Looking Back, Looking Forward

What a year 2014 has been for us here on the Hoosier Country Homestead!  There have been so many changes.

• Daughter #2 married the love of her life and we got a wonderful son-in-law and two precious granddaughters in the deal.
• That same event made us (essentially) "empty nesters" although, in practice, the kid's bedrooms have rarely been empty.
• Our son found a job that he loves and is turning that corner from a boy to a man.
• Starting with an old 'bus shelter' we put together a chicken coop and, with the help of a niece, now have 13 laying hens and 1 rooster.
• The coop and the barn both got a paint upgrade.  (And everything got a new roof courtesy of an early summer hailstorm.)
• We got a start on the herb garden.
• Oh, and I started a blog: Hoosier Country Home!  "Thank You so much" to everyone who has taken the time to stop by and share in the journey!

So what are the goals for 2015?

• Get fruit trees, berries and grapes in.  We're thinking apples, pears, raspberries and a combination table and winemaking grape.
• Get some additional fencing and shelter in place in preparations for meat chickens in 2016. 
• Get some plantings and other preparations in place for bee hives.  Looking at 2017+ for those.
• Get the barn cleaned out.  There are things that have been in there for 20 years and have not touched in all that time, and we need the barn space for more than long term storage of forgotten items.  We can feel a yard sale coming on!
• Finish the ham radio tower I started two years ago.  It's time to get steel off the ground and in the air! (along with some wire...)

It seems proper to list the things we want to keep doing as we roll into the new year:

• Being good stewards of the land and opportunities God has provided us.
• Fine tuning the garden.  There is always room for improvement and something new.  We want to keep doing learning, canning, preserving and all that goes with it.
• Growing the herb garden.  I'd like to add some medicinal herbs to plantings and start learning how to use them.
• Continue building our skills in making, repairing and re-using.  We have been blessed with so many things. We want to be sure we are really honoring the gifts properly.

A theme of my blog right from the beginning has been that "We are Blessed" and I want to reiterate that as we take stock of the past year and forward to the next.  Again and again God has been faithful to bless us, faithful to challenge us, and faithful to carry us through the hard times.  While I have my list of goals for 2015, I want to recognize God has His own plan for our lives and I pray that we will be open to His plan first.

Regular readers will know I that almost always sign each post with a scripture reference - Col. 1:9-12.  It's a prayer the Apostle Paul offered for the church in Colossi and with each post I offer it as a prayer for my readers.   On this first day of the new year I'll write it out for you from the NIV translation:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

May God bless you and keep you all in 2015.

Mark

Happy New Year! (And Catching Up On Christmas)

Happy New Year to all! It's hard to believe it is 2015.  I wish all of you and yours the very best for the year to come.

I'm planning on doing another post today reflecting on 2014 and pondering 2015, but for this post I'd like to finish up my 'Catching up on Christmas' series.  I suspect most of you are ready for that.  There's no real central theme here, but I will try to capture some meanigful thoughts.

First an observation: Another view of life through the eyes of the grandchildren.  After all the gifts were opened and we all just enjoying the time together the girls got out things with which to play.  I was intrigued with their choices:  Colored wooden blocks and a 20 year old children's tea set. Baby dolls that belonged to our girls with a few old "Rescue Heroes" on the side were also in the mix.   To be fair, many of the new things had been packed up and much of what De and I bought them were educational toys and books to be used for homeschooling.  All that being said, the toys that were most most played with were the ones that allowed them employ their own creativity the most.  In a world where most things for kids come with a built in storyline, I found that to be encouraging. 

Not be stuck on being a doting grandparent, but I was struck by another example of how important it is to allow the young ones a chance to do 'real' things.  A year ago, when the girls were first coming to with their Daddy as guests when he and D2 were dating, a favorite thing was to have Papa cook a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast with some 'cutie' orange slices on the side.  I've posted before that Heaven, the older of the two, is learning to help with the breakfast making and LOVES to do so.  She's now to the point were I get the things out (eggs, butter, a bowl, small frying pan, etc.) and she does it all herself under Papa's supervision.  She also makes sure she gets to do the dishes after, which in our house is scrubbing the pans and loading the rest in the dishwasher.  The only exception is that Papa lights the stove and peals the cuties.  I'm not ashamed to say her simple accomplishments make for a proud Papa.

