Merry Christmas!

Hark, how all the welkin rings,
"Glory to the King of kings;
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
universal nature say,
"Christ the Lord is born today!"

Christ, by highest Heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a Virgin's womb!

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
hail the incarnate Deity!
pleased as man with men to appear,
Jesus, our Emmanuel here!

Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die;
born to raise the sons of earth;
born to give them second birth.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.

Now display thy saving power,
ruined nature now restore;
now in mystic union join
thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Adam's likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.

Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man:
O, to all thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Charles Wesley 1739

This is my all time favorite Christmas Carol, in its original form. Wesley envisioned it sung to the tune of his Easter hymn "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", and the words and music we sing today were adaptions added later, by others. Of course I love the familiar hymn, but the original poem and music certainly have power all their own.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Look at all fifteen pages, to see if you can afford your true love's Christmas presents.

Never Say No to Rutabagas

No, I'm not kidding. I'm wallowing in rutabaga. My house smells like rutabaga, and my children are scamming bites as I dump steaming pan after pan into the strainer. And I asked myself (foolishly), when friends brought us a pile of them, as big as my head, if I would actually use them. Of course I'll use them. Plus the pounds of free venison, enormous bag of giant homegrown onions, and the four big pumpkins we inherited from a harvest party. And true, it's a lot of work to process all this fall garden produce, but the result is rewarding, and helps with the grocery bill as well.

That brings me to the topic on my mind today. Many people marvel, comment, ask: "I don't know how you do it!" Or, "How do you do it?!" Some of those folks have an inkling of how much creativity is required. Those would be the ones privy to our financial situation. The rest are just way too impressed by a woman that does an awful lot of housework. When I ponder our financial situation, I think of the scene in "Aladdin" where the Genie speaks of what it is to be a genie. He says something like:

"PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER... itty-bitty living space."

Which pretty much reminds me of our life. Phenomenal opportunities to serve God...itty-bitty, well, pretty much everything. House, money, etc. We actually delayed in looking into adoption because we felt that we would never be approved based on our lack of material resources. But we are nothing, if not creative. Plus we have no problem begging, when absolutely necessary.
So my point is this, having a large "interesting" family is indeed a lot of work, and is very costly. When I say costly, I mean that one way or another you will have to figure out a way to pay. You may pay in time, hard work, and creativity...but you will pay. And if you are called to the privilege of serving in ministry, ditto. So here are a few of my commandments for "doing" it. There may or may not be ten, but you can feel free to add some of your own.

1. Never say no to rutbagas...which is to say, never say no to free food. If it is weird food, consider it an opportunity for a culinary adventure. If it is labor intensive food, do the work. If it is junk food, feed it to the kids quickly to get it out of the house, and consider how rarely they enjoy these treats.
2. Never say no to free anything. If someone offers a bag of clothes, take it. If someone gives you a box of books, take it. Even if it is mostly junk, or the wrong size, you will often find one perfect item deep in the pile.
3. Always get rid of the rest. Don't keep anything that is not in great shape and is not absolutely useful.
4. Sell anything that is salable. Donate anything else. I sell on Ebay, and I have a pretty good idea what will sell. I put the rest on our local chapter of Freecycle, and let someone else burn the gas to collect the stuff. I have never had an item remain unclaimed.
5. Shop for bargains...and know one when you see it. I shop at Salvation Army, the occasional yard sale, clearance racks, and Ebay. Also look for sales at quality places like LLBean, where I get deep discounts plus free shipping with my card. Also try to never buy when you need the item, or you will pay top dollar. Instead try and predict what you will need, and stock up at sales.
6. Never, never use credit if you have the cash. I said never. If you must use credit, ask yourself if the item is necessary. If you are starving, and the item is food...it is necessary.
7. Live free of clutter. Routinely and deeply purge your home and other spaces. You will rarely, if ever be sorry you let something go. OK Queen B! I know there was that Darth Mal toy that Hippie Boy is still holding against me. But you will make your life easier and more serene by stripping down to basics.
8. Do laundry without ceasing. If you stop for a day, you will be buried under the pile. Never ever get sick enough that you cannot crawl to the laundry room.
9. Get enough rest. Don't apologize for it, just do it. Don't make excuses, just go lay down. Your children will not perish if you send them to their beds early because you are tired, or let (make) them sleep longer in the morning. Their brains will not turn to mush if you let them watch "The Beverly Hillbillies" while you nap. But yours will, if you don't.
10. Spend your time and resources on the things you really love...even if it isn't practical or frugal. I have a bazillion pets, and they cost a fortune and are a load of extra work. My children dance, which is crazy expensive and eats a lot of our time. I like Dunkin Donuts coffee, and I buy at least one a week. My girls are in love with Hanna Andersson clothes, and they are pretty pricey. (***Remind me if I forget, because I have a whole post perking in my brain on that topic.)

