IDSP Camping Trip #2

Oh wow!  We are back and pretty much in one piece.  I have a few bug bites that are really "bugging" me, but otherwise OK, other than being tired.  *yawn* 

We had some cooler weather, which actually was not so bad.  The day we came home was HOT, in the 9o's.  I'd rather have the cooler temperatures, but at least it was dry all but one day.  And that day was not a total wash out.  The weather did not stop us from doing all we wanted. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this trip.

Eating ice cream from the camp store.  

A quiet moment at the camp site. 

Lots of sand!

Pavilion Roof Top

Hiking down to "Ecology Cove"

Train station tour

Snakes Alive program

My happy boys

Finally a hot day! 

Jeff and Jenn

Playing at the beach

This Week At Home, No. 23

In which summer vacation begins in earnest.

Enjoying lunch with Nana and Grandma

Sunday:

Finished  3rd grade Sunday school, although it was a little sad to say good-bye to my sweet boys and girls.  We had a great discussion about spiritual things to end our time together.  They are precious!

Rushed home to start the grill.  It was sunny at this time.  The grill was hot and ready in no time, but the weather had changed just that quickly.  It poured!  The coals went out.  However we were able to cook the burgers and dogs before the coals were totally out.  We enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Grandpa and Grandma.  We are so thankful they have moved back to Indiana. 

Monday:
First full week of our summer vacation is here!  It seems so odd not to have lessons this morning.  We will start our summer lessons next week.  I want one week of freedom.  :-)

Today we go visit Grandma with my Mom.  It promises to be a warm day with possible storms. Grandma is doing well.  She has recovered from her pneumonia.  She is failing in her mental abilities more and more.  That is to be expected. We just love on her all we can while we have her.  Usually we bring Little House on the Prairie DVDs.  It amazes me that she remembers so much of them. 

Tuesday:
Mowed as much as we could, given that we were almost out of gasoline.  Yes, I could go get it, but it is a smelly job and in my book it's a man's job!  I mow, he gets the gas.  That's a good deal, I figure.  After lunch, we made it to the library before a dentist cleaning visit for the kids.  Praise the Lord, no one had any cavities! Summer Bible study started this evening for me. What joy to be digging deeper into God's word with a group of women, including my dear mother.

Wednesday:
Dear husband brought me some gasoline last evening, so we need to finish that job.  It rained two times this morning.  I hope to get it done before the next round of rain that looks like it is on the way.   Need to work on gathering camping supplies and start a pile in the family room near the garage door.  Trevor was not feeling his best today.  He says his tummy is bothering him and he was happy to lay around reading all day.  Wild storms passed through right at bed time.  Sirens blaring.  Thankfully they passed without harm, but to our south there were houses leveled and people injured. 

Salad buffet from last Thursday's Bunco gathering. 

Thursday:
Able to get the lawn finished yesterday.  It can be an enjoyable project to work on with the kids, I've decided.  It's raining right now.  I hope to get provisions for camping today.  Need to working on finishing packing.  This evening is judo promotion night.  Grace and Ryan are getting their next belts.

Friday:

Jeff got the whole day off!  Yippee, we'll eat breakfast, hook up the camper and be off!   

Lovely Grace.

Saturday - Monday:
Indiana Dunes here we come!  So far the forecast is favorable for a lovely weekend.

Camp Menu:

Friday:  Having grilled, marinated chicken tenders with grilled zucchini, pasta salad, and smores.
Saturday:  Grandma & friend joining us for burgers, brats, baked beans, grilled corn on the cob, and smores. 
Sunday:  hot dogs over an open fire, grilled veggies in foil, and smores!

Do you see a common theme?  Smores!  I will need to be careful.  :-)

Campground Activities:

Friday evening crafts at the campground shelter with the naturalist.  (A kid favorite!)

Saturday morning hike in the woodlands (Got mosquito?)

Saturday mid-morning work on IN State Park patch requirements
Saturday afternoon:  Dunes Jeopardy!  (my husband's favorite game)

Saturday evening:  Pavilion Sunset History Tour! (Really looking forward to this!)

