A Day in Nature

Okay, so on Friday morning (last week) I took my daughter, Laura, to speech therapy. Hannah was with us, too. the parking lot was really full so we had to park quite a ways from the building. I pulled into a parking spot and there was a tree right in front of the car. Hannah says, “Mom, look! There’s a robin sitting on a nest!”

Sure, enough, there was a mommy robin sitting on a nest! We got out of the car, very excited. The nest was just above my eye level. The robin was startled when we got out of the car and she flew away. I couldn’t see into the nest and didn’t want to touch it, but I did hold my cell phone up above the nest and took a photo. There were no eggs on Friday.

So, this morning, we went back to speech and since we were running a little late, we didn’t stop to look at the robin’s nest until after the appointment. On our way back to the car (I brought my camera for the occasion!) we saw the mommy robin again sitting on her nest:

I stepped up on the curb (about 4 feet from the tree) and she was again startled and jumped up out of her nest, but stayed very close by on a branch. I held my camera up and took another photo, and this is what we found:

Are those not the prettiest little eggs you’ve ever seen??? We can hardly wait to see babies!

You know how much we love all of God’s creation – even snakes. But birds are just about our favorite. That is, if you don’t count horses.

This afternoon, we saddled, er, Emily saddled Ladybelle for the first time. (I took the photos.) Isn’t Ladybelle beautiful?? We lover her!

Side Note: In case you are wondering where my other daughter, Sarah, was… well, she is staying at our Middlesboro Church with a group of young people who came to work in the community doing literature evangelism (magabooking, canvasing). She loves the work! I am so proud of her. And in case you are a member in the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, be sure to check out this month’s Connection newsletter – Sarah has an article in it!!

Anyway, while we were up with the horses, I took a photo of the apple tree. Wow, look at those blossoms! I hope we get that many apples!

Valentine’s Day Menu

I love making my family feel special on Valentine’s Day. This year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday which is perfect for celebrating all day long! Here is a free download of our traditional Valentine’s Day Menu. I hope you enjoy the recipes!

Download the .pdf version of this menu along with the recipes here.

Breakfast:
Heart Shaped Pancakes with fresh Strawberries and Maple Syrup
Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits
Orange Juice

Dinner:
Spinach Lasagna Béchamel
Tossed Salad with Strawberries, Green Onion, Feta and Raspberry Vinaigrette
Garlic Toast
Strawberry Lemonade
Heart Shaped Butter Cookies
Decadent Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream

Summer Adventures: Part 3

What can I say about the 2009 Pathfinder Camporee other than WOW? I knew that we were traveling 13 hours to Osh Kosh, WI to campout with 36,000 other Pathfinders. I knew that that was a lot of people. But I had no idea what to expect! This was my first Pathfinder Camporee and that of my children as well.

We left around midnight on Sunday night. The Camporee was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but we had decided to get there a day earlier to set up camp. There were ten in our group: My husband and I, James, Sarah, Emily, Hannah, Laura, and then Julina (my husband’s daughter) and her two children Jacob and Jenna. It was a long night.

We arrived in Osh Kosh around lunch time on Monday. We stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few camping supplies before actually driving into the air field. Who knew that out of 36,000 Pathfinders half of them had the same idea???

Every where you looked you saw cars and vans and buses with words like, “Osh Kosh or Bust!”

As we pulled into the gate of the air field, we were suddenly surrounded by thousands of people. It was so exciting to see! Kids were pitching tents and setting up camp every where you looked. We didn’t know that most of the conferences built fantastic displays to signify their region.

We got our tents pitched, and then I organized the food bins. It rained briefly (poured for several minutes) and then that was the last of the rain for the whole week.

Tuesday was a flurry of activity. We knew before we went that bathrooms and showers would be an issue. Imagine 36,000 people and only 500 showers and only porta potties available for use? And to get water for cooking and washing you had to walk quite a ways, stand in line, and carry back buckets of water.

