Final Cakes

As I mentioned in a previous post, Lauren and I just finished a Wilton cake decorating class. Here are our final cakes. Mine is the white and hers is the colored roses. She wrote, "Lauren loves her family." Sweet!

Homemaking Skills for Annagrace

I have posted much on this blog about Lauren's handiwork. She is one crafty inclined young lady. Well, recently it has really been hitting me that my second daughter, Annagrace, is more than ready to begin learning homemaking skills and crafting as well. So, we have made a few small attempts at learning to sew, craft, and cook lately. I found a vintage teddy bear kit that I purchased and surprised her with. She was really pleased with her finished product. The bear was sewn together with pre-cut pieces of felt, so it was super easy but rewarding. Also, last Sunday I did tie blankets with Lauren and Annagrace. I bought the pre-cut kits half off at Joaann's fabric store. I love the excitement I see in my girl's faces when they have completed a project. It really is important to me that my girls learn these womanly arts. I want them to be skilled homemakers so that they can one day take care of their own families if the Lord chooses to bless them with homes of their own.

"And so TRAIN the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled." Titus 2:4-5

The word TRAIN strikes me in the above verse from Titus. A little girl is not going to grow up somehow just knowing how to be a woman of God, how to be kind, how to work at home, how to love her family, etc. Our little girls have to be TRAINED in Biblical womanhood. It is a mother's privilege and responsibility to TRAIN her daughters day by day, precept upon precept. It is easy for me to get caught up in the mundane duties of each day and forget to TRAIN as we walk the path each day.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
English Standard Version (ESV)
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. I feel so blessed when I do take the time to TRAIN my girls and see the joy it brings to them. I hope one day they in turn will TRAIN their daughters and the legacy of Biblical Womanhood will be passed from one generation to the next. I have much to learn about the training of my children. I make many mistakes all the time, but the Lord is faithful to continue TRAINING me too. :)

Fall Table

I hear so many speakers/authors talking about the importance of the family table these days. My understanding is that with our crazy busy culture many families rarely even sit and eat together anymore. Because of this many speakers on family issues are encouraging people to rethink their commitments so that they can prioritize the family meal time. Meal time is a time for sharing and fellowship. Now I will be the FIRST to say that meal time is not a relaxing time at our house. With lots of little people it is more chaotic than anything. Even so it is my desire to work toward that goal of meal time being a haven; a time where the family gathers and gives thanks and shares about our lives and about the Lord's faithfulness. Author/speaker Sally Clarkson talks a lot about creating atmosphere in our homes. She encourages small steps such as lighting a candle or playing classical music. Sometimes little efforts can go a long ways in communicating that meal time is special and important. When our children are grown I hope that they always look forward to coming back to the family table and sharing times of togetherness. As I said, we have a long ways to go in this but I do think it is important enough to work at. These pictures show a recent attempt I made in this area. I just used our glass dishes instead of paper plates and added little pumpkin cut outs from the dollar store. I also lit a fall scented candle.

Our Garden

We have been enjoying watching the vegetables in our garden grow. Matt worked extremely hard to plant a garden, and now we are all enjoying seeing the fruit as the food is growing rapidly. So far we have enjoyed a few radishes, as you can see from the salad picture. Also, we are enjoying some fresh cucumbers, and the children even enjoy munching on raw green beans. We are looking forward to much good produce to come. It is a great science lesson for us all to see the different stages of growth with each plant.

Life in our new home

Here are a few pics from our new home. There are several peacocks that roam our street. They visit us everyday. Abbie Joy has a limited vocabulary, but one of her words is now, "peacock."

This peacock is sitting on the balcony off of our homeschool room.

There is no shortage of messes already being made with a nineteen month old in the house.

