Be still and know...

Technology is an amazing thing.  We have machines that wash our dishes, scrub our clothes, and cook our meals with the turn of a knob.  Transportation options that get us to where we're going by water, rail, road or air.  Computers that put us in touch with everything we could want to find (and a ton of stuff we hope never to stumble upon) with a few clicks of the mouse.  And handy little gadgets keep us connected by telephone to anyone, anywhere at any time.  These time-saving devices seem entirely indispensable in today's culture.  But I have just one question:  Where on earth is all that "saved" time going?

I suppose with having so many things that help to reduce the time-investment required for a given job, we are then free to cram more into our waking hours.  I sometimes feel like those poor hamsters in my daughters' tank, as they run for all they're worth on a wheel that takes them nowhere.  Keeping mankind busy is one of the oldest tricks in the dark pocket of the adversary.  And a pretty effective one, I might add.

With our lives being lived out at hyper-speed and our days being packed from morning till night, it is so easy to let yet another 24 hours go by without that quiet time with the Creator.  Filling and refilling that spiritual tank is the absolute most important thing that can be done in a day.  And yet it is too easily pushed to the bottom of the list and sometimes scratched out as something that can be done tomorrow.  How sad it will be when tomorrow ceases to come.

So set all those automated helpers to their tasks and take time to refuel.  You just might find the patience, energy and desire to do what no machine ever could!


Linking up with :  Women in the Word Wednesdays , Women Living Well Wednesdays

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Cold and Flu Tips

The cold weather months are upon us and my mind is whirling with ideas for the best approach to keeping my family healthy.  With two infants in the house, it is especially important to do what we can to stay healthy to help protect those immature and very vulnerable little immune systems. 

Transitioning to a plant-based, whole-foods diet has been a good start.  It takes a little getting used to cooking without the staples I had grown accustomed to using.  And it requires that we all keep an open mind to the new flavors and textures.  But feeding our family foods with as much retained nutrients as possible seems like a cause worthy of a little extra work.

I have also been trying to remember things that I have used in the past to prevent, or at least shorten the duration of, illness. 

• The use of hydrotherapy is invaluable.  It can be as simple as alternating hot/cold water in the shower.  Let the water spray as hot as your body can tolerate (certainly don't want water hot enough to burn, though) and follow with a blast of cold.  Repeat 5-7 times always making certain to end with cold to close the pores back up.  Or you can do hot/cold treatment on concentrated areas.  The possibilities with water are virtually endless.  And don't forget the extreme importance of adequate water consumption.   I am terrible about making sure I get enough. 
•  Regular use of garlic, while it can carry an odor, is incredibly beneficial.  Not only is it antibiotic, it also is effective against viruses.  Mince it and add it to your favorite recipe, make a garlic/vinegar infusion and use it in salad dressings, or just about any other way you can think of.  I had at one time printed off the following remedy: 

Crush a few cloves of garlic and just cover with olive oil.  After letting it stand for at least 30 minutes, rub the oil on the bottoms of your feet.  Cover with socks and go to sleep for the night.  When you wake you will have a bit of garlic on your breath.  This is simply evidence that the garlic entered your system.  It will head to the lungs and garlic is amazing for the lungs!                        

• Apple Cider Vinegar is also a natural agent that is effective in the battle against bacteria.  It also contains many vital minerals and trace elements including potassium, phosphorous, sodium, sulfur, copper, iron, magnesium, calcium, and flourine. 
• Lemon juice is full of vitamin C which helps the body's immune system to fight infection and even the common cold.  Put some in a little water and drink it down.  Not sure why but this is not my favorite thing to do.  Some people love it, though.

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So what things do you do to maintain good health during these months when illness seems to be lurking around every corner?

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Beautiful Heartbreak

I visited my friends blog tonight and watched this video that she had posted.  She is one of the true heroes that has determined to find beauty amid the ashes!  This song is one so many can relate to.

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Good mom, Bad mom

I think it is pretty common to weigh your parenting skills based on the behavior of your children.  Because of that, one day you may be on top of the world prancing about with your Supermom tiara perched just so, and the next be picking up the shattered pieces.

