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HSLDA Survey for a Chance to Win a $500 Visa Gift Card.

Posted by html404 on September 27, 2011
in Education, School

HSLDA needs your input to help them better serve you and the homeschooling community! Follow the link below to their short, six-question survey and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $500 Visa gift card.

http://www.hslda.org/Survey/mvt/Default.aspx?rid=27494

Survey and drawing entries must be submitted by October 9. Winner will be drawn on Tuesday, October 11, 2011, and will be contacted by email. If we do not receive a response within 72 hours, a new winning name will be drawn. Must be age 18 or older to participate. By entering this contest, you agree to have your email address added to HSLDA’s email list. You may unsubscribe at any time.

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End of Summer – Health and Garden Tuesday

Posted by html404 on September 27, 2011
in Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Health & Garden Tuesday, Health and Garden Tuesday

I don’t know about you, but I am always sad when the end of summer arrives. It is always refreshing to have the cool mornings and nights that comes with this time of year, however, it also means winter is just around the corner….which is my least favorite season.

It was a very busy summer traveling back and forth two days a week to Mrs. A’s farm, but full of learning and memories. By the time we had moved in early August, the children (and me too, admittedly) were tiring of being gone from home, traveling and…..weeding. All of that came to an end on Friday, September 16th. We are officially done at Mrs. A’s. Our last farmers market was the 10th. (Oh and by the way, we were in the Glenview news for a feature for the farmers market over Labor Day weekend. You can view it here: http://glenview.patch.com/articles/bringing-the-garden-to-your-plate Sorry forgot the link earlier!)

Now, it’s time to make plans for our own farm. We have our garlic to plant, our 2 fields to till and manure. We are still deliberating over ordering baby chicks for laying hens. Not sure I want to start a batch in cool weather and over-winter them. That’s the disadvantage. The advantage is that we will get eggs in the spring some time – a huge plus if we want them for our family, farmers markets or a CSA (Consumer Supported Agriculture definition here.) My husband had wanted to wait on the animals but he seems to be more open to the chickens now that we are done at Mrs. A’s. We did just get used feeders and a nesting box off of Craigslist – can you say smelly and dirty?! A definite disadvantage to buying used. We will clean them up before using them to safe guard against any possible contamination occurring. We still need fencing and housing for chickens…and time…lots and lots of decisions.

It still seems a bit surreal that we have our own place to farm. I feel like I have to pinch myself sometimes.

We are thoroughly enjoying our extra space and are praying for guidance for our future farming enterprise.

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Settling In – Motivation Monday

Posted by html404 on September 26, 2011
in Family Stuff, Home

We have settled into our new home quite nicely. We have even gone back to being hospitable and have had friends and family over at least four times with more to be scheduled. Yes, we are enjoying sharing our new home with others! I use to love having folks over until we really outgrew our townhouse. It is good to be back into playing hostess again.

We had our lefse party with family two weeks ago, which was a great hit. We hope to plan a quarterly lefse party into our family tradition. We are playing around with the idea of inviting a different family over for each one. Just thought that it would be fun to share this Norwegian potato bread and tradition with others.

We had our old neighbors over in August so they could see our new home before school started back up and all the chaos going back to school brings. We had a blast with them.

Another friend dropped over to pick up somethings/drop things off, so we gave her a quick tour.

Then yesterday old friends from our college days came over for the afternoon bringing some of their cast offs, which is like Christmas to the children – new (to them) clothes, toys, games (we did two new puzzles this morning since it was raining 100 piece each) and even some canning jars (we canned tomatoes last week with friends and then did some applesauce and jam on our own, so very satisfying!)

There is something special in having people over, don’t you think? Our children love it and have missed it, thus the reason for planning more get-togethers because they keep asking, “Can we have so and so over?” 😉 Plus we love it too.

How often do you entertain? Are you planning any fall parties at your home? Would love to hear how you all entertain guests in your home! That is this week’s motivation. Being hospitable is actually biblical, what better way to show the love of Christ to strangers and brothers and sisters in the Lord.

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Fire Sale at LightHome Publications!

Posted by html404 on September 26, 2011
in Education, Gift Ideas, SALES, School

We have reviewed and purchased items for our homeschool from LightHome Publications. Now thru Wednesday, September 28th, for just $5 you may purchase any of LightHome Publications products or for just $10 for a magazine subscription (quarterly). This sale ends Wednesday, September 28th at midnight so take advantage of it before it’s too late. It is a great way to support a homeschooling family in need too! These products make wonderful gift ideas too. Buy now!

Connect with LightHome Publications on Facebook.

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A Lancaster County Christmas – Revell Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on September 24, 2011
in Books

As most of you know, the Amish lifestyle and community intrigue me. There is much to learn from them, imho (in my humble opinion). I love Suzanne Woods Fisher’s books. Not only are they entertaining but they appeal to the heart and A Lancaster County Christmas is no different.

Two young couples providentially meet just before Christmas. Outwardly their lives are world apart, but inwardly they have more in common than they would care to admit. During a “chance” snowstorm, these two couples have the opportunity to learn from each other – abandonment, grief, anger, bitterness, lack of trust and unhappiness rage through some troubled souls deep in Lancaster County.

I loved how Suzanne revealed the perception (or misconception) between the Amish and English. I loved the tenderness between the couples as they sorted through their difficult circumstances. What I enjoyed most was the portrayal of God’s love and adoption of us into HIS family in the relationship between Zach and the Riehls. What amazing love He has for us!

