This Christmas....

I am writing this post from my bed...because I have come down with the flu.  A couple of days ago, I started feeling a funny feeling in my throat, and started feeling quite tired.  I was hoping it was just due to exhaustion from all the preparing I had been doing for Christmas, and because I had been tending to sick children all weekend and following, and because of other current matters.  But during the night, the feeling in my throat turned to excruciating pain that kept waking me up, along with the feeling of fever and body aches.  I had come down with the flu.

I spent the whole next day in bed, not feeling like myself, but treating myself with remedies that I thankfully learned over the past few years.  My husband braved sitting next to me, much of the time, keeping me company.  I got one little card from Understanding Heart, and a sweet little note from Trusting, that said, "Dear Mommy I Love you, I hope you feel 100% better."--along with a drawing of him and his mommy.  It is so sweet when your little children remember you even when you are shut up in your room away from them all day.

A yak we saw on one of our recent family walks

I am still in bed today, but feeling so much better.  It is such a beautiful, sunny day and quite warm, and I can hear many birds chirping, and the cows mooing outside.  The children have enjoyed some outside playtime with Daddy today.  Quite a change from all the recent rain we've been having, with mostly dull, gray skies.  The children and Daddy have now gone on a walk to the organic farm, and I wish I could have gone with them.  But the Lord has me here.  How I am reminded in these quieter moments the Lord gives me that I must remember to pray, for there is so much to pray about.  And while I may forget, my Saviour never leaves me and is always with me, ready and waiting to hear from me.

While I am feeling a bit better, I am almost tempted to get up and go do some laundry, for I enjoy doing laundry, and it really needs to be done. But in this big, old house, that would require a lot of walking.  Apparently, no one has reminded Golden that she should help out by doing some laundry, though she has been helping in other ways such as getting meals for the family.

I am staying in bed, except for a few little trips up and down in my room.  I've been going through a few drawers of paperwork and cleaning things out, little by little.  It is amazing how much paper piles up these days and takes up so much of our space and time.  I would be happy to be rid of it all.  I am getting rid of whatever I can, but keeping those keepsakes from the children and necessary items.

My husband has gotten me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.  There are dark pink roses, lilies, and some other strange but beautiful flowers I am not familiar with.  They are brightening up the room and providing the sweetest scent to cheer me.

I hope you all are doing well and have had a merry Christmas.

It Has Been a While

It has been a while since I've posted.  I need to reply to some dear comments that were left.  There have been so many "goings-on" for the past several months.  I want to take more time to record little snippets of home-life, so I do not forget the wonderful things that go on day-by-day.  I've given little nicknames to some of our children in this post.

The other day, Excellent Virtue, Trusting, Understanding Heart, and Full of Grace were having a tea party with the little puppies with the tea set that Daddy bought them a couple of years ago.  It was truly adorable, and Faithful Understanding took some pictures of them.

I have been so very busy wrapping present after present this year for Christmas.  Last year, my husband did most of the Christmas shopping since I wasn't really able to.  But this year, I asked him for a budget for the children so I could buy them things, and he generously obliged.  I spent many hours looking for good deals to buy things for the children (and for him).  I did this online so I would be able to be at home and not spend many hours driving around to different stores which I am not familiar with. The presents have been coming in the mail, and it almost seems like too much, but I guess perhaps nice to bless them with some things they haven't been able to have for some time now.  I was sure to find and buy them some edifying Christian books, as I loathe just buying "play things" that have no value for eternity.  Filled with Grace and Faithful Understanding have not only been looking for Christmas presents for their "secret" family members in our gift exchange, but they have been busily making and buying presents for everyone in our family, with their own money they received over the year.  They do not have a lot of money, but they have chosen to use it to bless others.  What wonderful children!  I am so blessed to see what the Lord is doing in their lives.

We had quite a bit of company around Thanksgiving time, and also went visiting at some other people's houses.  I felt quite worn out afterwards, as I usually do, but I think the Lord is growing me in the area of hospitality, which I know I need to do.

I have ordered some math visuals and manipulatives for some of our children.  I had thought we could get by without them and only rely on our textbooks, but it seems we need more than that for some areas.  I always look forward to getting new school materials, so I am excited for the new things to come.

We have watched the beautiful autumn leaves come and go, and now the wet, rainy, windy weather visits us more frequently.  We have had to bring out more blankets and have more fires, but each season is a blessing from God.

We are so very blessed by our dear Lord & Saviour, & I hope you may feel so too.

Longing for Home

Do you ever find yourself longing for home?  Your Heavenly Home?  Sometimes I do....I hope that is okay.

Sometimes life is so trying and taxing, full of discouragements.  Things do not turn out the way we had hoped for or imagined.

But what keeps me going is knowing I have work to do.  I have children to take care of, and a home to make for them--as beautiful and Heaven-like as possible, by God's grace.

I don't always have money in the budget to get things for our home, and I cannot drive right now to go to the shops.  It has been a long time since we have been to thrift stores or car boot sales--I have found a couple of lovely paintings at car boot sales.  But this week I have managed to have just enough money to order a picture frame to frame a couple of our wedding photos.  I also finally found a natural candle company here that does not charge an extravagant amount of money for scented soy candles.  So I have ordered a couple of fall-themed candles to lift our spirits just a little bit.