I have seven kids.  At any given moment maybe 50-75% of them are cheerful and functioning at optimum capacity.  The others may be feeling grumpy or sensitive or a wee bit hyper.  Does that make me a bad mom?  Nope, not any more than their good behavior makes me a great mom.  The way my children behave is not the gauge.  My reaction to that behavior is.

Of course, we have standards for our kids that we expect them to operate within.  And failure to do so results in some sort of behavior modification.  For the older boys, that often just means that they get a little down-time.  I don't think poor behavior always must be met with punishment.  Taking the time to get to the root of the problem will reveal much more than a swift rebuke ever will.  We all have days where we feel out-of-sorts and easily frustrated.  The key is to learn to channel that in a positive way.  Beating my kids down for feeling normal emotions does nothing but build resentment.  And giving myself a mental thumping for my inability to produce perpetually happy kids will only sour my own mood.  So does that leave me standing with my hands tied in the middle of the child-training arena?  Not at all.  But leaving room for all of us to be human does force me to be creative.

I truly believe that kids just want to know that we understand.  They want assurance that we haven't completely lost touch with what it is to navigate the tumultuous growing up years.  They don't want to be banged over the head with an endless list of statutes and rules that they have no hope of ever living up to.  They want mercy when they make a mistake.  They need a hug when they are feeling down, even if they have no idea what is eating them.  They might just need a break from the work load that school sets before them to get outdoors and toss a football.  All the better if we join them.

Now if you have more than one child, you know that spreading yourself to meet the needs of everybody isn't an exact science.  It looks different every day and in each home.  You may feel exhausted and worn down just muddling through the basics like laundry and meal preparations.  The thought of slowing down and leaving your own agenda behind doesn't always sit well.  Sometimes it would be so much "easier" to just let that kid have it for his bad attitude or unnerving energy that is cramping your style.  But in the long run, building that relationship and tying those heartstrings is what makes a lasting difference.

I love to have a good laugh.  And normally there is something worth laughing over if you are open to looking for it.  Some days I laugh (after I cry) over how badly I have messed up.  And sometimes I laugh until I cry over something a child has done that probably warrants consequences.  Said consequences are not less effective, in my opinion, just because my child saw me recognize the humor in the situation.  Life is a growth experience and it lightens the load to have fun along the way.

Now please don't look at my kids next time you see us because surely you will notice all the many areas that need attention.  Do note, however, that I am not sporting a tiara.  It never has quite made it out of the box.

Linking up to:  Proverbs 31 Thursdays  

         Experiencing the Love of Koinonia

           

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Nothing says love like homemade bread....

Freshly baked bread nourishes more than the stomach.  It feeds the senses.  And it can be so fun to make!  My girls love to take small lumps of my dough and form their own tiny loaves.  They don't even seem to care that their own loaves just end up hard masses of dried out grain.  It's all in the experience.  And the aroma!

Your recipe can be simple, requiring little more than flour and oil.  Or you can make it a nutritional powerhouse with a variety of grains, herbs, and seeds.  The options are endless and the process is therapeutic.  All the stress of life can be taken out as you hand-knead that elastic mound of dough.  And when you serve it to your family, they will look upon you with adoration and gratitude!  Well, they will at least devour every last crumb and beg you to make more!

I'm always looking for new bread recipes.  I have a whole collection of them that I have gathered from cookbooks, friends and forums.  Rarely though, do I stretch myself and actually try them out.  I have my trusty old recipe that I have been using for years, and I just have trouble actually venturing into new territory.  But I have been reading recently about all the potential to pack nutrients into this yeasty delight.  And I finally feel ready to spread my wings.

