The 89 Cent Treasure

With Thanksgiving around the corner, there is much talk of turkey.

The grocery stores are running sales on the popular thanksgiving bird.  The wild turkeys are still meandering about our backyard and they are remembered daily in prayer in our house as the two year old prays, "Dear Dog... Tank you for da turkeys backyard".

... Perhaps he understands more than we think as our oldest seems determined to one of these years provide the turkey, one he has hunted himself, for our Thanksgiving table.  Maybe Noah knows that the turkeys might need protection from his big brother.  That's beside the point...

Feeding five mouths is not always easy, and is never cheap.  I am always looking for ways to create easy, economical meals and all the talk about turkey prompted me to share this tip.
One of the best ways I have found to accomplish both easy and economical meals is to take advantage of the oven roaster chickens that go on sale for about $.89/lb. from time to time.

When that sale runs, I stock up.  These chickens freeze well.  I thaw one for a few days in the fridge and after it has had time to thaw, I place one in the crock pot early in the day.  No liquid needed (in fact, if your crock pot is small, adding liquid may cause the pot to spill over).  Simply add salt, pepper and perhaps some poultry seasoning is all.  Left on the low setting until dinner time the chicken cooks perfectly.

Though you certainly can, we do not often simply eat the chicken this way as I find I can stretch it further if we use it in other dishes.  I have, over the years, compiled a large collection of recipes involving cooked chicken.

After dinner (yes, after, as I rarely plan to use this bird for this meal so as to save time), I debone the chicken.  I separate the meat into meal sized freezer bags.  I find that I can get at least six meals out of a good sized chicken.  The skin, bones, and juice all get put back into the crock pot and are refrigerated until the following day.  The meat is refrigerated or frozen for future use.

The following day, I add water and vegetable scraps to the carcass that has sat in the fridge.  This is left to simmer, again on low, all day in the crock pot.  At the end of the day, the liquid is strained.  The solids are tossed in the garbage and the broth that remains is saved and frozen for future use as stock, or broth for soup.
This stock is separated into several tupperware containers to be later used as soup broth.  Smaller, one-cup amounts, are saved in recycled yogurt or margarine containers to be used as stock or broth for casseroles, etc.  This all freezes perfectly.

Not only do I eliminate the need to buy broth or bouillon, but also I am able to very quickly thaw already cooked chicken and whip up a quick casserole, chicken pie, or stir fry.  It is also leaves me little excuse to be unprepared for dinner.

"She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens."  Proverbs 31:15

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord..." Psalm 92:1

Happy Harvest

His first Halloween he was a little lion with the sweetest little tail.  The next year he was an elephant, and then a rhinoceros, a cowboy and two years in a row he was Buzz Lightyear.  Last year he created his own Daniel Boone costume.  The costumes have been passed down to the younger brothers.

The costumes are perhaps the only thing left that resembles Halloween.

When Isaiah was young, we thought we could adapt the pagan traditions and instead of dropping in on neighbors asking, "Trick or Treat?" holding open baskets waiting to be treated, we opted to visit friends and instead greet them with "Happy Harvest!" and a treat that we had brought them.  It was our attempt at bringing light to the darkness, on a night that celebrated the grousome, the grotesque and the occult.

Unfortunately, we found that while this brought smiles to the faces of the friends we visited it did little for our children.  While at the houses of friends, others would come to the door dressed as witches, devils, ghosts and the like.

The boys would be scared.  They would ask why it was OK for others to beg for candy.  Why was there fake blood dripping from the mouths of those they encountered?

Then we thought that allowing them to dress up and taking them out to dinner would be a good compromise.  This led to similar problems and also had them out after dark, seeing (and questioning) the increasingly prevalent Halloween decorations on lawns and houses we drove past.

Another year we tried going to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  They live in a neighborhood with lots of small children and we thought it may be fun for the boys to show Grandma and Grandpa their costumes and they could help pass out candy.

This was even more problematic as it seemed all of town had congregated in their neighborhood having arrived there on flatbed trucks!  Teens and adults were dressed as vampires and other goulish creatures.

Our attempt to adapt, to find a way to participate in such a day yet be consistent in what we were teaching our children, to not have them feel left out, failed miserably.

We found that our substitute was teaching them that there was something they were supposed to feel they were missing out on.  That was not the message we wanted to send!  We also learned that they would rather not participate and they, in fact, did not at all feel left out of anything!

On a night when the spiritual battle rages most fiercely, when Satan is being celebrated, we have found it to be far more consistent and fruitful to continue to train them to be soldiers in Christ's army than to send them into the front lines unprepared.