The beating of drums was heard “througout the land” and all week long! I am a “new” Pathfinder and I never knew that Pathfinders played drums! It was a wonderful sound. I love, love, love the sound of drilling and drums!

Like I said, I had not really known what to expect. I understood there would be honor classes to work on during the week, but it was not until after we arrived that I really understood what that meant. The campus (air field) was so large that it took me 30 minutes (one way) to walk over the the hangars where the honors and other activities took place. I am soooo glad that we weren’t even further away as many were! I guess we walked about 10 miles a day. (Talk about exhausting!)

There were so many activities and classes and fun things to do – it was not possible to do them all! From BMX Bike shows to Motorcycle shows, to the 24′ rock climbing wall to dozens of honor classes to art classes to the bushcraft village to the prayer tent and the Messiah’s Mansion (life size tabernacle/ sanctuary) to the exotic animal shows to the very cool obstacle course to the community service opportunities to the puppet shows to the Native American display to the off site trips to Six Flags, Noah’s Ark Waterpark, water skiing, and so much more. They even had a booth where kids could just come and make crafts for fun! (see below)

There were booths where ministries displayed their free goodies and Advent Source had set up a store (very exciting to me!!)

There were food vendors – every kind of vegetarian item you could think of was available! I didn’t even realized there would be food vendors – I would have skipped cooking a few meals. It was like a Seventh-day Adventist wonder land. Sooo much fun!

And then there was the Trading Pins. Who knew that you needed to bring a collection of trading pins to join in the fun tradition? (see the photo of Hannah in the pink hat up above.)You’d think since I am married to a pastor who has been to Camporees before that he would have clued me in! But as the week progressed we had a nice collection of pins and in 5 years at the next camporee (if the Lord hasn’t retured by then) we will be ready!

And in the evenings there was the Worship Service. Oh my. It was fabulous! The theme of the camporee was Courage to Stand based on the life of Esther. Worship began with a puppet show and song service and talent show and more. But the highlight of each night was the play.

Oh, but I didn’t tell you about the stage! It was a fantasical stage built to look like Ester’s Palace – beautiful! And there were three huge screens so that everyone who was not close to the stage – which would be most of the 36,000 people – could get a good view.

Oh, and as you entered seating area, you had to walk through gates with guards and torches – very cool.

And then there was the exciting music that played while you sat and waited (and waited) for the program to begin. It was like a combination of Egyptian music and Adventure music – wonderful!

Going into the camporee I was thinking that it would be a cheesy church play – you know the kind. Well meaning church members act out a story to the best of their ability and everyone looks past their lack of talent out of love? That was not the case. The actors and actresses performed beautifully. It was so well done and professional. I was so proud! And the musical score for the play (which was really a musical) was very, very well done. I bought the CD and the kids just love the music!

On Sabbath (the last day of the camporee) over 550 young people were baptized – Praise God!

On the last night, after the program ended, we had a special surprise! All of a sudden, just as eveyone was standing to leave, fireworks began. It was a true delight and when they began I thought there would be just a few. They played some of my favorite songs as the fireworks exploded in the sky. But then they kept coming and coming – for at least 30 minutes ending with an amazing display for the “grand finale”! It was so special and as we left the service, my youngest daughter Laura says to me, “I am going to be sad to go home!” That pretty much summed it all up for the rest of us.

August was such an exciting time for us – I will share more of our adventures during the month in Part 4!

Summer Adventures: Part 2

August was such a fun month! It started off with a few days at Indian Creek Camp for the yearly minister’s meeting there. The speakers were fantastic. It was wonderful to get to chat with friends I only see a few times a year. There are several pastor’s wives in our conference that are dear to me. The kids got to spend time with some of their best friends. I am always grateful for that.

And the horses… My girls and I love horses and riding the horses at ICC is one of the highlights of our year!

Hannah – thrilled to be at the corral!

Laura riding the new horse – Pilgrim. Here, Jamie is leading her. Laura can hardly wait until next year! She’ll be 7 years old and allowed to lead her own horse and ride on the trail with the rest of us!
This is Hannah riding really well all by herself!

