Order for Girls!

Placing an order for girls who...

Love and believe in the Lord,

Have a desire to win the lost,
Have a ready smile and a cheerful heart,
Are respectful,
Have a joyful spirit,
Know how to stand tall and work hard,
Are diligent and productive,
Are trained in how to run a house and raise kids,
Know how to cook good, healthy, homemade food (and lots of it!),
Are interested in having a family, maybe even a big one,
Just might be looking for some tall, handsome, godly young man to walk through life with.

My boys with be in the market for lovely ladies beginning in about 10 years and I figure it is as good a time as ever to let young ladies know what type of woman they may be looking for when that time comes!

I know this may seem silly and may have made you laugh a bit, which is the main goal :-),  but, honestly, I was thinking about it a couple days ago as we were eating dinner and realized once again how very important it is to be praying for my children’s spouses! It is not something to take lightly or leave to chance. We often talk with our boys and our daughter about the type of person they may look for as a potential spouse and these are some of the things we recommend our boys keep in mind. So, for any of my friends who are raising little ladies, these are some good points to hit!!!

Date Night for Two!

If you had been wandering through Safeway last night, you might have turned an inquisitive eye towards us as others were doing. Nate and I were enjoying our “date night” in the grocery store (not doing a stitch of “grocery shopping”) with Jonathan in tow! We felt like first time parents with our super cute little guy as were laughing our way through the store taking time to stop and laugh at cards we had no intention of buying, joking with each other about what we thought was “needed”, wondering, rather loudly, at the rotisserie chicken discarded in the middle of the cooking gadgets and raiding the clearance section. It was a wonderful evening!

What made it so great? I think it is because my guy has set that night aside to spend time with me, listen to me, do silly things like have a date in Safeway with me and I love it! He is such a hard worker, coming home from work most days and going to work on the house. It has been a challenge for me to give up that time and let him work without constantly badgering him to come and talk with me but I know it is necessary so I continue to try and do it cheerfully even though I don’t always succeed. The payoff is our wonderful night out when he listens and I talk... and talk... and talk... and talk... I am not saying I do my part of supporting his work excellently or that he is an angel but that in each of us giving we have found a wonderful time to refresh that seems to make up for all the evenings of work!

So early in out date night routine, we ran into a problem. We found out pretty fast that the only thing we really thought was good date material was going to a movie, having a treat and or going to Walmart. Now Walmart for a date is truly sad in my opinion. It certainly doesn’t rank very high on my list of favorite places but it did fill a need when it was Christmas shopping time so we spent some time there. We also tried out Baskin Robbins which left us feeling ill and not so great the next morning. Movies didn’t work out as there were usually no good ones or none we really wanted to see and how much chattering can a girl do in front of a large movie screen? Not much! Lately we have racked our brains in search of more enjoyable dates that don’t break the bank, leave us feeling ill, or bypass the point of it all. Here is a list of our ideas.

We took a walk on the beach about a month ago which turned out to be a great idea! The tide was high so we didn’t have much beach to walk on and the horseshoe crabs were there in great quantities making us wonder why they are protected. Overall, it was a wonderful time chattering and enjoying the fresh ocean breeze. Total cost: A wee bit of gas. Success at original purpose of date night: Great!

Another evening we decided to drive out to the shore, park in the rain and listen to an audio book on Romans together. This doesn’t sound too awfully romantic especially if you add in the fussy little one who was working on cutting teeth but it was important to both of us and a wonderful time to talk about God. As a woman I believe Nate is my spiritual head and so to have an opportunity to listen to his opinions and learn with him was very valuable! Total cost: A wee bit of gas. Success at original purpose of date night: Great!

Now, I can’t remember where this last idea for date night came from but it was a big hit around our house! I think it was the kids who first came up with the idea to turn our living room into a restaurant for the night. They busied themselves around the house making menus and printing them out, setting up the front desk where we would wait to be seated, setting a table complete with a restaurant style white table cloth, planning uniforms for the wait staff, and preparing all the dishes, appetizers and desserts. I called Nate in the afternoon and told him I had made reservations for 6:00 at a local restaurant I heard had really good, healthy food. He was quite happy and came home expecting to change and take me out. Instead, I ran out and hopped in his truck before he could pull into the garage and directed him on a five minute loop around the neighborhood. When we returned he had a pretty good idea what was up and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner served by our giggling wait staff in their sharp uniforms. What fun! Cost: Nothing! Success at original purpose of date night: Great!

So, if you happen upon us in Safeway laughing our heads off at silly things with a baby in tow just smile and take your husband or wife out for a night to look silly and laugh too! It is worth it and so much fun!

Successful Creativity

Oh my!  It has been a long time since I posted anything!  I knew it had been a while but didn't realize how long.  Oh well, I guess that means life has been full and busy!

Now, on to the topic at hand. For years I have been using cloth diapers for my little guys.  I tried a variety of different diapers, covers, and all-in-ones before settling with fantastic prefolds and wool diaper covers.  Over the years I have knitted and crocheted various diaper covers, all the while deciding which patters and pattern features I like and dislike. I have run across some great patterns that make fantastic covers but there still seemed to be a void in the market.

If you head out to any department store and wander through the baby section in search of a shirt without snaps at the bottom (onesie style), you will quickly find that they are few and far between.  I would guess that about 90% of baby tops are made to snap over the diaper and by so doing keep the shirt from coming up and leaving the little one's cute belly exposed.  I like shirts with snaps as I like my little ones to look at least somewhat put together. :-)  However, I have not been able to use most of these shirts as they do not work well with wool diaper covers.  I can't put the cotton shirt snaps up against the wet diaper or the whole shirt will eventually get wet and if I put the snaps over the wool diaper cover (which I have done lots!), it looks like his underwear is showing.

Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  Well, I decided it was time to create my own wool diaper cover pattern - one that would both cover the diaper and also allow him to wear shirts with snaps.  I thought about it while I laid in bed, I thought about while I tried to finish the other knitting projects in progress, I thought about it as I diapered him, I definitely thought about it as I looked at all the cute snapping shirts I have sitting on his shelf.

