I have always been drawn to the simple life.  My mom made our own clothes and toys, and my dad grew a big garden and hunted venison to help with food.  Now, with a home of my own and 5+ kids to care for, my heart is seeking the simpler ways again.  Part is from necessity, and part is from the desire to live as the scriptures teach. 

I am currently reading the book Living More with Less by Doris Longacre.  She wrote this book thirty years ago, from a mennonite perspective, but I am amazed at how her philosophies and ideas line up with Hebraic thinking.  We must look at our life as a whole, centered around relationships.  It is far better to work together, than spend our money on labor saving devices.  The list goes on.  So I have spent much time evaluating and trying to implement change where I feel led.  I thought I’d share a few things I have been doing.  Perhaps you will be inspired to seek the simple life, too.

The reason I bought the book in the first place was because we are trying to cut our electric bill, and use alternative energy where we really need it.  So I have been going through the house, looking at wattage on the back of all our appliances.  Shocking, really!  I am thankful that I bought some appliances that are hand operated, like my grain mill.  Yes, I turn a crank to produce about 4 cups of flour every day.  I have been unplugging things, but I can’t believe I didn’t look inside the dryer sooner.  It takes 5600 watts to run.  In my neck of the woods, that equals about $20 a month.  Well, I can think of some better uses for that money, like more bulk whole grains.  So, starting a week ago, I have been drying my clothes on a rack by the woodstove.  I was unsuccessful at first, but here a a few tricks I learned that you might find helpful.

  ~ I put my laundry in the washer right before dinner, and hang it on the rack by the woodstove right after dinner.
 ~ I do one load a day, which fits on my current drying setup.
 ~ I hang as much as possible on hangers on metal rods Doug rigged for me.
 ~ Diapers go at the top of the drying rack, where the heat rises.  They also get folded over the rod with one end longer.
 ~ Blankets and towels get flung over shower curtain rods.  Sheets go over doors.
 ~ Before I go to bed, I flip everything over that is hanging on the rack.
 ~ By breakfast, everything is dry and it gets sorted into small laundry baskets.  Everyone in the family has one with their name on it.  All the laundry is put away and the drying rack collapsed by breakfast.  No hanging laundry in everyone’s way all day!

It would probably be fun to put 75 cents in a can every time I don’t use the dryer!

We do not live with less for it’s own sake.  We live with less so there is more to share with others.

Shabbat Shalom!

I just stumbled upon this birth account and found it very inspiring.  It was written by a Jewish woman, after the birth of her daughter.  Her faith and confidence, despite her fears, was amazing.  I hope you enjoy it.  I also want to remember where it is, lol, so I can read it again.

Overcoming my fear of birth

I thought I’d check in real quick and give you a picture of prep day at our house.  The key for me has been maintenance throughout the week.  I can’t be hohum about housework for days 1-5 and then magically become Martha Stewart on prep day.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  A good working schedule has been very important for me.  Then I’m not trying to do a week’s worth of work while the sun is rapidly setting on Friday night. 

This has been a weird week, and has shown me the need to tweek my schedule once again.  I planned a trip that had to be cancelled because of weather delays at my husband’s job.  I made several business calls.  I’m trying to get back in the swing of school after forgetting the kids’ books at Marme’s house last week.  My mind keeps drifting to pregnancy topics.  I also starting writing my book about Torah for beginning readers.  This sounds like a good time to rethink my schedule.  I need to block off more time for certain activities, so that I can set them aside and focus on other things, knowing the time is there to work on them later.  This applies mostly to writing for me.  I can work on cleaning the house if mentally I know that I have all evening to focus on writing.  You may have things like this in your life, too.  Try working out a schedule, so that you can put all your energy into the task at hand, and not be distracted by everything else that needs to be done.
(The link in my sidebar, Telling your Time, was very helpful to me.)

What does this have to do with prep day?  You have to maintain a good level in your home all week, so prep day simply consists of doublechecking and putting on finishing touches.  At least, that’s the ideal lol!

This week I am sharing some before pictures of my kitchen and living room.  I will do my very best to post the after pictures before 3:00,  when this linky ends. 

Here is my to-do list for today.  It could have been shorter if I had paid better attention to my schedule lol!

1. Put away clean laundry
2. Bake bread
3. Feed animals
4. Take out garbage
5. Clean kitchen
6. Make sure kids clean their rooms and bathroom
7. Everyone bathed
8. Check sandwich fillings for Shabbat dinner
9. Plan and prepare dinner for tonight, probably enchiladas
10. Make barley cereal in crockpot for Shabbat breakfast

That should do it.  The other thing I’ve learned about prep day is prioritizing.  I learned from Sandra Felton in one of her books, that you do the 20% of work that makes the 80% impact.  No one will know if you didn’t scrub the tub with a toothbrush.  But your baby will notice if you didn’t wash his diapers.  Have a lovely prep day, and I’ll check in again this afternoon, if all is going well!

