In Thanksgiving and Gratitude....

~May you all have a very, very blessed Thanksgiving! May we all praise our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for his love, provision and many blessings! I cannot express it as well as my daughter can, so please ....go to my daughter's blog and read a special Thanksgiving blessing!

www.justasiam-meghan.blogspot.com

~Sue~

Simple imaginative fun....

It is a very dark, chilly, gray day here today...but inside...it is warm and wonderful!

My ALMOST(on Monday!) 6 year old littlest daughter, Anna, was playing in her room with her 2 year old cousin, when she came to the kitchen like this.....to tell me her play was about to start! She had spent tons of time patiently teaching her little cousin and coaxing him to say the right words and BE "Joseph" to her "Mary"...
Scene one....take one....in Bethlehem praying over baby Jesus...

Ty (Joseph)....looking more like "Linus" clutching his blankie!

This was a 'scene' from Tinkerbell (guess who is Tink?)...she dressed Ty up as the boy tinker fairy, Terrance...he plays along with whatever she wants so well!

And of course....the ever-present 'Star Wars'....these things and Legos are very present thru-out our days....Anna LOVES to color and spends a lot of her time doing that and playing with her dolls....and she loves it when her big brother or little cousin plays along with her.

Now....rest time for everyone! Have a warm, wonderful day! ~Sue~

Operation Christmas Child...a God moment...

We've always heard of Operation Christmas Child...and years ago, filled some boxes when my older girls were little. But this is the first year that we've gotten involved in a big way. My dear friend, Cindy, is the coordinator and she really needed some help...so...we jumped right in!

Today, my oldest daughter , Meghan, and I went to our local Chick-Fil-A and promoted Operation Christmas Child. (OCC) What a blessing it was to us to see how many people wanted to bless a child! To see children excited to give to others...to see teenagers excited about filling boxes for little ones....at this time of year, when consumerism 'peaks' I was humbled and blessed by being surrounded by the generousity of people and the people of Chick-Fil-A.

Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan's Purse, to reach children all over the world. Each box is filled with generously given gifts for a child who might not otherwise recieve any gift. But, the most precious gift each child recieves is the gospel. Yes...the gospel of Christ's great love goes out in every box.

It really is the "Power of a Simple Gift" that makes such a difference!

For anyone wanting more information about Operation Christmas Child, please go to: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

With the economic downturn and rising prices, many many families in our own neighborhoods are very hard hit, many for the first time. We'll be looking into serving in our community to help other families.

God bless the power of a simple gift!

~Sue~

A Quiet day at Home...

~My motto lately....Keep Calm and Carry Yarn! ~

Today is a quiet day at home....church was wonderful last evening...lots to reflect on today.

Resting in the Lord and His word....resting while doing my planning for the week on this overcast, chilly fall day.

Special homemade wings and 'snack' foods this evening in front of the first fire of the season...while enjoying being together.

A perfect, quiet, family Sunday....may your Sabbath be blessed.

~Sue~

technologically challanged...or learning something new

Ok...I know I was born for another era...not sure which one...I think I could fit well into many different time periods...but not this one!(although I DO like electricity and especially plumbing and running water!) LOL

So...last night, our family went to the "mall". Now, you must realize that I hate the mall...my husband hates the mall...and I actually hate shopping at all...but all 6 of us trooped to the mall. This is because I would rather talk to a human being in person, than try and do something online or by touch-tone phone. The reason, (for all of you waiting with baited breath) is because it was time....time for my daughters to get cell phones.

We've held off on the whole "every child must have a cell phone" thing, but lately they've been babysitting so much and working/volunteering so much outside the home that after an incident when Meghan was done early from an activity and had to wait for me to pick her up...after much prayer, we decided it was time for the girls to get phones. And...in the interest of time and convenience, we decided to get texting as well. We have also discussed with them the importance of being responsible, paying for them monthly themselves...and not giving their numbers out to everyone.

For anyone who knows me...this was a surprise! LOL My mom and sisters are so excited...as is a close friend who does not have internet, but does have texting...and 8 children and is very hard to get a hold of.

