Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks

Bon Voyage, Luke

We'll miss you.

Tell the Pope we all said "Hi!"

Picture credit:  Garrett

Cinderella Add-On

Those of you with A Picture Perfect Childhood will want to open it to page 198 and include this book to your "Around the World with Cinderella" study list:

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal by Paul Fleischman

This is a new Cinderella book recently published in September 2007.  Author Paul Fleischman has joined illustrator Julie Paschkis to "braid its (Cinderella's) many versions into one globe-spanning tale".

We are fortunate that our library has it.  Check with your library today and see if they have it.  If not, make a request.

Thank you to Lisa Tobin for the heads-up.

"There is No Such Thing as Plan B"

"There was never going to be a moment when Audrey's life was less than two hours and twenty-seven minutes. (I had to) surrender myself to the idea that for me it was my Plan B but for God it was never going to be any different."  ~ Angie Smith

Go here to watch this amazing video and listen to this couple's witness: Rocked to My Core

Angie Smith's blog

HT: Cindy

In Living Color

Did you paint today?, like Kim' crew.

Kim is in Colorado while I'm in Louisiana but there has been a lot of freestyle paint sessions over here too.  Since we haven't had rainy weather, I can only contribute it to being a "springy" thing to do.

And I'm afraid we missed our mayhaw picking and jelly making.  (Sorry, brother-in-law)

When I walked to the back of the property last week this is all I found:

Some late bloomers.

The trees were barren with lots of rotted fruit at the base of the trunks and, yes, I was sad.

And, yes, envious as I looked at how industrious my friend Alice has been this year:

Preserving (isn't that the loveliest red you ever saw in that little jelly jar?)

Mayhaw Pickin'

But, to redeem myself, I will promise my brother-in-law some preserved figs come July. 

Last year's batch:

18th Century Chicken Pudding

8 chicken thighs with the skins removed, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 1/2 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt butter in skillet.  Season chicken thighs and place in hot butter.  Cook until chicken is lightly browned on both sides.  Add salt to water and mix.  Pour salted water into skillet and cover.  Turn heat down to moderately low and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees

1 cup biscuit mix, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda

In a small mixing bowl, sift these ingredients together.

3 tablespoons melted butter, 1 1/2 cup milk, 3 eggs

In a larger mixing bowl, combine milk, melted butter, and 3 eggs.  Slowly blend the flour/biscuit mixture into the batter.  Stir until well mixed.

Coat a casserole dish with butter, oil, or cooking spray.  Dish the cooked chicken thighs into casserole dish and pour pudding batter over chicken.  Save two cups of chicken broth to make Kettle Gravy.

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 cup water, 4 tablespoons Wondra "quick-mix" flour

While pudding is baking, stir "quick-mix" flour into water.  Begin to heat over medium heat while slowly stirring in chicken broth. Heat over medium heat until boiling.  Stir constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Pour into gravy boat to pour over Chicken Pudding when served.   

Google Doodles

Like I said, it was a quiet day today.  A day in which we got a massive amount of school work done and then...we voted:  Google Doodles for Homepage

A Vision of the Future

My sons are going to make wonderful fathers...someday.

Simple Daybook Thoughts

FOR TODAY Tuesday, May 13, 2008

(from The Simple Woman)

• Outside My Window... my sister-in-law's gardenia bush and pink rose bush are in bloom
• I am thinking... how to cook chicken for tonight's supper
• I am thankful for... the chicken thawing in my sink
• From the kitchen... I hear Garrett typing and smell the lingering scent of cinnamon/spice oatmeal
• I am wearing... blue jeans and floral shirt
• I am creating...a collage of pictures on a presentation board for my daughter's graduation party
• I am going...to read this afternoon
• I am reading... The Stillmeadow series by Gladys Taber
• I am hoping... that Annie will be able to figure out the word on her own (I've already helped her sound out the same word five different times in one morning)
• I am hearing... Annie reading her book
• Around the house... it's a very quiet day but very busy, school-wise
• One of my favorite things... the way Annie says "Modder" (ie: Mother) when reading
• A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: cleaning house and ordering cake for graduation party this weekend
• Here is picture thought I am sharing...

I really love these Simple Daybook entries. Go here to read more entries.

Embracing Our Position on Calvary

Often, Christians find themselves defending their parenting choices to other family members.

This weekend I listened to a family member discuss a life position that was contrary to my belief. The rest of the family listened politely. 

