Scenes from HERE....

A friend grabbed me outside of Mom's Night Out last night and asked me if I'd like this (see below). Wow! This makes my sneaky "strewing of books" so much easier. The little ones have been grabbing books all day. I was able to eliminate one basket of books. Thanks friend, am I allowed to say your name on the blog? S....friend S....

The boys think that I've brought them stairs... "just like the pyramids" and I begin to wonder if I'll have to make a giant plywood pyramid before this is over.

Filled with our butterfly and jungle books

Apple Mummies at 2 weeks....one on the right has been exposed to air...

Tuesday

Before you all think I've gone bonkers, before friends and daughters begin to call and email me holding me accountable to "staying home and getting my home in order"....may I say that this is the FOURTH WEEK OF THE MONTH!??!! I've blogged about this several times. I am NO LONGER out of control. I'm very careful about what I agree to do outside of our home. I even shared tonight at Bible Study how Lynn helped me to gain control and focus when I lost it heartily in AK (teaching so often, etc). This is simply the fourth week of the month on a military base, in a military chapel. EVERYONE knows that all monthly activities and meetings must be planned for the 4th week of the month. ::snort:: THAT is why we have PWOC Project nights on the SECOND week of the month!

Today we had school.

I had a PAC meeting.

We had more school.

I had Bible Study.

Now I'm going to sleep.....the rest of the week is also going to be busy!

Sermon Thoughts

I have been mulling over some thoughts from my favorite's preacher's Sunday sermon. ::wink::

Michael spoke on Luke 19:1-10 - Zaccheus

He gave some great background on Jericho...we are finding our Bible reading is coming alive in new ways now that we are studying ancient Civs again..... I'm just going to share the points. You can probably read the passage and fill in the blanks for yourself if so led. Mike gave two titles for each point. I'll put the one I liked first and the alternate second. LOL

1. When you can't see - CLIMB A TREE or When Obstacles Abound Seek Higher Ground
~Ok I can't give points alone - what really stuck with me here were the questions "What keeps you from seeing Jesus?" and "What do people see when they see me coming? Forgiveness or judgement? Jesus or a Pharisee?"

2. When You See a Sinner Invite Him to Dinner or When Jesus Came He Knew My Name

~Wow - that Jesus KNOWS us and that he dines with sinners.....
~I never see Jesus shunning a repentant or seeking sinner, but I've seen Christians and whole Protestant Evangelical churches shun "sinners" and say they are treating them like "sinners and publicans" - this HIT me....Jesus knew Zaccheus was a sinner - He invited him to dinner...not a lot of shunning going on. (Note - I mention Protestant Evangelical because that is what I am and my objective is not to be pointing fingers at any denominations - but the personal way we treat "sinners" - like we aren't sinners.)

3. Where there's Grace there's an About Face - can't remember the other title....things began to pick up intensity in the service here and I was otherwise focused. LOL

~Who was looking for whom?
~Jesus came to seek the lost -

LOST - destroyed, devastated by something that occurred in the past and has ongoing results - THIS is what this Greek word means. Jesus CAME to SEEK those who are walking through current devastation because of past occurrences in their lives. Grace was unasked for, it was unearned....Jesus wanted fellowship with a sinner and it led to repentance.....

In conclusion, Mike shared about our experience with Stacia in the pool. He shared how he was desperately trying to reach her and yelling "get the baby" and how everyone was simply watching him try to reach her....the fear, the desperate longing, the striving....and how that night he couldn't sleep. God spoke quietly to him as he prayed, "Mike, I feel the same feelings you did when you were trying to reach the baby, for the lost around you. Get the baby!"

It was powerful.

Recap

It's come to my attention that I've not updated since Friday. It's sweet when y'all send me emails and call to check on me.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words this one should explain it all.....life gets a bit insane when my sanity leaves.....and the appliances may well be staging their rebellion as I type. I must remain vigilant.

Saturday

4 hours at the library working on lesson plans, correcting papers, gathering books for this week

3 hours with Jamin, Jared, Michael and I have our Socratic discussions for history, Church history, and lit. Michael made my MONTH when he commented after listening/participating in the last hour of discussion that, "You did good, I'm impressed." He promptly printed off 20 pages of Spurgeon's sermons for us to read "in our spare time" - one titled "Exodus" and one titled "The Passover" (or at least close to that).

We played games or something that night.

Sunday

Two services and a fellowship.

Josiah and Jamin rented "The Big Green" for us to watch. Cool.

Monday

6:00 Curves

7:00 - 8:30 School

8:45 - Dr's appointment

9:15 - 9:45 Family Circle, School

10:00 - Airport

10:15 - 11:00 - Groceries

11:00 - 12:00 School

1:30 - Speech

2:30 - 4:30 School

6:00 Curves Weight Solution Class (I made BIG points by stating that I didn't think this was going to work for me ::snort::)

7:00 - 9:45 - Mom's Night Out

There you are...the outline. Tomorrow will be another busy, busy day....then Wed....well Wed and Thursday may be busy too, but Friday...well Friday is co-op and well.....

