Wednesday, July 4, 2012

A Project or Two...

Isn't this just a stunning group of fabric?



And cute Mini Mouse!!


My pattern of choice


My progress so far...

This is going to be very fun!!



Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

P.S.

I was so tired of being hot and sweaty I opted out on the fireworks this year. 

Jeff took the younger kids and the bigger kids went on their own.

I stayed home.

I was a fussy wimp.

Maybe in ten years I will look back and think "I should have gone..." but so far no regrets.

Summer is my least favorite season, you know.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

What Is Missing?

One sweet friend mentioned that she noticed I do not usually include recipes with my posts of the food I serve.

That is true.

It is usually a purposeful decision on my part.

I have a reason for that but like usual, I was tongue tied with my in-person response to my dear friend.

It got me thinking as to what I wanted to say if I was not so bumbly with my in-person communication skills.

So I thought I would post about it!

Here goes!

We all feed our families.

I happen to make for seventeen people.

Some for a family of two or three or eight.

I have found there is beauty in seeing beyond what is on the plate.

For instance, this first picture is of what I call Sir Joel's Macadamia Nut Cookies with chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies.

No real reason for the name other than it was cute.

Just your run of the mill chocolate chip cookie recipe but I decreased the brown sugar and increased the white sugar each by 1/4th of a cup and I use half shortening and half butter.

What makes this plate of cookies special?

I had this extra dough leftover from my Farmer's Market last week. Nolan was looking kind of sad one evening so I made this plate of cookies just for him. When I was not looking Lily stole two of the cookies off the plate, turned her back to me and ate them. I did not discipline her even though I should have. We just laughed and Nolan appreciated having his own plate of cookies.

See this is a beautiful and special plate of cookies.



The next picture is, as you see, very yummy looking (sarcasm? maybe).

It was our dinner Saturday evening.

Pizza bread with beans and fruit.

Special thing about this meal?

A friend came over this past Friday night with what seemed like hundreds of cans of fruit, veggies, soups, etc... Our job was to go through the cans and toss away anything expired and keep the good stuff. It took a lot of the night which in turn caused me to not have time to bake for the farmer's market. I, at the time, was less that cheerful about the task.

BUT

Looking at this plate now I do not just see some pizza sauce and cheese on a slab of bread with boring canned beans and fruit.

No,no.

I see a blessing.

It was a blessing hidden in a package I could not see at the time I was sorting the cans. It was God's kindness showered down on me and he graciously opened my eyes to understand what he had done for me.

For my family.

I see that and it is so very beautiful.

Another beautiful thing about this meal was that Jeff thanked me beyond what he would usually do for making the meal. This was a very late ten pm meal 'cause Jeff took most of the kids to watch the Waseca Braves baseball game across the street. He did not think he would be hungry but once he was home he realized he was very hungry. I do not even think he realized he was eating the canned food from the night before. He was just hungry.

Beautiful plate.



SO

In a nut shell, my blog is really not always about the food I might be fixing that day,the recipes I might use, or the nitty gritty 'how to' on a school project or sewing project or whatever I post about on a particular day.

There are some awesome blogs out there with great recipes, parenting advice, schooling tips, adoption issues advice, large family logistics...

I am not a gourmet cook, a great writer, wise in the Titus 2 ways, or even what I would call a great wife or mom

BUT

there is beauty in my life.

There is beauty in all of our lives.

Beauty does not have to be fancy.

It can be simple.

Beauty is in a burned cookie, a late supper, a before bed prayer, a flower in the garden, a freezie-pop, a sewing project, even a can of fruit.

Read that again this way:

The beauty is not always the burned cookie, the late supper, the before bed prayer, the flower in the garden, the freezie-pop, the sewing project, even the can of fruit.

The beauty is in those things.

I would want you to look at your own life, your own home, your own children, your own husband, your own way of doing things, and see all the beauty God has placed there for you to see.


That is more of what my blog is about.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

Monday, July 2, 2012

Chautauqua

This past Saturday was Waseca's 2012 Chautauqua event at Maplewood park.

