A Simple Fence Experiment for our Square Foot Garden

On our way to Menards the other day to purchase supplies to make a NEW FENCE around our garden, we saw someone else’s garden; they had little “cubes” of fencing over their 4’x4′ squares.  I liked the idea of not having to mow around and inside a big fence, so we got materials to experiment with making our own little ones.  Here’s how we did it.

 

 

First, we nailed together 4-foot long 1×1’s to make two squares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, with a lot of help, we nailed the two squares together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used “Deer Block” to wrap the outside; pretty easy with twisty ties. 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is how it turned out!

Prayer for Children: Wednesday

Before leaving for Yellowstone over a week ago, I started posting some of my prayer requests for my children, specifically, my weekly requests for them.  So here’s Wednesday…

• Be protected from the evil one by the covering blood of Jesus
• Learn who the enemy is and resist him victoriously
• Learn to hate sin and love holiness, righteousness and the fear of the Lord
• Have health and safety each day

Also, I got a comment last week from a reader who uses some different prayers; here’s one that I thought fit well with today’s:

• Protection from satan, from the “world”, from their own misconceptions stemming from their sinful nature.  (From Lord Change Me, by Evelyn Christenson)

An Antidote to Feeling “Entitled”?

I just read the following today in an email I got from “Keepers of the Faith” and decided this might help my family; we seem to be entering a phase of feeling “entitled.”  Some of us are becoming “quick to anger” rather than “slow to anger” (James 1:19) when things don’t go our way!

“Count your blessings; name them one by one! That is what the wonderful old hymn teaches us, and we should make that a habit for ourselves and our children. If we are always counting our blessings, we will be content, and have smiles on our faces. There will be no pouting or complaining, and the spirit of thankfulness will shine in all that we do and say. Let’s not count what went wrong, or who has mistreated us, but let us count all that went right.

Have your children start their day by counting their blessings. Share blessings around the meal table. Close the day with a recount of all the day’s blessings. Thank God for His incredible goodness and mercy to us. Try it and see how joyous your family can become!”

So, since  “Count Your Blessings” is a hymn I actually don’t know (!),  I got out my trusty hymnal and looked it up, but it wasn’t there.  So I looked it up on YouTube and got a children’s choir singing it.  (You might not like the beginning solo, but I liked the choir portion.)

“Call Out For Insight”

This morning was ONE OF THOSE MORNINGS when it seems like NOTHING went well—mostly because of kids’ attitudes.   I feel like I was bombarded by one child (who shall remain nameless) from the moment I got out of bed, and foolishly thinking that this problem would go away, I just kept making breakfast and getting ready without stopping to deal with a sinful heart.  But it didn’t go away; it got worse. 

Then, during my devotions, I read Proverbs 2, and was impressed with the WORDS Solomon chose to describe HOW we are to seek after wisdom and insight (which I REALLY NEED)!

“…if you CALL OUT  for insight and RAISE YOUR VOICE for understanding, if you SEEK IT LIKE SILVER and SEARCH FOR IT as for hidden treasures, THEN you will…find the knowledge of God.”  (parts of Proverbs 2:3,4,5)

I certainly feel like CALLING OUT and RAISING MY VOICE for help after this morning!  But the truth is, I should be doing that EVERY DAY!  Even routinely asking God for wisdom every Monday isn’t good enough to last the whole week!  I often say that working with seven sinners all day—eight, including myself—is REALLY HARD!  So every morning I need to “cry aloud to God… and he will hear me.”  (Psalm 77:1)

Note:  The picture is not mine, but it reflects how I felt this morning!

Traveling – Part 5: Take Notes While On Your Trip!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been taking notes WHILE TRAVELING for several years now, and it has REALLY HELPED make subsequent trips run more smoothly!  Your own notes will be more valuable, but here are some of my more “generic” ones:

• Bring lots of plastic grocery bags for garbage.
• Everyone should have their own tissue package.
• Back packs that unzip are good; you can actually SEE what’s in them!
• Plan a “fun” meal for the day AFTER the trip so there’s something to look forward to.  (We ordered pizza!)
• Don’t PLAN to run errands during the last two days of packing.
• Have an emergency bag handy for mud and/or water accidents (extra socks, etc.)  (This has happened more than once!) 
• Have a small “over-the-shoulder” purse or bag in which to carry a small first-aid kit while on a short hike.
• Have a collapsible insulated bag for picnics that are a “hike” away from the van so we don’t have to carry the cooler (if the weather is hot.)

Traveling with a Large Family – Part 4: Packing the Van

A major task in traveling is packing the van, so here are some things I’ve learned to make it run more smoothly.

