New Blog

I am excited to announce that effective today, I am moving to a new blog home.

http://beauteousdays.blogspot.com/

Living in a home with a large family brings many challenges. I am often asked, "How do you do it?". Beauteous Days is my little corner of the world where I share How WE do it. We're not experts, but in the past 20 years, we have discovered what works for us. I will share about our Homeschooling, Once a Month Cooking, Organization, Caring for Elderly Parents, Homebirth, Sustainable Farming, and many other topics that are part of our "every day" life.

Trying to Get Life Back Together

It has been forever since I blogged here! We are about to embark on a new school year with a different focus. Realizing that our time on this planet is limited and we need to seize the opportunity to make a difference in our children's lives, we have cast off the Cyber school "push, push, push" mentality in exchange for a relaxed, Christ centered, memory making curriculum.
I've spent the Summer re-reading my Charlotte Mason books and feeling convicted about my previous ideas of education. One day, as I was thinking about all the things we had accomplished, and all the things I realized we should have done differently, it hit me... Over the years, as our family grew, and as our children grew, we have slowly moved out of the mainstream and into our niche. We homebirth, because we looked at the path we were on and decided that it was most definitely destructive to us and our children and we felt the Lord would have us take the road less traveled when we came to the "Y" in the path. We were forced to rethink everything we knew about childbirth, unlearn what was "normal" and then forge a path toward a healthier childbirth experience.

We have done the same thing in other areas of our lives. In health issues, we look for remedies direct from our Creator to heal our bodies before turning to man-made substitutes. In our diets, we have learned that food in-season and grown naturally trumps anything the local supermarket has to offer. Yet, when I examined our homeschool situation, I realized that we were trudging down a road with the masses. We were crowded by others caught up in the monotony of logging daily progress, working toward the 100% completion by the end date. That our children did all of the assignments took precedence over what they had learned from the class. They were miserable. I was miserable. I felt like we were rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.

To be honest, it wasn't until I stepped back and examined my day to day life that I knew something had to change. Expecting our 9th child, homeschooling 6 of our kids, and taking care of my parents in a neighboring state 3 days a week were all challenges that were threatening to engulf me in chaos. As we came to the end of the school year, we were behind in our progress - way behind. I was teaching from 9 in the morning until 6 or 7 pm many days. I taught Kindergarten lessons from start to finish until our Kindergartner had completed his daily schedule. Then, I sat down with our 2nd grader and worked through her schedule. When that was done, I began working with our two 5th graders, who had been trying to trudge through their work on their own, but without the great success I had hoped for. Our 9th grader was struggling with time management and completing his work, and our 11th grader was juggling high school and college classes that sometimes needed our attention. Our wonderful education system was sucking the life out of our home, leaving little time for things like meal preparation, household chores and laundry! I felt like a tennis ball being bounced about.

As I cried out to God for an "answer", He gave me one. Follow suit. Just as He had convicted us about other areas of our lives and we had made adjustments to come under His will, this area was one that we needed to seek His will in. We needed to step back, unlearn all that we knew school was "supposed" to be, and then follow His gentle leading. I began looking at our children as individuals who had specific needs instead of percentage points on a graph. I began asking the questions Charlotte Mason proposed. Was I forming right habits in their thinking and behavior? Was I nourishing them daily with loving, right and noble ideas? Were they bearing fruit in their lives? Sadly, no. They hated school. They weren't retaining ideas and information. They were working toward the completion date on the surface, but were they learning? I didn't like the attitudes and character that were developing in our home, so I set out on a mission to find "our" way.

So that is where we are now. Two days away from our first day of school... seeking to find our way on this journey of life. I believe that the path that now lies before us will take us where we need to go.

OUR NEW ROAD MAP

The first thing I did was ask myself (and the kids) where, in all of our homeschool history, we had the most success. What did we find most enjoyable? Where did we feel the most was learned? The answer was unanimous... the year we did "Charlotte Mason". We had used Ambleside Online six years ago. As I listened to the kids, it was their memories of nature walks and living books that they remembered more than the content of the curriculum. It was discovering God's Creation and "doing" art and learning music. It was having a loose schedule instead of one jam packed with long drawn out classes and text books filled with twaddle.

