Painting Rocks.......

The children painted some rocks today. They found this to be a lot of fun. We are getting ready to see Adrian again after a weeks absence. It will be nice to have him home, although he will be leaving again very shortly. We keep him updated with all our Roving through the blog!



Although you will normally find me observing nature I have been studying my own children this week and I noticed the kids have been having a hard time adjusting to our new apartment. I just assumed that with all the places to roam they would be flocking to the door and running out to explore. But after 8 months in the high rise some new habits have set in and we are more likely to find them curled up with a book in a corner. So I have found that I am needing to jump start them on their adventures to get them going. I am hoping that with in another week or two with much prayer, some newer habits will set in and we will start to see a change in them. Not that there is anything wrong with curling up with a good book but come on there are adventures to be had what are they waiting for hehehehe!!


Liam Painting a Toucan......


Anna painting a Swan............


We purchased some new field guides for our nature study at the books store for 2$ a piece a real steal!! But this means we will not see Noah for awhile he will be stuck to these for at least the next few hours.

Hoping you have a blessed weekend and a Wonderful Father's Day with your Family!

"True Holiness consists of doing the will of God with a smile."~Mother Teresa

Au Natural ~Fireworks

We have been having some absolutely powerful and majestic thunderstorms and we wanted to share a few seconds of an enormous cloud that formed over our home and was just an explosive mass of lightning it was truly amazing to watch. This went on for a very long time.
Enjoy the free fireworks!!



Psalm 8:3-9
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Is the Grass Greener on the other side of the fence?

We are still exploring in our neck of the woods........come and see some of what we discovered in our neighborhood today...and share what we are learning about contentment!


There once was a very green Iguana in a palm tree. He was a friendly Iguana who loved all sorts of animals. And as he sat on a palm tree watching beautiful birds go by. He couldn't help but wonder if being a Iguana was really the best thing to be. And he sang a song about being green that he had heard a frog singing. Here is that song.

It's not that easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that



It's not easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky



But green's the color of Spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
Like a mountain, or tall like a tree



When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be



There are times in life when we may have little, and there may be times when we have more than we need. Contentment, like joy, peace, and other gracious provisions of God, is not dependent upon circumstances. When things go well, we must remember that what God gives, He can also take away. Thus, we are to bless the name of the Lord for being God and the source of blessing, not exchanging our confidence in God for material possessions or even God’s good gifts themselves (Job 1:21). When things go poorly, we must remember that God is still faithful and on the throne. Thus, whether in times of abundance or in times of lack, our confidence, hope, and trust must be anchored in Christ. ~by Brent Barnett

I wanted to share that little paragraph with you I thought it was so well said.....And no matter where you may find yourself this week, it is Our families prayer that you may be feeling blessed whether your in a season of famine and your crops are dried out or a season of abundance and everything is blooming. May the Joy of the Lord be your strength. And may you be at peace with what ever color or season you are in, confident that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.



And if you would like to know more about Jesus CLICK HERE and watch the movie.

Pets in a jar and the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly!

Summer is greeting us here in Miami and I think he may have a fever because he seems a little warm? We have been experiencing a very intense heat this week that leaves you feeling more burnt than toasty. So we have been exploring early or late, but that has left the canal not wandered and alone since it is alligator mating season and they do like those times of day we have decided not to chance hanging by the water during that time the alligator enjoys. And we all know how wonderful they can blend in, we have not seen any yet but we also know that our favorite spot is really lovely and I can't imagine an alligator not enjoying it as much as we do. Especially with such wonderful birds and fish.



We have pulled out our Favorite book, pets in a jar. And have been collecting some friends to study for a little bit. They visit for a few hours and then we let them go. Butterflies are hard to draw, they are just such busy bodies and you could get quite the work out while trying to get a portrait.



