Just Thinking Out Loud

For the last few mornings I've gotten up and made my way to my kitchen only to be faced with three large bowls of tomatoes.

Daunting.

Every day Husband asks me, "Are you going to take care of the tomatoes today?"

I go through my mental list of to-do's and say, "I don't know...depends on how things go."

The bowls of green tomatoes have me less worried than that bowl of red ones. The green ones will take a couple of days to ripen but the red one wants taking care of now.

I have contemplated inviting my dear, pregnant friend over, who currently is having tomato cravings and sitting her down with the bowl and letting her have at it.

This afternoon there will also be grapes and Granny Smith apples joining the entourage of produce.

Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way complaining about my good fortune. I know that later this winter I will be ever so grateful for the "free" produce sitting in lovely jars in my pantry. It's just the energy I know it will require to get it all into those jars AND trying to do school with the kiddos as well.

I think it's the combination of the two, canning and schooling, that I'm finding daunting.

We are also going to celebrate my Father-in-law's 80th birthday this weekend. So that means Saturday is shot as is Sunday. (We will be traveling 8 hours to his home, thank God that gas prices have gone down some this week.)

So here is what I think I will do. We will be traveling home on Monday. I think we will have a "recovery" day on Tuesday and I'll get some of that produce taken care of and then back to school on Wednesday.

Yes...I think that is what I will do.

Thanks so much for coming by and listening to be babble about my tomatoes.

Can't Get That Song Outa My Head

Ever wake up in the morning with a song looping in your brain? This frequently happens to me. Usually it's a praise song I heard recently or something the kids have been humming.

This morning it was the Beatles.

I haven't listened to a Beatles song in ages. In fact I can't even remember the last time I purposely set out to listen to a Beatles song. (Nothing against the Beatles per se, just haven't listened to them much in the last ten years or so.)

And not just any Beatles song either. No. I woke up with When I'm 64 looping in my brain.

Just so you can join me in my time of madness crisis whatever here is the whole song for you to listen to.



The last half of this segment reminds me of some of the counting clips they used to have on Sesame Street. Hmmmm. Wonder who copied who. Anyway.....

You can think of me today as I go around with this song in my head.

La la la la la, la la la la.........

Sunday Psalm

The Lord is teaching me these days to rest and trust in Him. To praise Him through my trials. James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall in various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." This is not easy but by His grace others have gone before us and found that it can be done. The following hymn, written by Horatio Spafford, came to me this morning. I thought of the story of how he came to write it and suddenly my trials seemed miniscule in comparison (you can read his story here). Thank you Lord for these sweet words that I can sing today, It Is Well With My Soul.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,When sorrows like sea billows roll;Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

(Refrain)

It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,Let this blest assurance control,That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,No pang shall be mine, for in death as in lifeThou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,The sky, not the grave, is our goal;Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

Hello Again

Is anyone still out there? Hello. Hello. Hello.

Well I'm back. At least tentatively. I say tentatively because I have gone back and forth several times about whether to continue blogging or not in the past few weeks.

I like to blog. I like to "go around" and read other blogs, commenting here and there. Frequently a subject will come to mind and I will begin composing a blog entry in my mind...in there it sounds great, pithy, worthy of conversation and comment. When I finally have time to sit down and write I just stare at the screen and wonder what it was I wanted to say. And that's when I don't like to blog. Because then I spend much too much time on it to the detriment of other things I ought to be doing. I walk away from the computer aware that there is laundry I ought to have folded or time I ought to have spent with my kids.

Let me tell you...it is a vicious cycle of enjoyment and guilt.

However, I did decide to give writing my own blog one more shot and see if I can come up with some way of getting all my "pithy" thoughts out of my head before they go wandering off.

heh heh....we'll see what happens.

So anyway...I'm back for now.

I Can't Do It On My Own

Things here are not just busy....they are a bit disorganized. In fact it's driving me crazy.

I had all these great intentions to get all these projects done around the house this summer...and...well...I had great intentions.

Now, in just a week and a half we start school again. Thankfully I have managed to get our school lives mostly together. You know, books and curriculum ordered and received. I still need to work out a daily schedule and some kind of rubric of expectations for Son.

Can I admit here that I'm feeling just a little...errr....overwhelmed? Not totally overwhelmed, just a little.

I really want to do an excellent, consistent job in educating Son and Daughter. I want to make sure that we cover as many bases as possible and that they will be able to stand on their own two feet when the time comes.

Sigh.

I think that every parent and every homeschooling parent struggles with many of the same feelings and questions I'm struggling with right now. And those are just the parenting concerns.

As a wife and mom I have a whole other list of goals I want to accomplish that concern the running of our home. Housekeeping goals, menu and feeding goals, gardening goals,...the list just goes on and on.

I want to be able to do all things well. I want to have a well oiled machine running here in our home in which the schooling and housekeeping are smoothly integrated. In which the kids recognize and do their part to keep it going.

I see in my minds eye how I want things to look and run and then I look at the reality and there is a minor gulf between the two.

And then....

And then I get down on my knees and I pray and I give it all up to Him. Because I recognize that I'm trying way to hard to do it in my own strength. I'm trying way to hard using my own feeble brain and my weak, weak muscles.

I realize I can't do it on my own.

Again.

This is not the first time I've had this revelation. Oh no. I've had this revelation at least a hundred times in the last year alone. Yet it's a lesson I keep having to go over again and again. Praise the Lord He is patient and willing to teach me again and again.

And since I'm learning my lesson yet again, I have decided to take a blogging break. I know I only manage to post once a week but right now I can't even do that in a timely fashion. So I'm going to give myself a break. One less thing on the plate to worry about, so to speak.

So...for the next six weeks...I'm taking a break from blogging. My idea (I refuse to call it a plan) is to return to the bloggy world around the beginning of October when hopefully things will have returned to some kind of predictable pattern and we are settled in our school routine.

Thank you for continueing to check up on me this summer and I hope that you will come back this fall. I really and truly appreciate every visit and comment I receive from all of you. And thanks for allowing me this time.

I will lift my eyes to the hills -

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1~2

As The Chicken Turns

When we last left our lovely flock two new chickens had joined. One was learning the meaning of pecking order and the other was enjoying immediate acceptance. Apparently there was more going on than just mistaken identity.

You see we thought the reason the others accepted the new Barred Rock was because they thought it was the missing bird that Chewy, our dog, had sent off to poultry heaven. Now we're thinking that it may be because she is really a he.

What do you think? Believe me it was no easy trick getting this picture. However, please note the large crest and floppier waddle than his more feminine kin.

He can certainly give you quite the evil eye but he seems to be a really rather docile bird. He has yet to crow but I'm worried it might happen any morning now.

We do have a contingency plan in place for him to go back to his original farm and trade him for a her. I'm putting it off it until we know absolutely, positively for sure though because Daughter gets so attached to all of the birds. She gets big sad eyes whenever I say we will have to relocate "Joseph" aka Josephine to his farm.

Boy am I a soft touch.

But really. We can't keep a rooster here in town. We value our good neighbors.

So what do you think? Have I got a rooster or a hen here? "Joseph" is the bird on the far right. Doesn't his comb look a.lot. bigger than his hen friend standing next to him?

Cockadoodledoo!

Stay Tuned....

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by and checking in on me today. I'm afraid that I have to postpone a more lengthy entry until tomorrow (Thursday) because I'm not actually at home today. I'm at my dear friend Shawna's house visiting and enjoying her new farm. You can check out some of her pictures here.

So stay tuned or come on by tomorrow sometime and I will have something more to say!