Summer break. Do or don't?

This is a picture I took looking out from a museum in Chicago last summer.  Last summer I did the good mom thing.  You know, that one time in your life you get a good idea and actually follow through with it.  Now first of all I really don't mean the "good mom" thing.  I really try not to get hung up on that and guilt.  Try being the key word, it takes effort and Satan is sly in that area.

What I did was plan a field trip once a week somewhere.  I sent an email out inviting all our friends and the ones who could come did, when they could.  Each week it was different friends along.  It really was a good summer. 

This summer...we bought a house in August.  We also put in a huge garden, planted strawberries & blueberries, 2 apple trees, have sweeping gorgeous landscaping, and bought 20 chickens.  Top that with wanting to paint the remaining rooms in the house, change the carpet, sew new curtains for each room.  Oh there goes the "good woman" thing through my head.  I kid.

Now I am going to switch gears here after roughly 3 paragraphs and talk school, homeschool.  And I do spell it homeschool because it is one word and idea for me and it is in the dictionary that way!  Each year of school is different for us.  When we first began like most we took off the 3 or so months called summer.  Then the boys got older and me too.  Spring rolled around every year like clock work and we became restless.  I wanted to get out and garden the boys wanted to get out and play in the hose.  So we changed the way we do our school breaks.  The way I am going to tell you we do it is really just so I can have a grand post on a Saturday morning while the kids are enjoying a lazy morning playing Wii.  Take what seems good to you, think it over and use it if it will help.  If it won't and you just don't do it that way consider it a dose of good old medicine, a good chuckle.

When "school" stops we normally don't.  They still practice their musical instrument the same amount of time.  They still read their Bible and have time with God in quiet.  They still read a book just now they may be able to choose it if I allow it ;)  Free choice gotta love it.  Finally they will continue to do a math lesson everyday.  They will be done by 10 at the latest and there is still a daily routine.  Their whole lives they will have a daily routine.  I hope it always includes God, music and reading for pleasure.  We may or may not do a unit study together.  I have Answers in Genesis Pilgrim's Progress unit study that I have set out the past 4 years, maybe we will get to it.  We do take off music and math in July because that is when we take our 2 week vacation and after a 2 week break away from the garden it takes 2 weeks to get the weeds back in check.

That is what we do.  What works for you?

Link ups
http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/homemaking-link-up-30/
http://jasmine-aboverubies.blogspot.com/2011/05/domestically-divine-homemaking-link-up_17.html
http://likeabubblingbrook.com/2011/05/biblical-womanhood-friday-4th-ed/
http://gnowfglins.com/2011/05/19/simple-lives-thursday-44/

My second born's new blog

Bryce my car guy has started a new business and a new blog.  Stop by to learn a few things and support a young man! 

http://bryce-cardetails.blogspot.com/

My Chicken Noodle Soup

Here is my chicken noodle soup recipe. Tom and the boys love it and I dream of one day calling it Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup.


Buy a whole chicken from an Amish farmer. Put it in a pot of boiling water, about 12 cups or to cover it. Add some dry herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes by the cap full and salt & pepper. When the chicken is done pull it out and let it cool. Keep the water boiling and add about 8 carrots sliced into rounds, 1 huge onion diced and 3 ribs of celery diced. Cook until soft. In a cast iron skillet saute in butter 12 oz of sliced mushrooms. When they are done add to it a big splash of lemon juice. Now add this to the soup. Pull apart the chicken into bit size chunks, add to soup. I buy frozen noodles I think they are Reames brand. They are in the frozen food section and they are like homemade noodles. Thick and chewy. Add these the last few minutes of cook time. I also do one more thing. You may be asking yourself where is the garlic? I chop up about 5 big cloves and add it right before ladling so that you get all the nice raw benefits and salty taste.

Why bother with handmade soap? Is it really better for you?

