Author: Christy

Mostly Measurable, Manageable March Goals

Mostly Measurable, Manageable March Goals--Do you set goals? They help you stay focused and get things accomplished. Try it!

How did you do on your February goals?

Personally, I mastered omelettes, celebrated National Pizza Day, and made peach pie, so I consider last month a success!

Time for March.

Remember the ridiculously obvious rules for our mostly measurable, manageable monthly goals:

  1. They should be mostly measurable.
  2. It’s manageable.
  3. It’s a monthly goal.

You have to write your own goals, but here are my mostly measurable manageable monthly goals for March:

Family Habits

  • Breakfast Bible: read Luke aloud.
  • Monthly family manner: eye contact. It’s definitely improving, but I’m taking one more month to practice. What’s the rush?
  • Monthly family home care habit: the entry way. Keeping the entry clean makes the whole house seem clean…for a few seconds.
  • Monthly character trait: practice finding the positives. You can never get too much practice!
  • Prayer: we’re good with bedtime prayers; time to strengthen our meal-time prayer habit.

Family Fun

  • Have one game night focused on the older group.
  • Have one game night focused on the younger group.
  • Celebrate National Lumpia Day on March 16.
  • Bake two pies. We let Emily decide because it’s her birthday month, so for March’s Year of the Pie selections we are having both a chocolate and a vanilla pie, both of which we found in my grandma’s pie cookbook.
  • Have a Filipino feast!  Lumpia, adobo, pancit. We missed this last month.
  • Cut movie night back to once a week and make it a special affair like it used to be.
  • Watch the Passion of the Christ. (affiliate link)
  • Make resurrection cookies.
  • Read the Passion in the Bible.
  • Do Sense of the Resurrection with the kids–it’s like an Advent study, but for Lent. Check it out here.

Homeschooling

  • Write two letters each…including mama!
  • Continue reading aloud The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.
  • Teach omelet skills.
  • Hannah: Continue weekly goal sessions.
  • Marissa: schedule one college exam this month; order books for two tests next month.
  • Start upper level art class with Marissa, Elisabeth, and Emily (and Hannah, if interested).
  • Test the Apologia writing program with Emily (and Elisabeth if interested).
  • Continue Here to Help Teaching’s writing lessons with Elijah (10) and Rebecca (7).
  • Test Times Tales and Talking Fingers with Rebecca.
  • Study birds from Schoolhouse Teacher’s Charlotte Mason preschool with Eliana (4).
  • Continue Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready with Judah (7 months).
  • Find a new history program–maybe Beautiful Feet?

Music Mission

  • Write April 2016 newsletter.
  • Continue 2016 thank you notes.
  • Update subscriber list.

Health

  • Work dog and self up to 30 minute walks by the end of the month. (If that looks strangely familiar, it’s because we only got up to 20 minutes last month. But that’s okay!
  • Continue the two-a-week treat limit in churches.
  • Continue to expand my food options on the total elimination diet.
  • Research and purchase a digestive or pancreatic enzyme.
  • Make two family dessert night treats that Hannah can eat. (No dairy, grains, sugar, processed anything.)
  • Continue food/symptom journal.
  • Schedule a doctor’s appointment. Notice the procrastination from last month–I just can’t conquer this irrational phobia.

Writing

  • Write four non-sponsored, non-review posts here…for you lovely people! This counts as one. Hooray!
  • Write three posts at The Travel Bags.
  • Submit my article assignment for Pregnancy & Newborn magazine.
  • Mock out our June feature for The Old Schoolhouse magazine.
  • Begin research for “Old Mamas” article due in June.
  • Send one pitch. Done! 
  • Edit one chapter in my book.

Personal

What are your goals for March?

Zonderkidz Faith Builders Bible — Perfect Lego Lovers Easter Basket Gift

I received the Faith Builders Bible from Zonderkidz in exchange for a fair review. I don’t think it’s possible for me to give a fair review on anything related to Legos and the Bible, however, because I think they’re both awesome. My son agrees. Still, all opinions are my own…and my son’s.

Do you have or know a child?

Yes. Continue. No. Go make pie.

Does said child like Legos or any other creative building toy?

Yes. Continue. No. Go make pie.

Do you want to find new and fun ways for that child to “own” Scripture?

Yes. Continue. Let’s just assume you’ve all said yes at this point, partly because I’m out of pie links.

You need to take a look at the Zonderkidz Faith Builders Bible. When I say “need,” I mean your life will continue without it, but not quite at the same level of awesomeness.
Faith Builders Bible {Zonderkidz Review}

Meet Elijah.

A Boy and His Mom Review The Faith Builders Bible

He’s 10. You’ve watched him grow up here at The Simple Homemaker and over at The Travel Bags. He is a Lego maniac. He’s also a Bible maniac. We’ve had to limit the number of Bibles and Legos he could have, since we live in such a small space.

This was Elijah’s face when we received the Faith Builders Bible:

Faith Builders Bible -- A Review by a Homeschool Mom and Her Son

This will be your child’s face also if you share this lovely Bible with them, say, in an Easter basket later this month.

What’s to love about the Faith Builders Bible?

You know, honestly, it’s a Bible. There’s nothing new or different about the Scripture itself, which is part of the beauty of Scripture–the truths are timeless, never changing unless we dolts change it ourselves. What the Faith Builders Bible does is add a new way of involving the child with a Bible story or truth on a hands-on, intimate level.

How does it involve the child?

