Finally Beads

When God chose our girls for our family He knew my heart to spend time doing hair. It might not seem like a big deal to some people. But for people who know what it is to be a not so touchy-feely person, doing hair is a great way to have hands-on and show a child your love. Doing the creative hair styles takes hours and is a very personal time with a child. I love the fact that the girls know it is something I enjoy doing for them, and it is something I do for them alone.

One night I had intended to try and do Mesai's hair in beads and I had forgotten until it was too late. It was 30 minutes to bedtime. Typical of her personality, Mesai did not complain. I sent her to bed and fully intended on waking up early to do her hair before church. The following morning something happened that never happens: Mesai went to the bathroom at 6:30 am and caused me to wake-up. If I had not heard her I would not have woken as I have no alarm! When I went into the bathroom, Mesai was wide awake and this is unusual because she sleeps in the morning until we wake her up. Sleepy girls!

God is good. He knew my heart and that I felt bad not doing her hair and I really didn't want to let her down.

I immediately asked her if she wanted her hair done and it was a beaming Yes! I washed her hair, conditioned it, creamed it and combed it out. We then headed downstairs and parked ourselves by the kitchen heater. It was still dark outside and noone arose for the next two hours! It was a wonderful, quiet morning of just Mesai and I.


She would sit and hold the beads and fill the beader for me while I was putting in the previous set.


I actually found it easier to do her hair, while she had no distractions of TV. I was able to turn her to me without worrying about cutting in on her movie etc. And to be honest, if she really wants to have her hair beautiful it is a sacrifice. As I jokingly taught her to say: Vanity has a price. *grin* She is eager to sit for two hours because she is so happy to see her gorgeous hairdos when they are done.

When Gadisae woke up it was her big day. This was the day she finally had enough hair to do tiny baby bunches. Her hair is so baby fine. She took all of 15 minutes to do her hair and as proud as a peacock when it was done.

Happy Little Girl

.

Ready For Church
.

Tubing 2008

I had a hard time not putting up all these photos, since this is my journal for my kids. So you will have lots of wonderful pictures to view. *smile*

I decided pretty spontaneously this morning to take the kids tubing. I am a very spontaneous person. I find the way I do things is make a decision and then act on it, but I do not inform anyone until I am almost totally ready. So, it would not be out of character for me to decide to take a 24 hour road trip with my children, not inform then, pack the bags secretly, load the van without anyone knowing, and then ask them all to get into the car: we are going to town. Once past town they would ask me, Where are we going? We passed town.

Oh, well, I wonder. We will just have to drive and see. *laugh*

Life is for adventures and fun! Who wants to be predictable!

So this morning, I did the same thing. This was no big deal, of course. It was simply to the local ski hill. This is literally 5 minutes from our house!! How fortunate are we! But because I do not like chaos, I did not tell anyone until they were in the car. I decided at breakfast to go, and then told one child who could help me, and then it was calm as we were preparing. You can imagine the bedlam if I had told them they were going tubing today!

We Really Do Need a 12 - 15 Passenger! One Day...

What Are You Doing in There!

The girls think they have encountered tubing and snow at our house! It was time to take them to a real tubing hill!

Waiting For Mum

Briton started off the morning with me convincing him to go down the hill.

Briton and Big Brother, Colt

I gently put him in the tube and gave it a shove. He followed his big brother down the hill and that was the beginning of him having a blast.


We began the morning by pairing up a big boy with a little one. This lasted for all of a couple runs and then we realized the little ones were quite capable of doing the work themselves.


That was until one certain little girl decided she needed a big brother to haul her up the hills. They were very obliging and took great care of their little charges. Briton was a hoot. Of course!



There was one time when he was on the hill and he had been in a group of three tubes and the had come to a stand still. One of our big boys came down the hill after them, did not veer off, as they usually would do, and instead, went POW into Briton. Briton went airborne for about 18 inches before landing back in his tube. I thought he might cry, but no, not Briton. He was having a blast.