Grinding my own grain has always sounded sort of quaint.  A throwback to the simpler days, before all this technology took over.  And though I have thought it would be fun to own a hand-mill, it was just never an investment that I was willing or able to make.  But it seems that immediately after wheat (and I am assuming any other whole grain) is ground open the nutrients begin to oxidize.  Vitamin E is lost with 1 hour of grinding.  Within 72 hours a high percentage of over 30 nutrients is gone.  All three main parts of a wheat grain (endosperm, bran, germ) house nutrients that are worth the extra work to preserve.  The germ contains lots of vitamins and is rich in oil.  The endosperm stores the starch and houses the protein that transforms into gluten in the process of kneading.  The aleuron layer contains a significant amount of fibre and is also rich in proteins and vitamins.

And this is all just in a grain of wheat.  Imagine what you might find in other whole grains.  Pack of few of them together and you have a serious dose of daily essentials right in your breakfast toast.

So while I still don't think a hand-mill is in my immediate future, I do own a vitamix.  And the dry container will grind whole grains.  I just might have to start making use of it.  After all, my family is worth it!

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Happy Birthday, Robbie!!

While we are on the subject of birthdays, somebody else around here also got a little older.  He, however, was not quite so excited for his big day!

This guy sometimes makes me wonder where he gets his patience and energy.  His job (and the distance we live from it) requires that he get up at 3:30 in the morning.  Some people would hit snooze a few times and drag out of bed.  Robbie turns the alarm off and hops up without hesitation.  And even at that early hour, many times I am left with a little note...sometimes just written on the bathroom mirror...or other gesture that lets me know that while he loves his job and doesn't mind heading off for it, he is even more eager to get back home.  On his days off, he gladly keeps the twins with him while I go down to the office for a few hours.  He handles both babies with ease and always make sure they are loved on equally.

The bigger kids know they can turn to him for help with a difficult math problem or an idea for how to figure it out on their own.  And there is no line in Robbie's mind between men and womens' work...if it needs done, he'll do it.  He's got some special radar that alerts him to when I am worn down and need a few minutes.  I don't have to ask for a break because he picks up on it immediately and sends me for a nap!  There have been many times that I have awakened to a clean house, happy kids and a meal on the table.

Anyway, all that to say how grateful I am to this guy for all he does to make life a little less exhausting. And a whole lot of fun!!  Happy birthday!

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Abby turned 7!!

A sweet girl in my house turned 7 last week, and boy was she excited!!!  I look at Abby's little face and can almost remember what it was like the day we saw her for the first time.  She was an incredible baby and has always loved a good snuggle.  Describing Abigail is a bit tricky because she is so multi-faceted.  One minute she is playing dress-up and dolls with Hannah and the next she has on her brother's camos climbing a tree.  Take a walk with her once and you will have a little hand nestled in your own briefly,  only to have it disappear as she takes off yelling "mush" and "hike" to her invisible sled dogs.  She doesn't fit all nice and neat in a little box, and that is just the way we like her.

Her brothers have a pretty hard time telling her no.  They are often dragged into her imaginary world and assigned roles to play.  And despite the fact that they are in their teen and pre-teen years, they somehow end up playing along.









It makes life so nice when you love pretty much everything!  Put a pencil in her hand and she will draw a picture for you.  Hand her a crayon and she will color for hours.  Give her some yarn and wooden needles and she will put her knitting skills to use (Thank you, Mrs. Pitton!).  A pocket knife will get her whittling and a dirt hill will get her, um..dirty.









She had an awesome Kindergarten teacher at a great school and she learned so much.  I will forever be grateful for the love of learning that was instilled in her little heart.  We are homeschooling this year, and she is flying through her lessons and always ready for more.  It has been so much fun to have her close again and be able to watch as she learns each new concept.










When Abby learned twin brothers were on the way, I thought she and Hannah would never survive the wait.  Daily she would access my overgrown belly and ask if I could make the babies come out!  Now that they are here, there are days when we have to fight to get our hands on them.  Real, live baby dolls for my doll-playing, tomboy...what could be better?





