My Very First Hand Knit Sweater

In a post from February, I mentioned that I was knitting my first sweater. Trey had given me several skeins of beautiful, aqua blue yarn as a Christmas gift and I was anxious to begin knitting it into a sweater.

At the beginning of the new year I began my sweater! In the past I had made several doll sweaters and I had the concept down, but I knew mine would be much more time consuming. I didn't work on it constantly, but I would pick it up and knit a few rows whenever I had a chance. 

In one way it went rather quickly, but at the time it seemed to be taking forever! I was hoping to finish it before warm weather came.

 I finished it the second week of March, after many hours of knitting!

Here in Southern Illinois, we have had a very cool, extended Spring, which I have enjoyed to the fullest. 

I am so thankful to have had so many opportunities to wear my sweater this Spring, reaping the benefits of all my labor!

I wanted to share a few pictures of the finished product with you before it got packed away until next Autumn.

If I had it to do all over again, I would make it two sizes smaller, because it came out much larger than I had intended. It is most certainly an oversized sweater, whereas I was hoping for a more fitted look. Oh well, it was the first of many sweaters that I will knit throughout my lifetime and I gained so much experience on this one project!

~Clair

Kit Naturals: A Review (Kind of =D)

 In the book Trim Healthy Mama , which I did a blog post about in October, Serene and Pearl mentioned one of their FAVORITE facial creams. (They quite raved about it!) If you have ever seen Serene and Pearl you would have noticed how glowing and radiant their skin is. All of the healthy fats in their diet like omega 3 from foods such as salmon and eggs, virgin coconut oil etc. contribute to healthy skin and hair, but it is still important to protect our skin from the outside as well, with what they call 'skin food'.

 All natural, pure, organic skin care products can be very pricey, but at the same time the inexpensive, regular products that line the isles of your local shopping center fill our bodies with harmful chemicals and toxins that can take years for our bodies to break down and eliminate. Serene and Pearl stumbled across a home business called Kit (Kath's Intensive Treatments) Naturals, run by a homemaker, that offered all natural, organic skin care products for a very reasonable price! 

I've been wanting the Orange Silk Hydrating Cream since I first read about it. We are on a tight budget right now and with facial cream not being close to the top of our list of needs,  several months went by. Last month I FINALLY had enough grocery money left over at the end of the month to make my order! They had a special going on at the time that was spend over $25 and get 3 free lip balms. What a perfect time to order! I ordered the large Orange Silk Hydrating Cream and the Happy Day Citrus Spray.

I received two packages in the mail from Kit Naturals. How Odd??? I would have assumed that they would ship the order all together. I opened the first package to find my entire order there. I immediately smeared some Orange Silk Hydrating Cream on my face. It smelled divine and left my skin feeling amazingly smooth! I spritzed my skin with the Happy Day Citrus Spray and was instantly transported to a Florida citrus grove on a warm, Spring day. I tried each of the three lip balms orange, coconut, and mint, and decide that the orange flavor was my favorite. 

I then opened the next package to find the exact same contents. Oh, no! Did we accidently order the wrong amount? We double checked our order only to find that we only paid for one. We contacted them via email and this was there response.

"Trey & Clair,
Hmmm, what to do...Enjoy! Just consider it a blessing and you don't owe us anything!
Thank you so much for your order! Now I must tell you, we've never done that before so you must have had that blessing coming!"

Transferring some Orange Silk Hydrating Cream to a sample sized container to share with my mothers and sisters! I also kept one for myself as a travel size for long trips so I'll never be without it! 

I am continually amazed at how God blesses us abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think! After patiently waiting He gave me a DOUBLE blessing! God is so good! He sees the desires of our hearts, even the little things!

I am very pleased with Kit Naturals products so far. I have used the Orange Silk Hydrating Cream for nearly three weeks now and the container looks like I have hardly used a thing!

Follow this link to check out their products!

Kit Naturals

~Clair

Mr. Peacock

I was busy washing dishes while Trey was outside tilling our garden when I heard a very strange, yet distinct sound. I immediately recognized it as the call of a peacock. Mr. Peacock had traveled through the woods from the barnyard at Dad and Mom M.'s to pay us a friendly visit. I instantly ran to find my camera to attempt to capture a photo of him.

After retrieving my camera from our backpack (it was there from our biking adventure the day before),  I stepped out the backdoor and found him sauntering about the backyard.

Trey's rototiller was roaring away nearby but Mr. Peacock was not in the least daunted by the sound. I quickly snapped a few photos, but unfortunately was unable to get him fan out and show off his beautiful feathers.

He wondered about the backyard while we planted our garden and then finally made his way home. That was over a week ago, and he was back for a visit today. He must be courting my chickens, Hee Hee!   

The Devil and his Distractions and a Challenge!

