Our First "Gig"....

I think we've been officially adopted by an adult care center in CR. We were there watching Olivia's Irish Step Dance troupe perform and really, really enjoyed visiting with the people there. Some places you walk in and think "ick"...this place was homey, friendly and we saw at least 4 African Americans there. I was thinking "I can't wait to meet them!". They LOVED Carsen and wanted everyone up front to get introduced. The kids all enjoyed talking and giving hugs. We met Grandma Florence from TN...Jackie from Chicago...Jake, an older gentleman that came up and introduced himself and started telling us about his former bull riding days. (he stayed on 9 seconds...the next day the bull was sent to the slaughter house)

This is something I've wanted to do for years but it seemed overwhelming with so many kids. This felt like God was saying "OK...here's the place and now's the time".

We're excited to visit again and hear many more stories. Who knows...we may be calling out Bingo numbers :)

Finding Your Life...

(I read this on someone else's blog and it moved me)



“May you find your life in losing it. May you live your life

by dying daily. May you give it all and keep nothing for

yourself. May your treasure chest be filled to overflowing
with the priceless crowns of sacrificial devotion.
May you give yourself away in a joyful and risky abandon.

May you follow the Lamb even if He takes you up a hill and

onto a brutal cross. Especially if He takes you there.

May you turn your back on safety and comfort and predictable

and soft - and pour yourself out like a drink offering of love on

the least of these, on the most of these, for the death and the life

of these. May you spend what you cannot keep to gain what

you can never lose. May you awake to live His dream, not

yours, or your country’s , nor your family’s. And may you rejoice

to hear the applause which is a weight of eternal glory too heavy

to bear.” (~Timothy Stoner

Farmer's Wife...

I feel most like a farmer's wife when I go out in the garden to pick our salad for dinner. The lettuce is up...the spinach is up...the radishes are up...and green onions are up (the green beans are doing poorly) This is no small miracle folks. And I can't take any credit for our garden. Dave and the kids did most of the planting (I'm a weeder and waterer) I did toss a few potatoes in some holes...we'll see if we remember where they are.
So...like I said...I feel most like a farmer's wife picking our dinner salad out of the garden before a rain. And we didn't even eat it for dinner tonight. At least it's all washed, tossed and ready for tomorrow!
And I don't even have to water the garden tonight :)

It's a Crock

Dinner's cooking in the crock...marinated garlic porkloin. If it's good I'll post the recipe. Super easy and I have another 1/2 loin in the freezer for another night. #8 of pork is a huge piece! The recipe calls to split it into thirds...but with our crew I chose to 1/2 the recipe. Probably serve with rice and salad. (I'm still researching rice cookers!)

Baked potatoes and chili for lunch. That should be quick, easy and filling. Not what I'd choose to eat on a nice warm day...but it works.

Boiled 18 eggs for snack or breakfast tomorrow.

Olivia and Carsen let our new chicks outside and are supervising them. So cute to see Carsen sitting by the fence throwing food to them.

Chloe and Josie are playing "old-fashion" dress-up.

Ellie is reading Little Women.

Not sure where Marie, Caleb and Isaac are...I think down playing by the pond.

Lest you think I have it all together here's how our morning really went:

1. cold cereal for breakfast
2. laundry folded but stacked on the back of the sofa and on the sofa (from yesterday)
3. inside chores are not all done
4. I'm still in my pjs
5. the two boys assigned to washing/drying/putting away dishes got into a water fight (in the kitchen) Pushing and hitting each other...ending up in tears.
Correction administered. And there's still dishes in the sink.

When part of the morning goes well...the other part falls to pieces. Not sure there will ever be balance! At least we'll have dinner tonight.
Off to a chiropractor appointment soon.

Best Buy Ever!

In an attempt to try to get more chores done around here (mostly to make things easier for me!)

