A Week of Homeschooling

As the kids get older, we’re slowly shifting our focus toward homeschooling activities. Last week was a good one for showing the types of things we do. Monday, it looked like it was shaping up to be “Duck Week.” An egg hatched in our incubator overnight! It was at least a week early, so the first thing on the agenda involved ditching our original plans and driving... Read More

How We Became Backyard Beekeepers

A huge box arrived on our doorstep one day last winter. The boys tore open the box and spread pieces of wood all over the living room floor. And so began our adventures with beekeeping… including me getting stung by a bee for the first time since childhood! (That story mid-way down…) Part 1: The Hiving of the Bees My husband built several hives. Then he ordered our... Read More

Renewing

To those still with me after this past week, thank you. I’m truly sorry if I discouraged anyone, and I’m grateful for the thoughtful comments. Life is challenging enough without spending energy on peripheral conflicts. I feel like I’ve kicked a wasp’s nest, and there’s no undoing it. Normally, I really dislike conflict. It makes me very uncomfortable.... Read More

A Better Explanation

Note: My views on creation vs. evolution have changed since this post. In fact, my views about the Bible have drastically changed. My connection to community has drastically changed… After digging deeply into the Old Testament, I’m convinced that God carefully crafted every word to be deeply meaningful. Creation is now a treasured story to me, although not in a strictly... Read More

A Boy in the Tulip Patch

One evening last November, my husband and I shivered in the cold and in the glow of truck headlights as we caught up on the overdue task of planting bulbs. Bulb planting is an exercise in delayed gratification. This spring, it was worth it. It probably would have been worth it to trim the grass around the edges of the bed, too… but then, of course, it would just grow back.... Read More

Ruffling Feathers

It has been a fairly quiet few months around this blog, hasn’t it?! I’ve been fighting a deep exhaustion. I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising, considering all the changes we’ve made in the past year. While I’ve been buried in a dark cocoon lately, a few other metamorphoses have been brewing… When I was young, someone described me as “complacent”... Read More

Thank Offerings

Mom means more to me than I can express. Below are more life-giving words from her. These aren’t empty words; they’ve been lived, and they’ve formed Mom’s character. I had to tell you girls what I found this morning. In Psalm 50 God is saying that He doesn’t rebuke us for our sacrifices; they are ever before Him. But He doesn’t need them at... Read More

An Update

In the last couple weeks I’ve: 1. Said goodbye to my sister-in-law. She went back to the city where she was living before she came to stay with us. We are very sad to see her go. 2. Made an awesome-tasting angel food cake with my sister. Pictures and recipe coming soon. 3. Watched Food Inc. and am pondering going all-natural, buying only organic, local food (except angel food... Read More

Learning Air Guitar at an Early Age

I have a bad case of the winter blues. Last night I sat down to look through pictures, and this set made me smile: My husband was playing air guitar with the kids. There may have been some tickling involved, too. They sang Hootie & the Blowfish “Let Her Cry” (sad), “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Goo Goo Dolls’ sweet “I’ll... Read More

My Nephew in His New Duds

Annie just sent me these pictures on her iPhone. My nephew is adorable. And I can’t believe he’s already saying these long sentences at six months old! 😉 Oh, I know what to do in this chair! Let me get that remote and turn it to espn! Poop! I can’t reach it and mom is dressing me up over and over! This stinks! Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen….. But... Read More