Spring update

  Hello friend,
 Hope you are doing well, and enjoying the spring weather where you live.
 It has been a rather cold start to our spring here in Ohio, but we are hoping with anticipation that we will start seeing blooms on the trees and warmer days for more enjoyable walks.
  A lot has been going on in our life lately, good things mostly. It all has been keeping me away from writing.  My lovely husband has been gracious to me and let me take some time for myself and work on this post.  It is a great outlet for me to be able to share with like minded mammas about the wonderful things we are learning and experiencing in  our daily life.  
  I started a Charlotte Mason Book study! We are going through The Charlotte Mason Companion by. Karen Andreola. Lovely book that got me started on the path we are on today. I love Karen's insight and her writing, she really inspires me in our homeschool journey. I also read her blog and I have to say it is also very lovely. Check it out!   Although, if you are a serious fan of Miss.Mason's work, you must read her Original six volumes. 
    My goal for this study was and is, is to encourage other moms in their journey of schooling their children. God has given us such a privilege  to be able teach our children and I feel like the Lord has blessed me so much with this wonderful information, that I cant help but share with others. Our first meeting went well, we had tea and coffee and 
 Italian Puff Pastry .   We meet once a month and I'm looking forward to our next meeting in April!
 Another new thing to us is that my husband started a ministry a few months ago. We have prayed and continue to pray about where the Lord is leading us. We want to be intentional with our time and the things that occupy  our life. The Lord has supplied everything needed to start this ministry and  I believe lots of lives will be transformed by The Lord through this new and amazing journey. Not by anything that we will do, but by what God is willing to do through us.  The Lord put it on our heart to feed and clothed the least and love people like we love ourselves and to share the gospel to anyone who will listen. To have our children next to us serving and loving people all around us.
 This spring we are stepping out in faith, we are starting  a garden to be able to provide fresh organic produce to people who are in need. While we share the love of Christ. God has been working in my heart for some time now and I have to say that there are times when he asks things of us that we might not be to happy about doing. But I know that when I don't do what he calls me to do, I simply miss out on the blessing that he has for me. As I sat in the morning a few weeks ago during my quiet time, my heart was so stirred by a simple verse that I had read many times. But that morning it was really on my heart. Mark 12:32  You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.  How do I love my neighbor? Was my question. Have I ever loved them as I do myself? A honest answer,  No. Yes sure, I like to be kind and invite people to my house for tea, to help here and there, but would I or could I love my neighbor as myself?  Only by Gods Grace could I love people the way the Lord loves. So here we are, empty vessels being used by an all powerful all amazing God who has the power to transform any and every life he chooses. I am so grateful he transformed and continuously is still transforming my heart daily. All glory to Him.  Glory to my precious LORD and Savior. May I always have that desire to serve him no matter the cost.
 
  1 Peter 4:10 As
  each has received a gift, use it to serve  one another
as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Luke 3:10-11 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

  I am so grateful to be able to take my children to the grocery store and buy healthy food, my heart is heavy for  those who have no choice, but what little they can afford. And most of that is processed  unhealthy food like products. Nothing nutritious for the body. do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

 

 Ok, so that was long.. hehe.. I promise we have been doing school as well as everything else. 
 I will be writing about some Herbs and what we are currently learning in the next post coming soon. I also wanted to start incorporating some herb facts in each post and a recipe loved by us. Can't wait to write again soon. ~Blessings~

    Acts 20:35-38 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.




         

The Beauty of God's Creation!

Hope you are enjoying more of the spring weather we've been having.
 We sure have been enjoying more Nature walks and watching Little signs of spring unfold. From the melting snow and ice to little baby lambs and little baby squirrels running and playing. The birds are defiantly in abundance, and I feel so blessed to hear their morning chirp chirp. It makes me want to watch The secret Garden with the children, or even better read the lovely book. We have been reading a lot from our Science/geography book called Jack's Insects. The children have really been enjoying it and ask me to read the next chapter frequently throughout the day.. The book really pulls us in,(hehe..) in it's conversational style. Jack and Maggie are having a conversation between each other, about what it means to be an entomologist and how Maggie doesn't like that Jack kills the butterfly's. The suspense when we found out that Jack and Maggie actually went into Jacks Insect book and They met a Big Beautiful Morpho Butterfly that could talk! The Butterfly could talk.. What kid or mama wouldn't like this kind of book?! We have been studying the birds that we have local to our area. We truly enjoy bird watching. Today as we enjoyed our walk, we got to hear the sweet sound of the Red-winged blackbird. We watched carefully as the Downy Woodpecker made himself at home at the feeders. The beauty of their black and white pattern and the lovely red spot on their heads. It truly amazes me... To try to fathom what God was thinking when he created such lovely creatures. It also makes me think of nature and every living creature differently. Like as before I would think ye, birds are cool, or ye animals are animals... Now I cant help but think of my awesome creator. How majestic he is. and how sad it makes me that his creation would hurt in anyway. Is that weird? You probably think, wow, she is a little crazy. That's ok though. 
  John 1:3
 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing that was made.

