Wow, has it been a month already?

I didn't realize that it has been a month already! Time really does fly by. We have had so much go on around here since I last blogged.

We have moved into our new, old, house and we are settling in quite nicely. It is an old house, built in 1950, and had actually been moved here several years ago from somewhere else. We aren't sure of it's original history. We love this house. We love the city that we are in. It is small, quite, nice neighbors. Great small town living at it's best. The children are loving it too. There is a great park area just around the corner from us that they love going to.

We have started homeschooling and the children are loving that as well. There have only been a few days that they have given me trouble, but all in all, we are enjoying it. There is much to be said about having your kids with you all day everyday. I really felt like, although they are young, that I didn't know my children as well as I wanted to. There were too many outside influences for our children, and we didn't like where they were going. By homeschooling them, we have limited the outside influences and are more in controll of what they see and hear on a daily basis. We are not controll freaks at all, it is a personal choice that everyone is entitled to. We are having much fun with school work and craft projects. We did a Winter unit study this December. It included reindeer, Santa, the origins of the Christmas tree and ornaments. They kids made home made ornaments to hang on the tree and had a blast with it.

I have been busy teaching the kids, organizing the house, and researching for our new adventure... Urban Homesteading. It isn't something new by any means. Urban homesteading... To live in the city, neighborhood, or the like. To have a small area of land, for example- we have less than an acre lot. To have a vegtable garden, animals for meat and eggs. To be as self sufficient as possible. I intend on learning how to can our veggies so that we can have the fruit of our labor last as long as possible. I also want to learn how to can meat, so that we can make use of the meat sales at the grocery stores and buy more in bulk. I am absolutly astounded by how much information is out there on this subject. Try google and you will see what I am talking about. It amazes me every day at the new stuff that I learn. I have been working extra hard over the last week in the yard. Raking piles and piles of leaves. Trying to get the yard ready to make our planing beds. We hope to have our seeds planted by mid February. I was told by my neighbor that a good rule of thumb is to have them planted by Good Friday. I asked my mother in law about the planing that she did on the family farm as a child, and she agreed that the Good Friday thing is true. So, I have a lot of work to do still and I am praying whole heartedly that this doesn't flop for me. For those of you that know me, I don't do well with failure. Especially when it is something so close to my heart. And this deffinatly is close to my heart. I keep thinking of all the money we will be saving on our grocery bill every month.

To add to your garden education..wink.. I read about Victory gardens. Back during the world wars, the government asked for everyone to plant their own garden, due to the "regular" food was being shipped overseas to the military. So many people started gardens during that time. It wasn't uncommon for whole towns to plant one garden, one that all of the towns people would eat from. This help the war effors tremendously. So, this Urban Homestead idea really isn't that far fetched.

So, as you can see... my life is going to be very busy over the next few months. Getting settled, teaching the kids, growing a grand garden, and learning all about home making from the olden days. I am taking us back to the "Good ole days" type philosophy around here. If you want to know more, just ask and I will do my best at answering all of your questions.

God Bless,
Jamie

giveaway notice...

Hey, I just wanted all of you to know that there is an awesome giveaway that you really need to check out. go to www.safethusfar.blogspot.com Great giveaway for those of you that are interested.

Thanks,
Jamie

The Mother Letter Project...

I was reading on one of my favorite blogs Saturday. I love reading blogs during my "free" time. As a mother, I am always thinking and reading up on ways to make my day go easier, less hectic. Also, how to handle my day with grace and honor. So, when I read about The Mother Letter Project, I immediately, without hessitation sent in my letter. I really suggest you go to this blog, read about how to submit your letter.

To give you a little info about the project... A husband and wife have decided not to buy Christmas gifts for each other this year, instead they will send any money that they would have spent on each other to Africa to help the children. Also, they decided to make each other gifts this year. So, his idea... The mother letter project. You see, she is a mother with small children, and he wants people to submit letters of encouragement to her. How great of an idea is that??? I am swooning right now. You have a couple of weeks to get them to him. And, as an added gift, he will send you a copy of the completed letters after Christmas. So, you could say that it is not only a gift for his wonderful wife, but to all of us. I am so excited that a husband really loves his wife enough to do this for her.
www.motherletter.blogspot.com/
Have a blessed day... Jamie

Home, sickness and friendship

I am getting more and more excited as the days pass. We have found a house, or as we have deemed it, our HOME! We intend on moving the first weekend in December. Along with moving, we have decided that we will homeschool the kids. From what I have read, the local schools there are not very appealing to us. It is in a different county than where we live now. Yey us!! I have been so giggly about it over the past week, planning the decorating, planning the school curriculum. I find myself really enjoying all the God is calling me to do.

