A Joyful Keeper

 

What is it about a Spring Day that makes you want to just get up and go, go, go? Even if it is Autumn?

I remember years ago, my mum and I went shopping one day in April. It was the most beautiful day. The sun was shining, and the air was crisp. There was joy in our hearts as we wandered up and down the main street of the town we were in. We walked into a small shop and greeted the lady, and said,

“Isn’t it just a beautiful Spring day?!”

At the time, we both wondered why the lady looked at us so strangely, and hesitatingly agreed with us. We browsed through the shop, and then headed out into the sunshine again. A little while later, it struck me, and I turned to my mother and said,

“Mum! It’s not Spring, it’s Autumn!!!!”

We had forgotten we were in the Southern Hemisphere…. And indeed, April in Australia is Autumn. How we laughed as we remembered the lady’s strange look! She really must have thought we were slightly nuts!

I still look out at this time of the year, on a day like today, and think it is Spring. It doesn’t really matter, because I will enjoy the day regardless of what season it is. And I will chuckle as I think of that day my mother and I went shopping….

It is the perfect day to strip all the beds of their sheets and get them on the line. It was a day like today, a few months ago, that I washed all my quilts, as you can see in the above photo.

Today was just one of those days. Actually, it started yesterday. It happens quite regularly, and I’m sure no one else in the whole wide world has this happen to them… You’d think that after 7 years of homeschooling I’d be prepared for the attack - the attack of panic in the Homeschool.

Just in case you are one of those who has never experienced this (because it only happens to me), this is how it goes. Your day starts out fine. Everything is going well…. until you look around you and realize that the dishes aren’t done….. dinner isn’t even a figment of your imagination, and your son has just spent the last hour on one Math problem. The children are hungry, but you didn’t have time to bake this week and you are being frugal, so of course you didn’t BUY any snacks. You decide to bake cupcakes… and donuts…. and some cheese cookies while you are at it. The kitchen looks worse and worse, but the children are fed - sugar and white flour. Oh, and some cheese.

The kids have a break and run to their rooms to play, leaving you to survey the mess.

Then the voices start….. you can’t do this.. it’s too much…. they will never learn everything they need to know…. they are behind…. you haven’t even put the washing in the machine yet….

The voices are not just discouraging, they are also full of “good” advice. No, don’t put them in school, get a REAL curriculum. Then you will know that they are covering EVERYTHING. You can have more time for yourself. You can sew. You can quilt. You can have gourmet meals on the table, because this wonderful curriculum that will teach them EVERYTHING is self taught. You don’t have to do ANYTHING, but make sure they are at the table working. That is the only way you are going to survive the high school years…. until you have to put them in school……

When your husband sets foot in the door he knows there is something very wrong. As soon as he hears you wail, “I can’t do it anymore!!!! ” he knows… it’s that time of the month again where there is panic in the homeschool……

Thankfully this too passes and the Word of the Lord reigns supreme:

“At their wit’s end, they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,

and he bringeth them out” (Ps. 107:27, 28).

Today Daniel breezed through his Math and Science. Matthew and Elizabeth wrote a story in their free time. Matthew worked on his Bee lapbook and happily told me all he already knew about bees. Elizabeth started working on a cat lapbook, making up crossword puzzles and word searches herself. The dishes eventually ended up in the dishwasher and the kitchen was tidy. Some more dirty clothes were washed and dinner was on the table, simple, but nice.

You know what? My children may not learn EVERYTHING, but I didn’t either when I was at school. Our curriculum may not cover EVERYTHING, but it covers what we think is important. And some of my children still don’t know their times tables, but one day they will.

And so the panic ends…. and it is time for bed. Aren’t you glad this NEVER happens to you?!

I woke up this morning at 6.30 to a very cold house. The fire had gone out, and it was freezing! Outside, it was literally freezing. I pulled on my clothes and headed crunched out over the frosty grass to the woodshed, to cut some kindling and get some small bits of wood to get the heater going again. That warmed me up a bit!

I went back in and lit the heater, made myself a cup of tea, and hubby a “coffee to go” in his thermos mug thingo. Poor dh was in shock to see me up and about. I told him not to get used to it, it may never happen again! He chuckled.

