We Made a Giant Tree

by Jenny

I've been working on Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study with my kids and we decided it would be fun to make a giant tree to hang all of our fruits on. If you wanted to do the study and wanted a tree on a smaller scale you could make one on posterboard, or make one just 2-D, I'm sure there's tons of tree clip art you could print as well.
I began my hunt for brown paper that would be long enough. I found this great roll of wrapping paper at Deals, a $1 store, that was brown on the back side and just had small white vine and flowers on the right side. This tree only took one roll of paper!

Supplies:

$1 roll of brown paper

clear packing tape

sticky tack

 

(It only cost me a dollar because I already had the sticky tack and tape...)
I began by cutting a piece about 4-5 feet long and crinkling it accordion style.

Then I cut down at different lengths to create limbs and roots from the bottom. I wrinkled each limb, twisting some and curving the ones on sides.

I used some scrap cardboard to fold a triangle to form a base for the back of the tree in the corner. I gathered the paper tighter in the middle to form a smaller trunk leave it wider at the base and top. I used packing tape to secure it to the trunk and then to the wall.

We decided to put the tree floating from the ground because of our very curious 18 month old who would love to rip down all our work.

After we got that part up there, I felt the top limbs just looked weird, all cut the same length so we created additional limbs. I cut the paper strips width-wise in about 6-12 inches and wrinkled those, cutting down to split them into two limbs at the top. Then I secured them behind the original with clear tape and sticky tack. (By the way, my tip for sticky tack is to warm it up with your hands before you use it, and mix a package of blue and white together for a sticky, non-oily combo.)

Adding some branches definitely helped but we wanted to have plenty of space to hang our fruit so I added some long skinny branches to go around the corner. We plan on having over 30 pieces of paper with verses on it so we definitely needed some long ones.

Now to add our Fruit...

If you end up making a giant tree, I'd love to see pictures or hear how you did yours!

Republic of Chad ~ Foodie Friday

by Jenny

This may look like just porridge, donuts, and a smoothie- but I assure you the flavors are very different!

This week was Gabe's pick and he chose Chad. Again, we didn't really know much about our country this week when we started {glad we're doing Foodie Friday, I've learned so much over the course of researching recipes!} but by the time we finished our meal, I know I learned a lot! Plus, as always, it makes an enjoyable addition to our homeschool!

 

Things I found interesting about Chad:

*They have been in engaged in civil wars on and off
*They have a large influence from France from about 1900 because they were under colonial rule under France from 1900 til about 1960...
*The lower third of the country is the most populated with the Sahara desert in top part of country and mostly nomadic people living up there
*39% of women live in a polygamist relationship
*The official business languages are French and Arabic but over 100 languages are spoken...and about 200 different ethic groups or tribes live there
*They are ranked as the 7th poorest country in the world
*Got their name from Lake Chad- Chad is a local word which means large expanse of water
*Millet is their staple and made into paste balls that are dipped in sauces

We chose to have a Chadian breakfast for something different and we have had a busy week with activities and projects so we needed our Friday evening free!

People living in Chad typically start their day with a hot breakfast cereal called La Bouillie. Each family adds their own flair to it like we do here! But their basic recipe is made with rice or wheat, a little millet or cornmeal, curdled milk, and natural peanut butter. The peanut butter is crushed peanuts- homemade. And it really changes the flavor, in a good way!  We wanted to try it different ways so we made two batches, a rice version, and a wheat version.
We also enjoyed a type of smoothie called Jus de Fruit with our La Bouillie. These drinks are usually served in a "milk bar" in the city. The thing that separates this from a typical smoothie is the cardamom. It had a nice flavor to the fruit!
The third dish we made were the Beignets Soufflés. They were definitely different than any other dough we made before. They have no yeast or baking powder or soda in it yet puff up great. They are very egg-y and you stir it hard to get air in the dough as you're adding the egg. The closest thing I can equate the flavor to is French toast. Very yummy!
We enjoyed our Chadian breakfast and prayed for the people of the Chad...they have many struggles in their country and women of that country have even more struggles...their mortality rate is high and so most of the country is young. Sometimes we encounter countries like this in our weekly adventure that can prompt difficult conversations...it's raw and real and we pray for them, and missionaries who are currently there. We know God loves all His people.