This was really fun. I have not had a gap in 17 years of being pregnant or having a tiny one, until now. So this was the first time that I felt like I could get out there and have a great time without having to stop to nurse or look after a baby, or be too pregnant to go sliding down a hill.


Colt, Dane, and Cassidy found themselves a way to not wait in the lineups. The 'mother' in me wanted to correct them, but at the same time, I realized that what they were doing was not wrong - it was creative and not hurting anyone. So I let them do it. They would wait near the front of the line and when a tow rope went by that the tow person couldn't get a hold of, they would grab it and take the ride up. The liftie didn't mind and the unused tow bar didn't go unused. And the boys got more rides in.

Colt and Dane Chatting With the Liftie

As usual, Gadisae proved to be a real tomboy. When she was going up the tow rope she would try to hang out the sides, stand up and turn around, or even climb out on the hill!

Briton and Cooper had a couple times where their tow rope fell off the bar and they had to hike up. Thankfully, for Briton, being so tiny, one of his big brothers would usually come by and swoop him up.


Briton and Colt and Dane would come down together, and once, they were plowing snow as they came down.


Briton was a fabulous sport, as he got a faceful of snow dust! All that snow on the tube was a facewash Briton got on that run.

Snow Blown, But Still Loving It

Rosy Cheeks!

Breaking For Lunch

Speaking of lunch. You should have seen those girls inhale their carrots and green peppers, when they realized I was going back to the hill as soon as I was done! They were the first ones done! They were not planning on missing a minute on the hill!

Didi, How Much Longer Til Our Turn?

Austin, What's It Like Tubing Blind?

Crazy Dude, Cassidy

Another Big Brother Helping Wee Briton

While we were at the hill, Colt and Dane got offered jobs as lift operators. The money is lousy, but they would not be doing it for the money. This is a great way for them to afford to snowboard, snowmobile, ski, and tube for free! When they are on the job there they get to bomb around on the snowmobiles doing different jobs!

I told my boys just recently, the memories I have that I do not regret, but actually embrace, of being 'not so wealthy' (poor - but I didn't realize it was poor) when I was a child. I have great remembrances of all the creative choices we had to come up with to make things work for us. For example, *smile*, when I wanted to sew (as I was always creative) and I did not have elastic to make the doll clothes, I simply cut the elastic out of my underwear! *laugh* My mother was not impressed, but that has created a fond memory for me! *grin*

I also am very grateful that I had to come up with things I wanted and did not have them handed to me on a silver platter. It was just normal for us. Our parents provided what was expected and we came up with the extras. Now I am so glad that my kids will have this same opportunity! They could choose to go without on the snow hill, or they could realize that working for a few rides is worth it. The hard work creates joy in the heart when they receive the reward of the skiing, tubing etc.

I am so proud of my big boys for being such willing helpers to all the little ones, so that we could all have a truly wonderful day.
.

The Cost of Groceries (or Feeding an Army)

The cost of living in Canada is expensive. I have friends in the States who tell me that they spend an average of $600 a month on feeding a family of 8-10 children. We spend on average $1500 a month! I can't compare to urban centres, as we do not live in one. I do know that our prices have been creeping higher and higher for the last few years.

I am sitting here this morning with my 2 week menu, creating a master shopping list. I have figured out exactly what groceries I will need to feed three meals a day, plus snacks and then all the basic supplies for running a home. I have kept it as tight as possible. When the month is over I will be able to see if I was able to get deals or if I didn't need as much, or maybe, if I needed more in a catagory.

Having done this master list, I have then put a number beside it showing how many of each item I am budgetting for. This way, when the items are done, they are done. No more to be bought until the next month. The total? Nearly $1400 and that is without any extras like pop or chips or chocolate bars or ice cream - little treats that Ray and I might like in the evening when the kids are in bed.

