Beta Testing of Canning Macs...

by Jenny

 

Two things I have always wanted to do 1) Take the kids to pick apples and 2) Can something!

I have always had good intentions to take the kids to pick apples. It seems I'm always too late by the time I get around to picking a day or a place...it's a problem when you combine a procrastinator and a hermit.

Well, when a friend asked if we wanted to join them- I jumped at the chance because I thought it would be more fun together and she would hold me accountable to follow through and go!

 

It was quite the adventure picking apples (hot, bugs, poison ivy, did I mention hot??) but we got to take home a bushel of apples. We learned about several different varieties and picked Arkansas Blacks and McIntosh apples. Then I got home and thought, "Now I gotta figure out what to do with all these?!" My little baker daughter made the most delish apple muffins. And that barely made a dent in the bushel. So the idea of finally getting around to learning how to can and make applesauce came into play! (I had bought canning supplies about 3 years ago from a friend when she moved, hadn't even looked in the box yet...remember, I'm a procrastinator...) Luckily, between the booklet in the box and Pinterest we found a few recipes to reference. It wasn't as hard as I thought but a little time consuming waiting for the apples to cook down... We cored and quartered 8 pounds of apples, then cooked them down. We used an immersion blender then added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and a little demerara sugar (Arkansas Blacks are quite tart so we added sugar to balance). Then it was just filling the prepped jars and putting them in the boiling water. Voila! Beta testing, alpha testing, whatever you'd call it- I would say the experience of canning turned out great!

 

The kids read about the history and invention of canning while the apples were cooking down. Ahh...I love that I get to count these fun experiences as homeschool. Now, I have about 8 more pounds to figure out what to do with....

Why I Quit Blogging...

Well, honestly, I have issues.

I had an idea of what blogging was going to be...and it wasn't measuring up.

There's crazy parts of me that has high expectations, trying to keep up with others, reading the stats too much, not really techy but trying to be.... I said I have issues.

I realized I was emotionally up and down based on shares, likes, subscribers...it was crazy. I was trying all this different angles that might appeal to different people- how to word your title, what to tag, how to set up pages, sharing on all the social media sites you can. Even timing posts to publish according to the "peak" time for it to be read and shared. I was totally having "comparison issues" by trying to add all sorts of features that I liked about other blogs (did I mention I was not, am not, techy...yeah, I was causing myself all sorts of stress.) I was worried that my name wasn't the best for me and not original enough because lo and behold after entering the blogging world I discovered another hodgepodge blog that was way cooler, had tons of art stuff I love to pin and use for my kiddos and the best part is her last name is Hodge. Duh! Makes sense. Also, I thought this would be a fun avenue to share with my bestie but found I was basically doing it alone (no offense Jamie- I know schedules are crazy and you had to put up with my ocd issues about trying to put out a cool blog ;)...)

Now after reading that, you will probably look over the blog so far and think I can't tell she tried anything cool...thanks. ;)  Actually, getting those little social media buttons on the side was a miracle!

Well, I quit. The last post I published was 3 1/2 months ago. I even had 3 posts ready to go, I just had to click publish. Time would go by and I'd think, "I should publish that..." but I didn't.

So I thought "Why am I so resistant to post?"

I decided to reevaluate why I even wanted to start a blog in the first place.

1. I wanted a place to keep track of fun family things we were experiencing like our Foodie Fridays.
2. I wanted to share my heart in written word- even if just for myself.
3. I wanted to provide a resource and encouragement for anybody that may want it- particularly in  homeschooling.

I did not intend to
1. Make money blogging
2. Have thousands of followers
3. Be so successful at blogging that talk shows all over the world would have me as a guest to share my expertise and wisdom! ...Although, maybe that's what I thought would happen with those high expectations I put on myself!! ;)

I went back and read my "About Us" page and realized I was right- I'm somebody who can do a lot of things semi-well. I have tons of different interests and hobbies. I am multifaceted. I am a hodgepodge. So there ya go. I will start my blog up again. Share my heart. And who cares who reads it. It'll be one more thing I do- for me. And it'll be fun.

And I'm going to try real hard not to look at the stats page. ;)

Oh, just some advice? If you read someone's blog and enjoyed even just a little, let 'em know. I have a feeling there more people out there like me. It's nice to be liked. ;)

We Jump for JOY for Art!

by Jenny

~JOY Through Art~

 

 

In our house, ART is the subject that is definitely the reward for finishing homeschool! If not, they'd do art all day! We've been creating our own Fruit of the Spirit~A Homeschool Study by combining a lot of different resources and if you'd like to check out our study on JOY- here's the latest one JOY JOY JOY...Where?!

 

We decided we wanted to work together to create something we'd all enjoy and be reminded to chose, practice, and pray for JOY.

 

Here's what you need:

Letters

Mod Podge

Sponge brushes

Paper (we used printed cardstock, you could use just about any...tissue paper, magazines...)

 

First, tear the paper in pieces. Then use the sponge brush to brush on glue generously, put paper on glue in whatever design you want. Brush more glue over the paper to seal in and make sure the paper is flat, pushing out any air bubbles. When that layer is dry, brush a coat of glue over the whole surface to seal. Easy peasy.

JOY JOY JOY...Where?!

by Jenny

We've got the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in our hearts...where?! Down in our hearts...where?! Ok...I'll stop singing. That's just one of the songs that pops into my head when I talk about joy with my kids. That and Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! Rejoice....rejoice...
We've had a great time focusing on LOVE. If you want to start with us from the beginning here's our first post Fruit of the Spirit~A Homeschool Study then we We Made a Giant Tree for our fruit. We spent a lot of time on our first fruit "All Ya Need is Love..." and made Stained Glass Art with Kids for love. Now for some JOY.

