faith, Gathered thoughts, homemaking

Gather 🍁

Having an inviting table doesn’t have to be super fancy . You can take a few things to make a beautiful setting that is practical and inviting.
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The memories , conversations , plans, school work and sharing of life that happens around a table is immeasurable. It is essentially the hub of a home. A place to gather , cry , work out life and laugh ❤️
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I do wonder if every grain in the wood of this table could contain all of it. Would the grain lines of the wood be darker when there were years scorched by fire or hardships ,would the grain have lines wider in years being well watered and flourishing in love or have thinner lines in years of drought ? Interesting to think about what it would hold.
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What ever season you are in , remember it’s just that a season. Take time to enjoy your family or a friend around your table. Invite them to linger and stay a little bit longer. Savor the grain lines that are forming 🍁

“she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Family activity, family adventures, Gathered thoughts

Pumpkin Bucket List

Fun way to enjoy more pumpkin❤️

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Fun fact ➡️Did you know that The State of Illinois produces about 90% of the Pumpkins in the US? We are learning about Molly for our American Girl Doll History Class and came across that❤️

faith, Gathered thoughts

Welcome October


Hello October 🍁

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It’s been a bit since I have posted . Life and everything inbetween has happened the last few months and I needed to  just focus on God and my Family.

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One of the things I have learned over the last few months, is it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to show I don’t have it together . There were moments of meeting with a friend , that my heart was so heavy I couldn’t help but have tears in my eyes. I’m thankful,so thankful, for those friends who stopped to pray and didn’t push for answers . Sometimes,just sitting with a friend in their mess is exactly what they need. 

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Another thing I learned was that I can only do so much. As much as I would love to be Wonder Woman and have eight arms to do everything ,I am not. Ofcourse , trying to reconcile that with my type A attitude was the hardest.To do what I can do to the fullest each day and let everything else fall away meant there where times the list didn’t get done. The dishes were left in the sink , we had cereal for dinner or the project got put on hold. It was uncomfortable but guess what it was OK. 

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It did help me appreciate each new morning . New day , new opportunities. Appreciate the power of prayer and friends that have walked with my family . 

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No matter where you find yourself on this October day .. I pray that you will be able to live today to the fullest, let go of what needs to be let go of and  connect with a friend. Life is so much better when we share it with others 🍁

family adventures, pnw

Clamming Adventure

We recently met up with friends who taught us how to do clamming.
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It’s pretty amazing that you can go out and use these suction rockets and find clams.
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We lasted maybe 10 minutes in the wind and rain before we were ready to head back but bucket list item crossed off! Yay!!

homeschooling

Spring Farmers Market

Our Homeschool Coop hosted a Farmers Market this past week and the littles had fun making items for it.
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We made pickles , dirt cups, wood swords, s’mores bars and I had several Mickey Mouse Keychains leftover from the 5k we did do I took those also.

It was fun to see the littles take inventory and sell their items. They were so excited when something would sell.
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Overall, it was a fun successful event. The littles are learning valuable business skills and having fun as they do⭐️

American Girl Doll, homeschooling

Marie-Grace~American Girl Doll History class⭐️

Marie-Grace & Cecile from @americangirlbrand was one of our Dolls of the Month.
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The story takes place in 1853 in New Orleans and is full of history, an epidemic, and a friendship that transcended all social barriers at that time.

Most of the people in New Orleans at that time spoke French so it was fun learning a little french and speaking it at our tea party.

For our tea party we served chocolate drizzled croissants , scones and walnuts ( for our take on pralines)

We played a game from American Girl instead of doing the vocabulary bingo and the girls loved it!

The girls then decorated masquerade mask for their dolls and for themselves.

Such a fun day!
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Resource links below ⬇️


http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135703if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_CostumeSearch.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135712if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_Fans.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135724if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_FrenchLesson.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135748if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_TheaterNight.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20130829071546if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com:80/media/Spring2012/Mystery%20Event%20Kit%202012/CrossGrid.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20130829071845if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com:80/media/Spring2012/Mystery%20Event%20Kit%202012/CircusSquares.pdf

http://4littlepiglets.blogspot.com/2013/03/american-girl-lapbook.html?m=1

http://www.usa-printables.com/50_States/LA/la-pics/louisiana-map-01.gif


http://allfreeprintable.com/cont/gms/pdf/mardigr-triv.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135734if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_MarketGame.pdf

faith, Gathered thoughts

National Day of Prayer

One of the truths that keep popping up in the Bible as I read through it , is how powerful prayer is.
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I have recently been reading through David’s life and came across this example of prayer ⬇️

When David was running from his son Absolom and one of his top advisors had deflected to his sons side. He prayed for that the advice of that advisor would be foolish
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And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
2samuel 15:31
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And then God answers that prayer ..

And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordainedfn to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.
2 Samuel 17:14
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This is just scratching the surface of this story and I encourage you to go through it and read the text commentaries @blueletterbible .. there are so many “nuggets “ like that advisor being Bathsheba’s grandfather.. and so much more.
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I think prayer is the most important tool we as Christian’s have. We get to intercede on others behalf to our Heavenly Father , we get to invite God into our daily lives , and we can raise mountains just by kneeling and inviting our Heavenly King into our daily life.