Diamonds In This Rough

It has been a rough couple of months.  Between my over-employed husband, bouts of a stomach virus (and its reprise), and trying to plug away and finish out the school year, it has been really tempting to throw in the towel....stay in bed...throw the covers over my head and write the rest of the Spring off as a total loss.

But there are always "diamonds" in any rough.  I admit, some of these things are really mundane, and most of them have to do with work and schooling, because I tend to throw myself into work when I want to feel better.  Whether it's the little curriculum gem that brings a new dimension to our dwindling school year, or the joy of finally getting something done...it's those little things that can make all the difference. Sometimes it's just those little moments or small things that ease a burden and make it possible to keep on keepin' on.  

#1: Homeschool Movie Diamonds:  Liberty's Kids and City of Bees

The Liberty's Kids series on Netflix has completely saved our study of the American Revolution.  It isn't that I gave up on my own plans (all the books and timeline work continue) but these videos make the entire time period really come alive for the girls, and they have become our daily soap opera!  They girls literally BEG for the next episode, and we end up discussing issues from the movies quite often.  I know they are really learning and internalizing this stuff more than they would otherwise.  Not to mention, it just gives me a chance to sit and relax with them, which I've needed lately.

We also checked out a movie on bees called City of Bees for our gardening unit.  (The link here is for the newer version, but check the library for the original!)  While the quality of the movie is certainly a deterrent (it's obviously old, and the narrator has a very thick European accent), the girls and I learned more about bees from this ONE movie than ALL the gazillion books we've read about bees since Caeley started Kindergarten.  It basically follows a bee keeper (the European man) through a year of bee-keeping, and he gives a detailed description of the bees, the hive, the activity, etc.  We kept pausing the movie, exclaiming, "I didn't know THAT about bees!" or "So THAT'S what the propolis is!"  Great, great, great, random library find!  Through all the yuck when we were sick, having these two bright spots in our week was really a God-send.

#2: Homeschool App Diamond:  Mental Case

I have my friend Alexis to thank for this one.  It's called Mental Case and it's sheer genius for homeschool parents that don't want a million piles of flashcards around.  (I hear it is also a huge hit with college populations as well!)  Basically it's a flashcard App that allows you to either take pictures, type in, or use voice prompts to enter the data for the front and back of the flashcard.  That means you can either make your own flashcards, OR if you already have flashcards that come as part of a curriculum, you can take pictures of the front and back of the card with your iPad or smart phone and make the cards that way.  Apparently you can also use it on your desktop to enter data, but I haven't used that feature yet.  I have over 500 flashcards for Caeley currently entered in the App, and I can't imagine what these cards, all over my house, would look like.  Using Mental Case prevents you from becoming a mental case.  For sure.

Here's a bad picture, pulled offline, of what the flashcards look like in one "case" in the App.  You can see it is being used to study anatomy.  This is just the view of the case--when you "study the cards" in a case, they flash on the screen one at a time, just like you see a flashcard in real life.

#3: Homeschool Random Book Diamond:  The Story of Salt

It sounds horrifically boring...an entire children's book called The Story of Salt.  But it's fascinating.  I checked it out because it was listed in my favorite book about books, and almost didn't read it because I thought the girls would hate it.  Not so!  There is so much history, so many fun facts, so much cross-curricular connecting that we were hooked.  Get it.  You won't be disappointed.

#4: Day Date Diamond:  How My Husband Rocks

I got a Facebook invitation from Ken to go on a date.  While this sounds utterly unromantic, it was actually super cute.  It was the kind of email I remember getting during the courting phase of our relationship.  Utter sweetness.  It was also special because the reality is that we have seen very little of each other the last couple months due to circumstances at work that have provided him with not one, or two, or three, but really four jobs.  In an effort to make time with me, he recruited some students to babysit, sent his invitation, and we got to go see The Avengers.  What a great movie!!!  And how wonderful to think that Ken can still rock the day date.