Have you ever tried a bar of old-fashioned handmade soap? Are you worried you will burn your skin or have scaly itchy dry skin when you hear of lye in handmade soap? Well, let me ease your fears and tell you exactly what real handmade soap is. Soap can not be made without lye. Oils and lye mix in a process called saponification resulting in soap. The soap cures for 24 hours and is ready to cut and there are then no traces of lye left. Soap is cured depending on the soap maker between 3-6 weeks. This lets the soap rest and harden. The longer it sets the harder and milder it becomes.
Now that is the short of it but there are many different oils and additives you can put into your soap. I basically use 5 ORGANIC oils, olive, coconut, sunflower, sweet almond & palm. The basic additives I use are ORGANIC cocoa butter, raw unfiltered Indiana honey, ORGANIC fresh ground oats, poppy seeds, and 100 % pure essential oils. I have made a bar of blueberry that is from a fragrance oil.

There are many differences in handmade soap and store bought soap. Handmade soap has tons of natural glycerin in it. Factory soap makers take the glycerin out to make lotions and skin creams which is why after a shower using store bought soap you have to put on lotion! Handmade soap leaves all the good stuff in it. Handmade soap uses no chemicals or detergents. Factory soap is mostly detergent and adds so many chemicals you would have to put each one into the Environmental Working Group database to find out the danger of each ingredient. Which is what I have done for you.

If you take a stroll down a Wal-Mart isle you will find many selections of bar soap. Dove, Olay, Ivory, Caress, Yardley of London, Camay, Canus Goat’s Milk, Tone, the options keep going. EWG rated all these soaps based on the ingredients in them. The scale ratings are 0-2 as low hazard, 3-6 moderate hazard and 7-10 high hazard. Now you understand we are rating hazardous to our health people!
Lever rates an 8
Olay rates a 6
Everyone else rates a 5

What are the ingredients that are hazardous? Let’s look at some.
Lever 2000 ingredient list from packaging:

WATER, AMMONIUM LAURYL SULFATE, AMMONIUM LAURETH SULFATE, COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE, GLYCERIN, FRAGRANCE, PEG-10 SUNFLOWER GLYCERIDES, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (VITAMIN E ACETATE), RETINYL PALMITATE (VITAMIN A PALMITATE), PANTHENOL (PROVITAMIN B5), PANAX GINSENG ROOT EXTRACT (GINSENG), COCAMIDE MEA, PEG-5 COCAMIDE, POLYQUATERNIUM-10, AMMONIUM CHLORIDE, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, TETRASODIUM EDTA, ETIDRONIC ACID, METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOLINONE, METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE, BLUE 1 (CI 42090), GREEN 3 (CI 42053).
We will look at just a couple of these ingredients. The fragrance used could cause neurotoxicity, allergies/immunotoxicity at a level of 8 on a scale of 0-10.

The synthetic form of Vitamin A which is retinyl palmitate has been shown to cause cancer, developmental/reproductive toxicity, organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), biochemical or cellular level changes. Again at a risk level of 8 on a scale of 0-10.

Now are you going to get cancer from using these products? Maybe we should be asking another question. Are you okay with moderately risking your health ever single time you shower?
I also looked up some soap companies with a rating of 0 and 1. I also listed if they were organic (OG) and the price per bar and ounce.

By Valenti True Castile right near here in Shamburg, IL (Chicago) rates a 0 at $7 for a 5oz bar/OG
Kiss My Face rates a 0 at $3.99 for an 8 oz bar NOT OG
Trader Joes Oatmeal & Honey rates a 0
Coastal Creations Oatmeal which is the face bar I use to use rates a 0 and is now $9 per 3.5oz and is NOT OG
Aubrey Organics Evening Primrose rates a 0 at $5.95 for a 4 oz bar and the only OG ingredient is the evening primrose oil!
Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint rates a 1 at $4.49 for a 5oz bar/OG


We personally test our soaps on ourselves so we know it will be gentle to your skin. We also put in each ingredient at the EWG database and our soap rates a 0. You can also feel good about buying a bar because each recipe is thought out and each oil has different health benefits. Each bar is hand cut, weighed, stamped and wrapped. You are buying the best product we can provide for the best possible price.
http://www.homemadenaturalsoaps.blogspot.com/

Farewell to Soup...you will be missed

Last week the weather here was 89 and sunny! Today it is rainy and 39! That's Indiana for ya and the forcast is rainy and 50 for the next 8 days. So when life throws you lemons you make lemonade.


