“To marry and have children is the ideal life for a woman. What career could ever be as fine? To give the world splendid men and women—isn’t that the noblest thing a woman could possibly do?“
—Jessie Willcox Smith

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Encouraging Quotes, Marriage, Mothers
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Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Christian Life, Encouraging Quotes
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It has been so long since I’ve posted. I truly meant to write sooner. The months since January have been so busy for us. So much has gone on. During March I had to go to the ER several times for my heart and other things. I was in the bed for much of that month and missed some time working at my home business. My girls had to do just about everything for me, including grocery shopping. Praise the Lord that He healed me out of all those problems I was having! He really showed me what prayer could do, when I was so very scared that I was going to die and have to leave my daughters. My faith was greatly strengthened during that time.

My oldest daughter graduated from homeschooling recently. I am so thankful that I’ve been able to home school my daughters all these years. It has not always been easy, especially as a single mother for the last 10 years, but it’s definitely been worth it all. The graduation ceremony and reception was very simple. It was held at our church and around 40 were there. The tables were decorated with inexpensive plastic tablecloths. All tables but one had an amber medicine bottle with one rose in it and a ribbon tied to each bottle. I had been saving the medicine bottles for flowers around the house and purchased a rose bush for one of my daughter’s graduation presents. We used the roses off of it to decorate with, so that when the roses died, there would still be more coming from the bush. My mom brought a vase and roses from her garden for the family’s table. Other decorations were things I’d gotten on clearance or very inexpensively. I had a table that had photos of my daughter, and a friend brought her laptop with my daughter’s senior pictures scrolling in a slideshow. I gave the commencement speech, which told funny and precious memories about my daughter, and then presented her with her diploma. We then enjoyed cake, a cheese platter, crackers, and punch. We used some paper dinnerware that I’d gotten on clearance, but others had to be purchased.

With my daughter graduating, there have been some changes. Even though the changes are good and part of growing up, they hurt a mama’s heart sometimes. I am so glad that I can lean on my Lord to bring me through all of life’s phases.

For the first time ever, we are having a 2-month summer vacation. We used to homeschool throughout the summer with sometimes a 2- or a 4-week vacation. I’m looking very forward to having some time for myself, to finishing my living room and dining room curtains that were cut out several months ago, and organizing and cleaning things around the house. July has been too busy to have much time for anything so far though! Although it’s pretty hot, I can see signs of Autumn’s near arrival. The pine needles in the woods are falling and leaves are already turning yellow and red.

Our puppy Missy is now a grown girl. She’s such a joy and pleasure. She is so very smart and obedient. We love her so much and learn so much from her. Dogs sure go at life with full gusto and are thrilled with everything, it seems. My daughters like to take her around the area, just to give her a ride. They sure love that girl! She, along with the neighbor’s dog Teddy, has brought up animals that we’ve had to rescue and take to the wildlife lady. We’ve rescued 2 baby bunnies a few weeks ago and a duck recently. Missy did bring up a baby raccoon, but it was already dead. I keep kerosene on hand to burn the dead things, because the dogs will just bring back anything that I try to leave in the woods. I know that they would uncover anything I buried, too.

Our cat Autumn is getting lazier and plumper than ever. He has daily, and sometimes, hourly cravings for Temptations cat treats.:)

We’ve killed several water moccasins this year, sometimes several in one week. We can’t go walking around the pond without bringing a gun with us.

God has answered prayers that have been 5 years in the making. An estranged friend has come back into my life in a way that I know that God did it and has changed hearts. I never would have thought He would have done the things He’s done! This has opened the door for us to be involved with a group for Christian girls called Bright Lights. My daughters are so excited to be able to fellowship with these dear young ladies. It means the world for me to find some like-minded Christian women in “real life” and not just online. The talks at the meeting are meant for the girls, but have spoken so very deeply to my heart.

My business has been very busy for the last few months. I’m so very thankful! It was awful last year. I’m so pleased to have created a beautiful blog for author, editor, and homeschool speaker/coach, Mary Jo Tate. I have also built a website for an upscale restaurant at the Pentagon. You can see these by visiting my business website.

I hope you all are having a blessed summer!

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Life at Hidden Pines
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“Thorns to not prick you unless you lean against them, and not one touches without His knowledge. The words that hurt you, the letter which gave you pain, the cruel wound of your dearest friend, shortness of money—are all known to Him, who sympathizes as none else can and watches to see, if, through all, you will dare to trust Him wholly.”

—Streams in the Desert

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Christian Life, Encouraging Quotes
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“She took her worries if she had any about us, to God. She was that way. She had a wonderful trust that God could and would work anything out that she couldn’t manage. Mom was wonderful that way.”
—Rodney Graeme, A Girl to Come Home To by Grace Livingston Hill

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Christian Life, Encouraging Quotes, Mothers, Recommended Books
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I didn’t get to read this until after Christmas, but this devotional really comforted me. I printed it up and placed in my Bible to read often. Being a mother is very demanding and stressful at times—even more so when she is single—but motherhood is the most rewarding job in the world. Read God With Us, a Christmas devotional by Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies.

