Hiking, Our Fun and Cheap Hobby

  Here in southern Indiana, the weather changes by the hour.  Last Saturday, we were blessed with some beautiful sunshine and decided to take advantage of it.

  Ronnie and I have always loved to explore.  Once we had children, we realized we needed to find something do together but we couldn't afford to take fancy vacations or go out every weekend and drop $100 on an activity.  Ronnie grew up riding around on country roads finding new places and tent camping.  I grew up camping in a 5th wheel camper traveling all over.  So we knew we wanted to pass on our love of camping, but we were too adventurous to just sit around a campfire for an entire weekend.  So Ronnie started showing us some hiking trails.  After the first one, we were hooked!

  We've been learning about the Appalachian Trail through some YouTube videos and hiking blogs.  I've always had a dream to hike the 2,000 + mile trail, but just don't believe I'd ever have the endurance to try it.  However, a friend of ours told us about a trail here in southern Indiana that people training for the AT hike,  The Knobstone Trail.  It's approximately 58 miles long and winds through 3 counties.  So we decided to go and check it out.  One end of the Knobstone is only about 25 miles from our house.  So we all packed up our camelbacks, first aid kits, and laced up our hiking shoes.  

  We loaded up and drove over to Delaney Park in Washington County.  We found a trailhead parking lot and headed out.  It was so gorgeous!  We saw a beaver dam and there was a pretty little lake.  It was a bit wet in places, but that didn't stop us from having fun!  There was a beautiful stream and amazing foothills, that made you feel like you were hiking in a small Smoky Mountain range.  We were have a great time.  We had been hiking for about an hour when we met another hiker on the trail and ask him about the trail.  He informed us were not to the Knobstone yet.  We were on a trail called the Spurgeon Hollow loop.  He told us the trailhead for the Knobstone was inside the Delaney Park.  When we were finished hiking, we drove on into the park and went to look for the beginning the Knobstone.  We think we found it, but couldn't really find a good place to park.  So we're going to go back sometime when the park is in season and find out more info.  

  So in the meantime, I thought I'd share pictures from our hike.  I'm also sharing some of our other favorite trails!  Click on the title of the trail and it will take you to a link with info on each trail.

Spurgeon Hollow Loop Trail

Pioneer Mothers in Paoli, IN

                                    

3 Dune Challenge, Indiana Dunes

We even found some trails on the beach while looking for lighthouses in Michigan!

                                                 

                                                   Natural Bridge State Park, Kentucky

Abrams Falls, Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee

Hemlock Cliffs, English, Indiana

Psalm 121: 1-2 

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

  

Christmas History, Meanings and Epiphany

  I promised last month to write a post on the History of Christmas.  We have spent the last 7 years wearing ourselves out trying to make the right decisions about holidays and paganism.  I won't go into all the things we did feel convicted to give up and felt freedom in keeping, but I would like to share some of the resources we found related to explaining the History behind Christmas.  
  There is so much contemplation over celebrating Christmas on December 25.  Through these resources, we were able to come to peace with practicing Christmas purely as a celebration of His birth and His coming and not to become so wrapped up in the actual date.  

  This documentary is very informative about dates and how incredible our Creator is!  I highly encourage you to take the time to watch it.  

The Star of Bethlehem

  This is a clip from one of our favorite movies, "Why Do We Call it Christmas?"  This is the 12 questions from the movie.  We love this and it is so informative even for adults!  

Epiphany ~ January 6

  Like I said before, our friends introduced us to the Holiday of Epiphany.  I had never even heard of it before!  We have not celebrated it yet, and I'm not sure if we really will or how it will look for us, but I wanted to share with you anyway.  

  Here is a wonderful blog post on the History of the day and how another family celebrates Epiphany.  

Three Kings Day Celebration

  So in conclusion, it's important to remember, never to stop seeking Him!  Be fervent in your search for wisdom.  No matter how or when you celebrate, keep Christ in the center!  He is truly the Reason for ALL the Seasons!

Christmas Blessings

  

     You've heard the saying "a Christmas Miracle has happened"...….well, I'd like to share our "Christmas Miracle" story with you.  It starts out just as your typical Christmas story starts.  Work was really slow and Ronnie had gotten sick and was not able to work even if the work was available.  Derek had ask for a computer for Christmas.  I knew money was too tight for us to be able to afford that.  But I also knew, he could really benefit from getting a new computer; with his school work, some new classes he was going to be taking, and being on the homeschool Journalism staff.  So I started looking at different brands and ask on my Facebook page what everyone recommended.  I was hoping all the while some sale would hit and I would be able to afford one.  

  One day I received a text from a sweet lady at church, who has a computer shop, telling me that someone had just traded in a very nice lap top and they would sell it to us for a very reasonable price.  I was just floored!  I was in awe that something others would consider worldly, but we knew had potential to help Derek, God seemed fit to bless him with.  