This is also with me cooking all of our meals from scratch and baking all of our cookies and desserts. We buy no ready made food. This is also without any bread products, since we are the fortunate recipients of free bread. This was a blessing that God gave us 2.5 years ago, when we bought a freezer for an organization that distributes bread to needy families. I tell you this story *not* to applaud ourselves - but to show you the faithfulness of God. We have always made ends meet, but God knew that though we are not a needy family, we could certainly use a hand by giving us all our bread! So after this organization feeds its families that need it, they give us as much as we need! For this, we are forever thankful!

My goal with this list is to see if I can cut back our grocery bill any further. Up to this point, I have just bought the groceries on the credit card and paid it each month. But this has not taught the boys anything about 'affording' things and 'going without'. And it also means that if we put it on the credit card it is easy to spend more than we actually have. It will do us all good to have cash in an envelope and simply buy what we have money for and then stop when it is gone.

No, we will not go hungry. We are resourceful people. Most of my lunches are made from last nights leftovers - either a repeat of the previous meal, with bread on the side, or a hearty soup made from the remaining meatballs, chicken, or roast beef. You would be amazed what a wonderful soup you can make from one chicken breast or one cup of roast beef. Lots of carrots, potatoes, barley, beans, and all the left over veggies from meals past.

Speaking of that. For those that aren't aware of the 'soup bag', here is a tip. When we have a meal, if we do not have enough to make a leftover lunch, I will simply take the 6 or 66 peas that are leftover, plus the tablespoon or cupful of rice, etc, and put them into a ziploc baggie and freeze it. Then when I make soup I simply add my baggie to the soup - well, first I take the food out of the baggie. *smile* This causes the soup to be a little heartier and a lot more eclectic! And they are always delicious soups.

So I believe that since, Necessity is the Mother of Invention - A Large Family is the Father of Frugal and Creative Living

Christmas 2008

We have had a busy Christmas season. First, we had St. Nicholas day on December 6, followed by Christmas Eve where the children exchange their gifts and they receive gifts from my mother-in-law. On Christmas day our immediate family celebrated Christmas by ourselves. And then because of the Big Snow that happened on the coast, my sister and her family were held up. So we had a day off on Boxing Day. Then the day after Boxing Day they arrived and my parents came over also. They all stayed over night and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner - again. They also had a chance to have the first viewing of our complete hour long video of Ethiopia - the one I broke into segments.

Austin Shooting Colt

Always the Camera Clown

The boys went shopping together. They told each other what they wanted to ensure they got it: Toblerone chocolate.

Gift From Cassidy to Briton - Dinosaurs Colouring Book

Colt is into rock music and we managed to find him the last five years of hit Christian artists on DVD - music videos. He was so greatful for this one gift and I had told him he only had the one gift. When would he like to receive it? Now, or save it til later. He replied, "It's not the present, it's the thought behind it." So typical of this boy. *smile*

What he wasn't aware of was I had a hidden last big surprise for him in the basement. I waited til the little ones went to bed and we had tidied up the house and then I sent him to the basement to get something for me. He missed the box that was right in the pathway, so I had to send him back: "While you are down there can you bring me that box by the entrance?"



Gadisae put her stethascope on Cooper's heart and declared she could hear his heart: "She can hear my heart!!" Cooper was beyond shocked.

Sound Asleep With Their Presents
.

Margins

I have been watching an amazing video series. It is called Take It To The Limit - Andy Stanley. He talks about creating margins in our lives. Financial margins, emotional margins, margins at work, margins in our downtime, professional margins.

(I just bought the dvd for myself last week and it was available, so if it is out of stock it should be back soon. Very watchable - this guy knows how to get your attention!)

I was at a point when I would get to my Bible Study on Tuesday, where I was supposed to read a chapter of The Shack, to discuss it, that I wouldn't have read it because I was too busy. That particular week I had watched 4 minutes of this video because I was too busy. I had no time to do anything.

The guy says that when you say, "Not now!! I can't think straight." "I can't deal with that right now." etc - that we have no emotional margin left. We need to create margins.

