Third Times The Charm

Over the past 2 weeks I've sat down to write, gotten about a third of the way into a post, and then had to close my computer.  Life is busy here.  Luke is sleeping better, which makes my days seem much more doable.  I've been squeezing in finishing up my lesson plans for the first 3 months of school, which is starting back up in full swing tomorrow.  With 6 kids doing school work as well as caring for a 2 yr old and 4 mth old, I feel like I need to be as structured as I can!  Of course, I've learned that "structured" needs to mean completely flexible. All of my plans are in pencil, meaning I can tweak the schedule to fit our lives not rule them.  With so many variables to take into consideration, I either plan of interuptions and delays or I feel completely overwhelmed and get really cranky!

To make things even more crazy, our garden is bursting with produce that needs to be canned, frozen, or dehydrated.  When my Dad walked through the door and told me the corn was ready, I wanted to cry.  I still need to do peaches!  I've tried to get 1 bushel done on my own, and it hasn't been successful.  I am acknowledging my limitations when trying to can with an infant. I still hope to salvage the last of the peaches I have for baby food for Luke.  I hope he likes peaches :)  I am going into the garden tomorrow morning,  and will probably have a full day of canning to go with it.  Green beans are still coming, and I have less than 50 of the 100 jars I was hoping for.  We will have no shortage of corn either.  I really want to get 50-100 jars of those too.  Then come the potatoes.  I need about 50 jars of those too.  After that comes apples, which we use to make the best applesauce!  Lia loves it and won't eat any other sauce.  That's my girl!  So all in all, I have about 300-400 jars or bags of food to put up for the year still.  Yikes!  And lets not forget the pumpkins, squash, green peppers, and onions still growing out there too!  Ok, now I'm really tired, but in a good way.  I love watching my shelves get full of colorful jars of food.  More on my canning adventures to come.

Lia has been having a hard go of it lately.  After a year of multiple ear infections, we finally decided to opt for tubes.  That surgery was this morning, and in a short 10 minutes I hope we have saved her from need so many antibiotics and infections.  Our prayers were answered in that Lia didn't even ask for food until 15 min before her surgery.  She was up at 5:30 AM and three hours later asked for food!  That is unheard of!  Lia normally is straight into her chair for breakfast when we get up in the morning.  I know it was all the prayers from friends and family.  God truly cares about the small things in our lives, and wants to bless us.  I think those small answered prayers show His love more than the big prayers being answered.  Somehow that God cares about the big things, the obvious needs, seems well obvious.  But, those little things, like whether a toddler is crying because they can't have a sippy cup of milk for 3 hours after they get up for the day, just show His interest in our lives.  I love how God works!  We can't put him in a box and claim we "get" Him. 

Ok, so my post is all over the place, but hey I'm sleep deprived and running in circles these days.  My thoughts are scattered and very stream of conscience.  Luke is sleeping, and I'm off to sleep too.  Another day tomorrow, and I pray for God's grace to lead me through the day.  Because I'm tired, over scheduled, and my to do list is enough work to keep me busy 24/7 for the next 2 months.  Good night!

Our Garden Grows More Than Tomatoes

    As the 4th of July comes each year, the kids and I watch to see if our corn is "knee high by the 4th of July" and we are once again surprised at how much taller it is than that.  Our corn is waist high and growing so well that weeding is not need much any more.   Our garden has grown this year, and we are planning to store as much of it as we can. We have planted radishes, turnips, carrots, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, summer squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins.  That's quite a lot of produce!  So far, I've made 10 jars of strawberry syrup,  8 cans of grape jelly, dehydrated 10 pints of blueberries, 10 packages of strawberries, and 10ish lb of bananas.  Grandpa just brought me 30 or so radishes and I'm not sure what to do with them!  I guess I need to decide how best to store them.  Do I chop and freeze or dehydrate?  Something to google later for sure.

     This is our first year dehydrating, thanks to my sister and brother in law.  I have learned that things shrink a lot when dehydrated, and that 10 pints of blueberries fit neatly into a pint size storage bag.  My 10ish lb of banana chips surely will fit into a pint sized baggie also.  Amazing considering the big heavy box they came in.  Now, they sit neatly on my storage shelves in the basement waiting to be baked into yummy quick breads, muffins, or pancakes.  We plan to dry tomatoes, green beans, squash, and really anything that would be easy to throw into a soup or stew.  My plan is to make soup starter mixes so easy fast dinners this winter should be a snap. 

     I love watching my shelves and freezer fill up with the bounty of the harvest!  The pretty jars make the basement cozy and I feel a kinship to those thousands of women who since the beginning of time also stored up food for their families.  As we work in the kitchen, that sense of community and family builds up not only our shelves with food, but our sense of closeness as a family.  It takes us all working together to bring in our harvest.  From planting, pulling weeds, to table, and canned; our whole family has been working and laughing together.  These are the things life long memories are made of.  I want to pass on these traditions to our children.  I want them to learn to be wise with what the Lord has given them,  to persevere through a task with a good attitude even if they really would rather not be doing it, and remember that family is the most important thing after God.  The Lord is so good to us, and I am so grateful for not only our harvest but these precious moments we get to spend as a family.  In the spring as I plant I'm not just planing seeds that will grow and bloom into food for us to eat.  I'm growing hard work, character, determination, laughter, joy, and love.  God teaches us so much from ordinary seemingly mundane tasks, and I feel so blessed to have these times.