Why I Love the Library Book Sale...

Seven great books for $1.75, that's why!  Here's what I scored last night...

Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson.  This is a wonderful book.  Lawson ranks right up there as one of my favorite childrens' authors.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park.  Never read this or any of her books, but it's a Newberry winner and on our history curriculum's supplemental reading list, so I picked it up.

Aster Aardvark's Alphabet Adventures by Steven Kellogg.  Here's my favorite page, letter "I":

"Infatuated with Iris Ibis, the illustrious ice skater, Irving Iguana inquired at her island igloo, but an intern icily insisted that Iris was indefinitely indisposed and an interview was impossible.  The iguana ignored this information and impulsively introduced itself to Iris, who was inspired by its invitation to indulge immoderately in ice cream."

Now that's my kind of alphabet book!

The Magic Fishbone by Charles Dickens.  I didn't know Dickens wrote any short stories for children.  Judging by the first page, it's going to be a fun one: [the king and queen] "had nineteen children, and were always having more.  Seventeen of these children took care of the baby; and Alicia, the eldest, took care of them all.  Their ages varied from seven to seven months..."

Bambi by Felix Salten

Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz.  If you have elementary-age children, you must check out Fritz's books!  Great little historical fiction books, most of which are short chapter books.

Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle.  For my oldest son.  I read Men of Iron by Pyle to him when he was about 6 (yes, 6!) and he fell in love with the world of knights and chivalry.  I hope this classic will be as much of a hit!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone--love on those kiddos and read a book!  And of course, give some lovin' to your sweetheart too...

Yes, I Am Still Here.

I'm probably about due to win the bad blogger of the year award for my negligence!  It's been a full couple of months!  Let me take a moment to fill you in on what's been happening around here...

1.  Wrapping up deer season.  Our total count at the end of the year was nearly 320 deer, more than we have done in a long time.

2.  Christmas!  The celebrations felt a little strange this year.  We are at a new church, so we weren't quite sure what to expect and ended up missing the week that they do the big Christmas program because we didn't know about it soon enough.  And at that time we were still running back and forth every day to the meat shop, so we didn't have much time to enjoy the season in our new house.  I didn't bake one single Christmas cookie.  And there was pretty much no snow.  But, Jesus was still born over 2000 years ago and we celebrated that with all our hearts, which is what really matters, right?

3.  Settling into a "normal" routine at our own house (if there is such a thing as "normal"!)  We've been rendering lots of deer tallow and I made my first attempts at tallow soap.  It looks good--still curing, so I haven't actually gotten to try it yet.

4.  Spent a night in the emergency room about two weeks ago with my heart feeling like it was going to pound right out of my chest.  To make a long story short, don't take heavy doses of echinacea and then drink multiple cups of very strong coffee in a short amount of time.  Turns out they don't do so well together.

5.  Took a trip to Ikea for curtains, bedroom storage, and the like.  Love that store!

6.  Planning lots of big projects around the house.  This weekend is a wall of bookshelves for the living room--yay!  Also planning a trip to Florida in March...double-yay!

7.  Hitting the books!  Our school pace really slowed down during deer season, so now it's time for us to step it up.  Ever hear about Charles Martel and the Battle of Tours?  Fascinating story--go and look it up!  I don't now how I got to be 31 years old and never learned about that.  This is why I love homeschooling--I keep learning new things too!

8.  Dan and I took our CPL (Concealed Pistol License) training last Saturday.  We had a wonderful instructor who gave us SO much more information than just what's covered in the typical NRA class.  Plus, I got to shoot several different handguns, which was great for me since I had never fired one before.  The instructor said I'm a natural shooter and that with some training I could do it competitively.  But I think he was just flattering me because I was the only girl in the class:-)

9.  Repairing the hole in our kitchen ceiling.  Yup, the hole.  About a month ago our son took a bath and left the water in the tub (no big deal).  Except that it turns out there was a teenie little hole in the tub...so all that water slowly leaked onto the kitchen ceiling for about 4 hours.  We had to tear out a section of drywall about 4' by 5'.  Last night Dan and I finally were able to get new drywall over the hole...

10.  Working out at 5:30 am every day.  Dan and I started Insanity last week and yes, it is insane.  We're both looking forward to losing the "extras" we acquired through the fall months!

So, things are happening around here!  We're really excited about what's to come.  I will write soon about some of that in my next post in the Agrarian Home Based Lifestyle series.  If I don't do it within the next week, someone please come and kick me.  Thanks!

