Life Lately

It has been a while since I have posted, so I thought I would update you all as to what has been happening in our lives.  First of all, my dear husband painted our family room and I am working on decorating it.  I started Square Foot Gardening.  We currently have 3 4x4 boxes with lots of veggies growing.  Since this is my first time ever gardening, we decided to keep it simple.  Next year, we plan on more than doubling it to 8 boxes.  It is so easy and a lot of fun.  Everyone loves it!  We are also experimenting with herbs.  Our first herbs to own are lavender, pineapple mint, and peppermint.  My husband has also been working hard on our yard.  Finally, we decided to continue with Sonlight and ordered and received our curriculum.  This next year, we will be switching to just 1 core instead of 2.  We will be finishing the second half of American History.

We have completed through week 24 of Sonlight cores 1 and 3 (now B and D).  Our plans are to continue through the summer.  The month of May, I have doubled up on the lessons and then will go back to single lessons.  We just wanted to have some of a break before we start back in late August.  The kids are maintaining a great schedule and loving Sonlight and so am I!  

Another thing that we have been working on establishing is a workable schedule.  A few years ago, I purchased, read, and implemented a schedule from Managers of Their Homes.  However, we have moved since (in September) and things were in real need of help.  We are still in the process of making it completely workable, but it is MUCH better around here.  The kids even know what to expect when and look forward to it.

Visiting the chiropractor has also been a part of our lives lately.  My husband is also visiting him regularly.  We have found a chiropractor that we love and highly recommend here in Amarillo.  I can honestly say that I feel great and look forward to the day when my dear husband can say the same thing.

Exercise- I completed the Jillian 30 Day Shred and then moved on to The Biggest Loser Boot Camp with full intentions on completing it in the next 6 weeks.  But other circumstances have put it on hold for a little while.  I think that I will just be walking on the treadmill for a little while or sticking with level 1 of Boot Camp.  However, I have achieved my weight-loss goal and am now back to 122 and feel great!  Part of visiting the chiropractor, exercising, and over all health improvements also means improvement in  the way we eat.  We have switched to raw goats milk (and love it :)), farm fresh eggs, and will be picking up our half a grass-fed cow this week.  I have also started ordering bulk food and grains from Azure Standard and including beans in our diets a whole lot more.  We have switched from white sugar to Sucanat and I am even going one step further and completely going away from all sugar in my diet.  This is hard especially when my husband brings home donuts for a breakfast treat.  Instead, I happily cook eggs for myself and drink a spinach, strawberry, and banana smoothie.  Funny thing about all of this is that when I returned home from the chiropractor today, everyone was in a sugar slump and I was not!  I guess that is true motivation for me- a true sugar lover!

The Good News

My oldest son, Matthew, wrote his first song, The Good News.  Our fantastic music minister, Steve, wrote the music to the song and brought it to us yesterday.  Here are the words:

1.  The gospel is the good news that Christ became a man to die for us on the cross.
2.  The gospel is Jesus, who bore my sin and pain and died for me on the tree.
3.  The gospel is the good news that, though they buried Him, He rose up from the grave.
4.  Christ Jesus came and will come to take His children home.  He rose, so we're raised with Him.
5.  The gospel is the good news, that Christ became a man to die for us on the cross.

Refrain: Jesus is the Savior; Jesus is the Lord; the good news of the world.


Also, if anyone knows how to add a song from an I-tunes file please share so that I can share the tune to this song.

Exercising With My Little Ones

A few weeks ago, my friend sent me an exercise video for a very belated birthday gift.  The video was Jillian's 30 Day Shred.  I immediately called her and told her thank you and asked if she was trying to kill me by sending me a Jillian workout video.  She just laughed and said that she thought it would work well with my schedule to only have to exercise 20 minutes a day.  Let's just say it sat upon my shelf for a few weeks because I was too intimidated to even give it a try and I did not own any dumb bells.

