Anybody else get this after asking, “Honey, will you please encourage the boys to get their morning chores done quickly?”

Who knew that an impromptu wrestling match was the proper response? Apparently these guys hear and speak a completely different language than us girls. (And Doodle just can’t resist a little danger.)
 
I think I’ve been schooled. […]

****Post edited ~ drastically. Please read the bottom paragraph.****
I’ve been tagged by Cheri. This is the first time I’ve ever “played” internet tag so this will could be fun. I am to list 7 random facts about myself. Let the record show that had this come from anyone else, I probably […]

Funny thing about that Old Grey Mare ~ she is just not the same as we remember. Yet, she insists that it wasn’t her that moved. Upon close inspection, I realize that if she is the one who has remained constant, then Mr. Visionary and I must have changed. Have we changed, or […]

THE PARTIES
1. The Parties of the first part, Phil and Julie, are the happily married father and mother of seven homeschooled children whose principle roles include the training, nurturing, teaching, loving, instructing and managing the aforementioned children in and from the domicile shared by them, the children, four cats, four cows, two kittens, one guinea […]

I’ve been busy for a while, and haven’t posted, but I do have a good excuse. We were getting ready for a yard sale, then preparing for the Wallers’ coming to our house ~ cooking ahead, moving furniture, etc. After they left, we followed them to another town and stayed in their bus for a […]

It all started when I killed my tiller. OK, so maybe it’s not a mortal wound, but it doesn’t exactly till, either. When the thingy that holds the roundy part in place fell completely off as  I rammed gently bumped the cinder blocks at the end of a row, I knew I was in trouble.
Having […]

During a too-quiet-for-comfort moment this afternoon, Doodle was discovered scaling Mr. Visionary’s bedside refrigerator, atop which is a month’s supply small stash of dark chocolate.
Flower Child: ‘Doodle, what are you doing?’
Doodle: ‘I’m keeping myself interested.’
Flower Child: ‘Well, you need to get down before I tell Mom. You know you’re not allowed up there.’
Doodle: ‘Well, what […]

The rules have changed. And no child in my family is the least bit disappointed. Under normal circumstances, the words, “OK kids, we have a new rule…” are met with groans and downcast faces. This new rule however, has been met with nothing short of elation.

In our family, Rule #146 has always been,

“No […]

I love free advice. Especially when it comes to infants. All those folks who bombard me kindly offer and explain the ‘proper method’ for raising a baby do me a great service. I imagine they have no idea what a valuable commodity their words of wisdom have become in our life.

I do not actually follow their […]

Systems are good. They work for McDonald’s, large families and human digestion. The more planned-out and  prayed-over  the system, the greater the benefit from using it. The more variables involved in any given process, the more necessary a system becomes.  If even folks like the Duggars, who have crafted for themselves a life apparently void […]

Granted, His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9), and there are a myriad of reasons for His workings that I will never understand. It is just a given. We’re dust, He’s God, and that’s that. I do, however wonder if sometimes His reasons are for no other purpose than just a fun blessing […]

Somewhere between allowing our children to be spoiled Prima Donnas and forcing them to be slaving Cinderellas, are a billion methods for teaching and training children to do chores. While methods are outside the scope of this post, we all need some method. In times past, I have wavered between the guilt (helped along by […]

Not everything is worth doing. I know this. After watching Mr. Visionary and the children perusing the Guiness Book Of World Records website and rehashing for me the idiotic stunts marvels they have witnessed, I am more confident than ever. These are people that have too much free time.
Often folks remark upon my choices with disdain. […]