No discussion of Christmas should end without a taking the time to remember the reason for it all:  The advent of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.  For many, many years our Church has done a Christmas Eve candle light service.  We try to do new things each year, but there is always music and singing, a short message, and concludes with the lighting of candles that each person (something like age 10 and up) gets as they come in.  This year one the new things was a short, simply illustrated video with Paul Harvey reading "The Man and the Birds".  The original author is unknown, but Mr. Harvey regularly included it in his radio program on or around Christmas.  It was first time I remember hearing it and it has made a clear impression on me.  I include it here hoping you will enjoy as much as I.

Our protagonist is not a scrooge. In fact he was a kind, and quite decent, mostly good man. Honest in his dealings and generous to his family, he was commonly received as a man of good values.
But, he could never bring himself to believe the story of Christ. The incarnation, the God born a man by virgin birth… It just didn’t make sense to him, and he was too honest a man to feign devotion to a story he could not accept. The story of Jesus, God coming to Earth as a man, simply didn’t add up in his mind.
And so one Christmas, feeling his pretense of devotion had thoroughly run its course, he told his wife he would not be going with the family to Church.
“I’m sorry to upset you,” he explained, “but I would simply feel like a hypocrite.” He told her that he would stay at home, and wait for them to return from Midnight Mass.
Shortly after the family had left a snowstorm moved into the area. Settling in his chair with a cup of coffee, the man began to relax for the evening.
Before too long, the soft white noise of the steady snow was interrupted by a loud thud. Then another, and another. At first the man concluded someone must have been throwing snowballs against his living room window, but upon peering out from behind the blinds his yard appeared quite empty.
Reluctantly venturing outside, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the falling snow, just beneath his living room window. Having been caught in the storm the desperate birds were trying in vain to fly through the large landscape window.
Being the decent man that he was, he knew he couldn’t leave the stranded birds to freeze in the night storm, and resolved to find a solution. It was just then that he thought of the barn where his children stabled their pony. It would be warm, sheltered, and safe… If he could get the birds into it.
Quickly he put on a jacket and galoshes, and began trekking through the snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on the light; but the birds did not fly in.
Thinking that food might entice them, he hurried back to the house and retrieved some bread crumbs. Sprinkling the crumbs in the snow, the man made a trail to the warmly lit doorway of the stable.
But still, the birds vainly fought the cold beneath his living room window.
He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by waving his arms and walking around them. But nothing worked. As he approached, they scattered in almost every direction, and as soon as he retreated back they resumed their hopeless attempts to fly through his living room window.
The man realized that the birds were simply too afraid of him. To them, after all, he was a giant and terrifying creature. ‘If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me – that I’m not trying to hurt them. But how?”
Any move he made simply confused, and frightened them.
“If only I could let them know I want them to be safe,” he said allowed. “If only I could be a bird, and mingle with them and speak their language, I could let them know that I mean them no harm. I could show them the way to the safe warm barn, but...” realization seemed to wash over him, “but I guess I would have to be one of them; so that they could see, and hear, and understand.”
At that moment the church bells began to ring through the dense cold. He stood there listening to the bells, Adeste Fidelis. Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.


We have ALL been blessed!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Catching Up on Christmas - Time at the Dining Room Table

Another Christmas tradition on the Hoosier Country Homestead is taking time out just to be together.  It's a deliberate thing that doesn't just happen: It's something we "make time for".  As in most homes, I suppose, the dining room table is the center of many of our together-times.  Meals are shared there, business is conducted there, cookies are made there, Bible reading is done there, projects are completed there, games are played there, and puzzles are worked there.  Ours is a bit larger than average at 7'5" x 5'2" so there's plenty of room for everything and everyone.  It's a plate glass top over a hand forged (by a brother-in-law) wrought iron base and wasn't even supposed to be a dining room table when it was started.  The wooden door below the glass was the door to De's room growing up.  That story with all the details will have to wait for another post.