"Meet the park interpreter for a view of Indiana’s best sunset!
We’ll meet in front of the beach pavilion for a look at this
unique Indiana icon, a special tour, and then we’ll head
to the top for a great sunset! It’s a one of a kind way to
enjoy an evening on the beach!"  

Sunday morning church service at the campground shelter.
Sunday morning hike to Mt. Tom
Sunday after the hike, work on park patch for an hour, ie,. volunteer to clean beach?
Sunday afternoon:  Snake show, get to touch a snake. (Yippee or yikes?) 
Sunday evening:  hike in the dark  (I will be skipping this one.)
Monday morning:  feed the birds (I can do this at home!)
Monday afternoon:  wetland hike (We will probably be getting ready to come home.) 

2009 sunset, Lake Michigan

Habits, Part Two

Thank you for your responses to my first post about habits. I knew that I was probably not alone in all of this. I have decided to be proactive and not get down on myself.

There has already been much said about habits.  Experts seem to agree that forming new habits takes time, as much or more than 30 days.  I am generally pleased with the progress we have made in changing our habits over the years, although I do get impatient and discouraged (perhaps overwhelmed is a better term) at times.  If we were not disciplined at all, I doubt we'd be done with 180 days of school before the end of May. And feedback I get from family and friends seem to suggest that I am doing a good job with my kids. 

That said, however, I crave more progress!  I've decided to make this our summer theme, putting off the old and putting on the new. I am going to challenge my children to think about their habits.  And then to take on the work of rooting the bad ones out for good.  One at a time.  One month at a time.

For me, that means I am going to piggy back new habits onto more firmly established ones.  For example, I am in the firm habit of getting up early, reading my Bible and praying.  I would like to add exercise to that routine.  (Oh dread! Did I just say that?)

I do need to be very careful not to add the top fifty habits I'd like to acquire all at once.  I am tempted to launch into a totally new routine.  I think building on my already good habits is the key for me.  One at a time.  One month at a time.  That will be my motto. This will probably take the next 25 years, if the Lord allows.  (lol)

I will continue to strive to maintain the good, solid habits we have and then endeavor to add on to those new ones until they too are part of our lives.

Summer break just seems like a great time to work on these things. Want to join me? What habits would you like to "put on?"
~Jenn

Ephesians 4:21-23 (ESV)

...assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Romans 6:6 (ESV)
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Habits

Good morning friends. I pray you had a lovely weekend, too. I've been thinking about habits lately.

"In early childhood, you lay the foundation of poverty or riches, in the habits you give your children."

Mrs. Lydia Child, The American Frugal Housewife


"Therefore, the first rule, and the most important of all, in education is, that a mother govern her own feelings, and keep her heart and conscience pure."

Mrs. Lydia Child, The Mother's Book

Oh, how I feel the weight of these statements as I wrestle with my own feelings and keeping my conscience pure.  What are the habits that I have given my own precious children?  Are they worthy ones?  No, not all of them.  Rooting them out at this age is proving to be as difficult as rooting them out of my own heart.  Habits can be a constant struggle, when you are trying to change them, especially at my age.  Fortunately, I do have a compassionate Savior.  He sympathizes with my weaknesses.  Only through Him can I overcome and hope to be the mother my children need.  I feel trapped by my habits.  I must not allow them to be my ruin!

1 Corinthians 10:13 (New American Standard Bible)

 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

This Week At Home. No. 22

In which we finish strong!

Sunday:
Rainy and in the 50's.  Hard to believe it was 90 degrees just last week.  I am not complaining.  Not one bit!  I love this sort of weather.  So, we did not do a whole lot today after church and Sunday school.  It was a good afternoon to just hang out and watch original Star Trek episodes.  We did go buy rain coats for a couple of us.  The rain coats are for camping.  As my husband says, "If life gives you rain while camping, put on rain coats."   

Monday:
Home today.  Worked on lessons in the morning.  Mowed and did the weeding as a team again in the afternoon.  The temperatures are still in the 50's but the sun was shining. Grace's green beans are doing very well.  So are the weeds.  We are not making any progress weeding.  It's discouraging. 

Grandma's birthday cake. 