FOOD is one of the biggest things to pack and, in the case of cold food, can’t be packed until the day we’re leaving.  So planning ahead helps us get out the door faster. 

So another page in my “travel-planning packet” has a column for each major food-category to go into the van:  Frozen Food in Cooler, Refrigerated Food in Cooler, Food in Bags (for the road), and Food in Boxes (for the cabin).  Then, using my menu, I list the foods needed for each meal in the appropriate column.  When it’s time to pack, I pack the food in the OPPOSITE order so that whatever we need is close to the top.  I try to pack the non-cooler food a few day ahead, since that’s one thing that doesn’t need to be last-minute.

 FRONT OF THE VAN – Here’s something I found VERY helpful for organizing the front seat of our van: magazine holders.  In fact, in our 12-passenger van, I put a bankers box between the two front seats, and it held four magazine holders perfectly!  This helped separate items like 1) Paper—receipt envelope, map envelope, pamphlets/brochures envelope, 2) My “entertainment”—a few magazines and books, 3) “Technology”—cameras, GPS unit, batteries, etc, and 4) My “pharmacy”—first aid type things.  I also discovered a while ago that flat, 3-hole-punched pencil holders work well to organize things AND keep them rigid enough to not fall all over the place as you begin to use things.  They also fit well into a bag or backpack.  (We used to just have a box between our seats, and while it started out organized, it was usually a jumbled mess by the end of the first day!)

TIP – Here’s something I just figured out this last trip:  On the day of departure, I should pack the coolers FIRST, while Scott gets himself ready.  THEN I can get myself ready while Scott packs the van (because he waits for the two coolers—the biggest items.)  This last departure, Scott had to wait for the coolers, and then the rest of us had to wait while he figured out the puzzle of getting everything in—it takes a LONG time!

Worship and Pulling Weeds: Necessary for a Thriving Garden

After being gone for eight days, our yet-to-be-planted GARDEN was completely OVER-RUN BY WEEDS, and even the perennials had a few weeds trying to take over.  So the kids and I spent some time yesterday PULLING WEEDS, and Barrett even got out the lawn mower and just mowed down the weeds in the paths (which had been covered with wood chips last summer, but you couldn’t even see them yesterday!)  Here’s a picture after we finished; I wish I had taken a before-picture, because it was pretty bad!  You can see we even pulled off the fence so we could get at the REALLY tall grass that had been growing along the fence. 

Anyway… while in singing in church today, I was being REFRESHED and INSPIRED by the words of the worship songs, and got to thinking that CORPORATE WORSHIP IS SIMILAR TO PULLING WEEDS.  Weeds have been growing up around me all week; weeds that have the potential to distract me from my true mission and even choke out my energy. 

Actually, I think I’ll call it grass, because we WANT grass—just in the right place—and the tasks that surround me all week are actually necessary; they just need to be IN THE RIGHT PLACE.  I think that the “grass” in my garden is “out of place” when I put more importance on GETTING THINGS DONE than in doing them in a GOD-GLORIFYING WAY.  How do I know I’m doing that?  –When I feel angry with my kids for hindering my “progress.” 

So singing words that help me focus on CHRIST and ETERNITY is a lot like cutting back the grass that has overstepped its boundary.  I need it on a regular basis, and what a blessing it is!

“Fill the GARDEN OF MY SOUL with the wind of love, that the SCENTS of the Christian life may be WAFTED to others…” (from The Valley of Vision)

Traveling with Large Families – Part 3: Packing the Clothes

On a longer road trip, we don’t pack suitcases by person, we pack by what we are going to need on any given day (unless we’re at the same place every night, which we never are.)   This way,we only have to carry one medium suitcase and one duffle bag into our overnight place.  Here’s what we did this last trip, and it worked pretty well . . .

1. Everyone’s PJ’s and toiletries went in a duffle bag (along with overnight diapers) to last the whole trip.  This went into every place we stayed.
2. Each change of clothes, undies, diapers, etc. that we needed WHILE ON THE ROAD went into a separate suitcase.  (We made our outfits last for at least two days.)  This was so much easier than lugging in (and messing up) one or more big suitcases.
3. We used one big suitcase for the time at our destination.
4. I packed an extra suitcase with out-of-season outfits that we might need in case of unexpected weather.