It took quite some time and pages of notes but I finally finished his first Sneaky Soaker!  It works wonderfully!  I am so very excited to now have wool pants that allow him to wear snapping shirts! I hope to add different sizes and styles to the pattern but for now I am super happy with the finished product!  Yay!

Circus!!!

Yesterday we went to a circus!  It was a first for the kids and fun for Nate and I too!

There were camel and pony rides beforehand and feats of strength and skill for the show. Here are some of the pictures of our family enjoying the show.  We all seemed to have fun except for little Jonathan who displayed his cute pout for the camera.  I had to take the pictures while holding him but I was able to capture the pout for all time. Yay!

Little lady riding a pony

Young man and little lady on ponies

Go camel, go!

Two boys riding the camel

Not too sure about the big top...

Oh yeah, we are pouting!  Trying to be brave but this is a weird place!

Having fun waiting for the show to start

This side is super excited!

.... and the circus clown

Best Memories

This picture is one that my dad just posted on Facebook.  His boat, the Millennium, is in the center with the gear hanging from the boom.  This picture brought back so many memories!  I have been mulling over my fishing memories for the last few days and thinking of writing them down so this picture was exactly the encouragement that I needed!

So here follows some of my memories from my five years commercial fishing on this boat with my dad. I can't believe it has been 17+ years since these memories were made yet they are so fresh and fun. Enjoy!

I remember the few times that my sisters and I got out a deeply hidden stash of make-up we had stowed away, sat on top of the top house and did our hair and make-up.  We sure felt like the belle's of the ball out there in that manly world with out hair all pretty (by boat standards) and our faces all dolled up.

I remember crawling into my tight little bunk and resting my head on my pillow to enjoy the scent of home that still lingered there as I fell asleep.  Funny thing is that same pillow smelled rather much like fish grime when I pulled it out of my bag at home a couple months later!

My "Go West Young Man" sister ( L) and me (R)

I remember sitting in the top house with my sister as we ran the boat and listened to "Go West Young Man" by Michael W. Smith.  The sun was bright and the skies were clear as we rocked on the large rolling waves and sang our little hearts out.  I love this one!

I remember running the boat one day when something mysterious happened with auto pilot (funny thing is I am not sure if I did it or not) and the boat went into a turn so tight that it was hard to walk on the deck.  Round and round we went until some kind crewman came and fixed the problem.

I remember laying in bed at night after the engines were off and only the lone generator droned a tune with the gently lapping water just inches away on the other side of the hull.

I remember beach combing and finding many a treasure that I held so dear for a few days until I couldn't find anywhere to store it.

A good day in Bristol Bay

I remember hiking the seemingly vertical hills just off the beach.  I would pump my legs and do my very best to catch up with the rest of the crew only to gain sight of them and get so very close to enjoying their break with them when up they would get and on we would hike.  It always seemed that just as we crested one hill we would realized there was another one that had been hiding just behind it.

I remember walking on the hilltops and either singing or talking to God.  There was no one around save our crew, no villages for miles and miles, no roads, no cars... Bliss!

I remember waiting in line for our turn to set and baking cakes, pies, or any other delicious thing we could concoct from the various canned goods hidden in the seats.

I remember running my dad's power skiff one day when the waves go so high I couldn't see the boat any more and the line I was towing sliced right through the middle of the wave with the boat on the other side.

I remember many hours watching the coastline for deer or bear.

I remember early, early mornings.  I can't say that I remember getting woke up as I was told I didn't wake very well at 3:00 am but I do remember eventually dragging myself out of bed, braiding my hair, putting on a lovely, bright orange mustang suit and and heading out to the skiff which my dad was so nice to warm up for me.  Only thing is there was no cabin.  I guess the engine liked to be warm. :-)  Once I woke up I loved to watch the sun rise.

I remember the delight of going on a tender (crabbing boat) or on shore to take a rare shower.  What bliss even if I did have to put coins in so the water would keep coming.

I don't think I wanted my picture taken!

I remember closing the little window above the oil stove and making the whole cabin smell awful.  I hear that little stove has been replaced by something more modern.

I remember sitting at the table and watching the halibut line we put out many nights to see if we caught anything.

I remember an 8-foot salmon shark that we brought on board hanging by its tail from the rigging and coming mighty close to me with its open mouth as it swung back and forth.

I remember the thrill of rolling hundreds of salmon on deck.

I remember clicking away as I counted the fish being thrown into the tender's basket.

I remember grocery shopping on the tender... Me: "Do you have any lettuce today?"  Them: "No, but we do have a couple of potatoes. Do you want them?"  Me: "Sure. Do you have any tomatoes?"  Them: "Yep, we have one."  Me: "Do you have any fruit?" Them: "Um, (as he rummages through the fridge) nope."

I remember hot tubbing the belly of one of the tenders.  I think it was a salt water hot tub but it was fun!

My view on a beautiful, calm day

I remember my dad teaching me to run the power skiff since I was the smallest one on board and he needed the strongest on deck.  He made me tow full throttle while I was tied to a piling so I could see how close I could come to swamping without going over.  I was quite nervous but enjoyed it after a while.

I remember someone tossing me my sandwich while I drove past in the skiff on a very busy day but I wasn't quite fast enough to catch it so it fell on the floor.

I remember taking a night shift and running the boat across Shelikof Strait.  I was jolted out of my sleepiness by the sight of huge glass-calm circles in the otherwise choppy water.  I watched for some time as they kept cropping up on either side of the boat.  I finally realized it was a whale traveling with me leaving these mysterious circles everywhere he breached.

I remember Jaws, an underwater reef locally known for snagging seines (nets) and swallowing skiffs. They even made a t-shirt in its honor!  I never liked to be too close to it.

There are so many more memories but the last one I will leave you with is day dreaming of taking a shower and wearing a skirt which eventually led to me getting to go home before the end of the season and marked the end of my commercial fishing days. :-)

Oh the memories!  Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me!

Playing...