Tuesday:
Cloudy and cool day, in the 50's.  Last day of school, day number 180!  Grace made us shortbread cookies with homemade strawberry jam on top for a celebratory treat.  We are taking a week off and then we will start summer school.  The children have decided to be smart this summer and keep working on their math.  We will also have daily devotions and be reading a family read aloud.  This afternoon, I lost myself in Elizabeth Prentiss' book, Stepping Heavenward.  More about that wonderful book later. 

Wednesday:
A rainy, cold morning.  Need to shop for bunco which is here tomorrow evening.  After shopping, we spent time putting away things in general so that tomorrow's dusting and sweeping can get done with less effort.  I am trying not to freak out.  I have had a lot of socializing this month and I am really looking forward to bunco being over with.  How's that for a hospitable attitude?  It's just the truth.  Tonight is the last AWANA.  It's closing ceremony night.  Jeff is giving his testimony. 

My sweet girl. 

Thursday:
Bunco is tonight.  12 lady friends are coming.  Decided to make a conscience effort to do this unto the Lord.  It is my offering of worship to Him today.  Spending the day cleaning, baking, and chopping vegetables for the salad bar buffet I have planned.  My family will be at the karate spring tournament tonight. 

Friday:
Recovery day!  And I need to get groceries for the week.  Trevor has a sleep over with Nana and Granddaddy.  He's really looking forward to that.  We have decided to pop up the camper and spend the night outside tonight.  The weather will be awesome.  Why not?  It's cheap entertainment! 

Changing his looks again? 

Saturday:
Hope to not have to do a lot today.  Just want to enjoy being a family and being home. The farmers market opens today.  We might drop in. 

Sunday:
Grandpa and Grandma are coming after church for a cook out.  Today is my last day in 3rd grade Sunday school, too.  Bitter sweet.  I love the kids.  Next year I'll be with 6th grade girls in AWANA. 

My almost 4th grader.

More regarding Elisabeth Elliot

Hello again friends.  It occurred to me that you all may not know about a wonderful, encouraging, free resource that has been such a blessing to me. 

Have you ever been to Elisabeth Elliot's website, ElisabethElliot.org?  Did you know that you can access her newsletters from 1982-2003?  Do you know what a wealth of encouragement she poured into those newsletters?  And the best part is that they are not lengthy, so you could read them, soaking in the godly wisdom, in little bits of time.  Bits like this:

"Experience has taught me that the Shepherd is far more willing to show His sheep the path than the sheep are to follow.  He is endlessly merciful, patient, tender, and loving.  If we, His stupid and wayward sheep, really want to be led, we will with out fail be led.  Oh that I am sure."

Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter Sept/Oct 1992

Gleaning From the Past

Good Monday morning to you all! It was a lovely weekend here. The temperatures are below normal and it was raining yesterday, giving my gardener the weekend off from watering. *grins*

I find myself in a seeking mood.  I am drawn to all things old.  I have a thirsty desire to glean from ages past, especially the late 1800's to early 1900's.    This knowledge that I am seeking is all about home keeping.

Last night I curled up with a couple good "books", I will call them books, for it was indeed from my computer that I read.  Gutenberg.org is one of my favorite sites.

The first is called, The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton.  This book is more geared to a household with servants.  It was fun to read, anyway.  I just read the parts pertaining to the mistress of the house.  It has volumes on each servant's role.  Very interesting.  However, since I do not employ a house full of servants, the next book was more relevant. 


I also read bits from The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking by Helen Campbell. Some of the ideas are a little out dated, but there are real gems in these old books too.  I really liked the chapter entitled, "A Day's Work" in Mrs. Campbell's book.  The first sentence amused me.  Finally someone who understands! 

"It is safe to say that no class of women in the civilized world is
subjected to such incessant trials of temper, and such temptation to be
fretful, as the American housekeeper."

I like this quote, too. 

"In the beginning, then, be sure of one thing,--that all the wisdom you
have or can acquire, all the patience and tact and self-denial you can
make yours by the most diligent effort, will be needed every day and every
hour of the day. Details are in themselves wearying, and to most men their
relation to housekeeping is unaccountable. The day's work of a systematic
housekeeper would confound the best-trained man of business. In the
woman's hand is the key to home-happiness, but it is folly to assert that
all lies with her. Let it be felt from the beginning that her station is a
difficult one, that her duties are important, and that judgment and skill
must guide their performance; let boys be taught the honor that lies in
such duties,--and there will be fewer heedless and unappreciative
husbands."

