A Nice Reminder

I was looking for some recipes in my files and came across this letter I wrote for my children. It mainly has to do with work, and the complaining thereof. Thought I would share it.

We are so busy over here that I'm afraid this might be one of just a few posts coming before the new year. The Lord is good.

To Live I Must...

If I want to be wise I must seek the Lord. Therefore I need to spend time in God’s Word, no one will do it for me.

If I want clean clothes they have to be washed, therefore when laundry is piling up I must wash it and put it away.

If I want to eat I must be able to prepare food, therefore when needed, I will prepare it.

If I don’t want to be sick from not cleaning, I must clean. Let’s face it, things become unsanitary and dirty with my help.

If I want to further my head knowledge I must study and do my school; if I decide not to study, no one will do it for me and my head will stay empty.

If I want to live in harmony with my family I must be part of their team, I must like it because that is where I was put. Complaining about the size of the family is really a terrible waste of time, and no one wants to hear about how I have rights to anything. I will not let my circumstances rule my joy.

If I want to be heard, I must listen.

As for all other work…there are 394 verses in the bible about work. Most of them are about working the ground. I think that covers anything required of you outside when needed.

We all know what is required of us. We may need to occasionally remind you, but you are expected to already know all of the above.

If you have any questions about your appointed place feel free to contact us. We are always happy to listen, however, your schedule for living will always stay the same.

Love, Dad and Mom

Ephesians 6:1

Changes Once Again...

Hello to all!

I am once again posting an update on our family as God has suddenly opened a door for us. Not before I announce the winners for the November magazine giveaway though! The entries this month were a little slim, but winning ladies are~

Michelle, Danielle and Anne

Congratulations ladies! As I said, this is also a post about what's going on with our family. We are moving again, but we are moving back home to Colorado. This is not a sad turn of events at all, but joyful for us. This has been such a blessed season of learning for our whole family and we are truly thankful for all that God has shown us during this time. We knew that our stay in Michigan was going to be short, but little did we realize how short that was! The changes God has brought within in our family and the doors only HE could have opened so quickly is nothing short of amazing.

This decision came about in less than two days this past week. As I write, the moving truck is sitting in the driveway and we have just about broken a record packing the house! Our life has been so very busy, hectic on a daily basis rather, but we are praying for peace while once again moving on. The internet has not been a priority of late, but we will be back on the blog on the other end as soon as we can =)

Prayers are greatly coveted for our family! Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

*I am putting the magazine giveaways on a hold until we are moved and settled back in to our home =) So if you wish to enter, be patient, they will be back again!

Family Times..

It took me a little longer than I thought to post pictures, we are just not computer people these days. But here are a few pictures from what we've been up to..

I found a couple pictures taken right before we left Colorado.. the boys getting ready to go to their Civil Air Patrol meeting. Such handsome young gents they are.

A project that didn't make it into the summer issue, I just thought he was cute

One of the huge zuchinni we picked from our garden before we left, and this was a small one!

A few from our drive here..

I drove the utility vehicle... =D This is what we refer to as a 'sweet ride'.

Sanni's drivin'...

Evie seconded that motion...

Thinking about a run in the sprinklers..

Grand Traverse Bay. Taken while driving, just a smooch blurry.. Pretty water though :)

The cake I made for Zoe's birthday

One of our classic family pictures with us staring into the sun with the 30 mph wind behind us.

We drove up to Northport a couple weeks ago to see Lake Michigan, so beautiful! We have honestly not seen water like this in years.

The only picture of dear Mother I could find after she deleted them all. She was quite slick about deleting them too ;) I look like I'm having trouble standing up.. must be that wind.

It's usually the babies who close their eyes for pictures..

Our trip to the apple farm last weekend. We bought some fresh doughnuts and cider from the bakery there, yummy! It was so cold and windy we didn't hang out too long, it was worth it for the treats though :)

School days...

Aww...

The pretty trees in front of the house..

CSSSHHHEEEESSSEE!! What a darlin' baby she is..

We are enjoying our fall here, and are currently looking out at something we're not quite used to. A very rainy day, and a very rainy week for that matter! Everyone is rather antzy, we would honestly rather be outside! Inside projects are keeping us busy as well though. The house we are staying in is proving to be very leaky, and with colder weather coming, we are busy with finding flannel to make rag quilts for beds. So between sewing and school everyday, we are well occupied!

I'm trying to get on the computer more often to blog and what not, and have some changes I hope to be able to make on here before the end of the month. Have to organize my ideas first! In the meantime, the rest of my afternoon is calling.. hope everyone is having a blessed week in their homes!

~*~Jessica~*~

October Giveaway Post

All entry comments for the October giveaway (for newcomers, the rule page is here =) ) go to this post everyone! Happy Fall!

Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

September Giveaway Winners!

Hello all!