I bought a very small, rechargeable vacuum cleaner called "the Shark" (<$30)  It's cheesy, doesn't hold a charge long, but does do an ok job of picking up things on the carpet and hardwood floors.  If you pull wrong or push too fast the handle comes apart which is highly annoying for me!  But I can deal with it.

The kids LOVE it!  They fight over vacuuming.  They can carry it upstairs and vacuum their own rooms. (even under beds!) Carsen uses it until it needs charged again.   The floor has never been cleaner :) 

It's not going to replace my regular vacuum...but it's great for the everyday small stuff that gets tracked all over.  I'd say it's PRICELESS! 

A Strange Thing Is Happening Around Here....

Today I was sewing and making homemade laundry detergent. Scary. Don't get too excited...I wasn't using a sewing machine. Just going through the pile of things that needed buttons, a hole fixed or a do-dad sewn on. I've conquered the pile...until the next button falls off.

See recipe below for the detergent recipe. Don't expect this very often. It think it's the weather.

Trying Something New...

I know this is just totally not like me...but I made homemade laundry detergent!
A friend tried it and told me how cheap it is...and that it really works and I guess my cheapness won me over. Supposedly I will spend about $15-20 a year on detergent instead of ??? (I really have no clue) But I know I spend about $15 on the big box of Tide I was buying.

So here's the recipe if you want to try it: Below is the version for a front load washer..I'll include the orginal recipe too)

1 bar Naptha soap (found this in the cleaning aisle of Hy-vee)

3/4 c. Arm and Hammer washing soda (NOTE-not the same as baking soda) Also in the cleaning aisle

2 1/4 c. Borax (same place)

First you get a 5 gallon bucket with lid (pretty cheap at Menard's)
Next grate the Naptha bar soap with a veggie grater (it should be fine to use for food again...just wash in the dishwasher) I'll probably just get a new one because I need one anyway!
Put the grated soap in a saucepan and add 12 cups water. Heat until soap melts. Add the washing soda and Borax. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 cups of hot water in the bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir. Now add 2 gallons plus 12 cups of water and stir. Let set for 24 hrs stirring when you think of it. You can also add essential oils to this (which I didn't)

Use 1 c. for large loads... 1/2 c. for smaller loads.

For regular washers use:
1 bar Naptha soap
1 1/2 c. Borax
1 1/2 c. washing soda

I might be trying handsoap for the foam dispensers and dishwasher detergent eventually. Or I might never get to that. Just a thought.

Couple pictures....

Here is a photo of all our chore lists....

And I had to include a picture of this card my brother-in-law sent me. If you can't see it well this lady is vacuuming and her little dog is jumping up in the air so she can get under him :) I had to really study the card to make sure he didn't photoshop my picture on the lady vacuuming. Scary how much it looks like me!!

Now We're Getting Somewhere....

Not sure how well this will work...or how efficient we'll become...but I've struggled with having schedules and chore charts forever. It undid me. Frustrated me. Overwhelmed me. I made an attempt to write out a 3x5 recipe card for each child with all the chores I could think of they can do. After sitting on that awhile...I transferred them to a sheet of paper in a plastic sleeve protector so I won't have to rewrite lists everyday--or every week. (not rocket science is it?) I'm just not a naturally organized person and things like this perplex me to the point of not even attempting to do them. So how do you eat an "elephant"? One bite at a time. It's not a big deal if I mess up cards...if I have to rewrite chores...add chores...take away chores. I am CAPABLE. (yes I have to tell myself that often!!!) Remember I'm still very much getting use to being a mother to a "large family". That still is shocking sometimes.
I'm trying to bite off little pieces at a time. Checking things off of a list. Not getting overwhelmed. Just do the one next thing as Elizabeth Elliott said (I think she said that)

Today we also made a visit to the new school 5 kids will be attending this fall. It's run through our church. I didn't even feel nauseated walking in the door. We'll have kids in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. What a load off of me that will be!! It's not even feeling real yet. Another step of faith and seeing what God will do.