Shoes, TV's and Puzzles...Oh My! (and more shoes)

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.

That's a verse - SO true - that runs through my brain as we sort every year. And sort. We got a lot of donations (thank you!!) earlier this year, and for some reason we just felt this might be an "off" year. And so began the running Heather-brain commentary: "You should be more specific in your donation requests"..."Everything's fine"...."Is this even worth it?"..."What does worth it mean? Why do you have to try and control everything?".

What does the Lord do with all that? He takes the body of Christ, our obedience to putting one foot in front of the other, good and bad weather, and prime barn-sale real estate and raises nearly $3000 to send to His work in Liberia, one 25-piece children's puzzle at a time.

 We all know that crunch time is here when Pam and her girls show up to fill all those empty table places, rearrange with fresh eyes, and price thousands of items. So thankful for them!

 Every time I look at a picture, I think of 10 other ways of setting things out. But when I'm doing it, I think - yes, this is right. It's a disease.

Umm...The Year of the Shoes is an understatement. I finally got the last tub out on the last day of the sale. I think we sold about 2/3 of all that we had, but that may be optimistic-hindsight-thinking. I also tried a new clothing arrangement for pants and shorts, but I'm not sold (ha!).

Not as many bikes as usual, but our outside items (not all pictured) went quickly!

Marriage Enrichment Counseling True Life Example from Barn Sale '13: the frosted shower curtain television. There's a lesson every year, folks. Will share our informative talk "How to Avoid Complete Marriage Meltdown" for the small-ish fee of feeding our children.

 Wish I could've remembered to take pics of all those who donated and helped! The Murphy's were new initiates to the Barn Sale this year, and fit right in. The Bayers and Allison Smith also came for the first time. Thanks to ALL!!

Full Circle

Just think: last year, no Suburban, no boat. Looking for a welder, got a great deal on a boat (and trailer!). Sold the van, bought the Suburban. You never know what next year will look like. 

Eric had to make the "maiden voyage" at one of the lakes he frequented growing up - Elk Creek Lake in Washington County, IN. It's an absolutely beautiful area and one of our favorite places to hike and relax. 

Boys out first. Captain Ahab and his crew? I must note here that when we were leaving, Eric was checking to make sure we had everything and couldn't find some items. Levi said, "Oh, everything was kind of a mess so I organized it all into the boat compartments." Ha! His mother's son. 

Beautiful. 

The girls enjoyed their time waiting, finding lots of tadpoles and other interesting creatures. Science class on Saturday, baby. 

Girls' turn! Eric said the fish may have been scared off by the continual "sonic booms" in the boat as Leah shifted and turned. Unfortunately, no fish supper for us, but a great afternoon and a fun new experience. 

Wit like the Sahara

Overheard at the lunch table:

Levi: So who's going outside to the trampoline with me? Jesse and Leah?

Leah: It's too cold. I'm going to exercise in here and just take this vitamin (by her plate).

Levi: C'mon, you need fresh air and Vitamin D.

Leah: No, I'm staying in. I said I was going to take this vitamin.

Delaney (barely looking up from her food, an askew glance at the vitamin): You think that holds any sunshine, puddin' pop?

Let's Review

Top Threes, Please...

...in movies:
* People Like Us
* Machine Gun Preacher
* War Horse

...in books:
* Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand (seriously, everyone must.read.this)
* Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking (I need to re-read this every year)
* not a fan, Kyle Idleman (did not expect to like this one)

...in things accomplished:
* new lights in the kitchen! Ding, dong, the too-dark-always-burning-out hanging lamps are dead!
* We grew enough tomatoes successfully that we were able to get tired of canning tomatoes. And we got strawberry plants in the ground that still appear to be alive.
* Wrote non-press release articles for $$ for the first time in many years. Felt good!
(I should put the bedroom re-do project on here, but because I am technical and "that way", I'm not. Because it's not quite done :)

...in homeschooling:
* Big transition - Levi taking some classes through/at the local school district. Lost some control of our time, gained new experiences.
* Either Delaney has a natural bent for understanding fractions, or I got better at teaching (must be the former). Either way, it wasn't the dramatic gloom-and-doom that long division and all previous math had portended. Whew.
* Finding Phonetic Zoo for spelling. Thank you Andrew Pudewa. Thank you.