My my.. the giveaways seem to come around so fast. And yes, I know it's the 9th, call me dopey for missing the giveaway on the 1st. There is something I don't look at very often and it's called a calender. I shall strive to hit the nail on the head for October's giveaway. =)

I hate that we haven't been blogging, but God has brought many changes over the last few months, and some of them have been very difficult. The limited time we have spent on the computer has rather been a blessing though. We've only had the tank of a desktop in the back room to check email and do simple tasks. I'm not sorry to say that Mother and I have enjoyed the break immensely!

We are just now at the point of getting comfortable in our new abode and trying to get back into the swing of 'life'. There have been struggles and hoops to go through, but God is faithful and He has given us peace and strength to press on. Our family has also had some happy changes, but that is a tale to be told later... :)

The weather is getting colder and the leaves are changing, which we are all enjoying! I will put pictures in a separate post, but the blog winners for this month need to be announced first!

So, the three winners for September are...

Vivianna, Earwen (Mirriam), Rose

Congratulations ladies! Sorry *again* for the delay in the announcement, but on a good note, it gave everyone a little more time to enter :)

Many blessings to you! Today is grocery day, so I shall have to make this the end of posting for now. Now that I have my laptop back (and my photoshop) you can be sure that pictures will be on the blog by this weekend!

~*~Jessica~*~

September Giveaway Post!

The September Giveaway is now open! Post your entering comments here on this post! Rules and giveaway instructions are found here.

Have a very blessed Fall season everyone!

August Giveaway Winners

I must apologize about the very long delay in announcing the giveaway winners! We have been extremely busy with our family and settling in, so busy that I completely forgot about the giveaway until 5:00 this morning when I actually stopped to look at the date. There has been so much to deal with and change that we are a little behind with our usual routine.

But, I did select three winners for the Summer '09 issue! The winners are~

Annette, Laura @ Goose Hill Farm, and JenT

Congratulations ladies!

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In the meantime, a little update on our family : ) Sadly, I have no pictures as of yet. It seems that every time we go somewhere we forget the camera! So pictures shall have to wait. We are enjoying the town immensely, there's so much to do and so far we have only been site seeing (without the camera). Life is settled in enough that we can return to school and business this week. We are a little behind, so again, posting on the blog shall be limited for a time. We have had some changes in the season our family is in and it seems we shall be entering a new one. But that will be announced later this year. For now, we have the magazine to finish up for the Holiday's!

Today there are orders to get out, so I must return to work. I can say that the upcoming changes in business and family are going to open up a lot more time to blog again. Lots of things are going to be changing in fact, and we are very excited about it! So as soon as things are more in place, you shall see us on here again.

Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

Where'd We Go?

Hello everyone!

I never did get a chance to update the blog before we left, so I'm now writing from our new abode in Michigan. It was quite a long haul to clean out our house, pack up our junk and get three loaded vehicles out here, but we survived!

We are currently settling into the house and getting everything set up. We are renting a house for right now, and happily, a house with some land for the kids to play and roam on. They are having a blast with all of the space they now have, and are discovering lots of fun stuff! Including fruit trees which Mother and I are planning on utilizing here in a couple weeks :) This really is a beautiful area, and the Grand Traverse bay is just a couple minutes from our house. There are tons and tons of trees, we can't wait for the Fall colors to show up!

The summer issue showed up two days before we left and amazingly enough, we got them all sent out! We only have a little time here to finish getting our things in order and still have to change a lot of things around, so we might be absent for another couple weeks while we get situated. Plus, we have the Holiday issue to get rolling out the door!

Before I close, I edited the Blog Giveaway for this month (finally!) and instead of giving just two issues, I changed it to three. I received an email from a lady who was having trouble finding the link to the comments post, sorry about that! I moved the giveaway post link back to the very top of the left sidebar! I haven't had a chance to check email for over a week, and we just got our internet back yesterday. I still haven't gone through my email box, so if anyone else emailed me, I will get back to you soon!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers for our family, we will be back on in a few days, and hopefully with some pictures! Many blessings, ~*~Jessica~*~

$7 for 7 Days Sale on Seasons!

Our $7 for 7 days sale is tomorrow though midnight! This is a great deal on our back issues!
www.joyoushome.com under Seasons at Home Magazine!

Summer 2009, Seasons At Home

I thought I would post this..

Like I said.. I think we managed to do some good 'ol fun stuff! The girl's tea was absolutely lovely and we now have a brand new bookshelf sitting in our living room. Not to mention all of the other goodies we did!

Have a blessed evening, ~*~Jessica~*~

Giveaway Winners and August Giveaway!

Now announcing the winners off the July Seasons At Home Magazine giveaway!

And the winners are..

Amy O'Quinn and Elley at Wind Hollow Farms!

Congratulations ladies!