We found all of our recipes on a site all about Chad- "Welcome to Virtual Chad!" A good site with tons of information.

Two Weeks in~Change 3 Challenge

by Jenny

Well, another week has gone and past while I worked on my Change 3 Challenge. It's been so crazy lately and it all seemed to come to the surface Monday while attempting a full and complete homeschool day! So this post is a little behind....
We've had birthdays, anniversaries, weekend trips...now gearing up for more birthdays, a party that I'm pulling out all the stops to plan for my two gingers! (I can't wait to blog all about that! I love birthday parties!!) Oh, and another short overnight trip! It always seems that I think the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is busy but it really starts for me in September... With all that busyness, I guess we had fallen behind on our school.
We started the day with a speech about getting back to business and I had them grab their clipboards where they log their subjects, details, and hours. The kids hadn't logged anything for about 3 weeks! That means we hadn't written down anything...don't get me wrong- we've done stuff, just apparently not written it down. We decided to take a bit to log it, recall all that we did, and write down some totals for hours. In doing that, I realized that *certain (non-favorite) subjects had been neglected. I'm very proud of myself- I maintained composure and we prayed about it. We talked about the importance of those subjects and then started out fresh and packed in as much as we could do. Add in trying to get ready for our study group that meets on Tuesday, and that put me so behind that I couldn't post about my Change 3 Challenge!
Two weeks ago, I linked up with Amber at Adventures in Mindful Living {read what the Change 3 Challenge is} and created 3 of my own challenges! Here's my original- Change 3 Challenge then I posted after the first week...Was I Successful in My Challenges?
I had a more successful week in some areas and flopped in others! That seems to be the way it goes for me!
As far as the water goes- I made my goal of drinking 100 ounces everyday but one! Woohoo for me!
As far as writing down everything I eat- I only did it for 2 1/2 days...at one point I couldn't find my original paper, then I got sidetracked from writing it on another...I'm still not sure where half the week went so...who knows what my issue was- this was my major flop.
Then my last goal was to only snack on veggies or fruit and I'd say I was pretty successful for this one. Although I really wanted crackers so I just added it to lunch so it wouldn't be a 'snack' but I really didn't need them, so apparently I'm a cheater...
I'll be honest with you, I'm really trying to work through some of my underlying issues with food. I don't like to admit it to anyone, or frankly talk about anything related to food, weight, clothes, etc. because I guess I'd like to not acknowledge my issue or be in denial or something... just trying to type it out is super hard. God and I working on it. I'm trying to seek the Lord and not go to food when I'm stressed or sad. I suppose working on this with Him is really foundational to the success for my other goals. So pray for me, if you think of it.
I hope my week evens out and that I'm diligent in what God wants me to learn and wants me to teach my kids. If you're working on any challenges, how'd you do?

Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study

by Jenny

(UPDATE: this blog has changed from itsahodgepodgelifeforus to jennybrook journeys...still same info but if you notice some conflicting labels, that's why. Thanks for stopping by!)

You may remember awhile back I was in search of a Fruit of Spirit curriculum to do with the kiddos? Whew! What a first homeschool day! was the post of our first day and list of curriculum we're using this year where I hadn't really settled on what to do for Bible.