Did I mention I've been praying about adding 2 music lessons, 4-H, and horse riding lessons?

This is JUST the bare bones....nothing said about the fun new homeschooling family at chapel, or the friendships developing here and there, or the awesome encouragement at MNO.....just the facts.

OH YEAH - Josiah got his first two exams back. He made 86% in history (the prof wants more writing in his answers ::snort:: - this is the boy that summed up the ancient Greek gods by saying "they were really messed up". This short answer issue has been long standing). He scored 102 on his math exam.

Friday


We have produce again! Yippee! I think numbers are going back up after the summer and we'll soon be back into a nice groove. Michael took Jared to visit our new doc on base.


Michael had wanted to take me out today. He's going to be gone next week. We agreed to lunch. We decided to load all the boxes from produce co-op and Shop Natural co-op into the back of the van and stop at the recycling center. Stacia noted we were going to leave. She started saying, "Daddy, Please I come. Please I come, Daddy"......she went out on a date with us. LOL We used to go out alone one week, take a child out the next week, go out alone again, and then double date....guess we are sliding back into that. She was a doll at the restaurant and we had a good laugh. We had a LOT of folks stop to tell us how darling she was, most smiling very widely and sweetly at us. It was apparent that all thought we were a sweet older couple who had FINALLY had a child in our old age. ::snort:: Same child - vastly different reaction when they see us all out together. ::snort::


JAMIN and JOSIAH are both home tonight. Jamin made pizza. I lucked out again. The guys went to watch the homecoming football game for the team that Jamin played for a few years ago. I spent my time putting unit 1 into sheet protectors and getting ready for my weekly lesson planning session.


YES, our new TOG arrived! The map aids are back ordered - bummer - I really need those. The Writing Aids look great. Michael is looking forward to the Pop Quiz.....there is a weekly audio portion - 15 minutes for him to listen to and he'll know what we are all studying. There are also cards with questions for each level per week - conversation starters. The only thing "off" is that we got two unit 1 lap book kits instead of one of unit 1 and unit 2. LOL We had decided we want to work on ONE as a family and not separate ones. I'll call the company on Monday.

Hogan's Heroes is about to begin. I'm off.

Thursday - BUSY

We went to our local nature center. Jared found out that what he thought was a garter snake when he was mowing was a baby rattler! God help us. They had baby pythons. They fed the snakes. They EAT mice and I was totally sickened and grossed out....but Zander and Nolan held the snakes. ARGH. We used a gal of antibacterial stuff when we left....lots of strange insects and critters.

We had one hour between the center and getting Jamin and Jared to HoF.

I usually use the 3 hours while the boys are at HoF to let the littles play while I make phone calls. Yesterday, we did school. We watched a DVD on King Tut.

I made Parmesan rice to go along with our crock pot chicken. I also made Jodi's pull apart rolls and a salad. I'll use the left over chicken tonight with the left over BBQ sauce from earlier in the week to make a BBQ chicken pizza - my favorite. "They" like ham and pineapple...reminds I'd best pick up some of that deli turkey ham today when picking up the produce order....

And that reminds me that I have 20 minutes before I have to do that and I've not set up tables and baskets. ::snort:: The day is off and running! No pictures or links because - one I forgot the card for the Nikon and two - I'm running late. LOL

"Moosewood" Refried beans - Crock pot version

2 C raw pinto beans
6 C water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C chopped onion
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 C minced green pepper (I didn't have any so left this out)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 C rice (optional)

Mix all in your crock pot. Cook on high. At 5 hours it was "beans and rice", by 8 hours I only had to stir and it was mashed...with a few chunks...we like chunks. I could have put it in the blender or mixer and made it really smooth. Add oil if you like the taste of the fat. You could fry it if you'd like.

We ate some for dinner and I froze the rest. I doubled the recipe and it was great in my 7 qt pot. I added the rice because I didn't want to have to drain the liquid from the beans...worked well.

Original Recipe: 

This recipe did not have any water listed which is odd as it calls for "raw pinto beans." ::snort::  So.....however you want to do it - get 5-6 C  of cooked pinto beans.  Here's the original recipe. 

Ingredients:
2 C raw pinto beans
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C chopped onions
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 C minced green pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
olive oil (about 3 T)

Directions:
Cover the pintos with water and let soak 1.5 hours or more.  Drain. Cover with more water and cook until well-done- usually 11/2 - 2 hours. (See post about the easiest way to cook dried beans). Drain off excess water and mash with a wooden pestle or potato masher (or throw them in a food processor or blender).

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add onions, garlic, cumin and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook over low heat until onions are translucent. Add green pepper, cover and simmer 5 - 8 minutes. Add sauteed vegetables to the beans along with a tsp of salt and black pepper (salt to taste). Mix well. Keep the beans hot in a medium oven until ready to serve.

Just made these again last night - the stovetop vs crock pot way and was surprised when they were ALL gone. I open a can of Rosaritas and they put a "bit" on their tacos - must have it - but no one eats the rest. This was a lot of beans and they were all eaten. I do believe I need to get back into the habit of making some up ahead and freezing. (11-1-2013)