Throughout the Bible are two-sided glossy pages depicting a Bible scene built entirely out of Legos…or Lego knock-offs, but let’s let laziness dictate and call them Legos. They’re super fun to look at, and I find my kids spending long stretches of time investigating one picture. (It’s also rather addicting to study the images closely and find things like Princess Leia’s head and Luke Skywalker’s torso, but I somehow don’t think that was the point of the project.)

Faith Builders Bible {Zonderkidz Review}
Even more fun and beneficial is recreating the Bible scenes. Because we have an extremely limited Lego collection on the road, our constructions end up almost entirely grey (Elijah mostly has Star Wars sets in the trailer), but that’s not the point. The point is this:

By reading the story and spending several minutes to an hour creating scenes from the Bible, the kids are truly integrating the story into their lives. They’re dwelling on it and making it their own.

Hmmm…that sounds familiar.

Psalm 119:15: “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.”

Meditate from the Hebrew hagah means to muse, which is definitely what my children are doing when they spend time carefully replicating the details of the story and telling it with their blocks. It’s a beautiful thing, even in shades of Star Wars gray.

What do the children think?

Straight from the mouth of Elijah:

“I think it’s really cool. but it needs more pictures.”

(See my “cons” below.)

He also said this:

“It would be a lot more awesome if it came with a little pack of Legos and instructions to build one of the stories.”

While I partly agree, further thought made me realize that we have become an instruction-oriented society. When my brothers were small, they created Lego worlds out of the unique and often twisted recesses of their minds, not out of a put-brick-A-on-brick-B instruction guide…and they’re brilliant (totally because of the lack of Lego instruction manuals, I’m sure)!

It has been a wonderful and much-needed stretch for Elijah to not have the proper tools and instruction to replicate these creations, but to have to adapt…because we certainly don’t have any practice adapting. Ahem. Ten people…cough cough…30-foot travel trailer…cough cough…six daughters…cough…one bathroom….

That said, this gives me a fantastic idea for filling an Easter basket: some mini-figures, some pieces that aren’t gray, the Faith Builders Bible, and lots of chocolate. Done.

How can roadschoolers or homeschoolers use this?

Here are some ways we’ve used or scheduled to use the Builder’s Bible in our homeschool/roadschool/life:

  1. Memorize, discuss, and apply I Thessalonians 5:11–Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up.
  2. Study Creation and have your children “create” whatever they want as if they were making the world–no criticism, no rules…except no eating Legos.
  3. Make animals for the ark.
  4. Discuss and build a mansion in heaven based on the verse II Corinthians 5:1.
  5. Tackle any Bible story and recreate it with Legos.
  6. Have the child re-tell the Bible story to an older sibling or parent or teach the Bible story to a youngling.
  7. Read a Bible story, share the related picture, pour out a pile of Legos, and trust your children–the rest will take care of itself.
  8. Memorize the “building block verse” that comes with each picture page; use it for recitations and copywork.
  9. Display a story each week, either those pictured that you recreate or others. Keep it set up in a prominent place to encourage the “musing.”
  10. Memorize the books of the Bible using the fun technique in the beginning of the book.
  11. Memorize the verses and build the creations in the front of The Faith Builders Bible (see the image below). My kids had a blast with that…but I didn’t take pictures–sorry.

Faith Builders Bible {Zonderkidz Review}

What are the added bonuses?

Besides the Lego pages, the Faith Builders Bible has these:

  • a glossary (or, as they call it, a dictionary),
  • an index of “great Bible stories,”
  • a presentation page, and
  • an explanation of the translation…which may only be exciting for geeks like me.

Are there any cons?

There are no cons, per se, but if I were to have made this Bible, I would have changed a few things.

First, I would have offered just a teeny bit more guidance, because, let’s face it, we are an instruction-oriented world. I would have had two or three “how to make this cool thing” pages to show how to make, say, a cross, a manger, and a tomb…or maybe that adorable sheep they have in the front pages.

Second, I would have provided a list of suggested uses in the front of the book, like my list above, but about four pages long. But that’s because I’m bossy. Grin.

Third, I may (or may not) have expanded on the “try this” ideas. Some of the pages encourage the kids to build something specific, but most don’t, which is completely fine. While we are a creative family, sometimes I just want someone to tell me what to tell them to do…and right now I want someone to fix that convoluted sentence and this wishy washy suggestion for me. This isn’t really a con.

Fourth, I always want more of a good thing–more pictures, more scenes, more stories illustrated, more cookies. This isn’t really a con either. Two cons just seemed so half-hearted, you know.

What about the translation?

The Faith Builders Bible is the New International Readers Version translation, which the notes explain went back to the original Greek and Hebrew for accuracy. My kids (and I…silently) were annoyed by what they (and I…silently) perceived as “dumbing down,” but the book specifically states that it is intended for new readers or people new to the English language.

With that in mind, the kids (and I…vocally) gave it two thumbs up as an ideal choice for a first Bible…although they’re still diehard 1984 NIV fans and think all kids should read big words.

Overall…

The whole family gives the Zonderkidz Faith Builders Bible two thumbs way, way up. It is one book that will not be purged from our trailer.

Go buy the Bible and fill some baskets. I’m outta here…I have chocolate on the brain and have to hunt some down before I dive into those Easter bunnies I shouldn’t have snagged early. You know I jest.

