Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Our year was full of faith, family, friends and fun.  Thank you for following One Blessed Acre and all of our preciouspeas over the last year.  May God bless each of your lives in 2017.

Colossians 3:17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

#995 - spending Christmas Day with friends and having a great dinner
#996 - meeting new neighbors and enjoying afternoons talking
#997 - Christmas cookie decorating with best friends
#998 - spending a morning getting pedicures with the girls and my friend Fran
#999 - 22 years with my best friend
#1000 - ringing in the new year with family and friends

November happenings on the farm

I did it again. . .  I blinked and the year is almost over.  Has anyone else ever done that before?  It seems like just yesterday it was January and we winding down from the holiday festivities.

We are 10 weeks into our school year this year and have been enjoying our morning school time.  Some of the resources we are using this year are really starting to shine in the way of results for each of the kids.  I always have my doubts when I begin something new, but I believe the key to trying something new is to keep at it for awhile.  Unless of course you hate it yourself and find yourself dreading teaching it - that's the time to let it go.

Xtramath is a fabulous online drill practice for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  The lessons are short each day - maybe 10 minutes and the teacher, Mr. C, is not my children's favorite, but now it has just become a joke about how he hates the kids when he doesn't move them up a level.

Hodgepodge has become our favorite art curriculum.  The kids love coloring with chalk pastels.  We have used their Spring Chalk, Fall Chalk, American Landscapes and Sharks curriculum.  Tricia Hodges shares her love of art, that she received from her mother, in an easy to use PDF step-by-step tutorial.  One of my favorite things about the curriculum is that she walks us through each step of the drawing so that even George, our 7 year old,  can master the drawing.

People always ask me how do you homeschool?  Most of the time I believe they are asking, "How do you have all the skills necessary to teach each of the required subjects, because one person just can't possibly be equipped to teach everything - right?"  I truly believe that God has equipped each parent with the necessary skills to teach their children, regardless of their own educational background.  BUT, if even that scares the strongest of parents, you can relax in the comfort of knowing that so many other talented educators are available to help each of us in our weak areas with excellent curriculum.  There are online curriculums, workbooks, E-books and numerous websites and blogs ready to assist even the feable hearted homeschool mom or dad.  This is our 14th year of homeschooling and we have already graduated two students.  Both of which are doing very well. 

Homeschooling isn't about producing the smartest, brightest or most intelligent student.  It's about equipping our children with the skills and knowledge to be productive adult citizens in our ever unproductive society.  Any child, homeschooled or public schooled should be equipped with the ability to further their own education by having the tools to seek out knowledge and learn new things.  Okay, enough of my soapbox.

Happy Fall Everyone!  And a BIG THANK YOU to all of our followers.  You are so special to us.

Fall, my favorite time of the year

Happy Thanksgiving!

While I gaze outside of our house, I observe all of the beautiful pumpkins from our garden that adorn our egg/vegetable stand.   I love watching strangers stop by to quickly snap a picture of the stand.  I sneak a quick peak out our front window and then I wonder how someone will use my stand in a Pinterest or Instagram post.  And it makes me smile.   

My days have been full with many joyous activities that I am so grateful and thankful for:

* studying the word of God

* simplifying our home

*loving my family

* schooling my children

* sewing quilts

*cross stitching

* raising animals

* working through a remodel of our downstairs

* reading good books

My heart is so overflowing with peace enjoying this life that I have been gifted with.  Faith believes what it cannot presently see. Faith trusts that regardless of the circumstances God’s word is true and that God is in control of all things (not just some of them!).

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. –Isaiah 26:3

I pray your days be filled with a peace beyond understanding! 

Happy Birthday to Abby

While I sit here, I am pondering how fast eight years can pass.  Eight years ago Abigail Renee was born.  She was the first of two children born during our short time living in Georgia and she was our 6th daughter.  Hannah picked out her first name (she was named after Hannah's American Girl doll) and her middle name is from her Auntie Renee.  Some fun facts about Abby:

 

• She loves cheeseburgers now, but at first it was "hangabers"
• She has very wavy long brown hair that she HATES to brush
• She loves to wear hats, especially her one-eyed yellow minion hat (in fact one Sunday she didn't wear it to church and Pastor Dan didn't know who she was without it)
• She can keep up with George and that's sometimes hard to do
• She loves ballet and tap dancing
• Her best friend is Madelyn and they Skype at least once a week
• She hates having her birthday at the end of the year even though she shares her special day with her Grandma
• Oftentimes we'll find her curled up in her bed, all by herself listening to her sister's music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 8th Birthday Sweetheart!  We love you.