Next to the heater and with cuppa in hand, I got my electronic water bottle (ie laptop computer) and started doing some visiting in blogland. It was so nice and quiet.

When the kids got up, Elizabeth headed out with the camera and took the above photo. She also had some fun doing her own “trick photography”. She excitedly showed me a mountain of snow in our front yard…..

…. which in reality was the frost on top of the car. Got to give her points for creativity.

A little later my children’s tummies were in need of warmth, so I cooked up a pot of porridge.

Now the sun is shining and the frost is starting to melt. It is going to be a lovely day.

 

This is the day which the LORD hath made;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Why, yes, dear, we can put it by. It does seem out of place

On top of these down comforts and this spread of silk and lace,

You see, I’m used to having it lie so, across my feet,

But maybe I won’t need it here, with this nice furnace heat;

I made it? Yes, dear, long ago. ‘Twas lots of work, you think?

Oh, not so much. My rose quilt, now, all white and green and pink,

Is really handsome. This is just a plain, log cabin block,

Pieced out of odds and ends; but still–now that’s your papa’s frock

Before he walked, and this bit here is his first little suit.

I trimmed it up with silver braid. My, but he did look cute!

That red there in the centers, was your Aunt Ruth’s for her name,

Her grandmother almost clothed the child, before the others came.

Those plaids? The younger girls’, they were. I dressed them just alike.

And this was baby Winnie’s sack–the precious little tyke!

Ma wore this gown to visit me (they drove the whole way then).

And little Edson wore this waist. He never came again.

This lavender par’matta was your Great-aunt Jane’s–poor dear!

Mine was a sprig, with the lilac ground; see, in the corner here.

Such goods were high in war times. Ah, that scrap of army blue;

Your bright eyes spied it! Yes, dear child, that has its memories, too.

They sent him home on furlough once–our soldier brother Ned;

But somewhere, now, the dear boy sleeps among the unknown dead.

That flowered patch? Well, now, to think you’d pick that from the rest!

Why, dearie–yes, it’s satin ribbed–that’s grandpa’s wedding vest!

Just odds and ends! not great for looks. My rose quilt’s nicer, far,

Or the one in basket pattern, or the double-pointed star.

But, somehow–What! We’ll leave it here? The bed won’t look so neat,

But I think I would sleep better with it so, across my feet.

I’ve been feeling tired lately. I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I feel sleepy throughout the day. The days are getting shorter, too, and I feel like I am not getting much done. All of this could make me very depressed, but it doesn’t. Instead I feel peace, because I am beginning to understand the seasons.

In Spring, I felt energized, ready to plant anything I could! I got out in the garden, made up pots of veggies, planted seeds and watered them faithfully until they popped up from under the soil and reached out to the sunlight.

In Summer it was hot. There were days when I was physically tired from working hard in the garden - from hauling water from the bathtub to the tender plants that were struggling in the harsh heat. I was excited to see tomatoes starting to form on the vines, and oh, the fruit growing bigger on the trees! It was invigorating! I watered, I weeded, and tried to stay cool.

At the end of Summer, and early Autumn I brought in my harvest. I did some canning and freezing. I started to get tired, but the end was in sight. The leaves began to fall from the trees. The frost came and killed the rest of my veggie garden. My body started to lose its momentum… and I started to get tired.

I found this poem a few days ago. It expresses what I am feeling:

Who Loves the Trees Best?

 

 

Who loves the trees best?

“I,” said the Spring;

“Their leaves so beautiful,

To them I bring.”

 

Who loves the trees best?

“I,” Summer said;

“I give them blossoms,

White, yellow, red.”

 

Who loves trees best?

“I,” said the Fall;

“I give luscious fruits,

Bright tints to all.”

 

Who loves trees best?

“I love them best,”

Harsh Winter answered

“I give them rest.”

 

by Alice May Douglas

 

Winter brings rest. I now know why I am tired. It is time for my body to rest and it is part of a simple life to give in to this rest.

