Babies and things.

How was everyone holiday season? We took a break from school and as we enter into the new year will be starting up again. Victor's last day of  work was Friday and so we are into our annual unemployment period.  Our plan is to keep up a work like schedule and get some things done around the house as well as work on our health and exercise that has gone by the wayside lately.

Big news!! One of my best friends had her baby! He is such a cutie. I can't wait to meet him.

We got snow in November and the beginning of December.. This is what it looked like and it stuck around for awhile which is totally abnormal for here, particularly this time of year. Very cold too.

We had a special musical program at church, in which everyone participated singing songs of praise for the blessing of Christ's coming.. The kids all got up front for a story and sang "Away in a Manger". Many people joined in and dressed in clothing of the time, so there were quite a few shepherds, Wise men and angels around. 

Now as we have entered the New Year, we draw ever closer to the Second Coming of Christ. I pray that we may grow in our relationship with Him and be made ready to go home to be with Him when He comes.

Well, I guess that's all for now.

Odds and ends

Today, the kids and I went to the library, and came home with a book on origami. It's all Star Wars ships and things, but it's fun. 

I also brought home an exercise DVD. Hopefully, I will actually use it. I told Vic yesterday, that I am going to try to make it a point to get up in the mornings when my alarm goes off and get out the door for a walk. Maybe I'll just turn on the DVD, but at least there is a bit of motivation to get up and workout. 

We made waffles this week. Rice and chickpea. Awesome recipe given to me by a good friend who makes them all the time. He uses them instead of bread. 

I made several meals that were so yummy, and mostly I didn't follow any recipes, as usual. I was thinking that maybe I should put together a cookbook, though I doubt anyone would buy it. My creations are just throw together kinds, so most of them I would have to figure out what was in them and then how much. Otherwise, my 'recipes' would be more like outlines and probably would not be so good for someone who has to have specifics to end up with a good taste. Although it's fairly hard to ruin most recipes if you have taste bud and good sense. But then, I don't know, since most of mine turn out pretty good. 

Homemade shepherds pie with cabbage/beet salad.

Lentil stew, vege stir fry, and tomato-cucumber salad.

I am trying to come up with ways to earn money from home. This was one idea. I'm not clear on how to write an ebook though I've seen some people advertising and selling theirs all over FB and blogs. Another idea is essential oils which I have just in the last year started getting into. They really are great for all kinds of ailments and healing. 

Anyway, it would be nice to get some thoughts from other people on these and any other ideas you might have.

I guess that's all for now.

Til next time!

Moving out in faith, Part 5.

I was just reading over previous posts and realized I needed to update on our moving situation. My uncle sent me an email earlier this week also asking about it. So here we go.

 

The landlord managed to work a deal with the powers that be, and we no longer have to move. 

There, that's it. It's a lot shorter on paper than in my head. :)

Anyway, so we are back to keeping warm, and living paycheck to paycheck, and thinking about how we can get rid of some more things just to simplify. 

We still would like to move to a place more in the country, but can't afford it and since grandma doesn't have to move either, it doesn't make sense to spend too much time looking for places at the moment.

It has been extra cold, extra early and we have snow. It's been here about a week and a half and is really just one starting to melt. We got 6 inches or so last week, and the kids and I had fun doing some sledding and they have been having snowball fights. 

The low last week was 1 degree. Fahrenheit, at 5 am Sabbath morning. The first week of December. We don't usually see those kinds of temperatures until January/February, if at all. And the kind of snow we got, rare to get down this low. We get a dusting about once a year and it's gone in a day or so.

So, all in all, a very cold couple of weeks.

But beautiful, and a blessing from God as well. 

We move out in faith, trusting Him with whatever comes our way and praising Him for all the good and wonderful blessings that He sends. 

Yummy foods!

These are just some of the foods we've been enjoying the last month or so. Some of our favorites, anyway. 

Definitely an easy favorite. Rice noodle soup with veges.

This one was a delightful 'cheese' enchilada. I used a vegan 'cheesy' sauce recipe made
with potatoes and carrots that turned out really good. This
particular one got a bit scorched on top, but was crispy and with
salsa on top was so yummy, I did it again just because I liked it so much.

This was salad and mashed potatoes and gravy, I think we had some butternut squash as well. 

Desert for the above meal. Gluten free, dairy and egg free,
pumpkin cake with chocolate frosting.

Stir fried rice with veges, and a green smoothie.

Squash and leftover soup with okra with a bit of leftover gravy mixed in, Yum!

Leftover soup, squash and veges.  Leftover gravy in the other pot.

Enjoying our soup.

Sarah waiting for more soup.

Lentil and veges soup. This one I added vege burger and hickory
smoke flavoring and some southwest seasoning. So yummy!

Oat nut burgers, made with flax meal for a binder.

Leftover lentil soup with extra veges and broth added.
Just as good the second time!

Gluten free, dairy and egg free, chocolate pumpkin cake with
crushed walnuts on top. Yum!

Vege sushi rolls we made one day a couple months ago!

Sarah loves her sushi!

Everyone enjoying sushi!

Stir fried rice with tofu, beans and greens. One of our staples!

Hope you enjoyed seeing our food as much as we enjoyed eating it!

December Exercise

Rats. Stupid phone. I was sure I published a new blog post today and it's not here, so now I have to do it again.

Anyway, So, I haven't been getting up with my alarm at 5 but I have been getting in my exercise anyway.

There is a cold front coming in tomorrow and so Victor wanted to get some wood cut up and stacked on the porch in readiness. So we spent several hours yesterday sawing by hand logs into sizes that would fit our stove. All 4 of the trees in our yard are dead, so I went ahead and cut down a limb off of one of them and we cut most of that up as well.

Joshua cutting the limb up that we cut off.

Daddy sawing up some wood

Our pile of wood on the porch, ready for keeping us warm!

Boy, if we do this everyday, we'll sure be in shape! My arms are sore.

Today, I did some sit-ups and crunches, planks, and some squats. Then, after we did some schoolwork, the kids and I sawed a couple more limbs down and sawed up a few more logs.

Sarah playing and seeing us saw, haha!

The row of dead trees.

Trees that are dead.

Joshua sitting in the tree we just cut off of.

This is the other tree and limb that we cut off.

The boys sawing away at the limb we cut down.

The limb we cut off landed in the garden.

John climbing in the branches.

So, I am getting lots of exercise! That will help burn off all the good food I've been eating. I'll do a post on some of the yummy soups and things we've been eating, later. Maybe tonight, if I get a chance. With pictures.

And one of my next posts will be all fun pictures. So, if you want to see those, stay tuned to this channel!