daddy time

hi, friends.

did you have a nice weekend?

ours came in slow and quiet, and ended with a BANG!  

we had an awesome time with some friends after church yesterday.

they are such a blessing to us and we are so fortunate to have them in our lives.

crafting, eating, and lots of laughing were involved. 

good times. :)

the kids were so excited to have some daddy time on saturday.

croquet was the game of choice.  :)

the kids literally waited for over an hour to greet him in the driveway after work.
excited, much?

goofy poses, faces, and smiles.

i think it's safe to say that they love their daddy.

and so do i.

happy monday!

xo

simple saturday

here are a few things that you will find in my house this saturday morning.

breakfast powered by shaklee.

oh, yes.  

the best breaky on the planet.

full of protein{the non GMO, unheated LIVE soy kind}

ultra hydrating{on the cellular level}

filling{like i'm not hungry until waaay past noon}!

blood sugar leveling{bye bye mood swings}

it is an understatement to say that we love this stuff.

my hubby and i make sure that we, and the kids, get a good source of live shaklee protein each day. 

to know more click here!

my favorite recipe:
1/2 cup organic low fat milk, soy milk, coconut milk or rice milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1 scoop shaklee vanilla cinch
1 scoop shaklee vanilla energizing soy
1 scoop shaklee orange performance
shake it up and enjoy creamsicle perfection!
{and lots of energy}

pure cell feeding  goodness.

miss madelyn crafting up a storm.

we sorta got hooked on making our own journals this week.

she wanted to share the love with her friends.

more on that next week, though.

henry and his horses.

toys, toys and more toys.
{and pj's all day}!

'cuddles' waiting for a jail break.

*note the apples in the corral*

i will be spending the afternoon picking up millions of little red beads. 

guaranteed.

the never ending car lot in the front entry way.

thrift store school and decorating books{$.25 a pop}

and new thrifty bookends.

what do you think?  

my husband has a growing collection of books, so i thought they might come in handy.

well, i suppose i had better go and start cleaning all of this up.

i love the weekends, don't you?

so relaxing and slow.

yay! for slow!

i hope yours is great!

xo,

questions about shaklee?
email me at
wildewood6@yahoo.com
i's LOVE to help!

this little light of mine

hi, friends.

it is such a blessing to have you here .

i am so grateful for each and every one of you.

last night, when i was doing dishes, i found an unexpected little blessing.

i have a little dish that sits next to my sink and holds all of my 'extras'.

bracelets, contact stuff, rings, etc....

there was an envelope that had been sitting in that bowl for several weeks and i just assumed that 

it was my son, henry's.

he likes to draw and scribble little notes and pictures, seal them up, and carry them around.

it's pretty cute.

but that's not what i found last night.

take a peek.

about a month ago, my son found a vintage typewriter at the thrift for $3.00.

i couldn't resist his big, brown eyes, so i said, yes.

he was so excited to bring it home and add it to his closet 'office'. 

we didn't know it still typed until weeks later, and it has been a fun treasure to say the least!

last night i found some of the fruits of that find, and of my son's heart.

with my daughters help, they typed out the words to the simple song that blessed me.

i had no idea that he put it there for me, but i opened it just when i was supposed to.

God is so good to give us His treasures just at the right time.

these words reflect what i want my life {and this blog} to be.

a light for Jesus.

my {healthy}hope is in Him, and i pray that He will use me as His vessel.

not to hide my faith under a bushel.

not to allow satan to blow out His glow.

to shine until Jesus comes, because He promised He's coming again!

i want to be a reflection of Him and His love, because I have no light of my own.

image

so, friends, that is what i strive for.

i pray that this blog will be used to show His love, and to be an encouragement to others.

i have already made so many new friends on this adventure.

people that encourage, bless, and push me to be a better Child, wife, mother, sister, and friend.

it has been a blessing to say the least!

thank you so much for following me.

i am honored that you stopped by and i look forward to meeting lots of new friends!

wanna join me?

let's...

let it shine!
let it shine!
let it shine!

have a lovely day, friends.

xo,

light hut

how are you all doing today?

i might need an extra cup of coffee this morning.

how about you?

waking up to darkness makes it really hard for me to get in gear.

so, i am totally behind on blogging this home school life of mine,

but at the beginning of the year, my girls started studying botany.

it has really captured their attention and they love doing all the projects.

{let me just say, that if all my children were still little people, all of these projects just wouldn't work out.

that would mean i would have to hunt down materials and be on damage control all while trying to actually create the project.}

that could result in tired, crabby, stressed mommy.

i know my limits, friends. :)

most days, anyway.

now that the girls are older and able to work together{and do a lot of the hunting and creating},
 it has been really fun watching them learn.
 seeing them studying, collecting things from outdoors,
and putting together these projects is awesome.

enter: building your own light hut

i had to laugh when i saw this, because i happen to have a brown thumb.

for real.

i cannot keep a plant alive to save my soul!

i have one small african violet that is actually thriving in my kitchen but i really don't know why or how?

it must be drought tolerant and need zero thoughts or care, because that is about all the time i can give it right now.