Some of my men... the two youngest
were napping

My husband and I were talking briefly about what we envisioned marriage being like years ago before we said "I do".  This topic was but a small portion of a much greater "marriage talk" we were having about recent difficulties I have been having and how we could better the situation.  His comment about what he thought marriage would be included playing.  He says he married me so he could touch and have me and go do things with me... like outside things... like playing... like playing bolo... like pulling kids on the buoy swing... and so on...

Now I am an inside person for many reasons.  I like to make tasty things to eat and even as we were having this conversation I was formulating a plan of making cookies to eat this afternoon... oops, that does not work very well with playing outside with my man now does it! I also have a tiny little man who needs to eat and that can create certain logistical problems in the great outdoors - at least for me.  I like to be clean and tidy.  I do love the outdoor air but love it as I sit in my window and watch the wind make the curtains dance. I think I have said enough on that. :-)

So, in an effort to play with my man I put the cookies out of my mind, gathered up the burp rags and the hungry dude and headed out onto the sunny, breezy porch to at least watch the fun.  We read and talked for a while amidst endless requests to play soccer, play bolo and pull kids on the buoy swing.  Finally, we had our fill of talking with each other and began play time.  Of course that is a bit of a lie seeing as I might never grow tired of talking with my guy but he didn't list talking in his list of things that envisioned in marriage so playing it was.  I ended up playing bolo with a little tyke from down the street as Nate pulled kids on the buoy swing.

It was fun to watch, fun to gather in all that fresh air, fun to smile and laugh, fun to see the wide open smiles on my kids faces as they nearly touched tree branches high up in the air.  I guess the cookies can happen on a rainy day for I have played with my guy today and even though the cookies sounded more fun at first, playing was fun too!

Levels of Dairy Goodness According to Shannon

Milk... yogurt... cheese... sour cream... whipping cream... Should we drink it? Should we eat it?  Should we buy organic brands? Should it be pasteurized?  Should it have additives?  Does it matter what the cow ate? Should we just get a family cow?

I go to great lengths to purchase dairy products for our family. It all began with much research a few years ago. What has followed ever since is monthly trips into Amish country to fill our freezer with raw milk from grass-fed jersey cows.  As I load up the car, all six kids included along with large coolers, and make the trek I sometimes have to remind myself why I do what I do.  What was the thought process that led to this conclusion?  I don't buy all my dairy products raw, so why some and why not others?

The technical part (which should have a bibliography ☺)...

Well, through reading various books on the subject of milk and dairy products, I have decided that milk is indeed good for you and is best just as it comes from the cow. For the sake of the budget, however, there are some dairy products I buy from the store. I base my decision on a number of key factors to include: what type of cow the milk is coming from, the diet of the cow, whether or not the product was ever pasteurized, whether or not live bacterias were added back into the milk, whether or not the product still contains live bacteria, whether or not the cow was treated with additional hormones, whether or not the milk was homogenized, and the cleanliness of the milking process.

That seems like a whole lot to think about and it often boggles my brain and makes me want to cry "uncle!".  I thought I would take a moment and share my thought process by which I decide which dairy products to buy. First of all, here is my take on each of these factors:

Type of cow: I read an article about the different types of dairy cows (http://www.westonaprice.org/thumbs-up-reviews/devil-in-the-milk), A1 and A2 cows.  It appears some degree of milk intolerance can be due to the type of protein (casein) that particular breed of cow produces! America has primarily the cows that produce the guilty protein (holsteins, for example).

The Cows Diet: Cows eat many different diets ranging from green grass to old bakery products. Also, whether or not a cow produces milk, is not entirely an indication of its health.  Byproducts of beer production, when fed to dairy cows, greatly increase the cows milk production.  Great, right? Those same cows may have their highest production the day they fall over dead! Those cows that eat green grass produce noticeably better milk.

Pasteurization: Although pasteurization came to rescue of a sad milk scene and saved the lives of many, it kills both good and bad bacteria leaving milk open to contamination.  The need for pasteurization can be greatly reduced by taking proper care of the cows and the milking environment.

Added Live Bacteria:  Yogurt is yogurt because live bacteria has been added to milk and encouraged to multiply and culture the milk leaving a yummy, thick food we can eat with a spoon.  It also generally has a longer refrigerator life than pasteurized milk. Milk in the form in which God gave it to us is rich in good bacteria which helps our bodies to digest it.

Additional Hormones: I am simply not a fan of adding hormones to my body either directly or through the food I eat.  Hormones work in such a careful balance that I don't think they should be tampered with.  Additionally, hormones given to cows are meant to result in unusually high growth or production which leads to unhealthy cows.

Homogenization: Homogenization breaks apart the fat globule in milk so that the cream no long rises to the top.  The globule is primarily triglycerides bounded by a membrane.  There is controversy as to wether the exploded globule is digested well or not. I have read that our body has a hard time recognizing the exploded globule for what it is (or should be).  I would rather trust that God had a good plan when he bounded the triglycerides with a membrane.

Cleanliness:  As I was saying in regards to pasteurization, cleanliness is absolutely necessary!  Pasteurization arrived on the scene of overcrowded cities experiencing massive, rapid population growth and all the cleanliness concerns that would include. Raw milk, when not bombarded with large quantities of unhealthy bacteria can hold its own.  The good bacteria in milk is capable of keeping the bad bacteria count down when it is handled in a cleanly manner.

Now for the fun, helpful part!!!

I will go from what I consider to be the most advantageous product down to the least. Here goes!

Best!
Raw, grass-fed dairy from clean, well tended, old-fashioned, A2 cows (I like to call them the "cute cows"... think "Dolly" in Anne of Green Gables)! This would include milk, cream, butter, yogurt, sour cream, cheese, etc. This, along with raw goat milk, is the only thing I would recommend to someone who suffers from milk allergies.  This would be the best possible way to get the wonderful goodness of milk and enjoy it too! If you think the milking area or process is not clean then don't buy milk there!  Cleanliness is an absolute must!

