A New Year

As I sit here in the quiet of my house, everyone else is asleep, Day 1 of a new year 2012! It just kind of amazes me, I remember asking my mom when I was real little maybe 3rd or 4th grade what happens when the 19's run out? I just couldn't imagine the year 2000 and how you would even say that, but here we are well into the 20's.

I smell the collard greens cooking and pause, what a delicious scent, every New Year day we eat pork roast, collard greens and blackeye peas a fun tradition I look forward to. With all those smells mingling in my house I wonder what this year will hold for the Loudon family?

Last year was a lot of work and toil not bad but just not real exciting. A lot of good came out of last year, we helped neighbors rebuild their house after a tree fell on it. We helped strangers rebuild lives after a tornado ripped through Alabama. We started homeschooling which is a major undertaking and takes way more time than I thought. We celebrated 10 years of marriage for us and 50 for Dan's parents. We made the decision to follow God wherever he leads us, right now he hasn't moved us from 47th ST. We started a bible study in our home on Tuesday nights and made some great friendships.

Sometimes as we move throught the mundane of life we don't see all that is going on around us and all God is doing through us, that's why reflection is always good. I don't know what 2012 has in store for us but I love thiking about the possiblities.

Here's a look at our year in pictures, well I could not get this to load so that's why this post is a week late

When the shadows are long and the days are short

I have a hard time picking favorites of things I just hate it when people ask my favorite meal, I want to say "what this week?" Or my favorite color, "well that depends on the season". Not that I don 't know what I like but I like so many things I hate to settle on one thing, but one thing I know is my favorite is Fall (or maybe spring..see my problem) the truth is I love the different seasons and await each one. But Fall, what a relief it is after the South's hot summer days are gone I get a burst of energy. Sometimes here in the south the wait for fall can be a long one, some years it is still to hot at Halloween to wear some costumes.

This year I noticed at the end of August that the dogwood outside my kitchen window had just a few red leaves on it, could it be could fall be on it's way already so soon? Now leaves can be a tricky fellas and you can't always trust them as a sign of fall, they are hope for fall but not always a sign.

This week however we have enjoyed very cool temps for this time of year...70's already?? Could it be could we have a long fall this year, or could it be the result of the recent hurricane in the gulf ?

For the past couple of days I have noticed a sign of fall I consider dependable, when the shadows grow long and the days are shorter. I can't really explain it but when you look outside the shadows are different from those of summer(I'm sure there is a scientific term for this but I don't know it). Now I'm not foolish enough to believe that fall is really here to stay it's tricky here in the south we could still be in the 90's come October. But as for today the air is crisp the shadows are long and the days grow shorter. As Caleb said the other day "mom I'm just feeling like carving some pumpkins" I know son me to I do love fall!! Even if it is just a tease I'll take it.

Thank you Lord for the seasons each one something to look forward to

So welcome fall to my house and feel free to bring a couple of your friends

Our new adventure

So summer is almost over and school has already started back but things here at the Loudon's are a little different this year.

We are homeschooling this year, yes you heard me right HOMESCHOOLING! I know I said I would never home school but once again this is proof be careful of what you say you'll never do;)

As I sit here writing this on Sunday afternoon we have successfully completed week one of home school, when I say successfully I mean work got done and nobody cried.

Homeschooling is one of those funny things that you never know how people are going to react to I have found there are 3 basic reactions when you tell people you are homeschooling

1. Genuine excitement..usually from a fellow home schooler
2. The "oh I think that's great" with the look of "oh I think your crazy"
3. and finally the "well I could NEVER home school"

I belonged to at least 2 of those categories at some point in the not so distant past, I'm sure I've given people the I think your crazy look when they told me they home schooled and I know I've said I could never do it. So how did I get here you ask? I started reading different homeschooling sites on the Internet trying to help my struggling son when I came across Simply Charlotte Mason, now I had heard a lot about Charlotte Mason and her ideas on education but until I read them and started digging into it I just didn't quite get it. This "new" way of educating children to teach them to think for themselves through great books and observation made sense to me in fact I wished I had be educated this way. I'm not going to get into Charlotte Mason right now but you can read more here at Simply Charlotte Mason. Check out the free e-books at the top of the page.

