Moving On... (Again)

Apparently, our family is destined to travel the country like Nomads or Gypsies... or, at least that's how it feels sometimes, since we seem to move every 2 years or so. I will say, though, that throughout all of these moves, we have seen the Hand of Almighty God at work in every single situation, always being faithful to answer our prayers as we seek to grow more spiritually mature and to act more like Him in all that we do. It has most definitely been painful at times, with many difficult lessons on patience, faithfulness, perseverance, etc. But, we fully trust in the Sovereignty of God and in His ability to bring us through any trials we may face in this life.

This latest move was especially exciting for me. I consider Tennessee my home state, spending the majority of my growing-up years there. So, when the Lord provided my husband with a JOB, a CHURCH, and a HOUSE during the course of ONE WEEKEND, and it "just-so-happened" to be in TN... I was ecstatic!

We only just moved into this house one week ago, so there is still a lot of "tweaking" to do to the house (painting, curtains, more pictures on the walls, etc), but I hope these pics will get the point across. And, we really love our new place. Many thanks to those of you who have been praying for our family during a(nother) difficult span of unemployment. Now, on to the house pics! :o)

The BEFORE and AFTER transformation (remember, it is still a work in progress):

The front of the house.

B's room BEFORE (excited that he has a view of the river from his window).

AFTER

The Master Bedroom.
BEFORE

AFTER

I wish I could get a good pic of the whole room. It is HUGE! That is a King Sized bed, and it is still big enough to have a couch/sitting area on the other side of the room (if we had the furniture to put in it). :o)

The Girls' Room

The Dining Area

BEFORE

AFTER

The Dining Room/Homeschool Area

BEFORE

AFTER (I haven't gotten it organized yet.  Thankfully, it is summer break, so I have a while before I have to get it finished.  Yay!  More time to procrastinate!)  :o)

 The Kitchen

BEFORE

AFTER

Living Room/Kitchen area

  The Living Room (half of it, anyway)

The other half of the Living Room/Music Room.  The kids are very excited to restart their piano & violin lessons soon!  :o)

Hope you enjoyed the "tour"!  We really like it here so far.  And, hopefully the Lord will let us live here for a little while before He moves us again!  :o)

Resurrection Rolls

The kids and I decided to honor Resurrection Day by making these delicious, yet educational snacks -- Resurrection Rolls.

Here is B, rolling his marshmallow (representing the body of Jesus) into butter (representing the oils used to prepare the body for burial), and cinnamon-sugar (representing the spices used in preserving the body), and wrapping it in the crescent roll (representing the linen cloth used to wrap Jesus' body).

After the rolls were baked in a 350 degree oven (representing the tomb) for 10-12 minutes, they were ready to be eaten -- much to the excitement of the children.  :o)

 Here, I broke one of the rolls open, where the marshmallow has "mysteriously" disappeared.

The "tomb" is empty! Jesus is alive! Praise be to God!

The children thoroughly enjoyed the fact that they were able to eat this craft project, too.  :o)

Even little C got in on the action.  Mmm...  A tasty object lesson.  :o)

Artists in the Making

Today for Art class, I decided to give the kids the assignment of drawing a specific object.  I told them to pretend that their hands were cameras, and they had to make a copy of the item in front of them.  I have to admit, I was a little surprised by their artistic ability.  All of them, in their own special way, made a very great picture.

Here was the "inspiration" that they were assigned to draw:

Here is what B (7 yrs) came up with:

Here is R's (10 yrs) interpretation:

H's (4 yrs) turned out to be more of an "abstract", but at least she tried...  :o)

Overall, I was very impressed with my little up-and-coming artists.  Now, to find a spot on the fridge to hang them...  :o)

Curriculum Giveaway from Veritas Press!

One of my favorite websites (http://www.raisinghomemakers.com/) announced a really incredible giveaway of some really incredible curriculum from Veritas Press!

The giveaway is for their Kindergarten/First Grade Phonics Museum Combo Kit.

What all comes with the Phonics Museum Kindergarten/First Grade Combo Kit?:

• Two years worth of curriculum – four sturdy workbooks – two student workbooks and two teacher’s manuals (kindergarten and first grade)
• The museum game board with game pieces
• 31 primers
• Puzzle piece letters
• Beautiful art covered flashcards
• Step-by-step Lesson Plans
• Deck of game cards
• CD with original songs to help facilitate phonics concepts

And... who doesn't like FREE???

Head on over to the Raising Homemakers website and enter for your chance to win this wonderful homeschool resource!  :o)

Baking Bread

Making bread from scratch is something I have wanted to do for a very long time.  I recently found a wonderful website that is dedicated to teaching young girls to become successful homemakers.  One of the lessons on the site was bread making.  And, since my littles are finally feeling better from their sicknesses, I thought this snowy day was as good as any for us to try it.  :o)

H probably had the most fun.  For a girl who loves being clean, she sure did love getting messy!  :o)




Kneading their own dough balls.  Notice little H with her face covered in flour.  :o)

All done rolling and shaping.  Now, for the baking!  :o)

Both loaves cooling.  We are so anxious to see how they taste!

The girls decided to baste their loaf with milk first.  It gave it a very nice color.  And very moist!
 

B chose to leave his loaf just the way the recipe called for.  The crust didn't turn out as golden as the girls' did, but it was still very moist and delicious.

The best part was getting to eat our tasty creations!  :o)



We had a really fun time together. Sure, it made a terrible mess in my freshly cleaned kitchen. But, the memories we made, and those flour-covered smiles are better than the cleanest kitchen in the world.  We will definitely be experimenting with more bread recipes very soon!  :o)

A Happy Sick Birthday

My sweet little H is turning 4 years old today.  She has been counting down the days for several weeks now.  She has been so excited waiting for this day to come.  And now, she is sick in bed with a terribly bad case of bronchitis.  All she wants to do is sleep.  She keeps asking if she is allowed to go to bed early!  (This never happens, by the way).  And, she is too sick to eat, so we aren't even going to make her birthday cake or have a party until she feels better.

We've tried to make the best of this terribly sad situation.  She gets to stay in bed all day (her choice, not ours), and watch as many movies as she wants.  :o)

Even as sick as she is, she tries to be a happy girl.  :o)



You can see on her face that she doesn't feel very well, though.  Poor little thing has no energy.  :o(

She tried to join the rest of the family for a while, but after a few minutes, she ran out of energy and completely zonked out. 

Sweet baby girl.  We will celebrate your birthday when you are feeling much better!
We love you!