(image courtesy of Corbis)

I almost thought I wouldn’t get to post today due to ongoing “internet challenges” we’ve been having, but lo and behold, it has decided to work this morning - so I’m popping in really quick (before it goes out again!) to wish you all a very happy 4th!!

If you still need a dessert idea for your picnic menu, scroll down to the next post for my classic Strawberry Shortcake recipe. It’s yummy!

Today while you’re cooking, playing, visiting with friends and family, enjoying fireworks (we’ve already been to the local stand!), and just relaxing - keep in mind the rich and deep price that has been and is still being paid for our freedom, which we so often take for granted.

Enjoy the day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Here is a summertime classic that most of us have made at some time or another. My family’s favorite version includes a homemade shortcake that is covered in strawberries and topped with Cool Whip. Come along to the kitchen with me and I’ll show you how we make it at our house.

Strawberries

Wash and remove the stems from strawberries (we use about 4 lbs. for our family - use however many you choose) -

Cut strawberries into small bite-size chunks -

Add sugar to taste (I use about 1 cup or so for my 4 lbs. of strawberries) -

Mix well and then put in refrigerator to chill while making the shortcake -

Shortcake

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix together 2 1/3 cups of Bisquick and 3 tablespoons of sugar -

Add 3 tablespoons of melted butter and 1/2 cup of milk -

Mix until soft dough forms -

Spread dough in an ungreased round cake pan -

Bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes or until golden -

Cool a bit and then cut into wedges. Serve in bowls - crumbled wedge of shortcake topped with strawberries (get some juice on the cake - it’s yummy!) and Cool Whip to your heart’s content (or, as in our house, until the container is empty) -

A perfect dessert for a lovely summer evening!

Blessings,
Nancy

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Just a random list today -

1. I am thankful for Jeff working from home yesterday, dealing with the repairmen who both showed up simultaneously. I am especially thankful that God worked it out this way, since I was feeling ill most of the day.

2. I am thankful that I’m feeling better today - much to do to prepare for the festivities tomorrow!

3. I am thankful for a wonderful, rich evening at Ladies Bible Study last night, for the joys of searching out the Scriptures with sisters in Christ, and for the blessings that these ladies are in my life.

4. I am thankful for the repaired upstairs a/c, which meant that all of the children could sleep in their own beds finally last night and get the rest they need.

5. I am thankful for the 4th of July tomorrow with family, fun, and fireworks!

6. I am thankful to live in a country where I still have the freedom to worship the Lord without retribution, unlike some parts of the world today.

7. I am thankful for the blessings of home - love, laughter and comfort.

8. I am thankful for this passage in Romans -

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perserverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5: 1-8

Such glorious truths to meditate on.

9. I am thankful for the joy of walking with the Lord, trusting Him with all the details of my life and resting in His love and care.

10. I am thankful for sweet hugs from my children.

To read more thankful thoughts, click the button below to find the list of particpants in this week’s Thankful Thursday.

Blessings,
Nancy

Today marks the halfway point of the year, so I thought this would be a good time to review those goals I had for the year. You know those goals I wrote about in January - 10 Things That I Want to Do in 2008. . . if you missed that post, you can go back and read it (you can certainly go back and read it even if you didn’t miss it - I won’t stop you) or you can stay tuned, because I will recount the list here in this post with my updates on the progress I’m making. This may be somewhat embarrassing, but it will be good for me, right? Okay, here goes -

1. Declutter my house - Well, I am making definite progress with this one, but still have a ways to go. I have gotten rid of many clothes, some toys and some general items. I have yet to reach the upstairs hall, which I am actually looking forward to - I am envisioning being able to throw out much of what is up there (old school books, games with missing pieces, etc.) and that is always a great feeling!

2. Lose some weight - Ouch! This one hurts. I have not yet lost any weight, but the Lord is working in my heart and life, dealing with strongholds that need to come down. It is a slow, agonizing process, but I know, in the end, it will result in a closer walk with Him and eventually, the weight loss will follow.