We also met a Caterpillar the younger version of the Fritillary Butterfly. He had a rather scary costume on with prickly barbs, but in spite of this he seemed rather friendly. He stayed with us for a brief while. We had hoped he would linger awhile so we could see his wings. But he did not prefer our tea and cookies and since we caught him on the run we were not sure what this little guy ate. So we sent him back on his merry way to have a few more adventures before his extreme makeover.



During the afternoon heatwave we have been keeping busy trying to learn how to bake bread, drawing in our journals. Noah is learning how to make dough ball bait to fish with. Liam well the best way to describe Liam is he usually has a book attached to his face although I was happy to see him take a break from reading today and he was drawing a picture from a story about King Arthur that he is reading. And Anna well she is always busy going this way and that. Now that I think about it she is kind of like the butterflies we have been catching. She has been working on the bread making, trying embroidery, watering our new plants, painting, getting into things with glue and scissors ... I will stop here but the list with Anna does go on.



If you would like to read more about the butterflies we have been catching. The pictures are absolutely beautiful.
CLICK HERE

If you feel like coloring a butterfly or know someone who would you can
CLICK HERE





Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27

Nature Study

We woke up early this morning and made some nature journals and headed over to our favorite spot, ready to write and draw about all that we have been experiencing.





The Rovers

Over the fields we go, through the sweets of the purple clover,
That letters a message for us as for every vagrant rover;
Before us the dells are abloom, and a leaping brook calls after,
Feeling its kinship with us in lore of dreams and laughter.



Out of the valleys of moonlight elfin voices are calling;
Down from the misty hills faint, far greetings are falling;
Whisper the grasses to us, murmuring gleeful and airy,
Knowing us pixy-led, seeking the haunts of faery.



The wind is our joyful comrade wherever our free feet wander,
Over the tawny wolds to the meres and meadows yonder;
The mild-eyed stars go with us, or the rain so swiftly flying,
Racing us over the wastes where the hemlocks and pines are sighing.



Across the upland dim, down through the beckoning hollow-
Oh, we go too far and fast for the feet of care to follow!
The gypsy fire in our hearts for the wilderness wide and luring;
Other loves may fail but this is great and enduring.



Other delights may pall, but the joy of the open never;
The charm of the silent places must win and hold us forever;
Bondage of walls we leave with never a glance behind us.
Under the lucent sky the delights of the rover shall find us.


- Lucy Maud Montgomery
(1874-1942)

Why don't my ants like borax????

Well it has been an interesting week in our house. Many days we had thought we had the ant problem under control only to find out they were all hanging out in a corner we had not discovered probably laughing at us hehehe!

My ants seem to not have any reaction to borax. Maybe they have grown smart to my home remedies. We are trying out the Terro it is supposed to be relatively safe and I believe it is made out of borax. Only time will tell. They are definitely trying it out. I can't help but feel a little bad for them it made me think of how I slipped up and ate pizza this weekend and have spent the last 2 days with a terrible upset and bloated belly from the gluten. I imagine the ants all sitting around together with bloated tummies and not feeling well. Oh my there goes my imagination again.....



I have been reading out of the book of James which has been so encouraging after a difficult week.........Dear brothers and sisters when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete needing nothing. James 1:2-4

Here are some snapshots of Joy from our week........I am hoping you would never know we had the flu ....sugar ants.....Adrian traveling.....migraine for 2 days.......and trust me the list goes on!

But hey God was with us every step of the way and when we looked for him we found lots of unexpected blessings....joy, peace, and endurance for all our trials. Was it easy to find Joy in a week like this? No absolutely not. But we have hope so instead of giving up we turn our faces toward God, and we find all these little blessings just waiting there for us, and the amazing thing is we even have some extra to share!


New Muscovy Duck Eggs!


Some Beautiful Farm Animals....


A chance to pretend we are in the jungle with some new plants.....


Some new plants on our patio making it feel so special.....


A new Recipe Peruvian BBQ Corn on the Cob Yummy!!


And some yummy gluten free cookies for my tea time this week so hopefully I can avoid any more tummy aches........