I am also revisiting Mrs. Child's book, The American Frugal Housewife .  

I plan to look for more books in this line of thinking.  My library is in want 

of any that I can find on my own. 

Do you have any good old books you might 

recommend? (Or blogs?)  

This Week At Home

In which we swelter.

Sunday:
A lovely Mother's Day.  We hosted a cook out without a grill.  Kind of a brave thing to do, but we pulled it off.  We like to use what we have.  So we got out our camp stove and grill pan when the borrowed grill turned up with a missing piece and 15 minutes until guests were to arrive.  We are thinking about buying a little charcoal grill, the kind we gave away when we were purging to move way back the first time.  I just hate it when that happens.  That is the risk you take when you purge.  At least we were gifted the first grill, so we are not really out much.

Monday:
Such lovely weather!  We were drawn outside.  We seemed to get through our lessons much quicker.  The kids and I worked outside for an hour, getting the lawn mowed and beds weeded (well kind of) .  Grace planted some zinnias.  I hope they can forgive us for planting them in a semi-sunny spot.  Jeff set up our croquet set after dinner.  He made new wickets out of coat hangers.  Brilliant!  We all enjoyed the time outdoors.

Tuesday:
Humidity is creeping up,so the kids got on their suits and spent time in the sprinkler.  I got busy in the house with window washing, making two loaves of Italian Herb Bread, homemade marinara sauce and hummingbird nectar. We tried to play outside, but the bugs had now found us. 

Wednesday:

Hot, humid, and over 90 degrees.  We did our best to stay focused through our lessons in the morning.  Then we watched a lovely movie called, I Remember Mama.  What a sweet, sweet movie!  Have you seen it? 

Thursday:
Library day!  The boys' archery class at the park was canceled due to not enough kids signing up.  *sigh* It's still very humid and hot.  We turned the AC on to cool off just a little and turned it back off to sleep.  Otherwise it is too cool. 

Friday:
Hosting our church home group tonight.  We will take the day off to get ready.  No school today.  Only 2 more left anyway!  

Saturday:
Grandma's 89th birthday!  We love you! 

I hope you've had a great week and enjoy a lovely weekend. 
Jenn

Beautiful Girlhood

Grace and I are reading, Beautiful Girlhood, revised by Karen Andreola.  I bought this book a couple years ago in preparation for the day when my Grace would be entering young womanhood.  It is hard to believe that we are nearly there.  I wanted to fill her mind with beautiful thoughts as she makes this difficult journey to womanhood.  We are just in chapter 9 and already I am so glad we are reading this book together.

"The great foe of these years is selfishness, and the girl who comes to the most perfect womanhood learns soon to fight selfishness with all her might."  page 27

Oh how I wish I had thought about these things when I was a young girl of almost twelve, like Grace.  It would have saved me many heartaches, for sure.  Unfortunately, I did not meet my Savior for many more years ( I was 20) and so I was left to my selfish ways for too many years.  Years that the Lord has redeemed to be sure, thankfully!

It is my prayer that my daughter can avoid the discipline issues that I struggle with.  Is it not what all mothers want, to spare their children pain?  Sometimes pain is the best teacher, though, and I must step back and let her learn.  

So, Grace and I will read this lovely book together and pray that she can be a girl who is wise and learns to fight selfishness with all her might for the glory of God!

Shaping of a Christian Family

Good morning friends. Are you enjoying a peaceful home this week? It's been a lovely week here. The sunshine and warmth does wonders for my soul. Here's a little post about a wonderful book I am pondering at the moment. It's the kind of book that you must not hurry through and you must go back and read it again, perhaps, as your seasons in life change. How I love and thank God for Elisabeth Elliot.