By the way, here’s what other folks have to say about the Faith Builders Bible:

Faith Builders Bible {Zonderkidz Review}
Crew Disclaimer

Our Journey With the Total Elimination Diet

I love pie. In fact, I have deemed 2016 the year of the pie, and we are choosing a pie each month to bake; there’s a homemade peach pie waiting for us for breakfast.

I should say that it’s waiting for my family, not for me. I’m not eating pie. And this is why:

One mom's experience on the Total Elimination Diet for her nursing babies.

I’m on the Total Elimination Diet, which heretofore shall be affectionately termed TED. TED and I are old pals. This is my third time hanging with TED at every meal. It isn’t that TED and I are particularly fond of each other. I think TED likes me better than I like TED. Still, we hang out; it’s a relationship of necessity.

Why hang with TED?

Four of my eight children have had digestive issues as nursing babies. With my firstborn, I did not have the support, knowledge, or confidence to know what to do, nor was the internet a resource at the time. With my fourth, seventh, and eighth, however, I had long given up on support and opted to take matters into my own hands. We do have a pediatrician and pediatric allergist on our team with our current baby, but TED is in my hands.

What digestive issues did they have?

It varied–colic, bloody stools, mucous in the diapers, diarrhea, extreme fussiness, abnormal behavioral issues, neon green leprechaun poo–you know, the usual.

What is TED?

TED is a diet that helps pinpoint potential allergens or irritants in the mother’s diet that may be affecting the baby by eliminating almost everything from the diet and gradually adding foods back in one at a time.

Why TED?

Most doctor recommend giving up dairy and soy, but I had given up far more than and not seen much improvement, if any. I didn’t want to wait weeks testing this and that while his little system continued to be inflamed. So I buddied up with TED. (TED’s a bully, just FYI.)

How does TED work?

Step 1. Take everything out of the diet except for the least allergenic foods. Those are (in America) turkey, lamb, summer squash, zucchini, pears, rice, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and salt and pepper. (I could not do lamb, pepper, or white potatoes.) After 2-3 weeks all other foods should be clear of Mama’s system and mostly clear of baby’s system as well. I give everything more time.

Step 2. Add something back in. For me it was carrots. Then I got all googly-eyed over green beans. Adding squash was like a party in my mouth.

Step 3. Wait 3-4 days (I also go long) to see if there is a reaction in baby (or Mom).

Step 4. If there is a reaction, take that food back out and bump it back down the list a ways to try again in the future. If there is no reaction, add it to the food rotation and return to step 2.

Step 5. Record everything. I write down what and when I eat, my baby’s reactions and reaction times, and how I’m feeling. For my baby, I include on a scale of 0-10 his diaper color, mucus levels, blood, smell, rashes, and other info. I also record his skin reactions on his face, his mood, and his spit-up and drool levels. It’s work, but I want to know what keeps that plump little tummy happy and those rotund thighs getting rotunder…if that’s a word.

One mom's experience on the Total Elimination Diet for her nursing babies.

What are the results so far?

I’ve been hanging with TED since my baby was 7 weeks, so five months at this point. While the diapers are still not perfect, I have noticed the following:

  • less frequent bloody diapers–almost none, in fact
  • better consistency of stool
  • fewer facial rashes
  • fewer foul stools (although we’re currently in a bout of them, so I have to check my records and see what the trigger is…although I think I know)
  • less gas
  • less drool
  • less throwing up…although he did throw up on his sister’s head and in her shoes today–again, something is amiss and I think I know what it is
  • far less mucus
  • fewer diarrhea diapers–almost none, actually

I didn’t see an overnight change in behavior like with our seventh baby who was colicky. Baby number 8 never had behavioral issues–he’s just plain happy. What a blessing! But the lack of a sudden change does make it harder to know what’s bothering his round little tummy. If you’re considering TED for colic, you will most likely see much faster results and reactions. 

Also, my joints, which are generally achy, feel much better…even good some days. Now that’s an interesting side effect.

This is a slow, tedious process, but it is the fastest way to lose baby fat I’ve ever experienced! Also, it isn’t completely accurate, but many doctors say it’s the best approach we have. Many other say to put him on formula.

What about supplements?

I am not taking supplements right now, because they caused reactions in my previous baby. I will, however, be taking pancreatic enzymes soon, since they have been known to help break down improperly digested proteins that may be getting into my milk. First I would like to find a doctor willing to test my pancreatic enzyme levels to see if it’s my system that’s on the fritz.

Isn’t TED lonely?

Yes and no. We have a daughter with Crohn’s who is on a healing diet herself, so we’re accustomed to the lonely life…and we’re lonely together. Occasionally we both miss something that everyone else enjoys, like a special treat at a church or local fare on our travels, but it’s for healing, so it’s okay. It’s okay.

In all honesty, we have a very social lifestyle as traveling music missionaries, and that involves a lot of food. We are often invited to events or dinner at someone’s home. Some people are very, very kind and intentionally prepare something we can eat. Most people don’t, which is completely fine, as we can always bring along our own food or stay home. If we do go along, however, and end up staying extra long (like at family visits), we get very hungry if the food we brought runs out. That’s not fun.

And in all honesty, when the rare special someone goes that extra mile for these two smiling faces below, it feels amazing!

Our experience on the Total Elimination Diet

Why not opt for formula?

Gut health is very important in our family. Crohn’s disease is an incurable auto-immune disorder that attacks the intestines, and a balanced gut is important in keeping that in check. It’s got a genetic link (my grandmother had rheumatoid arthritis, which is related to Crohn’s), and is showing up in children more often and at younger ages, especially in our modernized society. I breastfeed my babies as long as I can partly because we love the bonding and partly to give them the best possible chance at strong intestinal health.

