Keeping the Home Newsletter
By Lori Seaborg
October 2005
Thank you for being patient with me! I haven't sent out a newsletter for quite
a while - you can thank Hurricane Katrina for that. She blew through our area
of the Alabama Gulf Coast, not causing damage to our home, but leaving us
without electricity, phone and Internet for a few days.
Katrina was our fifth named storm in less than ONE year, so after she came, once
I realized that we were one of the blessed ones, I said, "That's it! I'm doing
something this time!" Tim (dh) looked at me with his sideways gaze, the
cautious, what-is-she-going-to-say gaze. Instead of answering his eyes, I went
to my computer.
A couple of hours later, I had started a Hurricane Katrina blog and had emailed
my newsletter and written on my current blogs. Tim found me, and said, this
time aloud, "What are you doing?" I said, "I need to help, but my hands are
tied with all these little kids and not much money. In the past storms, my
hands were tied because we had so much damage. But I have to do something! So
I'm doing the only thing I know how, writing on the Internet.
Within just a couple of days, cash donations started coming into the PayPal
account I had set up, and we were given a website called SurvivedKatrina.org .
Within the week, boxes started to come in, and wow, they came in, one after
another. We received over 300 boxes, and even now I still get one in the mail.
We started going to Mississippi every week, mostly along the Coast, and found
people locally who had evacuated and needed the donations we had. We still have
a lot of donations to give out, and we are still active in doing that.
But there is not as much need as when we first started, so my time is getting
freed up to do other things, like write to you on this newsletter! I am
grateful to have had the opportunity to help the Katrina survivors, and I am
also grateful for getting back to my normal, slow-moving life.
If you want to hear from me more often, visit one of my blogs at
http://www.keepingthehome.blogspot.com or
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/KeepingtheHome (they are "simulcast").
Please feel free to email me at any time:
keepingthehome@bellsouth.net
I'd love to hear from you! I pray for each of you!
Lori Seaborg
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KeepingtheHome (this group) OR
http://welovegod.org/groups/keeping_the_home (also "simulcast," because some
readers prefer one over the other
You may also take a peek at my soon-to-be-announced website, LoriSeaborg.com
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Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends, but
forward it in its entirety. I want your friend to know how to get
the newsletter if she wishes to do so!
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CONTENTS:
* Latest Craft Obsession: Pine Needle Basketry
* Living a Simple Life, by Crystal Miller
* An Invitation to CelebrateMoms.org
* Links I am Enjoying
* What's Happening in My House
Pine Needle Basketry
The pine needles are falling all over our property lately, from the Southern
Long Leaf Pines above. Down here, in the Deep South, we call it "Pine straw,"
with a Pie-n sound. I appreciate learning a craft that has a long history, as
pine needle basketry does. It originated with the Native Americans.
My children were naturally curious about what I've been making, so I had the
opportunity to tell them a bit about the Seminoles of Florida and their pine
needle basketry. I told them that it is important to learn and pursue crafts
like this so that future generations can enjoy them, too.
I've enjoyed trying out Pine Needle Basketry this week. You may view the
instructions that I'm using at this site, called NorthWest BasketWeavers.
You may view my feeble attempt on my blog, in this photo.
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The following was written by my online friend, Crystal Miller. I love visiting
her site and her blog. There is something about it that makes me feel restful!
Living a Simple Life
by Crystal Miller
Living the simple life is not always an easy task. In today's world of
hustle, bustle and busy lives, the simple life can be hard to find. It seems
that the home can often become a rest stop to refresh a moment and then move
onto the next activity. Life can become too busy. Perhaps in your heart you
would like life to be a little simpler. You would like time to just "stop and
smell the roses" but can't quite figure out how to get to that point. Another
down side to a life that is too busy is that I believe it can rob us of some of
the greater joys of being a homemaker. I believe that as we live this "life in
the fast lane" we can become discontent.
