Spinning

Yesterday we had the awesome opportunity to hear a great history lesson on Spinning from our new friend, Jane.  (Janes husband Jim & Greg have worked together & known each other for 17 years)

Jane and Jim live near Atlanta, and its taken us a while to get together ~ yesterday was the day and we had a great time.

We arranged for Jane to speak/demonstrate/share/encourage our girls at our Keepers meeting.  She came loaded with lots of goodies and all the girls that wanted, got to work with whatever she brought.  

Here are some pictures from our funtimes...

Amy came home with a bag of fiber and a spindle to keep trying.  She is planning on searching Amazon for an inexpensive drop spindle.  Her goal is to make a weaving of a small mat to enter in the fair ~ "why yes, this is rather small....but I spun the yarn myself from alpaca & llama fur".  The absolute softest fiber she brought was a combination of alpaca & silk ~ someone described it as cotton candy!  Pure white and gorgeous!

Amy's other goal....to get her daddy to buy some land and alpaca's.  I knew she and Jane would get along great when I saw Janes email address.....janeszoo.

Today, Will and I get to learn.  We were just helpers/toters/observers yesterday!  Everyone had a great time and Jane was wonderful!

This post is linked up with...http://raisinghomemakers.com/2013/homemaking-link-up-105  
and  http://www.tillysnest.com/2013/01/down-home-blog-hop-number-19-winter.html and http://mysimplecountryliving.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-country-homemaker-hop-49.html.

Katie's Surprise Bridal Shower

When we started our Keepers at Home group almost 3 years ago...it was with 2 purposes.  

The first was to work on crafts together to enter in the State Fair.

The second was to encourage our girls toward the goal of being Keepers in their own homes when the opportunity presented itself.

Our girls get enough wordly influence to go out, get a job, be your own person, and not nearly enough for being a stay at home wife, mom, Godly woman.

Our first girl is following a path we've dreamed of.  We've talked about this, prayed about this, and studied about this.

Yesterday My Girl...Katie was honored & surprised with a Keepers Bridal Shower.

Many, many thanks to Nancy for planning and carrying this out.

We had a wonderful time with our special friends!  Katie got some great goodies for her new home in Missouri.

Miss Nancy & Katie

wedding ring favors

Will gave Katie a tool box...her own little hammer

towels & hot pad

picture frame cube from Amy

Kaytee Beth wanted to help

Pyrex bowls from Me

hand quilted goodies from Miss Rosana

Lora Beth, Caitlyn, Amber, Emily, Laura Lee, Cheyenne, Vida Jo, Amy, Emmalyn, Izzy, Kaytee Beth, & Katie

beautiful flowers for the shower from Miss Nancy's yard

We had a great time.

Keepers At Home

Some of our plans for Keepers at Home meetings are wonderful, fun and calm. This meeting was wonderful, fun and hectic. When Jennifer found the plans for the "Little Dresses for Africa" and emailed the group, I thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted us to do them. But, I didn't thoroughly think through the logistics involved. So many girls haven't sewn before (or the mamas), so it was a little tricky. 6 sewing machines and 2 ironing boards take up a lot of room. Plus all the little dresses in different stages of completion. 2 1/2 hours later, we had some completed dresses and mom/girl teams happy with their results. In the picture above is my little friend Kaytee Beth in the pillowcase dress I made for her. Its all girly and frilly just like she is. I have enough fabric to make one for her older sister, so they will match.

Angela, Vida Jo and Kaytee Beth with Vida Jo's dress.

Emmalynn with her dress.

Jennifer and LoraBeth with her flowered dress.

Emily and Sandra. You can't tell in the picture but the little dress has tiny green palm trees.

Betsey and Emma, I love the lavendar!

Amy and her dress. Katies will be made another day...she was holding babies!

GREAT Mission Project

I was sent this link today, as a future project for our Keepers at Home group. My mind is spinning at the possibilities.


Go here.... http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/ to see these adorable children in their dresses.

Guess who is taking on this project? (Did ya guess me?) This is an incredible opportunity for us and our children to make a difference in Africa. And, it won't cost lots of money. Just pillowcases, binding, elastic, and simple sewing skills.

I've got lots of lace and doodads to dress these up.

My girls can make these and donate them.

Go check out the link and see if this is something your family would like to participate in.

Red & yellow, black & white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world!

Thursday Meanderings

Welcome to Thursday! That means the weekend is almost here! Yeah! My absolute favorite part of the week because my sweetheart is here all weekend! And this weekend will be a first in out almost 5 year married life...Katie, Will & Amy will be attending our church's Disciple Now weekend, so Greg and I will be alone from Friday night to Sunday morning. I am seeing date weekend not just date night!

