Ok, 9:30pm and I'm a little brain dead. Been hacking all day again. I'm glad our next few weeks aren't as intense, or I have at least have a better plan to "get it all done" for Christmas. The kids did a great job attacking their schoolwork this morning, including their little bit tougher writing assignments. Daddy took Abishai out on a quick errand of moving furniture, which was helpful to the middles and I so we could get a headstart on a bit of history homework, too. They came back just in time for lunch and naptime. I did not get a picture of this, but I usually do: Keturah and Justin helped cut the cranberries for cranberry bread, which is one of the main food traditions from my side of the family. This year, because of our cut in pay, I've had to be really careful how I use what I have on hand to make our treats. So, everything is going to be gluten and grain free, as well as sugar free, because that's what I have! As you can see, the cranberry bread was still yummy. We'll save the other loaf for Christmas morning.
I continued to play catch up with laundry and paperwork and email in the afternoon, cooked a nice dinner and then at 6pm I hit a huge wall of no motivation. This sinus infection or virus is really kicking my butt. I had a hard time getting up out of bed this morning because I was so tired and so stiff, probably some aftermath of my event on Saturday. I still haven't fully accepted the fact that I have this "thorn in my flesh" like Paul in the Bible that slows me down a ton. So, I had to lay down for a bit. I'm hoping to hit the hay earlier tonight.
Speaking of hay, I found out that early this morning, the whole barn where we went to see the mini ponies and goats and chickens and ducks with the kids this summer burned down. Luckily the horses, donkey and goats got out, but the chickens, ducks, and all the winter hay and feed burned up in the fire. My sweet, sweet caring friend must be devestated. She also has a chronic illness and works so hard with her animals, her birthday party business and raising her 4 almost grown kids, all with such a generous positive attitude. I know she will lean on God through this heartbreak, and I know she'll be surrounded by our church family, but I also know trauma is trauma. So, maybe hearing of that today has affected my mood as well.
However, God did show up for my friend as well as us today. Once again our neighbor lady came knocking on the door with groceries from the food pantry. Not 10 minutes earlier, Justin had commented that we needed bananas and guess what was it the box? Bananas! And green beans! We've been low on veggies for the last week or so. And oranges! And flavored water, and and and. God is using this sweet lady to bless us more than she will ever realize. So, I was able to show the kids how God shows up and shows off sometimes. And it's another reminder that when we are faithful in giving the full tithe to the storehouse, God will provide the rest. God tells us to test Him in this. So, try it and see the ways God will bless you for it, probably not in the ways you expect though. I just know that we have always had what we needed when we need it and I think it is connected with putting God first in our finances.
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| This Missy finished her math book from last year! She's not "behind" but it feels good to keep moving along from book to book. She worked hard today and did several lesson pages and 3 tests to finish it. Yeah! |
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| Our math curriculum doesn't have grades on it, but rather goes by the Greek alphabet, and you just move at your pace from one book to the other. So, Keturah has done Alpha and Beta and now moves on to Gamma, which is just multiplication, not division. The author believes in mastery of one thing and going deep into it, without skipping around to different topics, before moving on to something else. It's worked well so far! |
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| The healthiest version of cranberry bread you'll ever eat. It's a mix of oat fiber, coconut flour, almond four, glucammon, collagen, and flax meal. It's not quite the way Mom Howell made it, but it will do. |
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| Abishai had several pieces of the cranberry bread. |
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| Keturah signing "more" cranberry bread! |
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| Abishai hears the camera "click" and turns around and "cheeses" fr the camera. |
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| Abishai spent a good part of the day on his tummy playing with cars, lining them up, and then this neat plastic canvas blocks my friend made for Keturah. |
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| Jared's perfect breakfast: fried eggs on pizza from the Ordinary in Wanamaker and a hashbrown. Makes sense to me! |
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| Keturah's version of the manger scene from Luke 2, complete with an Angry Bird pin for baby Jesus and a dog and cat for Mary and Joseph. Gotta love her creativity! |
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| I asked Justin to write a note for our generous neighbor and how God was able to provide an answer to prayer through her. I know she's a Christian, so she'll appreciate a note like this. |
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I asked Keturah the same thing, to write a note about how much she enjoyed the little bottles of milk our neighbor got for us, but instead she wrote a note to our horse loving friend with the barn fire. It says, "I hope you get some hay and a new barn. I hope you still have the bunny. Justin likes it." Aw, I'm glad she wrote a note. I'll be mailing it for sure with a card of sympathy from us. If you want to help our friend, there is a monetary fund that has been started for them. Here's the link: Monetary donations to help feed our friends' animals after their barn fire destroyed all their winter hay
Please donate if you can. The animals and their momma will thank you!
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