After thinking about it for sometime, I thought that I could at least give it a try and use what I had for hand weights- pint size jars of honey!  Don't laugh they work :)  So, this past Saturday I popped the dvd into our player and proceeded to exercise for 20 minutes with my honey.   You may be saying that 20 minutes is easy, but I beg to differ- it was a WORKOUT!  However, I still did not let that intimidate me, I continued on to day 2 and two of my boys decided to join me.  They, too, went and picked out jars.  One of them picked out 2 quart sized jars of peanuts and the other picked out 2 spoons.  At this point, I found it hard to stay focused on my exercises because I was laughing so hard!  If only I had a video camera in the background recording all of this I could have won a million dollars on AFV.  After laughing so hard, I pressed on and so did they.  They received LOTS of praise from me the whole time since they were supporting their momma exercise pursuit.  Today was day 3 and they were begging me to put in the dvd so that we could all start exercising just after family worship this morning.  Believe it or not, this time I had all of the children trying the exercise.  The two little boys stuck it out the whole time. My oldest girl joined us a little way into the routine and so did our oldest son.  My oldest son dropped out because he said that it was way too hard for him.

In the beginning, I wondered if I really had the endurance to stick this thing through for an entire 30 days  straight in a row.  Each day I am feeling it more and more.  It is hard and my whole body hurts, especially my legs.  However, I think that I will be able to stay with it.  I have cheerleaders!!!  They motivate and encourage me.  Who says that exercise is impossible with 5 children?  Not me any more!

Highlander, Dress-up, Adoption, and Sewing

Life around here has been much the same with the exception that I have not written a post in the past week.  My excuse is Highlander.  In the evening, after the children are in bed, my husband and I sit together and watch Highlander on the computer through Netflix.

The children have had some fun playing dress-up and the girls have had fun playing horsey and baby dolls.  I have been thinking much about adoption and how that I can help others while God is working on my heart and it seems impossible for us at the time being.  For now, I am just advocating for Celine.  Will you join me in praying that God will place it on a loving Christian family's heart to adopt her?  The selfish part of me wants someone in our church family to step forward to adopt her since it cannot be my husband and I.  The other part of me just wants her to be in a Christian family where she does not have to spend her life in a mental institution.

The last thing that I have been doing lately has been sewing a peasant top and capri pants with ruffles at the bottom for both of my girls.  When I am done, I will be posting pictures.  I have finally figured out a way to add sewing to my schedule- keep the sewing machine set up and always in my view.  If I have only a few minutes to sew then I sit down and get busy.  This is motivation!  It may take others only a few hours to make this simple outfit for their children, but it takes me days due to many small children and a busy schedule.  At least, I am sewing a little each day.

It's Official

Today was day five of Aaron being sick and struggling with fevers that would spike to 104.5, lethargy, stomach aches, and not really eating.  I decided that it was time to call the doctor and see what in the world was going around.  They told me the flu and strep throat.  I said, "well, he doesn't have strep cause he is complaining of his stomach hurting and not his throat."  They also told me that the flu was lasting a full 7 to 10 days with some patients experiencing post flu symptoms for up to 2 weeks after the 10 days.  So, I decided to just call the doctors office back and schedule an appointment and boy am I glad that I did!  The doctor was also suprised at the results.  She thought for sure that he had the flu.  He has strep throat!  So, she gave him a big shot and hopefully he is now on the road to recovery.  She also advised me to throw away all of our toothbrushes after 24 hours and get new ones.  Tonight my husband was complaining of a sore throat.  This time we will not be waiting 5 days.   Tonight Aaron did go to bed with a high fever and chills.  I hate using Motrin, but that is when I do use it.  Thank you for the prayers for Aaron and I am so thankful that we went to the doctor and he got a shot.  Hopefully the road to recovery for him is just around the corner and his appetite will return.  Five days of not really eating is not a good thing.

These two pictures were taken today just after bringing Aaron home from the doctor.  He is smiling because he had just finished a sucker from the doctor's office.  This was the first smile I had seen in five days.  Emily insisted that she get a picture too.

Please Pray For My Sweet Little Aaron

Aaron has been sick now for four days.  He has been running a fever, sleeping most of the time, and has no interest in food.  He says his stomach does not feel well.  I have been making sure that he is staying hydrated.

