Experiencing God's Love in Insignificant Things

Alina “loves” to swim. Today was the first day of public school for our local district so we planned to go to the pool, knowing the kids would practically have the pool to themselves.

In order for us to actually get out the door to go swimming there were several responsibilities that needed to be taken care of. As the kids were taking care of their responsibilities and I, mine… Alina was pulling together her swim gear and couldn’t find her swimsuit. After I gave her a few suggestions of where to look she came to me in tears.

Looking back over today’s event and processing it I thought about the fleshly tendencies that were developing in my sweet Alina before we began the journey of learning how to love with a Christ-like love through the   Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry. Something particular I was beginning to see develop in her was an attitude of irritation in circumstances like this morning. Extreme irritation and anger when something was lost, was common among the older siblings and adults in my childhood, and I had also developed that fleshly unloving way of dealing with such circumstances, and was passing it on to my children. But, the Lord was good and led me to the  Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry and gave me the gift of Barbie and Marilyn speaking straight into my life. Today, there was no irritation or anger in Alina’s response, she was just simply frustrated (stopped up) and in tears. I would like to clarify that I use to soft sell my sin - my anger, by saying I was just frustrated when I was truly irritated and angry which is unloving (sin is the self centered failure to love).  I have since learned that we can be frustrated and still be loving, but when we move from frustration to irritation we are unloving (sin).

I hugged Alina and took her into my arms and I prayed. In my conversation with the Lord and with Alina we focused on how grateful we are that Alina did not go from frustration to anger. We thanked the Lord that He is concerned about what Alina is concerned about. In my past I would have thought the Lord wouldn’t be concerned about something as insignificant as a bathing suit or swimming, but I have been learning different and we thanked the Lord for His concerns for us and that He is concerned about the things we are concerned about. We asked Him for help in finding it, and thanked Him for loving Alina SO MUCH! I encouraged Alina to surrender her worries to the Lord and to trust that He will provide for her to go swimming.

Alina went to her room and lay down. She later told me that she knew if she kept looking in the state of mind she was in she would still feel stressed and she thought she needed to rest. As she did, Daniel entered the room (unsolicited) and began asking her questions, he was entering into her concerns with a heart to help her. He began to help her look, lifting up a bag and other things, helping her look around the room. Alina noticed the bag Daniel had lifted up and remembered she left her swimsuit in that exact bag last week when we went to the beach.  Before I knew it, Alina peered around the corner and told me that she found her swimsuit and we were soon off to go swimming.

I was thinking about the events of this morning and how different it might have been if we had stayed on the road we were on before  Lifestyle of Learning™ entered our life. I also thought about what a gift it was for Alina to experience God’s love for her in the small (insignificant) things in life, to experience the love that has been growing between her and her brother, and also for God’s love to still point to her need to continue to learn to put things away – something she is working on.

I talked with her after we got home from swimming about all of this. She said that she is so happy that our family has been learning to love and that she never wants to go back to the way it was.  She often tells me she is so thankful we started  Lifestyle of Learning™  because she enjoys school more now and because she is grateful that our family is learning how to love each other in a much deeper way.  She told me how she now says things with a sweet spirit, she said sometimes she hears in her mind the same words with the unkind tone she use to use… she followed that up with telling me that it has become much easier to be loving to her siblings and that she never wants to go back to being unloving. We agreed that there is no better place to be than in the place of experiencing God’s amazing love in the very details of our life and that there is no going back.

Jam: Beginners Edition

At the end of June, we went strawberry picking for the first time in quite a few years. Even though it was cloudy, it was fairly warm out and soon we were ready to leave, after we had picked 35lbs of berries!

Jam had been something that I thought would be neat to make, but always seemed a bit intimidating, because of all the boiling of the cans and lids, keeping them sterile, etc.. Another thing I didn't like was all the sugar that was used in the recipes. I always try to make my food low to no sugar or use something like honey or maple syrup instead. So after finding a recipe online with just four ingredients, plus it used honey instead of sugar, I decided to can some jam for the first time.

 Since I'd never made jam or done any kind of canning before, I didn't have any of the usual canning supplies (canning jar rack, canning funnel, jar lifter) other than 7 Kerr Mason Jars that my mom had.

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The first thing to do was wash all of the jars and lids. After they've been cleaned, they were placed in a large pot. Since I didn't have a canning rack, which goes in the bottom of the pot to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot, I used a few old kitchen towels. I used one on the bottom and two or three around the edges and between the jars. The pot was then filled with water and boiled.

The jar lids (the flat parts, not the rings) went in a small pot of simmering water to sterilize. 

While the jars simmered, I made the jam, following the recipe. The strawberries are mashed to the desired chunky-ness, then the pectin was added.  There were several different types of pectin at the store, and the recipe didn't require a certian type, so I went with Classic Pectin.

Next the honey and lemon juice was added, then the jam was boiled.

Using two pairs of metal tongs, I removed the jars from the boiling water, filled them with the jam while leaving a little space at the top, and placed on the lid, using tongs to keep them sterile.

Once all the jars were filled, they were placed back into the water and boiled for ten minutes.

Then they were removed from the pot and set on the counter to cool. While they are cooling, the lids will pop once the lids are completely sealed.

And there you have it! Homemade jam, without sugar, and no special tools that you don't already have in your kitchen.

By Sereina

Alina's Varied Expression of Her Interest in Animals

Alina has always loved animals and I have seen animals really connect with her in various situations over the years.  One of the many animals she loves are horses, which led her to begin collecting Schleich model horses and eventually other types of animals as well.  She is building and making most everything that is needed for a farm/equestrian center for her models.  As I think about the various directions her interest in collecting Schleich animals have taken her, I am quite amazed.