The anger Mattie and Jaime experienced in their relationship with God was something I could relate to as I, too, have faced difficult circumstances that made me blame God, rather than accepting them as a “gift” (or bump in the road of life). God’s love for us is all encompassing though and He never leaves us through those situations which test our faith. The friendship that blossomed between these two very different women was very endearing.

Misunderstandings and lack of trust are often hard to work through and this book shows us how two couples do just that during one of the most festive seasons of the year.

As usual, I cried in this book too. It was another heart warming story from Suzanne Woods Fisher!

Giveaway!

Enter 9/7-9/26!

Click the button above to go to the site hosting Suzanne’s giveaway. This giveaway ends on Monday, September 26, so enter now before it’s too late!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Blue Skies Tomorrow

Posted by html404 on September 24, 2011
in Books

Since finishing at Mrs. A’s farm I have had to catch up on some reading….pretty quickly I might add!

Sarah Sundin has a way of making her “historical romance” novels more than just an ordinary romance. Blue Skies Tomorrow was a story of intrigue – I love the fighter pilot adventures! This book was not only about adventure and intrigue, it contained a message of hope, deliverance and healing as well.

Anyone in a”dating” relationship should read this story as it deals with the all important reminder of getting to know the person you are interested in really well before you head to the alter. Amid the reminder is the poignant struggle of how we can grow to show grace beyond our humanness…with God’s help, of course.

Blue Skies Tomorrow was an enjoyable break from the every day happenings of life, like watching a movie is for some people. Now, I need to get back to real life and all the other work waiting for me!

Thanks Sarah for sharing a novel that show not only the battle between nations but those of the human spirit as well.

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Recap of Tween Academy

Posted by html404 on September 24, 2011
in Blog Stuff, Education, Family Stuff

This past Tuesday I had the privilege to co-host Teen Academy with five other bloggers (Connie, Brain Foggles , Jo-Lynne, Musings of a Housewife , Stephanie, And Twins make 5! , Liz, Thoughts of a Mommy and Jennifer, Mom Spotted, as we joined The Motherhood and host Rosalind Wiseman, who is a parenting expert and author of a New York Times bestselling book, Queen Bees and Wannabes (which the movie Mean Girls was based on)!

We discussed issues tweens face today, what our struggles were as mothers of tweens heading back to school (sweaty, stinky tween boys was one!) and each participant offered their sage advice, empathy and commaradie. Rosalind had some wise advice as to how to handle specific issues.

Overall there was a general sense of appreciation for the hour we spent together online and we look forward to this coming week’s Tween Academy on TheMotherhood, sponsored by Unilever.

Be sure to join us on Tuesday, September 27th at Noon EST at The Motherhood or the direct link http://www.themotherhood.com/talk/show/id/62264

Also, Rosalind has some guest appearances coming up on TV that you may want to tune into – She will be appearing with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Phil at 8 p.m. ET on Oct. 9 and 14 (check local listings for channels). Here is her recent blog post about the appearances: http://rosalindwiseman.com/2011/09/19/stop-bullying-speak-up-campaign-can-change-lives/

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my time by Unilever and The Motherhood, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Camera Woes

Posted by html404 on September 19, 2011
in Blog Stuff, Family Stuff

I have had some camera woes lately. My boys, with good intentions of course, knocked out a lense. Thankfully it was fixable. Then during our move we somehow lost our camera cord that allows us to download photos to our computer. We still have yet to find it. That means this blog is sadly missing some personal photos of recent weeks. That is the extent of my camera woes. Pray that I find that cord soon and then I can finally update you all on our family happenings!

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Tween Academy Class – Tomorrow!

Posted by html404 on September 19, 2011
in Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Parenting

Do you have tweens in your home? So do I! Ever wonder how to help them do better in school, deal with friends (or bullies) or just plan be more prepared to get into the swing of school again after summer vacation? Yeah…me too. There’s help just around the corner!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20, at noon ET, The Motherhood is hosting its first Tween Academy class and YOU are invited! Believe it or not, I will be one of the 6 co-hosts for this class. We will talking about Tweens and Heading Back to School with host Rosalind Wiseman, who is a parenting expert and author of a New York Times bestselling book!

Here are the details:

What: A class offering advice, suggestions and empathy when it comes to tweens and issues surrounding going back to school. It’s all part of Tween Academy on TheMotherhood, sponsored by Unilever.

About the class: From making new friends to managing classes and homework, heading back to school can be filled with sweat-inducing moments. During this class, we’ll talk about how to get back into the school routine and offer advice on guiding tweens through classes, after-school sports, rough spots with friends, bullying and more.

When: Tuesday, September 20, at noon ET

Where: On TheMotherhood, here – http://www.themotherhood.com/talk/show/id/62264

Who: Renowned parenting expert Rosalind Wiseman, author of the New York Times bestseller Queen Bees and Wannabes (which the movie Mean Girls was based on), will host the class with six blogger co-hosts…

Connie, Brain Foggles
Jo-Lynne, Musings of a Housewife
Yours Truly, Theresa, Faith and Family Reviews
Stephanie, And Twins make 5!
Liz, Thoughts of a Mommy
Jennifer, Mom Spotted

This class is not a webinar or a phone call, it is all on chat, so no need to worry about background noise – we moms have been there and done that! You can even stay in your pjs if you want to!

Hope to see some of you there!