Thursday, August 9, 2012

Pondering Thoughts of August

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.  Watch your words, for they become actions.  Wathc your actions, for they become habits.  Watch your habits, for they become character.  Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny." - Unknown

 
I am thankful....
The military housing called us last month and offered us a house!  We are picking up the key to our Mansion tomorrow – or so it will feel after living in this crackerjack box 9 out of the last 12 months due to Beloved’s professional development school and this move!  It has been an amazing season. I am thankful to the Lord for his strength.  And I am grateful that He equipped me to be able to “Go wherever Beloved goes no matter the circumstances”.    

I am currently reading…

I am reading a book called “Bachelor Bess: The Homesteading letters of Elizabeth Corey, 1909-1919”.  The book is all the letters that Bess wrote to her Mother after setting out at a young age (in her 20s) to South Dakota to be a school teacher and to claim her own plot of land.  It is a fascinating book and it has me giggling often.  I am learning a lot through her letters about homesteading and the challenges that they had to endure back then.  Here is just a snippet that had me smiling today.

       “I started bread Friday evening. I suppose you wonder how I kept my yeast from freezing. I did like everyone else out here – put it in a tight can, wrapped it up good and took it to bed with me and if holding that thing all night isn’t enough to give any old maid bad dreams I don’t know – I don’t think I ever had better luck with bread though.”  

 I am currently listening…
As usual I spent this week listening to some interesting sermons.  Today, I listened to a sermon called the “Hidden Woman”.   It is a sermon about the importance in being a stabilizing wife in your husband’s life.  The illustrations that were being used are about pioneer missionary wives and how a smiling believing wife was priceless to these Men who were in a raging spiritual war.   The practical  focus for the listener was about supporting a husband while he sits at the gate.

 From the Kitchen…
Oh, I have been extremely spoiled the last 2 months since the Little Lass has been born.  Once our family got back from a quick business trip with Beloved and our extended family members left me too, the Ladies in our Church spent several weeks bringing over dinner once or twice a week.   It has been such a blessing to me! Truly!  It is refreshing to be in a church family where people adore children and celebrate each child no matter the number. I feel the Lord is covering me with fresh cool spring water through these ladies.  

In the new house, I will be immediately working on getting groceries in the house, replenishing our pantry's emergency supply and sitting down pouring over cookbooks for awhile so I can begin to take food to Church on Sunday.   Every Sunday our Church has pot-luck dinner after service. Since, we have been in the camper; I haven’t done a lot of fussy dishes. I have only taken cold salads, little BBQ hot dogs cooked in a crock pot and buying the occasional cake or taking several dozen Krispy Kreme donuts.  I hope I come up with some more good ideas. So, tell me, “What do you take to a pot-luck dinner?”

Thinking Thrifty…
My girls love dresses. They only wear pants for horseback and occasionally hiking.  So, they have worn out their dresses this summer while living in the camper.  I will be on the mission to find the girls some more Lands End cotton dresses.  I can affirm that those dresses hold up mightily and are worth every penny! So, this week I am going to make time to slip into our seasonal consignment sale.  
 I am wearing…
I am wearing my Wedding Rings! I am so very excited to be able to slip my 3 wedding rings back on.  I was so swollen during the pregnancy that I had to take them off in my second month.  Oh, how I hated putting them into my jewelry box.  It just made my heart so sad.  And, then it took 2 months after the pregnancy to slip them back on! I do believe I almost got teary eyed being able to put them back on.  Just the Sunday before I tried as well. I tried with all my might to get them over my swollen fingers with no success!

 In the learning room

Well, since the learning room is one big camper at this moment, I think it would be interesting to tell you that while we have been living in our camper we have come in contact with at least 4 other families that travel around with their Father’s as  he works while the Mother homeschools the children.  I have been amazed by each family that we have met.  These families are not poor or uneducated . They are actually well off and are living an exciting, joyful and highly educational life on the road.   Here is a little about one family that we camped alongside for about 2 months while here.  

      The Father is a cancer planner professional. He travels around to hospitals all over the United States. He helps come up with patient cancer plans to get the patients well.  The Wife is a homemaker who travels with him.  She home schools their 7 Children. The Children ranged from the age of 14 down to 3 months.  They do have a brick home in Louisiana but they spend most of their time on the road.  When they go on business trips with their Daddy they are living  in a 5th wheel camper.   Their road-schooling curriculum is the Robinson Curriculum and Saxon Math.  The Robinson Curriculum gives them the freedom to do all their living book reading through Kindle.  
 The other families that we met had 1 to 4 Children and these Families also homeschooled and lived a life of adventure and learning!  But the Family with 7 Children was just fun to met because they were bigger than our family!   

My favorite thing this week…
Oh, without a doubt it is making memories! Blogging allows me to stop and treasure those moments of sweetness with my Family.  I am so busy during this season that I almost have to write down snippets just so I can remember to count my blessings and ponder those joyful moments that might slip through my days without me taking note of them. Why just now, the Little Man made another bow and arrow. This week it was out of sticks and a rubber band.  Two weeks ago, he made one out of drinking straws.    

9 comments:

  1. I'm so excited that you get to be in a house again! WooHoo! I loved reading this post and catching a glimpse of your world. It's nice to see you counting your blessings... and getting those rings back on is a HUGE one! Another blessing is getting to see other homeschooling families who are on their journey just like you. What an inspiration!

    As far as potlucks go, I never bring the same thing twice. I must get bored easily, but desserts are definitely my favorite thing to make!

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  2. Everything sounds wonderful, Carmen! Where do you get the sermons? Library? Pandora? iTunes? Or maybe the library? I've been wanting to find material to listen to at night or in the early morning while I walk on the treadmill.

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  3. Carmon~ I'm over joyed for you, IK just how a "crackerbox" can feel...
    Our church back home has potluck every Sunday as well, and it is hard making meals in the camper.
    Meeting new families is always a blessing to us as well, kiddos get lonly away from home...
    And that sermon sounds wonderful, how did you come by it?
    And lastly the quote, I have the SAME one wrote down in my "many scribbles" notebook I keep with my Bible. I love quotes and enjoy Bible verses.
    God Bess!

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  4. Denise and Vanyah, I listen to them from several places. If there is a particular pastor/organization that I like then I google their sermons from youtube or buy their dvds from their sites. Most churches have a "listen" to a sermon on their church site now as well.

    Nell, I will be looking into your site to see if you shared any of those recipes! ;)

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  5. Hoping that by now you're reading...

    labels on moving boxes! :)

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  6. Loved this post. Going to look into the Bachelor Bess book. Sounds interesting.

    When I did "The year of the Pie", I took a different pie to church almost every Sunday evening. Pies are great for a group. Cut them into twelve pieces. :)

    Hope you day is wonderful.

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  7. Love the quote and this is a great post for hearing all you have been up to! Congratulations on the house! It will be nice to get settled in somewhere.
    Many blessings to you all!

    Jill

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  8. I love reading your update posts:) so glad you're back in a brick and mortar home! yay!

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  9. I loved having a solid peak into your life. I perused your blog the other night, and had a bit of time this morning to come back and read some more.

    There are so many things to comment on--but one thing I can say, I would sure like to try and find that book you speak of.

    Your life sounds blessed & full---and it sounds like you are full of appreciation for it-which is a wonderful thing.

    Happy for you to be in your new home!

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Your comments are a gift to me and they warm my heart. I read and treasure every one. If you leave a comment, I will visit you as well. ~ Carmen