Also, if I learn now which foods bother him, I’ll have a better idea which foods to introduce as he starts solids.

Do I judge anyone who chooses the formula route over TED? Absolutely not!  I wonder almost daily if I should go the (expensive hypoallergenic elemental) formula route, if it would be easier to know what was bothering my baby’s tummy, if I’m just being a stubborn ol’ cuss because I’m too lazy to get up at night to make a bottle…which I am, if he’s allergic to me to the extent that I’m doing more harm than good by nursing him. I don’t know. I can’t know.

I’m not saying I’m doing the right thing. I’m saying I don’t know. I do know that I’m doing the best I know how.

I also know that I will once again be going a couple years without cookies and pie while nursing my current little cutie pie…but that’s okay, because cutie pie really is the best kind of pie. Don’t you think so?

The Total Elimination Diet for Nursing Mothers

If you are considering an elimination diet, if your baby is colicky or has mama-heart-wrenching diapers, or if you are just curious, please ask your questions in the comment section below. I will answer them as soon as I see them…which is soon. I am not a doctor…just a mama and a boo-boo kisser, but I’ve been there. Have I ever been there!

UPDATE (6/21/16): Judah is now 10 months old. He still hasn’t grown out of his issues, although he has improved. He is eating some solids, but very few, and only those which I eat. He mostly eats green beans, avocado, and carrots, although he has sampled many more foods than that…some accidentally. Ahem. He will be doing fine for a while, and then backslide. At that point, I backtrack, and he improves. It’s not always easy; it’s rarely fun; it’s always worth it to see his smiling face and clear skin. The allergist says he should grow out of it. We’ll see!

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Teach Your Kids About the Election Process {Homeschool Review}

Just so you know: I was given a free download of HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections by the amazing Home School in the Woods to review. All opinions are my own–okay, that’s a lie. Some of the opinions are actually my kids’, but rest assured that they’re not easily influenced…except by chocolate. 

U.S. Elections History Lap-Pak Review
Anyone who knows my roadschooling/life approach knows I am totally into simple. Simple to me involves no printing, photocopying, or gathering of supplies. It means not following directions for numerous little projects. It means not having activities to store for later use and assembly. After all, the ten of us (twelve if you count the furbies) occupy 240 square feet of living space (360 if you count our van)!

That right there is why I do not do lapbooks. Still, when we were given the chance to study the election process by reviewing HISTORY Through the Ages Hands-on History Lap-Pak: U.S. Elections from Home School in the Woods, I bit. After all, two of our girls are voting in their first election this year, and our younger children are asking a lot of questions. I wanted to do the election study with my first, fourth, seventh, and ninth graders and my preschool tag-along in place of our regular U.S, history and government studies, even though it meant suffering through what I was certain would be a home-cluttering, time-sucking lapbook process.

Grimace.

Hold that thought.

Before I get into the lapbooking process and projects, I want to talk about the information that comes with the elections lapbook, because, ultimately, it’s about the learning experience. Right? Right. The “text” is fantastic! The information is succinct, interesting, and informative. It’s well-written and respectful, accessible, but not dumbed down. It is also not politically biased…although I am, so don’t expect that same courtesy here. Wink.

After overhearing a few of our classes, my 17-year-old college freshman said, “Hey, I’m picking up a few things I didn’t know!” Ditto here!

My lapbook was available through digital download, but you can also get the disc. The text can then be printed on regular paper and popped in a binder or printed according to easy-to-follow-even-if-you-were-up-all-night-with-a-baby directions and formed into little booklets. We made the booklets by copying the pages on different colors (because everyone has a favorite) and sewing the binding together with darning needles and embroidery floss…even the four-year-old. We popped holes in the book for her to sew through, and she did the rest on her own with a little tying help from a big sister.

I was pleasantly pleased with the depth of the election study, and I highly recommend it for your grade-schoolers. You get that, right? But the question for our lifestyle (roadschoolers, space-challenged, budget-conscious, clutter-phobic) is the feasibility of lapbooking.

I was right–lapbooking involves printing, copying, many papers, projects in progress, storing papers, organizing papers, gluing, taping, cutting. Grimace. I hate printing! I hate papers!

And my kids?

They…they…well…

They loved it! They loved all the projects. They loved participating in the short, but informative lessons and being set loose on the reinforcing projects. They loved all of it!

And they learned! They learned a lot, and they did their work without being told. I loved that. And, to be honest, I didn’t really mind the papers. The directions were comprehensible; the activities were fun; the papers didn’t haunt my dreams in the night. I know–humble pie. I truly enjoyed our elections lapbook project with my side of pie.

Here is how we handled the lapbooks in our limited space:

    • I bit the bullet and jumped in with both feet–wow, double cliche! All papers were printed at once, copied in quadruplicate, separated by lesson, and marked with post-it notes so I could grab the pages I needed for the lesson quickly and easily. I kept them all together with a binding clip in my school briefcase. (It’s not really a briefcase, but that sounds nice and official, doesn’t it?)
    • With each lesson the projects (sometimes multiple, since we discussed lessons without their corresponding projects on driving days and tackled the projects on stationary days) were passed out and put in that child’s paper binding clip. The kids kept those inside their binders, schoolbags, or organizer boxes, depending on their preferences.
    • Completed projects were kept in a gallon-size Ziploc bag…technically a Great Value bag, but who wants to get technical?
    • Because we don’t have all the supplies most families do, and can’t really buy them due to budget and storage constraints, we didn’t do the projects exactly as described, but, to quote every other homeschooler on the planet who has, at times, not followed directions, “Isn’t that the beauty of homeschooling?”
    • Projects were attached to three-hole-punched card stock and kept in the kids’ binders. Why such a “normal” approach? Because we have very little shelf space, and it is “rummaged” every day. To keep the lapbook pages nice and accessible, they need to be protected. Therefore, binders.

