by side garage sales on my way home and scored really big. At the first one, they were selling cute, flannel, twin-sized, snowman bedsheets. There were 3 sets of identical ones selling for $2 per set. My younger children generally do not use flat sheets. When I put them on their beds, they end up on the floor and are a nuisance. They use a fitted sheet and cover up with a comforter. So, I bought up all of these sheets and I plan to make my kids PJ's from the flat sheets to give them at Christmas (They always get Christmas PJs.) and I can give them sheets to match their PJs. How fun is that! At this same sale, I also picked up a pretty bright red fabric shower curtain for $1. It has a wonderful texture and looks to be made of cotton. That's a lot of nice fabric for a buck!

The sale next door was done by an older couple with all kinds of antiques. I really scored big finding a hand embroidered table runner and doily for just a quarter a piece. I will probably use parts of these as accents on something that I make. I also got an adorable, big, printed, vintage tablecloth for only 50 cents. The lady was apologizing because it had a stain, but I didn't care because I plan to repurpose it - probably to make a couple of cute aprons. I can see making some really cute gifts with these that will cost practically nothing but my time.

Another thing to do when trying to sew cheap is sign up for mailings from your local fabric and craft stores. Around here, we have Jo-Ann's and Hancocks. Both run really good sales and send out coupons regularly, but you have to be on their mailing list.

For inspiration and patterns, be sure to check out free resources. These certainly include the internet. It takes no more than a simple google search to find many free patterns on the internet. Also, do not forget to take advantage of your library. I have checked out many books that include patterns.

So, I hope that some of these ideas have inspired you, too, to drag out that sewing machine to create something thrifty and fun.