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 2: Our History.

Otherwise titled: How the Heck We Came Up With This Crazy Idea!

Honestly, I have been seriously dragging my feet on this post.  I'm finding it really hard to put into words exactly how we have arrived at this point...hopefully I can put something together here that makes at least a little sense and gives you a general idea of where we're coming from!

Neither Dan nor I are farmers.  Neither of us grew up on a true farm (although Dan's family had something of a hobby farm...chickens, horses, a few pigs and a dairy cow for a time).  And certainly neither of us dreamed several years ago that we would be looking at earning a living from "the land".  I graduated from college with a degree in music ministry, and Dan is a mechanical engineer.  So how in the world did we get to where we are now?  In short, I think God has just wired us this way.  We both seem to have a natural bent to do things differently.

I suppose this journey really began shortly after we got married.  We gave birth to our first child just a little over a year after our wedding...a little earlier than what we had "planned".  Since we got married the summer before my senior year of college, this meant I never had the opportunity to go into the "real world" (haha) and get a job in my own field.  Instead, I graduated from college and gave birth to our son three months later.  At the time it was a bit of a shock.  I always knew I wanted to stay home with my children--I was tremendously blessed to have been raised by a mom who was home--but I hadn't expected that phase of life to arrive quite so soon!  However, in hindsight, I see what a blessing this was.  I never had to deal with the feeling of "leaving" a career or getting involved in a job that would be difficult to step away from.  I went directly from pouring my energy into school to directing my efforts to my home and family.  Just under two years later, we welcomed son #2 into the world (again sooner than "planned"!) and we began to give some thought to our childrens' education.  After considerable research and prayer, we decided we wanted to homeschool our kids.  I probably put in enough study hours researching education, homeschool materials, learning styles, etc. to equal another college major.  We knew it was a huge decision and not something we wanted to take lightly.

Throughout this process I came across several books that were truly life-changing.  The first is a wonder of a little book called The Mother At Home by John S. C. Abbott.  Yes, it's old-fashioned.  Yes, it flies in the face of "modern" ideas of womanhood.  And it totally transformed my outlook on being a mom.  Prior to this point, I viewed my role as stay-at-home motherhood as the "right thing" to do; the "broccoli" of life.  You know, the things you do because they're good for you but you really can't wait for the dessert you see coming later (like having "my" job, "my" time, "my" body back, etc.)  The Lord used this book to soften my heart to motherhood as a noble, fulfilling, and absolutely necessary job.  For the first time, I allowed myself to be content being "just" a mom...by the way ladies, watch yourselves when you respond to that question, "So what do you do?"  Don't treat your job like it is inferior or some sort of drudgery: sigh..."Oh, I "just" stay home with the kids..."  I've caught myself replying this way and it's complete bunk!  There's no "just" about it!  Your job is important, necessary, imperative, world-changing, kingdom-building...you get the idea.  Here's the other conversation I have frequently that is another opportunity to share the joy of motherhood.  It usually goes something like this, and typically occurs either in the grocery store or at church:

Stranger: "Whoa, four boys, huh?"
Me: "Yup!"
Stranger: "Wow, they sure must keep you busy.  Never a quiet moment for you, right?"  (Did you ever think about how this must make the kids feel?  I mean they're standing right there.  Can you imagine if someone said something like that about your husband while he's standing right next to you?)
Me:  Here is where we get the chance to take a stand--however small--for the huge blessing of motherhood.  I usually try to respond with something like, "Yes, we're busy, but these boys work really hard!" or, "I sure am glad I have all these helpers!"  Hopefully even a little thing like that might begin to change that person's perspective on children and parenting, and it encourages the kids at the same time.

Anyways...this is going somewhere, I promise!  Throughout these years we were living over two hours away from both of our families and Dan was serving as a youth pastor at a small rural church in southern Michigan.  (How he went from engineer to youth pastor is another whole story.)  After serving in that church for about seven years we decided it was time for Dan to get back into the engineering field.  Being a youth pastor was a remarkable learning experience for Dan and our whole family, but it was clear that his spiritual gifts were not quite lining up with that role, and we had a deepening desire to serve in a capacity more geared towards family ministry than youth.  So we started praying about what direction to take next.  Then 2008 happened.  The automotive industry went south practically overnight and took most of Michigan's engineering jobs down with it.  But, we still felt that God was calling us to move on, so Dan cautiously informed our church's leaders that he was going to start looking for engineering positions.  Dan sent an application to the company where he had worked right out of college, and much to our amazement, they called him in for an interview.  Within two weeks of making the decision to start job hunting, he had an offer!  He even got the same office he'd had 8 years earlier.