We start each bible time saying our scriptures together and with each fruit add another verse. We say Gal 5:22-23 (fruit verse), Matt 22:37-40(love), Phil 4:4 & Prov 15:30a(joy).








Our first day we all spent time in God's Word finding verses on joy. We each picked at least one verse then on the second day we copied them on our construction paper banana. We settled on these verses to hang on our tree:

James 1:2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Isaiah 52:8-9

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;

    together they shout for joy.

When the Lord returns to Zion,

    they will see it with their own eyes.

Burst into songs of joy together,

    you ruins of Jerusalem,

for the Lord has comforted his people,

    he has redeemed Jerusalem.

 

Hebrews 12:2

 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Proverbs 10:1

A wise son makes his father glad. But a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

Psalm 71:23

My lips will shout for joy

when I sing praise to you-

 I whom you have delivered.

 

3rd day: while listening to music (a couple were Rejoice in the Lord Always & Don't Worry, Be Happy {that was super fun and stuck in our head all day}on YouTube) we used chalk pastels and construction paper to create what we thought represented JOY. We didn't talk to each other and I told them they had a time of 3 songs to create something. It was amazing to see their creations but it was more amazing to hear them describe their pieces and how they felt.

4th day: We created some large free standing letters of JOY that I've thoroughly been enjoying on the bookshelf. There will be a post to follow on the letters.

5th day: We read and discussed people from the bible that we thought exhibited JOY. We chose David and found an abundance of scripture where he's rejoicing, worshipping and praising God. One of our favorites is Psalm 100. We also talked about Paul and how he chose joy even though he had to endure prison. Phil. 1:12-26.

6th day: Using index cards, each one of us wrote down things that we could do to practically show JOY.  They wrote things like "always have a joyful look" "be joyful in everything" "in all times good and bad have joy and it will spread, but not just once, always" and "don't just be happy, be joyful."

 

One point I've reiterated with kids through out our whole study and will continue to remind them of is where this fruit comes from. This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we can produce after living with, walking with the Holy Spirit. Anybody can chose love or kindness but the love or kindness we exhibit after continually being with Holy Spirit is deeper and true. I don't want them to fall into the trap (that I often did growing up) that it's all up to them to be good, loving, kind, patient- that it's a "works" thing. We need to have a continual relationship with Holy Spirit and then we produce love, joy, patience, peace, kindness, etc.

 

Please share any comments or ideas, I'd love to hear!! :)

 

Satan is a Liar!

-By Jamie

I am so tired of Satan's lies, aren't you? I especially hate it when I realize I've been buying into his lies for quite some time. On the other hand, I am extremely thankful when God reveals the truth to me! It is so freeing!

I am currently working on losing some weight, but when am I not? Oh, that's right, during the holidays when I'm working on five-thousand other things and not caring about my health as much because I want to have fun and eat all the goodies! But that's a whole other blog! Anyway, it's January so I am working hard to reach my fitness goals which means I am consistently making "better choices" as my doctor put it. I've been doing this for quite some time, off and on. My current short-term goal is to lose 10 pounds which is not easy for me. I'm eating better and exercising as much as I can fit in to my schedule. I weigh myself weekly and record my number. I'm doing great for the most part, but it doesn't always show up on the scale or in the way my clothes fit. So I keep pressing on, most of the time, or probably all of the time, feeling discontent with myself because I haven't reached my goal yet, or am not progressing as quickly as I want to. I keep thinking, "I have to do this so I can get healthy", or "I can't eat that because I haven't reached my goal yet." Sometimes I wonder if it's all really worth it or if I'll ever reach my goals. The constant struggle, physically and mentally, can be exhausting and discouraging.

The Lies: "This is really hard and I don't want to do it. What if I never reach my goals? Someday I will live a healthy lifestyle. If I do reach my goals, this should get easier. Until then, I will have to suffer through this."

Am I the only one with these thoughts? The constant recordings in my brain?

The Truth: Every time I make a healthy choice, I am ALREADY living a healthy lifestyle. What others or myself may see on the outside, does not reflect the changes I have made on the inside. This is hard, but it is worth it, and I'm going to enjoy it! Even if I never make it to my goal weight, I will rejoice in my decisions today.

Do you hear the difference? Satan loves to keep us unsatisfied. No matter what I did, I hadn't done enough and I was having my mental tantrums. My goals were always just out of reach. I was discontent and frustrated that I was working hard and not seeing enough results; never quite getting there. These lies can show up in all areas of our lives. "I'll never get everything done; I'll never own that bigger house, better car, or make enough money; maybe next week, month or year." We are constantly after something and never quite content...or is it just me? I hope not!

Then God opened my eyes to the fact that I had been wasting my days with thoughts of discontent. I was not enjoying the moment or rejoicing in the day God granted me. I realized that what I have already been doing is LIVING the life that I thought I was REACHING for! He made me aware that I have reached my healthy lifestyle goal and I should be enjoying the exercise and the healthy food choices. He showed me that even WHEN I reach my final fitness goals, I must continue to exercise and eat healthy, so I may as well enjoy it now! If I am not blessed with tomorrow, I don't want to waste today. These truths have helped me to have a better attitude about my lifestyle changes. I want to rejoice in the body God gave me and take care of it they way He intended, every day.

I still have my struggles, and don't always enjoy making the right choice, but God isn't finished with me yet!