An example of a good margin is my financial margins. I always have funds for this and that and because of it I have been in a good place when it came to things like taking holidays and such. I am squirreling away money for that holiday right now. And then when it is time, I will have the funds. I saved for Ray's ATV - the unattainable, can't afford it, will never be able to save $11,000 ATV - in the same manner.

So when Ray was finally at a point of buying a new truck this year - I could do it. Let me tell you how this went. We had pondered for 18 months whether we should buy a truck or not. His truck is 20 years old, over 450,000 km on it and is rusty and got holes on the side. Anyone looking at it would know where Ray's priorities lie - with his family!

But we knew it was on death door. We also knew that our van loan would run out in 2009 March. A full 16 months later. So we put it off. We began thinking about it again a few months ago. We read papers, talked about prices and thought about it. Finally, we decided to pursue it. I knew our van was not paid off until March, which meant swinging paying off the balance - $1500 now, before the bank would give us a loan.

We found the truck we wanted. Funny enough, we both picked the same vehicle separate to each other! It was $29,999 on sale for $19,999 and we offered and got it for $18,999. It is a 2007 with 64,000 km. It is a 4 door 6 passenger 4x4 beauty. My husband has never had a new truck before.

When my husband went to the bank they told him that our van loan was paid off that very week. There was only $40 owing on my van!! I believe we were prompted to buy the truck that week because God knew the van was paid off early. How? Because I had been making biweekly payments for the last 4 years and forgot the benefit! It saved us over $1000 and we were paid off early.

As well as this, we only needed to take a loan for $10,000 because I had a "Margin" in the bank. I have been saving for Orthodontic work for the last 5 years - $100 a month for the child that needs it. So far, so good. No children in braces and we keep on putting money aside. Not only that, but I have been diligent about putting aside a little bit per month in our Savings Fund for emergencies.

I was able to 'lend' my husband the $11,000 out of my funds, instead of borrowing from the bank. He was able to see that the biweekly payments have been a good thing, and that me squirreling money away really pays off in the end!

So that is my Financial Margin story. It is worth doing!!

As to how do the Margins work in the rest of my life? Not. I have to work on that. The first Margin I am working on is my time spent in the kitchen. I have often written menus and not stuck to them, or got to busy to remember, so I am often at a loss as to what to cook that night. I lose time thinking, defrosting things, and then rushing to get things done. I feel like I lose 1-2 hours per day in this mess.

So this is what I have been doing in the last two weeks:

I am schedule resistant. I write schedules but resist putting them into practice. I hate regimented lifestyles. I am the type of person that would pack my bags and go on a road trip tomorrow if the desire arose. I believe life should be fun and free. Who cares if I have eight kids. They can come too!! *laugh*

So the first thing I did was write a two week menu. This means that we will know what we are eating for a two week period. And yes, the second set and third set and fourth set of two week periods will be the same. Such is life if you are trying to create a Margin.

The menu was created with CHILDREN COOKING in mind! Monday - Meatballs - Cassidy, Tuesday - Sloppy Joes - Mum, Wednesday - Spaghetti - Mum, Thursday - Tuna Lasagna - Cassidy, Friday - Roast - Dane, Saturday and Sunday - Chicken and Rice / Stroganoff - Austin.

Okay, so that was one of my two weeks worth of meals. The deal is that my meals come out of the freezer. I make a batch of spaghetti or sloppy joes and freeze them. Then only every few weeks will I have to make another batch.

When it is the child's day to cook then I take them through it step by step. I have taken the recipes I like and typed them out in very simply format. They have each set of ingredients in the order they are used and then below this is a very child-friendly write-up of instructions. They then know which ingredients for each step. Super simple.

Cassidy Making Tuna Lasagne

To show you: I gave Dane a new recipe and went to my room to wrap presents. He had no problem doing this recipe because each step was outlined so clearly. I came down to a wonderful smelling kitchen and felt like I was visiting someone. Something I have noticed is that when I cook the meal I don't smell the food! When I enter after someone else has done the work I can smell it!

