Mondays

Funny thing.

I love Mondays.

Maybe it helps that I get to stay home all day if I want to. That my kids have nowhere to go and nothing to do. That my husband works from home so I'm not completely alone with seven young children.

Whatever the reason, I really like them.

The kids don't play video games or other electronics (except when in the car) on the weekends. So, Monday is a special day of the week (especially if the weather is icky outside like today) as they play, one on his computer and two more on the Xbox. The two younger girls enjoy not being bugged by the older kids while they play dolls almost all day.

I usually linger with a few cups of coffee on the couch. I'm not a morning person. I'm not a night owl, either. 10-8 are my prime hours and I would love to sleep the other twelve if I could. When I'm about ready to get up and actually do something I call the kids in and we do our morning prayers. We start with the Apostle's Creed and Lord's Prayer. Lately we've been reading a page from a toddler book called "100 Bible Heroes". It has a two page spread on each person. Very simple, but enough to start a conversation. Then we read the scripture readings from my Portals of Prayer daily devotional. We end with the commentary in the book and the short prayer at the end. Sometimes we pray more. Often the kids are ready to be done.

With the most important task of the day complete, I start cooking, cleaning, organizing. We accumulate so much stuff, these two adults, these seven kids. It's almost a full time job just decluttering each day. Loose papers, envelopes with special kid written notes, trinkets from who knows where, toys, games, the remains of snacks and meals. There is always something to do. And it will never all be done.

Long gone are the days of cleaning the house to have it stay clean for weeks. And I'm so glad! Vacuuming, laundry, food prep and clean up, moving things back to their rightful places. These are the tasks that consume most of my day. I get a few odd jobs squeezed in, too. My kids are getting old enough to help (today they've been trudging through the thick, wet snow/slush to the garage to check on mama kitty and bring her food and water). It's such a relief! My middle girl loves to clean and is almost always a willing helper. My baby girl who is now four is a natural leader and keeps the younger (foster) kids out of trouble. My boys collect eggs, feed animals. My oldest daughter can almost solely care for the baby now (draws the line at poopy diapers, though! Ha!).

We're growing into quite the team and I never notice it more than on Mondays when we have a whole weekend's worth of cleaning and organizing to do. I think that's why I love these days. Watching everyone work together to get our house back in order. Watching them work together in their play. Choosing to enjoy this life, even the Mondays.

New life

Last night around seven o'clock our female barn cat, Elsa, snuck in the house. We caught her and Gabby gently put her back outside. I gave her more water and shut the door.

This morning Seth came in from feeding and watering the baby chicks and surprised us with the news that Elsa had kittens! She didn't show up for breakfast on the patio so while he was out in the garage he looked back at the box we got ready for her behind some hay bales. We made the bed for her last weekend and put her in it. She jumped right out so I wasn't sure if she would have her babies there or not. I'm glad she did so I didn't have to go all over searching for her! When we discovered her she was nursing four babies. Unfortunately, there was a fifth baby in the box that didn't survive for whatever reason. We brought a food and water dish to her so she can stay near the babies. 

The kids checked on her many times during the day and she seems to be taking to motherhood well. The kittens looks black and grey as of now. Bobcat, their dad, is a grey long haired cat and you can see Elsa's coloring in the picture below. It will be fun to see how unique each kitten ends up looking!

Photo by Emery

I just LOVE how Elsa's paw is under the little butt of the kitten on the left of the picture! So sweet. I can't wait until she starts bringing them out to play.

I'm a little nervous because it's supposed to be winter weather again here tonight and tomorrow but I think they'll be warm and cozy in their box in the corner of the garage out of the wind. I wonder if Bobcat will sleep with them? I think Bob and Elsa usually cuddle up together on the chilly nights - at least they used to at our old house.

What a fun spring surprise for the last day of April at Agate Acres!

Simple Menu Plan #1, (dinners only)

I've only included what we're having for dinner because we have a pretty simple diet around here. Most of the recipe names are clickable links.

We have chickens and eat eggs and sausage almost every morning for breakfast. Sometimes we have oatmeal (which I buy in bulk from Country Life). We've been doing this for just over four years now and nobody complains. We started on a somewhat unique diet in April of 2013, another step in our journey to our best health. I'll probably write about it sometime so that my kids can have the history of it written down.

Lunch is usually soup from homemade chicken stock (I buy a chicken each week, cook it in the crockpot, and then boil the bones), meat and cheese and veggies, or leftovers. If we have oatmeal for breakfast then we often have eggs for lunch.



Monday, May 1

Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples & Butternut Squash

I'm going to sub sweet potato for the squash because I have two sitting on the counter that need to be used.



Tuesday, May 2

Crepes with bacon.

Oliver (6) has gymnastics on Tuesday evenings so we need something quick and easy for supper before we head out. We do our grocery shopping in town this night, too. And this week, the bookmobile is at our local country store so we need to run there, come back home to eat, and then head out again (or send one parent and Oliver) to the gym which is 45 minutes away.



Wednesday, May 3

Italian Pasta Salad

I'll use homemade Italian Dressing and rice noodles for this.



