Cross Stitch Bookmark Birdhouse Chart

PDF File

This is my project today.  If I have figured out the PDF link correctly, you can access it too!

Cross stitching is something I used to do a lot of, and thankfully kept all of my patterns and thread because now our daughter really enjoys it and it is something that we enjoy doing together in front of the warm fire.  

I love creating these memories with her and the in depth conversations we have while we stitch away...

PRICELESS

Find this pattern and many others on my Needlework ~ Cross Stitch and Embroidery board.

Christmas Baking Ideas

These are some of the cutest and easiest goodies to make for Christmas.  We simply dip pretzels into some almond bark and the children and grandchildren LOVE to decorate them in any way they choose.  Honestly, these are much easier to do and clean up than sugar cookies.  Usually when we get half way done with sugar cookies, I am left to finish decorating and clean up and by then, I'm exhausted!

Here are some other GREAT ideas for you that I will be doing this year....

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Homemaker's Organizer Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.  

Congratulations to Anne Kimball at Life on the Funny Farm, 

chosen from Random.org, for winning this incredible Homemaker's Organizer!

Thank you for all of your entries!  I had the most enjoyable time visiting everyone's websites!  

Be sure to click on the link below to purchase your own copy!

Dinner Tonight

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Our family really enjoys Meatloaf, especially since we started having our own grass fed beef waiting patiently to be used in our freezer.  My recipe is my Mother's own famous recipe with lots of good spices, sauces and a bit of oatmeal, and bran in it.  It is delicious, but takes quite a bit of time to prepare.  

Today, on Pinterest of course, I came across this easy sounding Meatloaf recipe that I decided to try.  You can find it and many other delicious recipes on my Yummy Recipes board.

The recipe calls for:

1 pound of ground meat (beef or turkey)

1 egg

1 box of Stovetop Stuffing

1 cup water

Mix it all together and bake in a bread loaf pan at 350 for 45 minutes.

That amount might feed a smaller family, but we like having Meatloaf sandwiches from the leftovers so I doubled the recipe using:

2 pounds of grass fed, hormone and antibiotic free, Highland Beef

2 free range, home grown chicken egg 

(probably from a Barred Rock hen, the one that likes to eat all of my Kale)

2 boxes of incredibly processed Stove Top Chicken made with Whole Wheat

2 cups of raw milk

I used the whole wheat to make myself feel better about using processed boxes of stuffing with so much other excellent home grown and raised ingredients.

When it's just about done baking, I'll smother it with our homemade Amish Tomato Ketchup from our homegrown tomatoes......YUM!!

To finish the table, we'll have some canned peaches, spiced applesauce and hopefully a small salad from the lettuce still growing in the greenhouse!

I promise, if the recipe isn't any good, I'll be sure to add on to this post to let you know, but since we love stuffing, I'm pretty sure we will enjoy it.

~ Much later.....this recipe is delicious.  Our daughter said it was the best Meatloaf she had ever tasted!  I will tell you that you can clearly taste the stuffing in this meatloaf, so if you do not care for stuffing, I wouldn't advise making it.  If you love stuffing the way we do, you have GOT to try this!!

Deciding to be Cheerful

Are you naturally cheerful?  

Does being cheerful come hard for you?  

How do you keep a cheerful heart?

Generally, I am cheerful.  All the time?  No.  Sometimes I don't want to be cheerful.  That doesn't mean that I want to be gloomy on purpose, sometimes I need cheering up.  It is a rare occasion, but it happens.  

What I find, when I'm not cheerful, is that my home is not cheerful.  My family gets moody and the mole hill turns into a mountain.  Does it need to?  No.

When I recognize that I am being a half full glass type of person, I have to make the decision in my mind to stop being such a puddle glum (as my Mom would say).  

The benefit of age, is that I've learned from experience that if we implement what scripture says in our lives, it truly works.

For me it took age, for others who learn at a young age, they are blessed. 

We cannot live by our emotions.  We must resolve in our mind to do what is right and to choose joy, choose happiness, choose to love our husbands, choose peace, choose wisdom, choose to walk the narrow path, embrace being set apart, choose to teach these truths to our children and choose to love God with all of our heart, with all our soul, with all our MIND and with all our strength.  

Today I choose to be cheery.  Today I choose to be joyful that our little calf that struggled through the night is taking her bottles eagerly.  Today I choose peace even though my home is not as clean as I'd like it to be since we've been calf sitting for over a week.  Today I choose to love God with all my heart knowing he will not allow us to go hungry even though the tomatoes need to be canned and there isn't enough time in the day for me to do everything that needs to be done.  

