Hands In Farm

Its like beating a dead horse…

But since most have shared their thoughts, I figured I’d quickly share mine

My 2 cents are likely the unpopular ones, but here ya go….

What in the world was that?!?!?! The Superbowl half time show!!! Need I say more. Lets get a few things straight…. I could care less if your black, white, tan, red, purple or whatever color. I could care less if you came from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Germany, France, China or Mars. I could care less if your 23, 43, 50 or 100 years old. I could even care less if your a part of this #metoo movement, power to the women… whatever movement floats your boat these days. I could care less.

Also don’t misunderstand, Shakira and JLo are beautiful women and talented singers and there is nothing wrong with recognizing them for those things. But what in tar-nation was with the stripper routine. All of my kiddos, even down to the youngest recognized the inappropriateness of it all. I for one have no desire for my daughters to grow up thinking they have to dance 1/2 nude in front of millions to be declared successful or to prove a point. And I certainly don’t want for my sons to grow up thinking of women as mere sexual objects around for entertainment.

We could argue the point every which way, but let me just ask this… would you rather have your sons view women as equals, partners, teammates in life? Or sexual objects? To me watching a gorgeous women slide up and down a pole is more degrading then empowering.

And your daughter… would you rather have her use her brain. Certainly allow her to recognize her beauty. But use her brain, her God given talents to make a mark in this world? Or feel that her only way to make a statement is to get 1/2 naked and dance?

Personally I look up to the mom who serves her family with a smile on her face (most days…haha), or the women who worked hard and received her masters degree, or maybe the women who managed to start her own business. I guess success is defined differently for everyone, but good grief can we really be surprised that the world is “going to hell in a hand-basket” when demonstrations like this years Halftime show are being more and more the norm?????

I had been fighting with myself for months…

The opportunity had arisen at work for me to take on more responsibilities, be more involved. Throw myself a little more into something other then a taxi diver, referee, counselor, cook…. you know the drill.

We have 5 kiddos ages 4 to 10. And although I love being a mom more then anything in the whole world I’d be lying if I said I never thought of expanding my horizons, diving more into a career… if only for a little escape from wiping butts, finding shoes, or making a dinner no one ends up eating.

I certainly know I’m lucky, blessed. That some would do anything to have this abundance of little people needing something all the time, all day long, every day. And yet I had found myself in a funk. Seriously contemplating giving more and more at work to escape some of the craziness, mundane-ness (if thats even a word) at home.

And then one of the most simplest, maybe to some, even a trivial little thing happened. I was working from home one particular morning and came up the steps to check that all the kids were up and moving for school. And there was my 6 year old, quietly crying while trying to get the butter to spread on her toast. So simple, but it hit me like a cider block! At face value it was just butter, and a little piece of toast, but in reality it was a 6 year old trying to manage a busy school morning on her own. And just like that my priorities snapped right back into place.

Yes, you can be a career women and a mom all at the same time. Many women do and do it exceptionally well. And of course everyone needs to do something for themselves from time to time. However for me, I knew I couldn’t do full fledged career, and motherhood…. and do them both well. These kiddos are mine only for a short time. Of course they hear often that I love them, but serving them in all I do and being present as much as I can be is the career I’ve been called to at this time in my life. I still don’t do it joyfully ALL THE TIME, but going into parenthood with an attitude that servant-hood is more of a privilege and less of a burden has made difference.

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love”. Galations 5:13

Every now and then its good to take a step back and evaluate how you’ve been doing something and the reasons or even the method of doing it. And so we’ve decided to take a step back from our soap making…. for a time at least. And instead dabble in a little lotion making.

The recipe simple, ingredients all natural and product chemical free.

1/2 cup Sweet Almond oil, 1/4 cup Coconut oil, 1/4 cup of beeswax, 1 tsp of Vitamin E oil, and 1 tablespoon of Shea butter.

Heat the ingredients together in a double boiler and ta daa. Your left with a very soothing lotion, great for the extra dry skin that rears its ugly head in these bitter cold months.

