Peace and Quiet

 

When you think about peace, peaceful, rest, and or quiet what comes to mind? Do you think of still waters? A pond, a brook or creek? Or do you picture sitting in the woods on a cold winters day? There is nothing like a walk in the woods after a snowfall. Everything is quiet and peaceful. The birds are snuggled into their nests, the squirrels are high up in their tree nests, the deer are in the thicket huddled together. The peace that winter brings is why I love living in New York. 

Walking outside after the snowfall is just what my mind needs. Our minds are always going, thinking, worrying and filled with all kinds of troubles. If you don't live where there is snow you can still experience much of the same kind of thing. Go out right after the rain, walk around, go to a park, walk in the woods. There is nothing like it. Going out and becoming one with nature as God intended it to be. 

"The work of righteousness will be peace. And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, In secure dwellings, and in quiet rest places." Isaiah 32:17-18

For many years now I have had a focus word for the year. The past 2 years have been horrible for my family. From the death of loved ones to tragic events involving my children I was craving peace! It was the word my mind kept going back to. I craved a quiet life, a peaceful life. I felt as if life was just full of chaos for 2 years. What I really craved was to be home again. I wanted to be able to do the work the Lord had created me to do. Financially at this time that is not possible. But I was blessed to be able to change jobs this past year. Which has now led to me being able to work remote most of the week. I am only required to be in the office 2 days a week! Because we live so far out my commutes were taking close to an hour one way. If the weather was back it was closer to 2 hours one way. So now that my new job has blessed me in ways only God knew was possible I have a lot of freed up time. I am able to keep my home clean and organized, cook supper, do some baking, do more ministry work and so much more. Plus I am able to assist with the finances. We have almost paid off our mortgage so maybe I will be able to stop working outside the home altogether one day soon!

One of ways I am trying to bring more peace into my life is by reading. I saw the book, Holy Hygge: Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow, by Jamie Erickson. Hygge pronounced HYOO-gah is a Danish practice that brings a sense of peace and coziness into your home and life. It is about doing with what you have, and living a life of minimal items. I have found that the less I have the more peaceful I am internally. This is so far a fantastic book! 

One of the major things that always brought peace into my life was being in the kitchen creating goodies for my family. Instead of wishing I was home to do so again, I put my phone down, limited my time on social media and hit the kitchen when I had the opportunity to do so. Social media has become such a time waster for me. Endless scrolling of a bunch of drama and fake posts really started to get to me. 

I never really had the patience for pie making. But with store purchased pie crust, I decided to attempt it. Perhaps one day I will conquer my fear of making my own crust. But for now I am taking baby steps! The above pies were for Christmas. One was the pumpkin and the other was pecan. YUM! They turned out really good! Even if I say so myself. :-)

What do you do to create peace in your life? Are you able to just sit in the quiet? We have so much noise all around us. Even if it is not audible noise our brains are full of it. We are constantly thinking about what's next. I challenge you to just sit in the quiet, listen, what are you hearing?

It Snowed!!

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know what I'm going to say next.  When it snows for the first time each season we make gingerbread.  Not just any gingerbread, but Laura Ingalls Wilders' gingerbread.  We stop everything we are doing and make the gingerbread.

 

 

This stuff gets better every year!!  If I do say so myself.  It's so easy to make I should make it more often.  But I think that would take the fun out of the first snow. 

 

 

So what did you do today?  Any snow where you are yet?

 

 

Our week was a little like this

The weather here was a bit crazy this week.  We had Hurricane Sandy come through.  Praise the Lord we were spared the majority of the storm.  We just had a few branches fall from the trees in the front yard.  In the days before the storm hit I cooked up a huge ham.  Enough to feed us for days should we need it.  I made ham and bean soup with it.  This was the first time I did this.  I threw the ham bone and a pound of dried beans into the crockpot.  I added 2 boxes of chicken stock, onion and garlic.  Set it to low and voila soup ready to eat.  Everything was perfectly done.

 

This is what we had at the start of the storm.  As you can see nothing much at all.  We did have some pretty strong wind gusts at times.  I don't know about you, but I love sleeping during wind and rain storms.  My heart breaks for the New York City area.  My husband and I were talking the other night about it.  We just want to jump in the car and drive down there to help.  We know that is not possible at this point.  What we are going to do is start collecting for the homeschoolers down in that area that have lost everything. 

 

Andrew grabbed the camera and got this great shot of a blue jay.  They are aggressive birds but so beautiful.

 

We got busy carving our pumpkins.  Poor Andrew's pumpkin was a bit past it's prime and kind of nasty on the inside.  That is why he has the bag on his hand.  Such a trooper!

 

Hannah really surprised me this year.  She has some sensory issues and will not touch certain things.  She plunged her hand right into the pumpkin.  YES a break through!!  I'm so proud of how far she has come this year.

Finished product!

Hannah's pumpkin.

 

What I love the most is when I upload pictures from the camera and find some "gems" that I know were not ones I took.

 

Silly Boy!

Hannah praising God!  It wasn't hard to narrow down the person behind the camera.  Katrina! They must have done this while we were at our foster class.  Speaking of that, we only have 3 classes left!!  But I believe I told you all that once before. 

 

How was your week?  I'm praying for my fellow new yorkers who lost everything.  Keep your heads up!