:)

build your own light hut...

it's easy!

you will need

*a box

*aluminum foil

*plastic lid of a sour cream container{or whatever}

*heavy duty tape

*scissors/knife

*light adaptor kit

*15 watt fluorescent lightbulb

*small clay pots

*seeds 

*potting soil and moss

first you will need to cut a hole through the top of the box and plastic lid the size of your light adapter kit. 

do you see the hole below?

i used a kitchen knife.

you may or may not want to use something sharper so you don't have to saw like i did.  ;)

then you will need to line your box with aluminum foil.

we  elly used tape to secure it to all sides.

the messy reality.

i was totally excited that i had an ikea hemma light kit that i found at a local flea market for $4.00 on hand.

you never know when you will need an extra light kit, right?

elly put the light kit through the holes in the plastic container and top of the box and lit her{the hut} up!

well, after planting the seeds that we had on hand.

 

then she covered the front of it with a simple aluminum foil 'curtain' and we waited...

within ONE week, we had sprouts and we were SO excited!

of course, my camera doesn't take close up pics, so here is where we are at today.

four weeks later.

there are actual peas on that vine, friends!!!

pretty cool, huh?  

it is an understatement to say that we are a tad proud of our light hut.

and to think that we did so little.

God's design never ceases to amaze me!

i missed {virtual} coffee yesterday, but i am still linking up with amy.

*disclaimer*

home schooling is a wonderful, wonderful thing for our family, 

but it does not come without it's trials and errors.

take this morning for example.

bickers that led to fighting, which led to pinching, and then tears.

lots of tears.

oh, and yelling.

thus the phone call to the principal{aka DAD}.

yikes!

thank the Lord for grace and forgiveness! 

i don't want you to think that all is beautiful and pefectly project'y' all the time.

just so ya know. :)

until next time!

xo,

my {earthly} father

today i want to talk a little bit about my {earthly} father.

when i was 6 or 7{can't really remember}, he led me to my {Heavenly} Father.

thus began my journey of healthy Hope.

i remember being in our little yellow house on the corner of elm street,

 asking Jesus to come into my heart.

i don't remember a whole lot growing up,

but i remember that day, and i remember a change in my life.

the transaction that occurred when i placed my tiny trust and faith in Someone much bigger.

the only One who could wash clean my dirty, sinful heart and make me a brand new creature in Him.

on that day, i became a child of the crucified, buried, and risen King!

born again. 

oh, how the angels must have rejoiced!

i thank God for my Godly {earthly} father, who taught me about the Lord

and was not ashamed to share his faith.

he still isn't.

when i was a {bratty} teenager, my family used to gather for family devotions every morning.
it was just me and my parents because my sister was already out of the house.
 i thought it was totally uncool to have to sit with my parents right before the bus came and read from
the Daily Bread and quote scripture.
i know that in my self absorbed teenage world,
 i sat with my arms crossed and my eyes rolling into the back of my head.
nobody else had to do it, so why should i?
what i know now, is that what i learned during those times never left me.
when we hide God's Word in our hearts, something wonderful happens.
the verse we always quoted was psalm 19:14.


"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."


now, i'm pretty sure positive that i didn't try to live out these words everyday of my life, even though i said them.
what i do know, is that the faithfulness of my parents and the repetition of these words resonated deep within my heart and have encouraged and challenged me numerous times.
now we teach them to our children.
and i pray that they don't sit crossed armed with eyes rolling


"remember who you are and what you are."

more wise words from my dad.
words never forgotten, but many times ignored.
i thank the Lord for His Holy Spirit who continually works to draw His sheep back to the fold.
no matter where they are.
i have failed miserably, friends.
many. times. over.
but God loves His own enough to chasten them,
and remind them of the path that they ought to be on.
i'm so thankful that He leaves the 99 to seek out the one.
that He rejoices in finding the one lost sheep.

i'm thankful for a dad who taught me God's truths.
i'm thankful that he persisted when i was a brat and i rolled my eyes.
with God's help, he made a huge difference.
his faithfulness to Him has blessed many and will go on for many generations.

 i love you very much, dad,  and i'm thankful that God chose you for me.

xo,

just me n the boys

well hello there!

today it was just me and my boys.

the dynamic duo that had me infuriated this morning when i found out that they tripped the security alarm in my van so that every time anyone opened any door, the blasting alarm would go off.

i had places to go today. things to do!  

all i could imagine was the deafening alarm forcing people to cover their ears 

and innocent bystanders flashing me nasty glares in every parking lot.

 oy.

i panicked and called my husband.  the one who can fix anything.

of course, he knew what to do.  again.

{sorry for the hissy fit phone call, honey.  what you said to do worked.} 

once that was fixed, all was well.  :)

here they are. 

the guilty twins who were, apparently, having a little too much fun locking and unlocking doors.

jack and i in my parents backyard.

he gets my vote for sweetest comment of the day.

while praying over dinner at culvers with my mom, he finished with,

"and please let us have a day like this again...soon."

swoon.

the boys sneaking a peek at grandpas military vehicle book.

{the one they accidentally bent the edges on.} 

my mom taking the boys for a walk while i finished cleaning her house.

{or was i watching extreme makeover home edition?}

my sis and i grabbed yummy lunch at our local food co-op today.

yes, i ate out twice.

{chipotle bean and sweet potato soup=heaven.}

i got this necklace from her.
it has a little angel on it and maddie added a #1 MOM charm.

aren't i spoiled blessed?

i always feel so fortunate when i get to spend time with my family.

i don't get to see my mom or sister very much, so it was really fun to hang out with them for a while.

how was your day?  

do you have any fun plans for the weekend?
i hope it is wonderful.

talk to you soon!

xo,