...in the unexpected:
* Suburban stolen out of the barn in February, but Eric didn't get fired that day. One to remember.
* 60s on the twins birthday, hanging out laundry in February, gardeners and farmers planting in March. Crazy weather.
* We have a dog. She has not been hit on this road. She appears to like us.

...in God-things (aren't all?):
* Eric baptizing Sara
* deep-thinking friends who can see beyond the routine into the heart of things in the midst of soccer games, kid-running and dirty dishes
* the barn sale and all that goes with it - He never ceases to amaze us

...in music:
* Psalm 46, Jenny & Tyler
* Washed by the Water, NEEDTOBREATHE
* Rice and Beans, The Welcome Wagon

And more progress...

Before

And in progress...

And the prize for comedic timing goes to...

I was on the phone, late to the semi-regular evening Bible time (we're going through Acts together this summer). The kids and Eric were finishing up reading through the section when I slid into my living room chair, and I heard the verse from near the end of Acts 4: "...those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need."

"Sorry I'm late!" I said. "I hate missing that...are you still reading or are you discussing? Read that one again, it's one of my favorite verses!"

*Long pause as everyone adjusts to Mom's interruption of their train of thought.*

"At that moment she fell down at his feet and died," read Delaney (from Acts 5, which we were not even reading yet).

Another one in the books

So cool this year to have so many different families donate their *stuff* for the cause. We literally had to keep setting out and pricing right up until the last few hours. And, as usual, as soon as you set something out or move it around, it sells! Love that. Our many, many heartfelt thanks to friends and family for all of your help. This is absolutely a community effort, and one of our favorite times of year. We topped $3000 this year for the first time!

Things You Find in Kentucky

Shapes in the clouds...

Beautiful nieces...

Interesting choices...

Personality...

Old railways on perfect spring days.

7 Things I Don't Buy

(in the spirit of Money Saving Mom)

This seemed like an interesting thing to think about - what don't I buy that helps our budget and what are others not buying that might help me? My list, however, may reveal more of my contrarian side than I want. =)

No particular order...

1) New towels. All I can say is, put good towels on your wedding registry. And look around at auctions and you will end up with boxes of near-perfect towels from an estate sale for $1. However, if perfect looking matching towels are important to you, skip this one.

2) Mixes. Whatever the threshold is after which it makes more $ sense to make from scratch than it does to buy the mix has been passed. No brownie, muffin, pancake, pizza, bread, etc. mixes here. (occasional cake mixes for a recipe!) Lots of flour, though.

3) Organic ________. I have lots of friends that do, and I am absolutely all for choices. Paying a lot more for organic blueberries in January that were shipped across the country (world? who knows where?) doesn't float my boat.

4) Cable.

5) Manicures/Pedicures. My breed - farmer's daughter/pianist/mom - doesn't tolerate soft pretty hands well. And I'll deal with my own feet, thankyouverymuch.

6) New vehicles. We did, once, and were cured of that illness forever.

7) Youth Sports Team Photo packages. If we had banked the money saved every time we say "no thank you" to Package #32 or Deluxe Individual playing cards or photo buttons (would I wear all 5?), we could be on a beach in Hawaii right now.

What are YOU not buying??

A warm January birthday

"We NEVER have a day where we can go outside and play in the sunshine with no coats on our birthday!"

The 9 year old menu:
Breakfast: They chose to pick out a "anything we want" box of cereal - each. Reese's Puff and Cookie Crisps were the start to the day.
Lunch: Sandwich "buffet", as they like to call it, with their chosen chips.
Supper: Steak and chicken fajitas/tacos, with black beans and onions and peppers and lettuce/sour cream/tomatoes/sauces, chips and salsa, yummy sweet corn from summer
Chocolate cake, with mint and strawberry ice creams

Words that describe Jesse right now: strong, compassionate, thoughtful, so observant, guileless, funny
Words that describe Sara right now: determined, insightful, organized, responsible, loving, independent, certain

In which the kids discuss politics

Eric took the kids out for cheap breakfast sandwiches yesterday morning, with the guideline that if they didn't want a sandwich they had to keep their order under $2.