Somehow in our modern lives we have decided that we don’t need to follow the seasons anymore. In days gone by, people went to bed with the sun and got up with it too. Did they fuss in the winter when the days were shorter? From reading books like Little House on the Prairie, I have learned that they went along with the seasons. In winter the men mended and maintained their tools. The women quilted and sewed. They accepted a season of rest.

We don’t need to do that anymore. We have electricity and can stay up way past dark, working. We can drive at night, keep up all our activities, and not slow down one bit during winter. It is not an accepted thing anymore to slow down during the winter season. We must all keep going, a hundred miles an hour, in the hustle and bustle of what we now call life.

I want to follow the seasons. I need a season of rest. My body tells me so. My heart tells me so. And the seasons tell me so. Now is the season to hunker down with my children. It’s time to light the fire and sit on the couch, reading stories to each other. It’s time to pull out the unfinished sewing projects. It’s time to use my preserves and have a stew cooking on the stove all day. It is time to enjoy the hard work of the seasons gone by. It is time for a season of rest.

 

 

I haven’t really got back into the swing of blogging yet! So here is a bit of a catch up post.

I had a lovely day for Mother’s day - with breakfast and presents in bed, and then lunch with Robyn’s family. This is one of the presents I got:

I know I will be using it a lot. I also got a few other bits and pieces, including some yummy chocolate!

This weekend we went to my parents’ place to see my sister and her family one more time before they headed home to outback Australia. My Dad had built my nieces and nephew a cute cubby house from bits of wood and cardboard boxes:

Isn’t it too cute?! Even our older kids loved it. They played in it for hours while us big people had cuppas and chatted. Saying goodbye was sad as we probably won’t see each other for another few years, but we were glad we got to have this extra afternoon together.

Dad sent us home with some more pumpkins, so I really need to get my big pot out and make a big batch of soup!

I did a lot of school planning last week. I mostly worked on Science and History schedules. Daniel is doing Apologia’s General Science and there is a lot to get through. I split up the chapters into days and made a simple checklist for him. It is a pretty full schedule, but so far it is ok. Here is this week’s if you’d like to see it:

Apologia General Science Module 3 Checklist

I found a complete schedule for this textbook (and others in the Apologia series) at Donna Young’s website. She has done a fantastic job in putting these schedules together and other resources too. They are free and great to use if you don’t want to make your own.

I also did a schedule for Daniel and Elizabeth for History. We are on Chapter 14 of The Story of the World, Middle Ages. I typed up the review questions from the student workbook with lines underneath them for answers for Daniel. For Elizabeth I typed up some copywork for her to copy onto notebooking pages. I would post these as well, but I am not sure about copyright laws, so I’d better not.

And that about sums up what’s been happening around here….. I’m slowly getting around to everyone’s blogs again and popping in to say hi! It’s nice to be back in blogland.

We are slowly getting back into a school routine after having three weeks of holidays with our visitors. We all find it difficult to get back into things when we’ve had a long break. One thing that I try to do to make it easier, is plan something fun. The kids were keen to make another mural, and we will start on that as soon as I can find some paper to cover a large portion of the wall in our hallway. In the meantime, I found the Ancient China Treasure Chest that we started on last year, and the kids tried their hands at some Chinese writing:

While the two younger ones were in China, Daniel was in the same time frame in Europe, building a castle:

This castle is going to be so cool! I’ll keep putting up photos as it gets built. The main problem is to find a spot for it where it won’t get wrecked during construction!

I find it easy to get stressed when things don’t go the way I planned in the first weeks back at school. At these times I need to keep my eyes on the Lord and take it a day at a time. He led us to homeschool, and He will give us the strength and wisdom. Oh, how I need wisdom!

Yesterday was a tough day with the children’s attitudes. Dh had a chat with them last night and today went much better. Again, I need to remember to allow all of us, myself included, some time to get back into things.

I cannot know why suddenly the storm
Should rage so fiercely round me in its wrath;
But this I know–God watches all my path,
And I can trust.

I can’t believe it is Wednesday already. This week is just flying by. But I must say, things are starting to fall back into place and into a routine in our home.