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

The Secret Garden

Way in the back corner of the property we live on there is a hole in the fence. That is where we sneak away on to the banks of the canal where we meet all sorts of adventures.



It seems as if this place has been waiting just for us. Sometimes we imagine the leaves bend out of the way and the flowers turn to greet us.



The fish swim up to the banks wondering what tasty bait they will steal from us today.



And as we cast our lines into the water we are entranced by the beauty of this place. The whir of the cars going by fades into the background and all we hear is the squawk of the parrots overhead.



We sit still and wait. While on the other side of the bank the world rushes by...........



..........nature comes to greet us.



...and the garden who has been such a wonderful hostess, does not want us to go home empty handed, places a few treasures in our hand.



It is time to go home. And we leave with smiles on our faces. Thankful that God shared this wonderful place with us and we feel so blessed. Our pockets are full of treasures, our hearts are filled with peace and we will be thinking of this place, hoping we will get a chance to go back and explore the secret garden again.



Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:11-12

Blogging Fruit and Planting Seeds.....

The seed is the word of God...Luke 8:11b
"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22

Well there are fruits of the spirit and there are blogging fruits as well. It is so refreshing to see blogs that shine the light of Jesus into a rather cold cyber world. Where you can meet fellow Sisters through comments and Pray through posts....Laugh through photos and relate through words from our hearts.

You can glorify God in everything you do! When I recently posted about my husbands job and his upcoming trip. My kind blogging sisters so graciously responded with love and offered prayers of travelling mercies and protection for our family.

Those prayers were read by hundreds? How you ask. Adrian had a very interesting story to tell. At his work there is someone who's job it is to scour the Internet to look for stories related to the company. And behold this man stumbled on my blog and he took the post and linked it in an email as a news article for everyone in my husbands company to read along with other current news articles relating to his company.

My husband found out when he had many people from all over the world calling him asking what blogging was and who were these people that were praying for him and how this whole thing works!

Thanks so much blogging friends for shining the light on over here for your prayers and blessings you have planted some seeds all across the world with your kindness.
And opened opportunities of how as Christians we need not know each other face to face to pray and lift each other up spiritually.

Mrs. Teapot blessed me today with the uplifting blog award. What a sweet blog gift and we so appreciate the kind words Mrs. Teapot showers our family with. My children and husband love to read the comments as well. We began blogging as way to help us stay in touch with Adrian as he travels. But then we received an extra blessing by being able to meet some other bloggers who have kept us in prayer and company while Adrian is away and have helped to make that a little more easier for us.
Thanks so much Mrs. Teapot!



And I pass this award on to Anne over at Our HomeSchool I enjoy reading her posts even the ones just about her days as a mom. I feel encouraged and uplifted as I read about her experiences as a mother, wife and nurse. I like how Anne is so honest about life....I find that really refreshing. Thanks Anne for all your encouragement over here at my blog! And now Anne you can pass it on to another blog that uplifts you. Many Blessings from our Family to yours!

We have a few blogs that we enjoy visiting that we would like to share with you.

Blossoming Where I am planted~ All sorts of wonderful posts~ Great biblical insight!

Lady M Lavender's Cottage ~All sorts of lovely posts, sewing, gardening, you name it!
And encouragement and teaching from the bible.

Sweet Felicity Home~ Beautiful Family ~ Wonderful nature pictures~ Encouraging words

Outside The Box~ Amazing crafter!~ Makes me hungry with her dessert photos!

Tara's Rambling ~ Fellow Weaver! Fabulous Scrapbooker! Great photographer...love seeing Germany and being encouraged by how she uses the Weaver curriculum

My Life and Homeschooling! ~ Great to see how another Mom is handling homeschooling and she is even doing the once a month cooking now! WOW!

Lil Momma's Haven~ Fellow Weaver! Great encourager and lots of biblical insight


Farming On Faith ~ all sorts of great info over here.... She can give you pointers on anything homemade!

Similiarities..........did I spell that right ??????