My husband and I began praying for wisdom and I began looking at various curriculums that followed Charlotte Mason's ideas. One night, at a boy scout meeting, one of the other parents asked my husband if we had ever tried curriculum by "My Father's World". He came home and told me about it and I looked it up. The more I read, the more I felt at peace. I felt that God was leading us and that He had just handed us a road map. As time went on, I could see our journey mapped out before me. It was like typing our destination into Google Maps and having our trip planned for us!

So... we begin... we are packed for the next leg of our journey. The tank is full of fuel, the vehicle is tuned up and ready to go. Monday morning, we turn the key in the ignition and take off...

Until then... enjoy the good Earth our Creator has given us. :)

"We hold that all education is divine, that every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from above, that the Lord, the Holy Spirit is the supreme of mankind, and that the culmination of all education... is that personal knowledge of and intimacy with God in which our being finds its fullest perfection." - Charlotte Mason

Spring on the Farm

Bunnies...
and piglets...
and a little jersey bull calf. Oh My!

Arabella Joy has arrived!

Her birth announcement website is at: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/arabellajoy/
and a photo album can be found here. (You don't have to be a Facebook Member to enjoy the album.)

Ups and Downs

So my Dad was doing great in rehab. He walked 10 feet, he can wheel himself around the therapy room in his wheel chair. He could put his shoe on by himself. And he was talking up a storm.

Tuesday morning, they transferred him back to the hospital to insert the PEG tube in his stomach to get the tube out of his nose that was bothering him so much. He went through the surgery without a problem, but then they took him back to the rehab hospital. Apparently, his digestive process was still slow from the anesthesia, and they gave him a full feeding soon after he arrived, through the PEG tube. He was feeling great, went outside to enjoy the warm, sunny day and a visit with the family - when he got sick to his stomach, and started throwing up.

They got him back to his room, where it continued, and apparently he aspirated. By that night, he had spiked a temp of 102.7, his blood pressure dropped, and he became unresponsive.

They took him straight back to Emergency. We thought that was it. Did God allow him to survive a stroke and overcome so much trauma only to die from something this trivial? Why? He was doing so well! And it all could have been avoided if someone had been paying attention.

So here we are on Friday. He's still in the hospital (not rehab) with aspiration pneumonia in both lungs. His temp has been up and down, his blood pressure has been up and down. His heart rate is irregular. His lungs are very moist and the audible wheezing can be heard all over.

Until last night... we summoned the prayer warriors again and took him before the throne of God. The Holy Spirit was with us, interceding on his behalf (Romans 8:26). The evening report from his nurse was "He is doing SO much better! His vitals are good - his lungs sound much clearer!" Praise the Lord!

This morning's report was similar. The only thing they are worried about now is that his heartbeat is still irregular and they're not sure why. They thought low potassium, but it's fine. He's sleeping a lot, which is good, to let his body heal.

We're still not clear of the woods, but we are starting to see a light at the edge of them again...

Life Gets in the Way!

I fully intended to post more information about my Once a Month Cooking, but you know what they say ... Stuff Happens!

And boy has it ever!

My cousin has taken to calling me Job. Remember him? The guy in the Bible that had a "Series of Unfortunate Events"?

I will be blogging more about what God has taught me through my recent trials, but I just wanted to apologize for not getting the OAMC posts up and give you a summary of what my life has been like lately...

On Friday, Aug. 28th (which was only 3 weeks ago, but it has been the longest 3 weeks of my life!) my sister called to tell me that our other sister's husband had passed away at the age of 47! I jumped in the car and made the 4 hour trip to her house to spend the night with her, along with my other sister, my Mom and my niece.

Saturday, Aug. 29th - I came back home to get clothes and things prepared for the funeral home. I needed to find suitable clothes/socks/shoes for 7 kids to wear, plus hubby and me (maternity, of course!) I also volunteered to handle the funeral luncheon and went shopping to buy food for 50+ people.