#5: Spanish Diamond: Salsa Spanish Movies

Now it's just starting to seem like my kids have been sitting in front of the TV, but I have to mention this one, because it really has been filled in the missing piece of our Spanish curriculum puzzle.  (And I have Alexis to thank again for this gem!)  It's a series of Spanish videos put out by Georgia Public Broadcasting for FREE on their website.  The videos use puppets, familiar stories, and repetition of certain vocabulary words and structures to teach children Spanish.  Not only do the girls love it, but they are using the phrases and words on their own in real life, so the mission has been accomplished.  In another life, I'd be writing an elementary homeschool Spanish curriculum using these videos...

#6: Work Diamond: Finishing Schedules for Next Year

I can't jinx myself and say I'm done...because I am constantly altering and changing our school schedules up until the moment we begin school, but for the most part, I think I'm done with planning for next school year.  Caeley will be in 4th grade, and Meara will be in 1st.  I'm thankful that I did a lot of work cementing my philosophy (in my head and heart) and schedules (on the computer) when Caeley was young, so that each year I just need to "kick it up a notch" and make adjustments based on the girls'  current needs.  But because the framework has been laid, each year gets easier and easier to plan.  All that's really left for this summer (aside from minor tweaks) is a massive book order in July and planning our actual course of study for the Middle Ages.  

#7: Friend Diamond: Loving My Neighbors

I would not be making it through these days without the friends I'm so blessed to have.  Whether it's laughing through Saturday morning Bible study (affectionately known as BS) or ranting during tea time of the challenges of living virtuously, or discussing curriculum and educational theory during play dates, I've been lifted up mentally, emotionally and spiritually in so many ways these past couple months.  I'm encouraged to grow more, think more, and love more through this little circle of women, and for that I'm truly thankful.  

#8: Abundant Harvest Diamond: Eggs and Garden

When all else fails, when the ca-ca hits the fan, you'll find me picking slugs.  Because no one comes out to the garden (they are afraid I'll ask for help) and slugs don't talk back.  When the whining doesn't stop, or Ailin pees on the floor or in her pants for the tenth time in one day (just because it's "funny"), or when the noise in my head is too loud...thank you GOD for the quiet time I get to spend in the garden.  The strawberries are coming in, the tomato plants have shot up with the rain, and the greens just keep coming.  The chickens are doing their thing...our egg count for April was 255 eggs.  I can't believe it.  Where did all those eggs GO?  It's nice not to feel quite so tied to grocery shopping, but more than that, it's nice to see the tangible blessings of the "harvest" when life's other blessings can be so much harder to recognize.

I am really, really looking forward to summer!

A Wednesday Snapshot

Today I woke up late after a bad night with the toddler.

I pounded coffee.

Today I made Meara laugh, and it infected me.  I was also a humble servant of "Your Majesty Ailin" who requested a "DRINK OF WATER" during tea time.

I took time out of the school morning to water the seedlings I planted yesterday.  Seven tomato plants, six pepper plants, four cucumber plants, too many basil plants to count, and some cilantro.

Then it rained.

Today I tripped while entering the coop to water the chickens and doused myself with freezing cold water at 8AM.

I ran out of chicken feed.

Today I watched the world around me fall apart as I entered day two of "Next-Year-Curriculum-Ordering-Frenzy."

And this shocked me, though it happens every year.

Today I got dinner in the crockpot by 7:30AM, and fed my toddler flour-less chocolate cake for lunch.  At 3:30.

I brushed my teeth.  But not my hair.  And most definitely didn't shower.

Today I thought I was more anxious than Caeley to find out whether Little John escaped the Sheriff.

And was delighted to realize I was wrong.

Today Ailin grabbed me from behind, choked me by the neck, and said, "I love you, Mommy."

And later, upon entering the house, she asked "What's that terry (terrible) SMELL?" (That would be the dinner in the crockpot.)

This morning, I lost my "formal" morning prayer time and what I thought was my hope for a good day.