So there you go. An even ten. I may add more. Feel free to check back, or share your own inspirations.

We're Back...

Adoption Day

We're back home all in one piece. The trip was long, and fun, and arduous, and absolutely wonderful. At the end of the day, I have to say, we accomplished everything we set out to and more. We are now into the throes of Christmas dance recital and holiday festivities, so I promise, that when I come up for air, I will write more.

Pray For Us

If you are the praying sort, and you think of us in the next few weeks, here is the itinerary, so you can pray for us along the way.

• Saturday, November 15: We roll at the crack of dawn.

• Sunday, November 16: We arrive at our destination.

• Monday, November 17: Baby LaLa goes for extensive testing at a FASD testing and treatment facility.

• Tuesday, November 18: We finalize the adoptions of Boo and 'Tater.

• Wednesday, November 19 through Sunday, November 23: Family Camping Vacation

• Monday, November 24: We roll for our home state.

• Tuesday, November 25: We arrive at the home of Queen B and her growing clan, where we stay for a visit and the celebration of Thanksgiving.

• Friday, November 28: We roll for home.

It's a long trip, with many exciting stops along the way. The girls will have the chance to reconnect with some folks in their home state, and hopefully we will have a productive time of testing, and experience much closure as well. So far, we have managed to keep the whole thing under wraps, so the children will find out in the morning, when we wake them up to get ready to go. Please pray for traveling mercies and good health...both physical and mental. Pray for these old folks, sleeping on the ground for nearly two weeks. Pray that this will be an opportunity to grow and work together as a family. Also pray for Libby Lou and Tink, as they will be taking on the huge responsiblity of caring for our home and many animals while we are away. We'll be back with plenty of stories and a few pictures too. Blessings!

Homeschool

As several of you have asked for progress on our homeschool endeavor, here goes. If today were any indication, I might just go find a bridge to fling myself off. The children are fractious and argumentative. But in all, they have been working hard, and I actually think they are due for a break. Plus there's the time change. I generally find that about a week after the time change, everyone (including myself) falls apart. Mentally and physically. It comes from waking that hour earlier, because our internal time clock tells us to, but staying up an hour later, because the clock on the wall tells us to. Another week will remedy that, and we will feel normal again...as normal as any of us get anyhow.

Homeschool goes very well actually. It's Teaching Textbooks for Math, for everyone, and they are all moving along at a good clip and scoring well. They have a routine of switching off books and computer time, so that while one is doing Math, another is reading and doing their handwriting. I am focusing on smaller bites of work, but with the expectation of perfect execution. It is amazing how well they have responded. For the rest, we are using a literature based unit study, based in the Narnia series. The children LOVE this, and cheerfully do their history and science projects. Except today. Today there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth, because they just CAN'T (whine here) figure out how to do it. So I gently reminded them of their competence, and told them this was about what they wanted to do, as opposed to what they could do...and I will accept none of it. The whining I mean.

So here is the progress report. All are reading in every spare moment. All have beautiful cursive handwriting. All are scoring well in Math. All are capable of organizing a thought, and commiting it to paper, though not necessarily spelling it well. All are generally obedient, and respond with, "Yes Mom." All do their chores with a minimum of complaining. All are in good physical health, enjoying lots of outdoor time and dancing. Four of five are becoming very good shots.

I should be counting my blessings, and not whining about the occasional off day.

Voting

Yesterday I went to vote, and although I am constantly aware that I live on dirt road in the sticks, there are few experiences that cement it more than voting. First we loaded up the children, and drove down the mountain to the municipal building. I remember the first time we went to vote there, I truly did not believe my husband. I thought it was a joke. It's a metal building with garage doors, and piles of gravel along the edges of the muddy parking lot. When you enter, the atmosphere is that of a church supper. Cheerful middle aged women sit at a folding table. They don't have to ask most voters their name. There is only one book to look in. In the corner is another table, laden with casseroles and jello mold. In case you get hungry while you wait...though you never have to wait because it's always pretty quiet. Another cheerful lady handed me my ballot. It was a piece of paper tucked into a privacy folder. I walked into the voting booth, an ancient structure of stained plywood. I pulled the ruffled curtain closed. The pen rolled off the rickety shelf onto the floor, and I grinned at the ladies as I popped out of my allotted space to retrieve it. When I was finished, I put my ballot into the slot on a locked metal box, waved goodbye, and headed back up the mountain.

I am concerned today, that our new President does not value the voters that rolled down muddy country roads to vote. I worry that he does not understand things like the importance of casseroles and jello mold.