Now that two of them are older, they fully understand why we do not participate and given the option they would choose not anyway.  Noah has no idea there even is such a thing called Halloween... yet.

When someone asks the children what they're going to be, or what they're going to do, they simply say that we don't celebrate Halloween.  Sadly, most don't accept this answer and press harder.  "Haha!  Everyone celebrates halloween!  Does your mom really not let you go out!?" The boys have been known to use this opportunity to witness to grocery store baggers and bank tellers of Christ's love and light.

This approach is also one more thing that teaches them that it's good to be different.  It's good to not follow the crowd.  It's a good thing to be mindful and aware.  To think about why we do what we do.

We have long since dismissed Halloween as a holiday.  We found that all the kids really cared about was eating candy and dressing in a costume.  Halloween night, they're now tucked safely in bed early.  The porch light stays dark.

The week after Halloween, we fill the candy bowl with steeply discounted candy... and it's a normal day in our house to find children dressed as Daniel Boone, American Indians, or even vikings.

Homecoming & House Guests... and the true meaning of fellowship

Homecoming weekend is often a whirlwind but more so this year than any other.  This weekend was (what would have been) my tenth college reunion.

This year, my college roommate- one of my dearest friends- came to visit!  It was the first time I'd seen her in nine years.

The last time we were together, she and I were both married, and each pregnant.  Jess with her second child, me with my first.  This weekend we not only saw each other, our husbands and Jess's son Austin who was just a baby at our last meeting, but she got to meet our three sons and we met her three daughters.

In preparation for their visit, the boys and I talked a lot about Jess's kids.  We went over their names and ages, looking at pictures, and tried to imagine what they may be like.  We talked about how they too are home schooled, how they too have just moved to a new home.  The boys began referring to them as
"our friends we-haven't-met-yet".

The day finally came.  They arrived, after a several day long car trip.   Their little girls were car sick and I'm sure they all were just happy to be out of the car!  The boys ran out to meet them and much to both my and Jessica's surprise, they were all off playing in the backyard within minutes.  We watched in the window as the older children chatted... and chatted... and chatted.  The little ones, both two years old, mostly stared at each other.

We quickly began to see commonalities between our children.  The third time five year old Ella said, "I'm hungry!"  I knew she was a grazer... much like Elijah.  The older boys... and eight year old Abby... are all fans of The Chronicles of Narnia and came in announcing that they were Peter and Edmund... and Abby was Susan.  Play continued right up until bedtime.

I was so excited, and somewhat surprised, that Jessica's children were being raised so similarly to ours.  There was no bickering between the children.  They all treated each other with respect and kindness.  They all were well mannered and helpful.  The older children each looked well after their younger siblings.  They were not selfish, they were able to entertain themselves with very few toys and great amounts of imagination.

One morning we had a family game of back yard wiffle ball.  Jess needed to practice for the alumni softball game that took place on the weekend.  Having once been the star pitcher, she needed a bit of warming up and wiffle ball seemed to do the trick.  Haha!

Dan had to work while our friends were in town, and while he was out Steve, Jessica's husband, went out in the woods with the boys to make fly fishing rods, then took the kids down to the pond to try them out.  The memories they made in one weekend will surely last a lifetime.

There is something about great friends.  Especially those you've lived with, shared every part of your life with.  Those friendships centered on Christ.  No matter how far they live, no matter how long between visits, we always pick up right where we left off.

After spending Saturday at Homecoming, we all had to say goodbye.  The goodbyes were much harder this time around, with our children having grown so close in such a short time.  Our boys were crying, one exaggerating a minor injury as an excuse for the tears streaming steadily down his face.

Jess said, "you know... if we wait another nine years, I'll be staying with you when we bring our son to college!"  Can it really be?!  What a short piece of time it is when our children are young!

Just after the most miserable of goodbyes, we met up with other really wonderful friends.  Friends who live just one state away.  Too far for our liking, but close enough that we get to see one another occasionally.  We joined with them and their four children for a fun dinner out.  There wasn't enough space in the restaurant for a large table so we settled on two small tables pushed together.  Normally this space would seat 6.  We fit 11.  Noone cared.

These friends, Beth and Brian, were our first married friends.  They paved the way for us in many ways, and we are still in awe as they challenge us to live in a way remarkably different from the norm.  They stayed with Beth's brother that night and we headed home.

The next day, more friends Rodney and Brooke came in from a ten hour drive away.  Friends with three young daughters.
The men had planned a football party and Brooke and I took all the kids for a walk to the park before bringing them all home for dinner and baths.  These friends too, as great as the rest.

