Home Made Laundry Soap

I was gaven this recipe awhile back for home made laundry soap. I hvae made 2 batches just recently and it has turned out well for me. I wanted to share it here for others. Makes for cheap soap and with out a lot of effort either!!

Home Made Laundry soap
For one batch- you need a lg. bucket and a long handled spoon for stiring.
1/2 bar Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap, grated
3/4 cup washing soda
3/4 cup borax

Start boiling in lg. pot 6 cups water. Add the 1/2 bar grated soap. Stir untill dissloved. Remove from heat, and add the washing soda and borax. Stir untill dissloved.
Heat 4 cups water in a smaller pot or microvae till very hot. Pour this in your empty bucket. Then add your soap mix, And stir well . Next add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of very hot tap water, stir again. Then for several hours after stir occasionaly. Let set for 24 hours. I stir it again before I us it for the first time. Use about 1/2 cup per a load. It is a low sudsing soap.

Note. You can add more borax to the wash for heavier soiled clothes. I get the Fels- Naptha bar soap at my local haelth food store, along with the washing soda. The borax you can get at Wal-Mart.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to leave me a comment and I wil get back to you on it as soon as I can.
Untill next time, Blessings in Chirst Mae

Corn bread and Whole Wheat bread recipes

Hi Everyone!

Well its been awhile since I posted anything. With school going and house work and cooking its takes up about all my time , plus shopping trips and park days in there too, I don't have alot of spare time. But I have grabed a few mintues to post a few recipes this mroning that others may have intrest in. The corn bread recipe I have had and used for several years and we all love it here alot, I make it to go with soups and stews or beans or just any time, hot with butter its delicous! The 2 wheat bread recipes have been gaven to me recently and I have used both several times and am very pleased with both.

Corn bread
1 cup flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegtable oil
1 egg
1 cup butter milk

Mix all dry ingredients together, then add the oil and combine till fine & crubmly. Then add the egg and butter milk, and stir , just untill all is combined. Pour into 8in. or 9in. square pan, greased, or even a skillet. Bake at 375 about 25 to 30 min.


Whole wheat bread
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup & 1 tbls. sugar
2 tbl. yeast
2 1/3 cups warm water ( 110F)
Mix the flour with the sugar and yeast, then add water and mix with wisk. Cover and let set about 20 to 30 min. till very bubbly.
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
4 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ( I use 2 cups white flour, instead of all whole wheat)
Add salt & oil to mix, wisk well. Add the flour and stir with spoon, till dough forms then put out on greased and floured board and kneed about 10-15 min. Sperate dough in to two potions and form into loaves, place in greased and floured pans. Cover and let rise untill double. Bake at 350F for about 30 min.


Homemade wheat bread
1 cup warm water (110- 115)
1 tbls. milk
2 tbls. oil
4 tbls. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp. dry yeast

Mix into dough. Kneed about 10 min. From into loaf ,and put in greased and floured pan ( makes one) . Cover and let rise untill double about 30- 45 min. Bake at 350F for 30 min.

Hope you enjoy these recipes like I do! If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I wil get back to you as soon as I can.
Have a great day!! Mae

Counting My Blessings!!

I have been thinking latly about all the things I have to be thankful and greatful for. So I want to share my list of things here.




Concerning God

I am so thankful that God Loved me before I even knew Him, and that His son died on the cross for my sins that I may have eternal life.


Thankful to God that he has my whole life in His hands and in his control, and that I have absolutly nothing to worry about!!


So thankful that God has great plans for my life, and that I can be used as an insturment for Him.


I am so thankful to God for all the many wonderful blessings in lfe.





Concering my husband and children



I am so greatful for such a wonderful husband that loves me so much ,and loves our children.





So thankful my husband loves God with all his heart and that he wants only God's will in his life.





So thankful he's a hard working husband who provides for his family so greatly!


I am thankful that God first, and then my husband is the head of our home



I am so blessed to be the mother of our four wonderful children. They are true blessings from God!!


I am so blessed to beable to stay at home with my children and to homeschool them. ( I realize not every mom has this oppurtunity or choice . Even at times when the children drive me so cracy I wnat to scream, I still am thankful!!)


I am thankful to God for all the oppurtunties I have with my children daily to teach them and instruct them in the way of the Lord! ( that is a true blessing, that we should not take for granted)


So thankful and greatful that we have bible time together as a family daily .






Concerning our home


So greatful this is a God fearing home.


So thankful this is T.V free home.


So greatful God is the center of our home


I am so blessed to have this home my husband and family built.


So greatful for our 10 acres with lots of trees that our children can run and play in, and being able to have a big garden spot to grow our own vegys! ( we may not always see the hard work of a garden a blessing, but it is!)





