Homemade Soap!

Ok, I've been wanting to make soap for about 3 years now.  Every year I think about it.  One year I actually sat down and watched a few videos on the art of soap making.  Whenever I pass a vender who is selling home made soaps, I stop and look, smell, and wonder if I could do it.  I usually wind up talking to the soap maker and they always encourage me that it's really not that hard.  So this summer, when I was putting together a summer schedule for the kids and I, I included my long time dream of soap making.  Inside I was really wondering if I would get around to it.

 So after doing a bunch of research, AJ and finally picked a recipe and gathered our supplies. I tried to use things I had already so that my first batch didn't cost too much.  I already had palm oil, peppermint essential oil and lavender flowers.  I also had a silicon bread pan that would be a perfect mold.  After all, I didn't know if I'd ever do this again, so why get all the fancy supplies.  I decided to go ahead and get Lye from Lowe's and pay the $12 even though it's $6 each on the web plus shipping when you buy 5 jars of it!  I found out that you can buy special soap colorants which would add to the cost too.  Then I found out that you can use natural items like spices to create color and even melted crayons!  I've got those too! :)

So this is my bar above.  It is scented with lavender flowers, dried rosemary and I threw in a message oil that I happened to have that is a wintermint/lemongrass scent.  I used turmeric (spice) in hopes of a yellow color.  In the end, I discovered that dried lavender are quite potent and that is what it smells like mostly now that it's done.  The yellow, turned to peach, which turned to beige.  It's not the prettiest but definitely has a homemade look to it that many soaps have.

AJ helped me a lot and was most interested in soap making.  We printed off our directions from the web and watched endless videos about each step trying to make sure we understood how it all works. AJ wanted red swirls in his soap so we chose to try red crayons.  He added peppermint essential oil to scent his soap.  His turned out really cool looking!

 

AJ got about 8 bars out of his chunk.  It sliced like butter.  We had to wait 24 hours for it to set up before slicing it and I thought AJ was going to pass out from waiting!  He wanted to slice his bar at the exact moment the clock reached the 24 hr. mark! 

Measuring and slicing intently. 

It almost looks like candy!  This is when it's ok to say that it looks better than it tastes!

 

So we plan to make another batch soon. Our batch made 20 bars.  You just might receive soap for Christmas this year or possibly your birthday (although I'm horrible at remembering birthdays), or maybe for no reason at all. 

The last test was to see if it lathered.  It does, it does!  I was so very excited that our experiment with soap making was a success.  My soap making dream came to fruition and it was a total blast.  Now I can say I'm a soap maker!

Last night I made a gallon of liquid soap with 4 oz. of this bar soap!  So cool!  More on that later if your interested. :)  

New Blog

All thanks goes to Olivia for giving our blog a face lift.  Why is it that our kids pick up on this computer stuff so much quicker than us adults?  She just took this upon herself to recreate the whole thing and is now a blogger.  I'm sure she will be posting her own stuff pretty soon!  It's so hard for me to find time to update this blog sometimes but now I have Olivia to help me.  She feels we have a responsibility to put up something new at least every 2 weeks or we'll loose all our readers, which isn't many to begin with!  

Well, thank you, Olivia.  Now I'm motivated to continue this thing with the new look you've given it.  Just maybe I'll find the time to post again next week!  You are the best and becoming more and more talented in crucial areas of life. . .  like blogging. :)

Summer projects coming to fruition

I'm not sure what is happening with this post! I changed my settings and don't know how to do anything anymore.  My captions are all messed up.  I'll do my best. This quilt I've been working on for awhile now.  It's my first one and is called a "rag quilt" because you sew it with the seams showing and then when you wash it the seams fray and make it look old.  It feels so nice to have finished it!  I'm not one to start a bunch of projects all at the same time.  I have to finish the one I've begun before starting another.  It is too stressful for me to have too many things in the pot at the same time.  On the other hand, Olivia is just the opposite.  She starts things all the time and hops around from one project to the next.  I kept urging her to finish up this baby quilt she had started for my friend who had recently had a baby boy.  I'm proud to say that he is 6 weeks old now and she finished it and delivered her gift last weekend!  She has a lot of creativity stored up in that brain of hers.

Whats a post without pictures of Micah?  He is all about hats these days and has always loved shoes.  He finds things to dress up in all the time.  His favorite words are "Hi!" said with much exuberance! "Thank you" is another popular phrase.  He says it more like "Dank you!"

Summer is such a relaxing season.  Maybe I feel that way because I'm a Mom and I home school too.  So when the kids finish their school, not only do they take a break but I get time off myself from my teaching role. Even though my full-time job is still "mommying."   

These tomatoes are from my garden.  This is by far the best year I've had  in the last 7 years for tomatoes, anyway.  I can't seem to grow cucumbers or onions and those are much easier than tomatoes.  But I'm still working at it. Go figure?  I am enjoying these tomatoes, I must admit.  These two were some of the first ones I picked.  We had a whole window sill full at a time.  No grocery store tomatoes for me this month.  It's nice to know your efforts are saving in the pocket book area as well!

Well, I'll stop now since this post has taken me much longer than I expected.  I hope you can navigate around with the captions being a bit out of order.

See you next month with more summer fun.

Visit to the Arboretum

When I look at the flowers, made from above;

It makes me feel this presence of love.

An array of colors surround me,

delicate petals encompass me.

It makes me want to run,

and jump and laugh in the sun.

But it also brings me this feeling of peace;

And freedom that only comes with the breeze.