 
     The Devil is out to steal, kill and destroy. We often look for him in only dark places, but the Bible tells us that he disguises himself as an angel of light and a wolf in sheep's clothing. We must be constantly on the lookout for his sly tricks.  If he can direct our focus away from our homes and families he will.
    He loves it when you are so busy that you have little time to accomplish your work at home, be encouraging and honoring to your husband, and teach and train your children. A cluttered or unorganized home is the perfect environment for frustration and strife and the devil loves it! When after a long day of work, your husband comes home to a wife with an unkempt appearance and a discouraged countenance, the devil jumps with glee! When your children ask you questions and you are just to busy to answer or when your child pouts when Mama says no and you just don't have the energy to address the issue, the devil does a happy dance.  He will use anything to distract you from your calling, even things that look 'good'.
 
    Sometimes he uses my computer and all of the 'useful information' to distract me from my home. If my home is not orderly and clean then I have no business being on my computer looking up creative projects. My home and Husband must come first, no matter how much I LOVE creating things. Often times when I  start a project everything in my home gets forgotten. I am so intently working that I forget all about the many responsibilities I have as a wife and homemaker. When my Husband walks in the door after working hard all day, looking forward to a relaxing evening and a warm, satisfying meal he instead finds me attentively working on my project, surrounded by supplies. Somehow time slipped by and the truly important things that I needed to accomplish got set aside. If this happens occasionally our homes and Husbands will not suffer, but if this becomes the norm chaos will result.

    Our homes will fall into shambles without our consistent care. Our Husbands will become discouraged, dull, and worn down without our tender love and admiration. Our children will become dissatisfied, selfish adults if we do not take the time to train them in the admonition of the Lord. Our job is so important! We are so needed!

    There are so many distractions in our world today. We have constant access to entertainment through television, radio, video games, etc. We also have complete access to the internet through computers, smart phones, ipads, etc.

    I have a challenge! Lets turn our focus back to our home, Husband and children. Today turn off the TV, turn off any form of music, and this one is going to be REALLY hard for some of you, but put away your smart phone. Only answer important phone calls and very important texts. (As soon as you are done reading this article shut down your computer. =D)

    When you are completely unplugged you will be able to totally focus on the truly important things that need done in your home. It might be laundry, general cleaning, organizing, washing dishes, planning a menu, cooking, decluttering, etc. You will now be able to totally focus, without meaningless distractions! You will probably hear and see things that you don't normally notice. You will remember things that have long since been forgotten.

    You may not be able to accomplish everything in just one day. That is okay! This is just the start! Choose the most pressing tasks, (which are probably the tasks you always put off because they are your least favorites=D). Dig in and get them done! You will have such a feeling of accomplishment!

    In the afternoon, even if you did not accomplish everything on your list, REWARD YOURSELF with something you enjoy. You must remain 'unplugged' though! (No Pinterest, ladies! =D) Read a wholesome book, take a nap, eat a healthy, yummy snack, work on a project you enjoy, play with your children, go for a walk, anything!
    It may sound really tough at first to commit to 'unplugging' for a day, but I guarantee, it will be worth it! I won't be there to watch you all day and tap you on the shoulder when you decide to 'get online for just a second'. You know what I mean by 'unplugged'. Pushing the limit will only steal your peace.

    Once you've done this for an entire day and reaped the benefits you will probably want to do it again or even for an entire weekend! Sometimes I do this once or twice a week. You may even choose to eliminate a few things from your life that you realize you don't really need or want.

    Let me know how your day goes!

Continually striving to live 'unplugged' and stay focus on the important things of life!

                                                                                                                        ~Clair

From the Pages of My Life...

April 10, 2013                                 
   6:47 a.m.   
                                                                              
     Okay, I've gotten a little behind in journaling, but I'm not throwing in the towel yet! =D

    Spring is springing out everywhere! I believe all our lambs have been born and they are all growing so well, except for one that needs bottle fed. Bottle feeding a lamb is time consuming and the milk replacer is a little pricey, but it is so much fun to actually feed it. They come to associate you with a bottle of milk and therefore grow very friendly. It is always a little sad when it is time to stop bottle feeding them.

    Rachel and I sat as election judges for our local elections yesterday. There were three other judges besides she and I. It was a long day, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., but it was pleasant for the most part. We had all of 29 voters, proof that we live in a very rural area.

    I believe everything began turning green in just a day! The trees are budding out, the grass is looking fresh and green and more of my daffodils are blooming!

    God blesses us with so much beauty! I try to stay 'unplugged', for the most part, from all the modern entertaining devices that are so handy but steal my peace and concentration. I don't want to turn on music when I can hear the birds sing! I like a peaceful home where I can stay focused on my tasks without distractions. In this time we live in it is a difficult task to stay totally focused on what is really important. 

                                                                  ~ Clair