Yesterday I spent quite some time in our bedroom, which has been a disaster zone since we moved in. It has been the place where everything gets dumped when the rest of the house needs to look good! I know I shouldn’t do that, but I don’t have a place for everything yet, so that is what happens. After working on it for a few hours, it is looking much, much better. I can now open the door properly (lol!), and walk beside my bed without tripping over stuff. I still have a bit more to do, but I have made a good start.

Over the next few days I want to do some more preserving. I got some Quinces given to me and I want to make jelly. I’ve also got the last of the apples that are starting to go bad in a few spots and are therefore not suitable for eating. I am thinking about either stewing them, or trying to make apple jelly from them. I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew, but I also don’t want them to go to waste.

To me, part of simple living is making the most of what you have. I am trying to live out of the pantry as much as possible this month, using my bulk staples, produce from the garden and whatever I have in my freezer. But simple living is not always easy. Most times it is just downright hard work! Baking and cooking from scratch takes a lot of time. Sometimes I get discouraged and am tempted to take the easy way out and buy the ready made stuff from the shops. These are the days I need to just take things a bit easier. But when I do make the effort, it pays off in so many ways. I revel in the fact that I haven’t been to the supermarket for a week or so. I enjoy watching the pantry empty out a bit! I love to see freshly baked cookies on the bench, and casseroles coming out of the oven. It’s hard work, but rewarding.

And on that note, I’d better keep going. I need to make my jellies, cut down my asparagus, get my washing out, check on my chookies… you get the picture! Time flies when you are having fun!

Early in the morning,

Up as soon as light,

Overseeing breakfast,

Putting all things right;

Dressing little children,

Hearing lessons said,

Washing baby faces,

Toasting father’s bread.

 

After breakfast, reading,

Holding one at prayers;

Putting up the dinners,

Mending little tears:

Good-bye, kissing children,

Sending off to school;

With a prayer and blessing,

Mother’s heart is full.

 

Washing up the dishes,

Sweeping carpets clean,

Doing up the chamber-work,

Sewing on machine.

Baby lies a-crying,

Rubbing little eyes;

Mother leaves her sewing

To sing lullabies.

 

Cutting little garments,

Trimming children’s hats,

Plying thread and needle

With neighbours as she chats.

Hearing little footsteps

Running through the hall,

Telling school is over,

As mother’s name they call.

 

Talking with her children

All about the school,

As they sit beside her,

Each on their little stool;

Telling them the story

Of Jesus and His love,

Of Daniel and the lions,

Of Noah and the dove.

 

With calm and earnest tones,

She speaks of God and heaven,

And tells how Jesus died

That sin might be forgiven.

Seeing about supper,

Lighting up the room,

Making house look cheerful,

Expecting father home.

 

Her worries and her trials

She hides within her breast,

With others shares the sunshine,

To Jesus tells the rest.

As the children go to bed

She hears each little prayer,

Entrusts them to her Saviour,

And, kissing, leaves them there.

 

Resting in the kitchen,

Her daily labour done,

Her Bible placed before her,

She and her God alone;

She takes each care and sorrow,

And bends beneath the throne,

With that trusting, hopeful heart

Which Jesus loves to own.

 

~ From the Children’s Friend 1880

 

It’s Saturday morning but I didn’t get a chance to post this last night. Since I did sew this on Friday, I thought I’d still post it.

Last night we had a special “Hats off to Mothers” evening at church. It was for mothers and daughters, and we all needed to wear a hat. Elizabeth didn’t have one, so I remembered that I had a pattern somewhere for girls hats, and amazingly enough, I found it! It was one that had either been given to me, or I got from the opshop:

I had never tried it before, so I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to do it or not. But I really wanted to give it a go and make a special memory for Elizabeth. We chose a pretty white on white from my stash and made a start:

There were a few bits that gave me some trouble. I always find it a challenge sewing circles to bands and avoiding tuckers. In the end, it worked out fine. Phew! Elizabeth found some pretty ribbon in our ribbon box to tie around it, and also made some ribbon flowers to put on the front.

Alls well that ends well! And one of the best parts is that because I had all the materials already, I didn’t have to spend a cent. So I guess this would class as a Frugal Friday post as well!

For more sewing ideas go to Waiting for Him

For more frugal ideas go to Biblical Womanhood