A Few Things We are Attempting to Learn this Summer...

We have been trying to learn more about God's design for everything. It is like going back in time and trying to get to the basics or foundations in every area of life. I have found that I am often asking my Heavenly Father what is His design; whether it be food, marriage, family, animals etc. It has definitely been very eye opening and even though God is so complex He has such "simple" principles to follow. The day in which we live, the "improvements" in personal care products, cleaning products, food etc. they not only hurt our bodies but trap us into having to work so hard to make more money to spend waaaaaaaaay too much money! When we as individuals, churches, or nations get away from His design we really smart for it and get so entangled in complicated messes. So, all that to say we are SIMPLIFYING our lives. Using things more natural like making our own laundry soap, liquid hand soap, (not too happy with the dishwashing liquid so far), dish washer soap (really cheap) learning about heirloom seeds and saving seeds to replant, making deodorant (btw--it really works!) by using simple natural ingredients in my pantry :) I am finding that God placed us here on earth with all the things that we need to take care of our needs. Though there are many natural items for sale, they are very pricey and so we have been learning what we can do to make what we can... so, that has been keeping us busy...learning, learning, learning :)

A lovely English/Scottish tea time

What a lovely afternoon Kristalyn, Kaylianna and I had going to Mary-Ellen's home for a special tea time. During our special time together, Mary Ellen shared many memories of her growing up in England and the traditions of tea times. We had a delightful and relaxing afternoon with delicious traditional foods. We were very spoiled! Since Kaylianna was sick earlier in the year when we all went out together, Mary Ellen had promised a special tea for her. Boy, did she make it special! The girls received beautiful flowers, little personal animal creamers, and cute little Engllish Lustre Carlton Ware pieces from a collection she has and little miniature tea pots of her very own that were adorable. These memories will always be special in the lives of my girls! There is no way that I can even express the value that the Long's have given to all my children. It is sad that we live so many miles from the children's grandparents and certainly no one can replace them but God has truly blessed us with adopted grandparents in the Longs and we are truly grateful!