Where much our of living is done.  You can see the start of a 1500 piece puzzle on the right.

 
Part of our family time is working picture puzzles.  Each year we get at least one new 1000+ piece puzzle and work it up.  We usually end up working two or three spread out over a couple of weeks as family comes and goes.  When a puzzle is underway we usually just work around it. When mealtime comes a place mat goes down and we eat over the top of it!  The nice thing about a puzzle is you can work it and talk and laugh and drink your tea, coffee, cocoa or wine all at the same time. Usually two or three can work at once.  You can come and go as you please (or when you need a break), let someone else work the puzzle, or just hang out on the other side of the table.  There are always the jokes that a small pile of pieces "don't go with this puzzle" (they always do) or pieces that are "missing" (usually not, or found under a place mat or on the floor). As with the cookies, it's not the completed puzzle that makes doing it worth-while: Its the time we spend together that makes it special.

Fannie Mae's General Store - Lot's of work in this one!

This year we played games with the girls (which included some work on letters and numbers) at the table.  Age appropriate games with them are such a hoot!

Playing a "matching" game.  Harmony knows where to find the match!

A new tradition (2nd year) is making a molded chocolate Christmas house, although this is actually done around Thanksgiving time.  It's similar to a gingerbread house, only made with chocolate and decorated with candy.  This is De's thing and fits well with her doll house hobby.  You can see a couple of her 1/2 scale houses and part of a castle in the backgrounds.  (There are 50+ dollhouses and room boxes scattered around the house.  You can see her latest project at De-Lightful Minis  )

Somebody is snitching the decorations!

Grandma helps with the 'glue'

Getting the roof just right.

Tada!  The final product!

How wonderful it is to come together and just 'be family'!  These times are so precious to us and are a part of what makes the Christmas holiday so special for all of us.  We are blessed!

Tomorrow:  Happy New Year! And the last of the 'Catching Up' series.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Catching up on Christmas - More on Cookie Baking!

De came up with a couple of other Christmas cookie baking pics we thought would be good to add...

Christmas Cookie baking in 1996.  Not the first year, but one of the most fun.

Christmas Cookie Baking 2014 - Same kitchen.  The three on the left are same three as above, in the same order.

 Another couple of interesting tidbits: 

• The little blonde girl in the 2014 pic is wearing the very same apron as the little blonde girl in the 1996 pic.
• The little blonde girl in the 2014 pic is being held by her step-mom: The little blonde girl in the 1996 pic.

Gotta love it!

 Col. 1:9-12
Mark

Catching up on Christmas - Cookie Baking!

One of the favorite holiday traditions on the Hoosier Country Homestead is cookie baking.  Each year we pick a day when everyone is home and we bake Christmas cookies.  Usually there are two or three kinds of cookies on the menu, but the 'secret' ingredient is not a special almond extract or red-and-green sprinkles.  It's family.  The only really special thing about the cookies is that making them is a family project.  De and I have done this since the oldest (now 26) was just big enough to stand on a chair and handle her own bit of dough.  This year was special because we got to be part of the very first time the two new granddaughters have had the opportunity to participate.  That made a wonderful tradition even more precious.

I struggled to 'pare down' my collection of pictures.  There are still a lot, so here goes:

The process starts, as one would expect, with mixing the dough.  This year De, Daughter #1 (D1) and the Son (S) handled that part of the job.

There were sugar cookies, a wheat-free Gingerbread, and wheat-free spritz cookies.  With the dough made and chilling, the sugar cookie "production line" was set up on the table and rest of the family was summoned to the task.  Let the fun begin!

The parchment paper is put down, the cookie cutters are set in place, and finally the dough is delivered.  Here D1 and S delivery the 'goods' to D2 and the two granddaughters waiting at the table.

