the lowly Dandelion

Eerst...

Dank je wel, tante's uit Urk, voor het lieve jurkje voor Gesina.

Het broekje voor Rein staat hem ook heel lief, en de photo van hem komt nog wel!
~~~
Since I have been studying alot lately about weeds and herbs for home use, I can't help but be in awe over the lowly dandelion! Not only does a dandelion tea clean out your liver and kidneys, it brings relief to congestive heart problems, reduces bloating, and the flowers are supposed to make a fine wine. I am NOT a wine person, but having skimmed through the dandelion wine making recipe a few times, it seemed so easy and I wanted to try....

...so we picked a basket full of dandelion flowers,


and added water, oranges, lemons, yeast, raisens and sugar. We have to stir it every day for about 7 days or until the bubbles stop coming to the top and then strain into wine bottles. Every time we stir, the kitchen :smells: like alcohol and phew, what a whiff. We look (somewhat) forward to sipping it at mealtime when the cold wintry days are upon us once again. For now I am truly enjoying the beautiful spring!
~~~

~God in His wisdom and love didn’t give dandelions to just a chosen few,
he freely and generously gave them to most everyone.
~Debi Pearl

Happy Birthday, Vader!

Last week vader Pieter turned the honourable age of 36. The boys were intrigued by the number and soon we had a math lesson going....

He is 36 years old, which means he also is:
432 months old, or
1872 weeks old, or
12,744 days old, or
305,856 hours old!

The boys were at awe, and looked up at their dear vader with a whole new respect; "Our vader is 'old', and that means he must be smart too, and wise and strong...."

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, t

he same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:4,5

A day of rejoicing that will be!

One day on our way to a function, for one reason or another, we were feeling rather discouraged.

Until Jan started singing:

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When we all get to heaven

what a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

we'll sing and shout the victory.

~~~~

And we all joined in singing.........!!!

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Sing the wondrous love of Jesus

sing His mercy and His grace

In the mansions bright and blessed

He'll prepare for us a place.

~~~~~~~~

While we walk the pilgrim pathway

Clouds will overspread the sky;

But when trav'ling days are over,

not a shadow, not a sigh.

~~~~~~~~

Let us then be true and faithful,

trusting, serving every day;

Just one glimpse of Him in glory

will the toils of life repay.

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Onward to the prize before us!

Soon His beauty we'll behold;

Soon the pearly gates will open,

We shall tread the streets of gold.

A little girl to love and cherish...

One sunny day the boys were outside finishing chores and playing, and as I hung out the wash, our little miss delight sat in her highchair...

...and watched the boys down below...

...as she munched on a cracker.


What a pleasure to have a sweet gentle girl amongst all those boys! If she wants attention she either grunts or growls, and if that doesn't seem to do the trick, she can also do the 'high pitched screech'. As a mom, I sometimes am too busy to even notice what she is doing, growling or screeching like that, but then I hear her brother Jan, 8, correcting her and telling her no-no. That sure warms my momma heart. The boys love and enjoy her, rough her up, and make sure she is well taken care of!

We love camping and with another camping trip coming up, I decided to blanket train her, since most of the time she plays in her playpen. I can just imagine all the pretty things she can find and be putting in her mouth as she crawls on the grass... So, we put spread out a *pink* blanket, placed her on, gave her with a few toys, telling her no-no when she wanted to crawl off. The boys sat around, watching, ready to say 'the word' if she made an attempt to move on to better things, and off the blanket. I was amazed at how quickly she caught on. She stayed on the blanket, all pretty-like as she tasted her toys. Training makes life so easy....expecially when you have boys to help along.

For some reason I don't think they will be even near that *pink* blanket once she sits on it while momma is busy around the camp site...

ahh, the joys of boys and the blessing of being just a mom!

A happy day...

Yesterday it was a beautiful spring day; so why stay indoors...

We tidied up, did our jurisdictions and gathered our books and pencils into a basket and headed out and did our learning and practising on the trampoline! It is truly not the best place to be when you have to do your work neatly, but it was a good lesson to put others first. We all had the urge to bounce, just a little, but then the one writing would make a mess. I should jot down in their books that that was the day we did our schooling on the trampoline...therefore the messy handwriting!

After a short story about words and how they can make either a person feel sad or happy, Jan and I went through his timetables and he did some problem solving after that in his notebook.
Pieter needed something to help him do his math with, so he gathered some small stones and put them to use.
Hendrik and Rein played in the sandbox or caused trouble by coming on the trampoline and jumping....

:: the trampoline is a place for many a fun thing....

made even more fun when Vader is there! ::

:: too bad you can't hear all the laughter, hollering and shouting going on! ::

In the afternoon Pieter Jr and I went our and gathered dandelion leaves to dry and we biked to the railroad tracks to pick flowers. That inspired us to decorate the chocolate cake with apple blossoms that we were planning to make for dessert. It turned out so nice looking that I wonder why I don't do that more often.

I enjoy the simple things in life...

Happy the Home...

Happy the home when God is there

and love fills everyone,

When with united work and prayer

the Master's will is done.

Happy the home where God's strong love

is starting to appear,

where children hear His fame

and parents hold Him dear.

Happy the home where prayer is heard

and praise is everywhere,

where parents love and sacred Word

and its true wisodm share.

Lord, let us in our homes agree

this blessed peace to gain;

unite our hearts in love to Thee,

and love to all will reign. Amen

Hello one and all!

We have started this blog to share about our home family life. At times we just can't contain the joy and blessings and we wish the whole world were as happy as we. This all because of one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has taken our guilt, sin and shame away and replaced them with joy and peace unimaginable!

Life is busy with four boys and a little girl, but we enjoy the busyness, and the hectic moments are there to make us enjoy the peaceful moments all the more. We look forward to share with you more about our days and our songs in the days to come!

for the rest, Pieters queen