Runner-Up...
Raw, grass-fed dairy from any cow.  This could result in more difficult digestion if your digestive system is at all weak or suffers from milk or casein allergies but still a much better option for most consumers. Again, if you think the milking area or process is not clean then don't buy milk there!  Cleanliness is an absolute must!

Second Runner-Up...
Raw, dairy from any cow.  You would now be losing the grass-fed factor which produces the most  beautiful milk.  Additionally, you would be getting milk from modern breeds which may lead to some intolerance but you are still getting milk that is whole and in it's natural state. One last time, if you think the milking area or process is not clean then don't buy milk there!  Cleanliness is an absolute must, even more so as the cows are getting less pasture time and poorer nutrition!

Third Runner-Up... 
Un-homogenized, pasteurized milk.  Your milk is now pasteurized so production cleanliness is not such a big issue nor will you be as likely to know that detail.  You can still have your fat globules intact and easier to digest.

Happy Budget Concessions...
There are a few areas where dairy can give a bit and still be decent so your budget can be happy.

• Yogurt - Because yogurt is a cultured product, it is still decent even if it is previously pasteurized.  Just look for the brand that contains a statement that the yogurt contains live and active cultures.  If it doesn't contain that statement, don't buy that brand!
• Cheese - Cheese, like yogurt, is a cultured product so some good bacteria has been reintroduced to the previously pasteurized milk.
• Whipping Cream - this has not been homogenized and is pretty much skimmed off the top and pasteurized.  Not ideal, but yummy and far better for you than cool whip!
• Butter - Butter is the fat portion of the milk and therefore not as affected to issues with milk proteins.  I do try to buy organic butter as hormones often hang out with fats!  I buy it in the store all the time although I wish I could stretch my budget to afford the golden butter from grass-fed cows!  

Don't be Sold by the Organic Label...

A quick word on organic... Just because something is labeled organic does not necessarily mean it is better.  They can feed organic dairy cows anything organic (organic donuts).  Also, organic is becoming such a buzz word for marketing, that companies are finding ways to cut corners.  I recently noticed that the organic yogurt I have been buying at the store now has additives!  I don't want additives in my yogurt!  I don't like the taste and would much rather buy the non-organic yogurt with just milk and live bacteria!

An Added Note on Additives...

Keep an eye on the politics of the dairy world.  The Dairy Industry is petitioning the FDA to allow them to put additives, namely aspartame (which is linked to seizures and other health problems), in a number of dairy products without having to disclose that on the label! If the bill passes, there would be so many dairy products I would not want to buy at the store! The most any good dairy product should need to have on it's ingredients list would be milk and enzymes or live bacteria (cultured). 

That said, I think we are going to get a family cow before too long!  ☺

Please remember this is my personal opinion on this topic and you should do your own research so you can make your own educated decision about your dairy consumption!  

Two Perspectives

The wind is singing through the tree tops as they sway gently back and forth. The sky is gray, but unlike the usual weather which accompanies a winter’s gray sky, the air is warm and damp; warm and damp like a blanket enveloping the morning scene. A leaf dances down as if it is following a winding brook. Strings of ivy flutter along the tree trunks. A small flock of chickens wander the leafy ground searching for food while a bundle of children runs and plays in the warm air. The scene is quiet and calm, peaceful and serene.

A mother sits in the open door watching the curtains wisp back and forth in the breeze. Her babe is snuggled close and sweetly sleeping as she breaths in deep and lets the beauty of the moment wash over her. She delights to breathe in fresh winter air tinged with a hint of pine and let the realities of the morning wash away in the peaceful calm.

This is the moment I am in! Oh how I love it!

Not an hour ago I was wondering if I would be able to gracefully get through today. A load of laundry is filling everything that can act as a drying rack on the porch. Why? A little water wheel toy broke this morning and somehow the rags which were used to clean the turpentine smelling mess managed to make their way in the cloth diaper load so they could share their scent. Hopefully they will loose the odor in the fresh outdoor air!

About four loads of laundry are lined up and ready to be washed including a peed bed whose mattress is covered in baking soda and needs to be made up before nap time.

School is not done quite yet... history to be read, pages to be corrected...

The mother sitting in the chair is tired after a restless night with the babe and hoping she can ward off the impending nap she needs long enough to get things taken care of yet still have a chance of it before the babe needs to eat again. 

Isn’t it interesting to see the two perspectives! There is always so much to be done yet sometimes there is a total calmness around the corner! I am so thankful for the beauty that God has created and the many, many ways he displays it. I would never have thought this gray day was so lovely if I hadn’t gone to the porch to hang out the smelly load of laundry. If I had not gone out, we would still be working on school and rushing to get lunch ready thinking that there was no extra time. Thankfully we were able to seize the moment and enjoy the beauty of the warm gray day with outdoor play and a porch-picnic lunch. I just know school will get done and somehow the laundry sounds fun and industrious as it spins around in the washing machine rather than like a burden I can’t bear. My breaths were deep this morning in an effort to calm my overwhelmed mind and now they are deep enjoying calm and peace. Ahhhh.... Thank you Lord!!!

Mama/Baby Items for the Minimalist Mama

I do not like to have many odd items hanging around my house.  Perhaps it is because I do not like to pack them up and tote them to the other side of the country or perhaps I can't, in my own mind, warrant "baby items" that far outsize the baby and are only useful for a short period of time.  Whatever the case, I have a obsession with finding fun, creative, and cheap ways to accommodate the needs of these newborn baby days.

One item that I have never quite come to terms with is a nursing pillow.  I have tried a couple different brands, those with the best reviews, and have not liked any of them!  Yes, they serve a very good purpose and they do it well in some respects but they are very large, awkward to handle, add to my sense of nursing claustrophobia and take up lots of space when they are not in use.  Despite my lack of success in the past, I have found myself on the hunt yet again as my shoulders ache and my back prepares to adopt a permanent arch.  What to do!