This study is a work in progress but I'd like to share with you as I find materials and resources for our study of the Fruit of the Spirit ~ A Homeschool Study.
Well, I searched high and low! A lot of them are made for preschoolers or early elementary with little kid crafts and more childish coloring sheets. They are great but my kids are older (13, 11, 9) and wanted to take them through Galatians 5:22 and how to apply it for themselves now! A fruit of the Spirit study is not just applicable for little kids! My other criteria was "free" so the search took awhile. I stumbled upon this blog post "Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study" by Confessions of a Homeschooler blogger Erica. (I love her blog and all the resources she makes available, if you're ever looking for a great homeschooling blogger.) She linked the downloadable and printable study. I printed it and decided it would be a good jumping off point. Her study only lasts 3 weeks and I want to stretch mine out. I want it to last at least til Christmas break.

So if you're going to do this study with me, first step is to print her study.

We spent a whole week on the first few days worth of her study with questions like- Who is the Holy Spirit? & How do we walk in the Spirit? it wasn't hard! We looked up additional scriptures for each study. I used those lessons as a guide to spark conversations... We talked about these qualities (love, joy, peace, etc) are produced by the Holy Spirit not by being a disciplined person who lives by the law. "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit..." Gal 5:25 We talked about the fact that these are the "fruit" of the Spirit meaning the fruit we produce by walking with the Spirit. They are different then the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 & 14. The gifts are just how they sound- gifts. We had a great side tracking conversation about Spiritual Gifts...love it! And they love to get me off topic. ;)

(NOTE: Somedays, I merely used her main question as a guide for our bible time and not the activities, applications, etc. Make sure you read through the lesson to see if you want to stay on her track or veer off with your own questions or verses...)

Over the course of this study I plan to:

• Make a tree for our home to display our "fruit"
• With each fruit, they will find their favorite verses that represent that fruit to hang on the tree
• Create art using lots of different mediums for each "fruit" study
• Have some games/activities to play regarding the fruit
• Pick a verse from each "fruit" we'd like to memorize as a family
• Talk about real ways we can practice the "fruit" to each other and others
• Read and learn about real, living people who exhibit the fruit of the Spirit

I'm really looking forward to learning alongside my children the fruit of the Spirit, growing together in walk with the Lord.

 

Look forward to my next post in this series where we make the tree for our fruit!

How to Get Kids to Journal

by Jenny

Trying to get a kid to journal can be harder than staying clean standing in a mud puddle...
but it is possible.

We are trying to journal for bible/quiet time. Some of the reasons of journaling or benefits we want our kids to experience are...

• keep a record of what scriptures they've read and be able to look back when they want to recall a certain verse
• learn to meditate on a certain scripture, pray over it, and ask God what He wants them to see
• it can be another way to talk to God, to communicate our thoughts, dreams, prayers...
• they could write a scripture down, then later in the future, He could bring to light knowledge about that scripture in a way they didn't see before
• journaling builds a good habit of spending quiet time with just you and God, reflecting...
• when Jesus was 12, he spent time in the temple listening and asking questions- this is a way for our kids to be like Jesus, listening to God through his Word and asking questions in their journal

Back story about journaling, our kids, learning about tweens, and our church:
     A few years back, my husband and I were at a church leadership conference and were introduced to a curriculum/concept called J12. At that same point my oldest was 10 and I had a heightened curiosity about tweens. I was already reading everything I could get my hands on and talking to other parents about this new stage I knew nothing about. (Another great resource that I love for tweens-specifically girls- is Dannah Gresh's Secret Keeper Girls.)
     Our church was also lacking in a class that was specifically designed for the tween. They felt too old to be with the first graders, and were too young to be lumped with the youth group. They have specific issues they're dealing with and are usually ready to have a deeper personal relationship with God than they've had in the past.
     So our journey began developing a tween specific program. We use just about everything J12 makes, because why reinvent the wheel when it's already chrome plated and super cool?! If you want some great tween resources, curriculum for groups, devotionals for your tween or a great journal, check out  j12.com. {Learn more about the J12 Strategy if you want.} I want you to know I in no way, shape, or form, was asked to recommend this stuff- I'm just super in love with it!!! Journaling is a key part of the J12 theory/curriculum so we made it key in our program at church. We've developed some incentives for journaling for our J12ers at church: after three weeks of journaling they get a t-shirt, three more weeks of journaling gets them a lanyard and a pin, and every three weeks after that, they select another pin to collect and/or trade. {Sound like a familiar concept[Disney World/land]? Again- why reinvent the wheel when kids are dedicated pin collectors/traders?!} Ok, enough back story....