 Psalm 19:1
  To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
 
  I just love that. All God's handiwork.
 Today  we got to learn a little bit about what the fish eat at our local nature center and the naturalist on staff asked if the children would like to help him feed the fish. Of cores they said yes and Alex our oldest wanted to feed the little goldfish to the big fish in the tank, but when it came down to it he said never mind. After we had left I asked, how come you changed your mind? and he said, well, I felt bad for the goldfish, and I didn't want to touch it. He always surprises me. He didn't want to hurt the gold fish.. That was very sweet.

       

                           Our view this morning.



            

                   Isaiah totally excited to run and play in the mud



  

 

 

Empty milkweed pods..

 

 Feeding the fish.

 

The open field.

 

 How are you enjoying the weather? Are you a nature lover like us? Do share with me.
 I leave you tonight with this Lovely Poem by Harry Behn.

   Trees

Trees are the kindest thing I know,
They do not harm, they simply grow

And spread a shade for sleepy cows,
And gather birds among their boughs.

They give us fruit in leaves above,
And wood to make our houses of,

And leaves to burn on Hallowe'en,
And in the Spring, new buds of green.

They are first when day's begun
To touch the beams of morning sun,

They are the last to hold the light
When evening changes into night,

And when a moon floats on the sky
They hum a drowsy lullaby

Of sleepy children long ago...
Trees are the kindest things I know.

               

Children and the art of Gardening

 Hi friends!
 So I'm very excited about this post because its one of my favorite subject. Well, it could be a subject. Since spring will be here soon... I hope soon. We keep having lots of snow and very cold temperatures here in Ohio. We started dreaming of what we will plant in January. Waiting patiently for all the different seed catalogs, its a good way to stay focused what's to come once spring arrives instead of focusing on all the snow, that seems like it will never end. I cant imagine my friends in Alaska.
This year we ordered our seeds from     http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/Vegetables/?search=0623A&ext=F  
   Last year we ordered from   http://www.highmowingseeds.com/ 
These two are my very favorite. Non GMO seeds and Lots of Organic Heirloom seeds.
   We started our seeds! Yey!

   I'm sure Charlotte Mason would approve of this as well. What an art.
 

   

                                                 The children waiting with anticipation.

                                               Planting White cucumbers!
  
  

  
      

                                                            eggshells ,Peas it was!


  

                                                                    2013 Garden

 Leaving you tonight with a poem. Happy gardening!


Garden Magic

 This is the garden's magic,
That through the sunny hours
The gardener who tends it, Himself outgrows his flowers.

He grows by gift of patience,
Since he who sows must know
That only in the Lord's good time
Does any seedling grow.

He learns from buds unfolding,
From each tight leaf unfurled,
That his own heart, expanding,
Is one with all the world.

He bares his head to sunshine,
His bending back a sign
Of grace, and ev'ry shower becomes
His sacramental wine.

And when at last his labors
Bring forth the very stuff
And substance of all beauty
This is reward enough.
-MARIE NETTLETON CARROLL

A little Science, a little art.

  Hello again,
  So happy to be able to write to you. Last week was busy for me but in a good way.
My husband was off for a couple of weeks as I stated in my last post, it was so lovely to have him home with us for so long. Now that he went back to work, I miss him, but thankful that he has a job.
 We got to spend a lot of time doing school together  and we read a lot. We also got to rest and cook together! Now I have to get myself back to routine. I really wanted to share with you this wonderful book that we started last week for science/ Nature study, called Jack's Insects. Its a classic living science book. I love how it is directed specifically to the child, like a conversation. As soon as I started reading it the children made sure they listened. I also picked up a Narration and Nature study notebook that went along with the book. It is lovely, It shows your child how to draw different insects and asks question about each chapter of the book. In our first lesson we learned what entomology was! Fun, fun.
 We also are studying about Monet and his beautiful art, and his biography. We got to visit the Cleveland Art Museum to find Monet's work.  I think it is so beneficial to introduce your children to Art. You are teaching them to appreciate beautiful things. You are teaching them to be observant. You are also teaching them art skills, and color, dimensions, and patterns and History. The list go's on and on. 


  Here is a nice link that describes how Charlotte Mason's method is applied to picture or art study.

 here is where we purchased a picture study portfolio.

  Now you don't have to buy this to do a picture study. You can simply go to the library and get books on the artist you would like to study. I liked the portfolio because it has prints of the artist work and a booklet with information about the specific artist. Easy! The kids enjoy art and trying to recreate some of the work. Ill post some photos on the next post. A quote from Charlotte Mason in the book ourselves Vol,4.p.9
      Nobody knows how much is possible to any one person.
 Many persons go through life without recognizing this.
They have no notion of how much they can do and feel,
 know and be; and their lives turn out poor, narrow, and disappointing.
   
  Sad but true. I feel that it is important to surround yourself with things and people that inspire you to do your best and be your best. To be a shining light for this dark world. To apply yourself with all your strength at whatever you do.


   Colossians 3:17
 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
I tell my kids, If you make your bed, do it like you are making it for Jesus, If you are playing your violin, play like your playing to Jesus. Brushing your teeth.... on and on. As I serve my children three meals a day and snacks, I do it with a happy heart, for my Lord.( That's not always the case, but I am really trying to be aware of that). Thank you Lord for the privilege of children, thank you that I have a family to serve. When I get weary and tired and feel like I can't go on, you will be the one I run to, you will lift me up and strengthen me. Jeremiah 31:25  For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”   Until next time friend, Happy teaching! And learning;)