You’ll likely find the homemade version to be a bit more oily then the store bought, but I’ll trade a little extra oiliness over the chemicals any day : )

Make your own, or feel free to order from us and let us know what you think.

Its funny the whirlwind of thoughts that started at the sight of a wooden sign that read “Homemade Butter for Sale”. I read it while I was literally racing from place to place…. trying to accomplish a good portion of my “to do” list with the younger two before the absolute circus of the after school rush started.

I stopped at the Mennonite house with the sign and for a minute I stood in the hallway waiting for her to retrieve the butter. My senses were overwhelmed. The house was so warm, so inviting. The ladies inside were kind and welcoming and the smell….. it smelled like I’m sure heaven might. The sweetness of the pies they were baking was without a doubt better then any Yankee candle could ever smell.

After leaving I spent the rest of my day annoyed. Annoyed that my craziness would only continue, while they seemed so relaxed at peace. Just enjoying the simple things…. like making butter. Of course everyone has their chaos. Their own definition of craziness. But really what would it hurt to just slow down? What would we miss?

We as people have spent decades making things “easier”, more efficient, more instantaneous, more progressive……… better. Or so we think. And now we can pat ourselves on the back. Congrats to us, we have meat pumped with antibiotics, grains full of GMOs, beauty products packed full of ingredients that can barely be pronounced and our families are struggling- deficient in so many areas.

And here the spinning hamster wheel continues. Not only does our racing from place to place continue, but there are kid activities, after school activities, appointments, work schedules, meetings, homework and the list goes on and on. And I find myself trying to backtrack. Trying not to be so progressive….. more simple-“healthier”. Lets make our own soap so we can do away with some of those crazy chemicals. Lets raise our own chickens for meat- no antibiotics here! Lets get even more chickens and ducks for eggs. Lets do more baking and cooking from scratch and lets research grains that are GMO free. Lets get goats for milking so we can enjoy the benefits of raw milk. All the while lets remember to nurture the relationships of those closest to my heart; my Lord, my husband, and my children.

Not sure a conclusion can be found. We set out to make things easier, but in reality things are unraveling right before our eyes. We can try to undo, go back, re-find simple, but I’m afraid that in doing that we only perpetuate more crazy. So I’d encourage you, I’d challenge you to find somewhere in life to at least cut back. Find some aspect to simplify. Take some time and make yourself some homemade butter. : )

Let me just preface this by saying- I am a nurse. Went to school and got my degree…. the whole 9 yards. And I find true value in modern medicine. Nathan on the other hand has never been really impressed by the modern health care system and so it is not uncommon for he and I to differ in our options of certain things. I have slowly and somewhat reluctantly at times let him experiment with his more wholesome ways of handling medical issues. And between you and I…. sometimes he proves his theory right.

Now please note: what I am about to write is by no means a substitute for a doctors diagnosis of any given illness.

So our latest bout of discussion was our 4 year old son- who every Jan/Feb and March ends up with some sort of crazy, deep cough that seems to last for weeks. A cough that usually interrupts his sleep at night. After several days and nights of using my modern remedies- good ol’ cough medicine, Zyrtec, nasal saline, plenty of fluids, and a bit of honey when he would get his coughing spasms- he continued to cough just as crazy as the day before. There was no fever, really no other symptoms at all…. just a ridiculous cough.

So Nathan set to working on a concoction that I was sure would be a waste of time- he had read about onions helping a cough. The recipe simple really- sugar, and onions. In a small dish he placed a layer of thinly sliced onion, covered liberally with sugar, then another layer of thinly sliced onion, again covered liberally with sugar. On and on until the dish was full to the top. It sat for several hours…. 8-10. It was then refrigerated and every 4 hours he would give a teaspoon to Kale. Which apparently wasn’t bad tasting at all- he never fought to take it.

I waited…. excited really for the evening to come- knowing we would have yet another interrupted night of sleep- and knowing I could say “told ya it wouldn’t work”.

Problem with that theory…. it never came true. Kale slept great- no coughing- not even a little. So while the modern remedies failed me this go around- of all things- onions to the rescue!!