To Share . . .

It's a rare day that I post a link to another blog here, but this one is good.  It's a post about large families and it is so true.  I e-mailed Amy a couple of years ago to ask her a question related to homeschooling. She graciously answered and offered her wise counsel.  She's a true woman of God. She blogs at Raising Arrows.

FYI

My first foray into social media--I'm now on Instagram.  I thought I might get a bit more posted if I could do it from my phone and with less words.  I'll still post here, probably about as often as I have been.  If you download the Instagram app onto your smart phone, tablet, or desk top, you can register yourself for an account (it doesn't take long), then search for my handle--broodmoma.  Be sure to spell the moma part with an "o."  Or you can just come here to the blog and click on the Instagram icon in the sidebar (click on a picture to read the caption).

The Kids: Lydia

Lydia.  She's almost eleven, going on thirty.  You know the scene in the Sound of Music where the sisters are singing, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?  How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?" all while Maria is running around in the hills missing prayer time again?  Well, the sisters could have just as well have been singing about Lydia.

What our friend said about Lydia many years ago still applies:  "That Lydia, she's a dandy."  She at once delights and exasperates me.  One minute she's asking for permission to get out more paint, cut more fabric or make homemade lip balm, the next she's showing me a completed project that is so well done, I'm amazed a ten year old could produce it.

Why not turn a button picking up exercise into an art project?

One minute I'm after her about finishing the clean up of her breakfast kitchen, the next she's wrapping yet another gift she made for someone.  One minute I'm telling her to get out her math book, the next I find her sitting at the computer composing an e-mail to her great aunt describing every detail of  her latest art project or bee hive problem.  One minute I'm reminding her to practice piano, the next she's keeping the little boys occupied for me while I'm finishing up a phonics lesson with Jude.  One minute I'm impatiently telling her to get into the van because "we are late!" the next I find her fully engrossed in The Hobbit.

That Lydia, she's a dandy.  And it's exhausting to be her mother.

Right now (as in today), Lydia's interests include bee keeping, quilting, painting, reading, knitting and making smoothies in every flavor imaginable.

For about one week this past fall, Lydia produced a daily family newsletter, which she printed and distributed to the members of the household each morning.  Here are a couple of samples:

Also this past fall, Grandma Dianne indulged Lydia's desire to learn quilting by taking her to quilting lessons.  Lydia was certain she wanted to make a big project right out of the shoot, but she was talked into a smaller wall hanging instead.  She gave the wall hanging to my Aunt Leanna for Christmas, as my aunt loves quilts and quilting.

Speaking of Christmas.  Lydia made Christmas gifts for all of the immediate family, plus her grandparents and a few other friends and relatives.  With the exception of the quilt, Lydia made all of the aforementioned gifts entirely from materials she found around the house.  For instance, she made coloring books for her little brothers by printing out free coloring pages she found online and then binding them in plastic file folders.  She made crayons to go with the books by melting old crayon pieces in small muffin tins.  She also made a "build-your-own" snowman by cutting out all of the parts from felt and then placing them in a plastic container so that Isaac could make a snowman whenever he wanted.

Christmas cards that Lydia painted

For my birthday last week, Lydia painted me a picture of two love birds on canvas.  She found the instructions online and then painted the picture with cast off paints we were given a few years ago.

Lydia received gift cards to Hobby Lobby from her grandparents for both Christmas and her upcoming birthday.  The Christmas card has been spent.  Lydia bought fabric fat quarters for quilting and has already sewn them together to make a quilt front.  We still need to purchase a few more materials to finish the quilt.  We must have spent an hour at Hobby Lobby wandering the aisles while Lydia decided what to buy.  Despite my objections, Lydia purchased the fat quarters.  I tried to talk her into a intermediate art kit, one which included an instructional video.  "But mom!  I don't need any instruction!"

That Lydia.  Not only is she a dandy, but she's also a Dean.  The Lord must have big plans for this little girl and we can't wait to see how her life unfolds.

More Hunting

My dad treated Matt and Paul to two more duck hunting trips at the beginning of January. They were guided hunts and though the temperature was a miserable ten degrees, the guys really had a good time. They shot their limit within thirty minutes the second day--the birds were that plentiful.

Matt came home and cleaned the birds. He soaked the meat for 24 hours in salt water and then ground it up. Last Saturday, the guys grilled burgers for our dinner. Paul found the recipe for Chipotle Duck Burgers in the Ducks Unlimited magazine that we still receive since my grandfather (now deceased) purchased Grace, his first great grandchild, a life time membership. Liz made a chipotle mayo to go with the burgers.  Matt topped them with Tillamook Pepper Jack cheese.   I've never been a fan of wild duck (and wild goose is just gross). I prefer pheasant and quail. However, these burgers were excellent. With more duck in the freezer, I'm sure they'll be on the menu again soon.

A Little Break

Our family enjoyed a little down time after Christmas.  Grace took some time off of work.  Matt and I went to see the new Star Wars movie (the three big kids took themselves to see it before Christmas). We liked the movie, but I'm glad we paid the matinee price for it.  It's been so long since we've gone to a movie in the theater that the matinee price was the same as our last full price movie viewing.

Two days after Christmas, the whole family went to visit the farm.  We drove  there in a snow storm in the dark with the trailer filled with sleds hitched to the back of our van.  The kids thought that was an adventure.

It was great to have a few days of R and R.  The kids had a blast sledding.  I took a little walk on the original homestead.  It's always quiet there, but it is really quiet when it is blanketed in snow. My life is so full of NOISE, I relished the silence of that walk.  We also had some good talks with my aunt and uncle, ate some good food, celebrated Uncle Keith's and Isaac's birthdays and played a couple of games.

I even read a book.  A real book--cover to cover in two days. I read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.  That was not the book I intended to read over the break.  I had already started Almost Amish and thought I'd finish that, but then one of the bloggers I've been reading for years posted and said that she had started to read Redeeming Love.  It came highly recommended to her by Angie Smith (wife of Todd Smith, singer in the Christian group Selah).  I'm not a fan of this genre at all, but I was intrigued by the fact that the book is based on the book of Hosea from the Bible.  I've always loved Hosea.

So I borrowed a digital copy of the book from my library and started reading at 10 p.m.  I conked out at midnight, but almost completed the book the next day.  The day after that, I finished it off in a couple of hours.  It's been a good long while since I've indulged in a reading binge. Since I finished the book, I've been mulling over the truths it presented.  God loves me.  He chose me.  Even though I have nothing to offer Him.  And even worse, though I'm the most wretched of sinners.  It's been rather overwhelming, really.

This week it's been back to the old grindstone.  Phonics lessons, cooking, laundry, chauffeur duty, picking up stuff off of the floor, kissing boo boos, reading aloud These Happy Golden Years, and laughing at the littles' antics.  All the usual stuff.  And in the midst reflecting on all He has given me in Christ.