I'm getting the hang of it..as my girls good-naturedly laugh with me. I love learning new things and I am determined to conquer this! LOL I don't want all of the bells and whistles of technology...but will use it to my advantage and benefit for my family.

There are so many things I want to learn! I'm hoping that having texting will keep me off of the phone (now if my dad would only get texting! LOL)...and still allow my extended family and friends to keep in touch if they need me.

What new things would you like to learn? Winter is the perfect time to cozy up and learn something new. Blessings on your weekend! ~Sue~

Piccalli...or what to do with all my green tomatoes?!

Green tomatoes...we had SO MANY of them when last week, the weather forcasters were predicting the possibility of a frost...so my son Ronnie and I picked all the green tomatoes (and semi-red ones left), and all the peppers and filled bowls and bowls of them....and I wasn't sure what to do! LOL This year, we put a fence up so the deer wouldn't eat all of our hard work...and we had a wonderful yield! We were so grateful to eat from the garden all summer and still have a lot of celery to harvest and dry in the dehydrator, basil to be made into pesto and frozen and even a couple of large cabbages to make into fermented saurerkraut. So...on Friday, my oldest daughter, Meghan, and I canned. For the first time, I made piccallili (followed the recipe in the Ball Canning book) and it is delicious! I didn't think I would like it...I actually made it for my dad and mother-in-law who mentioned that they liked it, but we love it! Especially my little ones love it and kept asking for more at dinner! This is a recipe I'll have to make more of next year.

We have about 4 quarts of pickling brine left, and will be going to our farmer's market on Tuesday to see what else we can pickle! We'll be getting some apples and hopefully pears to can apple/pear butter and applesauce.

My kitchen counter right now. We canned so many jars (I am so happy to have 4 gallon jars filled!) of pickled green tomatoes with peppers, onion and garlic as well as our piccallili. I have to re-arrange our pantry to accomodate all of our jars.

One small change we're making in our family is preserving...canning, freezing and dehydrating...and enjoying the fruits of our labors in the cold, winter months. We're finding that actually living a simple life, and doing some things the old-fashioned way (preserving, cooking from scratch, etc...) is actually a lot of hard work! LOL But....satisfying.

Have a blessed week! ~Sue~

Fall Fun day!

My husband grew up in scouting...his parents were very involved and he was a scout well thru highschool...and it looks like we're a scouting family, too! Today was Cub Fun day at South Park. The weather was so beautiful! Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, a small breeze...and the perfect temperatures...60's and gorgeous! What fun all the boys had! My husband and son....Ron is so proud to involved with his only son in scouting!
Ronnie is in the orange t-shirt pulling back a catapult...he got very close to his target...and had so much fun!

Ronnie and his best buddy, Aaron. These two have been friends since birth....it is so special that they get to experience scouting together!

I love this picture! Ronnie is shooting a slingshot...he is so good with this tool! He can hit almost any target!

There were BB guns, archery, marshmallow shooters, large and small catapults, slingshots, and they even made rubber-band shooters. (we call them 'gum-band' shooters in Pittsburgh!) They played games like frisbees, paper airplanes, scoops and rockets.

Some of the boys from pack 215...what fun they had! It was a great day for scouting!

So glad I was able to experience this with my son! Hope your day was bright and sunny! ~Sue~

Living History...Fall Field Trips

The 8th regiment of the Pennsylvania division of the Continental Army is mustered out! (or Aaron, Ronnie, Anna and Ben were mustered out!)

Living history! One thing that I've found to be a huge blessing in my 12 years of homeschooling is living history field trips...re-enactments, living history/hands on museums....they just make history relevant and come alive for my children! It's also fun to do it with friends!

~We've been doing a lot of living history field trips around here lately with some warm, lovely fall weather.

Ronnie (on the right) and his best buddy, Aaron, enjoyed being 'mustered out' at a Revolutionary War encampment re-enactment in South Park recently. We have loved going to the Oliver Miller Homestead for years on Sundays when they open the home and really show what life was like in the late 1700's in our South Western PA area. They offer so many hands-on learning experiences! We are blessed to have a very rich history in the Pittsburgh area!

