squash soup and talk

there are a few changes going on in this home of ours.....always changing.

one of the things i wanted to provide for our children by homeschooling them was a chance to be able to connect with and grow their relationship with god. i wanted to take some time to be quiet and read and pray together. well, it's the end of the school year and i've only just begun. 

i'm giving myself lots of grace because it's our first year and there were lots of changes that happened.

i do believe that what we have encountered through homeschooling this year was mostly positive.

we've done lots of fun things together that weren't always possible when they were gone all day.

the other night we made some squash soup together 

(well, kind of...zach helped me) and then we sat down for a "family dinner",

(that's what the kids call it when we actually venture into the dining room and mommy and daddy have a seat) 

and read a devotional from this little book that we just received as a gift

 (another funsie from deena). 

we've tried devotionals at the table before and it just didn't go well. kids are hungry and giggly and just wanna eat and be done.

this was a different night. 

crazy how when dic is out of town i can accomplish soo much more.

 (not that we LIKE him being away, but i seem to be more organized for some reason--does anyone else feel that way?)......

the fact that FB is no longer a part of my ritual sure helps as well.

(it was soo necessary to be done with it.)

these little guys need lots of our attention too. now there are 14 babies.

 speaking of squash soup.....
(and home grown chickens ;)

we have been trying to eat from the earth more and less from a box or a can. 

wow! that's a LOT more work!! 

aregash and i have been visiting an alternative health-care professional (or medicine women as Deena would say :) and she is trying to help us get through some skin issues (molluscum, etc) and other junk (yeast overload) that arises when we take in too many of the processed foods that are soo accessible. so we're juicing and eating lots of veggies and things without grains and just keeping our fingers crossed that it will get easier soon and we will WANT to do it all the time. 

we've been taking breaks on fridays.....and when friends visit....and for easter.....and......

i truly believe it will make a huge difference in how we feel and look. 

so we're sticking with it.

anyone who knows me and my family knows that sugar is very limited in our lives already, but we know that that can't fix everything and we are doing more.

 not everything we eat and drink taste amazing, but i have confidence it will. 

and that's what i keep telling the boys,(we are ALL drinking a concoction to help get rid of the molluscum virus, wart fungus, my blisters on my hands, etc)......that things don't have to taste like sugar to get them to go down.

 they're slowly coming around.

and for anyone who thinks we're mean for FORCING our kids to be healthy.......

well, i'm learning to give grace to those with strong opinions and judgements. :)

resurrection rolls that didn't make it to the oven for easter.....an evening make for a breakfast treat

 since my break on facebook,

(we'll call it a break since there may be a chance some day i'll return when i have enough self-control to check it once a week only) 

we have been spending extra time on school work. 

we are determined to be outside playing when the weather gets nice. it took some coaxing, but the kids are pretty excited at the thought of hiking, biking and going to the lake when all of their schooled friends are sitting in a toasty classroom. so we should be just about finished with our textbooks in 2 weeks or so. i know it seems crazy to be finished soo early, but when schools were taking breaks for in-service or snow days (the last two days), we stuck with the work. 

and it will pay off.

making resurrection rolls a few days late, but then again, it's always good to remember. yes??

 it seems that all things happen when dic is gone. 

he went to germany for work this past week.

and the snow fell. it fell in great amounts. 20" came down in one day. a record. 

and we couldn't get out. which is nothing big. we home school. i work from home. 

BUT.....

 all i could think was......
"what if there was a fire? what if there was an accident? what if we need a movie??? :)" 

and then there WAS a fire (just from a candle, but enough to scare me).

 and i WAS having some weird heart-attack-like symptoms. 

and we DID need a movie!! 

but then i woke up yesterday morning and i was still alive and the house hadn't burned down. 

and we survived without the movie.

and as you can see, we were dug out by our rock'n neighbors who live across the way. 

thanks Roth Family!!!

well onto my life. it's 6:00 pm and we haven't eaten dinner and i have the movie "Lincoln" scheduled into our evening since we are having a test over the civil war in the morning.
 i thought it would be a nice addition.
now that we're at the end of the year i'm gonna throw some goodies into the mix.
we have several field trips that we had to post-pone due to south dakota weather.
 this teacher is about to get crazy-fun!! ha!

until next time.......

soo glad to be back!

i sure hope i'm not overwhelming anyone with my uber-blogging!!!