Sunday, Aug. 30th - Prepared some food which could be made ahead of time and thanked God that I had meals in the freezer for my family! Monday I would be going to my parents' house to start cooking, and then to the hall where the luncheon would be to set up tables, etc. My oldest daughter is going with me, but the other 6 will stay home with DH until Monday evening.

Monday, Aug. 31st - While having my morning coffee before running out the door, my sister called to say that my Dad appeared to be having a stroke and they had called an ambulance. They were right. They rushed him to a local hospital where they said his condition was too critical for them to handle, and they put him on a helicopter and Life Flighted him to Cleveland Clinic. My daughter and I jumped in the car (yes, the one that has broken down twice already) and headed for Cleveland.

Three miles from the exit for Cleveland Clinic, we hear a loud bang, and something seems to be dragging. I pull off to the left on a 5 lane highway with cars zipping past, get my 6 month pregnant, bulging belly out of the car, and on to my hands and knees to look under it. Nothing is hanging down, but the tire is not vertical - it's diagonal - the top is leaning in and the bottom is leaning out...

I hadn't even had time to pray to ask for help when God sent an "angel" in the form of a big guy named Fred to help us. He worked for ODOT and his job was to keep the lanes clear. He opened the trunk (full of groceries!) and checked the strut and informed me that the center bolt was missing. He asked where I was headed. I told him Cleveland Clinic and told him about my Dad. He said, "I think we can make it. I'll follow you!" And he did - right to the parking garage.

DH called AAA and the car was towed and fixed while I sat in intensive care with my Dad.

Tuesday, Sept. 1 - My brother in law's funeral was scheduled for 10 am. My mom and my other sister, my daughter and I sat by my Dad's bedside while other family members went to the funeral. We wanted so much to be there and for our sister to be with us, but it just wasn't possible. My sister buried her husband and got in the car and came straight to Cleveland. So sad...

Wed. Sept. 2 - Fri. Sept. 4 - We continued taking turns sitting with Daddy and staying with Mother. There were ups and downs and things were still touch and go. We knew we could still lose him at any time.

Friday, Sept. 4th - Cleveland Clinic informed us that they were transferring Daddy to a local rehab hospital about 15 minutes from his home. While we were waiting for the rehab hospital to call to say that he had arrived, I got a phone call from my husband to let me know that his aunt had been taken to Emergency. She died minutes later...

We went to the Rehab Hospital to check on my Dad. He looked so much worse than he had before...

Saturday, Sept. 5th - Headed home to prepare for the next funeral. I drove my Mom's car since there was no way I was going to get back into the car I had now broken down in 3X! Half way through the 2 hour drive home, I stopped at a red light, heard squealing, smelled rubber and smoke poured out from under the hood. I got into a parking lot and called DH. An hour later he arrived to find that it wasn't the belt as I had suspected, but the casing on the AC compressor. I followed him home in the van while he drove the car.

As I walked up the steps onto the porch at home, my phone rang. They were taking my Dad back to Emergency! Aghh!! Everything checked out and they took him back to the Rehab Hospital that night. It was in those hours of waiting that God grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me gently and got me to focus on him. He gave me a hug in the form of a devotional by Max Lucado that popped into my email box called "I'm sinking fast". I will blog about this later...

Sunday, Sept. 6th, I went to church and cried through the sermon. My pastor and friends annointed me and prayed for me. I felt peace.

Monday - present: I stayed home to get the kids caught up with the school we had missed in the midst of our crisis'. There were enough family members at home to cover hospital visits and staying with my Mom. DH insisted that I had had enough stress already and so he took his Mom to her sister's funeral and I stayed home with the kids and handled barn chores in his absence.

My Dad is doing well. In fact, I got to talk to him on the phone last night! My sister called from the hospital and put the phone to his ear and he listened and responded. He spoke sentences yesterday for the first time since his stroke.

I am heading back out to Ohio tomorrow to take my shift for a couple days. I plan to do my shopping and cooking the end of this week, so I'll try to get back to my Once a month cooking blogging soon.