Note: You can receive the Above Rubies magazine delivered FREE to your home by visiting the Above Rubies website. It is wonderfully encouraging—I highly recommend it!

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Mothers, Recommended Reading, Single Mothers
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Amazon.com has nearly all their DVD seasons of The Waltons for only $12.49! This is half of what most stores carry them for. With gift cards I earned from Swagbucks and a little bit of cash, I was able to order seasons 4-6. I can’t wait for them to arrive in a few days! We are slowly building our DVD collections!

If you are not familiar with Swagbucks, you can use their website to do searches and be rewarded “Swagbucks”, which you can then turn around and use for prizes on their website. I like to use them for $5 Amazon gift cards. When I have enough gift cards, I cash them in for things that I want. I use Swagbucks for searches that I go to a few times a day, like when I visit Google Reader, Facebook, and news pages. I bookmark these search results and rename them so that I can easily use them every time I need them (Tip from Lizzie at A Dusty Frame). I don’t use SB for other searches, because I feel search results are better on Google. I have my children use Swagbucks for their frequently visited pages also. By searching, I usually earn 2-3 Swagbucks a day (you don’t win them for every search), although sometimes I can find codes on the SB Facebook, Twitter, or blog pages.

If you’d like to try Swagbucks, click on the banner below. If you sign up using the banner below, I will earn a Swagbuck every time you do (up to 100)! SB are very easy to use, and it’s a real joy to earn free stuff just for searching!

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Affiliates, Recommended Movies
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My yellow roses blooming in winter.

“God is at work in response to our prayers, whether we see something happening or not. If we are truly praying, ‘Thy will be done,’ forces are at work beyond our comprehension – and often, beyond our vision. But they are working just the same.”
—David Jeremiah

In my last post, I spoke about how hard the Christmas season has been for me over the years as a single mother. Sallie at A Quiet Simple Life reposted one of her classic posts, Merry Christmas, Darling. I remember how much it spoke to me when I first read it a few years ago. It still makes me cry, because I really long to be married and not be apart any longer from the one I love. The quote at the bottom of the post really, really spoke to my heart as I reread the post. I’m planning to make some bookmarks with the quote on it—lots for myself and some for others.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Christmas, Encouraging Quotes, Recommended Reading, Single Mothers
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We had a good Christmas here, even though money was tight. The amount of money we had to spend on the children was nearly half what it normally was, but it all worked out great, and the girls were exceedingly grateful for their gifts. We had some Christmas surprises, including a laundry basket of groceries being delivered anonymously to our door. We were really shocked, although we think we know where it came from. I was given a new camera, even though I didn’t want any money spent on me. I hope to be able to use it to make money. I am really loving it!

I had wanted to post many times about how we spend Christmas, but time has been short. Although I said no to everything I could, it was still a very busy time. The children had a lot of ministry opportunities at church. It helped tremendously this year that my oldest is driving and could take her sisters and herself back and forth. Also, for the first time in many years, the girls got to spend time with their father, which I’m glad of. Although it has left me with some mixed feelings and different situations to face, I know that God is doing something wonderful in all their lives, and I can rest in that, if I will but trust Him.

Christmas has been a hard holiday season for me over the years, and I’ve not enjoyed it the way I wanted. I remember my very first Christmas alone. I had been single for about 2 months, and hid tears as best I could from the children, as I attempted to put together their toys on Christmas morning. I felt so stupid and lost, because I didn’t know how to easily put together things. I also felt in the core of my being that it just wasn’t right that a mother had to do all that. I remember one year not even having a tree until about a week before Christmas, because I just didn’t want to face what Christmas meant alone. Last year, the girls did all the decorating. This year, I felt a bit of a rebirth of some of the joy of Christmas. Although I’m so glad for the hustle and bustle to be ended, there are parts of Christmas that I don’t want to give up yet. I am enjoying still looking at our beautiful, but broken tree.:) (The stand broke, so the tree was just placed into a sturdy magazine rack and covered with beautiful fabric.)

I try to buy the girls an ornament every year. I want to give the ornaments to them whenever they are on their own and have their own tree. I try to buy quality ornaments that will last over the years. I found out quick that the cheap ones are just that–cheap! I love Hallmark ornaments, especially the ones by Marjolein Bastin, because I love nature and birds. I have learned to put the girls’ initials on them, but now realize I should have been putting the year on them all these years! Ugh!

Here are some pictures of the ornaments on our tree.

The girls’ made my mom and me quite a few of these ornaments made with old CDs and old Christmas cards. They are beautiful with the lights on them. I love them!

My 2 oldest girls each chose a solid wood owl this year. These large birds carefully watch over everybody on the tree.:)

For my youngest, who loves Club Penguin.:)

I’ve had this Raggedy Ann, along with others, for years.