3. Spend more time consistently in God’s Word - I have to say that this one is still a struggle for me. I’m sure it is partly the season of life I am in, but I’m not using that as an excuse. I read alot about God and read Scriptures quoted, but I really want to just spend more time in His Word, communing with Him.

4. Make a quilt - I haven’t finished one yet, but I have worked on it, so this one is still in the works.

5. Show more love to my family - Double ouch!! I think I’m getting worse at this one. Remember those verses about the tongue - well, I need to revisit them - especially this past week! If you think of it, please keep me in your prayers that I would relax and enjoy my family more, and stress out less! Oh, Mother Hen had a great post yesterday about this very thing that struck a nerve in my heart - go read it, you’ll be blessed!

6. (I’m over halfway through the list now, and only bleeding a little bit, let’s see if it gets any better!) Read more books with my children - This one is going fairly well, although I would like to bump it up a bit and have a daily reading time with the older ones, as I do with the younger ones. We started reading aloud together towards the end of the school year and really had fun with it.

7. Maintain an attitude of thankfulness - I’m not there yet, but I am making progress with this one. Thankful Thursday has been a good thing for me to keep me thinking thankful thoughts.

8. Learn to cook more things from scratch - I have made several things (pie crusts, for example), but mostly I feel in the dark about how to do this. I will keep working on this one - maybe I will create a new notebook where I will compile all of the data I research on the subject - and of course, I will have to cover it with nice kitcheny paper! (probably gingham)

9. (almost done!) Plant an herb garden - Yay!!!! I found one that I have definitely done! And I really love my herb garden (I’ll love it more when I learn how to use it)! Want to see pictures? Click here or scroll down to see my last post about my gardens. (Okay, only one more to go - I think I’m going to survive.)

10. Grow deeper in my relationship with my Lord - Well, I feel good with this one. He is my constant companion, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. He is holding me by the hand as He walks me through the growth that He is producing in me and He is gently showing me the way I need to go. Of course, I take no credit for this one - after all He has promised -

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 1:6

Whew! I think I will be okay. There are definitely areas to work on, but I’ve got another half of a year to work on them (Lord willing). I’m glad I decided to look back and remind myself of my goals - it will help me to focus once again on what really matters. Have you looked at your January goals lately?

Blessings,
Nancy

In my walk around the yard the other day I took a few pictures of the gardens and their progress.

Out in the “big garden” - here are some of our pumpkin plants coming along strong -

These are watermelon vines - there are some pumpkins mixed in a little bit. It’s a mystery where they came from - they just started to come up. I know I probably should have pulled the pumpkin intruders out, but I can’t stand to pull happy, healthy plants! I’ll probably be sorry when they compromise my watermelons! -

Next is our zucchini bed, in need of a little weeding. Jeff has already harvested a couple of first zucchinis from here this year! The plot below the zucchini contains yellow onions (and lots of weeds). It used to contain red onions, too, but they up and disappeared without a trace! (another mystery!). The plot just to the right of the zucchini is my strawberry patch. It’s so sad that I couldn’t bear to take pictures of it - the grass has almost completely taken over and the strawberry plants are just peeking their heads out of it - We’re not sure what to do about it - if we pull it, it will probably just grow back. Anyway, enjoy the picture of the zucchini plants -

Here we have the cucumber plants with their trellises. They are about ready for me to train them to start up the trellises. The fence here needs a little repair, as you can tell. I love cool, crisp cucumbers, especially in the summer, so I’m looking forward to this harvest -

The rest of the big garden contains more pumpkins - there are large ones, medium sized pie pumpkins and small Jack-Be-Littles for decorating around the house. There is also an empty plot, where I was supposed to plant green beans, but never got around to it. I need to check into whether I can still plant them for a fall harvest.