And then I was reminded constantly that the only way I make it through any of this is with God by my side.

Blessed Easter

Sometimes I just can't believe how blessed I am...how much love God has surrounded me with...what great friends I have...and what a wonderful community we have found ourselves in.  Every year I am reminded of this most especially on Easter, and what a beautiful Easter it was.  Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

Thank you Tee Tee for the wonderful baskets!

Our sacrifice beans have turned into JELLY beans!

Ailin finds her basket!

Excited!

"A chicken that poops gum!"

Going straight for the chocolate...who needs the presents!?!

All dressed for "Alleluia" (as Ailin calls Mass....)

Will she ever learn to smile normally for the camera?

My big girl.

I couldn't get over how pretty Meara looked today.

Daddy's ladies.

Ready for the egg hunt.

Happy faces!

Game face.

More game faces.

See?!

 

Daddy explains the egg hunt to Baby A.

Sometimes all you need is a little helping hand.

Fred didn't miss any of the action!

Sisters battle it out!

Who needs to dye eggs?  This was the chickens' gift to us today: NINE eggs again!  The standing record.

Chickens and Easter Eggs

There's lots of news down on the "farm!"  Too much to write in detail about all that's been going on in terms of the garden and chickens.  But I have planted some seeds in the ground, have eaten my first of many salads (please someone come help me eat these greens!), and have played the "just kidding" game with Jack Frost.  (For those who don't know this one: This is the game where you think he's left town for the season,  so you put your hoop house in the shed, plant all sorts of stuff that's not supposed to be planted until after the last frost, and then out of the blue one day, he screams, "JUST KIDDING!" and you're scrambling to get the old sheets and the hoop house out of the shed to cover EVERYTHING.  I'm only a little bitter this year thanks to the hoop house!

Greens in full force.  (The white stuff is to try to keep the slugs off the new plants coming in.)

Other side of the bed from the greens.  New lettuce seedlings.

Garlic coming in up top of the other bed.  Should get about fifty heads in July.  No problem with vampires around here.

Haven't put anything here yet.  Waiting for peppers, tomatoes, and other things that like hotter weather.

The best news though, is that during my break from blogging, our chickens began to lay!  Conveniently, we got our first egg on March 1st, a full two to three weeks earlier than I anticipated.  I was not shocked, though, that our first egg was white.  I included the Leghorn breed (the all-white with red combs) in our flock because they are known for their lay rate and their great "feed conversion ratio," meaning they don't eat much but they lay a lot of eggs for how little they eat.  One of our Leghorns is also laying HUGE eggs.  They are consistently double-yolkers and one, which really looked like an ostrich egg, was a triple-yolker.  Fertile Myrtle!

The ostrich triple yolker.  I didn't want to eat it, but it wouldn't fit in a carton!

It has been amazing watching the whole flock "come into lay" as the number of hours of daylight increases. (Did you know that lay rates are based on how much light the chickens get?  During the winter we will get fewer eggs.)  The Auracanas started laying their blue-ish eggs next, and slowly the two brown(ish) layers revved up at the end of the month, after lots of shell-less eggs dropped under the roost bars.  I can't believe how many eggs we are getting.  Some days we get six, some days seven, and today we got NINE!  There's a lot of quiches in our life right now, and I can't wait to make some homemade mayonnaise and have the luxury of baking with my own eggs.

Our March egg count: 115 eggs. 

Leghorns: 60

Auracanas: 35

Silver Laced Wyandottes: 13

Speckled Sussex: 7

The very first egg.

 

Today's "harvest."

