These Days

These days I treasure my quiet mornings on the porch, with my cup of tea.

My head is clear, my soul is quiet and my heart is full.

I march forward into my day, juggling all the moving pieces of a family schedule.  

His peace surrounds me.  His priorities fall into place in my mind.  

His words fill my mouth.  I breathe out prayers of petition, words of thanksgiving, songs of praise.

I'm grateful for days to work at His eternal plan.

Sewing with Blossom3

Blossom3 is so excited to see progress on her sewing project.  

Mama is too!

She and I agree that her fabric is divine!!!

I was so pleased with how much better she is at controlling the sewing machine's speed and feeding the fabric through.  She has made such progress from the last time we sewed together.

Last Week

The CHAP convention is a very busy week/weekend for me.  This year, we tacked on two extra days of the girls visiting Grammie and Pappy.  That meant that I was on critter feeding duty!  Yep, so while I had a lotta peace and quiet, I also had a whole lotta animals to feed!  It took me about an hour each morning.  

I also spent a whole day painting doors!  Very exciting, I know, but I really wanted to paint the rest of the doors in our bedroom.  Whilst painting, I previewed books and listened to book reviews on YouTube, in an effort to check out some other books and authors.  

I also listened to some 2019 Christian music playlists, perusing artists for more good music.  I like to keep good media in our girls' minds and hearts and that requires work and research on my part.  

After a thorough inventory of our school room, curricula and art supplies, I had my convention agenda all mapped out.  The days start early at the convention and I wanted to be prepared.  

At the end of day #1, I was positively exhausted.  

Walking, thinking, talking, asking, walking, looking, listening, walking, more walking...

I really loved having my Mom all to myself.  She helps me think outside the box, talk through options and stay calm.  After a late supper of wings and sweet potato fries, I spent more time looking over and sorting all the information I'd gathered.  Mom had gone to bed earlier and when I finally crawled into bed, I heard her quietly say, "...In Jesus' name."  When asked, she told me that she was just praying for me to have peace.  

Perhaps you can imagine what that meant to me.  

I'm spending two days researching, asking questions, purchasing curricula and generally planning another year of the education of our four Blossoms.  Looking at high school and college education information was also weighing heavily on my mind.

Thank God she is in my corner!

Plus, she is always a willing accomplice in ice cream escapades!

I'm thankful to be back home with solid decisions made.  

Dominique

Some More Details

When I make a daily schedule, I'm not going for "pretty," as you can tell.

There are blocks of time that are free for the girls, which is something I think is healthy for children and teens alike. 

I've established a rise time that the Rugged Mountain Man and I think is appropriate for the girls for summer. 

I tend to round up for how long I think something is going to take.  It's a great way to put cushion in the schedule and keep things in a lower stress arena. 

I try to plan for how long things actually take, instead of how long I think they should take.

Often, we have the majority of things tackled by lunch, so sometimes I don't even bother scheduling the whole day.

This is such a practical tool for little by little getting the job done.  

I'm so thankful that the Lord answers our prayers, even down to the little details of managing our family's days and responsibilities.

Dominique

What's Working Lately

Inevitably, school ends, we soak up the initial burst of freedom and then we find ourselves in that gray area of so much freedom that we don't quite know how to complete all the tasks still necessary in our summer.  We flounder a bit.

There's still multiple musical instruments to be practiced daily, 4-H books to keep up on, posters to be worked on, showmanship knowledge to be studying, showmanship skills to be practicing, Bible Quiz material to study, sewing projects to tackle, in addition to the demands of extra animals on site and all the daily chores associated with that.  Add in a busy social calendar and regular homestead work and the very idea of keeping everyone moving in the right direction can feel very overwhelming to me.  

I spent some time praying about this because I didn't quite know how to facilitate all of these things.  The solution came to me clearly shortly after.  

A one size fits every day schedule has NEVER worked for our summer 

because our summer days vary so widely...

as opposed to the school year when we have much more continuity.  God gave me the idea to do a loose schedule designed specifically for that day.  

Please don't stop reading.  It's not as hard as you think.  

Nightly I have been sitting down and mapping out a basic schedule.  

Are we headed to the park in the morning?  