Our next stop is the herb garden. It is located close to the house, in a bed by our back patio. This is my first year to plant an herb garden and I love looking at it and smelling it, but keep wondering what I’m going to do with all of them. I need to start experimenting with them in my cooking and researching how to dry them for the winter. It’s all new to me! But, I’ve learned to look on gardening as a long-term learning process. I wish I knew everything I need to know now, and feel like I have so very much to learn, but I do learn new things every year, so maybe some day I’ll kind of know what I’m doing! So, without further ado, here’s the herb garden (or most of it - see the first picture in this post to see the whole garden) -

Across the sidewalk from the herb garden is my small garden. I usually plant things here that need more constant harvesting - like tomatoes, okra and peppers. The first year here I also planted marigolds in the corners, which come back every year and are threatening to take over the garden. Last year they were beautiful by autumn, filling the bed with orange and yellow blossoms. This garden is quite a mystery this year! I planted tomato plants, pepper plants, and okra seeds here, The tomatoes and peppers are still here (although some of the peppers are being attacked by marigolds), and there are two okra plants (out of 12 that I planted!) The mystery, however, is that we also have two zucchini plants that came up, as well as several sunflowers! This is really strange, because I’ve only ever planted zucchini in the big garden, which is far away from this garden; and the sunflowers we plant are always by the barn, also rather far from this garden. I have my suspicions that a “little gardener” may have found my seed packets from last year and done a little impromptu planting - but I may never know.

Okay, final disclaimer - I originally took this picture with the intention of showing you what happens when you don’t take have time to weed the garden regularly. Since this picture was taken, my sweetheart has done a fair amount of weeding in this garden, and it really does look better than this! Okay, so now you’ve been warned - here’s the picture - (oh, I’m so embarrassed!)

Our final stop on the garden tour isn’t really a garden, but they are edible! Here is a picture of my very first blackberries ripening. These bushes are planted along the outside of the white picket fence which surrounds the pool. I dream of them growing all over the fence someday and providing us with lucious berries every summer. I am so thrilled to even get these few, as I think they are not supposed to fruit until the second year after planting, and this is just the first year! I picked one that was dark and ate it right fresh off the bush - the beginning of my dream come true -

So, those are my gardens. I hope you enjoyed the tour. I’ll leave you with a picture of one of my little weed-pulling helpers from the day I weeded the herb garden -

Blessings,
Nancy

Here is my Daybook for today ~ June 30.

Outside my window. . .my white picket fence (love it!) surrounding the cool blue pool, all surrounded by green everywhere - trees, grass, bushes and a clear blue sky.
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I am thinking. . .about plans for the week.
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I am thankful for. . .the fact that I am wholly and completely loved and accepted by the God of the universe, who created everything and everyone for His glory. I am also thankful for Jeff’s mom, whose birthday is today, and for the gift of her son who blesses my life.
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From the kitchen. . .Spaghetti, salad and garlic toast for dinner tonight.
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I am wearing. . .navy blue athletic shorts and a light blue t-shirt
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I am creating. . .many new blog posts to share with you.
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I am going. . .to see Wall-E this week with the kids.
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I am reading. . .“365 Days of Celebration and Praise” by Julie Lavender, Romans.
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I am hoping. . .for beautiful weather on the 4th for our annual cookout, swim and fireworks family get-together.
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I am hearing. . .ice tinkling in my glass of pink lemonade, air conditioner running, the movie “Eight Below” playing, and various children talking.
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Around the house. . .so many piles of laundry to be put away, first fruits from my garden - ripe tomatoes on my kitchen windowsill and fresh zucchini on the kitchen island, and many children’s blankets, sleeping bags and pillows strewn about the living room due to their necessary camping out there the past few nights due to the broken a/c upstairs (they can’t come to fix it until Thursday, so they’ll be camping out a few more nights it seems).
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One of my favorite things. . .homemade ice cream on the 4th of July.
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A few plans for the rest of the week. . .horseback lesson tonight for Laura, go to the movies with the kids, get ready for the 4th of July family party this Friday, sit around and wait for the a/c repairman and the internet repairman, Ladies Bible Study, a baby shower for a friend and the always fun and fantabulous 4th of July celebration!!!
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Here is a picture thought I am sharing. . .