My family, grandparents, and I, went to the Dallas arboretum for Mothers Day. It was a beautiful day and the trip down there was, I believe, enjoyed to its fullest! I had a hard time not taking too many pictures of every single flower : ) I am amazed at how God came up with this incredible assortment of beauty for all of us to enjoy! It's awesome.

This is mist that came from a small pond in the area where we ate a packed lunch. My dad loved it, and therefore decided that he wanted to take at least 10 pictures of it! Hmmm. . . quite the personality, I'd say. But don't worry, I'll only show you two : )

two hansom, brothers who love each other

This is Corie Anna, a good friend of mine who also came with us. . . I love you, Corie!

I thought this was the strangest flower I've ever seen!! Ever seen anything like this? It is not fake. . .

group picture!

My grandparents with their lovely daughter, my mother.

Julia decided to get her hair cut. Did you notice? I think it is adorable!! This is my wonderful sister. . . I love you too Julia!

This is my mom's favorite picture, so this is for her.

If you ever get a chance to come visit Texas. . . and especially if you want to see us; I would suggest going to the arboretum, where you will be filled with the beauty of it all. It is a great place for refreshment!

And, if you like flowers, I think you will truly enjoy it! Well actually, you kind of have to like flowers, to go there : )

Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed it!

~Olivia

Bluebonnet season!

This is the Texas state flower, called a bluebonnet. Aren't they pretty! I just did a little research and learned that it is legal to pick our state flower but is not encouraged. It ruins their ability to reseed and keep growing wild if you pick them and they only last about an hour once picked if you do.

This is a field next to our church. The bluebonnets grow wild along freeways and in deserted fields. If you click on this picture to see Micah closer you'll see a big grin on his face. There is something about a field of bluebonnets that makes you want to run!

And not worry about your pants falling down! Not a care in the world!

Let's race! It was a contagious feeling of freedom to be among wildflowers!

Then, once you are out of breath, you just have to sit down in them!

Or lay down and dream!

I was so bummed that AJ wasn't with us this afternoon. He had been invited to a friends house to play after church. He reassured us that he had more fun than we did running around in bluebonnets.

Michael Frye stood in for AJ. He is our new adopted son. He just moved here from Florida to work at GFA with Rich. He hangs out with us quite often now and is fitting in with our family really well. As you can see, he is taking AJ's place in this photo!

This is a nice place to take a nap!

Goodnight.

Bad Habits

The weather in Texas has been absolutely fantastic the past few weeks. 70's and 80's is perfect weather for yard work. I had noticed some really ugly weeds in our front yard and finally got out my "weeder digger" and tackled them. I thought it would only take me a few minutes since I remembered only seeing a couple of them. Well, I must have been out there an hour or so finding dozens of weeds in our front lawn. This lent me lots of time for contemplation of weeds and their significance from a spiritual perspective.

The small weeds were not so hard to get up and really didn't take any effort to pull out by the roots but as they got bigger it took much more effort! This one in the picture above was the largest one I dug up and it was no easy task. This reminded me of a conversation that my brother and I had the night before. We were discussing bad habits that are so engrained in who we are that we sometimes don't even notice them until years and years have passed and God sends that trial or struggle to show us our sin. We all of sudden see this ugly habit or character flaw that has been a struggle our whole lives! It seems like such a daunting task to weed it out especially when the roots are big and deep. This is when we realize that God is so much bigger then we are and wants to change us to have His character. He says we are a new creation, created in His image.

I really want flowers in my life, not weeds. but in order to get flowers to emerge in my life I have to get those ugly weeds out. How? I believe it takes a willingness to see the weeds first of all and then a change of heart. . . a surrendered heart, one that doesn't fight the change. It's really not my job to dig up roots of ungodliness myself but God promises to do that part. It's only hard if we fight it.

God has been showing me that He wants to use our home to welcome others. It's His home anyway, isn't it? Everything we have is His. God's heart is loving people. Shouldn't it be mine too? Since I'm a homemaker, my home is my sanctuary, my resting place, my nest. Sharing it has been a struggle over the years. I don't like chaos and messes make me uneasy. It's just a natural thing that when you have more people in a home, the more chaos and mess is present.

So I can choose to close my doors and keep it quiet and tidy (restful for me) or let God open my doors and be a blessing to others. Once I understood the concept of giving my home to God and surrendering this area to him, my desires began to shift. I'm finding great joy in preparing a pleasant place for friends (or strangers) to hang out. I'm amazed at how God has opened our doors unexpectedly without me even trying to "have company". It is so obvious that He is doing all the work and bringing friends and neighbors who need fellowship and love.

I pray that whoever knocks on my door will know that they are always welcome and won't ever fear being turned away. It is never a bad time for Jesus when we want to come sit with him and talk or just rest in His presence with a cup of tea.

Above is a picture of Easter weekend. Michael, in the orange shirt, just moved down here from Florida to join GFA as staff. He is now rooming with Alex, on the left. They spent Easter weekend with us along with Michael's Dad who drove down with him. If you look closely you'll see chocolate on some faces from the dessert we were eating. AJ got a little carried away with the fun of smearing chocolate on his face.

Carly (ACU sweatshirt) and her friend (middle, back row) came over for dinner recently. These two were a joy to have over and our children love them. It looks cold in this picture because of the fire in the background but it really wasn't that long ago. Just a flukey snow day during March! Rich is laying down in the front because he was trying to get in the picture and there wasn't much room. You know, when you prop the camera up and you only have a little time to find a spot before it takes.

Recent picture of Julia. She is growing up right before our eyes these days!

I love this picture of Olivia in our tree out back!

Micah in the sun, eating dirt. What are little boys made of?