The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot is currently my self encouragement reading. Actually, I purchased this book many years ago.  I hung onto it, hoping one day it would "click."  Well, it has clicked!  I think I am finally through being spoon fed good books. Hooray!  It's embarrassing to say that I put this book down more than once and for more than a few years because it just did not make sense to me.  However, now I am finally mature enough.  I am certainly older!  And my family is beyond the baby stage, when I first tried to make sense of this awesome book.  Unfortunately, it would have been of great benefit to my family if I had persevered way back then!  *sigh*

The Shaping of a Christian Family is actually a sort of autobiography for Elisabeth Elliot's family.  It is  filed with remembrances from her mother and her father's journal entries sprinkled with Elisabeth's godly wisdom about raising a Christian family.  

The book begins with the history of Elisabeth's maternal grandparents and her parents.  Her maternal grandparents were Christians, but certainly not on fire for the Lord.  They lived a comfortable life with servants and big houses, lake houses too.  It was not until later that the family became devoted to Jesus.

Elisabeth's father came from a more modest family that was living for the Lord.  Her father decided to be a missionary in his late teens, about the same time Elisabeth's mother came to the same independent conclusion.  

I highly recommend this book. It is filled with godly advice, quotes from Scripture, and good old fashioned remembrances of time gone by.  This remarkable family serves as an example to the rest of us striving to bring up godly children.  It's just so encouraging to my heart! 

"The ordering of a peaceful home is not possible without the application of eternal principles.  It is, after all, mostly little, common things that make up our lives.  This is the raw material for the spiritual life. If we despise small things, regard normal household duties as burdens, routines as boring, rules too confining, we will never learn, nor can we teach our children, to live a life of holy harmony.  This takes faithfulness in the troublesome details first of all, learning to do them well that we may make of them an offering to the Lord, for it is His work, after all, given to us.  It is our daily bread for which we should learn to be thankful.  Such faithfulness is the ground-work for all God may ever ask us to do."
p. 129-130

A Cure for the Unmotivated Homemaker

Not writing this to step on any toes, but Monday is a great day to get off on the right foot, so to speak.  I hear quite often around blogland that someone is feeling "unmotivated" to get busy and down to work of taking care of their family.  I admit feeling this way too, sometimes.  This is how I get myself in gear.  I ask myself one simple question.

1. Do I have a husband who got himself out of bed very early this morning to go to work in order to provide for my well being and comfort (in other words deny himself)?  

(Well, uh, YES!  He did get up early and go off to work with a happy heart! )

This is usually the only question I need to ask myself to get myself out of a bad attitude.  If I still find it hard to get moving in the right direction after getting my daily Bible reading and coffee, here is my second string list of things to do to get motivated.

1. Pray for a right heart attitude.  Remember how blessed I am to be home and how important it is for me to set the tone of my domain.  No one else is going to do this for me.  Or perhaps I will allow the outside distractions to have victory? 
2. Turn on some big band music via Pandora  free radio.  Have you a Pandora account?  Music is a great motivator for me! 
3. Get myself clean and dressed.  Put on my pretty apron.  Dress for my job.  
4. Make a list of things that need to be done, but don't make it so long that it is discouraging.  
5. Get my kids to join in.  Many hands make the work light. 
6. Start a load of clothes.  
7. Fill the sink with warm soapy water.  (It will always get me in the mood to clean the kitchen!) 
8. Empty the dishwasher.  
9. Make sure I have a plan for dinner.  This should be number one, actually.  If I lack inspiration or desire here, it is easy to find menu ideas with little effort online.  If you find yourself slacking here, remember, would your husband get away with that kind of an attitude at his job?  Providing meals to your family is an essential part of our role.  We can't afford to be a slacker.

By the time I do these simple things, I am moving and in no time the house will be tidy and there will be plenty of time to enjoy the things I enjoy!

This Week At Home

In which we are well and very thankful.

The Mr enjoying his new castle. 

Sunday:
Sunday morning, sitting in the dry and cozy camper, eating cheerio's and strawberries from a cup, taking turns to read Scripture to one another, not minding the rain, it occurred to me what a great ending to our first camping trip it was.  Getting everything packed up to go home in the mud was a bit of a challenge, but it got done with happy hearts.  My legs were sore from the all of the stairs on our hike, but sore legs made me thankful that I had the ability to get up and down those stairs.