I have more photos of my other girls on the horses, but they were taken on my husband’s camera and I have not downloaded them yet! I’ll have to share those later.

This is a picture of Hannah and Laura with their good friends exploring nature – bugs!

For our Shepherdess Meeting (pastor’s wives meeting) we learned a bit about Photography. I love my camera and can’t wait to be able to afford a super nice (read expensive) camera. I take my camera everywhere and take hundreds of photos every month! For practice we went outside and took some nature shots. Here are some of mine:

Pretty flowers outside of the chapel.

I liked the way the light shone in through the tree leaves.

This is poison ivy. I thought it was a pretty good shot.

And last but not least, our pet Fowler’s Toad – aptly named Prince Charming. We let him go a couple of weeks ago. I am glad I got this nice shot of him.

When we got home from ICC, I had two days to prepare for the International Pathfinder Camporee in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin. Actually tho, I took Thursday to “recuperate” so that left me with Friday – which meant I had to take Sunday and finish packing – which meant we didn’t leave for Wisconsin until 12 midnight…. to be continued in Part 3!

Home…

A few moments ago my darling little, oh so precious little girl says to me, “Mommy, I want to stay five years old forever.”

And I said, “You can stay my little girl forever, even when you are all big.”

These are the best days of my life, for sure.

This morning began in the quiet stillness of dawn, with me curled up under a snuggly soft woven blanket on my sofa, sitting under the light of a lamp with a book in my lap. I have so thoroughly enjoyed reading My Utmost for His Highest. I can’t tell you how it has spoken to me… as if Oswald Chambers wrote it for me!

I wrote several pages in my prayer journal before rising to wake up the children. After cheery “Good Mornings” in a sing song voice and turning on lights with a request to get up, get dressed, make your beds and come down for breakfast, I went into the kitchen to start a pot of grits and fry up some vegetarian bacon. I had made Sourdough Blueberry Muffins yesterday as part of my bread baking day. So, those only needed to warmed.

We ate breakfast around the table. The dishes were cleared. I then read from this year’s children’s devotional. Today’s topic was Backyard Missionaries and a story of two boys who were able to witness about what the Bible really says to a friend of theirs. Then, we sang a worship song – today was “Praise Him, Praise Him.” We ended with prayer.

I then instructed the children to spend a few minutes straightening up their rooms and I went about tidying the rest of the house. Amazingly enough, after just a few minutes of putting away clutter and wiping down the bathroom sink and loading the dishwasher and getting it started, I found myself trying to find something that needed to be done. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am still in the midst of Spring Cleaning, but those chores will be done later today. The house was tidy. In fact, after having so much chaos in my life toward the end of last year, having a clean house everyday for several weeks has been so refreshing. Having it so clean that I just need to spend a few minutes each maintaining my previous work is tremendously satisfying!

So, having nothing better to do, and went and sat down in my Sunroom to enjoy the view from my window. I saw the book The Adventist Home sitting on the table and decided to pick up that and read a chapter. The words are always inspiring. I wanted to share some of those with you.

Creating a Pure Atmosphere

Every Christian home should have rules; and parents should, in their words and deportment toward each other, give to the children a precious, living example of what they desire them to be. Purity in speech and true Christian courtesy should be constantly practiced. Teach the children and youth to respect themselves, to be true to God, true to principle; teach them to respect and obey the law of God. These principles will control their lives and will be carried out in their associations with others. They will create a pure atmosphere – one that will have an influence that will encourage weak souls in the upward path that leads to holiness and heaven.

Children who receive this kind of instruction … will be prepared to fill places of responsiblity and, by precept and example, will be constantly aiding others to do right.

God would have our families symbols of the family in heaven. Let parents and children bear this in mind every day, relating themselves to one another as members of the family of God. Then their lives will be of such character as to give to the world an object lesson of what families who love God and jeep His commandments may be. Christ will be glorified; His peace and frace and love will pervade the family circle like a precious perfume.