When your kids say, "I don't know what to journal? How to journal? What am I suppose to write?... here's some ideas/methods to guide them.

The S.O.A.P. Method of journaling: it's a practical method that can be applied with any reading plan. Many bibles even have reading plans in the back or you could easily find one online. Here is a Bible Reading Plan with printables and broken down for different ages. Here is great reading plan- 90 days through the gospel of John with a printable as well. S.O.A.P. is an easy to remember acronym for Scripture, Observation, Application, & Prayer. You may want to walk your kiddos through the first one by helping them find a scripture to rewrite and focus on, write down something they observe or see in the verse, write down how they can apply that verse- how they'll be different because of what they've read, and finally write out a prayer.

There are other types of journaling besides focusing on a scripture or a different way to focus on scripture. You could present these options to them:

Journal about what God is doing in your life. Even when you don't understand what God's doing, how it will all turn out, or taking time to record the positives that you see God doing for you.

Write out your prayer. Sometimes in writing out our words to God, He gives us answers and insight while we're writing out our conversation to Him.

Write the verse out in your own words. When we have to think about something to put in our own words we really think about what it means.

Meditate on the verse. "Meditating" on scripture means to think on it, rethink on it, and think some more. Talk it out, add hand motions, use as many senses as you can while you contemplate His Word. The Hebrew meaning of meditate is to muse, commune, or speak. To ponder, analyze.

Journal with your art supplies! Sometimes it's easier for us to draw out or sketch what God wants us to see (especially littles whose fine motor skills are not quite as developed), sometimes Holy Spirit can give us a picture in our mind that may not make sense right away, but draw it anyway. When you write your verse out in your own words, add color! Doodles are fun! God's word for us is fun!

And remember these....
Incentives are great! I am amazed at how excited some of our J12 kids are to journal for the t-shirt and they can't wait to get their pins. Why not encourage them with something that would mean a lot to them? Maybe they want a new bible, a bible cover, a new book, computer time, a date with you....I'm sure they'd love to give you their own ideas!
Mom- you journal! I realized that if I wanted my kids to journal, I couldn't be a hypocrite. And I want all these benefits too! I have LOVED journaling with my kids. I have LOVED seeing what God has for me specifically. I like to draw and sketch while I journal. Sometimes I do the SOAP method, sometimes I write out a prayer...I like to vary it so why wouldn't my kids?

I hope this helps someone out there...I wanted to share some tips because I've been trying to get my kids to journal after our family bible time and on their own, encourage a group of tweens and their parents to journal, and journal on a more regular basis myself.
Oh, another idea I wanted to share is from a great friend of mine who is super into journaling (I think I've even heard her referred to as 'The Journal Nazi'...) and they have a family journal that they all write in- love that idea! She's been a huge encourager for me to journal again. :)

 Go forth and write!

Please share any tips for journaling in the comments below! I'd love to hear more ideas! Especially if I need to draw from them for my own kids! ;)

Was I Successful in My 3 Challenges?

by Jenny

Change 3 Challenge: One Week Down...

Last week I joined Amber at Adventures in Mindful Cooking & her Change 3 Challenge and came up with 3 of my own changes. Here's my Change 3 Challenge post if you wanna catch up.

My three were:
1. Drink 100oz of water daily!
2. Write down everything I eat!
3. Eat only veggies & fruits for snacks!