Concerning pregnancy and birth


I have been so blessed to have healthy pregnancies and uneventful births.


So thankful I was able to have a home birth for my last baby, and that all went well.


So thankful and greatful I have been able to nurse all my babies, thats a wonderful thing!! ( is so healthy for both mom and baby)


I am ever so thankful for this new baby growing in my womb. ( I have had 2 misscarges and know that life is a true miracle and a blessing that only God can give.)


I am so blessed that Lord willing I get to have my second home birth for this baby. ( I realize that home births are not always an option for all moms for various reasons, so I really need to be thankful for this.)





Concerning the people in my life


I am so greatful for my wonderful parents, and thankful that they raised me the way they did. ( homechooled, no T.V, fairly strict)

So greatful for thier strong faith and walk in the Lord, that has been such a good excample to me, and has been such a great help in my life ,and has made me who I am today.

I am thankful to God for putting other great people in life through the years that has been such a blessing an an encouragment to me in my mothering and in my walk with God.

So thankful for the homeschool group we are in and for the great encouragment and support they all are in my homeschooling journey. ( God knows what we need!)

I am so blessed in so many ways!!

With all these many many things in my life to be thankful for ,I don't have much to complain or grumble about do I? But our fleshly nature always finds somthing to be discontent with doesn't it? Like for instant our wonderful 10 acres is not along side the Peace River in Alberta!! ( thats my dream place by the way)

The next time you get down about somthing, or if somthing is just not going right, start counting your blessings! And think about all those goods things in your life and of all the things you have to be greatful and thankful for!! You will soon be feeling good again!!

"But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And haing food and raiment let us therewith be content." 1 Timothy 6: 6-8

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am , therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11

Contentment is a very wonderful thing indeed. Well I have ran out of words to write on this, so I better close for now.

I hope your life is full of God's wonderful blessings!!

Mae

School Days and Busy Days

Its been fairly busy at our house here the last while. So have not been able to post anything like I have wanted to.

We have been at school again for about 4 weeks now. Its going good, just was a little slow at first. Takes awhile to get a good routine going again. I have Clayton in first grade that requires my assistance with pretty much everything he does. Then Nathan is in fourth grade this year and he is doing nealy all of his on his own now. I just have to assit him with certain things and correct his work. I am so thankful that I get to stay home and school them rather than them going off to public school everyday, and not getting to spend the good quality time with them that I do. I am truly thankful to God for this!!

Life is busy alright! The little ones, Samuel, 4, and Sarah, 2, keep busy making noise and getting into mischief while I am busy helping their older brothers with school! Its a riot somthimes! I had considered putting them in a mothers-day-out program acuople days a week, but then for cost reasons decided against that, and I am glad I did. I truly do love to have them here with me everyday, but somtimes it does get hectic. Thats when they need a little more structure and discipline though.

Our newest blessing is due Jan. 28 ,2009. I have about 21 more weeks!! Everything is going good. I am so thankful for that! We do not find out what our little ones are ahead of time. So the birth is a great suprise! I do not even have a feeling of what this one may be. For my first 2 I just knew they were going to be boys, and they were! Then for Samuel I was so confident that he was a girl and had really got my hopes up, then at his birth I was very dissapointed!! So for Sarah I tryed not to think about it at all. Will be very happy with what ever God chooses to bless us with this time!! We are planing on a home birth again. Sarah was our first home birth, and it was such a wonderful experience! Looking forward to that agian!!

Our garden is nearly over for the summer now. Always glad when its over, though I do enjoy it! We did plant a few things for a fall garden though, spinach, swishchard, collard greens and turnips, which have yet to come up. Left from the summer garden we have orka, and peppers. I just harvested the rest of our corn yesterday, and got it put away in the freezzer today. All the children helped me, and we had lots of fun doing it. Got some great pictuers too!!

I had better not make this too long this time. I will try to post again soon.

Blessings in Chirst, Mae

Speaking words that are uplifting & encouraging to one another

Hi All!!

I have mentioned in pervious post that we are going through the family devotional book called ,OUR 24 FAMILY WAYS, by Clay Clarkson. Anyway in there we have just finished day 5 of way 7. Somthing we all certainly needed to to hear in our home.

( way 7) We encourage one another, using only words that build up and bless others.

Wow, wouldn't that be wonderful if we were able do that in our homes every day, all the time!!

In the devotional it went over scriptuers on that subject, and had a disscusion time of ways of how we can put that in to practice in our everyday lifes, and how we can encourage and build each other up more.

Hopefully we are the only family like this, but we can be awful rude to each other , and be harsh with our words to each other quite often it seems. Say things in haste that are not nice and unkind, but deep down of cousre we really don't mean it like it sounds. But now that we have been more aware of it, we have been trying hard to say things in a way that is uplifting to each other , instead of pulling one down ,or making each other feel bad, and having more patience with one another. This devotional has been very good for us.

