Bright

Last week, we had the bright feast of Theophany at church!  The blessing of water is done in the baptistry.  This is where Elijah was baptised.

https://jordanville.org/news_240122_2

"When Thou wast baptized in the Jordan, O Lord, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest. For the voice of the Father bear witness to Thee, callingThee His beloved Son. And the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the truth of the word. O Christ our God, Who hast appeared and hast enlightened the world, glory to Thee!"

This morning, we had holy water and dry prosphora pieces.  Oatmeal and tea. Then, we read the life of St. Tatiana.  Now, to homeschool lessons.  Our 8 year old is doing multiplication and just started division. Monopoly is such a fun way to do addition, subtraction and also multiplication (if you want to buy 3 houses). We have been reading Farmer Boy aloud in the evenings.  Last night, I read Ch. 23 titled Cobbler, making shoes with their leather, the hide from their beef cow. The previous chapter was about butchering their meat.  My husband read the chapter a few days before about shearing their sheep. It's all so very relevant to our current life.

Snow everywhere

It's cold, icy and snowing in many places where it doesn't usually. I'm hearing from family in OR, AZ and OH about the snow and extreme cold.  It's normal for us in NY to experience this weather, but we did have a water line to our pump outdoors break a week ago.  It's the main pump that we use to fill buckets of water, to give our chickens and other animals. My husband spent several hours digging a hole around it, about 6 feet down and repairing it.  Thankfully we had a day that was relatively warm.

My mom gave each of her younger grandkids these blankets with their name on it for a Christmas gift.  They love them.  

Above, this is the wood framework for a shower that we'll have in the bigger house.  Everything is coming along nicely.

All in flannel shirts.  We drove to an Amish store this past Saturday with our Amish neighbor.  My husband had been helping to paint the interior of that store the week of January 1st.  Painting is one job that will pick up as the weather warms up in the spring and he plans to do it more.  

George got a gift of truffles and The Wind in the Willows from Bishop Luke on Nativity after the Liturgy.  Later that day, we went to a friend's house for dinner.  There were a total of 28 there, which includes 3 babies under 1 year. The kids played Twister, we talked, sang all the old Christmas carols, drank egg nog and ate cookies (my favorite were the thumbprint cookies with jam and lemon bars).  It was wonderful.

Hope you are warm and well where you are!

Hickory

What do you think of this hickory flooring? Both these boys have their own tool box.  They know how to paint, use tools and are improving their fine motor skills.

I just finished crocheting this hot pad made from leftover wool yarn. Tomorrow we celebrate the Nativity of Christ.  I've got some sewing to do, just to mend my coat. We baked food for our feast and are all planning to go to church tonight and tomorrow morning.

Hanging out in the bigger house, while our laundry is in the dryer.  The floor is done, a unique looking hardwood, hickory, and I think it's just lovely.  The wee potted Norfolk pine is our Christmas tree, with dried orange slices and a garland of popcorn the 2 older boys helped string up.  We're still mainly living in the smaller house, until the plumbing is done.

Our 2 oldest children are officially adults and I'm so glad to hear from them and see photos.  They live in other states. I miss them.  Hopefully we will see them before too long.

Elijah is rolling over now.  I set him on my bed and was just across the room doing laundry and he rolled over, onto the floor.  His nose looks reddish, poor baby.  i must remember to place him where he can't roll over, or down.

Also, when he first wakes up from a nap, we have been able to put him on the potty... and he's gone pee pee several times already!  I know I won't be able to potty train him just yet, but it saves a diaper.  We are using cloth diapers most of the time.

It's been cold this past week.  We got less than an inch of snow, but expect more tonight.  Here's the warm lion suit, from my sister, on Elijah:

Dried orange slices

I thinly sliced 2 oranges and let them dry on a tray with parchment paper on top of our wood stove.

Our 5 year old has been drawing a lot recently.  You can see he drew 3 tubes in the person above and, he said this person is eating chocolate.  Below, is a drawing of him and the two different ice cream shops that he likes on either side. Then, a chocolate birthday cake with 6 candles for his next birthday, which he cut out after coloring his drawing.

My nieces came to NY for a conference.  Here they are with Elijah.  My sister and family gave this soft and warm lion snowsuit to him.  It's 3-6 month size.  I have to take a photo of him with the hood, so you can see how cute it is...

I got a new journal as a gift and like how one can circle the date atop the page.

Paul got a Yoda blanket from one of his big sisters.  We're looking ahead to celebrating Nativity on Jan. 7th, which is Dec. 25th, on the Julian calendar.  I hope it snows then!  We've had nothing but warm weather and lots of rain this past week. 

There is a proposal for 2 wind turbines (650 feet tall!) to be installed a few miles from our home. I've heard many things about how they will produce very little energy, and with the manufacture and transportation, in the end -19% investment!  To install such a big turbine, they will need to prepare the land and blast a hole, so a 15 foot concrete foundation can be poured.  The well water and ecosystem may be affected. There are also other places with turbines and the noise it makes is a pitch we can't hear, like a dog whistle, but can harm our neurological system. We fear it will be the start of even more.

Just a cardboard box

Pushing around in a simple cardboard 

box with a blanket or pillow is fun!

We just celebrated St. Nicholas day yesterday. After church, a friend gave us this Trader Joe's gingerbread kit!  It's made in Germany and what I think is the best is that they used all natural colored sprinkles, no red 40 or yellow 6.  Most of the time, we don't eat it at all. It is edible and was really fun!  

Now, 3 months old!  This time has flown by.

Buckeyes

We made buckeyes!  You know, those sweet peanut butter balls dipped in melted chocolate? We made a vegan recipe. 

Last year, I bought a potted Norfolk pine tree at Lowe's for $24.98. It only lived a month, maybe two, dried out, from the heat of the woodstove. It was crunchy, but looked pretty, so I kept it until this past Sept.  I guess I hoped part of it might make it.

I bought one again, same price, even the same good-looking pot!  We'll use it as a Christmas tree and then hopefully keep it as a houseplant.

Our little farm looked so pretty with an inch or two of freah snow.  The sun came out yesterday and it all melted.  The pigs were looking for a treat.  I did give them four frozen pumpkins we had left.  Did you know it's a natural dewormer?

We saw a flock of birds flying south! Can you see the tiny dots in the blue sky?  I also took a video:  https://youtube.com/shorts/cB2VwHwigIY?feature=shared