I have been so busy with other things lately, that the home has just been on maintenance-mode, with the children doing most of the housework.  There is more I would like to get done around the house, so my family has a beautiful and clutter-free home to live in and enjoy. 

A trip to a reservoir.  Imagine how lovely Heaven will be, where the light comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beautiful Baby Chicks

 
Last month, one of our laying hens went broody.  Our daughters that take care of the chickens noticed her new behavior and had read up on it.  I asked my husband, and he said we could get some fertilized eggs for her!  So I went on an online search and ordered two eggs (it had to be more than one because chicks love to grow up together).

There was a delay in getting our order of eggs, however, so we were not sure if our chicken would stay broody long enough, or even if our eggs would hatch.  We waited a long 3 weeks, and surprisingly, our hen stayed broody and faithfully sat on her eggs.

I was so shocked that May evening when one of the children came to tell me that one of the chicks had hatched!  The second chick was hatched when we checked on them in the morning.  Two beautiful chicks!

They are doing well and have grown so much.  We think they are both hens, but one is not the breed we ordered, but that's okay.  We are excited to see what they'll look like when they're full grown.

Tiny Voice of Reason

At lunchtime today, somehow we came upon the topic of how someone melted part of the power cord to one of our slow cookers.  I had noticed it in the morning, however, I needed to cook our meal for dinner in the slow cooker and just put everything in and turned it on as usual, trying to get started on the rest of my day.

One of my girls, upon hearing about the cord, was concerned and reminded me there was danger since the wires were exposed.  She also reminded me of how I could cook our meal in the soup pot instead...(smiles).  I was a bit frustrated, as the person who accidentally melted the cord never told me about it so we could fix it.

But I went to put the evening's dinner, already steaming, into our large soup pot.  Soon, my littlest girl was standing right between me and the counter, squished in the little concave between my legs and the cabinets...

"It's alright, Mommy.  We can just pray," she reminded me, as she hugged my legs.

It was such a simple thing, but it made me stop and think about my feelings of frustration.

"Of course we can always pray, can't we?"  I smiled at my dear little girl who spoke wisdom to me in that moment.

I'm sorry I haven't replied to all of your recent comments.  Things here have been more busy than usual, but I will try to reply soon.

A Land Which the LORD Thy God Careth For

I was reading in my quiet time today and was comforted by these verses.  He was speaking them to the Israelites many years ago, but the description fits so well of where He has brought us.

"but the land, whither ye go to posess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh the water of the rain of heaven:  a land which the LORD thy God careth for:  the eyes of the LORD they God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
~Deuteronomy 11: 11-12

There is so much beauty here...I can only imagine what Heaven will be like. But how blessed I am to be able to bring up our children in such a beautiful place, "a land of hills and valleys...and drinketh water of the rain of heaven..."

A Birthday in Bed

I recently had a birthday but didn't get to spend it as I'd have liked.  I woke up with an awful headache that worsened whenever I got up or walked around.  So, in bed I stayed, all day.  I tried to sleep off the headache, but it just wouldn't leave.  My dear husband even got off early to spend time with me, but in bed I had to stay.  I spent much of the day praying and acknowledging to the Lord what a blessing it is to be around my family when I can, and reflecting on His goodness to us.

Since I was not feeling well, my husband ordered pizza for us (something I was craving anyways).  The family ate down in the kitchen while I was brought dinner in bed on a pretty tray.  In a little while, Husband came in to ask me if it would be all right for the children to bring up their gifts for me, as they really wanted me to open them.  "If they are not too noisy", I said.

In a few minutes, the door opened, and in came a line of my husband and children, quietly singing happy birthday to me.  My husband was carrying a beautiful chocolate cake that my eldest had made, complete with candles!  I received some very special homemade gifts and cards from my children, and my husband gave me some drawing supplies.  I hope I can use them soon.

Though I had wanted to spend my birthday with my family, the Lord had other plans, and His plans are always good.

The doily one of my daughters made for me

Some of my precious gifts and cards.  Another daughter made the earrings.

It is still green here in winter.  The only difference is that the trees are bare of leaves, but many of them have green vines growing up the trunks.

Top painting by Teresa Jenellen

Today's Plans

  I have been making my plans for each day in the morning.  I used to always keep a regular schedule and made one up for all of the children also that I printed out for everyone, but life has not been "normal" for awhile, so I've had to make due with taking each day as it comes.  But oh, how happy and glad I am that I can plan out a day at home of taking care of our home and family.

On the list for today is exercising, washing the bedding, teaching the children their school lessons, and doing some organising in my bedroom.  Of course, meals must be prepared as well.  During the day, while I am teaching the children, I like to put on some nice classical music in the background, either on the computer, or now on the CD player, as someone just kindly bought us a CD player.

The last several days, I have been looking through school books, as we will soon be ordering more books for a new school year!  We always look forward to this time of year, when new school books come.

There is much to do in a mother's day, but oh, how blessed we are.  We have been listening to the above video of classical music and have been enjoying it.  It is important to have uplifting, good, music for your home.

We went for a family walk the other day, and it was quite wet!

When You Want to Give Up

Some days are hard.  God sends trials.

Being a housewife is not always easy.

Some times children are hard.  Relationships are hard.

People hurt us.

Some times we want to give up.

But we can't.

We are in a spiritual battle, and we must remember we are on the Victor's side.

We have to keep fighting.

We can't give up.

And we can hope that one day we will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

With love,
Pleasant House