I truly understand that God is teaching me through this, giving me the strength I need for today so I choose to be cheerful that He loves me enough to walk through today with me, holding my hand, guiding my heart and filling my heart with peace for whatever today holds.

Learning As We Go....

It has been quite awhile since I've posted and for that I apologize.  At times life gets so busy, I can barely remember what my name is.  Some of you may know that I have another blog called Ozark Mountain Family Homestead, and others of you may not.  My initial purpose for this was to keep the homesteading topics for those truly interested in them separate from the topics that Christian women are concerned with.  I was concerned that some women would shy away from the homesteading aspects.  That concern is valid, however, it is who I am and it is what my journey is about which is what this blog is supposed to give you a picture of.  So in the future, I intend to post about all aspects of our life right here and I hope you will be encouraged by it.

This past month has revolved around calving, hatching eggs, fiddle festivals and through all of this, how to glorify God in our every day thoughts and actions.  

Fun Recipe Site

It seems like forever that I have always referred to Allrecipes.com when I'm searching online for a recipe.  It is a great site and I would highly recommend it, however, I have discovered a new site that I'm really excited about.  It is Simply Recipes!  Many of you may know this site well and I may be really behind and have some catching up to do, but that's ok!  I'm excited about sharing it with others who haven't heard about it yet.

So I stumbled across this recipe for Tomato Pie.  It looked really yummy. I followed the link to it's source.  Bingo!  I couldn't believe how user friendly it is.  It is extremely easy to save the recipes I want into a recipe box, same as Allrecipes, but the added bonus is that I can create a grocery list of items that I need from the recipe too.  Not only that, but it invites you to email an invitation to others so they can view your grocery list.  !!!!!   No more writing down my grocery list and losing it, or leaving it at home.  And the added bonus is that my husband can simply log on to it as he's walking through the store, picking up what we need before coming home.  

AND!

You also can create your own meal planner with the recipes and upload your own recipes!  

So lets review:

Delicious Recipes

Personal Recipe Box

Grocery List

Meal Planner

It also provides you with coupons and lets you mark your favorite local market.  There are also different capabilities that I won't use, but could be helpful to others like using a smartphone to scan the labels of what's in your pantry so that you can keep track of what you have and when you need more.  That is way too technical for me though.  A sharable online grocery list with my husband is about as high tech as I get at the moment.  

And just in case you are wondering if I am being financially compensated in any way for this post, let me assure you that I am not.  I felt this site it truly a help regarding functionality in both the kitchen and shopping.  I hope you are blessed by it!

Modesty Covenant

Even though my closets have been sorted through for a few years now, as I go through totes that have been packed away for many years, I find clothing items that shock me.  It's not that I don't remember the way I used to dress, it's seeing it now in my current reality that saddens me.  I don't dare "donate" them to anyone because I can't stand the thought of contributing that type of clothing to mislead someone else.  

So ... what do I do with these things?  I throw them in the burn pile.  I really enjoy getting rid of those things when I come across them.  Surely there aren't too many more lurking away in some hidden corner of a tote.  One of these days, all of the old reminders will be history!

The idea of modesty and femininity appears different to many individuals.  God leads us through this journey.  It is clearly a sanctification process that takes time.  Some women may one day get up to simply throw out everything they think they should get rid of.  For me, it took time.  I couldn't afford to go buy new skirts, new shirts etc.  I didn't even know what I felt comfortable in yet.  My wardrobe has seen many changes and now it includes a variety of different things from prairie dresses and western denim skirts to cute jumpers and fashionable dresses.  Our wardrobe often reflects our moods and who we are.  Even though mine has changed to a more modest wardrobe, it still fits who I am and I feel more like I'm dressing to suit me and where God has led me rather than trying to fit in with what the magazines say is the fashion or what every other woman on the street that I run into is wearing.  

It isn't a change of dressing because one wants to simply appear more holy.  It isn't a change due to wanting to look more like the soft spoken home schooling mother at the co-op.  It isn't a change due to reading someone's blog post about being biblically modest unless God speaks to your heart at that moment.  It is a heart change. Where God leads you in your modesty journey will more than likely be very different than mine or it may not be, however, it will be your journey.  It takes courage to go against the grain from those around you, including your family.  

But if you listen, God will call you.  God has called you to be set apart. 

Mothers and Daughters

"My dear girl, the day you see I'm getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I'm going through.  

How I Love My Husband

On a scale from 1 to 10, how perfect do you think your husband is?

Mine?  I can't rate my husband on a scale because he's more than perfect.  

How is he more than perfect?  

Well, what qualities in a man do you think it would take to make the perfect man?

I can list several, but God has a better and more complete list than I do and God has given my husband to me, therefore, he is more perfect than I can humanly conceive.  