Here is our cat. The children named her LUV. She really is very sweet. A cat that puts up with her tail being pulled is pretty easy going. :)

Stair Railing

The house we bought in Fulshear was built the year I was born. I guess I will never forget how old the house is. :) There are MANY projects to be done, but some HAD to be done immediately for safety reasons. The stair railing was one of those projects. The slats were spaced so far apart that Abbie Joy could go through them. Also the railing was insanely short. A HUGE safety concern. So, here are pics of the change from the old railing to the new one. Matt pretty much designed the look of the new railing. I thought he did a great job!

An Answered Prayer!

It has been a LONG time since I last blogged. A lot has happened in our family, so I have much to report. The Lord has faithfully answered our prayer to provide us with a home in the country. We have prayed for a home where we can raise our children and give them room to run and play. Matt and I have prayed long and hard about this and have searched far and wide. Our dream of having land for our children to grow up on often times seemed impossible. We basically looked for a new home for two years, and during that time the Lord shut one door after another. Some of the homes we prayed over we really felt were what we needed. It was very discouraging for us to see one door after another shut. Over the last year we lived through having our house on the market for about a year. It was a huge burden to our whole family trying to show a house, being pregnant with baby number five, trying to keep homeschooling going and be ready at any time to show the house. Many times I cried out to the Lord to deliver us from what felt like such a huge inconvenience. All the while the Lord was preparing the right home for us, but we had to be patient and continue to trust His Sovereignty even when we could not see or understand His perfect plan. Basically the searching, praying, trying to sell a house, etc. went on for about two years.

Finally the night before Easter Matt and I decided we had probably wasted the past year and that we were going to have to give up on selling our house. For one we had received NO offers on it and secondly we could not find a home on land that was big enough for our growing family. We went to bed discouraged and heart weary over the matter. Well, the next day we pulled ourselves up and dressed the kids for church. Right before the service began I reached down into my purse to turn off my cell phone. That is when I saw that an offer had come in on my email. Since church was about to begin I could not open the attachment, so we waited until after church to open and read the offer. The Lord had resurrected our hope on resurrection Sunday. Isn't that just like Him to work in meaningful ways like that? We went home that afternoon and started searching homes on the internet again. The following week we spent many hours searching and searching. As it turns out there was a house that we had previously seen and driven by, but it was out of our budget. Well, that house had been on the market for about the same amount of time as our home. The owners kept dropping the price of the home as our house sat not doing anything. The Lord was having us wait until the price of the home was within reach for us. As He would have it to be the house dropped in price again about the same time that we received an offer on our house. The Lord was completely in control of all circumstances and timing. The rest is history. We went through the contract stage and closed on our new home.

We have been in our new home several weeks and are busily trying to get things set up and functioning. We have been blown away by the help that family and friends have provided. People have helped us move, watched our children, helped with unpacking and on and on. We have really been touched by the outpouring of help that people have provided. Moving onto 3.5 acres, in a house that needed a lot of work, with things that are not functioning correctly, during the last trimester of this pregnancy............has been a huge challenge. If it were not for the gracious help that so many have given I don't know how we would have made it. We are deeply appreciative.

We have seen the hand of the Lord in a miraculous provision of more than we thought possible. We would have been happy with one acre, but the Lord has given 3.5 acres. We did not pray for a pool, but He provided a pool. The whole family is loving it! The house feels huge, the location is ideal and much more. The Lord even provided a kitty for the children that came along with the house. :) He has just taken care of us day by day. No, none of this has been easy, and we have been bone weary many times but God has been faithful! He continues to help us day by day. Our children have been gone during much of this time staying with my parents off and on just so that we can try to get on top of things.