                                                                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Every year, I have the kids make out Christmas lists and I split it up and hand it out between all our different family members.  This year, Leah's Christmas list said three things:

A Horse

A Halter

A Rural King Gift Card

  Easy enough, right?  Ha!  The child is 8 and she's spunky, but not a take charge kind of person.  She seems to live her in own little world most of the time.   So if we were even to consider getting her a horse, it would need to be dead broke and not skittish around children.  Oh, and then there's this thing of money!  Typically, a decent horse that's broke is expensive and remember we're dealing with the issue of no work...

  So like a responsible adult, I'm just not even considering this horse idea.  I'm trying to coax other ideas out of her and she keeps telling, "Nothing else, I just really want a horse."  I spent half of November and the first 2 weeks of December racking my brain, trying to come up with ideas for this child to open on Christmas morning.  

  One afternoon, some friends of ours, that we don't see very often at all, came over.  The kids all had fun playing and the mother and I spent the morning talking Heart of Dakota and Charlotte Mason books.  We had a wonderful visit. 

  When they were packing up to leave, we had to go to the barn to gather all the children and she commented on how nice our barn was.  She mentioned that Cricket (our current horse) looked like she needed a friend.  She also mentioned they had an older horse too and they were looking for a new home for it!  At first, I just brushed it off, but the more she talked about it, the more I realized this could possibly be the answer to Leah's prayer.  However, the next hurdle was Ronnie.  He's not been excited about having another horse, because we don't have more fence up.  She assured him more fence or not, the horse would be a good one for us and the price was excellent......FREE!  We told her we would talk about it and get back with her.  So I tried to play it low key, but I was super excited about the idea of making Leah's dream come true.  

  By the next day, Ronnie was warming up to the idea and started thinking about how we could make it work.  By the end of the week, we had text them and let them know we wanted the horse.  Ronnie was going a million miles an hour with excitement of how he would surprise Leah with it Christmas morning.  I'll let the video tell the rest of the story...  

I know that this is all just minor in the grand scheme of things.  We look through human eyes and see no way, we even try to come up with back up plans to maybe suffice, but God sometimes has a bigger picture.  

  I heard this song today and I think it sums up my feelings just perfectly.  It's called "Didn't I Walk on the Water", by The Dunaways.  

…...She hears a voice so soft and low  

He says I've moved like that before,

 I'll do this little thing

And I'll oh, I'll give you so much more.

Didn't I walk on the water

And calm the raging sea

I spoke to the wind, 

it hushed and I gave you peace

Didn't I run to your rescue, 

Didn't I hear you when  you called.

I walked right beside you just so you wouldn't fall

Didn't I leave all of heaven just to die for your sins,

Searched until I found you and 

I'd do it all again

A Day in Our Life

A Day in Our Life...

Every day is different here, between running the kids to their events, kids coming here for piano lessons, and wrecker runs.  You just never know what the schedule will hold for the day.  However, a couple times a week we have a day at home all day and they are truly treasured!!  Here in the Midwest, just like motherhood, the seasons change quickly.  I want to savor each day (even the hard ones) as if it is priceless gift straight from God.  I realize how quickly I have forgotten what it was like when the children were all littles and how busy my days were, so I thought I'd jot down what my days have been like lately to remember once this season too passes.



7:30 - Wake up, check the weather outside, and bump up the thermostat.
  Get a cup of hot chocolate and curl up with my favorite fleece blanket and my bible.

8:00 - Wake up the kids, start a load of laundry, clean out dishwasher.

8:30 - Make a bottle for the lamb, Send the kids out to feed and do morning chores, Start breakfast sandwiches (or oatmeal, cereal, or muffins).

9:00 - Eat Breakfast, Get Dressed in real clothes, Brush Teeth, Wash Faces, and Make Beds.

9:30 - Start Schoolwork (Monday mornings - Table Time: Ethics Study, Family Storytime, Sibling Devotional).

10:00 - Listen to Leah read, Help Lindsay & Leah with Math, Check over Derek's work, and answer questions.  Cleaning Kitchen, prepping supper, folding laundry, and sweeping floors.

12:00 -  Lunch, Daddy comes in to join us!

12:30 - Bottle feed lamb.

1:00 - Finish up school work, practice music lessons, watch educational videos. (Tuesday afternoons ~ Poetry Teatime and Story Starters)

2:00 -  Kids read library books, work on craft projects, woodworking, play board games, or play in rooms.  I work on any projects (4-H work, schedules, paperwork, bills, future lesson plans).

4:00 - Clean up Living Room of all toys and start getting ready for Evening time.  Finish up some laundry.

5:30 - Start Supper, work in the kitchen, bottle feed lamb.

6:30 - Supper Time

7:30 - Sit down as a family to watch tv or play a game.

9:00 - Family Worship Time and Prayer Time

9:30 - Bottle feed lamb, Bedtime


Colossians 3:23~
   And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.