Around the same time, we were listening to a lecture series from Vision Forum called "Entrepreneurial Bootcamp".  Included in the series was a lecture about running a successful agrarian-based home business by a guy named Joel Salatin.  Dan listened to it first and was all excited about Salatin's ideas and lifestyle.  My reaction at the time was sort of a lukewarm, "Hm, that's interesting I guess."  Then about a year later I got around to watching Food, Inc., the documentary about where our store-bought food comes from, and there was "that guy", Joel Salatin!  Fascinated by his passion for his land (and food!), I started casually reading a little about the approach of his farm. 

Now, fast-forward a year or two.  We gave birth to boy #4, moved back to our hometown, started ramping up the deer processing business, and got a great deal on our house with 20 acres.  Once again we started dreaming about the direction our family needed to go.  I've always loved things like canning, freezing, bread-making, etc., so naturally I started thinking about how to use our property in those ways.  Dan spends about two hours on the road every day driving to and from work and is away from home about 12 house of the day.  It became increasingly clear to us that we all desired for Dan to be able to stay home so that we could all work together.  What really sort of "sealed the deal" for us was our 10th anniversary trip to Staunton, Virginia.  We planned our anniversary there because we really wanted to visit Joel Salatin's farm, Polyface.  I know, I know.  Real romantic, a trip to a farm, right?  Actually Staunton is an awesome town--we would highly recommend it!  And we were both impressed with how the farm runs, the natural, land-improving techniques, and most of all the attitude of families being able to work together at a livelihood that allows them to make the world a better, healthier place.  It felt right to us.  We bought a few of their books at the farm, including the title, You Can Farm by Joel Salatin.  Odd as it may sound, this was another life-changer for me. And you know what chapter really did it for me?  The chapter on soil improvement.  I was amazed by God's design for the earth; its complexity and natural fertility. The potential for productivity (and in turn providing high-quality food for a nutrient-starved world) was something of a revelation.  Right about now you're probably all thinking I've totally lost it.  Gone off the deep end.  Maybe so, but I can also honestly say that I've never felt such hope, promise, and excitement for the future of our family and the impact we could have on our community.  Some might call us crazy, but it sure is a great place to be.

As you can see, God has orchestrated quite a journey for us.  He blessed us with children before I had a chance to have my heart divided with a career, He molded my character to turn my heart towards my home, gave Dan and I a common vision, provided a job when the economy went down the drain, and provided us with a house, land, and a hearty dose of inspiration just when we needed it.  In the end it is our desire that this story would be about Him, not us.  It is by His grace and mercy alone that we are where we are today.  Truly as we are told in Colossians 3:23-24,

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

I apologize (sort of) for the length of this post.  Really, I could say so much more!  Like how my mom taught me to love cooking meals for the family and how to bake from scratch, or the impact the time spent with my Grandma (probably the sweetest, gentlest person I've ever known) had on my childhood, or the blessing of having a Dad who cared about being home and spending time with his kids.  I could write volumes about all these things, but then this would turn into a personal memoir!  I hope I've been able to give you at least an idea of where we're coming from.  We welcome your comments and ideas!  

Next post in the series: Our Basic Plan (or, "How in God's Green Earth Do You Think You Can Pull This Off?")

Dan takes a peek inside the mobile hen house at Polyface.

Joel Salatin demonstrates the ease of moving the pastured broiler pens during our "Lunatic Tour".

Some of the first "fruits" of our new property: wild grape jelly!  So delicious, and I didn't even have to plant or weed a single thing!

An Agrarian Home-Based Lifestyle, Part 1: Our Vision

Ok folks, today begins my first "series" of blog posts!  How many parts to this series?  Who knows...until I feel like I've said enough, I guess!  Forgive me if it sounds a little bit like I'm thinking out loud throughout this series...because I am.  We are just beginning to shape our "dream"; our vision for what we want our family life and livelihood to look like.  It seems clear to us that God has brought many factors together into one place for us lately, and I'm going to take a little time to explain it to you.  Hopefully we here at Domestic Reformation will understand ourselves better in the process, too.