We know that big adjustments are ahead with Lilly Faith joining our family SOON and the kids coming back home, getting back to homeschooling, etc. Things still seem overwhelming, however, when I reflect upon how far the Lord has taken us I know He will continue to lead us through all the settling in and adjustments ahead. I share this story in hopes of encouraging my readers in the fact that our Lord is in control, He can move mountains, and He always answers prayer in His time and His way. We would not have chosen any of the trials over the past two years, but it is sweet to see the faithfulness of our Lord and what He has done for us. We do not deserve His goodness, but He delights in His children and in giving good gifts. One more thing, when we were going through this whole ordeal the Lord made it crystal clear that the house situation was a mountain that only He could move. Matt and I knew that there was NOTHING within our power to change the situation. The Lord ministered to me through the song that says, "Savior He can move the mountains; my God is mighty to save." Well, He did work in a mighty way, and we are so thankful. We want to use our new home/land to raise our children in His ways and to bless others who visit us. We pray that our home will reflect His goodness and be a blessing to many people. I will post pictures in the next post. :)

Our Second Attempt at Homemade Laundry Soap!

Last year the children and I made our first attempt at homemade laundry soap. It seemed to work o.k., but I realized that I made a mistake in the recipe. I am using the Duggar family recipe which calls for Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda. Last year I used Baking Soda instead. Also, last year we used a Zote bar, and this time we tried Fels Naptha. We will see if there is much difference. I can say that the Fels Naptha is harder to grate. The kids think it is a blast grating it though. The Duggars say that the Super Washing Soda works much better than Baking Soda, so we will see how this mixture differs. Here are some pictures below.

Gabriel is holding the grated Fels Naptha soap. It looked like grated cheese.

Here my fascinated observers are checking out the soap after we melted it in four cups of hot water. I love the look of curiosity on their faces!

At this point, we filled up a five gallon bucket half way with warm water, added the melted soap, mixed in 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Super Washing Soda. Then we mixed all up and finished filling the bucket with warm water. My last step was to add in some peppermint essential oil when the mixture had cooled. It is supposed to sit overnight to thicken up.

Here you can see the ingredients we used. I will add that the Super Washing Soda is not easy to find. The only place I found it was at Kroger's. That is the whole reason I used Baking Soda last time. The Duggars say not to use Baking Soda, so I am excited to see how this recipe compares. Below is the recipe as I found it on the Duggar's web site. Now I have five gallons of laundry soap for a few dollars maybe. Think of the savings!

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

A Long Work in Progress

We have been working on a major job around our house. After over four years of little ones making our carpet less than sanitary, we are finally laying laminate floors. My wonderful husband has been working very diligently for weeks on this project. Gabriel has been his assistant some of the time in the prep work pulling up nails and tac board. I am posting a before picture of the family room and later will post some after pictures. Basically Matt is redoing the flooring throughout all of the house with the exception of the stairs and the wet areas. It is a very l-o-n-g project, and I am incredibly thankful to Matt for his hard work for our family.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Well, after making our own laundry soap I decided to make some homemade dishwashing detergent. Here is the recipe I used:

One and one half cups of Borax

One and one half cups of Baking Soda

One half a cup of Salt

I just poured it into a dispenser and shook it up real good. The Borax is toxic if ingested, but so are other detergents. Just keep it away from little explorers. ;) Also, it is recommended that you scrub the food off the dishes before washing, but we always do that anyways.

Ruth

Our Homemade Laundry Soap

The children and I decided to try the homemade laundry soap the Duggar Family makes. We are spending quite a bit on laundry detergent and decided it would be fun to give this a try!!! I will post the directions as seen on the Duggar website. I also found many different variations online. You can even watch people making the soap on Youtube. We did make one mistake that we will change next time. We used baking soda instead of washing soda. There is a difference, but our detergent is still working. I have not been able to find washing soda anywhere. It is by Arm and Hammer, but I think I may have to order it online. We used the pink zote bar, and Lauren loved the color and getting to grate it. I was a little nervous about trying this with all four children, but we ended up creating a fun memory. We have kept our detergent in a five gallon bucket and use a ladle to scoop it out. You can water it down more as described below. I also put a little bit of peppermint essential oil in ours.
So here are the directions I got from the Duggar's website:


TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)