Monday was a holiday and Beth and Brian and their crew, the ones we enjoyed dinner with on Saturday, stopped early Monday morning to visit with us all
(Dan, Rodney and Brian were all college roommates).
They stayed much longer than planned and Monday became another great day with a house full of friends.

They all push us, challenge us, hold us accountable to living a life marked by godliness.
These friends, not just friends any more, but family.

How thankful we are to be blessed with the most wonderful friends.  Friends with whom we can be ourselves.  Friends who love us and accept us for who we are, and who push us to become who God wants us to be.

The house feels empty now.  Much quieter... and we continue to give thanks for the most wonderful, faithful friends, and for the sweet fellowship that's been had.
All this.  This weekend, encompasses the 
true meaning of fellowship.  

A family brought together and unified in Christ.  Love and acceptance.  Confession and forgiveness.  The bearing of another's burdens.  Encouragement and availability.  Flexibility and informality.  The sharing of life...
and coffee and donuts too, of course.

Homemade Fire Starters

A beautiful day, with crisp autumn air and blue skies clear... we are thinking ahead.  Ahead to the chill of stormy winter nights.  Nights when there is nothing better than curling up in front of the fire with good books.

The firewood is plentiful.  Uncle Mark has delivered more than enough, all split and stacked.  This will be our first winter in this house.  Thinking through the things that need to be done before the cold winds arrive  requires a bit more effort when in a new place.

For the past five years we lived in a house in the city.  Well, in what I call the city though others call it the suburbs.  There weren't any woods around us in which to collect kindling so fire starters were necessary to light a good enough fire in the old place.

They work well but smell terribly like chemicals and do get quite costly.  We did a bit of research and have actually
found a use for dryer lint
and cardboard egg cartons!

Today we filled the egg cartons we've been saving with the lint and melted down some old wax candles.  Some that had been around a while, some that had broken at the bottom of the candle tin in our recent move.

We melted the wax down in a small saucepan and poured the hot melted wax over the lint.  We allowed the concoction to cool and cut out each individual egg space.  Each individual egg space filled with lint and covered with melted wax.

We gathered a large glass jar from the garage and placed each homemade fire starter in the jar and gave the jar a home on the hearth.
We then had to test out our little project.
We went out to the fire pit outside and lit the edges of the cardboard.  The little homemade fire starter burned quite brightly for about ten minutes at least.

It smelled like cinnamon; like Christmas.  

Spontaneous Praise

It was a rushed dinner.  A family dinner at the table, as always, and as always it began with the insistent prayer of the two year old, "Dear Dog... Tank you for my food, my friends my fam-a-yee and Jesus.  Amen.", but it was rushed none-the-less.  Dan had come in from work, long enough to share the meal with us, but then had to head back out for a meeting.

He wouldn't be here for family worship time.  I'm not sure he had thought that through, having had a busy day and a busy night ahead.  Regardless, we'd finished eating and before we got up from the table he suddenly started singing "Father Abraham".

Perhaps you remember... Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.  I am one of them, and so are you.  So let's just praise the Lord - right arm, left arm, nod your head.... "

The giggles and laughter of the little boys permeated the dining room.  Everyone acting silly, up and out of their seats, spinning and nodding, arms and legs waving.  Poor Noah, still in his high chair trying hard to follow along... while laughing and chewing a raw carrot.  The only interruption was me saying, "don't choke honey!  Chew what's in your mouth!"

The song ended and more songs of praise sprang forth.  Isaiah and Elijah, while singing along, hopped back out of their seats to gather paper and pencils and both penned another of their very own songs of praise.  Isaiah planned to lead family worship time, as he does, in Dan's absence.

While we were all around the table, singing old sunday school songs that Dan and I were recalling from childhood, it occurred to me.  Perhaps this is what it looks like, an attitude of praise.

The days are long again with Dan working extra hours and the autumn air creeping in, the sun lower in the sky.  The kids have had never-ending colds, mornings seem to come too quickly- kids up coughing at night, money is tight, the kitchen floors were sticky thanks to spilled apple juice and chicken broth, the laundry is undone and the hour is late.

I'm far less bothered than I would have been years ago.  Dan was able to join us for dinner and should be home soon, the kids are getting better, our needs were met today as always, the floors got mopped, the laundry can wait, and the kids are all asleep; the house is quiet...

...and I smile, songs of praise continuing to play in my head - and I can still hear the sound of the children's voices praising the Lord along with their father and I.

Sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be feared above all gods.

1 Chronicles 16:23-25

*Would you consider following Abundant Fruit & Olive Shoots via email, Facebook, or Google friend connect?  By joining by October 3, 2011 you can be entered in the LisaCorinne Handmade giveaway.  All three options to follow can be done in the sidebar to the right.  See the Giveaway post for more details.  Thank you!

Home Schooling - What to Teach?

As mentioned in my previous post, Home Schooling - is it Legal?, I hope to break down some common questions asked of us about homeschooling to provide a better understanding for those who may be considering homeschooling or those who are simply curious.

Common questions about homeschooling include questions about what is taught, and how we know what to teach.  They include questions about who supplies materials, where we get them and how we know what to use. 

Before these questions can be answered well, the question
"What is education?"
must first be answered.

When we first began to homeschool, our oldest son was an infant.  Yes.  An infant!  As new parents, we learned very quickly that our son was learning new things daily.  We were not schooling him, per se, yet we saw that he was learning regardless.

We began to process what education really was, apart from what we'd been taught from the American education system.  Was it simply reading, writing and arithmetic, perhaps with a little Bible instruction thrown in on Sundays?  We had certainly not taught the 3 R's to our infant, yet we found ourselves marveling at the way he seemed to have an innate desire to learn.

The years passed.  Years filled with the atmosphere of home, much training and discipline, and ... life.  

The boy was still learning!  

In the very early years of parenthood, I researched a great deal.  We read and read more about the approach we would take.  How would we approach this lifestyle that we felt called to, but was foreign? Many books proved helpful, then I read 

For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.

In this I read, 

 "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life" - Charlotte Mason

That was it!

That was what we'd already been doing.  Without completely realizing it, we had been educating our son just through daily living.  He was learning habits of discipline.  Moral, mental, physical, spiritual discipline.  He was in an atmosphere that fostered and encouraged a quest for information, for development, for growth.
He was learning.  Being educated!

He didn't need preschool.  He learned his colors just fine.  Banana's are yellow, oranges, orange and M & M's come in a rainbow of colors!  He learned to throw, catch and hit a ball by playing often in the yard with his Dad.  He could ride a two wheeler by age 5.  One cookie plus one more cookie makes two cookies!  He gardened and bird watched with Grandpa.

We spent hours and hours at the local audubon properties surrounded by nature - exploration led by he and his little brother.  Stopping as they wished to lay on their bellies and examine frog eggs with magnifying glasses or to turn over rocks in search of slugs.  One day they found two.  Each held one and they deemed themselves the "slug brothers".  This was when they were 4 and 2.

This proved far more suitable for young minds than four walls.  Isaiah learned to read by reading his field guide, wanting to identify all that he saw.  He learned very young to love and appreciate creation.

He is not exceptional, except perhaps to me!  He is a bright child, but not a genius.  In fact, at our recent visit to the Basketball Hall of Fame he remarked at how different basketball must have been when Dan and I played for fun in college, what with playing with a peach basket and all!  Does he really think we're that old!?

Most children are born with this desire to learn new things.  When given the proper atmosphere and discipline, a life that fosters learning, education, freedom to explore, to play and to create, there will be a spark.

Kindergarten was fast approaching...

Isaiah was nearing his 6th birthday when we began.  We had chosen not to start him early, though he showed what many would call signs of readiness.  We remain more than pleased with that decision!

Wanting something to guide us in our daily academic pursuits in the coming years, I spent hours prior to the start of Isaiah's kindergarten year pouring over curriculum options online.  Narrowing down and narrowing down more, then presenting Dan with the ones I most liked for him to help make a decision.  If you have not had this experience it can be overwhelming!  There are many many options to choose from!

{To help you with this process, feel free to view and print the free printable "Choosing a Christian Homeschool Curriculum"} found under the homeschool tab above.}

Our prayerful curriculum search led us to My Father's World.

We are in our 4th year already of My Father's World (MFW) and it has been the perfect fit for our family.  It is an eclectic combination of the Charlotte Mason, unit study and classical methods of homeschooling with a Biblical worldview.  It is easy to use, there is minimal preparation and numerous children of varied ages can easily be taught together.  There is an international focus, chronological history, and our favorite feature is that the Bible content is integrated.

We believe that Christ should be central to life, and therefore He should be central to our academic studies as well.  What kind of education is it if Christ is absent, or reserved for an hour on Sunday mornings?