I'll keep this pretty basic today since future posts in the series will cover many aspects in greater depth, but let me begin by laying out our overall vision by defining some things (thanks to Merriam-Webster online!)...

agrarian: of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure.  Yup.  You heard me right.  We actually intend to "make a living off our land".  Well, mostly...more about that in a minute.  We've been blessed with 20 acres, about two-thirds of which is open land.  The rest is brushy undergrowth, young-ish forest, and our yard.   Is it possible to earn enough cash off 20 acres to live comfortably?  We believe it is.

home: one's place of residence.  Our dream is that our whole family--Dan included--will be able to work together here at our own home--our own "place of residence".  Around here we find that we get exponentially more accomplished in a day when we're all working together than when we are split off in our separate ways all day.  There's a kind of synergy that occurs when we're all working together, and it's way more fun than being apart all day.  Our family actually likes to be together!  Will it always be sunshine and roses?  Of course not!  But it's not a bad goal:)

Let me be clear: a "home-based business" does not mean we intend to become hermits or social recluses.  However, it does mean spending more time actually at home.  Less running, fewer last-minute trips to the store, better planning, more intentional time spent with friends and family.  As I mentioned above, we plan to "live off of" our 20 acres, but we will continue with Courser Deer Processing, which I suppose, being a service-based business, can't really be considered living off our land.  Currently we run this business at a different location, but our goal is to move it here for next season.  Being away from our own home so much is taking a toll on us already, and this year's hunting season is just getting started!

lifestyle: the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture.  I hesitate to call this merely a home-based "business" because it is about more than just money for us.  It's a way of life, and a way of life that is radically different than most folks.  Our dream is to have a lifestyle that not only "pays the bills", but is more rewarding, more fulfilling, more healthy, and more whole than what "normal" American culture has to offer.  And, we hope it's contagious.  We hope that when others see what we're doing they, too, might be inspired to slow down and smell the proverbial flowers...literally.


Our intent is not in any way to sound condescending or "holy-er than thou".  Right now we are in the dreaming, visioning phase where anything can happen.  It's probably something of a honeymoon phase.  Hard days will come when we wonder what in the world we've gotten ourselves into.  But for now I hope maybe you can all dream with us a little bit as the series develops, and maybe even help us shape our vision of what's to come!

Next post: the "History" of our vision (or, "How the Heck Did We Come Up With This Wacky Idea?")  No promises as to when that post is coming.  After all, it's deer season.  I'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath though, right?

A few shots from the south side of the property at sunrise.

Isn't it beautiful?  We are so blessed!

Books and Music!

Sorry (once again!) for my absence from blogging this week!  I had a good excuse this time--our power was out for almost 2 days.  As much of a hassle it is to be without power, it does have its little perks.  Like it's really quiet!  You don't realize how much noise all those appliances make until they're not on.  And without the TV, computer, movies, etc, I was forced to get to some books I've been working on!

We seem to have caught Paul Revere Fever around here.  Usually in the summer I gravitate toward reading patriotic books to the kids.  Memorial Day and Independence Day just seem to put us in the mood, so a few weeks ago I picked out Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson.  It's a fun, fast-paced (albeit largely fictitious) retelling of the events leading up to Revere's famous ride, told from the perspective of his loyal horse, Sherry.  And there are few authors that can move the reader to action through the words of a horse, but Lawson can pull it off:

"Mr. Revere was quite right when he said that my riding days were over.  Never since that day has he sat a horse.  He did, however, procure a beautiful little light trap which, on a fine day, he occasionally drives me in to Boston.  Despite my slight limp and the two scars which faintly mar my coat I think I can safely say that there are few turnouts in the city equal to ours in dash and elegance.

Sometimes on these occasions I am amused to think of the old hard days when we galloped over those very cobbles at breakneck speed, in rain, snow, sleet, biting cold or blazing heat.  They were hard, rough days, and nights, but never, either then or now, have I once regretted that day when I declared my independence and cast in my lot with the champions of Liberty and Freedom."

I highly recommend any of Lawson's books for children!  We have read Mr. Revere and I, Ben and Me, Rabbit Hill, and They Were Strong and Good.



Of course, I couldn't just quit with a book for the kids, so I checked out Paul Revere and the World He Lived In by Esther Forbes.  I am just getting started with it, but the first few pages were hard to put down!  Here's the first paragraph:

"There had been week upon week of the cold grey fury of the North Atlantic, for it was midwinter when the little refugee, Apollos Riviore, made its crossing.  At such a season only the hardiest of passengers ventured much above deck.  Bunks were dank, bread wormy, beef tainted, and the many of these small sailing ships never made port, but at least the Atlantic was crossed in great company.  God brooded upon the face of these waters.  His hand parted the mountainous waves.  He upheld the ship.  Even if one drowned, it was by the Providence of God.  Apollos did not drown.  He entered Massachusetts Bay either late in 1715 or early in 1716."

