The Beehive Challenge

Today, September 23rd, 2014 marks the start of a new approach for this small little blog. Today is the launch of something that has been in the works for quite a while, but it has never felt right to start until today.

And now for a drum roll please!!!!

I Introduce to You!

The Beehive Challenge 

 (linked above)

This idea has been something that I've been toying with for quite a while. A couple years ago, the LDS church came out a publication recognizing 100 years of Girls' Camp. In this publication, they listed some of the goals that girls of the early 1920  accomplished through the Beehive Girls Program (similar to the original design of Girl Scouts or Campfire Girls).

Girls would learn skills in any area that interested them and would come together to discuss what they learned, share their knowledge, delight in the joys of womanhood (WO-MAN-HO), and fellowship together to give praise to the Lord.

As the times changed, so did the program. Eventually it was no longer relevant to the needs of the girls in the world and so it became a memory to the few left who participated. The program was replaced by the Personal Progress program (which most LDS ladies today have grown up with). Personal Progress has also taken many forms. Today it focuses mainly on finding your relationship with God and making your own path to Him through the of learning life skills and offering service to others. Where this Program is wonderful and commendable in its own right, there seems to be something in regards to the completeness and well rounded person that is idealized in the goals of the Beehive Girls. Where Personal Progress is a wonderful tool (I encourage mothers, daughters, grandmothers, wives, etc. to look at the lessons and continue to work on new goals as it truly does have a way of focusing our lives around our Lord), there is something lacking in the general gaining of life skills that are of a more practical and self-sufficient nature in the adult world.

The goal of this challenge is to be an aid used for learning skills that have been forgotten through the last century. The tasks set in this challenge are not meant to be a hindrance or distraction from anything of the busy lives of women today, but rather a tool to help guide a restoration of practical skills. Although some of the skills listed in the book are dated (most people don't need to know how to drive a team of horses, or have a need to kill dozens of house flies because they are ever present), there is still much we can learn from the skills that these young women once learned. Wouldn't it be nice to know which how to dress wounds and clean bandages? Wouldn't it be easier to understand babies if you knew what each cry meant? Wouldn't knowing how to sew save you tons of money by mending an article that ripped or a child outgrew rather than going to buy a new one when it is perfectly salvageable?

That is the purpose of this challenge- to see how much you can learn.

If our call as women is to be as the one described in Proverbs 31, then let us take the challenge and mark how we can improve our world. Confidence grows when people are enabled. What better way to grow your confidence than to be well rounded and capable?

"Strength and Honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come"

~ Proverbs 31:25 KJV

May the Lord Bless you today.

September 11

This post is a week over due. But I wanted to write something special because 9-11-01 was a day I will never forget. I had relatives scheduled to be on one of the flights that had been intercepted, and I know people who fled business meetings because they had a prompting it was not safe to remain in the buildings any longer. I have listened to first hand accounts of the events of the day from people that I know on a personal level. I also remember the fear of living near Los Angeles and the rumors of strikes hitting the major city within the subsequent days.

September 11, 2001 is a day no patriot will forget living through. But what many people forget to see is that through all the terror- through all the fear- God was watching us that day. God was watching Americans rally together and find a cause worth fighting for. Yes there was devastation, and yes there was tragedy. But our country also saw the miracle that God gave us of finding hope through the chaos. Lives were destroyed and families were torn apart. It is no day that we want repeated and it is certainly not something we should cause us to lose our faith. It is a day that we should look at and remember that God is good. That even when we are living in the darkest of times, that there is still a blessing to be found. And until the last believer loses faith, God will not remove miracles from this earth. He will be there to give us strength to continue.

My prayer is that as we remember 9/11/01, we also remember that in the midst of such evil, we found faith and courage. We should not remember that day because of the atrocities that took place, but because of the realization that we had that there is still great horrors in this world and that only through God can the darkness be changed to light.

In the remembrance of a day so marked by fear and turmoil, may you find your courage and faith to keep moving forward and stand up for the truth and Light of the World.

Living in the Now

Sometimes we get caught up in the thick of thin things, we forget to live for the day we are in, and we take for granted the blessings God has given us. It's important to be ambitious and to work to improve our lives- but we can not afford to sacrifice what is happening in the here and now, for what is just a possibility tomorrow. Yes, we need to plan for the future. Yes, we need to make ourselves ready for the struggles yet to come. But we can not allow ourselves lose sight of the good we have now. We must show our gratitude to Him by living in the moment. 

What tale will we have to tell, at the end of our lives, if we don't make the time to be where we are and live for those blessed moments?

God gives us opportunities to make memories. He wants us to find joy. Sometimes it takes a little work, but what blessings we will receive when we look at the Father and tell him we did our best and learned from the trials He set before us. 

We must exhibit faith. Faith is a verb. It is not something that you posses once and are done with. We must show the Lord that we are devoted to His work. 

We must try our best to be His hands. But we can not do that if all we ever do is think about a moment that we do not live in.

 May you find strength in the Lord- in His timing.