How does a busy life make us discontent you may ask? Well when life is too
busy we find that that the home and family will suffer. Things in the home
won't run as we would like them to. The house may be more chaotic then we would
like, household tasks are not being attended to, meals may lack nutritional
value, too much money is spent on convenience foods due to lack of time, laundry
piles up, we may not be able to get to some of the projects we have been putting
off, and so the list goes. So we end up feeling discontent because things are
not as we would desire them to be. Our homes are not functioning as though we
are in control of our domain.
So we set out to make some changes. We have an idea of what we might like
our homes to be and begin to figure our ways to achieve this. As we desire to
make changes we start looking for ways to make our lives easier. We think that
easy and simple go hand-in-hand.
We have countless appliances that will do every task imaginable. We seek
out the latest convenience foods so we can spend less time in the kitchen; we
stream line so we can accomplish more and more each day. Not all of this is
undesirable or without merit, but is this the answer to a simple life?
To me simplicity is not dinner from a box; it is a home cooked pot of soup
and homemade bread. To me simplicity is not a cake mix, but a cake made from
scratch with whole wheat flour I grind myself. To me simplicity is not perm
press clothing but a little time at the ironing board to think, pray, and learn
to be content with my role in life. To me simplicity is not always wanting more
stuff, but learning how to enjoy and appreciate what I have. To me simplicity
is not sticking a DVD in for the kids to keep them occupied; it is spending an
afternoon in the garden working side-by-side with them. To me simplicity is not
buying my milk from the grocery store, but milking my own goats. Simple living
is not always easy living. Simple living, to me, is taking a slower walk in
life and appreciating the things that go to making our lives as homemakers
complete and fulfilling.
The satisfaction and joy we can get from so many homemaking tasks can
easily be lost unless we intend in our hearts to live a simple life. But a
simple life can take more time. If we can't slow down enough to enjoy some of
the basic fundamentals of homemaking then perhaps we are missing some of the
very things that make a simple life an enjoyable life. A simple life is
something one learns to love if it is a life that they desire to have.
Many simple living tasks have a multitude of blessing that go with them.
When our dryer went out last summer we were learning how to enjoy the simple
living task of hanging out laundry. We learned that sometimes working harder at
a job has its own merits. I pointed out to my children that we saved money by
not running the dryer and that in turn meant Dad's hard earned dollars could be
put towards other needs in the family, we also learned that putting clothes on
the line at 6:30 in the morning is a perfect time to enjoy the quiet sounds of
summer on our homestead. There is a peace in this that is hard to find in the
middle of the day. We also learned that sheets that have been drying in the sun
have the best smell!
The kitchen seems to be another room that abounds with simple living tasks.
I think food and preparation of meals is something very important to a family.
It is easy to be frustrated at the time spent in the kitchen; however it is an
opportunity to look beyond the mundane and see the bigger goal being
accomplished when you spend time preparing home cooked meals for your family.
The health benefits alone that are received from home cooking can give us as
homemakers much satisfaction. I love knowing that I am feeding my husband and
children good quality foods that will assist them in living a healthy life.
There are also financial benefits from it. Every frugal meal that is cooked
from scratch for my family means my husband does not have to be working for
boxes of Hamburger Helper or packages of Rice-a-Roni or any other costly
packaged convenience food! These types of realizations can hopefully be
positive reinforcements on the value of simple living. Most of all, when your
family sits down to eat at the end of a long day who could deny the absolute joy
of setting down to meal of homemade, made with love from the heart, food?
Living a simple life may require changes to the way we live. I don't have
a busy life outside my home. I have it this way on purpose. I am happiest when
my life is simple and serene. Well as serene as life gets with a houseful of
children! ~smile~ I am the most content when I live a life in my home, doing
the things that make my home run smooth and giving my family a quality of life
that is fulfilling.