Well, I don't think I ever reached 100 ounces but everyday I got between 70-90 ounces which is more than what I was drinking but not quite to goal...some days I really had to push myself. I think last Tuesday, by dinner time, I had only had one glass of water! Then I chugged it all evening to try to catch up! Which resulted in a not so restful night's sleep.... Towards the end of the week, it definitely got easier!
The goal of mine, to write everything down, is because I've noticed for myself that if I have to acknowledge it by writing it down, I think twice about eating it. I've also done enough carb & calorie counting in my life to have a general idea of what I should be eating in a day. I also usually measure all of our food into exact serving sizes because my 11 year old had Type 1 Diabetes and is on a pump so we total her carbs and she enters those in the pump to calculate how much insulin to take. Since we're measuring her food, we just give everybody the same amount. My mindless snacking or second helpings is what gets me into trouble so I thought writing it down would help. I did okay with this goal most days but there was a couple busy days that I tried to play "catch up" by writing it down at night- defeats the purpose really.
My third goal went great for me! I cut out most snacking (since I didn't want to write it down!) and if I felt hungry I ate edamame (my new favorite snack), cherry tomatoes, snap peas, or carrots.
Overall, I don't feel down about not reaching all my goals everyday because I was successful more often that not! And that's something to be proud of for me!
This week is a new week and I'm going to try to do even better this week! Wish me luck, pray for me, ask me in person if you see me- How ya doing? I want the encouragement!

"Wats" for Dinner?! Ethiopian Food!



by Jenny

 

Ethiopia~Foodie Friday

 

Selem

(seh-LAHM) means hello in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. But many other languages are spoken there as well. That's just one of many things we learned this week!

 

When Gregg picked Ethiopia for this week, I had no idea about much of their country, let alone their food. In fact, Gregg and I embarrassingly thought Ethiopia was mostly dry and desert. It is very dry on the eastern side of the country but also is quite mountainous! They have quite a few 13-15,000 feet ranges! The other thing we found interesting is that 44% of the population are Orthodox Christian Church, 40% are Muslim, and 10% are Protestant. Back to the food...

 

Ethiopian Menu

Doro Wat

similar to stew; chicken with spices such as garam masala and fenugreek

Mesir Wat

red lentil stew with spices garam masala, turmeric, and tons of ginger

Ye'abesha Gomen

Ethiopian collard greens with ginger and green chilis

Ayib

creamy soft cheese, we made with cottage cheese and greek yogurt

Injera

a spongy sourdough flatbread, typically uses teff flour and ferments for 3 days, we used a quick recipe with buckwheat flour, baking soda, club soda, & vinegar

Dabo Kolo

spicy, crunchy snack made with cayenne pepper

 

We started the Doro Wat in the crockpot first thing in the morning and the smells were A-Mazing....the spices are things we don't normally cook with and creating a strong, sweet aroma. After the six hours, Gabe used the potato masher to shred the chicken and mash everything a bit.

 

The Dabo Kolo is a typically a snack and are quite addicting. You think they're plain little crunchy, slightly doughy on the inside then a kick of cayenne hits. You just want more. We cooked those next and they were fun to make too. They reminded us of feffernusse we made when we did Germany.

 

Gregg and Evie made the Ayib because it's not a cheese we can find here. They rinsed off cottage cheese and stirred it in greek yogurt with lime juice and we used it to top the Mesir Wat, like a sour cream. Yummy!

 

Gwyn and I had the job of making the Injera. It's a very bubbly spongy flatbread that Ethiopians use instead of utensils. They just rip off pieces and use it to pick up the stews. The batch gave us about 40 pieces! In a medium skillet, you scoop batter and spread it as thin as possible to stretch out to 6-8 inches. There was definitely an art to it and Gwyn and I got quite good at them after about the tenth one!

 

Next was the Mesir Wat, the red lentil stew that also has some amazing spices plus tomato paste, & garlic. Gregg started the collard greens last.