I would like to retell a story that was a real blessing to me.  I heard it from Thurman Scrivner on one of his teaching tapes.  It may not be an absolutely faithful retelling, but I will do my best to keep the spirit of  it.

A man, happily married for many years, decided one day that he wanted to increase his faith.  So he prayed and asked God to give him a greater measure of faith.  Satisfied that his prayer would be answered, he went to sleep.  The next morning, his lovely wife rolled over and made a simple comment.  He simply thought, “How dare she talk to me that way?”

The day began and again, she made a comment.  “This woman is out of control!”

By the time a third innocent comment came out of her mouth, he completely lost it.  “I’ve had it with your bickering and complaining!  You always nag and talk to me so disrespectful!  I’m leaving!”
His dear sweet wife simply asked, “We only have one car.  How are you going to leave?”
To which he responded in exagerrated tones, “I’m taking the bicycle!”

With that he was gone.  He rode that bicycle like it was a mad bull.  Or was he the mad bull?  He fussed and fumed, and the farther he rode, the madder he got.  Eventually his adrenaline and anger gave out and he fell off the bike into a heap.  He soon found himself in the bottom of a ditch covered with crawling ants.  He jumped up and began to yell at God.  “How dare you let this happen to me?  I asked for more faith and here I am in a ditch covered with ants!”

He heard a very simple, quiet response.  “You failed your test.”

As the truth of this statement sunk in, he fell on his knees and repented for his awful spirit.  God was quick to forgive, as He always is.

But now the man was in a ditch, with no idea where he was, and nothing but a bicycle.  He saw a gas station across the street, and began to make his way there, to get directions.  But before he made it inside, a familiar car pulled in.  It belonged to some friends of his.  They saw him and rolled down their window.  “What are you doing here?  We were just on our way to visit you and your lovely wife!”

Yes, his dear lovely wife that he had yelled at and abandoned at home.  His friends asked to follow him there to make sure they didn’t get lost.  “Where’s your car, so we can follow you?”

“Well, I don’t have the car.”
“So how’d you get here?”
“I took the bicycle.”  This response was, of course, as quiet as possible.
“You rode the bicycle?  You’re 50 miles from home!”

But the gracious and loving God we serve not only sent friends to this dear man, but they were driving a truck that he could throw the bicycle in.  When he reached his home, he immediately ran inside and begged his precious wife for forgiveness. 

She simply responded, “I thought something funny was going on, so I just prayed for you the whole time.”

When we seek to grow in our faith, we must prepare ourselves.  We seek to climb a hill, but our desire to climb the hill does not make that hill flat.  Faith and growth comes with testing.  We have a wonderful, loving God to help us when the testing comes, but the testing will come, all the same.  Sometimes we will “fail,” and He will pick us back up so we can try again.  But sometimes, we will remember to lean on Him, the author and perfector of our faith, and we will climb to greater heights of obedience and faith.  But, no matter what, we must never stay in the ditch, covered with crawling ants!

I’ve been teaching the kids how to use my Zojirushi bread machine this week.  They have been learning to read the recipe and measure correctly.  With my supervision, they have been doing quite well.   So I thought I would learn something new, too.  I have heard about soaking grains and flours, but have never actually done it.  (blush)  I pulled out my copy of “Nourishing Traditions” and decided to try banana bread.

Here is a picture of my fresh ground flour soaking.  I didn’t have buttermilk, so I used the old trick of adding a little lemon juice to the milk.  I managed to let it soak for about 18 hours before I added the other ingredients.  I added cinnamon, since you can never go wrong with cinnamon.  Well, it went so well, that it also disappeared quite quickly. 

I feel like Job in chapter 42.  I am humbled before an Almighty Elohim who controls the weather and creates mighty beasts that no one can tame.  He is not to be questioned and not to be told what He will do.  I am not worthy of His attention or His favor.  Many others suffer great pain, financial loss, death.  I face none of these things.  I am truly blessed with health, prosperity, and freedom to obey my Creator.  I fall on shaking knees not daring to ask for a thing for me.

But then I look up and see my Savior.  He is suffering great pain, disease, humiliation and death.  He has all power in the universe yet He is brought this low.  And then He catches my eye.  He looks directly into my soul and says, “I do this for you, so that by my stripes you can be healed.”

To be given another day is more than I deserve.  To be given eternal life is sufficient.  To have Him care about my little “problems” that mean nothing in the scheme of things is love beyond compare.

YHVH, my Father, you have given me everything.  You have healed my heart broken by sin.  You have healed my life that could have been utterly destroyed if not for You.  It is sufficient.  If you choose to heal more, I can only offer up a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which is truly no sacrifice at all, but the least I can do.  So for all that you have healed on me beyond man’s explanation, I am truly grateful.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.