This is a picture of Aaron at AWANA taken several months ago.

When You Have To Stay Home From Church

There will be time when sickness may come to you or to one of your children and you have to miss a Lord's Day service.  What do we do on those days to still set it aside as a Sabboth to the Lord?  We want to hear from the Lord and we are sad when we must miss, but there are many things that we can still do to make it a joyous day.  We live in a day of internet access in which the opportunity to hear good, solid, Biblical preaching is available.  I suggest to use this time to listen to a sermon online, spend an extended time reading your Bible if you can, listening to music that focuses our mind on Christ and what He has accomplished for those who are in Him, serving your sick child and loving on him or her, reading books that focus our mind on Christ.  Set this day aside and be intentional to make it special even when you cannot be together with other Christians.  It is only one day a week that we really get to do this and we ought to look forward to being with God's people and hearing from the Lord.

I say all of this today because I was looking forward with great anticipation to hearing my husbands sermon from Colossians this morning on the Colossian hymn: Colossians 1: For by Him and through Him and to Him are all things..."  Our son has had a fever and a stomach ache for the past 3 days and I was really hoping that this morning he would be better.  However, last night the fever was just getting the best of him and he was up a lot.  He is just laying around, drinking water a little at a time, and going to the bathroom.  My energetic little boy is just sick.  It is my duty to serve him and love him through all of this and I wouldn't do anything different.

The Story Of Don and I:Part 2

Don went back to life planning his dad's funeral and I went back to life working as a summer camp counselor in Missouri.  He regularly wrote letters and I wrote back all summer.  He even came to visit me one time during the summer.  Our relationship continued to blossom.  When my job ended, I went back to school for the semester and so did he.  Once back in school, he asked me to marry him.  I said no because I wanted my family's approval first and I did not think that they would be ready.  Our relationship still grew stronger in spite of the fact that I was just not ready for marriage yet.   We both ended up not finishing the semester.  He was not ready emotionally due to his dad's death and I did not have the finances.  We both headed back to our hometowns.  Just before we departed, he asked me to elope with him and I still said no.  We both went back to work in our hometowns and planned on getting married in June.

About February, Don had had enough of being without me and he, in desperation, called me one last time and asked me to marry him now.  I said yes and that I thought Valentines Day would be a great time.  So, I traveled to Indiana and asked his pastor to perform the wedding on the 14th.  He said that he could not do that, but could perform the wedding on the 15th.  We took the plunge and had a tiny little wedding on February 15, 1996.  His family attended the wedding.  We had a total of 14 people attend our wedding.  Also, he drove us both to the church building and walked me down the isle.  It was a very non-traditional wedding, but worked great for us!  We are each others best friends and the years just keep getting better.

15 Years

Today Don and I got the privilege to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary.  We chose to take a hike in the Palo Duro Canyon with our children.  It was a beautiful day for a hike.  Just a week ago it was -6 with a wind chill of -20 and today it was in the 70's.

The Story Of Don and I:Part 1

The year was 1995, the month was March, we were in the same Bible history class and we also ate lunch at the same time in the school cafeteria, he noticed me!  He asked others about me and I did the same thing about him.  Who can turn down a handsome red headed man who was studying to be a preacher?  Not me!  The reason I even went to Bible college was to meet and marry a soon to be preacher.    He began walking over to my table where I was eating lunch and asked me to go to the bank with him.  In my mind, I was thinking, "sure, I need a ride anyway across town because I need to get a birthday gift for my sister."  It was his first semester at Bible college and my second.  I knew the town and he did not.  I said, "yes".  We hit it off from the very beginning!  After that time, we went out again on an official date- to Lambert's: Home of the Thrown Roll and then later to Andy's Frozen Custard.  I will never forget that date.  He did not feel well but did not want to cancel for fear that he would disappoint me.  Even though the did not feel well, we still had a great time getting to know one another.