Did I break the silence? Did I position her with an argument?  Did I grow defensive?  No.  My husband and I are not confrontational people.  That is not my manner of dealing with people nor part of my personality.  Instead I sat and prayed.  That's my style of persevering in faith and it works for me.  Of course, I did not have a child in the room but had my 17-yr-old daughter been there I would have refocused the discussion down a more amicable path and mentally planned for a personal mother-daughter discussion on the road home.  This is my parenting style and it works for my family.

I find that redirecting a conversation is more a win-win situation than arguing has ever proven to be...in families and in the world at large.  Catch your debater off guard by using honey and humor.  People embrace sweet comedians, they shun argumentive hecklers.  Not that I'm good at being a comedian but my husband is and I've learned a little from watching him. 

Turn the attention away from yourself and your family's road map and focus on theirs.  Seriously!  People get defensive if they think you're insisting your road map is better than theirs. You don't have to take home what they say or follow their directions, but being receptive keeps the door of conversion open with more promise than the way an argument slams the door with a swift kick.

Children in the room?  Show them you're concerned enough to hear both sides then, when it's you and them one-on-one, explain why your family has chosen the path less traveled.  Why did you select this path with the thorns instead of the path that was already cleared?  Why did you decide to ride this donkey over the well-fed stallion?

And never...never for a moment...assume that your child will choose the same path.  No two paths are ever the same. No two journeys ever look the same.

Home educating, large families have choosen a different path from most of society and, often, it's a rocky road to walk.  But it isn't the only path.  There are many, many paths. Thank Heavens there are different paths for different believers, for different walks of life, for different strenghts, for different personalities, for different family members.

As long as the destination is clearly the same.

Don't expect family & friends to understand your travel plans.  They won't. They won't understand because they are on a different path with different scenery and other travelers and other maps.  And, even if you are both on the same path, they might be turning down a different bend in the road, stopping to skip rocks while you move on, or taking a detour that you chose to bypass.

It's like looking up the hill of Calvary.  Some people stay at the bottom of the hill looking up in awe and discernment.  Some begin to climb the hill, fall and crawl back down...and wait, sometimes for many years. Some go halfway up the hill, grow weary, and stay there.  Some climb all the way to the top and drop to their knees before the cross.  Others throw their arms around the cross and embrace it passionately. Still others long to cling alongside Christ on the cross.

And Jesus looks down on all these travelers, all these believers. He loves us all.  He sees the trials we face in climbing the hill, and He understands.  He sees the difficults we are confronted with, and He understands.  He sees the weariness with which some of us slide back down the hill, and He waits for us. 

Same hill, different paths. We all choose different paths to God.  Some choose the easier path while some are prompted to scale the harder. It doesn't mean one path is more correct than another.  It doesn't mean one is quicker than another.  It doesn't mean one is more sanctifying than another.  It doesn't mean one is holier than another.

What is bread for one traveler will be mere manna in the desert for another.  Wine offered to one believer will not quench the thirst of another traveler the way mere water will.

As sinners, we must never think we are more worthy of salvation than the rest of our family and friends.  Indeed, we are not worthy at all.  It is of greater importance and sanctification to turn to our brethren and help them climb the hill of Calvary by lending support and a steady arm rather than focus on, worry about, and barrell ahead down our own chosen path.

Every day I recite my morning offering then tell myself:

"But for the grace and mercy of God go I. But for the grace and mercy of God go I."

Thank God for the grace and mercy of God.

Happy Mother's Day

Oma,

The gardening can is from me (your loving daughter). 

Your granddaughters helped with the floral artwork.

Of course we wanted to pick flowers for you but your son-in-law scoffed at the idea. 

"Get her something she can use."

The bag of M & M's and box of Whoppers were his suggestion.

Perhaps he knows you better than I do. 

 

Thank you for all you do.

We love you.

Mark, Cay, Corey, Kayleigh, Garrett, Chelsea, and Annie.

A Little Bit of May

Little Flowers seen through the cottage windows.

Weaving, braiding, twisting, ribboning flower wreaths.

Three pretty little maidens.

Beginning the procession.

Carrying flowers to the fairest.

Crowning the fairest maiden in the land.

A bower of flowers for the Mother of our Lord and our own Blessed Mother.

But wait! What's going on over there?

It's the serpent whose head she crushes.

This was nature study for the day, readers.  It was a king snake ingesting another snake.  It had almost completed its meal when the boys found it and they (being boys as boys will be) proceeded to pull the snack out of the king snake's mouth. 

Gory sight, but the children loved it!