 And the last piece of farm news---ALL the chickens finally have names.  It took a while until they were fully grown, with fully developed combs and feathers, to decide on names and to tell some of them apart, especially the three Leghorns.  We are also starting to see how some of them are different in personality.  Cocoa is the sweetie who loves me even though I think she's the one whose leg I crushed under the coop wheel.  We bonded after her incident because I was giving her treats out of sheer guilt.  Now she thinks I am treat lady, which I am, and is the most willing to sit in my lap.  She's also been voted "Most Likely To Wander From the Pack and Become Hawk Bait."  She's really stupid.  Big Red, originally given that name because she was the first Leghorn to develop her large red comb, is the most precocious of the bunch...the first to come over and see what you're up to.  And "Floppy" (whom I prefer to call "Flopsy")...well, it's kinda obvious why she got her name.  And she's constantly brushing and shaking that thing out of her face.  The little debutant.

Floppy.

On the nicer days, we let the ladies out to dust bathe in the mulch.  Clockwise from the top: Double Stuff, Elizabeth, Oreo (Double Stuff's slightly-more-black sister), Penny (aka: Reed), and Henny.

This is half of the nesting pair of hawks we have in our front trees.  They were much easier to spot before the leaves came in on the trees.  I think they remember the chicken dinners from last year and came back thinking they were going to feed their babies.  

I still love my coop.  Probably more and more each day.  I've been moving it around 2 or 3 times a day now that the girls are bigger and pooping more.  It's the best thing ever.  Really.  I'd give up my iPad before I'd give up this coop.   And the hawk babies will be hungry.

Slug Eyes

I've spent the last week slowly picking baby slugs off of my baby greens.  The worst part isn't that they are slimy, or TINY (almost impossible to see), but that you can only do it in the early morning or late at night because they hide during the day.  So, before our school day begins, I've had to devote time, in the fog and almost rain, to slug picking.

This is a FULL grown slug.  Not a baby.  And not my picture.  I stole it from Google.

While drinking cold coffee with slug-slimy fingers is far from ideal, I've gotten rather good at it.  I've developed my slug eyes.  I can spot those suckers a mile away now.  I was struck this morning, as I often am when I'm gardening, by a strange thought:  God has the best slug eyes.  He can see the tiniest black spots within us...those spots that, left untended, will eat away at the beautiful greens of virtue in our souls.  And He will sit there, and pick every single, nasty, slimy slug off of us, if only we let Him.

Today, my thirty-three day consecration to Mary has ended.  In the process, I have learned that I have slugs I never even knew I had.  God saw them, but I had to want to see them before I could.  Taking the time to really examine myself, give up the world (okay, Facebook and blogging), and let God pick off some slugs, has drawn me closer to Him, His mercy, and His Mother in a way that I didn't think possible.  And while the official consecration time is over, I am more inspired than ever to continue trying to grow in my faith, to listen to the plans that God has for me, and hopefully to give Him less slugs to pick from my garden.

Happy Spring!

On Faith and Cake

I made a birthday cake today for the first time.  From scratch.  Don't get me wrong, of course I've made a cake before, but never for one of the girls' birthdays, and certainly never one of those fancy, two-layered things.  It was always, "I'll make the frosting but get a boxed cake" or vice versa.  But Caeley, undemanding and sympathetic child that she is, requested a "chocolate cake with turquoise icing."  And I, feeling guilty that we are having a kinda boring birthday, decided to acquiesce.  (She had that big surprise party a month ago, so I don't feel too bad!)

It wasn't until I was piping the number "9" on top of the cake that it hit me.  I thought, It has taken me NINE years to get up the courage to make a CAKE?  REALLY??!!!  As someone who likes to think she makes a lot of things from scratch, this was quite disturbing.  It was also a lightbulb moment for me.  If it took me nine years to make a cake from scratch, and I LOVE baking, is it any surprise that our faith journeys also take so long?  Is it any surprise that they all look as different as all the cakes might look if you asked five friends to come over and bake their favorite cakes?

(As usual, it occurred to me that there are some parallels between baking and a walk of faith.  Bear with me, as in my Stock post, I'm drawing some pretty strange connections here, but this is how I roll...)