By the way, this is what a completed lapbook is supposed to look like…had we followed the directions:

U.S. Elections History Lap-Pak Review
Am I a convert to lapbooks? Yes and no. I will not be using them on a consistent basis, because the kids do need to spread out to do their projects, and there is too much paper involved and space required for our travel trailer livin’. (This would probably be more feasible for a more organized mama or someone in a house that doesn’t move.) On the other hand, I am definitely going to start including them more often, especially the well written lapbooks from Home School in the Woods.

U.S. Elections History Lap-Pak Review

Why?

  1. The kids really learned!
  2. They love doing the projects.
  3. I love that they can do projects relatively independently and reinforce what they learned in the lesson in a fun manner.
  4. I love the creativity exhibited.
  5. While there was a considerable amount of initial prep, there wasn’t a huge amount of work on a daily basis.
  6. It’s a great shift in the dynamic of the week. We rushed the study for the review purposes, but if we were to have spread this out over a few months, it would have been a perfect speed, and would have offered something different and fun to do each week, especially leading up to the November elections. It really wasn’t overwhelming the way we did it, but it would have been perfect slowed down a bit.

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I highly recommend the elections lapbook from Home School in the Woods for your grade schoolers. If paper-phobic me can do it…you’re good.

(By the way, while I included my ninth grader, she mostly participated in the discussions, and only assisted in the lapbook projects when our preschool tag-along wanted her help. She also is doing a follow-up study of Uncle Eric’s book Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused?)

For ideas from more traditional homeschoolers, check out what these other Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewers have to say:

U.S. Elections History Lap-Pak Review

Do you do lapbooks? How do you handle them?

Crew Disclaimer

Mostly Measurable, Manageable February Goals

Join The Simple Homemaker in setting mostly measurable, manageable goals for February.

How did you do on your January goals?

If you did great, great! If you overdid your goals, cut back for February. Remember, make it manageable.

Remember the ridiculously obvious rules for our mostly measurable, manageable monthly goals:

  1. They should be mostly measurable.
  2. It’s manageable.
  3. It’s a monthly goal.

My list is shorter this month than last, because–confession time–I overdid it last month. And because my baby is at mobile stage which makes life trickier…and so crazy fun!

Here are my mostly measurable manageable monthly goals for February:

Family Habits

  • Breakfast Bible: finish reading Mark aloud.
  • Monthly family manner: eye contact. We’re still working on this one.
  • Monthly family home care habit: keeping the van clean. Because we live on the road, we have a road trip every couple of days. If we don’t clean it every single time, it gets out of control.
  • Monthly character trait: practice finding the positives. This was something we started last year, but it’s going to continue.
  • Prayer: continue strengthening the family prayer habit.

Family Fun

  • Have one game night focused on the older group.
  • Have one game night focused on the younger group.
  • Celebrate National Pizza Day on February 9.
  • Bake a peach pie. It’s the Year of the Pie.
  • Have a Filipino feast!  Lumpia, adobo, pancit–I’m drooling!
  • Reinstate movie night elections or rotation.

Homeschooling

  • Write two letters each…including mama!
  • Continue reading aloud The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.
  • Teach omelet skills.
  • Hannah: Continue monthly goal sessions; edit her completed articles. (She writes faster than I edit these days, so I’m behind.) Also continue query class.
  • Marissa: Find a testing center in Sacramento for two college tests.
  • Order books for test prep for Marissa’s upcoming management classes.
  • Complete the Homeschool in the Woods elections study with middle five.
  • Launch Henty’s Dragon and the Raven study with everybody! So fun!
  • Start Here to Help Teaching’s writing lessons with Elijah (10) and Rebecca (7).
  • Continue Schoolhouse Teacher’s Charlotte Mason preschool with Eliana (4).
  • Continue Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready with Judah (6 months).

Music Mission

  • Write March 2016 newsletter.
  • Continue 2016 thank you notes.
  • Update subscriber list.

Health

  • Work dog and self up to 30 minute walks by the end of the month.
  • Continue the two-a-week treat limit in churches
  • Add seven foods back into my diet. I’m on a total elimination diet for my nursing baby, and I’m currently up to ten foods I can eat.
  • Find a supplement that works for my baby–just do it!
  • Make two family dessert night treats that Hannah can eat. (No dairy, grains, sugar, processed anything.)
  • Continue food/symptom journal.
  • Schedule a doctor’s appointment–a major phobia of mine.

Writing

  • Write four non-sponsored, non-review posts here…for you lovely people! This counts as one. Hooray!
  • Write three posts at The Travel Bags.
  • Draft my article assignment for Pregnancy & Newborn magazine.
  • Write a post for Homeschooling with Heart blog.
  • Send one pitch. Done!
  • Edit one chapter in my book.

Personal

What are your goals for February?