Thursday, May 4

Honey-Lime Chipotle Chicken Fajita Bowls

I will buy dry black beans and soak them overnight. I will leave them out and let each person add their own as I have one child who claims he's allergic to beans, that they burn his lips. No biggie. Also, I will skip the corn since we don't eat it. Doesn't sit well with me.




Friday, May 5

Bacon Cheeseburger Braid

I'll use this recipe for the dough, though. Easiest, best ever. We just started having pizza and game night on Fridays. This is close enough to pizza! Last week we bought the game Fantastic Gymnastics and have spent the last few days just trying to get the guy to release from the bar, let alone land on the mat! Challenging but fun for all ages.

Pizza bread from last Friday using the linked recipe above for the dough! So easy, so good.

Saturday, May 6

Hot dogs over the fire! It's supposed to be in the upper 60's/lower 70's next weekend so we'll likely be outside. The kids love cooking over the fire, so we'll do hot dogs and marshmallows (a treat we reserved for when we have campfires because CHILDHOOD MEMORIES!)



Sunday, May 7

Oh, how I love to type the date. My birthday! Maybe we'll go out to eat, but most likely we'll have fresh fruit and veggies and a meat/cheese tray because like I said above, the weather is supposed to be fantastic and I love to relax in the sun.

Moses & Aaron

Yesterday afternoon I had to drive one of my children into town to see the dentist about a potential extraction. That kind of stuff really stresses me out. So, on the 45 minute drive I found myself doing some deep thinking, which is usually what happens when I am trying to get my mind off of something else.

I've always liked writing. Over the years I've kept journals, written poetry, started blogs. I've kept a family blog since I was newly married over ten years ago. It chronicles all the big moments in our family. I mean, I often have to back date birthday posts, but there they are just the same! I usually start some type of writing project because I feel the need to write and then I abandon it as soon as the itch is scratched. And that's okay with me.

But, lately, I've been feeling the itch again. Only this time, it has been more aggressive, the kind that you scratch and scratch until you can't even find the spot that itches anymore but itch it does. I've been praying about it. I've had conversations with myself about it. What should I do to satisfy this itch?

I feel like I have so much knowledge, so much information logged deep in my brain. How could I possibly share all that I know, all that I've learned on the steep learning curve that I've lived the last twenty years of my adult life? My kids know a lot because I am an external processor and they happen to catch bits and pieces or whole conversations. But, how could I ever pass it all along to them, to anyone who cares to know it?

I decided to start my fourth blog. I have my family blog, my creative/crafty blog, my homeschooling journal blog, and now Agate Acres. But, then I got scared. I don't do things like most other people I know do things. I almost always have to get down to the nuts and bolts of it before I can get behind something, some cause. I try to keep things as simple as possible because often once you start, you can't stop. So, I got scared thinking about sharing this with the world, with any random person who might happen to read my words.

But then I thought, "Faith over fear." I never want to live my life ruled by fear. I fight hard against it. It's prevalent in our culture. I want to choose faith. Not fear. So, I decided to write. But, what to write? Everything? Just bits and pieces?

And then something amazing happened.

After the dentist, my daughter and I stopped at Savers, a thrift store. I picked up a book meant for toddlers called "100 Heroes of the Bible." It had one small page for each person of the bible and I thought it would be a good addition to our daily prayers. I bought it.

I went home and wrote my first blog post. Why the name Agate Acres. Innocent enough.

This morning I opened the new book to the first page. The hero was Aaron. The story came from Exodus 4. Moses didn't want to speak, so God sent Aaron with him. I thought the lesson was helping others, as Aaron helped his brother.

Then I opened our daily devotional. I was surprised to see our first reading came from Exodus 4:10-17. How odd! I found the passage and sure enough it was the passage about Moses asking the Lord to send someone else. How he wasn't a good speaker. He didn't know what to say.

And I felt God's reassurance to me. I don't have to convince people that I am right, that the way I do things is good, that God is real. I just have to tell people what I know to be true. Be a faithful witness.

I can do that.

God will do the rest.

And, by the way, the tooth didn't have to be pulled. It turns out the permanent molar is coming in and will just push the baby tooth out. All that stress for nothing!

"Begin each day with a grateful heart." Oh, how I try.

Agate Acres

"Do you like agates?" the guy from across the street - dirt road - in front of our newly purchased, 120 year old house asked my nine year old daughter.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. Collecting little things is one of her favorite hobbies.

It's back in December and we are visiting the foreclosed property we recently closed on. Our 12 passenger van almost fully loaded with our kids and some foster kids, we dove the hour from our house down south to check things out at the new property. As soon as we pulled in the driveway I realized how close we were to the road and how close the neighbor across the street was. Nothing like disturbing their quiet, serene life in the cabin without indoor plumbing with our many kids and animals.

The neighbor can't help but notice us and walks over to greet us, introducing himself and asking my oldest child about the agates. Turns out they are everywhere down here. Oddly enough, I already had a rock tumbler in my Amazon cart for her birthday.

He mentions that he is leaving soon to head to Florida for the rest of the winter (did I mention that we live in northern Minnesota) and will be back in March. By the time he gets back we will be mostly moved in - kids, animals, stuff.

I've always wanted a house with a name. After six moves in ten years of marriage, this might be it. I'm naming this one. So, Agate Acres it is.

And our neighbor Jimmy was right. Agates everywhere.