May you nurture your faith and find peace in His works.

Let God bless you and comfort you.

Spring Lambs

One of the new animal species we are caring for this spring are Market Lambs.

We got two cross-breds for the littles to use as a 4H project this year.

The pictures below are from the first week or so that we got  the lambs.

They are sweet little things. I like sheep. There is such a peace about them.

 Rose and Sweetheart the day we brought them to the barn.

 

Rosie before her bath.

 after her bath

 

Freshly Shorn

 

 The next day. They are such sweet little market lambs.

August will be an interesting adventure for their precious caretakers.

Having taken care of these animals for almost a month now, it seems strange to think that we've never taken a project like this on before. It is interesting to watch and sit with them when they are calm. I have always had a soft spot for sheep, probably because they are mentioned so much in the Word, but now that we are keeping them I can't help but think how much I like the animals. They are skittish, excited, curious, frightened, and calm all at the same time. I think I would be very ok keeping and caring for this species of livestock for a very long time. They simply bring peace and balance.

Have you kept livestock before? What is your favorite species and why?

Contact Paper

Recently I got my own kitchen. 

However, It needs a little TLC before I will feel comfortable stocking it 

and cooking more than simple microwave meals. 

One of the first projects that needed to happen was putting contact paper down in the cupboards. 

The reason I chose contact paper is because it is easy to put down and it provides an easier surface to clean than the exposed surfaces of the wood. It also looks nicer than the plain dingy brown.

 

The first step is to remove the drawers you want to work on

 

Next clear them out and make sure there are no large pieces of debris, rocks, or food

 

Above show the materials I used to clean the draws. I found bleach works well to get them clean, then after they are dry pine sol is good to condition the surface.

 

Wipe down the surface and be sure to not leave any grime. 

Thoroughly  clean it and let it dry completely.

The next step is to measure out the contact paper. Every surface is different, so I suggest making the length about an inch longer than you need as it shrinks once it is applied, and it can always be cut.

Peal back the corner of the backing on the contact paper and slowly, carefully remove it.

Center the paper and lay it completely flat on the surface. Make sure to press it down from the center to the edges, to ensure that there are no air bubbles between the paper and the surface. Air bubbles or left over grime will cause it to peal so it is important that the surface is clean and the paper is secure.

To clean, you can use kitchen wipes, surface cleaner, and it is for the most part water tolerant. 

I hope that this short tutorial will help inspire you if you need ideas for improving a kitchen that you can't afford to renovate. The key to a smoothly running kitchen is clean and organized , not expensive or overly messy. Make sure items you use consistently are located in a practical location and always put away, washed, and in the same place after every use. Remember it's always easier to do a little work everyday than a lot of work in one sitting. A clean kitchen will also keep everyone in better spirits. The kitchen is the heart of the home, and a healthy heart is a happy heart!

May you see God's blessings today!

The Lost Art of Handsewing/ Embroidery

It feels as though many of the old art forms are starting to become more and more popular as the world becomes more and more gloomy. People are searching for cheap and beautiful methods to pass time and still be productive.
One of these amazing crafts is hand-sewing and embroidery. I posted a snowflake tutorial a while back, so let's look at some more year-round embroidery ideas.

My favorite technique is called Needle painting. The purpose is to use a variety of stitches to make the image you are portraying seem as real as possible. I still have a long way to go, but I will share my journey as I improve, as well as some helpful hints on techniques.
To start off, here are some of my favorite designs from over the last couple years.

 

beginning stages of a sunflower. 

This was a fun sampler I found online.

There are so many fantastic resources for patterns and techniques.

If you check out the hand-sewing section of the resources page blog, 

you will see some of my favorite links to instructional and inspirational sites.

I hope this has peaked your interest in hand sewing and embellishment!

Fun With Crayons

A couple of months ago, for a home school lesson my mom was doing with my younger siblings, we made new crayons out of old broken crayons.

If you are anything like my family, after a couple of coloring pages, there always seems to be a broken crayon or two. I thought it would be a tutorial, on how to reuse the broken crayons. This is one way to save a bit of money and can reuse the materials that you've already purchased.

Step 1: 

Gather all the broken pieces in the bottom of the crayon bucket.

 Strip them of their wrapping and sort them by color.

 

 Step 2: 

Preheat the oven to about 200F.

Line a muffin tin (any size we used a standard) with tinfoil. 

Leave enough foil to cover the edges so that the wax doesn't stick to the pan after you are done, 

and so that you can remove the new crayons once they are cool.

Place the broken crayons in the foil lining.

Step 3:

Place the tin in the oven and keep a close eye on it. 

The timing isn't always exact. 

Sometimes it can take five minutes sometimes ten, sometimes more.

You just want the wax to be completely melted. 

Don't let it boil because that will bring about air bubbles.

Step 4:

Once the wax is melted, let it to cool.

Don't touch the new crayons until it is completely set.

After the wax is solid again, remove the tinfoil.

These new crayons can be used as soon as they are solid. 

 I hope you found this helpful. It is truly a fun project to do with little kids.

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