Finally...I'm at this very moment giving my first listen to Caedmon's Call's latest album, Raising the Dead.  I started listening to them almost 15 years ago and they have "been with me" through so many major life decisions: high school graduation, college, wedding, births of children...so naturally I eagerly look forward to every new album they release.  So far I'm really liking what I'm hearing on this one.  I plan on doing a full review of the album after I let is soak in and simmer for a little while!

Here's an excerpt from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem, "Paul Revere's Ride", just to wrap it all up!

"So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,---
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere."

Homeschool Convention Recap (and mishap...)

Alright, I'll give you the mishap first so this post can end on a good note later!  Friday afternoon we parked in the DESIGNATED parking lot for the Lansing Convention Center.  Paid the 5 bucks (twice, actually, because I had to leave to pick up Dan and come back) and parked right where the attendant told us to park. We come out at the end of the evening to find our section of parking lot roped off as the "Fireworks Fallout Zone" for the Lansing Lugnuts baseball game and all the vehicles GONE.  No towing company to call, no information about where our van is...nothing.  Thankfully a helpful cleanup crew gentleman at the stadium across the street remembered the name of the towing company so we could find our car.  Long story short, we couldn't get our van until the next morning and had to pay about $120 in towing fees and parking tickets.  Grrr.  But I'm not going to get hung up on it and complain.  You'll see why at the end of the post:)

I did get to enjoy one of the best meals I have had in a loonnnggg time on Friday evening during our dinner break.  Dan and I went right across the street from the Convention Center to a little hole-in-the-wall looking place called "The Knight Cap".  Basically we chose it because 1.  It was close  2.  It wasn't busy because it was obviously a bar and "good" homeschoolers don't frequent such places (watch for a post still coming up about what we thing about that!) and, 3.  They advertised as being the place for beefeaters, which we most definitely are.  Well...from the moment I walked in I knew we were blowing pretty much our whole date/dining out budget for about the next 8 months, but let me tell you, it was WORTH EVERY PENNY.  The service was amazing.  Our server sat down and talked to us casually for a few minutes, explained the menu, gave us his suggestions and favorites...and the atmosphere was so cozy and intimate!  And of course, the food.  I ordered one of their local seasonal specials, veal with Michigan morel mushroom sauce and sauteed fiddleheads.  Heavenly.  If you're ever in the Lansing area and want a really nice dinner experience, you simply must go there!

I could go on and on about all the ideas, good books, interesting people, etc. from our trip to the INCH Convention this weekend, but instead of boring you with all those details, I thought I would sum it up with three quotes I jotted down while listening to some excellent teachers.  I could say much, much more, but this will give you the "essence" of what I came away with from the conference (besides books and curricula, of course!)

First, a quote from speaker Michelle Miller in her presentation, Mom's Role in Raising Men: "If boys don't see an enemy, they will create one in themselves."  Wow.  Even with my oldest only being eight years old, I can totally see this.  My boys want a battle.  They need to conquer things.  And in our culture, it's not like the "enemy" is running at us with a battle axe in his hand wearing animal skins and a helmet with horns.  Our enemies today are usually invisible, or dressed in more innocent clothing.  Presenting history, science, language, math...everything we study together as part of a great battle for the minds and souls of every person on the planet could certainly go a long way in motivating my boys to learn, rather than sinking into self-indulgence or self-destruction.  OK, I'm getting a little heavy here...

Next, keynote speaker Voddie Baucham (which, for the record, is pronounced Voe-dee Baw-kum) said, "Every person who enters your home should be met by the aroma of Christ."  He spoke of being raised in a Buddhist home and how he could still smell the incense, hear his mother chanting and see the shrine on the wall.  His mother's worship left a permanent mark on all his senses.  Through purposeful traditions and intentional daily routines I can leave the same mark on my childrens' memories...cookies in the oven, fresh pine needles at Christmas, songs of praise filling the house...these things are more than "warm fuzzies" to me.  The sum total of all those sensory impressions can add up to a beautiful childhood that points to Christ in big and little ways every day; a comforting, welcoming place where relationships are safe, no matter what.  I know, because it's the same way I feel about my own home growing up!