I am also passing on to my children the value of a simple life by my
example. If I am always busy, busy I fear I may end up teaching them the
message of discontentment. The message states that I can only be happy and
satisfied if I am going and doing all the time. I have learned over the years
that the two ways of life just do not mix. The dividing line for outside
busyness and living a simple life at home will be drawn in a different place for
each of us. I am not saying that all outside activity needs to stop, that would
unrealistic. But rather when life has too much going on, it is impossible to
live a simple life. I had to make very different choices in my life in order to
achieve the goal of simple living. But I am more content and more satisfied
today as a homemaker than every before.
I pray today that anyone desiring a simpler way of life will be able to
achieve this and be able to find great joy in your life as a homemaker!
Copyright: Crystal Miller, 2005
About the Author:
Crystal Miller (
crystal@TheFamilyHomestead.com) is the mother of 8 children and
enjoys her God given role as wife, homemaker and mother! She has a homemaking
and country living web site called The Family Homestead
(
http://thefamilyhomestead.com) and has a free monthly newsletter called
Homestead Happenings. You will find sign up information on her website.
I am excited that I am going to one of the writers and speakers on the team of
CelebrateMoms.org. CelebrateMoms.org is an online retreat for mothers who want
to get away from it all and relax for a few hours online. There will be
speakers, writers, games, prizes, and more! Go to CelebrateMoms.org
(
http://www.CelebrateMoms.org) to sign up to get an email when the site is
opened.
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Links I am Enjoying:
a.. Our family has been driving to Mississippi to deliver aid to the Hurricane
Katrina survivors. You can read about what we have done and see some incredible
photos of the damage at our site,
http://www.SurvivedKatrina.org
a.. Baby Chicks have hatched! We have three babies who hatched from our eggs.
These are Katrina babies - their mama set on the eggs after we let her out of
the chicken pen (The Aviary, I call it) after the hurricane (we expected
flooding). The pen never did flood, but we do have babies! You can see the
babies at my blog,
http://www.keepingthehome.blogspot.com
a.. I have been selected as a Team Member of CelebrateMoms.org, an online
retreat for moms. I will be working with a group of other writers and speakers.
This is an exciting opportunity for me. You can sign up to get an email when
the site opens (January 1, 2005) at the site,
http://www.CelebrateMoms.org .
a.. We were given a very nice basketball hoop from someone locally. We didn't
know the person before getting the hoop, but found out that they wanted to give
it away through FreeCycle. Do you use FreeCycle (
http://www.freecycle.org) ?
We have been able to give away items we no longer need, and we have been given a
wooden table with four chairs and now this basketball hoop.
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What is Happening in Our House..
Protecting.baby chicks from a two-year-old's grasp. The chicks are in the
kitchen, in a tote, so this is is a full-time job.
Creating.a new schedule, and then a new one, and then a new one. Anyone have a
job for a professional Schedule Maker? I could be that person! Just don't make
me be the one to stick to it!
Selling.our newlywed home in Pensacola, Florida. We have been moved for a year
now, but only put the house on the market yesterday (Hurricanes Ivan and Dennis
slowed us down). Please pray it sells quickly and smoothly!
Praying.in a prayer journal almost daily. I can see that this is a habit I hope
to keep.
Baking.chocolate chip cookies as soon as I get finished writing this newsletter.
My dh deserves this treat after keeping the 2-year-old from strangling the baby
chicks while I write to you.
Wishing.for some cool fall weather. None of us locals ever remember a summer
lasting so very long.
Panicking.at the knowledge that there are only about nine weeks until Christmas,
and I need to create gifts.
Wondering.if I just made you panic, too?
Please enjoy the rest of your October. Remember how very much God loves you!
Sometimes the days are tough and you can't feel Him, but I assure you that He is
there with you. Look at the stars, the leaves, the breezes, the animals. You
can see the Creator's handiwork in them, and in yourself. He is with you,
that's for sure.
Lori Seaborg
October 2005