I recall always wondering as a kid, how God, Jesus, faith fit into the scope of life.  There was no continuity.  Subjects don't overlap.  English was English, where we read Stephen King and Shakespeare.  Science was not connected to history, or english, and the God who created all was very rarely, if ever, mentioned.  These subjects, to me, were always like puzzle pieces that never fit together.  Faith was something I practiced and sought to learn outside, and struggled to incorporate in class.

Already, in our children's education, we can see that those pieces are less like puzzle pieces and more like building blocks.  Each lesson building on another, each lesson intertwined with another, rotating around the central theme and focus, that is Christ.

In summary, the character of our children is of far greater importance to Dan and I than their academic "success".  We expect that they work hard and apply themselves, working to please the Lord.

Academics, though important, are secondary to life... but... education is a life.

A Time For Every Season

Can it be that summer has ended?

Can the long days of endless rays have passed?  Can autumn have arrived, that time of year when all things so lush and lovely die - or simply lie dormant for the coming frigid months?   The season, the months marked by illness, by silence, by darkness.  A stark contrast to the hot and hazy days at the lake.  Blowing bubbles, boys warming under the sun, sprawled on hot sand.

I recently read in a wonderful little book, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, that all new life is birthed out of darkness.  How true!  Don't I think the same every spring as new life emerges from the dark?  The days lengthen, the clouds make way for the gleaming sun.  Crocuses peek out from under the snow, the trees bud anew with the freshness of new life stemming from what appear to be lifeless limbs.  Newborns emerging from the darkness of a womb, lambs, piglets - tiny little people!

Without the darkness of the crucifixion there is no resurrection, no ascension.  Without darkness, there is no contrast of light.
There is a time for every season.

Oh to embrace the autumns of life, the assurance that we who believe, who trust in the One, will be delivered.

Looking back on the many autumns of life, how they seem to have brightened in time.  Seeing how the Lord has used them for good, for growth.  How those times of storms, of illness, of cold have been used to strengthen us  - our faith- in the One who hears and answers each and every request, every utterance made in His name.

Once upon a time, a dark time (or was it?), I was told by a college advisor at the completion of my junior year that I would not be accepted into the education program.  The lowest grade earned in an education class a B+.  A well known Christian college on the north shore of Boston, the advisor's only explanation, "We don't think you will pass the state teacher exam.  You don't test well and you will bring down our national ranking, therefore we won't have you in our program".   End of discussion.

What of the thousands of dollars spent on that "education"?  Never mind the money, when did national rankings become more important than an individual!?
When did test scores come to mean more than 
evidence of a job well done?
Did they not have a responsibility, as a Christian institution, as elders, mentors, professors and advisors, to teach me well?  To offer grace?  To let me try... and even fail?

Today, eleven years later... how different may my life have been had I received the degree that I'd earned and put it to use?  Would I have learned what it means to be submissive to my husband?  To be a wife, a help-meet, a keeper at home, a woman?  Would I have upheld my vows to him - for worse, for poorer... in sickness?

Would I have invested as much of my life, of myself, in raising Godly young men, or would I have gone the way of the vast majority...
...the luke-warm way?  

Would I have placed a higher priority on career had it been an option?

Would I have opted to go against the grain, teaching my own children at home, following the biblical directive to train them 24 hours a day seven days a week.  Would I have taken my responsibility as a wife and as a mother as seriously as I have or would I have delegated my responsibility to others more "qualified" by the world's standards.

Perhaps I would have.  Perhaps not.  Perhaps my convictions would have led me to do and be what God requires.  Regardless, that particular autumn has brought about spring.  I can now see a glimpse, in hindsight, of how God used that particular darkness.

That year as a college junior was filled with mixed emotions - autumn, winter, spring, and summer- rolled into one!  Dan and I engaged to be married, my being forced out of college - the only option to begin all over again with a different major- panic attacks, wedding plans, Dan's college graduation, me - a failure - without having failed.

How that autumn has shaped me.  My worldview, my thoughts on marriage, child training, parenting.  My thoughts on gender roles, feminism, women in the workplace.  My thoughts on education, on school, on intelligence, on life.

The autumn, the winter, beckons us to draw nearer to the warmth, to the light. The Light that is Christ.

The summer is past, autumn is upon us.

May I see His hand this season in ALL things - in the clouds, the snow, the bitter cold, the gray.  May I not only revel in His power and glory in the spring, but may I see, feel, His hand always upon us in autumn, in winter, in the seemingly dormant times of life as well.  If only I could have eyes to see, to find the light in the dark and to see more than the step just ahead.  

If only I could learn to look ahead and look beyond, to the spring that inevitably lies 
just on the other side of winter.