Is life still stressful? Yes. Could things change at any minute? Yes. But I have learned that we need to focus on the Lord - just as Peter did when he was walking on the water and the storms raged around him. When he started sinking, he needed to refocus. This is just one of the lessons I've learned lately. More next time...

Once a Month Cooking!

It's been many years since I heard a Focus on the Family broadcast about Once a Month Cooking. Mary Beth Lagerborg and Mimi Wilson were on the program talking about their new book and their cooking plan that would allow you to spend two days a month cooking enough meals to put in the freezer to last the month. It sounded like a pretty ambitious plan, but I thought I would give it a try.

As a homeschooling Stay at Home Mom of young children, it made sense to have dinner ready each day without having to drag out the food processor and tons of pots and pans to get dinner on the table. Not to mention cleaning it all up after the meal!

I bought the book, and set to work. It fit my personality to a T. I am a planner - a list maker - an organizer. I made my menu, and then my shopping list and a "to do" list, then I set to work.
First, I went grocery shopping and bought everything on my list. The next day, I got up early and got to work. I spent the day cooking, and I'm not going to kid you. It was a loooooong day! But also, very satisfying. The next day, I finished up the meals I had not gotten done the day before, and I actually DID have enough meals in the freezer to last for two weeks! (I started small and worked up to a month.)

That was back when we had two children and 4 servings worked for us. Now that #8 is on the way, I've adjusted all my recipes to serve 12. Yes, it takes two shoppers and two shopping carts now, but actually, it doesn't take any longer to make 12 servings than it does 4, so it still only takes two days!

What are the benefits?

1) It's much cheaper! Usually (though you still need to do the math) it's cheaper to buy larger packages or buy in bulk. When you are doing all the cooking at once, nothing is wasted and you can use the big bulk package in two days before it spoils. In the months when I am too busy to do OAMC, I can't believe how much more $$ we spend on groceries! When you are running to the market every day or two to buy ingredients for the next couple of meals, it gets VERY expensive (whether you are shopping for one or 10!)

2) It's a time saver! Since I am homeschooling five of my seven children, trying to work part time, busy with church activities and taking kids to youth group and Awana and Girl Scouts, etc. through the week, it just makes sense to find as many time savers as I can. Now, I simply look at the calendar on the fridge, see what's for dinner today, take it out of the freezer to thaw and go about my day. At dinner time, I simply follow the directions on the bag or dish for heating it up, and throw together a couple things to go with it.

3) It reduces cleaning time! Two days a month, I get out my food processor. I chop a whole bag of onions at one time, then I chop my green peppers, slice my celery and mushrooms, etc. Then I wash it out and put it away. As I finish a recipe, I wash out my pot and use it again for the next recipe. When I'm done for the month, everything is cleaned up and put away until the next month. During the month, my cleanup consists of whatever pot or dish I use to heat up the meal. That's it! No dragging everything out everyday and leaving a sink full of dishes to be washed after the meal! Yay!

4) It makes Mama happy and reduces stress! And when Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! ;) It takes me about 10 minutes a day to get a meal on the table (not counting heating time). Otherwise, it can take me over an hour to get a meal ready. This leaves more time to rest, relax and hang out with the kids and hubby! I'm not asking Mike "Any ideas for dinner?", then making a mad dash for the store to buy ingredients. Instead, I am enjoying my time and doing the things I want to do.

I'm sure there are many more reasons, but these are enough for me. I HATE when I don't get it done. The months when it doesn't happen are so much more stressful and expensive than when we do!

Anyway, we've come a long way in our OAMC journey. I now teach classes at women's retreats about saving money at the grocery store and Once a month cooking.

I just finished my meals for the month and I mentioned it on Facebook. A couple of my friends are interested in what I do, so I told them I would blog about it. In the next few posts, I'll cover the process, my menu and some recipes. In the meantime, I highly recommend the book, Once a Month Cooking. Mimi and Mary Beth have a new version out and it's available everywhere. It covers the plan and gives several recipes that freeze well.

I hope this was helpful to someone. Stay tuned...