As the cold weather came back in I found myself wanting soup. I realized that soon we will be in the middle of summer and eating garden fresh tomatoes with basil and mozzarella, Romaine & spinach salads, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Soon we will not be thinking of soup and I really, really like soup. So this week while we can enjoy soup we will be savoring chicken noodle soup, tomato bisque and others.

I am also hosting a blog hop! What is your favorite soup? Recipe?

Bloggers make a post on your blog come back here and leave a link. Non-bloggers feel free to leave a comment below. I simply ask that you leave a link back to my blog. I will leave it open until next Sunday. Let's have fun!

Speaking Blessings

What is it about looking at a sunrise or sunset?  When you look at one you are fixed on the light, right?  How it warms the world and brings to life color that is already there it just needs the light to shine on it.  Breathtaking.

Last year I did a blessing study.  I didn't use a certain book though I did listen to several podcasts by Nancy Leigh Demoss.  I just sat down each day and looked up all forms of the word blessing.  You can be a blessing, you are blessed, we can ask for a blessing and you can impart a blessing.  I especially liked the imparting a blessing as I am raising 3 young men I thought that was key for me at the time.  In Deut. 31-34 Moses was shown the Promised Land and God told him that the Israelites would worship other gods and that they would turn away from God Most High.  Moses didn't despair.  I think he probably assumed they would with their history, don't you.  He didn't moan out in frustration about them never getting it.  Moses put his trust in knowing who God was.  He trusted Him to send a Saviour, He promised. 

Moses came down off the mountain after seeing and hearing all this.  What did Moses do?  He blessed the people.  He spoke words of truth and hope.

2 Cor. 13:12 says, Great one another with a  consecrated kiss.
1 Peter 4:9 says, Offer hospitality to one another.

So what does this look like in our house?  Breakfast time is our morning devotion.  We take a book of the Bible and read a chapter a day until we are done.  We talk about the meaning of the chapter and how we can apply that in different areas.  When we are done and have prayed I will take a portion of the reading, cup both of my hands on a child's face, speak a blessing and kiss their forehead. 

Why?  Well, it is like prayer.  The more you do it the easier it becomes (in a way, you know what I mean).  I also want that kind of language to be familiar to me and I want the boys to be familiar with me saying it.  And, and I want God to work in their lives!

So while reading a section of scripture a blessing might look like this. 
1 Sam. 2:26 May God bless you so you grow in stature and favor with Him and men.

1 Sam. 3:10 May God bless you so that when He speaks you are able to say, speak Lord for your servant is listening.

Hebrews 13:21 May God bless you by equipping you with everything good that you may need to do His will.

1 John 1 May you walk in God's truth today.

May God bless you as you seek to learn His way for you.  And take comfort that He promised He will finish the good work He starts in our children.



Click here for blog hop
http://gnowfglins.com/2011/05/11/simple-lives-thursday-43/
Also linked to
http://likeabubblingbrook.com/2011/05/biblical-womanhood-friday-4th-ed/
Linked here too
http://jasmine-aboverubies.blogspot.com/2011/05/domestically-divine-homemaking-link-up_17.html

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/homemaking-link-up-30/

Want to know the future?

Isaiah 45:11

Thus saith the LORD, the HOLY ONE of Israel, and his MAKER, Ask ME of things to come concerning MY sons, and concerning the work of MY hands command ye ME.
(emphasis mine)

There is NO god besides God.  If anything is to be done He is the only one to do.  Go to Him. 

Link Up

http://jasmine-aboverubies.blogspot.com/2011/05/domestically-divine-homemaking-link-up_10.html

Check out these other posts on homemaking!