Excerpt from A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family

"It bothers Jenni when people think she had a large family because she was born with unusual patience or organization or spirituality."

'If I do, in fact, display any of those characteristics, it is through the constant stretching and pummeling that my flesh has gone through in the process. And this is the crux of my reality...the one thing I want folks to know: I am the same as you. We all have opportunities for growth. I call mine children.'


(My sentiments exactly.)
Hannah

Random Lovlies

My friend Sara has an etsy shop selling these sweet ribboned necklaces. Need a lovely and affordable Christmas gift? The one above is my current favorite. Sara also has a cheery blog here. Say hello.

I'm also knee deep in this book, A Sane Woman's Guide to Raising a Large Family, and I love it. If you have or are contemplating having a large family, order a copy. I wish I had read it years ago.

That's all! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Hannah

Owning things or things owning you.

I am never ceased to be amazed at how God has blessed us as a family. We have much love, happy children and the home in the country we always dreamed of. We've been rich and we've been poor but we've never been without love for each other and have always been surrounded by the richness of God's love.

Lately, as I've been homemaking, I've been finding myself a bit discontented with things. The upholstery on our sofa has a big rip, the darkness of our kitchen becomes overwhelming with the shorter days, on and on I could go. Missing the beauty of what God has blessed us with, children to make rips in the furniture and a big kitchen where friends gather and I can bless people with meals and hot bread and cookies and milk.



More and more as I thought on it, I began to see that my life doesn't consist of furniture needing replacement (although some does!) and it doesn't consist of things to be remodeled. I realized I have a lot of "stuff". I am surrounded by things. And so I've been going through things, de-cluttering life, a garbage bag per room.


The guideline I am using is: is this item being used for the service of God or others?

Its been a great screening tool, let me tell you! Does this item bless my family or the people we have in our home? Am I holding on to a useless item for sentimental reasons? Is it something someone else could make use of or be blessed by? Do I have this in my home to impress people or make them comfortable? There is line upon line of thought that can build upon the principle of only having things that are useful for serving God and others.

Well, I'm off to tidy some more! Join me.

(all art is from art.com)

Beef Perisky Recipe

A double batch of your favorite bread dough (I used wheat) risen and ready to go.
2 lbs of ground beef
a large chopped onion

Saute the meat and onion together. Add salt, pepper and onion powder (yes! more onion) to taste. Think very onion-y.

Add a cup of breadcrumbs.

Add two cups of water or broth and simmer on the stove briefly until it has a thickened soupy texture.

Taste. Add what you like. I put in some hot pepper flakes. Maybe you want garlic or cilantro.

Now roll a piece of bread dough into a ball, like you intend to make a roll. Flatten it and scoop a spoonful of meat mixture inside, folding the edges in to make a neat little ball. Place it on your greased cookie sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough and meat. It's not a science. You might have a little dough or meat left. I had dough remaining and sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, rolled it up and baked as cinnamon-y rolls for the kiddos.

Set in a warm place to rise.

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Have for lunch, freeze remainder for many more lunches. Reheat in warm oven or microwave.

Snack time times Six

Happy Faces, courtesy of peanut butter on rice cakes, pretzel stick antennae, sundrop noses, cheese pretzel mouths, raisin eyes and dried apple curls for hair.

Foster Update

This week Miss Natalie will begin making her visits to the local jail for visitation. I can already tell visitation days are difficult for her. She vacillates between acting out and being clingy for the remainder of the day. I think its easy to say that we all love her after three weeks of having her in our home.
I never realized it would be so hard. I can't even let myself imagine what her future. She is (at least) a third generation recipient of child protective services. It is too depressing a road to travel and so I push those thoughts aside to make way for prayers.
I hope, and pray, that God's grace will follow her. That her parents lives would know God's redeeming love and restorative power.
Right now she, and her dimples and fine red hair, are tucked under a quilt in her crib, sleeping off the busy morning.
Say a prayer for her and her family with me, won't you?

Sit a spell...

One Sunday evening as Sean and I were driving home from a friend's, I spied a hired hands bed on the curb. Sean happily obliged me, tying it to our roof and toting it home.
That was two homes and ten years ago. In the last move it got a boo-boo and has languished in the garage for three years, bare and broken.