What needs to happen before and after that? 

Do we have company coming in the afternoon?  

What needs to be accomplished beforehand? 

Will we have a busy stretch of time running errands and meeting up with friends?  

What should we tackle first so that we can have more fun later?  

This is working for me and it's working for the girls.  They actually enjoy themselves more, knowing that they have a system for juggling all the needful things.  I can embrace the fun, because I know we're doing the steady plodding that makes good progress.

Dominique

Summer Snapshot

This is what our Saturday looked like.  It was a working on the "homestead" kind of day.

Blossom1 was mowing grass.

Blossom2 was mucking out rabbit pens.

Blossom3 was picking peas.

Blossom4 was snapping peas while I processed other produce on the porch.

It takes persevering parenting to make these Saturdays happen.  We like the satisfaction of a productive day together.  It's a worthwhile investment, though it's rarely easily made.  As I tell the girls, anything worthwhile takes work.

Dominique

 

To the Mountains, I Say

I had the opportunity to get away with a few friends to a swell little gem of a cabin up north.  

It was exceedingly cozy and possessed all the essential mountain cabin qualities ~ screened in porch, comfortable couches, nostalgic bunk beds, patriotic flags and exquisite dusky forest symphonies.

We took a walk one morning, breathing deeply of the fresh air and enjoying the scenery.

Mountain streams are inviting and sing their own kind of song, 

the kind I like to let wash over my soul.

Maybe we didn't stop talking the whole weekend, but we did stop long enough for me to show some ridiculous excitement about these Jack in the Pulpits.

I was told as a child that they were rare, so I've kept my eye out for them in the woods.

Perhaps they are not so rare these days, but I was thrilled just the same to finally sight them.  Their stately stripes and tubular flowers are the most unique wildflower I've ever seen.

Later, we stopped talking long enough to decide to drive up to a set of beautiful waterfalls.  I'd never seen them before, but have heard the local legend lore.

The chutes were impressive.

We could hardly call it a hike, as we jumped in and out of my friend's capable truck.

I've already told you of the actual hike, my friend and I ventured on the following day.

There were special moments of gazing upon God's handiwork,

drinking in the beauty

and soaking in the splendor of the rocks, the water and the delicious mountain stream air.

I was also childishly thrilled when we saw a random fisherman reel in a native trout.  

Apparently, this place isn't just good for swimming and sightseeing, there's good fishing too!

Our conversations meandered as much as we did.

From curriculum, to concerns, to church, to teenagers, to self care, we talked about it all.

We cherished this gem of a weekend,

hardly able to tear ourselves away when departure times neared.

As mamas, we take our fellowship in co-op homeroom, under pavilions at the park, running into each other on busy errand days, snatching hugs when we see each other unexpectedly,

but this concentrated time of getting away to be refreshed was a jewel for my year.  

Maybe next year we'll be at my cabin, 

but I'm not gonna complain if my friend invites us back to her beaut.  

Just So You Know

When this makes your day:

It's not that I consider four Blossoms to be a lot of kids.  After all, my dad hails from a family of TEN children and my mama comes from a family of SIX.  But, I do like how the girls' friends are over here often, so when the dryer installation guy or the Schwan's man pop in and raise an eyebrow at the population here in the Hollow, I can just grin. 

After all, you've been warned. 

We like kids here.

About Re-Gifting

Have you ever been given a gift that just wasn't quite "you?"

I'm pretty sure it's happened to all of us.  What to do?!?!

I got to thinking about re-gifting the other day.  Is it ok?  Is it classy?  Is it weird? 

Every summer, I gleefully break out this bottle of body lotion.  It's something I never buy for myself and the scent is one that I adore when the days turn hot.  It was re-gifted to me, by my sister who knew it just wasn't her fragrance. 

As it's nearing its end, I realized how much it makes me smile when I'm getting ready in the morning.

Then, there's the blue and gold scarf from a friend.  It feels so sumptuous.  And, the sweet little brown crossbody purse from my sister. 

Re-gifting can bring others joy!  If you have something that you know will bless someone else, go ahead!  If it isn't "you," if you really don't prefer it, pass it on. 

You just might bring a smile to someone else's face. 

Dominique