We continued to date each other the rest of the semester.  Then I went off to camp to work as a summer camp counselor and he back home.  However, just before I left for camp, I spent a week with him getting to know his family in Indiana.  This week proved to be a life changing week.  His dad had a scheduled open heart surgery.  He made it through the surgery and then we went out to eat breakfast with a pastor friend.  While eating breakfast, we get a call telling us to come immediately because his dad was not looking good.  By the time we made it to the hospital, we were called into a small room with a chaplain.  We knew something was majorly wrong.  Then the chaplain told us something no one wanted to hear.  Don's dad had died during recovery.  He bled out.  The tears started flowing from everyone and everyone was in total shock.  I drove the family home that day and then they began planning his funeral.  My job was getting ready to start for the summer and I needed to fly out to get there on time.  So, Don drove me to the airport and said his goodbyes to me and then headed back home to help his mom and plan his Dad's funeral.  I wanted to be there for him in his pain...

Nothing Like Fast

Our old washing machine has been on it's last leg for a while now, not spinning out clothes.  I found an add in the paper today for a washer for $75 in the next town over, 2 miles away.  I waited till hubby came home and asked him if we could purchase it.  He said yes.  I called and they need us to pick it up right now because they are moving out.  So, I had to find someone to help with a pick-up truck.  It all worked out and now the kids and I are doing a quick clean up while they are picking up our new used washing machine.  Plus, God provided the money!  That is the best part of it all!

The Sun Is Shinning Today

Yesterday and today have been a much better day.  Thank you all for your prayers recently.    I took the children to Moss Lake hiking trails today and they had a blast playing in the water and in the woods.  Also, we thoroughly enjoyed outside time today.  The sun is out and we soak in every little bit of it that we can.  It does not shine often, and when it does it makes for a glorious day outside.  Right now we are enjoying a highly recommended movie:  Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Movie.  

When Mommy Hits A Brick Wall

Ladies, I am sure that many of you can relate.  You reach the point of total exhaustion and feel that you can handle no more.  You either start yelling at those around you, fall into depression, cry, sleep, or all of the above.  I have hit that brick wall in my life today.  Life around me seems to be happening so fast.  There are financial struggles within the church that sometimes cause me to stress, children who argue and pick on each other all day long, many new things to learn as we have began a new journey in making all things from scratch (which I love doing), learning to be frugal, stress over having to prevent getting pregnancy due to health concerns (even though I feel strongly against doing things to prevent pregnancy, but trust my doctor), and trying to be a happy homemaker who is immersed in the Scriptures.  Today I fell in utter defeat.  I napped twice and still feel exhausted!  I feel lazy when I take a nap.  I feel like I am not using my time wisely.  However, in order to be a better mommy, I need to be refreshed and take a break every once in a while.  Since we do not have family nearby, my husband and I must rely upon each other to help take care of each other.  He sees my weakness and gives me a break when I need one.    I am  rejoicing that the Lord was my strength today.  The Holy Spirit carried me through the day today.  Tomorrow will be a new day and the Lord's mercies are made new each and every day.

I have not blogged much this week and will hopefully get back on schedule next week.  The week started with the absence of my husband.  He was away in South Carolina preaching.  We drove him to the airport on Friday and then picked him up on Monday.  The airport is about a little over 2 and a half hours from our home.  Then on Tuesday, we traveled to Utica for a doctor's appointment and a few errands.  So, my reason for not blogging has been well justified.  Also, yesterday, I posted about the struggles many pastor's wives face and received a great comment from Celee.  However, after my husband read the post he felt that it was a good post (but a little too personal) and that it could offend others, so I needed to delete it.  I appreciate all my readers and their comments.  It is never my goal to offend others in what I write.  I want to be an encouragement to others and to be real.  I am not super-mom and cannot handle it all.  It is entirely the Lord who enables me to do the things that I do.  I am thankful for the Lord and His mercies.