(look for a recipe featuring these beauties coming up in a few days)

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Interested in reading more Daybook entries? Visit Peggy at The Simple Woman for the entire list of Daybook participants this week.

Blessings,
Nancy

(picture courtesy of Corbis)

We sang this beautiful hymn today at church. The words touched my heart so much that I wanted to share them here. May this be a blessing to you this Lord’s Day.

Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my moments and my days -
Let them flow in ceaseless praise,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee,
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee,
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold -
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose,
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

Take my love - my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee,
Ever, only, all for Thee.

Take my will and make it Thine -
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart - it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

The text of this hymn was written by Frances Ridley Havergal
The music was written by Henry A. Cesar Malan

Blessings,
Nancy

Last Wednesday night was our monthly Keepers of the Faith meeting at church. The topic of study this month for the girls was candy-making! We met in the kitchen, where a lovely table was set up with samples of homemade chocolates, books about candy, strawberries with chocolate dipping sauce, dipped pretzels, candles and baskets of candy-making items.

The girls were taught some of the history of candy and played a fun timeline game for candy prizes based on that history.

Next they learned how to make molded candy from candy melts, and actually each got to make some. It was a very simple process -

1. Melt candy melts for 30 seconds in the microwave, stir, and melt 30 seconds more.

2. Spoon into molds, and tap mold on counter to release air bubbles.

3. Place in freezer until solid.

4. Eat and enjoy!

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Here is a picture of some of the girls filling their molds with chocolate -

We learned that there are many different colors and flavors of candy melts available at the craft store, as well as a wide variety of candy molds for all occasions. It was a really fun night and everyone enjoyed eating the work of their hands.

Here’s one little boy who thought it was a great night. I turned my back for a second and he stuffed some chocolate in his mouth and then proceeded to give me the “cat who ate the canary” look -

The boys had a fun night too - they went off to someone’s home to learn about horses, where they each had the opportunity to ride for a bit as well as learn about horses and their care.

I am signed up to teach the girls next month - and I have no idea yet what I am going to teach them - EEK!!!! Time to start working on that one.

Blessings,
Nancy

I walked around the yard with my camera and thought I’d share some of the beautiful flowers that are blooming right now in our little neck of the woods.

As you can see, the crepe myrtles are in full bloom and really gorgeous this year -

These are our Daylilies - there are four yellow bushes and one peach - lovely! -

Here is one of the three sage bushes that are still waiting to be planted in the ground. I am going to love having these bushes with their sweet purple flowers -

Here are two of our Rose of Sharon bushes. The pictures don’t show the colors as beautifully as they are - the first one is a lovely purple and the second a light baby pink (my favorite). We also have several bright pink ones that I didn’t photograph this time -

This is a small bunch of interesting flowers that I found at the nursery and planted by the porch. I don’t remember what they’re called, but the blooms look like strawberries! -

Finally, on this day anyway, there is what we affectionately refer to as “the Monster”. I don’t know the name of this one either, but it is a huge bush that grows back bigger every year, even with cutting back - hence the name. It blooms with many pretty purple blooms all over it -

I took some pictures of how the garden is coming along as well, which I will share with you in another post. So glad you could stroll around the yard with me today!

Blessings,
Nancy

(photo courtesy of Corbis)

There is another sweet new life to celebrate today!!! Kim C from Life in a Shoe (see blogroll to the right) has delivered a beautiful new baby girl just this morning!! Be sure to hop over to her blog and wish her well! She has already posted pictures and details on the birth. Congratulations Kim and Perry and your whole beautiful family!! She is simply precious!

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. . .” -Psalm 127: 3-5a

Blessings,
Nancy