Math and Woodworking

She started with designing a barn and then soliciting her daddy’s help in building it.  This barn has taken a long period of time to build, she still is putting on shingles before it will be finished.  Building this barn included math as she drew the plans and then measured and designed it to fit the size of her models, figuring and refiguring sizes.  She put a bit of thought in how to make the roof, which required perseverance in figuring out designs that work or don’t work so well.  She is now in the process of designing a bigger and better barn to build in the future. 

This was Alina's first drawing of the stall area inside the barn with measurements.

 A front view of her barn.  Up in the hay loft the kitties are playing, the stalls are filled with horses and there is lots of activity going on with the dog running around and the horse tied up and ready to go, or did it just get back from a ride?

A side view of the barn and part of the corral 

Popsicle Sticks & Hot Glue

In addition to her horses she has collected cats, cattle, dogs, chickens and recently got her first person.  She has used popsicle sticks and hot glue to make many things for her animals which include fences, bridges, basic horse jumps, horse jumps with bars that fall off, horse water troughs, horse tack room, horse washroom, horse stalls, round pen with a gate that opens, frames for horse pictures to hang in the house she wants to build one day, a chicken coop, a cat tree, cat feeder, a dog house, dog bowls, a cave for her dogs, a wishing well, a working cow milking stall, a milking stool, and the list goes on.

 This is the tack room.  Alina made all the horse blankets from fleece, except for the blue one.  

Her very first halter are hanging, made out of bread ties.  

 Alina modeled her chicken coop after our actual coop.  

 The round pen, three dog houses, more pens and the bridge she made.

 The corral is filled with horses.  This is the gate she made that opens and close.

Polymer Clay

With polymer clay she has made cat food, flowers, dog food and water bowls, dog food, carrots and apples for the horses, plates, a cake and cookies for her person, and eggs for the chicken coup.

 Apples and carrots that Alina made for the horses.

Beading

Alina had learned some basics in beading, and she is using some of those techniques along with some of the beading supplies in making horse bridles, halters and adding straps to her home-made felt saddles that actually cinch up.  

 Here she used lobster hooks (beading term) and leather craft lace to tie the horse down for her bath.  The wishing well is made from rocks from our yard glued together.

Engineering/Problem Solving

Many of the items that Alina built for her Shleich models required a bit of figuring, or engineering.  She went through of process of figuring out what doesn’t work until she discovered what worked, sometimes drawing out what she wanted to do.  For her bridle’s she started with one version that didn’t really fit over the horses head the way she wanted and later figured a new way with new materials to put the bridles together so they looked more realistic.  She saw a cow feeding stall on a TV and then spent time working out in her mind and in real life how to make a piece of the stall move so that she could lock the cow’s head in.  She wanted a gate that really opens and closes for the stable and after her daddy gave her some plastic hinges she spent time working out in her mind and in real life to make the gate piece so that it would stand up and then open and close.

The cow stall Alina made with a removable bar so the cow's head can be locked in.

Photography – Story Writing - Video/Movie Making - Editing

Alina has shown an interest in photography in the past, but had put that aside.  She brought her camera out to record her collection of Schleich models.  This collection of pictures led to Alina using Windows Live Movie Maker to make a slide show and add music.  This then led to her making up a story where she used pictures and video together to tell a story.  So far she has made two episodes of Kovu and his herd.

My Schleich Models


 Schleich Stop Motion


Kovue and His Herd - Episode 1


Kovu and His Herd - Episode 2


Negotiating

I couldn’t help but add this one in that happened just recently.  Dan offered to pay one of the kids for doing a data entry task for him.  When Alina saw what was involved she negotiated new Schleich models in place of the money, which ended up costing Dan more than he offered the job up for.  She is quite the negotiator, as her dad doesn’t budge that easy in this area, but this is something he has modeled and she has learned well.

These are the 4 new Schleich that Alina got from negotiating with her daddy.

Twirly Circle Skirts

Written by Sereina:

This month I finally made a second circle skirt using some fabric I had bought months ago (you can read about my first skirt below). I had picked up this pretty green floral fabric at Jo-Ann's way back in September. Four months later, and I finally made it.

Since I already had a pattern made from last time, I didn't have to spend my time making it and got to start by cutting pieces out instead.

On my first one, I rushed through the process, since I wanted to get it done and wear it so bad. Because of that, my hem turned out pretty bad looking, so with this one I took my time folding and pinning the hem, making it look nice and neat even before I sewed it.

Here's a picture of the hem on the first skirt. It's pretty bad looking.

And then here is the hem on my second skirt. Much better!

My First Colorful, Super Pretty, Amazingly Twirly Circle Skirt

Written by Sereina on March 19, 2011

This week, I sewed a circle skirt. My very first circle skirt. I was super happy when I found a tutorial for a circle skirt with an elastic waist instead of a zipper, and knew I wanted to make one. Also, we had just gotten the latest Jo-Ann Fabrics add in the mail, which included a 50% off coupon. So my mom took me to Jo-Ann's and I picked up a couple yards of a wonderful and colorful fabric. I made the mistake of not creating the pattern before going fabric shopping, so when I was ready to cut out my pieces, I didn't have enough fabric. I was glad there was another 50% off coupon so I could buy enough fabric for the other half of the skirt, since the fabric was normally $9.99 a yard.

Other than not having enough fabric, the skirt was really simple to make. The hardest part was doing the hem. Some parts of it didn't turn out too well and there was an quite a lot of fabric to hem.

I love how it twirls!