With the dough rolled out its time for the cookie cutting to begin.  What fun it was to see the two young ones all covered  with flour and punching out cookies for the very first time!

De makes sure the "production line" doesn't get backed up and keeps the cookies going in and out of oven.  During baking, the support crew gets to take a break.









Son-in-Law (SIL) and S get a moment to rest while the cookie cutting continues.

You all know how hard the job of "Photo Documentarian" can be :) so I take the opportunity for a quick rest.  This and bath time (Grandma's job) are one of the few times I'm sitting and don't have a little girl or two in my lap - Not that I'm complaining!


Even Zyla decides it's time for little siesta.

With cookies out of oven and cooled the decorating process can begin. Frosting the cookies and getting the right 'sprinkles' on put the finishing touches on the project.









Everyone helps with the frosting chores.  We carefully explain that one of the key tenets of cookie making is that any cookie broken by a real and true accident can be consumed on the spot, but breaking cookies on purpose violates the rules.  I'm not entirely certain this bit of confectionery law was carefully adhered to (by anyone) but we had plenty of cookies when we were done so I guess it all worked out.

With frosting underway it was time to start with the sprinkles!  In the eyes of a child, as well as some 'big kids' you can never have too many sprinkles!

The final tidbit of cookie making jurisprudence is one we had to watch a bit more carefully.  "You can't lick the frosting knife or eat the left-over sprinkles until AFTER the last cookie is done."  I think D2 and SIL would have been fine with the more straightforward "You can't lick the frosting knife or eat the sprinkles.", but once Papa had spoken the former into cookie making law, it was too late to rescind it!

When it was all said and done, we ended up with a nice batch of cookies.  They tasted great and (thankfully) some were sent home with everyone involved.  But the cookies were really just a byproduct: They'll last a few days at most.  The memories of another Christmas spent together laughing, doing, and just enjoying family last a lifetime.  This is the stuff that 'family' is made of, and we are sooo blessed to have been entrusted with this one.  We thank the Lord for what He has given us, and pray we are honoring Him with our care of it.

Col. 1:9-12

Mark

Catching up on Christmas - Family Gatherings

Merry Christmas to all!!  I know, I know, I'm 4 days behind.  Bad practice for an aspiring blogger, but somewhat in my defense we've been busy living Christmas and have not been good about sharing it with the on-line family.  I don't go back to my 'day job' until the 5th, so over the next week I'll be "catching up on Christmas".  I'll be sharing pictures where I have them, and simply narrating our family's activity and traditions where I don't.

I'll be sharing about family gatherings, Church activities, cookie baking, puzzle making, and some perspectives on what really matters.  If you get bored you can tune me out (there is that "Next Blog" button at the top of the main page!), but for the next few days I'll be generating a series of posts reflecting on holiday happenings at the Hoosier County Homestead.

**************

Let's start with family gatherings:  Family gatherings are a big deal at the Hoosier Country Homestead, whether they are held here or elsewhere.  We have gotten to the point where, between families, Church, and Church Small Group, there are so many gatherings we need to spread them out, and our generation has gotten to the point where we are ready to let the days surrounding Christmas Day be the busy ones so the day can be quiet(er) and more reflective.

Mark and De at her family gathering

To that end, the family gathering for De's family was held on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas at one of her brother's homes.  They have a place large enough to comfortably accommodate everyone.  It's the smallest of the family gatherings and, with 6 not able to make it, came in at 14 family members.  Those that were able to make it ranged from 3 to 73.  We shared a tasty but casual meal as part of our time together.  We've come to enjoy the causal meals, because they allow more time for sharing and frees up folks from the kitchen and clean-up chores.  Gifts were given to 'Grandma' (De's Mom) the 'kids' (now ranging from 26 down to 3), and we all had a chance to catch up on family, college, school, work, and the general goings on in everyone's lives.