Finally, a great line from Heidi St. John (check her out on facebook at "The Busy Homeschool Mom"): "Be amazed!  Everything is amazing but nobody is happy."  Oh, how sad, but true!  There are countless things in our little world--even our own backyard--to be amazed over and somehow we still manage to just find the things to gripe about.  It reminds me of one of my favorite little poems by Robert Louis Stevenson that I find myself repeating again and again:

"The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

Off to the INCH Convention!

This weekend is finally here...Dan and I get a weekend away all to ourselves!  Well, sort of.  We're going to the INCH Convention, Michigan's annual homeschool conference.  We've been to it a couple times before, but it's been a few years and I could use a little shot of excitement in my veins!  And it seemed like a good reason for the two of us to get away...Hard to believe that our "baby" Percival is big enough to go without me for a night though.  How the time does fly!  Only a month ago he was still waking up to nurse at night, and then all of a sudden, he just stopped.  A little sad for me...but not much:)


I'm eager to hear this year's keynote speaker, Voddie Baucham.  For one thing, I want to hear from his own mouth how you actually pronounce his name.  Voe-dee?  Vod-ee?  Bowcham?  Bawcham?  Never really quite sure...And while I probably don't agree with absolutely 100% of what he has to say, I really have enjoyed what I have heard from him before.  After all, his primary ministry is to restore Christian families to impact the world, which is pretty much what we're all about too:)


Finally, for anyone who is interested, here is my "shopping list" for the exhibit hall.  We'll find out after the conference if I'm able to stick to it:)

Latina Christiana I (elementary Latin)

Ludere Latine (Latin language games)

Memoria Press 2nd Grade Literature Guide

Saxon Math 54

Mystery of History Volume 2: Resurrection thru the Middle Ages

History Through the Ages Historical Figures Timeline set

Art ideas?

Preschool hands-on stuff

Little House, Big Dreams

So, this is where it all happens!  The heart of our own "domestic reformation"...

For some reason I've been totally putting off writing this post.  It just always seems like too much to tackle.  I mean, this is where I anticipate a good portion of the rest of my life happening.  That's a lot to take on!  A little history for those who don't know me personally: my husband and I (and growing family!) lived in a VERY rural area in southern Michigan for the last 8 1/2 years before moving back to our hometown in Michigan's "thumb" area last September.  Our first son was only 6 weeks old when we moved to our previous location.  Dan (my husband!) served as a youth pastor in a small church there for about 7 years, then decided (for many reasons) to return to his engineering background.  At about the same time, we decided we really wanted to move back closer to our families--they all live in the same county except for us and we are blessed to have a family that actually wants to live close to one another!  So we listed our house, and waited.  And dropped the price.  And waited, dropped the price, etc., etc.  Finally after about a year on the market, we decided to just move anyways.  Dan's parents graciously let us live with them, even though we had no idea how soon we could actually start looking for our own house since we hadn't sold our last one yet.  Amazingly, right after we decided to move, an offer came in.  It was lower than what we had hoped, but good enough.  So with our house finally sold, we began looking for our own place.  We knew we wanted some land.  We would have settled for 3 acres if that was all we could afford, really hoped for at least 5 acres, and dreamed about having 10.  I don't know...I guess we just like to stretch out:)  We looked at lots of places, but nothing seemed right, and almost every one we looked at would have to be a cash buy because of its condition or other factors.  Oh, and did I mention we were looking for something under $60,000?  Yeah, we knew we were dreaming.  To make a long story short, after much prayer and searching, the Lord pretty much dropped our home in our laps.  This adorable home came on the market midwinter, listed at an unbelievable price, and it was on 20 acres!  Again, it was a cash deal, and right at the same time God worked everything out that we could make that happen.  Sure, the place needs work, but I don't think we would have it any other way...we can't seem to help ourselves!  (If you could see pics of the last house we reno'd, this place looks like a palace!)

The way the Lord has orchestrated SO many things for us in the last couple years is absolutely remarkable.  We never dreamed we would have property like this!  And it's been so fun watching everything turn green there and imagine what it could look like in a few years...and dream about our boys growing up there too.  We love the idea of self-sufficiency, producing most of our own food and teaching our kids to be entrepreneurs with whatever resources they have available.  There are so many opportunities for me to express my talents and interests there...the house is pretty much a blank slate for me to put my own special "touch" on.  I can already hear the music being played and made, the veggies from the garden in the freezer, the school lessons on the chalkboard...I really don't know where this desire for self-sufficiency comes from, but I do know that the most satisfying moments in my life have been at home, tending the garden while the kids play or marching around the kitchen to Bruckner while supper cooks.  Sure, some of our attempts at "do-it-yourselfing" have been total failures, but I know this is where I belong, changing the world through one family.  Our own little Domestic Reformation.