A little chickadee nibbling on a pine cone. My oldest and I have one just alike. These are teensy!

This birdhouse belongs to my youngest.

I just love this very large snowflake.

This busy feeder belongs to my middle daughter.

This silver teapot was on our tree when I was a little girl.

This ornament was for my daughter whose name I could not find already imprinted on these angel ornaments.

My Marjolein Bastin ornament this year.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Christmas, Life at Hidden Pines
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“What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts is housekeeping. Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home.

“Whether you live alone or with a spouse, parents, and ten children, it is your housekeeping that makes your home alive, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else.”
—Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House

I found the above quote at Morning Cuppas With Glenys. Glenys is a Titus 2 woman who truly understand the biblical calling of women to their families and homes. I always find encouragement, refreshment, and grounding when I visit her blog.

I have very frustrated lately with trying to balance homemaking and a home business. Even though I’m a single mother, I feel very strongly that my first obligation is to my girls and my home as a homemaker. A homemaker is just that—she makes a home for her family. She is not a maid or a slave to her family. But she serves her family with love and attends to their needs selflessly. She is there for whatever they need.

This year has been one of the worst years for our finances and for my business. Medical bills and the economic situation have taken a toll. When the recession began, I chuckled at folks who were upset that they couldn’t eat out or have the luxuries that they were accustomed to, because I’ve lived like this my whole life. It is nothing new to me! (Like my aunt says, we don’t have far to fall! ) I honestly didn’t think that the recession could touch us, because we were used to doing without what everyone else considered necessary. I also thought that a website designing business would still profit, since we are living in the technology age, and having a website is extremely important for businesses. But the requests did not come, even though my prices are much more moderate than other designers. There have been quite a few inquiries lately, but so many business owners are saying they don’t have the money right now. That is quite frightening to me!

I’ve had the temptation to pour hours into my business in an effort to provide for my family, but I got off balance. I was extremely unhappy, and my efforts did nothing. I’ve had to step back and go back to the beginning, to the Bible, to see what God says. God still says my priority is to be a keeper at home. God still says for me to trust in Him to provide. He still says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). I want to be like the Proverbs 31 lady who had a home business, but spent most of her time on her family and home. That’s where her focus was.

Because I also must work, I’ve developed a strategy to help me wear all my hats. I get extremely frustrated that I can’t be just a mom and homemaker. I’m afraid I’ve spun my wheels so many times over the years and didn’t accomplish as much as I needed to. I’ve had to find a way to allow me to mentally and peacefully handle everything. I find I have to focus on one thing at a time or I just go crazy. I conduct our homeschooling in the mornings, where all my attention is on the girls and their schooling. In the afternoons is time for my housework, rest, exercise, preparing supper, etc., while the girls complete any schoolwork they need to do on their own. If they need help, I give it, but if it’s an extended problem, it has to wait until the next morning. After supper is my business time, where I devote all my attention to my clients. Sometimes I get frustrated that I can’t just watch TV in the evenings like most people do, but I do work better in the evenings, and I’ve given myself permission to do it occasionally. I don’t usually attend events at night during the week. I am trying to have a specific cut off time to shower, relax, and read until bedtime, but sometimes I don’t get nothing but the shower.:)

I need a lot of motivation. To motivate me for homeschooling, I enjoy reading homeschooling websites. To motivate me for work, I like to read computer blogs and newsletters. After work, I like to read homemaking websites and blogs that help me resettle into my job as mother, and motivate me to get up the next day to tackle it all again.:) Cooking shows on the Food Network really help me get excited about cooking when I lose interest.

My daughters help me tremendously. They have a lot of chores to do each day. They are surprised when they hear of kids who don’t know how to work. (We find our days go better when chores are done before homeschooling starts.) I do not allow my girls to do everything here, because I don’t want them to resent me or the housework. I still feel the house is my responsibility. But since I have so much on me, I have determined the following are the most important for me to handle, while the girls fill in much of the rest: good, nutritious meals, quality homeschooling, and my website designing work. I do keep my own room and bathroom clean, and supervise the girls with all their chores. I organize things that need it, and help my 2 oldest keep the yards mowed during the growing season. I also spend a good bit of time preparing my coupons and grocery shopping weekly. The girls help me by cutting out the coupons. The girls do cook a lot, but I try not to ask them to do it unless I really need their help.

I must admit, I still flounder and fail, and stay exhausted. I really struggle getting everything done everyday. I’m still trying to keep everything balanced. Financially we are struggling hard, but it has been worse. If it was not for my sweetheart Tim and my father helping us with finances and needs, and multiple car repairs, I don’t know where we’d be! Hopefully, 2010 will be a much better year for everyone. I keep praying that God will allow His people to prosper in a special way as a testimony to the world, just as He allowed the Israelites to flourish even while captive in Egypt.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14

Posted under Encouraging Quotes, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Mothers, Single Mothers
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