This is a post by my friend from LA, Belle.  Not her real name, although she can sing just like Belle in Beauty and the Beast.  And she is cute like her too..and she is French (ish). In fact, all of us French girls look like Belle...

Anyhoo, this isn't the first time she has come out against a book/movie that is all the rage.. I agreed with her about Twilight and I agree with her now!

Thanks D

R

Strawberries!

So Yesterday the Dr picked up a flat of strawberries from a local farm.  I wanted to pick my own, but I had too much to do.  Mom and Dad are coming in this weekend, and I need to get the house in order.  Anyway, I made a batch of strawberry jam today.  I never made this before, and to be totally honest, canning is very new to me.  But it is the one thing that I wanted to learn to do.  And was my goal for this farm.  Grow and put away what we have grown.

So far the jam looks good.. the bit I had leftover that wouldn't fit in jars was quite tasty.  The sad thing is, I made one batch ( 8 1/2 pints) and I still have about 3/4 of the berries left...  Any ideas on what I can do with the rest.  I am sure most of them will end up on shortcake..yum!

I have another question for all you canners.  Has anyone tried the Tattler lids?  They are a bit pricy, but reusable and look interesting.

Well, back to washing and hulling strawberries.....

Snow Day

The one little bit of snow that we have had so far was quite pathetic and it happened on a Sunday... but I did wake the kids up to let them know that it was snowing, and then we bundled up and headed out to play... Except for the almost 14 year old, who rolled over looked out the window and went back to sleep..... Z and L asked if I could pack a "brunch" for them so that they could go outside and play. While they were feeding the animals and freeing the chickens from their coop, I packed them a snack. They headed off to eat in their "fort" in the woods.

My kids argue and fight like the best of them, but then they do something that blesses my socks off. I told Z and L that I wanted to take a picture of them walking down the hill and Z reaches over, puts his arm around L's shoulders and they start walking. What a blessing to see him love his little sister that way.

Many times, I can let the isolation that I sometimes feel get the best of me. But then God blesses me with a few days of great conversation with good friends and I feel refreshed.

Here are a few more pics of the snow... Not much, but coming from a Louisiana girl.. this was quite the "snow storm"

Words

Words….


I woke up this morning with that word on my mind.
How many times have I used my words to hurt and wound? I guess I don’t think about it much until it involves me. Isn’t that true about us as humans? Very rarely do we think about how something will affect another person, until we are affected. This is something that I strive for, to be more like Christ and to pick my words carefully. I know that words impact me more than they do some people. It is my primary love language. All
a person has to do is say one word, and it can make or break my day.

Words…..(they) have the power of life and death

Yesterday was one of those days. … I spent most of the day doing one of my favorite activities, looking at and buying books. I love books. They have words in them… I found
several that I thought would be good for the kids’ school and for my family…… and a few for myself. Then the devil used someone to hurt. What she said was said in jest, but it was the word that I feared would be used against me. The word I hate.. “quitter” I hate that word…… Why? Because, honestly, I feel like a quitter…. I “quit” homeschooling, I can’t even diet
long enough to see significant results. So, you see this word hit me hard. I laughed
it off but felt defeated.

But God has my back.

Another friend, unknowing what had just happened, walked up to me, gave me a hug (my secondary love language) and told me how much she loved me. A few other things were said that healed the wound. God is faithful. He knew what I needed.

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. I love how
Jesus is the Word of God…. He knew what I needed…

He knows what you need.

R