Master Bedroom

40 x 40 pole barn!

awesome stone barn...someday it'll have a roof:-)

The "Piano Room"

Living and Dining

Adorable stone shed (it has morning glories starting to climb the trellis now!)

View of property from near the house...

Kentucky Vacation Recap (with lots of pictures!)

Good beer, good friends, the Creation Museum, Mammoth Caves and Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home made up the last few days of our Kentucky tour!  Yes, I know, many would consider a few of those items a contradiction...maybe one day I will write a nice, deep, theological post about why we believe it's biblical to enjoy a few brewskies now and then.  But that's another whole story, so for now you're just gonna have to wait.

Thursday afternoon we went on the Mammoth Passage Tour at the caves.  It wasn't as long as I would have liked, but Percival and Gawain were not about to put up with anything longer than an hour.  Friday we spent a good few hours at Lincoln's birthplace and his boyhood home nearby.  We weren't planning on being there that long, but it was well worth the visit.  From there we drove up to Cincinnati to visit some good high school friends and their adorable daughter.  Greg treated us to a fantastic evening at The Hofbrauhaus and we spent a fun night with them at their home.  Saturday we headed to the Creation Museum nearby.  We only had about half a day to take it in, which definitely was NOT enough time to really see it all.  The museum is great--everything is of very high quality.  I highly recommend it!  I'm hoping we can go back sometime and see it in more depth.  If you decide to go, try to plan on getting a 2-day pass or at least having a good full day.

OK, on to the fun part...some pics!

Gawain high-tailing out of Hidden River Cave.

Entrance to Hidden River Cave with our personal tour guide!

There she is, Athena with all her 8 lbs. of gold gilding...

Down the stairs into Mammoth Cave

View from a hiking trail "above ground" at Mammoth Cave N.P.

Monument at Lincoln's birthplace.  The house they *think* he was born in is inside.

Isaiah, Moses, and David at the Creation Museum.  I can't tell you how many times Gawain had to ask if all these guys were real.

Dan with the lizard guy.  Isn't he cute?  (My husband, that is?!)

Jaunt to the Parthenon, Nashville, TN

Sorry for the delay in updates here...had some technical difficulties uploading posts from a laptop in rural Kentucky!  Watch for some more posts coming soon covering the rest of our tour!

So Wednesday was my chance to exercise the inner geek in me and take the kids to The Parthenon in Nashville.  It's a life size replica of the "real" one over in Greece (of course!)  As we left Jellystone it was pouring rain and the kids were pretty grouchy about having to get in the car again.  The whole way there I was thinking to myself, "Why in the world am I doing this???  Why am I bothering to drive 100 extra miles for one building?"  Then we pulled into Centennial Park and the kids got their first glimpse of the Parthenon, and I knew why we "bothered".  They were in awe.  I had been there before and they looked at pictures online, but it didn't prepare them for just how cool this building is.  They eagerly raced out of the car and ran (still in the rain!) to check it out.  They counted the pillars (46 around the outside) and marveled at the huge stone steps and intricate carving.  Inside we took a quick look at the art museum in the basement, then headed to the main floor for the "main attraction"...the 45 foot statue of Athena.  The looks on their faces as we emerged from the elevator were enough to make my day!  And I was happy to see how much Lancelot (my oldest, age 8) remembered from our studies of the Greeks this year.  He read the information on the plaques and even knew quite a few things before he even looked at them.  The statue itself is painted with 8 lbs. of gold...we were all pretty impressed with that, and the main doors are solid bronze, weighing 7.5 tons each!  Believe it or not, I think The Parthenon has been their favorite stop yet (except maybe for "The Olde Gener'l Store" we went to this morning...think every KY stereotype all wrapped up in one glorious tourist shop!) 

The most important thing I wanted my kids to understand from this stop, though, was not just how impressive the building is, but what the Greeks built it for.  As beautiful and glorious as Athena may be, they know she is only made of rock and metal.  They know how sad it is that an entire culture would lavish so much time and so many resources on this "thing", and even build temples for it.  We are blessed to know and worship a Living God who does not dwell in statues or temples, but in our own hearts.  

"Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Aereopagus and said, 'Men of Athens!  I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.  Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the LORD of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And He is not served by human hands, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else...'"  Acts 17:22-25

Our American Cave Museum Experience

Courser family vacation Day 2 included a trip for the kids and I to the American Cave Museum in Horse Cave, KY while Dan was at work.  I was pleasantly surprised by the museum.  So many of the things to do around here are so "tourist-y" that I wasn't sure just what we were going to get, but this museum is very nice and professional.  There were several hands-on type exhibits that the kids enjoyed, ranging from the history of cave exploration to cave animal life and ground water conservation.  Many of the exhibits, however, required lots of reading, so we made our way through the museum pretty quickly.  The highlight, of course, is the tour of Hidden River cave.  Our tour was quite a bit shorter than usual since the river is flooded right now...but this turned out to be great for us because the kids were all pretty nervous about being "underground".  (Look for pics coming after we get home...I got a good number of shots of their backs as they high-tailed it OUT!)  We had our own personal tour guide since we were the only people in the museum!  She seemed quite knowledgeable and tailored the tour to my kids' interests.  (Most of their questions were things like, "Do caves ever collapse on people?  What if you got stuck inside?  Will we fall in the river?"  Things of that nature...) 

Sorry for the lack of pictures so far...I didn't pack lots of computer gear, so photos will have to come after we get home.  I must admit, Kentucky is absolutely beautiful this time of year...so lush and green!  I could see myself living here, if I could pack up all my family and bring them here too!  I'm sure I would miss the winter Michigan snow, the Great Lakes, corn and wheat and brilliant shades of fall.  But in a year where the snow didn't all melt until mid-April, a week of balmy spring is a welcome change of pace:)

Music Unit Study, part 1

This is just a rough outline of ideas for a week-long unit study on the basics of classical music from a biblical perspective.  Feel free to use my ideas, tweak them, and give me suggestions too!  We did this a few weeks ago in place of our regular history/science stuff because it seemed like music was always getting overlooked.  And to a music major and music lover, that's just unacceptable:)  Eventually I would like to turn this into a full-blown music curriculum...one of those "someday" ideas!

I should preface this by saying that we're studying ancient history this year and have talked a fair amount throughout the year about ancient music, Hebrew worship, ancient instruments, etc., so we had already covered Hebrew words of praise and things like that.  Maybe I'll put up a post of that sometime soon too, if anyone is interested!

I have broken the unit into 5 days of material; some days heavier than others depending on the amount of "other stuff" we had to do that day.  Of course you can feel free to schedule it however you want!

Materials:
The Story of the Orchestra
The Bible
Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament



Monday:
1.  Song: "Shabach" (words can be found here, a video is here)
2.  Review Hebrew words for praise
3.  Read pages 42-43 in The Story of the Orchestra for an overview of the string   section
4.  Listen to the corresponding track on the cd

Tuesday:
1.  Sword drills from Eph. 5:19-20, Psalm 100:1-2
2.  Review "Shabach"
3.  Read pages 44-45 in SOTO about violins and listen to the cd
4.  Color a violin

Wednesday:
1.  Write a song of praise.  This turned out to be a tougher assignment than I expected.  We read a few Psalms and then I explained to my 8 and 6 year olds that they were going to get to write their own "psalm".  They panicked.  So we spent a few minutes writing words that described God on a dry erase board.  I then told them to use those words to write down what they wanted to say about God.  The results were not particularly "song-ish", but still a profound expression of the faith of children.
2.  Read pages 46-47 in SOTO about violas and cellos, listen to the cd
3.  Color a cello

Thursday:
1.  Word studies on "psalm", "hymn" using Webster's 1828 Dictionary and Vine's Dictionary.
2.  Read pages 48-49 of SOTO about the double bass and harp, listen to the cd
3.  Color a double bass

Friday:
1.  Review string family instruments
2.  Make flipbooks to hang on your orchestra poster: String family mini-books
I laid out our poster in the same configuration as the diagram on page 43 of SOTO.  
3.  Sing songs of praise!

My goal is to continue doing a special "music week" maybe once a quarter until we get through all the instrument families (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and keyboard instruments).  From there I hope to begin working our way through the composers in The Story of the Orchestra.  I hope this is of some use, and I would love to hear your feedback!

American Dictionary of the English Language (1828 Facsimile Edition)

Our orchestra layout chart!