This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

Rejoicing is a choice. It’s easy enough to be joyful when things are going well. But what about when things are tough? We can choose to be joyful then too.

I can praise the Lord despite my circumstances or I can wallow in self-pity and sit here whining. Today I choose to rejoice.

Instead of complaining about my budget, I can choose to rejoice that bills are paid and that I have money for groceries. Instead of whining because my kids make huge messes, I can rejoice that I have those precious children. Instead of complaining that my husband has to leave for work earlier than I’d like, I can rejoice that he has a good job. Instead of whining about a lack of free time, I can rejoice that I have the freedom to homeschool my children.

God made today, and I will be glad! I will rejoice.

The beginning of Anna’s dolly – the Mae doll from Bit of Whimsy dolls. I’m not that great at hand sewing, so figured I should start now to be sure her dolly is ready in time for her birthday (where has the time gone??? She’ll be 1 in three weeks!). Dolly’s face is done, and her body is cut out, but so far that’s it.

I just love riding through the mountains. God’s handwork is so beautiful. I just love it. It amazes me how hard it is to show just how big the mountains really are when you photograph them though!

The children all did really well in the van. Samuel did some schoolwork, and Caleb had some coloring pages as well.

Who knows what Caleb was doing here. Knowing him, he had probably noticed an airplane or something. :O)

Want a cracker?

My good friend Karen over at Adorning Grace has posted a 90 Day Bible Reading Challenge on her blog. She’s asked others to join her and to link up at her site.

I’ll be doing the challenge. I gave it a half-hearted try about a year ago, and didn’t finish. This time I’m hoping to make it all the way through. I usually read through my Bible once a year (or close to a year), but haven’t tried to do it in less than that.

Won’t you join us? Head over to Adorning Grace to read more.

We’re home! I’m so glad. There’s nothing as good as being home and sleeping in your own bed.

We went to Indiana for the weekend for Stephen to preach again. It was a quicker trip than last time. It went well (albeit really quickly!) but I am glad to be home.

Unfortunately I am either allergic to something at the hotel or I’m coming down with a cold. Hopefully it’s just the hotel and the rest of the family doesn’t get sick.

Pictures to come soon. We tried doing school in the van (vanschooling?) and it went fine until Samuel threw up. I hope he’s not one to get sick easily in the car.

It was a good weekend, but I’m happy to be home.

I wasted an entire batch of sweet icicle pickles yesterday morning. I’m still a bit frustrated about it. The pickles were on the second to last day of the brining process, until I flung glass into the container.

The last four days you’re supposed to drain and reheat the syrup that spices the pickles. I’ve been using a plate on top of the container to keep the pickles submerged, with a glass canning jar full of water on top. I took the glass jar out and went to set it on the counter, but it slipped out of my hand into the giant metal pot in the sink.

Water and glass shards flew everywhere. Many of the pieces were so small I didn’t see them, but could feel them when wiping up the water. It also gouged the bottom of my good stockpot. :( We weren’t sure if any glass got into the pickle container but we know some of the water did. . .so we’re assuming the glass did too. The cost of ingredients isn’t worth keeping the pickles for the chance of eating glass, but I sure am disappointed we have to dump the pickles.

As a church pianist, I have learned there is a tendency to not really read or hear the words to a song during church services. It is so easy to get caught up in making sure the music sounds okay that the words are completely forgotten. Lately I’ve been trying to read the words as the congregation sings instead of just concentrating on music – it’s nice to be able to worship along with the rest of the congregation more.

This morning the words to Follow On have been in my mind. It is so true – we can follow Jesus regardless of where we are.

Follow On

Words: Will­iam O. Cush­ing
Music: Ro­bert Low­ry

Down in the valley with my Savior I would go,
Where the flowers are blooming and the sweet waters flow;
Everywhere He leads me I would follow, follow on,
Walking in His footsteps till the crown be won.

Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on!
Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on!

Down in the valley with my Savior I would go,
Where the storms are sweeping and the dark waters flow;
With His hand to lead me I will never, never fear,
Danger cannot fright me if my Lord is near.

Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on!
Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on!

Down in the valley, or upon the mountain steep,
Close beside my Savior would my soul ever keep;
He will lead me safely in the path that He has trod,
Up to where they gather on the hills of God.

Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Anywhere, everywhere, I would follow on!
Follow! follow! I would follow Jesus!
Everywhere He leads me I would follow on!

We’re still new to lapbooking, but we’re really enjoying it so far. I’m absolutely amazed at all the resources out there for lapbooking!

This one is about ants. Our science unit for the week last week was Close to the Ground, so we decided to study ants.

The only problem is that lapbooking seems to be very addictive. Maybe it’s a good thing file folders come in boxes of 50. . . .

This is another crazy week. We have piano lessons the first part of the week and Bible School the end of the week. The only day we don’t have something is today. Today is grocery shopping though so it’s going to be fairly busy anyway.

Sunday: picked up a $5 pizza because church service times were changed

Monday: tossed salads, grilled chicken, breadsticks

Tuesday: tacos

Wednesday: cream cheese ranch chicken (crockpot)

Thursday: Spanish rice (rescheduled from last week)

Friday: pizza night

Saturday: out for dinner

The meals without veggies listed we’ll just decide then which veggie to eat from the freezer.

Breakfasts are eggs, scones, oatmeal, biscuits, grits, and waffles.

Lunches are sandwiches, wraps, macaroni and cheese, tuna salad, and leftovers.

Snacks are cheese, baby carrots, nuts, and fresh fruit.

You can read more menu plans over at Orgjunkie.com.

Today I was able to can 7 quarts and 4 pints of tomatoes. It probably doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s more than I thought it would be. It was quite the surprise to discover that there was enough for a double batch instead of the single I anticipated. This particular recipe is from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving book I mentioned in a previous post. It’s tomatoes with mixed vegetables. We really like the combination of veggies in it (tomatoes, celery, onion, and green pepper), and it was nice to be able to can more this year. Our tomatoes haven’t been going crazy yet like they have in the past, but they’re still doing well.

In the past, we’ve always grown a hybrid variety like Better Boy. This year we grew almost all heirloom varieties. The one we grew the most of was called Rutgers – I wanted Brandywine tomatoes but we couldn’t find them. We also grew Yellow Pear (they look really strange – I’ll have to pick some and take a picture) and Mr. Stripey. The Yellow Pear have good flavor but are more of a salad tomato since they’re so small. The Mr. Stripey tomatoes are some of the biggest I’ve ever seen, but we haven’t gotten many off that plant at all. My favorite this year though was the Sweet 100 – it’s not heirloom but those tomatoes are so sweet. They’re marble-sized and I eat them right off the vine when I’m in the garden. They taste amazing. Those are definitely on my list to grow again next year.

Usually we just buy half a flat or so of the same variety, but this year we changed things around quite a bit. We followed the garden in a day plan so Samuel could have his own garden, and let him pick what tomatoes he wanted (he picked Better Boy and Sweet 100). For mine I picked Yellow Pear and Better Boy because Samuel wanted another one. That raised bed garden (we doubled the garden’s size and then split it) did really well and was fun to plant.

The majority of our canning tomatoes are in the main garden with everything else. We changed that around too – we’ve been reading and experimenting with intensive gardening and raised beds. We are absolutely thrilled with the results. Our garden isn’t much to look at this year, but we’re getting more produce out of the same amount of space as before. What a blessing!