My little guy seems to benefit greatly from eating in a slightly upright position as he loves to take a little air with his milk.  This makes a typical flat nursing pillow a bad option for me as he would be mostly laying down.  I have thought that a pillow in the shape of a "V" would be great to give my back a break while also providing a dip in the middle to keep him inclined.  For days now I have been dreaming up the perfect pillow during feeding times.  I know this sounds funny, but my inspiration came to my sleepy brain as I pulled my feather pillow onto my sleepy lap to help me snuggle my sleepy guy in the middle of the night.  I poked and prodded the pillow into great form and the three of us had a cozy sleepy time together.  The following day I added a few things to my feather pillow and now I have a great nursing pillow... at least one that works great for me!!!  I like to call it the No-Sew Convertible Nursing Pillow. My kids like to call it Angel Wings.

Anyhow, here is how you can make one from items you already have!  I know this sounds simplistic but I really like it!

1. Take a feather pillow and put it in a pillow case of your choosing... here you have great opportunity to express your personal style!  
2. Now cinch the middle of the pillow with your hand while shaking the feathers to either end of the pillow.
3. Take a ribbon, hair band, scarf or any other similar item and tie the middle of the pillow as tightly as you can.  You can use a broad ribbon if you want a larger base in the "V".

Ta-da!  You are done!  If you are wondering, here are some of the perks of the Angel Wings No-Sew Convertible Nursing Pillow:

1. It is super easy to make!
2. It is super cheap!
3. It is very easy to mold to the shape you need and can be re-molded to a new shape as needed!
4. When you need to store it, simply toss it back on your guest bed or back into the pillow sham!
5. You can change your style as easy as changing a pillow case!
6. You can use it for front holds and football holds!
7. You can pull it to the side and snuggle your baby on its back against you so they can look at you while you talk with your other children.  They are close, safe, comfy and happy!
8. It can turn on the center in almost any direction!
9. You can adjust it as needed to create a great incline for nursing baby!
10. It is lightweight and very easy to carry using the handy dandy ribbon handle in the middle.

The other item I have been thinking about is a nursing cover.  Although I have not perfected this one (that would, of course, be my version of perfect as everyone is different) I have stumbled across another great inexpensive idea that was hanging in my closet!  I was wanting a cover that would be lightweight, and provide lots of coverage along with easy access to the baby.  I was thinking of making a cover that went all the way around sort of like a poncho.  My plan was to disassemble a skirt I no longer wear, put some elastic in the back of the neck and some boning in the front.  Well, my job was cut in half as I realized I had just the thing hanging in my closet!  It was a lightweight cotton jersey knee-length skirt from Old Navy long ago.  I just toss it over my head and, ta-da, I have a nursing cover!  Eventually, I may add some boning to the neck (or what used to be the waist band) but I am enjoying it just as it is for now! 

Staying Healthy with Garlic

So, the flu season is upon us!  I remember having the flu every year growing up and disliking it as much one year as the next.  Now, as a mom of a newborn, the thought of handling the flu times eight is overwhelming so I am trying to do everything I can think of to boost our immune systems and keep us healthy.  I have always known garlic to be good for your immune system but have always had a tough time figuring out how to take it.  I have used garlic and cayenne pills but as I am not sure what sort of method is used to process them, I can't be sure that all of the good properties are present.  I have tried taking it crushed up on a spoon with honey to soften the blow but my stomach tries to reject it so I am often hesitant to take it, especially when I don't feel well which is right when I need it the most. A few months ago I picked up a cookbook at a local store, "Healthy Choices" from the readers or Keepers at Home, and happened upon a simple recipe for a garlic glycerite.  We have made it a few times and are finding it to be both an easy (yes spicy but easy) way to eat lots of fresh garlic and effective at speeding the recovery period for runny noses as that is all we have had to contend with thus far.

I have been watching our little lady as she does chores around the house and have noticed that she is often demonstrating how to accomplish the chore to an unseen audience. :-)  I decided to tap into the budding teacher in her and have her demonstrate for you how to prepare the garlic glycerite. Enjoy!

Blessed in So Many Ways...

If you haven't heard, on Sunday morning we welcomed Jonathan Trigg to our family! As I sat tending him this morning, my thoughts began to wander across the last few days and I had a great time realizing just how blessed we are!

I guess saying my thoughts were wandering would be a misstatement as I have had a plan since his birth to intentionally practice thankfulness as a part of each day. :-) If it sounds odd that I, a new mommy of baby number six, would need to be intentional about thankfulness, let me explain. When my last little guy (baby number five) was born, I was very surprised to experience some degree of the baby blues. It seemed very real to me at the time and something I was concerned about again with little Jonathan. As I was reading through the No Greater Joy magazine about a week ago, I happened across an article encouraging thankfulness. It was one of those articles that seamed to be speaking rather pointedly at me. It didn't coddle, smooth over, or comfort those who struggle with anxiety, feeling down or even depression in a sweet talking sort of way but addressed it from a Biblical point of view. The main point, or at least my boiled down version of it, was that if I do happen to struggle with baby blues, I am not being thankful. Reading the article was definitely both an "Ouch!" and "Wow! Thank you for being so frank!" moment for me.

Philippians 4:6 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understand will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

So, without any great effort, here are some of the ways we have been blessed!

I am blessed with a little man who waited to arrive until after 37 weeks so he could arrive at The Birth Center rather than at a hospital.

A huge blessing was that not only was Nathan home when I went into labor but we were all in the car at the end of the driveway heading to church... or so we thought! How much more “ready to go” can you be? 

I had a wish to have Jonathan during the day and was blessed with a 10:29 am delivery. Yay!

Awesome dad!

I was blessed to have a wonderfully normal morning prior to going into labor during which dinner was put in the crockpot and waiting for us when we got home from the delivery. 

I am wonderfully blessed with a great husband who safely and quickly drove me to Wilmington and concealed from me how many miles were left as I struggled to not have a baby in the car. He just kept cheering me on and reassuring me that we were getting close even though we were just passing the Monster Mile in Dover. 

I was so blessed that God heard my desperate and loud prayers during each contraction and that Jonathan did not arrive in the car. Praise the Lord! Thankfully, he waited until 10 minutes after we arrived at The Birth Center.