The kids and I have gone overboard with buying seeds for gardening this year. We are trying some new plants this year: cantaloupe, peas, & more peppers, just to name a few. I've tried growing tomatoes from seed but haven't been successful. So I will stick with little plants from the garden shop. Mom sent me an article last year about a guy in GA who grows tons of tomatoes every year and the article included his "recipe" for what he mixes in the dirt. So I am going to try that this year. My tomatoes were a total flop last year, which was very disappointing. I love to eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine. We are ready for spring and getting outside but the cold weather is not letting go yet. Maybe Mother Nature doesn't know its March on Monday.

Greg built me an awesome 5 square foot gardening box for cucumbers. He, with the help of the older boys, got it into place last weekend. Now to fill it up with dirt and compost and get warm enough to plant. We will be planning other boxes and relocating our compost bin. Should keep us busy and out of trouble (yeah, right!).

In Sunday School our book has been "Fresh Encounter, experiencing God's power for Spiritual Awakening" by Henry & Richard Blackaby. I've done some of their studies before and always learn something new and have something that applies with my life and this book is no exception. What I read yesterday, got me to pondering my situation last week, my response to it, the others involved, etc. I had my friend read it and then Greg read it last night. Greg's response confirmed what I thought the Lord was telling me. Me serving in this capacity with our group is not beneficial to me, my children, or my family. It is taking me away from the family for 4-5 hours every month and causing loss of sleep, worry, and busy work. So its not something I need to be involved in. I am finishing out my term, but not participating in this again. We think the prior conflict was the Lord's way of pointing out to me the error of participating. Since the decision to quit was made, several exciting opportunities have opened up for next school year that we are all excited about. My friend 'Rie and I are starting a history/science co-op to meet several times a week. I am going to teach the ABeka Biology to a multi-age group of kids and she is going to do History. I did this with my kids 3 years ago and they really enjoyed it. We are going to "notebook" biology or scrapbook. Lots of pictures, graphs, word searches, vocabulary, classifying, etc. We may also start a small support group for field trips, etc. Plus our quilting classes and Keepers at Home group. I'm excited to see where the Lord will take us on this adventure.

Yesterday, Keepers at Home was great! We had a housefull of kids and their mama's. 11 girls participated and our craft was decoupage. They all decoupaged a wooden item that we can enter in the fair. All were different and turned out beautiful. They are creative girls. All the boys and younger sisters had a lego/k'nex-a-thon in the living room. There were 8 or 10 kids in there. It was noisy and full. They all behaved great and cleaned up at the end. What a blessing to not have a huge mess to clean up after everyone leaves. We just had to put our paper up and sweep up some scraps on the floor. My little friend Kaytee Beth wanted to see my pool, so we went outside to look. She very sweetly told me that she had 2 swimming suits (what a cute way to ask to come swimming...she is almost 4 years old). So a pool party is in our future! Come on warm weather!

Tonight we are having an easy dinner and then settling in to watch "Survivor". Gonna be a good family night!

Keepers At Home

Purpose: To learn to walk in the steps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, day by day, moment by moment, in every situation.

Goal: To have a teachable spirit so that I can master the different crafts and skills which will enable me to become a competent well-balanced Christian girl who loves God, and who will one day be a proper helpmeet and keeper at home.

Verse: 1 Peter 2:21 :For even hereunto ye were called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps."

Prayer: Dear Lord, Teach me the way to make each day a stepping stone as I learn to walk in your steps, and with your help I will make of my life a harmony of love, joy and service to Thee, my family, and others.

The above is taken from the Keepers at Home book as the inspiration of the program.

Our 2nd meeting is this afternoon. I have the devotion today and as I read the inspiration of this program, I am reminded how I fall short in my own life. We are never too old to learn and my prayer is that we can teach/inspire our daughters so they are better prepared for life.

The following is a "Letter to Girls" included in the book by the creator of Keepers at Home, Mrs. Susan Zakula.

Dear Girls,

This book is for you! It is your stepping stone to becoming all God would have you to be. Because you will not always be a young girl but will grow up to become a lovely, Christian woman, this handbook will help you prepare for your future. As you work through its pages, you will learn how to make beautiful things with your hands, become competent through the knowledge of many skills, become an accomplished keeper at home, and develop a servant's heart through learning how to love others.
Now it the most important time in your life, for your are now becoming what you will be in the future. The things you enjoy doing now will be the things you will enjoy doing in the future. There is not a moment to waste in preparing to be a godly woman. So now is the time to be busy. My prayer to God for you is that this handbook will be a "stepping stone: to becoming a Christian woman prepared to be a helpmeet and servant of God.

Wow! What awesome goals for our daughters to aspire to! My prayer is that my daughters and the other girls in the group will embrace this program, make it their own, and explore all the gifts the Lord has blessed them with!