This sunny corner of the kitchen with its one chair was a magnet for six children and their Mama. One chair. One.

It is now a favorite place to load up with down pillows and books, soaking in the sun on one side and the wood stove heat on the other.

Home

I am a homebody.

Home is my instrument.

Sometimes in the morning it is a peaceful sonnet as the world is just waking and I am here with my tea in hand, raising a hand to part the curtain and see what the day holds.

The tempo rises as feet add their music on the stairs. It is sentimental as morning kisses on the head are given and little ones begin vying for a leg to hold as breakfast is stirred, sippy cups filled, chores are hurried along.

At noon, after runs for visitation or freshly home from co-op lessons, our home is a buzz of jumping fiddlers, dancing, spinning, full of life and vigor, a sugar high melody before the afternoon nap-time crash into pillows and soft beds.

It becomes liturgical and calming mid afternoon, when little heads join me over steaming mugs and a good book, a special tea-time spread.

Home is my instrument. I tend it and tune it and coax life and love into it. The instrument reflects the care of this musician, subtleties in mood and in the seasons of life. The loveliness of its tune falls prey to my weariness, to teething babies, to squabbling siblings.

With a house full of guests, it plays an entertaining melody. Children add their staccato and harmony into a blend of joyful mayhem as the music carries on while the swish of the broom and the hum of the dryer add to the chorus.

Home is my instrument.

Heart of the Matter

Very happy to be a contributor to Heart of the Matter online, a home education magazine full of great ideas, encouragement and inspiration. You can read my first contribution here.

Sparkly

Add some glitter to your next batch of homemade play dough. Your kids will think you're pretty amazing!

Autumn Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

In a bowl, mix together one cup sugar,
two eggs,
three and a half cups flour (I used a mix of half hard red and half hard white and they tasted great!), two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon baking soda,
one teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg, one teaspoon salt,
one half cup buttermilk and a quarter cup apple cider...
Pour the batter/dough onto a generously floured piece of parchment paper. Generously flour the top. This dough is very loose, but we don't want to mix any more flour into the dough. Just cover it.
Now pat it out with your hand until it is about 1/2 inch thick. Flour more, if necessary.
Slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and stick the patted out dough into the freezer for a half hour. This helps it firm up and makes it much easier to handle.
This is my doughnut cutter. You could alternately use a biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Just be sure to cut out little center holes. These cost about a dollar at antique centers.
Cut out your donuts and fry in veggie oil at 350 degrees until just golden, then carefully turn. Fry your doughnut holes the same way.
Set them on paper towels to cool. Dip in a cinnamon/sugar mixture OR.... mix together in a tiny saucepan 1/4 cup cider and sugar to taste and a bit of vanilla. When the sugar is dissolved and the glaze has cooled, dunk in your doughnut and have a little party in your mouth!
And yes, my donuts are notoriously good and notoriously misshapen. :)

Giant Sunflower

The kids had fun helping me pull and dry all those seeds. It came at such a perfect time. Sean had just been reading to the children about seed reproducing in kind. It took just one seed to produce all these hundreds. Lord, let my life be as effective as that one little seed.
Hannah

Weekly Menu

Sunday am - cereal with milk, coldcare tea
dinner - citrus pork roast with roasted garlic and baby potatoes

Monday am - oatmeal, cantaloupe
lunch - cottage cheese and pineapple, ants on a log
dinner - pizza rolls, salad, apple crisp

Tuesday am - pancakes with maple syrup
lunch - rice cakes with cheese, apple slices
dinner - potato and farmer sausage casserole

Wednesday am -pumpkin muffins
lunch - fried rice, canned pears
dinner - meat perisky

Thursday am -dry cereal, cantaloupe
lunch - pb & jelly
dinner - simple sesame noodles, canned green beans

Small Group!
popped corn, pumpkin choc chip cookies, hot tea

Friday am - omelet, bananas
lunch - yogurt with granola, cinnamon apple slices
dinner - broiled lemon thyme pollock

Sat am - fried dough, fresh fruit
lunch - black bean soup, rustic bread rolls
dinner - grilled cheese, chips, apples