After my first week of homeschooling I like it because

1. you get to shape what your children learn based on what they need
2. you get to do fun things like make Turkish Delight when you read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe just so you know what it is and what it tastes like

   Our Turkish Delight
   

   

So this post is really late but what's new for me?? This summer has been so busy especially this month started with a birthday always a big deal, followed by VBS an even bigger deal concluded almost with a 2 day bible club at retirement home...I told you crazy. Which is why I am just getting around to some random posts for July.

Caleb's birthday always an adventure and new obsession see last year's Mario Party well this year his new obsession is the Green Lantern! Yes he saw the movie and that's all it took, this is his first obsession with a superhero.

OK so party theme is nailed down now on to picking a cake, did I mention this year is just a simple party with a few friends to play and sleep over? So Caleb says "I will keep it easy on you mom just cupcakes"...each with a different lantern sign aww thanks kid - in case you didn't know there are many different lanterns with different powers oh the things I have learned.Not really hard just tedious making each piece but he loved them and now my "mommy guilt" is lessened for another year. The rest of the party was fairly simple movie, pizza, cupcakes, ice cream and some fireworks. Can't believe my boy is 9 years old!! A few years gone by way to fast marked by different obsessions. Wonder what it will be for 10

Jesus in a tortilla

For those of you who don't know we've started having a bible study at our house on Tuesday nights. We have a GREAT group of people, we are all very different and that adds a great bit of fun to our bible study. In fact this week it was said "I always come here and hear about things going on that I've never heard before, it's like news of the weird"

That statement came about because somehow we got to talking about "Jesus" sightings and how people have seen "Jesus" in all sorts of crazy things the most recent a tortilla.

Jesus in a Fish Stick
Jesus in a Tortilla

People see "Jesus" in all kinds of crazy things and all kinds of crazy places except for the place they should see Him. Do people see Christ in you?

As Christians, followers of Jesus the Christ, people should see Jesus in us. Maybe if we all lived more like Him people wouldn't look to a tortilla to see Jesus.

For a conversation that started off really silly it tied in beautifully to the text we were discussing

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

If you are a Christian then Christ lives in you and people should see Jesus in you!

Creating Beauty, Choosing Joy

I know some who think spending time and money in our homes to make them beautiful, lovely places of rest is a waste of time but for me it is a necessary means of surviving an ugly world. I need to beauty of flowers in bloom,birds song, beauty all around to see God in His creation. The difference between happiness and joy is happiness depends on life circumstances true joy is contentment when our circumstances are not happy. Joy is not based on emotion, joy is a practice of choice. When I create a space in my life that is beautiful, peaceful I am choosing JOY. I am choosing to fix my eyes on the beauty of God and his perfection.Beautifying our homes conveys some of the more creative qualities of the God we serve. If we want homes that display His glory by reflecting His character, then it helps to become students of beauty and creativity. Sometimes it's decorating for different seasons like Easter

or sometimes it's just a simple vase of flowers sometimes it's a new center piece for the table or a new plant for the garden and most times it's just tidying up our home.

Our house is far from perfect and in fact need a lot of work but it's my space and I choose to make it beautiful because that brings me joy. It is my desire to make our home a relaxing, inviting,refreshing place where Christ dwells.

On the table

Ok so I haven't made my weekly menus in forever and it has been driving me crazy so in an attempt to be more organized I'm back on the menu wagon

Monday Pork Medallions with Chipotle Orange Glaze, mashed sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus
Tuesday Belizian Stewed Chicken with Stew Beans and Rice, fried plantains
Wednesday Church
Thursday Pasta with pesto, mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes
Friday Pizza night
Saturday Cheese Night

For recipes for this menu go to pamelaskitchen.blogspot.com