Catching Up (Summer photos)

 

 

Today I find myself enjoying the simple moments of the summer season. . . . . .

*     a growing garden, due solely to my amazing husband who moved raised beds, trapped gophers with George, tilled under all of our existing compost and planted an amazing amount of flowers, bulbs and seeds (I am so sorry that all of your gladiolas came up burgundy, but they are gorgeous!)

*     a birthday celebration with our little man, George, who turned six this year

*     a special visit from my Mom on her birthday.  We got to treat her to a birthday dinner, in which the kids absolutely loved having the food cooked right in front of them and flipped into their mouths (well, no one actually caught any pieces, but they did give it a good try)

*     the most restful and relaxing four day vacation that I have ever been on.....at the Grey Eagle Lodge in Grey Eagle, California.. . . . did I mention they cooked us breakfast and dinner at the lodge and that I didn't have to do dishes once?  My body still goes numb thinking about how my kids loved swimming in 45 degree mountain snow water while there, but they did have the best swimming hole I've seen in a long time.  Even though my ankle was under wraps that didn't stop Dad and the kids from taking a couple of hikes up the mountain side and getting ice cream in town not once but twice!  Even better was that we got a few moments to meet up with our second oldest daughter and her family and meet our newest grandson Grayson.  He was a favorite among all that got to hold him.

*    Fourth of July celebration in our town is a big thing and this year our chickens were featured at the Chicken Pooping Bingo contest on Main Street.  Coupled with a parade, a rather large fire, smores and fireworks, the day couldn't have been better.

 

How is your summer going?

~right now~

 

:: warming from the sun finally shining upon us after a long summer of fog and dreary weather.

 

 

:: listening to the makings of a salon spa day in the front room. . .oops, I think a little boy got in on the fun and might have gotten TOO comfortable.

:: smelling fruit leather dehydrating in the oven - - a beautiful gift from a friend's sister-in-law; organic strawberry preserves sweetened with natural cane sugar - YUMMY!

 

 

:: canning the harvest bounty out of the garden, and gleaning from a local vegetable stand, finds that we cannot grow here on the Northcoast (ie. tomatoes).

 

 

 

:: loving our teeny tiny apple from one of our newest trees. . . here's hoping next year we will have several more.

:: feeling grateful that the sickness that our family suffered through during the month of August is finally gone.

:: listening to pandora during the morning hours.

 

:: counting the days until our next daughter gets married - she got engaged this weekend and we couldn't be happier for her and her future husband.

 

 

:: chuckling over the creativity that goes on in my pantry with my newly harvested potatoes.

:: diving into our third week of our new fall school schedule - praying for peace, gentleness and grace to accomplish each of our daily tasks.

 

:: wishing you a very blessed day!

Right now. . . I am. . .

Right now, I am...

:: enjoying every warm day we have before the rain and the chill brings us inside for several months.

:: ecstatic that Lindsay doesn't have another ear infection. . . she's just growing up and more teeth are pushing through those gums of hers and they hurt. . .

:: feeling the busyiness of the holidays picking up, as we scramble to get ready for the coming of Christ.

:: harvesting, still, every last bit of swiss chard and brocolli I possibly can.

:: wanting to get my hands busy with some sewing  . . . both Christmas presents for the girls and the king - size quilt I began several years ago.  Don't you love the way my new table runner turned out (pictured above)!

:: enjoying apple butter canned from last year on my toast this morning.

:: holding my daughters hair while I roll it in rag curls

:: thinking that life couldn't get any better than this

:: grateful for "family" - the ones born into as well as the ones married into

:: anticipating our Christmas morning worship service - we have been truly blessed by those in our church

:: itching to open my presents. . . sometimes I think I'm less patient than the kids

:: wishing my husband a very Happy 17th Anniversary. . . it seems like just yesterday we got married in Lake Tahoe on that blustery, snowy Christmas Eve evening . . . . . I wish I could express in words how much he means to me

:: wondering what next year will hold for our family. .  we went through a big change this year when our second oldest daughter moved out

:: hoping your day is a lovely one, friends.

Merry Christmas to All!

Thankfulness

Source

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been thinking lately,

We live in a land of abundance

We live more abundantly than people in many other parts of the world

We can look around today and see God's hand in every part of our life

How freely God gives to us

He gave us the greatest gift - - His Son

Every day is another day to count our gifts

Be sure to THANK God for your blessings.

Psalm 100:4

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.