Although I love the thought of little babies, I have been blessed with another big one who is totally content, happy and easy to take care of. (8lbs 15oz)

Family photo - day one

I have been blessed with a houseful of young men and one little lady. This has taken some getting used to! I have always thought I would do great with a bundle of daughters but God has had other plans. Looking at Jonathan along with his four brothers, I realized I had better get on the bandwagon and start loving the plusses! I will not have to kill anymore spiders! I will be quite safe even if Nathan is away with so many young men to protect me. There should be plenty of strength to accomplish almost any task. Once they all learn to hunt, I hope they think of me so I can have plenty of game to eat. And these are just some of the fun plusses I came up with.

I have been blessed with wonderful friends and a wonderful church family here in Delaware who threw me a surprise shower and have been bringing some mighty delicious meals over the last few days!!!

Special times with Mommy - day four

Last, but not least, we have been blessed with Jonathan Trigg Schauermann and we are so very thankful!!!! If you are wondering, Jonathan means "Gift of God" and is our family name for him as it contains “Nathan”. We spent a good deal of time the last few days before he was born trying to find a name that meant integrity, faithful, true, or trustworthy. Trigg means "trustworthy", "faithful", or "true" depending on which name book you are looking at. We love him so very much!

"Brand Spankin' New!!!" (Kellan)

Four hours old and heading home.  Yay!

Passing of the torch!

Snuggling at home, day two

And we are falling in love!

Catching Up...

Wow, I can't believe it is the end of November!  I am sure we have all heard others exclaiming their surprise at the passing of the days, weeks, months...  I am seriously feeling behind!

I watch and feel this little one growing day by day while I flip flop between "I can't wait!" sentiments and "Um, how about giving me another three or four months?"  Ready or not, this little one will be arriving in about a month!  I guess getting ready would be my best plan of attack. :-)  I have been busy washing baby clothes, blankets, diapers and burp rags; stuffing kids clothes into an even smaller number of drawers to make room for the freshly washed, teeny tiny outfits; cooking meals for the chef I have hired when the baby comes (that would be Mrs. Freezer); frantically trying to finish up the many projects floating around my house; taking extra special delight in my current "baby" who I know will suddenly grow up in the course of a few short hours; and trying to remember to enjoy the tiny feet rolling around inside to the fullest as I creak my way to a new position in bed for the fifth time in the middle of the night.  Whew!

As if all that isn't enough, the holidays (and Schauerhaus birthday season) have hit out house big time.  My oldest young man turned 10 on the eighth, we celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends yesterday and my awesome husband made it half way to 70 today, as he so kindly puts it!  We have a yet to be determined birthday coming up in December, an anniversary on the 22nd and a little guy turning two also on the 22nd!  Christmas comes a few day later followed by the last of this seasons birthdays on January 11.  Whew again!

Since having birthdays and all isn't enough fun, my husband was awarded with a prolonged stay overseas while we braved the storm, fought with the plumbing under the sink that decided it was time to fall completely apart into a bunch of pieces, and dealt with a burnt fuse in our water system which left us without water for a day. My oldest young man sure took his job of being the man of the house seriously and exuded gobs of cheerful confidence while the trees blew around us and came to the rescue of his overwhelmed mother when the water quit working.  With daddy's assistance via FaceTime, he was able to troubleshoot and fix the water system and earned himself a pretty penny for his super diligent, cheerful efforts in the crawlspace.

And to all of this add the special trials our newest little one is providing!  With the help of ultrasound, we were finally able to confirm our suspicions that little baby was riding breech.  I was highly concerned as I haven't carried breech before nor have I had babies turn this far into my pregnancy.  Daddy was able to coax little one to begin to turn and we completed the job using an ice pack behind baby's head.  I was excited that the baby turned but concern soon crept in as I seemed to be fighting preterm labor as a result of the activity.  I was down and out for two days waiting for the contractions to subside. Once again my kids stepped up and cooked meals, kept up the house and did laundry. Thankfully things are back to normal and my weeks of fretting about a breech baby are passed. :-)

So not only has time been flying, but it has been full to the top and brimming with excitement and challenges. I am excited for the next few weeks to come and wonder when all things will suddenly take the back burner as we welcome another little, wiggly baby to our family!  Woo, hoo!

Thanks Sandy for some Great Pictures!

So, we just went through our first hurricane here in Delaware!  I must confess to some apprehension as the stormy days rolled along and the center drew closer and closer to this tiny state.

Nate had to go overseas on Saturday before the storm hit which left me home with the five kiddos and a growing belly to see how the predictions turned out. I think the worst part was wondering whether the storm would be as bad as predicted, nothing at all, or worse.  There was no way to tell and honestly I didn't expect it to be what it was as I was assuming everyone was just being overly cautions and surely we would hardly be able to tell a storm was rolling over.

Well, I was wrong and it was quite a bit stormier than usual.  Thankfully my eldest was a big help and used his feet (which have grown bigger than mine!) to fill some of Daddy's shoes as he was away.  He was so eager to help and surprised me with how well he could handle things like moving the generator to the porch, preparing the sump pump to  run off the generator in case of flooding and power loss, starting the generator for a test run, helping me haul an extra coop to the garage in case the one the chickens were in toppled over and even donning grubby shorts and army crawling under the muddy porch to retrieve the two chickens who were too scared to come out and run to the coop on their own.

Anyhow, the wind blew, the trees swayed a bit too much for this mommy's comfort, some branches (thankfully small ones) came down, and our lawn and garden is sufficiently watered for some time to come.  It all passed and as it did it successfully painted the ground the color the trees used to be.  Our whole acre and a half looks like it has donned a most beautiful carpet of yellow and orange!  It is so vibrant in the after rain air and hazy sunlight, I can't help but smile when I see it.