My girls and I on a family field trip for the day to Meadowcroft Village. They always have a 'frontier' town to walk thru and observe, and authentic guides to teach and discuss life back in the 1800's in S.W. Pa....but on this particular day when our whole family was able to go, they had a native american re-enactment ...with a twist...2 villages of the Delaware tribe....one before the "white man" arrived (around 1650) and after around the year 1850...how they lived and the diffence the white man made to the native americans. It was a very cool day!

My blessings...my precious children, hiking thru the woods from the frontier town to the indian villages.

One of the very authentic Native American re-enactors...everyone was so knowledgable and so kind....they all took a lot of time with the children, answering questions and showing them hands-on learning.

Ronnie was enthralled by the gentleman in the background...he was cooking over a homemade grill..turtle in it's shell, rattlesnake, rabbit, squirrel as well as venison and pheasant and lots of fish and shell fish. He was also telling us and showing us all the edible plants, berries and uses for different herbs and plants.

Oh...a close up of the food and how they made their grill...they were also roasting meat under rocks IN the fire and soup in a pumpkin 'tureen' was bubbling away!

We all learned how the different homes were constructed and what life was like during the different seasons in them. For example, the home above was very warm in the wintertime, and we were told when a warrior would come home after hunting all day, he would get a rub-down of bear grease for warmth (as would the moms and babies and children as well) and a big bowl of bear stew. The native american homes in the 1800's used fabric for a lot of their tents and clothing that they would trade with the white man for furs and they had learned to weave fabric as well.

Ronnie loved this typical native american children's game of throwing sharpened sticks thru the different parts of the hoop.

Sara and Anna in the desks of the frontier school, writing on their slates and listening to the teacher.

Anna was just enthralled with this outdoor chapel. She was praising the Lord for the beautiful weather and singing worship songs as we walked the paths to and fro...she wanted her picture taken with the cross.

Loved this picture of my older daughters....so beautiful...and such best friends! Even though they've been on hundreds of field trips in the past 12 years, they were able to enjoy it and learn thru the fresh eyes of their younger siblings...spending the day as a family enjoying God's creation, His provision and His history!

Sorry about all the space between pictures...I can't seem to make these pictures move on this computer! Hopefully, soon...the computer situation will improve and it will be much easier to arrange!



Just a couple of weeks ago, along with our dear friends the Skiles, we traveled to down town Pittsburgh for a very cool field trip to the Fort Pitt museum and origional block house. This history is primarily the French and Indian War history of our area and the events leading into the Revolutionary war. We learned so much at the museum which just opened this year and is a very, very hands on place for the children.

Inside an authentic fur traders long cabin along the Ohio river.

The children were able to see maps of the area from the very early 1700's all the way thru the turn of the 19th century of Pittsburgh.

We were able to follow the progress of the war as we moved thru the museum and also how the native american's played a huge part in the Revolutionary way...working primarily for the british.



The museum sold very well produced dvd's to further learn about the wars and the role that Pittsburgh played. I was able to order them thru our library system and can't wait to watch them.

I have found, especially when my children are younger that historically accurate movies or documentaries really help bring to life everything that we are studying and reading together.

Below...the children outside the origional block house at the point where the 3 rivers meet. So hard to imagine that it is so well built and still standing with most of it's origional structure intact.

~Looking forward to some more fun, educational activities while the weather still holds warm and beautiful here in Western Pa! I love this time of year for getting in as many field trips and outdoor nature activities as we can before winter sets in.

Of course, then...I love 'hunkering down' with lots of warm blankets, hot tea or cocoa a fire in the fireplace and lots of reading aloud,(knitting for me) game playing and educational dvd watching....I have found that a good 'bulk' of our book learning takes place in the winter time in our family. And that 's ok...I know that learning occurs everyday in lots of diffent ways. Just wanted to share with you all our wonderful, hands-on fall field trips. May your day be exceptionally blessed! ~Sue~