43 Relatively Useless Facts About Me and How They Apply to You

43 facts

Today I turn 43. Because I’m not really a cake fan and can’t fit 43 candles on a slice of pie without seriously messing that baby up, I’ve come up with a birthday alternative.

Many people ask about the blogger behind the blog. While I don’t generally like to talk about myself too much (I mostly do it to fill air space), I thought today I would let you all get to know me and mine a little bit better.

Since reading 43 relatively useless facts about me could get rather boring around number 12, and because my 43 years of highs and lows could prove a learning experience to some of you younglings, I’m listing 43 things that you can apply to life in general. This could either be really fun, or really twisted and lame. Either way, let’s launch this bad boy.

43 Things About Me and 43 Life Applications for You

  1. I eat the crusts on my sandwich first, because I never liked the dry wheaty crusts as a kid. Life app: save the best for last…or follow Mark Twain’s advice and eat the “frog” first so everything else tastes good in comparison.
  2. I sometimes eat my favorite things first, because if I save the best for last, it will be cold and not as good, or I might not have room for it, or I might choke on the “frog” and die before I can get to my favorite thing. Life app: be flexible about your life apps.
  3. When I was younger, as in 40, I saw two sleds near some carpeted stairs which ended at a doorway, and I figured that one of my kids would think indoor sledding was a brilliant idea, so I tested the indoor stair sledding idea to see how brilliant it really was. Yee haa! Bad idea. Ironically, when my kids heard me scream and found me at the bottom of the stairs, they said, “Did you really think that was a good idea?” Life app: not everything that looks like a good idea really is, although…that idea could have been brilliant if I had opened the door. That one needs a do over!
  4. I am a recovering hypochondriac. Life app: don’t waste your life worrying about losing your life, because if that’s how you’re living, your life is already lost.
  5. I have bad gums. Life app: floss.
  6. I used to want to be one of 12 children. I even tried to get a group of kids at church to pretend we were the Gilbreth family from the book Cheaper by the Dozen, but they said, “That’s weird.” So I went out and made my own Cheaper by the…Eight. Life app: be who you want to be within God’s guidelines, even if it’s weird. Keep that life app within reason. For example, resist your kleptomaniac tendencies.
  7. I am painfully shy, but I have worked hard since around 16 to not act on it. It is still a daily challenge for me, but I conquer it by thinking of the other person instead of my own discomfort. Life app: shyness is one of the highest forms of selfishness, so stop looking inward and think of others’ needs instead of your own fears. (That life app was from my Grandma. Thanks, Grandma!)
  8. I am a lot like my grandma. Life app: look at the people who come before you and learn from their experiences. It’ll save you time. Also, don’t forget to thank them.
  9. I work hard at not being hurt by the absence of a father in my life, cuz even at 43, a girl needs a daddy. Life app: if you have a dad, however imperfect, appreciate him! If you are a dad, connect with your kids no matter how old they are. And if you don’t have a dad in your life, forgive.
  10. I am paralyzed by clutter and busyness. It affects my mood, my productivity, my very existence. If it is in my control to get rid of clutter and keep a simple schedule, I do it, as evidenced by the trail of donations we leave around the country. If it isn’t, I live in a state of perpetual frustration, inefficiency, and self-beratement. Life app: simplify and declutter!
  11. My non-grammar-related pet peeve is people who ignore other people and instead stare at their cell phones. Life app: make eye contact.
  12. I don’t think people who try to act cool are cool, and neither do my daughters. Life app: be yourself…especially if you’re trying to impress my girls.
  13. I love popcorn, and so do my kids. We didn’t eat it for two years, however, because our oldest daughter can’t have it. Life app: put people first…even ahead of food. I almost can’t believe I said that.
  14. I have low blood sugar and need to eat often or I get strangely sick and cranky…heavy on the cranky. Life app: know your body, manage your conditions so they don’t manage you, and don’t use them as an excuse to be rude to the people around you. Also, if you see me at a potluck, let me go first. Ha ha…except I’m not joking.
  15. I started being afraid of growing old at around age eight. Life app: embrace life every step of the way.
  16. I always wanted to live on a horse farm, but I left the family farm, went to college, joined the choir, met my husband, and now I’m the wife of a traveling musician. That’s totally awesome, even though it’s not what I thought I wanted. Life app: be open to new awesomenesses…like that word I just made up. Here’s another life app: if you have a dream, pursue it–don’t just wait for it.
  17. I’m totally a homebody, but we live on the road full-time. Life app: be adaptable.
  18. I used to have my whole family on a strict diet for intestinal health, since one of my daughters has Crohn’s Disease. My plan was to eat whatever I wanted when I hit 90. Then my grandmother said, “I love eating, which is such a blessing at 86. My mother lost interest in food, but I still enjoy it.” Life app: why wait? Be happy now. (Of course, we still have to manage the dietary issues, so don’t think “happy” means whatever we want it to mean.)
  19. I like cherry soup. People tell me I’m weird. Life app: if you make something that you love and that everyone else thinks is weird (like my famous fried peanut butter and jelly eggs), that only means there’s more for you, so embrace your weirdness.
  20. I don’t drink coffee, because caffeine makes me talk really, really fast and think even faster, but in an oddly unproductive manner. It’s scary. Life app: don’t caffeinate me.
  21. When I was a kid I totally wanted a Whatchamacallit candy bar. One day someone gave me one. I was so excited that I saved it for months waiting for just the right moment to eat it. My dog’s right moment occurred before mine, and he ate it. I’ve never tasted a Whatchamacallit. Life app: enjoy the Whatchamacallits of life today and stop saving them for just the right moment.
  22. I always wanted an electric racetrack like my brothers had. One Christmas my husband got me one, but I was so tired from staying up too late wrapping Christmas presents that I fell asleep on the couch after the gift opening. My husband set up the track, played with it, left it there, and someone stepped on it and broke it. I kept it for several years, thinking I would repair it (stop laughing, brothers and husband), until a wiser me tossed it. Two life apps here: read my book about not driving yourself into a sleep-deprived stupor at Christmas (or any time), and don’t hold onto grudges and broken race tracks. Also, don’t play with other people’s Christmas presents.
  23. I wake up in the middle of the night panicking about my parenting. That only serves to rob me of my sleep and make me a tired, panicked, less useful mother. Life app: do the best you can, turn it over to God, and get a good night’s sleep. Your children will someday be imperfect parents themselves, and either they will understand you better, or they will think they’re far superior to you as parents, in which case you can quietly laugh at them, knowing how little they really know.
  24. Someone in college made me very self-conscious about my crooked teeth, which made me stop smiling, which made me less attractive. Life app taken straight from the 1982 film Little Orphan Annie: “You’re never fully dressed without a smile.” Just smile. Who cares about the crooked teeth!
  25. My then six-year-old son sold his cowboy hat at a garage sale for $2 because “It doesn’t fit, Mama, so I don’t want it anymore. It’s just gonna sit around and take up space.” I used to waste time wishing I had his hat back and replaying the garage sale in my mind. Also, I’m a recovering pack rat. Life app: listen to the wise boy who is doing what you taught him to do–get rid of clutter. Also, get the boy a hat that fits for his birthday.
  26. I used to ride my horse standing up when nobody was looking. Life app: don’t be stupid when nobody’s looking. Always have someone around when you’re being stupid, so they can 1) run and get help when you fall off, 2) tell you how stupid you are…in case you didn’t already know, and 3) take pictures.
  27. When my seventh baby was colicky, I gave up milk, eggs, wheat, and a whole host of other foods. The pediatrician said I should just put her on formula, because nobody would stick to that diet. I stuck to it for almost two years, and I’m currently on a total elimination diet for my eighth child. I tried to do this for myself in the past, but I never could. Doing it for them, however, I am driven. Life app: Find your motivation; it helps if your motivation is cute and smells milky sweet.
  28. When I was in kindergarten, I stood up while the schoolbus was in motion, lost my balance, fell down the front stairs and hit the door. The driver said, “That wouldn’t have happened if you had stayed seated while the bus was moving,” and I said, “That wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t driving too fast.” Life apps–there are three of them: 1) be accountable for your own actions, 2) don’t stand up while the bus is moving, and 3) perhaps most importantly for the preservation of life, don’t be smarmy to a beefy man named Wild Bill who has to put up with 60 disrespectful kids every day–yeah, that’s a good one.
  29. Some people start off really cute, then hit a geeky phase, and finally emerge from it graceful and well-composed. I seem to be stuck in the geeky time warp. Life app: embrace your inner geek…and your glasses and your frizzy hair and your high waters…or get contacts and hair cream and longer pants, but that’s kinda boring and expensive.
  30. I have a severe doctor/dentist phobia. Life app: if you know somebody with a doctor/dentist phobia, go with them. If it’s a spouse, schedule the appointments for them.
  31. I pick my battles. For example, sometimes during my my husband’s concerts, our daughter sings in bare feet and a tiara, because it makes her happy and that’s not the hill I want to die on. Life apps: pick your battles and swap the shoes for a tiara if it makes you smile.
  32. I battle negativity. I have several people in my life who also tend toward the negative, while I have found others who are positive, loving, and encouraging. The difference in how my family feels when we spend time with the negative, critical people versus the loving, encouraging people is unfathomable! Life app: be encouraging…but not an empty flatterer. 
  33. When we go someplace where there are huge crowds, we all wear matching hats so we can easily keep track of each other. Life app: if you go someplace where there are huge crowds, wear matching hats so you can easily keep track of each other.
  34. I don’t like labels. Even though I would technically be considered a baby-wearing, eclectic homeschooling, attachment parenting, extended nursing, semi-real foodie, full-time RVing conservative evangelical Christian missionary blogger and freelance writer, if I saw that label on someone, I would freak out and run away. Freak out! I’m just a person who does that stuff to a manageable degree because it works for my life. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love to eat a hot dog with you or that I wouldn’t hang out with you because you use a stroller and I have children hanging off all my limbs. Life app: don’t label people or yourself. It’s scary.
  35. I don’t use God-speak. I’m a Christian through-and-through, but when I hear God-speak, it scares me away. I can’t imagine what a non-Christian would feel like if I God-speaked ’em. Life app: be yourself. You’re far more likely to win people for Christ if they can see that we Christians are real people, too…and that we speak English.
  36. Sometimes I say lame or embarrassing things, and then I lie awake at night replaying the whole affair in my mind. Life app: don’t say lame or embarrassing things. Realistic life app: don’t sweat it. Everyone is lame and embarrassing sometimes. That’s merely a symptom of the incurable condition called “life,” and when you consider the alternative, which is not-life, life’s not all that bad.
  37. I have trouble following through on projects. For example, right about now I’m considering pretending I’m only 37, just so I don’t have to think of six more things to say about myself. Life app: don’t bite off more than you can chew. Learn your limitations and heed them.
  38. When I was a teen, it was like social death for your underwear band or your bra strap to show. Sometimes I start to approach young ladies to let them know that they forgot their shirt, just in case they didn’t know, or to offer to buy young men a belt to avoid that embarrassing pants-below-the-butt look in the future, but my children tell me I will be shot. Life app: sometimes our children know more than we do, so don’t be too proud to learn from them.
  39. Almost every time I pre-judge people, I eat crow. Life app: don’t pre-judge people…or else develop a liking for crow.
  40. I sometimes think my husband should have married someone who could sing better than I can, so he’d have a built-in background vocalist and duetist…rather than someone who makes up words like duetist, but get this–he’s happy with me despite my vocal nuances. Life app: don’t stress over what you’re not. Be what you are and be the best word-maker-upper you that you can be…unless you’re an idiot, in which case, you should read Proverbs.
  41. People at our concerts call me amazing because of our lifestyle. I’m not amazing. I’m an ordinary person serving an extraordinary God in out-of-the-ordinary ways, but that is all. Without Him, I’m nothing. Life app: be something–serve God.
  42. I’ve lost friends for sticking up for unborn children. Life app: do the right thing no matter what.
  43. I like chocolate, but it gives me…ahem…gas. So…sniff sniff…I don’t eat it. Life app: make sacrifices for the comfort of your family…but keep a chocolate stash in your undie drawer for when you’re home alone. (Those were tear sniffs, not whiff sniffs.)

There you go–43 useless facts about me, and 43 potentially useless life apps for you. It’s not as good as pie, but it’ll do.

 

Connecting Children to Their Heritage…With Pie

Connecting Kids to Their Heritage with Pie -- more important (and flavorful) than you think

It’s my grandfather’s birthday. He would have been 91 today if he weren’t already in the arms of Jesus. So today we had two lemon meringue pies for breakfast.

I can see you’re not following me. Let me jump back a few decades.

Grandpa’s birthday is January 29; mine is February 1. I grew up on Grandpa’s farm. He was the father I always wanted, and of all the people on God’s green earth, he is one of those I love best. Every year at the weekend that fell closest to January 29 and February 1, my mom would bake a two-layer poppy seed cake with custard in the middle and seven-minute frosting for me, and a lemon meringue pie for Grandpa. Grandpa’s sister and her husband (my godparents) would come either to his house or ours, and we would all eat Mom’s classic meal of delicious lasagna, amazing potato rolls, and Grandpa’s favorite fruit salad. We’d sing and open presents and have pie and cake with the frosting scraped off (of mine) and wash it all down with tall glasses of cold Wisconsin milk.

That was one of my (many) favorite times, sitting with my grandpa, smiling for Grandma’s polaroid, eating Mom’s lasagna, and watching Grandpa enjoy his pie.

Every year I share those memories with my children. They know it by heart, but they (at least act like they) love to hear it again.

And every year we try to have lemon meringue pie on January 29 and share stories about everyone’s memories of Grandpa, or Big Bubba as my children called him…although he was a slim 6’0″ and not really the Bubba type. That unusual nickname, too, is a story we share.

This annual pie baking connects my children to their heritage. Who cares? I do, and you should. Here’s why:

  1. It’s pie.
  2. It’s Grandpa. I love him. He is vitally important to who I am as a person. Doesn’t it make sense that I should share that with my children, if only to help them understand me a bit better?
  3. It’s Great Grandpa–they knew him and want to remember him and share their joy and sadness and their own special, personal memories of him and their unique bonds.
  4. Connecting to the generations that have gone before helps children see that life did not begin when they did. They are not the axis of the world and the center of the universe. There is much that went before them and much that will come after them.
  5. Regardless of how small you are in the big picture, each person is a special, unique, valuable human being. Look how valuable Grandpa is to us, how seemingly insignificant things–like a timely scolding, a wink and a poke in the stomach, a “come on, Kid; let’s go,” or a side of peanuts and saltines with my ice cream–mattered to the generations that followed.
  6. It gives them an anchor and a sense of belonging to something big–family, and lots of it depending how far back you can take your pie heritage.
  7. It’s a history lesson. When was Grandpa born? When were his parents born? What was their life like?
  8. It puts Justin Bieber and thigh gaps into perspective. Who cares about a teen idol when you talk about my great grandma delivering her firstborn in a log farmhouse at the start of the Great Depression, and about grandpa coming of age on a farm during World War II and raising teens during the 1960s. Life was different once and it will be different in the future, and Bieber’s hair will not even make the who-cares radar.
  9. It shows how faith carries a man through all aspects of life…from birth on earth to “birth” into the next life in heaven. 
  10. It’s a time to remember and to mourn together and to rejoice together.
  11. Did I mention the pie?

Not all my relatives are remembered with pie. Aunt Betty gets mini cheesecakes, my grandma gets her mom’s molasses cake, and my other grandpa gets chicken booyah, because he was the state booyah king. But still, the date goes on the official family calendar for what it is: Big Bubba’s Lemon Meringue Pie Day. It is anticipated and enjoyed, and the memories and lessons of an amazing life are cemented a little further.

Plus, who doesn’t want an excuse for homemade pie?

If you want to launch Family Pie Heritage celebrations, it’s simple. Put the dates on the calendar and make it happen. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Just add dessert to dinner or switch up the menu that night, or watch that person’s favorite movie that week–and share memories. Simple, but memorable.

I miss you Grandpa. We all do.