I have been flooded with calls to see how we held up and have had quite a fun time chatting with everyone!  One of my sisters, who I wish had been here as she would have taken a hurricane and turned it into a most splendid, memorable adventure, suggested taking advantage of the lovely aftermath of the storm and getting some pictures of the kids.  My usually non-sporatic self hustled to my little "store" of out-of-use clothes, pieced together matching shirts and out we went!  Of course lunch was heating (or almost scorching) on the stove, but who cares about that when you get inspired with a great idea... :-)

Here are the fun results of my sister's inspiration! Enjoy!

10 Weeks and Counting!

The weeks are rolling along so fast!  I was telling Nathan that it feels like I go from Monday straight to Friday and back again.  When I realize that this new little bundle will be joining us in just 10 Mondays and Fridays it nearly sends me reeling... I have so much to do before that!  I have school to teach, Christmas to prepare and buy for, five kiddos to love every day, a home to keep up, baby things I want to knit or crochet, and a birth-bag to pack in the event this little one doesn't want to stay in for the hour and fifteen minute drive to Wilmington, just to name a few. Whew!

All that said, I am growing more and more excited to see who this little one is.  I can't wait to see if it has long black hair like Jeffrey and Anani had, short brown hair like the others, or maybe none at all.  I can't wait to see if it is a boy or a girl and to discover its personality.  I also can't wait to see the excitement of all my little ones as they meet and welcome this new brother or sister. For months I had been a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having a new little one to tend along with the others but that concern was lessened one day as I watched my youngest "tend" his teddy bear at the table.  He was so intent on taking care of his "dolly" and feeding it that it dawned on me that I am far from alone in this new venture!  This little one has a whole family of ready helpers, ready lovers, and ready tenders to meet it when it comes!

Practicing for the new baby!

I love to have special pictures to put in each of my kids baby books to show how I looked when I was pregnant with them.  Often my favorite pictures comes from a spur-of-the-moment photo shoot on a lovely day.  Well, that lovely day came and as Nathan was at work I had to hire some budding photographers.  There was quite a bit of training and picture-by-picture instructions but they turned out pretty well in the end!  Thanks to my two older boys for their photographic expertise, I have a lovely slide show to share with my little one when he or she gets older!

Getting Those Comedy Glasses On

Does life ever seem to have too many tricks up its sleeve?  I am talking about those little odd events that happen once in a lifetime and seem out of place and so poorly or should I say perfectly timed as to be virtually impossible.  I seem to be in a rut of encountering such events lately and it sure has me scrambling for a better perspective! So sit back and be ready to laugh along with me at the funny, truly insignificant events which have threatened to send me reeling over the last few days.

A couple of days ago I had promised to provide a baby meal for a family with two new little ones.  I have a good, tried and true recipe which I love to make and most everyone seems to love to eat.  It has only five ingredients and you can hardly mess it up... that is if all things electronic operate as promised. I had the late afternoon planned to the minute in order to have our dinner on the table just as Nathan was walking through the door and the baby meal coming out of the oven just in time to hustle it to their home. Although I was tired, I was taking great delight in watching the two dinners come together and feeling rather proud of how good they looked.  Yum!

Our dinner of salmon quiche was almost done as I slid the baby meal in on the top rack of the oven.  A couple of minutes later I began to smell something a little odd.  I reminded me of those naughty times when I have tossed something plastic in the bonfire and hoped no one noticed.  I checked the oven and noticed the top edges of the disposable paper baking dishes were turning a wee bit brown.  Nothing to worry about for sure.  I pulled them out and put some foil on top to keep them from being too hot and replaced them in the oven, this time on the lower rack and further from the heating element.  I must add that by now our own dinner was looking and smelling delicious on the counter - ready to eat.

I returned to other kitchen work and shortly noticed that the smell of smoldering plastic was not getting less, rather it seemed to be increasing.  Surely this couldn't be.  I just needed to air out the oven a wee bit and all would be well.  I opened the oven and quickly regretted that as I noticed the heating elements were still on trying to maintain the proper temperature - or so I thought.  I quickly closed it and went back to work as up, up, up went the nasty smell coming from that gourmet looking dinner I was planning on giving away.

Just a few moments later my lovely oven gave me a warning signal and showed some mysterious error signal.  I turned the oven off and silently prayed that the food would cook even without the oven on.  It did seem rather hot but any "oven temperature" is surely hot feeling to me right now!  I tried turning the oven back on after a few minutes only to have the same beep and error signal flash before me.  A quick google search reveled that it was possible the heat sensor was bad and my oven was overheating.  Having an oven thermostat in the drawer I popped it in and watched it climb all the way to 550 degrees! Yep, my oven was way too hot!

By now time seemed to be reminding me with every tick that I needed to have a ready-to-eat meal delivered in about 45 minutes.  There wasn't time for this meal to fail so it simply had to work! I was still hoping to salvage the food, after all it was just cooking extra fast, right?  Common sense told me to read the instructions on the pan which said to keep the oven temperature below 400 degrees.  This coupled with the foul smell was proof enough that the meal was probably too toxic to eat so with all of the discouragement you can imagine I hauled it out to the porch where at least I wouldn't have to smell it anymore.

There I stood when Nathan came in the door.  Our dinner was ready but I had nothing to bring to the family with new twins.  I hustled my super bummed self out the door after a hasty hello and dinner explanations for my own family and rushed to the local grocery store to scrounge up a meal from the deli section.  Was this a lesson in humility?  I don't know but although I couldn't really laugh at it then, I do find it rather ironic now that my heat sensor had to go bad on the baby meal just minutes after our own meal was cooked to perfection.  What are the odds of that?!

You would think that would check the box for necessary malfunctions of the day, however, the evening's story didn't end there.  I did deliver a meal and after holding an adorable, sweet baby boy I got back in the car for the drive home.  Nathan had encouraged me to enjoy the peace and quiet of the drive and that was exactly what I planned to do.  I didn't get more than half a mile down the road when the low engine oil light turned on.  No, no, no!  Was my car out of oil now?  Hadn't I had enough trouble already just a short hour before?  I called Nate to see what he, my personal mechanic, knew about it and his immediate response was for me to "not touch anything else and just come home." :-)  How I would have loved to do that but if the engine was truly out of oil I might not make it home with a running engine. A dead oven and a dead car didn't sound too thrilling for one evenings work!