Feeling A Little Discouraged

We make our plans but the Lord directs our steps.  No matter how hard we wish for, hope for, pray for, and desire certain things to happen if it is not in the Lord's will it will not happen.  The Lord is teaching me to place my confidence in Him alone and not in my circumstances.  He is to be my contentment and nothing else.  But the reality is that every time I get my hopes up about certain desires being fulfilled they seem to just get deflated and the more discouraged I become.  I truly desire the Lord's will and not my own, so I will just rest in Him knowing that He always does what is best.  Right now I just feel like a child who desires candy and cannot have it because it is not what is best for me.

Signs of Spring

Last week we took a hike twice around Moss Lake.  The first day it rained.  The next day, we hiked the entire 2 and a half miles and had a blast.  Our 3 year old ran almost the entire way!  I took lots and lots of pictures and had a hard time choosing which ones to post.

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Want to join me in meeting other mommy bloggers? Come on along and see what all the fun is about April 9-16th. There will be lots of great prizes and a chance to meet up with other moms who are on this same journey of motherhood. I think that it will be agreat time to expand your horizons and read new blogs.


Let me begin by introducing myself. I am Debbie, a wife to a wonderful man who is a pastor in Upstate NY. We have been blessed by the Lord to have 5 children here on earth and 1 precious little girl in Heaven. I home school our children and they are 9,7,5,3, and 1. We are reformed in our theology, see children as a blessing, and feel convicted that it is our duty to teach our own children. My husband pastors a small church in the Adirondack Mountains and our children stay with us during the worship service.


A few other things about myself that you may want to know is that being a pastor's family we make very little money so I am joyfully pursuing frugality! Any tip that I find I take note of and carefully consider it. I am learning how to make things from scratch and having fun. It is fun to see just how many things that you can actually make at home from very simple ingredients while saving money, teaching the children, and loving every minute. Recently, I have been making yogurt, breads, tomato paste, ketchup, dishcloths, and the list goes on. Frugality has been a journey for me since I did not grow up learning the art.  


Growing up, my Mom and Dad both worked, have been married several times, and sent my sister and I to day care and public school. My Mom did try and schedule her work so that she could be home when my sister and I arrived home from school on the bus as much as possible. My Mom and step-Dad took us to church. I grew up Independent Baptist. After finishing High School, I went to community college and then on to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO in order to meet a husband. I met him in my first year and we married after a year in February 1996. It was the second best decision of my life. My first best decision was when the Holy Spirit drew me to HImself in salvation (which was entirely a work of Him and not myself) September 2001.


I hope that you, too, will join me in this journey of motherhood as I blog about life regularly. Comments make my day :) I love meeting new people and getting to hear what the Lord is teaching them on this same journey. Please feel free to leave a comment anytime or e-mail me with any questions that you may have debbiespeedy@gmail.com

Family Is In Town

Sorry about not being faithful to my daily posts.  We have family in town visiting this week from Indiana and we were out of town yesterday for family pictures and various other things.  I will try and write my Thankful Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday posts sometime this week.  For now, I am going to thoroughly enjoy family being with us.

Just Spit It Out

Tonight during family worship we were all taking turns saying what we were thankful for today and when it came time for Aaron, who is 3, to tell what he was thankful for he started stuttering and his dad said, "just spit it out."  He literally did!  He spit and then he continued to tell the things for which he was thankful.  We all got a BIG and hearty laugh.  Children are the best.  They make us laugh often.

two more phone calls

Not only do I get these two phone calls from people in the community, but I also receive two phone calls from family. The first is from my mom telling me that she will be having gall bladder and hernia surgery this Friday. The second is from my dad telling me that he just had another pace maker put in and is going in for surgery this week because they found a mass on his kidneys and think it is cancerous. Please also pray for Jerry and Loretta.

Be Patient With Me Please

I have somemore blogs to post but just have not had the time to post them. Just 3 weeks ago I gave birth to our little Emily and since then life has remained busy. Last week we had company on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then we traveled to a friend's home so that Don could preach for him and we stayed with some friends. We then drove home on Monday and began our homeschool year yesterday. Don is now gone this morning to a pastor's fellowship 2 hours away. I am by no means complaining. In fact, I have LOVED every moment of the time we have spent in fellowship with other believers! My post that I am wanting to write about is about hospitality. When I have a free moment I will post it.