The children have all been sick this week. On Monday it was Hannah and Dale,along with my husband. Tuesday was Hannah again, then Wednesday they gave me a break. So, Thursday it was Lilly's turn. Beleive it or not, I actually prefer that they all get sick together. Otherwise, it seems to drag out for a month or so. So, this way, totally works for me. The girls helped me make homemade chicken noodle soup tonight. That seemed to have made everyone feel better. Well, today at least.

On a different note, although I haven't called her yet ( horrible friend I am) Becky seems to be doing great. She is really researching all of the medicines that they have put her on, and also her *disease. I am so proud of her. She isn't letting this thing bring her down. She seems like she actually has a sense of humor about it... wink.

Again, thanks to all of you that continue to pray for Becky, her family, myself along with my family. We are all so grateful for your thoughts and prayers.

Praise God!!

So, my friend had her procedure yesterday. As most of you know her as Becky. They told her that in fact she did not have a heart attack, she has Post Partum Cardiomyopathy. You can read her blog to get the more in depth description of what it is. www.mycrazylife-mommy2alj.blogspot.com/

I want to thank everyone that has prayed for her, you cannot imagine how much it means to her. She told me last night that so many people have called and came by the hopsital to visit her that we will have to rent the Civic Center when she dies. She has such a great personality. I love her.

If I find time to blog again this afternoon, I will. Until then, I have some Tackle it Tuesday projects to do. I am so excited about getting some of these things done. I have been putting them off for too long now.

Jamie

Praying for a friend...

I have a friend. One that I had gone to school with for middle and high school. After we graduated, we went about our own lives, getting married, having children. You know, just life. During the last few years, we have had some communication with each other. The typical "Oh how your children have grown." type thing. Well, within the last several months, I have really come to grow in my own life, and have done so with the help of this friend. She is such a great inspiration to me.

She has gone through so much for such a young age, more than anyone else that I know. In going through all of this, she never led her own path, she ALWAYS let God lead her. That is such a big thing to me. Such a big thing. I have asked her, how she can go through the constant trials and never doubt God's will. She simply states, it is his will, his plan, his timing. It is crazy for me to try to tell God how to do His job. She is so right.

I am so guilty of trying to do things my way, and tell myself that I shouldn't bother Him with this little thing, or that. That is why He is here for us. We need to lean on Him during the bad and praise him during the bad, along with the good times as well. We all too often let the days go by without really thanking Him for all of the things in our lives. We need to be grateful that we get to wake up and experience all that life has to offer, good and bad.

So, I got the feeling that something wasn't right with my frend, so I e-mailed her. She answered back a few hours later...My feelings were right. She was in the hospital. She had a heart attack and didn't know it. At 31 years old, a single mother, a pre-school teacher, and no health insurance. I immediatley told my husband that I needed to go to the hospital to see her, he read her message and said to me, "Go now!" To be honest with you, I only skimmed the message, after reading the opening line..." I am in the hospital, I had a heart attack" I only skimmed from that point on. I got to the hospital last night right at 8:00 pm, just at the end of visiting hours, but they let us in anyway... I took another friend with me. We went in the room, and she giggled. Wheww! She was in awe that I came to see her. She was waiting on me to message her back... how funny. In all of this, she is still. Still in God's arms and in his plan. That just blows my mind!! She knows that He will take her to where she needs to be. Again, his will, his plan, his timing. What a great servant she is. An absolute inspiration to me.

We sat there while she told us what had happened. I was amazed that they don't know how this could have happened to her, the fact that she didn't know she had a heart attack, and what they plan on doing next. The doctors told her that it had to have happened about 3 weeks ago. She can't remember having any symptoms 3 weeks ago, other than a bad headache. She is scheduled to have a heart catherization this afternoon at 3 pm. I will be praying for her. I pray for her children. I pray for God's will, his plan, his timing.

Please, if you feel the calling, lift her up today. I will attatch a link (if I can figure out how to do that) to her blog. Read it for yourself and you will see just how inspiring she can be. http://www.mycrazylife-mommy2alj.blogspot.com/

God bless,
Jamie

House hunting

We have found a very cute house that we really like. It is an old country house, that we would love to make our home. We continue to pray about our finances. We have money coming in every week and need to really be vigilant about paying all of our bills on time. We are still trying to play catch up on a few of them, but all in all, our money seems to be getting it done. Slowly, but at least they are getting there. We need to come up with about $2500 in order to secure getting the house. Please pray for us, we are really needing to get out of where we are now. I will keep the blog updated when I get further into this process. I am praying that we are in a home before Christmas. I feel like my children need that.

Thanks for taking time to read this, you don't know how much it means to me. Just to be able to write things down and not feel judged is wonderful for me. It is a great help to my sanity. Ha ha.