At Nathan's suggestion I found a flat place to park and checked the oil.  This was a task in itself as my slightly largish belly hampered my ability to reach the dip stick easily.  I did manage, however, and after adding more oil, thanks to the wonderful mechanic of mine who keeps some handy at all times, I was on my way once again.  Breathe deep, breathe deep and keep on going.  Whew!

So today, two days later, I had yet another one of those odd moments that seems to mix rare events with impeccable timing...  My littlest one is still in diapers, cloth diapers, and I try to let him air out a bit before I put a fresh diaper on. This has been my method for quite some time and it works quite well.  He lays on my bed and plays with whatever is in reach while I run the wet diaper out to the drying rack and return quickly to cover him up before he has an accident.  I might add that there have been no accidents in as long as I can remember.  Well, today was different!  Not different only because he decided he should go to the bathroom on my bed but because the wonderful mattress cover that daily protects my mattress from soiling was visible out my bedroom window as it hung blissfully on the clothes line.  What is up with off duty mattress covers!  Of all the days for him to decided to feel at ease on my bed!  Did it really have to be the day I washed all the bed covers?  Well it was and I couldn't even feel very frustrated in light of the other odd events of the week.  I even found some humor in it!  As I sopped up the mess I told him, as if he understood, that we don't go potty on mommy's bed.  At first he looked at me as though it was sinking in and he felt some sort of remorse appropriate for the deed done.  This solemn look of remorse, however, quickly melted away into dancing little eyes and a bright little smile.  How could I not smile back at him?

So I seem to have inadvertently entered the school of comedy only it doesn't feel that way as I act out the daily scenes.  I am truly hoping odd events stop happening and all things electric begin working again but in the meantime I will try to laugh and the paradoxical frustratingly funny moments that will be stories worth telling in the years to come. :-)

Chickens!

Tingle showing off her comb

As our family has grown, so has our consumption of some of the best foods this mommy can find at a reasonable price.  One food I will buy in high quality regardless of price is eggs.  They are a wonderfully healthy food in my mind plus I love eating them. Well, we have grown past eating a dozen and the number seems to keep going up.  It can be discouraging when the baby asks for more after eating two.  Hmmm... if we all had three, which I know we could all do, that would be almost two dozen at each breakfast!  Well, we don't eat all that we can but we still go well above a dozen for one breakfast not to mention the baking and nothing spells lovely fall weather for me better than baking with pumpkins!

So, to help with the cost of all the eggs we consume, we decided to get chickens!  After meeting others who have chickens and touring their coops Nate decided it was time and diligently set to work making the loveliest chicken coop you have ever seen.  For a while it even looked better than our house which was in much need of a paint job!  Craigslist was probably the most frequented website for a while as I searched for laying hens all over Delaware and into Maryland and Pennsylvania.  We finally found some young hens that needed a new home and off we went in a rainstorm to fetch them.  I must confess to feeling nervous as we drove them home.  I wasn't sure how to take care of chickens but figured experience would be a good teacher as long as we could keep them alive that long.

We arrived home with eight live chickens (first hurdle crossed!) and happily put them in their new home.  We thought they should love the roosts that Nate had so carefully built and were surprised to see that they all preferred to huddle together on the floor of the coop.  Hmmm...  I guess we needed to read up on that one!  Eventually they all learned to use the roosts and for the most part we find them bunched up on the top one as they sleep in droopy piles.

The first month of chicken raising was quite eventful and full of learning.  One of our original chickens seemed a wee bit ill so we began treating her and the others for possible parasites or worms.  We were never able to see if our treatment worked as she was the first we lost to a predator.  Although Nate tried to prepare me for loosing chickens to fox and such, it was sad and hard for me when she went missing. We haven't had any other successful predator attacks although we did watch a small hawk try to take one of our full sized hens!  The hen was running and it took us just a while to spot the hawk silently coming in to get her.  The hawk was obviously too small to carry her away but we ran out and yelled at it just the same.  Amazingly, it turned and came a second time!  Since then I don't put the chickens out to free range until I have my ever moving "scarecrow" (i.e. clothes on the clothesline).  We also avoid the morning and evening hours when hawks and falcons are more likely to be feeding.

The rubber egg with no shell

I had one additional predator scare which turned out to be nothing more than a garage "eating" my chicken!  We had a bag of bird feed on the garage floor which when found and punctured by the hens instantly became a favorite feeding spot.  Now that they knew something of the inside of the garage the hens thought it was quite fun to rummage through the tools, equipment, boxes, and such in the garage on a daily basis.  I didn't think too much of it until one of the hens when missing one afternoon.  We had looked for about half and hour and as we couldn't find her my face was showing what I thought to be true.... she had been caught some time in the morning while they were free-ranging and we were too busy to notice.  I was bummed, quite bummed, and figured I would check the garage once more and do a thorough job of it as I didn't care much to find out she had been in there in two months time.  As I was nearing the very back of the garage and trying to get a view between some of the boxes and totes piled there I heard a ruffling of feathers and called Nate to investigate.  He moved the boxes aside and found the lost hen down on the floor in the farthest back corner and unable to get back out the way she had gone in!  Whew!  I was relieved to say the least and was so happy to see her back with the others! That night we found a rubber egg on the floor off the coop and as we know all the hens can lay lovely eggs we are figuring she laid it as a result of the stress of being stuck in the garage without food or water for the better part of the morning and into the afternoon.

All in all, it has been quite fun to have chickens!  The kids love looking for eggs and are learning new responsibilities as well as getting first hand education on birds.  Learning about birds in science took on a whole new meaning this year as I found them out in the yard pulling the chicken's wings out to see the primary, secondary and tertiary feathers. :-)  I am normally not a big fan of pets but it has been a joy to have these hens who provide something so great for us!

We love finding twin eggs although it hasn't happened in quite a while.

The lovely variety of colors and sizes

Some of our small flock of hens.