Taking My Time

I quit blogging because I said I didn't have time to keep up with it. But truly, if something is important to you, you make the time for it. I mean, do I have time to sit out in 100 degree heat and watch my boys play baseball? Well, of course! I make time for that! Do I have time to do the laundry? I would love to say no, but yeah, I make time for that, too. Do I have time to shower daily? Well, it would smell pretty gross around here if I didn't make time for that!

I have been paying more attention to how I spend my time this summer. Last summer, I did a lot of sleeping. In my defense, I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy and I was exhausted, but I really did not make the best use of my time. School came back into session, and I found myself really wishing I had planned more when my co-teacher flew the coop (never to return!) and I ended up responsible for every 8th grader's history lesson (while I was pregnant...and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes..but I digress....)

I have deactivated from every social media outlet, except for the blogging world. I have done this before, but I feel like this time might be for good. Social media is a huge time waster, and I find that I judge others and have some negative thoughts when surfing through those feeds. So goodbye Facebook, Instagram and sadly, even Pinterest. Oh, the time I can waste on Pinterest!

I have been trying to wake up at 5 am, which may sound insane, but that is usually about the time Kennedy is wanting a bottle. After feeding her and putting her back to sleep, I have my quiet time and prayer. Then at 6 am, I take Kennedy and we go on a walk before it gets too hot outside. After that, I am back in time to make breakfast for my other three children as they are just waking up and Seth is getting off to work. Getting up early seems to put me in a better frame of mind for the entire day. On days when it doesn't happen, my mood is definitely affected!

It is funny how people brag or complain about being so busy when time is what life is made of! Like we should get a medal for how busy we are. I say it ALL THE TIME. "I have 4 kids, of course I am busy." Or "like I have time for that!" But that's just my point. I should make the time to sit and enjoy time with my kids, or with nature or with God. I shouldn't be so preoccupied with keeping myself and the kids busy all of the time, because the best time is down time.

This picture was taken about 7 years ago. My boys and their cousins, playing in the mud. There was no agenda. I didn't plan on this mud party. It just happened. And the best memories are made that way.

And then there was this, just the other day in the hay field with my oldest and youngest. Does it get any sweeter?!

Hopefully, I will continue to make time to blog. I enjoy it, even if no one reads a word I say, it's a great way to document our journey as a family.

Are they 7 or 17?

Wow! It has been awhile since I have written! I have been trying to spend more time in my role as busy wife and mother and staying on top of all of my duties, so blogging was one of the first things that had to be thrown to the wayside!

But recently, I have found myself disturbed about various topics and so, back to writing I go...mostly to get out my crazy emotions!!! ;)

 

One of my new favorite toys is my Nook Tablet. My dad and his wife gave it to me for my birthday a few weeks ago and I just LOVE it. I take it everywhere and I am reading more than I ever have before...plus surfing the web and playing Words with Friends and Angry Birds, of course!

I got a subscription to a popular parenting magazine on my Nook. The magazine is geared towards parents of children who are school age, basically ages 5 to 9 or so. But after reading this last issue, I am canceling my subscription. There were several things in the magazine that disturbed me, but I will just share one with you today.

I was reading along and come to a spread in the magazine about cute summer clothes for your school-age child. (I would love to just share the picture with you, but those silly copyright laws forbid me from doing so....)

The little girl on the page caught my eye. She had her hair in pigtails and was missing her two top teeth...just precious. I would guess she was about 6 or 7 years old. She was standing on the beach with big heart-shaped sunglasses on. 

And then I looked closer. Is that a skin tight halter top? Is that a very short skirt that also happens to be mostly see-through? Really?!


The outfit this 7 year old was sporting could easily be worn by a nineteen year old!

Teaching our daughters about modesty is becoming increasingly difficult when the world around us is telling our little girls that what is in that magazine is what they are supposed to be wearing.

These pictures are of my mother. A far simpler time! My grandmother made most everything my mother wore herself. Can you imagine? I can barely sew a pillowcase!

But look closely. Dresses go to the knees, and the necklines are high.


Advertisers and clothing designers today are counting on the fact that our little girls will be convinced that they will have no friends if they do not buy these revealing clothes. And our little girls, in turn, will beg and plead to wear these clothes to fit in.


But this is a battle I am willing to have with Emma in the coming years.


I know, easy to say now...she's only three. But it starts NOW. There is no reason for my three year old to wear a two piece bathing suit or an outfit that would be suitable for a teenager.

I think she looks just as precious with that belly covered up!

I want women to be modest in their appearance, They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or wear gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. - 1 Timothy 2:9-10

A Dirty Word

It is a dirty word. No one wants to talk about it. You don't want to "jinx" yourself if you and your family are healthy. 

Cancer makes me angry. First I lost my Grandmother. Then my mother lost her fight at only 45 years of age. And then my dad had to fight it (and WON! Go Daddy!) I have taught two students in just 4 and a half years of teaching that have had to fight this disease in their young lives. That's just not fair!


Cancer rates have soared in recent times. From 1950, cancer rates have increased 60%. Prostate cancer rates, which is the type my dad fought, have increased 200% since 1950. And you can't tell me this is just because people are living longer. Most cancer patients are diagnosed in their 60s and we all know very young people that are affected by this horrible disease as well. 


Everyone seems focused on finding a cure, but what about the cause? Most people, myself included, have shrugged our shoulders and just said, "It seems like EVERYTHING causes cancer." 


In 2008, some researchers finally started pointing the finger at chemicals in our environment. 


Most of America buys their fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. Where did that food come from? How many chemicals or pesticides have those foods come into contact with? Even if you wash your produce, can you really wash everything away? And speaking of the water coming out of your faucet...how chemical free is that water? 