Monday:
Another rainy day.  My father (who just moved back to IN from CA) says he has webs starting to grow between his toes!  I think it has rained more this spring than I can remember.  Perhaps my memory is just bad.  :-)

We had a normal day of learning together at home.  We are in the process of wrapping things up.  I spend more time thinking about next year than this current one.  I am trying to gather materials little by little.  I love this time of the year!  I still need to get science for the youngest two and I am looking for a self-paced Latin program for my oldest. 

Decorations in Historic Madison, IN

Tuesday:
Another day at home.  Is it raining?  Why, yes!  It is still raining.  But, there are hopes of the next two days being dry.  We had another good day of lessons.  I got the laundry caught up, including the blankets from camping. I would have liked to have aired out the sleeping bags, but with the rain, I could not hang a line.  There was a chill in the air today with the cooler temperatures and no sun, so I decided it was the perfect day to make chili for dinner. We are blessed to have another free week night, too!  Oh, I love this time of the year.  Activities start to taper off. Makes me wonder if they are really necessary.  I could say no.  Hmm. 

Wednesday:
Another lovely day at home!  No rain!  So, we made the most of being outdoors after finishing our lessons.  Grace and Trevor picked up sticks from the yard.  Ryan mowed.  Grace spent time weeding.  Trevor swept up after her.  I supervised while putting things away in the garage.  The whole process was so smooth!   No complaining!  I count that as a victory.

Thursday:
No lessons today.  We only need 5 more school days.  I am going to spread them out a bit.  Today we will spend putting things away and then perhaps a trip to the library before karate and grocery shopping this evening.  The kids and I enjoyed more time outside today.  Grace planted basil and garlic.  It is starting to really feel like spring is here and the frost free date has arrived. 

Old fountain in Historic Madison, IN

Friday:
Another free day!  Going to work on getting things together for the cook out on Mother's Day.  Our standing play date is this afternoon, too. If there is time, I hope to get hair cuts before.  Great Clips is having a sale! 


Saturday:
Making pasta salad, baked beans and chocolate chip cookies for the cook out tomorrow.  Also will put finishing touches on the house.  Would love to work in the garden, but time might not allow.  We shall see.

Pet store sign in Historic Madison, IN

I hope you've had a delightful week!
Happy Mother's Day to you mothers.
~Jenn

A Very Touching Book

Just finished a darling little book via Gutenberg.org and thought some of you might like it too.  It's short, but sweet.  Very sweet.  And sad.  Consider yourself warned.  But it is good!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Making the House a Home by Edgar A. Guest

 

Nifty Clifty, Part Two

While it was great to go, I am enjoying being home this week.  All the laundry and unpacking is not stealing my joy.  Those are just things that are getting done between the regular chores in our day.  Camping work is not a burden to me, as it might be if my attitude were different.  I love the preparations and do not mind the after effects.  I've heard some say they don't go camping because it is too much work for mom.  

Anyway, like I said before, we had a great inaugural camping trip.  I really like Clifty Falls State Park. For one thing the people are very friendly.  You can't even walk to the bathroom without two or more people saying hello!  When we got to our camp site, a nice guy ran over to help Jeff move the picnic table off the pad.  Best of all, it's not a party park where people go to get drunk, as sadly some of our state parks are.  We've learned the hard way that some parks are just best to be avoided.  And that is really sad.

The weather was perfect for camping.  It was even dry Friday and Saturday.  We heard that the park recently recorded 11 inches of rain!  Sunday morning around 3:30 it did start to rain.  Thankfully the camper proved to be water tight.  Hooray!  We had to pack up after the rain, so things were muddy and damp, but that was not so bad.  It did rain on the way home but stopped so we could pop up the camper in the driveway so that it could dry.  It was sunny and dry long enough for the camper to dry out and be folded up again before the next wave of rain came.  And it did come! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this marvelous trip. 

All ready to go. 

All hands on deck setting up.

Lived in look. 

Walking around historic Madison, IN

Historic Madison, IN

Neat idea!

Upper Falls, Clifty Falls State Park

Sibling love!

Wild Turkeys! 

Tired, but happy.

Next trip is in a few weeks, Memorial Day weekend!