Here I will share some scriptuers that we went over in the devotional and some I looked up in the Bible on my own.

" Let no corrupt comunication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minster grace to the hearers." Ephesains 4:29

" Not rendering eveil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing: knowing that ye are called, that ye should inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3: 9

" And let the peace of god rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body: and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and amonshing one another in psalms and hymns and sprtitual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" Colossians 3: 16- 17

" A soft answer tuneth away wrath : but grievous words stir up anger" Proverbs 15 :1

" A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: a word spoken in due season, how good is it!" Proverbs 15: 23

" Pleasent wors are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." Proverbs 16 :24

" Let all bitterness , and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking , be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiving you." Ephesains 4 : 31- 32


Wow, we are to be kind, loving, encouraging, and uplifting in all that we say and do!!

Somthing we definetly seem to have to work on all the time to put it into practice. Is so easy to say somthing in haste when we are upset at some one or somthing. But we need to stop and think before we speak and weigh our words thinking of the effect they will have on the one hearing it. We need to be showing God's love all the time.

Well this is what we have been learning at our house and just wanted to pass it on to others. Hope you find this encouraging, and may your hearts, your speech, and your homes be filled with kindnees , encouragement , love , and everything edifing, gloryfing and uplifting!!

Blessings, Mae

My Favorite Psalms!

There is so many vereses and chapters I just love in Psalms. They are filled with praise, comfort, encouragement, and many , many verses showing God's great protection over us!! I would say thugh my all time favortie is Psalms chapter 91.

Here I will share the first 12 verses of Psalms 91.


1. He that dwelleth in the secert place of the most High shalll abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.
3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilince.
4. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night: nor for the arrow that fileth by day:
6. Nor for thr petstilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7. A tousand shall fall at thy side, and ten tousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.
8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold the reward of the wicked.
9. Because thou hast made the Lord , which is my refuge, even the most High , thy habitaion.
10. There shall no evil befall thee, nither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11. For he shall give His angles charge over thee, to keep the in all thy ways.
12. They shall bear thee up in thier hands, lest thou dash thy foot againts a stone.


Dont you jsut love those verses! What arrrunace of proteciton from our Heavenly Father! We absolutly have nothing to worry about! He is wathcing over us and caring for us!!

Here is a list of more vereves in Psamls about God's great love and protection over his people that I love too!

Psams 27: 1-6
Psalms 62: 1-5
Psalms 46: 1-3
Psalms 23
Psalms 3:6
Psalms 56: 1-5

Hope you enjoy them as I do! Hoping you you have a great day! Mae

What I love about gardening

I have been so busy in my garden latly, from weeding , tieing up tomatoes, keeping the vegtables picked , to cooking, freezzing and canning all those yummy vegys. So to say the least some days I have been very overwelmed with it all! One day I even told my husband ,"I am not going to have a garden next summer, I'm going to take a year break from gardening!" But of course he was not conncerned , he didn't believe me for a mintue. He knows gardening runs in my blood and I couldn't possible do with out one! It is tempting though.

So any way since I had been alittle over done with the garden, and down about it, I thought I better make a list of all the things I truely love about gardening to pick me back up and give me new energy and a reason to get out there and what I do!! Hope fully this will give other Mom's encouragement as they get out in thier gardens too!


1. Theres nothing like walking out in your yard and pickng fresh vegys from your very own garden!

2. I love watching the exctiment on my kids faces when they spot the firts ripe tomatoe for the season!

3. And you can't beat the yummy flavor of that vine ripened tomatoe either!!

4. I enjoy working in the soil with the kids and planting the seeds together, they love it so much and are learing alot while they are at it!

5. Canning and freezing vegatables may be alittle hard while its being done, but later in the year it is so handy to open a jar or get a bag out of the freezer, making for easy meals, and I am always so glad I did it!

6. Nothing like home made dill pickles!

7. It saves me a whole lot at the grocery store and home grown taste so much better than store bought!

8. The children are such a big help to me in the garden and I am happy knowing they are learning such importian skills while they are at it, and gaining a love for gardening just like my slef!

9. I love watching the palnts grow and get so excited when those first fresh vegys to get ready to eat!

10. Need somthing for supper? No need to drive to the store, just walk to the garden!!

11. I know where my vegy.s are grown and whats not sprayed on them!

12. Meals are quick and easy with a big varity of vegtables from the garden!


There I believe thats all I can think of! See it really is worth all this work to have a garden! I must admit I am glad when the garden is over for the summer though!

If you have things you love about gardening I would love to hear them. So put them on a comment!
Have a great day, and don't let your garden get the best of you!!
Mae