Teacher's Prayer Mug

There are just some things that are so  meaningful that they have to be shared. Here's one that I don't think that I have posted. My son gave me this mug as a gift a year or so ago. Then it was misplaced. Today I found it. He was so please that I can use it again.... and I'm pleased too.

The front simply says "Prayer for a Teacher".

On the back there is a prayer:

"Dear God, bless this teacher 

with words to inspire children's creativity, 

ideas to spark their imagination, 

a kind heart to cultivate their compassion, 

and the wisdom to help them to grow in the courage,

and determination they'll need,

to one day build a better, 

more caring world."

On the inside of the mug is printed, "Be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord... 1 Corinthians 15:58"

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
 1 Corinthians 10:31

Awesome Outlining Curriculum

Outlining (Grades 5-8) by Remedia Publications promotes itself as a "Step-by-Step Outlining Instruction and Practice" workbook. We used this great workbook last year and everyone loved it.

Outlining ~ Grades 5-8 ~ by Remedia Publications

I was originally looking for a workbook outlining how to write a book report and stumbled onto this little gem. While only the last page covers book reports, the rest of the 44 pages teach outlining in a very easy to understand way. Each page builds on the information already covered. My, then, 5th and 6th graders found it very easy to understand and complete one page a day. Since then, they have had few issues regarding writing an outline or writing a paper from outline notes.

Outlining ~ Grades 5-8 ~ by Remedia Publications ~ Back Cover

I see that they also offer Beginning Outlining for 3rd and 4th graders. I'm seriously considering picking up a copy for my youngest who will be in 3rd grade next year.

I hope this post has been helpful to you.
Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
 Proverbs 22:6

Spring Snow Days

Just because Spring is here doesn't mean that we are guaranteed immediate flowers and butterflies. It's not unusual for us to have frost and even snow in March and April. This year is no exception. We got hit with about 13" of snow between Tuesday and Wednesday. It was very pretty coming down..... but eventually, someone gets to go shovel it off the driveway (and sidewalk).

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

13" of Snow ~ March 21, 2018

We had fun shoveling and were very thankful for the snow blower. I didn't take the time to get any pictures of the kids playing in it, and I'm sure that I will regret it later. Curly managed to take lots of pictures around the property and even one of her brother. Here's our Big Boy being silly, leaning in a snow pile. Don't ask why he took off his gloves, I have no idea. Hahaha! Goofy boy.

~ Big Boy Playing In The Snow ~ March 21, 2018

Thankfully, I have pictures from past years. Here's a couple of fun pictures that we took in March 2014.

~ The boys making snow angles ~ March 2014 ~

~ Big Boy is having fun in the snow ~ March 2014 ~

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet."
 Proverbs 31:21

PA Farm Show ~ Livestock

I thought that I would be able to get all my pictures from the PA Farm Show posted last week. That just didn't happen so I will be posting the rest this week. Today I'm sharing the pictures of general livestock that I took. Our family isn't involved in livestock yet so I really don't have anything to write about most of these images. Feel free to share your information with me in the the comment section below. I'd love to learn more about the breeds that we saw.

Jersey Dairy Cows at the PA Farm Show 2018

Holstein Dairy Cow at the PA Farm Show 2018

Holstein Dairy Cow at the PA Farm Show 2018

Pigs at the PA Farm Show 2018

Lambs and Sheep at the PA Farm Show 2018

Boar Goats at the PA Farm Show 2018

Nigerian Dwarf Goats at the PA Farm Show 2018

Sign for Lamp Oil Farm at the PA Farm Show 2018

I do want to stop and share with you this image of the sign above one of the goat pens. We stayed and chatted with the owners of Lamp Oil Farm for quite a long time. They were very pleasant and shared a lot of wonderful information with us about their Nigerian Dwarf goats. In addition to breeding and selling livestock they also sell goat's milk soap.

Goat Display at the PA Farm Show 2018

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so." Genesis 1:24

PA Farm Show ~ Horses

We spent a good deal of time in the horse building peeking into every stall and petting as many horses at the owners would allow. The children had a great time. Next year I need to make a point to go and see the horses when they are in the large arena. I really enjoy seeing them pulling carriages and the children would really enjoy the barrel racing too.