Here is a picture of Anna and I at about the same age..........I find this to be very funny! I have posted this before on my facebook but I do not think I have shared this with my bloggers. Hope it makes you laugh as well. I never believed it when people said she looked like me until I saw this picture lol!


Heather Age 7

Anna age 6

Memoir in a nutshell..with a side of Testimony!

Well Lady M' at the Lavender Cottage has encouraged me to post some facts about myself and I thought hmmmmm I can do that but as I stare at the computer screen I think hmmmm can I do that hehehehe!!

Well rather than just 10 facts I will give you a brief bio! It may end up being more information than you want to know but hey you will definitely know this blogger better by time you get to the end!

First I will say my name is Heather, and here is where the story begins I will try and give you the condensed soup version. I was born in the United States but my parents divorced when I was 6. I moved back to Canada with my Mom after the divorce which is where she is originally from. I was fortunate I have great parents and my Dad came and picked us up on the weekends including my older brother by 2 years and I would go and spend that time in the U.S.

When I was 17.5 years old and I made the decision to finish high school in the U.S.A. I thought I would probably go to college in the US so it made sense to me. My plans did not quite work out how I had hoped.

At 17.5 years old I was in a terrible car accident I was not wearing my seatbelt and riding with someone under the influence and he fell asleep at the wheel. The car went off an embankment and I was thrown from the car and hit a tree( I know it is amazing I am alive and all I broke was an arm) My right arm broke 2 surgeries and I wanted to major in Art so my plans seem to be going down the drain. But it wasn't to long from that point that I met my husband and my plans kind of took a detour. I finished high school and started college but ended up marrying my husband at the age of 20.

We had a wonderful wedding and promptly decided to pack it up and move to Alaska. So we loaded up our car and off we went with our Parents from both sides screaming in the background I quote "You better not have any children up there" ...meaning they would like to be grandparents but close by lol!

Well we did start having children Noah was the first. Pregnancy does not suit my body at all and had constant complications with all three and loads of terrifying awful experiences that by the Grace of God I made it through yet again. Adrian's blood is not compatible with mine and it is not RH factor it is something called a Kell titer?? or something like that so there is no treatment for it. The amazing thing is I had three children and they did not even figure this out till the last one! I should not be able to carry any technically ~God is Good right all the time!

By the time my second son was born I was not in the best shape spiritually. I had two intense pregnancies followed by a miscarriage and we were also dealing with the recovery of Noah from a serious illness and a brain injury and I was really not doing well with the extreme stress I was going through. And the financial strain from all the medical bills was crippling us.

My husband met a man at his work who offered to do a bible study with him. My husband was an Atheist at the time. And after several weeks of bible study this young man wanted to know if I would like to join in. So the following week we did a study on John 3:16 and this young man who had grown to be our friend asked me some very candid questions about my faith he knew I was Catholic but not attending church. I very candidly answered back that my faith was on hold and that when I sorted all this stuff out then I would go back to God! Ha! can you imagine I would still be trying to figure it all out. Our friend planted many seeds in Adrian and I that day and not very long from that study they did bloom....both Adrian and I surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, and have been blessed and transformed with our burdens lifted we had hope for the first time.

We stayed in Alaska 5 years moved back to NY to be near our family and Anna was born. We were there a few years and Adrian's job asked him to move to Florida so here we are!

Adrian and I have now been married 14 years and in September I will be turning 35. I will confess I am trying to hang on to 34 but I see it leaving swiftly.

We have been homeschooling for 3 years now and have been blessed to share The Weaver Curriculum with others and have the blessing of using the Weaver with them sharing our homeschooling journey here in Florida!

My husband and I are currently directing the Children's Ministry at Mosaic Miami Church and enjoying this new journey in service to the Lord.

Now you know my story here are some facts about me and I will try to think of some things you might not know!

Terrified of Butterflies, and driving on the Highway(still working on this from my above mentioned accident hope to over come this one!)

Allergic to Gluten, MSG, Nitrates, Pineapple, certain Perfumes and Dyes....