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This also marks the start of the August giveaway, so post your comments here to enter for this month's contest. We are having a little change in the giveaway prize. Starting this month, we are giving away two single issues of the current magazine away!

So, if you enter for this month, you are entering to win a Summer 2009 issue of Seasons At Home Magazine!

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The Summer issue is officially at the printers and we can't wait to get it! Even though God has brought many unexpected changes for our family, we were able to put together a fun issue. In fact, I think this issue is going to be my new favorite! We think so anyway, and we hope our readers like it too ;)

We may make our plans, but God sometimes brings about a change that is better for us. We had announced earlier this month that God seemed to be leading us to the New England area. All doors were closed leading there and God has taken us to Michigan. In about two weeks, we are going to be moving to Traverse City, Michigan! It will be a big change for our family, and we are excited about the doors God has opened for us. We have a busy Fall to look forward to, and I'm sure lots of snow this winter!

In between packing the house and all of the other busy things we have going on, we shall try to get in a few more blog posts before we leave. Or I shall anyway!

Many blessings! ~*~Jessica~*~

Do the Next Thing

I think I'm out of sorts this morning. I have so much to do that I'm weighed down and that only slows me down. I was reminded of Elisabeth Elliot's devotion to simply do the next thing. She quoted an old Saxon poem in the newsletter, so I went on a hunt and found it. Many have probably heard it but we are going to go over it again.

I thought I'd throw a rope of encouragement out - Let's all "Doe the Next Thing" (Original spelling)

From an old English parsonage, down by the sea, there came in the twilight, a message to me; Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven, hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven. And on through the hours the quiet words ring, like a low inspiration -do the next thing.

Many a questioning, many a fear, many a doubt, hath its quieting here. Moment by moment, let down from heaven, time, opportunity, guidance, are given. Fear not tomorrows, child of the King, Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately; Do it with prayer; Do it reliantly, casting all care; Do it with reverence, tracing His Hand, Who placed it before thee with earnest command; Stayed on Omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing, leave all resultings, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,(working or suffering) be thy demeanor. In His dear presence,the rest of His calm, the light of His countenance Be thy psalm. Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing, then, as He beckons thee, do the next thing.

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To the day given, Theresa

Anne of Green Gables anyone?

Last year in Seasons at Home Magazine, spring 2008, we did an "Anne of Green Gables Tea". If you had this tea with your daughters from our issue, and took pictures, and wouldn't mind them going into print, could you email us?
Thank you friends!
Blessings, Theresa

July Giveaway Post

*(Whispering)* I forgot to do something the other day after I announced the winners of the last giveaway.. I forgot to put up the next post for JULY!

So here it is! If you would like to a enter our Seasons At Home Magazine giveaway this month, post your comments on this post!

View giveaway rules and instructions here

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Update: We are still busily ensconced in front of projects, behind projects, in the midst of projects and designing the Summer '09 issue!

We are also preparing for another change on the home front.. moving! Yes, we are going to be relocating very soon after the publication of this issue. It seems God is leading us to New England, possibly to the southern Maine or New Hampshire area. Vermont is also still a possibility. My Dad is flying out at the end of the month for job interviews, so we will hopefully have all of the details worked out by then. I'm sure you can imagine how busy we are over here!

Prayers would be greatly appreciated for the coming changes for our family.. :)

Many blessings on your weekend! ~*~Jessica~*~

Giveaway Announcement and Update!

I hope everyone has been as busy as us as to not notice that we are late announcing the Seasons At Home subscription giveaway! We have not forgotten, we just ran late with all of the hub-bub around our house!

~*~ And so, the winners for the June giveaway are ~*~

Misty at Little Home in the Woods and Emma!

Both ladies are receiving full subscriptions to Seasons At Home Magazine! Congratulations ladies!

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Wow! We have have needed a post here! In our last post we were getting ready for the CHEC Homeschool Convention. That event passed over a week ago. Since then we have been working like bees to get the summer issue of the magazine done! I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen working away at making food and other things, and have a similar day planned for today. But we are very excited to have this issue done!

While we are in the midst of getting this issue wrapped up, our posting shall continue to be limited, but I do have some recipes I would like to pop on here. Besides that, God is changing things on our homefront, and I'm sure we will have a post announcing future changes and blessings!

I thought I would post a few pictures from the convention : ) Unfortunately, we didn't have very many. The first day we didn't even have the camera because it got locked in the car, along with our credit card machine. Needless to say, day one we ran the stone-age "cash only" booth! The rest of the time, we were either busy with people or not paying attention to the fact that no one was taking pictures.

Our lovely banner! I was very happy with how well it turned out =) That was a hard one to design.

Mother and I. From the looks on our faces.. what do you think the caption should be on this picture? :) I have one ~ Jess: "So, you think we look like we know what we're doing?"