Here are some notes regarding clothing that I have made to myself  while on road trips in the past…

• Plan the clothes ahead of time like I plan the menu; decide what everyone is going to wear, and when.
• It takes a LONG TIME to pack all the clothes!  (Not a half-hour; more like 4 hours!)
• Don’t leave any laundry to be done on packing day.
• Tell the kids what they can (or can’t) wear the day or two BEFORE the trip so they don’t wear their “travel” clothes and get them dirty!  We don’t have a lot of clothes.  🙂
• Most outfits last two days (except those of young kids), but we should have a back-up somewhere in the van.
• The less clothes there are in the suitcase, the less messy the suitcase gets.
• Also, suitcases do not get NEARLY so disorganized you’re starting fresh every other day or so!
•  Matching clothes are GREAT!  All you have to do is count kids by that day’s shirt-color!  (Woe is any little boy not from our family who is wearing our color that day!) 

(Yes, I actually made a “chart” on the floor with everyone’s clothes.  And these are only the boys’ clothes!)

How First Timothy Inspires Me

I just finished reading I Timothy today, and thought I would share just a few of the passages that I underlined.  (Emphasis mine.)

REGARDING OUR GOALS…

• “The aim of our charge is LOVE that issues from a PURE HEART and a GOOD CONSCIENCE and a SINCERE FAITH.”  (1:5)  I often forget that my most important task of the day is to LOVE my children and show them God’s love, rather than accomplish everything on my list!
• One of the reasons we are to pray for our leaders is so that “we may LEAD A PEACEFUL AND QUIET LIFE, GODLY and dignified in every way.”  (2:2b)  Isn’t that inspiring?

REGARDING OUR ACTIONS AND USE OF TIME…

• “Women should adorn themselves…with MODESTY and SELF-CONTROL…with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with GOOD WORKS.”  (2:9)  I love that the Bible does not discourage us from doing good works even though they are not required for salvation!
•  “…set the believers an EXAMPLE in SPEECH, in CONDUCT, in LOVE, in FAITH, in PURITY.”  (4:12)  I need to ask myself: Am I a godly example to my KIDS in all these areas?
• This one is for widows, but I want to be like this too!  “…having a REPUTATION for GOOD WORKS…brought up CHILDREN, shown HOSPITATLITY…has DEVOTED HERSELF to EVERY GOOD WORK.”  (5:10)
• “GOOD WORKS ARE CONSPICUOUS, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”  (5:25)  Encouraging for those of us who do most of our work at home!
• “FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.  Take hold of the ETERNAL LIFE to which you were called…”  (6:11)  I often feel like I’m “fighting my kids” when I can’t accomplish what needs to be done, but the real fight is with my own sinful nature and the temptation I face every day to be selfish!  I need to remember that eternity is only moments away in the big picture!

 REGARDING GOD…

• “As for the rich in this present age, charge them…to set their hopes…on God, who RICHLY PROVIDES US WITH EVERYTHING TO ENJOY.”  (6:17b)  Amen!

Traveling with a Large Family – Part 2: Planning the Menu

My menu is the second page of my “travel packet” that fits in my homemade planner (more on that later, maybe.)  Most of my vacation menu planning is for staying at a cabin where we can prepare our own meals, at least for part of the trip.  There is sometimes a day (or two) of traveling before and after our destination.  So this is what I usually do . . .

1.  Make a calendar-chart big enough for all the meals on our trip (organized by day, of course) and then label each square (in little words) with where we will be for that meal. 

2.  Plan each meal based on three things:  1) Where we will be—as in, on the road, at a hotel, or at our destination, and 2) How much time will have gone by since the food was refrigerated or frozen, 3) What is easy to make ahead of time and pack, versus what can (or needs to be) to be made or heated up at our destination. 

Then filling in the squares usually goes like this…

Meals on the road – Most perishable and/or squish-able sandwiches eaten first, ending with peanut butter and jelly.  (Egg salad sandwiches, tuna salad sandwiches, meat wraps, taco dip with tortilla chips, then PB&J.  (This goes for the drive home, too, but those meals are prepared at the cabin.)

Any breakfast before arriving at our destination – continental breakfast at a hotel (I know, not very healthy)

Meals at our destination – at least semi-healthy breakfasts , like scrambled eggs, homemade pancakes, and french toast; lunches that we can make at the cabin and bring on day trip or hike (sandwiches and wraps), and dinners that I can make and freeze ahead of time to just heat up at the cabin (beef stew, BBQ beef sandwiches, spaghetti casserole, etc.)  I have even brought a crock pot and our own large griddle a few times

Scattered throughout – since we don’t eat very much convenience food normally, our kids find it a treat to have “special” foods like little yogurts, applesauce, pudding, crackers, chips, granola bars and trail mix.  In our family, these snacks have become synonymous with traveling, and going to the grocery store to buy these things is about as fun as the trip itself!

Next time . . . Planning and Packing the Clothes