Much depends on the father and mother. They are to be firm and kind in their discipline, and they are to work most earnestly to have an orderly, correct household, that the heavenly angels may be attracted to it to impart peace and a fragrant influence.

The Singing of the Birds

“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Song of Solomon 2:11-13

You know that spring has (unofficially) come when the birds return to your yard aside from the year round Robins, Cardinals and Blue Jays. The verse above is one of my favorites. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Last Friday, my girls and I spent the morning watching the birds in the yard. They were every where! Love birds chasing each other, Sparrows looking for seeds. Downy Woodpeckers pecking away at our suet feeder. Chickadees feeding from our pine cone feeders.

And we saw that our House Finches (male pictured above) have returned. What joy!

Friday, however was especially exciting. We saw a flock of birds in our plum tree that we had never seen before. Hannah was the first to spot them. They had some yellow feathers – we don’t usually see birds here with yellow flowers. I was so excited, I ran outside with my camera and snuck down the hill snapping photos as I went because you just never know when you are going to loose your opportunity.

I got some really good photos. Afterward, I came in and we looked at the close ups of the photos and we got out our bird field guide. We were able to identify the bird by its distinct markings.

Cedar Waxwing

Spring is just my favorite time of year!

Valentine’s Day Menu

I wanted to share my menu for this Valentine’s Day. We rarely ever go out to eat and I like to make the holidays special by cooking food my family will love – and remember!

Download the printable menu plus recipes here.

Breakfast:

Heart Shaped Pancakes with fresh Strawberries and Maple Syrup

Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits

Orange Juice

Dinner:

Spinach Lasagna Béchamel

Tossed Salad with Strawberries, Green Onion, Feta and

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Garlic Toast

Strawberry Lemonade

Heart Shaped Butter Cookies

Decadent Chocolate Cake with Strawberries and Cream

Morning Rituals

I have been really enjoying my mornings – more than ever. At the beginning of the year, I made several commitments to myself regarding the morning hours. The first was to rise even earlier – I try to get up by 5:30 am each day. If I have a really late night, it is more like 6:00 or 6:30. I wanted to have time to cook a good hot breakfast everyday. I light candles and sometimes play music or sing hymns while a busy myself.

(In the photo above you can almost see the view from my kitchen window of the mountains!)

As I have mentioned before, the thought of my nearly 18 year old son has sent me into “panic mode!” I keep thinking of all the things I wish I had done.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have done many things over the years to create good memories – including cooking a lot of wonderful meals – often for breakfast. My my fall back in the mornings for years has been cold or hot cereal. It is healthy – not to mention quick and easy! My dear son, James, however, hates cereal. Well, he loves grits, but other than that, the thought of oatmeal, Cherrios, or Cream of Wheat – he’d rather skip breakfast. So, I decided that a good hot breakfast that would make him happy 99% of the time was worth the extra effort.

My husband always talks with fondness of his dear grandmother, who I never met. She would rise up at 3:00 in the morning and make up a big batch of biscuits and she would sit there and wait. When she heard some one stirring up above, she knew who it was from the location in the house and perhaps the time (she had 12 children) and she would put that person’s biscuit in the oven and maybe cook an egg or some other dish to go along with it so that as each person came done they were presented with a freshly baked, hot from the oven meal.

Now, I think she was an amazing woman! Most women think, “Who in their right mind would do that? It’s too much trouble!” And perhaps it was a great sacrifice. But the answer to the question of “Who would go to all that trouble?” is: a woman who greatly loved her family. She had a servant’s heart. I admire her. I want to have that kind of spirit – the kind of love that Jesus came to share.

I have always loved making homemade biscuits, but on an average morning? It always seemed too much trouble. However, I realized, after having made biscuits several times a week for the last month, that it takes me less than 10 minutes to make my dough, pat it out, cut out the biscuits and clean up. Then, it only takes 8 – 10 minutes to bake. While they are baking, I can make eggs, gravy, slice up fruit, etc. Total time for breakfast preparation before we eat: 20 minutes. While the gravy simmers and the biscuits bake, I can wash my biscuit bowl, and other utensils. After we eat, it takes maybe 5 – 10 minutes to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, wash the pans, and wipe down the counter, and sweep the floor.

