Can You Guess?

One Hour Bread

Yes, you read the title right! I recently stumbled across a great little recipe that I believe will save the day many times in this household. One Hour Bread! This bread is literally on the table in an hour. This was great last night as I made a big batch of homemade Green Bean Soup, and went to grab some bread from the bread basket only to discover a lone little crust in the bottom of the bag. :( Don't you hate when that happens? Homemade soup is just not the same without bread for dipping, and nothing makes it more special than warm buttered bread. Mmmm! So off to google I ran in hopes that my imaginative "instant bread" dream would become a reality, and it did! And it was tasty too! It made two loaves, and I have nothing but a crust left this morning. (It's that good).

So here is the lovely little post I stumbled across that saved the day: Simple One Hour Homemade Bread

Now I will admit there is nothing quite like spending the day working at the perfect loaf of bread, watching it rise, kneading it, loving it into the perfect little loaves. Let's face it, we don't always have the time to do it, sometimes we just need the bread now, and wouldn't you rather have a beautiful loaf fresh out of the oven than cardboard tasting grocery store bread?
Give it a try, hopefully you enjoy it as much as we did.

Note: That photo is my attempt at the bread. Nowhere near as pretty as hers.

Linking Up Here:
Growing Home
Far Above Rubies

An Atheists View on the Quiverfull Movement

Should Atheists Have Lots of Kids? That is the title of a post I just came across while searching for blogs about the blessings of children. It asks the question, should atheists have lots of children to keep up with the breeding rates of religious believers, and the author answers with a "no" for reasons you can read yourself at the link above.

I am absolutely in shock about what I just read. I have so much I'd like to say about this piece, but I cannot put into words everything that I'm feeling about this right now.

The only thing that I will say, is I find it humorous yet sad that so many people that are against religion and it's "closed mindedness" portray themselves as more blind and closed minded than those they're rallying against.

Just to clarify for all parties involved, here is the Wikipedia definition of "Quiverfull"

My husband and I must be part of this movement NOT because we want to raise an "army" as stated in the post linked above, but because we believe that childbearing is a natural part of the life God created (or just a natural part of life if you don't believe in God) and we see children as blessings, not financial or personal burdens.

Quiverfull is a movement among some conservative evangelical Christian couples chiefly in the United States, but with some adherents in Canada,[1] Australia, New Zealand, Britain and elsewhere.[2] It promotes procreation, and sees children as a blessing from God,[2][3][4] eschewing all forms of birth control, including natural family planning and sterilization.[5][6] Adherents are known as "quiver full", "full quiver", "quiverfull-minded", or simply "QF" Christians. Some refer to the Quiverfull position as Providentialism,[7] while other sources have referred to it as a manifestation of natalism.[8][9] Currently several thousand Christians worldwide identify with this movement.[5] It began to receive significant attention in the U.S. national press in 2004

Everyone believes in something, if that something means not believing in anything that's still your belief. Your still living a life of faith that way, you have faith that what you believe is the truth. I have faith that what I believe is the truth. Neither of us will know until the day we die. If I'm wrong I've lived a life trying to help and serve others, doing my best to be a good person, and putting others before myself, I'm no worse off, and my life has hopefully been a blessing to others. If you're wrong...?

Linking up here:

Far Above Rubies

Growing Home

I Have a Maker

"I have a maker he formed my heart, before even time began My life was in his hands He knows my name, He knows my every thought, He sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call"

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13

I think maternity shirts with each of these would be wonderful. Next project I think.

Do You Value Children?

Such a great article, I highly recommend you take the time to read it, or even skim if time is short, and share your comments or opinions with me, because I KNOW you will all have an opinion on this topic.

The Value of Children <-------Click Here to Read Article

Linking Up Here:

Homeschool Schedule

Well it seems that I have managed to find the PERFECT schedule (thank you God) for my 9 year olds homeschooling. Just in time too as it's time to start thinking about what I'm going to do next year for my soon to be kindergartner and preschooler, and how to keep a one year old busy while taking care of a newborn, oops, did I just let the cat out of the bag with that one ;)

Since He's been on me to start Priority Living and I still have not gotten my daily list done, I'm grateful that He's given me insight into how to organize my daughters homeschool, because putting chaos on myself is one thing, but putting the chaos on my kids is a whole other story.

Since implementing it my daughter has without even being asked gotten on her homeschooling (every subject) with no whining, and earlier than ever before, and is so happy and eager to do it. Wow, listening to God really does work! Who knew? ;)

We now follow a three day rotating schedule with time limits for each subject. Each day must be completed before moving onto the next day which means she doesn't get day 3 if she doesn't finish her other days, (can you say motivation?) here it is:

Day 1

• Bible 30
• Language Arts 30
• Math 45
• Socials 45
• Art 30
• PE 30
• Piano 30 (Lesson and Exercises)
• Reading 30 (Current novel study, or book I've chosen)

Day 2

• Bible 30
• Language Arts 30
• Math 45
• Science 45
• Health 30
• PE 30
• Piano 30 (Exercises and Book music she's learning)
• Reading 30 (Same as Day 1)

Day 3

• Character Building 30 (We read Beautiful Girlhood or do Polished Cornerstones activities)
• Mapping 20
• Math Games 30-45
• PE 30
• Free Reading 30 (book of her choice)
• Free Learning 1 hr (Study any topic of her choice, right now she's chosen birds of prey and has learned more on her own in 1 week than we have in anything else for the year)
• Free Piano 30 (She can plunk around to her hearts content, but she usually tries learning other songs by ear)

There it is in all it's glory and simplicity, and it's made a world of difference. During each subject there is a corresponding checklist that tells my daughter exactly what needs to be done next. When each task is done it's checked off and she moves on to the next activity. If she doesn't finish it in that time frame, she picks up where she left off the next day, easy as that. I have a checklist for each subject for each term.

Here's an example of what the checklists look like. This one's not quite finished.

There it is, the little life saver God threw me. I don't expect that this will work for everyone, or that it will even work for all my children, but it works perfectly for her. There's no more "Mom what do I do next?" or frantic night before planning, it's all there, ready to go, and it still pretty much follows the priority living idea that He gave me, Thanks God!

Time4learning

I've been invited to try Time4Learning in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so come back and read about my experiences. For more information, check out their online curriculum or learn how to write your own curriculum review.

Yes, what it says above. Miss La La is going to be in kindergarten next year and struggles quite a bit with "typical" learning. Sit her in front a computer though and she becomes some little genius computer whiz. I'm feeling a computer based curriculum is going to be a great way to go for this kid, so I'm really interested to see how she likes this site, and if it's the right fit for us. I'll let you know how it goes, and would love to hear comments from anyone else who has tried it.