And, being homeschooling mothers, we just stood there with our fingernails in our mouths and allowed the boys to finish their show-and-tell.

Then the finale!  I just knew, when I saw my friend Wendy and her daughter Emma had gone A-Maying, I just knew our Little Flower's Mother-Daughter Old-Fashion Picnic and May Crowning would not be complete without a May-Pole.

Thank you to the boys who caught the snake, who dug the hole, who pitched the stick, who belaced the May-Pole that the merry maidens danced and sang around.

Chelsea's Creative Project this Week

Our Cajun Cottage under the Oaks is being transformed into a Children's Museum!

Don't you just love the twig "peg" holding the sign?

Prayer in our Daily Occupations

"Even if we do not make such glorious poems out of our ordinary experiences, arranging Easter lilies or making salad, we are free to contemplete both emptiness and fullness, absence and presence in the everyday circumstances of our lives.  No less a saint than Therese of Lisieux admitted in her Story of a Soul that Christ was most abundantly present to her not 'during my hours of prayer...but rather in the midst of my daily occupations' (emphasis mine)."

~ The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry Liturgy and Women's Work by Kathleen Norris

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY Thursday, May 8, 2008

(from The Simple Woman)

• Outside My Window... the wind is gently blowing my untrimmed gardenia bush
• I am thinking... I need to make Annie go outside to play
• I am thankful for... my family and health
• From the kitchen... I hear the stapler being used repeatedly, Garrett and Kayleigh talking, and I smell a jasmine candle
• I am wearing... blue jeans and striped shirt
• I am creating... a hardcopy journal of "The Simple Woman's Daybook"
• I am going... to drop my daughter at ballet then to the postoffice and store
• I am reading... "The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and Women's Work" by Kathleen Norris
• I am hoping... that the rest of the month is as quiet as today
• I am hearing... the stapler still stapling
• Around the house... we have a mouse problem
• One of my favorite things... sleeping in on Saturday mornings
• A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: attend the Little Flowers Mother-Daughter Old-Fashion Picnic tomorrow with my girls
• Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Graduating with Honors

We are very proud of you, sweetheart.

This Side of Heaven

I thought this beautiful:

"On the way to the funeral, I was explaining to our kids why it is important to attend funerals, even when we don’t really know the family or the deceased very well. One thing that I mentioned is that we need to be comfortable with the circle of life. We rejoice at births, but shy away from death. That is wrong, because death is the doorway to heaven, and if you are afraid of death then you will focus on your life here and get stuck in “earth-mode”. Having a heavenly outlook on earthtime helps us find purpose here, as we do our work for God rather than ourselves."

~ Betsy Bruton's mother

Prepare Yourself

If your children decide to study infectious diseases and Epidemiology,

forewarn your friends and neighbors that their children might be dragged into your science lab living room and

introduced to all types of weird medical procedures (especially the ones dated back to the Medieval Ages because those are the most gross)

and gory pictures and disturbing explanations.

I do hope they will learn something though. Hopefully a lot!

Our reading of Blood and Guts by Linda Allison earlier in the year was so tame compared to the living books my children have ingested into their system. (See the lefthand sidebar for all our reading/viewing material, all of which we found at our public library, which we have pored over for the past month and which continues into this month.)

Picnic #3

Picnic # 1

Picnic #2

Remember our little friend? He's getting quite use to our visits.

Life is good!

Don't Miss...

the updates on the new Author Fiesta blog and our featured author for the month of May!

Even Starving Artists Must Eat

This is a writer's bed.

Tonight I had three extra children in my home and they were all playing hide-and-seek.  I'm not sure why 6-yr-olds think they can hide while screeching at the top of their lungs but then 6-yr-olds think they're invincible, so screech they did.

And the bedroom was left in shambles which my husband duly noted on his way to bed and which my daughter didn't notice as she went to sleep in the living room with her little friend and which the other daughter could have cared less about.

So, as the house slept to the stillness of a mouse, I crept into the room and tidied up.  As I peeled away the toys and stuffed animals and dress-up clothing and magnet set off the girls' bed, I lifted the coverlet to find the shavings of a true writer's ponderings:  a list, two pencils, one pen, one flashlight, a stack of crisp, untouched paper, two Nancy Drew books and a sheet that read:

Rules of the Tribe

• If you diforce, you shall be put to death.
• Share your tools.  Otherwise, share your life.
• Save the girls in a storm. Then the boys.
• Do not bring strange kids into the teritory.
• (And my personal favorite)  Climb moutains to your dreams, but bring back food each time.