And what about all of this pre-packaged, preservative-stuffed foods that we are eating nowadays? Back in the 1950s and before, people made their food from scratch. But have we gotten too busy? As a working mom, how am I to find the time to cook from scratch for every meal? 


When you really start to consider all of these things, it can be overwhelming and almost depressing! 


If you grow you own produce, you know where it comes from. If you cook from scratch, your food is free from preservatives and additives. The issue is time. But maybe I should make the time to make healthy choices for my family. 


I am lucky to have a husband with a green thumb, because growing plants is not a skill I possess (just ask my school's secretary, who has to remind me regularly to water my ivy in my classroom.) But Seth has plowed up a large plot beside our house for a bigger garden this year. 

We are looking into getting chickens to have our own fresh eggs. Seth also recently purchased a great deal of meat from a local meat-packing company. 

I recently made homemade laundry soap and homemade dish washing detergent. (Have you ever read the ingredient list of the your laundry and dish detergents...talk about chemicals!!!) Here are links to the recipes I used to make these items:


http://flitterbugsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/homemade-dishwasher-detergent.html
http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2010/05/on-the-laundry-line.html

I know this is all very heavy stuff for a Saturday morning, but as I go into this week of freedom for me (I'm on Spring Break....YAY!) maybe I should take this extra time to figure out some ways to get the chemicals out of our home. It may not guarantee that cancer will not strike us, but it really can't hurt us to rid our home and bodies of unnecessary chemicals!

  

Better than Flowers

Did you get flowers for Valentine's Day?


Seth let me know a long time ago that if I was the kind of girl who required flowers, I would need to find a different guy to supply them! This was not a deal breaker for me, since I have never been a big romantic.


Our children celebrated a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner supplied by my stepmom and dad (aka "Grandmommy Trish" and "Papa John") while Seth and I enjoyed a night off. Grandmommy Trish went ALL OUT for Valentine's by cooking a meal of all heart shaped foods and completely decorating the house for the special little guests as well.

Is this beautiful? They even worked on Valentine's and did a science project by turning flowers different colors. They had a wonderful time.

But this week, a week AFTER Valentine's Day, I received the best present I had gotten in awhile from my husband. Out of the blue, I received an email...yes, a email...very romantic, but anyway, in the email Seth thanked me for being such a great wife and mom. 

Wow, you wouldn't think it would be such a big deal, but it was! I was telling my friend Kelli about my special email, and she said, "That will last so much longer than flowers." How true!

My Messy Home

Keeping up with my home is a constant struggle for me. Even though I clean once a week, with my crew I would have to vacuum, sweep and mop everyday to keep things looking clean. I found this on Pinterest and it totally describes my home:

I had been feeling really guilty about the state of my home, until I read a blog recently about this very subject.

Ruth Schwenk said,




"I truly want to show love to my family and others more than I want to care about what people think of my housekeeping skills–or lack thereof.


Truth is, I admire others’ beautiful, perfect homes, but have felt the most love in homes that were a lot less than perfect since I knew that those people loved us enough to show their real selves.


And my heart breaks to hear older women say that they wish they had spent less time cleaning and more time just loving their family and friends."

WOW! I have to be honest...I often don't invite people I don't know well to my home because I am embarrassed. There is junk stacked up behind the house by the barn waiting for my husband to haul off (It's been there for months....that's a whole 'nother story!) The carpet has stains that I promise I have shampooed and scrubbed, but they aren't budging. The ceiling has water stains from when it used to leak before we got the new roof. We have a sunroom that is still unfinished from our remodeling job. The under hang portion of the roof needs replacing and we still haven't put siding up on the room we added on the house 2 years ago....I could go on and on.

My house may never be on a dream home tour, but you cannot deny that it is full of love. Little handprints cover the windows and walls, colorful "creations" cover the refrigerator, toys cover the floors. Each carpet stain tells a story....like the one Emma made the other night with the red marker because she wanted to make "a pretty heart picture for Mommy."

Of course, I will still try to keep my house clean, but I need to remember that there are more important things in life than a perfect home! :)

Sugar Scrub

I have been using something on my skin that I just have to share with you. I was given Burt's Bees Sugar Body Scrub for Christmas and loved it...until I saw the price to replace it. Don't get me wrong, I totally support Burt's Bees. They strive to make their excellent natural products in the USA.

BUT...I am not terribly wealthy, so I found this recipe for a brown sugar scrub to make at home....so simple!

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup of brown sugar

That's it! Even I can't mess that up! I also use it on my face, and I have found it moisturizes better than anything else I have used, but doesn't break me out!

I know, it may be something small, but saving money and helping my lacking beauty routine at the same time makes me happy! :)

Growing up too fast...

This school year is FLYING by! I cannot believe that next year I will have a 1st grader and a Kindergartener! And Emma Jo is turning 3 in April and is Little Miss Independent! "I do it!" is her most used sentence.

Daniel lost his first tooth last week. He was so proud!

He also worked very hard on his race car Valentine's box. I will say, Mommy worked pretty hard on this project too. I had to practice alot of patience and resist the temptation to jump in and just do it for him. I kept hearing his teacher, Mrs. Cooper saying, "STOP HELPING!" (in her 'nice' voice...or so she claims because she said it in an instant message!) I also heard her saying, "Is it process or product?" But oh my....it was a PROCESS! Daniel struggles with his motor skills and has problems saying focused. This makes for a looooooooong process, but an excellent life lesson in patience for me!

Daniel recruited his little brother to help with his hand-made Valentines for his class. He had 20 to do, so with Mann's help, he was able to get them done MUCH faster. It was so sweet to watch them work together.

And to sum it up, I have some new classroom materials coming to my students from some generous donors. My students and I are so excited. In a low income school district, we are thankful for any tools that help to educate our students!