Horses at the PA Farm Show 2018

Miniature Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse at the PA Farm Show 2018

Large Fancy Wagon in the Horse Building at the PA Farm Show 2018

Horse Equipment at the PA Farm Show 2018

Petting Horses at the PA Farm Show 2018

Advertisement for CATRA Miniature Horse Extravaganza at the PA Farm Show 2018

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body." James 3:3 

PA Farm Show ~ Bees, Vets, & FFA

Today I'm sharing just a few pictures from the PA Farm Show from last month. First up is the display for the Conservation of Wild Bees in Pennsylvania. We love to have bees in our yard and we do what we can to help that. The display also had information about Monarch Butterflies, bats and other species that would be desirable.

This is just a small part of the display. The Penn State booth was rather large and had an abundance of items on display.

These are the few things that the volunteer gave me from the Penn State Conservation booth. I am excited to have the Pennsylvania Native Wildflower & Grass Mix seeds. I know exactly where I will be using them in the spring.

The next display that we visited was for Veterinarian Science. I love when they include the history in their display. It really illustrates how far the science has come over the years.

Their display was quite graphic, with skulls and bones of actual animals. They were used as teaching tools to show how veterinarians are able to help sick and hurt animals, no matter how big they are.

Lastly, I want to share the FFA displays that we saw, simply because I think it's important to support and promote our Future Farmers of America youth. I think they did a great job.

Until next time,

May all your endeavors be a blessing!

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"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:28 

Potatoes Are Up!!

I noticed the other day that the potato bed had little stems poking up through the soil. Today I went to examine how they were doing.

New Potato Plant

It has been raining so much that I haven't had to water the bed, so I really haven't paid any attention to it. Not only did it have potato plants but also a lot of weeds.

Potato Bed In Need Of Being Weeded

It's always so much fun to see the potatoes popping up because according to all the gardening books, I plant potatoes wrong. Lol. According to the experts, when you plant potatoes you are supposed to dig a trench and cover the seed potatoes a little at a time until you have covered a mound over them. I honestly don't have time to babysit potatoes. I need to be able to plant them deep and forget about them. (See post and video here) Amazingly enough, you actually can dig a deep hole, pop in a cut potato with at least one or two eyes, cover it up, and it will grow. The last time I planted potatoes this way, in a 6' by 4' bed, we harvested five 5 gallon buckets. I can't wait to see what we are blessed with this year.

Potatoes In The Raised Bed Kitchen Garden

I took a garden rake and upset the soil in the bed. That did a job on most of the short rooted weeds and didn't bother the stout potato shoots at all.

Potato Plants In The Raised Bed Kitchen Garden

Not bad for a few minutes work in the garden. I can't wait until all the little shoots are up and we have a mass of large green potato leaves in this bed. Then our only worries will be from potato bugs, burrowing mice, and deer who like to eat potato plants down to the ground. These are the main reasons that we put up bird netting around this bed.

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Finally Planted Tomatoes

It has been so chilly here that I haven't wanted to transplant to tomatoes into the garden. I have been putting them on the back porch to harden them off. Today they finally went in.

Heirloom Brandywine Tomato Plants

I try to use regional heirlooms as much as possible in my garden. These are Brandywine tomatoes and are a wonderful, large, soft skinned, fleshy variety. I've also grown the yellow, orange, and black Brandywines and saved seeds from each. This year I didn't get anything started inside so I just hopped over to the local garden supply center and picked up a six pack. I actually got the smallest plants that they had because I knew that the weather wouldn't be right for planting for weeks. By that time, they would be all sold out and I would have missed my chance to have some this year. Living on the mountain puts me 2 weeks behind those that live in the valley. My season also ends 2 weeks before theirs.

The State Of My Raised Bed Kitchen Garden

My poor kitchen garden has been so neglected this year. Here is the state of the bed when I went out to plant my tomatoes this morning. What a mess!! The children had been dumping grass clippings into this bed instead of taking to the chicken run. I'm not sure if it was hurting or helping things here. It was definitely 100 times easier to turn over than the bed that had pine shavings in it. When I turned the soil over it was the beautiful black dirt that I have grown to love. Weeding this bed turned out to be no problem because the soil was so loose.

Raised Kitchen Garden Bed After Weeding and Turning the Soil

Happy Brandywine Tomato Plant in It's New Bed

The box that I chose to put my tomatoes in this year is 6' by 4'. That gave me exactly the space I needed for the entire 6 pack of plants. This is a very stocky plant that bears heavy fruit in abundance, so I will need to add supports as the plants get bigger. For now they just need watered..... and for the chickens to stay out of them. 

Raised Bed Kitchen Garden Planted With Heirloom, Brandywine Tomatoes

I'm very pleased with how this bed has turned out. Now to tame the jungle that's growing in the other beds.

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