Monthly Archives: May 2015

Making Over My Summer Mornings!

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by in One Life, Uncategorized

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Ah, summer time!
The sweet, restful days of early summer have arrived, and now are slipping oh too quickly by.

Summertime

Less Time Driving!

The boldest taste of summer so far is the lack of time in the minivan!  With the last final exam taken on May 21st, I’ve enjoyed so much less going, going, going.

no more carpool line for now!

no more carpool line for now!

A couple of bigger projects have been done during this time.  Hubby was home for a week and the finishing touches on the basement remodel were completed (we only lack priming and painting the shelves in the new closets!  )  The veggie and cutting gardens are planted! (yea for a few days of LESS rain and more SUN)

Garden Box Dividers

We are nearing the end of our second week of summer, and I realize I need to make over my mornings. #makeoveryourmornings  While it has been fun to stay up late watching Downton Abbey dvds from the library and sleeping in, I’ve had enough of that “chill out” diet.  It’s time t0 get my routines up and running smooth again.  While continuing to enjoy the slower, more restful days of summer, I need to freshen up my morning routines and get back to living more purposefully.  Goodness, this is the last summer we have with none of our teens working an outside-the-home job!  Next summer looks to be mighty different, a brand new parenting season.  So, pen and paper and calendar in hand, I’m making over my mornings!

I can’t wait to tell you more about the tool I am using to freshen up my routines and getting each day off to a great start.  Look for a post on June 2!

make over your mornings

Pinterest “Did It”, May 30

21 Thursday May 2015

Posted by in Menu Planning, Recipes, Uncategorized

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Now that school is out for Summer, I am looking forward to actually doing some of the projects and making some of the foods from my pinterest boards.  I’ve made a Did It! board and will be blogging about some of my successes, and a flop here & there is likely too.

This week I made Carrot Cake Pancakes.  The batter looked lovely to me, but some of my kiddos walked in and sincerely questioned what I was making.  Each of the kids did eat some of the pancakes but they were not a hit.  The batter was too heavy, so I added water mid way through the batch.

Being a girl who enjoys carrots and pineapple, I did enjoy the pancakes.  But for my kids’ sake, I will drop the pineapple off the recipe and try again the next time I have an abundance of carrots in the fridge.

Another fun Did It…GAK.  This was a fun DIY and my grand daughter was not the only one who had a lot of fun playing with the GAK.  I love how quickly this project was completed, maybe 10 minutes total!

All you need to make GAK is a 7 or 8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue, Food Coloring, Water, Borax, a large bowl and storage containers.  Here is the recipe I used.

add the whole bottle of glue

add the whole bottle of glue

Gak

Purple!

IMG_6208

GAK

add borax

GAK

stir til dissolved

GAK

combine with glue and stir

IMG_6217

GAK

Store in a gallon ziplock

I am really looking forward to this summer challenge, of DOING my pins.  How about you?  Do you regularly do what you pin?  Or do you need some inspiration to choose some pins and do those activities?

The Value of Every Life

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Parenting, teens, Truth, Uncategorized

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glorious hair

Sometime back this audio was shared with me, by some dear friends.  I’ve been re-listening from time to time, as there are layers of applications in my life to consider.

Whether you are red, yellow, black, normal or blue, you struggle with some part of your identity.  Right now I am in the throws of raising and walking along teen age daughters and all the questions that go with growing up from girl to woman.

There are racial tensions erupting all over our country.  Suicides and murders.  Exploitation of girls and of boys.

Because we fail to see the value of each and every human life.

I hope the following encourages you today, to remember where your identity, where each person’s identity, comes from.

 

 

 

“But this is not just a normal problem, many people, normal and abnormal alike fail to see the beauty in their own identities.

I’m happy how I am, not full of pride, but proud to know I’m made in the image of God, and God is far from normal.

So if every person is crafted after Him, there is no typical human, no normal ethnic group, no matter who you are, red, yellow, black, normal or blue, there’s something Divine about you.

But
I guess you can’t know this if you don’t know the God you reflect. You’ll go your whole life thinking you’re normal or worthless, never seeing which of God’s many attributes are present in you.”

From Normal Hair by Micah Bournes

A Mother’s Day Gift to my Family

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Gratitude, Parenting, Uncategorized

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Today I will SMILE. Simply SMILE.

Today, when frustration rises, I will quiet it with GRATITUDE.

Today, I will be the one to be reminded to speak only what is GRACEfilled, appropriate for the moment, that will help hearts in need, and bless all others who hear.

Today, I will HUG. and TOUCH. and DRAW CLOSE.

Not to be an example, but to love the ones better who love me, flaws and all.

What a gift God gave in this family of mine.

 

 

reposted from the archives, May 2010

Share Your World, Sponsorship Saturday

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Compassion International, Letter Writing, Uncategorized

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Share Your World is a fantastic idea from the Compassion Letter Writing pinterest board, for writing to our sponsored children.  With that in mind I wrote online letters to all our kiddos about one of my favorite nearby places, Rock Ledge Ranch.  It was a little challenging to choose what to include in the letter, as it is a historical site and I didn’t want to make the translation difficult!

Rock Ledge Ranch

 

April, 2015

Dear Friend,

Hello my friend! I hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and doing well. I am praying for you, your mother and your baby brother.

Our family lives in Colorado, United States. We have many interesting things about the city where we live, but I want to tell you about a special one today. We like to visit a place called Rock Ledge Ranch. It is a historical site, with houses from 3 different time periods of Colorado history. My children often volunteer there during their summer break from school.

The Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site is a living history farm and museum that depicts life in the Pikes Peak region in four time periods: American Indian area in 1775; 1860’s Galloway Homestead; 1880’s Chambers Home and Ranch; 1907 Edwardian Country Estate.

At the American Indian area there is a teepee and a wikiup. Native American people work in that area and teach about their history.

The Rock Ledge House was built-in 1874 by the Chamber’s family. This family started the first school in our area, and the school was in their house at first.

My favorite area of the ranch is the Galloway Homestead, where a person can learn about homesteading in the 1860’s. There is often a fire in the adobe oven and sometimes the staff and volunteers cook food.

IMG_2076

last summer my youngest daughter repaired this chair with all new weaving, while volunteering at the ranch

 

People who work at the ranch wear costumes that are like the clothing that people wore during the historical time periods. They get to work with old tools and do daily work like it was done in the past. It is a wonderful way to learn!

Laundry

Laundry, the old fashioned way

Learning about history is very interesting to me and I appreciate having Rock Ledge Ranch nearby. There is a large garden, a pond thriving with animals and a barn with chickens, sheep, a cow and several horses. I am attaching some pictures of the ranch. I hope you enjoy learning about one of my favorite places.

Please write again soon. I look forward to hearing about your favorite place and about how you are doing.

With love,

Michelle

 

It is my plan to continue to write about places in our area and I hope that our sponsored children will be inspired to share more about where they live!  Wanna join the letter writing community of Compassion Sponsors?  Check out this blog post for more information.  And click this link if you are interested in learning more about Child Sponsorship through Compassion International.