 

Foster Care~~~Two Weeks

When my husband and I started talking about foster care we had no idea the trip we were about to take.  When we first started talking about it there was still so much that needed to be worked out.  Our house was pretty small and would not be approved for a foster home.   Adoption has always been something that is near and dear to me.  My mother was adopted.  Through starting a homeschool group we met an amazing couple who did foster care.  I could feel the Lord probing me to look into it further.   We started coming up with excuses to why we couldn't follow God's leading.  One by one He showed us to just T.R.U.S.T in Him. 

 

Excuses....

Our house was too small

We are not equipped to be foster parents

Our vehicle isn't big enough for more children

We cannot take the necessary classes because my husband works second shift.

 

One by one God checked off our excuses.  It didn't happen over night obviously.  But our faith has grown by leaps and bounds through this whole process.  It is one year since we moved into our house.  We started the process of foster care in April 2011 with an intake interview.  The classes had already started so we had to wait until fall to take them.  We knew that this was God's leading so we went a head and requested the paperwork.  Well this Tuesday September 11 we will turn in our paperwork!!!  We begin our training on September 18.  It seems like we have been talking about this forever!!  But God had things to work on with us before we could start on this road.

 

 

This song by Mark Schultz is one that I listen to often while I pray for those children who will be coming into our lives.  Not all of them will be staying forever.  We know God has a plan for each and everyone.  We are excited to be a part of His plan.

 

 

Steven Curtis Chapman has been a great spokesman for adoption.  I really love this song.  This is another one I listen to daily while praying for our future children

 

 

 



Birthday Blessings

This year my birthday was a big one for me.  I turned 40.  I'm not sure what I was expecting.  Was I thinking I would suddenly wake up and feel older?  I know sounds crazy right?! 

My family made sure I really felt loved yesterday.  It all started the night before when my daughter Hannah wanted to make me some cake pops.  I helped her somewhat, but most of it was done on her own.

Then came the gifts from hubby.  He knows me very well.  I like gifts that are practical and things I will use.  I don't like fancy clothes, or jewelry.  So what did he get me?

The Paula Deen cookware I've wanted for SO long.  It is really beautiful. Almost too pretty to cook with...haha! I said almost!!

Here is the stockpot.  I can't wait to make soups and chili in this!!

Large sauce pan and 2 frying pans.

Medium and small sauce pan.  With a spoon and spatula.

I really love this cookware.  I can't wait to create wonderful meals for my family in them.

Next was a wonderful surprise from a dear friend.  My friend and fellow blogger Sandra who blogs at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, sent me a beautiful video wishing me a Happy Birthday.  I have to say it brought tears to my eyes.

Next up was supper.  Like I mentioned before, I don't want big expensive things....well unless it's cookware.  HAHA!

Anyway back to supper.  My husband made sausage gravy and biscuits!

OH MY was this delicious!!  The best part of the meal?  He cleaned the kitchen afterwards.  That make me extremely happy!!

Then I got this beautiful surprise from my parents.  This beautiful arrangement of flowers.  So many different kinds of flowers.  Thanks Mom and Dad!  They are the best.  And my Dad stopped over with a very cute card.  I love my parents.

At the end of his shift my hubby came home with a beautiful yummy peanut butter ice cream cake.  All in all it was a great day!!  I couldn't of asked for a better birthday!  I was surrounded by my loving family.  Who could ask for more??!



Niagara Falls Trip~Part 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from our trip.

Simply breath taking. 

These are the rapids right before the falls.

Looking up the river.  That has to be one strong bridge to withstand all that rushing water.

A lone beautiful flower standing on the banks of the river.

There was this beautiful tree covered with beautiful flowers.  My friend Pam tells me it is call a "Tulip Tree".  Love it!!

One place we wanted to visit was the Aquarium. 

Here was a seal lion.  We missed the show but enjoyed watching them play around in the pool.  I was surprised at how many leaves and such were in their pool.

There is something so relaxing about watching fish swim about.

The colors on these fish are beautiful.

Star fish and a crab.  They had this huge tank that you could look down into and see all these neat creatures.

NEMO!  I loved just sitting there watching them.

I love my daughter's face in this.  I made her get in there.  LOL!

Hubby and Andrew were very gracious in getting their picture done.

We had so much fun on our little trip to Niagara Falls.  Next time we will be able to see more. 

Niagara Falls Trip

Living in Western NY we have some of the most beautiful sights.  At least I think so.  This past weekend we ventured out to see Niagara Falls.  My husband and two youngest had never seen the falls before.  I love revisiting places with people who have never been there before.

Such a beautiful sight.  And OH so powerful.

It was very cold and windy while we were there.  So please excuse the hair.  LOL!

Words can't describe the beauty of the falls.  I often wonder how people can see something like this and still think anyone else created Earth but God.

This was a shot of the "Maid of the Mist" a boat you can ride to see the falls up close and personal.  After seeing how many people the actually pack onto this boat, I'm happy we skipped this.  All the blue on the boat are people.



Our main reason to go to Niagara Falls was to visit with friends of ours.   It was a great time of fellowship with them and their beautiful children.

The best way to see Niagara Falls is by riding on this!  For only $2.00 a person you can ride from one spot to another...it covers almost 40 acres.  It was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun.  We ended up riding this two times as our tickets were good for the whole day.

On our trolley ride we had a tour guide.  She gave us many facts about Niagara Falls. 

Hannah loved everything about our trip.

But especially the trolley ride.

The city was full of old buildings like this one.  I could of walked around all day taking pictures of them.  Defiantly on our next trip.

Below are more of our trip pictures....

I have SO many pictures to share with you.  I'll do another post tomorrow.