Author: Annie

Only Two More Weeks

/ Annie / Leave a comment

Yes, only 13 days until the big day.

The countdown until the end of high school or college was different from this.

So many emotions, feelings, and new self-knowledge.

It’s the beginning of a new life! Nothing like ever before. Friends, family, and acquaintances will remain special, but to each other our lives will change.

One flesh. Not sure what that means yet, but we have a whole lifetime to learn.

Giving always, and not expecting in return. That’s a very hard thing for me. The only thing I know is that the more I trust, and the more I give, the more blessings come in return. The benefits are boundless. Giving and trusting, and giving and trusting some more. It always seems to get better.

Yours, mine, and ours. This relates to the above-mentioned “one flesh” and “giving always”. Our unique talents can uphold and support each other. Always with the intent of growing them instead of burying them in the ground. Our talents together are better than just “yours and mine”. Our talents were given to help others.

It takes three to live. Brian + Annie + God. We often think we’re alone, but God persistently lets us know He’s there too. It’s been easier to allow our hearts to be vulnerable to each other when we realize we’re not alone. I mean vulnerable in a good way.

Sometimes, we feel like children. “The older I get – the less I know” seems to fit perfectly for our relationship. The longer we’ve been together, the more we realize how little experience we have. Interpretation: humbleness is maturity. (We’ll be working on this for a long time.)

Words aren’t everything. I’m learning that sometimes you’ve just gotta BE.  Applying words doesn’t always make things more special or meaningful. Life is deeper than that. Wasting time fighting over words isn’t worth it either.

Open our eyes, and our hearts too. – Say our prayers every night. Speak kindly.  Lend a helping hand. Say “Good morning!” like we mean it. Hug fondly. Listen. ~ How special times are made. We’re still working on it.

What we pray for — Grace. We both pray for grace on our wedding day. We pray for our hearts to be moved. We pray for everyone present to receive grace.

We are not alone. We are touched daily by everyone who has written to us, sent us gifts, helped with preparations, and offered encouragement. Without community, none of this would be possible. Thank you.  You’ve helped grow and prepare us for our future as husband and wife. 

Thank you.

The older we get – the less we know. We’re two just millennials doing things the old-fashioned way.

I’m thankful that we’ll be able to go on this journey together.

 

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Just as we are.

Our Favorite Moment of the Week

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At The Well

20160322_133318 (480x640)Poetry tea time is our family’s favorite homeschool lifestyle practice adapted from Brave Writer. Even my boys love poetry tea time and the little one begs for “poetry but not tea” every day. I must admit that I totally bribed my kids into loving poetry with sweet treats and a lovely table scape.

We’ve been practicing poetry tea time for about eight months now. Even during our move this year we kept up with the practice. At first my children just loved the sweets, fancy table and lit candle. Over time, however, they found their passion for poetry…for beautiful words woven together 20160301_150111 (640x480)sometimes delightful and other times heartbreaking. Poetry is raw, a distilled expression in the artistry of language…purer than prose. This time together is the heartbeat of our homeschool lifestyle and even when we take a break from formal schooling we still meet together for poetry tea time on…

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Family Closet

/ Annie / 1 Comment

Reblogged from Offbeat Home &Life

This was one of my many ideas that I came up with while fighting my sinus infection and flu. I would like to have a room in my house devoted exclusively to clothes, washing, ironing, and storing.

Lo and behold, after a little research I found that others had the same idea too! Here is one woman’s approach:

 

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Family closets are usually used by large families but you don’t have to have five or more kids to benefit from a family closet. Heck, you don’t even need to have a kid to enjoy the ease of keeping all the clean laundry in one place.

Our family is made up of two parents and two children (and two dogs and a cat). I refuse to carry clean laundry up the stairs and distribute clean clothes to several locations just for them to get dirty and need to be washed again. I can’t justify that effort when I don’t enjoy it and when there is an easier option, so we’ve set up our laundry room-adjacent family closet in a way that makes more sense.

its so easy

It’s not magazine-pretty but I love it!

Here’s how the closet works: the clothes are hanging on a hand rail hung from the ceiling with rope. I added some screws on the ends (perpendicular to the rail) to keep the hangers from sliding off.

The basket of coats, jackets, hats and gloves will only be on that chair during the cold seasons. When it warms up they’ll go out into the shed (in a tub with a lid) and our swimming stuff will go in that spot.

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I always keep a tub easily accessible for outgrown clothes to donate. Tossing clothes into the tub here and there helps keep the clutter down, plus it makes getting ready for a clothing swap much simpler.

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We also have a reading nook in the family closet because you have to utilize all the space when your house is 700 square feet.

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It’s a little odd, but it works well for us — and is a huge timesaver for me!

Scones

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Reblogged from Epicurious ~ So very tasty! I omitted the xantham gum and substituted milk for cold water.  Seemed to turn out just fine. If anyone makes the complete recipe, please let me know.

BEST EVER GLUTEN FREE SCONES

SUBMITTED BY GLUTENFREELOVE TO EPICURIOUS UPDATED r: MARCH 06, 2016

This is the best basic, gluten-free scone recipe. Add your own additions per the recipe to make cherry scones, ginger scones, blueberry scones, cinnamon chip scones or white chocolate scones.

From the time my children were very little, scones have been a part of a favorite weekend breakfast tradition together. After going gluten free, scones were one of the first recipes I was determined to make gluten free and delicious for our whole family to enjoy

YIELD
8 scones

INGREDIENTS

      • 1 3/4 cups Gluten-Free Multi-Purpose Flour (suggested: either King Arthur OR 6pts SUPERfine Brown Rice Flour + 2 parts Potato Starch + 1 part Tapioca Starch)
      • scant 1/3 cup sugar
      • 2 teaspoons baking powder
      • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
      • 1/2 teaspoon salt
      • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
      • 3/4 cup additions (suggested: dried cherries, crystallized ginger, fresh blueberries, cinnamon chips or white chocolate chips)
      • 2 large eggs
      • 1/3 cup cold milk (2%)
      • 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract

PREPARATION

    1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a large baking sheet (or line with parchment). Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt. Work in the cold butter until the mixture is crumbly with pea-sized or just larger bits of butter remaining. Gently stir in the additions. Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla until frothy.Add to the dry ingredients, stirring until well blended. The dough should be cohesive and very sticky. Place on a gf floured surface. Pat out to about 1 in. thick (do not attempt to roll out – the dough will be too sticky for this and adding more flour will only create a dry, dense, result) . Use a biscuit cutter to cut into circles and place onto prepared pan. Lightly brush milk on top of the scones and sprinkle with sparkling sugar if desired. Place baking sheet, uncovered, in the freezer for 15 minutes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.