Some of the breakfasts we have enjoyed: pancakes with fresh blueberries and/ or strawberries, breakfast burritos, oatmeal with strawberry muffins, biscuits with milk gravy, biscuits with southern tomato gravy, biscuits with “sausage gravy” (made with sausage TVP), biscuits with homemade jam and/ or syrup, and/ or honey. I like to serve eggs on the side – scrambled or fried of in the form of a cheese omelet. The kids get what they get – I do try to make enough so that everyone is satisfied, but if they are still hungry there is always cold cereal.

Proverbs 31 tells us that a Godly woman “rises while it is yet night, and prepares food for her household.” I want to be that kind of woman. In so many homes, children wake up mommy and ask her for something to eat. Believe me, waking up to a warm kitchen filled with delicious smells and tempting sights… so much more … homey.

I have asked myself, what is it I want my children to remember most about home when they are on their own? A picture of an exhausted mother, chaotic home, hurried meals, is not very pretty. Thoughts of home should be filled with memories of good things, happy times, yummy meals, and the love of a mother whose joy it was to serve rather than be served.

February Already

I can hardly believe that we are two days into February! These last three weeks since I posted last have been so busy, I haven’t had much time to even turn on the computer. We had family staying with us for over a week, plus I have been reorganizing my school closets – (shall we say… not fun!) and I have been focusing more on my piano practicing.

I have been canning again! Last week I did 3 batches of my very own Strawberry Kiwi Jam, and 1 batch of Strawberry Marmalade. Yesterday I did 2 batches of Blueberry Jam. I am gearing up to do a few batches of Kiwi Jam and Kiwi Marmalade today and tomorrow.

It is snowing today. Kentucky has been very hard hit this last week. Fortunately, our county was just south of the line where the ice storm hit last week. We had thought we were going to be hit, but then all of a sudden, it moved north of us. We just got some snow and very bad wind. However, it has been very, very cold – for weeks now it seems. Yesterday was pleasant and sunny – a nice respite! But the cold is back and we are enjoying the fireplace and the coziness of doing schoolwork and other projects near the fire.

One of my goals, that I did not mention in my last post was my desire to cook big, hearty breakfasts for my family everyday. I have been very consistent with this! The first few days when we had homemade biscuits for three days in a row, the kids were amazed and very excited. I have to say that it has made all the difference in the world with how our mornings go. I get up early enough to have my prayer and devotion, with enough time to wake the kids and cook breakfast and be eating by 7 or 7:30 in the morning. The kids are roused from the bed easier too. Certain children (who will go unnamed) of mine enjoy snuggling down deeper in the covers when I wake them in the mornings. We follow breakfast with our morning worship.

And, I have to confess, that I have been waking at 5:30 am with urges like cleaning out the refrigerator! I have made a ritual of waking. After my devotions, I lite 5 or 6 candles in my kitchen. It is still dark outside at that time of the morning and I let the candles burn for a couple of hours. I do this again as I clean the kitchen after our evening meal. My husband noticed my new ritual and went and bought me two new huge bags of tea lights (which I primarily use in my candle holders for quick clean up) so I wouldn’t run out.

Today’s Menu:

Breakfast: Blueberry Pancakes with Real Maple Syrup and Hashbrown Patties
Lunch: Vegetable Barley Soup with Homemade Cheese Crackers and Greek Salad
Supper: Pot Pie with Homemade Biscuit Topping, Sweet Potato Casserole and Steamed Califlower

I haven’t had a chance to finish this week’s menu, but will work on that later today!

Goals for 2009

As I said in my earlier post, I don’t usually set New Year’s Resolutions. However – this year, it just feels right. I have spent a lot of time figuring out what it is I want for my life – it’s funny how this changes somewhat over the years.

I realized just a month ago or so that part of the problem I am having has to do with the fact that my son, James, is turning 18 in two months. At first I couldn’t figure out why I had this feeling of desperation when it came to all those “ideals” I have had that have not quite been realized over the years. I want to hang on to the time we have left – desperately. I have four girls at home ages 14, 12, 8, and 5. I always knew the time went by fast. When my second baby was born, I realized how quickly my son had gone from being a little baby to a big three year old. I have tried hard to savor the moments over the years. I take lots of photos and document our family’s life by scrapbooking each week. But as our lives have become ever more hectic and crazy, that time to really savor the moment is fast disappearing. So… there are changes that need to be made now – not when they are all grown up. My goals for this year have a lot to do with that – some are less obvious than others, but they all have to do with creating the life of peace and simplicity that I so desire.

1. Have family worship twice a day without fail instead of once a day.
This has always been on my schedule, but for some reason, it doesn’t always work out that way. Things get in the way, people come over, we are at church a lot, etc. I don’t want anything to take the place of family worship.

2. Live a sustainable life.
This has been on my mind for months. I have been planning and planning… and planning. We are currently pouring over our seed catalogs and composting and getting ready for our large garden this year. I have not done much gardening over the years, but I finally have space to have a large garden. My goal is to get to the point where we don’t have to purchase anything from the store except for staples like flour (or grains), sugar, vinegar, TVP, etc.

We are vegetarian so living off of a garden is not totally out of the question. I began a food journal on January 1 and have been writing down everything we eat. I plan to keep the food journal for the entire year to give me an idea of how much food we really eat. Our family of 7 (plus 12 other family members that I feed regularly) eats quite a bit!

My husband is building a large raised bed in our backyard for me to have an herb garden as well. I hope to grow all of the herbs I regularly use – using the fresh while in season and harvesting them to dry for over winter use.

I also plan to preserve everything I possibly can. I canned large amounts in the fall of 2008 and kept a journal of what I made. I plan to chart our usage – as we use a canned item, mark it as used and see what our habits are, and how much of different items we are likely to use in a given year. Of course, I will be using what I have and doing my best to plan my meals around what I have in my pantry, but what if I found that we enjoyed two jars of homemade pickles a week and I had only made enough pickles to last half the year? The following year, I could plan a larger crop of pickles and put more up.

My step-daughter and I (along with my children) are planning to do the garden together. We are ordering our seeds from Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds because they sell only Heirloom and Open Pollinated seeds, which means the harvested seeds will produce fruits and vegetables. We plan to harvest our seeds and thereby reduce our need next year to purchase seeds. I do realize that this is our first garden and it will be a learning experience. I doubt we will be overjoyed with our results, but I am giving this garden to God and letting Him have the control.

We harvested several bushels of hickory nuts this year. I hope to be able to do this every year and reduce our need for store bought nuts. We also have lots and lots of blackberry brambles on our farm and are looking forward to those this summer! We also have three apple trees which produced abundant and delicious crops this past fall. We have plans to plant a good number of blueberry bushes, a male and female kiwi plant, more fruit trees, and more.

We plan to have a nice little flock of chickens this spring and hope to have lots of fresh eggs. We are in the process of looking for a good horse for my girls. They have literally dreamed of owning a horse for years, and this is something I desperately want to give them before they are grown. We are learning everything we can about horses. Thankfully, my girls have some experience already.

And, if I had my way, I would own my own milking cow… maybe one day. But we will have some goats in the near future – maybe a milking goat?

3. Make all of my food from scratch.
I already make the majority of our food from scratch. However, I know of a few areas that I could improve on. I used to bake my own fresh bread, but stopped due to health reasons. I want to begin this again, this time being very carefully not to eat fresh bread right out of the oven, but allow it to sit for two or three days before eating it.