This way the boys each have only 2-4 recipes to master. It makes it so simple. The recipes I choose for the 9 year old are easy, easy!! They are simply a few ingredients that you mix together and then pour over chicken to put in the oven. The rice recipe is a little more complicated, but really easy also. By keeping this up, they will be self sufficient on these particular recipes in a matter of a few months.

On Saturday, which is the 9 year old's cooking day, I help him and he does two recipes. One for that night and one for the Sunday.

I am working on my next Margin. My next Margin is having more time off on the weekend. It is so easy to spend our Saturday with my husband at the jobsite, and then Sunday is shot with trying to get to Church, get yardwork done and then it is gone with no rest.

The plan: Sunday is a day of rest.

Ray saw the video too, and he saw how it was really planned well for us to take the Sunday off. It is a margin and God saw how we needed it when He created us and the world.

This week we got up on Sunday and it was simply a matter of eat breakfast, wash breakfast dishes, no running laundry, no housecleaning (except I couldn't bear to not run the vacuum later in the day on the hardwood), reading books, clearing the icerink, watching a family movie, playing a board game, and then putting kids to bed. We did take Sunday off from church because it was so darned cold I didn't want to leave the house (-33*).

To attain this day off we did a few things:

Ray stayed home on Saturday; I vacuumed and cleaned the little kids rooms with them; I caught up the laundry; Austin and I made dinner for the Sunday.

Not a big change, but it was enough to make us have free-time on Sunday, and we all really enjoyed the time off!! I think Ray is hooked. Now to keep him going this way when things get busier in the summer. I just need to remind him how much better we feel when we have a margin to play in.

And relationships are built in the Margin.
.

Newest Cadet

A Bit Snow-Blinded

This is my newest not-so-little Cadet. He has been waiting three years to join the ranks of his big brothers.

Here they are dressed to go to their Kiska Dinner. This is the Cadet annual Christmas dinner. Cassidy, being only 12 years old a week ago, was the youngest Cadet. Because of this, tradition has it that he takes on the position of the Captain for the dinner. He wore the Captain's coat and beret and sat at the head table. He did not have to give orders, but at the end of the dinner he stood and said:

"I now stand down the Corp until January 8, 2009. You are now dismissed."

Cassidy has some pretty big shoes to fill. His oldest brother, Colt, has work extremely hard to bring himself up the top level of Regimental Sergeant Major. Colt worked through learning disabilities and did not let that stop him. While others managed to get assignments done in one fourth the time Colt did, Colt still proved himself more worthy of being the top Cadet. He beat out two other Cadets of equal rank to earn the lead position.

He took home three trophies at last summers year end parade. And I have had personal phone calls of such high commendations from his officers and adults in his Corp. When Colt and Dane joined Cadets three years ago, they had noone to help them 'do it right'. Other Cadets had big brothers or fathers who had military training, or were in Cadets themselves. Colt and Dane had to learn it all and earn it all on their own merit.

Cassidy has the bonus other Cadets had before him: he has two big brothers to teach him the tricks of the trade - how to polish boots to the point of being able to see his reflection, by simply using a blowdrier, a rag, and bootpolish; how to put a crease in his pants with soap, so that the crease will stand straight up. These are things that the older boys learned along the way.

So, Cassidy joins with two great Cadets and aims to be as good as his big brothers. But first we had to nearly shave his long hair off! The big boys have been waiting a long time for this. I was NOT going to have another bald boy. So, I simply had his hair cut so the front is reasonable and the back is nice and short.
.

What Do You Do When It's Minus 33* Outside?

Bring in More Firewood to Keep the House Toasty

Freeze Your Ice Rink

Sit In Your Pajamas By the Wood Stove and Read

Curl Up in a Blanket and Listen to an Audio Book

Read a Good Novel

Sit By the Wood Stove

Wear Your Coat and Elf Hat

.