Soap making!

I have a good friend who loves to make soap. She was willing to show me how to do it, and make some with her! I have just been so excited by doing this. This first batch that we made was Oatmeal Lavender. We have made a couple more batches since then of chamomile and oatmeal cinnamon. I can't wait until they have cured and we can use them!

First day of school!

I have always homeschooled. I have always wanted to homeschool, my husband however, has not always been on the same page. So our compromise was always that should one of the kids ever decide they wanted to go to school, we would let them try. Well, that has finally happened.
I went through quite a while of begging and pleading, then I realized I was acting like a 2 year old. :)
So I let go.
I have left it with my God who can perfectly handle it. She isn't really mine, she is HIS. So, that being said, I am letting go, and trusting in God.
This may not be a big deal to many people. But, for me, I feel to stay home, and be at home, raising children, and serving my husband. So now I'm just doing that a little differently.
Here is my daughter, sideways, because I can't turn it. On her first day of school.

A new miracle

I am an Aunt again! I'm so excited and thrilled for my middle sister who had my new niece yesterday! Praise God for new little ones....

Summer Sunsets.....

A night on the courthouse square....

On Thursday nights in our town we have concerts in the park. They are free weekly concerts, where you bring a lawn chair and relax. The music is different each week,but always good. Such a fun time to unwind and relax!

Spring gardening is looking like this right now. Lettuce,Strawberries, and little tiny blackberries growing. I can't wait until things are full swing! We have so much planted and it's still not everything I want planted. Hopefully I can keep up!

Summertime!
Our summer has been filled with swimming, baseball, 4-H projects, and lots of garden activity. Hopefully I can post more pictures soon!

Our Newest addition.

Ricco!

Our trip to Texas!

Finally!

It has been so long since we have had our own eggs. Back in the fall, we moved our chickens out to a shed on our property, and they have'nt layed since! But I think I finally have them all happy, and I think they also molted as well. Hopefully they keep up the good work!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a great day today! It started off with Green Shamrock Pancakes. I had much more planned for the day, but some other things came up.

I am anxiously waiting for some time to plan my garden better. I have the plan I worked on this winter, but I need to add more too it now that we have bought a tiller and my husband is wanting to plant lots of different gardens.

Hope you all had a great day!

Briannah cooking!

These are some pictures of Briannah cooking....please ignore the mess! LOL.
This night she made "whalewiches" (tuna sandwiches)
and chocolate and sprinkle covered icecream cones.
What a blessing!









whalewiches with goldfish.

Joyfully serving....

A daughter of the king,

Amy

A new year.....

Our Family. This start of a new year is going very well. School went very well yesterday, and I'm hoping for a repeat performance today.

I received the most wonderful gift today from one of my daycare parents- The book called "Country wisdom and know-how"' I'm so excited! Today I took the remains of a chicken that I used for chicken and dumplings and put it in the crockpot filled with water. I'm going to take leftover rice and some veggies and we will have that with some rolls for dinner. Till Tommorow, Amy

A look back....

Our First Garden and chickens

At Washington county lake

I took some time this morning and took a look back on here at the posts from the past years. Wow! I'm amazing at the twists and turn my life has taken, but I also recongnize the growth. So many changes. Here are some pictures from the last year.....

Dad's 50th birthday (this was soon after we moved to illinois)

Worship

On Tuesday I went to have my quiet time and was slowly amazed at how the Lord reveals things to me. Even days later, I am still thinking about this, meditating on the truth of it.

In "My Utmost for His Highest", Worship, was the topic.

"He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord "—Genesis 12:8

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard it for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded (see Exodus 16:20 ). God will never allow you to keep a spiritual blessing completely for yourself. It must be given back to Him so that He can make it a blessing to others.

Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abram "pitched his tent" between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private times of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time— there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must "pitch our tents" where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our times with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life— worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God’s idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed; it will not happen overnight.


This is seriously making me take a step back and look at everything I do.....What things do I do that block out time with God? What thoughts are constantly replacing thoughts of my Lord, and how perfect His love is? It's not that I shouldn't be serving my family, my husband and children, but are there other activities that have me so consumed that I forego my time with the most important relationship I have? I know there are times during my day that I sometimes spend worrying, thinking "what if" thoughts, when I could be in worship! No matter how "busy" my life may be, my worship can be a constant flowing, but it's up to me to retrain my mind and thoughts and attitude to one of worship.