healthy eating update

It has now been a week in our healthy eating challenge. We are feeling great and don't really miss the sugar.
I have been using half the sugar or less in almost everything I have made. Iced tea, corn bread, muffins. I have not made any sweets like cookies or cakes. I have used more whole wheat flour in everything.
I am so proud of Mark. His biggest weakness is candy. Any kind, he just likes the sugar. This week we went to the store and all easter candy was marked down 75%. Mark walked right past everything and realized that he would feel better not buying it. I am so glad he has asked our family to do this.
I'll let you know how it goes as the weeks go by.

sara

garden dreams

We have been spending a great deal of time outside as the weather has been beautiful here. We got all our seeds in the mail this week. Mark and I sat down and decided when to plant everything. We will have vegetables growing in rotation. We will be planting something almost every week during the summer. We also have fruit trees and strawberries coming. Nathaniel and Mark have been getting the pasture ready for the sheep we will get in June. They will be setting up an electric fence when they get the rest of the shrubs cleared.
I am so excited to start planting. We will be having the garden tilled soon so that we can plant some of the early vegetables.
Tell me what is growing for you or what you hope will be growing soon.

sara

new way of eating

We have decided that our family needs to eat better. We make almost all we eat from scratch. We buy very few convenience foods. We only eat out maybe once a month. But we have decided that we eat way to much sugar.
We are going to start cutting the amount of sugar we use in many things. Beverages like ice tea will only have about half the sugar. I am experimenting with amounts. We have tried a new drink called barley water. The recipe can be found at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33679,00.html
I did 1/4 cup of sugar instead of honey and used lemon juice because I did not have lemons. It tastes like "hearty lemonade" Mark said. I have also been adding different dry fruit to a container of water for flavoring. So far pear and pineapple have been good. We will try more.
We are also trying to use more whole wheat flour. Most things we do are half white-half wheat right now but we will gradually change those ratios. Tonights pizza was about 3/4 whole wheat and no sugar and everyone liked it.
We aren't doing this to lose weight. We only want to be healthier and be able to do all the work God wants of us.
I will keep you updated on our progress.

sara

why we educate our children at home

I have been thinking a lot lately about the reasons we educate our children at home. We started our journey in homeschooling when Nathaniel had just finished 1st grade. He had a lot of hearing problems due to ear infections. This caused the school to remove him from classes to work with him on reading. I had attended one year of college for Special Education and was home with an infant, so I decided to spend the year to catch him up with his classmates and then we would send him back.

That first year of homeschooling went great. Mark was not able to work due to seizures and that made money very tight. I created lesson plans using library books. Nathaniel improved a lot that year with the one on one attention. He also was able to focus on his interests. We decided that we could keep homeschooling as we had fun with him at home.

We had decided that the priorities in our homeschooling were as follows:
1. To raise children that love the Lord with all their heart, all their soul, and with all their might.
2. To raise productive adults (able to hold down a job, and benefit those around them)
3. It would be great if the kids learn academics ,BUT it will not get in the way of our first 2 goals.

With more study in the Bible we have come to the conclusion that, if at all possible, all Christian parents should homeschool their children. Here are some things people may not have considered about sending children to be taught away from home.

• Any teacher could be (and probably is) holding beliefs that contradict our family's values.
• The Bible teaches us to train our children in God's Word. Public school teaches Anti-Christian values of evolution, tolerance of other religions to a fault, and relativism (no absolute truth)
• Children learn by example. They cannot learn godliness from the ungodly example and world view that public schools teach. A child in school is learning by the example of the adults and children that they are with approximately 7 hours every day.
• Children are not strong enough in their faith to be thrown into an ungodly world every day. Many adults do not know how to answer peoples questions or oppositions of their religion. We are sending are children out there with no ammunition.
• Many people say they cannot home school because they need two incomes. Two incomes are not usually necessary. A set lifestyle may need to live with a lower income. We live on very little but still have extras. Most people think they need more for dinners out, cable tv, multiple cars, vacations, and other frivolities. These things are not bad but if this is your excuse for not homeschooling, then it is wrong. Some families educate their children at home even if they both hold jobs, but it is much harder. Others have home businesses, but the main issue is still usually spending too much and expecting an unreasonable lifestyle.  
• Thinking you are not educated enough yourself to educate your children is wrong also. The Bible says in Phillipians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has given us the task to raise our children and he will give us all the tools we need to help us accomplish it.
• Sending our children into the world is a compromise in all the values we are trying to teach our children at home.
• We are to instruct them in God's Word and not leaving it up to our pastor or Sunday school teachers for an hour on Sundays.

There is no good to be gained from sending your children off to be educated by others. It is our responsibility, and God has commanded that we train them in the way they should go, not leave it to someone else.
I am writing this in hopes that people will read it with an open mind and see the Bible's leading in parents taking responsibility for their own children.

sara

Virginia is now better

After a long week Virginia is all better. We dealt with 4 days of high fever. The second day a sore appeared on Virginia's tongue that just got more and more sore. It was so bad she couldn't eat and wouldn't talk. Yesterday she ate and talked although she sounded really funny. Today you would never know it happened except she is still very tired.
I am hoping to recover from sleep deprivation. Between her and the baby we have had some rough nights. Then today was hectic and rainy so I am exhausted.

sara