Dear Abby,
     Life with you is never dull.  You keep us on our creative toes and have re-introduced imaginative play into our world.  Your joy over the simplest things is completely contagious.  I think I will always see you as my little girl, tucked away under my desk at work.  There was nothing sweeter than to see your head peek out as you flashed that amazing smile my way.  You ensure that our dogs (real and imaginary) are exercised and our chickens get swaddled and rocked to sleep.  You make us laugh with your face full of expression and your utter disdain for matching your clothing.  Camos, pink socks and church shoes absolutely do make a statement.  And in your perfect world that blue backpack would never cease to be filled with hidden treasure.
     Thank you for the pleasure of being your Mama.  You have filled a spot in all of our hearts that nobody else in the whole world could.  Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Love,
Mama

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Oh, Baby Baby...

These little monsters keep me busy!!!!  So much cute-ness is downright distracting and there are days when I get little done, even with all the eager helpers around here!  These guys have very different personalities.  Quinn loves to smile while Levi LOVES to eat.  He doesn't want word of his fetish for a good meal to get out, but I suspect those cheeks give him away.  :)  Quinn is tiny and silly and always has a smile handy.

Don't even get me started on baby feet!!  I simply can't get enough of them.  And to get four adorable footsies with 20 teensy toesies all at once is almost more than I can take!                                                

I told you not to get me started...now I can't stop!  

 

They are growing so quickly and changing so much.  And like the crazy mama that I am, I'm completely torn between loving each new stage and wishing they'd just stay little.  I know from watching the five older kiddos grow at an alarming rate that this time is so fleeting.  Chubby cheeks, wiggly toes, dimpled grins and wide-eyed wonder are here for but a moment.  I'd give just about anything to freeze time and have just a bit more time to drink it all in!!

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Embracing what works...

I always feel like I am one step away from organizing the chaos. And so I continually devise (and re-devise) plans to achieve order. In a house with nine people there is always another load of laundry or a sink full of dirty dishes. Rotating kitchen duty keeps things tidy and attempting to assign laundry days will hopefully help tame that never-ending chore. But how about all those little things that creep up out of nowhere that throw the whole day off? I can't fit all the unforeseen into a neat little schedule. And to be perfectly honest, I don't function well at all when I try to rigidly plan our days. I have read book after book on the fine art of creating a master schedule for the family. And I finish each book with renewed purpose to be that ultra-pulled-together Mama, even if it kills me. And every single time I struggle and fight against my self-imposed scheduling prison. It just doesn't work for me.

I work best when I loosely plan my days and identify the things that really must be done. Things like feeding the masses, grabbing a quick shower, diapering the babies, overseeing the kids' schooling. And to keep things spicy I like to throw in some things I just plain want to do. Like trying out that new recipe, browsing through a cookbook, or even sitting for 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing! But best of all is fitting in those things that simply feed the soul...worshiping as a family, sprawling out on the floor to play a game with the kids, soaking up a few moments of quiet time with the babies, or hanging out with my husband talking about whatever pops into our heads. Some people might function perfectly and thrive within the confines of a schedule. I am not one of them. So to avoid breaking out in hives under yet another failed attempt to do so, I will accept my limitations. I'll continue to assign chores and plan meals, (or at least aspire to plan my meals!) but I refuse to torture myself with stringent planning that does nothing except exhaust and discourage me.

Today I got a hankering to bake a cheesecake. But due to the fact that Robbie and I agreed with the kids to try one month of healthy, plant-based eating, I needed to clean up the recipe. I searched and searched and finally came up with one that I had most of the ingredients for. I had to tweak it a bit, but that just adds to the fun! And since I am that silly girl that loves to taste the season, the addition of pumpkin to this recipe just gave it that extra touch of Autumn.

12 ounces silken tofu
8 ounces Tofutti vegan cream cheese
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
3 T flour
1 t pumpkin spices
3/4 t cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 graham cracker crust

You just blend the ingredients until smooth and pour into the crust-covered 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 350 for approx. 45 minutes. Chill to allow for the cheesecake to continue to set up. Hoping for good things!  I'd love to have just pie but feel pretty sure that more is required for me to call it a meal.   So we are throwing in Chicken-style Gluten, Roasted Potato Wedges and Veggies. And I can only hope that it'll be sufficient to fill the bottomless pits that run around my house calling me Mama!!


Linking up with : Raising Homemakers

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