Love is the....

Morning and Evening Star.... It is the air and light of every heart, builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It fills the world with melody.
~Robert G. Ingersoll

Two Potato Hash

Yummy, easy, whole foods, and oh, the smell!!!

While at Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO you can watch them cook dishes like this in probably 5 foot cast iron skillets. The aroma makes your mouth water!!! At $5.95 a serving, I'd say making this at home would qualify you as being frugal! :) Since four of us will enjoy this today we'll be saving a hefty little sum!

Here's what I did:
Heat up a generous amount of olive oil in whatever skillet you like to use. Add one chopped up onion, one sliced sweet potato and two white potatoes (I used red-skinned potatoes just because that's what I have.) Season with natural sea salt (That's all I use. I'm sure any salt would work. Maybe even a seasoning salt?!) and black pepper.

Enjoy!

Raised Beds

Those of you who know me, know I love to play in the dirt! I'm in love with my raised beds. We keep adding one each year. Someday our whole south hillside will be covered in beds. I'm amazed at the amount of food that comes out of these little garden spots!

My camera is dying and so I don't have very many of my gardens this year. The top two pics here are of this year. As you can see, we need mulch in a desperate way! My dear brother will be bringing me some soon. Then everything will look beautiful again.

These are all spring gardens in May. By summertime they are so big and full there is no way weeds can grow.

If you are wanting to garden, I encourage you to try a raised bed. I'm certain we could feed the world this way!

Wild Green

This is poke weed, a pot herb, that grows all over the place in our area. We eat it just like cooked spinach. Free food that is packed full of nutrition!

So much fun!

My Mother's Day Present from my Mom

Oh, it's just wonderful! My mom gave me the book Golden Thoughts of Mother, Home and Heaven compiled by Gene Fedele. I'm already on page 41 and loving it. It's a book I'm certain I will read over and over. We'll do copywork from it and I'm sure I'll share encouragement from it with other mothers.

Here's a couple quotes to let you in on what I've enjoyed so far.

"O mothers! You are the guardians of infancy, the instructors, of childhood, the companions of youth, and the partners of manhood. As are our mothers, so are our homes, our churches, our world." ~ Bishop John Newman

"Were it not for the tenderness, contentment and communion of the home, the whole fabric of society in any generation would disintegrate." ~ Gene Fedele, Editor (Don't you think we see this in our culture today?!)

"Mothers, you are the divinely-appointed teachers and guides of your children, and any attempt to free yourselves from your duty is in direct opposition to the will of God." ~ Anonymous

"When boys know that their society is valued highly at home, and that all its pleasures are marred by their absence, they will willingly stay if they can have something to occupy their time." ~ Anonymous (This sentence followed a couple pages covering the importance of the friendships between mother and child, the listening ear that should always be there from babyhood on up.)

On almost every page there is something that just pops out at me! I highly recommend this book from what I've read so far!

A Copperhead

Leslie asked about the snake pictured in the post below. My boys tell me it is a copperhead. They were home with their Papa and "ran across" this snake. After taking some pictures they beheaded him (and I feel much safer)! They called me on my cell phone just to let me in on the excitement.

This is the third snake we've seen in our yard this year.

The salad in the post below is a Greek couscous salad over a bed of baby greens. I just loosely followed the recipe on the back of the couscous box. Cold salads are great because you can hardly go wrong. Just add whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand.

Soon I'll post a black bean salad recipe that we are loving! The fresh cilantro from our garden is making it all the better! Our tacos that we had at lunch today were much more exciting with fresh cilantro. Thankfully, I planted lots of it!

All in a day

Life is full of variety! Here's some pics to prove it, all of them from our home or yard.

Fun Art Education

The art education taking place in our home is informal, to say the least. But over the years we have enjoyed learning about several different artists.

This week we've thoroughly enjoyed reading Camille and the Sunflowers A Story About Vincent van Gogh by Laurence Anholt. We also read Picasso and the Girl With a Ponytail A story about Pablo by the same author. These are just simple picture book stories that are based on facts about famous artists. I would say they are geared toward elementary students but I really enjoy reading them, therefore, I believe they could be for all ages!

Who have I placed my trust in?

Through various circumstances in my life recently, I've had to remind myself that my trust must always be in the Lord and only the Lord. I've had to remember what is important in the Lord's eyes. My day to day work is important to my Saviour. He cares about every little detail of my life. He's a wonderful Lord.

Last night, at our Wednesday evening Bible study, the Lord gave me just what I needed~truth from His Word. Here are just a few verses that helped me to rest in my Lord.

Jeremiah 17:5, "Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trust in man......" Verse 7 goes on to say, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord."
Isaiah 31:1 "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help....." Oh, how often I turn to "Egypt" for help. When will I learn to run to the Lord for all my needs? Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." I'm so thankful that my God is a God of mercy and grace. I definitely am a child in need!

My dad always taught me that when there is a "therefore" or a "wherefore" we need to look back and see why it is there for! "Let us THEREFORE come boldly" is preceded by "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

These verses encourage my heart! It's so amazing to to think that Jesus, the Son of God, is touched with the feeling of my infirmities. He cares about my relationship with my husband, my children, my family and friends, my neighbors, and my acquaintances. He cares about the humble work I do here in my home: the laundry, the meals, the cleaning, etc. He cares and is touched when I am touched. Nothing escapes his tender watchful eye that is fixed on ME. He even knows WHY I feel as I do! Imagine that!