I do not know how to swim.

still sleep with a teddy bear.

Love to read..........especially the classics

I play violin (not very well)

I just started with my art again this year, have not picked up the paint brushes since my accident.

I have been growing my hair out for about 7 years lol but I am really trying and praying it will happen this time lol!


I have a serious issues with cookies.....can't find any reason why not to eat them every day lol!

My drink African Rooibos Red Tea with Soymilk

I hate public speaking or talking in general....and can totally relate to Moses... and hope for an Aaron to show up hehehe! I think that is where Adrian comes in he is the exact opposite and a fabulous public speaker and talks well in general. I have a hard time communicating verbally and can come across as shy or standoffish at first until you get to know me.

The last fact about me is if you ask if I have any regrets.....I have 1 regret and that is that I did not see Jars of Clay when they were at our old church (live band small venue ugh! bet it was awesome).........when I saw everyone at church the next day and there tshirts were autographed I new I had regretted it lol!

So you may find this interesting it may be boring but this is me. I love my life, God has been so gracious and merciful to me and my family and I would change nothing.

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Waiting for the rain to stop .......

Hope
Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches on the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

I made a new skirt out of re purposed material that I got for free from the clean scrap recycling center. I think it may have actually been a bed sheet because it looks like it has been washed a million times, that material is super soft. We're keeping busy fighting off the sugar ants, drinking tea, reading good stories....and waiting for the rain to stop.

Exploring on the banks.............

Nature
By H.D. Carberry
We have neither Summer nor Winter,
neither Autumn nor Spring

We have instead days
When Gold sun shines on the lush green cane fields
Magnificently

The days when the rain beats like bullets on the roofs
And there is no sound but the swish of water in the gullies
And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.



Also there are days when the leaves fade from the guango trees
And the reaped cornfields lie bare in the fallow sun.

But best of all there are days when the mango and the logwood blossom

When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,
When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air.

When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars,
And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone.


We have been enjoying our time in between thunderstorms and we did some exploring nearby this week on the banks of the canal behind our home. The children did some fishing and some time enjoying nature. You can find nature no matter where you live. You just have to look for it. Our family has been blessed to live near some of the most amazing of Gods earthly masterpieces we have lived in Alaska where we enjoyed the majesty of huge mountain peaks in the land of the midnight sun. We have lived in Niagara Falls where we have walked on old indian trails and ran around catching garter snakes in the summer sun while listening to thundering waterfalls.



And now we live in Florida where the nature is often tucked away into little pockets within the city. This canal near our home is a beautiful place to explore hidden away next to the turnpike people drive by it everyday without a second glance.



It is a secret garden hoping to be found. It is waiting for someone to sit awhile and allow the reflection of the glistening canal to shine on their face with beams of sunlight mirrored off its dark surface. And on the banks all sorts of adventures are waiting to happen. A dragon fly wishes to be admired. A turtle would like to be fed. Large and hungry fish are waiting to play tag with you as they snag your bait and quickly swim away with the prize and your line is empty. All sorts of birds tucked away in the trees waiting to see if you can guess the song they are singing.
And this is the Florida that we have found.


Psalm 96:1-6
"Sing to the LORD a new song;
Sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless His name;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
3 Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."

The split skirt!

We ordered a new pattern and it came in the mail this week. It is called Tessa's Bloomers, and this is a super easy to make split skirt.

Anna is kicking up her heels in excitement. I think she took them off the machine before I could even snip the threads. She can run, jump, skip, hop, and do all the things she loves to do and look just so lovely doing it!

You can actually barely even tell that these are not a skirt. I think I may have to peel these off of her.

We also purchased the fabric to make the bloomers from Marie Madeline Studio. I have a feeling that I will be sewing a few more of these this week. We also tested them out at the birthday party Anna attended today. It just so happened that the birthday party was at a gymnastics building. I am happy to say these bloomers passed with flying colors Anna was able to do all sorts of gymnastics and had a great time in her new bloomers!