Long Time No Talk

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted. My camera cord is missing so I'm unable to upload any pictures until I ask dh where he stashed them. We've slipped into a normal routine again, and are enjoying the milder weather. Two days last week were sooooo hot we had the air on! Now its back to the 60's and being quite cool in the morning and evening. Spring is back!!! We took advantage of the cooler temps and baked cookies today. :)

It's been easier to get up early this week, thank God! I've had this veil of fatigue over me for MONTHS now and suddenly yesterday I realized I hadn't been as tired all of the time for a couple of days (I was waking up tired previously). Funny how we suddenly notice days later that an issue is gone. My dh likes to blame fatigue on lack of working out but I had been working out everyday, that was not the reason for it.

Last Sunday our church did a laying of hands prayer time for me upon my request. Some of you may know that 2 years ago I was dx'd with MS. I also have some personal struggle that I've had my whole life. I know God can heal me, and so I've asked many times. I figured I'd better do what the bible says and have some deacons/elders lay hands on me and annoint with oil. It is such a privilege to be part of a local body of believers who are willing to do just that.

Still thinking on the homeschool vs. school decision. I like the idea of homeschooling and get all idealistic when pondering it. The reality of the situation is the toll it may take on me, and the amount of time dh will be able to be involved, and how it may affect my reationship with eldest (challenging) son. As things stand, it would all rest on me, and with six children and my health issues, I am not sure we are considering the decision for the right reasons. I am afraid I am leaning toward hs for selfish reasons and that scares me. I feel as though I have been going through almost some sort of a mid-life crisis. And yes I am too young for that, I am only 34, but reality is I have a 17 year old, so all in all life experience wise I am not that far off. haha The thing is that for 17 years I have never been without a small child at home, I have always had a little one. Now, my youngest is 4 and ready to start school, and my eldest will graduate high school next year. I am not sure of how I will find my place in this world with such a big life change. See what I mean? That is pretty selfish, and fearful. Also I cannot compare my eldest (challenging) son to other school kids, he is a special case and not necessarily a direct product of public school just as he is not a direct reflection of his parents. He is his own person, with very real (PDD & depressive disorder) struggles, nothing typical, as evidenced by our other five children. For now I am just going with the flow as usual and if we decide 100% to do it, we will take it from there, and if we decide against it everything will be in place to proceed next year where they are.

Tonight I am making simple skillet fried chicken breasts, and the adults chicken will be drowned in Frank's red hot for a low fat buffalo chicken flavor. I am off to get the next batch out of the pan. Hope you are having a beautiful week!!

update 5/26/09--
I realize I have been wishy washy. That is not the character trait I wish to have or cultivate!! I am allowing fear to rule once again in my life. As soon as I think I have that figured out, I catch it peering around the corner again. I need to write down our reasons, pray about it, and then stick to it. I need to make a long term decision. Some people are fine with telling themselves, well we will do it and take it one year at a time. I cannot do that. When things get tough, or fear peers in, it will be too easy to waver. I need to recognize this whole process as a life-long process, the big picture looks so much different and do-able in that perspective. They don't have to know it all today, I don't have to teach it all this year, it is a life-long process of learning. Yes there are goals we will shoot for by certain timeframes, but it is not nearly so fearsome to realize we have time! It is simply LIFE. Our eldest special needs son will remain in school as he needs the utmost structure and a lot of services. Our three youngest will homeschool. I need to pray for wisdom, peace, and stability.

Chag Pesach Sameach

Tonight we are going to our first Passover Seder at a local church. We haven't been there before, but once we heard they were hosting this we just had to go! I am also meeting a new friend I've been chatting with on facebook there. Our family has been studying/observing the biblical Holy days this year and we LOVE it. There is always such deep meaning that the regular American holidays seem shallow to us. That is not meant to offend anyone, but that is what we think and how we feel. It's amazing seeing how they point to Jesus, remembering when we were slaves to sin before Christ freed us. That we can't tolerate sin in our life, even one little secret sin in a deep crevice of our life will seep in and affect us. I love teaching my children about them so they can see that as well.


I wish I would have been more brave to take more pics but once we got situated I didn't want to go there since we just met and all. Next time I will! ;-)


take notice the Matzo crackers are striped and pierced

1 Corinthians 5:8

8Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

What's been cooking at my house...

This week our budget allowed us to spend $73 to feed nine people. I decided to use ingredients I had on hand (since I happened to have mozzarella from the week prior)to make pizza!


I made combination for the adults. I had one hamburger patty-sized amount of ground beef I cooked up with some onions, a green pepper, and the rest of the pack of mushrooms I bought. This way here, the water from the veggies cooked out and didn't make the pizza soggy. I added some canned olives after slicing them as well. I put some cheese over the toppings so that they would not roll off. haha~


Saturday I made some boneless buffalo strips with pasta salad containing the carrots and celery which normally come with wings.



I had also bought some buttermilk for the first time ever (out of curiosity) the week before, so decided to make Ruthann's buttermilk pie pictured below, with my very first homemade crust (not too bad):

by the way, we found we liked the pie better the next day nice and chilled

Scones take very basic ingredients to make (other than butter which I buy in bulk and store in my freezer, so it was on hand), and since my pantry was stocked with powdered milk, we had all we needed to try something else new, and they were great!!
I also had some homemade strawberry and raspberry jam that my dear friend had given us for Christmas. Can you believe I still have some? LOL!! Here is a recipe for you to give a try.

So all in all, though my fridge is barebones now (considering there are 9 of us), we actually had more fancy food than usual, from having some surplus from the bigger shopping trip the week before. Having a well stocked pantry is a MUST nowadays in my opinion. We never know what to expect from week to week since my dh is commission only. I've learned to prepare ahead when able to do so. Really though, anyone can benefit from it.


Also...here is the car that my eldest son made with his dad for the AWANA pine wood derby.

Actually it was done pretty last minute due to dh's crazy schedule and hopefully Mikey will be more involved in the whole process next year! He didn't win, but his car did pretty well for about 60 or so cars participating, and this was their first year ever.