Happy Thanksgiving under the Full Moon

I've always wanted to garden under the full moonlight.

I've never gardening under the full moonlight because I think the neighbors might hear the scritch-scratch of my shovel and imagine I was burying a dead person. If someone ever came up missing in our county, I bet they'd mention the strange noises coming from my yard in the middle of the night.

Since gardening was out, I asked dh (Tim) if he would go on a walk to the river with me. I expected a "What?!" but he surprised me with a "K."

It was just after midnight on Thanksgiving Day and the trees were swaying with the strong breezes coming in from the West. The river is flowing loudly tonight. Normally it is silent, but tonight it has flooded over the banks by just a couple of feet. It makes a gurgling sound as the water pushes its way through the fallen cedars and pines that Hurricane Ivan left in the middle of the river.

Tim and I walked, hand in hand .... well, then hand pulling hand because he was going too fast in his sneakers for my bare feet...then hand letting go of hand...Anyways, we walked in the moonlight together, watching the river flow past us so swiftly, hearing animals in the woods, feeling wet sand between my toes.

I was reminded of the Creator, the One who has given us all reason for Thanksgiving. When we walked back up the yard, we visited the chickens. Princess, the rooster who we thought was a hen, did his side-of-the-head stare at us. I poked my finger through the chicken wire to touch a sleeping hens feathers.

Under the moon, with the stars above and the white clouds flowing swiftly across them, with the breeze blowing cool air and with the river gurgling and the hens shifting their weight on the roost, I thought of our Creator.

"The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speach and night unto night uttereth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where His voice is not heard."

We can hear Him and see Him in creation. If you are ever wondering where God is, get outside and be in the midst of his creation. THAT is the Great Cathedral. You will find Him there.

For God's creation of nature, and for His creation of mankind...I am thankful this Thanksgiving.

Distractions

I need to clean the house and organize things and pack for our end-of-this-week trip to Mexico, but there is nothing like a deadline looming to make me procrastinate. Why IS that? Suddenly, I feel that I have to do insane things like make a huge dinner - only 3 days before our huge Thanksgiving dinner - and invite 3 moms (including me) and 11 kids (including mine) over to play tomorrow. The hen and her two chicks suddenly need to be with the other chickens instead of separate as they have been for two weeks, and I absolutely must reorganize the garage today. Why do I feel the need to procrastinate on what's necessary? Am I half INSANE?!?

I am writing this to inspire me to get up and get working on my chores. Or should I write? Both chores and writing must be top priorities. I will always have this struggle unless I make a writing schedule and a chore schedule and work in the boundaries of them, not allowing one to muddle the other. Also, there needs to be a God-time schedule, and a homeschooling schedule, and a sleeping schedule. Ah! The problem is -- I don't like schedules! I like to be free with each day, with nothing scheduled and time to use freely.

When I do make a schedule finally, something breaks it up until I give it up. My writing time schedule this evening (it's now evening as I write this paragraph) has been broken into fragments by Alyssa Belle, our 1-1/2 year old, who decided she absolutely could not bear to sleep alone in her crib as she has done for countless nights before this one. After a couple of hours of crying, she is now asleep next to my right arm, looking like the sweetest baby on Earth who would never cause her parents even a bit of worry.

Is it the devil who causes the distractions when we are doing something that we know to be from God? Or is it simply the rhythms of daily life? I wonder what you think about that. Post your comments.

Blogging

I've been disapointed (I never can remember if it is disSapointed or disapPointed, so I'm making both letters stand alone today) - as I was saying, I am diSaPointed with how little I have blogged here. It's because I was viewing this as a place to put up articles. Instead, I think this blog should be a place to feel more free with my writing. Writers call it "freewriting," which is sitting down and just writing without editing, and without thinking hard about it. You write whatever comes to mind. In that case, I will write more often; likely, daily. It's not as if anyone knows about this site anyway. I don't think a soul reads it!

If there is anyone out there, you might like to know that I have moved my articles to a Yahoo! group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KeepingtheHome/ . That's where I'll post full articles; this is where I'll post random thoughts. If you like my random thoughts, then you'll surely like the articles which are more polished. Then again, there is something appealing about a scruffy mutt over a groomed poodle. :) You get to have it both ways, a choice of ways, or no way at all.

Now that I just said I'm going to write more often, I need to sign off. I have to make a dessert for a Sunday School "fellowship" that Tim and I are attending tomorrow night. It's not nearly as stuffy as it sounds -- rather, it is a potluck (that sounds unappealing, too) -- a get-together with acquaintances who have in common their love for God and the hope of becoming friends.

I've signed up for dessert and bread. Naturally, I like to make things difficult on myself, so I am going to bake homemade herb bread and bring 3 different types of candy. It's not a show-off thing, but rather it is a oh-goody-I-get-to-bake-something-fun thing.

I'll chat later!
Lori Seaborg
Fairhope, Alabama

Saving Money around the House

A side benefit to being frugal with money (ie. broke) occured
recently when the children wanted to decorate cupcakes. We'd run out
of sprinkles but my!, they were amazed that I could make colored
sugar. They kept hollering, "Look! Mama MADE this sugar! Look, it's
colored!" I've learned a few other things about being frugal in the
house in this hard time:

* Buying generic brands in everything is frustrating to me, but it
has also introduced me to a few alternate products. The store-brand
Saltines in one store, for example, taste like the Premium brand.

* Laundry gets just as clean on a longer cycle with half the
detergent called for on the box.

* Breakfast is cheaper by far without cold cereal. Cereal uses too
much expensive milk! I've been making muffins, pancakes, cinnamon
rolls, etc.

* The children don't NEED prepared snack foods like Cheez-Its and
Rold Gold pretzels. They will keep content as long as they have
SOMEthing when they are hungry.

* Free, fresh eggs from our chickens are awfully useful

* Margarine, even though I'm NOT happy to have it instead of butter,
at least spreads more easily.

* The chickens can live - and thrive - on only table scraps (thanks
to the baby, we have plenty!) and free ranging (that's a term for
letting them loose).