On the second day of the conference, I switched out with Dad and took the kids back home and then brought them back to come in and see the booth. Which I don't think could have been frilled up much more than what we had it! We had the fluffiest booth in the building..

John Jr. (I call him Wally)

We had the pleasure of meeting the McDonald family who were in a booth behind us! It was so nice to meet Miss Tiffany.. I can only wish that we had gotten a better picture. Vain questions you ask yourself when looking at yourself in a picture: What happened to my hair?.. Why does that shirt make me look fat? Ah.. things we can laugh about later.

A very sweet picture of Madison and Abigail McDonald :) Little Abigail wandered over to our table and she and Madi got to talking. They played together the entire day!

Working in the kitchen making food for the magazine :)

One of the absolutely sweet and adorable dresses Mother made for the girl's tea for the magazine! (Evie is modeling) She's making hats to match as we speak :)

That is all there is for this moment! Have a very blessed Independence Day everyone.. and many blessings ~*~Jessica~*~

Getting Ready..

We haven't been blogging very faithfully these past two weeks, so I thought I would post a little update on what we have been doing. Our main activity has been getting ready for the CHEC Homeschool Convention in Denver on Thursday! We are very excited as this is our first year doing a booth for our business and magazine. Mom and I have been running about, making up all of the "homey" goodies we want to decorate the booth with, plus all of the other products we are taking with us. Needless to say, it's going to be one packed booth! I keep finding things we can take with us..

Here's a couple of things we have been working on this week~

We discovered that nice displays of any kind can be wickedly expensive. Amen Dad knows how to make our own! This is our cookie stamp display for the table. He made a couple of others for our magazines and cd's.

We are also taking along the majority of our ribbon embroidery goods. I made up two little designs to sell with the ribbon. I had all of the instructions and how-to pictures printed out on nice little cards. I thought they came out rather pretty :)

And when preparing for the convention hasn't kept us busy, the weather has. We've had tornadoes and storms almost everyday, nothing too serious, but they have provided some wonderful picture taking opportunities. Not to mention all of the rain has been wonderful! Our garden is enjoying it immensely

Two tornadoes came down yesterday behind our house, a good distance off, but close enough to see. Both stayed on the ground for about an hour, but I don't think either did any damage.

Now I need to hop off here and get to the rest of my duties for the day! I might have a chance to get back on later to finish my homemade ice cream post :)

Have a very blessed day everyone! ~*~Jessica~*~

Delight Yourselves in The Lord!

This was today's Elisabeth Elliot newsletter and I thought I would share it. I found it very encouraging..

A Safeguard for the Soul

"Souls are vulnerable things. They need safeguards. It was when Paul was in prison that this idea came to him. He had just been writing to the Philippians about the benefits that accrued because of his own sufferings and the possible death he might die. He told them of Epaphroditus' illness and anxiety, and finished with "In conclusion, my brothers, delight yourselves in the Lord!...You will find it a great safeguard to your souls" (Phil 3:1 JBP).

It would be very easy to allow depression and anxiety to overcome us when we look at the dismal circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves. Who had better reason than Paul for depression? ("Oh well, but he was Saint Paul!" we counter.) He had learned by practice how to apply the soul's safeguard, which is not mere enjoyment. It is delight. This is a command and therefore an act of will, and it is done in the Lord. No circumstance is so dismal as to prevent obedience to the command. No trouble can blast that safeguard. Do it. Do it by faith. Delight yourself in the Lord. Maybe you will have to get out of bed, get up from your chair, go outdoors and walk, sing a song out loud, bake a pie for somebody, or mow the lawn as an offering of praise. You can do something which will help you to obey that command. It is amazing how strongly what we do affects how we feel."

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Let's choose JOY!!

Many blessings on your day! ~*~Jessica~*~

Vanilla Bean Frappuccinos

A dear friend and I have been talking about Starbucks, and generally how we can't afford it. It is really true. Even if you can afford $4.00 for a cup of bean water and foamy milk, going too often is a rotten waste of money! This is of course coming from a Starbucks guru (we love Starbucks). I'm a shaken tea addict.

So she started digging around for some good coffee recipes and sent them to me to mess around with. This afternoon, Mom and I decided that we needed a little perk, so I dug out the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino recipe :)

Vanilla Bean Frappuccino

I only changed a couple of things in the recipe. I decreased the amount of sugar, added more ice cream and added vanilla extract too. This is pretty basic, throw the following ingredients into the blender and turn it on.

2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2-1 cup strong brewed coffee, chilled
4 small scoops vanilla ice cream
3/4 cup ice cubes

It came out quite yummy! I have been craving something with chocolate today, so I stirred in a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder into mine, and some chocolate chips. Just like a Java Chip Frappuccino.. :)

Thanks Michelle!