Our church encourages members to participate in one of a myriad of small groups (some churches call them study groups, accountability groups, etc.).  The core of our group has been meeting together for 12+ years with one couple moving away and several new couples joining over the years.  We now have 7 couples in the group.  Each week we meet for a meal, Bible study and prayer, usually at one of our homes but sometimes at the church building.  This group has become a real anchor for us and we count each other as 'family'.  With some of the kids and one couple missing, 16 of us got together on the 23rd for a meal and a 'white elephant' gift exchange. Great fun!

My family gathering is on Christmas Eve.  Our practice has been to come together early afternoon, share a large but casual, late afternoon 'finger-food' meal, exchange gifts, and then finish the evening at the Christmas Eve service.  It was at our house this year and, with 6 not able to make it, there we 23 of us.  Our house is really not large enough to comfortably accommodate that many, but we had a great time anyway.  We ranged in ages from Great-Gramma (my Mom) at 86 down to 8 months (or so).

As I said earlier, family is SO important for us and we really enjoy the sharing.  We are very fortunate in that almost all of us share a common faith and have a deep appreciation for the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas.  That Christian foundation makes everything else 'real' and meaningful.  We are sooo blessed!

Next up - The family tradition of cookie baking!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

So last week I was responding to a post over at 'A Home Grown Journal' where Mama Pea was asking where everyone sets up their Christmas tree, and what kind of rearranging is required to do so.  I did give her the 'short answer' (something like 5 paragraphs) with the added comment that I could feel a Christmas Tree post of my own coming on.  Here is the promised tour of the Hoosier Country Home Christmas tree collection.

We'll start with what we consider to be the 'main' family tree.  It sits up in the master bedroom.  We  have a family Christmas tradition of having everyone pick out an ornament each year to go on the tree.  When the kids leave the house, they get to take those ornaments with them.  All three kids are essential out of the house, but for two of the three our place is still 'base camp' so their ornaments are still here.

I took one pic with the lights off and one with the lights on.  I'm not so much the accomplished photographer as some of my other blog friends, so the lights 'wash out' some of the details.

There are a lot of 'Babies First', 'New Home' and those sorts of ornaments on this tree.  There is Barney the Purple Dinosaur, Crayola crayons, Disney characters, Angels, and Loonie Toons characters.  There are ornaments for people and pets that were a part of our lives over the years.  All the ornaments have a story and a memory.  This part of 'family' is important for us, and every time we hang ornaments we get a chance to remember all those special times.

Other the years my son and I have accumulated a number of sci fi themed ornaments, so now we have a separate sci-fi tree!























This year the tree is black and all the ornaments show up real well against the dark background.  It has, for the most part, a Star Wars and Star Trek theme.

Its a nice 'Father-Son' thing we get to do together each year.






Then there is De's tree.  It changes as the years go by, but the last couple of years she has focused on antique and 'old fashioned' glass ornaments.  That tree sits in the living room, and is the third in the 'series'.  This year it has blue lights.  Again, please pardon my poor photography.

 

Around New Years, these trees will come down and a 'Winter tree' decorated with snowmen, snowflakes and the like will go up.  It stays up until early spring.

Now it gets a little complicated.  If I'm counting Christmas trees in the house, I suppose I need to count them all.  Here goes a photo collage of most of the rest of them.  De does doll house miniatures and, with well over 50 houses and room boxes in the house, I can't be sure I got them all.  You can see her blog at De-Lightful Minis if you would like details on any of these.

This tree is in the boarding house

This one is in a house modeled after our house.

This one sits with the Santa collection.

This one is with the Noah's Ark collection

This one is modeled after the house I grew up in.  The dolls are my parents.

This is Santa's house!

Just in case you missed the tree on Santa's second floor.

This one sets next to the Nativity in the upstairs family room.

m

But let's keep the season in perspective

For all the fun we have with trees, decorations, miniatures, and all the other trappings.  We do make sure we take time to focus on the REAL reason for the season.

Luke 2:10-11 NIV  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."

He came to us as a baby but grew to be a perfect man, paid the price for my sin and yours with His life, and was raised again to reign forever.  He is my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ , and is THE reason for the season.   May God bless you all!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark