9-30-10 Thursday

Routine day of school and life. Boys milked twice, with Jesse hauling manure and Levi here studying in between. I walked with Karol after lunch. Taxied Jesse from Uncle Randy’s to Precision and then did a couple errands in town. Home to find chores almost done; I did household planning and school prep for next week. Uncle Randy was combining the beans in the north field, so all the kids (and me) got a turn riding for a bit. Supper, walk for Dad and me while the kids played on the haybales, Bibletime, a bit of play before supper, and beds.

Here’s how you keep orange juice from splattering in your eyes when you’re peeling oranges:

Of course Joshua wanted a turn.

Jesse and the honey wagon…and an unbelievably beautiful blue sky.

Done hauling for the day.

That’s all; time for bed.

9-29-10 Beginning of the End

Another beautiful day in central Illinois, absolutely beautiful. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Psalm 19:1.

Morning school and jobs until I, along with Sarah and Jewel, took Tori to the ortho and she got her bottom permanent retainer put on…the first step to the end of her 2.5+ years of braces. She has no bottom wire and no rubber bands now, so it is indeed looking like she’ll be braceless by Christmas or close to it. Exciting! Home to lunch and school meetings, while Tori worked on supper prep and the other kids played outside. Joshua was so good – as fussy as he was last week is as happy as he is this week. PLUS his incessant drool of the last 18 months has almost completely ceased. ??? Does this mean it’s all teeth related? It certainly could be so, although we’ll never know for sure. Anyway, after putting him down to nap, the 2 girls and I picked up Jesse at Uncle Randy’s and took him to Precision; Levi was working there between milkings. Home again, kids started in on chores and I took a delightful walk. More supper prep then, and everyone enjoyed being outside while supper baked. After supper Dad and I took a walk, and the boys had a little time to work on the trailer in the shed. Dad joined them for a little then before everyone came in for Bibletime. Lovely singing, memory verses, Proverbs 19, and discussion, then some wild time and some story time before evening chores and beds for all.

Oops. I forgot the most exciting happening of the day. Dad stepped outside after wrestling (I think to cool off) and his foot (clad only in a sock) landed right on something that really felt odd. Turning on the outside light, he saw this ugly little critter. Where it came from we don’t know; it’s just a baby. Where its mama and siblings are we don’t know either! We do know it won’t return, as its heart stopped beating due to severe trauma to its head.

So ends the ‘possum story and our day.

9-28-10 Now

I’ve had this posted on my refrigerator for years. I found it in a book by Carrie Bender; the series is Miriam’s Journal but I don’t know which book it was in. It’s incredibly profound, especially the last sentence. Read it. Think on it. Re-read it. Ponder it. Read it again, pray about it, and then ACT on it.

Now is the time to love. Tomorrow is too late to rock the baby. Tomorrow the toddler won’t be asking questions. Tomorrow the schoolboy will not need help with his lessons. Nor will he bring home his school and neighborhood friends to share in family fun. Tomorrow the teenager will have made his major decisions and will not feel a need for the nearness he longs for and which we can give him now. And tomorrow our child will be close to us or a stranger to us depending upon how we use our time for him now.

~John M. Drescher

Today was Restmor, and we were glad we weren’t the only ones there this time. John & Misty and their family and Leann and her 2 girls were there; singing was much better than last month. We did errands before and after, and were home for lunch and school meetings by 11:30. Routine afternoon. Kids spent much time outside enjoying the beautiful day. Levi and Jesse milked twice, with Levi studying here in between and Jesse hauling manure for Uncle Randy in between. Levi left to feed and milk at the dairy a little before 2:00, and I taxied Jesse there around 3:00. Home to a wonderful walk while Aunt Joyce read to the kids (Joshua was napping). Supper prep, supper, k.p., Bibletime. Dad continued on in Proverbs but I don’t remember the chapter. We talked about talebearing, slothfulness, and wastefulness. Mmm hmmm – we can all do better in those areas. Then beds for all.

Found this picture on the camera when I got back from taxiing Jesse. Mmmmmm…. EVERYB0DY loves scotcharoos!

That’s it; good night.

9-27-10 Monday

Routine day besides the boys nearly having an accident in their car; we’re always thankful each time they safely return home. School, laundry, kitchen jobs, outside jobs. Another beautiful 60-ish fall day, blue skies and the works. A great day to be alive and praising God for his goodness. Joshua and I walked with Karol and Bennet after lunch – he’s adorable, so very cute, and a happy little guy when the sun isn’t in his eyes. Didn’t get to read to the girls – had a late start which isn’t atypical of a Monday morning so didn’t finish up school meetings until afternoon. But I did get them done, and had almost everything on the list done when Dad and the boys got home. Bibletime right after supper, then a meeting with Levi, and then beds for everyone. We had a quiet house by 9:00, and now it’s time for me to head to bed too.

One picture to share…Jacob had a great idea but found it kind of hard to concentrate on his science [smile].

That’s all.

9-26-10 Fall

Fall is here. Actually I think the ‘official’ first day of autumn was a few days ago, but now it feels like it’s fall, so it’s fall. Everyone has on jackets (and stocking hats!), cornfields are emptying, there’s a delicious nip in the air, my Fujis are getting sweeter and sweeter, and the air conditioner is finally off – HOPEFULLY for good this year. We’ve used it heavily and are very thankful for it, but I’m glad to open the windows when it’s stuffy. Love that fall outdoorsy smell.

Anyway.

Church today was so good – maybe it’s redundant to say that so much but it really is so, so I’ll just keep saying it. This morning we read in Psalm 28 – verse 7 is one of my favorites: The Lord is my strength and my shield: my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. Maybe it’s because I love to sing, or maybe it’s because we are so greatly blessed and I have so much about which to rejoice. Or maybe it’s because it’s so true; trusting in Him, I am helped. Or maybe it’s because of it all; I don’t really know. At any rate, it’s close to my heart and such a blessing to read. Then we read in John 13, where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet and Judas leaves them to betray Jesus. During the reading I was thinking about how Jesus knew the future, and He knew what was coming. That had to be so hard for him; we can’t begin to imagine it. John talked about that some then, among many other things. So many thoughts are flying through my mind but I’m not going to write the whole sermon; I’ll mention one more TakeAway which will challenge me. Although there are churches that do practice literal foot-washing and that is a good thing, we have never done that which is ok too. More importantly, though, is, that we regularly, always, daily strive to practice figurative foot-washing; that is, we need to have the servant attitude that Christ was demonstrating when he washed the disciples’ feet. Whew, that’s a hard challenge….thankfully, God will help us. The afternoon’s reading was I Chronicles 21, where Joab, against his wishes, numbered Israel for King David. One clear lesson was that even leaders need to heed the warnings of others who they lead; had King David heeded Joab’s warning, much heartache could have been averted. Steve had many other encouraging and convicting exhortations; I’ve written enough though and will try to put a link in here to our church website where the entire sermon can be heard. I’ve never done this before, but here goes…

www.tremontacc.org

Home right after church so the boys could get to the dairy to feed and then milk. A much-needed nap for Joshua, free time for others (four-wheeler, dirtbike, reading, swing…), and I got to walk with Dad…with a snack of a fresh-picked-right-from-the-tree Fuji apple. Mmmmmm. Doesn’t get much better than that. Beautiful blue sky dotted with fluffy cotton clouds, and that fall nip in the air…aahhh, life is good; God is good.

All this, and heaven too – and ONLY because He Bore It All.

My precious Savior suffered pain and agony, He bore it all that I might live;

He broke the bonds of sin and set the captive free, He bore it all that I might live, in His presence live.

They placed a crown of thorns upon my Savior’s head, He bore it all that I might live;

By cruel man with spear His side was pierced and bled, He bore it all that I might live, in His presence live.

Up Calv’ry’s hill in shame the blessed Savior trod, He bore it all that I might live;

Between two thieves they crucified the Son of God, He bore it all that I might live, in His presence live.

He bore it all that I might see His shining face,

He bore it (freely bore it) all, that I might (I with Him might) live.

I stood condemned to die but Jesus (freely) took my place,

He bore it all that I might live, in his presence live.

Hallelujah for the cross!

**********

ASK joined us for supper (G & G and Uncle Dave’s were invited but couldn’t come), and we enjoyed a calm (well, kind of) evening inside playing games etc. For Bibletime, we sang a few songs and reviewed the chapter we’re memorizing, and then everyone, all the way down to Jewel, told something he/she learned today. With 10 of us sharing, it took a little while, but it was really a good exercise. Ben told us about the object lesson ASK did (Lego house on sand and rock) and remembered the rock is Jesus Christ. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. Sarah and Jewel told us about their Sunday School lessons, and the rest of us shared something from either the morning or afternoon sermon. It was good; I hope we do it again sometime. Then evening chores and beds for all.

A few pictures of the evening:

Guess who won?

Milles Borne.

Of course Dad is on the bottom – his loving sons gang up on him. Dad had lots of turns on top, but I didn’t get the picture before the other loving son joined in.

That’s all.

9-25-10 Rainy Saturday

After a later night we all slept in some, except Levi and Jesse who milked. Normal breakfast prep and other jobs, then Aunt Sarah and I went to The Skirt Outlet in Eureka and found a few nice skirts for me and the girls. Dad and the kids here worked in the shed and on the yard; the temperature dropped steadily so when ASK and I got home, all the girls and Ben were in the house. Dad and Jacob were doing errands in Morton, Jesse was weed-whacking, and Levi had gone to haul manure for Uncle Randy. ASK and I grabbed a quick walk before she went home; soon after that, the rain started…and it drizzled most of the afternoon. I blogged, read to girls, ironed, etc.: no big projects so it was pretty calm. During choretime, Dad and I did a few errands in Washington – one being a new store that has LOTS of nice, long, VERY reasonably priced skirts (new, meaning I just found out about it – actually it’s been there 5 years). We picked up Italian from Michael’s and came home and had supper. K.p., baths/showers, boys home, a dvd for kids while Dad & I paid bills and did banking, lots of toys out, Bibletime, beds. WONDERFUL day; thank You Lord Jesus for keeping us all safe and blessing us with good health. We are so blessed – hardly seems fair sometimes that we have so much and others have so little…and God keeps giving and giving and giving. He is SO GOOD.

9-24-10 Friday

Another routine Friday. Boys milked twice and were home studying in between. Levi went to Precision at noon, and I ran Jesse down to him for the evening milking. Other than that – I did school meetings (spelling tests and point rewards) and planning for next week and kids worked on their job lists. They did a great job too – the house and yard look wonderful. Too bad it doesn’t last long, but it’s nice to know my job lists are effective. After lunch I took Joshua in the stroller while I walked – he did pretty well considering he doesn’t usually like it. It was a beautiful day after the morning drizzle stopped, bright and sunny and cool. After chores, we all headed to Nate & Sandi’s for a wonderful evening of food, fun, and fellowship.

A new pet joined our family today.

 

The highlight of Sarah’s night was giving Rubie her bottle.

 

That’s all.

9-23-10 Homeschooling Perks

Today started out cool and beautiful; Jacob and Kate did a good job on their studies. Maybe the fresh air helps them?

We have had many cats over the years, but few that are nice enough to put up with playing house.

Routine morning, then at 11:30 Tori, the 3 littles, and I did an Aldi run before Tori’s orthodontist appointment. We ate lunch in the van and were home with a vanload around 2:00. Afternoon was routine after that, although I never did get Jacob’s meeting in. ASK stopped by and we had a quick walk while kids did chores. Right after supper we loaded up in the van and went to look at an antique tractor which Jesse was interested in purchasing. He’s been looking for a long while now…and I’m glad to say his looking is over, as he bought the tractor. I know it’s a Ford, but that’s about it; I know nothing more. I’ll get some pictures when they pick it up. Jesse is hoping to restore it and use it around here; Dad and I are hoping he learns a lot. It should be a good project for him this winter. Home after 9:00 and beds for all.

9-22-10 Wednesday

Routine slow day; aaahh, I like the sound of that. School, jobs, play. Levi was at Precision all day, coming home around 4:30 to do some studying. Jesse, for the first time in a long time, was home all day studying and working here. Nice. Very hot again. Walked here with Karol; she helped me pick up trash which was long overdue. Since I’m a wimp and don’t walk when it’s really hot, there was a lot of litter which annoys me immensely. Joshua had no fever, cough, or runny nose, but was still pretty fussy much of the day. Teeth, I guess. After supper, Dad and I walked while the kids played on the haybales – it was a beautiful evening and hard to pull everyone inside for baths and showers before Bibletime. We read in Proverbs 16 and talked a bit about pride before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Several examples were offered and discussed. Many of us had thought that verse said pride goeth before a fall, but it doesn’t. And we weren’t sure what the difference is between pride and a haughty spirit. I don’t know that we came up with any conclusions on that, but we do know that God doesn’t want us to have either one and will help us overcome if we ask Him.

Then bedtime for all.

9-21-10 Tuesday

Still hot. Otherwise a routine (love that word) school day. For the first time I feel like I’m getting caught up on things since we started school. No tomatoes waiting (well, only a few anyway), the few apples left on the tree aren’t quite ready yet, it’s too hot to dry apples in the dehydrator, I have all the school prep done for the year (at least for now anyway), and I even gave 2 piano lessons and took a walk today. Whew. I’m not quite sure how that happened, especially since Joshua had fever on and off again all day too. Overnight wasn’t the best – he was up quite a bit; he slept fitfully which meant I did too. Anyway. Boys milked twice, and Levi took Jesse to Uncle Randy’s in between. Jesse was spraying hog buildings and spread manure some too. Levi was home in between studying. After school was done, Kate and Tori made bread and bars, and I helped with k.p. and then took a walk. Read to littles awhile. Returned emails, and even put some recipes on the computer for the Harvest of Gold cookbook. After supper, Dad and I took a brisk walk – I can hardly keep up with him sometimes but that’s good. Home to find the boys here eating supper, and pjs for all followed by Bibletime and beds. Dad read in Proverbs 16 – there is so much to ponder in Proverbs we can’t possibly talk about it all. Tonight’s focus was on the verse that talks about much revenue without righteousness versus little revenue with righteousness. (Can’t quote it but that’s the gist.) It was a good discussion that reinforced the importance of eternal things versus earthly gain.  Finally put littles to bed so they can get up tomorrow; bigs did evening chores, read awhile, now heading to beds too.

Good night.

9-20-10 A.C. Again

Yup – hot and humid again today; the air conditioner sure felt good. Thankfully we have God’s promise that the seasons will not fail; we know winter will come eventually.

Not much happened today, hooray! School in the morning, with boys milking then coming home around 11:30. Since it was too wet to haul manure for Uncle Randy, Jesse started in on geometry; Levi went to Precision at noon. Around 2:00, about the time I realized Joshua had a touch of fever (???), Aunt Marj picked up Jesse as it had dried off enough. Joshua took a good nap and woke up pretty happy; mild fever kind of came and went but so far he has no other symptoms. And hopefully he won’t share it with his loving siblings. Levi got home around 5:00 (?) and Dad was home at 5:30! Supper, a walk with Dad, and he and I took the 3 littles with us to pick up Jesse at Uncle Randy’s around 7:30. Home to Bibletime and beds. Dad read in Proverbs 15, and we talked about verse 3: The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. I told how Sarah, after breaking Kate’s special 10-color crayon, came up to me: “Mom…oh, never mind.” A few minutes later, she was back, and told me that thing just had a little crack in it. (“What thing? What are you talking about?!”) After a few more questions, she finally got the story out, and I was so glad she told me – obviously it was a HARD thing for her to do. Kate heard both conversations and also saw what I didn’t – Sarah left me the first time and just stood in the garage for a few minutes, not doing anything (very unusual for our Sarah) before she returned the second time and told me what she had done. Ben chimed in – he had wondered why Sarah was just standing in the garage doing nothing. It was a good illustration of how God sees all, knows all, and wants us to do what’s right even if no one else sees us. From that, our discussion digressed delightfully into children stories at the corn boil last evening; I’ll try to record a few as they were told tonight.

Levi was taking little Kate to see Lovey’s new kittens, telling her she could only hold them a little while because they were still really little. She had a cute little frown as she told him, “But I wanted to hold them a lot of while.” Of course she did – they are adorable kittens! But she did really good and held them a little while just like Levi told her; he got a chuckle out of it and we all enjoyed the story too.

As one of Duane and Alissa’s girls got out of their car and ran to her Grandpa (Uncle Randy), one of our kids (Kate, I think) overheard her tell Uncle Randy, “Last time we were here I dropped my cookie, and the DOG ate it!” What precious blessings children are!

A few pictures. I couldn’t get many good pictures – the girls hardly wanted to look away from their pets.

They are really really cute – and friendly. Hopefully some will survive; considering there are SIX kittens in the litter they look really healthy so far.

That’s it; good night.

9-19-10 Corn Boil

Oh, it was good to be in church again. We all missed it these past two Sundays. Although it seemed emptier than usual as quite a few were missing, singing was still beautiful and fellowship was precious. I can’t remember a specific TakeAway although we heard many good exhortations on humility and meekness among other things: good reminders for all of us.

Supper was a DELICIOUS novelty. This year was our turn to host the annual Kaiser wiener roast, and what Joyce originally planned to be a depression era pan fried chicken supper for Grandpa’s 80th birthday at Cullinan Park somehow turned into a corn boil out here instead. I think it was a combination of excessive negativity by some (one?) of her brothers (no names but he knows who he is), our offer to host it out here so we could use our shed in case of rain, and Uncle Don’s aspiration to try the corn boil. At any rate, it was very very very good, although with the spices that added so much taste, I’m not sure it qualified as depression era. From what I’ve heard about that era, the food was basic (which it was tonight) but pretty bland. Well, depression era fare or not, I hope we do this again – it was very fun and VERY good. Anyway.

Very soon after we got home from church, the boys started the fire and Chief Cook Uncle Don was out with all the food for supper. Chief Planner/Organizer Aunt Joyce wasn’t far behind him, and the corn boil began. I was in the house doing inside operations and missed out on much of this step, so Kate took most of these pictures – she really does a good job (thanks, Kate!).

Covering the first pan…

…and it’s cooking.

Assembling the second pan…

 

Needs more vegetables…

…and it’s ready to cook.

And there they cooked for a couple hours.

 

Since we’re abundantly blessed with watermelon, we decided to add one to the menu for the evening.

This one was our biggest of the year so far – weighed in at a whopping 40 pounds! I didn’t get any pictures of it cut, but it was bright red and oh so sweet and juicy. Delicious!

Aunt Marj supplied decorations.

Adding more water. The food is on a raised tray: the boiling water underneath it steams the food and has to be replaced often.

Testing.

4:30.  Although most Kaisers were here, there were several who couldn’t come; they were missed.

Dad, Grandpa, Mike, Uncle Harley.

Derek and his fiance Meaghan.

YUMMMM

 

I wasn’t the only one snapping away!

Kate wanted to sit by Kate again.

 

 

After a beautiful evening (thankfully the predicted rain didn’t materialize) of much fun, food, and fellowship, everyone left by 8:30. Amazingly enough, while I bathed littles and got them to beds, Dad and the big kids had the entire shed, yard, and house pretty much cleaned up by 8:47. What a crew!

Beds for us too then, and that’s it.