One of the greatest things that makes him SO perfect for me is that he isn't perfect, which goes hand in hand with the fact that I am FAR from perfect, so..... that makes him perfect for me!

Yes, he has humanly faults, BUT, I can name my faults in a greater number than I can his.  Does that keep me from getting frustrated at times?  Sadly, no.  Should I complain about my husband's faults?

No.

Never.

No matter what you hear from other women about their husbands ....

To speak bad about your husband to anyone, ever, is to tear down your own home.  Not to mention the scripture that speaks of whoever cast the first stone....  I have no room whatsoever to even be frustrated with my husband.  

He loves me with his whole heart and I never believed that to be humanly possible.

Me, with all my faults.  

Does he point them out to me?

No.

Never.

He loves me, encourages me, listens to me, prays for me and that makes him perfect.

THEREFORE:

I strive every day to remember this verse and to be this woman:

One thing that took me years to understand and truly grasp in our temporary society is this:

My marriage is THE MOST important thing to me in my life.

And here are a few of the ways I treasure it:

Source for 25 Prayers

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And never forget ...

Do you want your daughter/s to be a good wife?  I do.  

Do you want your son/s to know what a good wife looks like so that they can find one?  I do.

So what do I have to do? 

Be one.

How?

By God's grace and lots of prayer.

This is the one detail that has gotten me to where I am today and why I will be even better tomorrow...

To see other great quotes and encouragement see my Scripture, Created to be His Help Meet, Keeper of the Home, and A Peek Into My Faith boards on Pinterest.

If you have great Scripture, Quotes or tips that are special to you, please share them and/or a link to them in a comment!

Before You Meet Prince Charming

Some lessons are easy to learn, some lessons however, always seem to be just out of reach.  Those lessons that seem just out of reach usually pertain to life's lessons that we try to instill in our children according to scripture, but what our children continually see in today's society and sadly enough, our churches, continue to tear down the lesson we are trying so hard to bring home to our children.

Walking Through the Valley

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Have you ever walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death?

If you have, this passage most assuredly has a deep meaning for you.

Who Are You?

Who am I?  

The underlying question in everyone's life. 

You can get thousands of answers to this question from others in the world, especially from the ones who write all of the self help books telling us to build our self-esteem, manage our time better, set boundaries .... but those answers can be like a vapor in the wind just like our lives.  

Modest Swimwear Hard to Find ??

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This is the best modest swimwear I have ever found!

I don't know about you, but I have spent years trying to find something appropriate to wear swimming other than shorts and a shirt.  Every time we go down to our local swimming spot at the river, I wear a pair of shorts that I have specifically for the river and an old t-shirt.  
Are they comfortable?  No.Do I feel attractive?  No.Do I feel like I'm dressed appropriately?  No.

The Glorious Advantages of Raw Milk

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One of the healthy new changes we have made in our home is the use of Raw Milk.  Glorious Raw Milk!!  Untouched by the human hand, in it's purest form as God intended it to be.  

Garden Bag and Heirloom Seed Giveaway

Be sure and head over to the Ozark Mountain Family Homestead to enter the giveaway for this wonderfully delightful Garden Bag and nine packages of Heirloom Seed!

Juicing for Better Health

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What is your favorite breakfast?  I don't think I have a favorite, but in the past, if it contained eggs and cheese or biscuits and gravy, it was considered my favorite breakfast.  We also used to live on cereal.  You know the kind, the one with the box that says it contains whole grain and fruit.  Most of the time it was even labeled organic. 

What is your Apron Style?

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Aprons are a blessed thing.  Just putting one on can transform your mind set as a keeper of the home.  

In my experience, depending on which collar we put on our dog, he will know what is expected of him. If we put on his training collar, he knows its time to learn.  The same goes for our horse.  When she has her show bridle put on, she knows it and she carries her head higher and there is a new spring in her step.

Homemade Biscuits and an Amish Cookbook Giveaway!

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I'm very excited to finally find a biscuit recipe that works for me!  Biscuits have never been my strong point, so I never make them from scratch, but have you read the label on any brand of biscuits from the store?  Ick!  I had made the decision to either learn how to make them or we wouldn't have them at all.  

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TO MAKE A HOME

To make a home I need a heart 

That knows the power of love's fine art.

A heart that dares defy all wrong

And opens wide it's door to song.

To make a home I need a smile 

And inward faith for every trial;

I need a hope, I need a dream

That in all darkness casts it's gleam.

To make a home I need to pray,

I need the Bible to show the way,

I need a church, a hallowed place

Where I may seek for peace and grace.

To make a home I need a soul

That faces toward the highest goal,

Surrendered as life's way I plod

to make a home I must have God!

~Selected~