 

We found a great blog A Spicy Perspective  where she's done all the work to create Ethiopian recipes with ingredients we can find and she quickened the Injera recipe from three days of fermenting to like 10 minutes! We still wanted all the spices we could get our hands on- thank goodness for our local and totally awesome Mama Jean's market where we could buy the just the amount we needed of garam masala and fenegreek. I think I'm in love with those spices- man, they smell good!!

Here's her recipes for Doro Wat and Injera, and Mesir Wat and Ayib. Here's the recipe for Abesha Gomen.

 

Here's the recipe for Dabo Kolo:

In a 1-quart bowl:
Mix: 2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 cup oil
Knead together and add WATER, spoonful by spoonful, to form a stiff dough. Knead dough for 5 minutes longer.

Tear off a piece the size of a golf ball.
Roll it out with palms of hands on a lightly floured board into a long strip 1/2 inch thick.
Snip into 1/2-inch pieces with scissors.
Spread about a handful of the pieces on an ungreased 9-inch frying pan (or enough to cover bottom of pan). Cook over heat until uniformly light brown on all sides, stirring up once in a while as you go along.
Continue until all are light brown.

 

Ethiopian cuisine is family style eating with everyone eating from the stews and using the Injera to pick up their food. We had fun experiencing Ethiopian food what better way to teach Geography?! Homeschooling at it's best....love it! :)

 

                                     



Jamie's "Change 3 Challenge" Choices

OK, so it's my turn for the "Change 3 Challenge!"

As some of you may have noticed, Jenny and I have recently "linked up" with a fellow blogger and her blog, "Adventures in Mindful Cooking", and have accepted her "Change 3 Challenge." This challenge is about pin-pointing and focusing on just three things you want to  change for the better in your life. It started Oct. 1 and will last until Nov. 1. You can join in any time! The goal is to form new habits within that 30 days.

So I've come up with a list for myself which will be quite a challenge for me!

1. Stick to my schedule at least 3 days of the week.

I recently had to re-evaluate my days at home. I was feeling very stressed and overloaded with responsibilities every day, and I knew something had to change! After a few days of observing my stress, I came to the conclusion that my 10 year old, my 12 year old, and I could not be on the same schedule anymore. They have certain responsibilities they need to focus on themselves that I could not take on for them anymore; I have enough on my plate as it its, and they are old enough to "step up their game!" So as of now, they have their schedules while I have mine, and parts of our schedules overlap so we are still doing things together. Anyway, all that to say, if I can stick to my personal schedule, I will be focusing on the right things, on the right days, at the right times, and not stressing over everything, everyday, all the time! Whew! If I can do this at least 3 days a week, I am certain my stress level will lessen. This will be my most challenging challenge!


2. Exercise with my kids at least 3 days a week.

I have been pretty good to stick to an exercise routine for myself, but find that I am constantly harping on the kids to "do something active!" I have realized that I must come along side my children in order to form these healthy habits. They are eager to walk or ride bikes around the block, or play dance games on the X-Box, as long as I do it with them! So I have included 30 minutes of exercising together in our daily schedules. I know this will prove to be a challenge as well! I guess that is the point of this, right? LOL!

3. Lose 5 pounds this month.

WHY am I including this challenge?! (I'm talking to myself here.) WHY am I torturing myself with announcing this?!  I know it is going to be the HARDEST one and, I CERTAINLY do NOT want accountability here, people!!! BUT...I NEED to do this for my HEALTH! My high blood pressure is most likely due to my weight. It is possible hereditary, but I need to find out. I DO NOT want to be on prescription medication for hypertension for the rest of my life...especially with all this new Obamacare stuff. Who knows where that will leave me in the future! But that's a whole 'nother blog!! LOL!!

Ok, so there it is! My 3 scary challenges! Since today is Thursday, I am officially starting these changes this Monday. I am already working toward them, but I will start recording progress on Monday. I plan on blogging about this at the end of this month to let y'all know how I did! Wish me luck, or better yet, pray for me!!