I did not go but Jeff took all of the kids minus Elena who is on her way down to New Orleans for the Challenge 2012 conference (follow along with Challenge Blog 2012 ) and Grant who wanted to just chill at home and then workout at Snap Fitness. Those muscles do not grow big on their own...

The kids came home from Chautauqua with many craft projects that they made.

I know I only got a few on camera but here is a sampling!



Can someone say 'nap needed...'










Lily's post nap photo



Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

*sigh*

I did not just turn 44 today.

Ok,maybe I did...

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Showers of Kindness

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1: 6-8




Jeff does the putting the kids to bed thing most every night.

He enjoys it and is very good at it!

He is much more patient with the water/bathroom requests, squabbling, and random chit chat that goes on (and sometimes on and on and on...).

I am more like "you have two minutes to get in bed. Quick go up to bed, turn off your lights. If you stay in your beds monsters will not bother you. They only bother kids whose feet touch the floor. Love you. Good night. No water. You will not thirst to death before tomorrow...but if you do I promise the funeral will be nice...Just GO TO BED NOW PLEASE."

Umm...yes I do say the monster part...umm...and the funeral part...

I am not running for mother of the year or anything as you can tell.

So you see I am not the 'put the kids to bed' parent in this house.

But there are a few times here and there that Jeff is gone or busy that I do put the kids to bed.

For years I used to think I had to mimic Jeff's bedtime ways.

That would get me so stressed and frustrated and feeling like a loser for hating it.

Then I decided it is ok not to be like Jeff.

Jeff is beloved and special and fun but Jeff is Jeff and I am me.

So

I decided to figure out my own little routine.

It had to be something I felt in control of not controlled by the kids.

It had to be orderly.

I also could not do it with the 7 younger kids all huddling around me.

Stress.

I decided to split the group in half and do two shifts which lowers the stress greatly and actually takes less time than doing the whole group together.

I have been reading through a short book called Right Choices: Helping Kid's Live Gods Way, then doing a popcorn type prayer thing. I have recently decided to break down the book of Ephesians and read a part of a chapter each time I do bed time duty.

And I do a last chance call for bathroom use and water drinks to ward off any tears ten minutes after lights go out.

Ha and I will get up and leave the room and turn out the light quicker than a lightning strike if there is even the slightest bickering or fussing going on.

They do miss Jeff and his patient gentle ways at bedtime but I am glad they are not protesting my ways when Jeff is unavailable.

It works.

Which is my long winded explanation to the verse above!

Of course,I needed the perfect picture to demonstrate how God showered his kindness on us.

Lily fit the bill!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom

Saturday, June 30, 2012

A Lonely Saturday

Last Saturday at our local farmers market things were pretty quiet.

I did have some customers,though.

Thank you!!!






Ha Ha

As you see, I did not have to wrestle anyone down for a choice table spot!




I am thinking today will be a little more active.

I will let you know how it goes!

Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

Friday, June 29, 2012

A Freezie-Pop And World Peace?

Do you ever wonder what is would take to finally experience world peace?

I sometimes do.

Hmmm...

I was thinking...

Maybe...

Just maybe...

all it would take is a freezie-pop moment.

It could work.



It works here in Fryeville...




Warmly,A Dragonfrye Mom

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

A BIG Day Indeed!!!!

I can not believe this day came and now went!!!

My oldest!

My sweet Elena!!

She is 18!!!

and

She graduated!!!

She made it to the other end of not only our bumbling attempt at parenting

but

homeschooling as well!!!

WOW!!!

The years went way to fast!

Elena had her graduation/18th birthday celebration this past Sunday.

THANK YOU all who have supported us over the years and blessed us by helping us celebrate with Elena.

Here are a few picture peeks at Elena's fun party.

I totaly forgot to take an actual face shot of Elena but in this picture you can appreciate her pretty hair color.

I love it.

If you know Elena personaly you would agree that this look is SO her.














Elena I love you SO much!!

Congratulations!!!

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mom