I want to make my own homemade mixes. Things like Taco Seasoning and Self-Rising Flour. We have used King Arthur flour for years. I believe it is the best. They do not add aluminum to their Self-Rising Flour. But it has become increasingly difficult for me to find the flour in our area. I’d like to learn to even make my own flour and corn tortillas.

I also have a Wheat Mill, that I would like to use more often.

4. I want to work on Scripture Memory with my children.
I have not been nearly as consistent about this as I should have been. I want to incorporate this into our Family Worship time.

5. I want to spend more quiet time with my children.
My girls and I like to scrapbook once a week – currently Thursdays. This is a really fun time for us. I want to have more time in the evenings to just sit with them and teach them to sew or do other quiet activities. Our evenings over the last couple of years are generally very hectic and with our schedule being what it is, there are periods of weeks where we are at church every night. But on those nights when we are home, I want to create a quiet routine so that there is no rushing, no frantic pace. I want to spend more time snuggling up with my girls.

6. I want to reduce, reuse, and repurpose.
I am slowly going through every closet, every attic, every storage bin, every drawer in our house and purging as much as possible. I simply do not want to have more than we need. I want to buy less. I want to live a practical, ordinary life. I want to find ways to make what we have work. The older I get, the more I realize how futile “stuff” really is. The only treasure I can take with me to heaven is my precious, sweet family. Nothing else matters.

7. I want to spend more time outdoors with my family.
We will be gardening a lot this year. So, we will be outside more than in the past. But I want to spend even more time out in God’s creation exploring the world around us. I want to take more hikes. I want to plan a week long backpacking trip into the wilderness with my kids. I want to go camping every chance I get. If I had my way, we’d plan a camping trip for every month, but I suppose I will have to settle at this point for once every two or three months. I want to spend more time studying nature with my children. We have done quite a bit of this over the last couple of years, but I want more! I want to work on my nature journal/ field guide that I started last summer which has sat unused for months now.

8. I want to paint more.
My little girl Hannah has been asking for a week now for me to teach her how to paint with watercolors. I want to find the time to watercolor with my children. We gave each of the girls a really nice art set with watercolors and bought four easels this year. I want to nurture their creativity.

9. I want to spend more time playing the piano.
I have been taking lessons for six months now, but I struggle to find the time to practice. I am learning in spite of this! My goal is to be able to play for my churches by the end of the year. I also want to teach my children to play the piano.

10. I want to learn to play the guitar.
You can’t take a piano on a camp out, but a guitar can go everywhere!

11. I want to paint two or three more murals for my churches.
In reality, I may only get around to doing one this year and one next, but I want to see it done.

12. I want to make the Sabbath even more of a blessing to my family.
In our home, we keep the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. During that time we refrain from secular activities, we do not buy or sell, we don’t go out to eat, etc. We spend the time focusing on God, going to church, and spending quality time for family.

However, Fridays are often so busy that my Sabbath preparation is rushed. Cooking for Friday and for Sabbath is often overwhelming because I am too rushed or feel like time is running out as the sun slowly makes its way behind the mountains.

I want Fridays to be solely focused on the Sabbath preparation. I want our thoughts to be turned wholly toward how we can make the Sabbath special and sacred. I want to feel like I have time to prepare a nice Sabbath dinner for Friday evening and cook a good meal for Sabbath afternoon. I want to find the time every week to set the table and light our wonderful Jewish Shabbat candles and enjoy our Jewish Challah bread instead of hit and miss. I want to find new ways to make the Sabbath really special for the children. I want Sabbath to be something that my family remembers as more than just special. I will post some of my ideas in a future post.

13. I want to see A Virtuous Woman grow and reach and serve more women than ever.
I have had a great vision for this ministry for many years now. I spent the week talking to some women that I know who are all pastor’s wives. We prayed together over this ministry and I have a greater peace than I have had in over a year. I know God is working and in His perfect time, things will be better than ever!

I could share more specific goals I have for my children, our homeschooling, our worship, our local ministry, but then this would go on forever. I believe this is going to be a good year. I am looking forward to every minute!

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