He took them inside to order - to avoid the never-ends-well drive-thru panic ordering - and found that Levi had brought some extra money of his own to buy a second sandwich, which Eric let him do.

On the way home, the kids remembered that they hadn't ordered anything for me (I had told E ahead of time that I didn't want anything). Before Eric could explain, Delaney said to Levi: "Well, you can just give Mom your extra sandwich since you have two."

Levi's reply: "You're just like Obama - you want to take from the rich and give to the poor!"

Scenes from the Season

Jesse, holding up his can of pop to my brother at the Christmas party: "Now, this right here really means it's Christmas"

Leah, watching It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World for the first time: "They would've gotten there first if they'd just drove normally!"

Jesse - clearly his father's son - after walking in the house after the final travel of the final Christmas party: "VACATION!"

Delaney, filling her plate with the cut-up veggies I'd set out when we got home today: "I'm not eating another piece of candy or anything with sugar for a week. Maybe 3 months. Maybe till my birthday."

Another reason why I wish I drank coffee

Scene: our living room, 7:09 a.m., everyone curled up in a chair or couch as we start our day

Me: So, in John this morning...."He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

Leah: Mom. I have an interesting question.

Me: (smiling) Lay it on me.

Leah: So, how do you know if you actually love Jesus?

(Maybe we should move Bible lessons to a different part of the day...!!)

In the Midst of it All

He fixes the mower, which I left sitting in the yard where it quit.

He coaches the team.

He reads and laughs at and share with me something funny I found.

He fixes the dryer.

He packs the coolers, and chairs, and everything else.

He leads us through John.

He makes Big Breakfasts.

He trims, and clips, and fixes the shutter.

He takes them creeking.

Oh yeah - he works full-time and extra time and provides for our family so I can homeschool.

I. am. so. blessed.

The Art of Getting Things Done

If I hadn't flown to Texas to see my new nephew, I might not have realized how easy making breakfast burritoes in bulk could be.

If I were my sister, I would've done this for my husband a long time ago. If I were Lisa or Pam, I'd have headed to my backyard farm for these 36 eggs, instead of the $1.59 per 18 deal I got at Kroger.

If it weren't for my mom, I wouldn't have had this handy-dandy tool for chopping up the sausage and eggs into perfect form. Oh, modern convienences.

If I hadn't married a southerner (by heritage) with a penchant for protein for breakfast, there would probably be nothing more than Cheerios on this bar.

If I were in control of my life, I might not have these three beautiful daughters (assembly-line workers today!) to make the process go quickly and easily. I thank God for all my children!!
If I were my husband, I'd be up early and hard at work each day designing machines and solving problems, providing for our family. The least I can do is give him some breakfast!

When the Plan Comes Together

So, you know what it's like when you have spent years teaching the letters and their sounds, and reading to the child, and putting words together, and slowly they start to read, and sound their words out, and you have to set times for them to practice reading each day? And then one day it's really quiet, and you check on them, and they're engrossed in a chapter book that you didn't even suggest and it makes you want to cry?

Well, the construction equivalent just happened. Counting, measuring, math, power tool instruction, years of patience with "helpers", and more have just come together. Daddy's tearing up. : )

I Could Get Used to This

So far today...

...tons of hugs and kisses...

...they made my bed...

..."Interviews About Mom" videos with each kid answering questions and sending messages to me. Best. Gift. Ever....

...Originial songs written and sung for me...

Here's one of the interviews. You can see in the clothing question that I have passed down the sarcasm gene completely intact.
http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/slideshow/AlbumID=4191389015/PictureID=196880957015/a=4932649_4932649/

A Packing Haiku

Take this, don't take that
Frustrating. Scream-inducing.
Honda minivan

February Hike

What a beautiful cold day. Hints of spring in the air...whispers of green starting to grow.