The first task in baking is making sure you have the right ingredients.  In terms of faith, these ingredients include (but are not limited to!) proper formation/knowledge, an open spirit, graces that come from the Sacraments, prayer, and works of charity.  But sometimes you might not have buttermilk (let's call it proper formation) and there are substitutes (milk with lemon juice, or seeking out the information from reputable sources.)  Just because you are missing one ingredient, doesn't mean you can't make the cake at all.  It just means you might have to run out to the store (Church, or to friends who can help you along in the faith, etc.) and get it (or find a substitute.)

Then you have to put them together in the right proportions.  That's the hard part, I think.  But God does give us a recipe.  In some ways it's a difficult one to follow.  Maybe at times it seems like it's written in hieroglyphics, but He does spell it out loud and clear for us if we have the "eyes to see."  When we make our faith cake, and we choose to add "too much of this" or "too little of that" (or we so loosely follow the recipe that we really aren't) and the cake doesn't turn out the way we wanted it to, we can't say the recipe was faulty.  On the flip side, there are ways we can add to the "faith cake" recipe to make the end product even better.  (I'm thinking here specifically of special devotions to Mary or to a specific saint, extra practices in our faith life that uplift us that aren't spelled out as "necessary" for the recipe.)

It hit me as I was washing up the cake pans, that there are much scarier things than making cake.  The biggest one, for me and for so many people, is the journey of/to faith.  It took me nine years.  For a cake.  I was afraid of getting it wrong.  Of making something that wasn't good enough.  Of ruining a child's birthday.  Of falling short of what was expected of me in this little role I play in this world.  And taking steps towards God, towards Truth, is infinitely more terrifying.  You could get it wrong.  (But He's so happy to see you're trying.)  You could offer to Him, at any given moment, something that isn't good enough.  (He loves you anyway.)  And you could make choices that might ruin your day, your week, maybe your life.  (But He forgives you and waits for you to get up and continue the journey.)

Lent begins soon, and I will be fiddling with the ingredients of my "faith cake."  I will be adding some things and taking away some things, but still staying true to the recipe.  I might not make the perfect choices for this Lenten cake.  But I guess, like the real cake, the important thing is to just trust the recipe, get in the kitchen, and start baking.

God's Word

I found myself really inspired by the daily readings for mass this week.  It made me happy that we make reading the daily readings a part of our morning prayer time for school and that we're starting to get back to daily mass.  What a treasure we'd be missing if we left these pieces out of our day!

Here are some of the choice nuggets from the week that really stuck with me....ideas and thoughts for me to ponder as I get ready for Lent.
 
Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters,when you encounter various trials,for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.And let perseverance be perfect,so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.But if any of you lacks wisdom,he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,and he will be given it.But he should ask in faith, not doubting,for the one who doubts is like a wave of the seathat is driven and tossed about by the wind.

-Jas 1: 2-6

Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation,for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him. No one experiencing temptation should say,"I am being tempted by God"; for God is not subject to temptation to evil,and he himself tempts no one.Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

-Jas 1: 12-15

When I say, "My foot is slipping,"your mercy, O LORD, sustains me;When cares abound within me,your comfort gladdens my soul.

-Ps 94: 18-19

Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?

-Mk 8: 17-18

Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.

-Jas 1: 19-20

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgetswhat he looked like.But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres,and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts;such a one shall be blessed in what he does.If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tonguebut deceives his heart, his religion is vain.Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this:to care for orphans and widows in their afflictionand to keep oneself unstained by the world.

-Jas 1: 22-27

However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,

You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.

-Jas 2: 8

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

-Jas 2: 14

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,take up his cross, and follow me.For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,but whoever loses his life for my sakeand that of the Gospel will save it.
-Mk 8: 34-35

Listening to what God wants of us as individuals sometimes seems so hard, but I think He leaves us enough clues between the covers of the Bible.  It's also easy to think those words were left for "those people" back then, and that they have no relevance to us today.  But "in Christ we find the fullness of revelation.  In his word and life all that God willed to say to mankind is contained."
- Francis Fernandez (In Conversation With God )